Snow Alert, in Alabama

This is an actual email we rec'd at our office from someone in Alabama a few days ago:

There’s almost 1 ½” of snow here. I don’t know how anyone can survive in this. Everyone is panicked except the “survivalists” who have gone into their bunkers. Schools closed at 11:30 but they emailed parents that the school buses would not run so they had to come & pick up their kids = county wide traffic jam. I’ll try to get you the cut sheets. Meanwhile do you have a flame thrower that we can borrow?

Sweet home.

The Pulled Pork & And The Missing Family Tree

My title is clearly a failed Hardy Boys novel.  I think it could have sold millions, but moving on.

Just got in from a family dinner.  My dad was in town and he invited his sister and cousin out for dinner.  His cousin is huuuge into tracing family history.  Her Grandad and Uncle (my Great Granddad and Great Great Uncle came to Canada when they were teenagers.  A year later my Great Great Uncle died.  My Granddad was left all alone in a new country with no one.  But he threw down some routes, and had some kids, and here we all are.  Or here I am, rather.  She was a fountain of information, but it was slightly tough to keep up.  Our family obviously isn't very close if after 30 years of life this is the first time I'm meeting my dad's cousin.  At any rate.  It was a nice lovely dinner.

When I got home, I finished up the last final step of my pulled pork which was the actual pulling part.  My brother asked me at dinner how long it would take.  "I don't know, 15 minutes?"  It was fully pulled in less than one.  Like off the bone ribs.  I mushed in some of the pre-made sauce and it's ready to go.  I must take some for lunch tomorrow or Tuesday night will be my first chance to have some.  Yerrrrm.  I think it looks mighty delish.

Sim & Spence and the munchkins came over on Friday night.  I actually picked Sim up at Longbranch and we hung out for a while before Spence joined us in the evening.  I whipped together some Pad Thai which was well received, thankfully.  We saved the world a few times from viral death.  Other times, the world was not so lucky.  I cuddled with Minnie for a long time.  Last time I was Sim's Minnie amused me by settling down on my chest with her fluff in my face.  But now it's her go-to spot when I pick her up.  It's pretty cute.  It did make me want a dog more than I ever have before but I'm still a bit too selfish.  I make impromptu plans that involve not coming straight home after work.   I can take vacations at will and not worry about having to make alternative arrangements.  And right now, I can't fathom the thought of having a new monthly expense.  Sim tells me my mortgage-mania will calm down.  I do hope so.

I'm going to a meeting downtown tomorrow for the charity I work with.  I fear I might need to make a decision soon about moving on.  I know it will create a void, but I'm just having mixed feelings about staying.  We'll see.  The meeting is going to be followed by dinner and drinks with the girls.

That's all she wrote.  But also, the resolution to the mystery was that the pulled pork was delicious, and the family tree was there all along.

This Is The End, Beautiful Friend

Finally I can sit back and breathe a sigh of relief.  I have been working hard to finish a project at work, that has been very mentally draining.  Not difficult, but with high pressure to get everything absolutely perfect.  I don't think my bosses were putting as much pressure as I was putting on myself.  At the 11th hour my coworker and I fixed up the last few errors and now I'm DONE.  I've been going into work for three days straight at 6:30.  Unfortunately on Monday I got there only to realize the guy who gets in at 6:30 was having a family emergency so I had to sit in my cold car until almost 7:15 for the second guy to show up.  And since I have started a trend this season to run my tank almost dry timed perfectly with the onset of a Polar Vortex, even if I wasn't environmentally opposed to idling, I couldn't risk it.  Yesterday I got into work by 6:30am and was working full throttle until 3:30pm when it was quitting time.  Again this morning I got up at 5:40 and made my way into work for 6:30.  But this time to clean up a desk that had become unacceptably messy.  My boss was also coming into work to have a meeting so I had some major TCB to do before she got in.  TBTCBI.  Total Bonus Taking Care of Business Important.  I still have a lot of administrative catch-up to do, but it can wait until tomorrow, at my regular starting time.

My condo is a mess and I'm losing control with my resolutions.  Though I am pushing fwd with new recipes.  I'm going to attempt slow cooked pulled pork.  I cruised the bbq sauce aisle at the grocery last week in anticipation of this upcoming cook.  There were just so many I didn't know which one to choose.  I am quite partial to Diana's BBQ sauce, and Jackie had mentioned something once about a PC chipotle one?  My eyes stopped on the PC Pulled Pork and it seemed too fateful to pass up.  Obviously there won't be much to this recipe.  A loin and a pre-bottled sauce.  Maybe some sauteed onions.  But it still counts, oh it counts.

In a very unusual turn of events, Sim unknowingly helped me track down a long lost internet comic.  I used to follow him over 10 years ago, but lost track.  But never forgot.  In her super amazing Cards Against Humanity xmas package it came with a customized comic strip with their favourite comics.  And who is on the list but frickin http://www.explodingdog.com !!  I searched his site for the image I had used as an old avatar but I was having trouble finding it.  Finally as my search was winding down there it was.   In all of its simplistic glory:

Where Am I?

