I'm so glad you could stop by. This is my personal blog of daily life and my journey through life. You will find a strong emphasis on family and friends as well as finding my ancestors through genealogy. Unlike my other blogs this blog is more of a catch-all so any topic is fair game.
It's that time of year that many Canadians are turning to the skies to get home for Christmas or to the sunny south to get away from the cold Canadian winters. Recently there have been some rather unpleasant reports in the news regarding pat downs in American air ports. This comes on the heels of the news of the full body scans that started in Canada and have now moved to American airports. It seems like the regular Joe Public is once again getting screwed so to speak. Even though this is all supposed to be for public safety the end result has pretty much been abusive behaviour on the part of the airport (mainly American) staff. Here is my favourite Canadian funny man Rick Mercer putting another perspective on the issue, and perhaps this time of year, that is what is needed...
Winter is setting in here with some areas in southern Ontario getting a fair amount of snow. My husband winterizes the upper three season sunporch by covering with plastic. Normally he puts the plastic up towards the end of October but with the house on the market he wanted to leave it off as long as possible to highlight the beautiful view. Last Saturday he finally put the plastic up. While he was on the ladder the sky overhead was filled with circling seagulls. It looked rather ominous but at least they weren't vultures!
A new teacher was trying to make use of her psychology courses. She started her class by saying, 'Everyone who thinks they're stupid, stand up!' After a few seconds, Little Larry stood up. The teacher said, 'Do you think you're stupid, Larry?' 'No, ma'am, but I hate to see you standing there all by yourself!'
'Bless me Father, for I have sinned.
I have been with a loose girl'.
The priest asks, 'Is that you, little Joey Pagano?
'Yes, Father, it is.'
'And who was the girl you were with?'
'I can't tell you, Father. I don't want to ruin her reputation'.
"Well, Joey, I'm sure to find out her name sooner or later
so you may as well tell me now. Was it Tina Minetti? 'I cannot say.'
'Was it Teresa Mazzarelli?' 'I'll never tell.'
'Was it Nina Capelli?' 'I'm sorry, but I cannot name her.'
'Was it Cathy Piriano?' 'My lips are sealed.'
'Was it Rosa DiAngelo, then?'
'Please, Father, I cannot tell you.' The priest sighs in frustration.
'You're very tight lipped, and I admire that. But you've sinned and have to atone. You cannot be an altar boy now for 4 months. Now you go and behave yourself.'
Joey walks back to his pew, and his friend Franco slides over and whispers, 'What'd you get?'
This week's blessings all centred around supporting networks ranging from medical to travel and everything in between. We are so very lucky to have all these external support networks available when we need them. In many ways these support networks work behind the scenes, quietly yet effectively. When we were young newlyweds we gave no nevermind to these types of supporting networks. Now we are a bit older and wiser so realize the benefit of using external suppor networks.
I have been doing a fine job of avoiding my doctor for the past year or so. Apparently this tactic is not sitting well with my doctor at all. I take my time and trouble to grace the office with my presence for one simple prescription refill. Note the one as I decided to eliminate the other two prescriptions as long as things continue to go smoothly. I feel reasonably well considering and don't have to deal with the side effects. It took a bit of persuading giving my reasons for stopping those medications but my doctor finally agreed to trust my judgement. Then, my doctor asked rather innocently whether I would like a flu shot. Apparently I'm considered high risk so should have the shot. Say what? Would I like a flu sho? What kind of question is that? It's not like I haven't watched This Hour Has 22 Minutes as to what's in that flu shot. I don't need more mercury floating around in my body given that mercury was one of my favourite childhood toys. Besides I'd rather have my eggs sunny side up instead of pumped into my arm via a needle 2 miles long! As a well informed patient I told my doctor 'no thank-you very much'. Well at least I got a chuckle followed with a 'you need to come in for a physical'. Well quite frankly I'm not a physical type person so I really don't need to be checked to find out if I am. I'm pretty sure my doctor could take my word for it that I'm not physical. But no, my doctor insists on clinical proof that I'm not physical so I ended up with an appointment for gathering all that lovely clinical proof via all kinds of inhumane pokes, prods and other insults too insidious to mention. On the day of the so called fact finding mission for signs of my lack of being physical I cannot eat or drink anything. Hey that should really help my cause significantly, don't you think? I will have to drag my poor old, weakens and immaciated body from the germ laden waiting room and I'll bet to add insult to injury I will likely have to stand on the scales and pee in a bottle not like I will have any pee without drinking anything before. I tell you my doctor has issues! I had best get a couple of sparkle stickers and a huge lollipop for this one...
My husband won two free tickets to see Carrie Underwood perform at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan on Novemeber 29! [Update: postponed to December 22] He was quite excited and so was I as it had been awhile since we have gone to a live performance. The last one we went to was Jimmy Buffet when we were in Florida a couple of years ago. The only downside to going to a live performance on a week night is the long commute that makes for a very long day. Still being tired the following day would be well worth it!
As things would have it our neighbours and us had our houses on the market at the same time. Theirs sold with a closing date of December 1 so the new neighbours spent a cold with snow flurries day moving in. In some respects I could not help wishing that it was us doing the moving and yet I'd rather move in the nicer weather. Moving is a lot of work made worse with inclimate weather. We haven't met the new neighbours yet. Hopefully they like their new house.
