Rae Roy's Blog

Decluttering and Minimalism

I’m really excited to have made so much progress on my kitchen in the last week or so because it has helped me realize what comes next. I have a plan for my music/reading area once my fridge is back where it belongs. Most of it is just reorganizing things I already have. I’ll need to get one item from IKEA and I eventually plan to get another item later on. More on that in the coming weeks.

DIY and Projects

I did some paint touchup on Tuesday. It wasn’t a lot of painting, but it was another thing that had to be done because the walls had gotten white specks on them from the upper cupboard painting. I’ll do that painting on the other side earlier on. And if my walls don’t look right because of the time between coats and joining together is noticeable, I’ll get some wallpaper for the two end walls that blends it all together nicely. I hope it just works out, but I might do that on the wall nearest the stove anyway because it may be easier with the hood complication.

On Thursday, I got the last bit of backsplash up near the fridge. It is composed of leftover bits from the rest of the backsplash work on the sink side. The sink area needs the same treatment, but it’s accessible and my fridge needs to get out of my music room. The picture I took after putting them up allowed me to see that a couple at the bottom were not in line with the rest and I was able to adjust them using my level.

I had to do that as the backsplash went further than the end of the cupboard. I followed what is stated all over. That is to have your backsplash go several inches below your cupboard level. It’s supposed to help protect against water damage. But hardly anyone does it and this is likely why. It just adds extra work at the end of the day. I may not bother on the other side of the kitchen because it has been more of a pain in the rear and caused delays. Perhaps just the amount of tile that will be as thick as my countertop is more reasonable than the recommended 4 inches. There shouldn’t be a lot of water on the other side of the kitchen anyway.

On Saturday, I began the dry fit of my flooring and I quickly discovered that I hugely miscalculated and did not have enough flooring. At first, it seemed like it was discontinued and that I was going to be SOL, but I found it and ordered the rest that I needed. Hopefully, it all comes together OK!

On Sunday, I installed the tiles in the fridge area first thing in the morning. It feels great to finally make it to this point! As my dad used to say, “I love it when a plan comes together!” I think that’s also from The A-Team. We used to watch it a lot when I lived at his house.

Education and Spirituality

I’m currently taking an online course called Science of Exercise. It’s pretty heavy, but very interesting. Some of it is definitely going over my head, but that’s OK.

Gaming and Puzzles

I’ve made it further in Disney Dreamlight Valley this week. I’m really enjoying it. I have a decent number of characters, but still so very many to get. I just have the base game currently, but I will likely get the expansions after Christmas. It’s cozy, but I haven’t felt like I’ve been grinding at all. The tasks are different enough from each other. I never know what I’ll need to get in order to help fix the world. There is added comfort in hanging out with characters from my childhood. The storyline does get dark at points and includes a trigger warning.

Health and Fitness

It was finally time for women’s hockey again! PWHL returned this week and I could not be happier about it. I had hoped to be entirely done my kitchen before this, but there has been too much to figure out and other life things to deal with that were sucking up my mental energy. This week we had a few name issues in the captions including:

Emerance Maschmeyer: Emirates AshmireBuglioni: Bublion, Buglion, Bubble OnlyBilka: VilaSerdachny: Sir DakneCorine Schroeder: Kim KimGuilday: GildickBourbonnais: Borbonat Burban?: Soya OhSavolainen: Seba linenManon McMahon: Mana McMahon

OK, some I couldn’t even decipher with a web search. Emirates… Well, that involves Dubai in some way. Kim Kim, is just funny. I feel bad for Rory Guilday as that was not a great captioning mistake. Bourbonnais is rather funny. Mana for McMahon could be a could nickname if she’s energetic.

Music and Songwriting

Choir was quite lovely this week. We’re sounding pretty tight and still have four practices left. I think the Solstice performance will be our best yet! And we’re doing some of the pieces with the other choir, so it’s going to be amazing. We have so many altos and enjoyable parts in several of the songs. I’m pretty excited about it.

Reading and Writing

I’ve made a lot of progress on The Tapestry of Time this week. I’ve been able to focus on reading more recently and I’m loving it. I’m hoping to soon have a space for it as I think it will be even better to have a dedicated area to escape to and ignore the rest of the world.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

Image by beauty_of_nature from Pixabay.

Decluttering and Minimalism

I got a lot done around the condo on Monday and Tuesday. There is much to do yet, but steps forward are always welcome even if they are small steps.

DIY and Projects

I made some very small progress this week on the reno. I plan to do a lot more on it next week now that I can devote the mental energy to it. The drawers have been a pain as the instructions have been rather unhelpful in placing the slides at the right heights. But it has been nice seeing my colour palette starting to take shape. There are some irksome paint touchups to do before moving on to the rest of the kitchen.

Friends and Family

Just want to say that I have some wonderful humans in my life who have been there for me lately and I appreciate them so very much.

Gaming and Puzzles

Perhaps this wasn’t the wisest, but I got Disney Dreamlight Valley. I’m enjoying it very much. I am unsure what to do with Satisfactory currently as it’s so isolating and a grind. So I got something that is very much the opposite in every way. There are still spooky related items to collect, so that is good news for me. But I am currently stuck without enough wheat and Goofy doesn’t seem to have those seeds. Hopefully, I can change that soon.

General and Miscellaneous

There were a lot of accidents this week with the first snow. People like to say that this is because of lacking snow tires, but I think it has more to do with people not remembering or caring to adjust for a variety of factors like different footwear. They keep driving the same speed, likely over the limit, but the roads are slick, so they can’t stop in time. I got myself booked in for my tire change a little later than I wanted it to be, but I just drive less often and extra carefully while I’m waiting for that date to arrive. Leave extra early and such. In short, don’t be an idiot. I don’t know why it catches people off guard every year. It’s not a new thing. I avoid driving even if I have my tires changed for the first while because of it. Perhaps that’s easier as an introvert. I’ll also go out at less busy times when and if I have to.

