My Flog for May 15

Well, what is better than seeing my Eagle on the way to work this morning? Seeing that he has a smaller Eagle sitting by the nest - I wonder if they had a (ahem) sleepover last night? It would be great to see the pitter patter of little wings in the near future, but that's probably wishful thinking on my part.

Do you ever wonder why I sometimes seem a bit unenthusiastic about my job? This morning I answered the phone - now, you remember the store is in Richmond, and Richmond's population is mostly Asian.

"Good morning, Steveston Crafts 'n' More."
"Hi, I'm Chinese, I was in your store last month, do you remember me?"

Now there really isn't any answer to that question, except "No, probably not." If the caller had been from, say Mars, and had green skin and cute little bobble antennas poking from the top of her head, I would probably have remembered her. Or him. Or it.

And today, a young woman came in and showed us a picture of a sweater on her I Phone.

"Can you get me the things I need to knit this sweater?"

First of all, I Phone pictures are quite small, and eyes that need readers as well as the occasional magnifying glass don't do well with them. So between Marina and me, we managed to talk her into choosing one of our available patterns, which made it easy to find the yarn and needles needed.

And to wrap up the day - a woman spent over $100 on laces and trim to fancy up a plain cotton dress - no mention at all of all the children starving in Bangladesh. A hundred bucks. Wow. See, to me, that's unbelievable - I would have had to work more than 8 hours to make that - I'm sure glad I don't have a plain cotton dress to fancy up. I bet Howard is happy he has such a low-maintenance wife - and vice versa, of course. I wouldn't want to spend that much to fancy up one of his t-shirts, either.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Pea Soup, Muffin
• Dinner - A&W! Mozza Burger! and Fries!
• Snacks - I'm not going to get into that - except there were quite a few carbs involved. Well, one of the snacks I had because I am not eating enough veggies (the Carrot Cake) and I need better night vision. Another because I keep fighting the same UTI and need the Cranberries (in the muffin.) So if you leave out the stuff I'm stuffing myself with for purely health reasons, it doesn't look too bad at all. I did have an Iced Mocha (absolutely no nutritional value, I would think)

My Flog for May 14

Bright spot of the morning - sighting my Eagle on the way to work. Kind of makes up for having to be on the bus. It wasn't very busy at work, but I had lots of visitors - Pauline, Elizabeth, Novella and Edith - so I was sort of tired of chatting by the time the end of the day rolled around. It's a good thing Chris didn't have a huge long list for us to do.

The ride home was uneventful, except for all the people trying to get free rides. One group of 5 females, (aging  from pre-schooler, who would ride free, to a child and 3 adults, who would be paying child's and adults' fares)  tried to ride with only one fare. Guess sometimes they get away with it, but not today. From the look one of them gave the other, I would say they knew exactly what they were doing, and the face said, "Shoot, the gig's up." She did have a monthly pass, but she didn't have the zone and month scratched off - which means she could have been carrying it for months, or even years. The bus driver made her scratch off her zone - she lived in Vancouver - and then made her pay an extra $1.25 for an upgrade for a two-zone ticket. Several other people had obviously ridden in from Vancouver on a one-zone ticket, and he made them upgrade to a two-zone when they boarded in Richmond - it is a two-zone fare between those two cities.

And I say - Proper T'ing, b'y. If all the fare evaders paid their fair fare, maybe the transit rates wouldn't be so high.

I was just putting some Cranberry Muffins in the oven as per Howard's request for tomorrow's lunch, when Steve dropped in to borrow the truck. He made a point of telling me he preferred Blueberry Muffins, so these came out of the oven a few minutes ago. If Neil lived nearby I'd probably be mixing up a Lemon Loaf now - but instead, I'm going to watch me a catch-up episode of Coronation Street and head for bed.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Pea Soup, Sausage and Egg McMuffin
• Dinner - 2 Chicken Drummies, Pudding
• Snacks - Cranberry Muffin, Banana Bread, Hot Chocolate

My Flog for May 13

MY BIGGEST AND BEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS  IN LIFE

Spring is finally here, today, as well as yesterday, was sunny and warm, and people were swarming in Steveston. Sales weren't very high, but there sure were a lot of footsteps in the store today - lots of Mommies getting treated to a day in Steveston.

Needless to say, my hubby conveniently 'forgot' to take something out of the freezer for dinner, so he had a store-bought cardboard/playdough pizza for dinner, and I had leftovers, which means there wasn't a big old mess of dishes to clean up, so I was happy about that. After dinner we went up to Steve and Nikkie's for a few minutes, and when we got back, he headed up to bed and I settled down with Coronation Street and half a slipper that needs finishing. Still not done, though - my fingers aren't as fast as they used to be, and tonight they are pretty sore. Aleve just doesn't work like it used to.

