Helenka, Queen of Outer Space

Only I can have such fun. After waking up to the alarm at 7:30 so that I could prep the veggies, I finally removed the can opener from its packaging. Naturally the instructions were for fleas. But, still, I managed to find the battery compartment, insert two, then close everything up. I put the can of onion soup on the table and started the procedure. Only thing is I had no warning that the speed would be high and, at the end, the entire opener would fly off the can, the lid clutched securely by the cutting mechanism. Okay, that's enough excitement for the morning. I poured in the red wine, added the sweets potatoes, parsnips, and mushrooms, and left it alone for 8 hours.

After eating way too much of it, I have all these nutrients bouncing about in my body! And I've been drinking ginger beer to soothe my tum. What else did I do today? Well, I wished that wascawy wabbit (I mean my BFF and chosen baby brother Brian) a very happy birthday! And then I vegged. Watched last week's N.C.I.S. Nola (imagine Hispanic lesbian Gregorio pretending to be a deployed (male) sailor's wife, twin-set and all, to fit in with the wives.

Anyway, I feel the sleep endorphins kicking in, so I'm headed to bed, thankful I have NO reason to set the alarm until Saturday. Yay!

Wow! It was an exhausting and tumultuous day. So the exhaustion was from getting my groceries delivered. Piles and piles of them which then required me putting them away. Can you hear my spine screaming? Of course you can! But-but-but I ordered luscious fruits including something I've never had before - aka Dragonfruit. I'll have to ::giggles:: ask Googly on my phone about how to evaluate ripeness and how to eat it.

So, after all of that, I was wiped out. In the late afternoon, we experienced two power failures, about a minute apart. Luckily I didn't try to restart my computer but waited a few minutes. Apparently the winds had been so severe (didn't sound like it in MPH) that trees were once again crashing down onto streets, being pulled out by their roots, and disrupting power lines. So, we survived that, but - as S. posted a picture to FB, there were ...things torn off the side (roof?) of the house. I can't tell what was what, but I guess someone wil tell me eventually. Very strange weather.

I finally got around to getting my weekly Big Bang Theory and Young Sheldon fix. I laugh So. Much. when I watch that show (I guess it's in my DNA, lol).

Now I think I'm going to indulge in a bit of ice cream. I put off cooking until tomorrow (when I'm going to throw back ribs into the slow cooker along with bourbon hickory bbq sauce). Yummmm.

Remember, kids. Don't do this at home. Don't do what?
Don't feel you set the alarm for 8 but really set it for 5 (fracking) o'clock; even worse after going to bed at 1:21. Sigh. Groan. Yawn.

But, as I was up, I got myself several layers of waxed paper and laid them on a tray. Then, as quietly as possible (as I didn't want to wake the house up), I sliced one large sweet onion. Yay for step 1. I made a bed/base/whatever of the onion at the bottom of the slow cooker. On top I placed the three leg chops, poured over a can of onion soup (yes, I cheated), added freshly ground sea salt & rainbow peppercorns, three sprigs of fresh rosemary, and rose wine. It was supposed to slow cook for 8 hours, but I was impatient so made myself a dish from it after 7. Had it with a glass of the wine. I prefer shoulder chops, but the lamb was still good. The onions were terrific. I put the rest away with the sauce which I will reduce, then pour over small boiled potatoes.

I booked my appointments for my hair and feet for next Friday. Decided I didn't feel like spending an exorbitant amount for gel polish, so I'll be ensconced in my throne (massage chair) for a while. Oh, my back is screaming for relief.

I e-mailed the leader of our book club, telling him about my troubles with the MP3 files. He told me I had to save them individually. So I did. Then I listened to the first segment. OMG, over an hour long. This is going to be a very long read. At least the reader's voice is captivating. He does differentiate between dialogue and thoughts.

Because I'd been up for so many hours, I had to try to jump start my brain. But two cans of Coke had little effect. Uh-oh. After watching the news and WoF, I joined SuM and S. for movie night. We drank my Hypnotiq and had a bourbon pecan tart each while watching After the Party: Dominick Dunne. It was a strangely remote-feeling autobiography. The only parts I liked was seeing the old footage of the grand stars of Hollywood. Otherwise ... meh.

