Sports, Shingles, Supper and Shopping

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..my week so far

Basketball

Last week, after a flurry of tryouts, we chose the girls’ basketball team. We had to go from 40 girls to 12 when choosing the team. Every morning since we’ve had early morning practices starting at 7:45. Tomorrow is the tournament. Yikes! I know that the season has been short but we literally didn’t get any information about the season until people started to ask when and where the teams would play. My friend, L swears that we’re going to win but I know for a fact that some schools have been practising for over a month compared to our seven days. Anyway wish us luck. If we win, however, it means more early morning practises and another tournament.

Shingles

No, not the ones on my roof. I’m talking about the painful kind that affects adults who’ve had chicken pox when they were children and no, I’m not the one who is suffering with it. Shingles is an infection of a band of nerves and results in a rash along that band. The pain can be moderate or severe. In my husband’s case, unfortunately his pain is severe and feels like stabbing pains under the skin. This is my husband’s second bout with this horrible infection. He’s on some antiviral medication that should help with the healing process but he’s already at day 10 and only today is he starting to feel somewhat better. There is a shot to prevent shingles but it costs about $200. for one dose. If K could take it, he says he’d pay $1000.00 to be pain free but because his immune system was compromised by his cancer he doesn’t qualify for the treatment. If you want more information about shingles click here.

Supper

My brother-in-law from Calgary called on Sunday and told us he was going to be in town on Tuesday on business. He wanted to get together and grab some dinner before he checked into his hotel. Not knowing how well K would be feeling we left it open as to where we would dine. I also didn’t know if I’d be having dinner because I already had made plans to have dinner downtown with a group of friends from work.

It turned out that my dinner was cancelled so when I got home I was able to join them. GS literally arrived a few minutes after I walked through the door and at that moment in time K wasn’t feeling too bad. So we got back into my car and drove over to the Junction to catch up with what was going on in GS’s life while we enjoyed a light dinner at the Indie Ale House. The evening went well but I could see that K was starting to fade so we had to call it an early night. I sure hope these shingles are gone before Christmas.

Shopping

Now I know that I told you that I didn’t need to shop for a long time but I can’t resist a great sale and I mean great. The doors were only open to family and friends and as a friend I couldn’t turn around and invite some of my friends. I did, however, buy some great gifts for my family and, well, I just couldn’t pass up a good deal, I picked up a few things for myself. How can you say no to $100. sweaters for $15. 00 and designer blue jeans for $15.00.

Tune in tomorrow to see how we performed at the tournament.

Cheers!

Cleaning Wins Out Over More Shopping

Posted on November 25, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..funny how I get the same satisfaction from organizing my space as I do from shopping

Yesterday I wrote that I might attend another craft show today but when I woke up it was bitter cold and there was a fresh layer of snow on the ground. It seemed like a perfect day to stay indoors and work on organizing my clothes.

I got an early start to the day. After a quick breakfast I checked my emails and then closed my laptop. I find I’m spending way too much time on the computer lately. I set a goal to clean out my closet and purge, purge, purge. I stripped all the beds and gathered up all the laundry around the house and from my husband’s car (i discovered that there was bedding still in the back of his car that he brought back from the cottage but didn’t bring into the house).

While the washer and dryer were going full tilt I started to go through all my clothes. I put away the summer clothes, took out the winter clothes and discarded clothing that didn’t fit anymore or I hadn’t worn in years. I folded and organized my 37 scarves (yes 37, not including the 4 I’m giving away or my woollen scarves), I packed three garbage bags with clothes and loaded them into my car and dropped them off at the Good Will store.

I vacuumed, did four loads of laundry, made chicken stock, returned two bags of bottles, cleaned the bird cage, cleaned the kitchen and managed to organize half of my bedroom. Now that the clothes are put away I can start organizing all my paperwork….ugh! A job for next weekend….maybe.

Now that my closet is organized I can see that I don’t need to go shopping for quite awhile. I also discovered some Christmas gifts that I had bought in the summer and had forgotten about. I put all the gifts in one of the blanket boxes at the end of my bed where I’ll be able to find them when I’m ready to wrap them. I’m usually a last minute wrapper but maybe this year I can get a head start on that as well.

I packed my gym bag and will place it in the car so that I have no more excuses for not going to the gym. I haven’t been in months, despite the fact that I’ve been paying for it every month. I need to leave school earlier and get a workout in before dinner. I have one more medical appointment tomorrow right after school and then I’m planning on stopping at the gym. I’ve packed my lunch for tomorrow and will be leaving extra early to get to basketball practice by 7:45. Our tournament is this Thursday.

