tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78603295206123472222024-03-13T19:55:42.717-04:00Pursuit Of Idle PleasuresThe daily pursuit of happiness and those moments of idle pleasure that calm the soul. This is a reminder to myself to slowdown and smell the roses and to find pleasure in everyday events.Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.comBlogger2565125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-62399266643743809962024-03-13T19:41:00.003-04:002024-03-13T19:41:40.898-04:00spring forward<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sunday morning, while I was lying in bed struggling to find a reason to get up, I decided that instead of dreading my time on the treadmill, it will be something to look forward to. Don't get me wrong, I do look forward to chatting with Kirsten, but the physical effort? Not always. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Looking back I can see that all my failed attempts at consistent exercise were based on mindset. I'd tell myself that I only had to get on for 10 minutes, like it was some sort of punishment, in the hopes that I'd get into the groove and walk longer. It usually worked but I'd go through the same mind games the next day and the next - motivation did not endure! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The times that I've been most successful was when I was fired up about the exercise and feeling of getting stronger. This is what I have to recapture, and I think I'm starting to get there. All that said, I cannot discount the absolute awesomeness of having an exercise buddy!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 407.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 542.0px;"><img height="407.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/OFPVsyGUXF4nwwhElU0W4ARaPPv7cRZynE2UzwVOQBwndl1yQykXrbIFoMsev0fM-NYWG6ngWnKMrRI6J_1Xm8kxCfM3t7qvIyJXqraqDzDY6bQ4D8OJwpepf_ipHB14B7rZzmGLQM_IxAfILU270lc" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="542.0" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 407.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/hH3Wp8l75vCCQQ2dVQ-lH-GJOHWC3HeiyXgtfESgStMHsExOjx7aVnZerCS--dmxdPxgefJ9rzCUZUk-C6Tw1qCCBtd3b9NSL2ONPw4n7UzTwscGQk7V0MvTnOqUyEDZoxrRpnQVJYpyTOPLf2pWmtc" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="407.0" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">down by the creek</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sunday was mostly rainy but finished off with some snow that stuck to the ground. We had to scrape the car when we left Trudie & Leo's after supper. By the time I got up Monday, (shockingly late again!), the snow was mostly gone. It's sunny this afternoon with the forecast showing above zero across the board for the next week. Unheard of.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Several weeks ago I might have mentioned that I made preserved lemons - well, Saturday was the day to try it. I took one quarter of a lemon, rinsed it, chopped it finely, then stirred it into garlic & fennel that I was sauteeing for a rice pilaf - it gave a delicate lemon flavour to the rice. The jar should keep in the fridge for several months :-)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I also made lox from some salmon that we got on sale. Easy and so so good!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Last night we had Trudie & Leo over for a quick supper. They were gone by 7:30 - we are definitely all getting older and sleepier ;-)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I had to get some imaging done at our small local hospital this morning. The technicians were all friendly and helpful, and it was an easy shift from one area to the other. In the city I might have even needed to change hospitals for the second image - yay for small towns!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 407.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/tZ4p34_TCtj9qDY1xSl011cWXA9OG5AUwPiJlqNkfLJNQl6Fmg5dce-Kd-3C7Ucf33ARCQE0O-3PN2GqN6kmMbydOBz1zUvR3ea-7QdN884McVyDLTm2BksPhS95iljyXnmWhVb4WGS7WIO4JkQq_GU" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="407.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Scamper… a word that aptly describes Lupa running from room to room with her toys. The dogs have scads of toys, some of which are around 2 years old. The little monkey, with the long brown tail, still survives despite it being Adia's favourite. Lupa prefers the giant toys that are almost as big as she is! She wrestles and drags the dragon all over the house, and can even jump onto the bed with it, although not always on her first try!</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“walking for an hour on my own”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“small town hospitals”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“salmon”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“a gorgeous sunny day - almost shirtsleeve temps!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“dogs asleep in the sun spot”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Lupa lying flat on her tummy with her legs stretched out behind her - so cute!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"daylight savings time"</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-16307047101366795032024-03-06T17:49:00.004-05:002024-03-06T17:49:33.980-05:00just when I thought<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It seems that anytime things are looking like they are getting back to normal, something else pops up. Sunday night I twisted the wrong way and screwed up my back… very painful with spasms at every movement… I was in slightly better shape when I got up on Monday morning but it wasn't ideal and movement was painful! Kirsten was walking so I figured I'd just gimp around the house while she did, but at the last minute got onto the treadmill and being careful with my movement had a huge improvement - I was able to keep it up for 50 minutes - at a snails pace again but hey! I even went out for a half hour walk with Carm later in the afternoon 🤪</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I think the initial walking and lots of careful stretching ‘massaged’ a nerve back into place, so now I'm just left with some inflammation but no spasms. I've walked every day since which seems to be helping!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I continue to carry on as if I were normal!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Last week, a few days before we went to Olaf's, our hot water suddenly became SCALDING hot! We don't know what caused the change, perhaps one of the thermometers malfunctioned. Over a few days he was able to adjust the temp until it's acceptable, but why? He chatted with the hot water tank company and they sent replacement thermometers :-)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There are only a few tiny patches of snow left where the snowblower had piled it especially high! We've had record breaking heat for a few days, even today, with the cold front dropping the temperature from the teens, it's still unseasonably warm at 5C. We should still be in the thick of winter…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Eleven percent of Americans have type II diabetes. Photos of kids lunchboxes have been showing up in my feed lately - it is shocking what is considered food in the US. Lunches with mostly pre-packaged sweets and chips seem almost the norm. And often a sandwich on white bread with nutella is included for protein...</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Having said that - I am not a perfect eater - not by a long shot! But I hope I'd send real food in a lunch box! It’s time for me to do better with my own nutrition!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’ve been doing a pretty good job of tuning out the nightly news but sometimes it intrudes and I'll have to say, the world is shit.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“record breaking temperatures”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“goulash with white beans instead of pasta”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Carm's garlicy crostini”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“cuddling back into the sofa with a hot coffee after an hour of walking”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“cold cucumber”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-60821614424066959282024-03-03T19:55:00.003-05:002024-03-03T19:55:47.595-05:00carry on<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Carry on as if you are normal is my mantra these last few days, and carrying on I am! Thanks to Kirsten I've gotten back walking - an hour Thursday and Friday, 50 minutes yesterday, and another hour today. Today was a bit faster, but the other days I wasn't walking at record speed, in fact I was moving at a slow amble, but I did it! Having an exercise buddy is awesome!!! Especially on the days when I really don't want to do anything other than curl up on the sofa 😀</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Friday we lost Lupa for about half an hour!!! Panic! She'd been missing for 10 minutes before Carm came in to get me - I took off towards the creek with visions of her drowned body being swept downriver, Carm went towards the back before going to the road… where she was waiting to be let back in 😱 She must have gotten through the underbrush along the road where there is no fence and found herself unable to get back. She could have LITERALLY walked under the gate to get back to us but instead made us freak out for ages!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The red-wing blackbirds are busy staking their territories - first come first served I guess. It sounds like spring! High of 6C yesterday and again today with mid teens forecast later in the week. It's overcast though. The grey sky is like an incubus sucking all energy and life as it lies heavily on the earth.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We watched a segment on the news the other night about a group of swimmers who have kept a ‘lane’ open in the Ottawa River and swim daily! Yikes - they have to cut the ice out to keep it clear… I think my new swimming temp will be 15C/60F… If they can swim in near freezing temps I guess I won't die if I go in at 15C! Think how many more swimming days there'll be! At least I'll try…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Last week I got Carm to pick up carrots at Costco - yes, another 10 pounds! That 20 pounds that I complained about a month ago are long gone. It was handy having them already prepared so we cut up and froze half of them yesterday, keeping some for a ginger carrot soup to serve to Pat last night. The lowly carrot is not so humble when married with lots of garlic, ginger, and lime! Or when dressed with parmesan and hot honey!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We finished watching ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ last night while Pat was here. It's a great series but if you've read the book be forewarned that the story is wildly different in some aspects! Good but different.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“my exercise buddy”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“almost all the snow is gone”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Lupa showing up at the gate”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“feeling better getting off the treadmill than I did getting on! REMEMBER THIS!”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-31091672933309139362024-02-29T21:23:00.005-05:002024-02-29T21:23:57.257-05:00geese<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yesterday, in my daze, I heard red-wing blackbirds in the wind-whipped trees. There seemed to be a flock of them calling as they tried to find a spot out of the wind. And there was wind last night - oh my gosh! The hawthorns outside the bedroom windows morphed into craggy monsters that were clawing at the glass trying to get inside. I tried to get to sleep, the dogs tried to settle, but until Carm was there, and we were all together, none of us could relax. Miraculously, the power stayed on.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Today I got out of bed at the semi-regular time (late! but the same time as everyone else) - I consider that the first big win of the day... Looking back at the past few days, even though it was the worst I've been for years (I can't remember the last time I spent 1 day in bed, let alone 3!), there was a difference. This time I knew that it would end… that it would pass… that if I were just a little patient I'd feel better eventually. I didn't beat myself up, thinking that I'm a loser, making it worse than it had to be. It's taken 20 years to learn this… I'm a slow learner I guess.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">On some level I may have known it would end, but I also gave in and didn't fight it, even that little voice in the back of my head was silent for a while. Perhaps that's why the worst lasted so long.