As I may or may not have mentioned, one of the medications I'm on for managing the pain from the compressed discs in my neck causes "reduced mental acuity . More or less, I forget stuff easily, I know I know something but can't remember it, I get pretty muddled sometimes and I get confused pretty easily.
This could also easily be confused with "Pregnant brain" or "Mommy brain" or "old age" but let me blame the medication, it's easier for me to cope (and subsequently forget about).
Some of you, who are closer to me, know that I've recently discovered I've purchased duplicates and triplicates of some things (rice, croutons, kid's snack foods, pasta) but I truly outdid myself this time.
With Christmas approaching, I've been unearthing all my Christmas stuff... Which I dutifully cataloged when I packed it up last year. I knew exactly what I had (and where, which is even a bigger miracle).
Pinterest has led me to a plethora of new (and cooler) projects to tackle this year so back in early November, I took advantage of a 30% off coupon and shopped Michael's early on a Sunday morning.
Having raffled off all the
Perfect Bows I've made in a fund raiser for TroublerMaker's old preschool, I knew I needed to make new bows for my banister So... I picked a nice plaid, wired ribbon, identical to the previous bows (as I really liked it).
So today, as I finally unpacked all the stuff I bought nearly a month ago, I discovered the ribbon. And found the ribbon I packed last year... Then I found the other new spool I bought at Costco during our annual Christmas Shop in November to Avoid the Insanity of December.
How much plaid ribbon do I have?
100 yards. Which is 300 feet (91.4 metres).
That's a lot of ribbon. Plus I bought the gold and the pine cone for bows too.
So I've figured out my new business venture... Handmade Christmas bows in plaid or pine cone... ;)
This is why people with memory problems shouldn't be allowed to shop alone! This is also why I baked my husband cookies and made him promise to love me forever.
Help he has... With the help of his friends, he raised 19 kilograms of food at his 4th birthday party. His generosity continued through the year but with the Christmas season approaching again, his desire to help out came to the forefront.
Another Monday and I'm in a slump. Unable to perform my usual culinary genius (haha) in the kitchen, I'm tapped for ideas and tired of chicken, pasta and blah meals. Thankfully, I know about this amazing resource of people who share their awesome menus!
I was inspired by a cheap snowman chalkboard in the Dollar store and when I couldn't find a snowman wood cutout at the craft store, I fell in love with a large wooden sled and decided that this would work even better! Using this picture as my inspiration, I started to work.
Once it was dry, I applied a second coat with a dry sponge. I then dry brushed black all over the edges. Next, I lightly sanded the entire surface and wiped it clean with a dry towel. I blended a white acrylic paint with a silver acrylic paint to paint the snowman. I gave him three generous coats (as the red beneath showed through). His nose was orange and his buttons had a base of orange and I painted over it with the scarf colour (a blend of red, black and gold). The hat is pure black and the cloud was acrylic chalk board paint (3 coats). The snowflakes were applied using white acrylic paint on a rubber stamp and I had painted his name on the top.
After a sort of impromptu visit to my Mom's for the weekend, I have a few meals left over for this week... Oh, and we didn't have the Swiss Steak but opted instead for a Crustless Quiche - with green peppers added and served with tater tots. It was very good, heartily filled our family of three (and our Wonder Schnauzer) and is being added to our regular menu rotation.
I'm going to steal a line from the Slap Chop Guy... But WAIT! There's more! Canadian Thanksgiving doesn't have much to do with turkeys (as turkeys are not indigenous to Alberta), but we traditionally eat turkey on Thanksgiving - so why not make some yummy turkey desserts! Inspired by OurBestBites.com and their wonderful homage to the noble turkey, TroubleMaker and I are proud to present our rafter of candy cookie turkeys!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Or at least to my Canadian friends! We had our turkey celebration on Sunday - and I can assure you I ate my fair share of turkey and I ate so much pumpkin pie; it was delicious! It was my husband's first time putting together a traditional dinner and he did a fantastic job!
This is for my other mother - see, I am trying to post more! Pain and all...
The second weekend of the sandbox build took place this weekend.
"I love you Mama, you are the best!
Last night, for example, he tried to rhyme "apples" with "snuggles". It sounded so very cute, in seconds, I was laughing so hard, tears were rolling down my cheeks. It delayed bedtime substantially I am hopeful it's moments like these that we will both remember with fondness.
In addition to looking at your furnace, you need to check the ducting too. Cold air intakes and the ducts can deteriorate and reduce efficiency (if there are penetrations or disruptions to the ducts or clogged intakes). Our insulated ducts (the ones that bring cold air in from outside) aren't pretty, but they are functional and in decent shape.
