Reading

Entry tags:

planning,
sleep

I'd like to be in a drunken stupor...but I have to adult.

I have had insomnia through the middle of the nights Ive seen too much of 2-430AM recently. But last night i was only up at 220am to pee and then back to bed. I've turned my fan on full blast and only slept in a a shelf bra and boxers. It was much better sleep than the days before. I've also been working on my hydration which I'm sure was lacking a bit.

I was so tired yesterday that I barely made it through knit night. I got home, make a gin drink and then hit bed early.

Knit night was good it was nice to see everyone. I knit on my sock and chatted with folks. I got Poke for dinner and that was super tasty.

Tomorrow I will not be in the office but have a limited day and have to drop Benton off for orientation, hit my waxing appt, and then I may just say eff it. Benton has a party at 5pm or so.

We will start our work on the declutter this weekend with the front closet and Front room. I'd like to start using the table again and if we are able to rearrange the room and get rid of some things or make things easier to store that would be helpful. I also want to streamline my tools for the house which are in the closet. So lots to do and work on and I'm sure a chunk to good will.

Death is hungry this week. Remy's mom died from Cancer yesterday. A coworker's FIL had an aneurism and isn't expected to make it. oof.

Entry tags:

I'm tired.

The last few days have been a lot. I spent a lot of time on the phone or text with the step family, my cousin, the landscapers etc to get the property cleaned up. I am having panic about the house not being fine and then another storm hit last night but no damage.

The sign in the photo in this article is a mile north from my house and you can see my cousin's farm in the back ground.

I left work and came home and just laid down to dissociate for an hour before I picked Benton up from martial arts. I did not go to the gym but the previous night of sleeping on the couch for a few hours didn't help me and the day was mentally tiring.

We had to get Benton new shoes for school. He likes super bright highlighter colors for shoes and Famous Brand shoes had zip in any color. We walked out and walked into the newest Ross to open and found a hot pink size 12 that he liked and they fit for $55. And a new wallet for him of $7. So I call that good. We headed to the grocer to pick a few things up and they have converted our local Safeway to almost all self check out. Which I fucking despise. Got home and I was tired, over stimmed, and the kitchen was cluttered and I just could not cope. Benton tried to be helpful but I snapped at him cause it wasn't my way (not his fault he really did try and I was just not in the right mental state). I explained after I got dinner on the table (fresh veggie, sausage egg burritos) that everything was too much and I did not mean to take it out on him. I just could not regulate and that was on me not him. Too many straws, camel backs and not enough sleep.

I had a few beers and went to bed early. Benton did too. I woke up at 2am too hot, wide awake, and shaky. So I got up, drank a big glass of water with electrolytes and ice, took some meds and read for a bit before I finally fell back to sleep after 330-4am. I woke when the sun hit the skylight in the bathroom at 5am but fell back asleep until alarms at 6am. I need to set mine earlier and I've been pushing it back so tomorrow will be 545 and get up and move so I can get us out the door by 640am daily for bus drop off at 650am. We can do it. We used to do that all the time pre-Covid times. But I've gotten used to slacking on the schedule. If this all works this means my work schedule will shift to a bit earlier. That will be nice but today is to survive and then go to bed early and hopefully sleep the night away.

Entry tags:

oofdah

Well that isn't as bad as it could be....

So there is no damage to the house that can be seen from outside. Yay. The clean up can be handled by my landscapers and we should be okay. Lost the tree I badly pruned on the SW corner of the house so I'm okay with that. But things could be a lot worse. There is also metal pieces from somewhere in the trees on the road side. Not sure if they are from Ruby's, somewhere else, or the silo.

Luckily my landscapers are fast and are heading over to start getting things cleaned up. The silo that I've taken many a good photo of and I do not own...is gone. Wow. That was the marker you could see our property for miles around. I'm kinda sad on that. but we lost about 25 trees.

In other news, my step brother died of a heart attack. Its not surprising since its genetic but still sad. Still no idea on if they are even doing a service.

Entry tags:

When it rains it pours....

So in the friends group we have Goblin who has now passed the rainbow bridge yesterday and now Gheeka is doing poorly. That was a blow last night at Ari's for me. She did not want my snuggles or my pets.

Figured out at the same time that power was lost at the Dahka and a huge derecho was expected. And it slammed Hudson. My cousin lost some outbuildings and lots of trees. My neighbor Ruby is okay and has lots of trees down.

Reports on the storm Sioux Falls News, Area news, more, and dont travel in Hudson .

Power finally came back up and I was able to see a lot of trees down. I will do comparisons later but damn. We needed to do more trees any way but sighs.

