All moved in...............

It's been a long hard week so far.  The move went by okay but it was so hot and humid.  We finally got something to eat around 7 pm.  Came home and had a shower and was in bed by 9 pm.  

For people who are my friends on Facebook, this will be a repeat of information.  We have had two major minor issues, one was dealt with right away and the other is an ongoing problem.  Someone turned off the gas to the house, so after having a VERY cold shower on Tuesday morning I tracked down the site supervisor to come and figure out the situation.  Dh told him he thought the gas had been turned off and he was right.

The other more major issue is Bell Canada.  When we booked to have their services transferred to the new house I asked and was told we could keep our old telephone number.  On Tuesday when we got everything hooked up, we discovered that we have been assigned a new number.  THREE one hour telephone conversations too the call centre in the Philippines and I am "hoping" to have our old number back by this coming Monday.  I am NOT happy and this isn't finished with yet.

There are all sorts of niggling things happening and "stuff" you just have to get used to with a new house.  Overall though we love it.  It's been strange getting used to having neighbours right on your doorstep again.  Other than a couple of VERY nosy neighbours everything has been and is super friendly.

We are living on a building site and they are busy doing the finishing touches with stonework and landscaping outside.  The dust is just awful and it gets everywhere.  We have had a couple of days out of the house busy doing other things, so we got a break from the noise and the dust.

I am hoping to be unpacked by Christmas!!  On Friday we are going to hang drapery rods and draperies in our bedroom, as at the moment I have sheets and a blanket hanging over our windows.  I will post photos as we progress with everything.

I have taken a few quick photos just to show you some things, I will take more better photos when I have more time.

This is the breakfast area.  We bought the table and chairs from Leons and of course one of the seats was torn so had to take that back, but they replaced it without a problem, so that was good.  The light fixture is too sort out and the table is to centre underneath it.  The flowers were a gift from my mam and step-father, they arrived on Monday; which was a lovely surprise.  I need to hunt out a tablecloth that actually fits, that one was the first one I laid my hands on.

 One view of the kitchen, I need a degree on how to use the appliances!!

 Looking from front hall to living room.  All the shears/nets were from our house two houses ago I had kept them.  I may or may not change them eventually, but they will do just fine for the moment.  We get the sun in this room late afternoon to evening.  As the back wall faces north and the two side windows face west.

 This is the front of the house, they have been busy putting in the flower planter this week.

 Back of the house.  The deck has been built and all interlocked underneath it and behind it.  The rest of the shrubbery is to put in and the grass and trees.  It should be quite private once it's all done.......we hope!

 Side of the house. 

 Houses opposite us.  They all have walk out basements and they back onto a golf green and are up a height.  The one that is a two storey has been customized to the hilts so I was told, so it will be interesting to see who moves in.  There are two more houses to the left of that two storey house, both have people living in them.  On our little bit I think there are only five houses occupied, with more people moving in over the summer.

I will write more when I have more time.  I am hoping things will settle down over the next week or two.

Update on Bell Canada........

So the young guy arrived on Monday very enthusiastic climbed up to the satellite dish no problem despite the wind and ice.  Changed all sorts of things but NOT the connections on the cable from the dish to the house and figured he had fixed the problem.....YEAH for enthusiastic guy.  Turned off tv when he left the house and prepared lunch which took all of five minutes.  Went back into the family room and turned tv on; back to freezing and skipping again.........BOOOOOOOOO!!!

He was still outside in his van doing whatever, so I ran skated outside (driveway an ice skaing rink at the moment) and tapped on his window and told him what's what.

His response: "I'm sorry I have closed off the work order I can't come back in to look at it."

Me, after a minute of utter disbelief, "Okay fine I'll call it in again!" And I skated back into the house.

Got back on the phone again this time to the Montreal call centre and after telling him what's what he said he would send me a new box???  So I told him I don't want a new box I want a guy to come out and change the main cable or at least check and change any connections on the cable as there is nothing wrong with the box!  Suffice to say me and the guy from Montreal were NOT happy with one another but finally I got my way.

Another guy from Bell came out Tuesday morning and I told him what's what and within a couple of minutes, he had found the problem a corroded connection on the cable; at this point I threw my hands up in the air and said,"finally someone actually listened to what I had to say."

So he changed the cable and connections and went on his merry little way.  We explained to both Bell guys dh is an electrician, so he knows a little more than the average customer when it comes to this type of problem, but the first one just didn't listen.  The first clue that it was a household with someone who knew what was going on should have been the coaxial cable strung throughout the house, as it's not something your average homeowner would have on hand, other than someone who works in the field or maybe an electrician!!!