Health and Fitness

I’ve been very stressed this year and am making some serious changes. I’ve been massively disregulated, shaky, struggling to eat, and sleep. I took a deep look into my life and I made a decision. Since making the decision? I’m much calmer, more regulated, and filled with hope. Big changes are ahead, but it’s not time yet to talk about them. Health and wellness will be a focus for me. More on that in summer of 2026.

Music and Songwriting

I missed choir this week. I couldn’t find my snow brush. Much of the staff couldn’t make it between weather, illness, and other commitments though, so I felt less bad about missing.

Reading and Writing

I got some work done on the novel this week. Not a lot, but some forward momentum. It’s often like I’m getting to know my characters again when I’ve been away from it for awhile.

It feels ridiculous that the year is almost over. With only seven weeks left, I didn’t feel like I had accomplished much. Too much energy was spent on things that really weren’t part of my path. At least I figured it out and adjusted, I suppose. All that said, I was looking forward to getting back on track and committing to myself.

Decluttering and Minimalism

This week required more bedroom work as the pull up station was due to arrive on Wednesday. With Monday being taken up by choir, there was mainly Tuesday to get the preparation done and begin the install. There was clothing to fold and put away, laundry to do then fold and store, and quite a number of items to go through before I could vaccuum the rug. I didn’t know if I could get it done in time.

I had to toss some items out from my fridge this week. I got behind awhile ago and there were things growing in there. It was a mountain to climb for me despite it only taking a few minutes to actually handle. It’s the kind of thing that makes me feel like a failure as an adult. Finally conquered, the air is better in my condo and my allergies have reduced. Yay for not having itchy ears anymore!

DIY and Projects

I’ve been finding that I enjoy working on the kitchen more in the latter half of the week. Other home things tend to be pressing in the first half like ensuring I have clean underwear. Such is life, I guess. I had another piece of wood to cut plus the toe kickers. I wish I could have rallied on it last week, but I just didn’t have it in me.

Midweek, I got the upper cabinet piece of wood cut. After that, I took a break before painting that piece and the inside of the lower cabinet where I had augmented it. With this done, I moved on to assembling and installing the drawers. I had hoped to be onto flooring, but…

There was much swearing when it came to installing the IKEA drawers. The instructions didn’t match in several places. Add messing up one step and there was a lot of cursing to get 1.5 drawers together.

I eventually got them together and mostly in place.

Gaming and Puzzles

This weekend, friends and I planned to finish Little Hope. We had to do it in the early parts of the month because one friend was due to have her first baby any day. The due date was likely to be moved up, so we were getting short on time to finish the game! I was looking forward to getting back to it and seeing the narrative play out. My character was kind of an annoying bratty type.

We managed to finish it with a few deaths that were my fault. Then we started another game in the series.

Health and Fitness

My pull up station was due on Wednesday according to Amazon. But when I checked on it, it showed that it was out for delivery on Monday! This was OK with me though I hoped it would arrive long before I had to leave for choir. Sometimes I wish they would deliver on the day they say for reasons like this. It’ll soon be time to stop using Amazon until after Christmas as they tend to stop delivering things correctly in condo buildings once the Christmas season is here.

It came during lunch and I assembled it right away since there weren’t that many pieces. I can’t do any pull ups, chin ups, or dips yet, but hopefully soon.

This fitness change is taking some time away from the renovation and for good reason. Physical fitness helps a lot with mental health. The dopamine from it also helps with managing ADHD. A stumbling block on the renovation has also been that I’m not physically strong enough for some tasks and that makes them all take longer. Getting an exercise routine going should help me in all areas of life.

I’m also hoping to be in really good shape for the 2026 softball season. More on that piece in the new year.

Music and Songwriting

I really wanted to get back to bass, but I needed to get some things done around the condo.

It was a blustery and wet day for choir on Monday, but absolutely worthwhile. We practised with Tone Cluster and it was wonderful!

Arts and Crafts

I’m getting so many ideas lately for art for my kitchen. I had originally thought I would do a ton of cross-stich or embroidery, but I think I’ll be doing a mix of things because needlecrafts take a lot of time. I can have art sooner if I do some easier things using paints and other techniques. I found some stencils online that use layering techniques and they’re good sizes for small wall art. Many of them have seasonal themes, which makes them perfect for what I want in the kitchen. I want to change the art for seasons and holidays in there.

Soon I’ll be done the sink side and I can put art up on it. At this rate, the first art will be winter themed.

Decluttering and Minimalism

Some days it feels utterly hopeless in my condo. I know it will get better, but I just want to be on the other side of the renovation approaching my home as I want it to be.

I spent a lot of time on the bedroom this weekend. There’s a lot left to purge or store, but I will soon have space for working out and I’m super excited about it!

DIY and Projects

I finally got the doors onto my sink cabinet. I kept tripping on them and reached the limit of that. I may need a light coat of paint on the one because it got slightly scratched. Of course, that means I’ll need to do both of them or it will look weird. So that’s a fun thing in my future.

I picked up a jigsaw on the weekend because I really needed a power saw that was a bit less intense than my circular saw for some smaller work like for cutting the piece of wood needed on the upper cabinet. I have a hand held cutoff saw, but it’s really not good for more delicate work. My Ryobi One family includes a drill, a tile saw, a handheld cutoff saw, a circular saw, and a jigsaw. If I had more major destruction to do, I’d probably want the reciprocating saw. And if I did more woodworking, I’d want a router. Anyway, I’m looking forward to using it soon.

That came on Thursday morning. It was a bit of a fight getting the blade into it, but I made it happen and did the cut I needed for the inside of the cabinet to close off a gap that is the result of an idiotic design. I don’t want a place for pests to hang out, so I needed to get this handled before that could be a possibility.

