GOTTA LOVE THOSE JANUARY PRESENTS!!!

 There was a knock on the front door.  Monte went down to see and lo and behold! there was a package sitting there.  It didn't have the amazon logo on it.  He brought it up to me as it was addressed to me.

I could not work my way through all the tape.  I noticed that it had been mailed from Ireland.  I had absolutely no idea what it could be.

Peter took it and finally worked his way into the package and you wouldn't believe what was in it!  Three, extremely well packaged and packed Terry's Oranges...you know...those foil wrapped chocolate oranges that you whack hard on the window sill or floor, and it breaks into perfect edible segments.  What the hell?  I had no recollection of ordering this.  On the weigh bill it was mailed Dec. 3rd.

I only order from Amazon so I got my lappy out and took a look at my orders.  And sure enough...there it was...Terry oranges, three of them.  I have no recollection of this order.  They weren't cheap.  And they were absolutely delicious!  I see they used orange oil to flavour the chocolate and what a difference it made. Mmmmmm.....I love orange flavoured candy of any sort!  My fave!  But I seriously do not remember ordering these!

It has been a quiet few days since the last post.  The house was cleaned spotlessly by Millie and the boys managed to get all the recycling out to the curb.  Well they both sorted but Peter, bless him, got up at six and humped it all out to the curb by 7.  It's such a good feeling for all that stuff to be gone.

I order all our food from Walmart.  To buy things like apples, bananas or beets, you order them by singles.  So I wanted a few beets.  I ordered eight beets.  They were something like 1.10 each.  When I was putting the groceries away I lifted a particularly heavy bag.  Upon inspection it turns out that this was the bag of beets.  And there were 20 of them!  Twenty!!!  I checked the price they charged for them and they charged me as though there were eight.  Seriously!  TWENTY BEETS!!!!

So today I cooked ten of them.  Peter eats them either straight up or in his salad.  Maybe he can throw them into his morning smoothie.  I am not unhappy with twenty beets.  We def will eat them.  Aryn sent me a really good looking vegetarian borscht recipe.  Next Russian cuisine coming up!!!

Well other than that there isn't much to report.  I haven't been out of the house at all.  Tomorrow if the stars line up and the sun comes out and the creeks don't rise, I think we will attempt to go out to the airport.  There is a twin piper or something unusual out there so we are going to try to see it.  Maybe we will swing by Subway and pick up a picnic.  Of course I could always stay home and do more laundry.  I wear the same thing for a week but I still manage to get a lot of laundry.  (shovel list)

I see Peta has a new request.  I couldn't believe I read it right.  They are asking everybody to not use animals as slurs.  Like 'you are so chicken' or you are just a dirty rat, sly like a fox or no monkeying around.  It is not easy.  I tried to be aware today but it slips out without you even noticing.  But out of respect for Pamela Anderson who is almost a neighbour, we are going to give it a good donkey's try, oops!, I mean the old army try.

Okay I have one quick food suggestion.  Melted butter, a cup, and about six tablespoons of nutritional yeast.  You drizzle it on your fish, vegetables, pasta or just about anything.  Unbelievably delicious.

Well thats it for today.  I am not feeling all that gung ho today.  I am sure you can tell.  This is a very lacklustre post.  My apologies.  Stay safe and noodle.  TTYL

COVID

Hmmmmm....I am beginning to see less and less conspiracy theory comments about covid being a big government hoax and a mind control experiment.  Too bad.  The more people scared of the vaccine means more people who won't be in the line ahead of me.  Except we do need enough for herd immunity.

And now I hear that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is only good up to 66%.....I don't want that one.  I wonder if we get to choose.  66% won't cut it.  Less people get hospitalized or die on that one but I don't want to get covid at all!  

Today I heard one of the scientists, Canadian, state that we won't be at a reasonably safe level until 2023.  I was predicting 2022 but it looks like I am off by at least a year.

I think the worst part of covid, for me, is that even the people you love most in the whole world, become someone to fear.  It's just plain wrong to fear your child, or parent, or sibling...but you do.  If they carry the virus, you could die.  It's just wrong and not normal.  Enough.

                                        

WOW!!! CC!!! GREAT COMMENT

 I seriously expected to get some flak about my comment regarding Henry!  But I see Cc doesn't like her either...for the same reason.  At the beginning of the pandemic I happened to read the beginning of a letter on facebook.  It was written by some soccer mom and it began, 'Dear Bonnie,  Is it okay for us to call you Bonnie?  We feel like you are a valued member of our family......etc...'  Puke!!!  I already didn't like her and that just sealed the deal.

