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....

Here I Sit.

Thinking obsessively about office and living room furniture. Longingly about my trip to Ikea next weekend. As D. mentioned in his recent post, he and I don't do well with unsettled-ness, so we are eager to get things settled. I think I can live without having all our stuff back (numerous boxes are still in the post), I just need to be able to set up an office (as does he), get organized and have shelves to unpack things on and a couch to sit on. Then I'll be okay. I think.

There are SO many things to be doing, and I have about 2.5 hours till I have to do my out of the house work for the day. But I'm in my pajamas, blogging, at 9:17 am.

I went for a walk to explore the area around our place yesterday, and it's a great area! There's a trail running around a lake/river/bog area, with tons of wildlife, and beautiful scenery. It's a perfect trail for running. But now my running shoes are full of mud, because it just rained a torrential downpour a couple of days ago, and the trail was flooded in places. I'm glad there is a nice walking/running place close by though - especially one that is close to residential areas the whole way so it's a safe place to run by myself. Look at all this talk about running - I'm taking bets on how long it will be till I actually go running on the trail!!! Oi!

Well....off I go. I think I need to post an online graph of % of to-do list completed daily to motivate myself to get things done. Yes, I know. Nerd.

Long time coming...

Well, I've now been home a full week, and finally am blogging. It's been a bit overwhelming, and a bit crazy, and a lot of wonderful coming home.

Our little apartment is working out really well for us (or will be, once it has furniture in it lol!), we have a vehicle (thanks to some very generous friends), and both have jobs. My work stuff is still getting rolling, is all disorganized and hasn't settled in yet -which of course is making me batty, but it will all settle in in a month or so.

The homecoming was good, but hectic. I ended up having to make an impromptu trip to the interior to pick up a bunch of our stuff from my parents (my wonderful father in law came with me...ok really I went with him, since he drove and I slept), visited my nephew who is adorable and so old now, and had a stellar evening with Magnificent M. It was a fabulous night out, then came home to Victoria the next day. There wasn't time for anything else!

I just registered for the ABA (Association for Behavior Analysis) conference, which is in San Diego in May. I'm really excited about that - not sure how I'll pay for the flight yet, but then, maybe we'll just get a van and write "ABA OR BUST!!!" on the side and drive down in that...lol.

It is beautiful and sunny in Vic today, so I think I may go explore my new neighborhood after I get some studying in. There are lots of walking trails and parks around here. The rec center is close by as well. I'm excited to be back in the land of rec centers. There were NO rec centers in MA!?! You know here, every city has a few places with a pool, weight room, cardio room, sometimes ice rink, and offers all kinds of fitness and swim classes. You can drop in for somewhere between 2 and 5 dollars. There was NOTHING like that in MA! It was a full gym membership, or a 14.00 drop in fee at the YMCA. So, i'm happy to be able to return to the gym and rec center classes. One step at a time though!

I made it

I'm here in Langely now....after lots of travelling yesterday, Bastet and I made it safely home. Well, almost home, not quite to the island yet :-). Bastet was great through all the travelling, not a sound from her while driving, or while on the plane, and she was SO good when I had to take her out and carry her through security - clining to me for dear life, but totally ok, and not trying to get away or anything.

Bye bye MA, bye bye Shrewsbury :-) Hello Langley, and soon...hello Victoria!

Somehow, I went from having no plans for while I was here, to having every minute practically booked up. Today I have to go to the bank with my parents, and I get to go visit my great aunt, and later today my nephew. Then tonight D. arrives, and we get to run away for a night at a B&B, and then head up to my parents to pick up all our stuff with a moving van tomorrow. Then I"ll be back at some point tomorrow afternoon, then Friday a meeting for work, and off to M's for a night! I'm SUPER Stoked about that :-). My ears are burning to hear "STELLLLLLAAAHHH." Hilarious!

But that little schedule leaves almost no time for anything else! Good thing I'm coming over several weekends in the next little while. Oi!

Almost there...

I've finished work now, and the car has sold. It's almost time to head home. I had to say goodbye to my students on Thursday, and to my co-workers yesterday. It was hard, and there was lots of crying, but I am very excited to be heading home soon.

Last night a bunch of people from work all went out for Thai food and to go back to someones house for what I thought was just a typical night out. The Thai was excellent, and then we went back to one friend's house. I walked into the kitchen and there were streamers, and balloons and signs posted everywhere saying "We'll miss you T." I was overwhelmed. It was a goodbye party for me. No one's ever thrown me a party like that. They also knew me well enough to know that I would do back flips over the Ikea gift card they gave me (even though Ikea isn't quite the phenomenon here that it is in Canada). I absolutely could not believe it. We had a wonderful night - it was the perfect ending to my time here. I managed to hold it together while I was there, but when I walked in the door at home this morning (I stayed over night there), I finally realized I had just said goodbye to so many amazing people, and I cried. A lot.

As I mentioned, the car sold, for less than we were hoping, but just in a knick of time, which is a big relief! Now I just have to do the rest of the packing and somehow read, and hopefully study the material for my two exams on Monday. Oi! It's maddness.

Trudging along...

I shouldn't say trudging, because my parents are here now, and that is wonderful! We had an amazing dinner at 1790 (I've blogged about this before). I had pecan encrusted chicken, topped with apples and brie, with the most spectacular mashed potatoes and this amazing squash side dish (TO DIE FOR). I had Lobster Rangoons for my appetizer which were also wonderful. Dad chose a great wine, a real Zinfandel (not white) from the Nappa Valley, by Ruthurford Ranch. I've never had a real Zinfandel before. Mom tells me that the true Zinfandel's are only made in a particular region in the Nappa Valley, from grapes grown on 80-100 year old vines. Interesting!

