Decorating

We decorated last night :-). I put on Christmas music...deocrated our little 3 foot tree. So, I bought ornaments at Ikea. They were a nice little matchy set, that I knew would be just about the right amount for our tree, and inexpensive, so I thought "okay, perfect." I opened them up last night and realized that a) They didn't have string to hang them attached to them but b) They came with string (this plasticy stuff that was IMPOSSIBLE to tie a knot in, and all pieces were too short) so that I could c) Spend about 1.5 hours tying and stringing the strings on the ornaments!!! "Some assembly required." Bah! Anyhoo, D. helped me finish them and they're up.

I did discover the benefit to decorating on Dec. 19 - I went to Michael's yesterday and all decorations were 50-70 percent off! I actually bought a garland for the stairs railing, along with the tree and a couple of other things. Very excellent. It's all fake this year. I can't wait until we have our own place/ a bigger place so that we can buy a big real tree.

I'll be like a ping pong ball over the next week and a half. I'm on the mainland today for work, then back home tonight, then back over there on the 24, back to Vic on the 26, back to the mainland on the 30, back to Vic again on the 1. Crazy!

Today

Well..my plans for today:
1) Get caught up on all my other client work...and various bits and pieces related to work.
2) Do my out-of-the-house work.
3) Find a small Christmas tree and finish buying the little extras for Christmas gifts.
4) CLEAN my house.
5) Go to the gym if there's time. I recently went to the gym I used to go to before we moved to MA with a client, and remembered how much I loved it there. I think I'm going to try to get back into the habit of going there while I have a break from school and finding the time is a bit easier. Mostly because I had forgotten what an escape going there was. As soon as I walked in I felt more relaxed - so I think I will go back there :-).

I think life will be easier when I don't have school. I just realized yesterday that all I have to do this week is work, and that that actually makes a big difference. Not that I've been putting tons of time into school (as I should be) but it's just the fact that I don't have that, or marking hanging over me needing to be done in all my spare time. One day I'll be there!! Then I'm sure though, that something else will replace school!! Ah well..I will enjoy these little breaks while I have them :-).

Livingrooom!

Livingroom BEFORE: Livingroom After:

Well, it's all done. Not QUITE as exciting in th pictures as it is in person (the room just feels much better), but it definately makes a difference :-). Mellowing it out and adding some art definately helps the small room. This was a low-budget re-decorating...in that we didn't buy any furniture, just "accents" and a cheap Ikea area rug and art, throw pillows etc. But I'm happy with it :-) . I couldn't find my camera (ug!) so took the pictures with my laptop..so their not super good quality. There's also a cool new hanging lamp in the staircase that you can't see in these pictures..the only downside to it is that it is much brighter (even with a low-watt bulb) thn I had planned on...I was looking for mood lighting, not light the whole room lighting! That's okay though. I hung a bamboo blind on the wall behind it so that it wouldn't reflect off the glaring white wall as much and that seems to have helped.

Oyyoiyoi!

Well, at LONG last a) My classes are finished for the semester and b) I've finished my stack of marking!

I now have a bunch of other stuff to get caught up on that I have neglected over the last week...but this frees me up to do that, thankfully.

This also means that as soon as I have a moment (well more than a moment) to spare I can re-decorate the livingroom. I am very excited about this :-).

I thought I had more to say. Hmm.

Salt and Pepper Oatmeal

I was just telling friends about this yesterday..and that make me crave it this morning. When I was growing up, my dad would often have oatmeal with butter, salt, and pepper rather than the usual sweet accompaniments.

So, this morning, I made oatmeal, added the margarine, salt and pepper and mmmmm! I forgot how good it is. I know it sounds weird, but it IS pretty tasty :-).

The dinner at Cafe Brio last night was amazing. By no means fast-friendly, but it was soooooo good. Unfortunately we missed the appetizers because D. had the start time off by about an hour or hour and a half! But we made it in time for the dinner and socializing afterwards.

They had, as the "activities" for the evening both a gift exchange and a gingerbread house making contest. They got gingerbread house kits from Thriftys that had everything you need to make the house. Alas, we didn't win the contest...but it was fun anyways.

Whirlwind times and reinforcement contingencies

Whirlwind times these are. DH was away for work for 1 week, then home for a two days, then gone for another week, then home for a day and a half, then gone for another three days. Then, a day later I was gone for work! There was actually a point in there where we were both on the mainland for work, and didn't see each other. Mad? Yes.

I just returned home from a mainland trip. I went over Thursday night, worked all day Friday, had a relaxing evening by the fire with my in-laws visiting, then....then....today, I went to Ikea!! D.'s sister and I have been wanting to go to Ikea together for a while, and as luck had it she was available today. So, I introduced her to the full T. Ikea experience (This is the Ikea experience I was inducted to by Magnificent M. I can't help but think of her whenever I'm there...):

1) Make the "Whaaaaa!!!" sound as you spot the sleek blue and yellow building that holds so many wonderful things from the highway.
2) Start in the cafe, get a coffee...smell the cinammon buns so that you can start looking forward to one at the end of the trip.
3) Proceed up to the showroom (never skip the showroom).
4) Visit the couch you'll get when you have the room and the money.
5) Visit the various kitchens...decide which one is the one you'll get when you have your own house and the money to afford it.
6) Oooh and awww over various decorating ideas and specific items throughout the showroom.
7) After about an hour and a half of showroom browsing stop in the cafeteria for lunch. Of course, spend no more than 5.00 on a yummmy lunch.
8) Debate which items you will/will not purchase, what items will go together and fit in your rooms.
9) Refreshed, head down to the self-serve area.
10) Debate for ridiculous amounts of time what to buy. Go back and forth through the shortcuts to compare artwork with rugs, with lighting.
11) Once said debates are resolved, pick up various bits and pieces needed (serving spoon, candles, measuring spoons, kitchen sheers) for very very low prices :-).
12) Cart full, head to browse the "before you line up" area. Today I picked up Christmas ornaments, wrapping paper and gift tags.
13) Normally scope out the self-serve area, but we skipped this step today.
14) Line, up, mentally calculate the cost of the items in your cart, then decide what to take out and leave in the shopping bag bins by the till. Today, I was caught re-handed ditching items by an Ikea employee...she was nice about it though :-).
15) Pay, congratulate yourself on how full your cart is for such a reasonable price, and on NOT buying the various items you visited but resisted buying.
16) Purchase any 1-2 of the following from the cafe: Frozen yogurt, hot dog, or cinnamon bun. Today it was cinnamon bun.

Can you tell it's been a while since I've been to Ikea?? Lol. I managed, for a ridiculously low price, to purchase items for an almost complete living room makeover. No furniture, but all accents that will greatly improve the feel of the living room! My SIL was an incredibly good sport, and provided the necessary assurances that I "needed" various items, and suffered through my indecisiveness about what to purchase without giving even the slightest hint that she was becoming irritated with me (ANYone who has been with me at this shopping stage KNOWS how irritating my indecisiveness gets!!).

So, now to the reinforcement contingency: I am not allowing myself (and D. will hold me to it) to set up the new living room until I've finished marking the pile of exams that are still looming. I think I am now significantly motivated!

Tomorrow we have Church, and D's work Christmas party, so I won't have much time to mark, especially since I have two exams to write myself on Monday. So, Monday night, Tuesday, maybe Wednesday will be marking mania in and around my other work. Then I will get the room set up.

I will post pictures when it's done (before and after of course)!

Lunch

Mmmmm....I thought to make this on my way home for lunch and I have NO idea why I thought of it, aside from the fact that I had all the ingredients, and thought it might taste good.

Saute a bunch ( I used 2 handfulls of leaves) of spinach in olive oil, with one clove of crushed garlic, and salt and pepper.
Just as the first leaves start to wilt, add in pre-cooked, thawed shrimp (I think I used about 1/2 or 3/4 cup).
Saute for a minute or two, squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lemon.
Saute until leaves are just wilted and shrimp is heated through.
Eat.

SO good!! I think it would be good over rice or somthing as well, because the combination of the wilting spinach, and the garlic and lemon created a really yummy broth!

SO good.

Good things

I'm trying to return to the original purpose of this blog, which was to make time for things that I often forget to make time for. So..today...good things about today:

1. Accomplishing an amazing amount before 5pm, due to waking up so blinking early.
2. Mint tea and cinnamon toast. I haven't had cinnamon toast forever!
3. Chuck. I'm loving that show. It was on tonight.

Sleepless in Victoria

Well, I'm up early, b/c D. was taking the 7am ferry over to the mainland for work, and I took the opportunity to get up early with him in hopes of getting lots done today.

I had a really hard time going to sleep last night. My brain was whirling at breakneck speed thinking about:
-Client A
- Client B
- Potential thesis topics and exactly how I could execute said potential research. I thought about this in way too much detail when I didn't have a pen or pencil and paper or computer to record my thoughts. Can I remember what I was thinking about now? Not so much.
- My to do list for today and this week.
- That I couldn't sleep.
- That I may be keeping D. up with my tossing and turning when he had to get up early.
- Concentrating on laying still while I was thinking about everything else to minimize the disruption to D.

Lol! Now I'm debating showering and going into work uber early to get a good start on the day...or to stay at home and do my work from home and school stuff. I think I may go out to work so I can then come home and have a longer period of time to get things done in when I get back.

