My Flog for December 31 + Let The Good Times Roll.....(into bed, that is)

Here we are, at the arse-end of another year, only a few hours to go here on the West Coast to make a good solid contribution to the world. Hope the world isn't waiting....

So far, after shoving late shoppers out of the store with unfriendly thoughts, and a wonderful ride home in a big blue truck, we/I have:

• tossed skirt and sweater, and donned (as in, Don we now our gay apparel) jammie pants and oversized T
• breathed in toxic smoke from a backyard fire, where my husband was burning Christmas waste - the sound of sirens in the air (as in, no longer Silent Night)  made him douse the fire rather quickly, and no wonder, as he started to burn boxes with plastic packaging and the air was white with smoke and rather smelly. I think he forgot there is a Fire Station just down the street.
• made Special Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (not really by request, but the choice was Scrambled Eggs or Grilled Cheese, and Grilled Cheese got the majority vote, even though when I presented them with a side of potato chips, the voter announced he 'didn't like them' and his little sister said she would 'eat them after The Cat In The Hat Knows A Lot About That.' Their Poppy was warned not to 'help' them clean their plates, as there is a game of Shrek Memory waiting for good little children who eat all their supper.
• sang boat songs, eg Chris/Lizzie Row Your Boat Ashore and Row Row Row Your Boat Gently Down The Stream as the kids found a perfect cardboard box, or should I say scow - for rowing your boat ashore in
• am babysitting the kids as their parents are gone to a movie - and I'm doing a fine job of it, down here on computer while the kids are upstairs with their Poppy - I know he's 'helping' them eat their sandwiches.
• helped the kids tidy their room - actually they helped by staying in the living room and watching TV
• played a game of Shrek Memory with Steve, Lizzie and Chris - the kids beat the socks off us so-called adults
• put the broom in Nikkie's hands and watched her sweep the kitchen floor - a highlight for the year! Yeah! Cel - e - br - ate Good Times....

Now, even though it is only 7:30, I feel like it is already past midnight, and may soon join my snoring snorting husband in bed, although I will probably watch TV and wander upstairs just before midnight, assuming I'm still awake.

OOPS - Almost forgot the flog part of my Flog!

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Pea Soup, Roll, Yogurt
• Dinner - 1/2 Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Diet Pepsi
• Snacks - Banana, Fruit Cake, Cookies (don't ask how many, 2 or 3 or maybe 4? I have no idea) and 3 QS chocolates.

Hope everyone has the best of New Years - happy, healthy, and hanging onto every word I tap ....

A Look Back At My Resolutions For 2011 - With Updates, Of Course!

It's another brand new year, just waiting for my footprints to scuffle over it during the next 365 days. I had no intentions of either making or keeping New Year Resolutions, until I came across a list of the most popular self-promises for 2011, and decided that I may indeed live better and learn more if I also joined the bandwagon and resolved to make some resolutions, regardless of my intentions to carry them through for 12 months.

1. Lose weight (1,057 votes) Strangely enough, this is the most popular resolution of the year. However, since I found that resolving this never brought me the self-inclination to eat like a mouse and exercise like a hamster, I have decided that my 2011 resolution will be to gain weight instead. If, like all my previous resolutions, I break this one, I may just lose weight by the end of the year. If not, sadly enough, it will be one of the few resolutions I've ever kept.

(Well, I didn't keep this one, and guess what? I lost weight. This one I will definitely resolve again for 2012.)

2. Be happy (684 votes) I will resolve to be happy, even if it kills me. Chances are, if I'm surrounded by lemon meringue pies, chocolate cake, and Scottish Tablet (trying to keep Resolution #1), I will be happy anyway.

(Well, I was happy - also I was sad, angry, pissed off, rofl-ing, depressed, stressed out - but I got through the year anyway, and will try this year to be even more happy. I will practise a big stretchy false smile to wear whenever I need one - just avoid looking into my murderous eyes

3. Save money (636 votes) Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha...see how good I am at keeping Resolution #2 now?

(Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha .... etc)

4. Fall in love (554 votes) On February 2, I plan to fall in love with our 8th grandbaby .. to tell the truth, I've already started on this one...

(Yup, kept this one - Dommie is the such a cute little bundle of joy - now he crawls, has teeth, and keeps his mommy on her toes.)

5. Get a job (515 votes) I think not. I already have a job. So I'll change this one, also. I resolve to win the lottery so I can quit my job. There. That's more like it. And when I do win the lottery, I will be kind, but I will not be supercrazyoutofmymind kind, so when you make your list - have a plan B, okay? For example, you could ask for a brand new car....or a book of bus tickets.

(This year I would like to quit my job - the transit is doing me in. Still resolve to win the lottery though.)

6. Read more (433 votes) Well, Du - uh. I'm already three quarters of the way through Stephen King's new book. It's un-put-downable, in fact if I wasn't watching Coronation Street as I type this, I would be reading it right now.

(Stephen King's new book 11/22/63 is by my side right now, and I'm looking forward to his new Dark Tower one coming out in April. Keeping this resolution.)

7. Eat, drink, try or learn something new (378 votes) Well, the eating and drinking part shouldn't be hard, but if I do try to eat something new, it will be cooked (sushi's out), it won't have tentacles (squid is out), and it probably will be a variation of something I eat anyway - maybe I'll try a different Pizza place...oh I know...I'll try the East Indian Style Chinese Food from the restaurant we passed on our way to Steve's house in Surrey. Drinking something new? Maybe after trying the EISC Food I may try a bottle of Pepto Bismol...mmmm. And finally - learning something new? Well, that's gonna be easy peasy, as I'm always forgetting stuff, each day brings a learning experience...or should I say a re-learning experience?

(Did this one - Spinach Salad, which I love, Prawns, which I hate (yech.) Learning something new? Always!)

8. Quit Smoking (345 votes) Been there, done that.

(Ditto)

9. Take a photo every day for a year (266 votes) Well, I don't think I would remember to do that - when I think of the number of times I've gone somewhere and forgotten the camera - see #7. 

