TEN DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 It has been ten days since I posted.  My apologies.  I used to read blogs back in the day when people actually blogged their basic life.  And it was so annoying when someone wouldn't post for days.  You come back and check and check and no post.  Then you start to wonder what the hell is going on.  So freaking annoying.

One time I was reading a particular blog.  This would have been back before 2003. Back then the general trend of posters were single anti social women.  Once in a while there would be a woman with kids.  There were and still are bloggers with a specific interest...sewing, cooking, gardening, the queer community etc...  I wasn't interested in them.  I far preferred the general dear diary type and would deep dive into their personal lives.

There was one lady with a busy life.  She was a member of the queer community and she belonged to a queer choir in Seattle.  She was really funny and had a busy life which appealed to my nosyness.  Once in a while she would take an extra few days to post and I would go back and check multiple times.

One time it took quite a while for her to post.  I kept checking and people were commenting in the comments...calling on her to please post already yet!!!  The last time when I checked after a couple of weeks there was a post....finally!!!  I started to read and in the very first line whomever was writing identified himself as her brother and she had been killed in a car crash a couple of weeks before.  OMG!!!  It was like losing a member of my family.  I was on the fourth year of her blog posts.  I knew this woman inside out.  It was a shock and it was painful.  I have never forgotten that.

So if there isn't a post for a long time here I could be dead.  If so I apologize.  Lol!!!!  Just know I have completed my bucket list ... and Bill's bucket list, several times over and I have read hundreds of near death experiences and I know exactly where I am going should I die.  Yup!!!  And it's a waaaay nicer place than earth.  I am totally jiggy with it.

On that note I want to mention another one I was reading at that time.  She was a late thirties, chubby cute single lady with cats. One of the things about these personal blogs is how cagey they are about their identity and location.  But due to sleuthing (reading backwards reflections of signs in windows etc) I deduced that she lived a few blocks from me in North Van and she worked for Skytrain.  I even figured out which apartment building she lived in.

Anyway I read her blog for a number of years.  At one point she wrote that she had a fellow friend from Seattle visiting her for a few days.  He came up on the Greyhound into Vancouver and she picked him up.  There followed a couple of posts about his visit.  She did post pictures of herself and her cats.

Then one day a creepy strange thing happened.  I was either going to Kamloops on the bus or picking someone up, I don't remember, and as I walked towards the doors that led outside to where the buses came and went, she came in as I approached those doors.  It was just so strange to see someone I knew so well but actually didn't!  I almost said hello!!!  But I quickly realized that that would be totally inappropriate and possibly scary for her so for once in my life I slammed a filter in place.  But it was very unnerving to see her after four years of reading all about her life.  Eventually she switched to twitter which I could not follow and lost  her.

Now...back to me  hahaha!!!! I have been busy these past few days.  This Kamloops/Mexico trip has been the hardest trip to pack for that I have ever experienced.  I have been on so many trips I can't count them.  But every one of those trips was either a hot country or a mildly cold one.  Greenland was pretty chilly I must say.  But other than there packing for those trips was pretty easy.

But this upcoming trip is really difficult.  I am spending one week in Kamloops where it can actually suddenly be 25 below zero.  And then ten days in Mexico.  And all I have is a medium 22 inch rolly suitcase and a smallish backpack.  And when you are a hefty heifer your clothes are huge and take up space.  My living room looks like my closet threw up.  Piles of musts for cold here, musts for hot there, possibles for both temps on the floor, wishful thinking clothes.  Jeez!!!!  And I like to pack choices, not just necessaries.  I am looking at my packed suitcase...which isn't closed yet.  I am hoping that it WILL close.

I leave Sunday by the walk on only ferry in Nanaimo.  Aryn and Bradley will be picking me up.  I spend a night at their place and then they take me to the bus the next day....then bus to Kamloops and stay til the 17th.  Then we fly to Calgary and then on to Cancun.  I am getting pretty excited!!!  Home again on the 27th.

So that is way more than you ever wanted to know about anything.  I shall stop now!  TFL&TTYL

DINNER PARTY!!!