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One of the ‘Modern Love’ episodes that I watched featured Anne Hathaway as a bipolar woman swinging from low to high - it was a bit of a caricature of what living with bipolar looks like but at the same time it depicted the mood swings rather well. There were moments in the program where I was “yes, that is exactly how it is”... Sequins and bedazzle on the upswing, soporific flannel on the slump.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's sunny and a bonus February day so I should try to get the rest of the ‘winter’ garlands and little trees put away until next Christmas. I’m feeling somewhat better but at this point in the day (10 am), I'm not sure if I have the energy or will to get it done… maybe if I put some music on…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Later in the day… With Carm's help we got the garlands and little trees packed away! The ‘summer’ valances are re-installed. The house looks vaguely like it's missing something but our eyes will adapt!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My third big win today: I got on the treadmill for an hour, slower than a snail's pace, but chatting with Kirsten kept my feet moving long past the time they wanted to quit… it's not all mood - there's often a profound fatigue, it feels like I am moving through a bowl of cream of wheat, slow and with great effort. (hummm… I might be a bit hungry!). Anne Hathaway played it well. I could not have walked for an hour a day or two ago.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">GEESE! Huge flocks circled over the river before splitting up into smaller groups as they spiralled down from the blustery sky, their wings flapping madly as they made the turn into the wind. It seems they are early this year.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“no trees down after the huge windstorm”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“feeling much better today”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“geese! the harbinger of spring”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“60 minute amble”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-1147587521640882922024-02-28T19:19:00.004-05:002024-02-28T19:19:58.087-05:00not quite the way I want<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well… I was premature with my celebration… Monday I crashed… hard… I can't remember the last time I spent 3 days in bed but there you have it. That will teach me to gloat! It’s been so long that I'd forgotten what it's like to be in this state - I’d forgotten the absolute inability to communicate, and perhaps worse, the social withdrawal. It was impossible to string more than one word together, not that I wanted to. Greta Garbo said it best “</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I want to be alone; I just want to be alone.” </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I still feel leaden and dull - body and brain… but managed to get the dogs out to their nail appointment - it felt like a major accomplishment. Leftovers for supper again tonight though…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I just have to be patient as it will pass and then I'll be back to normal again. Right?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I did watch 4 mindless movies on Monday and a season of ‘Modern Love’ yesterday… when I wasn't just blankly staring at the wall. I now know more about the Bee Gees than I wanted to know. I watched ‘the Book Club’ where they go to Italy, then something called ‘the big wedding’, and I ended with ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding #3”... they went to Greece. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Some things are hard to write about. After something happens to you, you go to write it down, and either you over dramatize it, or underplay it, exaggerate the wrong parts or ignore the important ones. At any rate, you never write it quite the way you want to.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">― </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sylvia Plath</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Last Friday Christina came by for a test night while we went to Olaf's! I think it went well and we had fun with Olaf & Stephanie. We got a wildly excited greeting when we got home, but then as we were sitting around having tea, Lupa was on Christina's lap! A far cry from Spike who was not a happy camper when we went away.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> Sunday I made a turkey breast roll and we had Trudie, Leo, & Marie over for supper. I had some of the stuffing balls left (and still have a dozen or more in the freezer!). We've been living on leftovers since.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I guess I should mention that we've been having record breaking heat - a high of 14C today! Cold front moving in tonight for another few days of cold and then it's warming up again. Sadly, I haven't gone outside at all since Saturday… although today I managed a few minutes. Most of the snow is gone, leaving an icy path down to the barn. There's muck and half dissolved dog poop everywhere.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“homemade lox”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“a big enough bag of expired batteries to weigh down the piece of fish”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“laughs at Olaf's”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-14193064371334554132024-02-22T22:05:00.005-05:002024-02-22T22:07:43.196-05:00I can see clearly now<p> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“I Can See Clearly Now”, by Johnny Nash was my anthem yesterday - after weeks of misery and anguish I have made it through again! The black dog was banished! I even had enough umph to walk on the treadmill for an hour! Without Kirsten egging me on :-) I wimped out today though - too busy making food for tomorrow!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And today there’s even more to celebrate! Mom had her appointment with the radiation oncologist and her ENT surgeon and HURRAH a clean bill of health - well, clean as in no cancer showing up in her scan. She has a few outstanding side-effects, including not being able to wear her mouth appliance - the ENT suggested that she go to the dentist for another fitting soon, while the RA suggested waiting a bit longer till there is more healing… a conundrum for sure. Both doctors reminded Mom that it could still be a few months before her radiation side-effects are fully healed, and that sadly, some might be permanent.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 335px; overflow: hidden; width: 410px;"><img height="335.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/7fvSMXDQmQfCb9HUah8KMy4XzPujA66p5pXVI98F8P3aFYaAi8csV-9cQ4yHtcQoMnKc45vvjpRuUbto0SVszJuZmoi_fz8O3VHwVCBTLAoaM9LAuNLmCZmdqYzm1yNt3nZgMzBvVGWEX_qy_8sdmAE" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="410.0" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 356px; overflow: hidden; width: 410px;"><img height="356.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/HmV7WSbQRpZeaiNdcRbsBu-lF8GKsqpHNo23nWX_VnaKuT8I5bSQmBr_UR7qAswmqcVoreQ66H-zROZtXOD2lKVqmYT5bLIRvhGQrYDQTwfi1OrWywFbn1tPTg4YyLS7j6YarEd51IENB-lqP5ggc_c" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="410.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Her appointment was early in the morning and with either snow or rain in the forecast I was a bit stressed… Carm said he'd drive if it was bad so, when I got up, the first thing I did was step outside… just rain, whew. I let Carm sleep while I got ready. I didn't exactly panic, but just before I headed out the door it started snowing… hard. Yikes. Stress levels through the roof. It was too late to wake up Carm to do the driving so I got in the car, reminded myself to breathe and headed into the city. The roads were snow covered and slippery, including the 417 😱 I was perhaps a road hazard as I crawled into the city, but I made it! (and don't think I caused any accidents!)</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">"I Can See Clearly Now"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(originally by Johnny Nash)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(from "Cool Runnings" soundtrack)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I can see clearly now the rain is gone</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I can see all obstacles in my way</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's gonna be a bright (bright)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bright (bright) sunshiny day</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's gonna be a bright (bright)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bright (bright) sunshiny day</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Oh, yes I can make it now the pain is gone</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All of the bad feelings have disappeared</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here is that rainbow I've been praying for</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's gonna be a bright (bright)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bright (bright) sunshiny day</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Look all around, there's nothing but blue skies</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Look straight ahead, there's nothing but blue skies</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I can see clearly now the rain is gone</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I can see all obstacles in my way</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here is that rainbow I've been praying for</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's gonna be a bright (bright)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bright (bright) sunshiny day</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's gonna be a bright (bright)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bright (bright) sunshiny day</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bright (bright)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bright (bright) sunshiny day</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sunshiny day</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sunshiny day</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bright (bright)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Bright (bright) sunshiny day</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's gonna be a bright (bright) so bright (bright)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sunshiny day</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright) sunshiny day</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 410px; overflow: hidden; width: 389px;"><img height="410.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/AiP2Jih_7PgGlfBfWBGeJw_KPo7SQeoVcrItlYAGC4szY8EbL5TdEP8J7RHAmtA4h4r1oOJxRJNMXcKjl2kAvfa-679FYIQwQv1fYgWW8tm9ppawqjDiQcN1r9kLFPKW9OEqZZLb4C3yX16CWlDiB3M" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="389.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“waking up and feeling normal!!!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“5.6km in 61 minutes”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“first thing Dr. Busca said as he came into the room was that Mom's scan was clear! I will admit to tearing up at that point but managed to keep it together until I got home”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“a sunny day (ha ha after a snowy morning!)”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“cooking meatballs in the air fryer”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-24920918452537249042024-02-20T16:50:00.001-05:002024-02-20T16:50:08.710-05:00butter sugar pineapple<p dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-5dbe554c-7fff-0e0b-6a0c-8695bfe5815c" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When we were coming home from Kirsten's last week we stopped in the ‘Food Basics’ to see what good produce they had - our local grocery stores are very dear for anything healthy! Pineapples were $1.99 - an impossible price to pass up… so, with visions of pineapple upside-down cake in my brain we popped it onto our cart.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cut to today - cake! Delicious cake! I think it's my favourite kind - the butter melts into the cake batter so that when it's flipped over there is a sugary buttery fruity layer on top of fluffy cake. So darn good! Now, the reality is, I need cake like I need a hole in the head! We still even have a few cookies left from the Christmas baking extravaganza and the bathroom scale is creeping up… with that in mind, I divided it into 4 chunks - 3 into freezer containers to have on hand for company, and the trimmings to nibble on. Surely the calories don't count if it's just nibbled from the pan. 😉 </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A proper freezer inventory is overdue! I haven't been keeping it up to date so need to get Carm to help me go through everything while I update my records.