Another couple of small finishes for Yarn Along.

I made another Gnome for a baby girl who is due in October.  I used US #6 needles and the yarn pictured in the photo.  It is pink with a light brown face.

 I also completed this newborn hat for the same little one.

Neither are perfect but they are made with love.

I did get the following two books read and reviewed this past week also.  You can read my reviews here.

I have started this book:

Award-winning writer Ntozake Shange and real-life sister, award-winning playwright Ifa Bayeza achieve nothing less than a modern classic in this epic story of the Mayfield family. Opening dramatically at Sweet Tamarind, a rice and cotton plantation on an island off South Carolina's coast, we watch as recently emancipated Bette Mayfield says her goodbyes before fleeing for the mainland. With her granddaughter, Eudora, in tow, she heads to Charleston. There, they carve out lives for themselves as fortune-teller and seamstress. Dora will marry, the Mayfield line will grow, and we will follow them on an journey through the watershed events of America's troubled, vibrant history—from Reconstruction to both World Wars, from the Harlem Renaissance to Vietnam and the modern day. Shange and Bayeza give us a monumental story of a family and of America, of songs and why we have to sing them, of home and of heartbreak, of the past and of the future, bright and blazing ahead. 

I picked it up for 99 cents, so at that price I couldn't say no.

For more Yarn Along with Ginny posts, please click on this link.

I must start writing things down........

I had a couple of things that I wanted to share with you, but do you think I can remember what they were?  I don't know.  I could understand it if I worked full time, had a few kids running around the place and a hundred and one other things to do, but I don't?  I am one of these people who are more productive when under the gun.  I need to start writing lists again, so things happen.

I do know I want to get a couple of things done today, so I guess if I write a list here maybe things will get done, who knows?

• Drop of a bottle of wine at the make your own wine place for them to taste it.  Dh says it's awful tastes like gnat pee......meanwhile me who doesn't drink had a taste and enjoyed it.  At this point dh said there HAD to be something wrong with it!
• Call in at the bank and pick up some US dollars before the Canadian Dollar drops even lower.  Both dh and I keep saying we have a recession knocking on our door in Canada.
• Pick up prescription pills in WalMart pharmacy, that have been ready for a few days; another case of forgetting to pick up.
• Steam clean the ceramic and hardwood floors.  DONE
• Water tubs outside.  We pay for our water through our monthly maintenance fees, but I have started using the dish water from washing dishes to an attempt to save water.  It has been hot and dry, so I am thinking the reservoirs must be getting low? DONE
• Finish knitting another gnome for a gift.
• Make supper, a ham and pasta dish; no recipe just making it up.
• Watch Coronation Street; VERY IMPORTANT "JOB."

I know there are a lot more things I have to do, but as long as I get those done I will be happy.  It's going to be up to 39 oC  (102 oF) with the humidity today so this afternoon all the blinds will be closed and I will be hibernating.

Oh and finally I MUST find time to visit everyone's blogs, as I am so behind in doing that.

If it's hot where you are try and stay cool.  If it's cold where you are try and stay warm.  Have a good one.

You know when you want to share, but you can't?

We popped out on Sunday afternoon to get out of the house.  I wanted to check a store for something, but I stumbled on a lot of other things.......Christmas gifts.  All good deals and well worth buying.  However due to certain members of the family who read this I cannot tell you what store or where I got the things.  Suffice to say I was very happy with my purchases.

I can tell you about one store I went into and show you what I bought.  We popped into Pier 1 Imports.  I rarely buy anything in there, unless it's on sale as I think the place tends to be over priced on most things.  However we saw this and I knew we had to have it:

It's a dried "flower/twig" decoration that is made in the Philippines.  Here is a similar one.  I have it in front of the fire.  Obviously I will have to move it to the side when we have the fire on, but it's the perfect size.  There was a taller version and another the same height in a different colour.

Those ribs look good on the tv don't they?  We were watching the Food Network when I took the photo.  I know we need a bigger tv, but it's not in the budget at the moment, maybe for Christmas.

I have been busy reading with it being so hot and have read the following two books:

Both are great books, I just haven't had a chance to write up a review.

Out in the garden

Someone's Nana remembered to bring stickers and something to stick them onto, making two little girls happy.

 Having a snack of watermelon and grapes.

 Our Little Man deciding he wanted to also do stickers!!!

