A MONEY WIN AND A MONEY LOSS.

 I called the credit card peeps to ask a question about a certain thing on the statement.  At the end of the conversation I asked about the cash back part of the card.  I said I had never seen a cash back deposit.  On my cash back master card I always get notice that I have x amount of credit available to use.  Td? Not so much.

She explained that I have to redeem it.  She showed me how and where to do that.  When I went there the credit balance of the cash back was 530 bucks!!!!!  Holy cow!!!!  I was gobsmacked!!!  And I couldn't be happier.  I am cash starved right now til my next investment pays out...which is very soon.  But in the meantime  the house kitty is pretty empty and has been for a while.  That money will pay the 400 dollar utility bill that just arrived on the doorstep.

Well yesterday the three of us decided to go up to Walmart and No Frills.  I didn't need to go to Walmart but Ange had made mention of going and so did Monte.  So we went then moved next door to No Frills then headed home.  It was hot out and the house is nicely cooled by ac.

When we got home Ange got her stuff and got to the door first.  Unlike Monte and I, she always locks the door.  We have a very expensive awesome keypad door locking device but it isn't working at the moment.  Needs a battery.  She has a house key and so does Monte.  I don't have one.

Well long story short she lost her keys.  And Monte didn't have his car keys with his house key on it.  We used the van and that set doesn't have a house key.

We hunted through everything but no key.  We finally had to phone a locksmith, who arrived a half hour later.  Poor Ange was so upset and she was too hot.  She doesn't do well in the heat and especially under stress.

Well the guy said that with that three hundred dollar keypad lock if he tried to open the door it would destroy it. Well I sure as heck didn't want that.  I can't afford to replace it.  So around the back we go to the basement door.  Well he worked on that dead bolt for at least a half hour or more and simply could not budge it.

Back to the front and with a screw driver and a hammer it took two minutes to destroy my keypad lock.  The door opened.  (shovel list). He is coming back later this morning to put in a dead bolt.  And now my beautiful red door is going to have a white patch where my fave type of lock used to be.  It was much bigger than a deadbolt.  And just like that my found money disappeared.  The utility bill will just have to be added to my exorbitant ridiculous property tax bill.

But to cheer us up I am going to make my all time fave thing to eat.  Chicken and dumplings.  I absolutely love planning it, shopping for it, making it and eating it!!!!!!  And I will try to make Ange feel better about the whole thing.  The poor girl felt so so bad.  Shit happens.  To all of us at one time or another.

Thats it for today...chicken and dumplings comin' up!!!!   TFL&TTYL

ANOTHER TRIP TO NANNYMO..AND READYING A HOUSE FOR LISTING

 Yup...made another trip to Nanaimo.  Monte's friend, another non driver, needed to go to the ferry.  So off we went.  We also made an appointment at the cpap store for Monte to sign papers and get some replacement straps for his ever breaking delicate  mask.

I have had to kind of draw the line, and this is pretty hard to do, at driving people around, especially to Nanaimo with gas prices what they are.

I mentioned to Ange that there seems to be an above average amount of people in this town who don't drive.  It's kind of amazing.  When I commented on that she got a wee bit huffy.  She said it was no different than any other town.  I beg to differ.

  I know waaaay less people here than I have in other towns I have lived in and never ran across people who didn't drive.  Here, when I first moved here I had twelve people to monthly dinners til covid hit.  Not one of them drove except Monte and I.  Thats a lot of people with no drivers license.  Our friend Graeme doesn't have a car, I understand that, but he does have his license.

As I said I hate saying no to people when they need help.  But unfortunately the needy Nanaimo peeps not only can't drive but they can't pay today's gas prices.  And guess what?  Til the next influx of money, I can't either.

Well slowly but surely I am getting the house ready to list.  I might pay for a proper appraisal when I am finished.  It's a matter of prioritizing all the projects.  Mostly judging it by which things wrong will the buyer want to take money off the asking price.  Those things need fixing first and maybe only those things will get fixed. 

 I have let Ange know that this is happening sooner than later.  I don't want her suddenly hanging.  Monte and I will help her move some of her stuff to Chilliwack where her family lives.  She can't take much so the big job for her will be getting rid of her bigger stuff and all the stuff she can't take.  I can't realistically list the house til she has moved.  I don't want to be here too much longer after we move her....I will miss her too much. I am kind of aiming for mid summer to beginning fall.

