It is about 10 PM on the first Friday of June 2020. The week has been long, but it has been a good week all around. The boys are in the garage apartment enjoying “brother time”. Pumpkine is on the edge of my bed cleaning herself. Her brother kitties are in the living room with Potatoe. By the end of this post, I will explain why Potatoe is in the living room, instead of with me.
The day started early with back-to-back conference calls. As planned, I had a break in conference calls around noon, and I took Little Chirp to brunch. Getting out the door for brunch was an experience all its own. Prior to the “New Normal”, Little Chirp was always the last one out the door. This used to drive me crazy. The kid could not find his shoes or turn out his bedroom lights, even just closing a door seemed to take him forever. I used rev the engine of my high end sports car as he started to finally get into the car just to startle him and sort of punish him for being the last one to get into the car every time that we went some where.
This afternoon was no different; except, it was completely different. Different in that Little Chirp’s delinquency in getting out the door seemed amusing. My calls for work ran later than planned, so everyone was extra hungry before it was time to go. Little Chirp was first of the boys to get into the shower, and should have been ready long before his brother was ready, and before my work calls were done. Instead, I finished my work calls to find Little Chirp sitting on the edge his bed playing with his phone. I told him to hurry up because we were waiting on him. I go to check on Brainy Bird, and I find that Brainy Bird has been ready and working on his summer class for awhile.
I go back into the main house to find Little Chirp darting out of his room, dressed to go, but all of his lights are on. He stops and begins to head back to his room, when I pick up my phone and click all of his lights off with the push of a button. Home automation is great! Little Chirp gets to the laundry room, which is the last room one passes through to get out the door, and it is where we store our shoes. He looks in the shoe basket, and his shoes are not there. Brainy Bird meets us just in time to find brother is missing his shoes. Brainy Bird heads back to the garage apartment to see if Little Chirp shoes are there, no luck. Little Chirp then heads to the garage apartment to see if his shoes are there. No, they did not magically appear with the second search. Little Chirp goes back into the house to look. Brainy Bird and I go into the kitchen and unload the entire dishwasher while we wait. Little Chirp finds his shoes are at the front door. He returns to the kitchen with his shoes; it is now a solid 30 minutes since my conference call ended.
I am almost afraid to look, I peak down the hallway, and you guessed it, Little Chirp’s bedroom lights are on again. He shouts, “Alexa, turn off Kyle’s lights, and they go out.”
We start to head out the door, and Little Chirp says, “Wait! I forgot my phone.” I said nothing. The look on my face let him know that he did not need to go back for his phone. The three of us pile into the car, and Brainy Bird double checks to make sure that he has his wallet, which he does. He always has it, yet he always checks for it. I start to laugh; my laugh let the boys know that I was not mad. How could I be?
Little Chirp says, “I am sorry; it has just been so long since we went to breakfast. I was all over the place.”
We loved our breakfast. Brainy Bird had a bacon and cheese omelet, Little Chirp had the Crazy Cowboy, which is a play on eggs benedict. The bread layer is Texas toast, the meat is chicken fried steak, topped with the eggs and then cream gravy and hollandaise sauce. It is sooooo good. I indulged with a breakfast sandwich and a side of French fries and gravy. The French fries paired with the gravy made me miss Canada.
The boys and I returned home and I finished my work, and the boys worked more on home automation. This time they did the lights in my room. After work, I let the boys have some video game time, while I enjoyed happy hour with my friends at my favorite bar. It is so good to see everyone again.
From happy hour the boys and I went with Page and Yvonne to Shogun. I have got to quit treating every meal out like it is my last. I ate way too much, but it was soooo good. Little Chirp tried the Japanese stir fry noodles for the first time. I had forgotten how good those noodles are. Brainy Bird and I shared steak, scallops and shrimp. When Little Chirp was done with his, he ate the rest of my steak and scallops.
After dinner, the boys headed home with cookies from our favorite locally owned bakery in the same shopping center as Shogun. They even took home a treat for Potatoe. I hopped in the car with Page and Yvonne, and we stopped off at our favorite bar for one drink. It was only 9:30, yet I was so tired.
I got home just a bit ago to find that Potatoe pooped on the carpet. He went on my morning run and two walks today. He had plenty of opportunity to get his business done outside. I am pretty sure his pooping on the carpet is a sign of protest of me leaving the house. I scolded him, and now he is pouting in his spot underneath my desk. I know that he won’t stay there. Once the lights go out, he will want to be in the bed. Having a bed to sleep in is really important to Potatoe. Pour Potatoe has gotten really spoiled during all of this.
It has been a great week on so many fronts. Our adventures in dining out seem trivial, but this is something that we missed. I loved having this time today with the boys and with my friends.
It is the little things in life.