Turns out I wasn't scheduled to work today after all. Stumbling about.


Pac-Man sugar cookies!

Some Kitchen Myths debunked

Soy you want to know the "truth" about soy

Meals for 4 under $15

The Accidental Scientist - Science of Cooking

How to cook like your Grandmother

An excellent baking blog - pictures are mouthwatering



I guess that's enough for now.

Oh, man. I can't even tell you how much this amused me.

New Kids On the Block Reuniting

I just want to know... why?

In other news, my whole family has been sick - S has pneumonia and has been off work for about a week and a half now, the man asked me to take him to the hospital TWICE that is how sick he is. We thought for sure C had gotten it when she fell ill last Saturday, carrying all the same symptoms as S, but she managed to bounce back the way kids do with plenty of bedrest. K is of course now home with similar symptoms but not as bad, however because he still has a fever (they've all had a fever of about 39-40 this whole time - that's 102-104 to ye Americans out there) he is staying home.

I am mentally physically emotionally exhausted, and all this taking care of sick people has finally caught up with me. Chest heavy, bones achey, I want to just sleep forever. But I can't, because I am the mom and I still have to get stuff done. The dad in this situation is busy resting and trying to get better. I don't have this luxury, although I did indulge and call in sick yesterday at work - only to stay home and care for K who is pretty demanding when he is ill - like papa like boy I suppose.

I feel terrible that S feels so bad but even he is getting on my last nerve - I told him I wasn't feeling well and he got all sarcastic in my face and said "gee I have no idea how that feels" and I snapped right back at him "Oh right, I forgot that all sympathy must be directed at you at all times." This made him laugh at least but I was fuming - I am tired and I have been up all hours and I have been making home made chicken soup (I mean from scratch people - I am badass like that) and running to 5 different stores because nobody seems to carry dayquil & nyquil anymore (and it had to be those items, nothing else would do) and brewing tea and still helping the kids out and making sure everyone is eating and has plenty of fluids. See what this does to me? It makes me write run-on sentences that is likely going to give more than one friend reading this the hives.

In between all this I have been helping mother-in-law with preparations for Sunday - it's father-in-law's dad's 80th and they are having an open house for him. Insert rant about ungrateful old men here. I don't even want to go there, ok? It's just going to wind me up. And on Saturday is a surprise 50th for my friend Mickey's dad, and I feel like a bag of hell but I really want to go because I haven't seen Mickey or his family in a long time, and I miss him so very much. He was my best friend all through high school and university and he is a chef in St. Catherine's now so I never get to see him really. Sigh.

Ok I think I've ranted enough for one day, the exercise has taken me about an hour to write all this when normally it would take a few minutes. My head is spinny and I need to lie down for a while (for ever if I had the opportunity) before driving C to school (because I'm still expected to do that in spite of the fact that I feel like I would really like to just die, because at least that way I'd be resting).

How have YOU been?

I'm typing this from our hotel suite in London. C, my mother and I took off for the weekend. I'll keep this short until later but a few tidbits:

- woke up to a fire alarm going off at home (don't worry, no fire, long story)
- mmm bacon
- shopping
- a hotel room with a kitchen!

Okie day. Later.

Today I:

- Managed to get the kids to school on time, in spite of all of us sleeping in.
- Got out of having to actually answer the phones by offering to take training on a certain aspect of the job I haven't learned yet
- Had to borrow the fil's car in order to get a friend from work so she could come over and make a soup to be judged tomorrow for entry into the "Soup's On" thing
- Comforted my daughter resonably when on the way to fil's house she tripped and fell all over herself, getting mud all over her new jacket and favorite jeans.
- Got the friend from work and got to show the kids my workplace. They were delighted that I had not only their photos up, but little things they had drawn for me were on display as well. It is one of those things that drive the point home to them that even when I'm at work I'm probably thinking of them.
- Made some kick-ass garlic cream soup. I can't even tell you how awesome it is.
- Disbursed a great sweet n' sour sauce recipe
- Got in a huge fight with my son when it was time to take friend home, as he wanted to finish watching a show. The words "I hate you" and "I wish you would disappear" came out of this boy's mouth. A bar of soap was considered for entry into said mouth but I decided to let it go. When we got home he mentioned he had had a really bad day and was tired and sorry and didn't really mean anything he said, etc etc. Man oh man. I didn't expect to hear that until they were into their teens. Isn't parenting fun?
- Got home and ignored the dishes in favor of sitting down with the kids and a book. Showers already had and pajamas on, you could see the remnants of a cruddy evening just uncoiling from them and releasing.

