The Sins of Stir Fry and Car Maintenance

 

Thursday, April 11, 2024

I busied myself with files and the usual work I do. Lucky man was off today. He spent some time outside, smoking and reading a book. My second file was almost complete when Mallory called. She inquired if today would be a good day to visit or not. Of course I could shut down the "office" and visit for a while. If need be I could do a couple of files later, after dinner, or just call it a day. Turns out, I did the latter. 

Mallory and I moved the TV cursor through the programs listed on Netflix. I had previously tagged a few of the mystery-whodunit type of movies since we both tend to have an interest in them. 

Most of the films or documentaries we picked through we had either seen before or they just didn't stand out as being a good story to listen to. That's when we came upon one I had tagged to "My List." It was called The Sins of Our Mother. 

Sins of Our Mother told the harrowing tale of Lori Vallow and her three children. Once a mother who cared deeply for her children, held them close to her heart, and would do anything to protect them, she eventually became known in the media as "the doomsday mom." That's all I will say, as I won't give away anything. Mallory and I watched, with our mouths hanging open, gasping as the film told an incredibly horrible tale. 

Lori Vallow and her two oldest children. (Netflix)

After watching, we got our heads back into reality. Wow. Just insanity. The show, not us and not reality. It took a few moments to come down off the roller coaster ride we took. Batshit crazy to the fullest definition. 

Once Mallory left, the pets were found sleeping near each other, which is a bit odd. Typically Kit will come into the room and Togo will grab his platy to protect it from the "wild" creature coming toward his precious emotional support toy. Tonight was different. He curled up alongside the feline and they began to snore in unison. 

I wanted to go with something healthy tonight. Whipping up a stir fry with fresh veggies and a bag of frozen, then frying some fried rice to go with it, the meal was complete. It tasted good tonight! Sweet man and I ate quite a bit. We were definitely full while watching another episode or two of The Resident. 

Off to bed after our second episode. But, it was about 1:15 or so and we both had to get up to get ready. We have a trip to Eugene planned for Friday! Our car's very first maintenance appointment was made for Friday at 11:30 AM. I contacted the girls to see who could make it for a meet up while we were in town. Dawn was free. Kylee and Jess were free.

 Brandy had to work and then had an appointment set and Marina had plans with her crazy-busy hubby she hardly sees during tax season. John is a CPA for a very busy company. Once tax season is close to being over, John finally gets a break from working late on weeknights and even a lot of weekends. They were going to their annual celebratory meeting to cut loose and have some fun with the other CPAs of the firm. Good for them. He deserves it. 

Friday, April 12, 2024

We pulled up to the dealership, dropped off the car, and got into Dawn's car to return to Jessee's house. Terry and I got the grand tour of Jessee's new home and then off we went to one of my favorite pizzerias, Papa's Pizza Parlor. 

Papa's had an all you can eat pizza and salad bar. Right up our alley when considering a good lunch and a great place to go. 

Jess, Zyrah, Dawn, Kylee and Terry went for the pizza and salad bar to choose their eats of choice. I sat at our table, waiting patiently. I can walk to join them, using the walker, but can't carry my food back on a plate. One thing is missing on a walker, and that is a tray. 

I stood at the salad bar and chose my food, while Terry built the salad. Everything looked so good. I chose the taco pizza and a good salad with eggs, sunflower seeds, cucumber, and ranch dressing. Love it!

Terry helped me to the table and placed my food on the table in front of me. He returned to the salad bar to get his own lunch going. Coming back to the table within moments, he placed his food down next to mine. We began to eat as Dawn, Kylee, Jess, and Zyrah were battling to keep Zyrah at the table. The outdoor playground area was calling her name. She can eat any time, but the video arcade and play toys were her addiction. 

Jess kept putting sliced peaches in front of her as an enticement to remain seated, but to no avail. The girl was off on an adventure, but ran into a roadblock. The door to the play room was far too heavy. We all giggled, knowing she would have to come back. That is until the door fairy opened it for her. A woman at the next table pushed it open and released Zyrah into the wild. 

