Yesterday began quietly, peacefully. Late in the morning I checked my email, that is when chaos entered the house.
I received a huge, huge bill, and that when sticker shock erupted. After spending the rest of the day interacting with the company, tweaking my account, then interacting with the company again, I managed to reduce the bill by half. But by the end of the day my emotional stamina was waning, but there was still more to be done. So I embarked on the project of getting that whopping bill paid, made some mistakes at the bank, and had to then fix those mistakes before finally putting the issue to rest.
That bill shouldn’t have been a surprise, I had received a previous email alerting me that their billing practices were changing, which I then proceeded to forget about entirely. The bill I received was five times higher than it was last year, so it is time to look at new companies to deal with.
And that wasn’t all. Our property tax bill arrived, a whopping $400 increase in our taxes, which may not sound a lot to others, but for our budget it cuts pretty deep. This bill cannot be tweaked, so I had to pay it as well yesterday, or the part of it that needed immediate attention, there is more to pay later. I have time to save a little for the next instalment, some breathing space.
And that wasn’t all. I had a consultation with the Cardiac Rehab physio, which was helpful and pleasant. However, all medical appointments put my body into fight or flight. That cannot be helped, it developed slowly in response to real events, which could occur again at any time. My numerous past experiences with medical interactions, the need for assertive self advocacy, and extreme pain, and life threatening decision making, have left an indelible mark on my being. Even the pleasant interactions have potential for erupting into something dangerous, which they usually don’t, but have on occasion.
So there was yesterday, fraught with challenges, all met successfully.
Attila came in at the end of the day and turned the evening into something soothing. He cooked one of my favourite dishes, Cod Curry, after which he did all the dishes. Later on in the evening we sat peacefully before the jigsaw puzzle, putting the universe back together again.
Another medical appointment awaits me this afternoon, I anticipate it will be a helpful and pleasant interaction. However, it remains true that my days are more relaxed when there are no medical appointments.
Today is sunny, and it is going to be hot, 28C is predicted. Yesterday Attila had the oven on in the evening, to bake his croutons, and the house became unbearably warm. The air conditioning had to be turned on for the night, and was turned off again this morning. If we keep the drapes closed, and the doors closed, it will remain comfortable in here until late afternoon. That is when the afternoon sun beats down on the west side of the house and heats the interior. At some point we will have to rip out the kitchen cabinets, the drywall, and insulate the walls. That project is not on the short list, so we just turn the air conditioning on for the night instead.
Summer weather has arrived. It is time to abandon using the range oven, and to cook and bake as often as possible on the back porch. We have the plug in electrical equipment to do this, now we have to get ourselves busy and use it.
Worldly
Weather
17°C
Date: 10:00 AM EDT Wednesday 4 June 2025
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.9 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 16.7°C
Dew point: 11.6°C
Humidity: 72%
Wind: SSW 12 km/h
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“Conscience is what makes a boy tell his mother before his sister does.”
Evan Esar
1899 – 1995
I love this one, made me laugh. The image below is related (source of image unknown). I find it hilarious too.
As kids my siblings and I were always up to something! My Mom’s a champion!

Our stove is over ten years old. Its oven is just as clean as when it first arrived. We use the area for pot and pan storage. If it can’t be steamed or sauteed or eaten raw or cooked in the rice pot, it ain’t getting eaten. I hope you get good news at the doctors and the rest of the week has no unpleasant surprises.
Maggie, I feel you on both the sticker shock and the medical stuff. We all budget and plan as best we can but when it goes awry, it’s truly painful.
[I had to edit because I originally typed sticker “shot.” I’m not sure it was entirely incorrect. 😉 ]
Joan, food cooked your way is really healthy food! Your oven sounds like my Granny’s oven! She had a different reason for using the oven for kitchen storage, she preferred her wood stove, and cooked on it until the day passed.
Thanks for the good wishes re the doctors, I anticipate it will go well, and when the consultation is over I’ll let out a sigh of relief and get back to my real life, lol.
Wendy, I love “sticker shot”, it really does represent the experience very well! I think a lot of us right now are having this kind of experience to various degrees. Luckily my episode was resolvable within a day, that is very good luck indeed.
I could have written almost your entire post, except for the huge surprise bills and the summer range oven I definitely have PTSD from my interactions with my medical interactions over the last 10 years. I have problems even seeing a hospital now, let alone being in one for some malady. However, unlike you I don’t seem able to anticipate a medical interaction to helpful and pleasant, at least not recently. *sigh*
We made it to 27C outside yesterday. We’re currently experiencing poor air quality due to the wildfires in the west, so for the last 2 days we’ve had to keep our windows closed and our AC on. We actually had to turn the fan on this afternoon because with the rain clouds we weren’t getting warm enough inside to trigger the AC, so by the afternoon we needed the fan running to filter out the fine particulates that put our air in the high Poor Quality range.
Teri, it is tough when medical interactions are stressful, and intense. I sure hope you have some better experiences in the future, and that all your medical issues going forward are minor ones!
So far we have been fortunate that the air quality is not too bad. We do have some light haze. The haze is mixed with the “wonderful” aroma of freshly spread liquid manure, one of the joys of living near agricultural enterprises. Smoke and manure, not an alluring scent. We keep our fan running twenty four hours a day because it runs an air filter, which we need to do for health reasons.
Most of Ontario east of Toronto is in the Unhealthy category, right now. Not at all good for anyone with heart or breathing issues to be out in it. I yawned yesterday when we were in the Unhealthy area and I actually got a pain in my lung, I guess from some strain.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/ca/toronto/m5h/air-quality-index/55488
LOL! We had our week or two of “dairy air” last month.
Thanks for the link Teri! Love the term “dairy air”, lol.
Hmmm… I notice that Toronto has Poor air quality right now. But if you page down you’ll find a color-coded map that will show you the air quality for your specific area.