This weekend, we didn't have much planned, but we knew we wanted to do something with the side garden that we cut out a few weeks ago. Either extend or add to it, or something. We decided to do both; extend and add. Friday night I got the pick up truck from work (thank God I can get that often! I've used it so many times over the years), rented a sod cutter to widen the garden, and cut out all the way to the back of the yard and the whole corner behind and including the ever greens. It's a LARGE space, but was mostly unused/useless space. That machine is awesome! It took Marnie about 4 hours the last time to cut out the garden using a garden spade.... this time (and it was a larger space) I was done in about 40 minutes. It was an expensive rental, but WELL worth it!
Saturday, I helped Dave rip out his kitchen floor and lay a new subfloor as they are getting new tile and kitchen counter and cupboards put in. They are trying to spice up the place as they want to move soon.
As I helped Dave, Marn went out to get a load of black earth, then that night we unloaded it. Sunday morning, we got another load, this time of triple-mix (not as expensive as the black soil), spread that, and then got a load of mulch to top it off (we could have used 2 loads). We also planted a few more bushes and bulbs, so hopefully we'll have a decent looking garden in the spring! It was a lot of work, but it looks great (even if it is pretty bare still). We'll be planting more in the spring, I'm sure. And yes, we ARE accepting garden donations!! I'll try and take a few pics tonight to post.
After all this work in the yard/deck, I'm afraid that we won't be able to enjoy it much since we'll most likely move before the plants get big enough to offer the privacy that we are planning with them... I guess that's what happens when you plan 2 foot tall bushes, that are supposed to get 20 feet tall when mature. lol (but they're cheap when they're 2 feet tall!).
Monday, October 22, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
shopping success
Well, we blew the budget once again in the State's on our Shopping Weekend. I got a lot of shirts, way more than I thought I would (for someone who wasn't going to get much), and we managed to get all the kids Christmas shopping done. Marn bought a few dresses and nice shirts and other things.
Between us and Mom and Teresa, we were teetering on being over our total legal limits without paying duty. And to think that just a few months ago, that limit was doubled! What bad (but also good) timing this trip was being so close to the Cruise and Christmas. Bad for the cruise, but great for Christmas.
The killer for us all was the last store we hit on Sunday afternoon.... RACKS of kids clothing for $2.99. AND Marnie happened to ask the cashier if there were any coupons for the store. She said, no, but that she'd let her use one behind the counter for ANOTHER 15% off total purchase. You've got to be kidding me! Make that $2.55 for many, many racks of clothes. A lot of kiddies will be getting a lot of clothes from The Childeren's Place this Christmas! lol
Between us and Mom and Teresa, we were teetering on being over our total legal limits without paying duty. And to think that just a few months ago, that limit was doubled! What bad (but also good) timing this trip was being so close to the Cruise and Christmas. Bad for the cruise, but great for Christmas.
The killer for us all was the last store we hit on Sunday afternoon.... RACKS of kids clothing for $2.99. AND Marnie happened to ask the cashier if there were any coupons for the store. She said, no, but that she'd let her use one behind the counter for ANOTHER 15% off total purchase. You've got to be kidding me! Make that $2.55 for many, many racks of clothes. A lot of kiddies will be getting a lot of clothes from The Childeren's Place this Christmas! lol
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Shopping Weekend
This weekend, Mom, Teresa, Marn and myself are heading to Birch Run in Michigan for a little CHEAP shopping. And by Cheap, I mean CHEAP! This will be the 3rd year in a row now that we've gone, and this year will be extra cheap because our dollar is 2 cents more than theirs! We will end up breaking just about even (not quite) on the exchange after the banks take their share. Things are super cheap over there as it is, so I'm expecting some great deals to be had.
Customs rules have recently changed as well, allowing $400/each to be brought back after 48 hours. It used to be $200 and depending on who you ask, it's a really good thing. I'm not really sure what I'm looking for other than nice shirts... I'm sure I'll find a few things, though! :)
We are actually looking to purchase Christmas gifts for all the kids as well. We'll be able to get a ton of stuff as kids clothing is laughably cheap.
