A Peaceful Day Christmas Shopping -NOT!!!

Yesterday I went to Lethbridge with Megan, Christmas shopping. It was "supposed" to be a peaceful girl's day out, with lunch at 360 ( a Tapas Bar that I have always wanted to try out), some shopping and just an all round "get out of our boring town" day. I thought it would be fun to spend the day with Megan. WRONG!!!
We were hardly out of Pincher Creek when the road rage started. Megan is a very impatient driver and she had me so stressed out that I wanted to open the passenger door and jump out into oncoming traffic! I told her that all this "emotion" is not good for her or the baby, but she just seemed to get worse as we approached the city. When we actually entered the city of Lethbridge, then there were even more pedestrians, stop lights and drivers to piss her off. It wasn't starting out to be a very good day. I decided just to sit in my seat and keep my mouth shut, after one warning that she was taking all of the fun out of the experience by being so hostile.
Then we had to run a Christmas errand for Mike at Home Depot. He was looking for a particular drill set that he wanted to give to my father for Christmas. We hardly got through the door before I irritated Megan into a bad mood, by looking through the sales flyer. Apparently, she does not "do" flyers and it was a waste of time to look at the tools section in the flyer, when you could just walk over and see the real thing! Then I made the mistake of asking a clerk for help. Apparently, she does not like asking for help either, because she was in quite a mood by the time that the clerk explained that the advertisement must have been a US ad - they did not have that drill set combo on sale. Megan had already determined that it was not available and me talking to the clerk just slowed up the process. Not to mention that the clerk's mustache (by the way, the clerk was a girl) REALLY irritated Megan. We ended up having words in the tool isle after the clerk left!! I clearly stated that if it was an errand for Megan that we were doing, then she did not have to look in flyers or ask for help - but if it was an errand for me, then she had better back off with the attitude and let me ask for help and look in flyers!!! It got a little heated, but I actually thought I had got through to her because the next store was "non-confrontational".
Then we had to go to Chapters. OMG - what a BUSY, BUSY place!!! Every sales clerk was busy, so I decided to use the computer, myself, to see if what I was looking for was in stock. I determined that they did not have what I wanted, but that it could be ordered at the kiosk, which I was unsure about - did I keep using their computer or ask for help. One look at Megan and I knew that either way, I was screwed. So, I decided to stalk a clerk. I followed one nasty lady for about 10 minutes before I decided that tactic was not working, so I set up camp at the kiosk. Megan was glaring at me from the racks. I just stood there until a clerk pushed me out of the way to use the computer. Literally. Finally, Megan took charge of the situation, and I just pretended that she was not my daughter - I am sure that my books will eventually come in and they will be marked "for the bitchy, pregnant lady". I paid the bill and hastily left the store.
About five stores later it was time for lunch. The tapas restaurant was wonderful, but I wisely did not order a drink with my meal, because I knew that was going to cause a fight. I really needed a beer by then, but because Megan could not have one, it would have been drama if I indulged, so I let that one slide. The meal was excellent - crab cakes and a blue cheese/bacon burger to die for. One highlight of the trip!
The roads home were not the greatest, but at least there was no traffic at that time of day, so I did not have to listen to the rant about crazy assed drivers that should have their licenses taken away. When we got almost home, Megan politely asked if she could wrap my gifts. That is her favorite part of Christmas, the wrapping of the presents. So here is my plan for next year - DO NOT GO SHOPPING WITH MEGAN!! Just give her the gifts to wrap and let her be in charge of that. Note to self: do not go back to Chapters for a while, either!

That Is Going To Hurt!

I don't know why this ultrasound is so dark, in real life, it is so much better!! Can you see the little boy's face in the photo? To me it totally looks like a boy's head - but Megan says it is a girl and one would not want to argue with her these days!!! Mike is so excited, it is going to be hard for him to wait, actually, I think he is looking forward to this birth more than with his own children. His comment to Megan, when he saw this ultrasound was, "Look at that head!!! That is going to hurt!!" Megan almost burst into tears, so we decided that we had better stop teasing her.

Turning Old and Going to the Pain Center (both unrelated!)

Yesterday was a milestone in my life - I had a significant birthday. Not telling which one!! It just happened to coincide with Mike's trip to the Calgary Chronic Pain Center - which was actually a very fortuitous accident for me. Here I thought that it was going to be a very boring day and it turned out even better than I could have expected! Here are my 10 unexpected, yet delightful surprises from an otherwise depressing pain center birthday:

The first good thing that happened was that Myra's GPS got us right to the door of our hotel and then right to the Pain center without causing any stress. THANKS MYRA!!!! Having driven in Calgary with Mike and not knowing exactly where to go can cause some tense moments. No such problem!!

The second thing that occurred was that we actually got a doctor with some compassion and understanding - more rare that one might think! He was EXCELLENT, and I would like to mention him by name because he was that good, but I am old now and I have forgotten his name, seeing as I have only met him once. The Doctor sat with us for an hour and a half and actually explained and sympathized with us. Much better than being told that it is all in your head and you are addicted to Percocet (that actually happened to us this year) It forced me, yes, ME - Cindy, non confrontational Cindy, to lodge a complaint against a Doctor. REALLY!!! I did!

The third, highly unusual, thing is that this doctor had some ideas that had not been tried on Mike before and he was willing to try all of them, in order, to be able to find even just one thing that might make a difference in the quality of his life. The most interesting ( to me) is the idea of freezing parts of Mike's leg and killing them. Okay, you can probably see why it appeals to me and not Mike. It is not my body parts that they are going to freeze and kill! It sounds sort of futuristic, but he has evidence to show that it works in certain situations. We would try just about anything at this point!

