DAWN + SALT OR BORX + VINEGAR = WHAT?

I did some research.  I have two garden beds that stretch from the sidewalk leading to the front door to each side of the house.  And they are about three feet deep.  And every year they grow a ridiculous amount of rubbish weeds and unwanted plants.  So for the last few years we have covered all that with cardboard then a hefty amount of fine dark mulch...the kind that gives you slivers if you touch it with you gloveless hands.  Looks great but by the end of the season the weeds are beginning to creep through.  I need a hefty amount of weed killer.

Back in the good old days Bill would buy a massive supply of round up or DDT, smelly cygon or ghastly stuff, all banned in Canada now.  He never replaced them...he had a very large supply that lasted til he died.

I need weed killer.  I need lots of weed killer.  This year I want to spray the beds before putting down old carpet and cardboard.  I went researching and have decided to get vinegar, borax and salt and dawn detergent.  If dawn can clean an oil covered duck nicely I figure it can kill weeds just as efficiently.

Onto Amazon and supplies will be here tomorrow.  I also ordered a lovely sprayer contraption.  I shall don a weed killing outfit and go forth and kill.  Maybe I shall spray my initials big and large in the lawn.  I will put an H on one side of the walkway and a P on the other side.  We will see what happens.

I remember one year when I was fifteen and madly in love with Raymond Low, oh that name brings back shivers...good ones, I cut his initials out and taped them to the back of my hands then suntanned.  I would put them on every time I sat in the sun.  Soon I had a perfect R and L glowing whitely on my hands.  I would get distracted by them when I practiced the piano.

Well I am thinking more seriously now of selling.  I really cannot financially keep up with all the things that need doing on this house.  The kitchen ceiling light won't work.  The electrical in the downstairs bathroom has given out. And on and on and on.  Either you need to buy a new house or rent.  At 75 years old this coming October, methinks it is time to rent.

I think I might put my two Costco tables down in the carport and put a ton of stuff on them and advertise free stuff.  People can just have at it and take it away.  Whatever is left over I shall hide in garbage bags and take them to the dump.  I have some bigger furnitury stuff in Tinny that I will likely attempt to sell.  Monte took the iron bed apart and leaned it on the fence out front to be taken to the dump.  I was so sad.  I loved that bed.  The lovely older guy who delivers my drugs, (not those kind!!!!) saw it and asked if he could have it.  He put it in his garden.  I was so happy it went to someone I like and he is using it.  It is such a beautiful bed.

The Nanaimo trip was fantastic.  It was so wonderful to see Fenton.  He is such a tall handsome fella.  And it was interesting to see Ultimate being played.  It took me a while to get the hang of how it was played.  They ended up finally coming in fifth in the province.

On the way home we were hungry.  Monte said that he knew of an olde English pub that makes English pub fare the other side of Parksville.  So off we veered and went to it.  Shady Inn it is called and it sits right on the edge of the ocean. What a view!!!  And guess what they had on the menu!!!  Only my number one reason to go to an English pub....FISH PIE!!!!!!!!!  Fluffy mashed potatoes on top of creamy lobster, salmon, cod and crab casserole.  I was in my happy place for sure.  A great way to end a stellar day!!!

And this is the end here.  TFL&TTYL

 

BUT BOTH CARS?

 Yesterday both vehicles were in different garages.  The car had two back flat tires and all the tires are in rough shape.  Ok tire suggested we get the four tires changed.  So a thousand bucks later we have four new tires.  

The van hasn't been running for months now.  It has always had electrical problems and it kills batteries.  Plus the motor that runs the AC and defrost has quit.  So we decided no more Canadian Tire.  They suck!  So we took it straight to dodge...after all the van IS a dodge.  Well we didn't take it. BCAA did.  God knows how much that is going to cost.

Today we go to Nanaimo!!  But this time it isn't for shopping at Costco!  My grandson whom I never see will be playing Ultimate.  He is the team captain and they are in a tournament.  His game is at 3:15 so we are heading down to watch him!!  On the way I want to stop at Walmart and buy a cheap soccer chair.  I can't stand for ages.  I am so excited to see him!

I see spring has sprung outside!  I have had Jonathon come and mow the lawn already.  And now it is time to gather all our Amazon boxes, flatten them and cover the two front flower beds then cover them with mulch.  I think first I am going to get two gallon jugs of vinegar and liberally douse the beds.  Always batting those pesky weeds.

