Another Monday Update

I know I have to get better organized and start blogging more frequently.

I went out last week to buy new jeans. The 2 pair I have at home are too snug ACK HEM...they must have shrunk :)

So I went to the store looking for the next size up - they were way too big. So I got a pair my regular size but in stretch demin. They seemed to fit fine at the store, but when I wore them grocery shopping on Sunday, they wouldn't stay up! I was constantly hauling my drawers up! It was embarassing and when I was carrying groceries into the house from the car, they started slidding WAY down - it is a good thing my coat is thigh length! So I am off to the store tomorrow to return them for the next size down.

It finally snowed here during the day Friday, but it didn't stay, however, we woke up Saturday morning to about an inch on the ground - it is all gone now though. It looks nice, but I don't much care for the stuff.

I have started my Christmas decorating - and before the first of December too! Woo Hoo. I even have a few Chrismas cards started. I didn't even bother with them last year.

DH & I decided to try the local pub for dinner tonight. It was wing night - a pound of wings for $7. I asked if these came with fries, the answer was no. However, the menu had a pound of wings with fires and veggie sticks for $10 - we ordered 2 of these. The wings were huge but a couple were not cooked enough for my liking (even though I asked for mine to be well done as I like crispy wings). The fries tasted stale and twice fried. Not a meal worth remembering.

When we got the bill, I was surprised to see that we charged $7x2 for the wings and $5x2 for the fries. I asked about this and said I had ordered the $10 meal out of the menu. The waitress said since it was wing night, we couldn't order that. What!? She did end up removing one order of fries off the bill and said we would have receive a lot less fries with the the $10 meal (which would have been just fine with me). I won't go back there. Food was only OK and the service was crap - we waited 15 minutes after she cleared our plates for the bill - there was only one other table with 2 people in the place.

Oh I forgot to mention - I am going to be a great aunt again! My nephew and his girlfriend are expecting their 1st baby in March. So I have to start the next baby quilt pretty soon. They have found out it is a girl. Why do people always find out now-a-days?

When I was pregnant with my son, I had a blood test done that said I was at high risk of having a down's baby, so I had an amniosentisis (sp?) done. It took 5 wks before they called me to tell the baby was fine - then they asked if I wanted to know the sex of the baby. I was so surprised - I hadn't expected them to offer that info. I said no as it was the only surprise I had left :)

I actually found out I was having a boy just before my son was born. I had a scheduled C-section (because of ovarian cysts) and while they were prepping me and DH was out of the room, my Dr asked me what boy names I had chosen. After I told him, he didn't say anything for a few minutes and then as if he remembered, also asked what girl's names I had picked. So I knew it was a boy :)

Only 26 days until Christmas! Are you ready? I have bought my son a few gifts but not the big one yet as he keeps changing his mind and also a few stocking stuffers. That is it - I have to get cracking!

Dreary Rainy Monday

I am sick of all the rian we have been having - go away! And it was very cold on Sunday too - winter is definitely on its' way.

My sister came over today with her carpet cleaner and did my family room carpet for me. We have cream coloured carpet and two dark coloured dogs.

I made her homemade wonton soup for lunch in return. It was my first time making it but it truned out pretty good.

The filling for the wontons was ground pork, diced water chestnuts, chopped green onion, sesame oil, ginger powder, garlic and fish sauce - don't ask me how much of everything, I never measure.

I put about a teaspoon of filling in each wonton wrapper (store bought).

The soup was chicken stock (8 cups), 2 cups water, salt, pepper, soy sauce, ginger powder & sesame oil.

I brought the broth to a soft boil and cooked the wontons for about 10 mins.

Fresh chopped green onion was added to the bowls before I laddled the soup and wontons in. We each had 2 bowls :) Filling and relatively lowfat. And nice and warm on such a yucky day.

Now that my house is somewhat clean, I need to start decorating it. I did buy 2 artifical but very real looking pointsettia plants for my family room  mantel.

DH has gone to Ottawa for a few days for work. He will be back on Wednesday. Maybe I'll have the house all decorated by then.

Nothing lasts anymore

Last year while I was working, I often had to schelp my laptop around. Instead of carrying my heavy laptop case, I thought I would buy a backpack and carry the laptop that way. It worked out pretty well.

Fast forward to the beginning of the school year. J needed a new backpack, so we decided since I wasn't using mine anymore and it was pretty new he would use that.

So here it is only 3 months into the school year and the backpack is almost totally wrecked! He probably throws it around more than I ever did, but still.

So this weekend we will be hunting for kids backpacks.

Too bad these are out of stock

or Peanut would probably be getting one :)

Doggie Snowsuit

Seriously?

there are only 5 weeks til Christmas...seriously? Where the heck did the year go to? I am NOT ready for Christmas. I haven't even begun to think about being ready for Christmas.

It seems each year, I get closer and closer to the date before I actually feel like I am in a Christmasy mood.

So...I have decided, I am going to do a major clean this weekend and start decorating.  The Toronto Santa Claus Parade is on Sunday - we can watch it on TV and drink hot chocolate with the fireplace lit. I hope this gets me in the Christmas mood.

I get gift cards for many of the people I buy for, but there is still some I have to shop for.

5 weeks...wow, I am so not ready *sigh*


P.S. We are going to see the 2nd last installment of the Harry Potter movies tomorrow night - we will go out for dinner 1st and make a night of it. So excited! I LOVE Harry Potter almost as much as the kid does.

Works For Me Wednesday - Easier Juicer Cleanup

For the past week or so I have been drinking fresh vegetable & fruit juice. I have a pretty decent juicer that takes just a minute or two to juice half an English cucumber, a small beet, 3 stalks of celery and a large apple. The juicing part is simple. The cleanup, not so much.

