August 24, 2023

We’re reintroducing the cats. The plan is to get them comfortable with each other before the school year so that we’re not as worried while writing lesson plans, marking assignments, rearranging seating plans, drafting long-range plans, and preparing for the fall open house. Earlier in the summer, we had our first go at it and it went rather well.

I have a bad habit of falling asleep on the couch. It’s almost become involuntary. Just as soon as I stretch out down the length of the couch, put my head down on the pillow, and pull the blanket over me, I’m asleep. I barely have time to find something to watch. It’s been a struggle to change.

We went to sleep around midnight last night. We were tired, because it had been a long-enough day. By 2 a.m., I was up and moving to the couch. I couldn’t sleep for all the scratching at the bedroom door. Hannah woke up, too, and she decided to tape aluminum foil to the door. She went back to bed. It worked earlier this summer. This time, Eloise was unperturbed. Somehow, she overcame her distaste for the feeling of aluminum foil on her paws as she scratches at the door. Clever girl, she found the small gaps and pulled them open.

By 5 a.m., we had slept for about an hour in total. Maybe two. It’s hard to know. Every ten minutes, that girl would be at the door, digging her way through like Andy Dufresne. I’d bring her to the couch, pet her, she’d struggle free and make her way back to the door.

At 9 a.m., Ouli, Hannah’s cat, knocked over the glass of juice that was sitting on her nightstand.

At 10 a.m., I got a call to let me know that the workshop space was ready for me to move in to. That perked me up a bit. I took a shower, made waffles for breakfast, and then took a quick nap on the couch.

I wish I had the energy to be more excited about it. I’m thrilled to have the space. We went, signed the papers, and then picked up my new lathe. It was a bit of a struggle to get into the car. A kind woman stopped to help us, offering up a third pair of hands. She didn’t realize just how heavy it was until she tried to lift it. She was kind to offer.

With a little more excitement in me, we drove back to the workshop and up to the garage doors. Hannah jumped out and punched in the code to open the door. Nothing. She tried again — still, nothing. I got out and tried. Nothing. We went to speak to someone at reception. No one was there, not even after I rang the bell.

Unable to suffer any more struggle, we went to Starbucks for a quick break.

We went back, because I was determined to get things started, drove up to the door, punched in the code, and nothing. I phoned my contact. She told me to speak with the guy at reception. I went over and he was there.

After telling him the story, he told me that the code doesn’t open the garage door, but the side door to get into the bay so that I can open the garage door from inside the bay. The side door to the bay my workshop is in isn’t working, though, so I had to go to the next door over, cross through the building, and then open the garage door so that I can drive my car up to my unit.

We did all that.

We managed to get the lathe stand put together and the lathe set up. Tomorrow, I need to pick up some hardware to attach the lathe to the lathe stand, and I need a 40 W light bulb. There’s still so much to do before the shop will be ready.

Before leaving for the workshop today, we ordered anti-scratch tape from Amazon. It was delivered this evening. There’s now double-sided tape on the lower half of the bedroom door. I hope it sticks.

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