The most exciting part of my day was when my friends came and picked up my ‘46 Willys Overlander CJ2A to take her to their ranch. The guys will throw her up on the hoist and get things done that she has long needed especially the electrical and brakes. I intend to use her and my Triumph as my summer vehicles once she is roadworthy. After they are done, I will find a paint/body shop and give her a facelift as well.
Dinner was delicious and I got to FaceTime with my Di while I was cooking. We should do that more often. Swapping war stories and caring for each other took some of the sting of the week away.
By the time all that was done I barely had time to finish my puzzle before bed. I am glad it is Friday tomorrow. I did enjoy solving a problem with a client’s accountant today and sending him a GIF from the office. I met him later while I was dropping off paperwork and we had a good laugh about it.
Last night I watched a movie that was so bad I regret my choice. The good thing is I knew better and will avoid that type of slop going forward. It had some pretty great comedy talents in it but for goodness sakes I probably only would have remotely enjoyed it if I were stoned. Pretty sure they were when they wrote it. By contrast tonight I watched several episodes on Netflix of Maniac with Jonah Hill and Emma Stone. So far, so very quirky, and intriguing. It was a little dark so I watched the last half hour of Mama Mia as I write before heading to bed. Also goofy but light hearted and loaded with talent.
I finished off a year end today, my second one for a new accountant. I look forward to feedback. It seems every firm likes things slightly different and I do try to hand in the books tied up with a bow. I went in with my better attitude and mostly maintained pleasant chit chat. I was happy that Stacey stopped in to pay me and have a chat. I took a break to eat and catalogued my plants in my office so I can learn more about their care. My plants survive well in spite of me sometimes. But they seem to be doing well for the most part.
Fortis called to say they need to come and replace my meter and need me to be here as they have to come in and relight my appliances. They will come sometime between noon and 4 next Wednesday. That is so annoying. I asked of they would call or text and I will meet them as I am only 5 minutes away, I hope they do.
My dinner tonight was delicious from the new box that came. I completed my pre-appointment assessment online for the Sleep Dr. (or is it Dr. Sleep?). It wasn’t a very exciting day but productive and mellow.
EDITED to protect the identity of others: This morning brought news of outbreaks in our local schools. Cranbrook seems to be growing in numbers again and that is scary. I wonder how much of it has to do with a false sense of security in small city living. I think I do better being alone, having control over my own environment. Instead I come across super controlling and judge of others. I don’t like that about myself, and I don’t think I am a Karen, I do not jump in on online conversations. I do overstep with people around me though. I will continue to monitor that behavior trying to find the balance so I also do not come across aloof.
In the morning I got a call from Culligan scheduling me for Friday afternoon to finally have my proper beautiful drinking water tap installed. Later in the afternoon I got a call from Daniel the installer to ask if I had time for him to come do it right then. It was a true joy to have him just as excited as I was to get it in. It is truly perfect for the aesthetic I wanted.
I returned to the office to Gene who had just arrived in time to go shoe shopping for his birthday present. He really is a good kid. We went to Shoe Warehouse, Marks and then Walmart where he found 3 pairs of runners and 6 pairs of socks for under $50. He could have chosen one really good pair at one of the first two stores but felt he is growing and would rather have cheap ones for now. We drove through Arby’s and grabbed some dinner on the way back to his place. My stomach did not appreciate that but it was good to get back to some food and fun birthday tradition. We both thought we would love to have PAC Man in our home for only $599
Just hanging with my roomie, enjoying my new favourite beverage, marveling at the behaviors of the 90 day fiancé couples and working on an Archie Comic Puzzle. It’s a nice way to spend an evening, just wish I didn’t have to go to bed.
