Day 502 - At Sea

Hmm… I’m afraid not too much to report. I tended to my sprouts today, did some hand washing in the tub & tidied up the cabin. I must say, I’m very grateful for the tub. It’s not that I bathe a lot (I shower – just for the cleanliness records!), but I certainly use the tub to rinse off scuba gear, wash dishes, do laundry, rinse veggies & sprouts, etc, etc. It’s quite handy, especially since I have the water filter attached to the shower.

Tonight was the Captain’s Welcome Aboard party, which Jaco is supposed to attend & give a little wave when he’s introduced, but he was busy in the clinic. That suited me fine, as I didn’t have to get dolled up & could carry on tidying & sorting out my sprouts.

It’s quite intimidating to try & figure out how long to soak which sprouts for what, sprout them for how long, green them, plant them, etc, etc. I think I’ve got it figured out!

I also made a makeshift raw pad thai tonight. I picked up some mung bean sprouts in Barbados, so I figured I better use them up before they expire. I also had some leftover purple cabbage. I made the dressing – almond butter, garlic, ginger, red pepper, cayenne, kelp powder, lemon juice & water – and then SAFELY used the mandoline slicer to slice the cabbage. I chopped some dehydrated almonds & threw it all in a bowl. I mixed it up & although I had too much cabbage, I took it to Jaco in the Medical Centre & he LOVED it! He ate half the bowl! I was thrilled! I’m sure his belly was too! There is enough left over for one more day or night. The dressing was really nice – it wasn’t too garlicky & the ginger gave it a lighter taste. Success!

Okay, I’m done for the day. (un)Cooking, cleaning & laundry. Does that make me a successful house, er, cabinwife on a cruise ship? At least for one day!

xxxxMaria

Day 454 - Dentist, Bank, Luggage, Packing!

Oh my. I’m so far behind I don’t know how I’ll ever catch up. I’m sitting her trying hard to remember what I did on the 20^th of January. The day before I left for West Palm Beach, Florida. Then it hits me!

I had a dental appointment for a cleaning in Black Diamond. I raced over for that. I visited with Lois, my favourite Hygienist, about the past 6 months. Her dog is not doing well. I am very sad for her.

I will see her in a few weeks when I return from Florida. I have to see the Dentist, so I’ll be back into the clinic. My teeth are still very sensitive, despite using special toothpaste for the past 6 months.

I picked up a few boxes of dog food for the girls to last while I’m gone and then headed for Okotoks. I stopped at the TD bank to close my business account & deposit some money. The Teller was so kind. She didn’t ding me for closing the account early. When I had opened it, I was under the impression I would ‘pay as I go’ for transactions, but apparently they were still going to charge me $9/month regardless of my transactions. We started chatting & her Mom had recovered from Breast Cancer last year. She had shaved her head in support of her Mom! That made my day! Shockingly she received a lot of judgment for doing so. She had clients at the bank who refused to be served by her! Some even commented audibly, questioning why the bank would let someone sick work at a bank! The nerve! I tell you!

After the bank, I boogied to the city & picked up my suitcase. It had come back damaged from Cuba & I had it replaced. (Eagle Creek – No Matter What – Best Luggage Ever!) I picked it up & stopped at Mom2’s for a quick visit. I didn’t stay long, as there was still plenty of packing to do! Honestly, I’m amazed at how much stuff is in that room! My goodness!

One more day until I fly away… Wish me luck!

xxxxMaria, Oceana, Valentina & Adios

Adios stretched out

Oceana keeps warm by the Mac

The girls help me pack

Day 311 - Edit. Argh.

Today was supposed to be a full day of editing the Stirr! photos, but as my luck would have it, Photoshop CS2 would not accept my beautiful new CR2 files. I tried my laptop, Mom’s laptop, Mom’s desktop. Nope. Nothing. I tried googling, downloading & nothing. Nada. Are you kidding me? I have a boat load of images to edit & I can’t even open the files to get started?!? What is this rubbish?!?

Thankfully Adobe is offering a free 30-day trial of the new CS5 version of Photoshop. I’ll just download that! What? 1.12 gb?!? Right. Well, that is going to take the rest of the day! But, I really didn’t have much else to consider as far as options go. I started the download & left the computer alone. 7 hours later it was done. Needless to say, I wasn’t going to start editing at 2200, so no editing was done today. I did cull a few more photos while I was waiting though!

