fiftyfinally

community garden

2011-03-13T11:51:00.000-06:00

Finally - community garden coming together I sure hope I can reserve 2 4X12 plots. I'm already dreaming of all those heirloom tom's and the beets that don't grow in my only 3 hours of sunlight backyard....and the greenbeans I am exited

Lost Camera

2011-03-07T10:23:00.003-07:00

Where oh where is my camera.....it seems to be missing now for a couple weeks.

So last week i picked up a pork picnic shoulder for 8 bucks, so then I had to make a visit to T&T supermarket (my local all things oriental market) for some baby yams, so tonights menu is pork picnic boiled in rootbeer, smeared with a concoction of pomegranate molasses, brown sugar, mustard and cloves then baked to within an inch of it's crunchieness (really bad spelling) with slow baked mouth wateringly sweet baby yams......i can hardly wait. Maybe some marinated coleslaw on the side with some curry roasted cauliflower. Good thing I have a good countertop toaster oven to manage all this seperate roasting and baking temps.

I think I will make myself sick just waiting for this amazing combination. I better throw some water on myself to cool off

middle eastern market

2011-01-23T12:31:00.000-07:00

Yay....happy day - finally found pomegranate molasses close to home. The aroma in the deli was wonderful. Of coarse I has to buy a few other things I've been looking for like rose water though I can't recall why I wanted it hmmm mauybe I will remember after I get home

something out of a can.....

2010-10-25T18:06:00.002-06:00

Dinner today....something out of a can, something out of a box....and meat.

two guesses.

.....

give up....

peaches and cream niblets, kraft dinner, pork chops.....very yellow meal.
But the saving grace is that i poured in some vermouth into the sauce to deglace for the pork chops. Although i only had a small piece of chop, (had salad only) it did get raves from those that ate.

Weekend, yaaaaay

2010-10-23T20:09:00.002-06:00

So I made some cream of broc soup. I added vermouth just before the milk, and after the rue. It was wonderful. I tell you vermouth.....is a good thing.

So I'm sitting here it's now just a bit past 8PM and I can't keep my eyes open. Litteraly nodding off. for the last couple days it's all I can do to stay away after 4PM. This evening I've got an empty cocktail glass bedside me - but that surely cannot be the cause of said drowsiness. ITS ONLY ONE GLASS.

A wierd thing happened to me the other day that I can't get over just yet. It's actually driving me out of my ever loving mind...as it is.

It was a friday afternoon and I was walking towards the exit in a small mall and I happened by a jewelry store, and I was admiring the rings in the window. There was a display of family rings. Now I never admire jewelry - its just not my thing. But someone I know is in the market for a family ring and for some reason i looked at them. Then as I was walking away from the window display I looked at my finger.....where MY FAMILY RING usually resides aaannnnddd.......WTF WHERE IS MY RING.......??????

WTF
WTF
WTF... where the heck is it. I don't remember taking it off. I never take off my wedding band or my family ring unles I'm experiencing some wierd blotting of my hands but that hasn't happened for ages and its supposed to be RIGHT THERE.....
OH MY GOD
by the time I drove home I was kinda frantic. I checked the bathroom counters and all my containers of stuff, dumped everything everywhere and shuffled around it. no where......
I wracked my brain.....
when did I take it off? why did I take it off? ..... nothing...a blank
A few weeks ago I was running through an airport standing in line for security. The stupid thing kept beeping, had to take practically everything off....maybe....but no don't remember taking it off. and if i did why is my band where it is. but my other one isn't. they where on the same finger......
maybe it's in a pocket somewhere.....It's got to be in a pocket of something....but what?????
this is making me crazy

Vermouth day 2

2010-10-19T11:27:00.001-06:00

Bought a new pot one that I've always wanted - on sale half price. So I wiped the cob webs off my mastercard and went to the check out. I love my pot (too bad I didn't buy the damn thing for $10 @ that garage sale in the summer kicking myself for that stupid mishap).I washed it per instructions and preheated it and threw in onions celery lemons and the spiced up breasts (bone-in). Couldn't believe how fast and tender they cooked up. Strained the juices and poured in the vermouth boiled it down and poured the whole mess over the chicken that was now all boned. Lip smacking meal the baby sweet potatoes and the roasted broccoli. Great meal thanks to julie/julia's oldd blog site that I've been re-reading. Waiting for my copy from the library for mastering the art.

Vermouth

2010-10-17T11:07:00.004-06:00

Someone gave me (well that would be sharon) a bottle of the stuff as a gift as a secret santa for xmas probably 5+ years ago. I've had it around even moved it from place to place. But never used it....why would someone give me a bottle of the stuff anyway. I figured i'd keep it around just in case someone ever said "what this drink needs is vermouth" and then I'd run down to my wine rack in the basement and "ta da".
So far that hasn't happened.

Then...for some reason I've become obsessed with the Julie/Julia project, I've read the book, seen the movie(actually have it recorded on PVR and sometimes....late at night when I can't sleep....it's easier than finding the dvd(have that too) to stick in the machine) but i goggled something or other can't remember what, and the project came up on the search. so I've been reading it from day one. I gotta say it's taking along time to read the thing. And I've been downloading recipes that were hard to find on the internet until I found an easier site.

anyhoo,.. there is vermouth all over this book. so i dragged the bottle up, opened it, and declared to everyone...."we will finish this bottle....we will put it in everything that calls for alcohol...as god is my witness....

So I will let you know how it goes.....

testing

2010-09-21T12:29:00.000-06:00

Just testing to see if I can upload pic from phone. So far - not working hmmm

Marcie's worlds best oatmeal cookies

2010-09-20T13:49:00.002-06:00

Super easy to make.

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp each salt/baking soda/baking powder
1 cup quick oats
2 cups coconut

Cream butter and sugars until fluffly. Add eggs and vanilla and mix.
Sift together flour, salt, soda, and powder. Add in 4 parts to butter mixture. Mix in oats and coconut.

Drop by teaspoons-ungreased cookie sheets-bake at 375 for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. (I only cook them for ten minutes because I find they are chewier that way)

Enjoy!

I advise everyone to just do a double batch 'cause you will thank me later.

mini manicotti

2010-05-22T11:53:00.011-06:00

or stuffed rigattoni

*rigattoni noddles
*less than 250g raw hamburger (usually the smallest pkg you can buy is 500g/1 lb so use less than half) I've used 1/2 pork and 1/2 hamburger and that's good too, even ground chicken works
*diced onion (small dice)
*3+ cans Heinz tomato soup (i've tried other brands other combinations but nothing tastes as good as heinz, you can try pasta sauces, campells tomato, basil & oregano, or campbells fiesta tomato, etc but DO NOT use campbells or no name brands tomato soup, they really really suck)
*lea & perrins
*balsamic
*celery salt
*cottage cheese
*garlic

drain liquid from cottage cheese while doing other prep ( this is important step)
you can also use a small amount of really really dry thawed out spinach chopped up but this is not necessary

I use a wok for this because of its depth, it's easier to plunge the noodles into the mixture. If you don't have a wok just use a smaller pan with high sides.
Sweat the onions and garlic, if using extra lean or chicken you will have to add oil otherwise the meat won't brown nice. I usually throw the meat in and brown everything up together at the same time

this is where you add the balsamic, lea and perrins and celery salt and whatever spice you want to add. you MUST brown the meat until no liquid is left in pan though, don't be tempted to just cook the hamburger and then drain it. And then keep browning until the meat actually pops, it should be very very brown, but not burned. Otherwise it just doesn't taste as good as it could. In fact that is one of my pet peeves, people just don't brown hamburger as long as they should. It's an important step in the flavouring. And it smells awful if not browned properly. That's probably one of the reason that I hate eating anything with hamburger in it that someone else cooks.

take the pan off burner and cool slightly, i usually stir it around alot. then add the very dry *cottage cheese curds, *1 can tomato soup, *parsley and about *1/3 - 1/4cup bread crumps, s0rry forgot to mention bread crumbs, i've used panko here only because i had some, otherwise I usually put in the ends of the loaf into the food processor and just use those. don't add too much that the mixture is really dry, it should not be really soupy either. just remember this mixture should be able to get put into the noodles

mix it all up till blended

dump 1 can of tomato soup into the roasting pan remember to grease it up or you will be sorry when you can't get the stuff out. this is non-stick and I still use a little bit of oil on it.

smear it around, remember the bottom of noodle gets cooked with this mixture, so if your using a combination of other stuff, instead of straight out of the can, get enough on the pan for this. Actually after I cooked this up I realized I should have added more under the noodles. The pan should not be visible. I should have added about another 1/2 can or some stock or just water would have done, because it was kinda dry on the bottom after I made them. Use your judgement you don't want them to burn on the bottom trust me that really sucks after you do all this work for them to be uncooked or burned on the bottom

get your noodles ready, because your hands will be all gucky so dump them out of container or bag

plunge the noodles into mixture until full

repeat, it doesn't take long plunging faster is better, 3 to 4 times per noodle usually is all it takes, and if you have little ones around get them to help they enjoy helping out. There are times I had all 3 kids plunging noodles into filling and it doesn't take as long as you might think. They enjoy filling the pan as well.They can personalize the topping later. Often one put parmesan, the other just grated cheddar and the other one who likes mushrooms put on chopped mushrooms after I fried some up for him. Mushrooms.....that's a way to ruin a good thing in my estimation. But my son likes them. Put this personalized topping on after the tomato soup topping. You can fancy it up with parsley or chives. When I had all three teenagers for those 4 years I was lucky to have a basement suite (no tenants - just extra kitchen) I made a 2nd using the oven downstairs. Because they became territorial after their toppings went on. A couple times if there wasn't too much filling left over, i would just spread the remaining mixture over the top after the tomato soup was put on. Use your imagination.

it should look like this

ooops forgot about the parmesan cheese, add some any amount you want, actually any cheese will do, I've used swiss, and many combinations of whatever odds and ends I had of hard cheeses

fill up the pan really fill in anywhere you can, but don't overfill the pan

smear the last can onto the top

i bet you thought you didn't have enough mixture, well forgetaboutit, you will have more than you need, it always works out that way i always have extra ALWAYS. I have bags in the freezer of extra mixture that I never remember I have until I throw in the current bag. If you have more cans of soup or want to try with other tomato stuff like just canned tomatoes - pulverized with an imertion blender, or any other combinations of liquid, here's your change to improve on it - in another smaller pan of sorts, but you should do this afterwards, because main roasting pan has to go in the middle of the oven and the extra one will not get the right space to cook. believe me when I say WAIT and make this second one later - you will thank me because it never turns out if the other one is on a different rack. so don't waste your time and creativity at this time

cover with foil or lid of your roaster has a lid, i've used a large turkey roaster for this for a larger amount with it's own lid and it works just fine. Just don't double up the layers because THAT WILL NOT WORK, been there - tried that- doesn't work , will be too dried out or toooo liquidy DOES NOT WORK - only one layer per pan

put it into oven at 325 - 350 (my oven is hot, yours is probably ok at 350) after 40 min open the foil carefully because the steam will burn you. and test the noodle with a fork or knife, put it in slowly, you will know when it is not done. If it's not done take it out every 10 min after that and test it. It should look dry and shinny and no visible liquid at all.It usually takes an hour. but start checking at 40 min- it's never the same twice. If you think it's ready take out of oven and let rest, covered, for about 10 min.

enjoy and let me know how it turned out

mmm goooood

i usually cut the noodles in half for my grandchildren so they can get one in there mouths at a time, but they like to poke there fingers into each one. It's messy

what little is left is wonderful the next day cold, great for snacks or lunches or for kids en route to soccer, hockey, ball, swimming - you name it. They will be fought over I guarantee it. You can use hot sauce for dipping them also. Great finger food.

