post for the whole month of june

The weather doesn't feel very summer-y today, but I've been acting like it is summer!

Two weekends ago, it was the 7th (?) Annual Girls Camping Weekend, this year at Camp Morton. Once again, we were prepared! Besides drinking, we also lounged around the beach, lounged around the campfire, ate really great food and talked into the wee hours.

We also took a lot of pictures of flowers!

Last weekend was spent at Crooked Mountain Cabins with my sister on our 3rd Annual Sister's Camping Weekend. Once again, I picked the perfect date. The weather was oddly gorgeous, right down to the summer storm on Saturday evening to the sunny afternoon spent wandering around Wasagaming.

As usual, there was Aggravation. This picture is of our first game, right before I rolled a one and beat my baby sister. But don't feel bad for her.... she got me back!

Saturday morning. Bright and early (note the lack of curtains on the east-facing windows!). Nothing like sitting in bed drinking coffee and taking in the view.

Our lovely cabin. I'm basically ready to move there. 

More flowers!

 Sunset from the pier at Clear Lake.

View from the porch of a storm rolling in.

And the mist rising out of the forest the morning after.

(Bunch of these pics courtesy of Alison.)

live from new york, it's tuesday afternoon!

 Just a quick update from my travels. Was in Halifax for the CLA Conference last week. Sessions were great, but overall felt that the conference didn't have much place for Library Technicians. And the social events were pretty much a bust because a nasty cold hit me on the first day (it has now morphed into bronchitis... my self diagnosis). The best part about being in Halifax was spending lots of time with Cosette and her daughter. So good to hang out with someone who didn't mind my hacking up a lung every hour or so.

Some thoughts on Halifax:

• The mayor of Brandon and a bunch of the business leaders need to take a trip there. ASAP. Downtown Halifax is everything Brandon could be but isn't.... we have the historic buildings but are lacking the quaint and interesting shops, myriad of pubs, variety of restaurants and most importantly, all the people.
• Halifax loves Tom Petty. He was being played in a home decor store, a clothing store and a coffee shop. And not just one song on the radio or on random, but whole albums. When I mentioned this to the clerk in the clothing store, she said (very enthusiastically) "Oh yes! Tom Petty is great!". Feeling the need to download some Tom now.
• Halifax seriously knows how to party.
• The women of Halifax are unbelievably committed to towering, fashionable shoes. They have several great shoe stores that absolutely do not cater to those of us who wear flats. And loads of women can be spotted in 4-inch heels traipsing up 50 degree inclines like it was nothing.
• My limited experience of the city tells me that I could not live there. This is what the weather was like every day:

Picture is the view from my hotel. Totally gorgeous, but by the end of a grey week (during which I still managed to get a sunburn.... you know you're white when...) I was ready to pop a bottle of pills and end it all. Or fly somewhere else...

Like New York! Currently visiting Kana and Brad for a week. We were in the city Sunday and Monday but they are back to work today and I'm resting and trying to get better. Went to see Priscilla on Sunday, did a bit of shopping and hit some of the sights. Yesterday was the MoMA and then brunch at the Sunburnt Calf (which serves unlimited food and booze for $18). Was planning to go back to the city by train on my own tomorrow, but will see how I feel. It's kind of embarrassing and inconvenient to have major coughing fits every couple of hours. Definitely want to have one more day in the city before I leave. Even though it makes me feel like this....

Okay.... maybe I was exaggerating because I knew my picture was being taken.... but Times Square truly was too much for me to take. Complete sensory overload. I felt like I was going to have a seizure from all the flashing signs.

ever wonder what your pets do when you're not at home?

Not us. Our dog does chores. Like sorting the laundry.

tell me what you think

I haven't been looking for signs, but in the last month they've been finding me. What do you think these mean?

• On the bus going to an R2 meeting (R2 being the consulting firm who produced a report for the libraries, which the staff were invited to comment on). Glance over, and graffitied on the window is "R2".
• On the bus heading home. Have a leg wax booked for first thing the next morning. Car in the parking lane has the license plate "WAXY".
• O is driving me to work. I got up at 5am to read an article on music and the black power movement of the 60s, with heavy emphasis on the Black Panther Party. Truck pulls up beside us with "Black Panther" in big letters across the back window.
• Getting ready for school. Will be presenting an article in class by Sandke. CBC is on and the radio host starts interviewing a local farmer with the last name of Sandke.
• Today, O was driving me to work. Was complaining because my eye won't stop twitching. He says his mom used to tell him that meant he was going to come into money. After work, I have a phone message telling me that I've been awarded a scholarship that I didn't apply for, on the recommendation of my prof.

