#empty-nest — Public Fediverse posts

What are you watching tonight ?
.
1989 NBC Promo- Saturday Night Comedies
One of the Boys,
Amen,
Golden Girls,
Empty Nest
.
#NBC #OneoftheBoys #Amen #GoldenGirls #EmptyNest #Television #TvShows

I hoard memes until I have a REALLY good 2-3 dozen and then dump them on my 25-year-old son all at once. Usually right before bed.

Listen - just because he lives 1,000 miles away doesn’t mean I can’t still fuck with him.

It’s called good parenting!

#parenting #adultchildren #emptynest

While we love our kids, and it's fun having them around, it's also exciting to know you can leave a bag of potato chips in the cupboard and come back 24 hours later and it's still there... #emptynest

My wife just poured brandy on her banana and set it all on fire. That’s normal and healthy, right? Guys? Most spouses do this?

#emptynest #thatsnormal

Starting this afternoon, my wife and I are IN. THE. ZONE.

Over the course of the next 120 hours, we have to

- pick up child #3 from camp counselor job
- rush child #3 to emergency dentist visit
- pack child #5 for first day of college
- delivery child #5 to college
- bring child #4 to distant hospital for periodic treatment
- pick up outside child to be delivered to college
- pick up rented uhaul and use it for the first time on new hitch on SUV (pulling a trailer for the first time in 30 years...)
- pack child #3 and #4, plus outside child into two cars and a trailer
- bring child #3 and #4, plus the outside child to their shared college

Also, I'm working two of those days and she's working one of them.

Then back to a nominal #emptynest (except we have child #2 who is having a hard time finding a #software job in this #economy)

#parenting

How long is the accepted time for leaving magnetic letters on your fridge?
#emptynest

The Visit is Over

The kids left. It was a bit less than an hour ago. Apple’s Find My app tells me they just merged onto route 89. I miss them. I always miss them.

I didn’t sleep well last night. It’s going to be a long day today. Blah, says I.

#collegeKids #emptyNest #Family #grownKids #grownUpKids #Kids #StepKids

Happy

The kids are here. They got here about 2.5 hours ago. We had dinner as a family.

I am happy. I am always happy when they come home.

#adultKids #collegeKids #emptyNest #Family #grownKids #grownUpKids #Kids

All Quiet… For Now

Despite the weirdness of my previous post, the potentially odd omen of the cat in the sink has not foretold of anything weird happening today… so far, at least.

It’s been a quiet day so far. I’m just getting off of my lunch break so there is still plenty of time for things to go south. I mean, the president placed tariffs on penguins yesterday so… yeah. Anything is possible at any time.

The Red Sox have won two in a row and their home opener (against the Cardinals) is about to start. The Bruins have now lost 10 in a row (one of them in overtime, the rest in regulation). I don’t know what to think. I will focus on the positive trend for the Sox and listen to today’s game while I work. They are 3-4 on the season. It’s too early to worry about things like the American League East standings, but they are currently tied for last place (with Baltimore), two games back of the first place Blue Jays. At least Geddy Lee will be happy.

The kids are coming home tonight. We thought they were coming home last night but there was some miscommunication. Last night’s loss is tonight’s gain. They will be here tonight, go to their father’s sometime tomorrow, and then I think come back here afterward. Then Sunday they will go back to Vermont. I am very happy we’ll get to see them. Very happy.

Okay, it’s 2:00pm now. Time to get back to work. Talk to you all later. Until then, remember that donald trump is a nazi who can’t do math. Loser.

#Baseball #Bruins #collegeKids #emptyNest #Family #grownUpKids #Hockey #homeOpener #homecoming #Kids #losingStreak #NHL #openingDay #RedSox #StepKids

Kids Weekend

Jen and the kids are texting back and forth about this weekend. They are coming home for a quick visit! I love it. I don’t have any details yet so I don’t know when or where or how or what, I just know it’s in the works.

It’s like flashing back to 2007 when we were splitting custody with the kids’ father and we had them half of the time and he had them half of the time. Literally. We alternated days. I think… and I am straining my tiny little brain to bring up these memories… we had the kids on Sundays and half of the day on Saturday… or did we have them on Fridays and then the first half of Saturday… I’m pretty sure we had them for half of every Saturday. The other six days of the week alternated between houses.

