Well I've been busy today
It actually started wednesday when I decided to drag all my baking stuff over to my daughters since I'm THE babysitter full time now.
Three huge bags full of stuff plus sheets and scoops.  My kitchenaid and cuisinart are already making their homes over here since I didn't feel like dragging them home probably last xmas.
First on the list was a nice little number that caught my eye in the sobey's inspired holiday magazine.

Coconut, cranberry & pistachio cookies.  Look so yummy. I drove to several different stores looking for some pistachio's already shelled.  But no luck

Couple nails were sacrificed in shelling them. And a couple got eaten by me and g'kids shelling them. But we just had enough to throw in the cuisinart.  I can't believe that I have lived whooooo these many years and never ever made rolled log cookies.   It's a good thing cause I didn't have a good time making these after rolling into logs.  The next day I had a heck of a time cutting them without crumbling them up and just making a general all-around mess of giant proportion.  I got so fed up that I threw half the batter in the garbage. After doubling the recipe in the first place.

I baked what batter was left after cutting them up and they tasted kinda crappy.  Then later yesterdtay I was walking by the bowl of them and ....by the fourth one...they didn't taste all that bad.  When the adults got home yesterday and much sampling was done the general concensious was that they were damn fine cookies after all.  I quess they just had to sit awhile.  Too bad the dough sitting at the bottom on the garbage can couldn't have fulfilled it's purpose.  Next time I attempt these - and there will be  a next time - I will remember to reduce the flour a bit.

Then today I made


but only 1/4 of the recipe.

and then




even though raisins were used.  I think this is the first time that I didn't scorf down any batter before they got in the oven.  I really really hate raisins.  But my g'daughter hates chocolate.  So it's raisin for her.

And finally



It would have been nice to actually start and end the baking day without the many trips to the store.  First I ran out of flour, even though I brought some from home.  Then it was the raisins.  But I should have actually read the recipe cause then I wouldn't have had to make yet another trip for baking soda.  Who doesn't have baking soda.  My daughter obviously.

I did all this and it's not even 3pm yet.  Wow ...I'm impressed with myself.

I got the following email the other day:

"Hi, So I am not sure if you have looked at the calendar lately but xmas day is on Tuesday. How that happened I am not sure. So I have been playing with recipes and here is what I think I know for sure.  We are having a Turducken with stuffing and mashed.  We will have fresh fruit and an apple pie for dessert.  We will have a spinach salad.  So Holly can you bring a veg that DOES NOT  contain Brussel Sprouts and Auntie Kathy can you also bring a veg that DOESN'T contain Brussel Sprouts.  I will also have some fresh buns.  What am I missing?"

which I responded with:

"I WILL bring a veg...that WILL contain brussel sprouts...and you WILL eat them.. and wonder "how did I ever live this long without this recipe." this years Thanksgiving dinners' favorite...hands down were the beet top parcels and the maple syrup glazed ( with baba N's hazel nuts) brussel sprouts...Sometimes u gotta "suck -it-up" it you invite the "family" or "this family" specifically for xmas dinner...really -u-will-LOVE-them....I promise."

then later I added:
"I can't bring the beet top parcels cause I  don't actually remember how we made them....too much wine was consumed and it was a communal project...as it is I will probably have to call around and ask if anyone remembers what we put into the sprouts exactly...again too much wine"

to which my neice responded:
"oh sooo sad you can't bring them!!! Make sure there are NORMAL veggies that the rest of the group can eat.  I have gravy and cranberry sauce covered. Pickles, olives, pickled asparagus, etc will be part of the app's which are all covered.  All I really need are SOME VEG"

WHAT???? does this girl have against Brussel Sprouts anyway

It's like ....every family dinner they have to be included because ...someday.....they may actually be good.  It's that never ending side dish that is never made the same way twice cause there's always that hope that they will actually be good.  How-many-different-ways- do-they-have-to-be-prepared?????  I've never made them the same way twice.......
....except for....finally...I've done it..I think....
....The presentation for Thanksgiving was by far...the best...so far
And I'm confident that even Leigha will eat them...and enjoy the process.  I think I have finally done it.  Brussel Sprouts that ANYONE and EVERYONE will love.  I just wish I could remember how we made them - exactly

and what about the stuffed mushrooms....we have to have stuffed mushroons.  How could she have forgotten about them.

"I will bring some green bean thing with bacon and shallots, along with the sprouts"

My husband had a sudden craving for lemon meringe pie, so that's what we had for lunch on friday.  In fact I was in the middle of making this when we heard the news.  But the pie was good.  My sister was in town between flights so I took a piece to her and sang Happy Birthday cause tomorrow she's really really old.   It's always good to have and older sister, that gets older faster than you.

