A Very Busy Food Weekend!

This has been a rather busy weekend. This is why I don't find myself awfully shocked on this Sunday evening that it's gone by already.

This was a very food-based weekend for me. This is not to say that most weekends don't involve food but I entertained twice this weekend and since I've become rather fond of entertaining, I like to make sure I plan the right menu.

My first event was Friday night. It wasn't really an event as much as my friend coming over to dinner and to watch "The Holiday" with me. This has become a tradition for us over the past three years. Usually we watch it at her house and she cooks but this year, we decided to watch it at mine.

Since she was coming to mine, it involved planning dinner. This was not an issue except she's a bit of a picky eater. I like a challenge, however. Most of my 'classic' dinner recipes usually involve quite a lot of vegetables and she's not a huge fan. She does, however, like strong flavours like garlic, onion, etc. Thus, I decided to make my thick and hearty potato leek soup. I use bacon as a base which sounds rather unhealthy but, actually, one serving of the soup still only has 7 grams of fat and 290 calories and considering it's nice and filling, it's pretty good for dinner. I also decided to be festive and for dessert, I made a gingerbread cake with caramel sauce and fresh whipped cream. And yes, I actually did bake this cake from scratch. I made it last year and it was a hit so I figured I'd try it again. It was a hit this year too. My friend seemed quite happy with the food I made and we ended up having a great evening while enjoying a great movie.

My second 'event' was my parents' coming to visit. They like to come down at least once before Christmas to stock up at Jungle Jim's on treats/food for the holidays. Normally, I make them a sit-down meal. This year, I decided to challenge myself while also 'treating' them. Usually, on Christmas night, my mum and I prepare a cold buffet for the family that takes a lot of preparation. The problem with this is that it's hard to enjoy the buffet as much when you've had to prepare it so I decided to make a mini buffet for my parents. This particular buffet included the following:

• Cheese and crackers (Cheeses: Wensleydale, Coach Farms goat cheese, Stilton, Seriously Sharp Cheddar, Gruyere and smoked Gouda)
• Steamed shrimp
• Smoked salmon
• Homemade guacamole and homemade tortilla chips,
• Black Bean soup
• An antipasti tray with prosciutto and salami and assorted pickled treats
• Roasted beet salad
• Crusty bread
• Homemade cheese straws
• Sausage rolls
• Cream cheese and watercress finger sandwiches
• A small vegetable plate
• Roasted ham with a cumin, garlic and thyme glaze

For dessert, I baked another gingerbread cake, whipped some more cream and used the leftover caramel sauce from Friday since it keeps for a while.

It was rather a lot of food but one thing I like about a buffet is that it's fun to have a selection and people love to nibble. While I had a lot of leftovers, there actually weren't nearly as many as you'd expect and I got to send my parents home with half the ham, the sausage rolls and shrimp since I don't actually like shrimp. I also have plenty of food left for the week and a nice cheese selection which not only will last me a while but I can also bring out when I have guests.

All in all, it was a very food-heavy weekend. The buffet prep took a long while but, sadly, I enjoyed every minute of it, even beheading, deveining and peeling all of the shrimp which I've never done before. I'll post my gingerbread cake recipe just because it's a pretty easy thing to make and seems to be quite popular whenever I make it.

Now it's Sunday night, my parents have gone and I'm alone with two sleeping dachshunds. I plan on enjoying the rest of my Sunday evening by relaxing since I don't seem to have much time for that.

Also, I think I might have to eat some leftovers. I have plenty to choose from.

Happy Monday and thanks for reading!

It's hard to believe it's just a couple of days before Thanksgiving. So far, weatherwise, it's been so mild, it's hard to believe it's November. While there have been a couple of cold days, for the most part, it's been slightly balmy and pleasant.

I can't say I'm completely happy about the balmyness. I mean, after all, it is November.Inside, I really want to wear my snowflake necklace but due to its supposed influence on the weather, I've been forbidden by several people.

Ah well, I don't really mind. My sister and I are determined to get an early start on Black Friday and if that means getting up and driving off in my car without having to defrost it from a thick layer of ice, I'm pretty happy. Also, it's nice to go out without worrying that my skin might freeze should that cruel wind blow too hard against me.

Also, the milder weather allowed me to explore the weekend in an outdoor fashion. For a start, I got the remainder of my garden cleared. The dead tomato plants and zinnias are now gone. I retired the gnomes to the shed as well as the solar lights I installed just a few months ago. Even though the weather is pleasant now, this

Still, the is the Midwest. This means that even though it was 65 degrees today, it could easily be 10 below tomorrow it a blizzard. Thus, even though my gnomes looked a little pitiful as I forced them into hibernation, they're safe from any winter weather that may decide to fall our way.

In addition, I got to explore ChristKindlMarkt- a Christmas festival sponsored by the Germania Society of Cincinnati. Even though I was born and raised British, my granddad is German and I was also raised with several German traditions. Thus, I felt like it was something to explore.

It was definitely worth attending. Germany does have some lovely Christmas traditions. One of my favourites is Gleuwein- hot mulled wine. It was rather lovely sipping a mug as I explored the booths. I did come home with a few gifts/keepsakes, my favourite being a handblown dachshund Christmas ornament that looked very much like my Sookie Sue. I also discovered that while I'd love to buy my sister the cuckoo clock she once said she'd love to have, the reality of it is that cuckoo clocks are very expensive. Overall, I had a lovely time and enjoyed the fact that I was in a place where it was perfectly ok to carry a cup of beer around while browsing the merchandise. I'm not a lush or alcoholic by any means but I am a Brit. It's just nice to see a relaxed approach to people drinking. Also, the smell of fresh apple strudel coupled with mulled wine and cheated on by dill pickle soup is a specatular sensory prompt to feeling in the mood for the holidays. Also, there were cute baby goats that bleated and sheep that baa'd as I approached the festival- it made me almost feel that I was in a German village for a second. By the time, I'd finished my mug of mulled wine, I positively felt that I was in a strange German enclave of Cincinnati. It was rather a nice experience although I was slightly disappointed that Sookie and Rory weren't as impressed at their handblown likeness as I was when I showed them the ornament I bought.

All in all, it's been rather a nice weekend. Even though it was tinged with Christmas, it really is the last weeked I'll have before the holidays kick in with full force. Next weekend is Thanksgiving. After that, it's all about Christmas. It was rather nice to have a weekend that was lazy enough to reflect upon the craziness that will happen over the next few weekends.

Even though the weekend is rolling to a halt, it's not so bad knowing that it's a three day work-week that ends in turkey and shopping. Being a fan of turkey and the slightly control-freakish, manic planning that goes along with plotting a meal for 14 people, I'm looking forward to this Thanksgiving. I also like the shopping that comes afterwards because Black Friday is really the gateway to opening the doors and letting Christmas flood in.

Still, for now, we're just on the cusp before the holidays take over and where we can still enjoy the relative calmness of Autumn. Now, if we could just have a little snow and cooler air, I'd feel a little more festive.

Ah well, if it doesn't happen, there's always my snowflake necklace. It's ready, willing and waiting. So am I, for that matter. Nevertheless, I'll hold off for a couple more weeks based on the promise I've made. Of course, promises can be broken....

But I'm not that kind of Monkeypants. At least...not until I worry that we might not have a white Christmas. Then I'm bringing the necklace out. Desperate measures and all that.

Happy Monday!

A Learning Kind of Weekend

This has been another fast-flying weekend. It seems like it was just Friday evening and now, already, I have to think about what to wear for work tomorrow.

Still, it has been a good weekend. It's actually been a good weekend for learning. I think probably every weekend is a good weekend for learning but this one in particular has been quite education.

For example, I learned that Possibly-Joe is actually named Matt. This is good because I know longer have to awkwardly stumble around trying to figure out what his name is without having to ask. I learned his name from his mother who I met this weekend. It's rather a relief, let me tell you.

I also learned that carving pumpkins can cause bruises. I spent Friday night having a lovely 'Pumpkin Night'. This involved my annual tradition of watching the first "Harry Potter" film while carving my pumpkins. I also made curried pumpkin soup for dinner which I served in a mini pumpkin as my bowl and drank a pumpkin martini- a 'pumpkintini', if you will. Normally, I drink pumpkin beer but I'm having a hard time finding any this year so I tried something different. Anyway, I carved three pumpkins. By the end of the night, the sides of my wrist and forearm were sore from where I had constantly rubbed them on the rim of the pumpkin while scooping out the insides. When I woke up on Saturday, I had some bruises. I found this quite entertaining actually- I do scrape and scoop my pumpkins with vigor.

