Donna Reed Wannabe

I Was Bored ...

2011-05-30T18:49:00.002-06:00

LEMON CHIFFON CAKE W/ LEMON CURD AND LEMON BUTTER CREAM

I was reading one of my favorite cooking blogs when I came across this post she'd done about squiggly icing. She'd made a vanilla cake with raspberry butter cream for a party and it was sooo pretty! Mondays are my nothing day, I'd already taken the dogs for a hike, I had leftover lemon curd and I was bored - so I made a cake!

I love the way it turned out, sorta. I quickly learned that this technique uses a lot of icing - I'm talking obscene amounts, more than I would ever put on a cake. So what you can't see in this picture is that the back third of the cake only has the crumb coat on it. Shhhhh, it's a secret!

Another lesson learned = always make sure you have an icing bag, lol. I use disposable plastic ones, that way I don't have to fight the drying process when cleaning up/switching tips/colors etc. (don't worry I recycle them). However, I forgot that I used the last ones during last weeks cake decorating extravaganza. It made it a touch more difficult. Thankfully a couple of Ziploc bags came to my rescue.

Now I'm going to go wreck my diet and eat a piece.

Sorry I Didn't Blog Much This Week

2011-05-22T21:53:00.003-06:00

50th ANNIVERSARY & 20th ANNIVERSARY CAKES

I was a little busy/pre-occupied making these two cakes ... and driving them 3 hours away yesterday. More details to follow tomorrow. Right now I'm going to have a very long bath and go to bed!

Look What I Just Made

2011-05-19T11:34:00.002-06:00

DOVES, LACE, FLOWERS & CRYSTALS

This is a cake topper for one of two cakes I'm working on for this weekend. Not my normal style, a little two frilly for me, but it's what was requested. A slightly more modern twist on the original wedding cake topper used 50 years ago.

Hiking In Calgary

2011-05-17T12:49:00.000-06:00

Recently I wrote about the beautiful mountain views in Calgary, and how much I love living here because it is close to hiking/skiing/camping. A friend commented on that post asking when was the last time I actually went hiking/skiing/camping - to which I am happy to respond: last week, Wednesday to be exact! Also, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday! Hiking that is, not the skiing or camping. Though if we had the time we could still go skiing right now, the hills are still open in the mountains. Snowboarders everywhere are cheering on the wet/cold "spring" we've had - while I am busy cursing the weather (seriously, blizzards in April?!) and them for getting enjoyment out of my misery.

Anyways, back to the point - hiking. I love it, love it, love it. And in another "great things about living in Calgary" moment, I'd like to introduce you to: Nosehill Park.

ONE OF NOSEHILL'S MANY TRAILS

Nosehill park is the second largest park within the city of Calgary (Fish Creek Provincial Park is bigger) and at 11.27 sq. km. it is one of the largest municipal parks in North America. It is surrounded on all sides by the ever growing city, but thanks to some conservation efforts in the '70's & '80's it has been officially designated a protected area by the city. There are over 300 km of trails within the park, a few paved (in the low lying areas) but for the most part like what you see here.

SOME TRAILS ARE JUST WIDE ENOUGH FOR BIKE TIRES

For the most part the park is left to grow wild, and in recent years people have been asked to stick to the existing pathways rather than create new ones, so as not to destroy the "sensitive" park's environment.

According to Wikipedia: "Sensitive vegetation, terrain, and archaeological sites exist within the park. It contains a significant native rough fescue grassland ecosystem and over 66 native vascular plant species have been found on the hill including parry oat grass, prairie crocus, golden bean, bedstraw, and sage."

"Grasslands of this nature are considered endangered in North America because more than 95% have been lost to cultivation, tree encroachment, pollution, and development.^{[citation needed]} The grassland is one of 7 major native habitat types on the hill which together provide an excellent habitat for a variety of animals. Over 198 wildlife species have been identified on the hill."

We personally have seen only three species of native wildlife in the park: deer, coyotes and rabbits - though I am not disputing their claims. And in any regard it is an awesome place to have in the city. It being here means that we can go hiking on a regular basis and on short notice (as most of last week's hikes were) in mid-week. This summer we still plan on doing some hiking in the mountains them selves, but for now I'm happy to accept what Nosehill offers us.

GREAT MOUNTAIN VIEWS

GREAT CITY VIEWS

HILLS TO HIKE (CHALLENGING ENOUGH FOR ME)


FLAT HILLTOPS TO AID IN MY OXYGEN RECOVERY

Another nice thing about Nosehill park is that it is a dog friendly zone. Dogs are allowed in all areas of the park - some are on-leash areas, and some are off-leash. And the type of people who use Nosehill park aren't the same as those who tend to use the other over-crowded off-leash dog parks. If we take our dogs there we risk them being attacked by over aggressive dogs, who's owners are too busy talking on cell phones to keep an eye on their pets (which also often means they are keeping an eye on their bathroom breaks = no poop pick up!). So this is one of the few places within city limits that we feel confident allowing our dogs off-leash for a good run. Well ... Bella at least. Cesar has developed a bad habit of running and not listening to us/not coming back - so he's been confined to hiking on leash at the moment.

CESAR ON THE HILLTOP

BELLA LIKES RUNNING AWAY AND BACK

SHE HAS AN AWFULLY LONG TONGUE

My other favorite thing about Nosehill park, is that it's proximity to where we live (10 min away) means that on those lucky days when Damien is done work in the early afternoon he can join me for mid-week hikes. It's nice to be able to spend time outdoors, just us and our dogs. Though, the fact that we bring our cellphones sometimes causes and interruption or two.

PAUSING TO ANSWER A WORK RELATED E-MAIL

But, I don't complain (well not too loudly anyways) because bringing the cell phone protects us in case of an injury - which, if you know me and my accident prone tendencies, is always a distinct possibility. And, because we both have iPhones with GPS, bringing them allows us to partake in another of our favorite activities: Geo-caching!

I ALMOST TRIPPED OVER THIS ONE

ANOTHER CACHE FOUND!

