Still searching for the perfect light fixture

and this isn't the one!!!

I was talking to the guy in the showroom and I was saying that it was $65 over priced!!!!

I have fallen in love with with Currey and Company lighting, but they are so bloody expensive, the ones we like are all $1,000 +.  I will keep searching and hopefully find something similar and cheaper.

Doesn't this photo just say "I have trouble written all over my face!!"

Just love her to bits.....

Things are quiet around here.........

which is the way I like it.

I have got my basement floor painted and it took 4 gallons of paint.  Will take photos later when it is all dry.  I managed to do it for around $80 all in all due to a gift card I had.  I'll let it set for a couple of days before we move stuff back.

Still no grass but skids of grass all around me, so close but so far away at the same time.  It's not September yet, so no need to complain.  "They" did come around last Friday and put some fencing up.  I am assuming that there is more to be done, as it is still a safety hazard, but who knows?

I do know it is quite a drop from the top of that wall to the bottom.

The weather has finally cooled down a touch making it easier to sleep and to function.  The humidity just drains my energy and makes my allergies a heck of a lot worse.

Is there anything exciting happening in your neck of the woods?

Well that's just teasing..........

Look what pulled up outside our house this morning............

 There were three skids of the green stuff.........

None of it went around our house.........bummer!!

Had to go to babysit our Little Munchkin on Friday, as her parents had to go to a funeral.  I have seen her in better moods, so no photos taken.  On the way home I got stuck in traffic, so what do you do..take a couple of photos.  Now don't panic I was at a full stop, going no where fast as they say.

 This is on Hwy 400 going north at Canada's Wonderland Theme Park.

 Friday afternoon at 3pm is not a good time to be on that highway going North as everyone is heading for their cottages.

 Took me nearly 2 hours to get home.  Normally it is an hour and 15 minutes.  I wasn't impressed!!  Did enjoy looking after our Little Munchkin though.

Just call me Sheldina........

Now if you watch The Big Bang Theory, you'll understand this post.  If you don't sorry it may not make sense.

I was talking with a neighbour the other night and I was telling her a story about a couple of things that had happened.

The big boss "R" had popped by the house as I had a couple of concerns with some things outside.  We had our conversation and agreed on this and that and he went on his way.

Later that day the carpenter came by to put the stairs on the back deck.  I was surprised to see him and he said:

"Heard you weren't happy as you had no steps so "R" said I had to do them right away."

That wasn't true and I told him so and said sorry that he had to come over when he was busy with other things and would he like a cold drink as it was a stinking on day.  He took it and I felt better.

At 5 pm that day I was barbecuing some burgers when a vehicle full of gardeners turned up.  One was talking on a phone and they kept looking over at our back.  They all got out and descended onto our back.  I asked them what they were doing and "R" had told their boss that they had to clean up the weeds in our back.

Now I will admit to telling "R" about this as it was bad, but these guys leave by 5 pm.  It was a stinking hot day, they were having to work late and were probably hungry and here I was cooking burgers.  I apologised that I didn't have enough burgers to go around, there were five of them, so offered them a cold drink, which they all took and I felt better.

This is where the Big Bang Theory connection comes in.  When someone is upset, Sheldon knows he has to offer them a hot beverage.  When I feel guilty, even when it's not my fault I offer a cold beverage, as a way of easing my conscious.  That why my neighbour said we should call me "Sheldina," from now on!!



By the way I LOVE The Big Bang Theory, one of my favourite shows on TV.

Some people have grass on their front lawn..........not us

{{SIGH}} one day it will be grass I guess!!

I tidied up the basement the other day.   We have a lovely big basement.  The doors on the right of the photo are doors to the furnace room, the double doors are a linen closet and the other door is a full bathroom.  Just down from that door is the bedroom. 

This is looking from the other end.  The door at the end is the cold cellar and the stairs are stained to match the hardwood floors on the main floor. 

Why I am showing you the basement, is I went and purchased some floor paint to paint the floor.  We will not be finishing the basement in the next few months, so to keep down the dust I decided to paint the floor.  It will take at least a week or so with drying time to get it all done.  I cashed in our Aeroplan miles and got a $100 gift card for Home Hardware.  At $37.99 a gallon of floor paint it paid for a lot of the three gallons I picked up.  I think however I will need a couple more gallons before it is all done though.  I will update you on how I got on next week.

Are you doing any painting at the moment?

Hot and Humid...........

so of course I am hibernating.  The older I get the worse I feel in this weather.  My poor head has been pounding so fingers crossed it will break and rain soon just to clear the air.

