July 16 - I may be boring, but thankfully I’m not bored.

 I know it’s summer, but I wish I could turn down the heat a bit - I think tomorrow it’s going to cool down to about 24. However, then I won’t have an excuse to not do housework. Seems I just can’t win. My friend from next door and I were discussing how we could manage to get fired from cooking and cleaning, but doesn’t look like that’s a possibility. 

We had a birthday boy in our house today, as Christopher turned 17. He wanted a cherry cake, so me being (kinda) stupid thought I could add cherry koolaid to the buttercream frosting I made so it would be cherry flavoured. 

And it was. It was also a very bright pink. Steve took one look and said it looked like a Barbie cake for a 5 year old girl. 

To compensate, I added blue and green sprinkles, but that didn’t really help either. 

But it still tasted really good, and our boy (young man) as always, appreciated my efforts. 

And now to the horticulture segment. A flower opened on one of my cacti this morning, and there’s at least two more on the way. I think they like the hot weather more than I do  

And I’m pretty sure there is another heart leaf starting from the stem below. Fingers crossed.

My tall bunny ears had a major growth spurt in the last few weeks too, each part growing more ears. I’ll soon have to build scaffolding to keep 
from falling over. 

Well, it’s almost 10 o’clock, but so nice on the back deck now I don’t want to go upstairs, even though it’s past my bedtime. 

July 14 - No comedy or drama, kinda like watching paint dry

Since I did absolutely (almost) both all day, I persuaded hubby to go for a walk with me. He left me stranded when we walked around the short block and escaped through the back gate, but I just kept walking. 

Unlike yesterday when we were at Walmart, and I was just chatting away, thinking he was behind me, not realizing he had turned around in search of milk. I hate it when he does this, and now I’m probably known as That Old Lady Who Talks To Herself. 

However, I digress. I found some pretty flowers, descendants of the ones I posted a couple of years ago. According to my Seek App, it is -

- but what it’s doing here in Surrey I have no idea.

Found these too, hydrangeas I believe. Maybe if I’m wrong someone can correct me.

I saw another gigantic grape vine up the alley, but the grapes weren’t nearly as big or as bountiful as ours. Steve tried one yesterday- not ready for binging on yet. 

And on an entirely unrelated matter, the first thing Steve did with his new label maker was label it. 

It’s been quite hot today, so I had a good excuse for being lazy. I’ll make up for it tomorrow- got a birthday cake to make, with 17 candles. Theo will be happy to ‘help’ Chris blow them out. 

July 14 - You’re not always where you think you are

This morning, when I thought we were leaving to go to Guildford Town Centre (aka mall), I found that we were actually going to Green Timbers Forest (park) in search of the lake.  If you have read this blog in the past, you just may remember Breehy and me going there a long time ago. The man- made lake just appeared before us as we walked (rolled), but this morning we walked and walked and walked some more, and no lake.  It must be hard to move a lake. 

We met a couple walking two small dogs, and asked them if they knew where said lake was  

‘On the other side of 100 Ave’ they said. Well, they said more, and pointed here and there and stuff, but basically told us we were in the wrong side of the park to ever come across the lake. 

‘Oh,’ I said. We’ve already been walking for four hours.’

She laughed, he laughed, but my feet didn’t laugh.

We turned to go back to the parking lot, and I fell in love with the artistry involved in turning this boring asphalt path into a work of art. But then Mr Bubble Burster said it was caused by frost. So I guess Mother Nature did it, and that impressed me too.

I love old growth forests in hot summer days, perfect place to get some cool relief even if there was no lake nearby. Nothing makes you realize how small you are until you stand beneath one of these majesties and (try to) look up. 

This is at the entrance - yes, the pics loaded backwards. No biggie. 

And here is the beginning of the path (or the end, looking back.)

Across the road from the park there is a huge RCMP station, so I had to take a pic of this guy. Maybe someone reading this knows him?