Bastet is confused - she is doing her weird dog thing (if I haven't told you about this yet - she has this stuffed dog she has a bizarre relationship with. Late at night, usually about 10 min after we go to bed she carries it around and meows in this bizarre meow that is a combination of the way mother cats meow to their kittens, and a predatory meow. She has a very bizarre relationship with this dog). It's morning Bastet, not evening!! lol!

Bits and pieces

1. I found a great recipe website: All Recipes. The recipes can be printed in multiple formats, you can modify the number of servings and it automatically resets the ingredient amounts for the number of servings you want. If you create an account, you can save recipes to your recipe box, print out ingredients, all kinds of things!

2. Great, simple pizza/focaccia type recipe:

Mix 2 1/2 tsps of active dry yeast with 1 cup warm water till dissolved.
Add 1 tbsp of oil and 2 1/2 cups flour and mix till it forms a ball.
Let rise on oven while you heat it up for about 15 minutes.
Set oven to about 400 degrees.
Slice peppers (I used red, yellow and orange) thinly, and tomatoes in about 1/4 inch thick slices.
Sprinkle pizza stone with cormeal, and roll the dough out on the stone.
Brush dough with olive oil.
Sprinkle with kosher salt (or sea salt), fresh cracked pepper, and italian seasoning (I think a mix of rosemary, thyme, basil, oregano?).
Lay tomatoes and peppers out on the dough.
(Optional) sprinkle with feta cheese.
Bake for about 15 minutes in the oven. I check it and turn it at 10 minutes, then watch it closely till it's done.
Grill in oven for the last 1-2 minutes.
Slice and serve...would make a good appetizer I think.

3. I'm going through IKEA withdrawal...I'm in serious need of a trip. When I told M. this, she said "What do you need?" I said "Well...a door mat....umm...a dish rack...and you know." She said "And you can't get a door mat anywhere in Victoria?" So, maybe I don't NEED much from Ikea, but I think it's more the Ikea shopping experience I need. I've also added to that list of things I need from Ikea: Throw pillows, maybe art for above our couch, candles and a few Christmas decorations, a new duvet cover....hmm. All these are things I know I can get cheaply at Ikea. I'm sure I CAN get them elsewhere, but I KNOW I can get them cheaply there ;-).

4. D. is away for work again this upcoming week. I'm going to try to make the best of it and get caught up and ahead (hopefully) on work and school things. I get a stack of marking on Friday, so I'll need to be caught up on everything else before then.

5. I'm hoping, once again to get back on the health bandwagon this week. Still running out of time in the day...eating not enough veggies and fruit, and too much junk, and not making enough time for exercise, sleep, and other non-work and school related things.

6. I know it's that time of year, but I'm just tired. Not physically, but mentally (mostly). I'm finding I'm in one of those phases I go through (and I'm sure everyone does) periodically where it's just tiring thinking about another week starting, when often the previous one hasn't ended...and because I'm tired, I'm constantly feeling like I'm doing the bare minimum to get by in all areas of my life, and thus doubting whether I can really keep up with this job and line of work I've chosen. Like I said though, this is a phase...I know it is, we all go through them and it will pass. Just tired though right now.

Our weekend away!

We had an excellent weekend away.

We started in Nanaimo on Friday night. As usual, we were flurried and rushed trying to get out of town, but made it onto the highway not too far behind schedule. We spent an excellent Friday night with friends in Nanaimo. There was good food, wine and even some juggling, MJ, and many other good tunes. The next day we went to Coombs Market (had the best samosa I've had in years there!)..but alas there were no goats on the roof. I did score some strained tomatoes (I know, exciting only for a very few people), "sticky toffee" cheese, geman ginger cookies (spekulates...sp?), and a few other things. I love Coombs. I managed to restrain myself and didn't load the truck up with random dishes and decorative items, but I did kick myself for not bringing the cooler!

We then headed to Comox to visit some other friends. We had coffee with D., who was our lone Canadian friend in Mass., and who has since also moved home and was visiting family in Comox. We stayed with some other frineds and had a WONDERFULLY lazy day and a half. Saturday we slept in, went out for brunch, picked up some firewood and went back to their place. These friends are house-sitting in a house with a wood-burning fire place. So, we stoked the fire and spent the day lazing around, visiting with some people who stopped by, listening to music, playing dutch blitz and just relaxing by the fire! After a run for dinner ingredients, we made a yummy dinner of homemade meatballs and pasta and apple crisp for dessert. Played more dutch blitz, and watched the crazy storm (winds were up to 100km in Comox).

Yesterday we woke up to no power, went out for breakfast again, then went for a drive. Problem was, it was hard to go for a drive, because there were trees down accross all the roads!! It was mad! There was even one of those giant trampolines with the safety netting that had lifted up and flipped over an 8ft fence and landed on the side of the road on the other side of the fence!! Insane!

Anyhoo....we made it home safely, and I begrudgingly went back to work 2 hours after getting home at 9pm, and am just about to get ready to head out again this morning.

It was a great weekend though, much needed!!

Polenta....who knew?

I bought Cornmeal the other day, with plans to make home-made polenta to go with a lentil stew. It was really easy, and really really good.

The problem is, I'm now addicted to polenta. It's my new comfort food. Here's what I had for breakfast:
Polenta cooked on the stove top (corn meal, water, salt, margarine) till it was like a hot cereal.
Then I mixed in cut up ham, tomatoes, cheese, and olives, salt and pepper and a little hot sauce.
It was SO good. It did NOT look appetizing, and it sounds really weird, but it was really really good. I think I may be developing a problem. I guess though, it's better than ice cream, and ridiculously cheap.

Funny, I never would have thought of polenta as a "comfort food." Bizarre.

Well, I've cleaned, now I have to study and work like mad all day so I can leave for the weekend without worrying. We haven't actually done anything on a long weekend or taken a long weekend off for a really long time, and both of us are feeling burned out and needing a mini-break. So, after work today we're driving to Nanaimo to spend an evening with some friends we've recently re-connected with, and then are spending Sat and Sunday night with some other friends in Comox.

I'm looking forward to the weekend SO much, but I'm just hoping I can get everything in order so I don't have to work or study while away, and/or don't have to worry about how things are going back here!!

Rebel

I felt kind of like I skipped school today. D. wasn't feeling well, and called in sick to work. I decided that I would move my day work to tomorrow, since I have to be out to do a presentation anyways (which makes it already not a "good" Saturday). So we kind of had our typical "Saturday morning" today, on Friday. This means we sleep in, lay around doing nothing, have waffles or eggs and turkey bacon for breakfast (today it was egg beaters and turkey bacon)and just hang out together. I said to D. at one point "I feel like I'm skipping out on school." He looked at me and said "Rebel." I found this very funny.

Anyways...the lazy time is over...time to finish this presentation for tomorrow before I head out for late afternoon/evening work out of the house. But, it was a nice morning :-).

Where are all the sweaters!?!?

I had a serious sweater craving yesterday. I only have 1 or 2 sweaters I can wear for work etc (i.e. that aren't 'junk' sweaters I've had since I was 13). So I decided to go sweater shopping. I trapsed the mall for about 2 hours, going from store to store trying to find a really good comfy, nice looking sweater. Nothing!! After two hours!! There were no good sweaters anywhere. The only ones I found were either too fitted, to think or the wrong cut. I just wanted a comfy, thick, sweater that looked nice. No luck. And you know what it feels like when you shop for 2 hours and come out with nothing!

Oh well. Sweater shopping again another day.

Good times...good times

I worked on the mainland on Friday. These are usually very long days - I take the 7am ferry which means waking up at 4:30am, and often take the 9pm ferry home, which means getting home at 11:30 ish. This Friday was the second weekend in a row going over, and I really didn't want to do the one-day turn around and take the 9pm ferry back the same night. So, I stayed at M's place and we had an excellent night off. The plan was a) for me to get my flash drive back that I had left at her place, b) drop off a book she needed to borrow and c) go to ikea the next day. Did we do any of these things? No. We went out for a long yummy dinner, in which our waiter got slightly irritated with us when he returned to our table for the 6th time and we still were talking and hadn't decided what we wanted to drink.

M. then became appalled when I told her I hadn't seen the movie "anchorman" (she actually stopped the car and stared at me in disgust). So, we watched it when we got back to her place, then stayed up way to late talking. By the time I went to bed, I'd been up for almost 24hours! Needless to say, we did not go to Ikea the next morning!

(as an aside, the Seinfeld finale episode where Kramer is jumping up and down trying to get water out of his ear and ends up falling into the cockpit of the plane the whole gang is on, and the plane is plummeting to earth....and George admits to cheating in "The Contest" is on, and it's hysterical).

Celebration time....

Well, I've finished my pile of marking, most of my work for my clients is caught up and I just wrote my two most recent exams for my coursework. That means....ahem....I am *mostly* caught up. We celebrated (okay, I told D. we were celebrating) by having ginger baked salmon, with roasted potatoes and zucchini sauteed in lemon juice, salt and pepper and butter (well, light becel...not quite as exciting ;-). D. was wonderful and made the dinner while I finished off the last few exams.

I took today off of work to focus on studying for the exams I had today and write them, as well as finish my marking. I think it was a good decision. I needed the time to study as I bombed the last tests, and it feels very good to get these exams marked. Since I'm out of town for work on Friday again, this does mean that I have to fit all my "in-town" work (20+ hours) into the next three days...but I think it was worth it. Ask me again on Friday ;-).

