My Toddler lost his eye sight this morning

Parenting can be cruel and unusual.  However you keep trucking for love and, if i'm being honest, because hopefully one day those children will blossom into amazing adults who will take care of you when you are old and decrepit pinching nurses asses in the old folks homes.

Am I even allowed to type that last line in this day and age?  Is someone going to go public and tell people that i'm a filthy sexual abuser and hashtag #metoo and ruin the rest of my life?  I walk a fine line just owning a penis anymore and i'm afraid to be myself and tell my jokes.

However, I didn't come here to talk about that.  Today I had a story to tell about my poor little toddler and the atrocities he had to suffer, to endure (and I'd really appreciate if y'all didn't look ahead at the horrific picture that I had to post involving my toddler until the end.  Just read.  This isn't a book.  This post isn't going to be 30 pages long.  It is short and to the point.  Take your time and get there naturally for crying out loud.


Today was like any other day where I had to wake up and get the pre-teen ready and take him to school.  Luckily this was one of the days where my wife worked late so it isn't necessary to wake the toddler up and convince him that he wants to come with me.  Yes, I said convince as he is very bull headed (it runs in the family if you can believe that). 

So I open the door to the pre-teen's room and let him know he has to wake up and get ready and when I shut the door the toddler has his eyes partially open and asks me if I am taking brother to school.
I explain to him that I am and he informs me that he is staying home while I do it.

I'm not making this shit up, these are conversations I have with my toddler daily.  He TELLS ME that he is staying home while I take his brother to school.  So, I inform him that he can stay home and watch some TV since mommy is at home as well and a few minutes later i'm waltzing out the door taking his brother to school.

When I get home my toddler is more than awake and informs me that he wants some cereal but alas we only had a kind that he doesn't particularly like.  I ask him if he wants some toast with Peanut Butter and he thinks this is a splendid idea.

Into the Toaster Oven the two pieces of bread go and a few minutes later there is a ding ding ding-a-ling informing us that the bread has magically transformed into toast.

The ding sends the toddler into euphoria and he exclaims "Yay, my toast with jammy (pronounced Jam-y) is ready.  As I'm pulling it out and putting it on the plate I ask him if he wants jammy or if he wants peanut butter and being the son-of-a-grrouch that he is he chooses wisely, peanut butter.

So I spread the peanut butter over half of each slice of bread and then fold them in half.  I put them on a plate and bring them to the toddler who gets excited and immediately starts chowing down.

At this point he lays down on the extra large pillow/sac that we have in the living room and is eating while watching a little bit of Car Patrol (which you can find on Amazon streaming services).

At this point I start messing around with my phone to check all of my social media things like the Book-of-Face, the Twitters and my random 32 email addresses.

A few minutes later I hear a scream from the living room.

HELP ME, Daddy help me.
I can't see.
Daddy, I can't see.

I look up but cannot see him over the couch and he continues to hell that he can't see and that he needs help.

Panicked I run into the living room ready to help out my poor toddler in distress and he starts laughing.

The following picture is what I find.

I'm not making this up.
I'm not shitting y'all.
I didn't stage this.

This is my toddler.
This is his sense of humor.
He thinks he is funny.
He put a piece of toast on his face, covering an eye and then pretended that he couldn't see as a rib because he thought it would be funny.

I am a lucky man that this is the child I have to deal with every day of my life.
I am blessed.

And folks, that is what I came here to tell you today but after I picked him up from my in-laws house he added to the stories.

He pointed to a spot on my window that is most likely bird shit and told me my car was dirty.
I told him that I would have to clean it soon.
He asks me "With water?"
I say yes, with water.
He then tells me to was it with water from the gas-station, you know, because all 3-year-olds know about car washes.

I went to high school with people that couldn't piss without getting it on their shoes and now I have a toddler that pulls practical jokes and tells me to take my car to the gas station to get it clean.

I'm probably going to be in trouble when he becomes a teenager.