I started my day off potentially offending someone by setting boundaries around my work time. Monday mornings are dedicated to payroll and I need to focus. Not everyone understands that as I generally will drop everything when I am asked. I closed my door, put my nose down and only worked on three files all day. I took a break to have something to eat and scan my Facebook. Happened to see a bike for sale and contacted the seller to find it was still available. We agreed I would come see it after work and I picked up my oldest grandson, Gene with his helmet to come test it and ride it home for me. It is an older model 6 speed 5 Star Schwinn Cruiser which I will say he over advertised it’s condition as ridden twice and stored. It has a couple dents in the fender and carrier and paint chips etc but Gene took it for a ride to be sure it all worked properly and I felt it was still a good deal at $100 so I didn’t even bicker. I followed Gene home, just in case and we set the seat to it’s lowest and at an acceptable angle for my short self before putting it in my she shed so it doesn’t disappear. Gene even gave me the awesome red helmet that matches as it was left behind by their manny last summer. I am going to take Gene shopping for shoes tomorrow as his birthday is next week and it is what he needs most. I would rather do that than just give him money or gift cards.
I decided to make the mixed up meal tonight. I had bought pork chops and made my own version of the recipe as there was no spinach included and the beans were nasty. I don’t like them anyway so I substituted edamame. It was delicious and I have at least four meals more out of it as the chops were so big, I couldn’t eat one in a single sitting. I finally hauled out my new microwave Tupperware and packaged everything up.
“P!nk ALL I KNOW so far” and “Nomadland”. Two completely opposite positions in the socio-economic spectrum. Both starring people I love and find inspiring in their own way.
If I were to have aimed for hollywood, I would want to be Frances McDormand (did you know her birth name is Cynthia Ann Smith?). Her choice of Indie characters, lack of buying into the stereotypes and marriage of 37 years is something to idolize!!!
If I could sing… Alecia Beth Moore stands apart from the world. She ranks up there for me with Cher and Madonna, women who manage to take on the world on their own, no last name, no attachment necessary. And she seems to be rocking motherhood and marriage while on tour. She impresses me.
Nomadland, it honestly made me want to choose a mobile estate. I think I am working my business towards being able to take off across the country, stopping to do my work wherever there is internet. There is no reason I need to wait to retirement to road trip. I have a couple years to pay down some debts and then… why not. Now, all of that is not to say I am in a comparable situation. I would be doing it by choice. Many people do it out of necessity. I do love the concept that I would not be homeless. Just house less.
I worked for 6 hours on a file today, got ahead, came home to put the heating pad on my hip, and back. I did manage to cut out the material for the next three chairs but didn’t feel like sitting more to sew them.
Jake asked if he could stay with me for Father’s Day weekend. It makes me so happy he is making good efforts to see Emmy.
I set an alarm to be sure I was up and ready for our ABC Zoom meeting. There were most of but not all of us. It is so uplifting to me when we all get together. Part way through the conversation I saw my phone was ringing and it was my brother, Greg. Unfortunately these days I mostly only hear from him when there is bad news. I muted the meeting and headed out of screen view to answer. It seems our step-mother, Donna, the self professed WSM (wicked step mother) was found laying on her floor delirious. She was taken to hospital by ambulance and has a broken clavicle. This in itself is sad. What is really sad is that Greg found out because a Neighbour called to inquire after her as they had seen the ambulance. Seems her power of attorney, Sandy didn’t bother to let us know as she always professes she will. I don’t like the fact that I have always seen her as a grifter. I know strongly that my father would not approve of her behavior or control in this or any other situation. I cried for Mrs. B (donna) and for my brother as they have their business on her property that my Dad left him and if Sandy should deem it necessary, she could sell it out from under them. And we would not have a leg to stand on apparently, as we are not blood related. Extended families are so complicated.
I decided to take advantage of the sale at Fabricland and go looking for outdoor material to match my teal canopy and pink chair paint. Turns out there was a great deal and I got the material, thread and cording for less than the cost of one new chair cushion.
Went to the liquor store and Save-On before coming home, narrowly avoiding a rain storm while I was in the store. Once I got home and put everything away I went out and restored my yard that had been messed up by the crazy wind storm. I brought all the chair cushions in before they got wet again and am grateful as the rain came down with a vengeance not much later. I had something to eat and then began to sew the first of the 4 cushions. It turned out way better than I hoped.
