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Category: With Thoughts Like These

Acerbic Anaerobic Excercises for the forthright and direct.

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Some days the hardest part about writing is coming up with a useable title to follow. Usually I utilize it as a lead in for my one sided conversations, other times it’s a click baity nonsense jumble to attract attention, and other times I think it’s a funny thing to say. Doesn’t really matter. I don’t think a mere title has ever gotten me more views, clicks, eye balls or deeper reading into the ole back catalogue of 555 days of entries. Some will say it is a numbers game, others tap into rage, some humour, and others technical skills or an educated treatise on a subject worthwhile of attention. Not this guy. Domestic Duties Monday, or Wednesday, Hump Day, Middle of the Week Day diatribes about laundry, messy kids, the local weather, and jabbering on about freelance graphic design, or attempting to finish my short story collections, and an illustrated children’s book. You won’t find Nobel Prize winning content here. A fair bit of snark is available though. Plus TMI stories of Crohn’s Disease, and intestinal distress. Glory to those whom behold such words. Words, I say! Explicit, delicate, sonorous words. Munch. Blather. Bile. So many to choose from.

I have some website headers to produce today, a few more photo edits to make, and a series of event posters too. Work is a bit lighter this week. I do need to hit up the local Lifelabs for blood work this afternoon, so that’s there, sitting on my mind. Here’s hoping my requisition form is still in good standing, or it may be a shorter visit than intended. Then a late day school pick up for my oldest, whisked off for an indigenous day downtown with a school club for a speaking event. They all seemed pretty excited about it. Happy to see it. Now I just need to wait around between 3:00pm, and 4:30pm or potentially later for their bus to come in. Hopefully they will update us using the parents Facebook group. That would be a really great service.

Pretty sure today is Thursday. Mid to late June all ready, I can hardly believe it. I mean I should, my Visa bill came in all ready so that’s always a strong indication the month is about to close out. Had another birthday party invite for the kids today, up to four now for the next two weeks alone. At this pace I’m going to go broke buying Lego sets for other families. Ha. Ain’t that the truth. Thus far I have planned nothing for the summer. To be totally honest I haven’t had the time to think. Well, up until this week I had been going pretty hard with work, but I saw a real slow down very recently, and I did some additional tree pruning, and house cleaning. But I haven’t given much thought to summer activities beyond the park, the farm for weeding, rock removal & watering, or swimming at the in-laws. We can visit area splash pads, but the pool is more private, and has far fewer interlopers. I don’t expect I’ll be all that busy until late August and beyond. As the events have to happen before we can audit them, or conduct research. I have done almost no wood working this spring either. Was too busy with freelance design work (which is a good thing). And what little extra time I did have available I spent cleaning up, tearing down, and reorganizing the space to make it feel more open, and less cluttered. Now I can fit my lawn mower down two aisles from front to back of my shop space and not get snagged on anything. A miracle. That allows me to move bicycles around for repair & maintenance work too. A true boon. I do have a big box full of burnable stuff to go out, but I’m not that concerned about it right now. I have done a pretty decent job of decluttering and opening up floor space, so for now I am satisfied.

Well, I need to eat breakfast and send some proofs off for review. Talk again soon. Ciao Bella!

A good nights sleep can be so elusive.

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If there was one thing (among many) that I would change in my life it would have to be the quality of sleep I get on a consistent basis. I’d like more nights of restful slumber, and fewer spent restless, tossing & turning, or hot, and awake watching the seconds tick away on the clock. I think that that one particular change (if I knew what change to make) would have positive knock-on effects throughout the rest of my day, and thus improve my life just a tiny bit. As it stands I do get ok sleep off and on, but I’d rather have a 70-30 split of great nights sleep to bad, than say a 51-49 split. Is it the mattress, pillows, air quality, temperature, air flow, sound, the amount of ambient light in the room at night, stress, illness, my evening routine? I don’t know what factors into the good sleep nights versus the bad ones. I know that acid reflux contributes to some of the bad ones, so now I try not to eat after 8:00pm if I can help it. I’m also not shy with the Tums if I have any inkling that my stomach is going to wreak havoc on my night. So many factors to consider. Also, do I have sleep apnea? I know that I snore. I have to sleep on my side or belly to really get any rest at all. Things to ponder as I get older still. Fun times. Deserves a more thorough exploration. Perhaps some documentation, a list or spreadsheet of trial and error tactics to try. I don’t know, I’m not a specialist nor a medical professional. I’ll put a pin in it and will have to revisit.

