April - the longest month?

Am I the only one thinking that April is dragging on forever? Yes, I know it ends tomorrow, but it can't come soon enough for me. It has been an up and down month. For me at least. 

That's four rides with the bike, so I am down to $75 a ride. Yippee! I hope to get that down to pennies a ride by the end of the bike's life. That would be nifty. It is another nice day (eeek, two in a row) so I think I will toodle down to the Smith this afternoon on my bike. I can hardly wait.

At lunch time, I am going to empty out the fridge and see what all is in there. I used up a couple of things I think - like the icky chicken casserole - ok, it wasn't icky - just not enough juice and way too many breadcrumbs. And I ate all of the ham and turkey salad - though putting it in the food processor was a great idea, I thought. It made everything a single consistency. 

I am excited to see the next water bill. I hope that the newly fixed toilet will really decrease it. That would be awesome. If I am repeating myself about this, it must mean I am really excited!!

Yay! I had a nice ride. Got everything done that I had to at the Smith, I think. I didn't have my ducks in a row and need to get a bit more organized before the next time Kelly and I meet. I set up the sound system and checked all the movie stuff. Go me!

Now, time for a car ride to get some Chinese Food for dinner. Huzzuh! It has been a while. Hopefully mom still likes it!

Mom ate a lot! Yippee!

After dinner, we watched the most recent version of Into the Woods - enjoyable though long. I love Anna Kendrick who did fine. The rest of the cast was good as well. Stephen Sondheim's music is just so chewy. But glad we watched it. Mom stayed awake through the whole thing. I keep wondering if larger TVs would be a good thing...

Got an early start

Good thing I went to bed early. Though, a nap is probably in my future.

Mom's toilet is still broken and I had to decide whether to fix it myself (as I did last time) or get help. I chose to get help. Hopefully Justin will come and take a whack at it later today. That would be neat.

Saw a great recipe online today - french toast roll-ups. I am going to make a few and see if mom will eat them. I know they look delicious to me. But my sense of how much and what mom will eat is completely askew at this point. I give her a third of what she ate normally in the past and she eats half of that. Before, she used to be thrilled with anything and everything I put in front of her. Even is she didn't really like it, she ate it. Now, she eats only a bit of most things - and spits out a bit of this and that to show her distaste or displeasure. Not sure which one. So, for dinner today, er, French Toast? We shall see.

Justin came and fixed the toilet better than it was before, because he knows things! Maybe we will see our water bill go down. That would be great and nifty! And now I don't have to flush the toilet by lugging water in a box from one bathroom to the other. Yippee!

I have done very little Smith work today. I did, though, ride to the Smith when I went in. Yippee! Oops, almost forgot to finish up the weekly mail blast. Still not sure what to do about the temperature in the Smith. We shall see tomorrow. 

Maybe it is Call of Duty that is irking me. I will admit to destroying a copy of the disk just now - not intentionally (at first). But wantonly after it was clear that the disk would not play again (damn, xbox's bad read heads...)

The good news is that my window is open and the air is flowing happily around my room. Yippee!!

I cooked an interesting meal and of course mom thought it was disgusting. Yay. Bacon, corn on the cob (which she snarfed) and french toast rolls - stuffed with peanut butter and jelly, or nutella, or cream cheese. I tried to give her both PB&J.  

Need to find a new profile picture

The one I am using now, the profile picture that is, is so wintery. And I think that Spring is finally here. Maybe. Perhaps...

I am listening to Order of the Phoenix and something interesting has happened - Voldemort has gone from silent "t" to voiced "t." I wonder why. Maybe because the movies had started coming out and they said Voldemort with a voiced "t?" Who knows? Anyway, I thought it was interesting.

Lots of Smith Stuff to do today. I am up (at 9:30 am) and am gearing up, girding my loins, etc. to getting ready to work. Yippee! - Ok, two hours later, I have accomplished a good chunk of my list. Yay. It is almost time to make mom lunch - then downtown for a couple of hours at the Smith (and the bank and post office). I still don't know what will be for dinner. Hmm...

Unfortunately, I have begun the multiplayer for COD AW (Call of Duty, Advanced Warfare). I am not loving it. Nor am I hating it. I think I will do at least one prestige and then see how I feel. None of my friends seem to be playing it. Oh well.

Mom likes creamy soups. Unfortunately they don't seem to agree with her digestive tract. Sigh. So, I need to find a soup that is not cream based that she will eat. Preferably one that comes in a can. Yes, I am that lazy.

Speaking of lazy - it isn't even midnight and I am going to try to go to sleep. Yippee!

Cloudy Today

I like my status for yesterday's post this morning - Clouds providing lots of shade today - trying to put a cloudy day in a positive (not so scintillating) light. Yippee!

Watched Philomena last night. I enjoyed it. I kinda thought it was based on a true story before I watched it. Turns out it was. Judi Densch was great. Mom, unfortunately, slept through the whole movie.

Also started watching Daredevil on Netflix. Too absorbing. I think I watched five episodes at least before I forced myself to go to sleep. My eyeballs just about fell out of my head.

My goal for the day is to do nothing Smith related. We shall see if I can manage. I probably ought to pay some bills. And think about what I need to do next week for the Smith and for life in general. I think laundry time is creeping up on me again. Yippee. 

Yay paid a few bills. I feel so virtuous when I pay bills. I do remember a while in my life where paying them was painful beyond compare. Sigh.

