mousme | Entries tagged with domestic stuff

I think I am paying for all of the "lack" of sleep from the past few weeks. Today was lost to feeling like absolute garbage most of the day. I have two more sleeps until I go to the sleep specialist on Monday morning and probably get told that I need a CPAP, and then the plan is to get ahold of a local CPAP provider as soon as humanly possible, because I am so tired of feeling tired. Right now would be the perfect time for a bit of extra energy, too, as I have to pack up the house.

I have been trying to get through the industrial quantity of borscht I made last Thursday, and it's officially down to a dull roar. I will have some left over for work next week, too, which is nice, as long as I don't spill it on my clothes. I have yet to find a reliable way to get beet juice stains out of clothing.

I have Quaker Meeting tomorrow, and after that I may work on de-cluttering my bedroom in anticipation of packing things. I am slowly trying to convince myself that I should part with my dining room set, which I've had for 16 years now and was my first "grown-up" purchase when I joined the RCMP. I love it so much, but there is nowhere to put it in the new house. There's no dining room to speak of, and the kitchen has a huge built-in island/table thing. I kind of want to just wrap all of it securely in plastic and store it in one of the outbuildings on the off chance that one day we'll have enough money to put an extension on the house, but that's probably super unrealistic.

Actually, since the garage will eventually have to be torn down, I am mentally toying with the idea of creating a secondary residence, like an in-law suite, with whatever building we end up putting there. I was thinking perhaps a quonset hut would be useful since they're not super expensive and can be adapted to any number of uses. I want to put in essentially a fully functioning guest house, with bedroom(s), bathroom, kitchenette, etc. But that's a huge and expensive project that is for a future me who hasn't just spent all her money buying a house. ;)

Man, I am doing a terrible job of convincing myself I don't need a dining room set. :P

I have so many plans, and so little free money with which to implement them. I do love building castles in Spain, though, it's one of my favourite hobbies, because it's completely free. Eventually I'd love to build a fully functional outdoor kitchen or maybe just a summer kitchen, one in which I can do large-scale processing of fruit and vegetables and meat. Having either a summer kitchen or an outdoor kitchen would make things a bit easier, because it's extremely hot work and it turns the house into an absolute oven, even with air conditioning.

Of course, I have some immediate expenses I have to figure out as well right after the move. We need fencing for the dogs, and the house needs gutters in order to not, oh, rot from the bottom up over time. I can afford one of those two things right away, but very likely not both, unless I can manage to get one done remarkably cheaply. *sigh* Being an adult is difficult.

Okay, once again, it is time for bed. Catch you on the flip side, friends!

Current Mood: calm

I am nearly done. Creeping up on halfway through tonight’s night shift (and by the time I finish this post it may be past that time, depending on how often I get interrupted for work).

I had a semi-productive day. KK asked me Friday night to help her move furniture when I got home so that we could launch the Roomba in the living room. Now, moving furniture after a night shift is not my first choice, but if KK is in the mood for cleaning, I am the last person to say no. So, when I got home, I cleared out the entire living room (except for the ottoman, because it’s big enough that it would block off too much of the downstairs before KK could come down with the dogs) and gave the floor a preliminary sweep. The Roomba is great, but it cannot compete with the dust capybaras in our house (they are too big to qualify as dust bunnies) since we hadn’t let it do its thing in a couple of weeks. I’m thinking of naming it Pete (the king of the rumba beat!), but I’m not fully sold on that name yet.

I also invested in a body pillow in the hopes that it will help with the eventual CPAP (I’m a side sleeper and I am a little concerned about the mask not fitting right) and also with the lower back pain that insists on coming and going. If I want to get my community garden plot set up right and not wreck my back the way I did last year, I’m going to have to be extra careful about managing it. I should look up my old physio exercises and start doing those again (blech), and maybe I’ll even set up some appointments to get a jump on this. Last year I hurt my back so badly that I was out of commission for weeks, and the entire garden plot went to hell in a handbasket. This year I would like it to be different. Anyway, the body pillow is less amazing than I was hoping for, but it might just need some extra getting used to.

In other news, my real estate agent has sent us a listing that checks off some of our boxes. It doesn’t have much land, and the neighbours are very close, but the house itself looks like it could fit us, it has some nice looking out buildings and is at a pretty reasonable distance from Ottawa. It would require some downsizing, for sure, but I think it could be workable. I’ll know for sure once we’ve had a chance to see it, which will be on Monday after KK is done with work. Originally, we were going to go tomorrow, but there’s an actual ice storm predicted for tomorrow, so the real estate agent rescheduled us for Monday.

I’m a little concerned about the ice storm, actually. There have been multiple severe weather alerts about it. For one, I am not thrilled at the idea of having to drive to and from work in that kind of weather. For another, I don’t currently have gas for the generator in the garage. I had gas stored but the ADHD struck and I kind of forgot about it, so now it’s too old to use safely. It would just gunk up the mechanism. So, if the power does go out I’ll need to buy a new container from Canadian Tire and fill it up that way, and I’m a little concerned that most of the people around here will be thinking along the same lines. For all my attempts at preparedness, I am apparently kind of unprepared for this current storm.

*sigh*

I need to get back into the swing of things, preparedness-wise. I have to fill the water containers in the basement and acquire more containers. My original plan was to have at least two weeks’ worth of emergency supplies: food, water, and basic energy. In terms of water storage, the rule of thumb is to have four litres of water per person per day, and then of course you have to take into account the pets. I had to do some math because the amount of water per day per pets is done in ounces per pound of body weight and came up with a total of three litres of water for all of the mammals in the house. The frogs also need distilled water, but we actually have a fair bit of that already stored up for them, and they go through less than a litre a week, so I’m not too worried about their water needs. So basically, we need a minimum of 11 litres of water per day, which is a little over half of each container that I’ve bought. I currently have four containers, so that would mean we’d have enough potable water for seven days, eight if we ration a little bit. In order to have at least two weeks’ worth of potable water I need three to four more containers, which is totally doable, albeit on the expensive side. Ideally, I would have enough water to last even longer than that, but two weeks’ worth seems like a good start.

The other thing I’ve been slacking on is figuring out shelf-stable emergency food supplies. The thing about stocking up on food is that you have to make sure that you will actually be able to eat whatever you’re stocking up on. As an example, I bought some canned chicken a while back, and it turns out the texture is super disgusting. This is what makes me laugh about the supposedly “hardcore” preppers: here they are buying 20 kilos of dried beans or nuts with no thought as to whether they or their family even LIKE beans or know how to cook them in a way that won’t make them want to slit their wrists after a week or two of eating the same thing over and over. Like, sure, you can stuff your bomb shelter full of canned beans and MREs, but then that’s all you’re going to be eating forever. Often enough these people also don’t know that they should be rotating through their food supply.

There’s also the question of how to cook it if you have no electricity. Back when I had a gas stove (God, I miss living in my old house, even if the landlady was crazy) this wasn’t an issue, but my current stove is electric. I did acquire a thermos shuttle chef a couple of years ago, so I should definitely practice making food in it so that I’m not caught off-guard when the power goes off. It’s actually pretty clever as a concept: you put food in it, bring it to a boil over a heat source, then place it in a larger “sleeve” for several hours, and it cooks the food over that time without using extra energy. It’s mostly good for things like stews, especially ones that incorporate a starch, like rice or noodles. KK isn’t a hue fan of stews due to the varying texture of the contents, but she can tolerate them reasonably well, and I know that in an emergency when we have no electricity, she’d be okay with that as a form of nourishment, which is encouraging.

I still have a lot of concerns about how to shelter in place if there’s a long-term power outage or a larger emergency that’s also accompanied by a power outage. My main concern is the dart frogs. They require controlled temperatures (between 18 and 25 degrees Celsius) and are pretty delicate, so anything outside those temperatures can kill them. They’re also pretty hard to transport, so if we have to evacuate, I will be facing a similar problem. At least at home I can keep them in their vivarium, but in the winter they could easily freeze and in the summer they could just as easily boil to death when the temperatures reach extremes.

I do need to invest in a few more shelf-stable food items, particularly peanut butter and maybe crackers or melba toast or something. Bread isn’t shelf-stable, but I can probably get away with making a flatbread of some kind if I have a heat source for cooking. I probably wouldn’t have enough heat to bake a loaf of bread, but I can at least generate enough to make flatbread. I tried making tortillas a couple of years ago and they didn’t turn out especially well, but I could definitely practice that skill. I’ve been meaning to practice more skills on a regular basis, but the no-longer-mystery tired has been keeping me in a vicious cycle of doing the bare minimum, collapsing from exhaustion while everything piles up, then trying to do more, exhausting myself more, and then being exhausted while watching everything pile up even more. Meow. Anyway, I am cautiously hopeful that if the CPAP works, I will finally be able to catch up on all the stuff I have been letting get out of hand all around me without constantly feeling like I want to crawl into bed for the next thousand years.

All right. Time to wrap up my musings and dive back into the books I brought with me. I got interrupted a fair bit on this post, so now I am pas the halfway mark of this shift. Four hours and forty-five minutes left until I’m done for the day. I am really looking forward to this week being over. For one, I’d really like to get some sleep, and for two, I am excited about the professional organizer coming over to fix my kitchen! Anyway, I shall now dive into The Care Manifesto until either more work comes in or it’s time to go home. If I finish it I still have two other books, including a new Mediterranean Diet air fryer cookbook which I hope will provide some inspiration.

Catch you on the flip side, friends!

Current Mood: busy

So because the last two night shifts are 12-hour weekend shifts, the halfway mark of my week of night shifts is actually on Friday. Exactly 32 hours of work left before I'm off for two weeks, since I traded my weekend day shifts with a coworker.

I am excited to get through my night shifts and into next week, even though I'm going to be super tired. Between the night shifts and the terrible quality of sleep I've been getting, I'm going to be a bit of a basket case during the week. However, I am excited to have the professional organizer over to help me get the kitchen whipped into shape. I have some ideas about how to move some things around to make things more effective, and I'm hoping she will be able to help me streamline the rest of it to be as functional as possible. I would really like to bring my herb garden into the kitchen, too, although I don't know if that will even be possible. I guess we'll find out.

The international news is currently awash with headlines about the 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar. I just saw that the United States Geological Service's (USGS) predictive modelling estimated the death toll could exceed 10,000 people, and that losses could be greater than the value of the country's gross domestic product, which is WILD. How does a country recover from that kind of disaster? I'm actually surprised the USGS is still functional enough to provide services internationally. I assume that Doge will be decimating them shortly. *sigh*

I am struggling a little to find good news in the world these days. Right now everything feels like it's on fire all around me. So even though my own life is going comparatively well, I am struggling with survivor's guilt about that. I'm also worried that the fact that my life isn't going nearly as well as I think it is, and that it could all fall apart at any time. Apart from the fact that I have exactly one year and two days left in my work contract, which means I could very well be unemployed right after that, there's a non-zero chance that my contract could be ended early if the Conservatives get into power and decide to force more cuts in the government. Hell, the Liberals could do the same as well. It's also increasingly likely that we're going to face some sort of violence from the USA, ranging simply from economic violence all the way up to and including invasion/annexation.

It actually reminds me of a post I saw earlier today, by someone named nitewriter:

Me: I don't get it. I thought I was doing a lot better than I was a few years ago. I'm like 10 times more on top of things than I used to be. How does everything feel terrible now?

The Tiny Me in OSAH-approved Hi-Vis Gear Who lives in my head and pulls all the levers: Boss, it's the fascism. You're completely gunked up with cortisol due to the fact that your entire daily life is now underscored with a haunting awareness of the rapid erosion of your rights, dignity, and any and all social safety nets, and you're also bearing witness to the most vulnerable people immediately being persecuted. This creates a natural stress response that basically means you're going to continue having memory and organizational problems, as well as emotional imbalances.

Me: BUT I HAVE A BULLET JOURNAL AND I MEDITATE NOW.

Tiny OSHA Me: BOSS, THE FASCISM.

