Corner of Bourbon & Division

On Saturday I was invited by the wonderful luvenditti (who no longer has an LJ, alas) to accompany her and a few others to a screening of the Metropolitan Opera's staging of La Cenerentola (Rossini's adaptation of Cinderella). I haven't been to the opera in well over a decade, and the last time I went to the theatre was in 2011 with pdaughter to see the play that luvenditti was in (I'm sensing a pattern), so I was very excited to go.

( weekend and opera behind the cut. )

Last night my brain decided that I should stay up and Worry About All The Things™. So I was up until at least after 2:30, which was the last time I remember looking at the clock before falling asleep. The good side to that was that I was awake at midnight when Bean woke up screaming bloody murder because he had to go to the bathroom. He's been getting up almost every night now to pee, and that has resulted in dry diapers in the morning. So we're well on our way to having him be completely diaper-free at this rate. It's very exciting!

Bean was also up promptly at 6:20, and since he came into our room to ask his mother if he could watch television, that was loud enough to wake me as well (mostly because he started whining and then screaming when she said no), although I had set my alarm for 6:30. So I got up then too, much to Bean's befuddlement. He's not used to my getting up at the same time as him and Mama.

We got Bean fed, dressed and out the door on time (three tantrums, four instances of whining and fussing, and two instances of running away and giggling instead of doing what he was told, all in the space of an hour and fifteen minutes), and I set about trying to be productive for the rest of the day.

My first stop was at the bank (though I did call to make an appointment to get my car tires changed, finally). I took the dog with me because he needed the exercise and because he was so excited when he saw me put on my running shoes to go to the bank that I didn't have the heart to tell him that I hadn't planned on taking him with me. So, happy dog was happy. I managed to straighten out the problem of the daycare check that the bank bounced, and was very pleased with the prompt, efficient service I received from the teller. They apologised (sort of), reversed all the charges and covered the fee the daycare will charge for a returned check, no muss, no fuss. If only all my problems were so easily solved.

I got home and cleaned the bathroom, and was about to start on the kitchen when pdaughter came back from school to wait for the Avon ladies to show up for their 14:30 meeting. As an aside, pdaughter is starting up her own Avon business again, so if anyone local wants the flyers for the current or future campaigns, by all means look us up! Avon has some really neat stuff, not just makeup and skin care products. You can look it up specifically on Facebook, where I encourage you to at least "like" her page, just in case. Father's Day is just around the corner, and there are all sorts of fun products and swag you can get for a very reasonable price!

Anyway, back to the exciting recounting of my day. :P I did a pretty thorough cleaning of the kitchen while we waited for the Avon ladies (they were well over an hour late due to traffic), including scrubbing down the cabinet under the kitchen sink, which had grown super scungy over the winter. We've been having trouble with ants for a few weeks, and I figured that cleaning things out down there certainly couldn't hurt. We have ant traps set up strategically, but we can't work out where they're coming from, cheeky little buggers. So right now we're mostly engaged in guerrilla warfare against the little formicidae foot soldiers. Ugh. If we knew where they were coming from we'd be able to put down corn starch and have done, but not dice. It's rather frustrating.

I headed out to do some last-minute grocery shopping before the Avon ladies arrived, but everyone was gone by the time I got home again. Despite getting caught in some pretty gnarly traffic I was still able to get dinner in the oven in a timely fashion. I don't think I've ever cleaned and chopped vegetables that fast in my whole life. I made chicken with roasted vegetables and made baked tomatoes as a side dish. Very paleo, I'm sure fearsclave would approve. ;)

Predictably, Bean's first reaction was: "But me not like that!" He demanded to have macaroni, then demanded "leftover pizza," and was upset when he was not presented with either of those options. I hadn't bothered giving him one of the baked tomatoes, figuring it would be met with shrieks of horror, but when he saw the one I'd given pdaughter he immediately insisted on having some, spurning the chicken, potatoes, carrots and green pepper already on his plate. After two small servings of tomato he then threw himself on the floor and wailed about being thirsty, and then whined and fussed and kicked at the nearest piece of furniture when he was instructed to eat a bit more before he'd be given more milk. It took some doing, but eventually we got him back into his chair, and after a bit more fussing he ate all his carrots, then tried the chicken and promptly finished that, and even managed a good number of his potatoes.

A pyrrhic victory, but one I'll take nonetheless.

Bean took a bath while I loaded the dishes into the dishwasher and put away the rest of dinner into Tupperware containers. We have enough for at least one other meal, which is nice. The food turned out delicious, if I do say so myself. The chicken was moist, the veggies crisp and savoury (though the carrots were a tad too crunchy for my liking—I'll try cutting them thinner the next time I make this dish).