 I am in the midst of reading a cheesecake recipe.  If it is delicious I will pass the recipe on to whomever would like it.  It is low carb, very low carb.  I am crossing my fingers that it is tasty!

This recipe uses a 'graham cracker' crust....not.  It is ground almond flour, sweetener and butter.  Not that different than the wafer one.  The filling is made in a blender with eggs, lemon, sweetener, yoghurt and cottage cheese!  And it is baked.  It wants squeezed lemon and zest and I am NOT using that.  I always feel that adding small amounts of lemon is a cop out.  It will be vanilla...the yoghurt is vanilla greek.

What I am doing that the recipe never suggested is I am putting a layer of cherry pie filling on the prepped and baked crust with the filling going on top of that cherry layer.  Then on top just before serving I will put a few cherries or frozen berries.  I will take pics and tell you how it turned out.

Unfortunately the guest, Randi, has a sensitivity to artificial sweetener (good thing she isn't diabetic!).  I looked it up to see how dire it is if she accidentally eats some.  I would never ever slip something to people with sensitivities or allergies.  And she wouldn't die.  The worst that would happen is a headache and possibly a tummy thing.  So I will be making cherry tarts and pumpkin tarts for those that prefer.

Today is a clean the house, bake the cheese cake and set the table day. You should see the table.  It has to be cleared first.  All my oven storage stuff is sitting on it and a ton of Monte detritus.  He uses the table when he is home and holy hell what a mess he leaves.  I throw it all in a box and throw that in his room. 

I am out of the practice of getting ready for a trip.  I will be gone for almost a month...with a fairly small suitcase no less!  I will be at Kathy's for a week before we go and at April's a few days before coming home.  So I am bringing the one suitcase and a backpack.  I have also had to count the days and match pill blister packs to how long I shall be gone.  I hate that part.

  You have no idea how fast three months...the total amount a phone dr. can order, goes by when you don't have a doctor.  A regular doctor can actually give you a year!  Not that any doctor I ever went did that.  But I hear from everyone else that they get that.  Sometimes I just feel like tossing it all and just quit taking the stupid pills and let the chips land where they may.

This will be my third writing.  I am in kind of a funk.  After all the excitement of having people in my house.  Nervous too as the Mexico trip gets closer.  I think besides claustrophobia I have a tinge of a combination of agoraphobia and lazy.  Not sure which is stronger.

I didn't make the cheesecake after all.  I made a whack of tarts, pumpkin, apple (my fave), cherry and blueberry jam for the leftover tart shells.  They were alright.

Dinner was good.  A prime rib roast that cost as much as if I bought a live cow.  It's always worth it though.  That meat was divine!  Monte peeled five pounds of russets...not my normal potato but oh my! they make the best mashed potatoes.  I will put a couple of pics hopefully at the end of this post and not scattered through it.

I had a bit of a conundrum with someone this week who shall remain nameless.  I have always felt that I am a bit of a wimp when I am either unhappy or angry or whatever with someone.  I never say anything unless it's a stranger.  This person wasn't a stranger.

So as I was sitting in my chair stewing about it I made the decision that it was time to man up and tell this person how I was feeling and be honest for once.  So I did as clearly as I could without being rude.  And guess what.  I felt awful.  I felt sick to my stomach.  And it DID NOT make things better.  I am not ever going to do that again.  Sometimes following self help books advice or listening to Oprah just isn't a good fit.  Nope.  I would rather stew a while and then effing get over it.  jeez!!! 

That's it for today and two other days.  Sometimes she shore don't come easy.  Now I will try to put a couple pics on.  TFL & TTYL

LIKE I THOUGHT THEY WENT ON TOTALLY REVERSE ORDER. GRRRRRRRRRR. THIS IS RANDI

THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO COME SECOND.  I HAD THE TABLE ALL SET AND MONTE NEEDED TO DO SOME WORK.  REPAIRS ARE NEEDED!!!