A Disney Story

Disney, 2017.

The wife and I have been wanting to hit up Disney during Halloween for a number of years now.  The Trick-or-Treating (or really, the get a whole shit ton of candy to make up for your entrance fee in just a few hours), The special fireworks and the parade.

Truth be told we just love Disney and every single time we head to California the two of us, at the very least, hit up Downtown Disney to walk around and browse the stores then eat dinner at the Jazz Kitchen and catch the fireworks before we go back to the hotel and, eventually, head home.

We also both love Halloween and try to go all out and hit up a lot of local stops every single year during the season so we have been waiting to combine the two seasons for quite some time.

The wife found the dates that Disney labeled as "Special Attraction" and booked it for the ourselves and the children and it just so happened to fall on my birthday.

Disney does not disappoint, it is truly a magical place and I hope to raise my Toddler and the future baby serge properly so that they also love going to Disney and just enjoying a day hanging out with moms and pops.  I guess only time will tell if that happens or not.


So we get to Disney and there are 5 of us.
Myself, the Wife and Toddler and the two 12 year olds (ours and a nephew).

The wife and I wanted to take the toddler to see all the Cars stuff because that is what he is into and we decided the 12 year olds could go off on their own as one had a phone like device and we could keep in touch.
We would meet up for Dinner and finish the evening together.

So, we split and started to enjoy our days.
The toddler loved the Mater "cow" ride and made me ride it with him multiple times.  In fact, the 2nd time I recorded him during the entire ride just to have his reactions because he had so much fun doing it.
We also got to go meet Mater and McQueen and get our pictures taken with each which was pretty enjoyable even though the toddler was starting to get tired and, thus, moody.

We walked around a lot and eventually headed over to the original side so we could look at more and start the candy gathering.

After we filled a couple of bags the wife decided that she was starving and we went to get in touch with the 12 year olds.
No answer.
No answer
No answer
After about 30 minutes the wife starts to worry some.  We can't get a hold of them and her phone is acting up so if they try to call us it won't be successful.  We contact the nephew's mom so that she can use her tracking app and it is not getting a signal.

I decide that since our 12 year old loves the Indiana Jones ride we should head over there because there was a good chance (better than 50%) that they would end up over that way at some point because he would want to hit up that ride multiple times.
We wait around and nothing so the wife heads to the "Lost Parents" area to report that even though they aren't lost we were having phone issues and couldn't contact them and to have them call me if the kids got worried and went there.

Meanwhile the wife is calling her sister to help out and asking me if I have seen them and at this point I hear them announcing that the ride is down for maintenance and will be up shortly (this explains the lack of line which I did not notice until now).
So I'm pacing back and forth with a sleeping toddler in a stroller and the wife is starting to freak out when the boys walk up to me like nothing happened.

This was about an hour after we started to try to get in touch with them.

I ask them where they were and it turns out they spent the last hour on the Indiana Jones ride because it broke down when they were about half way through.  We couldn't get in touch with them because they were not receiving a signal because of where they were stranded.

From there we hit up Dinner at the Jazz Kitchen, watched the fireworks, the 12 year olds got a TON of candy and then we saw the parade and went back to the hotel.

Out of everything, other than watching the face of my toddler, I absolutely loved the fireworks and the Halloween presentation.
This is something we want to do again and probably by ourselves to truly enjoy the entire experience without having to worry about diapers, tracking children and every other distraction that comes with bringing a bunch of brats along.


TLDR:
Can't find kids
Go to kids favorite ride
They show up because they were stranded on said ride
Everything worked out
Happily ever after

Game Changer

For those who don't happen to follow me on other random social media I just wanted to take a minute to introduce you all to the biggest change my life has ever experienced.

All is Quiet

The house is currently quiet.
While her job might not know it at this point my wife is done working for the next four months.  She was supposed to work today and tomorrow but she just physically cannot do it, and probably mentally as well.  She is tired, she is weighed down.  She has this big baby inside her currently waiting to come out and be welcomed into the world and into our lives and this is just 8 days away.