  And Sharri I would like to say its nice to have company in our dilemma...but not this time.  I think vaccinating millions was a much underestimated job by the powers that be.  And I can forgive them a little as this IS the first time we have dealt with this.

I am super excited about something.  You know how much I am drawn to 'do 100 things' lists.  I love them.  I have written 100 poems (awful ones but...well you know!). I have gotten rid of 100 things in my house.  I listed 100 healthy living tips. I also did a 52 things to improve your living conditions.  I don't think I finished that one, it was so stupid.

  And now, after doing a nano second of research online, I immediately found a new one.  I think I will probably be presenting a 100 list always now on this blog.  And as usual my caution is....just ignore it if you want.  This next one is fun.  I have only read the first five to make sure its okay. I didn't read further as I like to be surprised by the next ones. But I read enough to make sure it didn't turn into some strange perverted sex thing or something I wouldn't want to lead anyone astray or give nice people bad ideas!..this next one seems okay.

Plus, I don't think we are actually supposed to do all 100 suggestions.  We need to approach it that way or we will end up feeling like failures, which is totally counterintuitive to the whole thing.  If we end up only doing ten and reading the other 90 that is perfectly okay.  And please, feel free to give me your feed back.  If comments don't work (and it's stupid blogspot's fault that they don't) just email me.  I'd love to hear and I may pass it on here with your permission.

So...here goes.  This next one is titled: 100 Things to do in 2021.  The premise is that 2020 sucked so bad and we were totally unprepared for it.  But we know that we are stuck on huge covid limitations for at least another year...why not liven it up with doable challenges.

I hauled out my calculator...no I didn't.  I clicked on my calculator icon and divided 100 by 52.  Basically we need to do 2-3 challenges per week.  So each Monday, I am changing my blog day from Tuesday to Monday, I will put in two or three new challenges.  Starting today.  And remember! This is just for fun.  If doing the challenges or if one isn't going to be pleasant for you...DON'T DO IT!  I totally believe in making yourself happy.  You are totally in control of your own happiness.  And I am going to be honest.  I will let you know if I am skipping them.  Plus I will try to take pics of the ones I choose to do.  This is all about FUN FUN FUN!!!  FUN IN '21!  (so cheesy but oh well, it rhymed...). I love creating my own happiness.  

Basically you will be doing a fun thing every three days.  But if you want to do both in one day or not do them at all that is fine.  There are no expectations or rules.  Just fun.  So here we go:

1.  COOK A CUISINE FROM A DIFFERENT COUNTRY.  Well jeepers I already do that all the time.  But in the spirit of this whole thing I am going to pick one I haven't done lately.  Russia!  I found the most awesome recipe from Russia the other day. I am going to make it.  It involves cabbage and sour cream...the two most eaten things in Russia!  I will take a pic when I get it made...even if its a fail!

2.  BAKE SOMETHING DELICIOUS.    Now I know some of you are going to think this is cheating but I am going to make a Pilsbury brownie mix.  Its the best!  But to make it more of a challenge I am going to add in walnuts.  I hate nuts in things.  But I am going to do it!

So thats not so bad so far.  But if you hate cooking, just ignore these.  There will be two more next week!

Stay safe and noodle.  Have a fun week.  TTYL

STARTING EARLY

 It's only Thursday but I feel like starting this today.  I read Sharri's comment on the last post and realized that I can't even begin to imagine the relief and joy the American election brought to so many.  To have that low class, dangerous individual no long trying to disrupt democracy, trying to incite racism, trying to incite misogyny, inciting homophobia, would be euphoric.  And unfortunately there were thousands and thousands of people, low iq people, that responded accordingly to his incitements.  And if this comment offends any Trumpsters, well GOOD!!! Shame on you all, dragging your country down like you did.  Well its over...he is gone, in shame and disgrace.  Time to fix and heal.  Nuff said.

Well I got out yesterday.  Whilst the boys picked up the grocery order at Walmart, I hopped into the dollar store.  Every time I am in there I kick myself for not trying that store first before going to Canadian Tire or even Walmart.  Stuff is so cheap and when it comes to bags of elastic bands, or brownie mix, or Campbells tomato soup, or notepads, or hammers, or scrubbies etc...you can't  beat their prices.  And trust me, they have everything.

I needed a bag of different sized elastics.  I had Monte go to Staples, the most likely place in town that would have them.  Yes, they had small bags of elastics, each bag had one size in it, and not too many.  Six bucks!!!!  No.  I told him no, just don't.

