A great way to start a Saturday.......

Our biggest Canadian Bookstore chain Indigo was giving away 10 thousand books on Saturday the 13th of September to people over the age of 18.  This is the second year of doing this and they are going to make it an annual tradition.  Heather Reisman is the CEO of the company and is behind all this.

You got to choose one of these books:

I took hubby along and we lined up outside just before opening.  There was probably 20 or so people in front of us, and it was very well organized.  A lady came along the line and asked us what book would we like.  We told her and she gave up a slip of paper with the name of the book on it.

I made hubby chose this book, he doesn't read:

Here is a link so you can read the synopsis.

I chose this one:

Again here is a link to the synopsis.  I am really looking forward to this one and will take it on vacation with us.

I am reading this book that I picked up at the dollar store.  It's one of those books that you don't have to think hard to follow the story!!

You can read the synopsis here.

After I have finished that I may start on The Grey Wolf.

I must say as a reader I do appreciate a company that encourages reading, especially in adults.  I will of course pass my copies on to other readers, so they will be well used.

I also admire Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, that is such a great cause also.

DOWNTON ABBEY: THE GRAND FINALE - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theate...

This to my mind it will be like saying good bye to a family friend, for me it's a must see.  Not sure when it will be released over here in Canada?

Do you plan on seeing it?

Imperfect.......

 

(credit)

I think that quote says it all.......as no one is perfect and this world is far from being perfect, at least in my eyes.

Gardening

 

Here is a link to the article.  For some reason the whole picture above wouldn't copy over.  I am in zone 5 a/b so this applies to me and I will make a point of trimming down what I have in my garden.

I have bought a bunch of Spring bulbs to plant, but honestly it's still too warm here, so I will wait until early October to plant those.  

2025's gardening season was a bust, due to the hot dry weather we had.  Our grass took a beating and honestly it looks terrible.  The only saving grace in this, is that so does everyone else's.

I enjoy having a garden but I am finding I don't have the same interest in it, that I used to have.  I will not let it go to rack and ruin, but I need to find more ways of making it more self sufficient, the older I get.

Are you a gardener, and are you finding it harder the older you get?

So true.......

 

Hubby worked hard for 50 years to provide for me and the kids.  He even worked a year longer than he should have; actually he could have retired at 60 rather than 66, but he wanted to make doubly sure we had enough money.  And then he was still worried..........

So thank you hubby and you deserve all the freedom you want, you worked hard for it.

(I will be doing a post about how the first year of hubby's retirement has gone closer to the end of the month)

Interesting

I have no idea what is going on, but I am guessing SPAM/Trackers/Robots..........are visiting my blog, because believe me when I say this, I am NOT that popular that nearly 2,000 visitors view my blog as they are interested in me!!!

I do have a good security system on my laptop and desktop, but this is making me a tad concerned.  Any suggestions?

 

Bonus Redemption at SDM

 SDM - Shopper's Drug Mart

I had a few points saved up, 130,000 to be precise, so I knew I could do 2 bonus points redemption.  My level was redeem 50,000 points for $75 worth of free product.  It would normally be only $50 worth of free product.

Now the key to doing these redemptions is to get as close to $75 before tax as possible.  This is what I got with my first 50,000 points.  Just bits and bobs we needed in the house, other than the wine gums.  I was just under $75 before tax, so picked these up for $3 to get me over.

So I ended up paying $5.47 out of pocket.  If I wasn't getting these things for free I wouldn't have gone out of my way to buy some of these things, as they were a little more expensive than I would generally pay; especially the yogurt.

This is what I got for my second 50,000 point redemption.  I had to bite the bullet and get hubby some razor blades, as they are so hard to find at a good price.  These were around 20 cents more expensive per blade than the ones on sale, which of course they didn't have in stock.  I swear they take them off the shelf when it's bonus redemption time.

I ended up paying $12.41 out of pocket, but only because I had to pay $10.06 in taxes.

Regardless I am super pleased as I got $167.88 worth of product for only $17.88.  I only have the 30,000 points left, so will build them up until I can cash them in again.

