No knives this trip

So tomorrow morning I'm off on vacation, leaving boyo to house sit. Will he be watching the pets, or will they be watching him? Hard to say.

You'd think that I'd be more or less ready, right? I mean, I'm leaving in the morning after taking boys to school. And after assembling a three layer marble cake. And after delivering said cake. I'm not ready though. You're shocked, right? That I'm behind?

Not totally behind - I've borrowed two really big suitcases. Just don't know what I'm putting in them. I've mainly done the laundry, though, so I should be able to find something. This isn't a "I-hate-to-travel bit of procrastination. It's a cookie procrastination with a dollop of I-can't-believe-I'm-going poor planning. See, I'm bringing cookies. Which I haven't made. And I keep thinking of different types to bring. I also think I could make the dough for a pie in the morning and pack it and frozen Saskatoon's in my luggage so I can make a pie when I get there. I was even thinking of making bread in the morning (because what else have I got to do other than lunches, breakfast, packing, driving and cake making?) and bringing it as a carry-on. Because it is sort of a long term thing (I'd be starting it tonight) and I really didn't want to spend a day of my vacation hanging out in the kitchen. And I also really wanted them to try it. Howsoever:
a co-worker suggested that having freshly baked bread on a flight where the only food is either two dry cookies or a sack of some strangely shaped crackers would be akin to torture. I could auction it off, though, when everyone is suitably ravenous, thereby providing myself with a little more vacation moolah. I think she may be right, so we'll see about the bread. Maybe bread is even on the new list of things you can't bring on a plane. Who knows? What about sourdough starter? If it is liquid, does that mean I can't bring it? What if it is like thickish cake batter, can I bring it then?

I'm not completely unready. I have a list of things to do today, like get to the bank (I forgot to initial something when I got the loan) before it closes and get to the deli (I've ordered six really wonderful sandwiches for my baby to have while I'm gone) before it closes. And maybe the grocery store so I can get maple syrup for maple cookies. Which I'd have to make tonight, of course. 'Cept I'll have to pack at some point. Oh and money so my boy can't go on his date with three women while I'm gone. Aren't I the most permissive parent?

Also on the list, in giant letters - and circled in pink highlighter - is the phrase "Take the knife out of your purse!!. Because I don't think I have it in me to repeat the previous knife-at-security trauma. I just want the vacation, short though it is.

Lower than a Snake in a Wheel Rut

I'm not one for folksy sayings. Well, not often. And I would have told you that neither are my babies. I may not be able to say that any longer.

I talked to M., and asked her to check the San Francisco sour, to see if it was alive and well. She said it looked bubbly. Sadly, that wasn't good enough. I needed to know if it was truly alive and smelling like death. So I asked her to smell it. Yes, I'm a mean mom. Ask May-B., I'm pretty sure I can't get in trouble over getting a child to sniff a sour dough starter. Anyway, she did, and I asked did it smell? Her answer?

"Yes. Like a donkey in August".

How many?

You know what is very difficult? Not reciting "Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers" when you're making a grocery list that has pickled peppers as one of the items on it.

happyhappyhappy

I have a new oven. New new new! I don't think I could be any happier. Ok, yes, if I had a new oven, a million dollars in the bank, a new body (or even just the one I had years ago back) and a vacation with Naveen Andrews starting tomorrow I would be even happier. However... the point is that the new oven has made me incredibly happy. I hope that there are things that can make you happy too. Things in the realm of possibilities, that is. Now if I can just stay at work until it's time to go home and not use up precious time-in-lieu! Work can be ok but when there is a whole new world of baking out there waiting for me staying here is very difficult indeed.

And for an encore, alien kidnapping and flaming death

So, in the past little while, I have had:
My large (and new and HUGELY expensive) Kitchen Aid mixer break (not yet fixed)
My furnace die (now fixed)
My car die (now fixed)
My oven die (will have to replace. So off to the bank)
My Ipod returned from it's loan to my son only to be run over (by me. And my girl and a friend replaced it. So I'm going to have to find the $ to pay my baby back)
No kids arrive for the roast beef/potatoes/gravy/veggie Sunday supper I prepared

The first thing happened a couple of weeks ago. The remaining FIVE happened in the space of a week. It was a very bad week. However...

As usually happens when disasters pile up, right at the point where by all rights I SHOULD be having a nervous breakdown, it all starts striking me as being funny. And then everything is alright again. So I think I'm back on track.

Words to Remember

A line I read today:
It's never too late to be what you were meant to be.

Making cold colder

So what makes Saskatchewan in February feel even colder than it already does? A dead furnace, that's what. That and the dreaded cold lump in the pit of your stomach as you contemplate what it might cost you in the end to get heat going in the house again.