Sleepless in Ontario

They say what you do will come back and bite you in the behind. I must have been horrible in a past life. Sleep has become something more precious to me than gold. It's not so much that I can't get to sleep. It's the various aches and pains that have me awake after only a few hours.
I have tried everything. The nightly bedtime routine is somewhat similar to a circus act.
Lotions and potions applied to every joint and muscle. Over the counter pain relievers to help from the inside. An adjustable bed. A fan keeping the air moving 365 days of the year. A television with a timer to help me get to sleep. You name it, I've tried it.
My doctor gave me a new prescription awhile back. I thought it was for my blood pressure. Turns out it is supposed to be a mild sleeping aid. Guess what? It don't work.
So here I am at four am. Awake again. Amazing the thoughts that cross your mind when you are up at the crack of stupid and all alone.
What do you do at this time of day? You can't do loud housework, others are actually lucky enough to be sleeping. Never mind the pain is what woke you in the first place so any overly physical activity is not too likely to happen. You can't phone a friend. There are only so many trips you can make to a 24 hour grocery store in a week before the staff starts to look at you funny. Nothing much on television. You can make lists of things to do at a more human hour, but, by then you are too tired to do those very things.
Can anyone teach me how to levitate?

Appliances @#*&%^

Every life has its challenges. Mine seems to be appliances. Big or small, I kill them all. You are familiar with the stove saga. Many of you know about the years we had the ancient upright freezer and the laundry pair from the 60's. The avacado green stove, the constant parade of used fridges.....
I used to think it was because we bought older, well used appliances that I had all of these dead things going out my back door. I have since been informed that the new ones come with a planned, yes PLANNED obsolescence.
I am at it again. My just over 8 year old washing machine has decided to retire. The bearings are gone. It doesn't spin anymore. Soaking wet (dripping actually) clothing is all you get from it. The bearings are in a sealed unit so you couldn't grease them. Have to replace the whole darned thing.
The dishwasher quit months ago. It makes a great place to hide things from other people. The Easter Bunny found it quite handy.
They know me by name at XS Cargo, I have to replace my rice cooker every six months. I stopped purchasing electric kettles eons ago. Coffee makers used to be at least an annual event until we found one that drips into a thermal carafe. No burner to quit!
My sister buys me some kind of small appliance for Christmas every year. Seriously! I always need something.
Last night I was preparing dinner when the can opener spit pieces at me and just stopped working.
This morning I thought I would test out the new (used) party-sized coffee maker my Dad found for me. Plugged it in and it let out a screech that set the dog to growling and running around the house looking for the dying animal....
I am not careless with these things. I do not abuse them. I make sure they get spoken to with kindness. They get all the love, care and attention any thing could want.
Anyone know of a support group for the appliance challenged? I could use some therapy.
The good news for now is, screech or not, the coffee is ready and smells pretty good.

cars, cars, cars

Henry Ford has a lot to answer for. The last few months (years) have been a journey of frustration and financial agony around here. First the wagon developed issues and then while it was sitting up on blocks in the driveway, (where it still is, sigh) the van decided to just quit. So there we were, Friday night and two undriveable vehicles. What to do? After much discussion and hair pulling we decided to leave the wagon as is for later repairs and ditch the van. It just needed too much work to get it going again and was still going to be a ten year old vehicle with high mileage and rust starting to spring up everywhere. And I hated it. Had since, oh, about the second week we owned it. No real reason, I just didn't like it. Was never comfortable in it. It was pokey, ate a lot, didn't like to haul the trailer and just generally didn't thrill me. I missed my red dwarf I guess.
So a shopping we go. UGH. Kijiji wasn't much help this time. We found an ad from the same curbsider we had bought the Caravan from, yikes, not going there again. Borrowed vehicles from just about every relative we have to get around to look at cars. We had several requirements. It has to pull the trailer. It has to be big enough to transport five for those rare occasions when all are here. It has to be high enough off of the ground for me to be able to get in and out. It has to be another minivan, sigh. It has to be cheap, real cheap. It has to be certified and I needed it three days ago. On the Monday I took two of the kids and my father for a tour of used car lots in the Hammer. After a very long morning I found him. OD (olive drab). Another Windstar, yay! I was happy. It looked good for a twelve year old. It had speed! It was certified and in my price range. I could have it on Wednesday. Yahoo! This may have been an emotional purchase....but I was instantly at home.
So call us paranoid. We picked the vehicle up on Wednesday and took it to our own mechanic on Thursday. Just to make sure ya know? Good thing. It was not properly certified. Emergency brake cables seized, tie rods needed replacing, a few other minor little problems. Not happy. So we gave the dealer a chance to fix the issues and for the most part he did. Begrudgingly, but done. Amazing what veiled reverences to the MTO will do. Back to our mechanic to confirm the repairs and off we go. Even after returning it we ended up paying for the front end to be aligned ourselves and have discovered the front springs need replacing. But, did I mention it had to be cheap?
OD isn't perfect. He is after all 12! But we are working on the things we aren't yet thrilled with and it is getting better. The gas mileage has been improved by over five to the gallon in only a month! And over all I am happier. This could be the next dwarf for me. I am comfortable. It moves when I step on the gas. And once I get a hitch it should haul the trailer with no trouble.
Think I can get eight years out of this one?

