Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily...

Just woke up from a pretty full on dream - most intense dream I have remembered in a while - holding a set of auditions for a musical of some kind. Had a really great turnout - which is always a good thing - probably 60 kids. Huzzuh! Weird thing is, I am not anywhere near directing a show right now in my life. Maybe it is a sign that I will get to do it again one day. That would be nifty indeed.

I finally plugged one of my mom's Christmas presents in - her clock that tells her what time of day it is. She said she liked it. I hope that it gives her some reassurance! (She thinks it has something to do with keeping her room warm. Sigh)

I thought it would be bigger for the (crazy - demented even) price but it seems to be big enough for mom

Also, mucho progresso soup (o) on the puzzle. Huzzuh!

Closer and closer! All pieces are now face up!

New Obsession

Who hasn't had at least one or two obsessions in their lives? Not addictions, at least, not in my case. I don't think I have ever been addicted to anything. Obsessed? Sure. Lots of times. The good thing about obsessions in my life thus far, is that they often end and that they haven't been particularly life threatening. My new current obsession is a teeny game on my iPhone called Word Jigsaw. I may even splurge on it and buy the pro package. We shall see. Right now, I am thoroughly enjoying playing the medium size - over and over and over again. Each game seems a little different and they last between 25 seconds or so to 5 minutes or so depending on how difficult I find them.

Nice day yesterday, besides a Smith SNAFU. The sound system didn't want to work, though it eventually did. After I had to let everyone go home. Sigh. Other than that, though, I had a pleasant day.

It started off with hot chocolate with a friend. Yes, an actual hot beverage. One of the few that I will occasionally enjoy. At Opus. I don't go there a lot, but have never had a bad experience there. I do sometimes still miss the Asian restaurant that was there, though...

I did a little grocery shopping (actually asked the scarf receiver to send me a selfie of her wearing the thing - though I doubt that will ever happen), bought a new pair of kitchen scissors (though these too have plastic handles - sigh) and partook of all sorts of free samples of food stuffs at Wegman's.

The time at home was pretty pleasant, too. Mom ate her lunch easily. I played her music on a CD player - our new thing. Napped a little (didn't sleep particularly well for whatever reasons). I did some work on the puzzle (no picture today), cleaned the kitchen, later heated up leftovers - I really need to pull the trigger and get a new to the house stove. I can't decide whether to go for Lowes and a new, new one - or go to Universal Appliance and get a refurbished one. I am leaning towards UA because they are local and weird. We shall see on Monday or Tuesday. Later, I let mom watch Doc Martin while I went to my room and watched the second Percy Jackson movie. I tried to find out if the third was scheduled, but apparently it was canned. Oh well. The PJ movie was decent - as long as one had no expectations of great art.

I keep forgetting that tomorrow (Monday) is a holiday. I hope an aide comes, since we didn't have one on Friday...

It's a start

Yesterday, all my troubles...no, that's not it. Yesterday, was the first day of the rest of my...nope. Hmm. Anyway, the good news is, it has started. Well, restarted. Started again. Decluttering the house, that is. A kind person came and worked for a couple of hours in the red room (linen closet room) to try and figure out what was going on in there - it had become sort of jumbled and pile-y over the past few months - a year maybe? - since last someone made use of the room as a place to sleep. Now if only the kind person will continue to help and I don't piss them off somehow...

Puzzle progress - getting there - I am at a different point where I am sure I am missing at least one piece. That almost never happens, but there is this one piece...

One piece eludes me there on the middle left (the bottom left I am sure will turn up)

The rest of the day yesterday was spent Smithing - a looooong and productive meeting with Kelly, then a quick look see at a rug remnant that we might use for our upcoming Oscars event and then some more meeting with Kelly - over a beer at Lake Drum. Happily Victor isn't sick of me. Yet.

Ladybug what?

I have had a house guest for a long time now. I don't know how long Ladybugs live, but this winter, I have had one as a house guest. (I could do a lot of googling and figure stuff out about ladybugs, and maybe I will one day - for now, I am going to just make the lady bug a she - ok?) She spent a long time in the kitchen - seemingly with a death wish. I first found her when she was crawling around and trying to be anywhere I was working. She kept putting herself on my cutting board - so I would carefully shoo her off and go on with what I was doing. Next, I found her in the sink a lot - so I removed her to a safer location - on the counter near a trash can. For a few days, I didn't see her. Last night, as I was heading to my room for some reason or other, I noticed a spot on the wall. My unconscious told me it was the lady bug. I didn't believe it. So on the third of fourth trip past the spot on the wall, I decided to take a closer look. Sure enough - the lady bug. Weird, right?

