The Voice Of Reason

I just spent a half an hour doing that long year end meme that's going around but i have just deleted it all. I usually do my own year end round up, not a question and answer type meme, it's a month by month review in point form and a few lists but i don't post it until new year. Obviously this year has had some good things in it, but there's been the shadow of Dad's death from the start. I learned some things about myself though. I got through it a lot better than i thought i would be able to but i've had a lot of support too. One friend of mine lost her dad to cancer in May so we've been touching base by email and that's helped, too. We're experiencing the same things at almost the same time frame.

I don't know yet what i'm going to do today. A bit of housework probably. Must get on the horn to Future Shop and find out if they got my camera off the truck yet. Honest to God/dess how long does it take? If it's ready for pickup that means a trip over there. Thankfully it's a free standing shop, not right in the mall. It's cold but it's sunny, i could walk over.

1) Name one of your bad habits:
chewing on the inside of my cheek
2) What do you expect from friends?
accept me (faults and all), be honest, supportive and make me laugh
3) What is the last thing you wrote down?
a list of things to take to my friend in Amherst next week
4) What is the last favor you did for someone else?
Filled up Mom's gas tank is the first thing that comes to mind
5) What is your favorite TV show?
Coronation Street

It's my last EDO/Flex friday off and what am i doing ? Waiting. See, i bought a new bed and bedframe back in January. I've noticed that the bedframe is getting very squeaky. I know beds and mattresses creak but these are distinctively metallic sounding squeaks and grinds. So i'm getting them in to check it and maybe i may get a new one. Maybe i will just get regular legs on the bed i don't know. Oooh they're here...

There. No more squeaks. Side bolts of the frame needed tightening. At least i know what the problem is now, and i can do it myself or get someone a bit stronger to give the bolts a good twist if they work loose again. Not5hing so offputting as a squeaky bed. Also took the opportunity to put the bedskirt on over the box spring. The bedskirt is too wide, it being a king size and my bed only a queen, but i've folded it up and let the longer bit drag on the side nearest the wall. So, Mom, My box spring is now tastefully covered :)

Excellent

Now i need to get a few more things together, and i should go out to the bank today to get me holiday cash to have in hand for the road trip.

I found this week went by really quickly, didn't you? After last Saturday's marathon of Rawk in the Rain i am mostly going to stay inside and dry this weekend. Got housework to do. Never did get round to doing the top of the stove when i cleaned the oven so i am going to knuckle down to that and shall have fresh sparkly burner liners (courtesy of tin foil) and scrubbed stove top.

I came across a marvellous poem this morning by Alfred Lord Tennyson called

The Kraken

Below the thunders of the upper deep,
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides: above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumbered and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant fins the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages and will lie
Battering upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by men and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die.


"slumbering green"..."below the thunders of the upper deep"... wonderful imagery. Sounds a lot different than the vengeful cgi Kraken in the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie, doesn't it?

Mom is hostessing friends from Arizona today. Wouldn't you know it? It's going to rain. They aren't going to see our lovely city under a very good light.

Funny how 40 minutes of cleaning the oven and various grill racks wipes you out!
And at least i bought rubber gloves this time. Last time i did it, i didn't use them and got caustic burns on my palms. Cortisone cream is good!
One sponge, two SOS soapy steel wood pads and half a roll of kitchen towel later, it's done.
Probably not as good as it could be but it's a lot better than it was.
...and probably it won't set the smoke alarm off next time i bake something too.
Someday i'm gonna pay Molly Maid to come in and do it from top to bottom.
Oh god. Top. I didn't really clean on the top of the stove and replace the foil under the burners yet. That can wait. It's not that awful a job.
I did try to sit on a little Rubbermaid footstool but in the end that wasn't much better but kneeling on my water pillow took some of the ache off the knees.
I'm not sure what's worse, trying to clean the roof of the oven or hanging over the tub scrubbing the racks. Then having to clean the tub. But it's very shiny and clean now! Oven cleaner certainly gets the grime off it but you have to clean it with regular cleaner really well after or it's too slippery.
One hot shower later, a can of diet coke and Napoleon Dynamite on the telly. I think i'll try out the water soluble paints later.

Aren't Fridays lovely? Even horribly rainy ones like this one is turning out to be. Tail end of a tropical storm. Raining sideways. I got home ok though, it was pouring when i left the office but when i got to the bus it wasn't too bad. One of my workmates lent me a hat which was better than nothing. When i got off the bus at home, it had almost stopped but it's howling outo there again now. The amount of rain coming down doesn't seem to be huge other than in fits and starts, but the winds are gusty and it's whirling around out there. Umbrellas are neither use nor ornament in this weather.

