At Home with Gracey

Another Summer Wondering What to Do

2021-06-01T10:51:00.000-04:00

For the last few weeks, I've been searching around our area looking for a camper van (conversion done) so we can travel a bit this summer and at least get out once in a while, hopefully into some wilderness areas where there aren't a lot of people nearby.

Most are in a price range we aren't willing to pay, but a few were within reason ... the problem is, the ones with reasonable prices in decent condition (I'm not looking for perfect at a lower price range, just something we can work with if need be) sell within a day of hitting the market.

We've been a little slow on the draw with that, but many are being sold "sight unseen" ... just from a picture and description and my other half, he isn't willing to do that.

You aren't just buying a camper, but a vehicle as well. It wouldn't be much fun to get it home and find out it needs a whole new motor. I found myself pretty frustrated ... for some reason, I'd fallen in love with this one old van ... not terribly pretty, but the orange interior just tickled my fancy for some reason. I didn't save a pic of the inside but the two front seats and table set cushions had an orange leather that still looked brand new and for some reason, I was taken by it. The cost was very low compared to other similar offerings, leaving us room to have been able to update it. Unfortunately, this morning, it was marked as sold, and it wasn't us that bought it.

My stipulations are no hauling (so no camper trailer, or tent trailer), and no long and difficult to drive motorhomes. Really, I just want one that looks like a van ... has a place to sleep, a stove top or single burner, small fridge, and a pottie (not a fan of squatting in the woods thanks).

Most trips will be "day trips", or one night sleeping, 2 days driving. I'm not planning to live in the thing ... $50,000 to $100,000 is way more than we want to spend. Let's face it, we're old folks. We might only be able to travel for a couple of years ... and that's partly why we're wanting to do it now ... before it's too late and we can't do it all.

Anyway, in my search for the right thing, I'm pretty much out of opportunities unless we want to drive to Quebec (and we don't), besides, at the moment, the way travel is a little restricted, it's best to stay in our own province this year.

I started looking at small campers - older types like shasta, scotty, and similar brands/sizes from the 50s to 70s. We have to be careful about the weight if we are going to tow (we have a half ton, but the Ford Eco-boost doesn't haul heavy weight uphill without straining), and about length (a little worry over how the hubby will handle hauling now).


Unik Camper, 1970s (us)

I found pinterest contains an interesting load of old vehicles ... some are cobbled together bits, and others are old ones restored to their grandeur, or refurbished in retro styles. But most need hauled around by something. I must say, though, there are many old restored campers out there, just not necessarily for sale.

Some have been beautifully restored, and there are far more types than I knew existed - shapes and brand names I've never heard of before! It was fun to wander through these pages, but it didn't help me in my quest to find what I was really looking for.

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/494833077806678040/

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/757589968565034945/

At one point during my travels I found a truck with a camper on it ... a very old truck camper ... also something I'd not seen before. I kept thinking ... "it looks like someone attached part of a boat to the top of that camper". I have to admit, I like things that are different, and price was reasonable so I showed it to the hubby. (http://aroundozwithstunshaz.yolasite.com/the-old-timers.php)

He was, shall we say, far less than impressed, hahahaha. It didn't take long to sell though. Now, I'm wishing I had tried harder to talk him into it.

We've hauled stuff around before, a tent trailer, and two different travel trailers. My husband used to drive a school bus (the big ones), has driven a stake truck, and drove his parents longer trailer back home from Florida several times. Oh, yeah, and we had a slide-in truck camper at one point as well. It isn't like we haven't done it, but with age ... things don't always work as well any more. Reflexes can slow a bit, and eyesight might not be as sharp, and hauling is just another thing you have to worry about.

What I don't want to do is end up with both of us being stressed out by the trip ... we're supposed to enjoy it.

Most of what I've found is too long, too expensive, too much work needs done for the price, or just something you look at and go "ick".

This was one of many I ran across in similar condition (not terribly expensive, but expensive for what's there, which is literally nothing inside). Seriously, when you look at it, you wonder how much you might be able to get from the metal recyclers, lol. The problem is, most of these older ones have a wooden frame under that metal sided exterior.

If the wood is rotted ... well, the exterior has to come off too, and you end up with a lot more restoration work just to make it safe, never mind what it would take to make it "pretty" again.

That being said, I find myself going back to look at this one again and again. I couldn't figure out why, but ... it's because I hadn't seen one before. The brand name is "Trotwood" and on first glimpse, it looks a little bit like today's fifth-wheels, except you tow it like a regular travel trailer with the hitch at the bottom.

In trying to figure out what the interior might originally have been like, I did a web search. I couldn't find one with that brand name, but Shasta made a similar style, though most I found look smaller than this one.

This one has two big holes in one side that I can't figure out ... no windows in them so maybe for a furnace vent or something. Inside, there are two large black pipes (not where the holes were) that I can't figure out either. The bed space looks as though it was at the back, and the dining area at the front ... nothing left but the ledge for holding the table, and the boxes for the seat cushions (well, the frames anyways). There is what appears to be part of a kitchen space across from the 2 big holes.

All in all, for some reason this old hulk intrigues me. If I were 40 instead of 65, I'd want to remodel it. Not really restore it, but redo everything in a clean modern look, with solar capabilities instead of propane. The big problem is those 2 holes ... looks as though there's been water damage and part of the ceiling is rotted. I don't have it in me to have to strip everything down to the wood and maybe find a lot of the frame needs replaced.

It's too bad ... I think it could have been an amazing piece once redone.

Researching Covid Vaccines

2021-03-31T09:56:00.001-04:00

As someone who received every childhood vaccine, and someone who ensured her kids got every necessary childhood vaccine, I find myself at odds with the newest vaccines in the world.

For several reasons ... I have allergies to several types of medications, and I have (currently) 4 autoimmune diseases.

Either of those things would give me pause when it comes to a new vaccine, but with both of those things, my hesitancy outweighs my desire to have myself injected with a vaccine that (by most governmental statements) is "safe", yet ... some doctors have disagreed with. The doctors in disagreement are often labelled as anti-vaxxers, but not all of them are. That makes me wonder about the huge push for this vaccine ... yes, I know, covid is a very real disease that has some very dire outcomes for some people, like many other diseases do.

So, to appease both myself and family and friends, I've taken the last few weeks to research (on government approved news and websites) the vaccines being used to try and stem the flow of transmission.

I am still of the opinion that I will not offer myself up, given my already apparent health issues, as what amounts to a test subject.

In Ontario, where I live, the most prevalent vaccine seems to be the Oxford AstraZeneca, which has had more than enough problems, and has a fairly low confidence rating right now. Here, they have halted it's use for people under 55 (I am 65) which means those vaccines will likely be the one given to those in my age range.

The reason of course is the fact that in some European countries, there have been at least a couple of deaths from blood clots and/or their complications, but also that the majority of blood clot issues (that did not cause deaths) appeared in people mostly under the age of 50, and most often in women. Sweden, Denmark, and Norway still has not resumed use of that vaccine in any person of any age (as of Mar. 29th) until they complete further investigation.

Checking in on the CDC's own website's VAERS system, the reports for severe side effects of several vaccines show that none of the current vaccines are free of some possibly serious side effects (note: nearly all vaccines, including the old ones, can have some serious side effects for small numbers of people). The very first search I did was an enormous page of details - many of which aren't that severe, but the numbers of severe ones are enough to make you at least think about your own possible reaction to a vaccine.

To be fair about this, the CDC results pages do say that not all of these reports have been verified by health professionals or doctors. The reports are voluntary and can come from those experiencing the side effects, or doctors, or from the vaccine providers. From the CDC website disclaimer:

Key considerations and limitations of VAERS data:
Vaccine providers are encouraged to report any clinically significant health problem following vaccination to VAERS, whether or not they believe the vaccine was the cause.
Reports may include incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental and unverified information.
The number of reports alone cannot be interpreted or used to reach conclusions about the existence, severity, frequency, or rates of problems associated with vaccines.
VAERS data are limited to vaccine adverse event reports received between 1990 and the most recent date for which data are available.
VAERS data do not represent all known safety information for a vaccine and should be interpreted in the context of other scientific information.
VAERS staff at CDC and the FDA follow up on all serious adverse event reports to obtain additional medical, laboratory, death certificates and/or autopsy records to help understand the circumstances. However, VAERS public data do not generally change based on the information obtained during the follow-up process.

https://wonder.cdc.gov/vaers.html

A copy of the first report I ever ran, which overwhelmed me:

(you can run your own reports here: https://wonder.cdc.gov/controller/datarequest/D8)

This morning, I ran another report, this time asking only for fairly severe reactions, including death, life threatening, permanent disability, and hospitalization. I also didn't ask for individual details/reports, just the totals.

In the research, I read information provided directly from Oxford AstraZeneca, including this .pdf provided by them.

I'd take time to read this very carefully. If you are getting this vaccine, or it's likely you would be given it, you should be certain to check with your family doctor first. An excerpt from the .pdf states:

Check with your healthcare provider before vaccination if:

You have ever had a severe allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) after any other vaccine injection;
Your immune system does not work properly (immunodeficiency) or are taking medicines that weaken the immune system (such as high-dose corticosteroids, immunosuppressants or cancer medicines);
You currently have a severe infection with a high temperature (over 38°C);
You have a problem with bleeding or bruising, or if you are taking a blood thinning medicine (anticoagulant);
You have any other medical conditions;
You take any medicines for any other condition including any recent or planned vaccines;

After vaccination you may be at risk of developing certain side effects. It is important you understand these risks and how to monitor for them.

It also says:

COVID-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca3Medicines(including other vaccines)that may impact whether you should be given this vaccine or not include the following (see also Section 2 above):

- medicines that weaken the immune system (such as high-dose - corticosteroids, immunosuppressants or cancer medicines);
blood thinning medicines (anticoagulant)
- any other vaccine including any other COVID-19 vaccines

Check with your healthcare provider if you are not sure about what vaccines, medicines, vitamins or supplements you are taking or have recently taken and if these may affect this COVID-19 Vaccine.

Near the end of the .pdf is a list of ingredients in this vaccine. I would guess, having looked up some of the ingredients (not all, but some) that some of those things are used in the production of food, except for the ethanol absolute, which isn't usually considered safe to drink (safe to inject apparently in controlled treatments, not safe to drink ---> DO NOT inject yourself with this stuff). (see: https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/3609/smpc)

To finish up, this morning I read a sad article about a 56 year old male doctor (in Florida) who died after getting his covid shot (see this article in the Lakeland Times). That isn't to say, of course, that he died because of the shot, but there are other similar reports of people experiencing similar issues, and apparently there consensus is mixed. His COD was reported as a hemorrhagic stroke, which was indicated as not related to the vaccine?

The Moderna Vaccine (see this .pdf) indicates

Tell your vaccination provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you:
•have any allergies•have a fever•have a bleeding disorder or are on a blood thinner
•are immunocompr omised or are on a medicine that affects your immune system
•are pregnant or plan to become pregnant
•are breastfeeding
•have received another COVID-19 vaccine

Also stated in Moderna's .pdf (hosted on the fda.gov website):

The Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine is an unapproved vaccine. In clinical trials, approximately 15,400 individua ls 18 years of age and older have received at least 1 dose of the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine.

So, although it isn't an approved vaccine, the fda has issued an emergency authorization for it's use. mmmm, I'm not all that sure personally that's a good idea, but the clinical trials involved over 15,000 people ... still, the global population amounts to almost 8 billion people, so the test amounts to a minuscule percentage of people in the world (0.00019%).

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (see the Pfizer fact sheet), which is nearly identical to Moderna's) also has not been approved by the fda, but as with Moderna, has been given emergency use authorization. Pfizer has a larger trial base than Moderna, but not by much: 20,000 for Pfizer.

At this moment, those are the three we have in Canada - note that the US still is not using the AstraZeneca vaccine.

I'll leave it to each individual to make what they wish of these notes. There is far more to consider than just these facts, but understanding and knowing the facts will help you decide for yourself.

Me ... it's a no go for now. Probably forever given that autoimmune issues just don't "go away". There could be hope on the horizon though, for people like me.

Innotech Nutrition, a Canadian manufacturer of natural health products, is excited to release the results of a Penn State College of Medicine research study that showed the company's COLFLEX Oral Spray inactivated 99 to 99.9 per cent of infectious human coronavirus 229E.

You can read the article here: Covid Throat Spray

And, a similar nasal spray: Nasal Covid Spray

I'm pleased to note that both of these are Canadian!

