Best. Camp. Ever.

I own two tents.  One is about 15 years old. The floor is square, and it's a dome tent, with two poles that cross to hold up the roof. It doesn't need to be pegged (although you probably should peg it, if there's any chance of wind).  I can put it up by myself in 10 minutes.

The other tent is 2 or 3 years old.  It must be pegged, and is long, rather than square.  It's harder to put up if you don't know what you're doing.

At one of our first Pathfinder meetings, we handed the girls the older tent and watched them try to figure it out.  There were 4 of them, and it took them 45 minutes to get it (almost) right. 

Needless to say, one of the things we've worked on this year was camp skills, because while the girls were interested and enthusiastic, they didn't have much camping experience.

We did a camp in October. A couple of the girls didn't pack properly and were cold, it took a long time to get the tents up, and, naturally, it rained.

Our second camp of the year was this weekend.

Friday night, the girls took 10 minutes to put up the second (harder) tent, then helped with the dining tent.

They did the meal prep and cooking and clean up.

They built clotheslines and a slingshot and a basin stand.

We spent 3 or 4 hours canoeing on Saturday, and they still had time to spend hours decorating t-shirts and hanging out in the woods.

It was cold, yet most of the girls were fine, because they'd brought everything they'd been told to bring. (One needed an extra blanket, which she borrowed from another girl who had an extra.)

I'm so proud of these girls.

And next year they get to do the whole thing - preparation, planning, and grocery buying - themselves.

I'll have to bring a book.

The ants go marching one by one

I haven't disappeared or been eaten by the ants that seem to have made themselves at home in my kitchen.

(What are they doing? I found one a foot from the ceiling this morning. What did he think he was going to find up there?)

It's not a crazy infestation, but I seem to kill about 3 a day.  Even with the ant poison.  I assume they're feeding the spiders.So I can't kill the spiders, because they're eating the ants. I'm starting to feel like the old lady who swallowed a fly.

The weird spring we've had (cold/cold/cold/hot/warm/hot/rain) means my garden is planted, but the mulch is still in bags. The BBQ is out, but I haven't used it. The ants ... well, I've already mentioned the ants.  (I think some of them came in on the blue box.)

Things are starting to wind down for summer.  I have 3 boxing classes left, and am looking forward to the break. Pathfinders is over, with the exception of camp next weekend.

I'm ready for the lazy days of summer.

Except that I have tons of plans already, and thus I'm not sure how lazy they will be.

I'm going to Chicago for a weekend, my sister is coming here for a week or so, then my mom & my niece are coming to visit. I also want to get canoe-trip certified, so that's a week somewhere in there.


And, of course, there's lying in the back yard reading a book and going for a bike ride, and walking down by the canal at lunch.

I can't wait.

Adventures in laundry

A few months ago, I started using vinegar instead of fabric softener.

I haven't really noticed a difference.

I wasn't sure how well it would work after it got nice enough to hang clothes outside, but I've hung them outside for the last few weeks, and it's not a problem.  The clothes get stiff, but no worse than when I wash them with fabric softener.

(The exception was the summer that I lost the cap for the fabric softener - man, my clothes were soft that summer.)

A bottle of fabric softener lasts a long time, and I was afraid I'd go through vinegar a lot quicker, but I'm still on my first bottle. I haven't done the math to see which is cheaper, but I suspect it's vinegar. It's also a lot fewer weird chemicals, which is really my motivation. 

I'm glad I tried it.

Missing: One Spring

Three weeks ago, Ottawa was preparing for a winter storm.

Twenty days ago, school buses were cancelled and many people stayed home (or worked from home) to avoid the snow.

Yesterday, I sat in the change room at the gym. I listened to the others talk about how glad they were not to have to put socks on, and thought to myself, "Why am I the only sucker still wearing socks?"

I didn't wear socks today.

And clearly the weeks (months?) I spent looking for shoes to wear between boot season and sandal season were well spent.

Finally

I hung my laundry outside today.

It's possible that it's actually spring - although it was still plenty chilly when I brought the laundry in.

The rabbits seemed to agree, since two of them spent quite a while chasing each other around the back yard - with frequent breaks to nibble on the lawn.

I haven't gotten around to picking up all the trash that accumulates over the winter yet, but let's face it, sometimes that doesn't happen until July.

Last Saturday, the local Scouts delivered some mulch and compost I'd ordered, and they had to trudge through slushy snow to do so, so we've made a lot of progress in the last week.

It's about time.

I'm lucky enough to be able to work from home, so when I came down with a cold on Monday, I took advantage of it. I stayed home until Wednesday, but yesterday I really needed to go on - In part so that I actually got tired enough to sleep.

I left early to avoid traffic, and then finished my day from home.

So this morning when I woke to ice falling from the sky*, I thought I'd stay home again.

Then I realized that the odds of me going grocery shopping after work were really low if I hadn't left the house yet, and if I went to work, I could go out for lunch, so I went in to work.

It took me a while to chip the ice ** off the car, but it actually was a faster drive than usual. Driving home was fast, too.

That would be the silver lining to the "snow in the middle of April" cloud.

* not freezing rain - ice pellets.

** the freezing rain was before the ice pellets

Wanda's beautiful nails

Not How I Like To Start My Mornings

Yesterday morning, I went out to the car and put my boxing bag and laptop bag in the car. (My gym bag was already at work since I didn't make it to the gym on Tuesday.)

I got in the car and, turned the key, and ... nothing happened.

I tried again. Still nothing. Basically, it was acting like the battery was very dead.

I popped the hood and examined the battery. It was still there.

I went in the house and called CAA, then I called work to tell my manager I wouldn't be in for a while. I couldn't work from home, because I'd left my laptop at work.

I called the garage to see if they could fit my car in. I consulted OC Transpo to see how to get from the garage to work.

I ate jelly beans and mentally rearranged my plans for the day.

After about twenty minutes, I got a call that CAA was five minutes away, so I went back out to the car.

It started.

CAA arrived and I told them it was going. I called my garage back and they suggested it might have been ever so slightly out of gear.

I went to work.

It has started without a hitch every time since then.

But I still bring my laptop home every day.

