WONDERFUL XMAS HIGHS AND SAD LONELY POST XMAS LOWS

 OMG!!!!  What a blast we had!!!! We had soooo much fun!!!  I think this was one of the best Xmases ever.

The kids arrived on Wednesday, unloaded and we started to eat.  And we basically didn't stop eating until they left on Tuesday.  We had soooo much food.  Thank goodness the deck could become an extended fridge, sorely needed I must say, at least until it turned into a deep freezer!  In fact we had a few exploding cans of pop.  They sounded just like gunshots!  The half gallon jugs of Clamato, orange and apple juice and a two quart of milk froze solidly right to their bottoms.

On xmas eve April and Aryn set up the amazing incredible charcuterie board!  Oh my goodness!!!  That was some serious grazing I gotta say!!!  I got the idea from Million Dollar Listing.  They did one on the island of the open house they were hosting.  I took one look at that and thought...holy crow!  We should do that.  By we I meant April and Aryn!  And boy did it ever turn out!  I will put a pic below.  And yes, we had a little leftovers!!

It took us two to three hours to open presents, all except a few for Christmas morning.  And what awesome presents this year!  Everybody was over the moon with all their loot.  People that say presents are for the kids are crazy!  We had so much fun opening them one by one so everyone could see what you got.  I will only mention the granddaddy of all granddaddies present of the year.

It was from Myles and April to Bradley.  As some of you know Bradley, Aryn's squeeze, is a well known dj.  His dj name is BradleyBe.  Well, Myles and April found a place, with rave reviews, that make written neon signs.  So they ordered one that is about four feet wide and one foot high in bright red.  It is a written BradleyBe.  With a remote you can make it flash or be steady etc... They set it up downstairs.

  When it was Bradley's turn we all brought him downstairs into the recroom in the pitch dark.  He thought we were all preparing to murder him!!!  And when he was all situated, Myles turned on the sign.  And I can honestly say I have never ever in all my years seen a reaction to a gift like he reacted to that sign.  First he was speechless, then he walked up to it, I do believe there were a wee bit of tears, and shakily he hugged the kids then exploded.  Honestly best moment of the whole Christmas!!!!!

There were games.  We played many rounds of triple Yahtzee!  And we played an awesome fast paced game called For Sale...best game!!!!  There were lots of Caesars, Old Fashioneds, Negregos?, beer, wine by the bucket, coffee....and did I mention food?  And more food....

Turkey dinner and all the fixings on xmas day.  None of this roast beef or ham or whatever.  A tradition is a tradition and turkey dinner it was.  And we say it every year but seriously, best turkey ever!!!  Great gravy, stuffing, candied yams, mashed potatoes, parsnips and carrots....mmmmm.  And now buckets of garbage soup!!!!

On Boxing Day Stan, Antonia and their dog Cara came after lunch.  Bradley and Aryn made amazing beef wellingtons.  I mean AMAZING!!! With madeira sauce.  Holy moly!!!  Delicious!

On the Thursday before Xmas day, it snowed.  Bradley went nuts.  Xmas is his all time favourite time of the year.  He went outside, so did April, and they went nuts in the snow.  They built a snowman, pic below!  They threw snowballs.  They whooped and hollered.  At some point Aryn and April did a four kilometre hike down to the quay and back.  The next day April and myles and Leeloo did a five kilometre hike up and through the bush to the other side of the gorge.  And that little dog walked the whole way!

They stayed until the 28th.  They packed up and by twelve noon everybody was gone.  You know I think that after two years of not seeing them except for two or three short times, having them here was a lot more intense and special than normal.  It truly was awful after they left. It still is.  I am tearing up right now thinking about it.  And now with this fucking (pardon my French but....) omicron, another one of my years, the few I have left is being robbed from me.  I wanted to go to Vancouver in Feb. but that can't happen now.  Anyway,  I have had lots to do since Xmas getting the house back in order, thank heavens.  It's good to be busy.  And it's time to turn my phone back on.  It has been off other than for pics.  Time to call a few people...Cookie, Kathy, I am thinking of you here.  Happy New Year everybody.  It is going to be a good one.  TTYL

BAD BRADLEY...EXPLODED A SNOWBALL IN THE HALLWAY!!!!  (BY ACCIDENT)

PLAYING YAHTZEE WITH US...LOOKING BORED

BEST WELLIE EVER

SNOW BALLS

HAPPY BOY

BRAVE GIRL!

BRADLEY IS HOLDING A FRAMED PIC OF THEIR PASSED ON DOG...SADIE

FALLING DOWN ON THE JOB

 It just dawned on me that I haven't blogged.  It's been pretty busy around here.  Finished the tree, wrapped a thousand presents, baked many many shortbread cookies, baked many many butter tarts, cleaned a guest room, did massive piles of laundry, the kind that gets left on the floor forever....old towels we don't really use, Monte's clothes that don't fit and are destined for Salleyann, odd socks, like hundreds of odd socks, other boys clothes that got mixed in somehow, the odd piece of mail, jar lids, missing slipper etc...But it is all kind of fun, getting ready for Christmas.

Monte bought me a Xmas present.  And just like his father, I mean seriously like his father, he gave it to me early.  If I had only Bill with me at Xmas I would never have a gift on Christmas morning to open, he would have already given it to me.  I used to give him heck and tell him I would love to open something Christmas morning, but no, he always gave them to me weeks ahead.

Now it seems his son is the same.  Monte loves, and I mean loves, to give presents.  Way more than getting them.  He can't wait for people to open their presents.  But this one he bought for me apparently could not wait.

So open it, and it was a biggun', I did.  And I was over the moon!  He gave me a Nesspresso!  He also enthusiastically told me that he saw that they were on sale at Walmart for 99.00!  I was relieved.  I thought they were all around 350.00.  Anyway he also got online and found out that you can order the pods directly from Nesspresso and they arrive within two days!  And the boxes they came in were perfect for wrapping awkward presents in.

Well he has become obsessed with MY present.  There are quite a lot of different types of pods so we have been experimenting with them all and bit by bit settling for the ones we will consistently like.  He is just so excited to have this thing in the house...like twenty cups a day excited.

Until yesterday.  I went to make myself the first cup of my day and it wouldn't work.  So he, kind of scathingly, pushed me aside, wouldn't listen to me when I tried to explain that I did everything right, and took over.  You, know, dumb old Mom obviously doesn't know how to do it.  Which of course was quite possible.  LOL!!!