By the Numbers

2020-11-28T10:57:00.004-05:00

I like facts, and I like the numbers because when designated authorities provide the numbers, it's easy to see that all the hyperbole is a little off the mark for some areas. Like the one I live in. We are currently designated in the "orange" zone, but I can see our county heading to the red or grey zone because of larger places like the "top-four" part of our county.

This page for Simcoe-Muskoka heath unit has a wealth of information (see: Simcoe-Muskoka Health Stats), but the majority of cases are pegged mostly in the southern area of the county - Barrie, Bradford West-Gwillimbury, New Tecumseth, Innisfill, Essa ... areas in the more northern part of the county (like Orillia, Oro-Medonte, Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Huntsville, etc.) have fairly small numbers of cases, and even less numbers of hospitalized cases.

In fact, the last update (which would have been Friday Nov. 27th as they don't update on weekends) shows only 13 hospitalizations in the entire county.

Dr. Gardner's dire predictions in April forecast upwards of 185 to 2000 deaths in the county (over a 2 year period, but heck, are we still really going to be counting this crap in 2022?) but the chart indicates 52 (though that will probably change after the current weekend).

So how long do they really intend to be counting rates for this? Let's face it, if it is in fact a virus, it isn't going away, not even with a vaccine.

The flu has a yearly vaccine, but the flu varieties all still exist, and people still get the flu, and yes, people even still die from the flu.

When looking at the information provided by our local health unit on the transmission and outbreak types, it's easy to see where care needs to be taken. The general public doesn't have the same high risk as these LTC homes and apparently some workplaces. It would be more helpful if they defined the types of work places more at risk.

Sure, this virus can be worse than the flu for those with previously diagnosed health issues (but then, the same is true for normal flu, right?), but I seriously don't see why we're treating this as a death threat for average, healthy human beings.

Excerpts from Pneumonia Study

It just isn't. The rates of death for folks under the age of 60 are almost non-existent. Yes, some younger people with health issues have died (who knows if it's with or from?) Whose to say they wouldn't have died if they got viral pneumonia?

Pneumonia is one of Canada's top killers, according to this study from March 2019. I don't recall the government going to such extreme measures over this, yet every single year people die from pneumonia, and it's one of the top 10 reasons people go to the ER every year (over 135,000 pneumonia-related visits in 2018).

If you take a look at that .pdf study, you'll see one of the info-graphics they use provides the same information for staying healthy or avoiding pneumonia, as the ones currently being used. Okay, not exactly the same actual image (close enough though), however, the recommendations are the same. If it's good enough for pneumonia just to make these "recommendations", without locking everyone up and closing down business', I don't understand why they aren't good enough for our current situation.

It's time to put 2020 and it's health issues in perspective. Yes, it can be a killer for some, but for most it really isn't.

All I want for Christmas is ... well, I dunno about anyone else, but I can't even finish that right now because it would be a really long sentence, but I don't want things you can wrap, or buy ...

In case I don't have time to get back here before the holidays, have a Merry Christmas. Be blessed and well my friends.

What's Missing in Utopia?

2020-11-20T07:54:00.007-05:00

In the province I live in, there's a little place called Utopia. A cute little place where people, live, love, work, and visit. They worked hard to get there. BUT, if you wait 10 years or so (2030), you can live in Utopia for free, all over Canada. Or so the World Economic Forum says.

Wait ... back in March and April of 2020 people were saying the government will own everything and people will own nothing. You won't need to own anything because products (like homes, cars, clothing and other items you currently buy) will become a service, sort of like health care I suppose. And weren't those same people being called "conspiracy theorists"? Yep, indeed they were.

For any of you thinking utopia sounds pretty good ... maybe. I don't know what other people think, but that kind of utopian life just doesn't exist and if it did ... I'd be bored out of my mind. There would be no satisfaction in a life like that ... satisfaction comes from achievement. From striving to do something; to fulfill a dream or vision (like owning a home or a car); from working to achieve those dreams.

Satisfaction ... it doesn't sound like much I guess. It's just a word, right? Wrong. I've spent my whole life striving to achieve what I consider success - oh, not tons of money or perfection in anything. That's not my idea of success. But without the dream (making a great cake or loaf of bread; biking 100 miles, or hiking a mounting; taking a great photo; painting a great picture; buying a home with no mortgage; etc.) there is no satisfaction in achieving it. No joy in the soul for life and all it's possibilities. Those are things humans need.

But several articles on the World Economic Forum's own website belie the fact that someone just made all this up. The original article was posted in 2016, so several years before all this current life-junk. And I suppose when it was written it was just a "what if" ... but now? Now maybe it isn't a "what if" at all. Maybe that's exactly where we're heading. At least in Canada.

Justin Trudeau has been a long time contributor to the WEF, and although he declined to attend in 2020, his recent public announcements have given us pause for thought. It's not quite what the conspiracy theorists have discussed, but using the word "reset" in his speech only heightened their fears.

Although "Fact Check" claims it's still a conspiracy theory and is "only" a global initiative to address challenges ... ummm, isn't that what the reset was all about in those "conspiracy theories"?

According to the World Economic Forum's page titled "The Great Reset" ...uh, well, it isn't really a "theory" is it? To quote their own page:

"As we enter a unique window of opportunity to shape the recovery, this initiative will offer insights to help inform all those determining the future state of global relations, the direction of national economies, the priorities of societies, the nature of business models and the management of a global commons."

That's quite the statement; one that could be taken in many ways. In Canada, we've been watching our government spend gobs of money (money our country doesn't have) courting countries like China; handing out a constant flow of money to prop up their ideals (the rich vs the unworking poor); ethical violations of the Prime Minister's government, and other members of parliament; handing out monthly payments ($2,000) to people who aren't working due to covid (just to note, my kids and their families don't work in "essential" jobs, yet they have continued to work); planning to increase immigration (read that as "import" people) to 1.2 million beginning in 2021 (with 401,000 immigrants) and running through with increasing numbers for 3 years.

But that's only part of this reset for Trudeau. It began back at the beginning of February when all this began. During the course of all these money handouts, monthly payments to people not working they forgot some people ... a lot of people as a matter of fact. Seniors, are one of those groups. Some got as much as $600 (oh, just a one-time payment, not monthly); some got $200 to $300. People like me - a senior, but not yet collecting "Old Age Security" ... well, we got $0. Honestly? I'd rather not take a handout and beholden to our government for anything at all, so I'm okay with not getting any. But they sure aren't helping any of the "old" people ... they seem to be just waiting for us to die off.

The majority of deaths in our province due to the "virus" are seniors, but not seniors my age. People in the 80+ age group. They comprise about 71% of the deaths.

People in my age group (60-79) make up about 25% of the deaths. Everyone under the age of 60 make up a ridiculously small percentage of our deaths.

Protect those who need protected. Let everyone else get back to living a normal life. Give people back the ability to choose for themselves. Nobody should need the government riding rough-shod over our own personal health choices. Regardless of your age (excepting minors) your choice on how you handle your own health should be yours. Not the government's.

For this tiny percentage we are continually threatened with lock downs and business closures, and they hold compliance over our heads like a hammer ... comply or you can't celebrate "fill-in-any-holiday-here".

The current threat is to cancel Christmas. (And no, my family will NOT cancel holidays at all. Practising safe measures and having small groups is sufficient)

How ridiculous is this? The great reset? Hah! The only reset I want to see right now is our entire government. Pull them out of power and let's start fresh. We need a new vision ... one that puts our lives back in our our hands, and takes control out of Trudeau's hands.

Finding Gluten Free Products

2019-10-23T08:18:00.001-04:00


Bought these in Florida, but you can buy cauliflower crackers at Costco in Orillia.

In Ontario it isn't always easy to find really good gluten free products ... at least not where I live. In Orillia, there aren't the same amount of choices available in the grocery stores, and we don't have a lot of specialty shops to find special dietary products.

In town, there are a few places that are beginning to carry more gluten free products, including one of my favourites - M&M Foods. Because we have local access, and they have good quality foods, I was really happy to find that they have a selection of some of my favourites that are now gluten free, including the delicious breaded chicken breasts (yes, real meat, not processed meat), the fish as well, and their chicken burgers. Now they also have some of the dessert bars in gluten free and all of this only discovered after we got back from Florida. Last year before we left, we didn't have any of those options available in gluten free.

About an hour north of us in Bracebridge, there is another gluten free shop. I haven't had a chance to get there yet, and it's a long way to go for just a few items. The next time I head up that way to visit friends or family, I plan to make a stop at Beat the Wheat, and probably grab a few things to try. Just because I don't have to eat gluten free anymore doesn't mean I don't love some of the products and will continue trying them, and continue eating those I love.

Picked these up at Publix in the US, and they were utterly delicious. Expensive, but I'd definitely buy these again.

Several sites online also provide good resources for those with celiac disease. The Celiac Scene, Gluten Free Ontario, and Gluten Free Garage. There are a lot of online resources where you can place orders for products you want and have them shipped ... for me, and for a lot of others though, the cost is sometimes difficult to justify. The food is expensive enough on it's own (more so than non-gluten free foods), but then there is the cost of shipping added. If you must eat gluten free though, being able to order a few specialty products now and then to help expand your food choices, it's worth it - not all the time, but a few times a year can offer you enough variety to make your life a little happier.

Got these at BigLots in Florida - also delicious

Natura Market (online) offers not only gluten free, but keto friendly and paleo options. They will ship all across Canada, but only Canada, so if any of my readers are in the US you won't be able to order from here.

Well.ca offers shipping to both Canada and the US, and they are located in Guelph, Ontario which is about 2-3 hours or so (depending on traffic) from us. It's doubtful we'd drive there just to shop for a few things, but they have some good options for variety so it could be worth checking it out. They also offer a lot of sugar free products, kosher products, organics, peanut free and just about all manner of specialty products.

Other places Canadian's can order online are (of course) Amazon, and then there's the Real Canadian Superstore.

I'm hopeful that someday, we can all just walk into any grocery store and find all of these products in one place. I think many cities and towns could benefit from having one (just one, maybe two for bigger cities) grocery store that only carries all specialty grocery products. A one-stop shopping trip would make running from store-to-store for products a thing of the past.

As mentioned in a previous post, some of the "regular" groceries offer a few gluten free products each (Food Basics, Zehrs, Walmart, Orillia Bakery, National Nutrition) but the choices are really limited to a few basics.

Also got these at BigLots (US). Hubby likes these as do I.

I guess online grocery suppliers like those listed above are the grocery stores of the future, but I dunno ... there is something about just running to the store 5 minutes away when you need an item at the last minute.

You can't do that with online shopping, and in our town (central to a lot of other small towns) a single shop providing all or most of these products would probably do reasonably well.

Oh yeah, and for Orillian's, there is a gluten free bakery downtown. I think they opened last year. Bakes by the Lake creates a lot of treats and desserts (including donuts!), and while they do have bagels, I don't see that they have any breads yet. I asked when they first opened about breads, but they still don't seem to have bread. Their site makes note of the fact that they are also dairy-free, so no milk or cream for coffee/tea - except the non-dairy types.

... Guess I'll just continue to order my bread mixes from Hillbilly Farms Bakery in Florida!

A Surprising Kitchen Gadget

2019-10-22T10:36:00.000-04:00

I bought this little gadget as joke for my husband. Have you figured out what it is yet? It looks a little bit like an old-fashioned egg slicer, but it isn't.

My husband loves strawberries ... but me, not so much. In fact, not at all. He buys them at home (in Canada) in those little 1 pint packs, but then he sticks them in the fridge and won't eat them unless I clean them for him. I don't eat them, nor use them so after a week or so, they go in the compost bin. It's supposed to be his job to clean and cut them, but never gets around to doing it.

A couple of weeks ago he bought 2 huge bags of strawberries off the "day-old" rack at Walmart ($2 total for both bags). There were a LOT of berries in those bags, but I knew that given his condition at the time, he probably wouldn't be the one cutting them up.

It would have been too much to waste all those berries so I spent 20 minutes cutting the tops off them, and washing them clean, but I wasn't looking forward to cutting them up. I remembered this little gadget I had bought a year or so ago as a bit of a gag, because I knew he'd never use it and I doubted I would.

I dug around in the cupboard til I found it (still in the box, still wrapped in plastic) and opened it up.

I actually didn't think it would work very well, but it surprised me. This was billed as a strawberry slicer on the box and you know what? It works like a charm.

