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.)

Seeing Red

So today is Wanda's birthday.

I started the day by washing all of my sheets and my duvet cover. I then put them all in the dryer (with a few pieces of clothing) and ... it turned into a giant ball of clothes inside my duvet cover. It was funny, but it took a long time to detangle. I split it into two loads and dried them that way.

Our cousin Daniel came over for supper and to watch the game.

Well, let me back up.

I come from Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan has a football team - the Roughriders. Rider football is a very, very big deal in Saskatchewan. Rider fans are probably the most rabid fans in the Canadian Football League.

The CFL final (the Grey Cup) was tonight ... and last week the Riders won the western final, so they were playing in the Grey Cup against the Montreal Alouettes. This year, the game was in Calgary, which is an 8 hour drive from Regina. The stadium was packed with Riders fans. It was essentially like playing at home.

In fact, I heard rumours that a grocery store in Calgary ran out of watermelons and had to special order more. (Riders fans hollow them out and wear them as hats. No, wearing a watermelon as a hat in Calgary in November doesn't seem like a good idea to me either.)

The Alouettes were heavily favoured by everyone other than the fans, but the Riders took an early lead. By halftime, they were up by 2 touchdowns.

Starting the second half, the Alouettes started to catch up. The last few minutes, they were two points down. With five seconds left, they tried for a field goal and missed.

Zero seconds left on the clock.

And ... a penalty was called because the Riders had too many men on the field. The Alouettes went for the field goal again and they got it. The Riders lost by one point ... after leading for the entire game.

This is why I don't usually watch football.

Montreal

As I mentioned yesterday, Wanda's birthday is tomorrow. She took the weekend off of work (so that she'd be awake during the day, since she normally works nights), and she decided that she wanted to spend today in Montreal.

It's about a 2 hour drive, so we left around 9:45. We got a little misplaced, so we didn't park until 12:30.

The thing about Montreal is that when you get downtown, you can go into the underground city - shops below various buildings that are all linked underground. That's what we did.

We spent the afternoon walking around the various shops. Wanda bought some jeans and we both bought some Christmas gifts. By the time we headed back to the car (around 5), my legs were getting pretty tired.

Does everyone remember last year?

That's right, when I tried to leave the parking garage (a different one than last year), I had trouble paying. I put the ticket in, and it said to put in a credit card. I did, and nothing happened. I tried again. I changed the way I was inserting the ticket ... and the credit card. I tried a second credit card.

Finally, I pressed the intercom button and the security guard told me to park again, come inside and pay there. I was about to do that, but Wanda got out and managed to make it work. I still don't know what I did wrong, but at least I'm not still stuck in a parking garage.

We left Montreal, then stopped for supper. After that, it was time to head home.

You know, walking for 5 hours, then sitting for supper and the car ride home makes me walk like my legs are unfamiliar with the concept.

Anyway, I got home and did something that has been bugging me for a while - I organized the drawer that has all of my plastic containers. It only took a couple of minutes, and it's much less cluttered now.

Finish something? Whatever do you mean?

Today was a busy day. I met up with some former co-workers for lunch, so I started the day by going to the gym. (I usually go at lunch on Friday.)

I also had to run a bunch of errands, because I'm going to Montreal tomorrow, Wanda's birthday is Sunday, and then I lose the use of the car for 2 days.

Of course, there's also the usual job hunting stuff.

Somehow, I managed to get it all done.

I also made it to boxing. (Yay!) This week was the dreaded boxathon. Basically, a typical class consists of a warm up, 12 stations, a couple of punch outs, and maybe a cool down. A boxathon consists of 24 stations. Each station is 2 minutes long with 30 seconds between each station. It was great. (At the end, I felt like I could do another 12 stations. Should I be worried about that? Probably, right?)

After that, I came home and, when I came into the house, I brought all of the CDs from the car in. You see, I have a visor CD holder. I believe it holds 10 CDs. I also had probably 15 CDs in their cases in the car and another multiple CD holder. It was ridiculous.

I've gone through them and am only putting back the 10 CD holder (which now contains 8 CDs). I'm sure that will get us through 4 hours of driving tomorrow.

Pantry

My kitchen has a cupboard intended for use as a pantry. It starts at about waist height and is almost as deep as my refrigerator. Immediately underneath it are two cutting boards, mostly used to put stuff on when moving stuff around in the pantry.

The above picture is how it was earlier today.

Today I cleaned it out and organized it. Now, instead of having pasta all over the place, it's all in one spot. The after picture is below.

Now all that remains is keeping stuff where it's supposed to go.

(The shelves are straight, by the way. It's the camera angle that is crooked.)

Ready to fly

My lego arrived today.

I mean, my niece's lego arrived today.

I had ordered a set plus some extra pieces - only the set arrived today. They were shipped separately, so that's not a huge shock.

I also booked my flight for Christmas. Back in September, I was considering heading back to Regina for a few days, but I didn't have enough aeroplan points. Today I checked to see how many I would need to go back for Christmas - and I did have enough for that.

In other news, the great "put pictures into photo album" project continued today. I've actually got the pictures from my first trip to Botswana into an album.

This video is made of awesome

So the car is going in to be fixed on Monday.

I also put more pictures in albums today.

None of that is terribly interesting though. You know what is? This:

Things I don't understand

There are many things I don't understand.

1. News reports say there is no seasonal flu in Ottawa, so if you get the flu, it is H1N1. They also say that the only people getting tested to find out the specific type of flu they have are people admitted to hospital. My question: how do they know there is no seasonal flu in Ottawa if they aren't testing to see what kinds of flu people are getting?

2. A young child died at Pearson International Airport in Toronto yesterday. It was a horrible accident. What puzzles me is the following line in the story: "A makeshift memorial was set up Monday morning near the area where the baby fell."

Why do people set up these memorials? I don't get it. I doubt it's the family - I'm sure they have many more important things to deal with right now. I'm assuming it was strangers -but why? Do they feel they're doing something to help?

3. If you were an insurance agent, why would you not return a call from a client? Are you unaware how easy it is to change insurance companies?

4. Why is OC Transpo (the Ottawa bus company) still not calling out the next stop. I've ridden the bus 4 times in the last month, and I've heard maybe two stops get announced - and I was on the transitway where stops have official names (not just "street x at street y"). They've lost a court case saying they have to call them out.

