S'Less S'Mores

It's hard to have S'Mores when someone ate all the Graham Crackers - so forget about those being last night's snacks...

My Flog for July 30 + Me? Drinking Beer?

Spent all day counting yarn. Thousands of balls of yarn. Don't even want to knit right now, for some reason or other. Anyway, I'm home now, and waiting for Steve to finish his Landscaping Job in Steveston - when he gets off, he's going to pick us up and take us to Surrey for the night.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Subway - Veggie Salad w/Sweet Onion Dressing and Yogurt w/Fruit
• Dinner - Okay, I have to take a deep breath and just type it out. Maybe with my eyes closed - 3 slices of pizza, but they were small, really small, half a can of beer, yes this is still me typing, and to finish it off - a blueberry fritter from Timmy's. My oh my, but Surrey has such a bad influence on me.
• Snacks - Probably should be none, but I believe there are more S'mores in my near future. I'll only have one, though. Two at the most.

Tomorrow is inventory day, and I will go and work as hard as I can, which may not be very hard as right now my knee is swollen so much even Howard is surprised. That's because I was doing a lot of climbing ladders and kneeling as we did today's yarn count. I think maybe I overdid it a tad. Or a lot.

Anyway, now my knee and I are going to hobble downstairs and go sit in the back yard at Steve's fire pit. There's a big long stick out there with my name on it, and probably remnants of a long-forgotten marshmallow decorating the end.

My Flog for July 29

Well, I'll do anything to avoid housework, I guess. I left my ultra-messy spaces and bussed to Steveston to pick up my cheque, visit with the crew for a few minutes, do the bank, the thrift stores and the Subway things, then back home again. Now I have my second load of laundry in the dryer, although I should have hung it out on the line - however, I think I have a good excuse for that as we're heading out to Surrey after Howard gets off work, and I wanted to make sure the clothes were all dry and folded before we went.

Even though it's supposed to be (well, I guess it actually is) a Holiday Weekend, I myself am going to be so busy I will be glad when it's over - well, except for Monday, which will be a day off. Howard doesn't know it yet, but He and I are going day-tripping on Monday, and we WILL bring the camera and we WILL have fun, whether he wants to or not. I will promise not to force him into any Yarn Stores though.

Tomorrow and Sunday I have 8 o'clock in the morning starts, pre-inventoring and actual inventory at the store. Tomorrow Pauline and I are going early to try and get as much yarn counted before the store opens and mad yarn buyers infiltrate. Then after we get the open stock done, we have to count the thousands of ball of yarn stowed in the back storage area. Not kidding, either. If an earthquake happens when we are back there counting, we'll probably never be found. (Reminder to self: Bring a water bottle. And a Mr. Big bar. Two, so I won't have to share.)

Do you realize how long it's been since I've had a Mr. Big bar? Oh well. After spending all month up 2 pounds every alternate day and down 2 pounds every other day, I think I'm breaking out of that plateau-ing sensation. Eat less, move more. I must remember that.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Subway - Italian Wedding soup with 2 packs of crackers (little soup serving packs, not big ones with 4 sleeves of crackers inside), and Yogurt w/Fruit
• Dinner - A&W Mozza Burger and Green Salad - there's nothing like looking up the nutrition numbers for A&W to put you off ever eating another Mozza Burger again, and the Green Salad was more Orange than Green due to the abundance of Carrots. Even if it were dark when we walked home, I would have had no trouble seeing the sidewalk. But that Mozza Burger? It was soooo good! http://www.aw.ca/publicinfo.nsf/nutritionalfacts2 ...actually, it was soooo bad. Too bad.
• Snacks - Banana, Peach, Diet Pepsi

Well, guess I'm not the Boss after all. Howard has decided not to go to Surrey tonight, so we get to sleep in our own bed again tonight. And I'm not very confident about a Monday adventure. Things could be all downhill from here.....oh oh.

That's all. Goodnight to all - especially Elaine, assuming you're not drunk on the Beer Bread.