Although he was wound tighter than a spring factory, Bean actually settled relatively quickly once he was properly in bed (there were a lot of false starts to that), and so we were actually able to start Game of Thrones at a decent hour, and now we're going crazy and watching CSI as well. Two TV shows in the same evening! Unheard of!

Tomorrow it's meant to rain, which will put a damper on my plans to do yard work. I may try to organise my paperwork instead, depending on the weather. I have been very bad about keeping my papers in any kind of semblance of order, and it's my newest May project, to get it all sorted out properly into my filing cabinet. That will definitely help when it comes time to sell the house/do my taxes/that sort of thing. If I have time I'm also going to head to Home Depot. I am determined to get the garden ship-shape this weekend and next weekend so that we can take advantage of it during the summer months.

And now, to finish CSI and pray that I'll actually be able to sleep tonight. Obviously when I mentioned almost wishing for insomnia the other day, I should have been more careful about what I wished for. :P

Bean has had a stomach bug since yesterday. He was under the weather when I left, with a slightly upset tummy that resulted in multiple dashes to the bathroom. I had dinner with my parents for Easter, and when I came back I found out that things had escalated to puking and all-around unpleasantness. He woke up screaming bloody murder at 4:30, and it took pdaughter quite a while to settle him again.

He was up again at 6:30, excited beyond words because he'd found an Easter Egg in his room. The excitement lasted about as long as it took to find seven out of the eight eggs. We'd hidden plastic eggs around the house, and inside each egg was a "puzzle" piece. pdaughter had taken a picture of his Easter present, another Monster High doll, in its hiding place. Since he likes puzzles we figured he could put the eight pieces together, see where the doll was, and go looking for it.

Alas, it didn't work out. He declared the puzzle "too tricky" (he can do 48-piece puzzles on his own quite easily, for the record) and refused to even try to put it together. Then when pdaughter helped him put it together, he said he didn't recognise the picture (the hiding place was in the cupboard with the pots and pans). After we pretty much told him outright where it was, he still didn't want to go look.

pdaughter: "I think it might in the cupboard where the pots and pans are. Do you want to go look?"

Bean: "No."

pdaughter: "The Easter Bunny worked really hard to get you a nice present. You don't want to see what it is?"

Bean: "No."

pdaughter: "Okay, well, I'm going to go look, and if I find something, I'm keeping it."

Bean: "..."

pdaughter: *makes a big deal about going into the kitchen* "I'm looking now! Better hurry up, or I'm going to get the present!"

Bean: *plays with the new building blocks he got as a belated birthday present from my parents*

pdaughter: *opens the cupboard door* "Are you coming?"

Bean: *heaves a sigh and goes to look* "There." *points at the present*

pdaughter: "Are you going to pick it up?"

Bean: *indifferently* "Me too scared." *walks back to the living room* "Me can watch TV?"


So, yeah. No exactly the rousing success we were hoping for. It doesn't help that he's still obviously feeling sick and running a low-grade fever. Maybe next year it'll be more fun for him. For now he's crashed out on the sofa watching Disney Junior. You can tell he's feeling sick, because he's actually sitting still and being quiet. I suspect today will end up being a very quiet day at home.

It has been All Birthday, All The Time at Casa mousme this week. We started with a wee celebration on Monday because I wouldn't be there for Bean's actual birthday on Wednesday. Then Bean had a special birthday celebration at school on Wednesday, complete with Monster High-themed cupcakes, and received some presents from pdaughter as well.

( It my party NOW? )

We've been having trouble with the dog, as I mentioned before. Last week he stole a sealed Ziplock bag of fifteen muffins off the counter and ate them all, did the same with half a box of Tim Horton's doughnuts, and has been sneaking the cat food when he thinks we're not looking. He's gained about five pounds over the winter, too, which is really bad for his arthritis. It was getting to the point where I would get home and the first thing I'd hear about was the myriad ways in which the dog had misbehaved during my absence.

When I got home on Friday, he was limping noticeably, favouring his right front leg. He's injured this leg a few times in the past, but hadn't done anything to it recently, so I figured his arthritis might be getting worse. I dutifully took an appointment with the vet for yesterday, since I don't want my dog to be in pain. Before the arthritis had manifested as stiffness, so we were managing it with diet and exercise, but if it's more than that we need to look at pain management. I also figured I would address the new "behavioural" problem in case it was a medical problem, as ai731 suggested. It hand't occurred to me before, but it made sense.