There are more things like this that have happened, but it took me a while to start putting them together. Friend's wife says it is the universe telling me that I'm in the right place. Pondering that. Any other ideas? Massive coincidence perhaps?!?

rice pudding and gin

Yep. That's what I had for dinner.

Usually when people ask me what I want to do for a living, I reply "philanthropist!" Just to be funny. Today, that answer would be "wealthy recluse." OMG - I never want to have to deal with the general public again!!! Which is impossible of course, unless someone would like to buy me my own island.

On my island, I'll also be a complete luddite. Which means y'all will have to come and visit me if you want to be in touch. But since my island will be warm and sunny, you'll want to come.

Did you guess that I spent the last two days dealing with a crazy person (I mean that literally, she's a psych patient - and if that doesn't sound very respectful, trust me, she wasn't respectful either) and our IT department? Since I couldn't get any work done on the computer, I might as well spend my time getting yelled at. Right?

If you think I'm just complaining, go check out this article: Librarians 'suffer most stress'

Plus..... I got my passport photo done. Holy rude awakening. Apparently, my best days are behind me and I'm getting old. Scratch that.... I am old.

But in happier news, I walked home from work today and it was lovely. The winter of my discontent may finally be coming to an end!

the forecast in september

Was for a "classic Canadian winter." And that is exactly what we are getting. Has been a frigid January and we have piles of snow. So much, in fact, that we are running out of room in our tiny yard to put it. We really need to get some of the weight off the garage roof and we are having the snow taken off our house roof (hopefully soon!) but where is it all going to go?!? Spring forecast, unsurprisingly, is for flooding.

T - if you're still missing snow, I'd be happy to send you some. We've got plenty to spare!

And for comparison....

The back yard in December

The back yard today (fence is 6'6")

I Hate Shaw

I started receiving biweekly junk mail (addressed to my name) from Shaw trying to convince me to switch to their awesome cable/cell phone/internet package. I'm not interested in switching since it isn't really more awesome than what I'm already using, and I'm definitely not interested in continuing to receive junk mail. I call them and ask to be taken off their mailing list. They agree. I get more junk mail. I phone again. They say they can't do it over the phone and that I have to send a fax. They provide a fax number. I'm like, "Wha--?!? Why?" Why is it up to me to spend my time and money to get them to stop wasting paper and bugging me?

I do not send a fax. I begin returning the junk mail with a note asking to be taken off their mailing list. They continue to send me mail. I continue to return the letters. Finally I add a note that says something like, "The longer you disregard my explicit request to be taken off your mailing list and continue to send me junk mail, the less likely it becomes that I will EVER have ANYTHING to do with ANY Shaw product."

And now I'm receiving the same junk mail addressed to Current Occupant.

"Well played, Shaw" you might think. Except the chance of me being their customer has dropped to zero. And them ain't just words. I hold long and deep consumer grudges. Right The Brick?

Resolutions for 2011

1. I will keep my head above water financially. As much as I'd like to chuck work and go to school full time, I'm going to be responsible and look for ways to fund my education that do not include massive student loans. Currently working on a fellowship application. Also getting my credit card down to $0 and then keeping it there. Or at least trying.

2. I will not be in a constant state of laundry. Wash, dry and put away!!! The last bit is the part I typically have the most problems with.

3. I will complete the Master Gardener course. Dammit.

4. I will remember birthdays before they happen. This is a last minute addition after I missed a Jan 4th birthday. *sigh*


5. I will quit complaining about a certain person so much. If you're reading this, then you are not that person.

6. I will get back on the exercise bandwagon. Goodbye 10 lbs I've gained since August! Seriously.

back to eating on a budget

Broke again. Since this happened around the same time last year, I'm blaming December. The whole holiday season is so expensive. Not just buying gifts, but all the eating out, drinking wine, making cookies, traveling to visit loved ones...

So here we are. Eating on $20 each a week until the end of February. That's right... 8 whole weeks. Went a bit over budget this time because we miscalculated. Thinking we had enough money to cover raisins, I threw a tub of them in the basket. Organic no less. And then I ran to the corner store and bought $10 maple syrup for our pancakes. Thought we had some in the fridge, but turned out we didn't and the pancakes were already in the pan. Still... this put us at about $60, which is about $20 less than we usually spend.

