I've been struggling to get this post done for about three weeks now, and I'm still not sure exactly why. True, I've had a lot going on in the real world, but I've been tired before and still managed (mostly) to post as scheduled. It's been three weeks of inner and outer ups and downs ... at work, at home, and with both my physical health and my moods / emotions. But I've blogged through those before, too. So what's different this time?
The weekend after my last post was our office move. Not a bad thing in itself - the space we were in was far too big for just the six of us, and the new office not only fits our needs better but is in a much nicer building, with a gorgeous view of Coal Harbour and Stanley Park. True, it means getting a bus to and from the downtown Skytrain in bad weather - it's a lovely walk on a nice day, though! - but that only adds about ten minutes each way to my commute, and the views alone are worth it. But the moving process itself was fraught with frustrations. On the Friday, we had no phones - that was the day our phone service was shifted to the new office. And naturally, in spite of spending two weeks warning everyone (and adding a warning to our e-mail signatures) that we'd have no phones on Friday but would still be in the office and reachable via e-mail, we were deluged with offended e-mails complaining that we weren't answering the phones ... sigh. Then on Monday, we had phones but for most of the day we had no internet. Now, literally everything we do, every program we use, is internet-based. So we could take calls, but that was pretty much the only thing we could do. And within an hour of finally getting the internet working, our booking system went down for the rest of the day ...
The weather has been cold, wet, and gloomy. One or two nice days, but overall not pleasant at all. I did manage to salvage enough apples for a dozen quarts of applesauce, but the tomatoes are pretty much a write-off, and nothing else even tried to grow - except the ubiquitous chives! I don't think they can be killed!
Right after the move I caught a nasty cold, probably from one of the all-too-numerous people on the Skytrain who think it's okay to cough in other passengers' faces. Nothing too serious, but by the time I got home every evening I was feeling pretty washed-out and used-up. I kept my germs to myself, and didn't give the cold to anyone else, which pleased me.
As I expected, nothing more happened in the basement until literally the night before the installers were coming to replace the furnace. I'd already moved everything I could handle without help, and having Big Guy lose his temper with me because he actually had to shift his big heavy things himself ... let's just say his running commentary was not well received. However, during the whole process I did get four more big bags of donations weeded out, and I'm still working on adding to them.
If I'd been told when they started that the furnace guys wouldn't be finished the same day, I think I might very well have packed a bag and spent the weekend at my Mom's place. Ditto if I'd known that Big Guy had not, after all, lined up a gas fitter to reconnect the gas lines after the installation was done. Yeah ... two days with no heat, no hot water, no stove, and all the microwaveable meals we'd bulk-cooked and frozen were inaccessible because, apparently, the best place to pile all the toolboxes, spare furnace & duct parts, etc was on top of the chest freezer. I suppose it could have been worse - I still had my coffeemaker. Still, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for lunch and dinner two days in a row didn't do a lot for my mood or my digestion. He finally did find a gas guy willing to come out on a Sunday afternoon, so at last we have heat, hot water, and a working stove again. The best part? I'll get to watch our winter heating bill come in at not quite half of last year's, since the new furnace is more than twice as efficient as the old one. And it's so quiet you can't tell it's on unless you stand on a heat vent!
Righteous indignation being a great motivator, I got a lot of cleaning and clearing-out done in my workroom over those two days ... the family refers to my bouts of anger-based activity as "working furiously". I'm not quite ready to post the "after" pictures yet, though (you can see the "before" pics here).
My birthday had its ups and downs, too. Mom got me the lecture series on geology, tectonics and climate interrelationships I'd been jonesing for, and daughter J gave me beautiful flowers and a gift card to Chapters - she knows what I love! Big Guy brought home three birthday desserts - he said he couldn't remember what I like and wanted to cover all the bases, so there were cheesecake, Nanaimo bars, and a coffee-almond torte. Seriously? Almost thirty years and you don't know what I like for dessert?? So I was torn between being charmed by his thoughtfulness and resentful of his lack of attention. And then I felt guilty about the mixed feelings. And later I felt more resentment, and more guilt ... he'd bought me not the one fall hoodie I wanted, but two - black and super-dark brown, just like I wanted - but he didn't bother unfolding them or looking at the tags, so they are both about three sizes too small. And he promised we'd go exchange them today, only now he's suddenly "too busy". Busy with what? Reading a cookbook. Yes. He's decided he wants to deep-fry our Thanksgiving turkey. Should be ... interesting.
