And you probably think I never listen to what you say!!!

Remember I mentioned I am not on a diet, as that is a four letter word for failure, but I am trying to cut back a bit and have cut out all eating after supper and was going to cut out my mid afternoon snack?  I think everyone said no to that one.  So after thinking about it for the last couple of days, I decided you were right and I was wrong!!!!  Now if dh was reading this he would have keeled over at that statement, as according to him I never admit I am wrong!!!

Mind you according to him he never falls asleep when the news is on, but I digress.  So I have decided to cut out my mid-morning snack instead as I always have a good breakfast of cereal, a banana and a cup of tea.  So that will get me through to lunch time no problem and I do tend to be busier in the morning than in the afternoon.  I have also set myself a sort of goal to lose 6.2 lbs during the month of February which may not seem like a lot to others, but remember I am not on a diet, nor am I exercising, as remember I am allergic to that as well!!!  The exercise will start at some point, but I can only do one thing at a time and remember it's all about baby steps so I don't get fed up!!

This is all a big deal for me and a huge step.  I am doing this for health reasons, as I know when I go back to the doctors for my yearly physical he is going to have a hissy fit.  So there you go, thought I'd let you know what I had decided.

Back in July of last year I did a post about our woodpile, see here  As usual we ordered 3 bush cords to last us the winter.  The other day part of the woodpile fell down and it wasn't until then we saw how little we had left for the winter:

We are half way through winter but are more than half way through our logs.  Not that we will run out as I have a pile on the other side of the garage and a few stacked between a couple of trees.  It's just that it hasn't been a bad winter (touch wood) so far and it has been mild for us.  Mind you we have had the fire on 24/7 since the beginning of November.

When I was down the old basement today I checked on how much oil there was in the tank and I see the marker is between 3/4 and 1/2, right on target.  I will leave it for a couple more weeks and then get it filled up, which should cost around $400.

February is generally the coldest, longest, most miserable month of the year, at least in my opinion.  Not helped by my mother telling me how all the snow drops are out, there are daffodils in bloom and there's a touch of Spring in the air in England..........I'll hopefully be saying that by April, if we're lucky!!

More photos.......and other things.........

Bought three garden mums on Saturday.  There are lots of flower heads on them, but they are not out yet; I got one in a cream, one in a light rust and one in a darker rust.  I also picked some pumpkins from the garden, plus that huge orange squash, I think it is a Boston Marrow Squash.  No idea what I am going to do with it, and I have one butternut squash ready.  Overall quite an attractive fall display don't you think?

I thought I had picked all the ripe tomatoes last week, but I see I have a lot more that need to be dealt with!

Here is a photo of the plants I picked up on Saturday.  They include a couple of Rose of Sharon shrubs, one white and one lilac.  I picked up a Holly bush which is both male and female, as you do need both the get the red berries.  There are also a couple Rose Mallow plants, one in white and one in red.  The small lilac plant at the front is a Penstemon, I have never had one of these plants before.

A bit of good news we have sold out the first batch of the recipe books, and people are still wanting them.  I finally got a cheque signed so I can now pay for the first batch.  I am playing telephone tag with the vicar but when I finally catch up with him, we can figure out what the next plan of action is.  I want to order another 200 copies, but it's not my money, so we will have to see what/if anything is planned over the next few months, like fundraising dinners, where I can sell the books.

The key is to try and sell as many before Christmas to encourage people to buy them as Christmas gifts.  I am not 100% sure if I want to get too involved in doing all the fundraising for the church, but left to the regular parishioners nothing much will get done.

We had a day around the house on Sunday.  Dh got a couple little jobs done around the house.  We are going to get the septic system looked at and cleaned out.  So one job we do have to do is locate the lid to the tank.  We have a vague idea where it is; we were told it was in the middle of one of the flower gardens.  So I cleaned it out of the annuals, and dh made a start on digging the hole.  He is now two feet down and still no sign of the top.  He'll work on it a bit more on Monday, as it could be as far as four feet down!

Put dh's blanket on his side of the bed, so it is officially the cold season now, as per dh!  He did well this year by not having his blanket on for three months of the year.  I refuse point blank to hunt out the flannel sheets yet, maybe next month.  I am also hoping to not put the heating on for another month, however I doubt that will happen.  I did check on the level of oil in the tank and it was above three quarters full.  We had it topped up at the end of June, so fingers crossed we can go through to November before getting it filled.

It's funny how only a week or two ago we were absolutely sweltering and now I am talking about putting the heating on.  Fall is upon us now.

Dh now starts his last week of vacation.  The first two weeks have just flown by, hopefully this week won't

Interesting day on Tuesday............

I had the doctors appointment on Tuesday morning and a dentist appointment. What was interesting is that the dental hygienist's sister is a visual effects person in LA. She was telling me that she was working on promotional material, i.e. promotional video's for Michael Jackson's upcoming tour when he died.

When he died all production shut down, and what was done has been made into the movie "This Is It." She met Michael Jackson and although he looked very sickly and thin, he was very friendly and very, very creative.

I met a friend for lunch and she works as a buyer for a large grocery chain, that sells the PC brand.......

Anyhow, we had lunch in their head office (where she is based) cafeteria. What a lovely place it is, and so bright and modern. You can only eat there if you are with an employee. They had a super selection of items to choose from and of course they are all PC items. They were all well priced and everything looked so good. We had a BLT (bacon, lettuce, tomato) sandwiches, with veggies and chips (crisps), and I had a bottle of water and paid under $12. It was so good also to see "R" and catch up. I really miss her, and we don't see one another often enough. By the way there are 2,500 employees working in this location.

On the way home I called into Tim Hortons, and picked up half a dozen donuts. Anyone else loving the pumpkin spice donuts? They are so yummy I could eat them morning, noon and night.

I had some phone calls to make when I got home. I ordered oil for the heating. We have half a tank still, but I figured we may as well get it in now and then its done with hopefully until after Christmas.

The gasket has started to come off the wood burning stove door. I called in at the store last week, and they gave me some glue, but that didn't do the trick. So now I have to take the door into the store and they will replace the whole of the gasket. Fingers crossed it works then.

Finally, I got a referral to go and see an allergist. The date of my appointment, November 30th.....I think it's a long wait as he only works certain days every week.

Molly's allergies are still as bad. So I need to call the vet to see what she has to say, as I gave her an allergy pill on Tuesday night, to see if she would stop chewing.

So all in all a pretty interesting day. Oh and we had an envelope in the mail box from the local fire department, with their 2010 calendar and a letter and envelope looking for a donation. I am not sure how I feel about donating, or why I should donate.........any thoughts? By the way I donate on a monthly basis to the Canadian Cancer Society, so I am not against donating, I am just not sure WHY I should donate to the fire department?