 She was nice enough to deliver a sewing machine that works, so that's what I spent the weekend doing. Sewing

My mother also sent along her yearly xmas gift box of perahi.  These are a combination of cabbage, carrots and onion.  There's also potato ones and cheese ones, some with beets and others with peas and some with some sort of bean concoction.  But the veg mix is my fav cause one can enjoy them cold with your morning coffee for breakfast, right out of your hand.  That's what I had for breakfast on Saturday.  Someday I'm going to have to learn how to make them.

:(
Heartbroken

TA...DAAA

So I was planning on picking up my glasses on wednesday...with the new lenses.
But things got away from me and I never got a chance.  So later that night I get a phone call from the place where the stupid lense vanished into thin air.
  "I was sorting our the tupperware drawer of lunch containers and you will never believe what was in there?" said my son-in-law
tupperware, I said
a glass lense. he said
crap....Since I already put the order through for new lenses I just bit the bullet and decided to go through with it and pick up new ones on Thursday
So this morning I put the old escaped lense into my pocket and that was it.  I still cant believe the lense bounced all the way into that drawer.  But....oh well
So this afternoon I stepped up to the counter with a heavy heart willing somewhat ...to waste money on a set of lenses that I really didnt need .  I put them on....wait a minute,
I asked the counter person to hand me something to read, cause these were reading glasses after all, hmmm...things are a little ...fuzzy wierd.
She asked me, arent these driving glasses
no reading glasses
ohhh ...the person who wrote this up put down distance lenses.
so i whipped out the lense that was in my pocket, and the other lense was in the little plastic container with the order, and she put both old lenses into the frames, and VIOLA ...I didnt have to spend any money after all
yay

by the way the asteric key seems to be not working...something else in printing out on the screen and I cant figure out how to fix it.  So no asterics today

The other day I was scrolling around pinterest.com on my phone and ...thought this was kinda cute

Normally I really hate machine applique but this didn't look tooooo onerous.

Since the site didn't offer a pattern, I copied something similar

Hmmm, which fabric...which fabric--always a difficult choice

I opened a couple bins and discovered some interesting stuff I had forgotten about...it's been years since this particular bin was opened, I really should open the others and have a look...see...

And this is as far as I got. MY MACHINE DID A PROTEST OF SORTS...has decided that it doesn't like the needles, or the thread, or the tension.....It's just not working.
So after much cussing and tantrums I remembered my sister was arriving on Thursday from the Kootenays (on her way to Hawaii---why she's doing it via Calgary is beyond me...but she is) so I phoned up my daughter-in-law to request her machine for the duration of my sisters holidays. Cause she's going back eventually.  When my aunt passed away a few years ago and a few of us were going through her things I grabbed her machine to give to one of my girls or girl-in-law.  I've kinda regretted not keeping it myself since.  Cause without fail, everytime i have multiple projects in mind, my machine goes on a strike.  So that's it....finally...It's going to be replace in the new year.  I've finally HAD it.  I can't remember how many machines I've come across at garage sales this year alone, not to mention the estate sales.  It's always amazing how cheap they are because the seller usually has their mothers or grandmothers machine and they don't have a clue of it's real value.  Of coarse stupid me....left them - because I already had one and why would I need more than one.  Crap!!!

And it didn't help that the other day i picked up this book  from the library. And found all kinds of interesting things to try

...And I even managed to secure a couple recycled coffee burlap sacks.  But I'm stuck waiting on the machine coming tomorrow.  I've been waiting since Sunday.  All the parts better come with the machine. My luck has been soooo good lately I can only imagine the cord, or some other crucial part will be left behind, or fall out of the vehicle at a gas station or something.  I've got too many things to do to be sitting here wasting my time.

I should cook something...
Chili ...yea chili sounds good for a couple days of not cooking afterwards....if the machine does show up with all it's parts....I'm not going to have time to cook.   I should go replenish my wine too---now that I think of it.  Can't sew and eat chili without wine.

Strangest thing happened on Monday.  I was dropping off my g'daughter at k'garten and looked over at my vehicle for some reason and ....it was running. W...hat...
I got out my keys and turned it off...that part of the remote seemed to be working.
Then when I returned to the car I tried to use the remote to start it --- nothing....
But the door lock/unlock button all of a sudden started working. Hmmmm
When I mentioned it to my husband...."that someone else's remote started my van"  ---I came to this conclusion because a few other parents were all using their remotes at the time., but I was told that this was IMPOSSIBLE ...different frequencies...not likely blah blah blah....my brothe-in-law said exactly the same, he even kinda chuckled.  Like I'm stupid or from mars or something.  How do I come up with these things kinda thing....
Then today....I was leaving a store and as I was leaving someone was entering...and he hit his remote to lock his vehicle and pointed it around my vehicle and ....MINE STARTED...AND I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES.
By the time I looked back at him to grab his remote and ask him to do it again...he vanished.
SO....THERE...... frequencies be damn
Coarse my remote still won't turn the car on.  The garage door still won't go up....and my sewing maching won't work either.  And then something really weird happened.
I'm still baffled...
I wear reading glasses, when I don't need them at the specific second...I usually put them on the top of my head.  I was at my daughters making kids b'fast and bent over and the glasses fell off my head.  I picked them up and forgot about it.  About an hour later I grabbed them to read something and noticed one of the lenses missing.  The same lense that usually falls out grrrrr ...and do you think I could find the damn thing.  It was NOWHERE..
I moved the stove out, the fridge out, I crawled around on my hands and knees....several times, Searched in the heat vent, EVERYWHERE.....I asked them to search over again.  Nothing....
So that's why I was at the store today.   Getting new lenses for the frames.  Grrrr
WHAT THE F&#K IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT!?!?
...I'm just sitting around...waiting for the next shoe to drop.....