So, nearly two hours at the vet's later, there were x-rays and blood tests and thermometers jammed in unfortunate places. Sergent was not a happy camper. We need to wait for the blood tests to come back, but the vet suspects either a thyroid problem or maybe diabetes. The x-rays did't reveal any worsening of the arthritis, though, which is a good thing in all of this mess.

Of course, the vet visit cleaned me out of the last few "spare" dollars I had. I had managed to clear a bit of space on my credit card, but that's now gone, and I am a little worried about what the beginning of next month is going to look like. *sigh* If the dog has diabetes, we're looking at a crapton of expensive medication that I will somehow have to find a way to pay for out of my already non-existent money. I am really hoping he doesn't have any kind of terrible long-term illness, because I don't want him to be sick and I also don't want to have to figure out how to pay for the new medication.

Oy.

Anyway, today is a commute day. This week I'm coming back for Bean's birthday and then going back again. I'm happy to be able to be at his party but also a little concerned about where the money for the extra gas I need to use is going to come from. Isn't worrying about finances awesome?

Okay. So. Now that I have watched the Teen Wolf finale and I am not chewing off my own fingers in frustration at the show, I need to pack up my things and go.

I haven't thought of a good title for this post yet. With any luck one will come to me before I have to hit "post" at the end. I don't think I've ever posted an untitled entry here, though doubtless many of my titles have been unimaginative or along the lines of "I can't think of a title." The more things change, I guess...

I was awake for half the night, mostly just worrying about everything. Hadn't done that in a few months, but I guess there's no time like the present. :P

So, yeah, I am even more tired than usual today. One day, I might not be tired. Today is not that day.

I've hit a rough patch with my writing. ( Long-winded explanation behind the cut )

Anyway, on to even more depressing stuff. Québec is having elections! Again! Whee! /o\

I am so glad I no longer have to vote in this province, but I'm still going to get the brunt of all the election nonsense anyway. I still live here part of the time, after all, and Ottawa is close enough that we get all of the Québec news. We have to monitor the news at work anyway, so instead of the Commission Charbonneau all the time (which was so depressing it made me want to slit my wrists), now it'll be Québec elections all the time. *sigh* At least it's only three weeks. I don't understand how Americans do it, it must be like being in a constant state of siege, constantly having elections going on. I'd be exhausted.

My main beef with the political parties in Québec is that it truly feels like there are no good leftist options anymore. The PQ is theoretically to the left, but as my favourite joke goes: "Ils clignotent à gauche, mais ils virent à droite." (They signal left, but turn right instead. It's funnier before translation, trust me.) They're also racist and bigoted and hate the anglo community and insist on being fucking separatists. I can't. I won't vote Liberal, because they're corrupt and on top of that I don't agree with 95% of their economic policies, not to mention that they're basically Conservatives who've taken on the Liberal title. That leaves the CAQ, who are so far to the right (by local standards) that it makes me a little sick, and Québec Solidaire, who are leftists but also separatists and who don't appear to have viable economic policies anyway.

*throws up hands*

Bah.

Politics make me hate everything.

In better news, luvenditti is coming for a visit today, which means that pdaughter has made chocolate chip cookies! That was after the Banoffee Pie that she made on Monday. Nothing beats coming home to extraordinary baked goods, let me tell you. Delicious.

Or, in which my dreams are a lot more literal than I'd like, and yet still more awesome than my current life. I think this one was triggered by my alarm clock, but I can't be sure. Either way, in my dream I woke up to the strains of "A Well-Respected Man" by The Kinks and started getting ready to go to work. Only in my dream I was actually Susan Ivanova (see icon), or at least her equivalent in whatever my new dream-universe was. My duties weren't exactly clear, nor did it seem to matter, as most of the dream involved being very annoyed at having to get up so damned early. Ivanova, as I recall, was not a morning person in Babylon 5, either. :) I was kind of disappointed when I woke up and realised that if I wanted to listen to The Kinks then I'd have to fiddle with my playlists on my iPhone myself, rather than have a spontaneous soundtrack to my life. I was still pretty displeased at having to get up at 3:50, so that part of the dream was nicely literal. Also, I am not Claudia Christian, which is a perpetual source of disappointment.

( More dreams, cut for length )

For the record, coffee does NOT do to me what is has done to the cat in the icon. I often wish it did, because I feel like I'd be a lot more productive.

First off, in baking news, pdaughter made Valentine's cupcakes for her French class. We also got cupcakes. Look at this image and tell me you are not jealous. Yes, the chocolate heart is made by hand too, because she's just that awesome.



( More Valentine's Day stuff under the cut )

I actually got out of the house today, for reasons other than errands! It's been a while since I saw someone who wasn't pdaughter, not that her company isn't lovely, of course. I just hadn't seen people apart from coworkers since Capricornucopia, which was three weeks ago. I'm trying to not go for long stretches of time in which I see no one, because otherwise I'll become a complete hermit, which is no good for anyone.