So before all of that mess I finished work and took Benton back to school shopping which included a cell phone. That part was actually easy though activation took a bit since he has a google account but his dad has the parental controls (this was setup for the xbox so yeah). I also got a new phone but the transfer took a few hours but that was okay. Benton got a Moto G Stylus and I got the new iphone 16 pro Max. They gave me like $1000 for trade in on my old phone so yeah. Shopping for clothes went pretty well. And I got $50 off at Old Navy using my card with them so that was nice. He got 4 pants, 4 shirts and undies. Tonight will be new shoes and other than trying to get us all on an early schedule we should be good for the start of school.

But yeah I just want to curl into a ball for a bit. But the weather is hot and the house is hot due to it being 40% humidity now so the evap doesn't work and I was so hot I went to the family room and slept in front of the fan on the couch for 3 hours last night. I'm tired but I got up, got going and amazon decided to deliver a package to my neighbors alley gate versus our front porch. WTAF? You had put on in the correct spot like 2 hours before that? UGH. Its maddening.

So yeah things are weird. I will see if we have house damage today with my cousin doing an inspection and then see about getting a clean up crew to come and take care of the downed trees. I will have to call an arborist to plant new ones and that was on the plan anyway for next year since some of the older ever greens were dying anyway. But this has just added so much to fucking MONDAY AND TUESDAY of our first week home? Ugh.

Entry tags:

Travel for the first home...complete

Thursdays pack up was pretty stressful. We were all tired and I was kinda in a manic mode. I really really did not want to go. Another week or so would have been perfect. But with Benton's school dates set we really couldn't. So, tonight after work will be getting him a cell phone and shopping for clothes, and a new back pack. I'm dreading the phone. We had hoped to only get him a flip phone for calls and texts but I guess we don't get to pick that. Sighs.

But with him riding the bus and friends etc it will be nice to get a hold of him but he really doesn't want one either. Lol.

But the packup and doing things around the house was exhausting and I was over tired and didn't get to bed until way too late but I was still asleep before mel came to bed even later. We slept in until 630am...had wanted 6am but with that 1am ish bedtime it was a no go. We got things loaded with a good clip and cleaning out the fridge meant some wild life will be living large on the offerings we left at the edge of the woods. But things went into our two coolers Though because of how we packed we didn't have the coolers accessible except when we stopped but that was okay. I drove the first leg to just into Kansas. We did get Taco Johns for our last taste of midwest texan mex food in Grand Island Nebraska. We arrived in La Junta Colorado 730pm local time and after we unloaded the cats and go bags we hit up Boss Hogg's It was basic and we had the local beer Tivoli's Outlaw Light. Its a light beer but perfect after the long drive.

We got back to the hotel and chilled watching Twister and then part of mummy returns. Mel crashed the hell out on the bed fully clothed. I got Benton to shower and got ready for bed and lights outed us at 11pm. I set the alarm for 7am but I was awake at like 615am. At some point mel had gotten out of driving clothes and properly into bed but I slept okay. The cats were snuggling at our feet here and there or on Mel's hip. My only complaint about holiday inn express is that the beds have a gap under them at the back that cats can get into. And Tasha was being a PITA to get in the carrier. But holiday inn breakfast, and easily accessible ice machine and on the road we went. I drove us to Albuquerque where we got lunch at 5Guys. Feeding the teenager has been "a thing" and with his meds he doesn't realize he's hungry just angry and snippy. So we've made sure to get "double" meals for things like a shake with his burger and fries and a quesadilla with his big burrito. Mel was still tired when we was taking over so I got him a coffee shake at 5 guys and that got a big thumbs up from him and he drove us all the way home to Tucson. Now we were a bit squirrely at the end but we did take some good walk/potty breaks so that was good too. Got home, got unloaded, and we noticed the center support on the middle shelf of the fridge was cracked. Mel pulled the shelf out and was cleaning the glass when it shattered. ooops.

Luckily I got online and found the parts we needed and ordered them but am currently on hold with the company since there was an issue and the order is on hold? But it should be an easy fix. Hopefully. I was hopeful on Saturday night but we shall see. Anyhoo. Mel got that cleaned up (with the use of the shopvac cause glass was into the disposal. I ordered pizza from Mod and headed to pick it up. We were all hungry but tired and warm. The house only gets down to like 83 when its 100+ out. So we had food, a few beers and then we were all in bed pretty early cause time zones are a thing. I awoke super early on Sunday 6am and just read on my phone for a while. My back was not happy with me and I was AWAKE. So I got up and out into the family room to ready and sit up for a while. Mel got up a bit later and made coffee. He was all about putting things away and I was just a lump but I got up after my first coffee was done, got dressed and started puttering. We got benton up and headed to Joe's for breakfast.