I picked up a parcel from the Post Office on Tuesday.  I had ordered some books from Book Outlet  They had emailed me a $10 off code when you spend $30 so I thought I'd take advantage of it.  I ended up getting these books for a tiny bit over $30 and that included tax and shipping.  It is cheaper to buy a book than a magazine and I know I can get $1.50 at the used book store for them when I have done reading them.  Have you read any of these books?  I have started on Knit, Purl, Die by Anne Canadeo.  I love reading books that involve knitting despite the fact I can't knit for toffee.

 This is the two girls' toy basket.  Our little Princess also knows where to go to get books on the shelf as she loves to be read too.  Our little Munchkin isn't really into it yet. I have to read more to her as she does have a lot of books at home.

Do you like the colour of our hardwood floor?  Gosh it is a pain to keep clean and marks so easily.  I make everyone take off their shoes when they come in the house; which actually is something that is typically done anyway in Canada.  However I can't afford to have folk walk in the house with dirty shoes that may scratch the floor.  I brush and dry swiffer it nearly everyday.  The marble border to the left of the border is part of the fireplace.

Oh, and finally we got our first gas bill for the house.  It was around $85 and that included $25 new account admin fee, that we had no choice but the pay.  We only use the gas to heat the water during the summer.  As we don't have a bill to compare it with, is that pretty normal usage or is yours higher or lower?  Remember without the fee it would have only been $60.

Condo Board of Directors

We have moved into a house where there are condo fees.  It's a golf course community for "older people."  However in the part where we have moved on "the hill," there are a lot of younger people our age in their 50's and a lot of people are still working.  So the demographics of the estate as a whole are starting to change.  There are also a range of dwelling from apartments, to townhouses, to semi-detached homes and detached homes.  All are well built and all are privately owned.  Each "phase" has their own board of directors to help oversee their phases concerns and problems and to make sure people stick to the rules and regulations of the condo corporation.

So far so good.....

Now as we have never lived in a condo situation all this is new and foreign to us.  Plus remember we had very few neighbours and none at close quarters in our last house.  So to say this has been a learning experience wouldn't be a lie.  As with any estate/subdivison you have a wide range of people from all backgrounds and with different expectations of what should or shouldn't go on.

Despite the fact we are all adults, some days it does feel as though you are back in the school yard, with all the gossiping and sometime subtle bullying that goes on.  The rumor mill is rampid and it doesn't take you long to figure out who is who and what is what.

There has been an issue in our phase but due to the fact we don't have a board of directors, the situation hasn't been sorted out.  I am pleased to say it has NOTHING to do with me or dh, but I know all about it and refuse to be dragged into the situation.  

We will finally have our phase meeting on August 7th and we will be able to elect a board of directors as luckily more than 5 people have put their names forward.  Now one of those names in mine.  I know why on earth would I want to get involved.  It is however quite amusing how this has all come about, as there seem to be two different "camps" and I have been asked by both camps to put my name forward.

As I said to dh who knew I was so bloody popular!!  I guess they don't know me that well...yet!!  I warned both camps that I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep my mouth shut and I would not be afraid to tell people what's what.  I personally have no time for personal agenda's, whining and people tittle-tattling, but they still wanted me to put my name forward.  So I thought what the hell, at least it won't be too stuffy on the board if I am elected.  Between me and you I would be very shocked if anyone voted for me......well other than dh...he had better vote for me.

So roll on August 7th, I can't wait to see what happens at this meeting.  Are any of you on a condo board?  Any tips or hints?  I am not fussed either way if I am elected or not, I just wanted to make sure the candidates HAD to give a speech telling us all why they want to be on the board.

Today's Flower

I aim to be a frequent poster on this meme again, as it's always a joy to see wonderful flower photos.  As we are very limited with our garden at the moment, I will share what I have, but will also make a point of finding flowers where ever we go.

Here is a photo of the annual Blue Lobilia.  When I bought this is was part of a half price planter and was looking very sad.  It is a lot happier now I am pleased to say.

This is a Canada Lily or Wild Yellow Lily that was planted in our garden.  It is a young plant so not fully established yet, but pretty all the same.

To see more wonderful Today's Flower posts, please click on this link

So I am guessing you're all ready to strangle me with my lack of posts?

I would love to say I have been super, super busy but I haven't.  Well I have been busy but can always be busier if you know what I mean. So lets catch you up with what has been going on.

House:

No grass.........which = lots of dust and stupid me went off my allergy pills.  Suffice to say I am suffering royally with allergies and am now back on allergy pills for the foreseeable!  I am hoping we will see grass by the end of September........it if comes before hand it will be a bonus.  If I look out of our back windows today this is what I see:

I think I have shares in the Swiffer company, with the amount of their product I use at the moment!