Just another day and a half and I can melt into my couch for good.  Maybe actually read my Jan book, in one weekend?  Then I can at least pretend I'm doing something with my life.  My boss said something today that made me think.  She was talking to the other guy at work about a customer and she said, "He's really a great guy.  He's got his whole life together.  He loves his wife, has a great kid.  It's all good stuff.  I feel sorry for people that just exist."  And although she wasn't talking to me and probably not about me I kind of snickered and then paused.  Like, "Heh.....oh wait."  Bottom line, I think I really do need to do something awesome this year, and kind of reclaim my life.  Probably a load of hype that will lead nowhere, but if there is no dream then I am just existing.  You could argue most of us are just existing but the fact that it still comes to mind hours later, something resonated within.  Maybe step one is to figure out where I am and what I want and then go from there.  Or is step one to admit I have a problem?

Uh Huh, I See

I learned a few things today at work about Fight Club:

1) One of my coworkers did not like it, and went as far to say that it was dumb.  I guess I can understand someone not liking it, but dumb????  And...

2) Jared Leto played the blonde fighter.  Yes he did, look it up.

Dean and I had a very heated argument about the the HPV vaccine today.  Apparently one of the original doctors that worked on the vaccine has come out and made some controversial comments about its efficacy.  Which I find to be very shocking because a vaccine like that could be a large part of your life's work.  While looking into this situation Dean was feeding me information he found online which I was flat out refuting (without actually having evidence myself to back up mind you).  He would read "quotes" and I would say "I don't believe it, she didn't say that."  Finally he found an article written by CBS which although might have its own slants, included parts of an interview with the Dr in question.  And finally as the words turned into direct quotes instead of paraphrased BS it all started to make a bit more sense.  She had indeed raised concerns about the impact of mass vaccinations, especially of young children.  And the rate of serious side effects on par with the rate of serious side effects of unchecked HPV.  Arguing that the drug is only effective on 5% of the strands of HPV isn't a real argument if they cover 75% of all cases.  It's blatant manipulation of statistics.  I contested that a drug cannot make it to market without stringent tests being done.  Years and years and years of R&D are required.  Maybe it does come down to Fight Club economics.  If the profit from producing the drug minus the estimated costs of lawsuits is a positive they will move ahead.  But that's what the FDA and other regulating bodies are there for right?  And not to rely too heavily on board game mythology, but if the CDC backs a drug I think I will tend to agree that they've done their homework.  This altercation that lasted for almost an hour.  I'm actually quite tired.

This discussion branched off of a talk we had with a customer that came in and told us he was cancelling his Crohn's treatment schedule with a private clinic and instead is opting for a 2hr treatment with a frequency adjusting machine, from which a non-doctor claimed a 98% chance of a full recovery.  As far as I'm concerned he might as well hedge his bets on a Q-Ray bracelet.  The Western medicine alternative would cost him over $800 every two months for the rest of his life.  So I guess a $150 shot in the dark is worth every penny.

Shizzle my Frizzle

Not much new and exciting going on.  I'm on the hunt to find the most perfect grapefruits.  I got a few from SuperStore a week or to ago and they were so juicy and so perfect.  I have yet to be able to find the same level of the juiciness and deliciousness.  It's disappointing.  I have a rather odd way of eating grapefruits.  I'm coming to find that almost everyone does.  My brother has a way he likes to cut them to get to the middle bits.  My parents used to always cut them in half and use the prickly spoons.  That's back when I thought they tasted like acid death.  But now, nom nom nom.  Anyways, I take about 5 minutes to skin every single slice down to the meat and then clean up the mess and eat the goods.  I developed an aversion to citrus skin at some point in my life.  Sometimes I can manage tangerines but usually it all makes me gag.  Sad, but at least there's a work around.

I did a new recipe tonight, and hot damn it's good.  Bok Choy Chicken Stir Fry!!  I added green onions cause I had some to use.  And I subbed minced ginger for powdered.  But only because my ginger was ready the for the garbagio.  I just took my first bite right now, majorly delicious.  I followed my usual pattern of picking a few key ingredients and then finding a recipe that required the least amount of pick-ups from the store.  We definitely have a winner.

http://www.marthastewart.com/897967/stir-fried-chicken-bok-choy

I'm also making nice progress on my scarf.  Almost done the first skein of each colour.  I also still need to track down a third for each, but I have a hot lead.  I also need to get working on those other darn resolutions.

A-Presto-A-Pesto

I repeated a little adventure in home cooking last night and whipped up a batch of pesto.  Last time I tried making it in a blender which was a challenge.  This time I had the magic bullet which wasn't perfect but much easier.  Last week I was in Cousin's Market and was taken aback by this beautiful large bag of fresh basil.  Normally any fresh basil I've purchased has been in a small plastic air tight container.  This was so appealing, and only $1.99!!  I picked it up with no idea what would become of it.  At any rate, I decided last night to chop it all up and make some pesto.  I threw it on top of some spaghetti last night, and tonight I'm going to do some pesto and goat cheese stuffed chicken.  That was the plan last night, but dang that chicken was frozen solid.  So that should be nice.  Of all of my resolutions, trying new recipes seems to be the only one I'm successfully accomplishing.  I need to get into my January book.  And work out.  And hang my wall art.  I got the Magritte up but have a few more to go.  I think I've decided on where I want a few other pieces.  We'll see, we'll see.  I'm also flirting with the idea of tacking up the subway buttons.  If I can make it look classy and it doesn't remind me of an undergrad residence room.

