Cold November Rain
It’s no secret I hate November. It’s dark. It’s cold. It’s rainy. Within a couple of days of going back to standard time, I’m ready for spring or at the very least a week in some warm tropical climate. I turn into myself and prefer staying home rather than going out.
Because I’m home a lot more, I start cooking. I’m talking comfort food hereI’m talking about this weird spurt of domesticity I go through. I start cooking. I think a lot of is that I start craving hot lunches and just want to be able to warm something up at work rather than going out. So I tend to make a lot of soups, stews and other things that can be easily warmed up.
Today’s creation is Acorn Squash Soup. I had a couple of very large acorn squashes hanging around that Darren’s mom had given me and this seemed like the right thing to do with it. Tomorrow for lunch it’ll be paired with a multigrain roll and probably a salad.
How do you find comfort when it gets dark and cold?
The Garden of Neglect
My mother talks to her plants. Really. And they thrive like nobody’s business.
In our townhouse complex, each unit has a small flower bed on the lower level (at least on our side of the complex). We’ve had a bit of a problem with soil erosion in ours, because that side of the grounds slants downwards towards the river. The gardeners never did anything with it except trim the rhododendron there a bit and I never did anything with it because me? Garden? Internets, I have killed a SPIDER PLANT.
It’s not so much that I have a black thumb, it’s just that plants are not on my radar. Give me a nice silk plant and I’ll keep it alive, but that’s about it. I constantly forget to water them. For example, here are my herbs on the upper patio:
Sad, yes? After a summer of not watering, my parsley is dead (which is fine – we’re not huge fans anyways), my thyme is struggling, the chives are drying out and the basil is a tough thing and defying all expectations and semi thriving and even blossoming:
Anyways, for some reason this year I thought it would be a bright idea to plant a vegetable garden. Darren’s dad built me a planter box to sit in the space in our flower bed that did not grow anything. My dad lined the boards with some sort of liner (to prevent the arsenic treatment on the boards from leaching into the soil – have I mentioned my family is a bit paranoid?). We bought four big bags of soil and filled it and I had a nice plot of dirt.
The first warm, sunny day in May, my mom and I went to the nursery and picked up some starter plants (it was too late to start seeds). I grabbed a bunch of kale, something labeled a spinach (but I think it’s a chard), something I thought was dill (but turned out to be fennel), spaghetti squash plants, pepper plants, celery, lettuce, and a couple of bush beans. Mom helped me plant them and then we had the coldest, wettest summer ever. At some point I threw some plant food on it, and watered it a couple of times on the rare sunny days we did have
The slugs got to my bush beans right quick. Then they got to the lettuce. I had one left before I went to BlogHer but it has since vanished. I was totally stunned when the kale started taking over my little plot.
I have since harvested about 6 loads of kale like this:
If you find you have a shortage of kale, please contact me. We like kale, but not that much.
And I watched the lettuce wither and die. And the dill because I planted in a sunny spot and then didn’t water it. Darren asked me how I managed to kill dill because dill is a WEED. It grows EVERYWHERE. I reminded him about the spider plant.
Note, there is some fennel in that photo above – the blossoms are fennel blossoms (which the bees, incidentally) love. My fennel also started growing out of control and even though I do not know precisely what to do with fennel, I have lots.
Over the summer, my squash started blooming. It defied all my attempts to kill it through neglect when I realized yesterday I have four squash growing and several blossoms trying to become squash. This one is by far the largest so far:
This one is the teenager of the bunch, with a bit of attitude and has taken up residence on the privacy fence between myself and my neighbour:
And then there were the peppers which were planted in the wrong spot (they should have been planted where the dill was). Yet they insist on trying to avoid plant-death by Nicole.
Defiant little buggers. I suppose this is just an advance on when the Poptart becomes a teenager.
So how does your garden grow? Any defiant plant that did the opposite of what you wanted?
Budgetary Fat-Trimming
So we’ve been spending too much money lately. Seriously. While part of it is our fault, some of it isn’t. See when the Provincial Government increased minimum wage, we ended up having to pay our nanny more. We don’t object to this because the Poptart is beyond happy. But it has led to a substantial increase in our monthly costs.
So some things we’re doing to save some moola:
1. We cancelled cable. For us, TV is mainly just background noise which means it’s on most of the time. The Poptart really only has a few shows she likes to watch. Over. And Over. And Over. Again. And again. And again (thank god it’s not all Wiggles). Also, I had an issue when she started singing along with McDonald’s commercials. The earliest the cable company can come out to do what they need to do is July 18. This will save us about $50/month for something we’re not really using. So $600/year or so.
