This & That UPDATED

See update at bottom:


Weekends are getting busy with trying to fit Christmas shopping in. I really don't have many people to buy for, but even just buying for a few is proving difficult. DH is hard to buy for as he pretty much just buys stuff when he wants it so really doesn't need anything.

My sis and I decided to tackle the mall on Saturday evening. I did manage to find a couple things. While at the mall I managed to fit in getting my eyebrows threaded - have you ever had your eyebrows threaded? I think it is WAY less painfull than getting them waxed. With tip is was $13.50 and only took 10 mins.

DH & I have also been working on repairing a few of our ceramic tiles in our eat in kitchen area this weekend. These tiles have been in need of repair for quite awhile, in fact two have been removed for a couple years now - yes we had a 2-tile gap in our floor for at least two years :) I put my food down on this and said it had to be fixed for Christmas this year.

Now when we went to remove the crumbling grout around that area (former owners did a really crappy patch job) we have found that they also replaced several tiles and set them in place with grout, instead of tile adhesive - so they didn't stick and all came loose as well. So right now we have 7 tiles missing from our floor. DH has to chip up all the old grout/adhesive and wire mesh underlay and put down new wire mesh underlay, staple it in place and lay a layer of thinset over the mesh. That has to cure for 48 hours before we can put down more thinset and set the tile in place. Once the tiles are set, we have to wait another 48 hours before grouting them - I think we may just get finished before Christmas :)

The plan is (key word being plan) to do a bunch of baking tomorrow. I have about 6 cookie recipes I want to try. I have a house full of baking supplies. I plan to make cookies as gifts for friends. I always plan to do this and rarely do it.

We bought a Keurig coffee machine today. It came with a sample pack of different flavor coffee pods. There is one that is called Bold - I think I will start with one of those first thing in the morning and hope it keeps me going all day :)

Tasks I need to do tomorrow (Monday):

• Laundry - only 2 loads, kid's already done.
• Baking - as much as possible then freeze them
• Christmas decorating
• Change Kid's bedding to flannel
• Hem DH's new pants (2 pair)
• Give Peanut a bath - it has been really rainy and muddy here lately

UPDATE
Well there has been a slight change of plans. A small job for the company my brother works for has fallen into place. I will be rewritting their website content for them. It is a small job that they want done ASAP (of course).

So, so far today (2:30pm) I have half the laundry done, and the website project underway. Nothing else on my To do list has been accomplished. I am hoping to do some of the baking this evening. We shall see.

Holiday Weekend

This weekend is a long one for those of us in Canada. Monday is Victoria Day.

Happy Victoria day Canada :)

On Friday my sister and I went shopping. I was in dire need of some new business clothes. Luckily the store I frequent (Penningtons) was having a great sale. I ended up with 3 pair of pants, 5 tops, underwear and my sister talked me into a dress and shrug (the dress is sleeveless and I don't do sleeveless). So I'm set clothes-wise for going back to work Tuesday.


Last night I had friends over for dinner. I did a tasting meal - meaning, I made several entrees but only smaller portions so we could taste many things. I like this way of trying out recipes.

And I absolutely forgot to take pictures of the food! I only remembered at dessert - so you can see a lovey shot of our fruit salad :)

• First on the menu was Asian Turkey Lettuce Wraps that I found on Kalyn's Kitchen. We all really enjoyed these. I will make these again.

• Then I made Spicy Orange Garlic Shrimp courtesy of Paster Ryan via Confessions of a Pioneer Woman. Everyone but me liked these - I don't much care for sweet & savory mixed. I won't make these again but my friend took home the recipe.

• Next came the Stuffed Pasta Shells & Bruschetta that mentioned in my last post. We all enjoyed these as well. I will make these again.

• After that we had a Thai chicken satay with peanut sauce which was probably the worst dish of the evening but still not horrible. We all did not like the sauce but ate the chicken. I won't make these again but will try a different chicken satay recipe.

• With the chicken, I served my mixed greens salad with walnuts, feta cheese, roasted red peppers and balsamic vinaigrette. We all liked this as well.

• Even though we only had small portions of all of these foods, we were pretty stuffed, so the dessert of fresh pineapple, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and grapes in honey & lemon had to wait a couple hours.

We had a wonderful time eating and being with good friends. My friend lives just down the road, so we sent J over there and she got pizza for him and her kids - so we all had a kid free evening too :)

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In other news...my baby Peanut is one year old today! :)

My adorable googly-eyed baby :)

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So tomorrow is the last day before I start back to work after a LONG time off.
I have to get all my stuff organized and lunches made and dinners planned etc...

Mostly I have to get my mind in gear and ready to wake up at 5 am Tuesday morning Urg!