Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Hello : My Name Is "I Suck"

A few weeks ago, WEEKS, I snagged a recipe from Annie at Real life Living (An awesome blog if you need info on cost cutting (who doesn't?) and super amazing recipes). Te recipe was for something called a Pumpkin Roll.

The minute I saw the recipe I KNEW I had to bake it! But, Im not sure If me and the Pumpkin Roll are meant to be.

The first hurdle (of many) I had to jump was my internet. I had clicked over to Annie's source for her pumpkin roll and read the recipe, an hour or so later I tried to go back to make sure I had all the ingredients on hand so I could make it that very afternoon and the page would not open. I was able to pen any other page AND other people could open the recipe page, just - not me!

Annie of course, came to my recipe, copy and pasting the list of ingredients I needed and emailing them to me. I had everything I would need but for the Pure Pumpkin. No problem, I went to the store after dropping Logan off to school and picked up a can.

I went home, set the cream chese out to soften, got all my ingredients assembled on the counter and then...

...And then I searched high and low, then low and high then left to right for my goddamn pan that I freaking KNOW I OWN, with no luck.

I called my in-laws, knowing my MIL would have the pan I needed, but of course they were not home. I wasn't horribly upset, I put the stuff away and decided to make it the next day.

But the next day was Music class, so it was pushed to the next and then the next day.

Finally, a week or so had passed with no sign of the pumpkin roll, and hubs asked me about it. I told him, yup, I'm going to make it this week. Except, in the middle of getting all the ingredients out - THREE TIMES - that week, the power went out.

Then yesterday I got everything out. I made two pumpkin pies, had my cream cheese on the counter nice and soft, raced for my can opener to open up the pure pumpkin and..

...And my can opener broke into seven pieces!

Yeah. It's like that.

Last night hubs fixed my can opener. This morning I once again got everything ready. I turned on the oven to pre-heat. Then I made a pot of coffee. I sat at the computer re reading the recipe, making sure I was ready to bake.

That's when I realized I had neglected to wash the tea towel I need to use in this recipe. (you have to wrap the cake part of the roll and leave it wrapped for an hour to make it curve, but you need a specific kind of towel so that the towel and cake do not stick together.) I only have one of them, so now I am sitting here, waiting for the washer to ding so I can switch it around and then wait for the towel to dry.

What else can go wrong? Seriously. I promised both the in laws and my dad that I would bring a pumpkin roll for Christmas eve/Christmas dinner and I am RUNNING OUT OF TIME.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Nobody Knows the Troubles I've Known

The car broke in the brake area.

LOL. that amuses me.

(STFU, little things amuse me and that's OK)

OK, wait, it doesn't amuse me that the brakes are Broken, becuase broken breaks aren't funny, they are scary and expensive, its the play on words that amuses me. I'm just not that into death and dismemberment.

In the past week I have gotten either a ride or had my neighbor drive Logan to class three times, and it bugs me. Ive taken her boy once all year. ONCE! Not very fair, wouldn't you say?

So I've been thinking about Christmas. Our neighbors are great people, with the exception of how early they go to bed. I like talking to them, and the kids love playing together. I'd like to get them something for Christmas, more than a box of chocolates, but less than, say, a subscription to a wine of the month club.

But WHAT? There are six days between now and Christmas, and tonight hubs and I are going out to finish up. all we have left is stocking stuffers. Tonight is the last time we will brave the malls and the hordes of people, so I have to decided on somehting now, today!

Any Ideas?

Class Auction

Once a month the kids have a class auction. So far, it is just Parker's class that does it, but when Blake is in a higher grade he will as well.

Hubs hates the class auction. He thinks it is horrible the school makes us buy something once a month to give away. He's a big ol grinch.

Me? I like them, see, the kids get coupons for behaving, for doing well on a test for keeping their desk clean and all sorts of things. The coupons are traded in once a month for monopoly money and the auction is held.

The auctions at the end of the month are just a little extra for the kids to look forward to. I use my computer memory to keep the auction dates straight, becuase we all know I won't remember on my own, and Parker and I go to the dollar store and spend some one on one time choosing auction items. Some days, like we did last night, we head to the convenience store and get candy for auction - candy ALWAYS sells well LOL.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Christmas Carols and School

I'm getting so so so tired of hearing that this song of that has been banned at a school Christmas play becuase OMG it makes references to Christianity! I am not a Christian, in fact, I have no religious affiliation whatsoever ...

Sure, I don't wander round Googleing for Christian videos, but if I happened to find one on a website, i wouldn;t freak out over it. Nor do i freak out over the fact that my own children will be singing Oh Holy Night in their Christmas play next Wednesday. It's a song people, it's not gonna hurt you!

Power Outage - Again

Today we had another Power outage. Again, it was right at supper time, and again, the power company had no estimated time fro when the power would be back on.

This happened just a few weeks ago, and the power was out for 13 hours. some retard shot the power transformer thingy and power was out for 100k people.

The horrid thing about today's outage, besides the fact it was once again at supper time, was that with the windchill it was -40 outside, and without power the fan in the furnace doesn't turn and without the fan, well, it was getting cold fast.