Beer Bread Recipe - Easy Peasy, and Yummy for the Tummy

This is a great bread to serve with dinner - best warm, so make sure you put it in the oven an hour and a half or so before dinner is ready....The format when I copied and pasted didn't come out too well, but I did try to fix it up a bit. The link to the website is here - you may want to just click it to get the real thing! Plus...the copyright thingie...and by the way, DO sift your flour. Not just in this recipe, but any recipe you make. Makes it much better!

• BEER BREAD RECIPE http://www.food.com/recipe/Beer-Bread-73440 Ingredients 3 cups sifted flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup sugar 1 (12 ounce) can beer 1/4 cup melted butter Directions Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix dry ingredients and beer. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Pour melted butter over mixture. Bake 1 hour, remove from pan and cool for at least 15 minute  NOTES: Sifting flour for bread recipes is a must-do. Most people just scoop the 1 cup measure in the flour canister and level it off. That compacts the flour and will turn your bread into a "hard biscuit" as some have described. That's because they aren't sifting their flour! If you do not have a sifter, use a spoon to spoon the flour into the 1 cup measure. Try it once the "correct" way and you will see an amazing difference in the end product.

My Flog for July 28 + A Vancouver Adventure with Astounding Happenings...

Marina and I have been looking so forward to this day for a long time, and thankfully nothing happened to prevent us from going to Vancouver for the day. Being a Vancouver gal, she knows her way around, and has no fear of driving over bridges or down hills. We headed out about nine-thirty, and followed the lovely scenic tree lined Marine Drive on our way to our first stop, Gina Brown's Yarn at  3424 West Broadway. 

Beautiful yarn store, lots of tempting textures and colours, and a very friendly, informative and knowledgeable young lady just finishing a really cool cowl - she had plans to put the pattern and picture on her web site, so if you'd like to knit it - go ahead! http://ginabrownsyarn.blogspot.com/

The next place we hit was Urban Yarns http://www.urbanyarnsblog.com/ where we sort of got lost in the joy of knitting - yarns, pattern books and magazines galore. I lost my good girl alter ego who was clutching my wallet shut, and bought a terrific book - Spud and Chloe at the Farm. You can see this book and other cool patterns on their website -  http://www.spudandchloe.com/blog/ .

I know some of you are drooling now - too bad.

Anyway, that was it for our YSC, so next we wandered up the street to find a place to get lunch, when we were shocked by a big bang. Across the street, an old geezer (even older than me) had crashed the front of his collector yellow roadster two-seater open top into the back of a SUV, and when he backed out from under the SUV, his grill caught on the bumper and tore away part of it. So what does the old guy do? He gets out of his car, picks up the piece of bumper that got yanked off, and after studying it closely, gets back in his dinky little car and drives off. But not before the two clever Vigilantes got his licence number. We crossed the street and waited until the young lady who was driving the SUV came back, and explained to her what happened. She was so pleased when we told her we had the licence plate number, and couldn't get over our good Samaritanism. I suppose he took the piece of her bumper with him because it had incriminating yellow paint on it. Hope he gets charged with hit and run and ends up in jail. Bad words follow here.

Anyway, after that we bought our most delicious paninis and headed to the beach for lunch and a long walk, topped off with an icy treat.

On the way home, something else made me wish I had found the camera before I left. They say if you live long enough, you'll see it all, and this was probably the first and only time we will ever see this - a car up ahead of us on Marine Drive obviously was being driven by someone in the process of moving. On top of the car was a cardboard box, not tied on, and inching it's way to the edge. And hanging out of the driver's window, was the driver's arm, and at the end of the  driver's arm was his hand, holding the top of an office chair, which was clipping along at the same pace as the car. We waited breathlessly to see what would happen - the box falling off, the chair escaping, or Vancouver's finest pulling him over. Fortunately for him, none of that happened, unless it occurred after he turned off on a side street.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Morning Snack - a special category for our Vancouver Yarn Store Crawl - a better than good but not the most excellent fruit/cornmeal muffin and really really good coffee from a great little cafe - Coco Et Olive at 3476 W Broadway. Really nice decor, we sat at a weathered yellow picnic style table (avec chairs, not the bench kind where you have to step over the seat to sit donw), and our muffins were served on very pretty delicate china saucers. It's worth a stopover if you're in the vicinity. However, I just googled this place and it seems the owner is very rude and maybe if we had known this, we wouldn't have gone there. Oh well. We didn't see the owner, and we thought it was very nice.
• Lunch - From the Mix Bakery on 4430 West 10th Avenue.  http://www.mixthebakery.com/ We ordered delicious grilled panini sandwiches (I got Chimayo Chicken, Marina got some kind of Turkey), made on the best Artisan Bread, plus an ice cold orange flavored sparkling water drink, and drove to Spanish Banks Beach, where we lunched with great joy on a shady bench in front of the beautiful Pacific ocean
• Snacks - Orange popsicle - at the beach, Diet Pepsi
• Dinner - Spaghetti and Meat Sauce - at home

