Observations

I love the fall colours!

Sometimes, I have trouble thinking of things to write about here.  Writer’s block and I are buddies so I’ve decided to help myself out by keeping notes on things that I see and hear that perhaps wouldn’t make a whole blog post by themselves but, thrown together, will make a mishmash post of daily observations.

--I sometimes stop in the morning at the McDonalds near my work for a quick breakfast.   Nothing like a bacon and egg McMuffin and hash brown to start the day!  Anyway, this observation isn’t about my bad breakfast habits but about a man that I see there almost every time I go there.  He sits by himself with a notebook and pen and a tray with five extra-large coffees.  Yes, FIVE extra-large coffees!   He sits there doing whatever he does in his notebook drinking all of those coffees like it’s the most normal thing in the world.  By the time he leaves, he must be as jittery as the Joker on crack!

--Seen at the grocery store…… two kids in a double stroller, one a toddler and the other maybe four.  The four year old was crying and screaming her heart out in a full-blown tantrum that went on and on and on while the mother pushed the stroller around the store.  Now, I have little patience for tantrums and never put up with it with my kids but I understand that everybody’s situation is different.  Perhaps the child has a medical or mental condition that is not readily apparent or maybe the kid was just plain overtired so I can’t judge.  If this was a single parent needing to stock her fridge and forced to bring the kids (in the evening when they are obviously tired) I would have had all the sympathy in the world for her but this wasn’t the case.  There were two adults in this situation, a mother and grandmother (or aunt perhaps).  Why didn’t one of them take the kid outside to scream where the other customers wouldn’t have to have their eardrums assaulted?   Maybe they had reasons that I just can’t see but it would have been the respectful thing to do.

--My co-worker came back from lunch with Timbits and cookies from Tim Horton’s for everyone much to our delight.  We’ve got a great bunch of people here who are not adverse to yummy treats.  You can often find doughnuts, homemade cupcakes and other goodies sitting on the filing cabinet waiting to be enjoyed.

--A certain thirteen year old girl has been slipping into my bed lately citing things like “bad dreams” and “can’t sleep in my own bed”.  It seems to me that there is probably a deeper reason but I am patient enough to let her tell me in her own time.  She’s been known to get stubborn and clam up when pushed too hard.  Luckily, I have a queen sized bed and love her enough to tolerate all that body heat – the kid is like a darned furnace!

--At this time of year, the grocery store shelves are weighted down with a bounty of squash in every variety.  I know that they are nutritious and versatile and that I should be exploiting this bounty but I just can’t make myself like it.  I tried again this past week, roasting a pepper squash using a simple recipe I found online.  The Boy gamely ate his portion (15 year old boys will eat ANYTHING!) but I’m ashamed to admit that I just couldn’t do it.  I have tried pumpkin soup before and kind of liked it so I think that I might give some sort of squash soup a try.  Once I’ve blended the crap out of that sucker and added some spices, I may be able to get into it.  Maybe I’ll crumble some bacon over the top too.  You know what they say – bacon makes everything better!

--I got my kids new cel phones last weekend and got the Good Mom award.  Their contracts were up and their old phones were obsolete and starting to act wonky so it was time.  Now that they are a bit older and (hopefully) more responsible, I have upgraded them to proper smart phones as birthday gifts (both have September birthdays).  They spent the whole weekend playing with them and I got plenty of “thank you”’s and “I love you”’s so we were all winners.

 

Kat