Wednesday Again.

Warm out, breezy. Been busy lately. Noticed a large spider lowering itself onto my desk earlier, grabbed its thread, it jumped onto the keyboard and then ran under the scanner. Not entirely comforting.

Things are mostly clean and picked up on my desk. Things are mostly organized. Put away, at least. I still have a ton of laundry to iron and put away.

Take Flynn to an ice cream social/orientation for middle school.

Was playing soccer with Cassidy inside. For a while. I love Cassidy, but she wants a lot of attention all of the time.

Washed the Prius earlier. Noticed that I had the air conditioning on. Turned it off. Hopefully I'll get better mileage now. Fuck the heat. Drive around with the windows down. I'd rather spend less money on gasoline.

Spoke to Diane several times over the past week. She's hospitalized again. I forget how many times this is. I'll call her again tonight and see if she needs anything.

Kind of looking forward to and dreading the trip to Disneyland. I'll be glad when it's over. It's been FIVE YEARS since we went to Disneyland, 2000. We didn't go in 2001 and we went to Hawaii in 2002. In 2003 we had the floors replaced and in 2004 Diane went crazy. I made reservations to go to Disneyland last September. I want to go while the kids are still young enough to enjoy it.

Took the kids to see the new "Star Wars" movie last Saturday. It was long and boring. Fuck Star Wars. The last "Star Wars" movie I enjoyed came out in 1977. It's all been downhill since then. I was glad it was over.

Go get Flynn sooner or later. He's never out until 1:50. At the earliest. OTOH, the high school traffic is pretty thick starting at 1:30. Wait in a solid line of traffic to get out of the street we're on. More great San Diego civic planning. Get the radio and tell Flynn to sit tight.

Trimmed some of the tomatoes yesterday afternoon. Staked a couple of them up. Been tending the garden more lately now that the lawn is officially established and growing fairly well. Haven't decided whether to hook up the timers and sprinklers for the trip to Disneyland or just water really well before we go.

Leave to get Flynn at about 1:45 and deal with whatever traffic there is at that time. There is no alternate route. And leaving twenty minutes earlier means killing a lot of time with Cassidy in the car.

Vacuumed a bit, washed the big bathroom mirrors. I have to attack that pile of laundry. Iron Cassidy's things, but everything away. I don't enjoy putting laundry away so it really stacks up.

Finished digitizing and burning some DVDs with old camcorder videos on them. Will be glad to be rid of the old camcorder and tapes. The tapes are already in the trash.

Time to get Cassidy ready and go get Flynn. Go to his orientation this evening. Not looking forward to much of anything.

 

Wednesday afternoon again.

Warm out today. At home now. Dodgers played around noon today. And did not prevail. Too bad.

That was 4:30, now it's 6:40. Typed some of Flynn's homework. Bought tickets online for the new Star Wars movie on Saturday at nine in the morning. Hopefully there will not be any problems getting in the theatre after having bought tickets online. The local theatre didn't offer that service, this is for the Edwards Cinema in Mira Mesa that Diane likes to go to.

Talked with the attorney the other day. The meeting scheduled in May AND the one in June are both routine and I don't have to be there. Which was a great relief.

A packet arrived via FedEx today from Disneyland travel which I haven't opened yet. Also, my Nike shoes arrived today and they're really comfortable with much better heel support than the other shoes I was wearing. Much better support.

Also a copy of "It Came From Beneath The Sea" arrived today. I'm replacing all the old videos I have with DVDs if possible. DVDs take up less space. Glad to see the videotapes go. Glad to be able to find the movies I like on DVD without too much trouble.

 

Saturday

Drove the kids to Diane's this morning. Did some gardening. Dug out bits of volunteer turf and planted iceplant. I don't think it's the exact same kind that was had at the Granada Hills house but it's similar.

I'm waiting to go get Flynn @ Kody's house at eight. He's over there watching a movie. I had several beers earlier. Taking a break from alcohol. Not entirely thrilled about it.

Glad to have gotten what I accomplished done in the garden today. Planted that cutting of the fresh-laundry-smelling shrub. We have a new family next door to us. I briefly said hello.

I want to clean up more of the front area. I have a lot more iceplant. Not sure where I'll put that.

Planted four packets of "shade-loving flowers" that came all together. Planted them in the shady spot made by the pine tree. Stabbed myself with a bougainvillea trimming from last year or sometime. Laying in wait. Lying in wait. Lieing in wait.

