Wednesday Work, Away and at Home

The Ridge

On Wednesday, Aug. 4^th Bill and Gibbs were up before 6 and I prepared myself for the little bum to join me. I heard my sweetie say ‘you can stay down here with Daddy today’ and he closed the door to upstairs. 😊 I’m sure I dropped off to sleep again and woke around 6:30 when I stretched, got up and made the bed. It was a work day for me too, well, a work morning.

Good Wednesday morning!

My newly planted Moonflowers are already blooming
Yay!🌼

Downstairs, the boys were getting along and Bill was almost ready to head out. I gathered the sheets and our Kokopelli blanket that we took off the other night and set the basket on the bed. May as well get them done today since it would be another good day to hang them. Gibbs and I saw ‘Daddy’ off and then came inside for his breakfast. We did a walkabout and I put him in his crate before slipping out the door. I didn’t hear any argument this time!

At noon, as I was eating lunch
Gibbs was ready for another nap

I was down the lane and around the corner onto Baptist Church Road when I remembered the basket of sheets – still on the bed. Oh well, I’m not going back, they will get done on Friday. I don’t like doing them on the day I do our full week’s laundry, the umbrella line just isn’t big enough to hold everything at the same time. There were 2 washers being used when I arrived but no one around. That is never an issue for me, I’d rather them wait in their vehicles anyway, as a rule.

And he knows how to nap!

He was a regular and when he came in to transfer to the dryers, we said our usual hellos. He informed me that the change machine was not accepting ‘any’ bills today and that isn’t good. Jamie just filled it on Monday so that wasn’t the problem. I didn’t know what shift he was on this week but I texted him at 8 and put a large sign on the machine. It was giving change for loonies and twonies so I told him that.

Lunch was jam packed wrap
with NO jam
It was delicious

Jamie responded immediately with a thank you and by 8:30, his daughter Emma stopped in to have a look. 😊 With his direction on the phone, she unplugged and plugged it back in before testing $5, $10 & $20 bills. They all worked, bonus! I chatted with her briefly before she left and I followed soon after. I had a Lotto Max ticket to cash in for a whole $5 so stopped at the variety in town to so that as well as get the tickets with our regular numbers. Can’t win if you don’t play!

 Mountain Ash up on the berm

Back home, Gibbs and I relaxed while I had my tea. I used the frother to blend in the coconut oil in my tea and it worked better than it did for my coffee yesterday. I only tried it with cream then. After getting my caffeine boost, I vacuumed the Suite top to bottom and then carried on with my dusting mitt and then with some good furniture polish on the table and wood counter tops. They came up quite nicely. Our kitchen table is getting pretty rough looking in spots but this helped bring it back to life.

And there he is!
He is so tiny, barely an inch long
I picked a couple of the leaves and 
hope to watch him grow
Two sisters and a niece all have Monarch caterpillars
so it was my turn to find one

Gibbs went outside on his rope tether for about 45 minutes while I dusted so I wasn’t tripping over him. 😊 He likes to move around and flop whereever we are and I wouldn’t change that for the world, but it is nice not to have to step over him too! When I brought him in, I had my shower while he rested downstairs on his blanket. We usually leave the bathroom door open when we shower and sometimes, he sits at the shower doors trying to lap up the water. Funny to watch him.

I went up on the berm to see what
they were doing in the field behind us

Today, they were baling

After my shower, I mixed up a couple of boxes of Strawberry Jello and put it in the fridge to set I pulled some Mild Italian sausage out of the freezer for supper. I slipped into a bathing suit with a coverup today so after lunch I went out and spent some more ‘me’ time in the hammock and lounge chair with my book. With the temperature reaching 25C (30 with the humidex)/77F, Gibbs was quite happy inside in the cool a/c resting around 22C.  

He wasted no time zipping through the fields

There is work to do around the property, trimming, weeding and a hosta to move but it isn’t going to happen today. Tomorrow morning before it gets hot, I’ll tackle at least one of those jobs, if it isn’t raining. I felt no guilt at all sitting outside in the heat. Around 2:45, I could hear gravel crunching on the laneway and hurried to put on my coverup, figuring it might be FedEx with my Norwex. Nope, heart racing, fully clothed now, I see Black Beauty. I should have known. FedEx and UPS tear up the lane trying to stay on their schedules. 😊

The bales are huge

I was pretty much roasted after about 90 minutes so came in with Bill. They boys both went up for a snooze, all Bill has to do is mention the word and Gibbs is on his feet ready to follow. I love that. They slept for about an hour and I sat and flipped pages in my book. It is quite interesting. Bill wanted to do something down at the Hangar with his plane so after watching a YouTube video, he headed down.