Did any of the Canadian's reader's cash in their points? 

How do our prices compare here in Canada to yours, in your part of the world?

Fall flowers

I was at the grocery store the other day and they had a lovely display of fall flowers for sale.

This tub was $55 CDN which I thought was a tad expensive; especially when we will only get a couple of months use from it.

Didn't see a price on these ones, but fell in love with the colour.

These mums were 2 for $20 which I thought was a good price considering how large they were.

As we are going to be away at the end of the month, I don't think I will bother with Fall flowers this year.  Do you decorate for Fall/Autumn?

Books........

Here are a couple of books I have just read.  The War Librarian by Addison Armstrong and  The Hollywood Governess by Alexandra Weston.   Both are good in their own right and both highlight gender prejudices.  I think I preferred the The War Librarian better as I didn't figure out the twist in the story, whereas I figured it out in The Hollywood Governess.

My next book up is Come Fly With me by Helen Rolfe.  It's the first book in Skylark series.  I have never read anything by this author.  Have you?

Update: from when I originally wrote this post I have read this book and it was really good, plenty of action in it.  I need to look out for the rest in this series.  

All three books were purchased at Indigo in the 3 for $10 section.

Daughter picked up this diamond art project for me on clearance.  Not sure if I should start it now or leave it until the colder weather appears?

What are you reading at the moment?

The Thursday Murder Club | Official Trailer | Netflix

We finally watched this the other night and it was so good.  It was one of those movies that wasn't overly "deep."  You didn't have to think a lot, it wasn't scary and all the actors were familiar faces.

If I had to say something negative it would be Pierce Brosnan's accent in the movie was horrible....LOL

I didn't realize it was the first book in a series of books written by Richard Osman  I hope they make movies of the other books in the series.

If you haven't seen the movie, I would say see it.  We both thoroughly enjoyed it.

Crafting....

 I had picked up this diamond art kit a while back from Michaels.  As you can see it's a bookmark kit.

I had the girls overnight on the weekend and we decided to do this project as I knew it would be a fast one.  The girls are nearly 12 and 9.  Now in the 9 year old's defense she is more of an outdoors girl, so she lasted probably half an hour if that before she was bored.  The 12 year old and I completed our bookmarks in probably 90 minutes.

I also did a little bit of the background of the 9 year old's one as well.  So from left to right; 9 year old's one, 12 year old's one, and mine.

The quality of these are really nice; pretty heavy duty.  It's a simple project especially if it's your first time doing diamond art.  I would say it's probably suitable for ages 10 and up, unless they are very crafty; then possibly younger.

I would buy these again, and I have used these diamond art kits before from Michael's.  

Tim Hortons

Tim Hortons is a well know coffee shop chain in Canada and they have locations in other parts of the world.  We called in for a coffee the other day and I saw this merchandise which I thought was lovely and well thought out.

They had the insulated travel mugs.  As we live in Ontario, they had the Ontario ones.

Along with the Canada one.  I have a really good travel mug so don't need one.  I did however love the art work on these ones.

They also had the matching coffee mugs.

They also had this bucket hat which I thought was cute.

I didn't pick anything up.  I wonder what the art work is like in the other provinces and territories in Canada?

Hilda Ogden and her "murial"

For those over a certain age and especially is you're British born, you will remember Hilda and her Murial in Coronation Street?

Well when we go to the doctors we go through a town with this "murial" and I always think of Hilda.......this one is much prettier though!

Appleby Lane

For the long time blog readers, you'll remember I set up a "sewing company" called Appleby Lane, which I made sewn items to sell online and at craft shows.  You'll also remember I had to give it up as the arthritis in my hands was making it difficult.

The other week daughter was asking if I could make her some soup bowl cozies, as soup and chili season is upon us.  I said yes no problem.  She was then talking about how everyone at her work loves her lanyards I made her.

As I had a basket of leftover things from my Appleby Lane days, I asked her if she would consider taking the things to her work to see if anyone wanted anything.  Plus I would make extra soup bowl cozies to sell and some lanyards.

