A split second

 

We had plans to head over to Ikea yesterday. I was looking to buy a few things including closet and drawer organizers, decorative pots and perhaps some prints to hang in our kitchen or hallway.

Traffic was unbearable like usual. Thanks to the Mercier Bridge being on the verge of collapse and the subsequent closure or I should say reduction of the bridge to two lanes, the traffic to access the highway on ramp was a good 45 minutes.

We were headed the opposite direction and so we decided that it would be best to head to the east ramp which was a 5 minute drive away.

We were right, the traffic was only really isolated to the area where the on ramp gave access to the bridge. As we approached the east exist we could see that there was no traffic near the on ramp or the highway.

As we approached the on ramp we caught a red light. Waiting in traffic looked a little like this:

As we were waiting at the light, a young woman ran out from our right, passed the car on our right, passed directly in front of us and was trying to run across the empty turning lane when a mini-van that she did not see clipped her and sent her flying into the pavement. She was trying to catch the public bus that was waiting on the other side of the road east of the grass median.

Sam immediately jumped out of our car to see if she was breathing while I made a frantic call to 911.

The woman was laying on the floor moaning with obvious injuries to her body, legs and face. I will spare you guys the details of that – those details are what kept me awake all night with knots in my stomach.

Please…please…please don’t jay walk. Yesterdays accident is an example of why the police are always lecturing about jay walking. Accidents do happen, people don’t make the buses they are running for and innocent people get seriously hurt or killed.

It would have taken this young lady and extra 30 seconds to walk to the corner and cross at the pedestrian cross walk.

Instead, she was rushed the hospital in an ambulance.

Needless to say, we were very shaken up by this. Once we had given our account of what we saw to the police we were told we could leave. We didn’t make it to Ikea yesterday, instead we turned right back around and headed home.

We spent the evening trying to forget what we saw and yet no matter how hard I tried to reassure myself that she would be okay I was continuously having flash backs and that moment where the impact took place.

Today, we’re home and still unwinding from the terrible event that occured yesterday afternoon.

Later, maybe a family lunch – we shall see!

Moral of the story – please don’t jay walk, those extra 30 seconds can save your life.

Waiting Room Talk

Yesterday was a complete write off. Seriously.

I’m an adult about most things. I’m responsible when it comes to things like driving, paying bills, teaching young children about morals, cleaning and other adult like responsibilities that life throws are me.

But, when it comes to going to the doctor I shrink up into this tiny ball of anxiety, knees buckling sweat beading psycho path that can’t think about anything but the impending doom of my appointment.

I wish I could be one of those people who picks up a magazine ever so calmly from the waiting room coffee table but now, I’m the panic stricken woman in the corner shaking my foot to dissipate some of my nerves and hopefully bring down my blood pressure before the triage nurse has a look at me. 😦

Thankfully, I’m the member of a fabulous clinic that takes good care of insanely nervous patients like me.

The triage nurse was exceptionally kind to me, reading through my file I think she noticed the note “Don’t take Jennifer’s blood pressure, doctor will do it in office”. Dr. Wonderful and I have this agreement that only HE will give me the once over. Love you Doc!

All that pent up worry and nervousness….. it turns out that my issue was my own damn fault and I should be more diligent when taking a certain baby preventing medication. Who knew that funny things could happen if you doubled, skipped or changed the time you take that tiny little pill.

And now, I’m very behind.

I usually like to have my house cleaned, laundry done and weekend cooking done by Fridays. This way, I can spend some much needed quality time with my husband doing fun things that don’t involve scrubbing down the toilet!

My laundry list of things to do include

• Taking my tiny little pill on time. (I’m really working on this)
• Cleaning the kitchen
• Laundry!!!!!!!!
• Preparing 3 large dinner meals for the weekend!
• A trip to ikea! I’m in serious need of a closet organizer and a few decorative things I’m sure!

Now, off to eat the OOIAJ that I made the other day. I was so pent up yesterday that I skipped out on breakfast!

And away she goes

Today is just flying by..

After dishes, sweeping and impromptu fridge clean out I headed out for some pantry staples and fresh produce. Our backyard garden is great but we’ve eaten through the last of the greens and we don’t grow things like potatoes or carrots.

I’ve got this grocery thing down to a science. List in hand, I zipped through the aisles and did a complete grocery in less than 40 minutes. I was back in exactly 50 minutes.

Thanks to the fridge being clean, it was easy to put everything away. In 10 minutes, I was already preparing todays supper lunch.

Supper lunches have become quite common these days. With the husband working nights I don’t like to cook dinner and eat by myself so I put together a larger meal at lunch and eat a lighter meal or leftovers for dinner.

This way, Sam has a good lunch and leftovers for dinner.

I have to admit, I was starving by the time grocery was put away… I threw together a salad with garden greens, and cherry tomatoes. Seasoned old school with olive oil and wine vinegar this salad was nice and tangy.

Before long, my empty plate was overflowing with rice, pesto salmon and a healthy sized helping of salad.

On the side we shared a home made Ciabbata bun!

This salmon was incredible. Pan seared in a mixture of light tomato sauce and fresh pesto and cappers it just flaked right off! Not even a hint of fishiness!

For dessert, we dug into the heaping bowl of cherries I bought. I splurged a little on these at 3.99 a pound but they’re only in season for a few weeks so I wanted to take advantage! Washington cherries are by far the best!