That was the schedule when I first came into the picture. The kids were age six and four at that time. I was still in my 30’s (which seems laughable for some reason… youngin’). Eventually we changed the schedule to one where they were at one house for two days, then the other for two days, and then the remaining three days would alternate. That way on any given week they would have five straight days in the same house, and each week those five days would be in a different house. It worked.

Sometimes when I think back over the years I feel sad about the time I missed. Six whole years… why couldn’t I have met Jen earlier and been around to know the kids when they were babies? Then I stop feeling like that and just feel overwhelmingly thankful for the time I have had. What a gift that time has been. What a perfect, magical, brilliant gift that Jen and Bellana and Harry have given me. They’ve let me be a small piece of their lives. I am eternally grateful for that gift. I will never be able to express how thankful I am, how honored I am, how touched I am. Really… being in their lives has been better than anything I could have ever hoped that anything could ever be. Put simply, I am just a dumb ass red head. What did I do to deserve a blessing like this? What did I do to deserve the love of three such exceptional people? I don’t know. If I did I would bottle it and sell it and be a gazillionaire. Seriously.

I guess what I am trying to say here is that I am going to see the kids this weekend and I am really happy about it.

#collegeKids #emptyNest #Family #grownUpKids #homecoming #Kids #StepKids

Still On… So Far

First, allow me to say thank you to Lily the cat for sitting still this morning so that I could take a picture of her in the mostly dark room without the iPhone’s low light functionality turning her into a blurry mess. Thanks, Lily Pad!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54375418885/in/datetaken/

Next, all of my Sunday plans are still on. Fingers crossed it stays that way. No word about canceling band practice. No one has backed out, and our meet time is less than two hours away. It’s never going to be back to normal if we can’t get at least two weeks in a row in, know what I mean?

Fingers crossed.

My step son is coming over today. He’s not here yet. I hope he gets here before I leave for practice, but if he doesn’t that’s fine too. I’ll have the whole day post-practice to hang around with him.

#Cat #collegeKids #emptyNest #grownUpKids #iphoneography #Kids #Kitty #lily #lizardfish #Music #photography #StepKids

Quiet in the house
I recall noisy mornings
Oh to re-live them

#DailyHaikuPrompt - Jan. 17/25 - quiet

#EmptyNest

The Day So Far

The car has new breaks and new tires.

A couch has been purchased and a delivery has been scheduled.

My step son is home safe and sound even though I’d much rather he were still here with us. The nest is empty once again. Boo.

All that remains is to go grocery shopping and to cook dinner. I think I’ll get started on that now.

#adultKids #collegeKids #emptyNest #Family #grownUpKids #Kids #plans #saturdayPlans #StepKids #thingsToDo #toDoList

Xmas Eve

Are we all ready? Tomorrow is xmas. It is xmas eve. It’s time to get the last minute details wrapped up. Dot those holiday i’s and cross those holiday t’s.

I need to hit a couple of stores. One being a gas station and another being a grocery store. Good times. I don’t expect humongous, insane crowds or anything*.

My step son has been here for days. My step daughter will be here tonight, but not until super late. Maybe even after midnight. She has a gig in Vermont and can’t come home until after. Both kids will be here for xmas morning though and that’s what counts.

Now that the holiday is actually here, can I start feeling a little xmas spirit? I mean before it’s too late? I don’t know… tomorrow will suffice if that’s all I get. HoHoHo and shit.

*Yeah, that’s sarcasm. You could tell that by the context, right?

#adultKids #collegeKids #emptyNest #Family #grownUpKids #Holiday #Kids #StepKids #toDoList #xmas #xmasEve

Cellar Dweller

My step son, Harry, is home! He was here when I got home from work last night and it was wonderful having him around. Having kids here makes me happy.

Him being home today means that I am working from the office desk in the cellar instead of the desk in his room. I am a cellar dweller again while he’s home. Today is Friday and I am working from home. Next week I will be in the office on Monday and then I am off for xmas eve, xmas day, and I took a vacation day for the day after xmas. So one day working in the cellar is all I need. I can handle it. Not that there’s any difficulty working in the cellar, I just like being upstairs more. That’s all.

I do have one thing planned for my lunch break down here in the cellar where no one can see me…

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54216645274/in/dateposted/

I setup a gift wrapping station. Let’s see how much of the remaining pile of presents I can get through while I eat my chicken patty and fries. Bring on the work day so I can get to it. Two working days left before Santa comes. Still much to do in that little amount of time. Let’s do this thing!