Did I say I didn’t need to do any shopping for awhile? Hmmm! I forgot that I’m going to a special clothing sale on Tuesday after school. Maybe I’ll find some more gifts for the family.

Cheers!

Winter is at our Doorstep

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..cold temperatures and a dusting of snow today (yesterday)…..hit published….looked like it went through…..discovered this morning that it hadn’t…..sigh…..by the way we got another covering of snow last night

An image of what’s to come in the next few months. Brrrr!!!!!!!!!

What a perfect day to do a little Christmas shopping and check out the Winter Arts Fest at Neilson Park Creative Centre. I met a great artist who makes beautiful jewellery with glass imbedded with copper, a retired principal who creates gorgeous wooden boards and boxes made from different types of coloured wood and an author who wrote a novel about Toronto’s history.

I also ran into my former art teacher, LZ, whose classes I took for a couple of years at Neilson Park Creative Centre. She told me she’s been thinking about me lately and hopes I’ll come back to one of her classes in January. She says she’s including collage and more printmaking lessons to the class. She must have been channelling my thoughts of late because I’ve wanted to do more of both, especially collage.

An earlier attempt at collage.

Printing on Gelli plates.

After doing some shopping at the craft show I headed over to the mall which is close by. The kitchen store had some great sales and I picked up some small items for stocking stuffers. I then went to one of my favourite stores and treated myself to a couple of new tops.

What’s up for tomorrow? Well I keep saying I’m going to reorganize my bedroom but there’s an interesting arts and craft show at my old alma mater in Guelph that I might check out. It all depends on whether someone is willing to go with me. I’m all about living in the moment.

Cheers!

Unexpected Pleasures

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..the joys of spontaneity

I really didn’t have much in the way of plans for the weekend. The only thing that I really needed to do was buy new tires for my car. So early Saturday morning I dropped the car off at the Tire Centre at Costco and walked home. It turned out to be a beautiful day and the walk was invigorating. I made an unexpected stop at the library and successfully signed out the next book for our book club meeting in December. So far I’d logged in 5 kilometres of walking and it didn’t stop there.

When I got home I changed into my running shoes and joined my husband, my daughter, G, her dog, Lucy and our dog, Frances for a walk to Sam Smith Park. I brought along the camera and found lots of wonderful things to photograph. Again, I played around with the macro setting and got close and personal with some plant materials.

Not only did I walk another 5 kilometres but some of that distance was covered with running. I didn’t want to get too far behind the family who were always a few steps ahead of me. The distance would get longer every time I stopped to take pictures so I found myself running to catch up. Near the end of the trail I found the group sitting on the rocks waiting for me. As you can see, Lucy has fully recovered from her surgery.

Later in the day, my other daughter called and wanted to meet and go to Ikea. We planned to rendezvous at Costco when I picked up the car but when I got to the tire centre the car wasn’t ready. I quickly called my husband to pick me and the girls up and drop us off at Ikea. This part of the day wasn’t so wonderful for K but the rest of us had a great time. Since it was already late in the day, we decided to have dinner together after our shopping adventure at Ikea. Again K picked us up and took me back to Costco to get the car and then we each had a job to do to get dinner organized. A and I were assigned to get the salad and wine and K, G and J were in charge of getting the pizza.

The day ended with a lovely unplanned dinner with all the girls. G’s husband was at a conference in North Carolina and our son of course is still in Rotterdam. We sent him a quick message to see if he still wants to participate in our Secret Santa draw but I haven’t heard back from him yet. Next week we’re getting together again for a planned meal where we will draw names to see who we will buy gifts for this Christmas. I didn’t think I’d like the Secret Santa concept but we’ve done it for a couple of years now and it certainly takes some of the stress off of buying gifts at Christmas.

Yesterday we got an unexpected phone call from old friends who live in Calgary. They were in town and wanted to get together before they go back on Wednesday. Today was the best time for all of us so we met at the house and then drove over to the Roncesvalle area and had a nice lunch at Hey’s. We had a long leisurely lunch and got caught up on what’s been happening in our lives. My husband and L have been friends since grade school and we all went to university together. We were at each other’s weddings and the births of our children. We literally had to drive L and L to the hospital when their first child wanted to enter the world in the middle of the night. As luck would have it, their car wouldn’t start at that crucial moment in time.

What a great weekend; fantastic weather on Saturday, walking 10 k in one day, an unplanned dinner with family and an unexpected visit from old friends. What more could you ask for? I hope your weekend had some special moments as well.

Cheers!

