I didn’t sleep too late which was good as I got the tent trailer ready for Katheryn who came back tonight. After several loads of laundry I hung the comforter on the line in the sun and headed to meet the fam jam for a round of disc golf. It was my first time and the COTR (College of the Rockies) course was a lot of fun. Down and up hills, through a forest and along a lovely path on a comfortable weather day. Bill & Deanne, Ashlée, Jake & Emmy, Rae-Anne, Gene, Sawyer & Will with his friend Ryan, and one of the Arby’s employees, Jared who happened to show up at the same time made for a good group. Ryan got picked up by his mom, Claudia and Will took the littles to play in the school playground while we went 9 holes. There was no score keeping, just a lot of fun and way too many throws. I definitely want to play again. Rae suggested I reach out to Claudia as she mentioned she used to play and has discs. I enjoyed the time I spent with her at the Fair so may just text her for a game.
There was a skinny buck trying to get to Obi. It was odd how unafraid of us it was. We had to keep chasing it away. Obi is a very well trained hunting dog and didn’t pay any attention to it.
After the game, Jake and I stopped at Safeway to grab food and then I dropped him off at Rae’s and went to the office to work on MusicFest scheduling. It took a long time to get it done and I made a dumb mistake by sending the wrong attachments (2019) so had to do it again. Argh… The adjustments started rolling in and so far I can deal with them tomorrow. I got home to find Katheryn had arrived and thankfully made herself at home, including taking her comforter off the line. Jake came and sorted through the records I got from Sean, finding a dozen or so he wanted, mostly Dean Martin. That amuses me immensely. I potted the plants Deanne gave me yesterday and came in as it began to rain again. There was still some things in the laundry and as I was switching it out I found the gift card that I bought from Jake and forgot in the back pocket of my jeans. I will have to see if I can recover the codes off it another day as I am tired out. Thinking will do that to you!!!
I had to take a picture of the creepiest album cover we came across
Emmy was up at 6 and just hung out watching shows for an hour before we got up and had breakfast and played Wii together. We got ourselves ready and headed to meet everyone at the parade. Tyler came in asking about a thrift store as he needed an XXL t-shirt to wear for a messy part of the competition. I had a brainstorm and called Maureen to procure a Fisher Peak shirt as we would be able to advertise through that. I dropped Emmy with the family and then picked it up and headed to Balmont Park where the events were taking place. I found Tyler and got him to put the shirt on so I could take a picture. I then walked to meet the family just in time for the parade to make it to our part of the route. It was a long and wonderful parade as I am sure everyone wanted to be involved after a couple years of cancelations. After the parade we all walked back to the grounds where Sawyer, Emmy and I watched the introductions of all the Strong Man and Woman contestants and cheered loudly for Tyler who was second to last. While we waited and watched the first of the women pull concrete trucks, Jake arrived much to Emmy’s happiness. Jake waited in the line with the kids for balloon hats while Deanne, Bill and I wandered the vendor booths. I bought Mead drinks, some special whiskey based beverages, a bath bomb and a stained glass Wookiee. It was great to run into The McCaugheys who are still recovering from Covid. Thom had a kidney transplant and even after 4 vaccinations had a tough bought. It was good to hug them both and know they are on the mend. The weather stayed nice although the temperature went up and down regularly. There were not as many food trucks as needed and the lines were long so we decided to leave to go to Arby’s where Rae and Ash were working and get some lunch. Bill and Deanne invited us all for bbq burgers later so Jake brought the Littlies back to play at my place while I popped off to Canadian Tire. I needed to pick up a bucket and a second pump for the water crew at Summer Sounds. I also needed a decent cooler for the summer trip (in two weeks!) which I found on sale. Once back at the house we hung out for a while and let the kids play before I made the salad to take. The dinner and visit was great. Bill and I shared a couple top shelf Scotch in honour of the Dead Dads Club and I came home with bulbs, plants and decorations from Tante Suzanne. It turns out Tyler came in second!!! Not bad for a guy who was originally 6th on the wait list to participate. I made it home to watch the most recent two episodes of Obi-wan which I am enjoying very much. It feels good to have the AC on tonight bringing the place to a comfortable temperature.