So there you are another annoying story about Bell.  If we move into town we do have another option for our tv etc.  However it is Rogers, and honestly as we have been with them, I am not sure which of the two would be the lesser of the two evils at this point???

Crazy buys painting trim and sanding, both icky jobs to my mind {SIGH}

Photos taken in the car and Bell Canada.......(RANT!)

When coming back from town, the sky was very dramatic, so took some photos.

The satellite was playing up on Saturday.  The picture was pausing and the talking was skipping.  So called Bell Canada and spoke to a lovely lady in Orillia who walked me through a series of things and then told me it was probably due to the fog and it should get better later in the day.

Second call, spoke to a lovely gentleman in Montreal, who after repeating everything we had done prior, tells me I need a new box and put one on order to be delivered on Tuesday?  We were heading out so went upstairs to get changed and decided to see if the TV worked in the bedroom; it did.  So dh decided to switch out the boxes until we get the new one on Tuesday.

Come back in and dh switches out the box and it doesn't work in the family room?  Dh checks a couple of the connection's outside, but it is too slippery and too windy to go up the 30 foot ladder to reach the actual dish.  So I talk to a lovely gentleman in Toronto this time, and after repeating everything we had done the two prior times and then talking to dh to make sure he had connected everything correctly (which by the way didn't go down well!!) decided that it must be the wire outside and we need to get a technician out.  They should be here on Wednesday.  That did not go down well with dh so on Saturday night he set up a new coaxial cable from upstairs to the family room, so that we have TV down stairs until they come and repair it.

Meanwhile the Toronto guy tells me the Montreal guy never ordered a new box for us?  Thank goodness dh is very, very handy.  Now I just have to make sure I don't trip over the cable.  The house looks as though a bloody bomb has dropped in it; one day it will be tidy again!!!

A Shock and a Joke......

Checking my emails this morning and opened my e-bill up from Bell Canada and it was over $300.  Luckily I had nothing in my mouth as I would have choked.  Turned out they had charged me $50 twice to able to use my phone in the States while on vacation.  Neither charge should have been on there, so luckily I actually got an efficient employee who handled everything and credited it all.  However I still have to pay the $300+ bill as the credit won't appear right away {{SIGH}}  I hope this isn't the start of more endless phone calls to Bell?

So to cheer myself up I read another email and there was a joke in it:

A frog goes into a bank and approaches the clerk, seeing from her nameplate that her name is Patricia Whack.

"Miss Whack, I'd like to get a £25,000 loan to take a holiday."

Patty looks at the frog in disbelief and asks his name.

The frog says his name is Kermit Jagger, his dad is Mick Jagger, and that it's okay, he knows the bank manager.

Patty explains that she will need to secure the loan with some collateral.

The frog says, "Sure. I have this," and produces a tiny porcelain elephant, about an inch tall, bright pink and perfectly formed.

Very confused, Patty explains that she'll have to consult with the bank manager and disappears into a back office.

She finds the manager and says, "There's a frog called Kermit Jagger out there who claims to know you and wants to borrow £25,000, and he wants to use this as collateral."She holds up the tiny pink elephant. "I mean, what in the world is this?"

The bank manager looks back at her and says...

"It's a knickknack, Patty Whack. Give the frog a loan. His old man's a Rolling Stone."

Oldie but a goodie right?

That's it, I'm moving back to the city, I've bloody well had enough....

Now granted I am very hormonal at the moment but puleeeezzzeee no more!!!

I went down to the city to see our bundle of joy pictured below and was running a couple of errands while there.  Normally on the way home I heave a sigh of relief and feel very relaxed the further north I go.  I did not have that feeling yesterday and couldn't understand why......

I get home and there is a message on the answering machine from my mother, so I thought I'd give her a call back to see what she wanted.  Picked up the phone to discover it wasn't working.  Had the same issue with it the day before, so called dh (using my cell phone) and got him to call the home phone (don't know why I didn't just do it?) and it wouldn't work.  So remove all phones from the jacks and plug them back in, still no phones.

Call Bell to see if there is a problem with the line and the lady says no and tries to schedule an appointment for a tech guy to come out.  As you know if it's their problem they pay, but if its your problem they make you pay.  After explaining a number of times I only wanted to know if there was a problem with the line and NO I did not want a technician to come out, it was determined there wasn't a problem with the line.

