Crying over spilt nutmeg

At Pathfinders on Monday, we made cookies in a jar.  (Have I mentioned that I quit working with the 5&6 year old Sparks and started working with 12-15 year old Pathfinders? Well, I did.)

The recipe we were making called for nutmeg, so I just grabbed a jar out of the cupboard. When I came home, I put the jar back in the cupboard, and it promptly fell out.

And broke.

Basically, the bottom of the jar broke off. The rest of the jar was intact.

I wiped up the nutmeg and picked up the pieces. (There wasn't much else to do at that point.)

And then on Tuesday, I found another big-ish piece of glass. I picked it up.

And then yesterday, I found another piece of glass.

I'm starting to wonder how many pieces I could possibly have missed. After all, spice jars aren't that big.

A shot in the arm

I usually get a flu shot. Yes, it only protects you from a couple of strains of the flu, but it's free, safe, and getting the flu is annoying, so I get the shot.

The company I work for has a flu shot clinic every year, so I signed up. Then I made my cyst appointment, realized it was the same day, and cancelled the flu shot. It wasn't a big deal - I had an appointment with my doctor on Nov. 19th.

Then my doctor cancelled, an I was rescheduled for today.

And then my doctor cancelled again. (As a side note, I'm a little concerned about my doctor.)

For those keeping track, that's three potential flu shot opportunities, zero actual flu shots.

The city of Ottawa always has flu shot clinics, so that was another choice, but Rexall PharaPlus is also running radio ads saying that their pharmacists will give flu shots.

I decided to give that a try.

There was a little bit of a wait - at the pharmacy I went to, they treat it like a  prescription request, so you get put into the queue as if it's a prescription - but 15 minutes or so later, I was done and out of there. Despite teh wait, it was much faster than the clinics.

Now all I have to do is hope they guessed right about what strains will be common this year. 

Vague post is vague

Wanda was away in New York this weekend, so I had the whole house to myself.

Somehow, my brain translated "I can do whatever I want" into "I must three months' worth of work in 2 days". Stupid brain.

I felt like I was on fast forward all weekend. I recaulked the bathtub, worked on the mysterious projects of mystery, and made some Christmas gifts that I can't share yet since they are going to people who read the blog, as well as the usual cooking and laundry.

Most of these projects involved sewing.  I don't sew very often, but somehow I tend to pick up the hobby again in November.  This will last until the end of January or so, and then I'll stop again for months.

I'm not done, either - I still have more to do when I get a chance. Not tonight, though. Tonight I plan to sit.

Random updates

The down arrow on my netbook is broken.

It's one of those things that you think you hardly ever use until it's broken, and you can't use it anymore.

Work has been really busy. I'm not working a lot of extra hours, but I spend my days at full speed. It's exhausting.

And then I drive home in the dark.

I had my cyst appointment on Wednesday. It was a beautiful day - warm, with the sun shining - and it was nice to leave the office. They didn't end up removing the cyst since it had burst - it's possible that the lining is gone and it won't reoccur. If it comes back, they'll take it out.

The chicken wire I bought for Halloween is still sitting in the front porch. I'm glad I bought the small roll.

Week 2 and I'm still enjoying not boxing.  There is a punching bag in the gym at work, and I spent a few minutes on it on Tuesday. And then I decided it was too hard and I spent the rest of my time on the elliptical.

I took my winter jacket out this week. I'd forgotten how soft and light it is.

I desperately need some new shirts. I'm sure I wore clothes last winter, but I can't for the life of me figure out what. Every morning I stare into my closet hoping something warm will appear, but no luck so far.

I keep hearing about snow from friends and family - Utah, Saskatchewan, New York, Calgary. There's no snow here. I haven't even raked the leaves yet.

(There have been years where there has been snow before I rake the leaves. Sometimes it's even because the snow was early.)

I'm not ready for snow, anyway. I don't want to have to wear boots. And Wanda isn't working overnights this year, so I'm going to have to clean off the car. There's no rush. It'll get here eventually.

I didn't vote today

As I'm sure everyone knows, it's election day in the US.There are a lot of similarities between Canada and the U.S., but every American election cycle reminds me of how far apart we are politically.

Not necessarily our political beliefs - although it's kind of weird to think that one of the most privileged countries in the world has a large percentage of people who believe medical care for their fellow citizens is optional but assault rifles are not - but in the political system itself.

For starters, my understanding is that when you register to vote in the US, you have to pick a party. That's ... kind of weird. I can register to vote when I fill out my income tax - and failing that, I can show up on election night with some ID and vote on the spot. No party affiliation required.

One of my American colleagues asked whether I'm a member of a political party. I'm not - and in fact, very few Canadians are. (One estimate I found online was that 2% of Canadians are a member of a political party.)

American politics are incredibly partisan - ridiculously so, from an outsider's perspective. Canadians, on the other hand, have more political parties but seem to be less devoted to a particular party.  (Last election, for example, I could have voted for the Pirate Party. I don't remember what their platform is, but I assume it has something to do with gold doubloons.) Canadians tend to vote against a party rather than for another party.

Unlike Americans - who vote for their president directly - we vote for our Member of Parliament. The only people who vote directly for the Prime Minister are those who live in his/her riding. The party who has the most MPs elected (usually) becomes the government.

And about that - the Prime Minister only stays the PM as long as he has the confidence of the House of Commons - so losing an important vote can bring down the government and force an election. Unless he prorogues the house to avoid losing a vote and having a coalition of the delusional take over. (I didn't say our way was better, just different.)  Obviously, we don't have fixed election days. And we certainly don't have a year or more of campaigning before an election. Well, not officially.

As for voting itself, CNN (which was on while I was at the gym) was saying that people were waiting 2.5 hours to vote.  If I wait 2.5 minutes, I'm tapping my foot and looking at my watch.

Well, OK, I don't wear a watch, but I'm looking meaningfully at my cell phone.

It's interesting seeing how different things are for our neighbours.

And I look forward to Twitter telling me who wins in the morning.

Assuming they've finished counting the votes by then, that is.