I spent the evening watching ‘the mighty ducks game changers’ on Disney and enjoying all kinds of Bombay. It is so weird to watch someone on TV that you used to have a crush on and haven’t seen for a while. It feels as though I know Emilio and have memories of a relationship. Sigh, if only.
Waking up to a 9 year old saying he loves you is a pretty sweet way to start a fabulous Friday. After breakfast I dropped Will off at home and headed in. I was there early and got a lot of hours in which felt good, including finishing the data entry and file fix so I could upload to QBO one of my Treasurer files. My Scout fundraiser popcorn arrived, I mean who doesn’t like popcorn? It was for the children!
Got home later and Ashlée had dropped off my fountain that she was using in The Loft, the space she sublet to women doing nails, hair, etc. Unfortunately, she shut it down. It is a real shame as it was a sweet space and was also her photo studio. I am sure she has different and better plans and less stress. I had another delicious dinner and a relaxing evening. It seems my snacks, drinks and meals all come in kits.
This morning I woke up to a delightful teenager in the house. He roused himself and had several bowls of cereal before taking himself off to school. We had long conversations about work and payroll taxes as he was supposed to hear yesterday if he got the first job he has applied for. I was so thrilled to see him later in the day and hear the excitement in his voice as he said, ‘I got the job!’ He will be the newest dishwasher and busser at Soulfood restaurant and I am very happy for him. We had a good talk about the fact that the Province of BC raised the minimum wage just in time for him to begin his work life. It is now 15.20. I believe I was making 2.65 at my first server job. I suppose it’s all relative. The problem begins though when the long time staff only make slightly more than that as the minimum has made big jumps in the last few years, much more that the 1.5 COLA (cost of living allowance) or standard raise. I really am happy for him.
Early in the day my Hello Fresh arrived, complete with a soggy bottom. I brought it home to make sure everything got into the fridge right away. Although the ice packs were melting, The food all seemed okay. On the way back to the office I stopped at Arby’s and for the first time in as long as I can remember I went into a fast food restaurant. It was a special occasion as Rae-Anne is the new manager trainee and as it should be, she is starting on the cash and working her way through learning it all. She looks so cute in her blacks and it was fun that her manager, Ryan was there. He jumped into the photos and seems a great personality. After I waited for her to serve the customer in front of me, she introduced me to Ryan and then to her best friend Vanessa who walked in behind me. I love this kind of synchronicity. I couldn’t help but order an orange cream shake as Creamsicles are to die for. I also got onion rings but never found the time to eat them, so Will did later with dinner. He loved them.
I took a bunch of time today to set up some new investments with a client. I decided that whatever he pays me in any given month, I will invest in RRSPs. This feels like a good choice, I do want to retire some day!! As I do his books I will know it is going to my future. Eventually I think I will do the same with other files. We had a good laugh as I signed all the papers. It is a super trust position. He knows my finances and I have access to his corporate bank and credit card accounts… seems fair.
After work I booted up to the Guedes household to pick up Will as I had promised he could stay over. It is a professional day tomorrow for him so he could stay over (and stay up late). The first thing we did was go through a car wash and we had fun eating chips and feeling the glass. It was cool to look up through the sun roof.
We think there is a 4 way stop going in near his school and my house. This will be wonderful!!! He enjoyed the view of my bobble head and insisted on taking a picture
He played in the pool and we invited Emmy and Danika as I know they do not have AC and it is 33 again today. Emmy loves her cousins as much as they love her. They arrived in the usual Emmy flair, wearing the new bathing suit and cover up her Dad had given her. Danika and the kids played in the pool while I fussed at things in the yard. Will and I had gone to Home Depot to find a colour of spray paint to use on my lawn furniture and he was adamant that hot pink was all me. I think he was right. I did a pass by on a chair just to decide. I love it!
Will got to pick which of my three hello Fresh meals we would have and he picked Warm Shrimp Poke Bowl. When it was time to make dinner we discovered that the bag held the ingredients for something completely different, complete with beans, which are not my favourite. Will was disappointed. I filed a registry of all the things missing and then began making the Seared Greek-Style Shrimp instead. It was delicious but it was so late for poor Will. He scarfed it down, relishing the salad part which made me so happy. He then enjoyed the onion rings from earlier and helped me cover the pool and clean up the yard before heading off to bed and falling asleep right away.
