Chicken ‘n Dumplings

Mid afternoon today, I headed into the house for a Christmas Eve meal with the family. Mom made her chicken ‘n dumplings and put out quite a spread. I finally had to request that the chocolate chip cookies be put out of arm’s reach. 😀 Yuuuuum.

My friend got me one of the most hilarious gifts I have ever received. I especially appreciate that while it’s an inside joke type of gift, it’s also practical!

I love metal tins, so I’ll be able to reuse the container for my more ordinary bandages after. 🙂

I was surprised that mail was delivered today, so I got my annual supply of holiday marzipan pigs from an Ottawa friend. *waves and thanks you kindly*

Happy holidays to my readers!

Not Minding the Slight Chill in the Least

It’s been a little chilly here in Suffolk the last few days. It was -1C this morning and we’re sitting at +9 tonight. The forecast ahead is a little grey, with highs in the low teens. Compared to some of the weather we’ve had in the last month, this is practically frigid. Compared to the weather north of here, it’s positively balmy!!!

On this weather map, I’m just barely in the yellow (you can see the name Norfolk very clearly and I’m less than an hour north of there). Looking at this map, I’m seeing very clearly that I should be going south when I leave, not west. So I may rethink my plans about going to Nashville. 🙁

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Lethbridge is sitting at about -21C tonight and Jody is reporting lots of snow and nastiness out there. I’m glad I got to stay there during a balmy winter! Between last year and this year, I have just about forgotten what winter is. And I am constantly shocked when friends on Facebook in Yukon, BC, Quebec, and Ontario mention the slush or the cold or the shoveling. That mess is so far away from my new reality that it might as well be occurring on an alien planet. I mean, I shopped for sandals today, not something I ever expected to do in December!!!

I am so grateful to be sitting in such temps tonight and even more so to be planning to head for one of the two red spots on that map in about a week!

It's Finally Time To Open that Bottle of Champagne!!!

Reader Gary, this post is for you! 😀

My insurance cheques were sent to Lethbridge. Jody is home and has kindly agreed to deposit them for me for me on Monday. Intact sent me the full amount I requested!

This long nightmare is over and I can’t wait to open this tonight!

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I’m going to do so outside. The last time I opened a bottle of champagne, I wound up making a hole in the ceiling (sorry, dad!).

Post edited to say that I did it!

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Yeah, I could have been classy and splurged on a champagne flute, but who only drinks one glass of champagne? This glass is about a pint, or six servings, which is about right for me for champagne. *hiccup* And this stuff is good! I wasn’t expecting anything this delicious for less than $10!

Ordering Glasses Online From Zenni Optical, Part Two

My order of glasses from Zenni Optical arrived today!!!

I ordered the glasses around the 10th of December, so this being the 22nd, they have arrived in less than two business weeks. I am very impressed with the level of expediency!

I had intended to take them down to the optometrist to confirm the prescriptions are correct before raving or ranting about my order, but with everything being shut down tight for the holidays I will satisfy myself for now with the fact that I can see clearly!

The glasses were packed in a bubble envelope:

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Each of the glasses came in its own case with a cleaning cloth. Very nice touch. I am horrible about using my shirt or a tissue to clean glasses instead of using a glass cloth. Perhaps I will finally reform my ways?

I like the added touch that the sunglasses were in a different coloured case. The rulers are for measuring your PD.

I like the added touch that the sunglasses were in a different coloured case. The rulers are for measuring your PD.

The first pair I am going to show off is similar to my old one.

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Photo on 12-22-12 at 2.27 PM #3

These are probably going to be my every day pair. They are incredibly light. The bridge of my nose aches at the end of the day from the weight of my glasses and I think it will feel much better now!

I thought there was a problem with this pair at first (perhaps that they had missed the anti-reflective coating), but I think I simply did not allow for an adjustment period. The longer I wear them, the more they feel great. Unfortunately, they do not have spring hinges.

Here is second pair with wire frames. It looked silver on the screen, but was clearly marked as being blue on the order form, so I’m not surprised by the icy blue colour.

Each cloth is different, what a nice touch!

Each cloth is different, what a nice touch!

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Photo on 12-22-12 at 2.27 PM #4

This pair has some fancy detailing on the sides. They are a little heavier than the brown pair, so they will probably end up being my backup pair. They have spring hinges.

The third pair is a green plastic frame for when I want to add a pop of colour to an outfit without being too showy.

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This pair has spring hinges.

The fourth pair is a pink plastic frame, again for when I want to add some colour to my outfit.

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This pair is a little redder than I would have thought and do not have spring hinges, but they are the prettiest of the bunch and the pair I was most excited about. I’ve had boring sensible glasses my whole life, so these are a little bit of rebellion! They do not have spring hinges.

Finally, my prescription sunglasses. I wanted a tortoiseshell pattern, but could not find one with a frame type I liked in my size. This pattern is more zebra-ish, something I knew because of a review, but they are lovely! They are going to be my main sunglasses and I will keep my older, very scratched pair, as backup.

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Again, I only paid $71.05 total, including A/R coating on all five pairs and shipping, less a 10% holiday discount!!!

Taking the time to measure my old glasses and sticking to shapes I know suit my face explains why all of these look good on me and fit properly.

I am thrilled by my first experience ordering glasses from Zenni Optical! In fact, I would like to place another one in a few months before I leave the States so that I can have two more pairs of prescription sunglasses. This way, I will be able to leave one in both vehicles and one in the purse.

 

Few Jobs Are Too Big For the WonderWash

The night before last, I was awakened to the delightful sound of my boy hacking up a hairball all over my bed. I won’t go into any details, but you’ll get the picture when I tell you my Neelix is not a cat but a proverbial pig (proverbial because there is no way pigs really are that messy).

When I got up in the morning, I assessed the damage to see if I could spot clean the comforter. Had it been Tabitha’s mess, sure. Neelix? Nope. If it wasn’t the comforter I’d spent so much time looking for, I would have just thrown it out it was that bad.

I used paper towels to get rid of the solid mess and to soak up as much of the wet mess as possible. I then applied a generous amount of stain remover to the soiled spots and let the comforter sit in a bucket for a day.

I thought of taking it to a laundromat, but I really don’t have time to waste at one these days and I also am loathe to put my comforters in anyone’s machines as they are very furry because I then have to spend ages defurrying.

I checked the forecast to see if there was good weather ahead for line drying outside and seeing that this was the case, I decided to just hand wash the comforter, but not too sure how as it was probably too big for my Wonderwash.

This morning, being the apocalypse and all, the forecast changed from hot and sunny and perfect for laundry to damp and cold and miserable and windy and nasty and omg I need to run the dehumidifier full blast if I don’t want mushrooms to grow out of my ears. Never mind, I needed to get that comforter washed!

I crammed it in the the Wonderwash‘s drum, surprised that it fit with enough room to spare for me to believe my plan could work. I added detergent and water (lots of water, that comforter sure soaks up a lot!) and spun the load for about three minutes, about three times longer than I normally spin a load. I then drained some of the water, added more, and spun for another minute or so.

Then, I inverted the drum with the comforter in it to let as much water drain out as possible. That done, I wrestled the now very heavy and waterlogged comforter out of the Wonderwash, beat it to death to get more water out, then rinsed and wrung with two buckets of clear water.

It is now spotless, still very furry, and dripping away in my shower.

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Total time spent so far: 30 minutes. Drying could take a couple of days, of course. But this was a lot less work than packing off to go to a laundromat and sit around!

I love my cats, but boy do they keep me busy…