Roxy had come down to help Mom with her book work today, so Jaco & I visited with her once she was finished the books. I had just removed the tape off of my head to reveal my glorious henna design, so Roxy was marveling at it. She asked if she could touch my head & when she did, at that precise moment, someone said something & I laughed. Apparently when I laugh, my scalp moves, as it frightened the daylights out of Roxy! :o) I thought it was hilarious, Roxy, not so much!

While the download was taking its sweet time, Jaco cleaned the bathroom & bedroom while I did the laundry. Poor Jaco, I send him to Mom’s closet to fetch the vacuum. When he walks through the kitchen dragging the vacuum, my Mom’s bra is attached to the hose. Jaco barely bats an eyelash until I comment, upon which we both burst into giggles. I doubt Mom will be giggling when she reads this, but how can you not make light of a situation that no son-in-law should be exposed to? :o)

Wish me luck, for tomorrow I edit…

Maria, Jaco & Valentina

xoxoxoxoxoxox

Jaco taped my head on Sunday night & then we removed it Monday afternoon...

Sexxy new shower cap, no?

Day 278 - Something to blog about...

So yesterday I was pretty much out of words, which is rare for me. I can talk about pretty much anything... (Guess I should dig out my Table Topics to play by myself!) But last night, I was empty. Little did I know that I would have such crazy dreams... I could give Tim Burton (not Tim Horton) a run for his money when in comes to creativity. If I could only control this creativity, I'm sure I could find a way to use it to my advantage. Before I tell you about the dream, don't get excited, it's nothing big, just crazy, I will reassure you that I am NOT on any drugs at the moment. I've always had lucid dreams for whatever reason. Additionally, they tend to jump from scene to scene, so it may be a little confusing to follow.


Okay, so the first part I can recollect was the 'High School Reunion' scene. I was back in Maple Creek & all the kids from school were there. We were chilling out in the pool & socializing - catching up on 13 (!!!!) years of life. Pretty much every girl I went to school with was expecting twins! Yup, Bree, Jolene, Tammy... Way too many twins!!! Jump to the next scene - still at the reunion - we're going into the gym for some ceremony or something. I'm wearing my afro wig & there's Clay - a little tipsy (some things don't change!) & he says, 'WOW! Great afro! Can I try it on?' and before I can stop him (or anyone else for that matter), he rips the wig off my head, exposing my very bald noggin. There was a simultaneous 'GASP!' moment as he realized what he'd done & felt foolish. 


Skip to the next scene - I'm on the ship traveling with Jaco & he has 'hired' me to help him in the office for a few hours a night to give the Nurses a bit of a break. I help from 6-8 each night. Only tonight I was late & the Nurse I was to be relieving was a bit upset! I ran down with my dinner plate in hand & settled in to doing, well, nothing really! I just chatted with whoever was there. Can't remember names or faces. 


Skip to the next scene - I'm visiting with a bunch of ladies - Granny, Mom, Mom2, & Dad's girlfriend. We don't really get along (in real life) & in my dream, I went off on her! I started yelling & screaming all the reasons why we don't get along & in the end, we hugged & everything was fine. Then Granny was getting a back massage from one of the other gals. 


Skip to the next scene - I'm at home in Maple Creek & these 'bad guys' have put up a three story house in the horse pasture (close to the house). They have a fire in their lower level, unbeknownst to them, & it's dry & windy. I'm worried the fire will spread & start our house on fire. I want to put it out, but myself & ???? (one other friend) only have 2 ice cream buckets! We sneak over to the fence corner, but they have snipers out on each corner of the balcony. We can't yell, because they'll hear just a noise & shoot us. We can't approach the house either, they'll shoot us! Oh the drama! 


Skip to the next scene - my Mom, Unka Jer, my brother & I are riding horses. We're galloping through a hilly pasture when Mom does a hard stop on Shufly. He slides nice. Mom says, 'Hey! Did you see that!? Pretty nice!' Jeff says, 'Oh yeah? Watch this!' He kicks his horse into a gallop & just as they reach top speed, he rides through a snow bank that is melting. His horse sinks straight into it & falls over. The horse breaks his leg & when he gets up, his entire back end is paralyzed. The bones from one leg came right out, so it's just the hide. The other leg is snapped in half. Jeff says, 'Oh well, guess that's the end of him.' I freak out & say, 'WHAT DO YOU MEAN? You just took his life! You ruined him! He will never experience life! He's done!' I was very upset. About this time I also realized that Jeff's horse looked more like an elk than a horse.