I've decided to scale back a bit on Hallowe'en this year. We'll still put up some creepy fun stuff around the front door and hand out treats, but I just don't feel up for our usual all-out over-the-top decorating. Partly because this year everyone will be at work all day except me, and I want to use the quiet time for more appropriate Samhain reflection. And partly because Big Guy's job has lasted months longer than it was originally supposed to and we don't know when the axe will fall and want to spend as little as possible on non-essentials as we prepare for his layoff. Oh, and of course we'll do several pumpkins - which will get cut up, cooked, and frozen the next day, as usual. I've never cared for pumpkin pie, but I make a pumpkin-cinnamon-raisin loaf that's very popular with family and friends. I might even give some frozen pumpkin puree to sister S for her pies, if she asks nicely!
Next weekend the guinea pigs will come inside until spring; the indoor cage sits in front of the living room window, so they still get fresh air and what little sunshine there is. Now that we have three of them (female-free-to-good-home, we couldn't resist!), the old indoor cage is far too small. Luckily, the vet clinic daughters P and J work at was tossing a perfectly good indoor cage big enough for all three, so she called, Big Guy drove to Kits, and the pigs have a nice roomy safe space until they go back to the outdoor hutch next spring. And the price was right - free.
Yes, even though J is back to cooking full-time, she's decided to hang on part-time at the clinic for as long as she can stand to; she wants to get those student loans paid off quickly, and more power to her! Like me - and unlike Big Guy - J sees debt not as just a to-be-expected part of life, but as something to be dealt with and eliminated as soon as possible.
I got a letter from Visa last week, telling me that they had doubled my credit limit. Since I never ever carry a balance, it really doesn't matter; whenever I use the card, I go online as soon as I get home and transfer the same amount from my chequing account, so my statement balance is always zero. And I only take the card shopping when I know in advance what I'm going to buy and how much I'll be spending. I suppose I'm fortunate in that I've never been tempted to be a buy-now-pay-later shopper ... I just don't like to carry large amounts of cash. It's good to know, though, that if a true emergency arises I have enough credit (I hope) to take care of whatever it is.
Right now, though, I have to go deal with three loads of laundry and a grungy kitchen floor.
Showing posts with label letdowns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label letdowns. Show all posts
Monday, October 10, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Projects And Updates
Yes, I know it's been longer than usual since my last post. I could go on about getting caught up in other things, or delayed by events outside my control, but the truth is I just kept putting it off until here I am, a week later than I planned.
It's true that a lot has been going on here - some of it good, some not so much.
I'll start with a good thing - a finished project. Yes, a sweater is actually finished! And here it is:
Please ignore the mess behind it - the "get-the-workroom-cleaned-up-and-organized" project is not going as quickly as I'd hoped. But hey, one finished project is better than none - isn't it? And the second sweater is almost finished; I just have to assemble it and darn a few ends in. So maybe - with luck and hard work - more things will get done.
This year's food garden was almost a complete loss, thanks to uncooperative weather and steady rain through almost all of pollination season. So far we've managed to harvest one stalk of rhubarb, two tomatoes, and a handful of chives. The apple tree, however, contrived to bloom during the only dry few days we had all spring, and the apple crop was so abundant we were afraid branches would snap from the weight of the apples before we could pick them. One five-gallon pail at a time, they're coming into the kitchen to be canned as applesauce. We'd hoped to slice a bushel at least and run them through the dehydrators, until we realized that every one of them has had at least one bite taken out of it by the squirrels.
Every. Single. Apple.
You'd think that after the first, oh, hundred or so bites, the furry little buggers would have figured out that all the apples taste the same, but no. Apparently our squirrels, while handsome and sometimes entertaining, are not very bright.
And the basement project is almost at a standstill through no fault of my own. Or anyone else's, really ... accidents happen. It's not my co-worker's fault he had a bicycle accident last weekend. But because of that, instead of having a week off to really clear out the basement, I was called back into work. Yes, I'll get the days off some other time ... but probably not until next spring, since we are coming into the busiest / most hellish time of year for my department.
This slows the basement work down rather seriously, since the only time left for it will be weekends, when Big Guy always manages to have something "more important" to do and I can't move the big heavy things that need to be moved without his help. Why do they need to be moved? So that our huge old clunky noisy 43 % efficient furnace can be replaced with our new (still in its wrappings in the basement) small quiet 93 % efficient furnace. I would really love to see that happen before we actually need to turn a furnace on again this fall, but I know if I leave it up to Big Guy it will be at least another year before anything happens.
So my plan of attack has morphed into a plan of sneak attack. I'll be down there in the evenings clearing out all the small stuff, and on the weekends I'll just cajole him into helping me with just one or two large things at a time. Wish me luck!
