I found out on Friday that Mercury was in retrograde, according to my friend at Hippie Cahier. Apparently, this is a bad thing. I’ve decided to blame everything that’s happened to me this week on that messed-up planet…
1. “Goodbye, Red Meat…I loved you well.” Kaylee, Scott and Elise came over for supper on Sunday night. I served a beef and barley stew (with rutabaga and carrots from the garden). Everybody loved it…I would have thrown in a few more vegetables and a bit more barley if I’d known how much they would love it! Monday morning, the beef caught up with me…I gave up pork several years ago due to difficulty digesting it (I don’t have a problem with cured meat like ham and bacon, thank goodness!), and have lately started having trouble with beef. I did not go to the bookstore on Monday.
2. Computer/Internet Issues. Those started on Tuesday when I got back to the bookstore. Every time I’d try to leave a comment on somebody’s blog, I’d have to do it two or three times because I would get booted off the Internet…it’s been like that all week! I’ve had trouble with Hotmail too.
3. Modelling Clay Emergency. We got home late on Tuesday night, due to Anna having cheerleading, Devin having an orthodontist appointment, and Hope’s cheerleading practice being changed from Wednesday to Tuesday. Thankfully, Jim’s parents picked up Devin and Hope for us since it was impossible for us to get there in time! After supper, Hope announced that she had to have modelling clay for a project at school…too exhausted to go out again, I suggested we make it. She also told me she had a couple of other homework assignments…aargh! Hope printed a modelling clay recipe from the Internet, and I got out the flour, salt and water. She wanted four colours of clay…I spent the next hour trying to incorporate food colouring into the rather stiff dough (I really want to thank whichever child lost the lid for the blue food colouring…my hands were blue for three days!). The colours came out very muddy-looking. Meanwhile, Hope was busy in the dining room. After a while, she came out and chucked the clay in the garbage: “I can’t get it to stick!” she said. “I told you we should have bought it!” I wrote a note to the teacher to explain why the homework didn’t get done…sigh…
4. Modelling Clay…Take #2. We brought home massive amounts of dollar store modelling clay for Hope’s project on Wednesday night. We also got Christmas cards, wrapping paper, and candy canes (for hot chocolate, of course – one of Anna’s “emergencies”). Hope got right to work with the “good clay” and constructed her cheerleading stunt group. She told me that the legs kept falling off, so she decided to leave them off. There is also no “front” in the stunt group (the “back” is hidden behind the “flyer”):
5. Revenge of the Orca Beans. Jim made supper, but I didn’t eat much because I wasn’t feeling very well. I had made chili on the weekend with orca and romano beans from our garden, and had put some in my lunch on Wednesday. Some of the family had eaten it Monday night, but I was still recovering from my “red meat episode” so had opted for cereal instead. Jim had mentioned a bit of stomach distress after having it for his lunch on Tuesday, but I blamed that on the massive amount of chili powder he’d added to it. By 6:30 Wednesday night, I was in agony…I spent the next 4 hours in close proximity to the commode and eating the Costco version of Imodium like M & M’s. In the midst of my misery, I remembered that I had sent some of the killer chili home with Kaylee (Scott won’t eat beans, so she doesn’t make chili), and decided I’d better give her a heads-up. I dialled her number. “Hi…you know that chili I gave you? Did you eat it yet?” Kaylee told me that she’d planned on having it for lunch the next day. “Throw it out!” I told her. “I’m dying here…”
6. “Expedited” apparently means “Whenever you feel like it.” I felt like a dishrag on Thursday when I woke up…I opted to skip work again (lucky I can do that!). Jim didn’t feel well either, so we stayed home together. Dad phoned me from the store to let me know we had gotten an e-mail about a book I’d ordered for a friend on November 25th. I had requested “expedited shipping”…according to the e-mail, it was sent on the 29th…it took them four days to get it out of the building! They also stated that it would take up to 14 business days to arrive! If time wasn’t of the essence, I wouldn’t have bothered paying the extra for shipping!
7. Farewell to a dear friend. Friday was a sad day…members of our book club gathered at a local restaurant for dinner to send a good friend, S., on her way out of the province. She is moving 2000 miles away with her new man, who we met, and approve of…very nice fellow! Dad and I gave S. a book about Emily Carr, an artist we knew she liked…S. was moved by the Celtic blessing I wrote in the front. I had a glass of wine, and a beautiful spinach salad before bidding S. “Adieu”…I know we’ll see her again…she is a Maritimer, and they always come home!