Now, if I wasn't tired enough, coming home and then walking to and from IGA, and then writing this huge long blog has really got me pooped. So goodnight!

My Flog for July 27

MRI today - I was so worried about getting dye needles in my knee (kneedles?) that I had an upset tummy all day at work. Silly me. My knee went needle-less, and because it was my knee that had to have zillions of little pics taken - my head didn't have to go in the tunnel at all! In fact I could probably have left it at home! Now I just have to wait about a week, where a doctor will probably call me and tell me there is nothing wrong with my knee, and I am but a hypochondriac. Maybe they should have MRI'd my head instead.

Just had two easy 4 hour shifts at work, working very little, mostly just standing behind the counter looking pretty and ringing up sales. Ka ching. The store has been really really busy this month, hope it keeps up, especially as I'm going after a raise in August. Wish me luck. If you know any spells, cast 'em.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee - it's been so long since I ate it, I can hardly remember it, but it's what I always have, so I assume I had it this morning around 5:30.
• Lunch - Banana, Yogurt w/Fruit - Starting work at noon is not good for lunch. Eating before work is too early, and waiting until anytime between 2 and 3 pm is not early enough. Plus there's only 15 of these little teeny tiny minutes, not hardly enough to eat one of my delicious veggie sandwiches, or heat up and eat soup.
• Dinner - Scrambled Egg and Lettuce on a Hamburger Bun..and it was sooooo yummy, and some Bean Salad from last night.
• Snacks - A peach - thanks, Bonnie, you're a real Peach!

Well, tomorrow my pal and co-worker Marina and I are going to meet at Mickey D's and then head to Vancouver on a Yarn Store Crawl...can't wait, have been looking forward to this for the past two weeks. Hopefully we will get into some sort of trouble that I can write about here tomorrow night!

My Flog for July 26 + My favourite recipe for Bean Salad

Well, back to work today, how easy was that - four little small hours and mostly cashiering. Knee's not too bad, and I'm not too overly tired, so I shouldn't have any trouble finding the energy to walk to IGA to buy cat food. My cat is very happy about that.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Yogurt w/Fruit, Banana
• Dinner - Pork Chops w/Onion Soup Mix Roasted Potatoes, Bean Salad...now this is IGA Bean Salad, and unfortunately, it's not as good as my back-home recipe, which now I have to make. Well, not right now, this minute, but in the near future when I find the recipe and buy the ingredients. Try it. It's super delicious.
• Snacks - Cranberry Juice, cherries, Diet Pepsi

BEAN SALAD

COMBINE:

1/2 CUP OIL

1/2 TSP PEPPER

1 TSP SALT

2/3 CUP VINEGAR

3/4 CUP WHITE SUGAR

ADD:

1 CAN YELLOW STRING BEANS

1 CAN GREEN STRING BEANS

1 CAN KIDNEY BEANS, DRAINED AND RINSED

1 GREEN PEPPER, CHOPPED

1 ONION, CHOPPED FINELY

MIX THOROUGHLY. MARINATE FOR 24 HOURS, TOSSING OCCASIONALLY.

Note: The recipe calls for SALAD OIL. No idea what that is. I'm pretty sure I just used ordinary oil from my kitchen cupboard, that probably being vegetable oil, as I don't remember having Canola Oil back then. Let me know if you have any better suggestions. I thought of using Olive Oil but that may have too strong a flavour.

