AND A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL

The trip down to Vancouver was uneventful.  I went via the canyon and its a good thing I did.  The last thing I heard was the Coq was closed.  If people just slowed down it would sure help.  It was a long trip though.  And it isn't the prettiest time of year to go that route.

So I pulled into April's around four.  Both of them were home so I had lots of help unloading.  Their place looked so Christmassy and homey.  We had bologna sammiches for supper, my fave.  So easy and made with Vancouver Island bread...the best!  That is actually the brand.  If you see it give it a try!

April had to work for half a day the next day.  Myles got home around lunch and he brought A&W home for dinner...again my fave!  I don't really remember the total sequence of events but on the 23rd Myles's parents and Baka came for dinner.  April made the most delicious huge prime rib roast, I made the gravy but she made all the rest.  Yorkies, peas, carrots and parsnips, mashed spds and I made a Banoffee for desert.  Best meal!!! 

 The next day we lazed around and watched Fawlty Towers and other Xmas movies.  Wrangler was such a good dog whilst we were there. April bought him two new dishes on a red plaid mat.  And she made him a bed that he basically stayed on.  He was so good.  That night we opened one small present each.  The next morning there were about 200 plus extra amazing presents to open.  Myles went overboard crazy bless his heart.  She did pretty well too!  It was so much fun!

Later we all gathered at Aryn and Bradley's.  And let me tell you they put on the turkey dinner of my dreams.  I have never ever had a juicy turkey like theirs was.  And it was a 25 pounder!  Turns out they brined it!!!  What a difference that made!  And they had a lot left over turkey because all the sides were so delicious we loaded up on them!!!  And Bradley was an amazing host, keeping everyone in drinks and appies etc....  And he was so funny when we played Crimes against Humanity later.

After most left, he put on loud dj type dance music.  It was beyond awesome!!!  And then best of all both Aryn and Bradley danced!!  They were amazing!!!  I could have watched them all night!  I have never ever seen anyone dance like Bradley did...the type of dance.  I couldn't even begin to describe it but let me tell you it was fascinating!!

I stayed an extra day to eat leftovers and turkey pot pie.  So good.  And we spent the day snoozing and watching the Making of a Murderer.  So interesting!  A perfect boxing day!

Then yesterday I hit the road and headed home.  First I had to stop at a gas station and get gas, fill my totally empty windshield washer thingy, and  put air in my always slowly flattening tire.  Thank goodness I had Bradley show me how to open and close Tank's hood.  I would never have figured it out.

Only two hold ups for accidents in the Coq.  Fast trip home I must say.  Way quicker than the canyon and absolutely stunningly beautiful.  Lots of beautiful fluffy white snow and huge mountain peeks and sunshine.  Can't beat that!

Now here I am in my red chair, my anchor, catching up here.  And best of all today....Aryn and Bradley gave me a huge quantity of perfect lox, not the raggedy end pieces I always buy but thinly sliced beautiful lox, a container of cream cheese, fresh awesome bagels and a gorgeous firm fresh purple onion.  So I had one for breakfast, one for lunch and I am about to have the third for supper.  And I have to mention here I have never had bagels that were so soft and fresh they don't need to be toasted.  Easy on my toothless bottom gums!  Absolutely divine!!!!  What a treat.

Now I am getting ready for peeps tomorrow.  Kevin and kids are coming and possibly Jen and Jeremy (my brother's daughter) and two kids may stay here.  We are getting ready for a big New Year's party at Kathy's!  A chuckwagon cowboy party!!!  I'm going to make a pot of beans and jonny cake.  I might make an apple crisp too.  Like Mom used to make.  Mmmmm.....ttyl

I forgot my charger for my other lappy at Aryn's.  So its dead and I can't see my gratitude list.  So I am going to put in a Shovel list item:

DOG POOP IN THE SNOW:  First of all I can't go out with him in my slippers.  I have to stop and put my old Uggs on.  Then picking up doodoo in the snow is a pain.  Its hard and I keep dropping it and having to scoop several times and there is too much snow with it and it gets on my hands.  Shovel list big time.

FAT LADY STORE VISIT

I bet there are people out there who are pretty offended by me calling Penningtons/Additionelle the Fat Lady Store.  But it is what it is.  And in all of Canada, other than little tiny boutiques sparsely dotted here and there across the nation, there is only the Fat Lady Store.  Department stores don't go up to big enough sizes.  

Whilst I was in the store the other day, killing time until my dr appointment, I took note of all the other ladies in there.  It seemed a little busier than normal.  It became clear to me that a lot of them were Christmas party shopping (a fat broad's nightmare, at least some of us) {shovel list}.  And another observance came to my attention.  A lot of these women were fat, and I mean FAT.  Huge. Really really big.

Now I know what size I wear.  There are six sizes above XL and I wear the second from the biggest. And I am completely aware of how big I am.  These women were twice my size.  So I get to thinking.  How do they fit into even the biggest clothes?  Seriously!!!!  Some of those women are just humungous and they are happily running around with armloads of clothes.  I don't get it.  It's disturbing.  I just don't think I am one size down from them.  I think I would be at least three sizes down, but clearly I am not.  And I did find a couple of things I wanted, second from the biggest size.  Jeez!

I was telling my sister about this.  And I mentioned that as I had walked into the store I noticed on the door that they were looking for a sales person.  I told her it was so tempting to just apply for fun.  But she told me I would have to quit calling it Fat Lady Store.  I don't think I can.  I would slip up.  I just know it.

I am sick.  Of course.  It's Christmas.  This will be the fourth year in a row I am sick.  And I am sick of this.  The only positive hope is its not that wracking awful cough and chest cold....yet, like everybody seems to have.  This one is a gastrointestinal thing.  And a fever.  I am living on gravol at the moment.  Thank god it works.  Nothing makes me want to go out in the back yard and shoot myself more than nausea.  I HAVE to be better by Friday.  I HAVE to be.

Well Alice comes tomorrow morning at 7.  It will be great to get all the dog hair off the floor.  It's terrible.  He is blowing his coat at the moment and brushing him just makes it worse.  That hair is coming out in giant prolific clumps.  And he is scared of those clumps.  If I make him sniff one he dashes away and won't come back to me for a long time.  I think I will keep one on the table beside my chair.  When he starts bugging me when I am on the phone, I will just waggle that hair in his face.  hahaha!!

Monte has officially moved back into his place.  It apparently needs a lot of cleaning.  I am anxious to see him but he needs to clean his place first.  I want to do some cooking when I am there.  I will get disposable containers that can microwave and make him some dinners to freeze.  I will take some bedding and sleep on the couch.  After visiting him I want to take a couple of days and go to Campbell river and visit my brother.  He has just successfully had open heart surgery, six bypasses and one valve replacement.  Time to visit!

I bought him a book on Amazon and have it shipped to him.  Have you heard of the guy that cut down that extremely rare yellow spruce up in the Charlottes?  Haida Gwai actually.  Well this is a book about him, which involves some history of logging.  The guy was a forestry engineer, a bit of a wacko obviously.  I think my brother will really enjoy it.  Hopefully he hasn't read it.  He is a prolific reader.

Well I am going to take this tired hot (as in fever) body to bed.  Alice will be banging on my bedroom door bright and early.  TTYL

QUIET:  I am pretty grateful for quiet, in small doses.  I find too much quiet gets my mind in a turmoil sometimes.  The only time I really enjoy it is when I am reading a super good book.  Then I am not so much grateful as I just don't notice.

A VENT .... SORRY

Well folks, this vent is about the Interior Health people and their infinite greedy wisdom.  Or possibly the provincial budget just doesn't allow our doctors to have a sufficient salary to afford a family practice.

Today I was fortunate enough to actually get an appointment with a doctor on my clinic's very last day of business.  I went in and did my lab work this morning and the only way I could get my prescription refills in a timely way was by going in today.

