Woke up weary.
Laissez-moi expliquer le problème.
The weather is a raw cold that makes me long for a warm home, but the house is cold. I am cold. The stove had gone out sometime after I fell asleep at 3am, although later when I roused enough to look it seemed to be going. Toad must have done that. However, when I woke and got up for the day the stove wasn't going and there was evidence that Toad had burned something he shouldn't have--some funky black char shaped like paper. I asked what he had burned and he replied "I don't know." Shit. I had to work for a long time to get the firewood burning well enough to close the damper and the house is still cold. Too much frigid air coming in from the windows that need to be replaced.
It is 1:24pm and so far I have fed the cats twice, cooked for the chickens, tended the woodstove, bundled up trying to get warm, check my email, and done today's jigsaw puzzle. Toad let the chickens out when he took them the warm meal I had cooked for them and they are enjoying their freedom despite the cold. I need to eat and take my meds before I clean the birdcages. Sigh. There are only a few sticks of firewood in the house. Toad is in bed, as usual. He can't stay up for very long at at a time. He microwaved some egg rolls for himself earlier and ate them with plum sauce, which he loves. He has been telling me every morning about the weird dreams he's been having, which I attribute to the medication he takes for his memory, Aricept. I told him that I would see if weird dreams is a side effect of it, so I just now checked and, sure enough, abnormal dreams is one of the less common side effects.
Yesterday afternoon, craving something sweet and wanting to use the oven to help heat the house, I made six blueberry muffins for us to share. They were delicious. I'm tempted to make another small batch now, but will try to control myself.
A friend from Ontario called just as I had begun to make our brunch, so I turned off the stove and talked to her for a long while. Afterwards I made us each two eggs on toasted potato bread, with a peeled clementine on the side. I cooked an egg for Foxy, too. And then made us each French Vanilla cappuccino, took my meds and sat down to rest, practice French and have my coffee at 3:20pm.
The bastards at Duolingo un-golded three of my French tree units, so I strengthened those units to restore my tree to gold before reading a new French story. Took a break to clean the birdcages and then had a Skype call from D and the boys, who were playing with play dough in the nursery and having a good time. After our visit ended I read the story Haut les mains ! (Hands up!)
At 6:00pm Toad and I watched Columbo S2E3. The wind had died down outside and so the living room warmed nicely. The fire looked lovely. We enjoyed the show, which starred Robert Culp as the murderer. He went to bed afterwards.
Spent some time looking up ideas for repurposing some pretty cobalt blue pill bottles that I've been saving. I remember Mom saying that she wished her pill bottles were that pretty when I was staying with her and took my meds in front of her. I found a few ideas that I'm interested in trying, and ended up on Pinterest for the first time in a while. It was hard to break away!
Moved on to email, FB, and blog reading. Woke Toad and gave him his meds, had him remove his nitro patch, and readied his meds for the morning. Fed the cats again at Tommy's insistence. While up I made myself a PBJ sandwich. Fascinating, isn't it.
Off to bed to read myself to sleep at 11:17pm. Bonne nuit !
I'm Reading:
- A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara
- Elle parle toute seule. Meaning: She talks to herself.
- Je préfère celui-là. Meaning: I prefer that one.
- Ceux-ci sont beaux. Meaning: These are beautiful.
- Laissez-moi expliquer le problème. Meaning: Let me explain the problem.
- J'aime ce type de café. Meaning: I like this kind of coffee.
- Cela n'est pas important. Meaning: It does not matter.
- C'est un jeu. Meaning: It is a game.
- Quelqu'un me disait ça. Meaning: Someone told me that.
| Today's jigsaw puzzle |
| Jigsaw description |
| My grandsons having fun |
| Molly enjoying the comfort of Toad's chair and the warmth from the woodstove this evening |
