Scattered ...

I've been tagged to blather about books, something I'm always willing to do. It's not going to happen today, though.

Today was the second and final all-day of being lectured in a stifling classroom in the nasty hard school desk. Turns out the guy's a rabid Elvis fan and keeps in touch with the Presley family. How cool is that? I still want to tell him his comb-over's awful, though. We did the written part of the test after the lecture, and I did the driving part of the course Tuesday through Friday, so now I just have to do the road test. I cleverly scheduled my first lesson for rush hour the day after Victoria Day. I explained that I'd driven a (very small) handful of times in the last ten years and not much more before that ... and most of it country driving, to boot. We drove around the block east of my house, then she sent me down Whyte to 75th, out to Millwoods, down the Whitemud (in freakin' rush hour!) to the west end and back to Millwoods to poodle about in the residential areas. My driving instructor is an utter kook. She didn't stop talking the whole time. She called me Honey, Sugar, Sweetie and Babydoll and said she was blown away and she's never had an easier first lesson. Easy for her to say ... I think I chewed my lips off ... twice.

I was down to my last stick of Morning Star and tired of missing the smell of Nag Champa in my house, so I made a trip down to Mars and Venus one day after my lesson. My house smells wonderful!

I practice my bass lesson every day ... okay, most days. Stevie wants twenty minutes a day and I usually end up doing an hour, so I'm trying not to feel too guilty if I miss a day.

Dandelion has commitments a few days a week in Clan Lord (I still have way more fun playing CL than any other game I've tried ... way more). I turned down a pizza and movie with Brandon offer 'cuz Dande had a class to teach and had to admit that I am a geek after all.

Ernie came for his birthday sleep-over this weekend. In no particular order, we went to Mars & Venus on Whyte to find him some clothes on Saturday, then downtown to see The Hitchhiker's Guide, we talked through movies a couple of times at home, he created a character and played some WoW, we ordered from the Melting Pot (ordering food is really cool when you live out in the country and never do that).

Barbara and Anailise drop by for post-lunch snack and pre-nap walk every couple of days. All of a sudden, this week, she's demanding "boobie!" instead of just fussing 'til she gets some. When she didn't get the response she was looking for yesterday, she went fishing down my shirt instead, just like her cousin does!

Barbara is thinking about taking Anailise to see Miles, who's working in Jasper for a couple of weeks. We have plans to have second breakfast together on Tuesday, then I have a play date with Anailise while Barbara packs the car. Tomorrow's plans to see Episode III with Brandon are on hold, so maybe Barbara, the bairn and I will do a grocery run. It's supposed to be nice out, so maybe I'll get the rest of the shelves for the kitchen done, too. Or maybe I'll get the litterboxes done and not do another blessed thing all day!

Circumstances of various stripes (some of which I've encouraged and even authored myself, granted) have conspired to build up a lovely case of sleep deprivation over the course of the week ... details are not mine to tell, but there've been middle-of-the-night distraught calls from someone very dear to me who's in crisis (resulting in my making middle-of-the-night calls to someone else who has trouble sleeping already ... which was excused graciously) ... a late-night visit to a police station* and the downright nasty treatment of another someone very dear to me ... a middle-of-the-night post partum meltdown, etc. It's not been all stressful stuff, though ... there've been other, far more pleasant circumstances conspiring as well.

I talk to Brandon just about daily and we spend time when we can. I occasionally wonder at how easy it is to slip back into each others' lives as though it hadn't been years since we'd seen each other.

Roberta Jane phoned me this week. I find myself thinking about her often, but hadn't realized just how much I miss her 'til I heard her voice on the phone. And now she's working days, so I can phone without worrying about waking her up. Huzzah! Tap-tap, Hon.

Cory's confirmation is this Sunday, so I'm off to the lake with Mona, Pete and the girls on Saturday and we'll go from there. I'm thinking about taking baked tofu for the after-the-confirmation-hanging-about-at-the-house-thingy ... Mona's encouraging me.

I'm feeling pleasantly loopy and quite mushy. I am blessed with a great deal of love in my life, and amazing people with whom to share it, first family, chosen family, and friends. The loopiness has about run out and I'm feeling an enormous nap coming on. Toodles.

*(the second time In my life I've been inside one ... the first was when Dad and I were cleaning out Grandma and Grampa's house and found an old, badly modified gun that had to be disposed of)

Stuff and Nonsense ...

Daylight:

Length of day: 16:32
Hours of dark: 5:50ish
Sunrise: 5:16 am
Sunset: 9:48 pm
Start of twilight: 4:27 am
End of twilight: 10:37 pm

Current weather: Mostly Clear. 21°C (69°F), humidity 26%, wind SSE 25.6 km/h (16 mph.), barometer 30.03 in. Hg.

Forecast:

Tonight.. Clear. Wind SE 20 km/h (12.4 mph). Low 8°C (46°F).
Monday.. Sunny. Wind SSE 20 km/h (12.4 mph). High 26°C (79°F).
Tuesday.. Sunny. Low 7°C (45°F). High 23°C (73°F).
Wednesday.. A mix of sun and cloud. Low 9°C (48°F). High 22°C (72°F).
Thursday.. Cloudy with 60% chance of showers. Low 8°C (46°F). High 19°C (66°F).
Normals for the period.. Low 6°C (43°F). High 20°C (68°F).