It was old home week literally, Mary was back in town and all of the waitresses that have known us for decades came to chat. Our waitress was like "well obviously you must be regulars" and "I'm new". We explained we weren't as regular as we used to be but we still come in from time to time. The food was good, chatting with Mary and catching up on things was good as well. We got back and then I started on my puttering to get things put away a bit. My back was unhappy when ever I got up from sitting down. I wasn't too worried since I had smartly scheduled a massage for that afternoon but boy was it angry. My massage was only 60mins and my body fought it but it did loosen and then I did a bit of walking to shop at Daiso and Petsmart and Ulta which were across the parking lot from my massage place. We will soon be getting a Bed Bath and Beyond there too which is nice. The walk did wonders for me as did when I got home I put all of my clothing from the trip away, picked up my studio and set it to rights for the work day and just tidied. Mel made potato/carrot mash to go with the cooked pork chops we transported from SD and we had a nice evening.

I slept well once I reconfigured to a big stiff pillow for my knees and that helped my back tremendously. But we will be shopping for a new mattress cause yeah. Today I've been walking a bunch around the house and once my afternoon meetings hit I will do standing desk as well. But its hot in the house and I have my fan blowing on me but not much more that I can do since its evap cooling and even though the humidity is stoopid low its 104F.

So tonight will be shopping with Benton and then heading to scriptorium. I've missed the girls and I need to start working on laying out Cael's scroll. The stones we've picked up aren't big but that means I need to get working on detail. I'm hoping we can flatten one a bit if not I will head to the stone places and find a nice piece again. But the fact we roadside geology things is part of the fun.

While I've been poking away at writing this I got two death notices:
1) My stepbrother was found dead in his room near flagstaff. Autopsy today. My eldest stepsister called me to tell me and that was all the info they had. He would have been 49 in October. I had not seen him in 19 years (his dad's funeral) and had no idea had had moved to Arizona.

2) Arsenda passed at dawn this AM. I had left messages and I hope they were read to her. This fucking sucks. I've since now texted her partner and got hugs in return on text. He was my cousin Baron so long love there. Sighs. This sucks so hard.

Entry tags:

T minus 23 hours

Well, we are at the end of this summer. I'm sad. We really need another week but so be it. Work was okay yesterday. Got some things done including reviewing a lot of drawings for our TE team. The dinner plan had been pork chops on the grill and mel got me some otu of the freezer. When I went to start the marinade we figured out one of the packages was chopped up for stir fry. ooops. So we pivoted and got more out and did a quick defrost and I made two batches (one lemon juice/shallot, one last of the ketchup, montreal steak seasoning, dukes mayo, chili crisp) and taht worked out well. But when I went to start the grill I opened it up (as you do) and found a huge birds nest inside. I grilled a bit over a week ago! and there were eggs. I had to deal with that with Benton's help (and grumping). So dinner got going a bit late but it was good.

Ruby came over early (as midwesterners do) and oh I'm so worried for her. She is in her 80s and her hubby Rodney died suddenly last October. She is not coping well and being by yourself in a big farm house is not a thing many can deal with. They had been married 68 years. She ate like a bird but had a bit of everything. We made sure to send her home with a few thick slices of friendship bread. I made sure to give her all the hugs cause she is obviously needing it but stoic about it. The weather was turning while we had dinner and chatting. She got into her car with a few drops falling. About 20 minutes later the skies opened up.

One thing I forgot was the rolling thunder here. In Tucson due to the mountains the thunder comes and goes. Here is starts and just keeps going for minutes. It growls across the plains. After dinner cleanup Mel went to finish his clean up of the his workbench. I started internal projects like labeling the fuse box, setting up the lock box for keys, changing out the batteries in sensors that are low. I heard the that thunder rolling constantly. It was neat. We then got the seal done for the underside of the counter for the dishwasher. Its a "sticker" to put on the underside of the counter top since this dishwasher will pop the door to help the drying cycle. We work really well together sometimes and a few pieces of blue tap, a well placed pie server we had it done in less than 10 mins.

Today will be packing and shutting things down. We have a nice procedure and we've updated it as we've noticed things. I will need to do one small load of laundry but that will be it I think.

One of the projects I started very late this summer was backing up photos from my ancient lap top. I've gotten through 2007 to summer 2019. Its weird seeing things I'd forgotten, people we've lost or lost touch with. so many weddings, coronations, investitures, peerages, cats etc. I have 46k photos on my laptop. Some of which are on flickr but most are not.

