Seismic Twitch

Today is the last day of the May long weekend. For us, it’s Victoria Day. Most people will have planted their gardens this weekend (or perhaps the weekend before this) because the risk of frost is nice and low. Those who don’t have gardens might have gone out of town for the first camp-out of the year, or to the various city, regional, provincial or federal parks for a picnic. Today we went to Beaver Creek Conservation Area to walk around and take photographs.

Bran, me and a friend went out this afternoon. She wanted to get out of town and I wanted to take photos. I didn’t particularly want to go out to do so, but it seemed stupid to give up an opportunity like this. It’s cold outside today. If it had been this temperature in late February or early March I would have gloried in the clement weather. Today I just got cold. Despite the Scotch mist, the wind and the cold temperatures it was a pleasant time.

There are several trails a person can take. The area is only open from 9-5 on weekdays (the hours on the weekend vary) and we didn’t get there until nearly 3. This meant that we wouldn’t have time to do one of the longer walks. In fact, being open so little time it’s a wonder they have any trails that take much time. We took the yellow trail. I took a fair number of photographs. I wish that I could photograph the smells. I love the smell of a forest (even a bush forest such as this). It was more aromatic thanks to the damp earth. Sometimes it was quite fragrant with the blooming of fruit trees (berry trees) and the heady aroma of sweet grass when we were out of the valley on the flat prairie.

Because the day was so overcast the light was, what is called in photography lingo, flat. This means that there is little contrast in dark, light, and varying shades. I’ll be working on editing up some photos that I took to look more vibrant. I used the flash to take some photos of some bracket fungus growing on a fallen tree. I’m curious to know what that’ll look like.

We trouped around there for a little over and hour before we all went back to the truck and headed back to town. Beaver Creek is about 10 or 15 minutes south of town, just north of the White Cap Dakota First Nation (where Dakota Dunes Casino is).

Then we went for sushi for supper. We were going to go to Szechuan Kitchen, but Bran decided that sushi was ok because he could get sushimi. So that’s what we did. Before we had anything to eat I saw something crawling on his bunnyhug (hoody to anyone who doesn’t live in Saskatchewan). I used my serviette to get it off him and showed it to him. It was as I suspected. He collected a tick. Luckily it wasn’t attached to him. I smooshed it in the napkin and wrung the napkin and thought that was the last of it. Then I decided to peek. It was not only still alive, it was fully intact ready to crawl out of the paper. I smooshed it up again, wrung it again and sent it outside when Bran went to get a hanky out of the truck a bit later on. Then I got all paranoid about whether I’d picked one up. Happily it doesn’t appear that I did. I forgot about tick season.

After supper we went to Shoppers on the West side to check out Bran’s point-and-shoot camera battery. It stopped working in the camera so he wanted to see if it was the camera or the battery that died. Yeah, it was the camera. He’s going to hunt up the warranty to see if there’s something he can do to get a replacement or something. I got a new pair of reading glasses. I’m tired of the ones I have being all scratched up and permanently smeared. I can’t figure out why they don’t ever come properly clean. That’s the last time I spend that much on a pair of reading glasses though. The way to go is the cheap way by picking up a pair at the drug store for $35 or so. I also picked a couple of DVDs. Sadly, one of them I already have. I hoped that I would be getting a new Scooby Doo. I wasn’t . I already have the one I bought so back it goes. I did get Groundhog Day.

I went shooting last night too. One of the things I captured was the video of the fish in the entry before this one. Fish are so weird.

I wish I didn’t have to go to work tomorrow. Except for being sick and in pain for 3.5 of the 5 days I’ve been home it’s been quite relaxing. I slept when I wanted, got up when I needed, got flowers (gonna have to do that more often since they look so darned pretty), and took lots and lots of photographs. I have lots to edit.

Check out my photostream at Flickr. I have a thing in the sidebar that’ll take you there.