My usual doctor was not working today. Consequently I saw one I haven't been to before.  And let me tell you, he was amazing.  He was energetic, eye contact, personable, heard me, responded in kind...and took the time to actually check my blood pressure.  This is the first time my blood pressure has been checked by a doctor for two years.  (and it was super good by the way!). I am on three blood pressure medications.  You'd think at least one doctor would have checked it in the last while.

Anyway, I had a very interesting chat with him.  He is about 55 years old.  He lives in Kamloops and loves it here.  He loves being a doctor and is sad that he is too old and too poor to open up a family practise.  And now he is out of work because Interior health closed the clinic.  And guess what....Interior health is not hiring...anywhere.  So either he flips burgers or moves.

In a city of 95,000 population, to not have a place for this eager doctor to work is reprehensible.  With approximately 40,000 people in Kamloops unable to get a family doctor, this is completely unacceptable.  Clearly those of us that added our names to that ever growing master list of people waiting for a family doctor, it is simply not going to happen in our lifetime as things are now.  Not if this is the way the medicare in our catchment area is being run.

And why do we not just go to walk in clinics, if you can find one, and skip the family doctor issue?  Because if something happens to you and you need narcotic pain meds, you can only get them from a family doctor.  If you need Ritalin for example, not a chance unless you have a family doctor.  If you have an ongoing mental illness and need anxiety meds or antipsychotics....forget it if you don't have a psychiatrist or a family doctor.

Now we are down to two clinics that I can find.  One on the south shore and one on the north shore.  I talked to a lady in the waiting room today.  She is an older lady with a plethora of ailments, diabetes, hip and knee replacements needed etc...not an unusual situation for this day and age of population.  To see a doctor she has to get up at six am, get a bus or taxi to the clinic and get into a line up.  Sick? Old? Just had a baby? Doesn't matter.  You line up or you don't get an appointment.  At eight am a clipboard comes out the door that we all sign up.  At nine o'clock we come back and one by one fifty people are called up and given a time to come back to see a doctor.  If you are fifty one? You are shit out of luck.  Snow, rain, twenty below zero. forty degrees out....doesn't matter.  Line up and sign up.

And after listening to Peter Millibar, our MLA on the news today, I think I know part of the reason the clinic was closed, leaving its ten thousand patients swinging in the wind.  He said that the Urgent Care Clinic, the brand new one, is in jeopardy due to clinics threatening to put them out of business.  Seriously.  That is what he said.  All I can say is shame on him.  For a long time resident, three term mayor of Kamloops, he doesn't seem to have much of a handle on this dire issue.

So I am moving.  I need a doctor.  The lady in the clinic I was talking to is also moving back to her previous place....Ontario.  She has been here one year.  Time to start making even more noise about this situation with Interior Health.  If anyone has any ideas let me know.  Would love to hear.  TTYL. (and I am not in the right frame of mind to write about frigging gratitude.  Lowest common denominatorism sucks.)

PEOPLEl

I am home as you probably could tell by my last post. I loved being down in Vancouver, even with a sick doggie, but I am super glad to be home too.

I picked up Wrangler on Friday morning.  Needless to say we were very excited to see each other.  But he is such an easy dog.  I think that he would be happy with anyone.  But he was happy to see me.

I drove straight to Safeway and picked up what I needed to make curried chicken.  I had a pot luck to go to that night.  Kathy and Kerry picked me up and we had a wonderful evening.  That group is such an interesting and a good group of people.  And the fellow who owned the house we were in had a set of speakers like no other I have ever seen.  They are seven feet tall and a good two to three feet across.  OMG!!!  So we sat in the perfect spot in the room and played..AC/DC, Imagine Dragons, Roxy etc...what an experience.

Anne was up for lunch but couldn't stay long on Saturday.  We are going for lunch on Wed. so we will have more time to chat.  Today Amy was in for coffee.  Its always so good to see her.  I picked her brain on prices of these condos etc.  But I don't want to think about that until I have to.  There are people here I am going to miss horribly when I move.  I LOVE living close to my sister.  I always wanted to live close to her.  At least in North Van I will be able to have Emily over lots.  So I am going to pull a Scarlett O'Hara...I will think about it tomorrow.

I also got the bunk bedroom done today.  That was a big job.  When I got the bed from Kerry for my tan purple room I just moved everything into the bunk bed room and left it there...til today.  I will take pics tomorrow and put them on here.

Tomorrow is Kiwanis day.  I should bake something.  Pass it around.  They seem to appreciate that.  I have this sick need to be appreciated and the only way I am is by cooking.  Hahaha!!!!

When I got home Thursday night, Kerry picked me up at the bus around quarter to nine at night.  He drove me home and, bless him, got out and carried my ridiculously heavy suitcase into the house for me.  And we could hardly get into the place!  I had left a key with my neighbour so he could put any amazon deliveries (I do all, and I mean all, my xmas shopping online) into my place.  Well we were faced with a massive pile of boxes.  A huge pile.  OMG!!!  Hahaha!  I thought there was a mail strike for heaven's sake!  Clearly not!

But I was so tired I collapsed into my awesome homey welcoming red pleather recliner, pulled up a blanket and literally passed out...until twenty to eight in the morning!!!!  I haven't done that since I was a kid!

I opened all the boxes the next day and separated the stuff into piles on my table.  It wasn't all that much.  You know Amazon...they put a deck of cards into a 3 foot by 3 foot box with a pile of air inflated plastic bags.  But I have a lovely pile of boxes now.  I shall be keeping them and slowly filling them up over the next year.

Anywhoo.  Its getting to be my bedtime.  TTYL

TECHNOLOGY:  Well, next to my friends and family, technology is something I am MOST grateful for. Once I got a laptop on my lap, joined facebook, started emailing, writing this blog, bought a serious dslr Nikon, I have not looked back and there would be no going back.  I think though, that my most fave thing about technology is that it allows me to almost never leave my house.  I hate errands.  Now I don't have to go shopping, other than groceries and that I could order online and just might in the new year, I can bank, I can pay bills, I can pay people back, I can write my letters and mail them electronically, I can buy all my books, I can plan and buy my trips.  Other than taking the dog to the kennel, there isn't much I can't do technologically.  I am most grateful for it!  (I just wish I could go to the gym technologically!  Hahaha!!!)

UPSET

I am so upset right now.  My clinic I go to is closing on the fifteenth.  Plus a number of other doctors in this frigging cow town are retiring or moving.  Its throwing approximately another ten thousand people out there with no doctor and now there are basically two clinics in this town with 40,000 people using them.  I'm not doing this.

Also there is no cardiac clinic or cancer clinic.  If you need hip, knee replacements, heart surgery, cancer treatments and probably other stuff I don't know about, you have to climb on a bus and go to Kelowna.  A friend I was talking to last night has a bone spur somewhere on her that needs attention.  She needs to see an orthopedist.  In this town its a four year wait.  FOUR YEARS!!!!  So she is being referred to one far away.  So, I have made the decision, the only decision that makes sense really, that due to my age and my diabetes, and high blood pressure etc... I need to blow this popsicle stand.

First though, I need to see a doctor every three months, lab checks and pill renewals.  So I am going to start by going to North Van and start the process of finding a family doctor.  There are lots of clinics there as well THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO LINE UP AT 7 IN THE MORNING FOR.  

I had planned on moving to North Vancouver to a senior place, probably renting in a cheaper one, in about five years.  But I am not going to wait until something more serious, like heart or cancer comes down the pipe, then plan the move and going to north Van and finding a place etc.  I am going to get a jump on it now.

First things first though I need to get Monte settled.  Where he lives now is temporary. I need to help him figure things out in Port Alberni.  Then I shall figure out where to live cheaply in North Van and gitter done.  Fortunately being a senior helps.  If I were twenty years younger there would be no way I could move there.  But there are quite a few senior places, full apartments I can look into.