This summer we've decided to make it our goal to find every Geo-cache in Nosehill. I'm not sure how many there are, but I know there's quite a few. If we manage this goal and still have time left then we will move on to the Geo-caches in Fish Creek.

You know ... the weather is pretty nice out today. I think I'm going to sign off, finish up a few chores and head out for another hike. Hope you're enjoying your day as much as I am mine!

Why I Live In Calgary

2011-05-09T16:48:00.003-06:00

MOUNTAIN VIEWS.

Just look at what you can see on a clear day. We're close enough to enjoy the view, go skiing/hiking/camping easily and yet have the pleasures of city living at the same time. 'Nuff Said!

Xylophone In The Forest

2011-05-06T09:14:00.002-06:00

My husband had a lot of websites/blogs in his RSS feed on his iPad. He likes to send me links to videos, sites & stories he thinks I'll find interesting. This morning a link to this video was in my e-mail in box. It brightened my day, so I thought I'd share it with you. Hope every one's having a good morning.

Guess Where I Was Last Night

2011-05-05T17:47:00.003-06:00

BALLET & SAUVIGNON BLANC - WHO COULD ASK FOR MORE?

You guessed it - the Ballet, who knew you were so smart?! I was privileged enough to spend a nice evening with my hubby attending the premier of Fumbling Towards Ecstasy at the Jubilee in Calgary. Yes, I know mom - your currently busy disowning me, but can I really be held responsible for the fact that you live in the wrong province? Believe you me, it was awesome! And worth every penny ... or rather would be worth every penny - if we had paid anything. Take a closer look at the tickets, here, I'll even help you:

FREE TICKETS !!!

That's right, you read right, they were free! Courtesy of a fabulous friend who does some work for them. (I'm not sure if said friend is really supposed to give away the tickets - so I'm not going to give to many details regarding the work etc. - After all, maybe it will happen again, right?!) And yes mom, I know, I know - you've pulled out the will and are on the phone to your lawyer to officially cut me out - lol.

Now to rub even more salt in the wound - I lucked into marring a guy who actually likes dressing up and going to special events like these! What are the odds of that? (Lol, just had a "Big Bang Theory" flash there. Anyone know the quote?) So we got all dressed up and made a point of getting there early to have a drink or two and enjoy the experience. Because it really is an experience, one of which there are too few of now a days. And it was really nice to see that 99.99% of the people in attendance recognized it as such, and payed it the proper respect of appropriate attire. The .01% who didn't was a teenager who had obviously been dragged their by her grandparents (who were very nicely dressed themselves) and decided to rebel by wearing sweatpants, sneakers, a jean jacket, messy hair and a scowl. I pity her parents.

But anyways, that aside, the experience was amazing. The dancing was gorgeous, and the costumes were beautiful - what little there were, according to Damien anyways. The only other ballet Damien has been to was when we went to see the very traditional adaptation of Sleeping Beauty last fall. I think he thought all ballets were that regal with regards to costuming. As this was a modern ballet, an interpretation of pop/folk music, many of the costumes were very minimalist.

The only thing I could have done without was some of the projections that had in the background. I know they were going for a very artsy type thing - but one occasion it was just creepy. Lol. And though the audience was 90% adult, there were a few children in the audience whom I'm not sure should have been there. At least for one of the dances in particular, which was very suggestive. Other than that I absolutely adored it. If you live in Calgary or Edmonton I would absolutely recommend checking it out.

Introducing: Instagram - My Favorite Photo App

2011-05-04T12:31:00.006-06:00


ONE OF LAKE WINNIPEG'S MANY PIERS


DAMIEN AND ME ON THE PIER

AWW - AREN'T WE ALL LOVEY DOVEY


GOTTA LOVE A BACK BENDING SMOOCH

These pictures were taken aprox. 2 years ago. They were shot by my mother at one of the many piers along Lake Winnipeg's shoreline. While I love them as they are, just straight out of the camera (I even hung a couple up in our house for all the world to see), I had kinda forgotten about them - sorry Mom.

Then along came Instagram, an app for my iPhone. It allows you to upload pictures from your iPhone and then crop or enlarge them and give them one of over a dozen different filters/washes/frames - whatever you call the silly things. Then it publishes them to your Instagram bloggy thingy that you can share with friends or not - no pressure here, not from me anyways. It also saves a copy to your phone automatically, allows you to email them and does all sorts of other wonderful magical stuff.

Basically, I'm in love with it ... Maybe even more so than my husband - lol. I know, I know, I need help. But just look at how cool these pictures are. My two favorites are the first and third ones. What do you think?

Testing, testing - 1, 2, 3 ...

2011-05-04T11:01:00.006-06:00


COCONUT CAKE W/ MANGO CURD & VANILLA BEAN BUTTERCREAM

Coming soon ... the return of my blog

In the mean time please enjoy this photo of a test cake that I made this week in preparation for an upcoming event.

I am also testing a new and fancy mobile way to publish photo's and posts on my blog.

Best rice pudding in the world!

2010-04-26T16:03:00.003-06:00

The last two days have been unexpectedly cold and dreary, a little rain, a little snow, a little wind - just the type of weather that makes you crave warm, old-fashioned comfort food. One of the things this means for me is rice pudding. I just finished making and eating a bowl of this lovely warm stuff and though I should share the recipe with all of you.

Arborio Rice Pudding

Adapted from: Smitten Kitchen

1/2 cup arborio rice

4 cups milk ( I use 2 cups of whole milk and 2 cups of 1% - because it's what we always have on hand)

1/4 cup of sugar

1/2 a vanilla bean, split (Even though tempted to, don't use a whole one - it's overpowering)

1 tsp of cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup of raisins (I used golden b/c it's my hubby's fav)

In a med size pot, combine all ingredients except the egg yolk and raisins. Over med-high heat bring the mixture to a gentle boil and then reduce heat to med-low. Maintain a gentle boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30-40 minutes. You'll want to taste the rice to check if it's ready. It should be plump, soft and a little chewy - al dente.

Whisk in the egg yolk and cook for 2-3 minutes more. Remove from heat and add raisins.

