Driving, Dating, Eating...

So the Memorial Day weekend had it's fair share of highlights, both good and bad. Friday at noon started with me picking up the rugrats from school so that they could finish packing for our roadtrip to North Carolina for a family reunion. Once they were packed, the missus returned home from work so that we could pack their things in the car and get the hell outta Dodge. Well, leaving Dodge wasn't that easy. There was an accident on I85 4 miles north of 285 that had everything at a standstill. Not knowing there was an accident, we got off on I285 at Chamblee-Dunwoody and took backstreets to I85. It was there that we discovered the problem. 1 hour later, (approximately 6 miles total), we got around the accident and were on our way.

The plan was to drive to Charlotte and sleep overnight. Bad idea! There was a NASCAR race in Charlotte this weekend (skip that idea!). So we ate in Charlotte (wonderful Mexican place called Cinco De Mayo near Concord Mills Mall in Concord, NC) and decided to drive to Greensboro to find a hotel and crash. Not only were we able to find a hotel, but we found it cheap (40 bucks!). So we decided to get two rooms, one for the kids, one for us, so that we could have some 'private' time sans kids. We told the kids that the plan was to wake up by 7:30, pack, be dressed, and ready by 8:30. We received a phone call from them at 8:15am indicating they were packed, dressed, and ready to continue on (gotta love my kids!!).

So, we drove to Henrico, NC for the family reunion. It was approximately 2.5 hrs from Greensboro. We got there around 11:30AM just as many were pulling up. Because this is my wife's family, most of these people I don't know. So you do what every member of a family married into it does: SMILE....A LOT! It was great to see some familiar faces as well as learn a few new faces and look to see how big the kids have grown since the last family reunion.

So we left, Henrico, NC around 5:30 PM on our way to Hampton/Newport News, VA to visit wife's aunt and grandfather. Hampton is about 2 hours from Henrico, NC. My wife's aunt (wife's father's sister) is dealing with cancer and rounds of radiation/chemotherapy. She's lost about 50 lbs, but her spirit is really strong and to see that is encouraging. We ate apple pie for dinner (I had a beer as well), visited her grandfather briefly, before we off to sleep for a early morning departure of 6:00 AM Sunday morning.

The 5:00 AM alarm buzzed and I was not ready to budge. Driving that distance takes a lot out of you. But I was really looking forward to my Sunday evening plans :-) So we got up, and were on the road by 6:00 AM. What's funny about all of this, my wife is not a morning person. However, she was up and ready to take on the world. I guess a date with her boyfriend is what it takes to motivate her (lol I'll keep that in mind for future reference). But we arrived in Atlanta at 3:30 PM.

Before I could take our two bags out of the car, she was already in the house showering in preparation to leave again. I fell asleep and never heard her leave (lol). However, I had my own date to prepare for. So I did a little work in preparation for the upcoming week in the office, showered, and even gave myself a homegrown edge. I thought about shaving but didn't see the point because 1) I shaved Friday morning and 2) I don't grow hair all that fast on my face. I did get in a quick workout to get the pheromones pumping through my body.

The date with W could not have gone any better. I picked her up and we went to a coffee house in downtown Decatur. We won't discuss me walking into the yogurt shop next door, but it was entertaining. We discussed everything, her past relationships, my days as a swinging couple, how the missus and I progressed toward polyamory, our needs/wants/desires and all types of scenarios we might encounter. It seems as though we both really like each other and respect our differences enough not to make the other too uncomfortable. I just hope for me, personally, that I can be someone positive to influence and enhance her relationship with her husband. And from the sounds of our discussions on Sunday, I think I have become that positive influence :-)

So why the picture of the soup? One of the many discussions with W was about the fact that she is not a great cook. She'd probably kill me for putting this here, but oh well. She mentioned the fact that she likes to make various types of soups (and the light goes on for everyone). It was at that time I remembered I had a couple of  ham bones in the freezer and wanted to thaw one  . So from the moment she mentioned making soup, I've had ham and bean soup on the brain. So as I type this entry, the smell of ham and bean soup in the crockpot permeate throughout my home. If you're interested, I'll list the base ingredients used to make the soup:

1 Ham bone with some meat on it
1 lb of dry great northern beans (soak the dry beans overnight in a pot for 6-8 hrs)
1 qt of water
1 qt of chicken broth
1 medium onion chopped
2 stalks of celery chopped
1-2 carrots sliced
1 minced garlic or 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
2 bay leaves
1 spring of rosemary or 1/4 teaspoon of dry rosemary
1-2 basil leaves or 1/4 teaspoon of dry basil
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot. Cover with lid and turn on high to cook for 4-5 hrs or low for 8-10 hrs.

That's all I have for now. I hope W realizes that the meal my wife and I consume tonight was inspired by her. I see a wonderful future with her and look forward to more great dates and conversations.