THIS IS HOW IT LOOKED BEFORE!!  HORRIBLE NAPKINS.  I ALWAYS SET THE TABLE THE DAY BEFORE DINNER.  IT SUPPOSEDLY KEEPS PEOPLE FROM LOADING IT UP WITH STUFF.  HMMMMM...BUT HE DID PUT IT ALL BACK.

 

   

 

PEOPLE...I SAW PEOPLE THIS WEEK

 You have to understand I do not ever go anywhere and no one ever comes to our house.  I barely see Ange anymore as she doesn't need to come upstairs to use the loo.  She is now the user of the downstairs one.  Monte has his office and his bedroom.  Sometimes he is in the dining room but I can't really talk to him as he is always busy doing something and you can't interrupt him.

I am not necessarily unhappy about this situation.  I am extremely competent at being alone and choosing to be content with whatever situation arises that is beyond my control.  Humans take a lot of watering and feeding.  Every friend you make one must consider the amount of effort you must put into that friendship.  It's not fair to cultivate a relationship then not feed it.  I am quite happy with way less people in my life to feed.

But that absolutely does not include family.  Family I welcome at any time with open arms and a meal on the stove!

That being said I have had three encounters in the last week.  I got a knock at the door one morning.  I presumed it was a parcel delivery.  Ange always gets the door when there is a delivery.  She gets there before I can get out of my chair.  But on the rare occasion it isn't a delivery I don't hear her bolt up the stairs and open the front door.  And that is what happened that morning.  A knock.  No Ange.  Another knock.  So I heaved myself out of the chair and went and opened the door and my nephew David was standing there.  I was gobsmacked!!!  He lives in Fort St. John....way up north.  He is a very successful high school band teacher.  I super love this man.

He came in and I proceeded to have the best conversation with a human that I have had in forever!!!  He is just one of those people that I converse with so easily.  I pumped him for info on mutual interests and he willingly and generously obliged my need for info.  I absolutely loved that little interval!!!

A few days later I got a phone call.  It was my brother and he was in town and had a free half hour and wondered if he could drop in.  Wow!!!  Another of my favourites!!!  So Stan arrived at my door, I threw the coffee on and we had a fantastic visit...albeit a shorty but I will take what I can get!!!

Then...I'm not done yet!!!  lol!!...I got a text from my niece, Stan's daughter.  She was in town staying at her best friend's place (Stan's family lived in Port and the kids grew up here) and they invited me to join them the next day at Smitty's for lunch.  Well I was over the moon!  I love Smitty's and I love the girls.  I had a fantastic time with them although I talked too much.  I came home just full of joy and happiness and chef's salad.  Smitty's makes the absolute best!  

So it has been a people few days thanks to my brother and his offspring!  I love seeing them!!

And just now I opened two emails from Aryn.  They are the ferry and bus tickets she arranged for me.  My personal travel agent!!  The ferry is a passenger ferry, new to the island, and a bus to Kamloops.  I opened them to make payments for the tickets.  And Arnie had already paid for them!  So I immediately texted her, gave her doodoo, and told her I was interacting her the funds.  It wasn't a small amount either.  And she sent me back a message immediately that it was their gift to me!!!!  I am blessed.  And humbled.

And to add to this happiness, the sun is blazing outside in a beautiful blue sky.  This is the first time in a long long spell of heavy overcast fog.  What more could this happy person want,

Well I do know what I really want right now.  I want a steaming bowl of Campbell's tomato soup and a huge gooey grilled cheese sandwich.  Sigh.  I just ate a whole plate of raw carrot, broccoli and the odd pea pod.  Yumsy!!!!  Gotta bounce!  Have a wonderful few days til next post.  TFL&TTYL

'Family is not important, it's everything.' Michael J Fox

THE SURPRISE PERKS OF GETTING OLD THAT I NEVER THOUGHT OF

I have been reading essays or articles written by a huge group of people out there, all subjects, no holds barred, guns out...totally their reality.  It has been so interesting.  If you happen to be interested the site is called Medium.  It's well worth the peanuts you pay to join.

I signed up to follow some of the older writers and have picked up lots of info and ideas.  One of those epiphanies is becoming consciously aware of the positive side of getting old..and it's so enlightening!!!