My pal the ladybug

I have been doing some really good procrastination lately. Part of the reason is because the weather has been so abysmal here. My composting is piling up a bit, though...

4+ tubs of composting material and counting

Four Sweaters Day

I'm I'm I'm just a-washin machine, baby don't work for nobody but me...

Because of the yogurt mishap yesterday, I ended up washing not one, not two, not three, but four, yes four sweaters. Two of mom's, two of mine. Yay clean sweaters. Boo brrr-y cold water on my little hands. And I can't find (ok, I barely looked) the second (I know we have another one, we have at least two of so many things)(like books, we have at least two books)(and I have at least two socks...) sweater/clothes drying rack like thing. One sweater is almost dry, a second is getting there, one doesn't seem to have any interest in being dry and the last is still relaxing in the tub, waiting for final wringing out-age before being stretched (hopefully not actually stretched beyond its original proportions) out to start the drying process. Yippee!

I am a computer god! Ok, not really, but I got to feel like one for an hour yesterday. A friend was having problems with her mac and I, Dudley Do Right (Jr.) rushed in to save the day. At least I hope so. We shall see if her problems persist. And I got cookies! Huzzuh!!

As far as the puzzle goes, I actually did combine a few loose pieces in various ways - too each other and to the bulk of the puzzle. Really, though, not much forward motion was accomplished. The year is young.

Two weeks (plus a day) of doing yoga - some meditation, some swinging, some complete breaths, a couple of sun salutes and a bit of a shoulder stand. Lots better than nothing!

Somethings always change

That is a working subject line. And it is a fact. Change is the only constant.

So, where was I? Yesterday was an interesting day. I spent a good part of it puttering around (at home and at work) for the Smith. There are a couple of projects that I am looking forward to getting started and finished - small jobs - one is lighting fixtures, one is assisted listening. A third, about which I am really excited is a set of boxes that will allow everything technical to talk to everything technical from all over the theatre. Yippee!! Dreams do come true. Though I would really like 20 movable LED lighting instruments and a new light board (and a couple more updated light racks...) Lots of email, an email blast, some web work etc. Yay.

I cleaned my bathroom yesterday. Yes, I really did. I did not scrub the floor - or the bathtub - ok, I really just cleaned the sink and the toilet. But those are the most important bits, right? I admit it, and I probably have admitted it before, cleaning is not high on my priority list. I would rather nap than clean. Heck, I would rather do just about anything than clean. I do, though, like to organize. And I don't mind having things be clean. I just don't like to do it. It always surprises me that there are some people out there who actually enjoy cleaning. Weird.

Rough night - I was tossing and turning a bit - mom was calling for me off and on and after a nap this morning,  I woke to find that a yogurt I had given mom at 7 or so  had ended up well distributed between her stomach, her sweater, her nightgown, her table, her chair and the floor. Yippee! Washing with Woolite in water that is almost freezing is so much fun! And poor mom, she thinks she did something wrong. Sigh.

Here is the latest puzzle progress.

Two thirds done, I would reckon

When I am not doing a puzzle, I forget how much I like them. I just ordered myself one of those "roll up your puzzle" things - though it won't be coming until February - at the same time that my Downton Abbey season 5 dvd is shipping!

Puzzle Point

Hey - I am at that point in the puzzle where there seem to be pieces missing. I have been through the pieces that remain any number of times and a few of the pieces that seem to be obvious in nature - because of color combinations or shape or both - just don't seem to be anywhere. I am pretty sure I am just not seeing them. But still - it is a frustrating point. I think I am about 60 percent of the way through the puzzle. Soldiering on! (I found one of the pieces! Huzzuh!)

I was all set to go into the Smith yesterday - and I do need to go in - well, actually, I don't need to go in, I can do the work I need to do from here - as long as no one is trying to use the computer. Turns out that Kelly was sick, so we didn't have to/get to meet. Yay! I stayed home and did a little Smith work.

I eventually went out to the grocery store and got the makings of tacos. Well, tacos without the taco shells - soft or crunchy (I like both). Unfortunately, mom can no longer navigate either a soft or hard shell - so I just put the taco stuff over rice. It had been so long, I had forgotten (mostly) how to use my rice cooker. But it was just like falling off a bicycle. We had taco stuff and salad for dinner. And it was pretty tasty. Huzzuh!

Yup, short post today.