Three ...is the number

Things are falling apart, and it's really starting to PISS ME OFFFFFFFFF

Why do things always have to happen in 3's...

It all started about 3 weeks ago....I drove into the garage and the front of the van tapped/hit the freezer, which hit/smacked the wall.  Ever since then the garage door opener, REFUSES TO OPEN
It's fortunate that it stopped working after I drove out the next day.  I didn't know there was a problem until I came home late at night and the stupid thing refused to open from inside the van.

The next day I managed to open it from inside the garage....but why would I park in it...I just knew one morning at 5am it just wouldn't open for me and I would be stuck.  So I've been parking on the street and I've been kinda busy to get it fixed.  I need to get into one of my neighbors garages to have a boo at theirs, to see what could be wrong with mine.  And they haven't been around the same time as me.  And i refuse to get a professional to come have a look.  It's probably something really stupid and simple.   And it's too damn cold to actually spend any time out there to actually get a look at things.

Then about a week later at 5am I needed to get to my daughters and pointed my handy dandy automatic car starter out the window to start the van and when I went out to get into it, "hmmm...how come it's not running---did I take that long that it automatically turned off???  But it's friggin cold in here"  Well who has time to figure these things out at 5 in the morning when it's snowing and your half asleep and you have to drive 20km....without a coffee.  It wasn't until I was making the return trip later that day that I noticed the van didn't actually turn on....WTF
 So with this cold weather I've been trudging outside to start the thing up and then running back inside to wait....And I'm getting PISSED OFFFFFFF

Tried resetting things.   Pushing buttons.  NOTHING SEEMS TO BE WORKING TO GET IT TO START AUTOMATICALLY.

And again....I refuse to seek out a professional.  My brother-in-law ....that handy dandy guy...that installed it for us last year doesn't know what could be wrong and he's in Vancouver....and we aren't.   GRRRRR

Then on Friday

Last week things kinda warmed up to 1+ degree or so...for a couple days--things started melting.  And slushing...And the roads were a mess of brown stuff.  The really bad thing about a van???   TOO MANY WINDOWS to keep clean.  Not only is this a pain in the neck when removing snow in the morning.  It's a pain when you can't see anything out of them at intersections, or when changing lanes.  And when the sun is sitting so low on the horizon it's blinding.  AFter trying to clean them a couple times when filling up with gas and noticing that the water in the holding tanks for squeezying the windows is blah  brown and the windows are dirtyier after cleaning them....I decided to pull into a car wash and driving around looking for one such place where there isn't a line-up from hell is one problem.  Now you have to realize that actually washing a vehicle this time of year is tricky.   Sure....it's warming up right now....at this second in time....but you just know 15 minutes after you drive out of the car wash the temperature will surely drop to something below zero.  And your screwed.  Either the door locks will be impossible to open cause water gets in there and things freeze up or the windows will refuse to go up and down....or something really unforseen with happen to traumatize the vehicle.  "ughhhh you should have left it alone and driven around blind"

Cause on Friday around 9am I finally washed the van.  It was very nice to actually see something out of the windows.  And Saturday it was kinda sunny and only -1 or so.  But by the afternoon....when I was out and about ....in and out of the van....I noticed the stupid ass button on the drivers side wouldn't lock or unlock the doors.   Tried all afternoon....the passenger side worked fine.   The drivers side .... f**k....

And today it's -32 out there.

So I can't drive my vehicle into the garage....cause I can't get the damn door to open....So I'm sitting here trying to decide if I will have to drag out an extention cord to plug the damn thing in...cause that's just too friggin cold...it might not start
I can't automatically start the thing to warm it up....so I have to freeze to get it started...if it does start...out there....when I have a perfectly good...warm...garage
Have you ever had to unlock and lock the doors up manually....it's a friggin pain in the ass.  Especially when there are sooooo many of them.

So its a question of ....should I wait...and maybe there's just some wires that are wet and frozen up or do I go and see my handy dandy mechanic that always ALWAYS charges me $200+ for anything ...Doesn't matter what....it's always $200.  I hate having to pay that.  Why can't one of my daughters have married a mechanic.  Is that tooooo much to ask for.  Or and electrician....Or a garage door specalist.