I had another no cavity dentist visit yesterday.  I'm getting better at this dental hygiene business.

It's been a fairly successful 2014 so far.  Pretty good.  A solid mediocre.  It's all kind of status quo.  And then out of nowhere someone asks you if you believe in Mermaids.  But then it's back to the quo again.

Bon Nuit!

**EDIT**
This meal looked yummy before and after baking.  I sharpened my knife right before I butterflied the breast.  Perfection.

Oops Out Of Time

Sim texted me this photo today. It's us in 1999.  And then there's the realization that I have known her longer than I haven't known her.  Life sure does creep up on you.

20,000 Blogs Under The Sea

I have very much enjoyed my time off this past week.  Like a complete weight was lifted off my shoulders.  I did go into work today and busted my booty for 5 hrs straight.  Luckily Dec 31 is not our year end, but month end is always busy.  And on top of that I had an email distribution to do.  The database is not completely up to date, so sifting through hundreds of clients and removing ones which are inappropriate took a bit of time.  And of course I left this task until the very end as I was very much dreading it.  We were waiting on boss approval for the final letter going out but it looked like he was in transit and wouldn't be able to respond.  Wanting to get out of the office asap, Dean gave me approval.  And just as I was about to send, an email came in from the boss with the stamp to go ahead.  It felt good having the real final nod, and it also felt good to have waited for his approval and not to have sent it seconds before he said yes.  Then I would have looked like a total dingus.  I also got to reveal to my boss a banking error I had made earlier in Dec.  She does the bank rec so I can't get away with any foolish mistakes.  I was waiting for the bank to correct my mistake, which they normally do, but it seems to have fallen into the too-bad-so-sad category, and we'll have to see what our bank rep says in the new year.  She said it was no biggie but it had been eating at my soul for almost two weeks and I'm happy to emotionally move on.

I ran a bunch of errands with Nikki after work.  After the bank deposit I swung by her place to pick her up.  Shoppers, LCBO, Home Depot, T&T, Food Basics, and Dollarama.  I didn't get home until about 7pm which was a full 12hrs since I had left for work.  Woofty.  Nik helped me pick out some caulking because YAAAAAY I need to recaulk my bathtub.  I am massively not looking forward to this.  I've heard it's easy, but I tend to take extremely simple tasks and turn them into total disaster shows.  Example, at T&T it took me a good 15 seconds of staring at the cart trying to figure out where the loonie went until Nik grabbed it from my hand and shoved it into the obvious (yet somehow hidden) slot.  How?  Why?  And how???  Also at the LCBO I almost cried foul when my gift card didn't work.  I went to Customer Service and said WTF-mate.  They said it was zero balance.  I asked if they could tell if it had ever had a balance and they said no.  Well first of all they're lying, if you look online you can see when and how much you have redeemed.  But secondly, when I did that I could see a full redemption from May 15, 2013.  There are two occasions for which I tend to buy alcohol.  NYE, and May 2-4.  So mystery solved, with minimal embarrassment.  I don't think they heard me yell, "Enjoy my $50 you thieving bastards."  All's well that ends well??  I'm going to go with yes.

Christmas was nice.  For once I wasn't the one causing problems and throwing tantrums, so that felt nice.  I could write an essay about the foibles of my family (myself included) but I shall refrain.  My mom and I rocked the G&M giant crossword.  It seemed to us to be a lot easier than years prior.  Not as many random proper name references.  One year we went over and over the clues and felt like we were making zero progress.  And this year it was like butter.  The answers just poured out of us.  I feel a great deal of satisfaction working on crosswords and figuring out the answers.  I think it started at U of T, when I would pick up the Star and do their crossword, 2-3 times a week.  If I got stumped I would text Ausma, "Coup D'____", and she'd write back, "ETAT".  And that fondness for crosswords carries on to this day.  Except for dumb ones that I can't figure out lol.

I have tomorrow and Wednesday off.  It's like a mid-week weekend.  This xmas season has been so amazing for days off.  But I guess the reason I started this post was to share two photos.  First, my mom framed a poster I bought from the AGO.   Perhaps I was fooled into believing the rights to reproduce prints was being taken back by the family descendants.  Either way I'm glad I got a copy.  And since it's no longer rolled up in a cardboard tube, Sim we are officially wall art twins.

And also a few weeks ago I brought my varsity arena bench inside, as it was starting to age rapidly.  It has found a new home in my front lobby.

Right now it's sitting on a layer of drawer insert from IKEA.  I will at some point give the edges a trim so it looks less tacky.  And yes, I do need to physically move the bench to use the front closet, but I actually don't use it that often.

I have a short to-do list for my two day break.  Continue cleaning this place up.  Use my brown bananas to make something delicious.  Finish the book I'm into so I can start fresh Jan 1.  I need to make some more laundry detergent.  I'm hoping use of a nice mandarin fragrant soap will add a much needed pleasant scent.  The previous bar of soap I used was rather bitter smelling.  But it was called laundry soap so I had to try it.  Clean out my car?  Not likely tomorrow but maybe on Wednesday.  My parents actually got me a little car garbage bin that attaches to the head rest.  I desperately need somewhere to throw my garbage because I currently just give things a blind heave over the shoulder.  More than ever I feel that it's time to make a new year count.  This just might be my year.

