"Puzzle Club", and everyday life

A friend of mine, another teacher, usually has a puzzle on the go. I asked her how she sets it up, and keeps it both out of the way and accessible. It got me thinking. It's better to have down time in the evening doing a puzzle, maybe listening to a tv show at the same time, than mindlessly snacking on something, so I bought myself a thousand piece puzzle.

I got it started in the conventional way, finding all the outside edges and trying to piece them together. This coincided with my daughter coming home from university for reading week, and her boyfriend bringing her back. So naturally, they sat down and helped put some of the puzzle together with me. Thus began a bit of an obsession. We deemed it "Puzzle Club".

This is a Thomas Kincaid painting puzzle (the Painter of Light or some such expression). Daughter and boyfriend were determined to put together as much as possible that first go round.

Throughout this past week, daughter and I would sit and try to add more. Then, son came home for his college reading week on Friday. It was his time to lose himself in adding more to the puzzle.

This was the scene on Saturday, as three twenty-somethings gathered round the coffee table, grouping pieces into shape categories ("turtles", "threes", "throwing stars"...), passing the picture back and forth, shifting positions.

It was a wild and crazy night.

Anyway, my eyes couldn't see the details properly and it was well past my bedtime, so I bid them adieu and they were still at it with just a fistful of pieces left.

Here is what greeted me on the coffee table this morning.

Do you notice the corner?

They left me the last piece - right beside my reading glasses, as the running joke was always the fact that I was saying, "Where are my glasses?"

They're good kids.

What else is happening? Made roast beef in the magical cooking pot last night with a bit of onion soup mix and water. Simple and good.
Made broccoli salad as part of supper last night, too. Man I love that stuff - you know what I'm talking about, cut up broccoli, bacon, red onion, sunflower seeds, shredded cheese, miracle whip, dried cranberries or raisins. So good!
Changed out the chicken water this morning and opened up their little door. It is sunny and "warm" and they were appreciative.
I've been on strike several times in the last few weeks with my teachers' union here in Ontario. Not going to get into a political discussion, but these are stressful times in ways that only people in my profession truly understand.
I will be stuck on my computer for most of the rest of the day doing I.E.P.s (individual education plans) for nine of my twenty-five grade four students. Yes, we work on the weekends. No, we don't have time to do this at work.
With the help of everybody, we moved the small chest freezer from our yucky hundred plus year old basement upstairs to the mudroom. The food was placed in laundry baskets on the back porch while the freezer was defrosting and being moved and being wiped out. Here's what I know for sure now. We are prepared for a zombie apocalypse in shredded zucchini and strawberries alone.
After seeing the ridiculous amount of shredded zucchini I was inspired to make chocolate chip zucchini muffins this morning, taking care of one of the one hundred and thirteen bags in the freezer (that's just an estimate).
Found a dead, flat mouse underneath the mat on the back porch when I was taking out a bucket of water for the chickens and wondered, "Why isn't the mat laying flat?"
It is almost leap day. A childhood friend of my twenty year old son has a birthday on leap day. Not sure how old that makes him. Five, I think.
It is nice to see the sun. There is a small patch of bare grass behind the house. A cottontail bunny was nibbling away, not caring that we were watching it from the back window.
I bought a large bag of bird seed on sale from the local co-op yesterday and have filled both bird feeders. I am wondering how long until the red squirrel wedges himself in there to have a feast.

And that... is all for now.

Sunday, February 9, 2020

My house smells liked burned food. For supper I made parmesan crusted fish (don't be impressed, it came out of a package), reheated some left over basmati rice with a can of Italian seasonsed  tomatoes, and roasted sweet and spicy cauliflower. I love cauliflower, husband does not. So this was for me. The sauce that you toss the cauliflower pieces in was made from maple syrup, sriracha sauce, pepper and olive oil. Even though I roasted the cauliflower on parchment paper (don't you love parchment paper?), some of the sauce still caramelized and burned and leaked beyond the parchment paper onto the baking sheet. Hence the burned food smell. The cauliflower was still yummy and quite spicy. I have enough for some leftovers for myself either to take as part of my lunch tomorrow, or with whatever I make for supper tomorrow night.

When I was packing up Christmas this year, I decided to weed out a few unwanted, tired, unused items like garland that we didn't use or ornaments that had been gifts but didn't really match with our décor, etc. I boxed them up with the intention of donating them. Today the weather ended up being better than predicted (cold, but no snow falling), so I decided to go to the closest Value Village (which incidentally is 40 minutes away). I also gathered up a handful of books (paperbacks that I'll never read again), and a coat of my daughter's from when she was in elementary school.

