Grumble, grumble

Ok. That's enough of that.

It was a long day, but now I'm home. I can let the grumbles be dismissed and leave it at that.

Some fun:

"put on your red shoes and dance the blues"

ok... think that's all I'm gonna come up with tonight for interesting song lyrics from the drive today...cause my mind is tired. Or wait, there was something about "frustration incorporated,...misery"
But seriously- I have serious moonlight stuck in my head right now...help?

Please share interesting lyrics with me. It will make my day, or my tomorrow. Who knows?

I guess we could consider it winter now

It's been an interesting season. Winter, that is. It had been rather mild, and snow wasn't sticking around...until recently. I was also wondering why I had even thought about getting someone to clear my driveway, and had been glad to not waste that money. Well...the shovel has gotten a work out this week. It's become my morning ritual to peek out the front window at the driveway before getting ready in the morning so I can pull on the woollies and go shovel if necessary!

I do enjoy snow. I don't enjoy snow-covered roads and slick roads. So far there have been a number of corners that I didn't feel were executed well because of slip-sliding.

This weekend, if I don't find tonnes to do, I may go for a romp through the snow locally. Check out the neighbourhood whilst it's covered in snow. I may look and see if there's a good sledding hill nearby- for nieces and nephews who may want to come and play.

For you: some pictures of a couple of beaches. One warm, the other, not quite as warm. You should be able to figure it out pretty easily!!

Excuse me....

I believe it was Friday. I had popped out after work to grab a few things to prepare for the final Christmas party of 2011 *which was great fun!* and stopped in quickly at one of the stores nearby to grab a couple things for the office. I was shopping alone, so didn't expect to have my attention drawn to anyone, but there was this cute "excuse me" from across the ailse, behind me.

I turned to look. There was a sweet girl, probably 7 or 8 years old, holding a toy, no, make that 3. She quickly went on to ask my opinion on which item she should get...Blue was her favourite colour, but the green one was cool, as was the brown. She thought she'd like someone to help her decide...and I quickly looked them over and suggested green. It was painted a bit better, and looked just right. She accepted my opinion (though I'd really only voiced that I'd go for the green one). I was done in that aisle, so I left for the register.

As I got close to finishing my transaction I heard her voice again. She was SOOO excited that she had found something for exactly the amount she had with her...but then, there was this other one that was soooo great too. It made me grin. She was very determined to buy something with her very own money, and everything there was just such good buying potential.

I've been trying to think if money has ever really "burnt a hole in my pocket" wanting to be spent sooooo badly. Certainly not lately, and I can think of good saving in the past...but I also remember the days when I found a quarter on the street and HAD to go to the store with mom to get something!

It's been a while since I posted any photos for you. Alas- this is not that day...but likely soon. I have some fun ones from Christmas parties, some of the view from my new place and more from Australia. Come back soon to enjoy!

Cooking!

I've been cooking this weekend. This isn't particularly a new or different thing, but I've been making things without a recipe and they've been turning out tasty!

Yesterday I pulled a fish fillet out of the freezer and thought I should defrost before pan frying...so I did. And while it was defrosting I managed to chop up some mini potatoes, some onion and some mushrooms and threw them in a pan with some greek salad dressing...those roasted up nice! The fish, once thawed, cooked up sooooo nicely that I didn't put anything else on it! Just ate it up as it was!

Today I made a "home cooked" meal for my parents. I put a roast on, tossed in more potatoes, onions, carrots and later some mushrooms. It also turned out well. (Mom made the gravy). We added a salad and voila! MMMmmm. They brought over some wine, we followed the meal with some green tea and it was just lovely! Some of these foods are so easy to make, just need to be thought about a little sooner than "hmmm, I'm hungry. What can I pull together in 30min or less?". I enjoy making things more from scratch.

In the past I've rather enjoyed using my crock pot for soups...and have had some fun with them too!

I should keep up this cooking thing. It's not too difficult and, though I get tired of leftovers rather quickly, it doesn't hurt to have them! Too bad I have to plan ahead for some of these things.

Have you ever done the "big cooking" on the weekend so that you have easy meals the next week?

Change of plans

It seems there are a lot of times in life when there is a small, average or grandios change in plans. I don't always know what's best for me. I'm glad that God does.

Today's change in plans was nothing big, but it does give me a bit more "free time" than I initially expected. I think I will be able to find plenty of things to fill in that spare time...in fact, I've already managed to put the garbage out and get groceries. (Putting the garbage out requires driving to a local dumping ground where I get to further sort what I'm recycling etc).

Yesterday I intended to get up early enough to shovel my driveway, have a quick shower and still be at work for about 830...change of plans! I was woken by a friendly neighbourhood mom who let me know that the highway was closed due to road and weather conditions. This changed the speed at which I was able to leave my house, but I definitely needed to shovel the drifts which were my driveway before I could even think about going anywhere.

When I started blogging I thought I'd be good at getting a minute or three to share funny stories or just unwind from the craziness of school/work, but it seems I was wrong (if last year was anything to go by!). However, I do intend to blog a little more frequently...and by that I mean I may have challenged my sister that I'll blog more than her this year....hehehe oops!

Happy 11th day of Christmas!!