Cranberry Festival in Bala

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….. rain, hail and wisps of blue sky

The Cranberry Festival in Bala always falls after the Thanksgiving weekend. My friends L and B and I decided to drive to Bala on Sunday. The entire weekend was cloudy, rainy and cold all over southern Ontario. It was really a last minute decision to drive to Bala at all. We wondered if we had made a wise decision when hail started to hit the wind shield but in the distance we could see traces of blue sky.

The drive in was uneventful and traffic was light. In years past the flow of traffic would slow down to a crawl as cars and buses approached the town of Bala. We found a parking spot easily and with umbrellas in hand we started our walk through town. One of the first things I did was buy a pair of gloves to keep my hands warm. We checked out some of the vendors that were outside and then we made our way into the arena where more vendors were set up to sell their wares. We picked up some stocking stuffers for Christmas, sampled some yummy chocolate and tried on some trendy designer clothes.

When we headed outside the sun finally decided to make an appearance and it warmed up considerably. A vendor selling hot sauce looked at us as if he recognized us. He asked if we were teachers and if we’d ever taught at a middle school in Etobicoke. Well it turned out that all three of us had been at that school but it was our friend B whom he recognized. What a small world. He must have been one of her first students because he was already well into his late 40s or early 50s. He got very emotional at meeting her again after all these years and told her that she had made a huge difference in his life. Talk about making your day!

As we made our way back to the car we stopped and picked up some fresh produce from one of the stalls. Our bags were so heavy with our harvest vegetables and apples that we decided to take advantage of the school bus that transported visitors to and from the festival. When we unloaded our parcels we decided to go back to the church by the falls and have some lunch before heading back to Toronto.

Lunch was a bowl of homemade turkey soup for each of us and a Canadian bacon sandwich cut into three pieces. For dessert L bought one cranberry crepe (it was the cranberry festival after all) with chocolate sauce and whipped cream that we shared as well. We took a few more pictures of the falls and the rushing water and then walked back to the car. Just before we left Bala for good we made one more stop to purchase some more twigs with red berries. The urns outside L’s and B’s places will look very festive this Christmas with those red berries adorning a bouquet of evergreen boughs.

Thanks ladies, for a very enjoyable day!

A Mexican Delight

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..surprisingly healthy

On Sunday we celebrated my husband’s birthday with the family. Food is very important when we have family get togethers and K is usually the architect of our meals. Our daughter suggested we do a taco theme and K started searching for recipes. On our shopping trip on Saturday, pork shoulder, tortillas and banana leaves were purchased.

On Sunday while the pork was cooking inside the banana leaves and the rice and beans were thrown together K decided that we needed something else to round out the meal. I found a couple of Mexican side dishes that looked interesting and we decided on the Avocado, Orange and Red Onion Salad. I quickly did some last minute shopping to pick up some of the ingredients that we were missing and I bought a small birthday cake for K.

When I returned home, my daughter G and her husband were already there and A and her partner were on their way. G helped me slice the oranges while I prepared the avocado. The salad was simple to prepare. The orange and avocado slices were arranged on a platter with the slices overlapping each other. Then the red onion was sliced into thin rings and randomly arranged on top along with some cilantro leaves. The platter was drizzled with the juice of 1 lime and a couple of tablespoons of good olive oil. Not only was it a pretty salad and dead easy to prepare but it was also tasty and refreshing.

The recipe for this salad came from Delish.

Everyone assembled their own tacos with shredded pork, pickled red onion, cilantro sour cream, and Mexican fresh cheese.

The whole meal was surprisingly light and healthy tasting. Nothing was fried and everyone took as much or as little as they wanted. The two salads helped round out the meal and added some pretty colours to our plates. G made the pickled onions. They added a nice crunch to the taco. I’ll share the recipe in a future post. The green dip was simply sour cream and cilantro blended together in the Nutra Bullet. It could probably be made with yogurt if you want to reduce the fat content.

After dinner K blew out the candle on his birthday cake ( the number 3 has no significance…I couldn’t find any other candles).

Coffee was served and then the board game came out. We had a great time playing Ticket to Ride. K has wanted to have a regular game night for awhile now. All in all it was the perfect way to celebrate his birthday.

Happy Saturday

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….another visit to the market but with daughter, G and sweet Lucy

Whenever we go anywhere with my daughter’s Bassett Hound, Lucy, people stop to make small talk. Yesterday we went back to the Junction Farmers’ Market, sat outside on the patio at the Full Stop and window shopped along Dundas St. W. One of the stores that we wanted to show G was the new meat market situated between the coffee shop and the farmer’s market.