(Now I have a cell phone with a camera, this one would be easier - if I was faster at finding it)

10. Run a marathon Maybe after eating the EISC Food and drinking a bottle of Pepto Bismol, I may run to the bathroom. But that's about it.

(No marathon, but lots more walking and Skytrain steps - I think I cured my knee by walking and climbing stairs!)

So there's my year's list. I'll add one more:

I resolve to wish all my friends, family, and readers (both of them), the best of new years, good health, tons of happiness,  and enough wisdom to enjoy each and every day.

My Flog for December 30

Happy New Year's Eve Eve, which really isn't very special at all, unless of course you come home from a hard day at the store to find a stuffed Sockeye salmon in the oven waiting for your dinner. Today wasn't as bad, actually, as the last couple of days - I think it's because I brought half a Terry's Chocolate Orange to work with me and shared it with my pal Pauline - we both had small, steady doses throughout the afternoon. Tomorrow I open, so it's another brutally early morning transit ride, but the store closes early, at 3 pm, so that is good. It will give me time to reconsider last Year's resolutions, and decide which ones I will or will not resolve this coming year.

My cute friendly kind bus driver also gave me a free ride and a transfer, too, so I got my ride home for no charge. He made everyone else pay, though - I guess I'm just ultra special. I probably remind him of his grandma. Oh well. As I've been known to say, Free is Good.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Chili and Roll, Cranberry Juice
• Dinner - Baked Stuffed Salmon, Coffee
• Snacks - Pudding, Rosemary-Garlic-Parmesan Breadstick, 2 QS chocolates, Yogurt, and 1/4 of a Terry's Chocolate Orange

I think if I give up my snacks in the New Year I'll start losing weight again. I guess it's worth a try.

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My Flog for December 29 + My Thesaurus Has Over 60 Words For Complain - Take Your Pick

Another yucky day gone by, get home and grab something for dinner, write my stupid boring empty flog, and go to sleep before my alarm wakes me up at 6am for another yucky day. I know you're wondering why my day is yucky - well, I had to work.

• Gal brought back yarn because there was a knot in it. I know you knitters will understand. 
• Someone else was in the store for an hour, asking questions, finally buying a ball of yarn, going home, coming back for knitting lessons (she didn't know how to read the free pattern) and then choosing a hat pattern and wanting me to photocopy it so she didn't have to buy it. I didn't.
• I wrapped up two Christmas tree ornaments, one of which was returned because the star was missing. 100% sure it wasn't missing when I wrapped it - it was so obvious. Just exchanged it and tossed broken one in garbage. I don't care. Not arguing.
• Had jacket on and almost out the door when I was accosted by a needy customer, who kept me for over half an hour and ended up buying nothing. I think I need a Valium. I've never had one. A question for those of you who've had them? Would they help? Or would a Machine Gun be better?
• Up til this week, our frilly yarns have all been on sale for 20 - 25% off. The Boxing Week Sale has all the yarn in the store at Buy One Get One 50% Off - and customers are upset because they can't get the previous sale, which was no better (and in some cases worse.)

And it goes on and on. 

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Corn and Potato Chowder, Roll
• Dinner - Chicken and Cheese Sandwich, Diet Pepsi
• Snacks - Muffin, Yogurt w/Fruit, Coffee, 2 QS Chocolates....they are not all gone yet! 

My Flog for December 28

Oh my, it was so hard to get up at quarter after six this morning when my alarm went off - in fact it was so hard I didn't get up until six-thirty. Then I had to stumble upstairs to make coffee (yes, indeedy, there were no Coffee Fairies around that early in the morning, when everyone else was continuing with their holidays and I was the only poor fool who had to work.)

Our Boxing Day (Week) Sale consisted of Yarn and Christmas Stuff, and the place was mobbed with shoppers looking for deals. It was crazy, short-staffed as usual, and my mood didn't improve as the day wore on. Although I did work with Pauline, so that was a joyful part of the day. We had people who wanted more sale discounts on yarn that was already discounted, and people who wanted refunds on stuff that we do not refund (we actually do no refunds at all.) All in all, a good day if you owned the store or got a percent of the daily take - but a lousy day if you had to deal with cranky customers for an hourly wage. I'm hoping tomorrow will be better, but for some reason I doubt it.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Spinach Salad - the label said it was best before Dec. 26, and this is Dec 28., but  I took my chances and feel okay so far, Fruit/Granola Cup, Hot Chocolate
• Dinner - BBQ Chicken from the grocery store deli, potato salad, coleslaw, and half a roll - it would have been a full roll, but a little Lizzie Bear stole first one small piece, then the other half, Jello
• Snacks - 2 Chocolate Covered Cookies, Pudding, and 3 Quality Street chocolates

I'm sorry my Flogs have turned so boring lately, but I guess by now you've realized I do have a rather boring life. Oh well, who knows what may happen in the New Year!

My Flog For December 27

I guess my holidays are just about over, since I have to go back to work tomorrow - at least I hope it's tomorrow, I'm pretty sure it wasn't today.

Steve was surprised when Howard and  I bought back a dozen donuts from our afternoon out. He would have also been surprised also to see me eat one, then even more surprised to see me take off with the last slice of Cherry Cake. For some reason, I don't feel like supper, just have no appetite at all. Maybe I'm coming down with something.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - calories
• Dinner - Chicken and Potato Salad (left over from last night - the salad, that is, not the chicken), 1 slice bread
• Snacks - more calories plus fat grams

I haven't told you what Howard gave me from Christmas, even though we said we weren't going to get anything for each other. Well, he got me a tin of Quality Street chocolates, my absolute favourite, and a box of Misty Mints, a close runner-up. Wasn't that nice of him?

My Flog For December 26

I think the only thing saving the scales I step on every morning is the fact that when I'm not walking miles and miles, I'm rushing around doing nothing. One more day off, then it's back to work, only one day off (next Sunday) until the following Wednesday, I believe, unless the manager has rearranged the schedule. I don't mind working, I guess, but I would rather be home. The commute sucks, although I may have mentioned that before.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Omelet (remember all the wasted whites and yolks from yesterday's Lemon Pie Dilemma?)
• Dinner - Potato Salads (Plain, Beet and Mustard - yum, double yum, and triple yum), Ham, Lettuce, Tomato and Cheese. I thought we were having coleslaw too, but it seems I picked up a bag of shredded lettuce instead of shredded Coleslaw Mix. What is it with me and this food thing this year? Seems I can't get anything right... 
• Snacks - Who the heck remembers - all I know is too much of too many. And the day's not over yet.

