Dad

My dad died last Thursday.

He has been in and out of the hospital for 13 years, so it wasn't a total shock - but on the other hand, no one expected it to be last week.

By 10:15 on Friday morning, Wanda and I were in Regina.

By Friday night, the details were sorted out - prayers on Sunday night, funeral on Monday, burial on Tuesday (because he wanted to be buried out of town).

I couldn't begin to tell you how many people dropped off food - which was wonderful, because cooking required more energy than anyone had. Left to our own devices, there is no way we'd have cleaned/acquired vegetables, so veggie trays were especially wonderful.

My niece and her puppy are taking this especially hard. Apparently, the puppy spent the first day wandering the house and sitting in dad's favourite chair. (After I got there, the puppy spent her time following me around looking cute and sitting whenever I had food in my hand in hopes of getting a treat.)

My niece alternates between sad ("Do you have the phone number of heaven? I want to talk to Poppa.") and pragmatic ("Grandpa's dead as a doornail." "Now Grandpa's dead, so we might as well chuck that out."). She's doing well, but it's a hard thing to deal with - especially when you're six.

Things went as well as possible. If I counted correctly, 25 (of 47) of my first cousins were at the funeral. That is especially surprising considering that my dad's brother died 3 weeks earlier and many of them traveled from outside the city (and province) to be there.

I got back to Ottawa last night, completely exhausted. I slept in this morning and then took a nap this afternoon, so hopefully I'll be ready to go back to work on Monday.

Have you seen my sweater?

After the week of rain, this weekend has been mostly sunny. It's wonderful. I don't realize how much I miss sunshine until it appears after days of rain. It's not as summery as last weekend, but still a very nice weekend for April.

I also managed to accomplish a lot this weekend. Yesterday I counted all of the cookie money and took it into the bank. After that, I went to boxing. It was coach's corner week, and I found out that I get to move to level 4! (Part of me still thinks I hallucinated that.)

Yesterday evening, I cleaned out my dressers and closets. I was looking for the sweater I couldn't find at Christmas. Yes, it's still missing. I didn't find it, but I did create a big garbage bag of clothes to be given away. Sadly, I do need new clothes - most of mine are wearing out - but yet I won't wear the ones I'm giving away. I now have a lot of empty hangers.

After that, I buckled down and finished my taxes. I usually do one pass and then wait a week or so that I can go back and look at it with a fresh eye to find all of the stuff that I missed the first time. Yesterday I did my second pass and filed them. What with being unemployed for 5 months of the year, I wasn't sure what to expect, so I was relieved to find that I am getting a refund. I'd prefer to break even - they don't owe me and I don't owe them - but a refund is definitely better than having to pay.

When I moved into this house, there was one of those things on the screen door that makes it close if you leave it open. (I have no idea what they are called and I'm too lazy to look it up.) Anyway, it kept falling off the door, so eventually I took it off until I had time to fix it properly.

*cough*

About a month ago - when I replaced the chain, in fact - I was at Rona and I saw newfangled replacement door-closing thingys. (I really should look up what they're called.) I bought one and started to attach it after I had replaced the chain, but it was cold and I broke a drill bit off in the hole I was drilling and then ... I just let the drill sit by the front door for a month and ignored the half-completed project.

This weekend was my weekend to finish it - in part because my Sparks are meeting here on Tuesday and having a drill sitting by the front door seems like a really, really bad idea. This morning I attached it, only to find out that I couldn't open the door enough.

I went out for an enjoyable lunch with some friends, then I came home and moved it. It is finally finished. (Yay!)

Both last weekend and this weekend have seemed longer than usual. Last weekend, I assumed it was because of Easter, but apparently that's not it. Maybe it's because I'm all adjusted to my new work hours and I'm waking up earlier?

Regardless of the reason, it's a nice situation to be in.

What do you call a sunny day after 2 days of rain?

Well, after the weekend's beautiful weather, the universe has retaliated by making the week cold and rainy - which, let's face it, is the opposite of the way these things usually work.

This week is my first week on the mid-shift. That means I start work at 10 and finish at 6:30.

When I work the day shift (as I have been since I started), I get up around 6:30, get to work by 8, work until 4:30, then go to the gym. Mondays and Thursdays I go to a class at the gym that starts at 5:30, so I finish that at 6:30. Basically, I get home at the same time now.

I went to the gym Monday morning for a 7 a.m. class, only to find out that it was canceled since some people (government employees, mostly) had the day off. Instead, I spent half an hour on the elliptical trainer and managed to mess up my foot. It's my own fault - the machine I picked squeaked if I stepped in the middle of the foot-thingy, so I kept moving my foot to the left. It turns out that that was a bad idea.

Since I hurt my foot, I haven't gone to the gym. As a result, I have tons of time in the morning. This morning I cleaned the house (including mopping the kitchen and bathroom) before I left fr work. Sadly, my leisurely mornings end tomorrow, since my foot is now recovered.

Next week, I'm back on the day shift, but the week after that comes the late shift (11:30 - 8). I'm kind of curious about how I'll like that.

I am completely exhausted. I suspect part of it is because of the time change.

What's that? The time change was weeks ago?

I wish someone had told my alarm clock that. You see, I bought my alarm clock years ago. It changes time automatically - but unfortunately, the dates on which the time changes were shifted a couple of years ago. This means my alarm clock is wrong four times a year - including this morning. Yup, it woke me up an hour early.

Other contributing factors include me being too foolish to go to bed at a reasonable hour, excessive food preparation (for no good reason - it's not like I had people over today), and the fact that I worked Friday, which made Thursday evening exhausting.

This coming week I work from 10 - 6:30. My plan is to get up and go to the gym in the morning. That should (in theory) give me a reasonable amount of time in the evening.

Also, remember the online book club I'm participating in? Our first book was Twilight. Our second book is Moby-Dick.

I need to read 10 chapters by Thursday. So far, I have read one. I'm finding it interesting, but it's harder to read than, say, a book that doesn't mention a spleen in the first paragraph. I think I'll take it to work to read during lunch. The weather has been beautiful lately, so hopefully I'll be able to sit outside in the sun and read. Wish me luck.