So I was having a restless day. I am between stories and didn't want to spend all weekend sitting in front of the computer. Longpig and Wererogue were going out to a kid birthday party with the smalls, and while I often appreciate having the house to myself, that isn't what I was after today. So I decided I would try and go out

I posted on facebook and considered suggestions there and from Nary to go for a walk somewhere, but ultimately decided that Id already taken the dogs for a long walk, and I didn't know what condition any of the in-town trails were like, and it was cold and snowy and windy. Another friend said I should come out and see her at her monthly tarot gig near one of the farmers' markets in town, and that's what I opted to do. I went to the market first and bought Too Many Treats, then went to check out the used bookshop where she was. She was with another client, and I realized I was going to need cash, so I went off in search of the nearest bank machine. Which wasn't too far, and it was a chance to walk around town in an area I'm not in much. I realized I was just down the street from a taco shop I've been meaning to try, and put that on my mental list.

Once I got back from the bank, my friend was free, so I did a reading. The first part was very much the part of Tarot where it is a matter of perspective to tell you things that, really, you already know. The second part was really way out in left field. I mean you never know what can happen, I guess! After that - tacos! They were really good, with nice soft corn tortillas (the best way imho). After that - home!

I dug out my own highly neglected tarot deck when I got home and did some spreads for myself on that second issue which made more sense, and then because I am a nerd I did spreads for some of my gaming character. One of them got a reading where the four 'cross' points of the celtic cross spread were all reversed major arcana, so that was interesting :V Good luck with life there, Xan :V

During that Wererogue brought pizza to my room, like some kind of stealth pizza delivery. And then later he was in the kids room on which someone had taped a 'keep out' note so I don't know what kind of shenanigans are going on with the smalls, but clearly something!

I took the dogs out for their walk, and it is snowing harder. I actually really like walking outside in the winter when it is snowing, when I'm prepared for it, so it was really nice. There is something magically nostalgic about orange sodium light form streetlight on fresh snow! Also, I'm hoping that it will snow enough that I can maybe take my snowshoes out for a test in the field across the street, and thus justifying the money I spent on them ;p And hey if it keeps snowing I can maybe use them for their intended purpose and use them to get in to work when the trails aren't broken and I don't feel like slogging through deeper snow :3

Day three of the conference was also great! The last session was super informative about some of the issues of underwater archaeology in Ontario, and I did a little bit more networking, including someone who is going to be relevant to my job stuff in the near future. So hopefully that was beneficial! It made me itch to get back into doing research again, though and.... I doubt that will ever happen. Especially not for maritime landscape stuff. Pleh :/

It was snowing as I was making to leave, and it took so long to get ahold of a cab I was worried about missing my train! But I didn't, I just didn't get anything like lunch, and bought a bag of overpriced chips from a station vending machine to tide me over.

And then on the walk home from the station on this end of things, it was snailing! That's snow/hail :p It wasn't too bad though, as I was dressed for it and it wasn't blowing in my face.

Tonight I made a brownie pie in a cream cheese crust. I was not overly fond of the crust, in the end. I'm sure it could be made well, but I don't think this was the right recipe. The brownie bit was delicious though! I also looked over stuff for the oneshot I'm running next weekend at Windsorcon (the northerly counterpart to Webercon. Much smaller, for now...)

I really need to start my Yuletide story. I have an idea, I just need time to write...

PS I'm still sick. Still coughing, still have a head full of crud, and a resurgence of a sore throat for the past two and a half or so days. Pleh again!

-Games have been super great! I would do a write up of last sessions' Diablotin if I had time :p
-Voltron Season 4 was also great!
-Work has been crap!
-I am slowly formulating ideas for my yulefic!
-I am full of brownies and cheese. so so so full.


That is all, I am up too late, but at least you get this Lucky you?

I have eloquent thoughts sometimes,but rarely time/energy to express them. I suppose practice helps. I can make myself write entries fairly regularly, but I can't make them into things anyone is much interested in reading.

Pie party went well! We talked a lot about DILFs I guess, and also swirly porn and whether that's a thing (it is). We ate a respectable amount of pie and ice cream.

Work continues to be something all right. My back continues to be messed up and uncomfortable if not in straight up pain. My dog continues to be awesome (I got to spend some time with her alone in an otherwise dog free area).

I guess things are pretty okay.

I did some things are work today but it was mostly pointless. We got an AED though, and had a little walkthrough on how to use it. Though really it tells you what to do so it isn't so bad.

We ordered from a Korean/Japanese place tonight and it was tasty! Tomorrow I have an errand to run out in the work side of town, so I'll be late getting hme and may wind up just grabbing something while I'm out. And the day after that is knitting, and I'm going to get poutine!

There are Coyotes down by the rover. The river that is across the street beyond a vacant overgrown meadow/lot. There are coyotes basically across the street from my house. I saw one there last yer once, but this was *multiple*. They've been going *nuts* every time there there are sirens. I'll have to be careful when I take the dogs out, though it is usually light enough on either side of the day that it shouldn't be too much of a problem. One of the neighbours is going to call the nature conservancy that owns the river parks, so maybe they can put up signs and warn other people.... There are far too many outdoor cats in this area. I mean with the river right there, I would think it is a bad idea period but the weather has been so mild this past year that the coyotes were pretty much an inevitability. I do think my neighbour is correct that it means there aren't as many people living along the river this year, so that's.... probably good? Assuming it is because they have somewhere else to go!

If you are interested, remind me and I will post a pic of the street so you can get a better sense of the proximities. It's dark out now though. And I'm off to bed!

Today was a suuuuper busy day in the end.