So yeah wish we had more time. The pace when we get home will be quicker and boo. But we did get a schedule for Benton's bus schedule and I drop him off a mile from the house at 650am and he can walk home in the afternoon. So that will make our mornings early but I can get to work on time and not have a stoopid commute! Yay!

Well work is calling and things to do. Monday we will recap the voyage home.

Entry tags:

trying to accomplish things?

Well work was tiring. I was tired, things were boring and I was tired. It drug on. But I did have my mid-year which went well but the complaints to HR about my "totally accurate things I said" (May 29th) may backfire on me but we shall see. I have a good case and performance and I forwarded my paygrade compare to my section head and my dept manager. But we shall see. Actions/consequences etc. Sighs.

But I finished work about 20 mins early and headed into town cause we were out of coffee. I also had a list for ace and got a few nice things we needed but then left one at the store. I will have to go pick it up. Sighs. But I was able to get home after 4 stops (Dollar General, Ace, Grocer, Gas) in a bit over an hour. The boys were in the garage rearranging things. Now this task really should have been on the to do before the family got here but oh well better late than never. I also did some digging and figured out how to put the kubota in neutral to push it forward. So now we can park another car in the other garage bay as long as its small. Plus they took the forge down and moved it to the side for easy storage and rearranged the shelves and cleaned stuff up. We were under a heat advisory due to the humidity. I managed to get us dinner from leftovers and then I disassociated while Benton was in the shower and Mel was finishing up the weed spraying. We will put that on the list for earlier in the stay so we don't have quite so much to do? We shall see.

I did spin for a bit and then worked on mel's shoulder once he baked in the shower. Its sore and had to have help lifting things but this morning he woke up and it was sore but not as stiff as the day before so that is good. We both slept really well and I only woke up at some point cause my fan had turned off? I may have hit the timer button when I set it back to level 2 when I went to bed. lol.

Today will be cleaning things (floors etc) and getting things set to rights. I really wish we had another week. But if wishes were fishes? Also, we need to not work the day before we leave. Cause there is just too much to do in general and its easier to do things not in a rush.

About 50% through #17 for the year and things are getting interesting. I think after this book I will get back into the other part of this world. This one is slow and I like it but I want more fast paced lead up and action.

I've left a message with Arsenda. I have not called cause my brain is dumb. Sighs

Entry tags:

weekend

Weekend visitors and Musuems oh my!

Friday I was writing up my "I'm worth a new paygrade" and my CE was happy with my write up. Today is that meeting to talk with my section lead. After that I signed off and then ran into beresford to get the part of the dual fuel camp stove (it came in early) and got a few things at the grocer in Beresford. Shanda called me with the game plan while I was shopping and then I drove home. They guys were playing in the shop IIRC and I was frantically cleaning things up, tidying things. Mel had made the beds with fresh linens and Benton had vacuumed and swept but I got the dishes going and we had started a project of cleaning out a junk drawer and there were things that I just couldn't deal with so they got shoved back in the other junk drawer. It was still progress.

Then I relaxed and made dinner and we ate and got that cleaned up before Shanda and Leigh arrived. They had had an okay drive up with only a funny speeding ticket in oklahoma to chat about. But we had drinks and relaxed. Shanda did a tetris of the freezer and fridge for their foodstuffs since they have limited resources at the cabin and we made space before they arrived. It was nice to sit and chat and we were up late. We got a doozy of storm which had me up for a while. We had a lightening strike very near the house but didn't see damage. but it made for bad sleep on my part.

Saturday they had plans to visit a friend in a care home north of SF so they got loaded up after a leisurely morning. The boys loaded things in teh van for a dump run while I got dinner into the crock pot. We hit the dump for the mostly full van of cardboard (from years of stuff), and a few things for teh dump side like the old bumper and some gross things like old mattress pads and stuff. It was $10 and very easy to do. Then we headed to ulta for me to pick up my order. Then to costco. Where, well we were all hangry, but we got things and then got lunch and were all very happy and apologetic. I was having weird panic about timing but it was still like noon. So Food was the thing we needed. Obviously.

We then hit up the local brick and mortar of Duluth Trading Company cause mel needed new pants and I'm a weird size so I like to try things on. We got a good haul (all of my stuff was on clearance) and then hit up Zanbroz Variety. I got a few books and stickers including a little gnome sticker that says "deport Neom" cause reasons. There were also a lot of pride flag flying around downtown including a huge on off the Lutheran Church tower. So that makes me very happy.