Well...to bed. Tomorrow lots of work, and hopefully a visit to Curves...and a bit of cleaning later on if there's time. We'll see :-). At least there's left over salmon and potatoes for dinner tomorrow, and more fresh veggies to cook up.

Peachy Keen

I just have to share my happiness. All due to peaches.

I have this "smoothie maker." It's a kind of extra-fancy blender - the great thing about it is it's the first "blender" I've had that actually does ice and frozen goods well.

So, I also have all these frozen peaches now. This morning, while studying I decided I would make a smoothie, because I also have some fat free plain yogurt and am trying to get back on track with my eating habits :-).

So, I made a smoothie with peaches, the yogurt, about a 1/3 or 1/2 cup of orange juice and some maple syrup drizzled in. I opened the blender and scooped out a bit to taste and it is SO GOOD! So smooth and yummy and better than any smoothie I've ever made at home. Thank goodness for those Osoyoos peaches!

I'm also snacking on wasabi ranch potato crisps from Safeway's new "eating right" line. I loathe that store, but found these and they are very light, low fat, high fiber and fulfill that salty snack craving well.

Have to keep studying, need to run to write tests soon and once again am not ready!

Falling for soup.

It was super crazy windy last night, and raining off and on. For some reason, I enjoyed the sound of the wind and rain so much. We had a low-key day yesterday and mostly stayed in. I was still sick, and letting the antibiotics work their magic. So, being curled up on the couch in a blanket with the wind roaring outside felt cozy and good. We had waffles for breakfast (and made a bunch to freeze for breakfasts) and then I spent the rest of the day getting a good deal of work done.

Today we went grocery shopping after Church and made the foray out to Superstore. I loaded up on some fall Joe attire (well not really "loaded up," - got a few items), and we also got a new soup pot (in addition to groceries). I have to say I'm in love with this soup pot. I don't think I've had a real, big, soup pot since we've been married, so this was very exciting. This particular one has a kind of cartoony shape -it's wider at the bottom and narrows in at the top just a bit. It's HUGE, which is great. I think it has "character" though maybe I'm just overexcited by the pot.

So, I decided, since my SPUD order included a big bag of carrots, and I had most of the fixings at home already to make Chili. I made a low-fat black been and beef chili. I made a few modifications to the recipe: I doubled it, added three cloves of garlic, salt, and used fresh corn instead of frozen, because I happened to get 4 ears of corn from SPUD this week, and really am not in the mood for eating it on the cob. I also cut the cumin back by about 1/2 as I'm not a fan of a really strong cumin taste. The chili turned out really well, and due to my wonderful giant pot, there was lots to spare. So we'll have several lunches and at least two dinners worth frozen for later! On a side note, the pot was ridiculously easy to clean! I don't know what it's made out of, but it's excellent (just no-name superstore cheap-o pot, but apparently good like Joe).

The chili, the rain, the wind, and the new warm-weather clothes all make me thankful it is fall. I love sweaters and soup, and curling up inside on a cold day. I'm not a fan of the rain, but I think this year it won't be as bad as I'm not travelling by transit as much.

I am feeling quite a bit better today - still very stuffy and all that grossness, but the crazy sinus part is gone, and I have a bit more energy, which is really good.

Now to finally finally score that video for my research, and write an article review for school for tomorrow. Then maybe try to finish catching up on work? Or maybe go to bed. We'll see how the first two tasks go.

Healthy soon, please!

Well, after a mighty full work week of being sick, and total exhaustion and sick-of-being-sickness kicked in today, I went to the doctor after work. Thank goodness for walk in clinics! As seems to be the norm for me now, my cold turned into a sinus infection. The good part is that that means I'll get better now, because I have antibiotics :-).

I asked the doctor, "Okay, so I always get sinus infections whenever I get sick. Is there anything I can do to prevent colds from turning into them?? He looks at me and says "Well, there is a concoction that works for some people who have recurring sinusitis, let me get you the recipe." Hmmm..."concoction" and "recipe." Those two words are a bit concerning.

So, he comes back with a paper with the following written on it:

"NASAL SOLUTION FOR CHRONIC SINUSITIS
3 tsp salt (canning salt - non-iodized)
1 tsp Baking soda
in 250 cc of water.

Bulb syringe 3 times per day."

So I looked at this, and looked at him and said "Bulb syringe?" He smiled. I frowned and said "So that's like a ...." and he said "Turkey Baster." "Oh" He then informed me that I should "shoot as much of it up there as you can, and breath in through your nose." Great. Nice. Lovely. I commented on the exciting Friday night I had ahead of me, and he commented on how he felt it was better than the movies any day!

So, I filled my prescription and went to the "kitchen gadgets" isle of the grocery store. I looked and thought at first they didn't carry turkey basters (PHEW!). Then I spotted one. Okay - so, turkey basters are much larger than I remember. So, the baster and the recipe are sitting on the kitchen table. I don't know if I can do it. OOK.

Maybe a bit TMI for you all, but the recipe, concoction and turkey baster were too amusing to me to keep to myself.

So, here's to hoping the antibiotics kick in before I can bring myself to baste.

I think I'm turning into a perpetual whiner

Well...as everyone seems to be right now I'm totally sick! Lame! I started to get a sore throat Saturday during the day, and by Sat night was totally stuffed up with the cold/flu everyone has had lately. It's this darn September time period. Everyone is run down, getting back to school, back into work after holidays, trying to catch up with everything. So, the last couple of days I've a)Watched way too much TV, b) Bombed at least one, probably 2 tests, c) Gotten more behind of school and work and research than I was before, d) eaten a lot of soup e) possibly my favorite -eaten a lot of fudgsicles and creamsicles f)been a little loopy due to all the cold medicine, which I think is partly responsible for (b) above.

Stupid Cold.

A night off.

I had an unplanned night off today. After my 12 hour day out of the house, I simply couldn't face more work and video-scoring and studying, no matter how far behind I was. So, I stopped on my way home and got a bottle of wine and take-home pizza. We had pizza and wine and D. and I sat and talked for a good 2 hours.

I packed it in for the night, and decided to forget everything and just spend the evening with my husband. It was a good decision :-). I feel better already.

Unfortunately, I realized, after business hours were over today (Friday), that I had accidentally booked myself for both a meeting and work at the same time as I am supposed to be writing two exams on Monday. Crap. The problem is, I had requested the exam times, but becuase they hadn't been confirmed, I had only noted them on the "notes" page in my dayplanner, and not entered them into my actual daily schedule. Now that they have been confirmed, I realize I have booked in other things at the same time. And have only done about half the reading and none of the studying for them. UG. The moral is, always at least "pencil in" essential items if you are as ridiculously dependent on your dayplanner as I am. Nothing I can do about it till Monday morning though, aside from figure out what exactly I'll beg the testing centre for when I call Monday morning, or who I'll have to try to reschedule with on no notice. Ah!

But, again, very little I can do until the testing centre opens on Monday morning, so, I'll put it aside for now, and finish taking the night off, and go to my Church event tomorrow, and then deal with the stress and anxiety later. I figure I'm stressed and anxious most of the time anyways, so if not attending to this particular anxiety-producing event right now means I'll be anxious later, it really doesn't make any difference...good thinking??? No??? Sigh (as D. would say).

I've also decided not to check my school email until Sunday night when I'm planning to have scored the video for my research. If I don't check my email, then the emails from my prof asking where my data is won't stress me out....right? Ummm...maybe? Even as I type that though, I am seriously driven to open another tab and just quickly check my email. Ah!

Can I have another 10 hours in the day?

This has been and will continue to be a crazy busy week...I'm out of the house for work from 8:30 am to 7pm today, and then have to try to make it to curves before they close, then re-score a video-tape of my research when I get home, write about 15 programs, and read ummm.....5 chapters and 4 articles for school??? AH! LAME. Thank goodness for Rockstar Cola. Have a Church event all day tomorrow, so the only weekend time available to get caught up is Sunday afternoon or tonight or tomorrow night. I can anticipate next week will be madd as well, so I need to try to get at least caught up this weekend.

I need some SOCIAL time!!! At least I will, at the very least be going to the Church event and get to spend time with our community there tomorrow.

Freezing nut

I have turned into a freezing nut. Everytime I make something (like soup, sauce, chicken etc), I make extra and freeze a bunch of it for later. My freezer has gone from 1/4 full a couple of weeks ago to almost full now! I'm sure it will benefit us later on though :-). So far there is frozen tomato soup, beet soup, cooked chicken breast, peaches, peach crisp and hot peppers.

Tonight will be a left overs night. I think I"ll make a salad, and we'll have some tuna a friend cooked, and maybe have a bit of soup left over from last night.

I have to get through the day first though. Lots of work ahead of me, and studying when I get home, before I can make dinner.

Produce fun

One of the great things about the trip to Osoyoos is that we returned with loads of produce. I'm loving it.

I made a peach/apple crisp the other night, and yummy yummy roasted tomatoes to go with a pesto pasta. The tomatoes were fresh romas from the produce stand, cut in half drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper and herbs and roasted under the broiler. SOooo yummy.

I just finished skinning and cutting up peaches to freeze (peach bonanza this winter!), and started putting together three peach crisps to bake and freeze for later. I'm now roasting red peppers and more tomatoes to make a ridiculous quantity of roasted red pepper and tomato soup. I think I'll be freezing lots of that too. I think it could double as tomato sauce later on too.