Mothers Day

2010-05-09T09:47:00.003-06:00

Ahhh mothers day! Its taken 25-30 yrs to appreciate motherhood as a "good idea" How did it all start? Xmas 1979 we were at a family dinner and we were the only couple without children. We felt left out. I remember going to bed that night and discussing parenthood. So one day during the week between xmas and new years I had the IUD removed and probably that night concieved. My son was born Sept 20/80. On my husbands birthday during a thunder storm. Then in October 82 my brother came to visit with his girlfriend and my husband was out of town for that week so I let them have my bedroom and I slept on the couch. I was having a shower that morning when my husband came home and he refused to go in our bedroom to get "the little bags". "If I go get them, they'll know what we are doing. Don't worry I won't get you pregnant." Well so much for that. My daughter was born in July after a week of the hottest weather ever, ending in a thunderstorm or incredible lighting. I remember driving to the hospital in such a rainstorm that I couldn't see anything out of the windshield and the lightning and thunderstorm were amazing. The last day of August 84 I was moving, my husband was out of town again...... I was throwing the last mattress on the floor I remember how pissed off I was that I was doing this alone (with two little kids running around and my stepson was living with us at the time). My husband came in the new house in a really good mood and walked into the bedroom were I was arranging the last piece of furniture that I unloaded from the moving truck. I was so mad at him for all the work I had to do and he was in a good mood because he was out of town all week. My daughter was born 6 weeks early in April 85. So if you want a female baby I say have sex in unexpected places and make up sex probably helps. And the reason that she was born 6 weeks early.....once again my husband came home after being out of town and decided that sex would be a good idea. Needless to say - it wasn't. So babies are usually born during a change in the weather and if you are overdue, having sex won't be a bad idea. But not a good idea during the last trimester. So the reason I'm a mother is three times of unprotected sex, last two times I was promised that I wouldn't get pregnant, "I promise".

May already.......

2010-05-03T09:49:00.002-06:00

What's been happening, I'm still in March. Can't believe how time is flying. Someone should do a study and just see if the rotation of the earth has sped up. Time is just going to fast lately. Way tooooo fast.

I'm in the middle of making a pie, so far the filling is to die for. It's called a Lime-Marshmallow Pie from "Ready for Dessert" by David Lebovitz.
I'm just debating weather I should make the topping or not yet. I don't have a candy thermometer. And I'm watching the grandchildren so can't run out to buy one until later. So the topping will have to wait. I just have to keep my fingers out of the pie until then. Or maybe.......I should make more filling.....for tasting or for dessert for the kiddies. Hmmmm that's a thought. That's a good thought.

Monday Morning

2010-04-19T11:57:00.002-06:00

Well what a beautiful day. I made my ritual Meal in a muffin from leftovers. This batch had a few pieces of roasted chicken, an italian sausage, half a honey garlic pepperoni. Wow...they are sitting on the counter cooling. I don't know if I will have the will power to leave them in the fridge. They are so much better the next day.
I'm going to try buy a silicone mini muffin pan. I think the grandkids will really enjoy them in a mini muffin instead.
I was going to put in a picture, but my charger for the camera has been missing forever. I am going to have to mount an all out search for the damn thing.

Another great meal in a muffin

2010-04-09T15:39:00.009-06:00

Mini Meatloaves

here's the original recipe

Madeover Mini Meatloaves
originally from Sobey's Supermarket magazine

Serves: 4
Prep Time: 15 min.
Total Time: 45 min.

2 tbsp Balance Zesty Italian Dressing
1 cup finely chopped Organic Sliced Portabella Mushrooms
1/2 cup each shredded carrot and finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Balance Tomato & Herbs Pasta Sauce, divided
1/3 cup Organic Quick Oats
2 egg whites, beaten
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1 lb extra lean ground beef

1.Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Heat the salad dressing in a non-stick skillet set over medium heat. Sauté the mushrooms, carrot, onion and garlic for 5 to 7 min. or until softened. Cool slightly; transfer to a large bowl and stir in 1/2 cup (125 mL) of the pasta sauce, oats, egg whites, salt and pepper. Add the beef and mix gently to combine.
2.Lightly spray 8 cups of a muffin pan with cooking spray. Divide the mixture between the cups, pressing gently to compact the meat. Spoon an equal amount of the remaining pasta sauce over the meatloaves. Bake for 30 min. or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest portion of the meat registers 160°F (71°C). Cool for 5 min. before serving.

Here's my changes

no mushrooms (that's the way to ruin a recipe for anything but stuffed mushrooms)
instead
3/4 c shredded zucchini
3/4 c shredded carrots
1 onion diced
1 egg (instead of 2 egg whites)

I sometimes use just italian dressing, (watch your eyes when heating will sting) or just grape seed oil, I also use a silicone muffin tin, it just browns soo much better without sticking.
I also fry the onions and carrots together in the oil before adding to hamburger mixture. I also add some taco seasoning, but not too much. But only occasionally, it's really good without it.
This is great the next day cold or sliced up into a meatloaf sandwich. I usually double the recipe so that I can keep some in freezer.

Meal-in-a-muffin

2010-04-09T14:13:00.007-06:00

I saved the original recipe from a copy of Real Simple Magazine.
Here's the original called Zucchini Pie.

But it's the change to a muffin where it really shines. I call it my Meal in a muffin of Leftovers.

Change the 3 cups of grated zucchini to 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini and 1 1/2 cups leftover meat of any kind (rotisserie chicken, taco hamburger meat, cooked ham, deli ham, - basically any left over meat, in any combination)

Change the directions to:
Preheat oven to 350. Combine zucchini, leftover cooked meats (diced very small is best), chopped onion, 1 cup of grated mixture of whatever cheese you have on hand - the sharper the better, 3 tbsp of grated parmesan, either fresh basil or 1 tsp pesto. Mix together to combine.
Sift in the flour, salt, pepper and heaping tsp baking powder.
Mix to combine well.
Then beat the veg oil and eggs together and pour over the zucchini and flour mixture and mix to combine the whole thing. Don't over mix, but mix it all well. It will seem really gloppy and on the thick side. I usually have more than the 1 cup of cheese. And I sometimes have a little bit more than the 1 1/2 cups of meat because I usually have more than one kind of meat, that's why the HEAPING tsp of baking powder is important. I like to throw in a 1/2 pepperoni stick into the food processor and pulse to fine. This usually adds a nice flavour. It's the mixture of meat that is key to flavour. If I don't have anything but leftover cooked chicken I usually throw in whatever coldcuts I have on hand like honey ham, and pepperoni into the food processor.
The next important part of the process is that you MUST have a silicone muffin tin.
Fill the muffin tin with a scoop ( but do not over fill) and bake the muffins until they are browned. You may think they are overcooked, but trust me - very brown is best. You can eat them with a salad after cooling slightly, but the best, the VERY BEST is the next day after they have cooled and the zucchini and meat mixture and cheese all combine and wow. It's just the best taste. And kids LOVE them. They are great in the car on the way to whatever place you are going, soccer, swimming etc. But I just love them all day long. I specially like that I can rip of a piece and give it to my grandkids who never let me eat anything without sharing. They last in the fridge - i usually just put 4 into a sandwich bag. But the trick is to use a silicone muffin pan, because they will brown and not stick. I've tried in a regular pan with muffin papers, but trust me, use silicone. Ohh and sprinkle the other 1 tbsp parmesan over each muffin before throwing into the over, but I usually forget that part, I don't know why but I usually do.
I can't say for sure how long you bake them, because each time is different but usually around half hour at least, to 40 min.

Clean-up

2010-03-19T10:56:00.004-06:00

This blog kinda sucks, the design.... I should ask the stepson (who is a computer wiz) to redesign the thing for me. I wonder if he could do that without reading it hmmm. No one knows about this thing. I want to keep it that way. This is my private place to vent.

Update

2010-03-19T10:23:00.002-06:00

An update about the family dynamics around here. My daughter didn't move away,instead they all moved in with us. When she found she was pregnant again so soon before going back to work and not qualifying for unemployment ins. They sold their place and moved in here. And Xander was born end of Nov 2008. So now there are 4 adults, and 2 kids. It's been a trial, but seems to be working. I let my accounts go and stay home to watch the grandchildren. As of three week ago my husband is off on disability. The arrangement was working - we are living like imigrants, three generations in one house. Everyone should try it.

My stepsons marriage tanked in September last year. He discovered his (b*tch) wife was carrying on an online affair with this looser in the states for about a year. And his two children were aware of it. My stepson who had two jobs to support this b*tch (never worked a day of her life - how could she when she was so busy online all day long) was an emotional wreck. She moved out with the kids (used my minivan to move out) to her brothers. So one night he went online to match.com and did a search in the same wyoming town as this looser lived and two days later is involved with a women from the same town. So he arranged to visit with her and took off. While he was gone the b*tch got into the house and sold most of his computer equipment and wi and sony play station and alot of other stuff. Over this visit he feel madly in LOVE. I tell you no one could make this stuff up. So he decided to sell the house and move to (town in wyoming) to be with the love-of-his-life. I come down with carpet cleaner, and other stuff. Couldn't believe the mess the b*tch left the place in. A pig sty does not do it any justice. We were in the middle of the clean up when the b*tch showed up and a war of words ensued. I couldn't help myself I said a few things, there was pushing and shoving and I sustained scratches and black and blue marks ( I just happened to have my camera - i was going to take pic's to list the house) so I took some pic's of my arms and made comments about child services and the state of the pig sty blah blah blah and she ran away. One of my prouder moments I gotta add. But the whole thing kinda freeked the step son and his new love-of-my-live insisted that he come "right now" "dangerous b*tch" blah blah blah. So he did and a week later before he could go on disablity for emotion distress (manulife already agreed to the whole thing for 6 months shorterm) his dick head manager fired him for being absent after working for the dickhead for 22 years, since he was 18 yrs old - i might add here. So he decided to stay with the love-of-my-life and get a green card etc. Meanwhile the house got taken by morgage company, no money from disability etc etc. The love-of-my-life supported his until he had to come back to canada last week. Because after filing the paperwork to stay permantly he had to leave. And quess were he is residing? Yes you got it, with all of us on the living room floor on a blow up mattress.

After talking with Unemployment Insurance with his handy note from the doc about distress etc they are paying him in lump sum from semptember to march. Yay and He did his income tax and got a nice refund. And applied to a job with the competition and is working in the next booth over at the airport. So we are 5 adults and 2 kids of 18 mnts and 30 mnths.

He will probably be here until mid april (we hope no longer) and my daughter is in the planning stages of the wedding in mexico in november. So we are a happy family of many generations and step children living in one house. It's a good thing we have a full finished basement and three bathrooms.

You should try it.

To-do list

2010-03-13T14:08:00.002-07:00

I WILL FIND A CAST IRON FRYING PAN TODAY....and I will make candied ginger. I've already forgotten the third thing I was going to do today. But I'm sure it will come to me later. I have been eager to replace my long lost cast iron frying pan for years now. Today is the day. I'm sure of it. Now that I'm almost over this horrible, awful, cold from hell. I can actually make it out the door without horking and clearing my naval cavityies and blowing my nose. It's a lovely picture isn't it. But this thing has been going on now for almost 3 weeks. And I have had enough. ENOUGH. I have to get out of this house.

