Day 10 - Jujubes and the first robin of spring

Ten days down. No one knows how many to go or if someone does, they sure aren't saying.

Work was pretty quiet today though I did have a small research project to do this morning and managed to get it done. m

The weather cooperated and warmed up today and we even saw the sun for a bit. Kristina stopped by over the lunch hour so I had a walking buddy today. We saw a male cardinal and heard a couple cardinals signing away. On the way back, we saw a cat on one of the pathways. At first we thought the man in front of the cat was walking it but no, the cat was just following him. It eventaully lost interest and came back up onto the same path we were on. When we got to the end of the path, there was a very vocal and pissed off squirrel in one of the trees. I suspect that the cat was the reason for its displeasure. That's also where I saw my first robin of the spring! I've heard them a coupel of different evenings over the last week or so but haven't been able to see one. Until today. I'm rather pleased abot that. It was in a bush when I first saw it and then it hopped down and was flipping leaves over, looking for worms and bugs. It was funny to watch. It was nice to get out and stretch my legs, get fresh air into my lungs and speak to a human in person!

My eagle eyes spotted him hopping in the bushes!

Before all that, I attempted to use the video call feature on Facebook to chat with my mom. Took three tries but we got it!!! Apparently the call kept ringing on my dad's tablet and my mom was going to throw it out the window to make it stop. LOL. It was nice seeing them though my mom was mean and showed me the big bag of jujubes that she's been holding onto for me. I'll hopefully see them both in person soon and can finally collect my jujubes.

I spent a lot of my free time today reading. I was really getting close to the end of my book and I wanted to finish it. I'm reading the Outlander series. I had started by watching the TV show but once I was told that the books were better, I switched to the books. Halfway through the second book, I caught up to where I left off with the TV show. Now I can finish watching the second season of the show! I also have to start reading the third book to see when and where Claire and Jamie reunite!!!!

All in all, today was a much better day. Last night's blog was cathartic I think and getting some of my thoughts out of my head made me feel lighter. I slept a little better too. Tomorrow is my Friday as I had one "use it or lose it" leave day left so I decided to use it. No friggin' clue what I'm going to do with my day since I can't really do much. Perhaps I'll go on a grocery run. The weather's supposed to be nice so a walk is definately in order. Maybe I'll bake something. Who knows. I'll figure something out.

“I will find you," he whispered in my ear. "I promise. If I must endure two hundred years of purgatory, two hundred years without you - then that is my punishment, which I have earned for my crimes. For I have lied, and killed, and stolen; betrayed and broken trust. But there is the one thing that shall lie in the balance. When I shall stand before God, I shall have one thing to say, to weigh against the rest."

His voice dropped, nearly to a whisper, and his arms tightened around me.

Lord, ye gave me a rare woman, and God! I loved her well.” ― Diana Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber

Day 6 - Saturday Supply Run

My bread went moldy on Thursday and I only have 1/2L of milk left. I'm almost out of fresh veggies and my baking supplies are low. I was good. I didn't run to the store every time I realized I needed something or ran out of something. I waited until I had a long list of things I needed. So I decided that I'd make the grocery run today.

I had a shower this morning and for the first time all week, I actually blow dried my hair and styled it (I've been letting it air dry and wearing it in a ponytail). I even put on make up for the first time since Monday. I felt pretty much human again.

Since the bank didn't open until 11am, I got to have a lazy morning. It was nice not having to log into my work account. I was worries that the weekend morning would seem much different than my weekday mornings had been but I was pleasantly surprised that it was. So I took my time getting ready to go. I didn't watch the news this morning either. The only news I saw was the news alerts that I'd gotten in my email overnight. I think that helped with my relaxed state this morning. When I did head out the front door of my building, this is what I saw on my front walk:

No friggin' idea what that was all about. It wasn't there yesterday when I went for my at lunch or when I got my dinner delivery around 5:30. Go figure. The sign is the one the cleaners put in our lobby when they've washed the floor. I have no clue where the bricks came from. I'm just happy to see that the small pond that was on the walkway yesterday is now gone.