I love preparing large quantities of food with the knowlege that three months from now when peaches are 3.00 each I'll be able to have yummy peach smoothies and crisp.

Looking through all my soup recipes makes me excited for (dare I say it) fall and winter...so I can make yummy hearty soups and comfort foods. Mmm..but I'll keep enjoying the fresh produce while it lasts, don't get me wrong!

What about my school and work I had planned to get ahead on this weekend....ahem...ask me tomorrow at 11pm.

Anyone up for a trip to Lithuania?

I would like to go here.

Busy times ...

Well, this is a greatly delayed post...the last two weeks have been busy, but filled with friends and food and wine.

Last weekend we were treated to a wonderful few days in Osoyoos. M. and family had us up to their condo there. We had some beach time (it wasn't TOO sunny), a wonderful day visiting 7 different wineries, and had many fabulous meals together. The best thing about this weekend was that we had time to visit and relax and enjoy each other's company (including playing a few games of Catan!), and that the weekend was very inexpensive for us. We had one meal out, and ate in the rest of the time. Most of what we spent was on gas, produce to bring home, and wine. There is no way we'd be able to have a holiday that felt that luxurious any other way, so we are VERY thankful to M. and J. for inviting us there!!

When we got back, another friend, who had been out visiting from Ottowa came to visit us for a few days. I got to cook and entertain, which I love to do, and we had lots of quality visiting time. I was very sad to see him go!

All this wonderful visiting and what not though, has meant that I am gravely behind now in school, and on preparation of a number of time-sensitive projects!! I'm not entirely sure how I'll get caught up, but I'm sure I'll find a way :-).

Lemony goodness.

I went to get my non-SPUD groceries at a local grocery store, and there it was...sitting right in the dairy section with a florescent orange "NEW ITEM" sign on it. Liberte lemon yogurt. M. has raved to me about this, and then when I stopped for house-sitting there she spoiled me with this devine yogurt and fresh berries and I was hooked. I had determined I would go hunting for it, but no hunting was required!

It is so wonderfully luscious, lemony and laden with fat. It is definitely (as M. told me) NOT a low fat yogurt - it is a dessert, or a decadent breakfast, and ohhh is it good! Try it if your grocery store carries it! Be warned that the Liberte yogurt they carry at Starbucks is NOT the same thing.

Taking a breath and finding some balance

School is done, the marks are in, and I did okay. I'm still doing some additional work on the research I did for my practicum though, because my prof things we may be able to publish it!

Trying to retrieve balance in my life is my goal for the next couple of weeks. We cleaned and did grocery shopping yesterday, and combined with the SPUD delivery we're set. I've pulled out fish to defrost for dinner for tonight, and will make a roast for dinner tomorrow night when we have a friend visiting. The rest of the week will be hectic, so hopefully left-overs from tomorrow will help us get through the week. Does anyone have a good recipe for doing a roast in a crock-pot? I'd rather avoid the stove if possible.

We've planned a number of social events this week, which is good. That is one area that balance has been lacking - we just haven't been socializing at all lately. I'll find a way to fit it all in!

I'm hoping that tonight we can get a dresser moved into our bedroom (it's waiting outside in storage to be moved in) and get our clothes situation figured out, and set up our Icon corner set up and various pictures hung. That's pretty close to all we have left to set up, besides finishing unpacking and setting up the office.

The last 24 hours

I've had a super crazy 24 hours! I'm very impressed that I'm still standing (well...sitting). I feel a need to share it.

Sunday daytime, continuing until 5:30 am this morning - writing the majority of my final report for my practicum.
8:30am this morning - wake up (ug). Email and coffee...and more email and coffee.
9:30 this morning -decide to have a "break" and talk on phone with mom.
10:30am, after showering, madly work on work-stuff required by 1pm
12pm finish work stuff, have related phone call.
Realize the iron is still on waiting to iron my clothes.

Finish paper, edit, and print paper. Shake in my boots regarding mark I will get on said paper.

Following work call -decide (for some bizarre reason) to double-check my exam time for an exam I'm writing tomorrow. Realize exam end date is today. Ah! Phone testing centre and squirrel my way in for a 7:00pm testing time today.

Prepare for work (print out materials etc etc etc).

Leave for work, mail paper I now no longer care about and just want out of my hands. Study for exam that I now have today on 11 articles three of which I haven't even read.

Run 2hr training session in new protocol at work.
Buzz up to UVic
Study for the last 45 mintues before my exam.
Beg exam proctor for another 30 minutes to study, he complies. THANK you!
Start exam at 7:30. Read questions. Almost start crying. Take deep breath, realize it's only because I'm tired. Write exam.
Finally come home, eat the first full meal of the day at 9:45pm and spend evening time with husband. Love husband.

Now...to bed. Sweet glorious bed!! Not before a few more emails...but.

Positives: The paper is done, which means that course is almost completely done. The exam is done, which means only one more to go. The training session went well. I will go camping for at least a night or two next weekend with D. and that will be wonderful. Only a couple more weeks to a more substantial vacation with friends that will be REALLY a break!

A fast-paced summer

Is anyone else appalled that it is already a week into August and the summer will be over soon?!?

I have a holiday planned for a few days at the end of August, but haven't done anything summerlike yet!! No lake time, no camping, no road trip! Yikes! It's been so easy to get so caught up in work and school and be so tired on the weekends that the prospect of planning a weekend or day trip seems daunting.

That's it. We're going away for our anniversary weekend. Camping. Or something.

Home and thoughtful.

I was on the mainand for work the last two days. It was a mad weekend of driving all over the mainland! Highlights:
- Got to the ferry at 6:30 pm on Thursday night. I got on the 9PM ferry (and there WAS an 8pm). I had forgotten it was a long weekend (of course, because I was working).
-Had planned to stay at friends house because had fogotten till the night before that I hadn't planned where to stay, and friend needed a house-sitter (very convienient) for a day or two.
- Rolled in to dear friends home at 12am. ya. Thought I "should" go to bed. Thought I NEED some quality time with said friend. Now...it was 12-3am..but it was us, so it was still quality ;-).
- Ate Liberte lemon yogurt. To die for.
- Went to sleep around 3:30 am
- woke up at 6:30 am
- Drank strong and satisfying espresso. Ate more yogurt with fruit. Felt like I was in a bed and breakfast ;-). Visited over breakfast with a)google maps (to figure out how to get to work), b)friend I was staying with and c) friends children who I miss so much, and are so old now! It was good.
-Remembered what driving around the lower mainland is like (ick!)
- Had a great day at work.
- made bbq chicken pizza with wonderful chipolte tasting sauce and roast chicken I found in friends house
- worked for a few hours in the evening
- flopped and watched sitcoms for an hour or two
- hung out with the cats ( enormous cats)
- crashed
- worked another good day
- drove to ferries, had a wonderful evening ferry ride spent reading Harry Potter till the cars behind me were honking for me to get off the ferry.
-made it in time for the final blessing at vespers at Church, ate cake, visited, and came home.
- had wine on patio with husband who i missed (I decided to take tonight off)
- now sitting on patio at 11:30pm blogging having promised husband I'll be to bed in 10 minutes

Pretty good couple of days. Busy, crazy, glad to be home.

We're hoping to get some serious house-setting-up done tommorrow, and then I need to read 7 articles and post intelligent comments on them to my discussion group. No Problem!! Lol. Glad I took tonight off! Life is crazy, often stressful...but I am blessed, and happy with where I'm at. That's it (you know...after a two page post!).

Slowly getting set up.

Well, we're slowly but surely plugging along. I caved and threw in the towel on work and studying when I got home from work yesterday, and spent a couple of hours setting up the kitchen. That and the deck are now fully usable and set up.

Last night we had an easy salad with roast chicken, and a little brie and bread, and wine for dinner. We sat on the deck - it was sooo nice! Then we got down to setting things up. We got the futon together, then a friend stopped by and we paused for a "break" (break=another glass of wine on the deck). She consulted with me about the placement of bookshelves, and after she left we moved the bookshelves to their new homes (i.e. out of the bedroom so we had room to set up the bed), and set up the bed. So, we were, luckily, able to crash once again in out own bed last night.

Lots of work, practicum and school stuff today...so likely no time for setting things up :-( . But, at least I have a kitchen, if not an office.

Room to breathe.

We did it! We are here, in our new place. I'm sitting on the futon on the floor in the livingroom (where we slept last night) and thinking that despite the boxes and clutter of moving, I am already completely in love with our new home. It FEELS like home. I feel like I can breathe again, like now I want to have a summer, and want to get up in the morning (though I was NOT pleased when I woke up at 5:15 am after only an hour or two of sleep).

My favorite things about our new home:
1) It is so BRIGHT. So much LIGHT!!
2) It is private - it is a two-floor semi-detached suite, very private, and no worries about being too loud, or people walking by your windows all the time.
3) There are nice little details like nice (compared to typical apartments ) light fixtures, stained glass (but tasteful, not the tacky kind) windows.
4) We will have room for a regular sized table in the kitchen again!! Yay! Who's coming for dinner first :-)
5) The fridge is ENORMOUS.
6) We have a full size stove, and lots of cupboard space.
7) We have in suite laundry.
8) It's two floors, so it feels more like a house.
9) It is only 2 blocks from a neat little village, and only a couple more blocks to a beautiful beach and the OCEAN!!!