The finished to-do list

Things I've done in the last week:

• Gone to the grocery store
• Gone to boxing
• Gone to the grocery store
• Put away the rag quilt pieces
• Put boards in the table
• Tried to replace a lightbulb in the kitchen that's been burned out since Christmas
• Broken a lightbulb in the kitchen
• Gone to the grocery store
• Replaced a lightbulb in the kitchen
• Vacuumed
• Mopped the floors
• Cleaned the bathroom
• Nagged Wanda to take all of her stuff to her room
• Made pumpkin muffins
• Changed salad menu to account for the fact that after three trips to the grocery store in a week, we had no oil in the house.  Well, OK, we had oil for my bike chain, but it's not really recommended for salad
• Made salads
• Made raspberry pie
• Cooked a turkey
• Made mashed potatoes
• Cooked cabbage rolls
• Washed dishes
• Planned an Easter egg hunt
• Participated in a (different) Easter egg hunt
• Gone to the gym
• Gone to physio
• Bought a pair of shoes
• Found one of my old weights for use in physio exercises
• Done physio exercise
• Gone to the grocery store
• Played the wii
• Had a lovely Easter dinner
• Returned a pair of shoes
• Bought another pair of shoes

 No, I haven't tried to fix the dishwasher yet.

This is why you should make a list

There was a bake sale at work today, and I had said I'd bake for it. I made a few things that were actually baked on the weekend, but decided I'd make Rice Krispie nests (with jelly bean eggs) the night before.

So yesterday, in other words.

Now, I box on Wednesdays, which means that when I get home, I am carrying my laptop bag, my gym bag, my boxing bag, and my purse. Totally manageable.

Yesterday, though, Wanda went straight from school to work, and she'd asked me to stop at her work to pick up her school bag.

Let's see, that means I was carrying Wanda's school bag, my laptop bag, my gym bag, my boxing bag, and my purse.

Oh, and a sub, because I'd stopped at Subway.

And it was garbage day, so I had to bring in the green bin and the black box.

And a it was CSA day, so I had to make a separate trip out for the cooler.

I finally got inside. The first goal was to eat - which I did - and then I emptied my lunch dish out of my laptop bag and my gym clothes out of my gym bag and my work clothes out of my boxing bag.

Then I emptied the cooler, and finally it was time to start the nests. I picked up the cereal box to get the recipe, and discovered the box was almost empty.

I gave up and went to take a shower.

While I was in the shower, I debated the wisdom of going to the grocery store. It was late, but I'd already bought the marshmallows, and I wanted to make the nests. Besides, I had to return some laundry detergent - or try to, since I didn't have the receipt.

I decided to go.

The store accepted the detergent for return, even though it was my mistake (thanks, Metro!) and I bought the cereal I needed. By the time I got home, it was 9:30.

The nests were in the muffin tin by ten, and I added the coconut straw and jelly beans this morning.

That's when I ran out of Saran Wrap.

It's beginning to look a lot like Easter

My dishwasher is broken. It's the latch, which is really irritating, and I doubt it will be fixed by Easter since, well, I've done nothing about it.

I don't really mind doing dishes, but I will have to get it fixed at some point.

I also need to clean my house, which is a disaster. You see, I have been very slowly working on a rag quilt, which is in pieces all over my living room. Not really conducive to having company for Easter.

The next step is to start sewing the squares together. I considered doing rows, but changed my mind - I am now going to sew four small squares into a bigger square, since that will be more flexible if I need to add more squares once I know how big it turns out to be.

Man, this would make more sense with pictures.

Anyway, I have a plan for the quilt, but let's be realistic - it's not going to happen by Sunday.

Maybe I should turn Easter dinner into a quilting bee.

Spoiler alert: I'm fine

I woke up this morning and the room started to spin. I felt like I was going to fall over.

Luckily, I was still lying down, so there was nowhere to fall.

Even more disturbingly, the numbers on my clock radio started jumping back and forth between horizontal and vertical. It was pretty much the behaviour you'd expect if your nose was a hinge that swung until your eyes were at a ninety degree angle to each other.

After about 30 seconds, it stopped and I got up. I did a couple of quick stroke tests (smiling, holding up my hands in front of me, standing on one foot) and everything was fine, so I went to work.

I was concerned, though, so I went to the ER after work (instead of boxing).

It took forever - which I took as a good sign, because if they thought it was serious, I would have had a pink sticker instead of blue.

When the doctor came in, he asked a bunch of questions and did some tests. One of the tests involved sitting up on the bed and looking at him while he lowered me so I was lying down. Apparently, when he did that my eye started jumping around.

All I knew was that I got dizzy.

End result - middle ear condition, not serious, just weird - and so close to textbook that he said he'd call his medical students in to observe if he had any.

New Directions

I've mentioned before that I used to work for a large high tech company - one that went through years of layoffs and doesn't so much exist anymore.

That means that I know a lot of people who  have been laid off.

Some people found new jobs that were similar to their previous jobs. Others went in a different direction - starting businesses, going back to school, changing careers.

A few weeks ago, I met with one of my former colleagues who made a change.  He had been a director of support and now has moved into financial planning - investments, mortgages, budgeting, etc.

It sounds like it has been challenging but intentional, and I hope it works out well for him.

When I was laid off the first time, I considered different career options. I ended up deciding to stick with what I knew. I never would have suspected I'd end up doing what I do now - I didn't even know jobs like this existed.


I wonder what I'd do if I got laid off again tomorrow.

Here we go again...

I started physio last week.

When I was a kid, I broke my arm. Ever since then, I have been able to crack that wrist. A little weird, but not a problem.

Lately, it has been getting more painful - and more like I have to crack my wrist, over and over.

And then I slipped on the ice and banged my wrist (as well as my head).

So anyway, I'm in physio again.

Just like last time, I actually feel worse than I did before I started. Working on the wrist seems to have made it angry - or at least made it move in ways it's not used to moving.

The snow last week didn't help, either.

Today, she taped up my wrist when I left. It hurt for a while, mostly because I couldn't crack my wrist. Now it feels pretty good.

I will have to tape it up again tomorrow.

Just in time for boxing.

Stupid Winter Wonderland

It snowed on Wednesday.

Not just a little snow, either - there was quite a large amount. Complicating the situation was that:
a) it came down pretty solidly all afternoon, and
b) it was just above freezing, which made the snow heavy.

When I left work, it was raining (from the 9th floor), but when I got to the ground, it was snow.

I had physio (hand issue) after work, and I was a few minutes late. When I was done, I got myself out of the snowbank I'd parked in and went home.

When I got home, my driveway hadn't been plowed, but I thought, "Hey, I can make it in anyway."

I was wrong. I got stuck.

So stuck that rocking back and forth didn't work.

I started work on getting the car out. While I was doing that, Wanda came home and started to help.  No luck.

One of the neighbours came over and helped.  Still no luck.

Eventually, we threw some salt under the front tires and took a break. 

About an hour later, we went out and tried again.  A different neighbour came over to help, and then another.  We shoveled and put carpets under the tires and shoveled.

It took about another hour to get the car out.

Once it was out, Wanda drove it over to the neighbour's (whose driveway was already clear) and parked it there.  I left it there until morning.