I have an...itch....to make something - today

the last quilt I made (well the top of it anyway...i did manage to pin it all together, to start actually "quilting" it...but that's about as far as I got) produced a pile of itty bitty scraps...They might be usefull for something scrappy for homemade ornaments

  three glad bags up here, and four more ....downstairs that haven't really been unpacked seven years since we moved here....not to mention the bins - there are four of them.  I should open them ...see what's inside - maybe another day...

 I was on the hunt for purples, white/on/white's and ...stuff I've accumulated since probably June.

The poor pitiful tree looks so bare. I should make some ornaments...from scraps, cause I noticed that one of the g'kids stuck a plastic piece of electronic junk under the pinecones...to the left.   I should decorate the poor thing, before it's time to take it down.

Maybe I should just stick some glitter on it and embellish it with something...see if anyone notices it's just junk.

Somebody bring me donuts, or cinnamon buns, or I will settle for some coissants. I can't believe I've got this headcold.  I hate headcolds. I HATE HEADCOLDS

I'm hungry
I'm sick
...I'm kinda lazy
There are no leftovers to nuke
...crap

I'm trying to figure out what to make, that I want to eat.
I hope I have some bacon that's not frozen
Maybe a BLT

saw this on "CBS Saturday Morning"




This looks good for dinner....or maybe I'm just hungry
Maybe I will give it a go this evening.
I guess someones going to have to go buy a chicken first


***UPDATE***

hmmmm....I don't know....it was o.k.a.y!!! sorta.   Well I have leftover chicken for another meal.  I don't think I'll make it again.  The house reeeeeeks of oil.  It would be something to make on the bbq burner maybe.....outside.  Maybe it would have tasted better using legs and thighs...but I kinda don't like either of those....too veiny for my liking. I chopped up breasts into 5 pieces each.

But I DID enjoy the bacon

And the pickled baby peppers were HOoottt. The potatoes really picked up the peppers.  It's a good thing I only used 1 quartered and seeded.  Didn't particularly like the flavour of the pepper.  Now i have a whole jar to deal with.

But on the plus side.   Breakfast tomorrow morning is all set. Yay

Lily...the elf

One thing that can't be said about me is "you never know what she's going to cook" no-sir-rie....not me.
One thing you can say about me....I'm a creature of repetition.  Unfortunately my husband thinks he lives in a restaurant (working out of town on the road tends to do that to a person), and walks around saying things like "I sure would like.....(fill in the blank) for dinner. It's usually something really stupid with mashed potatoes and gravy.  If I open a can of cream corn he gets excited.  I on the other hand could eat the same thing 3,4 times a day for a week, then make it all over again for another round.  When I first left/ran away from home at 17 the only thing I cooked was pork chops, white rice and steamed broccoli.  I ate that for years.  That an alot of take-out and restaurant meals and hotdogs and beers for lunch (that's another story) ...I was TALL (well still am...) but back then, I was misstaken for ....over the legal limit....There was one time-----a bunch (all under age) were sitting around the local watering hole and suddenly I got asked for I.D. (the server was only asking me cause she thought for sure I was legal therefore everyone else could stay).....wrong idea. She was really pissed at me cause she was convinced I was legal....and then she had to deal with all those pitchers of beer... Needless to say we all had to move to a different watering hole after that.

...Anyway

...I bought yet another head of cauliflower, much to my husbands shaggrin (is that how that is spelled...looks weird)

...cream of roasted cauliflower soup....again
...with bacon and dill.  YUM
...my husband says he's going to get a burger.

I went to the library today and got my haul of books...and several were cookbooks
The Epicurious Cookbook
was the first one up....
I enjoy cookbooks that should be read cover to cover
One of the firt recipe to catch my eye was
Belgian Leek Tart with aged goat cheese

The recipe called for a tart pan with removable bottom....but since I only had a rectangle tart pan with removable bottom, that's what I used.  That might have been why the pie/tart/quiche wasn't all that thick. (Which was preferrable anyway...to me - Doesn't get soggy and cooks better anyway) I used pillsbury pie crust...the ones that come two rolls in a box.  The best invention since....I don't know when - but that's what I always use and they are very good. I just had to roll it out a bit more into a rectagle.  Of coarse by the time I toke the crust out of the oven to precook, I've never used this particular pan before for anything let alone a crust and by the time I got it out of the oven and on the cooling rack It cracked and shifted and ended up in the garbage...so it's a good thing that there are two crust rolls in each box.  Cause I had to redo it.

I used two leeks for the leek confit and two baby zucchini (grated raw).  I added everything into a mixing bowl (milk, cream, leek confit, zucchini, two whole eggs, 3/4 cup of crumbled up feta, I had some weird goat cheese that I purchased on sale so I threw that in, about 1/3 cup in little bits. and 1/2 cup grated cheddar.salt pepper, and some nutmeg)and mixed the hell out of it, and then realized when I read the directions in the book, that I shouldn't have done that.....but it came out real good. So no biggy

After the second crust was nice and brown I poured the mixture into the pan and threw it in the oven for about 1hr....give or take. i had to cover the pie crust edges with foil.