I have always figured that eventually I would end up back in North Van.  I have always loved living there and I have friends and my girls nearby.  It will probably take a while though.  Waiting lists, applications, selling the condo, I have a dog, any number of things will just take time.  Gee I have a mortgage on an apartment in North Van.  Maybe she will quit paying and I can kick her out and take ownership!  Haha!!  Just kidding.  TTYL


FAMILY/FRIENDS:  This is an easy one.  I am so blessed and grateful for my family, every single one of them.  I have a sister who is fun and such a good companion and urges me into doing things that I would never do...and its sooo good for me.  I love her to bits!  And I have a brother who has more integrity in his little finger than a hundred good people put together.  He has the most awesome sense of humour and I love telling him funny stories, his laughter is so infectious.  And he has my back like no one else in the world.  And every singe one of my kids...well....I would simply lay down and die for them.  And the hundreds of awesome cousins, nieces, nephews and extended family.

And I have two very best friends.  What more could one ask for.  Seriously!  They are two of the most incredibly amazing and loyal people on the planet.  

I am so grateful for every single one of these people.

MOLLY

Molly's end is near.  She has cancer which is taking over.  At this point she isn't in too much pain and still has a few beans in her.  But this week she gave us a real scare.  

One morning she tried to get up and couldn't.  She couldn't walk and she was making the oddest noises.  When she did try to walk she had to drag her back end.  Plus she was completely disoriented...didn't know where she was. It was very very hard to watch and feel. Cookie was here and we honestly didn't think she would make it til Tuesday when Aryn got home. Aryn wanted to see her one last time which was totally understandable.  But we were worried.

But if there is anything I know how to do is how to get a dog to rally...if its rallyable!.  I saved our Homer's life when he was dying as a baby.  Took a lot of patience and love but wasn't hard to do.  Then last year Molly went downhill fast.  She was utterly miserable, peeing everywhere, tail down, all wobbly.  Monte and I discussed when enough was enough for the poor dog.  But I suggested we get all her hair cut off first...she likes that.  And a brand new dog emerged, tore around the house and shook the hell out of her toys.  Such a relief.

When I was talking to Aryn I reminded her that Molly is the queen of rally though.  I have seen her go through, maybe not as bad, but through stuff before and she has rallied.

So eyedropper for water at the ready, carrying to her food and water station, plucking her gently out of the space between the wall and her bed where she would get stuck, wrapping her up and rocking her....and fielding phone calls from Britain with huge admonitions to keep her alive no matter what til they got home.

One thing I know is this....and this might not sound so nice, but, to know that dog is to love her to pieces. No one person loves her more than another.  I have had  total dog haters fall in love with her.  There is just something about her that gets inside your heart.  I have never met anyone that didn't respond that way to her.  So I know they have had her for the last two years, but seriously? they don't love her anymore or differently than the rest of the family who had her for the previous 14 years.  Aryn and I did a lot of complaining, big loud dammit dog talk,  (who wouldn't?! as we two were the ones that primarily took care of her..me for the previous 14 years and her the last two) but we love her and feel so sad at this natural stage of her life.  Our hope is that she can die eventually, peacefully at home, AFTER Aryn gets home.  She deserves to be with her.

  That dog worships the ground Aryn walks on.  She follows her around to the point where Aryn has to hide sometimes so Molly won't follow her!!!  The other day when Molly was so sick she could barely lift her head, I held the phone right to her ear and Aryn talked to her and that little dog perked up like crazy.  She went nuts over the phone!  It was amazing.

So I am glad Aryn is getting home tomorrow.  Its going to make Molly very very happy to 'see' her.  The dog has rallied very well, just like I predicted she would. LOL!!!  And April, who is actually the real owner of Molly, who had her for years and years was over the other day and able to say goodbye just in case.  It was hard.  Everybody has a piece of that dog in their heart, even the dog haters.

I will keep you up to date.  Right now, other than being a little wobbly and chasing her sore leg, she seems to be okay.  TTYL

REALITY.....NOT!!!

What I see in my head isn't too bad.  I know academically that I do not appear as I did in my twenties, or even my thirties or forties.  But the picture in my head of my face is around what I looked like on my fiftieth birthday.

The same goes for my body.  Now, again, academically thinking, I am well aware of how fat I am.  But in my head?  And really if I accidentally look in a mirror, and only from the front, I don't look too bad and can encourage the mental delusion that I am somewhat svelte and debonaire.  So just to recap...my mental picture is a fiftyish, solid, not bad looking dame.

Then eventually I end up in an airplane bathroom. Sitting down in there is okay, my head is below the bottom of the mirror.  But the moment I stand up I come face to face, within inches, (at home there is a sink and counter between me and the mirror and I can't see very well so the image isn't too bad) with my face, in its full glory.  OMG!!!  I have a million wrinkles, brown patches, giant pores and worst of all...an almost beard.  Yes!  A ton of chin hairs, some of them six inches long!  Its like looking at a make over....in reverse!  (shovel list)

And when I bravely leave the confines and safety of that tiny cubicle and, head down, scuttle down the aisle to my seat (sideways to accommodate my size) I grab my lappy to distract me.  I decide to look at the latest picture dump I did.  Only to find someone had got hold of my camera when I wasn't looking (thanks a bunch Kerry) and taken pics of me, something I avoid like the plague.  And holy hell!  The images there are so far from the self pics in my head, it seems this is a whole different person!  Another reverse make over.  Sigh.  TTYL

A SHORT VENT

I have a real beef with salt and pepper grinders.  I hate them.  I even hate the one in a hundred that does it right.  I hate them all!

I was in Costco the other day and they had beautiful stainless steel grinder pairs on sale.  And once again I was lured.  I mean at home I have one of those giant clubhouse ground pepper containers and a salt pinch bowl and a picnic size shaker by my chair.  They work just fine thanks so why would I try yet again for the Gucci grinders?

I got them home, tore open the endless packaging and gave them a try.  And.....you guessed it.  Neither one of them would grind.  Not a grain of salt or a piece of pepper came out of them.  Fuckadoodle!!!!  And because they WERE twenty bucks, I was obliged to return them.  (shovel list...I hate 'returning things' errands....its kind of like having to retract miles on a road trip for some reason).

Now I am not sure if you know this about me, but I am the queen of epic messes.  I have made some impossible mega messes in my time.  Shook a hot sauce bottle with a loose lid...all over three rooms in the condo in Maui.  Turned on a 'new to me' mixer with a bag of icing sugar in it....covered every inch of the biggest kitchen I have ever baked in....unbelievable, cry worthy, sticky terrible mess.  I could go on, but I won't.

A few minutes ago I was frying an egg for my toast.  Arnie has a salt pinch bowl which I used.  Beside it was a lovely stainless steel pepper grinder, large and half full.  I grabbed it and started to grind...and grind and grind...nothing.  So I turned it over and tightened it then tried again.  Suddenly, you guessed it....omg!!!!  Five million peppercorns EVERYWHERE!!!  And how do peppercorns leap about to every corner of a kitchen?  How? I ask!!!  I scraped them off the egg and ate it but I will actually have to wrestle the vacuum to clean the rest.  And I hate vacuums...a lot of them end up thrown off balconies into my back yards.  Sigh.  TTYL

THIS DOESN'T REALLY SHOW IT BUT THOSE SUCKERS WERE EVERYWHERE ON THAT KITCHEN FLOOR

A VERY DISTANT PIECE OF COUNTER 

NEED I SAY MORE?

THE CULPRIT

EVEN AFTER ALL THAT SCRAPING, ONE STILL STUCK ON MY EGG THUS MY FORK

I am seriously thinking of starting an UNgrateful list.  Screw the grateful crap. This isn't a real blog entry so I don't have to do a grateful one.