5. What will it take to get city council working again? Can I get elected dictator? City council is beyond pathetic. (Sadly, I live in a ward with a councilor who mostly is competent, so I won't be running. But I'd take the dictator job.)

(Small project today. I'm not done with the pictures that need to be put in albums, but I moved the full ones.)

Busy, busy, busy

Remember how yesterday I made a lot of perogies? Well, today I did it again.

You see, we made two types of perogies yesterday - cottage cheese and cheddar cheese. We used up all of the cheddar cheese filling, but there was still cottage cheese filling left, so today I made another batch of dough, more potatoes (for more cheddar cheese filling) and I made another three cookie sheets of perogies.

As if that weren't enough, I then made one of my favourite types of Christmas cookies, schnecken.

Here's the recipe.

Mix 4 cups flour & 1 1/2 cups butter.
Add 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten, 1 cup sour cream, and 1 tsp vanilla.

Mix well and chill.

Beat fluffy 3 egg whites. Add 3 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp vanilla.

Divide dough into 8 parts. Roll each part into a circle on board dusted with icing sugar. Cut into 8 or 12 wedges.

Brush rolled dough with egg mixture and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Roll each wedge loosely, starting with the wide end. Brush with egg whites and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Place on greased cookie sheet, bake at 400 F for 10-12 minutes.


So, yes, I made 8 dozen cookies today. Eight dozen small cookies, I would like to add. These are awesome cookies, though - all cinnamon-y and moist.

In other words, it was a productive day.

I even took the time to do a small anti-procrastination project. You see, when this house was built, the stairs to the basement were off of the kitchen. In the early 90s, the owners decided to expand the dining room and build a porch outside of where the back door had been. The stairs were moved out to the porch. I would have designed the porch differently (so that, for example, it contained a closet), but such is life. Basically, there is a small landing, then stairs to the basement. Along the stairs is a ledge.

Somehow, that ledge has become a holding place for anything I used outside but was too lazy to take downstairs. Today I started cleaning off that ledge. I decided to leave everyday gardening things there (gloves, weed pullers, etc.) because it's not realistic to think that I'll walk downstairs to get them - I'm not a big fan of gardening, there's no point in making it harder. However, the more infrequently used things (seeds, a bike bag, edging) are now downstairs.

Picture this

Today was a busy day.

A friend came over for a perogy-making extravaganza. That took much of the afternoon (and resulted in lots of perogies). I then drove her home - and got rear-ended on the way home. The bumper will need to be replaced, but no one was hurt.

This evening was a Chuck marathon. (Apparently it comes back January 10, for those who are interested.) While I was watching TV, I started putting pictures in albums. I started with a bunch of really old pictures. There's still more to do, but it's a start.

Two days today

I started feeling better yesterday. Not 100%, so I still skipped boxing tonight (even though I really wanted to go), but I have energy and food doesn't repulse me, so that's something.

Remember how I was cleaning off one bookshelf so that I could move stuff over there from the desk? Yesterday I started moving stuff over. The next things to go will be photo albums, but before I do that, I need to put pictures in the photo albums. Specifically, I haven't put any pictures from my two trips to Botswana in albums - and I haven't even gotten prints from my trip this year. (Yes, I have them all on the computer, but it's a bit more convenient to show people actual prints sometimes.)

Today I did some more filing. I haven't cleaned out the filing cabinet, but that's on the list. I also did some more shredding - that pile is getting a lot smaller.

I'm not spending much time each day doing these things - maybe 10 minutes on an average day - but it really does add up.

Getting hot

It's kind of weird being perfectly healthy except for having had a fever for a week. It is good if your goal is to take afternoon naps, though.

This morning when I got up, I looked at my microwave.

Well, let me back up.

My kitchen is a decently sized room, but it has three doors as well as the first three steps to the basement, so there's not a lot of usable space. When I moved it, the counters were U-shaped. It was horrible - there was absolutely no room to have more than one person in the kitchen at a time.

Let's see if I can find a picture:

Note the microwave stand (which sat where the fridge was supposed to go but didn't because it was too tall).

There was room for a small table and chairs, but at the cost of storage space. I had the kitchen renovated four years ago.

Here's a picture from the same angle:

When I did, I got rid of my microwave and replaced it with an over the stove microwave/fan.

(Yes, the outlets are covered now.)

This morning, I decided to clean the filter for the microwave vent. I pulled it off and washed it, then I washed the part of the microwave that it was covering. I let it dry all morning, then I put it back on. (It probably didn't need to dry all morning, but it didn't hurt.)

Lego

So ... I was overly optimistic when I said my fever was gone. It is back - but on and off. Very odd.

The staffing firm I was working with called this morning. They have another possibility for me. I have applied at that company before, but the guy I work with at the staffing company is going to check and see if he can still present me as a candidate.

It's nice to have other people looking for jobs for me.

Anyway, today's anti-procrastination project was continuing to clean/organize my bookshelf. Nothing too exciting there, just a bunch of old papers I should have gotten rid of years ago.

Let's talk about something more interesting, OK?

A month or two ago, my niece called me. She wanted to ask if I would help her build a Lego house when I go for Christmas. Apparently she was trying to build one and she was having problems.

I said I would and pointed out that she's only five - it's OK if she doesn't know how to do everything.

Since she wants to build a really big house, I decided to buy her more Lego for Christmas.

I looked in stores around here, but most of them sell specific kits. I just wanted an assortment of blocks.

It seems like the kind of thing the internet would know about, so today I checked it out. It turns out that Lego sells basic kits. They also sell individual pieces.

I bought a pile of roof pieces and a basic kit. Hopefully, we'll have a good time playing this Christmas.

Green bins

Today I was far more consistently sick than I have been. I had a fever most of the day. This evening I started coughing - and the fever seems to be gone. I'm hoping I'm past the feverish/tired stage of this thing. (Don't worry, by tomorrow I will annoyed at the coughing.)

I did some filing today (as my anti-procrastination project) since I could do that sitting down.

As I was sitting on the couch today, I noticed more noise than usual outside. (OK, fine, I was playing Sims 2 Castaway again.) I was a little puzzled about what could be making that noise.

Eventually, it reached my end of the street. (Well, it didn't take that long, it's a short street.)

It was the city of Ottawa delivering our green bins.

For those of you outside of Ottawa, green bins are used for biodegradable items - veggies, fruit, meat, etc. I have a backyard composter, so I'm not sure whether I'll use this one or not.