I also learned that if you suspect a movie is going to be silly, you probably shouldn't pay $7.50 to see it. I went to see "Paranormal Activity 3". I only went to see it because the first one inspired me to write "The Reluctant Demon" and I felt like since I'd seen the other two, I should see the third one. I find those movies a little like going on a roller coaster- they make you jump and build up the anticipation but when you leave, you sort of wonder why you went on it in the first place. By the way, I'm probably going to spoil the film so if you want to see it and not get spoiled, you can skip ahead in the blog. Part 3 certainly had some of those "boo!" moments where it made me jump but I'm actually a little sad the filmmakers felt compelled to explain why the demon was haunting the girls. I have complained in the past that the demons in movies do all sorts of things to scare the homeowners/people around them but it seems a little silly- why not get to killing the people if that's their end goal? Why rearrange furniture, slam doors or run around in the attic? In the case of "Paranormal Activity 3", some vague witchy explaination is given for what the demon wants and you realize it's chosen it's hauntees on purpose. Yet, naturally, it does a lot of door slamming, running around and peculiar things with sheets. This particular demon also manifests itself an imaginary friend to a little girl. His name is Toby. Toby is apparently very old and tall according to the little girl. Yet, in a scene in the movie, the demon is caught on camera creeping up on a babysitter with a sheet over itself- a bit like Caspar the Friendly Ghost. The camera is mounted on a fan so that it osciallates so in one room, you see the "ghost" and then when the camera oscillates back around, the "ghost" has moved behind the babysitter and then, "poof!" the demon vanishes and the sheet tumbles to the ground.

The thing is, the "ghost" is not taller than a child. I'm sorry but if a demon is only four feet tall, is it really that scary? It should have been a taller "ghost". Also, I learned that if you're a man that likes to videotape things because you have a demon in your house, you're going to get killed by Katie Featherstone- she's the girl from all of the "Paranormal Activities". She's now killed three photographers.

So, overall, I learned that if my instinct is that a film is not going to be good, I should probably just rent it because otherwise I'll always be annoyed that I didn't listen to my instincts better.

Finally, I learned that this song I keep hearing on the radio and getting stuck in my head is called "Pumped up Kicks" by Foster the People. I don't even know if I like the song- all I know is that it gets stuck in my head terribly. I originally thought it was "all the other kids like thier bomb bomb daddies" (don't ask where that came from, that's just what I kept thinking they said. Then I thought it was "all the other kids like their pumped up kitties". Yes, that is a true statement. Now I know they're actually saying "pumped up kicks" but I'm not sure what that means. I have a vision of those shoes from a few years ago that you used to pump up by pushing a 'button' the the tongue of the shoe. That's probably not what they mean but I'm too lazy to google it. I don't particularly like having that song stuck in my head but I suppose it's good to know the actual lyrics.

I'm sure I learned many more things but these are the big lessons. I bet you thought I was going to say I learned something meaningful, didn't you? I probably did but it's not coming to mind at the moment. Thus, I'll stick with the valuable facts that I have, in fact, learned this weekend.

Now it's winding down but there's still time to learn something else new... I'll keep you posted. Happy Monday!

The Other Side of Autumn

Well, we finally got the rain that was threatening us the last time I blogged. It’s pretty much been raining steadily ever since. I don’t mind although it’s a little colder than I expected. I even had to turn on the heat this morning since the pups and I were on the verge of shivering. I had the two of them curled up next to me under the covers last night since it was so chilly- they don’t like their noses to be cold. I’ve noticed they’re a lot cuddlier in the cooler months than in the summer.

It’s definitely another side to Autumn, this weather. Instead of getting to walk through the crisp, multicoloured fallen leaves, we get to see them pounded flat against the pavement in soggy clumps.

I don’t mind the rain though. It gives me an excuse to stay inside, put my pajamas on a little earlier than normal and curl up on the couch with the dogs. They’ve accepted there will be no walks in the rain. While it wouldn’t kill us to go out in the wetness, we all prefer not to if we can avoid it. Rory, especially, dislikes getting wet. She runs outside and then, when she realizes she’s getting wet, she quickly runs back to shelter and looks at me as if to say, “What on earth did you DO?”

It is supposed to stop raining this weekend though. I’m hoping to spend the weekend doing splendid autumn things with my family. My sister mentioned a pumpkin patch but our backup plan is pumpkin carving or something equally Halloweeny at home just in case it’s still raining. Also, her rather odd looking puppy had to have surgery this week to correct a problem with her legs and the poor thing is immobile at the moment so we may have to stay home with her. I don’t mind. I think I can be in the autumn spirit if we go out or not.

Still, before the weekend, there’s a Friday to get through. They’re usually pretty quiet around here. People tend to leave early or find an excuse to be out of the office. I’d like to skedaddle a little early to be able to get on the road to my parents a little early. I’m don’t mind driving in the dark but it makes for a long day now the days are getting shorter. I’m actually looking forward to the clocks changing though- it would be rather nice to get up in the morning and have it not still be dark out there. At the moment when my alarm goes off at 6:45 a.m., it still looks like nighttime and trying to persuade two slumbering dachshunds that it really is time to get out of bed is proving difficult. Sookie doesn’t mind so much but for the past several mornings, I’m greeted with loud groans from Rory who refuses to move until she’s ready.

I actually don’t mind the clocks changing so much in the autumn because we get an extra hour of sleep and that’s never a bad thing. Spring is harder because we lose sleep and I’m a Monkeypants who needs her sleep. Even though I think we really don’t need to change the clocks, the extra hour in the Fall is like Autumns way of giving us a little present- a way of saying “Here, have an extra hour to do something with- you can use it for anything but I recommend sleep!”

I know I’ve been waxing poetical about Autumn in a lot of my blogs lately but for me, it’s that time of year. The world slows down a little and starts to die back readying itself for Winters season of recharge and recuperation. There’s colour everywhere. Suddenly the idea of a bowl of hot soup sounds much more appealing than a caprese salad which, only a month before, was a summer treat.

The rainy days we’re dealing with are simply another side of Autumn. It can’t all be crisp leaves, bonfires and balmy breezes. Winter, after all, is coming and Autumn is simply guiding us into that season as gently as she knows how with a little taste of it here and there until finally, she’s ready to step aside and let Winter have his say.

For now, though, Winter is still in the wings and I’m hoping we have quite a few more crisp leaf-apple cider days to go.

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Happy Friday!

More Pea Gravel Patio Adventures

This has been one busy weekend! I finally got my patio finished. I'm pretty pleased with the result but if I never have to haul another 50 lb bag of pea gravel from my car to the garden again, I'll be happy. I ended up using approximately 42 bags of gravel which is over two tons. It looks good, I do have to say.

I broke the new patio in this weekend by lighting a fire in the firepit. Fortunately, I was not joined by Larry the Potential Serial Killer though I must admit, I was a little paranoid that he'd stop by. In the end, it was just me and the girls who rather enjoyed sitting on my lap and enjoying the fire. It's hard when they both want to sit on my lap since I have only one lap and they're two long dogs.

Aside from the patio, I spent the weekend shopping for my upcoming visit to London. The shopping wasn't just for London- in my efforts to shed my excess weight, I dropped a size in clothes and much of my fall wardrobe is a little bigger than I am. Not that I'm complaining. It gives me an excuse to go shopping. It was a good weekend for it- there were sales galore. I like this time of year because the summer clothes are on clearance. It's a good time to stock up for next year but also to get some good layering type of clothes to wear under heavier sweaters and cardigans.

I'm getting excited about London-it's going to be rather nice to get to spend some time being a 'tourist'- usually my trips to the UK are family-oriented which is wonderful but they don't allow the same freedom as an actual vacation just because there are so many people to see. Also, it seems that everyone is always trying to feed me. It'll be nice to have a little bit of time where I get to explore on my own and eat what I like. My cousin is coming to spend some time in London with me- I haven't seen her for many years so it'll be fun to see how she's doing. After the work part of the trip is over, i'm heading to my grandparent's which will be nice.

The only part I'm worried about is missing my pups. I know they'll be safe with their 'grandparents' but it'll be hard to be away for 10 days without seeing them. I'm sure they'll be fine, right?

I only have 10 days before I leave- there still seems like a lot to do but there always does before you go away anywhere. The hard stuff is sorted- my passport is valid and I have a temporary green card so I shouldn't have any travel problems. The part I hate is being on the plane- it's an overnight flight and no matter how hard I try, I simply can't sleep properly on a plane.

Still, I have time before I have to worry about that. There's another weekend in there and since I don't have any more landscaping plans, I'll have plenty of time to take care of things next week.

For now, I plan on enjoying what little of the weekend I have left and being a little sore from all my pea gravel exertions. Still, they say "no pain, no gain," right?

And I gained a nice little patio so it was probably worth the pain.

Happy Monday!

Decisions, Decision

So, I've decided to continue blogging but I'm going to start reducing it from every week day to a couple of blogs a week. I think that might help with the blog burnout factor and help reduce the amount of blogs where I whine. This is not going to count as one of my blogs but I figured that since my last blog was a dither about whether or not to keep blogging, I'd update this with my decision.

So, for now, I'll make this a short and sweet blog without saying much more other than to send out huge thank you's to my parents for helping me have one of those sorely needed weekends where I felt very loved. Sometimes, you need to feel loved and I haven't felt that way lately so it's nice to have it affirmed that no matter how blue you feel, time spent with family can pull you out of it.

Thanks, mum and dad...you are wonderful. Oh, and a belated welcome back mummy-Monkeypants from the UK where she managed to have a bad enough flying experiences that I still feel justified in setting the entrance to Hell in "Emmy Goes to Hell" in an airport.