Cassidy is playing the new Star Wars game. I bought myself a new game but haven't played it yet. Timesplitters 2. Sounded like fun.

What else? Moved the spoons and cookie sheets from next to the stove to under where the sweetener is. Also moved all the appliances I had out to that area. So the stove side of the kitchen looks a lot cleaner.

Diane took Cassidy to a birthday party at a nearby park this afternoon. She told me that she may be returning to the hospital again. No one seems to know what's wrong with her.

Dodgers aren't on television that I can receive tonight. Maybe I'll watch the computer version... little tiny video window.

Wait to go and get Flynn.

Friday the Thirteenth

Thank God it's Friday. Go get Cassidy in forty minutes.

Took the kids to school this morning, stopped @ Home Depot and bought two flats of iceplant, kind of like the iceplant we used to have in Granada Hills, some flowers, some other plants, some vermiculite and perlite for container plants. Some Miracle-Gro and some Superthrive.

It's warm out today. Noticeably so. I wish it stayed cool here all year long.

What will I feed the kids today? I want to eat salads and maybe some fish. I am too fat. Have to cut out alcohol. As much as possible.

Last night was Cassidy's kindergarten open house. Crowded. Glad that's over with. She was excited and very cute. The little negroid kids up on stage looked like future criminals. Flynn mentioned an "african-american" girl in her class had been caught stealing from classmates and from the teacher. Why is that not a surprise?

I ought to drag Cassidy to the market. Or stop @ the market on the way home from Diane's house tomorrow morning. Take the kids there once Diane wakes up. Cassidy has a birthday party to attend tomorrow afternoon near here. I ordered some markers and a nice sketchbook. And we found a birthday card. So that's all set.

So, anyway. Hopefully do some gardening this weekend.

Consider this

Half past noon

Deleted the trip.net accounts and canceled that service. Added an e-mail account for Flynn on spaceways.net.

Typed a list of e-mail addresses and then thought better of it. Why make it easy to have spammers get my addresses?

Go get Flynn eventually. Dodger game on television tonight. Mow the lawn tomorrow if it's dry enough. Plant the remaining bedding plants out in front and clean up the front garden in a big way. Get a hold of that project and drive it home.

I'd ordered a cargo net for the Prius and it arrived but I'm supposed to drill two 5mm deep holes in the sides of the new car. Not in a hurry to tackle that. I just need to make two holes for the provided anchors to seat in.

What else? Not much. Bought some small, thin pork chops to serve for dinner. Along with some broccoli and carrots and red potatoes. Nothing that will kill the kids, whether they think so or not. I want them to eat more vegetables.

Jonny Quest episodes

1. The Mystery of the Lizard Men
2. Arctic Splashdown
3. The Curse of Anubis
4. Pursuit of the Po-Ho
5. Riddle of the Gold
6. Treasure of the Temple
7. Calcutta Adventure
8. The Robot Spy
9. Double Danger
10. Shadow of the Condor
11. Skull and Double Crossbones
12. The Dreadful Doll
13. A Small Matter of Pygmies
14. Dragons of Ashida
15. Turu the Terrible
16. The Fradulent Volcano
17. Werewolf of the Timberland
18. Pirates from Below
19. Attack of the Tree People
20. The Invisible Monster
21. The Devil's Tower
22. The Quetong Missile Mystery
23. The House of Seven Gargoyles
24. Terror Island
25. Monster in the Monastery
26. The Sea Haunt

Rain on Friday morning

Looked like it had rained at night. Got home from dropping the kids off at school and it really poured for a few minutes.

Hard to get out of bed. Got Flynn to take a shower, gave Cassidy a bath this morning.

What is there to report? Not much.

Cinco de Mayo. Cool and overcast.

Got the kids up and to school. Went to the market. Bought groceries. Just basic stuff. Came back home. Put groceries away.

Bought some broccoli and red potatoes. And some small pork chops. And some apples. And bananas. Get the mice to eat some vegetables at some point.

It's chilly.

Some rain earlier. Can't spray paint the blower covers. Bought some rattle-can off-white paint at Home Depot before the market trip. They're a depressing dirty-Bandaid color. Also bought some cut-to-size filter material for the blower.

I have some bedding plants and flowers to plant. Planted a few of them out in front yesterday. Find homes for the rest of them. I'd like to clean out the front beds, they're badly overgrown and shaggy-looking.

I need to wash the car.

Washed the red sheets. Put those back on the beds.