The bins are pretty heavy, which is probably good from a "keeping the wildlife out" perspective. The latch I found a little difficult to operate, but that will only be an issue if I start using it.

The weekend

I had all kinds of plans for this weekend, but ended up canceling them all. I'm feeling OK most of the time. Yesterday, for example, I felt fine until about 4:30 - then I felt awful for a couple of hours, then I was fine again.

I did get some more cleaning/organizing done on the bookshelf. Today, following my "don't finish anything completely" plan, I moved back to the furnace room and did some more organizing there.

Since I didn't do much this weekend, I don't have much to talk about. Today, for example, I spent hours (literally) playing Sims 2 Castaway on the Wii. (Wanda rented it on Friday.)

Feed a cold, starve a fever?

I'm pretty sure I have some variant of the flu, but it's very odd.

First of all, sometimes I have a fever, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I feel fine, sometimes I feel awful. This afternoon, the nerves in my legs spent their time reminding me that I was wearing pants. Not painful, but unnecessary - I knew I was wearing pants. That stopped for a while, but has now started again. I also am unable to reliably stand up for any length of time. Sadly, that meant I skipped boxing.

Also, I've eaten about four hundred things today. (This might have something to do with why I had a stomach ache this afternoon.) I'm not sure if this is related to the fever coming and going or whether my brain has just gone haywire.

However, I started feeling better this evening, so I started cleaning out the bookshelf in one of the bedrooms. This is necessary because I need to move some stuff from the desk into that shelf.

Like I said, this thing comes and goes, so I expect it to be back tomorrow.

How cheap will you work?

I woke up coughing this morning. I've had a fever and a headache most of the day - not really incapacitating, but not fun nonetheless. I did carry out a small anti-procrastination project - I bagged up the garbage I had created by cleaning out my desk and took it to the curb for garbage day tomorrow.

I also checked the job listings as usual. There's one job that sounds interesting and I'm 95% qualified for, but it has an odd requirement - they want applicants to put their salary expectations in the subject line of the e-mail.

Keep in mind that they don't share details on their web page about benefits, vacation, business hours, or sick time.

It strikes me as a way to eliminate people without bothering to open the e-mail and read the cover letter or resume.

I haven't decided if I'm going to bother to apply. Do I really want to work somewhere where the primary hiring criteria is how much they have to pay you? Do I want to put the effort into composing a cover letter & adapting my resume if I'm going to be screened out without anyone reading either?

Remembering

Remembrance Day is not a statutory holiday here in Ontario, so I usually have to work. Not this year, however, so I decided to head downtown to take part in the national ceremony.

I got there around 9:15. People were starting to accumulate, but it was not terribly busy yet. Note the lack of people by the Parliament Buildings.

I ended up right by the barricade on the east side of the cenotaph.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. I chatted with the people on either side of me.

There was some discussion about the Canadian flag with the blue stripes on it. (I googled it after I got home.)


As time went on, people started to gather behind us, as well as on the lawn at the Parliament Buildings.


Around 10:30, the dignitaries started to arrive. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was the first to arrive (or at least the first to be announced). Shortly after that, the Silver Cross Mother arrived. (The Silver Cross Mother is the mother of a soldier killed in action.)

After that, there was a looonnng wait. Finally, the Governor General arrived, followed shortly by Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla. I was standing right where I could see the cars go by. I was a little confused by the Governor General - I wasn't expecting her to be wearing a military uniform. Prince Charles was the easiest to spot in the cars - in part because he had the window open.



Just before 11, the ceremony started with O Canada. There was 2 minutes of silence, as well as prayers, songs, poems, a 21-gun salute, and the laying of dozens of wreaths.

This picture is looking back from where I was standing at the barricade towards a giant TV screen showing what was going on in front of the cenotaph.
Around 12, the veterans started to parade out, followed by current members of the military, cadets, and RCMP officers. (They immediately followed by paramedics, but that wasn't part of the official list.)


As the parade ended, someone behind me in the crowd collapsed. The people immediately around him (including some current members of the military) started first aid, and I asked the cop on the other side of the barricade to get the paramedics. A couple of other police officers came over and managed to get the fence open while someone located the paramedics.

By that time, everything was over so I escaped through the opening in the fence to give them more room to work. (I was pretty cold, and my feet were getting numb.)

This is the cenotaph from the front.

Walking back to the bus, I took a few more pictures. Ottawa is really a beautiful ciy.
From the Mackenzie King Bridge, looking back towards the cenotaph. If you look closely, you can see the people still crowded around.

I was still cold when I got home, so I took a bubble bath. I did warm up but it took a while.

(On the anti-procrastination front, I did some more desk organizing.)

Miscellanea

I'm definitely starting to get a cold (or something). I'm getting a cough, and I felt like I had a fever today. When I took my temperature tonight, it was 98.5. Yesterday it was 96.3. I think I need a new thermometer.

Anyway, I'm not feeling really sick yet. I don't know whether to hope that I get really sick so that I get better or whether I should hope that I don't get really sick at all. This in-between stage is annoying.

I did some more organizing of my desk today. I keep the oddest things. Seriously, do I need my bus pass from grade 9? My union card from a job in 1990? A piece of styrofoam? Three random batteries (not matching)? Anyway, my quest to get the desk cleaned out is not yet over.

Transportation

Every spring, I get a full-service car wash. They clean the floor mats, vacuum the car, wash the dash and the inside of the windows, and wash the outside of the car.

This spring, I didn't quite get there. In fact, I finally made it there today. (In case you're as confused as I am about what month it is, I'd like to point out that it's November.)

Anyway, the car is clean now.

I also got a slightly-overdue oil change.

After my car-related errands, I went to Zumba. I left halfway through the class because my foot was hurting. Wanda was still in the class, so I used one of the recumbent exercise bikes. It was a good choice - my foot didn't bother me at all while I was on it. The only minor flaw was that I timed it poorly - I was expecting it to make me do a cool down, and it didn't, so I had to wait for Wanda a little longer than I would have liked.

Letters from the past

Today I was able to walk around the house without wearing shoes. It has been about a month since I've been able to do that, so I'm quite excited about it. My right foot is still turned out mysteriously, but it doesn't hurt, so that's fine.