This kids were hungry, and so were we, and with no estimate of when the power was coming back, Hubs and I made the executive decision to drive into the city and eat at a restaurant. This itself is kind of perilous as we were uncertain how long it would take us to get our order and eat - would the car get too cold to start back up?

Thankfully, even though it took 35 minutes to get our order taken, the car started fine, but I am beginning to get really REALLY annoyed at the power company. They are our only choice for a power provider, so we cannot even threaten to take our business elsewhere. In the past five months we have had five major - lasting 12 hours or more- power outages, and only one of those outages - the shooting- has come with an explanation.

It's not as if I am asking them to turn water into Fenphedra, I just want to have a reliable source of power!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Location, Location LOCATION!!

Yep. I missing out on another review becuase of where I live. I saw a sweet review opportunity for a grill today, but I can't even apply to review it becuase I live in Canada.

Now, from what I understand, and I *could* be wrong, is that companies have different PR groups. Like a PR group based in the US may NOT send a review to Canada, but if the company had a branch in Canada, the Canadian branch could send out the product. It might be that more companies based solely in the US are doing product reviews, and if so, I wonder what I would have to do to get the word out to Canadian companies that there are tonnes of Canadian bloggers willing to test their product and try it out.

I mean, it would be cheaper to supply the product for a few hundred, say, Hydroxycut reviews, than it would be to take out print and TV ads to tell people about the product, and money right now is tight, I think, even for the big companies...

sigh

Well folks, it's official. I do not deserve to know, let alone type the words Diet, diet pill or exercises EVER again!

Why?

Because right now, at this exact moment, hubs is at the store, as per my request, getting snackage. Chocolate, chips, pop and of course, chip dip. OMG I love chip dip!

What right do I have to complain about my weight when i do nothing to stop its increase but blog about how dissatisfied I am?

It's time to either say good bye to snacks (yeah right) or become comfortable with who I am, chub and all!

Monday, December 08, 2008

Canada's Worst Driver

Every Monday we watch Canada's Worst Driver. Have you heard of this show before?If the idea that these people are on Canadian roads RIGHT now, wasn't so freaking terrifying, this show would be hilarious!!

It's on right now, I'm sitting on the couch typing during commercials. The challenge that the drivers must go through right now is called "The eye of the needle". They have a van, and a Styrofoam cut out with at least one, and probably two feet clearance on all sides. They need to drive through the arch without, ya know, hitting it.

They all hit it. Multiple times.

One of the tests they had to go through was a simple test. They were shown different signs, like an exit sign, yield signs, train crossing signs, and had to identify them.

Not a single one of them could identify all the signs. AND THEY ARE STILL ON THE ROAD!!!

LOLz With Kids

The following conversation should NOT have caught me by surprise.

"Mom. What are we getting Dad for Christmas?"

"Hmmm. I dunno. What do you think he would like?"

"Me and Blake and Logan were talking and we think we should give Dad an xbox 360!!"

"WHAT?!!"


And the reason the conversations should NOT have surprised me is that Hubs owns a PS2, a PS3, a PSP, a Wii, and the boys each have their own Nintendo DS. (Or at least, after this Christmas when Logan get's his, they all will LOL)

It should have come as no surprise that the boys would think of a game system when thinking of their dad in terms of gifts, after all, most nights they see him load up a game and play - of course, most nights, they are playing the game right along side of him. It might just be that the boys want an XBox more than they want to give one to hubs!!

Oh Dear....

Parker is only nine. NINE. he has been washing his face nightly with acne preventatives for a year, but he is STILL getting hte occasional zit. Actually, Im not sure if zit is the right word, he gets these... bumps along side his nose. They are int eh right place for a zit, but other than being in the shape of a bump, don;t look like a zit. They have no.. head? they are just bumps, no icky pus inside of them.

But it still worries me, regardless. See, if he is having issues with "Maybe-Acne" now, before puberty, what will happen when he actually HITS puberty??!

I tell myself that I shouldn't worry, that there is no point in worrying because we aren't there yet, not for a while yet, I hope, but I still spend a fair amount of time researching the best acne treatments available.

I'll just keep my fingers (and toes) crossed that we won't need it!

Gift Ideas for Boys

  • Train set. Not wooden, a real one. If it doesnt move, it's no good.
  • Matchbox Cars. My boys have at least 300 already, and trust me, they could always use more.
  • Play Dough and cookies cutters. Trust me.
  • Vinegar and Baking soda. Again, Trust me. Nothing makes my boys happier than me buying both Vinegar and baking Soda in the same shopping trip.
  • ball lock pins. Not quite sure what they are, but they look "toolish" and if there is one thing boys like, it's playing with tools. In the same vein, hammers, small pieces of boards, nails and hacksaws are also a great idea. If you can find one cheap, a cordless drill makes an awesome "boy" gift. My four year old is capable of handeling one safely so yours probably is too.
  • Candy. Of any kind. Seriously.
  • Shoe Boxes. I keep all my shoe boxes and give them to the boys, they take them and store a billion and one things in them. Secret things.
Kids - they are easy to shop for, and you CAN do it cheap.