The really big thing I did all by myself:

- I managed to configure our wireless router so that all PCs in the house are now connected wirelessly. I also managed to set up an encryption for the wireless access in order to prevent others from reaping the benefits of our connection. I did this all by myself, within about an hour. I don't want to tell you how long today my S tried to get all this done. It was enough hours that a lot of swears were said when I told him I had it all figured out and working.

As a result, I am typing this from the comfort of my bed. Hurraz for progress, I guess.

Ok, time to finish up the last bits of GIR so I can stuff it and give it to sisterinlaw. Cheers~

Currently making a couple dozen butter tarts. I hope 2 dozen is ok - I figure there will be lots at the bake sale and I'm too tired to put myself out any further - it's been a very long, very stressful few weeks and I can't really put forth any more effort than I already have. Last week was report card week and the parent-teacher meetings left me drained and crying. It's too long to get into here and frankly not something I feel the need to publicly air (shocking, I know). If you are curious then you'll know how to get a hold of me to find out what is going on.

Tomorrow night is a council meeting because yet again they had to reschedule. If it keeps going on Monday nights I'm going to have to quit because it conflicts with my schedule BIG TIME. Sigh.

Ok I need to go do more things. Because I have a zillion on my plate and hopefully want to pare it down to a million by the end of the night.

After ten million hours of playing

"What do you want to eat?"
"I dunno, what do YOU want to eat?"

I stalked off into the kitchen all annoyed and hungry as hell. I'd already fed K some supper (he wanted, nay begged, for soup and sammiches) so it was just to feed S and I (C is at a sleepover birthday party for her cousin). I wanted spaghetti but S made that face people make when something smells bad when I suggested spaghetti, because sometimes he is a big baby like that. So instead of making a bunch and watching him fuss and either not eat it and be grumpy, or eat it and be grumpy (I'm sorry do I sound annoyed? Guess what, I'm annoyed. It happens) I rummaged through the fridge, freezer and cupboards and found some stuff.

Here's what I did:

Get out a big pan to put in the oven. I don't know... big, ok? I'm not good at measuring. Big and flat-ish, with at least a 1" lip around to hold in sauce.

Pull out some potato, chorizo, and garlic sausage. Wash the potatoes, and cut them up and put them into a bowl.

In the bowl, pour in some (I don't know how much ok? Just SOME) olive oil, some pepper sauce (I think we call it piro-piro? It's basically ground up pepper that has had some time to sit in a jar with olive oil, garlic and some other stuff) and toss in some paprika, garlic salt, celery salt, regular salt, pepper. A bit of hot sauce, if you are so inclined (which I am).

Ok, so mix the hell out of that so that the potatoes are covered and you are smelling the pepper and salivating because you are starving already dammit.

Toss that junk into the pan. Cut up the sausage, cut up the chorizo. Toss that on top, mix it in if you want the sauce on it.

Get some foil. Cover it up. Throw it in the (oops did I forget to mention pre-heat the oven at 400 F?) oven and let it cook. Check on it once in a while, until the potatoes are tender.

Pull it out and watch your mate look sheepish because you managed to toss together something delicious which was exactly what they felt like eating, whether they knew it or not.

Off topic: Holy cats it's my anniversary tomorrow!

So I've been a bad, bad girl and haven't updated this. My last post I was obviously drunk... which I apologize for but I won't delete it. It made me titter.

Apparently I wrote a lot of drunken emails that night - if you were a recipient, I hope it amused.

How I got to that point is simple enough - my sister in law invited me out last Saturday night. But let's get the rest of the updates over with first.

Friday K had a Father's Day Breakfast at his class, similar to the Mother's Day thing his class did for us moms, but minus the squaredancing and tea. Instead they put on a few plays, and the men were served muffins and juice. K was so very, very happy and pleased that S went. S particularly took the day off just so he could go - seems like a small thing to do but K was giddy beyond belief over it. S was Father of the Year for it, to be sure.