Menu for the week looks good:

• Risotto primavera
• Baked lentils, steamed carrots & mashed potatoes
• Refried bean quesadillas with wild rice
• Tofu stir fry
• Some kind of soup using our slightly wilted veggies
• Omelette
• Getting taken out for birthday dinner (yay!)

Lunches will be leftovers and/or salads. Breakfasts will be oatmeal (with raisins, of course) or cream of wheat. A healthy and relatively cheap way to start the New Year!

One Month

My garden - October 23, 2010

(close-up of beautiful eggplants)

Same garden - November 27, 2010

summer pics

the amazing phish burger from boon

boys at minnedosa with something in the pail

ahhhhh....

creaming my sister at aggrevation

...and then getting creamed

wild saskatoons

wild raspberries

big sky

big sky at dusk

fifth lily

Got caught in a torrential rain on the ride home, coupled with 100km/h winds (seriously) and lightning. It hit when I was about half way home and ended about 10 minutes after I got in the door. Ahhhh...

Was feeling pretty exhausted by the time I dried off. And mentally exhausted as well, since it was just a bit of a stressful ride. But when I went out the check the mailbox and saw that the last of my lilies had bloomed, my whole day brightened.

lilies

Pictures from my garden. Four of the five lilies that Marilee gave me for my birthday two years ago are in glorious full bloom. Also the lily the O picked out last summer. Have no idea what it specifically is called. But no pictures of the whole garden because it is so weedy!

a really cool thing happened while walking the dog this morning

We were walking down the back lane (less mosquitos that way) and a crow that was on the hydro wire started cawing at two crows eating garbage on the ground. I happen to know that all these crows are named Sam (moniker given by my neighbour, Jen, who can't tell them apart), and that they nested in a tree on my block. One of them is a juvenile, which I know by the colour of its eyes and the way the other two treat it.

This morning, the two crows on the ground lifted up to the wire before I could figure out which was which. But I knew who Daddy Sam was because I stopped Lexi so that I could look at them, and he started crying like a baby. Like a human baby. Was the most surreal thing to hear that sound coming out of his beak.

Last week, Jen told me that Daddy Sam had been barking at her cat. It sounded so much like a small dog that she at first couldn't figure out why a dog was up a tree. Unfortunately for Sam, Jen's cat is deaf, so his amazing ability to mimic was lost on the cat.

I have long loved crows, but have had very little real experience with them. Almost had a nest outside my bedroom window once, but one crow was killed by a car before eggs were laid. Read Crow Planet earlier this year, and wished I could have a relationship with a crow like the author had. Then again, I know two people who have been pooped on by crows...

The Nature of Things had a fantastic documentary on crows earlier this year, which you can watch online if you are inclined. I liked walking under the crows this morning knowing that they would remember me and my dog, and be able to pick me out of a crown next time they see me. I'm probably more known to them than they are to me.

Even if you are a crow hater (and there are many of those in the world), you have to agree they are interesting and incredible birds. I offer Betty as proof:

pooped pup

Lexi after her first day at dog daycare*:

*Feeling like a bit of a DINK, minus the income. Actually took a little bag with "Lexi's lunch" written on it. A bit ridiculous, but she needed her lunch! And daycare is really good for her with O away. Not fair to have her crated all summer, even if I'm embarrassed that I'm buying into the dog culture.

crappy day

Every have one of those days?

O. left this morning for Charlottetown, so I'm on my own until August 23rd. Okay and not okay with this. Bummer that he's gone for the best time of the year. Happy that he has the work. But regardless of my mixed feelings, was sad to see him off at the airport.

Came home and consoled myself with coffee and a good book, watched the second half of the Slovenia/Algeria game, then headed out to the yard to do some gardening (finally a sunny day!). Went to the garage to get tools, and pretty much immediately thought, "where the hell is my bike?". Yep. Garage was broken into via the overhead door. Bike is gone. My three year old, $600 can't-afford-to-replace-it bike is gone. My main form of transportation... gone. Crap. Though in fact, crap is  not the expletive I used. Talked to my neighbour, and her garage door was open on Saturday morning, so I guess it happened Friday night.

First I had a good cry, which is much more useful than it sounds. Then I called the police and filed a report.

