Author: greatwallstudios

I’m about 100 pages from finishing book four, which is a record for one months worth of reading for me, I would bet. I might be able to add a few additional pages to my count by the 31st, if I’m lucky. As it stands I’m going to get close to 1,800 or 1,900 for the month. I am doing pretty well in the one book per month reading challenge! Far better than last year, that’s for certain. I do have other books coming in April and May from other authors, so I need to get through these before my attention gets pulled away to other stories, and characters that I like. A five book run on one series is pretty good. I could ignore the two new releases and stay with Carl until the final book releases in mid May, and just mainline it until totally completed. That’s a benefit of finding a series after the bulk of it has already been written.botherwise you wind up having to wait a year, or more, to get the next installment. Whereas now I’m just waiting on the shipping to arrive. A much shorter wait, and far more pleasant. Keeps the story fresh in the mind.

I will update further once I actually do finish book four and try to tuck into the fifth book. Can’t count those chickens before they hatch. I checked our library, and they didn’t carry the series. I could donate them when I’m done, or reread them in a year or two. It’s a fun series so far. I’m not bored, at all. It’s pretty breezy. I like it. Obviously.

Praise for Matt Dinniman‘s Dungeon Crawler Carl series is legit, if you like this brand of snark, violence, and blood drenched adventure. Be forewarned! Ha.

Nothing major just tying up some loose ends here and there. Returned the sharps container to the pharmacy now that my wife is off of her prescription. I purchased some cologne that ran out before Christmas. Went to the pet store for various dog treats for our morning walks. Stopped off to put an order in for a case of drinks. Filled the van with gas. Had our morning walk. Sent some files off for work, and then washed, and painted the wall I muddied up last week after our shower was fixed. Brush has been washed out, and then I took five of our six shovels back to the shed. I kept one decent shovel as well as the ice melt by the front door because as all good Canadians know, we may not be entirely done with the snow just yet. Not that we should get lots, but some is surely on the way, believe you me. If I can think of any other minor things to get done I will do that today too. I feel it’s a bit early still for the lawn furniture, hoses, and exterior garden lights to go out. Although the sun is getting stronger so the solar lights might kick on here or there when it isn’t totally overcast or actively raining. It’s just a whole lot of lifting that I’m not entirely in the mood for just this second. If we get a few days in a row with temperatures in the early to mid teens I’ll jump at the opportunity to put our stuff out. That will also mean I have to unwrap the last three that still has Christmas lights on it. Boo-boo. I like the red lights in the big maple!

So it’s Wednesday now. I am almost halfway into book four of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, so that’s good. Might be a record for one month for me. It’s almost lunch time, so I’ll get back to cleaning up the house.

I’m on a Matt Dinniman Dungeon Crawler Carl tear right now as I start to dig into book four of the right part series. Although the final book isn’t due out until mid May, so I don’t know if I’ll have enough steam to continue reading at this pace to be ready for the last book drop by then. I am still enjoying the series a good deal, but they are starting to get far longer, and more intricate. The Iron Tangle left my head hurting trying to suss out what it would look like in my mind. I do not believe that I could successfully recreate it with pen & paper from the humble of descriptions that I’ve read. Oh well.

Soon enough I will turn my attention back to painting minis, or my guitar, the resin model kit, woodshop, home DIY tasks, or the outdoor property maintenance. I have ebbs and flows you see. Also if work keeps up I won’t have much time for anything other than a few hours spread over any given week. That’s not bad, means I’m earning money, and we need that to live! Ha.

Sleep is still off since the time change. Not sure what can be done about that besides go to bed earlier. And earlier until I find a sweet spot once again. That could take a while to find, so I’ll make do until then. This is the last full week of March, can you believe it? Still minus ten out this morning, but we could go above zero by four pm, if we’re lucky.

Good news is, if I can find a book series that I really enjoy, and I can find enough free time, I can read about 1,200 to 1,400 pages in a month. That’s pretty good considering I am not a fast reader, like, at all. The bad news is, now that I wear my reading glasses for work, and for reading so much these last two months my vision is sort of soft around the edges when I don’t have them on, and not just for text now either. Everything goes soft edged around me. At least up close. I’m not concerned about things far away being soft edged, as that’s always been the case. This is a new development, and one 8 was concerned about once I needed reading glasses, and I know how my body loves to break down faster once I find a suitable work around for a health related problem. So yeah, fun-fun.

On a positive note I have book four coming later on today, and I hope to start it in another day or two. The later books are much larger, so I don’t think I’ll keep up this pace at all. March Break was slower (ever so slightly) so I could ignore stuff to just read any chance I got. I also stayed up late to read because an early wake up time wasn’t necessary. That is no longer the case. Life has started up for reals! So no more ignoring things for the sake of reading. Cleaning, dishes, laundry, groceries, and extracurriculars all are on deck, and are in play once again.