After 10 days in hospital, Bran is home in the loving clutches of his family. We won’t be answering the phone or door all weekend so we can reconnect. He’s on a shit pile of meds, but they’re all going to help him stay alive. I have more thyroid hormone so I’m good. I also have new shower stuff that smells nice (and not like a fruit salad).

This has been a hard week and a half. Now we all take time to heal.

I tweeted a whole lot yesterday. I was counting down the hours of a 12 hour shift. I was freaking tired. Because Friday was spent mostly in bed (as testifies by the lol of the last entry) I got too much sleep to settle in on Friday night. That meant I got only about 2 hours sleep before having to be up and awake for Saturday’s shift.

Then I get home on Saturday at about 8:30 pm (2030 for those on the 24 hour clock) and I’m in bed by 9. I knew going to bed that early was a risk, but I was so very tired. I slept until about 1:15. Yeah, awake in the early morning having had a lovely nap meant that I wasn’t going to be able to settle back in for more sleep. I did eventually but it was about 1/2 hour near to 7 am or so.

This meant that Sunday’s shift was a nightmare of trying to stay awake for the 12 hours of my shift, be aware of what’s going on during the day while there’s nothing (and I mean nothing) going on. By the time 8 pm came around I was nigh on dropping on my feet. I went to bed immediately upon getting home, about 8:10 pm. I knew I was taking a chance, afterall, just the night before I ended up being wide awake after only a few hours of sleep. I was willing to accept that if it meant I’d not feel like I was. I did wake up around 1, but after going to the bathroom I went back to bed and fell asleep again. I woke up again at 7 am and decided that I was hungry and needed to eat.

So I got up and ate some of the leftover food I didn’t eat on the weekend. I read comics, I caught up on blogs I didn’t read last night and then at about 10 am or so I went back to bed. Bran woke me about an hour ago. Yay! I don’t feel tired anymore!

I got to have Dutchess make a kitty loaf on my chest as I petted her. Then she decided that the chest hair was softer on Bran and she went over to him. But she didn’t just walk over. She made sure that her delicate feet didn’t touch the lava that is the bed. She stepped across using my arm as a bridge. She was back shortly after because Bran was a bit too enthusiastic in his petting of her. She settled down on my chest with her tail toward my face, swiping across my nose. She is so thoroughly a kitty sometimes.

Work was dead quiet this weekend. We’re low on numbers so when a few go out the place is empty. Though I didn’t have a time when the Centre was bereft of people (one didn’t go out at all during the day), when they were in their rooms nothing was going on. On both days I did room and building checks more frequently just to keep awake.

That’s what a working weekend is like for me. Work, sleep. There’s nothing exciting about it. I should be thankful. Really, I should be. My first weekend shift working alone, a graveyard shift, there was a stabbing in the alley behind the building. A young woman was stabbed by either her boyfriend or pimp. One of the guys ran down from the deck and carried her into the building. It was an exciting time all around which involved basic first aid (the knife broke and the blade was embedded in her thigh and she had a small stab wound in her shin), and keeping the gents calm and out of the way. I also had to convince the gents who were on the deck and saw things to get over their dislike of cops to talk to them. I’m still quite proud of all the people there at the time.

Why? Well, in prison something like this could have set off a whole lot of overreaction. That didn’t happen. Sure there was much excitement and animation, but it was not out of control. For the most part they stayed out of the way and the guys who needed to talk to the cops were actually helpful. You could tell they didn’t like it though. An interesting side effect was that I got a two man escort to the trash bin out back (where the stabbing took place) when I took out the bloody trash. They were wanting to protect me. Yeah, a man who murdered his roommate and another who raped his ex-girlfriend were convinced that they needed to keep me safe on the quick trip to the bin. I felt ok about it. Afterall, they were sober when they were with me. They weren’t when they committed their crimes.