I'm very much ready to be done work and getting ready to go home. I'm glad my parents are here, because I'd be going batty having to work this week and not being able to get everything done. Thankfully they are here to help with the packing and cleaning, and do things I dread like calling around to car dealerships to see what they'd give me for the car, in the worst case scenario that it doesn't sell. I've had three people show interest in the car, one offer significantly below the asking price, but still more than I'd get at a dealership. so, I'll have to probably make a decision in the next few days if no other offers come up. Sigh.

I can't believe I have to go back for a week of work tomorrow! But tomorrow will be my last 12 hour shift, and this week is it. So much to do, and I'm trying so hard to keep myself moving and motivated.

Big perk to having mom and dad here - I can use mom's laptop, which actually works! I don't have to walk away from it while it loads a page! Wow! lol not that I'm bitter :-)

Snow day?

Well, we finally got some snow....not as much as expected (only a few inches) but it's here nonetheless. Fortunately, I'm using my last 20 hours of vacation time and taking today and tomorrow off, so I don't need to trudge into work. So I can have a real snow day.

BUT - I was supposed to write two exams this morning, and the college that I write them at (that proctors my exams) is closed today due to the weather, and I cannot contact anyone there. The problem with this is that my exams are only available for a 3 day window - if you don't write them in that window, you get a 0. Today is the last day to write for one of the exams (and the first day for the other). So I've emailed my prof pleading with him to allow me to access the exam tomorrow or Friday, so that I can reschedule them. Oi.

The good part though is that I was really not ready for these exams - I let the studying get away from me, and was up till 1am last night studying, and woke up at 6am to continue. So now I'll shower and study my butt off all day, get totally prepared for these two tests, and start my reading for the next tests.

Though the warm cozy bed is looking very inviting. I'll go to the cafe accross the street to study so I'm not tempted.

Where in the world has my blogger life gone?

I was humming "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?" as I typed that...Anyhoo..

I've been a blogging slacker lately. Various things occur to me throughout the day or week, that would be good blog topics, but I haven't quite gotten to the signing in and blogging part yet!

Updates:

We have found an apartment. After much adue, we've found a 2 bedroom + den place. It's ground level, and though it has a smaller kitchen, it does have a deep freeze, the extra den, and a nice patio. It also doesn't have a lease, so we'll have a chance to live in it for a while, and if we find it's not ideal, we can always find a new place. I am just SO relieved that we've found something. Daryl literally looked at/called/investigated close to 15 places in the last 2 weeks, taking up large amounts of time! The landlords at this place are also wonderful, and that makes a big difference.

I still, after reposting 2 times, and posting an ad on the bulliten board at work have not had one response about our car!! I'm so irritated, because I would give anything to be able to keep this car, because I love it, and it's in such great shape! But I have to get rid of it before I go!

My parents will be here in just over a week! I'm very excited to get to show them around, and have them visit. Our MA life seems like a bit of an island - no one from our west coast life has seen it, so it's exciting to be able to show them around, and have them here. It will be so helpful to have them here to help me get everything packed up and on it's way too.

Our landlord here (who is wonderful) has offered (and we've accepted) to buy all our furniture and everything else we want to leave from us before we leave. She'll be paying us literally exactly what we spent furnishing the apartment, which is amazing! I won't have to deal with posting things on Craigslist, having people come look at them, and worrying what to do with things I can't get rid of. Also, we know for sure we won't be loosing anything financially on the furniture part of the move. It also means I'll have a fully furnished apartment up until the day I leave!

My work is completely set up for when I return. I'm going to be working with two different supervisors, both of whom I've worked with before and learned a lot from, and both with clients I've worked with before, but in a different role. I'm very excited about returning and getting to work with these clients, and supervisors again, but in a different role, where I will learn so much.

I'm actually getting a bit sad about leaving. I will really miss the students I work with here, and I've actually made some good friends while here, that I will be very sad to leave. It's really funny. In 3 years in Victoria, I think I really didn't make more than 1 new friend completely on my own. There were people that I became friends with through Church, but not one person, really, that I became close with that I met through work or school or any other route. But, here, in 5 months, I have become quite close to a number of people, and it's getting a bit hard to think about not going to work here again. About not seeing them on a daily basis and going for our after-work pub nights, and watching grey's anatomy with them etc. I think it is the nature of this job though, in this setting. Our students and positions are very challenging, and we spend a LOT of time together. It would really be impossible to avoid making some close friends along the way. MA is just so far away though - I know I won't likely see them again soon. So, the sad part of leaving is finally starting to sink in. I'm still SO excited to go home, to see everyone, and to get started in my new work positions. Most of all, I'm dying to get home to my husband - life just isn't right without him. But, I am finally starting to feel sad about leaving - I think the realization that my parents will be here in just over a week has made the leaving part more real.

Long ramble. But that's where I'm at.

Brrrr!!!!!!

1) It is STINKING cold here. Here are the current weather conditions:

Wind : from the NW (310 degrees) at 9 MPH (8 KT) gusting to 18 MPH (16 KT)
Sky conditions : mostly clear
Temperature: 1.9 F (-16.7 C)
Windchill: -13 F (-25 C)

Pay particular attention to the temperature with wind chill. -13 would be cold if we were talking celsius. But it's -13 F. Which is (as seen above) MINUS TWENTY -FIVE Celsius. I think - no, I'm sure that this is the coldest weather I've ever experienced. My baby toe actually went numb while I was driving to get gas today. I was just running out to get gas, and then going to a cafe to study, so a) was not wearing appropriate footwear (slip on regular shoes, thin shoes) and b) Did not let the car warm up before driving. After I finished getting gas, and was driving to the cafe, I realize my baby toe was numb. NUMB. Like felt like it was "asleep" and I should get pins and needles if I tried to move it. No pins and needles - it was just frozen.

2) I had my eye exam today, and walked out with new glasses! I love them. I'm very excited. Unfortunately, the barage of eye exam stuff, and the new glasses left me feeling VERY nauseous and headachy all day :-(. I'm feeling a bit better now though, that my eyes have had a bit of time to get adjusted and recover.

