Helenka, Queen of Outer Space

Why? Well, I forgot to mention that opening the cabinet door to get at the Rye yesterday evening made the ENTIRE door with glass pane FALL OFF. It struck the floor, but the glass didn't break. Still, it was scary. No kidding. I hadn't realized until recently that the door was loose at the top but never thought it would separate completely. Ugh.

I stayed up really late to watch last week's N.C.I.S.. After about 5-6 hours of sleep, I was up again. I ended up watching this week's N.C.I.S. and it was a shocker. I can't wait to see what repercussions there'll be from the two significant deaths. Whoa!

After an open-ended nap, I finally got around to doing my sga_squee review on The Shrine. I wrote a lot. Not surprising, considering how much I love David Hewlett.

I got another scare when I got my ride time over the phone. According to the computer, I was going to be picked up AT 7:40 A.M. in the morning!!!!! So I frantically texted church-John, asking if he'd pick me up. Oh, thank goodness he replied immediately, saying yes. Then I canceled that ridiculous ride. Tomorrow I shall be sending a not-satisfied e-mail to customer service. ::groans::

Anyway, my back is killing me from sitting too long. So I think I'll head to bed in 5-4-3-2-1.

First, get all flustered because you can't sleep. Your heart is racing and you worry - even though you'd already talked yourself out of that unproductive activity. So, you get up and return to your computer, and reread an enchanting and whimsical though unexpectedly sad McShep fic. And the feelings it engages are good enough to lull you back to sleep, though it's already past 4 and you've set the alarm for 8. Eeeeeek!

When you wake up, you take it easy. You still have many hours ahead of you. You watch last night's Glee while having a very late (after noon) brekkie. The show is silly and dorkily nostalgic, but you really needed that. Then you huddle for a while trying to stay warm under the covers. There's a lot of time devoted to shivering.

Finally you do the dishes and argue with yourself as to whether you're going to get your hair clean and WET or clean and DRY. After going back and forth, you decide on WET. But you make it easy by using your 3-in-1 (bath/shower/shampoo) cleanser and try desperately to keep the suds from running into your eyes. You succeed barely. You also decide you're going to wear your fur hat (and a couple of smaller hairpieces) for the show taping tomorrow, because your hair looks dreadful (even if it's nice and clean). You sigh.

As if once weren't enough, you watch Glee a second time in the early evening. Hey, you really liked the costumes and the fact that it wasn't just the Glee Club kids wearing them in the school. Even though you've been working diligently on the SGA rewatch, you figure it's a lost cause for today, especially because your body is screaming at you for a nap. Before you lie down, you plug in the phone recharger. When you wake up two hours later, you find that the plug end of the recharger was coming out of the power bar and growl in frustration.

At the end of the day, you return to reading fuzzy McShep stories to try to guarantee a good sleep. And you e-mail your chosen baby brother, using your alias of the show's wardrobe and costuming department. Hee - is he ever in for a surprise tomorrow! And that's how you can enjoy a weird Friday, though I'll bet lots of you were doing such alien activities like ... ::shudders:: s-h-o-p-p-i-n-g.

But, first, the other aspects of my day. The best part, acknowledging the front door closing around 8, but not waking up until 10:22. Woo with major Hoo! Other good parts included looking out the window at the pretty, pretty picture: the sharp clarity of the buildings set against the sky, a few puffy clouds and the many trees in the park next door changing their colours gradually. Heating up the menudo and serving it over rice, but only after I'd doctored it with freshly-ground black pepper. ::tastes:: Ahhh ... much better. Also eating it while freshly hot was ideal.

I sent an e-mail to the woman I've been telling about the vision support group about our meeting next week, but have not received a reply. Perhaps tomorrow.

On the flip side, the utterly scary but averted physical disaster. I'd pulled the lip of the monitor base over the edge of the sideboard (uh ... CAN you tell where I'm going with this story?) so I could see --- until the monitor decided (all of its own volition, I swear) to TOPPLE OFF, its upper edge ramming into the bridge of my nose. Ow-ow-ow-owwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!! Thankfully, no blood or broken anything. [The last time I'd done anything of similar stupidity, I'd tripped over the lip of the bathroom entrance and slammed into the bathtub while wearing my new distorting glasses.] Okay, that's enough trauma to last me a couple of years.

