Monday, January 19, 2015

the 61st week


Monday. My morning was spent at The Anchor followed by an afternoon of shooting zombies. I went back by The Anchor before heading up to West Chester. Ashley, the girls, and I made ribs, rice, vegetables, and cheddar cheese bay biscuits for dinner. Chloe was in a horrible mood and got grounded from her tablet for another 24-hours. She's a lot like Ams was as a kid: ornery, sassy, and self-absorbed. She'll grow out of it, but it's giving Ashley hell. Once the girls went to bed, Ashley and I lit candles and hung out in the kitchen, drinking whipped vodka and discussed our zombie survival strategies and the dinosaur classification tree (we're studying ornithopods at the moment). She thought the Parasaurolophus roar was just as chilling as when I first heard it. "It's like stepping straight back into the Cretaceous!" I exclaimed. We ended the evening watching the first half of Schindler's List; she was curled up on my side and passed out before they even started gassing the Jews.

Tuesday. I went to The Anchor to read Zealot while drinking coffee and spent the late morning hanging out with Ashley. She put Zoey down for a nap, and she did some schoolwork while I played Dead Island: Riptide. I'm always a fan of killing some zombies. I worked 2-8:00 in Blue Ash and went back by Ashley's. She made peanut butter rice krispies. I rounded out the evening reading more Zealot and doing some scripting for The Procyon Strain: Book Two. I've FINALLY finished all the revisions and am able to focus on original work. I should've celebrated with a cigar; after all, the revision process took about four years! Helluva good way to kick off 2015. 

Wednesday. I changed things up and went to Waffle House instead of The Anchor, and I finished Reza Aslan's Zealot over diner coffee. I hung out with Ashley before work: we watched The West Wing in her bedroom! That's exciting, because we can actually hang out there now (she moved Zoey's bed into her brother's old room). I worked 3-8:00 in Blue Ash and took Jason to Ballroom dancing. I headed back over to Ashley's, and she did homework and I shot some zombies. We rounded out the night watching some more of The West Wing and reading scripture together.

Thursday. I decided to sleep in instead of going to The Anchor before work. I worked 8:30-4:00 and took the guys to Gorman Heritage Farms, our first time back since the new year started. I headed over to Ashley's after work. Ams came over, too, and we made a vegetable pizza using a cauliflower crust. It was... different. Zoey loves it when I play Dead Island; "baby wow!" she exclaims, and she makes all sorts of ridiculous faces when zombies attack. Chloe's been asking all sorts of questions about zombies--"Do zombies try to be humans? Do zombies know they're dead? Do zombies come out of graveyards?"--and she likes to sit on my lap as I play. Ams headed out, and Ashley and I put the girls to bed, and she did homework and I played Dead Island late into the night.

FridayAshley and the girls accompanied me to a trip up to Dayton to rifle through the crawlspace looking for books I've misplaced. Chloe and Zoey played with the dogs, and Ashley and my grandma talked for a while. We headed back to Ashley's place. I was going to go to Waffle House to do some reading but ended up taking a nap instead while Ashley watched Salem. Ams came over, and she and the girls put on fake tattoos. Zoey stripped naked and demanded to have tattoos placed all over her body, and she ran around the house screaming "tattoo! tattoo!" Ashley and I made hushpuppies and pita pizza for dinner, and after the girls went to bed, I helped her with her ecology homework and we talked a lot about global warming, Christian environmental ethics, and how George Bush should be tried for war crimes. We disagree about a lot, but that keeps things interesting.

SaturdayI went to The Anchor to do some journaling before heading up to see Ashley and the girls. When Zoey went down for a nap, Chloe and I hung out while Ashley ran to a meeting for work. When she got back, we hung out in her room and Chloe walked in on us making out. Her face flushed red and she bolted out of the room and hid behind a chair because she was embarrassed to have intruded. I headed to Blue Ash and fixed a fantastic dinner for Jason and me: grilled chicken sandwiches paired with macaroni & cheese. I spent the evening reading and writing as Jason relaxed with Galaxy Quest. I was in bed in the Staff Room by 10:30 and promptly fell asleep after Ashley and the girls swung by to see me.

SundayI went to The Anchor for coffee and reading and then headed to West Chester to go to church with Ashley and the girls. Church didn't work out; Zoey's come down with a 101 degree fever. So we stayed indoors with the girls and spent the day hanging out. Ams came over and hung out with us. I left around 8:00 and did some reading at the Hobbit Hole before bed.

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