I also continued cleaning out my desk today. I found a bunch of cards and letters. Let me share a letter from my sister Wanda soon after I moved to Ottawa:

Dear Colette,
Hi, my Darling, Sweet, Generous sister who is going to send me money. (In case you didn't guess, I was sucking up.) Did you watch Lois and Clark on Sunday? How are things in Ottawa? Did you get fired yet? If you didn't I am very proud of you. So are we better then [sic] those Ottawa Pathfinders? Well the play is doing O.K. but we can't seem to dance and sing at the same time. My mind is wandering around in fear because Kathleen got her Lisence [sic] and Ted is going for his sometime today. Am I asking too many questions? I probably am, huh? Hum de dum. (Is that how you spell hum de dum.)
From your Darling sister,
Wanda
P.S. Write back soon.

The Kitchen's so Bright, I Have to Wear Shades

Compared to last Saturday, toady was a very relaxing day. I got my hair done. (It looks awesome.) I did a few errands.

I even did some anti-procrastination projects. First of all, I continued working to clean out my desk. I found a bunch of pictures that need to go in albums (and a bunch of albums, most of which have pictures in them). I found a bunch of pages from an old page-a-day calendar. (I'm not clear on why I kept them.)

I also changed a light bulb in the kitchen.

My kitchen light consists of four halogen bulbs. They can swivel in any direction. When they're all lit, the kitchen is very bright. When one of them is burnt out, some part of the kitchen is shadowy and dark.

However, the kitchen light is on a lot. And there are four bulbs. And they are tricky to change. Usually, one of them burns out, I change it, then the next one burns out, etc. The last time I changed a bulb, I made a note that we were out of bulbs. I bought them about a week later. A day after that, another bulb burnt out.

I didn't bother changing it.

That was several weeks ago. Today I finally managed to change the light bulb.

I continue to be amazed at how bright the kitchen is.

Ready for the song and dance?

Today's anti-procrastination projects are things that just happened today. They are things I could (and usually would) procrastinate about, though, so I've decided they count.

Let's start with the second one.

Remember how a couple of weeks ago, I bought new runners? Well, tonight at boxing I noticed that one edge was catching on the floor when I pivoted. That's right, the sole was coming off the shoes.

When I got home, I immediately boxed them back up and took them back to the store. (Well, not that immediately, I took a shower first.) The cashiers were really good about it - they had to get the manager's permission to exchange the shoes because they were obviously worn, but they were victorious. Then, they looked for a replacement. There was some minor panic when they didn't have another identical pair, but it turned out they had the same shoe in a different colour. I'll miss my silver alien shoes, but I'll survive with my white and red shoes.

Incidentally, this makes the third year in a row that it has taken me two pairs of shoes before getting one that works. (The last two times it was a fit problem. This is the first defective pair I've had.)

When I got home, I dealt with the first potential procrastination item of the day. When I got the mail, there was a cheque address to some business I'd never heard of at my address. I was puzzled, but I planned to write "not at this address" and toss it back in the mailbox tomorrow.

However, on my way to boxing, I remembered a conversation with one of my neighbours about a business he was starting. I was pretty sure that this was meant for him.

I called him, and yes, it was his cheque, so I ran over and dropped it off.

I'm glad I eventually clued in.

So ... I don't know what was going on last night, but I feel fine today.

This afternoon, I went clothes shopping - I have one set of interview-suitable clothing, but almost everywhere seems to be doing at least two interviews, so I wanted to pick up something else in case I ever get a second interview.

My anti-procrastination project for the day was cleaning out the fridge freezer. Even I was surprised at how many bread bags containing only one piece of crust were in the freezer.

Also, pierogies - I think I found 3 bags.

In completely unrelated news, my niece talked to me on the phone today. (It has been a while.) She told me that she's invisible, so when I go there I won't be able to see her, but she'll still be there. She also told me about her dog, Kasey, who had an operation this week to remove the parts that make babies. She got distracted, so I hung up - and she called me back to tell me that she's not really invisible. That's good to know.

If you think I've been lazy so far

For the last week, I've been feeling a little off.

This morning, I woke up feeling OK. I went to the gym at noon, and everything was fine.

This afternoon, I'm definitely feeling worse. So in other words, if you think my anti-procrastination projects haven't required much effort so far, just wait and see where they go from here.

Anyway, today I lost all patience with my heating system's cold air intake. It has been a while since I cleaned the metal grid that covered it, so I pulled the grid off and washed the dust off of it. It looks much better now.

I also went through my over-the-counter and prescription medicines from my trips to Africa and took them in to the pharmacy for disposal. The boxes, naturally, are still sitting on the bathroom counter.

My mind is broken

I had Sparks tonight. The girls were completely crazy. I suspect it's a combination of Halloween candy and being more tired than usual due to the time change.

This afternoon, I continued working on cleaning out the desk. I got rid of a bunch of travel stuff (maps and tour books) that I'm unlikely to need again. I also found Lemon Aid car buying books from when I bought my car ... nine years ago. There's no reason to keep those anymore.

Two days today

For the month of November, bloggers everywhere vow to update every day.

I, on the other hand, started the month by totally forgetting to update. I'm lucky I didn't sign up.

Yesterday I put all of the Halloween decorations away, except for a giant spider that is mysteriously sitting on the rug in the front hall.

I also (finally) turned off the air conditioning. I didn't realize that I hadn't covered up the air conditioner or turned it off until I went to set the Halloween black light on top of it. I covered it up on Saturday, but I didn't turn it off for reasons I don't really remember. I assume laziness is near the top of the list, though.

Today I had another interview. I think it went well - it's a small company, so I interviewed with the company president, then I met with the HR person. I think we were philosophically on the same page. It's an interesting business, and it sounds like a good place to work. We'll see how it goes.

When I got home, I continued on my quest to clean out my desk. Things I found today included:
- 3 books of music for the trumpet
- my high school yearbooks
- a binder full of orientation material from my job at the big company (the one I got laid off from in 2007). It's a nice binder that I had no idea even existed.

Happy Halloween!

I know I didn't update yesterday. It was a crazy day. I had my usual activities (the gym and boxing) plus decorating for Halloween and carving a pumpkin.

Today I got up early (too early) to write three tests for jobs with the federal government. The first test started at 8:30, so I left the house at 7. (Well, OK, 7:05). It was pouring.

I was two minutes from the bus stop when the bus went by (early, I might note). The next bus was late ('cause that's how it works). I got there in time, though, and wrote the first test.

