Bad Miss V!

The weather has been wet and cold here in Maine. We were able to take walks between showers, shop and visit a big 16,000 feet Goodwill that contained NOTHING interesting. In its favor it was very,very clean!

If I compare it to the Sally Ann I visit...the Sally Ann is like a Petri dish and you could operate in the Goodwill! Clean but boring!

We both came down with colds so we slept a lot,watched loads of tv and are currently working on a puzzle.There is nearly nobody...it's like somedy pulled out the sidewalks, closed the town and pulled down the shades...Most everything is closed for the season. 

Henry has been laying low, waiting for the nice weather to arrive. Today was sunny and hot and we took the opportunity to go to Portland. 

Yes we took Henry with us!

We visited a candy store and Henry pestered us to buy him some chocolate dipped bacon...

(yes it looks like something else...)

Henry is finding it mighty tasty! Me not some much! If you ask me it's a definite waste of BACON!

Portland's waterfront is lovely, really, I totally urge you to go. One more tourist won't make a difference! I wonder where they all came from....
So it's 11:30 nearly time to go back to the car and try to find the restauurant that Dan picked from a magazine more than a month ago...I get in the car, reach for my water bottle, I also want to check up on Henry and his bacon...Henry? Where's Henry? Have you seen Henry? OMG I FORGOT HENRY ON THE PARKING METER!!! WHAT THE F***! I'M SUCH A BAD PERSON! POOR LITTLE ELF IN THE STRANGE CITY, HIS BELLY FULL OF BACON, WHAT IF SOMEBODY TOOK HIM! OMG! HIS FANS WILL NEVER FORGIVE ME!!!

Let me tell you I was freaking out! And Dan always the picture of calm, said we'll go back maybe he's still there. So we drive (thank god I remember where the candy store was!), I get out of the car without closing the door and I run and, and, and he's still there digesting his bacon but really pissed off at me!

So Henry made it pretty clear that I owed him lunch with drinks!

This is the place that Dan picked, it used to be a gas station.

Well Dan has really good taste (hehehe!). It was delicious and very exotic. We had tacos Al Pastor, Fish tacos, grilled beef quesadillas and mexican style corn. Henry and I had mojitos.

Henry downed his pretty fast!

 Here's what happens when elves are drunk, head over heels in the cutlery!

The sun was so warm that we drove back as fast as we could so we could hit the beach!

Have a great evening!

Oh no ! We have a stowaway!

We.ve made it to Maine safely and here's what I found last night in my bag....

HENRY!

Well I guess it's going to be a week of elf fun!

Faucet Blues

I bought this faucet about 5 years ago...

It was cute and on sale!

It started dripping about 18 months after I got it; so I went to the hardware store and a friendly salesman told me it was very frequent with th ekind of faucet I bought and sold me a washer and spring.

I changed it and we were back in business!

About a year ago it started dripping again, I changed the washer and it continued to drip....I let it be. I didn't know what to do and didn't feel like explaining my woes at the hardware store.

So it's been dripping for a year. Last weekend since I'm already in an hardware store buying a kit to close the pool so I bought more washers and springs.

Wednesday between trying to apply for that job and closing the veggie garden, I tried my hand at changing the washer again.

Guess what?

It

is

still

dripping!!!

So I check out the Peerless website (yes it's a Peerless faucet) and they tell me if changing the washers doesn't work, I need to change the stem....Ok now I'm swearing...oh yes big juicy swears.

So i go to Canadian Tire and buy 2 different stems (we never know) and I peddle back home.

I worked on it for 3 hours! I kept changing the stem, the washer and still dripping. Turning on the water, turning it off...!"/$%?&*(

At one point I decide to try the other stem and I forget to turn off the water, yes you read right!

It was like a freaking GEISER in my bathroom, everything was wet! The ceiling, the drapes, the cat liter, INSIDE THE DRUG CABINET! OMG!

Of course I was drenched! So I manage to close the water and dry everything off with towels. Now I have 10 wet and dirty towels.

So I decide to do a load of laundry....The washing machine DOES'T WORK! WHAT THE F****???

 I try all the breakers and still it doesn't work, I'm about to cry.....