#adultKids #collegeKids #emptyNest #Family #grownKids #Holiday #iphoneography #Kids #officeSpace #photography #StepKids #workFromHome #workSpace #wrappingPresents #xmas #xmasGiftWrapping

Holiday Traffic

Word on the street (pun intended) is that traffic is really crappy tonight. I still have almost two hours to go before I finish work and go out to brave the roads, but I am not looking forward to it.

What I am looking forward to is seeing my step son tonight. He’ll probably be getting to the house while I’m stuck in traffic. All the more reason to be happy about the commute situation (yes, that was meant to be very sarcastic).

I really want to go home now. One hour and 47 minutes to go.

While we wait, here are two pictures I took while putting gas into the car this morning… because that’s related to the overall topic, right?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54214542838/in/dateposted/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54214710855/in/photostream/

#adultKids #canIBeAPhotographyYoutberNow #collegeKids #commute #emptyNest #eveningCommute #Family #gasStation #grownKids #iphoneography #photography #stepSon #traffic #trafficJam

Empty Nest

And just like that, our very full nest is an empty nest again. Harry left this afternoon and Bellana left a few minutes ago. They are both heading home to Vermont.

It was a wonderful weekend and I loved every second of it, but now I am sad. Jen and I will have dinner together and I’ll probably be pretty mushy and lovey (no spoilers) because I know she’s sad the kids are gone too.

Getting old sucks but it’s better than the alternative.

#adultKids #collegeKids #emptyNest #emptyNesters #Family #grownUpKids #Holiday #holidayWeekend #Kids #StepKids

Are Things Looking Up?

So the Boston Bruins. They fired their head coach last week and replaced him (on an interim basis) with their long time assistant coach. They’ve played two games since the change. How are they doing?

Well they won both of those games. That’s super good news, right? Hooray and huzzah and all that happy crappy. Of course in those two wins they have scored a grand total of three goals. So… yeah. Let’s just say I am clutching at that bright side with all that I have. They don’t play again until Tuesday (the day after tomorrow) so we’ll have to wait and see for more information. Finger crossed that they both have turned a corner from their shitty play pre-coaching change, and that they remember how to score goals. That might be a lot to ask.

What else is going on. Bellana, my step daughter, was here last night. She just left. It was great to see her, as always. Harry, my step son was supposed to be coming over tomorrow but instead he’s coming tonight! Awesome! We’re going to see both kids today! Bonus!

Jen made French Toast this morning. I didn’t have any. There is nothing in the recipe that I can’t have but I was still nervous about trying it. Next time I will. I realized that my issue with French Toast boils down to maple syrup. I don’t want to have French Toast without having maple syrup on it… so now I have to go on a quest to find a decent sugar free maple syrup. I fear that might be a lot to ask for, but we’ll see.

What else. I haven’t done my morning exercise yet. I got up early enough to do it but other stuff came up and I had to push it off for a while. It is 9:44am right now. I’m thinking I’ll try to do it after lunch. I also need to go grocery shopping again today. I did a little bit yesterday, but today is shopping-for-Thanksgiving-veggies day. I’ll be going out to do that after I post this. Most important (not really, but… really) is that I MUST play guitar today. Preferably through a speaker and not just through headphones. I need to move the air today. Not at an ear bleeding volume, but at some kind of lower volume. It’s a must.

Okay. Time to start getting some shit done around here.

In closing, here’s a cat.

https://flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54161538319/in/dateposted/

#365 #365Challenge #365Project #BostonBruins #Breakfast #Bruins #Cat #collegeKids #emptyNest #Family #food #frenchToast #Hockey #iphoneography #kidVisits #Kids #Kitty #NHL #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photoADayProject #photography #recipe #recipes #robin #StepKids

Is carving up a pumpkin and making a jack-o-lantern the single grossest thing that we as a society do? No? Is it in the top 10? Yeah, probably.

Why do we do it? Specifically, why do I do it when our kids are old enough to have moved out of the house and we don’t have them here at all during the Halloween season?

I don’t know, but I still do it. Specifically, I just did it. Meet our 2024 jack-o-lantern. I am still thinking of a name for him. Smiley? Jackass? Putz? They all seem appropriate.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54095680744/in/dateposted/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54095805245/in/photostream/

My beloved wife and I watched It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown last night. I completely forgot about the scene where Lucy and the girls used Charlie Brown’s big bald head as a template for a jack-o-lantern. Freakin’ hysterical.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/10/26/gross-2/

#collegeKids #emptyNest #Family #Halloween #iphoneography #jackOLantern #Kids #photography #pumpkin #pumpkinCarving #StepKids

Where we off to?
#caturday #CatsOfMastondon
#emptynest

Day 3 of empty nesting (son is a senior in college 3.5 hours away, daughter is a freshman in college 90 minutes away) and it is easily one of the more disorientating experiences I’ve had in years.