The one I read today was an article written by an older woman.  The whole thing had me in stitches at first then the reality of what she was writing hit me. 

 She had invited six friends for dinner and by three days later she had six requests for:  no onions, no gluten, no nightshades, no carbs, whole unpoisoned food only, plant food only journey etc...

I have run into this very thing myself now and then.  At my table I have had a celiac, nut issues, no seafood of any sort, no onions, nothing with eyes etc.  If it's just my son and his family I love to accommodate.  It's a food challenge I welcome.

  But if we are preparing for a women's retreat with over a dozen girls for three days?  Not so much.  The last one had a lady who would literally die if certain things were in the food.  You would never have known.  She privately brought her own food and fed herself.  Sucks for her but if you want to live and not be a burden to the world that is your only option.  I was very impressed with her.

Now, at my age, if I am cooking for a group, an actual dinner party, I cook exactly what I want and if they don't like it or can't eat it?  Not my problem. Years ago I would have stressed it out and tried super hard.  I have grown out of that.

Another one is when you are hanging around moms with little kids.  This very rarely happens to me now that I am older.  I am willing to get a brief update, but I do not want to sit through coffee hour listening to endless toddler/birth/mean daddy stories.  I instantly lose my filters and start spouting unwanted advice like a know it all. I ignore glazed eyes and hurt looks.

The same goes for horse talk first, and dog or cat talk second.  I don't mind five minutes of interesting back and forth.  But I have discovered that people can actually find endless hours to talk about their freaking fur baby (backhoe list...I hate that name for their animal).  I will catch myself making more than four sentences about my latest pet then clamp my lips together and try to change the subject.  All that silence does is give the Sweetums owner free talk space to carry on endlessly.  And, at my age now, very unlike my victimized youth, I will very bluntly suggest we change the subject.  If they don't I will make a nice catchy impossible to ignore statement about Trump or anti abortion or Ozempic.  It always works.

And now to the positive.  Being near the rainbow bridge is so freeing.  Trump?  I will be dead before he owns Canada.  Third world war?  I will be dead before it happens or soon after it starts.  Lose more and more of my eyesight?  I will be over that bridge before I am totally blind.  And if I do go blind it won't be for long.  I will die falling down the stairs.  A hole developed in my beloved recliner?  I won't need to deal with it for many many years to come.  That hole is def going to out live me.

The bottom line is I can now freely, no guilt or pressure, not give a shit about a whole lot of issues I used to pack around with me.  Nope!  I have shed those burdens!!!

And now I need to stop ignoring glazed eyes and bored readers!  I am doing what I was complaining about up there.  Talking about myself endlessly.  Lol!!!

TFL & TTYL

 

WHAT ONE THING WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO GIVE UP FOREVER

 I decided to make a list and decide which one  deprivation would cause the most grief, havoc, joy or whatever out of my life.  It wasn't going to include catastrophic items or habits, just run of the mill everyday activity or necessity.

And this is what I came up with:  pop, coffee, tea, unnecessary shopping, walking/hiking, gym, travel, napping, bubble baths, gaming, sugary snacks, movies, driving, etc....  These are all things you can survive without but think about it.  Never ever again could you not do it or have it.

And that is what it is like being a diabetic, either type.  Diabetes just rips food right out of your life.  Oh they say you can eat healthy and be okay.  No you can't.  Go one carb over your personal limit and bang! up goes your blood sugar.  One cup of vegetables is five carbs.  If you are eating twenty carbs per day to stay within your blood sugar numbers, two cups of cooked veg is half your daily food limit.

That being said, our household being diabetics. one type 1, one type 2 and one pre, I have had to completely change my cooking.  I still make stuff I can't eat or I do eat it and don't give a crap.  Lol!!!    But it is really hard to think that for the three of us to really stay on board with keeping our numbers down we have to basically give up food as we've known it, forever.  Daunting and depressing.

Okay this is beginning to sound like a poor us whine.  I didn't mean it that way!!!  I was saying this because it is amazing how desperation breeds innovation.  And the latest innovation in this here ol' homestead is keto mug cakes/muffins.  In a land of boring eats, mug cakes become incredibly delectable!