Riding the bus was odd because they have the priority seating at the front marked off with caution tape. You're supposed to board via the back door but seeing as I'm currenlty walking with a cane, I get to still board by the front. I had to go to the bank first. I made it there just before a big influx of people. I was able to wait inside the branch. Most people arriving after me had to wait in the ATM vestibule (which really defeated the whole social distancing thing). Inside the bank, they have put down greet squares on the floor so that those in line would stay far enough apart. Sadly, in the time I was there, I saw three people ignore/not notice the squares. The branch manager had to ask one woman to back up to the square and not stand so close to the woman in front of her. I was only at the bank to get loonies, so I can do laundry. Being that I haven't been out shopping and most places aren't taking cash anyhow, I haven't been able to get more change. Our machines here take loonies as we're not advanced enough to have the card operated ones.

After the bank, it was back on the bus to the pharmacy (toothbursh) and then to the grocery store.  I was a bit surprised at the number of people in the grocery store.  We all did a pretty good job of avoiding one and other and people were keeping their distance in line. The store appeared to be well stocked again with meat but was still out of TP and cleaning products. They had limit signs up all over though. I did a good stock up, only taking what I need. I think I've got enough to get my through until next weekend, possibly longer if I get creative! I'm going to have to keep an eye on the bread this time and take preventative measures if I think it's staring to go south.

Decided to order in Chinese food for dinner. I used Uber Eats for the first time, since my go to Chinese place is closed for March Break. I discovered a fun new game called "watch the little car go". If you've never used Uber/Uber Eats before, when the driver heads out to get your order, you can see the car on the map moving to the restaurant and then once the driver has your order, you can follow the car on the map, heading for you. It's quite fun actually or I'm just really bored. Could be both.  LOL.

It's been a quiet night. A lot of channel surfing and book reading and flipping between the two. Kind of restless I guess. I can't quite focus on anything. I think I'm going to try to read a bit before bed and give sleeping in a try tomorrow.

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts." - Eleanor Roosevelt

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

Disappearing Doctor and a Sugarless Surprise

Since I just cleared a world in Candy Crush and I'm currently waiting for 3 friends to send me passes to the next level, I decided I'd kill some time by blogging.

It was an interesting week at work. It was very busy. And not just for me. For a lot of people. Ah, the joy of year end (the fiscal or financial year that is). The ending of this year and getting stuff done for the start of the next one kept me equally busy I'd say. Part of it was my own fault. I requested today off since I had one "use it or lose it" vacation day left and I'm not the type of person to let a perfectly good vacation day go to waste.