Pretty sure my friend is actually on LJ somewhere, but I don't know his handle. Oops? I'll have to ask him next time I remember. It's probably bullonir, knowing him... *checks* Yep! I am good. Not that he's updated since 2008, but whatever. Anyway, I drove to his place on the South Shore, we had lunch and then went out for coffee and a cupcake at a local cupcake shop. It was delicious. I should upload the photo here to show you, it was gorgeous on top of being super scrumptious. Anyway.

We had a really nice chat. He's my former shift partner from Montreal, the guy who got me into comic books and Breaking Bad, and to whom I introduced Supernatural and Fringe among other things. We geek out over Avengers and things, but we have a lot in common outside our geeky mutual interests. Like me, he was a temporary employee for a long time (and still is, unfortunately), and he has a young family too, so we share many of the same concerns when it comes to the kids' well-being. We also know what sort of toll working shifts takes on our mental and physical health, and on our romantic relationships, too. It's not easy, living with someone who's not there half the time out of necessity, just as it's not easy to be the person who's absent because of work.

So we had a good, productive chat, as well as delicious food. We got caught up on work things and family things and general gossip. He's also a writer, so we touched briefly on how things were going in that department too. All in all, a really great time, and we have a tentative date for the next time we're both off on a weekday to watch the last episodes of Breaking Bad together, since neither of us has seen it yet.

I was going to run some errands in Vaudreuil on my way home, but after an hour's driving I arrived just in time for rush hour, and I realised that if I tried to head to the Smart Centres I would be stuck in traffic for at least another hour if not more, and that I'd be getting home after dinnertime, which is no good. So errands have been postponed until tomorrow morning, and I have pulled dinner out of the freezer. Well, it'll be dinner supposing I don't get "Me not like it!" as a reaction. Bean has been off his food all week due to being under the weather, which has only strengthened his knee-jerk reaction to refuse any food I put in front of him. He's much better about accepting food that Mama makes, but 90% of what I make gets met with "Me not like that/Me not want that!" He's old enough now, though, that he generally doesn't get presented with other options. When he was sick it was a different story, since it was important to get something in him, but in general dinner is dinner, and we're not a restaurant.

This is one of my weekends at home, but as far as I know there aren't any firm plans. I have a game on Saturday (more people! In less than a week! What is happening?), but apart from that I'm not sure. Next weekend we have friends of mine coming for a quick visit with their daughter, who is about a year younger than Bean, and whom I haven't seen in absolutely forever, so I'm looking forward to that a lot.

So, that's today in a nutshell. A little more exciting than my usual fare, am I right?

I don't have specific subject matter for today's post, so have a series of unrelated paragraphs!

1- Bean is still sick. It's been six straight days of staying home with Mama now, and I think they're both going a little stir-crazy. I'm told that the doctor can't see him until tomorrow, which means a whole week of being kept home from school, and of pdaughter not being able to go to school herself as well. At this point it has to be something like an ear infection, which Bean seems to be unable to shake on his own, so hopefully antibiotics will clear that right up. Luckily, Bean is incredibly good about taking his "ear intekshun tedditzin" and so we never have to fight him on that. Small mercies.

2- I have the dentist today. Again. In spite of my insurance I'm sort of running out of money for this. I think that after this the rest of the dental work will have to wait for a while. There's even less money than usual this month. I'm always stressed about money, but when there's less than half the money that I expected coming in, it puts a serious dent in the budget. We're fine for now, but next month's daycare payment is beginning to worry me.

3- I really hope these next two days turn out better than the weekend. I blame the Olympics for how badly shit has hit the fan. Normally nights and weekends are pretty quiet, but I've been putting out fires since Friday, and I am exhausted. It's been a long string of problems that I don't know how to solve, so I've been run off my feet the whole time, and yesterday I left an hour late. 13-hour days are not my favourite thing, let me tell you.

4- My body clock helpfully woke me up at 3:40 this morning. "Time to get up to go to work!" it said gleefully. Of course, today is a night shift. I went back to sleep, but woke every couple of hours until I resigned myself to the inevitable and got out of bed. The morning has been quiet, at least, before I head out to the dentist, but I have a headache building which Advil and Tylenol aren't doing much to shift. I hope it goes away sooner rather than later.

5- There is no spoon. Or a number 5. Sorry. If I think of something else, I'll post again. Might go back to my old ways of multiple LJ posts a day. Shock! Horror! Actually, probably not. I have Twitter now for random thoughts. ;)