My Flog for July 25

I'm having a tough day. Poor me. I feel I could eat everything that can't walk away, so am really glad that Howard took the last giant Hershey bar to work with him this morning. Just ate Shannon's left over salad from last night, I doubt if she'll miss it as she and Neil were planning to visit the FatBurger joint in Ladner for their lunch. I've been fighting to stay awake ever since I got up at five-thirty, but beyond dozing off and drooling over the keyboard, I can't really go to sleep as Clayton will be home from his dad visit soon, and I am the only so-called adult in the house right now. In fact I am the only two-legged mammal in the house.

So sleepy....

I have my MRI appointment for Wednesday at four o'clock. Guess whoever cancelled that appointment either died or chickened out. Now I know I have to had these dreadfully painful hurting dye needles stabbed into my my poor knee bone, and I'm not looking forward to that at all. But then I'll be glad to get it over with, as I was expecting a wait time of 6 - 9 months.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Snacks - Banana, 4 Graham Wafer Squares, 3 Strawberries, 3 Gummy Worms,
• Lunch - Green Salad w/Thousand Island Dressing
• Dinner - Hamburger

My Flog for July 24 + A Wonderful Visit

Okay, I know I'm running a day late, but that is what happens when one has a busy life, I guess. My biggest problem yesterday was keeping Howard home so he wouldn't miss the surprise arrival of his sister, Bonnie - for once, he wanted to go everywhere you could imagine on a beautiful sunny Sunday. The bank, Canadian Tire, Zellers...even Home Depot. And not knowing when the car with only one (imagine that, one) licence plate would roll into the driveway, it was very difficult to keep him happy and home at the same time. For once I didn't want to go shopping - I don't know how I pulled that one off. However, we got back in plenty of time for his to witness the event, and I know he had the greatest of days with his little sister and her fiance.

His first words when he saw her get out of the car - "Hey, we have company - but I guess you already knew she was coming..." Can't fool this man even part of the time.

Anyway, we had such a great day, talking, reminiscing, having a couple of beer (hahahahahahaha), a very delicious bbq chicken & salad dinner (thanks, Shannon - the asparagus was delish) and then later, a fire, stars, and S'mores. Anyway, if I forget anything on my flog, I'm sure you will understand - it won't be intentional.

• Breakfast - Toast and coffee
• Lunch - Nothing
• Dinner - BBQ chicken breast (well, half of one), potato salad (which was my creation), green salad, asparagus
• Snacks - Just to clarify this - the Snacks part of my Flog is a list of snacks from during the day, and encompasses a huge amount of hours from about five-thirty AM to bedtime. Not what some people may think, that it's a list of food I gorge on after dinner. Not at all. However - here we go - Licorice Stick, Banana, a few (too many) crackers and cheese, one (and only one) S'more, and a few cherries. I'm pretty sure that's all. And in case you're wondering, I had no beer. I don't drink beer. Or vodka. Or wine.

And just so you all know - even though I ate a Blueberry Fritter and a Timbit the day before yesterday, it was okay since Nikkie and I walked about a mile and a half to get them. Plus they have more stairs at their house than we do here. So that was okay. To eat the Fritter, I mean. Right?

My Flog for July 23

I guess my life is just too hectic....I just didn't have time to do this yesterday, so I'll see if I remember everything this morning. Yesterday ended my three week sentence of filling in while the manager is/was on holidays - now my knee and I can take a bit of a rest until next week, when it will be time to do inventory. Not sure if I can do it - I do so want to go to Vancouver's Gay Pride Parade with my girls, and I'm wondering if my stupid knee can turn into an excuse not to work. Then it would be a really nice knee. But I wouldn't have as much money on Payday. Life is tough.

We weren't going to Surrey this weekend, but ended up going after I got off work anyway, just for the night, and drove in early this morning so Howard could get back to work on his canoe. It's only been on the go for over a year, and now we're just over two months away from moving - wouldn't you know it. The rush is on. I think a late walk last night to Tim Horton's with Nikkie finished my knee off good, today I have to depend on Aleve to dull the pain so I can get stuff done. We're expecting (well, everyone but Howard, it's gonna be a HUGE surprise to him) a visit from Howard's sister Bonnie today, so I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees her. Time goes by so quickly, and it's sad to realize how little we see of our loved ones.