So when I went into the dollar store the next day, there they were, a nice good size bag of mixed sized elastics....one dollar.  Seriously!!!  And I managed to pick up brownie mix, tomato soup, little jewelry holders and two bags of chips for the boys.  I never get out of there without those things!  And I won't buy tin foil pans anywhere else!  Cheap cheap cheap!

Well I didn't get out today.  I was cooking and emailing and sorting laundry etc...forgot all about getting out.  Started the day with a wonderful conversation with Peter.  He is pretty amazing and I am learning a lot from him.  He is definitely special.

And speaking of special, we talked to Tooney Koot tonight.  We surely do miss that boy.  He is probably one of the most intelligent people I have ever met.  He is the only person I know that can get well over half the answers on Jeopardy!  So annoying!!  LOL!! As soon as the travel ban is lifted we shall be heading up there to visit him.

So thats it for today (its now Friday).  Stay safe and noodle and stay home!  TTYL

COVID

I really dislike the way that Henry and Horgan and Dix slide shit into their talks, as though its been that way all along.  eg:  At first we were told that everyone would be vaccinated by spring...which infers April or May.  Then somewhere along the way it became summer.  Then they slid in there that it would be August.  A few weeks later it was September.  For sure every BCer would be shot up by September.  Its been September for a while.  And now, today, without batting an eye, he said for us to not worry, its all been rolling out and we should all be vaccinated by OCTOBER.  I said it right from the start, it's going to be 2022 before we get our vaccine. How long are we supposed to stay in our house, only leaving to grocery shop?  I get it.  If they can't do better than they are then frigging say so.

The other thing that has happened right from the get go is the lack of information.  Right now central island, which is where we are, is exploding with covid, its going up and up whilst the whole rest of the province is going down.  I want to know where and why.  How the hell can we fix it if we don't have that info?  But yet again they simply do NOT tell us anything!  It is by far the most frustrating thing in this whole pandemic.

  I know people are totally hero worshipping that milque toast Henry but I can't stand her.  I couldn't right from the start.  I do know that she is incredibly qualified, but she absolutely does not listen to us minions out here.  And she has been dead wrong about some things...like mask wearing.  Then she was wrong about who, wearing a mask, it doesn't protect...ourselves.  And it sure as hell does.  We all knew that...but she didn't seem to acknowledge it.  Well she is learning right now that you can't control the masses with pretty pleases.  And now clearly unless you are a front line worker, old person in a care home, in prison, homeless, drug addicted or native you can forget about getting vaccinated any time soon.

IT'S A NEW DAY, A NEW WAY AND I'M FEEEEEELING GOOOD!!!

 I didn't get out today.  Had important things to do!  But it almost feels like I did.  Now that my old friend THE CHAIR, is in the window, I feel like I get out!  I can see the glistening gorgeous mountain more easily.  I can see the forest just over there past a couple rows of houses.  I see an amazing array of people walking by.  The neighbour goes in and out of her driveway like a yoyo.  Where does she go?  And she has to strap a wee one into a car seat each time.  Sigh.  Happy.

Another reason or two that makes me happy is our new dishwasher was installed yesterday.  Its a real beauty too! The guy that installed it was a simple good hearted fellow, who talked to himself non stop.  I finally left him in the kitchen to do his thing and at first I thought he was still talking to me in the living room.  I would Pardon?  and he wouldn't answer or repeat anything.  Finally I stopped answering and just listened to him.  "I gotta put this one in here...ahchah...grunt grunt there! I win....now lets see this one goes back over there and I can't reach it grunt grunt and ahahah...got it, I win...." and that went on the whole hour and half he was here.  

Somewhere in there I took a screen shot of something.  The lap top makes a noise like a pretend camera.  He, in the kitchen, goes "What? What?  What was that?  Are you taking pictures? What are you taking pictures of?"  Seriously!!!  And he wasn't worried that it was him I was taking pics of.  He was just a wee tad odd.

  He got a phone call that lasted a while.  I wasn't paying any attention.  But after he hung up he seemed distressed in his self talk.  I asked him if everything was alright.  I guess it was the principal of his 14 year old daughter, who was caught at school that morning with alcohol.  Oh boy!  He was NOT happy.  Said he was going to take 'the wife' out for dinner that night and discuss what to do with her.

 And then he did the most amazing thing.  He punched his one fist into the palm of his other hand and said with force, "To the moon Alice, to the moon."  I couldn't believe my ears!  Thats what Jackie Gleason always said when he was mad at Alice, his wife.  I said as much and Jeff, the plumber, said yes, they named their daughter Alice, after that show..his favourite!  Hahahaha!!!!  I love it!!!

We also got a new TV delivered from Amazon.  The old one had had it and it was quite small.  The new one is 42 inches, bigger but not embarrassingly huge.