Tyler EagleshamGwenDennis WalkerCreepy baby on ziplineBob Ross crew Nathaniel LeighDon!Sandy AshbyLynette WrayCame home to a delivery
I spent time stripping the tent, starting laundry and cleaning everything in anticipation of Tyler arriving from Saskatchewan tonight. He is coming to participate in the Strong Man competition at Sam Steele Days. Finally got to the office after 10 and worked my way through the day. I wrapped up everything around 3:30 to join the front ladies in a glass of wine. Shortly after that Danika and Malcolm dropped off Emmy to spend the night with me. We hung out for a little while and then picked up my GoodFood at Loomis. It was supposed to be delivered yesterday but I got a call from Loomis at 3 today saying they didn’t have a driver for the south side of town and I would need to pick it up before 5. I got there to find 5 other boxes of food waiting for people. Being it is Friday, I sure hope that food finds its way to where it belongs.
Once we got home Emmy had fun outside while I finished making up the bed, etc. he buried her shoes in the rocks to see what effect the storm would have. She was anticipating ‘the guy’ arriving and was sad that she wouldn’t see him until tomorrow.
While I made dinner she played Wii bowling where she got 119 for a score and was excited to hear how good that is. She the moved on to boxing which she is very good at and can’t wait until the morning to kick my butt. She chose the meal and it was delicious. We went for a walk down the block with Tracey and Emmy told her that she could beat me at boxing even though I do it in real life. She’s not wrong. I showed her my boxing gloves and she was not impressed that they are black as they are supposed to be red.
Once home she ate some more, watched a show on Netflix, brushed her teeth, took her melatonin and tucked in. Out like a light in less than 15 minutes.
Tyler arrived around 10 after his athletes meeting in Kimberley. He strikes me as a good guy and I look forward to seeing him compete tomorrow. I will box with Emmy in the morning and then we will head off to the parade.
She is such a sweetheart and I am enjoying spending time with her.
Today was less stressful than yesterday. I crossed a lot more off the list but at a decent pace. Thank goodness as I was some tired. I find it hard to articulate some of the feelings I was left with at the end of the day. Suffice to say I was left feeling less than and I don’t have a lot of reserves left to process it and let it roll off my back. For that reason I was glad to have my RMMA class tonight. I definitely took out a lot of frustration on the bag and punching the pads while Guru Joel called out the routine to me. I like working with the sticks but don’t have the positions locked down from being away for so long. I bought sticks to bring home so I can practice out in the yard. Joel says he has a private FB group which will help me. He plans to go all summer as well and may move it to Rotary Park some nights. All I know is that for the second week in a row, a sad day was improved. Dinner of Cobb Salad was prepped before I left and was the perfect meal after. I am already looking forward to lunch tomorrow.
Haha, the alarm went off at the office as I was still here at 11 pm. I think it is supposed to be midnight but the time change may not be activated.
I am here because I just finished filing my own tax return, completing the ones I had to do before today. I was so stressed about it that I cried several times today as I tried to assist a client with their yearend and my mind was overwraught. He was kind but I knew how important it was and that I needed to get it done for his AGM tomorrow. I hate that I leak under stress. There were two other yearends/government filings to assist on and some days it just overwhelms.
I received a text from my dear Maxime that she had totalled her van in an accident and was at the hospital. I offered to drive her if she needed me. Of course she was most worried about her dog. I will have to check in with her tomorrow and make sure she has all she needs.
I managed to get a good group email out to my MusicFest crew and will start scheduling tomorrow. It was important to make them rest assured I haven’t forgotten them.
This evening was the second night of the Strategic planning lessons for the CCT board and it was truly worthwhile. There was good engagement from most of the people there and I hope good results come from it. Afterwards Amy and I went for wings and a bevie at The Blind Pig, our spot, and I got to learn more about her job and the offers she is receiving. I do enjoyu when we leave outside stuff out and just have a good visit.
I got out this morning and tried to get all the rainwater off the tarps that was pooling. In the doing so I got wet and splashed with mud but I didn’t have time to worry about it a I had much to do. I finished a year end, ran a big payroll, worked on MusicFest and even managed to file Ashlée’s taxes on time. Tomorrow I will have to concentrate on mine! I have never filed this late before… sigh.
