I am not a utilitarian person. I like things to be practical and beautiful. So when we needed to get a new alarm clock, this little old-fashioned number won me over. In the store it looked so bright and shiny in it's little box. However, after I got it home and got it wound up it became my new nemesis. It's little tick-tock is not so little. I feel like Donald Duck in that old cartoon. Every night I have to tuck it in to the bathroom or our closet and close the door tight and I can still hear it. In the morning when it goes off, it sounds like our house is going to crash in it is SO loud! Now I'm wondering how long our little relationship is going to last with our daily and nightly dance on and off the nightstand, or if I'm ready to trade him in for this year's model.
We really enjoyed living in Ottawa before and are happy that it is our "home base" in between postings. However, there were 2 things I was not looking forward to with our move. 1- the 6+ months of snow and 2- how milk is sold here. Ontario seems to be a pretty "green" place and I admire everyone's efforts with recycling and composting, etc. But the milk is ridiculous! It's sold in these big 4L bags that have 3 smaller bags inside. You then put one of the smaller bags into a plastic jug and snip the tip to pour. It is such a pain in the neck when you run out in the middle of pouring milk on your cereal. I just don't get it. Yes, it saves on packaging, but you can't recycle the plastic bags. The gallon-size plastic milk jugs that I'm used to CAN be, but you can not find those here. You can find the cardboard milk cartons, but they are literally twice as expensive. If people are that concerned for the environment maybe we should go back to milk bottles that we just wash and reuse!
Now that I've vented here are some things I am loving! We went through a jillion can openers while in Taiwan, they were just not good quality. After being fed up for 4 years we finally purchased the Starfrit opener and it is so lovely. I hope to keep him around for a long time.
And this little beauty is my new Black & Decker steamer. Since I now wear the "family chef" hat (thanks Len for wearing it for most of the past 12 years) I needed a new tool to help me make quick and healthy meals. This guy has 3 stackable baskets that can make your entire meal in one go. Step 1- fill basket with chicken breasts. Step 2- stack 2nd basket on top and fill with broccoli. Step 3- stack final basket on and fill with rice and cover with lid. Step 4- fill base with water and turn on. Step 5- 30 minutes later enjoy a healthy, moist, tasty meal! Where have you been all my life? I'm so glad I've found you now!
3 comments:
The kiddies look so cute! I had an alarm clock like that before. I loved the way it looked but hated the tick-tock sound. It drove me nuts. I remember I used to bury it in my hamper at night to try and muffle the sound...but I could still hear it! Needless to say I didn't keep it long.
I'm pretty sure I saw an article on health care saying Canada could not possibly know anything about health care because they put milk in bags.
(PS And you need to update your "About Me" you are no longer expecting your 4th)
Hi Jen - just catching up on your blog and reading your vent about the milk bags. We had those here in Alberta for a short time and I hated them. I was always spilling the milk because I could not get the bag to fit in the container properly. Thankfully we now have jugs or cardboard and they are both recyclable.
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