3) Our current landord just called to see if we had "any" furniture left and said she would buy everything we have from us b/c a relative is moving into our apartment after we leave, and has no furniture. We had mentioned we'd be selling it, and she was interested, but then said she wasn't sure so we should post it on craigslist and try to sell it. Anyhoo - I haven't posted anything yet, so this means a) No posting b) No hanging around for strangers to come to my apt to pick up furniture c) I will have a fully furnished apartment right up until the day I leave and d) A guarantee that we'll make back some of the money we spent furnishing the apartment. So this is very good. Now we just have to sell this car! I posted on Craigslist but have had NO replies yet!?! I'm going to post it at work too and see what happens.

4) I was off today, and I'm off tomorrow. That is, for the record, TWO days off in a row! My OT is done for now, and I haven't had 2 days off for several weeks! I did get some studying done, and scheduled my exams that I"ll be taking here before I leave.

5) I miss my husband !!! I know the next few weeks will fly by, but I really really miss him!

6) I MUST get around to trying to make Bastet stay in her airline carrier for a while, and attempt carrying her around in loud busy places with it. I'm kind of avoiding it. She's going to hate it. M - maybe we could develop a shaping procedure together?? We could market the program and pay for our ABA conference attendance. lol!

Paper Clip Needing a new home

Check out this posting on craigslist!

This one's for you M...

Ahhh...the good old days.



Classic.

Nerdy Excitement

Today, I just picked up the textbook for one of my masters classes that start January 17th. It's titled "Single Case Experimental Designs," and though I have it on good authority that the first chapter is excruciatingly dry, I am extremely excited. It was kind of like Christmas. There is nothing like cracking open a new text book for the first time. I really love school. I love my field and learning more about it. I'm just a nerd. I think I'll tackle that first chapter this week.

Also - can I just say one more time how much I love Trader Joes? Here are a few highlights from my latest trip through their isles (I didn't buy it all, but these are my favorites):

Frozen Chicken lasagna - with whole wheat noodles, veggies, chicken and ricotta. So good!
The "Salsa combo" in the produce section. A container including tomatoes, lime, chilie pepper, and garlic cloves for 1.99.
David Glass 77% Less Fat Chocolate truffle cake. UN-BE-LIEVE-ABLE. I did buy this. Only six dollars, and I kid you not, absolutely the best dessert I've had in a long time. And only 4 points per piece!
Multigrain rice crisps - 17 for 2 points, and SO good and nutty tasting. Excellent with Roquorfort Blue cheese.

Love it.

Bits and Pieces

I rediscovered Chilean (is that how you would spell it?) wine tonight. See, when we were in BC - the land of wine being expensive - we often would try out a bottle of Chilean or Spanish wine, because usually they were some of the cheaper bottles of wine. We came accross some really great ones, that were better, in my opinion than many more expensive wines we'd tried.

Since moving here though, we've primarily bought the Charles Shaw 3.00 a bottle wine, and many of the Australian wines we really like, because they are so much more reasonablly priced here.

Tonight though, I wandered into the "Chile" isle at the liquor store, and thought "hmm..." So, I bought a bottle of Merlot from "Sunrise." It is wonderful. I must have some fond memories associated with very similar tasting wines, because the minute I took my first sip I was a) Thinking I'd forgotten how nice Chilean wines are - they have a very different feel to them ; and b) Overwhelmed with a sense of comfort and happiness. No, it wasn't the wine going to my head, it was definately some sort of respondant conditioning.

So, that made me happy.

I also went back to weight watchers tonight. Over the past year or two, between quiting smoking, finishing my undergrad, moving and now commuting by car vs. transit, I have regained enough of my weightloss to make me significantly uncomfortable. And WW works for me, really well. I remembered why when I went tonight. The leader at the meeting I went to was really really great, I loved her style, so I think I'll stick with this meeting time. So, back on the band wagon. Time to rebuild all the little good habits, and break all the little bad habits that have crept in and out of my daily lifestyle.

Funny but painful annecdote:

I sprained my baby finger today. How? I reached down to put on a shoe, and jammed my finger on the wall on the way down. Yep. It is SO painful! How could such a little digit be that painful! I've been shaking my head at myself all day.

My cat:

Has now taken to crawling onto my shoulder while I'm at the computer and rubbing her face up against my head and kneading my back with her claws. She is constantly almost falling off, and "pacing" from one shoulder to the other. It's really really funny, and completely endearing. I think she's definately under attention deprivation now that Daryl isn't at home while I'm at work. Poor cat, she's alone most of the day now!

I miss him too, lots.

Ways to distract yourself from thinking about your missing husband.

1. Go on a grocery shopping spree, and take advantage of on-sale, pre-packaged weight watchers food (which cannot be found so easily in Canada).
2. Attempt to find and download neccessary software to install printer on computer.
3. Attempt to install printer after downloading software.
4. Hook up sweet computer speaker system your wonderful husband left you.
5. Re-organize office space.
6. Vaccum.
7. Clean.
8. Eat left over fajitas from Chilli's
9. Eat Mudd pie from Trader Joe's.
10. Blog

Sad Face

Daryl is gone. I'm sad.

Everything, including the drive into the airport went smoothly though. He was able to take a lot of stuff in his checked and carry on baggage, which saves shipping costs, so that's good. The United people were more helpful and friendly than I've ever experienced at the airport before.

He picked up snacks from Trader Joes for the trip, including their turkey jerky. I told him to make sure he ate it before going through customs, to avoid reliving Magnificent M and I's "pepperoni" experience.

But the apartment is really quiet. :-(

Merry Christmas!

We had a good Christmas. We were able to webcam with both sets of parents while we opened presents yesterday afternoon, watched Micky's Christmas Carol, and had some yummy food.

We had:

Salad with the yummy caramalized bacon, blue cheese, pear, and a raspberry dressing.
Goat cheese and roasted garlic
Castello blue (like a blue brie) cheese, and brie
A beet/blue cheese/apple dip that wasn't all that spectacular.
Olives, pears, olive bread, crackers, and pita chips to go with it all.
Wine, of course.

