Day 5 - Wild Weather, Dogs and Seafood

This day went so differently than I thought it would have gone a week ago. I was supposed to have checked into the hospital at 8 this morning. Somewhere around 9:35am, I should have been leaving surgery, with my knee fixed. I should have spent a groggy afternoon worring about what my parents were doing to my apartment while I was incapasitated. Instead of eating alone while watching the news, I should have been having dinner with my Mom and Dad. Clearly the Universe had different plans. I am sad. I am disappointed. But I have no control over the situation or circumsances that lead to the change in plans. So I have to just let it go and roll with it. My surgery will be rescheduled at some point and I'll get to see my parents again soon. Trust me, if this social distancing thing goes on longer than a few weeks, I'm out of here. I'm running away and am going home!!

Over all, I think today was the best day of the week. Partly because I'm starting to adapt to my new norm and partly because it's normal to feel happy that it's Friday. While my plans for the weekend really aren't all that different than my plans for the week, the major difference is that I don't have to work :)

Given that things were a wee  bit slow on the work front, I decided to make muffins, so that I'd had something yummy for my morning snack. I ended up making Oatmeal-Orange muffins with dried canberries. I gotta say, they're one of the best muffins I've made. I swapped out the sugar and used Splenda instead and they were still awesome. I ate three of them today (not all at the same time!).

Oatmeal Orange Muffins with dried cranberries

Our weather was a strange one. Started the morning off at +2, hit+14 this afternoon and we're currently sitting at -2 (feels like -9 with the windchill), on our way down to -10.  We had rain earlier and now we may see flurries. Welcome to spring in Canada. If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes.

I got out for a walk during the warm but windy part and made it home before it rained. I saw a lot more people today. Probably close to a dozen people plus five dogs and three people on bikes. I watched one guy on a bike almost wipe out on some ice on a pathway. People smiled and said hi. Some even stopped for a moment and chatted, all while keeping a respectable distance.

This evening, I supported a local food truck. They've set up shop in another local business' parking lot and for the first time, are offering delivery! So I got my seafood fix tonight with some tender calamari and flakey battered fish. It was nice. I think I've met my deep fried quota for the week though. LOL.

Fish with veggie chips and calamari fritti

I also only watched the news once today. I watched it for a bit this morning. Other than hearing the top of the hour news update on the radio, that was all I exposed myself to today.

I did a lot of reading this afternoon/evening/night. I'm hooked on the Outlander series. I started with the tv show and then several people told me how awesome the books are so I stopped the show and started in on the books, which are 900-1000 pages long. Anyhow, I'm on book two, Drangonfly in Amber and I finally reached the point in the book where I passed where I stopped watching the tv show. Up to now, I had an idea of what was going to happen. Now I don't, so I got much more engrossed in the book. It's a lovely way to kill time.

Tomorrow should be interesting. I have to leave my nest (aka, my apartment) and I have to go to the bank and to a grocery store. I'd better make a good list, I don't want to have to go out again mid-week. Should be an interesting time.

"Embrace uncertainty. Some of the most beautiful chapters in our lives won't have a title until much later." - Bob Goff

Told You So and Mystery Chicken

It was an interesting day today. It was one of those "hit the ground running" kind of day. Thankfully, there were no major fires in my little bubble but there was a big one burning away with the big project. And I knew there would be. I called it. Weeks ago in fact. And I had a very opportune "I told you so" moment, but, alas, I opted for the moral high ground and kept my mouth shut.

I wasn't being a neigh sayer by any means. And this wasn't me being negative. I was being quite realistic. You see, I've done 3 previous projects that were very similar to this one. And there were issues with each and every one of them. And this time around, we had 2 newbies working on it and one not so bright coordinator over in group in charge of projects like this. So I'm pretty sure it was doomed from the start. Add in the fact that my previous (and very disliked) supervisor was the one originally in charge of it for our office and it was definitely doomed. But cooler heads prevailed today. My new supervisor got on it and fired off some emails and got some balls rolling. I jumped in too and lent a hand to the IT guys.

All in all, the day ended well and we're on our way to getting everything resolved. Which is good since we have 15 new people starting at 8:30 tomorrow morning. I'm with them (along with the recent addition to my team) until roughly 10:30. Should make the morning go by pretty quickly.