I served it with some ceasar salad and it was a nice veggie dinner.  I've been picking at it all evening.  I doubt there will be any for breakfast tomorrow. It was t-a-s-t-y!!
I don't know why I have never made a leek quiche before.  But this leek confit turned out very good.
There was something missing though....maybe next time I will add some bacon crumbled into it.

All in all, a great dinner and i copied over several recipes ....most of which are on-line or easy enough to copy over from copy and paste program of recipe saving.  I will def make this again.  The G'kids will probably really like this as well, though i will have to peel the zucchini cause they always get their noses out of joint with "what's that green stuff"

I think I will have to go and cut off another piece.....

It's too ....much

I remember when.....

STOP SNOWING....ALREADY....

Ginger Chicken

I haven't cooked chicken thighs in a long time.  I find the veins, veins, and other ...stuff unappetizing.  Breast are just a ...cleaner chicken piece to deal with and still eat afterwards.

But then after buying some boneless skinless thighs I thought I would make some "Black Chicken"  even though I haven't made any for ages.  I had to really search for the original recipe from Barefoot Contessa's Indonesian Ginger Chicken recipe.

The only difference is her recipe calls for 2 cut-up 3 1/2 lb chickens.  I quartered the recipe add 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar and 1 tbsp lea and perrins.

I  wanted to cook up 8 chicken pieces cause there's only two of us to eat it. But I'm sorry I didn't use all 15 thighs.

Add all the ingredients into a dutch oven thing and bring to a boil for about 3-4 minutes. Put 8 boneless skinless thighs curled-side down and simmer for 1/2 hr

and sorta spread them out and push them down.

after a 1/2 hr turn them over

then throw the whole works into the oven, covered at 350 for 1/2 hr.  Remove pot from oven and turn them over and return back to the oven at a lower temp about 250 for 15-20 min.

During the in-and-out of the oven you might want to baste them
I turn them "curly" side up....at the end so they don't dry out if your waiting for the rest of dinner to be served

I covered the pot and kept it in the oven after I turned it off and the liquid was almost all absorbed.

MMmmmm....mmmm
I should have cooked all 15 cause I almost polished all of them off just picking at them.

I've been doing everything to stay awake  .It's not even 6 o'clock p.m., yet.  My early mornings for the last two weeks has finally done me in.  I've been waking up before 5a.m. to get to my daughters (20 miles) by 5:30.  When your 2nd vehicle breaks down and there are two different daycares, that have two different "don't bring them before...times" and one parents starts at 6am and the other at 7am,  two different parts of the city that parents work...well it's a recipe for disaster in the mornings.  So grandma has been doing the daycare and before school care delivery.  In order to give my daughter a break on daycare costs I also ( a week before the breakdown of the vehicle) informed her that we would be available for the g'kids on mondays and fridays. Since she has to pay even when it's a long weekend or when there's a friday off from kindergarten (they seem to take one friday off a month).  Then beginning Dec 16, it's going to be full time monday through friday.  Cause daycare is just way to expensive - as in more than a mortgage payment.  It's nuts. When I had to deal with the reality of unsubsidized daycare for my kids---way back when---I packed it in and decided to stay home for 10+ years.  But that's not the reality for most parents these days.

Another wrench in this whole plan was my decision to find a stupid part time job---somewhere in the neighborhood.  I just had to get out of the house.  Since my client only needs me quarterly and I'm too lazy to find any others --- and my husband is home ALL DAY LONG.  So in late October I became a cashier in a neighborhood mega store.  And NO it's not Walmart.  As---if that would ever happen.  Though it's almost as bad. Of all the things I've done with my life I have never been a cashier in a retail store.  And since I hate people I figured I would last 4 hours, if that.  But it's been a little over a month and for some reason I'm still a cashier.  Gooooo figure.  It's not the $$$ that's for sure.  I worked out that the last time my salary was so bad was wayyyyy wayyyy waaaay back in 1976.  How rediculous is that?  It's almost a joke.  I'm the only "non immigrant" they probably hired in ages.  The guy that "trained" me was 19 and asked me really stupid questions about denominations of our currency.  I looked at him like he was nuts.  What???Are you kidding me?  He explained that most immigrants have trouble with our currency. ...o--kayyy!!!??

So I've been wasting my days (5hr here and there) doing this, and looking after g'kids on mondays and fridays ---at their house. I'm trying to remember the days that i had nothing to do.  The reason for getting the stupid job in the first place.  I was becoming a home body and when I found myself talking aimlessly with clerks at stores about nothing but nonsense.  I figured I better get-out-of-my-comfort-zone....as in ...get out of the house.  It's either feast of famine with me.  I either have too much to do...or nothing at all.  And then their stupid car broke down.  And it's $$$ to fix right now...being xmas and all. So now---it's g'kids all day monday, delivery to daycares tuesday - thursday mornings. and g'kids all day friday.  Work saturday and sunday. And I get calls every once in awhile to come in to cashier evenings during the week. So I don't even remember the day when I didn't have anything to do.  Plus I'm very tired.  I'm just not a morning person.  I really really hate getting up early.  That's one of the best parts of non employment.