The evening was spent at a Board meeting and we had some great discussions and got some decisions made towards a successful season of Summer Sounds and Peak Music Festival. It will be odd to not be there for the first one but Vancouver Island is calling. This is the longest I have ever been away and although I am fighting nerves, I am also very excited and sure it will all pan out perfectly. I just have to get through the next 18 days before I hit the road.
Mark stopped by on his way home to drop off a gift he brought me from Ontario. He knows me so well!
Katheryn booked the Airbnb for another 4 nights next week which works out perfectly as I have someone for the 2 nights in between. This has been a good month for bookings, especially considering the weather!
I did some groceries before work as I didn’t have breakfast and lunch. I stocked up for the next couple days and brought cheese scones to the office. Not long after I got there, there was a call to the reception looking for me and it was a client I used to do work for at the Firm. he was looking to see if I would take over his file of bookkeeping. I asked him to come meet with me and we made a plan going forward for me to finish the last 2 quarters of his fiscal year and then transition to QuickBooks online for the new year in November. I got a lot of work done and then rushed home to make dinner before heading to the Fisher Peak Volunteer Orientation night at the Studio. It was not well attended but those who were there are very dedicated.
It has been torrentially pouring all day. I am so glad I got the tent set up when I did as I don’t know when it will clear. Katheryn seems to be fine out there and I borrowed a space heater from Cindy just to take the damp away.
I was up at a decent time well rested after my cannabis bevie last night. I was pretty impressed with it, both in speed for it to take effect and the affect on me. I was up and outside mowing the lawn when Katelyn came over to do the weeding and help out. Today is her 11th birthday and she was a great deal of help. I never would have been ready for the guest tonight if she hadn’t assisted. When we were done what we could do in time for her to get home and shower for her party we went in to town so I could get money to pay her. Tracey had come over and she was very sweet to give Katelyn $11 for 11 years.
Once I got back home, I finished cleaning and tidying inside and jumped in the shower. I had just stepped out the door to put one last thing in the tent and there was Katheryn, my guest for the next nights. I gave her the orientation and then invited her to pop down to Rotary Park and see the Support for Ukraine event going on. There were only a few vendors left and a solo musician playing. I enjoyed the vibe very much and bought a $15 necklace made by a woman from Creston. We also got there not long before last call for pierogi so I had to get some. Homemade deliciousness and even sour cherry filled dessert ones. I do loving hearing from a guest, ‘I feel like we’re family’ after chatting for a bit.
I sat on my couch and enjoyed them while I caught up on my PVR collection of SNL.
I slept a solid 9.5 hours last night. I guess I needed that. Got up to what I expected to be a rainy day knowing I had to get my tent trailer ready for my guest arriving next Friday. I spent hours scrubbing the canvas as it had gotten damp over the winter, washed the curtains and strung up cables to hang black out curtains at the ceiling level to make it more cozy and less glaring in the mornings. Tracey came over just before 4 and we moved the mattress in. I sure am impressed with the zippered bag I bought off Amazon, the mattress was clean and dry. We made a plan for her to help me with the yard on Thursday after work in time for the guest.
BeforeAfter
I had some dinner and got showered and dressed to bartender for the Queen tribute band at Key City tonight. Sandra and I rocked the station as usual. We work well as a team and booted through the line-ups. I was not pleased to find out that the other three bartenders are paid staff. I had given up the option of going to a party out in Wycliffe tonight as they put a call out due to shortage of people. I admit it makes me less desiring to answer that call when I know that the others are paid. I wonder if that is part of why they are short now.
I am glad I spent so much time today on the camper as during the evening I had a request for 5 nights starting tomorrow. I let her know she would have a comfy bed, good wifi and a hot shower but that the yard work would not likely be done. She was fine with that and is arriving late afternoon. When I got home from the theatre the neighbour across the street was out with her tweener aged granddaughter and we got talking. She is going to come tomorrow and I will pay her to do the rest of the weeding and help me get ready. She is trying to earn enough money to get her nosed pierced. I can get behind that, and it is her birthday tomorrow so it will be nice to give her some cash. Win-win for Katelyn and me.
