11:16 AM

I despise Mondays, but nothing is worse than a Monday after you've been away. I am the only one who knows how to do my job, so the stack of work is spooky.

Last week was really awful. I didn't get my car back until Thursday afternoon because of a series of screwups and miscommunications (I now understand why our customers get so crabby if this is the type of service they receive). So from Monday afternoon to Thursday afternoon I stared at my four walls since Chris' car is out of commission and it was too freaking hot to walk anywhere. I am waiting for my boss to bring me the service bill sometime today. It will at least be $700.00, way more than they originally told me.

The weather was outrageous for the remainder of the week, with it either being horrendously hot or thunderstorms like none I have ever seen. So that kind of killed the canoeing plans we had. We went to Vaughan Mills mall-the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World was really cool, but otherwise there wasn't really anything unique there (plus going to a mall when you are broke sucks).

Gypsy seems to be doing okay, although she is really frustrated with the darn cone on her head. I feel so sorry for her-cockatiels love to preen and she is going nuts not being able to make herself pretty. Her brother keeps snapping at her and chasing her away because she makes him nervous with the collar, so she is like a little pariah in birdyland. It's so sad to watch her waddle around on the floor, and most of the time I find her standing at my feet with this forlorn look on her face, so I end up carrying her around with me. The doctor wants to keep the collar on for two more months, but I'm afraid she'll get too depressed. I'm going to monitor her over the next week or so and see if she gets any happier.

5:00 PM


I am cursed. I am three days into my vacation and it has turned into the Holiday from Hell.

On Saturday morning, I got up and let my three birds out of their cages. My female cockatiel, Gypsy, flies out of her cage and promptly falls to the floor. I notice all her flight feathers are missing from one wing, which is strange because her brother also lost his flight feathers on one wing last week. So I go to grab her and she flutters across the floor. As she flaps her wings, blood spatters in all directions. I totally freak out and scoop her up. The tip of her wing is bleeding profusely, obviously a broken blood feather. I hold on to her and apply pressure to the wing, which does not pelase Gypsy in the least and she squirms like mad. I call the vets, because their wings won't clot and they can quickly bleed to death. They schedule me in for the early afternoon and I pack Gypsy in the travel cage and take off. It is raining buckets so the underpass leading to the highway is flooded. I turn around and take a long way around to the highway and head to the vets, which is about 45 minutes away (there are no avian vets in my area, which stinks). I call Chris and he offers to come with me so I pick him up along the way. At the vets, there is of course the least experienced vet on duty with it being a Saturday. He takes a look at her wing, which has stopped bleeding by this point. He can't see any evidence of mites or anything that would have caused both birds to yank out their feathers. He decides that she needs to be fitted with a collar so she can't pick at her wing. He also prescribes an antibiotic and pain killer (which makes no sense since she did not appear to be in any pain). So, that trip cost me $150.00. All of my vacation money. And now I have to take her back tomorrow, which will be another $60, which will leave me with not one penny to my name. End of the first calamity.

Then today I pick my mom up to take her to the train station to go visit family in Windsor. When she gets in the car she comments that she smells gas. I figure it's the car in front of me and we carry on. When we get out of the car we still smell gas, but have to get going to catch the train. When I leave the station, I I have a bit of trouble starting me car, but it gets going and I head home. When I get home, I get down and look under my car. Drip, drip, drip. You can clearly see fuel leaking. I rush upstairs and call work, since I work for a car dealership. They aren't busy so I rush down there to have them take a look. The fuel line has rusted out and since it lies right between the brake lines, they will break when you go to repair the fuel line because the car is older and the brake lines are rusty. $475.00. There goes most of my next paycheque since I will have to charge this to my staff account since I have no bloody money. End of calamity number two.

So no money, no trip to the cottage and no car for a couple of days. And a bird with a cone on her head, so I have to hand feed her because she can't get into her food bowls. Can I curl up in a corner and cry now?

8:45 AM

Suddenly Monday appears again...

It was a pretty good weekend, despite the scorching heat. Chris sent me to the spa for a facial on Saturday, so that was an awesome treat. It was incredibly relaxing. We were going to go mini golfing Saturday night, but it was just too hot. We went out to look at a car for Chris on Sunday and I swear I almost melted. Today is supposed to go up to over 45 degrees with the humidex!

Four more sleeps until holiday time. Yay!!

11:35 AM

Woot! Friday! Work is buying me lunch and it's slow around here, so it's a good day. My office is starting to look like a storage room with all the golf prizes piling up. I head our company's Social Committee and am organizing our staff golf tournament for July 23rd. I'm on vacation that week but since the only other two members of the committee are on vacation as well and don't do a heck of a lot, so I'm on my own. I don't golf so the day tends to consist of me running about like I'm on fire trying to keep things organized.

Mom is off to her followup appointment with her psychiatrist today. Hopefully all goes well. She seems to be doing pretty good and the lithium has calmed her down. Having things be quiet over the last week has been a good thing for me. Hopefully Chris and I can sneak away to the cottage for a few days when I'm on vacation to get away from it all.

Holy hot weather, Batman! It is supposed to be over 40 degrees with the humidex each day. I know a lot of people love this weather but I can't stand it. Chris can't breathe with his athsma so we can't do anything outdoors and I hate dripping with sweat. We had a the power go out at work the other day because a transformer blew--it's happening all over the city with the huge amount of hydro use. I hope we don't ever have anything happen again like the blackout of 2003, but with how hot it is, it wouldn't surprise me.

9:25 AM

The heatwave from one of the lower pits of hell finally broke. The humidity left you feeling soggy all day. I really am not looking forward to my next hydro bill, as it should be astronomical with how much the air conditioners have been running. The humidity is supposed to return by the weekend, but at least we get a short reprieve.

My mom has been back home in her apartment since Saturday morning. I picked her up from the hospital on Thursday and kept her at my place for a couple of days before taking her home. So far, she seems to be managing okay with no mention of any "harrassment" from "them". When I asked her yesterday if she was hearing anything, she told me no so hopefully that is the truth. The lithium seems to be helping level her out, so keep your fingers crossed that she can stay this way for a while so I can get some peace.

The long weekend was fairly uneventful. Chris and I went to see Superman Returns on Sunday, which was pretty cool. We were supposed to go canoeing on Monday, but it was so hot and humid that Chris' asthma couldn't handle it. I have to work this Saturday, so hopefully we can go the following weekend.