It’s like I’ve always said, sober, most of the people at work are really nice and good people. Put them on some mind altering substance and it’s a whole different story. It’s the same for everyone. Who is the same person sober as they are when they’re drunk or stoned? Who hasn’t become hypersensitive when they’ve got a few beer in them? Yeah. Exactly. The difference between the people who reside at work and those who don’t is a very small one. Always keep that in mind when you think about most people who are in prison.

Ok, I’m off my soap box. I’m going to see what there is for me to nosh on. I’m hungry again (7 hours after my last nosh known as breakfast).

So yeah, I should be thankful for the quiet weekend at work.

…should be a weekend off. However, I was stupid enough to agree to be on-call. I got a call on Friday night because one of the men wasn’t in at curfew. The weekend news had him out on pass but the board didn’t. I told her to call the counsellor since he was the one the particular gent had spoken to about it. Then tonight, I got a call just as we pulled up to Future Shop to see about a rice cooker/vegetable steamer and a game for Boy. There was no one to work the graveyard shift because the regular staff was ill and couldn’t come in at midnight. I was lucky. The woman who worked graveyards this weekend agreed to work the shift, but she needed to get some sleep. I filled in the 4 hour shift and she came on at midnight.

This is what happens when there are no casual staff AT ALL!. I am so unimpressed. I shall be talking to the boss on Tuesday about this.

I very much need Bran to get a job. I’ll be in a much better bargaining position when that happens.

Anyway, after I got off work Bran told me that he and Boy had gone to SuperStore after they dropped me off. Apparently that store is open 24 hrs during the holiday time. So we went there and got a vegetable steamer and a rice cooker (separate beasts) and a bunch of LED indoor/outdoor lights. I’m going to have my cheer lights (red and white in the livingroom)! One set, the one going up in the bedroom, change colour from white to blue. All we need now are those 3M hang up things that can be removed easily. I’m so looking forward to having my cheer lights up and running.

I made a wonderful supper. For several years we’d done a vegetarian feast to welcome back the sun on the beginning of its journey to summer. However, since being diagnosed with diabetes, many of the dishes simply can’t be done. So, out went the couscous salad and roasted vegetable pie and in came Bran’s choice. I told him to buy something he wanted to have as an entree centre. It was his choice since he was the one going out and getting it.

He brought home a 17 pound turkey. So that’s what I cooked today, along with butternut squash, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes (for Boy and I). Bran made the gravy (it rocked!). I didn’t do a fancy-schmancy rub like I’ve done in the past, just salt and pepper. I also didn’t stuff the bird. It still took nearly 5 hours to roast. It was a spectacular meal. While I was out reluctantly working, Bran put the bones and stuff into a pot and is now making stock. Some of it is going to be made into a nice curry squash and cauliflower soup.

So now I’m home. I’m somewhat less grumpy than I was a little while ago (while I was pouting at work). Boy is having a large mug of tea (extra-large A&W root beer mug), Bran just turned out the overhead living room lights (I really don’t like them at all, but he has this weird attachment to them which I’m hoping will be broken with the advent of the cheer lights) and I’m contemplating a turkey sandwich.

Joyous Yule to all my friends who celebrate it. Happy really early Monday morning to those who don’t. I truly am a lucky woman.

Ta-Ra

That’s what I did today.

Bran was feeling quite tired and didn’t want to drive me to work. I was ok with that. I mean, I don’t care much for driving, but it’s only a few blocks to work. So that’s what I did. I parked the truck and then went in. At about 7 pm I went out to move the truck to the front of the building (people’s cars have been broken into in the back parking lot – not a happy thing). I started the truck and began backing out, being very careful to miss the pole and the dumpster near it…and backed into another pole that was happily hidden in my blind spot. I mean, it was the real blind spot. The one that you can’t see, the mirrors can’t see because the body of the truck was the same width of the pole. Yeah, that blind spot.