Last evening, after the 4 kiddies went home with their parents, we took stock of the day, which included, as well as lots of hugs and laughs, the following surprises:

Lights on in the upstairs bedrooms (probably Lizzie, she is quite the little lamp-lighter), front outside door thingie that keeps the door open, broken off (again Lizzie - the other short people didn't mind tattling about that), the electric heater in the upstairs 'kids' room on full blast (it was so hot in there, Poppy opened the window - he thought the sun was heating the room for free, and didn't realize he was paying dearly to do so - we didn't take fingerprints, but think maybe Lizzie had her finger in that pie, too), and after hearing my Kitty's mournful mewling, found him behind the closed door of the downstairs crawl space/cupboard under the stairs - don't know who to blame for that one, but if Kitty's smart, he'll hide away the next time we have visitors of the rug-rat variety.

Of course, none of that holds a candle to my losing Christopher in the park. Except for that part - I had a wonderful mini-weekend with my grandkiddies!

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Pea Soup
• Dinner - Scrambled Egg and Cheese, leftover from what the kids wouldn't eat last night, and a small piece of Lemon Pie. I won't eat any more of that - we just carried the rest up to Steve. Let him get fat.
• Snacks - a few Cookies, Diet Pepsi, Iced Mocha and a Cranberry Scone 

My Flog for May 12

Now I know why I gained so much weight in my younger years - it's because I tend to eat what the kids don't eat.

"Tanner, don't you want the rest of your Raisin Toast?"
"Clayton, won't you just try some scrambled eggs?"
"Lizzie - finish your Cheese Sandwich!"
"Chris - gimmie that last cookie!"

Well, not really. I was joking about the last one. But it is a very valid reason for taking in extra calories, that's for sure.

Started off the day by making breakie for Clayton and Tanner, as they slept over last night. Then, when they were all settled down, I had my own toast and coffee and the four of us walked up and kidnapped Chris and Lizzie for the day. Then I tidied up the kitchen while they tore the living room apart  - I also made 2 Lemon Pies (well, I had baked the pie shells yesterday), a big pot of Pea Soup, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies, and four sandwiches - two Peanut Butter and two Cheese. Then it was off to Bear Creek Park for a picnic, a playtime, and a nightmare.

The kids were having a great time on the play stuff. I was taking Chris and Lizzie over to where their Slushies were, when all of a sudden Chris wasn't there any more. We did a couple of searches of the playground, asking everyone we met to keep an eye out for him, and I went to the track, where there was a Meet happening, and asked the guy on the mike to do an announcement. I was very close to completely losing it, let me tell you, and was just going to call 911 when two young lads with bikes brought him back to me.

"You got lost, Nanny, so I was going to walk home."

Just like his daddy did 24 years ago, when he was just over 2 years old, and decided to leave me at a booth at the Trinity Festival and go home. The little bugger was halfway up Fiander's Hill when his Aunt Sheila saw him toddling along and came to his rescue. Meanwhile, I was back at the festival going frantic. Must be genetic.

Well, looking back on it, I'm glad I wasn't the one who really did got lost, because if they all gave up on me like that, I'd probably still be wandering around trying to find my way home. But no one can know how I felt, seeing that little boy safe and sound. Next time I take kids to a park, I will have a full security force with me, you can bet on that.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Peanut Butter Sandwich Triangles, Cheese Sandwich Triangles, and Chocolate Chip Cookies - in the park with 4 kiddies
• Dinner - Scrambled Eggs and Bacon
• Snacks - Diet Pepsi

My Flog for May 11

I just applied for my (early) Canada Pension - yes, I do realize I'm getting old, even though I'm not quite 100 yet. I submitted Page 6, however, before I printed off Page 7, which is the Signature Page, I thought I'd check out Page 8 - and then realized I couldn't go back to Page 7, which was an important and necessary Page. So then I had to phone Service Canada and beg for help.

There was a very nice lady there to help me out. First she surprised me by telling me we - Howard and I -  have our very own postal code - no one else shares it - how special are we at all? Then she assured me I wasn't the only person who got a little bit ahead of themselves while applying online, as they had 'A Procedure' in place to rectify that particular mistake. When she finished fixing my mist.... hell, I had trouble enough writing it the first time ... she asked if there was anything else she could help me with.

I replied, "No, thanks, I haven't screwed up anything else so far today - although it's still early." She was laughing when she hung up the phone.

And, meanwhile - regarding last night's picture of my Bouquet, the flowers were indeed moving - they were drowsing off to The Land of Nod. This morning they are once again resplendent in all their glory.

After lunch, I walked up to Surrey Central on a popcorn hunt. It had to be the stuff in the little fry pan, as I don't have a microwave, which as far as I'm concerned, has 3 major uses:

1. Storing Bread
2. Making Popcorn
3. Heating up Magic Bags

However, none at Zellers, so I decided to something spontaneous, and headed to Ladner via SkyTrain and bus to pick up Tanner, as he and Clayton are sleeping over tonight. On the way back, we stopped in at Safeway and got our popcorn and a box of strawberries, then walked home from there.

Clayton just got dropped off by a different grandma and their 'Staying Up Late At Nanny's House' is soon coming to an end. I don't know about them, but I'm ready to drop. Yawn. I did pop E.T. into the old VCR for Tanner, Chris and Lizzie to watch, but that didn't go over too well - seems Tanner already saw it, and the other two are a bit scared of Aliens. Oh well, it didn't seem as much fun as it did way back when, but maybe that's because I knew how it ended. Maybe I should have picked IT instead of E.T.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Ham and Cheese Sandwich, Pudding, diet Pepsi
• Dinner - Chicken and my very own spectacular Oven Fries
• Snacks - Popcorn, Muffin, a whopping big Strawberry, and some Minute Maid Peach whatever it is - not juice, anyway.

My Flog for May 10

Another busy day in the life of Me. Spent a couple of hours this morning in My Room, and it's coming together quite nicely. Soon I'll have no excuse not to set up my computer there, although I do enjoy having it on my treasured kitchen table. After a couple drove all the way from Langley to pick up a few boxes of unwanted treasures I had posted as Free on Craigslist yesterday, my Buggy and I set off for Surrey Central Mall, Pricesmart and Dollarama.

I don't often go the mall, but I figured there would be somewhere there to get keys cut - we only have one key which fits all 4 locks on the outside doors. And there was, so I got that done. Then I passed a watch stand and asked the gal how much to put a battery in my watch. She said it depended on the watch, so I passed it to her - one I paid $10 for a couple of years ago.

"Eight dollars," she said.

"Really. Well, I'll pass, that's a bit expensive."

"So how much do you want to pay for it?"

Huh?

I answered, "I'll get it done in Richmond, there's a place that does it for $5."

Change of tune then: "Oh I'll do it for $5."

No she won't. I didn't like her way of doing business - does she size people up and decide how much they can afford, or how much they are willing to pay? Does she think she can get 'one over' on older people? I wouldn't have given her a nickel for a new battery. So if you are ever in Surrey and want to buy a new watch, or a dog tag (?) just stay clear of the broad at Watches and Dog Tags. If that's the standard way of doing business, I hope they go out of it fast.

I got a beautiful flower arrangement from two grandkids today -

- I can't understand why they moved as I was taking the pic though, as it's a bit out of focus. I also don't know what just scared the heck out of my cat - he was just hanging out by the sliding door and all of a sudden took off like the proverbial Bat Out Of Hell, up the stairs and probably curled up by daddy's feet by now. It's made me a bit nervous myself. Think I'll follow him up now.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Ham and Cheese Sandwich, Diet Coke and a Blueberry Muffin
• Dinner - Spaghetti w/Meat Sauce, bread
• Snacks - Chocolate Muffin - these taste tests are crazy, but I won't stop until I discover the best ever recipe - this one is pretty darn close, I must say, Yum Yum Yum

My Flog for May 9

Today I spent most of my time arranging My Riting Room, which is big enough to hold all my good stuff - records, cassettes, yarn, craft supplies, knitting magazines and books, craft books - my record player - a table - my desk - all sorts of Stuff. So all my cassette tapes and records are arranged in alphabetical order, and I made sure there are no empty cases/sleeves. Now I'm going to listen to them all (well, not right now, of course, I mean in the on-coming days,) and get rid of those I no longer enjoy, or no those that no longer work. The skippy records are going to become bowls. There is still a bit of a jumble on the desk and table, but that is tomorrow's job, along with about a hundred other things.

I made a batch of White Bread this afternoon, and now there's a tray of Blueberry Muffins cooling on the counter, so my husband will have a nice treat for his lunch box tomorrow. He doesn't really deserve me, but he's got me anyway. How lucky is that?

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Chicken and Veggie Soup - it's all gone now, next on the agenda is Pea Soup made with a smallish Ham Bone (donated by Neil - I know Snoopy regrets my asking, but I promised him he'd get it back, although all the goodness would be boiled out of it,) and a Pork       Hock.
• Dinner - Beans, Fresh Bread, and Cheese. I made White Bread for a change, and it so so good. Like me, it just gets better and better.
• Snacks - Diet Coke, Pudding, a small bag of BBQ chips

My Flog for May 8

Left work early today to do a couple of errands in Richmond - I picked up my Simply Knitting magazine, and not so important, the prescription that I was supposed to get last weekend. Oh well, as 'they' say (whoever 'they' are), better late than never.

We had two little visitors last night, as their mom had a Bingo date, and their dad had a Movie date, so it was a Tree House evening, which sent Poppy off to bed at an alarmingly early time - he's not fussy over Mike the Knight or Dora the Explorer. When the kids got tired I walked them home and jammied them up, then told them a story to settle them down. I made them both the heroes who saved their castle from a fire-breathing dragon, and they were both pretty proud of themselves. When their daddy got home about 15 minutes later, he went in to kiss them Goodnight, and Lizzie was still talking about it. At least I know my stories aren't boring, even if they may leave lots desired in a bed time story.

The first year I was teaching, I had a bunch of grade 5 students at Holy Cross Elementary in Eastport, Newfoundland, and I remember if we had a few (or a lot) of free minutes, I would make up stories on the fly and illustrate them on the board as I ad libbed along. I do remember a hugely fat uncle who drove a teeny car - anyway, I also remember a very stern principal who sometimes I would see standing outside my door and spying through the door window. That made me very nervous - I was only 18 at the time, and was tremendously shy - so it sort of took the wind out of my sails and I finally gave up doing it. I wonder if any of these kids - who would be 52 years old now - remember. I loved them all.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Chicken Veggie Soup and Yogurt
• Dinner - Beans and Wieners, a slice of bread, and a few oven Fries
• Snacks - Pudding, Hot Chocolate, and Muffins (yes, I know I didn't say how many - however, you will notice I only had three slices of bread. And it's not really my fault I forgot to take Steve's muffins out of my lunch bag and pass them on to him to our way to the sky train station.)

My Flog for May 7

2 down, 1 to go. You may not believe it, but I find these 3 days really hard. No kidding. By the time noon rolls around, every bit of energy in me is drained completely out. I think there's something in the building that is not reacting good with my being, and I end up totally exhausted at the end of the day. As well as that, even though the store wasn't very busy today, there were still full-moon people trolling Steveston. 

However, these people aren't limited to our store. The bus this morning was a bit packed - I was lucky (?) enough to get a seat, with a good view of my Eagle, too, by the way, but there were quite a few standees. One guy came on and stood right in front of me, legs apart to brace himself against the sways and bumps, and I spent half an hour with his bag hanging in front of my face. Not a great way to start the morning.

And to bracket the day, the bus driver on the way home was acting strangely - every time the bus stopped to pick up or let off passengers, or at a red light, he popped his glasses on his face and hunkered down in his seat with his head down. Just about every stop, he waited for what seemed a long time before he started off again, even though everyone was settled in for their journey home. It was weird - I assumed he was ahead of schedule and didn't want to be too early for our destination. It wasn't until I was getting off at the sky train station and I saw him put his IPhone in the side pocket that I realized what he was probably doing - either texting or browsing. Idiot. 

And to get back to the previous topic - personally, I can't quite get over guys with bags anyway. I guess some of them are used to carry laptops, but this one was quite small - maybe he had a Note Book in it. Or cosmetics. Then, a guy got on and his hair was straight down to his  butt - if he hadn't had a matching goatee I would have thought he was a she. However when he ran his fingers down the length of his hair and flicked it like he was doing a  commercial for conditioner, I was even more confused. 

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Chicken/Veggie Soup, Yogurt
• Dinner - 3 Chicken Drummies, 1 1/2 slices of Raisin Bread 'n' Becel
• Snacks - Pudding, Baileys w/Milk, half a slice of Banana Bread and a Hot Chocolater from Steveston Coffee Co, and maybe - just maybe - a warm Cranberry Muffin before I go to bed.

My Flog for May 6

If a few of you would be so kind as to send me, say, $300 or $400 a month, I would happily retire from the job that kept my hopping all day. There wasn't a whole lot of stuff to do, but there were a ton of customers, and most of them expected me to be nice to them. I really did try. I didn't want to be nice to the three hanger-ons who, I believe, wanted to spend the night, and because I couldn't get rid of the last one until after the I locked the door, turned off the radio, and put on my sulky face, I missed my bus. Just let me know if you want my mailing address.

But now I'm home, it's just after nine o'clock, and I have a little time to myself before I take my weary bones to bed. So now I wonder why I'm spending it typing useless words on a blog, when I could be watching Monarch of the Glen or catching up with Coronation Street.

'Bye ......

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Home-made Chicken Veggie Soup, Bread
• Dinner - Ground Beef Stir-Fried with Peppers, Onions, Mushrooms and Onions, and - who knows or remembers Dainty Rice? The square boxes with the tin of sticky rice and the pack of seasonings?Found some at a dollar store here for a dollar a box so just had to buy a few - but just had one for dinner, plus an itsy bitsy teeny weeny piece of Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
• Snacks - Hot Chocolate - it's still too bloody cold here to have iced or frozen stuff, although it did get a bit warmer this afternoon, a scone, yogurt, pudding, and Baileys w/milk

My Flog for May 5

Just came in from outdoors, where I was running around the house in my granny gown and jammie pants, looking for the Super Moon. Howard didn't understand why I went out, as we could see it from the kitchen window, the living room window, and the bedroom window. However, that meant looking at it through tree branches, and I wanted a limbless view. Very awe-some.

not MY Super Moon but very much like it - probably a cousin -

It seems like a very long day, although not because I accomplished many things. I made White Raisin Bread and Chicken Soup, and did some laundry (Howard finished installing the washer this morning.) Nikkie and I walked to Value Village in the late afternoon, and did some faint damage to a bank account. However, I knew the bread was still rising in the pans, and sure enough, when we got back, it was very high. I don't think anyone, not even Marie, can figure out how I burned my toe on the oven rack while putting the bread in the oven, but I did - you'll be happy to know it was a minor burn even if it did hurt like the dickens. Just goes to show that strange things happen to the nicest people.

We are almost all settled in our new home, and I actually found time in the last two days to sit and knit, and watch Monarch of the Glen downloads on my laptop. I have started  Easy to Knit Slippers as the floors are cold - I am not used to laminate flooring and ceramic tile. Tomorrow it's back to work for 3 days, so I don't think I'll be doing much of anything in my home-time - just sleeping and eating.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - ?? - Yogurt
• Dinner - Chicken Soup, such good Chicken Soup, and Ham & Cheese Sandwich
• Snacks - a slice of the freshest, softest and most delicious Raisin Bread in the Whole World, a Pudding, and an Aero Mint Chocolate Bar

My Flog for May 4

Had the most calorie-burning shower in the history of mankind. Since we don't have a shower curtain in the upstairs bathroom, and the shower itself needs a thingie on the wall so it hangs and doesn't just lay on the nearby vanity like a dead snake, we use the downstairs bathroom, which has a really nice built in shower head and a pretty curtain. So when I came downstairs, I brought my towel and clothes with me, so I didn't have to run upstairs after,cold, dripping and wrapped in a towel.

So. Turned on the hot water tap, all good. Tried to turn on the cold water tap - and tried, and tried,  and tried, until my right hand said 'Give it up, won't you?' and my left hand said, 'Don't even try it.' Seems like Howard did a power twist on that bloody tap after his shower yesterday, and I couldn't budge it. So I grabbed my towel and clothes and headed back upstairs. Turned on the shower carefully so it wouldn't spray me and the bathroom head to toe - and realized my shampoo and shower soap were downstairs. So down I go again, this time wearing my towel. Back up - getting all set - realized my scrubby was downstairs. Back down. Back up.

Decided to sit for the shower experience, as I really didn't want to flood the bathroom, and it was a bit awkward, but okay, for one time only. The hardest part was getting out of the tub. That video would have reached a million hits on You Tube very quickly.

I finished emptying a few boxes this morning, and am missing some Stuff, so I have a feeling there are some missing boxes somewhere. Now all I need is a promised shelf in my Riting Room and I'm all set in there. However, I have gotten so comfortable in my kitchen with my laptop on the table, I don't know if I want to move in there at all. Oh well.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Ham and Cheese Sandwich, Pudding
• Dinner - Oven Fries, half a sausage, and Bread and Cheese
• Snacks - a bag of Sun Chips

Looks like I gotta hit a market soon, so I can substitute the carbs for salads and soups. I got the dead chicken for the soup, just don't have the veggies for the stock or the soup itself. Today started off with heavy rain and that took all the desire to walk to the store out of me, and after lunch when it cleared up, it was still cold and I was still lifeless. I didn't entirely waste my afternoon though - I watched some Monarch of the Glen and knitted 4, yes, FOUR, dishcloths.

And for those of you who missed this on my Face Book page - it's worth a look - I LOVE IT - Thanks, Ria!

My Flog for May 3

I did something today I haven't done in ages - and those of you who have been reading my flog for over 11 months will know I'm not exaggerating. See if you can catch it as you read!

After breakie, which was, by the way, just after 5 o'clock this morning, I once again got into the task of putting away - either Stuff on my shelves, or books in a bag for a young avid reader at the Steveston Bakery, or miscellaneous unwanted items in boxes for a Free Craigslist posting when it's all done. And it looks like it will soon be all done, too. It's amazing what a few hours and determination can accomplish. My only fear is that my Riting Room will soon be all ready for production, and I won't be able to produce. It's been a long time since I've found strangers in my head and made them my friends - on paper, that is. I am not going mad. Yet.

Had a few visitors on and off during the day, on their way to and from school, the kind that come in, drop their coats on the floor and head for the cartoon retreat of Tree House on TV.

Then Howard came home and surprised me with a little wee bottle of Baileys. 'Aha,' you may say to yourself, 'He read your flog last night.'

Well, no, he didn't. Before he left to go the Beer Store, I threw in a subtle hint - "Can you get me a small bottle of Baileys?" And he did. Although I haven't had any yet, and I'm heading up to bed when I get this done.

Just after he came back, when the news was about to start, I settled on the couch with a Granny Square afghan I unearthed, which I had actually forgotten I had, and promptly fell asleep - only to be wakened half an hour later by a Tiger Treat muffin maker looking for orange juice. Got rid of her (only kidding) and fell back again. I do vaguely remember Howard telling me there were sausages and onions on the stove if I wanted any supper, and that was it - until the Tiger Treat gal came knocking on the door at 8:30 with some delicious muffins, Orange and Carrot. Thanks Nikkie, they were lovely even if you did once again wake me up. Don't make a habit of it.

After that you'd think I'd be nice and alert, wouldn't you, but I'm not. Just had a snack of PBJ bread, without the J as I don't have any, and some Cranberry Juice. So now I'm heading back to Dreamland - I hope!

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Chicken Sandwich, Cranberry Juice
• Dinner - Peanut Butter Bread, Cranberry Juice
• Snacks - 2 Muffins, Pudding, and a few Special K Cracker/Chips 

My Flog for May 2

One day over, and did I accomplish much? I don't think so. I was going to do laundry this morning, but when I went to use my brand new washer, I opened the lid and saw that a barrier of Styrofoam was staring me in the face. Removed that and saw a big black hose in the bottom of the drum. Decided to wait until some plumber or shipwright showed up.

I went to the roadside to say good morning to two little Rug Rats on their way to school, and ended up kidnapping one for most of the day. Lizzie is such a good little girl, watched TV, played with my thrift-store-I'll-knit-clothes-for-these-some-day Barbie collection, and drew some pictures - she is good company, but I didn't get as much stuff done as I had planned. Which I guess is okay as I'm tired as can be now with what I did do.

After Howard got home, we went up to Steve's for another load of Stuff, then I came home and cooked dinner. I think I'll have an early night - I'm actually looking forward to having the surround-sound effect of snore and purr.

Because I'm really too tired to write to impress you with my wit tonight, I'm re-running a poem from my Tamar's Day Off blog - just because I definitely would have a drink of Baileys and Milk tonight if I had some Baileys. I do have Milk, but it's just not the same without the Baileys, is it?

ME, DRINK?

actually I don't drink at all

well, maybe a wine cooler if it's really hot
or a shot of baileys if it's not
a sip of beer once in a while -
maybe


i can't go near a flask of gin
cos that's been known to do me in
if i got to, i'll drink bubbly stuff
but just for a wedding, one sip is enough -
usually


and for heaven's sake don't let me near
the melon soaked in vodka
because i try to eat lots of fruit
it's really good for ya - 
actually


but other than that i don't drink
well, maybe a margarita, a little one,
or maybe two or three
and then i'm done


probably

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Fried Egg w/Bacon and half a slice of Bread'n'Butter
• Dinner - 2 Chicken Drummies, Corn Bread Dressing, and Oven Baked Frozen Fries
• Snacks - too many Muffins, Pudding

My Flog for May 1

Finally - 4 whole day offs stretching in front of me! I know I have a lot of Stuff to unpack and put away, but that's fine with me, I want to accomplish lots of things. Who knows, I may even get some walking, or even biking, in. If only one of my men would fatten up my bike tires with a puff of air. Even if I knew how, I would be scared to do that as I would probably blow up the tire - I mean, as in blow it apart, as in pieces, as in 'What the hell happened here?' when everyone got home and saw tiny bits of tire all over the side of the house.

Last night, about 4 o'clock, we were wakened by a huge crash. Howard's first words were "Damn cat!" and my first thoughts were, "Kitty knocked over a TV, or a mirror, or jumped out a closed window." I guess when he's the only other being in the house, he going to get blamed when things go wonky. Anyway, on two close inspections when we got up, we found nothing out of place, nothing broken, smashed, or fallen. So I just assumed whatever he knocked over, he put back before we got up.

It wasn't until I was getting ready for work I saw three coiled coax cables that used to be on a small closet shelf, sitting on the floor. Now, you wouldn't think coax cables would make a thunderous racket, but when I picked them up and let them drop, they really did. Laminate floors, you see. So it wasn't the Cat after all. I'm still waiting for Howard to apologize to him.

I wasn't going to bake muffins tonight, but when I mentioned to Steve that I wasn't, he thought I said I was, and he got this huge hungry grin on his face. I just took a batch of really chocolatey smelling ones of the oven, and the odour is really getting to me. I am trying to come up with the best ever chocolate muffin, and if these taste as good as they smell, and aren't dry or dunchy*, then I think, by George, I've got it!

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Minestrone Soup from Subway. It was very good, but I was SO hungry early afternoon.
• Dinner - half a Pork Chop - Howard cooked but forgot to do the frozen fries in the oven, so we didn't bother.
• Snacks - Pudding, Orange, Hot Chocolate, Muffin (and yes, they are soooo utterly delicious, with room for only a small improvement. It will happen!)

* Dunchy - my favourite way of explaining it - if you sit on a hard chair (or pew, maybe) for an hour or so, the feeling you have in your butt? that's dunchy. And you don't want your bread or muffins to be like that, believe me.

My New Number for May 1

160.5 -which is not bad, if you consider the massive amount of muffins I've test-tasted over the last  weeks.

My Flog for April 30

It was pretty tough to get out of bed this morning at 5:20, but I did it. Work was really slow, and there wasn't much to do, so Pauline and I had a relatively easy day, just had to deal with a few customers whose main objective was to confuse and frustrate.

