The grocery gods are angry with me today.

Please excuse that gratuitously pagan post title. But it's true.

I went grocery shopping today, something I usually do on my -rare- Wednesdays off. I went East instead of West today, because I wanted to visit my sister Rachel and give her a bit of adult conversation. She has been cooped up with her little ones for a few weeks, being sick and all that, so she has a mild case of cabin fever. I made it a bit better.

Anyways, I went to Food Basics to shop, because I find their prices are the best of the major food chains. Plus I don't like plastic bags, and Food Basics is phasing them out, and if you want them you have to pay for them. That's why their prices are cheaper, I think. They don't pay bag boys.

I bought myself 6 cool-looking fabric grocery bags, and they are awesome! They are so huge, you can pack everything in there, and there's no fear of them ripping and spilling all your goods all over the baking pavement in 25 degree weather! Yay for fabric.

But I've lost my point. Angered grocery gods, and such.

Well! I went into Food Basics, and reached for a grocery cart.

BZAP!

"Ouchie! The cart zapped me. Stupid static electricity."

I dismissed it quickly from my mind, and went in the store to do some shopping.

I hummed de dummed down the first couple aisles, picking out my fruits and veggies, getting all that healthy crap that we're supposed to eat four or five servings a day of. Then I went down the next aisle, and went to grab a jar of pickles.

BZAP!

"Ouch! Dangit! Stupid pickles zapped me! Darn static."

I took of my sweater, deeming it to be the culprit, and again set my mind on getting groceries.

My next mistake was to touch a jar of peanut butter.

BZAAP!

"S-O-A-B!" If you can't translate that, then good for you. If you can, then it means something else, I swear. I mean, I assure you.

It went on that way, through the whole store. Everything I touched was cursed by the hateful grocery gods. I was zapped by freezers, shelves, things on shelves, the cart, anything and everything in that store.

Tyler better appreciate what I go through to make him good, nutricious meals, but especially his treats. I basically braved and survived a lightning storm to get him his ice cream. The freezers were the worst.

I was definitely traumatized as I left the store. I was afraid to touch people in the entrance, more so than I usually am. I must have looked like a freak dodging away from that old lady with the feathery coat with a terrified expression on my face.

"No no, please no more!!!"

I went to Zehrs afterwards, to pick up pictures and get a few things that Food Basics doesn't carry. Twitching and skittish, I reached a trembling hand to grab a cart.

And,

didn't get shocked.

Oh joy! Elation! Calloo, callay!

Nothing in Zehrs shocked me. Not one thing.

So I was wrong, it's not the grocery gods that were angry with me... it's the Food Basics gods.

Stupid fictional beings.

My dog is beautiful

I know I post a lot about my dog, I do.... But she's so darn pretty!!

We were laying around, enjoying the sunshine, and of course I just 'happened' to have my camera with me... I am becoming a picture junkie. When will the madness end? Probably never. Especially if I get the yummilicious camera of my dreams that I keep seeing enticing commercials for on TV. Stop tempting me, Kodak!

Brady liked the snow, but she likes Spring just as much now. She can pee wherever she wants!

Lucy is also pretty.

Someday I'll have kids to post pictures of, so you won't have to gag over my love for my

doggy-woggies.

I promise.

I am not writing a new post because Linda told me to. I'm writing it because I wanted to, and it is only coincidence that Linda wrote a pressuring comment. So there.

I am very tired today, because at work I had a lot of sows farrowing (a lot being 44.... that's a big group of overheated, labouring, grouchy, bad-tempered 500 lb beasts to deal with all at once.) On top of that, we got home from work today to discover that our sweet doggy had diarrheaed all over herself and the floor of her crate. All I can say is, thank God that we crate-train our dogs. Phew.

Anyways, we took her (in her kennel...) outside and hosed her down through the slats, then let her out and hosed out her kennel. Ty finished bathing her and scrubbing her kennel clean while I did a deep clean of the living room. Can't have a room you spend a lot of time in reeking of wet dog poo, now can you?