We made a road trip to visit the kids and grandkids a few days ago. En route we ran into a lovely snow storm due to lake effect snow in the GTA. We ended up driving in the storm for about a half hour and it was still coming down good when we arrived at the kids. And so begins the winter weather in southern Ontario.
We have had a blissfully unseasonably mild autumn this year. I say blissful because normally by this time of year we have had at least one or more snow falls and the furnace has been going full tilt. With the exception of the last couple of days the furnace has been turned on but not active as the gas fireplace has been able to keep up with the cooler temperatures. We also haven't had more that a light dusting of snow that was gone as soon as the sun was up. Overall it has been quite lovely!
A few days ago we had a fair amount of rain overnight cause the field to flood a bit. The colder weather with high winds resulted in the standing water on the field to turn into an icy delight. Well at least it was delightful looking out from the warmth of the car. It did make for a pretty picture, don't you think?
This week were made two successful turkey runs ending up with 4 turkeys at 52¢ per pound. We have done turkey runs ever since the kids were little. Now they are grown with kids of their own. The turkey runs have become a family tradition. At one time we made enough trips to bring back 8 turkeys. What we would do is call around to find out who wanted turkeys then we would do the turkey runs. This year we only made two runs so two turkeys for us and one each for a couple of the kids. The turkey runs are really an annual event my husband and I look forward to. This year we had a lot of fun and we even stopped to enjoy eating at our favourite pub. We reminisced over turkey runs of the past and laughed a lot while enjoying each other's company.
This is the time of year where most days are grey and dull. The water takes on the greyness turning it into a shimmering grey mirror reflecting shades of grey. The water was so still when I took the picture. The seagulls looked like little puff balls resting on the water's surface. If it wasn't so cold it would have been perfect water to glide over smoothly. It was a peaceful view that didn't last long as the rain came across the water. Still it was pretty while it lasted.
Today it is Black Friday in the US. Black Friday is named for the day the stores are said to be in the black as opposed to being in the red (not making money). It falls on the Friday after the American Thanksgiving which was yesterday. Many stores put on huge sales to lure shopper's away from home to part with their hard earned dollars. How shoppers buy on Black Friday is said to be a good indicator as to how shoppers are going to spend over the holiday season.
Some shoppers line up to shop the sales as early as 4 AM. Say what? There is nothing and I mean nothing I would want to buy that would have me standing in a line waiting to shop at 4 AM! Normally we go out Friday nights for dinner and quite often we end up in the US. Tonight we will not be crossing the border as many Canadians are. I've decided it is going to be a buy nothing day :)
This year we ended up making two turkey runs for a total of 4 turkeys. The total weight came to 78.97 lb at a total cost of $41.67 which works out to 52.7¢ per lb. Not bad! I'll recoup the cost of the turkeys just in the value of the stock from 2 of the carcasses. To get the turkeys at that price we had to spend an additional $20 per turkey or a total of $80. We were very frugal spending that extra $80, ending up with mainly groceries we would have been buying anyway, a pair of jeans for my husband, a shirt for me and a gift. There were a couple of excellent meat deals like a 5 lb pork loin for $7 that really helped stretch that $80. I'll divide that with half being cured for pea meal bacon and the other half as a roast in the slow cooker. Over all this year's turkey runs were quite frugal!
We made our first turkey run of the season last night. Due to price controls in Ontario the price of turkeys seldom drop below $1.99 per pound. This past Thanksgiving one store had utility and Grade A turkeys on for 99¢ per pound which is pretty much unheard of. That was definitely a loss leader sale! Turkeys go on sale in the US for as low as 29¢ per lb with an additional purchase of usually $20 to $30 the week of the American Thanksgiving. We are fortunate enough to live where we can make a turkey run to the US to take advantage of the savings. Each adult is allowed to bring one turkey 20 lb or under back into Canada per trip but there are no restrictions as to the number of trips you can make in a day. Our major restriction is freezer space. With a bit of careful reorganization we might possibly be able to get 4 turkeys in the freezers, two for us and one each for a couple of our kids. Meijer had turkeys on sale (hens $9 off and toms $16 off) so two turkeys came home with us last night. We still need to make another turkey run this week.
I was up through the night and as I crawled into bed a little flash of light caught my eye. As I pulled the covers up there was another flash of light. Suddenly I was back playing an old childhood game. When the weather turned cooler my Mom would put flannel sheets on the beds. A little wiggle would create a lovely little flash of yellowish green light that I found most amusing! With a contented giggle over a long forgotten childhood game I drifted back to sleep, visions of flashes of lights dancing in my dreams.
Once again we were blessed with a beautiful, abnormally warm week. By now the furnace would be in full swing but so far we've been able to keep toasting just using the gas fireplace mainly on low. The furnace is on but set to 66ºF so only clicks on if the inside temperature dips below that. I am really pleased to be enjoying this wonderful bless as it is helping to keep both the home heating and electricity costs down. It's also helped us get a few things done around the house.
I am a wife, mother and grandma who enjoys the many aspects of homemaking. A variety of interests and hobbies combined with travel keep me active. They reflect the importance of family, friends, home and good food.
"I have called this principle, by which
each slight variation, if useful, is preserved,
by the term Natural Selection." —Charles Darwin from "The Origin of Species"