And then the snowplow came by and I had to shovel the end of the neighbour's driveway. Sigh.

That house used to have a bottom as well as a top

From the front step

Birthday B

Nine years ago, there was a little girl who had no interest in being born.  She was having a good time where she was.

(Her mom, on the other hand, was more than ready for her to get her act together.)

Her favourite auntie just wanted to take a shower. I was exhausted - I'd had a busy week, topped off with a flight across the country - and we'd been too rushed that morning for me to wash my hair.

I'd barely gotten my hair wet when she decided to stop messing around.  It was a quick shower.

Many hours later, there she was.

As often happens, she grew.

And grew.

And grew.

 

She learned how to read, and ride a bike, and send text messages telling me I'm not her favourite auntie (even though I'm pretty sure I am*).

She made friends, and is quite the social butterfly.

Ah!

She likes science (but not math ... at least not all of the time) and doesn't like being tricked into doing Brownie badges.

She likes Brownies, though.

B in a box

And boxes.  Hmm, there's an idea for a birthday gift ... where can I get a box?

Happy birthday, B!



* And now we'll see if she knows how to comment on a blog

Winterlude

So I made it downtown to Winterlude.

I'm surprised, too.

Monday was a beautiful, sunny day - and cold.  Very cold.

(Well, OK, it wasn't anywhere near as cold as it was a few weeks ago, but it was cold enough to make me whiny.)

It was a quick trip - I walked through Confederation Park. (Yes, that's the name of the park between the Rideau Centre & City Hall.  It took me an embarrassing amount of time to figure that out. Yes, I should have known the name, especially considering I was there 2 days ago.)

The ice sculptures were in really good shape - we got the typically end-of-January thaw early enough that they survived. The more intricate ones were actually under some awnings, which probably helped.

It has been a long time since I was at Winterlude, and even longer since I went anywhere other than Dow's Lake.

Many years ago, my department at work entered the snow sculpture competition. This was back in the days when:

• there was a snow sculpture competition, and 
• all you needed to enter it was $40.

We participated for ... probably 4 years? The first year, we did "Snow Men in Black", then there was one I don't remember very well, then we did "Will Work for Peanuts" (when Charles Schultz retired), and the last year, it was something about the Olympics (and some giant snow monster, as I recall). My role was mostly part of the snow moving team, but it was fun to participate.

And then they stopped that competition and I stopped going to Winterlude.

Anyway, after I walked around Confederation Park, I went over to City Hall to see the Rink of Dreams.  It was ... far less impressive than I'd expected.  (Don't we have similar outdoor rinks all around the city?)

Next was the highlight of the day - a Beavertail (Killaloe Sunrise, of course).  After that, I walked back to the car and drove home.

I was home for at least 10 minutes before my legs warmed up.

Confusion ahead

I've fully recovered from the concussion - I worked all day every day last week, and even went back to the gym on Thursday. I was pretty tired by the end of the day for the first part of the week, but by Friday I was back to normal.

Naturally, the only way to follow a full week is with a short week.

Tomorrow is a holiday here in Ontario. This holiday (Family Day) was added a few years ago, and I've only actually taken it as a holiday ... once, maybe? I've often ended up working it and taking the day off at another time.

This year I'm off, though. 

I was a little afraid I'd forget - in fact, on Friday I was predicting that I wouldn't notice until I'd been at work for a couple of hours - but now I'm pretty sure I'll remember. I'm considering going down to Winterlude in the morning, and I've created a to-do list that should keep me busy the rest of the day. 

There's no reason why I can't start on the to-do list today, but ... um ... I just haven't. Well, I guess laziness is a reason.

There's also no Pathfinders tomorrow due to the holiday, which means I will probably be confused about what day it is for the rest of the week.

Of course, that sometimes happens on a regular week, so it's not exactly unexpected.

I don't really feel like I need the day off - possibly because I spent last week on my couch - but I'm perfectly happy to take it anyway.

Now I see where I went wrong

So the whole "work from home on Monday" thing did not work.  I ended up taking a sick day.

I did work from home on Tuesday, though - and then felt worse on Wednesday.  Thursday and Friday I worked afternoons only, since mornings are worse than afternoons.  (It's not that I had a headache, just that I had no energy.  Typically, I'd step out of the shower and realize that I needed to lie down immediately.)

Naturally, I had to go to a Spark/Brownie/Guide/Pathfinder sleepover last night. My Pathfinders were there, as were some of my Sparks from last year.

The sleepover was at Cosmic Adventures.  For those of you who haven't been there, it's a giant indoor play structure.  Thankfully, it's also pretty good at absorbing squeals of overexcited children.

The first hour and a half was free play time, so I was able to sit (or lie) on a bench.  After that, we had a snack, made a craft, and did a quick scavenger hunt.

(The Pathfinders did very well, by the way.  They organized games and helped the younger girls with their craft. They even went to bed at a reasonable hour, and luckily my bed was far enough away that I have no idea what time they went to sleep. I warned them in advance that I was going to be useless in the morning and that they were going to have to help, and they did, even though they were obviously exhausted.)

I didn't get to sleep until after midnight, and I woke up around 5:45, which means I got ... not nearly enough sleep.

When I woke up, I had a "not enough sleep" headache, but otherwise, I felt fine.

Clearly my problem has been that I've been sleeping:
a) too much;
b) in a room that is too quiet;
c) on a bed that's too comfortable.

I hope I still feel OK tomorrow.

I have an inflatable neck pillow that I bring with me when I fly.  Naturally, I packed it for  my trip to San Jose.  However, once I was actually on the plane, I couldn't find it. 

I checked when I got to the hotel, and couldn't find it then, either.

Once I got back, it showed up in my purse very time I pulled out my wallet.  I finally took it out Friday night.

On Saturday morning, I got up and started breakfast. I noticed that it was snowing, so as soon as I finished eating, I slipped on some shoes and went out to find my phone. I walked onto the driveway, and immediately slipped.

I caught myself, took another step, and lipped again. I fell backwarsds and hit my head.

I lay there for about 20 seconds, then rolled over ahd tried to get up.  I fell the first time, but the second time I succeeded. I went tthe rest of the way to the car and found my cell phone immediately.  I carefully walked back inside.

I knew I was hurt, so I found my first aid book and looked up head injuries.  It was pretty convinced I needed medical attention, so a half an hour later, I was at the hospital.

I didn't have to wait long, but I was fine with waiting - I didn't feel the need to read or anything, as I was content to just sit there.  (I could have used my neck pillow, though, because I really didn't want to keep my head up on my own.)  After about an hour and a half, I saw the doctor and was told to go home and do nothing - no TV, no interenet, no reading.  Basically, the treatment for a concussion is to avoid thinking whenever possible.