NEIGHBOURS IN THEIR UNDERWEAR...LOTS OF NEIGHBOURS IN THEIR UNDERWEAR

Its been quite an unusual, for me, few days.  Last week, around Wednesday, I woke up early in the morning as usual.  I am always hoping it's after five, that way I can put the tv morning news on.  So this Wed. morning, as soon as it was five, I rolled over and switched on the tv.  Nothing.  Silence.  I grabbed my glasses and put them on and the only thing showing on the tv were the dreaded words, "No Signal".  In a slight panic I grabbed my lappy to check to see if there was no wifi as well.  Fortunately the wifi was fine, it was just the tv.

But if y'all know me...I don't do well without tv.  I need that background noise.  That tv renders my need to have a man about the house completely unnecessary.  It staves off any hint of loneliness.  It stops swirling constant horrible thinking. I NEED that useless white noise going on in the background.  I need the neighbours cat meowing, or dog barking, or thumping and banging to be somewhat muted.  So I lumbered over and unplugged, disconnected, plugged in again, connected again...everything possible...to no avail.  CRAP!!!!

Long sad story short, I eventually called Shaw.  Aryn had texted me all the necessary info and it was found I needed a tech visit....next Monday!!!! Six days!!!  Jeez!!!  (shovel list big time)

So, Netflix to the rescue sort of.  They never have anything I really want to watch.  Fortunately I have two laptops.  So I put Riverdale (shovel list) on one lappy and a book on the other.  Today the tv was fixed.  Since last Wednesday I have read four books and watched about four hundred hours of that stupid show.

I have had two visits from Emily!!!  One evening she came over, brought two poke bowls with her, and we had a lovely chatty evening.  I love Kathy's girls!!  Then on Friday night she came over with James, her boyfriend, and we had a great time.  I love her boyfriend.  He is quirky and funny and a seriously good guy.  We walked down Broadway a bit to Peaceful Restaurant and had a fantastic asian dinner.  It was a lovely evening.

Saturday, April and Myles came over!!!  Its always a hoot with them.  We went to an early dinner at Peaceful, (so damn good!!) then shopped at Whole Foods and Winners.  I haven't gone shopping like that with other humans for a long time!  Loved it!

One day last week the fire department tested the system...all day long.  It was sooooo loud!  So, last night, at three fifteen in the morning, the fire alarm went off....and didn't go off.  It was so loud and scary.  So I went out into the hallway to see what was what...into a crowd of neighbours in various states of undress.  (excuse me for a minute here, Fred keeps laying down on the keyboard, I need to do a removal of both cat and extra letters).  

Its funny, there is a special kind of camaraderie being with a group of undressed strangers.  One guy finally said he would go check it out then come and let us know if we should evacuate.  So we all went back into our lofts and made some decisions.  I grabbed my back pack and packed both my laptops and my meds...just in case.  But then I had to decide...Molly or Fred?  I couldn't do both.  I won't go into what kind of thinking I went through til I decided and I am not going to say who I chose.  Fortunately it wasn't necessary to in the end.  We got the all clear, after the damned thing rang for thirty minutes.

Aryn has a housekeeper.  She is a pretty strong character.  She is very funny and VERY sure of herself.  The last thing Aryn said about her was she wasn't to do the upstairs or the kitchen.  So when she came the first time she did the bathroom and the floors and straightened the blankets on the couches etc...did a great job.  But this time, she said she was going to do the kitchen.  I said no, Aryn didn't want her doing the kitchen.  But she said she was doing it...it really needed it (well I didn't really think so, in a housekeeper's mind I guess).  There was no stopping her.

So three hours later.....there was an extremely clean kitchen.  She took all the recycling and garbage with her and scrubbed out the garbage cans.  She actually did do an amazing job and she pretty much put everything back where she found it.  She completely scrubbed down the stove.  So I hope Aryn won't be mad at me.  It seems I am a wimp with housekeepers.

Well this is long enough.  It seems I said a lot when really almost nothing happens.  I just read and watch tv all day long.  And take Molly out, over and over and over.  And clean cat puke.  What is it with cats and puking?  TTYL

WORK:  Well I don't work so I am not grateful.  I AM retired and that I AM grateful for.  And work did make that possible so I guess in a backward way I am grateful for work of past, if you know what I mean.

ARYN! DO NOT READ THIS

Disclaimer:  I love being here.  There is something magic about being in a noisy bustling city, surrounded by restaurants, shopping, friendly people by the hundreds, dogs.....  It's such a polar opposite to what I live in at home.  At least its wonderful for a few weeks, I prefer what I live in at home but this little dip into the city is awesome.

But...I do not know how Aryn stands it with no end in sight like I have.  She works from home, so other than when she is running errands for Bradley or for her many mortgage clients, she is working away at her dining room table, shows like Murder She Wrote on the tv in the background and neighbours and animals close by.  OH MY GOD!!!!!!

FRED:  Meows and meows and meows and meows...incessantly.  And he meows with intense intent.  He climbs up on the table and lays right across the keyboard of her laptop.  When she is taking a break and sits on the couch Fred walks along the back, meowing and flicking his tail in her face.  Now and then, for no reason whatsoever, he will swat her...claws out and all.  And at night, well jeez....he walks up and down her body, licks her face, meows horribly, flings cat litter noisily around, crunches his cat food..... but, you know, she loves him.  He is 18.  I can stand it because there is an end in sight....for Aryn there isn't.

MOLLY:  Oh jeez, where do I start.  She has become the most high maintenance animal.  She really should be dead by now.  She has advanced cancer.  She isn't in pain but there are other things.  She snorts, loud and disgustingly.  I can't even describe the noise she makes with that.  And she pees, ALL THE TIME.  I don't know about Aryn but I am taking that dog out every single hour.  She gets benedryl and I think it keeps her hyper cuz she doesn't sleep for long periods.  And then she paces and snorts, paces and snorts.

SADIE:  I don't have Sadie, she is in the kennel.  But I don't think Sadie gives Aryn much trouble.  She is also super old.  But I know that every single morning, rain or shine or snow or armageddon, that girl is out walking that dog for an hour.  Religiously.  Just amazing.

NEIGHBOUR:  And then there is a sweet older lady who lives upstairs.  She isn't horribly noisy.  Not the kind of noise that you would bang on the ceiling with your broom handle.  But it's the kind of noise that is just always present, in the back of your head, like an incessant worm.  Its little tappings, chair scrapings, bad piano tinkling, and lots and constant mysterious noises on the floor that I simply cannot figure out.  It. Is. All. The. Time.  It starts about five in the morning and stops about two in the morning.  I think after a period of time you would stop hearing it, but right now I am in the first state...being driven crazy.

SIRENS AND HELICOPTERS:  They live beside the Vancouver General Hospital, so as you can imagine there is a lot of that kind of noise going on.  And Broadway is a main thoroughfare for police and firetrucks.  Again, I think you would get used to that and not hear it anymore, but a newbie like me hears every single one go by.

I am not complaining here.  I understand that this is just part of living in an apartment full of people, in a city full of noisy activity, and a loft full of old old old crickety animals.  And I hope I get to do this lots more times!!!!  TTYL

HOBBIES:  Well now lets see.  I am not really a hobby person.  I hate routine and commitment.  But, I'm not sure if this counts as an actual hobby, (labels are big time on my shovel list), but I am super grateful for my piano.  I love my piano, even if I am not playing it nearly enough.  I can't imagine not having that huge hunk of 'hobby' taking up an entire wall of my living room.


   

IT'S CONTAGIOUS..

Molly is very very blind.  She can see light and large movement out of one eye, but thats it.  As a result she runs into things, jumps exaggerately if she is touched, can't get through doors etc....  It doesn't help that she is almost stone deaf.  Her sense of smell is incredible though.  I made myself a turkey sandwich and she rose up out of a dead sleep like a magical entity.

And now we have another one.  Emma.  I know that over the last while her eyesight slowly has been deteriorating.  But after dealing with Molly, Emma just didn't seem that bad.

Kathy just got back from a two week trip and she called me to ask if I had noticed Emma's eyesight. Which I had.  But what she has described, Emma running into the parked car for one thing, is way worse than two weeks ago.  It seems awful sudden.  They took her to the vet and he says its just what happens with age.  Which might be, but I still feel there was an event of some sort to cause such a sudden increase in sight problems.  Lets hope she doesn't go deaf too.  Thats a true pain in the ass.

