Dear Diary – Last Thursday was a Snowmageddon-type snowstorm, the kind where the snowblower battery has to be charged twice to get the job done once. So Friday afternoon, I settled in with a pot of tea and my laptop to shop for fabric. Like I need more. It’s amazing what you can find if you go looking…I found a great website: www.fabricgeek.ca. If you’re looking for anything related to Star Wars, Harry Potter, Big Bang Theory, Marvel, Back to the Future, Minecraft, or Mario, this is the go-to place! I even found steampunk robot dinosaurs.
Dear Diary – We celebrated Family Day weekend with Eldest Son. He hasn’t been home since Christmas so we celebrated his birthday with Madagascar vanilla bean and bourbon cupcakes, with homemade raspberry buttercream. Yum!
A few years ago, he bought a hammock, which he tried very hard to set up at his grandparents’ one summer. He succeeded, but his butt was literally inches from the ground. So we gave him a hammock stand. He set it up in the living room and enjoyed a nap in it, Sunday afternoon.
I missed hanging out with him on Saturday morning because I was speaking at the Ladies’ Craft ‘N Chat we’re starting at church. It’s a montly event and we had a perfect baker’s dozen! It was a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with friends, new and old, and to squeeze out some creative juices. Balancing my purse, my Tim Horton’s tea, and a laundry basket full of fabric and paper patterns required creativity as well. But I made it in. The way out was trickier, as the wind had picked up and nearly blew my patterns away. I kept the patterns but the wind blew something else away. As I bent down to lift the basket into the backseat, I heard a terrible noise. The wind had mercilessly tossed my Timmies tea off the roof of the car, and nary a drop remained.
I consoled myself with the lukewarm travel mug of tea I had waiting for me in the car. The remains of my Tim’s still rests on the floor of my car.
Saturday night was the monthly “walk of shame” as I tried on various outfits from the remaining few items in my closet that still fit. It’s been a month since I started seriously hobbling on a sore, swollen ankle. “Going for a walk” means the long climb from the office to the kitchen for tea, or from the couch to the bathroom upstairs. đŚ My new zumba video remains in the plastic wrap gathering dust, and my clothes continue to shrink in the closet. But I digress.
I was up and dressed before the sun on Sunday morning. I’m not sure this is what was meant in the Bible verse that takes about the sacrifice of praise. I met the worship team at 8 and we settled in for a final run through and sound check before the service at 9:30. I had remembered my music, my iPad with the tracks, even a bottle of water. Our rehearsal Friday evening had gone swimmingly. We even finished in record time. But this morning, God had other plans.
It was a lesson in patience and trust. When I opened the app for the tracks, it had signed me out. I had to wait patiently while our electric guitarist rooted through his case to find the password. Then, it had deleted ALL of the tracks (and edits I had made to the arrangements). Our electric guitarist quickly put them back in (He’s a seasoned veteran). Poised to play, I pushed start and nothing happened.
Yes, I did. After nearly a half hour, we used the electric guitarist’s iPad. He set it up again. And was kind enough to share his password in case the iPad decided to nap at any point. The remainder of the morning went well, but patience and trust.
Speaking of patience and trust, I tried cooking a while chicken again. Hubby trusted the thermometer when it said it was cooked. It was not. We ended up emptying the fridge of all leftovers, and I have a clean fridge again.
We cooked the chicken longer that night, so were shocked to discover Tuesday evening, that the frickin’ chicken was still bleeding out. We cooked her longer but went ahead had canned ham grilled wraps for dinner. Tonight we’re having Eggs Purgatory, with frickin chicken. I think this carcass is going to haunt me the rest of the week.
Dear Diary – Youngest Son started his first job today. It’s a co-op credit in high school so he won’t be paid, but he’s already made quite a favourable impression on his new “boss” and survived the experience of 2 job interviews. Welcome to the real world, kid!
Dear Diary – Yesterday it rained, all day. This morning, I can hardly see the neighbour’s roof, it’s snowing and blowing so hard. And, of course, today is the day that I have to attend my annual eye appointment with my 12 year old doctor. The one who also plays video games and remembered last year that I do too.
This year, I chose my clothes carefully. I never want to make THAT mistake again, but I think I pulled it off. Toilet paper clothing is only acceptable at bridal showers and children’s birthday parties.
I was tired by the time he had finished squirting drops in my eyes and blinding me, not to mention the “space invader” test, and the sun was shining brightly and glinting off the snow. It was made brighter by the fact that my pupils were so dilated, I looked like a anime cartoon.
I lost my clip-on sunglasses two years ago. Fortunately, for the first time, I was offered disposable sunglasses for the drive home. I was warned that, though effective, they were not fashionable. They were right. The glasses were a flimsy black film rectangle with a slight notch for my nose, and adjustable film earpieces that looked like they were made for Dumbo.
With nowhere to sit and fiddle with them in the ultra modern and very open-plan store, I ventured from the store with them in my hand. It was excruciatingly bright as individual rays of sunshine ping-ponged off snow banks, chrome trim, and some guy’s watch 20 feet away. I slowly advanced to my car with my eyes squinting so hard, I was looking at the world through my eyelashes. My face was so screwed up, I probably looked like a wizened crone. I prayed that I wouldn’t get hit by a car.
Once safely inside my vehicle, I began the onerous task of making this piece of film do its job. I had no trouble hooking the first earpiece over one ear and jamming the end of it into my hair. It was stuck fast. But the other side would not cooperate. It wouldn’t hook over my ear. It wouldn’t stay over my left eye. It kept popping out like a beer belly under a crop top, the sun flashing me the same way, every time it did. So white!
My options were limited: keep fighting with it or lie down in the back seat and sleep for the next 4 hours.
Never a quitter, I struggled for what felt like an eternity, as passers-by stopped and stared. At least I think they stopped and stared. Everything was a blur, a bright blur. After folding and tucking, and growling under my breath, I finally got the film in place. It wasn’t firmly in place, but enough I was convinced I could drive, as long as I didn’t move too much or breathe.
I made it home, but it was not a pleasant journey. And for the remainder of the afternoon, I tried, often unsuccessfully, to avoid looking out the windows. I also had to avoid reading, because as the drops wore off, my pupils didn’t function in tandem, like pairs figure skating. Instead one eye was like the rest of me, moving a little slow. I also had to give up sewing because I couldn’t find the hole in the needle, and the lamp was just too bright.
Dear Diary – It’s a beautiful, sunny day today. Not a cloud in the sky. But the weather network has issued a snowstorm warning. Is this the calm before the storm, or is the weather network wrong again? Stay tuned. I’m just going to stay in and sew.
A clean house is a sign of a broken sewing machine.
jennsmidlifecrisis 