Cookies And A Deep Freeze

I had a pretty good day at work. I was in a training session today (and it continues tomorrow) and the session is going really well. The guys running it are great and really laid back and the stuff we're learning is pretty interesting so it's keeping my attention. Hopefully I remember everything and can apply my knowledge soon.

As a result of training, I actually got to leave work at a normal time.I did a quick tour through Walmart ( I forgot half the stuff I wanted to buy, so it must not have been important ) and found a very nice top on the clearance rack for $7. So that was a nice discovery. After that, I headed home and made dinner.

For the last couple of weeks, I've been craving chocolate chip cookies. I don't really know why. Since there wasn't anything good on tv tonight, I decided to bake. My apartment smells wonderful and I have a nice pile of home made cookies in my kitchen. I think I'll take some to my training session tomorrow and share with my fellow classmates. And the instructors of course.

It's been a long time since I've felt like baking. I love doing it just haven't had the desire. I'm taking this as a positive sign. Engaging in activities that I enjoy is the sign of a happy person. The next step on the improvement list is getting out more. Interacting with other human beings more. That one is going to be a bit of a dozy, seeing as I do love my alone time. I suppose that's why the experts say that we need to step outside of our comfort zone. I've been very chatty with the others in my training session, so that's good too :)

Little positive steps every day. Oh! And I managed not to freeze today, despite the temp being -39C when I left this morning and then being -35C when I came home. Stupid weather. Ottawa was the coldest Capital City in the world today. Novosibirsk, the capital of  Siberia, was warmer than us!! Heck, even Iqaluit, the capital of Nunavut in Canada's North was warmer than Ottawa. If you threw a pitcher of boiling water into the air, snow would form. The tried it on the local news at 6pm and it worked. LOL. Insane. Tomorrow should be slightly warmer at -27. Lucky us.

I'm going to go and crawl into my warm bed and dream of spring now.

Good Night!

Sarah

I was more bundled up today than I was in this photo!

Death and Cookies

It's been a bit of a strange day. Work was busy one minute and then slow the next. LOL. Very crazy.

I know that my imagination is running away with me but I keep looking at the floor in my living room. I found out from one of my neighbours, that the little old lady who lives below me, died in her sleep last night. Her children check in on her every day and I guess her son found her this morning.  He freaked out a bit so the lady across the hall called 911 and stayed with him and tried to calm him down and such. Fire, Police and Ambulance all showed up. I missed quite the commotion this morning.
I didn't really know that last. I think I saw her a grand total of twice. She hardly ever left her apartment because she couldn't handle the stairs but her kids were here to see her every day. Losing a loved one is hard. Losing someone at this time of year just seems so much worse. I really feel bad for the son who found her and to all of her family. And I have to admit, I'm a little wigged out.

On a more positive note, my apartment smells amazing. I baked a double batch of Toblerone Shortbread this evening. Some are for the bake sale tomorrow, some are for an afternoon party and some are for gifting. I'm also rather sick of cookies now. I might bake some when I go home but I know that my mom really loves the Reese Peanut butter Squares so maybe I'll make those instead. I'm hoping that the bake sale tomorrow is success.  I still need to dust icing sigar on the batch of the shortbread and then put them into their pretty little bags.

My baby brother has to write a test tomorrow morning. He's been studying a lot and I know that it's going to pay off. I'll still keep my fingers crossed for him though :)

I think I might start packing this weekend as next week looks like it's going to be a little crazy. Good plan.

I'm off to play with cookies :)

Good Night!

Sarah

That is one massive cookie...

Bus Rant #2 and Cherry Bombs

Today was a pretty good day. Not only did I have my new glasses on today (which everyone loved), but I didn't have french class!!! LOL. It was a busy day but it flew by. My new glasses are working out well. I wasn't nearly as tired by the end of the day and here I am, late in the evening and my eyes are still mostly open. LOL.

My morning did get off to a rough start, thanks to the bus. I did miss my first bus but was out in time for the next one. And it didn't show. So I waited in the cold. And waited. My bus was so late that it and the next one showed up. Bus # 2 passed bus #1 and kept going. No big deal since bus #1 was at the previous stop. But I soon figured out why bus #1 was so late. It was like "Driving Miss Daisy, the bus edition". Oh my god. I can't believe how slow he was going. When we were on the parkway, the driver kept hitting the breaks everytime we came to a bend in the road. And since it's a very curvy road, that was quite often. It was painful. And the weather was fine, the roads were clear. So that wasn't the issue. Very annoying.

