i've got you next to me, i don't wanna waste it
I've been thinking about writing an entry for the past two days, and was going to start it by saying that I've been off from work for a week and I'm already bored. I've done laundry, the house is mostly clean, the floors were swept and mopped the other day (though they've already got crumbs and stuff on them; it's impossible to keep them clean, I swear), we're mostly caught up on the dishes, I've listened to all my podcasts, I've got one book and two knitting projects on the go already . . . and yeah. I need something else to do with my time. I've never been one who could just sit around all day every day not doing much of anything and actually be able to enjoy that. Maybe for a day or two at most, but then I get antsy and want to go do something. I think once I get past this week, it'll be better, though, because I've got more stuff planned for later in the month. In the meantime, I'm just going to hang out and continue to wait for our landlord's contractor to come replace our dishwasher. He came on Friday with another crappy used dishwasher, spent an hour and a half messing around with it, only to report that that one also had a defect and wasn't working. Seriously, just cough up for a new dishwasher already! He said he'd be back on Sunday with another one, but then our landlord texted us Sunday saying that the contractor couldn't come that day and would get back to her with a day later this week. Still waiting, no surprise there. :-/
Then a bunch of other stuff has happened that makes my previous boredom even more insignificant than it already was. I don't know how much those of you outside of Canada would have heard about this, but Toronto had some record-breaking rainfall on Monday, which caused serious flooding and power outages all over the city. We got something like 120+ mm of rain, I think, which broke the previous one day total rainfall record that was set in the '50s. Because we were home all day, we weren't one of the poor people who was stranded by public transit shutting down or who needed to be rescued from flooded roads/trains, but there are some scary pictures of what was happening. There's an article about the storm and the damage here and some pictures here. We did lose power for about 6.5 hours, from around 6 pm Monday to about 12:30, and we also lost cell phone service. Yay, no contact with the outside world! :p We ventured out of the house at one point in search of a snack and some free wifi so we could get more info about what was going on, and it was really eerie trying to drive with all the traffic lights out. But we were definitely pretty lucky, all in all. I imagine it's going to be a hot mess for awhile, trying to clean up and repair all the flood damage.
The other thing is that yesterday I found out that my (ex-step-)grandmother died Monday night. Yes, that's confusing. She was Susan (my stepmom)'s mom, but since my stepmom and my dad are no longer married, I guess she's an ex-step. I feel really bad for Susan and her brother, because that's got to be really hard for them. My grandmother (we'll just go with that for simplicity's sake) was a really nice person and always had a great sense of humour. I don't ever remember seeing her when she wasn't laughing or joking or being sarcastic about something. I was never super close to her; even when I was a kid and we didn't live that far from them, we usually only saw Susan's parents a couple times a year. But she always sent cards and/or gifts for my birthday and Christmas (or, you know, up until the divorce anyway), and was always kind and warm to me and my sister when she saw us. She was only in her late 60s, so it's really a shame that she's gone. I mostly feel bad that there's no way I can get down to Jersey for the service on Friday; I would have liked to be able to be there for Susan and offer some support.
Yesterday, to distract myself from . . . well, pretty much everything I've written about so far, I decided to do some baking. I listened to music on my phone while trying out Kasey's congo bars recipe, substituting applesauce for the pumpkin, since I didn't have any pumpkin. It was a welcome distraction, and the bars came out pretty damn tasty if I do say so myself. I couldn't stop licking the batter from the beaters, the spatula and my fingers, haha. The finished product is equally as delicious, although the texture was not what I was expecting. (This is not a bad thing at all; I just had it in my head that they'd be a bit denser, more brownie-like almost, but instead they are a bit lighter and more cake-like in consistency.) Still completely enjoyable, and I will definitely make them again when I have other ingredients to add in and play around with.
Today's plan is . . . well, more reading and knitting, mostly. I'm babysitting tonight, but not till 5:45 so I've got some time to kill in the meantime. I've decided to make the Song of Ice and Fire series my summer reading project, so I put a hold on the first book at the library; however, there are only about 100 copies and over 300 holds, so it could be awhile before I'm actually able to get started on it. :-/ It appears that there may in fact be some sun out today, so maybe that'll help the city dry out a bit. And I think that's all I got today. Sorry this entry was kind of a downer. Hopefully more positive things will happen soon.
Then a bunch of other stuff has happened that makes my previous boredom even more insignificant than it already was. I don't know how much those of you outside of Canada would have heard about this, but Toronto had some record-breaking rainfall on Monday, which caused serious flooding and power outages all over the city. We got something like 120+ mm of rain, I think, which broke the previous one day total rainfall record that was set in the '50s. Because we were home all day, we weren't one of the poor people who was stranded by public transit shutting down or who needed to be rescued from flooded roads/trains, but there are some scary pictures of what was happening. There's an article about the storm and the damage here and some pictures here. We did lose power for about 6.5 hours, from around 6 pm Monday to about 12:30, and we also lost cell phone service. Yay, no contact with the outside world! :p We ventured out of the house at one point in search of a snack and some free wifi so we could get more info about what was going on, and it was really eerie trying to drive with all the traffic lights out. But we were definitely pretty lucky, all in all. I imagine it's going to be a hot mess for awhile, trying to clean up and repair all the flood damage.
The other thing is that yesterday I found out that my (ex-step-)grandmother died Monday night. Yes, that's confusing. She was Susan (my stepmom)'s mom, but since my stepmom and my dad are no longer married, I guess she's an ex-step. I feel really bad for Susan and her brother, because that's got to be really hard for them. My grandmother (we'll just go with that for simplicity's sake) was a really nice person and always had a great sense of humour. I don't ever remember seeing her when she wasn't laughing or joking or being sarcastic about something. I was never super close to her; even when I was a kid and we didn't live that far from them, we usually only saw Susan's parents a couple times a year. But she always sent cards and/or gifts for my birthday and Christmas (or, you know, up until the divorce anyway), and was always kind and warm to me and my sister when she saw us. She was only in her late 60s, so it's really a shame that she's gone. I mostly feel bad that there's no way I can get down to Jersey for the service on Friday; I would have liked to be able to be there for Susan and offer some support.
Yesterday, to distract myself from . . . well, pretty much everything I've written about so far, I decided to do some baking. I listened to music on my phone while trying out Kasey's congo bars recipe, substituting applesauce for the pumpkin, since I didn't have any pumpkin. It was a welcome distraction, and the bars came out pretty damn tasty if I do say so myself. I couldn't stop licking the batter from the beaters, the spatula and my fingers, haha. The finished product is equally as delicious, although the texture was not what I was expecting. (This is not a bad thing at all; I just had it in my head that they'd be a bit denser, more brownie-like almost, but instead they are a bit lighter and more cake-like in consistency.) Still completely enjoyable, and I will definitely make them again when I have other ingredients to add in and play around with.
Today's plan is . . . well, more reading and knitting, mostly. I'm babysitting tonight, but not till 5:45 so I've got some time to kill in the meantime. I've decided to make the Song of Ice and Fire series my summer reading project, so I put a hold on the first book at the library; however, there are only about 100 copies and over 300 holds, so it could be awhile before I'm actually able to get started on it. :-/ It appears that there may in fact be some sun out today, so maybe that'll help the city dry out a bit. And I think that's all I got today. Sorry this entry was kind of a downer. Hopefully more positive things will happen soon.