My day off was a long and rather interesting one. I've been having problems with my knee for several months now. I very much dislike going to the doctor so I'm a big proponent of "walk it off'". I think it stems from the time when I was 6 and I feel and severely sprained my ankle and broke 2 tiny bones in it and I limped around the house for a day and a half before my mom decided I wasn't faking it and took me to the doctor. So I've been "waking it off" for the last few months, only problem is that it's becoming increasingly more painful to do so. Sigh. Time to see the doctor. Knowing that I had today off, I decided that it would be best to go on my day off so that I didn't miss any additional work. I called the doctor's office on Tuesday and made an appointment for Friday. I asked for the earliest appointment they had. She said "10am". And I said "that's the earliest?" and she said "Yes, the doctor's usually in by then". Sigh. I took it. We had a little bit of freezing rain earlier so I wasn't sure what I was going to encounter on my way to the bus this morning. Thankfully, we didn't get much and it had warmed up already and all the snow we got overnight was starting to melt as well as any of the frozen stuff that feel earlier. I make it to the corner in time to see my bus go by on the other side of the street. Damn thing was 3 minutes early. Sigh. So I wait for the next one and arrive at the doctor's office 5 minutes late (not too bad). I go up to the receptionist, tell her who I am and that I have an appointment with my doctor at 10am and apologize for being late. She just looks at me. And then says "You have an appointment?" Me - Yes. Her - hmmm. Then - the doctor isn't here. And I can't see your appointment in the computer. It looks like it's all blocked off. Me - I called on Tuesday and made an appointment for today. I called at 10:30am. Whoever I spoke to (btw - I know it was her that I spoke to) told me the doctor would be in a 10 and gave me that appointment time. She just looks at me. Then the computer. Then me. Then she says "I don't know where the doctor is. We're expecting him today.". WTF. What kind of doctor just goes MIA?? Beauty part? This isn't the first time this has happened. I told her ask much. She just shrugged at me and gave me a helpless animal type face. Thankfully I don't fall for that kind of BS easily so I just sighed and said "Can I see the other doctor?" And she said "Of Course!" and merrily starts typing away at the computer, gives me back my health card and tells me to take a seat. My doctor is based out of a Walk in clinic so there's always another doctor there except on weekends. Thankfully, the place wasn't busy. I only had to wait about 20 minutes. The walk in doctor was an old dude with a really thick accent that I could hardly understand. He wiggled and twisted my knee all over the place (which hurt) and asked me twice if I had a drug plan (which I do have, thank goodness). He wrote me 3 prescriptions. One is a powerful anti-inflammatory that I have to take twice a day. 2nd one is for a medication to protect my tummy from the anti-inflammatory (it appears to be a drug who's main purpose is to treat ulcers and really bad heartburn). Ok then. The 3rd was the one I asked for, which was just a repeat on my regular meds. Bugger only gave me 3 months worth of that one so I have to go back to see my doctor.  Trying to be good and giving the guy one more chance, I made an appointment for a physical in May. Have to wait and see what happens there.

So after the doctor's office, I went to Curves. It was monthly weigh-in day. I've never been there that early in the day and I'd only eaten breakfast at this point so I'm sure that helped with the weigh in a little bit. Anyhow, it went very well. I'm down 3 inches. I lost a little or stayed the same for every part of my body except my biceps. They increased thanks to the muscle I've built. The best part was what the scale had to say. Down 8.5lbs in the last month. YEEHAW! That's roughly 2lbs a week. The only thing I've changed in my diet is sugar. I've removed it. And apparently that's having some very positive results. I even managed to say no to my biggest temptations yet: The crazy awesome looking and very amazing smelling Ferro Rocher cupcakes that a very awesome co-worked baked for KayD's bday. I was tempted. Boy was I ever. But I held out and the result on the scale today made me very happy about that decision. I know damn well that 1 cupcake wouldn't have an impact on the results I saw today, but it's the principle of my quest that matters. The wonderful photo that appears on tonight's blog are the delightful cupcakes. You'll understand the temptation once you see them. Honestly, they were pretty epic or so I was told by those who ate them :)

After Curves, I celebrated my weight loss by sharing a deep fried snack platter appetizer at lunch with a buddy of mine. It was good. I eventually paid for it (some indigestion this evening...prior to taking the new meds) but it was yummy. This was followed up by a tour of the Canadian History Museum (aka Museum of Civilizations). It used to be my favourite museum in Ottawa but they're currently renovating it and changing a bunch of stuff so a lot of it was closed off to the public which puts a bit of a damper on it. I'm sure it will be awesome once it's done but that's not for another few years. It was still cool to see the Canadian Hall, which is may favourite section. They have re-creations of buildings and homes, schools and churches and they have real artifacts in each area. And some very life-like mannequins that are rather creepy.

By the time we were done at the museum, the fog had really rolled in. That's what happens when warm air hits cold snow and a cold river. And it was pouring rain too. Traffic wasn't too bad and I got dropped off at the mall so that I cold get my prescriptions filled. I remembered to by lottery tickets yet forgot to buy milk. D'oh! Now I don't have milk for my morning tea/coffee. Dammit. Guess I know what I'm doing first thing tomorrow. Either that or I'll be drinking green tea.

