Too much about the election and not enough about the girls.

It seems I spend a few moments every time I open up the computer these days finding the little white arrow that will guide me to where I want to go. I know it’s a sign of getting older, though I still feel like the fifteen year old I was Fifty one, almost fifty two years ago. I’ve got the brain of a fifteen year old, I know. I like to sit around all day, these days and watch TV, yeah, fifteen year old stuff.

My daughters are trying to grow up and in some ways they are successful. Last week I asked Nastia if she wanted to cook dinner with me. We both had worked that day and were tired. She hesitated in her answer, so I knew she didn’t want to, but she helped me with dinner, doing most of it. I enjoy making dinner with her and I’m happy when she joins me. We make some interesting dishes too. They range from basic comfort food like MeaMaw’s chicken casserole to Indian dishes and Cajun food.I’ve gone out, gotten Indian spices, and mixed creole seasoning. One of the best feelings is when the people you cook for, say the recipe is a keeper, meaning it gets put in the binder to make again. I hope that all these different foods helps Nastia broaden what she will serve at her table. After that night, over the weekend, Nastia made, nodollar pancakes, but half dollar to quarter size pancakes.

Elena is still Elena, as she always will be. I don’t yell at her and if I know she is in a bad mood and I have to call her because she is late for a fabulous diner or maybe she is staying away because the last dinner was Paula Dean’s Chicken Florentine and I didn’t have the spice Curry and Google said to substitute with Red Pepper and Cumin, if I remember correctly and it was awful both time we tried to eat it. So I’ll call her and just talk to her about whatever comes into my head. I get her talking, I’m talking very calmly and there is no urgency and when I get around to it, I remind her we are sitting down to dinner or already have and she is missing out on a really great meal, at least most times. We can’t always do a MeaMaw’s chicken casserole.

It was election day recently and I will say I’m a Republican who can never vote for a clown and never have. The line to vote at six in the morning was long, but moved. Nastia and Teri voted when Nastia came home from work at three-thirty. The line wasn’t too long. Lots and lots of people voted early and by all definitions the American Experiment had a banner day, and like the election in 2020 was fair and the voice of the people was heard. I hope in four years, first to be alive, and second to look back and say I was wrong about him and the world and the US are better for it. We are just not starting out very well with his cabinet picks. I was supposed to not say all of that. I was going to do a short lead in to Elena not voting, she said because neither candidate was very good. I was very disappointed because her old country is run by a dictator with visions of rebuilding the Russian Empire, and you only have to be fearful if you say anything he disagrees with. I think it was the weekend before election day, Elena said she had talked to Sean Sr. and he was going to come by and lend a hand with some of the issues we are having on the Corvette. I was very glad he showed up and Elena and him straightened out the rear right of the car where it had been hit. He showed her where everything fit back in and how sometimes you have to use a little force. The two of them did more in a short afternoon, then Elena and I in weeks. Yes, I didn’t turn a wrench. I stood by to get tools and jack and whatever else they needed. I felt Sean’s pain when he tried to get up off the ground after working on the car. Needless to say, very little has been done since. I asked Sean Sr., and I warned him I was going to put him on the spot. I asked if the body work was finished, can we return the car to the shop to work on the engine? His reply was,”If it was up to me, …” I knew he would say, yes, but I stopped him and said I understand. He loves working on cars and I bet he loves the old stuff more.

Teri has baby sat KJ whenever Amanda has been at work and no one else is available. Usually it’s four days, this past week she watched him all five days. She loves that kid to death and I hope KJ remembers his time with her and it makes a huge impact on the man he grows up to be. Hopefully he will be someone who loves too much, is respectful, kind, and very giving of himself. Teri puts a lot of energy into the time he is here in the house. She is exhausted at the end of the day when she drops him off. I bet you she wouldn’t trade the time she spends with him for that job she chased over the last several years. Maybe this is God’s plan. She was meant to care for him and make him a better person. Better than he could be without her.KJ drew a picture of his day with his Great Aunt Teri

Teri has made her Christmas list for 2024. It seems she has just recycled her 2023 list, boy how lazy can you be!