Month: October 2024

Things were looking pretty drab around here with the leaves going brown and falling off the trees with no pleasant colour shifts. But that all changed once we had our first frost, and then a warm and sunny day combination event, so now we have colours y’all! Vibrant yellows, oranges, reds, and greens, brown, purples and such. Beautiful again.

It’s Monday, and a PA Day, so I have the kids at home for the next roughly eight hours by myself! Yeah! Should I have them scrub toilets, wash the bathtub, sweep, vacuum & mop the floors, do a load of their own laundry, sort a bag of socks, clean their rooms (again). Pull weeds out of the front garden as none of the gardening has gotten done recently with all of the activity we’ve seen in the last three weeks or more. Cleaning out the front yard beds would be good for us. A little sun shine. Some helping hands. A bonding experience that also helps out the household. I could start on some leaves too. Tie the dog up out front with us, and everybody’s happy(ish), right?.

Spent six hours at Wonderland yesterday, when we only meant to do about three. Oops. I tried out two rides that I would have previously skipped due to heavy focus on simply rotating around a central column. Something which typically triggers my motion sickness. But I have gotten away with a few spinning rides as of late, and came away no worse for wear. I dare not try some of the three axis spon rides I did in my youth as motion sickness tends to stick around for six or more hours now that I’m in my forties. I can do without that.

I think we will pick some pumpkins later today at the farm, and keep it all low key. Perhaps some homework, reading and writing too? Who knows. All I know is that our street is multicoloured again, and the sky is blue, the sun is out, and the crispy fallen leaves need to get mulched up for the season! Ciao Bella.

Sunny Sunday spent at the park enjoying never before ridden amusement rides, Windseeker, and Thunder Hawk. Two spin rides I have previously ignored due to motion sickness concerns. Added to the repertoire as of today. W00t-W00t!

Haven’t hit a since Halloween Haunt event yet this season, so we’ll be back before the switch over to Winterfest. Get our money’s worth on food, drinks, parking.

The kids randomly have another PA Day on this coming Monday, so it’s another short week at school for them. And I am left to think of something to do. There is paid programming available at $70.00 a pop, but is it worth $140.00 plus tax to keep the kids occupied during regular work hours? Or should I use a quarter of that on a great lunch for us, and keep them occupied myself using dog walks, the pumpkin patch, the pumpkin stand, the park, and their devices?. Probably the better bet. I had notice of a new large project coming my way that I was not previously aware of. Cool beans! Mo money, mo money, mo money!

I wish they still did week day matinees, or had adventure parks nearby. One of my vehicle bearings, rotors, or some such sounds “grindy”, so I don’t really want to go anywhere out of town incase it gives out and we have to walk home, get towed across town to the mechanic’s shop. The presence of the dog adds a complication.

I wanted to dig up our Dahlias today before we head over to the show this afternoon, but with extended family coming, and a previously unplanned visit to the LTC added into the mix, I might have to wait until Sunday afternoon, or Monday to get it done.

What’s funny is the kids will have yet another PA Day in the middle of November too. Really front end loading the school year with days off. Seems like they would be better having those days in may & June when it gets really stinking hot, and the final report cards need to be written up. But that’s just my opinion.

Have a great Saturday full of sunshine, and just a touch of autumn warmth. May the brilliantly coloured leaves be crispy, and the spiced drinks be the perfect temperature. Ciao Bella!

Best to keep it short and sweet as I have a lot of work to do building my report templates from s ratchet, which includes my colour palettes for charts, graphs, and pies. Setting up my working pages, and finding the correct logo option for the report so I don’t have to make any after the fact edits or corrections. If I’m lucky this will be a 45 pager, and not nearly 100 pages in length. Weirder things have happened.

Had to take some time off the morning to run my youngest to the doctors, and possibly to urgent care, or emerge later next week if her issue doesn’t resolve itself after today’s prodding from the pediatrician. Fingers crossed. Warm compresses at the ready. Antibacterial soaps & creams are at hand. Wish us luck.

Happy Friday.

Compulsion? A better outlet than drinking, or a wake n’ bake session. A sense of accomplishment after I have completed at least one task in a day. It’s not a literary or academic practice. Just something to do. Hell I’ve made, an as of yet unpaid $.14 cents USD on ads served over the last ten years so there is that building ever so slowly in the back ground. I got my two short story collections off my chest, out of my head, and on to paper, so that satiated my desire for a novel’s worth of material. All together both books approach 200,000 words, so I’m cool with that. I have my children’s book underway. It’s all written, and put on the pages, ready for my illustrations to capture the vibe of the moment. I did go back and look at it recently, and I need to do 90% of the illustrations again, as they don’t feel right – yet. I do like three of them for sure, a potential fourth is ok, but all the rest should be scrapped and started from scratch. I’m under no deadline, so that works for me.

I’m also on a 151 day streak with Reddit, and I do weekly gaming points gathering, so the gamification of compulsion keeps me doing stuff besides going back to bed, or shopping and building consumer debt. Diablo 4 is helping to keep me entertained as of late. I try to keep that to 60 – 90 minutes a day, or else my eyes hurt, and my neck gets sore.

I have household duties to eat up my downtime in between paid jobs too. Lots of cleaning, laundry, shopping, dishes, floors, and bathroom tasks to keep a guy from going stir crazy. Leaves and grass, and the garden when it’s warm, and snow & ice control when it gets cold. Decorating for Halloween, Christmas and St Valentine’s Day to occupy the cold weather season with a touch of colour.