Boxing Days are always a bit tender for me, as this is our Daddy's birthday. He was a very special man, and we lost him way too early. I miss him.

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My Flog for December 25 - IT'S CHRISTMAS DAY

Christmas - there it was, gone. Not too much of an early morning start - I myself didn't get up until 8:30, to find my son making breakfast for everyone. Nice. Fresh coffee too. Then the usual morning of stocking diving and gift unwrapping, plus chocolate sampling of course, and cookie checking (for freshness.)

After lunch (a red one, a purple one, and a green one) I made 2 lemon pies to take to Neil, as he kept telling me I owed him 2 lemon pies for fixing my friend's car. I'm not sure how I ended up being the one who owed the debt, however, I am one to please. Everything started out fine, breaking the eggs, dropping the whites into a small dish first (just in case a bit of yellow got tangled with the white) then into a bowl, then  tossing the yolks in the pot for cooking. Until I got to Egg Number 4 and threw the yolk in with the egg whites, thereby rendering all my whites useless for meringue. Crap. Had to start all over again for the whites, then lost count of how many I had, and ended up adding a couple more just in case. So I had mountains of meringue on two really good pies. I'm actually amazed I managed yet another successful baking attempt, after a rather bleary run of goodies.  Plus of course the makings of a high cholesterol omelet in the fridge for tomorrow.

Now it's almost 9pm and bed is really close. 

• Breakfast - Bacon, Scrambled Eggs, Toast and Coffee - Thanks, Steve, for making Christmas Breakfast.
• Lunch - ??? Quality Street Chocolates
• Dinner - Shannon and Neil served up Christmas Dinner this year - turkey, mashed potatoes, carrots, turnips, broccoli, gravy, cranberry sauce - yum yum yum and thank ya! - allowing me to have a quiet relaxing day at home....
• Snacks http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCoGDzKrfXU

My Flog For December 24 + Scroll Down For My Special Christmas Message!

It's Christmas Eve, and I've finally sat down. I don't remember ever walking so far or doing so much in so little time as today, so needless to say, when I said in previous flogs how tired and exhausted I was, I had no idea what I was talking about. I don't care how many bells Santa jingles tonight when he comes down the chimney, I know I'll sleep right through them.

It doesn't matter how much junk food I ate, either, as I burned off enough calories today for all of the festive food I'm going to inhale.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Pulled Pork Chowder and Corn Bread (at ABC Restaurant, thanks, Nikkie!), coffee
• Dinner - Hastily made Grilled Cheese Sandwich, if I forgot to take off the plastic I didn't notice...
• Snacks - various home-made goodies (Quality control to make sure they are not gone bad)

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas, and the Best of New Years. Thanks to all of you who have left me with great memories from years gone by, it doesn't matter if they were Christmas memories or others - I'm glad to have shared some days of my life with you. (For those I haven't met - you really haven't missed that much.)

My Flog for December 23 + Rolling In The Dough - Cookie Dough, that is...

I don't know about my flog part of my Flog over the following few days. Being the MIQCO (most important quality control officer) is a very dangerous  job over the 12 days of Christmas, and the few days before hand. So far the scales have not ripped uphill, but I really don't know why. Maybe they are waiting to surprise me with a nice fat number on Christmas Morning. Then again, I have been doing quite a lot of walking, and not just to the cookie jars, either. Oh well, come what will.

1. My Snowballs wouldn't stick together and I didn't have any non-toxic glue 
2. My Marshmallow Squares didn't get stiff enough (maybe I should get some Viagra, there's lot of places to get it online - but in time for Christmas? And no comments from the Peanut Gallery, I only need it for the marshmallow squares. Enough said.)
3. My Nanaimo Bars? Don't even ask - they taste fine (yes, I did, but just one little one, okay? Someone had to do it,) but they are not the prettiest squares in the fridge.
4. My Peach Fruit Cake took forever to bake, then browned up real fast and almost burned. Is it me? Is it the oven? 
5. My Butter Tarts look sickly but I won't know if the pastry's cooked until they are cooled down enough to jimmy from the pans. And I don't have faith in the pastry either. Crisco or not, it had my untalented hands in it. We'll see.  Ate least the raisins in them will be good - the ones I dropped on the floor when I held the bag upside down are in the garbage, and Chris and Lizzie helped by counting 8 clean raisins in each pastry shell (they are the tiniest pastry shells! Which is why I didn't want to overcook them. Which is why they may be undercooked.)
6. My Gingerbread Men/Women seem to be fine, although I have heard reports of some of them being scoffed up by little cannibals. 

The only thing left to do is my Famous Delicious Shortbread, and I'm scared to attempt that, according to my recent failures in the kitchen. Maybe tomorrow. We'll see.

I think I should stick to yarn and yarns......leave the baking to my talented sisters-in- law....

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Spinach Salad, Peaches left over from the Fruit Cake
• Dinner - KFC - well, that`s a change, for sure. Haven`t had KFC in ages. A wing, a back (maybe), a few fries and a small spoonful of the three salads. Beats cooking and cleaning. Had enough baking and cleaning today already. I had to come downstairs as Howard started telling me everything I did wrong so next time I could do it right - how generous of him to share his baking expertise. Happy Frigging Tibb`s Eve.                                                                                           http://www.southerngazette.ca/News/2009-12-22/article-1521238/The-origins-of-Tibbs-Eve/1
• Snacks - a bit of this, a bit of that - no wonder I am staying fat

My Flog for December 22 + It's How Many Days To Christmas? Huh?