Anyway, looks like my formatting has gone to hell in a hand basket now, so I will leave you with a very exhausted nighty night, and a link to better days when Breehy and I actually found the lake. 

https://tamarlosesit.blogspot.com/2012/07/july-13-6-wheels-green-timbers-park-and.html

July 13 - Today was no picnic. Literally and figuratively.

 Some people will do anything to get a bracelet- even if it means 5 hours at the ER.

Oh, he’s fine. Xrays, CT scan and blood tests all done and all good. Home now watching his show, Bosch, just relaxing and forgetting about the needles and stuff.

See, I keep telling him, ‘It’s probably muscle pain. You have to stop over-doing stuff. Give your muscles time to rest up.  You’re not 30 years old any more.’

Doctor told him, ‘It’s probably muscle pain.’ 

Gee whiz. I never even went to medical school.

Steve said yesterday he (Howard, not the doctor) was lugging 100 pound cement squares around. 

‘So, what do you expect? You’re not .. etc etc etc.’

Enough said,  at least we know now that his innards are healthy, his heart is good, and he doesn’t have kidney stones. I guess I could do a Misery kind of thing on his hamstrings to make him stop overdoing it, but he’d still probably find a way to build something, or fix something, or move something.  The Vokey boys are very resilient. 

Anyway, enough about hubby. My cacti and I are doing fine, I managed to get 4778 steps in today, and even though it’s 9:30 in the night I have no trouble keeping my eyelids open.

So this is us, 48 11/12 years in sickness and health. As Merle Haggard sand, That’s the way love goes  

July 12 - If at first you don’t succeed, try once more then give up.

 I think I made a good decision to take one of my RA meds in the morning instead of supper - not as wiped out this evening, and the bags under my eyes don’t feel like eye pillows. 

I’m loving the weather the last couple of days, hot but not too too hot outside, and comfortable inside. Still not getting much done though. I have excuses:

a) A couple of sore parts. Not too sore for what I want to do, but too sore to not do the stuff I should be doing.

b) Too hot to do housework, even if said housework is an indoors job.

c) Housework never ends, so if I do it today I will just have to do it all over again tomorrow (or next week, month, whenever.)

Anyway, somethings who are loving the warmth of the sun are the cacti in my window. And my heart leaf plant.

See how much the baby has grown? Proud mamma here. And I do believe - hope - there’s another one starting from the same stem. 

The Old Man’s Beard is one of my first cacti, I’ve had it for a couple of years I believe. And, as you can see, the bird seed I planted in the same pot is doing well too. 

And on a completely different topic, here is my mom’s recipe for her delicious Scottish style scones (pronounced skons, not scooooones), and if you, unlike me, can make them as good as she used you, you can come visit any time.  I’ll provide the butter and jam  

As you can see, it looks like it got about the same use as my old Cream of the West cookbook, but actually it didn’t. I only tried, unsuccessfully, a couple of times  

There are some things only a mom can do better  

July 11 - Nothing to see here.

 It’s a Blogless night. 

Nothing happened. 

Life is boring. 

And I’m really sleepy. 

(A bit of a cheat. I copied from FB the day after.) 

July 10 - I shouldn’t write about food because now I’m hungry. And it’s bedtime.

 Boring day, but also exciting - 3 weeks til our oldest son’s visit! He’s coming all the way from northern Manitoba, and I think he’s a bit worried there will be no Pineapple Upside Down Cake while he’s here. 

Not to worry, not to worry. We’ll take care of that. 

If you live near me and want the little packs of Koolaid that we used to buy (4 for a dollar) and can’t find them, because absolutely nobody carries them, and you want to flavour your ice-cream like I did, then don’t worry any more. There’s a little store on 120 Street called Mr. Munchies, and they have a decent supply - even if they are now 75 cents a pack. 