For the first test, we were allowed an hour and a half (after the 30 minutes of reading the instructions and handing out the test booklets). I finished a couple of minutes early.

After that, I had an hour before the next test at 11:30. We were again allowed an hour and a half, but I was done in less than an hour.

That gave me lots of time before my third test at 2:30. For this one, we were allowed an hour and forty minutes. I again finished in about an hour - which was awesome, because I was more than ready to go home - and the rain had stopped!

Yesterday, I decorated the house/yard. After I got home, I put out a few extra decorations that I didn't want out in the rain. I also took some pictures ... so I hope you're all ready.



That is Wanda, all dressed up for Halloween. She was planning to go to a party tonight, but she has been sick the last couple of days, and in the end she didn't feel up to going. She is answering the door instead.

Wanda's vampire pumpkin (carved last night).
Pickled aliens on the front step.
The mailbox.
To the left of the front step. The skull is a candle holder. Those are my Halloween curtains - and if you look carefully, you can see the witch on the window.
The bushes to the left of the step.
The front walkway. That web has already caught one kid. I said "Yay, dinner tomorrow." His dad laughed.
I love my gargoyle.
The gargoyle sits at the corner of the house at the end of the walk.
Below the gargoyle is the glow in the dark area. The black light is behind the bushes.
Looking towards the front step.
The large cross in the front yard - with the fresh grave and the hand & eye coming out of the ground.


From the street. The white crosses were the ones I was making. (I finished them yesterday.)

My anti-procrastination project today was a mini one - I did a very, very small amount of shredding.

Remember when I was complaining about being bored?

I got a call this morning - I have another interview on Monday. The job posting was really vague, so I'm not sure what to expect for this one.

This afternoon, I went to a meet & greet with a staffing company. It was quite interesting, and I gave them my resume.

I also followed up with the staffing company that got me that interview last week - as I suspected, I'm not getting that one.

Tomorrow is free (other than regular Friday stuff). Saturday I have 3 tests to write for a federal government job.

I'm glad it's busy, but at the same time I was getting used to not having to do much.

Anyway, on to the anti-procrastination projects today.

Last Christmas, one of my necklaces broke. I tried to scam my dad into fixing it, but he was too clever for that. It has sat on my dresser every since, still broken.

Today I fixed it. It took about 2 minutes - because I had to go downstairs to get a pair of pliers.

I also cleaned my fish's bowl. That shouldn't count as an anti-procrastination project - except I have been putting it off for three weeks. It was either clean it or get reported for cruelty to fish. Anyway, his bowl is clean now.

Press more carefully

Today I continued cleaning out my desk.

Things I found:
- a manual for some software I had to buy for one of my university courses
- my old home ec sample book from grade 9 (Comments tended to be along the lines of "press more carefully" - shocking I don't iron these days, isn't it.)
- notes from my gold Duke of Edinburgh's award expedition

Snakes!

Today I finally started cleaning out my desk.

I found:
- notes to an objective setting course
- a letter from my employer two jobs ago in a sealed envelope
- the list of houses I looked at while house hunting
- a half-completed logic puzzles book
- the "yearbook" from my elementary school when I was in grade 1 & 2.

There's still more to go - I only made it through about a quarter of the desk.

Tonight was also the Halloween party for Sparks.

I spent a half an hour doing my hair - and then it fell down in the car and I had to fix it when I got there.

More cleaning

My anti-procrastination project today was to continue cleaning the furnace room.

I did some de-cluttering, and some cleaning. There is still more to go, this will continue to be a project.

It's in the bag

I've always read a lot. I'll read pretty much anything - or at least I'll start reading almost anything.

I don't buy books all that often - I read too many for that to be practical. I do have a few authors whose books I buy, but otherwise I rely on borrowing them, usually from the library.

I usually have 6 - 10 books out at any given time. I have an old, cloth grocery bag that I use to transport my library books.

It's a really thin bag, and has had a rip in it for ... a long time.

Well over a year ago, I came up with a plan for a new bag to use for my library runs, but I didn't get around to making it. Last year, Wanda moved in and my sewing stuff got moved quickly. End result: no bag.

Today my anti-procrastination project was to make the bag I had planned.

Here's a picture:



The outside is strips of fabric (pink, green, orange, yellow). The inner layer is an old pair of jeans.

There are no pockets or anything (although they would be easy to add if I needed them). I considered putting a zipper in the top but haven't done so yet.

What can I do without leaving the couch?

Today was a very lazy day. I managed to drag myself to the grocery store, but basically I spent much of the day sitting in my "internet" chair.

Before Wanda went to work, we watched some DVDs. I hadn't done any anti-procrastination projects yet, so I cleaned out the inside of the coffee table while we watched.

That's right, so far I have cleaned off the top, the bottom, and now the inside.

This particular coffee table has a top that lifts up to become a table, and there are small storage compartments on either side of the table that you can reach when the top is lifted.

I realize that is a confusing explanation, but I hope it made sense.

Shoe shopping

My theory has been that my runners contributed to my weird foot injury from a couple of weeks ago. (They were 14 months old, so it's not shocking that I might need new ones.) I had decided to buy new ones, but I didn't want to do that until my foot was better.

This morning, I bought new runners. They are much more snug than my old ones. I immediately work them to my pump class, where they performed well. Tonight I went back to boxing, and they worked well there as well - and my foot is no more sore than it was when I got up today. (I didn't do any of the skipping at boxing - no point in being stupid about it.)

When I get home from boxing, I set my water bottle in the kitchen, then head off to the shower. As I was getting ready for my shower, I noticed that the fan cover in the bathroom was dusty.

Normally, this would be the kind of thing I'd ignore for a couple of weeks, but today I actually cleaned it.

I also did a little bit of shredding, but nothing major.

The interview

My interview was at 9 a.m. today. Now that I'm unemployed, there are many days when I'm not out of bed by 9. I could have asked for a later time, but I always wake up when Wanda gets home at 6:15, and I wanted to get it over with.

I met with the woman from HR first, then I had a test to write, then I met with a development manager. I'd say the chat with the HR woman went well, but the chat with the development manager didn't go as well. (It didn't go badly, I'm just not sure I'm the right person for the job.)

The entire process took a little over 2 hours. After that, I headed home for lunch, then totaled up the cookie money from Sparks and took it to the bank. My anti-procrastination project of the day? I remembered to bring the books I had culled to donate to their book sale.