Fear not, today is Wednesday. You’ve made it to the middle of the work week. Congratulations. I know that some weeks sort of suck. But fear not, you are closer now to the end of it, than the beginning.

We have a weekend full of birthday parties to look forward to. Hope the weather cooperates between 10:00am and 2:00pm each day of this weekend. Otherwise it can rain or storm all it wants. I need to wrap my kid’s gifts at some point soon too. I kept it fairly low key this year. There isn’t much that they don’t already have lots of. Also, on a side note, can you believe that schools out for summer by next Friday before noon! That’s insane. Funny how a school year that feels like it never ends suddenly creeps up on you and just ends. What a weird phenomenon. But I bet that comes from focusing on the end date and nothing else beyond it. I recently read that Buzz Aldrin was so focused on walking on the moon that after her accomplished it, he came home empty and devoid of purpose and became deeply depressed, and an alcoholic. I get that. You see it all the time with people who have Fairy Tale wedding dreams for The Day Of, and nothing else planned for the hours, days, weeks, months, or years after. We are weird that way. Blinders on for this one thing – get it, or do it, and then…. nothing. So odd.

So this whole DIY submersible thing, what a shit show eh? They were not selling it with that unserious NBC/ABC reporting they did on OceanGate a few months or years back. I’m not a big fan of massively open water, so the idea of going into somebodies cobbled together burial chamber seems foreign to me. I don’t even like the idea of the glass bottomed tour sub at Sea World that was just 2 ft from the surface. I hated that ride with a passion, and you could have just stood up and touched the surface. So 4000m down… nope! No. Nuh-uh, never, nada, nein, nyet. But then I don’t much like snorkeling, and wouldn’t bother with scuba gear either.

And not only that but now you have organized pods of Orcas just having at it destroying yachts, and other seafaring craft by attacking the rudders. Madness. Stay out the water. Let us all collect our thoughts and regroup. That’s all I’m saying. Those things in the water have several millions of years of evolution on us, so best to leave them be. What a week! Ciao Bella

What the night held… a retrospective on an evening to myself.

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Got the kids 6 man tent set up, and the rain guard attached, and then promptly drove myself home with tunes blaring out the car windows at full volume. Walked in the door and gathered up my movie choices, spirits from the downstairs fridge, and all the components for my karaoke machine. Had the karaoke set up while I created a pitcher of Sex on the beach, substituting blue raspberry freezies for the crushed ice. Seven up, on, cranberry raspberry cocktail, peach schnapps and lemon vodka and the evening was off to a great start. I sang a bunch, then moved to the couch to watch some motorcycle rebuild videos, and also some Adam Savage Tested back log that I had passed up on earlier in the month. Spent two hours watching videos, and reading twitter, and looking through IG. At 9pm I was ready to watch a movie, and I settled on Aliens, because I think it’s great. Set that up ready to press play. I watched the sun go down from the back porch for a breath of fresh air. I had played guitar earlier in the day while waiting on a response to some photo editing, so I killed that bug early on. Didn’t need to lug an amp, guitar, pedals and cords up into the living room. Which is good, since the mixed drink(s) were not weak. Not overly strong, just not watery. I ate some proper Tea Biscuits while I watched 2/3 of Aliens, then had a shower and went to bed at… drom-roll please… 11:52pm. So I hit my mark, and exceeded it slightly, without being obnoxious about it. Slept soundly until 7:30am, and here we are. Not the raucous bacchanal I’m sure others would have engaged in, but a good enough Friday night for me. I had so many options open to me that I couldn’t do them all, and I had to pick just a few of the basics and be satisfied with my choices. Yes I could have sculpted, or painted, or started a wood working project, or written a brand new short story, or any manner of other things. I’m good with the mixed drinks, movie, snacks, shower, and internet video rabbit-holing on YouTube. Five hours isn’t that crazy an amount of time. Kids will be home in an hour, so staying up WAY later would have been a bad choice to make.

