I love my morning tea time. I know I've spoken of this many times before but it is still one of those things that can set my day on the right path. I enjoy is so much that sometimes I'm late leaving the house because I am still sipping my tea. This week it is the one time of the day when I do not need to think about anyone else. It is my time to surf the net, write my blog, do my on-line banking and of course listen to the news on tv.

Work is super busy and of course with today being Tuesday I have only 8 more days of work not including today and I am trying to get as much finished as possible before I am gone for 3 weeks. Luckily my shifts at the theatre are minimal at the moment but I am also interviewing and job searching in the evenings so my free nights are limited. Thursday this week is going to be nutso. Two interviews lined up in the afternoon and a series of appointments in the morning. It will be a day of minimal work.

Actually managed to have supper at my mom and dad's last night which doesn't happen very often. My evening interview was post-poned until Thursday so I had some free time in my schedule. Left over beef stew and home made biscuits. Mmmm. Oh yeah...it was good to chat with them too. And visit with the dog although I do have issue with the amount of dog hair I brought back to Charlottetown.

I have yet to hear back from the two jobs I applied for. I gotta say...rude. If you give a date you should try and respond close to that date with a yeah or neah. Oh well. I have more interviews lined up as I mentioned and am still hopeful of finding something new relatively soon. I will obviously take a break from job searching while away which is unfortunate but necessary. I will try and take a peek once or twice at the job boards--don't want to miss my dream job but I will certainly not be putting HOURS into searching.

I stocked up on kitty litter a couple of months ago when a friend sold me the litter he had bought en masse when he had cats. 8 12kg containers...so they cats have lots of litter when I'm gone. I've been buying extra cat food everytime I go grocery shopping. I think there are 6 bags of cat food sitting in the closet. They use one a week. So again plenty. And moist food--I bought a case of 24. Again they go through maybe two a week with twice daily feeding so when I'm away it will be a treat only every few days...so they should have lots. I even purchased an extra litter box so no one needs to change the litter box every day...it can go a few days now in between visits. I still need to cat proof the house before I go and cover all my furniture with sheets and blankets to prevent some of the cat fur that I know will be covering all my belongings when I return.

Return...I haven't even left yet and I'm already thinking about the return. Such is life...you gotta go in order to return. I would love to have a couple of months to explore India. Maybe some day.

The cats are entertaining me this morning. They plucked a fake flower off some stems I have in the bedroom and are tossing it in the air and chasing it all over the kitchen. Well, I should say Hudson is playing with it. Tundra is hanging out on the kitchen chair watching her sister play.

Had a fabulous supper on Friday and Saturday last week. Thai pot-luck on Friday night and authentic Indian on Saturday. Man I am so lucky. Now that my weekend looks pretty free I may try and invite a few people over for tea on Sunday afternoon. A drop in of sorts. It will make me get the house clean and will be nice to see some friends before I go. This is afterall my last weekend on the Island until May!

Skype. It's a video chat on the computer over the internet. I am now a skyper. I tried up North but found the connection slow and gave it up. The connection in PEI is of course awesome and so the two interviews on Thursday are via skype. Yep, cheaper than a flight but still with a personal touch.

I will be blogging from India of course but in an effort to keep my work like seperate from my volunteer life I am blogging it on another page. http://www.fatgirlsnoring.blogspot.com/  I won't start blogging there until I leave so you can keep reading here until then. See you at cheap night!

I owe you some pictures...here's a few from the past couple of months.

These first few pics are from when I was making butter chicken. There are a few friends who are trying to do a regular dinner party with a different country as the theme each time. First theme--India. So I made my no fail butter chicken which failed. LOL...which is why there are no end pictures. I tried an actual recipe this time and that was likely my first mistake. My second mistake was using black cardamon. The smell is very intense. Smoky and earthy all at the same time. It wasn't a mistake to use it, it was a mistake to use 3. 3 green cardamon seeds is one thing, 3 much larger black ones is another. Lesson learned. What I did do and will try again is leaving the cinnamon whole. I hate trying to grind cinnamon and the whole sticks leave the same flavor with no effort.



Using my new mortar and pestle. Thing of beauty.

The start of the butter chicken.

Mmmms, spices. My kitchen smelled so good.

Remember this? My fugly telephone table. I bought it in August at the Restore and had high hopes for it...and it turned out awesome. Of course I had nothing to do with turning it into this thing of beauty other than being lucky enough to win a contest. After some time I received it back and am so happy with the look...except that it is covered with a blanket most of the time as the cats feel it would make a good scratching post.