So, you might have remembered me talking about how Boy, in his first attempt backing out of our driveway scratched the back door and window on the bolt of the garbage bin. Then Bran backed into the self-same bin but put a dent and broke the cover of driver’s side rear light. Tonight I took out the side bumper (Jeeps have rear bumpers divided into three with a centre bumper and two side bumpers and the entire rear light except one bulb. At least I wasn’t totally unlit on that side on my way home, but the signal doesn’t work. Yeah.

Next time I drove to work I’m going to do what Bran recommended today. I’m going to bite the bullet and pay the cost of the meters in front of work for a couple of hours before 6 and avoid those danged poles in the back.

Of course, this was cause for much amusement at work, especially since I brought the bumper in from outside and had it sitting on the desk. The guys were curious about the bumper on the desk and got the entire story. They’d laugh. I’d ruefully laugh. My co-worker would laugh uproariously. Good times were had by all…well, except me.

Bran took the news with more equanimity than I figured on. At least he hadn’t already had the repair work done before I did this. I just made the whole thing worth while. Damn.

Other than that, I don’t have a term paper due on Monday, it was always due the Monday after. That’s ok. I thought it was due this coming Monday and would have had it done for then, but then the prof gave an extension because she’s been ill and not been able to see people so she gave the undergrads an extension. So, indirectly I got an extension even though I didn’t. If that makes any sense at all.

It’s snowing out. The police have been really busy down in the area of town where I work. They were seen whizzing off in one direction or another with their lights flashing and sometimes the sirens blaring. In one instance they (and the fire department and paramedics) attended to a truck-cyclist collision on the corner across the street from work. Being as this is a fairly heavy snow and it’s actually hanging out on the roads making them somewhat slick, it’s going to be a busy night for emergency workers in general. It all leaves me feeling very happy I’m home sitting on my comfortable couch with my ubiquitous fan blowing on me.

The December work schedule was out today. Despite saying that I wasn’t wanting and wouldn’t work the weekend of the 20th and 21st I was scheduled. Not only was I scheduled, I was scheduled for graveyards. Duh! Anyway, I also found out that the counsellor was the one who worked out he schedule so I left him a note asking him to change the schedule. I work graveyards over the 24th, 25th and 26th. That works out nicely for me. It gives those people for whom those holidays are important their family time and gives me at least one day of stat pay. I’m not sure if Boxing Day is a stat or not.

That’s about it. I’m greatly relieved that the damage wasn’t more considerable than it was. I’m pissed that it happened at all. I mean, you really have to watch out for those poles. They leap out from the strangest places.

Ta-Ra

I got up to a phone call. Someone was calling from a blocked phone so Bran wasn’t going to bother answering it. Because it woke me up and no one was answering, I answered it. It was the woman he’s arranging to do a handfasting for. He’s rather lucky that I answered it.

Boy was in the shower in preparation to going over to a friend’s house. I was groggy. We went out in short order to get money out of the bank. You see today was let’s-go-shopping-for-furniture day. Bran and I dumped Boy off at his friend’s house (after a salad at Wendy’s – mine was mandarin chicken, pretty good actually). Then Bran and I headed out to Leon’s to look at stuff to sit on. I was quite surprised to find that the store was huge. Really huge.

We were greeted by a salesman who of course, asked if he could help us and we demurred. However he kept a bit of a distant eye on us as we walked about and sat on virtually every single couch in the display area. Really, we did. There were some lovely ones there with really thick cushions. There were leather couches, faux suede, microfabric, and other fabric sofas in many colours but mostly in shades of earth tones like brown, beige and greens. There were suites with regular chairs, some with double chairs. Given the opportunity and space, we’re going to be getting one of the huge oversize chairs (or two). They all had varying degrees of firmness from the one I couldn’t get out because my feet were lifted to high off the floor when my butt sank down to one that was nearly comparable to a granite slab.