I guess that's enough trouble for the day. Tomorrow, I've decided to tackle ONE bag of papers I need to sort through. If I do the chore in smaller chunks, it's more likely to get done. Why, Helenka, you seem to have learnt a life lesson. Well, golly gee, I may just have. ::is proud::

First, stay up until around 3:30 a.m. Friday morning. Why? Well, blonde got engrossed in comments (close to 1K of them) to a HuffPo article on Rev. Jackson's support of SSM. Reading ridiculous comments is a weakness of mine. Must try to curb it. ::sighs::

Even though I'd gone to bed that late, I had to set the alarm for 8, in order to feed the cats. I couldn't punish them just because I was silly. But ... oh my aching head and joints. Joint pain not helped by the fact that I'm uncomfortable sitting in John's chair, even with a pillow. There was more discomfort - though it was an interesting experience - to turn on the TV (I know ... what's that?) and watching last night's sga_squee epi, The Seer, on my real DVD player. I'll need to adjust the colour settings, as there was too much orange. I think I still prefer using my 'puter's DVD, as it's about 6 years newer than the TV.

I finally got around to doing loads of laundry, so let's add to the aches and pains. Ack! But I didn't end up making the bed until it was really late (it's the black and leopard print set this time). Either way my back was toast. [It also doesn't help that the building is having the halls painted, so that stuff is irritating my throat and lungs horribly.] I finally got to watch a better quality version of Thursday's Glee epi. Oh ... so that's what I'd missed. I'd still like to write a reaction post. Perhaps tomorrow, after church? Then I tried to write my comments for the SGA rewatch posts. Uh ... not going to happen, not how I was barely able to keep my eyes open. So I called it a night shortly after 10 and poured myself into bed. And slept. Until 12:30. ::sighs:: Then slept again. If you think that's the end of the story, you don't know me very well. Stay turned for the sequel. ::sighs some more::

Okay, the heat's definitely gotten to me. Well, that and exhaustion, too.

So going to bed after 10 p.m. can be a good thing, but not when it leads to waking up after 4 a.m. ::wails:: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. So what else could I do? I stayed up, but it certainly skewed my perception of the day thoroughly.

I rewatched tonight's sga_squee epi, Submersion twice and posted my first comment (covering the first 14 minutes) when I then realized I hadn't written anything for the next 14 minutes. ::rolls eyes:: So I'll be rewatching the middle third of it tomorrow morning because I'm certainly NOT fit for anything involving my brain tonight.

Before the SGA rewatch, I watched this week's The Glee Project epi. It was weak because the kids were thrown into everything without rehearsing ('cuz it was Adaptability). Anyway, I can't wait for next week because they're going to be pretending to be the school swim team. And I made one comment to Savage Love. I love commenting there, lol.

Anyway, I'm fading fast, my feet are SCREAMING at me and I just need to go to beddddddddd.

Thursday is usually a fabulous day. So why did MY Thursday have to be problematic? It's not as if it didn't start off well. I'd gone to bed at 2:30 (oops) and slept until 8-ish. Brekkie was something I was used to, namely chicken fingers. But, then, I was hit with gastric distress (I have no idea why; it's not as if I'd been overdosing on walnut-carrot muffins) for which the only solution was to crawl into bed. The even worse thing is that I couldn't nap for long because I had my Thursday schedule lurking in the back of my mind.

But I did settle for a rough nap until 2:15. I still had to polish my blog entry. Right – try writing funny words when not feeling well. ::groans:: I needed to eat something so managed to down two portions of lukewarm tomato-rice soup.

I struggled to get dressed and proofread the blog before Brian picked me up at 5:20. Even though I was still feeling quite wobbly inside, being with him perked me up. So did the food: an extra-spiced Thai soup (he'd added smoky paprika and pepper). He'd also made superb toasted Bavarian multigrain sandwiches with rotisserie chicken, jalapeno Havarti, onion relish, chipotle mustard, mayo(?) ... all of which created a swirl of complementary flavours in the mouth. Whoa. Brian also managed to rescue my batteries. Um ... it's no wonder they weren't charging in the unit. I'd inserted them ... upside down. Hey, I couldn't even read the instructions (teensy weensy useless print).

Then we got to work. Not only did we have to release the episode of our Ward's Island picnic from last May, he also wanted to do the podcast of our Afternoon Tea episode. OMG. He's so shriekingly bad (deliberately misreading words so I'll "edit" him). But, then, I should be used to it by now. We just barely got everything recorded before it was time for me to go.

