Shrove Tuesday

    This is also known as Pancake Tuesday when you use up all the butter and eggs before Lent begins tomorrow. However, today was also the Senior Centre's outing to the Mandarin for the Valentine's lunch. Tomorrow I will start to live frugally and have already begun with no wine or chocolate this past week.

    Catherine brought pancakes to dance group on Monday and we had them with lashings of butter and home made strawberry jam at the break, so the week started out well. At the Mandarin today I started out with some sushi, then had dumplings, dim sum, shrimps, mussels and stir fried veggies, and finished with several delicious desserts. Green tea washed it all down but I was thoroughly stuffed when we finally rolled out of the restaurant. Home for a nap then I went to see "The Shape of Water" at the movie theatre. A bit of a tear jerker but most enjoyable.

   Just soup for dinner tonight and more Olympics. Canada is doing really well!

   

What Next?

    Finally a day without any snow although the skies are still grey and overcast. After doing my morning chores (kitchen clean-up, ironing, bed changed) still in my night clothes, I finally got dressed just after 10:00 a.m. and went out to get rid of yesterday's snow. That took me about an hour and the snowblower had to dig through the windrow that the street plough had left at the bottom of my driveway.

My trusty machine - it has had a good workout this month!

   I was hoping that would be it for today but when I stepped outside later I realized everything was coated with ice - freezing rain had replaced the snow! Surely we will get a break from this particular weather system soon.

    When I got in from the first time out I made a pot of cauliflower soup for lunch. I usually don't buy cauliflowers in the winter as they are too expensive, but yesterday I cashed in $30 of PC Points so got myself a few treats - avocados, red peppers, berries and  piece of blue cheese. Despite the rotten weather I am a happy camper by treating myself with some tasty food!

Inundated with the White Stuff

Friday  
  Having an early dinner (last night's fish with some pickled beetroot) as I have to go to babysit the grandkids in half an hour. I wish I didn't have to go as it has been snowing since noon and the roads will be a mess. I am always amazed when people write in their blogs how much they prefer snow to rain and how beautiful it is. Obviously they don't have to shovel it or drive in it! We have been promised (?) 25 cms. in this current storm.

Saturday
Well, the driving was even worse than expected, very slow and cautious. It was impossible to see the lane dividers so you just had to follow the car in front and leave plenty of room for an agonizingly slippery stop. It took me 50 minutes to get where I was going (usually half an hour). The kids were good, just the two younger ones so no squabbles. Number one son was on a camping trip, hope he survived the weather!

    Judy was back just after 10:00 p.m. and I had an easier drive home. The snow had stopped and, although the roads were slushy, at least a path had been cleared down the middle. The snow started up again overnight but by the middle of the morning it petered out. I used the snowblower to clear the driveway, went grocery shopping and have stayed in since then. Guess what? More snow! I will have to get the snowblower out again tomorrow. It is getting a real workout this month.

   That's it for today. A piece of salmon for dinner and lots of Olympic coverage on TV.

   

More Shovelling!

    A cold start (-12C) but I was out quite early to finish clearing the driveway. There had been a bit more snow overnight, not enough to charge up the snowblower, so it turned out to be a longer job than I expected. I waited until the snow stopped falling and I was the first on the street to have a clear driveway!

   It warmed up a bit and we had some blinks of sun, so I was sweating by the time I was finished. I always wear several layers on my torso as I find that's the best way to keep the hands and feet from freezing. Also, I had on my big boots that come half way up my calf so my feet were toasty.

   I came in around 10:30 and had coffee and toast followed by a soak in the tub as my back was aching. By the time I was finished reading the newspaper it was time for an early lunch as I was determined not to miss the Zumba class at 1:00 p.m. I have missed several since the New Year and was in danger of losing my spot. In fact, last week I had to sneak in before our book club meeting to check off my name even though I didn't stay for the class. Today it was tiring but exhilarating at the same time and I was ready for a nap when I got back home.

    Early dinner tonight as I have to be at the DMTC meeting by 7:00. Fish in a cheese sauce with peas and spinach. Nothing to follow as we will probably have nibblies at the meeting.