So, yeah, it all feels sort of like that. I actually tried bullet journaling a while back, and it didn't work as well as I wanted it to, which is kind of weird because the person who invented bullet journaling did it in order to manage his ADHD. I'm actually curious to see if any of the ADHD management techniques that have failed for me over the past few years might not work better after I get a CPAP, supposing the CPAP actually makes a difference in my energy levels and ability to focus and retain information.

I really liked the concept of bullet journals, and I got very excited when I saw all the pretty ways in which people on the internet were customizing theirs, but I got bogged down in perfectionism and preparing my pages in advance started taking up so much time that I would put it off until I was "too far behind" the arbitrary deadlines I'd set for myself. That's mostly because even when I picked the easiest pretty layouts I could find, my artistic grasp exceeded my reach. I am really, really shit at visual arts, and so even very basic stuff takes me forever to accomplish. So if I do decide to go back to a bullet journal (or BuJo, as the kids were calling it a few years ago) I will likely avoid trying to make it look aesthetic and stick to just plain writing. Anyway, I don't plan on trying yet another journaling method at least until I've had my very own functional CPAP for a few months.

I probably shouldn't hang so many hopes on the CPAP. If I turn out to be among those for whom it's not effective, the disappointment will be excruciating. I'm just excited at the prospect of no longer constantly feeling like absolute garbage. I have no idea for how long I've had sleep apnea, but I've felt like the aforementioned garbage for years now, although it got noticeably worse at the beginning of the pandemic, so five years at least now. I assumed at first that the brain fog was just due to aging and ADHD combined, and then it kept getting worse. At multiple times I thought maybe I'd had an asymptomatic case of Covid (in spite of the fact that I mask everywhere in public) which had resulted in long Covid that had fried my brain. Of course, there's no way to test that theory as far as I know. I've been vaccinated multiple times, so the antibodies will already be present in my system. Right now the sleep apnea seems to be the more likely culprit.

Okay, time to get back to work. Catch you on the flip side, friends!

Current Mood: contemplative

Someone on Facebook posted earlier today that the wealthy (the post said billionaires, but I'm willing to bet other ultra-wealthy people whose net work is "only" in the tens or hundreds of millions also profit this way) profit off of stock market volatility, and honestly, that tracks as the youths are saying these days. (Actually, I'm not sure the youths are using that expression either, I might be a few years out of date on that one too). Trump declares tariffs, the markets tank, wealthy people buy up stock at low prices. The next day Trump declares no more tariffs, the markets pick up, the wealthy have now made a tidy profit.

Barf.

The weather also doesn't know what to do with itself, which is fairly typical for the beginning of March. We've had snow, freezing rain, rain, clear blue skies, warm weather and freezing weather all within less than 26 hours. It's been changing its mind more than Trump has, and that's saying something! Today when I tried to go to work for the early shift my entire car was frozen shut, and the windshield cover I use on my car had actually frozen closed over the side mirrors (it has drawstrings that close around the side mirrors that are great 99% of the time because it keeps the cover from blowing around), and it took forever to get it off as well as chip away enough ice to actually get in my car in order to get my scraper out. What a shitshow. Luckily this is a fairly rare weather coincidence, so hopefully I won't have to deal with it anymore this year, or at least only a handful of times before spring sets in.

In politics-adjacent news, I've been having conflicting feelings about continuing to post on Dreamwidth and LiveJournal. LJ is, of course, owned by Russians, and DW has all its information hosted in the USA, which makes me worry a little about what's going to happen to all of the posts and data if more draconian laws come into play. I'm trying to divest as much from anything US-related as possible, and that is probably going to include a lot of my online activities.

I'm still trying to figure out how to divest from social media companies that are overwhelmingly American without sacrificing my connections with friends (my family is mostly not online) and my connection to alternative news sources and help networks. I know so many people online who are wonderful and amazing whom I consider close friends even though I've never met a lot of them in person, and I have a lot of IRL friends who now live far away from me and with whom I basically only have contact online. I don't think Canada HAS a social media platform to speak of. Right now I have accounts on a number of platforms: Discord (not social media exactly, but close), Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and TikTok. All but the latter are owned by the US, and the latter is great in some ways and problematic AF in others.

Not for the first time I kind of wish I had learned how to program beyond the basic html shit I learned specifically for LJ back in 2002. ;) I'd be fine with trying to create my own social media platform, even if it was kind of small and janky if it means I could keep all my friends in my pocket like before but without supporting US corporations or sacrificing my data to shitty actors. I suppose I could always try to learn to program an app in my copious amounts of spare time. To be fair, I do have spare time, I am just bad at using it efficiently.

I have always wanted to be one of those highly organized, highly efficient people to whom others look and say "My God, I don't know how she manages it all!" However, I have to be content with people side-eyeing me and probably saying things like "It's honestly amazing she manages to tie her shoes on a regular basis." (Joke's on them, 3/4 of my shoes are slip-ons!) I have a fair number of "extra" hours in the week, but those usually get frittered away either in decision paralysis or general task initiation paralysis, or just because I can't force myself out of bed early on the weekends anymore because I'm never not tired. (My sleep test is in eight days and I am way too excited about it!)

In related news, I've started reading a new book which looks super promising. It's called Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next), and so far it has done an excellent job of defining mutual aid, what is is and what it isn't. The next part of the book is meant to have practical advice on how to start mutual aid or at least get involved, and I am excited to get into it. As usual, my brain isn't letting me read particularly quickly, so I may run out of time before the book has to go back to the library. That being said, if I like the book enough, I may buy myself a copy for future reference.

Okay, time to put this disjointed post out of its misery. Tomorrow I am off to visit my parents and I don't know how late I'll be back home, but hopefully I will be home in time to not break my posting streak. See you on the flip side, friends!

Current Mood: thoughtful

I haven't even had that busy a day, but I am super tired.