I have found a way to simplify it a bit. I am reusing those plastic produce bags to line the pulp catcher (yes that is the technical name :)) Make sure to fold it over the edge and the lid will hold it in place.

Many people reuse the veggie pulp in things like meatloaves or the fruit pulp in muffins, if you plan to do that, line the pulp catcher with a ziplock bag so you can close it and put in the fridge or freezer. Since I mix the both veggies & fruit, I don't save my pulp for anything.

So once I have made my juice, I simply wash all the removeable parts and toss the bag of pulp - I don't have to wash or dump the pulp catcher. It saves me a bit of hassle.

The juice looks a bit better once I stir it - and it actually taste pretty good too :)

What's been happening...

So kiddo came down with strep throat on Saturday. He missed school on Mon & Tues because of it and a high fever. Last week, he also had Mon & Tues off because he went hunting with his Dad - school knew he wasn't off sick. He returned to school Wed last week. It was pizza day but the grade 8s (his grade) had been gone all day touring the highschool in prep for next year. They returned to school around 3pm - and were given their pizza lunch (that had been sitting since noon). J downed his chocolate milk, realizing only after, that it tasted funny. A few other students noticed that the chocolate milk was expired - by about a 10 days!

When he got home he said he didn't feel very well and was soon suffering diarhea. This continued all night - so he stayed home on Thursday since the school doesn't allow kids to use the washroom much (stupid rule) and I didn't want any accidents.

So anyhow...on Tuesday morning this week, I called his teacher to say he wouldn't be in and if he could send homework home with a family friend, also a teacher at the school, so that J wouldn't fall behind. He said yes, but also informed me that he was obligated to report J's many absences to the school board because there had been so many in such a short time.

We went over the fact that the first 2 days were not sick days, the 3rd was due to the school providing expired milk and the 4th and 5th because he had strep throat which is highly contagious. He still plans to report it - whatever! J is not in any danger of falling behind so I don't care what the school has to say. If more parents kept sick kids home, maybe MY kid wouldn;t be sick now!

I had a telephone interview with a company in downtown Toronto last week, for a perm position. It went well. Tomorrow I have an in-person interview with them. As a consultant, I have interviewed MANY times, I still get nervious. Wish me luck :)

For the past 6 days I have been having fresh green juice every morning. It consits of 1/2 an English cucumber, 3 stalks of celery and an apple. The apple makes it tolerable. Celery & cucumber are supposed to be good in lowering blood pressure...so are husbands and kids who listen...just saying :P

Peanut has an ear infection and is on meds (ear drops). J is on antibiotics for his strep throat. I don't know which one is harder to administrate.

Christmas is coming! Did you realise that? I have to start deep cleaning my house so that I can start decorating at the beginning of December. Last year we didn't decorate until about the week before Christmas, I want to start much earlier this year.

If I get this job, I will have to start it right away and will not have time to clean - but if I am working, I can justify hiring someone to come in and clean right? :)

That time of year again...

The dreaded yearly physical.

So yesterday I had my yearly physical.

The boys were away hunting so I had to take public transit. My Dr's office is about 2 kms away but it was very cold so I decided to take the bus. Because I live in a small town, the busses do loops and do not travel both ways - so to get to where I needed to be, I had to ride the bus approx. 6km, switch busses in downtown, ride the 2nd bus another 6 km to reach my destination that was ony 2 km away from where I originally caught the bus - you get that?

After the 30 minute bus rides, I arrive at my Dr office 30 minutes early.

The nurse calls me in to weight me - I weight too much, to take my blood pressure - it is too high and to measure my waist - it is too big.

Then I get taken into the exam room where I am given a serviette and a paper towel to cover up with. Why do they bother? I put on the paper gown which actually covers the front of me but leaves my back end hanging in the breeze.

The Dr comes in and she does the regular physical exam and chitchat. Then comes time for the Pap test. Let's get this over with. I lay back and look at the poster of a freaky monkey on the ceiling with the caption "I need to relax" Cute.

The little swing lamp the Dr uses to see what she is doing is being finicky and keeps shutting off by itself. She tries to fix it. She is still prefoming the Pap test. She suddenly says "hang on, I'm going to get the nurse to hold a light for me". She leaves the room with me in this lovely position. It is actually the receptionist she brings back ACK!!! to hold the light. I do not make eye contact with anyone. I stare at the goofy monkey on the ceiling, pretending my bits are not on display to this woman who is not my Dr. The Pap is finished, the receptionist leaves.

The Dr leaves so I can dress, ya like I have any dignity left.

When she returns she asks if I want a flu shot - sure, I usually get one.

She asks when my last tetanus shot was. I can't recall, so she decides I should have one. So bad memory equals lots of shots.

I also have to schedule a mammogram as it has been 2 yrs since my last one and I have a family history of breast cancer. Great I get to have the girls squished again.

I go see the nurse again to get my 2 shots.

I have fasted since the previous night so I go down to the lab for my blood work. It isn't too bad this time - only get poked once. I have very deep slippery veins and I usually get poked several times before they decide to take the blood from my hand which hurts like a ....

I also have to get an EKG since I am over 40. Off with the top half of clothes again - paper sheet over me. The technician sticks 9 sticky things all over me, attaches the electrodes or whatever and a couple minutes later rips off the sticky things and tells me I am done. I redress and thankfully head home.

I left the house at 8:10am and return at 11am. Not too bad and I am done for another whole year...well except for the mammogram.

Later in the afternoon my boys return home. I tell my needle-fearing son I got the flu shot - he is 13 now and swears he can decide for himself and he is NOT getting the flu shot this year. I say fine, and that he should be really thankful that he is not female as the flu shot would be the least of his worries!