So, that was our Christmas dinner. I didn't have much energy after a rough day of work, but I did find enough to have a bath with my new excellent bath stuff that I recieved for Christmas, and crawl into my new comfy flannel PJ's.

Today is a 13 hour work day for me, and all the kids will be returning from home visits, and coming down from the Christmas high, so wish me luck! We're supposed to be picking Danika up at the airport after work too!! Very late night.

Home Comforts

I just received this book in the mail from a dear friend for Christmas. When I was visiting her this summer, I was flipping through her copy of it and became entranced, and vowed I would have to buy it as soon as I got settled again! Of course, I had forgotten about it and not bought it yet, so I was thrilled to receive it in the mail!

It is an excellent book! The first chapter is titled "My secret life" and starts as follows:

"I am a working woman with a secret life: I keep house. An off-and-on lawyer and professor in public, in private I launder and clean, cook from the hip and devote serious time and energy to a domestic routine not so different from the one that defined my grandmothers as "housewives." When I want a good read, I reach for my collection of old housekeeping manuals. the part of me that enjoys housekeeping and the comforts it provides is central to my character."

It has been called the "joy of cooking" for housekeeping. It has information and "how to" instructions for just about every household task. It's kind of like having all your mothers, mothers in law, grandmothers, and grandmothers in law's collective knowledge about everything from deciphering washing instructions to making a good fire, to cleaning china and making a bed with hospital corners (there are pictures!).

I love it!

I have the ticket

Well...in a matter of speaking. I have the email that confirms my reservation on a flight from Montreal to Vancouver. My mom and dad are coming to visit right before I leave, and they'll be flying into Montreal, renting a car and driving here. We (along with Bastet) will drive back to Montreal to fly out to Vancouver. All of this due to a seat sale at Westjet, and their extra-friendly pet policies.

We just bought Bastet her airline carrier. It's a soft carrier that looks much like a duffle bag. She'll be able to fly in the cabin with me, under the seat in front of me, which is excellent.

Now, two months to get through! Can we have a do-over on Christmas and New Year's when I get home?? Lol.

Funny comic posted!

Check out the latest post on Vic's blog:

little shavings from my ration of light: why do I find this so funny? (Scroll up after you click on this).

Anyone who went to highschool with me (ehem, Bean, Rach, Sarah, Embo?) will appreciate this especially. I think the author may have lifted it off of a comic we drew in highschool. Hilarious.

New York New York!

A little belated, but now that our pictures are posted, I'll fill you in on our New York Trip. Some important points and highlights:

1) We drove into Manhattan. DROVE into Manhattan. INTO it. As in, we passed the empire state building on our way to our hotel. Seriously. As we drove over the bridge into Manhattan, and the city appeared over the horizon I felt fear like no other. We just kept yelling at each other "what are we doing?!?" "we are crazy people driving in Manhattan!" I have to say that, aside from looking for parking it was actually not that bad. There were ALOT of pedestrians who leapt out infront of vehicles at random moments. There were some who were just chilling in the middle of an intersection, only becoming visible when the car next to you veered into you to avoid running them over. There were lots of cabs, and yes, they drove like maniacs...but what we found was we kind of got into it. I would step on the gas and pull infront of a cab and slam the brakes on once in, and much to my surprise the cab would not hit me, and in fact seemed completely non-plussed by it. Then I would look at Daryl and say "Did you SEE what I just did!!?" It was intense, but almost in a good way. But very exhausting. Anyhoo....

2) This is the place we stayed in. It was central to everything right in the centre of Manhattan. It was beautiful, and really reasonable - if you're ever in New York stay there! It is a row of beautiful brownstones, gorgeous, vaulted ceilings and beautifully decorated. Ours even had a garden area out back!

3) Our favorite annecdote. As we proceeded through Connecticut on our way to New York, I realized I had to pee SO badly. So, I got off the highway, and we ended up on some parkway where there was no where to pee. We were looking around and I said to Daryl "Wow, I wonder what city this is...It's really big!" Then we passed the following sign: "Welcome to the Bronx." Guess what the big city was. Stellar. No, my sense of direction has never, and never will get better.

4) We had the true NY experience at the Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village. We went to a neat cafe across the street for amazing hot cocoa, then to the 11pm show in the Cellar. The scheduled comics ran till about 1:30am, but then Dave Chappelle showed up after the show and did about an hour long set. That was excellent. The other comics were okay, but there was a lot of vulgar, less intelligent humor, with a lot of audience ridicule (we escaped it thankfully). You could definitely see a difference between the experienced comics like Dave Attell, and Dave Chappelle and the others. After the show, we wandered through the village, and even at 2:30am you could still hear jazz music wafting up the stairwells of many clubs, and there were many people out and about. It was SO freezing cold though that after a few blocks of walking we decided to opt out and have our first NY Cab experience.

5) NY Subways are not scary. At all. Okay, well, Manhattan Subways between the financial district, Chelsea, and times square are not scary. I felt safer on them than I do on the sky train normally! Same thing with Manhattan. I saw no sign of drugs, violence, come to think of it I don't even think I saw one panhandler even anyone who looked homeless. I'm sure they were there, but I have seen a lot more of that stuff in Van or Victoria than I did while there. Again though, we were only there for a really short time, and in all the touristy area, so...

So it was great! Check out the pictures here. Click on New York Trip.

Another one...

You are Frankenstein!

You are a sensitive and misunderstood creature. You are incredibly kind and more human than people who were created through natural means. But unfortunatly, you have a nasty revenge streak and therefore everyone is afraid of you.

Take this quiz at QuizHeaven.com

I stole this from Victoria - too funny!

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Homecoming

We're coming home.

It's been in the works for a while, but we didn't want to announce it until everything was settled.