Randi, Ange's friend (and now mine too) is coming to dinner tomorrow.  I am making a giant shepherd's pie and coleslaw.  I make my pie with gravy and tiny chomped up carrots and onions and garlic.  The potatoes I make with sour cream, butter, Montreal steak spice, bacon on top, and sprinkle green onions when it's out of the oven.  The mashed potatoes end up tasting just like baked potatoes.  It's like magic!!!

For dessert I am making strawberry shortcake.  I am using Pillsbury grand biscuits (which aren't sweet, I just thought of that....dammit),  extra sweet then macerated strawberries from frozen, and sliced fresh ones maybe.  Walmart has just told me they don't have any for delivery (asshats!!!  you have no idea how often that happens with the W).  I bought a litre of whipping cream and a can of chocolate whipping cream.  Like why not?  Stawbs and chocolate go together.  We will see.  Hopefully they will be willing guinea pigs!!!!!

If I remember I will attempt pics here.  Stupid blogspot.  I am just sad that people can't comment.  I would so love to hear people's opinions and suggestions and questions and recipes to try.  Oh well. (shovel list...shame on you blogspot. we can put a man on the moon....haha)

TFL&TTYL

PICTURES TO GO WITH POST...ONLY WAY I COULD GET THE STUPID THINGS TO BEHAVE

HONESTLY YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW FREAKING HARD PUTTING PICTURES HERE WAS!!!!  HERE ARE THE GOATS WHERE THEY GO WHEN THEY ARENT ENTERTAINING THE MASSES FROM THE GRASSY ROOF OF THE MARKET 

AS WE WERE LEAVING A MAN AT THE NEXT TABLE SAID TO ME THAT MONTE LOOKS LIKE AN ARTIST!  LOL

THE TRADITIONAL PIC OF A TALL PERSON

MY DESSERT.  A BURNT BASQUE CHEESECAKE.  IT DOESN'T HAVE A CRUST AND IS BAKED AT A VERY HIGH TEMPERATURE WHICH CARAMALIZES AND SLIGHTLY BURNS THE TOP, EDGES AND BOTTOM...CREATING ITS OWN CRUST.

THERE WERE TEN MASSIVE PRAWNS UNDER THE POMO...SOMETHING OR OTHER SAUCE

THE PLACE WAS HUGE AND BEAUTIFUL

WAITING FOR MY CAESAR

MY TURN UNDER THE WISTERIA

I HAVE BEEN MEANING TO PUT THESE PICS HERE.  BACK IN THE EARLY 70'S ONE COULD DRIVE TO THE TOWN DUMP AND DUMP THEIR GARBAGE...AND BROWSE THROUGH IT TO FIND TREASURES.  BEING ON WELFARE AT THE TIME I COULD NOT AFFORD A ROASTING PAN.  WELL THIS OLD BEAT UP BUSTER WAS SITTING OVER AT THE EDGE OF ALL THE GARBAGE AND I BROUGHT IT HOME, BLEACHED IT, (YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT PEOPLE USED IT FOR) AND I STILL USE IT TO THIS DAY.

THE OTHER DAY I LOOKED OUT MY FRONT ROOM WINDOW.  ACROSS THE STREET WAS A NEWER NEIGHBOUR WITH HIS NEW DOG.  AND THERE WAS HARRY, ON THE LEFT.  I THINK I HAVE MENTIONED HIM.  HE LIVES BY HIMSELF RIGHT NEXT DOOR AND BLESS HIM, YOU CAN'T BE OUTSIDE TWO MINUTES WHEN YOU HEAR 'WELL HELLO THERE!'  HE SO REMINDS ME OF MR. FLANDERS ON THE SIMPSONS!  HE'S THE GLUE THAT KEEPS THE NEIGHBOURHOOD CONNECTED.

THE SPECIALEST DAY OF THE WHOLE YEAR....TO ME

 Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries...they all pale into insignificance compared to Mother's Day.  I know that at my age and living in a pretty isolated difficult place to get to, I don't see my kids on Mother's Day.  But it is still the most important day of the year to me.