Last night I bought a winter jacket for my g'son...that was too big.  So this morning after dropping both off I returned it to a different location of the same store.  One that I'm not familiar with. So I returned it, and then walked around a bit.  And completely went nuts on discounted items.

pkg of cherry strudel, banana bread, pumpernickle, fancy french, butterhorns, and a bag of coissants

celery, green garden salad, two dips, pineapple, two cottage cheese (i see lasagna, manicotti, or canelloni in my future) and a container of greek feta that isn't here

I got carried away, I will admit to that....It's a good thing i remembered to also buy some freezer bags. Cause I was going to need them..

This is what made it into the freezer.
2 rib steaks about 1" thick (i'm going to have to get a refill for the gas tank of the bbq)
3 bags of 500 kg(1lb) of ground sirloin all repackaged
3 bags of 600 kg of sirloin and ground pork that I mixed up and repackaged
the pork roast was portioned into 2 - 350 kg cut up pork for stirfry
5 bone-in chicken breasts
2 bags 250 kg beef stirfry
2 bags of 4each smoked sausage ( will be very tasty I hope with perogies some day or the bbq)
15 boneless chicken thighs portioned into two meals of 7-8 each
1 box of sole breadsticks that the g'kids will probably enjoy
5 bags of pork breakfast sausage of 10 each
1 12" roasted chicken pesto pizza (uncooked)
5 sirloin weird steaks that I've never bought before, prob good for steak sandwiches or stirfry

...and a pkgs of 10 snicker bars, two bags of sour candies, some weird english toffee, and jujubes.  The experation date on the candy was September 1213.  I didn't know that stuff even had an experation date
 I paid a grand total of $93

I probably forgot something....But what a deal. I will have to put a sticky note on the fridge to remind me of what I put in the freezer in the garage.  This begs the question.....WHAT WAS I THINKING....SOMEONE HAS TO COOK ALL THIS .....EVENTUALLY.

I better not hear "there's nothing to eat" from my husband.  All that bakery crap is for him.

Weekend

Saturday, I got home from work around noon, and started reading.


Somehow, I managed to make dinner and even eat it, and finished this book around 11pm.

Then Sunday, today...I again returned from work around noon and started this book

and since it's kirstie alley's fault that my husband didn't get anything but a sandwich for dinner...my husband doesn't seem to be all  that put out....cause he LOVES kirstie alley.

It's only 7:30 and I'm finished the book.  How did that happen, it was a fast read

But I did manage to polish off this since opening the book. And that chocolate Chex mix....is the bomb

Worst Vacation Ever

Theme Thursday...
Worst Vacation Ever....

waiting....for everyone

this was probably 5am and that bldg far centre is the one that blew up...the front of it

Well the actual "VACATION" was wonderful....

Just the two weeks prior to getting there....was a nightmare of gigantic proportion, It's amazing we can all sorta laugh about it now. It was actually 2 yrs ago - almost to the day --well yesterday would have been two years ago was the actual wedding "day".  Well actually it was Nov 24th - the marriage, but I remember it as the day before American thanksgiving.

Destination Wedding....

Mexico...

A year planning....

Let me actually count the ways things went wrong, I've never actually sat down and counted them.

Let's see if I can get them in order or ...."what can go wrong next"!!!!!

1) The first Bridesmaid went to Hawaii in June to celebrate her graduation from nursing and jumped off a cliff into and sandbar and shattered her leg. Therefore she couldn't start her first job cause she was in a cast for three months + and physio+ and she was too broke to afford the trip.  Then she actually started working 1 week before the trip date. So she had to cancel

2) Maid-of-honor had to cancel cause she couldn't get insurance cause she was passing a kidney-stone-from-hell a month before the trip date,  Pre - existing conditions....and all. She actually eventually passed the damn thing in April the following year. That's like being in labour for five months...cause I've done the labour thing wayyy toooo mannny timmmes and the passed a kidney stone wayyyy tooo mannny times...and they both suck.

3) In september when everyone had paid up the actual cost of the trip the tour company suddenly discovered they needed more $$$$. There was much swearing, and cussing from everyone.  Except me cause we didn't book with the group...My husband works for an airline and we booked alternative flights and  resort, cause it was way cheaper and we had credits that had to be used up etc. etc. etc.  Anyway we were supposed to save big time.....so we didn't book with the group.  And two other couples also booked with same airline as us because they had similar credits or deals where they worked. But we were supposed to all end up at the same resort and the same time etc. etc. etc

4) The RESORT blew - up....about a week before we were all supposed to get there....and MY ROOM BLEW UP specificially...... Yeah that resort, the one with the gas leak...The one were several people DIED

5) Accomodations with the "group"were still all a go, rooms were switched around, the wedding venue was changed to a different food source at the resort, cause that part was off limits now. But we were all still here so nobody new anything of what was going on cause nobody that was expected to go to the wedding actually ever were at this particular resort before.