My minivan driver was hilarious. He kept repeating my first and last name and saying they were the two most beautiful words. Uh ... okay. Anyway, I was thrilled to be home at 8:06 and ready to fall apart. How utterly predictable. ::sighs:: Though the gastric upset was temporary, it appears that tiredness was its successor. And I've learned that trying to stay up, even worse ... trying to type leads to much incoherence. As the babbling blonde prefers her babble to be cute, bed was the only logical decision.

Well, let's just say I was ... relaxed. I had to set the alarm, but still got a full eight hours of blissful sleep. When I got up I finally had my Vegetable Curry. I was too lazy to face the dishes and was very happy when my meals were delivered. Even more so because my fave person was back with a song on her lips and a cheerful countenance. Yay, she's back. Mind you, I wouldn't let her hug me, not with my yucky dirty hair. When I put my meals away, I started on the dishes. And then I vegged until late afternoon when I finally faced the vertigo-inducing hair washing. So much anxiety. OTOH, my hair is sooooo fluffy. And I'll have to trim my bangs tomorrow.

I was brave with my lunch, eating rye bread with leftover Brie spread and the last wee bit of smoked salmon. ::sighs at the expended indulgence:: But my tum is feeling much better. I finally got to watch yesterday's Glee Valentine episode. Well, it certainly had many surprises. Then I watched Monday's Little Mosque on the Prairie which featured a ... chicken.

I spent the rest of the afternoon reading. When John came home, I tried to get him to look at my printer again. Well, instead of making things better.... Mind you, it's not as if things could get worse, though he got my tweezers LOST inside. But he turned the printer over and they fell out again. So, the printer's a loss unless Dr. Brian can fix it. There's a gap on one side but not on the other side of the scanner. ::groans:: Another wrecked printer. Just peachy keen. NOT.

So I went back to reading, trying to keep my blood pressure in check. Dinner was a put-together couple of avocados, a tomato and two portions of chicken-rice soup. Plus a cola on the rocks. I didn't have a nap because I was recharging my cellphone. So I'm hoping the sleep-piggies will lull me to a beautiful sleep again.

::sighs::
Because I went to bed at 6:54 p.m. and thought I'd set my alarm for 9:30. Uh ... obviously not, as I cautiously opened my eyes at 10:48. ::sighs again:: I had a hard enough time falling asleep, so who knows how bad it'll be when I do go to bed. [Obviously, I'll have to test the alarm ... tomorrow.]

But at least I slept wonderfully last night. With only one slight interruption, I didn't wake up until 8!!!!! Yes, I'm excited. And thrilled. Then came brekkie, aka chicken souvlaki. I think the lemon potatoes were bereft of lemon. ::sighs a third time::

I felt like doing something different today instead of merely existing. I've had a number of movies cued up that I haven't seen yet, so finally started with one. I already knew (or, more importantly, thought I knew) the premise of The Whistleblower but was horrified to watch it and know that something like this is still going on, especially because of who's involved in it. Of lesser value is that I didn't know David Hewlett was cast as one of the (lesser) bad guys and that the rotunda of our new (vs old) city hall was used.

Lunch was a very healthy (expensive) tomatoes and avocado. Then there were dishes. What else is new? And, since I deferred supper for my extra-long nap, I'm having one portion of French onion soup with a titch of brandy in it as well as a slice of Bavarian multigrain with cheese. As I deferred some very crucial writing today, I'll have to make up for it tomorrow. Oy. Goals and deadlines. Well, after more sleep, that is. ::begs the cuddle pigs for their continued benevolent influence::

Why?
Well, batteries should NOT rule our lives. Because, when they do, and one is caught unawares (yes, as I was), it's not a pleasant sight, folks.

And the day didn't start out well, either. Up slightly before 7. Made myself my last entrée for brekkie, namely Butter chicken with rice. And then felt violent pain - not the desired effect. Luckily, it subsided, so I was able to continue on to the dishes. I actually finished them and was still waiting for my meal delivery. With no free chair (occupied either by cats or other stuff), I had to rest with my elbows on the kitchen counters. Oh, there's the comforting sound of the phone. Though, eek, it's certainly NOT the voice of my regular delivery person (a lovely woman with a smile and a song); it was a man (maybe the driver?). But he made it and I got my meals, so that was a very good thing.