I like to serve & eat it when it's nice and warm. But if you prefer it chilled than divide into individual dishes and cover with plastic wrap - making sure to press down right on top of the pudding. This helps to prevent a skin from forming.

Enjoy!

No, I'm not dead

2010-04-15T10:43:00.004-06:00

Hey there anyone who's still bothering to check in here from time to time - hello & bless you for not giving up. I actually have tons to write about, though not much time today, have actually wanted to write on here quite a lot lately but haven't because we were planning a surprise 50th anniversary party for my husbands grandparents and I wasn't sure whether or not they read my blog - so couldn't chance it, and it's all I've been focusing on for the last couple months.

However it's over now, things went well despite the blizzard of the century and in the coming days I will post much about it, and the crazy amount of baking & origami I did. In the mean time here are some pictures someone took of the dessert table - all of which was made by me.

I LOVE Calgary!

2009-12-14T13:53:00.004-07:00

Have I mentioned how much I love this city. As a girl who for the most part grew up in small towns and the country the fact that I can love living in a city soo much still comes as a bit of a shock to me. But I do, so much so that I've decided I can never move ever again! Lol. (I say that now of course ... )

Anyways, there are many many reasons I love this fair city - the food, the people, the parks, proximity to mountains. Today though, the main reason is CHINOOKS. For those of you who have never heard of such a thing the following was "borrowed" from Wikipedia:

"Chinook winds, often called Chinook's, commonly refers to foehn winds [1] in the interior West of North America, where the Canadian Prairies and Great Plains meet various mountain ranges, although the original usage is in reference to wet, warm coastal winds in the Pacific Northwest.[2]"

"The Chinook is a foehn wind, a rain shadow wind which results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air which has dropped most of its moisture on windward slopes (orographic lift). As a consequence of the different adiabatic rates of moist and dry air, the air on the leeward slopes becomes warmer than equivalent elevations on the windward slopes."

"As moist winds from the Pacific (also called Chinooks) are forced to rise over the mountains, the moisture in the air is condensed and falls out as precipitation, while the air cools at the moist adiabatic rate of 5°C/1000 m (3.5°F/1000 ft). The dried air then descends on the leeward side of the mountains, warming at the dry adiabatic rate of 10°C/1000m (5.5°F/1000 ft).[5]

The turbulence of the high winds also can prevent the normal nocturnal temperature inversion from forming on the lee side of the slope, allowing night-time temperatures to remain elevated.[5]"

"Chinooks are most prevalent over southern Alberta in Canada, especially in a belt from Pincher Creek and Crowsnest Pass through Lethbridge, which get 30 to 35 Chinook days per year on average."

I really don't understand the half of it, so if you are currently sitting there with a look on your face saying WTF I understand! Point blank, here is what it means - WARM WEATHER & MELTING SNOW. For example, this past weekend was cold, damned cold! We're talking -30 + windchill, making it feel more like -38 (Celsius of course). Edmonton had it even worse, I heard on the news that the city of Edmonton was the second coldest place on earth Sunday. It was beaten only by a town in Siberia, where the temperature dropped to -48 C. In Edmonton it was -46, with the wind chill it felt like -59 C. Now if I lived in Edmonton I'd have to go kill myself, but I live in Calgary, it's okay. I can suffer through a few days of frigid temperatures, because come Wednesday .... CHINOOK! And our weather is forcasted to be above zero with temperatures as high as +8 (Celsius again) for the rest of the week. Mwhahahahhha... hahaha.....hahahah...ha.ha. Lol, sorry, don't mind me - busy cackling gleefully right now.

And that's even a little bit low on the temperature high you can expect during a Chinook. Again, according to Wikipedia, where I "borrowed" this information:

"In southern Alberta, most of the winter can be spent with little or no snow on the ground. In Calgary, there is snow about 59% of the time on Christmas, compared to 88% for Edmonton.[3]. In Canada, only the West Coast of British Columbia and southern Ontario have fewer white Christmases than southern Alberta."

"In Pincher Creek, the temperature rose by 41°C (from -19°C to 22°C) in one hour in 1962 [4] - trains have been known to be derailed by Chinook winds there."

"In February 1992, Claresholm, Alberta hit 24°C (75°F) - one of Canada's highest February temperatures."

Holy rusted metal, Batman! Did you read that? 41 degrees in one hour. From bundled up snow suit weather to t-shirts and sandals weather. We've had a few similar to that in Calgary, only it was over the course of 2-3 hours. Even in a 2-3 hour time slot that's still pretty impressive. You can literally feel the temperature changing if your outside. It's the greatest natural phenomenon ever in my opinion. It makes all the snow melt, and you warm up and winter somehow just doesn't seem quite as bad or as long. Plus if you are really into winter, skiing and such nonsense we are only an hour away from the mountains - where they don't experience the same thing and there will be snow on the slopes into April/May on a good year.

So, later this week while Edmonton is still experiencing the frosty weather conditions I will be walking my dog in the melting snow (and if they are getting a warm front too I don't want to hear it!). Chinooks. Yet one more reason why Calgary rocks & Edmonton sucks! :) Gotta go & hide now, before my angry Edmontonian relatives read today's posting

Best Appetizers Ever!

2009-12-11T09:59:00.006-07:00

So the Italian dinner was a rousing success. But as my computer has had both it's power source fail and the keyboard fail in the past week and now it's refusing to type the letter i until you bash the heck out of it, for now you'll have to deal with one of the best appetizer recipes ever!

I saw this in an Italian cookbook at chapters, but didn't buy said book. So I typed it in google and up popped the following from epicurious:

Salami Crisps

Ingredients:

24 paper thin slices of Genoa salami

Preparation:

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven & pre-heat to 325.

Arrange salami slices in one layer on two baking sheets. Bake, switching positions halfway through baking, until edges are crisp and beginning to curl, 10-12 min. Transfer slices to a rack to cool (they will crisp as they cool).

That's it! Easy right?! And they were a smashing hit. Along with the Parmesan Cheddar crisps and the really great Tuscan bread with fabulous olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Also next post, when i's are more readily available, the merits of a really good olive oil.