Dh came home and to cut a long story short, which included digging out a tunnel of snow so he could crawl under the deck to check the jack that goes into the house; he discovered that some animal; a bloody mouse or mice had chewed through the phone line!!!  I ask you how many of you have had  bloody mice chew through their phone line????

Anyhow to cut another long story short, he repaired the line........dh is very handy thank goodness and the phone still isn't working.  So we figure maybe Bell has to reset the line or something.  So I call Bell back and maybe an hour if that has passed since I last called and would you like to know what she said:

THERE'S A PROBLEM IN YOUR AREA AND THE TECHNICIANS ARE WORKING ON IT.

I don't know who I want to throttle more the wildlife or bloody Bell......

I said to dh I am moving back to the city as at least then the bloody mice wouldn't chew through everything.........he said they have mice in the city, so could do it there {SIGH}  The phone is now working; but I'm still sick of the wildlife and Bell!

Look who's already one month old:

Now as I pointed out to Our little Princess  mother, she will not thank you for not wetting down her hair before taking this photo!!!  The little bracelets are all to do with religious ceremonies that they have done.  Nothing major, just ceremonies done at home.  She has such long legs doesn't she? And yes the sofa is orange!!!

10 dozen down & my Bell Canada bill

now onto my own jam for the year.  There is actually 9 dozen and a half dozen of raspberry jam and 9 jars of blackcurrant jam.

Dd, surrogate dd and maid of honour are coming over next month to put them in decorative boxes and tie some fancy ribbons around them, so I have been told.  As long as I don't have to do it I really don't care!!


I may make another batch which is 8 jars of raspberry jam for just in case, as we haven't got a full count yet of who will be coming to the wedding; and it's better to have too many than not enough in my humble opinion.


Also look what turned up on Friday morning:

That was pretty fast I thought, also it comes with the bonus digital timer and four mixing bowls, so that was good.  Weighs a ton weight though, luckily for me the UPS guy brought in right into the house for me.

Spent a delightful hour on the phone trying to get my Bell Canada bill cheaper........oh joy!!! After speaking to various people I managed to get and getting no where I ended up at the loyalty department and got somewhere...YEAH!!!  My monthly bill for the tv and telephone prior to me calling was $153.15 plus taxes, after calling $110.65 plus taxes for a savings of $42.50 per month.  I am a happy camper........

Neighbour called by to say he was shooting the coyotes on Saturday that have been hanging around as they are bothering his dogs.  He asked dh if I was feeding them.............I told dh I can be a dimwit but I am not that stupid!!!!

Please take the time to read the following story:

This article was originally posted on the Daily Mail UK website here and was written by: Richard Pendlebury

Though poor in quality, the video is sufficiently clear to reveal the horror that is unfolding.


We see a patch of open ground in front of a low building. A crowd of men stand and stare as two figures, shrouded from head to toe, are carried into their midst.
Some of the spectators produce spades and begin to dig with a febrile enthusiasm.


Soon there are two holes into which the trussed figures are planted upright, as far as their waists. Then the diggers fill in the space around them; they are trapped.


Brutal: A woman is buried before being stoned in Iran


An older man has the 'honour' of throwing the first of a large pile of stones which a truck has deposited close by. Then everyone joins in; stooping, hurling and stooping again, as though at a coconut shy.


But their targets, only a few metres away, are the heads of the two helpless human beings buried in the dirt.

Within minutes, the white cloth swathing them is soaked red with blood. Gore spreads across the ground as the writhing figures slump into merciful unconsciousness amid the mob's continuing fusillade of small rocks.

More...Now Hague joins the international wave of fury against Iran's decision to stone 'adulterous' mother to death

I watched this sickening film yesterday morning. Posted on the internet by a human rights group, it shows the execution in Tehran of two Iranians convicted of adultery.

There was a confusion among sources about the pair's gender. But the depth at which the victims were buried suggests they were males - after all, the law states that women should be buried up to their necks before having their heads smashed to pulp.

So much for the barbaric niceties of detail beloved of the ayatollahs ruling the Islamic republic of Iran.

Death by stoning, enshrined in the Iranian penal code, has been condemned by human rights groups both there and abroad since its introduction after the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Victim: Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani is facing a horrific execution by stoning


This week, the proposed execution by stoning of a mother-of-two called Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani once again put the Iranian regime on collision course with Western opinion.

Mrs Ashtiani, 43, has spent five years in jail and endured 99 lashes for alleged adultery. But apparently she was not punished enough.

The British and U.S. governments were trenchant in their criticism.