Well after half an hour of pushing buttons and changing pods and spending a half hour on the Nesspresso help line, the sad outcome was it was broken.  Poor Monte.  I thought he was going to cry. But the lovely Nesspresso people are immediately sending out a brand new one and a shipping label to send the broken one back.  Whew!

But the next thing I know he is hopping into the truck, driving to Walmart, purchasing another one, and bringing it home.  WTHell???  He was so excited to be sharing this coffee maker with his siblings when they come on Wednesday.  He had already actually talked to them and told them all about it and there was just no way was he not going to have a nesspresso machine for when they come.

I guess when the new one comes he is going to put this one away, its black, not red like the one he wanted and first bought, for the future...just in case.

The funny thing is that I have a wee Keurig type coffee maker.  I have loved it.  It works just fine.  But just in case, I ordered another one to keep on hand.  The one I have is cheaper and the last one only lasted for about six months.  It should be here in the next couple of days.  Sigh.  Maybe I will send it back to Amazon.  We really don't need it now.  The nesspresso coffee is infinitely better, no question about that!

Well Milly is coming this morning.  I did clean the house last night but there is still some tweaking to do.  I can't wait for Wednesday.  The kids are coming and I am making an old recipe I made up years and years ago when we were dirt poor.  Aryn was talking about it and I think she said she wanted it.  I had to go to the butcher for chuck steak, they don't sell it in the stores anymore.  Just like they don't sell whole cut up chickens in one package.  Anyway, you put the steak and a load of breakfast sausages, (I can't get the ones I really like anymore too) into a roaster. You then cover the whole lot with sliced onions.  Then make a canned diced tomato spaghetti type sauce and pour it over and baked the whole lot until the meat falls apart.  Serve with mash, noodles or rice, name your poison.  Serve with a crisp Caesar salad.  There.  That's my food bit for this post!

Take care, stay safe, have a wonderful Xmas, I will blog a little faster now hopefully!  TTYL

THE PRESENT FACTORY

MY MORNING VISTA

MY RED NECK, I MEAN RED TRUCK, CENTRE PIECE

I LOVE CHRISTMAS

 I love Xmas!  I cannot lie.  I love the lights, the decorations, the prettily wrapped gifts, the shopping, the baking, the turkey, the stuffing, I love it all.  I have absolutely no problem with the commercialism.  And I don't need kids to make Xmas better, although it's awesome to have them around if possible!

If there is anything I have learned in my ripe years is that Xmas is what you make it.  There have been years where I had zero money.  All that did was spur me on to come up with home made ideas.  Some of them pretty pitiful but it's the thought that counts mantra comes to mind.  I have had Xmases with no family and far away from home.  Those were the toughest to deal with but I made huge carby dinners and snacks to make up for it!  And I have had huge peopley, rellyful, expensive, gifty Xmases.  And they were awesome too.

I was thinking back to last year.  There was just Monte, Peter and myself.  We decided to share some of our favourite music with each other on Xmas eve.  Now, I could have done with a tad less Elvis's Xmas, but it was such a special Xmas.  I will never forget it.

This year will be entirely different.  Three of my four kids will be here.  All of them would have been but Kevin and the two kids are not vaccinated.  He didn't want to take a chance.  But the other three will be here.  We have been planning and planning the dinners and the Xmas eve food and the gift buying and list making....we can hardly wait!  Like Aryn said, "All this anticipation and it will be over so fast."  Cookie and I used to feel that way too when we were lucky enough to get some time together.  But we developed a little trick to help make it seem like it was lasting longer.  I shall teach it to Aryn. Nothing beats a full guest room, floor sleeping and nowhere to park!  Doesn't get better than that.

The only downside is this is the one time of the year that I miss my mom.  I will be honest and admit I don't really miss her.  You get to an age where losing your mother is expected and you move on.  But at Xmas memories of Xmases past wander into my brain, especially when listening to Xmas music.  My mom was at her best at Xmas (and camping out in horrendous conditions where she could pull her pioneer persona forward!).  We usually ate dinner mid afternoon, so mom would get up in the middle of the night to stuff the massive turkey and get it in the oven.

  Lots of times we would gather with the Davisons, my mom's sister and family, set up tables in the living room, set the table with the good dishes that had a brown spotted pattern that looked like someone eating a bran muffin sneezed on them, crowded around the table, six kids, one baby in a high chair, four adults, giant turkey on a platter at the head of the table with my dad, all the steaming bowls of food spread down the table.  We would all bow our heads for dinner prayer and then my mom would loudly announce, "Everything passes to the left please!"  The hardest part was waiting for the damned gravy!  It always seemed to be last and someone would inevitably forget to pass it along.

We always opened our one present, usually one we carefully chose out of either the Eatons or Sears catalogue, on Xmas eve.  So immediately after dinner we kids would rush into our bedroom and play with our toys.  And that was the one time of year mom would make fudge and not tell us to be quiet.  And then when all the dishes were done and tables put away and kids tucked into a sea of beds in the one bedroom, she would sit at the piano and play her litany of songs, Falling Waters, Robin's Return, Red Wing, This Old House.....  I miss her.

Stay safe, enjoy this awesome time, TTYL

Something about an old-fashioned Christmas is hard to forget.

Hugh Downs

SIZE CONFUSION

 I have a real problem with knowing what a listed size is.  I just don't compute the details into real life. In Maui we went to a lovely waterfront restaurant, you know the kind that charges an arm and leg for Mac and cheese, if they actually had that.

It was prime rib night and I was starving and still a carnivore with an appetite.  So I was busy talking to Arnie who happened to be with us that night along with April, not paying attention.  I ordered their biggest cut, as rare as possible.  Usually there are two sizes, normal and small.  Bill casually asked me "are you sure?"  YES!  I answered kind of snippily.  I think I know what I want.

Well holy crap!!!  The waiter comes and with great aplomb, plops this dinner plate in front of me  that is entirely covered with a massive, and I mean massive, raw hunk of meat.  OMG!!!  Holy shit!!!  It was huge!  Embarassingly huge!!!! Everybody started to first of all stare, aghast, then laughed and took pictures. Even the waiter was cracking up!  Jeez, I pulled my shirt up and over my face I was so embarrassed.  Bill cash as always drawls, "well you said you wanted it". I could have hit him!  I think that sucker was 36 ounces at least.  I ate a sliver off the edge, took it home and we all had at least two meals out of it.