Then I think of reseting the protected outlet and guess what? the washing machine is on the same circuit!

So now the faucet has a new waser, and spring and stem and....

it's

still

dripping!

I guess I need to buy a new faucet....  

TGIF!

OMG what a crazy week! I feel like I ran around like a chicken without a head all week long! I know some of you are a lot busier than I am, but by my standards..whew! BUSY!

I had the basic chores around the house, preserved,dried,froze,vaccum sealed garden bounty, tried to prepare for a vacation and tried to apply for a job.

By trying to apply here's what I mean: One of my dear,dear friends, whom I've had the great honor to work with sent me an email for a job posting at the new company she works for. Being 2010 everything is ONLINE...!"/$%?&*( !!!

So I'm filling out all the fields and I press save and I get an error message that I didn't filed the Sources field....funny I'm sure I did! So I fill it again and save and same message! So on the first day I must've filled that online application 10 times (no exageration). Nest day same thing, I contact the online support...something about my cookies, I fix it, same story....I re-contact them, they say they've fixed it, same story....Ok you get the gist!

So tomorrow I have to find an internet café and try to fill it from another computer.

And admist of all that chaos...the doorbell rings and I see the friendly postman's face and he gives me a box. I wasn't expecting anyhthing.

   I open the box and I find these goodies sent by Linda from A La Carte . All for my B-Day! Two darling au gratin dishes from FireKing, a Betty Crocker cookbook, a sweet card and ...and....and....a Pyrex Autumn Harvest gravy boat! You can't go wrong with Pyrex!

I'm very touched by her gesture and couldn't have arrived at a better time!

Thank you Linda you're a sweetheart!

Now this is what I've been working on in the veggie garden...

I kidd you not this collard is about 5 feet across! I actually sowed it last summer and it didn't amount to much. This spring much to my surprise it showed up again! So I'm not a southern girl and I know nothing about collard greens, ok except the bacon/pork thing and cook it a really long time. So I'm blanching some so I can freeze it and enjoy it this winter. I don't have time to process it all so I hope the plants are sturdy enough to last until I come back.

I was lucky enough to spot this Blue Heron on wednesday while running errands. I'm always in awe whenever I spot them. It's like I see a great treasure, a miracle, which it is by the way.

It's friday night, time for Supernatural (season premiere) and then Triple D (Diner's,Drive-ins and Dives).

Have a great night! :)

  

 

Retro Tuesday: Eat & Stay Slim!

Hello everyone! So yesterday I made the blackeberry jam and it took FOREVER! I am telling no lies good people of bloggyland! FOREVER! lol

I made 14 jars and I enough to fill another 2 cups jar and a small fridgie. That is a lot of jam!

Now on to Retro Tuesday! Today's installment is brought to you by Better Homes and Garden's Eat and Stay Slim lifestyle cookbook. I found this book in the church basement last week.It was published in 1968.

Some illustrations are hilarious!

I remember GranMimi (my paternal grandmother) had one of those butt shakers in her basement...I would use it every chance I got!

We all know that those machines are the BEST way to loose weight!

I had a major gag reflex when I saw this spread...

Tuna salad on an Iceberg Ring! EEEEEWWWWW! That definitely takes me back to my mother's side of the family dinner parties!

 The red drink on top is called Glistening Beef-O-Mato Soup, it's a cold soup. Might be delicious with vodka on a hot summer day...The other one is Cuke-Buttermilk soup, it's cold as well...Pass the barf bags!

If you feel you need more torture you can exercise as well with the help of this book!

I only scanned one page...and if you need to see more write me!

Have a great Retro Tuesday! Go visit my pal Tracy HERE she might not do Retro Tuesday, she might be blogging about her super exciting cooking experience at the Unilever test kitchens, but it's still highly entertaining! 

Monday Mish Mash

I've been having this....

On my mind lately....

and

this...

Yep some fried seafood....It would do mama some good!

Next week at this time I will be walking on the beach...Oh yeeeesssss!

But right this minute I'm making blackberry jam, yum! And running around trying to get everything ready for fall. Like close the pool, pool girl was busy this weekend! And ripping up the vegetable garden, this was a bad season for tomatoes! I have only a dozen and they're still green.