Ok, so I am making a list of all the things I need to do for the Smith tomorrow - eeeeeek!

Spotify - One list (Cave)

Movie Playlists - two - Cave and Whiplash

Mail chimp - Tasting Note Send

Mail Chimp - start Mail Blast Movie May! (Even Toeprints is getting into the action)

New website - enter movies for May

Start list of movies for June

Double Check June with Kelly

Double Check May with Kelly

Update Instructions Sheet for Ticket selling

Send Email about training session for Projectionists (re box office and refresher on things)

Send email about cleaning session at the Smith

Send email about RPO on Friday

Check with Mexican Film and contact the guy

Look at Snake movie and contact them

Download Call Security’s music video

Contact Stephen Giamotti and see what is up with Young Adulterated

Contact HBO woman again

Meet with Jocelyn and do conference call

Meet with Jessica and talk about ticket selling - and scanning

Order the internet boosters (2 at least)

See if I can figure out what is wrong with the little computer and its battery

Call Damien and see if he can scrub our two laptops of viruses and such

Call Carl Blewshewke at Finger Lakes Health and see if he is doing the graduation or if somebody else is

Look through email for anything pending

There are probably more things, but I can't think of them off the top of my head - oh, wait, I did think of one - check the weather and set up heating/cooling. 

Now mom's toilet innards need replacing again. Yet mine remain fine. What is up with that? I will try to buy innards tomorrow or Tuesday.

So, I finally finished the campaign of Advanced Warfare. I really hate quicktime cut scenes and events. Which is why I like the Bethesda games so much - those only happen when in dialogue and nothing of extreme consequence happens during dialogue. Anyway, I played my first game online and went 17-18 and was second on our team, which makes me pretty happy. Playing on a map with a load out that was less than optimal and totally not understood by me, I am very pleased with that result. Yippee! Tomorrow is another day.

It is a sunny day!

We don't get a lot of them here in Geneva. So they are noteworthy. I am going to ride my bike down to the Smith to neaten up the stage, the area of the sound and light boards, maybe replace the sound board, set the theatre for tonight's movie and do a couple of other little things. Today is also bill day! Yippee! 

In all the hubbub bub, I didn't get to the bank to do anything with the filthy lucre that the IRS returned, grudgingly, to me. I still don't understand how someone who makes as little as I do needs to give anything to the government while corporations that earn huge profits get tax rebates?! WTF. Seriously. I don't know if Community Bank is open on Saturdays. Maybe till noon? I wish I could find Hannah again. I do like the staff at my branch, but she was funny.

I keep getting distracted. Found a new thing in Theatre Manager that needs to be tweaked and rebranded and such. I don't think I will be doing it, but will be paying inHouse to do the work. Oughtn't to take them too long so won't be too expensive.

Because it is sunny, I thought, hahahahahaha, that it might also be warm. It is 9 am and it hasn't broken 40 yet. So maybe I won't ride my bike downtown. Then again, I have only ridden it three times, which is about $100 a ride - gotta get that number down in case this bike, too, is stolen.

One cute thing mom is doing now, is that she can't really make clear the difference between her bed and her chair. I will say something like - Mom, (while she is sitting in her chair) do you want to get in bed? And she says "I am in bed." Makes me smile for some reason. Any excuse to smile is a good one.

Did my major Smithing today. Set up the movie stuff, cleaned up the stage a bit, did a couple other little things. Then a nice trip to the grocery store. Though, we are having Pizza and chicken wings tonight for dinner. I can hardly wait. Yum, num, yum, yum.

Mom the cat

Mom gets into bed. I move all of her stuff (water, food bits, tissues) to beside her bed and turn on her electric blanket. Ten minutes later, mom gets up and sits in her chair. I move all the stuff back, turn off her electric blanket. Ten minutes later she goes to the bathroom. (One good thing - she doesn't seem to just sit in the toilet for hours - yay! Or fall asleep in there - something I have done once or twice) Then back to her room to being the cycle again. At 6 in the morning. Yay.

Trying to play catch up a little. Just spent a few minutes cleaning off my computer's desktop. That was fun. I need to pay bills, but I think I will do that tomorrow - once Mary Chapin Carpenter is behind me. That brewhahaha starts at 12:30. But knowing them, they will probably just do whatever they want without regard to the schedule that they set up. We shall, of course, see. 

Ok, exhaustimicated. It was a long day flitting between the Smith and home. And I am fairly tired. So, more anon.

Dilemma

Not a huge dilemma, but a small one. Do I try and make mom eat lunch or let her sleep? I am leaning towards letting her sleep and feeding her around her schedule. I don't have a lot on my plate today, so that's a good thing. (That's what I did and it worked out ok. Huzzuh!)

Lots of napping to day, after a shortish stint at the Smith. I don't know why I was feeling so exhausted today. Oh, yes I do. I had to get up by the alarm. Grrrrr. Luckily tomorrow's load-in is later in the day. I think I have it adequately staffed so I don't really need to be there too much. That would be good. 

Playing through the campaign on Advanced Warfare. It is interesting that all of the friends I made playing COD MW4 aren't playing the campaign in this game. I wonder why not. Oh well, not a biggie. Lots of games to play. 