Dragged the kids to Petco yesterday and bought some more small fish. One isn't doing well. The other ones seem happy enough. I'd like to get the rest of the neon and glo-light tetras out of the large tank and put them in the small tank. The small tank needs attention.

What else? Not much. Surprised by how cool it is this morning.

Wednesday. Overcast.

An Illustrator 7 Wow! Book arrived in the mail. Seems to have precisely the same stuff in it.

Dropped the kids off at school. Went to Home Depot. Bought some soil and some bedding plants.

Get those planted. The front area is in major disrepair, I've ignored it all year long. Been busy with the lawn.

Need to wash the Prius, too.

Garage looks better, sifting through leftover clutter in there. So glad to have gotten rid of all the stuff I've parted with so far.

Still need to sift through interior clutter. Get important things organized and get rid of the rest.

Illustrator book arrived

$0.46... Illustrator 9 Wow! Book -- had another one of these (similarly priced) which had the formula for isometric projection. Had a sheet that listed the formulae for various projections and managed to lose it. Difficult information to replace, it turns out.

Waiting for the Macromedia Studio MX 2004 package to be delivered. That was expensive. So was the graphics tablet and Painter. DO something with them. Now that they're no longer on my wish list DO something with them. Create something. Finish something.

Is there really any point to that any more? I wonder. What the hell, at least the graphics tablet and Painter aren't something I'm pining for. Maybe I'll do something with it. At least play with it. Is that wrong?

The electric guitar(s) didn't hurt me much. They made interesting sounds. If that six-string electric had a vagina I may have married it. But I wasn't playing them and I have no discernible musical talent.

Make small cartoon drawings. They're interesting and unusual. Not everyone does that. Have a little faith in myself.

I expect the sun to rise presently.

Finished ALL of Cassidy's ironing and got ALL of the laundry put away. Still have more dishes to do. Served the mice square noodles with chopped up roast pork from Saturday. Tasty.

Out of milk completely. Cassidy didn't want to consider going to the market last night, so that's that.

Had a dream about Frizzy and woke up remembering her.

Afternoon

Three. Putting a few things from the garage in the newly-emptied trash can. Keep the good stuff. There's so much to get rid of. You've gotta stop clutter at the door, just about. I can see why people use that trash can by the mailboxes. Don't even let it in the house.

Cleaned the kid's new game CD, it had gotten a smudge which kept it from working. Used the crank-based disc cleaner and it worked. Hooray. Everyone is happy again.

Emptied the dishwasher again. Filled the dishwasher again. Have a few more dishes to put away. Have a large pile of laundry to put away, I'd put away clothes this morning from a previously existing pile of laundry. I wish I liked putting away laundry as much as I like putting groceries away.

I like the whole grocery shopping things, planning meals or having certain things on hand to make meals out of or to feed the mice with that they'll actually eat. We don't run out of food and they are hopefully getting all the nutrients they need. It wouldn't hurt them to eat more vegetables. Or fruit. OTOH, they're not starving.

I could go weed part of the front garden area. Haven't touched that all year in favor of the lawn project. I wonder if the concrete block wall couldn't be extended further towards the street, at a lower level..? And maybe face it with bricks for show. Finish the front how? Face it with bricks. Incorporate the small steps? End with a low wall and leave space for parking? Or opening car doors?

If we keep the house. If we continue living here.

Make a third bathroom for Cassidy, entered through her room. A girl thing. Make the two rooms/bathrooms equal.

Fan for the attic area above the kid's rooms. Also for the garage, something to relieve the heat that gets stuck in there.

That place in Vista (?) for windows someone on the Community Association Board mentioned and recommended. Get at least Cassidy's windows double-paned/double-glazed against the summer heat.

The living room windows on the front door side, the dining room windows, too. Those are the windows the sun directly hits.

If we keep the house I'd like to look into solar panels. It's certainly sunny enough here to consider doing that.

Monday

Did some more laundry, washed some more dishes. I do a lot of laundry and I wash a lot of dishes.

Go pick Flynn up in ten minutes or so.

Pleasant day outside, not too hot. Not in a hurry for the heat to arrive. Trash and recycling were collected and I was thrilled to see the mountain of clutter and garden waste go.

Lawn looks good, transplanted plants appear to be surviving for the moment. Clean everything up. Keep it all organized, keep on top of everything.

Received another notice about a court date, this one 2/3rds of the way through June. Is the May court date postponed? I thought the next date was May 24th or so.

I wonder if we'll get to keep the house? Worry about that sometimes. Maybe we'll have to move somewhere. Wait and see.