And one more time

Looks like I will be doing more laundry again today. Sigh. I hope this is just a phase and that it too will pass.

Yup, I did laundry. And it was a zippy, pleasant experience, all things considered. I washed a second pillow. I guess I will be adding at least one pillow to each laundry experience. Who knew that you could wash pillows to give them a second, puffier life? Probably lots of people, just not me.

Did a little bit of Smith work today. That is a good thing. Wrote a bit of the "So you want to be the technical director at the Smith" manual. And a few other puttery sorts of things.

Mostly, I just didn't do anything - well, made lunch, made dinner, did laundry, played xBox (and did decently), listened to a good bit of Harry Potter, cleaned the kitchen, napped, played on my phone, went to the Smith and filled out my time card and did a little data entry.

Mom can be really cute at times. She always has been able to do that when necessary. Now it just happens on its own occasionally. Recently, she took a book from the Theatre Bookshelf outside of her bedroom. For the next day or two she asked me who Woody Allen was. I answered in the obligatory 637 different ways, mostly with elements of truth in each answer. Then, when I was heading back to my room, she pointed at the book and told me in all seriousness that I should read the book - I would learn a lot. It was the biography of Woody Allen, of course. I don't think I will probably read it.

There are so many books in this house that I have never read. Or have never been read by anyone living in this house. Ever. I wonder just how many. Hmm. I know that at one time there were 15,000 books in the house, at least. But of those, how many have never been read by anyone who has ever lived here. First, the house isn't that old. Maybe the 40s. My father came to the house in the late forties. And he certainly didn't read all the books that existed in the house in his time. And he most definitely did not read any of the books that have come to the house since his demise. My mom, also quite a reader, did not read many of the books here when she was avidly reading them. Me? hahahahahaha. Karl? Juliet? Ernst? Well, maybe Ernst and Juliet have read most of the books that were in the house in their times here - but since their time?

Oh My God

Half an hour of the same question over and over again. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

I am feeling sleepy for some reason this morning. I don't have a lot to do - but I do want to pop into the Smith and test all of the film equipment. And make sure that any laptops that are going to be used and are attached to my drop box account get an opportunity to sync up before they are used by others. Does that make any sense at all? I could talk someone else through how to do what I want done, but I don't know who would do it. So I will head down around 3:30 and do what I need to do.

I am in my second "office:" Lake Drum Brewing. They just released a new beer - so I get a mugful free! For a shandy it was pretty good. I don't really like Shandys though...

Dinner is going to be from Cam's pizza. I think Chicken Parmesan and some chicken wings and onion rings. Yum! (Garlic parmesan wings are yummy)

My stupid xBox game keeps crashing and it is irking me no end. Grrr. (Turns out a lot of other people are having the same problem. Yippee! Hmm, that didn't sound very nice...)

Ok, slogged through some tedium for the Smith. Yay. But I keep learning more about Theatre Manager. Yay! Did some dishes and am ready for bed. Lots of meetings tomorrow. 

The cycle continues

So, after a couple of good days, we are off to a poo day start. Yippee! Apparently I don't care and won't help and am making mom suffer. My favorite line "Why do you get to sleep when I can't sleep?" Seriously? Sadly, logic doesn't work with mom at this point when she is in this particular state of mind - half asleep and angry. Yippee!

Sleepy. I did do laundry yesterday. I hope it turned out ok. I was otherwise focused. I also branched out and visited a new-to-me place. Interesting. Yay for interesting.

My next chore is to get off my butt and drive down to the car place, drop off my car and ride my bicycle back home. I can do that. I just need to do it. Then I will come back and knock out my list of tasks. Or nap. We shall see.

5 minutes down, 10 minutes back - not too bad. That is one reason I like Geneva, it is bike able. If only there were more bike lanes and places to lock one's bike. Though I would really love to live in a world where people could leave their bike unlocked for a month outside and not have it stolen. Wouldn't that be nifty? Sigh.