With glass windows all around, we could watch her as she ran from play station to station, playing with the controllers on the games and the toys for younger children. Dawn ran outside to capture her attention to pizza again, but instead went down the large play slide with her a couple of times. 

The children in the playroom looked as though they were being tortured somehow, but they were actually having fun. I have no idea why they are in the positions they are in. 

Dawn and Jess tried every formidable presentation of peaches and cottage cheese, juice, and pizza to get little Z to focus on eating. Off she ran after grandma gave her the quarters she begged for to go get the eggs filled with prizes. No, not this grandma. Not GG, as I am called. Not great grandma. This is grandma, or Dawn giving her what she wants. Silly woman. Let her hit those teen years and watch how grouchy she becomes when she doesn't get her way. They never learn. 

After eating lunch, we went to Jessee's home again. We all climbed into Dawn's car at this point to ride to Dawn's house and see her father-in-law, Lorenzo.  

Lorenzo is Dawn's father-in-law. He has ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. It is a form of muscular dystrophy. Horrible disease. I had a friend who died from it years ago. Anyway, Lorenzo is one of the sweetest people I have ever met in my life. Terry adores him too. As a matter of fact, I can't think of anyone who doesn't like Lorenzo. The man has a heart of gold. 

We visited Lorenzo and looked at Kylee's cat, Gracie. Bella, Dawn's dog was sitting on the back of the couch too and we enjoyed seeing her again. Our visit ended after Terry contacted the dealership after four hours of our car being maintained. They said the papers had just hit the desk and the car was ready. 

Not more than 15 minutes later, Terry received a phone call. It was the dealership, letting him know the car was ready. We all giggled about it and packed our stuff into Dawn's car, one more time. 

We picked up our Kia, hugged Dawn goodbye and thanked her for her taxi services for the day. We climbed into our vehicle and pointed it toward Roseburg. 

I was in the boot all day today, so my foot and leg was swollen. A little pain was shooting through the outside of my ankle, which makes sense to me. My ankle is now home to a plate and 12 screws that hold my ankle in place. As gross as it is, I had to put my foot up on the dashboard to see if I could get the swelling down at least a bit, with no such luck. 

Walking dogs and petting Kit, unloading stuff from the car, and the night was ours again. Terry went outside to smoke a stogie. I came into the house and sat behind my laptop. I had stuff to write, things to read, and there was fun to be had. So, here I am. Reliving the day as I get memories into the post.  

Earlier I walked little Jasper or at least held the leash to let him go out and walk in the front yard, while keeping my butt securely situated in the wheelchair seat. While he was doing his outdoor doo-ties, I took a couple of pics of the climbing rose bush that is going crazy right now. 

Yes, the grass in our driveway is so tall now. We have a guy coming to mow this weekend. I can't get out there and Terry is really allergic to grass plus has a muscular surgery fail on his arm. It makes it difficult for him to hold a weed eater up long enough to get this type of task completed. I love doing it, but just can't right now, so here it sits, burying our rosebush. 

Our evening is going to consist of watching an episode or two of The Resident again, then heading for bed. Usually at this point in the post I call for moments of loving each other or for counting your blessings. Tonight I'm going to ask for everyone to pick up once piece of garbage per day that you locate alongside the road or on a sidewalk or wherever you may see debris that does not belong. 

I will post more on this later, but I had a real eye opener on our drive to Eugene today. We are genuinely destroying this beautiful state. Oregon has such gorgeous, lush greenery and it's all destroyed by many piles of garbage you see along the sides of our roads or in fields or pastures. I don't know why we can't learn to take care of our environment. Please take the time to get at least one piece of this garbage thrown into our trash cans where it belongs. Do it for future generations who will also follow our lead.

Treat the earth well. 

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. 

We borrow it from our children. 

(Taken from Dr. Helen Caldicott's principium of "We did not inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrowed it from our descendants."