However....

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Veggie Salad w/Sweet Onion Dressing from Subway
• Dinner - Toast and Peanut Butter (Well, I'm not fussy about Italian Sausages....)
• Snacks - Diet Pepsi, Yogurt w/Fruit, one (yes, only ONE) Timbit....and one Blueberry Fritter. Damn Tim Horton's.

My Flog for July 22

Well, my last looooong 8 1/2 hour work days have come to an end, thank heavens. Today was the busiest of all, with the highest sales for all of July so far, plus I did a lot of  'shop housework.' I'm really sick and tired of giving demos to customers regarding the knitting of all our new 'ruffle' yarns, and tomorrow when Marina works with me from noon to 4, she's going to do all the demos. She just doesn't know it yet.

So it was Aleve this morning, as my knee was awful, what with normal stuff like walking, and kneeling, and pushing and lifting heavy stuff. Then a headache settled in, so I drowned that with Tylenol. So I got through the day. After work, Howard picked me up and we got take-out Chinese yummies and ate them by the river. Now I'm home and extremely tired -these five o'clock mornings are gitting' to me - and both my knees hurt. I sure hope the knee that's left (my left knee) isn't catching what my right knee has.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Egg Salad Sandwich on Whole Grain Bread
• Dinner - Chicken Chow Mein, 3 pieces of Howard's Sweet and Sour Pork
• Snacks - Banana, Yogurt w/fruit, Cranberry Juice

My Flog for July 21

Well, today was a better day than yesterday, thanks probably to the Aleve. Shannon said my knee is still swollen a lot, but I found the pain easier to bear - kneeling was tough but not as tough as yesterday. She keeps bugging me to put ice on it, as it swells big and fluffy by the end of the day. I don't think she realizes how cold ice is. Although she wouldn't like it if I put a big chunk of ice down her back.

I kneed a knew knee.

Today I did something I knew I shouldn't have done, and because of that I need to add another bullet to my food log. You'll understand when you read it.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Cheese and veggie sandwich on Whole Grain Bread, Cranberry Juice
• Dinner - BBQ steak, Mashed Potatoes....yummy yummy yummy
• Snacks - Yogurt, Banana, 3 Strawberries, 1 Chocolate Covered Licorice (I think I have 3 left...)
• Things I Ate That I Should NEVER Have Eaten - Subway's Sausage and Egg w/Cheese English Muffin. Stacked as high as the clouds with calories and fat, and it was the crappiest breakfast sandwich I've ever had. Next time I want a second breakfast (I had my first breakfast at 5:30 in the morning, I had this after 9) I'll just go get the real thing at McDonald's. At least it will be tasty and the muffin won't have edges as hard as wood, the sausage won't be really spicy, and the egg will be a real freshly cracked egg.

My Flog for July 20 + Pity Me

Well, my mind wasn't on eating much today, it was parked down at my knee most of the time. Working 8 1/2 hours with no break didn't help, had to be running around helping customers, kneeling down restocking, and also doing the step stool thing restocking. Then at the end of the day, kneeling down to put the deposit bag in the floor safe almost did me in. I honestly don't know if I can go through another day like this..I can't even see anything funny about it.

• Breakfast - Toast and coffee
• Lunch - Sandwich - I scrambled two eggs this morning and made the best ever sandwich for my lunch - eggs, lettuce, green onions, Becel instead of mayo, and cheese. Wish I had another one right now!
• Dinner - nothing yet..probably nothing at all. Pills and bed maybe.
• Snacks - Yogurt, Hot Chocolate, Banana, Grapes....and a Chocolate Covered Licorice Stick. That may be the highlight of this miserable day.

My Flog for July 19

Up at five-thirty, breakfast, knitting, then a mile-ish walk to 7 Eleven to buy bus tickets so I didn't have to walk or ride to work. I haven't ridden bike since my sore butt episode, so I'm not sure if my butt could handle the hard seat now or not. But I know my knee couldn't handle the walking part, I did manage to walk to the store, but that's about it.