Food 101

2010-01-31T15:50:00.002-07:00

Just saw the documentary. Some parts were worse than a horror movie. I had to look the other way. Shit.....i shouldn't watch this stuff, now i'm going to have to bother the meat guy at sobey's about the origin of his meat. I don't know about chicken hmmmm that was uncomfortable to watch. It's hard to believe that walmart is becoming the place to shop for food. Wierd. I haven't been to one in ages, I will have to go check it out

2009-08-28T12:04:00.002-06:00

Selling

2008-04-24T15:14:00.003-06:00

Well my daughter is selling her home and probably moving to BC. I will be losing my granddaughter. I don't know how that's going to go over. I'm not looking forward to it. Why is it that everyone renovates for resale instead of renovating for living in it. I don't understand it. She should have done a little maintenance when things needed to be done. She seems to think nothing really has to be done. Wrong... I've been pulling up hardwood that has to be replaced and replacing cupboard doors. Honestly she just thinks it can be sold as is. Wouldn't that be nice. But alas - work needs to be done. Some people should not own, a little too used to having someone else do the maintenance.

I read somewhere that women's brains shrink during the pregnancy and usually doesn't return to normal until the baby is about 8 months. So my daughter's should be back to normal by now. I don't know what it is, she's in a state of "duh". Can't seem to get out of her funk. And refuses to see a doctor. She goes back to work on tuesday, that can't be anything to look forward to that's for sure. She's been off eleven months now and is not very happy about the prospect of leaving her baby. I've offered to babysit on saturdays, and her husband will be doing tuesday's so there's only wed to fri. But I'm thinking she won't last two weeks before she packs it in.

For the past year I've attempted to talk her into allowing me to train her to do bookkeeping, but that doesn't seem to be exiting enough, but who knows...she may change her mind. I work only 4 - 6 hours a day and make more than she did working 8 - 10 hours. But I quess restaurant management is more exiting. I don't see why - all that standing. That's something that will be hard for her to get used to again. Oh well, I quess we'll just have to wait and see how it all turns out.

Birthday party

2008-04-15T20:17:00.004-06:00

Ellise's 2nd birthday party

I just love this cake. It was chocolate and very good. The quilt was a last minute idea. The party was Thursday and I finally decided on Wednesday what I was going to attempt. I believe it was around 10 PM. I cut out the flannel pieces from scraps and sewed them together, with much trouble. I couldn't figure out what was wrong with my friggin machine. The tension was so screwed up. Nothing worked, so I finally gave up and went to bed around 1 am. I woke up around 5:30 (a wrong number on the phone) but since I had "things" to do I got up anyway. I made coffee trudged down the basement stairs and had another go. Well it must have been the coffee or something but I finally figured out that I had to take the machine apart and clean it. You see I've been sewing alot of flannel (with two babies in 10 months, what else would I be sewing) and the gunk and broken thread iin the bobbin thingamagig was amazing. We;ll after much tweezer use and blowing everything finally came out and the sewing resumed. After I finished (the back is a lime green polka dot, really cute) I had alot of regret in giving the "baby doll blanket" away. I had some squares leftover from the first attempt of cutting 0out the squares so I made a small pillow. I was really pleased at how it all turned out. And the birthday girl seemed to appreciate it, by dragging it around. So now I have to make one for my own granddaughter.

But the cake, what can I say it was great. Should have been larger so some of us could have taken pieces of it home. I mean how often are there no leftover birthday cake pieces to unload on the guests.

Apple Brown Betty

2008-04-06T19:01:00.002-06:00

A funny thing happened on my way to making an Apple Brown Betty. I was lurking around blogs today and was inspired to make a brown betty. I even went so far as to throw the hard brown sugar in the micro to soften it. I discovered that I only had one apple-all be it a huge apple, but only one. Then I remembered the frozen rubarb and the frozen blueberries. So I figured I'd make a fruit brown betty. So I got out the baking dish and buttered it up and started peeling the apple and even got out the other fruit out of the freezer. But then after slicing and coring the apple I got another inspiration. There was half an avocado from our BLT's from lunch sitting on the counter getting brown, and I only had a little hunk of cheese left, again from our sandwiches at lunch so I decided on this dish instead. I poured two glasses of wine and I'm heading upstairs to share. My husband thinks he's getting hamburgers, Oh well... this is probably better for both of us anyway.

2008-03-30T18:52:00.002-06:00

Wow end of March. I can't believe I've been so lax in posting. I have a good excuse though....menopause. It's all I can do when I get home from work is pour a glass of wine and vegetate on the recliner. I've been taking everything out there to relieve the discomfort. I remember hearing " starting your periods later will make menopause easier, more pregnancies will make it easier, breast feeding with make it easier" ALL LIES. If this is "easier" I'd hate to experience "harder". My sister, has less pregnancies, started periods in grade 5 (did breast feed though) and she is older than me by 16 months and I started about a year before her but we are both in the depths of menopause and both are in hell. Although I think I have it harder than her....
The handful of supplements I take twice a day I thought were almost usless until two days ago I forgot to take them in the evening and had the "worst" night of my life. So maybe, they might be helping, I admit that grudgingly only because I wonder how much longer I have to take these things.
I bought a book about it, but haven't bothered reading it yet, because I can't committ to anything right now. I just don't have the patience to sit and read anything other than a crossword these days. I can't believe how lazy I've become. And the damn hot flashes are making me crazy.
I'm tired of the supplements - evening primrose oil, multi minerals, vitamin d, mega antioxidants, menosense, calcium mag, vitamin c, b complex.
Then there's the essential oils, Solace and Transitions, one is for hot flashes, one is for hormone balancing. I smell like a pine forest.
Every morning I have a serving of yogurt with either strawberries, or blueberries and trail mix. (only because I've been testing this to loose some wieght around my gut, amazingly it seems to be working for the weight loss) so I'm kinda addicted to this because maybe it's got something to do with regulating the hormone inbalance too....you never know.
So I've also added drinking the supplements down with blueberry juice...don't ask me why, I don't know why...but why not.
I just want to be able to get some sleep at night. I can't remember the last time I didn't want to have a nap in the middle of the day.
It's a good think I set my own schedule for the clients that I have. I don't know how women who have to work 8 hours a day manage this.
Although I haven't posted anything like forever, I still manage to read some other blogs, I just wsant to ask, How do all these people manage to post something all the time. I'm beggining to thing they have no life or are self absorbed or ...something. No offense to anyone. But how do you all do it everyday? although I do enjoy several of them.
So here's the post for March hopefully I will post again before June.

Borsch

2007-12-02T11:27:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to try my hand at borsch using a coleslaw mix. So here's the ingredient list

1 lge bag coleslaw mix

2 bags baby carrots(only because I had two in the fridge) otherwise 1 lrg is good to go

1 bag baby potatoes (again because that's what I had)

1 green pepper

garlic

onion

green onions

2 jars home canned tomatoes

celery (inside heart plus two stalks

butter (1 lb)
cream

salt and pepper

celery salt

Pick out most of the purple cabbage out of the bagged mix.

so that it looks like this.

pulverize 1 bag of carrots

shredd the other bag of carrots. Dice the onion, celery, green pepper and about 10/12 small potatoes. (I just like the taste of baby potatoes over any of the larger ones, so that's what I have on hand all the time. They are more work for dicing and mashing, but the taste is worth it, i think anyway).

strain the pulverized carrots into about 1 cup of carrot juice and the rest mulch

Take out the "big pot" and add about 12 cups water. Add 1/2 the coleslaw mix and the carrot juice to the pot and bring to a nice slow rolling boil. Add the diced potatoes. Then reduce to a simmer.

Bring about 20 baby potatoes to a boil for mashing.

In a seperate pot empty the two jars of tomatoes and bring to a boil and cook until the tomatoes are mush

Saute the onion, celery and garlic. Add the carrot mulch.

Add the cooked tomatoes in batches to this veggie mixture,

When this is finished add to the big pot, being careful that the pan is facing away from you, as this is very hot and might splatter at you.

Fry the cabbage in batches and add to the big pot as cooked

Add half the container of cream and about 1/3 of the pound of butter, salt, pepper and mash the potatoes up

Add this mixture to the large pot, but temper it first so as not to curdle the cream.

Add the diced green pepper, green onions and lots of dill. I forgot completely about the BEET. So I had a can of beets in the pantry and added the juice only (the canned beets tend to look awful in the finished product - too pale, so I didn't use them, just the juice) I can't believe I forgot the beets, geez. Add lots of salt and pepper. I also add celery salt.

Bring this up to a simmer again. DO NOT BOIL.

Yummy. I was amazed at the result. I will be doing this again. The worst part of making borsh is that chopping of the cabbage. This stuff eliminates that process. I added a hand full of shredded cheese to the bottom of the bowl and a splash of hot sauce. UMMmmmm

The result for the fridge.

the cleanup

Big Plans

2007-11-12T17:34:00.000-07:00

Well here it is Rememberance Day Monday, and I had all these plans and it's now 5:30 and I've accomplished a whole lot of nothing so far. Not exactly nothing I have done two loads of laundry, but that's about it. I did manage to get dressed and take a shower, but that was primarily because I had Hot Friggin flashes ALL NITE LONG. But I haven't made it out of the bedrooom (except to drag the laundry down stairs, let the dog out for a pee and made some lunch, that I brought back upstairs) It's one of those "let's watch video" days. We put on Sicko and then half way through the movie I spent about an hour on the phone so by the time we got back to the movie, well there went the afternoon. So now we're watching Mr Brooks. I haven't decided if I like it or not. I only turned this thing on because I wanted to reserve a book from the library that I read about in the newspaper. Oh yeah, another thing I managed to do was read the morning paper while watching sicko. And doing the sudoko puzzle. My daughter is in Toronto this weekend so I emailed her the links to http://ugonnaeatthat.wordpress.com/ to the sites refering to toronto. Hopefuly she will get to at least one of the restaurants she recommends.

Oh geez look how dark it is outside already. I hate this time of year. I can't believe how fast this weekend has gone by. I quess I should let the dog out again I picture her sitting down there with her little back legs crossed.