Always a pleasure seeing all three together.  Next time will be at Our Little Man's birthday in September.  The girls get on together well and know how to share, which is super important; and luckily Our Little Man, knows to keep out of the way of the women and do his own thing!!!  Clever boy.

Home of the Week and Our Little Munchkin

This week's "Home of the Week," is a very elegant home with a pretty hefty price tag of $3.1 million on it.  It is very tastefully decorated and rather large.  It would make a lovely family home though for someone with a big pot of money.  Again it's a location thing that's why it's that price.

This week's "Condo of the Week," is on the market for $649,000.  Only has one bedroom, with no door, but does have a large office, so you can work from home.  The way it is decorated leaves no room for children with sticky hands visiting!!  The upstairs outdoor space is very cozy and usable.  Perfect for a single person, or possibly a couple.

As usual the "Cottage of the Week," is more like a bloody mansion with the price tag to match!  For $2.6 million you can have this "cottage," and if I had the money I wouldn't say no.  I love how it is decorated and the brightness in the place but that's a lot of money for a vacation home.

For Gill's "Cottage of the Week," I thought I would see what we could buy for under $200,000 this week.  I came up with this one, which is on sale for $199,000.  I was in two minds about showing you guys this one, as I really like it and don't want any of you buying it!  It's on the river and quite substantial and not badly decorated.  I could live here myself.......must show dh it....

Someone had a hard day at daycare/school on Thursday.  She fell asleep in her swing at home:

She is holding her snack jar in her hand, and she sucks her thumb when she goes to sleep.

Very unsettled at the moment..

can't seem to focus on anything?   These things come to mind:

 OR:

OR I COULD DO THIS:

Regardless, I will do something!!

saw this video over at John's and enjoyed it:

Just gorgeous colours for Yarn Along

I was at The Knitting Basket yesterday and took this photo for this week's blog post:

The colours are just gorgeous aren't they?  The Knitting Basket's blog post will be posted on Thursday, but pop by to see what other posts there are.

Meanwhile I haven't done too much knitting this week.  Made a start on this little hat for a newborn due in October. Knitting with Baby Rico, 100% cotton. I did though read this book, which is three books in one.  Suffice to say I have been "home vacation-sick" for Charleston, South Carolina all week.  I am sure if we hadn't booked to go to Lancaster, PA; we would have booked to go to Charleston, I love that part of the world........well minus the no-see-ums!

Finally it doesn't get any better than this. Cauliflower with cheese sauce and fresh baked bread straight out of the bread maker.

For more of this week's Yarn Along posts with Ginny, please click on this link.

BY THE WAY THIS IS MY 2,500TH POST TODAY!!

How far do you think ahead?

I guess it all boils down to how organized you are, right?

I put away $20 a week in a pot for birthday's faithfully.  This year is proving a little hard on the pot as we have three big birthday's this year, so the poor pot is taking a beating.  I am working on September's birthday's now.  Got August all wound up and ready to go.

I also put $20 a week in a pot for Christmas.  I have made a start on Christmas shopping; have you?

Do you have a system when it comes to birthday's and holiday's?

It was a big weekend for Our Little Munchkin, as she went from her crib to her toddler bed:

 Her crib/cot goes from a crib to a toddler bed to a full sized bed.  She sucks her thumb when she is tired and is ready to sleep.

It went smoothly as she sleeps on a "camp-type" cot at daycare, so she is used to having no bars on the side etc.

Next big step in her life is potty training!!!

I keep forgetting to tell you......

We have booked a few days away in September to Lancaster (city) in Pennsylvania.  We are staying in a hotel right down town, as we figured we could tour the neighbouring areas during the day.  Park up the truck and have dinner in the city at night.  We found where we stayed last year in Ohio, we had to travel everywhere by truck.  This way we can explore the city by foot. 

We have never been so am open to suggestions on what we must see and what to avoid etc.  I mentioned to dh that you guys always come up with great suggestions.  We travel the middle of September and are booked in the hotel for five days, with the possibility of staying more if we still have more to see.

The only big downer about all of this is the exchange rate for the US $ against the CDN $.  We ending up paying close to $1.30 CDN for every US $ the hotel charged us.  So unless there is some major change I won't be buying much when I am down there; which sucks as there is a big outlet mall that I know I am going to visit.

Of course I want to visit some of the "Amish" attractions, but will say I suspect they will be very commercialized, which does not appeal to me.

Are you going on vacation this year and if so where too?

I wonder whose bright idea this was?