To start off the weekend off right, we'll be dining at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth, a cool little German tourist town, that is famous for their family style chicken dinners.
Should be a fun (and long) weekend.
Customs rules have recently changed as well, allowing $400/each to be brought back after 48 hours. It used to be $200 and depending on who you ask, it's a really good thing. I'm not really sure what I'm looking for other than nice shirts... I'm sure I'll find a few things, though! :)
We are actually looking to purchase Christmas gifts for all the kids as well. We'll be able to get a ton of stuff as kids clothing is laughably cheap.
To start off the weekend off right, we'll be dining at the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth, a cool little German tourist town, that is famous for their family style chicken dinners.
Should be a fun (and long) weekend.
A cruisin' we will go!
A few months ago Adrienne called us up and told us about a cruise they were going on with the kids - we were jealous and wanted to go so bad, but the price was just a little out of reach, and plus we wanted to do/had done a lot of things on the house. I would check the site once or twice a week to see if the price moved at all, and it did a bit, but then all the sudden their cheap rate was gone -- oh well, we thought. There'll be more.
Well last week, the cheap seats came back, but this time the price REALLY dropped. They must have had blocks from travel agents that didn't sell or something, because the price was right. Marn and I talked about it for all of about 2 minutes, and decided to book!
We're going Cruising with Adrienne, Den and the kids for 13 days through the Eastern Caribbean!
Back to St. Maarten for a day as well as places I haven't been to; Bermuda, Aruba, Curacao, Mexico, Grand Cayman... We depart from Baltimore and return to Tampa, FL.
For flights, we used Air Miles for a return trip to Baltimore, then bought a one-way from Tampa to Baltimore. We had to purchase a hotel night on the return as well because we couldn't get into Baltimore early enough to make the return flight back to Toronto, so we'll enjoy Baltimore for an evening and come home first thing in the morning.
We are looking SO FORWARD to this trip!!
This will be my first cruise, so I'm a little nervous about the possibility of being motion sick, but 2 weeks in the Caribbean will be just amazing, and we always have fun with the Asbury's. We're looking forward to seeing the kids too because we won't see them over Christmas this year. :(
Here is the Itinerary:
Can't wait!!
Well last week, the cheap seats came back, but this time the price REALLY dropped. They must have had blocks from travel agents that didn't sell or something, because the price was right. Marn and I talked about it for all of about 2 minutes, and decided to book!
We're going Cruising with Adrienne, Den and the kids for 13 days through the Eastern Caribbean!
Back to St. Maarten for a day as well as places I haven't been to; Bermuda, Aruba, Curacao, Mexico, Grand Cayman... We depart from Baltimore and return to Tampa, FL.
For flights, we used Air Miles for a return trip to Baltimore, then bought a one-way from Tampa to Baltimore. We had to purchase a hotel night on the return as well because we couldn't get into Baltimore early enough to make the return flight back to Toronto, so we'll enjoy Baltimore for an evening and come home first thing in the morning.
We are looking SO FORWARD to this trip!!
This will be my first cruise, so I'm a little nervous about the possibility of being motion sick, but 2 weeks in the Caribbean will be just amazing, and we always have fun with the Asbury's. We're looking forward to seeing the kids too because we won't see them over Christmas this year. :(
Here is the Itinerary:
Can't wait!!
Turkey Dinner
Marn and I hosted our first Turkey dinner on Saturday night with Mom, Teresa and Branko. Tony and Lisa and the kids went up north for the weekend, so couldn't make it.