I didn’t order any food, my wife was kind enough to bring home take out for us all prior to their evening camping event with Guides. So I was pretty full and didn’t need more than a few biscuits to get me through the evening stretch. Glorious.

Plus now I need to mow the lawn, and I don’t fancy doing that hung over. That’s an awful job to do with a turned stomach, pounding headache, and a desire to lie down and vomit. Those days are 97% behind me now. Ha. Happy Saturday.

Sobering moment.

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Last night my oldest fell (for a silly reason I won’t mention to avoid further embarrassment) and cut herself fairly badly on a tin can from our recycling. What saddened me was she was so afraid I’d be mad that she hid the actual scalloped wound and only showed me this very minor scrape on the outside of her shoulder. But as she became very pale, I asked her to go lie down, and if she needed a bucket, because she is prone to vomiting at blood/pain. This should have been my first clue to stop and really examine her. But I asked and asked “are you ok?” And didn’t pry or really focus. Her ashen face really should have twigged my senses and I dropped that ball, badly. It wasn’t until later at night when she wanted to replace a bandaid for bed, which she had secretly put on earlier, that my wife and I saw the true extent of her real injury. A 2.5 inch long gash, nah! Scalloped divot cut out of her arm pit (or near enough) that was still bleeding 2 hrs in. We dabbed it, and added Polysporin, and applied a larger sterile pad, and sent her to bed. But it bothered me that she was more afraid we’d be mad, than seek help for what very nearly could have been a horrific injury. Had it of gotten into her actual armpit, hit a lymph node, or worse an artery, she’d have hidden it and bled out before we knew enough to apply a tourniquet which I have in the house for lacerations! I was terribly angry at myself, one; for the cut lids being up on the cans I’d opened that day, and two; my child being afraid I’d be mad about a little mess on the floor rather than being concerned for her well being. I realize I harp on at them for making messes, and their lackadaisical cleaning efforts, but I’d hoped they knew I loved them more than I care about a clean kitchen floor.

Seems I have some revaluation of my demeanor to look into. I say “I love you”, lots, but do I show it enough? I realize I’m not terribly sympathetic. Usually it’s a result of people hurting themselves by doing exactly what I have asked them not to, in order to avoid injury. So… I should work on that. By being more sympathetic, and having greater empathy for little kids trying to learn by doing. Gotta make those mistakes to learn the hard lessons I guess. I wanted to shield them from all that pain, but they do it anyway, much to my annoyance. So there. Yes. It’s all me. I definitely need to work on that. Seek out to comfort first, before being annoyed or upset. Leave the lecture for after we’ve all been patched up and looked after. Sounds reasonable. What a way to learn that lesson for myself. Yikes. I feel terrible about it. I’m writing it down, so it won’t soon be forgotten. Cheese. Huh.

Yeah – so welcome to Thursday. Talent show today. Hope that goes ok, as we’ve got more rain and storms coming. Not to mention my daughters injury to contend with for her act. I need to go edit some photography, and look over my daughters book report. Take care. Feel free to be introspective today too. Ciao Bella!

The Inevitability of Changing Tastes.

