Should Be Cranky as Hell, But I'm Not!

When you have a screaming headache that isn't even relieved by the 'ultimate relief' Tylenol, your whole body hurts, and you feel sick to your stomach, you probably shouldn't be so bloody cheerful, but I am. I'm funny that way. Yes, funny strange, but also funny ha-ha if you're lucky enough to be observing my tendencies in life and laughing at me. Hell, I laugh at me, so you go right ahead.

I'm bored today, too, but there's nothing I really feel like doing. I actually hate those days, but somehow that isn't bothering me either. I should probably take advantage of the fact that there isn't anything 'I'd rather be doing' and use this time to get some things done - you know those things I put off because there are a million things 'I'd rather be doing' than oh, say, cleaning, organizing my books and movies, going through my voice messages in my Outlook inbox (my internet phone number sends me mp3 files I haven't looked at in a while), or maybe even getting some actual work done. I guess I'm not in the mood for that either, but I might just opt for a few of those pesky little tasks today because nothing else seems any more appealing.

I'm actually kind of surprised I'm writing this blog post, but I just felt so damn cheerful I had to! Must be a spring thing, although that should have happened weeks ago perhaps. I think my spring was delayed a bit. We had cold weather until a little over a week ago (this being Canada might have something to do with it), and I wasn't exactly having a great time of it there for a while, personally, so I didn't get that 'spring is sprung' feeling I get most years. Well, I think I'm being attacked by Spring Fever now, or I probably wouldn't be so damn happy. I suppose there could be another reason, but I'll let you know once I figure that out for myself!

Maybe I'm just antsy because there are a few things I would like to be doing, but can't for the time being. In a fit of Spring Fever I'd normally be dancing around the house like a drunken fool (sans alcohol), and that also occasionally brings on a cleaning frenzy - not every year, of course, but occasionally. This year I could sorely use a cleaning frenzy, but I'm not certain even the spirit is willing there. Have I mentioned my lack of domestication? Probably more than once, huh? I mean, I'm potty trained, but that's probably where it ends. No pun intended. Okay, okay, I admit it. I can cook. Happy? Actually, I just realized I have muffin mix (yes, I know, it's the lazy way - everyone's a critic). I just might have to make up a dozen blueberry muffins.

I've baked stuff like that from scratch, but I think it might actually be cheaper to buy the mixes now. By the time you buy the flour, sugar, eggs, milk, oil or margarine, blueberries (depending on whether they're in season or not), and baking powder or soda (I always forget which does what, other than soda being used for cleaning, too), you've spent a fortune on baking supplies. I don't bake anything often enough to use up a bag of flour, either. (See? Undomesticated!) I've actually had flour end up with things moving in it because it was so old. I have no intention of making that mistake again!

My daughter, her friends, and my friends, have all had major compliments for me regarding my regular meals, too - particularly my steak and my chili. The funny thing is, I don't remember ever doing anything particularly special with any of it. I don't even have a recipe for the spices I use in my chili, because it changes depending on my mood at the time. I cook until it smells right. Yes, I cook by the stench, otherwise known as the pleasing aromas of warming spices. My daughter used to ask me constantly what spices I used for making barbecue sauce (I make my own every time I need it) and I can never tell her. I just dump a bunch of stuff in until it tastes the way I want it...at that particular moment in time. The next time I make it, it might be completely different.

I used to make a kick-ass spaghetti sauce, too, when I'm not so lazy I use store-bought. When I say kick-ass, let me quote an acquaintance who said, "It would burn the a--hole out of a dead skunk." To be fair, I was drunk the night I made that particular batch, so my taste buds were slightly anaesthetized at the time. Meaning, I wasn't tasting the spices quite as strongly as I might have under normal circumstances. I'm pretty tolerant of spices, though, so maybe not. Maybe he was just a wimp. Hard to say now, because that was a number of years ago - about twenty, I think.

For a person who is happily domestically-challenged, it's a bit strange that I've had people tell me I need to start selling my spaghetti sauce. I'm saucy by nature, though, so maybe it isn't as odd as I think. I'm good with spicy flavourings. I live a fairly sedate life, but there are some things that need a bit of zip. My mouth certainly has a bit of that, and I use it to flavour pretty much everything else - and no, I don't mean that I spit into my cooking. Again, quoting a friend, I have "the mouth of a trucker" so there's definitely some spice to me in that respect. I guess it's not so bizarre that my cooking might match it here and there.

My daughter is off to the store, and will probably come home with something edible, so I might be off the hook for doing any cooking today. She already made lunch, so it's a win for me! I can truly revel in the lazy mood I'm in. Looks like I'm in for more Alan Rickman tonight. We've been watching a lot of movies with him in them, as my daughter's on a bit of a kick. Today was Alice in Wonderland (the new one where he does a voice) on Bluray. My daughter ended up watching Dogma, which is a movie I have yet to see in its entirety, although it looks like it's pretty damn funny. I mean, George Carlin was in it. What could be better?

Last night I watched The Great Outdoors by myself, though, as it was brought up in a conversation last night and suddenly I had to watch it. First time I've seen it in years, but now I've got Land of a Thousand Dances as an earworm. Sadly I discovered that while the two main actors were/are Canadian, and they talk about Canadian stuff in the one restaurant they visit, the movie is actually filmed in California. The thing is, so many movies are filmed in Canada now, and the one you'd expect to be filmed here wasn't. It wasn't so hip back then, I guess. Hamilton, Burlington and Toronto (all cities in Ontario) are big draws now. I think it was Silent Hill that was done in Hamilton. Parts of X-Men were done in Burlington and Hamilton - I've been to Spencer Smith Park in Burlington and seen at least one of those filming locations. The Resident Evil movies - at least the first few - were done in Toronto.

I've lost track of the number of movies I've seen that were filmed in Canada. Not only is it probably less expensive, but we offer such a wide range of landscapes that's it's hard to beat it. We have everything from rattlesnake-infested deserts to glaciers to massive mountain ranges. Hey, it's a damn big country. What did you expect? We don't all live in igloos, dontcha know! Or eat whale blubber. And most of us don't go anywhere near baby seal hunts. Word to the wise: If you come up here in July, make sure you're not wearing a parka. You will not be happy to find that it's over 100 Fahrenheit some days, and your skis will just make ya look stupid.