It was announced last week that Kanye West is going to be the headliner at the closing ceremonies at the Pan Am games in Toronto.  Now I don't claim to be an expert of Kanye West, but what little I have seen of his music, most of it is bleeped out due to all the bad language he uses or I can't understand a word he says. Honestly I can't say I had heard of him, until he got together with Kim Kardashian.  

Also as the games are being held in Canada and we do have the odd high profile musician that is Canadian, Drake, Celine Dion, Shania Twain, or even at a push Justin Bieber, so why on earth couldn't they hire one of them?  Pitbull who is also American born is another star performing and also Serena Ryder who is actually Canadian.

Now as you probably know Canadians are a polite bunch, but this has got a lot of people angry and there are a lot of online petitions going around trying to get Kanye West replaced.  Obviously this isn't going to happen, as no doubt Kanye being the astute business man he is will have made sure there is a cancellation clause in his contract.

Then just to add to all the drama we have the Toronto Mayor John Tory announcing that it is great to have someone performing who has done so much for our (Canadian) music industry.......hello he's American....LOL

Now granted the poor man did go on and make a video basically making fun of himself over his gaffe, which I see can't be shown now due to copy-right laws.

Oh well on a brighter note all this makes for headlines which brings in more publicity for the games and Canada.........

Haven't done a grocery shopping post in ages...

so took photos etc., of this week's for you.

First up Zehrs:

4 litres 1% milk: $3.97
3 x 2 litres icecream @ 99 cents each, a one day special
2 x Astro yogurt @ $1.99 each
Huge bag of frozen peas (can't remember size) $4.49

Total: $15.41

Then onto Giant Tiger:

2 x Parchment Paper @ $1.98 each
3 x 72 bags PG Tips Tea @ $2.00 each (SUPER PRICE!!)

Total after taxes etc: $10.45

Sobey's next:

Cereal: $3.00
Just over 2 pounds ground/minced beef:  $8.18
2 cauliflowers and 1 bunch broccoli 3 for $5.00 (actually charged $5.01) ANOTHER GREAT DEAL

Total: $16.19

Finally Wal-Mart

Highliner Salmon: $7.97 (price matched with No Frills)

1 lb Strawberries: $1.47 (price matched with No Frills)

Package coleslaw mix: $1.47

Bunch green/salad onions: 67 cents

1 x potato chips (crisps): 97 cents

1 x loaf bread: $2.28

1 x wholewheat baguette: $1.17

Total including 13 cents tax on potato chips: $16.13

Total spent: $58.20

As Canada does not have pennies in their currency we round up or down, so that's why when you add the four totals up it comes to $58.18, but I ended up paying $58.20.

So far this month I have spent $186.60, with only $3.25 in coupons used.  I don't count price matching as then it gets too complicated and too much work for me!!

As you can see there are no cleaning, paper or personal hygiene items in this week's shop.  I will probably pick up a couple of other items through the week, for example eggs, but otherwise that should be it.

I did discover a couple of things while out.  As the price of beef is high I see they have brought out a ground beef/pork mixture now.  Still pricey if you ask me.  Some bags of milk come in 3 litre bags instead of the 4 litre; very sneaky!!  I see big bars of cheese that used to be 500 grams is now down to 450 grams.

I was out an hour and a half in total.  I did a round trip visiting all those stores.  I could have tried price matching everything at Wal-Mart but I find they pull items off the shelves that are on sale at other stores at much cheaper prices.

I had a bunch of broccoli left over from last week, so I baked a broccoli and cheese quiche in the toaster oven.  We had half of it with garden salad and french bread for supper:

I was talking to a friend and she told me about a yummy sounding broccoli and cauliflower salad that I may have to try.

Any good deals this week where you live?

Oh and I finally got around to cleaning out my coupon wallet, I really need to knuckle down using coupons.

Home of the week.

This week's "Home of the Week," is all about location and that is why it's $5.2 million. It's not for me, much too modern and I don't think the photos do it justice.  I do like the kitchen though, but otherwise I'll pass on the rest.

This week's "Condo of the Week," is also all about location and that is why it's $1.5 million, and for that you get the privilege of people looking at you from all the surrounding buildings.  Talk about living on top of one another.  It doesn't mention the monthly condo fee, but I am betting that is also quite high.  Even when inside it is nothing exciting, so again I'll pass.

