Good times, great taste, less filling

Okay, maybe not less filling. I mean, who am I kidding? This is me we’re talking about. Since the previous bummer of a post, we’ve taken some time to relax & be around friends & family, and I believe it’s done us a world of good. Earlier in the month we spent a Saturday working/playing in a golf tournament. It’s for a charity set up in the name of a friend of my family who was killed in a workplace accident 15 years ago. The funds raised go toward helping handicapped children participate in sports. There’s always fun to be had, seeing everyone again year after year, helping out signing the golfers in & taking the money for the silent auction items people have won, not to mention having a mostly relaxing day looking out over a peaceful golf course out in the countryside. And one of the golfers/contributors, who happens to work at Breyers, always donates a freezer full of ice cream cones, bars & sandwiches, so that doesn’t suck. Heh.

Last weekend we spent the weekend (and part of Monday) visiting my dad’s side of the family in eastern Ontario. It’s always good to see them & reminisce about the good times, and to visit old haunts. We had dinner at my aunt’s (new) house both nights we were there, with most of my dad’s siblings in attendance. The older I get, the more I appreciate my family (and my extended family), it’s great to be able to spend time with them, and it’s really nice to see my dad completely relaxed & at home (he’s pretty tightly wound most of the time). The place that we stay when we go to visit is situated right on the banks of the St Lawrence River, so the view is always amazing. There are gardens & riverside boardwalks everywhere, and the staff now recognize us when we check in (they should – we’ve been staying there once a year for the last 6 or 7 years!). This year we managed to spot a mink fishing for, well, fish. On the way there, Andrew & I always stop at a cheese factory (cheeserie?) just outside of Belleville that makes the best roasted garlic flavoured cheese curds. Like the title says, good times, great taste.

We’re taking some time off after the Canada Day holiday, and we’ll be spending some of it in Niagara Falls (Ontario & NY), so we’re looking forward to that too. Brazilian BBQ, buffalo wings & cross-border shopping are all on the menu (woohoo!). I’d also like to check out the Cheesecake Factory, but we’ll see how that goes. Another item on the agenda is clearing out & painting the baby’s room.

I’ve just thought of something that qualifies as less filling. We completed our veggie garden about 3 weeks ago, adding butternut squash, tomatillos, cilantro & more pak choy to the veggies we’d already planted (spinach, pak choy, purple peppers, eggplant, mint, & red onions, tomatoes & cucumbers). Apparently Basil the garden mouse saw this as a challenge. A mere 3 days after the planting was complete he decimated the tender new pak choy, and the spinach. Sigh, I give up.

Finally, Willow would like to know where her beer is at, yo.

You take the good, you take the bad,

You take ‘em both & there you have the facts of life, the facts of life….. You’re welcome for the ear-worm, I aim to please. So, how have you all been? I’ve been well, thanks for asking. One of the days last week was my birthday, and that’s always fun. Andrew had a out-patient procedure the same day (he had a skin cancer removed from his scalp), so we took the rest of the day off & had a pretty damn good day – lunch at Canyon Creek (which has now surpassed the Keg as my fave steak restaurant) and shopping at Square One was the order of the day. I also received a beautiful lap quilt from my mom a couple of weeks before hand, and a Pandora bracelet from Andrew on the day. I’ve been eye-ing those bracelets for quite a few years now, so it’s nice to finally be able to wear one! Those who know me know of my love for all things sparkly, especially jewelry. It’s always been my “thing”, even when I was a little kid. I think I take after my dad’s mom, who I am named after.

In other good news, our good “adoption friends” that live in our town received their referral at the end of last week, just in time for Mothers Day! They received a referral for a 2.5 year old boy. While we are insanely jealous, we are also over-the-moon happy for them – they’ve been playing the adoption waiting game about 6 months longer than we have. They were open to a child of either sex, up to 36 months old, I believe, whereas we are waiting for a girl, up to 18 months old, so we’ll still be waiting for a while. Not too long, I hope. According to my calculations, we’re about halfway down the list now from our original number of 111. It’s taken us about 1.5 years to come this far down the list, hopefully it doesn’t take us that much longer to get our referral. With all the changes that happen in international adoption, though, you just never know. Anyway, it’s going to be interesting to “know” someone going through the process ahead of us – court date, waiting for visa, picking up the child – it will be invaluable to have a inside perspective on what will happen to us down the road. According to the agency, our file is now waiting for the statutory declaration. Once that is complete, it will go to Ethiopia, and we will once again be “officially” waiting for a referral.

