Made it a Blockbuster Night

I started a new job last week, well a new position at my job anyway. With this new role, comes new responsibilities, a new paycheck and new hours. I used to work from 7 to 4, avoiding most of the traffic and associated road rage. Now, that I am working 8:30 to 5:30ish and getting home and settled closer to 7pm, I’ve been neglecting my Xbox. With Roo still fighting like a girl in Greenville and Jessica out celebrating her princess month and Halloween, I went into Friday night with the home alone and full expectation of devoting several hours to Call of Duty and Madden. Instead, I made it a blockbuster night. And while there weren’t many blockbusters that jumped out at me on the new release wall, I will get caught up on some of the sci-fi titles that Riley and I have passed over on previous trips. Riley isn’t big into movies that couldn’t really happen so an alien-induced Indiana Jones flick, an alien that makes the Earth stand still for a day and some sort of alien that turns New York into a cloverfield were films I was able to enjoy instead of the Xbox and Roo was able to avoid altogether. I just need to find a personal movie clause that will allow me to avoid the next Nicholas Sparks flick.

Act Like a Man

One of many memorable scenes of the Godfather is the part where Don Corleone slaps a wimpering Johnny Fontaine and demands that the struggling singer can “act like a man.” Basically, the Godfather is telling troubled troubadour to grow up and stop crying. Riley hasn’t seen me cry in some time, probably since we saw "Marley and Me." And she has never slapped me and told me to grow up, though I suspect she has thought about it on a few occasions such as when she walked in on one of my xbox sessions in which I am arguing with a 9 year old.

Well, this week, I have taken a step forward, I’ve grown up a little. I started a new job on Friday, a new role at the same company and I honestly feel like I’ve taken a huge step forward professionally. Her dream job is to be a stay at home mom and I really think I’ve made a strong move in that direction. In other recent adult moves, I fixed two sinks, have flossed every day since my last checkup at the dentist, learned that kitchen knives are shaped differently to serve different purposes, graduated from using watermelon scented baby shampoo by switching to manly high endurance sports body wash and I’ve stuck to a workout regiment for an entire week.

So any tears you see from me are tears of joy when I say Happy 17^th Month Anniversary Roo!

Dog Tired

I wish the second half of the weekend would drag on and play out as long as Friday afternoons in the office always seem to do. Another weekend has flown by, and this one has left us dog tired, literally. As I type, Kennedy is no doubt dreaming of open fields, squirrels and steak scraps.

Friday night, we celebrated the birthdays of Jessica (sister) and Jessica (bridesmaid) at Nikko's, a sushi hotspot in Charlotte. I spent Saturday getting an oil change (sorry Dad, I know you told me I should do this myself), cutting the grass (which I thought had stopped growing for the fall, only to find it growing faster than it did in May) and fixing the sink (well, repairing two chips in the porcelain that I am responsible for creating). Riley was out at about getting her hair done, shopping and planning the week's menu for me. We also entertained cousin Morgan, who came to town to gauge interest from brother Phil about a European trip next summer. That involved a little housecleaning accompanied by laundry. After Sunday school, it was time to switch gears and prepare Roo for her next trip to Greenville. The whirlwind weekend has finally calmed and while we are both briefly relaxing in the living room, laptops in hand, we should maybe take a hint from Max on how to best spend the next few free minutes.

Taking a Time Out

As you may have been tracking, Riley has been away, serving as caregiver for her mom as they fight like girls against multiple myeloma. Back home, I ruled the house. With that great power, comes great responsibility. So while I am able to spend more time with the Xbox, which temporarily resides downstairs on the big screen when Roo is away, I also am in charge of the chores, dry cleaning and weekly menu, among other things. Not to say I can’t hold my own or haven’t been on my own before, but I don’t recall it ever being this long. I think the hardest part was creating the weekly menu for Jessica and me. It isn't that beef taco night or cheeseburgers on the George Foreman, weren't delicious but our menu wasn't nearly as diverse as Riley would have made it, nor did it possess anywhere close to the daily recommended allowance of vegetable servings. I didn’t have a problem telling Jessica to do her homework and I did manage the dry cleaning. Still, I have yet to align my definition of clean with Riley’s, so while maybe the bathroom wasn’t up to Roo’s standards when she returned home Friday, it wasn’t the disaster it had been on Thursday. Maybe I procrastinate too much, or maybe I work better under pressure. But to an extent, I think I take free time for granted, in the sense that I should have a better grasp on how to make the best use of it. If I didn’t stay up until midnight playing Madden, it’d probably be easier to match my socks at 6 in the morning. If I didn’t snooze the alarm or stall for stretching before softball, maybe I’d be able to update the blog more frequently or wake the next day without sore knees. Or maybe the way I use my time in part defines exactly who I am, it is just that all the time, no matter what I am doing, Riley is in my mind. All in all, in the time she has been away, I am so proud of the strength Riley has given her mom and family through her support. And I am so very appreciative of all she does to support this house, this relationship and so very appreciative of the time she is home. And she is home now, so I am going to spend less time on the laptop, and more with her.