Mom didn't eat anything of her dinner - well, she ate about two thirds of her salad, but didn't like either the mashed potatoes or the turkey. Sigh. I miss the mom who ate too much. Maybe she will come back, but that is doubtful. If only she liked the vitamin shakes I got for her, but she doesn't. Double sigh.

Tomorrow we have a concert at the Smith. Today's show went very smoothly without me. Yay. I hope tomorrow's goes as smoothly. 

Haven't gone back to sleep...

So, instead of sleeping, I came up with a thought about why the problem we were having with ticket sales was occurring. I went online and fixed it. Yay me. Then I started working on a draft document that Kelly has created. I might be doing more than just editing it, though...I will do what I am doing and give it back to her. Maybe she will credit me with co-authorship if she likes the changes I am making. Maybe not.

Mom is being a real pain in the butt today. Yay.

I am exhausted again. Up at 3 and then up at 6 and then up at 8 all to help mom - then from 8 until 9 almost incessant calls from mom - where am I? Where can I go? What can you do for me? Me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me me. For an hour. And now it has started again. Sigh.

I got a bit of a nap. Yay. I also did some good work on the Kelly doc. And I even went out to run some errands. Spent longer than I thought I was going to at the Smith, talking with Kelly and getting a few little things accomplished. Then a brief stop at the Public Library (I love libraries - I wonder how they will evolve in the future...) to pick up two Audio books that were being held for me. One of them I had completely forgotten I had requested. The other is the next book in the Harry Potter series - book 5 The Order of the Phoenix. Yippee! Last, a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up some corn on the cob, some of mom's pills and a few other things. Now I am back home again. And could use another nap.

I am almost finished with The Goblet of Fire. Yippee! 

I tried to watch The Boxtrolls with mom, but she was having none of it and slept through most it. It wasn't all that engaging on the small screen. It might have been better on the big screen. Or on my computer with headphones or better sound. All in all, it seemed ok, not great. Glad I rented it, though. 

A day of not much

Tuesday - gotta love 'em in general. They aren't Monday, which for most people is a good thing. Since I am either working or on call most weekends, Mondays don't mean the same thing to me as people who have weekends off from work. Still, Monday is a fairly full day for me most weeks. So Tuesday, being mostly not full, is a relief. Yes, I have a bunch of things that I need to finish up on Tuesday for Wednesday and the rest of the week, but I can do those from home for the most part. So, it feels like a relaxing day. 

I always feel a little happier when I have figured out the dinner menu for a day. We are going to have a chicken casserole. Now that I have an oven that works (yippee) I can bake a full sized casserole or even two smaller ones. I can hardly wait. I have chicken and some left over veggies - need some mushrooms etc. Yippee. Dinner will be the casserole, some corn on the cob and a salad. What more could anyone want? (Too many bread crumbs - oh well - where were my fried onions when I needed them?)

Well, Spring is definitely here. Our mower was out doing a quick spring cleaning of the yard. I am tempted to get out there myself and rake for half an hour. We shall see if I ever feel motivated enough to actually do that. Having done mowing/landscaping off and on throughout the years, I know full well that it is not something that I particularly enjoy. I really enjoy lying on my bed typing. Now there is an activity that I can get behind! :)

Oops, fell asleep without posting this. Good thing mom woke me just now. Yippee!

Feeling a bit grey

Such is fromage. I am feeling a bit frustrated and unhappy. Grey, not blue. All I really want to do is wallow in that a bit. Ok, not really. I want to move past it. But to where is the question. There isn't any place that seems particularly appealing. Grrrr. This too shall pass, hopefully soon.

Mom is ensconced in her room watching a nature show - I played Dark Souls and have become so frustrated that I am not interested in playing it anymore. At all. All the things online that I can find tell me things that I can't do with the character I am playing or that just don't happen - like leap down on the creature and hit it for 50% of its hit points. Right. I keep landing at its feet and am stunned for a few seconds so it gets a free hit on me which usually kills me. Fun? I don't think so. I don't have to like every game or finish every game I start. Do I? I don't think so. Life is too short for that.

Why is mom such a chatty Cathy at 5 in the morning sometimes? Weird. So I am awake for a few minutes while she wanders around and talks at me. 

I was up for an hour or two and then went back to sleep. To paraphrase Oliver "Sleep, glorious sleep..." Took a shower and fed mom. I also started back on my apple, beet, carrot, lime juice thing in the morning. We will see how long it lasts this time. And I found a usage for the vodka infused fruit...

Mom is dreading her shower, but in a seemingly good natured way. I told her that she had promised not to argue about it. She doesn't remember saying that of course. Does it matter if she ever really did? (She did, but I am still curious...)

Mom got showered, I worked at the Smith (off and on today) and got little of my Monday Smith work accomplished - I will just have to do it tomorrow. 

Simply Sunday

Off to a good start. I got  great amount of sleep after the past two days of having to get up at an hour to which I am not accustomed. Huzzuh! And mom did a decent job of getting herself to and fro from the bathroom. Without calling for me. Double huzzuh!

Mom's tummy is upset. That isn't fun for anyone. Poo, even. :)

We have had lunch and mom ate everything without complaint. Yippee, even. 

No exciting plans for the day. Some Smith work is all I really have on my plate.

I really need to start working on getting mom either more care here or get her to a nunnery, er nursing home. I can feel that those next steps are imminent. I thought it would be in January, but we have managed to Mid April. Go us.

