Good thing it’s a freebie week! Anyway, despite it being my birthday, I am not particularly in a good mood… but I am trying to get there. There was a mosquito in my car on the way to work and i need to add power steering fluid. Traffic annoyed me and my back hurts. And even though this is way more than you want to know, I turn 44 today and my body has finally decided – I think – to enter into the early stages of perimenopause. Perhaps it had before, as I had two cycles in December then went back to normal. But I am having issues and the likely answer here is, I’m old. (Hubs had a Vasectomy 9 years ago so most likely, it’s just me, as always.)

Anyway, I am sure that is nothing you wanted to know but it does seem women don’t much talk about that stuff and sometimes it’s nice to hear you aren’t the only one experiencing certain things. BUT, let us go back to Friday. By the time I left at 6:30 I was feeling pretty done. These long hours are killer. I got home and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but Dakota wanted to take a walk so I indulged her; glad I did. I poured a beer and we walked a little over a mile and the sunset was magnificent. When we got home, I made chicken nugs and rice for the boys and then Isaac came back outside with Dakota and I and they went on the swing until it got dark. I don’t even remember what I did after that; Ash wasn’t gone as long as he was the week before playing cards so when he got home, we just headed to bed.

Saturday was yet another beerfest. We got up and packed what we needed, our friend showed up and we loaded up his truck, and we were on our way to Panacea. It was supposed to rain but it never did! It stayed overcast almost the entire time so that was great. This one was busy! I kind of liked, this time, that the commercials vendors were the same from last week. We got around early to sample but then we stayed at our tent and we were serving nearly constantly. It’s funny: in Perry, people went nuts for the milk stout but in Panacea, just like last year, people loved the red. We brought the same to both weeks so that’s simply an interesting observation. We left a little after 4, got home, and relaxed. In fact, pretty sure all we did was drink a few beers and rewatch the first John Wick. I think I’ll review it tomorrow on ye olde blog.

Sunday was my day to catch up and catch up I did. I got laundry going and other cleaning. Around 11 we went for my birthday lunch but it turned out our favorite hibachi place didn’t open until 12; it was only 11:15. So we decided to go back across town to another hibachi restaurant we loved a long time ago but had changed so much we crossed it off the list. And you know, it wasn’t bad. The steak was fantastic. Rice could have used more garlic, salt, and pepper. The sushi was good but not spicy enough for being labeled as such. But overall, it was a good meal and not as expensive as the other place. Plus you always value out on that food because they give you enough for entire other meal. Got back home and went to the store then sat out to get some sun, which was really nice. Something for me! I then realize pool store was about to close and I needed to take a water sample. Got that done, got some chemicals in there and today, it is looking clearer! The rest of the day went as well as could be expected; kids arguing over doing chores, whining about whatever. But it’s ok; I am used to it. I did get to relax and I felt accomplished. Forgot I was going to make both taco meat and a spaghetti sauce for the fam and remember around 8:30 but it got done!

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Since it’s a freebie week, you get two from a British band I’ve been really into lately, Malevolence. Fair to say these two slower songs are not their normal fare but these are so emotionally fraught, I love them