In other news, J has rounded up two potential roommates, and their plan is to find somewhere to rent by the end of October. We'll miss her, and the move to paying rent will slow down her debt repayment plan, but I can understand her reasoning. She's working two jobs now, one full-time and one part-time, and the almost-two-hour commute each way is killing her. She goes to work, comes home, sleeps, and gets up and goes back to work, seven days a week. Living closer to work will give her a little time to actually have a life. Maybe even get some laundry done ...
This project has had side effects, of course. Big Guy is not happy with the last "baby" leaving home, of course. And all the bins and boxes of her stuff from the basement and the attic will be all over the living room until she makes time to go through them all and do the keep-trash-donate sorting. But ... the day after the last of her possessions leaves that big sunny front bedroom, I'll be in there with a bucket of paint! That room will become my new workroom, this little 8-by-11 room will become the den / guest room, and she already knows that if things go south and she has to move back in, she gets the den and not her old room.
Some people have said I'm unnatural, or a bad mother, for actually wanting my nest emptied ... but hey. She's twenty-six, she has a good education and a good profession (chef) ... it's time. Time for her to spread her wings in the real world, and time for Big Guy and I to be able to sit back, watch our girls all out on their own and independent, and know that we did a good job as parents making sure they could make it on their own.
It's true that a lot has been going on here - some of it good, some not so much.
I'll start with a good thing - a finished project. Yes, a sweater is actually finished! And here it is:
Please ignore the mess behind it - the "get-the-workroom-cleaned-up-and-organized" project is not going as quickly as I'd hoped. But hey, one finished project is better than none - isn't it? And the second sweater is almost finished; I just have to assemble it and darn a few ends in. So maybe - with luck and hard work - more things will get done.
This year's food garden was almost a complete loss, thanks to uncooperative weather and steady rain through almost all of pollination season. So far we've managed to harvest one stalk of rhubarb, two tomatoes, and a handful of chives. The apple tree, however, contrived to bloom during the only dry few days we had all spring, and the apple crop was so abundant we were afraid branches would snap from the weight of the apples before we could pick them. One five-gallon pail at a time, they're coming into the kitchen to be canned as applesauce. We'd hoped to slice a bushel at least and run them through the dehydrators, until we realized that every one of them has had at least one bite taken out of it by the squirrels.
Every. Single. Apple.
You'd think that after the first, oh, hundred or so bites, the furry little buggers would have figured out that all the apples taste the same, but no. Apparently our squirrels, while handsome and sometimes entertaining, are not very bright.
And the basement project is almost at a standstill through no fault of my own. Or anyone else's, really ... accidents happen. It's not my co-worker's fault he had a bicycle accident last weekend. But because of that, instead of having a week off to really clear out the basement, I was called back into work. Yes, I'll get the days off some other time ... but probably not until next spring, since we are coming into the busiest / most hellish time of year for my department.
This slows the basement work down rather seriously, since the only time left for it will be weekends, when Big Guy always manages to have something "more important" to do and I can't move the big heavy things that need to be moved without his help. Why do they need to be moved? So that our huge old clunky noisy 43 % efficient furnace can be replaced with our new (still in its wrappings in the basement) small quiet 93 % efficient furnace. I would really love to see that happen before we actually need to turn a furnace on again this fall, but I know if I leave it up to Big Guy it will be at least another year before anything happens.
So my plan of attack has morphed into a plan of sneak attack. I'll be down there in the evenings clearing out all the small stuff, and on the weekends I'll just cajole him into helping me with just one or two large things at a time. Wish me luck!
In other news, J has rounded up two potential roommates, and their plan is to find somewhere to rent by the end of October. We'll miss her, and the move to paying rent will slow down her debt repayment plan, but I can understand her reasoning. She's working two jobs now, one full-time and one part-time, and the almost-two-hour commute each way is killing her. She goes to work, comes home, sleeps, and gets up and goes back to work, seven days a week. Living closer to work will give her a little time to actually have a life. Maybe even get some laundry done ...
This project has had side effects, of course. Big Guy is not happy with the last "baby" leaving home, of course. And all the bins and boxes of her stuff from the basement and the attic will be all over the living room until she makes time to go through them all and do the keep-trash-donate sorting. But ... the day after the last of her possessions leaves that big sunny front bedroom, I'll be in there with a bucket of paint! That room will become my new workroom, this little 8-by-11 room will become the den / guest room, and she already knows that if things go south and she has to move back in, she gets the den and not her old room.