I was pretty fried by then, but I went to yet another dollar store in search of snakes. I found some cute little ones - I'm quite excited about them.

Back to the gym

Nothing too impressive today.

I didn't sleep well last night - I was pretty stressed, and I haven't been to the gym in 2 weeks. Today I did some interview prep. (I should do more, but my brain is done.) I also finally went back to the gym.

My foot is a little iffy, but I needed the exercise. I did a weight lifting class, so I had to stand on my foot, but there was no jumping or kicking. It's a little sore, but not too bad. I'll take it easy tomorrow (unless there's a kicking and jumping component to the interview) and hopefully I'll be able to do my boxing class on Friday (as long as I skip the skipping) (hee).

While I was trying to concentrate today, I noticed the cables for my stereo system. I originally routed them over the fireplace mantle, and there really was no reason for it, so today I routed them around the base of the fireplace instead. Much less noticeable.

It's just a day away

Today started slowly. I found one job I wanted to apply for and had just started the cover letter when I got a phone call from the staffing company I talked to last week. I have an interview on Thursday.

The company I'm interviewing with does testing (as well as the actual interview), so I'm brushing up on a few things before then.

Tonight was also Spark enrollment, so I had running around to do for that.

As a result, it was a light anti-procrastination day. I did some shredding and sent some e-mails I had been putting off, but that was about it.

The costume and more

Today I went out to the fabric store. I bought a curtain tie (to use as a belt. I also bought some fringe for the edge of the shawl I decided to make for the costume. (It's October - a shawl is probably a good idea around here.)

I stopped at the dollar store, and bought 3 snakes. I stopped at Party Packagers and bought 3 more snakes. (The problem with buying snakes at one place is that they tend to only have one kind of snake. I want a variety.)

I got home and realized I forgot to get velcro.

Luckily, I had a white strip of snaps. (I have no idea why I bought it originally.) I put that on the dress - which is officially done now.

I put the fringe on the shawl.

Above is a picture of Wanda wearing the dress & shawl. (We did not put the snakes in her hair.)

(I also provided references to the staffing company I talked to last week, but that was about it for job-search stuff today.)

None of this was an anti-procrastination project, though, so tonight I cleaned out the fridge.

I didn't clean out everything, but I did dispose of several jars of salad dressing. (Seriously, I had 6 types of salad dressing - and I rarely eat salad.) I also go rid of various other condiments that had been in there far too long.

Ssssssss....

Today I decided to work on the Halloween costume. I didn't buy a pattern yesterday, since I figured I could make one up.

My plan was to look through the patterns I already have and use one of them to get the general idea for the bodice. The problem was that my patterns were scattered ever since Wanda moved in & I had to hurriedly move my sewing stuff so that she'd have somewhere to sleep.

Toady, I finally organized my patterns. I found a pattern for a polar fleece vest and used it for the bodice. It took a couple of iterations, but I finally got the bodice the way I wanted it. After that it was a simple matter of attaching the skirt. It's now done except for the velcro (or snaps or whatever) on the top - and I need to buy a belt. (The plan is to buy a curtain tie to use as the belt, I just didn't buy it yesterday.) Also, as I mentioned yesterday, I also need more snakes.

I will post pictures once the whole costume is done.

When you get up at 11, it makes for a short day

Not too much anti-procrastination progress today. Basically, all I did was paint the future grave-markers I'm preparing for Halloween.

I also bought material to make a Medusa costume. Officially, it's for Wanda but I'm totally planning to steal it. I need more snakes, though. I might have to make a trip to the dollar store.

Anyone speak setswana?

Somehow, Fridays never seem to be very productive.

My foot is finally feeling better, but I still skipped the gym and boxing in hopes that it might someday be 100% better.

It was a beautiful fall day. I considered going for a walk - but it was the haunted walk last weekend that messed up my foot the second time, so I decided that sitting around was probably a better choice. I did get the grocery shopping done, so I don't have to brave the Saturday crowds at the grocery store.

I also started cleaning off my desk. It's a good thing I did - I found a library book that has to be returned tomorrow. I threw away a newspaper from Botswana. (If I haven't read it by now, I never will.) I also did some shredding of bills, etc. that got thrown there at one point. This didn't feel as productive as organizing the furnace room, but it was still good to make a start.

Boo!

I decided to run errands before lunch this morning.

I had Sparks banking to do - which is fast, 'cause it's a commercial account, I had to mail the patchwork pieces to my mom, and I had to buy enrollment pins and badges for Sparks.

I also stopped at Party Packagers on the way home to look at Halloween decorations. No reason, I just like Halloween decorations. (I bought nothing.)

I applied for a couple of jobs this afternoon, then - keeping with the Halloween theme - I started making some simple grave markers for my lawn on Halloween. (Just wooden crosses that I will paint white.) I've been thinking about how to improve the decorations for a couple of years, but (surprise!) I procrastinated on doing anything about it. (Also, this is much simpler than some of my ideas.)

Also in anti-procrastination news, I did more shredding and then - since I was right there - I pulled some books off of my bookshelf that I do not need to keep. The Sparks bank always has a book sale for charity going on, and they always need new books. I'll try to remember to bring these in next week.

The other thing I did today was read "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society". It was recommended to me twice last week, and then I saw it as a 7 day loan at the library, so I picked it up. It is quite good - definitely worth reading.

You'd think I'd know better

I really, really didn't want to work on any of my anti-procrastination projects today. However, if I didn't , I'd have to admit it here, so I persevered.

The furnace room in the basement is also a storage area. Last year, I bought a new TV. (It was on Wanda's birthday, but for the record, it's not hers.)

The box has been sitting around in the middle of the furnace room ever since. It's annoying, but up until now, it has been less annoying than reorganizing the boxes to fit that box into the mix. However, today I reorganized the boxes and fit the TV box in so that it's no longer in the middle of the floor. In the process, I found some stuff that had fallen behind the boxes. I also moved the printer box off of the workbench, which gives me more workbench space.

It took probably 10 minutes.

Let me repeat that. I've been procrastinating on doing it for close to a year, and I got it done in 10 minutes.

And ... this is why I decided to work on projects I've been procrastinating on.

In other news, I finally boxed up the patchwork pieces so that I can mail them to my mom. Tomorrow I will mail them.