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I’ll give you one example, that came up just today. The idea of a massive bowl of candy for breakfast was once ‘The Dream’ to have at my disposal when I was eight. Now the idea of a bowl full of sugar makes my stomach turn. If I’m going to bother to eat breakfast now, it will be Raisin Bran or some kind of Nuts n’ Honey type thing, with granola in it. Still sweet, but not primarily sugar based. For a very long time I couldn’t eat breakfast because I always woke up feeling like I would throw up if I ate anytime between 5:45am and 9:00am. Never found out why that was.

But nowadays staring across the island at a bowl of Sugar Crisp, Lucky Charms, Coco Pebbles, or Count Chocula would probably make me want to just pour it in the green bin. Can’t do it. I’m not more conservative, I’m just not interested in sticky sugary teeth, and ultra sweet cereals any more. Grown out of it. Can’t point to the exact date and time I switched, but I switched nonetheless. Funny how that happens.

I still don’t drink coffee, tea or any sort of wine. Though!, I will say this. Yellow Tail makes a delicious sparkling white wine called “Bubbles” that I will mix with Orange, Cranberry, or Grape juice on Christmas, Boxing Day, and New Year’s Day mornings along with a piping hot cooked breakfast. That I will indulge in. Otherwise I don’t really drink any type of wine the rest of the year. I’m more of a Rye and, or a Rum and, type of guy. Usually with Coke. Not the sniffed version, but the red can.

Last year I bought all the spirits I needed to make Sex on the Beach, a rather involved mixed drink, by my standards. And I found it to be exceptionally good. It takes far more work to produce than I would typically care for, but when I bother to make a pitcher of the stuff, BAM! I’m into it, like a dogs nose in a crotch. Which reminds me, I need to buy more orange juice, Cranberry cocktail, ice, and some Sprite/7Up if I’m going to make myself some for Father’s Day next weekend. We have some fancy cheeses I bought for my wife’s birthday that we have left over, I’ll grab some fresh bread. Watch a movie, drink(s) in hand, cheese at my side, and maybe play a little guitar while I’m at it. The rest of the family have a sleep over for Guides that doesn’t involve me. A quiet Friday night to myself.

I’m saddened to learn that the new animated Spiderman has been bumped out of imax/AVX theaters for yet another Transformers movie. I’ll need to wait until I can buy it on bluray now. I really wanted to see that in imax 3D for the full experience. I had intentions of going to see Guardians Vol 3 too, but just couldn’t find the time. That’ll come to Disney+ at some point later in 2023, so I’ll still get to see it. I may just buy it on disc anyway. Never k ow when these streaming sites will go bust, or simply pull the content you like and it’s all gone for good. Modern problems.

Today is the big day, both kids perform in their respective dance recitals. Will have a frantic afternoon doing hair & make-up while we dress them in their expensive (yet overly small) costumes. We need to then get them to the venue 90mins prior to showtime, which seems like way too long, for kids this young. Sign them in, then kick rocks in the parking lot for 90 minutes until the doors open and the show starts. Their photos looked really good that they had done for the playbills. Professional and everything.

This is a longer Sunday post that usual. It looks to be drizzling a bit. Roads out front are wet, with standing puddles, agood sign! Take care out there. Ciao Bella!

A movie review.

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I just sat through three plus hours of a bloated animated blue planet promo about whales, and… how can there possibly be plans for three more of these things. This sequel took the longest possible route to having no point whatsoever. No longer in dire need of unobtanium, now we need $80,000,000.00/per glandular serum from a previously unknown organism on a hostile planet. This should have been a finely timed 90 minutes, with like a qr code to a promo web site where you could watch videos of all the flora & fauna doing their weirdo alien shit. This movie DRAGS its ass over 3 hrs and 15 minutes, to do what. Reiterate what we know from the first film? There are multiple clans across the planet. Physiological differences due to regional adaptations. The planet is hostile. The planet is kinda sorta alive in the form of Mother Goddess ‘Eywa’. Sully and the Marine corps don’t see eye to eye. Sully is a shit person, but a decent soldier. Neytiri can hiss and scream in anguish really, really well. Check, check, check. Got it. Anything new to add beyond exquisite visuals? No, not really. I feel as though I watched three hours of filler waiting to be told what the actual story for episode three is going to be. Will there be subterranean mole Na’vi in the next one? We have the fliers, and the swimmers… so are runners next? We already had the six legged horses, so been there already. What other trope can they unleash to pad out two plus hours of a three hour visual extravaganza, which was noticeably light on plot, devoid of character development beyond a skills montage, and had some of the hokiest dialogue I’ve heard in quite some time. Ok dumb ass. Bro! Bro, dude… bro.