I spent yesterday lying on the couch.  I was hoping I'd feel better today - and I do, a little - but I spent today lying on the couch as well. (I took a shower and then needed to rest for an hour before I had the energy to get dressed.)

Of course, tomorrow is Monday, and I'm supposed to be at work.  The best case scenario is that I work from home -  I don't want to go in to work and then be too tired to get home.

Man, I hope I feel better tomorrow.

Slow deductive reasoning

Just before I left for work this morning, I remembered my cell phone needed charging. I pulled it out of my purse and confirmed that it should be charged, so I decided to charge it on the way to work.

Then I went to work.

When I got to my desk, I went to grab my cell phone (it doesn't get reception if I keep it in my purse, so I leave it on the desk during the day) and ... no cell phone.

I went back down to the car. No sign of it.

I figured it had fallen out of my purse at home and, since I wasn't at home, there wasn't much I could do.  I called Wanda (because you can't text without a cell phone), but she was on her way to school, so she couldn't check for me.

I talked with Wanda again mid-afternoon, and she said she couldn't find it.

Great.

Before I left work, I called my cell phone and it went right to voicemail.

I wasn't sure whether that meant the battery had died or that someone was using the phone. Regardless, there wasn't anything I could do.

I came home and called it again.  This time, it rang before it went to voicemail.  I walked around the house, hoping I'd hear it vibrating. (I keep it on my desk during the day, you might recall.)

No luck.

I logged into my account online to confirm that no one was using the phone to call Hong Kong or some equally expensive place.  So far this month, I've used 4 minutes of calling.

Probably not being abused by someone who snatched it off the driveway, then.

I decided to try looking for it again in the morning.

And then, seconds after Wanda took the car to work, I realized that if it had no reception (and thus went right to voicemail) when my car was in the underground parking at work, but did have reception when I was home and the car was on the driveway, it was probably in the car.

I guess I'll see if I'm right in the morning.

The ick is going around

There's some sort of flu going around work.

Well, maybe more than one.

People are dropping like flies (although without the annoying buzzing around  your head first). I've asked if I can order a giant bubble to work in so that I don't get whatever they have, but apparently there's no budget for a giant plastic bubble.

Of course, people get sick all the time, but this one is knocking people out for much longer than usual.  One of my former coworkers was off for 3 days.  I've known her for 3 years, and I don't think she's missed 3 days in total during that time.

I do not want whatever they have.

I can't be sick next week (cyst removal, doctor's appointment that's already been rescheduled twice, Pathfinder sleepover).  Two of those things I'll be at regardless of how sick I am, but it would be nice if I wasn't sick at all.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure that's an option.

Last week was extremely cold here in Ottawa - the kind of cold where it's hard to scrape the car windows because there's so little moisture in the frost. I actually plugged in the car for 3 or 4 nights in a row - and there are years where I don't plug in the car at all.

It started warming up on Friday, and the weekend was much nicer. I even went cross-country skiing this morning.

(I tried to talk myself out of it on the grounds that we haven't had any fresh snow in a while, but ... this is Ottawa. It's either too cold or so warm it's melting or there has been no snow since we last got freezing rain. You have to take your opportunities where you find them.)

While I was on my way to the park, I ran into one of my neighbours walking their two dogs.

Now, I know these dogs. I see them all the time, and when I go over to their house, the dogs are thrilled to see me.  In fact, Oliver immediately goes to get his tennis ball so I can throw it for him.

But for some reason, when I see them outside of their house, Oliver barks like crazy at me. He's even been known to run from his house to my house when I'm outside just so he can bark at me.

It's ... well, it's pretty funny, actually.

So when the dogs saw me, naturally they had to come over to bark at me. As always, I offered to pet them, but they were far too excited for that, so I continued on my way while they got distracted by a piece of garbage.

I got my skis on and started on my way.  The snow was pretty dry, and it actually made for quite an easy ski.  I skied to the end of the park and back and then walked home.

Next week I might even venture out on an actual ski trail.

Year in review

 Well, it's getting a little late to do this, but ... I didn't do it earlier, so here we are.

Here are my 2012 resolutions:

1. Be employed for at least 10 months of the year: Done. 12months, actually. Yay!
2. Come up with a workable, challenging exercise schedule. Done. I'd actually forgotten about this one, but it happened when I moved from contract to full tie & got access to the gym at work. And anyone who saw me Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday of last week would have to agree that the schedule is challenging - I was so sore. I could barely walk. It was embarassing.
3. Reconsider home phone service, reduce the monthly cost. Another one I forgot about.  It's half done - I reduced the cost, but I still think I'm paying too much.
4. Increase my emergency fund by $8000. Done. And then the car needed repairs. Sigh.
5. Organize/clean the sewing/Sparks room.This is another half done one - it's a lot better, but there's still work to do.

 I don't really have a solid list for this year. I'd like to make it out cross-country skiing at least once. I'd like to go skating on the canal. I'd like to spend a week at the lake. I'm not really ready to make a real list, though.

I need a nap

I got up crazy early on Monday. (3:45, to be specific). I didn't have a choice - I had a flight at 6:30.

You know what's not a good idea? Flying to the US early in the morning the Monday of the week after New Year's. There were crazy lines of people going everywhere - but mostly, I suspect, somewhere warm.

I made it through the lines, though, and after breakfast in Dulles, landed in San Francisco around noon.

(Of course, noon in San Francisco is 3 here, so it had already been a long day.)

I took a car to San Jose, checked into the hotel, and went in to the office.

I was there for 3 hours, and by the time I left, I was starving.  My colleagues and I went and got dinner, and then I went back to the hotel and collapsed.

(After checking Twitter and Facebook, of course. I wasn't living in the dark ages.)

At 4 a.m., I woke up. I really would have liked to have slept more, but my brain decided to do it's overactive puppy imitation. (You know what we should do? We should get up! It's morning, you know! Let's get up and see if the internet is still there! Let's get up!)

I got up.

I'd ordered room service (which was insanely expensive, but work was paying for it), and it showed up promptly at 6:30. I have to say, my bagel and cream cheese was extremely well presented - the bagel was wrapped in a napkin, the cream cheese was on the plate, there was butter and jam, and the glass of orange juice was sitting in a container of ice - but it wasn't worth the $20+ it cost. Except that it was, because I needed breakfast.

Look, it's sunlight

We went in to work at 7:30, and left again at 7:30.  It looked beautiful out, but all-day meetings don't leave much time for enjoying the weather.

When we finally got back to the hotel, one of my colleagues and I went for a walk. We explored the area around the hotel, and eventually ended up walking by the outdoor skating rink beside the hotel. The ice was ... not good, but there were tons of people for a Tuesday night, and they all seemed to be having fun.