Sometimes, Gibbs sleeps back here behind my chair

Our first garden tomatoes

I opened up Word for the recipe for Sausage and Potato Casserole. I knew I had one in there but couldn’t remember if I’ve ever made it. The directions were for baking in an oven but I wanted to try it in Madame IP to save time. If it can cook for anything less than the hour recommended, it is a bonus. I tried it on Manual for 15 minutes with 10 minutes Natural Release. I texted Bill to give him a time line and mixed salad on our plates.

This was tasty!

Strawberry Jello and yogourt

It was good! Enough leftovers for another night so again – bonus. We had some Jello for dessert and I added some of my 11% Plain yogourt to mine. I’d been doing dishes throughout my preparations all day so sent Bill back down to finish what he was doing and I cleaned up the few from supper. This was another great day. Gibbs curled up at the door when Bill went out and fell asleep. I’m sure we’ll be out a few times before and after his supper. 😊

I mentioned Donna's Rose of Sharon yesterday
Here is a picture - I'm envious!!

The sun was just a beautiful red ball tonight
Good night!

Thank you for coming in for a peek. Your comments are always welcome.

Morning Work, Parcel Delivery, Lazy Afternoon

Paisley, On

I heard the alarm at 5:45 but dropped right off again on Monday, Jan. 18^th. It was 10:30 pm when I closed my book and my eyes. Not sure about Bill, he was still reading. After kissing him goodbye this morning, I was unsuccessful at going back to sleep although I felt tired. I was up before 7 and out the door before 8. Bill had texted when he arrived at his jobsite to tell me that it was lightly snowing. His way of saying 'be careful', methinks. 😁

Look at what I was rewarded with this morning!

Ptooties was covered by the white stuff but I knew it would blow off and the windshield had nothing the wipers couldn’t handle. After sitting for a few minutes with her warming up, off we went to Durham. It feels good to get out on the highway with a purpose, listening to my tunes on Sirius XM. Right now it is the LOVE station which sounds corny but I know 98% of the songs and can sing along. I’m in love so why not? 💓💕

And I was heading right for it

But soon that gorgeous sunrise was eaten up by clouds
and we never saw it again all day
That's what you call being at the right place at the right time!

I was alone for almost the whole time at the Mat so had everything done when the first customer came in. It was the just the floors needed doing and she went out to her vehicle after loading two machines so that made my job even easier. She is a familiar elderly lady and we exchange pleasantries each time. When I left, I turned right out of the parking lot onto Saddler St. E. and thought of Mom. I went that way because there is another book box on the first street. It is the street that Rockwood Terrace is on. ☹

You can't see it here very well
but it is called Little Free Library
Loans with no due date 😂

There were fewer books in this exchange box than the one in Paisley but I took the time to look for ones we might be interested in. I found 3, yay! and left my Twelve Tribes of Hattie for someone else. It was a good one about the tough life of a 17 yr. old black girl as she aged, with an ‘invisible’ husband and 12 children. Her challenges made me ever so grateful for the life I’ve lived so far. Choices were different for me when I became pregnant even though still young and unmarried at the time.

The sun did try to come back but it was a no-go

Then I drove home. There wasn’t really any precipitation to speak of and what there was, appeared more like rain. It wasn’t too cold of a day, -2C/28F to -1C/30F. Back at the house, I took my thermos of coffee upstairs, it was just past 10:30 so I’d made good time today with driving and cleaning.  I took the time to dust mop the floors in our room(s) and do some dusting as well as clean the bathroom sink & toilet. I had some pepperoni sticks, cheese and crackers with my fried egg for lunch.

Before I went to bed last night, I felt the inkling of shingles so took a pill and sure enough woke up to them this morning. The pills help to ease the pain and lessen the duration rather than stave them off. I leave them on the bathroom sink so I remember to take one in the morning and one at night. Yes, my memory is that bad! I’m going to blame the shingles for my laziness today. Online, I checked for an email re my parcel delivery and when I got up out of my chair, I noticed FedEx out the window.

One book Bill will enjoy too
The others are a gamble but I'm hoping i'll like them

It was just before the noon hour so I went down to get the door when I saw him cross the street. These guys can be clueless. It says ‘side door’ on my order and it says ‘use side door’ on the front door of the house. He didn’t ring the bell and while I’m opening the side door, he has dropped the parcel at the front door behind the pillar and was out at the gate. I called out to him with instructions for next time (maybe he can’t read! Haha) and he said “okay, now I know!” Duh.