This week's "Cottage of the Week," is as usual mansion-like rather than cottage-like and has the price tag to match at $4.9 million.  It's all very nice and I do like the black sheep on the front lawn, but it's not a cottage.  I am also "confused" about the decor.  I realize they want it to be cottage-like with some rustic touches, but overall it's very modern and I don't think it works.

Now back down to reality and Gill's "Cottage of the Week." is under $300,000 and you get an island as well as the property on it.  It is only water access, but at least you can say "I OWN AN ISLAND."  It's on Sturgeon Lake, near Bobcaygeon, so not miles and miles from civilization, and actually the property is quite nice.  The boat access would put me off a bit, as it does not mention mainland parking etc.  However if you want no neighbours and peace and quiet this would be perfect!

There are more "realistic" cottages here as well.

A little cuteness for Yarn Along....

I made a couple more Gnomes this week for Our Little Princess and Our Little Man.

I used this pattern and Paton's Canadiana Yarn and US #4 needles.  They are the child size so I think around 8 inches high.  As I used smaller needles it's a tighter knit so you can't see the stuffing.  I am going to a baby shower at the end of August so would like to make one more to add to the gift.

I have read a couple of books this week, and have posted reviews on my book review blog here.

Still hot and humid here and finally we had a break and it rained.
The sky was very busy before it rained.

For more Yarn Along posts, please click on this link.

Anonymous said:

"You felt uncomfortable. Just be glad you weren't the one in pain. Pain makes people snappy. Sometimes you can't control even if you try. I'm sure she would have loved to have gone home I'm sure but probably couldn't afford to. It is not your place to tell her what to do. You said she tried to make small talk - perhaps in an effort to make amends- but you weren't interested. How rude are you? Everybody is having a hard time these days. Its only the grocery queue for heaven's sake. Not sure how life is in Canada these days but if that's all you've got to be upset about then I think I might join you and emigrate ;-)."

You are totally right, if that is all I have to complain about I should shut up.  You are right pain does make people snappy and I totally understand back pain being in pain with my back also for the last 10+ years.  You are right she probably couldn't afford to take a day off and maybe I shouldn't have told her she should go home.

BUT, saying that, all I asked her to do was turn a switch on her belt to move it so I could get the rest of my grocery shopping on it, so that if a customer came behind me, they too could get their groceries on it.  I wasn't asking for the earth, moon and stars.  All I wanted her to do was use a finger to press a switch.  I didn't deserve her reaction.

Also when she tried to make small talk, I did answer granted one word answers, but I did answer.  I didn't want to set her off again.

Could I have handled the situation better probably, but I didn't start this and I didn't think I was being totally unreasonable with my initial request.

I love how people post these critical comments under the ANONYMOUS banner and never put their names!

Anyhow, onwards and upwards onto better and more important things in life.  I have a dentist appointment to look forward to this morning....YEAH!!

I was not happy......

Let me explain.

On Sunday morning I went to do my grocery shopping early to miss the crowds.  It was 9 am when I got to the check out.  In front of me were two guys each had a grocery cart full of bottled water; so there was nothing on the belt where you put your groceries.

I started to unpack my groceries, but quickly filled the end up, so I asked the cashier if she could please make the belt move so I could unpack the rest of the groceries.  Not unreasonable, right?

Her response was something along these lines:

"I was going to do it after I finished serving this man (the man in front of me)."  Remember he wasn't using the belt as he had cases of bottled water.

She said it in such a way that both the man in front of me and myself looked at one another and raised our eyebrows.

I wondered what on earth I had done/said as she was really snarky.  So I said, "I am sorry I didn't mean to offend you."

She then turned around and said she had a bad back and had been on "duty" 42 hours (?)

Now I should have left well enough alone, but I said, "I know how it feels as I have a bad back myself, you should go home then?"

Well that set her off again.  By this time the other guy had gone and it was just me.  I was so uncomfortable and was in two minds about unpacking anymore of my groceries on the belt, as it was only at this point she moved the belt up so I could put more of my groceries on it.

Then just to add to it all not only did I have coupons I was price matching.  I am one of these shoppers where I am organized.  I always put everything I am price matching along with the competitors flyer on the belt first.  Quite often I will circle what I am price matching and highlight the date etc; I hadn't this time.  It makes the cashiers job easier and I get out of the store faster.

So the first things up are the price matching items, all from one store and all on the same page of the flyer.  There was a sigh of course from her, and she proceeded to put through the tea, tin foil and cling film.  I had a coupon for the cling film/wrap that I handed over, and again with a sign she processed it.  There were two tubs of yogurt I was price matching  from the same flyer, but she decided that no she would process them later as she wanted to put something that wasn't cold in the bag with the other items?  