Up just after 5 this morning, to work on the darned donkey. Got down past his paws, and now am ready to turn the heel. Will finish before tomorrow morning or I won't go to bed - I hope that doesn't have to happen though, as I hate to imagine what the foot of the sock would look like if I did it in an exhausted stupor. The worst thing that could happen has happened - the green is running out. Looks like this particular stocking will have a very long toe....

Baking today, Cherry Cake, Marshmallow Squares, and half a Snowball recipe - just didn't work out, it wouldn't stick together and I ended up throwing the other half away. Never again will I make these bloody tasty Snowballs. Tomorrow will be Shortbread, Peach Fruit Cake and Butter Tarts, I think. 

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee. I won't say how much toast, but lots of coffee. 
• Lunch - Roast Beef and Cheddar Sandwich, Diet Pepsi
• Dinner - Salmon Cakes
• Snacks - 1 candy. I wouldn't write this down but Nikkie saw me and would probably blab, pudding, a piece of Marshmallow Square that didn't set properly (yet) so was sticky and gooey and unwanted by two of my grandchildren, and a small slice of Cherry Cake (quality control - it's a wonderful job but someone has to do it)

I am really tired again tonight, and tomorrow will be another early rise as I have to put finishing touches on the stocking. And do the hardest job of all - persuade my hubby to do the last minute shopping with me. He does get off early, so he should have no excuse, like today when he got off work and was too tired to drive me to Walmart - because he just had to have onions in his salmon cakes and we had none - but, to make this sentence even longer, a couple of hours after I WALKED there, a mile and a half, you understand, each way, (but Steve did come pick me up so I didn't have to walk home,) Howard WALKED to the Beer Store, which is about a 15 minute walk each way.....

Stats - Who On Earth Are You? Literally?

This is copied from my Stats page on this blog - number of visits to my Flog since the end of May when I started.  I think it only lists the 10 countries with the most visits,  so if you live elsewhere - start clicking more! Thanks, everyone, you make me proud (as if that's a good thing!) Canada 2,995 United States 272 Russia 144 Malaysia 59 Germany 43 United Kingdom 10 India 7 Latvia 7 New Zealand 5 Brazil 4

My Flog for December 21

It's been a long and productive day. I knitted a lot of stocking, almost down to the donkey's paws (if reindeer have paws, then so must donkeys. Proof? The Christmas song:

 "Up on the housetop, reindeer paws.

Out jumps good old Santa Claus..."

However, back to the subject - I cleaned the kitchen, tidied our room, moved and went through a whack of boxes looking for a whack of stuff, cooked dinner, and then walked to Safeway with Nikkie, where we traded a couple of my gift cards for brown sugar, glace cherries, semisweet chocolate, coconut, raisins, molasses, mint chocolate chips, mini-marshmallows, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera - for tomorrow we bake! I'll tell you one thing, it was a lot easier dragging the buggy to the store than dragging it back home - sweet ingredients are very very heavy, which I guess is why they make you very very heavy when you put them in your tummy. 

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Left over Pasta from last weekend - it was frozen (I think) so I should be okay. If not - hope you all have a Merry Christmas
• Dinner - Roast Beast, Scalloped Potatoes, Peas
• Snacks - Yogurt, Diet Pepsi, Pudding

Now to join my snoring mate, who just tried to blame the cat for the foul smell in the room, so I guess I won't be tucking my head in the blankets tonight!

My Flog for December 20 + Good Tidings!

Well, good news- we get to eat for the rest of the year, as I got my Christmas Bonus - a nice lump of Safeway gift cards. 

Tonight I am so tired, I fell asleep upstairs, while Steve and I were watching Chopped! on the Food Network. So I'm just going to crawl in bed now and hope my hubby has my side of the bed warmed up - it's a cold windy night!

I plan to have a busy busy day tomorrow, knitting Dommie's stocking, baking, cleaning, laundry. Or else maybe I'll stay in bed watching TV all day! We'll see!

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Bagel w/Peanut Butter
• Dinner - Macaroni and Cheese and 2 Sausages, 2 slices French Bread
• Snacks - a Chocolate Cherry, Hot Chocolate, Banana

My Flog for December 19 + Me, Worry?

Way too many carbs - I feel really fat and exhausted tonight. I don't know why I dig into goodies when I'm stressed out - I have to have a good stern talk with myself before I wake up one morning and my bra won't fit.

So. You're wondering now why I'm stressed out. Here's a list:

1. Bonus or no bonus - means the difference of gifts or groceries. Sucks. 
2. Having tons of trouble doing a donkey stocking for Dommie - starting my third attempt tomorrow, just too tired to even think tonight. Donkeys are really hard for me to chart, obviously, and everything I've attempted so far looks like alien creatures.
3. Transit - tonight I had to wait through two supposed to be buses that never showed up, then spend an hour on an overcrowded bus with two big bags on my lap. Oh well, at least I still have a lap. Over half an hour late getting home - my trip was almost 2 hours.
4. The scale has to be slowly creeping up - and that's not good. 
5. The stress of making a stress list is very stressful, so I think I'll just call it a night and go to bed!

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Beef and Barley Soup - it was supposed to be Bean Medley soup (whatever that is) but the gal gave me the wrong stuff. Still good though. Apple Tart
• Dinner - Grilled Cheese Sandwich, 
• Snacks - Sausage and Egg McMuffin, Coffee, Hot Chocolate, small piece of Carrot Cake (people, please stop bringing me stuff! Seriously!)

My Flog for December 18 + Boring Day = Boring Flog

Work my fingers to the bone, what do I get? Socks. 

12 pairs of men's wool socks were sent to the store with a regular order by mistake, and the supplier didn't want them back. I mentioned to Chris I'd like to have a couple of pairs if possible, and joked with Pauline that we may get socks for our Christmas Bonus. When I went to work today, there were 12 pairs of wool socks in a bag with my name written on it. The Christmas Bonus idea just wasn't as funny then. There is a 4 hour window on Tuesday that will tell if I'm getting a $ bonus or not - we'll just have to wait until then.