Well it has happened again, only its chicken gravy.  I have been ordering from both amazon and Walmart.  And inevitably what ends up coming is either too small or bigger than anticipated.  I have learned to check weights but its always in metric.  Jeez I have enough trouble with imperial, never mind metric.  I am constantly getting Hey Google to convert for me.

I bought a door hanger and a wreath from amazon.  When they arrived I actually laughed.  The frigging door hanger was about six inches long.  They are ALWAYS at least a foot.  And the wreath was tiny!  Ridiculously so.  Its hanging on the bathroom door now.

The other day I made an order from Costco.  They are pretty good at speedy deliveries.  So I went through their merchandise and picked quite a few things.  One of them was a bucket of chicken gravy mix.  I like chicken gravy mix.  I whipped through the club house one.  This looked like an ice cream bucket sized one.  My thought was that I could refill the smaller one and store the bucket downstairs. We buy ice cream in those bucket sizes and we buy mayonnaise in buckets too.  Why not chicken gravy??

So a lovely big box arrived from Costco.  It had my two boxes of Verona coffee pods, big bag of croutons, two things I can't mention here, Xmas and all! and....a massive, crazy ass, HUGE, heavy as hell, bucket of chicken gravy.  HUGE!  I can't even convey in words how huge that thing is!  Well I started to laugh.  I mean we won't get through all that in my lifetime, that's for sure!!!  I will put it beside a mayonnaise bucket and take a pic and show you at the bottom.  Seriously!  I need to start taking lessons on size realities!  Hahahaha!!!

  If anyone needs chicken gravy...good for a la king, pot pies, roast chicken dinner, soup thickener, add it to mashed potatoes,  creamed peas, you name it, I will gladly bag a bunch and send it to you!!!!!

Take care folks, stay safe and TTYL

The rhythm of relations of color and size makes the absolute appear in the relativity of time and space. 
-Piet Mondrian

See?  See why I don't understand size ratios?

THERE YOU GO....FIVE KILOS OF CHICKEN GRAVY

FEELING A TAD GUILTY

 I am feeling a tiny bit guilty.  Bright and early Monte and I went downstairs, all bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to conquer the freezer.  With garbage bag in hand we started in.

We didn't get very far, and I really mean NOT very far.  I had cut open, ready to dump, a melted bag of green beans.  Who knew green beans could smell so bad?  But they did!!!  And Monte, big giant burly Monte, started to gag.  And that unfortunately triggers something in me.  I start laughing.  Now if I could just bust out and laugh that would be okay, but it makes Monte really angry when I laugh at his gagging.  So I almost choked myself to death trying to hold it in, mostly unsuccessfully.  The noises that escaped through my nose were worse than if I just opened up and laughed.

The bottom line?  He really couldn't do it.  A lot of the stuff in the freezer was still half frozen, I had opened the door an hour earlier.  I grabbed a more frozen hunk of pork shoulder roast and cut it open and threw it into the garbage bag.  I think I did a couple more when Monte said the magic words.  "Let's just throw it all into garbage bags and I will drive it out to the dump.  They will never know."  And that's what we did.  Seriously, even though I gave it the old army try it was an overwhelming task to try to de wrap every single thing in that freezer in order to compost.  What would have been an all day onerous job was instantly reduced to ten minutes.  I can handle a little guilt!

Well Gladys is on her way out.  I have enjoyed driving her but there are just too many negatives to keeping her.

I got a phone call from the dealership the other day which got me to thinking.  They want my truck back.  They are so desperate for inventory they would basically pay me what I paid for it.  And when I thought about the difficult steering, inability to see properly over the dashboard, ( I refuse to sit on a cushion), all the blind spots, and when I sit in the back seat which happens more often than you might think, I lose my virginity every time I get out of the truck.  So.....time to make a change.

I want a Chrysler Dodge Grand Caravan.  Cookie had one for a hundred years and Monte has one.  You can fit as much in the van as I can fit in the truck and it is, without question, the most extremely comfortable vehicle on the road.  Their seats are magic!  And I can use it as my camper!  So I have made friends with the fellow up at the dealership and I shall go up and start the process.  It is going to be a slow one.  They don't have any more vans than they have gladiators.  But I can wait.

Now the next consideration is buy or lease.  I have read all about leasing, thank you April!  And really I see the plus side to it but....I hate payments.  And they are like having a strata payment.  I was pissed off every time I had to make a strata pmt.  I can't see a lease pmt being any different.  I always felt that people lease when they can't afford to buy.  Which is wrong but I still feel that way.  Its like renting a house instead of buying one.  

It is going to be a long process though.  I will have to negotiate a trade in price.  Then order the new van.  Then wait.  Which I have had to do with every vehicle I have bought in the last few years.  Hopefully I will stick with this van forever (which at my age realistically is only ten or fifteen years).

That last statement reminds me of Gramma, mom's mom.  I remember taking her shopping for some necessaries.  She needed sheets but she wouldn't buy new ones.  "I will be dead before they get properly broken in."  I kind of relate to that at this point!!

I was going to start the wrapping today but I got a call from Ange.  She needs to go up to Walmart for cat food.  A special cat food.  So I shall put the wrapping off until tomorrow.  Plus I was just informed by Amazon that the present for Aryn has been cancelled. Grrrrrr!  But there is a special little local store that carries that general merchandise and I may find a decent replacement over there.

Well that is it for now.  I must go out and shovel snow and clean the truck off.  Stay safe everyone and TTYL

• “As you start traveling down that road of life, remember this: there are never enough comfort stops. The places you’re going are never on the map, and once you get that map out, you won’t be able to re-fold it no matter how smart you are. So forget the map, roll down the windows, and whenever you can, pull over and have a picnic.” – Jim Hensen

This describes so well how Bill and I used to travel.

I'M GOING TO DRIVE YOU NUTS WITH TOO MANY POSTS ALL OF A SUDDEN!!!

It's been a peopley and cooky type of a few days.  Both which I really enjoy.  I just finished making a cheese burger impossible pie.  It is so easy and so delish!!!  Looks great too I must say.  Thank you bisquick!