Here are the soup bowl cozies I made.  I did have to buy a metre of batting at a cost of $20 for these; the fabric is all that I had on hand.  I am selling them for $20 a pair.

Here are the lanyards.  I had everything on hand for these, and am selling them for $10 each.

I ran out of the silver hooks, otherwise I would have made more of them.

I spent Friday afternoon sorting out the basket of other things I had and pricing and bagging everything for daughter.  Fingers crossed she sells the odd thing.  Then I can get rid of more stuff in my spare bedroom closet!!

I enjoyed the sewing, but if I counted my time for making these things, I would make pennies per hour as a wage.  I do it because I enjoy it, not to make a living thankfully.  I still have mounds of fabric, so need to pull more together to sell.

Grocery shopping.............

I did a "little" bit of grocery shopping on Friday.  I had read on a group I am part of on Facebook, about how some couples only spend $50 a week on their grocery shopping.  Now granted these guys were in the States, but there isn't a "cat in hell's chance," of that happening here in Canada.

So I thought I would show you what I got and how much it cost here in Canada.  I popped into two stores and I picked up extra snack foods, as I had the girls sleep over on the weekend and they need to eat hourly otherwise they may starve 🙄

The first store was Zehrs, which is a President's Choice/Loblaws brand store and quite pricy.

This is what I picked up.  I took advantage of an Oikos/Danone yogurt promotion as I had coupons and there were bonus points which added up to $6 in coupons used, and 13,000 bonus points, which I will use at a later date for $13 worth of free groceries.  Again the Knorr products worked out at half price with the bonus points.  The large boxes of Oats n' Honey granola bars were $4.44 a box, super deal.  That bag of milk (4 litres) was $6.25 haven't seen it cheaper recently.

This is what it cost.  1000 PC points = $1 off your groceries when you redeem them.  I have over 87,000 saved up.  I'll wait for a bonus redemption to cash them in.

This is what I got at the second store, which is Metro and again quite a pricy store.  Again they have a points system, so managed to get some bonus points.  I have just started collecting points there.  I am thinking 100 points = $1 off your groceries when you redeem them.  

This is what it cost:

Overall the total for both stores came to nearly $126 and as I said that isn't a full shop.  I could make it last a week for us using nothing else in the house I guess, as we are well stocked up on yogurts, so that would be good for breakfast.  We could have crackers and or bagels for lunch and fruit.  There is salad, eggs, deli meat, pasta and sauce for supper, and granola bars for snacks.  It would have to be water to drink.  

However, realistically that ain't happening...LOL  We have plenty of other foods in the house.

Are you finding grocery prices shooting up where you live?

I am turning into an old person....LOL

 Do you remember when you were a teen and your parents and grandparents were always giving you "advise," and you secretly or not so secretly just rolled your eyes and thought to yourself, "they don't understand because they are old?"

Well I went back to school shopping with daughter and two grand daughters, during the week.  One grand daughter will be 12 in November and is your typical "Tween."  The other is 9, and thankfully not into the brand of clothing, it just has to look a certain way.

I basically just tagged along and gave my "old woman opinions every now and then."  Which were met with a look of pure astonishment on the girls' faces as to why would I even think that piece of clothing would work, or a roll of the eyes.....LOL  Sometimes I just said I liked something to get a reaction out of them............yes, I have a naughty streak in me.

A good time was had by all.  However my poor feet were really feeling worse for the wear.

I keep thinking to myself I want to take advantage of these shopping trips because in another few years they will be at university and super busy with their lives and will barely have time for their parents never mind their grandparents. These memories will be with me for the rest of my life, when I'm too old and crippled to go shopping with them.

Sounds good to me.........

 

How about you?  Thank you to Carla for this one.

What's going on with the price of coffee?

I am beginning to feel like with the price of coffee rising so fast, it's going to become another luxury item only a few can afford.  As per Statistics Canada in this article the price of coffee in Canada has risen 19% since the beginning of 2025.  Now of course part of the reason are the tariffs as we don't grow coffee in Canada so it all has to be imported.  Then climate/weather change has a bit to do with it as well.  However all the big coffee shop chain are still posting major earnings!!!!