Eight days until everything changes.
Eight days left to enjoy the quiet, the calm.  There is a storm a'brewin' and that storm is another member of the grrouch household.

This past weekend everyone in my family (except myself) was sick.  Both the wife and son slept the entire weekend away save for a few moments to turn the TV on or have a light snack before falling back to sleep.  This weekend was supposed to be about getting the house back into order but, as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men.

Last week we had laminate put into the bedrooms.  This all happened while I was working my week of inventory and even though we knew it was happening it still felt as though it all happened out of nowhere and was a big surprise.  Life is happening fast and furious and that is how it just kind of snuck up on us. (Snuck is not a word according to the red underline on my page, but I'm leaving it there.)  So, after working a horrendously long day of inventory I got to come home and spend until about 11 pm moving stuff and making sure that the workers had room to put the laminate down.

The chaos is slowly lifting.  All of the 3 bedrooms are currently livable.  The living room and garage, not so much.  Hell, we still have our X-mas tree up which is something I'll have to rectify tomorrow on my day off.  There is still a lot of stuff that has to be sorted through to find out what we are keeping and what we are getting rid of.  I've already thrown away 3 garbage bags worth of stuff while no one was looking and there is more to come.

People are scavengers, at least in our neighborhood.  While putting out the garbage this past week I set out an old TV/Monitor which doesn't work and two electric heaters to go with the numerous trash bags.  Ten minutes later I went outside to put another bag in the garbage and the aforementioned objects were missing.  It was late.  It was dark.  The stuff wasn't outside for long but it was gone just as quick.  I guess that's good because it's less crap the garbage man has to deal with, but I am curious if I am going to see that broken TV back outside in front of someones house next trash day to clue me off to who is going through my garbage.

By the end of the night I added a window blind (in a box) and a bed frame, both of those were not there when the trash-man came.

I have five more working days until my two week vacation, to spend time with the baby, is here.  I need a vacation.  I'm killing myself at work and home life is chaotic with everything that has been and is about to happen.  A screaming baby is just what I need to reset my inner work clock and go back refreshed but slightly disheveled due to lack of sleep (so I'm told).

I did a major refresh on my cover letter and resume and put in for a new position just yesterday.  The posting comes down at the end of the week and I expect to hear back and hopefully have an interview set up during my vacation.  Maybe I'll be able to come back to work after my vacation just to inform my current store that I'm movin'on'up.  Who knows, stranger things have happened.

Other than my clanking on the keyboard the only sound in the house is coming from the snoring dog in my lap which is soon to be replaced by snoring baby.  I have a feeling that there is going to be a lot of jealousy in this house for a while and managing it is going to be less than fun.
The dog has his place, in bed, between my wife and I but usually on my side or between my legs.  He is going to have to adjust to having this other small beast taking up some of his favorite spots, like my lap.  He is going to have to be more gentile and he is going to have to not jump or get defensive when this other small beast grabs him randomly and tugs or smacks him.  I don't feel that will be an issue because he has the 9 year old who has been a typical abusive boy over the years to him - but that jealousy that someone, something, else is getting attention he feels he deserves.

Which leads to the biggest area of jealousy that will occur and that is with our nine year old.  He has been the one an the only for nine years now.  All the attention, all of the everything has been showered his way.  He is used to it and now he is going to have to share it, he is going to have to take a back seat for a little while because, lets face it, no matter how much people say that they will make sure he still gets his attention the first while is all going to be focused on this new pooping crying creature in the house.