Speaking of work, I got official confirmation that the evaluation board for a process I applied on, has found me to be "qualified" for the position and I have been placed in the pool. That's two pools I'm in now. I'm excited to be in both pools. It was hard work getting there, but it's a little bitter sweet. This means that 2 other organizations has deemed me qualified to be doing the work that I'm currently doing, but my current organization doesn't acknowledge that I'm doing work above level. Just a wee bit frustrating.

I stopped at the grocery store after work to get milk, bread and veggies. I got milk, bagels, ham and raspberries. Totally forgot about the veggies. LOL. The raspberries were on sale and I find that they go bad super fast so I decided to use them up tonight. I whipped up a batch of lemon-raspberry yogurt muffins. I think they turned out pretty well. I'll take a few to work to share with a couple co-workers and we'll see how well they go over.

I bet you're wondering about the mystery chicken mentioned in the title of this blog eh?

While my parents were here, we stopped at one of my mom and I's favourite stores: Giant Tiger. They had my favourite stuffed chicken breasts on sale for $1.87/pack. Couldn't pass that up. Only problem was, we weren't going back to my apartment, we were going onto their hotel. No problem says dad. There's a freezer in the mini fridge in their room. So I buy 4 boxes: 2 ham & swiss and 2 herb & garlic. We get back to the hotel and try to stuff the box in the little freezer. Won't fit. So we decide to take the chicken out of the boxes and mom stuffs them all in to a bag and then we stuff the bag into the freezer. They fit! Only problem is, there's now no way to tell which flavour is which as they all look the same. D'oh! So now I have mystery chicken. And they threw out all the boxes, which had the cooking instructions on them so I had to wing it and go by memory. It worked out well. I ended up with Ham & Swiss tonight (which is what I wanted). I think I have the same one for lunch tomorrow too. I guess I'll find out at noon hour tomorrow which flavour it is.

Got to go and get some sleep so I'm bright eyed and somewhat alert for my day tomorrow.

Good Night!

Sarah

Duck! (because I don't have a photo of a chicken)

Montreal!! (part 1)

I'm back! As you may have noticed, I haven't blogged in a while. Almost a week in fact. I do believe that this is the longest period of time I've gone without blogging since I started. I actually missed it and I think I might have started having withdrawal symptoms. LOL.

Anyhow, the reason for the blog hiatus is that I was in Montreal, with my friend Michelle. We had a blast. It was great fun and I really enjoyed having some company this time around, even if she did try to get drunk on our first night there (no worries, I attempted revenge 2 nights later).

We went to the Botanical Gardens and saw the "Butterflies Go Free" exhibit, visited the BioDome where we saw the sloth this time (I didn't see him last time) but the Bobcat was hiding, took a tour of the Notre Dame Basilica (stunning and neither of us got struck by lightening), toured Old Montreal and the Old Port (and managed to not get blown into the St. Lawrence), ate the best poutine I've ever had (while sober), got upgraded to VIP status at the hotel which scored us a free breakfast, managed to not get lost in the subway, learnt that taking 4 lefts in a row will actually take you to some place different and not back to where you started from, got to swim outside (in the rain, in April) without freezing our asses off and generally just had a great time with a great friend.

Our train ride from Ottawa to Montreal was good. The train left 1 minute late and arrived 1 minute last so that's pretty good time. The guy on the train with the food/drinks cart was pretty funny. I spoke French to him and he was impressed by my attempt, so he tried to get Michelle to do the same. That didn't work. LOL. He then told us a funny story about offering "Swedish Balls" to a couple the week before instead of saying "Swedish Berries". It was pretty damn funny. Once in Montreal, we checked into the hotel and headed off to the Botanical Gardens. We'd lucked out and the hotel sold us discounted tickets to the Gardens and BioDome so we save some money. When we got to the Gardens, they were having electrical issues and all the lights/power was out. Since the green houses just use nature light, we were still allowed in. They said that the power should be fixed within a half hour or so and they were right. We were in the tropical  plants section when all of a sudden, we heard a funny noise and then what sounded like water gurgling. I looked over at the little waterfall they have and sure enough, the water came running down it again. The pump was back on. This meant that by the time we'd finished the tour and saw the butterflies, the gift shop had re-opened. That was very important. LOL.