Really bad kneeling and climbing ladders restocking yarn today, so I didn't do all the restock, and just knitted on a store sample scarf in the afternoon. I'm finding out that work doesn't have to beat you out after all - all I have to do is travel slow and steady. I may not win the race, but I still won't be ashamed when I pick up my cheque!

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Veggie/Cheese Sandwich on Whole Grain Bread - I eat Dempsters Ancient Grains, as I feel they are especially made for me, being an Ancient Person. However, with age come Wisdom. If I could think of anything wise to say right now, I would.
• Dinner - BBQ chicken breast, new potatoes (5 but they were small, sort of), green salad w/Thousand Island Dressing - really delicious dinner, thankya, Shannon
• Snacks - Yogurt X 2, Banana X 2, Grapes X many, Cranberry Cocktail, coffee, and now I'm working on a Chocolate Covered Licorice Stick, aaaaaah yummy, just over 100 calories and only 3 grams of fat, not that I'm counting or anything.

Howard and I just walked to IGA, about a mile and a half, now Shannon tells me my knee is all swollen up, so I think I deserve a little treat, like a stick of Chocolate Covered Licorice. It's a lovely coincidence that I just happened to buy some at IGA.

My Flog for July 18 + My Wilderness Trip

Okey dokey. Another day off gone and went just like that. First a doctor's appointment - well, not really first, I guess, first we left Surrey and a nice warm bed at 4:45 this morning, for Richmond and a nice hot pot of coffee. Then Howard went to work, and I went to my own bed, where I slept until 9, and didn't crawl out until going for 10. Nice.

Dr's appointment - prescriptions for bigger and better (hopefully) blood pressure pills, antibiotics for a horrible, damn, hellish, and completely surprising yeast infection, then a plan to bus to Bridgeport to get my third and final surprise for my three grandgirls, to go along with the surprise surprises I'm knitting for them. Hope they love surprises! However, when I finally found a bus stop for the 407 Bridgeport bus, after walking a block and a half, I realized they only came every hour. Yes, damn it, our fine transit big bosses have decided to make me wait over half an hour for the bus I need, so I did the next best thing, which was to hop onto the Cambie Shuttle bus. I would go as far as Cambie then walk a block to Bridgeport and Michael's. Sounds easy, right? Ha ha.

I got off at the corner of 4 Road and Cambie, figuring I would just keep walking up 4 Road and go from there. I knew there was a highway, but I figured there would be sidewalks. But there weren't. A horrible feeling of Deja Vu from our Vancouver Island trip -
 http://tamarsdayoff.blogspot.com/p/vanouver-island-trip.html
- and I ended up walking most of the way to Garden City Road, then scrambling through a gap in the fence, then scooting over two lanes of highway between traffic. Heavy traffic. But I was really careful. I didn't want to be lying lifeless in a hospital bed with tubes in all my orifices and bandages around my head, only to be sued by someone because I dented his bumper when his car propelled me 50 metres in the air only to land on a concrete median. So I am very careful when I jaywalk, or jayrun, whatever the case may be.

However, this didn't get me to my destination either, as now I had to cross a field knee high in grasses and weeds - however I knew when I crossed this field, I would be on Bridgeport. At least I would be if there wasn't a bloody big ditch between us. Shit. Excuse me. So I followed the edge of the ditch until I came to a shallower part that I could navigate with my bare legs and sandals, only now I had two more lanes of road to cross and another road to navigate before I got to the walkie signs that would allow me to cross Bridgeport.

Oh well, mission finally accomplished, now I'm home and almost ready for bed.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Nothing
• Dinner - Nando's Chicken and baked potato and half a bottle of Orange pop. The chicken was so delicious, but Howard said he won't go back because they don't offer onion rings. However, the baked potato was actually horrible, and I would never order that again. I think several people had already ordered the one I got and returned it, causing it to be recooked and recooked and reheated several times.
• Snacks - Grapes, half a muffin, and another half a muffin. So?

