Category: Domestic Life

Jeff of the Miracles

So someone decided to say on the internet PRONOUNCE POPSICLES THE GREEK WAY

and the following story appeared

Popsicles said to Spectacles – ‘Can’t you see what’s going on here?’

Spectacles replied, “Vehicles is trying to drive away, but Tentacles won’t let him go, Barnacles keeps trying to come along and Obstacles is in the way. You don’t have to be Oracles to see what’ll happen next.”

At which point I had to stuff my fist in my face not to howl with laughter.

35 words yesterday

Got a lovely comment on my most recent fic the other day.

Jeff of the Miracles got all the data off Paul’s old phone onto the new one AND got Gmail onto the new phone. We none of us deserve him. I fed Paul lunch and tried to help him run an errand but the shop was closed for repairs.

mOm talked to her sister Mary on the phone yesterday and words can cover the gratitude and relief. She’s still gravely ill but recovering.

Auntie Mary

my glorious aunty is in hospital on the Island having fallen and not been found for a number of hours. A head injury (she’s not speaking) and a broken femur are among her injuries. Despite the gravity of the situation, her kids are optimistic for her recovery. Fingers crossed. mOm is keeping us updated. I can’t imagine her worry – Mary despite various lifelong health conditions has always been as spry as anything and how does one not worry about it even when knowing she’s cared for. Her surviving kids are on the case.

1750 words yesterday.

Absolutely must renew meds today I’ve been putting this aside and today’s the day. Think I’ll make coffee now (it’s 2:am) since gosh I’m up.

dang this coffee’s good. Off to the salt mines of laundry errands and writing. Errybody have the best day possible.

later.. coffee on and in, laundry commenced, 1100 words of writing and it’s only 6 am

We’ll see

So with luck Keith will be able to deal with his papa this morning for the appointment.

A teensy bit of writing yesterday but the less said about me hauling boxes to Paul’s and standing over him drinking bowel cleanser all day the better. He was very sweet and compliant… while I was in the room. Spent most of my time there setting up his phone and writing down instructions. Brought him clear broth for foodicles.

Jeff’s going to take me to breakfast so gotta jet.

LATER. OMG THE CHICKEN SOUP AND SCHNITZEL SAMMY he got me for ‘supper for brekky’ at the Foreshore Restaurant was AMAZING. The schnitzel, first class, the soup a warm hug in my tummy.

Just spoke to Paul, he drunk it all ALL THE BOWEL CLEANSER and waits for Keith.

yet l8r….

Just spoke to Paul and Keith separately; Paul informed me that he ‘loaded 14 bowls’ and if you’re thinking hash, right colour, wrong substance… Keith was inbound to Paul and I told Paul to get out front to speed things along. Both of them were very happy for my waving my arms with a baton in my hand. How this shit keeps happening to me …OH YEAH – that’s right I got pregnant twice and decided to keep the kids. LOL.

Jeff says that he jumps when the phone rings. I hardly blame him!

Back to writing, the ending is coming up like a freight train.

private post

I’m so angry about the situation with Katie’s housing and how various people failed to help her (I’m thanking Steve and Dax for the AMAZING amount of help) that I made a private post.

I wrote 2000 words yesterday, I don’t imagine I will today. There’s too much shit to do.

and Alex is here. I just had to delete the next two hundred words, so I’m getting the hell out of here before I say something stupid. (Just found out I was worried for nothing, thanks universe) Alex himself is fine.

Paul’s colonoscopy is going to be a clusterfuck, and it’s not how I want to spend two days, monitoring him and his shit output while he glugs 4 litres of laxative.

 

the really bad air forecast

apparently it all blew away and instead of being New Delhi or Guangdong it’s going to be not great but not the end of the world.

Everything fucked up yesterday. I was immobilized.

Doing better today, but there’s lots going on I can’t say.

 
I’ve got a tactical ukulele
Cause my baby
Got a metal spiiiiiiiiiine
If we get into a brawling dance
You got no chance
I’ll come out fine

This is for the most recently purchased uke Mike gave me, whom I believe I will name Iolana, a traditional Hawai’ian name that means ‘to soar.

I’m thinking of calling the other one Kailana, which means ‘powerful sea’ since with the low G string it has a bassier sound.

air quality

We’re going to have the worst air quality in the history of Vancouver the same day my daughter has to move.

I’m coughing up phlegm every 5-7 minutes. No chest pain or any other symptoms, but it’s a gumwad size, all morning so far, like clockwork. No writing will likely happen until the air quality improves.

I need to back up my computer.