Passport

2007-11-08T03:00:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got my passport. Woohoo!!
I picked the coldest day to stand in line for an hour and a half. Not to mention the freeken wind chill factor. As I'm standing there freezing - I'm thinking " this would be a good time for my hot flashes to kick in". Not so lucky.
As I'm standing - in line - did I mention "freezing" yet... I"m also thinking "Steve Harper I don't need 1% taken of the GST what "I" need is more civil servants so that this line doesn't need to be so long. Given that it's been this long day after day after day after week after month. Maybe he should stand in line, see how his government policy really works.
I got in line at about 10:30 AM and my ever so helpful husband said "forget it he wasn't going to stand in any line in this weather blah blah blah..." So I"m thinking we could share the cold - you know - I'll stand here for 1/2 hour then he'll stand here for 1/2 while I warm up in the van. That was the plan. So I took the first 1/2 hour and about 10 minutes into it, my feet froze up, my nose wouldn't stop running. The wind........ ugh. So I called him up on the cell and asked him to bring me the blanket in the back of the van and some kleenex. About 10 minutes later and he still hasn't shown up with the stuff. So I phoned him again and this time was a little pissed and everyone in the line up overheard my angry conversation. There was a general consensous that men are all shit. So he finally shows up and then informs me that it's too cold for him (in the van) and he's going to leave and to call him when I get closer to the entrance. By this time I'm aclimatized to the cold and determined to stick it out. After all, I didn't want to whimp out in front of all other other suckers standing in the same line up as me. MOst of them where from out of town and had no choice. So I stayed. Let's just say that this is being posted here so that sometime in March when I want to go somewhere nice and warm (WITH OUT MY HUSBAND) Maybe a chick get away....I'll just scroll down to this and let him read this to remind him of the total ass that he was, and I shouldn't have any guilt when I pack my bags. I"ll be sure to send him a postcard.

beans beans beans

2007-08-13T15:06:00.001-06:00

Finally, my first picking of beans. I can hardly wait to cook them for lunch. I had to wait to be alone, so that I wouldn't have to share any. After all I only have the two bunches. I'm already anticipating it. yum.

Here's Linden Cole

Don't you just love those slippers

He's sooo cute

Here's both Brooklyn and Linden. What a difference 1 month makes in size. It was very cute hearing my son (with the 1 week old) telling my daughter (with the 1 month old) the merits of adding formula to breast milk, for the nightly feeding. I wonder how he's getting along now that his son is past the sleeping all day stage. I should phone them. I really miss the little guy. I think I've been spending too much time with Brooklyn. I usually go over every other day in the evenings to give her a bath and give my daughter some time to herself. Her partner has been working nights lately. She's been changing so much. I haven't seen her for three days now and I'm beginning to panic. I might be missing something.

We're planning on taking a trip this weekend to see our grandson. We are going to have to do some skill full conniving to get one or the other to live closer together to all of us or something. I don't think I'm going to be able to be away from any of them. This is going to be awful. How do people do it.

I've been busy making double of everything. Receiving blankets, baby quilts, play pen pads, crib sheets. My sewing maching has been getting quite the work out. Not to mention the bank account.

I'm sitting here in bed it's 3:30 pm and i've still got my pj's on. I've got the foodtv on the tv and the portable on my lap. I'm getting hungry. It's kinda one of those days. There's alot of things I should be doing. But I'm not. Maybe later.

Right now I have some beans to cook.

I had a dream....

2007-07-26T09:14:00.000-06:00

I had an interesting dream last night, just want to mention it just in case ....It was about an intersting products, that I think I would even enjoy

"CHOCOLATE PEPSI" I can even still picture the look of the can. Chocolate brown stripes and blue polka dots. Hmmmmmmmm.

another baby

2007-07-22T00:55:00.000-06:00

Well, he's here. Lyndon Cole - born early Thursday July 19. Cool. Two grandchildren a month apart. No pic's yet. I guess they're busy. It's as though someone had twins. Booklyn is a month old yesterday. I have to buy two of everything. One thing worked out well, the two baby quilts tops I put together years ago. ONe is for a girl and the other for a boy. So at least I don't have all that work to do, just have to quilt the darn thing before He gets to old.

We're planning on all taking a road trip on Tuesday to see the newest addition. And I"ve convinced by daughter to come along with her baby so that everyone back home can get a look at her as well.

My husband came down with pneumonia the other day, and he spend thursday coughing all
day, as he was getting out of bed in a fit of coughing, he threw his back out. The prescription medication for both cost me $300.00. Hey I've got baby stuff to buy medication is not in the budget. Pissed me off! Who gets pneumonia in the summer anyway. He came home from a trip on Monday with it. Not that I'm not sympathetic. But I just really hate being around my husband when he's sick. Let's just say "when I'm ever sick I'm on my own". He needs constant attention.
And why are tourists traveling when they're sick. Honestly stupid people or what - no consideration for the poor smuck they infect. It's like that dick head who went to Europe with his untreatable illness. That's one reason I hate being around people in crowds, I'm a bit of a germ-a-phobe.

busy, busy, busy

2007-07-02T09:29:00.000-06:00

Brooklyn Haley Lark

June 20, 2007

6 lb

19 " long

what a cutie

I can't believe it's going to be two weeks already. So much hair, almost needs a barrette.

Now we're all waiting for Jason's. Shouldn't be too much longer, I say a week and another one will arrive.

I was madly quilting away a couple weeks ago, but now I seem to be on a break, too much. This is my first attempt at free style quilting, and I'm not sure I like it, too much ripping and starting over. You really need to get a rhythm going. And then you break a needle. Maybe later seeing as it's a day off.

The weather finally turned for the better, I think summer has finally arrived. It's about time. The rain was very depressing, it's as though I was living in Vancouver instead of drought prone Calgary.

My huge garden is doing well, I'm surprised. I quess all that soil prep was a good thing.

I can already taste the green beans. There's even a cucumber on the plant.

I need to stake the beans today.

So I suppose I should get out of bed.

weight loss

2007-05-27T10:24:00.000-06:00

I'm losing weight again. Pisser. I just bought a load of clothes in size 10. Some of which I really like, and now I'm down to 7/8. But I don't seem to be losing pounds but losing body fat. Can't be good. I'm always cold, have too many headaches. I have no energy. So the other day while grocery shopping I was scouting out the baked goods section. I even came home with a black forest cake. Figured this has got to be lots of calories. I only had one piece, I came home from work and ...no cake... anywhere. My husband......Unfortunately I'm losing and he's gaining. He's eating all my FAT stuff. Instead of coffee I've been pouring in a pouch of chocolate with my coffee, now I don't want coffee any other way. I bought a tub of sour cream yesterday and plan on eating it with something today just to gain some weight. I was at costco yesterday and bought cookies that I've never tried. Boy are the ginger snaps goooood. I have to hide them otherwise they'll be gone by tomorrow.
The reason i was at costco was because I was searching for some ground turkey. We were watching foodtv on a saturday morning with our choco coffee and got the hankering for some meatballs for dinner. So four packages of ground turkey $20 (used half-although after rolling them and deciding my crock pot wouldn't fit that much I saved 10 meatballs for some spaghetti later this week). Chili sauce $4.29, tom sauce $1.25, had the other ingredients at home already. So in my estimation...pricey meatballs!!! So they better be good. Unfortunately they sucked BIG TIME. First I admit I added some bread crumbs into the meatball mix, and I even added some balsamic vinegar and lea and perrins. ( I don't know if I can ever cook anything without adding these two) They still tasted like sawdust. Very bland. Maybe I should have added some pesto, but I didn't.
As these meatballs were crocking away I made up a bunch of tuna melt and realized I didn't have any usable celery so off I went to the supermarket again, and was attracted by the pineapple display. So I thought, "what kind of sweat and sour meatball was I making-didn't have any pineapple in the recipe" Well I added some fresh, figuring It could only help. Well nothing helped this sauce. It was gross. And very soupy to boot. This recipe needs far too much tweeking. I don't mind trying something new and even having to go out of my way to make it, but it really pisses me off big time it the recipe doesn't work or taste like crap.
So it's be religated to a "container in the fridge". Hopefully my husband will eat it during the week so I won't have to deal with it.
And what is it about celery. I keep buying this stuff and using about two stalks and then next time it's a big pile of mush in the fridge. My vegetable crisper should be renamed the vegetable musher. So when i bought yet another stalk of the stuff for my tuna melt, I vowed to myself that I would use up this stalk come hell or high water. So that's my challenge for the week. There's eleven veins or whatever they're called left in the bag. Wouldn't it be great if celery was fattening. That would help.

Survived

2007-05-26T17:40:00.000-06:00

Well the plants survived the snow, the tree out back is still deciding it appear. (the top is bent over). I've got alot of reading to do. A recond number of books that I reserved at the library were waiting for me this morning.
I picked up To Far From Home, last week and unfortunately haven't had much spare time to read it. It's eye opening to realize just how the space industry is running on out of date technology and out of date nuts and bolts. Why would anyone want to be an astronaut and have to deal with the short falls and screw ups. I need to take public transit in order to read. That's where I've found the time. Standing waiting for the bus, and riding the bus really moves those pages. And only puts about 1/2 hour on my commute.
I don't know where I will find the time to read, what with the two quilts I have to get going on (only one is semi completed). And my husband purchased pants that need to be hemmed up. Not to mention that I planned on doing some cooking this weekend. I need some left-overs.
So far I've made some sweat and sour meatballs, spaghetti and meatballs, tuna mix for tuna melts. I have half a baked ham sitting in the fridge just begging to get used for something other than sandwiches. I've just been slicing thin slices off and piling it up on a sandwich. I boiled it in root beer then smothered pomegranate molasses and mustard and brown sugar all over it before baking it. WOW sure is good.
I bought some ground turkey from costco, I hope the meatballs turn out good. That damn ground turkey is $$$.
It's time to taste the meatballs.

It's almost June...really it is

2007-05-24T07:56:00.000-06:00

this was taken on saturday, and I though THAT was a lousy day!!!

This is what I woke up to this morning. I couldn't believe it.

somebody remind me...why do I live here?

So much for global warming

2007-05-21T13:38:00.000-06:00

Well here it is the second day of my garden and still it's raining, this morning it was snowing. It's May 21st for christ sake, Snow is not supposed to be allowed. I had to cover up with a garbage bag, the seeds I just planted yesterday. The poor tomatoe plants are shivering out there, I'm going to have to cover them up also, it's so darn cold out there. I can't believe it. Even the dog doesn't want to go out. She just stand at the door and turn around. I quess she thinks she can hold it a bit longer, till it's warmer maybe. She looks funny standing there, like she can't decide if it's worth it or not.

This is my fav planter so far this year. Let's just call "the purple planter" Next to all the light grey it looks wonderful, and the Hiliatrope smells wonderful in the evening. I've decided that my patio area this year has to either be purple, or it better have a fragrance.

Here's the "diaper cake" The picture doesn't do justice to the product. The top tier is newborn size, down to a larger size. Maybe once the packaging comes off.

There's face clothes, rattles, lotion, teething rings etc tied to the different tiers, it's quite the project.

The shower

2007-05-20T23:41:00.000-06:00

Well the second shower was on Saturday. But officially I quess it was the first shower, as that one was canceled. So the second one became the first one. It was the "friends" shower. I almost finished the baby blanket, but not. So hopefully it will be finished for the "family" shower some time in June. I had to find something else to take to this shower so I went to a baby store. I haven't been to a baby anything store for years. Wow there sure is a lot of stuff to spend your money on. There's way too much choice. How does anyone make a decission of anything. Well I read about this thing called a timer. So I've been looking for one ever since, itzbeen . It's a male thing I would quess. I wonder how long it will be before the novelty of it will wear off. Anyway since I have two baby's coming I had to buy two of them.

But the best gift was called a "diaper cake". Since my camera isn't here right now, I can't include the picture. But believe me it was amazing. I had to order one for my son's shower. The friend that organized this shower did an amazing job. I think it's true what they say about new mothers and their ability to milti task. What an imagination she has. I remember when I was like that. I think one has to be stressed and busy in order to have a creative imagination. Maybe that's why I have no imagination any longer. I have no stress, and no children to worry about or keep me busy. Poor pitful me. I've been waiting 20 years for this.