Most importantly for both of us, the doctor suggested that a lot of the work that needs to be done on Mike (that makes him sound like a project) can be done in Pincher Creek, without him having to stay for five to six weeks in the city. All of the drug tests, therapy etc can be done under the guidance of Doctor No Name and be monitored by his local doctor, thus leaving Mike at home back here with me. I was really worried about what could happen if it snowed like it did two years ago and my staff and I were not able to get into the workshop. Without Mike and John Deere, we could be up the snow drift without a shovel!!! The downside to that, is that I had planned on doing a lot of scrapbooking with friends while he was in the clinic. The good news is that when they freeze him up, he will have to be in Calgary, so I still get to come, just not for as long as I thought! Last night I had a bad dream - or at least a partially disturbing dream. Lots of people, when they meet both Mike and I, think that he is a lot older than I am. I guess falling 30 feet and having your body parts amputated on a regular basis can age you a little! Really, there is only one year between us, but most people think he is much older than me. I guess the whole cryonics thing must have been in my brain when I went to bed, because I dreamt that they totally froze him and kept him frozen, until I was wrinkly and then they thawed him out so that we looked more "even". God! What I don't think of!! Don't tell him about this, he is sensitive to the fact that everyone believes he is older. LOL.

The fifth great thing is that our hotel was only a couple of blocks from the Keg and I got to have supper - truly, the supper was not that great, but the ring that I got WITH supper is pretty damn cool! I got a major blingy diamond and lots of little blingy diamonds in a new wedding set.

Number six and seven are a toss up - on the way out of the city, Mike took me to Chinook Centre to Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma. My mothership!!!!!!!!! No, he would not buy me any dishes, but obviously kitchen gadgets and goodies do not fall in that category, so I got a whole bunch of new shiny things to play with. I did see some dishes that I could easily die for, but I did not want to push my luck - that ring is pretty sparkly!!! I am just hoping that they have them next year!

Then for number eight, we went to the Nanton Candy store. They did not have cotton candy - which would have made my day perfect, but they did have a lot of my favorites! (Cotton candy is one of my worst addictions).

The ninth best thing is that while we were there, I found out about a cake decorating course that is taking place after Christmas and I am going to enroll! Megan is going to come with me, she just does not know it yet. I want her to see how hard it is, so that she will quit bugging me about making her wedding cake (when the time comes). She already expects me to take the photos, do the flowers and cater the event. The cake is just too much!

Finally, we got home and the tenth best thing happened - Megan had cleaned the workshop and totally did all of my work, so that I did not have to. Sweeeet!

This is not my collage - I am not talented enough to figure out how to do this on my computer- can anyone help me?? I absolutely love the mason jars, I have collected different kinds ever since I was a teenager and I display them all over the house. This was just too cute for words and so I had to copy it, to enjoy it over and over again!
This summer I went out into the gardens and picked a big beautiful bouquet of flowers from as many plants as I could find blooming. Everyone loved it so much, that over the weeks, I kept refilling it as the blooms faded and different seasonal plants started to flower - the "look" of the bouquet changed many times over the summer and this week, I am going to scrapbook those photos! It will remind me of the warmer days, as it has been downright chilly here by the mountains the last few nights. I have pumpkins all over the place, sitting at the gate posts and around the house, I am hoping that they do not turn to mush!!!
I am trying to ignore the clouds and the snow flurry warnings and live in denial just a few more days. However, Megan told me that the pumpkins are "tacky" now that Halloween is over. And can I just say something here- this is the very same girl that a few weeks ago told me that she is not going to be so strict with her children (as I was) and she is going to be WAY MORE permissive and not so bossy ( as I was). Megan does not realize that she can't even stop bossing me (her mom) around, so I want to see how this "permissive" child raising theory is going to work for her!! From now on I am going to pack a notebook around and write down all the stupid stuff that she says, so that 14 or 15 years from now we can see how her "new" theories on raising kids has panned out. HA!!

I'm back!!!! My last post was October 4th - then I got sick and I believe that I contracted distemper! I have been ill ever since that last post, it started with a runny nose and the sniffles and progressed to the point that I actually thought I would die from a sore throat. The doctor (who shall remain nameless) would not give me any antibiotics and told me it was viral. So, check it out - my symptoms were uncontrollable shaking from being ice cold, my nose was all pussed up, my hair was scruffy, my eyes eventually stuck shut from the puss - now, doesn't that sound like distemper? If I would have been a farm cat, my family would have put me out of my misery with a 22 shell!! Yesterday, I went to a different doctor who told me that if I was not going to stay warm and stay rested, I was never going to get better (and he didn't even know about the Jingle Bell Crop where we worked until we were sick again!) It has been a whole month of hell, but I think that I am getting better, today is the turning point!
For those of you who requested the recipe for the dessert at the Jingle Bell Crop, here it is:

Cindy's Pumpkin Dessert

4 eggs

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 cans PURE pumpkin (14 oz.) not the kind with spices added

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 1/2 cups evaporated milk

Mix these ingredients in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a separate bowl, combine 1 box of golden cake mix (I have also used lemon when it was on sale and it was just as good) and 1/2 cup hard margarine. (not hard as in chilled to hardness, just hard margarine as opposed to those whipped, soft margarine tubs) Get it?

Cut the margarine in until it is crumbly and sprinkle the cake mix evenly over the pumpkin mixture. Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

*** note, keep checking the pan s it cooks and turn the pan end to end in the oven if your oven does not cook evenly. You want to watch the edges, as they may get brown and burn before the timer goes off. Just keep rotating the pan in the oven if you see any such problems.

Serve with whipped cream, that is sprinkled with a little cinnamon. At home, I picked up some very, very small plastic pumpkin decorations and I put one on the top of every slice. Too cute!!!

This recipe makes a large pan, about 18 servings, so invite some friends over!

Enjoy! Cindy