How do we feel about this?
Very happy and excited, but also sad that we didnt' get to finish the year out here.

Why?

Main reason: Daryl has been unable to to find work that he can do for a Canadian company, over the internet, from here. So, he cannot work (he's not allowed to work in the US).

I can complete my Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis by distance Ed. I just registered for January classes, and they are going to let me catch up to the September cohort - so I will graduate as if I started classes in September.

So, I will still be completing my MSc, and recieving great training, but in BC.

Where?

We've decided to return to Victoria. Daryl has an offer (which he has accepted) for a full time permanent position at a company that he worked for when we were there beofre. He loves working there, so we're really excited about this! Also, I will have the opportunity to train under a fabulous consultant that I was working with before I left Victoria. I'll be able to get the training and supervision I need while there.

When?

Well, Daryl will be returning at the beginning of January, to start work. I will be returning at the very end of February. My contract required that I give 3 months notice, which I have done. My last day of work will be February 24th.

This is the VERY condensed version of our decision-making process ;-)

And yes, this was Magnificent M's mysterious good news a week or two ago. So, no, I am not pregnant ;-).

What I love

I love Church and, and naps, baking, and cooking, and Christmas, and music. Today I had all of those, so it was a good day.

We went to Church this morning - the third time I've been to Church on a Sunday since we moved here! That was good. The choir was wonderful today, and we had a great talk with someone we hadn't talked to before.

Then we came home and crashed for a Sunday afternoon nap. We used to often have these after Church, and oh do I miss them!! Coming home after Church, having coffee and bagels and then getting all sleepy, and having the luxury of being able to just go take a nap.

After that refreshment, I tidy'd up, put on the Christmas lights, the aromatherapy burner (Cranberry scent today), and my "Holly cole Station" on Pandora (Lots of good jazz). I broke in a new silicone loaf pan today. I bought it because I had about 12 bananas in imy freezer, and no loaf pan! I didn't want to buy something I'd have to get rid of again, or that would take up a lot of space, so I got the squishy, foldable silicone pan. It worked out really well. So, I baked the bananna bread, then a batch of bananna muffins.

There were these muffins at the UVic cafe on campus that I LOVED. I could never make my muffins taste as good, no matter what I did. Today I discovered the secret. It may sound weird, but wheat germ is the key. I Substituted a portion of the whole wheat flour in the recipe with the wheat germ on a whim, and the texture and taste of the muffins improved 10-fold. Excellent!

Then I decided to make corn chowder and baking powder biscuits for dinner. Mmmmm...very good.

That is my favorite way to spend an afternoon. Baking and cooking and listening to music. Especially in a Christmasy atmosphere.

Christmas preparations and Sandwich, MA

So, we mailed off presents to our families, and bought our "Christmas tree" yesterday. You'll be pleased to know it is an "Alberta Spruce." We bought it, where else, at Trader Joe's. It is very tiny, and live, and came with lights, which all works well for us.

Today, after sleeping in a bit, we decided to head to Providence RI...but then changed our minds and decided to continue on to Cape Cod. We got side-tracked in a little town right at the start of the Cape called...wait for it. Sandwich. We have found endless amusement in the various township departments we passed, such as the Sandwich Police, and Sandwich town hall (see picture). It was a really neat little town.

Among the gems we found there was the absolute best cup of coffee I have had since moving here. The place was Paul's Bean and Bagel, the coffee was a Organic Sumatra from The Beanstock Coffee Roasters in Wellfleet, Cape Cod. I think the man behind the counter was actually a little frightened by my enthusiasm. Needless to say, our one purchase for today was a pound of this stellar coffee.

I think my personal favorite discovery in Sandwich, MA, was the this contraption - and most importantly this hilarious picture. It was outside of this Inn and restaurant (that I would love to stay at). We couldn't resist the picture. We also found a neat Inn and Restaurant called the Belfry, that was and old Church converted into a Restaurant and Inn. Apparently, very romantic, very beautiful, and there is a mural of Alice in Wonderland ...or something. It would be a wonderful place for a husband to surprise a wife with an evening out. You know...if he happened to want to do that ;-).

All in all, it was a good visit. We didn't make it to the more famous areas of the Cape. We'll have to leave that for another day.

The great Gip

I've been reading everybody's blogs this morning...and blog after blog after west-coast blog recounts exciting snow adventures. All of them involve playing, and cocoa, or latte's or some other such hot drink, and all of them involve days spent at home.

Have you noticed the distinct lack of snow conversation on my blog? On Daryl's blog? Hmm. Yes, that is because we have NO snow. No HINT of snow, aside from the smell of it in the air.

You know what we have had a lot of in the past week though? Record amounts of? Yes. Rain. Mhmm, Rain. So, apparently, we brought the west coast winter with us, and someone there stole the east coast winter.

I shouldn't complain though, since we don't have snow tires on our car, and the rain does kind of make us feel at home.

I'm hoping that we'll get a white Christmas and it will rain on the west coast, so that I can go take beautiful snowy Boston city scape pictures and post them and laugh at you all. Wahahahah.
That is for those of you who have actually emailed us saying "Ha ha ha, we have snow and you don't!!" You know who you are.

I am happy for you that you have snow though :-) I'm just jealous ;-)

Ookiness continues

Thank goodness for CVS Pharmacy. I thought nothing would be open..and I have no cold medicine, and my nose is a faucet (TMI, I know). I thought I wouldn't sleep again tonight. But I just remembered there is a 24hr CVS up the road, and called and they are open. Sweet relief and drug-induced sleep is within grasp.

Off we go.

Happy Thanksgiving?

Today is the US thanksgiving. Ironically, we have plans to have our one Canadian friend over to celebrate. The justification for this is that we missed the Canadian thanksgiving, so we have a second chance.

Thanksgiving is very different here. Apparently it is law in MA that no retailer or store with more than 3 employees can be open on thanksgiving. This law began in the late 1600's and is still in effect today! MA is the only state with this law though I think.

