You may recall me talking about the joy of being able to work from home.  However, I’m used to being here alone, as everyone else has always had jobs outside the home.  Not anymore, though.

Now that Nicky’s started his job as a contractor to Telus, he works from home most of the time!  Can you imagine?  The joy of working from home has been somewhat mitigated by the presence of someone who hardly ever appears to be ‘working’ at all.

Oh well, it’s the new world order, I suppose.  But as long as we’re all working, I should give a rat’s ass about how or where we do it.  And now both children earn a lot more money than their dear old mom so perhaps the worm’s turned, and finally I’ll be the person with their hands out, begging, “Please sir, may I have some more?”  Cue the orphan from Oliver!

I was in Osoyoos for Thanksgiving, and we had the pleasure of having the dinner prepared by mom’s pal, Jerralynn, the gourmet cook.  Nicky was there, as he wouldn’t have missed it for the world, and as always mom knows only the most interesting people in town.

One of only two females in the Canadian Armed Forces to make the rank of Major General, Lise Mathieu, was one of the guests.  Osoyoos boasts such interesting retirees, and if they’re truly interesting, they end up having dinner with mom and Gerry.

My pal from teacher of the deaf days in Prince George, Beverly, is coming tonight to stay for a couple of days.  Tomorrow we have the entire day set aside for our favourite activity, which is thrift store shopping.  A few days ago I spent $6 for a scarf and a pair of brand new sandals, so that’s the kind of thing I enjoy.

The other day I idly thought of buying a new stove, as mine’s a complete mess after only 15 years, but of hard use.  It has one of those ceramic tops, but it’s cracked in one area, and stained all over the top where the pots sit, so it’s just hideous.  But then, I went no.  Since I’ve committed myself to this new self-directed RSP program, I’m in a total austerity mode.

And God knows, I need to be as I’m also going to need money for Thailand.  Joe Miller, the nice man who’s helping me with my savings fund, has a son who lives in Bangkok.  He’s married to a Thai woman so I’ve been in contact with them.  They said the best thing to do is to get tons of baht in various denominations for the wedding.

Apparently everyone hands everyone else baht in envelopes, and you also give money to the monks who attend the ceremony.  Obviously the last thing I need is a new stove when I have to be lavishing dough around a tiny Thai village.

But I’m buying dates and apricots this weekend, and will prepare the fruit for some Okanagan Harvest Cakes.  Once I’ve made a few cases, I’ll make a few Totally Decadents, and then that’s it.  On my site I removed all stores, except for two in Kelowna, and the rest of the world have to order on-line.  Hopefully sales will be half decent, and then Joe Miller, my money guru, and the Thai village will be happy.