swallow poison, swallow sugar
Oct. 24th, 2025 09:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_siobhanThe Good:
I went to a wedding last weekend. It was tiny, less than 10 people at City Hall and it was genuinely the only time in my life I've ever teared up at a wedding. The couple are just so amazing together. They could barely let go of each others' hands long enough to put on their rings.
The Bad:
I dropped my Kobo somewhere on the subway. So far the lost-and-found hasn't turned it up yet. That is so annoying and I only have myself to blame.
(I seem to have lost a lot of stuff lately in inexplicable ways. An adapter cable I took with me to Montreal that NEVER LEFT MY KNAPSACK apparently no longer exists. I dropped the tennis ball I roll under my foot today and there is no POSSIBLE way it ended up anywhere except on the floor - but it's not on the floor. How? Is there a portal in this room leading to another dimension? And if yes, is it big enough for me to climb into it?)
The Ugly:
So house stuff, hoo boy. I texted the contractor every single day since my last post. Crickets. Messenger indicates that texts have been read, but no response. I reached out to the city and they tell me I have to hire my own engineer to create a new report. This may involve tearing up the floor to get at the foundations. I say fuck. A lot.
I have hired a guy who has experience sorting out difficult permits because apparently this kind of shit is common enough that you can make a living fixing it for people. So far I am tentatively hopeful - he's been working in this part of town long enough that he knows all the inspectors and can talk to them directly about what needs to happen - this project has been going on for so long that the original inspector assigned to the permit has retired, but dude has his cell number. Fingers crossed he can figure this out. He ALSO called the contractor and didn't get a response - so at this point I'm pretty sure no inspections were done at all and the engineer is just hoping that if he doesn't admit it they won't get in trouble. I have already reached out to the provincial licensing board.
So that nonsense sucked up a lot of the time I had planned to use for finishing up in the house, but I think I still managed to get a lot done. Four big bags of unwanted clothes got walked to a drop-in centre today. A bunch of little fiddly things got repaired, more boxes of stuff have been unearthed and I think I may have actually finally managed to unpack everything that was stored in the house and shed. Two boxes of unwanted stuff was offered to neighbours and taken away. I found more of ex-housemate's LARP gear, they want it so that has been packed up in a box with their name on it. Most everything I pulled out this week was covered in inches of dust so I have been working an assembly line through the shower room to clean everything before it gets put away or boxed up for donation. I have filled the recycling bin twice and the stack of re-usable cardboard on the front porch continues to grow.
***
A friend recommended their physiotherapist, who just happens to be around the corner from me, so I made an appointment to have her look at my foot. She gave me some exercises. She also did some massage that had me going, OK WOW I did not know that specific spot was made out of pain and weeping, but apparently it is. I was sore in whole new places that night, but today I walked to the drop-in centre without my cane because I had too much to carry, and I did not regret that choice when I got home - so maybe that's a good sign? Anyway, going back tomorrow.
***
Tomorrow I go back to work. I want to put one last coat of paint on the doors so I'll try and squeeze that in. Sunday I'm taking my dad for his boosters. Then it's three more weeks of picking at things and hopefully good news about the permits. I have another week off booked in November and if all goes well I'll get to use it for emptying the storage locker. Then that's a $250/month expense that goes away.
Fingers crossed
I went to a wedding last weekend. It was tiny, less than 10 people at City Hall and it was genuinely the only time in my life I've ever teared up at a wedding. The couple are just so amazing together. They could barely let go of each others' hands long enough to put on their rings.
The Bad:
I dropped my Kobo somewhere on the subway. So far the lost-and-found hasn't turned it up yet. That is so annoying and I only have myself to blame.
(I seem to have lost a lot of stuff lately in inexplicable ways. An adapter cable I took with me to Montreal that NEVER LEFT MY KNAPSACK apparently no longer exists. I dropped the tennis ball I roll under my foot today and there is no POSSIBLE way it ended up anywhere except on the floor - but it's not on the floor. How? Is there a portal in this room leading to another dimension? And if yes, is it big enough for me to climb into it?)