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But enough worry about that! I did burn off some of that buttery sugar on the treadmill today and yesterday - only 30 minutes but better than nothing! I will credit Kirsten for keeping the motivation going! I did skip Saturday and Sunday… </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Saturday was Dad's birthday lunch - there was enough food prep and family fun to keep me busy for the whole day. It was great fun and luckily the food turned out okay. Kirsten brought some cheese & crackers to nibble on before. She and Stephanie also brought salads. Mom made some brussels sprouts and baby potatoes so when we put it all together we had an actual turkey dinner! The turkey was moist and flavourful (note to self: it's much less stressful on the day to have the turkey already cooked and carved! The stuffing balls were good, especially when drowned in gravy, another great make ahead stress reliever. Cardamom buns are always a hit. And the burnt sugar cake (cause who doesn't want a dessert with sugar in the name!) was a bit more moist than usual.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 407.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/UCAOIRLq0JlR4BNZClwZJAAQyGbsc1UpeQ1QjNRpiA5QBFdFL7w8qI-x4SamsEHbLhlC9dimYuUbeaQbbjN8xMqCtiwZ9o6Mg3KMq8oGxGFOTV1CAS0HxBMi-N0cFQal_Eomw3UlGPmjGflfcLSQIrU" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="407.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I mentioned in the last post that I'd maybe use different bread for the stuffing balls (I used 3 french loaves), but after having them with gravy I think the chewiness of the bread adds a nice dimension to the bites of carb. I thought I could make them smaller with regular bread, but now I'm not sure that I’d want them any smaller.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sunday I crashed! Except for laundry (so many sheets and clothes), I did nothing! I didn't even cook supper 😱 </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yesterday I zoomed around getting the place somewhat presentable for Christina's visit in the afternoon. She came over to get the rundown on how to operate the house and pet stuff so she can stay here Friday night! Hopefully Lupa doesn't drive her crazy! Lupa's used to a lot of lap and cuddle time and Christina is used to outside farm dogs, not little lap dogs… I'm hoping Lupa will worm her way into Christina's affection ;-)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 524.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/npPyI-Rpz5uu0vY6Lb7M4NelwajEgAVyg3O7jqv72aM3fOdBZ7pESo6mY_iD7R0ZmGt3RUhyn0O4M5w46j9cOI_E49GdeXVJyLe1V-c_hTsFh_E5GHuOSxez9eOsUhNVsLGGG0T6Ux6WY6D42oDSHcE" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="524.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Saturday was a brilliant sunny day, as was yesterday. Sunday it snowed on and off all day, today was supposed to be sunny, but it's grey… later in the week it's meant to go above freezing with rain. What the actual heck! Winter has been a non-event in terms of snow and cold - let's hope it stays that way for my drive into the city on Thursday early am for Mom's follow up appointment… if you are one to pray, please cast a thought her way. Friday looks like rain showers, not ideal for driving to Montreal, especially as it's dropping to -18 overnight! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I've been getting through my days step by step, moment by moment, keeping up the momentum while struggling with my pessimistic thoughts - I've got to remember to challenge the negative accusations! Instead of wallowing in misery, I have to get my brain turned around to focus on the positive, and give myself grace for carrying on… sometimes I can figure out how to do this, but lately it's been harder… BUT, today is a bit better than yesterday with no overwhelming feelings of dread - a trend in the right direction! It might be due to extra meds but I'll take it!</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“pineapple upside-down cake - new stainless steel pan was perfect”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“cake still warm from the oven”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“family gatherings”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“a few sunny days”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“handing the keys to Christina - maybe a trip south is in the making”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“turkey dinner”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“a bunch of potatoes baked, scooped, and baked again - ready for cheese, bacon, and sourcream”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-37424570242196723462024-02-16T19:25:00.001-05:002024-02-16T19:25:22.139-05:00trudging<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We are finally, sort of, out of the winter drought… sure we've had lots of cloud but they have been barren of moisture. Of course it's great to have dry roads for weeks at a time, but the earth needs to drink! Fields and creeks need the melt water to quench the thirsty earth to prepare for sprouting seeds. We got about 10cm overnight - Carm was out with the snowblower before 11am - it's one of those jobs that are better done than waiting to be done!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We have been having bits of sun over the last several days, which of course is lovely, but somehow it's not been enough.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Today is another busy day prepping for a family lunch on Saturday to celebrate Dad's birthday… burnt sugar cake and another batch of gravy is on the to-do list today… not as ambitious a day as yesterday when I cooked a turkey, made ‘stuffing balls’ and gravy, and finally because I had some lemons to use up, a jar of preserved lemons! Wednesday I made Norwegian cardamom buns :-) 😀 </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The preserved lemons will take 3 weeks to become usable but then! So many opportunities to add a blast of flavour :-) Hopefully… goodness knows every recipe is not awesome and I have already spilled it twice.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">One of the things I made yesterday was ‘stuffing balls’, which are basically balls of stuffing (ha ha!). I followed the recipe pretty much exactly - if I make them again I'll make a few changes: not so much pepper (way way less!) and smaller bread cubes from just regular sliced bread instead of using 3 fancy french loaves with chewy crusts. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I'd saved this recipe ages ago so figured it would be an easy addition to a lunch with Christmas dinner overtones. They are a bit dry, and the bread cubes are too big, and the pepper is too strong. Hopefully heating them up with some gravy will save them. And on that note, I dug out the carcass from the last turkey to make broth - I'll make a giant pot of gravy today to drown them in!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Unfortunately every checkmark on my to-do list has been a herculean effort… I've got a heavy black dog dragging me down so everything is hard and it takes all my will power to accomplish each tiny step - I really just want to go back to bed with the covers over my head (</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I've succumbed a few times</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">). It's been ages since I've been stuck in this awful place for so long, maybe even years. My emergency meds take the edge off, leaving me slightly stunned and a bit less miserable so I plod on… I just want it to end.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I suppose it's not all bad though - I have managed to walk a few hours with Kirsten! Oh, and we left the pets with Pat and stayed a night with Kirsten on Monday :-) We had an in-person walk, a stand around supper of nibbles, and then watched ‘Barbie’! Lots of discussion about what the movie was trying to say and how it said it… we all agreed that at the very least the movie has started important conversations about equality.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My saviour is music! I'm playing all my favourites 😀 </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We did toy with the idea of a cruise with friends but decided there were still too many unknowns to commit… I want to wait till Mom sees her doctors for her scan results (Thursday), and then I have a followup test for something mid March… and Christina has never stayed here so we felt that an 11 day first trial was too much! What if she finds Lupa a PITA! And honestly, I feel so crap that I can't even imagine going somewhere.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“fresh snow”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“visit with Kirsten”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Lupa snuggled up against me”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“some rays of sunshine!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“singing along to favourite songs”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“I feel good today… if I say it often enough will it come true?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“an afternoon bubble bath with the sun streaming in and reflecting off the water”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-1150283524028594492024-02-11T19:43:00.001-05:002024-02-11T19:43:15.287-05:00torte<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I had, what some people would call, an epic failure in the kitchen a few days ago! To back track a few months, last October I made a flourless chocolate cake for Kirsten's birthday - it was good but the edges were more cooked/dry and the middle bordered on undercooked - I thought it was because my springform pan was too small… I baked it again in January, same springform, and a bit longer, ugh. Not good. Way too dry. But the cake itself is quite good so I wanted to get it right.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Enter Amazon and their plethora of pans… the right size was on it's way. Wednesday I tried again… in the right sized pan… took it out at the right time but it was still a bit sticky on the toothpick but I figured it would cook a tiny bit more out of the oven. I was wrong. When I cut it an hour later it was raw in the middle. Oh oh.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Time for google… it was clearly too late to pop it back in the oven as it was fully cooled… a few sites mentioned microwave so I gave that a go. It cooked it! So I cut it into pieces as bits were going to different people, but gosh, it was dry. Google again - found a recipe for bread pudding using dried cake! Awesome right? I dashed to the kitchen to package the bits into one bag for the freezer but! It was now HARD AS A ROCK. Seriously hard. As in, can't break a piece in half hard. Well, shoot. The bag of rocks is still sitting on the counter - I'll try making crumbs in the food processor - if I can use a hammer to break it into smaller chunks. I wonder what would happen if I soaked some chunks in milk?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Which brings me to yesterday… after 2 days of reading and searching recipes I decided to try it in the instant pot. Sixty minutes later, after checking it 3 times, the final time with a thermometer (210F for pound cake), it seemed to be done. The result is a moist dense cake that is edible but quite different than the original cake. I trotted it out to Pat, Trudie, & Leo last night for dessert - it got a pass. I am left wondering if it's worth the stress though.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I think it would be more aptly named a ‘torte’ rather than a cake.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In between these cooking fiascos I spent the day Thursday with Mom and Dad - a walk with Dad and then Mom and I took off to get our hair cut! A nice day all round :-) </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Through all these adventures in the kitchen I've been trying to keep myself from being dragged down into the murky depths, but haven't been succeeding 100%... I have been having a real struggle the last week and a half - try as I might I can't seem to shake the malaise. Sometimes my mood gets stuck, usually where I don't want it to, and it's hard to turn the dial back to ‘peaceful easy feeling’!</span></p><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“finally getting a haircut”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“so so chocolaty”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-49775592915692523922024-02-06T20:18:00.001-05:002024-02-06T20:18:11.153-05:00equality<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The sun is shining once more! That's two days in a row! The sun streaming into the room is lovely but highlights how f'n dirty the west window is! Note to self… </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I was going to start off saying that it's been another lazy few days, but hold the boat! I did an hour walk with Kirsten yesterday AND today! My legs are still jello and a bit sore but gosh! The blood coursing through my veins got me off my behind later in the afternoon yesterday to make ‘french onion baked lentils and rice’ for supper. I'd had the recipe tagged for ages but there was something about it that I wasn't sure about. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I usually try to follow a recipe more or less exactly when I make it the first time but this time I took some wild detours… It was supposed to have faro, but I don't have any and have never cooked with it before, so I substituted regular basmati rice. Aside from the onions taking almost an hour to caramelise in the instant pot, it was a relatively easy recipe once I translated it to instant pot techniques and is reasonably healthy except for the gruyere cheese melted on the top at the end. We had it as our main (and should have had a salad with it), but I think it would be a great side for pork or even pured for a dip. I've saved it as a favourite.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Today after our walk I made ‘mushroom walnut pate’... vegan (except I used regular butter). It was easy but took ages. First the sliced mushrooms were cooked in a dry pan until they were turning brown and had released their fluid. Then onions… cook more… then rosemary, walnuts, etc… cook more… then finally puree in the food processor. I kept it a bit chunky as I enjoy the crunch of the walnuts. For the test drive, I toasted some of my nut bran bread and spread it thickly… it was good!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Oh, and on the subject of food - my latest iteration of bread has kept its moisture for a few days now - today it started getting crumbly and cannot be sliced thinly but it still toasts up perfectly. I'm glad I kept notes!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I finished reading a book yesterday where the main character had trauma from spousal rape. Did you know that it was LEGAL in the USA and Canada until the mid 80s for a man to rape his wife, and is still legal in some countries (can you guess which ones!). It’s enraging. Speaking of enraging, we've been watching ‘Lessons in Chemistry’ on Apple TV… it takes place in the late 50s, early 60s - it was an awful time to be a woman. Thankfully life has improved for many of us, but not everywhere and not for everyone. We must keep fighting for equality.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I feel blessed that I don't have to live with that equality.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“another sunny day”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“finally 60 minutes done”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“crazy songs that come up in the playlist that Amazon created for me”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-38107794248671281692024-02-04T19:27:00.004-05:002024-02-04T19:27:32.988-05:00house of the rising<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I should have taken a screenshot to prove to myself that I wasn't seeing things or perhaps delusional… yes, a few days ago the weather forecast showed sun for 5 days in a row! Hope blossomed optimistically in my brain! Alas, we are on day 3 of 5 with nary a sunbeam in sight :-(</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So what have I done over those dreadful, dreary days? A few things and yet not much at all! Thursday Christina came over so we could discuss her pet sitting! I hope I didn't overwhelm her with info as I do tend to babble on 🤪 We are meeting up again tomorrow - fingers crossed that Lupa behaves and wins Christina over like she has so many other people.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Friday was Costco day, so Carm dropped me off at Mom & Dad's while he did the shopping and oh, so many other errands (including chickpea flour which is being tested in my bread recipe as we speak). We didn't linger for more than a few minutes after Carm came to pick me up - we had dinner plans at 3 at Marie's. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Our stomachs got the better of us on the way home so we made an unusual decision to pop into Tim Horton's for a breakfast sandwich where we ran into Diane from writing group! It was lovely to catch up - I was reminded of what a wonderful group of people they were. I always felt welcome and included, even though I started well after friend groups had semi-formed. Carm noted how happy I seemed and that I should rejoin 😀 I'm going to give it some thought.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 407.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 542.0px;"><img height="407.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/4Q-q2YdrhwjtaFDSLS94j6bHTUYeqKer8Tqd1RV9FMv1YodCHxus-mMvfpWnDC1me_4X3XuF5iUqAXUd4GuQS3joTaK_747UYu5pGaneL_WZDHapMqB6HuDQC7efGeLcZt3x3UC4OgG0CjEIDObDxVM" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="542.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The dogs got to practice standing at the window and howling for the second time in the day… they had a terrible time, but not us! We were celebrating Trudie's birthday with a feast of schnitzel and sides courtesy of Marie. Jirina and David were also there, as well as Liston, Marie's friend. Convivial would be a term to describe the evening.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">And yeah, it was cloudy both days. My hopes for sunshine hadn't flagged, Saturday was still to come. Ha! Cloud… ugh. I mooched around all day, weighted down by the low sky, but finally managed to get some leftovers together to feed Pat supper. It wasn't my best effort! But we were all full at the end so I guess that's okay. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What is it like today you ask? Cloudy. There is still hope!!! Sunshine is in the forecast for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We shall see! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 407.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 542.0px;"><img height="407.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/l8pIG8OURP3mpoXeg2jy0b-qDUQF4Jq_CEvJscNYlaJv3cQ-60_Fi4plW4sFk_VQAY2P0NuLCUxo91x4uYDgqKKf5ncZPg-3PvAIC-l0652zhu9gXRqR92EdwVilLxukxUL575USz7BC9X03460PkCw" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="542.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Update: the changes I made to the bread recipe worked. I subbed chickpea flour for the cornmeal, and added half a cup of chopped walnuts to the half cup of sunflower seeds. I tried to use a bit less flour, then I baked for a few minutes less (32 min). The crumb is not as dry, in fact while it was warm it was moist. We'll see what it's like tomorrow! (I couldn't get the colour in the photos right, it's not nearly as red as it shows).</span></p><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“smell of baking bread”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“just the right amount of bran left - emergency trip to the grocery store averted!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“leftover beef stew - a bit too salty but still edible”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“still light at 5:30!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“amazing pink sunset”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-8867060068022386602024-01-31T21:51:00.003-05:002024-01-31T21:51:19.697-05:00cousins <p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Just a faint echo of spirited conversation, Italian style, is all that is left of Vince's visit. He dashed off around noon to another commitment, leaving a bit of a vacuum. Conversation flowed freely from the moment Vince stepped in the door last night… well, it did as soon as he was off the phone with another cousin as it seems he got his days mixed up and was supposed to be somewhere else as well!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We started off gathered around the kitchen island as I finished up the last of the cooking (beef stew w caramelised onion, bacon & herbs, carrots, broccoli, and of course mashed potatoes), and then lingered over supper. Vince brought tiramisu for dessert, and then finally we retired to more comfortable sofas to look at his photos.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I took myself off to bed around 10:30 (the conversation was flowing freely without my input so figured it wouldn't be too rude!) - they stayed up a few more hours. This morning we were up by 8:30, had coffee, breakfast, and more visiting. It was a lovely time - Carm is still excited and a bit wound up… while my head is slightly spinning!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 437.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 328.0px;"><img height="437.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/ICgm6UE3r2NtDF0gFVqHB6KFn0yh-Uegsi8Yj9bHzBlP7ddMIqP9QTg8Dr1H5XorG2TLlWpVqvlKcB3mBHAjslI0oykN69EzUeVjsCYvMRu6-z2nEUCpORO-gKO9Tv8STY6_Wr-ajfnqlrnhG_W_NYI" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="328.0" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 308.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 281.0px;"><img height="308.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Ga0N74-f0wmx5etcMK9jrQloU_92Qzrh0nzD38ftDRzpoQ39XQYONz-psh3XUDAnisMKCDl2YPDrOiIh0c-MXQlVKEcyxEFAML5J9heFw3_T9Fy00OxY5UIsikH8TtQg9u8zt8q85-7IbKkw9GKMBwY" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="281.0" /></span></span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“cousins”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“possible all clear”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-6952442658564977382024-01-30T17:45:00.005-05:002024-01-30T17:45:43.983-05:00trifecta of activities<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The crusty snow has given Lupa a super highway to everywhere… her little legs carry her as fast as she can run on the slippery surface, stoked to not have to struggle through long grass or deep snow. Luckily she's reasonably good at coming when called but I have been ensuring that I have a pocket full of treats when we head out to the field.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We've been zooming around the house today, getting ready for Carm's cousin Vince's visit tonight. The first time he was here (which was the last time - 2015 - shocking how many years have passed - there's that weird thing that time does sometimes…!), we went crazy cleaning as we weren't sure if he'd be disgusted by our house of pets! As it turned out, he's a dog lover :-) And I don't think our house gets really gross… Carm is a star with the Dyson!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yesterday I went into the city to spend time with Mom & Dad… Mom and I ‘took off’ for a few hours of retail therapy, mostly at Value Village. I had to use LOTS of restraint as I saw a few dish sets that I loved and gorgeous crystal bowls that I have no room for. Gosh I wish I had purchased that crystal bowl with a modern flair… chips would look awesome… but alas, I had Carm's voice in the back of my head!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I did score a black beaded top from Melanie Lynn that will look great with black dress pants, if we ever go anywhere again! For only $8 I couldn't pass it up. Got a furry vest too :-) And a pinkish blanket for my trailer remodel 🤪</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Mom is much more fun to shop with than Carm! She asked if I wanted her to drive since we'd be stopping at the shopping mall and I'm not the greatest parker… BUT I've parked at the Civic hospital parking garage so many times now that the mall parking lot feels like a giant open field! I guess that's awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Did another walk on the treadmill with Kirsten this morning - 50 minutes of full-on walking on an incline! I’d already had a good start to my day… the headphones were stuck on my head from the time I got up… and by the time my blood was rushing through my veins, it was a full-on PEF day! (peaceful easy feeling)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It really was the trifecta of mood boosting activities! Music (all my favorites), walking & talking with Kirsten, company coming! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sunday we had a lovely supper at Trudie & Leo's and then we rushed home to have a ‘v-drink’ with Olaf & Stephanie! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“I can see clearly now the rain is gone”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“beef cubed and rubbed with garlic, herbs, and kosher salt”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“a good night's sleep”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“realizing that I feel more confident driving - yay me!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“going for a walk with Kirsten!!!! More awesome than words!”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-59592858195878788722024-01-28T23:26:00.006-05:002024-01-28T23:26:40.058-05:00blathering <p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Just in case you are wondering… yes, it's cloudy…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I think I've mastered the carrots with hot honey - I want to gobble them right out of the pan! Tried roasting broccoli last night as well but I can't say I'm blown over… perhaps if I had added butter and parm like the recipe suggested, but gosh! Everything can't be covered in parm or can it? I also made mushroom gnocchi and tried air frying half the mushrooms which might have given it a richer more umami flavour. The bacon might also have helped! I think it was worth the extra effort.