At this point I just shut up and let her get on with it, other than giving the other coupons.  She tried to make small talk, but I was so past this whole shopping trip I wanted to get the heck out.  However I didn't want to let her get away with how she had made me feel, as I was shaking.

So I paid for my groceries and walked over to another employee and asked her who was the supervisor in a quiet voice.  She told me she would get her for me, but unbeknownst to me, there was the unhappy cashier right behind me.

She said," are you complaining about me?"

I said yes and she then went on and on, she did say sorry, but believe me she did not mean it.  By then the supervisor walked up, and the cashier intercepted her and told her I was complaining about her, and went onto her about me.

I turned around at this point and said,

"Listen sweetie if your back is that bad you should go home."  As that was what she was griping about.

I talked to the supervisor and told her what had gone on, and the gist of it was she had, had complaints about this woman before???  She would talk to her.  My parting words to her was:

"She needs to go home if she is in that much pain."

I would not be a cashier if you paid me a million dollars.  In this country they are on their feet for the whole shift, they are not allowed to sit down, like they do in Britain.  They deal with some horrible people and are paid probably minimum wage.  That being said, if you have a problem whether it be physical, mental or what ever  don't take it out on the customers.  

I am not sure if the store opened at 7 or 8 am.  If she was already in a lot of pain by 9 am imagine what she was going to be like by the end of the shift.  She said her back pain made her grumpy; again yes I know as I have a bad back.

She was older than me and there are a few other older ladies that work there and they always seem to be there, as one of them told me the other week:

"the younger ones party on a weekend then call in sick or just don't turn up, so it's up to them to cover for them!"

She also said: "the managers know what they are up to as they go on Facebook to see what they have been up too."

Suffice to say, I will not stop shopping at this grocery store as it's the closest to where we live and has the best prices.  I will just avoid this woman.  I just hope this supervisor did do something.

What are your thoughts?

Hibernating weather..........

Summer has arrived and for the next week we will be having temperatures in the low to mid 30's (oC) or low 90's (oF) with the heat and humidity.  So that means I will be hibernating all week.  The older I get the less I can stand the heat and humidity.  I am so lucky that I do not have to work outside, but anything I have to do outside will be done first thing.

I think the video below says it all.



What is the weather like with you?

Bacon Weaving anyone?

Everything tastes better with bacon!


not bad for such a small home:

 this is different:


total opposite of the bacon, looks so good though:

Have a great Saturday.....

Home's of the week, and Goat Weed..........

So this week's "Home of the Week," is a cute "cottage like" home from the outside on the front, but the $1.5 million price tag, suggests otherwise.  It's actually quite spacious because of the extension and because it is a heritage house, it's been done up very nicely.  The area that it is located in, is very pricey so that explains the price.

The "Condo of the Week," is on sale at $729,000 and parking is an extra $45,000.  I am guessing that is a one time fee for the purchase?  It's got a nice big window, but otherwise not for me.  Plus the building is butt ugly, don't you think?  It really does look like an office block.

This week's "Cottage of the Week," is ONLY $3 million, and for that you get an island and TWO houses!  I don't know about you, it doesn't really excite me.  Everything is fine.........but just fine.  What are your thoughts?

Gill's "Cottage of the Week," is in Port Carling, Ontario and on sale for $300,000.  Look at the view from the deck?  Very rustic inside, does need updating but for the price a lovely property.  

When I was at The Knitting Basket, I noticed all the insects on this bush.  Angie said it was Goat Weed?  Never heard of it myself, have you?

So lets see............

(image credit)

Busy reading

Busy painting more trim

Busy trying to keep my back from getting any worse; it's not at all happy at the moment

Busy trying to stay cool

Busy trying to make the house not look like a bomb has dropped in it!!

Are you busy?

A hat for Yarn Along

I have another small finish this week this hat and for once I had a lovely little model:

I knit it with a Lorna's Lace sock yarn. Angie at The Knitting Basket gave me an "opened" skein of yarn.  However as I can't knit socks I decided to knit a hat using my favourite pattern for the store and have another one on my needles for my little model!!

I have read two books this week.  I have yet to post my review:

I did post the list of books we are going to read over the next year at our book club here, if you want to take a look?