Happy Monday and thanks, as always, for reading!

A Summer Vacation in a Weekend...

This has been a really nice weekend. I tend to think almost every weekend is nice merely because it's a weekend but this was a particularly good weekend.

I headed to my parents' on Friday and got to spend a nice evening with them. The pups explored my parents garden which is significantly larger than ours while I had a great time just relaxing with my parents. After a not-so-great week at work, it's nice to relax without having to think too much about work.

Saturday, my sister, mum and I hit the local farmer's markets. I'm a bit addicted to farmers markets in the summer. I came home with a huge bag of goodies including tomatoes, eggplant, corn, swiss chard, beets and an entire bushel of tomatillos. I'm not actually sure what I plan on doing with all those tomatillos, to be honest. I didn't even want that many. However, last year, I bought some tomatillos off my favourite farmer at the market. Then, on my next visit, he ended up giving me all of the tomatatillos that he had left because he was going on vacation and needed to get rid of them. I think I got a bushel for about $4. I made a lot of salsa verde. Well, this year, the farmer remembered me and was excited to tell me he had another bushel of tomatatillos for me and I could have them for $4. He's so nice and so low-priced that I ended up taking the tomatillos off him because he really seemed to want me to have the tomatatillos.

If anyone has any idea what I can do with a giant bag of tomatatillos aside from salsa verde, please let me know.

After the farmer's market, I got to have lunch with Saz who was in town visiting her parents. We had a lovely time just catching up and hanging out with her family and friends at their annual church campout. I only stayed a couple of hours but got to play "Cash SUV" which is the same concept as the TV show "Cash Cab" only Saz's dad drove us around the State Park in an SUV while Saz and I attempted to answer the trivia questions. We determined that neither of us had science or maths as our strong suit though we did well on the literature and history stuff. It was a lot of fun.

My final activity on Saturday was dinner and a movie with my parents. My dad really wanted to see "Cowboys and Aliens". I don't know why. Well, I do...my dad loves cowboys and he loves aliens. I believe they made the movie for people like my dad. It was somewhat entertaining but I can almost hear the filmmakers saying to one another "Let's put cowboys and aliens in the same movie! Brilliant!" Unfortunately, that's pretty much as far as they got with their creativity because the reason for the aliens and cowboys being in the same movie was pretty lame. I won't spoil it but it's pretty anticlimactic. I think the movie could have been a lot funnier but then again, I said that about "Sherlock Holmes" and they're making a sequel to that so maybe I'm in the minority.

Nevertheless, not-terrible movie aside, it was a lot of fun to hang out with my parents. I like being an adult and getting to take them out to dinner and stuff. I figure for the amount of years that they paid for my food, it's nice to treat them now and it makes me feel like a grownup.

The rest of the weekend has been low key. I'm having my first yard sale next weekend so mum and I did some searching for treasures to sell. I'm bound and determined to be one of the good sellers in my neighbourhood- my sale is part of the annual Neighbourhood Garage Sale. I'm pricing stuff super low because I figure even if I make $1 on something, it's $1 more than I got by letting the stuff sit around my house. Most of what I'm selling are things that just don't fit me anymore- as I've grown up and developed more of my own style, I have a lot of things that just aren't me anymore, whether it's clothes, bags, interior decor or books.

All in all, it's been a good weekend. Sookie and Rory are pleased to be home- they don't like the car ride much from home to my parents and vice-versa but they like the destinations. They're currently passed out on the couch since they haven't slept much today- at my parents', there are far too many new smells to explore to get much rest.

Even though tomorrow's Monday, I'm going to start the week with a smile knowing that the weekend has been relaxing and for once, I managed to escape thinking about work as much as usual. I find that sometimes, when you have a real vacation of several days, you end up being more tired than if you at work. And then there are other times where you have just the couple of days of a weekend and you manage to feel like you actually had a lovely long vacation in just those two days. I feel like that tonight and I will say, it's a nice feeling. It's a good way to kick off a new week.

Happy Monday and I hope you had a good weekend too!

Markets, Salesgnats and Other Weekend tales

It's hard to believe that another weekend has passed and it's already winding down. It feels as though I just got off work on Friday and am about to start relaxing.

Still, for a weekend where I didn't have any plans, it ended up being rather productive, as weekends so often are.

I decided that even though I'd gone to Findlay Market here in Cincinnati last weekend with my mum, I'd go back again this weekend. One of my favourite vendors at the market is Kroeger and Sons who specialize in meats, particularly sausage. They make a wonderful Swedish potato sausage that has the best flavour- I'm not quite sure what they add in with the pork but I know there's coriander in there. The sausage is tangy and delicious both hot and cold. My dad is a huge fan of these sausages and I'd promised we'd get him some last weekend. Alas, being the weekend before the Fourth of July, they were already sold out of the Swedish potato sausage last week just over an hour after they opened.

So, this weekend, I decided to go back and get my dad his sausages. In addition, it was a wonderful excuse for me to go back and get some more fresh veggies from the farmer's market as well as some sausages for my own freezer. Sausages aren't exactly the healthiest thing when you're watching your weight like me but I've learned if you moderate what you eat with them, they make a fine dinner.

So, I got up even earlier on Saturday than I normally do to go to work. This is because of my Fear of Finding Parking at Findlay Market. However, even though I managed to get up, get the dogs walked and hitting the road by 7:30 a.m., the fates were against me. There was construction on the interstate.

This was a nuisance because they had closed two lanes. The annoying thing was that when traffic slowed, the 'smarty pants' drivers all decided, "Hey, look! the left lane is moving fast, why don't I hop over there." These Smarty Pants people clearly hadn't read the giant flashing "Left Two Lanes Closed on S. I-75" sign that I had. These stupid twits in their eagerness to bypass the traffic jam ended up being the CAUSE of the jam as they slowly realized, "Oops, I have to get over, my lane is closed".

I felt like I was back in L.A. Fortunately, this meant that I kicked into my, "sigh...freeway traffic blows" mode and relaxed while caterwaling along with Def Leppard, Green Day and Lady Gaga.

By the time traffic improved and I made it to the market, it wasn't nearly as early as I'd hoped it would be. Nevertheless, the fates decided to be nice and I found a parking space easily.

The market wasn't as bustling as last weekend and I got my sausages, fresh bread and veggies without much bother. I also relaxed with a cup of coffee in the earlyish morning sun with a good book. It was a lovely start to the day.

I decided then to investigate the unfinished furniture store I"d found online. The prices they listed were very reasonable and i had visions of getting a few pieces, staining them in antique-y Tuscan colours and finally finished my Tuscan room.

Alas, this was not to be. The store was a third of the size I'd envisioned and I was...the only customer in there. I'm sure you've experienced this phenomena. It's horrible. This means the salespeople leech onto you and you can't look even when you politely tell them you 'just want to look.'

Sadly, the furniture was over double the price they'd advertised online and, while nice, was not what I was seeking. I was also being watched like a hawk. Thus, I was relieved when another customer came in. I seized my chance to leave while the salespeople were converging on her.

I decided to continue my morning of 'New Things' and decided to give in to the cupcake obsession that Saz instilled in me by introducing me to the Magnolia Bakery in New York. I had done my research and found that the second best place for cupcakes in Cincinnati was downtown. The first best place was, unfortunately, closed this weekend due to vacation.

Thus, I headed to Abby Girl cupcakes in Downtown Cincinnati. I rarely go downtown so it was actually a treat to be reminded of...why I don't go downtown. As most downtowns are, it's a mixture of one-way streets, hard-to-see traffic lights and 'no turn on red lights'. I found the bakery, got by cupcakes and headed home.

I'm sad to say the cupcakes were...ok. They were better than the average grocery store but lacking in flavour. They missed the bite and tang I'd been spoiled with in New York.

I thought I was done for the day but I got a second wind and decided to go to the Value City Furniture by my house to see if they had anything remotely Tuscan.

This was a bad idea. Value City Furniture was even worse than the place I'd been to that morning. The salespeople were like those gnats that find you when you're outside. No sooner have you swatted one and squashed it and there's five more. It made the whole experience extremely unpleasant. All I wanted to do was look and each aisle I walked down had a salesperson waiting. I was approached no less than seven times in ten minutes. This is not an exaggeration. Needless to say, I got tired of being harassed and I left. I simply don't understand why you can't browse without someone trying to help. If I need help, I'll ask which is what i politely told the first four salespeople. I didn't have energy to say that to the last three and by the time the last one approached me, I'd had enough and I walked away, leaving the store.

Still, salesgnats aside, it was a nice Saturday. Sunday has been nice too. I managed to mow the lawns, whack some wheeds, plant some flowers, edit a novel, make my first homemade mojito and am now blogging. I plan on spending the rest of my evening relaxing.

So, even though the weekend whizzed by, I can't say I wasted my time. I find that as I get older, it's harder to sit around and do nothing. In my younger days, I enjoyed turning on the TV and finding something to watch. Now, I'd rather weed, work outside or find something to do.