The skating rink

 Wednesday was a little shorter - the meeting started at 9:15 and ended not long after 4, so my colleague and I were able to walk around a little in daylight. We made it to the university (where we'd been the night before) and then stumbled across city hall.

A bunch of us then went out for dinner, then it was time to go back to my room to pack.

Thursday morning, I left for the airport at 3:30. After an extremely disorganized check-in process (which wasn't helped by it being not long after 4), I took my 5.5 hour long flight to Philadelphia, then a shorter 1.5 hour long flight to Ottawa. When we started descending, I looked out the window and thought "Hmm, wonder what river that is".  Then I turned my head to the left and noticed it ended in a giant lake, and thus had to be the St. Lawrence.

After another long day (on which I saw the sun both rise and set from a plane), I made it home by a little after 6.

Remind me not to do that again for a while.

Going in circles

Today at work, one of my coworkers was talking about some problems she was having with her TV, and her dilemma about whether to buy a new one - new TVs have more features, but she doesn't want to spend the money.

And I said, "I know what you mean, I have no intentions of buying a new TV anytime soon."

So tonight, I thought to myself, "Hey, I can put off going through the mail by watching the Big Bang Theory", and I tried to turn on the TV.

Nothing happened.

I pressed the "TV" button on the remote and tried again.

Still nothing.

I walked over to the TV, noticed that nothing had any lights on (TV, Wii, DVR, stereo), and pressed the on/off switch on the power bar on the theory that taking down the Christmas lights had resulted in me turning it off by accident.

Still nothing.

I thought "Hmm, the power bar is dead."

A little later, I remembered that there was a light plugged in to that outlet, so I walked over to turn it on - but it wasn't there, because it's only there when the Christmas decorations are up, and I took them down last night.

I went back to planning to replace the power bar.

A little later, I thought, "Hey, I thought something was plugged directly into the wall, but there's no lights on anything. It's like the outlet itself is dead. That'll be a pain if that's the problem."

It took me a little while to remember that the outlet is on a light switch - and that I had a house sitter for the past two weeks who might have disregarded the massive quantity of tape on the switch. I walked across the room and turned the switch back no.

Still nothing.

And then I remembered that I'd "turned on" the power bar. I flipped the switch again and lights came on.

But I'm still scared to try the TV.

Christmas wrap up

This is normally my resolution post - how did I do on last year's resolutions, what do I want to do this year - but my flight was delayed for 2 hours in Toronto, and I'm too lazy to do that.

In an effort to look like I'm actually updating this blog on occasion, here are some pictures of my Christmas sewing projects:

Fleece hoodie, fleece overalls

 

Fleece vest, pajama pants

Nightgown, pajama pants

While I was gone, I went out to my cousin's farm:

(I know nothing about anyone snow tubing behind the truck.)

I took my niece & my cousin's daughter shopping for gifts for their moms:

No one got giraffe sunglasses for Christmas. But they were fun to try on..

I went to the Tunnels of Moose Jaw:

Outside the tunnels

I took my niece sledding and brought the dog:

Not sure whether this was the best day in the dog's life, or complete torture

And here are some things my niece said to or about me while I was there:

• "When I grow up, I want to be like my mommy. She knows how to drive."
• "Auntie Colette, I can skate faster than you can drive."
• "When you leave, you have to leave all the people, animals, and stuffies that were here before."
• (via text message) "If this is Auntie Colette all I read was bla bla bla."
• "Grandma, you're still Auntie Colette's mom, so if she tries to boss you around, send her to her room and say no electronics."
• (when I threatened to bring her back to Ottawa) "I know you only bought 2 plane tickets. You didn't think I'd outsmart you, did you?"
• (in response to "Who's your favourite auntie?") "Auntie Wanda. I have to be honest."

I hope all of you enjoyed the holidays.

Now if only I didn't have to go back to work tomorrow .... 

Redirected

I flew from Ottawa to Regina on Wednesday.

It was supposed to be a quick trip - get on the plane at 5, transfer in Toronto, arrive in Regina at 9:30.

That's not how it worked out.

Our first flight was delayed, which cut our 75 minute break in Toronto down to 15 minutes. We rushed to our second flight and made it just as the doors closed.

As we reached the Ontario border, the pilot made an announcement - there was fog in Regina, and we had to make an unscheduled landing in Winnipeg to get more fuel.

I was a little concerned that I'd end up in Calgary for the night, but there was nothing I could do about it.

We refueled - which took about half an hour - and then started to go again.

Almost immediately, we stopped again. There was a mechanical issue, and they had to call maintenance.

That took another hour or so.

They got the mechanical issue fixed, and we eventually continued on our way. We got into Regina after midnight.

Christmas by the numbers

(If you're under 12, stop reading now. Come back after Christmas.)

Trips to Fabricland: 4. Well, maybe 5. Or 6. I should check my credit card bill.  Too many, is the point. Especially since the whole goal of the sewing overload was to use up fabric. Sigh.
Number of sewing projects:  4 pairs pajama pants (+ 6 with Pathfinders); 1 pair fleece overalls; 3 nightgowns; 1 fleece vest; 1 fleece sweater; 6 [redacted]; 3 [redacted]
Trips to Chapters: 4. Also too many.
Number of books purchased: 2 + 7 + 10 + 1 = 20
Number of books for me: 0
Number of books purchased that I'd like to read if I ever had time: 4
Cookies baked: 8 dozen, all one kind, this afternoon
Chocolates made: Too many to count. Well, that's not strictly true - too many to count without walking into the kitchen.
Number of days of work left: 3
Belly dance shows this week: 1
Pathfinder meetings remaining this year: 1
Number of families sponsored in the last 3 days: 1 (with work colleagues)
Available time available to shop for said family before Tuesday: Um.
Number of trips to Lee Valley: 1. I forgot one thing but will have to live without it.
Number of Christmas cards sent: 0 (So far, check back tomorrow. Assuming I have time to buy stamps.)

Melodic dreams

Last night, I woke up at 2.

I have no idea why. It didn't snow, so it wasn't a snowplow. Wanda was home and presumably asleep, since she had an exam at 9:30 this morning. There were no unusual noises. Nothing was happening. I just was awake.

And I thought "Hmm, this is weird. At least it's early enough that I'll be sure to fall asleep again."

By 3, I was regretting tempting fate like that.

And oddly enough, thinking "I have to go to sleep, I'm going to be really tired tomorrow" does not help at all.

I don't remember anything between 3 and 5:30, so I must have fallen asleep again, but by 5:30 I was definitely awake. At that point, I didn't expect to go back to sleep. After all, my alarm goes off at 6:30.

Naturally, I fell asleep anyway.  And dreamed.