I have a couple of co-workers that seem to find all sorts of good items at Value Village, so I thought I would have a wander around after I stopped off at the donation drop-off. I don't know how they find the things they do... I was not impressed or tempted by anything and the whole place had an aura of "old dingy musty things". So, I went to Winners and Homesense. Sometimes I have great luck at Winners, but not this time. Maybe I just wasn't into the whole shopping mode. I did find a pair of shoes (more for warm weather wear) and a pair of cushy socks. A quick stop a Walmart for hair colour, because my roots are coming in nice and grey, and I was on my way home.

I haven't been reading a lot recently, apart from the latest Louise Penny. From some blogger suggestions and a little research (e.g. if you like Caroline Graham, you'd like...) I had picked up a couple of Elly Griffith (Griffin?) books from the library but they've been sitting at the bedside for a while, in fact I had to renew them because I'd had them so long. I started one last night and was enjoying it, but was also realizing I had the book in my hand and my eyes were closed for a while, so put it down and went to sleep.

In a week's time, daughter comes home for 'reading week' from university. She and her dad have been pursuing looking for her first car. He gives his opinion, she gives hers, and round and round they go. They did look at one (used, of course, being sold by the owner), but there were problems that couldn't be overlooked. She doesn't have an unlimited budget, but we want her to have something safe and reliable, but not necessarily beautiful! Ha ha. So perhaps there will be a bit more car looking this coming week when she has more time. Son then comes home the following week for his reading week from college. Too bad they weren't on the same week.

Being Sunday night, it's another new episode of Curse of Oak Island. If I can stay awake, I'll see if they finally find that bloody money pit! I'm guessing it's already been found but everyone involved with the show has signed a confidentiality agreement to not talk about it or reveal anything, as the episodes come out later.

What about you? Do you have a good used clothing / items store in your area? Do you like cauliflower? Do you fall asleep with a book in your hand?

Feb 2nd, Groundhog Day, Netflix series

Wiarton Willie, an odd albino little rodent, has proclaimed that we will have an early spring. Here's hoping, but really, the choice is between "early spring" and "six more weeks of winter". In six weeks, it will be March 15th. In my part of Ontario, it is always still winter by March 15th anyway, so this whole ground hog prediction is just a bit of foolish fun anyway.

After a visit with my sister coming here and then leaving yesterday afternoon, I've had a pretty restful day. I spent way too much time watching tv, specifically Netflix. I had begun watching the series called "Line of Duty" a while ago and loved it, but stopped because Canadian Netflix only offered the first couple of seasons. I noticed a little while ago that it showed there were new episodes of Line of Duty, so I started watching it again. Oh my, what a well done series, with twists and turns and references to previous seasons, intrigue, mystery, suspense, you name it. It centres around a section of policing that investigates internal crime - dirty members of their own forces. If you are looking for a  great series that you can really sink your teeth into, I highly recommend it!

Son was home for the weekend which was nice because he got to see his aunt, and we had a little visit, but he spent quite a bit of time with his own friends which I am happy that he was able to do, as he doesn't see them as often, being away at school. I made an early supper, and then he and his dad checked the oil, added windshield washer fluid, and he was off to drive three hours to return to his college.

We had lots of heavy, wet snow today, but it seems to have stopped now, this evening. I'm sitting here, having handed the tv remote over to husband, who sat/ snoozed through some of my binge watching and he is now watching some YouTube video of two guys finding an old beat up British sports car and  making it over again to resell it. Now it's my time to zone out.

*** Want to add, that yes, I messed up and called the series "Line of Fire" when in fact it should have been "Line of Duty". Duhh. Thanks to the commenter who gently pointed it out!! I have now corrected it. ***

January 22, 2020

I realize I haven't been posting as much. Don't know why. Just not feeling it, but I'm still reading your posts!

What's going on? The kids bought us a Nespresso coffee maker for Christmas with a whole bunch of coffee "pods" to go along with it. We never would have bought it for ourselves, but it is fun. It came with a little milk frother, but is actually creates a fairly frothy cup of coffee anyway, even without adding frothy milk. Again, fun. It's quite a step up from my usual cup of instant coffee!

Here's a picture from the interweb:

This is the coffee maker that George Clooney advertises for. Kind of wish he had brought it to me at Christmas, but that didn't happen.