Apparently, the night before thanksgiving is kind of like new years eve here - it's a big night to go out an party. We didn't partake ;-)

Also, "Black Friday" (tomorrow, the day after thanksgiving) seems to be the equivalent to our Boxing Day. Boxing day is non-existant in the US. So, tomorrow, or "black friday" makes up for this though, since it is the biggest shopping day of the year here. Sales and discounts and insane shopping mayhem ensue. I have to say, it seems more beneficial financially to have this big sale day before Christmas.

I, for my part was up all night sick, and have caught some sort of ooky flu/cold thing. DH is cleaning and cooking though. He's great :-).

Vesper Martini

The Vesper Martini

3 oz Gin
1 oz Vodka
0.5 oz Lillet Blanc

Shake with ice and strain into a wine glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

This was the Martini Bond ordered in the new movie. What looked so good about it was the long twirly lemon twist (Curl of lemon rind).

What is Lillet Blanc (I didn't know). The description of it below, from this website makes it sound wonderful. I think I'd almost prefer it straight with a citris twist, than in the Vesper martini. Interesting.

Description:

Lillet (pronounced lee-lay), is a French Aperitif made from a blend of wine, liqueurs, fruits and herbs. It originated in the French village of Podensac and has been made since the late 1800s. Lillet Blanc is made from white wine and is drier than Lillet Rouge, its red-wine counterpart. Both are classically served over ice with an orange twist.Lillet is a blend of rigorously selected wines and fruit liqueurs, aged in oak vats for around 12 months, during which it is given the same care as the Grands Crus (great wines) of Bordeaux.Lillet Blanc has a golden color with candied orange, honey, pine resin, lime and fresh mint aromas.Full and rich on the palate with a lovely, long aftertaste. Always serve well chilled in a Bordeaux wine glass... zest with a slice of orange or lime. Perfect with snacks and desserts!Lillet blanc is the key ingredient in James Bond's Martini derivative, the Vesper, a drink created in deference to the beautiful double agent in Ian Fleming's Casino Royale.

It smells like snow.

We went to see the new James Bond movie with a friend tonight, and when we came out of the theatre, I thought I had been transported onto a mountaintop. The air was saturated with the smell of snow. This is a completely different "smells like snow" than we experienced in the lower mainland. This is like "Is the lack of visible snow a visual hallucination" type smells like snow. It was so crisp and fresh - really very much like mountain air. It was wonderful.

I had a fairly productive, though frustrating at times day today. We made pancakes and had pancakes in bed for breakfast this morning. I then made Magnificent M's whole grain pretzels for the first time, while I did our *cringe* 2005 taxes. The rising and baking times were perfect parcels of time to work on the taxes, since I simply couldn't take them all in one fell swoop. I was able to take out my frustration during the kneading, and then by eating 3 pretzels fresh from the oven afterwards.

The pretzels turned out great. The taxes not so much. The problem with the taxes is not so much the actual taxes, but since D. and I were both technically self-employed last year for most of the year - the problem is the CPP! Even if you owe no taxes, you can owe a significant amount in CPP. Grr...

The pretzels are really really good dipped in hummus!

After pretzels and taxes, I showered, attempted styling and trimming one side of my crooked hair (blowdrying it doesn't help by the way), and we headed out for a movie with Danika. A pretty good day.

Cept we're both still wide a wake and somewhat restless and agitated and I have to be up at 5:30 for work!! Ah...that is always my Saturday night though. lol.

My hair is crooked.

OK...So I just had the most UNhappy haircut experience today. Finally, after 8 months, I decided to go for a haircut. Being new to the area, I had no idea where to go - where was good, what places I could afford etc...I called one I had seen and thought looked good, and they were booked for the day. Now - the smart thing to do would have been to make an appointment for another day. Unfortunately though, I had gotten it in my head that I was getting a haircut today, and once it was in my head, I simply couldn't let go of it.

There happens to be, across the street from us (conveniently placed next to Trader Joe's) a SuperCuts. Yes. It is the same Supercuts as in Canada. Similar to "First Choice" "salons." I decided - how bad could it be? I'll just go there, get a trim to be safe and see how it is. It will definitely be cheap, and well...maybe I'd find that gem of a stylist at the bargain salon (it has happened to me before!).

Today was not my lucky day.

First off, the person cutting my hair smelled strongly of a combination of a) Strong (not pleasant) perfume, b) Body odor and c) Cigarette smoke. Keep in mind that your hair stylist is typically in VERY close proximity to your smelling organs. I had to breathe through my mouth for most of the haircut. Thankfully, for this one reason, that was not a long time.

This brings me to my second point. A male customer, with very short hair, requiring little more than a buzz sat down with another stylist several minutes before me. I, might I remind you required a layered cut, taking off about 2 inches. So here's the surprising thing. I was done - I kid you not - about 1 minute after he was. Mhmm.

She snipped here and there, cut a couple inches off to be sure...but it all seemed sloppy and fast. But then, maybe I was just not paying attention - it had been a while since I'd had a cut. At one point, she had finished the "initial rough cuts" as I saw them, and I thought - ok, now will touch it up, even out the sides (one was about a half inch shorter than the other) and then style it dry. Then she turns the drier on my hair for 15 seconds, and says "Alright, have a great day, bye!"

I stared into the mirror at my lop-sided, damp, and middle-parted hair. I looked up at her, hoping for her to break into a smile and say "Just kidding!! We're no where near done!" She stared blankly back at me, clearly irritated that I was not getting out of the chair.

I stood up, walked to the till, paid, and tipped her mind you.

My immediate thought as I exited the "salon" was "I really shouldn't have planned to go grocery shopping after this." My second thought was, "Maybe it's not that bad...Once I blow dry it out properly and style it, it will be fine. I didn't really get a good look at it." So, I went to Trader Joe's, and my wonderful husband who met me there said, "You're hair looks great!"