A complicated action story.

That turned into a musical.

Even in my dream, I was surprised. Where did that come from?

And why isn't it the first time I apparently composed a musical in my sleep?

Mysterious

Wanda's birthday was last Thursday which means I can finally share the Mysterious Project of Mystery Part III - the flouncy skirt you see in the picture. I made it while she was out of town one weekend. It took a ridiculous amount of material

Our cousin Matthew came to town for her birthday, and we had a good time hanging out, talking, and playing games while he was here.

Belgian lace table runner

 He left last night, and after I dropped him off at the train station, I did the Christmas decorating.

Sigh. The flash made the lights invisible.

 And then today I did nothing, which was not actually the plan.

Oh well, sometimes you need a day of nothing.

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.

Fall Camp

This weekend was our fall Pathfinder camp.

Do you know how hard it is to find a site to camp in tents in late October?  It's not terribly easy.

Luckily, I have a big backyard, so we decided to camp there. As an added bonus, I didn't have to pack.

Friday was beautiful. We set up the tents (one 6-person tent for 4 girls, one 6-person tent for the leaders, one dining tent), then walked over to the Sportsplex and went for a walk on the trails in the dark.  The girls kept freaking themselves out by inventing stories that murderers were lurking in the bushes, which resulted in screams whenever we encountered people doing nefarious things like walking their dogs.

It was late by the time we got to bed, so we slept in on Saturday morning.  After making our breakfast and cleaning up, we went door to door selling cookies.  We had lunch, and then it was time to get ready for the zombie walk.

Most of the girls did their own makeup, so we had wildly different zombie looks. (Well, three were zombies, one was a butterfly. I don't get it, but points to her for being her own person.) I went with these instructions. It turned out OK.

Note the sad lack of brain hair clips

If I were to dress up as a zombie again, I'd add more toilet paper and prob ably go with different colours over top. It lasted quite well, even on the drizzly day. I didn't actually put together a costume, simply because it was cold and rainy, and my costume options required better weather.

We took the bus downtown - getting the occasional strange look - and walked to the start of the walk.  There were tons of people there, dressed as every type of zombie you could imagine. I took some pictures, but ... my phone is across the room, so just use your imagination.

A little after 3:30, the walk started. It was long. Really, really long. And by the end, my feet hurt enough that I was actually walking like a zombie. If I were to do the walk again, I'd join the group on Elgin Street.

We made it to the Parliament buildings, but didn't stay there long because everyone was exhausted. We bused home and cooked our supper inside.

We woke this morning to more rain. I unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the rain to go away via twitter, but we had to take the tents down wet.  I now have tents drying all over the basement.

Still, it was a good weekend.  The girls hadn't had much camping experience, and they learned a lot. They even managed to remain mostly cheerful during some difficult weather.

But I plan to sleep for the rest of the day.

After I cook supper and do my laundry, that is.

Mmmm, brains

The Zombie Walk is fast approaching. I decided last week that I was going. I have no idea what my costume will be - I'm having issues destroying perfectly good clothes. I'm also having issues destroying some of my clothes, which, frankly, are getting to the point where they should not be worn in public.

But in the meantime, I've been googling makeup ideas. Man, there's some cool stuff out there. I'm torn between trying it all tonight and being too lazy to bother doing it in advance at all.

I also found hair clips with brain pieces on them - and by found, I mean "saw on the internet". For the record, they don't have such clips at Value Village, Dollarama, Malobar's, or Party City (formerly Party Packagers). Party City does have a skull cap that is topped with brains, but that's too fake for me - unlike brains on hair clips, which are totally natural.

Tomorrow is out for costume assembling - it's the last boxing class of the session - but maybe I'll find some time on Thursday to figure it out. If not, I'll be the one at the zombie walk in normal clothes & awesome makeup. Or possibly mediocre makeup.

Either way, I'll be there.

Get me out of here!

I worked from home on Friday.

I love the idea that I can work from home on occasion. It makes it easier when I have an appointment closer to home than work, or when I take my car in, or when someone's coming to the house for some reason.

It's also good when I have personal phone calls to make - I can make them from work, but it's more convenient to make them from home.  On Friday, for example, I scheduled the removal of the annoying cyst on my back.

There are some issues with working from home, though.

First of all, I quickly run out of food in the house, because I snack constantly. On Friday morning, I finished all of the veggies in the raw veggie container in the fridge before 9:30. I would have moved on to potato chips, but we didn't have any.

Also, I miss everything that's going on at work - including the gym, and our newest activity of going out for lunch on Fridays.

And I notice things around the house - the kitchen floor needs sweeping, for example - but I shouldn't be doing anything about them because I'm supposed to be working. But I can't work, because the kitchen floor is dirty.

I don't have a comfortable place to work at home - on Friday, I sat at the table and worked, but I was pretty sore by the end of the day. (I don't know why I didn't move earlier.)

But the biggest issue with working from home - especially on days I don't have a car - is that I go stir crazy. I think things like "I know, I'll just run to the store at lunch" - and then I realize I'll have to literally run, because my car is elsewhere.  If I were at work, I'd never run to the store at lunch, but something about being at home makes me want to be elsewhere.

If you've ever tried to convince me to leave my house outside of work hours, I'm sure that's shocking to you.

The thing is, I don't think it has anything to do with wanting human contact - I had three conference calls before noon. I think it's more about not being able to leave.

(That's ridiculous, of course - I'm a 10 minute walk from the transitway, so even without a car I can easily get where I'm going. In fact, I took the bus to pick up my car on Friday.  It took 35 minutes, including 15 minutes of walking.)

I don't think there's much danger that I'll start to work from home every day.
 

Harvest

I pulled out my garden this weekend.  I picked the cabbage and (2) potatoes yesterday. There were 2 large cabbages and 1 small one, and the fridge is pretty full of Thanksgiving stuff. I fit one of the large cabbages into the fridge but was concerned about whether the second one would be OK overnight.

And then I realized I picked it from outside, which was not refrigerated.

(Today I made part of the second one into coleslaw & put the rest in the raw veggies container that's always in the fridge.)

Today was the harder part - not physically harder, emotionally harder. I had to kill perfectly healthy tomatoes.

Here's a picture of the last one I pulled out. It's a grape tomato plant.  The first tomato was ripe in June, which is a month earlier than usual.  The spiral that's supporting it is about 5 feet tall (a little shorter when it's in the ground), and the top of the plant snapped and bent over because it was about a foot taller than the stake.

Yes, that's a full size outdoor garbage can

 I also had to pull out a huge volunteer tomato plant that (since it wasn't supported) was as wide as one of the raised garden beds.