Friday night, uh... Gee I can't even remember! How bad is that? It was only a week ago... well that should tell you just how much I've been cramming into my days lately. Let's just gloss over Friday night and move on to Saturday.

Saturday, we went over to my folks' house for an early Father's Day barbecue. It was delicious as usual, and then my parents wanted the kids to stay over, which I was fine with as it's been a long while since they've spent time with my parents. So we came home and my sister in law called me and invited me out. S could come too if he wanted; he opted to stay in instead. Said something about enjoying some peace and quiet? I dunno. I told sisterinlaw I was dead broke and wouldn't be able to afford going out, and she said we'd just compromise by my paying next time. Fine by me.

We went to the Boar's Head, and drank and drank. Her co-workers were there, which was fine as I'd met most of them before. There was one lad there from England though who of course was madly in love with her because that's what happens to about 90% of the gents that work with her. Anyway. We got into a heated debate once he found out I was Portuguese - whined about how we robbed England of their chance to win the World Cup, and my saying they were just being a bunch of big nancy crybabies. And then we debated about other nonsense things, and every time I said something clever he kept shaking his fist at me and muttering "Portugueeeeese!" but it was all in good fun.

Then his folks came 'round, which was interesting - they are divorced but they're best friends. I don't know, whatever works right? So they got into the whole thing and the boy was embarassed to have them there but we didn't mind, they were good folks and lots of laughter was involved. Except his old man was coming on to me, which was slightly uncomfortable, but he's English, right? So I expected it. (Let's play a game called "How many stereotypes can I perpetuate in one blog post?")

They forgave me for being Portuguese, because at least I was passionate about football, and understood where they were coming from. Most Canadians don't really follow the game, so they don't get where we're coming from. I kept reminding them I was Canadian, I just was of Portuguese origin, which they waved away because it was a moot point to them.

So after all that the topic was switched to deep, philosophical things, like who was the best Batman... you know, the typical drunken garbage. The night ended at Bentley's for last call somehow, and then I walked sister in law home to her new apartment (which KICKS ASS by the bye, she just needs to paint it - her living room is painted like the outside of a BARN. No joke, but I digress...) and then I talked her ear off for about an hour, then cabbed it home.

Got home, wrote drunken text, woke S up because dammit I still felt like talking. Yapped his ear off, fooled around, fell asleep. That was about... 5? I think 5 by the time I fell asleep.

Woke up at um... six-thirty? Possibly seven. Wide awake so I went crawling downstairs and watched tv... it had to be early because infomercials were still on.

S came down eventually, took pity on me, went and got me coffee and a breakfast sandwich from Timmies. Made a joke about how this was his day off, I should be taking care of him. I snapped back that every damn day is Father's Day as far as I'm concerned, and reminded him of how my Mother's Day went, and he just laughed and told me to go back to sleep. Which I didn't, because then the kids came home.

Sunday we went to the in-laws' for Father's Day barbecue part deux, so yay I didn't have to cook! I certainly wasn't in any condition to do so.

Monday came and went, had to pick C up from school because she hurt her arm and they weren't sure if it was broken or not. Four hours at the hospital, one x-ray to confirm what I already knew but had to make sure of, and home we went.

Wednesday my boss held a bbq for us... which is to say on Monday he made eye contact with me and said, "G, please come here a moment" and then got me to plan everything for him. Which I don't mind because I like doing this kind of thing, but at the same time can be a bit aggravating.
The bbq was good though, and everyone contributed a side dish of some sort, and it put us in a good mood which was pretty important because it was the week from HELL. If this is any indication of how busy we are going to be for the entire summer, they should seriously reconsider staffing. The thing is, there isn't enough room in our department to put more bodies in, so I don't know where we'd put extra people, but it's obvious that we need the extra people, because we are simply being SMASHED with calls.

Chatted on and off w/Mr D, who is more or less dependent on me for wedding details for his brother, since nobody is telling him anything. Since he's in Geneva I can see why there would be a communication gap of sorts, but nobody has even made an attempt. I mean come on, his contact information is out there - you don't have to call or anything, just email. Whatever. It's been good to talk to him, as it's probably been about 15 years since we've done so. Playing catch up in between all the wedding business. He is amazed I am married with kids, doubly so when I remind him that not only do I have kids, but they are nine and six-going-on-seven. He's dying to meet them, dying to meet S.