The store was really busy today, and even though I didn't feel like working, that didn't stop people from buying. Eight minutes before closing I had to demo 3 different types of ruffle yarns, but I still managed to lock up at 4:59. Talk about high-speed demos. I can just imagine the poor gals at home trying to remember which is which. But I don't really care, I had a bus to catch and a 90 minute commute.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Pea Soup and Roll
• Dinner - Spinach Salad, Chicken Breast, 2 Onion Rings and a few French Fries
• Snacks - 2 Mexican Christmas cookies thanks to my lovely pal Esther - Yummy!

My Flog for December 17 + Get The Hell Out Of The Way, The Last Chocolate Is Mine....

When I started this blog, my title was meant to represent two things - losing weight and losing my mind. Well now, it seems like I'm losing the will to lose weight. So my main goal for the rest of December is to maintain at least the same number as December 1's number. I will definitely snack more, eat more, jump into the chocolate and fudge and cookie jars, and all that jazz. One thing I will definitely NOT do is gain the whole 20 plus pounds I lost - I can't anyway, because I got rid of all humungous clothes....and I can't go to work naked.  

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - 1 Taquito, Spinach Salad
• Dinner - Sausage, Scrambled Eggs, 1 slice Cheez Whiz toast
• Snacks - 2 Timbits, Diet Pepsi, chips, 3 Oreo cookies (I think I'm really losing it now, if I haven't already lost it.)

Tis The Season For Reruns (From Tamar's Day Off, November 09, 2010)

So , I wake up this morning, and as I sip my hour-old coffee (I set the coffee pot so the coffee's fresh and hot and aromatic when my husband, a 'today' man, rolls his butt out of bed), I log into Yahoo! and this is what I read:

Why men think they have it harder today

New survey reveals why men today think they're worse off than those of previous generations

Yeah, right. Today's man has such a rough life. I'm wondering are they comparing it to cavemen days, when, dressed in rough buffalo skins and maybe sporting pretty peacock feathers in their hair, they had to actually go poke these same buffaloes to death with pointy sticks, then drag them home without the benefit of big noisy vroom vroom four-wheel bikes, then off course, after they dumped the bloody carcasses off at the doorstep, sit crosslegged in front of the bonfire ooging and arghing over the hunt, carefully guarding their privates from the occasional flanker floating from the flames? (I know, I know...bloody long sentence there, put up with it.)

Or maybe it's the cowboys they are comparing themselves to. Long hot days driving cattle across the plains, sun pouring from the heavens and rendering their Axe antiperspirant useless, camping on the stony riverside and trying to sleep with sharp rocks in the middle of their backs and occasionally getting caught in a flash flood and waking up miles downstream, thinking they had wet themselves before realizing the river had indeed wet them, then having to get up, dry off with the help of a few leaves and insect-infected moss, and climb over stabby bushes and snake pits and bear dens to their herd, all set for another boring day of the same old, same old.

Or maybe even more recent times, when a fisherman would get up before dawn, and row out to the fishing grounds with his nets and jigger and a cup of weak tea in his belly, come home soaking wet with cold ocean spray frozen on his whiskers, and before breakfast, clean and gut his catch, then spend the rest of the day loitering around mending his boat, his nets, cutting his firewood, hauling it out of the forest on a wheelbarrow (if he was lucky enough to have one), tending his potato garden, slaughtering a pig for supper, and reading the Bible to his kids before sending them to bed with a clout in the ear.

Meanwhile, the women, instead of rising at seven and eating high fibre cereal from a pretty rose-painted bowl before heading out to work, would, at their respective times:

- skin that bloody buffalo, make buffalo soup, buffalo stew, roast buffalo, buffalo pot pie, buffalo pancakes,,,etc etc, sew the bloody buffalo skin into little man skirts and shoes, but not man underpants as one of the few enjoyments she got was seeing her man jump and holler when one of those flankers from the bonfire found its way to his joystick

-stay home at the ranch, beat marauding Indians (sorry, I don't mean to be politically incorrect, but c'mon, now, we've all seen these Clint Eastwood and John Wayne movies) and Fuller Brush salesmen over the heads with cast iron frying pans and rolling pins (their husbands having taken all the rifles on the roundup), weed the fields, aerate the lawn, sew the curtains, take care of the kids  (at least ten, each one of them nine months younger than the one before), bake the bread, do the laundry, figure out how to set up wireless Internet, and then decide what to do in her spare time

- get her husband his first breakfast, his second breakfast, his mid morning lunch, his lunch, his three o'clock lunch, his supper and his bedtime lunch, fry fish, boil fish, dry fish, bottle fish, stew fish - and dig up a few spuds to go with same fish, plus everything the cowboys' wives did, except of course, the Indian part

So there you go, you poor fellers. Of course you have it tough. Go polish something - your Italian shoes, your Dodge Ram truck, your designer sunglasses. Drink something - your Starbucks lowfatfrozendoublecaramelfrappucini, your imported beer, your chamomile tea sweetened with stevia. Watch something - Victoria's Secret ads, hockey/football/softball (whatever's in season), the Detroit news channel.

Just quit bitchin' to us women - we're too busy doing everything we used to, plus half of what you used to - when you were REAL men!

Suck it up, buttercup.

My Flog for December 16

This was not one of my better days. I was lazy, out of sorts, and craving all sorts of things, foodwise, any way. Now the remote doesn't work, and the TV is stuck on the bloody weather network while my husband is dozing upstairs, and I feel like going up there and smacking him. Why does anyone watch the weather network when there are windows in the house? I know there are those old-fashioned buttons you can actually get up and go over to and press, and they will change channels and volume, but I can't open the little door they are hiding behind. Unless of course that isn't a door and I don't know where they are. 

The only thing I'm grateful for is it's not a Once Upon A Time or Glee night. That's all.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Left Over Green Salad from last night's Boston Pizza dinner - at least we got our money's worth of salad, if not ribs
• Dinner - I wasn't lazy when I walked to WalMart for dinner stuff, but I was lazy when I bought it - frozen lasagna and cabbage rolls. Then I had to lug it all home.
• Snacks - Now, here's the problem. Today I gave in to my urges and ate: Old Dutch Ripple Chips, the au gratin ones, my absolute favourite that I haven't had in over 6 months, 4 Timbits (Nikkie's fault, she brought them home, grape pop, a Strawberry Sundae from McDonalds, and 2 chocolates. (Tis the season, after all.) You know now how honest I am with my blog, as it would have been so easy to leave out several of these and have a lot of you keep your high regards for me. 