The nine year old is used to more than his fair share of attention, I'd dare say that he has gotten too much over the years and aspects of his development are behind the curve because of it.  I've never seen a nine year old who has issues functioning (it could be my limited exposure to the world of children though) when other people are not giving him attention.  He doesn't like to play by himself, he always wants someone playing with him or at least watching him.  He doesn't even like watching TV by himself, he always wants someone else there. To me it is strange but I am adapting and have been over the past couple of years.  I am trying to steer him to becoming more independent even though I'm probably going to bitch about it in a few years when he wants nothing to do with us and just wants to be out with his friends all the time.  So, let's see how we can bridge that gap from him getting, wanting, craving, needing all the attention to him sharing it with his new baby brother.  Life is going to become infinitely more interesting.

So all is quiet but complete and utter chaos is just around the corner.  I can smell it and I am looking forward to my life changing.

Getting Ready Before the New Year

The year is about to end very suddenly and without much notice, at least that is the way it feels like.

I can tell the coke nail on my left pinky finger is a bit too long because it's getting a bit harder to type using that finger which means I should totally bite it off....er... clip it.  Totally meant clip it, with nail clippers like the rest of the normal functioning world.

I've got a dog resting comfortably on my lap and my boy sleeping about 4 feet from me on a huge pillow so now is better than later.  Nail bitten off, lets go.

In preparation for next year I withdrew approximately 6 grand from my company stock account.  I have paid off a three thousand dollar debt and all that is left is debt from the wedding and honeymoon and the plan is to have that vanish by the end of 2015.

My goal is to get myself ahead so that I am not living month to month but I am living one month ahead.  So, All of my bills for January will be paid with Decembers money.  This will give me more focus and I will be working with set figures.  I already know what I made in December so while I am shopping or deciding to get an extra Big Mac for lunch I will be able to see how much money I have left until the end of the month.  I like this idea a lot an think it is going to help me focus and help me pay off the remaining of my debt faster.

I also am setting aside some of that money as Poker Money so that I can get back out and play once in a while, specifically during the Super Bowl and March Madness.

2014 was by far the most exciting year I have ever been a part of so that means I must be getting better with age right?  Getting married and enjoying my wonderful,but crazy, family has fulfilled me more than I ever thought possible.

2015 can only get better thanks to the birth of my spawn and pending one year wedding anniversary.  Nothing can top our Honeymoon (which I still daydream about lustfully to this day) but I'm hoping to be able to come up with something for the anniversary to make it special.  I've never been so in love in my life.

Today is Xmas Eve which means we will be heading to my parents house for Xmas Part 1, then tomorrow is with the in-laws for Xmas Part 2.

I will have my annual new years revolutions post of stuff I want to accomplish but I'm not going to look back on last year because this past year was freaking amazing and none of my goals actually matter compared to what actually happened.

August has Blown in

The year continues to march forward at such a rapid pace and things that I thought I wanted to do have been put to the back burner like playing poker and gambling at real money USA casinos.

I mean, it seems like just yesterday but I guess it was really closer to 2 months ago that I was all excited about getting back into poker (and craps) and I think that lasted all of 5 sessions before the real world bore down on me with its demands and expectations.  A wife, a kid and another on the way have all eaten into my free time more than truly expected.

I have plans, most of them unfulfilled.   Why, this past Tuesday was the PS4 release of The Last of Us and my whole goal was to pick it up and spend my two days off playing it.
Tuesday ended up with a trip to Wet n Wild, taking the kids and some of their friends along as a pre-birthday celebration.  A fun time was had by all (well, except for me because I have always hated pools).  The day was a success and I'm happy it happened.
Wednesday I started to play some of TLoU but then my 8 year old wanted to watch me play.  He can't really handle horror movies and as such I think this game is going to be too intense for him.  Plus, when he watches he thinks we should be taking turns so any time that I die he thinks he should try and I'm not willing to allow that to happen with a majority of the games that I play until he gets a little older.

However, on that same front - we have begun playing Injustice because it was put on sale on PS+ for $8.40 at one point and even though I generally don't get into fighting games that's a price that I'm willing to spend.