The edamame yield was better than last year and it's all frozen for future meals and snacks, I have 3 batches of pesto in the freezer and a last one on the way. The cukes were great and so were the cherry tomatoes. The lettuce was terrible, oh well! It happens!

I realized that I had a photo album full of recipes I have never tried! So I read them all yesterday and decided to chuck the book and make some room for all the free ones I found.

I'm catching up on No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain  and I must admit he's not as bad as I first thought, in fact he's quite entertaining and makes me travel cheaply! Thank you for visiting Dubai, it's certainly a curiosity and now I know I will never go! Too hot,dry,dusty and I would spend the whole trip saying that they wasted their money on stupid things like the indoor ski resort. Imagine all the money and ressources wasted to operate this place!

I give nicknames a lot to people, sometimes it's upfront and sometimes it's nasty business behind their backs it depends on the case. Now my latest creation is 'Plastic Face' and the recipient of it is Leah Miller host of SYTYCD Canada. Leah is 29 years old and between seasons she had so much plastic surgery she looks frozen in time. I think it makes her look like an older Holywood actress trying to hold on desesperatly to her youth (Read that Mary-Louise Parker? with you vending machine nose?). Leah you ARE young, lay off the plastic surgery! You will so regret it later in life.

Ok about the vending machine nose...it seems that ALL the actresses go to the same plastic surgeon and he only knows how to make one nose! Watch tv and you will agree!

As you may or may not know; I take country line dancing lessons. It is great fun and great exercise!

 Since we learn at least one dance each week, sometimes my brain turns to mush and I get all the dances mixed up; so I turn to Youtube as a learning tool. Yep all the dances I've learned so far are in there; so I watch them and learn and unscramble my brain.

Of all the videos I've watched most are of all asian women dancing, line dancing must be really big over there....Here's a taste!

That is a fun dance but a terrible song! Tennesse Waltz surprise, shhisshhh! Most of the words are in german, the rest in english and every body LOVES that song. So I didn't sleep well last night all I could think of was that stupid song! LOL

And last but not least let's celebrated fall with this....

Pyrex, fall and pumpkin; how cute is that???

Have a great week, faithful readers! :)

1.25

1.25 is what I spent at my fave church basement....for these goodies!

And these...

A whole lot of cook books! Vintage cook books, you know how much I love them!

So I got 6 cook books, 3 small Mason jar (the perfect size for homemade pesto), a unopened bag of peat pellets (perfect for next spring seedlings) and a brand new still wrapped Wrebbit puzzle (I will be taking that one on vacation with Dad).

Not bad for 1.25$ !

Ok now for a SDM tidbit: When I was working there, I didn't just mann the postal counter...I did that while EPM was on lunch break. After she would send me to 'the floor' and she would say it like it was a disease; you know with a disgusted face...

What I did on the floor...I checked the expiry dates on the products. Remove the expired ones and place sale stickers on the ones that would expire in 30 days.

Now I don't want to bad mouth the lady before me (she was really sweet and trained me) but while I was there I threw out so many products the manager was flabbergasted, so it makes me wonder just what she did because I found some that were expired since 2008 ( that is ANCIENT for lube!)

Ok enough for now! Off to grocery shop I go!

VTT: Those jars AGAIN!!!

As I was telling my dad that I got some more Mason jars today… He told me: You really have a thing about Mason jars don’t you?

I read your blog and these beautiful old jars reminded me of my childhood. I used to see them all the time!

And I commented : They must have been exploding all over the place! I recall hearing about peaches and exploding jars (was it in I love Lucy?).

Dad said: Oh yes I remember the explosions! We used to buy maple syrup that usually came in tin gallons, but this one time the maple syrup came in mason jars….We didn’t have room for a cold room so your grandma fix a closet as a cold room. And that summer it was so hot that all the maple syrup jars exploded and there was a sticky mess all over!

I really love hearing stories from my dad’s childhood; he seems to remember all the day to day things that I love so much; so I wanted to share this one with you.

If you want to read the original post...here's the link right HERE!

Happy VTT! Of course I'm linking to Colorado Lady super fun vintage party right HERE

Essential Embrocations...

