Day 283

From early November, the completed kitchen

 I have no clue what was happening at the last entry, I should reread before posting, I suppose.

The cats are doing well.  Shy-Guy is my buddy, and loves snuggling.  (I have to keep removing him from the laptop).  Oona is still a loud purr-er, and sleeps with Bertram most nights.  

Bertram has had more good days than bad recently.  He is very unpredictable.  I think screentime is the basis for most of his bad behaviour.  We limit it to some extent, but it's pandemic  time, so there are only so many options for him.  He has chores he has to do (get newspaper, feed cat, make bed, wipe table, do a worksheet).  Most days the first 3 will get done.  For some reason, he really hates worksheets.  They are mostly for handwriting, because his is awful.  He just goes to fast.

He got student of the month at school.  He was so excited he ran all around the house.  The teacher said she can see that he is improving in paying attention, and not shouting out.  We've been trying, so I'm glad he is getting some recognition. 

Bron has had some evals.  She started speech a couple weeks ago.  And will be starting ABA sometime soon.  Everything is ready, but the scheduler hasn't called yet.  And it's the end of the year, so I'm not sure who is in the office anyway.  She has her school district evals at the end of January and beginning of February.

We took the rail off Bron's crib a week (or so) ago.  She was climbing out consistently, so it made sense to take the front off.  The first night was a little rough. Most night's now she'll play in the dark (she has a little nightlight in her bed) and then put herself to bed after a while. But she hasn't been coming out, so that is a win.  And she usually is quiet when she plays. 

I started working on a calico/tee shirt quilt for Bron.  It's twin size, for when we move her to the big bed. The squares are all cut, and I've started assembly on the top.

Aaron has continued to work from home.  Most of the time it's great, because I have a second set of hands most of the day, or as needed.  He took most of this week off, because why not?  We don't need to save the vacation time for anything.  Who knows when travel will be safe?  He helped his dad take a lemon tree from their neighbour's house.  The house between us and his folks has been sold to  developer. The same one that did Grandma Street's house.  Hers turned out fine, I guess.  It's giant.  And there are no windows facing the front (except one over the garage that always has the shade closed.) So it seems very foreboding and unfriendly.  I saw the wife once, walking a baby.  But she made no effort to look at me, or smile, and seemed to hurry  back into the house. 

This was the model/drawing.  I've marked the differences in how it actually looks.  There is no lower right window, that's all that stone wall.  There is no chimney.  That front gate (which goes to a patio), then the front door is a half gate, not full sized.  Those two upstairs windows don't exist.  I don't think the wall comes out that far.  And, you can kind of see, how huge it is compared to the houses beside it.

That is what, essentially, will be going in next door to us.  Thomas James builders have been redoing a lot of houses in the area, and most of their designs are similar to this, though, this is the least inviting.  With the exception of this and one other house, all the houses on the street are single story, and look small from the front.  Most have been added onto in the back, but generally fit the look.  I'm just grumping I guess.  I'm not thrilled about living by a construction site either.

List of goings on

• I switched to the 10k instead of the half.  I will do a half at some point, but I'm not going to be ready.  I haven't been keeping up with running very well.  Kids sleeping issues, my sleeping issues, etc.  But I'll keep pushing forward.  
• I have been doing A LOT of yard work.  It's starting to look acceptable.  I've been weeding, and mowing, clipping.  Aaron planted my orange tree.  
• Ants have been coming in the past couple days.  That's been a pain.  But so far they've been manageable.  
• The weather has been really nice lately.  (Thus all the yard work).  Being outside feels nice.
• Depression is kicking my butt a bit.  But I can't change medicine til I wean Bronwyn.  Maybe next weekend.  

I've been sitting with my computer open for an hour.  I can't think of anything else to say at the moment.

Various other things

• We switched Bertie's room and the guest room around.  (Our house is weird, you have to walk through bedroom 2 (previously Bertie's room) to get to the master.)  Now that they are switched, we no longer have to sneak through his room at night, or around the back of the house. This is also good now that I work nights, because the dogs want the option of waiting in the front room, or sleeping in bedroom.
  It took a couple nights for Bertram to adjust, as we knew it would.  But he's pretty excited about his new room, and wants to show everyone.
  The set up is also better for both rooms in terms of flow.
  His room is down, the guest room is close, which is good because mom is coming next week!
• I'm still getting used to the night shift 4 days a week.  I think I need to take melatonin on the days I don't work, so I can sleep at a normal hour. 
• Fiona had a seizure last Sunday.  I stupidly took her to the vet.  They kept her over night, and ran some tests, but nothing was wrong, and it cost $500.  It was a long seizure.  And I was worried she'd have a stroke attached to it, like Diamond Jim did.  But all is well, so I just need to remember not to take her in next time.
• I am ready to be done with my blue hair.  But my next hair appointment is 2+ weeks away, so I'll have to keep it a bit longer.
• We were supposed to have major rain Friday-Sunday.  Maybe some other part of the bay area got some, but it is dry and windy here.  That's a bummer, we need it.

Procrastination

I hate procrastination.  In school I always finished my essays early, so I wouldn't have to panic at the last minute.  It's not an environment I thrive in.  Plus, I like to do things well, and doing them last minute usually doesn't lead to quality.  At least not for me.

Yet,

I'm teaching ladies' Sunday school tomorrow, and don't have much ready.  I've read the lesson, but I haven't really started putting anything together yet.  Plus I always bring treats, which I also haven't put together.  I've sent Aaron to the grocery store to get Jelly Belly's for my treat.  It's too hot, and I don't feel like baking.

Yeesh.  I do not like confrontation.  Our neighbours have a giganto Camphor tree.  It's complete destroyed our driveway.  Aaron's folks (who own our house) have talked (well, mentioned) to the neighbours about getting rid of the tree.  Tonight, we noticed a huge limb that is broken in the tree, waiting to fall into the driveway.  So I went to tell my in laws (because now we can't park in the driveway).  And my father in law sort of laid into the neighbour.  She kept saying, oh, the tree is healthy.  He'd say, yeah, but it's destroying my house.  So he said the limb needs to be taken care of on Monday, and the tree needs to be removed asap ("it's been going on too long!").

We did 5 loads of laundry today, and didn't use the dryer at all.  It was 96 here, so the clothes dried on the line really quickly.  Yay.

I'm having a down day.  I realized that aside from one, all the other couples we know who weren't suppose to be able to have kids (or not have them easily), have had kids (naturally, I might add).  I know I should be happy for them.  And I am, but I'm also jealous.  Why does everyone else get the blessing of children?  It's hard.