Spring is spronged! Yay! We have bluets in our yard. And next door some daffodils. And our lilac bushes are starting to leaf and bud. How exciting is that?

Went shopping at the grocery store and bought some hamburger so that I can make meatballs for dinner. Yum. 

I also bought mom a red heart ballon and bought myself a whole pile of boxer shorts. I am so excited to change my underwear now. But I am holding on - anticipating the excitement tomorrow. So excited!!

Ok, definitely not playing Dark Souls or any of its variants anymore. When the first boss you play is 3 times as strong and the first thing that happens is that you are stunned without recourse - that just isn't fun. On to the next game.

Another early day

Today was another early start with an alarm sort of day. Huzzuh. I did get a couple hours of sleep, which is a good thing. I only went in to get things started for my staff member. Got there, got things going and came home. I have been working and napping since then. 

Lunch went much more smoothly today. Mom was awake and cooperative. Yay. Dinner will be corn on the cob, left over chicken and some salad. I need to use up my lettuce.

Wow, mom is in a state today! Wide awake and full of it. Where am I? It's not safe in my bed. I'm cold (it is 75 in her bedroom). I hurt all over (I have given her as much pain medication as I can according to the directions. And all of this over and over again. Yippee!

Just came back from the grocery store where I got a bunch of vegetables primarily. I don't know why, but I had a hankering for Challah and they were ought. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since it is Saturday. I bought some little bread rounds instead. Maybe a snack tonight of nutella or cheese or something. We shall see. 

Started a new game - one which promises to have the protagonist die a lot - and so far it has been true to its word. Joy. It might be too deathful for me to play. We shall see. So far it is pissing the hell out of me. Grrrrr.

Mom ate all of her dinner! Well, she didn't eat a little bit of the tiny salad I gave her, but she did eat everything else! Yippee!

Up way too early

Went to sleep at a reasonable hour, sort of, and woke up an hour later. Yay. Did a couple of work things. Then went back to sleep. Then woke up again a couple of hours later. Did another work thing. Then went to sleep again. Then woke up to hear mom in the bathroom. So I did one more work thing. Back to sleep for a third (or is it fourth?) time and suddenly the alarm was going off. Joy. Got up to find mom in a confused state (not all that much more confused than normal, but a little) and helped her out, got her a yogurt and bundled myself off to the Smith. Where I am now, typing in my sleep. Zzzzzzzzzz. 

Home again and going to take a bit of a nap. It is, after all, a time when I am normally asleep. So is it really a nap? Or just a postponed continuation of my nighttime sleep? Hmm.

I slept for a while until, you guessed it... Sigh. Mom and I got a little contentious around lunch time. She tried to kick me. Which was actually really, really funny!

Trying to get my ducks in a row for next week. Two shows that are going to be really, really easy - which scares me a little bit. When I think they are going to be easy, trouble might appear out of nowhere. We shall, of course, see.

Two more forays to the Smith today. One for the conference, one to see if the ticket person tonight wants to be trained on how to use Theatre Manager for ticketing. Fingers crossed that he does. 

I slipped out of the training! Yippee! So I made salmon balls - they weren't awesome and need more spice. But they weren't terrible. Sadly, mom did not snarf them up. Poo even. 

Just watched The Imitation Game and was sad about the ending. What a loss. People's fears suck. Yes? Fear is the mindkiller. (Thank you, Frank)

Hate it when it is like this

I hate being understaffed at the Smith so that I have to do the actual hands-on-sit-around-for-hours stuff. It makes me feel like I have no time, which in turn makes me be short with Mom which is no fun for anyone. Probably least fun for mom, in fact. 

One of my staff members called and told me he was sick and couldn't come to work. I bet he is well enough to travel to visit his father tomorrow. Whatever. This is his second strike. Another staff member, the one who cancelled yesterday with such late notice, I think that is her third strike. I am going to take her off the list as soon as I can get another projectionist.

I have been at the Smith most of the day. I did get a teeny nap at lunch time, but not much of one. Tomorrow I am going to need a nap big time since I am going to be getting up so frickin' early. Poo. I really hate getting up early with an alarm. Maybe my body will wake me up before the alarm. That would be nice. 

The event went better than I thought it would. I did spend half an hour working with a performer to build light cues for his performance piece. Oops, I think I forgot to give him back his CD. I wonder if he needs it. I doubt it. It looked like it was burned just for this sort of event with only 3 tracks. Still, I would rather have had that half hour to do other stuff. But it went well. And I got out when the movie started. Mom was oblivious to the timing - and luckily she was fairly awake when I got home. Made chicken and corn on the cob and green beans (a smidge under done)(which is way better than over done IMHO) for dinner. Mom ate almost everything. I snarfed my food and zipped back to the Smith in time to help get the Panel up and running. The panelists were pretty good about using their microphones. Huzzuh for small wonders.

Got home, chatted with mom, fed her ice cream and then later cookies and prunes (she ate two prunes - yippee!) and gave her some water. Then I played Tomb Raider on the xBox until it was done. Overall I enjoyed the game. Not great but pretty darn good. I do hope they come out with a sequel. 

Now it is time to sleep for a few hours before I have to go back to the Smith. Yippee.

Time to nap

Up at 6 something, tried to get some work done, but mom was busy hallucinating - not in a pink elephant for of way - but she was convinced that I had been out playing pool and that the roads were dangerous. When in fact I had been in bed asleep. As she probably had been as well. Sigh. And of course there is no convincing her that she was hallucinating (or dreaming even).