We finally decided on a sectional sofa with a hide-a-bed in one of the sections. It’s a dark moss green with a sort of braided trim in the main colour, and two shades of beige (I think it’s two). It’s a lovely couch. We also got the neatest table for in front of the couch. It has a top that lifts up on hinges to become a higher table surface. Underneath there are a couple of little storage areas where magazines and such can be stored. Chances are that’s where my crosswords will go. The tabletop lifts up and secures to have a surface tall enough to be able to work with my beads. here’s one that’s similar. That’s what the top of the table does (though the table itself is very different.

Then we headed over to Sears and bought the swivel-rocking-recliner that Boy grokked on yesterday. It’s dark brown. We’ll be putting bright coloured throws or something on it to make it less neutral. The same will go for the couch. It’s all lovely furniture but it needs some colour oomph.

With that in mind Bran and I headed to Costco. We figured we’d buy a membership and then shop about there looking for livingroom accessories that would be colourful and really punch up the place. Well, we got the memberships. We shopped around. In fact, we shopped until I very nearly dropped, but we didn’t get any accessories. We got CFR bug lights, a new Philosopher Stone DVD because the one we have is somewhat scratched and the player is all picky about that. We got granola bars, almonds, some “Pasta Shakers”, sausages, mushrooms, crab meat (guess who’s having stuffed mushroom caps), butter, toilet paper, and other things. We managed to get out spending only $200 there. I can see how a person could spend a whole lot of money there. I’m sure we could’ve spent a whole lot more.

We were headed to Jysk (pronounced yisk but I call it yunk – spelled Junk) to get the colourful accessories when we got side tracked to going to Costco. Costco, however, had nothing of what we’d originally went there for. So we’ll be making trip to Junk (remember to read it as yunk) for pillows, throws or whatnot in bright colours.

The sofa and table will be delivered sometime on Thursday. The chair is expected in sometime around August 17. In the nonce, we’ll be putting the stuff we have on Free-Cycle. Neither are in the best of shape, but they’re still serviceable. The recliner is a leather La-Z-Boy. Its problem is that the arms have holes in them. The couch is a sofa-bed. The wires poke through into the seat cushions and have created holes in the fabric. However, the bed is still serviceable and with a cover over the couch it can still be used. Hey, both will be free, so whoever wants and gets them won’t be out any money.

So really, except for the rides in the car, Bran and I have been standing and walking pretty much all afternoon. I’m not counting testing out couches because that’s the up/down action of exercise.

Now we’re home listening to music and paying on our respective computers. Boy is tidying his room. Oh, we saw a bunk bed set that would work in Boy’s room. The bottom bed is a double and we already have a good double mattress. The top is a single bed and we can get a single mattress cheaply enough. That way he’ll have room for having friend’s over as well as having under-the-bed storage space for plastic containers with out-of-season clothes or such like.

That’s about it for now. Oh, I made another bead order last night. It should arrive in a week or two (I went with cheaper shipping this time). I got beads, boxes (for shipping in), a display stand and a few more tools that I want and will use.

Now I’m tired and contemplating laying down. The only problem with that is that I have to work from 8 am to 8 pm tomorrow and a nap would play havoc on my night’s sleep.

Now, remember to get the CD by the Ting Tings. It’s really good.

Ta-Ra

One of my usual reads, Tornwordo has a link to a very interesting site. It’s about ringtones of differing Khz and whether or not one can hear them. The younger you are, the higher the Khz you can hear. Over my notebook speakers I was able to hear to 12 Khz, which was the range that a 50 year old (and younger)can hear. However, when I borrowed Bran’s ear buds, I managed to get that up to 17 Khz, the range of people generally 24 years old and younger. However, at that high a range I was no longer hearing a pitch tone but a buzz, like listening to the air currents in a shell, but at a distance. I was surprised that I managed to get that high considering the difficulty I have hearing sometimes. This site, Free Mosquito Ring Tones, claims that students can receive calls and texts without their teacher hearing them. It’s possible I suppose, but one would have to be very careful of that. Some teachers have taken very good care that their hearing is good.