Work is doing a weird thing this week where we're getting half-days to work from home, and it's more annoying than anything else. Finding parking at noon in an already busy building is a hell of an exercise in frustration. They're doing it out of a desire to make things a bit more fair because several people have afternoon courses this week, and rather than simply letting them work from home the whole time and forcing the rest of us to come in the full five days, which is admittedly shitty, they're doing this weird compromise instead. I appreciate the intent, at the very least, because I would have been a little salty about these people getting a full WFH week AGAIN (they had one last month too, and it's starting to feel a little old to constantly be the person who has to come in every single day while they get to be at home all cozy).

We're having another snowstorm that's going to last until at least Thursday, and so traffic was terrible getting home this evening. I think that's part of why I'm tired. Spending an hour and ten minutes in traffic instead of the usual half hour was just life draining.

KK was out for dinner with a friend this evening, so I got the house to myself. I cleaned out the fridge a little and ate some of the leftovers that KK won't touch, and got the dogs organized for bed without too much trouble, and since then I've been slowly settling into bed. As soon as I've finished this post I will be turning in for the night. I am working the early shift tomorrow, which means I have to be up at 5am in order to be at work on time. Blech.

I've been doing pretty well lately about getting to bed on time, but that hasn't actually helped me with feeling any less tired, alas. My sleep test is scheduled in ten days' time, though, and I am practically counting down the hours until it happens. I know I won't get an answer right away, but just getting it done will be a step in the right direction. I really, REALLY want to know if there's a relatively simple fix for how tired I am all the fucking time.

Current Mood: tired

My coworker brought Indian take-out to work last night, and I had a vindaloo that was super delicious but apparently had also gone ever so slightly off, so my plans today were thwarted by luckily mild food poisoning. I had originally been going to spend the day with my friends Dylan and Sarah, but instead I spent the morning with chamomile tea and toast.

Once I was feeling a little better I decided to make the most of a bad situation, and attended to the dogs' much-neglected nails. Pixie's nails are done, and Peggy is next on the list. Before I can do their nails I need to use the clippers on their paws, because their fur tends to grow quite long there and gets caught in the Dremel tool that I use on them, which no one enjoys. I also did a laser therapy session with Peggy for her hips, and did some physiotherapy with her. I've been slacking on that front and need to do better.

KK and I also moved all the furniture from the living room (well, all the stuff that CAN be moved, I should say) in order to run the Roomba, but the Roomba was mysteriously not charged up, so now we're waiting for it to charge on its docking station. Still, we're having a pretty decently productive day in spite of my digestive malaise. I decided to handle the Quaker Announcements a little early today so that I don't have to deal with it later tonight (and can thus go to bed early-ish if I so desire), and I'm taking the opportunity to write this quick update now as well for much the same reasons.

I don't have much to talk about aside from that right now. Politics continue to be a trash fire, and I may have ordered a bunch more seeds for the garden that I haven't started yet. I also ordered more compost worms earlier this week, so now I just have to wait for them to contact me and let me know when I can go pick them up.

So yeah. A very short update from me today. Maybe I'll have more to report tomorrow. Have a great day, friends!

Current Mood: sick

I love dinner parties, but good Lord, they are so much work! They'd probably be less work if my house wasn't an absolute disaster that looks like several tornadoes and a tsunami went through it.

KK and I had a really productive day, though. I got up early and got started on the roasted red pepper soup, then left KK napping on the sofa in order to take Peggy to the vet. The great news is that the vet says Peggy's bum has improved a lot since her last visit! The Gland-X finally appears to be taking effect, which is a relief for all of us. Having to take her to get her anal glands expressed every month is expensive for me and painful for her. So yay for Peggy doing better!

Next up on the list was advanced voting. I expected it to be a little bit of a hassle because I didn't get my voter registration card in the mail, but it turned out to be super easy. I only needed one piece of photo ID and to just sign a form with my name on it for their records, and that was it. I asked about the voter registration cards, and the very nice lady from Elections Ontario gave me the most long-suffering look and said "Yeah... this was a little rushed." Say less, dear Elections Ontario person, say less. Anyway, I have now cast my vote for the candidate I find least objectionable and the likeliest to perhaps win against either the Liberals or the Conservatives. I keep holding out hope that one day people will realize that they can vote for third parties outside the binary that has dominated our politics since forever, and maybe THEN we can finally change things up around here. I'm not holding out a TON of hope, but I am holding out some.

From the polling station we went to M&M Meats where I wanted to get some crème brûlée for dessert, only to discover that they've discontinued it completely, which is extremely sad. So we went to Délice Royale and picked up four pastries instead, and KK was kind enough to stop at the library so I could drop off a book that was due today.

The afternoon was a blur of cooking on my end and cleaning for both of us. KK put in a heroic effort and not only vacuumed the entire downstairs, she cleared the furniture out of the living room and programmed the new Roomba. It mapped the room, then vacuumed a couple of times, and then we set it to mop the floor. It did a very serviceable job, too. The tentative plan is to run it 2 to 3 times a week now to stay better on top of the cleaning. It's a bit of a hassle to move the furniture, but really it's just some chairs and the ottoman, so it's not too terrible. I cleaned the powder room just in case the guests needed it, and then we were off to the races! The dogs were DEEPLY unimpressed with the Roomba and spent the entire time chasing it, barking at it, and running away from it. It was very funny to watch them go. XD

The guests in question were my old boss and his boyfriend. They've been officially together for about a year, but I hadn't met the boyfriend yet, so I was pretty excited to get to know him. He is a delight, as it happens, and I think the dinner was a resounding success! The only thing I need to work on is my homemade mayonnaise--it was WAY too acidic, so clearly the recipe I used needs a fair bit of tweaking to make it taste better. We had a really good time chatting about their recent travels, catching up on what's going on at the RCMP (my old boss still works there but in a different department), and regaling the boyfriend about past work shenanigans. We went through a bottle of white wine, the guests made very appreciative noises about the food, and the evening wound down nicely over decaf coffee and pastries.

So, yes. I am calling it a resounding success, and I hope that I'll be able to have them over for dinner regularly.

And now it's time for me to go to bed. I handled the announcements for Quaker Meeting a little earlier, and tomorrow I've committed to First Day School at the Meeting House in the nursery room. I didn't think I was signing up for the nursery room, which is definitely not my preference, but needs must, I guess, and at least it precludes me having to come up with a curriculum, since the nursery room is mostly designed for free play.