You know how the powers that be say to learn something new to keep your brain in shape.  Well just go buy a new upgraded tv.  It came with a thing called a magic remote.  Magic.  No. Not magic.  Effing insane.  And now I need two remotes to run that machine.  Monte and I almost had a fight last night over it.  

He was downstairs doing his music and I could not figure out how to turn it down.  It had zoomed up to 100, and it should be around 19 and I could not get it to come down.  I phoned him and wah wah wahed to him and he finally stomped up and showed me where the down button was, kind of angrily and scathingly.  I won't ask him again about any of it.  I will just poke stupid buttons til it works.

Anyway thats it for exciting things Port Alberni.  I shall report more should anything happen on Friday. Stay safe and noodle.  TTYL

SHARRI AND ARYN

1.  Final suggestion in the book:  Don't be a martyr.  Think the right way about healthy living habits, don't fight them.  Make it a way of life and keep it positive and as easy as possible.  Good luck!!!

A LITERARY GEM...SORT OF

Sharri I love your comments!  There is nothing quite like sitting on the grass at your parents feet as they sit on wooden pews, drawing and colouring in books your thoughtful mother brought for you.  And there is the strong smell of canvas tent and dirt and grass, all mixed in with the drone of the preachers, as they take their turn at the makeshift pulpit.  Later you move to the mess tent, equally huge, full of rows upon row of tables and benches.  Each table is set, family style, for about sixteen people.  The wonderful smell of beef stew, baking bread, apple pie and coffee wafts over our heads.  Then pretty young woman, with their hair up in discrete buns, dressed in colourful long dresses, come and place big steaming bowls of help yourself stew, and baskets of bread and bowls of slabs of butter, here and there along the long table.  Others fill your, coffee mugs. All the while, under it all, the pungent smell of canvas revival tent.  

 I said I wasn't going to talk about books I am reading...and I won't.  But I do want to put down here a small line from one of my current ones.  I read about 4-6 books at once, which makes complete sense.  One isn't always in the mood for politics, or murder mayhem or soppy romance.  So I have a choice depending on my mood.  This morning I am reading a Rosamand Pilcher and she wrote:

"Perhaps that was worst of all, not having someone to remember things with."

And that says it all.  After a time you do move on and the pain of losing your closest person in the world lessens somewhat.  But having someone to remember your life with and your new adventures later, is what I miss the most.  So well put I thought.

I remember a few years ago a Price family reunion was organized.  I knew I had to go.  There were a number of the old guard that this would be a final chance to see them. 

I never 'made' Bill do anything with me.  If he wanted to go to that show, that party, that event, I was delighted.  If he didn't, I would be disappointed, but I always respected his choice and didn't apply pressure to change his mind.  Until this particular gathering.

One thing Bill loved, and I mean loved, was gossip and dissecting things after, especially if it involved people.  He wasn't going to go to this particular reunion.  And for the first time I put the pressure on for him to come.  And for exactly the reason Pilcher mentioned.  And that is exactly what I told Bill.  I told him that I would want to dissect and gossip about the whole event after but I needed someone else to be with me so that could happen.  And he changed his mind!  He came along happily and boy did we dissect later!  hahaha!!!  That's half the fun of going!  The other half is the food....especially my family.  Groaning laden tables of homemade goodies!

I went out yesterday!  A rarity I must say.  Monte and I loaded the truck up with recycling and took it to the local depot.  Monte warned me that the five or six people that work there are garbage nazis! There are like ten different bins for ten different types of plastics.  I got a big lecture on which one was which then promptly threw the bubble wrap into the wrong bin.  She was not happy. I had to stand on my head to get them back out.  I am a garbage dyslexic.

From there we ended up at the river quay, watching a very swollen river glide by eating the beyond burger and onion rings we had swung through A&W for.  The onion rings were amazing and so plentiful.  Actually so plentiful that when I was finished them I couldn't go beyond one bite of the burger. (no pun intended)  Just then who should walk by but our Peter, out for his daily stroll to kingdom come and back.  We were so happy to see him!

He climbed into the truck and, bless him, finished off my burger and Monte's onion rings.  I love having a couple of people around that eat my unfinished food...I feel way less guilty about wasting!  And there was no way I was eating that burger, no matter how good it was!

Then last night the boys went and picked up pizza at a new place.  Apparently, the pizza is different.  More flat breadish.  I didn't want any, I made myself a salad.