************
Today was a mixed bag. One of the men I supervise was on special supervision conditions this weekend and he screwed up so I had to call the Warrant Officer to have him issue an arrest warrant. It sucks. So if the cops catch him they’ll take him to the RCMP station in town and dump him off there. That’s because he’s under the control of the CSC rather than the province. I’m rather disappointed, but there’s not a whole lot I can do about what he chooses to do.
************
I’ve gotten farther in the Harry Potter book. I’ve gotten past the lake challenge and the meeting with Sirius Black near Hogsmead.
************
Bran and Boy came to pick me up from work. We stopped at the store and I got a diet Pepsi (they had no Coke at all) and then we came home. I have tomorrow off in honour of Queen Victoria, who was the reigning monarch at the time Canada became a confederation in 1867. Surprise of surprises, she was actually born in May, specifically May 24, 1819. I guess the May long weekend is close enough to her actual birthday.
************
I plan on spending the day sleeping and reading Harry Potter. Boy and Bran are doing a movie marathon that includes The Mummy, The Scorpion (or something of that nameish type title) and some other movie that I can’t remember. Since I don’t really want to see any of them, I’ll be in the bedroom with my music player and maybe the ear buds I gave to Boy to use so that I can block out the sound of the television.
************
That’s it.
************
Ta-Ra
************

“All by myself…”

************
That’s what I was today. I worked my very first all-by-myself shift. Of course, it was made much easier by the fact that most of the men were out at work. It’s interesting. One of the complaints that I’ve heard from televised shows about post-release men is that it is hard for them to get employment. However, there is only one person who isn’t working and that’s because he’s 70. Now perhaps the jobs aren’t the best in the world, most of them are labourers, however, there’s not one of them complaining about the work and most of them actually like their work. They’re glad to be working for decent wages instead of the paltry stipend that the prison pays.
************
So today involved several trips up and down stairs as I checked the building security and did a head count. At lunch I had to see who was in to make sure that anyone who had to be in for lunch was actually there. Speaking of lunch, it was delicious. I had a sub sandwich and then I had some of yesterday’s leftover homemade cream of mushroom soup. You know a soup is good when there is more mushroom than “broth”. It was absolutely delicious.
************
Greg, I’m enjoying the Harry Potter books enormously. I’m over half way through the second book now. Thanks to work even. There’s a lot of down time at work and I have to spend most of my time at the front desk because of the security cameras. It’s all the more important when there are women staying there because they have to be let into their area by front desk people buzzing them in (like at an apartment when you buzz someone in). This means that there is a lot of time where I just sit. So I’ve been reading. I’m quite enjoying not just the books, but also the fact that the books have nothing to do with peer reviews or homework. I figure that sometime in August I’ll get down my theory text and go through that again so that I’m not walking totally ignorant when I get back to school this fall.
************
I got the official “congratulations, you have graduated” letter from the College of Arts and Science. I’m officially and alumnus. What a concept! I am actually an alumnus! Talk about a step into the twilight zone. The letter asks me to send comments to the department or to the college about my experience, what I think could be improved and what was good. They request that I keep them updated as to my current address so that they can contact me because I “can continue to have a profound impact on our College by participating in a variety of events…” etc. etc. etc. (said with Yul Brenner’s accent when he was in The King and I. They also want me to volunteer. Of that I’m of mixed minds. I like volunteering because it helps organizations that would otherwise not be able to afford staff to do programs. However, it also takes a job away from someone who needs it. The government (especially the Nazis that are in power right now) are more than happy to have the service sector run by volunteers rather than having to fund anything that does any good. Assholes
************
But I’m not bitter.
************
Hey! I got my first pay check. It’s not a whole lot, but it’s enough to open a bank account with. I don’t know if they’ll put a hold on the cheque for a bit though. It’s possible. Bran is going to call the other bank and find out where the bonds are. We’re most underwhelmed with them.
************
That’s about it for now. Tomorrow I’m going to get back to doing dishes (I nearly caught up the last time) and fold laundry. I might even get to folding the laundry tonight. It depends on how my elbows do. Right now, because of doing the laundry yesterday, carrying the baskets downstairs and pulling the wet laundry out of the washer (you’d be surprised how difficult that is with sore elbows) they’re quite strained and uncomfortable. I can’t straighten my left arm because of it and that’s what will make folding more difficult. Extending my arms to fold shirts and such hurts. (Yes, I want cheese with my whine and no, I don’t need a waaaaambulance.)
************
The tulips at the side are more up. One is blooming. It’s a rather pretty sunshine yellow. The other is going to be either purple or red. I’m thinking of moving them from where they are to the front garden and moving the irises that are in the front garden temporarily into where the tulips are.
************
Something other than the yarrow is coming up where the landlady planted stuff. I don’t know what they are, but they are something that aren’t dandelions. The lilies, the big huge tiger lilies are also sprouting. The vines, I think they’re called clematis, but I could be wrong. Either way, they’re vines and they grow up the wall. I think that they should all be cut down like one of the smaller ones was last year. They’re rather rangy and gangley with leaves sprouting only at the top and the bottoms looking dead. There is also a grape vine at the back where the tulips and lilies are. They grow up the wall outside the kitchen. The peonies still haven’t sprouted out of the ground. I have hopes they didn’t survive the winter.
************
I wish we could just win the lottery (hey, we can get tickets tomorrow unless the bank puts a hold on my cheque). Then we could buy this place and I could get rid of the stupid plants I don’t want (Can you say peony? Sure, I knew you could.), rip out all the stupid ground cover cloth, fix up the place as a single family house, build a garage and fence in the back yard so there would be a place we could store out bikes and be reasonably certain they wouldn’t get stolen. I could have all the kinds of plants I want and none that I don’t want. I’d have raised beds for veggies and for flowers and grow heat loving plants like peppers and tomatoes next to the garage where they’d get shelter from cold winds and reflected heat.
************
Yeah, I have ambitions for a garden. Someday. Right?
************
Ta-Ra
************

