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Doctors creating movies and cellphones dialing on their own

October 23, 2008 by Tricia

Chris was home from work again today. His back is a lot better today, thankfully, so he’ll be returning to work tomorrow. Finally I’ll have some peace around here, even if it’s only for one day.

The hospital has a policy that if you are off work for three days in a row you can’t return unless you have a doctors note, so earlier today Chris made a call to our family doctors office and he managed to get an early morning appointment. As it happens I was supposed to have an appointment next week, just to get a shot of a medication that I have to have every two or three months, so I tagged along and horned in on his appointment so I could get my needle.

If I hadn’t gone to the doctors today with Chris I would have had to take the subway to the office next week and I hate taking the subway these days. It takes me over an hour to get there and well … if you’ve ever been on a subway you know they are crowded, smell and you often encounter some pretty strange people! I should tell you some of my subway stories sometime.

I think that we finally figured out what’s been distracting our doctor the last two times we’ve seen her. I was starting to dread my appointments with her because she’d forget things we talked about the last time I’d seen her and just wasn’t her cheery self. I actually started to think that I might need to get a new family doctor! Well it seems that she’s been busy with a huge project and I’m assuming that was the cause of her distracted behavior! She made a movie!

She wrote and produced a movie that’s going to be called “A Touch of Grey”. I guess they are in post production now, but she talked about how they might submit the film to Cannes and the Toronto Film Festival.

I had no idea that she was interested in film making. Usually when Chris or I visit with her we talk about her family, her sons band, music and things like that, but it sounds like she’s been interested in acting and writing for some time. It will be interesting to see what happens with her movie when it comes out.

Ha … one funny thing happened while I was in the doctors office. I was sitting there with my purse in my lap and I leaned on it. Do you know what happens when you have an unlocked phone in your purse? It starts dialing people! LOL

I didn’t realize that the phone was on, let alone unlocked until I started hearing “Hello … hello” from coming from my purse! That was weird. It just so happens that I was in the crowded waiting room at the time too. Boy did my face turn red.

Have you ever had your cell phone start dialing people on it’s own and possibly create an embarrassing position for you?





Filed Under: Health Fitness and Beauty, Home and Lifestyle, Items to Try, Life with Chris, Toronto Tagged With: cellphone, dialing, doctors_note, embarassing, family_doctor, funny, injection, needle, sore_back, strange_people, subway, talking_purse, unlocked

What a week

October 22, 2008 by Tricia

I’ve been having an interesting week …

My husband came home from work last Friday complaining that his back was really sore. This was on the heal of having a bad cold for two or three days. We thought that maybe the cold virus had affected his back, so he took it easy that night and his back felt a bit better, but it was still sore on Saturday.

By Sunday his back was really bad and the way he was describing the pain (BTW he’s the worst at describing symptoms and being a nurse I’ve heard some very poor symptom descriptions) it was starting to sound like he might have a kidney stone, so we spent a while that day trying to figure out exactly what the problem was, but in the end it really was just his back.

He’s an OR attendant at the hospital and he helps move people onto beds and pushes stretchers loaded with patients to hospital rooms which of course can be hard on a good back and much worse on a bad back. He has Monday’s off, so he was able to get three full days to pamper his back, but when his back still wasn’t any better on Monday he decided to call in sick on Tuesday. It still wasn’t much better today either so he didn’t go to work today and he’s called in sick for tomorrow as well. He really needs to be sure that his back is better before he goes back to a job that is so hard on the back.

So … I’ve been stuck at home with a sick husband!

I’m sure the men reading this will admit that they aren’t at their best when they are sick and the ladies … well, I’ll bet most of you would say your husbands or boyfriends become little boys when they are sick. My husband is no different.

My back goes out every now and then so I know how painful it can be, but I still somehow manage to get a few things done around the house, like cooking dinner (or at least heating up an easy meal) and other basics, but whenever my husband gets sick all he does is lie around and act like it’s the worst thing in the world! LOL

So I’m not having the best week … plus with him around and me waiting on him hand and foot I can’t get much of my own work done!

I did manage to get out today to see my pain doctor though. She’s pretty cool. A little ditsy in some of her advice, but overall she’s a good doctor and she’s good to talk to as well. Only part of my visit was spent discussing my Crohn’s disease and how we are managing the pain I’m in … the rest was spent talking about her cold, family, my dog, my sick husband and her latest purchase – a very comfortable looking pair of Dansko shoes.

The very best part of the visit is the fact that I don’t have to see her again until the middle of December. Pretty much since January 2006 I’ve been seeing her once a month, only when she’s gone on vacation have I had longer periods between my appointments. This was the first time she actually asked to see me in two months without saying it was because she was going on vacation. Maybe from now on I won’t have to see her so much. Like I said she’s a nice doctor, but yeah … I don’t think I need to see her every single month.

So I’m taken care of for a while – at least pain medication wise (not health wise – I need a magic wand for that!). Now all I need is for my husbands back to get better and for him to get back to work so life can get back to what passes for normal around here.

Ladies – don’t you dread it when your husband is home sick? How do you cope?

Filed Under: Health Fitness and Beauty, Home and Lifestyle, Items to Try, Life with Chris Tagged With: appointment, called_in_sick, cold_virus, complaining, doctor, home, hurt, kidney_stone, lazy, lying_around, OR, OR_attendant, pain_doctor, sick, sick_husband, sore_back, sore_muscles

Frost already? Time to get the yard work done!

October 19, 2008 by Tricia

Early this morning (6 a.m.) I was awoken by the sound of my dog retching in her crate. She must have eaten something that upset her stomach the day before, poor thing. I got her out and comforted her and after a while I could tell that she was feeling better so I took her outside to do her business.

Let me tell you, I was extremely surprised when I emerged outside to see that the car was covered in frost! I knew it was going to be cool last night, but I didn’t think we’d get frost! At that moment I knew that I was going to have to do some yard work today in order to prepare the garden for winter.

We have a number of tropical plants that needed to be brought in. Passion flower vines, another vine that I haven’t identified (might be a trumpet vine), and of course the cannas all needed to be brought inside. I also had three orchids, a Thanksgiving cactus and a Christmas cactus in the enclosed front porch and they all needed to come indoors as well.

As I was scurrying around outside gathering up all of the plants that need to be overwintered indoors I noticed that the lawn had a good covering of fallen leaves so once I was done putting the plants indoors I set out to find our rake.

Our rake is broken! The wooden handle was snapped off near the base of the rake. I guess I could duct tape it back together as a quick fix, but we might as well get another rake. So once I came inside I started looking online for a rake. I’ve decided that I want to get a Pivot Leaf rake as it’s an ergonomic design so it will be easier on my back when I’m raking.

This type of rake isn’t the cheapest on the market, but as I said if it helps keep my back from aching when I’m raking it will be well worth it. Now if I can just find one that’s on sale I’ll have it made.

I guess over the next week or so Chris and I will be outside doing a lot of yard work. It looks like winter is going to come early this year if that frost on the car is any indication!

Is it starting to get cool in your area too? Did you get your Fall yard work done yet or are you going to have to scramble to get it done too?

Filed Under: Canada, Gardening, Home and Garden, Home and Lifestyle, Items to Try, Shopping, Toronto Tagged With: back, broken_rake, Christmas_cactus, cool, cool_weather, ergonomic, frost, garden, indoors, online, orchid, overwinter, passion_flowers, pivot_leaf_rake, price, rake, sale, Shopping, sore_back, Thanksgiving_cactus, tropical_plants, vines, weather, yard_work

Practice makes perfect

October 18, 2008 by Tricia

I don’t know if any of you happen to also read my husbands blog “Guitar Licks“, but if you have been reading it lately you probably already know that my husband is about to try out as the guitar player for a progressive rock band.

Chris and Sofie
Chris and our neighbor Sofie

This is a big thing for him. He started playing guitar when he was 9 years old and in no time he became quite well known in his home town for his talent. He even played with a few bands in his teens that toured across North America, but by the time he reached his 20’s he knew he didn’t really want that “rock n’ roll” lifestyle, so he just started playing to entertain friends and went to college for a non-music related career.

When Chris and I first met he was playing guitar every day and he was GOOD! Really good. I kept encouraging him to join a band at least part time, like a garage band, just so that he wouldn’t have any regrets later in life. I mean, when you have that much talent (he plays 13 instruments and plays them well) you shouldn’t just let it die, right?

Well, he never did find a band that he was interested in playing with, until earlier this month anyway! Remember I said we went to the Nuance progressive rock festival a couple of weekends ago? Well Chris talked to all the bands, but he really clicked with this one band and it just so happens that they are looking for a guitar player. So Chris is going to meet with them next Thursday for a jam session and I guess perhaps an audition.