I planted my beans and zuccini and tomatoes today. Now all I need is some of that global warming. I just watered them all in and quess what, the sky's opened up and that was before noon and it's still raining. Again my camera is out and no pictures. I'm kinda proud of my little garden. I'm expecting lots of green beans and will really be pissed it they don't grow to their expected potential.

Well I've got two weeks to year end at work, that ought to be fun. The inventory is really a joy. I've been out of my office for two weeks now, filling in for reception. I can hardly wait to be in my isolated little room. I never realized how nozy everyone is whenever I am doing anything financial, or whenever the cheque books are out. It doesn't help that my boss is so paranoid about keeping everything so secret.

My brothers manicure thing is finally a reality manicure plus we've been all waiting like forever for this thing. It should be a real winner.

My mother is planning on being in town for three weeks in June. She's helping my neice with babysitting while her nanny is on holiday back in the Philippines. My first reaction to this news is "she never did that for any of her own children" What gives. So I'm planning on delivering my serger over there and many different flannelette fabric so that she can make a pile of receiving blankets for my two grandchildren. That ought to keep her busy on her off hours.

The quests at the shower started a pool for the date and time of expected arrival. It was kinda funny, I've never been to a his and hers baby shower before. Who knew that guys could have such a sense of humor about babies, and pink fluffy things. I wonder how many of them went home and started on their own babies.

I'm reading a great book called Talking with my Mouth Full. REally enjoying it. I started reading I like you by Amy Sedaris but it got really old after about 1/4 of the way through. Can't see what the big deal is with all the publicity. Talking with my Mouth Full is a much better use of my time. I might even have to buy this book.

So much for plans...

2007-04-07T13:36:00.000-06:00

So, the plan was.....baby shower for my daughter on good friday, first birthday for my neice's baby on easter sunday, 50th aniversary party on saturday. Since most of the "out of towners" were planning on being here for easter. It was a good plan. Except my sister's husband died on March 30. Shock of all shock. It's my husband's sister that has cancer and is in a hospice on a DNR. We bought plane tickets to fly up to see her on the sunday April 1st. But Bob died on Friday morning. Blood clot in his lung. And we thought maybe the pain was a gall stone. Huge mistake. Only 54, one year to retirement. So Sad. Needless to say it was a mad rush to leave town, plans had to be cancelled, tickets cancelled, showers and birthday parties cancelled. The funeral was finally on thursday. It was the longest week of everyone's life. My sister is still probably wondering "what's going on" . Everyone is in such shock.

Unfortunatly I brow beat a few people into taking time off work and travelling here for easter (for those not originally planning on being here for easter). It wasn't until tuesday that I remembered to call them to say I wouldn't be here for the shower and it was cancelled. A few people came anyway for the weekend. Good thing my daughter works in a hotel and got good rates for them. So they're all out shopping today. EAster has been cancelled here.

Most funerals of my family go something like....Service, burial, meal, wake. Well this one had a service all right (two days before many people got together to prepare the meal even) then the burial started out fine. The procession (about 20 miles) from service to grave site. The coffin was put on the mechanism to lower it. The coffin started to go down, but them BOTH strapes broke and the coffin tipped over and fell 8 or so feet down. The funeral director looked like he wanted to jump into the hole. It was one of the largest attended funerals in the area. Including those who came to the grave yard. It was the most amazing thing I've even witnessed. THe casket broke apart at the bottom - the body was sort of half exposed, the sides of the coffin were split away. What a mess. My mother went histerical, his son soon followed. I gotta give my Sister credit she was pissed at my mother for making such a scene. She was just standing there with this look of "what the f*@^" on her face. Everyone was stunned. I still have a chuckle evertime I think back on it. When you think about it, it's kinda, sorta funny. And Bob loved a good joke. My husband informed me that he wants to be buried just like that. I think my sister still can't believe that anything - including his death even happened. I told her that Bob probably didn't like the casket, and refused to be buried in it. Or maybe he wanted to be cremated. So everyone had to leave, we all went back 20 miles to the hall and ate the meal, then waited for the hearse to come back (she had to pick out another casket - picked a solid steel one this time - probably on the house, it was a beautiful one) then we had to drive back (another 20 miles) to the grave site. This time they used ropes and the pulley system to lower it. So a funeral that should have been over by 2pm wasn't over until 5:30. My sister will be hearing about this burial forever. It was quite the ordeal to get the mess out of the hole. I won't even go into that part. Unfortunately for the funeral home, my neice's husband is a lawyer. And I was there with my camera. Not a good day. But surely a memoral one. Then after the funeral I had to drive 650 km back. I got home about 1:30 AM and I'm still bagged today. I'm just sitting here drinking arbor mist and eating ding dongs. I did manage to get four jars of funeral borsch though.

I had some for lunch today, they never add garlic, so I do. Funeral and wedding borsch is the best. It's even worth the gas afterwards.

Not beet borsch but cabbage. With lots and lots of butter. Yummy.

Lazy day

2007-03-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

Today is laundry day. And baking day....surprizingly. I was nuking my breakfast (the patty) hamburger, when I spotted this green paper tucked in with a bunch of perscription receipts next to the micro. So I pulled it out and then I remembered this recipe I found in a library book years ago, and I've been dragging it around ever since. It wasn't even a cook book. It was being used as a marker in a murder mystery. So I decided to make it. Either keep the recipe or throw it away. Well it's a keeper. The recipe was written on a page of someone's day timer.

Lazy Daisy Cake

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 pinch of salt

2 tbsp butter

1/2 c milk

Beat eggs till light and fluffy, add sugar beat well. Bring butter & milk to a boil. Add sifted flour salt and baking powder to egg mixture. Mix well. Then add boiled milk and butter to egg & flour mixture. Mix well. Pour into 8X8 pan (i used 6x12) bake at 350 till lightly browned and springs back about 20-25 min.

Topping

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c flaked coconut

1/2 c chopped nuts

3 tbsp butter

2 tbsp whip cream

Melt butter, add brown sugar and cream. Let bubble a few minutes. Then add coconut and nuts to cooked mixture, spread on warm cake. Put on broil. Stand there and watch it till it bubbles up all over and turns a golden brown.

yummmm and so fast, really a no brainer. As with all recipes I didn't exactly follow to the letter, and it still turned out excellent. For starters I didn't feel like getting the mixer down from the cupboard, to much work. Then I couldn't find my hand mixer. Found the beaters, and the cord, but not the machine. So I just dumped the sugar and egg into the food processor attachment that came with my plunge blender and just whipped it up into a sludge. Didn't have any coconut, but I did have a hunk of creamed coconut. So I grated that up into the batter. I copied the recipe exactly as I found it on the paper. So the next time I feel the need for a piece of cake, I will definately use this again.

Last night my hasband decided that he needed some prawns for dinner. Last week I bought a huge supply of them for family and friends from the wholesaler. I do this once a year in February. It just happened that my freezer is somewhat empty so that's a good thing. Because it's full of prawns and mussels right now. And the freezer is in the garage. Last friday I brought the load home and managed to get it all in the freezer. That night my husband went to work and didn't close the garage door (it faces out towards the alley) and it's a lucky thing the light bulb was out that's attached to the door opener. Because the garage was open for the whole weekend. My neighbour knocked on my door at around 8 pm on sunday night and let me know. Meanwhile we were parking on the street for some reason all weekend. So in a panic I ran out and envisioned all my tools - gone, all my gardening equipment - gone. And most of all the hundreds of dollars of prawns in the freezer-gone. But everything was happily where it should have been. I gotta say I live in a great neighbourhood. No one comes around here except the people that live here. NOt like the last place that's for sure. The last place I never had to take my empties to the recycler myself because I would just leave it outside by the dumpster and by the time I brought the other bag down, the first one dissapeared.

Usually when I grill prawns I just marinate them in some bottle of italian salad dressing that I've doctored up. But didn't have any yesterday so I had to actually think of a marinade. So I remember copying the recipes over to my program (I copy all the recipes from most cook books into mastercook) from barefoot contessa's bunch of books that I picked up at the library.

And they turned out lip smacking. Although I used my George Foreman Grill, not a barbeque grill (haven't used the barbeque in the year since I bought my foreman grill)

Grilled Herb Shrimp

3 cloves garlic crushed

1 small onion small dice

1/4 c minced parsley

1/4 c minced basil

1 tsp dry mustard

2 tsp dijon mustard

2 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 c olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

2 lbs shrimp

Well as usual I had to improvise.

I didn't have any parsley or basil. But I did have some pesto, so I added about 1/2 tsp (mine is really thick) and used only 1/2 an onion. I only have 1/2 a lemon, so I also used the lemon peel with the rasp. I gotta say though use a sieve when reaming the lemon. My little ity bitty 1/2 lemon had a surprising amount of seeds. And since I used the pesto, I should have only maybe used 1 garlic clove. And I added a splash of balsamic vinegar. I only had about 5 tiger prawns (not a big fan) and It's a good thing, because I was really suffering from the garlic. My husband was breathing all over me all night. Not a pleasant sleep.Next time I'll marinate them overnight in this mix. They probably would have been even better if allowed to absorb more of the flavour. They cooked really fast, about 3 minutes. So make sure everything else is ready to serve. I just made some spagetti and ceasar salad. It was a very garlic evening.

The butter chicken I made last sunday, well I was taking it to work for lunch on monday, tuesday and wednesday. By wednesday it was tamed right down and especially good. I made kraft dinner with it on sunday and when I stored it in the fridge I just dumped the whole chicken mess on top of the macaroni and put it away. The next day the macaroni absorbed all the liquid and then I just sliced of 1/3 and put it into a sandwich container to nuke at work. That was a really good recipe.

Empty Nester

2007-03-04T17:15:00.000-07:00

Well I'm an empty nester again. She's gone to Vancouver. She left on the worst possible day, so much snow. On the other side of the mountains it apparently stopped snowing and was fine, but I still called her every 1/2 hour or so. Single girl driving alone , not familiar with the roads, I was nuts until she got there. I'm surprised she made it in one piece, really I am. I was expecting her to call for help half way. I even ran to the bank and put some money in her account just in case.

But on the other front...

I have two baby quilts to make by easter, I've been madly organizing. I've got one for sure that's a girl, the other is still a mystery. I've made quilt tops over the years, and never quilted them, so I have a few I could choose from. I ventured into a quilt fabric store yesterday, woooow. The prices sure have gone up and the selection is amazing. I had to replace a foot off my machine (don't know what happened to it) one day I was hemming a skirt and the next week I was sewing a blouse and "where is the regular foot?" I muddled along with a less than ideal foot but I had to replace it eventually because it was just a pain in the neck. Considering the foot was the thin hemmer one, the blouse turned out quit good. Anyho I had to wait for a perscription at the local "stupid store" so I wandered over to the magazine section, (first mistake) and picked up a quilting one. So I came home and dug out all my bins of fabric, and all my bins of mag's and books. So that's when I decided that I had to replace the foot.

Since the spare room is vacated now, I decided that it would make an ideal sewing room so I spent a few hours moving beds out and sewing tables , machines, ironing boards etc inc. It's going to be nice to have an ironing board upstairs. I really hated trudging down to iron in the morning, I usually just pick something else instead. Lazy Lazy.

I made this one about 5 yrs ago, when I was bored in my store. I always thought it would make a good baby quilt, but never gave it to anyone. Although a few babies have been born since.

I quess I just wanted to keep it around.