Next up was to paint the visible part of the wood for this gap and attach it to the backer board. I figured I could just use some screws from the old cabinet hardware that were in good condition for this bit. This was harder than it sounds. It was a pain to put it place because I couldn’t hold it, drill holes, then assemble. I had to take part of the cabinet apart to get it to work. Something to know for the bigger cabinet later on. I’ll add the piece before putting the big cabinet in position. I’ll be doing the paint part on this one when I’m ready to paint the other piece of wood for my upper cabinet above my fridge. Oh, and perhaps it’s obvious, but despite all the measuring, it needed an extra cut once it was in place. I will likely put some caulk in there too to be sure pests really have nowhere to hang out. I can do that anytime though and I’m going to wait until I’m doing other caulking.

Education and Spirituality

This month’s Music Oracle jumped out of the deck. Considering who it is, I’m not entirely shocked.

In high school, I was in a play that used Under Pressure as the intro song. We also played a medley in music class that included Another One Bites the Dust. I actually can’t remember what else was in the medley. The barry saxophone sounded so good. Perhaps it’s a piece of my journey to learning bass guitar. That song is on my list of songs to learn.

Gaming and Puzzles

This week, I mainly focused on Cyberpunk 2077. I did this super cool move that has no bearing on anything. I hit a jump while on one of the motorcycles, spun 180, then hit the roof of a truck, bounced, and spun 180 again to find myself back on the road like nothing had even happened. I totally meant to do that…

But now I’m stuck. I keep dying while trying to escape Dogtown with the President. There’s this defunct museum and this giant Chimera. The tech in it has gone wonky and it’s chasing us. I never make it to the exit door in time and it smooshes me. Ugh.

Health and Fitness

As my Quarterly Update showed for Q3, life has not been going according to plan at all this year. At least I am starting to get view of the track to hopefully get back on it soon. I’m thinking a lot about how busy I want to be and after reducing some things, I’m truly enjoying having more breathing time and freedom in my schedule. As such, it’s equally likely that I won’t join a gym of any kind to leave room in my schedule. It may partly come down to price. A lot of them are quite expensive and there is a lot available for free online these days. It may be best to just get a new membership at Fit4Less since that is very budget friendly. HIIT or SIT are highly recommended for women my age too. There is a lot to consider.

Later this week, I began adding to my small home gym. I ordered gloves for punching my inflatable bag with and a pull up/dip station. If I really want to later, the station could also handle a hanging punching bag and be used for rope climbing (especially feasible at my height). I plan to focus on calisthenics and some Ring Fit. The station was under $100 and the gloves were under $50. This is less than a cost of one month at most martial arts clubs today. With the spare twin mattress out of my bedroom, I could actually begin work on the home gym. At least figuring out the full layout of the room could be done.

I decided on the stand alone station because I’ve never had a good experience with a doorway pull up bar.

With my old TV on wheels, I can move it as needed. I have cardio programs on disc like RushFit, so I’ll have no shortage of workout options. I also have yoga and some dance programs too. The only thing I may want later is a bigger mat. My rowing machine is currently in my closet as well. I’ll have everything I need to work on my fitness goals.

In the future, I may go to my friend’s women only class, but saving money is a priority for me right now and I’d like to be in better shape before I go there.

Music and Songwriting

It was wonderful to be back at choir this week. I didn’t know how much I had missed it! We’re working on wintry songs that are not religious for a concert in December that will have both choirs together for a number of pieces.

Reading and Writing

I’ve been enjoying having more time for writing. I don’t know why it took so long, but this week I made an editing to-do list. When I get ideas now, I pop them into the spreadsheet to keep track of where they go and when I’ve slotted them in place. I also moved my word count tracker to the same workbook.

Reviews

My friend got me these gluten free Madeleines from Oui love it! They are absolutely delightful. The taste and texture is rather like the cake part of a 1/2 Moon snack cake and I miss those. I finally have something comparable. They go really well with Buddha’s Blend from David’s Tea.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

Image by Mohamed_hassan on Pixabay.

Unfortunately, I have had to forgoe many things in Q3 and don’t expect to get back to them until next year as the kitchen renovation has been taking a lot of time along with just surviving. Hopefully, I will be beyond this soon and I’ll at least get some more reading, writing, and crafting done.

Arts & Crafts: I didn’t do much of this during the third quarter of the year. It’s often too warm to knit and I couldn’t focus on fun projects while dealing with my kitchen situation.

Decluttering & Minimalism: I threw out a lot of junk and brought a lot of items to donation over the quarter.

DIY & Projects: The kitchen renovation took up a lot of this quarter with many obstacles preventing completion. It may seem ridiculous to spend months on this, but it wasn’t planned, so wasn’t budgeted for ahead of time. Additionally, I live alone, work full-time, and have a busy life. There were many days during the summer that were too hot for heavy labour even with air conditioning.

Health & Fitness: I made some changes in what I was doing because I wasn’t enjoying myself. I also cut out some unhealthy things and people.

Music & Songwriting: I began learning to play the bass guitar. It was something I had wanted to do for a long time that I finally got going on. I expect it will take a long time to get good at it.

Reading & Writing: I began writing down a story I’ve had in my head forever. I won’t let it derail Sparker.

REVISED 2025 GOALS LIST

HOME

Bookshelf modification [DONE]Entranceway Refresh [2026]Kitchen Renovation [IN PROGRESS]Paint Doors [2026]Bedroom Closet Opening [2026]

WRITING

Cyberfunk 3000 [ON HOLD]Sparker [IN PROGRESS]Blog once weekly [IN PROGRESS]

READING

2/8 Books

MUSIC

Choir [Q2 DONE, Q4 IN PROGRESS]Ableton [2026]Music theory course [2026]Bass guitar course [Q4]

FITNESS

Softball [DONE]Karate [CANCELLED]: To be replaced.Skating [IN PROGRESS]: Needs to be done more regularly.Walking [IN PROGRESS]: Needs to be done more regularly.

TRAVEL

Plan a small trip for 2026

ARTS & CRAFTS

Procreate course [2026]Fairy Cross-Stitch [2026]Summer Quilt [ON HOLD]Entrance Table Runner [ON HOLD]Knit Vest [IN PROGRESS]Wolf Cross-Stitch [ON HOLD]Goth Quilt [ON HOLD]Kiki’s Magic Emporium Miniature Kit [ON HOLD]

LANGUAGES

Learn Japanese [ON HOLD]Learn French [ON HOLD]

As I was recovering from Con Crud, I didn’t know how much I’d get done on anything this week. It turned out to be quite productive.