We have a bake sale at work on Friday so I baked one set of cookies tonight. I made the "Cherry Bomb Cookies" that are in Joanne Fluke's book, Sugar Cookie Murder. They're amazing. You get cocktail cherries (they still have the stems on) and wrap the dough around the cherry and bake them like that. Then you dip them in icing sugar. So yummy. Only problem is that while I was dipping them, I was also trying to text. The result is me getting icing sugar all over my phone. LOL. It smells nice now :)

Speaking of cookies, I need to go and finish dipping batch #2 and then get to bed. I'll be baking more cookies tomorrow night but they're much less labour intensive than these ones. There's not assembly required. Just some chocolate chopping.

Good Night!

Sarah

 More lights from last night's adventure

Viva Puffs

I did something very scary tonight. I talked to one of my parentals about my debt situation. It's scary in the fact that it means that A. Have to own up to just how much trouble I'm really in and B. Opens up the possibility for them being disappointed in be for being so stupid to get in such a mess in the first place. The only defence I have is that very little of this debt is new. Most of it is from 10+ years ago and it's just been following me around. And a part of it is from 5 years ago when I ran into some problems in Calgary. Just take a look around my apartment and you'll see that I'm defiantly not using them anymore.

Unfortunately, the conversation did very little to ease my worry/anxiety. In fact, I'm pretty damn sure it made it worse judging by the rather large knot that has now taken up residence in my stomach. It's going to be a long week. I can feel it.

Moving on. I had something happen to me yesterday that I've been sitting here thinking about all day.

Have you ever smelled something or eaten something or seen something out of the corner of your eye that suddenly filled you with such a strong memory or emotion that you thought that you'd been transported to a different time/place? That happened to me yesterday.

While out shopping at the Bulk Barn, I saw that they had holiday flavoured Viva Puff cookies on sale. I hadn't had a Viva Puff in I don't know how long, so I decided to get them. For those who don't know, they're a cookie that has a cookie bottom, with a raseberry jam filled marshmellow on top and then the whole thing is covered in chocolate. There's a version where there's fudge instead of raseberry inside too. These ones have a green mint section inside too so they look like a candy cane. Anyhow, yesterday after lunch, I decided to have one. As I bit into it, I suddenly had a very vivid flashback to my childhood. I was in my Gram's kitchen, eating a Viva Puff. My grandmother loved those cookies. I'm pretty sure the only time/place I really ever at them was at her house. We used to peel the chocolate off the outside and then peel the marshmellow part off the cookie and eat the cookie and then eat the marshmellow part. It seems that my Gram was very good at deconstructing cookies. Remind me to tell you about what she and her friend Mrs. Foster did with a bag of Oreos once... Back to my story. It was such a vivid memory. I could see every detail in the kitchen and even smell what the house smelt like and I could feel the happiness wash over me. And all I had done was bite into a cookie. Of course I then got really sad and tear welled up in my eyes because I was then hit with how much I miss my Gram but for those 30 seconds in between, it was incredible.

The mind really is such an amazing thing. I can't believe that I have such stunningly real memories tucked away in there. While it does make a little sad to remember, the happiness of the memory and the smile it put on my face was well worth the sadness around the edges. One of my all time favourite memories is one that my Gram gave me. My grandparents house was at the top of a hill. Their back windows looked out over the city. When we were little, at night, my Gram would hold my brother and I up in the kitchen by the sink so that we could see out over the city and look at all the twinkling lights. "Fairy Land" she called it. Even as a teenager, I'd stand at the sink in the dark kitchen with my Gram and look out over Fairy Land. Even now as an adult, whenever I'm somewhere high up and I can see out over whatever city I'm in, I'm still smile and think to myself "Fairy Land".

Who knew that cookie could be so powerful?

And just a quite side note to a family friend who knew my grandparents very well and who is mostly likely in surgery at this very moment: Mrs. B - my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I hope everything goes for the best and wish you a speedy recovery.

Good Night!

Sarah

My balcony in Calgary, with "Fairy Land" in the distance.