I paid less than $2 for it at a local discount store but in about 7 minutes, I had all those berries neatly sliced in a bowl ready to be bagged for the freezer (8 cups of sliced berries). The blades are way sharper than I expected a cheapie little gadget to have (sliced my finger on one of them) and for the most part, the berries are sliced uniformly.

(Now I'm wishing I'd bought 2 so I could take one to Florida for our house there ... we live 20 minutes from the strawberry capital in Florida - Plant City.)

How long it will stay sharp is anyone's guess, but for less than the price of a pair of panty hose (which I typically can use once) I expect this little gadget will do for a few years anyways. It was certainly worth the price, and might even induce me to cut up his berries for him.

... and I bet it will slice eggs just fine too.

Hillbilly Farms Gluten Free Bakery

2019-10-18T09:15:00.000-04:00

While on our way to Dade City (from Lakeland, FL) one day we chanced a stop at this little gluten free bakery we found along the highway ... next to nothing really. There's a nice lot with grass, and a little outdoor patio, but the fact that it was gluten free is what made us stop. I'd been trying to find a bread that was moist, and not dry like most in the stores.

Hillbilly Farms Bakery - our fave place to stop.

They had a variety to choose from, so I selected a half-loaf of "Mock Wheat"; and a half-loaf of "Sourdough". But we ended up buying several other things as well - donut holes (Apple Cider), and a couple of cookies (large ones - peanut butter, chocolate chip, and a ginger cookie).

When we arrived back home (our home in Florida), I opened and tried the "Mock Wheat" bread. Definitely moist - not dry at all and I DIDN'T need to toast it to make a sandwich (yay!!). That was exactly what I had been looking for. It had a slight "wheat-like" flavour, but doesn't contain wheat. Mostly, it reminded me of the malt bread my husband likes. My husband liked Hillbilly Farms bread as well.

He tried the bread, but because they come in half-loaf size and are home baked breads, he didn't want to eat all my bread.

Probably one of his most favourite things are the Apple Cider Spice donut holes (and donuts), but he eats ALL of their sweets. I can't pick a favourite because everything we've tried is delicious, though out of the cookies, my favourite would be their sugar cookies.

You can see a list of products on their website (Hillbilly Farms) and find a more extensive showing of the variety they have in baked goods on the Hillbilly Farms Bakery facebook page. And if you're the type that likes to bake at home, you can purchase their product mixes from their Etsy Shop.

If you happen to be one of the folks whose lives depend on the food you eat having no exposure at all to non-gluten free ingredients then Hillbilly Farms will be one of the places you can go. They have a small lunch menu, and the bakery and it's ingredients are certified gluten free. For their family, absolute gluten free is a must.

I can't say enough about the food here - I've served many of their offerings to guests at dinner who had no idea they were gluten free, and they loved them all. My husband too, and he's pretty picky when it comes to the taste of his food.

Anyway, my post wasn't supposed to be a promo for them - I wanted to mention their package mixes. I brought a few of their single-serve mixes for cupcakes and muffins home, as well as a mix for the Mock Wheat bread.

I hadn't baked my own gf bread before, but Rhoda (one of the owners and the baker) told me it could be made in a bread maker - an ordinary bread maker (so it didn't have to have the GF setting). I thought it would be wonderful to have some of her Mock Wheat bread back home in Canada.

Outdoor eating area at the bakery.

I did make a slight mistake while making the bread, but it turned out fine. I followed the instructions and added the ingredients that weren't included in the mix, and pre-mixed it in a bowl before putting it in the breadmaker. Once it was in, I set it for a standard loaf, turned it on (or so I thought) and went out to do some shopping.

A couple of hours later when arrived home, I expected the smell of baking bread, but nope. I checked and the dough was just sitting there in breadmaker. Not having made any gluten free bread before I wasn't sure how that extra 'resting time' would affect it. I reset the breadmaker for a standard loaf and hit the start button, this time watching the digital readout to make sure it had started. I got it that time.

When it was finished the house smelled wonderful, and the bread turned out beautifully, so even having made the mistake of extra rising time (though I didn't plan that), the mix produced a lovely loaf of bread. I sliced it, stuck waxed paper between the slices and froze it right away (well, except for the heels - my husband had one and I had the other).

It was so good, even though (by that time) I was no longer exclusively eating gluten free.

We'll still frequent the bakery when we get back to Florida early in 2020 and we'll still buy our favourites but Ken and Rhoda are worth stopping to have a visit with. They're what people call "nice folks" and the little bakery is a great place to spend an hour and have a treat.

Overdue Reviews - Gluten Free at Aldi's

2019-10-15T14:38:00.001-04:00

Last year in November (2018) I had a few appointments set with my naturopathic doctor to see if she could offer any suggestions or help with an issue I was having with my thyroid. I was diagnosed with a non-functioning thyroid (hypothyroidism) the year before, and each time I went for blood work, my family doctor had to change the dosage. It never seemed to hit the right dose to keep my numbers where they should be.

Delicious Gluten Free Granola from Aldi's

The naturopath thought there might be a chance that I had Hashimoto's because I had several auto-immune diseases. There's really no simple test for Hashimoto's, but one of the things most sufferers seem to have found is that being on a totally gluten free diet helped them, a lot. My naturopath suggested that I try that for a month.

The other thought was that sometimes a total diet change like that can kick start your metabolism, and I'd also complained about gaining a little weight that I now couldn't seem to lose. She said I wasn't eating enough calories (I was dubious about that), and that my body wouldn't burn them because it thought I was starving it (I wasn't.)

Then, she decided to tack on the fact that I should also go dairy free and see what that did. Seriously. I wasn't really up for that one, but tried it ... for about a week. That wasn't happening so I dropped that effort pretty quickly. I don't eat a lot of dairy products, but really couldn't find a good dairy free "cheese" (replacement). There just isn't one. I can go without milk; without ice cream; without most dairy ... but not without cheese.

Very nice mix!

I was a little doubtful (actually, a lot, not a little) about the GF options after trying the DF, and it was late November. With the Christmas season coming up did I really want to miss out on all the Christmas goodies?

I didn't, not really, but "saving" the option til later also didn't make much sense. If it did help with all the issues (seemingly minor when compared with some issues faced by many other people), then at least the possible answer was also the possible treatment that would help.

And if it did, then I'd have to live my life avoiding gluten. There wasn't going to be an option for eating it just because it was Christmas ... or Thanksgiving ... or any other holiday. The only good thing was that I definitely wasn't a celiac sufferer.

Aldi's pasta in a pasta and tuna salad.

So, I embarked on the journey with a lot of trepidation. Where I live in Canada, there isn't a lot of availability for gluten free products, and what there is turns out to be so expensive you almost can't afford to eat it. I dutifully bought the $8.05 loaf of bread; the rice, corn, and other pasta (most of which turned to mush) and didn't really find a lot of other things - sometimes I lucked out at the dollar store and managed to find some Glutino cookies (not bad, my husband liked them a lot), and some crackers.

Many types of soups, veggies, meats, and fresh foods are already gluten free. There have been gluten free cereals here for ages (chex, for example) and oatmeal (steel cut, but some regular raw and rolled oats are also gf). It isn't as though a person would starve, you just have a lot less bread and baked goods available if you eat gluten free. That was 14 months ago.

Then I went to Florida.

These were good - all of them.

And whoooya! The availability of gluten free products (and sugar free) shot through the roof. Not only was there entire grocery store aisles full of choices, the prices were (mostly) more reasonable. Nearly all the grocery stores in Lakeland (our city in Florida) had a lot of choices, including places like Aldi's. We like a lot of the Aldi's products, so it seemed pretty natural to try some of their gluten free products.

Out of all the ones I tried, I'd have to say the pretzel sticks were my favourite 'snack'. My husband loved them ... in fact, we both like them better than 'regular' pretzels. The other surprise was the bread and bagels ($3.99) The bread (white) wasn't bad. It didn't stay soft-fresh very long, even when frozen, but it made great toast. So did the bagels - white, and cinnamon raisin.

Loved this too!

They have a macaroni and cheese (not powdered cheese either) that my husband liked a lot, and a rice and quinoa pasta that was really good. It didn't go mushy when cooked, yet it was cooked (soft, not chewy or al dente) which is the way I like it. It held it's shape and stayed firm, and even made a really good cold pasta and tuna salad.

Aldi's had a decent selection (crackers, baking mixes such as brownies and cakes, granola, etc.) nearly all of which I tried. There weren't any I'd call "horrible" though a couple were not as good as the non-gluten free type.

One of the package mixes that I brought home to Canada with me was for cheese biscuits - these were delicious, and soft and moist, not in the least dry. I'll be bringing more than one package back on our next trip.

On the whole, I managed to stay gluten free during the entire time I was in the US, but since it didn't seem to have any affect (no changes that I could see or feel at any rate) I decided that a 6 month trial was long enough once I returned home and had less availability of products.

One thing I did notice after returning home to Canada is that even in our small town, more and more of the grocery stores here are beginning to expand their gluten free options. They are still quite expensive, but at least they have them. Still not the amount of variety available in the US, but it's growing. Walmart, Zehr's, and even Food Basics are now offering products that weren't available last year when I started on the gluten free trail.

In the next few posts I'll review and examine some of the other gluten free products I found in the US - certain things I bought in different grocery stores because even in the US not all stories carried all the same products.

... and I'll talk about the fabulous gluten free bakery I found.

The Hot Dog Scramble

2018-10-30T09:31:00.000-04:00

Hot Dog Scramble Recipe - download and print.

Yesterday I wrote about making menu and food choice changes in our household because of health issues. When you start doing that, it's tough to just prepare dinner using all your old recipes without giving much thought to the food you are using. Now, instead of tossing a bunch of left-overs into a frying pan or pot, I have to think about the carbohydrate values in each bit of left over, carefully measuring or weighing everything to get it right.

That's more time consuming for me and I realized when preparing dinner yesterday, I need to write this stuff down so when I want to make the same (or similar) thing again, I've got it.

Like a cookbook, but I have more than enough of those to wade through, and most of them don't contain the nutritional values (some were my mom's and they were old when she had them). So, like the other family recipes I used, I figured I might just as well add it here (heaven forbid the internet ever goes down, lol).

"Hot Dog Scramble" is a recipe similar to one my mom used to make ... actually, it's a bit of a
combination of two of hers. She used to make a dish for my grandmother that was peppers, eggs, onions and bacon all scrambled up together, with a side dish of asparagus, and she made a dish for us kids that was chopped hot dogs, home fries, onion and tomatoes all fried up together. When I got married I made that hot dog dish for my kids - they loved that.

What I love is the fact that everything gets tossed into the same pan to cook, and, although the resulting dish isn't exactly "pretty" (it's rather messy looking), it tastes delicious.

My newer "Hot Dog Scramble" is a dish made with my husband's health in mind, about mid-range in the calorie level, and low in carbs and has things he likes in it, including an all-beef hot dog that has good nutritional values.

The thing about a "toss-it-all-in" recipe like this is that they are very adaptable to individual tastes. If you want to avoid the extra carbs from potatoes (not included in this recipe, but I added them because I had left-overs) switch to zucchini, egg, plant, or peppers. If you simply don't like hot dogs, switch that out to homemade sausage, or left-over strips of steak, roast beef, or chicken, or even diced ham. I wouldn't suggest fish for this. The flavours aren't likely to work together.

You'll also notice I didn't include any spices in the recipe. I didn't really need to either, but if you want, you can choose to add some of your own - a little basil or bay leaf wouldn't hurt there, but I wouldn't make it too heavily spiced. The flavours in the foods mix together well, and if you like a little punch, chop up one of the hotter peppers and toss it in with the tomatoes and onions when cooking.

Messy but delicious!

Also keep in mind that when you remove or add things to your own taste, you'll need to adjust the carbs for yourself, and the calories if you count those. The per serving carb total is only 7 in my recipe - (that doesn't include the potato I added rather hastily) that's a low number for both men or women diabetics, and it leaves room for a side-dish, or even a lower carb dessert. For calorie counters, the calorie count is low enough you can serve a side dish of chef salad (small), or a half cup of veggies, and even jello or fruit for dessert.

So there ya go. A "make-your-own" one-dish dinner that's easily adjusted to suit your own tastes.