Gourmeats is relatively new to the area. The owner and the employees are extremely friendly and helpful. One of their special features is marinating your choice of meat before you leave the store. There are numerous options to choose from and after the marinade is added (no extra charge) the bag and contents are vacuum sealed.

My husband and G went into the store while I waited outside with Lucy. Every time someone entered or left the store Lucy approached the door, hoping to make her way inside. After awhile both Lucy and I began to peer through the glass door to see what was keeping both of them so long. Someone passed by and commented on what a funny picture that would have been, seeing both of us longingly peer through the butcher’s door.

The meats at Gourmeats are of excellent quality. My only complaint is that they are a tad expensive but then we shouldn’t be eating so much meat anyway and you really do get what you pay for. K purchased some pork shoulder, which he should be cooking shortly for our dinner with the kids today. Everyone is coming over later for a family meal to celebrate my husband’s birthday. We’re also hoping to make it into a ‘game’ day as well.

The only other thing we bought was a capon. I’ve become a huge fan of capons after purchasing one down at the St. Lawrence Market earlier this year. We’ll probably get four or five meals from this big bird alone.

Today we’re having the family over to celebrate K’s birthday and the plan is to make Mexican tacos from scratch. One of the things that we needed are fresh tortillas. We knew of a place situated closer to our daughter’s place so we called her and asked her if she could pick some up for us. She texted us back and told us of a place that has recently opened up very close to where we live.

So after visiting the Junction we made our way to La Tortilleria to pick up fresh yellow and white corn tortillas. La Tortilleria makes tortillas and nacho chips daily and also prepares ready to eat meals as well. You can sit in or take out and there is a small store attached with Mexican products so that you can prepare your own meals if you’re so inclined.

Our last stop of the day was at the Pie Commission. This is a brand new take out place that K discovered on Twitter. Our daughter’s partner, J, also texted us about it so K checked it out a couple of weeks ago and he wanted to show us the place and order some pies for dinner.

The Pie Commission makes a variety of savoury meat pies and sells them from a take out window. There are a few seating areas outside the location where you can sit and enjoy your meal or you can opt to buy the pies frozen and take them home and bake them in your own oven. There are plans to expand the place so that you can go inside. They’d better hurry. As good as the pies are I can’t see people lining up outside in the middle of February, especially if we have another winter like last year’s.

We took home a selection of 4 different pies and served them with a large salad. A great meal and a very special treat for us. As good as these pies are, they aren’t exactly diet food.

After dinner we made our way to a birthday party across the street. We enjoyed the company of our neighbours and met some new people. We also got to know some of our dog walking acquaintances better.

One of our fellow dog walkers is Adrian deRooy. I mention his name here because he is quite an accomplished artist and I would like to feature some of his work here. We’ve only met Adrian and his dog a couple of times but he always engages us in conversation. One of the things we didn’t know about him is that he makes his living as an artist.

At the party we noticed that T had great paintings on her walls and four of them were painted by Adrian. Here is Adrian deRooy’s website where you can check out more of his work. I’ve included a few of his paintings here so you can see what a talented guy he is. He is also a very nice man and very down to earth.

Adrian and Daisy

Time to start prepping for dinner and getting ready for the family. It’s been a great weekend so far.

Cheers!

Happy Birthday to the Love of My Life

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Mama Cormier

…..I’ve known this man for 40 years

Today my husband celebrated his 62nd birthday. He started his day with a visit to the dentist where he had his teeth cleaned and had his wisdom teeth assessed. One of them has been giving him some trouble so it was decided that he should have it removed but if he has one done than he should probably have all four done at the same time. When it rains it pours. That appointment is yet to be determined.

Soon after that appointment he went to the hospital for a biopsy on his thyroid. Granted it’s not something you want to experience on a regular basis but it had to be done. Although somewhat uncomfortable it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be. He should know the results soon if the news is bad. No news is good news.

When I called him at the end of the school day he sounded particularly chipper and he wasn’t feeling any pain or discomfort. Seeing he was feeling well I made a dinner date with him to celebrate his birthday. We went to a place that we refer to as ‘cheap and cheerful’ and have been going to for over 30 years. That alone is amazing. There aren’t too many establishments in this city that can boast of being successful for that length of time.

My husband has always been a somewhat frugal guy. His motto has always been ‘If it ain’t broke you don’t need to replace it’. He’s never been one to stand in line for the lastest technological gadget. As much as he might admire the new technology he is usually pretty satisfied with what he has and he doesn’t feel compelled to replace things as soon as new things come out. He’s always said that he wouldn’t replace our television until it breaks down. Little did he know that this TV would last more than 10 years.