This is all I can remember for the time being. Perhaps this is why I'm so tired all the time! It's not chemo, it's just crazy dreams!!!


As for the actual day, I really didn't do too much. I visited Nathan & Shauna at EVIC, chatted with a few girlfriends, missed my husband (both on the phone & in my heart), and cleaned the house. I've decided I don't like clotheslines. I love the way bedding smells when it's been on the line, but as for drying clothes... I know, it's green. BUT! I hang up one load & it takes all day to dry. We don't have a big enough line, nor enough clothespins. Half of my clothes fall on the ground every time a breeze comes along, so they end up dirty & still wet by the end of the day! Argh! NO MORE CLOTHESLINES!!!!


I prepared the house for the Jameses arrival tomorrow. I'm so excited to see them!!! It's been a year & I can't wait to hear how they've been! And they just got married, so I'm happy for their hearts as well!!! 


I cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed, mopped, dusted, tidied, reorganized & gosh darn it... I'm beat! Thank goodness I didn't have to cook! I think I'll need Culinary Bootcamp before Jaco & I go too much further!!! 


Lastly... I'm super excited for Step Up 3D to come out in a week (yes, I'm 31 & I STILL love the cheesy teen dance flicks) & even MORE excited for EAT, PRAY, LOVE to come out!!! If you haven't read the book, DO IT!!!!!! I can't wait to see Julia Roberts! I haven't had a repeat theatre experience since Titanic... I could be due! :o)


Have a great night & see you tomorra!
Maria & Valentina
xxxxxx

Do you think she's trying to tell me she wants to go camping?

Mom asked me to help with dishes, but I was busy, so she asked Oceana instead.

Mom & her 'other kids'

Oceana hitches a ride to the house.

Day 212 - Mehh.

Today was a strange day of sorts. I slept until 0930 or so when Oceana's yips woke me up. I had been tossing & turning & trying to squeeze in a few more zzz's. I was having a beautiful dream. Mmmm. Michael Buble. He wanted me to be a back up singer (Lord help his career!). It was completely life like & I even managed to wake up & fall back asleep & keep dreaming. He had a crush on me & introduced me to his parents & grandparents... What a fun dream! Of course, I googled him when I woke up & to my dismay, he's engaged. Oh well, I'm married anyhow... :o) He's coming to Calgary in August & I have every intention of taking Jaco. Yay! I saw him about 2.5 yrs ago with Mom & Mom2. We had the worst seats in the house & we still had a blast! If Mom2 had moved over one more seat, the spotlight would have hit her in the head! Good times! 


Anyhow, moving on with the day... Well, honestly, it really didn't progress into much. I spoke with a friend who has been through chemo & Hodgkin's & she did a lot of emotional/spiritual work along with her treatment. She's got an interesting take on things, so I'm planning on meeting some of her friends/mentors next week. She brought up a very interesting point. I have held the thought that I need to do some emotional 'work'. You know, get rid of all the yucky stuff I'm holding onto that might be keeping me in a less than healthy or negative place. She suggested that there isn't any work to do & that we are already perfect exactly as we are. I thought that was pretty clever! Yeah, why not? Why should I have to punish myself & make myself feel bad about having to do a bunch of work?! Why not just start each day as a fresh new day with none of the baggage from yesterday or yesteryear? I am going to adopt that mentality. It makes sense! Thank you Fawna! (http://www.fawnabews.com) 


I finished my chat with her & decided to stop in & see Joe at EVIC before I took the recycling away. As this is the long weekend, the centre & campgrounds are quite busy. The weather hasn't been too cooperative, as usual, so a lot of fair weather campers were heading back to the city. Apparently there is a fair bit of snow falling at Little Elbow, which is a stunning campground about 25 kms from EVIC.


When I returned from recycling I took the dogs for a walk to the highway & back. Then we played fetch in the yard. Oh man, Oceana was right wound up! She was ripping all over the place. With her antics & the squeaky toy, the poor horses had no clue what was going on. They were giving us some pretty strange looks!


We came inside & I started cleaning. Again. Man, this job never ends! I hung up some bathroom curtains, bedroom curtains & finally washed the new sheets from Ikea to put on the bed. Enthralling, I know! I sorted through a few papers on the desk & got the bankruptcy papers ready to burn for the Head Shaving par-tay... June 17th if you're around!