Arts and Crafts

I decided it was time to repair my spooky snow globe. But it did not go well at all. I finally had all the items needed. It was to take about 36 hours for the glue holding one piece together to be good. While cleaning, I knocked the innards onto the floor and a headstone broke off. So more glue and more time before I can complete the repair. The internet says it should actually be 72 hours, so I guess it’ll be Monday of next week before I can finish repairing it. I really hope nothing else happens in the meantime. I put the fragile pieces into a drawer to hopefully protect it. It has been sitting around broken with most of the things needed to repair it for well over a year. Possibly several. And I just want my spooky globe back.

With this on hold, I did a Garden Gnome diamond painting. It’s got mushrooms and flowers with it. I promise it looks better than in this photo. The white space in the mushrooms isn’t white in reality. I’m not sure what is going on there!

DIY and Projects

On Monday, I taped the area so I could get painting the trim in the upper cabinet area. It was too hot in my unit to do anything else, but at least I was ready to start. Once the trim painting is done, I will just have toe kickers to install before I can start the flooring.

It was Thursday before I got the first coat on of the black for the thin trim that outlines the upper cupboards. I briefly thought I may buy some trim for the upper doors to make them more decorative, but I think I’m scrapping the idea. I’ll be able to get them done faster if I don’t do that and that means finishing the kitchen sooner. Plus, I don’t think it will add all that much to the design. And if I really want it later, I can add them later. I’ll decide fully on that once I’m further along.

I did a bonehead thing and forgot to close that particular paint can. Luckily, it was a small can and I just poured extra into my tray to get the thicked paint out of it. And luckily, there is plenty left for what I need it for. Not ideal, but I got the second coat done after a meeting on Friday because it was a quick thing and I HAD to deal with the already open can. That’s an ADHD moment of forgetfulness. It’s somewhat funny as I recall thinking about having to close it and oh, it’s black paint, so best do it away from the new kitchen pieces, but then I just cleaned the tray and brush and left it open. I didn’t put any of the extra paint back in the can because of it as I didn’t want the gloppy thick bit to go back in it. I planned a third coat for sometime on the weekend to finish that piece up.

I finished paint coat three on the trim on Saturday morning. After removing the tape, I did not have clean lines and I think it will take some time to touch everything up with a ruler or something to get it to look fully proper. I haven’t found a paint tape that actually works well and I think I may stop using it because of it.

Gaming and Puzzles

The rename for this section finally came to me, though I didn’t know where Videos was heading, that came to me shortly after. Videos and Vlogs. I don’t know how much I will use it, but it’s a thing now.

Onto gaming. In Satisfactory this week, I wondered if I could control the shape of my conveyor belts to improve building design. Nothing I did seemed to work, so I had to use some tickets to get the conveyor walls. I got a lot done on Monday. I decided to take advantage of the closer limestone deposit and set it up to mine and turn it into concrete.

I used a basic splitter to have half of it go into the SINK and half into storage. I now had a constant ticket making setup. And I could change what the constructor was making as needed. There are a lot of things that are more efficient for tickets than cement, but the limestone is right there and I just ensure there is fuel in the furnace to keep it moving. I hope to get onto coal soon, but I know nothing about it.

I also did a bunch of work on a smaller, but taller, copper factory across the “street” from my main factory. I split that also so I could be making something like copper sheets and storing a bunch of copper ingots.

And I got my coal collection happening. Coal is a bit far, so I’m going to want to have a truck station there someday.

I hoped I could get the boulder off of the only Caterium ore I found that was a solid source of it, because manually mining isn’t a lot of fun.

Friends and Family

A couple of friends and I got together to carve pumpkins on Saturday. Here was my contribution, which requires a real candle to show the glow. Given the hair, my friend is waiting until the actual day to capture it fully. It was an attempt at the Joker.

General and Miscellaneous

We had been receiving emails for awhile from our property management company about needing to prepare to be out of water on Wednesday. Apparently, the city would be installing new water meters. But I didn’t know if it was actually going to happen because the subject line of the email showed my building address and the actual PDF file showed the address of the building across from us. Both are managed by the same property team, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to have both of them being done. Thirty minutes before the day long shutoff was to begin, I filled my tub with water for flushing the toilet. I had already gotten bottled water for drinking. The property management company is changing on November first, so I wasn’t shocked by the quality of work going on around the place. This wasn’t our first time changing property managers in the 12 years I’ve owned my condo. Anyway, they never turned off my water. It was all for the building next door. I got up early for nothing.

Health and Fitness

Early on, the antibiotic made me feel a lot better. My energy was returning and I was sleeping properly. My appetite was decent though it did cause some abdominal discomfort.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I will be changing up what I’m doing for fitness. I’m considering either changing dojos or just doing workouts at home. I don’t care much about belts these days. I just want to get in shape. There is a place really close to my home though the schedule may conflict with the softball league I intend to switch to, but it would only be for the summer and early fall that it would be an issue. The other dojo is an entirely different set of martial arts, but it’s also very close to home. Another big draw is that it would be entirely with adults. I plan to do a trial once I’m closer to done on the kitchen. It also has a lot of female instructors, which is generally a good sign for other women to be safe there.

Movies and Television

This week, I finished Invasion. I feel like the narrative was done well. Some at Can-Con disagreed with me, but it’s in the top 5 of TV shows on Apple TV right now, so I’m pretty comfortable with my view of things. He thought season one ended weakly, but that was part of the point. A false sense of safety going into the rest of the series.