On Saturday night we had one of Monte's friends over for dinner.  He is the drummer in his band.  His girlfriend was working and couldn't make it.  So what do you make for someone you don't know, other than he isn't vegetarian, after all he is a native Port Albernian.  Hahaha!!!

I played it safe and made a super saucy cheesy Mac and cheese.  I also made coleslaw Paula Deen style and ribs, and garlic bread...sort of.  A long time ago my cousin Heather made this delicious bread.  You take a loaf of garlic bread, slather a layer of mayo on it, cover it with parmesan and bake it in a really hot oven til the edges are very browned and crunchy and the top is browned.  I finished the dinner with an apple crisp and ice cream.  Yummmy!  Boy did he eat...lots!!!  He also took leftovers home with him.

He did something interesting...for a boy anyway.  At some point he headed to the loo.  I was in the living room manning the music, Monte was still at the table.

He was gone quite a while but I didn't really pay any attention.  Later, after he was gone I noticed a couple of things that didn't make sense.  One, the guest room door wasn't closed tight.  And I know I closed it.  It's kind of messy in there and I didn't want him seeing it so I shut the door.  When I finished in the loo I noticed that the turlett paper was new and on the roll.  I never put the paper on the roll.  It is always on the floor where it's easy to get at.  Plus I remember that the floor roll was almost gone.  I had forgotten to replace the paper.

He must have noticed no paper, needed paper, and instead of coming to me with his dilemma he solved his own problem.  He went hunting, into the bedroom, the Costco sized package of paper is at the end of the bed and he took care of business on his own.  This may not seem so momentous to you folks, but I am not used to boys just taking matters into their own hands, probably out of respect for my boundaries, which I do appreciate.  But Colton's action impressed me for some reason!

Monte and I decided to leave the freezer until tomorrow, Wednesday.  Thursday is garbage day and the weather, thanks to the Pineapple Express has decided to warm up, just what rotting maggoty meat does NOT need.  So I did get quite a lot of it done, the bulk of it will wait until tomorrow, less time to get smelly.

  I am just remembering when I was about 16 we had been on a family trip.  When we got back somehow our huge freezer, which happened to be full of the usual household freezer stuff plus a whole cut up, wrapped and frozen bear, had unplugged.  When we opened the freezer it was half full of vile, really really vile freezer juice and very very rotten bear meat, never mind all the other stuff.  OMG!!!!  I cleaned it out as I think I was the only family member that could stomach the smell.  I have always used the mind over matter mantra when it comes to rotten fridges or freezers.  As a result I have done a few for friends over time as well.  It's been a minute though.  I think the last one was my friend Anne's many years ago.

This week it's Ange who is coming to dinner, on Thursday.  She is coming over to download some stuff off Disney and Netflix.  Plus she is bringing her tax stuff over for Monte to help with.  I shall decide what to make tomorrow.  I will probably write about it.  I love to write about my food as you probably already noticed!  Til then, stay safe and TTYL

IMPOSSIBLE PIE...CHEESE BURGER.  YUMMMM!!!!!

"No one roasts rotten meat and puts it in the mouth of their friend and then says 'you mouth stink    Tshi proverb

 

X!?ZZX!!!!! THAT'S ME SWEARING

 The other day Monte and I were in Save-On.  We decided to load up on meat, meat that would cover Christmas dinners for a week.  Company dinners.  We bought roast chickens, pork shoulder roast, whole salmon, breakfast sausages, sandwich meats, pork chops and tons of hamburger.  (I don't remember exactly what it all was) We also picked up a few different seafood choices.  I sent it all downstairs to the freezer there.  I didn't have my upstairs one yet.

Last night around one in the morning we were heading to bed.  Monte, who had gone down a few minutes before had gone to the freezer to get one of his frozen rats (yes you read that right) to feed to Smooch, his snake. He hollered up the stairs those dreaded words I have heard about four or five times only in my whole life.  "EVERYTHING IN THE FREEZER IS MELTED!!!"  I guess the freezer door didn't shut completely when we loaded the meat into it.  And that was a few days ago.  Oh god.  My immediate thought was the 200 bucks worth of meat we had just bought, never mind all the stuff that was already in there! And it was my fault.  I knew how stuffed that thing was before I sent down all the new meat.  I knew it!

The biggest problem is one that I have been working so hard on and now it was going to be sorely tested.  When I was forced to compost in Langford, I fought it.  I ranted and railed and hated and whined and stamped my feet.  I hated hated hated composting.

So this time I made the decision, a solid committed decision not to let composting get to me. Mind over matter.  And I have been very successful!  I smile as I lift the lid off the gaggingly smelly canister by the sink to put left over food into it.  I happily take the sucker out and wrastle with the stupid hooks on the lid of the compost bin outside, in the rain, in the dark, gagging at the permasmell.  Oh yes.  Calm. Cool. Maintaining a great attitude.

But now, OMG!!!!  There is probably over 300 pieces of something, mostly meat, in that freezer.  And every single one of them has to be unwrapped before putting them in the compost bin.  Every. Single. One. Of. Them.  

So do I thaw it all out completely then unwrap sloppy, on it's way to half rotten, meat to separate the garbage part from the compost part?  Or do I re freeze it all and then, with freezing hands attempt to peel off the frozen plastic wrapping that is now covered in meat juice ice? Or, most tempting and seemingly sensible to me at the moment, is just shut the freaking freezer door, tight this time, and walk away.  Be like those hoarders on tv.  Just never open the damned thing.

  Back in the day I would have just quickly removed three hundred things and flung them into the garbage bin or driven it all to the dump. But no, now we have to mess with it into the correct bin.  Plastic wrap in garbage, cardboard food boxes into recycling and meat and sloppy melted or lumpy frozen, depending on my decision vegetables, into compost or toilet for flushing. 

All I can say is that my committed, mind over matter, decision to have a good attitude, IS WANING RAPIDLY!!!

Sorry for the poor me rant.  but......POOR ME!!!!  Hahaha!!!  I will let you know how it goes.  Garbage day isn't for a week and we are experiencing the Pineapple Express right now...much higher temps than normal.  Sigh.  Stay safe...TTYL

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” 
― Maya Angelou

That's a lovely platitude Maya, but jeez!  I don't think I need to encounter hundreds of pounds of rotting meat to know who I am!!!!  I am pissed off.  That's who I am!