Ok I love the title of this post and have been toying with it for quite a while now....

em·bro·ca·tion (mbr-kshn)


n.


1. The act or process of moistening and rubbing a part of the body with a liniment or lotion.


2. A liniment or lotion.
 
The other day I was cleaning out the bathroom cabinet for expired products and I found these...
 

 Ok count them....9! 9 rubs, oils and linimments....

Yep 9!

 And they say 3 or more is a collection! Could I be suffering from Essential Embrocatiis?

Look at the cool graphics on the boxes! They look so vintage and mysterious....Truth be told I need these...

Maybe not 9, but I have pain. Not just pain in the ass, LOL!

But back pain,neck pain,tennis elbow,shoulder pain all from 18 years of Bell Canada. A lethal mix of stress and computers...

 Also when I was a kid the smells of BenGuay, A-535 and Tiger Balm  were familiar and reassuring ones.

So whenever the air turns colder (it has been unseasonnably cool this past week) I turn to my essential embrocations...The bottles are priceless as well! I'll be hitting Chinatown today and the chinese pharmacy too. So much fun and relief and all under 3$!
 
I'll also be hitting the Salvation Army....Bring out the Pyrex people! the Queen's in town! LOL (I always wanted to say that!)

Yawn! I'm falling asleep allover!

A very warm and vintage welcome to my new followers! I hope you'll find your visits entertaining!

 So this morning is my first day of freedom from PCOU (postal counter of unjoy). After I supervised Dan's morning , I went back to bed with a book and cats...needless to say I was asleep before you could say cacciatore!

On Friday, my last day; I started freaking out that I had no pics in my uniform! So some autoportraits were in order!

Here I am in the backstore with my dinky polo shirt and name tag. This is the best pic of the bunch, really, I tell no lie. The rest made me look totally retarded, mentally ill, serial killerish and ginormous; sometimes all in the same pic. And boy do I need a haircut! This summer was so hot and humid that I wore ponytails,clips,barrettes and all kinds of assorted hair thingies, I barely noticed that my hair grew long and shapeless!

On my way in I saw this in the parking lot...

 

I guess this is a floor cleaner/polisher. I found it strange and wonderful just waiting there. And definitely vintage! Yum turquoise and white!

And on my lunch break I visited the grocery store where this vintage lovely was hanging out...

A toaster oven of some sort...The electric cord was covered in fabric!

Look at that control panel!

I'm glad I got to capture these delightfully out of place sights! Thank God I carry my camera EVERYWHERE!

Have a happy week! Man h man I'm still sleepy!lol

BYE BYE Postal Counter of UNJOY!

Oh my, oh my how time flies! At 4:30 I'll be saying BUH BYE just like these guys from SNL....



When I first this skit I LMAO! They are sssoooo obnoxious! Heck most of my postal clients were obnoxious as were my colleagues....EPM is not working today and she didn't even say bye last night!

So good riddance to this crappy job!

Have a nice weekend!

VTT: A Flea to Get LOST in!

Good morning everyone! I'll be linking to the original vintage party VTT @ Colorado Lady .Check it out for some vintage lovelies!

On the way home from Kingston, Ont we decided to stop at a flea market we had recently heard about. Heck I don't even know its name!
All I can tell you is that it's in Morrisburg, Ont, it's held every Sunday from 8 to 4 and there's tons of interesting thingies!

It doesn't look like much from the outside but it is huge inside! There are different levels, at least 4! Since we arrived at 3pm and it closes at 4....We were running all over the place trying to see everything!

You know how I am with Pyrex! I couldn't help myself and I took some pics!

Yummy casseroles!

I still think about that cup...but i left it there it was too expensive!

Those were really pricey...sad face.

Those pics were all from the same booth! Is that crazy or what? There was a booth with just Depression glass and one with just Jadeite!!! Ever wonder where all the Jadeite went? ALL IN ONTARIO! LOL

We will go back for sure!

Have a great VTT!

Woohoo! Roadtrip!

We left bright and early saturday morning. I was imagining tons of yard sales....after all it was Labor Day weekend! The weather semi sucked, some rain,wind and chilly temp. And there was not a lot of goodies by the side of the road...