It was maddness yesterday...we had planned to pack up the moving van Sat night (the first load) then go to Church in the morning on Sunday, then after Church pack up the pathfinder and move it all over, then come back for a second load. I had a panic attack Sunday morning, saying we'd be moving it 1am if we didn't start right away. So, we decided to get going on the packing and moving immediately. The end result being, we still weren't returning the truck till 9:30 pm!! We had completely not thought about getting anyone to help us at all...and didn't realize how much longer it takes when there's just two of you! So, we fit it all into two vanloads and two pathfinder loads.

After the moving, we went to some friends for late night decaf coffee. It was just what we needed at the end of the day. We sat and had coffee and chatted till 11:30 or so, then came home and got the essentials set up, and tried to crash ( but neither of us slept).

We have NOTHING set up. Which of course is driving me crazy, because now it's Monday and we have to work! I would soooo love 3-4 days at home right now, because I have a) unpacking and setting up to do and b) Harry potter to read (thanks to Arwen)!

Bastet is having way too much fun with the new place. She was being a brat all night, getting into boxes, scaling bookshelves, tearing up and down the stairs and doing acrobats on them trying to scratch them. Getting into EVERYTHING.

So...we are happily back in the fold of lovely Oak Bay, and I feel like I once again have some room to breathe.

A low key day.

Today was a nice low-key day. Still busy, I had lots today, but it was one of those increasingly rare work-at-home days. I spent most of the morning working on my practicum, went for a run, had lunch, and then went out to catch up on the increasing pile of reading for my other classes. I started at a cafe (for a much-needed pick me up), then moved to the park to sit in the sun and read. I figure between running in the sun and doing my reading in the sun, maybe I can get some kind of a tan. Lol!

Tonight I'll make fish tacos for dinner, then get back to studying and try to get some work done. This is kind of a boring post...but I'm trying to keep up the blogging, since everyone (myself included) aside from Magnificent M seems to have been side-tracked by Facebook and neglecting their blogging duties. Tsk Tsk.

Snakes and bunnies and rain and dog poop

I'm trying to get back on the running band wagon, and yesterday was my second day out. It was pouring rain when I wanted to go, but warm, and I had planned to shower afterwards anyways, so I decided to still go.

There were bunnies everywhere on the trail, and on my way back home I just about stepped on two snakes!! The first one was literally practically under foot and when I saw it I leaped about 2 feet in the air and screamed.

The rain was actually nice, I didn't mind it. My body is quite sore after two days...even at a very slow pace, but it's just my muscles getting back into it.

One thing that DID bother me on my jog, as it always does, was the following phenomenon:

There, sitting on the side of the trail, is a little pink, green, blue or clear bag. It has a knot tied at the top. It is dog poop. Here is what bothers me - if you're going to let your dog poop on the trail, ok - as long as it's off to the side it doesn't bother me that much (PLEASE get them to go off to the side), if you're going to package up and dispose of your dog's poop, even better - thank you!! But, why on earth would you package it up and leave it there. It's in a plastic bag - it cannot decompose. So, by leaving it there, packaged up in a plastic bag, you are assuming that someone else will pick it up and dispose of it. That's a little presumptuous. Besides, isn't the grossest part the actual bagging of the poop? Once that's done, isn't it easy to put it in a garbage can? If you don't want to pick it up, then make sure they poop on the side of the trail and leave it so it can decompose (this is a bit gross though), or just pick it up. Don't package it up in PLASTIC, then leave it there. This makes no sense.

Okay, that's it :-)

Beautiful

I keep stealing from Victoria. This song is beautiful. From here.

Thai Coffee

I had this amazing Thai iced coffee at a restaurant once. It was so creamy and sweat, but still had a good strong coffee flavor, with interesting spices. I saw a recipe for this in my Cooking Light cookbook, and made a modified version of it. It is seriously HEAVENLY, even though I didn't have the true cardamon to put in, and I made it hot instead of cold.

Here's the Cooking Light Recipe:

1/4 Cup hot espresso or very strong brewed coffee
5 teaspoons fat-free sweetened condensed milk,
2 tablespoons hot water
dash of cardamon

Combine all ingredients, stir well. Cool completely; chilll in refrigerator. Serve over ice. Yeild 1 serving.

I made it warm, used a little more espresso, a little less SCM, and I used a combination of nutmeg and cinnamon instead of cardamon. It was SOOooooo tasty. A wonderful mid-afternoon pick-me-up treat.

Back to the rest of life...

I actually had time (or rather made time) to do some baking and cooking yesterday. We're trying to make the most of our grocery budget (and reduce it) so I dug through my recipes and the freezer and came up with: 1) Oatmeal fruit bars and 2) Baked extra lean italian meatballs.
Both used ingredients we already had, and are produce quick snacks and/or meals.

The oatmeal fruit bars are really easy. Here is the recipe:

Chewy Granola Bars

4 1/2 Cups rolled oats
1 Cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 Cups mixed dried fruit, nuts and/or chocolate chips (I used apricots, cranberries and raisins).

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease one 9x13 inch pan.
2) In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour, baking soda, vanilla, butter or margarine, honey and brown sugar. Stir in th 2 cups of mixed dried fruit.
3) Lightly press mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees F for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.

I wrap these individually and put them in the freezer (if they get that far!), to grab for a quick snack or to take in lunches. The best thing is, if you put in too much oatmeal, or overcook it, and it's crumbly, it makes great granola.

The thought of the meatballs, because I had a lot of extra lean ground beef to use up, and when we were in MA, we used to buy bags of frozen ones to add to different things (pizza, pasta, etc). I made them with the ground beef, chopped fresh parsley, pressed garlic, oregano, basil, kosher salt, pepper, a little olive oil, and (I know this is weird) some shake and bake. I used the shake and bake once for a recipe for burgers, becuase I couldn't find seasoned bread crumbs, and it really works well. They turned out SO good! Yummy.

It was VERY refreshing to spend some time in the kitchen. It has been way to long since I've done some baking or cooking, and way to much time eating convenience food.

Very Brief Hello

I feel like a bad "blogger." I've been SO completely non-blogging lately. It is only due to a major time cruch at the moment. I'm taking a very few brief moments to post an update.

1. Right now I'm sipping an excellent home-made bialetti americano. It is regenerating me for the evening of work ahead.
2. I saw one of my closest friends get married this past weekend. I also got to spend a lot of time with friends I don't see often, which was a wonderful blessing. The wedding was beautiful, and the couple looked SO happy!
3. I had to, at the last minute (right before leaving for the weekend) competely change my practicum project. Ah! This meant re-doing several assigments related to it. My understanding prof has given me some extra time to complete them, but they were due..ahem...Monday. And it's Thursday. Oi!
4. I've had an inordinate amount of out-of-the-house work this week, which has meant that completing (3) above has been extremely difficult.
5. But, tonight I've decided to work until I'm caught up. Hence the americano.
6. I am longing for Saturday. My parents gave me a fabulous waffle maker for my birthday, and no matter what Saturday will involve a) Sleeping in, b) Pajamas till late, c)Waffles, d) Strawberries, e) whipping cream, and f) Reading the book I borrowed from my mother-in-law.
7. Ooh, this americano is so good.
8. D. is out picking up boxes from a friend. That means packing again soon (ah!). But I am SO ready to be moved into our new house, now that the weather is nice (beach and above-ground living, here I come!).
9. I'm feeling unhealthy - too much bad food, to much time in front of the computer, not enough exercise...must make changes (I'm sure there will be a post on the weekend about just that ;-).
10. This must be the end, as my practicum work, and all the other work I have neglected is awaiting me.

It was a good day.

Two years ago my husband got me the best birthday present...I love hydrangeas. They were one of my wedding flowers, and are one of my favorite flowers. So, he bought me a giant potted hydrangea. I LOVED this plant. It represented how well my husband knows me, and how good he is at choosing gifts for me :-), and it's a hydranga!

When we moved to MA, I had to part with it, and gave it to a friend. After we returned, I was at her house and saw it sitting on the balcony and was sad. I missed it, it was special. I know the friend would have said "yes take it for sure!!" in a second had I just asked, but you know....

So, this year, on my birthday, guess what D. Did? He got it back! He knew that a new one wouldn't do, that I wanted THAT one back. It was quite a while ago that I mentioned to him how much I wished I could have it back, and he remembered! So, I have my beloved hydrangea back. AND we went for a wonderful dinner at my favorite place - Blighty's Bistro. I stubbornly insisted that we go for dinner despite the fact that I was totally sick! I think we need to go back when I can taste the food and not feel sick after eating! lol.

It was a good birthday. I have a wonderful husband.

Moving...again!

Well, we found the place we'd been looking for. It is a bit smaller than what we were looking for, but it is THREE blocks from a beautiful sandy beach, a block from one little village area, a few blocks from a second, and about a 10-15 min walk from Oak bay....it is, the perfect location. We love it. It is a beautiful suite too. Semi-detached from the house, FULL size stove and fridge, eat in kitchen, and deck, and it's on two floors - top floor is the living area, kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms (aka office and bedroom) are downstairs. We love it. We're sad to leave our wonderful landlords, but are so excited to move into this new place! We move July 30 (anyone want pizza and wine for helping?).

Very excited. I love the beachy oak bay area. It is home, and I'm so happy to be back in the light of day (not in a basement suite).