I booked my flight to Victoria to see Jaco & I am so excited to see him!!!! I'll spend a night with Ross & Krystle, a night with Karen & Werner & then visit Jaco for 4 days. Then it will be August before I see him again! Pooh! I spoke with one of the Fertility Nurses today & she said I could go, as long as I would be back in time for the ultrasound & blood work. Off I go!


So, as Michael Buble serenades me to sleep, I hope there's no snow on the ground tomorrow... Sweet dreams.


Maria & Valentina
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Looking out the kitchen window - the bull on the left was playing with the Christmas tree moments before!

I actually quite like this picture... Too bad it's on the point & shoot!

Adios intrigued by something!

Tweet Pea squeakin' away!

Sisters forever!

Well, at least until she steals my toy!

Day 150 - She Cleans & OMGosh - Is She? What the? SHE COOKS?!?!

Yes, call me Domesticated. Well, maybe not. Don't get too excited! It was nothing out of a Martha Stewart magazine. 


I had an email regarding the wedding decorations I'm trying to sell on Kijiji & the potential buyer wanted to know what all I had. I had written in down in last year's day planner, which I couldn't seem to find. I searched all over the house with no luck. Well, I must have packed it down to the bunkhouse last week when I was tidying up some stuff. 


Away I go, with Valentina sniffing along behind me. She is the funniest dog to watch jump a puddle. She leaps so high, rather then making use of her length, and then she falls short & ends up getting wet anyhow. It really is quite priceless! She is also getting very good at coming when I call her off leash. In fact, I've never seen her run so fast. It's really hard no to laugh as I watch her run to me. She looks so hilarious with her ears flopping & slicked back on her head. Her little legs just giving all they've got... I love my dog!


I pilfer through the bunkhouse again & find a few treasures (still no luck on the underwater housing) but I don't find the day planner. I walk back to the house & decide that perhaps it is in the car. Dear ol' Contemplate needs a bit of a clean, so I take the winter boots out, Valentina's toys & bits of toys, oh yeah, the air filter! I can change that too! 


I take the clamps off & take out the old air filter. Eew. There are bits of chips, green things & brown things. I'm not sure what they are or how they got there, but the vacuum is in order. So I decide to do a little Spring cleaning & vacuum the car, top off the windshield fluid, change the air filter, take out all the bits & pieces... There! Just like new! You'd never know she was 20 years old! BTW, still no day planner. But I did find:

• Slave for studio lighting
• Speakers & stereo still waiting to be installed
• Roll of duct tape under the seat
• Pair of socks from the hike Jaco & I did in September (yes, 6 months ago) (Oh my gosh, I know it's gross, but it SO does NOT compare to the stink bugs living under the bike seat that we put in the cab of the car to get to the trail head. THAT IS ONE SMELL I WILL NEVER FORGET!)
• Guide book for Banff
• Keith Urban concert ticket stubs
• The missing hamburger patty! Yay! No stench come July!!!
• Coins in various amounts

I quickly take the vacuum back inside the house before Mom gets home or any passer's -by might see me & think I know what I'm doing... 

I was quite baffled now, as I didn't know where else to look for the day planner. I'll look in the desk one more time. I thought it should have been there, as I usually leave it there, but I'd already looked twice. Maybe it's in the back of this... drawer. Found it!

I emailed the prospective buyer & about that time, Mom arrived home. I had promised I would cook supper. I had picked up a few cookbooks & picked out a recipe from each one. I started to mark the pages in each book when Mom asked me if I'd started the recipe already. No, why? Well, it says you have to dehydrate the squash for 18 hours. Whoopsie! Okay, so no raw dish for tonight. I couldn't do the Indian dish either, because not only did I not know what Bengal gram was, but apparently neither does CNF or Safeway! I was left with an Italian pasta dish & a Russian vegetable dish. 

I THOROUGHLY read each recipe before I began. The Russian one consisted of mushrooms & eggplant in a creamy sauce. Okay, is the cream bad? Should it have chunks in it? MOM! Come smell this... Nope, still good. The dish turned out quite good. But we were too full from eating the pasta, which was ready first, that we didn't have much room for it! Tomorrow!

The pasta dish was another story. I think I would have failed my first day of Italian Culinary school. The recipe called for pasta, pepper & cheese. Pretty easy, no? Well, I couldn't find fresh egg pasta, so I used rice linguini instead. The directions were to keep some of the water from cooking the pasta for the sauce. But since I used hard rice pasta, my water turned all milky & stuff. And I overcooked the pasta. Mushy. Next up was the peppercorns. It said to gently warm them in a frying pan to release the 'aroma & flavour'. Cool, I feel like a real chef! Releasing aroma! Then it said to crush the peppercorns using a mortar & pestle & if you didn't have one of those, then just put the peppercorns in a tea towel & crush them using a frying pan. 