After shopping, when we got home, I turned to him and said "Is it just me, or is one side of my hair shorter than the other??" He got a concerned look on his face, examined both sides and said "maybe, I'm not sure."

When I got home, I examined it in the mirror with clear lighting. And yes. My hair is definitely crooked.

WHY didn't I say something when I was there? Why did I leave, and pay, and TIP for bad hair?? I don't understand it, but hairdressers have this bizarre power. I shrink beneath their eyes, and their "so, how do you like it?"s. I simply cannot tell them I hate it. At least two times in my life before today have I paid double what I did today for a) A mullet and b) a mullet-esque 80's poof. Both of those times, it was like today. I knew, as they were cutting it, as they were finishing - pretty much all the way through - that it would be bad. Did I stop it? Did I say "I won't pay for this horrific hair cut!"? No. I said "yah, it's great!", paid them, and tipped them. Every time. So what is this bizarre power hairdressers have over me? Is it just me? Are you afraid of your hairdresser?

I want Hanna, my hairdresser in Victoria back. She would die if she saw my hair today!

The ghosts that must live here...

There is a tower atop a building that we can see from our place, and we've always wondered what it was, and keep meaning to go find it. So, today, Phil and Daryl and I went out adventuring, and after a few other outings decided to find the building that this tower belonged to. It was a foggy and rainy day, so we could only just spot it once we had drawn a bit closer.

As it turns out it is the Worcester State Hospital, also known as the Worcester insane hospital. It is abandoned, huge, brick and imposing. There are numerous buildings, including one with a clock tower, dormitories, and many other buildings. The current state mental institution is on the same premises, but the old buildings, built in about 1870 are abandoned. Here's a link to some great pictures of it that we found online.

It was eerie and awing all at the same time.

Identity crisis averted.

I found this on dictionary.com:

1 result for: tyla
View results from: Dictionary Thesaurus Encyclopedia the WebWebster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source
tyla
Hypodactylum \Hyp`o*dac"ty*lum\, n.; pl. -tyla. [NL., fr. Gr. "ypo` beneath + ? a finger, toe.] (Zo["o]l.) The under side of the toes.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.

Yes, you read that correctly.....I am the under side of toes. Excellent.

Guess what I did today

Pretty much nothing. I slept until - wait for it - 12pm. 12 PM!! I haven't slept that late for-ever. It was bliss. I didn't shower till 3pm, and I had apple-raspberry crisp for breakfast. We are having a wonderful visit with P and B. They arrived Friday night and it's been SO wonderful. The best thing is that they are those friends that you can totally relax with. Hence the me lounging around in my PJ's till 3pm with guests here..but we all just hung out and read books and watched movies and had a totally relaxing day together. It was great.

Happy Halloween

Halloween has been good. The kids I work with got all dressed up in costumes (most of them) and trick-or-treated at school today. They were very very cute, even if the whole event was a bit stressful for the teachers!

We haven't had any trick-or-treaters here tonight, but we made a wonderful feast. We have a bit of a halloween tradition of having a special dinner and watching movies. It started because the first halloween I spent on the island was sad because I was used to having big bonfires and fireworks and caramel apples when living at my parents! So, Daryl and I started doing a special thing to make up for it :-).

So tonights dinner was:

Peppered wine salami.
A small round of brie baked with a wonderful blueberry jam that my sister in law made.
Roquefort blue cheese (SO good!)
A German white soft cheese (also good),
pears,
wine,
multigrain rice crackers and bread.

Just little bits of all of the above. Of course, all from Trader Joes, so all for about what we'd pay to eat at McDonalds together!

We also just found out that two of our dearest friends are probably coming to visit us for a WHOLE week for my holidays!! I have 9 days off starting this coming Friday, and P and B are coming Friday.

I can't possibly explain how happy this makes me. They are those types of friends with whom we have an ease that makes spending time with them so relaxing and enjoyable. They are in Ottowa, so it's about a days' drive for them to come visit.

Good dinner and the promise of time with dear friends. I'm so happy :-). So, it's a happy halloween. Off to watch movies and eat some "left -over" chocolate.

This is hard.

There are so many great things about being here. We do really like the area we're in, the east coast, and the New England surroundings. It's beautiful. We've just had the pleasure of experiencing a New England fall. We've seen so many things that we hadn't before. This upcoming week we're hoping to go into Boston, and New York.

We miss our friends though. We miss having friends to fill with food laughter and wine.

We miss our Church communities so much I can't even begin to explain it. We had no idea blessed we were with them. I look at pictures on All Saints, and Saint Herman's websites and blogs, of those people we love gathered together, and I almost can't look because I miss them so much it's painful.

It's just hard. That's all.

Outlet Stores Ho!

I rediscovered one of the wonders of the USA today - Outlet stores!! There is a whole group of them about half an hour from our place. We were headed to Providence, RI, but got side-tracked at these stores and never made it there!

My favorites by far were La Creuset, Williams-Sonoma , GAP, Banana republic, and Barney's. Very good. We are getting incredibly good at looking and not buying though. All we bought in about 2 hours of shopping was one pair of pants (for me, from GAP, that were only 12.00!!). Granted, there was a martini shaker and set at Williams-Sonoma we were going to go back for but forgot :-(. Next time! My mother-in-law mailed me the fabulous martini glasses she bought me for Christmas last year, so I need to pick up a shaker! They are currently in-use as decoration on our bookcase. There was much else to "go back" for throughout the day, but we managed to escape with out money intact :-).

The problem with black Lululemon yoga pants is

That they look almost exactly the same when you accidently put them on inside out. That is, until you try to put something in your pocket, and can't find it. But because the pants look identical inside out, in all other respects, you think you are losing your mind, and maybe these pants don't really have pockets, maybe you're just crazy. You paw at your hips, examining the waistline closely, pulling the pants out, stretching them, hoping to find the pockets.

Then you see the drawstring on the inside of the pants. Oh. Right.

Today...