So happy new year loyal readers, all three of you.

2013, out.

Dance I Like The Way You Move

I think Simona is right when she says there's something about winter that makes the soul want soup.  Nice, fresh, homemade soup.  I still have about 8 lbs of carrots to go through and another soup wasn't going to hurt anyone.

When my parents moved and gifted me their smaller slow cooker I looked up about 8 recipes I wanted to try out.  I had some chicken thawed out, and all the right stock veggies leftover.  So I pulled up the slow cooked Chicken Stew recipe on my desktop and it was go time:

http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/food/recipes/slow-cooker-chicken-stew-recipe

It was tasty but not my favourite.  I don't think it helped that I used chicken breasts instead of thighs.  They just don't hold up the same to the slow cooking.  Or maybe I was supposed to put it on 6 hours on low?  Everything was kinda mushy and I even finished it 30 mins early.  Oh well right, that's how we learn how to do things properly.

Adam's on board for the January long read.  He's yet to pick a book, but there is still time.  I tend to just take a look at my massive stacks of unread books and try to pick a relatively big one, that would otherwise intimidate me.  I actually haven't read much of anything in the past six months so this reboot is sorely needed.

I cleaned up a bunch of cardboard boxes that needed to be broken down and recycled.  My den has turned into a dumping ground of sorts.  Only having one closet leaves the possibility for a lot of crap to be left out in the open.  I took a lamp from my parents because they were going to get rid of it.  I think it's a nice lamp, just need to find a spot for it.  And when mom showed up at my office to drop it off it came with a side lamp.  But she stole the lampshade to reuse at her place, and passed along a rather unflattering one.  It's not ugly, but it's a bit deco.  And when I say deco I mean it looks like it belonged to Ron Burgandy.  Maybe I can thing of a way to make lemonade.  Make-work project?  I know I mentioned my recent furniture hand-me-downs before, but I forget how much was said.  I also took two bedside tables, that actually fit perfectly (with an inch to spare) underneath my desk.  And now I don't have to buy a drawer unit.  My mom wanted to get me the drawer unit that comes with the desk but a) it was more expensive than the desk (thank you Crate & Barrel for being completely absurd) and b) I just didn't like it.  It was one big drawer which would have had very little purpose or use for me.  My mom was getting rather pushy about it but I shut it down.   I told her under no circumstance did I want a stupid drawer unit with only one drawer.  3 drawers was my minimum.  Well, these bed side units have one drawer each.  But I guess that's the sacrifice one must make for shit being free.

I finished up the Cuban Rum.  It did the trick, but it wasn't the best tasting.  I'm not a huge rum fan to start with.  And even though it's less than the standard 40%, somehow it tasted like a much higher proof.  Like that time Nikki snuck a shot of 151 into my beer and I sadly had to dump it proclaiming it had gone bad while she and her friend snickered.  Well it took me three Fridays but it's finally done.  Normally liquor casts a spell on me, and makes me want more and stronger drinks each time.  This was weirdly a challenge.  But I finished, what's my prize??  We'll have to see what happens next Friday, if I'm suddenly struck with the unexplained desire to drink.  Maybe that's my prize, the gift of drinking alone.

I've been telling myself for the past week that I need to clean up around here.  I do bits and pieces but it seems to be a losing battle.  Maybe tomorrow will be my day.  And I will do ALL THE THINGS.

Soup, And Other Important Topics

Last night was a soup success!!  I've gotten an early start on my recipe resolution, and last night made a nice cabbage soup.  I saw cabbage on sale, and then thought about what would make a nice cabbage soup, so I picked up some potatoes and bacon.  When I got home I got to searchin.  There were a few contenders, but to be honest most of them were just about the same.  I didn't want a thick soup because the extra step of blending would have made the task seem insurmountable.  At any rate, I settled with this one:

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/soup-recipes/cabbage-and-bacon-soup-with-garlic-bread

I skipped the bread and just ate a crusty bun to the side.  And I added carrot and celery.  Celery because it makes for a great tasting stock.  Carrots for the same reason but also because I recently purchased a 10lbs bag of carrots (for less than $2) and I need to start using them in my meals, post haste.  I must say, I do love me some cabbage soup.  There's just something about the consistency of boiled cabbage.  That sounds wrong, but it's so right.  YERM.  I did make one colossal mistake, but that being said it was still a fairly large success.  The instructions said to add the bacon at the end but I thought I would be smart, or my own personal interpretation of smart, and add the bacon at the beginning of the boil.  I thought it would add some level of bacon infusion that would be insanely brilliant.  Instead the boiling process ruined the consistency of the bacon and left very little to be desired in terms of baconinity.

I've been rewatching IT Crowd on Netflix.  I usually get around to it every year or so.  Never lets me down.  In fact I would go one step further and say that it's one of my favourite shows.  I was actually inspired to start my rewatch in a less than flattering way.  I was facebook creepy one of our customers and they had posted this photo:

 

I wish I could draw like that, I really do.  Maybe next year I'll leave some room in the resolutions for artistic improvement.

