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With my oldest daughter who has not yet turned nine, and it didn’t really resonate with her – like, at all. She liked the vibrant pink, and caught all of the “swears” they sneak in, but was otherwise underwhelmed by the existential dread, and themes regarding patriarchy, and the woe-is-me women’s guilt through line.

I on the other hand enjoyed it. I think I might have preferred Oppenheimer, but as I had not yet seen Barbie, I was glad I watched it for the first time. I’ll admit it is a bit weird/strange. The make believe barbie world takes a bit of getting used to. Which is odd, since all I usually watch is sci-fi, fantasy, and fiction so it should have been right up my alley. Maybe if I’d had the subtitles on I’d have liked it more. I found the audio to be too quiet, and a tad mubly. But I am hearing impaired so that’s on me.

Have a nice Thursday.

Not sure what it is but the view count is triple what it usually is, and the kids are losing their minds this morning. Things are hectic, and chaotic to put it kindly. Lots to do today, so I’ll be brief. Have a great Wednesday.

Getting the house of Targaryen in order before something big comes along is adding a fair bit of stress to my usual day. Finding documents, and trying to keep tabs on important articles of clothing & gear is proving to be just the headache I was hoping to avoid. Has anybody lost their ID yet? Looks like that could potentially be a point of contention so we’ll just mark that down as a maybe. I look forward to putting this all in the rearview, well behind me, in a number of days, so stay strong, make lists, and for goodness sake don’t lose anything else!

Had a very productive few days even with the weather being less than desirable. I pruned all four rose bushes yesterday. My poor hands have the thorn wounds to prove it. I dumped the second load of over ripe pumpkins and gourds into the compost pile. I even pruned the last overgrown shrub out front. The leaves will continue to fall, and blow about the street, so there is little I can do about that. I had all of the Halloween blow ups dried off and packed away, back into their hole in the garage. Plus my eldest and I put up the exterior Christmas lights onto the house, and we wrapped the big tree. Our two large light up wreaths went up onto the garage, and so all that are left are the present bearing gecko, and the Santa Claus train. All of which stay on the ground and can go up later in the month. I have no bricks to weigh them down, so I need the winds to subside, or else I will forever be out there standing them all back up, and pounding additional stakes into the ground. A dozen old bricks would really come in handy right about now!

I can’t believe we will be able to put up the Christmas tree in a few more weeks. How exciting! I bought two additional strands of lights for the tree too. I bought some last year aswell. I just love the sight of a well luminated faux tree. Not enough to go buy a new $500.00 or more pre-lit tree from Canadian Tire, or Home Depot, or Walmart. I can think of better ways to drop five or six hundred bucks around the holidays. That would cover presents for everybody! Insanity.

Just taking a quick glance around here, and it is going to take some doing to get this house ready for the holidays. A big clear out with bags full of trash. A giant sorting spectacular is needed to get all the little bits and pieces organized between toy types & brands. Baskets upon baskets of sorted items lay in my near future. Cardboard boxes to be condensed and thrown in the recycling. It’s a hell of a task to undertake. Needs to be done if the tree is to go in our living room for Christmas. I need tables cleared off, I need the island declutter, I need the toy boxes to be dejunkified, and all the bits up off the floor. Puzzles put back in their respective boxes, and books back up on the shelves, and toys claimed by a bedroom, toy box, bin or basket. Failing that – straight into a trash bag. DVDs to go back downstairs to the entertainment wall for filing away. Plants back on their stands and off the living room floor. Crafting projects either completed or stored away with all the needed parts so it isn’t junk in six weeks. Hundreds of Shopkins put away. The list is both long and varied. It also never ends.

In other news one of my older brothers had a press release today regarding his recent promotion to CIO at Assent. They did a little blurb and even had a proper photo taken! Well done. The C-Suites calling your name! Heed the call and earn some big bucks in the very prestigious role.

And on the bomb shell, I’ll bid you adieu. Ciao Bella!

Dehydration usually leads to some level of constipation. Yes – you’ve guessed it! Yet another insightful look at living with Crohn’s Disease, and IBS. A behind the scenes look at what living with malabsorption really looks, feels, and smells like. TMI warnings for everyone! Get your splash guards on, wash your hands, and turn on the ceiling exhaust fan because we are going live on report from the basement bathroom with our special guest – Crohn’s Ileitous! A round of applause if you would all be do kind. **brief half hearted applause break**

So happy you could join us in studio today folks, have we got a treat for you all…

That’s how my Monday feels. I can also hear my youngest freaking out about going to school this morning, so I best hurry about my business and get back upstairs, and into the fray. Ciao Bella!

