FolkFest 2012 ~*~Day One~*~

Every year the city of Saskatoon holds a three day event called FolkFest.  FolkFest is a multicultural celebration through a series of pavilions dedicated to different countries and nationalities.  Every year there are additions and subtractions.

We purchased our passports ahead of time at the Safeway.  Notice I said passport?  It's a little book just like your very own government issued passport minus the gruesome photo.  This little book has a page for each pavilion which gets a unique stamp once visited, just like your real passport.

The Saskatoon Pipe Band

We decided since there are five pavilions located at the same location, Prairieland Exhibition, that it would be a great start to the festivities.  A couple years ago we really enjoyed ourselves at the Scottish Pavilion.  It was great once again.  There were tables with people selling Scottish goods - everything from sweets to kilts.  We took in the main stage and saw the Saskatoon Pipe Band playing bagpipes, which are very impressive in person.  There was a pub and cafe offering haggis, shepherds pie and shortbread among other things.  I've tried haggis and actually liked it.  Hubby says that's because my grandfather was Scottish. *shrugs*  I did buy toffee on our way out.  It was excellent stick-you-teeth-together yummy-ness.

Scottish Toffee

Next we went to the Philipinnes!  Other years we've entered this pavilion with unfortunate timing.....just when the entertainment was ending.  This time we waited around and took in some of the dancing and singing.  I love the filipino clothes.  They are colourful and often sparkly.  We looked at the handmade jewelry and I was tempted by the seller to purchase a sparkly beaded bracelet.....but I didn't.  At this pavilion we decided to eat.  We shared a "combo #2" plate with an extra pork bbq skewer for $13.50.  Included was Sinangag [fried rice], Pansit Bihon [noodles], Adobo chicken & Inihaw [the bbq'd pork skewers].  The one plate was plenty to serve the two of us.  If you wanted dessert they offered avocado ice cream which sounded interesting.

Apologies for the blurry pic, but these people were dancing quickly!

Then we cruised on to the Carribean.  You could smell the jerk chicken and they were encouraging people to walk up to the Tiki Hut.  On stage was a flame eater!  I've seen this man on stage before.  He wields two sticks which are on fire and goes through several positions or dance moves and eventually eats the fire at the end of them.  It's incredible.

People have not believed me before when I've run into certain characters [There's a Batman story for another time]......so when we saw Captain Jack Sparrow hanging out I knew I needed proof!

Myself and Captain Jack Sparrow

Saskatoon Adventures

Butterhorns - Traeger's Bakery Miller Avenue Saskatoon

On Tuesday, Hubby [who has taken the week off work] and I stopped in at our favourite butcher shop, Prairie Meats, to buy something for supper.  I wandered next door into Traeger's Bakery.  They had Butterhorns.  I purchased 2 for dessert.  I have no idea what we bought for supper.  Anyhow, I have been looking high and low in this city for a bakery that has cannoli.  Apparently, there aren't any Italian people in this city to make it.  *shrugs*  It turns out Traeger's used to make and sell cannoli.  They'd order the shells and then fill them in store.  Well the shells started arriving all broken so they said "enough of that." and started making them out of pastry dough instead.  The verdict?  They were really yummy.....but not cannoli.

Yesterday, we ventured all the way over to the south side and into Homesense.  I purchased a new kitchen clock.  The previous clock has become gummed up with grease and after trying to clean it.....and sticking to it.....and trying to make it pass off as clean I gave up.  The hands are a knife and fork and the pendulum is a spoon!  I <3 it. 

Last week, I did surgery on the lazy susan cabinet.  Rather, I performed an amputation by totally removing the lazy susan.  She was so lazy she collapsed from the weight of holding up "stuff" and I suppose if my job since 1974 was to hold stuff up I'd probably drop from exhaustion too.  So, today Hubby and I visited some kitchen cabinet stores....Superior Cabinets, Kitchen Craft, & Tait.  The best service by far was at Superior while we found the right wood style for us at Tait BUT after scanning through the Superior pamphlets they too had that same wood.  It's actually a laminate or vaneer called Zebrano.  The one we liked had a grey stain to it.  I can picture the lower cabinets in this while the upper cabinets can be white.  We even found a great countertop to go with our ideas.  

We are sort of dreaming here.  I don't necessarily think we can afford to do kitchen reno's right away.  We have other pressing expenses such as replacing the aluminum sliding windows...also circa 1974.  But it was fun to see what was available and find all kinds of drawer inserts and cabinet options.

