More "This & That"....

There really hasn't been a lot going on these past few days.

Let's see.... Sunday. Yes, I DID get to eat dinner when I got to the inlaws, but it was all cold except the ham. (Which, the FIL DID try his best to keep things warm, but it'd had 3 hours to cool so..... *shrug*) My SIL had already left with her kiddos. The MIL was bored without having SIL & the nephews to wait on hand & foot. Every time MIL would start to say something to Tay, she'd immediately somehow turn the topic to my SIL & her kids somehow. *shaking head* And she had the NERVE to chew out Scott & myself for not being around more, when SHE'S never home before 9 pm anyway. Whatever.

(Scott DID say that his sis looks like she's 9 months prego with triplets, she's so damned big. Bigger than she was with EITHER of the nephews. And she was damned big with both of them.... We all wondered if she wasn't actually having twins, with both of those pregnancies. Also, though she'd origionally said that her due-date was the end of April, the date has been moved back a month to May 27th. *shaking head* It's no freaking wonder she's been in & out of the hospital lately, if she's that damned big and still has 2 months to go. Of course I'm sure she's still eatting horribly, which is a major no-no when one is gestational diabetic. After 3 pregnancies with out-of-control GD, I'm about ready to start taking bets on how long it's going to be before she's diagnosed as type 2 diabetic. I sure as hell hope she goes through with getting her tubes tied when she gives birth to this one.)

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Monday, was all work. *shrug* Nothing really to report about Monday.

Oh, and Scott pissed me off again (after his comments late last weekend about ME spending too much money)! He told me to only buy 3 boxes of Girl Scout cookies this year: one box of Samoas, one box of Thin Mints, and one box of Tagalongs. The Tagalongs are MY favorite so wisely he didn't touch those, but he knows I also appreciate getting at least ONE Samoa & a small handful of Thin Mints, and he usually even shares with Tay. This year he ate BOTH boxes completely without sharing with either Tay or I, and evidently on Friday and Saturday nights. (Because as of Friday morning, they were both unopened.) *shaking head* I've hidden my Tagalongs. I may or may NOT give him any. Though I have shared with Tay.

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Tuesday I had to leave work after only 2-1/2 hours because I wound up with a migrain. *sigh* They don't happen often, thank goodness, only about 3 or 4 times a year. And they're not as major, when I DO get them, as some of my coworkers have. They generally only last 6 to 8 hours, max. So, I came home & spent the next several hours vegging on the couch, wishing the pain would stop, and flipping through my seed catalogs. I've only got 2 left to go through, but I think it's going to come down to ordering from either "Seed Savers Exchange" or "Territorial Seed Co." Both mags have the biggest selection of the seed varieties I want.

I made shrimp & rice for dinner on Tuesday night and Ooooooh was it yummy. And we had sliced cucumbers for veggie. Unfortunately, something about it gave Tay & I nasty tummy-aches. Gassy tummy-aches, not food poisoning. And whatever it was about dinner did not affect Scott. *sigh* Oh well.... It was that kinda day.

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Yesterday I was back to work without any problem.

I got to spend a bit of time yesterday morning chipping snowpack/ice off the back deck. Tuesday & Wednesday got nice enough that the snow was melting from the underside, leaving these ice-shelves with a gap between the ice & the deck. So, stepping on the edge of the ice-shelf causes the outter edge to collapse & it can be swept off the deck. It's nice, seeing my deck get cleared off. I'm looking forward to the day when I can get out there & sit & enjoy the sunshine.

Or, get back to my morning exercising (which I haven't done since I got sick) & jump-rope on the deck in the morning. I really wanna get out there & make the most of that deck, darnit!!! *grin*

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Which brings us to today.

Tay's got a conditioning skate that she's going to tonight for the Arctic Lions Peewee team. It'd kinda allow the coaches to seee what she's got & judge if they think she'd be a good match for their team next year.

We were very disappointed this year with the Ice Breaker's league. It was poorly managed and our team was poorly coached. And there's a possibility that Tay could (would) end up on a team next year with too many girls (and too many goalies!) and a coach that scheduals them for tournaments all over the US. The 12U team this year had to travel to connecticut & San Jose & San Antonio for hockey tournaments and spent EASILY 5000 in tournament fees & travel costs JUST for the girls.

However, if they make two 12U teams next year & put DD on the lower-level team (which is where she belongs, skill wise) then she'd wind up probably being coached by the same guy who coached this year and last. (Last year he did an incredible job coaching, this year, not nearly so well. He really dropped the ball in a number of ways this year, not the least of which was his communicating with us parents & his personal skills with the girls.) Needless to say, we're seriously considering other options for next year's hockey season.

ALSO, Scott will be coaching Tay's Spring-League hockey team. Tay will be one of two goalies. The other goalie is that little boy she's grown up with that I showed in a picture a few weeks back when they faced off against each other. *grin* Now they'll be teammates. They've never been teammates before. Rivals & Friends, not teammates. This oughta be interesting.

And, of course, I have work today.

