Summer Lunch

I made a really tasty sandwich for lunch today. It was inspired from a recent episode of Giada's Italian Kitchen. Start with a black olive infused focaccia sliced in half. I love focaccia...to me it's the perfect bread. Spread on a nice creamy goat cheese or chevre. Slice some peaches thinly and place onto the cheese. Sprinkle a little cracked pepper and drizzle with honey. Top with the other half slice of focaccia and place in a sandwich press. After about 2 minutes the bread is crispy, the cheese is warm and gooey and it tastes divine! Accompanying it, I made a salad with Parma prosciutto, sliced peaches, mango dressing and shaved Parmesan. It was tasty but not as good as the recipe I have (somewhere) for a Peach and Prosciutto salad. Now that peaches are in season, I have to make this. It's a lunch I could eat anytime and haven't had the pleasure since last summer.

Dateline NBC

I'm finally stealing a moment to relax and watch some TV. Dateline NBC is on with its feature story about catching Internet predators. I've seen these programs before but once again, I am just amazed and disgusted at how many men want to hook up with young underage girls. There must be a lot of perverts and pedophiles out there. These guys are drawn to the girls via Internet like bees to honey. Watching these guys get 'caught' by Chris Hansen and then listening to their lame denials is flabbergasting. I am sickened to think that predators like this could and are roaming everywhere. Our children just aren't safe and it's very scary. Sometimes I wish I could just put my son in a glass bubble and keep him protected from all the disgusting garbage that exists in our insane world.

Waiting on the Post

So another weekend has come and gone. I have to say it was beautiful weather and I didn't accomplish very much. Being that we've had so little sun and warm temperatures, I couldn't bear to be stuck in the basement packing up. Back to the drawing board today.

I am so frustrated with Canada Post. I just found out that there is only one person in all of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area - 5 million people+) who assigns postal codes to new properties and we just happen to be waiting on him and when he decides to get the information back to the postal office. I was just told it could take a day or months. Trying to arrange for basic services is now going to be a colossal issue unless I basically create my own postal code based on the address next door. I asked the post office what we're supposed to do and he couldn't give me an answer. So my wait continues. Fortunately I am very good at persistence and using the phone. We'll see what the next few days brings. It's one more 'classic' example of how the Canadian socialistic government fails to deliver.

Long Walk

Today was such a beautiful day....sunny, breezy and warm. I took my son and our dogs to the nearby conservation park and we went for a long walk and bike ride. I really had more of a purpose to this than just the exercise. I need to tire my dogs. They've been so anxious lately, especially Caesar (waking me now 3 nights in a row!). So I figured I'd be able to get some serious packing done if these guys were at least not following me around constantly.

At the park, we saw wild raspberries growing, along with many bushes of red currants. There were so many different butterflies and birds chirping. It was quiet and beautiful. We were hoping to see a muskrat at the Humber River, but once again it wasn't meant to be. Maybe next time he'll appear.

The Case of the Unknown Address

The latest conundrum in this delightful move is that nobody seems to know what the correct address is...hmm...hard to believe but true. Since it is in the countryside township, we don't know exactly what town this property belongs to or its appropriate zip code. The realtor doesn't know, the post office doesn't know, the lawyer doesn't know. I have someone working on this problem or challenge should I say to remain positive. But waiting for a response from some guy in downtown Toronto at Canada Post could take an indefinite amount of time. Something I am short on these days. From what I understand, a planner actually had to be summoned from the main downtown Post, go to the property, file an applicable zip code and then report it back to us. This is the part we still don't have any answers upon, so it shall be interesting to see the results.

Still Packing

With approximately 3 1/2 weeks left until the move, the packing continues...but I'm sure nobody is too interested in that. Although I must admit I am finding some things that have been long lost and forgotten about. I am about to start building my next pile of "stuff" for junk removal. I'll call back the 1-800-got Junk? guys because they were really efficient and helpful. It's scary when you start actually dreaming about how excited you are to see a virtually empty basement!

Yesterday we took a drive up to the new house. It was great to see the dirt being levelled off now, the septic system in ground, the air conditioner in place and the boulders starting to be placed in their spots. It's coming along nicely. I sure hope the weather improves around here because every time we go to that house it is cloudy, windy and cool. I keep thinking we'll be able to go there in shorts and be comfortable walking around but it hasn't happened yet. When will the heat ever arrive?

Fish

This morning started with the aquarium services guys arriving an hour before they were due. Luckily I was just dressed when the door rang. And after 2 hours, our 95 gallon salt water tank (complete with beautiful fish) was disassembled and packed up in a van. The room where the tank sat is quiet now...no hum of filters. My son and husband were quite upset at them leaving. I must admit I do miss our plump puffer fish. He was my favorite. It was fun to feed him dried shrimp by hand. And occasionally he'd take a gulp of water and spit it out at us. Being the largest guy in the tank, it was peaceful watching him lumber around, completely blowing up like a sphere once in a while. Our fresh water tank was also taken down and removed. We had a placostamus fish in there that was around 8 years old and a good 10 inches long. This is one hobby that we can't maintain where we are moving since we can't get help to look after it if we're away. And who wants to remain housebound to fish?

The rest of the day was taken care of with packing, phone calls, a long bike ride with my son and take-out Chinese. And now I will wind down my day, read to my son and put him to bed...and then if I'm lucky, watch a program of my choosing.