Speaking of vehicles, I think we are heading for a showdown in this house.  Monte wanders the logging roads a lot.  He goes out to find places to practice his archery and swordplay.  Plus he hikes the trails.  And I have a feeling that is the problem with the car tires.  And honestly I have been without a car at my disposal for as many months as the van hasn't been operational.  I have had a car to use my whole life, since I was 18.  Monte gets up, mumbles and leaves.  Sometimes he sleeps at his office and I am left with no car.  That was happening before the van quit but at least back then I could drive the van if I had to.

So I am laying down the law now.  He loves loves loves that car plus he owns part of it.  But I am going to have to make the rule that because I paid for the tires (we split the cost of the van upkeep) that car is now a town car only.  You want to go out into the bush you take your van.  Plus on days I know I want to go out you leave the car and take the van.  I will drive the van on spur of the moment outings.

I should probably switch to the van anyway.  I hate that car.  It is so low to the ground it makes it almost impossible to get in and out of.  And I cannot see curbs or the hood to gage parking distance etc....  The van is unbelievably comfy and I can see Russia from the drivers seat.  The only issue is every third person in Port drives a Dodge Grand Caravan..mostly old man navy blue like ours.  For sure at least once in a while I will be attempting to get into the wrong vehicle.

Well this post has been a whole lot of crap you didn't want to hear about.  My apologies.  As I often say I have no life.  No life equals no stories.  (shovel list).

But thanks for showing up.  You guys are the best.  TFL&TTYL

COOKING NEW IDEAS ,CREATING NEW SPACES AND WRITING ANYTHING THAT SPARKS ME

 My three fave pastimes.  I love to dwell, read and execute new recipe ideas...mostly dreamt up in my head.  Right now I have an interesting concoction in the crock pot. I love to dwell on a totally empty room to convert  into a new room.  I booted Monte out of the second room he took over and it is now ready to be converted.  I have ordered a new bed and now in my mind I am marching through my belongings, shopping for suitable decor for the room. I love to  write my post...talking to all you awesome people, my most fave activity.  I always feel better after talking with you guys.  I probably say too much but it feels so good to be able to share.  Jeez!  that sounds maudlin!!

I am thinking of getting a set of cupboards for the guest room that I can use for upstairs storage.  I think I am a hoarder.  I have stacks of ancient clothes that should be thrown out...and I can't.  I have three sets of 12 dinner plates and I seriously only need one set, if that.  But I just can't get rid of them.  I love them.  I have all kinds of kitchen pots, pans, bake sheets, frying pans....but I can't get rid of those either.  I have tried and tried.

  I think that getting rid of all that stuff is an admission that my normal happy busy life is done now.  No more baking, no more dinner parties, no needing more than one outfit per week, no more cruising or vacations.  Getting old with bad eyesight and balance issues sucks.  I'm pretty sure that when I go to renew my drivers license next October, my eyesight will make me fail. (shovel list to the power of infinity)

  My world is getting really small.  I am whining here...did you notice?  Lol!!!  I am still happy.  Not because I am strong and choosing to be. I'd like to take that credit.  No, it's because I was born happy and can't help it.

I called my dump guy.  He is coming tomorrow to take the two mattresses away.  He will have to make a second trip next week or later this week for a second trip.  I buy extra extra large glad garbage bags.  I can fit two of me in them.

I have been filling them up and throwing/dragging them out onto the deck.  I will haul them down to the carport when he comes back for a second run to the dump.

It feels so good every time I fill one of those suckers.  It's just plain stupid how much crap I have in this house.  It just keeps our life from being simple.  Time to Steve Jobs it as we say in our house.  He didn't put anything except a lamp, a floor cushion,  his computer on the floor and a sleeping mat in his house.  When Monte and I first moved into our empty house in Kamloops I bought my beloved recliner that now looks like Frasier's dad's chair, a twin mattress for Monte and a coffee pot.  I think I already told you all this. Sorry.  We oldsters get repetitive.  Goes with being invisible.  hahahaha!!!

I am going to take pictures of the bedroom as we go along.  I didn't get a pic of what it was like to start with.  Monte man was not in a great mental space for a long time and his room showed it.  Out of respect for him I didn't take a picture.  But I can start now. The hardest part of that is getting the pics on here.  Blogspot sucks.  Have I said that before?  Methinks so!!