Home Made Pasta

2009-12-01T11:38:00.004-07:00

Hello .... is this thing on? (tap,tap) Is anyone out there? (crickets) Hmmm.... oh well.

Okay, I know I have not been at all regular, in any way, shape or form about writing on here. I apologize, and have no explanation/excuse to offer other then my complete and total laziness. Well, maybe one excuse - like the ten tons of studying I have to do just to be able to follow what's going on in Cantonese and not fall behind in class! But it's okay, I can do both. It's not like I have a habit of writing really long rambling posts that take up way too much time or anything. :)

The important thing is I'm back ... from outer space,I just walked in and found you here with that sad look upon your face ... oh, sorry, total Gloria Gaynor moment there. What was I saying? Oh yes, the blog. Henceforth I am going to attempt to write on a more regular basis, besides I've got a lot to write about and no one will listen to me other than YOU! (pretty please?!) Starting with:

HOME MADE PASTA! Come on, don't tell me you've never though about it. I know your secretly harboring a desire to spend hours covered in flour making your own noodles and a slow roasted tomato sauce. You're not? Really? Well I am/have been/do. Actually, if I could live anyplace, do anything - I would live on the Mediterranean coast. I would own a vineyard, with a couple acres of olives for making my own oil. And I would have a huge old world villa, with a courtyard and fountain (like the one from walk in the clouds). It would have a big huge kitchen with a really long solid wood table in the middle and a wood fire oven. I'd be like the Italian version of Donna reed, a pretty house dress, white apron, up early making bread. Oh yeah baby, that's me. Forget this woman's lib crap. lol. But I digress ...

I have honestly though, always been fascinated by pasta - wanted to be able to make my own. Especially when I heard that nothing tasted better. I'm mean, really? Is there that much of a difference? It's just flour, eggs, salt, oil and water. How can it taste any better fresh or dried? This became my mission in life. Though not my main mission, maybe not even my tertiary or whatever comes after tertiary mission - but it was a mission, out there on the back burner somewhere.

Then last year for my anniversary you may remember that my mom bough me my long coveted Kitchen Aid Mixer. I than learned you can get all kinds of attachments for the thing, meat grinders, ice cream makers & ... wait for it ... pasta makers! So I've been talking about going out and buying that attachment ever since. People must have got tired of hearing me talk about it, because for this years anniversary my husbands brothers & wives got the pasta attachments for me. I know! Aren't they nice. So of course, this lead to a dinner invitation for them, this Sunday, for home made pasta.

Then I got to thinking ... what if I suck. What if my pasta turns into some sticky, over boiled clump of yuckyness (word?)? The only thing to do was to have a trial run. Which then got me to thinking - wait a minute, how do you even make homemade pasta? I certainly don't have an old family recipe or an Italian grandmother to show me. Of course the attachment comes with an instruction book and a few recipes - but those kind always seem to suck eggs. So yesterday I took a trip to the book store. Excuse me for a moment while I pause and sigh a sigh of pure bliss about bookstores and coffee shops. *Sigh* Okay, good now. Anyways, a couple hours of scouring so called "Italian" cook books, a momentary distraction by the Ace of Cakes book (which I bought!) and I finally found one that I liked, had an actual home made pasta recipe and seemed like it would do the trick.

Allow me to introduce you to: Maxine Clark's Italian Kitchen - simple steps to great tasting Italian food. Just looking at this book makes me hungry. On p. 78 the section about making basic pasta dough starts. It's actually a lot simpler then I expected, though it is time consuming. After reading it through though, especially about the flours she likes to use (I had previously always though it was just plain old all-purpose flour), it seemed like a trip to the Italian grocery store was in order.

Fortunately the best one in the city (according to online peoples) is on centre street, only a few blocks away from where we live. I had thought about going in before but never had a reason to. Now I did. I needed Italian "00" flour. OMG, I love this place! And I am never allowed inside ever again! I could literally spend every cent I have here and leave a very happy camper. All the dishes, and cool cooking utensils - not to mention the food. Anyways, to make this long rambling post slightly less long, I found the flour - along with a chunk of good parm, a tub of good sheep's milk feta, and a jar of Lucini Tialia Tuscan Marinara with Roasted Garlic Sauce. Which is made with fresh vine-ripe tomatoes, 100% natural ingredients and is handcrafted in small batches according to the label. Thus making it ridiculously expensive. But we figured if we were going to make fresh home made pasta then it should have a really good quality sauce right? Right!

A very empty pocket book and a few hours later, (The dough gets mixed by hand, literally, on the counter - no bowl, then needs to rest a half hour) we started making supper. Making the pasta was one of the funnest things D and I have ever done together. As you run the dough through the machine through thinner and thinner settings it gets longer and longer so you need someone to help. Eventually you do have to cut it into three or four smaller pieces. After you've gotten it the thickness you want you hang it on a broom handle (I made sure to clean mine really well) to dry a little bit then you cut it. Our pasta maker came with cutting attachments for linguine or spaghetti and we had already decided on spaghetti. Feeding it through the cutter was probably the most fun and it was very rewarding to see all those noodles hanging there.

After making the pasta it was easy. A pot of well salted boiling water and five minutes later the pasta was ready. While it was boiling I quickly sauteed a small sliced zucchini with some roasted red pepper slices and then added half the jar of marinara sauce. When pasta was done it went right into the sauce (which is apparently the Italian way to do it - non of this serving pasta and sauce separately and letting people put it on themselves). At this point I added a handful of freshly chopped basil and a bunch of the crumbled sheep's feta. Voila! Supper.

We put some in bowls, grated a little fresh Parmesan on top and .... HOLY HANNA! That is the best pasta in the world, ever! The noodles actually had flavor, and were so silky and light, and properly al dente. And the sauce, OMG - it's $ 10 (large) jars of lucini italia sauce for us from now on. Let's not forget the feta. The stuff you buy in the tubs at superstore should not even have the same name as this stuff. It was amazing. I'm making myself hungry again just thinking about it. And you know what - it actually stayed with me. I love pasta but I am always, no matter how much I eat or how full I am when done, ravenously hungry again a half hour later. It's like I never ate. Not this time. It was filling, but not overly and I didn't have another thing to eat all night. Went to bed a few hours later a very very happy camper.