The stove saga ends ( I hope)

A few weeks back I decided it was time to have one of my big dinner get-togethers with some good friends. We seldom seem to be able to co-ordinate busy family schedules, so I get a little nuts when we can and cook big meals for us all. This time was ethnic, I decided to make Indian food.
So, of course, Monday evening, the stove I had been babying for months quit altogether.
Great.
Fourteen dishes on the menu and no stove.
HAhahahahaha.
What to do? Cancel? Postpone til I got a new stove? na....
I did it!
One two-burner hotplate, one one-burner hotplate and several crockpots later it was dinner!
And it was good!
But, hooray!!
I am very happy right now. Sitting in place of honour, all shiny, black and new! A stove! Yahoo!!
It is just what I wanted. Well, actually a little more than I wanted.
Full sized, coil top and matches the rest of my kitchen. That was my request. IMAG insisted that it NOT be a Frigidaire for reasons obvious to those who have followed this saga.
What I got is a GE lift top, coil top, great looking, matches perfectly......YES I do get overly excited about silly things like that. The rings and drip pans are black too! The oven floor even comes out for cleaning. How great is that? It has a programmable oven! Self-cleaning, even though I don't use that function. (too much hydro for me) And it was at a factory clearance sale so fantastic price!
So thanks to DJ and Josh for going shopping for this lovely new addition to my kitchen while I finished getting that dinner ready. You did great! And thanks to the guys from TA Appliances for letting us know about this sale when we were looking around earlier this week.
It's going to be great to cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner next weekend. Which in this house may just mean barbequed turkey!

Support your troops

Last year at Christmas time I had the pleasure of putting together a luncheon for the family members of our troops over in Afghanistan. We had some food, some laughs, a few tears and a fantastic visit from Santa himself. There were some small gifts for the children and all of the families got to take home a lovely yellow poinsettia donated by the gracious people at Nicol Florist.

I want to do it again!

This year there are 27 troops with families in our area.

Time for some shameless begging. If anyone can help out with a donation to help offset the cost of this day please, please, get in contact with me. Gifts for the children, flowers for the families, even cash to help pay for the food, all will be gratefully accepted. Have a few hours to spare to help out? Call me!! Email, Facebook, snail mail...

It is such a great thing to see the families relax and share thoughts. A few hours together makes such a difference for them at the hardest time of the year to be apart.

Do something nice for another. Trust me it makes you feel good.

Rants for a Monday

I have decided to start a new fund. I haven't quite decided what I am going to call it yet. Open for ideas!

Here's my plan. Get people to donate money to cover myself and my co-workers for those days when we just can't take it anymore. When we have to say what is truly on our minds. When our filter button is malfunctioning. When we forget to mute!

Just once I would like to be able to say what is really on my mind when people call with some of their complaints.
Your four year old child is out of control? Smack his behind. Do you really need that officer to come over and tell him off for you? What is going to happen when he is a preteen or teen and bigger than you? Yikes. Be the parent.

Your neighbour looked at you 'funny'? Toughen up, buttercup. Maybe he wasn't even looking at you at all. Maybe he is having a bad day and just has that expression because he is in some kind of personal agony. Maybe his life sucks, too. Maybe you aren't the centre of the universe!

Mom and Dad won't let you go to that party? Perhaps instead of pitching a fit and throwing items around the house you should stop and consider that they love you and may, just may, be trying to protect you and keep you safe.

You want to run a store but not have to deal with the kids who come in to BUY, yes, buy things. Sure they hang around. Sure they may sometimes steal from you. But not all kids are rotten. They are not all thieves. They are not all destructive. I worked in enough convenience stores to know if you treat them like human beings they usually act like human beings. If you don't want them around open an adult store. End of issue.

Tired of the vandalism and mischief in your neighbourhood? First of all call the police when you see something happening. Have a description handy. Know which way they went (and saying down there doesn't help).Don't wait four days and then call and accuse the officers of being lazy, useless, donut eating......well you get the idea.

Understand that when you want to report something, almost anything, we need to send an officer to take a report. We cannot go to someone else and ask them to stop harassing you without telling them who you are. We cannot accuse someone of taking your stuff without a theft report, oh yeah, and some proof! You would not appreciate it if we came to your door and accused you of things you had not done, or things we could not prove. So why do you think it's okay for us to do to that to those you think have wronged you?

Know important pieces of information when you do make that phone call. Someone stole your car? We need the license plate, please.

You think you saw a wanted person. A name and description would be very helpful.

Your boyfriend just beat you up? Last name and age would be good.

You saw someone driving that you are sure was impaired? Some help please. Where? When? Any kind of info on the vehicle. Which way did it go? Anything on the driver? Even the smallest details are useful! Color, driver, how many in the car. Big car? Little car? Even a partial license plate will help.

Oh yeah. My personal favorite. When you call 911 and we ask you "Police, Fire or Ambulance?"
Don't answer "no". Don't say "this isn't really an emergency". Don't tell us you need a phone number. Don't call to put in a parking, noise, barking dog, my neighbour has more trash out than allowed type of complaint. Not life or death emergencies here. Not a crime in progress either.

Ok, enough ranting for today.

I am looking for suggestions for the name of my fund! Any good ones out there?

hey that was my twenty TAKE TWO

I want to thank Bob and Matt from the Esso Gas Bar at Colborne and Puleston. They went above and beyond to talk to the owner of the car wash and got me back my twenty!

Thanks, guys! I know you are not in anyway connected with the wash and really appreciate you taking the time to do this.