Around our house we try to not let holiday fever kick in until after Remembrance Day. It’s not much of a reprieve, but that cuts two weeks off of the earliest portion of the build up. The kids will have an assembly to practice for, poems to memorize, and drawings of poppies to complete. That covers enough crafting that they aren’t left itching for something Santa Clause related to do – yet. Plus it helps that we also have two family birthdays in early December, so that becomes a partial focus too. It isn’t that I don’t like Christmas. I love it. If I were wealthy I would decorate the house like a pro with holly boughs and lights, additional trees, and all sorts of streamers and knick-knacks. But I’m not, so I don’t.  Plus our kid’s stuff is everywhere and the type of decorating I’d want to do would require a spotless showroom look to the house. Not ideal for kids under nine years of age. Once the kids get older I might actually be able to decorate for the holidays how I’ve always wanted to. Our pre-lit Martha Stewart Christmas tree is on its last legs. None of the pre strung bulbs light up anymore. So a new tree would be in order at any time in the future. I just loathe the idea of spending $500.00 as the base price for what appear to be less than stellar trees. I’ll just buy more light strands and try to hide how shabby the tree is. Can’t go wrong with more white and colourful light strands on the seven foot tall tree. We also like to overload our tree with every single decoration we own. I used to decorate with a colour coordinated scheme, but as the kids grow up and help more, we’ve moved away from a motif in favour of total coverage. So it isn’t a dislike for the Holiday season, I just find that too much build up places far too much pressure on the actual day. No matter how prepared you are, nor how thoughtful the gifts, a straight two month build up will leave the kids underwhelmed on the actual day. That’s the part I don’t like. So we try to shorten the building up period by observing other events and birthdays so that we really only have three full weeks of intense Santa Claus present delivery worship. That’s the best I can offer.

Still lots to do around here today. Need to dig up all of the Dahlias, and the Glad bulbs too. If we leave them any longer they are going to die in the cold. Plus I would love to put the exterior lights up on the house. It isn’t freezing rain, nor extremely windy today, so a great time to do the lights. They don’t have to be connected to the timer right now. Just up on the eaves, and not on my to-do list. I’m going to start further back on the far side of the house to avoid having to go behind the giant Lilac Bush on the opposite side. I just hope I have enough plastic clips left to do it all. UV rays wreak havoc on those little clips. They become brittle little shrapnel bombs when you have to torque them to get the light strand into them. Such fun!

I need to eat breakfast. The time change is upon us. Kids chose not to sleep in at all. As though that were actually an option. Ha. Psst! It really wasn’t. These kids would run amok twenty three hours a day if you let them. What’s this, what’s that? Like two smaller Jack Skelingtons all day long, every single day, without fail. Tireless little whirl winds of chaos and destruction. Luckily we’ve been training them to do various chores so that they contribute to the running of the household. Sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, and washing windows. I’d be just as happy if they could put their dirty laundry inside their hampers, and not on the floor, or hang up the clothes they’ve pulled off of hangers accidentally. But that’s just me being wishful.

Have a great lazy Sunday. Ciao Bella!

Was out until just after midnight having drinks with friends and I haven’t been that tipsy in a very long time. My friend pours like the Legion. Heavy on the alchohol. Light on the mixer. Wowzers. Barely finished the second and was finding it challenging to stand up to go pee. Ha. Been a while since I’ve been there. Gladly went to bed without the spins, and awoke with no hangover. Thankfully. I thought we were going to have to go finish planting 7,500 bulbs of garlic, but the rains have put a kink in that plan. Glad I utilized the sunny day yesterday to do all of the outdoor chores, except mowing the lawn. That I can do in the next couple days if the rain stops. I managed to mulch up about eleven bags worth of fallen leaves. And put away all of the patio furniture too. I was a very productive person yesterday.

Even got out to return an oversized piece of luggage and grab a bag full of tacos for my wife and I. Which doesn’t sound like much, but a freshly made authentic taco is so, so delicious. Mmmm. So good.

Tried to get the updated Covid/SARS vax yesterday but had the appointment canceled by Shoppers when I arrived because they don’t have any on hand. They straight up lied to my face about having called me and leaving a message. I said you know our phones log all calls, AND my voicemail box is empty. Plus – no text messages to show I missed a call while out of network range, nor a speech to text message of the spoken voicemail. Liars. Just own up that you forgot to call, apologize, and move on. Don’t repeatedly lie to my face when I have the call logs on my phone, and no VM messages, pings, alerts or notifications for the day beyond my calls to my wife. Moronic. I keep receipts on things like that. Don’t embarrass yourself. Not a good look.

Anyway – have a great Saturday. Ciao Bella!

Stressed about an upcoming event? Why not try misplacing a packing slip for an important item you need to return, so that you can purchase the right sized item you need instead. Do you need aggravation in your life? Try forgetfulness. Do you have the perfect, super secret hiding spot where you place things of supreme importance, but can only think of it that one time? Do you have a portal into an alternate dimension where you can store anything – once & for all? Try aggravation, it really tops things off. Makes a great add-on to an already tense situation. Can be greatly impacted upon by finding multiple items have been hidden away! Fun for the whole family. Aggravation – By Design. Those guys are everywhere!