I, like many other people enjoy specific brands.  My go to brand is this one:

I remember buying this for $6.99 to $9.99 at the most.  Now if I can get it for $15 to $17 I count that as a win.  Canada is a big coffee drinking country, with Tim Horton's coffee shops everywhere.  

When out I drink either Tim Hortons or McDonald's coffee as both are okay...........well they were until the last few months, then I have found them to be getting weaker and weaker in strength?  Is anyone else finding that?  We have been switching more and more to Tim Horton's as the points plan at McDonalds where you get loyalty points is switching and everything is costing more loyalty points for the same items.

I just don't like Starbucks coffee in Canada, and I hate their prices.  I will drink Starbucks in the States, as I dislike Dunkin Donuts.  

We have a Keurig at home and always drink drip coffee.  Never had instant coffee in years other when we go to the UK to my mam's and brother's.  Then most of the time we drink tea.

I have tried other brands of coffee.  Maxwell House I loathed 😂, Folgers wasn't bad.  There is a deal on for Nabob at Sobeys, but on the fence with trying that.  

I drink 3 cups of coffee a day.  Now they are the 12oz cups, so big mugs.  I take a little milk with it.  I try not to drink coffee after lunch, but will occasionally.  I have a cup of tea in an afternoon, then the rest of the time is water.

Our go too brand of Tea is Tetley which we buy at Costco when it comes on sale.  I am guessing tea is also going up in price as well?

Are you a coffee or tea drinker?

Sandwiches.............

Last week I talked about egg and cress sandwiches and it got me thinking about other sandwiches that members of our family used to eat way back in the day.

I mentioned in a comment to another blogger, my aunt always used to make tinned/canned salmon sandwiches mixed with vinegar as her go to sandwich when we visited.

I remember my dad having cheese and jam in his "bait."  That was what we called a packed lunch.  I am guessing that combination was because it was cheap.  Along with cheese and branston pickle , which again is not a sandwich I enjoy as I don't like the pickle.

I am more of a cheese and tomato or cheese and onion kind of gal.

We introduced our grandson to chip/crisp sandwiches the other month and he loved them.  My mother was talking about having them when I was on the phone to her and reminded me of them.  So decided to make them while we were babysitting one day.  We made them with white bread, butter and "cheap chips/crisps" as grandson likes to say and they were lovely.  

Jam sandwiches were a staple, raspberry jam, and lemon curd were favourites of mine.  My nana made all her own jams.

However chip/fries sandwiches are also lovely, haven't had that for a long while.  Again white bread with lashing's of butter on the bread with salted fries.

Hubby was very unusual in that he loved cheap deli meat, like "mock chicken, " and bologna in his sandwiches.  I always classed that as "mystery meat," as goodness knows what's in it.  Though as per the link above it says that the following is in "mock chicken:

Mechanically separated turkey, Water, Modified corn starch, Modified milk ingredients, Soy protein isolate, Salt, Pork and/or beef, Monosodium glutamate, Potassium lactate, Sodium phosphate, Onion powder, Sodium erythorbate, Sodium diacetate, Spices (mustard), Sodium nitrite, Enriched wheat flour.

Every effort is taken to ensure that the ingredients and nutritional information listed here is accurate, however, data may change from time to time. Please always check the package for the most current information.

I have never been a fan of the peanut butter and jelly/jam sandwiches that are popular over here.  In Ontario, not sure about the rest of Canada, peanut products are banned in schools.  Some school boards are also banning nut butter alternatives, as it's so hard to tell if they are peanut butter or the alternative.

Every now and then we'll have a sandwich with some deli meat, with tomato, onion and lettuce on it with butter and mayo on the bread.  We always butter our bread; otherwise it's too dry.  When we buy bread it's always a brown multi grain bread.  Love bread but it's too many carbs for me nowadays.

What sort of sandwiches do you enjoy?

New Car

We bought a new car in May of this year so have had it now for three months.  We bought a Hyundai Tuscon Hybrid. 