Lunch is done. She told me that she doesn't like crackers with cheese. I am really starting to struggle to find things she does like to eat. Sigh.

I do worry a bit when a day goes smoothly and as planned. Oh, and when it is a "pretty"day. I rode down to the Smith - got my work there done, turned over the show to Terren, went to the bank, and rode to pick up my car. Yes, the muffler needed replacing, and I had forgotten to get the car inspected (in November), got the oil changed, a wiper replaced and the right rear tire ministered to (it wasn't all that expensive - and I just got paid from the Smith, so...). 

Mom has been extra curmudgeonly today. I think I will maybe set up another appointment with a physician's assistant or a nurse practitioner. Mom seems to be in more pain than usual. Maybe it is psychosomatic, maybe it is real. Hard to tell, of course. And what level of pain it is, I have no idea. Maybe some physician sort will be able to get to the bottom of it. 

Anyway, I played some COD AW and did ok. I think I will do one full prestige and maybe a second and then give it up to play other stuff. I am not as attached to this one as I was to the previous ones. Yay.

Ok, time to do a little Smith work and then watch something on Netflix. 

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.

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. 

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!

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.

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?

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.

Already did an hour of work

Here it is 8:45 am and I have already done an hour of work. I want to get a little of this blogging thing done before doing some bill stuff. Yay bill stuff!

Last night's movie (The Hundred Foot Journey) was good, not great. I was uber surprised to see that Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey both put up a lot of money for it. I wonder why. It was a cute story, decently done, but certainly was not exceptional in any way. It would have been if we could have tasted all the yummy looking food. Oh well.

Damn Civilization all to hell! Grrrr. Moving on.

I hope to get some mom stuff done today. Justin is supposed to come over and get the gate up - maybe bring a new oven, etc. We shall see. And it is a Jenny day - yay! One of the things I would like to do is get some weekend coverage. Speaking of coverage, I was ok'd for respite from the Alzheimer's association. Up to 40 hours before June. Now if I could only figure out when I could use some respite - besides all the time...I could really use a massage. What? Where did that come from?

I had a minor epiphany today. Ok, it wasn't my epiphany exactly, a friend had it and I recalled it this morning. I can make calzone type food items with grands biscuits and the appropriate innards - like mozzarella, pizza sauce and pepperoni. I am so gustatorily excited!!

Today, amongst the things I did, I went to the bike store and picked up my bike. I got some things added to it, and they attached my handlebar mirror for free. Yay. Oh, another teeny epiphany, I can now get my car looked at - it is six months past due for its oil change, 'cause I have the bike to get back and forth - walking from there is too long a way in my current situation. By the way, checking the mom cams isn't very data intensive, so I can do it when I am not connected to the web.

Also, our handy guy came and put a gate up across the top of the stairs - very cool.

Ok, enough for now, I am sure there is more, but not that is getting written by me just now. Pfffffft.

Great Intentions

Isn't that the name of a book? I had some great intentions today. And who knows, maybe I will get something actually accomplished at some point. Instead I slept a lot, woke up late, didn't do anything, played xBox (Damn Civilization - it is really hard to win an economic game - I took one darn capital and suddenly the game is over. Grrrr.)

My hope was to get some correspondence written, sort my active papers pile (bills and such), do some grocery shopping and think about the coming week - we have a fairly intense show coming up at The Smith this weekend. And another couple next week. I was also hoping to get the movies picked for April. And what have I done? Nothing. I did make mom some lunch that she liked - cream of shrimp soup was the featured part. I am wondering if swallowing is difficult for her just now. One of the things I was going to get at the store was more cream soups - I know she doesn't like cream of tomato soup. Neither do I particularly. If I do get more cream soups, I will have to lay in a supply of half and half - I don't really like milk. Sigh.

Fenders! That was a word I was looking for yesterday - I bought a fender and a rear rack for the new to me bike. And toe clip pedals. And they are going to install my mirror for me for free. Yippee! I need to remember to put the bike rack in the car so that I can bring the bike back home more easily. Where I am going to keep it is anyone's guess. Part of me would like to tear down the barn and put up a new barn building for storage. Thoughts?

