We're Home ...and Where's Stephanie?

Wassup my peeps? How's the java?

As you may or may not have deduced, The HB & I are home now. The first three days we found ourselves waking up in unfamiliar surroundings, our household bed. Kind of an odd sensation, waking up and initially wondering where exactly I am, because I don't even recognize my own bedroom.

Since we got home, the HB & I have been dealing with a kitchen remod. It’s been gutted. The original plan was for our contractor to start and finish the remodel while we were on the road. That was all well and good for about 3 days. We have an awesome contractor that will do just about anything we ask and he was supervised by the HB’s boyfriend and our neighbor, Mickster. Now Mickey and the HB have been BF/GF for years, ever since he drove by and saw the O-course I set up for the boy’s boot camp themed birthday party.

Mickey is the HB’s assistant designer. The HB & Mickey collab on everything kitchen and garden. He has excellent taste and ideas, his home is his testament. So anyway, we were on the road, Mick was FaceTiming from the kitchen with several selections of tile for the new kitchen and the HB vapor locked. She just could not make a decision without feeling the tile with her own hands itself. She couldn't make a decision between the three different tile choices, a waterproof wood selection, and some riverrock that she envisioned after she had seen it done on HGTV once. I felt that Mick made a good choice, but the HB being the HB felt that she needed to be standing in the kitchen with her hands on her hips supervising construction personally.

This means that for the next couple of weeks, our kitchen is a two foot by three foot metal rolling table with a microwave oven on it and a mini fridge. The mini fridge is where I have the most consternation. Those of you who really know me, know that my day starts with at least a cup or two of Joe, but how do I fill the rest of the day? Iced cold Pepsi. It’s gotta be in a can, because those plastic bottles can’t keep my second favorite beverage at a frosty 37° F. You see, therein lies the problem. In a mini fridge that my Pepsi has to share space with anything, there is no space for enough Pepsi for me to feel comfortable. What if I need a Pepsi, but because I can only put three Pepsis at a time in the mini fridge, its temp has only reached 38° or (gasp!) 39°. Who feels my pain?

So it’s back to the grind. The Shiny Marble had to get serviced. The Shiny Marble is the nickname McCroc gave our toad due to its color. “Toad” is a term used for the vehicle “towed” behind your RV. Toad/towed. Get it?. Anyway that was on the lengthy list that the HB has for me that she calls “Honey-do’s.” Why does she call it that, I wonder?

I did a drive by at Flo’s to say hello to some retirees from one of my old assignments. Many of my old cohorts were surprised that I was there. The last they heard, I was stuck in the middle of the Valley of the Sun with McCroc. Then there were some who didn’t recognize me because I haven’t seen a barber since we left town. I looked more like Lincoln Hayes, III from the Mod Squad than the clean cut individual they had always been accustomed to. I had to assure them that the very next stop on my itinerary was indeed the barber shop.

Favorite spots on the tour? Yellowstone, number one. The sight of two hundred head of North American Buffalo put that one on top for me. We made two stops in Louisiana, New Orleans and Shreveport, probably tied for number two. The food was off the charts, our tour of New Orleans and Southern Hospitality; it’s a thing. It really is. Niagara Falls comes in third. It truly is a spectacular sight, from both sides of the border, but the Canadians really put on a show. If you have the opportunity, see both.

So again, back to the grind…It’s a little odd, not having daily connections with my former crew. Much like last year, when McCroc forgot to call me for a couple of weeks. I haven’t heard from Samantha or Stephanie at all.

Glad to be home. Miss my crew, especially Stephanie, probably more than Samantha. Stephanie never tried to trick me into going places. Yoko Uno even finally came around. The professor made it a little awkward, but he finally came to the realization that we can be friends, but I have a BFF. The Doc had his scientific mind going all the way home. He called on the way to share equations that he’d come up with.

I can’t wait for the next adventure. Tune in next time!

Drink ‘em if you got ‘em

#coffeehousechronicles