Week 14: Begone, noise!

Apr 2 – Apr 8

An inexplicably tiring and stressful week, which starts and ends with painting.

Monday

Easter Monday, and the day [sort of] starts with an Easter brunch with the in-laws. I say sort of because me and the Kinderbesten have, inevitably, been up and awake for many hours beforehand.
Before we leave the house, I begin peeling away the masking tape from the edges of my walls, and quickly realise that the masking tape was in no way worth the effort it took to put on (and, surprisingly, to take off again).
On the way back from brunch I make a quick stop at Bunnings to buy an edging tool and a small edging brush. I then spend the rest of the afternoon tidying up the edges, which ultimately proves far more exhausting than the three previous days’ of painting.
After dinner and Kinderbesten bedtime I’m knackered. I medicate myself with a fresh bottle of wine and the first episode of The Alienist.

Tuesday

I’m still way tired. I wonder whether I can make it through the day at work, but end up having to leave early anyway to watch the kids (who, for reasons, have an extra two days off school past the Easter long weekend). They spend much of the evening being VERY NOISY which does nothing to ease my stress levels.

Wednesday

I decide that I need two more of the awesome cheap poster frames that Kmart sells, and take advantage of the lack of school drop off to do some quick shopping on the way to work. On the way home I stop off at Bunnings to pick up some new hooks for my fairy lights (which had to be taken down to facilitate the painting). I find some much smaller, better hooks than the ones I used previously, which almost makes me feel good about having to take them down in the first place.
I general, I continue to be very tired and stressed. It must be Alternate Week Syndrome at play again.
The Elderbeast tells me he has some homework due in (a powerpoint presentation on cyclones), and I spend much of the evening coaching him through it. We have the obligatory brief period where he’s persistently opposed to the very concept of homework. After I explain to him that he’s the only one who loses out through this attitude, he abruptly switches tack and declares that he is going to make the best presentation ever. He gets it done, and it is, indeed, pretty damn good. Despite the initial struggle, I remain amazed at the turnaround from last year (when it would have taken two hours to get him to even think about writing a paragraph).
In developments which I have far less patience for, my internet decides to spend the whole evening playing up. Which contributes in no way at all to the Elderbeast’s cyclone research efforts. I’m grateful for my phone, with its ridiculously easy hotspot set up, and for my mobile phone plan, which gives me a decent chunk of data to use up.

Thursday

I find myself feeling slightly better, but the illusion fades gradually through the day. Nevertheless, I have a satisfyingly productive day at work. My spirits are lifted considerably after I resolve a long standing issue which has been persistently ballsing up my efforts to keep my desktop files synced with our server files. It’s a small but significant victory over crap technology.
I do my weekend food shopping on the way home, in order to keep the weekend clear for further painting (I have decided that the front hallway now needs to be the same colour as the sitting room).
The kids continue to be noisy. The internet continues to be flakey. I retreat to bed as soon as the opportunity arrives.

Friday

I spend my early evening doing some quick prep for painting. I’ve already filled in the holes and moved the very insignificant amount of furniture in the hallway. This just leaves dusting and washing the walls down. I get that done, alongside dinner, vacuuming and showering, in good time for Fridate.
Our horror movie tonight is It Comes At Night. It proves to be not quite what I was expecting. I come away not liking it much, despite it being a pretty damn good film. It seems to have little to say other than people are awful and do terrible things when placed in terrible situations. If I wanted to watch that I’d be watching The Walking Dead …

Saturday

I start the day by putting the undercoat on my hallway wall. I then break to take the Kinderbesten to Coles for some treat snackage, and to watch The Last Jedi (in quick conclusion: the first half could definitely lose some padding, but all crimes are made up for by the outstanding second half).
While I definitely intend to let my undercoat dry properly and leave the first coat of actual paint for tomorrow, I decide I can shave a few hours from my Sunday work by getting the first coat on the edges out of the way Which I do.
For the evening the Elderbeast and I watch Colossal, which is also not quite what I expected (though I very deliberately avoided expecting anything specific) and is pretty awesome. The Elderbeast approves too, and I continue to highly pleased that he’s genuinely enjoying a wide range of films, including ones that have some very worthy themes baked in.

Sunday

I get my first coat of paint done, then we have a Sunday morning film break. Today’s movie is Paddington, which both kinderbesten absolutely love. I looked forward to enjoying the sequel with them.
For the evening, the Elderbeast and I watch The Wedding Singer–which I had alternately considered purchasing and/or downloading, until I spotted the brand new, still sealed copy sitting on my shelf. The verdict is uncertain for a while, but the Elderbeast quickly gets hooked in and we get the thumbs up. I continue to be disappointed by 97.8% of the rest of Adam Sandler’s career, but The Wedding Singer is still great.
And my internet is still dodgy.

Watched

Read

Still ploughing my way happily through the novelisation of City Of Death. I also distract myself later in the week with a Terminator graphic novel, of which more next week.

Eaten