This one was made about a month after the hearts. Again, bored.

also I have a Yorkie/maltese which looks alot like this little guy before she gets to the groomer.

And I rather enjoy making scrap quilts.

and then about 12 years ago I made this one.

But it's more a single bed size rather than a crib size. It started out as a wall hanging and I just got carried away and eventually stopped when it became bed size. But again I never finished it, just pieced it. That's the only part I enjoy. And the shopping for fabric part.

So I'm all set. I just have to quilt the darn things now. I really hate the actual quilting of them. I made a few actually quilting "by hand", even went so far as making my own stand and all. Bending over them for months and months at a time. Never again. Now it's machine quilting or nothing, But I hate it, so much work. so much puckering, and ripping out, and doing over. Ugh. Not something I look forward to.

I've got a double shower planned for easter, maybe they'll just get a picture of the quilts. My son is planning on being here for easter, and my extended family will all be here, so I figured it's a good time to have a shower, even though it's a little early. Both are due end of june beginning of july. I figure One will be late and the other will be early. Just my luck Because they live about 500 miles away from each other. And Me, I'll be here, there or somewhere in between.

It's been decided that I pay for the cribs, HAVE YOU SEEN THE PRICE OF THESE? It's kind of cute listening to the two of them (brother and sister) discussing the merits of this or that crib. I quess they're kind of lucky that they are both so close on due dates with each other. How often does that happen between siblings.

The youngest one probably feels left out, that's probably why she left town. Although she said she was up for some sort of adventure. Making up with an old boyfriend and moving in. I've been missing a few things since she left. Like all my pasta. She took the whole basket. I couldn't believe it. It's as though there are no stores in Vancouver. A few of my cook books have disappeared. She even took her sword, so I figure she'll be awhile. A few years ago she bought dishes and a set of pots and pans, and lots of towel etc., but they haven't been used. So I think she's looking forward to using all her stuff, finally. She figures her boyfriend probably hasn't got anything other than a can opener and a microwave. Guys!

I made the butter chicken again today, I'm obsessed with this recipe. Trying to cool the spice down a bit. It was better today, last time I couldn't eat it, spiccccccy.

I'm hoping it'll be better tommorrow for lunch.

I finally bought some garam masala, instead of improvising. But it's still hot. I left out the chipolte chili this time. Didn't help. Maybe next time I'll tone the curry paste down.

My husband liked it, even though curry is a bad word to him. So that's something.

I gotta go and refill my wine glass.

Another job

2007-02-11T13:14:00.000-07:00

Well I've got another job this time as a bookkeeper. I've heard about the lack of qualified "anythings" here lately. During the first day of my employment my cell phone rang five times from other resumes I had sent out. Some of the positions sounded really interesting. Oh well.I have my own office, posting and shuffly papers all day. So far it's great. Nothing to do with food though.
I've even managed to do some cooking too. This week I've made hamburgers and fries twice. They were so good the first time, I just had to repeat it two days later. With my handy dandy george foremen grill. (How did I live without this thing) and my wok as a deep fryer.
So today I'm remaking something I made on sunday last week.
I spotted a cook book at a book store a few weeks ago and since I've watched (and copied recipes from the show) her show on the food network or somewhere, I'm not sure what channel it's on. But the book only had one recipe that appealed to me and the price for one recipe wasn't enough to tempt me to buy it. Easy butter chicken. I thought maybe I'd go home and request it from the library. But later that day I stopped in at costco and low and behold there it was, much cheaper, so I bit the bullet and bought the book on the basis of only one recipe. So I made the chicken, and it was really really good. My husband ate the leftovers the next day (I was planning on doing just that). In spite of the curry paste ingredient. He didn't turn his nose up. So that's a recomendation if ever there was one. So I bought some chicken yesterday and the plan is to redo the chicken again. This time i'll make more. I even added the recipe to my binder. For easier reference. Who knew Butter Chicken would taste soooo good made with heinz tomato soup. Wow. So I'm off to the kitchen

Butter Chicken

1/4 c butter
4 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless (1 1/3 lbs or 600 g)
1 tbsp garam masala
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp chipolte chili powder
1 tbsp madras curry paste
1 tbsp peanut butter, smooth
1 can tomato soup (10 oz)
1/2 of the soup can,filled with milk
3/4 c chicken broth, or veg broth
1/4 c fresh cilantro (hate chilantro used dried fennel about 1/2 tsp)

Melt butter in a large stove topot at med high heat. cut each breast into 9 chucks, adding to butter as you cut. Toss until no longer pink. Add garam masala, paprika, cinnamon, sugar, chili powder, curry paste and peanut butter, stir to coat.
Graduallystir in soup, milk and broth. Toss in dried fennel. Stir and heat at a high simmer. Turn down heat and let thicken. Should be dark brown and thick. Let cool before serving. Humm amazingly this matches really nicely with kraft dinner. Super fast and easy. Great leftover possibilities for lunch at work next day.

Working

2007-01-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

Well here it is January 17th and I just quit job #3. After being off for a year and a half, this working for a living....... Let's just say I can find better things to do with my time. Or maybe I"m just too old for this crap.
Job #1 - said she was only interested in training someone with no experience. Turns out she is a lousy instructor. And too many phone calls answered, vendors looking for money. Bad sign. Quit after 3 days.
Job #2 - Temp job receptionist. Started on a monday begged to be released by thursday. I think one has to be extremely dumb and stupid to do this job. Brain cells were dying in an 8 hour day. The most mind numbing boring job I've ever had. Except for maybe job #3.
Job #3 - Admin Assist. I think that If you don't care diddly about the product, well the job probably sucks. But I did last 6 weeks. Only because I didn't want to leave during xmas holiday. But it got harder and harder to actually want to show up. And I'm too old to be nit picked at. If I'm cold I'm going to TURN UP the thermostat. I don't give a @#^ how hot it is in the ladies room (right next to the furnace) My desk is not next to the ladies room. God some people. And don't use a foreign language talking to family members around me. That's just rude. Too many calls about not receiving product that was promised. Began to believe product wasn't as good as publicity for it. GPS technology is BORING. Unless of coarse you are lost, or missing. But still boring. I actually left a note on my desk, resigning. Didn't want to do it in person. What a wuz.
So here I am job hunting again. I did actually hand out a resume yesterday. But today maybe I'll just take a day off. I just need a simple dopey job that doesn't require much effort. And I really miss working around food.
I have two grandchildren on the way. One in June and another 3 weeks later in July. Cool.
I hope that it's one of each, because I made two baby quilt tops a few years ago (never did finish quilting them though) one for a girl and one for a boy. I'm just waiting patiently for the news of who's having what.
I bought a cook book yesterday. The Dinner Fix. After I looked it over at the first store ($29.95) and only found maybe 1 recipe that looked interesting, I decided that 25.95 was too much for only 1 recipe. But later saw the same book at Costco for $17, so I bought it. Haven't decided if I"ll keep it, or give it to one of the kids. Concept of the book is different. I'll have to see if the recipe for butter chicken works or not. Haven't found a recipe that works yet.
I've been obsessed with "pomegranate molasses" since chistmas dinner. Finally found it. Looking forward to using it. Smells really good.
It's been two weeks since we stopped taking sleeping pills to fall asleep. Went cold-turkey on the friday before new years. It was tough slogging. There were nights..... But I insisted that we try. I can't believe how awake I am during the day. Never realized how groggy I was during the day. I was walking around in a fog and had absolutely no energy. What a difference. I can say that the last two nights I finally got some uninteruped sleep. That was heaven. I didn't think it would happen.

move your stuff

2006-09-11T09:31:00.001-06:00

I've been preparing for visitors. Bought a bed, several different sheet sets were bought and returned (has to be just perfect ya know). I don't like everything matching like sheets, cases, blanket, coverlet, curtains etc. In my house the rooms have to have character. When we moved in here the color of the spare room was ...interesting. Nothing I would have chosen that's for sure. Three walls were yellow oh, I don't know darker than butter. The feature wall was dark red. The adjoining bathroom was the same. The drapes were a shade darker yellow.I've never really worked with this combination for a bedroom before and I've been a pro decorator in my past.
So we bought a bed on Thursday, and I spent the weekend stuck in traffic searching for the sheets etc. Well I had a bed skirt that was gold and burned red that was a little bit medieval (my daughters) and matching shams. I found a coverlet that my husband "had to have" from Costco - that's been sitting on the shelf in the closet. It's sort of a celery color. And since my visitor is my mother, I pulled out the blanket that she bought last time she was here for herself to store here for the next time she came. It's floral yellow, reds and greens surprisingly. Ok so what kind of sheets would match this. I also have a dark gray textured look flat sheet that was just crying to be used. Amazingly I managed to put this assortment of misfit things together. I found some green shams in the back of the closet the pull it all together. And I finally found the sheet set. Gold, dark red and dark green on a burnished background stripe. Now whenever I come up the stairs its the first room I see. It's amazing how much joy a spare room "done-up" can bring one. I just need something on the walls and a chest of some kind.
I cleaned the carpets last night, and cleaned the bathrooms. Washed most of all the towels. I'm almost ready for the visitors. just need to bake a few things still.
About two weeks ago I fung shuied my Helpful hands sector and my career section. I figured "why not". My living room is in the helpful hands and the tv in sitting in the career section. What to do? I need silver and gray. I have a silver lamp with a gray shade, I bought some of those rattan balls and spray painted them silver stuck them into a pot and planted an ivy around them as a topiary. Stuck it in the corner on the side table. Then One day I was at Winners and spotted a small boudour pillow that was covered in silver sparkles. It looked good on the leather sofa so I went to the fabric store and bought some other silver thing for another pillow and so far only draped in over the existing brown pillow that was already resting on the sofa. "i'm lazy." I potted the ivy in a gray pot and then added another silver pot with some other plants. I drilled up a shelf over the couch and displayed a few gray and silver objects on it. and voila I think a did it. So then I concentrated on the career section. What can anyone do with a tv. So I moved all the components over to make some room on the entertainment stand and dug out some old ledgers of mine (from when I had a couple businesses) and my daughters textbooks from her business admin coarse. And stuck them under the tv behind the glass doors. The next day I got a call from a college about a possible job opening, someone willing to train blah blah blah. So I applied. And then two days later I got the job. Not bad. I'm to be a number cruncher, pencil pusher. Quick books. Actually I'm looking forward to it
The book, (I've bought several copies, because mine always goes missing) is Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life. I start next week. Everyone should have a copy of this book.

fear of the dark......

