Bemused, might be the word.......

 along with amused.........

We called in at gas/petrol station on Sunday night on our way home, as the price of gas was $1.62 a litre, which is a good price...that in itself is a crazy statement saying that is a good price.

Anyhoo, I got out to fill the car, and the first thing I noticed was that I had to pay before we pumped the gas.  This is not a gas station we use very often.  So I grabbed my purse out of the car, and went back to the pump.

This time it asked for my CAA membership; okay so searched in my purse and got that out and swiped it.

It then asked for my Air Miles membership; once again searched in my purse and got that out and swiped that one as well.

By this time I am thinking, I should have brought my chair and coffee.

Next it asks how much gas (money wise) would I like to put in.  Normally I just fill to the top, so spent a few moments trying to figure that out and pressed the button.

Then it asked to swipe my credit card, so did that.  It then asked for pin # and it finally spit out my credit card.  It then asked what grade of gas I wanted....cheapest obviously...LOL

Then it was time to put the gas in my car.........it asked if I wanted a receipt, so got that.  Did discover that we got the gas for 3 cents cheaper per litre, due to the CAA membership; this was a Shell Gas station, so that was good.

I was ready for a nap by the time I had done all that 😏

So I was out Monday morning and the price of gas where I was at was $1.73 a litre......price gouging at it's finest!!!

Passports and pensions....

Our passports expire February 2025.  As you can't travel with a passport that has less than six months on it before it expires, figured we may as well get them renewed well ahead of time, in case there was a delay.

As we have a CAA membership we got our photo's taken there.  Mine was free and hubby's was just over $10.  So if you have a CAA membership make sure you take advantage of that.  

We completed hubby's Canadian pension application online and the CPP was easy peasy!!  The OAS though, was another matter.  The word that comes to mind with that form was "ambiguous."  The way they worded some of the questions was confusing.  They also required copies of our marriage certificate and immigration papers.

Both the pension and passports applications required a visit to the dreaded Service Canada office.  Now depending on where you live this could be an all day job.  However we were warned ahead of time not to visit our local office due to the long lines, and go to another office a 50 minute drive from the house.

Believe me when I say it was well worth the 50 minute drive, as we were in and out in under half an hour.  The person we dealt with was so nice and very thorough.  It helped that we had all our paperwork filled out and we brought with us exactly what they needed.

I will say though I felt that $160 CDN each for a 10 year passport was a little pricy; but it's a need not a want in our case.  They told us it would be back within the month; but it will probably be back sooner, or so I have been told by other people.

As for the pensions; we'll hear back hopefully in the next month or two is everything is good with the paperwork.  As we don't need either of them to start until January of 2025, there is plenty of time to fix any issues that may arise.

Oh and a funny story about the passport photos.  We were going to get our photos taken the week before, but I ended up with a spot/zit on the middle of my forehead for some reason.  I took one look at it and told hubby there was no way on earth I was having a passport photo taken with that huge zit on my face, and having to look at my passport photo for the next 10 years and seeing that zit!!!  

As it happened the photo I took is actually a good photo.  Meanwhile hubby looks like an escaped convict. As I said to the lady, oh no, he's going to get stopped going through customs with that photo!! She just laughed and said yes!!

Sorry.........

I haven't been around for a while.  Been busy and have been sick.  There is a nasty viral infection going around and I caught it.  Couldn't breathe and had no energy.  Spent a delightful 8 hours in the emergency department 😠for them to tell me I had a viral infection and it had to run it's course.  Got a puffer with a steroid in it and its opened up my airways.  Today is my last day of using it.

As hubby said, "I'm back to the Gill he knows," and after a bit of prompting, "and loves!"  After I had told him off for something he had done!!

I have to thank Pat  for this post as she messaged me to see if I was okay, which was super sweet of her.

Gardening season is in full swing and with all the rain we have had everything looks lush and green and as I said to Pat very UK like, as we are both from the UK.  I am behind in my gardening this year, due to being sick.  Will post some photos when it stops raining.

I will finish off this post with a funny story.  If you're from the UK you will find it probably funnier than others.

So while I was sick I was talking to my mother.

She said, "You need a tonic as you are run down (I was)."

Me: "Mother no one will know what a tonic is over here."

After going back and forth with her, I said fine I would look for one.

The nurse practitioner called me from the doctors office to see how I was doing.  So I told her about my mother saying I need a tonic.  As predicted she hadn't heard of such a thing.  So I was trying to explain what it was for.  She said she was googling it and said, "and you spell ATONIC?"  So I said no again explaining it was two words.  Of course me and my mother found this whole conversation funny and we refer to it as you need ATONIC now.

