Ugh, Plumbing
I tried to do a little drain maintenance today. It went great and was a total failure depending on which drain you look at.
The upstairs bathroom sinks are great. The shower in CK’s bathroom, the small en suite in our bedroom is “hers” and “mine” is hall one, won't drain.
We've had this happen once before, bit it wasn't a pandemic then. I guess this is something we'll be figuring out this week.
There was some miscommunication, which feels like failure sprinkles on top of my fiasco sundae.
I can't help but wonder that recent miscommunication is brought on by the imminent pandemiversary. At the very least it makes it all feel harder.
Power, Glorious Power
We got power back around 2pm. CK immediately got to work and I had a hard time focusing. I did manage to re-shovel walkways again which enabled me to take out kitchen trash and recycling. It was raining, so it might all be washed away by daylight.
I notice street lights are still out, so not all is back.
I nodded off in the IKEA Poang chair with the kitten. I think I've discovered something that messes up my neck; sleeping in the Poang! Between the shoveling and that, I'm pretty sore.
Power Outage
We lost power just as I was starting dinner. We reported the outage, turned on battery operated lamps, and I made a simple dinner. Then we continued our plan to play a tabletop game by camping lights.
Around the time I was going to search of thermal layers to wear power returned, around 8pm. The furnace kicked in and the house earned back up. CK also turned on the electric blanket to warm up the bed.
Then around 10:20 it went out again. As I write this there temperature is rising and there are occasional crashes as ice falls off trees and into the house.
Ice Storm Cometh
Snow came in and we got a few inches! This evening it turned into freezing rain and it's been coming down for hours. The wind is also really bad, our power has flickered a few times.
I really hope we don't lose power. If we do, I'm grateful for our gas appliances that allow us to make tea and food. We even have gas fireplace insert we can use for some heat even though it's not super efficient.
I'm listening to freezing rain hit the house. Occasionally a gust of wind blows a branch into the house. It sounds like winter and I'm grateful to be warm inside.
Sunday
I felt both tired and blue about the state of the pandemic. It was showing up as self-directed anger, again. Despite this I plugged away at laundry and feeding us. Leftovers and things I can make from the freezer, although we did have freshly made coleslaw with dinner.
I also encouraged us to spend some time with the new Magic the Gathering cards. We opened up our prerelease kits and determined neither made a fun deck alone so we just got all the cards sorted into tribal sets. We both were pretty sore this morning, so we left it at that.
CK tried resting while I worked on chores and did some planning. After lunch she had the idea to summarize the most urgent issue at work, the one that affected the team greatly. It made for a long day, but it’s important work.
Ursa enjoyed "helping" with the card sorting. From one angle he looks nearly full grown, from another he's tiny cat!
Friday Feels
It's been a tiring week. CK has a lot of work stress brought on by a mediocre white, male manager. Thankfully her team really supports her, but it's still exhausting to help her take care for herself in it all.
I'm tired of the usual games white men play and of COVID. I don't even have the energy to get properly angry about it all.
The taxes are in again. A small group signed up for my workshop, so that's happening tomorrow. I spent today updating my handout to talk about what at home people can use for supporting meditation.
I got us takeout to celebrate making out to Friday and getting the taxes in again. When I got home I discovered ants had overrun the kitchen sink! Then I found two things in the fridge that were still supposed to be good were questionable. By the time I tried to dish up I was disgusted by the very idea of food!
I got over it and we hung out discussing the over-confidant white man while gaming.
I am finishing up a card that's going to London. I'm the rematch for someone who's card never showed up and I'm sending the one I made along with a Portland themed holiday card and a letter about Portland, the thing this person asked for.
Tuesday Tasks
It turns out that I'm kind of loving the household calendar / diary!
I even geeked out over it with CK and she noted that she's not seen me this energetic about a tool like this before! We talked about how to leverage using it together, even though I'm the primary owner. I also thought of putting my appointments in it so she has a way to check in on stuff without needing to look at a device.
I got the 2017 tax response package nearly ready. I just want CK to review it at lunch tomorrow. I'll get a return receipt for it this time!
I hope it won't be an icy mess tomorrow after unexpected snow arrived today! Less than a half inch, not enough to make a mess if it freezes.
I also ploughed through finding gaps in my 2018 taxes. CK scanned stuff so tomorrow I'll categorize and give documents good names. Then I'll export my details and get it all uploaded. Then we can figure out what's missing.
Now to keep this energy going!
Journal page celebrating a garden in my Animal Crossing New Horizons game. Playing with markers and growing confidence with quick sketches. I'm pleased with the trees.
Mixed Monday
The day started with a bump for CK; someone else decided to leave her team. It's uncomfortable right now, made worse by the interim manager.
I had good news from a student. Then I had great news from the Employment Division; I was automatically moved to another round of benefits! There's eleven weeks to pay out!
I'll keep banking what I get from students. This should take me into summer between benefits and what I can save up.
I decided to use the beautiful desk calendar. It can help me keep better track of stuff I need to do, maybe help me bring focus to things I want to do, and I'm making journal notes. I'm noting how I slept, what media I consumed, what might stand out, and what dinner was!
Hoping Machine
Woody Guthrie used the phrase "Hoping Machine" in his lyrics and his resolutions. We, our hearts, are those machines.
I'm reminding myself of this because my heart feels heavy and my chest tight. My hoping machine feels slow and quiet. A bunch of chores and a couple of errands done helps me feel more settled, plus CK and the creatures.
I feel like the weekend was suspiciously quiet likewise demonstrations that happened today. The usual white people inappropriately quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Are we in the eye of the hurricane?
I picked up groceries today, getting more tomorrow in addition to therapy. Yet more as the week progresses.
Unless there's civil unrest, then we'll deal with all the things I've already stocked up.
Pests of All Sorts
Our day included discovering ants had found a stash of cough drops and dog training treats. Then that a rat had found food CK had packed in a bag back in March, but didn't eat and forgot about.
There was also a lot of laundry. Thankfully we had leftovers for dinner.
I've been having a day where nothing I get done feels like I've made enough progress. That jerk brain is still right below the surface, ready to criticize.
Then, I got a shivery overwhelm feeling when a trauma memory triggered. As far as those go, it wasn't the worst. It still wasn't what I needed going into inauguration week.