And of course the purging of textiles, goods, and “stuff”. With Christmas coming, and yet another birthday just around the corner the kids should clear out more toys to make way for new stuff. Same with their closets, and clothing. It’s a never ending cycle of rinse and repeat. I suppose if I get bored of all that I can just take a nap, or go back to bed. I could try a part time job if need be too. I just don’t know doing what exactly? Or where? I get this urge every couple of months when I have a longer than usual slow period. Then work picks up by 1000% and I think to myself, boy am I glad I don’t have to factor in a part time job schedule into all of this. Endlessly on repeat.

However, should I lose any more clients, or have them bought out and the work brought in house under their own umbrella, I will definitely have to find a part time solution. Just not yet. Or a full time solution, if I had to. It just has to pay more after all the additional child care costs get factored in. Before, and after school care, babysitting until 8pm when I get home. Also a maid service to clean the house, and a dog walker/day care for the puppy. It all adds up. The cost of commuting (gas, parking, transit, wear & tear on a vehicle). The required salary would be prohibitive to all but the most demanding of high end clients. I save all those costs by working at home, and watching the kids/dog/house hold myself.

If I could find a mid sized brewery near by that needed my expertise I’d jump on it, but it would need to be 10-15 mins away max, and not need me on site every single day, or for more than a few hours at a time. Hard wish to fulfill these days.

Yeah, so writing a bunch. I think it comes mostly from getting carried away, writing rants, and diatribes about the weather or things that upset me. Not so much a compulsion after all then is it. I could stop, but that former 800 plus day streak calls out to me, mocking me. You got so close to 1,000 and fixing a day upload cost you the high score! BAH!

Thanks to a few very helpful people out there in the real world I was able to solve an issue quickly, and to everyone’s satisfaction. I am well pleased with the result. Thanks for playing the hone game. Happy Hump day to you all.

Puppy says hello from his spot on the couch where he is currently having a snooze. Though once I make the bacon to go in my sandwich he will perk right up, believe you me. We had a good fast paced walk at the farm that took a lot of the fight out of him. Great day!

No, not horse races, or dogs either. This time I’m off to Newmarket to watch my eldest run her 1,500 meter Cross Country race at a park a few towns over. I think she has a group of about 200+ kids in her category so I have high hopes that she will run an earnest race. Nothing too crazy, but a strong effort is worth being proud of.

Have a lovely Tuesday.

Among other gross things, such as; pulling long strands of grass out of your dogs but when they can’t eliminate it all themselves, dido for long hair strands if they chew socks, or lick things around the house. Picking up poop. Searching for ticks. Pulling ticks. Brushing out burs, fox tails, and other such sticky foliage that clings to their fur. Cleaning up puke. Cleaning up urine. Washing pus filled boils, Bd cleaning dirty teeth. It’s all so much fun. Being present for rancid dog farts/burps is a speciality my last dog excelled at. He could clear a room. Talk about a green cloud! Ugh.

Happy Holiday Monday! I’m outside still doing more and more laborious, (read tedious) chores for the extended family. I’m essentially free labour at this point. My back aches, and my thighs feel as though they have bricks on them, and I’m dehydrated quite a bit. I drink a lot of water at home, which I’m just not able to do out here working manual labour tasks.

School starts up again tomorrow so perhaps I can rest then. Which reminds me I need to sort out my Ticketmaster account before the show on Saturday. Hopefully that’s not an all day ordeal.

Yo, I don’t drive anywhere, how you gonna text me about a fake parking ticket, or unpaid highway tolls? I ain’t gone no where. Fool. Places I’ve been to recently, my bedroom, my kitchen, the curb, my basement, my living room, the kitchen (again – man’s gotta eat), and on some occasions the garage. I did catch a ride into Vaughan in somebody else’s car, so that wouldn’t be my ticket bruh! Also the 407ETR texts from a six digit code, not your random ass number. I haven’t been downtown since April, so no parking tickets from July my guy. Nice try though. Send it as registered mail, and I might pay attention then bud. Skeeew!

Long day ahead doing outside chores. Thanksgiving is still up in the air as far as planning and/or execution, so I’m keeping busy as I want no part of the discussion. I’m a 90% homebody, and am more than happy to remain home, and continue to clean up around the house.

I have a painting I’d like to start. I can finish a Ninja Turtle sculpt. I have my resin model kit stowed away for a quiet day. Plus there are only so many warm days left where I can comfortably work in the garage shop. If I could just get the burnable pile out of my way, and the kids kitchen sent north, I’d have room in there for the winter, as that is where my wife’s blue patio bench goes from November until April. If I keep the garage clean then I have room to walk around the upended bench. Just not with a massive box of cut offs, and a children’s kitchen play set there too.

A constant game of Tetris is being played with our belongings inside our home. Unless we buy a bigger house, build an addition, or purge a whole lot of “stuff”, the house will always be small. I don’t see us having the art station, and multiple doll houses in the living room for too many more years. Space will eventually open up. Just after the kids have grown out of all this cutsie kids stuff. Boo! Boo-urns! I want the space, but don’t want my kids to grow up too fast.

Likely all of the baskets of glitter, stamps, stickers and paints will go by way of the dodo at roughly the same time. They will want tech items like a Switch, tablet, or smart phone. Maybe make-up and even more clothes, shoes, and hair products. That’s future me’s problem.

Happy Saturday of the long Thanksgiving weekend. Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts. Ciao Bella.