So anyways, some odd hours later, I have scrubbed every inch (pretty darn near) of my living room, the floor is sparkling, the wainscotting is dust-free, and the cobwebs (and spiders!!!) are in the belly of my Shark. Shark, Vacuum, that is.

I vacuumed the kitchen floor, but I didn't wash it, because Mom stopped by on her way home from soccer, and my momentum went poosh. I am very tired now, and I am going to go to bed.

Goodnight!

Splaaaargghg!

That is the closest I can get to writing the sound of a gargling death cry.

I only write that because, holy moly everyone on TV is dying!

CSI's Warrick, DEAD.

House's Amber, DEAD.

NCIS's Director Shepard, DEAD.

Aye Karumba.

I don't like it.

Pictures from yesterday's "Fun Day"

Linda & Daniel, looking fah-bu-lous.

My sister Adeena, mommy of the "Creekside Family" gets a bottle of Creekside Merlot.

Hehehe!

My nephew Trenton twists his hair when he's thinking, just like me!

Tiana displaying her very bad habit of fingernail biting... tsk tsk!

GARRRRRR I'm a vicious, vicious Tigah. GAARRRHHHR.

Hehehe, Jay.

Little sister Elena holding my baby niece Ava

My nephews Nathan & Michael playing Bionicals! Raaah!

A fun day

Today I had a busy day, but it was worth it. Busy days usually are, unless they are those nasty busy days where you're rushing around like a chicken with it's head cut off and you're always two steps behind where you want to be, and by the end of the day you don't have anything done and you're exhausted and discouraged and you hate the world.

Thankfully, today was not one of those.

I got up pretty late this morning, because I haven't been getting much sleep lately (medical issues... you don't want to know, trust me) and I woke up at the comfortable time of 8:30 a.m. I puttered around for a while, brushed my teeth, etc... then I left my sleeping husband upstairs, and I went down to start dishes and clean up my kitchen. There wasn't very much mess, so it didn't take me very long, and by the time Tyler came down at 9:30 I was done.

We had a quick, easy breakfast of cereal together, then I figured I should get started on baking something for the potluck my family was having at my mom's house today.

I made chocolate chip cookies (the best cookies... seriously), cut up a pineapple, and made beef vegetable soup to take. That took a while, right up until it was time to have a shower, get ready, and go.

I always have fun visiting my family, whether it's just one of my sisters or the whole bunch together, but today was super fun because it's been a while since we've all gathered together. We didn't have an Easter gathering because so many of us were sick, and we've all acted a bit like hermits, Tyler and I included.

The only one missing was Rachel. We missed you, Rachel... Although we had your son, so a piece of you was there.

I showed everyone my scrapbook, and I looked at mom's. We talked, laughed, joked, and had serious discussions together, all accompanied by tea, food, and later, wine.

I got to play with my nephews and nieces, and take pictures of them, which I always enjoy.

All in all, it was a great day, and I'm glad it happened.

I love my doggies

Lucy is a very pretty girl... even with her PSYCHO eye!

Brady is pretty, too... but goofy. A HUEY HOY! HYUCK, HYUCK!

I love my doggies.

I'm whining for wine.

Last week I went to the liquor store, because everyone knows (or at least, now everyone will know) that my mom LOVES red wine, she drinks it like it's going out of style. Okay, no she doesn't.... but everyone wishes they could look as stylish as my mom drinking wine. Or something.

Anyways, as I was buying this cleverly named little French wine, The Arrogant Frog, for my partly French-blooded mother for Mother's Day, I decided that I needed a little nip of wine for myself. Since there were a bunch of various wines for sale near the till (and no I did not buy a 6 dollar bottle of wine for my mother for Mother's Day... what do you think I am, a cheapo?), I decided to purchase one. It was an Australian wine, it had a picture of a gecko on the bottle, and I think geckos are cute. That is what I base my purchases on; the level of cuteness. So sue me.

I didn't open the bottle that night, I decided to save it for when I really wanted it. That just happened to be the very next night. I was very tired and sore after a really long, exhausting day at work, and all I wanted was to sit on the couch and enjoy a glass of wine before bed.