I took Molly to the vet the day after the kids left.  She had a massive cyst in her groin.  They drained it and gave her a shot of Benadryl and sent the fluid away for testing.  And.....it's her cancer..in her lymph system now.  She is fading fast.  And she pees everywhere.  I take her out constantly but it doesn't make much difference.  She is still eating like a pig though.

While she was at the vets, I had time to walk a ways to an upscale millennial type coffee shop called Beaucoup.  I didn't want coffee so I grabbed an orange juice.  I pulled out my debit and went through the motions and just as I took the receipt I looked at the amount.  $11.49!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  OMG!!!  Who pays almost twelve bucks for two cups of orange juice?  Dumbasses like me who don't check first.  Mind you, it wasn't just orange.  It also included tangerine and grapefruit and was actually the best damned citrus juice I ever drank!

I haven't made any forays out of this place, at least not more than a couple of blocks.  Today I went to whole foods, dropped a hundred bucks on two little brown bags of groceries.  Everything in that store is five dollars more than anywhere else, except for bananas.  And they don't have any thousand islands dressing.  What the hell!!??  In fact they seem to only have caesar (about twenty different versions), ranch, balsamic and blue cheese.  I did get some lox.  And a big loaf of very chewy rustic brown bread that I can't chew the crusts.

Anywhoo.  Tomorrow I may go meet April.  I am going to wait and see how Molly is.  I can leave her for a couple or three hours but I am not comfortable leaving her longer than that.  We will see.  TTYL

TRANSPORTATION:  This one is easy.  I hate walking so any sort of transportation is totally awesome to me.  Cars, trucks, buses, trains, boats, planes, skytrain, airport people movers, escalators, elevators, ....I am grateful for them all!

AWESOME SURPRISES

Well, I will be catching that bus again.  The trip went by soooo fast!  I read most of the way.  My only complaint is that I was starving and dying of thirst.  The bus stopped in about six places but only to drop off and quickly pick up passengers...no runs into cafes for coffee and sammiches.    I was starving by the time we got to Vancouver.

Originally when I was looking and booking my times, I thought it said we got in at three.  I never really thought about it.  So I told Aryn 3.  But then somewhere along the way, leaving at 8, I figured out, meant the trip was 7 hours.  That seemed awfully long.  But then around the Port Mann bridge, Aryn texted to say she looked it up and it was 13:00 hours, which is one o'clock, not three o'clock.  Jeez!  My eyes are so bad...I never saw that one in front of the 3.  Which wouldn't have mattered except......

I arrived here at about 1:30 and came into a loft with birthday decorations and a beautifully decorated dinner table, complete with birthday hats and everything!!!!  Aryn, Myles and Bradley were going to be here at 2:30 for my surprise birthday party!  I ruined my own surprise birthday party!  Gahhhhhh!

But we had a fantastic time anyway!  Aryn made the most delicious dinner ever.  Beef wellington, cubed potatoes (there is a name for the kind of potatoes she made, I think it is Potatoes Fontaine), the most delicious glazed carrots I have ever eaten and chard...but not just any chard, it was glazed and had pomegranate thingies in it.  OMG!!!!  and all the correct wines and a sauce made with specially imported peppers.  She worked for three days on that meal.  

April and Myles arrived.  They brought me my fave beer....Hoegarden, and the most beautiful bowl, a beautiful cobalt blue with a copper inside. Its definitely going in the middle of my table at home.  I love it!!!!  And some beautiful napkins to match.  I am totally out of napkins too!

Shortly before dinner who should arrive but Emily!!!  What a wonderful surprise!  So I had a lovely catch up chat with her.  She seems to be doing so well.  It turns out that both Emily and Dorothy are going to be here at xmas so now I am going to try to convince Kathy and Kerry to come down for xmas here.  They can stay at April's.  We would have so much fun!  But they would be getting turkey (organic) plus the most amazing dinner along with it!  Maybe Wendy (Kerry's sister)  could come to!  A happy family Xmas!

Cookie is going to come for a three day sleep over!!!!  And because we are in the perfect spot for it we shall taxi to Granville island, shop at Winners, peruse through Whole Foods and scoff at the ridiculous prices, go out to dinner, and walk down Broadway and dip into boutiquey type stores.  And of course looooong mornings of chin wagging and coffee.  I can't wait!!!

A little note here to Clare.  Hi Clare!  I am so sorry to hear about Tish.  I hope she is comfortable.  You must be missing her like crazy.   I am going to give you a call, and if things work out maybe get to see you.  Til then hang in there.  Your home must feel pretty empty right now.  I know I felt that way when Bill wasn't in my face telling me what to do anymore!!!  Take care friend.  Love Helen.  

TTYL

SOMETHING I DO EVERYDAY:  I have huge gratitude for dog poop bags.  They are made of the most awesome colours and they are just the right size.  When I forget to buy them I use grocery bags and somehow grocery bags have holes in them.  Not cool!!!  So I take a cheerful poop bag and go out with Wrangler and pick up ....   and because I love him I am grateful that I have to do that.

PACKITY PACK

58 degrees.....or 15 Celsius.  Thats the temperature in this house in the mornings when I get up.   I am definitely doing my part to save natural gas.  I keep the furnace turned off until it hits the fifties Fahrenheit.  Then I turn it on until it heats up to 69 then turn it off again.  It is definitely off more than on.  My bill should be super good this month!

It seems I am leaving again.  I catch the new Ebus on Monday morning for Vancouver.  Sunday I take Wrangle up to the kennel.  I am not going to see him for three weeks!  At least I know he will be having fun up there.

In Vancouver I will be grand kitty sitting and grand molly sitting.  And I decided not to take my jeep.  Its already snowing outside.  After that terrible drive to Cache Creek last year I am left with the heebee geebees about driving in snow.  Going down would probably be okay but you never know what's going to happen while I am down there.  Everybody always says 'take the canyon' but I have driven that canyon a hundred times in years past and it can be just as scary as the Coque. I hate to be such a weenie!

I babysat today!!!!  Jojo had a bank appointment.  She was contemplating taking the little ones with her just to speed the bank people up!!  Hahaha!!  Would probably work too.  But it gave me the opportunity to catch up with them.  I never did see Stirling...he was napping the whole time I was there.  But Ainsley kept me hopping!

I went to the gym.  Thats actually pretty big news. I don't do gyms.  But I have been waking up super early, my fave time to go, and heading down.

  Years ago when the kids were teens, I would wake them and Bill up at five am.  We would have coffee and get our gym duds on and hit the gym, at 5:30 when it opened.  We had it to ourselves.  The kids were surprisingly cooperative and cheerful about it.  There is a pretty special feeling about shivering and yawning and hitting the gym when its pitch dark outside.  It would be dark when we drove home an hour later too.  We did that for most of a year.

But I find this gym, or at least what I am doing in it, relaxing.  I sit back on a bike, pedal like crazy and watch the news.  I kind of like it!  I also spend a wee while on the treadmill.  Not liking that so much.  I am just wondering if it would be bad to take in a cup of coffee with me.  Think they would kick me out?  Possibly not.  I think I will try!  I will report back.

Nothing else to report.  Like I said I lead a very boring life.  TTYL

SOMETHING I SEE EVERYDAY:  I'm thinking.
I'm still thinking.  I know.  I am grateful for my laptop.  It is the doorway to a wonderful world.  I can visit with distant cousins.  I can see funny things my kids post.  I can peruse through 65,000 plus photos I have taken (yes, 65,000).  I can write this blog.  I can play solitaire and relax.  I can get phone calls from Monte on it.  I can look up ailments...even if it always tells me I am dying.   I love and am very grateful for my lappy!