I was back in my space by 9:30. Watched tonight's epi of The Orville which was both scary and touching. I'm happy it's been renewed for a second season. Then I did a quick watch of Will & Grace which gave a lot more insight into Karen's character. Yes, I had a tear in my eye at the end.

Anyway, I'm going to have a couple of cookies, swallow my pills, and then do a little conventional eReading. But I'm really, really tired and have to wake up early to book my rides. Sigh.

Mind you, because it was hosted on an unfamiliar site, there was no idea of how long it was (I still have no idea) and just the option of clicking to the next section. There was so much ugliness and general homophobia in it, and manipulation of our fave SGA and SG-1 characters. Such a relief to have finished it. ::shudders::

OTOH, reading a story meant I didn't have to face any more political repercussions ... so that was a good thing. I think.

When SuM came home from work, she offered to fry up the frozen pierogi for me. That'll be great to have ready-cooked food in the fridge. I did my own semi-cooking for brekkie. I'd decided that my entrée of Meatballs with Peppers had had insufficient peppers the last time I ordered it, so I cut about 10 miniature multi-coloured peppers into rings and, after cooking them, enhanced the original dish. Now, I could really taste peppers. Yay.

Unintentionally offered sanctuary to the cats. We had trouble returning them back to their ::snickers:: rightful mommy! I groaned at Final Jeopardy! tonight. How easy an answer could you get (Scarlett O'Hara? Really???), so church-John and I exchanged incredulities via text. And I just finished watching tonight's sad MacGyver. Now I'm getting ready to see what happened in the world today. ::crosses fingers::

Considering how hilarious I was last night while typing my post (writing gibberish, then having to retype), I'm just thrilled that I got 8 hours of sleep. The dishes are all done from last night and put away. I did a load of laundry. Also made the pork loin chops with red cabbage, caraway seeds, minced onion, and crumbled bacon in the slow cooker. Eight hours on low and the meat was mostly ... meh. The tastiest part was along the bone. But the cabbage was absolutely divine. Hmmm. I wonder what it would taste like with the late addition of some acuavit (which I haven't had in decades; sigh). Still, it's nice to have the leftovers in the fridge.

I was an unexpected cat sanctuary in the evening. SuM asked whether I'd be willing to let Grumpy sleep on the couch overnight. But even he left eventually.

Because of my chores, I didn't watch any TV after my game shows. Even so, I think they're reruns which confuses me. There were first run epis of other shows this week. Oh, well. I'll survive. Right now, I just treated myself to a chilled can on Coke while I'm looking up microwave directions for my chicken wings. It's been so long I've forgotten how long to cook them. Oh, well. That's a problem for tomorrow.

I'll leave you with a hilarous and bone-chilling segment from the 6:00 p.m. news. There was a family (that'd lived in southern climes) who'd been down at the beach a couple miles east of me (I guess). What were they doing? SURFING! Even the kids. At least they were wearing wetsuits, but I can imagine how cold their faces were. Really, TO's a fun place to live. You'll meet all sorts of interesting people.

Was thrilled to enjoy a deep-snow sleep (the ONLY good thing about the S-word), not waking up until 9:25. Was thrilled to see that the hot lemon drink and simple cough lozenge did the trick of relieving a possible allergic difficulty-to-swallow reaction. But, then, all thought of being productive deserted me. No dismantling of the bed to affix the bed risers. Nuh-huh. OTOH, I did manage to debox the new electric skillet (hey, the Styrofoam was wedged in very tightly), but didn't screw the arm/leg combo on yet. Still, I did d/l the user manual. I also searched for chicken recipes, something I can serve church-John when I have him over for his birthday. I finally decided I'm going to invent a recipe, following both Italian (herbs, onion, black olives, pasta) and Polish (mushrooms, miniature multi-colour peppers, sour cream) influences, along with a generous application of rosé wine (which provides more body and a heightened flavour than white). I'm rather excited by the entire project and have decided this is the dish I'm going to make (as a practice run) just for myself on Christmas Day. Yay!

Speaking of entertaining, I also sent an invite to Ash for her upcoming birthday (close to c-John's). I was mortified that we hadn't celebrated her birthday this year until mid March. So, fine, we were also acknowledging St. Paddy's day and the beginning of spring, but I certainly hope we can do her birthday within her month, namely January. Her party will be a lot easier, as I serve a different flavour of chicken wings along with nibbles and grapefruit juice & vodka.