When hubby retired he had a pick up truck and he had driven a pick up truck for the past 20 years.  It was very comfortable, but it used a lot of gas/petrol and was huge.  I felt there was no need for us to have two vehicles.  I was driving a Ford Escape.  Hubby hated that vehicle and found it uncomfortable to drive any distance in.  I found his truck too big, so we had to find something we both liked and agreed upon.

We sold the truck no problem to the Ford garage despite it being a GMC truck as all garages were wanting used pick up's at the time.  In fact we got a better deal at the Ford garage then GMC was willing to give us.

We then started to look around for a vehicle bigger and roomier than the Escape.  I liked the idea of a Hybrid as we do a lot of city driving, so were using a lot of gas/petrol just scooting around town.  We looked at a number of vehicles and found the Hyundai gave a lot of bang for the buck.  We looked at a Hyundai Santa Fe as well but thought that was way too big for us.

Now that we've driven the Tuscon for three months I feel I can give an honest review.  Thankfully for me, hubby reads all the manuals and enjoys all the gadgets, so he set everything up.  This one is the fanciest car we have ever had.  It's roomer; the middle console is comfy and there is room for both of us to rest our arms on.  The screen with all the gadgets on is huge, though not as big as a Tesla; not that we looked at an all electric car.

It easily does 6.5 litres  (1.7 gallon) of gas per 100 kms (62 miles).  The furthest we drove was to Corning in New York State and it was a super drive.  Very comfortable and it switches over to electric no bother even on highway driving.  We didn't want to hassle of an electric car and having to find somewhere to charge it on longer trips.  It's all in the acceleration as to whether it's on gas or electric.  It did take a bit of getting used to at first, now I never think about it.

It has more bells and whistles that even we won't use.  Overall though, we are 100% happy with it.  If I had one gripe, it's the fact I chose black and it never stays clean on the outside.

Daughter and family went to Paris and London this summer and they bought me back these two for the car.  They are solar activated and they bop along in the sunshine all the time.  They are great to have in the car as that way I can find it easier in the car parks!!

*****I FORGOT TO ADD, WE DID TAKE EXTRA WARRANTY OUT ON ALL THE BATTERY/HYBRID COMPONENTS AS THEY ARE EXPENSIVE TO FIX******

Day Trip.........

The kids rented a cottage for a week, this one to be precise, if you would like to buy it.  Mind you don't pay the asking price as although the photos make it look lovely in real life, it does need a bit of work.  You can tell it's rented out a lot on AIR BNB.  What makes it that price is the location from Toronto and the width of the lot on the waterfront.  It was a nice yard they have and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves as we went over for the day.  

It was just under a 2 hour drive from where we lived.  We met daughter, daughter-in-law and eldest grand daughter in Lindsay at the farmer's market.  Will say that was super small as it was a Thursday, so maybe Saturday's one is busier.

They bought some donuts from here:

If you go to the local fairs, you will see them making something similar to these there.

The girls bought a dozen cinnamon sugar ones fresh from the fryer.  I will say I took a small bite of one and they were really nice.

Son with the kids on Lake Sturgeon.  It was a lovely day, but the water was cold.

The slide was the neighbours, but they allowed to kids to play on it.  The dock belonged to the cottage they rented.

There were a lot of cottages on the other side of the lake also.

There were a family of ducks hanging about.  The lake was pretty shallow by the dock only around 3 feet deep.  It was also full of "sea" weed, as we all called it, despite it being a fresh water lake.

The neighbour had been feeding the duck family so they were quite tame.  She thought the babies were around 5 weeks old.

A good day was had by all and despite me being in the shade all day,  I did get some sun on my face!

A look back on the week........

Sunday started out great, as we finally had rain overnight and a couple of showers through the day.  We can now see the odd green blade of grass.  We are desperately in need of rain around here.  It was overcast for most of the day, and humid.  I spent most of the day doing some sewing and hubby spent the day in the basement building/framing a wall.  A good time was had by both of us.  We are easily pleased!!