I went down town around noon to pick up some bras I'd ordered, and didn't make it home until almost 6! then after dinner I went out and picked a bunch of mulberries - tomorrow I'm hoping to get my yarn split and re-mordanted, and then I can mash up the berries for dye! I'll probably need more than I have (hough I have close to 2 pounds) because mostly what I have learned with these things is that it takes a *lot* of dyestuffs. Anyway, after that, Nary got here, yay!

Tomorrow is the 150th anniversary of Canada's confederation, but there are some legit reasons not to necessarily just jump right into celebrating, but take a moment to reflect about how we got here, what came before, and what kinds of improvements nd chances we need to work towards. Which I have been trying to at least think about, though downtown today was mostly Canada 150 stuff. I helped with the VR at the work booth for a bit, and watched a raptor (bird) educational display with the kids and took them to get their faces painted. I also bought the stuff to make nanaimo bars, so that has to happen tomorrow too! busy busy....

A day of things that didn't really go as planned...


This morning bubby spilled my scalding hot tea.... fortunately over me and not him or his brother, but it was unpleasant and I needed to change out of the fresh-from-the-laundry pants I'd been planning to wear.

I was supposed to have a training course this afternoon.... but that did not actually happen. Apparently the person running it didn't actually put me on the list, and then there was only one other erson signed up, and it got cancelled. But since I wasn't on the list....

So I bussed to campus and back for nothing, and stiff haven't done the training that will give me access to the billing software that I need to do my job -_-

I did get an ice cap and a donut from Tim's on campus, and I took the forest path back to the building and took some pics, and it didn't actually rain, so that was okay. It isn't like I had anything at all to do at work today anyway :p I saw a LARP person again! Apparently Tim's is the place to go for that. Same person I saw last time that I don't think recognized me, and same thing again >.> I might have been bolder about saying hi if I didn't think I was in danger of being late to my training :p

And then Longpig hadn't soaked the beans to make the dinner she'd planned, and ordered form a bbq place! It was pretty tasty - I especially liked the pulled pork. And I have some for lunch tomorrow, too, so score!

So a day of things not really going as planned, but turning out okay.

Tomorrow, I decided that I *am* going to go to the A Tribe Called R.E.D concert, even if it means going by myself. because I really want to see, them, damnit! And it is not too far from my house, so why not?

Meanwhile, my sister has put squeakers (the kind from dog toys) in her bra, and is taunting my dog ;p

The chocolate cheesecake I helped make (technically I mostly directed Nary's son in the baking thereof, but I took some parts on myself) was delicious, even if it did split while baking. I have had, let's say, more than one piece :p
We've also managed to recreate Abruzzi's version of a Sicillian Sour: small glass, 3 ice cubes, 1 oz amaretto, 1 oz limoncello, fill up the rest of the way with san pellegrino limonada and a wedge of lemon (squeezed). Damned delicious! Might also be nice with a splash of gin, I may need to investigate...

Watched the last episodes of Voltron with the family today. Bubby was a bit distressed about what happened to Shiro, but aren't we all? That's a damned good show, all in all, and I can't wait until the next season this September!

If all goes to plan, tonight will be my last night on this mattress. I'm so excited! Tomorrow I need to do laundry to ensure that I have clean sheets for the new one. Other than that, depending on when the mattress comes, I want to go out and buys some big plastic storage bins so I can rearrange some of my stuff in storage and, maybe, some of the stuff in my room.

I also had Thirteen today, which was the conclusion of a story arc and turned out pretty cool. Now we have some downtime and a chance to recover for a bit, which is nice - I need to think a bit about what my character will be doing with it. I also filled up a journal during game - now I have to decide what i'm going to start using next for game notes, hmmmmm

I feel like I had something else to say but now I forget what. Ahh well, it is unlikely that it was anything important!

Today I gave blood (though my blood pressure was almost too low) and had a fancy lunch at Abruzzi. Then I crashed *hard* until dinner, which was late. Then we made doughnuts. The first time for any of us! They turned out really well. I mostly supervised and rolling them in sugar as they came out of the oil.

Now we are watching MST3K on Netflix! Not the new ones yet, but they put a bunch of old ones up to whet our appetites!

I'm still reaaaaaally tired, so I'm probably crashing out here again soon

Man I almost even forgot what they were. But things!

I finally trimmed Jola's toenails again. She was very good about it, for her.
I called the EI people and got an issue sorted out. They thought I had to pay them back money, but in fact it had already been withheld. Basically the person who did my paperwork wasn't paying attention at all. I saw it coming, and I was right, grr. But I called and got it sorted.
I applied for a job I am probably not really qualified for (but close!),
I did 2/12 loads of laundry. I could get that all the way up to three if i wanted to go get stuff out of the drier and fold it. Yeah. >.>
I cooked dinner - Turkey piccata, which I'd never made or had before. This is because of an in-joke for Thirteen.
I did a Diablotin solo
I baked a cake - white cake with basic chocolate buttercream icing and raspberry jam. It turned out damned delicious.
I think I have a handle on what I want to do for Space Swap, if it doesn't get away from me.
Longpig and I trashed the local pokemon gyms and took them back from Valor goons and their stupid Blisseys, ugh.
I have been thinking a teeny bit about the writeup I need to do for Underworld as well.

The Ride the Star Wind anthology I submitted a story to is going to try and get back to everyone by the end of March, which would be cool. Especially if they buy my story :V They are also running a kickstarter to raise money to get the stories illustrated. It's a very basic short campaign, and I'm debating whether or not to support it. I probably will, even though I have a backlog of mythos anthologies at this point! I've been reading other stuff lately, but maybe when I'm through with the things I'm reading I'll go back to it.

( Have some cake. )