Today was super productive getting the draft budget put together with Peter, the society president. It took way longer than it should have but to be fair we also chatted a lot and that was nice. I like working with him even when we don’t agree we can talk it out. We are both actors who would like to act still, maybe there will be that opportunity to work together in the future. He still has hope I will take a break and come back to be a bigger part of the society in the future. We shall see.
After getting some reports sent, i rushed home and changed as I was on deck to volunteer for the Ron James show at key City. I am not familiar with his work as a stand up as much as I probably should be as he is a Newfoundland native and a Canadian treasure. I was working a door for a change and it was nice to chat with people on their way in and get to see the show. It was supposed to be 105 minutes with no intermission and he went for over 2.5 hours. The audience was super engaged and there was so much laughter and clapping, who could blame him for not stopping. I did enjoy it although it is clear his references are for an older audience. At one point he talked about a piece of paper burning a hole in his pocket faster than a Bonanza intro and then paused to say no one under 40 was going to get that. His humour addressed the insanity of anti-vaxxers, the ridiculousness of the convoy and much about his balls. Over all it was a great and enjoyable evening and the crowd left with big smiles on their faces as they headed for the bathrooms.
I got home and sat outside under the pergola having a bevie with the neighbour as the rain began again. It is a perfect temp night though and I could have stayed out longer.
The actual big excitement of the day was a parcel containing my leaf spring shackles for my ‘46 Willys CJ-2A. I have been waiting a long time to finish the rebuild. Can’t wait to get it back.
I admit to getting up the hard way, rolling out, eyes closed, struggling to get going. I got on the treadmill and then crumbled into a cry hoping to let it go. As it happens the day was hard, even with great connections with clients. There was part of me that wanted to just stay home after work but I committed to MMA so I went. I am so glad I did as I threw some great punches, swung the sticks in fight mode and felt so much better when I was done. Joel told me my form was improving and there were only a few moves that hurt from the muscle workout last week. I like the women in the group and the time flew by. It is raining again and I will need to spend time this weekend scrubbing the canvas of the trailer to let it dry in time to put the mattress in and get it lovely for the guest arriving next Friday.
The servings were huge, ate half of that plate and have enough for both meals tomorrow
This morning started out fabulously as Bill, Roger and I all attended Wills school play at French émersion grade 5/6. he was the narrator and in spite of his mic not working, handled it like a pro. The show was a modern take on Little Red Riding Hood and everyone involved was fantastic. So proud of them all for being brave and putting on a great show.
The rest of the day was somewhat stressful dealing with a year end and payroll but I finished in time to get to the theatre for the strategic planning workshop for our board. It was very useful and Ingrid is great at drawing out information from people. I am looking forward to next weeks session.
The down side of the day was finding out indirectly that the part I wanted was given to someone else. I have to admit to feeling that this was in the works, precast. I am very disappointed as I wanted it so bad and I hope too see the show as a success and know all was the way it was meant to be but for now, I am very sad. I know what I would have brought to the part and how badly I wanted it. I guess my summer and fall just freed up however and now I want to take advantage of the sale going on for cruises through expedia. Maybe it is time to find a friend or three to convince to share it with me in September….
I set up my new Litter Locker, the cat equivalent of a diaper genie and it works very well. The litter smell was the main reason I never wanted a cat in the first place. Missy can be mighty smelly. The first change was to Pretty Litter which has no dust and rarely ends up out of the box as it doesn’t stick to her feet. It is supposed to change colour if there is anything wrong in her system as well which is a bonus. Now with the Locker, everything is neat and tidy and aroma free. Cat maintenance has come a long way since I used to house sit the neighbour’s cats as a kid and hated scooping the dang box.
I made an entire $50 today but was at work for nearly 10.5 hours. The plus side is I got the reports done for one society and am nearly done with the other, just waiting on some last information. I also got my MusicFest crew all updated and am now at 60 of us out of my allotted 70. There is a nice mix of new and seasoned and I can now begin the scheduling over the 6 stages and Lock-up. One month out only, it seems last minute but really this is enough time to make changes as necessary once I put out the first schedules.