Justin said he would come over tomorrow with the gate for the top of the stairs and possible a new to me oven/stove. We shall, of course, see.

So, I didn't do anything after all. I made a meal of leftovers and played and now mom and I are watching a movie called The Hundred-Foot Journey. Yippee?

Took the CSA plunge

Half a share seemed enough for our household. And the price of a half share varied quite a bit. I ended up paying $300 for 18 to 20 weeks of vegetables. So about $15 a week. Not too bad, actually. My main worries are - picking the stuff up consistently and eating it all before the next delivery/pick-up. Not that I am too terribly worried about much of anything, actually.

Days always seem weird to me when I a) get little sleep or b) get up to an alarm or c) get up early. This was two out of three. I woke up at 6:47 feeling pretty wide awake, so I stayed up since one of my alarms was set for 7:02 am.

Mom and I watched The Book Thief last night. Overall I enjoyed it. There were some weird bits. I couldn't figure out what the movie wanted to be. Death as a narrator was odd. Most of the actors seemed to be doing some stylized acting. Nazi Germany is tough to present, especially now that we are, sort of, far from it. Weird mixture of German speaking, English speaking and a combination - speaking English with a German accent. I love Geoffrey Rush. Well, it did make me think a bit and that isn't a bad thing.

The movie didn't finish till about 10:45 pm and I wasn't ready for bed - so I played some Civilization on my xBox 360 - in which I got caught up and suddenly realized it was 1 in the morning! Eeek! Mom, of course, took that time to be wide awake. Sigh. I think I got her to lie down for about an hour. Then I heard her up and about in the bathroom a few times the rest of the night. This morning, she was sure some woman was watching the movie with her last night. Yes, I have long hair. And she kept telling me that she wasn't getting in the bed because she was saving it for her mother when she came to visit. Her mom died in 1967. 

Got up, futzed around a bit and then headed down to The Smith. I was pleasantly surprised that my co-worker had had the forethought to remove the film stuff. All I had to do before the traveling theatre people arrived was replace the gels in the Cyc lights - which is a teeny ordeal. The company arrived right around 8 and Terren was not far behind. I stayed a little bit and made sure they were all set, then toddled home, feeling discombobulated. Oh well.

Oops - written and not posted till after midnight. Sigh.

Lazy Sunday

Thanks to the visit of my friend yesterday, mom went to sleep at a reasonable hour and only woke me up twice! Yay! I got to sleep until 10 am for the most part. Woo hoo even!!

What else happened today? I read a lot - trying to get through (not in a bad way) - the book about Saturday Night Live. I do recommend the book, but not for everyone. It is written as a lot of quotes from people associated with Saturday Night Live. And some comments by the person (or persons) who compiled the book. It is amazing how many people were on the show over the years. And how many of them became household names. So it is a cool book. But since it is all people reminiscing, it can get a little wishy washy.

I went to the grocery store, which is always exciting. One of the checkers actually said it was nice to see me. Made my day.

I played a little - I am really enjoying Dishonored over all. It has some issues of course, but generally it is fun! Yay fun!

No napping today! Huzzuh!

Dinner was left over chicken with peanut sauce, mashed potatoes (with feta and garlic and sour cream), steamed beans and baked (roasted) Brussels Sprouts. Mm, mm, good!

Those Four little words we all long to hear.

It has been a while since I tried to make a quiche. So I attempted one today. I think it turned out pretty well, all things considered. Mom used to eat them at least. Anyway, tonight I head those four little words everyone who cooks a meal for someone else longs to hear, "It tastes like cardboard." Music to my ears for sure.

My mom thinks that I am super valuable to the Smith. She asks me if they appreciate me. I think they do, most of the time. I am making a list of things that have happened during my tenure at the Smith, big and small. It is actually a pretty impressive list. Ok, I think it is impressive. I might ask Kelly to weigh in at some point. And maybe Jessica. I guess this is partly because I want to be known partially for what I have done and not just for what I have done lately.