So starting next post it will be updates.  You guys are the best. You have no idea.  TFL&TTYL

TODAY IT IS MEATLOAF DAY!!!!

ANGE AND I MADE THE TRADITIONAL TRAIN CAKE FOR THIS TIME OF THE YEAR.  WITH EASTER AND FOUR BIRTHDAYS, OVER THIRTY YEARS AGO OUR TWO FAMILIES AND FRIENDS WHO WERE NEARBY GOT TOGETHER AND MADE AN EASTER/BIRTHDAY CAKE.  SO THIS YEAR WHEN WE ARE SPREAD OUT SO FAR ANGE AND I DECIDED TO MAKE ONE FOR EVERYBODY AND SEND A PICTURE.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATHY DOROTHY APRIL AND ANGE 

Today is Ange's birthday dinner (a few days late).  It is the middle of the night still and I have lists dancing through my head.  First thing this morning I am going to set the table.  Then finish unpacking the grocery delivery that came last night.  I took out the fridge stuff but forgot there were two bags of frozen raspberries in one of the bags.    Crap!!!!

I was going to mention the cookies Ange bought.  They are Dare's new Boston Cream Ultimate Doughnut flavour.  It's a sandwich cookie with one white and one brown cookie piece.  The inside is white icing.  She wanted my opinion of them. 

 So I took one out of the box, anticipating a Boston Cream doughnut flavour.....and even before it got to my mouth I could smell that it was no Boston cream.  And then I took one bite and within a few seconds spit it out into a tissue.  I'm not exaggerating here....It smelled and tasted just like a rat's nest.  They were just plain awful!!!  We made rude remarks then threw them away.

About ten minutes later I was in my chair and on my lappy and I could swear I could still smell that smell.  If you don't know what I am talking about, next time you get the opportunity, if someone actually finds a rat's nest and is destroying it, give it a snort.  Trust me, you will never forget that smell.  And that is what I kept smelling long after the box was disposed of and long gone.  Then as I picked up my coffee mug I noticed a weeny teeny piece of the cookie where I had set it had fallen off.  Minuscule!  And I could smell it from some distance.  That is how bad it was!!!  If you go on Amazon and look them up, both Ange and I left reviews you should read.  Hahaha!!!

Ange and I spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon on a project.  There are four people with birthdays clustered in this couple of weeks.  Ange, niece Dorothy, daughter April and sister Kathy.  And they are spread out through the week.  So Ange and I decided to create a birthday surprise for them that they will find out what it is on April eighth either in an email or on Facebook or here.  We had so much fun planning and executing it.  Just in case they read this thing I can't say what it is.  But I promise on the eighth I shall make a quick post and reveal!

Well I am getting sleepy.  I took a strong gravol last night, time release and I feel the next layer kicking in.  Around eight last night Monte made his dinner.  It was based on some of the ground turkey we bought at Costco.  I cannot stand the smell of ground turkey cooking.  It actually makes me super sick to the stomach....and he bought a ten pound log of the pink slimy goo.  I just got sicker and sicker as it cooked til finally I took a gravol.  It barely worked but did make me sleepy so I went to sleep fairly quickly.  I still woke up at three though!!!

Well the birthday present is out of the bag a day early.  It's pretty much April's birthday today in Vietnam.  I am going to try to post the pic here.  All for now...TFL&TTYL

 

DINNER DONE!

 I always forget how tasty our family recipe for curried chicken is.  You take that first bite and it immediately takes me back to the beginnings of that recipe that my sister and mom invented a hundred years ago.

I have had to make a couple minor changes.  For one thing Lipton doesn't make dry mushroom soup mix anymore and that was what was used to make the roux that thickened the sauce.  And no matter what I did by the time I had browned the chicken, the flour dredge in the frying pan was too burnt to use. So I would brown the chicken, layer it in the pan with the onion rings and pepper rings and then make a proper roux with butter and flour (lots), add the curry and seasonings, use chicken broth and make a boatload of yummy sauce, and lastly add fistfuls of brown sugar til quite sweet but not overpoweringly so.  I would pour the sauce over it all and into the oven til all brown and bubbly.  So darn good.

I also made subjit with carrots peas and potatoes.  But I did find out something new.  I made an apple crumble (and absolutely no oatmeal in the crumble...it's a big shovel list for me).  I bought ten apple crisp and eight grannies.  So at six in the morning I was sitting in my chair watching Water Rats, peeling and peeling and peeling.  All went well with the apple crisps.  Then it was the grannies.