I made our sister-in-law Sharon’s Waikiki Meatballs for supper, but instead of her fried rice (which is delicious), I fried up bacon, cabbage, garlic, salt, pepper and paprika - that was a really good side dish for the meatballs. Just in case you were wondering  

It’s getting past my bedtime now, and tomorrow might be a busier day - places to go (Safeway has salmon on for $3.49 a pound, according to their flyer) but no one special to meet. I still haven’t given up on our picnics - but seems like someone else has. 

Maybe tomorrow. 

July 9 - Seems I had 2 July 9s in a row - but today is the real one.

 Lazy lazy Sunday.  Not quite as hot, but good enough for me. Howard thinks the temperature got up to 23, but seems a lot warmer in our room now. With the air conditioner on, my feet will soon be freezing, and I’ll soon either go to bed or get my winter jacket. 

We had a little visitor this morning, which was a bit strange until we realized why he dropped by.

Somehow this little red-cheeked woodpecker realized there was a whack of ants near the garage door, and he had a feast of them. I imagine there’s lots left too. Maybe he’ll bring his family later and finish them off. 

I never did much today, just the usual never- ending dishes and stuff like that. I did finish the ice-cream mixture I had left over from yesterday, so decided I’d experiment with strawberry Koolaid to see if I could turn vanilla into strawberry ice-cream. 

At first I figured I’d only use about half the pack, but realized that might be a bit much, as there was enough powder to make 8 (I think) cups of koolaid, and I only had a bit more than 2 cups of stuff. So I was able to scoop out quite a bit, as it was kinda floating on top, and crossed my fingers. When it was churning in the ice-cream maker it looked like Pepto Bismal, which wasn’t very appetizing, but I’m glad to say when it was done it looked yummier, and my fussy husband liked it! Yeah!

Well, my boring day is almost done. Just have to go downstairs and get supper dishes done. 

Then bed. Well, maybe ice-cream first. 

July 8 - It’s not an exciting life, but it’s better than it was. Baby steps, me, baby steps.

A bit cooler today, so I decided not to bake anything. Why heat up a not so hot kitchen? Besides that, hubby had me on the go this morning to the recycling depot, then since we had to pass Walmart we went in and had a shop. Less than $100, so we didn’t need any bags 😁.

On the way home I noticed a garage sale, so for the first time in years (yes) I dropped in. I bought a book and a couple of dvds for Chris and his mom, who like watching stuff that would make other people (me) scream and run away. 

On the way home I saw this lonely little duck.  In fact, he looked like a duck out of water, but his smile was so lovely I had to take a picture  

I was more surprised this week when I noticed a new stem with a new leaf on my heart Hoya plant. According to the World Wide Web, these heart leafs by themselves  do not produce babies, so this surprise was quite pleasant. I’ve had this flat green non-growing thing since Valentines Day in 2022, and even kind of neglected it for a while. Because a plant that just sits there and does absolutely nothing isn’t very inspiring to a person who just sits there and does nothing. 

But Howard bought it for me so I figured I should take better care of it.  Sunshine and water and cactus fertilizer. 

And now another day is almost over, and I’ve lost my damn formatting. 

I can take a hint. 

Goodnight. 

July 7 - Another hazy (due to wildfire smoke) lazy crazy day of summer

Not quite as hot today - it only went up to 27 degrees, and that wasn’t until this afternoon. I got a bit of housework done this morning, but that’s not very exciting, is it? Howard and I did a little walkabout after supper, but my step count today was pretty dismal - 3347. 

I made jello - sugar-free - so that in itself isn’t very exciting. You don’t (at least I didn’t) realize how much sugar is in regular jello until I held one in one hand, and one in the other. No wonder the regular stuff tastes so much better. However, we’re trying to cut back our sugar intake, and every little bit is supposed to help. Well, some of us (Howard) may not realize this, but he hasn’t complained about the jello yet - as long as I don’t give him the lemon flavoured. He says it tasted too yellow. 

