Tag: Stay at Home Dad

  • Day Two with a Sick Kid (Random Stuff)

    To answer the question from yesterday’s blog, yes I am using my sick kid to procrastinate. Half the day has gone by, and only now am I getting around to do the stuff I need to do.

    I started the day on the right foot, though. I was up on time, and sat down on the couch and got about twenty good minutes writing in my journal. I hashed out all the stuff that had happened yesterday; sick kid, pediatrician visit, lack of production, and also I got stuck in a death spiral of thinking about all the mistakes I made five years ago, and how much of an idiot I was  and why I just can’t let that shit go, you know.

    Then the kid got up. She didn’t look good; low fever, headache, sick to her stomach. We sent her back to bed with some children’s Tylenol. In the quiet two hours that followed, I could have got some work done, but again, I found myself on my phone. I did the dishes, but honestly, that was another delay tactic on my behalf.

    A minute ago, we sat down and did her homework together. I mean, I was sitting next to her while she did it. It was more like overseeing homework. If she wanted some screen time, then I said she needed to get the majority of her work done, which she did. We only have to do thirty minutes of reading, and I intend to read the latest New Yorker short story.

    But I want to make chicken stock, so I have the base to make potato leek soup for dinner tonight. And I haven’t sketched in a while, so it would be nice to tackle that today was well. And that one flash story got rejected from another magazine – that would be the piece that I have been trying to rewrite for a week now. Yeah, I think this is the sign that I need to do the rewrite.

    Let’s see how much I can get done.

  • The Ol’ Sick Kid Bit

    I had plans today, but the kid got sick. Well, she got sick at school and I had to go and pick her up. I mean, she woke up early and wasn’t feeling the best, but she said it was only a headache and she could deal with it. Then, when she got to school, she started feeling worse, and her teacher called me to say that I should come and pick her up.

    Which I did. And she didn’t look good when I got her. Real pale, and whimpering a little, too. Just a sad sack. When we got home, she took a nap right away. She never takes naps, so the fact that she took one leads me to believe that she actually wasn’t feeling good.

    As for my plans… they’re shot to hell. I got the laundry done, and I will get a blog out today. Yet, I doubt I will make it to my journal, and there was this rewrite of a flash piece that I wanted to complete.

    But… We just watched an old David Tennant Doctor Who episode. That was kind’a cool.

    But… I’m still not getting my work done.

    At some point I have to start asking myself if I’m being a good dad, or am I rationalizing my procrastination? You know, using the kid as an excuse.

    I feel like I should be doing more, creating more, and then I also have this feeling come over me that none of this really matters. It is a fool’s errand that I am on; somehow thinking that any of this amounts to something.

    If it gives me purpose? If it means something to me? Does that have value?

    You know, following my bliss only seems to lead me introspective questions.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Blame the Mother, Khaki Pants, and Things I was Wrong About

    (Sugar Ray say…)

    Last night I was having drinks with a friend, and old friend from high school, so we have known each other forever. We got on the topic of parental roles, as she feels that as a mother, she inevitably always gets blamed by her kid for everything. (Our kids are pretty close in age.) I don’t think she’s wrong, mom’s do take the brunt of blame, at least that’s what my mom claimed all the time. But, I wondered if one’s parental role plays a factor? My friend and her husband both work, and split equally parenting their kid; both cook, clean, do laundry, do homework, go to playdates, and dance classes…etc. While in our household, my wife works, and I take care of the kid and home. So, I feel like I take the brunt of blame from the kid, which I attribute to spending the most time being with the kid on a given day. As such, our discussion fell along those lines; is parental blame due to gender roles, or quantity of time spent with the kid? I don’t think there is a clear answer to this other than when our kids do something right, the first person they thank is always mom.

    I have to buy khaki pants soon. The pants have seen better days, as I purchased them right before Covid. (Because Covid is a designation of time, and not just an event.) I used to never own khaki pants. Like, went out of my way not to own any. I think it was due to those stupid GAP swing dancing commercials in the 90’s. (I wonder how many of those people in that commercial are now teaching dance classes?) Then I job a job, and I started wearing a tie, and a sports coat, and I got khaki pants to go along with the whole thing. Now, I have the same number of khaki pants as I do jeans. Funny how life changes you.