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Back to the hot honey! Last night I had some of my bread toasted with some stilton cheese crumbled onto it and then drizzled with the hot honey. Stilon is good but with honey, on top of crunchy bread was awesome! The only thing that would have stepped it up another notch would have been walnuts in the bread - next time for sure!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My facebook feed is filled with house and rv decor… it runs the gamut from horrible to amazing and sometimes there are rooms that I'd like to emulate so I save screenshots of my favorites. Well, yesterday one of my blog memories came up and the photo was of the living space in our house - I was surprised to see that there was a resemblance to some of my favorite rooms! I guess I know what I like and it's not grey. I like bright, sunny, and cheerful! With lots of blue, white and fresh green. Sometimes with a little pop of pink 😉 And for sure lots of gold accents for a little bit of bling.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My FB feed also has a plethora of cooking and recipe posts. I've saved a few recipes to try into my recipe app. I've TRIED to pick some healthy ones but obviously failed with last weeks brussels sprouts recipe (cream, butter, parm). I did save a lentil recipe which looks healthy and delicious - I'll try it this week. (assuming I get myself over this lethargic hump otherwise it will be leftovers, things from the freezer, and takeout!)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As I try to figure out what was Awesome these past few days, I realize that I've been just going through the motions and I've not been mindful. I haven't been actively looking for all the awesome things that are everywhere. That will be my goal this week - to get back into the habit of noticing and appreciating the wonder that is around us.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">When you try something new to eat and don't immediately like it, do you persevere and keep trying it or do you dismiss it as a possibility? Last week I got some protein powder to have in the morning to start my day. Well, I don't normally eat anything until lunch, and certainly nothing that can have the powder mixed into it, so I added it to my coffee. Yuck. But it was the easiest option so I kept up with it, getting better at whisking all the lumps out and now! I love it! It makes my coffee into a special treat 😀 </span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“laundry all done for the week”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“morning coffee with vanilla protein powder whisked in”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“so many birds at the feeder - we've even had some Northern Flickers this year”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-59448834314342698052024-01-27T14:14:00.003-05:002024-01-27T14:14:29.910-05:00hibernation<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hibernation. I've turned into a bear - fat and full from gorging myself on sugary treats and now ready to withdraw from life for a while to hang out in bed. It's not dire yet of course, I have been extracting myself from my den under the covers to venture into the main part of the house, where ‘life’ happens. Alas, I still can't pry myself from a semi-reclining position for more than a few moments.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I'm pretty sure my lethargy is directly linked to the 2 days of freezing rain that we've had this week… more cloud and precipitation to dull the spirits. And now the snow is wrecked for any winter activities 😞 </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I couldn't even pry myself out of the house to go visit Mom and Dad while Carm went to Costco yesterday. It's easy to forget that this is a normal state for January/February so I'm not worried and will just go with the flow… at least for now.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It wasn't hasn't been like that for long - earlier in the week, and last week, I ‘walked’ with Kirsten four times - from the balmy comfort of the treadmill while she braves the wicked cold and ice on the roads near her place. Twice we walked for an hour! Once 50 minutes, and another short walk of 20 minutes. Wednesday Christina came over to help me snowshoe paths in the field for the dogs - I think we were out for almost 45 minutes - a good workout!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 407.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/lS7QS8n99km9au-x3MAidHssu2TbjKqjtddoz89_tnJkczFEytPRsIU0LoXpgUJ8aKzD2OdZ63VfZ0-npum1GYgSzW-jrtQfHuZSWk1yGNJNarXLqC_LJcdy8llPGCHB-fpo10V6mAvgcb8QURO6DNI" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="407.0" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 407.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 542.0px;"><img height="407.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/GjuUmB3B9DaEXinb3wv8H5z2P1uWBkQbaEeN8xh4PiVWx-cLRjQguGkqTTi-21isxQlykBRhrhKD0ao1Ozax0rAtgVnvWemQy63Wvnr7JxCru9dfzyGG6TmwZkdMdKRKq-Vbp89Zfgf-VfIwfOR5B_I" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="542.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But now I've sunk into a laziness so profound that I can barely make myself a cup of coffee! On with the show though - tonight Pat is coming for supper! I'm downing an extra bit of caffeine to get me energized (will it work? not so far!). Perhaps a bit of music will help.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A few days ago (or was it a full week ago? time is such a flexible construct) I dug out the recipe for bread that I developed 20 years ago. It's been almost that long since I last made it so had to make a few semi-educated guesses… I'd written fairly cryptic notes on recipe cards - the ingredients and proportions were different on each one! So I guessed and got on with it (making better notes this time!).</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I'd read somewhere (who the heck knows where - was there even internet back then?), that half the flour could be replaced with bran or other things… so the recipe ended up having 4 ½ cups of flour with 2 ½ cups of bran, ½ cup cornmeal (I'm going to change this to chickpea flour next time), ¾ cup oatmeal, ½ cup ground flax, and ½ cup sunflower seeds. It's got olive oil, molasses, and surprisingly, 2 eggs. Next time I'll add some chopped walnuts as well. It's a dense bread, packed with protein and fibre - I can trick myself into thinking it's healthy!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(I just entered the recipe into an analyzer… only 4g protein per slice so not amazing… boo hiss!)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's nice toasted with peanut butter, but is da bomb with the cheese puff topping I saw on FB. Crack 1 egg onto a pile of grated cheese (enough to top 4 small slices of bread), mix well, toast the bread, then put it onto a baking sheet and top with the cheese mixture. Bake in the air-fryer for about 6 minutes or until it's bubbling and brown. Yum! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 405.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 542.0px;"><img height="405.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/PKsUwXxKuyDrnn3gWcpNxXrvgx7SvfRz4JQGV6Nvu8duGMdI-sC9aabmpt28cyh7pAHIPDGVzF-pJSLHqtQNdge544ge0HtyB_XyblDVc3yiSgl8_Owa90Iku9bYj_Y7K4k-bvNYlMOhx5H1cMNhZfE" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="542.0" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 485.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 542.0px;"><img height="485.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/7tkPuNInlm_oLz5v6KOJiQrLVcyEhEbOpxjjP12azWj6CpvKTRMX7N6znUGvM8qEYffMxAYQknq86dhOewX87sOCN9gjOaqGWCv_NKXM5Vr6RZlODs_5S1qp8k_55ezCmmaHHp8Wnk3QOaOB7O7aoX8" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="542.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I have had to start locking Lupa into her crate when I get on the treadmill - if I slow down my pace, she's quick to hop on which would be fine, except she jumps at my legs trying to get me to pick her up - not ideal or safe! She shows no fear of it and can trot along quite well. We could work on her technique but I don't want to create a super-fit Lupa!!!! She's already full of energy and speed, the last thing she needs is to dial that up - no, I'm wrong, the last thing that </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">need is for her to dial up her busyness!</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“not as much freezing rain as expected”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“the sun coming out for a few minutes while snowshoeing with Christina”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“enough leftovers that I barely had to cook all week”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“weird little circles in the snow”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-9828676913167994752024-01-22T10:35:00.001-05:002024-01-22T10:35:08.369-05:00bacon cream honey and parm<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The sun… the missing sun… last November and December we had 13 total days of sun, so far this Jan we've had 8 - which is a huge improvement but it also means that we've had 14 days of cloud, snow, and rain! I'm sitting in a sunspot at the moment (9:30am), but it is meant to cloud over and snow this afternoon…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and it looked like the roads would be good so a quick message to Jo Ellen and Don for a late lunch and the race was on! First we had to run out to check on someone's house which took a little less than half an hour but it meant I really had to put boots to the ground… I had a pork sirloin roast with a herby dry rub to go into the instant pot (easy if the IP didn't glitch on me a few times), Carm took care of the mashed potatoes and vacuuming, and I tackled 2 new recipes: creamy parmesan & bacon brussels sprouts, and hot honey & parmesan glazed carrots. I raced around the kitchen like a mad woman trying to get this all sorted, getting cranky with Carm every time he stepped into my whirling path.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The instant pot failed on me a few times when I was sauteing the pork and then the onions, and then again part way through cooking the roast! Unfortunately I didn't notice right away so it sat for who knows how long… Luckily the roast was partially cooked, so I just stuck it back in for another 5 minutes of HP, leaving it to naturally release - cooked! The delay was not too bad and I think we were sitting down to lunch by a little past 2:30.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How did the new recipes go? Both were excellent ways to turn a healthy vegetable into a scrumptious, rich, unhealthy side. The brussels sprouts had bacon, cream, and tons of garlic: once the bacon was crisped and removed from the pan, the brussels sprouts were added with lots of butter; they cooked until they were starting to brown, then cream was added; it cooked a few minutes more, then the whole thing was topped with gruyere & parmesan cheeses and popped into the oven. Decadent!!!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The carrots weren't gilded with butter and bacon but did have a bit of parm as well as a honey glaze. The glaze was made by heating some honey, adding some of my chilli garlic crisp oil for some heat, then a bit of apple cider vinegar was added for some zip. They were good, but I didn't fully follow the recipe so I think they could have been better. The flavour somewhat disguised the weird texture of the frozen carrots.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I'll make both again! The brussels sprouts can be made ahead and popped into the oven for the final 15 minutes when the time is right - perhaps a good Thanksgiving recipe?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Speaking of carrots - there's a bit of a funny story. I was shopping in Costco with Carm and saw a giant 10lb bag of carrots. I bought them and they got stuck downstairs, some days (or was it weeks) later, I went to get some and they were starting to go weird, so I got the peeler out and did the whole lot. I diced them and stuck them in the freezer for soups. Handy to have right? </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So I had this giant bag of frozen carrots but wanted to roast some so asked Carm for a bag of fresh ones, but didn't specify that I only wanted a few 😱 So… he picked up another giant bag at Costco!!! Downstairs they went, upstairs they came, and we peeled & chopped the next 10 pounds! Carm helped this time ;-) Note to self: frozen carrots get a weird texture that doesn't roast well!