And the only cucumber plant that grew, that produced its first flower a couple of weeks ago. (No cucumbers, just the one flower.)

From the one grape tomato plant, I got 1/2 a gallon of grape tomatoes - and that's with eating a few a day since June.

And, in convenient timing, tonight it's supposed to freeze.

At least I'm not sharing pictures ... yet

A few years ago at Christmas., I discovered a lump on my back.  It was red and sore and annoying, but frankly I had other things on my mind, and after a couple of weeks it went away, so I did nothing about it.

Last week, it came back.

Again, a red, sore, noticeable bump. It was kind of squishy - not solid - and by the end of boxing last Wednesday, it was driving me nuts.

But I had other things to do, so I didn't make it to the doctor until Saturday.

It turns out it's a something-cyst. It's irritated right now, but if I leave it alone and stop what's causing the trauma, it'll calm down. The only way to get rid of it completely is to have it cut out, but it's not in any way serious. Totally not a big deal.

Except.

It's right where the band of my bras go. Specifically, it's in a place where it gets hit - a lot - by a sports bra.

After I saw the doctor, I covered it with a bandaid. This week, it started feeling better - more itchy than sore, and not as ... bumpy.

Yesterday, I added a second bandaid. (Well, I made Wanda add a second bandaid - my elbows don't bend that way.) The cyst was protected by a cross of bandaids.

I went to boxing.

When I got home, I took off the first bandaid and, by the time I pulled off the second bandaid, it was bleeding.

Applying pressure is extra fun when it's a place you can't easily reach.

The new bandaid started driving me nuts today - my back was itchy all day - so I asked Wanda to pull it off. (I find this fascinating - she finds this really, really gross. She's probably looking for a new place to live as I write this.* )

It's not bleeding. But I'm out of boxing & going to the gym until it heals. 

This is the lamest excuse ever.



* Just kidding - she's watching Glee. Yes, I know it doesn't make sense.

Things I have not wanted to do in the last week

• Go to work (tired, must sleep)
• Go to sleep
• Deal with unnecessary apple-picking drama
• Write an e-mail to Sparks parents (especially since I don't work with Sparks anymore)
• Go to boxing (this is becoming a theme ... again)
• Dishes
• Eat the eggplant-filled dish I made (it was good)
• Go to the doctor
• Go to the gym 
• Burpees (I started a campaign to make sure the instructor knew they were so easy it was practically like having a break. Turns out he's too smart to fall for that.)
• Deal with my Kobo, which forgot it had any books on it, again
• Figure out how to print in colour at work ... again
• Fix the doorbell
• Replace the light bulb in the kitchen
• Read the book I borrowed from my former manager
• Buy new socks (1/2 of my socks are sprouting  holes again)

Most of them I did anyway.

Except the last 4.

Watch out, more newspaper ranting ahead!

So, about the Ottawa Citizen.

I know, I've ranted about it before. I've talked about how I got the paper delivered, but didn't read it. Eventually, I cancelled it and moved to reading it online.

The online version isn't as good as the paper version - mostly because there's not as much content. They might have everything online, but they don't link to it all, as far as I can tell.

The Citizen is going through financial issues. They've stopped the Sunday paper (which has always been a very small paper) and combined it with Saturday into a weekend edition. A lot of their columnists mysteriously decided to retire around the same time.

And they've decided to start charging if you want to read more than 10 articles a month online.

The thing is, a lot of newspapers started charging for online reading about ten years ago. Most (if not all) of those papers are now back to being free. It fundamentally isn't a business model that works. 

There are lots of reasons for that:

• There are thousands of free news sources (including OCHeadlines, which is the Ottawa Citizen's twitter feed - you can't necessarily read the article if you're past your 10, but you get enough info to google it). There's also the TV news. The Sun network (canoe.ca) is still free.  CBC's website has news. And, of course, that's just for Ottawa-specific news. If you want world news, there are tons of options.
• They're charging for information they purchased from someone else. For example, the business section largely comes from the Financial Post - which is free. That means you have other options for reading that news.
• There are easy ways around their limit, like changing browsers or computers (or, I assume, clearing your cookies).  Frankly, I can't be bothered to use these methods - I'll just go elsewhere - but it can be done.

I read once (note the vague, uncited source) that newspapers exist is to sell advertising, which is why it's cheaper to buy them than it costs to print and deliver them. That's not just traditional advertising, but also things like classifieds and obituaries.

(When was the last time you read the classifieds?)

Obviously, the business model has changed.  Classifieds have been largely replaced with online equivalents, and ads on the site clearly aren't doing the job.

The thing is, paid access is unlikely to solve the problem.

In fact, it will likely reduce the ad revenue, because people like me will just stop going to the page to start with.

Perhaps when they go back to being free, I'll check out the site again.

More Random Thoughts

Remember how I resolved to do some exercises every day in August? And then I went to Europe?

I didn't make it through the month.  Once I got on the ship, I kept forgetting, and eventually I just gave up.

* * * 

A conversation with my niece:
B: I want to take tae kwon do.
Me: That sounds like fun.
B: Yeah. Then I can hit and kick, and you can just hit.

* * * 

I usually go to the gym at lunch, but I didn't go today because they were giving away free frozen yogurt there was an employee meeting.

When my instructor asked yesterday whether I'd be there today, I said, "I don't know, there's a rumour we're getting ice cream tomorrow."

She said, "I'm competing with ice cream?"

Yes. And losing.

* * * 
Wanda often buys the Glee soundtracks, and we keep them in the car. Right now, we're listening to Glee #9583023, which contains the most randomly-shoehorned song in the show's history, "Last Friday Night".

I'm not sure whether there's a doll on the BBQ, an Australian BBQ on the BBQ, or whether they killed someone named Barbie.

Any way you look at it, it's weird.

But catchy.

Recipes

As I've mentioned before, I get organic vegetables delivered every 2 weeks.  I really enjoy it, and it's required me to learn more about cooking vegetables than I've done before.

Some are easy - patty pan squash, corn, beans, broccoli (which I still can't spell) - but others require more preparation.

Swiss chard, for example - it's not ... good. I mean, I guess some people must like it*, but I really don't get it.  Naturally, I get it every single time.

Here's what I do to make it edible.

1. Melt a little butter in a frying pan - you don't need much.
2. Press a clove of garlic into the pan.
3. Add a bunch of fresh mushrooms - I usually get mushrooms delivered as well, so I just use whatever I have.
4. Wash the swiss chard. Cut up the stems. When the mushrooms are about half cooked, add the diced stems to the pan.
5. Cut up the leaves. When the mushrooms are mostly cooked, add the leaves. Cook until the leaves are wilted.

On the other hand, the recipe I tried yesterday for tomato sauce was awesome, not just edible.