When I got on the scale this morning, I was 1 1/2 pounds down from December 1, and now I'm probably 1 1/2 pounds up again. I don't know why I sabotage myself, I really don't. Unless it's the time of the month when my shrivelled up ovaries are remembering some ancient magical process and are sending out the last of their Sugar and Fat Cravings from their PMS memories. I don't know. Oh well, if December does prove to be a disastrous month, and I truly think it may be, I will just start again in the new year.

Oh oh, I think I heard Santa Claus! (Howard bought a set of bells at Zellers yesterday, and he has Nikkie and Steve drove mad with them. I thought Nikkie hid them away today, but I guess the bearded man sniffed them out. As long as he keeps them upstairs.....)

My Flog for December 15 - After Two Day Offs, I Need A Day Off

Up early at Pauline's house, after a restless night without the sound of anyone's snoring to lull me to sleep. She drove me to the bus loop at 7 am, and I bused and trained to Surrey in time for Lizzie's pres-school, as I wanted to see her sing with her little buddies for their Christmas party. It was really nice to see Christmas in their room, a tree, and all sorts of crafts - Christmas songs on the CD player. There are some schools, in Richmond anyway, that won't even have a tree in case someone gets offended. Chris and Lizzie's school seem to have it right - celebrate the whole kit and caboodle and to hell with it!

Lizzie was of course utterly cute. She sang with the other kiddies, but she also danced in her spot, as she's a little ballerina at heart.

After that, it was home, where I caught an episode of Coronation Street (I am soooo far behind), and then it was off to the mall to try and get a little bit caught up on Christmas. Geez. I hate malls, and Surrey Central is pretty sucky. Couldn't even find a place in the Food Court to get a Coffee and Muffin. Imagine that. There is a Tim Horton's there somewhere, tucked in some elusive corner, but I've yet to find it.

Howard and I decided to eat out, so went to Boston Pizza, where they had racks of ribs on special. He ordered a Full Rack, I ordered a Half Rack, and when the server brought it I asked if Howard's was the right order because his plate was identical to mine as far a ribs were concerned. He said it was. But at the end of the meal, we noticed he had 7 bones on his plate,where I had 6 - not a hell of a lot more food for $5 extra. When I mentioned it to the gal who brought us the bill, she said there should have been a difference, and she got her manager, a slip of a gal who said it went by weight and not amount. If it had weighed more, it would have looked bigger, I would have thought. So we're not going back there. Ever. The food was mediocre anyway. The salad was good though.

After dinner, Howard dragged me through the mall again, then made me wait in the truck until he went to the Liquor Store to get some wine. Then home - where I fed the kiddies (all three of them), and kidnapped the two little monsters so their daddy could do some homework in peace. We curled up in my bed and watched The Snowman Video, and Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer on CBC. As we were watching that one, their daddy came down and curled up beside us too - so when Poppy came down to go to bed he was a bit ticked off - but we stayed and he went trudging upstairs again, grumbling all the way - Ho Ho Ho.

• Breakfast - Coffee and 2 Biscuits at Pauline's House. Don't even think of asking how she got the froth on the coffee.
• Lunch - A little plate of East Indian home-cooking that Nikkie snuck home for me from Lizzie's Christmas Party at pre-school, and raisin bread
• Dinner - Last meal ever at Boston Pizza, ribs, mashed potatoes, garlic toast and salad. And water.
• Snacks - Grape Pop

My Flog for December 14 - Let the Part-eh Begin!

Busy, busy day. Up early, got the kiddies ready for school, and did my week's worth of laundry. Sometimes it's good no to have too many clothes, as two loads did it all. Then it was a walk to the SkyTrain station, on which I was accompanied by a strange woman (therefore, a Stranger) who was too utterly nice to me and told me half her life story, and who I managed to evade by not crossing the street where I usually cross. My first snack of the day was going to be a coffee and muffin at Tim Horton's on the way, but I had the feeling if I went in there, she would have tagged along. And from what she said, I would have been right. Anyway, training and busing at 1 pm is a lot nicer than early morning and evening commutes, as there was tons of empty spaces on both bus and train, and it was a nice change to see all the scenery in the daylight. 

I got off at the Richmond Centre to pick up my Knitting magazines (my monthly fix,) then met Marina, my friend and co-worker, and we went to her place for coffee, and then walked to the Boathouse Restaurant for our staff Christmas Dinner. The food was great, we had a few laughs, but unfortunately, no bonus this year. Yet. I still have til next Tuesday but my hopes of getting a bonus this year are very slim - we shall see. We always got them at our Christmas Dinner, and last year I even got mine before that. I shall, however, wait another few days before I call on Clark Griswold's cousin Eddie for help.

Because I didn't want to make the hour and half commute home to Surrey late at night, I slept over at my buddy (and co-worker) Pauline's house, and after sneaking around other people's empty houses for a while, we chatted for an hour or so before we called it a night!

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Raisin Bread Toast
• Dinner - Well, we could write about it 2 ways. 

1. Appetizers - a few Yam Fries, and a piece of either shrimp or prawns, something rubbery and disgusting, and I probably wouldn't have taken it if I had drank - drunk - drinked - the Drink first, Chicken, Potatoes and Green Beans, a Brownie, and a Drink, or
2. Maple Roasted Chicken Breast with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Seasonal Vegetables, with a Decadent Warm Brownie covered with Chocolate Sauce, Ice Cream and Whipped Cream on the Side, and a Singapore Sling (there was my shot of gin - and Cherry Liqueur - and whatever else was in there. I have no idea.)

• Snacks - I didn't have time to have snacks. I probably would have had something if I had time.

My Flog for December 13 + Beam Me Home, Scotty - PLEASE!