Around 7:30 I got a call on my Be My Eyes app and I couldn’t figure out what was happening at first as it was dark out and the person was asking me what I saw in front of him. I spent quite a long time with him as he moved down a block looking for a particular address in New Brunswick. I suspect he wanted me to stay with him as there was someone else walking near him trying to help and it must be disconcerting in the night. I have called my kids in the past when I have felt nervous walking and I can see where I am going. I finally got him up to a door and directed where the doorbell was before he hung up. The problem was the address he had was not there. I even googled the address he was looking for and saw the house he was standing in front of but it was 484 and he was looking for 482. I hope all went well, I do wish he had kept me on the call until they answered the door.
Once I got home I made the last of the goodfood meals from the last order and it was pretty great, a chili over rice in less than half an hour. I left out the huge green pepper and really liked it while saving my guts from the horror of them.
AGT makes me cry, there I said it. I love the show and am a huge cheerleader. CGT was also great and my daughters friend from Newfoundland came in second so that was very emotional.
I better get some sleep as I am off to see my grandson Will in his class play in the morning. I remember how much I loved Lukas’s. It will be a test of my French as he is in immersion.
It was lovely getting a text from Sean as I was getting ready to leave, asking what I would like from Starbucks. I liked getting to work with a strong black coffee waiting to kick things off. I started the day with a three hour payroll and data entry session and them moved onto other things including updating my MusicFest lists. I only have 58 of the 70 volunteers I am allowed but I will start scheduling soon so I know what is still needed. I always feel very satisfied doing that type of work. I do need to spend time working on my own taxes that are due by the 15th…
After work I did a mystery shop at a Cannabis retailer and came home with some beverages to try but I will wait for the weekend just in case. After last nights bath I slept very well but didn’t like my alarm clock.
Ok so there is little to share about the day except that on my own i opened the trailer and covered it with tarps mostly between rain showers. I also mowed and realized I have a lot of weeding to do. I need to make a pretty plan for the camper before my first booking in two weeks. I booked off all the time until them to make sure it is guest worthy. There was some water damage over the winter that I will need to deal with for sure. Right now I have the canopy over it and am hoping it will dry out. Came in and finished binging Breeders.
Went for a walk with Tracey between storm clouds. made a nice dinner and then crawled into a tub with a blue kush bath bomb, as I watched Obi-Wan Kenobi. Gosh I have such a crush on Ewan, especially since watching his bike trips. I enjoyed the first three episodes, especially little Leila, although I found the roof top chase very marvel comics.
I spent the day working on a piece for my audition. I wrote it and costumed it and worked it in the mirror over and over for hours as if I were a stand-up comedian working out my timing. I even videoed it once to review what needed changing. It is the first time I have done that. It is traditional to memorize someone else’s words and present them but I want this part so bad I wanted to do something outside the box. I told them I was auditioning for the Fall show only and Nathaniel questioned if I would be available for his but it goes on in Feb and I have already been part of The Importance of Being Ernest in the past. The show I auditioned for is Misery based on the Stephen King book that was my first read ever. I never imagined that show coming to our small theatre. I want to be Annie Wilkes. I am holding myself at bay in case I should not get it but it is hard as so many people around me in and out of the theatre community have reacted with such enthusiasm, encouraging me to go for it. I do think the audition went very well and Michelle thanked me for my enjoyable auditions and Amy laughed out loud during it and was very complimentary after. That means a lot to me as I know she has a great deal of theatre experience. It is encouraging when your peers support so strongly.
I came home, had some pasta and wine and have been binging the FX series Breeders. It is quite an entertaining and horrifying look into several generations in a family and the ‘interesting’ parenting styles.
My cat played dead and the seeds that Will and Lukas planted are sprouting, interesting day all around.
There was so much satisfying in this day, I am still processing it all. I dealt with a bunch of audit items and reconciling before I saw a fabulous smiling face at my office door. Mark is on his way to Ontario, driving to be there for the celebration of life for both his parents. I was so grateful to spend time with him over lunch at Arby’s where Rae and Ash were both working and Bill was there with Gene and Sawyer, such a happy coincidence. We had a great visit and sent him off on his journey.