So far I have made blueberry muffins, chocolate muffins, and another  I can't remember.  Now I am about to embark on making a savoury one...a pizza muffin.  They only have 3-5 carbs and are such a relief from relentless above ground vegetables, unadorned meat and salads with skinny dressing.  We are happy campers.  Mug muffins make unappealing food tolerable now.

Another thing we have added are shirataki  konjack noodles.  They have zero taste and are obscenely expensive, but incredibly filling.  I use them             .  mostly in spaghetti and soups.  I am pretty grateful for those slippery rubbery tasteless things!!!  I did make egg bites not long ago and I found them absolutely gross.  Slimy and eggy.  Nope not making those again.

I cancelled my trip to Vancouver.  When I tallied up the cost of the ferry etc...it made that hair appointment I had planned way too expensive.  I will go and get it done here in Port, very wimpy compared to the one in North Van, but will do til I am in Vancouver for other reasons.  Mostly I am getting ready for my Mexico trip.You would think that with the lack of food in my life I would lose a little weight.  But no....not a pound so far.  Probably just as well.  Either I am fat or alternatively losing weight makes you super flabby and wrinkly.  Not sure which is more preferable.  This is why us old fatsters prefer clothing mandatory seasons more than beachy ones.

Well thats enough for today.  Have a happy happy beginning of a new year.  Let's all try to shed a bad habit....NOT!!!!  TFL&TTYL

      

2026 or BUST

 This post is going to be the most boring post I have ever written.  Maybe.  Because the posts are all about me I am somewhat more interested in them than you folks would be.  So it is possible lots of my other posts are even more boring.

First a disclaimer.  For the people that were with me  on New Year's Eve this is not a reflection on you.  What you folks did is exactly what I have done pretty much every New Years eves of past.  So no judgement on my part.  Seriously.

That being said some prep and planning was made and carried out.  Monte had bought some egg rolls, and a few other things.  I was going to make cream corn with salsa mixed in (delicious but unfortunately it kinda looks like mastitis milk) and eaten with scoops.  Plus I hauled liquor bottles of dregs out of the cupboard and some glasses and Ange brought up a friend (no..not a guy, a married lady) who had brought the most delicious spinach dip and sourdough bread.  All this by 7:30.

Four and a half hours til midnight.  Hmmmm...we are all a little older and four and a half hours is a dauntingly longish evening time.  But we nibbled and sipped and talked and laughed until ten and they gave up.  Poor Randi was falling asleep on the couch and Ange and I sort of petered out of convo.  Finally I told them they didn't have to stay if they preferred to go.  They did and they did.  That is what I probably would have done had I not been home in my comfy chair with left over spinach dip.

Monte was in his room, sleeping I presumed.  So I sat here by myself, watched Blue Heelers, got mad at the writing of Blue Heelers and about ten to midnight Monte came upstairs.  He sat at the far end of the dining room table behind me, writing.  When it was twelve according to my trusty timex I yelled happy new year, he yelled happy new year back and we went to bed.  That was it.  Exciting right?

I had promised to make a breakfast casserole...which I had promptly forgotten due to all the excitement the night before and conveniently suddenly remembered the next morning around five.  Shit!!!!  

I whipped out my lappy, found the French Toast Breakfast Casserole recipe I had bookmarked and dashed into the kitchen. Well maybe not dashed.  I haven't dashed in a long time.

I grabbed the bread I planned to use and guess what?  Parts of it were green. (shovel list). Pivot time.  I had a long loaf of Walmart brand sandwich bread left over from the stuffing I had made.  Ironically that loaf of bread was way older than the two loaves I had baked a couple days before. I had planned to use them for the casserole.  Clearly no chemical additives in that bread.

 So I followed the recipe exactly except I added a buttery brown sugar crumble scattered over top and a pound of crunchy bacon pieces.  It was unbelievably delicious.  I made another one this morning with a couple of changes.  Raisin bread, Splenda brown sugar and no bacon.  It was just as delicious.