Just happened to have the TV on in the afternoon. Jim Parsons was a guest on Ellen promoting a new film (whose name I didn't quite catch). It's really timely to have been released as it's about three unacknowledged women who were vital in the effort to get John Glenn into orbit. I guess I'll make an effort to see it in a real movie theatre (and hope for semi-decent weather). In the evening, I watched a totally unbelievable epi of MacGyver where our intrepid trio managed to avert WWIII in Shanghai, as Mac cobbled together a GPS disruptor to make the misslle headed to the States blow up. ::widens eyes dramatically:: Yeah, sure. Whatever. Still, the actor who plays Mac is SO pretty. Mmmmhmmmmmmm.

Bed is calling my name and I haven't even had my hot lemon drink. I guess I'll succumb. Soft kitty, purr, purr, purr.

Let's just say my b.p. skyrocketed this morning when I was prepping the ingredients to start cooking my lamb dish. Hmm. Was it because I'd woken up at (eek) 6:30 a.m.? Didn't help. I'd chopped all of the veggies (red onion, green zucchini, green pepper, brown and white 'shrooms though had to substitute reconstituted dry 'shrooms 'cuz the fresh ones were way past their prime). Then let's just say I did some accidental juggling (!!!) with an open but recorked bottle of red wine. Uh ... after it had somersaulted, it ended up dangling upside down, but thankfully intact. Unfortunately, I also found out that the temp doesn't get high enough to sauter in the crockpot. So there was more grease/oil/fat than I'd wanted. But I got it going at 10:00 (having given the meat 23 hours of marination since yesterday). It also didn't help that my meals were delivered early while I was washing my face. At least I heard the knocking. By the time I arrived at the door, I saw the car departing! Luckily, someone noticed I'd come to the door and drove back into the driveway. ::rolls eyes:: Definitely an aggravating morning.

Okay, now that I'm already feeling exhausted, I had to stay awake in the afternoon. Ordered my meals and chastised my young man who normally only takes orders as he was the one who had nearly abandoned me this morning. Sigh. When my lamb dish had had enough time cooking, I had a bowl of it, accompanied with a glass of that ... uh ... versatile wine. Unfortunately, because of the lack of searing of lamb and sautéing of onions (not to mention the lack of an oven or accompanying pasta), the sauce was too thin and greasy. I lowered the heat to "warm" and just let it reduce for several hours more.

Then it was time to head to SuM's living room for movie night. The movie was called "Goodbye Solo" and had supposedly received critical acclaim. SuM and I both responded to that with a jaundiced eye. I'll have to look it up to see who the stars were (because blinde olde ladye is stille blinde). We just have to get some better movies in. Sigh. We talked on a whole bunch of subjects. I mentioned needing to get to a walk-in clinic for a referral for x-rays for my feet/legs, as the pain is increasing. SuM thinks I should just go to emerg ... but I can't seem to justify it in my mind. OTOH, I think I will look up the nearest Urgent Care facility - so, halfway to emerg. I only wish I had never fallen. Yeah, yeah. Truer words were never spoken!

Back in my place, I removed the lamb and veggies from the pot (review: the green pepper pops in my mouth; the lamb needs MORE seasoning), I'm just waiting for the leftover stock/wine to cool. There's probably not more than half a cup left, but at least it's got way more flavour. Now - even though I'm feeling like a zombie - I'm still going to watch my game shows. Can't let a day go by without Jeopardy!

The best part of today was waking up just a couple of minutes before 9. That makes me happy. The most unexpected part of today was receiving a visit from SuM who wanted to talk about the cat situation. Uh ... what situation, SuM? Well, she'd been talking so much to our neighbour that she thought she'd also talked to me. She left in the early afternoon and won't be back until Sunday afternoon. I still don't know where she's gone. In any case, I'm in charge of the cats and their more eccentric feeding schedule (that includes keeping Ce-Ce OFF the dining table while the other two get their fair share). Sigh.

The other reason for expanded cricket time is that, even though Brian replied to me, he's very busy getting ready for a con that started today. And Ash finally got a hold of me around 9:30. She has ... something or other tomorrow so she can't take me clothes shopping. ::pouts:: I guess I'll have to hope for next Saturday.