    Speaking of which…

    I can admit now that I was wrong about a couple of things:

    1. Sugar Ray
    2. The Texas Rangers this Season
    3. Jasper Johns

  • Only a Minute for a Blog (Unedited)

    I just can’t on a rainy day. And it’s been raining for three days, and odds are that we will get a fourth. I would give anything to curl up on the couch and read for the rest of the day… But not in the cards. I will keep drinking coffee, though.

    I only have a minute to squeeze in a blog today, and this is that minute.

    And with this fast minute, I will tell you that the guys working on the condo towner behind my building are working in the rain. No one looks like they are in a good mood, but come to think of it, I don’t believe I have ever seen a person working at a construction site who looks happy.

    But the construction worker’s life and cranes keep beeping non-stop. It’s like they are perpetually backing up forever. We aren’t getting the sounds of saws, or hammering, or screw guns; nope, it’s eight hours of back up beeps. Like an audio torture. I can only wonder how long this can go on for, but I know that all things must end.

    Thus, the day I am forced with. Mondays are always challenging being that it is the start of the week, and if there was a day to set the tone for the week – then that is Monday. It is rainy, cold, gray, and beeping. In nine minutes, I have to take lunch out of the over, and feed myself and my wife. This is meatless Monday, as prescribed by our daughter, and we will be enjoying black bean taquitos from Trader Joe’s. And if I might add, this is also fiction-less Mondays as well. I normally don’t get a chance to write fiction on Mondays. I keep feeling this is a situation that I could correct, but I haven’t been able to for over a year.

    Sadly, have to go. More later…

  • ODDS and ENDS: Feeding My Family, North London Derby, and David Brooks Didn’t Want to Catch His Flight

    (So remember… How amazingly unlikely is your birth;)

    I’m a stay at home dad; a primary care giver to my daughter and wife. It was a job that I was asking for, but now that I have accepted it, I do enjoy it. There is one aspect of this position that I am still surprised by, and that is the amount of time I now spend thinking about meals for my family. I have enjoyed cooking since back in my college days. My roommate and best friend got me a wok for a birthday gift one year, and that honestly was one of the best gifts I ever received. Not only did I enjoy cooking with that wok, but it also started me on a food journey. Furthermore, I was very lucky that my wife is a trained chef and pastry chef as well – which is like winning the lottery, if you’re wondering. She has been a great inspiration and guide for me as I discover and try new foods and preparations. Though I do the majority of cooking, she can still drop in the kitchen and knock it out of the park when she feels inspired. Anyway… Most days I do triple duty by making breakfast, lunch and dinner, and as such I try hard not to repeat flavors and textures in a day, or even following days. Most of the time it feels like a Tetris puzzle that I have to fit tightly together, appeasing all pallets. It can be challenging, but the reward of keeping the people I love feed is deeply satisfying.

    You better believe that I am going to write about Tottenham Hotspur! This Sunday is the North London Derby – Arsenal vs Tottenham. Yup, Arsenal will be the first true test for Tottenham’s manager, Ange Postecoglou, to prove he has turned this team around. In Spurs first six matches, they have only played one team that is in the top half of the table. Also, they are giving up an average of one goal a game, so this is a team that, on paper, hasn’t played stellar football. That’s where Arsenal comes in, as this will be a game on the road for Tottenham in the very unfriendly Emirates Stadium. If you wanted to have a statement match, this is it. I do like what Postecoglou has done by making this team more aggressive, and controlling the ball. Madison has been a great addition in the midfield creating many great passing opportunities for Son, Solomon and Kulusevski. Also, Richarlison finally scored a goal last week, which hopefully was his coming out, and will get him more chances up front. But the defense is what makes me worried. Arsenal doesn’t let up, and they clearly are gunning to dominate the League and give City a run for the title. Lots is a the line, which will probably make the match a chippy one!

    Did you catch David Brooks Tweet the day before? It’s more silly and tone deaf than anything – but the gist of it is that he was trying to make a correlation between his “expensive” $78 lunch at Newark Airport and America’s inflation issues. But if you look closely at the picture, you can see that there is a glass of scotch/whiskey/bourbon(?) which is the main reason why his $78 lunch was $78. Some internet sleuths were able to find out that the burger and fries was a combo meal costing $17, and that a top shelf drink was close to $25, which logically would mean that David had two drinks. Two drinks in the afternoon before a flight? See, my question here isn’t about Brook’s fake outrage over his costly lunch, but what’s on the other end of that flight that he isn’t eager to deal with?