Brain currently booting in Safe Mode

I tried to come up with a clever title, but everything I wrote just kept getting worse and worse. It even veered into I-am-14-and-this-is-deep territory. And while I can still remember some parts of being 14, I am well and truly beyond my teenage years and decided that no subject line was better than self-important drivel.

I have been sleeping in a thumb brace/spica for a couple of weeks. I don't know if it's helping, per se, but it's also not making it worse. I guess I live in this status quo of having hands that sometimes will not work with me and sometimes will. Yay?

I am still looking for work, but applying? That's where I tend to fall a lot little flat. I threw my hat in the ring for a data entry desk job just before making this post. I am not going to hold my breath on anything resembling a response, because that's how my luck tends to run. (I adhere to the adage that if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.) I think the saddest part is that the job itself pays minimum or just above, which is more than I have been paid at any job. So that's fucking depressing.

I did run out to do a couple of quick errands this morning. First was to Bulk Barn, where I bought exactly what was on my mental list, minus something that was in stock online, but not in store. One thing I wanted to pick up was popcorn seasoning. I scooped out some sour cream and onion into one bag, and dill pickle into another. When I checked my receipt, I had managed to snag the same of each. Considering I wasn't really measuring that carefully, I'm kind of impressed with myself.

Then I wandered into a local fabric store that's going out of business and walked out with nothing. Even with 50% off, everything was still so damned expensive. For what I'm looking for, I can find it cheaper - at regular price - from the other fabric store, no sale required.

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.