2. We upgraded our cel phone plans. No, wait! Really! We’re going to cancel the landline. We have 10 “favourites” each which means we have free calling to 20 numbers anywhere in Canada. I’ve only filled up half of mine and I think Darren has a couple left on his. This will cut down our expenses by almost $40/month. We both got a promotional rate that’s good forever (they use it to attract new customers but you can often get them to add it to an existing account)
3. Mortgage: When I noticed VanCity was running a promotion for a 5 year mortgage at 3.59% I called them about it. Our mortgage is up this November anyways and although we’re only paying 5.35%, we’re pretty sure that if we renew now, we can get a better interest rate. They informed me that the promotion would run out in a couple of days so we’d have to apply right! now! Or by Wednesday, in order to lock in the rate. The agent told me to call TD (where our mortgage is now) and ask them about penalties. So I called and asked and, to put it lightly, TD dropped their pants. They informed me that at this point penalties would be about $3000 (ouch) including some sort of reinvestment fee (because, you know, they don’t make enough profit). Then they offered me 3.69%, early renewal, 5 years, no penalties and effective July 1. This saves us almost $200/month. Next up: making lunches every day.
In which I channel Sunshine
My friend Sunshine has this habit of winning a lot of contests. A lot. Of the ones I recall: a year’s supply of shampoo, various movie and theatre tickets, a trip to New Zealand (yes, really), and probably some other trips somewhere that I don’t remember. She wins. A lot. And she deserves it.
And I guess the key is that the more you enter, the more you win. So I’ve been channelling Sunshine and entering stuff lately. However I find that I am truly a parent now when it comes to winning.
On Saturday, I was at Save-on Foods getting burger buns and some other things and I saw they had Island Farms ice cream on sale. It’s our favourite so I bought two.
When I got to the cashier, she told me that if I bought a pie as well, I could enter a draw to win a freezer. I went to get one (because really, who doesn’t like pie?) and they were out. I told her that and she gave me an entry anyways. And promptly forgot that I entered.
The next day I got home from other stores and put the toddler down for a nap when my phone rang. I won the damn freezer. It’s a smallish one (6 sq ft or so) and fits well in the corner of my kitchen.
And I am ecstatic. Now I can separate my other frozen goods from meats, etc.
My kitchen looks absolutely insane now: two freezers, a wine cooler (full of juice – not wine – and cheese strings because it was on sale and I stocked up), and a tall chair with the garbage can on it because other wise the Poptart uses it as a drum.
And I couldn’t be happier about it.
How to tell you’re a grown-up
Pre-Poptart, we moved into our 2000 square foot townhouse, and fairly quickly found out it took us two hours, both, on the weekend to clean the house. So that’s 4 people hours whose time is valued at A Fair Amount (AFA) and A Fair Amount More (AFAM). So if you do the math, that’s something along the lines of 2*(AFA) + 2*(AFAM) which is more than what it costs to hire a maid service. So we did. And It Was The Best Thing Ever.
The house came with a beast of a built-in vacuum – a Brute, if you will (that’s the brand name), so I’d given my upright (a Dirt Devil. It was purple) to Katie because she needed one. Because we hired the maid service and they brought their own vacuums, we used the built-in maybe 6 times? Then once again when painters came in and really never paid attention to it.
Then I up and had a kid, and went on maternity leave and there went the disposable income (aka – goodbye, maid service. and second car, but given the choice? I’d have kept the maid service). My parents bought us a roomba, which saved us, and we used the built-in a couple of times for stairs and etc. Then we noticed it wasn’t working so well. We pulled the cover off the hose (and that? is a bitch to get on and off – think a condom that’s open on both ends. Or a sausage casing) and it was basically split end to end.
We cut the ends off the hose, tucked them away and made do with borrowing our neighbour’s upright occasionally for the stairs. And threw away the busted hose. I put an item on my to do list of “buy a vacuum hose”.
Then our nanny got here, and I went back to work, and it kept getting pushed to the bottom of the list. When my parents came down a couple of weeks ago to chauffeur me around when I had my hand sliced open, we took off to the Big Orange DIY Home Improvement store to look at vacuum hoses. And hummed and hawed and left it. Because it was too much of a Big Decision and there’s a reason why we shouldn’t do home improvement projects.
AND THEN my mom asked me what I want for Christmas. “Pajamas!” I said. “A million dollars! or three! or if you can’t swing that, then a new vacuum hose!” because really, other than winning Lotto Max, I don’t need anything.