It has been interesting to have the grandsons over as it feels more like the old days, when I would come to visit from afar and we would have deep conversations and everyone was overjoyed to see each other. They are such good boys. Gene really worked hard and never made me feel like it was an inconvenience to help me out, Will has this way of looking at me with such innocence and joy that my heart melts. Earlier I got to have incredible hugs with Lukas who is just so smart. He has the demons that go with that amazing brain and I hope he will reach out if he ever needs to debrief. Sawyer is the one who will never leave any love unsaid. His world revolves around connection. He is devastated if you leave without a hug at the door or the gate, even if he hasn’t talked to you the whole time you are there. I so look forward to watching them all become adults. It’s like getting a second chance, I was so busy trying to be a mom that I missed being able to see things from this step back. That is the true joy of being a grandparent, you get to see the things you did that worked transfer to the next generation with an extra dose of whatever they have picked up along the way.
This morning the Culligan Man came to service my whole house water softener as it hasn’t seemed to be doing it’s job. Turns out my whole life training to conserve water means that I don’t use enough for it to cycle happily on the usual schedule. I did fill my pool and am watering my plants by hand in the evenings so that helps. He also said the reason my filter is clogging up so fast is that it appears Cranbrook is using ‘The Well’ which meant my numbers were up over 2400 when they should be under 900.. so, hard. That explains the water spotting and my hair needing more conditioner again. Should be good in about a week when I get through my hot water tank, lol.
Work was good, it was apply for subsidy day for many of my clients. Sean and I got KFC for lunch which I hadn’t had for years and I did love the sandwich. Of course that proves that coupons in my mail work as they haunted me to use them. Who can resist two can dine for 13.99???
A funny, like giggle myself silly day was when I paid the bills for a company. The person responsible even signed off on them being paid, I had printed the cheque and all when I wondered why the Community Theatre cheque book was out. It was then that I realized one of the bills I paid was for the theatre not that company! Thankfully I could void the cheque but we had a good laugh that both of us had robotron processed at day’s end.
I decided to leave work at a decent time as I had home stuff to do. I stopped for a kitchen chat at Rae and Rogers and ended up bringing Gene home with me for dinner and to help clean the pool and build the rest of my pergola. We had a good time and worked well together and got it done just as dusk settled. He is so grown up, turning 14 in only two weeks!
My little yard oasis is shaping up, just have to get more weeding done!!
Today was … full. My Ancestry DNA test arrived and I am intrigued to see how the results compare to the 23andMe one I took. While registering the kit, I popped into my existing Family tree and see mostly my Father’s side. The other is what I am curious about. I never learned enough and the family left don’t know much either. I saw a spot to click to check immigration papers tied to the tree and up popped the first Bellavances to enter Canada, in 1644, Louis (32) with his wife Marie (22) and their 2 year old daughter, Louise. That was amazing as I have always known about Louis but not the family with him. As it happens my granddaughter’s middle name is Louise! How cool is that? An old family name and they didn’t even know it.
I received a text from Danika asking if the pool was set up and I decided it was a good day to get it going as it is so hot this week. It is dirty and it was a lot of work for me to get it ready for water by myself. I will scrub it and filter the dirt out before anyone gets in. It was so hot while setting it up that I have never been more grateful for a life decision than getting AC. The temp went up over the course of the evening even! 33 outside but a refreshing 21 inside. I was even able to have a nice dinner and finish one puzzle before starting another.
At 8:31 I placed the first FaceTime call to my mom and at 9:33 we gave up trying to solve the connection issue and she is going to go to the Telus shop tomorrow. I think there are a combination of things going on between her Telus phone and her Shaw internet.
The day started off rough for friends on Salt Spring Island as their business, Windsor Plywood burnt down. It is the only store of it’s kind there and employs as well as supplies many people. I know they will rally to get up and functioning again. Ken and Mike are amazing business men with hearts of gold. I wish them all the Best.
triumphgal 