Some people have said I'm unnatural, or a bad mother, for actually wanting my nest emptied ... but hey. She's twenty-six, she has a good education and a good profession (chef) ... it's time. Time for her to spread her wings in the real world, and time for Big Guy and I to be able to sit back, watch our girls all out on their own and independent, and know that we did a good job as parents making sure they could make it on their own.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
One Step Forward, How Many Back?
It's been a difficult and disappointing week here at Chez Chaos ...
J catered a big party last weekend. Apparently the party itself was a great success, her food was a huge hit with the crowd, and the word-of-mouth advertising will certainly pay off in the long term. However ... the friend who was helping her with setup and cleanup wasn't really paying attention, or something. Whatever her reason, all the clean kitchen utensils got wrapped in dirty, damp towels before going into the bins for transport back here, and some containers of food that should have been in the cooler were down in the bottom of the "clean stuff" bin as well. Now, due to a hectic work schedule, J didn't get to unpacking what should have been a bin full of clean, dry things until Friday. Result: mildewed towels, moldy food, and two sinkfuls of dishes and utensils to be scrubbed free of mold and disinfected. Between all of that and a massive post-birthday-celebration hangover, J is not a happy chef this weekend.
My workplace was seriously understaffed all week, due to one vacation and one nasty case of flu. Between working through lunch and staying late every night, by the time I got home in the evenings I didn't have the energy for anything other than wolfing down a sandwich and collapsing into bed. So nothing got done here on ongoing projects, and nothing by way of housework other than the absolutely unavoidable minimum of animal care, dishes and laundry. To make the week even more hectic, our highest-volume ocean terminal lost all their computer systems for three days, which meant I was deluged with phone calls from truckers who couldn't get what they needed because "the terminal has no record of it". Every one of those calls meant I had to print out what was originally booked, call the terminal, and read it to someone who would them write it down and send someone to the main gate with it. Every three minutes. For three days. On top of a doubled-plus workload. Fortunately, the usual IBS reaction to stress held off until Saturday - which was a blessing at the office but has kept me from accomplishing much of anything at home this weekend. Even the sweater that I'd hoped to have finished by now is still in pieces in my knitting bag.
One of our downstairs tenants is having a really hard time finding work, and for the last two months they've only paid half the rent. I'm sympathetic, but at the same time the money shortage is more stress we really don't need right now. I'm going to sit back and let Big Guy deal with them about it; I already have more than enough stress to keep my innards in an uproar. But if we don't see some more money from them this week, I may resort to cutting off the cable television and internet to the suite - after all, both are included in the rent, and so (in my view) have not been paid for. "Need" internet access to look for a job? It's free at the public library, which is within walking distance.
I've also come to the unhappy realization that no matter how much organizing and purging I do, there will never be enough space in my workroom to do what I'd like to be doing in here; the room is just too small. The only way to create enough space would be to move everything I work with to another part of the house, and that's just not an option. Somehow, I just can't see myself climbing the ladder to the attic to go through boxes every time I need a reference book or a spool of thread ...
We're not sure if this spring is really colder and wetter than usual, or if we're perceiving it that way because every time we finally have a little time to work on the garden, it rains. In either case, it's frustrating ... we'll go outside and get started on something, and within ten or fifteen minutes the weather changes and drives us back under cover. Eventually it will all get done; it's just hard to maintain any enthusiasm for it when progress is measured in slow, damp inches.
There were a few bright spots in all the gloom, though ...
J was very happy with her birthday gifts; I gave her a gift card to her favourite frilly-girly-girl lingerie store and a month's supply of transit tickets, and Big Guy is taking her shopping for three new pairs of jeans.
The ornamental trees downtown are all bursting into bloom, and tomorrow is supposed to be fairly nice weather-wise, so I've already tucked my camera in my bag. Every year I tell myself I'm going to get pictures when the trees blossom, and every year I either forget the camera, or it rains, or both. This year, I'm ready!
Sister S and I get together at Mom's on Wednesday evening instead of the usual Friday, and it was a really nice evening. I had to leave pretty early, but Mom had some good news for a change ... although the changes are small and slow, her health is gradually improving. She may never get all the way back to where she was two years ago, but the improvement is noticeable now, and gives hope for more. We're all very happy for her, and looking forward to doing more with her in the future. Maybe another road trip ...
Friends D and J came over Saturday night as usual, and we had a very pleasant, relaxing time with several episodes of "The Mentalist". When we run out of episodes we might move right on to "Stargate SG-1", or possibly take some time out for a few board game nights. Either way, fun evenings with good friends, and without spending money - it's all good. Next week it's my turn to provide the snacks, so there will either be homemade cookies or coffee cake, or maybe a big tub of popcorn and a plate of homemade fudge. Good times on the cheap!