I started Foundation. It’s the series based on the books by Isaac Asimov. It’s really good, but the Apple TV Windows App sucks hardcore. As I’ve seen the complaints on the Windows Store, I submitted feedback to Apple to see if that could help us all. I doubt they are spending much time checking feedback on the Microsoft Store front, so I felt direct has a better chance of actually getting to them. I told them exactly how it is regularly functioning for me in the hopes that they would have a specific thing to look at with it. Honestly, they should let us watch from the browser from our dashboards. It works much better on an Apple device.

Music and Songwriting

Since I had only barely begun my antibiotics, I opted out of choir this week. I didn’t want to chance getting anyone there sick. I doubt I’ll be signing up for the winter session. I just don’t love going out in winter that much. I could spend the time on bass and indoor fitness. We’ll see. There’s no rush to make a firm decision. An extra good thing would be focusing more on music I actually enjoy.

Reading and Writing

I’ve begun reading The Heroine’s Journey by Gail Carriger and it is helping me find all the problem areas in my narrative. That might seem daunting, but it’s actually encouraging me because now I know why I was stuck and felt so lost in so many areas. I think all writers should have copies of it and of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey on their shelves.

Friday was the monthly Zoom call on Discord. It was moved to Discord as our former teacher was no longer teaching formally due to the cuts the college made to many artistic programs there. We’re all still mad about it, but our former educators are finding ways to keep busy and continue teaching. It’s the college who lost out. It was very low key as several members were watching the Toronto Blue Jays game. It was nice to chat for a little bit anyway.

C’est tout.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

Will this week be the answer to life and everything? Unlikely. Truthfully, I didn’t love The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Just not my style of comedy. Also, I like when there is a clear plot. But I suppose the world we’re living in right at this moment may be more absurd than the novel.

DIY and Projects

Plans for this week included finishing all the steps needed to get my fridge back into my kitchen. I didn’t have a lot of hope given the head cold that still had its grip on me on Monday. Indeed, I did not get as much done as I wanted to, but I fixed a too big gap between my sink and wall. Caulking should hopefully fix the rest of it.

I suppose next week will be the week that gets my fridge back in the kitchen possibly.

Gaming and Videos

I got to level 100 in Sun Haven by around 9PM on Monday. It seems like a lot, but they add various skill levels together to get that (Mining, Combat, Exploration, Farming, Fishing). I didn’t do much other gaming. I didn’t feel up to it with the head cold.

Health and Fitness

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the taste of acetaminophen. It’s often hard for me to swallow pills and there were a number of times that the cold and sinus caplets would get stuck on the way down and make me want to vomit. I emailed in sick on Tuesday. I rarely take sick days, but after a weekend of barely any sleep, I woke up still feeling fevered and decided another day without work was needed.

Recently, I realized that I spend a lot of time reminding my loved ones that they are worth it, they deserve better, they deserve peace, and more. It’s taken me 44 years to realize that I do too.

On Wednesday, I felt better enough to go out and watch a friend’s softball final. It was orthodox style and I really enjoyed watching it. They allow bunting, stealing, and sliding. The homeplate was the size it should be. There were two umpires. One at home and one that moved around as needed. The other league folks were friendly and welcoming. Despite the slaughter happening on the field, it was a relaxed vibe. Her team led until the very last inning where it briefly got rough. But they pulled it together to win the trophy. The whole game was more energetic and strategic.

This week I allowed myself the grace to move on from karate. I’m really not into learning kata at this point in life and I don’t want to be in classes with children. I will stop by and let Sensei know that I won’t be back out of respect for him and the dojo as I’m not one for ghosting unless I’m feeling harassed after setting boundaries. But I still want to kick and punch things, so I’m hitting YouTube until a school I’m interested in has finished their move.

As it turns out, other than books, I came home from the annual writing convention with strep throat. The next morning I got a virtual appointment with a doctor for a prescription before going back to sleep while I waited for it to be ready to pick up.

Reading and Writing

This weekend was Can-Con. Can-Con is a local speculative fiction writer’s convention. This year, I only planned for the Saturday due to cost, time, and energy. I planned to attend five panels plus the evening dance party. After work on Friday, I did the prep I needed, which was putting gas in my car, buying food, and deciding what to wear. I wondered which, if any, writer friends would dance.

The evening felt a bit like the calm before a storm. A good storm, but Can-Con is full of socializing, learning, and movement. It’s a lot of fun, but also often exhausting for this introvert. All that aside, I was excited to see my writer buddies. Many of them I only see at this convention in person and otherwise stay in casual contact through social media during the rest of the year.

The morning of Can-Con was frenzied for me. I quickly showered, began packing snacks and items like a phone charger and writing implements, and I managed to get some music sorted for my car. Next, I had some breakfast and planned to stop at Starbucks along the way. With my writing socks, some new music, food in my belly, and some caffeine, I was ready for a hyper social day with people I hadn’t seen in awhile.

The highway was down to one lane on the drive there, so I was just slightly late for my first panel titled Gothic Horror in the New Age. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to some future reading options. Next up was Arm Yourself Against a Sea of Chatbots: Writing in a World with AI, which talked about the ethical and environmental issues with AI. They also talked about good uses for AI, but I was surprised that no one brought up the potential as an accessibility aid. I would have asked a question about it, but the time ran out. Sometimes that’s just how it goes. We also learned about some of the problems teachers are seeing, including students thinking of the AI they use to write an essay for them as their only friend. Critical thinking is becoming a lost skill in many students because of AI as well. It has many of us worried for the future.

I took a break and chatted with friends when I wasn’t in the vendors room getting some books to add to my collection. Then I went to a panel that told me so much about my own writing, The Heroine’s Journey in Modern Science Fiction and Fantasy. This writing guide by Gail Carriger is a feminist answer to Joseph Campbell’s book. I’ve ordered a copy and look forward to reading it because I’m already instinctively writing in that way, but I’m having difficulties in places because I have Campbell’s method in mind and it doesn’t fit what I need.

After that was Monstrous Retellings: Weaving Classics and the Supernatural. One of my favourite local authors was on this panel, so I knew it would be a good one. This is another one that inspired me for both reading and writinig.

