Last week as I came in from a day shift on a cold evening I found the life partner making his way out of the sauna. It does take a while to heat up so this was the perfect opportunity to decompress and I asked him to leave it on. “I hope you have better luck than I do getting it heated up” he said. Apparently the first time he checked it after 20 minutes the temperature was only 116 degrees, then he noticed the door was open and thinking he’d caught his jeans hanging on the doorknob in it he reset the thermostat and closed the door. When he came back in another 20 minutes the sauna was now 140 degrees (which is the way he likes it) but he noticed the curtain was lifted up on the bench and there was a grey and white face looking back at him. He realized he must’ve shut the cat in the second time and when he opened the door all 20 lbs of Gary flew out through none the worse for the wear.
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| Supper at Kababji |
After breakfast we headed out on what the life partner referred to as ‘the Groupon tour’ as I had a collection of discount coupons – Groupon, Deal Find, Wag Jag, and Team Buy. The first one I redeemed to pick up the remaining tapes to DVDs which Memories in a Flash had so professionally transferred. In conversation with Rosa she mentioned she was from Nicaragua and I asked if she knew a young fellow and his mother from her country now living in the city, as daughter # 1 had dated this lad and….Rosa knew them well. There’s that six degrees of separation again. If you should have vintage tapes in a box somewhere this is the company you need:
www.memoriesinaflash.ca
Then we made our way in to Spring Garden Road and Duly Noted which is a neat little store which sells an eclectic collection of stationery and writing supplies. I had bought a waterproof notebook and space pen here for the electrician daughter for Christmas and although this store isn’t the type you’d expect my traditional husband to enjoy my Groupon was put to good use buying waterproof notebooks for the boat and fork lift, a sharpie to mark on shipping labels and pour moi a pen which promises to last seven years if you write a meter and a half per day. What incentive eh?
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| ayran |
Since parking downtown is such a hassle we waddled off to World of Teas to redeem the final coupon and found a great little tea café with a great selection of teas for purchase as well as some tables where you can sample tea and sweets. I picked up some Earl Grey Crème which has lovely little blue flowers and tastes as if there is milk already added but it is clear amber when brewed – yum. I also indulged in Japanese Cherry which has beautiful pink flowers and Apricot Escape which smells like fresh apricots although both aren’t very strong when brewed as well as Pacific Coast Mint which I have yet to try.
Making our way back across the bridge we headed to Mic Mac Mall hoping to secure some water shoes but they were not to be had. A stop at The Body Shop was the icing on the day and I stocked up on shampoo etc. The daughter noticed the chocolate shower gel and lotion so I have those packed in my suitcase as I type – hope they don’t make the mosquitoes hungry.
We stopped in a rural WalMart and were pleased to find three different styles of beach shoes for either men or women for $8 so a real score. I was so pleased with my success I pressed my luck and shopped for bras while the life partner patiently waited. Homeward bound.
I had an email from the teacher daughter the next day telling us that she’d enjoyed running errands with us and that when she told our son-in-law about the Groupon tour he said "You guys ate at 4 different restaurants ?!" haha. I think maybe he was a little jealous that we may have tried 4 different restaurants without him as that is his version of the discount coupons which he enjoys. Today was a training session for something called BUMP (Bed Utilization Management Program) which will be used in hospitals across the province. I drove though a winter wonderland to get there and then had my brain twisted for the morning. It is designed to account for every day that a patient is in hospital, identify the gaps and work towards earlier discharge. We shall see.
I am doing two extra shifts for a colleague who discovered she had extra vacation hours and so the final run up to our vacation (yes another one) will be full 24 hour days as we leave on Monday. We packed (for the most part – I have some medical supplies to add as I have a contact there) this evening and it was rather painless. I’ve discovered that it helps to allow the travel partner to wear his wireless headphones tuned to MTV and he dances while he selects his shirts. Sorry for the visual image there. The electronics are ready – how did we vacation without them? Ebook readers charged, ebooks downloaded (thanks to a friend – we pay in coffee) camera and laptop batteries charged, flashstick packed. A parcel at the post office – I wonder if that’s the iPod shuffle I won on eBay?