I did, eventually, get my work done. Later, I get to have a free lunch for running a slide show for Kelly. Huzzuh. Free lunch! Yum! And later later, I will be going in to help a second person learn to sell movie tickets the "new" way. 

Theatre Manager continues to get deeper - turns out that we can use old laptops as scanning devices for tickets - by using a web interface. Who knew? Well, the people who work at Theatre Manager of course...So far, can't get the web interface to work, but I did scan some tickets and that is a good thing. I couldn't get out of the screen for some reason. Not sure what that was about.

Anyway, I am not amused. One of my projectionists wrote me at 4 in the afternoon saying that they couldn't project the movie and couldn't get anyone to cover it. So, here I sit, at the Smith, projecting a movie and I am not amused. At all.

All I had for dinner was an artichoke. Reminds me of when I lived in Paris and managed to live on a dollar a day for a couple of weeks. That was fun. Good times.

I do have more to say but I will save it for another day. Happy Dreams (busy two weeks coming up).

Ahhhh

It is nice not to be running around. Yesterday I did a good bunch of Smith stuff and some errand running (meaning mostly that I sat in bed and paid bills). But then I did go to the Post Office, City Hall and the Bank. Mom got her tax refund from the IRS. Huzzuh! We are solvent again! (Just joking, we are doing ok for now). And I deposited a lovely surprise from Ernst and Betty! (Thank you both so much!) I also got to visit Lake Drum for a beer - and tried to watch the Space-X launch which was, sadly, scrubbed because there was a thunderstorm 10 miles away. Really? Big tough rocket is scared of a wee, itty bitty storm? Waaaaah! :) They are trying again today, but I am not holding out a lot of hope for it since the weather is supposed to be worse today. I think I got a couple of people excited about Elon Musk and Space-X attempting to land their first stage. I know I am excited...

Today, I got up really early, well, early for me, and did a bunch of Smith Stuff (worked on two email campaigns, set up HVAC for the week, worked on the slide show and added a movie to the Smith Website. (Only one more to go and we will be all confirmed for May already! Yippee!) I am planning on heading out to do some laundry this afternoon while also doing some stuff at the Smith. Multitasking. And I might head to Lake Drum again. I do need to go to the grocery store for veggies. I might actually go back to my Apple Beet Carrot juicing. We shall see. I can't wait for my CSA to start. That will be interesting and hopefully nifty.

Well, poo. The first stage of the Falcon 9 Space-x launch vehicle landed too hard again. I will wait patiently for the reason, if we ever hear it. Double poo.

Trying to get through Tomb Raider. Generally I like it. I don't like the cut scenes and the quicktime events. Both of those are "not like the other (the rest of the game)" and thus aren't as enjoyable to me. Just sayin'. Hey, where does that phrase come from?

Zip, zoom, zowie

Here we are, almost to mid April. I think the time goes weirdly when the weather is weird. Then again, maybe I am just weird. Weird is a weird word.

I just paid a couple of bills. It is that sort of day. Time to get some stuff accomplished that has been accumulating. Mom gets her STAR exemption, I mail the taxes (I still don't understand how I, who earns so little owe state taxes - seriously it is mind boggling - but then again, I do live in NYS and we are one of the more heavily taxed states), Netflix gets its latest movie back, and my retirement gets another bit of funding (yes, mom's Publisher's Clearing House entries are waiting to be put together). And I am sleepy. I am looking forward to the day when I can sleep and wake when I want to, not with the Mom Clock waking me at hours that make sense to her. Sigh. Snore.

My plan is to crank through the stuff that I have piled on my bed, and then start to think about Smith stuff. I know that I want to go in and work on the copier issues - get scanning and emailing up and working, get the PS (post script) printer drivers up and running on the two office computers and maybe some of the laptops, keep working on Theatre Manager (trying to learn how to design tickets to be scanned and how to scan them to show them as used)(and other stuff).

Honesty is a rare thing, I find. A checker at Wegman's gave me $.75 because she took my bottle return coupons one day six months ago and forgot to take them off my receipt. How great is that?!

So many great lines in The Big Bang Theory. Just saying.

Lovely and not

It is lovely that mom had a great visitor for 6 hours tonight. Truly it is. For lots of reasons. Mom felt unabandoned. That is a great thing. Will she remember it? Vaguely. Which is bad. A part of her will remember all of the attention and judge the rest of her time against that - at least for a day or two - maybe longer depending on her brain power. Tonight is one of the nights (I am writing this bit before I pass out from exhaustion on Saturday night/Sunday Morning) that she would try to make a self motivated excursion downstairs because she is over stimulated. Which is one of the reasons that a visit like this one is not lovely.

Another reason it is great is because she did not sleep off and on for the hours of 6 until 11 or 12 tonight. She was chatted with. I do wonder how often her visitor got to listen to the same story throughout that time. Sometimes it is possible to go six hours with few completely repeated stories. My hope is, despite her brain being over stimulated, that in the not too distant future (say half an hour or so) she will go to sleep and sleep until 8 or nine tomorrow morning. Hope springs eternal. 

Another reason it is great is because I knew that there was someone in the house with mom so I didn't have to worry to much that she was going to have any problems - lack of food, water or bathrooming.  Peace of mind is not something to be taken for granted or taken lightly. Ok, so I did check in on my phone (looking at the cam in the bedroom) a few times. And I did send a text or two. Nothing too pithy - just telling the visitor that there was ice cream if mom expressed a hankering, which she did not. 