All in all, it was a very interesting day and enjoyable for the most part. It would have been nicer if I could have walked the museum rather than limped it, but hopefully these meds help and I can get back to normal. If not, I'll be seeing my doctor (if he shows up) sooner than my planned visit in May.

I should toddle off to bed (aka curl up in bed and read for another half hour or so) as I need to get a lot of stuff done this weekend. Another busy week ahead!

Good Night!

Sarah

Amazing, right??!!

Mini Milestones

My day has been a day of some mini milestones which I didn't actually realize until late this afternoon.

For starters, today marks 2 weeks without sugar. I even survived the dessert section of an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet on the weekend. I broke down and bought some sugar free Jello Mousse cups to help with the chocolate cravings. Otherwise, fruit has been satisfying my sweet cravings and I'm feeling pretty darn good.
I'm finding it rather shocking just how much sugar is in things that you don't think have sugar in them or should have sugar in them. The one that surprised me the most are the frozen dinner and the supposed "Healthy" steamer style bowls. They have insane amounts of sugar in them. Talk about buyer be ware.

This evening also marked my 50th workout at Curves. Their computer system keeps track and lets me know how many workouts I've had when I sign in. I'll admit it. I'm a little proud of myself. I've actually kept with it for 5.5 months now. It's become routine for me and I actually enjoy it. Yes. I just said that I enjoy exercise. Some days it is hard to drag my ass there, like tonight. I was really tired after work. I've been tired all week. And it was really grey and blah out. Snow was in the forecast. And I'm reading a really good book right now (Omens by Kelly Armstrong) and all I could think about was going home, curling up and reading. But I didn't. I went to Curves. I was rewarded with my favourite coach being there (She normally works mornings except for Fridays) and I got in a good work out. Beat my target again for the 6th or 7th consecutive work out and it was my 50th workout. Something seems to have clicked. Now if my knee would just cooperate.....

Work is going well. It's been pretty steady so it's keeping me out of trouble. My co-workers are still providing me with a good deal of amusement. I swear, one day I'm going to write a book about my life in that office. I got a piece of good news last week too. I wrote a test on the 10th as part of a hiring process. I got the score back on the 12th and I did a pretty good job, scoring 42 out of 50. I'll take it, especially since I was still recovering from my cold and thanks to my inconsiderate neighbours, I only had 4 hours of sleep the night before the test. Oh yeah, and they tried to blow us up during the test too! (Blasting at the building site behind the test centre). Made for a very interesting day.

Tomorrow is the first day of spring. Not that you'd know it from looking out the window. We had snow today and there's snow in the forecast again tomorrow. The City of Ottawa set a new record on Monday. It was the coldest St. Patrick's Day in Ottawa's recorded history. Lucky us. Two years ago we had a heat wave and set a record of +25. It got so hot in our office that we got sent home. I'd much prefer that to this. I'm very excited at the prospect of having Spring here soon. It means longer days and more sunlight. It also means that I survived the dark, cold days of winter and I once again triumphed over my demons. I must say, this has been one of the best winter's I've had in a very long time. My seasonal depression really stayed in check and I've had  very few down days. There were a couple weeks between January and February that I found a little rough and had no energy but they were short lived and I bounced back quickly. I honestly think that Curves had a lot to do with the improvement in my mood. They say that exercise is good for more than your physical health. Who knew that they were right? LOL.

Steph and I checked out one of the positive signs of spring 2 weekend's ago: Blowing up the ice on the Rideau River. We got there too late to see the ice being blown up as they were further up the river, but we heard and felt some of the blasts and we did get to see the very beautiful and very frozen Rideau Falls. It was rather interesting to see. I got a lot of amusement out of watching the large ice chunks from up river going over the falls and creating quite the splash at the bottom. It was almost as amusing as watching Steph sniff bread in the grocery store but that's a story for another day. So is staying out to 2:30am, betting on electronic horses at the Casino in Quebec :) LOL.