See that? That’s a call back. A reference to a silly bit I did a week or two ago. Follow along closely enough here and you just might get rewarded with silly shit like that. An Easter egg which nobody cares about. That’s called being “Elite“. Or asshole in French. Isn’t language beautiful.

Happy Friday to all my peeps putting their patio furniture away while it’s still sunny and above zero this weekend. Dig out those shovels from the garage or shed, the white terror will be here before you know it. Also get some ice melt, and book your tire change over soonish. Words to the wise TM.

Man I miss some aspects of my college/university years. Namely going out for a drink in a crowded bar with lots of friends. Being a shameless hermit the last four years has had some lasting effects on some of our friend circles. Nobody is dead, that I am aware of, but we are all hiding away from Covid and aren’t getting together for board games, drinks, dinners or movies any more. Rather isolating, especially since I work alone, from home. Though this year is better as my wife has the year off, so I do have one person to talk to regularly between 8:00am and 3:00pm, roughly speaking. So that has been really pleasant. Going to be really quiet next year when she goes back to work again.

Yes, my lede was about the first scene, of about 4 minutes of the movie where Rooney Mara dumps Jesse Eisenberg in the local pub. Made me remember having family and friends up in our college town twenty some odd years ago to eat and drink in a ritzy pub downtown. Plus I had just watched a YouTube video essay on the writing and directing/editing of The Social Network. It’s been a while since I’d seen it, so I grabbed my dvd copy and sat down to watch it last night. Still has the $6.99 price tag on it from when Blockbuster liquidated all of their on premise assets. Which is going back a few years too. Lots of clear memories pre pandemic, and a muddled puddle of memories here during. The whole 2020-2023 stretch has flowed together into a great morass of overlapping memory holed incidents. Panic, fear, and high stress will do that to you. Or so I’m told.

Had to begin the process of discarding all the rotten gourds and pumpkins today. The recent frosts, and rains have done a number on all my exposed legume decorations. Mushy, stinky pumpkins are a whole lot like russian roulette. Will it come apart in my hands and drench me in the stink? Or will it last until the compost pile? Nobody knows! Step right up, but don’t wear your best clothes or you’ll regret it.

Also means I’ll get more pumpkins next year as the seeds ride out the winter in the heap, and sprout up as any number of vines come late Spring, early Summer. That’s a crap shoot too. Are the vines for pumpkins, or tiny gourds? Which kinds? Yellow, white, pink, orange pumpkins, or striped long necked gourds? The vines all look the same! Whee!

Speaking of gardening, I’ll need to transplant at least two saplings in the spring as I don’t want to keep them near the house/foundation where they currently reside. I attempted to move a Walnut in the fall, but we were in a 21 day drought and I do not believe the sapling survived the move. We’ll see for sure next year. I moved an Oak the year before and it was really rainy, and that one didn’t survive either. So, who knows what will work when moving trees around here in late September or October. I sure as hell don’t.

Happy Thursday, we are now into November! Ahhhhhh! This year is moving so quickly! Best try to finish the last two books on my list. My Adrian Tchaikovsky, and a new Murderbot book coming later this month. Which, I do believe is to be the last book in the series. I hope it is both long and exciting. Cheers to what I hope will be a great finale to a wonderful set of novels, which are on the shorter side. May all the last books of a series you follow be great! Ciao Bella.

Didn’t even get to see the kids in their costumes, or go visit all the pumpkins we spent hours carving out in the damp rain the last few days. I spent that time wrapped in blankets, hydrating a headache and napping. I woke up and caught a few episodes of Friends randomly, but otherwise not how I intended to spend my Halloween night. All that build up to feel like absolute dog shit on the day, and then miss it all. Boo-Urns! Hiss!

So I guess I’ll leave the blow ups out for atleast another night to make up for missing the big day. I didn’t hear too many people outside with the bowl of candy. Must have been a quiet night. I didn’t see flash lights, reflectors, head lamps, glow sticks or anything of that nature. Well, I say that, but I did see one kid in a light up costume, so I guess that counts towards the tally? Yeah. It does.

Now that we’re into November I need to do invoices and look towards putting up the exterior Christmas lights while it isn’t snowing, or freezing rain. I’ll give that a day or two more before I do any of that. Take care of yourselves iut there. Ciao Bella.

Gearing up for the Halloween spectacle by spending several hours gutting, cleaning, and carving up pumpkins for the “Happy Halloween” display on my inlaws front lawn. We recently erected a brand new 13ft tall Jack Skelington that lights up, sings, and moves it’s head side to side. It is pretty menacing when you get right up underneath it. Wasn’t too hard to assemble either, which is nice.

Our house has five blow ups, a light up pumpkin, and about 100 gourds laying around. Oh, and some bloody hand prints on the brick work as a final touch. We’ll have those well into the new year I imagine.

Best of luck to you all with kids in your lives, for a cold night ahead walking around trick or treating.