I need to put gas in the car and also get to Meeting super early because with all the snow we've had I'm sure the parking situation is absolutely atrocious, so the earlier I get there the better. Meeting starts at 10:30, but I think I will try to aim to get there by 9:30, which means leaving around 9:00 or even a bit earlier to factor in the time at the gas pump.

All righty. Bedtime. Good night, folks!

Current Mood: chipper

I spent a very large chunk of today cleaning in anticipation of tomorrow's dinner guests, and I am (alas) not done yet. On the plus side, doing all of what I did today means there will be that much less to do tomorrow, which is shaping up to be a really busy day.

The professional organizer came by at 3pm, and I walked her through my "no place for anything and nothing in its place" house, and she didn't run screaming for the hills, which was nice. She's away for the month of March but I'm working all through then anyway, so it works out. She's back the first week of April, and I have booked a few sessions with her in that week to tackle the kitchen first. Hopefully I won't run out of money so that we can start on the garage and basement afterward. Fingers crossed!

The tentative plan for tomorrow is to get up (first step in any plan, really!), then clean the downstairs powder room and get started on the roasted red pepper soup so that it will just need to be reheated in the evening and I won't be scrambling trying to get everything cooked at the same time. Then I will prep the chicken (it requires several hours of marinating) and by then it will be time for errands. I have a vet appointment for Peggy at 9:45, and after that KK and I are planning to go vote early in our provincial election.

Incidentally, I am super annoyed at our government for A) calling this election at all, because it's a cheap political move and an obvious power grab, and B) for not sending my voter registration card in time for early voting for the first time in my 46 years on this planet. I don't think it's a conspiracy or anything, just the Ford government being its usual corrupt and inept self. ARGH. Luckily I can just go with two pieces of ID and it will be fine. The more I hear about voter suppression in the USA, the more grateful I am that Canada isn't nearly as bad in that regard. We are not perfect by any stretch, but we're also nowhere near in the same league.

With any luck advance voting will go quickly (it usually does, because there aren't huge queues as a rule), because after that we have three stops: one to pick up dessert, one to pick up a bottle of wine to go with dinner, and one last one at Canadian Tire so KK can buy some butane for her new butane torch. I am a little worried about using it for the first time right when we're having guests, but whatever. YOLO, as the youths say. Actually, I think the youths are no longer saying YOLO, that was a previous set of youths. I think the current youths would say something like DIFTP ("Do It For The Plot"), which is pretty hilarious. As a former writer, I approve.

When we get home I need to vacuum the living room, and then I plan to unleash KK on the living room with our new Roomba. It's not set up to do a deep-clean, which is why we have to vacuum first, but after that it should be able to do a second vacuuming pass and hopefully a couple of mopping passes before the guests arrive, thus sparing me from having to do it so that I can focus on cooking and setting the table.

If all goes well, I should have everything prepped and ready by the time the guests get here and not be *too* frazzled. That is the dream.

Speaking of dreams, it's time for bed. Good night!

Current Mood: calm

Today was a quiet day in which I didn't get much done, but I don't have too many regrets.

For one, I slept in until about 10:30, which was glorious. KK changed her mind about going to work and called in sick, so my plans for trying to do a bit of tidying in the living room got postponed for the next time she's not at home, which will be Friday unless she calls in sick again.

A chunk of my afternoon got eaten up by my appointment with the bariatric clinic. It was online, at least, so I didn't have to negotiate traffic or parking or anything like that, but it was still two hours long, which felt excessive. This was the first of two (or possibly three, I can't recall) mandatory information sessions over Zoom. Of course, I went over all of the information with the nurse practitioner at my last appointment, was given a book to read with it all as well, and also had to watch information videos about it too. So needless to say, today's session wasn't the most riveting in terms of subject matter. I do understand that they're trying to make the information as accessible as possible in as many formats as possible, so I don't blame them or anything, but I won't lie, I was pretty bored by the end.

At 5pm I had a phone conversation with the professional organizer I reached out to on Sunday, and she offered to come do an in-person consultation on Friday. I am cautiously optimistic about her. I laid out the issues we're having with clutter and hoarding and my inability to keep the house clean because of said problems, and I laid it on pretty thick about having pets and that contributing to the overall problem. She seems undaunted so far, so we'll see what she has to say when she arrives on Friday. For now I am choosing to be optimistic about the whole thing.

I am still quite tired, so I think I shall leave it there for now. I will try for a more comprehensive update tomorrow. Good night, friends!

Current Mood: sleepy

So last year, right around this time, I stopped watching Critical Role. It wasn't a conscious decision, it was more that I was kind of busy with various things, and Critical Role is a hefty weekly time commitment (anywhere from four to six hours per episode), and I got a little behind, and then a lot behind, and then it just seemed like a lot of work to catch up.

I was reminded of its existence on Thursday, because that was apparently the Campaign 3 finale, and that kind of motivated me to start watching again. Thanks to their revised schedule of only airing three weeks per month and reserving the fourth week for a game that's unrelated to the main campaign, I don't have as many episodes to catch up on as I feared I might--"only" about 30 or so. So I've decided to go with roughly one episode a day whenever I have a chunk of time. I tend to listen to the episodes like a podcast rather than watch them, because I know the actors' voices well enough to be able to differentiate them. I do miss a lot of visual cues and moments that are much better when watched, but I don't mind too much. Whenever I know that I've missed something I tend to go back and re-watch just then.

Anyway, I blithely started watching Episode 89, and then 90, in which the party are on the moon called Ruidus, racing against time to save their world. It's an extremely tense arc, and so by the time Saturday rolled around I was more than ready for Episode 91 because it felt narratively like things were coming to the climax of the arc. Then, <details><summary>Click for spoilers!</summary><p>Fucking Sam Riegel broke my heart AGAIN because FCG sacrificed himself in a blaze of glory to save all of his friends from a TPK. I was at work, on a night shift, trying very hard not to cry in front of my coworkers, and everything was terrible</p></details>.