Yesterday, Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was 'appalled' by reports of the imminent execution.

'I think stoning is a medieval punishment that has no place in the modern world, and the continued use of such a punishment in Iran demonstrates a blatant disregard for human rights,' he added.

Last night, in a dramatic development, it appeared that the Iranian authorities had backed down in the face of such international criticism.

They announced that the stoning would not now go ahead. However, Mrs Ashtiani may still be executed by other means.

She would have gone to her death unnoticed outside Iran if it hadn't been for her son's desperate actions.

At no little risk to his own life and liberty, Sajad Ghadarzade, 22, brought his mother's plight to international attention by appealing to human rights groups and publicising letters he sent to the Iranian judiciary.

In one he declared: 'There is no justice in this country.' Recent events in Iran have suggested as much.


'The deaths of scores of pro-democracy demonstrators last year and the imprisonment and sometimes torture of thousands of others were shocking.

To the great embarrassment and anger of the regime, the image of 26-year-old student Neda Agha Soltan dying in the street after being shot by security forces became a global symbol of its brutality.

Mrs Ashtiani's case somehow seems even more disturbing. Her life is in the hands of a regime that aspires to be a nuclear power.

Yet it also appeared to countenance the stoning to death of a middle-aged mother from one of its own provincial cities.


Significantly, it is widely held that stoning has no basis in the Koran. Yet it is there in black and white in the Iranian penal code.

Article 83 says: 'Adultery in the following cases shall be punishable by stoning: (1) Adultery by a married man who is wedded to a permanent wife with whom he has had intercourse and may have intercourse when he so desires;

(2) Adultery of a married woman with an adult man provided the woman is permanently married and has had intercourse with her husband and is able to do so again.'

Article 102 sets out the depths at which men and women should be buried before stoning, as already mentioned.

Military ambitions: Iran hopes to equip its forces with nuclear weaponry


Article 104 is horrifically specific about the size of stones to be used: 'Not to be so large that a person dies after being hit with two of them, nor so small as to be defined as pebbles.'

In other words, the stoning must last long enough for the victim to suffer grievous pain before losing consciousness. The mob must have its pious fun.

It is difficult to estimate how many have met this fate since the Iranian revolution, but there is considerable documentary evidence that stonings were a regular occurrence in the Eighties and Nineties, with at least 50 women executed in this way over a ten-year period.

Amnesty International has stated in a recent report on stonings in Iran: 'Women suffer disproportionately from such punishment.

'They are particularly vulnerable to unfair trials because they are more likely than men to be illiterate and therefore more likely to sign confessions to crimes they did not commit.

'Discrimination against women in other aspects of their lives also leaves them more susceptible to conviction for adultery.'

Indeed, a woman's testimony is considered to be worth only half that of a man in an Iranian court, as witnessed in Penal Article 74 concerning the number of witnesses needed to prove adultery.

It requires for proof the evidence of 'four just men, or three just men and two just women'.

There are a number of gruesome accounts of Article 83 being enforced.

In August 1994, a woman was stoned to death in the city of Arak. Her husband and two children were forced to watch her barbaric punishment.

The woman was blinded by the stoning, but remained conscious and even managed to free herself from the hole and stagger away. To no avail.

She was reportedly caught and shot.

Such stories, and smuggled videos such as the one I watched yesterday, heaped embarrassment on even the hardline ayatollahs.

In 2002, a moratorium was declared on execution by stoning. There are now moves to remove the punishment from the penal code.

And yet judges continue to sentence men and women to such a death, and the Iranian Supreme Court continues to ratify the decisions.


World-wide shock: Neda Agha Soltan was killed during a protest by a shot fired from the guns of security forces in Iran


Mrs Ashtiani, a widow, was first arrested five years ago and convicted of having an 'illicit relationship' with two men, for which they were all flogged. That punishment was witnessed by her son, then aged 17.

But the authorities had not finished with her. A 'review' of her case led to her being charged, along with one of her alleged lovers, with the murder of her husband.

She was also charged for a second time with adultery. Mrs Ashtiani denied any wrongdoing.

At trial she was cleared of murder. But three out of the five male judges decided she was guilty of adultery. Death by stoning was the sentence.

Since then, she has languished in a prison in the northern city of Tabriz, along with at least two other women, one aged only 19, who are awaiting similar executions.

Meanwhile, her son lobbied the highest authorities in Iran for his mother's conviction to be thrown out.

They have included Iran's Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Ahmadinejad and the chief judge Ayatollah larijani. Her son says they took no notice of his entreaties. So he widened his protest to the world.