So excited for Monday!

Though it will probably be postponed, I am looking forward to the next Space-X launch as they are trying once again to land their first stage on their floating landing pad. I still don't understand why they aren't trying to land on land? Found the reason - less expensive and safer. Good reasons.

I don't like black licorice. Yay.

Here we are, on Saturday, and time is passing before the show this evening. I can hardly wait. I think the lights are in decent shape. Great shape, no, but they will do. And I will have a helper around, which will be a great aid to my peace of mind. I don't like being tied to the light board, but life is like that sometimes. 

So, finally home from the show at the Smith. Good thing that there was someone here hanging out with mom. Apparently they chatted the whole evening. Good for them! Huzzuh even!

More on Sunday or Monday!

Quick note

Long day - 11 hours maybe of smith work? Eeek! Also a quick lunch and dinner for mom - I really hate when work takes me away from her for this long in a day. Just because I know that she already feels abandoned. Sigh.

But it was a good day of work. Mostly. I got a lot of stuff done for the SPA show. And the rehearsal went decently - not great, but not terribly either. 

Yup - that's it for the note today - more later on Saturday for sure!

Busy next couple of days

So, that brewhahaha is over for another year. Next year is a milestone-ish one, though. 55. What was once the national speed limit. The year that a lot of "senior" discounts kick in. Watch that change next year to 60, since, 50 is the new 30 or some sort of blather like that. But I did have a pleasant birthday. A couple of birthday cards (maybe 4, actually), a present or two (Thank you Juliet and Rosanne and Ernst and Betty), a bit of self-pampering and indulging - I still have two thirds of a pizza in my fridge - does pizza freeze well? (I am leaning towards no.) Yay.

But I didn't escape from my two jobs at all. I spent two hours on Smith Stuff yesterday - tempted to charge them quadruple over time - except that they (we) are not fiscally well endowed currently (all donations accepted). And I did not figure out how to get respite from caring for my mom. Who, by the way, still seems at a plateau. I like plateaus. I don't like the slippage from one plateau down to another too much - c'est fromage.

Starting today, the Studio for the Performing Arts is bringing their rendition of Sleeping Beauty (the ballet) to the Smith. Huzzuh. I am not too worried about it. I have help today and over the weekend (not enough help but lots better than none). Friday, I don't think I have anyone helping. Oh well. We will all survive. Theatre (and life) are that way.

Oh, a quick clarification - one of my readers thought that Rosanne was the name of the masseuse. Her name was Barbara. Rosanne is a great friend of mine (and lots of other people I am sure).

Lots of time for the Smith today. Mom seems to have survived, so it is ok. And the weather has turned frightful. Big rain and lots of wind. I guess the jet stream is wiggling around still. Sigh.

My Birthday Day

First thing, mom wanted water. Which was beside her bed. And she was in a chair. Three feet away. And was mostly asleep. Just thirsty. Instead of listening to her bleat (yes, I sometimes think of her as bleating) for hours and hours, I decided to get up, put on some clothes (TMI?) and hand her her water cup. Then, back to sleep (since it was 7 am and I need my beauty rest. I need a lot of beauty rest!!). Until 8 when mom complained she didn't have any water, which was on her tray, out of sight (not really) behind a box of tissues and a roll of toilet paper. Up, dressed and water pointed out, I was going to go back to sleep but decided to check my computer and do a smidgen of work. I forgot to post the Smith Mail Blast yesterday. Sigh. Life is that way sometimes. I also launched Facebook to reply to the 15 or so people who had taken the time to wish me a happy birthday. (Thank you everyone.) And to receive a diatribe from a woman I don't know who friended me for some reason. Maybe so she could write diatribes to me. Who knows? Anyway, I wrote "money isn't real" and she told me it most assuredly was. I feel edified. (Ok, not really - glad she womansplained it to me.)

What is next on my agenda for the day of the anniversary of my birth? No idea - maybe play on my phone a bit. We shall see. I do have a massage scheduled for later this afternoon. And we are definitely pigging out on pizza and wings tonight for dinner for me. What I am feeling mom is still unclear at this point, but I will figure that out at Cams when I am there.

Oh, watched Interstellar last night and enjoyed it. I don't care about the science (which I thought was ok). I just like Mathew Mc(however you spell his last name)y who did (as my friend Jeff might say) chew the scenery just a tad. Just fun stuff. Yay Science Fiction. :)

Rain it a raineth. Good thing my parade wears rain clothing. And carries an umbrella. It could be snow, so...

Getting dragged into Smith things. Sigh.

At least the next Harry Potter book is waiting for me at the Library. I was getting towards the end of this, the third and was worried. A little. Not a lot. Really.

Time to catch up on my day a little. Where was I? Oh, yes, dragged into Smith stuff. A few times today. No day off for me. Grrr and sigh.