I saw Adam on Monday.  He found himself at Sherway after work so rang me up for some company.  His lady friend is returning from India tomorrow so I'm getting some Adam-time in now before he's fully occupado.  I made my way over, and we did some light shopping and got a coffee.  Not actually in Sherway but out-and-around, in the general vicinity.  Knowm' sayin.  So he calls me and for whatever reason my phone rings once and is done.  I love the feature on my phone that texts me my voice messages so in seconds I see his message is to call him, which I do, and he responded with something ridiculous like, "Go for Adam."  Reminded me of the calls I would take when I worked operations in Calgary.  If the right person was calling I'd just pick up and with a somewhat Chicagoan accent say, "Talk to me."

I'm looking into taking ASL classes.  I've always wanted to learn how to sign.  The extent of my current knowledge is an extremely rudimentary alphabet.  Last year during the Toque campaign we sold a toque to a deaf lady.  I would have loved to have been able to have properly communicated.  Though I did manage to sign a thank you at the last minute. I also remember the man Jackie and I met at the Arms.  I think  I managed to get our names out and that was about it, then we switched to pen and paper.  I've kicked it all off with an inquiring email about dates and times and cost.  We'll see what they come back with, and maybe this is something I'll be moving fwd with.

I desperately need time off of work.  We close up on Tuesday at noon and don't have to come back until the following Monday.  Then we're closed on Tues-Wed.  It's going to be awesome.  Technically it's only been 4 mos since I took my last day off, and maybe it's just because this 5 day break is so close that  I'm getting the itch.

I've picked my Jan long read novel.  TBA when I'm done, as if it's exciting to anyone but myself.  I picked up the last of my xmas gifts.  I didn't really go all out at all this year.  Not at all.  I might top off each gift with a $30 gift cert for Canada Helps.  Let the fam make a little donation to their charity of choice. 

I've really been having a great time with my managing my finances with the program I picked up.  Everything is pre-budgeted and this holiday season was a breeze.  I'm building up my reserves dedicated across the board.  I had a few hundred for presents, a few hundy put aside for random car shit.  Which lets face is, is never much less than $400-$500 unless it's routine maintenance.  Once my reserves are built up then the savings really begins.  And by savings I mean passing almost every penny onto my mortgage. (Da-da dah dah)(Da-da dah dah).

I have a new home project.  I need to re-caulk the tub in the en suite.  Rosco has offered to come over if I feel I'm in a jam.  But his second recommendation is to study google videos and get er done.  I think I'm going to go with the latter, and then when I have sufficiently ruined my tub I'll call him.

That's all.  Done.  Done like dinner.  Aint no thing but a chicken wing.
JULIE OUT.

Are You There Internet? It's Me Julie

I don't have much to report, but I'm in a rather good mood today so thought I would type it out.  As always it feels amazing to finish on Fridays at noon.  I went to Canadian Tire and picked up some new wipers.  I feel intimidated doing things for the first time.  I'm not going to be completely anti-feminist and call them guy tasks, but if I had someone around they are tasks I would gladly share/avoid/delegate/not do.  I've never changed a wiper before in my life.  Perhaps once during a car check-up I okayed new ones to go on.  But never by my own hand.  So I've never had to pick out wipers before.  It's rather intimidating.  I wasn't sure if the ones I was getting would fit on properly, or if I could even manage it myself.  After failing to find any useful information in my car's manual I texted Nikki for support.  She's taken on a lot of car duties herself over the years and we've actually talked about her obsession with wipers before.  I've been driving around with the tip of my passenger wiper peeling back, so it just dangles from the rest of it, and leaves a nice thick unsqueegeed patch when I turn them on.....for over a year.  It can sometimes be bothersome, but it's liveable.  But now that snow is coming, and it's borderline unsafe when it rains, I took the plunge.  An almost $50 plunge might I add.  Shameless at work I asked Dean,  "How do I buy windshield wipers?  Is there a brand that's good, or are they all about the same anyways?"  He gave some half-assed advice and now I've got a pair of mid-ranged wipers waiting for me to give them a go tomorrow morning.  I also picked up a new air filter.  And I was going to get some stocking stuffers for my parents - a specialty key for them to cut their new house key on - but I didn't know you needed the key in hand for them to properly size the specialty key.  I've since called my mom and tasked her to go to CT in Cobourg and buy her own stocking stuffer and I'll pay her back.  Wish I could have kept it a surprise, but alas.

I'm going to a party tomorrow, but am going to wait until the weather settles to decide how to get there.  To drive or not to drive.  The good news is, it's less than a 15 minute walk from the GO station, so I can always bus it if need be.  19 would take me right there.  I'm excited to see Dom, but I'm still shocked that he's engaged.  Not that I am particularly involved in Dom's life these days but, it's still a shocker.

I had a fairly amusing text with Adam a while back.  He got a new car.  A cute little bright blue Nissan.  It smells amazing inside.  It syncs with his phone.  It...is...awesome.  When I pulled up next to him I unrolled my window and just blurted excited words towards him.  I found out later he wasn't ignoring me, but the tint required to be not rolled down for 3 days after being installed.  Adam recalled a funny story about getting out of his car to order at a drive thru.  In his defense it was in the wee hours of the morning so going in on foot wasn't an option.  I sent him an admittedly dumb text a few days later, and was quite amused with his response:

Julie: You would not believe who just bought the sickest car.....YOU DID lol
*3 days later*
Adam: Woooo!! Lol delay expert
Julie: Lol who is this?
Adam: Uncle Leo
Adam: ?