A pretty rose in front of our window. Such a sweet smell! Because my phone goes everywhere with me, usually in my back pocket with music pouring out, it was handy when I checked the mail and did my usual flower inventory. (I do use my Air Pods too, but some people, like the guy I’m married to, gets pissed off when he has to repeat everything he says because the music is a bit loud in my ears.)

 I also baked two blueberry loaves this morning, just trying to heat up the kitchen before the sun did the job. See, I’m not overly strict on the sugar thing - and not strict at all on the flour thing. I spent so many months not being able to bake, now I want to catch up, I guess. 

Steve took me to Guildford mall after (his) work and bought me a new Apple Watch, which was very sweet and kind of him. Now Nikkie, he and I can communicate any time with the walkie-talkie app. Or, of course  we could just call each other on the phone, but that wouldn’t be as cool.

 Over and out. 

 

July 6 - Wildflowers and not much else. Not even a picnic.

 Some of the wildflowers in our (Steve’s) wildflower garden - it’s amazing how much colour is in a packet of seeds! (Actually more than one package.)

I’m super tired tonight. The plan was to get up really early this morning and get stuff done before the temperature got too high, but that didn’t really work for me. 

I did get up at 6 am, but lingered over coffee as ‘there was lots of time.’ Ended up doing very little, went to the recycling depot with Howard, and had some blood work done. Now I’m almost too tired to keep my eyes open, so there may be lots of typos here tonight. 

By the way, the temperature only got as far as 31, which doesn’t sound great, unless you compare it to the 37 that was forecast the night before. 

Small mercies. 

July 5 A day of little things - and sometimes they are the best!

 Another hot day where the temperature reached 31c (88f for my American friends) and tomorrow is supposed to be 37, so if today was too hot for a picnic, I have a feeling tomorrow will be too. Maybe I can talk him into a little walk in an old growth forest, where it is always cooler on a hot day  

You may think there’s not very many of these in a city, but you would be wrong. Surrey’s parks are awesome!

Anyway. Since it was too hot to go outside I thought I’d bake something, and while looking through cookbooks, I realized that my not-falling-apart Purity cookbook is exactly the same inside as my all-fallen-apart Cream of the West cookbook. And the date square recipe (Matrimonial Squares) I was searching for isn’t in either one.  Oh well, you’ll be glad to know I’ve moved on  

At least I knew where the raisins where. 

Or I thought I did. Guess I never ran out of brown sugar after all, I was just not aware it was playing hide-and-seek. 

On an entirely different topic, my visit with Dr Zhi went really well. He said I didn’t have to have surgery (yet, anyway) and I definitely didn’t have ‘something with 12 syllables and few vowels’(I asked him to spell it for me, and I think he almost thought I wasn’t kidding.) Another good thing thing about my visit was filling out that standard form that all doctors want - a few weeks ago I wouldn’t have been able to hold onto the pen the correct way, and my printing would have been so small and uneven, and almost unreadable, but today? No problem. It would have made my primary school teacher proud. 

It really is the little things. 

July 4 - it’s not Sweatin’ to the Oldies, but the oldies sweatin’

On the go early this morning as we had to take our little Micra  to the dealership for her six-month service. Fingers crossed all the way that they wouldn’t find a million little things wrong. 

And so we had to take the bus home. I’m still hating transit after spending 5 years travelling from Surrey to Richmond for work - bus, skytrain and bus, anywhere from 80 minutes and up. I know at some point, He will refuse to drive any more, and to tell the truth, sometimes even now he makes me a tad nervous. Of course, not as nervous as he gets when I yell out, ‘That’s a red light!’

Anyway, the bus driver got us to Surrey Centre safely, not once slamming on the brake when the light turned from yellow. 

We went to the mall for a healthy late breakfast - bacon and eggers from A&W. The kind of food you think you really really want, but realize after that no, not such a good idea at all. 

However, it was better than burping after your daily dose of 4 Omega 3 capsules. 