In an open letter to his country's leaders, he stated: 'There is no justice in this country.' He also asked of his mother's second trial: 'Why has an accused . . . been twice prosecuted on the same charge. . .(when) . . . even according to the Islamic criminal law a convict should be prosecuted for a crime once and not more than once?'

He and his sister, Farideh, 17, wrote another open letter to the international community in which they said: 'We stretch our hands to the people of the world. No matter who you are or where in the world, save our mother.'

This open defiance of a harsh regime - and the cultivation of support from its enemies abroad - was a desperate gamble for an Iranian citizen. But up to a point it has worked.

Progress is often built on self-sacrifice, and the courage of this woman and her children could be another step towards ending the tyranny of the ayatollahs.

It could also lead to a new low in Iran's relationship with the West.



I honestly don't know what we can do as individuals, but this has to stop, it is barbaric.

It rained on Friday finally, however it was still as hot and humid as it has been for most of the day.  The Bell guy came and moved our satellite dish and the tv is working fine now, so a bit of good news there.

I actually got the fridge cleaned out on Friday.  Don't you hate it when you find all sorts of bits and bobs in there past their sell by date?

I also made the time to catch up with other blogs, finally.  I am slo thinking about setting up an Etsy store to sell my quilting, any tips?

The heat is too much for me........

on Wednesday, it got to much for me, and I ended up with a horrible headache and felt very lightheaded.  The house is hot now, luckily the bedroom isn't too bad, at least we can sleep at night.

Where dh is contracted out too they make steel pipe, so when the steel goes through the big machines, they have to cool the hot steel with water, so its humidity on top of humidity.  On Tuesday it hit 53 oC (127 oF) in the factory and they did send the workers home.  On Wednesday it only hit 49 oC (120 oF) so they weren't sent home!!

I will be praying for rain, as I am so over this heat, and of course the a/c guys are crazy busy, and we are not a priority!!  By the way I have got Bell Canada coming on Friday afternoon to move our satellite dish as our signal strength is 50% at the most, therefore we are always getting cut off channels.  Dh called the other week to try and sort this out and basically got no where.  Due to the heat I was in no mood to hear their excuses and try and put the blame back on us.  Obviously by my tone of voice the guy knew not to mess around with me and decided to send someone out at no charge to move the dish!!

I am also having issues with Blogger and having problems accessing other blogs and posting comments.  It's too hot for me to deal with at the moment.  So sorry for not popping by..........

Bits and Bobs........oh and Bell Canada AGAIN!!!

Got my combined Bell Canada bill today and honestly every time I get a bill I get more confused by them, not helped by the fact I am calling India. Anyhow, I was under the impression I am paying 5 cents per minute to call Britain, instead I am getting charged 79 cents per minute??? Who on earth pays 79 cents a minute, other than when you are calling Outer Mongolia!!

Then of course there was the dreaded internet charges, and that was another $58+ to make over $80 in charges just for the internet this month, and I am hardly ever on it!!! I am at my wits end with these guys. So overall this bill, which also included the Satellite was close to $190. On a positive side, it is our main form of entertainment, so I guess, its not too, to expensive.

I managed to get the house tidied up a bit on Monday. However I got side tracked by being on the phone for over an hour with Bell Canada. Then the mail woman called in to bring me back a card I had sent out. The envelope was dark blue and I had written the address in black ink, so Canada Post couldn't read it????? So our local post office had re-written ENGLAND in bold black ink and sent it out for me, but again Canada Post sent it back. So the mail woman called into the house and asked me if I wanted to put a white label on the envelope with the address on. So I did that and had a chit chat with her, then she took my card and made sure it went into the mail box for me. Talk about great service, that's what you get for living in the country!!!

Mind you on the flip side, I had to call our local town offices, to see when we were going to be billed for our next lot of property taxes, and to make sure we were on monthly billing. It turns out they go out on the 15th of the month. So I said are we going to get something in the mail, the lady said probably by the end of next week. Talk about leaving it to last minute!!!

I got a letter in the mail on Monday, giving us permission to put in an objection/review of our property tax assessment. There is a procedure to this, and I have completed the first stage. So I have until July 10th, to file the second letter, and to send in all the paperwork. Its costing us around $350 a month in property taxes, which I feel is a bit steep, as that was what we were paying in the city.

In between the showers on Monday I did manage to get the laundry dry. It's forecast for rain on and off all week, so I can see me getting some jobs done around the house this week.