After lunch, I went to my massage. (Thank you Rosanne!) Pleasant but not great. I will keep searching for the masterful (mistressful?) masseuse next time. It was raining pretty heavily as I got into my car, so I decided to postpone any Birthday shopping until another time - maybe next week sometime. And I didn't get myself a cake (which is a good thing as I will explicate a little further along). I just headed home, played for a few minutes (I restarted playing Tomb Raider as I had forgotten how much of it worked), then put Karl on the phone for mom. She barely reached her hand out at all, one of her more infuriating behaviors. At around 5:15 I headed downtown to get pizza and stuff for dinner. Yay Cam's! A quick beer at Lake Drum while waiting for the food to be prepared. Back home, ate too much food (mom ate a lot too, yay) and now it is time for a shower. Huzzuh!

All in all a very pleasant day. Showered, clean sheets, mom is in bed and I am headed there too. Soon.

Toilet Paper Butts

My mom has cut down on her paper product usage quite a bit. Yay. Still prodigious are the amounts she goes through, but lesser so. Huzzuh! When she goes through toilet paper, she often gets down to the end of a roll and then ignores the poor thing. So I have taken to snagging what I have termed toilet paper butts and using them in my little bathroom (because it is smaller than the big bathroom)(and it is fairly small - not teeny apartment in New York Small, but not expansive by most definitions of the word). Go me.

I had a weird dream (are they any not weird dreams?) about losing my shoes on a train to Berlin. So I asked for help from a police person. I was speaking mostly German with a little bit of English thrown in here and there. Then, just as we were about to start actively looking for my shoes, the conductor walked in with them and gave them to me. And said something in English about not expecting a lot from people with terminal cancer. I thanked everyone profusely, but in Mandarin until I realized that they all had no idea what I was saying, so switched back to German. Then it was off to explore Berlin with a digital SLR. Fun stuff. Time to go back to sleep for a little bit.

So, tomorrow is the anniversary of my birth. Yippee? I have no plans. And no one to do anything with. Boo hoo. Actually, I am ok with doing this for and with and by myself (for the most part - I know that even islands are part of a greater whole). Unfortunately, I didn't do anything about getting someone in for respite. I just can't get my mind around it yet somehow. I will, though. I have 60 hours to use in a couple of months. Eeeek! Anyway, I was planning on getting a massage - but have not done anything about that yet. Other than that, no exciting plans. Pizza and wings for dinner, probably. And maybe an artichoke. 

Part of the reason for my lack of motivation to do anything is because I am going to have to run the show the rest of the week, as my "staff" all were too busy to work. I really need to find a good deputy. Someone who could even take over for me if I were to change jobs. Finding someone I trust enough to do that hasn't proven easy.

Aha! I have booked a massage with an unknown (to me - I am sure someone knows her somewhere...) masseuse for tomorrow afternoon. Pizza and wings for dinner for sure. And that is the extent of my birthday plans. Oh, and to try and not do one single solitary thing for the Smith. That would be novel.

Great - beer made me sick again. Sigh. I had some Sierra Nevada and suddenly had the urge to perform reverse peristalsis. Crap. Good thing I enjoy throwing up now and again. Sad that it is the day before my birthday. We will see if leftovers and some other beer has the same effect. I hope not...

Awake at last?

This morning around 7:15 am, mom was calling out to get help to the bathroom. She doesn't really need help to the bathroom - she just likes to have help to the bathroom. And, go figure, I like to get some sleep. So I didn't answer. It was kinda funny to hear her talk about where is everyone (like there are more people in the house than just her and me). My favorite line was "Where is everybody? Trying to sleep? Ha!" Then, grumble, grumble, grumble as she comes down the hall to the bathroom. Made me smile. In my sleep. Sadly, though, she had made enough noise for long enough that I am awake at last. Yippee.

Now to do some Smith Stuff before the hordes descend at work - I can work on two computers there or three, before anyone else comes in and wants to use them. Update the slide show, set up heating/cooling, make playlists for the movie and for Spotify, and play with the movie ticket face a bit. Oh, and start work on the Mail Blast for this week. Those are my exciting early Monday Morning Smith Tasks. Huzzuh!

More Smith stuff - and I am feeling a little frustrated there - couldn't find a cord that is pretty important - and the people who should know where the cord is are claiming ignorance. I will look again tomorrow afternoon. 

And more Smith Stuff - I have been working on the Mail Blast and a couple other things for hours it feels like. I think I have solved two more "issues" that were had with Theatre Manager = finding Will Call tickets and exporting email addresses to another email program. Then I spent some time working on the email blast. Oh, said that before. Anyway, my brain is feeling mushy. I will finish this up tomorrow. When, I hope, I will also find the copy of a movie I have misplaced. Sigh.

Broken Chair

Someone broke a chair in my mom's room and didn't mention it to me. I don't blame them. It always feels weird to break something that isn't yours. Oh well. I will do my best to fix it. One day.

Meanwhile, yesterday, I sorted a big box of papers - I think I let go of about 5 pieces of paper. I was looking for those documents Karl wanted me to find for my taxes. But I didn't find any. I have two other boxes of papers, but they are from when I first moved up here - still - I will go through them at some point today. After I head to the Smith and help with electronic ticket sales again.

At the Smith helping out with electronic tickets sales. So far only one Box Office person is trained. Sigh. Baby steps.

Tried a new cooking methodology tonight - baking bacon. It turned out ok - not as crispy as I would like - maybe it just would have taken more time. I will try it again. It certainly seems less messy than frying on the stove top. I also made baked omelette muffins again - this time with muffin wrappers - and still they came out unwilling to pop out of their muffin tins. Grr. I will keep trying this, because they are easier than frying them and I like less effort in general.