Afterwards, we ventured back to our hotel and then out to a place called The Burger Bar for dinner. It was crazy trendy. I definitely felt under dressed. I needed to add a scarf or floppy hat (the girl beside us had one) or something. I did have a very yummy Orange Creamcicle martini though, which according to Michelle, I drank far too slowly (she had 2 double Sex on the Beach in the same time it took to drink my 1 drink). She made some comment about not getting out much. The food was amazing though. Very awesome, unique burgers. They had one that had won an award during "Burger" week. It was called "The Hangover". It had bacon, cheese, a fried egg, mini poutine and truffle oil on it. There might have been a few more things too. I skipped it and had the Wild Shroom burger instead. Very yummy. We walked around the area for a bit, hitting up Ben and Jerry's for ice cream on the way back and taking a detour to see the Bell Centre (since Montreal is Michelle's team) before finding our way back to the hotel for a much needed rest.

And the rest of this story is to be continued because I need to get my butt to bed since I have to go back to work tomorrow.

Good Night!

Sarah

An (almost) Perfect Day!

What a day! Finally, after months and month of ice, snow, cold and bleak weather, we were reminded today that humans are meant to be outdoors.

I started my day off by sleeping in. I then had a lovely shower, did my hair and make up and headed downtown to meet Gidgett for brunch. She was kind enough to retrieve my iPod for me which I'd left at work on Thursday, so I feel whole again. The brunch we were headed to wasn't just any brunch. It was a special, epic one, at my favourite restaurant: Courtyard Restaurant.

That place is amazing. It's in an old stone building and is beautifully decorated. The food is out of this world. This is what I had " 'Perfect' Scrambled Eggs, Crème Fraiche and Chives, Sourdough Toast, Bacon or Sausage, Oven-Roasted Tomato, Herbed Hash Brown". I have to admit, they really were perfect scrambled eggs. Before the main course, they served as a scone with jam (which was delicious), we had a mimosa to drink with our meal (champagne and orange juice) and then for dessert, we each ordered a different option and then split the two. We had: "Flourless Chocolate Cake, Cherry Purée, Cherry Crumble" and "Sticky Toffee Pudding, Caramel Sauce, Crème Anglaise" Both were outstanding. The Sticky Toffee Pudding was my favourite. I'm pretty sure this is where I want to go for my birthday dinner.

After all that food, we headed out into the sunshine and the market. We met up with Adele and went on a sight seeing/shopping tour of the market. I ended up coming home with fresh spinach and feta ravioli, roasted garlic tomato sauce, highly addictive rosemary and sea salt artisan bread crisps, drunken sausages (they have Mill St. beer in them) and some cupcakes from the Cupcake Lounge. It was a good outing. I had the pasta for dinner and 1 cupcake for dessert. A winning combination really. The sun was out the whole time we were venturing about. It was so great to feel its warmth on my skin again. It renewed my soul and spirit and gave me new hope that the warm spring weather will soon be here. It was also nice to spend some time with a couple of ladies who I rarely see outside of work. It's very therapeutic to be able to talk to people who can relate to some of the stuff I'm dealing with or for me to be able to offer advice because they're going through something I'd been through before. It nice seeing things from a different perspective too.

After dinner, I was ready to settle down for the night when Xtintor texted. He was home alone for the night as his ladies were at the in-laws so he asked if I'd like to go for coffee. Despite being rather sleepy and having already taken my bra off, I said yes. I got dressed and we headed out. I opted for herbal tea while he went for the Venti, full caffeine version. We headed to Britannia Park where we found a trail near the beach that was mostly clear of snow. We walked and talked and admired all the beautiful stars that are out tonight.

Just as I was being dropped off, my father phoned to rub in the fact that his hockey team beat my hockey team. I guess there had to be one flaw in my otherwise perfect day. LOL.

So now I'm quite sleepy and I'm pretty sure my feet stopped talking to me about a half hour ago. I think sleeping in tomorrow is definitely in the works. So's cooking a prime rib roast (never tackled one of those before).  I hope everyone has a very happy Easter.

Good Night!

Sarah

Outside of my favourite restaurant (in the summer)

Common Sense Doesn't Seem So Common

For a short week, it's kind of feeling rather long. That might also be due to the fact that I've managed to get my days mixed up almost all week. I knew Monday was Monday but that was the end of that. Everything's been messed up since. LOL. Just one more day...actually, it's only a half day since I have French tomorrow afternoon. Wow. I'm kind of excited about going to French class. That's kind of messed up. What an amazing difference switching to the afternoon and actually having a good teacher can do for your outlook eh?

