Mr Clean????

I took the day off to do some house cleaning and I am just about as frustrated as I could be. I don't know how it got so damn dirty in here and I am not applying myself like I sometimes do and getting it all done at once. I am distracted and disinterested and pissed off.

My cock-a-doody vacuum cleaner is not working. I have never had good luck with these stupid contraptions and it seems paying a little more and getting a real vacuum cleaner doesn't make a damn difference. I swear to God the bloody thing gave up the ghost the minute the warranty timed out.

It's a Bissell upright and it's about as useless as tits on a bull. How much do you have to pay to get a half decent vacuum cleaner? I could probably get this one repaired but I don't like the way it cleans anyway so what's the point. Oh, it sucks, but the brush doesn't turn now. WTF?

I just spent an hour scooting around the kitchen on my ass sucking up bits of dirt with the crevasse tool.

That does it, I am going to tidy up and have the cleaning service come in to do a proper job then it's off to buy a new vacuum cleaner I guess. Anybody have a vacuum they would recommend? It helps if it pulls itself out of the closet when I'm not here and gives the place a going over. I would settle for one that works and doesn't seem to just blow the dust around. And no uprights. Never again.

Gah! I am procrastinating. And another thing...

Just kidding. Getting back to work now.

I was looking for an image to go with this post and typed in "frustrated housewife", WOW, soooo much porno.

Are you up?

I love this mechanical swimming girl at Kits Pool. The wind makes her swim. It is so beautifully made and her swimming movements are so perfect. I wonder who made her?

Things are going okay here at Belly Acres. I'm trying to keep it real but a lot of it is just fucked up. And a lot of it is really exciting and cool. Problem is, I can't talk about any of it here. It's too personal. For the moment anyway. Once things become resolved I promise I will let you in on it all. In the meantime, I could use a proper nights sleep.

With the heat and the fact that our bedroom is just soooo messy I am not getting decent sleeps and that must be resolved. I am thinking a lot about a new bed. I'm not saying our bed is bad it's just not good or bad. It's adequate. I keep hearing about new types of mattresses, rubber, foam, air, combinations of regular and memory foam. I even dream of going to a king size format but just the thought of having to by all new bedding discourages me. Even though I know we could fit a king bed in this bedroom you just never know about the next place we will live in. It would suck to have to change back to a queen. Still, all that room. Sigh.

When I first moved out on my own I had an old used mattress and box spring and we slept on that for the first 5 or 6 years until it became obvious that we needed to do something about it. We went to Sleep Country and bought a new bed that we couldn't really afford. They were nice enough to let us make monthly payments and the deal was done. I remember pushing the old mattress down the stairs to make room for the delivery of the new one and watching it practically disintegrate as it tumbled down the stairs. I don't even want to think about the dust mites.

On the day of delivery I waited with much excitement for our new landing pad to be delivered. I was so excited. Finally the guys showed up moved the bed into the bedroom and started to set it up. One small hitch, there were 2 box springs instead of a box spring and a mattress! I was so disappointed but the delivery guys just sorta shrugged and said I would probably get the mattress in a couple of days. A couple of days?! I'd thrown away the old bed and now they were telling me they couldn't help me for a couple of days. Well I was having none of it. I called the store and spoke to the guy who sold us the bed. I was pretty pissed by this time and he didn't really seem to care enough. That's when I decided to tell him if I didn't get my bed, that day, that I would be on the phone to head office so fast that heads would be a-spinning. We got our bed that very day, funny how it wasn't all that hard for them to accomplish after all. What should have been a happy exciting experience of buying our first large purchase together was marred by incompetence and poor customer service.

You've all heard the jingle, "Sleep Country Canada, I'd buy a mattress anywhere else."

Any suggestions? Do you love your bed? What kind is it and where did you get it?

Is that living?

Now that I have got all that emotional baggage out of the way, not to say that it's all done for me but I won't be subjecting you to it today. Time to move on.
I'm up damn early again today. Our place gets the early morning sun and the heat, brightness and noise from the traffic is not good for sleeps. I think I need to take a trip out to the local Swedish retailer and look at getting some light blocking curtains or something. After sleeping at my MIL I realize now how much sounder and more peaceful I sleep with some peace and quiet and it makes me wonder. I wonder about the damage it does to a person to constantly hear noise in their living environment. Let's not forget it's this season when some people feel like it's necessary to ride their super loud motorcycles around town. The other morning at about 5:30 or so we were treated to a motorcycle that was so loud it was setting off every car alarm it passed! An unbelievable noise. Woke us both up startled and we both wear earplugs to bed!
On the other hand living in the vibrant city is something I would have a hard time changing. I love being able to walk out the door and have gourmet grocery stores, funky clothing stores and tons of restaurants to chose from, all within blocks of my front door. There are also live music venues that are not only great to catch bands at but I play gigs at them regularly. I have one venue directly across the street from me?
Then there is this amazing building we live in.
That being said, living a block or two off the main drag would be so much quieter. And I think the grass might be greener too.