In the past I have had some amazing Mother's days.  One year when I lived in Kamloops after Bill died, about ten in the morning, the door bell rang.  When I opened the door there was Aryn standing there!  I was so shocked I almost didn't recognize her!!!  It was the first MD after Bill had died and she drove all the way up from Vancouver for one hour, she really had to turn around and go right back.  I was so happy to see her for that precious hour!!!

And April and Myles send me flowers frequently and the first year after Bill died beautiful flowers showed up at my door 'love from Bill'.  Brought me to happy tears it did.

One Mother's Day here there was a knock at the door.  Standing there were a man and woman I had never met.  They each were holding beautiful hanging flower baskets!  It turned out that she was a friend of April's who, with her husband had just moved to Port.  There are zero flower delivery places here so April had commandeered her friend to go to a nursery and buy the flower baskets and deliver them to me.  I was floored....and in tears.

But when I can't be with them I always get phone calls from every one of them. And that is awesome too.  We share our latest newsies back and forth and it is enough to know they are thinking of me that day.  This will be Myles's first Mother's Day since his mommy died.  It's going to be hard for him and his dad I think.  I will call him today or ask to speak to him when April calls.

But, and here is the goodest part.....I LIVE WITH ONE OF MY KIDS!!!!!  And I figured this year I am going to start a new tradition.  I love traditions.  They are the glue that keeps the continuity of the family alive.  (I feel that c word I just wrote makes up for using goodest with the big red line under it). 

As I was looking through a massive photo album book I have (see Cookie...I save pics in books too...sometimes) I came across a pic of Monte and I sitting on a street sidewalk makeshift patio outside a Greek restaurant on the Main Street downtown Kamloops.  It was Mother's Day and he took me out for dinner!  I was thrilled.  We got hit on continuously by street people...which was totally okay with me.  I love them.  In fact when I knew where we were going I loaded my purse up with ten dollar bills for the white people and twenties for the indigenous folks.  And that made that dinner special and most enjoyable.  It was the best!!!

When I saw that picture I decided to ask Monte if he would like to do a repeat at our lovely Greek restaurant here in Port.  It doesn't have a patio but it is by far the most Greek looking restaurant I have ever been to...including a bunch of them I have been to in Greece!  And it is run by a Greek family.  So as long as I am alive and kicking and we live in Port, every Mother's Day you will find us there...keeping up the new tradition.  My biggest hope is that one day as many as possible of my other kids will be there with us!!!

Now I have a bedroom to go regulate, as Voltaire puts it.  I have resolved to be brutal.  I have to have at least two massive garbage bags before I am done.  Maybe three.

I will take pics tonight and tomorrow before I post this post, I will attempt to put them here.

Well it didn't work out the way we planned.  This town is such a loser back water hole.  All the stores and restaurants close down from Sunday to Tuesday.  WHY??????????  And even on Mother's Day Orestes was closed.  Stupid me!  I should have known.  So Pivot time...and pivot we did.  We went to a much better restaurant...in Coombs.  

The place is called Cuckoos and it is just behind the market, the one with the goats on the roof.  We have been there before and loved it.  It's a traditional Italian trattoria.  The food is amazing, a little pricey but well worth it.  We actually had a lovely time!  I shall post pics now...Ohm willing and the creeks don't rise. Thanks for listening and talk soon. TTYL

DRAWBACKS. (WARNING: THIS IS A GREAT BIG WHINE)

 Okay I will just simply put it out there.  There is definitely a downside to being old, toothless, blind. dizzy and having unexpected explosive you know what attacks whenever they feel like it.  I used to be, not all that long ago, a reasonable size, not skinny but you know 2x not 4x (or 8x on Asian sites) (SHOVEL LIST), agile as a gazelle, able to find my coffee cup which is a dark brown and not brilliant red with freaking flashing lights.  I am not used to being half blind and not balanced and not able to be more than 30 seconds from a John.  It's like perpetually prepping for a colonoscopy.  And on top of that very unfairly being a type 2 diabetic.  I cannot comfort myself with more than five carbs at a time, four times a day.  Thats the equivalent of taking a normal size brownie and cutting in four and eat a piece every few hours. (shovel list)

So given all that one of the things that happens fairly frequently is falling.  I have mentioned this before on here.  I fall.  Mostly it's because I am either a) have no depth perception, b) dizzy and lose my balance with no reason or c) rushing too fast for the loo.