This may look disgusting but I can assure you it was very tasty. I had whipped mashed potatoes at a friends house a few weeks ago and have been whipping my potatoes ever since. So much yummier than dry mashed potatoes.

For those of you who have never experienced the blue potato they are a thing of beauty. :)Often more purple than blue, but the name blue remains. These are small blue potatoes that are blue all the way through, not like the blues I remember from my youth which just had blue veins around the edges. I like to leave the skin on--tastier and more fibre.

And on a totally different lane of thought...

My drive to work one day...

And my drive home the same day....yes it doesn't take long to have a change in the weather conditions. This was from late February.

And back to food projects that didn't work out...grrr. Next time I photograph my cooking I think having someone to take the photos would be helpful. I can't stir/whip/fry while also taking photos.

This is the making of a green cake.

Blending in of the food colouring...note the not smooth cake mix.

 One of my always helpful helpers--Tundra.

 Cake balls. Finally. Wanted to try this in the fall and ran out of time for the party...then again over holidays but the last thing anyone needs is more sweets. So in honour of St. Paddy's day I made green cake balls. They tasted good but I would recommend when making cake balls from a light coloured cake to cut off the browned edges as they show up in the balls.

Waiting for the chocolate.

 The chocolate that went from solid form to burnt. It never fully melted in the pot which is why the 'balls' never got coated in chocolate and brought into work.

Apparently on Saturday night the moon was closer to the earth than normal. Here's proof...

I was lazy and took this from inside my apartment...but in my defense it was late and I already had my jammies on. I think the image turned out pretty good. What is amazing to me is that we were able to see it that night...cause tonight...no moon visible.

Hope your weekend was as relaxing as mine...but I also hope you finished washing your dishes...I didn't get mine finished. Oh well.

Yes, I had the interview. I called first thing Monday and the afternoon time slot they offered fit my schedule at work. I did my best and then attempted the 1 hour written challenge. I managed to send it off with 4 minutes to spare. They said I would hear by Friday but I am doubtful it will be that soon.

It's Friday morning...you know how you can sleep but not sleep? Your eyes are closed but the deep rest that comes from a good nights sleep isn't there. Yeah, that's been my week. Oh well. It's Friday! And I asked someone to cover my shift tonight and I wasn't scheduled for Sat/Sun so I have a real full weekend off. Giving up the shift so close to the trip wasn't in my plans but sometimes one just needs to make the call.

We are entering the final pre-trip stage for India. I am setting up a conference call for next week to discuss the trip with the GV folks who will be my Canadian life line during the trip. Yes, excitement levels are hitting new highs as we get much closer to the departure date. I may do some play packing this weekend to see where I am at with my belongings.

I was at VV last night looking for another pair of pants to build in ie. scrubs and found a terrific sun dress but then remembered that I think I already have a skirt I'm taking with me and really, don't I need another top instead? So I think spreading everything out on the bed together is the best plan of attack.

Filled my truck up last night with gas...it had been running on fumes for over 2 days and swallowed just over $77 worth of gas. Ouch. The mileage cheque I get at work will not cover that anymore. The sad thing is apparently the price was set a few years ago when prices were at the same level...so getting it increased is not going to happen unless gas goes up significantly more than it already has. Guess I better look into getting a new bike when I return from India.

Tis a good day to be green. It is after all March 17th the day when beer magically turns green in the barrel and people celebrate the heritage of the Irish by drinking excessively. What about an St. Indian day so we can eat butter chicken and naan to excess? Now that would be fun. :)

Here's a few pics from March 17 gone by...or close to March 17.

PEI, 2010 during my visit last year. 

 Edmonton, 2009 spent the day wandering around downtown looking for signs of spring.

 2008 seems to be missing. I believe that was when my camera was not working upon my return from India.
Iqaluit, 2007 getting ready to go for a walk.

 Pangnirtung, 2006 growing the tulips that I had brought back from Amsterdam with me.

And here we are in 2011 and there is no picture from today--yet...but I have been watching the monsters chase each other around the room while I try to peacefully cook in the kitchen. It's entertaining. And more good news I have Saturday and Sunday off again this week. YEAH!! I still get my three shifts but they have been moved around which is a total score for me. I didn't want to work extra shifts over the spring break (for schools) but had been warned that I might. Looks like I lucked out. Whoo hoo...the weekend is in my sights.