For more Yarn Along posts with Ginny, please click on this link.

Our Book Club reading list until September 2016

At our last meeting we chose the books for the upcoming year (and more).  So I thought I'd share with you our choices in case you want to read along.  If you click on the title of the book, it will take you to Amazon where you can read about it.

July: The Vagrants by Yiyun Lin - I have read and reviewed this book already here.

August: The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe - I have read and reviewed this book here.

September: The Chaperone by Laura Moriaty

October : Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

November: Ru by Kim Thuy

December: Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen

January: The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (looking forward to this one)

February: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

March: The Virgin Cure by Ami McKay

April: Pomegranate Soup by Marsha Merhan - I have read and reviewed this book here.

May: The Children Act by Ian McEwan

June: Annabel by Kathleen Winter

July: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

August: Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

September: Memories of a Victorian Midwife by Charlotte Fuhrer

As you can see there is a wide variety of books and subjects that we are going to read.  This is one reason I like the book club, it takes me out of my comfort zone and I get to experience new authors and new subjects that I would not normally read.

If anyone has read any of the books on the list, please let me know what you thought?

2015 Pan Am Games....

They are being held in Toronto this time around and start on July 10th.  Suffice to say a silly amount of money has been spent making sure we look presentable to whomever is interested in this sort of stuff?  

Me personally, can't say I am awfully bothered but there were a couple of things about it worth mentioning I thought.  We are "lucky" to be in close proximity to a couple of event locations, one of them being this:

You see someone in their wisdom decided to designate letter abbreviations to the specific events locations.  Fortunately on the website it decipher's the codes for you and it turns out TTS stands for Pan AM Shooting Centre; why TTS who knows???  We are also close to CCE - Pan Am's Cross Country Centre and CEP - Caledon Pan Am Equestrian Park.  Close to where our daughter lives is PAC - CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Aquatic Centre.  You can read more about these locations here.  I feel sorry for most people as the local news asked local people what these abbreviations meant and no one had a clue!!  So goodness knows how the folk visiting from out of town can figure it out, if the locals can't?

Going through the top of Toronto is the 401 Highway.  It is one of the busiest highways in the country.  "They" whomever they are have decided to make one lane in various parts an "HOV" lane. 

"HOV," means a High Occupancy Vehicle Lane.  Normally it means you have to have two or more occupants in your vehicle but from now until the end of the games you have to have three people in your vehicle or accredited Games vehicles used to transport athletes, media and technical officials.

Now obviously the locals are not happy about this, as the ones close to our daughter's means it goes from three lanes in the express to only two lanes and believe me it makes a HUGE difference not having that third lane.  Yes there are the collector lanes, which is another three lanes, but the traffic back ups are bad.  Even on Sunday the road was slow and very busy.

We observed that also a lot of people was using this lane with under the three person occupancy as stated.  Other's were just using it as an over taking lane so all in all they were not taking a blind bit of notice of the rules.  

It explains here in more detail which roads are affected etc.  Locals have been told to take vacation or work from home if they can to avoid the extreme traffic congestion.  Son-in-law luckily doesn't work too far from home, so shouldn't be too inconvenienced.  Daughter though is going to work from home as she went to the office last week and it took forever to get there.

We can take a different route to our daughter's if we want to go down.  Was pleased to see some major roadworks have wrapped up, so that will ease the traffic a little.

I hope for everyone's sake the games are a success so at least we recoup some of the money that has been forked out to host this; as I am quite sure we the tax payers are paying for all of this!

I will be back to regular blog posts tomorrow, as this sort of subject is just not my thing!


Oh and just in case you are wondering, no we won't be attending any of these events, but may watch highlights on the tv.

Remember the 30 bags of mulch?

If not click on this link to remind yourself.

Well we have 5 1/2 bags left and we haven't even made a start on the back.  Did get the front and side done though.

 Bought the rubber snake in the hopes it might deter the rabbits.......it hasn't!!

So as soon as the mulch is back on sale we need to buy more...........

Made out like a bandit....

Dh was home on Friday, so we popped up to the mall in Barrie as Bath and Bodyworks has a good sale on at the moment.  Plus I got a $10 off coupon when I spent $30.  This is what I picked up:

I got 14 bottles of hand soap for under $28.  I am set for the rest of this year and probably part of next.  I have them out in two places, the powder room and the kitchen.  Very pleased with what I got.