This morning is a good example.  In my bedroom it looks just like the hoarder rooms on that tv show.  In my defence it became the throw room as I have cleaned out other areas in the house.  So there are boxes and rubber maids and other containers all covered with draped over clothing and very nasty grabbing your feet rug under it all.  

Well I was changing out of my pj shorts to put on a pair of proper be seen by the public shorts.  Do you think the gd shorts would get off my right foot?  I finally got mad and gave it a mighty kick and, yes the shorts went flying, but so did I.  I managed to fairly slowly go down backwards, busting a full  brittle rubber maid on the way down and landed squeezed between that container and my suitcase, still full of my summer clothes from my Cancun trip.  And there I lay, flapping limbs like a beached whale.

One thing I have learned from falling all the time is to just go with it and stay there a while til you are mentally ready to grasp what has just happened.  No matter how many times I bite it I still get shocked, which then makes me puky (shovel list is way too mild an expletive for pukiness).  So I have learned to just relax and think of a new recipe to try and make a mental shopping list.  But then as I am giving myself much needed care and love, I feel a certain very familiar and dreaded gurgle in what intestines I have left.  If there is anything that would motivate me and give me STRENGTH in my feeble arms and back and ass and legs is that feeling.

You see my biggest problem of falling is getting back up.  OMG!!!!!  When you are old, fat and feeble and have useless limbs, getting up is almost impossible.  I managed to turn over by shoving the suitcase over as far as I could, then put a hand up on the bedside table, shuffle onto my knees and then with herculean strength, motivated only by the dreaded noises, I pushed with my other arm on the nasty rug and I actually got myself very painfully up.  Success!!!  I was so proud ..... and ashamed.

Needless to say getting my room to a safe place is next on my list.  I kind of joke about falling but if I hurt myself then I become someone else's problem...collateral damage.  And to me that is the biggest hugest most dreaded SHOVEL LIST of all. 

Gotta jet....hmmm maybe waddle!  Have a great day and TFL&TTYL 

FUNERAL AND DEATH TALK EVERYWHERE (NOT A RANT...I LOVE FUNERAL TALK)

 I have noticed amongst people around my age, the talk turns to dying, prep for it and funeral plans.  I have a feeling that a lot of it is bravado.  I have noticed because the thought of dying basically isn't a scary or taboo thing to me, I appear callous in these convos.

  Many people I either talk with or read articles written by, are quite disturbed at the idea of dying.  I know when you see that rainbow bridge in the near distance it is a big event to swallow.  But in my humble opinion, MAID is helping people realize really there isn't anything to fear.  Although I think people who choose MAID are very very brave people (or possibly desperate).  My hat's off to them!!!!

The only people, again this is MY opinion and not something anyone else would believe, who have a real reason for being concerned about exiting this world are people leaving vulnerable people they have been responsible for behind.  What happens to them now?

  If you are well off financially it isn't too big a problem physically but there is still the emotional void when you are gone from their life.  And if you are not well off financially, well frankly it's kind of a nightly, awake at three am, heavy, round and round rat hole of thinking and worry.

Also the talk frequently turns to how many people do you estimate will attend your funeral.  Now, these conversations are so funny to me.  Especially the people that take it seriously.  At mom's we made a game out of it.  For a dollar or so you could write down on a grid how many you estimated would attend.  The one closest of course would win!  I do remember one member of our extended family was pretty horrified!  And then that evening after dinner we all ended up out in Kathy's garage playing a wild and crazy version of beer pong!!!  It was so much fun and the sad thing was Mom missed it.  She would have LOVED it!!!!!

I personally counted 12 people who would attend my funeral....more out of familial obligation than anything.  Bill called me Blister for a reason.  I have very few filters and put my foot in it all the time.  I know one member of Bill's family hates me.  I am not sure why and really don't give a dam.  I don't think I was put on this earth to make a million friends.  I know that when Bill died I didn't get one sympathy card or one bouquet of flowers...not even a grocery store one.  What does that tell ya??  LOL!!!!  So my funeral won't need a ton of egg sandwiches.

One day on a cruise a bunch of us ladies were standing around complaining about how intrusive our newly retired home bound husbands were.  All of a sudden they seem to think they know how to do the laundry more efficiently or how to arrange the linen closet in a more ergodynamic order.  So completely disrespectful and asinine!!  I wasn't aggrieved by Spod at all in this regard and I was getting bored with the convo.  So I just casually threw out there the question 'so have any of you made your funeral play list yet?'