You want a piece of me?

So many feelings today it's hard to sort through them. Woke up in an unpleasant way and was in tears within 10 minutes. Had a big bawl and was comforted by Superman and then he turned around and made it worse. Then I was sad and mad. Fuck!
Bff called and I burst into tears again, told her the whole story and received some comfort. Then we decided to go to Kits Pool and swim some laps and talk things through. It was the right thing to do Bff is also a member of my family and my troubles are coming from my clan so it's just good to be able to talk to someone who knows the history, is a great listener and has good mental health advice for me. Getting exercise at a time like this is also great. Relieves stress and gets my mind somewhere else.
Frustration! I fucking hate being misunderstood and email is so evil sometimes. Things get taken out of context and with the wrong tone and intention far too often. Oh yes and things that are said can not be taken back after the send button is pressed so you better be sure. I had some pretty horrible shit thrust at me last night and I tell you I didn't handle it well. I shoved some right back. Enough already, it's not a fucking contest to see whose feelings are the most hurt. Who wants to win that one? Not me.
I'm angry, surprised, disappointed, flabbergasted, misunderstood, disrespected, discouraged and feeling violated. Did I mention I am pissed off?
This is the second time this year that I have ended up in an email war with someone and let me tell you they only get worse as they progress, not better. I have to take some responsibility for not learning my lesson the first time. Lesson learned. Never again.
Oh and Facebook is the spawn of the devil. A playground for passive aggressive bullshit.
Here's my Facebook status- Barb is...Fuck You!

What's for dinner?

Such a busy weekend. Too busy for me but I had the day off today to clean up a bit and recover from all the shenanigans. I spent the afternoon with a BFF having a yummy salad and hearing all about her trip to Paris. *sigh* Paris.

She brought me some fantastic little gifts including a little metal Eiffel Tower a naughty French postcard and a lovely tin of orange/anise flavoured bon-bons. She knows me so well!

So what's for dinner tonight?

We were so ready for a healthy meal and we were definitely feeling the lack of vegetables and roughage in our diet this weekend so with that in mind we set off for the grocery store. I didn't really feel like doing a lot of cooking and just wanted something easy, healthy and quick, so here it is. Turkey burgers, coleslaw and beans.

Here's how I make it yummy..It's all about the coleslaw. I buy packaged coleslaw with just shredded green and purple cabbage, and carrots To that I added chopped green onion, chopped granny smith apple, sunflower seeds and sprouted beans. To that I added an organic peanut, tamari salad dressing. Mix and serve. Yummy and healthy too.

I know that this isn't anything fancy or tricky but I always have trouble trying to fix something easy, healthy and fast.

What's your favourite easy, healthy and fast dinner?

Should Vegetarians eat animal crackers?

Well friends it's been a pretty good weekend and I have the bags under my eyes to show for it. Friday night was spent at my dear friend's home discovering the flavours, textures and 101 things that can be done to make raw vegetables beautiful and delicious to eat. Not to mention the health benefits. Truly eye opening. This is not an easy adjustment to make and a lot of work to prepare but this meal was spectacular and super yummy. It opened my eyes and made me think about that whole meat thing. You will notice all the wine on the table. Hey, grapes are raw food. Lots of great food and so much good conversation with some of my favourite gals. The night ended with drunken WiiFit and Mario Cart. Wii=FUN.




Saturday night was spent with my BFF from when I was 13 years old. We don't get the chance to see each other as much as we used to but every time we get together it's like no time has passed. We wandered a couple of blocks down the street to see Superman's band and sat and drank a few beers with some good folks in the neighbourhood. The boys rocked the house and a good time was had by all. It turned into a late night after all with an early morning for some reason. That called for a wake up call of lots of strong coffee eggs, hash browns and farmer sausage. Yum.

I spent the rest of the day puttering around and being on call for work. Eventually it started to feel like dinner and I was feeling pretty homey. Did I mention that I live above a gourmet grocery store? I know. Did I mention I live right next door to a liquor store? Did I mention I live half a block from my work. Yes, I have a charmed life but I planned it that way dammit!