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I was talking to my coworker, CM, about how Scott got pissy with me last week about buying so much craft stuff, and how a good portion of the stuff is actually fabric for clothing, should it come to that point. She suggested that next time I buy fabric, I take Tay with me & tell her that she gets to pick 3 or 4 yards of which-ever fabric (in the variety of fabrics that I usually chose from, the less-expensive stuff) that she wants. THAT way, if the time comes that I'm having to make her clothes from these fabrics, at least she's picked fabric that she likes. Not a bad idea! It's already going to be tough, if that time comes, when she won't be wearing the kind of clothes she wears now. She may well be rather grumpy about having to wear homemades, and as my coworker pointed out, having picked out the fabric herself, at least then she'll have had SOME say in what she wears. Not bad wisdom, that!

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As I said, I've gotten my choices for what I want pretty well narrowed down to 2 different magazines. I just have to decide which is the better option. I noticed that most of the packets contain dozens, if not hundreds, of seeds per pkg. I'm kinda hoping that this is the case so I can pass some on. My one coworker (the one mentioned above) lives in a small apartment across from the library and I know she's got it tough even in GOOD times, for buying even the basics. She's on all the public assistance programs and her hubby doesn't hold any jobs regularly. (Though, right now that's working somewhat well for them as this means she doesn't have to find childcare for their 2 boys.) Anyway, I hope the seed packets contain enough seeds that I can then pass some on to CM. Even though she doesn't have a garden (or room for a garden or even some pots of plants) right now, at least if I can pass on some seeds to her, she'll have the ability to start some if the point does come where she can plant them. She's rather socially & economically aware as well, so she has some idea that such necessary times are likely on their way.

And quite honestly.... I wish I could do it for all my friends. I wish that there was some way I could share with Whim & Robin & Dirk & Barefoot Gardner & both Barbs, and so on and so forth.... But we all live in such diverse areas that it would be rather pointless for me to send seeds to Whim that I've picked for their adaptability to Northern conditions. It doesn't do a southern girl much good to have seeds that are suited much more strongly to my Northern conditions. So, I'm going to do what I can to help somebody who lives local, and hope that my more Southerly friends will find help from their area that I would willingly provide were they closer to me.

What worries me, though, is if I were to somehow produce enough to store for the coming winter.... Where am I going to store it?!?! I'd like to use a root-celler, but we don't have a room IN our house that is appropriate, and there isn't room OUTSIDE our house to build one. (At least, not until we build a garage, at which point I may be able to persuade Scott to build a lean-to root-celler on the side of the garage.)

My dad has offered to give us his big ol' chest-freezer when he moves out of his house (IF he moves out, at this point), and Scott & I want it. The only place we'd have for it, though, is on the back deck. What I am considering is putting our frozen goods in the outside freezer (in the winter it can be unplugged & still be used as a freezer), and regulate the temp on our inside (upright freezer) to a slightly warmer temp more appropriate to storing bulk veggies like cabbage, potatoes, onions and other root veggies like carrots, rutabagas, turnips & such. This way we'd have the ability to keep our veggies in the house, in a freezer-turned-root-celler, and our REAL frozen goods OUTSIDE in the big chest-freezer. And, as I said, we'd only have to plug that one in during the summer because the cold winter temps would keep it, and everything in it, frozen anyway.

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Then, tomorrow is of course my volunteer day at the school, and grocery shopping. I'm thinking I need to add to my stock of milk-related supplies for now. So, that's where I'm gonna spend a couple of bucks buying a couple extra cans tomorrow. (That, and replace the can of olives that DH used for tacos earlier this week.) It actually doesn't cost too much more, when you're only adding a couple of cans per week to your grocery list. At least for me, 2 cans of something is almost unnoticable in the grocery basket (and receipt). More than 2 cans is still doable, but still not too expensive generally. So, a couple of cans of table cream, a couple of cans of evap. milk, and another can or 2 of olives it is. And whatever I need to replace whatever I use this coming week.

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I had occasion to be jealous yesterday. In a purely superficial way, even. *wry smile* I try not to be focused on how folks look, but one of the things that always gets me is how some of the younger moms that come in for Library Storytimes are always dressed so beautifully BoHo. They wear flowing hippy skirts & look like modern (caucasion, in the case of most of them) gypsies..... And I love the style!!! But, unlike them, I'm not skinny. I'm petite, yes, but NOT skinny. Here were 3 different women dressed in this totally hippy-BoHo style that I love with skirts layered over pants & a couple of different tops layered for this incredible (to me) style, and all of them skinny little things. *grin* The best I can get away with, with my rather reubenesque shape, is eclectic scarves & earrings. It just makes me jealous to see other women pulling off a style that I love (some might call it "immigrant" style, all the layering & different fabrics), and knowing that it would make me look a good 30 pounds heavier than I am now. And, 30 pounds heavier would NOT be a good thing on my already pudgy body. *wink*

Ah well..... Like I said.... I occasionally have reason to be somewhat superficially jealous. Not a flattering realization, but at least I don't hate them for their ability to carry this off. (And hey, they all seperately complimented ME on the lovely scarf I was wearing as I sat there checking out their books. *grin* So evidently the style-sense is there, just not the ability to carry it out fully.) Well, at least I guess I can still be happy that it's not the styles of a certain hotel-heiress or a former-pop-star that I'm wishing I could steal.

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I think that pretty well covers what little is going on this week.

Have a Blessed Day!