I finished the latest Louise Penny novel, A Better Man. I loved it and read it in a little more than a day. If you haven't read any Louise Penny, she has written a series and it is best to start with the first one, Still Life. These are richly developed mysteries set in Quebec, mostly the Eastern Townships. She is absolutely one of my favourite authors.

We ended up having daughter and her boyfriend home this past weekend which was a nice chance to catch up. We took her back to the city where she attends university on the Sunday. There had been some big snow here earlier in the weekend. Strangely on the way there, we saw that there had been some freezing rain and the ice was still coating the trees. It was so sparkly and pretty - like diamonds hanging from the trees glinting in the sunshine. We pulled over to take some pictures. Daughter took far more artistic shots than I did, but here are some images.

Pictures after ice storms never really capture what it actually looks like, but you probably get the idea.

I have also caught up on the next season of Grace and Frankie on Netflix. I really enjoy this series. It's funny, another blogger was writing about this show and a someone wrote a comment about wanting Frankie's wardrobe. I, on the other hand, would love to have Grace's wardrobe! She is portrayed as very classy and a bit of a perfectionist. I'd even steal the hairstyle!

I was just going through programmes that I've saved on our DVR (set to record automatically) and got thinking about various tastes in viewing and even how husband and I only have a few shows that we watch together willingly. He's more of a news, historic, movie guy. I like comedies, good crime detective shows, mysteries, and some series. See if we have anything in common:

-America's Got Talent
-Back in Time for Winter (new one on CBC after last year's Back in Time for Dinner)
-Coronation Street
-Criminal Minds (but honestly, I'm tired of it and it's time for it to be done)
-The Curse of Oak Island (husband and I keep joking, "This will be the week they find something!")
-The Detectives (a Canadian show about real cold case files)
-The Durrells in Corfu (all done watching the series, but I've kept it in case I want to watch again)
-Escape to the Chateau
-Homestead Rescue
-Kim's Convenience
-Kings of Pain (have you SEEN this???)
-Modern Family (I will be so sad when this is over - I enjoy these characters so much!)
-Schitt's Creek (again, I have watched this since the beginning, and this is the last season
-Stumptown
-Victorian Slum House
I have likely forgotten some that I've already deleted.

What's for supper tonight? Leftover split pea and ham soup. I made a big ham when daughter and her boyfriend were home, so I used my Instant Pot to make soup and I still have lots of ham. Tomorrow will be eggs, ham, beans. Breakfast for supper!

I have begun something which I never thought I would do, never even considered it: Tai Chi. A friend of mine found out a beginner class was being offered locally and asked if I would be interested in doing it with her. I'm not much of a joiner or doer, as I like to come home from work and collapse, or continue doing work stuff, or drink wine on the couch with a laptop on top of my lap, but I thought, why not? So, I'm learning to do "the sixteen" which are sixteen moves that you start with. I cannot for the life of me remember what the moves are specifically called so I refer to them as "the swan thing" or "the mare thing" or "the monkey thing". It's ok. It's something nice to do with a friend and it gets me out of my comfort zone, which I need.

I am still on my Invisalign journey. I have Week 11 trays in my mouth out of 40 weeks. I just don't get people who say they stopped noticing they even had them in. Every week I put in new trays and every week they rub against other parts of the inside of my mouth making me wince when I smile, talk, breath... I think if my job wasn't one that required talking all the time, it might not be so bad, but it's like my mouth just doesn't catch a break. Oh well, first world problem. Quit your whining, Jenn.

I think I've wrapped up my goings-on now. Thanks for everyone who pops by and reads my blog. Thanks to new people who have commented. I don't even know how you find me, but I'm glad you do! Have a good week, all.

What Was Your First Job?

I read somebody's blog and it got me thinking about earning my first money and what my first job was. I was ready to work (part time, of course, I was still a high school student) as soon as possible. I now hear from multiple sources about young people today (god, I sound about a hundred and twelve when I write that) who just aren't "hungry" for work, they don't show up, they don't let anyone know that they aren't going to show up, or they quit and move on to another job, with no loyalty to an employer. Maybe they don't work at all. But we always worked. My friends all had jobs. It's what you did. You went to school and you had a job and you then had money to buy clothes or albums, or illegal drinks at the local bar where nobody asked you how old you were.