It is weird. I haven't really done much today, yet I feel like I have accomplished a good bit. I am slowly getting closer to being ready to video tape a puzzle put together. A friend asked me why I wanted to create the video - and I realized the answer: I love time lapse photography. In college, a couple friends and I put together a little stop action film. I wish I could find it. I found a lot of my other film work - ok, not a lot - I have found a few pieces. All crap - except for the Alice in Wonderland bit I did in High School - it had Abigail Saltonstall and Karen Bowlby in it - go me! And Doug Orr, Hunt Stehli and James Marquand. I wonder if I ought to digitize it and put it up on the internet. Yes, I think that will be another project sometime soon. I have it on videotape somewhere so I can get that digitally transferred somehow - actually I think Karl (my brother)(who doesn't read this blog - or much of anything since he is so busy!) might actually have that technology. Hmm. Anyway, I remember seeing time lapse photography of all sorts of things - flowers growing, buildings being built, I just thought a puzzle being put together would be cool. And it might help me to see my process. And document my obsession if I time stamp. Can I time stamp a time lapse film? Hmm. I don't know. We shall see, I guess.

One game down, many still to go. I finished Assassin's Creed Liberation today. I do enjoy the Assassin's Creed games - great historic places they recreate - and all the climbing around and exploring is fun. And there are some elements of Role Playing involved - not a lot, but a little.

And that is about all, really. And working on that Smith accomplishment list. And trying to get through a teeny headache - I don't often get headaches, so I am confused whence this one came. Maybe not enough water?

Despite starring Emma Stone, Amazing Spider-Man 2 was pretty bad. Fun, but bad. Glad I rented it from Netflix instead of watching it in the theatre!

Getting Started Again

Hi All! (Or both) It has been a while since I have posted. Mostly because I haven't felt like it. I am sure that there are little things, medium sized and maybe large sized things I could have written about, but I just didn't feel like writing. I didn't want to sit and write. I wanted to sit and do other stuff. Like play bridge on my phone. Or play on my xBox. Or stare off into the distance. Or watch Star Trek or Pan Am. I have also been working a good bit. Actually the next two weeks are going to be busy at The Smith. And I have a bunch of stuff to do to get ready for that. In fact, I am putting that off right now and writing this instead.

Quick catch up since July. Mom - deteriorating pretty well - she has some puffy leg issue that we are trying to fix. The doctor has given her medicine and wants her to go back on the c-pap machine - mom doesn't want to go back on the c-pap machine. Mom isn't doing the other things she is supposed to be doing - like drinking lots of fluids and exercising (ha) - and keeping her feet elevated. One of her new behaviors is to sit on the edge of the bed and read. For hours. So I am not surprised that her ankles are getting puffy. I am hoping to try the ABC miracle juice thing with her - more on that in a bit. She has been on a kick of watching Doc Martin a lot. And I recently got us the existing Downton Abbey DVDs. Those we have been watching together. I don't know yet if she will want to watch them multiple times or not. Yesterday we voted. Could well be her last time voting. She could barely sign her name - even with help from me and from the check-in person (who's daughter - Mary Van something went to school with Juliet apparently). Sigh. We shall see what happens come November. So, the long and the short of mom is - she keeps moving forward slowly and so far we are both managing her being here in the house. Huzzuh. Oh, we went to the dentist too - well, mom got her teeth cleaned.

On my end - I am working a lot at the Smith. I have an owie on my right ring finger. My bankruptcy is all through. I am starting to work on my beer vlog. I went on two dates with a nice person and then she stopped writing back. I am playing too much xBox (well, other people would say that was the case). I am not getting out much. I do hope to get mom and me to Maine in October. Ah, the miracle juice thing. I have read stuff about what drinking beet (ick) apple and carrot juice can do for one's health. They say a minimum of 60 days to see real results. I drank some this morning and felt nauseous for the first four hours afterwards. Sigh. Maybe some lemon juice will help. I'll try that tomorrow.