CRAZY SAVE

 As I have mentioned before we clean our house before Milly comes.  I don't clean out the microwave or do the floors, I leave that crap for her, but I do pick up everything and clean the turletts.

So that being said, today is the preclean day.  So in keeping with the drill I started with the turrlet.  I had grabbed the appropriate brush and started to scrub, forgetting that I had stuffed (I was going to say tucked, but that conjured up a much too quick and dainty action to what the reality actually is) my giant brand new amazing iPhone into my bra.  And that is NOT a safe place for it to be when I must be bending over, not something that happens a whole lot in my world.

So as I was scrubbing away, I felt the phone pop out the top of my bra and shirt and head straight for the john, like a bullet.  Holy jeez!!!!  NOOOOOOO!!! And before you could say bob's your uncle, my left hand, not my dominant dexterious hand, shot out and, just as my two thousand dollar plus phone was about to hit the water line, I caught it!  I actually caught it!  Miracle of miracles!!!  And that phone is so big there ain't no bag of rice in this house big enough to bury it.  This just shows how much I love my new phone.  I love it as much as I hated the google plus xl.

I am feeling super accomplished at the moment.  I managed to get all my xmas cards done today!  I have all my names and addresses in a folder on my lappy.  So organized!!!  Not really my forte.  And for xmas last year Monte gave me a small metal replica of a Canadian mailbox and it had 100 stamps in it.  So I even have the stamps and they will be in the mailbox tomorrow!  So not like me!

Now it is wrapping time.  I have all the presents and I have the wrapping paper, tags and tape.  It's time.  I am not a fan of wrapping.  I have always had Bill for years do the wrapping.  He would sit in his comfy chair and slowly but surely wrap it all up.

  I remember in Langford, the first Xmas after he died, I set up a wrapping station in the garage.  Costco tables, rolling office chair, radio, all the wrapping accoutrement.  I remember it was freezing out there! But it was quiet, sans peeps, peaceful and I loved it.

After the wrapping it is shortbread cookie time.  But this year I am going to put a deep thumbprint in the middle of them and fill them with raspberry jam.  Maybe that will make them more tasty!  I have used the same recipe for years and years and years.  I shall share it here:

1 pound of butter/three cups of flour/1 cup of icing sugar/half a cup of corn starch.  Mix it all together until it forms a smooth as a baby's bottom ball.  This truly is the best shortbread cookie ever! I originally got the recipe from our neighbour out at Monte Creek many many years ago.  It never fails.  I wish I still had Gramma's (Bill's mom) xmas cake recipe.  It was the best I ever made.  And I wished I had my mom's mincemeat recipe.  She used real meat and suet and we mixed it in a five gallon pail.  So yummy.

Anywhooo, that's it for now.  I am so excited for xmas this year.  Stan and Antonia will be coming on Boxing Day.  The kids will still be here so that is just the icing on the xmas cake!!!  Stay safe and healthy and TTYL

WHAT STORM?

 Here I sit all comfy, cozy and safe whilst armageddon is happening everywhere else.  Nothing nefarious seems to happen here in Port.  Yes it did rain billy oh for days but it just ran down the hill into the river/channel out to the ocean.  Other than getting soaked every time you stepped out the door (which isn't a frequent event in my house) you would never know it was 'extraordinary'.  Right now though it has started to snow!  Much better than the rain.

Much to the chagrin of the grinches in my life I have put up my Xmas tree.  It isn't decorated yet and won't be until the normal time for tree upping, around, I would say, at least December.  But there have not been a whole lot of turkey type events over the last two years so I want this one to be drawn out and spectacular.

So I put my little tree up.  It isn't big.  It sits on a table in the middle of the front room window and it has a million lights on it.  And there it is.  That is what I love most.  I can sit, listening to Abba and Boney M, just staring at the lights on the tree that are creating a soft christmassy glow in the darkened room.  I put the fireplace channel on the tv, sit back and relax.  That is the best part of Xmas.  So I started a couple of weeks early this year.

My boys, Graeme and Peter are gone.  Peter is really gone.  He packed up all his stuff and is moving to Vancouver with Graeme.  Sigh.  I miss them and its been less than a day for one and a week for the other.  It is very quiet around here now.  I hope Vancouver doesn't kill their souls.

Shopping.  Hoarding.  I have to admit that I made a big shopping list at Walmart's site and picked it up yesterday.  I did buy eight pounds of butter.  That was the only hoardy thing I did.  The rest was basically Christmas dinner, sans turkey.  There isn't even one turkey in this town.  But I got all the bread for stuffing, which I am making today and freezing.  I bought frozen green beans in case there aren't any fresh ones at Xmas.  I bought eight cans of cranberry sauce (that is NOT hoarding, that is stocking my pantry AND Christmas prepping).  I bought fifteen pounds of potatoes.  Frozen peas for the carrots and peas.  Sweet potatoes. Turnips for turnip poof.  Now I just need the turkey.  But just in case, just hedging my bets, I did buy two big whole chickens.  But if I am any judge of humans, they will get that gravy train open out there pretty damn quick.  Meanwhile I am going to make a boat load of the shortbread that no one really really likes, but it's tradition.

Last night I thought about a bunch of things I forgot, like eggs etc..so I made up another Walmart list, and when I went to pick a time slot for pick up, they all said full.  Like no time available...for days and days.  I noticed a note that said due to the food chain interruptous, they will not be able to supply us.  Jeez! That was fast.  I am glad I got the first batch in!

One of the things we have planned, we being April and Myles, Bradley and Aryn, possibly Stan and Antonia, Monte and Myself, is a massively large charcuterie table.  I would say board but it is going to cover the coffee table.  We will put a parchment paper over the table and let it develop.  Meats, pickles, sauces, dips, crackers, spinach dip and bread chunks, cheeses, olives, veggies, fruit....that is if the gravy train is back to delivering food to us in hinterland out here.  

Well I have to go out now into the sloppy mess outside, the snow turned to rain, and move the garbage cans.  Milly is coming, thank goodness, and she needs a spot to park.  All for now.  Take care, stay safe, keep dry and TTYL

Adults can take a simple holiday for Children and screw it up. What began as a presentation of simple gifts to delight and surprise children around the Christmas tree has culminated in a woman unwrapping six shrimp forks from her dog, who drew her name.  Erma Bombeck

THE SUGGESTED CHARCUTERIE!!!!!

FLASH BANGS AND ROTTWEILERS.