I recognized the reference, but must admit I had to google it to appreciate its hilarity in full.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSrVhfNK2So

That's all for me.  It might be another dirty Cuban rum night.  I really just need to get rid of this stuff, and a waster of alcohol I am not.  My liver needs something to do other than sit there and look pretty.

Byeee.

Bei'rslved

I've been thinking already about my resolutions for next year. And I think I need to start them a little bit early. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Run of the mill resolutions. But good to say them out loud, increase accountability and such (minimally).

1) Start working out, and stick to it this time.
2) Play more guitar. Lots more.
3) Keep up with new recipes, maybe two a month?
4) Reading. I want to try to read a book a week this coming year. Excluding January which will be dedicated to my one long book of choice. I'm flirting with Catch-22. I don't know if it's long enough to qualify but I think the judges will bend the rules just this once.
5) Keep it clean. Car, apartment, life in general.
6) Hang all of my wall art. Post haste. Have no fears about making holes because for once I own the walls.
7) Plan something awesome. TBD

But that's all for now.  Tonight - I drink. Something I haven't done in a very very long time. Rosco brought me some Rum back from Cuba that has been sitting in my trunk for 6 months. And soon it will be in my belly.

Little Red Hot Tamales

There are some things in life that amuse me to no end, and this odd clip from the Jimmy Fallon show is just one of those things.  Aside from the singing, my favourite moment is at 2:15 when Mandy Patinkin just barely musters the ability to say "I'm proud of you."  And every other moment they break character to laugh.  It just kills me.  This has unfortunately just added to my strange obsession with Patinkin.

Too Far

I got an email from Chapters the other day, and I had some time at work so I was doing some browsing.  Thinking about some books I might be interested in reading.  And just yesterday I get an email from Chapters recommending some books to me, and it was the 4-5 books I was browsing at work.  I don't even know how they did that, I guess since I linked to their page through my email it kept a cookie of that?

I find that to be utterly despicable.  A disgusting business practice I want nothing to do with.  It would be like if you went into the store and someone followed you around and took Polaroids of every book you picked up and then mailed the photos to you and said, "Thought you might be interested in some of these books."  F*****g creepsters.  I'm a big fan of Chapters.  I should correct that say I was a big fan.  But after this display they can stuff it.

My House My Rules

I found myself rather annoyed today at work with this kid.  We were somehow talking about Banff National Park and I mentioned how expensive it was, unless you were just driving through, then it's free.  Obviously, it's a park fee not a road toll.  And transport trucks and passing cars need not pay.  He goes, "Yes you do have to pay, unless the toll guy was just ripping us off."  To which I replied, "No you don't, only if you're stopping in the park."  To which he replied, "Yes you do."  So he left, I googled and confirmed what I already knew.  Next time hew as up front I said "Buddy, you don't have to pay, only if you plan on stopping your car in the park.  Because if you stop and leave your car and they find your car without a pass you are EFFED."  To which he replied, "So we're both right."  And I said, "No, I'm right."  And he got all offended.  Then one of the other guys talked about his experience driving up through to Jasper and the question came up which park is larger, so I walked over to our giant Canadian wall map to look.  I assumed Jasper since I think it stretches up the Icefields Highway, but I saw no clear defining borders between the four main parks.  And he walks passed me in a completely passive-aggressive asshole tone says "Oh we need to look at the map."  Or some pissy thing like that.

I usually don't take a hard stance on something unless I feel very confident in what I'm saying.  Which is almost never.  Then the other guys told me to chill out.  Can't win!!

800 envelopes stuffed, 1000 to go.  Probably won't get done in time but for the amount I took I'm sure one day late won't be the end of the world.

I have an embarrassing admission.  I think listening to top 40 at work all day has affected me, and not in a good way.  Now I'm going to preface my next statement by saying I think she's a dirty disgusting human and we'd all be better off if she disappeared into oblivion.  But I love the Miley Cyrus & Jimmy Fallon & The Roots acapella version of her song Can't Stop.  She actually has a pretty amazing voice, which is too bad that she has wasted her talent by being an intolerable wretch.  The guy in the bottom right frame is actually quite amusing to watch.  I know the lyrics are garbage, but I just...can't stop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mjvfnUAfyo

That feels good to say out loud, and now if you'll excuse me I think I shall go spiral into a pit of shame.

I'm A Lady You See, Pay Me No Heed

Don't do a double take, this is actually a new post.  For reals.  I'm ashamed of my absence, but I'm back for hopefully a more permanent stay.  Sim and I were email chatting about our blogs today.  It may seem weird but mine means a lot to me.  I've actually been blogging for over 10 years but never stayed in the same spot for quite this long.  3 1/2 yrs so far.  And what started as a successful way to track my trip out East has turned into something thumbs-up for me.