I can hear my book calling me so I should sign off, go and curl up and read a little before bed. Or a lot.

Good Night!

Sarah

Very Frozen Rideau Falls - Steph took the photo when we stopped to check them out 2 weeks ago. So cold! But so beautiful!!

Hunter-Gathering and Moths.

It's a hot evening in Ottawa, so I decided to enjoy as much of it as I can and I sat out reading on the balcony tonight. Once it started to get dark, I got smart. I turned on the lamp just inside my balcony door and left the blinds open so the lamp lit the balcony and I was able to continue reading. I had a few mosquitoes come and bother me (and have a bite on my ankle to show for it) but that was about it. Finally I decided to come inside. I'd just got all my stuff inside and closed the balcony door when I turned and saw a giant moth flying through my living room. Crap. I followed it into my bedroom. I turned on my hall light hoping it would attract the moth, no such luck. So then I got my swiffer and decided to try to chase it back into the living room. Now I don't know if I actually hit it or just scared the bejesus out of it, but suddenly it took off, bounced off the bedroom wall then bounced off the ceiling in the hall, the then wall and then back into my bedroom, off my dresser and under my bed. And I haven't seen the fucker since. I just stood there and watched in disbelief. I tried putting out a few items from under the edge of my bed to see if it was there (2 pairs of running shoes and some dirty laundry) but no moth. I don't know where the hell it went. Maybe it's dead. Maybe it's hiding. Maybe it's made a new home in the underside of my mattress. I have no friggin' idea. Stupid moth. I've turned off the bedroom light and am hoping that it will come out on its own and head for the lights in the living room and kitchen. Funny thing is, had it been a spider, I would have tore the bed frame apart looking for it. A rouge moth, I'm kind of ok with.

I had a rather nice day today. It was hot and sunny but not too humid. There was a nice breeze which helped things out too. I did one of my favourite things today. I went to the Byward Market and got lots of fresh, local produce and meats. There's something so very relaxing and wholesome about doing that. I don't know if it's due to the fact that as a kid and into my early teens I spent most Saturdays helping out in a HUGE garden so I'm used to being around fresh produce or maybe it's something even more primal than that. Maybe it's a throw back to the hunter/gatherer days and going out to get fresh food is one of those basic things engraved on our DNA. Either way, I love doing it and it makes me happy when I get to cook it all up too. Tonight I had a very tender NY strip steak with 2 cobs of corn (first of the season) which actually had a lot of flavour to them for being the first of the season. I was quite impressed. All the vitamin D I soaked up probably helped my happy state too. And the frozen yogurt. That made me pretty damn happy as well.

I'm not sure if it was all the fresh air I got today or the 3/4 of a can of Pear Cider I drank earlier, but I'm rather sleepy now. I think I'll go and take one last look around for the moth and the call it a night.

Oh! And my hand/wrist is feeling much better and it doesn't really hurt to type anymore :)

Good Night!

Sarah

My haul from this afternoon's trip.

Homework

The weather today is just bizarre. It rained almost all day and it rained, a lot. I think it still might be raining now. But it was warm/humid. To the point where I thanked a man on the bus when he opened one of the windows. I was so friggin' hot. However, just before I started tonight's blog, I had to close my balcony door because it's become very windy and cold. As a result, my right arm is numb and my nipples are so hard that they hurt!! And my warm blanket is on the couch, which would require me getting up to get it. Stupid weather.