Now I do not know who that Granny Smith was but she invented a crap apple.  Not only is it not fun to just chomp down raw but they are impossible to peel easily.  Jeez!  Thanks Granny Smith, thanks a freaking bunch!

Anyway it all turned out super delicious and by end of day I was completely bagged, my back was beyond help and my neuropathic feet were swollen and screaming.  What a loser.  But I so totally enjoyed the whole day and the visiting was awesome.

  Bryce is so bright and interesting and a real sweetheart.  At one point Monte and Bryce were into a heavy animated discussion about something I can't even repeat here it was so far above my mental pay grade!  At one point I just started to laugh.  I mean seriously you should have heard them.  Two men with ridiculous IQ's discussing something I have never even heard of or read about.  It was funny.

Now on another note...an embarrassing one.  It's the fact that I can't listen to music I love, new to me or old, without crying.  I have tried so hard to learn to stop that.  I start trying by distracting myself, hum loudly along, deep breathing, but nope.  Tears just roll down my face.  Jeez!!!  (shovel list). I don't know if it's because I am super sentimental or whatever or if its just old people cry too easily shit.  I don't know but it is just really aggravating.  And it isn't just crying!  I feel it right through me to my toes.  It's like my insides melt into pieces.  So painfully annoying and embarrassing.

But it isn't just music.  It is also tv.  I remember years ago watching Judging Amy with Tyne Daley.  She is one of my fave actresses.  But in the show if she started crying I would unbiddingly start crying right along with her.  I remember when a sad scene was coming to a head with her in it, I would start saying don't cry don't cry and sure as crap she would start crying...and so would I.  Dammit!!!

But now?  I start crying at any sad scene or anyone crying.  And boy! if they are playing a sad sad haunting song at the same time I almost collapse.  What the hell is that?

So now it is time to turn my attention to the next dinner.  Ange's birthday dinner is going to be her favourite, her choice, meatloaf.  On the sixth her friend Randi is coming over and we are going to have a birthday dinner.  I really like Randi. She is a lot of fun.

Next post I will tell you about the new cookies Ange bought.  There is a reason for telling this one!!!!

That is it for today.  I am going to try really hard to post a wee bit more often.  But only if I have something to report.  Have a great few days and TFL&TTYL

THEY WERE SO CUTE

I FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE

MY ARM AND SHOULDER SEIZED UP

YOU'D THINK I WAS BUSY...I'M NOT!!!

    ONE OF MY MOST FAVOURITE PEOPLE...SHE WILL BE HUGELY MISSED BY EVERY ONE WHO WERE LUCKY ENOUGH TO KNOW HER.  KERRY'S SISTER WENDY

 You would think I was too busy with life to take time to post a post.  Well I am not.  I think as my retirement continues my brain is atrophying.  When I talk to my contemporaries they are all busy with grandchildren and hobbies and people.  That's three things that are NOT in my life.  No grandchildren, no hobbies and no people.  But....that being said....

It is Ange's birthday tomorrow so next week she is having a friend over and I shall make dinner.  The request was for meatloaf...Ange's fave!!  And I love making it.  

Then on Sunday we invited Monte's friend Bryce over for a dinner.  We are buying a three boner prime rib and I shall make Yorkies and a boatload of gravy.

  He is the most interesting person.  He makes mead (from fireweed), flavoured vinegars, sauerkraut...no kombucha thank goodness.  He also does briskets and I am the grateful receiver of the trimmed off pure fat.  He is a most fascinating character!

I heard from April today.  They are in VietNam now.  They spent three days in Thailand on the beach and met up with a couple they will be continuing the trip with.  April is sicker than a dog.  That poor kid can't get a break.  She is also terrified to eat over there.  She keeps her epi pen right handy just in case.  I guess one of the letters on her passport looks like a number and by the time the security people figured it out they missed their plane.  They are in Saigon and have had to get a hotel for the night and they fly on tomorrow.  

When she told me they were in Saigon a shiver ran through me.  Hangover from the Vietnam war which still horrifies me all these years later.  Anyway they are spending the night in a Holiday Inn and travelling on tomorrow...meeting up with their friends.  Can you imagine the hassle that would have been before cell phones?