 Today was really hot - 30 in the carport. I didn’t go on any walks for ‘pleasure’ but logged in over 6000 steps anyway, beating yesterday by about 1000. I did however clean the freezer in the garage, which was pretty much full of unidentifiable stuff packed in freezer burned Ziplock bags. Howard figures I did most of my steps between the garage and the food bin, and for once he is probably right. I don’t mind giving credit where credit is due. 

(By the way, the only extra the car need was a wheel alignment, so we figured we got off lucky with a $300 bill.)

Maybe tomorrow will be more exciting. I think I’ll be able to talk him into another picnic, as I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow morning, and he knows how I hate these. 

July 3 - Solo walk, and Formatting is my downfall.

The three of me - Me, Myself, and I went for a walk today! That shouldn’t be huge news, but it is, as it’s the first time sans Howard since before last November. He and Steve went to Home Depot (thanks Steve, for getting me out of that trip. Well, to be fair the stuff Howard wanted would fit in Steve’s truck, but not in our Micra.) 

He wanted to extend the deck 10 feet, and since it’s good for him to be busy, I didn’t complain. And he’s got a really good helper, grandson Chris, who is strong, willing and capable. As well as handsome.

So, on to my walk. There’s a very pretty garden in front of the nearest barber shop. By the way, there are almost as many barber shops around as there are Tim Hortons. 

Another art installation, thanks to the laziest people of Surrey 

 No idea where the background colour of this went, but it is indeed one of my pics. Blackberry season is on the way - can’t wait 

(Ah, just noticed there’s a Remove Background feature on the picture editing.)

(Formatting woes - didn’t just remove the background, but removed the whole damn thing.)

See , I’m getting smrter by the minute.

 

What makes a park a park? Use a hydro line and put a couple of picnic tables on the other end. 

Our neighbour likes the way Steve sheared his balls. 

Growing things at our place. Wildflower garden in front of window, and almost 5-year old behind. 

 

July 2 - If anyone sees my sense of humour around anywhere, please send it back. TIA.

You know the old song - Some days are silver, some days are gold? Well, my day seemed more like

lead, unfortunately, but that's okay, I'll keep on keeping on. 

It was a beautiful summer day, a bit hot in the sun, but we don't have to suffer too much as we have an air conditioner in our room. The next few days are supposed to be super hot, so we'll probably hibernate a bit. We've been doing a lot of that recently, come to think about it, so I guess I shouldn't blame the heat. 

I did suggest - insist - that we go to Bear Creek Park gardens for a short stroll, after supper and before tackling supper cleanup, and although He wouldn't come out and say it was a nicer walking venue than the back alley, I'm sure he must have thought it.

(Howard sitting on a bench.)

When we got home, I took some pics of growing things in our garden, so all in all it was a pretty flowery evening.

  One of the nasturtiums - prettiest colours.

(Yellowish with a touch of orange.)

  I didn’t count them but there must be at least 874,342 baby grapes on this plant.

(I promise this is true.)

A mass (mess?) of Sweet Peas, and their scent is very sweet. (You’ll have to believe me,)

While I was clearing the table, Nikkie came into the kitchen, laughing. Her new Apple watch had just  told her it was time to stand. I said, 'Too bad it didn't tell you it was time to do the dishes.' Maybe next time? 

By the way, I just spent about 15 minutes trying to download pics, quite unsuccessfully, I might add. You've probably noticed.Anyway, my day is almost done, and I'm hoping to get a picnic in there somewhere tomorrow. I don't care if he is sick of sandwiches - I guess I could just bring a can of beans and a can opener instead. We'll see.

UPDATE: Sunday morning was more cooperative in loading pics.  Still a pain though  

UODATE #2: Seems the pics didn’t hop from the editing stage to the publishing stage. 

To hell with it. My coffee is cold now.

July 1, 2023 - Back Again For Another Year? Maybe.

