Out to Work, Home to Huddle, Bill Returns – Yay!

Up on the Ridge

On Thursday, Oct. 3^rd I woke at my usual time of 5:30 after another good night’s sleep. I don’t remember waking up at all so I must have been comfy cozy. With the heater on low, the Suite didn’t get any warmer than 60F/15C and that was perfect. I believe it was going down to 41F/5C overnight. Bill texted before 7 that they were on their way and I sneaked a peak out of my bedroom window. “I won’t be going anywhere for a while”, I told him. “It is crazy foggy out there, can’t see a thing”.

I'm quite bundled and quite pleased with all the mail

Then I got up to use the bathroom and check the temperature. I turned the heater up a notch and looked outside again. Wha?? It was clear as a bell, just as Bill said it was in Tavistock. Obviously, I was looking through the lower part of my little window upstairs and the condensation played a trick on me. So, that’s good! I got washed and dressed for work. As you know, I like getting in there early. I turned the heater down and drove to town.

Only my Polish friend was there to greet me and one other gent came in soon after. I can’t understand much of what the first guy says but he is so very pleasant. I was done in an hour and that was by skipping the damp mop (the floors didn’t need it today) and by cleaning the stainless-steel washing machines. Jamie has great little wipes in a container (you know, like the baby wipes?) that are easy, mess-free and work well, leaving the machines looking like new – almost.

An overdue pond picture

I came straight home today, mulling over what to make for Saturday’s dinner. Carol, Bill’s sister, invited us for an early Thanksgiving dinner and I’ve been asked to bring potatoes. Hmm, need my thinking cap for that since we have close to a 90-min. drive. I know scalloped potatoes are a favourite but such a lot of work and then the concern that they’ll be cooked enough. I’ll come up with something.

Naturally, I want to contribute to the dinner meal. There will only be 8 of us so that helps. When I returned home, the dash from Ptooties at the shed to the Suite sent chills through me. It was still only around 48F/8C and windy. The heater was working well but the Suite had on jumped from 64 to 65F since I left. I layered up and turned it back up a notch.

Kind of  'Keto' Peanut Butter Fudge Bars

I searched for a recipe for potatoes when I was drinking my tea and found a good one. I can easily make that and it won’t use up all of the spuds in our cupboard. We don’t eat them often here at home so it will leave me with 3 or 4, I think. Then I found a recipe (w/o really searching for it) for Keto Peanut Butter Fudge Bars. Hmm that sounds good and even though not all of ‘my’ ingredients will be keto, I can substitute some and make us an edible guilt-free treat. Nice to have a change.

Then with those in the fridge, I boiled 3 eggs for my lunch time meals. I’ve been doing well with my eating this week and want to try and stick to it. While the eggs were cooling, I bundled up and went down to empty the mailbox. The flag was up when I returned this morning but I knew I wanted/needed the walk so drove by it. Our mail lady should be along today again so I better get moving.

Lots of squash cut up and no fingers cut in the process

Too funny, by the time I reached the end of the lane, she was just pulling up to the box. We waved to each other and I retrieved the box full of stuff. Most of it was the weekly flyer package but to get 4 actual good pieces of mail is always a bonus. Two for Bill, two for me. Fair ball. I walked back after a silly selfie and was happy to retreat indoors. Such a wimp! For lunch, I had a‘salad’ plate with a boiled egg like yesterday’s and I enjoyed that very much.

After getting those dishes done, the fudge bars were hardened so I cut them into squares and made little care packages of 8 for the freezer. This works for us and we don’t feel the need/pressure to eat them all within a few days. I still have some fat bombs in there so we do really well with that kind of snack. There wasn’t much else to do so I sat with my book and to read the flyers. I retrieved the crossword out of the Spotlight mag that comes and skimmed through the articles. There was one about Rockwood, Mom's home.

Bill comes home

One in the Newsweek paper talked about them moving forward with improvements to the 100 current residential beds plus 28 new ones. I went on a bus trip to Owen Sound in support of keeping Rockwood open 2 summers ago but I had never really heard for definite what the final result would be or at least I don’t recall. Lots of speculation but it seems they are moving forward and with the growing need for this type of community assistance, I’m very pleased. It is West Grey wide, Owen Sound, Meaford, Markdale to name a few and of course, Durham. Possibly not in Mom’s time, but by 2025, completion.

I read a few chapters of my book and at 4 got up and made a tea. It was a good time to cut up the big spaghetti squash and it wasn’t easy. I’m always nervous when I have a big knife in my hand especially with a roly poly squash under it! Ha ha, I managed to get quite a few chunks, meaning quite a few meals for me and I didn’t nick a finger one bit! Bill called at 4:30; he’s on his way home from Stratford so I should see him around 6, just in time for supper. I went upstairs and stripped the cotton sheets off the bed, replacing them with our nice warm ones.

Sorry for the blur, I snapped these above pictures quickly 

There was time to relax for a bit so I turned NCIS on and sat in my chair. At 5:30, I got Madame IP out and when Bill pulled in at 10 to 6, I turned it on and started sautéing the ground beef, onions and spices. I added spaghetti sauce and mushrooms and then broke the noodles and layered them on top. Then, on top of that, I placed the inner pot with a piece of the squash with a bit of water. I don’t know if this will work unless I try it. If it doesn’t, I’ll eat regular noodles with Bill. I cooked it all for 8 minutes and then did an immediate quick release.

After Bill unloaded his stuff we shared a wonderful ‘we missed each other hug and kiss’. Now, all is well again in my world. Supper was ready for us to sit and eat at 6:45 and I’m happy to report that the squash cooked well on top of everything else. We enjoyed the spaghetti and because the noodles get mixed after cooking into the sauce, I  ended up with a few on my plate. For dessert, we had Jell-o and a peanut butter fudge bar. Yum!

Delicious!
Good night!

With dishes done, we sat together and began watching our programs from the PVR. I saw that the temperature had increased by 1 degree since Bill got home and thought it was from his presence 😊 . Then he told me that he too felt chilled in here and had turned it up a notch when he walked by. The overnight low is expected to hit 41F/5C again. Brrr, but we’ll be warm with those sheets……(and each other).

This was a quiet day for the most part and I’m happy to have my sweetie home for a few days. He says the week went well; he has gracious hosts in Tavistock. That makes me happy to know he is comfortable with Bob and Jo-Anne. I hope you had a good day!

Thank you for popping by!