I'm sad that the current Jeopardy! champion, Buzzy, had his win streak capped at 9. And the other cricket-inducing news is that the Cavs finally beat the Raptors so our post-season activity is at an end. When I went to feed the cats their supper, I turned SuM's TV on and was shocked to see that we get TSN. Who knew? So I had the game on for a bit, but I'm not really into basketball. Just winning, lol.

With all this free time this weekend, I guess I'll be cooking my lamb chops. Tonight I had a very delightful dinner of Canadian whiskey apple bacon on a warm bagel. The bacon was wonderful, definitely boosting my endorphins.

Uh ... several hours ago. That's what being CBE (Chief Bottlewasher Extraordinaire) did to me today ... as I wore out my spine (especially) from washing out way too much recycling since waking up at 6. Sigh. And, also, OUCH!!!!!!!

So, obviously, that was my day. Sigh again. At least there was a wee bit of socializing with the cats, especially with poor, tiny, shorn Diva. And the other two, including Grumpy who yowled at me a lot. And also human peeps, including Brian when I asked him a question even while we were exchanging info on food, etc., as I'd placed a ginormous grocery order (largest in my life!) in the afternoon, planning to cook both ribs and also chicken wings in the slow cooker. Very nom. Also had a wee bit of a chat with my church friend Kurt who's hoping the spring weather this weekend will mean he can finally come to church again.

Anyway, now that I'm up, I'd better take my evening supplements including those all-important painkillers. And get ready for sleep again soon, as I have more cleaning on the agenda for tomorrow. Exciting, non? Yup, definitely NON! TTFN.

It was exhausting, running around trying to do ten things at once. I didn't even have time to look at my e-mails which was ... unwise. But I needed to tidy up and vacuum and prep food and-and-and ... lots of things. I finally put the chicken wings in the crockpot at 1:45. Eeeeek. Until I'd found some recipes online, I had no idea I had to cook the chicken for sheer hours. So I improvised. Gave them an hour on low, then turned the heat to high. And prayed. A lot.

Ashley showed up around 5:00 (I'm guessing because I was nowhere near a clock). She brought me a bottle of red wine (I swear church-John is a bad influence on her) which I'll enjoy at some point in the future with some aged cheddar. She loved how my place looked, as I proudly showed off all the enhancements. Before she arrived, I switched the TV to the nature-music channel (it's still playing, lulling me into a state of calm, especially as I've washed ALL of the dishes and cleaned up).

With the chicken wings, I ended up serving colossal black olives, grape tomatoes, gherkins (green for St. Paddy's Day), deluxe salted nuts (they were fab with very little salt), white corn and black bean salsa, and fresh pineapple spears. Yes, lots of fresh nummy foodies. We cracked open a fresh bottle of Absolut vodka. I mixed it with Blueberry Juice/Tea and Ash had hers with Pink Grapefruit Juice which she loves but can't get at work (hospital network has banned it because of its contraindications against many meds).

We had a terrific time gabbing and laughing. Even found out that we share a high regard for several TV shows. More yays. She also did me a couple of terrific favours. First, she got down on her hands and knees (I know, this is serious) to plug my new headset charger into a USB slot at the back of my CPU. Hmm. I thought I had a couple of hidden ones on the front. ::yells offscreen:: "Oh, Brian...." As usual, crickets. And she also found the not-seen-by-blind-lady speakerphone indicator on my cellphone. Oh, many yays. We also posted a joint happy birthday greeting to Rev. Kevin; I added a celebratory post on FB about our wee shindig that combined Christmas, her birthday, the beginning of spring and just lots of fun.

Even though we were stuffed, we had a tiny dessert of clementines, raw almonds and miniature dark chocolates. Alas, I did not make a pot of tea because we were so warm from the fireplace (which had added sparkle flanked by two square vases from Ikea holding lots of clear LED lights). After we'd unplugged the crockpot, we tried the other set of LED lights. I didn't even realize they were encased in lucite stars. And they change colour. I loooooooove them. Just don't know where I'll put them. But I'm a really happy camper (smiling even this late). I love entertaining and have said she must return soon so that we can have a pot of the Bellini tea (with appropriate tea-time nibbles, too). Also found out that she will be in the city for Easter, so we're going to surprise church-John with her presence at our Easter Sunday brunch. Anyway, I've got lights to turn off, more Perrier to guzzle and happy dreams to enjoy. Nighty-night, all.