I was surprised that  it was such a small package
but quite pleased with the quality of what was inside

And it came in a nice carryall bag

I was excited as it was my new leather jacket. Sadly, even though our sizing was measured so carefully, it is too tight around the chest and the arms are skin tight. Hmmm, makes me feel like an elephant! So, I packaged it up right away (well, almost) and requested a return/refund. It was an Amazon purchase but a 3^rd party vendor. Still I knew there would be no problem. I re-ordered the next size up and hope like heck this one fits. I won’t be wearing it until spring/summer anyway so no rush.

It fits but is snug so one size larger should be the ticket

Other than that, I love the jacket. It is a really soft leather and has a fleece zip-out hoody and 'dickie' (I think that is what it's called). Then I crawled up on our bed and put my head down. A headache was lingering and even though a walk would probably ‘ease my pain’ again, I didn’t feel up to it at all. I’ve been reading this Greg Isles story and can’t believe I was undecided about trying his books. Wow, it has me flipping pages like crazy and I’m halfway through already. I guess we shouldn’t judge a book by…….haha you know. 😊

This book has me turning pages quickly

I made a tea and unlocked the door downstairs around 4 as I knew Bill would be along within half hour. When he came upstairs, I showed him my jacket and then repackaged it for return. He agrees, too snug for long sleeves under it if I needed it. He curled up on the bed for his snooze, and dropped right off. He was tired after not having a good night’s sleep. I just hope he doesn’t ruin tonight’s rest. It’s a vicious circle. I couldn’t drop off earlier for the life of me so ended up reading more.

When I went down for my tea, I looked out the front room
window and you can see a significant difference in the snow
on the front lawn
The goose tells all

We went down before 6 for supper. Tonight, mashed potatoes with hamburger and onion gravy with vegetables. Squash for me and corn for Bill. I didn’t make anymore dessert so he’ll have to settle for a cupcake or nothing tonight. After dishes and making his lunch, we retired to our room. We will go down to the games room and watch 9-1-1 together at 8. It feels warm in there tonight; we watched NCIS and ate our supper out there for a change.

This is one of my favourite meals
Simple mashed potatoes with hamburger gravy
Mom used to make this for us once a week

And a guilt-free cupcake for dessert

There was a light, wet snow falling as the sky darkened. Bill said we were expecting a couple of centimeters tonight which isn’t much at all. The car is there if he wishes to take it tomorrow.

Happy Hour at Quartzsite
Jan. 18, 2019
Rose, Pat, Tom, Deb, Patsy, Bill's chair, George, Rob, Suzie
Cheers!

Good night!

This was a good day, even though a semi-lazy one for me. Thank you for stopping by.

 

 

Back to Work, Gorgeous Sunshine, Cookies? – Part 2 (late posting again)

Paisley, On

We both woke up to the alarm on Monday, Dec. 7^th but I’m not sure if it was 5:30 or a few minutes later. Some days Bill is faster getting ready and is at Billy’s (where he catches a ride) too early so he may delay the alarm a bit. I heard the door squeak as he came up from his breakfast and was fully awake to get my goodbye kiss. I figured I’d leave around 8:30 for Durham so didn’t get up until just after 7.

It was a nice morning for a drive

It was supposed to be a decent day, as far as December goes, so I wasn’t worried about precipitation of any kind today. My windshield wipers had their covers on so wasn’t worried about having to deal with them being stuck. It was below 0C/32F so I was surprised that I had no frost to scrape. Bonus! I was ready to leave at the time I’d planned and caught glimpses through the clouds of the cheery sunshine up there to the east.

Once of my favourite features in Ptooties
And it got used this morning! Yay!

Good morning, Sunshine!

There were only 2 customers at the Mat this morning and with the dry pavement, I was able to do a thorough job of the floors this time. Dry and wet mopping. It was in tip top shape when I left. I didn’t rush and chatted with a nice lady I’ve seen a few times. She is very outspoken though and takes ‘guff’ from no one so I’m careful not to get her onto a subject that gets her going. Ha ha. 😊 She’s had some trials in her life, probably around my age, and I respect that.

It was even nice on Concession 8

I don't know if there is a name for this small 'lake'
but it is almost frozen over

As I came back to Hanover, I made one stop at Dollarama for some tissue paper and a Christmas box. Ours are all in the Suite, I didn’t think I would need them but no worries, you can’t beat the $2 prices. Of course, there were a few other little craft items and also more icing sugar which I was almost out of after mixing up the pesky shortbread dough. Speaking of which, Bill said that it has softened up so I should be able to roll it out this afternoon. He’s sure hoping!