A few (many) years ago, I started this blog, intending to post every day for a year - which I did, and more besides. But after time, and over 60,000 visits (mostly from me I think) I ran out of words, ideas, and motivation.

But now I'm back. Because I want to get in the writing groove again. And with your help, I would love to get to 100,000 visits. And I just spent almost seven months unable to use my fingers (as well as most other body parts) so it's a blessing to me to be able to tap again. 

July 1, 2023

Canada Day. Howard put the Newfoundland flag up on the back of the house and the Canada flag on the front, and I guess we'll soon be trying to sleep with the sound of fireworks blasting from the neighbourhood. If we're lucky they'll run out of noise before 2am.

I celebrated by doing dishes and making chocolate ice-cream, which isn't really in line with trying to re-lose the 9 pounds I put on. Well, to be fair, this past winter, I lost 13 pounds in 15 days after taking pills that were supposed to be great painkillers, but in my case all they did was help my food leave my body in terrible ways shortly after eating. The doctor suggested I stop taking them but I figured well, a pound gone is a pound gone - but then I ran out of them and didn't have the nerve to ask for a refill. And even though I didn't feel extraordinarily fat before I lost the original 13, after putting 9 back on, now I do. Go figure.

40 minutes later ...

While I was pondering over some more words, The Lord And Master decided we should go for a stroll, so off we went. Just a very short block, a kind of circling around a cul-de-sac, me with my cane as I'm once again a bit off balance, and him with his, because he has aches and pains in various places. I vowed to get in at least 5000 steps a day (a far cry from my 2 year ago Facebook memory, which showed around 35,000) but so far I'm only getting around 3000ish - 4000ish. It is a new FitBit, so maybe it's just not working well. 

When I started this blog - or flog, as in food log - it was mainly that. To keep track of the food I ate and try not to shame myself online for scarfing down cake and donuts and yes, ice-cream. So I guess I could finish this tonight with that, if I can remember as far back as 7 am.

Breakfast - Toast with raspberry jam-like spread. Just wtf is that. I don't want jam-like, I want jam. I've been caught so many times with jam-like, and not real jam, you'd think I'd have learned my lesson. But no - and now I have a humungous Costco bottle of raspberry jam-like spread to get through before I can carefully buy the real stuff. Coffee.

Lunch - Frosted Flakes. Just because cereal is another way of saying carbs while not eating more bread.

Supper - Sweet Potato Fries with Chipotle Mayo

Snacks - Veggie Straws, a few cherry tomatoes, a few Christmas Advent Calendar chocolates I found in the cupboard, and a couple of wafer cookies. Coffee and more Coffee.

And Jello (sugar-free) because a couple of times a day I have to take monster pills that get stuck in my throat without a slippery surface. (Supplements - calcium and Omega 3.) 

Don't burp after taking Omega 3s.

So there, now you know why I put 9 pounds back on. 

It's Not Just About The Chocolate, Is It, Now?

 The first song on my playlist, as I was waiting for the Kuerig to pee out my coffee, was Walking in the sunshine, sing a little sunshine song. However I had to turn up the volume so I could hear it over the rain pelting down on the plastic-covered roof of the back deck.

'Oh,' you are thinking. 'And how many miles did you walk today? Huh?'

Well, I don't think I walked any miles today. The kids' dad drove them to school and the mom picked them up. Although I did get damp bit by bit dashing to and from the man-shed, the garbage bins, and taking Teddy out to pee, I'm pretty sure my Fitbit didn't feel compelled to measure the distance.

I did, however, feed our organic bin very well, after cleaning out two fridges so I could find room for a bottle of water. The second worst thing about all the festive eating, a close second to the shrinking of the jeans, is the amount of left-over food, especially since I'm the only one who considers eating left-overs. So goodbye to potato, beet and mustard salads, turkey, turkey pot pie, gravy, and pease pudding (which was way over 5 days old but so good I couldn't bear to part with it, even though I don't think we ate any after the second day.)