Since the weather has taken a turn for the better I’ve been pottering around the garden a bit more. I’ve been wanting to clean out the dead leaves & such from last year, and finally got a chance to do that yesterday. I also pulled a fair few dandelions – stupid weeds. Our daffodils are blooming, and our tulips look poised to do the same in the next couple of days. One of the tulips is especially special to me – the year before my grandpa passed away (this is my dad’s dad) he gave me some lamium (a ground cover plant) from his garden. Unbeknownst to any of us, in the bunch of lamium he gave me was 1 tulip bulb. The first year, just the leaves came up, which was a surprise in itself. The next year, though, the tulip bloomed. It’s a red tulip, with yellow around the edge of each petal. The petals are pointed, too, as opposed to rounded like a “normal” tulip. I haven’t figured out what kind of tulip it is yet, but it’s the only red tulip in a sea of pink & purple tulips, so it’s pretty unique. After I cleaned out the garden of a winters worth of detritus, I planted some annuals that I picked up at my favourite nursery – some celosias & snapdragons. It already looks a million times better than it did just a day ago. Now we have to get going on the veggie garden but that can wait a few weeks. We did plant some spearmint yesterday, though – mojitos here we come.

Well, that’s all I have to say for today. I’m a bit down & a bit tired & a lot ready for a vacation. Speaking of vacation, we’ve been invited to a wedding in Jamaica next January, but then we’re meant to be going on a cruise in Hawaii next fall (but I’m not even sure if that’s still happening – Vicki?). What to do? We don’t have enough money for both. Who knows – if we get our referral early next year, we may not have money for either. I just know I need to get away, and recharge my batteries.

Well, that's enough random for today.

April showers bring.....

Aggravation, that's what. We spent the weekend at my parent's place, which was nice (as usual). My parents took us out for dinner for Andrew's birthday - great food at the restaurant but crappy service. Sunday was a bridal shower for my youngest cousin, who's getting married at the end of May (on my dad's birthday, actually). It was being thrown by my mom, my aunt, the bride's aunt on her father's side & my cousin (the bride's sister). As usual, my mom was tasked with picking up most of the party items (plates, napkins, cutlery, tableclothes, etc). No problem there, as they all split the cost. What I take exception to is that no one helped with anything at the actual shower. To be fair, my aunt had a stroke a few years ago & is not able to help. My cousin & her aunt, though, were more than able to help & did very little. I ended up doing a lot of the set up & maintenance of the food table, as there was no one else to help my mom. Honestly, I can use the exercise, but that's not the point. If you're throwing a shower, you're throwing a shower, not chatting to everyone who walks in the door - that's not your job. The work itself doesn't bother me - I like being organized & it was actually fun working with my mom like that, but the point is - it wasn't my job. I was a guest at that shower & I got to see the bride open 2, maybe 3 gifts - not even my gift. That sucks. And I feel so bad for my mom, getting stuck with doing everything. Good thing this is the last shower she has to throw - no more weddings or first babies for my cousins. So to those who threw the shower & did nothing (with the exception of my aunt, obviously) - BOO! Shame on you.

In other news, my seedlings are going great guns! Most of them are up now, only some of the basil & some of the garlic are lagging behind. Now that we've taking the cover off I'm hoping they don't get eaten by certain pussy cats.

It's been a while....

I'm not such a good blogger lately, sorry about that! Since we last "spoke" I've had a ripper of a cold, so I haven't felt much like posting. Time to get back into the groove! We had a good Easter, we spent it with my folks down in my hometown, with pretty nice weather! Anytime that the April weather is above 10 degrees is a good time, but this weather was almost 25! Nice! While down home I helped my mom prepare for my cousin's bridal shower (which is this weekend), we had a great ham & scalloped potato dinner, and we visited a local cidery - gooooood cider. This past weekend we worked in the front garden, pulling out the mock orange which hasn't done much in the past 3 years except grow like a weed & not flower AT ALL. It was time for it to go, so we replaced it with a rhododendron - it will have fuschia flowers, so it will really look nice near the fence. I spent a good hour hammering in the garden border, so I'm a little sore today. I also planted some seedlings for the veggie garden - this year we'll have tomatoes, broccoli, basil, and hopefully garlic, as well as beets, beans & peas. Now if I can just get the kittehs to leave the seedling tray alone.....

The adoption is continuing to move along, we are now #94 from #111, there were 7 referrals in March, which is pretty darn good! Let's hope this pace continues, or even gets better!