2006-08-26T20:42:00.000-06:00

I stopped by the library a picked up a couple books for the weekend. Friday afternoon I started reading Ann Rule (one of my fav's) Worth More Dead. I think it's her latest, but this copy was in paperback so it might not be. I normally really enjoy reading her true crime cases, but this time I was home alone. I dropped my husband off around 9:oo pm it was just starting to get dark. By the time I got home it WAS DARK . Meanwhile my daughter left around 5pm. So it was just me and the dog. Once I start reading Ann Rule, I just keep reading until the book is done. This was the case with this one. Around 10 pm I stopped reading and made sure all the doors were locked, about 1/2 hr later I pulled the drapes a little closer together. Then I also made sure the doors were really locked. I looked up from the book and noticed it was getting close to midnight and I didn't even watch the news. So I took my water glass and the book upstairs to read some more. Usually the animals (cat and dog) come upstairs with me, but this time I couldn't find them, I knew they were inside, but ah well. About two thirty I noticed gee It was getting really late. But the book.... My house was extra creaky last night. I had to continually stop reading because something made me look up. I hate when that happens, when I'm alone, and reading books I shouldn't be reading when I'm alone. Anyway I finished it about 3:30. I couldn't decide if I really wanted to try and sleep or not, what was the point. Every noise opened my eyes and the bed was not very comfortable all of a sudden. Why isn't the cat at least up here, he's always sneaking up on the bed, where was he and why didn't he want to come up. My neighbor came home late and usually the dog barks if anyone come anywhere near my door and either of my neighbors doors. But she didn't bark..... I finally couldn't take it anymore and took half a sleeping pill. My daughter woke me up when she left for work about 10 am. Sometime during the night she came home and I didn't even notice. And so it appears neither did the dog. It was very spooky. I should know better than to read something like this when I'm going to be alone. There ought to be a warning on the cover.

the old wine shades

2006-08-22T14:42:00.000-06:00

Polished off The Old Wine Shades. I don't remember enjoying a book this much in a long time. All the twists and turns. I was sad to see the end of it all. I'm going to miss all these characters. I've grown so fond of them all. A tad too much left unresolved but hopefully the next novel will bring some closure. I will have to leave some space between the next book I read. Because this one has to be savoured a bit more. I should have read it slower. How long does it take Grimes to produce another one anyway.
Had an interesting breakfast this morning. My daughter even got out of bed before noon to partake it. My husband came home with a care package from Mom. We've been getting one on Tuesday morning these last couple of week. She lives about 300 to 350 miles away and my husband comes withing 60 miles of her home on Monday nights, so she sends it out towards him, to make a long story short. Anyway it was a welcome box of green beans, baby squash, cuc's, tomatoes (4 varieties) zuccinni, cabbage and fresh parsley all off her garden last night. So while my husband was unwinding from an all nighter I quickly saute'd the beans (heaven) ,cut up some baby potatoes and steamed them with wedges of cabbage, made some "stinky salad" (greek ) and then cut up some farmers sausage and fried it up with some sliced baby squash-added some motza before serving. Wow lip smacking. I don't know what it is about steamed cabbage that makes my family swoon. But they all come running when it's offered. I cut the baby potato into wedges at the bottom of the steam basket and then add a layer of wedged cabbage chunks on top, sprinkle the cabbage with a bit of ginger, kosher salt, and then butter before serving. It's like some kind of genetic link between them all. Must be my husbands genes because I don't have a taste for it at all. Wierd. Steamed cabbage-what a waste of time when there are so many other things out there one could be eating. I always thought food preference came invetro. But must be genetic - that would explain the weiners and beans they all seem to enjoy (again except me).
I surely do miss a veggie garden. There is nothing to compare to fresh green beans. Nothing. Except maybe fresh strawberries. Only thing I was able to produce from my tiny itty bitty yard so far has been basil. I made loads of pesto yesterday for the freezer. I have three tomato plants, but they haven't rippened yet and probably won't. The cucumber plant I rescued from the garden center is really long, but only produced one cuc so far. Lack of bees. I've been out there with my little brush. But I think I left it too late. And started out to late after moving here. Ah well, next year........
I just have to pull out all those shrubs first. All that wasted space.
I transplanted some of the herbs into a pot to hopefully keep over winter

I've got a nice spot for it in the bay window off the kitchen. I'll be really pissed if it doesn't work out.

2006-08-16T14:53:00.000-06:00

Finished reading Espresso Tales - I gotta say I really enjoy reading Alexander McCall Smith. He's right up there with Rutherford and Grisham when it comes to readable male authors. Not like Shanks for Nothing (what a stupid male wet dream/ fantasy). Sometimes I just want to slap these guys for writing such shit. There's just no other way to describe this book. The only reason I didn't throw it across the room is because I was hoping for more of resource, two shot and cement head. The only redeeming characters in this sad excuse of the story. How does someone actually put their name on this book, and then go on to write more of the same. Ugh. I picked it up off the shelf because it had golf clubs on the cover.

Culinary Journey in Gascony wasn't exactly a wonderful read either. Her blog is so much better than her book.

I picked up some nice Savoy Cabbage at stupid store today so I think I"ll make some cabbage rolls. Haven't made them for awhile. I'm just sitting here waiting for the rice to cook. There has been some grumbling around here lately that there's never anything to eat. I always manage to eat, but everyone else expects lots of choices to nuke. So I'll make some stuffed rigatonni (we like to call them mini manicotti) and then some chicken chow mein. My mother sent me some your beets with tops that have to be steamed. We'll just have to see how much of this I actually get accomplished.

My doc's app't went really well regarding the LUMP. It's two cysts non cancerous and the blood test show that I'm menopausal. So it's what?-four to seven years of this crap. At least the hot flashes have stopped, for now. My colesteral level is slightly elevated. I don't see how that could be since Basically I've stopped eating-no appetite. It's probably the wine that I stopped drinking as well. So I bought a few bottles today-after all I need the empty bottles for my own wine.

This is the cabbage rolls before they went in the oven,before the sauce.

These are right out of the oven yum yum yum.

And there's the mini manni's, all lined up waiting for the sauce.

The cabbage left over from the cabbage rolls, (savoy makes in much neater and you don't have to boil the piss out of cabbage before rolling, just nuke leaves for about 3 min before rolling) chopped up nicely for the chow mein. I'll try making that later.

geez I'm surprised to could work out the pic's and transfering them over and everything wow.

But I have to get back to my book now, Talk Talk. It's turning out to be a "good read". I can't read it all in one sitting, giving myself breaks so as not to cause a migrane.

Cherries cherries everywhere...

2006-08-13T16:03:00.000-06:00

Well I went to the library and exchanged my books, and paid my fine. I was flipping through Bills Food, by Bill Granger (came highly recommended from other blogs) and I gotta say there's not one recipe that really wowed me. It took less than 10 minutes- I was waiting for the cherries to process. The banana bread looked interesting, but I've got hundreds of banana bread recipes.I can't think why anyone would purchase this book. I give the same review to Chef on Fire by Joseph Carey.
Inside Every Woman by Vickie Milazzo came recommended to me by my step-daughter. She's currently starting a business and got insperation from this book, so I suggested that she buy Martha Stewart's - The Rules.
So far the only remotely interesting book is Alexander McCall Smith's Expresso Tales. Should take me half a day to polish it off.
My husband brought a box of cherries home from one of his trips on Tuesday and I've been eating them everyday all day long. I'm cherried out. Enough already. So I've pickled another 8 jars. This time I threw in some red pepper flakes into the brine. Hope they won't be to hot.
I've been plagueing my doctor with all my medical problems last week, so she sent me for many tests of every kind and even got back at me with a momogram and a pap test. Well on Friday morning the mamogram showed a lump. A large lump, so that afternoon I had an ultrasound. The technician was very tight lipped. When I went for my possible kidney stone the week before, the tech was very open and even showed me all my body parts, no stone, nothing wrong with bladder??? So now I have to wait until tuesday to find out about the lump. Could be cyst, or two in a mass. Since last test about 16 months ago I've lost 25 lbs so I'm hoping it's just the missing body fat that is the culprit. I'd rather have the kidney stone. Please give me the kidney stone instead.
I racked my white wine yesterday so now I've got to wait about a month to bottle it. I've got to start the blueberry shiraz next. I've got to start drinking more store bought wine-I'm going to need the bottles. That's the worst part of making wine, scrounging for bottles from everyone. I used up all my bottles for the 10 cases I made for my sons wedding. I didn't feel like dragging them all back here again, I'm kind of regretting that now.

Long slog

2006-08-06T10:46:00.000-06:00

I finally finished The Rebels of Ireland: by Edward Rutherfurd. I ended up paying $3.50 in overdue fees at the library for it. I usually pay about $20 a month in fees. But I've been really good lately. I enjoyed the book, just have a minor ciriticism of it. The ending just stopped. It's like he ran out of steam and had a deadline and HAD to finish the book. Although the ending was sort of Ok, at 2am it kinda sucked. I took the book everywhere I went determined to finish it. I can't believe it took me so long. Of coarse I really can't just read a book in one or two sitting any longer because of my migraines. This one just never seemed to end. If I had appointments downtown I took the C-train just so I could read THE BOOK. I came early to appointments just to read. But It's finally finished. I met a surprising number of people who were reading the first one or just finished reading it.
The next book on the pile is The Rent Collector. I read the first chapter and I don't know...it's a little overdone with it's ethnic religious base. It's a rather thin novel and I think If the continuous religiousness of it were somehow dimished, it wouldn't be more than a couple chapters. That's why I started reading Which brings me to you. ONe I read when I'm upstairs and other I read when I'm downstairs. Neither one are really astounding at this point. So I started a third one "She May Not Leave". Sadly it also hasn't grabbed my interest either.
I've been stirring, degassing and racking my wine. It looks good sitting on it's throne over there. I also made a batch of pickled bing cherries. I"m looking forward to those at Christmas time. Last time I made them (about 20 years ago-wow) they were a hit at a party. Every year since I plan on making more, but never seemed to. But I did this year.
I've been putting up shelves all over the basement and garage lately. I gotta say that since my hand is pretty much useless it's been difficult. I have to take breaks after screwing in two screws. The power drill is all of a sudden to heavy for me. I need to get one of those bits that predrills and then holds the screw. I think I saw them on a commercial once.
I finally sorted out most of my files and paperwork. I plugged the shredder in and ended up with bags and bags of shredded paper that I should have done before I moved instead of after.
There's a construction site of future condo's across the street and over a bit from us. And the other day we had such a wind storm I couldn't see anything out the front window. I couldn't believe it, this brown dirty ucky cloud of soil. My husband was upstairs sleeping with the window open. That night I went to bed and all I could smell was dirt. Everything was covered in this thin layer of dust. So the next day I took the drapes down and threw them in the washer, changed all the sheets, washed the blanket, and took out the vac. I gotta say I'm not sure if having a heppa vaccuum is such a good idea. It's frightening what that thing sucks up. I've been leary of going into my daughters room, who knows what lerks in there. Ugh.........it really needs to be vaccuumed, but I can't even see much of the floor. She keeps complaining that so many of her clothes are missing-well she need only to look down. Instead it's off to the store again.
Still sending out resumes with out much luck. Only two call backs and the ads were a little deceiving about what the position was. Don't you hate when they do that. I almost wanted to charge them $$$ for wasting my time. Not to mention parking fees, and gas to get there in the first place.

Is it Wednesday already

2006-07-19T19:17:00.000-06:00

Wow it's already wednesday. I spent the last two days in migraine hell. That's what I get for reading non stop. Since my injury and surgery I can count the migraine free days as a rare occurrence. I've had my eye prescription checked twice, I've had an mri or mir or whatever it's called, and there's just no answer. If I don't take breaks after a couple hours reading It feels like my left eye is three times it's size and it's ready to explode. The pain lasts for three + days sometimes. My injury is on a pressure point, I remember when I used to get just a regular headache I used to massage my hand directly on the same spot. Now it seems to be causing them. That's probably a contributing factor to my weight loss. Have to force myself to eat just so I can take meds. Migrains and upset stomach, now there's a diet plan.
I must have sent out 20 resumes today. To make up for the week I didn't do anything. I hope I don't get any calls, I'm just not in the mood.
I was doing all kinds of things to get my mind of my pain. I started a wine kit that I bought about three months ago. I cleaned. I went to Ikea-I can't remember why exactly it was necessary to go there, it just seemed like a distraction. Oh year, I remember now - i was in dire need of picture frames. Now there's a place everyone contemplating children in their future ought to go on a Monday at 2pm. Yikes who would of thought it would be so noisy at that time of day. Isn't that supposed to be NAP TIME. Well I feel almost normal today. I'm afraid to start reading though. Maybe it's just the barometric pressure, maybe it's the carnage in the middle east. I should make a note of disasters and my migraines.Hmmmmm. There's a thought.