I can't wait to try to make other kinds - and I think I might make lasagna for Sunday's supper - we'll see. In any regards it was an astounding success. I'm very happy. And thank you, thank you, thank you for the anniversary gift guys!

We've moved!

2009-09-16T08:50:00.002-06:00

Okay, so we're moved, finally, mostly ... except two or three things that had to be temporarily left at the farm. And two or three boxes that are in the garage and still need to be un-packed. And we won't have time to paint till Octoberish. And we haven't changed our drivers licences, or cell numbers, or bill addresses yet .... so I guess really we're in the process still! Lol. But physically, we are here, in Calgary, sleeping, eating, working, etc. And that's all I've time to write today b/c the television installer is finally here and the dog wants out to pee!

We're moving!

2009-08-07T11:32:00.005-06:00

So ... I realize it's been a ridiculous amount of time since I've written anything on here, and I honestly thought everyone had given up on me ... but it appears that some people still check in from time to time (Thanks Jessica!) as I was recently made aware. That being the case, here's a quick update w/ more blogging to recommence in the coming days.

I still don't have a new computer, we have our old desktop that I clunk away on from time to time, but the Internet has developed a mind of it's own. I think it's female, a female w/ really bad PMS! Lol, it will randomly stop working, for days on end and then start again ... though it may be that we need a new router, but I'm choosing the other reason. It's more interesting, don't you think?!

The garden sucks this year, as does every one's I'm sure. With the weather in our area causing the county to be declared an official drought area earlier in the year, to the frost we had on July the 6th along with crazy cold weather, the plants are on strike. Let's put it this way, I have 6 zucchini plants (no I'm not crazy, I just love zucchini) and I've only had two smallish zucchini's so far this year. I know! Weird! I have 25 tomato plants and just in this last week have about 5 of them started to get a couple tomatoes. The only thing growing well are the turnips and my herbs. Hard to make a full meal with those options.

Doesn't matter much though, because I'm going to have to rip up or abandon much of it when we ... MOVE BACK TO CALGARY! Yuppers, we're movin' back to the city. With the economy what it is and issues with work in the area we've been living, and all things having been discussed, considered and weighed the decision was made to move back to the city. So D's been going back and forth all summer (I accompany him some weeks) to work (same job as before - jumping of of high rises in a single bound), we've been looking for places, I've been slowly packing and a date has been set. Sort of. End of August, beginning of September. It's hard to set an exact date when the summer ends in the middle of a week.

So that's it, that's the big news for now. Will fill ya more in on stuff as the days progress.

I Don't Still Have the Mean Red's

2009-03-20T08:10:00.002-06:00

Okay, so it's been brought to my attention that apparently, at least according to my blog I've been in a funk since September. Apparently, at least to some (Crystal - lol) this requires correction. I promise I have not seriously been depressed all this time, though we all have our days and I've certainly had mine this winter, just computer-less. Both of our laptops (D's and mine) died within a week of each other - so we've reverted to the rather large and cumbersome desktop. On which I could still write my blog if our internet would just work for more than five minutes at a time - thank you country living in the middle of nowhere Alberta.

Ah well, c'est la vie. However, thanks to the graciousness of my dear friend I am able to write this brief update, and hopefully we will be back to our regularly scheduled programing as soon as routers permit us.

The Mean Reds

2008-09-18T10:01:00.004-06:00

One of my favorite all time movies is Breakfast at Tiffany's staring Audry Hepburn. I don't know why exactly, I do love Audrey Hepburn in general but there is something about this movie that speaks to me. Maybe I relate to "Holly Golightly", not in the sleeping around with men, using them for their money and marrying someone because he's rich sort of way. More in the, seems to lack focus and has the "Mean Reds" kind of way. There's a scene in the movie where she is talking to Fred (who's real name is paul) that goes as follows ...

Holly: Listen ... you know those days when you get the mean reds?

Fred (Paul): you mean like the blues?

Holly: No ... the blues are because you're getting fat or because it's been raining to long. You're just sad that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid and you don't know what you're afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?

Fred (Paul): Sure

Holly: When I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump into a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away.

Well, that's how I feel today. Only I'm not scared, just off somehow, not exactly sad, but a little bit, not exactly lonely but a little bit, feel like I should be doing stuff that's productive but don't have the drive too. You know that feeling? And when I get that way the only thing that does any good is to get out of the house, go sit in Starbucks for awhile and read a book or go shopping. Only problem is I can't.

I am stuck, at home, in the middle of nowhere Alberta, surrounded by Husbands wacky family (who are currently part of the problem). I could take the purple van into town but it's a waste of gas and with gas currently being an exorbitant amount we can't afford to be wasting it (Damien's already in town and the grandparents have to go in for the meeting later so there's two vehicles already). Plus Damien's going to school in January & February = no work, no money, we have a mountain of taxes etc. to pay off, and our anniversary is coming up so we don't really have the money to spend on my shopping just because I want to. Not unless I use my credit card and I am already having heart palpitations over how much we've had to use it lately.

I know, I know ... I'm thinking the same thing ... this is important say "in comparison to whether they should cancel third world debt"? (Twenty points if you can name that movie)It's not, it's not even that bad, people are starving, homeless and sick/dying (like D's grandpa & my sister). And intellectually I know that, but I just can't shake myself out of it.

It's so frustrating living in a world where every time you turn around it's telling you you are not good enough, and you don't have enough and look at these happy people who's lives are together, and houses are clean, and have money for nice vacations, eating out, buying new clothes & jewlery when they need it or even they don't - even harder when your friends get to do those things. And again, I know, I know that it's not the material things that are important/make you happy, and it's wrong to be jealous of other people and covet their stuff... intellectually I know. But my heart wants a nice painted house, and wants new furniture from ikea, and wants a pretty apple laptop and wants nice boots for fall and wants etc. etc.