Super :-)

Victorious

I. Just. Beat. D. At. Settlers. Of. Catan.

This is a momentous occasion. I think I've only played it a couple times before, and my husband is very very good at it. This will, I'm sure, NEVER happen again. So I'm revelling in it.

It was an EXTREMELY lengthly game, since we played with only the two of us. His parents bought him the "cities and nights of catan" and I got him the expansion for that version. I included in my present a promise to actually play it with him (I often opt out of it). So we tried it out tonight as a test run (it's meant for 3+ players).

It actually is a pretty fun game, though I may only be saying that because I won. Lol!

Home sweet home

Well after that smattering of video, I should say that I'm glad to be home, but I had an excellent time in San Diego.

1. I learned A LOT. I felt more than any year before that I really came home with things I could use and apply in my work.
2. Tons o Mexican! And tons o margaritas! We had some seriously good mexican food, and lots of margaritas. Yay for happy hour!!
3. I went to Trader Joes! M. was willing to accomodate my need to take the bus for 30 minutes to get to a trader joes. I thought I might cry when I walked in the doors. Lol!
4. Got hassled by customs going both directions! Lame.
5. NO flight delays what so ever!! No getting stuck in Chicago for hours on end. Excellent.
6. Spilled red wine or food on every white clothing item I wore.
7. Beautiful pool deck with fire pits, pool, and hot tubs that I loved!
8. I drank a ridiculous quantity of airborne in an effort to keep myself from getting sick....didn't pan out - I'm totally sick now!! But at least it wasn't too bad while I was there.

It was a very good trip, and was the most fun, most relaxing, and most educative ABA conference so far! Pics are here.

Now back to work and catching up on school that started while I was gone.

Finger food

Hysterical!!! A friend emailed me this:

How do Behavior Analysts Dance?

Well,I'm back safe and sound from the conference! We had an excellent time. So many highlights, but they will come later. For now I'll leave you with this:



This was at the wild and crazy "ABA Social." We couldn't resist taping this crazy dancing blue-shirt man. My hero. If only I could dance with such abandon. LOL!

So soon!

I leave for the ABA conference in San Diego TOMORROW! I'm not at all ready to go, and I'm working most of the day today.

Yesterday afternoon/evening I spent snuggled with D. on the couch absorbed in the Friends' marathon that was on (so Bad!) I did get up long enough to go for a run, and to go buy small conditioner and other such small travel items (I love the little travel item isle). Looked at the beautiful shoes at Winners again, and again decided they were not functional (3 inch heals an I was looking for flats!), despite how cute and beautiful they were.

Unfortunately, I did have pizza from Ali Baba (best pizza ever) last night - thin crust, but I ate too much! The salt content will NOT help my "fit into my clothes from last year" crusade. Sigh.

So, today, I need to fit in around work:
1) Choose wardrobe, pack it.
2) Last ditch attempt at finding cheap-o flats at Payless
3) Re-paint toe nails.
4) Get new dayplanner (why I have to do this before I go I don't know - but my dayplanner ends a week into August, and I just realized this, and it's causing my significant anxiety).
5) Phone tomorrow morning to book my testing times for my summer classes. The first of which technically starts today, and the syllabus was JUST emailed out yesterday. I emailed asking for it about mmmm....a week and a half ago. No response. So now, I find out that while at ABA, I have to ready 4 chapters of the text and three articles, and write the test on these right after I get back!! Would have been nice to have this info - oh - a WEEK and a HALF ago! Lame.
6) Review my work checklist and make sure there is nothing that needs immediate attention before I go.
7) Figure out what ferry I'm taking and more importantly how I'm getting to it....D. is working during the day and I need to head out mid-day, so I need to either take the bus or find someone to drive me.
8) Get out some US money, and locate my passport.

I'm having a serious quandry over whether I should bring my laptop or not. I don't NEED it, since I'm not doing a presentation requiring it...but I'm very anxious about not having it. It would be NICE to have it to keep up with work and school while gone...but whether I should travel with it if I don't need to (and risk it's injury ;-) is the question. We'll see.

M- we'll be about to cross th boarder, and I'll yell "Turn around I need the laptop." Then you'll say "OK OK ! Good! I need the silver ballet flats!!"

lol then we'll roll into Seattle at 2am, be too giddy to sleep and arrive in SD zonked. Good times.

Can I keep it up?

I'm back at the running, mostly because a) I need some outlet, b) My spring/summer work clothes from last year don't fit, and I have a conference in 4 days, and no money to purchase new clothes.

At the start of my run today I was thinking about blogging a question about how it could be possible that the running was twice as hard on the forth consecutive day as on the first! When I hit the 25-30 minute mark though I realized I was in a "zone" though, and thought "I think I want to keep running" and decided to run the other way on the trail. I did another 20 minutes and it felt really good!! I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow, but it was excellent. I'll see if I can keep up the extended duration.

Manic Monday

Really, not at all a manic Monday. I stayed at home, wrote programs, and had my only out-of -the-house-work for the day cancelled. No complaints. A manic weekend more like it!

Friday:
1) Plan to take bus to ferries to avoid parking cost
2) Drag suitcase and giant ikea bag full of wedding gifts and mothers day gifts to bus stop
3) Do NOT bring the red nail polish to touch up my toes. Do NOT bring my laptop. Lack of laptop causes extreme anxiety.
4) Stand at bus stop, and contemplate knocking on near by door and asking strangers to watch my stuff while I make mad sprint back to house to get red nail polish and laptop.
5) Realize I was supposed to drop prosphora with someone to bring to Church....and I can't leave till I do.
6) Run home, msn Daryl at work, call everyone from Church to find someone to drop prosphora with. No one answers, Daryl says bring prosphora and meet him downtown.
7) Forget nail polish and laptop, even though no longer taking bus.
8) get D., drop prosphora, drive to ferries and park car.
9) Contemplate risking missing ferry to go back to get laptop
10) get to mainland and collapse :-)

Saturday
1) Coffee and window shopping at Starbucks with Frewings
2) Mad dash to buy all the goods for mother's day BBQ on Sunday.
3) back to D's parents, change for wedding (nail polish has chipped, still no red touch up nail polish!)
4) Unbelievably intense but wonderful wedding. My uncle died about 2 months ago. My cousin (his daughter) got married this weekend. It was the first time I've seen my cousins and aunt since my uncle died, since I was in MA at that time. It was extremely hard...it was in a way like a funeral to me as well, since I wasn't there for his funeral. This was the first time his death really became real for me. I left a couple times and my wonderful brother followed, and hugged me and comforted me. He had already gone through this.
5) But then - wonderfully therapeutic, rejuvinating, and joyful wedding. My cousin was beautiful. I danced with husband, danced with my dad, and danced with my brother. Mom showed off her sweet dance moves (she's where J. and I get ours), and J. (bro) danced for about 4 hours straight (me in heals!). We had SO much fun. There was some sweet MJ dancing and I missed Magnificent M so much!!!
6) Overall, there were all the things that make family family - hugging, crying, mourning, wine, dancing, joy, celebration. All in one evening. Wonderful and exhausting. But I think good for all of us.

Sunday:
1) Prepare food for BBQ (grilled veggie salad!!)
2) Shower and dress
3) ALL the family- D.'s and mine arrived.
4) Wonderful time with both families.
5) Realize how blessed we are to have two wonderful families, parents that love us and are healthy, and that actually get along and really enjoy their time together!
6) Fall asleep on couch while socializing (oops!)
7) Ferry home, carrying clothes, good coffee, wine, and wonderful dark chocolate. All of which (except for the clothes) we'd accumulated while on the mainland.
8) Thank God for our car, and the fact that we didn't have to bus home, and drive home.
9) Also thank God for a wonderful bed.
10) Both the bed and the car are only ours due to the generosity of others....think about what wonderful people we know, and how we wouldn't be where we are without them.

In general be thankful.

But be sad we missed Mira and Matthew's wedding, and reconnecting with friends who were here this weekend for that wedding.

Exhausting and wonderful. So many things that are good, and beautiful and right are also so hard and exhausting. God is amazing.

Pictures of this weekend here and here

Hiking!

We went for a hike today!! It's a bit of a belated new years resolution....so really just a resolution. We want to try to get out and enjoy the beautiful outdoors life available in BC, and try to go hiking or camping every weekend or two. This was a nice short, but VERY steep hike. The veiws were beautiful!!

As we reached the first summit, signs saying "Stay on trail, fragile environment" were posted, and all the trail areas were roped off. So, we go stand on the highest point and look around and see something, just down the way. It looked like a person, under a blanket. Wait, a male torso, unclothed, under a blanket. And...oh...moving...and...oh..there was another person too. Ehhemmm "Hey, let's go back a bit further down to sit and have some water" "ya, ya, let's go."

It was hilarious!! On the top of the misty mountin!! Anyhoo, here's a link to more pics if you're interested.

Eureka!!

We FINALLY got a new vaccum! It was relatively cheap, but it is I think the best one we've had yet!! A generous relative lent us their old-school Kirby when we moved in here, but it just doesn't deal with cat hair and the nitty gritty vacuming jobs. After almost two months we finally got a new one - it's is so great. I am in vaccum heaven. Can't stop vaccuming. Seriously. D. was looking at me like I was a little crazed. I think I might be. I'm stoked though :-) . There's evidence of my over-excitement right there- I said "stoked."

