Spinning on that dizzy edge

It has been so abominably hot for the past week (In the 90s! In September! This isn't freaking July!), that I feel like the current gorgeous temps are a personal apology to me. I just want to press pause on the weather and keep it this way for a month or two, with this clear blue sky and sharp shadows, and the faint mustiness of imminent autumn on the breeze. I'm working from home today, and I just indulged in a walk around the block. *BLISS*

We are slowly but surely making progress in home-wise matters. We got the patio paved, the dead limbs removed from the huge oak out front and the dying pine cut down, and a quote on replacing the fence in the backyard. Before that repair, though, I need to get some landscaping done to cut down the jungle that's grown all around the perimeter, and a truckload of dirt dumped and spread to even out the lawn. I would feel guiltier about not doing the easier parts myself, but these past few months have been VICIOUS when it comes to bugs chewing on me (I would love to go a week without being in some stage of itchy welt recovery), so fuck it, I'm throwing money at everything else, might as well keep on stimulating the local economy.

I made a vid for the Fall Equinox Exchange! This ridiculous hobby keeps eating my brain. I don't know if I'm going to actually sign up for Festivids or just churn out a bunch of treats; I keep waffling back and forth.

In other erratic subject changes...Why is it so much easier to give other people advice than fix your own life? Is it the Vulcan-like logic you can apply from a distance, or the fact that words are much easier to type than actions are to do? I've been reading a bunch about ADHD/executive function disorders vs. laziness; with it all racing around my head, I couldn't pick my actual motivations out of a lineup. UGH, brains! So apologies for continuing to spam you all with my weak sauce suggestions, while I avoid tackling my own damned issues.

I'm not officially off work until tomorrow, but UGH I am fighting off slipping into vacation mode right now, and losing. I've got 10 tabs open of recipes I want to bake for the VVC con suite (self, you have less than 2 days to do it all, STOP IT), and my mind is flitting all over the place with details.

Competing for brain space are:

1) The long-awaited sewer line replacement is FINALLY happening. I don't have a lot of faith in this company, considering they've been stringing me along for months, and couldn't even dig in the right spot yesterday (a foot or so off), but I just want it done already. I had big plans for getting stuff checked off my todo list this weekend, until I got an email from the company saying we were responsible for opening up access to the backyard. I had to spend most of Sunday clearing the side beds, then helping the husband fight with the fence to swing it out of the way to let them bring in their equipment. Hopefully they can wrap everything up today. If they interfere with my baking plans tomorrow, I will get angry.

2) I want another dog like you wouldn't believe, but I have to wait until the sewer line mess is done. It's been a freaking year, and I still tear up about with how much I miss my sweet fuzzy girl.

3) The Emperor's school starts next week. Registration and supplies shopping is done (though he still needs new shoes), and we have school orientation Thursday during which I hope to ask a bazillion questions, starting with who his IEP support people are, because I am beyond tired of going months into the school year with no info. I am terrified about how this year is going to go; middle school is a trial by fire of executive function, and I'm anticipating that my ADHD/ASD boy is going to have a very hard time of it. This transition is exactly why I've fought so hard to keep his IEP in place, so here's hoping the school has its act together when it comes to support.

4) ( Family medical TMI grossness )

5) My minivan needs to go into the shop at some point. Since I'm driving my husband's car to VVC, I really hope the van doesn't break down on him while I'm gone. (There's also a simmering resentment that my husband moaned for months about how he had to get his oil changed, but couldn't be bothered to get it done even when he had a bonus day off work. I got it done on MY day off so it would be ready to go. ARGH.)

6) The house is a pit. I keep fighting the clutter and losing. My Saturday morning garage sale addiction isn't helping.

7) I have so much left to do for VVC prep, including making a Club Vivid outfit, doing some last-minute edits on my CVV entry and getting it ready for posting, the afore-mentioned baking, and PACKING UGH. I am bringing all the booze, and it's going to be wine o'clock as soon as my stuff makes it to the hotel room.

Wish me luck in making it to Thursday night with my sanity intact!

Once again I've been beating my head against my current project, though this time the problem was the ugly, labyrinthine existing code. I was up late last night deep in imposter-syndrome despair. Then this morning I got a burst of inspiration and BAM, change accomplished! I did a literal \o/ with a loud WAHOOO and raced over to my coworker to share the news.

The rest of the day was spent in making sure I didn't break anything with my changes, so my sense of accomplishment was dimmed somewhat.