I applied for my first job when I was fifteen and had an interview in The Red Grill which was the restaurant that was part of Woolco, a department store that doesn't exist anymore. I got the job and was all excited, and then they found out how old I was and said I couldn't apply until I was sixteen. At the time, there was no spot for your age on the application. I had applied to work in the Woolco menswear department. It's not that I had a deep desire to fold men's sweaters, I just knew a couple of other girls from my high school who also worked there and it seemed like as good a job as any.

This was not my Woolco, but it could have been. 

source

So, when I turned sixteen, I re-applied and got the job. I also got my driver's license so I could drive my parents' giant boat of an Oldsmobile to get back and forth to work. I lived out in the country and Woolco was part of a relatively small mall on the outskirts of the closest town, about 15 to 20 minutes away. I worked on the weekends and sometimes on week nights after school. There was a lot of folding, pricing, and low key selling of clothes to young men and older men looking for inexpensive pants, dress shirts, sweaters, and the like. It was usually fun because I got to work with one other girl,  a similar age to me. We had a "manager", which was a pretty fancy title for a man who sat in the back room and occasionally came out and asked us how much we thought we had sold. There was no cash register just for our department. Like any other department store (think Walmart), all purchases, regardless of what part of the store they came from, were made at the main cash registers at the front of the store. So we really had no idea how much we sold.

Woolco had something once a month called "Dollar Forty-Four Day" where a bunch of items were specially marked at $1.44. One of my jobs was using a sticker pricing gun and pricing boxes, it felt like hundreds, of men's briefs and stacking them in a display cube sort of thing. As well, I got to use the intercom and make announcements about the amazing deals which could be found in our menswear department for $1.44, and at the base of which pillar they could be found! The beginning of my "public speaking" career!

I have a terrible memory for dates and years and numbers, but I do remember thinking it was a big stinking deal when I started to earn $4.11 an hour! That was above minimum wage and I could watch my bank account grow by leaps and bounds when I updated my little bank book at the local credit union. Yup, the latest Supertramp album was mine!

We were expected to dress nicely for our illustrious job in Woolco menswear and I remember wearing skirts or dresses or dress pants, even heels. I don't even dress up that much for my job now! But hey, that was the eighties, and dressing up and poofing your hair was the norm.

I had that job for about two years and it did me no harm. I think it builds a great deal of character to have a job that you are responsible for. I also think everyone should have a horrible job when they are young so that they can appreciate a good job when they get older. That wasn't my only job growing up, but it was my first job. I have others I could write about, which I think were probably worse than that one. Do share, what was your first job?

How Presents Change

On the eve of my son's twentieth birthday, I am given to thinking about how birthdays and specifically birthday presents, have changed. Many years ago, we would walk the toy isles of our local Zellers and Walmart. looking for the perfect gifts. Zellers is now gone - long gone. Walmart is still around, of course. For a few years, when he was quite young, our son was really into super heroes. He referred to them as "his guys". He would line up "his guys" along the side of his little single bed which was pushed up against the wall for less of a chance of falling out of bed. He was particularly fond of Spiderman.

Then came Lego. Lego is wonderful. Lego is crazy expensive, especially when you buy special kits. But honestly, he still has every piece of Lego we ever bought him, or Papa and Nana bought him, or he got from other people for Christmas or birthdays. I truly didn't mind buying Lego because it was time well spent.

Video games. The advent of video games coincided with staying in his room more - to be expected as he went through those teenage years. But he was also a sporty kid, so soccer balls, basketballs, and other sports paraphernalia were part of his gifts, but when you're born in January and you're a Canadian kid, receiving sports items is anti-climactic as it's a little tough to go out and kick a ball around in thigh deep snow.

Then clothes. But clothes are hard. As a tall, slender boy it was sometimes hard to find clothes that would fit properly. When he was younger, the pants with the elastic in the waistband and the buttons and button-holes were a godsend! We could get them long enough and then he could cinch them in at his waist so they wouldn't fall down. But as he got older, out of the two kids, he cared more about what he was wearing. He liked certain brands, certain looks. Daughter just wanted volume - more clothes versus particular name brands of clothes. Son, instead, had fewer pieces, but exactly what he wanted. He just did laundry more often. He's still like that.

Now?  Well, now it's best when your young adult children lead you directly to what they desire. Show me the link, the website, sit down with me and I'll pay for it on Paypal. True, the surprise is taken out of it, but better that, than items that sit unused, unworn, unwanted. I imagine some parents give money, or gift cards. Again, that way the receiver gets exactly what they want. But it's a little sad. So what is son getting this year? Well, I highly doubt he reads my blog, but since it isn't quite his birthday yet, I won't reveal. But it's what he wants, and the other part is practical, what he needs now that he's away from home, at school.