I am beginning to not like the commute home from work. Early morning isn't too bad, it's like travelling with some of the 7 Dwarves (Grumpy, Dopey, Sleepy, with the occasional Sneezy thrown in), everyone is half asleep and not babbling away, but the evening? Sucks big time. Last night one lady (?) flopped down on the seat beside me - well, not only on the seat beside me, but also on  parts of me that were on my own seat, and tonight another so called lady decided her honking big purse could sit on my seat, as I guess she wanted all of her seat to herself. 

I said to her, "Oh, do you want my seat too? One isn't enough for you?" 

She answered, "Excuse me?" and moved when another seat became available - one with an empty seat beside it so she didn't have to share her seat with her purse. And lucky me got another broad with a big bag. At least she said "Sorry" when she banged it against my side. 

I intentionally tuck myself into one seat only, and far enough in that I have no parts at all on the seat next to me, to the extent that there is usually about 4 -5 inches of my seat to spare. But I don't want to share those inches with other people's butts, thighs, or bags...maybe I should say purses instead of bags. 

I am definitely not a friendly commuter. Last night a woman with a walker took up 4 seats at the front of the bus, two to sit on - she sat right in the middle of the bench seat so no one could sit by her, and shoved up the 2 wheelchair seats for her walker. And that's fine, if she needs a walker. However, when we got to the sky train station, she went up the elevator, and then she booted it to the head of the train - and I mean booted it. I've never seen a walker travel so fast, it was amazing, I wouldn't have been surprised to see sparks flying from the wheels. She could have easily won a hundred yard dash. I know I tend to be judgemental, but anyone that could move that fast has no need of a walking aid. She just wanted a chair on hand at all times. 

Morning commute - quiet, everyone is still half asleep, like I said. Evening - everyone has shopping bags that bang on your legs if you're sitting on the outside, or back packs that tend to swing millimetres from your face as their owners pass by. If a person doesn't have a buddy to talk to (or yell at to be heard) they are on cell phones, or listening to earphones that share the ugliest kind of so-called music to everyone within a 3 foot radius. And if you're lucky enough to be sitting on a seat that is separating two halves of a couple, then you will be inundated with a steady stream of loud conversation flowing between your ears. 

My poor shadow spends most of the commute banging her head against a brick wall. 

• Breakfast - Frosted Flakes - I thought there was no bread, but after I had my cereal, I found half a loaf. Oh well. I didn't have coffee either, not then - I had been awake since 3am, having and getting over an asthma attack. Okay now, though.
• Brunch - You probably know by now - a Sausage McMuffin and huge coffee from McDonald's. I thought I had ordered a Sausage and Egg McMuffin, but obviously someone wasn't listening as when I got to the store to gobble it down, there the egg wasn't. I ate it anyway.
• Lunch - Hot Chocolate, half a veggie sandwich from the coffee shop next door - but it wasn't as good as usual. The whole grain baguette was tough. Blah. And a yogurt.
• Dinner - Left over pasta from last night, and a chocolate cake finger thingie that Howard bought at the store.
• Snacks - I know you are saying, she definitely doesn't need any snacks, however - a Trans Fat Free Pudding, ONE only candy and a Banana

My Mistake

Actually, actuality is a real word, and I actually spelled it wrong.

My Flog for December 12

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Tomato Bisque soup (not the porcelain kind of bisque - it was served in a take-away bowl, and it was very yummy), roll, and Yogurt
• Dinner - Pasta - Howard made a 'goulash' with ground beef, spaghetti sauce, peppers, onions, celery, and  lots of mozzarella and cheddar. If there was anything else in there it was in disguise, and it was a very tasty dish indeed, to set before a quee .... tired old woman.
• Snacks - Pudding - and Steve tells me the puddings are NOT fat-free, but TRANS FAT free, and there is a big difference. There is indeed, and the ones he bought yesterday are indeed trans fat free, but the fact remains that the ones he bought last week were fat-free. Too bad Howard burnt the packaging in the fireplace so I can't prove it, but I'm sure he knows deep down I was right. As usual. Also a Cheesecake Truffle from the bakery. 

Regarding the Cheesecake Truffle from the bakery. You know how, when you're waiting for your soup, you eyeball all the baked goods behind glass at the bakery? The apple tarts, the lemon tarts, the eccles cakes, the apple turnovers, the chocolate cupcakes, the cream horns, the carrot cake, the rum balls, the  date squares, the butter tarts, the fruit tarts, the Kahlua eclairs, the raspberry cheesecake, and the cheesecake truffles? And these are just the ones on the right side of the till. The left side has all the muffins, croissants, danish pastries, and cookies..... Well, you know how, when you finally break down and buy one of these treats, and take it home (or to your place of work) and eat it, and then after you eat it, you wish you hadn't, because the wish for it far excelled the actuallity of eating it?

Well, that's what happened to me. Maybe today you learned a new word. I make them up when I need them.

My Flog for December 11 + Sock It To Me + Hores Doovers

It's been a long time since I've rolled out of bed, and diapered and bottled a baby. However, the overnight babysitting job went reasonably well - I think. 

Work today was busy, as usual. It was a glorious sunny winter-cold day, and Steveston was buzzing with people. Came home to find out the furnace isn't working - hopefully it  will be repaired shortly. I'm soon going to throw my slowly freezing body in bed - I'm just waiting for Howard to warm it up for me. Just the thought of showering at 5:30 is enough to terrorize me - I think I may just skip out on that, and go heavy with the deodorant and Febreeze. Oh my.

• Breakfast - Tim Horton's coffee and 2 Timbits (Thanks, Neil)
• Lunch - McDonald's Sausage and Egg McMuffin (Thanks, Pauline)
• Dinner - Cheese and Bacon Bread (Thanks, Howard -these are Newfie Hores Doovers...instructions below, just scroll waaaaaaaay down.)
• Snacks - Hot Chocolate, a few candies, Ginger Ale, fat-free Pudding (why would Steve buy fat-free Puddings anyway? I have to talk to that boy....)

Here are the six Christmas Stockings I've knitted - and I've started one more special one for Dominik - his will have a donkey on it, and since I don't have a chart, it will be an original - Good Luck to me!

Cheese and Bacon Bread - Bet You Can't Eat Just One!