Well it's like I had dumped a bucket of cold water on their heads (and us MS bucket experiencers know what that is like.. shovel list).  One lady, keep in mind the average age of Holland America's, otherwise known as the 'Floating Senior Home' age group is, says 'Play?  We don't plan to play at a funeral!!!' in a most indignant tone of voice.  Sigh.

So I explained what a play list is and proceeded to tell them mine...House of the Rising Sun, AC/DC's She's Got The Jack, Mony Mony etc....Fortunately none of them knew the songs.  But they all agreed that it was inappropriate to pick your own music.  That should be left to the people who know and love you.  And that's the rub.  I don't have enough people to gather and make appropriate choices on my behalf.  I saved them the trouble!!!!

 The list and plan for my funeral is on my computer in NOTES under the heading FUNERAL PLANS.  My few loved ones can do what they want but I want to be cremated and jewelry made out the ashes!!!!!!  Due to my size there will be a ton of leftovers and if possible I would like them dumped on my mother.  teehee!  I get the last word that way!!!!!

Gotta bounce.  Have a great time period between this post and the next post!   TFL&TTYL 

THINK BEFORE YOU REACT....(SHOVEL LIST)

 Well let's see...this is what happened.  I have had a pile of donations and boxes of food ready for the Bread of Life.  The BOL is a place here in town connected to a shelter or housing of some sort, I am not sure.  This pile has been sitting in the living room at the end of the couch so long I fear some of the food might be outdated now.  Dammit!!!!

The other day I finally snagged Monte and asked him if he would take it down to the BOL.  He was happy to do it.  The first couple of donations he took in were welcomed with grateful open arms.  It is such a good feeling to be part of that.

At Xmas I bought an extra turkey and some fixings and again had him take it down to them.  The BOL is the main place here in town that feed the vulnerable....meals and food.  

So he happily loaded up the car with the food and a couple of boxes of items.  Down he went.  About fifteen minutes later he suddenly slammed back into the house, and yelled " I am effing never going back there!!!!!  SHE YELLED 'WE DON'T WANT YOUR GARBAGE!!!!!'  OMG!!!  He was beyond humiliated and upset.  He wouldn't talk about it.  He flew into his bedroom and slammed his door.  I did go down and try to get him to talk but he wouldn't.  He was beside himself.  

Later I took him out for supper and got him to add a few extra details.  I guess they had a bit of argument about how he had brought stuff in before and he was actually told by the Sally Ann to do just that.  She said he was lying and that he had never been there before.  This establishment is part of the Sally Ann, which is very staunch Christian.  He yelled back at her that she needed to find Jesus and  packed it all back out to the car and came flying home.  He still won't talk about it.  I put the whole episode on Facebook on our town fb page, without names and the reaction was amazing.  People were so upset on Monte's behalf and had all kinds of alternative solutions.  And it was amazing just how many people in this town super dislike that place for much the same reason.  One lady privately messaged me and asked me to describe her.  She was going to discuss it with the guy that runs the place, who by the way apparently is a fantastic person.  All I could pass on was date and time it happened and monte said she was grey haired, short and dumpy.

Now here is the crazy part! Remember in the last post I mentioned we stopped at the 7/11 and I got a slurpy?  Well as I was struggling massively with a too small lid for the damned slurpy, Monte came over and bent down low and whispered in my ear, 'the lady that yelled at me is at the till working.'  What??????  She is a seven elevener!!!!!  And due to his height and the strange clothes he wears plus hat, she would def remember him.  So I made sure to be with him and talking to him so she would know I was also with him.

When I got to the till I wouldn't look at her, I was brief and snappy with any answers I had to give her, refused an offer to donate to something (believe it or not) with a sharp clipped NO and paid, walked out of there, no good bye no thank you or have a nice day.  She was being extremely nice and helpful. lol

As soon as I got home I messaged the person who was going to talk to the boss and told her that the lady worked at seven eleven....that would help identify her.

But now I feel bad.  I feel I should have waited a day or two before reacting.  I know this.  I know when I am feeling super strongly immediately about something I need to wait til I can think clearly.  I was feeling so hurt on Monte's behalf and I was not thinking in a very balanced way.  So I let her rip on Facebook.