Dad didn’t come up…again. He’s going to try for next weekend. I remember him phoning this morning. I remember him cancelling, but I can’t remember why, only that he wasn’t coming up. Yeah, I’m always together for remembering things when it’s 8:30 am and I didn’t get to bed until after 3 am. Needless to say, I went back to sleep.

I woke up around noon and couldn’t go back to sleep. It’s not from lack of trying either. The bedroom was nice and cold and I was snuggly warm under my blankets, but I had to pee and that particular task tends to be very insistent in the morning.

I got up, I read my comics and waited for the rest of the house to wake up. After the comics were read I poured myself a glass of Coke Zero and started doing jigsaw puzzles online. I wish we had the space and table to do a puzzle in 3D. The mousing, despite using Bran’s stationary mouse, is rather taxing on my arm.

Country Girl. Bran is going to email me his recipe (from an old country cookbook we got from his mother that I found before I had to cease making bread because the yeast smell began to bother me too much). So when he follows though with that, I’ll post it.

We had leftover soup and bread for supper. Last night I was hoping that our having been mostly vegetarian the past while and eating so many legumes that the bean soup wouldn’t have it’s usual effect of making me fart enough to deplete the ozone layer. I was wrong, oh, so very wrong. In a couple of hours I’ll be reliving last night and Bran will lament greatly.

There’s a new network starting up on January 27. It’s part of the Discovery family called “Investigation Discovery”. Click on that and get a preview of what the channel is about. I hope we get it in the packages that we have already. It’s a network/channel that’s made to order for me. I can hardly wait. Though with my luck, it’ll be only broadcasting in the USA and I’ll be s.o.l. (sucks to be me). And why, pray tell, do I think that it’d be USA only? The only place I’ve seen ads for it is on A&E.