The youngest was in tears yet again regarding the return to school, but after this week, they have two short weeks due to the Easter Holiday four day long weekend. So there is that to look forward to. We also did not manage to get out to see Project Hail Mary as a nice date night event, so that sort of sucks. Our alone time was usurped by the children once again. Kids! Gotta love ’em.

I did manage to assemble my Ork Boyz models from Games Workshop, so when I’m sick of reading I can prime those, and think about painting them one by one. I’m game for doing twelve or fewer. The 40 odd Space Wolves was a bit of a chore towards the end. Glad I did them, but it was a slog. They do however look much better than the original paint job, so that’s a pretty big plus right there. Not great, but not awful either.

It’s Monday once again, and we are nearing the end of March. The official first day of Spring has come, and gone without much fanfare. So with any luck we might catch a stray sunny warm day here or there in April if we’re lucky. I could do with some blue skies and sunshine right about now.

Will need to weed & feed the lawn, and toss some grass seed around before too much longer. It’ll be grass cutting time before you know it! Leaves, and flowers, and blooms of all sorts will begin to appear. Wonderful time of year.

Whether that’s looking at SciFi books, movies, animation, DIY, self care, dogs, funny fails, politics, history, world travel, comedians, model kits, 3d printer, miniatures painting tutorials, dance choreography, artists (painters, sculptors, ceramics, and musicians) movie trailers, and interesting facts, and beautiful people, odds are I have gone down a rabbit hole tangent looking at oddball things, as I build out a neural path of what I think about. I’m sure Sephora will work itself in somehow because I joined up the points program because of my kids. So I’ll have lipsticks and make-up ads mixed in for good measure too, I’d bet. It’s currently a jumbled mess, because I like guitarists, horn sections, those split videos of people adding solos to popular songs, that lady who transitions through chords as her own quarter to resolve in a pleasant tone at the end. Can’t forget the Floridian real estate lady who mocks homes, and people. A fair few military talking heads, some funny, some not. A real mixed bag. I also have taken some notes on new books or authors to read from several top ten lists I’ve seen that had books I’d already read on the list, so I was more apt to believe it because of the shared titles that I had already enjoyed. Our digital footprints are weird jumbles. Well, maybe not everybody’s but mine certainly is. I like drumming videos, and those American college walking bands with huge brass sections that belt out tunes on football/soccer fields. I was on a good long stretch for a while of watching people get very badly hurt, I injured or killed. A moral failing I’m sure, but in some instances are humorous. Look at me, pointing back to the moral failings statement. Don’t make me tap the sign — again.

It’s a sombre day here, a sober one too. The last day of March Break. It’s back to school for these fools tomorrow morning. Life, and schedule go back to normal once again. School, packed lunches, laundry, dishes, groceries, tutors, taekwondo, dance, girl guides, climbing, volleyball, the works! It all kicks off again on Monday. Oh it gets exhausting at times. On the plus side we will be right on the doorstep of summer before you know it. Shorts, hats, sunglasses, and SPF shirts for everyone! Outdoor activities, and lawn maintenance abound!

Not to mention the brief period where we can have the windows wide open, and the doors flung wide, and the screens letting a wondrous breeze blow through the whole house. The smell of flowers, and grass on the air. It’s not yet humid nor sickly hot, and the breezes are light, but fresh. It’s a very short window where this is possible. I get a longer time for it in the fall, but I’m not ready to look that far ahead.

I have some smaller children’s bikes to take to the charity shop in another few weeks. That will help me open up the Shed’s head room. As those particular bikes are hanging from the rafters. I’ll power wash them, clean them, grease their chains, inflate the tires, and then drop them off for donations. I missed the snowboards this year. We were busy. I’ll set a reminder for October to get them out of our hair. Look at me, already chomping at the bit for a spring cleaning mini purge! Oh oh oh. Can’t wait.

I enjoy watching people organize spaces on YouTube as well. Especially shops and garages too. I get some neat ideas from those. I obviously cannot enact them all, our space is small, and I have it fairly well organized, and stripped down as it is. But I love to see other people get a space all spiffed up, and made useful. Awesome sauce!

I’ve given more thought to getting rid of a salvaged cart from the farm, I’m just not sure if I want the welding gear out in the open. I like that my propane is by the door (low to the ground in case of leaks) and inside a cabinet should it ever kick off. I could put it out by the shed if I had to, get it all further away from the house.

In other news I built my 11 Ork Boyz miniatures from Games Workshop, so I’ll be needing to prime and then paint those in the coming weeks.

