Covered

Remember way back in June? I was on the cruise, and I bought a rug somewhere in Greece. (I think it was Athens, but I'm not sure and I'm too lazy to check.)

Anyway, at the time, we all promised that we'd e-mail the woman who sold us our rugs a picture of the rug in its new location.

That was six months ago.

Possibly more.

Today, I finally e-mailed the picture. I found the e-mail address during my cleaning event on the weekend, and it seemed like the thing to do today.

Why are weekends so much busier than weekdays?

Today was another busy day.

Remember how yesterday I talked about how much shredding I wanted to get done this week? Well, I finished it all today. It was made easier by the fact that I brought the downstairs shredder upstairs - it's not as finicky about whether the pages are exactly straight and it handles a few more pages than the other one. I have three paper grocery bags of shredded paper ready to go on Friday.

Also, I mentioned that I was supposed to be making some Christmas presents but hadn't started yet. I'm making aprons for my niece and my cousin's two kids. Today I started and got one of the three done. I'll post pictures when they're all done.

As if that wasn't enough, I finally patched the hole by my thermostat. Two years ago, I got a new furnace (with a new thermostat). Naturally, the new thermostat was smaller than the old one, and there was a screw hole visible. I patched and sanded it today. I was going to paint it as well, but I didn't have much paint left, and it has dried up. I'll probably leave it - if a hole in the wall didn't bother me for two years, I doubt a small unpainted piece will bother me.

Finally, I made rolled sandwiches for a Christmas party I'm going to tomorrow night.

(I also carried out a top-secret, Christmas-related errand today, but I can't tell you about it because it involves someone who reads this blog. If it turns out like I hope it will, I will fill you all in after Christmas. )

One step forward, two steps back

I decided yesterday that I want to get the one bedroom (the one with the desk that I've been cleaning out in it) done before I leave for Christmas. Accordingly, yesterday I did more tidying in there.

Today I cleaned out the filing cabinet. I found a bunch of stuff that I can't believe I saved, much of which is now sitting in the recycle bin. This included a report I wrote in grade 11 (with it's nicely stenciled cover). I also found a replacement bank card*; another letter that I apparently couldn't be bothered to open, but did manage to file; the user manual for the furnace I got rid of two years ago; and various other out of date papers.

Of course, I also found lots of papers that need to be shredded - so my almost non-existent shredding pile is now huge again. I've decided I want to get them all shredded by Thursday, since the last paper recycling day that I'll be around for is on Friday. It's achievable, but, you know, dull.

In other news, I had planned to make three Christmas gifts. It is December 5, and I have made exactly zero of them. I need to get on that, too.

That's right, between the sewing and the shredding, the next week will be a very exciting week around here.


* I have no idea why I got - and then didn't use - a replacement bank card.

Procrastination away from home

Well, as I mentioned yesterday, I took the car in today. I had them drop me off at ITO, where I worked on my Java course again. Admittedly, I was procrastinating about it - it had been probably 6 weeks since I'd been there. I worked on it for about two and a half hours (and got 3 modules done). The sad part is that I only had 4 modules done up to this point. Luckily for me, the modules today went a lot more quickly than some of them have in the past.

I'm going in again next week for another presentation, so perhaps I will get more done then.

As I'm writing this, the TV is on - a leftover from watching one of the cringingest episodes of The Office ever (and anyone who watches The Office knows that it's often a show that makes you cringe). Anyway, there is yet another commercial about the ongoing battle between the cable companies and the local TV stations about a potential new charge for local TV.

The thing is, I don't care which side is right. I can watch TV for free on the internet - or I can buy a season of TV on DVD every month for less than my cable bill. There is a definite limit as to how much I'll pay to watch TV - and my cable bill is currently pretty close to that limit.

Busy as a bee

Sometimes I wonder how I got everything done when I had a job.

Today I went to the gym around noon.

I also applied for some jobs, deposited more cookie money in the bank, returned a book to the library, got another book out of the library, and returned the excess cookie supplies to the grocery store.

I did some more cleaning of the desk and shredding of papers as well.

Tomorrow I have to take the car in (the steering is making some noise), so I will be gone all day. (I'll get them to drop me off at ITO, since I can work on my course in the morning and go to a seminar in the afternoon.)

Friday will be the usual busy-ness of the gym and boxing. Saturday I plan to do nothing. I am very much looking forward to it.

In a completely unrelated note, I recommend Rick Mercer's rant from last night (found here). My personal pet peeve is people who stop their carts in the middle of the aisle at the grocery store.

Mmm, cookies

Tonight at Sparks we made cookies in a jar.

Basically, you take a 1 litre jar and layer the dry ingredients for the cookies in it. You include instructions on how to bake the cookies.

It's definitely our most involved meeting of the year, and we had 4 parents come in to help (for a total of 8 adults). We do an assembly line with one adult at every point along the way (and one adult entertaining the other girls).

This afternoon, I had to print out the instructions. Luckily, my friend Jennifer gave me her old printer a couple of weeks ago. (The other printer is in Wanda's room, so I can't use it while she's sleeping. Since she works nights, that can be a problem.)

Today I set up that printer and downloaded and installed the driver. It worked well, and I was able to get everything printed. (Thanks, Jennifer!)

Making the cookies went well with one minor mishap - one girl dropped her jar on her way out the door and it broke. Luckily, we had made an extra jar as a thank-you for a guest we had last week, so she ended up taking that one home.

Here's the recipe we made:
Oatmeal Raisin Spice Cookie Mix In a Jar

Ingredients:
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (clean inside of jar with dry paper towel after this layer)
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup raisins
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup flour mixed with 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt

Layer ingredients in order given in a 1 quart wide mouth canning jar. It will be a tight fit, make sure you firmly pack down each layer in place before adding the flour mixture.

Here are the instructions that go with the mix:
Oatmeal Raisin Spice Cookies
Empty cookie mix into large mixing bowl. Use your hands to thoroughly blend mix.
Add:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix until completely blended. You will need to finish mixing with your hands. Shape into walnut-sized balls. Place 2" apart on a parchment lined or lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 11 to 13 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to baking racks to finish cooling.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

That was where?

I took the car in to get its new bumper today. I dropped it off a little after 8. The estimate had been that it would take 1.5 days - yet somehow they finished it today, so I got to pick it up today. That will make tomorrow much easier.

I also continued cleaning the furnace room - specifically the workbench where I keep my tools. I found:
- recipes for ice cream (odd, but that can kind of be explained by the fact that they were from camping, and my camping equipment is in that room)
- a drill bit randomly sitting on the bench
- a board with a screw through it
- the deed for my house (I have no idea why/how it was there)
- fun foam ears from an old sheep Halloween costume
- the owner's manual for my 8 year-old BBQ (for which the automatic ignition never worked, possibly because I didn't put it together properly - will I ever fix it? No.)