This evening we took a drive to the University of Saskatchewan.  We like a trail that starts near where former Prime Minister Diefenbaker and his wife are laid to rest.  In fact, it's right behind the Diefenbaker Centre.  We took Brandy~puppy along for the ride.  She was super excited and barked a lot at people jogging and walking and such.

Brandy on the look-out for joggers.

Our city is so pretty.  My photo's don't really do it justice.  Saskatoon is built around the South Saskatchewan River and from this vantage point you can see all of the downtown skyline.  I can't imagine living anywhere else.

Up!  UP! ....and Away!!   

Calories

No.  This isn't a diet blog.  In fact, it might be the opposite of a diet blog.  Last night I went to a restaurant called Calories for a going away party for coworkers.  This was not hosted by the school director and was a "gathering" instead.  There are actually about 5 coworkers/teachers who are not returning for the 2012/13 school year but this party was really only for 2 of them.
  

Calories is located on the artsy-fartsy street of Broadway.  Yes, there is a Broadway here and it's not even New York.  Broadway is known for places like The Bulk Cheese Warehouse, the Broadway Theatre, The Better Good, The Mad Hatter and so on.  I managed to find a parking spot at the end of the block and around the corner. 

I arrived on time.  I was the second person there.

I had made the faulty assumption that this was for dessert since the meeting time was 7:30.  I had my face fixed for their famed cheesecake.  But upon finding out others had not eaten dinner yet I decided to order a plate called Fromage.  Fromage was a tray of three cheeses, seasonal fruit, and a baguette.  The baguette was so tough it could have been used to take someone's eye out.  But the tray itself was a fantastic work of art.  I wanted to take a picture of it and I should have......but I didn't.  Fail.I had a Saskatoon Berry Lemonade for a beverage.  The waiter said "ohmygod it's so good."  So I thought I had made a good choice.  Others were having wine because it was Wine Wednesday and 20% or something.  The lemonade was good.

We had a table to ourselves in the back of the restaurant.....there were about 12 of us.  It was HOT.  Now, I know that my hormones are playing tricks on me and sometimes I don't feel the temperatures accurately......but man, oh man, I needed a fan.  Not cool.

About half of our group left around 9pm and I really should have too, but I wanted that cheesecake, dammit!  I picked out the Oreo Cheesecake.  It took what felt like an hour to arrive at the table.  Not cool.  The cheesecake was good alright.  But was it the amazing-OMG-you-gotta-go-here type of cheesecake?  No.  I was expecting mind blowing orgasms of cheesecake.  Didn't happen.  Cannoli....seriously....cannoli would have blown it out of the water.When I finally pulled away from the table and hugged my goodbyes it was 10:30pm.  I was so happy to be out on the street in the cool air.  The company had been fine but I was the oldest person there but by no means did I feel that old.  But the conversation wasn't even anything.....like.....interesting.....plus I couldn't hear everyone.  Ugh!  Once I was out on the street my immediate thought was "I'm too old for this crap!"  Also,  I just kept feeling like something was missing and several hours later....because the cheesecake kept me awake until 4am......what was missing was Hubby.  This experience would have been much better with Hubby and Hubby alone.  That's what made me feel most disappointed.

Today I found out one coworker who has been really great to me also isn't returning and I wasn't able to say goodbye to him last night as he didn't come to the farewell.  His classroom is next to mine and we've taught similarly as well.  I guess it's time for him to move on.  We can't all be fixtures....as I was reminded.....I am a fixture at the Academy.

You Should Do This More Often.....

.....he said.

I picked my jaw up off the floor.

"You seem so happy after your pedicure and if it makes you feel so good and be so happy then you should treat yourself more often."

Holy Mother of Meatloaf.

Who is this guy and what has he done with my husband?  Never mind!  I'll keep this guy!

But he's right.  It was freaking amazing.  The spa is called OHara's and is clear on the other side of the city in where most of the seniors tend to live.  As a result my Pedicurist said that a lot of her clientele was aged.

She put on soothing oceany music.  I told her it needed seagulls because there are seagulls at the ocean.  She said seagulls are annoying when you're trying to relax.  I suppose so.

I soaked.  I had a sugar scrub.  I got pumiced and massaged and then the most epic part of the whole experience happened.....the paraffin wax.

*drools*

I have never felt anything quite so heavenly.

Well.....almost.

Then she painted my piggies with a colour of my choosing.....OPI Extra Va-Vaganza which was part of the Burlesque collection.  My feets are super sparkly!
 
