Saturday June 5, 2010

I was getting tired of my old template and the templates that blogger provides didn't inspire me so I decided to google it and found several sites that provide templates. This one feels kind of cheery!

This morning I made an oriental spaghetti salad. I got the recipe from one of our free weekly newspapers we get. Since my sister is coming for lunch tomorrow I decided to try to make something different. I was going to make a gluten free white cake from scratch but my baking powder had expired (in 2003). Shows you how much I bake! Instead since I had to go out for baking powder anyway, I bought a GF white cake mix instead.

We also picked up a new mailbox as our old black one was peeling and looked generally unkempt. So now we have a brand, shiny new white one. When we paint the interior doors (red), the mailbox might also get a coat or two of red.

While we were out I picked some wildflowers to dress the place up a bit so I have daisies and lupin. I also saw some Queen Anne's lace just at the top of our street. I might have to go and get some of that later.

I cleaned the whole place but no doubt will have to vacuum that burgundy living room carpet again in the morning. Tonight I'll get the laundry done and out of the way. The place is looking pretty good (upstairs anyway).

Here's the recipe for the Oriental Spaghetti Salad if anyone is interested in trying it.

Spaghetti with the lengths broken in about four pieces (I used a whole package of GF corn spaghetti)

2 carrots, diced

½ cup sweet red or green pepper, diced

½ onion, chopped

1 can tiny corn cobs, drained and cut into bite sized pieces

½ cup peas, fresh or frozen

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into bite-size pieces

¼ cup soy sauce

1 tbsp vegetable oil

½ cup mayo

½ tsp prepared mustard

Before you cook the spaghetti, break the strands into three or four pieces. Cook in boiling water just until the spaghetti has lost the starchy taste. Before you drain the spaghetti, read on.

If you are using frozen peas, measure them into the bottom of your colander. Drain the spaghetti by pouring it on top of the peas. The hot water will thaw them and they’ll be ready to use.

Run cold water over spaghetti and peas and drain well.

In a large bowl, combine the spaghetti, peas, chicken, carrots, onion, peppers and corn.

To make the salad dressing, mix the soy sauce, oil, mayo and mustard together. Use a whisk, or stir with a fork until the mixture is smooth.

Pour half the dressing over the salad, and toss to coat the spaghetti and vegetables. Add more dressing if needed. Refrigerate overnight and serve at room temperature.

For some reason Gordon can't eat store bought mayo so I made my own for this recipe. They do sell gluten free mayo so I might try that if the homemade doesn't go over well. My mother always made her own mayo when we were on the farm but hers turned out creamier than mine did. I'll have to research some more recipes.

Friday June 4, 2010

Last evening while the stove was cleaning and it was kind of smokey in here, Gordon went out and bought us some new smoke detectors. There was only one in the house and it was at the other end of the house from the bedroom so he got two.

Yesterday when we bought the comforter set at HomeSense, I said to Gordon, I'll bet the Sears order comes in now. Guess what? I got the email this morning. The Sears order is in. Since I've washed a lot of the items in the set I purchased, I'll be sending the Sears set back. Wouldn't ya know it!

Got lots of things accomplished this morning. Gordon worked his butt off but had fun playing with his new ladder.

This afternoon we went for a drive to the little hamlet of Jasper. We first stopped at Edmonds Lock as it's on the way. I can remember going there when I was a kid. There used to be a government surplus place there to get used office furniture. When my sister started high school we went there to get her a desk. I would have been about 8 or so. I don't remember much about it. It has some interesting buildings.

General Store in Jasper - reminds me of buildings in Texas

Old Community Hall in Jasper




At Edmonds Lock



On to Easton's Corners, another hamlet with more interesting buildings.

Old Carriage Factory building at Easton's Corners

Old wooden bridge at Kilmarnock Lock


Kilmarnock Lock


One thing I found out on our excursion today, this area has LOTS of places to picnic. There are lots of locks on the Rideau River and every one has a picnic area. If you're interested in the history of the Rideau canal, click here.

After that we came back to the city to run some errands and pick up some food for the weekend. My sister from Toronto is coming for lunch on Sunday as our niece's graduation from Ottawa U is early Monday morning. Betty hasn't seen the house yet so we've been trying to get the place spiffed up a bit.

Here's a photo of the bedroom for those of you who have wanted to see it. It looks like the head of the bed is really high but it's really only 4 inches off the floor. I need to look for curtains now.


I found some gluten free hot dog buns at our local grocery store today. So we're having hot dogs tonight and eating outside on our patio set for the first time! It's time it got christened!

Thursday June 3, 2010

For Gordon's latest blog update, click here.

