Brain currently booting in Safe Mode

One more week of winter break and then the kid goes back to school. The spouse starts work again soonish, too, so it won't be long before I can have some much needed time ALONE.

My back is better. Perfect, no, but no longer making any task I attempt a source of "Surprise! Pain!". Some muscle relaxers over a couple of days really made a difference. It's still a bit messed up, but it's now livable. So yes, I'll take it.

I only made one resolution for this year, and one that's actually achievable: I want to read more books this year than last. I did a quick count on my 2022 reading list and came up with 62. It's completely reasonable to aim for more reading this year. I really should get on that, though, and start something new.

Oh. And I did it. I finished them. I have made SOCKS. (I'm ridiculously proud of myself for this. They have since been blocked and worn and washed and look a lot brighter in person. *hee* SOCKS!)

My reading drought continues as I continue to write. Is what I'm writing good? Don't know, don't care. It's entertaining and that's all that matters to me at the moment. I've also written myself into a corner, so now I have to write myself out of it. Part of the process, for me at least, is adding in characters and then discovering that I made space for that character later on in the narrative. It's kind of neat.

I also bought a new-to-me phone. It's twice the size of my old one and doesn't fit neatly into pockets. I can read comfortably on this thing (and yes, I did make the text size as large as it would go because I am old now and that's a thing that old people do). I feel like I now have a grown-up phone. I even created a new gmail address to use for it. I have no intention for that email to be used for anything else, which is why I'm not going to record it here.

I still need to sort and post my North Bay Adventure pictures. My motivations are kind of shit right now. I will, though. Later.

Yesterday was hella busy. Today is not.

Let's see. Sheldon went to the vet for dental work first thing. He needed a cleaning at the very least and possibly extractions. Tooth resorption is a very common things in cats, and he needed seven removed. He's okay now, but he's still not in any great shape. Eating is not a thing that he enjoys at the moment, and getting pain medication into him is a trial.

Once the cat was a the vet and the kid at school, we headed to my mom's to help her with some tarps over the grape arbour. She uses it as a temporary carport. This is all well and good, but putting up tarps when it's cold and windy is NOT FUN. At least we got the top tarps in place before we had to leave. The top tarps are the WORST. I'm in cahoots with my sister to find another, less frustrating solution for next year, even if that means we (and by we I am referring to my sister, her spouse, myself and mine) do the work and use Declan as a distraction for grandma at Thanksgiving or a weekend in November or something. I do NOT want to repeat yesterday's tomfoolery.

I had an appointment for some specialized diagnostics at the vascular lab. My left foot has been swelling more than normal and staying swollen. In the summer, my feet swell and have done since I was pregnant with Shannon. At night, I go to bed with balloons attached to my ankles and wake up with feet. My left foot has decided that it rather likes being a swollen balloon and I am not here for it. So I went to the doc and was given a req for blood work and another for the vasc lab. Blood work is done, the veins in my legs were given an ultrasound, and yesterday was my arteries (looking, of course, for some kind of heart disease or diabetes or something). I'm hoping they didn't find anything outside of the varicose veins that I inherited from my paternal grandmother that have been visible and knobbly since I was 18.

By that point, it was 12:30, and we were cold and hungry (I couldn't eat for four hours before the diagnostic). We ran a couple of quick errands (one for more Christmas lights from Crappy Tire because our old ones are getting really finicky and I can't deal with that anymore, another for some needed foodstuffs), then came home.

Yesterday was busy, and full of people and things. Dinner was frozen pizza (that my kid loves) because it was on sale and I could not even. Today, I'm reading a Regency romance, with some enemies-to-lovers catnip and some amnesia. It's fluffy. And today is going to be easy.

The boy is back at school and Paul is on a new work schedule, so I feel a bit...rudderless, I guess? I will find my rhythm, I know, but it's going to take some time to get there.

Speaking of, I need to get some friggen sewing done. And figure out the logistics for the drag show I'm going to in October. I haz ticket, now need sitter. Doable, and there's time, but blarg all the same.

I came up with an idea for Igor Bars that might work? I need to make a test batch to see if the idea is feasible or a steaming pile of overkill-in-a-pan. At least I have taste-testers willing to throw themselves on that grenade for me.

Wooly Wool Pettin' Party this Saturday! I am excite!

Not fun, getting trolled by yarn yesterday. I needed something at Len's Mill, so off I went. Found the nylon strapping easily enough, got as much as I required. Simple. Until I stepped into a yarn aisle full of Mandala cakes. At the beginning of the year, I was in the midst of making a shawl (Granny/Virus mix) out of the Troll colourway. I had two cakes, but it was not enough. I hunted in stores and online to find one more ball at a reasonable cost. Troll was, sadly, a difficult fucker to find, but find it I did.

And there, top shelf, there were four balls of Troll just sitting there, and pretty and bright and ugh now that I no longer needed it. I was trolled, y'all, but yarn. Called Troll. *sigh*

Welp, last year happened. It wasn't all that different from the year prior, aside from a new tattoo and discovering that I really do get more sleep when Paul is on the other side of the country. Hell, even my New Year's Eve was nearly identical. Go me for being a predictable bore, I guess. *shrugs*

I made coffee. It is tasty.

Coffee.

Sunny, who continues to be a delight, decided to jump on the desk. I picked him up to give him a cuddle and he farted. This is not, in and of itself, news, since kittens are pretty gassy, but it was an actual toot and not the silent-but-deadly variety.

I am laughing like a loon.

I am 12. :D

(So much has happened since we got the little doofbucket: Sheldon had - and recovered from - an $1100 tummy ache acute pancreatitis, we went to the zoo - my feet didn't hurt even with all of that walking, and school started up again. Did I mention I like the quiet? I love the quiet.)

When I think of Severus Snape these days, for some reason, I think more of Trent Reznor than Alan Rickman. How odd is that? I think it's just an overall look thing as opposed to the character itself.

I finally got back from having my mouth raped cavity filled. I have that drooly dog mouth feeling. I'm not actually drooling, but it feels that way. Even drinking water is something I have to think about so half of it doesn't end up down the front of my shirt. I had to buy milk plus a few other things for work tomorrow and I treated myself to some licorice tea. Small problem, if water requires thought and care, something hot might not be so clever. Maybe, after the freezing has worn off, I'll have some tonight. And, to top it all off, I forgot to buy bus tickets. Crap.

Mr Santos was not at the club tonight. He was missed.

Other than that, for entertainment value, there was a train wreck in a sleeveless peach flowing thing, blue jeans that were two sizes too small and a mauve thong that was visible for far more of the evening than it should have been.

Chicky poo was even getting up wildelf's nose about requesting songs that he didn't have and wouldn't play if he did. He told her as much more than once, too. And she just refused to get it.

A group of us had the misfortune of watching her play pool very badly (so badly, in fact, I wanted to go over and just drop the 8-ball into a pocket so they would have to stop playing), but the coup de grace was when she and her boytoy decided to dance on the stage. It was beyond train wreck and into Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

It was laughably bad, and if she remembers it tomorrow (she was three sheets to a very strong wind), also extremely embarrassing. I think her dancing was meant to be titillating, but the stimulated sex/dry humping looked awkward and silly. Oh well, at least I got a laugh out of it.