Which now I totally regret.  As much as I expect people who work with the public to be careful and understanding, so must we the public.  I was pretty upset that this lady was yelling and she doesn't know if that person is fragile or not.  Well the same responsibility goes the other way from the public.  I remember teaching my little kids that.  That person could have just suffered domestic abuse, or lost a close person or just be having a stressful day.  

I told Monte this.  I told him that for someone to behave in such an extreme manner, something has to be wrong, either with her or with her day.  Doesn't mean it's right, but it does mean there is a reason.

Anyway the joys of living in a small town.  What are the odds of seeing the lady elsewhere that quickly.  Anyway, I added this message to my original post on Facebook.  Kindness and understanding are what makes the world go around!  TFL&TTYL

ONLY ME!!! WHY NOT THE NEIGHBOURS???

 The title of this post is an homage to my awesome bestie Anne (you are too Cookie💕)!  When ever anything went wrong, Anne would, in a very annoyed tone of voice yell "WHY ME??  WHY NOT THE NEIGHBOURS??"  It has become something of a saying in our family and we chuckle every time we use it.

But I sure as hell was not chuckling today.  I am cash strapped right now.  I have enough money for sure but it is all tied up.  So now I am super budgeting...which suits me fine.  I am used to it.

Today Monte took me around to various places I needed to go. Walmart, dollar store, bank etc...  It was a lovely day.  I was getting some bedding for the guest room.  I am combining what I have with new stuff I need.

Well I landed on the most beautiful comforter.  It is all white with an embossed type design.  I absolutely fell in love with it.  Unfortunately it was 79 bucks.  For Walmart that is pretty high I feel.  But I bought it anyway.

As soon as I got home I took it straight down the hall to the bedroom to snip the ties that bound it and spread it out to take a look.  It is absolutely right up my alley.  As I spread it out I suddenly noticed red blood stains right smack in the middle of the right side up side.  The stain wasn't very big but there it was.  It suddenly dawned on me that after watching a million killer forensic shows that blood stains are only red when they are fresh.  And I wasn't bleeding anywhere.

I pulled the comforter towards me and took a closer look and touched the little area and realized it was wax!!!  I smelled it.  And goddammit!!!!  It was the apple smell of the wax warmer in the hallway.  Somehow I must have brushed the top of that frigging thing and it is too full.  I knew that too cuz it has been bumped before and there is red wax all over the wall and running down to the floor.  I just haven't got around to fixing all that.  Wouldn't you just know.  This sort of thing happens to me all the time and it is my own damned fault .....  every time!  You'd think I would learn.  But I don't seem to.

I am now sitting in my comfort zone recliner, pouting, sipping on my slurpee I got when we stopped at 7/11, fighting off a killer brain freeze (shovel list, why me why not the neighbours) sulking like a pro.  I asked my third best friend, AI, how to get wax out of the bedding.  So I shall fix it...later.

All in all it was a good day though.  If I can figure out how I will post pics here after I get the bed sheets arriving tomorrow from Amazon.  And next post I have quite a story to tell you, a sad thing that happened to Monte, and a complete coincidental incident that happened today.  In the meantime TFL&TTYL

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

HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN JIGGITY JIG

 Home and sicker than a dog.  Wowza I haven't been sick like this in years.  This is way worse than the two days I had covid.  Coughing like a banshee..good thing my tonsils are gone...they would be stuck to my front room window by now...launched from my trusty dusty worn out chair.  And there is soooo much to do here and I can't move.  Whine.....

I spent two nights in the hotel with Mr. Man.  He was busy visiting his friend and going to Anton's for dinner...only the most amazing pasta palace.  I honestly do not remember what I did in that room....I got sick and I think my brain left to go elsewhere in a happier place.

Yesterday we left and drove straight home.  Although I will admit to dragging my sorry ass out of the car on the ferry and went up and got a bowl of their clam chowder, the most addictive stuff ever.  Then I skedaddled back down to the car to cough my lungs up in peace.  I hold my eyes in with my fingers when I super cough like that and I try not to do that part in public.  

Thats it.  All I got.  I can't think.  I shall catch up later when my legs are straighter, as my Billy used to  ALWAYS say.  TFL&TTYL

THE GANG ALL WAITING FOR A SUNSET 

I AM JUST PROVING I AM THE WORST SELFIE TAKER EVER

WE WENT FOR A WALK DOWN AT THE WATERFRONT

PARTY IN THE FRONT....NOT SO MUCH IN THE BACK

I GOT TO CUDDLE MY GREAT NEPHEW!!  