We then headed to the Pettigrew Museum. It was such a fun place. I guess I had last been there in the first few years it had opened? But the boys thought the petrified wood that had been used as stones on the museum side of the house were from AZ and they were right. Pettigrew had had them harvested out of Arizona territory before the parks dept was a thing. The Museum was the first Natural History one in SD and was all his personal collection and he got things for the Smithsonian as well. The house is well maintained and intact and lovely. They also had a large portion that was on Sioux Falls history including a map of downtown where you could fit in the blocks to see the history of the buildings from a top down view.

We found out they didn't take card so we hit the Old Courthouse Museum which is part of the same museum network to pick up what we wanted and we saw the museum too. It was very different than when I was a kid. You can go through 3 of the 5 floors including the law library and old courtroom that had fully restored the paint. Lot of fun things but Benton was tired and his feet hurt (he's grown well over an inch since we got here) and I was also tired so we got gas and trundled home. We got home just intime to unload and put costco stuff away and make carajillos with the leftover coffee before Shanda and Leigh were home.

We had some chit chat before we dug into the potroast which was perfect. Mel made gravy from the drippings and we served it up with fresh bread. It was a nice dinner. I was very chuffed by how it turned out since we had been preparing to leave and I remembered I had to put dinner on. lol. We had a nice evening of crafts and chatting before it was bedtime. I again didn't sleep well but meh. We got up and had coffee and then got dressed after a bit to get working on the yard. I chit chatted with Shanda while she finished her pack up. Then headed out to help the boys. I did the front planters and the side bush, planters and then came round to help on the backside before it was time for a break and to say good byes to Shanda and Leigh. We had lunch after they left and then after a rest Benton and i went back out to finish while mel went to fighter practice. He had pulled his shoulder bad pulling out a mulberry tree and we got it reset and massaged but he was doing rapier anyway and its his left. Today he woke up and he's very sore but he was able to move and do things today with some stretches etc. So I think its just a pull and nothing else too bad. We shall see.

Benton and I finished up and I immediately headed in to a shower and did my full ritual shower with extra conditioner, exfoliation etc. Then I did a wonderful face mask and relaxed. I was drained but got dressed and then dinked around further purging a junk drawer. I also pitted all of the cherries that we had that needed to be made into something. I was a smart monkey and grabbed some disposable gloves to do that with. I kinda drifted for a bit and was watching BBC Antiques Road show when mel got home. He grabbed an arnold palmer and then headed out to do the spraying as he said he would. He almost got done before we got rain. We had a nice dinner of leftovers and then we settled in to me spinning and him finishing up a tablet weaving project that has vexed him. While I was sitting I saw a helicopter land north of us and then figured out it was a crop duster. they were doing the step siblings fields so I got some cool pictures. I've never seen a crop duster helicopter. photos here, video. Mel finished the band and I did my bedtime routine and then snuggled into bed while he was up I'm not sure how long. I read for a bit but then zonked the heck out. I woke up at 530 to hit the bathroom and my brain turned on. Sighs. But I dozed for a bit but man I'm tired.

We have a lot to do still but I have a list and then just need to do things.

SF Museums

Thursday....

Well, I managed to get everything on my to do list done but call Arsenda. I was so tired driving home from Sioux Falls that I just listened to loud music and watched for deer.

I was just done when I got home and had a few drinks and bed. Mel was up way too late.

I had done a lot in my hour after knitting but finding things in unfamiliar stores is frustrating ...especially when I pull up the wrong store on my phone to tell me what aisle things are in. But I gotta say I really really love Menards. They have a bit of everything and more, everyone is friendly and helpful. I went in for one thing and got a lot more things which did not involve me paying Walmart anything.

I was also able to return the lantern we had bought at walmart in Wisconsin and got the money back on my card without a receipt. Yes!

My unfucked shawl is fucked again or I can't count. I'm betting its a bit of column a and B. Sighs. So I just put it away and knit on mel's sock. I'm sad that was my last knit night there until next year.

The van now has a shiny new bumper and we used a tiny local collision shop who only takes checks. But yay. That is done and was easy. Will remember to recommend them. The repair shop in Beresford recommended them and we were super happy to support local and damn it was cheap and done in a day.

I did have a very good convo with my head CE and I'm preparing documentation for a promotion based on my work and what I do etc. If I don't get it, then the program will open a rec for my job and I have to apply and interview for my own job (le sigh). but this brings in my imposter syndrome where I don't meet all of the criterion exactly so I can't have it right? Ugh stoopid. But I'm doing a comparison chart to hopefully get me a leg up.

Shanda and her mom are arriving late tonight for a weekend stop over. We have beds to make and things to wash up but we should be good to go on that point.

Gonna call Arsenda later or at least text.

We will be on the road south to the Tucson home this time next week :(