I started book three of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series yesterday, and I am still enjoying it a good deal. As each lower level gets longer so do the books. I don’t know if I will get through all eight of them, but I like it so far. The books are getting much thicker as I go along, so it’ll take me longer, and longer to read them. I find it odd that the hard covers are cheaper than the paperbacks, but I’ll ake the 5 to 10 dollars in savings where I can get it. I shan’t be picky. I’m not one of those my series has to match the whole way through types. I’ll mix paper backs, hard covers, those oddly taller paper backs, movie motion picture covers, with original printing covers. I’m reading the inside, not modeling my house with the books outer face. Duh! I mean, I get it, but I don’t care.

Things we need to bring with us: child, present, skates, helmet (without a cage unfortunately), hockey stick, jersey, hockey gloves, snow pants, and a positive attitude. I am hoping the kids keep this low key because while my child knows how to skate, she learned via the ringette team, she doesn’t play hockey competitively, nor does she practice all that much. I think she has skated four times this year, and none of that with gloves, sticks or pucks involved. Should be a hoot to watch! Ha.

Found my other daughter’s helmet, and scavenged the screws so I could attach my oldest’s cage for errant hockey puck safety. Never can tell with these pre-teen boys if they’re going to play by the rules or escalate until somebody gets hurt. If I see anybody body check my kid at a birthday party game of shinny they’re going home in a cast, or with a severe limp. I kid you not. It won’t be permanent but it’ll hurt in the moment, and for a little while after. Ha!

Saturday is here, oh glorious Saturday. Hard to believe nearly all nine days of the March Break have come, and gone. Like a flask. Poof! Fetus Deletus of an entire week out of the month. Perhaps next week will quiet down, or perk up, who knows, hard to say. But I’m going to enjoy my Saturday as much as I am able to. I still have some hope we might get out to a movie this evening, just my wife and I. Although the forecast does show more freezing rain tonight. Damn. Double damn. Thwarted by the weather — again.

Let us pray for no injuries at this hockey party on the rink. Have a wonderful day. Ciao Bella.

What is going on with this weather right now, it’s all over the place. Who could possibly have any sort of handle on what is going on outside. How do you dress for these fluctuations? How do you even begin to prepare for a hot, sunny, cloudy, windy, rainy, snowy, icy day that moves into, and out of each stage randomly throughout the day, every single day. This is madness. I for one am outraged! The freezing rain is so bad right now it would have been a day off school for the kids if it weren’t all ready the tail end of March Break.

Which reminds me, I haven’t heard a peep about March Madness or brackets, or college basketball at all this month. Did that shit get cancelled or what? Now don’t get me wrong, I neither watch, nor follow basketball, at any level, I’m just used to seeing marketing for it plastered everywhere. I did watch some of the World Baseball Classic, thank you Venezuela! So did that beat out March Madness this year? I’ll Google it.

March used to be led in by a Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Issue, and March Madness splashed across every tv, newspaper, and radio spot whether you cared or not. Oh the times they are a changing. Likely means no lunch at Made in Mexico today, due to the weather, and no looking around the book store for the next installment of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I’m about 70% done with book two. Boo-urns I say, Boo-urns to the weather. Sucks to your asthma!

Not to mention the week is just about over. We’ve reached Friday morning, and all those possibilities are gone. The weather did not cooperate this year, like at all. We do have to attend a birthday party tomorrow morning, so my eldest got to see some friends, but it has been a kind of slow, and boring week off. I worked, split wood, and walked the dog a bunch. Was hoping to go see Project Hail Mary tonight, or this weekend with my wife, but given the current weather trends of volatility, that seems highly unlikely. Oh bother.

I need to pick up a card, and grab some cash for this birthday my oldest daughter is attending tomorrow. Maybe the freezing rain will end soonish, and the sun will come out? Yeah right. I’ll end up having to use a blank thank you card, and scrounge together whatever cash I have if I can’t get out to the bank before tomorrow mid day. Then do I drop and go, stick around, find something else to do for two hours, go home? I haven’t really thought much about it. Now that the peer group are turning twelve, it seems less likely that they need parents to stick around, though some can get a bit rowdy out on the ice rink. I’ll play it by ear. If they have a warm viewing area that I can stay in, I’m more likely to hang out for a while, and help out.

Have I mentioned how sick and tired I am of all this snow, and freezing rain this winter? Today is supposed to be the first official day of Spring, and we have freezing rain to shut it all down. How lovely. Five months straight of this horse shit. I’m so done with winter. Checked out. Vacated. Moving on!