That’s about it for excitement. I’m contemplating setting my computer aside and playing with my jewelry making toys. I haven’t decided yet.

Ta-Ra

That is what my brains can turn to now. For good or ill my essay and final exam have been handed in. What happens to them is now out of my hands.

Last night I tried one of those BreathRite strips. It was amazing! I’ve never felt that much air go up my nose…well, ever. I was amazed. It wasn’t until I’d been awake for a little while that I realized that it had come off sometime in my sleep. These are things that are supposed to be either gently peeled off or soaked off one’s nose in order to not leave marks. I’m also supposed to be a menopausal woman (or post menopausal woman) and according to all I’ve read my skin is supposed to dry up and wrinkle. Now, while my skin does have wrinkles I can honestly say that dry skin isn’t one of the problems I’ve encountered. In fact, I had dryer skin when I was a teenager than now. The strip had been greased off my nose. Of course the first thing I did was check my hair to make sure that it hadn’t done the gum thing and stuck in it. It wasn’t there, so that means that it’s somewhere in the bed. Oh the fun of getting older.

Boy stayed home sick today. He woke Bran up and then I was woken because Bran didn’t think he could make the decision about whether or not Boy should stay home. I put a hand to Boy’s forehead and though warm, it wasn’t exceptionally so. However, even if he’s not sick, sometimes one has to take a sick day. So I told him to go back to bed. It’s now 3 pm and to the best of my knowledge he hasn’t been up since. Bran called the school and left a message on the attendance line that Boy wouldn’t be there today.

I slept until 9:30 when my alarm went off (I hate that thing, it’s just too efficient). I got up and read my comics. Bran gave me a ride to school about 11. Before we went we had to stop at the bank to take care of an overdraft that paying the monthly registration of the car costs. We forgot to get the deposit in two days ago. Happily it’s all done and the bank will be happy at us again.

The first thing I did was hand in my assignments. I didn’t want to walk around with them and risk dropping them in the snow. Sadly I had to walk by the STM cafeteria on my way to the department head’s office. I had no money at all and was (and still am) hungry. Encountering the aromas of food didn’t help that any. Or rather it did, but it wasn’t in the way that reduced the hunger.

I got to the department head’s office and he had stepped out. I left the override with the secretary and then wandered out to the Pride Centre. I called at 1:20 and found out that he wanted to talk to me first. Augh! Talk about worrying! I had all kinds of scenarios going on in my head and all of them involved the ending of me not getting credit for the damned class I’d just finished. Happily when I got there he just wanted to talk about me having too many credits in sociology. It’s not that it matters, it’s just that when I graduate I won’t get credit for the 12 extra credit units that I have. The important thing is that I’ll have all of what I need to convocate in the spring with my minor in Crime, Justice and Law and Honours in Sociology. Screw the rest.

He seemed very concerned about it. I told him that I didn’t care. I took classes that interested me and enabled me to keep full time student status throughout the year. He looked somewhat perplexed at me. I think he’s used to students who only do what is absolutely necessary to get their degree and get out of there…oh, that reminds me…I have to hit up profs for letters of recommendation and then find someone who’s willing to be my supervisor and apply for the Master’s program. Oy!

I’ll do that tomorrow.

It’s murder and mayhem night. Tonight is an hour of Cold Case Files and then three hours of The First 48. Yay! Oddly enough, though I am really sorry that the people in the programs I watch have been victimized in one way or another, I can’t help but be fascinated by the whole investigative process that goes on with murders. I know I’m not alone in that or the shows wouldn’t be on television.

Anywho…it’s time for me to start cutting up onions and whatnot for tonight’s chili. I’ve got a pot soaking so that I can get the beans cooked up. Then I’ll wash another pot so that I can actually make the chili. Then I have to wash the big rice bowl for nuking up the rice. Busy! Busy!

Ta-Ra