Lately he’s been admiring the new LED Smart TVs. He’s been comparing prices and checking out all the features and asking our daughter about the benefits of having a smart TV versus a regular TV that relies on the cable provider. Well yesterday was his lucky day. After researching where to get the best deal I picked up a new 46 inch LED Smart TV and brought it home last night. He was pretty surprised when I dragged that huge box through the front door. Together we assembled his present and as I’m writing this blog I’m multi-tasking and watching Survivor on ‘his new TV’.

Happy Birthday, K! Love you!

Hanging onto Summer

Posted on September 29, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….now that we’re officially into autumn, I appreciate all the ‘warm and sunny’ days that come our way

Yesterday I spent the entire day with my oldest daughter, A and her partner, J. We started out in the morning at the Junction Farmer’s Market. I love this small market. The vendors are friendly and young, if not in age certainly at heart. The market has a lovely community feel to it.

The market includes freshly baked breads and healthy treats (and not so healthy), olives and olive oils, organic vegetables, free range chickens and pork, freshly picked fruits, local fish, honey, and ready to eat food, like BBQ ribs, dumplings, and meat pies. One of the vendors took out his guitar and played a tune for those passing by.

After making a few purchases we decided to check out the new cafe situated right next door to the market. It’s called the Full Stop and they make great Americanos. J really wanted one of the scones but she was shocked at the size of it. It could have fed a family of four.

After enjoying great coffee we headed back to my house and dropped off some of the perishables. Then we proceeded on our marathon of shopping….Canadian Tire, Ikea, Zellers, and Costco.

After our trip to Costco we were starting to feel rather peckish. Other than our coffee and splitting one scone three ways we hadn’t eaten in over 5 hours. The girls really wanted pizza but one of our favourite places had a line-up all the way out the door and almost to the street. We decided that there had to be other places that made good pizza.

We chose a place that a couple of my friends really like but I have to say that the pizza was just mediocre. When you don’t eat pizza all the time because of dietary reasons it’s really disappointing when you end up with a meal that you wish you hadn’t ordered. The salad was good but I would never recommend this restaurant for pizza. I took the leftovers home and K ate it when he got back from the cottage. He has a weakness for pizza.

Emma over at My Darling Lemon Thyme posts some of her favourite things every month. This video of an outdoor dinner in a cave by the ocean really made me long for more summer. I wonder how I could do this on a budget? Hmmm! Enjoy!

A Guys Weekend

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Mama Cormier

….leaving me by myself in this big house

Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that my husband is off for the weekend with one of his best friends. He doesn’t do it often and I’m so happy that he’s enjoying the cottage. Apparently so is the dog. It just feels weird being in this house by myself. K’s gone away before but he’s always left the dog with me so I’ve never felt alone.

I stayed late at work again tonight. Knowing that no one was waiting at home, I decided to unpacked more boxes of books. A lot of the books that the boys and girls were asking for were still packed away so with the help of 3 former students who came back to help me in the library we pulled out the more popular titles. We created some more space by using the top of the lower book cases. I know that the boys will be happy to see Star Wars, Captain Underpants and Wimpy Kid back in the library.

On the way home I stopped and did a little bit of shopping for dinner, picked up some supplies for my budgie birds and bought a lottery ticket for tonight’s draw. When I walked through the front door my husband called from the cottage. He’s having a great time with his friend D. They got some more work done on the staircase railing and they hope to finish tomorrow. They’re eating like kings and the sauna was warming up while we were talking. Frances, our wonder dog, has been in doggy heaven. There aren’t too many people up at Big Sand Bay this weekend so she’s had a lot of freedom. She’s had so much fun that she hasn’t even wanted to eat. She was sleeping when K called. She’ll be one hungry dog tomorrow.

My daughter, A called about an hour ago and we’ve made plans to get together tomorrow. We’ll be heading out to the farmer’s market in the Junction and we’ll see where we go from there. My husband’s birthday is next week so we’ll probably be looking at some potential gifts to buy. Unfortunately my vacuum cleaner stopped working this week so I might also be looking for a good sale on vacuum cleaners.

As I’m writing this post I’m watching the last two episodes of America’s Got Talent. This year’s show has some of the best talent I’ve ever seen. All of the six finalists are winners in my eyes. They all deserve to be there and I will be happy, no matter who wins (or won, seeing that the winner was announced earlier in the week).

I had planned to get some work done around the house this weekend but I think having fun with my daughters and friends is going to take precedent.

Cheers!