Two updates in one

I forgot to update yesterday. I didn't forget to do a project, just to write about it, so that's something.

After Sunday's cooking & sewing extravaganza, yesterday was a relaxing day spent eating leftovers, preparing for Sparks tonight, and reading. I've been reading Julie Kenner's "Confessions of a Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom" series. It's pretty fluffy, but entertaining.

However, I also made time yesterday to clean off the bottom shelf of my coffee table. You may recall that I cleaned off the top a while ago. (It's still pretty clean, I'm pleased to say.) However, the bottom shelf - home of catalogs and take-out menus - was untouched, so yesterday I went through everything that has accumulated there. I found a pay stub from 2006. (I have tidied and dusted since 2006, but apparently it's been a while since I went through everything.)

Today it was back to normal. I wrote some cover letters in the morning, then headed off to meet with the recruiter this afternoon. I actually ended up talking with both recruiters in the permanent placement division. It will be interesting to see if anything comes of this.

This meeting meant that - and I hope you're sitting down for this - I wore a shirt that requires ironing.

To put this in perspective, I burnt something onto my iron a while ago, so for last Christmas, I asked for an iron. I got the iron, and it is sitting on my dryer. It has never been out of the box.

Getting back to my anti-procrastination project, today was another day of shredding. I usually shred enough that my shredder overheats, then I stop. I'm making progress, but there's still a lot to do.

Thanksgiving

Let's start with last night, shall we?

There is a company in Ottawa that does haunted walks - i.e. walks around the downtown area telling ghost stories. Last night I went on the Original Haunted Walk. (This also marks the first time I've done any sort of organized tour of Ottawa. )

I'm glad I went on it, but it could have been better.

We started not far from the kiosk, where the tour guide talked about how that part of the city had once been a graveyard. Hundreds of people were buried there during the building of the canal and through cholera epidemics. Eventually, it was decided to move the bodies to different cemeteries and build office buildings, etc. there, but they didn't have an accurate count of how many bodies were buried, so not all were moved. When they were digging to build some of the buildings, the workers on occasion found skeletons left from the graveyard.

That was interesting, but ... not actually a ghost story.

Another story involved an old teacher's college, where apparently a night watchman saw a woman move from one classroom across the hall to another classroom. When he asked her what she was doing there, she went back to the first classroom and disappeared. He thought it was a figment of his imagination, but when he went by a display case, he saw a picture of the woman, who had been one of the first supervisors at the school. This was supposed to refute the theory that it was his imagination, but ... it seems to me that that makes it more likely - his imagination used the picture he had seen before to create the vision.

Perhaps I'm too cynical for tours like this.

Anyway, on to today.

When I was a kid, Thanksgiving meant a long weekend spent at my grandparents' farm. Other that than, there was nothing particularly different from any other weekend out there. (We went out there frequently.) We'd have a typical Sunday lunch of whatever was available - ham, roast beef, or chicken. We never had turkey, because they didn't raise turkeys.

However, when I was in high school, my grandma flew to Toronto to visit her sister (who lived in Niagara Falls). I remember standing in the kitchen as my grandpa said, "Well, even if she's not here, we can have a turkey.". That's the first year we had turkey on Thanksgiving.

Today, I cooked a turkey, but naturally I had to do things a little differently.

I made the stuffing, and put it under the skin of the turkey. (I remember reading years ago that this made the stuffing extra crispy.)
It also made the turkey too big to fit in the roaster with the lid on.

Since there was nothing in the cavity, I filled it with a lemon cut in quarters and parsley (which was let over from the cheese bread last week).
The part with the stuffing browned a lot faster. (This picture was taken before basting for the first time.)

The stuffing did get crispier, but I found it too dry. (I suspect that had more to do with the way I made the stuffing than it did with the way I cooked it.) It also stuck to the skin.

The turkey itself turned out well, though. And I successfully made gravy, which is unusual (and which I was a little concerned about due to the lemon juice mixed with the chicken drippings).

In addition, we had mashed potatoes, coleslaw (with apples), broccoli salad, fresh buns, and pumpkin pie. (Best of all, I get to eat turkey sandwiches and broccoli salad tomorrow! Best leftovers ever.)

I also finished sewing all 16 patchwork pieces. Some of them are below:


They are all similar, but have minor differences depending on things such as:

• what way I sewed them together
• what part of the print is on the piece
• the centre square contains 3 pieces that are included in all of the pieces, and 1 that changes
• how big the pieces are (and how big the seam allowances are)

I will mail them off to my mom to finish the quilts this week.

Yup, it's fall.

I had a few things to pick up at the store this morning, and Wanda wanted to borrow the car at 11, so I got moving early-ish today. I was home with time to spare, then she took off and I was stuck here.

It has been a long time since I have been car-less on a Saturday.

Luckily, the weather was beautiful. I decided I'd better take advantage of it.

The days lately have been quite warm (albeit rainy), but the snow is coming. Usually I pull the garden out on Thanksgiving weekend. This year I wasn't sure I'd be able to, since it has been so wet. When today was nice, I decided to get it done. I picked the tomatoes. I picked about 2 gallons of green tomatoes, a lot of them quite small. I picked my four carrots. They were beyond tiny, possibly because someone (I'm looking at you, rabbit trying to hide under the bush) ate the tops to almost nothing. Put together, they would not make one small carrot.

I also picked the cantaloupes. This is the first year I've grown them. They grew really quickly, then ... kind of stalled. I'm not sure whether they'll keep ripening now that they're off the vine (or how to know that they're ready). I will have to do some investigation.

Once I picked the vegetables and fruit out of the garden, I pulled out the plants and put the tomato stakes back in the shed. I also turned off the water to the tap outside.

When I got back in the house, I took a nap (yup, I'm starting to require daily naps), then worked on the quilts. I got a long way towards being finished - which is good. The pieces are on the dining room table, and I need to get it cleared off before the guests arrive tomorrow night. (I could just temporarily move the pieces of material somewhere else, but I'd much rather be done.) I've also figured out what to do with the end squares.

I'm making 16 patchwork pieces in total - one for each grandchild - and I suggested to my mom that we make polar fleece quillos. A quillo (which I'm not sure I'm spelling right) is a small quilt that folds up to make a pillow. (There is a pocket on the quilt that you turn inside out with the rest of the quilt inside.)