The Diabetes Dilemma

2018-10-29T15:11:00.001-04:00

Early in September my husband was diagnosed with Type2 Diabetes (like he doesn't have enough health issues already), and we've been scrambling to adjust our eating patterns to fit each meal's carbohydrate counts into his "per meal" allowance.

His doctor wasn't much help. He tells him he has diabetes and hands him a prescription. And that's it. That's all he bothered to do. If I hadn't already been through a bunch of research to help my cousin out a couple of years ago, we'd still be floating on little raft without paddles on huge sea called "lack of knowledge". I went back and looked up my previous research, explained the carbs per meal to the hubby and adjusted my own cooking habits and meal choices to ensure what I fed him (and me) fit within that. He's getting better at it, but after years of counting calories he had a hard time getting used to looking at carbs rather than calories.
Although everything counts, the carb grams minus the fiber grams give you the actual carbs you count. That's something we didn't know - that you subtract the fiber g from the stated carb g. What that means is eating better carbs (those that have higher fiber counts) is a better choice.

We have a local Diabetes Clinic here associated with our hospital and made him set up an appointment there and he came back from that with a lot more knowledge, and way more confidence in what he's doing. They provided charts, as well as information. They tested his blood (the finger prick thing) and gave him a monitor and showed him how to use it. (No, the doctor never said a word about using a monitor).

They did tell him that the weeks we'd already been working away at his carb intake were on the right track, told him how well he was doing and told him just to keep on that track. Because of the dietary adjustments we'd made, he's also lost 10 pounds, which he's pretty happy about (me, I've lost 3, not much but since I'm doing this with him, hopefully there's be a little more). I highly recommend looking up a diabetes clinic in your area and making an appointment. The 2 hours he had for educating him made a huge difference in how well he handles this.

That's the thing ... when you aren't doing something alone, it's a lot easier. That's something I don't really understand. I've seen programs on TV (notably My 600 lb Life) where none of the family members are really willing to give up or change the way they eat to help the person whose vastly obsese (and honestly, many of the family members are also obese, just not to the extent of the other).

I mean if you love someone, don't you actually want to help them succeed and be healthy? I do. And if I decide to eat something he can't, I don't do it in front of him (have managed to stick to it myself so far, but we'll see how long that lasts ... Christmas is coming with all it's yummy baking).

Anyway, that's more than I wanted to say about that. What we've had a harder time doing is finding the right snacks for him. He likes his candy - high in sugar, and high in carbs, so we had to change that. We did manage to find a variety of snacks that satisfy his urges most of the time, and he's very good about controlling the amount he eats. He's getting used to weighing and measure out the snacks and checking the carbs (he's allowed to have snacks that equal 15 carbs). It's getting so most of the time, he doesn't eat all that he's allowed in his snack.

This chart was provided to hubby by the diabetic clinic. Very helpful to have on hand!

Some of the things we've found that he likes:

CoolWay Frozen Dessert (Similar to Ice Cream) & comes in different flavours.

Crispy Minis Cheddar Flavour

Fruit Cups

Sugar Free Jello

Raw Peanuts in the Shell

Detour Protein Bars from Costco

And the last thing surprised me. We just found these. Pizzelles (this particular brand). Not that we didn't know what pizzelles are, my family has made their own forever but I always assumed they'd be very high calorie and very high in carbs, but they aren't that bad. The calories are far lower than I'd have expected, and the carbs, while too high for a snack aren't out of line when you consider the value on the package is for 6 pizzelles. If you eat 3, you fit well within the carb zone for a man. When I make my pizzelles this year I'm going to try a half-batch using granulated stevia instead of sugar.

Store bought pizzelles

Pizzelle Nutrition Values for Reko Brand

The other thing I have to mention about these pizzelles ... we generally don't find store bought pizzelles to be as good as our home made ones, but I have to admit ... I could serve these on Christmas day and I doubt the family would know that I didn't make them. They are every bit as good as home made. That's rare.

The Gotham Steel Low Fat Grill

2018-07-05T08:35:00.000-04:00

I bought myself one of the Gotham Steel grills "as seen on TV". I don't normally buy a lot of products advertised like that. Commercials like that always make me wonder if the products are as good as they say, or at least work the way they say.

My dad used to run out and buy all those "StarFrit" products that you used to see on TV. He loved odd little gadgets like that but he didn't cook so he didn't really use those products. My mom would try them but in the end, she'd use the things she already had.

I don't really know what possessed me to order it. I have a grill that I love and use all the time (see The Grill to Beat) - actually I have several grills and griddles. Too many for a house that has 2 people living in it.

The cost came to about $45 (Canadian) and it arrived surprisingly fast. Stuff like that usually takes 4 to 6 weeks shipping time, but I got it in about 2 weeks. I'd have to say the order process wasn't the best experience I had - I didn't order it from the TV, but went to their website advertised in the commercial (for us that was GothamLowFatGrill.ca).

The TV commercial also said you get a bonus frying pan with the same non-stick coating, but it isn't really "free" ... if you want to include it in your order it's an additional $6.95. I think that just covers the shipping because I know the frying pans are $19.99 (at least they were at Ollie's in the US). You do get the choice of including it, or not, and I didn't bother (I have at least 8 LaGostina non-stick frying pans so I don't think I need anymore).

The thing is you complete the order form (see the button on the first page of their site) and then it takes you to another page asking if you want the frying pan. I clicked no, expecting to go to the shopping cart to pay, but no ... I got yet another page asking if I wanted to order the larger grill.

What? Wait ... there's a larger grill? Yeah, apparently. I thought about that and hoped the one I was actually ordering was the one shown on the commercial. After thinking about it I said no. After all, I don't need to cook more than 2 pieces of meat for 2 of us. Okay, so onto the final page, right?

Nope. There were two or three (can't remember) more of those individual pages with a question on them before I got to the final page to order. After I completed the order, there was only a blank page that said "your order is complete". Eventually though, I did get an email receipt.

I have to say that after going to through the order process, I really wondered if the product was as good as it says on TV, or if it was going to be some chintzy gadget-type thing. When it arrived, it was big enough for 2 of us.

The first thing I cooked was a half-inch thick steak - fairly large (one was enough for both of us). That cooked in about 8 minutes to a nice medium rare. The surface needs no non-stick sprays (I took them at their word and tried it without, just tossed the steak on and closed the lid); the grill also does what it says on TV when it comes to searing in the juices ... so much so that there wasn't a drop of juice or grease in the drip-cup below the grill. The steak was awesome.

There was some crusted on stuff on the grill plates after cooking, BUT ... again, the TV commercial was right. Let the grill cool and wipe it down with a dry paper towel and the stuff just wipes right off. That impressed me almost as much as as how well it cooks.

For now, I give it a thumbs up, and I'd definitely order this again.

There is a caveat though ... there are a few things that were disappointing, and maybe that's because I already had the Meal Maker Express Grill from Hamilton Beach and I was comparing the features.

The Meal Maker has controls on it. Not much, but when you plug it in, it doesn't heat up till you choose a setting on the knob. The knob is a timer - you set it for 3 minutes, or 8 minutes, and it cooks that long and shuts off with ding. It also has a drip tray that slides into a slot in the side of the unit. If you pick up the unit the drip tray says in place.

The Gotham Steel Low Fat Grill has zero controls, if you plug it in, it's going to heat up. In order to cook stuff, you need a timer of your own because there's no timer on the unit. I found that inconvenient. Thankfully, I have a timer on my stove. The lack of timer that also acts as an on/off switch is a drawback. It leaves the unit lacking a little functionality from my point of view.

The drip tray doesn't have a slot to slide it into. You just place it under the front of the unit, so ... if you move the unit back a little, you have to remember to move the drip tray too. It also makes it easier to lose the drip tray. On the other hand, if you do lose the drip tray, almost any small dish or tray can be used in it's place. (I have noticed that a lot of the used offerings for the Hamilton Beach one are missing the drip tray, and it's hard to find something that fits there.)

The Gotham Steel grill also doesn't come with any sort of recipe book or anything else. There is a booklet they call a "user manual" ... and it leaves a lot to be desired. It's six tiny pages (including front and back covers) and it seems to repeat some instructions over 4 of the inner pages of nothing-ness. The only thing that was slightly helpful was a little cooking chart which can help you figure out how long to cook stuff. The thing is, if I didn't already have a better book that came with the Hamilton Beach, I'd be having to cook on this using trial and error to find the timing for each type of thing because the chart from Gotham Steel only covers a couple of items.

Oh, and the chicken breasts came out wonderfully tender and juicy ... again with nothing in the drip tray.

Yeah, go buy this if you need an indoor grill.

News Print and Global Warming

2018-04-28T12:46:00.001-04:00

Yeah, I know ... a bit of an odd title all things considered. I wrote a while back on another of my sites (OrilliaTravel.com) how we lost our daily newspaper to some big conglomeration who decided just to shut it down. What that meant was that we no longer had an "in-print" newspaper, and they eventually closed the web based version of the Orillia Packet as well. Thankfully, some of the long-standing journalists at the Packet got themselves together and created an online newspaper for Orillia, which is wonderful (Orillia Matters)... it's just not printed on paper. There is seriously something missing without a print version ... for me, anyways. I like to have it in my hands, turning the pages, smelling the newsprint-smell ... you can't replace that with a computer screen.

Anyway, we still do have a weekly paper that comes ... more like a small bulletin type of paper, and at least for now, that's how we get the weekly grocery flyers (okay, yes I do use an app for that - Sale Whale, but my husband likes the paper flyers to make his lists). I don't often really read that paper, because by the time we get it, the "news" that interests me for our local area has already been published by Orillia Matters, and I've already read it online.

Last night though ... I was skimming idly through the Orillia Today (no idea why they call it that, it should be more like Orillia This Week) and an article title drew my eye, and my interest (a little anyways). It was titled "Winters Getting Worse Scientists Warn". That interested me because it does feel like our northern winters are getting worse, but the article brings up (yet again) the issue of the earth moving towards a possible "ice age" ... which is frightening, but probably a long way off, even if it were true (which is somewhat doubtful).

To try and convince myself that wasn't happening at all and winters seem worse every year older I get, I did a little (very little) research.

I checked the historical and current records for average temperatures, both in the Lakeland (Florida) area where we now spend our winter, and back at home in Orillia (Ontario).

There doesn't seem to be a lot of change in the Lakeland area, while there were some really cold nights this year (mostly in January, below freezing by a few degrees), and some daytime temps that were definitely cooler than the norm (about 50F), the month came pretty close to historical averages, with some of the daytime temps above or at the "normal" average for that time of year (see Accuweather records for Lakeland in January here).

Looking at the Orillia area for the same time periods, the trend seems somewhat similar - some days were colder than the historical averages, with others slightly higher.

It doesn't seem to have changed much over the last couple of years in terms of temperatures, but the length of time we experience winter weather (and snow) seems to be lasting much longer into the year, and beginning earlier in the previous year.

Looking at October 2017, the night temps run pretty close to the freezing mark for most of the month, with it dropping to freezing (32F or below) by the third week, while the daytime temperatures seem to fluctuate wildly. During one week, the daytime high hit 74 F, with coldest day being only 48F ... that's quite a change. Similar instances occur even during the first week of October (72F high, with 49F on the coldest day).

Moving forward to April 2018 (this month) there have been at least five days where the daytime temps were below the freezing mark, and that is for the most part, below the historical averages for daytime temps. The lowest daytime average (historical) showing for April in previous years was 43F ... not the 28F that was recorded this year.

Checking the snowfall for January, this year (2018) we received 63.8cm (or just over 25") of snow;
January 2012 shows 44.2 cm (17.4 inches).

So, this year it's been a little colder with more snow ... at least in January and April. But I don't think that means the ice age is coming any time soon.

I believe in the effects of global warming, regardless of those people who don't think global warming exists, I think it does. I just don't think it will have any sort of long-term catastrophic effect on the earth in the next several lifetimes.