It's time to clean my house.  It's a mess and I have no one to blame but myself.  The dining room table is piled high again.  I am so sick and tired of cleaning that effing thing off.  I think when dinners are over next week I am going to upend the dam thing, take the legs off and get Monte to help me move it to tinny.  Eventually when we have manpower around it is going to Monte's office.  It is just too big and messy in here.  I think I am going to go back to a small round table and four chairs.  If there are five of us to dinner...one of us has to sit on the couch in the living room to eat.

So, speaking of that, I shall get off my butt and go clean said table.  I have no idea where all the oven stuff is going to go.  I store four frying pans and a dutch oven in the stove oven.  I need the oven on Sunday to make dinner.  Dang it.  Where's my junk dude!!!!

Gotta bounce!!!  TFL&TTYL

I DIDN'T DIE...FELT LIKE IT...BUT I DIDN'T

 Finally!!!  I was sick for 12 days with a few lingery days at the end.  My throat is sore from super heavy duty coughing.  Jeez Louise!!!  I was trying to remember the last time I was really sick and I couldn't. Oh piddlyass things and I did have an uncomfortable covid for two days.  A very mild case...thank you vaccines.  But really sick for days and days?  I honestly don't remember.

I haven't been out of the house even once since getting home.  It is buck*uck ugly out there.  Rain snow wind...nope.  Not going out in that!

I made a recipe, a follow along recipe the other day.  It was pounded out chicken breasts, something I never ever buy...never have ever bought a breast.  I don't like chicken much to begin with but breasts?  Why?  Tasteless dense chewy meat.  I feel the same about pork loin.  Have never bought it.

I used a cast iron frying pan.  Best casserole dish ever...no matter what you are making.  First layer went down..seasoned chicken.  Second layer was equal parts cream of chicken soup and sour cream...only I used mushroom soup plus poultry seasoning.  Thick layer.  Third layer was a couple of boxes of stuffing with lots of butter and chicken broth.  I packed that on top and into a 375 oven for an hour or more.  I wanted the top crunchy.

  What I appreciated about this recipe was zero canned tomato of any kind and zero freaking cheese.  I like cheese just fine but holy moly when you read recipes online the vast majority  are either Mexican or buried in cheese. This one smelled delicious!!!

Ange:  ate it but didn't say much about it.  I don't think my cooking is totally to her liking.  She doesn't eat fat.  To me fat is where the max flavour is...any type of fat.  Poor thing..fat doesn't agree with her digestive system.

Monte:  Absolutely totally loved it.  He usually just eats and says thanks.  This time he immediately made yum noises then actually out loud told me how much he loved it.  I had put the extra one in the fridge and I saw the next morning it was gone!

Me:  hated it.  OMG!!!  I could only take two bites.  I hate chicken breast and I don't think I like sour cream in mixed dishes.  I will make it for Monte...maybe.

Now I am on the hunt for a new dish to make.  I want one with no tomato, no cheese, no pasta, very little starch, no sour cream and doesn't look like a dog's breakfast on a plate.  Sigh!  (shovel list). The possibilities are getting slimmer and slimmer.  In the meantime I shall just stick to my raw wieners, sliced up tomatoes in homemade mayo or thousand islands.

Well I think today is the day I get ou1t of the house. The sun is actually shining out there! Monte is sleeping at the moment and probably will be for a while yet.  He was awake most the night.  But when he gets up I will get him to drive me down to the bank.  The reason why I'm going will maybe be mentioned some other time.  Makes me tired thinking about the why.  It is a massive (shovel list). 

I think I am getting tired of running the whole show here without help from Bill.  Car insurance, property tax, income tax, busted kitchen sink, broken florescent light fixture in kitchen, filthy needs paint walls, front door lock not working (it locks just difficult and dead battery), dishwasher in desperate need of deep cleaning by expert, I also desperately need double pained windows, house insurance is due and it is outrageously expensive due to wild fire hazard in Port, hot water tank needs replacing,  microwave door broke, van isn't running, a mystery pool of water shows up in the middle of the downstairs bathroom now and then,  deck needs massive repairs and work.....etc.  I wish I was a renter or still married to a handyman!  I am not really fully enjoying widowhood or retirement. lol!!!  Other than just selling this house and moving I am not sure how to solve all that.

Well time to put some green on and clean the mile high pile of crap on the dining room table.  Thank goodness the kitchen is clean!!!!

Sorry for whining.  TFL&TTYL