![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_siobhanShort updates:
I was right to expect overtime at the day job. I worked six days this past week and will probably do an extra shift again this coming week. Then we have a new hire starting the department so maybe things will slow down a bit.
***
In the evenings, it's back into the bog. Offspring came over three days and managed to get a ton of work done. She always starts early in the afternoon and I join her when I'm finished at work and things go so much faster when there are two sets of hands. So there is now a wide trench in the middle of the mountain leading to the back of the yard - still needs to come down about six inches but it's major progress.
I never did find that laser level - maybe the ex took it in the divorce. So instead I just staked some string from one side of the pit to the other and used the tried and trusted technique of eyeballing it.
***
Wednesday is a bank holiday so I'll be off work. Figured that would be a good day for the doctor's appointment. I always get high blood pressure readings at the doctor's office and it always takes them about half an hour of repeated testing to finally get a normal one. Nowhere else is this a problem, just when I'm at the doctor. So today I went to a drug store that has one of those cuff machines and printed off the results. I dunno why I didn't think of that years ago.
***
My dad is back in the hospital. I don't know even how to explain why, he just seems to be experiencing multiple system malfunctions at the same time. He sleeps most of the time, but he woke up for a few minutes while he was there and tried to talk to us. His wife said it was the most alert he's been all week, so maybe he's starting to recover? I don't know. He's more frail every time I see him.
***
The I Will Learn How To Cook, Dammit project continues. My usual breakfast is granola with yogurt and berries, so this week I tried my hand at making home-made granola using a recipe that claimed to taste like carrot cake. It's full of grated carrot which is something I have never had in granola before. It turned out SO GOOD I was eating handfuls off the tray. It came out soft instead of crunchy so I will need to tweak the actual cooking part, but man. Who knew eating carrots for breakfast would be such an easy sell.
***
Things that left the house this week: Two spider plants and the syringes that were left in my library box. I was not able to re-home them before they expired, so I dropped them into the needle disposal box at the drop-in centre.
Things that entered my house this week: An end of life planner. I guess dad's health problems got my sister thinking about her own mortality, because she bought one for herself and got a copy each for the Wicked Stepmother and me at the same time. It is titled, in flowing script on a black background decorated with a flowered wreath, "FUCK! I'M DEAD. Now what?" and I laughed my ass off when she handed it to me.
I was right to expect overtime at the day job. I worked six days this past week and will probably do an extra shift again this coming week. Then we have a new hire starting the department so maybe things will slow down a bit.
***
In the evenings, it's back into the bog. Offspring came over three days and managed to get a ton of work done. She always starts early in the afternoon and I join her when I'm finished at work and things go so much faster when there are two sets of hands. So there is now a wide trench in the middle of the mountain leading to the back of the yard - still needs to come down about six inches but it's major progress.
I never did find that laser level - maybe the ex took it in the divorce. So instead I just staked some string from one side of the pit to the other and used the tried and trusted technique of eyeballing it.
***
Wednesday is a bank holiday so I'll be off work. Figured that would be a good day for the doctor's appointment. I always get high blood pressure readings at the doctor's office and it always takes them about half an hour of repeated testing to finally get a normal one. Nowhere else is this a problem, just when I'm at the doctor. So today I went to a drug store that has one of those cuff machines and printed off the results. I dunno why I didn't think of that years ago.
***
My dad is back in the hospital. I don't know even how to explain why, he just seems to be experiencing multiple system malfunctions at the same time. He sleeps most of the time, but he woke up for a few minutes while he was there and tried to talk to us. His wife said it was the most alert he's been all week, so maybe he's starting to recover? I don't know. He's more frail every time I see him.
***
The I Will Learn How To Cook, Dammit project continues. My usual breakfast is granola with yogurt and berries, so this week I tried my hand at making home-made granola using a recipe that claimed to taste like carrot cake. It's full of grated carrot which is something I have never had in granola before. It turned out SO GOOD I was eating handfuls off the tray. It came out soft instead of crunchy so I will need to tweak the actual cooking part, but man. Who knew eating carrots for breakfast would be such an easy sell.
***
Things that left the house this week: Two spider plants and the syringes that were left in my library box. I was not able to re-home them before they expired, so I dropped them into the needle disposal box at the drop-in centre.
Things that entered my house this week: An end of life planner. I guess dad's health problems got my sister thinking about her own mortality, because she bought one for herself and got a copy each for the Wicked Stepmother and me at the same time. It is titled, in flowing script on a black background decorated with a flowered wreath, "FUCK! I'M DEAD. Now what?" and I laughed my ass off when she handed it to me.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-28 02:41 am (UTC)I am interested in this carrot granola situation.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-29 02:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-28 04:12 am (UTC)and I just bought myself an end of life planner a lot like the one your sister got
(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-29 02:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-29 02:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-28 04:34 am (UTC)I’d be curious for that granola recipe.
Hoping your dad pulls through. Systems tend to do that cascade thing when they get creakier; one system struggling puts pressure on others, and then they start struggling too. But that doesn’t mean he can’t pull through. 💜
(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-28 04:46 am (UTC)+1. :-)
(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-29 02:06 am (UTC)Dad does seem to be recovering - more tests of course, but he was much more alert today.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-28 05:21 am (UTC)There is actually a name for high blood pressure that only happens in the doctor's office. It's called a white coat reaction.
I,too, am very curious about this granola recipe. Where did you find it?
(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-29 02:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-28 08:43 am (UTC)I should really get my shit together too, but the thing about having a much younger partner is they'll freak out when I bring it up.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-29 02:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-29 11:28 am (UTC)And given the alternative is my brother ... yeesh. Kinda wish my sensible friends hadn't abandoned me.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-28 12:41 pm (UTC)I was going to recommend that. 'White Coat Fever' is real.
Now you one, set aside a time each day to test and record, preferably when you are chill.
Mine always starts high (I think because I freak out at the tightening feeling around the arm), is slower second test, and over a few weeks you get a baseline.
Who knew eating carrots for breakfast would be such an easy sell.
I'm horrified. But... carrot cake is an abomination. So...
It is titled, in flowing script on a black background decorated with a flowered wreath, "FUCK! I'M DEAD. Now what?" and I laughed my ass off when she handed it to me.
That feels very you.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-29 02:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-29 09:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-28 03:50 pm (UTC)I was 'Wednesday is a holiday? Since when?' which shows how out of the loop I am, even if I've had my orange shirt up since Labour Day.
Yeah, I should get an end of life planner too.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-29 02:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2026-09-29 03:19 pm (UTC)Bankers and fed workers always do. Nice work if you can get it. Except the feds don't get Family Day, which always glads my cold black heart.
(no subject)
Date: 2026-10-04 03:46 pm (UTC)