I put the peppercorns in the towel on top of the cutting board & I take my warm-ish frying pan & WHACK, WHACK, WHACK. Crap. I just broke the handle on Mom's frying pan. Hmm. I suppose they probably just meant put pressure on the frying pan to crush the peppercorns, not annihilate them & the frying pan by use of brute force. Thank goodness Winners carries good pans! And thank goodness I just so happened to have a mortar & pestle left behind by a ship mate that she picked up in Costa Rica! I had never used it. Now I know why. The darned peppercorns just kept flying out of the mortar! I think Valentina sniffed more peppercorns than went into the pasta!

So that was supper. I'm feeling a little queasy at the moment. If there aren't any further blog posts after a week, maybe send someone over to check on Mom & I. 

Just let it be said - I did cook. Whether or not it is suitable for humans, well, I'll let you know how we're doing tomorrow! 

Jaco called after dinner - thank goodness he didn't call while I was cooking! I don't need him getting any bright ideas! :o) We discussed our 'Reunion' plans & it looks like I'll be heading to the ship on the 17th of April. Hello Barbados & more importantly, Hello Man of My Dreams!!!! I can't wait to see him! It's been too long! Again! 

Tomorrow I'm off to SK. Again. Bear with me as I try to keep up with the posting!

Love & kitchen kisses,

Maria & Valentina

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

My sneaky Mom taking a photo of the unsuspected unsuspecting chef.

Doesn't Mom know what happens when people with knives in their hands become upset? They break frying pans!!!

Day 110 - Progress

Mom asked me tonight - What are you doing tomorrow? My reply - Nothing. That way if I get something done, I'll have made progress! 


Today I ticked off the list: cleaning the desk, filling out my monthly expenses sheet, simmering down the inbox, attempting to train the dog & now, catching up with the blog! Oh yes, and shot #7 is down the drain! Well, not literally, it went in my leg, but I didn't do it yesterday, as I thought it would be best not to mix the drugs from the scan.


I heard from Nico & he has successfully completed his appendix surgery. In fact, he sent out a nice long email describing in detail each of his days stuck in the hospital. His encounters with the medical staff in Tortola make my Surgeon experiences look like a Robin Williams comedy show! :o) Adding to his torture, no air conditioning, open windows letting in mosquitos like crazy & linen changes at 0530! There was much more to the story than just that, but I am pleased to say that his is certainly on the mend & anxious to get back on the ship! The poor fella didn't have a meal for 10 days! I can only imagine how happy he'll be to have real food. The part that really made me laugh was the fact that the hospital gave him WHITE BREAD once he started eating food again! How's a person supposed to heal on that??? That is a puzzler!


I also spoke with Andrea - a friend of a friend who had Hodgkin's Lymphoma about 2 years ago. I met with Andrea last summer & she filled me in on what worked for her. She did some chemo, but when it came back, she decided to try some alternative things & they have worked marvelously for her. I felt terrible, as I never did email her back to say thank you & here I was calling again for more insight! She was very kind & refreshed my memory, along with some additional insight. It's always nice to speak with someone who has been down the path that you're on. This time I'll send that Thank You email! :o)


Valentina & I worked on her tricks again. She wasn't in the mood tonight. I was trying to get her to find the phone & bring it to me. I put a nice big loop on it so she could carry it, but she refused. 20 minutes later, I see her trotting along with a squeaky toy 2x her size & just as heavy as the phone... Hmm... Perhaps that stubborn Dachshund side of her is coming out... We rather worked on 'Stenditi' instead. She's getting better. Another week of practice & she should have it. Next will be barrel racing! :o)


Okay, that's enough for tonight. I'm going to try & beat the itch to bed tonight! Have a great night & I'll see you soon! Here's to Mexico! Only 10 days to go! Yay!!!!!! Let's get on with life! Let's get better! Let's go find my husband!!!! 


& that's an Amen to that!
Maria & Valentina
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox


Here's a few pics from Addo Elephant Park in South Africa. Jaco has family that live nearby - they have a guest house in Kirkwood called Kronenhoff. Perhaps you can see from the photos why I have such a soft spot & passion for Africa.

Little birdie on a limb.

Warthog

Boo-falo

Hartebeest

Kudu

Mini elephant

Don't mess with us!