What wonderful weather we are having and a question.

Cooking sausages on the barbecue; had to put my sunglasses on because of the sun.  This good weather is supposed to hold for another few days at least.  Haven't got our heating on.  Don't even have the a/c on either.  I wish it would stay like this year round; cool in the mornings, warming up through the day and then cool overnight.

Had a question for you all, has anyone read the book AND seen the movie called "The Book Thief?"  I am usually of the opinion that the book is better than the movie.  I am reading the book, and I am thinking I bet the movie would be better, even though I haven't seen the movie.

Update on living in a condo............

I always think that a condo is an apartment/flat.  In our situation we live in a house but pay a condo fee each month, so they take care of the outside of the house; mainly the landscaping etc.  I got an email the other day saying its time for the twice yearly window cleaning.  Well as there are probably close to 1,000 dwellings in our two subdivision's and we are on the far side hopefully we'll get ours cleaned by the end of October.

Despite being British and we British are brought up to clean windows on a regular basis, I have not cleaned all the outside of our windows since moving in.  The inside ones have all been done.  We have been living on a building site, so it has been totally pointless even thinking about cleaning the windows with all the dust and muck.

I am pleased to say though the builders are busy in another area, so it has calmed down by us.  They have been putting in another road just down from us.  We were rudely awoken the other morning before 7am by a low rumble.  They had the big roller out rolling the new base for the road.

There is one thing I have to admit to not being keen of living here, is that things get done outside at their schedule, and not yours.  There are still things to do outside and they are getting taken care of but how they do things does make you shake your head and wonder why,  I have an email into the builder at the moment with photos about a downspout.  Now it isn't a big thing, but it does make you wonder what were they thinking?

Why would they put a downspout straight across the footpath?  By the way there is a hive of activity next door (in the house you can see in the photo) as the lady must be getting ready to move in.

Our driveway has been taken up and reinstalled this summer, as the builders went and dug up the curbs as they were too far down and when they put the second coat of asphalt down it would make the roads too high.  Shook my head about that as well, but whatever, it's not costing us anything.......well not directly!!

I have started a "craze" up here with dog signs.  We are the "Shih-Tzu" capital of the world here.  While you all know I love dogs, I don't feel it is necessary to have every dog pee and poop on our lawn. 

Due to us being a corner lot we have a LOT of grass.  The signs have raised mixed feelings, but they have sprung up like wildfire around here.  Are they working.......I think so, but who actually knows.

As far as I know all the plantings that are due to be done by the builder have been done now............but again who knows?  So we bought 30 bags of mulch and have mulched all the front and side of the house.  We still have the back to do and do need a bag for the other side as there is a tiny garden between the houses.

Mulching also saves me time weeding as the way the boys gardeners weed leave a lot to be desired.  The people who are putting in the plants quoted me $400 to mulch all the gardens; both back and front.  So far it has cost us $135.60 and will probably cost similar for the back.  We have a LOT of gardens compared with everyone else it turns out.

Do I miss cutting the grass..........sometimes, but overall I am not missing all the maintenance on keeping everything looking perfect.

P.S. The dog signs were bought at Canadian Tire for around $4.50 each.

Last full day of Summer............

Where did the summer go?  Have to say Fall is my favourite season of the year.  What is your favourite season?

With Fall comes hopefully cooler temperatures.  We had a light frost on the rooftops last week.  The a/c hasn't been on in a couple of weeks.  I will again pay $100 on our gas bill this month so I am in a credit ready for the bigger bills that will arrive in January and February.  It will be interesting to see how our utility bills pan out in this house.  Still haven't had a bill yet for the property taxes.  Putting money away each week towards it, as when it does come in I am guessing they won't wait forever to be paid!!

We got our water softener put in just before we went on vacation.  We got a Clack 1 Water Softener.  It was a lot more expensive than the ones you buy in a big box store, but we have a lot of issues with our water and it has done wonders.  Our water in the toilet doesn't look brown anymore, and we can now drink the water; so well worth the money.  For people with Water Softeners in Ontario; we are finding that TSC is the cheapest for the salt for the softener.  We were buying at Lowes, but they have hiked up their prices to around $6.50 a 20kg bag.  TSC's is around $5.50 a bag, that's for Windsor Select Plus Salt.  If you know of anywhere cheaper I am all ears.

How is your Christmas Shopping coming along?  I have made a great start and my Christmas box where I put $20 a week is looking healthy.  Have to buy for three grand kids this year as well. 

Saw all of them last week.  Our Little Princess is growing up so much and is so well mannered.  She is 20 months old and is such a good talker.  Our Little Munchkin is 10 months old and will be walking very soon.  She eats everything you put in her mouth and is getting more verbal.  Then Our Little Guy, well he is so tiny compared to the other two, heading back towards the 6 lb range.  He seems to be getting a darker skin tone also and is quiet as a mouse, unless he wants feeding.  I am guessing when he gets older he'll have to find a voice when the other two are around, otherwise he'll never stand a chance...LOL

So there you go a bit of everything in this post.

Look who is 10 months old today:

Her mum captioned this photo: "Seriously Mom, not another photo".

Still not walking on her own; probably because she can crawl so fast.  She is growing up so fast won't be long before she is a year old.

Say hello to our newest grandchild........

Samvith (pronounced Sumvit) was born September 12th at 5:13 am.

He was in NICU for a few hours as he swallowed a bit of liquid when he was born.  He is gorgeous and we can't wait to see more of him!!

