Our friend Jim and his friend Lorrin came to stay with mom for two nights, so I went down there for one of them.  Jim works like a crazy person, so I now find I can annoy people just by saying “and here I am, with absolutely nothing to do all day!”  Mom tried to help by saying “but you’re busy….”

Here’s the kind of things I’m busy with.  I went to a dollar store and bought an assortment of funny cat and dog toys for Louie.  The two little mice I bought make a funny sound whenever they’re touched, and I got a squeaky mink and a pink pig that makes crinkling sounds when bitten.

Louie loved all of it, and became particularly perturbed when the little device that makes the noise came out of one of the mice, and continued to make its noise whenever touched.  He would bite the mink and look puzzled, trying to figure it all out.  At one point the little device got under his bed and he went berserk.

Other things that captivate my time include making nice food for mom, which I then freeze and take to her whenever I visit so all she has to do is microwave.  I’m never out of chocolate or coconut, as I seem to be on a constant bender of macaroon production.

I made them for my pal Petra in the spring, and as her son Kevin and wife Cindi were visiting, they ate them and said they were fantastic.  I was invited over again on Saturday, and they were also going to be there, so I knew damn well I couldn’t arrive minus them, so I didn’t disappoint.

Further time is consumed by watering and dead-heading, as well as cutting mature dahlia blooms and putting them into vases around the house.  Now that Margaret lives here I Google restaurants in Okanagan towns and make plans for day trips we can take.

Naturally thrift shopping remains a constant, and I never come home anything other than exhilarated.  I think it must be what keeps golfers going.  The other week I got a Calvin Klein jumpsuit for $10.00.

One can’t write well without reading, so part of each day is consumed with that.  I’m in the midst of that older novel, Memoirs of a Geisha, and am enjoying being in 1930’s Japan.  I pity the fool who doesn’t read.

If bored, I tackle one of the Liberals or mom’s assignments.  As the Events Coordinator for the local Liberal riding association, I have to book us into things and then make sure we’re stocked with all the buttons and brochures.

Right now mom wants a ‘heritage style’ queen sized, off-white bedspread, so that’s quite the assignment.  I went to the Bay and Walmart, then looked at Amazon and Wayfair and can see it’s going to be a time-consuming challenge.

That’s why when mom said I was busy, I replied “yes but it’s all things of my own choosing.”  I’ve wanted to be at home since I had to go to school at age 6, so I’ve waited an awfully long time for this and plan to wallow in it.  Jim’s going to have to wait his turn.