*sigh*

I really really liked the Pedicurist.  We really hit it off.  By the end I had her convinced she needed to go shopping at Pennington's for a dress, cute lingerie and shoes!  I said, "Hey, aren't you the one that's supposed to up sell me?"

It was awesome.  I'm planning on going back in August for a manicure.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Brandy~puppy the Super Dog gets to go to the spa tomorrow.  She is in desperate need of a new hair do.

I've been slightly worried lately and honestly, since her near death experience last November and subsequent surgery.....I tend to worry too much.  Anyhow, she's been a little off this week.   Hubby says I shouldn't worry and there's nothing we can do.  He's partly right.  It just breaks my heart that my little baby pup is on bonus time.

She's not sick.  That's true.  She's just been picky about her food this week.  And her potty breaks have been a little "loose."  But she's obviously not in pain.  I worry that I wouldn't be able to tell if she was in pain.  But her tail still goes and I guess that's a good sign.  I suspect that she just ate something that didn't agree with her and with a spunky doggie you never know what that might be.  We were at the farm last weekend after all and she wasn't in my sights at all times.

I did see her chase a large frog under a spruce tree.

Anyhow, last night Brandy got very excited when I opened the door to retrieve the mail.  We don't often use the front door.  She isn't tall enough to exactly see out the door and that's when Hubby got the bright idea to take the cushions off the couch and stack them to make the doggie more comfortable.

Why didn't we think of this before?

This is what it's come to! 

Note:  This was a blog post from July 27th.  We later took Brandy to the vet and found out she had an intestinal virus and our vet said she should have been sicker than she was.  She was on meds for a week and is almost good as new.  Although some test results told us we may be looking at kidney disease down the road. 

Hope in a Jar

Have you ever heard of the face moisturizer made by Philosophy called Hope in a Jar? Well it is the name of a great cream.....I know because I use it. It made my skin feel good and soft and didn't make it all slimed up like some of them do. So when I saw a book called Hope in a Jar written by Beth Harbison I knew I had to read it. Of course, I thought that I would write a review of the book and in a way this is a review but the subject matter has changed from the story to how the it taught me a lesson just at the correct time in my life.

Allie joins Weight Watchers to take off the 20 pounds she's put on while being in an unsatisfying relationship. The torture she goes through while trying to avoid the scale is real – I know, I've felt the exact same emotions when weighing every Monday. But nothing is like the very first time, when you've sucked up everything you've got and removed every spec of clothing down to the earing's [because they too weigh something].....and you get on and you face the truth. I always squint. Somehow, if you narrow your eyes or glare at that bathroom demon.....it just might not be so bad.

Back.....several years ago, I had a flimsy scale with a dial. I could fudge my weight back then. If I hung my toes over the edge I weighed just a tiny bit less. It really didn't matter so much back then.....I did weigh less. Now, I have a digital scale. It is impossible to fudge the numbers. It is exact. It tells you right down to the ounces. It can even tell you your body fat if you want it do. Why would you want it to? As if finding out what you weigh isn't already bad enough. If it doesn't tell me what I want to hear.....I threaten it. I tell it I'm going to toss it out into the snow and drive over it with my Honda.

It's a love/hate relationship. I am thankful when it tells me I weigh less. So happy that I do the 'weight loss happy bathroom boogie'. But beware, if you find some broken bits of glass and metal in a snow bank in the road.....you'll know why.

The summer between grades 11 and 12 I worked at McDonald's. I ate there during breaks. I packed on weight at lightening speed. That autumn, I took up stationary bike riding and calorie counting. The extra 40 pounds came off quickly and easily. After I got married I again began to have a weight issue. I adopted the fashionable fat-free diet plan and re-bonded with my bike. I lost weight again quickly and easily.

After that, weight started to creep back on. Why? I was so tired of the battle. I was exhausted from having to work out all the time. I was sick of worrying about every spec of whatever I put in my mouth. I was angry at not being able to enjoy life. So I checked out.

One day in 2008 my sister-in-law talked to me about trying her program. You may know this part of the story and how I was to able to release 100 pounds. But what you may not know is that many of those old feelings resurfaced. Why is this last bit so hard to lose? Why do I have to watch so closely what I eat? Why do I have to try so hard? Why can't I just have that donut when I want one?

Because I can't.

I just CAN'T.

This is where the book becomes so important. 

 

Allie says, “I have to work that hard and that's all there is to it.” 

 

This is just the way it is. It comes down to this. If I want to live a long, happy, healthy, active life.....this is how I have to do it. I can't wonder about the other stuff. I can't dwell on what I can't have. There isn't any Hope in a Jar for weight loss. The hope comes from inside me. I am the jar.