I JUST HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT D&D.

I'm a little annoyed that watching or listening to Critical Role is incompatible with my goal of reading more books this year. Obviously I can't listen to it and an audiobook simultaneously, and reading a book physically also isn't possible, for very similar reasons. So I'm just going to have to listen to it while I'm doing chores or knitting or something. It's fine. Hopefully this will provide me with enough motivation to actually get some cleaning done this week while I'm off work after my night shifts. If I play my cards right I can probably manage two episodes a day for the entire week. It's probably not great for my brain, but it's been a minute since I binged a show I really enjoyed, so that's something to look forward to.

In two weeks I've invited a couple of friends over for dinner. It's my old manager from the RCMP and his new boyfriend. He divorced his wife of something like 30 years back in 2021 (and good riddance, because she was an abusive, narcissistic bitch), and went to therapy, and finally allowed all the feelings he'd been suppressing all his life to come to the surface. I was the first person outside his family that he came out to, and I may or may not have barfed rainbows all over him when he did. ;) It's good to see him happy after all this time.

Having guests is always a good motivator to get the house clean, and also to try to come up with some fun recipes to try out. I haven't decided what to make yet, but I'd like to try my hand at some sort of fancy appetizer, at least. Maybe I'll try a Beef Wellington. That would be something, if I could pull it off! I'll have to poke around the internet and see what I can find as inspiration.

Okay, I think that's it for now. I may put in a grocery order to pick up for this week and just get that out of the way. I still have five hours left on this shift, and although I don't want to jinx myself, it's going by excruciatingly slowly.

Current Mood: awake

My body is still mad at me. I have given it some painkillers by way of apology, and we shall see if it forgives me tomorrow.

I got up early again and did some cleaning before the remaining organiser arrived. I cleared out the clutter in the front entrance and hallway, and mopped the floors, and mopped the floor in one of the upstairs bathrooms as well. I also moved all the furniture in my bedroom around in what I hope will prove to be a better/more efficient configuration going forward. Time will tell. For now it feels a bit weird and disorienting to have my bed at a 90 degree angle from its usual orientation, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. I also vacuumed all the accessible carpeting,

Today felt less productive than yesterday, but that's only because the pace was a lot less frenetic and was focused more on organising and putting things together rather than the massive amounts of decluttering that got done yesterday. In reality, today was also super productive. Only one of the organisers came back, but as it turned out that was a good thing, because two of them would have been serious overkill.

We got the guest room 95% cleared out (soon to be KK's room). All that's left in there right now is a folding table, and the box with the papers I need to shred and my shredder. We then moved the furniture and computer peripherals out of what is now the Cat Room (I had already moved the computer itself earlier this morning), and went through the last of the books. In total I think I got rid of about 35% of my books, and I now have enough shelf space to accommodate my entire library, which is awesome. The organiser also helped me rejuvenate my filing system, and I put away the handful of papers I actually kept after yesterday's blitz. There was still an hour left "on the clock" by the time we were done, and so on the spur of the moment we decided to tackle the front closet. I had been sort of avoiding it because it seemed like a huge job, but it was way less terrible than I had assumed: we finished in under 40 minutes and it looks fantastic.

The cats are extremely mad at me, needless to say. I changed things and moved things around without their permission. Everything is terrible, and I am a monster.

I still have a lot of work to do, but the progress is undeniable, and I am feeling very accomplished. Next on the list is actually putting all my books in order, and putting the final touches on my new "home office" set-up. Once I have cleared the garage of all the recycling and garbage bags I generated this week, I will focus on clearing out the garage. Ideally I'd like to clear out 60% of it, possibly up to 75% if I can manage it. I won't be able to clear anything until after this Tuesday, though, and even then I will still have a ton of paper recycling to put to the curb the Tuesday after. So I'm looking at about 10 days before I can really get in there, and if I'm realistic about it, it will be more like two weeks because that feels like a weekend project than an "after work" project. In the meantime, I'm going to focus on reorganising the kitchen. I have already done a small bit of de-cluttering in there, and I want to keep going with that until I have it looking and working the way I want.

What I will have to do in the next week or so is acquire storage solutions in the form of shelves and possibly some bins. I resisted the urge to splurge on organisation porn until such time as I had de-cluttered, because it would have been a waste of money. You can't organise clutter, after all. Now that said clutter is coming under control, though, it's time to put together a system that will work for me. I will update as events warrant, as I haven't completely decided on what I want that system to look like yet.

I'm kind of amused that I'm tackling this massive de-clutter in 2021, a full year after everyone else on the planet did it because they were locked down during a pandemic. I'm not sure what sort of contrarian that makes me, but I am enjoying the dramatic irony. Phnee resists de-cluttering while all the cool kids are doing it, but promptly gets to work as soon as people aren't talking about it anymore.

All right. Tomorrow morning is another early day, as I want to take Peggy out for a frolic before Quaker Meeting, and after that I am heading over to KK's house to help her with more cleaning/de-cluttering as well. Therefore, it is time for bed.

Current Mood: productive
Crossposts: https://mousme.livejournal.com/1259963.html

Every part of me huuuuuuuurts. Okay, not every part of me. It's mostly my feet and my lower back and my legs to a lesser extent. All those muscles have seized up and haaaaaate me.

I did get up on time. I correctly predicted that anxiety would force me out of bed in time to get stuff done, and it did and I did! I cleared out a bunch of garbage/recycling in order to make sure there was a clear space to work in, and although Peggy freaked out and spent a good 30 minutes shrieking at the top of her lungs every time I went by to the garage or the basement, I got everything I wanted to done.

The professional organisers arrived at 09:30, and we had a super productive day! We cleared out so. much. stuff. I got rid of about 90% of my old paperwork, and donated 6 boxes of books (with more to come tomorrow). Unfortunately they complained to their boss that there was too much cat hair in the rooms we were working in (fair enough, as those rooms have been so cluttered for years that I couldn't get in there with a vacuum cleaner), and one of them isn't coming back tomorrow because she claimed she wasn't feeling well as a result. I *did* make a point of telling the lady in charge a month ago that I had multiple pets and that I needed to de-clutter rooms that hadn't been touched in years, and she assured me that no one had allergies or phobias, but I guess that only goes so far. She did say she'll refund me the part of my fee that covers the second person tomorrow, so that's something, at least.