So this past Friday, we had a gathering at Othello's because one lady was leaving, but also just to have an excuse to sit on a patio and socialize outside of work, since we seldom get the chance to do so during work. It was nice and pleasant, and then I got a text from sister in law who was at work but in a lot of pain due to, uh, girl complaints. So I went and rescued her, bought her a hot water bottle (she didn't have one, and it didn't occur to her that it would help) and then brought her home. She was pretty damn pale - I think part of the complaints being so bad was because she's been working herself into the ground lately, and the last time she actually had a day off she used to move to her new place. No down time can be pretty taxing on the body. Add to that the stress of living with someone who drives her absolutely batshit (don't even get me started on this bent - it's a very long story and this post is getting long enough as is).

Took care of sister in law, came home, fell asleep watching the Karate Kid. Yesterday, S made us brunch of french toast, sausage, bacon, and hash browns. Ever eat to the point where you're just content? Stomach full, feeling sort of sleepy-happy? Yeah, that was the feeling I got after brunch.

Yesterday afternoon, C and my mom and I went out shopping. C still had money from her birthday to spend, so we took her to her favorite store - Old Navy. I'm not even kidding, she LOVES that store. She got a new shirt & a bag and then wanted to spend the rest of her money on a tamagotchi so we got her one, had a quick supper, and came home. Went and rented some movies for K, who was feeling out of sorts and left out, and one of sister-in-law's co-workers is now giving him a giant Stitch (from Lilo & Stitch) for his room. K is giddy over this.

Which brings us to today... lazy day but no, not really, as I've been cleaning like a madwoman all morning. I think this is enough updating for one day. I pinky-swore I'd be better about the updating and I am sticking by that promise.

I caved, let C go to the Brownies trip, sucked up my issues, and am glad for it. In an hour or so I get to go pick her up from the bus - she'll be happy and tired and cranky and souped up all at once, I'm sure. That's how these things go. I hope she was good, I hope she had fun.

K and I went to see Meet the Robinsons yesterday, while S went to see Spiderman 3 with his brother and his brother's girlfriend. I would have liked to have seen S-3 as well, but I promised K I would take him to see the Robinsons flick, and I keep my promises. Hammer brought her sons Bruce Banner & Otter with her, and the three boys made themselves quite comfy and happy as you please in seats in front of us. (We aren't cool enough to sit with them I guess? It was all we could do to convince them NOT to sit at the very front of the theatre.)

It was a cute movie, pretty funny for both kids and adults. Some of the stuff that Hammer & I were guffawing over probably went right over the kids' heads, but that's ok.

After the movie we walked home (it kicks nine kinds of ass in a 3 ass town that we live within walking distance) and my brother-in-law & his gf came over as well. Then S took them to the butcher to pick up their meat, took them home to put it away & brought them back so we could have a barbecue.

I LOVE BBQ. I cannot say how much I love it. It's that much. We had corn on the cob & smoked pork chops and honey garlic sausages and I made up some macaroni salad & house salad as well. Dayum, son. So tasty. K had a hot dog and he was happy with that. Then my parents called - they wanted to have K over for a sleepover, so he had something special to do this weekend as well (balancing out the C going to camp thing). His rash and everything was cleared up, so I let him go. Then brother-in-law & gf stayed a while, and we talked about... oh everything.

S and I took turns telling them the stories of how we met, how we got together, all that rot. I told some stories that S actually hadn't heard before, and you could tell he was dying for them to leave so he could ask me about it.

Sure enough, they leave, we go for a mini-walk and check on my in-laws' dog for them (they were in Chatham this weekend at a family gathering of mother-in-law's) and when we get home, he finally asks me. "Is it true what you said about your friend saying/doing those things to try to help my prev relationship with ex? And the thing about that other thing (I am not going into much more detail than that folks - it's a long story and frankly nobody's business)." I said yes, to a degree, and explained the further motives etc there. He seemed nonplussed.