Zombie Apocalypse

I woke up with a jolt.  Did Hubby say goodbye to me this morning?  I thought hard.  I squinted and thought harder.  I remembered him talking to Brandy who was tucked tightly under the blankets like a hot dog.  Was that today?  Or was that yesterday?

*shrugs*

Then I heard the radio from the other bedroom.  He snores.....end of story.  It turns out he called in "sick" today.  He says he just didn't feel like going to work today.  It must be nice.

I drank my morning coffee and ate a bowl of blueberry Special K, which incidentally does not have one single real blueberry in the whole box.  I guess that's what makes it so special.  I watched a half hour of Live with Kelly.  During the second half of the show I climbed on my stationary bike.  I was three quarters through with my doctor prescribed bike ride when the power went out.  Not a flicker.  Not a surge.  Dead.

Hubby scrounged around for an A&W coupon and decided to go for a bus ride.  He'd never waste a perfectly good sick day by actually being sick.

No power.  No internet.  No radio.  No heat.

Brandy tried to mooch morsels of a smores poptart from me as we kept warm under a blanket in the living room.  The wind would kick up and the stove vent flap would clang.  Its raining and blowing and then I think.....I haven't seen anyone.....not a soul on the street all morning.

There could be a zombie apocalypse and I'd never know it.

I sit with my eyes trained on the street pondering the idea. 

Then my neighbour's van pulls into her drive and their two little kids scamper out to the front door of their house.  Neighbour Mom is behind them toting a bag from A&W.

No zombies today I guess.

At least not yet.

I hear the tv snap a little as current tries to surge through it but nothing happens.  Then the wind gusts and the oven vent clangs again.

Easy Like Friday Morning

Some days are as easy as breathing.  Other days are like breathing clay.  Yesterday was a clay day.  This morning I woke up around 9am to take my thyroid pill and then hit snooze on the alarm.  I know this sounds incredibly late to a lot of you but my lifestyle is anything but normal.  My late work nights and sleeping habits dictate a rather lazy morning ritual.

The next time my alarm sounded John Gormley the local radio guy was talking about the New Saskatchewan versus the Old.  I rolled my eyes and turned over.  Its a no win discussion.

Usually at this point I sit up and see Brandy and say in a high pitched voice... "its a puppeeeeee!"  And this is the time that Brandy looks over at me and stretches and has the expression...just 10 more minutes mom.  But i grab her and scratch her tummy and give her hugs and kisses before proclaiming us lazy bones and jumping out of bed.

In the kitchen I reheat morning coffee and oatmeal while Brandy watches from the hallway.  Even though her bowl is full of Purina chicken and rice she is eager to have oatmeal too.  We have breakfast and watch Regis.....strike that.....Live with Kelly.

Every morning is that easy for me.  I'm pretty lucky.

This afternoon I had to pay the lab vampires a visit.  I only have enough synthroid for 2 weeks.  I counted.  I could have sworn I'd make it to Christmas, but oh well!  Nothing I can do about it!  So I stopped at the lab about 1:30.  The techs were so nice and not busy at all and actually eager to chat.  Maybe it was a slow day?  At any rate.....I was in and out in a jiffy.

So today instead of going down to the Starbucks in the Safeway down the hall I decided instead to treat myself to a trek across town to Pier One.

Now I don't know what was going on today.....well actually I kind of do.....  School was out for the day due to a teacher in-service AND many stores were having early Boxing Day sales to compete with Black Friday across the border.

The parking lot at Preston Crossing where Pier One is located was a zoo. 

Pier One was so magical.  I walked inside and stood in Christmas awe.  I indulged in several Christmas Tree ornaments.  I particularly love the old world type.  The ones with the reflector glass or indentations.  There were so many pretty things and once I made it to the cashier my bank account [Hubby's really] was $60 lighter.  One of the items I bought is a salt and pepper set that looks like coffee and donuts.  Now, I ask you....me of all people....how could I resist THAT?

Back out into traffic I was.  I made it to work in one piece.  I used the coffee machine for a mochacinno.  It did not taste like Starbucks.

My working day was as it usually is and I got to leave early due to a cancellation.  When I got home Hubby had ordered pizza for supper!  It arrived about 5 minutes later.  We chatted and ate and had a nice evening.

Most of my days are like this.  I don't have a lot of stress in my life.  I know I'm fortunate and I'm also thankful for everything I have in my life.

I guess its about time I rip off that band-aid from this afternoon!