To the dentist..or spa?

I (ME) had a filling (well, a reconstruction of a filling) done with NO novacaine. NONE. I am petrified of the dentist. Here's how it went:

I went for a consultation with Dr. Deanna Geddo. I walked into her office, which smelled of aromatherapy. There was classical music playing. I sat in the cushy chair in the "waiting room" and had my jacket taken by the receptionist, and was poured a cup of cranberry tea.

When I went into the dental room, she greeted me at the door, with a big smile, taking both my hands in hers and saying "Hello sweetie." (In a motherly way, not a creepy way). She had me tell her about my previous dental experiences that had made me petrified of the dentist, told me that no, I would not need oral surgery to correct my bite (as 2 other dentists had told me), and expressed great concern over the amount of mercury in my mouth. She ASKED if she could look in my mouth. ASKED. She looked at my teeth with only a mirror - NO pointy things :-).

Before I left, we did (don't laugh) mouth yoga and relaxation for about 20 minutes. It was this whole thing!! Crazy!

So, the other day I went back to have a full exam, and to have the filling filled. Again, music, tea, aromatherapy. When I got into the dental chair this time, prior to doing the filling she said "I don't think this tooth will require anesthetic." I almost got up and left RIGHT there. No drugs?? I'm OUT of here!! I restrained myself though. She put on the music, sprayed lavendar aromatherapy, and pulled out the materials. She had me a)Hold a mirror to watch, b)Hold bells so that I could shake it if anything hurt at all and c) Control the suctiony thing when I wanted it.

She would not drill unless I was exhaling and loudly saying "Haaaaaahhhh." And she would only touch my teeth one second at a time. This is the first time in my life that a drill has touched my teeth and not hurt every second it was there. Crazy. She counted out loud for when she would touch with the drill. When I experienced pain with the drill at one point (rang my bells!), she immediately stopped and changed drills. They have other drills that don't hurt as much!! I didn't know this! It was a slower, larger drill that was less likely to cause sensitivity because it was so slow.

So, in total, I used the bells 3 times. She drilled and filled the broken filling, and filed down the tooth above it (with a drill).

THEN when we were done, she left the room and came back with a steaming, lavendar-scented towel and told me to take off my glassses. She wrapped my face in the towel, turned up the music and told me to stay as long as I liked, then left the room.

Was I at a spa or the dentist?? And I have to say, it was really nice to leave the dentist with a fully functional mouth that wasn't frozen and groggy. Not that i'm loving the idea of no novocaine, but...Apparently if you are really pannicy and high-anxiety, novocaine won't "take" because the nerves are contracted and won't let it in. This explains why I still had pain after three needles of freezing the last time I was at the dentist (and petrified).

Just had to share my spa/dental experience.

The music to play in my kitchen while I feed people yummy food and we drink wine

I'm getting a bit addicted to You tube! A friend introduced me to La Rue Ketanou yesterday. Here they are.

A Neglected favorite

I haven't listened to BNL in so long...I did some late-night YouTube surfing though and discovered two things: 1) They have released at least 2 albums since the most recent one I have! and 2) They've put out a series of recordings done in Ed's bathroom - called "The Bathroom Sessions." Here's one of them.They really do rock the party ;-).

What to do when your All Bran bar crumbles.

Sprinkle it over yogurt. It's kind of like cookies and cream.

I often take an all bran bar or two in my bag when working etc., for a snack. I frequently forget them there till they are all broken and crumbled in the package (and thus difficult to eat on the go).

So today I dumped one out onto fat free no sugar added strawberry yogurt, and it was SO good!!

Okay, I'm weird. I know.

The Best Burgers in the world.

Now - I eat red meat on only VERY rare occasions. I very very rarely cook it. I saw this recipe on City Line over a year ago, and thought it was something worth remembering, partly because I knew D. would LOVE it. Sounded amazingly good to me as well.

Well. I made it. It is unlike any burger I've ever tasted. So stinking good, and I didn't even use the sirloin steak I was supposed to (just extra lean ground beef- I couldn't find the sirloin).

Here's the recipe:


Gourmet Sirloin Steak Burger with Brie
by Rose Reisman

You'll want to haul out the barbeque for these gourmet burgers.

3 cups sliced sweet onions1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp brown sugar, packed
1 lb ground sirloin steak
3 tbsp minced green onions, whole onion
¼ cup seasoned bread crumbs
3 tbsp barbecue sauce1
½ tsp crushed garlic
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 large egg
1 tsp dried basil
1 ½ oz brie, diced

In a large nonstick skillet sprayed with vegetable spray, heat the oil then add the onions. Sauté for five minutes just until soft. Reduce the heat to low, add the brown sugar and continue cooking for 10 minutes until browned and caramelized. Set aside.

To make the Burgers: combine the steak, green onion, bread crumbs, barbecue sauce, garlic, salt, pepper, egg and basil, then shape into five burgers.

Form a pocket in each burger and stuff evenly with diced brie. Make sure that the beef encloses the cheese completely.

Grill or sauté the burgers for about four minutes per side, until cooked. Serve with onions scattered overtop.

Serves five.

Here's the link to the online recipe so you can see the picture ;-) They are good on buns as well.

A good day

Today was a good day.

We slept in (for us) till about 9am, and lounged in PJ's till about 12:00 noon. This day was great for a few reasons:

1) I bought new pajamas yesterday. New pajamas are definately up there on my list of things that make me happy. I LOVE a sleep in morning, when I have new comfy pajamas to wear to bed.

2) We had oatmeal raisin cookies from Thrifty's for breakfast. These are the absolute best cookies ever (in my opinion). They are wonderful, chewy, vanillay cookies. You can end up with crunchy ones though, so "testing" is necessary. I treat them like you might a mango or an avacado. I go from cookie package to cookie package lightly sqeezing the cookies to see if they "give" the way a good chewy cookie should, till I find the perfect ones. These ones were perfect. Yes. I had 4 oatmeal raisin cookies for breakfast. But you faithful blog readers will remember my multiple apple pie for breakfast posts, and will not be surprised by my excessive cookie consumption.

3) We had san pelegrino sparkling orange juice. I always wake up dehydrated, and rarely have juice, though it is what I crave madly, becuase of the high calorie content, and cost. But we had just bought some san pelegrio on sale. It is like heaven to me first thing in the morning!

3) We had good coffee -Kicking horse coffee. The "Kick ass" variety. No, I'm not using profanity, that's what it's actually called- check the link! Very good coffee :-)

4) After eventually showering, we went for a long walk on the trails around here which was very refreshing, and it felt so good to get some exercise, and to get outside.

5) When we got home, we had turkey bacon and eggs and whole wheat pancakes for a late lunch. Very yummy :-). More kicking horse coffee here as well.

6) We then took an AFTERNOON NAP. We rarely do this anymore, but oh is it wonderful!! I love the afternoon nap. It's wonderful. Did I mention it's wonderful.

7) Then we had an excellent evening with Daryl's aunt.

We DID do some constructive things in between all this!! This wasn't the WHOLE day. But, it was a more luxuriously relaxing day than we've had in a long time, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Glory to God!

Mmmmm

At the "do" they threw for me in MA before I left, a friend made this super yummy cheese dish. All it was (so she told me) was 2 packages of cream cheese, and one jar of a specific hot pepper jelly. Mix them in a food processor, and put the mixture into a cassorole or other baking dish, and bake in the oven at 350/400 degrees F. for 20 minutes. It was SO yummy!

So, before I left MA, I picked up this hot pepper jelly at the "Cape cod craft shop." So I thought I would take her at her word, and try making it based on what she had told me. I made it tonight, and it was SO easy, and SO good. It is just as I described above - mix 2 packages of cream cheese and 1 jar of hot pepper jelly ( I think that jalapeno jelly or what not would do) in a food processor, bake for 20 minutes, and serve with crackers. It was very yummy - hot and a bit sweet from the jelly, but the cheese offset the spice. Very yummy.

We had a wonderful visit with Daryl's aunt, who I've blogged about before. I love her so much - we always have such a wonderful time visiting with her. I missed her so much when we were in MA! It was impromptu (we called at 8pm and said "want to come over for a glass of wine etc..?" and she came), and so great.

More comfort food.

My grandparents lived on the island, in Victoria when I was growing up. When my family would come to visit, we'd usually take an evening ferry, and get in between 7 and 9. When we arrived at my grandparents, my grandmother would always have what we referred to as "Hamburger soup" cooking on the stove. I think we looked forward to it almost as much as the ferry ride and visit with grandma and grandpa! I got the recipe from my mom over a year ago, and hadn't gotten around to making it until now. I finally made "Hamburger soup" yesterday and it is still as yummy and comforting as it always was. And, relatively healthy if you use extra lean ground beef, and very very inexpensive to make. I think the origional recipe is from a company's coming book. Here it is:

Hamburger Soup

Ingredients:

• 6 cups cold water
• 6 beef cubes
• 1 large tin (28 oz) tomatoes
• 1 tin condensed tomato soup
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 2 cups grated potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups onion, chopped
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 T parsley flakes
• salt (scant)
• Pepper
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• 1 1/2 pounds extra lean ground beef
• 6 cups water

Directions:

Heat first amount of water and cubes. Stir until dissolved. Add remaining ingredients except beef. Bring to a boil. Cover an dsimmer slowly about 1 1/2 hours. Add remaining water to soup about halfway through cooking. Scramble fry ground beef, add to soup, and simmer for 1/2 hour more. (One of my grandma's recipes had sugar, one didn't - I didn't use it this time).