Got the basement organized and tidied up a bit, so we don't have to step over boxes to go from A to B.  I now know where everything is, sort of, and that in itself is a huge help.

Dh has got the central vac working and the garage door opener installed and running.  Still don't have my car parked in the garage as it needs a tidy up, but that is dh's domain, so I leave it well alone.  Talking of my car, Betsy is looking worse for the wear, due to the dust.  Now me making this comment must mean it's bloody bad, as I NEVER clean/wash my car, but even I am fed up with how she is looking!

The Central Vac we purchases is a Beam Electrolux Alliance Special Spring Edition (it's white not black). It cost us just over $1,100 (including all taxes) and was well worth the money, very pleased with how it works.  Plus I got a "vac pan" installed under the sink cupboard, so I can sweep the kitchen floor, kick the lever and all the dust/crumbs etc, is sucked up through the vac pan.

The garage door opener was a Craftsman from Sears.  We have one double garage door and I got a 1/2 hp opener and it works fine.  I picked it up on sale for well under $200, and it came with two car openers, a key pad and an opener to put by the door to the house.  We have purchased this type of opener before and have always had good luck with them.

I have to say the way the builder finished off the garage makes it look immaculate.  Never had such a good looking garage interior....LOL

Dh's next job will be installing a custom closet organizer we got from Solutions.  We are big fans of their systems and had done a few closets using their product.  I will post about that when we put it up.

We, actually dh is helping renovate our daughter and son-in-laws basement, so that is also taking up a little bit of time.  My job is to take care of our little munchkin.  Here is her 8 month old photo which was taken last week:

She is of course sitting up, she is crawling and she can pull herself up to standing and walk around furniture.  She has got her four top teeth in all at once, so the poor thing hasn't been awfully happy, but she is over the worst as three of the four are through.  So that will be six teeth in all.  She is a grand eater and dd has been teaching her how to pick up pieces of cracker herself.  She will also "kiss" you when asked.  Do I sound like a proud Nana?  I know shut up!!

I have been busy reading.  As not only have I been reviewing books, I also attended my first book club meeting.  Thoroughly enjoyed it and a great set of ladies.  The book club with max out at 12 members and we have 11 members at the moment.  To read my book reviews you can click on this link.  If you have read any of the books I have reviewed I would love to hear your opinion.

I have much more to talk about, as it's been quite an eye opening experience moving from the country to a community where the average age is probably at least 60 to 70.  I know you will not only laugh at but also commiserate with me about some of the daft things that happen around here.

On that note I will sign off and try and get another post written for tomorrow.

Oh, and please feel free to yell at me for not writing more posts...LOL!

Update on blind I ordered over the internet.....

I first mentioned in this post about ordering a blind online for our bathroom from Blinds Galore.  Our daughter had ordered a couple and was pleased with hers so I thought I'd give them a try.

I ordered it on June 30th and it arrived on July 9th via Fed-Ex.  Now remember both Canada and the States had a holiday during that time, but I thought it arrived in a timely fashion.

Took dh all of 15 minutes to install it and it fit perfectly.

I ordered :

1 Blindsgalore® Cellular Shades: 3/8" Double Cell Traditions Top Down/Bottom Up Lift 22.25"W x 41.25"H Taupe 4007 Mount - Inside Mount (This item is for Bathroom ensuite) $180.66

Subtotal: $180.66 Savings: $-83.86 Shipping: $0.00 Tax: $12.58 Processing Fee: $5.99 Total: $115.37

I am very pleased with it and it looks good and works exactly like I wanted it too.  If you are like me very skeptical in ordering blinds online, I would recommend these guys. 

I am going to get something very similar in our family room next, when I save up some money.

You can by the way get them cordless as well, but that is extra and for this purpose the cords weren't a problem.

Bit of a sad morning this morning...........

and not because I had to have a "cavity" filled..........it was questionable at best {SIGH}  We have parted company with not only our dentist but our pharmacist as well.
  
Both were hard goodbye's on our part.  We have been with our dentist for probably 24 years, and had the same pharmacist for at least 20 years.  As I was saying to both, we have watched one another's kids grow up, shared in one another's lives and gave one another hope when things were looking down.

Since moving house we have moved another 20 minutes east of where we used to live.  So today I left the house just after 9 am.  Called in at the pharmacist to pills up some pills and then went to the dentist and had my cavity filled and came home.  I got back in the house around 12 : 45 pm.

Now it's not only the distance we have to travel, but the gas/petrol that is to put in the vehicle.  In the winter we then have to deal with the bad weather as well.  Then to add to everything, we have to dental offices that are actually walking distance from our new home, so I can be in and out of an appointment and be home in less than an hour.