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Saturday was another hibernation day but I puttered around the kitchen getting various cooking things done… Friday I had an imaging appointment in the morning, then we left, with Carm driving due to my horrible night vision, to pick up Mom for her CT scan around 5. It was bloody cold! We got Mom to the hospital on time (a bit of hurry up and wait!), and she got her scan. She has to wait until Feb 22nd for the results… it will be a very long month, especially for her. She still can't wear the mouth appliance so she is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">still</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> on a liquid diet… I think she would love to sink her teeth into something solid but that’s a ways off 😞 </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">What else can you do but persevere… Mom does it with grace and humour - I don't think I'd be as awesome at getting on with it as she has done.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Thursday was a snow day - Kirsten called in the afternoon so we could go for a walk together - her on a snowy road, me on the treadmill. We walked and chatted for almost an hour! She called my cell phone so I could wear my headphones - the audio quality was excellent :-)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Wednesday we met up with Kirsten in middle earth for lunch at the shwarma place (big garlicky burp)! And there's almost a week (in reverse), flown by.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Just after 10am and the sun is gone :-( I think I'll change the ‘sun’ entry in my log to ‘snow’! I don't think that 2 hours of sun counts as a sunny day…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I've been reading mostly crap… the book I just started is about a woman who owns a chocolate shop and a billionaire (of course - millionaire is no longer enough), is opening a chocolate shop right next to her, threatening to drive her out of business… what billionaire is opening a little shop in a tiny town called Poppy Creek? But will they fall in love? Probably! 🤪</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gosh, I sat down with not much to say but I managed to say it in over 1000 words 😱 </span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“more sunshine“</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“dogs sleeping in a sun spot”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“my headphones”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“walking with Kirsten”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-50591031750237041892024-01-16T21:50:00.002-05:002024-01-16T21:50:20.069-05:00A day at the spa <p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It wasn't Lupa's day… oh, it started like a normal day: a bit of a sleep in, a trip outside in the deep snow, a bit of breakfast… but then! The grooming table, clippers, and scissors were unearthed and she was hoisted onto the table and the clippers started humming. Fur flew everywhere as she was shorn of her scruffy exterior. Her cute little face emerged from the tangle of fur and soon we were done. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 293.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 343.0px;"><img height="293.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/l-8a2m6YJ-nLu97297wJUT9Z_aNaEW0kFauRgGMAsT1nHKfFpgF3kRbEp0ryJuDWRMmh3KVbUCUJRTt3g9gRSyptQMF7axNw3DbBbJp8kbDXVYiSL5t7oIlQKoqR1TwOVdS0qlPinKRCRXW_UAnyER8" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="343.0" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 288.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 410.0px;"><img height="288.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/FSp0pJ3TDmNRwSJjTpfKXdPV29Qaqcyp42Ql9QBbnJKV9MGz7uu94oCG0oTV4wtuuJfIJ0J3UwXd3hjyt2EbW6UDMwViMFHCfXHlcjqe8FiFjjJXgNZKzSHIAbxd3IwaSjydxF3-AgDCj640BTwNxPA" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="410.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">But wait! The horror wasn't over yet… into the shower with Carm… and then, a few hours later, into the car to the groomers for her nails!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 410.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 324.0px;"><img height="410.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/2YuxHfbVsX3ULUQkdIAmw_dPVffgchuvxO3--yamXFn8zbuEnzxW8jg9_CXTD-zAbRsCrIQjxq9zc9OF3SvBZpqwWovo0kjmRTl4Iztplb5P3P9Av6J1WBGcyjLWc89tk9R50nRtwGcX2Fl_ssvA96M" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="324.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">All was made better by lots of snuggles with Trudie and Leo.</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“haircut done “</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-17785311346107627442024-01-15T17:02:00.004-05:002024-01-15T17:02:54.464-05:00winter has come<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Winter is here, or at least has visited for a few days (is it here to stay?). A giant storm was in the forecast for this past weekend and the weather guys did not disappoint, although it was maybe not as dire as predicted. We did get snow overnight on Friday and into the morning on Saturday and the wind was howling like a wild creature. The power stayed on!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To backtrack just a bit (cause that's what I do since I can't seem to get into a regular routine of fingers to keyboard…) Thursday I went into town early and met up with Kirsten at Mom & Dad's… I was catching a ride with her for an overnight visit. The plan was for 2 nights, with a third up in the air - wiith the storm brewing for Friday night into Saturday it was unclear if the roads would be cleared enough Saturday for me to go home. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Thursday night, after a stop at Costco (new pjs!), the grocery store on the way home, and then a bit of supper, Kirsten and I binged ‘Julia’ with a seguay to the movie ‘Julie & Julia’ on Friday to compare the actors playing Julia Child. Of course no living person could hold a candle to Meryl Streep's version, but the actor in the series was good as well. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A lap full of chihuahuas and a side of Jack Russell terrier kept me cosy!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Friday Kirsten and I made a trip to Perth to wander the cute downtown area and shop for treasures (I came home empty handed!). It was cold and damp, forcing us into each shop to warm up a bit 😉. We stopped for a scone and a coffee to further warm up after a walk through the park, and then with a stop at the pet store for dog food, drove back to her place.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 217.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 289.0px;"><img height="217.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/a5PtH4V1ObdCo1GSCcFVP1dc-Nvk4JEPUvELguTcjm50uoV3kL_NmZJD9uXsnhh8KzYnvw9qRVjf7S-J3VhNmc_CP8FKhERGsEaokJGWlf3kCiJNXLZERrbG1uQ_JL9wqiZmFe1r6in-Z9rxZvl0BAY" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="289.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">More Julia, ginger carrot soup, cookies, and bourbon cherry bombs were on the menu for Friday night. The cherry bombs are my new favorite drink: the boozy part is delish, and when that's done we fill our glass with sparkling water to get the last of the cherry goodness - muddled whole cherries are the base and elevate soda water to heavenly heights!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Saturday we woke up to a winter wonderland - lots of snow had fallen and horror of horrors, it was changing to rain, so Kirsten and I got out there with shovels and rain gear! In the end, the roads were good enough to meet Carm in ‘middle earth’ for a very late lunch/blue hair special supper and then home… </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I’m not even sure if I stuck my nose out of the door on Sunday - it was cold and windy!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">This morning I drove into the city to take Mom to see the dentist. Dr. Ararat is an artist with a dremel, putty and plastic, forming and adjusting Mom's obturator so that she could start wearing it again and maybe even start eating real food, or at least some semblance of food. It's a step forward in her endless journey… </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The roads were okay on the way there - on the way home there were stretches of snow covered roads where the wind blew snow across the roads. It was okay and I wasn't too freaked out! Later we went into the village to get some protein powder that was on sale. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">To be honest, I don't have the greatest eating habits these days, often going for much of the day without eating anything at all until early afternoon or maybe just some roasted mushrooms or other incomplete food. I have been making lentil soup to have for lunch which is a big improvement over the summer. I backtracked a bit and updated a food app to see my ‘macros’... definitely deficient!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I have been remiss in my prose! It's sunny today!!! All day!!!! We even got a bit of sunshine yesterday! Hurrah! The sun still exists (I was beginning to wonder!).</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“Mom's appointment”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“spending time with Kirsten”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“no power outages!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“snow removal guy showing up”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“a bit of 🌞 “</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-41066069893334358192024-01-07T21:17:00.003-05:002024-01-07T21:17:30.270-05:00farewell<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Ugh… belch… gag… I just had an epic fail in the kitchen… I tried a recipe for ‘Cheddar Bay Biscuit Chicken Cobbler’ - sounds good right! I made a few changes as I didn't have a few ingredients (I only had peas not mixed with corn and carrots), I made it in a smaller dish which meant all the liquid would not fit, leaving it dry and stodgy. Instead of rotisserie chicken, I used breasts that I cooked in the instant pot. The chicken flavour was gross. I rated it a 0 out of 5. Carm didn't finish his.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We had a bit of a blizzard overnight and into today so we snuggled under some blankets and binged Ted for a few more hours. We came up for air around 3pm so that Carm could snowblow the laneway… and I could make the previously mentioned catastrophe. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was down to the last two episodes of ‘Ted Lasso’... would we wait for tomorrow… NOT! A few more hours, multiple tissues, and there it's done. The tracks of my tears… Brilliant. My only wish is that somehow we'd be able to go back in time and watch it again.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We are easing out of the Ted world with Hannah Waddington - she has an amazing voice and the power - wow!</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“happy endings”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-34205237779879599432024-01-06T23:19:00.004-05:002024-01-07T18:14:46.699-05:00on the road <p> <span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Instead of jinxing us with my lament about the missing sun, our hopes for a sunny day on Thursday were granted, at least for a few hours. Not before a trip into the city to Costco on slightly snow-covered roads, but all was clear and dry when we headed to Olaf's for the night to help Stephanie celebrate her birthday.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Pat stayed here with the dogs and Grace which certainly made it possible for us to go and have a good time! Thanks Pat!!!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We arrived just before dusk, too late for full light, but too soon for Christmas lights (do they even put them up there?). It was funny, at around 5pm, after a glass of bubbles, I proclaimed that I had already reached the point in the night where I wanted to tell everyone that I love them… would it all be downhill from there? At that point it seemed that the evening might drag but suddenly it was 6:30 and time to meet up with Kirsten & Shawn virtually… and then BAM 9:30! Blinked again and it was midnight!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Oh, the potato skins - a 4 or maybe even 5 out of 5. The green onions that I forgot would have knocked it out of the ball park. They were worth the extra 2 bakes and they warmed up perfectly in Olaf's airfryer. The chocolate cake however was dry and overcooked :-( I MUST get the proper sized springform pan before I make it again. The buttercream icing was okay but could have used a bit more cocoa. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Olaf made a wicked Mac & Cheese in his airfryer… so rich and decadent! Topped with crushed doritos for a nod to the 70s when they put chips and marshmallows on everything.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Speaking of the 70s, I get the occasional post on facebook with recipes from that era 😱 OMG! They were crazy for jellied everything… like what the actual heck! I will admit to a certain fondness for tomato aspic, but that last time I made it for Thanksgiving I was still living in my apartment downtown… decades ago… we had a dozen people for dinner… and it sat in the fridge barely touched until it was an exciting chemistry experiment - how many types of mould will grow in jelly? And really, how appetizing is ‘ass pick’!