So how do you reconcile your heart and your brain. And how do I get over this pity party for myself that I am currently hosting? I know this has absolutely nothing to do with Donna Reed, plus she would have told herself to get over it and started cleaning her house, but it's how I feel today and this is my blog. Deal with it. :-P

Today Is Cleaning Day

2008-08-29T06:00:00.003-06:00

The last three days I was at D's great-granny's house because his Aunt Sharon went away with some friends and asked us to stay with her. It's always very interesting staying there. You have to cook all the meals & do the cleaning etc. It's not bad, I don't mind it but it's very different from our house. For example: Lunch is always at noon exactly, and they always watch the local news. At 1 pm she always has to watch Perry Mason, old black and white ones, and then Matlock afterwards. Supper is always at 5 pm on the dot during which she watches Little House on the Prairie and then the local news at 6 pm. They always go to bed at 10 pm exactly.

It's also interesting to cook for her, because while she does appreciate a well cooked meal, she is not adventurous at all. No curry, or stir-Fry's, not even really any pasta or lasagna. She's real meat an potatoes kind of person, which is funny because she doesn't even really like potatoes. Even though this is pretty much diametrically opposite of the way Damien and I live, I try not to cause to much of a wave when we are there. Though I once did cook steak for her that was nice and juicy, perfect medium rare and she wouldn't eat it because it was "still bloody". They like to pound their steaks ridiculously thin, coat them in flour and fry them till they are extremely well done.

But honestly, other than the cooking, and the daily vacuuming/sweeping, or helping granny at bedtime there is not a lot to do. We generally play some cards or something, usually I would bring over some craft stuff and do something of that sort or there is always a lot of studying that needs to be done. This time however I planned to get some cooking done to stock my freezer with so that I'd have some meals ready for next month - which is shaping out to be a very busy one. So Wednesday, I baked a bunch of bread and then I made some cabbage rolls. Thursday (yesterday) I spent the whole day making perogies.

Damien LOVES perogies. He would eat them for every meal if he could, I'm not sure what it is about them. I made 13 dozen cheddar cheese perogies, with real cheddar cheese of course - not that chemical laden, almost plastic cheese wiz junk other people use (you know who you are, hang your head in shame!). I love reading that I made 13 dozen perogies, it sounds like a lot doesn't it?! It's funny though, because when you put them in Ziploc bags, especially in large ones like I have that hold 3 dozen ... they don't look like very much. I fully expected Damien to say: "That took you all day?". Then of course I would have thrown a few at him.

Anyways, in addition to Damien loving perogies, my making them goes hand in hand nicely with my theory this year to make as much potato based stuff as I can and freeze them so that we won't waste so many of the bazillions of potatoes we get this year. And goodness will we be getting a lot. D dug up these potatoes for me and some of them were already large enough to feed a family all by themselves. *shudders* So I am going to make more perogies next week, potato, bacon & onion perogies, and then cottage cheese perogies. Also, french fries - though I have to look through my old recipes, because I think there was a trick about par boiling them first before you freeze them so that they do that crispy on the outside, soft on the inside thing when you cook them later. But that's all for next week.

In the mean time, today is cleaning day. Because I was at Granny's for three days, and because before that it was August, things have been very very lazy around here re:cleaning. Now I know that's not very Donna Reed of me - but oh well, it's the way the cookie crumbles. However, that being said the disaster zone that looks like a hurricane hit it is driving me nuts. I couldn't even drag my butt out of bed to work out this morning because that would have meant facing my messy house. Also starting Monday I am smack in the middle of a busy busy month and I need the house to be clean and well organized in order to survive it.

That being said ... it's time for me to sign off. TTFN

Ceasar's Friend Butterscotch

2008-08-25T16:36:00.006-06:00

On Saturday there was a little get together out here at the "farm". People came, they brought food, we ate, some played baseball, some threw bean bags. I spent my time texting my mother (talk about anti-social) and playing with Ceasar and his new friend Butterscotch.

This is Butterscotch, isn't he cute & adorable? Yes, the little girl is too ... but I'm focusing on the pup right now. Tell me he doesn't look like Mr. Muggs?! And if you don't know who Mr. Muggs is, I don't want to hear about it. Your far too young and isn't it past your bedtime?!

Don't you just want to give him the biggest hug?! Actually I should stop saying he, because the dog is a she, or rather an it. In any regards Butterscotch was the hit of the party - at least in Cesar's mind. He loves other dogs and will gladly run and play and chase them all day or at least until the other dog gives up out of shear exhaustion. Have I mentioned our dog has quite a big of energy? Although in Butterscotch he may have met his match. Equally lovable, equally energetic ... in fact, on Saturday he even beat Cesar. Check out the photographic proof.

That's right, you're eyes aren't deceiving you. That's Cesar laying on the ground, tongue out, panting for dear life and refusing to move out of complete and utter exhaustion. Although, in the poor guys defense we had taken him for a 3 mile run earlier in the day. And when I say run, I mean run. He goes about 25-40 kph depending on the length of the run and number of hills involved.

He was so calm and relaxed the rest of the night, I think we will have to invite Butterscotch out more often.

Good day/Bad day ... but I'm Back!

2008-08-22T09:07:00.004-06:00

So, finally, after a very sketchy summer of posting and at least a month long dry spell: I'm back. Husband has fixed my computer (at least as much as it is humanly possible to fix it until we can afford to buy a new one). Let the blogging begin! I have much to tell you about the dog, and husband, and my gardening attempts, my fall off the bandwagon - housework wise, our new Wii fit etc.; and I will ... all in good time (patience little ones). However, at this very moment I am not in a really quirky, funny, happy blogging type mood.

See, I found out 3 days ago that my sister has leukemia, and worse than that she has acute myeloid leukemia - not a great prognosis. According to the American Cancer Society: (I know we live in Canada but hey, it's what the web search brought up), of all the leukemia that develops this year in the states "About 13,290 will be acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and most AML patients will be adults. About 8,820 deaths from AML will occur in the United States during 2008, and almost all will be in adults." So, roughly about 2/3's of AML patients will die. Also according to them: "Acute myeloid leukemia is generally a disease of older people and is rare before the age of 40. The average age of a patient with AML is about 67 years." My sister is a year and 3 months younger than me - 27 years old, and has two little kids, a 7 year old boy and a 4 year old girl.