So after a lot of back and forth between dad and myself, he did some research and found a vacuum supply shop in Langley. When they came down yesterday, dad went and looked at the canister and plugged some hole and gyprock dust spurted out some other hole, and dad started grousing about the Status of the Vacuum Canister and how Dust Should Not Touch the Motor and How Could you Let this Happen DAUGHTER? (because we shouldn’t do home improvement projects). Then he cut a hole in the ceiling and fixed our leaking shower (another story). And took off with the beater bar (for the carpet, get out of the gutter you’re crowding me).
And came back today with a new vacuum hose, and a modified beater bar so it would fit on the new hose.
So it seems our vacuum is older than our house. How that happened, I have no idea, but the damn thing works like a dream. Based on the following attibutes:
- it’s powerful (it will send you to Oz if you’re not careful)
- it’s butt ugly (seriously, it’s blue with a metal grille on the bottom)
- the motor is sealed into it’s own compartment so it’s protected from dust
- it’s butt ugly
I think it’s an industrial model. See, the guy who owned the place before us? Worked for BC Hydro. And I wouldn’t be surprised if this is some model from them that they retired.
But damn, do my stairs look good.
And it is perfect. I am so happy to have it. I don’t think I realized how much this was bugging me. I think that this means I’m a grown-up now.
So when did you know you were a grown-up?
Boom. Done.
I finally surfaced from:
- the pile of paper on my desk at work (mostly)
- a contract (which I love working, but damn, this one was difficult)
- November darkness (okay, it’s still dark but at least it’s not November)
- My last course ever (and I got my paper in 2 days early after spending 2 hours cutting 1500 hundred words out, because apparently I am verbose and wrote an extra 50% of the maximum word count)
I just have to make it through this week and then I am off work from December 20 to January 5. The last few weeks have been excruciatingly difficult at work; morale generally is plunging and I can’t wait for this break. I have enough stuff at work driving me slightly insane that I don’t need the Christmas stress.
I dropped a comment on Amber’s blog last week about not getting stressed out over Christmas. Despite having more stuff to do this year because of a certain Poptart, it’s not that bad.
This was the deal: Darren and our Nanny would decorate the house for Christmas. I would arrange for Christmas presents under the tree. Shopping? I can do that. Now, what did you want for Christmas, dear and Nanny?
Nanny: outfitted with winter clothes from Mark’s; plus some of those red Canada Mittens and a stocking of stuff (I still need stockings and stocking stuffers). Boom. Almost done.
Darren wanted a Kinect for the XBOX. I should have listened to him when he told me to get it because I went to two different stores and phoned five others on Friday and no one had one. They did, however, have the XBOX plus Kinect package.
So because the old XBOX may not support the Kinect in the future (or is that the other way around) and because the black XBOX goes much better with our decor (mainly that) I headed out to Zellers yesterday and got the very last package. Boom. Done.
The Poptart will be spoiled rotten for Christmas by her grandparents. She’s got a thing for Elmo at the moment so I set out the other week to get her one. A certain big box toy store was having a sale on Elmos at 50% so I trucked down there at lunch and they were sold out (dammit). And I didn’t want to spend $40 or more on something she’ll likely play with for a couple of weeks.
They are, however, substantially cheaper in the US. So Darren and I made plans to go to Tar-jay and get one. On Wednesday we were having our Christmas lunch at work and I was telling the tale to one of my managers. Who offered me an Elmo her boys never played with. For free. It’s an older model dancing Elmo, but I don’t think she’ll care much. Boom. Done.
Presents for the grandparents? Well, they each get a photo much of them with the Poptart on it. That I ordered online while sitting in my pajamas. A coworker’s sister was taking orders for homemade almond rocha, so I ordered 4 packages to stuff in the mugs. A little cellophane and ribbon, and boom. Done.
Christmas dinner and baking? I’ll make a pumpkin cream pie (recipe later) or two; MIL will bring lots and lots of baking, and a turkey and likely take over my kitchen. I’ll get some sides (broccoli, asparagus, carrots, yams, potatos, salad) and a ham. Boom. Done.
So that’s how I’m keeping it easy. What about you?
What I learned today while cleaning my carpets
1. If you want to rent a carpet cleaner at the grocery store, you need a credit card. If you don’ t have one on you, you will have to go home and get one because no amount of begging, pleading or flashing of boobs well-reasoned arguments will make the store manager change his mind.
2. Babies do not like the sound of the carpet cleaner.
3. Husbands/Partners, given the choice between entertaining the baby elsewhere and manning the carpet cleaner, will choose the former. Especially if it means watching The Cat in the Hat with the baby.
4. If you are wearing newish jeans, and they get damp because you are using the hand attachment on the cleaner to get at some exceedingly stubborn spots, the dye will stain the carpet and you’ll have to scrub it out with the aforementioned hand attachment.