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the middle of the night (tossing and turning on a strange bed), I wondered if last year's December electricity bill was less, even though it was colder, because of the dearth of sunshine. Our house gets a lot of passive solar heat in the winter, alas, it's been cloudy for months now… As soon as we got home yesterday I extracted the 2022 and 2023 weather columns from my records and sent it to Carm for analysis. Will report results later! Midnight musings…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Surely all of my slightly insane record keeping will be useful for something!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Today the santas and angels were packed away, leaving the forest of green trees for another month or more. We've left the garlands up for now too. The tiny fairy lights are also still deployed!</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“birthdays”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“a few hours of sunshine”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“the dogs slept until 9 this morning!”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-62776438224000952892024-01-03T19:36:00.004-05:002024-01-03T19:36:51.183-05:00skin in the game<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The sun hasn't shown up yet and neither has the snow… it did peek out on the first, but only for an hour or so… so many days… weeks… months… of sun deprivation. There is some sun in the forecast for later in the week so fingers crossed!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My muse hasn’t arrived yet either! Of course, nothing has happened in the last few days to summon her… day after day of mooching around the house does not inspire creative writing. Putting away serving dishes and general tidying up also do not inspire! I'm not even reading anything thought provoking.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Last night we had a quick supper at Trudie & Leo's… it's generally not a long night (we were home by 8) but that makes it easier to do spur of the moment gatherings!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Today I took a deep dive into the internet looking for comfort foods to bring for a birthday party tomorrow… I settled on potato skins which I have never made before, and as a bonus, I have a big bag of potatoes that need to be used up! I usually read through multiple recipes before I settle on one… today I passed over a few before deciding on the one that bakes the potatoes, cut in half & scoop innards, then with skin side up, brush with bacon fat and cook again for 10 minutes. Turn them right side up and bake for another 10 minutes. When it's time to serve I'll just have to assemble the bacon & cheese then pop into the oven or airfryer for a few minutes :-) </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">blah blah blah! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I need to find a hobby that doesn't involve fat and sugar… I'm wondering if I could convince myself that 2024 will be the year to get fit…</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“early suppers”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“scads of crispy bacon lardons”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“binging Ted”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-18137324562499363652024-01-01T16:18:00.003-05:002024-01-01T16:18:24.604-05:00Happy New Year!<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Happy New Year everyone! 2024!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The sun is peeking through the clouds, shining directly into my eyes, but luckily I have no hangover ;-) although I could say the same thing for a few other people! Last night we had our traditional party with the usual suspects… and a few last minute extras. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Cathey and Jim came from the city, and even Tina and Bruce made the drive all the way out here. We had a last minute call from Olaf that they had no plans so I talked them into coming for the night. Trudie & Leo were here, along with Pat! It was a fun night with too much food, even despite the last minute guests - as usual I over catered!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 407.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 542.0px;"><img height="407.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/XAL5b8Lh9-Ij1IVSSCrAnNRiB9z78BOVkmhPACr3BAqaLFBVe1ONKdUwusqiKkbEe-sg_3gn7sbOpzSPphoarwx7hpmaCutJDZITyJy3AMuN5eziScJeviLE54Pi7cvY_UzYshpDC-S9fBuu22UI1VE" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="542.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We decided on an evening of nibbles around the island, rather than a sit down dinner, which worked out well as it's easy to shoehorn in extra guests at the last minute! Beef tenderloin on yorkshire puddings with a horseradish sauce, mushrooms stuffed with sun-dried tomato & feta, potato & bacon puffs, chicken wings, brie with caramelised onions, citrus roasted olives, dates stuffed with cream cheese and walnuts, cheese & crackers, cold meats, veggies & dip… chips, nuts, cookies… I think everyone was stuffed by the end of the evening! Not much makes me happier than stuffing people!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I did have a yorkshire pudding fail though :-( Oh, it was edible but not up to normal standards… I usually make the batter in the morning (as instructed by ‘Joy of Cooking’), but I changed my mind about when to bake them so it sat in the fridge for an extra day which seems to have affected the texture.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 480.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 542.0px;"><img height="480.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/y8EW45_nQX3xkjezLbl6m1F2tuxY54GCGznBk6FQitmNVLkJzX5cB4Bg7WTFqruZUWNSAQeg2LXgvQFK09t0HfQky0O3BWVOZwhOi3UpFIyY5igfsBezEIs_wCPC2w1YYNVPyPhCukjL1lz5b4WPeJs" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="542.0" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 527.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 542.0px;"><img height="527.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/CHHaqWfR3vzJWAZVlhrkq_Y9sNt49fAdVxhp6Vv8K5UIZo4jScIQJPLodq5-IF4y8HDIQg95kafQbdQI9lM5SToVZJhl4RInn_xgbWaBPtW68p4nxLhOZXlIizZrk5_ikOG5nHZXczhFAMM26jAT5-M" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="542.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The city people left before midnight - wanting to get off the roads before all the drunks… Trudie & Leo left after 1am and Pat around 2am, so a late night! The dogs have been asleep all day… while we sat around with Olaf & Stephanie, semi-watching the Rose Bowl Parade! (a traditional NY activity) and eating leftovers.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 407.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/nwFD9y3YTwhoiorX7ctXLjiZ3f5muvZGaCkGeJirmM-J4U36u9HuBt2t6Zn-_--tL4WUJnjyDuubXU0fixGMYU9YQjX374qSsVOO93gYWCWkx2PcCBiHLB8ZRSFakV4EH13OIFyiT-Cr-4Kyn8V3Nwk" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="407.0" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 407.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/xRveCD6_vS9u_vICG8A55q874CaAIhVB2gYTVqeOTKvZRojK5MNfYlgGHwNNfhWh6QusUSuVswEBdlM4C91MhfZanX4yVdMqYni6Xgx_IIxkhOvn_rNvTi30XlDERuZyyqFNRbOw_pqF4eaxkNqTS8s" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="407.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The rest of the week was nice with a short visit with Mom and Dad on Friday, lots of cooking on Friday, Saturday, and a bit on Sunday… we had a trip to liquidation, an outing to the grocery store, a few days of incredibly lazy days… the gammut!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Well… my muse has abandoned me today… and there's an old Godzilla movie on… Mothra! Later we'll watch more ‘Ted Lasso’! We've been binging for a few days but still have one and a half seasons to go. Any other suggestions for Apple TV shows? (non violent of course)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Have a happy 2024 - may every day be filled with good health and joy!</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“gathering with friends”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“surprise visitors”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“the beef tenderloin turned out perfectly - low and slow for the win”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“2024”</span></p><br />Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-62670491512639821202023-12-26T15:24:00.000-05:002023-12-26T15:24:02.006-05:00tis the season<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A little red squirrel is taking advantage of the above freezing temperatures to stash sunflower seeds in a (not so) secret hiding spot. He picks up one seed from under the bird feeder and then runs with it to a spot about 15 feet away (taking the long way there), and then back for another seed. Not sure why he doesn't fill his cheeks as the one by one method seems like it would burn more calories than it gains!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hmmm… maybe I should take a page from the squirrels method! One bite of cookie, run all over the house, another bite of cookie, more running. Yes! That's the answer 😀 </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Carm has gone off for some boxing day sales at Canadian Tire - I stayed home, otherwise I would have stocked up on Christmas tree decorations, forcing me to buy another tree to shoehorn in somewhere. If I could figure where that somewhere is I'd go for it… unfortunately, there isn't inch to fit another tree! If I had millions and millions of dollars, and a huge house with lots and lots of rooms, I'd have a different tree for each room! I’d have a silver tree, a pink one… and so it would go with burgundy, gold, and blue. I'd need lots of rooms and perhaps fewer naughty dogs.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I shouldn't blame the dogs for being naughty as they haven't touched the tree at all but it’s fully out of reach of Lupa so maybe she’s just missing the opportunity! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 407.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/GKiWieN_OrOsH4TSPtEss_mphvZsutfT-eR9L_85_AYaexnwFI3kDS0hBd4Q6NHJg22YRsWHuvbbGOqi9_fqrS0HpIEE6Bg0AnmY62qAT4XbhaRi7OKLOql2OushSIE_F4av6qtnUT6vR1VyibA7F5s" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="407.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Did everyone have a nice Christmas? It's a funny sort of time with so much pressure and expectations. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We started the fun last Monday at a local restaurant where we met Ken and Francine for lunch, with coffee & cookies back here (that's one dozen gone!). Ken and Carm worked together for years, but I'm glad to say that there wasn't much work talk! Or if there was, I was too busy visiting with Francine to notice 😉 </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Tuesday it was snowing and I was freaking out a bit so, Carm drove me in to take Mom to a followup appointment with her radiation oncologist… they are scheduling a scan for sometime in January so we'll keep our fingers crossed… On the way home I drove the snowy roads to get some practice. In the next snowstorm, we'll go out to a parking lot somewhere so I can get a better feel of what slippery roads feel like. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It's embarrassing to be so chicken about driving in the snow - even as a passenger I get into a near panic attack with icy roads. Somehow I have to get past that and hopefully, some practice will ease my stress.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Carm got the truck Krowned on Wednesday. It’s a 2007 with no visible rust to speak of so far so we'll continue to do our best to keep it on the road - not sure what we'll do when it's life is over, but it's in great shape now with low milage.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 407.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/6QZ4hd2vL6DysVedUEyfgi2h5TvGnRRp6GPEox-7tIcCw2RNrC-bzHw4R9D9KuO6I8Bo43eDzE1vLYuBHSq_tAEZNZsYjjtt-_rkfcbRNQW7znzRYvT-eKKsamxrW09RlS6DvJrmgEYwOYP5pweTC4Y" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="407.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Thursday Kari came for supper to help us celebrate Solstice! Almost one more second of light! Bubbles and a slightly traditional scandinavian dinner of meatballs, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Roasted brussels sprouts and carrots rounded out the meal. I got Carm to cut me some Norwegian spruce boughs to decorate the table - so many needles everywhere! It looks a bit like a tree has fallen on the table, leaving a few spots clear for plates. I love it!