Once back at the office I spent the afternoon processing subsidies for clients. The most celebratory part was filing over 16K worth for a small restaurant in Victoria. They had opened in late 2018 and were just getting rolling with great success when Covid hit. I watched them adapt on the daily and see their numbers climbing again which brings joy. It makes me even happier to get them the money to keep moving forward. I also look forward to visiting them again.
After work I stopped to chat with Rae and took her with me to the liquor store as we caught up. Seems her student, Aymo has had a run in with a scammer. Someone agreed to purchase a chair he made in shop class and then convinced him to pay for insurance on shipping with gift cards worth $120 with a promise he will be reimbursed when the shippers pick it up. He really felt he had done his due diligence and their is no convincing him yet that he has just lost the money. He is only 17 and I feel bad for this hard learning experience. It is quite the chair he made that’s for sure.
Today was a very satisfying work day in so many ways. I answered a lot of questions, listened in to some very informative bits of the QuickBooks connect and had two friends pop in for visits. Stacey stopped for a visit and took the army box full of old Jeep parts back to the shop. I am not sure what is useable in it so Lance will figure that out. No sense keeping them if they are not of use or rebuildable. It was good to see her as we haven’t had a visit in a long time. I am pretty sure the writing on the box is my Dad’s. He had a flair to his left handedness. It was poignant to see as I have been missing him more again lately. Whenever I have successes I still want to tell him.
Diane stopped in to see Sean and popped in for a good little visit and we made a plan to have me over on Saturday night for dinner and crib. I am happy Aiden will be there as well. It is hard to believe he will be 18 next weekend already. I remember celebrating his 16th not so long (okay 2 years) ago.
After work I came home and got changed and the headed to RMMA for the women’s class which I haven’t been to since last year, November, I think. I was eager to see if the weight loss made a difference as I really struggled to breathe and couldn’t do a lot of the exercises previously. I was thrilled to find I have all the energy, the class went by so fast and I DID A PLANK for the first time in class! It filled my happy tank completely. I am motivated to keep going and look forward to getting even better. My next goal will be proper push ups. It was also the first time without a mask and I was ok with it.
Upon returning home, I cooked up one of my goodfood meals and was pleasantly surprised how much I liked it as I ended up with three meals I hadn’t chosen due to being away and missing the deadline. The Pan—Seared Pork was delicious and I even liked the potato salad and beans, lol.
I have to get some sleep as I have some audit work to do tomorrow and Mark is stopping by on his way to Ontario. I can’t wait for a drive by hugging.
The sad in the day was hearing that the Her Royal Highness is not well. At 95, my brain understands that she can’t live forever, but she has been a constant in my life from a small child and I will be sad when she is gone.
It was very warm in my car for the first time today. May be time to switch from furnace to AC in the house, oh no, it’s going to pour all weekend apparently
I had to hustle and get to the office as I have signed up for QuickBooks Connect, an online something. I find it hard to imagine it was organized by bookkeepers as it is the first of the month when a great deal of payroll land. I had two to accomplish today, needed to provide info for a client’s year end audit and was trying to pay attention to it. Imagine a big industry conference only via a website and zoom. There was no agenda in advance so I didn’t have time to be sure what zoom to jump into. Ultimately it was good that I learned what I did but a few of the things were aimed more at businesses than account keepers. I will check in tomorrow to see what I can learn there. I picked up a few shortcuts and heard of others wanting some of the same improvements to the software. The last thing of the day was a 45 minute zoom with The Sentimentalists who I saw on AGT. They were not any better in this medium and in fact I saw him writing on something on his lap that the showed up as sketchy drawing on the ‘blackboard’. Amusing how every one was blown away in the zoom though, lol.
I spent the last part of my day working on MusicFest scheduling and that was very satisfying. I end up exhausted after being there but it is always so incredibly satisfying. I can’t wait to see all my old friends and acquaintances as well as make new ones. Soon I should know if I need to actively recruit more people. After work I went to Safeway and managed to lose a signed lottery ticket. The good thing is that if it is a big win, only my signature and ID can claim it. I left my info at the lottery kiosk.
Lunch was corn on the cob and beer, non-alcohol of course. Kory, in the office next to me brought two of his kids to the office today and I gave them candy canes while he was on the phone. The little boy made me a picture. I like being Nana at the office too.
triumphgal 