I used to have the most amazing dreams of wierd things and sure enough the very next day it would be on the news. I remember the first time I noticed it. Three things happened three days in a row. And I saw the news bite in my dreams the night before on each of them. The nineties were particularly bad for that for me. But that hasn't happened for a few years now. Thank god. I'm pretty sure my family thought I was nuts. They looked at me kinda funny if I ever brought it up. I often wonder if anyone believed me. I should ask them. I wonder if my headaches have gotten stronger since then. Geez the things one should keep track of. It's just too much for me. What do you do about a premonition when you don't even know it is one, until it's happened. It's just these wierd people you don't know or these events that don't make any sense. Until eight to twelve hours later.

Late Nights

2006-07-16T10:27:00.000-06:00

Well I finished Too Close to the Falls by Catherine Gildiner. I was up till after 3:30 am reading it on Friday/Saturday. Then spend Saturday morning finishing it. Growing up in the 50's is always a good read. I ordered this from the library (that's right-ordered I have a great library at my fingertips. Any book I'm interested in, I just click away and if they don't have it, they order it. It's as simple as that. In the past four years there has only been two times, that I couldn't get the book I wanted and that was because they were out of print) because I was reading Seduction, but I just couldn't get into the story. The characters were boring, the theme was boring, the story unbelievable, it just sucked, but that was only the first 1/4 . But the writing style very good,(can't think of any other way to describe it) so I pulled the authors name up from the library. To see what else she had written. I think that the first book of any author is always superior to the second. This is the case with Goldiner as well. Though many people Have told me they enjoyed "seduction" I was told to "perservere" "you'll enjoy it". When I have a pile of 20 books on the stairs, I'm not in the mood to "perservere" . If a book doesn't catch me after a couple chapters, forget it. It gets thrown and the next one (and there is always the next one) gets the nod. I should never start reading a new book in the evening. I should know better. But my husband was out of town over night, my daughter was out -doing I don't know what. I wasn't used to being alone at night anymore. I just changed the sheets on the bed, opened the window - it was a pleasant evening, but nothing to do. So I grabbed the next book from the pile. After reading The weather maker I was hoping for something a little lite. Hmmm it's about the 50's. I always like to get other impressions of the 50's. My 50's/60's had to be the most uninspiring, boring ,uneventful era in 4000 years of history. I spent those years thinking/hoping I was adopted. It used to annoy me when people said me and my sister looked like twins. My sister had a great life, my brother had a great life, but poor me in the middle was miserable. I used to fantisize about being an only child. My sister - first born, my brother - first boy. Life seemed to revolve around the two of them. I was just invisible. It was always if my sister didn't do this or that, then why did I have to or want to. I wanted piano lesson, my sister refused to even consider it. She looked at me as though I was crazy. I wanted to be a figure skater, blah was my sisters response. Instead I got stuck playing softball on a team (to this day i despise team sports) because my sisters team was short a player during a tournament and I was FORCED to play or else they would have to forfeit. I hate softball. I always had to wear the same style of clothes as her, the same shoes as her. My mother used to force her to take me whenever she went out with her friends, both of us hated that. Her friends used to beat me up and tell me to go home. I would have rather been at home reading a book. I hated her friends. I'm a watcher of the world, she was always a doer. Her birthday is a week before xmas, mine is in the spring. My parents always used to spend - what I thought at the time - lavishly on her presents. I remember one year I got a bike for my birthday, a blue ccm with a red basket. I was told to share. Because her's was an old used one and mine was a new one. How are you supposed to share one bike anyway. She never shared her old beat up one with me. She took my bike and smashed it over a pile of rocks at a construction site. Nobody said anything about it except me. When she was in grade eight she got a typewriter for her birthday. A TYPEWRITER I couldn't believe it. And I was told I COULDN'T TOUCH IT, LEAVE IT ALONE kinda stuff. It was time for pay back as far as I was concerned. My mangled up bike against her new typewriter. I went out of my way to type as often as I could whenever I was in the house alone. The typewriter had to be serviced alot. I don't think anyone ever caught on that It was me doing the damage. I remember the salesman telling my mother that "someone was being too rough with it" my mother such scoffed and said that was impossible. The carriage return was screwed, the keys were always jammed. She got to wear make-up first, I remember the shopping trip to pick out her make-up was such a big deal. The following year when I was in grade 8 , "why do you have to have make-up, can't you just wear your sisters". She was allowed to have a boyfriend first (we're only 16 months apart), she got her period first. She got everything first. By the time it was my turn, my mother had already done it with my sister, and it wasn't such a big deal anymore. I spent my adolescence in resentment. I remember my first job as my freedom. I could buy my own clothes, my own make-up, my own cigarettes. I bought a pistol style hair blower and everyone thought it was one of the stupest things on earth. "what a waste of money" . I had that hair dryer for more than 20 years. When I had three children to raise of my own I went out of my way to make sure there was no resentment, that they were raised different. They were raised as individuals with their own interests and wants. But you just can't win-doesn't matter when you do. I was telling someone (I don't remember who) that I didn't have to toilet train my youngest daughter that she did it on her own. We bought a camper that summer and went on a trip. I bought diapers at the beginning of the holiday but didn't need any at the end. I don't even know what happened, when it happened or who did what. All I remember is I stopped having to buy diapers forever. She wanted to be like the other kids and use the smelly outdoor toilets. She overheard me telling this story and to this day still brings it up as "you never spent the same amount of time with me as my sister and brother, I even had to toiletrain myself", that's the ONLY amunition she has. Well getting back to the book.....
I enjoyed it and now am on to the next.
Edward Rutherford's Irish Saga. It's been sitting on the stairs for about two weeks. I only have a week before I start paying fines on it. It's been calling me " look ..here I am... read me" everytime I go up the stairs. But it's so BIG. And reading Edward Rutherford is such an investment because his books are soooooooooo good. I've really loved all of them. It's a book that you can't just start and stop, and get back to later. It's a read and read it all right now. So you can't have any plans, there better be wine and muchies in the house, and lots of leftovers. So since my husband is out of town until tuesday I figured nows the time to dedicate to this book. The only break I get is this (I came downstairs to make coffee. I finally went to sleep around 2am) and I had to let the dog out. I really should take a nap these late evenings are killing me. I haven't really eaten anything since Friday except pickles, jelly beans, wine, guacamole and potato chips. But I did make the guacamole fresh so I'm not that lazy. And between books yesterday I even made some blueberry jam. Even I'm amazed at that. But there they are sitting on the kitchen counter. Waiting to be put somewhere. It's the only jam I can make the only one that ever turns out is blueberry jam and apricot marmalade. That's the only two jams in me. So it's back to the salt mines I go. It's a nice day outside so I'll stock up my snack tray and pour my first glass of wine. I really need a more comfortable lawn chair. I never needed one in the apartment - the balcony was too tiny. But here I can see I'll have to do some shopping for outdoor furniture. I'll need two I'm tired of hauling the one uncomfortable chair from the back to the front for shade.

books i've been reading

2006-07-14T18:51:00.000-06:00

Currently readingThe Weather Makers : How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth by Tim Flannery

Wow tres' heavy subject.

I feel like I should take a pop quiz after each chapter.

I've read these in the last couple of weeks-you see, this is why I don't have the time or the inclination to go back to work. Where would I fit it in. Plus I've just moved as well, there's just no time.Nothing is in it's proper place it's going to take a bit to move things around. It's bad enough that my address adds up to a 7, but I also have a toilet in my prosperity area.these books are in no particular order,

Blue Angel : A Novel by Francine Prose

Blue Shoes and Happiness : The New Novel in the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series (No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency) by Alexander Mccall Smith

Company : A Novel by Max Barry

Digging to America by Anne Tyler

Mean Boy by Lynn Coady

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky and Sandra Smith - best book I've read this year,heart wrenchingly sad ending the book and life could have been so much more.......read it in about 12 hours non stop.

Testament : A Novel by Nino Ricci-best book I've read this year. Recomment this one to all my overly religious friends and relatives. Bought a copy for my bible enthusiastic mother as a rebuttle for all our religious disagreements. I really loved this book

Raking the Ashes by Anne Fine - interesting, been there done that

Martha : On Trial, in Jail, and on a Comeback by Robert Slater - always been a fan

Rachael Ray Express Lane Meals : What to Keep on Hand, What to Buy Fresh for the Easiest-Ever 30-Minute Meals by Rachael Ray - My defense is that I was at costco, need I say more, although it's not a bad book. A little top heavy with pasta pasta pasta. I gave my copy to my daughter-in-law. I'm hoping next time I visit their pantry is improved.
A Most Uncommon Degree of Popularity by Kathleen Gilles Seidel - a little childish

The Martha Rules: 10 Essentials for Achieving Success as You Start, Grow, or Manage a Business by Martha Stewart - Great book I keep giving my copy away.

history

2006-07-14T17:21:00.000-06:00

Cast of characters
Me
Spouce - retired 2 years, triple by-pass, returns to work during summer months as per contractSon - newly married, lives out of province. See him once a year - maybe.
Daughter #1 - works in hospitality industry, with her boyfriend both work for the same company. He's her boss. Well at work anyway. She's in sales and marketing and he's head of functions and banquets. They also live together.
Daughter #2 - (she will be really mad if she ever learns that she is #2) works for daughter #1, currently screwing up her life by "taking a break" from university. I blame this all on boyfriend of daughter #1 (though he is a nice guy, and I do like him, it's just all his fault). Said boyfriend called daughter #2 and (she says )begged, and (he says asked) pleaded with her to come work a shift he was short staffed. Would she mind? Well daughter #2 (vowing she would never work in the service industry like her sister ugh all those stupid people one has to deal with etc etc) said "sure, why not-just this once". Well she loved it. She only had one year left in a four year degree. Decided that she liked business much better than history or geography and maybe "I'll just take off a year and try Business Admin". Besides this she figured would give her a break and also give her some solid footing if she ever had to freelance with her degree in geography. Made sense to me. That was in April. Meanwhile she paid for tuition that ended in April, but didn't really go to any classes or do any papers, nothing-basically screwed the last term. She was working to much and having to much fun with all the other servers and managers etc. Did I mention she lives with us. WEll her clothes are here on the floor in her room and her cat is here and once in awhile there are dirty dishes all over the place in the morning, but we never actually see her very often. That's because according to her, we are always here (since i'm not working and her father is retired). She never gets the place to herself. Blah blah blah. There's always the "get your own place" issue, but that would cost her money.
So we're all in limbo.Then it was decided that I was able to work again. Well I kinda got used to not working but getting paid. I don't know if I want to go back to work. During my time off I've lost 35 pounds, and none of my clothes fit. It will take way more energy than I have. I have limited use of my right hand and the use I do have is painful. But WCB seems determined. So this blog is for my venting and a diary of a fifty year old female changing careers.