My Flog for July 17 (aka know as My Calorie Infested Day of Shame)

Okay, yesterday was such a busy day I didn't take the time to write my flog. Also I didn't really want to, as I experienced taste sensations that were just distant memories. We left early in the morning to raid the Superstore on the way to Surrey, as Chris's birthday was the previous day and we both had to work. This time in the back seat of the truck, there was a Blower (garden equipment) for Steve (Thanks, Pauline. He loves it.), my guitar (he sent me a heartfelt request, how could I deny him?), my Rat Tail Cactus that, like the cake, got left out in the rain....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHS8hj4TdT8&feature=fvsr

The cactus however, will have no chance of getting eaten, as it's very protective of itself. My mom bought this baby in a 4" inch pot from one of our grocery stores shortly after we moved here, so I've had it for about 15-16 years, and would hate to see it die. I think my horticultury enthusiastic son will be able to bring it back to its former glory, and he does have a wife with the ability to retrieve the little hairy stabbers that love to embed themselves in flesh.

However...as far as my busy day, Nikkie and I took the kiddies to Surrey's Fusion Festival, which was a lot of fun - except for the mud which sloshed up the sides of ones sandals and squished between ones toes. It had rained torrentially the day before (hence the cactus tail of woe.) The kids had fun but got a bit tired and cranky toward the end, so we left a bit earlier than if we had been there by ourselves. So the plan next year is to go childless one day, and childful the next day. After dinner, we walked to Walmart, and that about did me in, that made a total of about five miles, I would think.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - I bought Chris and Lizzie ice-cream, Lizzie wanted pink ice-cream but the closest they had was Mango, so I got that for her and she didn't like it, so I got her a Chocolate one like her brother had, and ate the Mango one myself. I had no choice.
• Dinner - A little bit of steak, two lovely new potatoes, and broccoli. We bought the potatoes at the festival market, but I only carried them less than halfway home - then I kicked Lizzie out of her stroller and made her walk, as the potatoes (and broccoli) were getting heavier with every step and they couldn't walk.
• Snacks - (as I hide my face in shame) - more than a few gummy worms, small fries from Dairy Queen, two Chocolate Chip cookies, piece of Chris's birthday cake, lemonade, one potato chip, which proves you can actually stop at one if they are salt and vinegar kettle chips...and I honestly think that was it, although I wouldn't get this flog notarized. The drizzly rainy evening prevented an outdoor fire, so at least that saved me from the temptation of more 'Smores.

My Flog for July 16 + A Memory

As you may know, I went walking last night. My MP3 player joined me with a crazy mix, and one song brought back a memory of long long ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-tRXewCAmU

I remember back in the early 70's, dressed in hot pants, blue eye shadow and tall platform shoes, strolling in towards Trinity Cabins, carrying my portable radio/cassette player with me and listening to music - this one was one of my favourties then, and it still is. What a difference the years have made - from the first 'boom box' and the 6- 8 D batteries it took to power it, to my little wee MP3 player that can carry hundreds of tunes. Then I just turned the music up so everyone nearby could also hear it, whether they wanted to or not - now, I just shove tiny little thingies in my ears and I'm in my own little world.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Veggie Sandwich and Pea Soup from Steveston Bakery - but didn't get any tarts, eccles cakes, cheesecakes, carrot cakes, grand marnier truffles...etc etc etc etc....
• Dinner -YEAH! Sweet and Sour Pork and Chicken Chow Mein from our new favourite Chinese take-out plus one fortune cookie - if I'm nice good things will happen to me. Too bad I'm not nice any more
• Snacks - Diet Pepsi, Hot Chocolate, yogurt w/fruit, grapes

Well, that's it. Another loooooooong day at work, now I'm off for two days. I'm flipping exhausted, my back hurts, and my knee is sore. Poor me, no wonder I'm not nice any more. I don't think I'll go for a walk tonight, I think I'll just crawl upstairs and go to bed instead. Yawn.

