Juggling Work

Juggling work and mom isn't as fun as it could be. I would like more workers who are available at the drop of a hat and willing to work whenever. Sadly, that isn't the case. Oh well. I will survive. (Maybe it will be easier during the summer...)

My current plan is to have my staff members run the light board and I will run the followspot. There are like 5 cues in both shows for the followspot. I can pop in five minutes before the show and leave right after. Not that I am ducking responsibilities - I am delegating and allowing myself the freedom to take care of my mom. Yay.

Spent a constructive hour at the Smith - hung the mirror ball and focused four lights - two in the pit and two on the mirror ball. Yay. Also looked through the gobos and picked out a few stars. I will get staff to put them in some instruments between 3 and 3:30. 4 o'clock the students start rehearsing. Yippee. It is time for the staff to start programing the light board. Huzzuh!

It is great having people who can do what I ask of them! Yippee! Got a good start before the kiddies started arriving. Gobos in, mirror ball cord tied up, spotlight set up, headset for the spotlight, etc. Then I taught (or reminded) them how to build cues. A quick couple of putters, a little bit of questioning and off I went to feed mom! 

I got to feed mom in a relaxed fashion. This is much better than the times when I have to run home, throw some food at mom and run back out the door. When I was younger, rushing was ok - now I like to do things, generally, in a more sedate sort of way. 

After dinner, back to the Smith where I let my people go and did a little Smithing of my own. After the Toeprints people headed out, I played with my new electronic toys. It took a little troubleshooting - because it didn't work at first - to get it going, but I persevered. Huzzuh! We can now use a laptop on stage or in the sound and light area at the center of the theatre to run the projector in the projection booth. How exciting is that? Very!!

Came home, puttered some more, played a bit and went to sleep. Oh, and somewhere in here, I finished Order of the Phoenix and started Half-Blood Prince. Yippee!!

Mother's Day/Mom's Birthday

Yes, a twofold day of fun and excitement. Thank you everyone who thought of mom on her day. Lovely flowers from Joe and Ginger! Cards galore and a gift from Ernst and Betty. Juliet is planning to visit later in the month. Mary Flett is planning on visiting over the summer at some point. Lucky mom to have so many people in her life that care about her.

Meanwhile, I have been asked at least 20 times who gave her the flowers. Sigh.

We didn't get around to presents yesterday due to sleep. Mom is having more trouble keeping her eyes open during the day - though she seems really good at being awake at 4 in the morning. 

Finally opened the present from Ernst and Betty! What a great soft stuffed baby chick! A HUGE baby chick. Mom really likes it. Sadly, she thinks I gave it to her, no matter how often I disabuse her of the notion. I have hidden the chocolate, so that mom will not gorge herself and get sick from eating it too quickly. Sigh. 

She was underwhelmed by the huge thing of marzipan I got for her. Go figure.

Today worked out well - though I didn't do a bit of what I wanted to do. Yes, partly through my own fault, partly from the renter's fault. I didn't get a schedule or a break down of the "numbers" until the start of today's rehearsal, so I couldn't get started on programming lights, so that meant that my workers couldn't set light cues for the acts that rehearsed today. Sigh. Still, I got to go to the Marketing Meeting, and I got to feed mom a decent and relaxed dinner. I hope tomorrow works out as well. Anything is possible. Right?

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?

Laundry again

Not much exciting is planned for the day. I hope to get a load of laundry done - we shall see.

There will probably be a bit of Smithing today as well. Isn't there always?

I decided to just head out early in the morning (for me) for a change. First stop, laundry - which I will have to do again tomorrow or the next day too. Sigh. There, someone said, "Are you Karl Schoen-Rene's brother?" Small town life. Gotta love it.

Off to the Smith to pick up stools for tonight's performance at Club 86, which I will drop off later this afternoon. When I walked in, I found the meeting that I thought was supposed to be going on - building new railings for our removable front-of-stage stairs. Nice people and they seemed to have their acts together. Next, Fred and I went over the proposed catwalk for work on the HVAC system in one of my closets. Fred also helped me restart the Kiosk. It isn't difficult in itself, it is just that the ladder is perched a teeny bit precariously and it is good to have someone footing or holding it when I climb up to cycle the power.

Back to the laundromat where the clothes went into the dryers. I might just have to take some more pillows down there because the one I did clean came out all puffy and happy. Yippee! Who knew? Ok, I knew, I think I read it somewhere. On the internet - attributed to Lincoln, so I knew it must be true. I just hung out there a while - trying to use my phone as a wifi hotpoint - but I think because I use ATT and the service is notoriously bad here in Geneva, I couldn't manage it. 

Responsibility

Up at the crack of dawn to help mom out with bathroom issues. How fun! Joyous even. I wish I were still asleep.

I am not going to get to go back to sleep.