I'm going to attempt to warm up by typing this blog. If that fails, I'm going to grab my book and run to my bed (where I have the new, very soft sheets ) and I'll snuggle into my very soft sheets and my quilt and sit and read until bed time. If you're wondering, I'm currently reading "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin. Yes, this is the first book in the series which become a new hit for HBO. I've only seen 2 episodes of the show and I enjoyed them so much that I decided to pick up the book. So far, it's very good. My friend Cam wouldn't like it though. Each chapter is another character and every few chapters, it comes back to one of the characters. He doesn't like books that jump around like that. I do have to admit that you have to be paying a good deal of attention to what's going on to follow the story line.

Earlier this evening, I did something that I haven't done in about 10 years....no, I didn't have sex. Give me some credit, it hasn't been that long........anyhow, I did homework! I had french homework to do. The teacher sent us home from our first class with a sheet that has a map on it. You had to find the landmarks (8 of them) and write down what they are in French. Example: Albert Street = Rue Albert. I was actually quite pleased that I new most of them and only had to use Google Translate for a few of them. I even did the exercise on the other side of the page, despite the fact that the teacher made no mention of it. Am I a keener or what? As funny as it sounds I'm looking forward to class tomorrow. Work has been so busy and so stressful as of late, that I'm quite happy about escaping for a half day. Yes, I realize that I'll be playing catch up all afternoon and will most likely end up working late as a result, but I'm still looking forward to being able to focus on something, un-interrupted, for more than 2 minutes!!! Yippee!!

Good Night!

Sarah

Afternoon Delight

It was a rather quiet day today. Originally we were going to go to the beach but thanks to the weather not being what was originally forecast and my stomach deciding to pitch a fit, we ended up staying close to home and just ran some errands. I did end up with $25 worth of K-Cups in a whole variety of flavours and 3 bags of the Asparagus flower pasta that I love. So that was good. The rest of the day was spent reading.

I love to read. I love to be able to just sit, relax and let my imagination brings the words to life. Books can take you anywhere. They can make you believe in anything. They can invoke the whole gamete of emotions. Some say movies do the same, but not to the extent that books do. When you watch a movie, you see someone else's ideas of what the characters look like. You see someone else's idea of what a place looks like. With books, you get the description of the people and places from the author, but it's up to you to make them come to life in your head. It's one of the reason why I'm not a huge fan of movies that come from books. You get an idea in your head about what things look like and often the actors/actresses don't match what you have in your head.

This happened to me with "One for the Money". I adore Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. The books are funny and make for a very entertaining read. I was actually excited to hear that the first book was being made into a movie. Unfortunately, only 3 actors lived up to my mental image of the characters. I think when a book is being made into a movie, the fans should get to vote and select the actors rather than a casting agent.

In case you really want to know, I'm currently reading "Shadow of Night" by Deborah Harkness. It's the 2nd book in a 3 book series. The first book is "A Discovery of Witches". Both books are very well written and are intelligent and full of all kinds of interesting facts and ideas. Yes, it does involve Witches and Vampires (sorry, no werewolves but there are Demons....but they're not what you think) but this isn't anything remotely close to Twilight. It kind of makes me want to study science :)
I'm fortunate to come from a family of readers. My mom always has a book on the go and so did my grandmother. She was actually a volunteer who would take library books to shut-ins. So reading runs in my family and is important. Books provide entertainment and knowledge. You can learn something new or escape to a far away place, fall in love or get scared to death.

One day I will write a book and send it out into the world for others to enjoy.

I'm off to Stratford tomorrow to see a play at the Festival Theatre. We're seeing "Much Ado About Nothing" written by one of my all time favourite authors, William Shakespeare. I'm rather excited. But more on that tomorrow.

One more thing before I end the blog tonight. Today is the 100th birthday of Julia Child. She was an incredible woman, full of great character, full of life and possibly full of butter. She was first introduced to me by my high school home ec. teacher and I've loved her ever since. I hope to one day be able to cook like she did: with reckless abandon and no fear at all. She died in 2004 at the age of 91, so maybe there's something to the butter thing after all. And the wine. Bon Appétit Julia!

Good Night All.

Sarah