Monday was cooler....YEAH!!  Also started to rain and carried on into Tuesday......more green grass!!  Had to go to the hairdressers on Tuesday and for once walked out happy.  I have a love/hate relationship with hairdressers and my hair.  I have a simple haircut, that takes very little skill to cut.  Therefore I cannot justify paying a lot for a haircut...........but as with many things in life, you get what you pay for.......cheaper is not always better!!

Wednesday another overcast and cooler day...........bonus as far as I am concerned.  So more green grass!!

Thursday we had a mini road trip.  The kids had rented a cottage for a week, so took the two hour drive to meet them for the day.  It was a lovely day.  I sat in the shade all day but managed to catch the sun on my face.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves watching the grand kids on the lake.  Also watching the boats go by.  We were home by 5:30 pm, tired but satisfied.

Friday was a day at home.  The weather was gorgeous again.  A bit hot for me, but not too bad.

Saturday was another day spent around the house.

Overall a good week as I know the temperatures are finally starting to cool down a little........roll on Fall!!

I was losing the will to live...........

Don't worry it's nothing that dire and it's a tale you probably have all experienced.  I had to make the dreaded phone call to re-negotiate our internet and tv billing with Rogers, who is our provider the other day.

I had tried to sort it out the prior week, as our current promotion was running out on September 8th.  After much talking to that guy he said he would get the promotions department to get in touch with me within 72 hours.

5 days later still hadn't heard anything, so decided to give them a call.  I called twice and both times got the same message, "we are receiving higher than average calls at the moment, please call back later."  The line then was disconnected.

Okay, so I figured I would go online and talk to "Anna" the robot.  She couldn't help me.....no surprise there and put me in a queue to talk to the person who could help me.  Unfortunately I was number 80 in the queue.  Yes you read that right number 80.  Even I did a double take when I read that number to make sure I was reading it correctly.

Again disconnected and decided to try later in the afternoon.  Called them just after 4pm and after waiting a while go through to a nice young man who went through everything.  He however ran into technical issues and had to wait in a queue to talk to the technical department; and no he didn't have priority, he had to wait in line like the rest of us...........no wonder everything was backed.

Long boring and soul destroying story later, where I think I would have given them my first born child just to get off the phone, we finally sorted it out just before 6pm.  Then just as I was saying goodbye, the guy says:

"I see you have mobile phones with Rogers; would you like to hear the deals we have that you could take advantage of??

Both hubby and I shout, "NO!" at the same time.........and I said, "Sorry I am done with talking for today!!"

Also I was dying for a pee!!!

So we are stuck with them for another two years!!!  Before you say, well move to a different company; have you heard the expression,

"Jumping out of the frying pan into the fire"

Well that's what it would be like, as one company is as bad as another!!!!

I know you all have tales to tell, dealing with utility companies, car insurance etc, etc.  So let's hear them........

Egg and Cress Sandwiches

Egg and Cress sandwiches are a throw back to my childhood days.  Cress is a popular item in the UK, both in sandwiches and as a garnish, and is used as a microgreen, not as a full grown plant.  Think how we use parsley as a garnish, they use cress.  It's tastes a cross between watercress and mustard.

I had a hankering for egg and cress sandwiches the other day, so decided to make them with what I had on hand.  I rarely eat bread anymore, so this was a treat for us.

All you need for the filling is hard boiled eggs, cress or microgreens and mayo, plus any seasonings you want to add in, like salt and pepper.

These are the micro greens I use, as they are grown in Canada.  It was handy I got one with 30% off.  They are usually between $4 to $5 a package.  I used 3/4 of a package probably, as I had taken some out of this package for something else.

Thought it was funny when it said "IT MAY CONTAIN MUSTARD," when it says Kick'n Mustard on the front of the package??  Notice how everything is in both English and French here in Canada?

Not sure which exactly micro green plants these are but they taste good.

So all I do is mash up the eggs, add the mayo and micro greens and spoon some in between a roll or a couple slices of bread.  It's so good and the micro green bulk out the filling so it goes further.

Do you like egg and cress sandwiches?  Have you heard of them before?  What's your go too sandwich?