To do

Well, work is a bit scarce for me this week, which is good and bad. There are transitions happening all over the place, and my regular schedule just hasn't settled in yet. This is concerning financially, but is good I think in that I kind of needed the catch up time. But, it is easy, when feeling overwhelmed to do nothing constructive with almost a full day off. So here's my attempt at actually getting something done and not just flipping between HGTV and TLC all day ;-).

To do:

- Study.
- unpack all boxes left, and decide where it's all going to go
- put up pictures
- call about insurance claims on stuff that broke in the mail.
- Figure out who to call about the funny error message I keep getting when I turn on my computer.
- Go for a walk/jog

Later in the day I'll be doing some work out of the house.

I'll let you know what I get accomplished.

Christ is Risen!!

It was a wonderful Pascha!!























I do have a funny annecdote though. I put on a white skirt to wear to the Paschal service, and thought "hmm this is a bit loose" but continued on, as I was in a rush. When I got to Church I realized it was REALLY loose, and that what had happened was that half of the elastic in the waist had lost it's elastic, or broken or something. So, I found a safety pin and tightened it up and safety-pinned it.

I went out of the sanctuary part way through the service, and when I came back in, and was almost at the front of the Church (with NUMEROUS people behind me), D.'s sister (who was at Pascha with us, along with her husband) grabbed me by the arm and whispered "Pull up your skirt!!!" Yes, mhmm, so I reached behind me to pull it up, thinking "ok ok!! geeze, it's just a little baggy" only to realize that I could feel NO skirt on my bottom, just my slip. So I reached further down, and yes, my skirt was thankfully still there, it had just slid down almost completely off my bottom. Needless to say I hitched up the skirt, ran downstairs, and found some more safety pins to remedy the situation. Thank goodness for my SIL!!

That aside, it was a beautiful, wonderful Paschal service, despite a little rain for the procession.

Catch Up

Today was a catch up day. After being sick and out of commission for a few days, I had lots to catch up on. I'm feeling much better today - still sick, but just feeling SO much better than the last few days.

I ended up cancelling the presentation I was supposed to do on Tuesday, and did get the paper mailed off on the Wednesday (definately not my best work, but it's done), and attempted writing the test I had rescheduled for Wenesday at 3:30 PM. See, the tests I write are available for 3 days only, and on the third day the testing period ends at 5pm. Wednesday was the third day for this course. What I had forgotten is that it ends at 5pm Minnesota time, which is 3pm my time. So, I couldn't write the test. That was unfortunate.

I spent the first 3/4's of the day baking prosphora. I made a total of 10 loaves, 6 of which turned out well. Two had bubbles right under the seal, and on two of them the seal stretched out too much. It was a good long day of prosphora baking though.

I also cleaned the house, did a bit more unpacking, did laundry, caught up on some work that had been stacking up, had a phone meeting with my supervisor, and attacked my email inbox.

I was exhausted by the end of the day though, and my body was reminding me I'm still sick!! But it does feel really good to be a bit caught up.

My father in law came into town tonight and we picked him up, and tomorrow we're doing another whirlwind mainland trip. My nephew's birthday is tomorrow, and it's his first birthday, so we're going over just for that, going to good Friday service on the mainland, then wisking back here Saturday morning with my mother in law to get ready for Pascha.

Boring post, I know..nothing interesting to post about today though, just day-to-dayness.

I love licorice tea

A warm, sweet, comforting wonderfully yummy tea it is. It's my sick tea of choice today.

My favorite licorice tea is Stash licorice. Though to be honest I haven't tried many others.

Warning - Whining ahead!

1. Guest lecture to do tomorrow at UVIC that I haven't prepared for? _ CHECK
2. 20 Page paper due Wednesday, that I haven't barely started? _ CHECK
3. Nasty cold that everyone else has had finally gets me? _CHECK
4. Slice open my thumb with a bread knife? _CHECK (actually it's almost healed now, but adding it in added to the drama of this post ;-).

I had a test today, but rescheduled for tomorrow after my presentation because I just can't leave the house today (really, you don't want me to, I'm exhuding germs). That leaves me pretty much with today to write my entire paper. And prepare the presentation. Except that I'm litterally holding a tissue to my nose 99% of the time. arg. oi. I think (i know) that my normal grade range is going to be destroyed this semester. I actually sat and calculated my marks to see what I needed to do to squeek by and get the marks I need to be allowed to continue taking courses. I've never in my life done that. I would just like this semester to end, and the next one to start, so I can have a clean slate. Ch-choo bad grades.

WAIT - can I complain some more? No just kidding...What a whiner I am. I am such a complete BABY when I'm sick though. I am capable of nothing but whining and complaining and demanding things (like orange juice and tea) from those around me when I'm sick. Poor poor D.

Office time!!

We scored (again) on craigslist! We haven't set up our offices really yet, because we have almost no shelving to put everything on (apparently we have a lot of books and things that need to be shelved). There was an add on craigslist yesterday though - someone selling a slew of (8 in total) Ikea shelving units! We bought 6 of them - two super tall bookshelves, two medium height ones, and two deeper shorter ones. So we now have enough places to put our office stuff. When we'll actually get to putting it all together I don't know.

I also caved, and after much debate, and weeks of investigation, bought a new lap top. I had planned on getting one when we got back, due to the horrendous slowness and incapability of my current one (it is about 5-6 years old, and we have to re-install windows about every 6 months to keep it running at all - I'm talking 2-4 minutes to open a word or adobe document!), and the amount of things I need it for now (school online, work on the comp, presentations). After the move though, I wanted to try to wait because of course, the second move stretched us financially. (Most of you who know me well know my laptop woes and will be shouting "hooray for the new laptop" and envisioning me chucking the old one out a 5th story window). Anyways -I have a presentation next week at which I need to show video etc, and my laptop just can't do it, so I didn't have much choice...

So, I have shelving, and a laptop. Now to get the paper and the presentation done this weekend and keep myself from wanting to spend the whole weekend re-organizing office and computer files. Oi! I think I can do it though, since the paper and presentation are both at the crucial "there's no more time procrastinate, you can do nothing else but eat sleep and breathe this project until it's done" stage. I picked the wrong topic for the paper, couldn't find the articles I needed, and now can think of 5 other things I'd be more interested in, and have better articles for...but alas, the due date for our topic was in February, so there's no time to change it now!!!

Drowning in the soup...

No no, not to worry, I was not, as some have suspected eaten by the soup :-). I've just been totally consumed with work and school and preparing presentations and mannuals and all sorts of things. Trying as well, in the midst of it all to get the apartment sorted out.

I made big progress on Friday last week. It was supposed to be my work at home, get caught up day. I went to the computer, looked out into the livingroom, at the unassembled futon, the boxes, the piles of flat pack Ikea goods. I knew right then that I would be getting no work of any kind done. So, I spent the entire day unpacking and setting up Ikea furniture, unpacking boxes etc. By the end of the day we had a living room. A sparse one, and there were now more boxes in my office, but we had a living room. A couch, a coffee table, lamp, some candles, a TV, bookshelf, side tables, and comfy throw blankets. That is enough for me for now.

The unpacking of our offices has stalled somewhat. Daryl's because we've realized we didn't buy him any shelving at all, and he can't really upack boxes until he has it. Mine, because his computer is in my room while we're sharing it, and while we're getting things organized, and because the excess boxes are in my office right now.

So, we're plugging along. I am thankful to have a cozy place and to have some semblance of an apartment set up now. I think it just feels like we arrived running behind and can't quite catch up!! Daryl is working lots, and I'm super busy between work and school, and all the other work/school related side things I have going, so it's just a bit challenging catching up with everything!

Anyhoo :-) I think I might make more soup tonight, from a great book my mom bought for me called The Mediterranean Diet. It's a chick pea soup (maybe I have a thing with Chick peas?), but this time with fennel and orange peel and tomatoe etc. It sounds really interesting. So I"ll see :-) I"ll post if it's good.

Comfort food

I just made this (measurements are estimates because I made it up as I went and didn't measure):

Curried Sweet Potato Chick Pea Soup

Saute:

• 1 Onion, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 Carrots, Chopped
• 3 Medium Sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed or minced

in about 2 Tbsp Olive oil, until onions are just starting to turn clear about 5-10 minutes.

Add:

• ½ Jar Rogan Josh Curry sauce (or other tomato based curry cooking sauce).
• 1 can tomato paste
• about ½ - 1 cup more tomato based sauce or soup (I used left-overs)
• 4 Cups vegetable broth
• about 2 tsp Garam masala
• about 2 tsp salt
• more water if needed

Bring to a boil and simmer till vegetables are soft.

Blend half to 2/3 of soup in food processor and return it to the pot.

Add:

• about 1-2 tablespoons Tahini
• about 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 can chick peas

Simmer another few minutes, or longer if desired.

It's really really good -possibly the best soup I've ever made. LOVE it. Adding Tahini to vegetarian/vegan soups is a trick a friend taught me a long time ago -makes the soups wonderfully nutty and creamy, even with just a little bit.

Also just made Mexican rice krispy squares - like the regular ones, but with vanilla, cocoa, and cinnamon added to the marshmallows and margarine before you add the rice krispies.

Mmmm....