Soft food week

Another tough week here at the Island pad which involved both hubby and I being out of commission due to unexpected mouth surgeries.  I ended up having a partial root canal on Tuesday after having extreme mouth pain all weekend on the tooth that was crowned last September.  It turns out the tooth is now dead so they drilled a hole in the top (without removing the crown or damaging it) and did as best they could until my next appointment in 3 weeks time where they will finish it.  It takes about 2.5 hours from start to finish if you do it all in one sitting and they are so busy they removed the infection and temporarily filled it with cotton stuffing and cement until my mid-October appointment.  $750 out the window.  Hubby has had some ongoing mouth issues and had unexpected surgery yesterday - another $670 out the window.  He received 10 stitches in his mouth yesterday morning under IV sedation and still managed to have a 45 minute conversation 2 hours later with a potential client who we are trying to get to sign a contract.  He took 2 Tylenol 3 immediately after that and stopped working.  The things you do in self-employment!  

I am sick to death of soup and macaroni so today I am making skinless chicken breast in mushroom sauce made in the slow cooker over rice.  If need be I will shred the chicken so hubby can eat it.  He isn't allowed to eat anything abrasive for 3 days so meal planning is difficult.  In the mean time, work has still been going 200 miles an hour which is why I haven't posted in many days.  I did however manage to take some pictures on our evening walks with the dog.  We have had a great week weatherwise with nice sunny 20 degree days but Thursday night the clouds rolled in and now it is dark and rainy and we should have this rain all week.  We were supposed to go to a friends house tonight for a party but unfortunately hubby is in no shape to go so we will instead have a movie weekend.  We hardly left the house this week except to deposit company cheques, mail out things to clients and go to dentists and doctors.  I might even venture to the grocery store today.  

The two photos above are of our Maple Leaf trees.  British Columbia continues to hold the record for the largest maple leaf in the world.  That record gets broken almost yearly  by someone else in the province.  These are pretty big and will be turning lovely shades of yellow and orange very shortly. Last year we had almost no rain all summer and the leaves dropped off early due to that so no pretty fall colours but this year I expect will be very pretty as the leaves are still currently alive ready to change colour in October.

Sunset sky with clouds rolling in 

Every May I fill up this flower bed with inexpensive plants and hope for the best.  They are still doing really well.  This year was yellow marigolds and red geraniums.  Neither are my favorite flower but both do really well in the hot summers and they are bug and deer resistant unlike some of the other flowers I have planted since we moved here. They were about 2 inches tall when I planted them (.99 cents a plant).  I will take them out in a few weeks when they start to look raggedy but for now they are still going strong.We need to trim the boxwood beside them but will wait until the flowers are gone to do that.

 A couple of posts ago I told you that I had managed to buy one Christmas present off our 24 hour Facebook bidding site.  This Robinson Ransbottom of Roseville Ohio 6 Quart blue stripe 1930s farmhouse bowl was purchased for $16, a steal as it is worth 3 to 4 times that and as Mom collects old bowls like this it is the perfect gift as is in amazing condition with no cracks or chips.  I was tempted to keep it but purchased it specifically for her and know she will love it.  I know the picture is not great but it is really dark today due to the rain.

 One thing I have noticed about that site is there are not a lot of bidders on vintage or antique items.  I also bought something for myself.  These two paper mache antique made in West Germany Easter Eggs for $3 for both.  I already own one of these so it appears now I have started a collection of 3.  They usually go for around $10 each so another great bargain.  I was the only bidder.The sweet lady who sold them to me tried to also sell me some other modern stuff but I had to tell her I only collect the vintage stuff.  Apparently collecting vintage Christmas is not enough, now I collect vintage Easter stuff too.  I don't really think I am a minimalist at heart although I definitely own far less stuff than the average human and have no trouble purging.

On the way to the dentist on Monday I took our pickup truck.  On Sunday we had done a bunch of yard work which included trimming all our landscaping and hubby had taken a full load of shrubs and debris to the landfill.  Apparently when he got back in the truck a spider the size of the one below (this one lives over my garbage cans and rarely moves so I am ok with him) came back into the cab of the truck with him.  I was driving about 3 blocks from home and the spider dropped off the sun visor and straight into my lap.  I screamed, managed to avoid hitting both the car and kid on a bike in front of me, drove 1/2 a block and then jumped out screaming and dancing in the street like a madwoman.  I was tight for time on the dentist appointment and had to get back in the truck to continue the journey without finding him.  Another 2 km down the road right on a bridge with major traffic and he ran across my lap.  I nearly lost my mind.  I am ok with spiders as long as they leave me alone.  I had no option except to scream again, jump up and down in my seat hoping to crush the little bastard (excuse my language but there were lots of swear words happening at the time) and speed the last 3 blocks to the dentist where I again leaped out of the truck and shook myself silly yelling "yuck yuck yuck" at the top of my lungs.  Even tougher was returning to the truck to go home.  And no, as of right now we have not found him.  I refuse to drive in the truck until his carcass is found.

Once again, I am hoping for a quieter week.  Hubby flies out to Edmonton on Thursday to see his Mom after her hip surgery as she finally got transferred back to the small town hospital.  She seems even more confused and didn't recognize my sister-in-law whom she has known for 30 years the other day so it will be a difficult trip on hubby. My brother-in-law is knee deep in harvest and usually spends 15-18 hours a day this time of year bringing the crops off the field so he has no time to move her stuff out of her old unit where she is not allowed to return due to her downturn in health.  Our boys will help hubby clear it out and bring it to the farm where it can be stored until she gets her proper long-term care room and they can see what will fit.  We are extremely fortunate though that the small town hospital where she is has her old living place attached which was a senior living facility and they also have long-term care and nursing home facilities attached.  Depending on your increased level of care required she just goes to a different part of the building.  Hubby's Aunt and Father both lived out their final days in these facilities and we know the staff are wonderful, some are even relatives.  She will be receiving the best possible care from people who truly care about their patients. Hubby's distant cousin is head of nursing there and her niece works in the kitchen and regularly visits with her. 

On good news front (yes, there is some!) it appears that a past Corporate client of ours is intending to do a purchase of our new online course for many of its staff.   This is an Albertan Hotel Chain and this purchase will likely exceed all our hard costs so all the work we have done last winter and this summer trying to complete it will finally pay off.  Woohoo!  Have a great weekend everyone - I hope to post a little more when life slows down, if it ever does.