So, it was pot luck day at the office. We didn't have quite as many people participating as in the past but we still had a good turn out and the food was excellent, as usual. My taco pies were a hit and there wasn't anything left over so I was happy. Which reminds me, I have half a tub of sour cream in my back pack. I really need to put that into the fridge. Oops. A few of my co-workers and I have decided that we need to develop "Pot Luck Etiquette" for the next one. Things like "don't hog the pizza" (16 slices, 50 people participating in the pot luck - taking more than one piece is just plain rude!!). You know, things that should be common sense but aren't.

Just like the fact that I have to send a memo to the staff tomorrow that reads "Don't put paper towels in the toilets". Seriously??? WTF? Who does that!!!??? Who is stupid enough to do that? And why the hell do you have paper towels in the stall with you in the first place? Yes, the building supplied TP sucks, but it's still better than the sandpaper paper towels they provide. Or how about ensuring that the toilet bowl has cleared before leaving the stall? How hard is it to watch to see if everything goes down and if it doesn't (our toilets don't have the best water pressure), I dunno, try flushing again? When did common sense become so un-common? People really don't seem to have any respect for their co-workers or their work place anymore. When I'm at work, I pick up after myself. If I use the last of something, I go and get more. Just basic things that makes work easier for whoever comes along next.

Sigh. Some people. LOL.

Good Night!

Sarah

Why yes, that is an out house,.

Gracious People

I was a much warmer day today so I was able to wear one of my new dresses to work. I'm not crazy enough to freeze my ass off, waiting for the bus in tights when it's -25 with the windchill. Doing it at -1 is much more reasonable.

More people managed to hunt me down today but that's ok. It was all easy to deal with stuff. Our office is very, very full. While walking the floor today, there was people everywhere. And we're missing a bunch of people too. Everyone's sick. It's crazy. I think we're going to have to start building bunk-bed style desks soon :)

I made another awesome dinner tonight. I made pork chops in mushroom sauce with sauteed brussel sprouts and cumin basmati rice. It was really good. I made the mushroom sauce from scratch with fresh mushrooms. I think it was the best part of the meal. There was some onions and garlic in there too. I've been doing a very good job of cooking from scratch lately. I'm quite enjoying it. I don't know what I'm making tomorrow night yet but I don't think I'm going to be home for dinner. I'm supposed to go to the movies after work. I'm finally going to see Breaking Dawn Part 2. It's at the cheap theatre so paying $3 to see it is a pretty good deal.

Sometimes people surprise me. I got one of those surprises this afternoon. One of my favourite musicians is going through a hard time in his professional career, yet he continues to be so incredibly position and gracious. And he's a younger guy too. So many rock and roll musicians are all about partying, sex and drugs. But not this one. He's definitely not your stereotypical rocker. Might be part of why I like him so much. I'm also a fan of his killer guitar skills. But yeah, he's being so professional and so patient, it's incredible to watch.He seems mature beyond his years. I'd like to think that he's like that in real like too and not just putting on a public show, but it's great to know that people like him still exist.

I hear my book calling me so it's off to bed I go. And yes mom, I did do you my dishes. LOL!

Good Night!

Sarah

Ooopsie!

It would appear that I'm getting a little forgetful as of late. As in I've forgotten to blog for two nights in a row now. I think I might have been tired.

I remember there I didn't blog Friday sometime Saturday while I was walking to the grocery store. I realized that I didn't blog last night while brushing my theeth before bed. At that point I'd already shut down my computer and turned the lights off and really didn't have the energy to fire everything up again so I said screw it. And here I am now.

My first day back at work on Friday was actually a really good day. People were genuinely happy to see me and Xtina, the new HR Casual had managed to get almost everything sorted out and organized so I was able to focus on the things that I had to do. So all in all, it was a pretty stress free day. Next week shouldn't be too bad either. I'm filling in for one of the finance ladies for the week, so one of our staff is filling in for me. I'll be on the same floor as everyone, just a different section. I might be able to hide from the chaos, which is fine by me!