 I think I have mentioned that we have a neighbourhood dog, a rotty, that barks tirelessly and for hours upon hours mostly at night.

Occasionally this asshole dog escapes their yard.  This amazes me.  They have an impossibly high fence surrounding their whole house and yard.  It is the kind of fence that is tightly built, you can't see through it, not even an inch.

The other night we had a collision of two actions that  happened very close together causing a rather unusual but really funny outcome.

Grimbo, or should I say ToonyKoot, or for those that don't understand, Graeme, went for a walk.  In other words he wasn't home...and peace descended upon the home.  (I love you Toony). It was evening, thus dark out and I think raining.

I walked into the kitchen to get things ready for a greek dinner Monte was going to pick up, leaving in about five minutes. A dreadful smell wafted out of somewhere in the kitchen.  And I mean pukingly dreadful.  Upon sleuthing and sniffing I discovered it was the compost container.  I have a large one and disgusting smells are a downfall of large ones.  Stuff stays in there too long until it's full.  It needed to go out immediately.  So I asked Monte to empty it.  He was leaving within five minutes.  In the meantime I whipped it out to the line up of refuse choices we have in our yard.  I set the can down on the ground right in front of the compost wheely bin.

Monte put his shoes on and out the front door he went to empty it and continue on to his van to go pick up the food.  Within two seconds he was back in the house and announcing loudly that that effing rotty was out there (which just happens to be right at our front gate) eating the revolting stinking crap out of the beaten open compost kitchen container I had just set out there.  FUCKADOODLE!!!!  And there was no way he could walk past the aggressive snarling brute.  What to do?  Monte had to get that food order but the dog was clearly going to be there for a while!

So.....and here is the good part!  Monte dug into his leftover fireworks from halloween and got out his left over flash bang and a lighter.  Two minutes later there was the loudest bang you ever heard and that dog shot off like he'd been skinned!  I hope he had a day or two of the craps and pukes. Hahahahaha!!!!!  Now to start using them on the neighbourhood cats!

I think Peter is coming home today.  He has been gone for the last ten days to Nanaimo, staying with his sisters who live there.  On Friday Toony is heading back up to Tofino.  They called him and asked if he would be willing to go back to work for three weeks until they hire a new employee of some sort.  This shows what a good employee was.  I have always said that out of all the boys I know he would be the one I would hire first.  He is very intelligent and it shows when he does a project...or playing jeopardy.  The house is going to be awfully quiet.

Well that's it for now.  Stay safe.  TTYL  

If you listen to dogs barking you will go deaf without learning anything. — Marion Zimmer Bradley

(except for unmitigated hatred...which can't be good for your soul)

THIS POST IS FOR COOKIE

 Just a quick note to thank you for the frozen pink salmon at Costco suggestion.  I did buy a bag.  It had five slabs in it which is about the amount that this household eats for supper with just enough leftovers for snacks the next day.

I was going to cook them the way you told me Brian cooks them.  But as the before cooking time started some suggestions came from the peanut gallery...which I totally love.  So after much discussion, and this was mostly Monte's suggestions, I ended up with an entirely different dish.

I put three slabs, skin down, on a tin foil covered pan.  I then packed on loosely a big fat layer of stuffing I made out of old dried buns.  I then laid the other two over the top.  I had seasoned the fish first.

I then cooked it in the toaster oven on high on convection...which is exactly what an air fryer would do if there was room in them.  Half way through I removed the two top fish and set aside.  They were getting too done.  I kind of guessed when to take it all out.

Meanwhile I made a béchamel sauce, with lemon allspice and nutmeg and parsley.  I served it with a greek salad and Kathy's pickled beets.

It was delicious.  I mean really delicious!  So thank you for showing me those fish.  And not only are they thirty dollars cheaper than sockeye, but pinks are my all time fave salmon.  And just think...the Alaskans won't eat pinks.  They feed them to their dogs.  Crazy!!!!  Sockeye and halibut are my two least fave fish because they are too dense and dry.  

So thank you!  We will be making trips to Nanaimo Costco frequently I think!   TTYL

THE GARBAGE BATTLE CONTINUES

I have a much greater understanding now, now that I am responsible for the garbage in the house, of Bill and our fear of garbage day.  It was always an angsty time the night before garbage day.  He took on garbage day as a personal competitive 'beat you' battle with the garbage laws.  And now I am getting that way.

There are certain households, you know who you are, that announce in that smuggish tone that they just have one teeny tiny container per month of garbage.  Seriously.  They just don't have normal busy peopley lives I say!   When I pick up something that has to leave the house....I have to decide, compost? recycle? or garbage.  Well if its a take out container with sandwich remnants it clearly is garbage.  It's styrophomy stuff and greasy. It has to go into the garbage.  Even crunched it half fills the under the sink garbage container.  And all the envelopes from Amazon have bubble wrap on the inside....garbage.  Soft plastic of all sorts....garbage.  Old shirts and pants and clothes....garbage.  Old pill blister packs, a mix of plastic and cardboard...garbage. 

 Well you get the point.  I guess if your old clothes are good enough and you aren't a perpetual slob, they can go to Sallyann.  If you are in perfect health and don't need pills you won't have that garbage.  If you are paranoid and won't use a credit card on the internet...you won't have unrecycalable plastic packaging.  And if you never order food in or bring home leftovers from a meal out, well that's where the no life part comes in.  I do know that when it is just Monte and me we occasionally didn't have to put the garbage bin out.  But that didn't happen often.   One thing you can do...a bit of advice, get real familiar where the public garbage cans are and USE THEM!!!!  No offence to anybody!!  LOL!!

I went with Ange yesterday to the funeral home. It was interesting.  The director was so sympathetic and understanding, just shy of being unctuous. There will be no service or memorial (I offered to make egg sammiches).  Ange just wants it over with.  And I must say when it was all done with the director she was much different.  It was like a huge weight had been lifted from her.  I was happy to see some of the old positive Ange return.

Well it's pizza night tonight.  Friday night is pizza night.  I shall collect money from the boys, they each order what THEY CAN EAT!!!  No over ordering!  They can feel free to share, but they have to eat what they buy.  I will be getting a personal pan pizza.  Thank goodness Pizza Hut makes a personal pan pizza of each of their pizzas.  And you can't beat their crust.  Mmmmmmm....

