December 29th

Credit: Ivana Cajina via Unsplash

It occurred to me that this, this Right Here, is the first real time off I've had since I started working.  There were two days when I had to be absent while taking a child for a Covid test and awaiting the negative results, and there was one time I left a little early in order to sign our lease, and again a day I left a little early to arrange passport paperwork.  None of these really count as 'time off' in my books.  There were several days in a row I took off in order to be home with the children while David relaxed in the hospital pre-heart surgery.  Very relaxing, that.  But this time right now, this is my first real 'vacation'.

I'm spending it catching up on stuff.  

One of the first issues on the docket has been The Parking Problem.  It goes a little something like this.  We pay a lot of money for an apartment the size of a sneeze.  Said apartment does NOT come with parking.  Shocker.  You can, however, PAY more money on TOP of your rent for a parking space.  I believe it's something like $120 a month more for an outdoor space and $170 for an indoor space.  Something like that.  Whatever it is, it's  insane.  The outside spots won't actually FIT our minivan and I don't think it would be possible to back the sucker up.  The indoor spots are beside the dumpsters and are, if this is possible, even smaller than the outside ones. Smelly and Miniscule.

So...I went on a search for a Better Option, and I discovered the Baptist Church just down the road rented out their parking spots, which were the size of ACTUAL parking spots, for $90.  It means walking about 2 minutes down the road, but still...I'll do a lot of stuff to save $30.  The thing is that to get a parking spot we had to do a song and dance.  First, get them to respond to our enquiries, which finally happened.  They sent us the list of information they needed to create a parking pass, plus the email address to transfer the money to for the first month, plus the waiver owe had to sign and return electronically.

Issue the first!  No ink in the printer.  Off I go in my pajamas to the office supply store and back on the bus.  Why the bus, you ask?  BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE PARKING SO THE CAR IS AT MY MOTHER IN LAW'S SO WE DON'T GET TOWED.  Back home, install the ink, print the waiver, signy signy.

Issue the second!  The scanner driver has been deleted by...someone?  Something?  Who even knows.  Spend time trying to get scanner to work, can't figure it out, attempt to take a picture of the waiver instead.  Can only take a picture on my phone, so email to David, who then attaches to the email.

Issue the third!  What...is our license plate number again?  Dig out insurance paperwork, dig out everything, cannot find it!  Twenty minutes later...there it is at last.

Filled out, sent, deposit e-transferred.  Now we wait to hear back, I suppose.  In the meantime today was Do All The Laundry And Pay All The Bills Day.  It's my least favourite day.  One child complained that I was using their computer time to pay bills, and I gave them a nice, motherly lecture on how I was paying hydro...so the computer would work.  And paying internet...so the computer would work.  And paying renter's insurance...so the computer had somewhere to live.  Obviously they listened intently, understood intrinsically what I was getting at, and have changed their ways for the better.  They did NOT, clearly, roll their eyes at their mother and say "Yes, YES I GET IT".  Because that would be wrong.

December 26th

It's Dec. 26th, so I suppose it's acceptable at this point to reflect on the challenge I set myself to read 100 books this year. To cut right to the chase - I have not succeeded in doing this. I think I may be in the mid-90s, mind you, but I have not read 100 yet. WILL IT HAPPEN? Stay tuned.

Christmas this year is also strange. No tree (no room in our small apt.) no decorations (all still in storage) no family gatherings (Covid) and no 'usual things' like a Christmas eve service, an Advent wreath, or a walk to see the lights (mostly because I'm working so much that nothing else fits in our spare time) means that it felt just like every other day. I imagine it was an authentic 'non christian' Christmas, actually. All distilled to a dead bird and some wrapped sundries and the funny stories of our rude or elderly relatives.

We've added a hamster to the menangerie, which now consists of two adults, three children, an 18yo cat, a standard poodle, and a small, tyrannical rodent named Peaches. Peaches likes to poop on everything, and pee especially on me. Charming creature, really, and the absolute apple of his mistress' 7yo eye.

And finally, here are some pictures of the sky: