TWO IN A ROW!!!

Shocker!  I am writing two posts in a row!  No six days between.  I probably am going to do this while I am down here in Vancouver.  Nothing happens at home so no posts.  haha!

So yesterday I was over at Aryn's loft with them.  They were installing all the kitchen cupboard doors.  Those two work so incredibly hard.  I probably was redundant but Aryn had a job for me that I found out why she had me do it!

She told me it was cleaning the lower freezer compartment of the fridge...which was out on the deck at this point, waiting for the floor to be finished.

So I squeeze around crap and get to the front of the fridge.  Aryn stayed on the other side, holding open a garbage bag.  She said that the guy that emptied the fridge and plastic wrapped the whole thing to protect it, left stuff in the freezer.  And he sure did.  There were two things, one a box of something or other and the second was a ziplock bag, still sealed, full of awful gross looking crap.  So I grabbed them and tossed them in her garbage bag.

  I then said I would need a bucket of soapy water.  And she said "No, the cleaning people will do that part."  What the hell?  Okay.  So I climbed out and a few minutes later she told Bradley how "brave Mom" threw the icky stuff out!  That was it!!!!  She didn't want to touch that ziplock bag of rotten stuff!  Jeeez!  I thought I would be scrubbing out a fridge and all I had to do was toss out a couple of pieces of rotten food!  Man I've cleaned out whole giant freezers that crapped out three weeks before,  full of bear meat...all soupy and totally freaking stinking rotten!

Then after that I was pretty useless, and then did an awful thing that I felt so totally bad about.  I'm still feeling bad this morning.  I was collecting garbage.  Not a big contribution.  Those two have been working their asses off and dealing with unforeseen setbacks and are under such extreme pressure.  They sure didn't need extra stuff happening to them.

Near the end of what we could do over there, as they finished the doors, Aryn suddenly realized that a cheque Bradley had handed her earlier, the money they needed for their payroll (she was planning a quick trip to the bank at that point) was missing.  She had apparently set it down on the kitchen counter and it definitely wasn't there anymore.  Oh my God!  We hunted and hunted and hunted...with poor Aryn in a total panic.  They had to meet payroll, right away.

I emptied out the garbage bag I had filled and we all went through it two or three times to no avail.  We had piled all the garbage in one corner but this bag was the only one open.  Then Bradley went over and looked over at a small box with garbage in it and it was in there...with the starbucks coffee cups I had thrown in there.  Clearly I must have either thought the cheque, which was folded, was garbage, or the cheque stuck to the cups somehow.  I didn't know there was even a cheque over there.

Totally my fault.  And when Bradley went over to the garbage pile I told him we had thoroughly looked through that garbage bag, and he immediately found the cheque and said "Well you didn't look far enough did you?"  The poor guy was under so much stress.  I felt like absolute total shit.  I couldn't believe I had just added to the hell they were already in.

In fact Aryn took off to the bank and Bradley took off with a load of stuff to put in his van.  I sat there by myself for about five minutes and truly had a hard time not crying.  I felt so so bad.  Those poor kids.  I can't believe how extremely hard they work.  I am so happy now that they are in New York, hopefully leaving all this behind.

They finally got away around seven, not five as planned.  Soon after they left I decided to go to whole foods to pick up some cooked food for supper.  They have a huge selection of cooked stuff that you fill a box with and pay by the pound.  I bought mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey, cranberry, sweet potato, container of blueberries, tuna sandwich for today and a pecan scone.

46 bucks.  So I bring it all home and get out the dinner.  It was awful.  No flavour, salty (even for me), the sweet potatoes had a ton of cinnamon in it (shovel list...I hate cinnamon or vanilla in savoury dishes) the scone was so dry it crumbled on the way to my face.  The blueberries all had stems on them.  Fuckadoodle!!!!!I was not happy.  I threw it all out and ate a couple of my wieners I brought with me.

They don't have either a microwave or toaster here.  I didn't realize just how much I use those two appliances!!!  But they do have amazing coffee for their kierig.  Its called Bob Marley and its the best coffee.  She gets it at Superstore.  Worth a trip across Columbia (I don't cross Columbia street in Kamloops, even to go to Superstore).

Anyway, I need to stick around today as people are needing to come pick up keys, fobs, staging stuff (the decorator they hired) etc.   And I see little Molly needs to go out again.  TTYL!!

VIBES

I am sitting in Aryn's and Bradley's loft at eighth and a block off Cambie.

Such a different vibe here than at home!  Traffic, daily garbage truck, sirens, homeless carts rattling, smells of all different kinds of foods....  Everything is so alive and moving.

Molly needs walking and pee breaks four or five times a day, maybe less.  The walk we go on passes by so many different things.  Right nearby is a Whole Foods, Poke place, Solly's cafe (best Matza ball soup in town, except right now they have mice), home depot, winners, a million little restaurants, Cactus Club, pubs, London Drugs and on and on and on!

The trip down was fast and uneventful.  We took the low road from Kamloops to Merritt.  That really is a truly beautiful way to go.  We stopped in a gas station to fill up and get snacks in Merritt.  I go in and buy an Eatmore and a Mr. Big.  Anton goes in and buys an apple.  An apple.  Seriously!  Who buys an apple for a road trip?  But I know Mr. Anton.  So I open the Eatmore and take a bite or two.  I bought the extra big bars.  I set it down.  He picks it up and takes a bite.  Then another.  Then another.  Hahahaha...who ate the chocolate bar?  Later I open the Mr. Big.  That one came in two pieces so I ate one and he ate the other.  So much for Mr. Healthy.

Anton needed to catch the sky train that went to Richmond, which just happens to go right past Aryn and Bradley's place.  So we drove straight here and he hopped on the sky train and headed for Victoria.

Meanwhile Aryn and I had a good visit.  But...they are finishing off Aryn's loft, which is listed and there is an open house soon.  So they were beyond swamped with last minute serious things over there.  Late last night we finally were able to go to Cactus club and have dinner.  My dinner was really odd, but delicious, but odd.  I couldn't quit eating it but it was really odd.  Funny.

Today I have been sitting around watching tv while those two poor kids run around like chickens with their heads freshly off.  I have tried to offer help but I just have to wait until they tell me what to do.

Anywhoo they are leaving here by five this afternoon.  They are spending the night at the Fairmont at the Airport tonight.  I truly hope they get some much needed happy time and rest.  I know they are going to love their time in New York.  Oh I think I hear the door.  Gotta bounce!  TTYL

Message to Clare:  I am going to give you a call after I talk to April.  I might wait till Aryn gets back to get together.  She really wants to see you too.  And I see the Rusty Gull is closed for renos.  So we will have to pick another fun and interesting place.  Do you go to Jack Lonsdale's?  That would be pretty convenient for you wouldn't it or is it awful?  I have no clue!!!  I will call.  I can't wait to see you guys!

OH LORDY BE!!!

Well, retreat complete and we all survived!!!  What a fantastic time we had!

Nothing like getting 18 crazy women together, add food and booze and crazy games and you got an almost blackmailable event!

To begin with the Princeton Castle resort is a weird unexplainable place.  It really is!  There is an old crumbling cement plant...that looks just like Roman ruins. 
 There is a little lake that has unexplainable cabanas along the shore with paddle boats, and big swan thingies and creepy stuff. 
 There is a teeny tiny church that has a mattress on the floor and a hard hat in the middle of the bed. 
 There is a stable barn, empty except for a humungous mound of old bed pillows, all chewed up by rats. 
 There is a pen with three huge fat pigs in it.
  There is a set of stairs that go up to the upper part of the property and each cement step has fossils in it. 
 There is a building, four floors, full from top to bottom with a hoarders pile...dolls, antiques, wedding dresses, designer ball gowns (hundreds), furniture, hats, shoes and cats. 
 Out side there is an old outdoor theatre full to the top with crap. 
 There are many roman statues.
  There are lamas running around free.  And on and on and on.  Crazy!

They lifted the campfire ban as we arrived there.  So through the whole weekend we had a fire.  Loved that. 

I was sick the first night and went to bed.  But I could hear!  Sue brought her guitar and they all sat around the fire and sang and sang...really good awesome singing too! 

And the food!!!  Cookies, cakes, muffins, chips, dip after dip, veggies, fruit, shepherd's pie, butter chicken, curried beans, lasagna, salads, monkey bread, bacon and eggs...well you get the idea!

We played ridiculous games and we divided up into teams and put on skits.  Really talented good skits too!!!

Anywhoo, such fun.  Now I need to get ready for Vancouver.  Clare!!!  I am calling you.  Lunch!!!
I have to find clothes to pack, laundry to do, tie up things here.  Tomorrow a fellow is coming to build my dining room table.  Around noon I am taking Jeni to the airport.  Tuesday night I have to go to a Kiwanis event.  Its going to be a busy couple of days.  Vancouver on Wednesday!  TTYL

LOVELY PAM

THE YOUNGUNS!  EMILY AND MELYN

MY SISTER GETTING THAT FIRE GOING!

PART OF THE CREEPY CEMENT PLANT RUINS

JENGA FAIL

UMMMM....NOT SURE

NO EXPLANATION AVAILABLE

APRIL AND ARYN DID A FANTASTIC MEXICO CORNER...AND OF COURSE A VERY STUFFED FULL PINATA WAS MANDATORY!

HAVE AT IT COOKIE!!!

KATHY TRIED

APRIL TRIED

I AM NOT SAYING WHAT THEY CALLED THIS PIC

BREAKFAST!!!

SCENIC TOUR HOME

WE HAD A VISITOR...WE FIGURED HE WAS "SPECIAL"

THAT THING MADE YOU DROOL

PICNIC ON THE WAY HOME

NUMMY!!  SOME SERIOUS SPOONAGE THERE!

JEEZ TIME FLIES

You know it feels like just yesterday I posted and here it almost a week.  My apologies!

Its been busy, to say the least!  I have been moving furniture around (including the piano) and trying to get it right.  Not there yet unfortunately.  (shovel list)

I needed a dining room table.  Bad.  But it had to be really small. (shovel list)  No more dinner parties for me.  Makes me sad.

Anywhoooo, Anne dropped down for lunch the other day.  After a bowl of beef barley sludge, (somehow my barley soups always turn from soup to sludge in the fridge overnite), we took off to find a dining room table.

The first store we went to had a wonderful counter height heavy solid rough wood plank table.  I really loved it but as Anne pointed out, no ordinary chairs (read Costco folding chairs one uses to supplement the four chairs that came with the table) wouldn't cut it.  Not with a counter height table.  Plus I was a little worried that it was too long.    It was originally 3,000 bucks cut down to 1,600.  Pretty good deal.

But to make sure that there wasn't something else out there, like a small round table which is what I really wanted, we decided to hop out to the Brick. A really really funny guy called Sean came and helped us.  He was soooo funny.  I just wanted to look around with him so he could keep on entertaining us.  Anyway we looked at tables and he measured things for us and then we noticed there were basically no round tables.  He said, "I don't know where they are!  Last week there were so many it looked like a Chinese restaurant in here."  Hahahahaha!!!!

Anyway he did find us one.  A lovely little round table with a storage box area underneath.  Mango wood and it came with four chairs.  599.00 bucks!!!!  Seriously!!!  Its cheap enough that I can sand it down and paint it fire engine red if I want to!  I don't but you never know.  Got the option should I choose.  It comes on Thursday.  Then I got home and looked at my dining room.  And all I can say is its a good thing I went tiny.  Even the one I bought is going to take up a lot of space.  Oh well.

Today my realtor/friend came over.  I agreed to do a video review for her.  She really is the most terrific realtor I've ever worked with and on top of that we have become friends.

Well, she texted me a few minutes before she was due to arrive and asked would it be all right if she brought her husband Ian with her.  Of course I said that would be fine...but I wasn't prepared for what arrived!

Amy is an averagish looking gal.  She isn't exactly pretty but she is so animated that that is what you notice.  I had in my mind an averagish looking husband, a dad type.  They have four kids between them.  He is an electrician.  Well...that is NOT what walked through the door I tell ya.  I took one look at that face and my heart darn near stopped.  Seriously!!

He was so damned good looking you couldn't think straight.  I mean it!  You just don't see good looks like this!  Never!  He actually is the best looking (except for Peter) guy I have seen in person.  It took me a while to get used to him.

 The three of us visited for quite a while and I finally got kind of used to his looks.  He was also a really nice guy!  I would just be plain nervous being married to that!  While I was doing the video he wandered around and looked at my pictures and my hobos and my bits and pieces.  After he told me I had the most interesting stuff and went back and asked about each thing.  I was so impressed!

Anyway, time to make dinner.  Anton, being vegetarian has broadened my cooking parameters. Tonight I am deep frying tofu and adding it into a stir fry over top of chinese noodle.  Very Very spicy!!!!!  Gotta bounce...TTYL

BITCHES

I still have not unpacked!  One thing I have discovered...I have a ridiculous amount of bedding.  Time to fill another box outside!  I don't have very many boxes upstairs.  Most of them are down downstairs.  But the ones I opened up up here are all full of bedding.  Weed out time!

I spent the day today cooking.  The Kiwanis BBQ was tonight at Kathy's house.  I made baked beans, apple crisp and johnny cake.  The food people brought was amazing....potato salad, green salad, caesar salad and a couple of pasta salads.  Another fellow made cassoulet...the french bean casserole.  Then there was carrot cake, strawberry and rum mousse, pumpkin pie and apple crisp.  So much good food!

On Sunday was the bike toy run.  What a hoot that was.  There were over 110 bikers on their awesome rides.  Many toys and donations were collected.  And really really good hot dogs were eaten!

Now to the bitches.  I winged off to the mall to the kitchen store for a bean pot the other day.  I had to wait til she could climb a ladder in the back to get it down.  So I went to blenz for a coffee.  I got my latte and the whole seating area was totally empty. I went and sat at a table for two where the only two comfy arm chairs are.  I got my phone out and read my book and enjoyed my coffee.

After a while two girls, about 22 or 23, came giggling around the corner from where you get your coffee and came into the seating area.  They hesitated a minute then came straight over to me.  First one says, "Excuse me, would you mind letting us have this table?"  I said, "I am only going to be a few more minutes, when I am done I will make sure you guys get the table."  Second one says, "but there is only one of you and two of us.  We really would like to sit there."  At which point I said, "No, I am not moving just yet, I will be in a few minutes."

I went back to reading my book.  They disappeared back around the corner to the front....and came marching back with the manager.  "See!" first one says.  "There are two of us and we always sit in those seats and we asked her nicely if we could have that table.  She won't move."  Jeez!!!  Stupid little brats.  Well clearly the manager thought so too.  He looked at them and told them to get out of there.  He said he was completely appalled at their request and he would prefer them to drink their coffees elsewhere.  Hahaha!!  They marched over to the garbage, dumped their coffees into the bin and stomped off.

Now for the bad part.  There is clearly a large sign above the garbage that says to not dump liquids into the bin.  And they threw out china cups with saucers!!!!!  Unbelievable!!!  I will say in their defence, they had very strong Slavic (of some sort) accents.  Possibly in their country the young can kick the old out of their chairs!!!

Well tonight I have a  little companion sleeping in my little tan purple room with me.  Kathy brought Emma down this afternoon.  Its just so much easier to have her here, rather than at their place barking up a storm every time someone arrives.  Anton was home tonight and happily took care of her.  Now she has been walked and peed and cookie snacked and is snuggled in her bed right under the back of my chair.  She is such a sweetie.

Well its late and its been a long day.  I got a call very very early this morning from Monte.  He had just got word from a mutual friend that their friend had been killed earlier in a single car accident.  Eric was one of Monte's first friends in Port.  Bill and I had taken Monte and Eric out for dinner occasionally.  So sad.  To make things worse, it was Eric's father that was first on the scene.  He came across the accident, to find his son had died. No one else was there yet.  I can't even imagine.  So our hearts are a little heavy tonight.  I am so glad Monte has Wrangler, his new dog, to keep him company right now.  It helps.  TTYL

MMMMMM.....DELICIOUS

I can honestly say that dinner the other night, the lamb shanks, was the best dinner I have made in a very long long time.

I put the lamb shanks in the crock pot with one sliced up onion.  Eight hours on high.  And that was the best meat I have ever cooked...and the easiest.

I cooked up spuds, beets, carrots and salad to go with it.  I also made an amazing delicious apple crisp...just like mom used to make.  It was beyond yummy!!!!!!  I shall post pics!  TTYL

A HAPPY ANTON

A HAPPY ANNE

MY PLATE!!!

FIREWATER

Not much has happened in the last few days.  Its been pretty quiet around here.  Peter headed back to Victoria (we miss you Peter). Its down to just Anton and myself and a whole lot of boxes to gradually go through.

The fellow from the Brick arrived Sunday morning to put together the bunkbeds.  Now, Anne told me some time ago that if I ever need a handyman, she has one.  He is efficient and clean and really good.  He is a Japanese fellow by the name of Kio.

Sun. morning a short Japanese bouncy reno guy shows up by the name of Kio.  Now how many Japanese reno guys named Kio can there be in Kamloops I ask?  One?  So I finally asked him if he knew Anne.  At first he was a bit reluctant or hesitant, not sure, but he did admit he knew her.  I didn't push it.  When I mentioned it to Anne she said that he kind of had disappeared on her and the jobs in her house weren't done yet.  Hmmm......

Anyway he did an amazing job.  Those bunkbeds came in ten boxes and he had to run in and out to get power tools etc from his van.  I could never ever have built those suckers.  I will put a pic at the bottom.  But best of all?  He packed away all the cardboard and plastic, got the vacuum and totally cleaned up!  Amazing guy.  He gave me his card so I just might get him to do a couple things for me.  (Like painting...I hate painting.  Shovel list)

Yesterday Anton and I had decided that that was the day we were finally going to GO DOWN THOSE STAIRS (said in a Dame Edna voice) and once and for all separate our boxes.  His and mine are all mixed up and he needs to get his end of the big room fixed up and liveable.  So down we went and started shoving boxes around.  

Some of the boxes needed to go under the stairs.  There is quite a nice sized narrow area under those stairs for stuff.  So we went in and moved things around and in the process I came across a cooler.  I popped the lid up and it was full of weird booze...you know that red stuff you put in Singapore Slings, some kind of orange liqueur, another one that smells like maple bugs, an almondy smell, a cheap plum brandy left over from Bill.  Kind of like the back of your fridge full of half eaten and forgotten chutneys and mustards.

As I was kind of picking through it I came across a brand new, never been opened bottle of Fireball!!!  So exciting!!!  I love Fireball.  Its wicked!  If you have never had it you gotta try it.  Its like Jaegermeister only cinnamony and delicious.  Anton had never had it before.  So I cracked it open and took a slug then passed it to him.  And so we crouched there, under the stairs, passing the bottle back and forth.  hahahahaha!!!  It was so funny.  We felt like teenagers hiding from our parents.  Now and then, as we cleaned and organized, we would take a moment and go under the stairs and take another slug or two.  Made the job so much more fun!

Anne is coming over today.  I haven't seen her in a while so lots to catch up on.  When I was in Safeway yesterday I picked up a couple of lamb shanks.  I am going to slow roast them in the crock pot for supper.  I have never made them before.

A few years ago Bill, the kids and I travelled about England and Scotland.  Near Scarborough we found a little homey hotel to stay for the night and we walked across to a pub for dinner.  I remember this like it was yesterday.

I ordered the lamb shank dinner, and when it came I almost fell out of my chair.  On my plate was a mound of mashed spuds the size of Mr. Baker.  Leaning on it was a giant lamb shank, cooked to perfection...the meat was gooey and falling off the bone.  The veggies were served family style in bowls we helped ourselves from.  OMG!!  It was delicious!!  The only complaint I had was that there was no mint jelly..you know, the evil looking, chemical green kind.  Jeez I love that stuff.

Well I still have a jar of that jelly from Langford.  I shall be cracking that open tonight!!!  I even have sprigs of Rosemary to throw in the pot.  I shall cook up some spuds and make real mashed potatoes (I prefer instant ones and I know Anne and Anton don't mind them either but I have potatoes to use up).  I will take a pic (if I don't forget) and post it on the next post.