About half an hour before closing I found myself all covered with cold shivers, which isn't good. The bus driver on the way home had the heat blasting high on the bus, and I was sitting almost on top of a heat vent, so I was almost medium rare by the time we got to the skytrain - the ride seemed to go quickly because I dozed most of the way. Steve and Howard picked me up at King George and after we were home for a few minutes, we went to Walmart to start stocking our cupboards, and ended up with a crappy dinner. While dinner was in the oven, I mixed up some Raisin-Cranberry-Citrus Muffins, which didn't rise too well, we'll see how they turned out when they cool enough for the Test Tasting. They were pretty expensive to make, as I used 9 eggs. Well, I didn't actually use 9 eggs in the muffins, I was also counting the 7 that broke when I knocked the carton on the floor. So I decided not to make the Chocolate Muffins that were next on the agenda.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Share a Soup'n'Wrap Day. Tomato and Black Bean Soup, and Marinated Veggies and Chicken Wrap with Tzatziki Sauce. Neither was anything to write home about - or write a flog about - mainly, I guess, because Tomato Soup isn't one of my favourites - I'm sure a lot of people thought they were delicous. I'm not particularly fussy over Greek food anyway,  so to make up for that, I had a Sausage Roll as well.
• Dinner - a slice of cardboard with playdo veggies and pepperoni leather on top - Howard was so proud to find frozen pizzas for  - get this - $3 each, he bought two. I once again told him he got what he paid for.
• Snacks - Pudding, Hot Chocolate, Banana, Orange, and a Muffin when they cool down. Soon.

My Flog for April 29 - Part 11 (that's two, not eleven)

I just realized taxes are due in by midnight tomorrow. Where the hell are the T4s? Maybe they are with the missing TV remote? I may just be late this year ... again.

I can't even imagine having to go to work tomorrow, but I am really glad I had today pre-booked off. It was actually supposed to be a Fun Day, not a Look for this, or I can't find that, or What's for dinner? Day. I honestly thought I had gotten rid of all the extra I-don't-really-want-this-anymore crap, but obviously I haven't, as I already have 2 boxes of stuff to list FREE on Craigslist. And - I know there's more to come.

I'm motivated now to knit a varied supply of slippers, as our floors are either laminate or ceramic tile, and they are very cold to the tootsies. One of our customers told us she keeps a basket of slippers at the door for guests - I thought that was a nifty idea. Not that we get a lot of guests - but then, you never know. I unpacked my Punch Bowl today, and I'm not scared to use it. I have our (in)famous back-home Punch recipe on my recipe blog - http://tamargetsstuffed.blogspot.ca/2012/03/punch.html .

I am actually very tired now, and I think I'll hit the sack early. No more packing or searching tonight. I have my big fat Kitty practising his purrs beside me, so I don't think I'll have any trouble sleeping tonight. In fact, I've often wondered why The Guy Upstairs made the mistake of having the husbands snore, and the kitties purr. If Howard purred, I'd never have to give him a good dig in the ribs, and as far as Kitty is concerned, he would never get so big I couldn't throw him out the window. Even if we are upstairs.

However, I can't go until the bread is baked. Takes forever to rise in a cold house, and it's been cold in here all day. I did turn on the heat, but I don't think it did much good, we may have to have the occasional bonfire in the living room if the temps drop below freezing, which is unfortunate, as there is no fireplace there. Oh well, we'll wait and see - and I'll knit lots of slippers - maybe even leg warmers.

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Peanut Butter Bread, Banana
• Dinner - It's hard to get dinner when you haven't been grocery shopping. Choices are bacon and eggs, sausages, oven fried potatoes, or left-over chicken. Howard opts for the potatoes, but I don't have all the spices I need, maybe I'll just experiment. Plus he has to wait until the bread is all baked. So for me - dinner will be oven fries and a fried egg. 
• Snacks - Blueberry Muffin, and the rest of the mini White Chocolate Bunny

I know I usually don't write my flog until after I've finished eating for the day - but by then I may either be wasted away, or passed out. So for once we are assuming I will eat what I wrote. If not, then I'm the only one who'll know the difference, so it really doesn't matter.

My Flog for April 29 - Part 1 in Lieu of April 28

Well, as you know, it is no longer yesterday, indeed it is another day. Yesterday was so long. We got up about 6:30 and started at it, moving everything - tons of stuff, just the two of us old souls huffing and puffing and swearing - our boys were working. I think they considered themselves lucky, actually.

5 days ago we had no intentions of moving, so it is/was a rather unorganized endeavour. I had spent the previous week moving stuff around in the basement and unpacking 5-6 boxes, which thank heavens, I hadn't put in Tuesday's recycling run, so in the 5 trips we made yesterday, I packed these suckers 5 times. A lot of our 'stuff' was already in boxes from our move to Steve's 7 months ago, and I had already done two 'cleansings' of Stuff - one before our last move, and one a couple of months ago, so that helped a bit.

