Friends, Romans, Countrymen

Did not hear from engineer today. Fingers crossed for next week.

Visiting dad got put off until tomorrow so that meant I got to spend some more time sorting out the basement bathroom. I got the caulking done and... boy, I am not good at that. I was thinking if I got the hang of it I would also add some to the kitchen tiles where the contractor missed it but... no. I have gained many new skills during this phase of dealing with the house, but this is definitely not one of them. It looks like I put it on drunk.

Big stack o' paper has been sorted out and divided into things I am keeping for tax purposes, things I am keeping for insurance purposes, things I am keeping for grant purposes, and things I just threw onto the stack because I didn't know what else to do with it. I'll do the actual scanning and uploading on erm, maybe Sunday.

I also spent some time going through my credit card statements last night looking for proof I had paid a couple of bills and in the process I discovered that I have some charges I don't recognize. They're for small amounts which is why I didn't spot them earlier, but there are a bunch of them. Two different small companies in the US and when I looked at their websites they use the exact same templates. Everything is identical except for the text and the photos. I sent one of them a 'hey, who are you' email and got an immediate auto-response saying if I was disputing a charge I should list all my email addresses and my credit card number so they can look it up.

(Also? One of the websites sold makeup. I think the last time I wore makeup was 2010.)

So. That card got cancelled. I put in a fraud claim and hopefully I get the money back.

***

Physio is going really really well. I've stopped using the cane for short walks and so far my foot is holding up great. I cannot tell you how fantastic it is to be able to move normally again, even if just for short distances.

Every time I go to the physiotherapist we go over the exercises I'm doing and she adds a slight modification that makes it slightly more difficult and apparently my body really likes being challenged because it's making a huge difference. And then she spends 20 minutes doing what she calls "deep tissue work" which is code for finding every single sensitive spot in my foot and lower calf and using it as a platform to balance her entire body weight on her elbow.

Fuckit, if it's working, I'll take it.

There's always at least one task on my to-list that I really really don't want to do. Usually because it requires sitting down for an extended stretch of hours and figuring out what the fuck happened so I can then figure out how to fix it.

Back when the house nonsense started I applied for a grant being offered by the federal government to make your house more energy efficient. Since I was going from UN-insulated wooden box to an insulated wooden box I figured I would qualify for at least some money.

Well that was a whole Prime Minister ago, and after two extensions and lots of missed targets I finally got the final energy audit done this summer. Something went wrong though and the application was never completed so I sat down today and dug through a stack of email attachments to figure out what was missing. I think I'm on the right track, so wish me luck I can get it fixed. A few bucks to offset the money pit would be very very useful.

Next on the donwanna list is compiling the full list of contracts and bills and fix-it work that has had to be done. If I can get a comprehensive list together of what has and hasn't been done up to today's date it will be easier to add to it as things go forward.

***

Nothing yet from the city inspector. I spoke to the permit-wrangler and he left a message with her on Friday, so hopefully she gets back to him this coming work week.

I haven't done much in the basement while I've been waiting to hear back, so that means I have time to finally put my living spaces in better order. Lots of moving furniture and cleaning up cat puke. Finally made homes for a stack of pots and pans that have just been living on top of the stove. And I finally installed the new front door lock that's been sitting in a drawer and waiting for me to deal with it for um, about 18 months.

***

My sister got an email from a woman in Australia who said her DNA test with ancestry.com showed a match. I'm pretty sure my mother told me we had relatives in Australia but I don't know how we're connected with the little info I have. I had an old free version of ancestry that didn't have much info on it, so I upgraded to a paid version and now I just need to find time to start adding stuff to it.

I have an aunt who is charge of remembering all the family members and how everybody is related so once I have a skeleton together I'll reach out to her and see if she can fill in things like how many kids my cousins have, because I have no clue.

It's a project I've been meaning to get around to for pretty much years. But maybe I'll have a little bit more free time this winter.

***

Physio still going really well. Crossing my fingers I'll be back to normal in a couple of months.