I did find a TONIC in Walmart after asking an older pharmacy assistant.  I got this one:

Is it doing me any good?  Who knows.........LOL  But it's keeping my mother happy!!

Couple of funny things..

I posted this on my Facebook page last week:

It seems I may be a bad influence???

Liam was talking to his dad and they must have started talking about the pond by our house.

Liam (who is 3): "and there was a bloody great big snapping turtle in the pond, dad."

Dad: "who told you that?"

Liam: "Nana."

Liam: "and snapping turtles bite people, dad."

Dad: "and who told you that?"

Liam: "Nana."

Funny thing is, I remember saying that to Liam, as I got the shock of my life to see a "bloody great big snapping turtle" in the pond...LOL

It also seems I am not the only one in the family that uses the word "daft."

Paige called her mother daft the other day.....oops!

Also we pronounce the word GARAGE - GARIDGE. Nora now pronounces it garidge and Liam is forever correcting me and telling me it's GARAGE not garidge.

Oh the joys of having a British accent. We have lived in Canada now over 32 years now. Dh, I and both kids have all now lived longer in Canada than the UK.

Funny conversation from the other day.

We were at a function the other day and a lady was helping out and she said something to us and I realized she had a British accent.


Me: You must be from London with that accent;(visualize someone sounding like the Queen, very posh and a mouth full of plums!!!)


Lady: No I'm from Manchester, but I was privately educated, and didn't mix with the masses.....


Me: Well Manchester is very nice?


Long pause.........


Lady: Yes Manchester is very....EARTHY................


After she left me, dh and our friend looked at one another and all said "EARTHY," what the hell does that mean????


We all agreed she was a total snob and we obviously were one of the masses!!!!


By the way I can do a perfect imitation of a stuck up voice.......but at least I mix with the masses!!!!


She was a right stuck up:

Thanks for the image

Another Christmas video and a funny story........

Another Christmas song, that is a classic, John Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War Is Over.)




Saturday's cookie looks super simple: Claire Robinson's "Turtle Graham Bars."  Now I don't eat dark chocolate (gives me migraines) so I would have to change it too milk chocolate, but I reckon it would still taste as good.

Talking about chocolate, a couple of funny stories.  Dd called and she was saying she had been out and got me my last small gift for Christmas, but something had happened and it was only half the size it was????  It turned out to be a Terry Chocolate Orange, but the milk chocolate and mint version.  Both me and dd adore mint and chocolate.  So she was very excited to have found this.  However she was a bit concerned I may not like it, so she thought she should try a piece to make sure it was alright.  Then she decided to try and bit more, and a bit more, until there was only half of it left.  She thought of just wrapping up the half, but then decided she would just have to eat the rest of it and get me another one!!!

Now many years ago my brother bought my mother a box of Maltesers.  He too decided he should try them just to make sure they were alright.  On Christmas morning my mother got a half empty box of Maltesers for Christmas, as he didn't have the money to go out and buy another box!!!  Uncle and niece are so very much alike............and they get on like a house on fire.......

Well someone has to do it, so I guess I'll do it, IF I HAVE TO {{{SIGH}}}

So I made a trip to the "big" city on Tuesday, as I had some errands to run. One place I went was to Mississauga, so I figured as I had to sort of pass by the area, I may as well call in at the Lindt Chocolate outlet store, as I needed to get some chocolate deocrations for the Christmas tree.

I picked up these boxes of chocolates, to give as gifts, or to eat ourselves, not sure yet!!

Hear are the chocolate decorations....

Now all their Halloween candy was on sale, so I picked up a couple bags of them, they were only $2.60 per bag, and of course I had to taste them just to make sure they were alright, as I wouldn't want any harm to come to anyone.

You'll be pleased to know that after sampling a few of the Halloween candies, they are fine, but I do feel I should try a few more, just to make sure!!! By the way all that lot cost me under $45, which is a great deal.

It was super foggy on Tuesday and it made for hard driving.  I do admit to being one of those drivers who barely stick to the speed limits; however on Tuesday I stuck to, and or drove under the speed limit, as you could barely see in front of yourself.

A bit of a funny story also.  I was sitting on the toilet minding my own business on Tuesday morning when the house started to vibrate/shake.  I am thinking what the heck, or words to that effect.  It turns out they were working on the shoulders on the road, and they had the big rollers pounding it down.  That was all very interesting, as it was something I wasn't expecting!!