Do you know what doesn't change, though? The tradition of it all. I still baked the same chocolate layer cake that I always bake - that never changes, even though I ask my family if they'd like something different, the answer is always no - it must be the chocolate layer cake. I will still hang up the happy birthday sign on the wall in the kitchen. We will still sing to him. But this year, he may well end up going out with the gang on the night of his birthday, and just be with mom and dad for supper. I get that, and I'm totally ok with that. I always felt a little bad that his birthday was so close to Christmas - did it make it less exciting, being as he just had an exciting holiday with presents? But I guess it's all he's ever known.

We always played a game with the presents - hiding them in various locations and then our kids would go searching in the house while we guided them with "warmer", "cooler", "hotter" "boiling!!" until they found each one. As they got older, the hiding spots became more challenging. We may still do that tomorrow!

Yes, he will be twenty years old tomorrow. I sometimes can't even believe it. When did it all happen? But for Christmas this year, he still got a tiny Lego kit, and when I stopped by his room to chat with him yesterday, he showed me the finished product. It warms my heart.

A New Decade

A lovely Christmas was had by all. Here are some remaining pictures that I hadn't posted yet:

After baking the gingerbread and sugar cookies previously posted about, we took part in a family tradition, once I had both kids home, of decorating. I made a basic royal icing (with no meringue powder as I just can't find it anywhere in my little closest town). Then, being the basic, simple cooks that we are here, I did the old add food colouring and use little zip lock bags with a tiny corner cut off. Who needs fancy piping bags?

We ended up with tons of Christmas goodies. Some were set out on the 24th when we had MIL, us, and the kids' boyfriend / girlfriend. More were taken to "the city" when we gathered at my brother and sister-in-law's house. Some went to daughter's boyfriend's home. Some are in a bag in the freezer to go back to college with son, and still others are being consumed by yours truly as I sit on the couch, watching old episodes of Poirot and pretending that calories don't count if you make it yourself.

Speaking of... have you noticed all the commercials for weight loss programmes now? You will not be reading about any New Year's Resolutions here. Just carry on, live a good life, be a decent human being, and all that.

I am happy to say that Christmas is all packed up and put away, apart from the Christmas coffee cups (we have A LOT) and the outdoor strings of lights on the rail fence. Even the tree has been stripped and dragged behind the chicken run to be burned in the spring. In the meantime, little birds can use it for shelter.

Here is a Christmas morning picture of father and son in their new "hoodies". Son is sporting his new Champion sweatshirt (remember when Champion was just a normal brand that nobody considered anything special? Now it's a "thing" and costs twice as much!). and husband is wearing one designed by daughter with a take on the TCM logo (Turner Classic Movies), to RCM for his first initial. Husband and daughter bond over movies. He's barely taken the thing off these last few days!

I've read a couple of books over the holidays - including the latest Janet Evanovich which is always good for a laugh and an easy read.

I really do need to find another author, as I'm often all caught up with my favourites and then twiddling my thumbs for the next one, or signing out a book from the library that I just can't sink my teeth into. Ah well, not a bad pursuit to take on in the next little while.

We had pretty much a green Christmas with strange mild weather and above zero temps. It was the same thing 20 years ago, as I was ready to give birth to my son in early January, it had rained and the snow had melted. In the last day or so, we got all of our snow back and more. I was glad that son and his buddies didn't have far to go for their New Year's Eve celebrations in the blustery weather. Husband and I were VERY low key - armed with take out Chinese food (which we drove through the blustery weather to pick up because nobody delivers out here) and one glass of wine for me and a can of cider for him, we didn't even stay up to watch Rick Mercer ring in the new year!

Prior to Christmas and right around then, our old house decided to surprise us with some nasty water leakage in the basement. Husband and son were able to take advantage of the melt to dig around the foundation and determine the issue. As always, fearless husband was able to fix what he was able to fix and clean up ensued. Ughhh. Glad that's over with.

After three rounds of left over Christmas dinner, I figured nobody wanted any more of it, so the chickens had a good feed of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and stuffing. They thanked me by laying well the next couple of days.

I still have a few days before I return back to work. During that time will be son's twentieth birthday, and saying goodbye to him as he returns back to college (with Christmas cookies in hand), and hopefully some well earned relaxing, even though I'm not very good at that.

Wishing everyone out there in blogland a very happy, healthy new year!