6) The company WE booked with called us monday (we were scheduled to leave the following Sunday) after the resort blew up and said, there was no problem everything would be fine....blah blah blah....The resort called my daughter and the travel agency called my daughter and offered to change to another resort...there was alot of toooing and froooing and quessing and trauma for two days cause she had to make up her mind to change everything by wednesday.  But then it was decided that she would stay at this resort cause the other couples and us were with a different travel company and they wouldn't change our reservations to the one that were offered to her cause there was no room for us cause there were several other agencies in a mad rush to change the thousands of other reservations.  You can see the confusion here. And our company...the one my husband actually worked for.....kept saying there was no problem blah blah blah, we would be accomodated at the original resort even though our particular room was no longer available and the other two rooms where also toast....

7) I got a call from my credit card company that there was suspicious use of my card on the Monday before and they were cancelling my card...blah blah blah.....WTF  I had paid for everything with it, and was planning on using it to pay for other crap, so I actually paid $2500 over and above my limit so that there would be no problem, cause I was planning on paying for my daughters (the other one, not getting married) crap and our room were supposed to be paid seperate from the flight ....anyway there was about $7000 sitting on my card ....I was planning ahead....Expecting to use the card for everything...didn't want any surprises. AND the credit card co couldn't get me a new card for a week, So it would be delivered to me in Mexico by the wednesday during the week we were at the resort. "just call us when you get to the resort and  let us know your room # etc and it will be delivered to you"  I thought this was the stupidest thing ever.  But what could I do, this was Thursday, the thursday before the sunday that our flight left.  

8)Friday at 5:30 p.m. I get a call from OUR travel company...the one my husband works for.....and were informed our reservation was cancelled.  the flight was okay, the resort - no room ...AND THERE WAS NOTHING THEY COULD DO EXCEPT BOOK AT AN ALTERNATIVE RESORT ....this was after calling me all FUCKING week and telling me there would be no problem....stop worrying...blah blah blah.  This resort was ...I have no idea where...never been there, ....somewhere .....60-100 km away....could have been on Mars for all I cared....

9) what to do...what to do....one of the other couples that were in the same boat as us called me and said they called travelocity or the other one, I can't remember now and they got the room through them, but kept the flight the same. According to whatever company they used there were many rooms available.

10) called the stupid ass company we were booking through and was told "sorry we are moving everyone with us to a different resort" no options blah blah blah.   My head was exploding around this time.  I called the resort and it took forever to actually talk to someone who understood english and they suggested I call travelocity or someone else,...i forget now who it was....(it's like labour, you forget the effing pain after, this was like that--lots of little crap like names, I have forgotten ) So I did and there were rooms a plenty for us and my other daughter....Called the company (the one my husband worked for) and said forget it, im not going to the other resort, cancel my reservation for the resort, keep the flight. " We will credit your card" blah blah blah, on monday, or you can come and get the $$$ on monday.  This was Friday after 6 by now and there was no way in hell I was getting anything before monday from them.  

11) I had no money....it was all on the stupid ass credit card that was useless to me until wednesday. I couldn't book thed resort(the one we were originally suppposed to go to...the same one as the stupid ass wedding) and the stupid add company that had my money and wouldn't lift a finger to help me wouldn't give me anything till monday.  Keep the flight...ditch the room with them.  Still really pissed about the inability for anyone with this company to refund my $$$ before monday.  I live right next door to the head office pracitically.  No excuse for this.   I even got a call back from a "supervisor" cause I  was so arguementative with some stupid-ass employee on the phone. GRRRRRRRRRRRR. " I" "me" .."the one being unreasonable" was expected be remorseful!!!!

12) Called my mother.....in tears.....her card was maxed out already-this trip etc etc.....

13) Called my sister....in tears - Take lots of pics for me, cause I WON'T BE AT MY OWN DAUGHTERS WEDDING....everyone will be there except us....She gave me her card info to book my room on-line.  I was so crazy at this point - I didn't realize that all they online company wanted was a functioning card#, cause I was paying for the actualy stupid ass room after we were finished...it's just that my card# wasn't functioning.  I could have used anyones card at this point.  Just the deposit was on someone else's card. But my mind was ....elsewhere 

14) at this point I was expecting the plane to blowup.  I had to take meds just to get on the damn thing. 

15) There was a blizzard the night before we were all scheduled to leave and it was a nightmare getting to the stupid ass airport.

The plane took off and landed......we all managed to get our luggage and ended up at the resort.....together.

My card was delivered on wednesday (im still amazed at that) and the weather was wonderful, the wedding was wonderful.  