The brightest part of the day was KK spontaneously volunteering to come over to help me build my new computer desk. Not only that, but when I left to fetch Peggy from daycare she actually put together my small bookcase for me too! I am incredibly thankful, because while I could have managed the bookcase just fine, the desk was more complex and would likely have taken me several hours when I was already very tired and very sore. She has the same kind of desk (mine has blue accents and hers is all black), so she remembered how to put it all together, which was quite helpful.

I picked up a rotisserie chicken and made baby potatoes, asparagus, and Caesar salad (from a kit, I was too tired for anything else) for dinner, and both of us hadn't eaten in a very long time, and it was goddamned delicious. As KK said, it hit spots we didn't even know needed hitting. We had meringata for dessert, and hung out and chatted and played with the dogs, and generally had a nice, chill time before she went home around 9:30. We're both really looking forward to moving in together, and it's starting to feel like reality now, which is pretty exciting.

Now it's time to faceplant into my bed. KK actually gave me one of those chair pillows for my bed so I can read/be on my laptop, so that's where I am already, but the important part is the faceplanting. I have more stuff that I want to do before the (solitary) organiser comes tomorrow so as to maximise her time here (more vacuuming, for one thing), so getting more sleep seems like a really good plan right now.

Current Mood: accomplished
Crossposts: https://mousme.livejournal.com/1259619.html

I got next to nothing done today. I woke up feeling totally exhausted, and even though I took Peggy to daycare I ended up napping. Worst of all, the nap was completely unrefreshing, and I feel just as tired as before I napped.

The only thing I got done was to take Peggy and Octavia to the vet this afternoon for their shots, and to get Octavia checked out because her breath is absolutely vile and I wanted to make sure that her teeth weren't rotting or that she had developed some sort of weird intestinal thing. She got a clean bill of health, though, and we're going to try switching her food to see if that helps with anything.

I am torn between trying to get stuff done now (ick), or setting my alarm to get up early and do stuff then. Normally I would worry about playing yet another round of the "I told you so game," but since I have actual people coming tomorrow (the professional organisers), my anxiety is probably going to play in my favour on that front. What is the point of having neuroses if you can't exploit them after procrastinating, after all?

Ugh.

This will all be worth it in the end, I know, but I wish it weren't so difficult to get there. I will try to update with something a little more interesting tomorrow. :)

Current Mood: listless
Crossposts: https://mousme.livejournal.com/1259364.html

Peggy has spent most of today passed out on the sofa, and I don't blame her in the slightest. I slept in a bit (much the way I kind of anticipated I would after a late night of D&D), and just sort of hung out with her this morning. I did a mandatory work training that I'd almost forgotten about, at least, so my morning wasn't a total loss. Then at 12:30 I had a Zoom call with a lady with whom I've been doing an "accountability partners" thing for thought work, to delve a little deeper into the way I've been making myself crazy about my manager's eventual return from maternity leave. It was a good call, so I'm pretty pleased about that too.

Unfortunately, I got nothing done on the decluttering front, which was my main goal this week. I did take Peggy out for another romp in the fields, and it was actually kind of rough. I'm glad I did it, and it's not like I hated every minute, but it was raining and it felt like every muscle in my body rebelled at once, and my jeans got soaking wet, and the ground was so waterlogged that it was a literal slog most of the time. So right now I am very tired and very sore, and I have done no work on the house at all, which means I only have tomorrow left to get things set up before the professional organizers come on Friday and Saturday. That is not bad in and of itself, but this was not the plan at all. (The best laid plans of mice and men, etc.)

I'm going to call it an early night, and see if I can recuperate a little physically. Having less muscle pain tomorrow would be really nice. I also need to get up MUCH earlier tomorrow so I can take Peggy for her run and drop her off at daycare again before coming home and then launching myself (hopefully) full-tilt into decluttering.

I know, exciting times. :)

Current Mood: sore
Crossposts: https://mousme.livejournal.com/1259042.html

I got Peggy out for another run, and then took her to PetSmart for daycare for the day, so I could continue decluttering the upstairs without having to shut her in her crate. She hates being in the crate when I'm home, and I am none too thrilled about it either, but the whole point of decluttering the upstairs is to make it Peggy-proof so that she CAN have the run of the house. We are not there yet, alas.

The house is in much worse shape than I deluded myself into thinking it is. That is what happens when you basically ignore your housekeeping for years on end apart from doing the bare minimum. I did it to myself, so I can't complain. That being said, I am making good progress. I actually took apart the little fan on my night table and washed all the individual parts, because it had gotten so dusty that I couldn't just wipe it down. It was pretty gross. Now it is really white and clean and I can already feel the difference in the air quality, which is pretty exciting.

I've moved the dresser in my room, and the next step is to move my bed and my night table. I'm hoping that some judicious rearranging of the furniture will clear some space for me to set up a home office in here, so that I can clear the small room that is currently serving as my office in anticipation of when KK moves in. That little room is going to be turned into a combination library and cat refuge. I have my bookcases in there, and they're going to stay there (although I am planning to get rid of many of the books), but the desk and filing cabinet will come out and be replaced by cat trees and cat beds and the like. We're going to put up a baby gate to keep Peggy out, and that way my cats and KK's cat will have one safe place where they can always go that the dog can't.

I'm hoping there will be enough room in my bedroom for the mini office I have in mind. I think there will, but it may be something of a tight squeeze. I will know more later, I think, when I've had time to shift things around and consider them. There's a difference between knowing the measurements of furniture and actually having it in place--at least, that's been my experience. I'm sure some people are better able to intuit that sort of thing, but I'm the kind of person who has to live it to truly understand it.