I'm in week three (ARGH) of trying to switch my cell phone service over to a third-party vendor running on the AT&T backbone, so I can finally join the rest of the smartphone world without paying a crapton for it. I signed up at the local GameStop store; I didn't know that I was their first customer to do so. Every step that could be screwed up was, and the vendor has refused to help at all, so it's been five visits and six hours racked up. Tomorrow I need to go back and politely suggest to the manager that they make it better OR ELSE.

I noticed a couple of days ago that the gleam from my headlights looked weird, and sure enough, one of the bulbs was burned out. I picked up replacement bulbs tonight and poked the internet for how-tos. "This is easy!" they said. "Five minute job!" they claimed. Instead, I had to deal with rusty screws, a dark corner of the garage I had to illuminate with a flashlight, and a stubborn assembly that refused to come apart. Multiple trips inside to check different sources and almost an hour later, I finally got the damned thing changed. Cue another (albeit tired) victory lap.

If I'm wise, the next lap will end in bed. G'night!

Once I finished the two frenzied projects at work, some brain space and energy was recovered for other things.

I put the fence back up around the garden and planted a ton of tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, beans, Brussel sprouts, and cabbage. They were all still there the past couple of mornings, so the fence appears to be doing its job. I've got a few more things to plant, veggies and purely ornamental flowers, but first my hands need to dial back on the soreness from wielding the bulb planter (my favorite tool for getting those veggie 4- and 6-packs in the ground) for hours on end.

I'm chipping away at the horrendous backlog in my email accounts. Yikes, there's some old stuff in there!

Now that the new washing machine is installed, we are doing laundry like it's going out of style. (The former one was out of commission so long it feels like some of the loads left in limbo actually did go out of style.) The replacement microwave is scheduled for delivery on Friday, so we will hopefully be all caught up with broken appliances. (House, can we please go awhile before something else finds it necessary to break? Kthnxbye.)

We attended a nephew's graduation party this past weekend, navigating some awkward family drama and scoring some pleasant time with the in-laws.

My husband is turning 40 this Friday, and I at last managed to pry loose some opinions from him about what he wants.

I finally took a deep breath and scheduled an appointment with the Repro Med clinic tomorrow, saying that I wanted nothing to do with the doctor until absolutely necessary. I'm also prepared to shut down any concern trolling about my weight or my age. Wish me luck!

For what seems like the first time in a long while, I Got Stuff Done this weekend. Well, Saturday I loafed around and reacquainted my ass with the couch as I looked up Lego Indiana Jones 2 info for the Emperor, and hid out reading an 80K Derek/Stiles porn AU on my Kindle. (For the record: worth every minute.)

But Sunday! Sunday I tackled the kitchen, going through every piece of recycling and oddball containers that have stacked up on the counter due to my husband's previous disinclination. (I can't complain, considering that he handles the majority of loading and unloading the dishwasher and hand-washing the pots and pans that see regular use.) This took longer than it should have, but man! It's so good to see my counters again, and not the clutter and splatters that previously infested them.

Monday was devoted to laundry and general clothes shuffling. We got an IKEA dresser for the Emperor when he was born, and it's been nothing but a pain from then to now, with broken drawer slides resisting mending and general wear'n'tear from a careless boy. So a few months back I nabbed a giveaway dresser from a neighborhood curb and brought it home. It's been sitting in our front room since then, looming and taking up space. Yesterday I finally dumped out the clothes from the IKEA dresser and dragged it out of the room, brought the vacuum upstairs and then got out of the way while my husband gallantly wielded it, and then we lugged the new-to-us dresser up and the POC dresser down.

I will give the Emperor's school uniform policy one thing: it made it a lot easier to triage his clothes. Shorts and soon-to-be outgrown pants that were not in the approved color range got boxed up. The remaining items fit nicely into the replacement dresser. Now to find room in the basement for yet another tote of outgrown clothes. (Should we add a kids clothing swap to VVC?)

While I was at it, I also gave my own dresser the same treatment, and huzzah! My sock drawer is no longer a pit of despair and "Abandon All Hope", and the top isn't a dumping ground. (Well, it will be clear once those totes are moved as well.)

But this meant I spent almost no time on the computer browsing my kind of stuff, so I waded through the weekend's posts today, in case you were wondering about any belated comments I left. As it is, I have a bunch of tabs open right now; I think I will delegate those to another post.

I'm struggling here, guys.  Recent life events have felt like getting pecked to death by freaking ducks.

( If only I had the $$$ to throw at most of these problems )

It seems like a lot of other peole are feeling beat-down, too, with life really putting the 'con' in 'confluence of events'.  I prescribe huge monetary or other beneficial windfalls for us all.