References online show mixed opinions and even one website - IFL Science can't make up it's mind whether it is or it isn't:

http://www.iflscience.com/environment/we-could-be-heading-mini-ice-age-2030/
http://www.iflscience.com/environment/no-we-aren-t-heading-mini-ice-age/

Other references for reading if you have an interest in the science of weather:

https://skepticalscience.com/heading-into-new-little-ice-age-intermediate.htm
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/897472/ice-age-global-warming-climate-change-solar-minimum
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/jan/09/the-imminent-mini-ice-age-myth-is-back-and-its-still-wrong
https://weather.com/news/climate/news/ice-age-climate-change-earth-glacial-interglacial-period

Global Warming Reference:

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-overview/
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/global-warming-101?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzY-Dkee22AIVB7jACh09xQlZEAAYASAAEgI27PD_BwE

Ground Turkey Dinner Recipe (download below)

2018-04-21T08:38:00.000-04:00

Pelicans at Lake Morton in Lakeland, FL

We've just finished up the end of another winter season in Florida ... to be really honest, I'm very thankful that we can spend our winters in a place that's far warmer than our home in Canada. I'm getting way too old to enjoy the snow, and being in Florida means I can still be active all winter long. Back home in Canada, I'd spend the winter hibernating in our home (much like our bears) and feeling a little like a hermit.

One thing I've had difficulty with is figuring out what to do with the left-over groceries when we are getting ready to leave - some things do get stored (canned and dried goods with a long expiry date) when we leave ...
I stick them all in the fridge. It isn't that they need to be in the fridge, but an empty home in Florida with foodstuffs still in the cupboard isn't a great idea ... it can draw bugs, and it doesn't matter how clean your home is, you can't control that if you aren't there. We have our place sprayed yearly, and haven't had any bug issues inside, but I suppose maybe I'm a little paranoid about that, so ... stored food or baking products go in the fridge.

What I don't leave is frozen or fresh foods, like meats, vegetables, breads, or fruits. I try to use up as much as possible, and what I can't use I'll hand off to the neighbours to use (those that are permanent residents).

This year, the last week or so of our time in Florida I started cooking up meals in excess of the amounts my husband and I would use, and packaged them in foil trays with cooking instructions. Several of the neighbours got meals, and I only retained enough for the two of us to eat that night. One of the meals that seemed to go over really well was a dinner made from ground turkey and beef, some left-over fresh veggies, and a half package of "no yolk" egg noodles. My husband loved it, I was pleasantly surprised by the dinner (I never know how I'll like something until I try it) and neighbours asked for the recipe. I guess that means they liked it enough to want to make it.

I've uploaded the recipe I used (for once, I wrote it down as I was compiling the meal - usually I don't and have to think about what and how much I used for the ingredients afterwards!) but it's really just a dish designed to use up "what you have on hand".

If I were making it from scratch, I'd use a combination of ground turkey and ground chicken, or just ground turkey. The other option worth trying (if you need to feed a small army) is a combination of several ground meats like ground pork, ground beef, and ground chicken.

It's an easy recipe to make substitutions with as well - if you don't like or don't have carrots, substitute fresh green or yellow beans, if you don't like spinach substitute other mild greens like beet tops or swiss chard. As a personal choice, if I'd had spaghetti squash on-hand, I'd have used that as the "noodles" instead of the egg noodles, but ... I had egg noodles and really needed to use them up.

And while I normally don't care that much for zucchini, it was a good choice (plus, it was something I had and wanted to use up) to mix with the carrots and celery. I also don't like mushrooms, so I took enough vegetables out of the frying pan for my dinner before adding in the mushrooms. I dunno why, but mushrooms just taste like musty dirt to me. I can't manage them, and fervently pick them out of any restaurant meal that has them.

My serving, minus the mushrooms.

The one thing that is important to the overall texture and appeal for this dinner would be the fresh, raw tomatoes. Don't try to substitute canned or cooked tomatoes. I don't normally eat raw tomato (nope, not even in my salad), but in the case of this dinner I did have them, and it does make a difference. The raw, crisp tomato (diced) between the two warm layers (the meat/noodle mix and the veggie mix) was a nice surprise ... the crispy texture made the meal more than just a bunch of stuff shoved together.

To be honest, cooking meals to use up things you have on hand isn't really rocket science - my mom did it all the time. She was raised in the 30s and 40s, when you made do with what you had, and I guess she learned that from her mom. It was common for my mom to put together a bunch of things and create meals that were usually pretty good ... some of them, our family still cooks, and our kids (now adults of course) cook and still love.

Click to download recipe.

Sometimes those "throw togethers" turn out to be a family favourite ... the problem usually is writing down the amounts ... a handful of this, a pinch of that, just a bit of another thing, then a couple more handfuls ... we learned that way, but most people want an actual amount, like a cup or a pound ... neither life nor recipes always fit into a specified space.

When you're cooking dinner, be adventurous, be experimental, and don't sweat the measurements.

Minimum Wage Increase in Ontario

2018-02-15T07:45:00.000-05:00

January, 2018 saw the minimum wage in Ontario rise to $14 per hour and the early predictions (made in 2017) were ... a little off. That doesn't surprise me in the least. Back when the the bill came out, my thoughts (personal opions) on the increase in the minimum wage were virtually opposite of what economists and business specialists predicted should happen. It's still early in the game but so far, but many things are not very rosy ... not for employees (who haven't actually had the light bulb turned on yet), and not for the business owners.

Maybe large conglomerates aren't feeling too much of a pinch, but a lot of smaller businesses are, including one of Canada's wide spread coffee shops ... Tim Horton's. But that's only one of them.
Some other small businesses have closed up shop entirely - a few that were "mom and pop" type shops - after literally a lifetime of service to their communities. You can't take a large jump in minimum wages when you have a really small business ... not unless you just let your few employees go and run it all alone. There is that option I guess.

According to this opinion piece from the CBC, what the wage increase will really do is fill the government coffers with additional income tax money ... so it will benefit the provincial and federal governments much more than it will benefit the people who got the wage increase. The article estimates that those who got that wage increase will see only one third of that money in their pockets.

While they do get more money per year, by the time the manufacturers and product producers
increase their prices to cover the costs of the wage increases and increased payments (employers have a lot of premiums to pay out already (based on total wages) for things like health care, workers' compensation, etc.) that little bit extra the workers see in their pay packet will already be gone. Anything they purchase will likely cost them more.

Of course, that's if they still have a job, or haven't had their part-time hours reduced, or lost their benefits, or had their benefit costs increased. There are so many things that will eat up what little they gain that the benefits will be easily negated.

Then there are those that have lost their jobs entirely. Ask them how much of a benefit the minimum wage increase was to them ... I'm sure they'll be happy to tell you.

Ontario is one of the most populated provinces in Canada, but the CBC also points out that in January, with the installment of the new minimum wage, the province lost over 59,000 part time jobs. That's 59,000+ people left without employment. I don't isuppose those people have gotten any benefit from the new wage increase. Most will attribute their loss to that, but to be fair, since it's still very early in the year, not even the experts can say how the increase and the job loss are related, or if they are. On the other side of the coin, they also report an increase in full-time jobs, but at just over 8,000 new jobs ... it won't make up for the amount that was lost.

I don't know the statistical make up of the part time jobs, but in our city a lot of part time jobs are held by working moms, students in university/college, and seniors. Most of those people can't take full time work due to their circumstances.

Back at the beginning of this article, I mentioned Canada's Tim Horton's franchise ... and the Toronto Star has obtained figures for the average increases faced by a franchise. Some people seem to forget that in some cases (at least 2 in our city that I know of) are owned by ordinary people, like you and I. You pay a franchise fee, open your shop and run your business. They aren't all owned by the Tim Horton's company. There was a pretty big hue and cry back at the beginning of January where a franchise took away paid breaks for the employees (ostensibly to cover the increases), and benefit premiums. The public was yammering away about how Tim Horton's had billions of dollars and they could afford the increase. What they didn't stop to think was that the shop in question was owned by a franchisee, not Tim Horton's.

Economists predictions can't seem to agree with each other, although TD economists are predicting employment numbers to decrease by roughly 12,000, but whether that's entirely due to the wage increase they haven't said. Scotiabank is riding the fence a bit, saying it could go either way.

But while all that is probably very interesting to investors and economists ... the only thing that really counts to the workers is the money in their pockets; and for consumers, the money they may have to pay out for increases.

Although I believe that everyone who does an honest day's work (regardless of what capacity they work in) is entitled to a living wage, I don't think increasing the minimum wage was the best way to do it. I really like what the CBC article suggested (to raise the Basic Personal Exemption amount on tax filings). I think it would have resulted in more benefits to more people than the wage increase did.

... so that's my political opinion for the day, such as it is.

Crocheting a Cool Weather Poncho

2018-02-13T10:55:00.000-05:00

Knitting Needles (morgueFile.com, licensed under CC)

Although I learned to crochet and knit as a teenager, I probably haven't picked up a hook or set of knitting needles in the last 10 years or so. I used to make all kinds of things, from accessories like hats and lace trims to clothing for my little ones. For a long time, I kept the baby sets I used but eventually passed them on to another family member. My grandmother used to knit these sets (usually consisted of a hat/bonnet, a sweater, booties and sometimes a pair of short pants meant as a way to cover the diapers) in beautiful, intricate patterns. The ones I made were crochet, often in shell stitch, and weren't that difficult once you understand the basics of the stitches, and learned how to read the patterns.

When your kids get to be a certain age, they don't want stuff like that anymore and over time, I just
stopped doing it ... I suppose the knitting lasted longer because living in a cold and snowy climate, they always needed mittens, hats and scarves but eventually when the dollar shops started carrying that sort of thing, I just quit doing it.

For years I saved the dozens of sets of knitting needles (some were my grandmother's) and my crochet hooks, and the "stuff" that went along with them such as my grandmother's old pattern books ... (I mean really old, like from the 1930s), stitch markers, row counters, circular needles, large plastic stitching needles, lace hooks and needles ... and a couple of years ago, got rid of about 90% of it. Now I wish I hadn't.

I kept a couple of sets of my grandmother's knitting needles, and all of my crochet hooks (probably considered vintage by now c. 1970s) plus some of my grandmother's.

When I decided I wanted something to do for an hour or two in the evenings I decided to pick up crochet again ... the problem? I'm in Florida, and my "stuff" is back home in Canada. I started out just buying one hook (10mm) at Walmart here ($1.98), and some (super soft!) Bernat Blanket yarn to make a poncho ... I'd been looking for one for cool evenings, and couldn't find what I wanted. Even after having a 10 year long hiatus from crocheting, it took about 30 seconds (after the initial chain stitch row) for everything I'd learned to come rushing back.

Poncho Back

The result was a poncho made on the fly - no pattern, just fitted to me as I went. Understanding the basics of increase and decrease rows and what they do and how and when to use them made it pretty easy to create my own pattern. I didn't actually write it down since I had no intention of making another, but ... someone has already asked for the pattern, lol.

Although I can't give an actual pattern with number of stitches and gauge (well, I could get the gauge but it doesn't matter much if you are fitting it to yourself), I can give the basics of the pattern design and experienced crocheters would likely have no problem in creating one of their own. (Sorry about the photos - my husband took them with a cell phone and he's not very good at that sort of thing.)

I started mine at the spot where my shoulders are the widest. Using the 10mm hook, and Bernat Blanket yarn (in variegated brown/tan) I started the base row of chain stitches. Every so often I'd try to fit it around my shoulders, and at the point where it fit around and almost met at the front, I decided that would be the base size. No, it didn't quite meet but I wanted to create a front placket in the variegated brown to join the front together.

It was made crocheting rows in single crochet, as opposed to joining and crocheting rounds. The chain row ended up being 65 stitches. I crocheted two rows (single stitch - the entire poncho is made with single stitch crochet, and in a few places like joining, I used slip stitch) in the variegated brown and switched to the winter white (same Bernat Blanket yarn).

Poncho Front

The first row of white was 65 stitches across, and I began the increase rows on the next row. I increased 1 stitch in the 10th stitch from the start of the row and the 10th stitch before the end of the row, and in the middle of the row increased 1 stitch in two of the stitches (so, increased a total of 4 stitches in an increase row). The next row was crocheted even.

I continued the body in the same manner, increasing every second row until I had a loose fit for the body. Then I crocheted two additional rows in white without an increase (at that point, I had 120 stitches across) and switched back to the variegated brown for a few rows along the bottom.

Bernat Blanket Yarn

On the last bottom row, I turned the corner at the front and crocheted the placket (with the variegated yarn). Rather than crocheting the placket "across" the front as I'd done with the body, it was done (in single stitch) up and down the body until it was the size I wanted, and joined to the opposite side with slip stitches and finished off the body.

That made the poncho from should to hem, but I still had the upper portion of the poncho to create. Because I didn't have a pattern, starting at the shoulder made it easier for me to gauge the size as I worked on it (which is why I didn't start at the neckline).