I just got home from shopping at Costco with Nikki.  Her membership ran out last month, and since I got my own membership as an amazing work-perk, I now hold the key to entering.  A new one just opened today up at Dixie and Dundas.  That intersection officially has everything.  And little known fact (read: I didn't know it), it also used to be home to the first Toronto IKEA location.  My mom told me about how she used to drive in from Leaside to shop there, back in the 80s.  I got a notice in the mail about it opening, and what the first week deals were going to be. 40 double rolls of toilet paper for $11.99.  No your eyes do not deceive you.  Reg price: $18.99.  I usually sit around and wait for them to go their regular sale of $14.99, but since I have the space now I bought THREE.  I think my toilet paper situation is covered for a good while.  I also have a toilet paper brand preference - don't judge - and this was that brand so win-win-win.  We walked the cart back to our cars and unloaded.  And I took the cart back to the outdoor cart thing (unlike our lazy neighbour who left his in between two parking spots - jerk).  And as I'm pushing the cart in I feel as if I have stepped on something.  I look down and it's a gooey squeeze pack of apple sauce.  I don't have any on me so it's no big deal.  And then I looked at Nikki who was standing three feet behind me and she has apple sauce ALL over her shoes and up one of her pant legs.  It had squeezed out and flown three feet to the exact spot she was standing.  Total OMG/I'm so sorry moment.   But fairly hilarious, from where I was standing.

What else is new, right.  I'm currently working on a mailing project for Raising the Roof.  They have two main mail outs a year.  Last season I took a bunch home and stuffed them at home.  This year I got a little ambitious and told them to give me as many as they wanted.  Because the information pamphlet boxes come in 900s I got two of those and 2000 of the the rest of the materials to match.  So far I have stickered, stuffed, sealed and stamped 600.  The mail out goal is Friday so we'll see how much I can get done before then.  I actually don't mind it so much.  It takes just over an hour to do 100.  I have to refocus myself, I have lost my focus.  I find myself mildly unfocused and unwilling to refocus on the focusing issue at hand.  The only solution is to focus harder on focusing.  Step 1: Focus.  Step 2: Repeat Step 1.  I think I can do it.

For anyone that knows Sonia, she's married now.  She actually had her first ceremony at Lake Louise with just the families.  The photos are so gorgeous.  She's wearing this hot gold sequin dress.  They both looked smokin.  And it's probably one of the most, if not the most, beautiful sites in Canada so well done Son.  Her second ceremony was downtown at a fancy building beside St Lawrence Market.  It was fun seeing some of the girls from high school.  And then I totally wiped out on a flower petal on the ground and threw my gingerale all over the floor.  It was definitely an all-time top ten classy moment.

Adam just got back from a 2 1/2 week trip to India.  I like to travel vicariously through him, but I think that is just one you have to do on your own.  He said the cities were a shit-show but the rural parts of India were amazing.  I saw some photos and he wasn't lying.  It makes sense if you think about it, geographically.  The Eastern coast looks just like what I would imagine Thailand to be like.  I probably wouldn't have the cash flow to do that for a long time.  I'm still mildly obsessed with making mortgage pre-payments.  Any time I have some available cash it all goes on to that.  Though my budgeting software helps me set aside money for other long term ventures like xmas gifts and car repairs.  The amount of interest that you can save by cutting off the top early is phenomenal, but I need to find a balance between saving on interest and enjoying life.

One last thing - I totally went to the Leafs-Islanders game last week.  A vendor came by and dropped off some ticks, and it went down the totem pole until me and they were still available.  HURRAY.  Centre ice, 16th row, no big deal. I've never been centre before.  The only irritating part is that they pass these GIGANTIC flags over those sections during the national anthem.  And I pretty much missed out on seeing the guy sing O Canada, though I could still hear him.  He was a tenor or something operatic.  The guy beside us was about 6'4, so as the flag passed over head Nikki and I jokingly flapped our hands like infants trying to get at something kept out of reach by the adults.  We won 5-2 by the way, it was awesomeness.

And that's all.  Not much exciting going on.  Though I have been reminded that maybe I don't need anything exciting to flip on over to the bloggie and let my consciousness spew out through my fingers.  That's a nice visual.

And on that note.

Fare thee well.

Old Habits Die Hard, Unless You Kill Them

I only just now realized right at this moment, 5 mos after moving in, that I have been refraining from taking a shower when the washing machine is going.   That didn't stop me from running the dishwasher concurrently but that's only so I can get both loud noises out of the way at once.  I had become so accustomed to not getting full water flow from the bathroom tap until the tank had filled up.  Or being stranded in the shower if the rinse cycle came on.  Life after Winnett is good.

Shake Shake Shake, Senora

After about 5 yrs of wanting one, I have finally bought myself a spice rack.  And I love it!  I thought 12 would be enough but sadly one of the spices has already been Plutoed.  I have an idea of who gets cut next if I happen to pick up a more enticing spice.  We shall see, we shall see.  I'm pretty stoked about my purchase.

And speaking of new things, my mom gave me a housewarming present.  It wasn't a surprise, she included me in the shopping process which I appreciated.  Because I can be persnickety, and get upset if I'm gifted something expensive that I'm not fond of.  Anyways, below is a catalogue shot of the desk.