The last panel I attended was Lived Experience as Story Fodder. Not only was it interesting, but it put my mind at ease about some things.

I hung out with a friend I hadn’t seen in awhile and was about to head home when our buddy we had been waiting on finally arrived. The introvert in me was sad because my social battery was drained, my feet hurt, and my throat was raw from a long day. But I had to see him for a bit. He’s often in a bush somewhere and I hadn’t seen him since last year.

I suppose this week actually provided me a lot of answers in life and my writing after all.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

Decluttering and Minimalism

I got rid of a small storage ottoman this week. I had originally intended to reupolster it, but it wasn’t worth the work given the shape it was in and that it was shedding vinyl all over my condo. I decided I would get a new one if I even needed it at all. I don’t think I do. It felt good to finally purge it from my life.

This weekend I decided it was time to clean and store my air conditioner. Between the drop in temperature and the allergens coming in, I needed to get this done. I didn’t get passed pulling it out of the window as I caught a bad cold.

I also did a social media cleanse. I detoxed my feed. The content I’m seeing now is more positive and aligned with my goals.

DIY and Projects

I was gung ho to get painting on Monday morning, but I couldn’t find a paintbrush! I decided to get one at Walmart before choir as I needed some other items. After moving some tools around, I found the brush I was sure I had purchased for this task, so I didn’t need to go buy one afterall. In retrospect, I’m not sure I could have done it in the hour before work anyway, so it was better to leave it until after choir if I had the energy still by then. I had been flip flopping on doing all the upper cabinets at the same time and I decided to just do the sink side. The sooner I got this side done completely, the sooner I would be able to get the entire kitchen done. It would also be easier to do that painting on the stove side when old stuff was gone. I originally planned it that way anyway.

I got one coat on the cupboards over lunch. The front were OK after one. The underside needed a touch more. I eventually plan to alter the undersides slightly to have better wood to screw into for lighting and such. but I decided to leave that for down the road, if at all. One cupboard would have some alterations before moving on because there are large gaps that let pests hide in and I want to stop that nonsense. I haven’t seen many since closing the hole in my floor. Thankfully.

And it wasn’t that stinky. The enamel paint I used is oil-enriched rather than oil-based, so the odour was akin to a light varnish and didn’t make my whole condo smell bad. But, I didn’t realize that it was like some Frankenstein of oil and acrylic, so I had to wait for my paint brush to thaw before I could do a second coat on Tuesday. Once the paint dried, I was able to gather the pieces for the small cabinet and assemble it.

And that’s where another obstacle popped up. The legs made the cabinet too high. My sink cabinet is lower and I can’t change that now. Thankfully, the butch in me found scrap wood to use that would correct this. I didn’t get far on it on Tuesday as I didn’t have the energy. I was feeling better enough to get one piece cut, but not all four.

I think the perfect time to work on the upper cupboard doors will be when I’m waiting for the countertop to come in. I want to pay off some previous kitchen debt before I order that. I finally decided it would be butcher block. It took forever to come to this decision.

Around 3:00 AM, I couldn’t sleep. It was too warm. So I quietly removed the hardware from my upper cabinet doors and stacked them all neatly.

Then I played some Destiny 2 in the hopes I’d be tuckered out.

On Wednesday, I began working on covering a gap in my cabinet underside where my fridge goes. It needs to be painted, but I will caulk the smaller gaps first. Then I’ll have to ensure the gaps are gone on the inside of the cupboards and it’ll be tickety boo.

On Thursday, after hitting the internet and chatting with friends, I decided the height difference didn’t matter. I would just put some caulk where the sink meets the cabinet and not worry about it. It took forever to get it the thing levelled to a reasonable amount over lunch.

Next up was figuring out a way to ensure it wasn’t going to be moving about. I used the same silicone sealant that glued the sink to its cabinet. My stepladder kept it in place for the adhesive caulk to do its magic.

I took another crack at the gap issue on Saturday as I hadn’t got the wood where I wanted it. That screwed it all up and I had to come up with a new plan. I left it for awhile as my stepladder would be needed to screw it in from the top and replace the other piece of wood that got all messed up in the endeavour. I realized I could do something better that would use one new piece of wood and not leave a giant 1.5 inch gap.

Also on Saturday, I had picked up plinth or toe kicker wood. BUT. These IKEA legs need special IKEA ones. I decided to keep it anyway for a future small shelf unit. I became fairly sure I would need to have the flooring go slightly under the cabinet given the spacing I was dealing with. Not sure enough to start installing my flooring, but I’d know completely by the time I got the toe kickers from IKEA. Do I need to mention that I was annoyed by this point? Not one thing in this project has been easy really and I don’t want to ever renovate again unless I have a helpful partner in a more regular home.

I got the toe kickers from IKEA early on in the day. I didn’t do anything beyond bringing them and some groceries home because of a head cold. At least I had them now.

Education and Spirituality

This week, I tried to take a full moon picture. It went terribly.

This month’s Fairy Oracle is the Fairy of Manifestation: Pure Intention.

Friends and Family

There’s something wonderful about seeing your best friends. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing together. The time spent in excellent company lifts spirits in a way nothing else does. It even calms a deregulated nervous system. I have a core group of women that I have known for a decade or so. I spent time with this weekend. I truly cherish them band I feel so fortunate to have them in my life. It’s a special thing when you have people who truly care about you, your boundaries, and your property. Unfortunately, they are rare and I more often find the opposite. Again, I’m so thankful for my real friends.

On Sunday, I called my dad and brothers to catch up and give them well wishes.

Gaming and Videos

I should really rename this category since I don’t do Twitch anymore. The two things should be separate. Eventually. I’ll add it to the never-ending to-do list.

Anyway, I began playing Destiny 2 this week and I’m in love. It’s like MMORPG meets FPS. My character is an Awoken warlock. I use guns, swords, and magic and it’s f’n awesome! There is a rich storyline in the game. I’m so glad it was worth the long install. Tuesday was a frustrating day until I began this game. I was so close to beating the third round of a boss, but I just didn’t quite make it. I took a walk after that loss.