5. If it takes you awhile to realize what’s going on with your jeans, you will have many blue spots to clean out of the carpet. At which point, you will merely take off your jeans and finish the job in your underwear.
6. This will provide much humour for your husband/partner.
7. It’s better not to think about the colour of the water that comes out of your carpet.
8. You shouldn’t leave the cleaner on the carpet while you go get a bucket to refill it because it will leak dirty water onto your now-clean carpet. The laminate is a much better place for it.
9. Puddles on the laminate are slippery.
10. A clean carpet makes me happy.
You can still enter my A&D Diaper Rash Products giveaway here
An Argument for Always Putting Things Back Where They Belong
I have a habit of losing things. Temporarily, usually. There was this one time I lost my cel phone in the hatchback of my car, or so I thought. I rummaged around for it, but couldn’t find it. I declared it fully and completely lost and went to TELUS and got a new phone.
About 3 days later, I found it in the container that I put in the hatch so that I wouldn’t lose things :headdesk:
The problem, you see, is that I have this habit of dropping things wherever and whenever. I misplace my keys regularly. And my sunglasses (I am shocked that I’ve managed to hang on to the current pair for two years now. Shocked.)
This weekend, for example, I lost the following:
· My cel phone. I’d checked it on the train, and put it back in my bag. When I got home, I put my bag on the floor and the Poptart decided to be really helpful and empty my bag for me. I knew she was running around with my phone, so at some point I took it away from her and then it got eaten by the couch. Oh and it was on vibrate. On Sunday, I finally ended up calling the damn thing hoping (a) it had a charge and (b) we’d hear it buzz.
One thing about the LG Dare, it’s got a really strong vibrate – to the point that Darren felt it while sitting on THE OTHER END OF THE COUCH.
· A pair of pants. This one, I have no idea. NONE. I wore them on Friday, took them off and somewhere between my bedroom and the laundry room they vanished. As of Monday morning, I have no clue where they are. But I washed the shirt I was wearing on Friday so that means they have to be there, right?
When I asked our Nanny to keep an eye out for them, she looked at me like I had 5 heads. Honestly, I don’t blame her.
Status update, Monday evening: I found them! The baby stuffed them in the linen closet, dammit.
It would help, I suppose, if I put things back where they belong (and didn’t let the Poptart play with my bags and things. It’s awfully cute though, when she “talks” into the cel phone.
Do you lose things? Or are you more organized than I am and always put things back in their place so you’re not running around Monday morning (or Sunday night) trying to find your damn cel phone?
You can still enter my A&D Diaper Rash Products giveaway here
Home Styles: Upper-Class Ghetto
When we bought our townhouse, one of the extra add-ons it had that was nice, but not required was a natural gas outlet for a barbeque on the back deck.
The next summer, we got a table set for it with an umbrella. The umbrella’s important because the deck faces south.A couple of years later, we got around to getting a barbeque.
The problem was, it was just too damn hot out there. It gets the sun all day long and it’s virtually unusable for anything, unless you were out there early in the morning or after the sun went down. So whoever was barbequing had to brave the elements.
This year, we asked our strata for permission to install a retractable awning, colour to be approved by the strata council. They said no.
After stewing about this for a few weeks, we decided to get a canopy and put that on the deck. Last weekend my parents were down, and Canadian Tire was having a sale, so Darren and my dad trucked over there and picked one up for $80. I had originally wanted a red one or an orange one to really make the strata angry, but this was a good deal. And it’s slightly gold-coloured on the outside so it reflects the heat.
The problem is, it has to be secured or it’ll fly away in the wind. We’re not allowed to permanently attach it to the building in any way. The other problem is that it goes right up to the outside wall of the house, so if it rains, we’d get water damage and the strata wouldn’t like that.
So it’s kind of a ghetto result.
Yes, those are two bungee cords linked together to attach the canopy to the railing. It’s attached in all four corners with bungee cords.
But what makes this a really ghetto piece de resistance is the gutter we attached to it to avoid water damage to the walls.
Yes, those are zap straps holding it up. And they are TWO zap straps linked together because my dad bought the wrong size.
(In other news, my dad needed to shorten the plastic gutter and we don’t own a saw because, really? We shouldn’t be doing home improvement projects. I offered to go borrow one from the neighbours, but he took one of my good kitchen knives instead. He does this to my mother too. We shall speak no more of that).
But what good is a gutter if it’s got nowhere to drain?
Isn’t it lovely? And yes, more zap straps.
However ghetto it may be though, it’s great. We can use the deck all day now if we want and it’s quite lovely out there now. And it meets all the requirements of the strata by not being permanently attached to the building and has drainage.