I joined the winter white at the shoulder, and avoided crocheting across the placket (I wanted an easy open neck) the first row was crocheted even (65 stitches), and then I began decreasing in the same way as I had increased on the body, but because I'm a little short in the shoulder to neck, I decreased by six stitches per decrease row (when I had increased only 4 stitches per row). I continued decreasing every other row until I could fold over the open neck and make a small lapel on the left and right, and then finished it off.

To complete it, I crocheted a long chain stitch (70 stitches I think), and did one row of single crochet, and finished that. I hooked that through the top of the placket to act as a drawstring to pull it snugger around my neck if I wanted it. The drawstring still has two long pieces of wool hanging from the ends because when I find the right ones, there will be a large wooden button on each end of the drawstring.

Oh yeah, one other thing ... the Bernat yarn comes with a pattern printed on the inside of the label. Check the skeins you buy and try to buy ones with different patterns. It's a good way to start collecting patterns for beginner crocheters.

I'm working a new, very simple beginner project and this time, yes, I am writing the pattern down and will have proper photos (cause I don't have to wear it) and instructions on a sheet you can print.

Til next time folks!

Date Night: what do you do?

2018-02-10T09:49:00.002-05:00

Some of my friends have regular "date nights" with their significant other; some weekly, some bi-monthly. I would think that depending on where you live, it could eventually get to the point where you are "re-doing" the same thing on date nights - dinner at a favourite restaurants, visiting favourite parks, going to the show ... those are nice things to do I guess, but for us, stuff like that just is normal.

We don't have set or regular date nights. For us, a date night would be something special; something we don't normally do. Of course, it doesn't have to be a "night time" event either. Some day time events can be lots of fun, and feel a lot more like a special date than a dinner out.

Wednesday this past week (Feb. 7th) we had a day/evening date. It was a lot like a date ... well, the type I remember from my youth anyways (yeah, I'm kinda old). There is a city near us in Florida called Kissimmee, and we've visited it on several occasions (once to go to the Boggy Creek Airboat Tour - that was a date too) because they have a Ponderosa restaurant. Doesn't seem like much of a reason I guess, but they have terrific fish and chips and there isn't another one near us. And back home in Canada, well ... we lost all our Ponderosa's years ago.

The area where the Ponderosa is has lots of attractions - there's a visitors center next door, and a large gift shop, a pretty big indoor flea market, lots of shopping along the strip there. Directly across the road is an area called Old Town. Although we've noticed it on each trip, we really hadn't explored it at all, so our date on this day was to visit the flea market near Ponderosa, have an early dinner (around 4ish) and then spend part of the evening exploring Old Town. I'd say the day was a success.

We wandered a little through the flea market, stopping to look at a few things of interest, but for the most part the items on offer were pretty standard for flea markets - warm weather tee shirts, shorts, bikinis and towels, jewellery (both the real stuff and the costume stuff), hats, sunglasses, custom printed tees, coffee mugs ... I'm pretty sure everyone has seen this type of flea market.

The hubby bought a new fedora :)

There were a few unique offerings that were worth more than a passing glance though. At one booth a couple had wood items (trinket boxes, frames, etc.) that could be emblazoned with your own photograph, right off your cell phone. They didn't seem "burned" on, the finished product looked almost as if they'd drawn it themselves. They were really unique ... we may go back to that one again.

Crossing the road into Old Town ended up being more interesting (and fun) that I'd expected it to be. There were some hot rods parked along the main drag (not as many as I'd expect, but a pleasant surprise was one truck style hot rod with an Ontario license plate ... that's our home province!) but the walking district is quite pretty.

Cobblestone roads and sidewalks, and down the center meridian (separating the left and right sides of the tiny street) were a variety of stone water fountains (maybe 4 or 5?) with coloured lights.

The type of shops gathered in this area were rather unique - some were retro type contents like the "Groovy Shop" (that was fun, however they were missing the traditional 60s/70s water buffalo sandals <--- I went through several pairs of those from the late 1960s into the late 1970s). They did have lots of tie-dyed items (tie-dye has become fairly popular once again), and some noticeably vintage toys (VW beetles from the early 70s) and a variety of other "hippie" type items.

The music playing in the shop was entirely keeping with the era too ... since it took me back to my teens it was thoroughly enjoyable to wander through the shop. (In fact, several of the shops along the walking route were sort of retro-ish and had music from the appropriate time periods. I enjoyed just listening to all the "cool" hippie music.)

There was also a wonderful popcorn shop ... I really had trouble staying out of that one (but I did ... I didn't go in at all). The smell of popcorn permeated the air, and the shop had many flavours to offer. And yeah, the popcorn was entirely fresh.

Fresh Flavoured Popcorn (Credit Briejones via Wikimedia Commons )

There were shops offering home made ice cream, a bakery, and A & W (which also sold funnel cake ... I've never seen an A & W with funnel cake, so we'll have to check when we get back home to Canada to see if they have it), a cool "British Shop" offering a selection of items from Great Britain (including the Tardis and Dalek); shops offering Asian and Egyptian themed gifts, and the traditional General Store (hubby bought himself a tee in there). Quite a lot of different places to wander into (oh, including a mining operation ... very neat).

Among the stores were entertainment venues ... one outdoor (free) venue with musicians - the night we were there it was country, and quite good. There's also the The Great Magic Hall (a shop, and an indoor magic show with set times and prices), and (oh my goodness!) The Haunted House.

We didn't go into any of those (wrong time for the Magic Show, and my husband would not appreciate the haunted house) but the entertainment from the Haunted House spilled right out into the street.

While talking to a street vendor (sold amazing wind spinners) we heard this enormous "WHOOSH" behind us, and when I turned to look, a huge door (a little like a castle dungeon door) was rising, and smoke was spilling out below. Crawling out through the smoke was this ... well, not too sure what he was. A guy (actor) dressed in black pants and white shirt and covered in (fake) blood.

He acted a little like the Hunchback of Notre Dame, though he wasn't hunchbacked, nor misshapen in any way. He cackled and wrung his hands and generally played the part though, running (while hunched over) up to people in the crowd (kids as well). Pretty effective way to get those who like that kind of stuff into the paid venue. But the offering on the sign that night (maybe every night, I don't know) was to feel like what it would be like if you were buried alive. I figured I could forgo that without any problem at all, lol. The crowd loved it though ... everyone had out the cell phones videoing the guy.

The street vendor we were talking to was selling these wind spinners ... as they spun, they appeared to be flashing light everywhere. Some were plain, some had designs and colours they were pretty cool. These might look like something you'd find in a dollar shop, but they aren't. They are quite heavy and made of steel. The tails on them have balls that move up and down the spiral as the wind spins them. Each piece is sold separately though ... my purchase for the day was one of the small ones in one colour (silver) ... for some reason that one seemed to catch my eye every time I looked over in his direction. And I bought a small tail with two small balls in it. Total including taxes was $32. The larger ones are a lot more. You can also buy a small motor if you want to hang them indoors, but I didn't price one so I don't know the cost (I'll check that out on our next trip!)

Overall we both really enjoyed Old Town. There were people wandering around, though being a Wednesday evening it wasn't terribly crowded either. Check the Old Town website if you're interested in any of the special cruise nights or car show events.

We plan to go back, as there are all sort of events that look interesting, and we hope to be able to attend the 28th Anniversary Saturday Night Classic Car Cruise. Looks like lots of fun!

One Tiny House

2018-02-06T07:24:00.001-05:00

Back in November I wrote about my annual obsession with Christmas village pieces (see Excitement is Simple) and my recent efforts to add a few more pieces. And no, this post isn't about Christmas villages again, but my newest "obsession" has grown from that interest.

I had been thinking it would be nice to have a couple of pieces something like the village, but that weren't typical seasonal pieces - houses or buildings without snow or seasonal decorations on them.

Actually, I do have one piece we bought at a garage sale last year in Florida and I didn't notice that there wasn't any snow or anything "Christmas-y" about the piece. I stuck it on a shelf in the guest bedroom and left it there as a "night light".

I wanted was a few pieces for a shelf that was below one of my side tables in the livingroom that I could leave up year round. The shelf isn't huge since it's a side table, so I wanted something a little smaller.

Well ... where else would you look besides eBay? There were lots of search results, but the ones I settled on are very small, roughly about 3" square at the base, and from 3" to 3 1/2" high. Tiny houses. They don't light up; they are made of resin; and the last thing that made them a good choice ... there were a lot available for reasonable prices.

They also had a name: Liberty Falls. I'd never heard of it before but thought the size range would allow me to put a few pieces on the shelf and call it done. I decided on a collection of 19 pieces (about $30 with shipping) and ordered that. I figured that would be it ... a one-time purchase to fill up the shelf.

All I can say is ... I was wrong.

When the pieces arrived (each one in their own tiny box with their own authentic paperwork) and I opened the first one ... I was hooked. I also realized that even though they were small, they wouldn't fit on the table shelf unless I just lined them up one after the other and ... the shelf was low to the ground which made them hard to see without getting on your knees.

I moved them to a shelf above my computer armoire. Better. But ... dark. And a lot more spacious. So, I ordered a few more ... then another one or two, then accessories and ... before I knew it I had something like 50 tiny houses. Then I had my husband building little shelves (like a series of stairs) to display them, and added mini lights along the shelves and at this point, I have 2 more houses than I can fit in the display. (I have to thank my husband for being so supportive ... he has been very patient with me!)

It's an obsession ... but why? I don't have a lot of knick-knacks or tchotchkes, so I asked myself why this obsession?

There is something about the Liberty Falls collection that just ... tickled my fancy I guess. They are tiny, but have the most incredible detail. Each of the four sides of each building is complete - miniature details like windows, flower boxes on the windows, garden plants and shrubs, bricks shutters, stairs, doors, tools, signs ... even at the back of the building. Most of the larger Christmas pieces don't have that level of detail except at the front of the buildings.

When I held that first one in my hand, and turned it around examining all four sides it made me smile.

While Liberty Falls (the "place") doesn't exist, what made Liberty Falls a village does exist. Many of the buildings are modelled after real homes of people who lived in many different small in villages in Colorado. The time period falls in the mid 1800s to the early 1900s so some of the buildings and homes are Victorian, some are simply cabins.

There are some historical references online for Liberty Falls as well (The Story of the Liberty Falls Collection). It seems that during it's original release it became very popular (probably only in the US which could be why I'd never heard of it). Several buildings were released each year, with special pieces that could be purchased only if you'd bought every building released during the year and had all the stickers to prove it (some of the buildings I have still have these stickers inside the box).

This tiny bunch of buildings comes with a fantasy all it's own and even two books that try to detail what life would have been like during this period in a small mining town in Colorado. Naturally I had to have the books (not eBay this time) but on eBay I could only find the second one. I ended up buying the pair from an online book seller.

While this isn't a word I use very often, these tiny pieces have charmed and delighted me, and that hasn't worn off yet. I wonder if it ever will? Maybe not. Looking at each piece I find myself imagining life in a simpler (but sometimes harder) time.

Of all the buildings in my own collection, 4 are not from the Liberty Falls collection. On eBay I found two other collections of a similar size - the Harmony Grove Collection, and the Crystal Falls Collection. I can't find out much about the Harmony Grove Collection and there seem to be very few pieces over all, but it's size and detailing are similar. In the second last photo above, the green building right behind the Gold Nugget Tavern is titled the Green Front Grocer's, and that's one of the buildings from the Harmony Grove Collection.

The Crystal Falls collection (although of a similar size and building type) is snow-covered, so I didn't have a lot of interest in those. There seem to more of them than what is available for Harmony Grove, but a lot less than what is available for Liberty Falls.

Still ... after having run out of space for Liberty Falls and falling far short of having the entire collection I find my eyes wandering to the little display with it's twinkling lights and thinking ... you know, there is a top on that cabinet ....

Got the Flu?

2018-01-25T08:59:00.000-05:00

Yeah, me too. And to be honest, I'm hardly ever sick so this has been a tough go. I'm in the third week and at this point, I'm no longer sure it's the flu. It feels more like pneumonia now (having had that several times in the past, I know what it feels like).

It's been the oddest type of flu ... each week brings something different, but the most prevalent thing has been the fever. Although aspirin and excedrin have been working to keep it under control, I have to take them twice a day. Yesterday, I started on some antibiotics and that seemed to help. Yesterday, no fever and no having to take aspirin.

Controlling it has been pretty tough ... lots of coughing (almost none yesterday); eating only small amounts of food (notably, homemade chicken soup!), and drinking tons of water.