I suggested that we use the patchwork pieces I'm creating as the cover for the pocket, and leave the rest as simple polar fleece. That's the easiest option, and most likely to result in actually getting these done sometime this decade.

My short day

I slept in late today. Very late. It made for a short day.

I did manage to apply for a couple of jobs, so that's good. The number of jobs being advertised seems to be picking up, which is also good. According to the news, the unemployment rate is dropping. I'd love to be part of that statistic.

I dragged Wanda out grocery shopping this afternoon. We should be set for food for Thanksgiving. That's good, because I imagine the stores will be crazy tomorrow.

I'm continuing to work on the quilt. I now have a deadline - I need to get it done so that I get the table cleaned off before the guests arrive on Sunday.

Feeling foolish

Do you remember how my cordless drill didn't work? Do you also remember how everyone asked me if I had charged the battery?

Do you remember how I said that I'm not an idiot and of course I charged the battery? And how I had even tried another battery?

Funny story.

Today I decided to work on building a new composter. The old one had been moved a couple of times and was falling apart. A few weeks ago, I painted some boards that I had sitting around the house.

Then it rained for two weeks. Today, however, it was nice out.

I knew the drill wasn't working, but I decided to plug in the battery just to be sure.

I then went outside, screwed the composter together by hand, then came inside to get screening (for the parts that won't be covered by wood).

(Last year, I bought more screening for the back door because I couldn't find the stuff I originally had. Today I found the original box of screening ... underneath the second box. I'm forgetful and blind but consistent.)

Anyway, I took the partially charged battery, put it in the drill, and ... the drill works.

Oops.

I also tidied parts of the workbench in an attempt to find the staples for my staple gun.

It turns out they were on a chair. (Believe me, cleaning and organizing that room is on the list of things I need to do.)

In other news, I went to the doctor about my foot today. It's a rest/ice/anti-inflamatory thing. I'll have to skip the gym (and boxing) this week and next week, but hopefully it will recover soon.

Cleaning Up

When you enter the house through the front door, you are in a small porch area. The coat closet is on the right and there is a bench on the left.

If you go straight, the hallway is off to the right and the living room is off to the left.

If you continue going straight, you're in the kitchen.

(This sounds like a big distance, but in reality it's probably 15 feet from the front door to the kitchen.)

There are two places that mail tends to collect - on the bench in the hallway (typically the unopened mail), and on the end table just before you get to the kitchen (the stuff that I opened and decided wasn't that interesting).

Today I cleaned off the end table. (The bench gets cleaned off whenever I pay the bills.)

I also continued work on the quilt material, but there is more work to be done there.

Whip It

Today's anti-procrastination project was a continuation of yesterday's. I cut out a couple of more colours of fabric. I'm making 16 copies of everything, so it takes a while to get it all done.

In other news, my Sparks went for a hike today. It went really well, and the girls had a great time. It had been threatening rain all day, but luckily it didn't start raining until 5 minutes after we ended our hike - then it poured.

After Sparks, I went to see "Whip It". It was really good. The downside is that now I want to hit people, possibly on roller skates.

Since my foot still hurts from boxing last week, I will try to restrain myself.

The best laid plans

I had to get up and get moving this morning. You see, it's cookie time here in Canada. That's right, Girl Guides are now selling the mint cookies, and I had volunteered to work at the pick up location handing the cookies out to the group leaders.

My shift was from 9-12, and I got there a few minutes early. There were two others working as well, which was nice. I didn't know either of them, but we had a good conversation for the three hours we were there. In fact, one of them is a next door neighbour to one of my Sparks from last year.

I had the afternoon to procrastinate job hunt, and then I went to zumba. My foot is still messed up from boxing, but I managed the zumba class without too much trouble. (I would have left if my foot were really sore, but it's mostly OK when I'm wearing shoes.)

Anyway, it was evening by the time I was ready to do something for my anti-procrastination. My project for today was going to be more shredding, and fixing a cloth grocery bag.

You see, I've been using cloth grocery bags for years. A few months ago, the handle on one of my older bags came unstitched. I didn't really need it - I have plenty of other bags - and the thread that was in the sewing machine at the time was the wrong colour, so I threw it by the sewing machine and forgot about it.

Can I see a show of hands as to who thinks I found it today so I can fix it? No one?

That is correct. It was nowhere to be found today.

However, while I was looking for it, I got distracted - which explains why I was looking on the top shelf of the closet - I know it wasn't there.

What was there was a bag of material. Specifically, it was a bag of material from my Grandma's clothes. After she died, my mom wanted to make quilts of her clothes for her grandchildren, and I volunteered to help.

She died in 1994, but I didn't get the material until well after that. (I'm pretty sure it was after I moved into the house - which admittedly was 9 years ago.)

Anyway, today I sorted through the material.

I started cutting it out, but haven't finished yet. Watch for more updates on this one.

(And if you're my sibling or cousin, try to look surprised when you see the finished product, OK?)

The weekend

You may have noticed that I didn't update yesterday. Let me tell you about my day.

Yesterday I was getting together with friends for a games day. (Basically, we spend the afternoon and evening playing games, and do a potluck meal as well.)

I got up when Wanda got home from work (a little after 7 a.m.). I mixed up dough for some garlic-cheese buns I had promised to bring, then I went back to bed.

When I eventually got up for good, I put the buns in pans and let them rise again. While they were doing that, I did an extremely small anti-procrastination project - I went through the bottom of my closet and my shoe rack in an effort to find my arch supports for my fall shoes. I was victorious - they were in the shoe rack. (They are white and the shoe rack is white, so it wasn't obvious.)

I baked the buns, and the headed off for games day.

You would think that I would have worn the shoes I just put the supports into, but I forgot and wandered out of the house in the sandals I wear in the house, so no such luck. (I did wear them today, though.)

I got home at midnight, and naturally did not fall asleep right away. At 6:05, Wanda called for a ride. (She usually takes the car when she works overnight, but, of course, I wasn't home in time last night, so I volunteered to go pick her up. It wasn't a huge sacrifice since I always wake up when she gets home anyway.)

When I got home, I went back to bed and didn't managed to do anything productive until late morning.

I had a very lazy day, but eventually managed to do more shredding. I would claim I don't know why I have so much shredding to do, but really there are two reasons: I cleaned out my income tax folder a while back, so there's that shredding, and I just generally don't like to do it, so the bills, etc. pile up. Anyway, I got more done today.