One of the grooms-men is a diabetic and all his insulin stuff was stolen from his room literally 10 minutes after he left it, 1/2 hr after he registered and left the room.  He had to drive all  over cancun ----miles away from the stupid ass resort....on his own dime....I might add...in a taxi driving all over looking for insulin.  The resort manager just shrugged his shoulders.  Couldn't believe it. On wednesday the resort managed to find his stuff, but why would he use any of it now?  After that everyone used their respective safes for everything. 

The wedding went off (still married) the g'kids threw up on the plane all the way home.  Thanks to seperate bookings, we were on a different plane.  And we got home a day earlier than everyone else so we picked up all the haggered g'kids, bride and groom.  They were very glum....all that barf....i guess.

16) a month later.....I opened my cell bill and hit the roof.

17) my cell phone, my husbands cell phone,..my other daughters cell phone are all on a family plan of sorts and there was over $5000 on the bill in a 24hr period.  Had to fight with them for a month cause I changed the stupid plan to just texting before we left.  So they had to eat the calls. All the calls made with our cell signal were done from 2am to 6 am, to other parts of mexico

18) the call that I made to my credit card co lasted an hour and probably 20+ people that I was moved from one to another with, didn't know what I was talking about, or it wasn't there department, or that case no doesn't make sense. finally that was sorted out. I missed the "welcome to" meeting everyone else went to with the tour organizer where they were told to "come use our phone line if you need to" blah blah blah, cause I was on the stupid pay phone in the lobby, right next to where the stupid "welcome to...meet and greet" was happening. Because I was supposed to CALL AS SOON AS YOU GET A ROOM #, SO THEY HAD SOMEWHERE TO SEND THE REPLACEMENT CART. Grrrrr. $300 added to my room for the stupid phone call from the pay phone.  

Its a good thing the booze was free, well paid in advance..... Cause everyone was doing their best to get their money out of that.

The food was excellent, beef from argentina is the best. I still have fond memories of the ingredible steak I really didn't want to have in the first place...not being a big steak fan....but ...wow...I was sucking on the bone.  

The weather was wonderful

The vacation itself was wonderful after everything was sorted out to actually all wind up at the same place.  The couple that chose to stay at a different resort had to pay almost 500 to come into the resort they should have been at in the first place for the day to have access to everything. But they knew that was going to happen and the resort everyone got transfer to was apparently better.

The resort was vertually empty.  Cause everyone transfered out because of the gas situation and the fact that nobody would confirm exactly what caused the place to blow in the first place.  So there were no line-ups for restaurants, meals, or anything else.  The staff was everywhere, vying for tips....at the ready constantly, we all were very well taken care of. 

Just as an aside......when planning a destination wedding - make a point of having a budget for attendants to be $50 or under, cause some attendants will end up canceling trips...and no one wants a dress that costs an arm and a leg ....and can't wear again.  And that's another thing---a beach wedding requires BEACH ATTIRE...specially SHOES and don't fight with your mother when she says" no mermaid dress...duh....it will be covered in sand".   My daughter wanted a mermaid dress with a tail/trail....whatever.  Finally settled for no tail..... Flip Flops people ......  My daughter finally found a nice purple pair of thongs/flip flops, instead of the high heals she originally wanted.

And when your mother offers...."just go with your friends, leave the g'kids with us---we can do a family celebration later, another time-----why do you want to go with little kids? "  I offered this way back in jan/feb and pleaded with her....."You will be sorry"..."Mexico"..."little kids" ....
No..no way ...we had to be there.  How many things have to happen to your mothers resort and her specific room before maybe someone should get a HINT.

When they all came home....and about two days later after all the puking ended and the kids were back to normal ...my daughter says to me "we should have listened to you and just gone with our friends, and left the kids here"

Soooo the maid-on-honor with the kidney stone...moved to australia after meeting some guy in bazil from australia.  And now she is planning a destination wedding in Hawaii and wants my g'daughter as the flower girl.  And is offering to pay for me to come to babysit the g'kids again just so she can have my g'daughter as her flower girl.  But my daughter has learned her lesson and refuses to take kids to hawaii...and will leave them with us.  There is a royal battle going on about this between the two of them.  But I don't know what she is thinking...why would she want us there anyway ...the new bride that is....Cause we seem to have disaster written all over us.   Now that I think of it---it's not so much the vacation plans that go crap, it's every wedding that we've ever gone to that ends in a disaster of some kind or other

More about that at a later day.....
But I refuse to plan a vacation...to hawaii....or plan on attending another wedding, that is part of a vacation.
The only vacation that turns out for me is...last minute....no plans...spur of the minute kinda thing.

going to the beach with auntie 

must be monday...all that white skin

Soup...of the week

What does one do, with a head of cauliflower, a pound of bacon, dill and a couple baby potatoes?

Cream of roasted cauliflower soup. with chunky roasted baby potatoes and bacon.

The best jars for storing in the fridge? The pickled asparagus jars from Costco...of coarse.

I think I will make some....for an easy dinner tonight....with the soup of coarse