Yesterday was an awesome day. The sun was out and it made everything look so crisp and beautiful. I opted to walk to Farm Boy (a local grocery store chain that prides itself on carrying fresh, local supplies) which is several blocks away instead of going across the street to Metro. It turned out to be a very nice walk in the sun and I got some very yummy things. After lunch, I ventured downtown to the Market. I hit up the Italian store and got some amazing sauce (wood oven roasted garlic tomato sauce) and a Canoli. I've never had one before. They're incredible. I don't know how I've never had one. So good. I then went to the butcher shop and got nitrate free sausages which went into the pasta I made last night, some double smoked bacon which I'm going to try this morning and a piece of marinated pork tenderloin which I'm having for dinner. After that, I went to LUSH and got some more of my favourite lip balm, one of their sugar scrubs and a bath melt (it smells so yummy and makes your bath water a pretty shade of pink). I couldn't get over how many people were at the BeaverTail stand when I walked by. As popular as ever, which is a good sign.

My last bit of shopping was buying a new pair of slippers on my way to back through the mall, en route to the bus.

After shopping, I met up with my buddy Xtinktor for coffee. Starbucks was too crowded so we got our drinks and headed to the mall to sit. We had a nice chat and visit, talking about our holidays and families and of course, talking about music. That's probably the one thing that we talk about most. It was nice to visit and the caffeine kick was very welcome.

Finally I made it home and started dinner. It was very, very good. I love the sauce I bought. I'm going to have to go back and get more. LOL. I think it's one of those things that everyone should have several jars of on hand, just in case.

I should get moving and get some tea or coffee into me. I bought a bunch of loose K-Cups when I was at home so I could try some new flavours. It's fun testing them out. I need to make breakfast and get on with my day too. I do love quiet Sundays. I'm going to attempt to clean and re-organize the kitchen today. Wish me luck!

Have a good day!

Sarah

We got lots of snow!

TV and Food and Autumn, Oh My!

Well hot damn. I nearly forgot to blog tonight! I was all set to head to bed and the I was like "My Blog!". Oops.

Work was a blur, but that's nothing new. I had a nice evening at home and quite enjoyed the fact that Bones is back on for the season. The premiere was tonight and it was definitely a good one. I'm looking forward to the return on The Big Bang Theory as well. I also want to check out the new show "Elementary". I'm a bit of a Sherlock Holmes fan so it will be interesting to see how this one plays out. I rather like the fact the Dr. Watson is a female in this version.

I had a terrible case of the munchies tonight. I'm blaming the cooler weather. I think there's some deep seeded, biological desire to start bulking up when the cold weather arrives. Like some ancient survival instinct. Got to keep warm somehow, right? I can think of a much better way to keep warm but being single, it's a little difficult ;) I'll let you drawn your own conclusions on that one.

One of the nice things about the fall is apples. Once the first frost hits them, they're perfect. I love apple cider. I love to bake apple pie and apple crisp. I love going out to an apple orchard on a cool, crisp, sunny autumn day. It's such a simple thing but it's so wonderful. I may have been born in the spring, but I think I have autumn in my veins.

Oh! My new sheets are amazing. They were so soft and comfortable. The only problem I had was that my blue heart pillow doesn't stand out against them anymore so I ended up laying down on it when I got back into bed in the early morning hours after having got up to pee. That was a tiny bit of a surprise. They were definitely a good purchase.

I'm off to bed. I've got another busy day ahead of me tomorrow.

Good Night!

Sarah

All Work and No Play...

...Is pretty much how I live my life. LOL. I spent my Friday evening working. Seriously, I left the office at 7:40pm. And it was all by choice. Being a short week, I was behind on some stuff so I stayed in order to get caught up. The bright side was that I got a lot of work done and will now probably enjoy my weekend more and won't be sitting around worrying about what I didn't get done.

I also cleaned out the office fridge with the help of one of my co-workers. My god it was awful. There were some pretty nasty science projects going on in there. Some stuff wasn't even identifiable.
Brutal.

I stopped and got sushi after work. It was sooo good and was a nice treat after a long day.

Looks like it's going to be a rainy weekend so I think I'm going to attempt over haul my apartment and get my fall clothes out. I'm also going to get the slow cooker out and make some soup so that I can re-stock my freezer. Might mean a trip to the market to get some fresh veggies to go into the soup. A trip to the market is worth braving the rain.

My long day is catching up with me so I think it's time for bed.

Good Night!

Sarah

Lentil Pasta Soup - One of my favourites!