Here's the deal: My best friend for the longest time was a person I will call Mickey, because he looked like Mickey Dolenz from the Monkees especially with a certain haircut he had for the longest time. He was also friends with S - that's how we met actually, through Mickey. S always had this feeling that he was just Mickey's back-up plan, never a friend for friendship's sake. So it blew S away that Mickey was doing all kinds of things to try and 1) repair his failing relationship with the girl he was seeing, and/or 2) help set him up with me, if plan 1 failed.

There's about a thousand more details between all this that would make this make a whole lot more sense, but I doubt the people reading this are really all that interested in the minutae of these events. Trust me when I say - Mickey cared a hell of a lot more than S realized. I think S was of the notion that Mickey was primarily concerned with my happiness in this whole deal, especially after our actually hooking up and Mickey giving him the all "if you hurt her, I will kill you" speech. Mickey's vested interest in my happiness is another long story, but long story short - our friendship extended to a point where we were more like family than friend. He is my brother from another mother, I am his sister from another mister. All that stuff. His giving S the third degree was a given, but certainly didn't mean he wasn't happy about our getting together - he had wanted this to happen, and long before it did.

Ok, let's set up a chronology to get some of this a bit clearer, however it may confuse you more.

- Mickey & I meet up in high school, I call him Mickey Dolenz, he isn't happy and doesn't talk to me for sometime, then he gets over himself and we start walking home from school together.
- Of course, a friendship develops, but goes no further, in spite of speculation on everyone else's part.
- Mickey introduces me to S. S and I walk Mickey home one night when he was too drunk to walk himself. S picks a flower for me. (I still have this flower - true story)
- I think S is sweet, S thinks I'm a hottie (his words, not mine). S is too chicken to pursue it at this point in time.
- School dance, S finally gets up the courage to ask me out, about 10 minutes too late - I end up dating someone else.
- Bad relationship with the someone else lasts about 2-3 years, S in meantime moves on & gets involved with others at this point. Point is - always either he or I were with someone else. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't find him attractive anyway.
- Bad relationship with someone else finally ends, S is dating someone else at this point, I am random serial-dating that occurs after ending a bad relationship.
- One day Mickey & I are hanging out at S's house after a party, S and I are talking a mile a minute and Mickey thinks to self "Damn."
- Conversations w/Mickey indicate his approval and frustration over S still being with that girl who put him through some not so nice things.
- Mickey initially attempts to set me up with S's best buddy at the time, since best buddy was messing with S's girl and Mickey hoped in my getting together with best buddy that S's girl would actually focus more on S, her freaking boyfriend, instead of his buddy.
- This of course doesn't work, because frankly I'm not attracted to best buddy, for many reasons (including his being a lecherous prat for ever messing with a friend's girl - why would I want to get together with someone who has no compunctions about doing this?)
- Over the summer, S's girl goes to Germany, almost breaks up with him but not quite, and in the meantime S notices I'm around a lot more. S does not pursue anything, as he is stalwart and would never betray a person he is with, in spite of how ridiculously they happen to be treating him.
- Several events occur that give S pause.
- I end up moving in with Ferg & S's girl at the time (loooooong story, and trust me I had many, many, many, many misgivings about the move, but was convinced by Ferg).
- Oh hell, this is getting way way too long. I'll tell the rest another day but the point is - she cheats, he gives her an ultimatum, she takes it, he and I get together, she gets pissed off because she was hoping he'd remain single in case things with best buddy didn't work out (which they didn't - she lost appeal after she was "free to roam"). All this happens and the whole time S has no idea that Mickey was all for this to happen, to promote S's happiness as well as my own.

Ok, time to get some food out for later (my parents are coming over, yes we're having another barbecue, this time steak! MMmm, steak.)

Any questions? Drop me a line.

Doug: "Steve, slow down."
Steve: "I can't help it man, it's hottie overload!"
Doug: "Just pace yourself."
Steve: "Ok... What's up? ...2, 3, 4. What's up? ...2, 3, 4..."
(A Night at the Roxbury)

So after much cajoling on the parts of quite a few people, I joined up facebook.

As a result, I've come across people I haven't seen in years and years. Kind of spooky, kind of awesome. Kind of addicting, mostly because as I said, I've come across people that require a lot of catching up with. But even with the people I see more regularly, it's a nice feature, with a messaging system that allows for short notes rather than lengthy emails (though I still love writing those).