Waking up this morning to a very dark sky and even now at just past 7am the sky is still that very dark inky blue of pre-dawn...its fantastic! I normally enjoy waking up to the sunshining in my house and sipping my tea while I watch the morning form outside my window but the past few weeks my furry friends have felt it appropriate to wake up around 5:30am before dawn had broken and frankly I was tired of it. They go from sleep to crazy time in seconds and the thumping up and down the hall, jumping off and on the bed and general destruction in an effort to get me up and to feed them was starting to get annoying. This morning, obviously not aware of the time change yesterday they slept in. In fact I was the first one to get out of bed this morning. I must enjoy it while I can because it won't last for long.

The kittens were such big helps yesterday when I was doing some cleaning up around the house. Helping with the sweeping and giving me odd looks when I put all their toys into a box. They much prefer to have the toys spreadout over the entire apartment--cause you never know when you are going to be hit with the need to play ball. I bought them a new scratching post this weekend and so far it is still sitting and has not been scratched. They are always weary of new things like that so I'll give them a few more days before I figure out how to get them to use it. I'm sure some cat nip will be involved.

They are growing up into lovely cats. Still with the kitten zest for life and all things that move but I know that in the next 6 months or so they will lose much of that zip and will settle into fat, lazy cats--which is exactly what I am going for. In fact Tundra is almost there. She certainly has the fat part down. You know how kittens have that big belly on them--Tundra never got rid of hers and now she weighs a ton. It is very obvious who is walking across me at night just by the weight.

My weekend of no work was delightful and I am looking forward to my next break in 26 days. Next week will be crazy busy with theatre work. Spring break for schools across the Island means the theatre is open for what they call double matinees. Meaning they open at noonish and there will be four show times per movie, per day. Which means they expect to be busy. I won't be working any days but I will likely have a couple more evening shifts as the other staff will end up working more day shifts. Need the money...need the work...want to pick up a few treats for myself during my upcoming travels.

I may or may not have an interview today. When I got off work Friday night there was a message waiting for me 'please call back before 5pm today to arrange an interview for Monday' yeah...that didn't work. I left a message on the weekend saying I'm interested and will call first thing Monday to see if we can arrange this but you know it is going to be difficult. And the odd thing is is that today, Monday, would be the best day for me even without the advance notice. We are doing some sessions at work the next couple of days and one of the HR folks from the US is in town for it...so I can't just excuse myself for an hour. Fingers crossed. This would be a fantastic opportunity.

I'm tired. Very tired. It isn't just a body thing its an emotional thing. Working two jobs, planning the trip to India and the issues presently going on at my ft job. It's a lot the past few weeks.

For those of you not in the know I am looking for another job. There are a number of things going on where I currently work and while I am trying to keep my employ there it is looking more likely that I should and will need to have other employment very shortly after my return from India. The timing couldn't be worse and it is causing some of the stress in my like and that of course is turning into my mental tiredness.

I am trying to take next weekend off. Yep, totally off from both jobs. Plans for the days off--nothing. Just more hanging at the apartment with the kittens. And likely some packing of objects around the apartment (in preparation of the kittens living alone), a trial run of the suitcase and a check to see what other items of clothing, etc I will need to purchase in the next couple of weeks. 34 days and counting. There will be a very busy week of work at the theatre coming up during spring break and that will be my final push for cash before I travel. My mad money so to speak during the trip.

For the first few days I will be in Paris. Ah, Paris. I haven't really made any plans other than the booking of the hotel. Wandering around taking photos and eating croissants, cheese, bread and drinking wine doesn't require a lot of planning.

India is coming along nicely. The hotel information arrived this past week and I am very impressed. I need to put together an information package for my team this evening  and a number of other things...augh. I also brought home some work from my day job that I haven't looked at yet...simple work--hole punching. But I haven't gotten around to it yet. Farmers Market Saturday am, niece and nephew's b'day party Saturday afternoon, worked Saturday night, Sunday morning cooking lunches for upcoming week and shortly off to work for the rest of the day. Tonight is laundry and some cleaning along with the India information. With the 34 day countdown looming in my head India needs to take a priority on the to do list.

Hope you are having a great weekend.

Ahhh, how cute. Look at the kitten sitting in front of the fish tank. Funny kitty.

'Let me just sit up here and take a closer look at your nice fish tank.'

'Oh yes, I see the problem here that you were talking about with the tank. I can fix that.'

So far no fish have lost their lives in the making of these photos. Her fascination with the tank the past few days is comical. Yes, I should go over and get her down off the table--no, I haven't. But when I get up and walk towards her she jumps down--she knows its wrong. The paws dangle in the water on a regular basis but so far no actual fishing and no nibbles as far as I can tell...we will see how that goes.