Next week we are leaving for California for 5 or so days and this is going to be relaxation time for papa grrouch.  We will be bringing along my wife's brother and his kid plus her sisters kid and taking the 3 of them to Disney for one day.  I feel like we'll spend about 8 grand on that trip and there is where all my poker money will have went to.  But, the rest of the time we will do a little shopping, a little sight seeing and most importantly a little beach time.  While I hate pools I absolutely love the beach.
Hopefully my sunburn from Wet n Wild will have went away by then so I'm not doubling up on the pain.

In other news I'm trying to increase my activity levels as my goal, once August 10th hits, will be to beat my step total every single day for a year (as calculated by my Fitbit).  I've also gone into a weekly competition with a guy from work who just got a Fitbit as well.  We said something minor each week so it will probably be something like the loser buys the winner a Mountain Dew.  I'll be requesting a Super Big Gulp of the Solar Flare from 7-11 which, while delicious, doesn't actually taste like a soda at all.  It tastes like fruit punch just whoring off the Mt Dew name.

And one final thought - it's almost time for football season to begin and as such I'm going to be starting a Pick-Em league made up of co-workers and friends across the states.  This will most likely be $20 to enter and I'm pretty much going to be copying Lucki Ducks format because that was pretty damn fun.
No MoJo's allowed :)

If anyone is interested please email me or post a message.  I am going to have everything set up by the end of August so we can begin week 1.

And in other news

If you'll all forgive my lack of a follow up with the actual ComicCon currently and instead indulge me in this probably brief little bitch session I'd truly appreciate it.

One phrase that I have heard a lot growing up is that being a step-parent is probably the hardest job there is.  I never fully realized it until I jumped in with both feet (and it is a decision I will NEVER regret).  Sometimes it's just a look you get or a comment thrown your way.

When you do what I did and become a step parent right around the Mid-Life Crisis point your entire world gets flipped upside down.  This is not a lame cliche, this is not the lament of someone who doesn't get it, this is the dog's honest truth of the situation.

I jumped into this relationship willingly, heart first.  I love my family and the bond that we have and am thankful for them every single day of my life.  However, this is my first go round with children.  I went from being single and having all of the freedoms that come with it to being a parent.  A lot of the normal relationship stuff is altered when one person has a child.  The relationship is formed with a complete lack of alone time.  The relationship is formed with always having other people in the mix. It's different, it's strange.

But, now I am subject to trying to play by a different set of rules and a lot of those rules are extremely foreign to me or unknown.  I'm constantly left wondering where my boundaries are, what I can or cannot do.  Is it OK for me to say this or is this something I need to keep my mouth shut on?  That's just at home, throw step grand-parents into the mix and things start to get more complicated.

Today was one of those days.
I was brought up differently than my child and (I assume) my step-siblings.  I have a different belief system of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable and today my words got me into an uncomfortable situation.

I left without bothering to defend myself as I know that it honestly doesn't matter.  I've found a new boundary that I cannot cross while I'm over there and I'll just have to remember it in the future.  But man, doesn't make me feel any less pissed off at this particular moment.

My next post will hopefully be about the lessons I have learned during my first trip to a ComicCon!
P.S. - the end to that USA vs Portugal game absolutely blew.

Soccer Dad

Just some pictures of the other days Soccer practice.
This is their first year in Soccer and they still have a lot of learning to do but they are having fun with practice.
On Saturday they have their first game and while I do understand that they won't play much because there are kids who have been on the team for more years and who are a lot better the coach said that they would try to work them all into the games for a little bit.

So, some random pictures from practice.

Red Rock Excursion

Today after work we took a family outing to the Red Rock Canyon for fun and games among the rocks.
My boy and I climbed all over the place (he did much more than I) while the wifey decided that her fear of heights would keep her back in a more observatory role.

Did over 18k steps today and over 8 miles (both personal bests) and started the day at my lowest weight yet - a flat 219 pounds.

Some pics so y'all can live vicariously through me.

He is a really tiny spec at the top of this rock!

Can you spot my 8 year old?