We still have our doctor down there and cannot get a doctor up here, until we part way with our doctor and go on a government list for people without doctors.  Now as everyone knows as soon as you are put on a government list, you may linger there for many a year!!  So that is up in the air at the moment as to what we plan on doing with that situation.

We will also be parting ways with our optician.  That won't be a hard thing to do, as they are the most disorganized bunch in that office, so no tears will be shed there.  I did shed a tear or two though this morning.

Onwards and upwards as they say.........

Are you ready for Halloween yet?

I know it's only July, but saw this in Canadian Tire today:

 Even I did a double take to make sure I saw what I thought I saw.........

Anyone else loving the Strawberry Shortcake muffins?  They are so good, but more like a cake than a muffin if you ask me.  I had on with a medium coffee, one cream and one milk please!!

Picked up a bird feeder pole system from Wild Birds Unlimited.  It clamps onto the deck and you can have multiple configurations.

 It took the birds no time at all to find it.  You can see more about them here.  They are not cheap, but once you have got it, it should last for years.

As you can see from the photo above, some of our neighbours have grass......we don't.

Finally here is a photo of our little Munchkin in her swing.  She was more interested in chewing the ties than the swing.

She can now pull herself up to standing when she is sat on the sofa........now the fun begins!!

Change of pace.......

You can only unpack boxes for so long until you get totally fed up of it..........I'm at that point.  So as I am going to a baby shower on the 13th, I decided to see if I can get a baby quilt put together before then.  We don't know what the sex of the baby will be so I am hoping this is neutral enough to do either sex.  It is to trim up and I need to buy I am thinking chocolate brown material for a border and backing.

 The main colours are brown, orange, yellow, and green.

As many of you know I enjoy reading, so have decided to join a book club on the subdivision.  The first meeting is on Monday July 14th, so I have ordered and will have to read this book before then.  It's doable, due to there being nothing on the tv except repeats!!!

You can read more about it here

Here is our list of books for the next year:

 July 14 The Chalk Girl - Carol O'Connell 

Aug  11  A Complicated Kindness - Miriam Toews

Sept  8.  No Time to say Goodbye - Linwood Barclay 

Oct  14  The Book Thief - Markus Zusak 

Nov  10  The Storied Life of A.J. Firky - Gabrielle Zevin 

Dec  8   Wild From Lost to Found on the Pacific coast - Cheryl Strayed

Jan  12  Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - Lisa See

Feb   9  The Invention of Wings - Sue Monk Kidd

Mar.  9  No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency - Alexander McCaul Smith

There seems to be a wide range of genre of books, so should be interesting.  Also I have never read any of these books, so that in itself is a positive thing.

Sunburst Drapery Treatment........

In our master bedroom we have a half moon window.  You will not believe how much light that bloody window lets into our bedroom.  As with everything in life, nothing is ever simple.  This window is not exactly a half circle.  It is 61 1/2 inches across and only 29 inches high at the high point.  After talking to a woman in a store who has one of these windows and was quoted over $700 for a California Shutter type of covering for her half circle I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Dh had some of this pipe, he said it is used in plumbing(?), it is stiff enough to go into the half circle and to hold the sheers.

 I bought sheers that matched  the ones on the main window and cut them in half and hemmed them.  The measurement of my pipe to cover the half circle was 94 inches.  I bought 5 panels at 50 inches wide and cut them in half, to get the fullness I desired.

 You slide the panels on the pipe, and then thread some string through the bottom hem.  I made my panels 30 inches long by the way.

 Now this is what it looks like more or less finished.  I am having issues with everything gathered in the middle.  I need to look into this further to see what I can do to make it tidier.

 I also spent the afternoon taking up the 8 sheer curtain panels.  I still have the four drapery panels to take up but didn't have any thread the same as the chocolate brown colour of the drapes.

 I couldn't get a decent light to take the photos.

I have to say this wasn't overly cheap to do all these window's.

I needed 13 sheer panels at $32.99 each =$428.87 (bought them at Bed, Bath and Beyond)
4 drapery panels @ $29.99 each = $119.96 (got them on sale @ Lowes)
2 short double drapery poles @ $69.99 each = $139.98 (bought them at Bed, Bath and Beyond)
1 long double drapery pole @ $79.99 - 20% = $63.99(bought them at Bed, Bath and Beyond) 
1 pair end finials = $19.99 (bought them at Bed, Bath and Beyond)

subtotal: $772.79
13% taxes: $100.46

Total: $873.25

I am sure you can do this a lot cheaper and also a lot more expensive.  We are pleased with the results and it suits us.