Anton and I have decided to do another 100 day project...get rid of stuff..one item a day...again.  I have an ongoing box outside that I put stuff in to get rid of as I unpack.  He needs to pretty much get rid of everything by Xmas as he is going to start travelling and working.  So I am going to do it all over again.  You would think I just wouldn't have that much stuff...but much to my chagrin, I do.  I will once again be taking pics of it and posting it here...keeping me accountable.  

Well gotta bounce.  Anne will be here soon.  TTYL

AREN'T THEY PRETTY?  AND THEY WERE THE CHEAPEST ONES IN THE STORE!

OWWWWWIEEEEEEE

Jeez, I did the stupidest thing.  Both Peter and Anton are here right now.  They were off at a lake somewhere swimming and I decided to make perogies for dinner.

Anton, being vegetarian, meant there would be no bacon added to the dish.  So I cut up a massive onion, mushrooms, savoy cabbage and these tiny, about the size of large cherry tomatoes, round, bright red peppers called cherry bombs.  I cut up three.  They were quite spicy but not insanely so.

So when the boys got home we dished up and had a perogie dinner.  It was delicious.

Later I was listening to Kraftwork with them in the living room when I happened to rub my eye.  Oh lordy!  Even though I had washed my hands the pepper clearly was still clinging and it slammed my poor eye shut and burnt like a son of a bitch!  Holy Crap!!!!  And it was my good eye!!

So Anton swung into action!  He poured me a bowl of milk and made me wash my eye out over and over.....and it worked!!!  It still burned but at least I could open it and get my glasses back on.  I think if I am going to start cooking with peppers I will need to get cooking plastic gloves to wear!

The bunkbeds arrived today!!!  Boxes and boxes were carried up the stairs.  I arranged for the Brick's builder to come and build them for me.  He is coming tomorrow morning.  So exciting.

This last week has been busy with people so I have put the unpacking off until its a bit quieter.  There is a possibility that Anton will be here til Xmas so we will need to get the basement sorted so he is a little more comfortable.

The funeral, as I said was like a mini family reunion,  beautiful.  It was so awesome to see all the cousins.  We have a lot of them!  Most of them still belong to that religion I was brought up in.  The women don't wear pants, don't cut their hair, no makeup and no jewelry.  The women wear their hair up in....wait for it......poofs, just like mine!!  Did I ever fit in!  I don't wear jewelry, I don't wear makeup and my grey hair was up in a poof!!!  My skirt was a little too short.  I will put some pics in at the bottom..most of them taken by Kathy.

Funeral food, as we all know, is delicious and something to look forward to.  When we headed into the reception area there was a nice big round table-y type thing in the middle of the room.  It was covered with dainty delicious sandwiches (Kathy and I were especially eyeballing those egg salad ones), little various squares and veggies and dip.  But no one was eating it!  No one! 

 Now being on the large side, I didn't want to look piggy and go in for the first sandwich, but those egg ones had my name on them and you know its kind of like the first person on the dance floor.  Someone's gotta do it.

As I headed over to those egg sandwiches, I got stopped by a rellie with questions.  So I stood there a while to visit.  Suddenly my cousin Jim hushed everybody down and announced that a prayer was going to be said (giving thanks as we call it) and at the end of it he said, "Okay folks, we can now help ourselves and eat and when this is gone there is more!'  Holy doodle!  I almost blew it!!!  Prayers had to be said first!  And clearly, I had forgotten, this Price family knows how to eat.  I should have clued in.  Jeez it took about ten minutes to get near the table and by the time I got there my egg sammiches were gone!  Later they brought more out thank goodness!

The funeral ended up at Hulcar where my dad was born and buried.  Us kids spent a lot of time playing over there in that graveyard!  So familiar.  We saw his grave and all our other relatives that have passed on.  Grampa and Nanny donated the land for that graveyard.  Auntie Edna was buried right beside them. So perfect.

All in all it was a lovely day.  We went back to Kathy's and had an awesome dinner then Stan drove me home.  The next day he came over for dinner and stayed the night.  Was so good to catch up.  I always enjoy having him here.

I see there is a lovely sunset out there tonight.  Going to go and take some pics.  TTYL