I am pretty proud of Monte.  We had a discussion about vegetarianism.  Peter is vegetarian and we see the personal food sacrifices he makes and that really makes being a vegetarian undesirable....to some of us.  So I mentioned to him that just cut back, don't totally eliminate.  That Greta person said that if everyone didn't eat meat just for one day a week it would change the world.  Cutting back is way less daunting than eliminating.

That seemed to appeal to him so he also had ordered a beyond burger at lunch and his pizza was totally sans meat last night.  I am going to encourage him to keep that up.  And if anyone else wants to join us on this 'save the planet' or 'save ourselves from another pandemic', feel free to join in!!

Well thats it peeps.  I am now going to go on a rant about Covid so please just skip it, unless you would like to contribute.  I would love that.  hp1104@google.com.  Stay safe and noodle.  TTYL

COVID MADE ME DO IT

Covid is being overused as an excuse...for anything and everything.

I have noticed that mask wearing and covid has crept into tv dramas.

Last night I watched Law and Order, SUV.  The girl in it had been particularly loose and free with herself and unknown partners.  Upon being questioned she trotted out Covid....how the quarantining was lonely and getting her down and she needed the contact.  So while the rest of us were doing the right thing...she indulged herself in loose behaviour and excused it.  She did live with three other people.

Canada Post...biggest covid self-excuser of all.  One month it took some of my xmas cards to arrive at their destination, here in BC.  Come on!  I know covid slowed things up somewhat, but jeez!, it's not like they didn't know this was going to happen and had time to prepare for it.

Restaurants...another big covid whiner.  Aryn was telling me that when she and Bradley walked around on New Years Eve, every restaurant was full.  When they talked to a few of the people that worked at them, they all said that the people inside drank while they dined and then at eight o'clock, the new cut off time, bought several more bottles to hold them over until 12.  They continued to have a great time and drank their wine.  Any leftovers were corked and sent home with them.  But the head of the restaurant association was right there on the news super whining that covid was causing them all to go bankrupt.  If you are going bankrupt, look to yourself and bad planning, don't just blame covid.

Unhappy or mental kids...I feel, my opinion only, if your kid is reacting super badly mentally to covid, you aren't doing your job as a parent.  Children are reflectors...of your example.  If your normally well adjusted kid is suddenly mentally freaked because of covid, you have needed to talk them down and make them feel safe.  Thats your job as a parent.  Of course I know there are kids out there that are going to react negatively no matter what you say or do, but they are certainly in the minority and you can work extra hard with them to make them feel like this is an adventure, not something to fear.

  I take this from both my mother and my sister.  My sister had a daughter that was really reacting to 911. And my sister swung into action and had many conversations with her and talked about it and allowed her daughter to grieve, but at the same time understand.  Our mom would have done the same thing.  Actually she did.  When I was young the threat of an atomic war was very real...way scarier than covid.  But parents reassured and explained until we could live with the threat.

Okay, I can hear some of you, if you read this against my advice, gnashing your teeth over my comments here.  Thats okay.  Covid has created a fertile environment for conversation and 'agree to disagree' arguments.  Feel free to email me and set me straight.  I will listen and prolly include your opinions next week...without names if you prefer.

hp1104@gmail.com

 

BIG LOUD WHINE.....THE SUUUUUN IS IN MY EEEEEEYYYYYEEEES..

I am sitting in my chair in my new spot by the window and the sun is actually shining today!  And its shining right smack into my eyes....making it very difficult to see what I am doing here!  Please forgive my inaccuracies!

Again I do not have a whole lot to report.  I don't like to talk about the weather but....we have been having some crazy wild weather lately.  And last night, whilst there was no wind, the rain came down in a way that even if I describe it dead accurately here, you still wouldn't understand.  The only other place I have seen rain like this was in Bamfield.

  Once I saw it in Mission, but it only lasted long enough to almost collapse the huge revival tent we were in for our annual church convention.  There were about 500 or more of us under that massive tent and if it had collapsed we would all have been dead.  I can see the reaction to that headline now, FIVE HUNDRED DEAD FROM EVANGELICAL TENT COLLAPSE!  Heathens could draw cliche conclusions.  Anyway, last night, the rain thundered down, and for a long long long time.  I think thats the difference here, it rains for hours and hours, steadily.

So I could talk about the dog here.  I mean I could talk about the hair he is leaving in balls everywhere. Aren't they supposed to moult in the spring when it starts getting hot?  And soooo much hair.  But I won't talk about that.

And I could talk about what I am making for dinner tonight.  Its just an impossible pie and salad, boring!  So I won't talk about that.