This thing weighed 88 lbs in the box.  And if you don`t know how much 88 lbs, it`s the equivalent of a metric fuck-ton.  My mom and I had to shimmy it from my trunk to the elevator and then in an attempt to not leave marks on the carpet we did several short lifts from the elevator to my door.  It was a really quick 10 min assembly.  The package came with the alan key required.  Having a desk again is pretty sweet.  Now I just need a floor mat so I don`t roll the life out of this hardwood floor.  And if you're still reading, and I don't blame you if you're not, below is a link to my recipe website.  If I could use an FTP login properly I'd have a really sick recipe website hosted by Sim, but this will do for now.

https://www.myrecipebook.com/recipes/_JulieG

Schnoodles.

Huh?

I'm so directionally challenged that last night I was taking the Hwy 10 exit and I convinced myself I was in a lane heading in the wrong direction, so I switched lanes and drove South instead of North.  Even when I'm right I correct myself to be wrong.  When I first started driving I used to always get really flustered when I had to choose either 401E or 401W.  I eventually solved this by always asking myself if my destination was in the direction of Halifax or Vancouver, but now it just comes naturally.  Thank goodness.  Now if I could just fix the rest of me :/

I must say though, I am very good at renavigating.  If I drive somewhere once I'm really good at being able to find my way back.  Unless it involves an impromptu left/right dilemma.

It feels like forever since I've had a weekend to myself, but it's just been one long weekend for which I was a captive.  This weekend belongs to me.  And I got so excited I double booked.  But instead of cancelling I'm just going to make them both work!  And attempt to do a massive clean-up to boot.  I need to find a better solution to floor cleaning than scrubbing on my hands and knees.  But for the size of the tile space it's working alright, for now.

Second of all, whoa.

Is there a weekly quota on consumption slow cooked meatballs?  If there is, I have surpassed it, and perhaps lapped that mark.  I had plans to meet up with Adam on Friday.  The intent of the meeting was to retrieve my crazy cat lady bag filled with Christmas decorations back from him.  It has really almost been a year since his housewarming on Bloor.  Time sure does fly.  I had assumed we would meet right after I got off work on Friday, but he suggested 1:30pm instead.  I thought I could be a super woman and get all of my cooking done in time for me to leave and meet in time but I was sorely mistaken.  I thought any slow cook meal would be a bunch of chopping, a bit of finesse and voila.  Turns out the meatballs needed to be rolled and then cooked 8 mins on each side.  Then the onions in the sauce had to be sauteed and then brought to a boil with the pasta sauce.  And once all of that was done a careful layering of sauce followed by meatballs, followed by sauce until the slow cooker was full.  I actually filled it really really close to the brim, but I like cooking dangerously.

I finally finished about 75 mins later and had to wait until Adam's next free time which was at 3:30pm.  We met up at a plaza on North Queen which I didn't know existed.  There is a Marshalls and a Tim's and a bunch of other stuff.  We sat in his car as he recounted his tale of a fender bender and his trip plans for India.  I'm only jealous of one of them, and I will let you guess on that one.  I felt kind of pathetic, as my only major news was my recent completion of a new slow cooker recipe.  His bender was pretty bad.  If he goes over a gnarly speed bump the whole front just might fall off.  I had no words for him.  Only an expression of my understanding of his grief.  Owning and maintaining a vehicle can be one of the most stressful things in life, next to standard biggies (death, marriage, money, moving, health, etc.).  There aren't many other purchases that steadily lose their value while costing you hundreds of dollars a month, with the potential for additional thousands at a moment's notice.  And knowing when to let go of a car is also tough.  Calculating the exact moment when you have maximized its financial potential. Being ready to drop another set of Gs with not much warning.  I would have held onto the Civic a bit longer if it didn't have random convulsions while I was on the hwy.  I might have been able to sell it but the e-brake was disconnected, the suspension arm was shot, and apparently the gear shift cord was moments away from snapping.  I would have had to have used my spare key to manually release and shift gears every time.  And my sparks may or may not have been almost completely shot.  Hence the convulsions.  I took an educated guess that it would fail its safety, so I junked it.  I do become attached, regardless of short-comings.  I still miss the Voyager. 0-60 in just under a minute.  Gananoque to Whitby in 10 hrs.  But I'm going to stop writing about this now.  The thought of car failures makes me very upset. 

Speaking of writing, NANWRIMO is coming up again Nov 1.  Last year was an utter failure for me.  I wanted to see how much I could motivate myself.  I think I wrote about 200 words about hating the receptionist at my old job and then gave up.  They want you to go into it completely fresh but I've considered starting a hush-hush brainstorming session now.  Never having written anything in my life before starting from zero is not my ideal.  We'll see how it goes this year.  Probably just about the same as last.

But back to the beginning, the meatballs!  My first slow cooker meal was a total success.  I tried a meatball after it was cooked and before it was slow cooked and it was already the bomb.  I had a good feeling about it.  Tomorrow I'm cooking up some Jambalaya for the first time.  I got the wrong sausage but my mom assured me it won't ruin it, just change the spice level.  Maybe one of these days I will invest in a dutch oven.  I still can't say or read that word without laughing.  Thank you Ren & Stimpy.

If the jamb is any good I'll post the recipe.

JULIE OUT.