Boy, it looks nasty outside. Grey and cold and windy. All the people I see walking are bundled up; hiding under hoods and scarves. Fall is really here and moving fast. The leaves that work as our curtains during the summer are falling off now. I noticed it this morning when I looked out and saw the lit windows in the building across the way. I'm glad I finished my fake stained glass on the bedroom windows already.

Had a visit last night from a neighbour talking about this past weekend and the children. She's also been calling the police and the landlady. That was quite the discovery, that the landlords knew that these parties were going on last weekend. Why?

Because my landlord stood in my home yesterday and said things like "If we had been told we could've stopped this before they broke the door. I had no idea that they were throwing parties all the time." She hinted very clearly that somehow we were responsible for the property damage because we didn't phone them as well as the police. And I did start feeling guilty a little! Double-guessing myself about why we didn't call them.

I know why, because they do shit around here. You have to threaten them with lawyers, the tribunal or moving out before they do anything. We've learned over the past 2 1/2 years that it's easier to just do everything ourselves when it comes to this management. So of course we'd call the police and not them. The police do and did something; they're still just wandering around lying. I feel no guilt anymore, actually I wonder if she's pathological with her lying.

~*~

I woke up early again today. Around 6:30am. I used to really like getting up in the early morning when I was in my mid-teens. It was so peaceful and I could pretend that the townhouse was all mine. Now I think of it more as less sleep. I find that when I get up, I'm up. No chance of getting back to sleep until mid-afternoon, when I have places I need to be.

I was going to start AquaFit today, but part of the huge pile of mail was a FedEx notice saying that they'll be by to drop off today before 1:30pm. They're dropping off a payment from a new customer. On one hand I do appreciate that this person takes my "payment is due within 14 days" seriously, on the other I hate that I have to scrap my plans for the morning if I don't want to miss FedEx. I could sign the little "leave my parcel anywhere you want" box, but that's just tempting theft and fate. I hope the delivery guy isn't one of the jerks that never buzz or knock, they just leave the note and disappear.

*shrugs* I'll go to AquaFit next week.

I realized that part of my grand plan to revamp my life and give myself me things, is missing something. It has challenges, but it doesn't have fun/leisure aspects. AquaFit is a "get out of the house, and exercise" challenge, and going back to school is an "educational" challenge. I need something in there that's fun and different.

I worked a bit on one of my models this past weekend. I keep forgetting how much I enjoy putting together planes. It used to be one of my biggest things to do. I'd go over to the mall and see what kind of cash I'd have from babysitting and buy a model every few months. I'd putter away at it. I never painted them. I always believed that I didn't paint them because it was too detail-y for me, now I realize I couldn't have afforded the paints.

The main problem with doing models now as an adult is I have nowhere really to put the finished pieces. I used to hang them from the ceiling of my room with transparent fishing wire, but somehow I think that would be odd looking now. I'm thinking maybe I should put in some shelves on the wall my desk faces into and make that into my display area. Something to think about at least. For right now the latest model is perched on the top of my monitor.

The sale at SkyWorks has been going really well so far. I have so few soaps left, it's kind of scary and exciting at the same time. There's no more of this stone in my gut feeling when I look into the stock cupboard and realize just how many soaps aren't moving. See, the kind of soaps I make can go bad over time. Most of the time that only involves scent fading and the oils used to make it becoming a prominent smell. (I make lard soaps, that smells lovely after a year, really.) But with them clearing out finally, I won't have this issue.

I've also decided to have a "seconds" section of the new site to sell off the soaps I'm not thrilled with and that I don't think are worth $5 each. It's better than throwing them out. I still have yet to sit down and do the sketches for the new site much less work on the redesign. I have 2 weeks and 3 days to tackle that in, so time is running out. Granted I can always go with the site I have and do mild changes. For the most part I've been making soap, processing and packing orders and paper pushing. I've been busy as hell, and it's even tighter now with Miss Sara here full time.

And that's 30 minutes.