So that was my exciting New Years adventure.  The best part besides the company was the spinach dip.  So different to the one I make.  It tasted the same though.  Hers was white and mine was green.  But the taste was the same.  And I finally put an accurate name to the ingredient that gives spinach dip that flavour.  It's in the Knorr's soup that gives it that iconic flavour we all love and remember.  Knorr's basic soup flavour is onion soup.  It is the onion soup one tastes that is so delicious.

Now I must prepare for my trip to Vancouver.  I need to make reservations both going and coming on the ferry, make an appointment at my North Van hairdressers, do laundry to do a three day pack.  And leave the house clean.

Thats it folks.  I hope you all have a wonderful 2026.  TFL&TTYL. 

I WILL REPORT ON NEW YEARS IN THE POST AFTER THIS ONE

 I think I mentioned that I get twelve essays a day and my brain is truly expanding by every read.  But today an older female writer posted an essay with questions for us to answer and she answered them too.  It was fun.  I am going to do that here...now.  Lucky you guys.  

1.  Who are you named after?... an old lady we visited the one time we came down from Smithers to Vancouver.  Her name was Helen and her house smelled like old lady.  I met her only that once.

2.  When was the last time you cried?...I listen to music all the time and I cry every single time a good one comes on.  I can't help it and it is embarrassing.

3.  What is your favourite lunch meat?..baloney.

4.  Do you like your handwriting?...absolutely not

5.  Do you have kids?...five...two over fifty, two under forty and a beloved step daughter in her forties. (plus more step kids that I super like too)

6.  Do you use sarcasm?...yes, but not as a weapon.  It's the fat me trying to be the fat funny one in the room.

7.  Do you still have your tonsils?...Geez I didn't think anyone my age still had tonsils.  When I was twelve I faked a sore throat to get out of school.  My mom took me to a Dr. in Telkwa...in a hotel room no less, and she told me I had tonsilitis.  She sent me to a neighbouring (a long way away actually)  a hospital to have them taken out.  If I had known how freaking painful it would be I would NOT have lied.

8.  Would you bungee jump?  ummmm...that would be a hard no.  In fact I think bungee jumpers are chronic attention getters who will do anything to get that ever chased notice.  On the edge of being crazy.

9.  Do you think you are strong?  that would be another hard no!! Ten years ago I could pack and move a whole big house by myself.  I can't even carry an empty box now without falling over.  I kinda relate to those goats that just fall over for no reason.

10. What is your fave ice cream.  Hageen Das caramel cone explosion.  Hands down!!!

11. What is the first thing you notice about a person?  Whether they tolerate me being nosey.  I want to know everything about them..kinda like a snake grabbing that dead rat out of your hand..pounce!!

12. What is the least favourite thing about yourself?  My lack of filters.  Seriously.  It's a lifelong problem.  At 73 I don't know why anyone talks to me anymore.

13. Football or baseball?  neither...hate them both equally.  My least fave reality shows.

14. What colour pants are you wearing?  Skin colour.  Hahaha!!!

15. Last thing you ate?  Breakfast French toast casserole.  Absolutely divine.  First one I have ever made.

16. Favourite crayon colour.  Teal

17. Favourite smell?  coffee in the morning or maybe rain on hot pavement or that ozone smell of the first hint of snow coming and cigarette smoke...blow it my way!  Sadly no one smokes anymore.

18. Favourite food?...raw wieners and homemade thousand islands dressing.

19.  Scary or happy movies?  either as long as they aren't soppy romance ones.  Two sounds I can't handle -  dogs eating dog food and people kissing.

20. What colour shirt are you wearing?  One of my shirts from 2003 that I bought after the house burnt down.  One of the ones, like a hoarder, I can't throw out...and should.  It used to be black but it is so old it has turned a kind of weird dark greenish hue.

21.  Last one...fave holiday.  Hands down, nothing competes with Mother's Day.  I absolutely love Mother's Day.

Now thats more than you ever wanted to know about me.  I just hope you answered your own answers to the questions.  It was fun.  And for those who actually read this whole post....you are the bestest!!!

TFL&TTYL