Bubble Gum Rock - There was a lot more than this sample shows

VICTORY

Sleep is avoiding me

Tonight I took out my boy for his birthday dinner.  It was a good night over all.
During dinner I gave him his present which he was totally not expecting since we had just taken him out to Circus Circus a few days earlier as his "gift."
I gave him one of my old iPod shuffles and put a few songs on there that I know he really likes.
He put some headphones on and rocked out to it all night long.
I couldn't stop smiling with how happy he was just chilling and listening to his music... and singing badly along with it and making up most of the words but changing his made up version every single time.

Oh, it's truly a blessing to be a father.

After parting ways with the family I really wanted to go out and play poker but two factors kept me from doing it.
1 - I felt like I might be getting tired soon and would have to cut my session short and I really, honestly, hate playing if I can't dedicate at least a 4 hour block to it.
2 - The 15 was backed way the fuck up both ways due to an accident heading South right around the Sahara exit.  It was backed up so bad that when I drove by the 15 South entrance from the 95, traffic was parked at that point the whole way back to the entrance.
From the 95 entrance for an accident down near Sahara?  I think I'll pass.
The die-hard's of you are saying "just take the surface streets you lazy bastard" to which I respond by sticking my tongue out in your general direction.

I came home and checked some Facebook and some Twitter.  I deleted a bunch of people I was following who no longer serve any purpose for me.
Basically I'm trying to get rid of my non-poker followings and get rid of the vast majority of the posters who have 20k tweets or more but none that I ever read and make me complain that I always miss the tweets from the people I want to read.
And I'm too lazy to do it through lists and have to pull up the lists through my phone all the time because, quite frankly, it takes too long and I don't have the patience for it.

Kids say the damnedest things:
My fiance was telling me the other day our little multicultural child asked her if we would be having other kids his color.
She had to explain to him that it is impossible because I'm white.
I told her that I've got my eye on her and we BETTER NOT be having any other kids his color :)

I want to get some sleep but I have a Silky Terrier in my bed - in the middle of my bed - wrapped up in the covers.
I generally keep two blankets at my bed.  One on the bed and one off to the side.  Most of the time when Monster lays down I am able to get enough blanket to cover myself and go to sleep but every once in a while he does it in a way that I cannot move the blanket without disturbing him.
This is when I grab the 2nd blanket and use it instead.
The other day he managed to position himself in a manner that I did not have access to either blanket nor 2 of my 3 pillows.
How in the hell does a 15 pound dog take up enough space to interfere with me lying down comfortably?
Better question - why do I take such care to not disturb him and instead contort myself around him as if he runs the place?
I love my fur baby!

Also, last point of interest before I head off to sleep.
Child told me he wanted to watch Doctor Who with me.
I'd love for him to start watching at the new Season 1 - but I think the low budget might be a turn off.  I'm tempted to just let him start with the Matt Smith Seasons and go from there and if he really gets into it then I can take him back to the David Tennant Seasons and so forth!

Mini Vacation and the Joys of my Life

Today is the last day that I work before my 5 days off.
It's probably going to be a busy 5 days off though.

I'm helping my love do some spring cleaning around her house and then I'll be moving on to the same thing around my house.
I'll also be trying to figure out a way to teach a 7 year old how to add money.
He's a tricky one because his need to want to do things quickly and get them over with instead of slowing down to make sure he does it right keeps getting in his way.
He'll add a bunch of dimes together and get them right but once you ask him to throw a nickle in there he doesn't add things up on the "penny" side - he keeps adding them up on the "tens" side instead.
So 3 dimes gives him 30 cents, but ask him to add a nickle to that and he goes (in his head) 40, 50, 60, 70, 80..... 80 cents....
My goal is over the next 5 days to knock that bad habit out of him and get him really good with monies.
Racist joke coming up.
He is black so naturally he is bad with money, I'm just hoping I can rub my whiteness off on him.
End racist joke.