She currently undergoing chemo therapy, it's a 7/3 treatment, 7 straight days of 24 hours a day chemo through i.v. with a 3 day additive of another kind of drug. Then there is a rest period, re-testing, more chemo etc. She will be in the hospital following this regiment for 4-6 weeks if things go well. Then when she gets out she will have out patient chemo 2-3 times a week for a few hours for a few months 1-3, then retesting etc. If things continue to go well after that she has blood tests every week for awhile, then every month for awhile, then every 3 months for awhile then every 6 months till she reaches the 5 year mark. According to statistics only 20-40% reach that mark. Plus there is a chance that it won't work at all, or it will only partially work and she will need a bone marrow transplant etc.

I've never been close with my sister, not ever. We are like complete polar opposites (except for stubbornness, though I'd like to think that I have gotten a lot better in that regard) in every way possible and we've made a lot of very different choices in our lives. She got married really young and had kids/I waited until I was 25 to get married and have no kids, I've chosen (like mom) to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses/she's not, she hates my father and has never moved on from the thing that happened when we were younger/I don't hate him and have, I've moved across the country/she's stayed close to "home", she's really into tv & movies/I like tv but am really into reading, she drinks coffee/I drink tea, I love to cook and bake/she can't boil water - the list goes on and on and on. We've especially not been really close in the last few years because of choices she's made to cut a lot of us out of her life except when she needs something (like not even telling us where she lives or what her phone number is), move back in with her stupid, crazy, lazy, abusive husband (when she was out, living, working etc. on her own with the kids already) and my lack of tolerance for superficial people.

That being said I still lover her, she's my sister. So it's difficult living two provinces, 12+ hours away. Also given that we are living in the country to help out D's grandparents (and they will be needing a lot of help this fall), he's working full-time and we are trying to pay off some debts - it's not like I can just pack up and drive out there for a visit at the drop of a hat. It's time consuming and costly, which I would gladly do for my sister (and have done in the past when she was in the psychiatric hospital), and I have to balance it with her outlook. It's really hard when you have to sit down and say to yourself: "okay, it will cost this much, I can go for this many days if I leave now and come back here, etc. but ... if she gets worse I will need to go out later on and I won't really have the money for it then, or if she dies I'll need to be there then - will I be able to afford it if I go now? Also if she does get worse/die husband will want to/have to come with me which is another added cost. So should I go now or should I wait?"It would be lovely to just have all the money in the world at my disposal so I could jet back and forth as needed and not have to worry about such things. However, I don't - so we've decided I won't go out right now, I'll wait and see. Fortunately she got her own phone in her room so I've been able to talk to her, just got off the phone in fact.

It makes me pensive. After talking to her, and reading everything I could find about leukemia, her type specifically, it's treatment, etc. I'm not sure that if I was ever diagnosed with it that I would want to have treatment. Now please don't write me a bunch of comments asking how I could say something like that, or wouldn't I want to fight for my life etc. I do value my life, and others lives very highly. It's just that the prognosis is so bleak, and the treatment is so rough. The complete exhaustion, weight loss, nausea and vomiting all the time, hair loss, feeling like your bones are on fire, random bleeding etc. and in the end there is a good chance it won't work anyways. I don't know if I would want to put myself through all that. I'd rather spend the time at home with the people I love, doing the things I love. I just don't know.

I'm also worried, that if she does die - what will happen to her kids (husband and family are no good) and will we/my mom ever get to see them again? It just makes all of this so much harder to deal with when you've got all that extra baggage loading up on top of it all. You'd love to just focus on her, and being positive - but like I said, so much baggage especially from the past that it's hard to do so. I can only imagine how much harder it is for my mother as well. It's her daughter who she loved dearly, despite the fact that my sister has treated her like crap so much of the time. And when she goes to visit her in the hospital she has constantly got to be on her guard because she is alone and Tiffany's husbands family likes to gang up on her and blame her for everything wrong in life. (They are just that type of people). So almost more than being there for my sister I wish I could be there for my mother.

This system, this life, it's so hard sometimes. You just want to curl up in a ball in a corner or scream at the top of your lungs or something ...

Typing As Fast As My "Lil" Hands Can Go

2008-07-16T12:23:00.003-06:00

I've just returned from picking peas in the garden (more on that later) and I've managed to coax my laptops power cord to sit in just the right position. Therefore, I've decided to try and sit very still, type as fast as I can and provided anyone out there who has not given up on me and is still reading my blog an update; all while ignoring the million and one chores that need to be done around here today. I know, I know, not very Donna Reed like - but hey, it's a work in progress............................................................................oh,hey - sorry about that. I was momentarily distracted by the four ridiculously cute kittens that are trying to attack the fan beside our bed.

Yes, you heard me right - four. No, we did not buy or adopt them. A few months ago one of our cats decided living in the life of luxury wasn't enough she needed to go and get herself a man. Thus resulting in the four kittens we now have sitting here. They are about 9/10 weeks old now (I can't remember the exact date they were born) and doing their best to wreak havoc wherever they go.

No, we are not keeping them all. Two, possible three are leaving this weekend for a friends farm - they need some good mousers/barn cats and if these guys are anything like their mom they will be really good. We're keeping one for sure though, because my little black cat, has been gone for three weeks now. And when you live out in the country three weeks is an awfully long time for a cat to go missing. At that point the most likely explanation is that they met their demise somehow. Thus equalling us keeping one of the kittens.

There are two grey striped ones, that we call "The Twins". Even though one of them is a boy and one of them is a girl they are hard to tell apart. Then there is "Patches", who literally looks like she is made up of black, white and orangy/brown patches. And last, but not least we have: "Waldo". Yes, you read right, his name is Waldo - as in: "Where's Waldo?". See, he is very orange in color and as most of our floor is older pine (which kinda turns orangy overtime) he tends to blend in and we have trouble finding him.

