December 10, 2007

  • I went to Gilly's band concert this afternoon. I got up from my pew to talk to Gilly right before the show started, and when I returned, I discovered Sandy and Theresa (that bought our house) sitting in the pew behind me. I was surprised to see them, said hi, and the both turned their backs on me and snubbed me!

    I have no idea what's going on, I can only figure Mom said enough nasty stuff about me that they think I'm horrible. I tried several times to talk to them and they both ignored me. Theresa never said a word to me, and Sandy said the bare minimum. Gilly spoke to him at intermission and got a slightly less cold response. I was really hurt. Last time I saw them was a couple of years ago in the grocery store, and they were friendly then. It has to be related to their spending some time with Mom.

    When Gilly approached Sandy to say hi, he looked her in the eye and said hi back. Later she asked him (while I was in the washroom) about the foot-shaped garden stones in the back yard, and he said "ummm... I don't think they exist any more." I did get a little bit out of Sandy, when I asked him about renovations. He said the house has been gutted, kitchen and all ripped out, and they'll take the drywall down soon. He plans to replace the roof in the spring, and when I said it's only a year old he said he's taking the wood part of the roof off as well. Basically, he's keeping the bricks and mortar. It's his right to do it, but combined with the cold shoulder it made me feel sad to hear it.

    Part of me wants to call Mom and tell her what happened and see what she says, but most of me doesn't want to hear her response because I know it will only be vicious. I'm glad I have an appointment with my social worker tomorrow night and can talk about this with him. When the phone rang long-distance tonight I called out "Not It!" I checked the Caller ID and it wasn't Mom, it was my friend Jenn, who I was really glad to hear from and talk with. She's coming home from Quebec for Christmas and we're making plans to hang out together lots while she's here.

    Last week Gilly and I visited Mom. We drove up separately so I could stay for a few days. I got all the way to Highway 400 and Major Mackenzie, and was doing fine. Then suddenly I was spinning across three lanes. I did 4 or 5 complete turns, finally got some control back and just clipped my back corner on the outer concrete barrier. When I finally found a wide enough shoulder to pull over and swallow my heart, I checked for damage and was pleased to find only a small crack in the corner of the bumper and the edge of the tail light was broken. I had a mechanic look it over and I needed no repairs. Huzzah! Interestingly, the panic of nearly dying was not nearly as intense as a purely emotional panic attack. Odd.

    We took Mom out for dinner at Timothy's Steakhouse on Sunday night, to celebrate her 60th birthday. It was a great meal, and we had more food than we could finish. I saw cherries jubilee on the dessert menu and got all excited. Mom asked what it was, and I said "Cherries! ON FIRE!" She was still confused but agreed to try it as she loves cherries. The waiter brought over a gas burner on a cart, put in lots of butter and brown sugar, orange, lemon, cherries, and brandy, and set it on fire. He scooped it over dishes of ice cream, and another server came over and put a candle in Mom's dessert and we sang to her. We were all thoroughly impressed with the delicious goo. Mom was blown away by it and basically said it was the best dessert ever. And it was.

    Gilly decided not to come home Sunday night due to the freezing rain and her one headlight being out. We stayed at Mom's place so Gilly could park underground. I protested, mainly because I was nervous about spending the night with Mom, but Gilly didn't catch on. Oh, well. The living room was packed solid with furniture and garbage, which had to be cleared in order to pull the bed out of the couch. Gilly and I spent ages rearranging things, sorting the floor junk into garbage, recycling, and papers for Mom to sort somehow. We finally got it clean enough to open the bed, and we crashed. The kitchen, hallway, and bathroom are still terrible, but we could handle no more, nor should we. Mom was grateful for the help, and we had a pleasant night and morning. Gilly and I took our cars to the mechanic for our respective problems, and went for breakfast before Gilly headed off to work.

    That night I went out for dinner with the singles' club, which due to the weather had only 5 people show up out of 9 expected. Still, it was a great success because it was a major blizzard outside, and those of us who decided to drive in it were insane. We had a great time and even enjoyed digging our cars out of the 7 inches of snow that had fallen in the three hours we were in the restaurant. Driving home was surprisingly pleasant, as there was almost no traffic on the road and the fresh snow had provided traction on the icy surfaces. When I got to Ellen's, I wanted to take Max out for a walk, but he was asleep under the bed.

    I visited Mom again on Wednesday and replaced all her light bulbs with the fluorescent ones she'd bought. Her place looks a lot brighter now. We had a nice chat and I asked her if she was getting a cleaning lady in. She said Jeannie from church was going to help her, and I was relieved. Hopefully they can make the kitchen and bathroom sanitary. The bathroom makes me want to wretch when I see it.

    Mom also told me that when she told her psychologist about her dopiness and "suspended animation", and also that she feels incredibly guilty that she still hasn't cried over losing Dad. The psych encouraged her to speak to her psychiatrist and family doctor, and the psychologist herself also spoke to the psychiatrist.As a result, they are going to start reducing her psychiatric medications starting this week and see if they can allow her to feel emotions without totally losing control. Also, the bladder medication she has been on for a year has somehow been interfering with her psychiatric drugs, and the urologist finally told Mom to stop taking them as they weren't working any way. The urologist's latest plan to try to reduce my mother's incontinence is to inject Botox into her bladder. I guess the idea is that it will stop the constant bladder spasms and let it relax and hold more. Mom's excited about the prospect of a new treatment, and I really hope it actually helps this time.

    I came home on Thursday night and went to the bellydance class Christmas party. We went to Masala Bay Indian restaurant and stuffed ourselves with the most fantastic feast. On Friday night we ushered at a local community theatre, and I discovered that the house manager is a hot young Asian guy with a naked finger. I'm glad I signed up for more volunteer shifts there. Other people sign up for the free access to shows. Me, I'm in it for the eye candy.

    On Saturday Gilly and I went to the Christkindl market at city hall. We had excellent pulled pork sandwiches, and got drunk on hot mulled wine and brandy. Gilly was drunk after only a few sips! We wandered around and sampled honeys and mustards and tried on hats and played with toys. There were lots of model train displays and plenty of music and dancing. We came home with some cinnamon honey butter and an assortment of smoked fish. Still mildly drunk, we both passed out for an hour until I woke and realised it was almost time to leave for my choir Christmas party. Too many parties!

    The choir party was fun and casual. I got to know some of the choir members and we brainstormed about concert theme ideas and stuff. Alf showed off his Jack Russell's silly party tricks and we got a kick out of it. It was an enjoyable party, and we left with a big pile of desserts to donate to the dessert table at today's band concert during intermission. Waste not, want not! We also came away with this fabulous cracker dip made of a layer of cream cheese topped with a layer of PC cranberry-orange sauce that had been laced with cayenne pepper. <DROOL> Perhaps I'll have a snack before bed, now that my medication has had a chance to work itself through my system!

    Speaking of working through your system... A recent conversation with an anonymous person:

    X: I think caffiene may be causing me to have explosive diarrhea.

    Me: Oh really? Ew.

    X: Yeah. I've noticed that it happens a lot mid-morning after I've had my cup of tea. But not every morning. I'm going to try avoiding caffiene for a while and see if it helps.

    Me: How have your bowel movements been in the last few days?

    X: All over the place.

    Me: ... <insane laughter>

    X: Oh! HAHAHA! No, I didn't mean that! ...Please don't blog this!