What a Day

My insomnia got the better of me last night.  I went to bed about 10:30 but woke up at 2am and couldn't fall asleep again.  So I got up at 4:30, put some meat in the slow cooker for lunch and made some banana coffee muffins.  Hubby started to wash the dishes a little while later.  While he was washing the dishes water started to pour from under the sink, a pipe had broken.  He turned the water off at the main and we cleaned up as best as we could.  This is a rental house, so after dropping the kids off at school, hubby went to the real estate agents and asked for a plumber to come.  Somebody came and had a look at the situation but couldn't do anything because of the contract .  The guy who has the contract came at 9am, looked and left.   We are now 4 hours without water, we could get some cold water but no hot water!  The cold water was from outside the house, fill up pots and pans and bring in.  By 12:30 the plumber still hadn't come back, so another call to the real estate agent.  The plumber returned at 1:30 and has just finished fixing the pipe......maybe!
At times like this I wonder how people cope in areas that are hit by disasters, how do you deal with NO water,electricity or gas?  Even one day with no water has driven me crazy, a few days I would be climbing the walls!

Mom's birthday and Ikea shopping

Last Sunday (October 28th) would of been Mom's 73rd birthday.  It's hard to imagine her that old!  I had already planned the dinner for that day, shepherds pie, per Christopher's request and apple pie.  It was while I was making the pastry for the apple pie that I realised the date!  Baking with Mom is one of my earliest and fondest memories!  Sundays were always roast days and because the oven was on for hours my Mom would bake pie and sponge cakes.  I can remember as young as four or five "helping" Mom in the kitchen, I would get to beat the batter and be given the scraps of pastry to roll out!  One very clear memory I have is my Mom balancing the pie plate on one hand and cutting the scraps off.  This looked like a very difficult operation, involving the ability to balance and turn the plate all the time trimming away the excess pastry.  I remember thinking that once I could do that I would be grown up.....guess I'm grown up now!!!

Nice photo of Mom holding Hannah!  That is one thing that makes me really sad, Hannah never had chance to get to know my Mom.

On to something a bit more cheerful.......shopping!!   Hubby took me to Ikea on Tuesday.  2 hours drive but I really enjoyed looking around and I even managed to control my spending.  I got a good size teapot and a nice roasting tray that fits my oven.  I could of spent a lot more but we were going to Costco as well and I always spend a lot there!   I haven't been to Costco for about a year but I really wanted to get some good meat.  I've started using my slow cooker recently and I'm amazed at how well the food turns out.  So I got some cubed stewing steak and mince meat, so am looking forward to some nice meatloaf and beef stew.