I'm sure the rest of my evening won't be wasted either. I find that productive weekends make it far easier to go back to work, even though I have to face the start of a Monday. I'm hoping this won't be a tradition, moody Monday but, even if it is, I'll just look back and think about what a nice weekend I've had.

And, also, thank my lucky stars I don't work in a furniture store.

Thanks, as always for reading. Have a great Monday!

Great Expectations of Mondays...

It’s been a dark and stormy day out there for most of today. It seemed quite fitting for a Monday morning, honestly although it did make it rather hard to get out of bed.

As any of my regular readers go, I don’t like Mondays much. In high school, I had an English teacher for the first two years who was a bit of an eccentric old lady. She used to pronounce “ego” as “eggo” and then whenever someone would mutter “leggo my eggo”, she used to laugh and think that it was a clever philosophical joke rather than quoting a waffle commercial. Anyway, she also had another saying she used fairly often. Whenever someone would complain about not liking Mondays, she’d say, “don’t blame Mondays. It’s not Monday’s fault it’s not a good day.”

She’s probably right. It’s just the misfortune of Monday to be…Monday. The way I look at it is that if the weekdays were represented as humans, I see them as siblings. Monday would be the anti-social sibling who was the runt of the litter and had a rather sour disposition. He probably also accidentally killed his mother while being born and thus, he has that chip on his shoulder to bear. Thus, it’s not really Monday’s fault he’s the way he is but…he could be nicer.

That was a little weird and yet another ‘too much information as to how Captain Monkeypants’ brain works’.

Nevertheless, I should try to not be so negative towards Mondays.

In this case, Monday came after a nice weekend. It was a busy one but fun. I think those make Mondays harder to bear because I didn’t have much down time and I would really prefer Monday to come a little later and be, say, Tuesday instead.

Still, if it’s the price we pay for having weekends, it’s a small one. A world without weekends would not be a good thing. Sometimes when I’m reading books about the olden days and I see that people used to work every day but the Sabbath, I feel guilty for whining so much. We really do have it easy now what with employment practices and guidelines that mandate rules for time off and permitted hours we can work.

It’s probably softened us up a little. We don’t do nearly as much manual labour as we used to and you no longer hear of kids leaving school to work in the fields at the age of 14 the way they used to in Thomas’ Hardy’s time.

Things have changed a lot since then. I think about that quite a lot too. Back in Jane Austin’s era, the ways people spent their free time was considerably different than how we do now. Back then, ladies would spend endless hours doing needlework and arranging flowers. They would read and ‘take a turn about the room’. They did not spend hours watching “Top Chef”, mowing the lawn, tiling floors or think about food all the time the way I do. I would have made a terrible lady back then because I can’t really sew very well and when I try, I end up pricking my fingers and bleeding quite a lot. I’ve tried flower arranging but, well, once they’re in the vase, they always look fine when I plop them in with no gaps. I don’t really know where the arranging comes in, honestly. I do think floral arrangements from florists look nice but I don’t have time to get those Styrofoam thingies that you stick the flowers in so they don’t flop around.

I suppose if you were an Austin-esque ‘lady of leisure’, you wouldn’t necessarily need to appreciate weekends. I mean, the whole point is to take a break from routine and have two days of leisure. If you spend all day at leisure, would they be the same?

I don’t know why I’m thinking of Thomas Hardy and Jane Austin, to be honest. I’m finding that, once more, I have gone off on a weird tangent. This is a fact for which I apologize. Maybe it’s because I referenced Mrs. Studebaker, my eccentric high school English teacher and my brain decided to honour her by thinking of literature. Of course, if that were the case, I’d be thinking more of Charles Dickens and Great Expectations which I remember vividly studying and reading in far too much detail. What stays with me from that book is the mouldy wedding cake from the lady who never got married. I think her name was Miss Havisham.

I wonder if Ms. Havisham was supposed to get married on a Monday. I bet she was.

Sorry, Mondays…I really must work harder to like you more. My apologies.

Happy Tuesday!

Perfectly Ending Weekends...

There's little more satisfying than sitting outside on a beautiful Sunday evening with a glass of sauvignon blanc and a feeling of accomplishment.

At long last, the weather has turned into the beautiful spring days expected of early June. The humidity is gone, the breeze is cool and the temperature is reading 78 degrees.

I can't argue with that. This is the weather I've been craving and now it's here, I took full advantage of it.

We did have a hot and humid day yesterday. I decided to forge ahead and lay down the vinyl tiles on the floor. It was hot work but with the help of some upbeat music such as Guns n' Roses, Bon Jovi and, of course, Green Day, coupled with some Frank Sinatra, it wasn't too bad. Of course, Sookie and Rory were of no help at all. For some reason, they decided their job was to lie and doze in the exact spot that I was intending to tile. Also, they decided it was their job to show me that they loved me by trying to climb in my lap. This was appreciated except my fingers were always a little gluey from the sticky tiles and dachshund hair is not fun to have to scrub off with the glue.

Still, I got the job done. The only minor mishap was that during a particularly enthusiastic moment with my Fat Max knife (it's real name!) in which I was cutting a tile to size, I accidentally sliced off the top of my finger. Fortunately, my nail was long and that prevented too much damage but as it stands, I now have a bit of a flat finger and rather a deep cut which went several layers deep. There was quite a lot of blood too. I'm not particularly squeamish but it was not the prettiest thing. Since I originally thought I'd actually sliced my finger off, I was, however, relieved it wasn't that dire.

By the time the room was done, so was Saturday, for the most part. I was pleased with my handiwork. Even though it's not perfect and completely flawless, I love the way the new tile looks and, even better, I did it myself.

Today, I bought some rugs for the room. I bought a 5' x 8' rug and two 2' x 3' rugs for $50. I have a great store nearby for stuff like that called Old Tyme Pottery. It's also fantastic for dinnerware. If ever I'm cooking something fancy and don't have the right plates, that's where I go.

So, with the addition of the rugs, at long last, I can say my Tuscan room is complete. The last touches will be two pieces of unfinished furniture that I want to get and stain myself in a rustic green colour. I need a chest of drawers to hide some of the 'contempory' stuff that I want to store in the room and not display such as my Playstation 2 and I'd like a free standing cupboard for all of my kitchen applicances that don't quite fit in my kitchen cupboards.

Still, even without the furniture, it's a pleasure to sit in that room now. Before I redid it, the room had 1970's dark panelled walls, orange-green shag carpet and rather frumpy flowered curtains that were lovingly made by the former owner of the house but just not my taste. Now, the panellng is a sunny yellow, the floor is mock-teracotta vinyl tiles and the curtains are simple white muslin tied backed with red raffia. I like the final effect. On each wall is a variation on a picture of Tuscany with poppies in the forefront. I love poppies. Poppies are one of those flowers that just make me smile when I see them.

Even though I woke up today stiff and sore from my tiling, I still had an odd need to be productive. Some weekends are like that- I just want to get things done. Thus, I spent the day doing the following:

1) Buying rugs
2) Exchanging the propane tank for my grill. I've become a huge fan of grilling lately. It's quick, easy and the result is pretty darn yummy.
3) Grocery shopping at Jungle Jim's/shopping for my dad's Father's Day present. I'm making him lunch as part of his gift but it isn't as complex as the five-course meal I made for Mother's Day so I got him a bottle of Santa Margherita Chianti to try. He loves the Pinot Grigio and he's a fan of Chianti so it seemed like a smart choice.
4) Mowing the lawn.
5) Weeding the front garden.
6) Making a yummy Fourme d'Ambert baguette sandwich for lunch. Fourme d'Ambert is my current favourite cheese- it's a blue, creamy cheese from France and it's heavenly. I've decided my next culinary challenge is to learn about cheeses. (side note: I need a good book about cheese- any recommendations?)
7) Planting my vegetable garden- I planted peppers, heirloom tomatoes, squash and cucumbers.
8) Cleaning my patio, finally putting my outdoor rug down and setting out the furniture.
9) Cleaning my house- mopping, vacuuming, dusting and bathroom scrubbing.
10) Walking the pups.
11) Sitting outside with a glass of wine and being happy that I've had a productive weekend.

Obviously, the last one is where I am now. I'm smelling both the scent of fresh-cut grass coupled with Pine Sol. It's a good smell. I find that some weekends are best for relaxing but others, like this one, are best spent getting things done. I have to say, I like being productive. It's a wonderful feeling.

Even though it's back to work tomorrow, I can live with that because even though the weekend is waning away, it's waning away as I continue to sit outside, with my laptop, a glass of wine and a dachshund on my lap. It's another one of those moments that's as close to perfect as life gets.

And you just can't beat that, even when a Monday is looming.

Happy Monday!

Sunny Days Were Here Again!

Once again, I write this as the weekend is waning and the workweek is looming closer. As always, I wish it was reversed but, unfortunately, I have no figured out a way to reverse time.

Nevertheless, as weekends go, this has been a nice one. We managed to have 2.5 days with both rain and sunshine. It was a welcome treat. I even managed to get my lawn mowed on Friday night as well as do a little weeding. It's a welcome treat to wind up a productive week with a productive evening outside that culminates in sitting back at the end of it all with a class of wine and sitting outside, smelling the freshly cut grass.