Being completely bored last night, facebook amused me greatly. More specifically, messaging on facebook. You know who you are.

Sister in law is coming over tonight, we're going to drink and bake. Girl's had a rough week.

Tomorrow S the kids and I are going to my cousin Lola's. It's been a while since we've visited her and her hubby, so I'm looking forward to it. Initially we had planned for it to be just S and I, but the way the week's gone we're better off taking the kids too.

I need to look into getting a new blowdryer. My hair was a scary tousled mess yesterday. Strangely enough I got compliments on it? I didn't realize the bed-head look was a good one for me. I'd ask for S's opinion but he's a smarmster.

S & I were invited to take a trip with Hammer & her hubby - unfortunately it's a no-go, but for a brief flickering minute it was a possibility. Damnit. For once it has nothing to do with funds, so much as being able to take time off. Le sigh. Were it not for my previous issues, this wouldn't be a problem.

Ok I have a million things to do before work (as usual) so I'm off!

I don't care what anyone says. Will Farrell is pretty damn funny.

Got in touch with Senor D, which is strange as I probably haven't seen or heard from him in about 15 years I think? 14? Something like that. He's going to wrack his brain for stories about the soon-to-be Groom that are PG-rated but still funny. This may take a while, good thing we have a few months till the wedding.

Memo to self: buck and doe meeting April 13.

Feeling kind of lazy this morning, took a shower later than usual and now my hair is all wet. And I hate using a blowdryer - I have too much hair, it practically kills the damn things. In fact I don't even know if I have one. Wet hair to work it is.

Spring has sprung, and I feel terrific about that let me tell you. I'm a sun worshipper and hate how the past winter has really cramped being able to be out for more than a few seconds at a time.

It was crazy hair & backwards day at the kids' school. K wanted a faux-hawk and C wanted a bunch of ponies in her hair. K insisted on even having his backpack on backwords today. I think the school spirit days are great but at the same time a little ridiculous. Like how they have the pajama day in the middle of November. Say what? You read that right. It's usually freezing out and there the kids are in their flannels all day.

S made us broiled salmon and an asian stirfry and rice last night. I know the saying usually goes that the way to a man's heart is through his ribcage-er, stomach, but I think it goes both ways. Walking into the door last night and smelling that delicious smell of pepper and other such things was just... damn, my mouth's watering just now thinking about it.

All right. Enough procrastinating and time to get myself to work.

So I've been given the ok to go back to work. This makes me happy sort of, as I am one of those types that doesn't like not working, but sad sort of, because I'm still not over some things yet. I have a lot of thinking to do; the doctor is now discussing the possibility of a uterine ablation at some point. I don't really want to get into how and why we got to this point - suffice it to say, I have a lot of thinking to do.

I'm kind of nervous about going back into work tomorrow. It's not like returning from a holiday or a bit of the flu; I've been gone long enough for fellow employees to start speculating, and wondering, and talking amongst themselves. The one girl I get along with quite well, whom I shall call Rose from this point forward for my own devious reasons, actually went so far as to track down my phone number on Friday and call me in between calls at work. I explained briefly what was happening, knowing full well she would keep it to herself. In an office of 500 people, gossip can be (IS) rampant and finding someone who doesn't share information is pretty damn rare. She was pretty empathetic, wished me well and reminded me she'd be on holiday this week but if I needed anything to let her know.

Aside from Rose however there are some pretty bad gossips, one who sits right behind me and constantly pokes and prods me (literally), asks too many questions, and doesn't like that most of my answers are brief. I'm sorry but I know that whatever I tell you is going to be known by the general public in the matter of a day or two. I don't need it and don't want it and I'm prepared to tell her to go to hell politely but I'm hoping it doesn't get to that point.

I just finished baking chocolate chip banana muffins. K gets to bring one or two to the school for a snack swap they are doing on Valentine's day. Hopefully things go well for him - he has a particular person in mind, and is hoping he won't have to figure out someone else if they get chosen already. Both kids finished writing their Valentines over the weekend. They're pretty cute about it - very particular about who gets what Valentine.

Ok. I need to get them started settling down, maybe play a game with them before bedtime. Hug them to death and be thankful God gave them to me.