MY ROCKING CHAIR JUSTIFIED

I LOVE my rocking chair.  I have a long history of  special relationships with rocking chairs over the years.  Rocking chairs are magical to me.  You can rock and soothe your babies.  You can rock your kids to Kraftwork, instilling the awesomeness of electronic music in them. You can rock away nausea when you are feeling sick.  I don't know, I just love rocking chairs.

As I was spending some serious time in mine the other day, a tiny bit of guilt started to creep in. I had not gone for a walk, or gone to the gym or even really moved about the house that day.  A very very sedentary day I will admit.  And some idiot came on the tv with some kind of report,  told me, right to my face, that a day of sitting is as bad or equal to a day of smoking.  What!!!???  I tried to ignore that little tidbit.  I quickly changed the channel and attempted to forget what had just penetrated my brain.  But I couldn't.

So I did the only thing one does about problems these days.  I grabbed my lappy, who is always by my side, and googled "are rocking chairs a healthy alternative to just sitting?"  And you wouldn't believe what popped up!!!

The very first website I went into had a list, an actual list! of the good things about rocking chairs.

Firstly, rocking definitely aids in circulation in the feet and lower legs!  At least better than just sitting, maybe not quite as much as going to the gym and pushing heavy weights with your legs, but still, better than just sitting.

Secondly, apparently rocking raises endorphins, and higher levels of happy endorphins is super healthy!  You know how stress cortisone raging through your body is bad bad bad, causes cancer etc....? Well happy endorphins do the exact opposite.

Thirdly, in senior homes, they are purposely putting rocking chairs in the lounges.  And when the physical trainer comes, she/he has a whole fifteen minute regime of 'rocking chair' exercises for the oldsters to do.  And they are encouraged to spend MORE time in rocking chairs to improve their overall health!  sigh....yes....

Fourthly, it has been shown in studies that rocking reduces anxiety and depression and improves mental health.  And in those studies it showed that rocking actually improved and slowed dementia.  Say no more!!!  I'm in!!!

I don't really need to say anymore.  Increased mobility, quicker surgery recovery, fix vertigo and chronic pain management were just a few more reasons to spend time in a rocking chair.  And know what?  They are now offering ROCKING CHAIR TRAINING in some senior homes and clinics.  Training!!!!!!  

So I rest my case.  What else can one say?  I love my chair so much I am tempted to name it.  This big old red pleather chair is my safe place, my home, my anchor. If you need me you know where you will probably find me....guiltfree! I know!  If I knew how, I would change this blog's name to "RED ROCKING CHAIR RHETORIC". After all I don't have a purple room anymore and I always write from my chair.  But I don't know how to do that, so I won't.  TTYL

NATURE:  My biggest gratitude is the sound when the soughing wind comes along and blows amongst the evergreens up high.  That beautiful rushing, undulating sound brings back amazing memories stretching way back to when I was little.  But mostly I feel like thats my mom gently communicating with me.  There was nothing more that she loved more than that sound.

THIRTY DAYS

If you have read my blog at all you already know that I am a sucker for X number of days challenges.

I got rid of 100 things out of my house.  (I don't think I actually finished that one) and took a picture of each thing I got rid of.

Once I wrote a poem a day for 100 days.  And I actually posted them (I think).  Its been a while.  They were really bad.

And I remember I started one on positive change or something like that.  There were 52 changes, once a week,  to make in one's life.  I hated that one so much I don't really remember what it was about.  And I know I didn't finish it.

So now a new one.  Its probably American as its a grateful or thankful or something like that for 30 days. November is their Thanksgiving month.  It provides a list...one a day.  So here is what I will do at the end of each post I make.  I will type the word they provide then I will make a response of gratitude.  It won't be long and I will make it so you can just ignore it.  So I will do the first one now.  TTYL

ONE:
HOME:  I am grateful for my home because it gives me security, autonomy and a place to share with my dog.  (and my beloved red leather chair which I am more attached to than anything else in my physical world!!!!)

WALKING GUILT BOMBS

I have eaten a whopping amount of crow over the last year.  I know I swore up and down that never ever would I have a dog again.  NEVER!!!!!!  

Then I get a dog.  And its a dog I actually love.  I actually kind of brag about him a little bit to people.  And I have just a teeny little bit become one of those icky dog people that would actually die saving their 'fur baby' from a ledge on a cliff, or jump into a raging swirling river to save their 'booboo', or fight a herd of bears off of 'cup cake', risking  life and limb.

  Or, here's a real story....my brother has a special little something by the name of Le Fleur.  Well, Specialness apparently developed allergies.  I don't know what to, I unfortunately kind of zoned out at that part of the conversation.  Well, long story short, after trying various food combinations, they ended up having to buy a very expensive food made from.....Feathers!  Yup!!!  Google it! (sorry Stan if you are reading this)

Well I am not that person.  At least not really.  I do have a few choice nicknames for him that I shan't repeat here.  I do have some pride.

But....today was a busy day for me.  I am still entering bloody Kiwanis radio auction listings.  The house was silent so I could concentrate.  After about an hour a certain sound penetrated my brain.  And that sound was (were?) two dogs (I have Emma right now too) huffing out huge sighs. I turned around to take a look and four big huge sad doggie eyes were staring at me reproachfully.  Ah fer jeez!!! 

Walkies wanted.  Pees please. Snacks were actually foremost in their minds.  It never ends.  And nothing can make you feel more guilty than your 'fur baby' (shovel list) staring at you with big googly eyes, sighing, adding in the occasional little whiny whimper.  I made them wait.  I don't love them THAT much. TTYL

PASSWORD HELL

I have a purple room vent.  I have a document on my computer that lists every single one of my passwords except to my banking.  I firmly believe that we should have a choice whether we want a password or not to a program.  And if we choose not to then if something nefarious happens, its our own responsibility.  I absolutely freaking HATE passwords.  And I do not forget them, because I keep meticulous records of all my passwords.  But many times when I put in what I KNOW is the correct password, and it won't take it, I simply want to throw the effing laptop out the window.  I get so pissed off!

Anyway, I just spent the last three days doing data entries for the Kiwanis Radio Auction.  I counted and I have now entered 243 listings.  Then this morning the fellow that is the primary mover on all this called me...really early, to tell me that the last 150 or so had to be changed/edited.  Sigh. So I started around 7:30 and finished a few minutes ago (12:30) and got them all done.  The man hours it takes for everyone involved in this auction is insane.  Fortunately I find it relaxing.  There is a bunch more coming in a few minutes so I shall spend the afternoon doing those.  Good day to do it...as its pouring rain outside.

I have to mention here...because no one I know from Kiwanis reads this, something that happened at the meeting on Tuesday.

The guy heading up the whole operation brought his laptop to the meeting.  This year, instead of using old school telephones, and pencils and slips of paper and the newspaper for reference, its all been put into a program that goes to individual computers that all the 'phone answerers' will have sitting in front of them.

So B (head dude) had us all gather around whilst he gave us a lesson on how to 'answer' a call during the auction and what to touch on the screen and how to accept bids and then close that item bid etc...

Well I sincerely wish I had had a hidden camera.  Keep in mind that most of us in there are over 60.  But also keep in mind that it is our age group that invented the computer and used it when it was dos.  But you would never have known!

Within three minutes of B starting his lesson, about half the people (the group that day was about 12 people) got panicked looks on their faces and started to slowly ooze to the back of the crowd.  Then they started to mumble to each other,  "I can't do that!!!  I will never remember this.  I won't get it right!"  Honestly!  It made me laugh.  And get a bit disgusted!  They wouldn't even try to figure it out and it just isn't that complicated.  I was kind of ashamed of them! Fortunately we have some 'younger' volunteers coming in to help.

Last night around supper time I was deeply concentrating on entering stuff when the doorbell rang...around five thirty.  So I unburied myself and hauled myself to the door and there was the sweetest little kid you ever saw...all dressed up as a knight.  Holy Crap!!!  I completely forgot that it was halloween!  Fortunately I had made a fast trip to Costco after the Kiwanis meeting on Tues. and picked up a load of big chocolate bars.  What is 18 times 3?  Thats how many.

