triumphgal

June 11, 2022

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.

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.

June 10, 2022

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.

June 9, 2022

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.

June 8, 2022

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….

June 7, 2022

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.

June 6, 2022

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.

June 5, 2022

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.

June 4, 2022

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.

June 3, 2022

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.

June 2, 2022

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

June 1, 2022

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.

May 31, 2022

I started the day doing society things and then got good advice from a friend about taking care of Throbby Bobby. Ever since I stubbed him back in March, he has been sore and the nail partially lifted. There doesn’t seem to be any infection or grossness, it just doesn’t look good and pressure on it is tender. It is sandal season and I need it to grow all the way out again. I am going to purchase the medication Maureen suggested and get it taken care of. The rest of the day was spent doing payroll and working on tidbits in various files that got a lot off the list. I ran out for Taco Tuesday which used up most of my calories for the day but was so crazy delicious. Another positive part of the day was getting an encouraging message from the besides. I feel good as I had time at the end of the day to do my billing, flip the calendar, and get my spreadsheets ready for June. I even got a call from Doug Cox, my boss at MusicFest. We made our plan for who does what to get the binders, etc., he filled me in on who is running what sound for stages. It was so good to hear his voice, I can’t wait to see him. And now I have the stage schedules so I can start scheduling crew which will take a big thing off my list as well!! Let’s Roll!

May 30, 2022

this month got away with me and although I managed to get the last necessary file done today, I have had low grade anxiety that is hard to ignore. I have overpromised a bit and am afraid of dropping balls again. this is the most negative part of my personality. I didn’t finish and leave work until 8 tonight. I had things to take care of before work and I had to go grab something for lunch and am having trouble keeping the weight off never mind going down as I don’t have any fruit or healthy snacks so I went to Safeway and picked up a few things. I made myself get up and walk around as well every time I felt overwhelmed. It was nice to celebrate Nigel’s birthday over the net with some good laughs. I had sent a journal and pens styled just for him. tomorrow will feel better, i will make my lists for June and feel more on top of things. I have much to accomplish for July. For now I will try to live in this moment.

May 29, 2022

I slept a full 10 hours last night, had some breakfast and reached out to see if any of the grandsons were available to help me beat the rain and get the yard tidied up. I need to set up the Airbnb as the reservations are rolling in. Rae dropped off Lukas and Will shortly after I started mowing. They started weeding and I finished mowing which took a long time as everything was so tall. It is the first time the yard has been worked on this year. I promised to take them for dinner of their choice when we were done. Lukas asked if sushi would be to expensive. What a considerate young man. We got as much done as possible, made a fire to burn sticks and pine cones and the the rain began so I showered and off we went. Sakura was a closed so we went to Sushi on the Strip and got our own little room. The server was odd but we ordered lots to share; gyozas to start, 4 special rolls and then Deep Fried cheesecake. We were all so full as it was so delicious. It was not cheap, but enjoyable and I know the boys don’t get a feast like that very often. I had to remind them not to eat so fast. There was enough, they didn’t have to eat fast in case it was all gone as I am sure happens with 8 of them in the house. I really love these individual times with them. I am also impressed with how well they worked and how much we got done. I am ready for another 10-12 hours sleep now though!

Chelsea, a woman who works in the Co-working space heard me mention I needed to figure out a second screen for my laptop for working away from the office. She came the next day and gifted me with a brand new one that fits in a sleeve and works fabulously. It didn’t work with her system but is perfect for mine. So grateful!

May 27, 2022

I decided I had better get my laundry done so I have something to wear to the Comedy workshop I am attending tomorrow. I forgot how long the washer takes and waited until it was done so I could throw it in the dryer. In the meantime I decided to frame the card I purchased at the Atlas Coal Mine in the frame I picked up at IKEA. It looks lovely and now I just have to find wall space for it.

I was at work relatively late but got my CCT tech business finished which took a weight off my list. After getting a myriad of things done, I settled to finish the last file I had to do before month end when a client showed up unannounced for assistance and 3.5 hours later she said want to go for a drink since I have kept you so late on a Friday. I shut everything down and met her at the Blind Pig where where we had food and bevies and a great long evening of getting to know each other. It was great as there was no work talk and much getting to know each other. As someone was passing my to leave they recognized her and had big hugs and then he turned and saw me and said hey and gave me a big hug too. It was Tom Shypitka, the East Kootenay MLA and I was surprised he remembered me as I have only met him once at the CCT Gala for our big renovation. He and his wife stayed for a good chat and then Alex and I finished our visit before heading home. I, again am grateful for where I live and who swims in this pond. There are good people here. Alex gave me a hat from her company and I look forward to sporting it around town. Alex is Metis and has a strong feeling that I am as well and would like to help me research that. It is not the first time someone has planted that seed. I am curious.

I am very tired but had a good time and will get some rest for the full day tomorrow as I agreed to volunteer at Key City tomorrow due to the shortfall in volunteers for the Dance academy night.

May 26, 2022

This morning I was up and tidying in anticipation of Erin coming for a home visit to go with my application for a college homestay student for the Fall term. She seemed to like my place and me and said she would be doing placements soon. Unfortunately she emailed me later that she found out it wouldn’t be possible as I have a door on the bedroom that doesn’t go to the floor. It is decorative and has about a 6 inch gap. I was disappointed at first but then relieved and I also figured I would still make a nice space in the den and use it for Airbnb in the winter months. That way I will still have my alone time which is healthier for me. The universe knows what I need.

I can barely stand to listen to or watch the news as the pictures and stories of the precious children and teachers murdered in Texas are shared. 19 children in grades 2-4 and 2 teachers were gunned down by an 18 year old heavily armed male. It is beyond comprehension and I just want to hold my grands close. What kind of human shoots his own grandmother in the face and then announces on Facebook every thing he is about to do and then does it? There is so much of no sense going on in the world. I just want to live in the bubble I am in, but also need to not give in to fear.

I got a great deal done today, even spent a few hours on my volunteer work without stress about the last file I have to complete and file this month. I am really doing ok finding my balance. I have come late to the game of saying no. There is so much to say yes to with aplomb, it is getting easier. I still have a bit of guilt that I didn’t come back to go to the Board meeting on Tuesday night but I had provided reports in advance and the time with family was precious. I have never taken a vacation with them and it still fills me with joy to think about all we did together.

May 25, 2022

This morning was a tough get up and function as I did not sleep well last night, seems my brain was trying to process all I needed to do today instead of catch up after all that fun.

I had to really focus as there was nothing simple about anything I had to do but I got it done and toward the end of the day my client, now friend, Matt stopped by to give me my own hoodie from his company. I had admired his with the zip neckline some time ago and he remembered and brought me one, saying, girls like pink. That made me smile. We then had a good long chat about nothing work or book related and it really was special.

I got home to have a lovely long visit with my neighbour. She liked the puzzle I bought her to thank her for looking after Missy while I was away. We were sitting on the couch and Missy snuggled her without coming near me… I guess I am being punished for leaving her.

I was going to do a really deep clean tonight as the lady from the Homestay program is coming for a home visit at 9 am but I am truly too worn out and so I did a quick tidy and will just let her know this is as bad as it gets. What with the surgery and then the trip I haven’t mowed my lawn even or weeded. I usually have pride in my place. I guess I will hope she understands. It is still very habitable and not gross so it shall be what it is. I am at the moment too tired to care but I am a bit anxious. I think I shall take a pill and get some much needed sleep.