Well... first things first, I had to get the bottle open. I began to play around the paper seal at the top of the bottle, where there is usually a small tab that you pull on to get the paper to peel away. After a fruitless search, I realized there was no tab. My wine was stuck.
Only slightly annoyed at this point, I reached for my scissors, and pried away at the seal, trying to get enough of it cut that I could pull it off with my fingers. I finally get some worked away from the bottle, and just as I was saying "Aha" to myself, the scissors slip, and my fingers are scraped.
My annoyance level went from .03 to 1.0 at that particular moment, but I shook it off.
The bottle was corked, so I grabbed my corkscrew from the drawer, and proceeded to dig it into the cork.
"La la la" I was thinking.
The corkscrew was in far enough, so I went to pull out the cork. I heard a slight crack, and suddenly the cork broke in half, half of it still in the bottle, keeping my wine away from me.
My "expressing sounds of annoyance" cells in my brain kicked it up a notch from "sigh" to "growl".
Relentlessly I began to dig the corkscrew into the second half of the broken cork. No way was I going to let a little piece of soon-to-be garbage push me around.
I had only given the corkscrew two turns when the other half suddenly burst into a hundred pieces, most of them falling into the bottle, filling my wine with flotsam and jetsam.
"Growl" became "Curse CURSE CUSS!"
Not to be outdone, I grabbed my wine glass, and put a clean dishcloth tight over the rim. I thought that perhaps I could pour the wine through the cloth, filtering out the tiny pieces of cork from my drink. It was not to be, for the cloth proved very absorbent.. it just sucked up my wine like a tiny little drunk who was kept in court-ordered rehab for three weeks.
At this point, I began to complain (rather loudly) in the general direction of the living room, where my non-wine-drinking husband was contentedly watching hockey. He, being a gracious man, came into the kitchen to see what the heck was wrong with me.
I hurriedly told him the whole story, and he gave me a look halfway between a smile and a frown, and said "Why don't you just use a coffee filter?"
Ohhhh.
My husband is a genius!
So I did, I cleaned out my coffee pot, put a fresh filter in, and poured my damaged wine through.
It worked! It came out clean, free of miniscule pieces of indigestable junk.
Triumphantly, I poured myself a glass, and tra-la-laed into the living room, beaming from ear to ear.
I planted myself beside my husband, snuggled into the crook of his arm, and took my first sip of my hard-earned beverage.
And spit it out again.
And spit the taste out for good measure.
IT was AWFUL. Horrible. Terrible. Comepletely and totally the worst wine I have ever tasted in my entire life. I know I'm young, but I've tasted a lot of wine! It was sour, bitter, heavy, and disgusting.
I couldn't believe it. I sat on the couch with a dumb look on my face, as my husband laughed at me. The man.
Defeated, I dumped that stupid wine down the sink, and what was left in the bottle, too.
Then I went to bed.

First post of May!

I have been neglecting you, month of May. For this I apologise.

I am SO HAPPY. I have found a recipe for perfect, and I mean perfect, Chocolate Chip Cookies. Now... I mean perfect as in, perfect for me. If you are one of those people that I know that can't have dairy, ie butter, than this is not the perfect recipe for you. If you are, like me, in need of Gluten Free foods, than this is for you!

Seriously, though, they are awesome. They even look perfect.

How Pretty Are They????

Anyways, the recipe is as follows:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/3 cup Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour (Yes, it does exist.... I found it at a health food store.)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts (I used crushed almonds, but you can put in your favourite nuts. How did I crush the almonds? Well, I took whole raw almonds, put them into a doubled-up plastic sandwich baggie, then schmucked them with a hammer. It worked pretty good!)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egss & vanilla until light & fluffy. Combine flour, baking soda & salt. Add to creamed mixture, beating on low until blended.

Scoop up tablespoonfuls of dough, and plop them on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool for 5 minutes on sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. If you don't have a cookie cooling rack, then.. I can't help you.

They are REALLY good. Tyler says they are the best cookies I've ever made him, and I've made some pretty darn good ones.