Tonight is D&D night, and I still have to go get Peggy from daycare, so it's entirely possible I will have to wait until tomorrow to move the rest of the furniture. I was hoping to get it all done today, but I have consistently overestimated how much I can manage every single day this week, so I don't know why today should prove to be an exception to that rule. ;)

I also need to do some actual work tomorrow morning, by way of employee evaluations. I didn't get all of them done before I left, so I have to do it this week, and tomorrow is the most logical time to do it. Given that it's a D&D night, I am a little worried I won't be able to pry myself out of bed at a decent hour in the morning, and that it will throw off my day. I DID win the "I told you so" game today, however, because I woke up early AND took out the recycling and the compost, so I am feeling pretty chuffed about that. Maybe I can do it twice in a row! Stranger things have happened, after all.

On that note, it is time to go pick up the puppy. Catch you on the flip side, friends!

Current Mood: productive
Crossposts: https://mousme.livejournal.com/1258920.html

I got up early and took Peggy for another run in the fields, but even at that point I had a mild headache (which I'd woken up with), and nothing I did seemed to shake it.

KK came over for a couple of hours, ostensibly to keep me company/be a "body double" while I worked, but I was so tired we ended up sitting on the sofa most of the time she was here, discussing plans for her moving in. I think she was tired too, because she went home after a few hours, and then I went to bed at 6:00 and slept the whole night. I woke up just after 1:00 with my head still hurting so I took some Tylenol and put in my mouth guard. I awoke briefly again at 6:00 am, and ended up getting out of bed at 6:30.

I've had a slow day. I took Peggy out again, and I have to say, it is an utter joy to watch her be able to run full-tilt in the fields. It's what she was built for, and I kind of feel bad that I didn't take her out more this winter. I'm going to have to figure out a better way to get myself out the door with her in order to let her have a full run if not every day, then at least 3-4 times a week. I think having KK living here may actually help with that: for one thing, there will be two people here to take on household responsibilities, which should free up a little bit of time for me, and more importantly having someone else here is likely to keep me more accountable about my commitments. Accountability seems to work better for me when it's external.

I can feel the headache still lurking, so I am thinking that a nap is in order. I am behind in my plans to declutter the house, unfortunately, but I think even if I take today really easy, I can still manage to get most of what I want done by the end of the week.

Current Mood: sore
Crossposts: https://mousme.livejournal.com/1258496.html

I am super tired, probably still paying for going to bed really late on Thursday. I got up early, although not as early as I intended. The snooze button pretends to be my friend, but it's not. On the other hand, I am really paranoid that if I disable the snooze function that I will just turn off my alarm and completely oversleep.

I got one bathroom 90% clean today. I just need to sweep and mop the floor, but everything else is sparkly clean. I wanted to clean both upstairs bathrooms, but I ran out of energy, which is very depressing. I will tackle the second bathroom tomorrow, as well as my bedroom if I have more energy than today. I wish I weren't so tired, I feel like that would make cleaning up easier.

Anyway. Bed. I will try for a better update tomorrow.

Current Mood: sleepy
Crossposts: https://mousme.livejournal.com/1258247.html

When LiveJournal introduced tags, I did NOT understand what they were about or what they were for, and I just kind of... tagged everything every which way. So now I have well over 1,100 tags, and they are useless to me. So yesterday I began the slow and very annoying process of whittling them down to a manageable number. I'd like to be able to use them for reference, after all.

Tomorrow the plan is to get up early (by weekend standards) and take Peggy out for a run in the fields. I want to take her out every day this week as if I was getting up for work, and then when I get home I will be working on cleaning, decluttering, and generally trying to get this place fixed up for when KK moves in. The theory is that if I impose structure on my days, then I will get things done rather than just let inertia have its way with me.

I will report back with results!

Current Mood: optimistic

I will report back with results!

Current Mood: optimistic

I know, we are all shocked, SHOCKED that I didn't get to the rest of the recycling this morning.

My alarm went off, and the only, all-consuming thought in my brain was "UGH."

I have, in the past, managed on occasion to get the recycling out by getting up earlier on recycling day. This hasn't been the case for the past few weeks, but it's not a 100% failure rate as a rule. I won't say the success rate is great, either.

I am struggling at work with getting my employee evaluations finished. I should probably try to drill down into my thought process about why I'm resisting it so much (although I got two of them almost completely done today). I know that I struggle with finding "original" wording when writing them, rather than just using the terms already supplied in the definitions of the competencies. Ultimately, I don't think anyone aside from me cares, but for some reason it feels lazy of me to not to use phrasing that I cam up with on my own. That being said, if it's blocking me from providing evaluations that my employees need, then I need to find a ladder and get over myself.

Also I think I dropped a couple of the plates I was trying to keep spinning, and now I will have to deal with the broken crockery. Bleh.

I am looking forward to my week off. I really want to make sure I am productive during that week, though, because Friday and Saturday is when the professional organizers are coming, and I want to make sure that we're not distracted by the rest of the house being a fucking disaster zone. I want to maximise the amount of time they have there so we're not "wasting" it on decluttering silly things that are easy for me to get rid of.

One of my employees mentioned she's a member of a "buy nothing" Facebook group and that's how she got rid of a bunch of stuff. Since I've been sitting on a big pile of stuff to donate with nowhere to actually donate it (thanks, COVID 19), this sounds like the perfect opportunity for me to give all of that away and clear some space in my home. I am pretty psyched, although I haven't yet received official approval to join the group. My experience with these things tells me it will likely take at least a day, if not more, before I get approved.

I have a therapy appointment this coming Friday, so I think I'll ask to focus on strategies to make my week off as "successful" as possible. We shall see.

Current Mood: determined

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Page generated May. 22nd, 2025 04:47 pm

Corner of Bourbon & Division

Her Words of Wisdom Scratched Into The Door

Entries tagged with domestic stuff

Overslept again

Randomalia

Halfway there!

Even the weather keeps changing its mind

falls over

Delicious mistakes were made

I love dinner parties

Clean All the Things!

A bit of a reset

Back to D&D

But it's a GOOD pain...

Owwwwwww...

That was a bust

I overdid it a little

I think this counts as productivity

Missed A Day

A Mixed Bag

A Short Entry Before Bed