Wine seemed to be the order of the weekend. I spent Saturday with a friend in the little town where I used to live before I bought my house. They were having their annual wine tasting and arts festival. All of the wineries were local to Ohio so it was nice to sample some different blends. It was a beautiful, warm sunny day and I think I honoured in the best way possible: drinking wine, sitting outside and spending it with good company.

Even though I ended up sunburned, it was worth every bit of pink flesh. Besides, being British, it's not like it's a shocker. Even if I did put on the 45 spf sunscreen, I still manage to burn. Tis the nature of being fair skinned.

Today, I took advantage of the sunshine this morning and the pups and I got an early start. We took a long walk around the neighbourhood at the very beginning of our day. I love doing that: The dew is still fresh on the grass and most people aren't out and about. It's peaceful. There were, however, a very large number of squirrels out and about foraging for thier breakfast. Sookie and Rory were delighted by this. Sometimes, I'm amazed by the squirrels' dexterity- one manage to run and climb up a tree while holding on to some type of metal can. It was quite interesting to watch.

After our walk, we spent the rest of the morning outside. While weeding is an uphill battle, I did manage to clear an area big enough to plant my zucchini and tomato plants. I also managed to get my herb garden cleared of weeds and plant a few more seeds.

Unfortunately, it was very hot. It's the type of heat and humidity that builds up before a huge thunderstorm. Eventually, it became too much to work outside and the pups and I retreated indoors where it was cooler.

The thunderstorm just arrived. We're having a torrential downpour at present and the thunder is booming away. Even though it means more rain, I don't mind this time. I'm a big fan of thunderstorms like this and it's somewhat soothing to hear it clatter away.

We're supposed to have more storms tonight. It seems like a good way to wind up a weekend. Even though I'd much prefer sitting outside with my glass of wine, there's nothing that says that can't be an indoor activity.

Besides, even though tomorrow means another workweek has begun, I really can't complain. It's a short week for me. I'm off to New York on Friday to spend the weekend with my friend Saz. It's been 20 years of friendship for us and I can't think of a better way to celebrate.

And next week is also a short work week too so, really, I can't complain that this weekend is going too fast when next week is a four-day weekend for me.

It's just that I enjoy weekends so much...but then, who doesn't?

Happy Monday!

Rainy Days and New Shoes...

I'm hoping I actually get to publish my blog today. I wrote one on Friday and tried in vain to publish it but, alas, my blogging site was down all day.

I'm trying again tonight. Hopefully, I'll have more luck.

It's one of the Sunday evenings where I can't believe that the weekend is over. It feels like it was just beginning on Friday when I came home, kicked off my shoes and enjoyed some down time with the dogs.

Now, I've finally finished cleaning my house, am finishing up the laundry and I feel like I've barely had time to do half the things on my mental list.

Ah well, that's the nature of weekends. Unfortunately, this was another rainy weekend. It's becoming a little frustrating that since spring began, we've had maybe one weekend where it didn't rain and that was right at the very beginning. It's a nuisance for us gardeners. I currently have a forest of weeds in what I was planning to make into my vegetable garden and it's simply too wet to get out there and do anything about it. In addition, I have a patio rug and furniture that I've yet to set out because we haven't had more than two non-rainy days together in weeks and I have an unused firepit that I bought on sale for $35 just sitting in the box.

In short, I'm completely sick of rain. I know I'm not the only one. My parents' have had rain too and my mother is starting to get frustrated that she can't get outside to work on the weeds and do some planting.

Still, each weekend I have a little seed of hope that this will be a nice one, this will be the weekend I will Get Things Done Outside.

I'd also settle for finally getting to lay my Tuscan vinyl tile in my redecorated room but, alas, I can't have rain for that either since it's the passageway to the pups getting outside and them walking in and out with wet and muddy feet on my attempts to tile would not work.

So, I wait and I shop. This weekend, at least, I shopped. I finally feel satisfied that I have a decent selection of summer sandals. The problem I found is that when I lived in California, I could wear casual footwear to work, even flip-flops. So, I built up a lovely collection of flip-flops. Then, I moved to Ohio and worked for a very casual software company where I could wear flip-flops. Now, it's my third summer back and I have a new job where I can't wear flip-flops. My sandal collection is quite sad. I had a go-to pair of sensible but stylish sandals that I bought at K-Mart over ten years ago. They finally died at the end of last summer with the straps coming detatched and the soles falling off. The only back-ups I had were a pair of sandals I bought from the Naturalizer store in a mall that went out of business over ten years ago. I think I bought the sandals a few years before that.

So, given that a pair of black sandals is a pretty necessary staple in a business-casual wardrobe, I went on the hunt. I also decided a pair of white ones would be useful as would a natural coloured pair that could go with either casual capris or a nice skirt.

I was successful in my shoe shopping. It took a while and after finding my black sandals, I was having trouble with the other pairs. When I lived in L.A., my roommate/good friend was always my shoe-buying companion. We both liked shoes. We both liked to shop. Whenever I was looking for something very specific, it was always my friend who spotted them in the muddle of shoes. So, when my luck was down on this shopping trip...I called her. Lo and behold, her shoe-karma works, even from 2000 miles away. Literally, within ten minutes, I had found the perfect shoes for my needs and they were all on sale. In the end, I managed to get four multi-useful pairs of shoes for a whopping $80. I was pleased.

There's nothing like a successful shoe-buying trip to make you feel like a rainy day isn't such a bad thing. As for the rest of my weekend, I spent it cleaning avidly and organizing. I finally decided it was time for a purge o' the lotions.

I think most women will know what I mean. Lotions and body sprays and other 'girlie' products are a universally acceptable gift. They're fun to have. They're fun to give. Thus, most of us, over the years, build up a collection. In my case, it's a mix of lotions and scents that were either gifts or I bought myself at Bath and Body works.

The thing is, over the years, they go a little nasty. Thus, there comes a time when you have to do a purging o' the lotions and go through your collection to see how long you've actually had some of them. In my case, many of them I've had for, uh, maybe ten years and, well, it was time.

Sometimes, something as simple as a good purge can make a rainy day feel productive and, in my case, that's exactly right.

Thus, I found ways to spend the rainy day. The pups have contentedly been working on the chew treats I had stored for them on rainy days. I find if Rory has a project, such as a filled chewy bone, it stops her little tantrums of boredom and keeps her busy.

Now, the rainy day is a rainy evening and Monday draws slowly closer. Maybe it was because last week, I had a long weekend but this time around, I'd be more than happy to take another Monday off. That would be a grand plan but, alas, I must go to work. Work pays the bills and helps me buy shoes on my rainy days off.

It's a vicious cycle but it's one I can live with because, well, I like being able to buy new shoes on rainy days.

Happy Monday and thanks, as always, for reading!

Taking a Day Off Does Wonders...

Sometimes, it's nice to take a day off from everything, even Mondays.

Today, I had a day off. It was a planned day off but it was a much needed vacation day and it put the week off to a lovely start.

I also took a day off from blogging. While I love writing this blog, sometimes I do debate giving it up just because it is a little bit self-indulgent and sometimes, I write crap. Then I remember that the reason I blog is so that I do, at least, get some writing time in each day which is something that, for a writer, is important to do.

My day off was because I knew I was going to have a busy weekend and I didn't want to rush back into reality straight away. I spent the weekend at my parents. It was the annual Citywide Garage Sale day in their town and, as has become our annual tradition, I went out and about with my sister and brother-in-law.

It was a very disappointing year as far as the sales went. All three of us came home with very little to show for our day spent traipsing from sale to sale. I don't know if it's because it's a bad economy and people are desperate to make a little money but much of the stuff was the sort of thing that really should have been put in the rubbish rather than sold. I know the old adage "someone's trash is someone else's treasure" usually is true but, in this case, it was really just...trash. For some reason, there were a rather large amount of people selling baggies full of hotel soaps and shampoo. That was a little...odd. I mean, sure I know they technically paid for them in the price of the hotel room but, really, those things are FREE. Thus, selling them at a yard sale is just a little bizarre and presumptuous.

There were also a lot of houses selling those "As Seen on TV" products that have one specific purpose and one purpose alone such as quesadilla makers, waffle cone makers and quick burger cookers. It's fun to see those because you know they were probably gifts that seemed like a good idea at the time but end up taking up a lot of space and being somewhat useless.

Even in spite of the poor show of worthy buyings, the day was fun and it was nice to spend time with my sister and meet her new puppy- a Brussels-griffon that slightly resembles a pug-faced alien.

The rest of my weekend was spent planning, prepping and cooking the Mother's Day dinner I was making for my parents.

It was a big task but, overall, I had a blast doing it and it turned out pretty well. It was a five course tasting menu as follows:

Amuse Bouche- crostini with Fourme d'Ambert*, shaved pear and toasted walnuts.

Appetizer- Grilled asparagus with prosciutto, parmesan crackers and lemon-garlic aoili.

Soup- Cream of zucchini with gorgonzola

Entree- Salt roasted black grouper with fresh herbs (mum) or pan seared Kobe sirloin (dad) server with roasted fingerling potatoes and pea puree.