By the time 3 o'clock rolled around, I was desperate for coffee, so Nikkie and I walked to Timmie's and I bought a medium, which used to be a large, I believe, and drank every bit of it. Also got a bit of donuts and Timbits for an emergency stash. Then, after we got home, I realized that we would be coffee-less, and milk-less, and Becel-less - in fact, we would be everything-less - in the morning. I decided to walk to Walmart to get these things (and others) - coincidentally enough, that was the exact minute it started to pour from the heavens. Not being one to let a drop of rain get in the way, my Buggy and I left anyway.

Well, 5 miles of walking didn't deter me. Nikkie was nice enough to cook burgers and KD for a late dinner, and we inhaled some of that and headed  home about 8 o'clock. I missed Howard after about five minutes after we arrived, and went upstairs looking for him. Needless to say, he was sound asleep in the bed. I was determined not to go to bed until I had 'my' kitchen waiting in the morning, so I unpacked and stored away and had the kitchen basically done, complete with a bowl of fruit on the table and the coffee pot ready to be turned on in the morning. About 12:30 I headed for bed, knowing I'd be asleep before my head touched the pillow.

NOT. All I could think of was my cat, Kitty aka Blackie, who wouldn't come out of his ceiling hideaway no matter how often I called him. He used to spend most of his days up in the rafters, I guess he had a camp set up there, and would come down to eat, drink or pee (or worse), and then at bedtime, come down and go to bed with us, where he would first of all crawl over my face with loving greetings, then settle down and purr me to sleep. Sure missed that furry purry fat cat.

So, in order to get me up at 5:30 this morning, Howard suggested going to get the cat while the coffee brewed. After only about 3 hours of sleep, I didn't really care if I ever saw the cat again - but I just couldn't resist the lure of coffee. We did stay in bed a bit longer though, and went to get Kitty just after 7, and though he seemed happy to see me, he changed his mind when I poured, squeezed and prodded him into the carrier, which is actually a huge dog crate. It's just that when a cat doesn't want to go anywhere, he can make what seems like a very easy job very difficult. However, he's home now, he's got a safe spot in our bedroom, and after a couple of hours he stopped mewing mournfully. He is the only 4-legged beastie in this house, so I'm sure he'll settle in quite nicely, and I look forward to his purraby tonight when I go to bed.

I'll get to Part 11 later if I don't drop from exhaustion before then - and if you really want to know what I ate yesterday, I'll see if I can remember -

• Breakfast - That's easy, Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - ??? I don't think I had any
• Dinner - Hamburger
• Snacks - while unpacking I found a Little White Chocolate Easter Bunny, so I devoured his head, ears and all. This will bring Sheila a memory, not of chocolate, though. A couple of Timbits and a Sour Cream Donut. I think I had a small bag of Lays Chips too - if it wasn't of my Flog for the day before that, then it was yesterday.  

My Flog for April 27

Today, while Howard was at work, I started packing some Stuff for the new house. I wasn't very organized - I never am when I do things on short notice with no plan of action. It was only last week I spent most of 3 day offs rearranging the basement, moving tons of heavy stuff to make myself a Nook. Because I had unpacked about 6 boxes then, I did have 6 boxes to use today. 4 mornings ago, I had no more intentions of moving than I had of visiting the moon. I guess now it's become a habit.

I decided to pack up some kitchen stuff in cloth bags and move it carefully rather than pack it in boxes, where it would be invisible and could get thrown, tossed or dropped. So then I decided to take as many cloth bags as I could and using this -

- haul them down the street. So now we have some bowls, and flour, and other necessary things for the baker's (that's me) kitchen. While there, we opened the windows and doors to help get rid of the paint smell, and put out several bowls of cut-up onions in cold water, which is supposed to absorb the smell of paint also. I suppose next I'll have to go online to find out how to get rid of the smell of onions. I'll know tomorrow if it worked.

I made sure Nikkie came with me today so she could case the joint for any invisible inhabitants, but she swears she feels no presences there. But she had that little smile on her face that makes me believe she wasn't telling the entire truth. If I get any cold shivers down the back of my neck, or start hearing someone talk to me, I'll drag her down there again. I did have the not quite pleasure of sharing a house with an invisible dead person a long time ago, and only got rid of her when I asked her to hang around and take care of the kids. She left pronto, let me tell you. (You may think I'm kidding, but I'm not, honestly.)

However, when Howard came home from work, he decided to do one up from me, and he packed some things in this -

 - just little odds and ends, like my beautiful kitchen table and chairs, a TV and some kind of box (maybe a DVD player?) and a couple of bookshelves. I hope the Big Dark Blue Truck has a good rest tonight, because tomorrow it's going to be working hard, and tomorrow night we'll be sleeping under a new ceiling. I'm just hoping I don't get up in the middle of the night to pee and fall down the stairs, as I'm so used to going upstairs to the bathroom.

There is one thing about the stairs in the new place - as you are walking down them, you are facing a big tall mirror, so you can watch yourself make an entrance. At least now I'll know if I ever forget to put on my skirt (or jeans) before I go out. 

• Breakfast - Toast and Coffee
• Lunch - Soup
• Dinner - Chicken and Oven Fries
• Snacks - a little Peppermint Patty, Orange Juice