I seem to have a cloud of fruit flies in my kitchen. Tossers! I think i had something in the garbage can that i forgot was a breeding ground for the little bastards. I now have two traps out and they're accumulating little bodies rapidly. I use cider vinegar with plastic wrap tightly over the top of the dish and poked with a few fork holes. You can use wine vinegar and a guy at work actually uses white wine (but he has it to spare as he makes wine). Works a treat but it takes a few days to get them all.

Can i just say that Farmers ice cream in the flavour of Banana Splitz is really good! Banana ice cream with strawberry and chocolate in it and these little white chocolate bits with i think some sort of jam inside.

It's quiet in LJ land today.

It's raining. I shouldn't really complain but it's been gloomy for weeks now with only brief encounters with the sun. At least it's not as cold as it was.

Watched a 2 hour crime drama about a forensic psychologist starring Robson Green. He's small and compact but he does have lovely eyes. What was it called? oh yes, Wire in the Blood. Must try to catch it next Saturday too. Some might want to compare it to Cracker and the the premise is similar. Psychologist helping the police find criminals, pretty lead detective that fancies the psychologist but the psychologist isn't as flawed as Robbie Coltrane's Cracker and much better looking. Although... couldn't you just cuddle up to Robbie on a cold night? I suppose nowadays he's Hagrid in everyone's mind but in my mind's eye, he's Cracker (not "crackers" although i wouldn't kick him out for eating crackers ... well the name and the sentence just led into that one didn't it? lol!)

Doing some serious thinking about what to pack now. will probably wear the dregs of the wardrobe this week so i can keep clean the stuff i want to take.

Won 10 dollars on the lottery ticket from last night. When i bought it i thought to myself "Ok, Dad, send down some magic... oh who am I kidding? He bought tickets for 30 years and never hit a big win. Never know t hough and i won the tenner, which is more than i usually win so that's something eh? Come to think of it, there's a free ticket going off one i bought a week or so ago and do you think i know where i put it after days of shifting it from pillar to post to pocket!

Miscellania:
Finally got back to painting this morning. I've been gathering photos and pictures that would make nice paintings so i will not be short of inspiration.
Four more working days! Yay! Pedicure and massage on Friday! Yay!
Had a nice meal out with Mom last night.
Baby shower tomorrow for teaone!

We've finally got some sunshine and clear blue skies!!! I think it must have been the worst week for weather in April i've experienced in ages. But that's fairly normal i think. You can experience all four seasons in a week! Lovely blue skies yesterday and today though quite high winds yesterday. I did a bit of shopping for a new spring coat. I have one that's a sort of nylon but it's heavy like leather but it's not real leather or like fake leather because it isn't shiny like that. Anyway. The collar is all cracked and it's getting kind of ratty looking. The other one is an old cloth one i really don't like. I found one that fit me though it's a bit dressier than i would normally pick but it is quite nice. Almost knee length, black cloth, with a collar and a button on hood with white top stitching around the cuffs and collar and actually it looks kind of nice because it's not overdone. Won't be waterproof like my nylon one so i don't suppose i will be retiring that one just yet. I also went into the men's big and tall store to get a couple of plain basic tshirts. I can get tshirts in the large size ladies' stores but they aren't really long enough or full enough for the gym and my old tshirt that i used for the gym is stained and just manky! I got a couple of v-neck shirts for 20 dollars each and they're quite comfy. I tried a larger size on but though it was find, the top part was just too huge around my shoulders and chest. I may have big boobs but my shoulder area is definitely not broad like a man's. I even threw out my old tshirt in the bin in the locker room at the gym yesterday too so i wouldn't be tempted to keep it for "just around the house". I do like it because of the logo on it which is the same as on this icon and promotes the beauty in us women who are built for comfort and not for speed ;) I'll have to make do with just the icon now.

Today i took my bucket and put a little elbow grease into the squeegee and cleaned my living room/balcony doors and windows. What a difference!! The winter grunge is gone and even though there are one or two streaks, it's so much nicer to see out through clear glass! Laundry is in the dryer and i've just had something to eat.

gramie_dee is off to see War of the Worlds performed at the MEN arena in Manchester tonight with some of our friends so i will be waiting to hear a complete review about that. I'm sure he'll post his review on LJ tomorrow. Hmm that reminds me. Alice Cooper is playing here in a couple of weeks, May 3 i think, and he wants me to write a review of the concert as well. I know i won't remember all the playlist but he said that won't matter. I guess i'll give it a go!

And what did the postman leave me this week? Three dvd's, one of which i did not order and it's already been sent back. Zoor the sequel. You've got to be joking. Droolworthy Antonio aside, i saw the first one and it was ... ok. barely. The sequel, from all accounts, blows chunks. I must have missed the mail order deadline though i'm usually pretty careful. I missed one last year and i kept it because it was Spiderman 2 and gramie_dee was keen on it anyway so i saved it for a Welcome to Canada pressie last year.

