Odds N Sodds

Thanks for all your kind words on my last post - I am back to 100% health and feeling good.  Did I do my 10,000 steps while I was sick?  Well, I ended up doing 60,000 of my required 72,000 last week so the answer is no, two days I was just too sick.  I am not worried about it though, I am back on track this week.

I have lost a bit of the urge to blog but will still do so - it might be more of these posts about different things as I don't seem to have time to sit down and write a long post anymore.  This week:

Hubby was out of town for 3 nights on business.  As I was feeling better I decided to steam clean the carpets in all 3 bedrooms.  Zero cost out of pocket as we bought Mom a steam cleaner around 8 years ago and I use it to clean both her place and ours every six months.  I am so happy we took the carpets out and replaced them with Buddy-friendly laminate in the rest of the house.  We would replace the carpets as they are old and low grade and difficult to keep clean but there are pieces of furniture on them that aren't easy to move so that is unlikely to happen for at least another 5-10 years.  For now we will continue to clean them.

I received a $25 credit in points from Saveonfoods which was really fast.  They were not part of the bread price fixing scandal but wanted to thank their customers.  We no longer have that store in our town but I have a card from Alberta that I was able to update and load with the money.  The next time I am in Nanaimo I can pick up my $25 in free groceries :)  Cha Ching

After seeing the exchange rate continue to change in a more costly direction for our trip to Europe this Spring I ordered some Euros and rebooked our Rome apartment.  I managed to find a cheaper (saving $380 over 4 nights) 3 bedroom apartment right next to the Vatican which likely will be even nicer than the super touristy neighborhood our previous apartment had been in.  It has access to the Metro but we can still walk everywhere if we wish.  Even better, there is a local food market nearby that is called Trionfale and has loads of fresh fruit and vegetables, pasta, meat and eggs.  We love seeing local markets so this will be a treat.  I hope to make use of our kitchen every morning for all breakfasts and at least two suppers so this will come in handy.

Trionfale Market near Vatican City, yes those are Nuns

Now a lot of our trip is prepaid, except tours, transfers, meals and our hotel in Paris.  I am not rebooking an apartment there as feel the rate I got on our hotel which includes breakfast, snacks and a minibar in each room is of better value than any of the apartments I have found.  I do not generally enjoy cooking on holiday, we will be doing it more out of necessity on this trip to keep costs down on what is already a costly holiday but in Paris we will just find reasonable options for lunches and suppers.  This week I will buy our train ticket out of Rome once I firm up whether we want to spend a few hours in Naples on the way to Salerno.  This is the first time we have ever tried AirBNB.  We have it booked both in Rome and in Salerno so I will duly report back when we return on the experience.  Our Salerno apartment only has 7 reviews but I am confident that we will have a good experience based on the responsiveness of the host to my inquiries.  Our Rome host has nearly 200 so I think we shall be in good hands.  FYI for anyone trying to book a family or group into Rome concentrate on the Prati (Vatican) neighborhood as there are many many groups who come for the religous experience here and that is the area that has the best multibedroom apartments. 

I am trying to get tickets for us to see the Pope.  We are not a deeply religious family but we are all Catholic and the boys went to Catholic school for both elementary and highschool.  They look at the Pope like a rockstar.  Tickets for the Vatican audience are free but must be requested only by fax a couple months in advance.  Even then you have to get there early as they will only let the first 70,000 people into St Peters Square.  I have found an email address where I can also try and get them from a Bishop in the United States so I am trying that angle.  Although we own a business we do not have a fax as this is archaeic in modern times and have only had to send one fax (to the government of course) since starting the business.  I do have a local business shop that have fax services available but hate to tie their fax machine up trying to get a fax to the Vatican so will try this first. 

There are also tour companies offering tickets to the Papal audience for around $50 but they get the Papal audience tickets for free and then supply a tour guide who sits with you for a couple hours while you are waiting to see the Pope.  I am not paying to see him, so if we get tickets we get tickets, if not I haven't told the boys yet so nothing is lost. Considering that Italy has 40% unemployment I do not knock the Italians for being inventive on how to make money.  This also permits tourists who might be booking last minute to at least have an option to see the Pope. I just do not wish to spend $200 for nothing.

Today I throw out about a kilo of skinless boneless chicken breasts.  I buy them by the 4 kg box, this box was on sale and a different brand than what I usually buy.  They are like rubber when you cook them.  I can't stand them. The first half (they came in two bags inside) was fine, the second is gross.  I have tried and rarely throw out food but I refuse to try again.  Fortunately my favorite brand has 4kg boxes on sale today for $26.99 which is almost $10 off so I will stock up.  

For Valentines day I printed off a homemade card and tucked it into hubby's luggage before he left on his trip.  He got me a lovely Valentines day card on January 1 - yes, completely unexpected just prior to his last business trip.  He just crossed off the Valentines bits lol.  We usually don't do anything for Valentines day anyway, I really dislike the whole idea of the thought that you must do this and that because of a certain day, even harder when you are single as I was for several years before meeting hubby.  Does anyone every have fabulous Valentines days?  I think telling the person you are with that you love them all the other days of the year is more important.  You must buy a card, buy chocolate, buy flowers and then spend even more money going out to eat!  I do admit to taking Mom for lunch on the 14th but we had that planned for several weeks as generally do it when hubby is out of town as a treat.  We eat late in the afternoon so neither one of us has to cook again that day - we had Greek and it was fabulous.

That's all I have got for today.  Hopefully you all have avoided the dreaded flu this year and for those in it's clutches....hopefully good health is just around the corner.  I am so happy to feel human again.