I stayed up way late on Wednesday. It was happenstance because I didn’t know exactly where I was in Cyberpunk 2077 and I set of the whole hour and a halfish chain of events that brings Johnny Silverhand, played by Keanu Reeves, into V’s life. Oops. But also so worth it. I swear that some things were slightly different in this runthrough from the Nomad one. It’s entirely possible I’m misremembering though as I haven’t played it in so long because of space issues.

On Friday, I met up with friends to play a game called Little Hope. It’s a choose-your-own-adventure style horror game. We got about half way through and need to finish it sometime in the next month or so.

On Sunday, my one friend group hooked me on Sun Haven. It’s like Stardew Valley, but better. There’s more to do. Energy isn’t a bottleneck to playing or advancing. It’s more visually appealing and the days are longer, so you can get a lot more done in one session.

Health and Fitness

On Tuesday, I really struggled on the food front. Nothing was appealing. The only thing I could think of eating was Shawarma. I’m so tired of my screwed up body. I just want to lose weight, get in shape, and be healthy, but there’s always something preventing my progress. I can’t get healthy by not eating anything!

The Skip driver picked up my food, went in the opposite direction, and parked his car for 20 minutes. I had to get support to tell him to do his job. Ugh. I think I’ll only order pickup from there in the future and save the BS from Skip. Or I’ll find a better place to order from. I did advise the restaurant of what happened.

I made up a new schedule for myself and went for a walk after work on Wednesday. It was a tad chilly with just a hoodie, but I thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air. Autumn is my favourite season!

I had to cut someone out of my life. Keeping them in it was making me mentally, emotionally, and physically ill. They didn’t respect me, my boundaries, or my property and were frequently using me. This is part of what has made it so hard to get anything done in recent months. I dreaded this. One can only tell someone so many times that things are not acceptable and when there isn’t a change in behaviour, there’s only one course of action left. If you’re dealing with such a person, you deserve better and I hope you find the courage to do the same.

It’s been a long time since I felt that disregulated. Thankfully, despite the cold I’ve been working through, I can feel my nervous system slowly calming down. A weekend full of gaming and good friends helped tremendously.

That’s a word I often don’t use because the dude running things across the border has in the past. I feel like I have to take back a lot of language from that one and it makes me sad as a writer.

Movies and Television

I started watching Invasion this week. It’s a sci-fi horror show about an alien invasion. The characters include a lesbian Japanese women who works at JASA (Japanese NASA), a black soldier who is on a mission in the Middle East to find a previous crew that went missing suddenly, a female Indian woman who gave up her career in medicine to raise a family, and a teen boy from a British private school. I’m continually wondering if all of them will eventually team up though they are started in different places across the globe.

Music and Songwriting

The practice journal I got for practising bass is The Bass Guitar Practice Journal by Dan Hawkins. It has a 30-line Goals List, a Repertoire List with room for 60 song titles, Tips and Maxims, a Practice Checklist, many pages for writing down what you worked on, how long you worked on it, and how it went, and it has room to write chords down both in the log pages and in a dedicated chords section. There are even some lines for tabs. I think it will be helpful as I learn as writing things down often helps get things into my head better.

I like the way How to Play Bass Guitar in 14 Days is structured. It’s tab based, but also shows the rhythms in a proper format. So it passively provides some theory elements, which makes it easier to jump into more traditional sheet music later. The 50 first songs book does this also. In the 90s, I recall guitar tabs that just had the numbers on the lines and you had to figure out the rhythm yourself. Even then, I was trying to learn tabs for the bass elements in a song. I wish I had recognized that back then. Imagine where I could be now!

Choir practice went well this week. We practised a couple of songs and had break time with the other choir. It’s a little tough not feeling sleepy in the dimly lit church and I hope I’m not annoying anyone with my yawning!

Reading and Writing

I so wish I had more time for both right now. When things are slow at work, I’ve started reading to pass the time and it’s improving my mood substantially. I’m still working through The Tapestry of Time by Kate Heartfield.

If you’re looking for a quick and humourous read, I highly recommend this blog post by Marie Bilodeau about her adventures with a camel. Marie is one of the first humans I met in Ottawa and I’m so thankful I had the courage to go to the event I met her at back in 2013.

Catch you on the flip side,

Rae

Decluttering and Minimalism

In the coming weeks, this will be a big focus for me when I’m not working on the kitchen. I’m very close to being able to move some things into their proper places. Once the first cabinet is in place, I can relocate my reading chair. Once there is some flooring in the kitchen, I can relocate my fridge. These two things will be huge improvements in my day-to-day living space.

DIY and Projects

By Wednesday, I hadn’t achieved much on the kitchen project. My system was all messed up from drinking at the softball banquet. By Sunday, the most I had gotten done was to tape in preparation to paint the upper cupboards. I was feeling a lot better at least.

I want the kitchen done before year end. As long as the countertop comes in on a reasonable timeline, that should be doable. I think I need one piece to cover the two cupboards. I haven’t ordered it as I can’t properly measure until the two lower cupboards are in their places.

Education and Spirituality

This month’s Music Oracle is Johnny Cash. I guess I’ll be walking a line or taking a highway trip this month? Actually, yes on the highway as I had an event out of town on Saturday.

I thought I might be gambling, but that’s Kenny Rogers. I should know better as I once got to hand Kenny Rogers a guitar on stage in my hometown. Goth me wasn’t happy to be at a country concert, but I was being paid at least. Then I faded back into stage tech obscurity. I didn’t last in that job. I wasn’t physically strong enough to move meat racks (what we called racks of lights back in the 90s). Combine that with being under five feet tall and I was limited in what I could do. It wasn’t a good fit for me.

Gaming and Videos

I’m thoroughly enjoying Neverwinter. I installed a few more games I own just because I could. Maybe I’ll try again with Subnautica. I had such hopes for it, but couldn’t get to shore and just kept dying. I’ve also been playing Satisfactory. It’s pretty chill and every now and then, the computer says something messed up. It was like, “You have earned a break. (Pause). I hope that was refreshing.”