His poor mother had such a hard labour.........she had to push a whole 10 minutes before Samvith popped out!!!  

We are seeing him again on Sunday so I'll hopefully get more photos then.

Back in Canada..........

Had a good drive home yesterday. It was an easy 7 hour drive with a couple of short stops.  At the border we were first stopped by the US border guys, as they were looking for someone/something.  We weren't it, so they waved us through; wonder what they were looking for?  We then answered a couple of questions with the Canada border guards and they waved us through.  Oh and then we paid our $3.25 CDN to get back into Canada!  We crossed over at Fort Erie, haven't been at that border crossing in a few years.  Windsor is generally where we cross over.

We had a good time.  Probably won't go back there again.  As usual ate too much and suffered for it!!  Had fried chicken on the last night and I had chronic heartburn all night.  I know better.........but I just had to have some of that chicken and I HAD to eat the skin as well!!!

For the first time ever we were very pleased with the hotel.  It was lovely and clean, the staff were so friendly and pleasant.  The breakfast provided was good and filling.  The only negative thing if I had to pick something, was the sofa in the room was uncomfortable.  A couple of big squishy chairs would have been better.  The hotel was called The Wallhouse Hotel in Walnut Creek, Ohio.  It is actually like what the photos show you.  It is very modern and totally the opposite of what you would expect in "Amish Country," but I would highly recommend staying there if you decide to visit that area.  I slept like a log there, despite there being a relatively busy road opposite the hotel and the bathroom was roomy with a huge walk-in shower, which was perfect for us.  It is a big more expensive than a regular hotel in that we paid on average after all the taxes etc., around $150 USD per night.

So now we are back at home and back to normal.  Ploughing through the laundry.  Catching up with everything that has happened and getting on with things.  It was nice while it lasted and it was the break that we wanted and needed.  Glad we went; shame the shopping wasn't better, but great on my pocket book I guess!!!

Here, there and everywhere............

Had a day going here, there and everywhere.  Headed out first thing to a place called Millersburg.  This is a photo of what I am guessing was/is the town hall.

Honestly as it was Monday a lot of things were closed.  We asked a local where to get a good cup of coffee and she suggested Jitter's Coffee House.  Good move on my part asking a local and it was the best cup of tea I have had since arriving in the States.

Now that funny thing next to my cup is a Teaze Infuser and it is a neat thing.  So good infact for loose leaf tea I went and bought one, you can also brew coffee in it as well.

After that we went to a place called Roscoe Village near Coshocton.  Again half the stuff was closed, but I did manage to pick up a new Vera Bradley purse/wallet to match my new handbag, so all was not lost.  

We then headed into Coshocton and had lunch here:

Yes we found a Timmies!!!  Again all is right with the world.  They had Mac and Cheese on the menu, which we don't have in Canada.  You'll be pleased to know I won't be pushing for them to have it in Canada either!!  It's a boil in a bag product and you can tell.  

We then headed to Charm, by the scenic route............the map we have sucks, the numbering on the road sucks and dh's GPS sucks...........but we saw some lovely scenery.  Drove right through Charm, as it wasn't quite what we wanted to see.  Then headed to Sugarcreek and saw the huge Cuckoo Clock:

A word of warning to anyone wanting to come and visit Holmes County, Ohio; I would plan your visit to arrive on a Monday and leave on a Sunday.  Nearly everything is closed on a Sunday, we found a Subway in a gas station to have supper on Sunday night.  

We can all sleep easy tonight now................(photo heavy)

I have bought myself a new Vera Bradley handbag, so all is well with the world now...LOL  Would you believe it is the exact same one (different colour) as the one I am using now.

I also treat myself to a new case for my reading glasses.

We also had a couple of new experiences today.  I had a snickerdoodle cookie today for the first time.  Which turned out to be a sugar cookie with cinnamon and we had a hot dog with Coney sauce on it, along with cheese, onions and sauerkraut.  It was actually pretty tasty and made a change.

I had the snickerdoodle cookie at Der Bake Oven in Berlin, Ohio.  We sat and talked to the owner Ruth for a short while; a really nice lady.

Loved all the furnishings in the seating area.

There was a ribfest happening in Berlin also on Saturday.  There was also a parade which started at 6 pm.  However the weather was iffy (rain showers) and we were tired so only stayed there until mid-afternoon.  I took a couple of photos of the rib makers stands.  The people at the After Hours Barbeque only started competing last year.  They have full time jobs; so they do this as a hobby.

Took this photo as much for the sky as anything, it was overcast, muggy and eventually rainy.

Finally a couple of photos of some chairs in the hotel lobby, very modern and very leather!!!

Once again the States let us in!!

We arrived safely at our hotel and we are super pleased with our room.  I will write in more detail about where we are staying etc., later.

 It's all very modern, new and clean.

 We have a balcony but no chairs to sit on?  Will have to mention that tomorrow to the front desk......they will just love me by the time we leave!!

 This is our view from the balcony.

We went to Der Dutchman for supper.  Came out waddling like ducks.  Our eyes were greedier than our stomachs!!

Just too tired tonight to check out this store.......gosh I must be tired!!

I will say I don't know why I bother printing out the instructions from google maps.  I think we did and up close and personal tour of all the surrounding countryside before we found the hotel.  Talk about going around the block and back again.......otherwise a simple trip down to Ohio and not too long.

Heading to Berlin, Ohio tomorrow for their Fall Harvest Festival.  Here's hoping it won't be as hot, in the mid-30's oC today.