Now off to prepare some overnight oats with the boat load of berries I picked up at the grocer. Later, I have business stuff to take care off and budget planning to do!

Enjoy the afternoon!

My Morning Habit

The first thing I do every morning is have a strong espresso. I look forward to it, it’s part of my morning routine.

But lately, as I make my way over to the sink to fill up the coffee pot with water, I find this:

Apparently my cats play mini golf with their kibbles every night. I even caught the guilty party mid swat!!

Looks like they have picked up the bad habit of plucking out their kibbles from their food dish and swating, batting and putting them around the kitchen!

Then I found this. If the kibble disaster wasn’t enough, my husband left me a little present last night when he got in from work!

GUILTY! He ate McDonalds after work or should I say early this morning!!! At least throw out the cup dude..

It’s funny how I know exactly what he’s been up to by the little messes he leaves me. Obviously he ate the packed lunch I made him (see dirty tupperware) but felt the need for a little midnight snack (see golden arches cup). Who puts a take out soft drink cup in the sink anyway?

Oh and if you look REALLY closely you’ll see that he obviously made himself a coffee after binging on that McDonalds. Coffee grains EVERYWHERE!!!

We’re making progress though, at least that tupperware is making it to the sink and not being left in his work bag…

So  I swept and swiffered up all the kibble nuggets sprawled miticulously over my freshly washed floor and got going on that coffee…

Our latest coffee purchase is a strong rich brew of Italian Coffee beans. Medaglia D’Oro is simply amazing -slightly bitter and nutty! Delicious!!

Now, off to clean that sink and head to the grocery store. Produce and pantry staples are seriously lacking in this house!

Baked Goods

Afternoon!

Boy has it been a lazy Sunday here!

Woke up early and decided that I wanted to spend a few more hours in bed. Sunday mornings are perfect for catching up on a little sleep. Also didn’t want to bother hubby, whose shift changes today. Figured I’d give him a break and let his internal clock do the waking this morning.

For the next few weeks, I’ll be pretty much living solo. He’ll be working from 4pm to midnight which means he’ll be sleeping in most mornings!!

We both got up a few minutes after 10 and sat down to a treat!

My Nonno dropped off some warm freshly baked raisin buns for our enjoyment!

Wish he woulda rang the doorbell so we could enjoy them with him!

Instead, we made a thank you phone call and sat down to warm raisin buns and piping hot coffee! Great way to start off a lazy Sunday if you ask me!

Now, off to catch up and prepare for the week ahead!

Midsummer Nights Storm

The sky literally exploded  last night!

At around 1am I half woke up to our bedroom completely engulfed in light! Then, bang and more light! I think the lightening may have hit our air conditioner because moments later the electricity went out!!!

I haven’t attempted to turn it back on just yet. I bet the unit is full of water and I obviously don’t want to risk electrocution ya know?

But, I have a sneaking suspicion that our BRAND new air conditioner, seriously, it arrived Fed Ex on Monday is deadsville!!!

The weather channel wasn’t even calling for rain or storms!! WTF??

In anycase, I’m up early like usual. Hubs is still sleeping, like usual. What is it with men who need to sleep in to function? 7-8 hours sleep is plenty for me! Anything more and I feel exhausted and crappy.

I made myself an easy breakfast. I don’t like complicated or fancy breakfasts. Why? I just can’t be bothered early in the morning. Simple is where it’s at!

An easy fruit salad is the only thing that really appealed to me this morning. A couple slices of chopped up watermelon and a 2 chopped kiwis totally hit the spot.

I took my breakfast outside to enjoy the cool morning. It’s been so darn hot here over the last couple of weeks that it was a really nice and refreshing change to eat on the balcony. Not to mention how quiet it was. Apparently everyone in the neighborhood likes to sleep in too!

As I was nearing the end of my salad, I got a little sloppy. Next thing I knew my coffee was spilling out all over the place!

MESS!!

Oh how I hate coffee stains on my dish clothes!!! They never totally come out!!!

Now, off to try and wake up the husband! Tons to do today and I need his help! Washing windows aint just a ladies job!!

G is for Garden

The extreme heat over the two weeks or so has really helped speed up the ripening process of our tomatoes!

As of Monday, I’ve been picking at least 3 tomatoes each evening to make wonderful tomato salads.

Nothing beats fresh garden tomatoes, basil and cucumber topped with extra virgin olive oil, garlic and sea salt.

In addition to the gorgeous tomatoes & huge cucumbers, we’ve been picking tons of fresh beans! Only problem with garden produce is that it’s all ready at the same time and there’s an abundance of veggies that two people just can’t eat through!

How do you manage the abundance of fresh produce from your garden? Do you freeze, share, store, pickle?? I’d love suggestions!

I guess I could freeze em but I never like the way food tastes when it comes out of the freezer. Fresh is always better!

We even had an uninvited guest show up!!

Frankie (the neighbors cat) was keeping cool under our fig tree!!!

I first noticed this little huge dude when I was checking out the fig tree for ripe figs!

He’s a big boy alright!

I was thrilled to find one half-ripened fig! They’re finally coming along! Shouldn’t be much longer and we’ll have a full basket full of these delicious figgies!

Now, off to prepare dinner! T-minus 30 minutes until hubby gets home!