As I'm in the running-out-of-provisions stage (or bored, or perhaps both), I thought I'd have tortilla chips with chunky salsa and salsa con queso for lunch. Well, you can't say I didn't get my share of processed tomatoes today. I didn't know what to do with myself in the afternoon, made worse with the fact that the current pair of rechargeable batteries in my mouse weren't lasting nearly as long as the other two pairs had. But that's not all: I hadn't recharged the first two pairs because the instruction booklet was meant for Thumbelina with eensy, teensy print. I hauled out my magnifier and found out that recharging required a duration of "overnight". Overnight, I shrieked! Well, silently in my mind, anyway. My primary problem was that I couldn't access a convenient power bar. Well, I did eventually: the one next to the window, though I did knock something off the jewellery table in the process. I had to remove two other plugs (cellphone charger and, more importantly, my sound machine). Charging began at 4, so I'm guessing it won't be done until midnight. And there's nothing on the charger to indicate that it's working. Arrgghh.

Before I totally lost all battery power (you know, by switching pairs), I decided to do that baby brother of mine a favour. The episode we're releasing tomorrow is about the delightful afternoon tea he'd surprised me with. As he's the one with the British roots, I'd asked him to write the blog, but noticed he'd hadn't. As he HAS been under the weather, I thought I'd babble about weird things. And I did. Let's hope it's enough to keep readers interested. I included a link to the Capilano River Suspension Bridge (in North Vancouver). Yes, I assure you, it's relevant to the subject of afternoon tea.

Not being able to navigate my customary sites, I was forced to nap. But, then again, I'm not used to sleeping without the calming influence of a running stream. Don't ask me HOW I fell asleep, but I did. [I'm sure it was the diligence of my bed-piggies!] As my cellphone charge was exhausted, I had to use my real alarm clock for the first time. Oh, yay. It certainly works. And, even though it's late, I'm going to heat up some chicken noodle soup and eat it with whole wheat bread torn in bits. Lovely, hot comfort food. After that, it should be close enough to midnight so I can see if the batteries recharged properly. Yes, I'm virtually crossing virtual fingers.

UPDATE: I was all the way down to Mood below, when the batteries totally failed. So I removed the ones from the charger and ::breathes a huge sigh of relief:: they're working (after 7.5 hours recharging). Yes, yes. I'm never going to let THAT happen again.

Oh, joy. NOT. But I'll start from the beginning.

To bed after reading at 2:40 a.m., with an eyes open around 6:15, then I slept until 9:30. Brekkie was juice and my last two 'nanas. ::sniffs:: Because of the horrid heat, I actually made two trays of ice cubes. [Oh, how I'd love to fill the tub with them.] In the morning, I finally tackled ONE of my current problems. It's not totally fixed, but I'm feeling more hopeful.

Then, around 2:30, I decided to make hard boiled eggs. I decided to let them sit for 10 minutes. Uh ... you DO know where this is headed, right? So, when I lifted the lid off and carried the pan from one stupid side of the kitchen to the other (galley-style, so really not far), I wobbled and the water leaped up and splashed down upon the index finger of my left hand. OW-OW-OW-OWWWWWWWWWWW.

Luckily, I managed to get it under really cold water and kept the water running. But I also wanted to watch TV at 3, so left the eggs in the pot and came back to bed. The finger was still warm and hurting; so, during commercials, I would plunge my finger into cold water. I also took 4 painkillers (to ward off any swelling). And, yes, I ate the stupid eggs eventually. The amazing thing is that, because of my quick action, there is NO pain or even heat. And definitely NO blister. ::is ever so thankful::

My only problem is that, though I'd washed most of the dishes, I still hadn't taken a shower. So it had to be with the coolest water I could handle. But I managed and didn't aggravate my finger further. Afterwards, I made dinner. What was that? Well, I removed the bag of cherries from the fridge and poured myself a glass of ice water and one of iced green tea. I've also been reapplying the wet towel around my neck that I'd actually put in the freezer mid afternoon. Ohhhhhhhhh, did that ever feel good. Anyway, I've tried to have two stupid mini-naps but they didn't work. So I think I'll be slipping off into unconsciousless land soon. And I don't want to have any more klutzy accidents either. Oy. But I had fun commenting on two SLOG posts. So at least I had a wee bit of fun.