03/08/09
Nov 23 (Sun): Ladies and gentlemen....it's a weekend without pictures! Nope, we didn't take pictures of our food at Cora's Saturday morning when we met up with Huguette. And we didn't take any pictures when the 3 of us went to see the new Bond movie.
We also didn't take any of me at work this morning or Andy doing detail work on the fence or us shopping or napping this afternoon. And a picture of the fabulous roast and President's Choice Yorkshire Puddings we had for dinner would definitely not do them justice anyway, so we didn't bother.
Saturday night we also watched...
Well, I watched it......Andy gave up on it. It was a strange story, but I kept watching to see if it was going somewhere. Other than a reminder that being rich doesn't mean you're happy, I didn't find anything.
Nov 20 (Thurs): We woke up to a winter wonderland this morning!
Andy was so happy that she got up a half hour early to go out and shovel. I was so happy that I got up and watched her from the window.
Nov 18 (Tues): We have a new addition.......to the garage.
No, it won't stay there forever, but we are waiting till the summer to have it installed. Although there was a wood stove in the basement before we moved in, we need to have the chimney inspected and then licensed installation, plus get wood. After 10 months of spending, spending, spending, right now we want to do some saving, saving, saving. We only bought it because we saw it on sale for such a great price (which means it, technically, fits into the "saving" category) and it is exactly what we wanted with the big window. It didn't come with a blower, but has the slot and screw holes at the back to attach one and we looked at the corresponding one. It is supposed to heat 1800 sq ft, so we should be good.
It was delivered yesterday morning, which came in handy as Andy was working from home so that she could come and get a flu shot at my work just after lunch. Then I set her up at my spare desk and she worked from my office all afternoon. The nurse who gave us the shots told us that last year's serum totally missed and that people got very sick, especially those with respiratory weakness. NO KIDDING!!!! REALLY!?? So, this year's serum was made from a fresh start and approach.
Some big news came early this morning from Andy's work. The new VP of Sales was let go after only 6 weeks with the company. The statement said that he did not fit in to the company's culture. Andy and he had been butting heads since almost day one and she didn't think much of his approach. In fact, as she described him to me as time went on, I said he sounded exactly like the VP at QuestAir that we disliked (ok, I pretty much hated him). After she thought about it, she said he is very similar, with the only difference being that he used email more often to deliver his edicts. In any case, she is now looking forward to moving ahead with some projects he had been tying her up on. You go girl!
Nov 16 (Sun): Friday night, Andy had a Naturopath appointment and was pleased to inform Carissa that her insomnia has greatly improved. In fact, she now doesn't have to go back for 6 months. Our best guess is still that a mild anemia threw her system out of whack, as the FerraSorb seems to have made the most difference. After she got back, I went and got Mom from the nursing home and brought her back to our place to stay overnight.
Saturday morning, the 3 of us headed off to Toronto. For Andy and I, it was our second visit to Cora's for breakfast and for mom, her first. We again had the fruit plate as a shared appetizer. The pineapple melted in our mouths!
Then we tried something different than last time. Andy had a Strawberry-Banana Crepe, which she didn't like quite as much as the Raspberry-Custard one.
I had the "Eggs Ben et Dictine", which were very good (and so were the Home Fries!).
So, are you salivating? You should be! Mom had a Spinach & Cheddar Omelette.
After brunch, we went to see Dirty Dancing at the Royal Alexandra Theatre.
Some of the acting was a bit weak, but overall it was very good. The set and staging was excellent, and the dancing and music were great. In fact, one of the lead singers, and the one who sang "Time of My Life" at the end was Melissa O'Neill, who is a past "Canadian Idol" winner with a few hit songs on the radio. She was great. What a treat. And Mom was funny as there were times she was so psyched that she could hardly stay in her seat.
I must say though, I am liking that cane a lot. First it got us seated quicker at Cora's. Andy had dropped us off in front while she took the car to park over by the theatre. But then they said we could only be seated if all of our party were there. I explained to the fellow about my mother needing a cane and even with it the longer she stands the more pain she has and that my friend would still be a few minutes. He said he believed me and seated us. Then we took it easy walking back to the theatre and that was about enough for Mom, but.....we had thought she'd be more recovered by now, and that there would be an elevator anyway, so had bought seats in the balcony. Poor Mom was tortured having to climb all the stairs in this 101 year old theatre, then at intermission we had to climb down some to find a washroom. Again the cane saved us though because the closest bathroom we found was for Disabled. An usher started to politely send us away, till I moved aside and she saw Mom with her cane, then apologized and told us to go ahead. Cool. Still, by the time we got down all those stairs at the end and to the car, Mom was done in. Brought her home and got her propped up with some ice.