We then went to HomeSense (HomeGoods in the States) and I picked up a few things, including a couple of birthday gifts and a couple of stocking stuffers.  However for ourselves I got this:

It's a set of four very small plates, big enough for a cupcake or muffin, or maybe a cookie or two.  At $9.99 for the set they are lovely; I may even go back and buy another set.

We also got a new set for our bathroom, but didn't realize until we got it home one piece is different!  I swear we are going senile the pair of us.

 Then as we are seeing Our Little Munchkin on Sunday I bought her some stickers.  She loves stickers and crafts in general.

So here we go again, another "Cottage of the Week"

I think I am going to have to drop a line to Toronto Life to ask them to show us an actual normal size cottage for sale, as this week's isn't much better than last.  I mean how hard could it be to find a cottage under $500,000.  Here is one which isn't too far away from the featured one.  Here is another one which is what I call a "real" cottage, it's further north.  The further you go from Toronto the cheaper they are.

This week's "Cottage of the Week," is only $5.2 million which is a bargain after last week's "Cottage!"  Once again it's a mansion.  I mean it's gorgeous, but it's no cottage.  It even cost's nearly $20,000 a year just for the property taxes.........

This week's "Home of the Week," is on sale for $4.5 million.  It's not my cup of tea and after reading the comment posted I would be wary about buying it anyhow.  It's too modern for my tastes.

This week's "Condo of the Week," is priced at $1.5 million and is a three bedroom unit, which I am led to believe is not too common for condo's?  You should read the comments,  It's an okay condo, but not for me.

Dh is off today, as it's his "Canada Day."  So we are working in the gardens.  Should be interesting as it's also the day the gardeners come!!

I have a lot on at the moment, so visiting other people's blogs is taking a back seat at the moment.  I am sorry; but I will catch up with everyone as soon as I can.

Busy slapping the watermelon............

For anyone who lives in Canada and America you will have no doubt seen or heard of those strange photos of weird and wonderful people who shop in WalMart (here is the link), well I have a feeling if they bring out video's of people doing strange things in WalMart, yours truly will have a star role.

I don't know about you but this years crop of watermelon's have been very hitty missy.  I have yet to have one that is good.  I have had to take one back as it was very mealy and soft inside.  So last Thursday we had our condo phase BBQ.  I had to take a dessert so slices of watermelon sounded like a good plan, plus it required minimum preparation from me.

Off I go to WalMart and decided to ask the produce guy for tips on how to buy the perfect watermelon.  His advice was slap it?  I was a little puzzled by this as I normally knock on it with my knuckles.  So I asked him to help me.  There we are standing over the bin of watermelon's slapping them on their butts.

After a few seconds I turned to the guy and said:

"you do know that if the security guys are watching us on their camera, they are going to be wondering what we are doing; and you do know that we could end up on Facebook or Youtube!"

I could be famous one day.....but not for the right reason though!!




P.S. The BBQ was actually pretty good.

Happy Canada Day and Yarn Along.

Today is Canada Day and it's Canada's 148th birthday.  You can read more about how Canada Day came about here.  As dh is contracted out to a factory and they can't shut down the big mills mid-week, so they are celebrating Canada Day on Friday; he gets a nice long weekend, which I think is better.

I have a couple of small finishes for my Yarn Along post this week.

I made another baby hat for Hannah (dh's co-worker's baby), this time a slightly bigger size; I love how it came out so pretty:

I also made a soft toy using this pattern:

Now please remember I only started knitting the middle of March of this year.  I have a long way to go before I can really say I am a knitter, but for my first attempt this wasn't bad.  I used 100% cotton yarn and this is the father size.  I need to practice my hand finishing as that leaves a lot to be desired.  

Angie at The Knitting Basket made a great suggestion at the Tuesday Knit and Stitch to knit my next one on smaller needles so it is a tighter weave, and that way you don't see the stuffing.  So instead of using US# 6, I will probably use US# 4 or 4.5.  

I printed out the pattern and you will need pages 1 through 20 for the body and pages 2 through 9 for the hat.  It is super simple to follow, I had no problems and it is a pretty quick and easy knit.  I am going to try it with some worsted yarn in a smaller size and in purple for Our Little Princess as that is her favourite colour.

The blue and yellow one I am going to give to Our Little Munchkin, as it reminds me of a Smurf and the blue food colouring "incident"!  Do you remember that?  If not you can read about it here.

I am not reading any books at the moment, just too busy with other things.

For more Yarn Along posts with Ginny please click on this link.