Haven't fallen of the face of the earth

I know I haven't posted much but book reviews lately, I apologize.

I have been doing some crafting. I hope to have some photos up soon, but some are for a swap and some are for a Father's day gift, so both will have to wait until the recipients have received them :)

I actually have several projects on the go, but again, most are surprises and will not be posted for awhile.

Nothing happening on the job front. I have been submitted for several bank contracts but nothing has come of them. Of course, if I do get hired, it will be during the summer - Murphy's law :P

I grew some veggie plants from seed, but have yet to finish weeding the gardens to get them planted. I think that has to be done this weekend - can't procrastinate forever...or can I? :)

So I am alive & well. I hope you are all enjoying a lovely spring/summer :)

Hope to post something interesting soon.

I didn't fall off the face of the earth

I just got busy with life and lazy - yes I am very lazy. Plus there didn't seem to be much happening that was blog worthy.

So we had a nice Christmas at home, just the 3 of us. Boxing day we had good friends & family over. And New Years was just hubs & I, as the kid was away at his cousin's.

I conversed with a company about a job before Christmas but wasn't able to get in for an interview until after New Years due to a nasty stomach bug I caught. In early January I had my interview, which I thought went very well. Once home, I sent them my references. The HR woman relied to my email immediately that she was pleased with the interview and would get back to me shortly. I never heard from them again. I emailed her the next day but got no reply. Weird huh? No professional courtesy at all! There is nothing wrong with a simple email saying "Thanks, but no thanks".

I have been successfully lowcarbing for 24 days now and am feeling great and have lost 9lbs so far. I have no more sugar cravings and my energy is much higher. Onward & downward!

While hubs was away on a biz trip a couple weeks ago, his dog Kodi was really pining for him. He knew when he was due home from work and when he didn't come home, Kodi started to whine and look for him. Kodi is not allowed upstairs and really doesn't even like the stairs. But all of a sudden I heard a noise behind me while in my office (upstairs bedroom) and there was Kodi! He had never been in there so it was a blast for him running & exploring! He ran and slid into the bathroom - right into the back wall! We finally managed to get him back downstairs, but all that night I kept expecting to wake up to find him in my room. When hubs did get home, Kodi followed him back upstairs and waited outside the washroom until he was done. He hasn't been upstairs since, but hubs just left for another biz trip this morning so who knows what will happen tonight.

Kodi running around my sewing/office/craftroom

I also got around to reorganizing my craft space so that I actually had some table space to craft.

And sorting things into nice little boxes and stored neatly....for now :)

And finally I'll leave you with what greeted me when I went to bed the other night - hubs had gone in early and apparently Peanut joined him - on MY side of the bed! Doesn't she look comfy? :)

Mini March Break Update

Sorry I haven't posted lately. It is March Break this week and so kiddo is off school.

We went to the Eaton Centre on Monday - which I remember as being MUCH larger and more interesting when I was a teenager. Not much to do there now. Most stores are clothing stores, so unless you are looking for clothing not a lot to do. We wandered the PATH (underground walkway system and mall) a fair amount. I didn't hav ethe best walking shoes and my feet were killing me. We still had a fun day.

On Friday we are going to Vaughn Mills. DH & J are looking forward to going to Bass Pro Sporting Goods store. I will wear my new more comfortable walking shoes :)

The tempature today is supposed to hit 18 C (64.5 F) in Toronto (will be a bit cooler out here because of the lake).

Have a good week and weekend!

Weekly Update

I did really crappy with the Pantry Challenge this week. I think we did take out 2 nights. One night was Swiss Chalet and they have a 6 leg quarter value meal, so we actually got 2 meals out of it.

We got our 3 new windows installed yesterday. My ensuite bath now has a frosted glass window. No one can see in, but it still seems strange to have a naked window. We will be shopping for new window coverings this weekend. I am thinking just a simple lace curtain so the light will still come through. We also have to paint the window trim as it came only primed.

I got my invite for the next baby shower - I only have until Feb 20th to make a baby quilt. I am shopping for fabric next Thursday and so have no pattern/design yet. It will be a busy few weeks in February :)

I went to buy new ink cartridges for my printer this week. A black cartridge cost $48 and a colour one cost $49! I decided to buy an entire new printer for $100 instead, which came with new ink cartridges and the refills cost $20 less each. DH will get my old printer and we will try refilled cartridges to see how they work.

Hope to get out to see Avatar this weekend. We also have to buy paint for the window sills, garage and front doors. We need to get window treatments for the 3 windows we just had replaced. They all had crappy venetian blinds, but the new windows are a slightly different size, so they won't work now.