Coming home was not a treat. The show didn't end till 5:20, by which time it was dark, windy, and raining hard. Andy had a stressful drive, as it was hard to see the lines on the road. We decided that Mom would stay over again, rather than me driving her home.
That worked out for the best, as this morning, we dropped Mom at the nursing home for her usual Sunday morning with Grama, while Andy I met up with Uncle Lanny and Aunt Sharon for breakfast......at Cora's! This time it was the Ancaster location. Had a really nice time and caught up. Uncle Lanny is having his prostate out in a couple weeks as he also was diagnosed with cancer (he's 7 years younger than Dad). He has also been offered a retirement package from his work, but they are weighing their options, because if he takes it there's a penalty on his pension. Just as they were telling us this his Manager arrived for breakfast with his family in a booth across from us - and guess what.......he's recently been terminated and the entire garage they worked at has been closed. Hmmmm.
Andy went back to eating her Raspberry & Custard Crepe that she'd had during our first visit, but I tried something new again and it was fabulous. Wish I had a picture of this one! Wait, I've stolen one from their website...
It was 2 thick slices of Cinnamon-Raisin French Toast, one smothered with fresh fruit chunks and one topped with an egg and bacon. This is my favourite so far I think.
After breakfast, as the snow continued to fall (it had been off and on all morning - our first real snow of the year), we visited Grama for 15 minutes, drove Mom home, then came home and did tidying and chores. The small leaves off the Locust tree at the front of the house make a helluva mess.
Doreen and Wilf came for dinner. Doreen was one of my CHAM workmates and her husband, Wilf, was our realtor. We hadn't seen them since our housewarming BBQ as they were away for the wedding. Yesterday, I had made Boeuf Bourguignon, which I reheated along with some squash, and Andy contributed with potatoes and a lovely Chocolate Fondue for dessert. We really enjoyed catching up with them and tortured them by showing the wedding video. I think that's it now - the rest of you are safe!
Looking forward to seeing Quantum of Solace next weekend! Bond, James Bond!
Nov 11 (Tues): Andy has a correction for us - she says the insulation actually expands 3.5 times from when it is packaged up.
Nov 10 (Mon): Saturday morning found Andy up early with the car over at Firestone by 7:30 getting the winter tires on. Then home and we got cracking with leaf cleanup. We had a scheduled pick-up this morning for loose leaves (not bagged). I was first to get to try out our new blower/sucker. Basically I vacuumed up the leaves in the back yard, which were mulched as they passed through the fan and into the bag.
In the front yard, I did some blowing, but for the most part we went back to old-fashioned rakes
In the afternoon, Andy got into a different outfit and went from ground to attic.
She then spent 4 hours spreading about 480 sq. ft. of 6" thick insulation, which doubled what was up there previously. She also banged her head once for every 20 sq. ft. Fortunately, we were smart enough to invest $12 in a spotlight that she could temporarily screw to the centre beam and aim any way she wanted. She has given me kudos for this idea, but it feels like something I learned from dad.
We were amazed at how the insulation puffed when cut free from its packaging. Andy said it basically doubled.
Other than a few bumps on Andy's head (hey, I offered to find her hockey helmet for her), the only casualty was a "box-cutter" style knife. She did what she felt was a thorough search, then came down having given up. I said just go buy another one so you can get the job done, and it is now done - at least over the bedroom half of the house. We think we will wait till next fall to do the living room side of the house.
Once Andy was cleaned up, we used one of our wedding presents - a gift card for East Side Marios. Had a nice, relaxed dinner, including one of the most delicious appetizers we've had - "Cheesy Stuffed Mushrooms: Garlic roasted mushroom caps stuffed with a blend of five cheeses and artichokes. Topped with even more cheese and baked with a golden Italian breading crust". We highly recommend these. Then we rented and watched "Leatherheads" starring George Clooney and Renée Zellweger, which I liked much better than Andy.
Sunday, it was my turn to be up very early as I was installing a major system upgrade at work over the weekend. It required an extra back-up, which I started Saturday night after the usual Weekly one had finished. Then Sunday morning, I had to start 135 GBs of converted files copying back to the server. They were copied from the server and converted over the last couple weeks so that they would be compatible with the upgraded software. Once I started the Copy Back, I headed off to pick up Mom and we went to visit Grama.
While I was gone, Andy worked on some of the detail work on the fence. Then we were extremely productive with inside-the-house work, including trying out the Bissell carpet cleaner. Although it's called a steamer, it's really only as hot as the tap water, but it does come with cleaning solution and has scrubbing brushes. We did the living room rug and all the mats - and couldn't believe how dirty some of the water was. For what we paid, we think it did a good job, and it sure was easy to clean up.