When I start feeling all homey it's almost always Chicken Stew and Dumplings. I am famous for my Chicken Stew and Dumplings, for real. I picked up some free range boneless, skinless chicken thighs carrots, onion, celery (the leafy parts have the most flavour). I cheated a bit and bought a can of sweet corn and a can of sliced mushrooms. These ingredients vary a lot when I make this dish. Today I was feeling pretty lazy so this is the easy-peasy version.

I cut the chicken into just bigger than bit size pieces, dredged them in seasoned flour and got them browning in the frying pan. Then I add the onions, carrot, celery and some garlic and let it all start working together. Within a couple of minutes our home smells amazing.






Once things get good and friendly in the pan I de-glaze with chicken stock or water or in this case the water from the can of sweet corn, add the shrooms and those fabulous baby red potatoes that have been showing up in the store the last couple of weeks. I added a little more water and put the lid on until it boiled over and made a mess on the stove top. You can skip that step if you want. Don't forget to season after every new ingredient is added and taste it from time to time to make sure it is just right. I usually use just sea salt and fresh ground pepper, you can add any herbs you like but to be honest I don't think it needs anything fancy. I have used white wine, rosemary, sage etc. but I really don't think it's necessary. The most important part is the onion, carrot celery combo, that's where the aroma and flavour come in the most.

Usually I mix my dumplings up and throw them on top but I used too shallow of a pan, no room for dumplings so I made biscuits.
I'm going to give you my dumpling recipe anyway. Okay, not MINE but the one I use.
DON"T LIFT THE LID FOR 15 MINUTES! I can't stress this enough , people.


I decided on biscuits and as soon as I got into making them I realized I only had 1 cup of flour and I needed 2. I searched high and low and decided to try substituting pancake mix for flour. I looked pretty floury. The dough came together pretty well and baked up well and I have to say...fluffiest biscuits ever! Not the prettiest but very yummy and fluffy for days. What a relief.

I thickened the gravy up a bit with a little milk and flour and here is the result.






Here's Superman diggin' in. I think he may have shed a tear. Leftovers for tomorrow. Yay!



That's it folks, good friends, good food, good night.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday night and don't forget to tell me...

What's your favourite comfort food?

is it time to wash the sheets?

I woke up just before 7 this morning, took a deep breath and realized that my bed smelled like a used jock strap. (I'm guessing here) It smelled like a sweaty boy. My guy refuses to sleep naked unless I render him thus and just hunkers down under that down comforter and sweats out all his toxins. It drives me crazy because my side smells like flowers and sugar cookies and his smells all sour and assy. I'm not all crazy about changing my sheets every 2 days like Oprah although I would if someone else was changing my sheets. I don't do it once a week either because I get really attached to the bedding I am using and usually wash and put it back on the bed in the same day and I need a full day at home to do the job. Even though I have a nice set of bamboo sheets that are quite lovely I recently bought 800(!!) count sheets and now I feel like a princess. I mean, how dare he stink up those nice sheets. So now I feel like I have to splash out another chunk of money for a summer weight quilt and a nice silk or bamboo cover. I am turning into a fucking princess in the bedroom, I swear. Today I cleaned up my clothing carpet, vacuumed and washed the floor and found a new place for the bed. Now there is more room and we both have access to a window that opens for individual comfort. When he came home from work and saw it he panicked because it's different but then said he would have to get used to it because I was in charge of such things. He's learning!
That reminds me of a funny story. My Mom used to rearrange, tidy and organise all the time. She was a stay at home Mom and she always said she was never bored for one minute, she truly felt that running the household was her full time job but it was probably more like two full time jobs. Anyway, my Dad was in the habit, in the old days of going out for a few drinks with the boys after his softball games or such and I think Mom was probably a little pissed off and decided to rearrange the bedroom. Dad came home late and drunk and probably thought he could sneak into bed and she would never know what time he got in. He went to sit on the bed to take off his socks and slip into bed in the dark. Of course he ended up on his ass because Mom had moved the bed. He fell hard as one would, thinking you were going to land on a nice soft bed and finding nothing but hard floor. I don't think she ever let him forget that one we laugh every time she tells it. I love that story.
Today I am a domestic goddess! I cleaned everything and made a healthy, yummy dinner too. When I got back from my walk after dinner the dishes were all done. Niiice.
Tomorrow is hump day, not for me mind you. I don't have a real hump day, I like all the days but maybe I will get humped. That'd be okay too. ;-)