Anyhoo, back to what I was talking about before .... umm, what was I talking about before? Hmmm, oh wait - I can talk about my garden. I haven't updated you on that at all. It's going not too bad. I'm learning that July is one of my favorite months, as you start to be able to eat lots of the stuff from your garden. We've eaten lettuce, strawberries, rhubarb, kohlrabi, green onions, peas, broccoli and zucchini. There is some Swiss chard ready to eat, a lot of spinach, carrots and potatoes are almost ready and the raspberries will be ripening up any day now. That is if we get some good weather. p

This summer has been a real funny one so far. It's either way too hot & sunny & dry, were talking not a rain drop in sight for days on end. Or, it never seems to stop raining, drizzling, being cloudy and very very windy. So it's a little hard on some of the plants. I am not sure if I am going to get any peppers, other then a few of the bananas and jalapenos I have near the house, and the tomatoes in the garden have definitely bit the dust, along with my cucumber, butternut squash and cantaloupe plants.

Although, I must admit - the tomato is partially my fault. See, I was waiting to put them outside until the beginning of June and then all of a sudden we went away for a few weeks before I got a chance. So they didn't actually get planted outside until closer to the end of June and by that time they had gotten a little spindly. That combined with a heat wave & really windy nights for a week afterwards = dead tomato plants. However, the ones I planted in five gallon pails by the house just might have a chance of making it. And I was lucky enough to pick up a few plum and cherry tomato plants that were very large and very healthy and starting to flower already from our local Home Depot. So the tomatoes are not a complete write off yet.

I have however, entirely re-planned and re-vamped my gardening, flower boxes and flower bed plans for next year. Some of the work can be done this fall, but most will have to wait until the spring. In any case - Damien is going to be one busy husband.

Speaking of busy have I mentioned I have a lot of work I am ignoring right now. Like mounds of laundry, a house to clean, three very long rows of onions to weed before they are completely killed off, a lawn to mow, whipper snipping to do, flower baskets to hang, carrigana trees to prune, supper to make and a dog to take for a walk? I guess what I'm trying to say is that my conscience is starting to bug me and I am going to have to sign off for now.

Update On My Issues

2008-07-11T09:00:00.002-06:00

Lol, reading the title I came up with spur of the moment I realized that it could cover a whole heck of a lot of things, and there probably isn't enough time int he world to cover all my "issues". What I meant was an update on my computer issues, you know - the thing keeping me from writ ting here everyday.

Remember way back when we first got Cesar, "THE DOG", the one I hate to love and love to hate. Well, he had a bit of a chewing problem - most of my shoes fell victim, a few of my favorite books, and my computer's power cord. (This was after he had already knocked my laptop on the ground and caused the screen to break so now you can only see part of it and it has this really neat striations in it.) Damien fixed it for me, sort of.

It was kind of like how Red Green fixes things with duct tape (is it duct tape or duck tape? I can never figure it out). Not pretty, pretty un-practical but it worked. Until recently. See the problem is that Cesar was not kind enough to chew the cord in the middle - an easy fix. He had to chew the end that actually plugs into the computer. And while husband was somewhat brilliant in his temporary fix, the temporary part is coming back to bite me in the butt.

To get my computer to work and stay powered up you have to fiddle with and move the cord around for about 5 minutes until you find a position that works, and then you have to rig something up with the cord, and it going around the screen and a book or two to hold it in the right place and be very very very careful not to move it a millimeter or you must start the whole process over again.

I know, it's really really annoying! I asked husband to fix it again, but apparently now it is un-fixable and I need to buy a new cord. We check at staples - the only computerish place in this hick-ville and they don't stock them, you need to: "order them directly from HP" for a price of $69.99 + taxes + shipping & handling, for a grand total of = almost $80.00, which doesn't matter because ..... wait for it ... they WON'T ship to a post office box and I live have one! ARGHHH.

So really, what this is telling me is that I just need to buy a new laptop, a nice pretty little mac. Sigh. If only. I need to save for it first and stuff keeps coming up that we need the money for more - like new car tires so we don't die in a horrible accident, food for our pets so they don't starve to death and we get charged with cruelty to animals, gas so D can keep going back and forth to work to make the money for those things - and oh yes, I almost forgot (No I Didn't): TAXES.

I've tried to make Damien leave his computer at home during the day, but he conveniently "forgets" to do so. I swear that thing is permanently attached to him, and will have to be surgically removed one day. Then in the evenings we are always to busy doing some of the things that need taken care of at home and around the farm - so I haven't got time to write to you guys until it's really late and by that point as much as I love you, I value my sleep more.

So there you have it, the update on my "issues". I'm stuck in impossibles ville with no way out. I think I'm going to go curl up in a ball in the corner and cry now.

Now The Machines Are Banding Together

2008-07-06T12:17:00.002-06:00

I know I haven't written anything since last Monday, but I have good reasons - honestly!

After I complained about the machines being at it again so publicly last week it appears that their feelings were a little bit hurt and they decided to seek revenge. They spoke to my computer and our Internet router and decided to form a union ... one which immediately called for a strike! It's been a harrowing week, negotiations were called, lines were drawn and crossed, scabs called in - all to no avail.

Finally, late last night, a deal was struck. However, apparently not all the machines were happy with the settlement and they quit! Lead among them was my computer. So at this very moment I have "borrowed" my husbands laptop in order to let you know that I have not died, or gotten lost in the forest or anything.

I'm alive, and well watching an old black and white Agatha Christie movie over at D's great-granny's. D promises that he will be able to fix my computer this afternoon. I told him he'd better because I am going to hold this one hostage until mine is back in fine working order and, of course, because I am missing talking to you!

The Machines Are At It Again

2008-06-30T23:38:00.002-06:00

And that's really all I have the energy to type.

No, seriously! After a ridiculously warm day full of weeding the garden (remind me to tell you another time of my ludicrous garden, ludicrous speed, spaceballs ... conversation I had in my head while weeding it this morning, another time), trying to mow the lawn and having the Aryan breakdown again, and then trying to whipersnip the edges and having that thing break down etc. etc. I am very very tired.

Therefore I am writing this day off, going to bed and starting again tomorrow. Good night all!