Dessert- Chocolate eclairs with fresh cream and an assortment of European cookies.

There were also two wines and dessert aperitif.

It was a fun menu to plan and make. I wanted my parents to have a meal that they'd feel like was a treat. Overall, it was all about the timing and making sure everything was prepped and ready to go.

I think the meal was a success. My dad managed to eat two bowls of the soup and three eclairs in addition to the other courses. Mum seemed to like it and it made me feel like a real cook. The hardest part was making sure that when one course was being served, the next was being "fired" (to use a chef term (thanks, Tom Colicchio and Top Chef)!). That way, by the time the previous course was finished, the next was cooked, still warm and plated.

It was a challenge. Having a soux chef would have been nice but, at the same time, it was fun to get to do it all myself and see a good result.

I will admit I was rather tired when the dishes were washed and we were sitting down watching "Game of Thrones." It was a good tired though, one that made me feel like I accomplished something.

It was also for that reason that I'd already planned to take today off. I didn't want to have to cook and drive home to make it back to work and I wanted to have some time to just hang out with my parents and relax.

That mostly happened. With the exception of Rory having eaten something that disagreed with her that resulted in some rather vigourous vomiting, it was a nice day. I suspect she had a drink from my parents pond. Not pleasant to see or have to clean up. She's ok now.

We're back home after a nice day. The grass is mowed and I'm actually sitting outside writing this since it's actually not raining and is a lovely sunny evening.

In short, it's been a good Monday. I don't say that very often so I'm glad to say it when it does happen. Tomorrow, it'll be back to work and the daily grind but, for now, I have a few more hours to enjoy a day off.

I'd say that there are far worse things in life!

Happy Tuesday and, as always, thanks for reading.

*Fourme d'Ambert is a delicious, creamy French blue cheese that is my new favourite even if it is a wee bit stinky.

The (lack of) Patience of Captain Monkeypants...

Today, the sun is actually shining. This is actually quite a remarkable thing since we’ve only seen glimpses of it over the past 5 days.

It’s lovely out there, just the way Spring should feel. It makes me feel restless to sit in my office and have to work when there are so many things to be done outside.

Still, tomorrow is Friday and I think that’s a rather nice thing. This has been a muddled week. Some days have dragged, some have whizzed by. It seems like I have nothing concrete happening but a lot ‘perhaps’ and ‘maybe.’

I’m not very good with ‘perhaps’ and ‘maybe’. I like definites. I’m not particularly patient though I try quite hard at times. I don’t really like to wait for things. I like things to be done and tidy and ready to move on.

As I said, I do try to be patient. I’ve finally got myself to the point where I can mostly wait for the microwave to finish before pulling it out 24 seconds early. Ok, that might be a bit of an overstatement. What really happens is I now wait until there’s only eight or nine seconds left.

Eight or nine seconds may not seem like long to wait. However, for an impatient person like me, they’re quite a long time. Also, I assume that it’s not long enough to make the food much hotter than it already is so I stop the microwave. Granted, this generally leads to the fact that the microwave clock is now displaying :08 instead of the time and I’ll have to cancel it later but, well, it’s an improvement over how I used to be.

I’m also better about waiting for things. I’m a person who hates to be late. Thus, often, if I have a tight window of time where I need to get something done or I’ll be late for something else, I get a little stressed. Unfortunately, most of the time, regardless of where you are, you have to wait. Take, for example, doctor’s office. Raise your hands (or comment) anyone out there who goes to a doctor and is immediately taken in, prepped and seeing your doctor within 5 minutes of your arrival? How about 10 minutes?

I thought not. I think the worst, for me, is when I go to the “Lady Doctor.” There’s nothing more frustrating, stressful and uncomfortable than going through the usual weight-height and blood pressure check and then being instructed to change into a horribly thin paper gown in a freezing cold room and being left to wait.

So you wait. And wait. And wait. For me, I try not to get too stressed but after about 20 minutes, I can’t help but wonder if the doctor has accidentally forgotten me. What’s even more annoying is that while there is a plethora of reading material in the actual WAITING room, there’s usually nothing to read while you’re sitting there gowned up, freezing cold, slightly nervous and waiting.

The irony is that it’s not like you’re actually waiting for anything pleasant. Knowing that when the doctor shows up, you’re going to be subjected to a rather uncomfortable procedure that involves getting up close and personal with a speculum is not like a prize for all that waiting.

I’ve become more patient in these situations. I’ve stopped almost biting my doctor’s head off when she does show up. I’ve stopped my blood pressure from getting too high because I’m angry and frustrated that I’m waiting. Instead, I simply tell myself that there’s nothing I can do about it unless I want to get dressed and leave and have to do this all over again some other time. It’s just the way things are. It would be a nice idea to get a national (or international) law in motion where patients have a right to see a doctor within a reasonable waiting time but, well, it’s not very likely. It’s all very well for companies like Dominos pizza to say “30 minutes or less or it’s free” (though I’m pretty sure that’s not true anymore) but doctors aren’t like pizza. They don’t show up to your house when you order them.

They used to, actually. I remember as a child the doctor would make house calls. So did vets. Nowadays, alas, you have to go to them. If it’s an emergency you can pay a fortune to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance so the doctor’s can attend to you but it doesn’t work the other way.

Anyways, my point is that I’ve become more patient with age. I still wouldn’t say I am a very patient person but I’ve become more zen when I have to wait. I still don’t like sitting in that cold office with that horrible robe on and feeling humiliated because I’ve been abandoned but I’ve stopped getting upset about it because there’s simply nothing to be done. I just have to wait.

That’s how things are this week at work. I’d love to get some solid answers about if my candidates will get a follow up interview. I’d like my wavering candidate to say that he’ll accept the job I’m offering him. I’d like to find out if my other candidates stand a chance.

However, all I can do is wait. My control freak nature wants to push things along.

Ah well, as I keep reminding myself...there's only so much I can control. The rest of it...well, I'll just have to wait.

If only waiting were my strong suit...

Happy Friday, Happy Mother's Day to those of you who are mothers and to everyone, have a great weekend...

Peaceful Weekends (With no Appliance Catastrophes)

Well, I managed to pass a perfectly fine weekend without having any major appliances break. Also, there were no more termites.

I consider this a success of a weekend unto itself. However, on top of it, we had our first nice, non-rainy weather in literally a week.

The pups and I took full advantage of the weather and we finally got to go on our long walk at the park that we've missed since March. It was an unusual walk. Due to the fact we've had over 13 inches of rain since April 1st, the park had flooded. Most of the flooding had abated when we walked but the signs were definitely there. There were dead fish all over the place from where the water had risen and then rescinded, leaving the poor fish behind. There were even some large shrimplike things that had died and shrivelled in the sun. I think these may have been crawfish but I'm not sure.

Either way, our walk was a wee bit stinky as recently flooded areas often are. We only ran into difficulty when we were headed towards the trail we normally take and found ourselves slipping on sliding on rather wet, slick mud that hadn't yet dried. Nevertheless we triumphed even though both Sookie and Rory needed a bath by the time we were done. There were parts of our walk that were also impossible to do- our normal lakeside path was still flooded over and there was no sign of the little road we take because it was still hidden under several feet of water.

It made for an interesting walk. For a beautiful day, it was also surprisingly secluded. There weren't many walkers out and about. I suspect many of them were in the garden, mowing their grass while the sun was shining.

The rest of our Saturday we spent outside and I finally wound up, reading a book, enjoying a glass of white wine while the sun set. It was a lovely way to end a beautiful day.

Sunday has not been so beautiful. It has been grey and gloomy and the rain is not far off. I think we're in for another wet week. It hasn't been a bad day as gloomy days go- my younger brother and his family came down to make a trip to Jungle Jim's. I'm always pleased to guide tours there since I know my way around a little better than I should. It was a good day for it, too. Most of the shelves were still stocked even though on a Sunday afternoon that often isn't the case. I've been a little disappointed with Jungle Jim's lately, to be honest. They failed to produce any ramps during April. I discovered ramps at Jungle Jim's last year and I missed them as soon as their short season was over. In case you don't know, they're a cross between a green onion and a leek and very delicious. I also haven't found any good mushrooms there. I was hoping to at least try some morels this year but even though its morel season, there's never a fresh morel to be found in the store.

Still, for all my griping, Jungle Jim's still manages to deliver to my gourmet needs or, at least, my aspirations to be a gourmet. After all, I found sunchokes there a couple of weeks ago and am now a big fan. They have the pea sprouts I've come to love as a garnish as well as all manner of unusual vegetables.

My trip with my brother and his family was a lot of fun. I got to show my brother the pigs head and lambs heads that always fascinate me and then I got to watch as he chased my niece with the lamb's head. I know, it's a little twisted but it's nice to know my brother and I share a sense of the same dark humour. I got to spend some time with my niece too which was fun. It's amazing that for as often as I go to Jungle Jim's, I still discover new things each time.