Also, I could talk about a book I am just starting.  It was recommended by Peter.  It's called "The Road to Unfreedom" by Timothy Snider.  Peter mentioned in a conversation the other day how some heads of state are creating a designed chaos that will dismantle democracy.  I argued with him and then realized that I needed to have more info, thus I shall read the book.  Actually I have already started.  Very interesting....to me...but unlikely to you guys so I won't bring it up again.

So there we go....a post not about anything.  Today I am going to make a pact to go out everyday somewhere and see if something happens right in front of me and I can report it.  Maybe a vicious  fight to break up, a lost baby to help find , an unexpected whale breach, a twenty dollar bill to find laying on the ground, a hobo to befriend, a hot dog to buy at the drive in.....I feel like Walter Mitty! If I was into lying I could really make this blog pop!!!  But alas I am not.

So thats it folks.  Stay safe and noodle de doodle.  TTYL

SHARRI AND ARYN:

1.  Laugh:  as medicine this is a pretty good suggestion.  Laughing raises the good positive endorphins in the body. My niece Emily took a weekend course on laughing and what it does for you.  Laughing also releases neuropeptides, small proteins that facilitate communication between neurons.  Now who wouldn't want that.

2.  Sing.  Singing does much the same thing as touch and laughing.

3.  Put a name to your angst.  Like, 'I am feeling lonely' or 'I feel anxious' or 'I am angry'.  As soon as you affix an appropriate label, start to understand the cause of that feeling and go about fixing it.

4.  Ask for help when you need it.  There are all sorts of good reasons to ask for help.  Too many to go into here but trust me, knowing when to ask for help is just plain smart and good for you.

5.  Write a thank you letter.  I liked this section.  Studies have shown that people who keep gratitude journals are generally happier people.  This is what the book says, "That's a good practise if you need to be reminded that, actually, your's probably isn't the most miserable existence in human history."  Haha I love that.  And they suggest sharing with those that have created the reason why you are grateful.  Let them know the positive effect they have had on you.

    

A DAY LATE....BUT I TYPED MOST OF IT YESTERDAY...DOES THAT COUNT?

 I am so full I could pop.  We just had dinner.  I cooked a pork shoulder roast at 325 for four hours.  It was a smaller, flatish pork shoulder roast.  In the last hour you coat it with a thick mixture of dijon, brown sugar and Montreal steak spice.  Cook for another hour.  It comes out ooey gooey fall apart (don't pull the pork no matter how tempting) with pieces of the sweet crackling attached to the lumps of meat.  It's delicious!!!.

Then I made buttery mashed Yukons, steamed purple cabbage and left over carrots and Brussel sprouts heated up.  And for dessert we had a chocolate cake I made last nite with that really thick coconut, brown sugar and butter broiled icing.  I didn't eat any cake or meat though but I am still so full I could pop.

We changed all the furniture around in the living room.  The boys took one of the love seats down stairs and now there is nothing in front of the big window....soooooo much better.  I moved my recliner over into the window so I can be that old lady of the neighbourhood snooping on everybody who goes by or in or out of their houses.  If there is a murder the police can call on me and I will know exactly what happened.  I love it now.  More entertaining.  And I could spend my whole day in my chair watching the world go by.  Wait a minute!!!  That IS what I AM doing!!!!

And Peter and I sit here and plot how to rip out and remove the useless waste of space fireplace.  He figures we could watch 'how to' YouTubes to figure out how to do it.  He says gyprockers are a dime a dozen so after we have pick axed all the bricks away and removed the mantle and hearth, we could get someone in to fill in the hole.  But I figure we can youtube gyprocking and do that ourselves too.  I hate that fireplace.

Right now I am going to replace the front door.  Its trashed and ancient and when the wind blows the rain towards the house, it comes into the foyer.  I think I have found the one I want.  I will see if I can put a pic below.  But first I have to pay for the tv I bought on amazon.  Our current tv is little and cheap and not great.  So I bought a 43" smart 4k one.  Not too expensive cuz its a 2019, not a 2021.  With our failing eyesight in this house and the inadvisableness of getting fitted for new glasses, a bigger and clearer tv makes sense.  I haven't bought a tv in yonks.

Well thats it for the last two days.  I am going to add some covid stuff below that you can skip.  But remember if you would like me to add something there please email me.  I really would like some opinions and info from people to add for future reference.  Stay safe and healthy and noodle!  TTYL

COVID

I find it interesting what surfaces from the general public.  From all that I have read it surprises me what seems to be most distressing to people.

SPORTS:  Seriously!  Here we have a lurking virus that wants nothing more than to kill us and people are whining loud and long because either their kids can't play ball of some sort or hockey night in Canada has been put off.