Circling the papers

It took about an hour and a half to go through the big box o' papers that I had accumulated over the past three years - to no avail. Poo.

Harry Potter is making me fat

Because I am enjoying listening to the Harry Potter books on Audio, I am finding excuses to stay in the kitchen. Late night, my excuse lately has been bread products that get toasted and then covered with butter. Then I add cream cheese to one and honey to the other. Yum city, but I can't see my shoes anymore. Sigh. I think I am wearing shoes...

The day has been passable. I did, finally, get my act together and start sorting papers. I did not see one of the 1099s papers that Karl thought I needed. My guess is because all of my debts were under $10k that they didn't bother to report them. Who knows? I am going to roll the dice and submit my taxes and see what happens. The worst that will happen is that I will have to file some other forms and not get my refund (if I am getting a refund)(which I should - I think anyone who makes less than $50k a year ought to get all of their taxes back - all, not just a bit - every penny) for a while. 

Great Friday!

It is going to be a great day. I can just feel it! (Ok, no, I can't, not really. I woke up feeling a little worse for wear for some reason.) The reason I wrote what I wrote is because today is "Good" Friday. See what I did there? 

I got a lot done yesterday for the Smith. I am about a third of the way through my instructions on how to use Theatre Manager for selling Movie Tickets. I don't know that I will finish it in time for Saturday, but that doesn't really matter as I plan to go and be there for whoever is doing the box office for the next few showings. 

Just paid all the bills that were lying around. Now if only I could start sorting papers...

Why does it feel like Saturday to me? Weird. 

Lunch is done - time for a little nap and then off to the Smith to help out there for a bit. Sigh.

No nap, though I did sit quietly for most of fifteen minutes.

Stuff and nonsense. Watched a movie. More tomorrow. 

Actively Avoiding

That pile of papers in the orange room is mocking me. Every time I walk past there, it looks at me with a glint in its eyes. It knows I need to buckle down and go through what could very easily be a wild goose chase - since I probably threw away anything from creditors after the bankruptcy - but you never know. My hoarding, must save just in case mind set might have led me to save the pieces of paper. And it all could be moot - the creditors could have sent their paperwork to the Fed and actually checked the "bankruptcy" box. Anything is possible. We shall see if I can get my act together and tackle that project at some point soon. 

The library wrote and told me that my next Harry Potter book came in! Huzzuh! So, I went down and got it and did a little bit of Smith stuff. Made lunch and did more Smith work. And I get to head in to the Smith for a meeting this afternoon. All in all a pretty easy day - despite the amount of work. It is such a lovely day outside, that I think I will ride my bike downtown. Yippee!!

I did, I did, I did ride my bike downtown. Hooray!!

Tonight's movie was the Stephen Hawking Biopic The Theory of Everything. I enjoyed it. It is interesting how thoughts he was just thinking at one point longish ago are taken for seemingly granted nowadays. 

After watching the movie, I watched a couple of episodes of Fringe and then was about to go to sleep when I remembered that I had to set up a mail blast to go out Friday morning at 10:00 am. Glarp. I had most of it down, just needed to add/change some graphics, tweak verbiage and such, create links and look them up and bob's my uncle - not really. I don't have an uncle bob. More's the pity...

Up and at 'em

When I was a kid, I thought it was "Up and Atom." Yes, I like(d) science. 

I woke up around 7:30 am this morning and have been cranking away, sort of, on stuff - mostly for the Smith. Yay. I needed to get some things done before other staff members got on the machines. I know that a volunteer comes in this morning and will be on the Slide-Show computer all day. And there are often two people signed onto Theatre Manager during the day, which means that a third person can't. Sigh. That is one of the more frustrating bits about Theatre Manager. Whatever. Maybe their pricing model will change one day. Anything is possible. 

My laptop screen needs a cleaning!

Oooh, Kelly showed me yet another computer to play with - this is a teeny weeny IBM laptop - I mean maybe 10 inches across. The battery has died, which isn't the end of the world. I am going to see if I can get Theatre Manager up and running on it. If I can, I will try to use it in the Ticket Booth for movies. Since it is so small. Something to try this afternoon when I head in.

I get to show the movie tonight. I am not excited by it. The movie is fine, I just don't want to be stuck there, at the Smith, for three hours. Grrrr. No one else asked for the date and when I begged, no one responded - well, not no one - I think Darnell responded that he had other plans that evening.

And no one is responding to the SPA event. Well, two people have and they were both negatives. This will not do. If no one has responded by close of day, I will have to send out a reminder text. Really don't want to have to do that. And I really don't want to have to run the show - I would like my birthday week to be as free as possible. I know that is too much to ask, seriously. 

Uneventful movie showing in terms of things going wrong. On the other hand, I did a few hours of work - first getting the ticket system working for movies. Yay. We had a couple of little glitches - wrong ticket printer first, then not knowing to click a certain place to get receipts for credit cards and not knowing how to run a report that broke down how many people paid how. But they got worked through. I need to add some steps to my list of how to do things, but that is not a big deal. Then I got the Kiosk up and running with Time and Temp. I don't know why it glitched before, but it is working now. Or at least it was when I left. Then I worked on getting the teeny laptop up and running - still need to add printing capabilities to it - but that will be easily done tomorrow. Chatted with a man who worked at the colleges and knew my mom and knew of my father. And generally kicked movie night butt! Huzzuh!