House is VERY quiet, the routines feel somewhat empty, find myself feeling like I need to “fill” the day.

My wife and I don’t feel SAD (we miss our kids, of course, we miss hearing about their days) exactly— we just feel DIFFERENT, like there is something we need to process.

#EmptyNest

Kitty cat waiting on kid’s bed, waiting for him to come home from college. #EmptyNest

Bellana is back in Vermont. She left last night and stayed over one of her friends’ house in order to cut down on her morning commute today. At our house she was three hours away from work, and today is a work day for her. I get it. It makes me sad to see her go, but I am also really happy we had her for a few days. Even more so as we had Harry for a few days before that, and their visits overlapped so we had them both for a day. That made me really happy. That was an extra good night.

Jen is working from the office today. I am working from home. That means I am here by my lonesome, just me and the cats. I have a podcast playing on my MacBook and it’s streaming to Home Pods scattered all over the house. I don’t have to pause the podcast if I need to get up and leave the room. Heh heh. Technology is cool. When Jen comes home I’ll shut off any streams that are anywhere other than Harry’s room/my office space.

The Great Heatwave of 2024 is going to become official today. The forecast calls for the temperature in my little city to hit 99 degrees. That will be three days over 90. Heatwave: Confirmed. It is 9:10am right now and it’s already 83 degrees. It’s going to be fun.

The forecast for the rest of the week? Rain and clouds and awful. Back to normal, I guess.

After complaining about crappy sleep for the last week or so, I finally topped six hours last night. In fact, I topped 7.5 hours. It was broken though. I fell asleep at 9:30pm. Not by choice. I just couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore and zonked out. Normally I try to eat something before I go to sleep out of fear that my stomach will get so empty over night that it will hurt. A snack at bedtime avoids that problem, but I didn’t have one last night. My last bite to eat last night was at 7:49pm. I woke up with a bit of a stomach ache at 2:30am. I had a little snack and felt better, but I couldn’t fall back to sleep until well after 3:00. Oh well. I felt really tired when I woke up today (almost an hour later than I had planned) but I feel okay now. Here’s hoping I won’t be totally exhausted today.

Okay, red head. Back to work.

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/06/20/empty-nesters-again/

#90Degrees #99Degrees #Apple #emptyNest #emptyNesters #Family #gastricBypass #gastricBypassRecovery #gastricBypassSideEffects #gastricBypassSurgery #grownKids #health #heatwave #HomePods #Kids #Podcast #Sleep #sleepSchedul #sleepStats #SleepWatch #StepKids #streamingAudio #tech #Weather #workFromHome

It is Monday again. Blah.

We had both kids here last night for the first time in ages. It was wonderful. Talk about a full heart, right? It’s over now though. My step son, Harry left for Vermont this morning. He’s on his way home. I was on a conference call when he left, but I got to say goodbye. I’m happy about that at least. My step daughter, Bellana will be here for a couple more days. She’s going out to do some stuff during the day today but she’ll be back this evening. I’m happy she’s here. I was happy that Harry too. I just really love them both and I love having them around the house.

Work has been busy so far today. It will continue for a few days at least. I am planning on working from home tomorrow but I have to go into the office on Wednesday. I’m not sure what my second office day will be this week. I hate the idea of going in on a Friday, but I think this week it will probably happen. I just don’t want to commute two days in a row this week. Especially after doing it four days in a row last week.

I haven’t taken a picture yet today. The photo a day challenge is still open. Where are the cats?

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/06/17/monday-blues-2/

#collegeKids #emptyNest #Family #grownKids #hybridWorkEnvironment #Kids #StepKids #telecommute #work #workFromHome

Nach 3 Jahrzehnten Aufzucht & Hege habe ich seit heute nach der Gesellenprüfung von K2 zwei Kinder mit Ausbildung, Job und eigener Wohnung.
Das fühlt sich surreal an.
Jetzt kann ich mich wieder um die Weltpolitik kümmern 😀
#happy #GlücklichInsWochenende #Emptynest