Goodbye damp fruit with yogurt dip, things on sticks, and the last slice of Fresh Slice Pizza we brought home for the kids' lunch on Saturday.

But not chocolates. And we're still working on the New Year's Ham, which will end its time on earth in a pot of pea soup.

And the good news? Tubs of turkey soup in the freezer.

Hmm. If I freeze any pea soup, I may have to clean out the freezer to find room for it.

It's a vicious cycle.

So I Skipped A Day - So What?

 Yesterday it was Will's birthday, easy to remember as I had it written on the calendar I hung on New Year's Day, not to mention the fact that he had his own little countdown calendar on the door - two days on it to  count down. It's a big thing turning six.

It was also pouring rain. I swear we'll grow webs between our toes if this keeps up - there wasn't even any break in the weather long enough for me to leave with the assumption I would get 2 or 3 miles in before the clouds broke again. If this was all snow we'd be up to our eyeballs by now, and I'd probably find something else to complain about.

At least this morning the sun decided to poke her nose through the clouds after the rain and I took off once again, plodding 4.5 miles and remaining dry. It looks really early here, but it was actually almost 11 am - this was my last day of sleep-in as tomorrow is school again. The teenagers here are ecstatic about that. Not.

And what do we have here? One of a flock of Robin Red Breasts looking for worms. And see? After all summer our grass is finally green again.

And to prove it's still the Christmas season - a holly tree in all it's beauty.

 I'm going to have to walk a lot more than that though - just a glance at the nearby shelf reminds me of 6 boxes of chocolates, 2 Terry's chocolate oranges, a bag of Hershey's kisses, and of course there's half a chocolate birthday cake and a blueberry pie in the kitchen. Which leaves me wondering if I should just limit myself to say, about 100 calories of whatever every day, or just take one day and eat it all just to get rid of it. I hate having to make decisions.

So far I haven't broken any New Year's Resolutions, but that's only because I never made any. I do want to up my walking again though, as 10 miles uses many more calories than 3 miles - and I do like chocolates.

2021 - Stick 2020 in the Can't Be Worse File and Keep On Keeping On

I don't know how many words are left in this old brain, but I'll try and see how far I get.

First of all, Happy New Year, and in case you missed it, Merry Christmas. It's been very unholiday-like here, except for Christmas morning when the floor was covered with gift wrap and boxes, which turned out to be the toddler's favourite toys. We haven't all sat around a table for a meal yet, which means the Christmas crackers I bought are still in the box. It's Will's birthday tomorrow, maybe we'll pop them then. 

Rain. We've had so much rain over the past few weeks, my jacket has spent more time in the dryer than on the hook by the door. I left for a walk today as it had stopped raining - and got soaking wet before I got home. 

Although it's hard to see, my jeans were dripping on the floor and my poor old beret was water-logged.

 It's a good job I have spare sneakers or I would have been stuck in the house all day.

Well, I didn't go anywhere. 

Just stayed home and ate. Do you think homemade potato salad that's been in the fridge for 5 days is still okay to eat?

The weight thing started this blog (flog) years ago, and wouldn't you know it, here we are again. Everything old is new again and all that shit.

 I walked away half the summer and fall, until the almost 6 year old started kindergarten and needed a bit of help getting ready in the mornings and a companion to play I Spy on the way to school. Since I was used to leaving the house at pre-dawn times and returning around 9, that kind of put an end to that. And early dusk brought an end to walking at the end of the day, which was particularly obvious when I'd be miles away from home admiring a sunset before realizing I'd have to walk home in the dark.

However - I did walk off 25 pounds. Then came December. The weather girl said it was the 14th rainiest month on record, and I believe her, for once. Rainy days produce baked goods. And chocolates. Well, you know. All that stuff. So now it's 6 pounds up later (and probably still counting.)

So, since typing uses up calories, I'll maybe try to blog a bit every night, like I used to ages ago. And wait for the sun to shine some day ...