I passed Brian Iwata in the hallway at work. Functional analysis guru. One of "the" people in my field.

I think only one person who reads my blog will understand my excitement about that.

I'm a nerd.

Squash and Ginger scones

I had a half of a butternut squash left over from a previous nights dinner...and I thought "Hmm..you can make pumpkin scones..why not squash scones??" After a few different searches on google, I came up with this recipe:

Squash and Ginger Scones
Time: 30 minutes preparation, 30 minutes baking
Serves: 10+ (yields 24 extra-large scones)
Level: 3

Ingredients
6 cups hard flour
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp powdered ginger
1 Tbsp salt
3 Tbsp baking powder
2 sticks butter, cold, cubed
1 lb cooked pureed squash
1 qt half-and-half

Let's cook!
• Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the butter with a fork until it looks like breadcrumbs. Mix in squash and half-and-half. Roll out 1/2 inch thick. Cut into circles.
• Bake at 400°F 15-20 minutes on parchment paper or greased cookie sheet. Eat while warm.

Editor's Note: The sugar, butter, and half-and-half make this recipe a true "treat"in the sense that it's not low-fat—something you eat once in a while (not every day)!
Recipe created by Westtown School Baker, Suzie Dudas

Here is the link for the recipe. You may ask what "Hard" flour is...I did another google search to find out if I could substitute regular flour. Sounds like it is fine and won't affect the quality of the scones too much.

I made these this morning, but modified the recipe slightly based on what I had. I used 2.5 cups of regular flour, and 2 cups of whole wheat flour, skim milk instead of half and half, and replaced the butter with part margarine and part olive oil.

It's a huge recipe - I cut everything in half and it still made about 18 large scones! They were pretty good, though I think could have used a bit more ginger, and maybe some nutmeg or other spice as well. Turned out fluffy and yummy, but much lighter than scones usually are -that was probably due to my substitutions though.

Anyhoo...thought this was a good way to use up left-over squash if you have it :-)

"That's your big boy"

I totally stole this stellar blog title from D.

Those of you who are Seinfeld fans...or fanatics, as some may judge you will have immediately, upon hearing that phrase, pictured Jerry sitting in a hospital, next to his comatose neighbor, looking admiringly at a Drake's Coffee cake. You'll remember that this phrase was part of his attempt to bribe Newman, using the Drake's coffee cake, in an attempt to keep him from telling the aforementioned comatose neighbor (CN) that Jerry had kissed CN's girlfriend right in front of him (in a romantic joining over the body of the comatose neighbor).

You may also picture Elaine ravenously shoving a Drake's coffee cake into her mouth, crumbly cinnamony topping flying every which way, after fasting for blood testing for two days. This of course occurred right as the CN woke up and attempted to strangle Jerry, with completely wonderful Seinfeldian pandemonium breaking out.

So, why all this talk about Drake's coffee cake?? You see, until two days ago, I had believed "The Drake" to be a made-for-TV invention. I have news from the East, fellow west-coast, Canadian Seinfeld fans - Drake's coffee cakes are a real, American, boxed pastry! As we wandered the grocery store the other day, we came upon them. In complete disbelief we turned the box over and over, looking at it from all angles. Eventually we had to believe - this was indeed THE Drake's coffee cake talked about on Seinfeld. And I have to say, after trying them, they are really pretty good.

Magnificent M - be aware, you may be receiving some Drake's in the mail for Christmas. I think you are the only person I know who would appreciate such a gesture enough (you know..the sending of cheap fatty bagged up pastries that are akin to twinkies via post).

Click here and select the "Concord trip" album to see the pictures of the Drake's coffee cakes. Blogger wouldn't let me post them :-(.

I can't believe I forgot!

To mention that we made our first visit to The Container Store. This is a store that I had read about in Real Simple, that is not as of yet in Canada. I have drooled and browsed online, and dreamed of one day going there. I realized very quickly that there was a Container store here in MA, and only about 45 min away from us. So, the other night we took a trip out there, just to browse. It was fabulous! It is the organizational mecca. I loved it!

Turns out, convieniently enough, it is located right next to Natick mall. This is one of the large, up scale malls here, very similar to the one I went to in Atlanta. Macy's, all the great shoe stores. That's a big difference here...all the brands you see in stores in Canada (or the West Coast at least) have their own stores here. So, that was pretty exciting...I'll have to head out another time and spend more time window shopping at the mall.

Anyhoo..I just felt so remiss in not blogging about visiting The Container Store!

Bits and Pieces

Who needs sleep? Well your never gonna get it.

That's from a BNL song. Why can I never sleep on Saturday nights? It seems to be becoming a regular thing, that no matter when I go to bed on Saturday night, I usually don't get more than about 3 hours sleep if I'm lucky. I think I just get wound up and anxious about the start of my work week....and I get anxious about not sleeping because today (Sundays) is my 11 hour day at work. Anyhow... that's alright, I always make it through my day no matter how little sleep I get, and I can sleep in tomorrow, since I don't start work till 2pm.

Happy Thanksgiving !!!

We were going to celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with our other Canadian friend here, but it came along much faster than I'd expected, so no turkey for us I think. It's actually a holiday in the US too, Columbus day. I work late-ish today and tomorrow though, so not really conducive to a dinner celebration. The good thing is we get a second chance at thanksgiving in November!

Friends and family...

I had two great conversations yesterday. I got to catch up with my friend Rach - it was so good to talk with her. She's one of those people who I always reconnect with in minutes despite not talking for a while. We always have such rejuvenating conversations.

I also talked with my cousin last night. We haven't talked on the phone in ages, but we managed to reconnect when D. and I visited her on our way down here, and have kept in contact since then. I'm so glad that we had the chance to visit and get reacquainted when we did.


That's all for today...

I just had my favorite breakfast ever.

Apple pie with ice cream.

Yes, I had apple pie with ice cream at 6:00 am in the morning.

Now I'm ready for the day.