SMOOTH SAILING

The trip home was amazing for me...thanks to my incredible sister.  She had arranged on her phone a day or two before for a wheelchair to meet us as soon as we were about to line up for baggage check and then again in Calgary.

Now I will admit it was somewhat humbling.  That was the first time I had to admit to not being up to normal walking.  And after blowing out my knee one year on a cruise, Bill had to push me around Singapore in a rickety noisy wheelchair and it wore him out.  I was worried about poor Kathy pushing big old me through ridiculously loooong airports.  She kept saying she was fine but if pushing me could tax a huge tough man I knew that pushing me wasn't easy.  

At one point we came across a fairly long uphill ramp.  I was about to hop out and walk up, no way would she be able to push me up that hill, when a lovely looking pilot came along and told her to drag his luggage up the ramp and he would push me.  Which he did!!!  During this whole experience I was overwhelmed by the kindness of people.

We landed in a very snowy Calgary.  It was nine at night.  In the end we spent longer sitting around on a traffic jammed airport tarmac than we were in the air flying to Kamloops.  But we finally got to the Kamloops Airport by around three in the morning.  And there was Kerry, a very welcome sight, all ready to take us home.

I want to mention Jackie here.  She was one of the ladies on the trip.  Her dad and Bill signed up for the RCMP at the same time.  And way back when her dad was a teen they moved right beside my mom's parents in Kelowna.  What a coincidence!

The reason I mention her is she is the one that had the kutzpa to go to the lobby about the lack of decent stairs in the pool.  And down below I have put a picture to show what her smarts caused!!!  We were all so very proud of her!!!

I had one day at Kathy's before catching the bus to Vancouver.  I called Anne and made arrangements for her to pick me up.  She invited me to a lunch across town.  It was in the back of a thrift shop, run by a Catholic Church.  I am not sure if it's everyday or not but they serve seniors a free lunch made by a variety of people from the congregation.  And it being the first weekend lunch or something it was borscht and perogie day!!!  Now this is not something I would normally feel comfortable just showing up at but she was really wanting me to meet some of the people there.  So I agreed.

Well let me tell ya, it was fantastic.  Homemade pirogies and sour cream and the best borscht I have ever had.  And there were lots of seniors there.  I got talking to one lady across from me only to find out we went to Norkam together and knew all the same people.  What a head psyche that was!!!   She filled me in on how many and who are dead.  Yikes.  I feel a bit lucky to be alive. Overall what an awesome experience it was.  I am so glad I did the trip and did the lunch.  

I think over the last seven years since moving to Port I have become people and experience shy.  No one visits me on the island (I don't blame them) and I have lost interest in making friends.  I think I will revisit joining the senior club in Port.  They have about 65 different things I can join.  

Well this is getting long and a little diary ish.  Til next post TFL&TTYL

WHILST IN THE THRIFT SHOP I CAME ACROSS THIS GEM.  I WOULD GIVE MY RIGHT YOU KNOW WHAT TO HAVE THESE IN MY LIVING ROOM AT HOME.  WAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

JUST A LITTLE NACHOS WHILE WAITING FOR THE SHUTTLE TO THE AIRPORT

THERE SHE IS!!!  JACKIE, STANDING ON THE VERY STAIRS SHE TOLD THEM THEY NEEDED.  HOW POWERFUL IS THAT????!!!!

 

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT A COMPLAINT

 I am dead serious. This is NOT a complaint.  I am about to point out all the ridiculous anomalies of this four and a half star resort.  Everything, and I mean everything, is just a little off.  It's like they put together a great idea that slid just a bit as it was completed.  But without a doubt this has been by far the most interesting!!!

I am sitting right now at a small pedestal type table outside of their coffee shop.  I have to keep a foot on one of the feet to keep the table from seriously wobbling every time I press a laptop key.  I tested each table before sitting and they all wobbled..some much worse than the one I chose. 

 On one of the tables is a public use jenga game.  Seriously.  It isn't possible to play jenga on a wobbly table.