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Friday morning Carm braved the pre Christmas Costco crowds - he dropped me off at Mom's so that he could get out of there without too much extra shopping… not to mention losing me in the crowds! It's become a bit of a tradition for Carm to get Mom's Costco stuff while I have a nice visit :-) I'm pretty sure that in the New Year she'll be itching to get out herself - she's started driving herself for some grocery shopping. She's always loved getting out shopping in the crowds :-) </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Gosh! That leaves Saturday… perhaps a lazy day - or not! Dozens of cardamom buns flew in and out of the oven, and for some reason I had two giant bags of carrots that were starting to go bad… I peeled and chopped… some in rounds to be frozen for soup, some grated for Moroccan salad, and the rest for a ginger carrot soup… </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 407.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/yzWwpYRqPT04u1b57JAgZVGmZ8eTKjoLa7mva-2EX--scllclQtEqDBjDeBU5JesprI8sfgnBFbyldAj_zBQ8fDzrTdzcpmX_33gUWGAcGYQK5Rqr9-8s24UW-_2P9EmGTVNRWP7Vul5CTtimrYcoTo" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="407.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It seemed impossible, but Sunday was Christmas Eve! Trudie, Leo, and Kari came for a quiet Christmas Eve dinner. And then suddenly, with barely time to fall asleep, it was Christmas day! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yesterday we mooched around the house for the morning, then loaded the car with a ton of food and gifts - it was Christmas Day and the whole immediate family, (plus Erik's girlfriend Norlan), was gathering at Mom's! It was a great time that passed by quickly… We didn't do a traditional Christmas dinner but instead laid out tourtiere, quiches, salmon, wings, buns, meat dip, cheeses, etc. It was a bit of a grazing afternoon. Instead of the usual gift extravaganza, we did a ‘Grinch Christmas’ gift exchange which was lots of fun! A new tradition was made!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The dogs slept in till almost 10am this morning! Yesterday’s five hours standing at the window, howling and stressing, wore them out… I wish they could learn to settle down when we are gone, but I fear they never will… I end up stressing about them and feeling bad that they are feeling bad… </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 289.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 217.0px;"><img height="289.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/qk79oSuILVLldIS6t6nB7lzMHwpsaHhvhKf7EPI_98O7NsdxDQTd3aD_m9PZOzDtKM6gn2g7DPFBjpoUD1xpLgBvZkAIYkj6RfC5yNrFjFwPiSe53IZSrqrS4906UJcCDvQFiCcFpM9WV4uCqxZhcaU" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="217.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I alluded to it earlier, but it's another green Christmas! Yesterday was above freezing which made for good driving for everyone, but it could be April out there… (oh how I wish)... Today is more of the same.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I didn't take even one photo yesterday :-( Mom took the one of Carm and I. A few days ago I tried to take a ‘pet portrait’ of the two dogs, but they are not keen on getting their photos take so didn't cooperate beyond staying in one place. Spike was photogenic and was a bit of a poser - I have heaps and heaps of nice photos of him, but Alas! Very few of Adia & Lupa.</span></p><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“getting together with friends”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“one more second”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“driving on good roads”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“family together”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“a sleep-in”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-64673366933115737902023-12-17T20:25:00.000-05:002023-12-17T20:25:05.567-05:00oh tannanbaum<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">A giant rain storm is bearing down on us, due to hit tonight and carry on until Tuesday. Hopefully it stays above freezing otherwise we might get socked in!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Friday started early in the morning with a trip to Mom & Dad's for a visit and shopping at Costco. After her few things from Costco was unloaded at Mom's, we zoomed home, with a stop for another few plastic cookie bins! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was a beautiful day on Friday, so, with two giant bins of gingerbread, a bag of icing sugar, a bag of jujubes and jellybeans, I made the trek to Kirsten's for a girls night filled with sugar, food colouring, and dangerous scissors! Oh tannenbaum, oh tannenbaum… dozens of gingerbread trees waiting to get glazed with weirdly green icing and decorated with jujubes and jellybeans…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 407.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/1udyNyoSPEjI0PXdZXoSt33jWCFKWemyvVOcjsNpjcDDoIR6Hx8tnthB7Zkl7CGp2mFWGd3tKf3THr0ARuzZTov1jRs5nHKklVqMSAruMnP-M6_aKW5yo9FY_deuXRh9b4pWlwWFmjV4kl3CtR-34v4" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="407.0" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 407.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/KnE6tyIPRosjTDs0doSPTUVFWkC2LxAcJKHrfA2ZgR4HWdqprtYeKu85X4vokvG7vym4q-CqafcwTYK9Vx4G_d_BFQCzl7FRG2fdvtJhYS-7CNT3QDAhcivt1Ci9kPWWS6MG_8CohcwuaAWYG6YBS6Y" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="407.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We took care of ponies etc, and then with freshly washed hands, spread parchment over the huge kitchen island, a snowy landscape for the forest of cookies waiting to become Christmas trees. Food colouring and icing sugar came together to make a colourful glue! The jujubes were meant to be baubles on the trees but full size they overwhelmed the gingerbread - they needed to be smaller… Kirsten took the scissors away from me after I cut not only a jujube but the fleshy bit of my finger… the cut from last week is just about healed… </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It was another sunny day Saturday! I headed home in the morning after a wake up coffee. I had a recipe of serinakakers and another of chocolate crinkle cookies chilling in the fridge that I wanted to bake.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Today my aim was to get the ‘topsy turveys’ done (aka Chinese Chews) and some other kind to make a total of six varieties… I finally settled on snickerdoodles - we need some cinnamon in the cookie jar! By 2:30 two trays of topsy's were baked and rolled in powdered sugar, as well as two batches of snickerdoodles (6 dozen!). I think that's it. I've gone through countless pounds of butter, a blizzard of flour, and a mountain of sugar. Well… I might try making some meringue cookies next week if I get a spare day.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 407.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/TruTItCseahJ-tHNM8vdjEYpwkKDreWwYbOafp57n7yUyITqVIO138wQtLeG1lQOfpGcqr8NwRPPpeET7Ab7UvuMnvxO9aDMSf9-luDGazk2WH0-BJ2hm7BCRUa9pS1Lh71t8jEnw9Jjub5cgFnUmkg" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="407.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 461.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 542.0px;"><img height="461.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/yzdN7x8REIsc0VZKvL6DBxN_QV5PllzOuKqXZIDYgiSyp-sLOwRDRjy2qdVSy5mU4XAzLMzkJjCLIDEISuogqOgdFrr55nHnd6M-otx--EBK6YislbMEBYIC_GYdU6yXn_EwYo41_8Nml-CkzwtUUHI" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="542.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My new baking trays and cooling racks arrived today right after I put away the last of the baking! Great timing :-/</span></p><br /><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“an easy drive to Kirsten's”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“laughing at the mess we made - icing everywhere”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“more and more cookies”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“two sunny days!!!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“so much Christmas music”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7860329520612347222.post-55696674544983862062023-12-14T16:16:00.003-05:002023-12-14T16:16:32.128-05:00three kinds<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">No men, just dozens of gingerbread trees, shortbread stars, and chocolate mounds have danced out of the oven so far - three kinds baked - there's dough for serinakakers in the fridge and an extra batch of the chocolate crinkle dough ready for baking tonight or tomorrow. There are a few others on the to-do list but I don't think I'll make it to seven different kinds this year! Although who knows what next week might bring ;-) Friday, Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday are already booked with outings, but! gosh! There are still 11 days till Christmas so another pound or two of sugar and butter might be thrown into the oven.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">My kitchenaid is getting a full workout!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 532.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/FZD3enYv_ZPOZEeKxqAEi7aS-v7lSZTxoZdwyftHl7JvWbHZesLlZ1st-hMwiM3fzIPCHgxTDlPG7hyK8GcKpa7XNz16t-G299HH1MIEmVUFbsl6wPcHutuHvjLFP8K9hrFVhlvsb-FYCEIZM4__ygA" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="532.0" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 500.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 542.0px;"><img height="500.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/y46Z4YbrAQbDOT3LBKH05n_uxTSsQPQZWnpN52_3IX7igu8mz5VdHmZ4N0LdfZ_PWijYRx0UZEpsil0d0uJJ5yNJr7GayjFYRdsqJ-1jyZeFVw6D0cVet9SBqYOWahhYacs2vFwAmGboL7IjjGlB8Nk" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="542.0" /></span></span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Looking at the calendar is starting to freak me out! The last several months have been a blur with time not passing at all but simultaneously moving at light speed. It seems like just the other day that I was with Mom at her first cancer appointment and yet a lifetime has passed.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Yesterday Kirsten and I met up at Mom & Dad's for a visit and shopping outing :-) I think M&D were happy to get out of the house for a bit. Mom has started doing small outings herself, even driving. It takes a lot to slow her down! </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">There were bits of sunshine which was lovely, but the wind was blowing a gale - I was glad that I'd worn my little puffer coat and didn't rely on the cute raincoat I picked up at liquidation on Tuesday. Tomorrow though! It's supposed to warm up a bit so it will get christened tomorrow!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 542.0px; overflow: hidden; width: 407.0px;"><img height="542.0" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/gRC6tBOEhfcocf78jL2_LnwA0W1gnu3qveMVJJngxs5_-wTFFKUCixN4EXXN4X7yv9nr27eLgL1dVLgPG2EmGUB9icD66rKHZxFjKbaT9kphWFHYgxuAI_DSziRb6HE8oYtkVTqTMAxZk5yhoPNa2e0" style="margin-left: 0.0px; margin-top: 0.0px;" width="407.0" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">(another 3 dozen of the chocolate ones are on their way tomorrow!)</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">After shuffling cookies around constantly on the cooling racks, I decided that I needed more racks… was going to get another big one (on sale at Home Hardware), but realized that for just double the price (ha ha, just double!), we could get TWO stainless steel baking sheets with TWO cooling racks 😉 </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I realized after a few days of lacklustre mood that what was missing from my days was music! As soon as I remedied that with a bit of Christmas music and some old favs, I was be-bopping around with much more energy than I’ve had for days!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sunday, Pat came for supper and two episodes of ‘the Orville’... I unearthed a pork tenderloin from the depths of the freezer. Cooking it in the instant pot for 1 minute with a full natural release makes for a moist and tender piece of meat, just this side of pink. And the gravy! Mushrooms, onion and herbs meld with the pork juices - a bit salty but so good! I've packaged the leftovers into little containers in the freezer for when I have a hankering for french fries and gravy! The next day I sent Carm to the grocery store for another package…</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Do you ever get partway into a book and realize that it just isn't for you? I shelved one yesterday after it took a violent turn… I don't need that! I want love and joy and sweetly sick happiness in my life!</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Awesome!</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“blue jays”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“colour of my new raincoat”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“christmas bandanas on the dogs after their nail trim”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“bins and bins of cookies!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0.0pt; margin-top: 0.0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">“dogs asleep in a sunspot”</span></p>Laurahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10496816387781623642noreply@blogger.com0