Now my brother and his family has gone, the house is quiet except for the sound of my washing machine which, so far, has not gone to join its life partner in the Great Beyond of Household Appliances. So far, its getting along with the new dryer just fine. I know there's an age difference there but, well, who knows...maybe they'll be together for many years to come. Of course, at this point, I'd settle for many months to come, rather than years- I'll take what I can get at this point.

Even though it's back to work tomorrow, it's nice to have a few more hours where I can curl up, enjoy the gloom and know that, until tomorrow when my alarm goes off, there's nothing but time to relax, enjoy "Game of Thrones" on HBO and be grateful that even though I had a dark week last week, the weekend provides some much needed light at the end of the tunnel.

Happy Monday!

Busy Project Days

I'd say that I can't believe the weekend is over already but, really, I can. I can't say I haven't used every minute of it either because...I feel like I have.

My busiest weekends always end up seeming to be the ones where I don't have anything planned. My original intention was to get the tiling on my Tuscan room floor done. However, due to the unexpected expense of a termite extermination as well as having to buy a new lawnmower, the floor tiles were a little else on which to splurge.

Besides, Saturday ended up being a rainy, gloomy day and I needed to have a sunny, warm day on which to tile so the pups could be outside and I could put all the stuff currently on the floor of the Tuscan room outside so I'd be able to work. In the end, I had a very pleasant indoor sort of Saturday in which the pups laid around being lazy while i cleaned. I did some reading. I watched some movies. It wasn't the most productive day but I don't feel like it was a wasted laze. I needed that laze quite badly.

Sunday was quite the opposite. I decided to make it Project Day. I ended up building a nice trellis on the edge of my patio so that I could sit and have a bit of peace from the yappy dogs next door. I also made a neat little garden around the trellis so I can plant some honeysuckle and have it grow to give me complete privacy. During the trellis project, I realized that in order to move all the sod that I'd dug up to make room for the trellis, I really needed a wheelbarrow.

This is something that's been on my list of things to get since I moved in. So, I went to buy a wheelbarrow from Lowes. It turns out that wheelbarrows don't always come assembled. I did not know this. The particular wheelbarrow I wanted (read: The most inexpensive) was all sold out of the assembled model so I ended up buying it in three parts: The buckety part, the handles and the wheel and assembly stuff.

I thought, "Oh, it's a wheelbarrow...how hard can it be to build?" And I loaded the pieces up in my car and headed home.

Silly Captain Monkeypants. Considering I have trouble with even the simplest instructions from IKEA, I should have realized it'd never be easy. Building a wheelbarrow is quite complicated. There are cross bracy thingys, handles and all sorts of nuts and bolts. Long story short...I was successful. In between the taking all the parts out of the box and being successful is a series of rather rude words that I shouted a few times, a couple of minor injuries to my fingers and several "oops, I did that backwards" moments.

Still, I have a wheelbarrow. I also have a trellis. I have no honeysuckle because Lowes didn't have any. I will have some soon. I also have two very tired pups. They decided the best course of action for themselves while I went about my project business was to run around outside the whole time. Now they're sleepy. I am too, for that matter. I'm also a little sore.

However, in the long run, I'm very pleased with my day since it was absolutely perfect outside- sunny, warm and breezy. I find that on weekends with days like this, it makes the thought of Monday much more bearable.

Also, I'm tired enough that my brain has shut down and doesn't have the energy to be disappointed that I have to work tomorrow which definitely helps with the Monday thing. It also means that my blog will be a little shorter than some of my waffles because, well, forming cohesive sentences is getting harder by the minute.

Which, really, is how I usually begin Mondays anyway so I'm in good shape.

Happy Monday!

Termites, Lawnmowers and Work...Oh My!

I think this is just going to be one of those weeks. I’ve resigned myself to it and I’m ok with it. I’ve been trying to think more positively these past few weeks and it’s working out well. Or, at least, it’s preventing me from going a little mental and throwing things and whining to everyone I know about how much my life sucks. My life doesn’t suck. I know this and I’m very grateful to that.

I’m also grateful that Terminix came today and though I discovered that I had nasty termites in another area of my house, it’s not untreatable. Also, my house isn’t going to fall down. By this time tomorrow, my house will have been treated for the nasty critters and I’ll be far less itchy.

I find that a fascinating thing, by the way: The Itchies. I find that I get them under the following circumstances:

- Seeing large quantities of creepy crawly things on TV
- Seeing large quantities of creepy crawly things in real life
- Seeing a creepy crawly thing that takes me by surprise in a place where I didn’t expect it (spider in my bed, for example)

Basically, The Itchie’s make me feel like the creature/s are crawling on me even though I rationally know they aren’t. This is why that, ever since I discovered the termites, I’ve had a case of The Itchies.

Fortunately, Terminix is coming to save the day. I’m not thrilled that it’s going to cost a lot but it’s reasonable to make sure my house doesn’t get eaten by termites and it is one of the expenses homeowners have to face. Other expenses are things like new lawnmowers, new air conditioners and other things that I used to be able to call my landlord to get fixed.

All in all, the termite issue, while yucky, is under control. My new mower is on its way. I’ve solved the frustrations fairly easily.

It still doesn’t stop me from being very glad that tomorrow is Friday. Last week wasn’t a great week as far as work went. This week hasn’t been so bad but it’s been a lot busier and a little more stressful because I’ve been going it alone due to my coworker dealing with his mother’s death. I don’t mind covering for him, naturally. It’s just a lot for one person to handle, particularly when we’ve got some urgent things going on in the office.

The nice thing is that even though it’s meant bringing work home with me, making some phone calls in the evening and staying late at the office, I don’t mind. I think that’s the difference between my last job and this one. Working extra hours and extra hard doesn’t bother me because I LIKE my job. I don’t feel as though I’m watching the clock, waiting for it to hit Going-Home-Time.

Yet, tomorrow is Friday and I’m quite happy about that. It’s supposed to be cold and gloomy this weekend. I’m not sure what that means for me and the pups. My original plan was to start replacing the hideous mustard coloured carpet in my Tuscan family room with the vinyl terracotta tiles I’ve picked out. I have half the tiles. I need the other half. Unfortunately, between checking three different Lowes’ (who are the exclusive sellers of this tile), no store carries enough for a decent sized room at one time. Thus, I bought half at one Lowes and was planning on getting the other half this weekend. However, the extra expense of the termites as well as the cost of a new lawnmower means I might have to put Project Floor Tiling on hold for a couple of weeks.

It also doesn’t help that I’d need to be able to leave the dogs outside while I tiled since that room is their passageway to the garden. If it’s raining, I’d end up with two wet, soggy, unhappy dogs.

So, it means I’ll have to come up with another plan for my weekend. My alternate plan if I couldn’t do the floor due to rain/cold weather was to wrap up warm and do some landscaping. Unfortunately, I need to mow the lawn to do that and without a mower, that will be hard since the mower isn’t due to arrive until Tuesday.

Ah well. My homeowner mishaps this week have put a wrench in the plans for the weekend, it seems. The best laid plans and all that, I suppose. Sometimes, the best weekends are those that aren’t planned at all. Given the chaos of the week, perhaps that’s not a bad thing and perhaps I should just accept that I can’t control everything.

It’s just hard because, as you know, I’m a control freak. Which is probably why busy work weeks, termites and exploding lawnmowers have thrown me through a loop.

You just don’t see them happening until it’s too late. But they keep life interesting…right?

Happy Friday!

Thankfulness for Near Perfect Days...

I think, as a human race, we like to complain a lot. It's pretty much second nature for most of us. I'm not excluding myself or putting myself above anyone by saying this. Just reading back over my blog posts for the past couple of months and I'd be a resounding hypocrite if I said I wasn't one of the complainers.

It's easy to complain. We go on Facebook and we complain in our status about work, about the weather, about Obama, about daycare, about food...pretty much about anything that annoys us.

There's nothing wrong with this. As it is for me, for most, it's a coping technique. If we say out loud what's bothering us, what's bugging us, we suddenly feel much better. We get it out of our system. If we tell the world of Facebook that other drivers are terrible and that we're sick of people who don't clean up after their dogs...it's out there. Our complaint is heard and even though it doesn't correct the situation, we feel better.

Yet, the thing is, I think that we get so hung up on complaining about what's wrong, we forget to remember what's right. I'm the first to blog and whine about a bad day at work. Yet, for all the bad days, there are good days too.

Today was one of them. It was about as perfect as a day can get in its own special way. Thus, instead of complaining about everything, I want to acknowledge that for all the bad Mondays in life, there are also wonderful Sundays.

For me, my day began early. The pups and I went to bed at a decent time last night so we could get up at 7:30 a.m. this morning. We awoke with the alarm and I had the luxury of having a Sookie snuggled on one side and a Rory on the other. When we did get up, it was at the same time that the sun was just beginning to shine. I let the pups out, I got dressed. Our day began. My parents were coming down and I because I'm a fanatical cook, I wanted to make sure everything was on schedule and ready. Thus, I'd made two batches of soup yesterday (clam chowder for mum, black bean for mum). I'd also made the custard for creme brulee.