The other two dvd's were (buy one get one free) Chocolat with lots of Johnny Depp goodness and Corpse Bride which i have been told by many that it is Ace and i shall watch it this afternoon. (later... why did i not know it had musical numbers! Fabulous!!! Already i foresee screencaptures for icons!)

It's a dark, rainy day and i feel quite lazy. I do need groceries but i think i'll make do until Monday and pick some up after work then.

Very industrious today. I undecorated the tree last night and took it apart today, stuffing it into it's box. The box, even though brand new, was already starting to fall apart so i don't know, i figure by next year, i'll have to store it in garbage bags. Duck taped it in and wedged it into the storage closet so i don't think i'll have branches springing out at me when i open the door next time. Ah yes, the storage closet. Someone tell me why i've kept a box with one or two odd lengths of fabric from some things i sewed about 10 years ago? And why did i keep a bag of coffee mugs? And oh.. a bunch of other stuff that is now in the bin or sitting on the recycle shelves in the garage of the building. I also bundled my old tree down there too and stuck a note on it "Free to a good home". Ran the hoover over the carpets. No my apartment still isnt' tidy but at least one task is done.

Been struggling with Nero 6 for this dvd writer. It seems like once it's installed and i reboot, i'm no longer booted up as the administrator and several applications won't run including Norton Anti Virus and it won't let me activate it because it's telling me i'm not the administrator. Bah! I even tried disabling Norton and disconnecting from the internet while i installed but no dice. I will ask around among the techies at work this week, maybe someone has some software i can use instead or some ideas of what i can try. The drive works as far as reading and playing goes, i haven't tried to write to it yet.

I nipped out to Wally World (Wal Mart) to find a frame for the painting and i found a nice one, it's a mahogany colour with lots of gold flecks on it and it looks nice with the painting. I don't need to get an oval cut out matte for it though, it really does look ok as it is. I took it up to Mom's and we put the pic in the frame and left the glass on to protect it. I'll take a photo once it's on the wall but they need to get proper picture hanging wire and those little round plastic things you can attach to protect the paint on the wall. Am now just waiting for delivery of a donair and garlic fingers with cheese. mmmmmmmm.....

Have organized a sort of reunion for our chat room for tonight as well, and i expect to see a lot of people that have got away from it over the years. The chat room is not very busy these days and Saturday nights used to be party night there, we'd all listen to the same web radio and have a blast. It'll be nice to see some of the old names again :)

And the main problem with that is, gramie_dee isn't here with me!

Good god it was a long frigging day!

Got the express to Heathrow at 7:10 am. walked about a mile it seemed to get to Terminal 3 and checked in. Had breakfast. Shopped. (got Shirley Valentine on DVD and a few things in Harrods :) Seemed to be leaving it rather late to give us a gate for the plane but finally got it. And it was a long walk. lol The plane didn't even start loading until it was about the time it should have been taking off. Delay.

Finally got on board and settled.

Delay.

They tell us because the plane was late landing in the air traffic bottleneck that is heathrow in the morning, they were late getting on. Because of the high winds they would be an hour and a half landing in St. John's. Oh and they are having this problem with the baggage containers or something or other and that delayed us because they couldn't load the baggage containers onto the plane. Then they are told that because they are so late now, they will not stop in St. John's after all so they need to take on more fuel.

We rolled away from the gate about 2 p.m. We should have left at 11:30 a.m. 8 hours estimated flying time to Halifax. People are up in arms because they want to get to St. John's and others are upset because of missed connections. But by God, Air Canada worked hard for them. They put on an extra flight to take the people back to St. John's, they made sure all the people for a Montreal connection got off the plane first to get through customs because they're holding the other flight for them. They rescheduled some Toronto connections and others will be sorted as well.

We landed in Halifax about 5:30 ish and really, i got through customs quicker than i thought i would. When we were still on the gate in London, i was able to call Graham to ask him to email Mom to let her know i was going to be late, to check the website. She got that message ok. I rang Dad's mobile when i was standing in the queue at Customs. I had some stress because i didn't see my bag and the crowd was thinning but then i spotted it over in the side where a baggage guy had taken it off the conveyor already and was putting bags yet unclaimed to one side. I don't think it had made it round the loop or i'd have seen it so probably they were just getting bags off the belt so they could stop it. The little beagle/drug dog was being led around randomly sniffing at bags.

Anyway i'm back at Mom's at the moment. Dad has to pick up my neice from work so to save him a trip, i'll just stay here until he has to go get her, or at least a little before that so i can get home and back to my nest.

All the rest of the stories will have to wait until tomorrow if Graham hasn't told you all first.

*yawn*