CHURCH:  The one group of people you thought you could count on to be most thoughtful and caring...isn't.  The Christians are NOT happy.  In fact they are NOT listening or following the laws that the head health honchos have handed out.  I overheard one preacher ranting on about how the congregation NEEDS GOD AND GOD IS HERE!!!! as he pounds the pulpit.  It seems his god is not at home or in a hospital or in the car where you are a lot or in your heart.  It's in his church...where he can pass the tin can around.

RESTAURANTS:

I read an article this morning in one of my news feeds.  They interviewed five top health officials, asking if they eat out in restaurants.  Not one said yes but then went on to say how much they miss that...in fact that seemed to be at the top of their list of the activities they miss the most.  Jeez!!!  Not travelling or visiting friends or seeing family, but eating out.  Apparently they all do take out five nights a week though.  Cook for themselves?  I guess not, or at least not willingly.

I am not saying we don't all miss these things, being stuck in our house so much.  But to let those things make you upset to the point of breaking the lock down rules is what I feel is ridiculous.  People gathered with their friends and families over the holidays, and a lot of people have died because of it.  Hope they're happy.

MAYBE TOO FANCY FOR MY HUMBLE KINDA UGLY HOUSE?

DID MY ROOM!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLY!!!!!

 Well I would like to be in your pool Sharri!  I can't imagine having enough fireball to get trashed on!  What fun!!! And Michael sounded like a lady did he?!!!  Hahaha!!!

So let's see, what has happened since last post.  Hmmm....oh yeah!  NOTHING!  I did get out of the house one day.  It was actually sunny out.  It was quite a shock.  I cleaned my room, I will take a pic and post it here at the bottom.  By the time I was done my back and hip were on fire.  But, Monte and I had planned on a walk so walk we did.  We drove down to the quay and walked the perimeter and the marina.  It's always so windy there.  Then we went and got sushi for dinner and brought it home.  It was so good!  And it felt great clearing the cobwebs in my head away.  And I enjoyed my time with Monte. He can be such good company.  

Now today's project is dismantling the xmas tree.  It's funny but I have noticed that the more distressing the whole xmas event was, the sadder it felt taking down the tree.  But the happier and more awesome the holiday was, the easier and more okay it was to disappear the evidence after.  So today its going to be very okay!  It was a wonderful xmas this year.

My second tier of my red buffet/sideboard or whatever its called arrived.  Peter, bless him, unpacked all the parts and organized them, ready for building.  I am excited!  It's going to super help with organizing stuff in the kitchen.  I am getting very weary of hunting for missing things.

Speaking of which, I had three cheques and a chequebook at the ready to go to the bank with.  This was about three weeks ago.  When I got in to the bank, it was to find out that none of it could be done at that particular one.  There was no time to go to the other one so I came home, and put the cheques and book on the coffee table.  They sat there for a few days and then it was time to clean the living room, getting ready for Millie to come clean.

Sooooo, a couple of days ago I decided it was time to go take care of the banking.  All my papers had been shoved into my huge tote purse.  I went to get them and, you guessed it, they were not there!  Here we go again.  Sometimes I feel like someone sneaks into the house and purposely hides crap.  So, I took the house apart looking for the damned things.  One of them was over 900 bucks...not something to just ignore.

The first thing I did was get a giant rubbermaid.  I then went around the house to various spots and collected my boxes of junk.  I have more boxes of junk and crap which I have no idea where to put it all.  Where do people put their crap anyway?  Its pens, scissors, lip balm, phone holders, batteries, camera stuff, bandaids, combs, tweezers, fireball, perfume, paper clips, bobby pins, safety pins, note pads, little books, screen cleaner, glasses cleaner, glasses, cups, pills, vitamins blah blah blah....  So now I have a giant rubbermaid with about five of these boxes and containers and also literally a two foot high stack of papers, in it.

Well I went through that two foot high stack of papers umpteen times and no cheques.  I absolutely had nowhere else to look.  Yesterday I decided to get that stack of papers and go through them one more time. They just had to be there.  As I was leaving that room with my arms completely full, I heard some papers slide out and hit the floor.  I reached down and guess what?  It was a cheque book and three cheques.  What the hell!!!!!  I was mad.  How?  How could that happen?  Grrrrr......(shovel list). You would think I would be happy but I WASN'T!!!  I swear someone is gaslighting me.

Thats it for today folks...except for the make your life healthier stuff.  Stay healthy and noodle!!!  TTYL

SHARRI AND ARYN

1.  Take a walk in nature.  Always a good go to.

2.  Time your caffeine intake.  I read the whole explanation and its was so confusing I can't really reiterate it here.  Basically I think they said to plan it around your cortisol spikes and circadian rhythms. Ha!!!!  I spelt those two c words right the first time! 