Ten kids came to the door.  So what's 18 times 3 minus 10.  Too many...thats how many.  I am going to find someone to take them or I will be throwing them out.  Too tempting by far.  Fortunately there are no mars bars in there...I eat those, diabetes or not.

Well I see B parking out there.  More entries coming through the door and two screaming dogs to take away first.  Fortunately B is not cowed by madly barking dogs.  Gotta bounce!!  TTYL

TOO LONG BETWEEN POSTS

Its amazing.  I have a really dull and boring life yet I forget to post on here.  Mind you I don't really want to bore you to oblivion either.  Which is worse...nothing or boring?  So its been seven days since I last posted.  Seven days.  You would think something of note would have happened in that time.  Something even a tiny smidge interesting but right now not much is coming to mind.

I could tell you about entering about 100 items into a computer program for the Kiwanis Radio Auction.  Took about six hours.  The sad part of this is I actually enjoyed doing it.  Data entry.  Like who the hell enjoys data entry?  No one, thats who. Except me.  But then I was the one that spent 65 days lying flat on my back in a hospital, pregnant with Monte, and other than horribly missing April, I loved it.  Sixty five days of laying there, not allowed to walk or anything.  So I can see how data entry would be exciting.  Sigh.

I could also tell you about making dinner for my sissy and her hubby.  That I totally enjoyed, but it is boring. But I will tell you anyway.  Prime rib roast, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots and onions, delicious gravy and chard.  It was a fun meal.  They left for Pheonix this morning so it was nice to have a meal together before they went.

And I could also tell you about going, with Kathy, to a Kiwanis supported program for moms and babies.  There was an amazing delicious breakfast served and tons of people there.  I ran into Amy, my real estate person, and it was nice to catch up with her. Actually I have to say I was totally impressed with the whole event.  The help goes to teen moms still in school and they get to keep their babies with them...plus so much more.  

Anne dropped in one day and we ended up going across the bridge to Tranquille road to a Chinese restaurant that I haven't been to since I was a teenager on a date.  They have a buffet lunch Anne wanted to take me to.  Now I wouldn't even be mentioning this except whilst I was cruising the jello section, deciding between orange and lime green 'fun', a lady about my age was there too.  Her table was right behind Anne and I had caught her eye a couple of times.

She was a large but short woman with hair the same colour as mine, pulled back in a loose low pony tail.  She had a very tanned handsome face.  I made an inane remark about the necessity of jello at an Asian buffet, and it was like turning on a light bulb.

Her first comment was, "I noticed you tucked your cell phone into your bra.  I just want to mention that I have a friend who actually got breast cancer right in the same spot...she always put her phone there too."  So I removed my phone and put it in my back pocket...pronto, even though I am not convinced of the cancer thing.

Then for the next half hour she talked our legs off.  She even outtalked Anne and I didn't think that was possible.  She was a biker.  She had just done a giant circle...over to Dartmouth Nova Scotia, down to Tennessee then over to the west coast and up to home.  No wonder she was brown.  Sorry...another boring unimportant story...but now I hauled out one of my never used purses and am packing it around just for my stupid phone.

None of that story though is the interesting part.  The interesting part is that I actually crossed the bridge to the other side.  I never ever go there.  My field of go to itness is very small and it doesn't include 'the other side'.  (shovel list)

Got up at five this morning to drive Kathy and Kerry to the airport.  We had to take their car as no one, including myself can fit in Tank.  I cannot, no matter how hard I try, get into the back seat, not past my rib cage.  Thats my measuring stick.  I will know when I have truly lost weight when I can crawl into the back of my jeep.

Well, thats not why I am mentioning this. Their car is a standard.  I have not driven a standard since about 2005.  I drove the diesel truck but that doesn't count.  They are easy.  They don't roll back.  And we gave that truck away in 2008 and it was Bill that did most the driving.  Anyway, its been yonks since I have driven standard.

So I was a little leary to say the least, its not my vehicle.  I waited til they were inside the airport, I didn't want them to see me jerking my way out of the parking area.  But the minute I got in, it was like I had driven a standard right up to that moment.  Talk about muscle memory!!!  I sailed home, not one jerk, not one stall and no roll backs.  It was crazy!!

  The only mistake I made was slamming the brake on in Tank....going for the clutch I had just been using.  I only had to drive Tank two blocks and all the way I had to consciously not put the clutch in.  Instant muscle memory!!!

So that about sums up my boring uneventful week.  I shall go forth a little more this week and drum up some stories.  I need to do some xmas shopping.  (super huge shovel list). I love shopping on line.  Love it!!!  But to go into stores....not so much.  I am not going to be here from Nov. 11th to Dec. 8th so I can't order stuff on line.  Sigh!  Maybe I will anyway and give my neighbour a key to put the parcels inside my place.  I really do hate shopping in stores...for anything...clothes, food, stuff.

Thats it folks.  Sorry about the boring post.  TTYL

HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN JIGGITY JIG!

It's always good to get home.  I had a fantastic time at Kevin's.   The kids are getting older, thus more fun.  Less maintenance and more interaction at an older level.  They aren't fighting with each other, they have opinions on things, they think of interesting stuff to discuss etc... I am def like my mom...I prefer them older.  I did with my own kids too. Once the nitty gritty maintaining was less they became much more interesting...more peoplish.

The trip home was relaxing and beautiful.  I absolutely love this time of year.  The fall doesn't last very long so it is special.  The smell in the air is different than any other time and the scenery is beyond stunning.  Spring is fresh and lovely but it isn't all that different than summer.  Fall is short and special, at least to me.  And the trip home yesterday was amazing.

  I stopped in Merritt at subway and bought a tuna sandwich.  Then I drove to a nearby field, let Wrangler out and had my picnic.  I shared my sammich with him as he ran around in happy circles and we enjoyed the sunshine and golden trees.  Ha!!! sounds so poetically awesome but actually we were parked behind a Walmart!  but it was perfect!

Now I am home for a bit...not sure for how long though.  Monte is going to need some help setting up his place so a trip to Port Alberni is in the very near future, just not sure when.  I do know that I need to be in Vancouver on the 11th of Nov. so will try to work all of that out soon.  I will be back here in Kamloops on or around the eighth of Dec. then back down to Vancouver for Xmas.  

Yesterday was my 66th birthday.  Closer to 70 now than 60!  Kathy invited me to her place for dinner so I left Kevin's around ten and mozied home.  I headed up to her place after unloading the jeep and making some phone calls.  We sat outside in the waning sunshine and had a pre dinner drink.  And you will never guess what she did for my birthday.!!!!!!

She made me a a full on proper turkey dinner!!!  Finally, my turkey dinner I have been whining about not getting.  I am soooooo spoiled!!!!  After all the whinging, I didn't really deserve it, but holy Hannah was it ever delicious!!  Her stuffing and yams were to die for!!!!  Plus all the rest of the good stuff...like green beans...only my fave vegetable!  And then awesome chocolate birthday cake and ice cream.  And after they finished singing happy birthday, Stirling sang out 'Happy Birthday' in his little voice a few times...was totally special.

Kathy gave me the most perfect gift, exactly what I would have asked for if I had thought of it.  She gave me a jar, representing a years worth, of pickled beets (so delicious), a bag of smaller bagged cheezees, you know, the Hawkins kind.  I absolutely love them.  They are what I ate when I was quitting smoking.  They are a significant item in my life!!!  And a box of McD's Keurig coffee pods, the only coffee I drink at home and she remembered I was out of them!  Mmmmmmm....and I am sipping one right now as we speak.  The perfect gift!!!  What a lovely evening!

And I have to mention another very significant thing.  She gave me a very beautiful birthday card.  It was a beautifully hand made card using a photograph of a flower being held by a hand.  That flower, that hand, that photo and that card were made by Mom.  It was Kathy's last card mom made and she gave it to me.  That is so so special.