My Flog for July 15

• Breakfast  - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Sandwich - whole grain bread w/tomato, lettuce, green onion, cucumber, and a Kraft cheese slice without the plastic wrapper, Cranberry Juice
• Dinner - BBQ pork chop, and boiled new potatoes
• Snacks - grazing at work - yogurt, grapes, banana, mandarin orange, plus (Damn it they weren't all gone after all) - two Timbits. Plus one little spoon of Orange Ice Cream and one little spoon of Peanut Butter and Jelly Ice Cream while getting Clayton and Tanner a bedtime treat

Well, I just got back from a two mile walk around the block, Last night I walked over three miles. Figure if I have to eat the bloody Timbits I'm going to have to move them away from my hips. I'm really really tired now, after getting up at five-thirty this morning and putting in an eight and a half hour day with no break, as I worked all by myself.  I'm even too tired to be funny. So I'm going to bed soon.

My Flog for July 14 + the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (The Swimsuit Edition)

Well, after Howard's appointment this morning, we went to Zellers and I went shopping, I mean real shopping, not just wish shopping. Bought two pairs of longer-than Daisy Duke shorts that I will be able to wear to work, and a pretty top. Shorts: size 14. Top: Large.

Well, I know that doesn't mean a rat's ass to my size 4 friends, but it's a serious change for me. The only thing that marred my joy with a well-fitted pair of shorts (the shorts and jeans I've been wearing have been nestling under my armpits) was my trying on Swim Suits. Now there's a Come-Downer for you.

I guess it's because Swim Suits are supposed to be stretchy skin-tight things, but even the old lady ones I tried on that had sporty little skirts, had stretchy little skirts that sort of followed the bumps and creases of my body. One of them had its own little pair of pants, but when I went to rehang everything on hangers, I couldn't find the pants. That's because they were so comfortable I forgot to remove them when I dressed, so I had to take off my sandals and jeans to retrieve them.

Imagine if I hadn't bothered to rehang the stuff and got caught walking out of the store wearing stolen Swim Suit parts. The shame of it all.

• Breakie - And...ta da.... a real breakfast it was! An A&W scrambled egg, bacon and toast with marmalade plus coffee breakfast. Only because Howard had to take his hand to Dr Goetz, the specialist, for a checkup, which went great.
• Lunch - Honey Nut Cheerios w/skim milk, grapes
• Dinner - Chicken Pie, Mashed Potatoes (is this a reason I'm not skinny, I wonder?)
• Snacks- a little cupcake (blame Shannon), diet Pepsi, one Timbit  - I think I'm safe from the Timbit invasion now, as they are all gone.....)

And as far as losing weight so far this month, it has been a futile two weeks. Maybe I've reached one of those 'plateaus' that we read about, or maybe I'm just not moving enough or I'm eating too many Timbits. Oh well, just getting some new clothes from a real Store (when I showed Shannon what I bought, she said "Oh! You've been to a Thrift Store!" ) was a feel-good kind of thing, and maybe that will give me incentive to start behaving better in the future. Swim Suit season isn't over quite yet!

My Flog for July 13 + the long-lost Best Banana Muffin Recipe is Found! Finally!

• Breakie - Coffee and Toast
• Lunch - Leftover Stewed Fish w/potatoes & onions, yogurt
• Dinner - Roasted Chicken Drummies (2) and Home-Made Macaroni & Cheese - thanks Shannon, I'm stuffed
• Snacks - Fresca, grapes, 2 mandarin oranges..that's all so far, but there are Timbits hiding in the fridge, whispering my name in an unusually loud manner. We'll see. Well, they weren't safe for long. Three gone. Yummy.

We may go for a walk in a few minutes. I am really super tired, and I do need a second wind to clean up after dinner and watch my TV shows. I'm actually too tired to be funny tonight, so I'll just wind up with this recipe - use it to replace the former one from a few weeks ago.

The Absolute Best Banana Muffin Recipe

• Mash 6 large bananas. Add 2 slightly beaten eggs, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and 2/3 cup vegetable oil.
• Sift 3 cups flour with 2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp salt.
• Add dry ingredients to wet and mix.
• Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.
•  If desired, add about 1/2 cup grated chocolate - that's my twist. Chocolate chips sometimes sink to the bottom of baked stuff, but grated chocolate doesn't. You can also use 3/4 cup white and 3/4 cup brown sugars instead of all white.