J catered a big party last weekend. Apparently the party itself was a great success, her food was a huge hit with the crowd, and the word-of-mouth advertising will certainly pay off in the long term. However ... the friend who was helping her with setup and cleanup wasn't really paying attention, or something. Whatever her reason, all the clean kitchen utensils got wrapped in dirty, damp towels before going into the bins for transport back here, and some containers of food that should have been in the cooler were down in the bottom of the "clean stuff" bin as well. Now, due to a hectic work schedule, J didn't get to unpacking what should have been a bin full of clean, dry things until Friday. Result: mildewed towels, moldy food, and two sinkfuls of dishes and utensils to be scrubbed free of mold and disinfected. Between all of that and a massive post-birthday-celebration hangover, J is not a happy chef this weekend.
My workplace was seriously understaffed all week, due to one vacation and one nasty case of flu. Between working through lunch and staying late every night, by the time I got home in the evenings I didn't have the energy for anything other than wolfing down a sandwich and collapsing into bed. So nothing got done here on ongoing projects, and nothing by way of housework other than the absolutely unavoidable minimum of animal care, dishes and laundry. To make the week even more hectic, our highest-volume ocean terminal lost all their computer systems for three days, which meant I was deluged with phone calls from truckers who couldn't get what they needed because "the terminal has no record of it". Every one of those calls meant I had to print out what was originally booked, call the terminal, and read it to someone who would them write it down and send someone to the main gate with it. Every three minutes. For three days. On top of a doubled-plus workload. Fortunately, the usual IBS reaction to stress held off until Saturday - which was a blessing at the office but has kept me from accomplishing much of anything at home this weekend. Even the sweater that I'd hoped to have finished by now is still in pieces in my knitting bag.
One of our downstairs tenants is having a really hard time finding work, and for the last two months they've only paid half the rent. I'm sympathetic, but at the same time the money shortage is more stress we really don't need right now. I'm going to sit back and let Big Guy deal with them about it; I already have more than enough stress to keep my innards in an uproar. But if we don't see some more money from them this week, I may resort to cutting off the cable television and internet to the suite - after all, both are included in the rent, and so (in my view) have not been paid for. "Need" internet access to look for a job? It's free at the public library, which is within walking distance.
I've also come to the unhappy realization that no matter how much organizing and purging I do, there will never be enough space in my workroom to do what I'd like to be doing in here; the room is just too small. The only way to create enough space would be to move everything I work with to another part of the house, and that's just not an option. Somehow, I just can't see myself climbing the ladder to the attic to go through boxes every time I need a reference book or a spool of thread ...
We're not sure if this spring is really colder and wetter than usual, or if we're perceiving it that way because every time we finally have a little time to work on the garden, it rains. In either case, it's frustrating ... we'll go outside and get started on something, and within ten or fifteen minutes the weather changes and drives us back under cover. Eventually it will all get done; it's just hard to maintain any enthusiasm for it when progress is measured in slow, damp inches.
There were a few bright spots in all the gloom, though ...
J was very happy with her birthday gifts; I gave her a gift card to her favourite frilly-girly-girl lingerie store and a month's supply of transit tickets, and Big Guy is taking her shopping for three new pairs of jeans.
The ornamental trees downtown are all bursting into bloom, and tomorrow is supposed to be fairly nice weather-wise, so I've already tucked my camera in my bag. Every year I tell myself I'm going to get pictures when the trees blossom, and every year I either forget the camera, or it rains, or both. This year, I'm ready!
Sister S and I get together at Mom's on Wednesday evening instead of the usual Friday, and it was a really nice evening. I had to leave pretty early, but Mom had some good news for a change ... although the changes are small and slow, her health is gradually improving. She may never get all the way back to where she was two years ago, but the improvement is noticeable now, and gives hope for more. We're all very happy for her, and looking forward to doing more with her in the future. Maybe another road trip ...
Friends D and J came over Saturday night as usual, and we had a very pleasant, relaxing time with several episodes of "The Mentalist". When we run out of episodes we might move right on to "Stargate SG-1", or possibly take some time out for a few board game nights. Either way, fun evenings with good friends, and without spending money - it's all good. Next week it's my turn to provide the snacks, so there will either be homemade cookies or coffee cake, or maybe a big tub of popcorn and a plate of homemade fudge. Good times on the cheap!
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