It was my first turkey, and surprisingly it turned out really tasty! Moist, and delicious. I injected it with garlic and and rubbed in 3 different spices... yum. We also had (Mom's recipe) cauliflower and cheese, (Branko's Mom's recipe) Baked Squash, mashed potatoes, sweet potato, corn (off the cob) and Marnie's famous biscuits.... I think I'm missing something, but it was quite a nice feast! Mom brought 2 pies; her famous real pumpkin pumpkin pie and dutch apple and Teresa and Branko brought some wine. It was a good night!
After dinner and resting our bellies, we played Yahtzee! until 11:40PM!
Truth be told, no one knew (except Marn) that I tried to make a "sunbathing" turkey... and it would have worked, but we ran out of time to try and brown it. This is what I was going for:
The "tan lines" were starting to show, but we were getting hungry, and we had to cook a few more things in the oven - the turkey took up too much room. It would have been great!
It was my first turkey, and surprisingly it turned out really tasty! Moist, and delicious. I injected it with garlic and and rubbed in 3 different spices... yum. We also had (Mom's recipe) cauliflower and cheese, (Branko's Mom's recipe) Baked Squash, mashed potatoes, sweet potato, corn (off the cob) and Marnie's famous biscuits.... I think I'm missing something, but it was quite a nice feast! Mom brought 2 pies; her famous real pumpkin pumpkin pie and dutch apple and Teresa and Branko brought some wine. It was a good night!
After dinner and resting our bellies, we played Yahtzee! until 11:40PM!
Truth be told, no one knew (except Marn) that I tried to make a "sunbathing" turkey... and it would have worked, but we ran out of time to try and brown it. This is what I was going for:
The "tan lines" were starting to show, but we were getting hungry, and we had to cook a few more things in the oven - the turkey took up too much room. It would have been great!
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
weekend plans
Well, not much is new here lately, but we are going to Buffalo this weekend to watch an NFL game (Bills vs Jets). This is the 3rd time now that we've gone. Chris is a big fan of the Jet's and likes to go when they are close (Buffalo being the closest they'll get), so we make a day out of it and have a good time, tailgate party and all. We are going to Dad's on Saturday afternoon/night for dinner and to meet his cousin who over from England. After that we're heading to Burlington to stay the night in order to head out to Buffalo early.
Last Saturday we took Echo to Tony and Lisa's for a small birthday party for Kaiya. They asked us to bring him to meet another puppy dane who was owned by Lisa's sister. Echo LOVES playing with other dogs, but this little guy was just too scared for most of the time that we were there. Near the end (when we had to go, of course) he started coming out of his shell and played with Echo a little bit, but we didn't give them enough time to really get comfortable. Echo was trying to play with him SO bad, it was really cute and funny. He'd nudge him a little and try and bite his ears and jowls, but Madden didn't want anything to do with it and sat in a corner cowering, mostly. Echo was really gentle and I think realized that Madden didn't want to play because for the most part he left him alone or tried to get him to play, but very gently. A lot of times he'd lower himself to Madden's height, or lay beside him to let Madden get him. When Echo was that age he was jumping right in to play with anyone/dog that was interested. I hope they break him of that, because that's the last thing you want; a shy and skiddish 160 lbs dog!
Last Saturday we took Echo to Tony and Lisa's for a small birthday party for Kaiya. They asked us to bring him to meet another puppy dane who was owned by Lisa's sister. Echo LOVES playing with other dogs, but this little guy was just too scared for most of the time that we were there. Near the end (when we had to go, of course) he started coming out of his shell and played with Echo a little bit, but we didn't give them enough time to really get comfortable. Echo was trying to play with him SO bad, it was really cute and funny. He'd nudge him a little and try and bite his ears and jowls, but Madden didn't want anything to do with it and sat in a corner cowering, mostly. Echo was really gentle and I think realized that Madden didn't want to play because for the most part he left him alone or tried to get him to play, but very gently. A lot of times he'd lower himself to Madden's height, or lay beside him to let Madden get him. When Echo was that age he was jumping right in to play with anyone/dog that was interested. I hope they break him of that, because that's the last thing you want; a shy and skiddish 160 lbs dog!
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