Well that's it for today peeps.  Stay safe.  TTYL

'For one minute walk outside.  Stand there in silence.  Look up at the sky. And contemplate how amazing life is.'  anonymous 

ps:  This is what Monte and I do once in a while.  We drive out to Cameron, a long long stretch of road between two large fields (where I  always get the pics of yellow broom).  There is zero light out there. And we look up at the sky.  And just know that life is amazing.  Except for garbage day.

Some random pics:

MY SHOT OF FAIRY LAKE...WHERE THE PROTESTS ARE HAPPENING.  OTHERS HAVE TAKEN IDENTICAL PICS...THIS JUST HAPPENS TO BE MINE.

ANTON'S NEW BABY GIRL.  LADA.  BORN OCT 27TH.  HE IS OVER THE MOON HAPPY!!

A BAD PIC OF LUZY AND ME.

I FORGOT TO HIT POST. JEEZ!!!!!!

 I actually did that last post on the 26th.  Then didn't hit post.  I would love to blame Blogspot, but I can't.  Too much happy happy!

Well I am now home, ensconced in my chair, tv going as per usual and pea soup on the stove.  I brought one of the thanksgiving hambones home to make the soup.  I froze it at April's.

Pat died the next day, the 27th.  I have to admit it hit me a lot, a LOT harder than I had expected.  Things were not particularly good near the end but I think that had a lot to do with covid bringing up a lot of conspiracy theories and it truly affected him.  He simply lost all reasoning.  They had him extremely sedated so he will have gone relatively peacefully.  Now it's time to turn our attention to Ange and help in any way we can.  I am meeting with her on Sunday to start the arrangements.  She isn't sure what to do I think and I have arranged more funerals than I like, what's one more.  Sigh.

I came home to a relatively clean house.  A few things to do but all in all it was pretty clean.  But it smelled like boys.  Not in a bad way but no lovely aromatics blended in.

Just now Graeme and I unloaded the truck.  Every closed rubbermaid in the back was full of water.  There goes my crock pot.  The guts of it is full of water.  Everything was soaking wet. And to top it off a certain person gave me a load of shit to bring down to her son.  He was to pick it up at Aryn's and I completely forgot.  So guess what is still in the back of the truck.  Grrrrrrrrr.....I am going to start saying no to people getting me to take crap from one place to another.  It always happens and there are usually consequences.  A large part of it was a giant bag of shoes, and not even for her son but for someone he knows.  Maybe it makes a difference WHO is asking.  99.99% of everyone I know I would gladly move their whole house for them.  But there is a teeny tiny amount of people I know that I just don't want to do it for.  I know.  That sounds super grinchy.

Off to Costco tomorrow. I have lost my Costco card so I shall have to battle my way in and get a replacement.  And Nanaimo Costco is a veritable zoo on Saturdays!  And for some reason the boys have decided we are going to Carlos O'Brians for a meal.  They want something called pachos, a brown food, deep fried potato product.  Geez!  I read the menu and unless I want a salad, which I don't, it's all brown food and meat oriented.  I wanted to go to an Italian restaurant that Peter showed us a few weeks ago.  Oh well.

So that is all that is happening in my world.  I hope your world is as happy as mine is right now.  Stay safe and healthy.  TTYL

“Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of eighty and gradually approach eighteen.” — Mark Twain

SOME PEOPLE JUST MAKE A PARTY....AND I KNOW TWO OF THEM

 What a fantastic time I am having.  I am not home yet.  I am sitting in April's living room, blogging, listening to David Bowie's Earthling (sooo good), just totally enjoying the moment.  Although, of course as life goes, it isn't all great.

I got a call from Ange this morning.  Pat went off his rocker last night.  Completely.  He had a butcher knife to his own throat, threatening, then he turned on poor Ange.  He told her he hated her and all sorts of hurtful things, started throwing things around etc. This was ringing a big loud bell in my head.  A certain other person in my life acted totally out of character and exceptionally mean and hurtful.  There was no doubt in my mind that Pat was having psychotic break.  I guess if you are a supremely anxiety sufferer and had a previous break and you are told you have less than six months to live and was forced to sign a DNR by the doctors you might get a little crazy too.  

This morning she finally had to call the police.  And let me tell you a story that you rarely hear these days.

The police, four of them, came into a dreadful horder home that smells so bad Monte can't go in without gagging.  (Pat's doing, absolutely not Ange) Upon entering they are confronted by a crazed large man holding b.b. guns and threatening to shoot them with them.  He started throwing mugs and glasses and objects at them.  They stayed patient, knew he had heart issues so did not taze Pat, and talked calmly and listened to him and actually talked him into letting them cuff him.  Then when Pat told them step by step how to cuff him the right way, they totally thanked him and told him he was a bright man, feeding into his ego which of course made him more cooperative.  They were just plain amazing.  We don't hear those stories in the news do we?

Long story short he is now in the psych ward in the hospital and not long to live.  Monte and I will do everything we can to help Ange clean out that house and move her to a smaller cleaner place.

Now for the best part!! My 69th birthday was the best party I have ever had or attended since I was a kid.  Holy crap!!!!!!

During the afternoon, whilst we visited and Arnie made dinner, Bradleybe put on a fantastic dj show.  Fantastic! He is so gifted, definitely born to be a dj!  And he is beginning to get connected to the world's famous dj's.   Then DINNER!!!!

Dinner was spectacular!  Maybe some of you have seen the pics on fb.  An 11 pound prime rib (4 boner plus), best horseradish ever, beautiful creamy mashed potatoes, thick delicious gravy, endless yorkies and sticky garlicky Brussels.  OMG!!!!  There were eight of us and we all got to sit at the tables together.  There was Bradley, Aryn, April, Myles, Dorothy (Kathy's), myself and two neighbours from down their hall.  Heather and Matt.  

Matt was fantastic.  He absolutely had the party hopping I tell ya!  He was so funny and outrageous and playing all our favourites, ones we could sing and/or dance to.  Then Bradley, bless him, took over the song choices and really played the stuff I love.  God we had fun!!!!  I even drank about four glasses of wine...not something I ever do.  And somewhere in there I had a cake with a crazy rendition of Happy Birthday sung to me. 

But I have to take a moment to mention Heather and Matt.  Sometimes having 'unknowns' can be a little intimidating.  But....Heather was a true gem.  She brought the Brussels...so good.  And she was soooo easy to talk to and just simply fit in.  I really liked her.