One thing about mom that has always rankled. She has lived in victim mentality for as long as I have known her. She has, over the years, managed to do a lot despite this. But to this day, most things in her life are "not her fault." Sigh. That and the whole pessimistic outlook on life thing she has going on can be awfully draining.

Sadly, my sister is feeling sick, so she won't be coming at this point to visit mom. (Feel better, sis!) Which is ok - as I now have longer to excavate the room at the head of the stairs where I was going to have her sleep. Maybe I will even fix the chair in there that was broken at some point.

It seemed like a busy Smith day - the morning was spent working on several TM things. IN the afternoon I had a meeting with a potential employee and then did more catch-up with Kelly. It is good when I feel in the loop.

Dinner was only a moderate success. Mom thought the yummy chicken bites (garlic and parmesan) were too dry. She liked her corn though and ate her over armed onion rings. At the grocery store, I got a couple of soups that I am going to try her on. Not cream based.

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. 

Here's Hoping

Here's hoping that the cranberry juice is a miracle worker in an 8 ounce glass. Anything is possible, right?

Meanwhile, I think I may be a post behind. I can't tell anymore. Sigh.

Busy Smith day today. A meeting in a little bit - to which I will ride my bicycle. Oh, when I went in yesterday, our office manager was a little grumpy and was having a problem (well, looking for a solution to a problem) using Theatre Manager. Her desire was to print address directly onto envelopes rather than onto labels which then needed to be peeled and put on envelopes. Turns out that TM has a pretty robust label generating capability. In my capacity as an office manager years and years (and years) ago, I did a lot of playing around with label making. It is pretty amazing what you can do with a robust label making/merge file. So it wasn't all that difficult to make her a "label" that was envelope sized and to put the envelope drawer into the printer for her. Yay! She seemed much happier when I left. Maybe because I had left...

Lots of meetings - somehow I ended up with a lot of things to do. Which is actually a good thing. The stuff that I need to do will all benefit the Smith and the Smooth functioning of things in the actual theatre. Yay.

Watched The East the other night. Not a great movie - not terrible. Not something I need to see again.

She likes them!

The blueberry muffins are a hit with mom! Huzzuh and hurrah and all that sort of ballyhoo! And she says she thinks cranberry juice is delicious which is also a good thing. 

Lazy sort of day. Lots of things I could be doing and I am busy not doing any of them. Like get the room at the head of the stairs ready for a house guest. That would be a good thing to do. And look at the Serpent of Seneca movie. And sort papers. And do some Smith work. But instead, I am playing, eating, resting, etc. Yippee.

Interestingly, I haven't been feeling verbose lately. Hence the short posts. And I haven't been doing very well on correspondence either. Sigh. 

Next week is heavily meetinged I think. I hope I have them all in my computer and phone. (Good thing that they talk to each other from time to time...)(Yup, just updated my phone. Tuesday is the busy meeting day.)

Mom woke up long enough to eat some soup. Yay! But then she wasn't interested in shrimp. Boo!

Missed my morning writing time

How did that happen? Suddenly it is the afternoon. And late afternoon at that. Oh well. Life is like that sometimes.

I got some Smith work done this morning - working on getting another producing organization's tickets up on our ticketing system. I want to design one well and then go on to all the others. 

Got the one done, I think. Waiting on some information from the venue. 

Nice day. A little bike riding, a little work, a little play. Went to the grocery store and bought a UTI test for mom, as well as Cranberry juice. I also impulse bought some blueberry muffins. Don't know if mom will eat them, but it is worth a try. She didn't like my wonderful bacon wrapped mozzarella stuffed fried bread bites. Her loss. More for me! Bwahahahahahahahaha.

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. 

Lucidity

Mom is being remarkably lucid just now - she was pretty sharp last night and is still sharp today. For the first time in a long time she asked me about her money situation. And she has been taking care of herself - going up and down the hall to the bathroom by herself - refusing aid to get into her bed (even though, it turns out, that she never did get into it last night - sigh). But still, it is a pleasant change. I wonder why it is happening. And how long it will last.

She is totally crashed now. I think she was awake-ish most of the night last night. Sigh.

I did a little Smith work today - and then went and returned returnables. I made a mess of my car - poop. But it was good to get the bags out of the basement of the Smith. We did have quite a few returnables.

Mom slept through dinner and I am torn. Force her to wake up and force food on her, or let her sleep. Normally I force her to wake up. This time, I am letting her sleep. If she is hungry later, I will feed her something, anything, who knows what? It depends on when she wakes up. I am still going to aim for my regular bed time - midnight or one or two am. Something like that.

My list of things to do for the Smith is getting larger rather than smaller. Sigh. I will do my best to knock most of them out tonight and tomorrow. Luckily I have a staff worker doing the RPO so I can go, say hi and leave. Yippee!

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. 

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.