My New Iron.....

I go through irons and kettles at a very fast pace it seems.  So a week or two ago I ordered a new iron off Amazon.ca. I got the Rowenta Steamium.  After taxes it came to just over $161, I paid $0 as I used my gift cards I got from Swagbucks.

I figured I would pay more for an iron in the hopes it may last a bit longer.  This one is also made in Germany.  So far so good,  although I do find it a little heavy, but that maybe because I have not gained back my strength in my hands, especially my right hand.


I know I have mentioned this a number of times, but if you haven't already joined Swagbucks you really should.  I don't have any referrals and still cash in for $25 worth of Amazon.ca e-cards every month.  If you would like to know more or would like to sign up for Swagbucks let me know.  If you do decide to sign up could you please do up under this link:


 http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Appleby


Swagbucks is available for people living in Canada, the States and Great Britain.  You're already on the computer already, so why not earn Swagbucks at the same time and get free stuff?


What small appliance are you forever replacing?

Dd house warming gift and a recipe....

Dd and son-in-law close on their house this week.  They are living on the 21st floor of a condo and are moving to a detached house with a garden.


We are lending them our push lawn mower, as there isn't that much grass to cut and I got them the following gardening equipment:

Now truth be told they would have preferred a barbecue, but overall this is more practical as they have no gardening tools.  We are lending them our old pine dining room table and I picked up four chairs for $10, a real steal, that will do until they can afford a new set, plus we have picked up bits and bobs for them. 


I will be posting photos in the coming weeks of all the work we will be helping them with at their new house.


We had the family up for lunch on Sunday and as ham was on sale at Foodland for $1.47per pound, I bought one.

I didn't want to put the oven on so I decided to cook it in the crockpot/slow cooker.


Super simple to do; put 1 cup of brown sugar in the crockpot.

Place ham on top and using hands pat in another 1/2 to 1 cup of brown sugar.

As my ham was to tall for my bowl, I covered the top with tin foil to keep the heat in and cooked it on low for around 5 hours.

It was really, good and super moist.  We had it with Greek Salad and roasted potatoes I had cooked on the barbecue.

We will be eating ham for a few days this week, as there is plenty left.


I guess you could also smother some mustard on the top of the ham when cooking, as that would be tasty.  If your ham is not precooked like mine was you will have to adjust your cooking times.

Why am I posting this You Tube video?

Well the other day I had to go to town, the tiny one, to go and get blood work done.  Normally if there is a line up, it's a couple of people. The clinic opens at 8:30 a.m. so I got there just after 8:30 a.m. only to find I was number 11 in line.


I finally got my blood done at 9:30 a.m. So what did I do for the hour, well I chatted away with an older farmer.  He was a wealth of information and one of the things we talked about was how some dairy farms use the carousal for milking.  I had never heard of this or even seen one before.


What I found fascinating was that the cows need no encouragement to go on and off the carousal.  In fact he said something quite funny. "Cows are both intelligent and stupid!"  We then went on to have a long conversation about cow manure and the in's and out's of that!!


Now I bet you are all jealous of my rip-roaring exciting life aren't you?  By the way I was the youngest in the waiting room!!!


Then if you thought that wasn't exciting enough on Saturday morning I cleaned all the rugs.......does the excitement never stop in my life!!!!

I have had my Bissell carpet cleaner for a number of years now and it has earned it's keep over the years and has paid for itself a number of times.  Got all the carpets to clean at dd new house before she moves in.

We don't have any actual carpets just a few rugs in our house, as we still have the original wood floors in the house.

Before and after photos, and a funny!

They are not great photos but I thought I'd show you them anyhow.


This is what the stairwell of the family room/new basement looked it before:

This is the after one, you can see the bottom of dh's legs and he is taking up the tiles in the basement floor:

We removed the old railing and replaced it with a drywall half wall.  Because the one wall in the new extension is the old stone wall from the house, there are no electrical sockets on that wall.  Dh has wired in new sockets in the new wall, so we won't have extension cords all over the place.  We need to have some wooden tops made to go on the top of the wall to cap it off.


I will post some photos of the new basement at a later date, as we still have a lot to do.  My goal for dh is to have it all finished by Christmas!!!


Thought this was amusing.  You can read the full article here

Suffice to say a neighbour isn't happy and has complained to the local council about it.

Horses, Molly and wildlife...

The new folk have built a paddock in the field behind us and now have two horses residing in there through the day.

One is called Elle, no idea what the other one is called.  Notice they are wearing their "sunglasses" we call them that, but I am guessing it's to keep the flies from their eyes?

This is Molly's view of the horses.  She barks like a crazy dog when Heather is riding the horses, no idea why?

Here is another of Molly's friend's.

Now this friend of Molly's looks as though it has been in a fight.

That particular friend is the one that Molly tries to catch through the family room window; she tends to forget that there is glass there!!!!  Silly doggy!

Molly is faring okay I guess.  Her skin looks icky in places where the hair has dropped out.  She looks as though she has eczema.  I keep bathing her, which is a joy for all concerned!!!  She is looking pregnant, but that's the steroids she's on.  She has had a couple of accidents in the house recently, which is very unusual as she is a very clean dog, so not too sure what's going on there.  Twice we were sitting right there in the same room when she peed???

Overall though she is a delight and is just getting older.  She will be around 8 years of age in August.  We think her eye sight is getting weaker; oh and she has selective hearing, she should be a man, don't you think!!!!!!!  As I know my dh has selective hearing when it comes to me talking to him!!!!

We were going to get another dog, but as yet we haven't got one.  Not 100% sure we want to up scuttle Molly's routine.

Home, Cottage and Condo of the Week........

Well this week's Home of the Week, is owned by former Maple Leafs hockey player Doug Gilmour.like me who doesn't care one way or another about hockey I say so what?  However if you are a big hockey fan, it may make a difference? 

My opinion on the place; totally lacking in personality, a dash of colour wouldn't go amiss.  It's very nice but you can buy the same house all over the city and probably for a bit cheaper.  So I'll pass on this one!!!

The Cottage of the Week is stunning.  Actually to be honest, it's where it is situated that is stunning, right by the lake.  The actual cottage although really nice is not perfect.  Do love the sun room, do love the tiles on the kitchen floor, but there is room for improvement in the kitchen.  If someone were giving it to me, I wouldn't say no though, but I wouldn't want to pay $3.5 million for it, even though it has 150+ acres.  Love the property taxes though, just over $1,500 a year is a steal.The views though are as perfect as you can get.  Just wonder how long it would take to plow out that driveway in winter though?

The best thing about the Condo of the Week, is that you are right downtown Toronto, if that's where you want to be; and you can say you live at the Ritz-Carlton.  However if neither of those things are a must have, along with paying over $2,100 a month in maintenance fees, along with the $1.5 million price tag, then this condo is not for you.  I personally couldn't live that high up in the sky.  Although you are practically next door to the CN Tower, I think you are a bit too close to appreciate it.  The interior is nothing exciting either for the price.  Do like the look of the floor in the living room though.

So there you are, what are your thoughts?

Okay I'm back.....why read on.......

Well first of all I tried to make another blog on Word press and honestly I wasn't happy with how it was going.


Then when you think of all the work etc., I had put into this blog it was a crying shame to close it......well at least that's what I thought?


So I have decided to give it another go.


I hope you will visit me again to catch up with what we are doing?


If you do decide to comment a big thank you.