But it turns out I posted it last night, that being my epic battle with our wired in smoke detectors. It left me with two bloody fingers, very sweaty, and cursing a blue streak about four miles long. I was not impressed. But! We got them installed, with the green led showing, and the batteries activated (or so I hope!)

It is now Thursday, and I have walked the dog, been to Can Tire for water softener salt, filled the car with gas, and stopped off at Shoppers for my Rx, so now I am working diligently, just to remember I haven’t eaten yet. So breakfast it is then! A full morning of activities. The kids are at the library to see a magician of some sort. We have laundry on the go, and my book arrived yesterday (and it’s a good one!) I might have to look into book three soonish too. Oh my!

Otherwise the March Break is speeding along at pace, taking a chunk of the month with it! It’ll be April before you know it. Then May, then June, then POW! 9 weeks off with the kids for summer holidays. Man time flies eh? Holy schmoly.

Hard some plumbing done which required a fair bit of soldering in a confined hallway equidistant from both of our hard wired smoke, and carbon monoxide detectors setting them off. So the plumber dutifully pulled them from the ceilings. I then fought with these two plastic bastards for a full 90 minutes while they chirped, beeped, spoke in french to me, and pulled themselves out of their brackets, and unhooked themselves from their wire nuts on more than one occasion. I shredded one thumb, and one pointer finger wrestling with those assholes. After a good fight, and very sore shoulders, and some loud expletives I think I have them installed correctly, with green LEDs showing, battery no longer asking for activation, and no other (for the moment) issues.

Not only that but the tub is now usable once again in the main floor bathroom, and the wall behind the shower is patched. I have it filled in. Needs to dry, and get repatched. Then sanded, and painted over. Good as new. We just so happen to hang a sizeable photo collage there, so nobody should be much wiser to the edit! Ha. Perfect.

I for one celebrated with a shower, and pray to the skies above that I will get a restful night’s sleep. Sad we didn’t get to do any maple syruping this March break, but the weather chose to be uncooperative for such an endeavour. We needed warm sunny days, followed by cold nights. What we got was heavy snow, and bitterly cold, blustery days instead. So — no dice. The kids did go out on the snowmobile with their grandpa a couple times, and did a fair few hours of tobogganing with all the fresh snow. They had fun. I worked a bunch, so it was all good in the end. I even took a turn in the hot tub watching all the kids at once. That was a very loud test of my patience. I prefer to relax in the tub, not get splashed and shrieked at for an hour. The things we do to occupy our littles.

My second Dungeon Crawler Carl book has arrived, so I intend to dig into that tonight, if I can lift my arms to turn the pages at all. Happy March break everybody!

Something about this year’s time change has kicked off a round of poor sleep in our household. We are all waking up tired, groggy and feeling untested. I know the kids don’t feel tired at night time, but are really dragging ass in the mornings. I feel it too. No amount of naps or sleeping in seems to rectify the defect we are experiencing. I know we feel a bit funny with each alteration of the clock, but this seems harder for some reason. More doom & gloom on the news, worsening economy, doubts of a long or fulfilling future. More stress? I don’t know what it is but it’s getting to all four of us in a somewhat equal measure. Fun times at our house, swing on by!

I spent some time swinging an axe yesterday to split wood, and boy was it cold out yesterday, holy cow! I did split 90% of what was asked of me before I was told to stop. A little pile of logs can make a pretty sizeable stack of split wood in a short period of time. At least when the wood comes apart with each swing, and it doesn’t require ten plus swings just to open a crack, or make one piece into two, each time. I can still only go for 60 to 90 minutes at one time, so it wasn’t an all day thing. The cold would have gotten me to go inside after a short while longer anyway. The wind was biting. Long johns can only do so much, you know?

So now my shoulders, and back are feeling the exercise strain from yesterday afternoon. Not a problem. While I do have my day job to contend with, the kids are keeping themselves occupied for the most part this March Break. Unfortunately the weather has not cooperated for doing Maple Syrup, but there’s always next year. They have utilized the snow for tobogganing, and trail rides on a snowmobile. Skating has been offered up once or twice. Snow shoveling could keep them busy a few days in a row these days too! Ha. Damn snow.

March is dwindling fast because of the break week, so it’ll be April and raining all the time before we know it. I’ll have to go out for Easter supplies before too much longer. I already need to go and get a birthday present, and some hockey gloves for my eldest child, for a party she is attending over the weekend. Skates, stick, and a helmet we have, but no finger protection from slashing sticks. Trying to find old pairs that haven’t seized up entirely and started to crumble is proving more difficult than anticipated. Might just have to buy some, if we can find any for a reasonable price. That’s the name of the game for the foreseeable future, a reasonable price. Or work around, or doing without. Belt tightening. You know the game. Join the fun.