Most of the hard chairs for sitting, whether at a restaurant venue or at these tables are supremely uncomfortable because they are missing most of their backs.  It is possible they are designed to keep us moving but jeez...we need some time to gorf down our food or finish our Nine hole Golf game or crib game.

All over the resort property there are stairs and ramps and without notice..different levels of floors.  The level changes are very small and not noticeable from five to six feet above.  Suddenly you are a couple inches lower or higher.  Very off putting.  And the stairs down to the small crowded beach are old rickety wooden ones that are totally uneven.  Other cement stairs here don't have railings..not good for some of us tippy or drinky people!

And speaking of stairs, the one pool for the three nine story buildings has a wee set of stairs attached to the wall of the pool and are very very hurtfully narrow.  Painful!!!  And if statistics are correct sixty percent of us have diabetes of some sort.  This means we have very neuropathic feet...again, painful!!! 

 One of our crew who shall remain nameless, bless her, had the ovaries to go to the lobby and give them what for and told them they need to put proper stairs in and out of the pool!!!  I was so very impressed with her!!!  In fact we have made suggestions to her about other things she should go to the lobby about!!!

The beds...oh the beds.  They are big and very comfy.  The bedding fresh, beautifully white.  The pillows are plentiful  various sizes for our comfort.  These lovely beds are placed on large sticky outy wooden platforms.  I now have a gouged leg and so does Kathy from rounding the corners of those beds and taking  chunks out of our shins.  The last time I did it, and of course at exactly the same spot it had already happened once or twice, I swore like a seasoned sailor and proceeded to walk over every inch of the room, bleeding the whole way then climbed into that pristine white bed.  And it's clear that due to our age in that room it wasn't.....well you know.  It was from an injury dammit!!!

The food is all Mexican...which is lovely.  But after a while it becomes monotonous.  Every meal is basically the same stuff.  But...their soups are unbelievably delicious.  Nothing even slightly off about them!!!  The salsas are also great except you can't tell if they are perfect or blistering hot.  You have to ask and sometimes they don't even know. 

 Today at lunch I asked a lovely Mexican waiter which of the ten bowls of rainbow coloured salsa was safe to eat.  He didn't know.  So he took each spoon and dropped a glob on the palm of his hand and licked it up!!!  hahahaha!!!!  He eventually found the right ones.  That is definitely taking one for the team!!  Then he told me he didn't like hot ones!!!!

This morning I came down for breakfast and there was a line up out the door.  I went past it to the girl signing everyone in and she said it would be a half hour wait.  Now so far we have been able to get a table but honestly I wasn't surprised.  That buffet dining room is so small..at least small for three nine story buildings.  I was mad.  Half an hour later it was not so busy but still....just a little off.

Lastly, well there is more but you get the drift.  I left the bedroom this morning and guess what?  The elevator isn't working.  Sigh.  I can walk down from the fifth floor but I am not sure my fat ass would make it back up before our stay here is over.  I found a person that works here and she got someone who finally fixed one of them.  Always just a little something...keeps it interesting!!!

One last word...one more thing.  This one is not a little off.  This one is perfection.  And that is the employees here.  Whether it's the restaurant staff or the cleaning crews or the bartenders....the men and women who work here are absolutely amazing incredible people.  They are so attentive, friendly, kind, no judging people.  I love them.  It is amazing how you can make friends with them so quickly and so memorable.  I will remember Filipe from the dining room forever.

Next I will write about the seven people I am here with.  Hahahaha!!!  Just kidding!!!  I would never do that.  Let it suffice for me to say that this is an amazing awesome group to be friends with.  I don't feel worthy.  TFL&TTYL

AWKWARD POOL AREA

WHERE I WAS SITTING OUTSIDE THE CAFE BLOGGING THIS POST

NOTE THERE IS NO USA FLAG!!!!

JUST A WEE BIT OF  PIXELATED EYE CANDY

RAMPS AND STAIRS AND RAMPS AND STAIRS

A LOVELY ECHOY LOBBY

ANOTHER LOBBY, STORE AND BAR.COFFEE SHOP AT THE FAR END.

OUT THE LOBBY WINDOW

NO, THAT IS NOT MARSHMALLOW SALAD IT IS TONS OF DELICIOUS CIVICHE

SO WHO LOST AND WHO IS GLOATING AND WHO DOESN'T CARE AND WHO IS THAT???

DRINKING AT THE BEACH FROM FAT LADY CUPS