I came home through Elmwood

I don't remember this building (which was
a Lamont home and store when we lived there) looking so square
but obviously it was!
Funny what we don't pay attention to as children

At home, Wes brought the mail back and we got our first Christmas card. Thank you, Cathy! 😊 I noticed Susan was doing some baking so there was no rush to get my cookies going. I still may wait until after supper to bake them, we’ll see. I’d like to get a walk in and still need more stamps for Christmas cards and then that should be done for this year. Bill keeps thinking of someone else, which I’m glad of, but it means more than I originally had thought.

Through Malcolm

I came upstairs and because I’ve been noticing the ends of my hair are getting ragged, I trimmed about ½ to ¾” off the bottom. It’s pretty close to being even so I was happy. Trimming my own hair, no matter what style it is in, has never been something I’ve shied away from. It’s hair, it’ll grow if I mess up. Plus, there are hairdressers all over to fix things up! Ha ha

and past our old school again

Bill got our Sirius XM radio set up yesterday so I found a country Christmas station and have been listening to seasonal music this afternoon. Nice that I can switch it off and on when I want. Oh! By the way, I did watch It’s a Wonderful Life last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. It has been years since I’ve seen it from beginning to end.

Watching the black and white version of
It's a Wonderful Life
on my laptop (for now)

Funny part was, after putting the disc back in the case, I remembered that I’d received a colour version as well. I watched the whole thing in the original black and white! Silly me, but really, I’m glad I did that without batting an eye. 😊 I was awake enough to read a couple of chapters of my book after the movie before turning the light off at 10:30. I didn’t hear Bill come in at 11. At least I don’t think I did.

Part 2 of the shortbread cookies

first batch ready for the oven

So, back to today. I decided to go down and get my cookies rolled out so did that and noticed that the oven was free. I put a total of 4 cookie sheets, 48 shortbread cookies in the oven at two different intervals. Susan and I watched them carefully so as not to overcook. The last 5 minutes is so crucial and then removing them from the hot tray quickly to set them somewhere to cool. They continued cooking!

Added to my temporary cookie container

Anyway, they turned out good and I’m sure Bill will like them. 😊 I learned of a new cookie that Wes and Susan like so offered them each 2 cookies sandwiched and suggested they put their own jam in between. They call them Empire cookies with icing and a cherry on top. After they were done cooking, cooling and in the containers, I cleaned up the dishes and went down to the post office. The Christmas stamps are all gone, ☹, so plain ones it is for the last of our cards. 

And the second batch was more for fun

It would have been a nice afternoon for a walk but there was a cool wind from the north so I’d have to bundle up. It was late by the time I finished everything so just returned home. I made a cup of tea around 4ish and texted Bill to see if he was on his way yet. Before I went upstairs, I unlocked the garage door for him. It was just after 4:30 when he came up to our room.

Are you hungry for shortbread yet?
this is the second container

Pork chops and salad for supper tonight and maybe we’ll be splitting one of the chops. They are so thick and we decided last time it was too much. I’m working at cleaning the meat out of our freezer so we can buy fresh again, bit by bit. Call it a pre-New Years’ resolution, if you will. Bill had a bit of a lay down when he got into his comfy clothes so I sat beside him on the bed to read a couple of chapters.

At 6, I went down and seasoned 2 thick pork chops and sautéed them with onion and mushrooms. I added mushroom soup to the mixture and then set the chops on the trivet over that. 9 minutes cooking and they were done. We had coleslaw on the side, cleaning that up too. I believe they were the last chops in the freezer so that is good. We need to stop buying those ones, it is too much for one person but not quite enough for two. LOL

Supper
It sure wouldn't win in any Suzy Homemaker magazines!!
there's no colour!

After dishes, we stayed where we were, watching NCIS until 8 and then we moved into the Games room to watch A Nashville Christmas Carol together. Because it was another different one, with a storyline like Scrooge, I watched it with Bill. It was on a week ago but W & S weren’t into it. No worries, it gives me a chance to watch one with my sweetie. 😊

Donna will remember this day well
At Ridgeview RV Resort, Bullhead City
Our hair was WILD!
Dec. 7th, 2017 the day they left

Bill had his lunch made so we came upstairs at 10. He was tired and went right to sleep. I managed one chapter before I needed to do the same. By the way, the cookies were a hit. He had a couple and gave them a *star* through a crumbled mouth. Ha ha. That’s what I like! I’m so glad they turned out after all the worry over the dough. Maybe next time I won’t put them in the fridge for more than an hour.

A filler for no particular reason
No, Bill, you're not in trouble. :)
Good day everyone!

It was a good day. Any clear, no snow, no illness, no accident, day is a good one. 

Thank you for your visit today! I’m getting slower at answering comments some days but I do read them so if you’d like to make one, please feel free!