1. Preheat the oven to 300F.
2. Take a baking dish - I used an 8x8 pan. Wash fresh tomatoes. Cut off any bits you don't want to end up in the sauce and put on the bottom of the baking dish.
3. Bake for 3 hours.
4. Add several cloves of garlic - I used 7 - and some onion - I used about 1/4 of a medium-sized onion, cut in chunks.
5. Bake for another 1.5 hours.
6. Blend.
7. Add a little salt, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar - I added a tsp of salt and about a tablespoon each of the oil and vinegar. Blend again. The sauce is quite thick due to the skins and seeds.

* Hi, mom!

Random Thoughts

I believe I forgot to mention in my last post how ... historic Europe is. Our tour guides in Denmark and Norway both mentioned how Denmark lost Norway because they sided with Napolean. That was 200 years ago. In North America, we barely remember World War II (which, BTW, we also heard about in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway).

* * * 
I wasn't feeling well yesterday - not totally sick, but not totally well, either. I didn't go to the gym at lunch (we had a wellness fair, so my class was cancelled), and I debated whether I should go to boxing.  (I'm lucky we had the wellness fair, because they were giving away water bottles and I had forgotten mine.)

I went to boxing, albeit with the thought that I might leave early.  

It wasn't bad - until I hit myself in the face with the skipping rope. (I'm such a graceful skipper.) I almost cried.

(I didn't. There's no crying in boxing.)

After the class, I felt better, and today I'm fine.

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My garden is producing tomatoes, and yesterday I got 3 containers of tomatoes in my CSA box. Good thing I like tomatoes.

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Blogger is doing this thing where it turns on bolding when I hit enter. It's very annoying.


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My neighbour works at the same place as me. She worked from home today, and e-mailed me at lunch to ask me to pick up a parcel someone had sent to her.

It was a beautiful basket of flowers. All afternoon people were stopping by and asking what the occasion was. I, of course, did not know.

I managed to resist the temptation to read the card. (When I dropped off the flowers, her daughter read the card, so I know who they're from now. As always, the reality was less interesting than the speculation.)

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I need to buy a new suitcase. Mine got munched on the way back from Europe. It was pretty old, and I was pretty tired, so I didn't report it.

But I need a new one, because I might be traveling again soon.  I want one of those fancy ones that has four wheels and can be moved without tilting it, but I think I'm too cheap to pay for one.

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I bought Season 1 of Downton Abbey back in January. I've watched one episode, and the summer is over. I may need to get a cold and spend a weekend watching TV.  


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My dishwasher is broken.

Well, actually, the dishwasher itself is fine, it's just no longer screwed into the cabinet - which effectively means it can't be used. I need to figure out how to get the screws back in through the tiny slot above the dishwasher. 

Europe Wrap Up

Friday was a day at sea, and Saturday we made the trek back home.

Final thoughts:

• Britain has sorted out automatic toilets. The toilets at Heathrow & in Hyde Park have a motion sensor - simply wave your hand over it to flush. Yes, I took a picture.

•   This trip was to five countries, with 5 different currencies. I hadn't realized that there were that many countries in Europe that hadn't adopted the Euro. (Belgium was the only one where the Euro was the official currency.)
• My manager suggested we bring rain ponchos. That was, without a doubt, the best thing we brought with us.
• I read a lot more books than I usually do on vacation - I think because I had them on the Kobo and thus I didn't have to limit myself.
•  I did a much better job than usual at limiting the amount of stuff I brought with me. I did not have to buy anything I forgot.
• Favourite stop: Bruges, Belgium, followed by Copenhagen. I would have preferred to do the cruise in the opposite order so that we ended in Bruges.

Thoughts on the boat:
This is the third cruise I've done. The first one was with Costa, the second was Royal Caribbean, and this one was Princess. They all have pros and cons. These comments are specific to three ships - the Costa Magica, the Legend of the Seas, and the Grand Princess. 

Costa:

• This was the most "foreign" cruise line - prices were in Euros, and every announcement was in 4 or 5 languages. (Also - topless sunbathing, which didn't really happen on the other two ships.)
• The food was excellent (and Italian-style - a pasta course instead of a salad course, for example). 
• The organization (especially with respect to embarking and disembarking) was lacking.
• Using the Euro as the currency on board made it more expensive that the others to buy a drink, etc.
• Swimming pools were opened limited hours, and I think there were only a couple of them.
• If you wanted ice cream, you had a couple of hours in the afternoon when you could get ice cream, otherwise you were out of luck.  
• The ship was quite nice, and public areas were clustered around the center of the ship.
• Lots of lounges.
• More smoking on board than other cruise lines.
• People joined the cruise at almost every port, so it wasn't the same kind of everyone gets on at once / everyone gets off at once atmosphere. 
• There was a specific English-speaking ambassador who was there to answer questions from the Canadian/America/British passengers.
• Frequent "shows" or special events in the dining room.
• Frequent, hard to get out of picture taking.

Royal Caribbean:

• Prices were in US Dollars. Far more American-feeling.
• The ship was quite nice, and public areas were clustered around the center of the ship.
• There was a rock-climbing wall, ping pong and min-golf.
• Embarking and disembarking was well-organized.
• The food in the dining room was good, and the lunch buffet was quite good. There was also an area where you could get pizza late at night.
• Trivia happened daily, with prizes like highlighters and other Royal Caribbean-branded stuff.

 Princess:

•  Prices were in US Dollars. Far more American-feeling.
• The ship was not even close to my favourite. Some areas (like the excursions desk) were hidden away down back hallways, and the main area of the ship was only 2 floors high. The promenade deck - where you could walk around the ship - had areas that required you to walk up and down steps. Also, there were no stairs in the middle of the ship. Of course, there were emergency stairs, but we were on the 12th deck, and many of the food options were on 14. Our options were to either walk down to the end of the ship or wait for the very, very slow elevators.
• Embarking and disembarking was well-organized.
• I didn't enjoy the lunch buffet - not enough salad bar options (I can make a salad with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber at home), and the dining room food was my least favourite. Some days were quite good, but there were also days where I couldn't really see anything I wanted to order. 
• There were multiple food options on board - the International Cafe (paninis, salads, desserts), a couple of pizza places, a grill for hamburgers/hot dogs/sausages.
• Also, the ice cream bar had popcorn at night.
• Lots of pools - I think there were far more than the other ships.
• "Movies under the stars" - a giant movie screen on deck 14, where they played recent movies, sporting events, etc. We didn't go - it was too cold, and there was nothing we wanted to see badly enough - but it was a nice idea. 
• Far and away the best shows in the evenings. 
• Trivia happened multiple times a day, and the prize was a bottle of champagne.