I love that boy and mean no harm by what I said above :)


Since I have known him he has liked to draw little family portraits.
At first it was always him, his mom and his dad.  Add the dog in there and maybe his brother (his cousin, but they were born 2 days apart and call each other brothers).
Then a few months ago I randomly ended up in a couple of the family portraits - but I was waaaayyyyy off to the side.

For instance, he'd have His dad and his mom with him in the middle.  Then his brother would be there and then the dog.  Then like 20 feet to the left would be a tree and I'd be hanging out by the tree watching things like a creepy Peeping Tom or child abductor.

The last portrait was His mom and then me (front and center) with him hanging on me, arms wrapped around, then the dog and his brother.  There was no sign of the actual sperm donor this time.
So, over the course of time I have entered the family and made the portraits.

It made me so happy that he's accepted me and included me into his family and the picture filled me with some sort of pride.  Touched me in a way (but not a touched by an uncle kind of way).
My love took a pic of the picture and sent it to me on my phone and I cannot stop looking at it.
Makes me happy and fills me with joy.

Funny shit, I was going to talk about what my plans were for work and got side tracked.

Oh well.

Until next time.

Turkey Day Part duex

Yesterday was quite an amazing day.  My lady friend (I need to create a Rob type fake name for her so I can stop using other terms to reference her - Any suggestions out there?  I should make her sound exotically Asian and talk about how she spends all my money) came over last night for our delicious Lamb dinner.

This stuff was (to use a phrase I hate) the bomb.  It was delicious and juicy and succlent and everything was holy and good about it.  The sides were good as well with corn, peas, mashed potatoes and stuffing.  For desert there was a choice of cheesecake or pumpkin pie and BOTH were amazingly well done.

Afterwards (and before) I played a bit of Skylanders with the kid and then I started trying to get him into other games.  I introduced him to Jak and Daxter via the HD collection on the PS3.  He quite enjoyed it and in fact called me up earlier today to ask if I could bring it along when I came over for dinner so he could play it afterwards.

Then I introduced him to Marvel vs Capcom (3) and of course he really enjoyed Spiderman (his Favorite Super hero) but told me that Deadpool was annoying because he talked too much.

When I informed him that Deadpool was much like spiderman, only more awesome he looked at me like I was fucking retarded and called me dumb.  Whatever, I love Deadpool.

There will be no video games tonight, however there will be Turkey and Rice.  I'm bringing over a freshly baked (Jell-o No Bake) Cheesecake as my divine offerings to the "make nice with the family" gods.

This will be the first real sit down dinner I have had with her family (I have gone over to watch boxing with them and brought pizza, but that doesn't count) so I'm curious to see how this goes - perchance might even become a bit nervous.

I'm putting on some fresh duds (read not my everyday hobo wear) and even semi shaved today.  Oh yes, it's that type of day.

I've also finished up some more Xmas Shopping by hitting up Walmart who already had their "8pm" video game and blue ray prices in the system.  I didn't buy any movies though - yes, I bought something for myself.

That's how I roll.

Next up on my radar is the big birthday date as I'm taking the little lady out on her birthday to a nice fancy dancy restaurant that she has never been too before.  I've still got to pick up some form of a gift and I don't really feel that an extended battery for her phone screams I Love You very much so that might have to be a throw in Xmas gift instead.

My 3 days off have all been great, nothing to be grrouchie about.

I want to hit up Best Buy tonight at 8pm or so and see if I can luck out and get one of the PS3 3D Displays that they are CLXing out for $99 (they were $499 when they first came out 8 months ago).  This would be a nice edition to the game room - the kid can watch 3D movies or play some games in 3D and be utterly amazed at how awesome I am.  Does it get any better than that?

Tomorrow I work the closing shift and as such I should miss out on most of the actual holiday traffic and maybe have a nice quiet evening where I can get some work done instead of having to actually talk to customers my whole shift.

Only time will tell.

Happy (actual) turkey day folks.

Hope your holiday has been as amazing as mine!