Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Persuasion and Lemon Grass!

I have been busy, busy, busy all day! Well, most of the day. The first half of the day I let Gabe sleep in and I read "Persuasion." That is my second favorite Jane Austen novel. I think her hero in that book is one of the most desirable heros in all her books. I mean, Mr. Darcy will still reign supreme because of his shy manners and perserverance, but I like Mr. Wentworth even more than I like Mr. Knightley. Near the end of the book Mr. Wentworth writes Anne a letter and his language in that letter is more passionate than all the dialogue of all the other Austen heros combined! My only issue with Persuasion is the last chapter of the book. I feel like that book had loose ends, which isn't typical of an Austen. All her other works were very meticulous about ensuring everyone was addressed and every principal name in the book had been dealt with. Mostly I just feel that Mr. and Mrs. Croft were left hanging. Anyway, enough about that. By noon I started really going to work. I started the laundry going, cleaned up my living room, compiled papers and garbages, chipped away more at the office... That took me until about 1:30. Then I played with Gabe and Cash for a while, fed Gabe more food and got myself ready. At 3 I decided that I would take in all of our bottles to the depot today. It's been probably a year now since we took in bottles and because Cash likes to chew on milk jugs and pop bottles we've been storing them on our deck so that he can't get them. Well, the deck was full and we have company staying in the room that the deck juts off of this weekend so we needed to clear those out. I first had to throw all the bags down, then line my van with garbage bags so that it wouldn't get ucky and then load up the van. Before I took off to take those in I brushed my dog. That was a long time coming! He was starting to leave clumps of hair behind him everywhere he went! Well, I could have made a pomeranian with all the hair I got off of him - and that was just a beginning. Tomorrow I'll do it all again. Anyway, I left at 4 to take the bottles in and it was 4:20 by the time I got to the depot and had filled the carts with my bags of bottles. Yes, Carts. Plural. I needed 2 Costco-sized shopping carts to hold all of my bottles. So I pushed one of the carts in then ran back out to get Gabe out of the van and push in the other cart with one hand. When I came in, two of the workers had already started sorting my bottles and taking the lids off. They actually did it all. I didn't have to do anything other than stand there holding Gabe. 25 minutes and $66 later I was out of there. I tipped those workers though. I've never tipped a bottle depot worker before but they were great to me. Anyway, I had to pick my mom up at 5 from work because we had plans to spend the evening together, so I got there just in time and we went for dinner - Pitas! I got food poisoning from a pita place when I was in Grade 10. I remember it vividly... it was two days before my then-boyfriend's grad and the day before my choir recording session and I was up all night vomitting because of cross-contamination. I was so ticked. And, as it turned out, I was turned off of pitas for, oh, 7 years. But I've recently been able to start eating them again, and I'm so glad! Tonight I had a Bruschetta Chicken pita with feta and balsamic dressing! mmmm!! Once we were done dinner we walked over one block to our local mid-week market. Our Saturday market is no longer a "farmer's" market, but a "public" market. The markets is packed with people selling bracelets and art and antiques and stuff - which is great, but that's not what I go for. I go for the food. So, this mid-week market is an actual Farmer's Market and it is tiny! I think there weren't even 10 stalls there, but lots of great stuff! There was a bison/elk/moose meat vendor, a bakery, an herb vendor, some honey and lots of produce! I ended up getting a big basket of raspberries and one of cherries, as well as a Lemon Grass plant! I looked all over the Saturday market for one. I checked 4 or 5 different places that were selling potted herbs. One place had them, but they were only selling mature plants with only two stalks! Oh, and they wanted $7 for it! The plant I got today isn't mature yet but it had tonnes of stalks coming up and it was only $4. Much better! I'm hoping to go to that market every week because I'd much rather buy farm-fresh produce than what I get at my local grocery store, which, I must admit, is better than most places even. After the market I drove my mom around to a couple places, we stopped at Starbucks for a Frappaccino for me (soooo hot out!) and then I went and got the van washed for Matt. That was something he had wanted to do earlier in the week but he had never had a chance to do so I wanted to surprise him by getting it done myself! When I got home I started cleaning. I took all of the garbages to the curb, threw in another load of laundry, cleaned out my fridge, filled up the dishwasher and washed the rest of the dishes by hand. Matt got home just before 9 and relieved me of my duty! And now, I am sweaty, dirty, and happily exhausted. Perhaps I'll get Gabe to bed and read Sense and Sensibility while I have a bath?

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)

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