Last night Gordon's son called him and left a message (Gordon was in bed) so Gordon called him back this morning. They have news. They're having twins in November. Our 7th grandchild will be the 7th and 8th! That's the first set of twins on Gordon's side of the family.

I was up most of the night with a sick stomach so stayed in bed most of the morning trying to catch up on the sleep I didn't get. Gordon had a scheduled appointment for a consultation with Dr. Tambay who was the doctor that diagnosed his celiac disease eight years ago.

By noon I felt a little better so we got ready to go in to Ottawa for his appointment. I dropped him off as there's no where to park a one ton truck. I headed to HomeSense which is a store owned by Winners. It sells dishes, bedding, some indoor and outdoor furniture etc. My main objective was to find a comforter set.

The only one I could find was a toile in black and cream so I bought it. I also bought a few towels. Their prices are really good on towels and they are soooo soft.

I was still in the store when Gordon called to say his appointment was over so I headed to the cash and got checked out. Then off to pick him up.

I showed him the comforter and he basically hated it. Since there's another HomeSense at Bayshore Mall, we stopped there and took it back. They had a different selection there and we found a set we both liked so bought it and headed for home. This comforter set also came with sheets which we didn't really need but we got them anyway.

Now I have to call Sears and get the other one canceled.

It's such a relief to be back in Smiths Falls after a trip to Ottawa. There aren't so many small parking lots here so not much problem parking the truck.

We decided we would have soup for dinner tonight so I made some cornbread from a gluten free mix that I bought at Bulk Barn. It's not as light as the mix I get in the U.S. but it will have to do.

I haven't used the oven since we've been here as it's been so warm. It was really dirty so I decided to clean it tonight. I love self cleaning ovens but they sure do smoke a lot and that really bothers my eys and Gordon's lungs.

I'll be taking some photos around the house now that things are pretty much in order. We have to decide on which of Gordon's photos we want to enlarge but for right now we have the pictures and frames that we've picked up at garage sales and flea markets. At least we have things on the walls!

Tuesday & Wednesday June 1 & 2, 2010

Tuesday

Tuesday morning I found a desk on usedottawa.com. That's the last big item to furnish our upstairs. We still have a couple of end tables to find. So in the afternoon we took off for the east end of Ottawa. We arrived without much of a problem. The owner and his wife are moving to Newfoundland so are selling a lot of their stuff. The desk is very big and heavy. Luckily the owner helped Gordon get it into the truck but I couldn't help but wonder how we would get it into the house.

When we arrived back at the house we got the smaller pieces inside but the top part was really heavy so Gordon decided to take it apart. However, he couldn't find out how to do it so I went next door to our neighbour to see if her son-in-law would come over and help us. He was there within 15 min. and all pieces are now in the office. Once Gordon gets the bottom part together we'll have to have him come back to lift the heavy top part onto the base. There's no way I can lift it. I managed to move it about 3 inches or so in the truck and it was all I could do.

Wednesday

This morning I went out to get some shopping done.

When I got back Gordon had a plan to get the top of the desk onto the desk. It took a bit of finagling but we did it!

After that, since I had seen a chair on sale at Staples, we headed in that direction. However, we also needed end tables for the living room. So we made a slight detour to pick up the tables, then on to pick up the chair and a chairmat to put on the carpet under the chair.

While I went outside for some swing time, Gordon put the chair together. My neighbour from across the street came over to chat for a bit. She showed me a public access to the water just two houses down so now Gordon has only a short walk to get to the water. Amazing what you find out from people who have lived her for 40 years.

Gordon is getting quite adept at putting things together. He's been quite cheerful about it but he tells me it's only because he's almost done. We now have all the furniture items for upstairs. FINALLY!

If I could only get my comforter set from Sears, I'd be happy and then I could take some photos!

Monday May 31, 2010

Today while I was doing the laundry I decided to clean up the laundry/furnace room. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the house was built. We're talking serious dust bunnies, spider webs and dust. My eyes are still smarting and it's late afternoon.

We've known since shortly after we moved in that our central vac system didn't work very well. Today I decided that we either needed to buy a new vacuum or fix this one. So away we went to the Vacuum Depot. The lady that owns it is very helpful. She had some suggestions one of which was cutting the PVC pipe to see if the pipe was clogged.

When we got home Gordon took the pipe off the canister and suction was good so he started taking the piping apart and we found a MAJOR clog. Once the clog was removed, we now have a central vac system back in working order! I am happy!

While we were out we stopped at Home Depot and got a closet rod to use for hanging up clothing out of the dryer so Gordon got that installed this afternoon.

While out, we took back the gray comforter to the Sears catalogue depot so now the only one I have is the beige and black one and they still can't tell me when it will arrive or if it will arrive. However I just got my new Sears winter catalogue so I'm looking at comforter sets in it.

Things are shaping up!