All I had to do today was make the dough for the bread, let it rise, bake it and do some last minute prep for lunch. I managed to get all this done, have a cup of coffee while still enjoying a somewhat early morning walk with the pups. We watched the sun rise into the sky while enjoying the peace of a quiet Sunday morning. My parent arrived in good time. We had a nice lunch and I got to spend the day with my parents while also enjoying a trip to Jungle Jims.

The weather was about as perfect as you can get. It was balmy with a warm wind. As a result, we got to sit out in my newly redecorated Tuscan family room and enjoy the warmth of spring. My dad helped me move the heavy stove that was the only thing standing between me and redoing the floor in my Tuscan room. We had a nice dinner and, after I bid my parents farewell, I took the pups for another walk. The walk was perfect. For a spring night, it doesn't get any better.

We enjoyed the last moments of daylight. The weather was warm and windy. The tulips have started blooming in response to this unexpected beautiful spring day and their bright red colours were a lovely contrast the sunny yellow daffodils that are still in full bloom.

In short, days don't really get much better than this. It was the type of day where I didn't once stop and be sad that I'm still single. I got to spend time with my parents and my dogs and enjoy the lovely warmth of spring. Thus, as I was walking with the pups tonight, I realized that I was 100% content. I couldn't complain about anything. And I realized that this doesn't happen very often in life. There's always a Monday or a bad day at work to stand in the way.

I'm sure if I thought about it, I could find something to complain about today but the thing is, I don't want to find something to complain about. That's a rare thing. Thus, for once, I wanted to acknowledge the rare thing instead of finding something, anything to complain about. It's too nice of a feeling not to share.

I hope that, for all my readers, that you have days like this too. Because days like this make all the other days just a little bit better, no matter how bad they are. Nothing major happened. I had no major revelations. It was just a lovely, relaxing, fulfilling day.

As I always say, it's the small things in life that make it worthwhile and in my case, today was full of a million small things. For once, I don't mind that the weekend is over and that means another Monday tomorrow. I don't say it often and...maybe I should. Somedays it's just nice to anti-complain!

Happy Monday!

Cold and Productive Weekends

This has been a very chilly weekend. I don't think it's been above 40 degrees all weekend. It snowed last night but it didn't stick around. It was just a little surprising to turn on the porch light and see it flurrying down outside. Still, even with the chill outside, the weather has been beautiful. Today has been sunny and very pretty. It was a little too cold for the pups and I to go over to the park but we made do with two walks around the neighbourhood instead- one this morning and one this evening. It's nice to get out and about. I also managed to do a little landscaping/gardening in spite of the cold weather. I bought a tree yesterday because I'd been looking for an ornamental cherry and I found one for $14.99. That seemed like a good deal to me. The only problem I have when buying large items like trees is that I drive a little Toyota Corolla and it doesn't really have much space for transporting items like that. Nevertheless, because I'm Captain Monkeypants and am exceedingly stubborn, I managed to get a seven food tree in my car. Doing things like this takes innovation but that, I think I have in spades. With the aid of a large plastic bag, nice bendy branches and some wiggling, I managed to get the tree in my car with little trouble. Driving home wasn't the most comfortable. It's hard to drive when there's a tree surrounding you but I did it quite well and the tree made it home in one piece. It is now standing in my newly landscaped garden flanked by two garden gnomes. I'm very into gnomes at the moment. I have no idea why. I think it's because my granny has always had gnomes and I have fond memories of them. I like seeing them in gardens so now I get to see them in mine. I also built my dogs a little sandpit this afternoon. It made sense. After all, I just got rid of a large propane tank that was left by the previous homeowner and underneath it was a nice little piece of uneven garden. I just so happened to have two fifty pound bags of sand. You may wonder why I have two fifty pound bags of sand just standing in my garage. Well, it's because I painted my family room, you see. I wanted to get some texture in the paint so I bought a bag of sand. Then, when I did a little research, I discovered I should have bought silica sand, not the kind you mix with concrete because silica sand is cleaner. So I bought a second bag of sand, this time it was silica sand. I used some for painting and then had about 48 pounds left. Thus, I poured the sand over the bare patch of ground. The pups are in heaven. As soon as I threw the empty bags away, Sookie was already digging. Rory joined in. I'm hoping that this means that they'll abstain from digging quite so many holes in the garden. They dig with great enthiasm, my girls. They literally are doing handstands or pawstands, I suppose they'd be, on two legs when they dig, they're so determined. So, all in all, it has been a very productive day. Yesterday was productive too but I got a bad case of the grumpies halfway through. After I brought the tree home, I went back out to do a little more shopping. It turned out to be a bad idea. It was the type of day where people just drove me a little crazy. Every aisle I went down, I'd stop and look and suddenly, some lady with a shopping cart would be heading down the same aisle and stand right in front of me. I hate that. Or, I'd be looking and two small children would be chasing one another down the aisle run into me. Or, I'd find a parking space and head towards it only to be cut off by another driver who decided they deserved it more. I don't like days like that. I get a bit crotchety. I think it was because I had gone out to look for Tuscan decor and planned on a nice leisurely browse but it didn't end up that way because every time I stopped to browse, someone else had to browse RIGHT THERE too. I don't mind sharing an aisle but I don't like it when even if I say, "excuse me," I'm ignored. Some days are just like that. On the plus side, I recognized I was grumpy quite quickly and I decided to come home and clean instead. I was much more successful in shopping today. I went back out and found the perfect paintings to complete my family room. They all have a Tuscan theme with poppy fields. I love poppys. They're such a burst of bright colour and they just make me feel nice and warm. One day, I shall go to Tuscany but, in the mean time, I'm going to pretend I'm there as I sit in my Tuscan family room, drinking wine, eating anti pasti and relaxing with a book. Of course, since the room isn't heated, it's a little cold to do that now but, well, good things come to those who wait. I just need to be a little more patient. As it's been established, I'm not great with that but I'm working on it. I just wish patience would come more quickly. Happy Monday!

The Befuddling Quest for Curtains

Sunday evening is here again and as I always seem to say, I can't believe the weekend went by so quickly.

Nevertheless, Sunday it is and thus we begin the downward slide towards the workweek. I'll start it with a nice weekend under my belt. I spent the weekend with my parents which was a spontaneous visit that ended up being wonderful, as my visits with my parents usually.

My mum and I spent the day together Saturday. It was a nice early spring day with just a touch of chill in the air. We spent most of the day on a quest for curtains.

This may sound dull but it's actually quite fun to have a quest. It doesn't mean that we spent the day avidly and obsessively looking for curtains but, instead, we browsed for other things while keeping curtains on the list of things to look at in each shop that sold them that we visited.

It turned out to be fruitless. I have learned that curtain shopping makes you feel rather befuddled. You see, according to most curtain makers who sell to commercial retailers, all windows much be 84 inches long. Also, you apparently only want to buy one panel at a time.

I am aware that there are other options. You can, for example, get custom made curtains which fit the window perfectly. These tend to be quite expensive. I could also make my own which is a perfectly reasonable alternative and something I'm not opposed to doing. After all, I have a sewing machine and several fabric stores nearby. I've made curtains before. They're not complicated.

Yet they are time consuming and I tend to make a mess while I'm sewing in that all the little pieces of thread that I snip gather on the carpet. I have to be careful not to drop pins. I don't have a dedicated sewing room so the fabric takes over the living room. I have dogs that love to play with large pieces of fabric.

So, while making my own curtains is definitely an option, it's not the easiest one. Also, the curtains I had in mind didn't need to be anything complicated with an effect I could only achieve if I made them myself. I simply wanted either a natural, off white or taupe set of panels that I can tie back with red raffia. Sounds simple, right?

Not so much. As I said, most of the time, the off-the-rack curtains are exclusively 84 inches long. My windows are only 48 inches wide and high. Those are long curtians. I could get some and hem them but that would involve chopping off a lot of fabric and still having to sew which defeats the purpose of buying them in a store in the first place.

Also, most of the time, they're sold one panel at a time. This is ok until you need six panels because you have three windows. This gets very expensive. One of my other reasons for not wanting to sew them is because I'd need a fair amount of fabric and it can get to be quite expensive to make my own. Thus, I figured, if I bought ready-made ones, it'd be easier.

There's that word again: Easy. Curtain shopping is not easy.

I don't understand the logic in making curtains come in 84 inch lengths. How many people really have windows that long?

In the end, after much grousing, I didn't find any curtains that day. I ended up finding some today at Walmart of all places. These are only 63 inches long, came as a set and were very inexpensive. They're not meant to be functional curtains, just decorative. Walmart saved the day which is not something I can say very often.

It was nice to resolve the curtain issue. When you start a quest, it's fun. By the end, you feel a little bad tempered and embittered if you can't find anything remotely close to what you want. However, along my quest, I did also manage to buy a book, some herb shears, some hand sanitizer and a tea bag rest and my mother purchased some shoes and some seeds so, really, it wasn't a wasted day.

I'm just glad I found my curtains. I had visions of spending next weekend hunched over my sewing machine. That's a great winter activitiy but when it's springtime and there's things to be done outside, it's not so fun.

So, for once, I have to say thank you to Walmart. They did something right. I'm glad about that. I'm also glad I have my curtains.

Quest accomplished.

Happy Monday!