If what sells it are the visuals…. you may have a problem. I know it did well, but I’m not sure why. I’m glad I did not have to try and sit through this in a movie theater during the pandemic. I can’t fathom how they can think of making this a five part movie series. It boggles the mind. I need to further collect my thoughts. This warrants a longer, and more thorough shellacking. Idiotic. Asinine.

It’s too late, I need to go to bed.

Bring on parts 3,4, and 5. Good grief.

Something yesterday brought all the boys to the yard,

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And I have no idea what it was, as it’s only listed under archives, and I don’t keep tabs on views for old posts to know what was garnering so much attention. I also don’t know if it was good attention, or bad. My writing can be pretty unflattering at times, though not defamatory, nor inflammatory. Could have been the egg sandwich walk through kicking off again, who knows. I’m ultimately not concerned. Some times I just see a massive spike in daily visits and views, and the rest of the time those numbers are low, low, low, low. Apple bottom Jean’s! Boots with the fur, with the fur!…

Had a productive day yesterday. Hit up the bank to pay my HST, got gas, hit the grocery store for food stuffs, went birthday gift shopping for a party this weekend, sent out some invoices, followed up on some work details, and cut the grass as well. Sent some files off to the appropriate third party, and called it a day. Today is a bit slower, but I did finally get the Christmas lights down off the house. I wanted to do that in April, but we hit a considerable cold spell, and it got windy, and I’m not a fan of being up on a ladder by myself on cold, windy, rainy days. And then I just flat out forgot about it. Was going to do it on the long weekend, but time got away from me. Done now though. Six months until I need to put them back up again. Will have to buy more eaves trough clips, as the sun & cold makes that plastic very brittle after a few months of direct unfettered exposure. Good thing they’re cheap. All boxed up and packed away safely for another year. Or part thereof.

I do need to package up some branding items and send out an invoice today. Otherwise I’m wide open heading into the weekend. This month has whizzed on by huh? Holy schnikes! June, and the last remaining days of school are upon us!

Oh, I also found a moment to watch the Guardians Christmas special. That was an amusing 45 minutes of fun. I did not realize that they had made **SPOILERS** Mantis into Peter’s half sister from Ego’s sexual exploits across the galaxy. Neato! James Gunn always has fun music in his stuff, I liked all the off colour Christmas songs. I will need to add those into the mix this coming holiday season. I get tired of the classics after a brief stint of nostalgia, from hearing them all on repeat again, and again. Over, and over. Some fresh blood in the mix will be a welcome addition I think.

While taking down the lights I also wandered the roof looking for any signs of wind damage, or excess wear & tear. I unclogged one down spout, though now I regret not actively inspecting the other two. Easy enough to do later on with my ladder, but would have been so simple while I was up there to just go look, instead of just examining the shingles. Oh well. Live and learn. That one track mind, singular focus strikes again. And no, in case you are wondering, I don’t enjoy multitasking. It find it a great way to fuck up multiple things at once. Not a fan. Make of that what you will.

On the plus side we are heading into a hot and sunny weekend with the grass already cut, and so I have extra time to enjoy myself outdoors with the kids this weekend. Happy Friday, the last one in May 2023 at that! Ciao Bella.