Yesterday I hauled more items from Katie’s place. I now need to find locations for it all. This house is already overstuffed. We’re taking on an extra fan and air conditioner. I’m beat up from how much up and down the back stairs and packing I’ve been doing and I get two more days of this. and it’s absolutely nothing compared to what Katie has been doing.

Mike misread the meetup instructions for our meal today as being for yesterday so when I said Jarmo said Friday in his email he didn’t see it… so now it’s not happening. He was just angry as hell at himself and hung up, not wanting to talk to me, and I feel concerned about it. I already bowed out of the Dunnett gathering and as it turns out I was triple booked anyway.

I have to force myself to eat something. Jeff got me a super nice dinner last night, ate all of it.

The coffee this morning seemed extra delicious, don’t know why.

Errybody try to have the best day possible. I’m praying for the firefighters.

spinning up

Dishes are in the running dishwasher, Paul’s colonoscopy instructions are printed out (or are they still haven’t checked yet), I want to run a load of my own clothes and probably should before Suzanne gets here. I need to empty the car completely so I can refill it again.

I’m due there in an hour, let’s see what I can beaver through before I leave.

I’ll be spending a day over at Junction with Paul

It will be hard, going through what now seems like so much junk that was once a family heirloom, or whatever. Katie’s taking some time off too to pack, Dax has gone into the interior with his uncle.

2500 words off to my readers this morning. 1100 words so far today on TB, I doubt there will be more given how exhausted I’ll be when I get home, and I left it at a very nice break point.

I just called Jordan Peterson a custard hearted bigot on twitter. Betcha I get banned. I LOVE IT.

 

Quiet day

Talked to Katie. She wants me to come get the cat tree so I should talk to Jeff about that.

369 words on TB

aqi is between 100 and 200 throughout the lower mainland. ABSOLUTELY no walking outside today.

Jeff wants to go schlepping this am but I find Sunday morning there’s nothing at Saveon and the veggies are really picked over but yes I will if he’s driving.

 

From a court case in the US:

“Before proceeding further, the Court notes that this case involves two extremely likable lawyers, who have together delivered some of the most amateurish pleadings ever to cross the hallowed causeway into Galveston, an effort which leads the Court to surmise but one plausible explanation. Both attorneys have obviously entered into a secret pact complete with hats, handshakes and cryptic words to draft their pleadings entirely in crayon on the back sides of gravy-stained paper place mats, in the hope that the Court would be so charmed by their child-like efforts that their utter dearth of legal authorities in their briefing would go unnoticed. Whatever actually occurred, the Court is now faced with the daunting task of deciphering their submissions. With Big Chief tablet readied, thick black pencil in hand, and a devil-may-care, laugh-in-the-face-of-death, life-on-the-razor’s-edge sense of exhilaration, the Court begins.”

— Bradshaw v. Unity Marine Corp., Inc., 147 F. Supp. 2d 668 (S.D. Tex. 2001)

festive meal

Paul, Ruth, John, Keith and I dined yesterday. It was a very pleasant and convivial meal and just as I was faltering in my eating I realized I was about to basically put my head down and start snoozing so I slithered off home in a taxi. Which reminds me, I have a sammy to reheat.

The Echo is serving them well, they say, and their Yukon vacation was stellar.

1581 words on TB yesterday, so that’s respectable. Coming up on the Ottawa trip in the story.

I’m really concerned about storm Hilary, but oh well. We’ll get our day in the climate sun again here in MST country soon enough I imagine.

89 hits 11 kudos 3 bookmarks

Mammogram results clear. Under a week to get results, awesome.

Quite pleased with the reader reaction to ‘Guy d’Angelique’ on AO3 and even more pleased that I’m adult enough to stop obsessively checking. ABSOLUTELY NO COMMENTS tho sigh.

Tonight we dine at Qwhite Spot with the fam. John and Ruth; Paul, Alex, Katie, possibly Dax, me and Jeff and the instigator is Keith (WHO VOLUNTEERED TO DRIVE JOHN AND RUTH TO THE AIRPORT and then bring the Echo back how do I deserve such a kindly child). He’s in an incredibly good mood these days, surrounded by Ben’s HORDE of friends who are all…. Keith’s age and a lot of them are neurodivergent bronies so…. He’s also thinking of making a run for the grandparents and sadly I have something happening on the 25th so I probably won’t be joining him.

Jeff and I have DELIBERATELY not posted anything about how godawful the ferry part of the trip to Bowen Island was so believe me when I say that the signage and guidance SUCKS GREYHOUND BUS STATION MEN’S ROOM MOPS.