Then I called Robert (my hero!) who came over and closed the broken garage door and screwed it shut for the summer, since we don't have the car on the road anyway.

Then I called my sister to ask her to put my ratty old Trek on the bus. She's also my hero. She and her husband loaded it up in their car, and then drove to Portage. I thankfully have my mom's car, so I met them there. The dogs had a good play, Glen put the bike in my mom's car. I drove home, feeling ever so slightly better.

Going to prowl the local pawn shops tomorrow after work and see what I can find, but basically holding out no hope that I'll get my bike back.

garden update

Sunflowers are gone. And by gone, I don't mean dead (though I suppose they probably are). I mean, there is no sign that 5 sunflowers were ever planted. And one of the himalayan impatiens died. Stem snapped in the latest torrential rain.

But the good news is that I got 9 free rudbeckia that were leftovers at the community garden. May also be able to snag some salvia and possibly some peppers and tomatoes. So things are still coming along nicely.

No rain today. No rain predicted until Thursday. Just sun and warmth. Grow, plants, grow!

random stuff

Have been a bad blogger, despite my resolution. Can use my eye surgery as an excuse for some of that, and now our household is in a frenzy of activity because O is going to PEI for the summer to play Henry Higgins in Pygmalion and Lachey in Johnny Belinda at the Montgomery Theatre. Have so much that we need to get done by the 13th! Will be a better blogger after he heads east. In the meantime, a few pics...

Our new vintage teak dining room table & chairs:

Lovely iris that I got for free and had no idea what it would look like:

Three double yolks in our six egg omelette (hey... I said things were busy, I never said they were exciting!):

semi-guerrilla gardening

The large planter outside my workplace was seriously pathetic. There are quite a few ferns that seem to be thriving, but the rest of it was filled with weeds, cigarette butts, pop cans and other assorted garbage. My co-workers and I decided that we were sick of walking past this eyesore everyday, and have adopted this potentially beautiful garden.

It is only semi-guerrilla gardening because I did call property management to find out if by chance they might be planting it this year. They answered in the negative and told me that if I wanted to plant it, I could "knock myself out." This was all the permission we needed.

Below are the before pictures. Will post updates. So far we have weeded and cleaned, then planted old fashioned lilies, day lilies, wolfsbane, sun flowers, big bluestem, lily of the valley and himalayan impatiens. Daisies are coming this week. Our poor plants have suffered through a wind storm and two major deluges in the two short weeks since they moved into their new home. They are a bit battered, but still standing strong.

(Side note... my workplace may not care much about flowers, but they provide lots of bike racks!)

week 4 - the review

Okay, first of all, check out my rockin' focaccia bread. This is how we've been eating on $20 each a week.

Second, our lessons learned:

• $20 a week for food really is no fun. Eating is an incredibly social activity, but on this budget, you can't afford to entertain or to go out. Potluck would definitely be an option, but it wasn't something we got around to organizing.
• $20 a week for food for one person would be tough, but when it is $40 for two, it is much easier. With $40, you can buy bulk quantities of things like rice, and it works out much cheaper in the long run.
• It is not as much work to plan meals as you might think. The first week we put a lot of effort into it, but by week two, we were sort of winging it and it all worked out fine. 
• It is a lot more work to actually make all your meals. This budget doesn't allow much room for convenience foods. When you are having a busy week, taking the time to cook can be a huge burden.
• You really have to know how to cook in order to live on this budget. We are both comfortable in the kitchen, so we actually ate better in March than we usually do because we were making an effort to be creative (see focaccia bread above!). Instant foods (other than Monday night perogies and beans!)were out of the question for us.
• If you don't know how to cook, then this budget limits you to only the worst foods. We were actually eating healthier because of the planning we were doing.
• We had to do a lot of compromising. Most of the organic food we usually buy is out of our price range, but we found that there were many local choices. For example, we couldn't afford the organic potatoes which came from the US, but we could afford locally grown non-organic potatoes. I insisted on organic apples, but with the rest of the food, we only bought organic if the price was comparable, like with dried lentils.

Third, for a variety of reasons, we find ourselves quite skint these days. The menu planning and home cooking have really been working for us, so we are keeping up with the $20 each a week for food until our finances are more stable. We will be putting aside an extra $10 each so we can go out for coffee or dinner once in a while or have people over, because that is something we've really missed.