I know that the band won’t be disappointed in his playing. He’s a little rusty since he doesn’t play every day or even every week anymore, but he put his equiptment together this morning and he spent oh … about 6 hours going over the bands music and I expect that he’ll do the same tomorrow and Monday (his day off work), so he’ll be ready for them on Thursday.

Practice makes perfect doesn’t it? I hope it does in Chris’ case since he’s a perfectionist!

Along with the sound of guitar playing filling the house all day I’ve also had to listen to Chris list off all this equiptment that he’d like to get if he starts playing with the band regularly … Oh my … I’m going to have to work 24 hours a day on my sites to make enough money to pay for this stuff! LOL Along with a new amp, wah-wah pedal, and a digital voice chorus pedal he’s also mentioned that he’d like to get one of those talking watches (to help remind him when to practice and to remind him of other things – like eating!). I think we’d better start looking on Ebay for some of these items because I know we can’t afford to buy all of them brand new right now.

Anyway … We’ll see how this goes. As I said, Chris is extremely talented so I think the band will give him a try. I’m just happy to see him playing again and trying out for band. I’d hate for him never to try playing with a band again and then have him regret it when he’s too old to really get out and do it.

Do any of you play musical instruments or sing? Do you practice or play with a band?

Filed Under: Home and Lifestyle, Items to Try, Life with Chris, Music, Recreation Tagged With: audition, band, Chris, guitar, jam_session, Music, need_guitar_player, playing_guitar, Progressive_rock, rock, try_out, wahwah

Happy Turkey Day!

October 13, 2008 by Tricia

I’m sure that most of my fellow Canadians are feeling more than a little full right now! Well I am anyway since today is Thanks Giving.

I think that I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago that we were supposed to have a big family get together, this year it would have been with my husbands family. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. My sister in law moved to a new house on Friday (a little earlier than planned) and being busy all weekend to complete the move kind of put a dent in the family get together. So this year Chris and I had Thanks Giving at home on our own.

This year I made Rosemary Honey Dijon Turkey breasts, accompanied by mashed potatoes, stuffing and sweet peas. In a little while we’ll have a slice of pumpkin pie … well if my stomach ever empties enough to make room for a piece of pie, that is!

The turkey was really easy to prepare. I used:

  • 2 cloves garlic, cut in slivers
  • Tiny sprigs fresh rosemary OR 1/2 tsp (2 mL) dried
  • 3 tbsp (45 ml) honey
  • 1 tbsp (15 mL) Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil
  • 1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon juice
  • 1/2 tsp (2 mL) pepper
  • 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt

I mixed the honey, Dijon mustard, olive oil, lemon juice, pepper, salt, rosemary and slivered garlic in a bowl and then I drizzled the mixture onto two boneless turkey breasts that were about 350 grams each. I then baked the turkey breasts at 350 F covered for about 20 minutes, and then after basting them I cooked them uncovered for another 20 minutes.

Can you say … Tasty? Yum!

I usually roast my whole turkey or turkey breasts, however I couldn’t find my small roasting pan when I looked for it earlier today. I have no idea what happened to it .. maybe I lent it to someone and they didn’t return it.

I loved that small roasting pan. It was great for doing a whole small chicken or two large turkey breasts in the oven. I’m going to have to keep an eye out for a sale on Roasters. I’ll bet as the American Thanks Giving and or Christmas approaches I’ll find some deals online!

Can you tell I love turkey dinners? – that’s just another reason why I have to get another small roasting pan … we should have turkey more often.

Fellow Canadians – did you have a big Turkey dinner this weekend? Which day did you eat your big meal … or did you have more than one big meal? LOL

I’ll bet that my American readers and looking forward to celebrating Thanks Giving too.  I know it’s one of your biggest holidays.  I’d love to hear what you’re planning for your holiday celebration and what you plan to eat.

Filed Under: Appliances and Accessories, Dining and Restaurants, Family, Home and Lifestyle, Items to Try, Recipes, Recreation Tagged With: cooking, Family, garlic, home, honey, honey_dijon, lemon_juice, mashed_potatoes, missing, peas, pumpkin_pie, recipe, roaster, roasting, roasting_pan, rosemary, small_roaster, stuffing, sweet_peas, Thanksgiving, Thanks_giving, turkey, Turkey_breasts, turkey_dinner

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