Oh Deer!

When I lived in NC, I lived in the country. I routinely saw critters big and small on my property - nothing so big as an elk, but lots of things. Oh, and no African animals, sadly. I wouldn't have minded a pride of lions or a gazelle or two. But lots of deer for sure.

Color me surprised last night as I walked through my dining room to find deer! Not in my living room, but in the yard. Big, huge, scary deer! I mean huge! Not little scrawny deer - these things looked like they were well fed and ready to rumble! There were three of them - not sure about family travel in deerland - anyone? Still, it was impressive and a bit scary. I wonder where they live most of the time? I am in a fairly urban part of Geneva. Hmm, I haven't looked in the barn lately...

When life gives you a forced xBox system up download, I guess it is a sign that I should do other stuff for a few minutes. Like maybe some work? I was thinking of heading in to the Smith for two hours this morning. But after doing my 7 letters and writing about them on the relationship blog, and doing a smidgen of yoga, it became 10 am suddenly. So I postponed going into the Smith until the afternoon. Got mom some aleve and was all set to play a little when "System update - download or quit." Sigh.

Got our water bill. I thought getting the drips under control would have lowered our water bill - but it was high this month. I wonder if the cold weather is partially responsible. We shall see what the spring water usage is like.

I bought mom an early birthday present - her birthday isn't until next month - mine is April 8. So I guess I got her a present for my birthday - a 10 season package of NCIS. Sadly, she has forgotten that she liked the show. Sigh.

Mid Sleep Musings

Here it is, 4:21 am, and I am writing. I went to sleep around 11:30 pm and woke up around 3:20 am. I do plan on going back to sleep. Really. I do not have a "big" day in store. But I do have things I would like to accomplish and a little more sleep would be a good thing.

I have started a couple of blog posts. Ones that will probably never be seen by others. Posts that are a little on the soul searching, or radically honest, or sadly, maudlin sort (I am not drunk, btw). The reason I am writing these, I think, is to get the thoughts out of my system. Catharsis. Purging. Cleansing. Whatever. "Better out than in" is one of my mantras.

Well, that's depressing - I just saw that donating clothes is generally a bad thing for the world economy. How freakin' sad is that? And the advice for what to do instead sounded less than optimal as well. Poo. Double and triple poo even! Did I mention, poo?

Ok, I did go back to sleep and slept for a few more hours. I can't tell anymore if I am tired or if I am fully rested. I guess that means that I am still tired. Or maybe it means I am fully rested. Who the heck knows? Actually I just yawned, big time, so maybe I am still tired. Maybe I will nap later this afternoon. Oooh, that would be nice.

I had a momentary (well, a couple of minutes worth of) scare yesterday. As some of you have garnered, I play a good amount of xBox. (Right now, I am playing two games - not simultaneously, but alternately - I have a backlog of purchased and unplayed games and I am trying to work my way through them all - I enjoy collecting, and I enjoy finishing, and I enjoy playing - makes me feel I am being somewhat productive...) While playing, there was a surge and the power went out briefly. But the xBox seemed to have died. I did all the trouble shooting that I could think of and eventually, after unplugging the transformer/surge protector that comes with the device, all was well. Phew!

Another thing I do quite a bit is play bridge on my iPhone. I don't know how many hands I play a day, but it is more than 3 and less than 2,117. (Not many fewer probably...) It helps me to think, relax, meditate even. Sometimes while I am playing I will have minor, or not so minor, epiphanies.

I visited Red Dove and Microclimate (local establishments) both again recently. I really need to find a place to hang out when I do go out. I miss Leaf Kitchen. I just don't feel like hanging out at any of the places here in Geneva. And driving to neighboring towns, although not that far, is a bit on the tedious side, just for a drink and some hangage. And of the places I have visited there, none also stand out as places I would like to spend a bunch of time. I miss the Saucer and my table. Waaa.