Water is one of the few things that doesn't bother me (or my stomach) and my beloved coffee has been limited to one or two a day because ... I just don't care much for it at the moment. I also don't have much in the way of an appetite ... it's like I don't want to eat, but my stomach does grumble so I put small amounts into it to stop it (breakfast is usually half a banana and a container of low-fat yogurt which seems soothing).

Other things I've been doing are takings this stuff for lung infections - it's called Respirafect. And it's amazing stuff, but I'm running out and I haven't found a single store that sells it here.

Must be a Canadian thing. I can order it from our local store (National Nutrition) and have it shipped, although I will admit to not knowing if it can be shipped across the border. It's a natural/ homeopathic product, but just because it's natural doesn't mean it's okay to ship to the US.

And I've been taking turmeric for about a year now, so I upped the dose a little.

The other thing I've tried is thyme tea. Not sure if that will do much good, but it's rumoured to help with some health issues (and I don't find the taste pleasing, so I hope it does do some good). I guess time will tell, since I just started using it yesterday.

Basically, I'm doing everything I can to avoid going to the clinic here, or to emergency. The newspapers across the US have been reporting a shortage of fluids in the hospitals because of the huge numbers of flu patients, so I probably wouldn't get anything different in the way of treatment than I've been doing for myself, and the last thing I need is to be around even more sick people when it looks like I might be on the mend.

Papers reported that just breathing in any infected air can spread this flu, and given that, I'm pretty sure I know where I got it. From a lady in the line behind us at Walgreens drugstore ... she was complaining of having the flu, and it morphed into pneumonia. Two days later I was sick. Given that I hadn't really been anywhere else at that point, I probably caught it from her.

I will admit that although I'm not completely better, my second day on the antibiotic is somewhat better.

Stay well peeps, this is a nasty bug.

55+ Communities in Florida

2018-01-23T11:57:00.004-05:00

I've recently started looking at some of the other 55+ communities in Florida ... for several reasons. We love our home here, but the lot fees in our park are increasing at a rapid pace, and for those enormous increases we receive little ... what the resort does for us is nothing more than cut our grass once a week and collect our garbage.

Clubhouse

We pay our own utility fees. Yes, there is a clubhouse with a lot of activities, but many of those activities aren't hosted by the resort - they're hosted and produced by the Homeowners Association, which charges additional fees (very minor compared to our lot fees). In the last 2 winters I didn't use the clubhouse at all ... swam in the pool twice, and have never used the hot tub or any other facilities. I'm not a fan of restricted usage in the gym, so I don't use it any more. I walk outdoors, and work out with weights in my livingroom.

The only thing I feel is worth what we pay is the park security ... the guardhouse is manned 24/7 and nobody gets in here that shouldn't be in here. That does provide a lot of peace of mind, but in all honesty, lots of parks provide similar security and have lower lot fees.

Of course they pay the office staff (who are very helpful, can't really complain about that), and for some of the exercise classes offered free (which we don't use), so I suppose I can't say we get nothing at all...just that we have no use for some of the things we seem to pay for.

Golfcourse

There are 2 tournament quality golf courses right up there at the clubhouse but ... and this is a big BUT, they certainly aren't free and so aren't part of what we pay our lot fees for. The cost to golf on those courses is expensive, and yearly membership at the golf club is incredibly expensive, and only slightly reduces how much you still have to pay each time you golf. I don't see the golf courses as a bonus to us ... neither of us golf.

So thinking over the monthly costs, I've begun to wonder what else is out there. There are a lot, though some of them look as though they'd be equally expensive in terms of lot fees, and many of the ones that don't seem so expensive also don't provide the things my husband enjoys. It's really a toss-up. He says we can afford this, probably for the next five years but to me it's not a matter of affording it ... it's more a matter of the value we get for the money we spend.

Golf Course Bridge

Looking through some of the other parks and resorts online is interesting, and some look very similar to where we are, but none list actual lot fees. That probably means most of them are close to what we're paying, and some of the housing prices are a lot more than what we paid for ours.

Scotland Yards looks pretty nice, but the housing prices are a lot more than ours and some of the houses are older like ours. The new units are beautiful though, and don't look like MH homes. The same company that manages that one also has two in North Fort Meyers, and one in Bonita Springs (my husband's cousin and his wife live there). I like the one in Bonita Springs for a simple reason ... it's close to a real, actual beach on the ocean.

New Smyrna Beach

That's what I came to Florida for, but ... we are not close to a beach (40 mins from Bradenton Beach, 70 minutes from Smyrna Beach, 40 mins to Tampa) and so I've yet to step foot into the ocean ... 3 years later. I wonder if I ever will? The problem with Bonita Springs is the same as Scotland Yards ... expensive housing compared to ours, and no idea what the lot fees would be.

Palm Harbour Manufactured Home

That's the other issue ... if you decide to move, are you going to be able to sell your own place? Not with the lot fees what they are, or if you do, you'll be selling for a lot less than the house is worth BECAUSE the lot fees are so high. It's a bit of a catch-22.

We did know what we were getting into when we bought. We spent time researching everything before we decided, but we didn't expect our lot fees to soar to prices so high they top any mortgage payment we've ever made in our lives. Seems a lot for what we get. I think I'd rather pay the city taxes than the park lot fees. According to the tax calculator, we'd be paying roughly 2 months worth of what we pay for our lot fees for an entire year of taxes.

That could only happen if were to buy the lot our house sits on, and of course we could only do that if the park opted to sell it to us, and at a fee commensurate with other similar properties.

Backyard

To be fair, I can't say we don't love it here, because we do. The lot fees would probably be less of a bother if it was our only home, but it isn't. The lot fees we pay are more than twice what we pay for our property taxes back in Canada, and we are pretty highly taxed there (and have more house, and more property than what we have in Florida). Our "back yard" in Florida isn't much, and lacks anything, but we do have some plans for a deck or something back there.

Something seems really wrong with that. At least back in Canada, we know our taxes cover city services, and high expense items like snowploughing the roads, and the education system. Not so much here. Lot fees cover very little.

The rumour this year in the resort is that they're trying to sell it, though to me that's just a rumour that has no confirmation. I have no idea what the cost of running the resort is, but a very small portion of the park encompasses about 200 lots with houses on it ... a SMALL portion. Most of them (the majority) have either a golf-course lot (backs onto the golf course); a "waterfront" lot (backs onto a pond), or a "waterview" (no access to the pond but you can see it from your windows or yard), and all of these homes pay a premium fee. We have a waterview ... whether a waterfront or golf-course lot actually costs more than we pay, I don't know but if so ... judging by the number of lots with homes in resort they make enough from the residents that it doesn't make sense to sell it off.

Cypress Lakes 55+ Community, Lakeland, florida

And the resort's about page says the group that owns the resort also owns others, and has never sold even one of them, so ... a rumour is just a rumour and is something to ignore unless it happens.

Anyway, I think I'll push my husband to go looking at other places - maybe we'll find the costs are similar, or maybe we'll find we don't like the places as much, but at least it will give us something to compare with our community.

The Rolling Pin Saga

2018-01-19T10:46:00.001-05:00

One of my pins ready for resale.

Have you ever found yourself in need of a rolling pin, and then not been able to find one? Just such an event took over my life a few weeks ago. Such a silly thing, yet something one needs to perform certain cooking acts, like rolling out pie dough, or cut-out sugar cookies. And at that point, a rolling pin wasn't something I had.

Actually, it wasn't something I expected to need either, until I did need it. Oh yes, I have several rolling pins ... at home in Canada. But not a single one in our Florida home. Back in Canada, I still have 3 or 4 rolling pins (out of the dozen I used to have, including a tupperware one) ... one is a solid rolling pin, and while it has handles, they are part of the body of the rolling pin. I don't like it to work with, but I kept it because it was handmade by a family member.

I have a wooden rolling pin with ball-bearings between the handles and body, and it rolls beautifully; no hitches and nothing causes it to catch while rolling. It was my most-used pin until I got a marble one. The marble rolling pin is heavy - very heavy. For a while after receiving it, I refused to use it because it was so heavy but in later years, it's become the rolling pin I use all the time.

The one remaining pin that I have (and use sporadically) is a shortbread pin. It's a smaller, lighter pin with pattern indents carved in the wood. The body part fits perfectly between the edges of my cookie bake pan with no gap. I use it when I want to mark shortbread ... and that's very rare these days, but it's a hard pin to come by, so I keep it.

Bearing Handled Pin from Bed, Bath, Beyond.

Back home, one can acquire a rolling pin for about $2 or less at any garage sale or second hand store. The same cannot be said for Florida ... apparently not, anyways. When I realized I need one to bake a pie at Christmas (that's another story ... our first Christmas in Florida, and we hated it), I went looking for one. Several stores we tried didn't have any such thing as a rolling pin. In one store, a woman told us she hadn't seen one for years!

Only one of the stores we tried had one (Dollar General), and it was a smallish, light-weight, non-ball bearing model, and I tried 4 of them on the shelf to see how they'd roll ... and none of them went past the halfway roll without getting caught on it's own axle. They were $5.95, but not worth the $1 I'd have been willing to pay.

Mug from Dollar Tree

I also found one wooden pin (well seasoned, which is a plus) at the Salvation Army second hand store in Lakeland, but I absolutely refuse to pay $6.00 for a wooden rolling pin that doesn't have the ball-bearing handles in it. That was far too much. In fact, that SA store is rather expensive. An old hair straightener was $16.95; and a beat-up blow dryer was $7.99. I find that really tough to swallow. Back in Canada, our Salvation Army shop sells things like that for $1 or $2, and mugs sell for 25 cents a piece (the mugs in the Lakeland one were $2 up to $5). I can buy a nice mug at the Dollar Tree for $1, so why would I pay that much for some old used mug? The SA shop really needs to rethink their pricing.

Out of desperation, I asked a few neighbours ... one did have one that she let me borrow. Apparently not something she used much as she had to go looking for it, and then told me to keep it until I found one.

The rolling pin I borrowed from a neighbour.

This past week we went to a flea market in Zephyr Hills (the Patriot Flea Market) and I knew there was a guy there that sold a lot of bakeware and kitchenwares, so I stopped there and found exactly what I wanted. A marble rolling pin. It was more money than I wanted to pay ($14.95, and yes, I'm cheap) but better priced than the ones I found online (some were over $30 + shipping cost).

Marble Rolling Pin found at Patriot Flea Market

Now I have the rolling pin ... but have been too sick to bake. <sigh> That's pretty much how this winter in Florida has been going so far. It's been pretty cold for a Florida winter. Colder than we've experienced before. Some areas of northern Florida have had some snow as well ... it hasn't come this far, but this morning the temperature was below freezing here, and that's rare for this part of the state.

I'm running out of warm clothes. I always bring a few things for cool weather but not enough for a solid month of it. I'm getting tired of wearing the same things!

Anyway, at this point ... it's a thumbs-up for my new marble rolling pin.

Excitement is Simple

2017-11-28T14:05:00.001-05:00

At least it's simple for some of us. Being such a homebody, it doesn't always take much to excitement me. Little things ... mastering a recipe; finding a lost earring; getting mail (real mail, the kind that gets delivered to your mailbox), getting a delivery ... ah, and that's what happened today. I have to go back a bit to explain it. For years I've been collecting pieces for my Christmas village ... back when I started they were small. Villages came as "sets" with 4 to 6 buildings and a string of lights that fit up inside the building to light them up.

As the years went by, different manufacturers came out with slightly larger buildings, and often they were purchased as individual pieces, not all at once in "sets". As I started buying one or two of those every year, I began giving away my older, smaller and medium, buildings.

I think this year, I estimated about 40 large(ish) buildings in my collection (don't have room any more to put them all in the same spot - that's next year's project). Probably one of my most prized pieces would be Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens. My husband bought me that from the Bradford Exchange. It turns out to be a pretty rare piece all things considered.

Every year I do an online search for it because I know a couple of people who are looking for one, but there have been none offered for sale - I found one as part of a set (this originally came as a series) and it had sold almost as quickly as it was published on the web. I've seen nothing since.

The other one that I'm particularly tickled with came last year - we bought it at a garage sale in Florida, for $8. It's a piece put out by Dept. 56, but it's also a piece whose circulation was limited to State Farm employees.

I don't very often purchase pieces from Dept. 56 - they tend to be pretty pricey, and I generally stick to Lemax these days. There are other well known brands, but they aren't as easy to find as they used to be. This year, Canadian Tire had only Dept. 56 and Lemax. They used to carry Dickensville, and a couple of other brands but apparently not any longer.