3.  Consider light therapy in the winter.  Not sure about this one but it can't hurt.

4.  Volunteer.  Of course. Doing good works lightens the soul.  No doubt about it.

5.  Experience touch.  They were really talking about hugging.  Hugging releases endorphins and other things that are simply good for you.

Thats it ladies!  So go forth and drink coffee and hug someone!!!!

AS YOU CAN SEE I HAVE NOT PUT THE WALLPAPER UP YET

SEE MY TEN DOLLAR WHITE CHAIR I BOUGHT FROM AN OLD LADY...SHE GAVE ME THE LACE SHAWL...IT WAS HER MOTHER'S

I HAVEN'T PUT THE PILLOWS INTO THOSE CASES YET

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!!

 Sharri I can't wait to hear that story!!!!  Go Fireball!!

So I hope everyone had a wonderful happy New Year's Eve time.  Ours was kind of quiet but very enjoyable.  Monte was the only one that drank.  (shovel list) but not much.  I had some fireball, but just a sip or two.  We three watched a movie and Peter went off to bed.  Then we zoomed with the Bootles, dipping into their new year's party.  They have one every year and although this one was tres different, it was still fun.  They even played beer pong virtually!  Monte and I saw the new year in, ate a bowl of turkey soup and trundled, as my mom would put it, off to bed.  Very nice!

Today I was going to start my new walking regime, but its absolutely down pouring outside.  Deluging!!!  And I don't walk in the rain.  I don't see all that well at the best of times but I sure as heck can't see with my glasses covered in rain drops.  The dog won't even go out this morning it's that bad.

I am going to be setting up a couple of new things here.  I am going to commit to posting twice a week, once on Tuesday and again on Friday.  I might throw an extra one in now and then, but for sure those two days.  On the Tuesday one I will continue to put that stuff for Sharri and Aryn, which of course you guys can skip.  On Fridays I am going to start adding at the bottom some covid stuff. Which of course you will skip.

A while back in one of my news feeds, I read about a fella that came across some of his grandfather's log books from either ship work or some other work, I don't remember.  But he kept a log during the Spanish Flu pandemic.  I read some excerpts and it was really informative and interesting.  This is what gave me the idea so that when I am older(er) or some day if my offspring are interested, they can read a layman's reactions to this very odd but fascinating couple of years.  Again, I do not expect anyone to read that part, its for future reading.  And if any of you want to add your two cents worth I would be delighted.  Just email me your ideas and feelings and thoughts.  hp1104@gmail.com I will be sure to incorporate your input...in fact I would be really interested to hear from any of you.

Well today is New Year's Day...time to cook another, and last, meal.  Healthier eating from tomorrow on.  But today it's.......baked beans, coleslaw, bbq'ed meatballs, bbq'ed portobellos, jalapeño cornbread and some kind of veg.  I haven't looked at my veg supply to figure that out.  Possibly squash.  We have a whole lotta pizza left over from last night for lunch.  Oh, and a tubful of the best turkey soup I ever made.  Aryn bought me a couple of bags of boob shaped pasta which I used in the soup and its just the best soup addition!!!

So that's it for now.  Even though this is Friday, I am going to catch up the thingy for Aryn and Sharri this time.  Next Friday I will start the covid one.  Have a lovely day people and I send you all a virtual hug and smooch.  Stay safe and noodle!!  TTYL

ARYN AND SHARRI:

1.  Stop multitasking.  He says, and I quote:  "People who constantly multitask pride themselves on their productivity and efficiency. Trouble is research has consistently shown these people are wrong, that constantly flitting from one task to another impairs mental function."  Hmmmmm......just a minute, my phone just dinged.  I need to look.

2.  Value in-person interaction over on-line.  With covid making this impossible, then.....just never mind.

3.  Challenge your brain.  Avoid routine, learn a new language, learn to juggle, take a course etc.... This encourages the synapses in your brain to activate and strengthen neurons etc....or something like that.

4.  Hahahaha....take up knitting.  For two reasons.  The rhythmic motion and concentration calms and lowers blood pressure.  The other is stress relief.  Sigh.  It just stresses me thinking about it.

5.  Practice mindful meditation.  Thats a great idea if you can do it.  When I try I end up making lists, cooking a meal, practicing a necessary awkward conversation with someone.....all in my head.

OUR XMAS DINNER

OUR XMAS EVE NUMMIES

A HAPPY BOY CARVING THE BIRD

OPENING MY CANDY CANE FULL OF FIREBALL

MR. HANDSOME

SILLY BOYS