In the afternoon, we had a well-deserved nap, then I headed off to work for 4 hours to finish my server upgrade (the Copy Back took from 7:07am until about 7:30 pm), while Andy stayed home missing me so much that I came home at 9:30 to brownies coming out of the oven. Yum!
This morning, we woke up to some very light snow coming down but not staying. Andy spent 5 minutes outside raking more of the never-ending, falling leaves over to the pile on the curb....
....but this afternoon and tonight she is paying for all that raking with a stabbing pain in her left shoulder blade. She's managed to milk a massage and special treatment out of it. ;-) I also think we were both shocked to come home and find that the leaves were actually gone....in fact, cleaned up almost perfectly. I would've loved to have seen the huge vacuum truck that was going around.
Nov 4 (Tues): I thought I forgot something - my actual birthday!!! Andy got me up early Wednesday morning to open presents. I got mini-crampon-type-things from the cats that slip over my shoes, "The L Word" Season 2 box set from Mumsy and Dad, and an IOU from Andy as she's misplaced the cuff earring she got me. In the evening, after I got back from visiting Grama, Andy took me out for dinner to Mexicali Rosa's. We had a deelicious Apple Crumble in a Skillet dessert. Thanks hun. I had also got a birthday call from Marek, my former boss at QuestAir and email wishes from Kathleen, Joanne, Vickie, and Steven. Thanks everyone.
Nov 3 (Mon): Early in the week, we got the last two pieces of lattice up to finish the fence, save for small, finishing touches. Hurrah! We then got our pumpkins carved. Andy's:
Mine:
Thursday night, Andy got me a substitute birthday present. We had actually seen her in the spring, but she was too expensive. Now she was half price. We've named her Helena and she will live in the garden starting next spring.
Friday morning, we couldn't believe this crazy yard just down the street from us.
I took my cat pumpkin to work on Friday for the Carving Contest. Everyone was very impressed and I won first place! However, I had an advantage since it was the only pumpkin there! The others mostly went in for the Costume Contest.
Friday night was Halloween and we were very happy it was also warm enough to sit out on the front step to wait for the kids. Unfortunately, we didn't get as many as expected, but we had fun anyway. I find some of the parents as amusing as the kids, like this Bat Girl.
Saturday morning, Mom and I went to the nursing home, then met everyone back at our place for my rescheduled family birthday gathering. The kids came in costume and Trick or Treated on their way in. That's not a special hat on Andy. It's the bottom of Spooks, our special ghost.
Ben was Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean and Grace was Sharpay from High School Musical. Mom made us ribs, fried potatoes & onions, and Cherry Cheesecake. I went to Montana's and got beans and corn bread, and we had a Black Forest Cake from Longo's. I opened presents - from Scot, Monica and the kids I got a "Best Auntie...Hands Down" t-shirt, scratch'n wins, gift card for some of our local restaurants, and a ladybug balloon. From Mom and Dad I got "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (which I watched that night).
Then we all (except for Dad who watched the football game) faced off in a game of "Scene It, Disney Edition". Monica and I had a huge lead, then Andy, Mom and Grace came back to win. After dessert, Andy and Ben had a round of Bocce, then everyone headed off. Andy and I jumped in the car and went to the "Going Out of Business" sale at Linens 'N Things. Scooped up some bargains, mostly on towels, but also a "Dryer Lint Removal Kit", which is a few special adaptors for the vacuum, and a Bissell QuickSteamer PowerBrush.
Hopefully that will help with "furball" cleanup and other such lovely presents the girls sometimes leave us on the rug!
Sunday, we were off to Toronto. Was so great to have a visit with Ed who is here from Vancouver for work. Hadn't seen him in a year and a half, but it felt like it had only been a couple weeks. We had brunch at this new place that we'd heard rave reviews about, Cora's, and for good reason. Ed says he will be in the area several times per year, so we are looking forward to more visits, and hopefully his wife, Abby, will get to come sometimes too.
Afterward, Andy and I walked over the Princess of Wales theatre to see:
It was very good. The sets were amazing and most of the performers too. I think the most impressive was the lady playing the Mother Superior. It was way better than expected and we had great seats, thanks to Andy, who got them for us as our wedding present.
Back home in the evening and watched the Brazilian Grand Prix, the final one of the season and a real nail-biter. I was most upset that Massa didn't win the championship, but all the Brits are happy as their man, Lewis Hamilton, did.