And Matt.  Oh boy!  What can I say?  Except without him there Heather would have been able to relax a bit more but the party wouldn't have been quite the same for sure.  He's a wild one but a lot of fun.  And very very funny.  He cracked me up more than once.

And the presents!  I got a beautiful bundt pan, a pasta extruder, a wooden rack to hang the pasta, a fantastic WE LOVE HOUSE mug from Bradley, pretty Van Gogh and Monet napkins and Dorothy bought a beautiful basket and filled it with a silicon bundt cupcake type of pan, sprinkles and a POUND OF BUTTER!!!!!!!!!!!!  Only she would understand how awesome a present that is!!!!!

All and all it was an amazing time at her place all week.  I went more places in Vancouver than I ever have.  We went out for two lunches...amazing lunches, went to a Japanese pottery store, twice, Super store, Stongs, Everything Wine for Elysium, Whole Foods (be still my heart...the prices!).  And, oh the food....one night we had Chinese, one night we had Indian, one night we had TanMan noodle soup she made (to die for) and one night we had sushi and leftovers....Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian and Japanese all at once.  LOL!!  And tv, of course, we watched our fave shows!!!  Such a good time.  I love being at their place.

And now I am here at April's.  She is working away at her animation stuff while I sit on my lap top.  I got to pick dinner for tonite...again.  So spoiled.  We are having pork chops from a butcher, applesauce, fingerling potatoes and tomato onion salad.  Another fave dinner!

So I made reservations on the one o'clock ferry tomorrow (Wed).  My work is done here.  Had thanksgiving with the family, buried Mom, place a headstone, stayed with April, visited Cookie for a weekend, stayed at Arnie's, got my hair done properly, revisited Ape and now home James.  I am looking forward to seeing all my boys again.  Thursday we are heading to Nanaimo so busy days ahead.  Stay safe, TTYL

“Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life.”  – Kitty Collins

VANCOUVER

 I was happily ensconced at April's, playing with her crazy dog as she worked away on her Troll farts.  It was time to pack a wee bag and head to Cookie's.  I was pretty stoked.  I haven't seen Cook since she visited us just before covid hit.

Due to absolutely no parking I have to drive up the street, away from their complex and try to find parking way up the street, which I did.  So Ape and I took my stuff and the dog and walked up to  where I had parked my truck....and it wasn't there.  Seriously!  Gone.  Shit!!!!  So one has to conclude that either it has been towed or stolen.  After standing there in disbelief for a few minutes scratching our heads we were about to head back to her place to make some phone calls when I noticed a fire hydrant peeking out of a person's garden up and away from view on the street.  A right money maker that thing!  Eventually we found where the truck had been towed and April drove me there to pick it up.  And may I add that it was absolutely raining in sheets and sheets of rain the whole time.  It all took so long I ended up staying at April's one more night.

I am interrupting here for a moment...I am watching the morning news with Aryn.  A woman is being interviewed..her name is Juggy.  And her eyebrows are unbelievable!!!!  She must have used half a bottle of black paint!  What is with some women painting these massive fake eyebrows on their faces?  Do they not know that a pretty large majority of us just point and laugh when we see pics?  Cuz we do!

Any way I finally made it to Cookies.  It was, as it always is, so awesome to walk into her arms then into her place.  I love it there!  We immediately started talking and catching up.  At one point in the afternoon her mom from Merritt showed up for the week.  She is 91 and sharp as a tack and quite the talker!!!  I always love seeing her.  And on Monday I ended up unexpectedly staying an extra day and she was babysitting one of her grandchildren.  He is a fire engine red headed four year old.  It was so fun!  She also had a surprise I can't talk about just yet!!!

Now I am at Aryn's.  I parked my truck over in North Van by April's and Bradley picked me up bless him.  There is zero parking here at Aryn's so I park way over there and they come get me.  I think we are going to a few places today to do some shopping.

I must remember to take a mask with me.  I always forget.  I am getting very weary of this covid.  But then I think of my awesome step daughter who is going through hell right now and realize that putting on a mask is nothing compared to what she is dealing with.  I talked with her yesterday on the phone.

  Her 14 yr old son had his first shot about a month ago and he immediately developed myocarditis.  It's very very slowly improving but not to the point where he can go back to school. She has enrolled him in the provincial home schooling program but getting a very reluctant sick fourteen year old to do the work is quite the chore.  And she is scared for him.

Then yesterday her twenty year old passed out at work, he is a welder, and they took him to the hospital.  In there investigation they have discovered that he has lymphoma.  Jeez!!!  This is just terrifying!  And then whilst I was talking to her her other son came to her to tell her the washing machine had broken...wouldn't spin or drain.  And....she is on disability because of a degenerative disc in her back...very very painful and limiting.  I mean how much more can one take?  She lives in Alberta so I can't be of much help.  Today we should find out how bad his lymphoma is and what treatment will either cure it or put it into remission.

So now here I sit typing away on my lappy.  I am going to have to remind the boys at home to clean the house today...Millie is coming tomorrow and they need to be ready.  Monte roasted a chicken for dinner last night and made brown rice.  Hopefully the kitchen isn't too bad.  I will have to text her today and warn her!

Well that is it for today.  Next post I will tell you about Aryn and Bradley.  In the meantime send Jenjen positive thoughts and courage.  She is going to need it.  She is such a strong mamma but we all have our limit.  Stay safe.  TTYL

“Mamas don’t sleep. They just worry with their eyes closed.” anonymous

“You don’t realize how many people you dislike….until you have to name a baby.” anonymous

BRIAN EATING  HIS DINNER

COOKIE'S HOUSE......JUST KIDDING BUT IT IS HER NEIGHBOUR

ARYN'S TANTAN MAN SOUP SHE MADE FOR DINNER LAST NIGHT--UTTERLY DELICIOUS

COOKIE'S LATEST QUILT SHE IS MAKING

 TAKE A LOOK AT EACH SQUARE..UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

AN ATTEMPT AT A SHORT ARM SELFIE

GRAMMA OR MAMMA SURJIT

THE ROTI BEFORE IT IS KNEADED TO A SMOOTH BALL

ROLLING OUT THE BALLS

FLAPPING THEM BACK AND FORTH

PUFFING THEM UP OVER HIGH HEAT

EGG AND POTATO SUBJIT