Looking at a long haul next week.

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I have an absolutely gigantic project coming my way this weekend that will need to be completed, reviewed & edited by Thursday of next week. It’s going to be a mad rush to get it all done. Assuming the overall length is similar to last years compare and contrast document of approximately 120 pages. I’ve sourced 50-60 images, have the colour palette ready to roll, and the early parameters of the document set up, but there is still an awful lot of tables and graphs to do once I get that information made available to me. Going to be a squeaker! Plus side is they like the charts and such 2 dimensional, so no added steps there. But what time I make up there, goes into all the additional tables, colour coding, and italicizing needed. No wonder my wrists burn after one of these behemoths. So that’s next week planned out from start to finish. Got a jump on a different large scale project, but technically that doesn’t begin until May 1st. So making headway where I can right now.

I do believe that today is Thursday. Got some grocery shopping out of the way this morning, then paid my Visa bill. Yikes! Groceries and gas and my generator purchase put my bill WAY up. Gotta bring that back down. Have taxes to pay in the next week! Gotta stay on task. I tell you that tap, tap, tapping of the card will get you in the end. Whoo boy. Hot a little tap happy in April. Must have been all that warm weather! Yeah right.

Gotta eat, then get back to work. Ciao Bella.

Looking forward to a good Spring Cleaning.

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Reclaiming space by decluttering and purging junk is a favored pass time of mine. Cardboard, broken stuff, wood chunks, old crappy particle board furniture, you name it, I love to break it down and throw it away once it has finished being useful. Although in regards to particle board, if the pieces are big enough, and still smooth, I may save a panel or two for making jigs for wood working, but the item itself will no longer be around. Waste not – want not. Reduce, reuse, recycle, and all that jazz.

I am really wrestling with what I’d like to do with my garage shop space. It is very tight in there. I need to sell off a tool or two that I don’t really use (namely the radial arm saw) as that could be replaced by upgrading my mitre saw to a 12″ saw blade version, with a sliding feature. I regain a few feet of open space on the floor around my table saw, and can remove one mostly unused item from the shop. Now I do use the radial arm saw because it has a 16 inch reach to it, but a larger chop saw would just about do the same, so rather than hauling items from one station to another, I could do them all in one spot, forever more. Sounds great. One – slight hitch. New  sliding compound mitre saws are expensive. Like nearly $1,000.00 expensive. So not going to happen any time soon.

I also toy with getting rid of my mastercraft work bench in favour of a two tiered rolling tool box. But, this may be a vanity thing, rather than a necessity. I would like to have more room in the drawers to not have to pile wrenches, and sockets on top of each other, but do I need a full tool chest to do so? I can easily justify it to myself, but… you know. Probably shouldn’t. My garage isn’t just a wood shop. It’s also where I maintain my lawn mower and weed eater. Where we store exterior lights and decorations for several holidays, it’s where I work on minor (very minor) car stuff, like light bulbs, coolant, brake fluid, power steering fluid, and the wheels. It’s also where I have my arc welding machine, and angle grinder and such. So I like having this stored together by activity, but separated by task. I want to reclaim space, but on the other hand I want to maintain separate zones too. It’s a mess – my head. I want, I want, wah-wah-wah.

I realize how particular I am, don’t you worry about that. I see it every day in my kids. Stubbornness comes from the wife, particularity from my side of the family. Pragmatic, pedantic & particular. I’m fun at parties. So yeah. Spring cleaning is great. I have big plans, no budget, and the tastes of a trillionaire Saudi King. Ha. The real question is, would a single or double cabinet actually save me space in the end? I like the idea of my unused rags, and finishes, and paint not being covered in dust and debris. And then being able to tear down the now motionless tool carts I build. They haven’t moved an inch since I parked them in their current locations about 6 years ago. I can reclaim the castor wheels off of at least 2 carts for future projects.