The Ugly:
So house stuff, hoo boy. I texted the contractor every single day since my last post. Crickets. Messenger indicates that texts have been read, but no response. I reached out to the city and they tell me I have to hire my own engineer to create a new report. This may involve tearing up the floor to get at the foundations. I say fuck. A lot.
I have hired a guy who has experience sorting out difficult permits because apparently this kind of shit is common enough that you can make a living fixing it for people. So far I am tentatively hopeful - he's been working in this part of town long enough that he knows all the inspectors and can talk to them directly about what needs to happen - this project has been going on for so long that the original inspector assigned to the permit has retired, but dude has his cell number. Fingers crossed he can figure this out. He ALSO called the contractor and didn't get a response - so at this point I'm pretty sure no inspections were done at all and the engineer is just hoping that if he doesn't admit it they won't get in trouble. I have already reached out to the provincial licensing board.
So that nonsense sucked up a lot of the time I had planned to use for finishing up in the house, but I think I still managed to get a lot done. Four big bags of unwanted clothes got walked to a drop-in centre today. A bunch of little fiddly things got repaired, more boxes of stuff have been unearthed and I think I may have actually finally managed to unpack everything that was stored in the house and shed. Two boxes of unwanted stuff was offered to neighbours and taken away. I found more of ex-housemate's LARP gear, they want it so that has been packed up in a box with their name on it. Most everything I pulled out this week was covered in inches of dust so I have been working an assembly line through the shower room to clean everything before it gets put away or boxed up for donation. I have filled the recycling bin twice and the stack of re-usable cardboard on the front porch continues to grow.
***
A friend recommended their physiotherapist, who just happens to be around the corner from me, so I made an appointment to have her look at my foot. She gave me some exercises. She also did some massage that had me going, OK WOW I did not know that specific spot was made out of pain and weeping, but apparently it is. I was sore in whole new places that night, but today I walked to the drop-in centre without my cane because I had too much to carry, and I did not regret that choice when I got home - so maybe that's a good sign? Anyway, going back tomorrow.
***
Tomorrow I go back to work. I want to put one last coat of paint on the doors so I'll try and squeeze that in. Sunday I'm taking my dad for his boosters. Then it's three more weeks of picking at things and hopefully good news about the permits. I have another week off booked in November and if all goes well I'll get to use it for emptying the storage locker. Then that's a $250/month expense that goes away.
Fingers crossed
(no subject)
Date: 2025-10-25 12:19 pm (UTC)Good for them!
I dropped my Kobo somewhere on the subway.
I left a book on a bus once (one of the Amtrack Wars books). I got it back.
Someone stole my Walrus Man in 1979.
I feel your pain.
Were your books, at least "in the cloud"?
So far I am tentatively hopeful - he's been working in this part of town long enough that he knows all the inspectors
Seems promising. If he's a stand-up guy, and they know he is, it means they'll take his word.
Was it password protected?
oday I walked to the drop-in centre without my cane because I had too much to carry, and I did not regret that choice
I feel like that deserves a WOOT!
(Things vanish! I have a USB cat toy that rolls around, and lights up. I've not seen it in weeks. I am baffled.)
(no subject)
Date: 2025-10-25 07:42 pm (UTC)Sympathy. We're going back and forth about taking down one tree (that is half split through) that we want to take down before, oh, it breaks in half and falls on the house.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-10-26 06:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-10-26 06:15 pm (UTC)Understood. Several months back, during a high wind, several branches broke off the other front yard tree, one almost hitting the house (like landed on porch roof, fortunately no damage). City came by and trimmed the remaining weakened branches. (Dunno how it is in your area, but here, as in many areas, the city has easement 8 feet into the front yard (from the street?). That tree was on the easement, so the city was responsible; the other one is farther back and so our problem.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-10-27 12:32 am (UTC)Having had one tree fall on my house in the upstate NY "derecho" of 1998, I am unmotivated to have such an experience twice.
I hope you figure your situation out!
(no subject)
Date: 2025-10-27 12:32 am (UTC)