West Kelowna fire may destroy the recently built 75 million dollar water treatment plant, the single biggest ticket item ever in Kelowna. The city’s been fighting with BC Hydro over how teetery the power infrastructure is, coming into town, for years now and the upshot is that if the fire comes through it may literally be months before the power’s restored and that means that chunks of Kelowna may end up like Lytton. Abandoned. No water, no power, no businesses, no jobs, no homes.

Michael Sheen talking about what a joy David Tennant is to work with is giving me life today. Their families had babies at the same time and their youngests are besties see my heart eyes, I’ve got heart eyes. Now to channel heart eyes into TB.

Yay, there will be more Miss Scarlet and the Duke!

LOL I lied, 91 hits 12 kudos.

My Singing Monsters

This ten year old Canadian game (no violence – The game is rated for players aged 4 and up and does not contain any inappropriate content or themes.) is Alex’s current favourite game. Check it out if you want to see something adorable. So for anyone freaking out about CARRION when I mentioned it please note that Alex has a very catholic taste in games and that the cartoon horror genre is just one of the kinds he likes.

Ryker was ACTIVE for the hour I had him. I ended up putting him in the room with Bluey and air conditioning and his brother, who continues to be the best big brother in the history of humanity, because it was hot af in the apartment.  (Alex has a cool detection unit and migrates to the coolest place in the house.) I ended up grabbing Ryker’s pants so he’d sit and watch Bluey and he just leaned up against me and was contented for TWO WHOLE MINUTES and then started doing his ‘everything in the mouth’ thing again. In a single ten second period he had a dinky toy, the ENTIRE FILK ONTARIO SHAKER EGG (except for one centimetre-across circle of blue to indicate that he had not INDEED BEEN ABLE TO SWALLOW IT or choke on it thank goodness) and then, for the pizza of resistance, his exceedingly dirty right great toe inserted into his face … and honestly it’s exhausting to even think about keeping up. The ‘snack’ he ate at 2:30 was the size of most of pOp’s meals and he ploughed through it like a goddamned combine. Pickles; cheese; freeze dried strawberries, a couple of baby carrots, a yogurt drink and whacks of vegetable crackers. We as an entire family are discussing in hushed tones how the hell we’re going to prevent him from starving to death as a teenager.

And because we were in a noisy room with the door closed Daddy Mike had to come into the house (normally he calls and then comes in but ‘nobody was answering’) and Ryker exploded with joy and left babbling daddy and bye GG! Daddy Mike said, “He is my heart,” with neither embarrassment nor exaggeration and gosh no wonder.

wrote 4660 words yesterday. Didn’t sleep as well tonight. I should probably just go do something else besides write today to protect my brain, but I’m also worried about not finishing it. And I probably will today. Just so I can get the hell back to what I really should be doing.

So Paul’s girlfriend showed up at Katie’s house (she was staying with Paul at Thornebridge) and was just WANDERING AROUND doin’ God nose what and Dax came in (he’s there about half time until the move) and asked her what (tf) she was doing there (likely wandering off with small items like fuckin’ Lobelia Baggins in the Hobbit) and he phones Katie and she’s like HELLLL NAW and Dax ejected her. (Thornebridge is walking distance even if she didn’t have a car). Dax mentioned that while he’s never liked her much the disrespectful way she talks to Paul really grinds him. Alex even said he didn’t like her but that’s what you get for making it really obvious that you find children inconvenient or actively loathsome.

I’m really enjoying THIS part of family reconciliation. Especially since I got a lift home with him and Alex. We all care about what we care about, right?

I send special fond greetings to Peggy the Piewoman (jeff there’s still pie in the Caspell Junction fridge shall I THIEVE IT LOL), Dax the Defender, Ryker the Toebiter, Alex the DJ, Dave the Poet, Sue the Actor, mOm and pOp the Archetypal-Cute-Couple in a house full of light and plants and books (sorry, Good Omens has eaten my brain), Jeff the Resuscitator, Blind Lemming Chiffon the Filker Extraordinaire who celebrates another spin around the sun today, Keith the Chef, Katie the mOmmaBear, Ruth and John the Vastly Helpful, Leo and Linda the Coming Attractions (they are visiting soon) and Cousin Gerald the Moose Handler (because he’s the one who handles sending me more pictures of Moose.) And Paul the Forgetful, must remember him too.

 

Inshanity

Wrote 5500 words on a new fic yesterday. Slept until SEVEN AM in consequence. And the little rat is nowhere close to finished. It is so freaking angsty and cry baby and poor communication that writing it is like ripping dime sized chunks off myself, but it all came out so fast.

Because I got enough sleep – at least four more hours than I usually do – I’m actually not doing too badly this morning. Tiny little migraine signs.

Looking after Ryker today.