Something I need to consider is: do I really intend to optimize the work space, or am I bored and looking to introduce something new to the mix just because? Ooh. That’s a tough one. I do get angry when building some items because of how little space there is, but I am also a notorious room rearranger to make things feel new again. There’s more here than I care to get into. So happy Easter Long Weekend, Good Friday, etc etc… Ciao Bella!

Things that I accomplished yesterday.

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Can’t be resting on those laurels for long, so today we acknowledge what we’ve finished, and then we turn to face the front and keep on truckin’. I managed to finish book number eleven (11) of my twelve books in a calendar year challenge. Mo Hayder’s “Ritual”, which was… anticlimactic at best? A 400 plus page book about two or more adults who are unable to deal with loss, whether it was recent or from their childhood. And a sub plot about ghastly mutilation & murder. I thought there was going to be a bigger build up to pay off, but, eh! Not bad, not awful. I mean I finished it, and we all know I have no problem giving up on books part way in. But… a bit of a let down in the end. I think that is the third or fourth Mo Hayder book I’ve read. The others were far superior. This one was more melancholy than suspenseful. Tick it off the list. Book eleven is in the can! So I turn to another Richard Morgan book to complete the twelve. His 2008 novel “The Steel Remains”. More light hearted and humorous than “Black Man” or any of the Altered Carbon series. Let us hope it stays good so that I can complete my 12 book challenge. Although if I get enough pages between multiple unfinished books, I’d take the page count of what was read, add it up, and if it crosses 250, I’d call my challenge done. If I’m being honest. Cover to cover is the goal, but I’ll take partial credit for pages read in a pinch.

Second item on the list was to finally sit down and watch Sony Studios’ “Morbius”. Which felt much like “Venom”, in that it was ok. Obviously lower budget than standard MCU fare, but not horrendous. It wasn’t a Uli Boll film, so it wasn’t unwatchable. Slightly better than Venom 2, the Carnage one with Woody Harrelson. It even had one of the actors from Andor in it. I’ve had that dvd in my possession since Christmas, so I’m glad to finally take that off of my personal to do list. The kids had dance last night, and costume fittings, and dinner with Grandma, so I had an additional 90 minutes on my hands. Nearly three hours of free time to watch a movie, eat, finish my book, and shower in peace.

Also, I finished all the sanding on the Urn. Up to 800 grit with hand sanding using a rubber hand block. Buttery smooth. I used a torch to make the grain pop, and then needed to move through the grits again back up to 800 grit. No matter. Looks good. I’m happy with it. I even managed to get some Osmo finish on it, and buff it off with my polisher. Very nice! Today I want to add feet, and perhaps some spacers to stop the lid sliding around. We’ll see how we feel later on. But I can see the end of the tunnel on this one. Glad to put it behind me. I have since learned that the recipient is not sure if they want it anymore, so I may keep it for myself, for future use. I’m not afraid of that kind of preparation. Live and learn.

I have burgundy, yellow, emerald green, and this blue felt to choose from. Think HP House colours.

I’m also just about ready to rewash my resin kit in warm soapy water, to make sure all of the mould release is gone. I don’t want any part of this thing to peel or puckers or wear off prematurely. Given how much time and effort it takes to test fit, sand, and scribe lines, and fill holes, and pin together, and find work around for misshapen joints, I don’t fancy my expensive paints peeling off of it just hours after laying it down because I missed a spot.

So here we are, Thursday. Looking at the four day long weekend for Easter. By next Wednesday the temperatures supposed to reach above 20°C. That’s wild. I’d settle for three to five weeks at the 14°C range, and rains over night, and storms while we’re all sound asleep. As I understand Ottawa had an ice storm recently, with parts of the city without power. Yikes.

Oh in work related news, we managed to get just about all items off to the printers. Some items that require a third parties input were held up, but that’s honestly to be expected at this point. So yeah! Fantastic news. Ciao Bella!