One more sleep

I'm posting this earlier in the week because Eli and his mom will be here on tomorrow morning. She's planning to drop him off to go shopping with a friend so the fun will start early. I've been counting down the days to their visit - this is the Christmas he'll be old enough to remember. 

Back to the weekend, on Saturday afternoon I started to feel a bit unwell. I felt warmish, had a sore throat and a bit of cough. It was an early night, and before I went to bed I took a tablespoon of Buckley's cough medicine. For those not familiar with it, it tastes a lot like spruce gum and if you've never tasted that , imagine the smell of a spruce or pine tree with antiseptic as a taste. As their slogan says, "it's awful, but it works." After a long winter's sleep (nearly 9 hours), I woke feeling absolute fine. I have to assume it was the effects of the booster shot as the cough and sore throat have disappeared. Buckley's works well, but not that quickly.

The cold has stayed with us, except overnight Saturday into Sunday. We had a brief respite with temperatures rising to -8C (18F) by 6 a.m. and then the temperature starting dropping again. I headed out about 8:30 a.m. to clear the driveway. It was -13C (9F) with a wind chill of -26C (15F). The wind was wicked cold, and I was happy to finish in less than 20 minutes.

Beyond that, Sunday was a lazy day. I watched the semis and finals of two curling events. They were being aired at the same time, so I had one on the television and the other on the laptop. More knitting was accomplished and there were just a few inches left to finish on the scarf. After the curling I worked on a jigsaw puzzle, and still later I had the NFL on television and started reading Paula Hawkins' The Girl on the Train. I'm nearly 100 pages in and quite enjoying it though I must admit I can't quite tell where the story is going. That's not a bad thing.

Monday was house cleaning day. Time to tuck away all the incomplete projects, clear off the end tables of tchotchkes, paper, books, and other clutter that seems to congregate there. I washed floors and vacuumed rugs, scrubbed bathrooms, and dusted. I certainly made up for the lazy Sunday! The main floor was completed by late afternoon.

On Tuesday I did the grocery shopping. Oh boy, I have totally this month's budget. But the pantry, freezer and fridge are bulging at the seams so I should be good for some time now. I've all of the necessities for our Christmas Eve dinner (mac & cheese and hot Italian sausage - a favorite of both my adult children) and for our meals on Christmas Day. D will probably make French toast in the morning. I have meat, cheese, buns, crackers and various raw veg for a lunch. I'm doing something different for dinner - chicken and dressing in the slow cooker. Potatoes, gravy, more dressing, and peas, carrots, and brussels sprouts for the sides. There are snacks and various desserts as well for nibbles in the evenings. I'm groaning even as I'm writing this. Oh, and G'ma bought a few of Eli's favorite things too, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, blueberries and raspberries. He also loves vegetables. No one will go hungry in this house. :) The only thing I did not find was celery. The produce clerk said they did not receive any on their last truck. We'll be fine without it.

After putting away the groceries, I had my lunch and relaxed for a bit. Then it was time to tackle the basement. I swept up the furnace room area, under the stairs and the space where the cat litter boxes sit. The floors were scrubbed, the cat litter changed, and I replaced the furnace filter. C is responsible for his own area including the bathroom so that was it for the day, after cleaning up after myself, I sat down to work on a jigsaw puzzle. It's coming along slowly.

More snow was in the forecast for Wednesday. I had an errand to run, that I'd forgotten the day before, so headed out early to get it over with. At home I checked the external electrical outlet on the garage as D will need to plug in her vehicle while she's here. For those of you who don't need to do this, in Canada we usually have block heaters in our vehicles which, when plugged in to an electrical outlet, keep the engine warm(ish) so the vehicles kept outdoors will start during our really cold weather. Not that I can't remember times in the past when even that wasn't enough - usually due to a weak battery or failing alternator. 

But the worst, was the year it was close to -40C and we were on our way home from my mom and dad's after Christmas. My mom had sent extra blankets with us for the kids to bundle up in in the back seat - mother's intuition perhaps. We'd travelled about an hour of a four hour drive when the heater in my car gave out. There were no garages open in the town we were nearest to, so I simply turned around and drove that hour back to my parents. We stayed an extra day or two while the car was repaired. 

I digress. The snow didn't start to fall until late afternoon, so I really didn't have to rush out in the morning. Oh well, it gave me time to bake another batch of shortbread, put together a cheese ball for our brunch on Christmas Day, and play with my jigsaw puzzle.

When I got up on Thursday morning, I groaned. WE had about 2 inches of snowfall, maybe more. After a few morning chores and a chat with D, I went out shovel and feed the birds. It took almost an hour to clear the driveway and the sidewalks. The piles are getting higher. It was supposed to warm up this afternoon but that did not happen.

Today's must dos included laundry, so there are clean linens on the bed for D and Eli. I got rid of my spare bed when I had the house listed for sale and haven't replaced. I sleep on the couch, so maybe I'll see Santa in person this year. I also made up a batch of cinnamon buns to take to my brother's tomorrow. They've invited us out for a couple of hours to see Boone, their new miniature horse, the three dogs and two cats, as well as having a visit and exchange gifts. It will the first time in a couple of years that we've been together. I'm a little nervous as the niece (18) and nephew (21) have lives and come in contact with more people than I'm used to. But I'm sure we'll be fine.

Dinner will be made in the morning before we leave - if we're delayed getting home I'll have my son pop the food in the oven. I'm hoping to have that work out of the way before D and Eli arrive. 

I'll end with this photo I sent to Eli the other day. He dislikes wearing socks, as do I, so the photo was to show him that G'ma was wearing her socks. I'm not sure it convinced him to wear his though. :) I do like Christmas socks.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone! I'll be back early next week with a roundup of the craziness that is about to ensue.