01:58 - 18.12.06
tasks
When I met the friend, who had been paralyzed exactly a year ago, on the bus a week ago Friday, she approached one topic quite forcefully. She reminded me that there was a new city bylaw coming into force this coming January first that I needed to ensure I adhered to. She even had the city's literature with her to show me - something that I found very odd since I hadn't thought about her or talked with her prior to taking the earlier bus that day. She stated that I had to make the point of enrolling early because she felt strongly my two bad neighbours would cause trouble for me almost immediately if I didn't. The new bylaw? All cats must now be licenced as of the first of 2007. Ghosts of last summer and fall rose at that point and my blood presure probably went up a few notches. Since I couldn't sleep on Friday night/Saturday morning I gave up trying and logged in to the city's official website. It took quite a bit of time to first find the correct page and then to navigate the registration process after digging out all the paperwork that had been created a year ago when they were spayed/neutered. Those serial numbers assigned then were needed you see. About two hours and $50 later the deed was done and the cats are officially registered as city residents. Wonder if their names go on the voter's list too.
Next up I dug through several piles and boxes of paperwork from the last election ensuring I had all the backup material needed to get the last of the unpaid invoices processed and dealt with by finance at headoffice. The same invoices I know have been submitted several times since they even have page numbers on them from previous faxing. Decided to submit the information both as attachments in the emails as well as by faxing since signatures are also necessary. As it turned out both the computer and the fax machine were on the fritz so I had to spend a lot of time trying to figure out what was wrong as well as then try to figure out how to fix. My youngest was at work you see, so I was on my own with respect to the troubleshooting. I finally got the email off late in the afternoon. The faxing didn't happen until the early morning hours today because it turned out part of the problem was that the telephone jack had sprung a leak and new wiring had to be installed. Sigh.
Today was odd in that even though I didn't mean to I ended up finessing the boys dad on a commitment he had made to my youngest but hadn't followed through with. You see I had heard my oldest and youngest talking with each other via their cell phones - my oldest being at work at the time - congratulating each on their respective birthdays. I heard my youngest say "no", then he said that he tried hard not to let it bother him. Turned out his oldest brother had asked him if his dad had called at all. I follwed up at a later hour trying to discreetly find out what had transpired. My youngest said that his dad had said that he would call him this Sunday to set up arrangements for a birthday outing to a restaurant. My youngest also indicated that his dad had included his oldest brother in the "plans". Since we still haven't picked up a Christmas tree - no vehicle and few lots - I called and left a request for number three son asking if he was going to attend said supper and if so would he mind picking up siad tree if I sent the cash along with my youngest to cover the costs as well as gas money. Number three son called back this afternoon with the question - "what supper?" He lives with his dad as does number five son, but neither of them had been apprised of any plans by their father. Number three son said that their Dad had left for the day to do Christmas shopping. He was rather frustrated in that neither I nor my youngest could provide any further detail with respect to when and where their dad had planned to have said birthday celebration. That's fine but it isn't either my fault for the lack of follow through nor is it my youngest's. However number three son's comment was that his dad's nature was never going to change so the rest of us had to accommodate that lack of responsibility. Amazing how one person can hold a whole family to ransom like that isn't it. At that point I suspected that maybe my youngest had maybe padded his dad's comments unconsciously projecting what he hoped his dad meant instad of what his dad had said. Sleight of mouth was always a strong point with his dad. Implying and insinuating great things while actually offering nothing.
Anyway a flurry of phone calls and conferences among the brothers meant that at least a possible plan was in place - should their father arrive home in time to participate. In the meantime my youngest and I headed off to the bank machine to withdraw the money needed for the foray since number three son agreed to the tree pickup request as well. We stopped in at the gourmet food shop across the street and the dollar store where we grabbed Christmas wrapping and decorations as well as a few stocking stuffers. When we arrived back home it was to see number three and five sons pulling up to pick up their brother. Apparently their dad agreed to meet them at the local beef buffet. How nice. However, it did seem to make both my youngest and his two attending brothers feel good about the whole affair. They had tried to get number one son to attend too but he had one of his regular jobs on the go and wouldn't be available before midnight. I was still fussing with the computer problems while they were gone and had just finsihed off when my youngest returned, with the borthers still in tow. I had just finished off with ordering groceries online to be delivered tomorrow while my youngest is off work. We discussed timing for tomorrow's activities since it wasn't possible to locate an open tree lot this evening. Number three son finishes work midafternoon tomorrow so grocery delivery was slated for the am to allow for tree hunting in the afternoon. Hopefully everything will work out.
My youngest headed off to bed for a nap while my two older sons headed off home. I started working on the last - I hope - bit of paperwork with respect to the timesheets for the three outreach workers for the election. t took a couple of hours since I had to cull through my posts to you and my emails back and forth with them to finally get the documentation right. Now I guess I'd better climb into bed so Ican catch that first bus of the day. Good night dear diary.
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