Then we went downstairs and watched a couple of hours of stand up comedy shows and laughed til I got Charlie horses in my rib cage.  A great birthday!!!!  Now I need to put away a ton of stuff and get some laundry done and clean out my freezer, get it ready for the lamb I bought and will be arriving sometime or other.  Glad to be home!  TTYL

PACKITY PACK COOKITY COOK

YAY!!!!!!!  Its that time of the year again.  Retreat time!!!  I think, by the sounds of it, a few of us are really needing a happy, no holds barred weekend.  There is nothing as healing as a week end of food, drink, laughter and friends.

Well now the weekend is past and fun was truly had by all.  This year was a wee bit smaller than other times...eleven people.  But it was lovely.

The food, as usual, was plentiful and delicious.  The games were crazy and fun, and Sue brought her guitar and we sat around Saturday night and sang our hearts out.  It was awesome.

On Sunday everybody except Cookie and I left.  And she and I stayed an extra two hours and had a wonderful visit.  We don't see each other nearly often enough.

Kathy told me about a different route to take to Penticton.  It cuts through past Osprey Lake.  Well let me tell ya, the last 46 kilometres were crazy bad.  The road was a cross between the Bamfield road at its worst and the Banana Bread Trail in Maui.  But I loved it!  Took one and a half hours to get to Summerland, should have been half hour to forty minutes.  But the scenery was amazing and when you are going that slow you see everything.  One thing struck me funny...The reservoir lake is there along with a dam.  And the name of that lake is Thurst!  Hahaha!!!

On the way to Princeton before the retreat, I  got one hell of a surprise.  My phone rang (bluetooth), not a number I recognized.  And it was Monte!!!  "Hi Mom, this is Monte."  I was shocked.  I haven't talked to him since last January. Unfortunately the cell cut out before we got to say much.  But I have talked to him quite a bit since then.  It was so incredible to hear his voice again.

I am now ensconced at Kevin's.  I love it here.  Its such a homey little house and I am enjoying them so much.  Fenton is turning eleven at the end of this month and Elise just turned eight.  And they are such nice little kids.  Kevin and Tandy are the best parents.  And of course I get to do some cooking for them.  Mind you one doesn't eat chicken, one doesn't eat fish, one is completely vegan and the other mostly vegetarian.  So its kind of fun planning out the meals.  Tonight I made sweet and sour tofu with rice and salad.  Tomorrow night its meatballs and spaghetti and salad.  Friday night we are having a birthday party for Elise, Fenton, Tandy and myself. 

I shall be heading home Sunday morning.  Kathy has asked me up for dinner for my birthday.  And next week is still up in the air.  I need to be in Vancouver on the 11th of November to look after Aryn's critters til the seventh of Dec.  I think I would like to go to Nanaimo to see Monte before I go to Vancouver.  Busy times ahead.  I have pics to post next post.  Some are pretty crazy and some are pretty!  TTYL

THE CHASE FOR A TURKEY DINNER

Thanksgiving, Xmas....the two times you can pretty much count on a turkey dinner.  I actually know people that 'know people' that have to have two or three turkey dinners due to extra relatives.  I consider them super lucky...its honestly my fave meal.  I LOVE turkey dinner.  But now that I am on my own I have to depend on others to help me make it happen.

Its a tradition more than a meal.  I remember in many days gone by, when I was young, my mother getting up basically in the middle of the night to stuff a monstrous bird and getting it into the oven. By the time we got up in the morning that amazing turkey odour would permeate every room of the house.

I also remember one year more recently the power went off!  My dad took that turkey outside to the chopping block and hacked it to pieces!  Then they stoked up a big fire in the fireplace and we cooked the turkey pieces in it!  I mean its Thanksgiving!!!  Gotta have that turkey!!!

But back to those good old days, my mom, expecting our aunt and her family for dinner around four in the afternoon, would start preparing the living room.  Upstairs from the basement would come the ping pong table and at the end a small card table would be set up.  The tables would completely fill the living room.  She would set the table with the 'good' dishes...the ones that had brown specks all over them like someone had sneezed whilst eating a bran muffin.  We would have napkins and if we were super really lucky there would be pull crackers.

Soon everyone would arrive and we would squish around the tables, the little ones at the card table, and Dad and Uncle Lowell would be making funny teasing jokes.  We were all sober as we belonged to a religion that didn't allow drinking...thank god.  It was just good clean fun and delicious food.  And I, being very young, had no idea that to successfully produce this awesome traditional event was insane huge work executed by our mother and aunt.

Okay I am about to throw my awesome sister and her kin under the bus.  Hopefully in the spirit of thanksgiving they will forgive me!

So Kathy, Jo and Craig and I were out for lunch the other day and I heard the dreaded words.  No turkey this year (second time in two years).  Neither Kathy nor Craig like turkey.  My heart kind of stopped a little and my ears perked up.  Keep in mind this is absolutely NOT my dinner show and I have no right to object or even voice an opinion.

Jocelyn suddenly remembered something.  "We still have that coupon for a taco party for 22!"  Taco party for 22.  Oh jeez.  Now don't get me wrong I love tacos and I love no work so there was sure an upside to this, but, the turkey, the stuffing, the cranberry, the turkey smell, the back ache at the end of the day, the the the.....

So Saturday we all gathered at Craig and Jo's and had tacos for thanksgiving.  The best part of the whole day though was the gathering.  The kids were running around and so wonderful, the games we played, the pumpkin pie we sat at the table and shared, the conversations, the rellies we don't see too often, all that happened traditionally and the tacos didn't matter until the next day.

I arose fairly early and realized I had a huge hankering for a turkey dinner.  I love turkey dinners.  So when the kids got up, (did I mention Myles and April were here?) I suggested that we go out that night for a turkey dinner.  They were totally happy with that.  And we invited Kathy and Kerry to join us to make it really homey and thanksgivingy.  I was excited!!!

We were invited to Kathys first for before dinner drinks.  I had planned that we would go to Swiss Chalet.  Bill and I used to get awesome turkey dinners there at holiday times.

Well, sipping a delicious Caesar, Kerry suggested I call Swiss Chalet ahead to make sure they were open, serving Turkey dinner and had room.  And so I did and guess what?  They were NOT serving turkey dinner.  Ahhhhhhh!!!!  So White Spot was suggested, they always have turkey dinner.  "I don't like White Spot" whined April.  Okay no White Spot.  Well how about Harolds...they make amazing food.  So I phone them and yes they serve turkey dinner, but not until tomorrow.  Well then how about Denny's I suggest.  I like Denny's. A resounding NO from pretty much everybody.  Bunch of snobs!!!

  Then someone suggested Scotts Inn and restaurant.  I phone them.  No answer, until it went back to the reception at the inn, not the restaurant.  Yes they had turkey he thinks and the restaurant is super busy but call back in fifteen minutes to talk to the restaurant.  So we call back and the same thing happened and the guy "thinks" there is turkey and room for us.  Tells us to call back.  The last call I thought I was talking to the right guy, but I guess I wasn't and everybody is yelling at me to tell the guy something (it was on speaker) and I got mad and they got mad and fuckadoodle what a gong show!!!!! Finally Myles phoned to find out exactly what I had found out.   So we ended up back at White Spot.  Okay April finally agrees. 

 Then as we were discussing driving arrangements etc... (keep in mind all this chit chat about locations and ridiculous phone calls took about a frigging hour) we discovered it had started to rain. And then one of them says, 'well I hope you don't mind but I will be ordering something other than turkey".  Me too, me too, me too the others chimed in.  What????  I am the only one trying to find a turkey dinner?  

So we stayed home and ordered Chinese food.
Today after the kids left I went out and got a hungry man tv turkey dinner. I said I wasn't a snob...Denny's , TV dinners...I don't care, turkey is turkey and it was delicious!!!  I am happy!  TTYL
TTYL