Thursday to Monday, October 21 to 25, 2010

Thursday

It looked wet out when I got up but my trusty radio station said that it wasn't raining so I got dressed for rain anyway and headed out. It started to clear when I was out and I didn't get rained on. I added a couple of new residential streets to my walk this morning. 

The power head on my vacuum kept cutting out on me this morning. Gordon looked at it and the wire for the power was broken so I packed it up and took it to the Vacuum Shop. Christine, the owner, is really nice and promised it would be ready today. I continued on to the grocery store, then home for lunch and a nap. Mid afternoon I went back and picked it up, all done. Thank goodness. I'd hate to be without a vacuum with this burgundy carpet! 

It was chilly today but we did have some sun. If we were still in the RV we'd still have about a week to go before crossing the border. Way too cold for that this year! 

Friday


It was way cold this morning. I could even see my breath when I went for my walk. It was cloudy too but later in the morning the sun came out although it remained cold.


I found a recipe at the optometrist's office the other day for Health Bars and decided to try it with a few adaptations to accommodate my food sensitivities. Unfortunately the basis is oatmeal so Gordon can't eat it. Here's the recipe for anyone who would like to try them.

Health Bars

 (The photo is before they were cut up into bars)

1/2 cup all purpose flour (I used gluten-free AP flour)
1/2 cup uncooked old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats, not instant
1/4 cup wheat germ (I used flax seed)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seeds (I used walnut bits)
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup dried fruit bits (I got dates and cranberries)
1/2 cup honey
2 Tbsp molasses

• Preheat oven to 325F
• Grease a 13x9" baking dish. Line with wax paper; grease paper.
• In bowl combine flour, oats, wheat germ and salt. With your fingers rub butter into dry ingredients until blended.
• Stir in next five ingredients until well blended.
• Wet hands and press into pan.
• Bake 35-40 minutes until golden.
• Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes.
• Invert onto cutting board; Remove wax paper while still warm.
• Chill on cutting board 1 hour.
• Cut into 12 bars.
• Note: Store chilled in airtight container up to 2 weeks. Place sheet of wax paper between bars when storing.
• Makes 12 bars.

Note: These bars are awesomely good! 

I spent the afternoon snoozing on the couch. Don't know why I'm so tired today.

Saturday

We had some s*** overnight as evidenced by the roof of our shed (see below). It was cold and cloudy this morning but at least there was no wind so it wasn't bad for walking.

This afternoon I took a couple of boxes of stuff we don't want or need to the Thrift Store. They were happy to get it.



We did get some sun today but it wasn't very warm. It's the last day we'll be seeing sun for the foreseeable future, probably Friday. It will be warmer though!


We actually turned the furnace on today. We've had it on briefly a couple of times but not to leave it on.




Sunday

Yup! Woke up to rain this morning. I went out for a little while but only about 15 minutes. I was wet! 


After breakfast I was trying to organize the broom closet. It looks slightly better. That lead to putting something on top of the cupboards to make it more level so I can put my roosters and stuff up there. Gordon got that done. Then cleaning up and vacuuming. 


It rained all day. I read and did computer stuff and made some chicken coated in bread crumbs for dinner. 

Talked to my older sister early this afternoon. I used the Google Voice function through gmail to telephone her as I had to call her back to tell her something. It works really well! They say on the link above that it's only available in the U.S. but it works here too! You can also call other phones not just other computers which is handy.

 

Monday


Another gray day but at least it wasn't raining when I went for my walk.


After breakfast I headed out for more groceries. I can't believe what we eat! It was mostly for perishables but I always manage to find something else. I even bought some Hallowe'en candy as I expect we'll have some munchkins on Hallowe'en.

When I got home I found that the two Wayne Rostad CD's that Gordon had ordered for me last week had arrived in the mail. Since I had to go out to the library, I took them with me and went for a little drive to listen to one of them. 

Wayne is local so all the songs he writes are about the local area. They a folksy kind of music. He's well known around the area and across Canada as he had a television program for a number of years called 'On the Road Again'. He's been called Mr. Canada and Canada's Storyteller. When we had the house I had the LPs but, of course, sold them when we went on the road and I've missed his music. It's not something that you can pick up on any radio station. He used to perform live in the area as well and I've gone to see him often. He's a great entertainer! Unfortunately he doesn't do that any more, he's more involved in the community, especially the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario and the Ottawa Heart Institute Telethons. The photo to the right is Wayne, he's just a good ole boy!


These are the two CD's

If anyone is interested in hearing him sing and entertain he's on You Tube.

Today is Municipal election day. I mailed my ballot in a couple of weeks ago. I like the idea of not having to go somewhere to vote.