You will need: sliced white bread, Cheez Whiz, bacon cut into squares, and butter

Butter bread. Cut each slice into 4 squares. Put a glob of Cheez Whiz on top of each square, then a piece of bacon on top of that. Bake in hot oven until the bacon bubbles and the bread toasts on the bottom. Yummy. Yummy. Yummy. Now go make some.

My Flog for December10

Well, here we are, babysitting in Ladner, ignoring the children while I do my Flog. Well, we're not ignoring all the children. I gave Dominik to his Poppy because I thought he pooped after he finished his dinner (Dominik, that is, not Poppy) but I guess he never, as Poppy seems to be quite contented with the baby. Clayton and Tanner are amusing themselves with video games, so this so far is quite an easy job.

I finally finished the 6 Christmas stockings, and was going to post them here now to show you all, but then realized they are loaded on my sleeping laptop back home, so shall do that at a later time. Now I have to do Dominik's, and he specifically wants a donkey on his. Hee haw. Guess I have to magically change a reindeer chart into a donkey chart, Good job I'm smrt.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Leftovers from last night's dinner, which was actually Breakfast - I had a pancake and a couple pieces of bacon
• Dinner - Pizza compliments of Neil and Shannon via Panagopolous - by a strange coincidence, the pizza guy came at exactly the same time as Dom woke from his nap.
• Snacks - Apple, and 4 Sugar Cookies - we finally baked the rest of the cookie dough we made for Hallowe'en cookie (you may substitute the 'we' for I) - but it was still okay as I froze it until a couple of days ago. Yummy cookies, and Steve warned me that there would be none left after the night was over, and I won't be home until after work tomorrow - so I had to get two days worth in me or lose them all.

My Flog for December 9 + Splish Splash, I Was Taking ... Giving... A Bath

Today I started to finish the 6 Christmas stockings, with high hopes of getting them all done before bed. Two left to sew up the back seam, all the ends are sewn in, the names are on them all, and the scarf knitted for the snowman one. All I'll have left to do then is attach the embellishments - stuff like star/snowflake confetti, pompom noses and./or tails, carrot nose...you get the drift. Don't think it'll all get done tonight though.

Just gave two squirming eel-like children a bath, got soaking wet and almost fell in the toilet. How on earth did I ever manage when my big boys were little? I'm amazed they survived - and I'm amazed I survived too.

Lizzie

Chris

I can say with absolute honesty I am ready for bed - but of course I have to sew these stupid stockings first.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Left-over Meatballs and Rice - There were a lot left over, but I hate to see food going to waste, and since Howard and Steve did their part by bringing a container each full of it, I felt I had to do my part
• Dinner - Breakfast. Just so you're not confused - 1 sausage, 1 rasher of bacon, 2 pancakes, and scrambled eggs. Don't know how many, they are really hard to count when they are out of the shell and all mixed together.
• Snacks - diet Pepsi, a few candies, that's about all - or at least, all I can remember.

My Flog for December 8 + Sharon's Fantastic Recipe for Waikiki Meatballs

 Well, today I did something really beneficial - I finished eating the Tootsie Roll Candies in the Hallowe'en left-over basket. So proud of myself. Now I'm safe - until Christmas, when I may...just MAY...get something to replace them. Meanwhile, the only thing left are Sponge Bob candies, and while they may be not be as good as the TR candies, they will suffice if I have an especially tough hour of need.

Dinner tonight was brought to us by way of Sharon's Waikiki Meatballs, and the recipe will follow the food part of my Flog. These are famous from coast to coast now, since we introduced them to our BC friends. Served with the now-Flog-Famous Fried Rice, of course, so I'll include the recipe for that too. I had called it Newfoundland-Style Fried Rice in a previous post, but that's just because it came from our community Lion's Club cookbook - I'm sure it's a universal recipe. Maybe if you threw in some salt fish and brewis it would be more of a Newfie style.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Frosted Flakes - when we're finished them we can tear the box open and learn how to draw Tony the Tiger - I am so excited!
• Dinner - Waikiki Meatballs and Fried Rice
• Snacks - 3 Tootsie Roll candies, a Cherry Muffin, diet Pepsi, 

WAIKIKI MEATBALLS & FRIED RICE

(Sharon's recipe) 

MEATBALLS:

1 lb ground beef

1 cup cracker crumbs (saltines, that is)

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ginger

1 chopped onion

Mix all ingredients together, form into balls and cook. I fry them, Howard cooks them in the oven - whatever pleases you.

SAUCE:

2 tsp cornstarch

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup vinegar

1 tsp soy sauce

1 can pineapple tidbits and juice 

Mix cornstarch with brown sugar and add to vinegar, soy sauce and pineapple juice. Bring to a boil, then add meatballs and pineapple. Heat and serve with Fried Rice.

FRIED RICE:

1 onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 eggs

2 cups cooked rice

soy sauce

Saute veggies, add eggs and scramble. Add rice, and soy sauce to taste. (I've also added mushrooms, or frozen veggies, or whatever else was lying around in fridge or cupboard and seemed appropriate.)

Mr. Smith's Special Christmas Present - An Old Story From My Old Teaching Days

 While I was still teaching in Trinity, one fall my class and I made Nativity figures from plaster fabric, using pop bottles as a base. I made an angel as a sample - it must have been the ugliest angel ever, however, it was an angel just the same. Just before Christmas closing, Mrs Walters and I wrapped this angel up in a box with Christmas paper and added a tag that read "To: Mr Smith." 

When we had lunch break on the last day of school before Christmas, Mrs. Walters and I were in the little 'staff room' (closet) and we expected Mr Smith to come in carrying his special gift. We kept saying, "When he comes in, we have to be serious, pretend we don't know what happened, don't laugh, don't even smile..." stuff like that, practising being serious. Just knowing that he would have opened this gift in front of his students was enough to make us bend over with the giggles - maybe one of you were in the classroom when that happened and remember!

Of course, as soon as he walked in with that box in his hand, the two of us just burst out laughing like crazy. This memory still makes me laugh. As far as I know, Graham and Audrey still have that ugly angel!