- MSS

Musings of a Suburban Dad

Welcome back! It's been a great weekend, but I wanted to take the time to discuss someone near and dear to me. My daughter, of course! She is soon to be 11 years old, and she loves her daddy. It seems lately, that we have spent more time together than we have in the past. Part of that is due to the fact that my wife now works Saturdays, so I'm responsible for all of those weekend activities (practices, birthday parties, sleepovers, etc...). It's okay, really. This is just payback for all those business trips in which I wasn't involved and forced her to manage and deal with.

About two weeks ago, our subdivision had a Reopening the Pool Party in which they handed out keycards to gain entry into the pool. Of course, the kids were really excited about the pool reopening and looked forward to some cool fun. We have one problem though; My daughter has grown 5 inches in the past 9 months. As a result, her bathing suit doesn't fit! Arrghhh!! Of course, my wife reminds me of this 'problem' on Friday evening knowing full well, she will be unable to do it. So I sit my daughter down to discuss the 'mission' and what the parameters are. My rules were pretty simple. They went something like the following:

1. It must cover your entire butt
2. You will not show cleavage
3. Your top will not be padded to give you more than you have
4. Overall, you must still look your age and not 6 years older

So the first stop along the way was Target. We saw several bathing suits we liked (many more I didn't like) and we found 3 that she wanted to try on. About 10 minutes later, she walks out with a silly grin. The conversation with something like:

Me: What's wrong?
Her: Hmmm...They didn't fit
Me: What do you mean, they didn't fit?
Her: The bottom to these were smaller than my underwear.
Me: They were a women's medium. That can't be.
Her: (((shrug)))
Me: (((Blank stare)))
Me: Let's go to the next store

So we went to Justice...Yeah, that was a waste of time (lol). The next store we stopped in was Kohls. The selection at Kohls was satisfying. But of course, she could only wear the swimsuits in the women's department (in case you haven't figured it out, my daughter at almost 11, has curves like a 16 year old). So we find a few bathing suits with both small and medium bottoms, and several different tops. After 5 minutes, she calls for me to come back to see one that she likes. She opens dressing room door...

I'm starting this next paragraph because there are some things a dad should not see/experience. A dad should not have to experience his daughter's first period (check, didn't experience that!). Also, a dad should not experience his soon to be 11 year old daughter's cleavage. Yep! I said it. I walked through the dressing room doors and saw my daughter's boobs. She was embarrassed, I was embarrassed. My first words to her were "That top is not going to work. I will find you another top with less cleavage and one that you will feel comfortable in". And I immediately walked out the door.

So back to the racks of bathing suit talks we go. After 15 minutes of searching, I find one tankini top that just so happens to be in her size (hallelujah!!). By the way, the entire time, all I'm thinking about is purchasing a shotgun (lol). This is my baby girl! I held her like a football when she was days old, she slept on my chest when she wouldn't sleep at night, she puked on me when I would set foot into the house after a long day of work. Her first words as a toddler were "touchdown" (lol). She was truly a girl after her daddy's heart. And now I have to deal with the maturation of her becoming a young lady. I'm soooo not ready for this!

So I take the tankini back to her along with a different style bottom. She tried them both on and asked me to take a look. I opened the door and was happy to see my little girl, in a bathing suit, looking like a 10 year old girl (YES!!). The tankini covers her appropriately and she felt comfortable in it. The bottom covered everything and she liked it. SCORE!! Dad wins by a TKO!

The pool party was a resounding success! My youngest boy and girl were quite happy to see their friends and cool off in the hot Atlanta sun. The only unfortunate thing is that I was stung by a wasp while at the pool on my thigh. A 8 year old kid told me to 'suck it up', so I did (lol). However, the best thing that came from that day was the smile from my daughter's face as she splashed, played in the sun and surf. I think in the end, she figured out that shopping with her old man isn't so bad after all. In fact, something tells me when it's time to shop for a prom dress, daddy will get the call :-)

Cinco de Mayo

Another weekend is here. It seems as though I live to get to Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The other days of the week don't really matter because they are so jam-packed with work, and other responsibilities. Yet another weekend is here, one of which I will find reason to celebrate.

The plan is to hit up a metro Atlanta favorite, the Vortex. Since it's cinco de mayo weekend, we figure all the Mexican restaurants will be jumping, which means patrons will forget about this spot. They have great burgers, wings and they pour quite well. Their signature burgers are the single, double, and tripe coronary bypass. The coronary bypass is plenty of burger for me as it's a half pound burger with 3 slices of cheese, 4 pieces of bacon topped with a fried egg (yum yum!!). It's definitely a heart attack on a platter, but this is why I work out as hard as I can do to afford the calories and fat to eat one of these once a year :-)

My tales of searching for the significant secondary relationship, this week it's on the upswing. I've had a few, positive emails however, there is one in particular that I'm pretty excited about. She's currently not in the state, but will be moving due to a job relocation the end of this month. I'll keep you informed on the outcome.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.