What excited me today was the arrival of a new piece, delivered by courier from Saskatchewan. I purchased it on ebay, which isn't a place I've shopped before. Oh, like most people I've looked at the odd thing here and there over the years, but really haven't taken time to buy anything.

A few weeks ago I set up an account and ordered an accessory piece for my village - a little car with the Craftsman logo. I may not have bought that a year ago, but this year, Sears is no more, and that's their brand. My husband's tools are mostly all Craftsman. I decided to order this piece for him, more than for myself.

But while I was doing that, I ran across something else ... a village building that I'd been wanting to get my hands on for a few year's now. This year, I managed to find one at a good price on ebay, while I buying the little Craftsman car. So ... yep, another purchase. I tend to prefer the ones with a "buy now" option over the auction ones.

I've participated in a few auctions - one for the above building (Ron's Fish'n'Tackle <--- and my husband's name is Ron) but when the price got close enough to the buy now option, I realized the shipping for the auction item brought it's total above the cost of the buy now with it's free shipping. That was a no brainer ... just "buy now" and be done with it.

In between those transactions, I ran across another piece I knew my hubby would be willing to get. Even if the cost was more than I normally pay ... and the shipping being in Canada was very high. Still ... the building was from Dept. 56, and was a large one, and ... had a John Deere tractor in it. Yeah, my husband is a big fan of John Deere anything, and while we don't have a farm or a tractor ... he has owned lots of JD "things". My husband has always been a farmer in hiding ... I think if I'd let him buy a farm, we'd still be living on one.

Anyway, this lovely piece had a buy now option, and after some wrangling with my shipping address (I have one in the US and one in Canada) and a great of deal of awesome help from the seller, I got the purchase made. The vendor made it really easy for a newb like me - without his/her help, I would probably have given up before I completed it. And today, the item arrived! Yeah. I was very excited.

Although I have to admit, the seller wanted to make sure it arrived safely ... I'm gonna go mail him and ask if he has any tape left, lol. So much tape on the outer packing box it took me 15 minutes just to get the wrapping off!

So far, this vendor has been one of the best, though the others I've dealt with have described the items as they are, and shipped very quickly so I haven't (so far) had a bad experience, it's just that with people like "zemmer" you do feel like you matter a little to the vendors. I wouldn't hesitate to do business again with any of the ones I've dealt with so far ... but really, I've discovered something ...

I need to STAY AWAY from eBay or I'll need a new house just to hold my collection!

ummmm, maybe I better stay away from the stores altogether, hahahaha. My husband is off to Hamilton and is buying me one of these things from their Home Depot (ours is out of stock), and ordered me one of these things from Home Depot in Lakeland, Florida ... for some reason, Home Depot in Canada doesn't carry the Home Depot Village Building and yeah, although they have some on ebay, they are more than twice the price than if you buy them in the store.

Last week, at Canadian Tire he bought me two new Lemax pieces - the Happy Camper (about $49 CA, but on ebay I've seen them priced twice that) and the Hamilton Garage (the precursor to Canadian Tire itself).

What kind of girl could complain about such a generous guy? It only took 42 years, but there does come a time when you realize how lucky you are to have such a giving person as a partner in your life!

I hope that whatever the reason, my friends and family all look at their spouse/significant other/partner and consider themselves lucky too.

Life is way too short to forget that!

A Christmas Letter

2017-11-27T16:12:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year again ... Christmas. The season for goodwill, peace, and joy ... and for Christians, the celebration of Christ on earth.

For many, it's also a time of sadness. For some, moving forward from loss seems impossible to do. For others, it's a time to remember the Ghosts of Christmas past.

Dear Mom & Dad, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends long gone ...

I miss you tons; I miss our family celebrations, and Christmas visits to aunts and uncles all over the city. I miss your faces, and your hugs, your smiles, and your laughter. I miss your cooking, and the funny little gifts. Most of all, I miss what Christmas used to be. I miss your presence in my world.

Still ... though I miss all of my lost family, every single face (too many to even list) is still in my memory alive and smiling, I hear their voices echo in my mind, and many, many of the times we shared together still have a room all their own in my heart.

Christmas dinner at Nanny's, carrying the coal over the threshold on New Year's Day; midnight dinner at Aunt Camilla and Uncle John's; the smell of grandma's (Nono) petals cooking; gazing in awe at Uncle Lou's bar (with every colour of liqueur glowing from the shelves) and the angel-hair covered tree in Auntie Ange's house; Uncle Jim and his Christmas of bologna; Aunt Loreen's basket of knitted slippers; Aunt Muriel's "ready to use" Christmas Tree behind the basement bar and the wind-up skating rink, and Uncle Joe's headed smelts (ugh) ... Aunt Marg's blue and silver tinsel tree, and old stuffed Santa, the silly paper hats from the Christmas Crackers ...

Sometimes the memories are overwhelming (because there are so many), but always filled with love and laughter and warmth of family. It will always be there ... those chapters written in my memory are forever a part of my story - the book of my life.

I miss those early Christmas holidays, but (oh, there is always that but) when I look forward, I see so many other Christmas' filled with my own children, and grandchildren; my in-laws and extended families, cousins and their kids, and grandkids; and I realize that life always finds a way to offer more.

If we let it, life goes on. We make new memories that will be left behind someday, in chapters written in our descendants lives; a continuation of what our families left to us.

Life can be amazing, can't it?

To all my family and friends ... have a blessed Christmas. Be merry, be loving, be kind. Share a special memory with those you love.

W.A. Porter C.I. - Remember When

2017-09-30T20:42:00.000-04:00

Over the last few days I've been lucky enough to be able to connect again with some of "kids" (well, we're all grown up now, but I still think of us as kids) from highschool. It isn't the first time since we all left, but for me, only the second time in the 42 years (omg, really that long) since I flew the coop.

The first reunion was held at the C.N.E. grounds (for the non-Torontonians that's the Canadian National Exhibition ... at least it was then) and was an amazing day for me. Some of them (most of them actually) looked (to me) exactly as they did the the last time I'd seen them.

I don't know whether it's just been the fact that as I get older, I wonder more what happened to them all - where they are, what they're doing or even if they're still here. Having moved away from Toronto I don't have much news floating "up" this way, and don't run into anyone from school here. Actually, that isn't totally true, because I did discover a few ... one working in the machine shop of a large local manufacturer (but that was well over 10 years ago) ... another worked in our local City Hall, and then still another whose daughter happened to be friends with my own daughter. They "bought the farm" as the saying goes ... no, really ... they have a farm here.

Beyond that, one of my bestest friends has totally disappeared as far as I can tell. I saw her last just after my first daughter was born. Since then, no word and no search has turned her up. So, Karen Sharp if you are out there ... I'd love to reconnect (or with Deb, her sister).

The list of missing pieces for me is pretty long still, but I'm really happy to have connected with the ones I did find. There are so many names I can remember, and some people, only the faces or first name but it surprises me just how many I have a memories of ... this one was short with long dark hair; that one was tall and thin with curly red hair; or that one was quiet and shy ... they all have a place in my memory. Some more than others, but for having attended a school with a pretty large student base, I'm surprised just how many I remember. And even more surprised at some of the memories that have popped up.

Some of those kids went to the same public school (for Americans, that's "grade school") as me ... General Brock. I have good and bad memories of that school, but overall, look back fondly on a lot of it. I remember a girl in most of my classes (Roma K) that lived right at the corner just before you turned onto the road where the school was ... and between her house and the school was a little variety store. Sadly, I also remember stealing a chocolate bar from there once. I had to tell the owner because I felt so bad about it ... guess I wouldn't have made a very good shop lifter or thief.

I also met up with a highschool friend who dropped by (all the way from Yucatan in Mexico) with his wife for a visit. I hugged the snot out of them because I was so happy to see them. During lunch as we were talking (non-stop) we discovered that we'd both been married the same amount of time: 42 years. (I'm glad I wasn't the only one who got married right out of school!).

We're making plans to visit them in Mexico if we can swing it ... we winter in Florida, so it's not a long trip (by boat or plane) from there.

And ... it looks as though there are plans in the making for a school reunion in the near future.

The Colour of our World

2017-09-29T05:49:00.000-04:00

What is the colour of your world? Does it matter to you if one, or more of those colours disappear? Do the colours in your world melt and blend to create new shades and tones of both colours?

My world is multi-coloured, though I tend not to notice the colours. Of more importance to me are the feelings I get from my world.

If any single colour disappeared, my world would seem a little less bright, and a little more dark ... that seems to create it's own shade of grey, doesn't it?

There are hundreds of different colours in my sphere ... that's just my own little bit of the world, and I'm sure others probably have almost as many.

No, I'm not talking about crayons, or pencils, or even paint. I'm talking about people.

Doesn't anyone else find it frustrating that people often use colours to separate people into groups; or that we need to even have groups like 'Black Lives Matter'? Seriously ... all lives matter, and colour shouldn't have anything to do with it. Nor should culture, race, age, or gender.

When I look at people, colour is usually the last thing I notice, and something I don't really care much about. People are just ... people - other human beings like me. Underneath, we're all the same so why do people care what's on the outside?

Who and what we are is on the inside.

... some people just need to get over themselves.

The Grill to Beat

2017-09-11T16:38:00.000-04:00

Last weekend my daughter I headed out to an estate sale being held by some friends just outside of town. Outside was mostly bigger things like a car dolly, riding mower, (... mostly guy stuff) and went on inside. We started in the basement. Some furniture (my house is pretty full) and a couple of long tables with kitchen stuff, some camera equipment (that held my interest for a bit, being a photographer that stuff, even older, is hard to pass up), and some tools.

My daughter pointed out a toaster oven with attached coffee pot. I hadn't seen one of those before. I already have a toaster oven but it was worth a look just because ... although the coffee pot only held one cup. It would be great for a student, or even camping.

Next to it was an electric grill ... you know, the kind you cook meat on in your kitchen. Like a griddle, but with a ridged cook plate. I opened the lid, closed it. Walked away a couple of steps and then went back. Okay, I didn't really need yet another electric kitchen appliance, not at all. Still ... it might be more useful than a couple of others I had. The price was right so I picked it up.

After we got home I cleaned up the grill (mostly clean, but there was stubborn grease I wanted to get off) and that's when I realized there really wasn't much in the way of controls - just a timer knob on the front. Nowhere to set a temperature like my others have. And the timer knob didn't have a lot of minutes on it either. Weird.

I had 3 boneless/skinless chicken breasts thawed out for dinner, so I decided to try out the grill. I didn't expect a lot really because it wasn't like some big name brand - oh, it's a name brand but not like Kitchen Aid or George Foreman, or anything. I tossed the chicken breasts on (they were an average size, but really thick - maybe 3/4") and that usually takes about 25-30 minutes in the toaster oven.

Checked the chart for cooking time, opened my eyes wider when it said 7 minutes, and thought
"yeah, right". I turned the knob to 8 minutes. Made my salad while the chicken was cooking, and when the timer went off I went to check.

I was really expecting to have to cook them longer than that. Humph. They were overdone at 8 minutes! Okay, lets just say I was astonished at that. 7 minutes! Didn't heat up the kitchen, didn't make a spitty mess all over the stove, whisked away all the grease/fat (didn't really use any grease to begin with since it's got a non-stick surface but any fat in the chicken didn't get back on the chicken as it cooked) ... can I just tell you that at this point I virtually dancing around the kitchen.

I don't like to cook that much, but my mind was already wondering what else I could cook on that grill in such a short amount of time with almost no work at all. To say I was impressed was an understatement.

That thing was more than worth the money I paid for it ... and knowing what I know now about it, I'd probably pay more for it. After dinner I sat down and read through the book (which I didn't do before) that came with it. Steak ... in 4 minutes! Pork chops from frozen in 8 minutes. Yeah, I'll be cooking more soon ... the book has some interesting recipes in it too.

I checked on Amazon for the unit, and they have one by the same name & brand, but it doesn't look exactly the same - slightly different style, so maybe a little newer. They did have the older one listed, but it says "currently unavailable" ... that often means that particular style/model was discontinued, or replaced by a newer one.

The grill's booklet calls it "Hamilton Beach Meal Maker Express Grill". The newer unit is listed for about $40 US, so it doesn't exactly break the bank: Amazon

For for my money, this would be a purchase worth making.