If we buy blinds or pull down shades, we can claim a tax credit (see below), but if we buy curtains or drapes we cannot. Only permanent fixtures can be claimed. I wonder if the curtain rod is considered permanent?

In Ontario, we get a home renovation tax credit this year. We get to claim 15% on amounts over 1000 but not more than 10000. (So the 1st 1k you spend doesn't count, and the max you can claim is 9K).

I think we have about 3K we can claim. Anything we want to claim must be bought before Feb 1st, that is why we are getting the paint for the garage and front doors now, but will do the actual painting later in the spring.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Long time no chat/write (?)

Sorry life got in the way again.

So here are some updates:

Garden:

• My tomatoes plants were doing wonderfully but then got blight, and even after ripping the one offending plant out, it spread. All of my plants now have it. I picked a bunch of green tomatoes from the first plant and have them ripening on the patio table but most of the cherry tomatoes are lost :(

• I got/will have once ripened, about 2 dozen tomatoes.

• They say if you get tomato blight, you can't plant tomatoes there next year. We will have to try some patio tomato plants in large pots instead. And we have to try to solarize (sterilize) the soil with a large clear plastic sheet in May to use it for other veggies.

• DH did pick a few eggplants which are doing wonderfully. He grilled them for dinner last night. The ones remaining on the plant aren't very big but still may be edible - we are expecting frost soon.

Peanut:

• Peanut is doing much better. She ended up getting an ear infection of some sort the weekend after her allergic reaction so is now on ear drops.

Work:

• I found out today, just 2 days before my work contract ends, that they will be extending me for 3 more months. I was looking forward to the time off but money is always a good thing. I will just be taking Thursday & Friday this week off and start the new project on Monday. It will take me through until the end of December. I don't want to have to travel in the cold winter months of January and February anyway.

Home:

• We got new living room furniture. The stuff we had was over 13 years old and looking really bad. I will take pics and post later (I am at work right now - working hard see :)) The new stuff is very poofy and soft.

Building, Fiesta-ing, reading and stuff

I know I have been horrible about posting lately. It seems I can't work and keep up with everything else. You should see my kitchen *sigh*

So some updates.

We installed our back yard gate yesterday. We still have to install the hardware and a couple boards to close up gaps in the bottom of the fence and then my Peanut can roam free out there. We currently take her out an her lease. She will now be able to terrorize Kodi in a much bigger space :)

Last week was Fiesta Week in our neck of the woods. There are about a dozen different pavilions representing other countries to visit. You buy a passport and visit as many pavilions as you like, just buying your meal at each. They also have shows with traditional dancing and music.

Since we have soccer Monday & Tuesday, we had a late start. On Wednesday we went to the Ukrainian pavilion - I wasn't that impressed with the food, but the show was fun. Thursday we went to the Caribbean pavilion which has great food, dancing and a steel drum band. That is where we heard about the death of Michael Jackson - RIP MJ.

And finally on Friday we went to a Greek pavillion. The food wasn't bad ( we prefer a different Greek pavillion) but the best part was that I finally got to meet a friend of mine. I'll call her K. We both worked on the same contract a few years ago but it was a work-from-home contract and so we never actually met face to face. We continued to chat via email over the years but had not met until Friday night. So cool :)

Over the past couple weeks I have read and would recommend the following books:

The kite runner - Khaled Hosseini
I was worried I wouldn't like it and that it may be too political - I did and it wasn't.

The Lost Quilter - Jennifer Chiaverini
Story about a slave in the South in the 1860's - very good read

Heart-shaped Box - Joe Hill (this is Stephen King's son - and you can tell in his writing)
Aging rocker who collects oddities of the occult, buys a ghost and gets more than he bargined for.

The Sharper your knife, the less you cry - Kathleen Flinn (Melody I think you may really like this one!) True story of a journalist who finally follows her dream and enrols in Le Cordon Bleu cooking school in Paris.

I also received my tea towel & pot holder swap from the Down To Earth swap. But I have been slacking and have yet to take a picture of the items I got - I also forgot to take pictures of the stuff I sent my buddy - so I will post those when she send them to me.

This coming week will be short - Wed July 1st is Canada Day. My office is closed but I will be working from home and taking Friday off instead. I am going to see if I can work from home on Thursday as well, so I don't have to travel that day. DH has Wed - Fri off and the kid finished school on Thursday past.

So until I get back here - have a great week - Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian friends and Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!