I’ve left my gaming group. I just can’t afford the 5 hours a week on something I don’t enjoy enough. Turn-based combat drives me nuts. Perhaps it’s the martial artist in me. Part of my goal in joining was that there are many writers who feel that it’s an important thing to do for writing. I disagree. I would be a lot further ahead if I had just spent the five hours every week on my writing projects.

Health and Fitness

I didn’t make it to karate this week. My iron was too low to be doing that level of exercise, so I just focused on getting it back to normal. At least I figured out what was causing me issues. Unfortunately, it can take a long time to fully resolve this kind of thing. I took a walk instead.

Given how prone I am to this, I think it’s best I either quit drinking entirely or just have a very occasional drink of something on special days like Christmas. I’d rather be healthy. There are tons of yummy mocktails anyway.

The long awaited schedule for the 2025-2026 PWHL Season dropped on Wednesday! The first game isn’t until November 21st, but at least we can plan around it now. We as in myself and many of my friends.

Movies and Television

I finished Slow Horses this week. It grew on me. It was quite a change from The Morning Show when I began it. Next up is Surface. Basically, this woman has lost all of her long term memory after falling off of a ferry. There have been a lot of enjoyable plot twists.

Music and Songwriting

I got myself some other materials including a practise logbook for bass. One is a 14-day bass book. I wanted to have a book of exercises to help guide me early on. I also got a 50 First Songs You Should Play on Bass book.

Choir began this week. The first practise was a mix of singing and just getting to know people as some newbies had their vocal range checked to know which part they should be singing. Given the somewhat dim lighting and the low iron, the church environment made me feel a bit sleepy.

DIY and Projects

Other than the paycheque limitation on getting materials, which I hope to be on the other side of after a new range hood and countertops, time and health have been bottlenecks. Energy as well as I have been working two jobs for the past couple of weeks. One week left on that exhausting piece.

But I’m also in perimenopause and that has been complicating things. Have you ever felt like vomiting, passing out, and spontaneously combusting all at once? Well, that’s how hot flashes feel for me. I’m having to go slower than I’d like because the only thing that helps once I’m in one is pausing what I’m doing, having some water, and just letting my body have time to cool down. Interestingly, the hot flashes don’t actually raise my body temperature like a fever does. My thermometer reads in the normal range while I’m having one.

Currently, all the doors are off the upper cupboards and I have some minimal stuff to do to prep them for painting.

The crud near the hinge holes is from pest control. I need to clean that up before I paint. These will be white still. The trim will be black. I need to get that paint yet. I also have some minor work on this side as I don’t like how the cupboards above the fridge are connected inside to the rest. Also, there are a lot of open spots on the underside that let pests hide in or escape through. I will be putting an end to that nonsense.

Aside from that, on the other side of the kitchen, there is a spider who loves hanging out in the corner. It rarely moves. I have told it that it will eventually be having a bad time when I get to doing the stove area. It’s almost the last area to do. I will be installing a stainless steel piece behind the stove before I do the rest of the backsplash.

Gaming and Videos

My Nintendo Switch has been missing for months. I was really frustrated and mystified about it. I have been playing it at my dad’s house over the Christmas break, but I knew I had brought it back to Ottawa. This weekend, I found it inside the box for my Ring Fit device. Why did I look in there? It was the last place to look. Why did I put it in there is an even better question. Sometimes my brain is wonderful and othertimes it is a detriment to myself. Maybe I thought it was a good hiding spot for it while I had to go out of town? Who knows. At least I can finally use it again. I was truly enjoying Detective Pikachu.

Also in gaming this week, I got an external SSD in the hopes that I could put a couple of large games on it that wouldn’t fit on my laptop. It took forever to install them, but they actually run better on it than they even did on my main drive.

General and Miscellaneous

I have been reducing how many hobbies I am involved in. I don’t have the time to do them all and I need time for bass, choir, karate, and writing. Also for finishing the kitchen renovation.

Health and Fitness

I told myself I would totally get onto the stinky paint on Monday, but I felt like I needed time after figuring out that I was experiencing some lingering stuff from the past. At least I figured it out and sometimes just realizing a thing like this is really helpful in taking the power out of it. I read about ways to get through it and reducing cortisol is key for these things. Exercise, good nutrition, sleep hygiene, and such are in the list of activities that help reduce the stress hormone.

Karate kicked my butt good this week. It was great to be back at it. It’s helping strengthen my tricep, which is what I suspect is the cause of the missing bit of range in my arm at this point. I injured it twice when I hurt my rotator cuff muscles last year. I did a bit of research and I think I found a couple of other exercises to help it out some more.

Finding my Switch was important for my fitness goals. Ring Fit is part of the picture for cardio, especially once winter arrives. I relocated my blu ray player to my bedroom for fitness reasons and also because popping a movie on while I do things like fold and put away laundry is helpful for my ADHD. It also gives me a space to retreat to while the renovation is still ongoing.

I am regularly having sore, stiff muscles. Perhaps I’m low in some nutrient like potassium. This happens to me now and again and I pretty much just cycle various electrolytes until it goes away. Perhaps someday I’ll have a doctor again and can actually have a targetted approach to it rather than trying everything.

Movies and Television

This week, I watched the Blade trilogy. I didn’t remember much of Blade: Trinity, but I enjoyed the Dracula lore. Incidentally, a friend is in Transylvania touring everything she can related to Vlad the Impaler, the supposed inspiration for Bram Stoker. I also had the Twilight series on while cleaning. It’s a comfort watch that has a great soundtrack.

In television, I finished The Morning Show. Well, I caught up to where it is in the release schedule, actually, so I eagerly await new episodes each week. I’ve been watching Slow Horses since. It’s quite a vibe change, but interesting. Basically, it’s about the MI5 rejects that get parked in crap jobs when they make mistakes. Some end up there for having sex with the wrong people. Others because they made the kind of error that would result in mass casualties.