I found those cuties at one of the first yard sales. It was full of gorgeous but heavy stuff: A wood burning stove,a carved bed, chairs etc...We have a small car...so I only took the tins (they are still full!).

 

This adorable coffee set I found in Brockville. The insides of the coffee pot are missing so it's now a tea pot!

It was made in England in the 60's...SWEET!

 

We stayed at the Radisson and this is our view....

Not too shabby!

We took the last room (lucky) and at the restaurant we took the last table (weird). We are creatures of habit. I'm a firm believer in the phrase: If it's not broken don't fix it. We always eat at Café Amadeus a nice little quaint crack in the wall kind of restaurant. The food is austrian and delicious! The portions are huge and we always take the leftovers in a doggy bag. There's a fridge in the room and we ALWAYS travel with a cooler. When we go home the next day we have supper all ready! How thrifty and practical!

We walked and walked and froze. Frozen people on a stick! We left home with t-shirts and shorts (capris), but the temp kept falling; we had to buy fleece jackets to keep warm and I lost my voice....

I also found this...

a dark green eeg plate to go with the S&P hens I found the other day!

On the way back we stoped at a yard sale that just had boxes on the grass, some closed. I opened all the boxes and found some antique canning jars, I asked for the price and they were 25cents each! I took them all! As you can see, I already put them to good use!

2 small and 3 large Crown canning jars with the glass lid. In the pink one I have pickled red onions I made last night, delicious and so easy to make! I cut a red onion that I placed in the jar, I heated 1 cup of white vinegar in the microwave and zapped it for 2 mins, I added some agave syrup to taste and poured the solution on the onions. They were ready to eat in 30 mins. I stored them in the fridge after.

They are great on a salad!

I was inspired to make these after having lunch at the Keystorm pub in Brockville on Sunday. Their salad was delicious and had pickled red onions! I had my all time fave sandwich...A Reuben! Those are very hard to find in Québec! So whenever I see one on a menu, I have one! I just love the sauerkraut, cheese, meat combo...LOVE!

Come back tomorrow as I will blog about a fab flea market for Vintage Thingy Thursday!

Where Have I Been?

Well around mostly! I had stuff to do around the house reducing my blogging time!

I had to install a new clothes line. The old one was broken when a big tree branch fell on it a couple of weeks ago. I procrastinated but I still wanted to dry my laundry outside until winter. I also had to fix the toilet that was leaking....yeah I know....But It was easy as pie! A new gasket did the trick!

I had more hours at the postal counter of unjoy....I went to Kingston Ontario for the weekend! For my
B-Day asked me what I wanted : A gift or a roadtrip? I said ROADTRIP! But I got both! I'm such a lucky girl! I got some U.S. mad monies for my upcoming vacation and a roadtrip! YIIIIIPPPPPEEEE!

And it's harvest time around here....

I was just in the veggie garden. I found some cute lemon cukes!

And sweet string beans

A ton of cherry tomatoes!

Do you remember the tower of beans? Well it's full of big pods! Here, I'm drying them a bit before I can remove the 'skins'.

Here are the beans drying. I'll be able to enjoy some this winter!

More on my road trip later this week!

Guaranteed Pure Milk bottle

One of my favorite Montreal landmark is the Guaranteed Pure Milk bottle . I would look at it everyday getting off the train to go to work and again at night going home. It is I think one of the oldest advertising sign still standing.

It was built in 1930 and designed by by architects Hutchison, Wood & Miller as advertising for the Guaranteed Pure Milk Company. It is located on Lucien L'allier st. Here are her specs: 6 tons,10 meters (33ft), and is a water tower (I didn't know that!)

It was built by Dominion Bridge Company with riveted steel; it has a capacity of 250,00 liters (66,000 US gal).

After years of neglect and graffitis, it looked horrible! Just like in the top picture. All sad and rusted.

Thanks to the efforts of Heritage Montreal, volunteers and private donors it was restored to its former glory in 2009.

Tis is an actual picture I took in June this year. I couldn't take it facing me because I didn't have acces to the site. I'm glad it's back!

LONG LIVE THE MILK BOTTLE! 
P.S: I took my info from Wikipedia :)