A Laidback Weekend

It's been a drizzly, drippy weekend in southern NS: not so good for raking outdoors and continuing to build the brush fence ..... but perfect for cleaning! Uh! Excuse me!
That is not me in my cleaning attire!
(Darned computers sometimes!!)

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Yes ......This looks much more like I did on Saturday.

No first prize win for attire or physique: but perhaps a Miss Congeniality prize for attitude.

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I do like to clean and tidy and put my house in order. (Also a necessity when you're as forgetful as I am!!) I sang and danced my way through the vacuuming and floor scrubbing; I shook my hiney while I swirled the toilet brush. It was good to finally get at the various jobs that have been waylaid by long walks with ice cream and broken hot water tanks. But I'm afraid my comfy jeans and t-shirt still was too dressy for the BIG JOB! Remember? I had to change into specialized gear to clean ..........

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THE BASEMENT !!

Not really me! It wasn't quite that bad!

What a yucky job that is though, huh? Basements, garages, attics! They are "DIRTY DENS FULL OF DISASTEROUS DELUGES OF DETRITUS". They are poopy-kaka!!

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The only singing that took place during that task was me "singing the blues"! And the only good thing that I can say about it is that it's done! I know where things are again! And bonus! I found the huge bag of tulip bulbs that didn't get planted last fall, some calla lilly bulbs, and my missing bush clippers!

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After a lovely, long shower, I had a solitary, blissful, healthy meal in my CLEAN HOUSE. (I love that feeling! I could just sit for hours smiling contentedly in my lovely, clean living room feeling completely satisfied with life --- except it only last for the few seconds until a child arrives home!)

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I was blessed that afternoon and evening though; I was alone until late evening. So, I parked my clean self in the corner chair with a wine spritzer and the mending and watched a whole lot of junk on the television. It was quite nice!*

Sunday afternoon was spent in much the same way. As the rain gently fell outside, I finished the mending, sat with my beloved New York Times crossword and then cooked a delicious dinner complete with this not so health conscious dessert

Chocolate snacking cake with choco chip icing and clotted cream on the side*

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Funny how one piece of cake can make you feel like "Mss Lardo" !! So, it's a good thing tomorrow is Monday and I get to partake in an hour of cardio over lunch and an hour of Zumba in the evening.

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It was awfully tasty though!!

Fertilizer Friday Apr 16.10

It's time to join everyone at Tootsie Time for Fertilizer Friday once again.

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Up to this week, Nova Scotia has enjoyed the kind of spring that I remember from my childhood: the kind where it does get gradually warmer, and tulips bloom before May comes. This spring has been stellar! And although we are now experiencing more "seasonal" weather (hovering just above the freezing point at night and crisp during the day), that cannot dampen my spirits. All I need to do is walk through my garden and my heart soars with joy.

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It was COLD this morning when I took these pictures. Here's the front bed from my small deck. Things are not only up and beginning to fill in nicely, but there are bulbs that were planted when I put the garden in 3 years ago that I've not seen again before this spring. And if you look closely, you can see the red tulips near the foundation are just waiting to open on our next warm sunny.

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The Pulmonaria still continues to delight me.

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Here's a cold, shaky picture of one of the little 99 cent rose bushes I bought 2 years ago. They both look really healthy; they'll be pretty ones again this year! (And I have a third waiting to be planted.)

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And here's a cold shaky picture of my first daffodil to bloom. The rest of the daffs and nasciss are in the same boat at the tulips with their little voices crying "Come sweet sun! Come warm us up and we'll show you our pretty faces!"*

In the lower driveway bed that I put in at the end of last fall, I'm happy to report that my wee little Forsythia bush has survived the winter (despite having copious amounts of snow dumped on it by the snow plow) and is putting out blooms.*

The side garden beds are coming up nicely with all sorts of green things that I can't for the life of me remember what they are! But I do know this [sideways??] picture is an Acconite plant I just put in last summer. It looks like it will be a quick growing little fellow as well; and I'm excited to see what it will look like.*

While driving to work this morning I saw the garden centre at our local Superstore was up! That excited me so much, I began having palpatations right there and then and it was hard to keep the car from automatically veering to the left to go visit! But it's still too early to actually plant anything here. So, I'll content myself this weekend with raking leaves and dragging the brush on the other side of the brook up to begin building my fence there!

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Happy weekend everyone!

Unconscious Mutterings!

I found a great little site called LunaNina (http://subliminal.lunanina.com/). And she introduced me to her "Unconscious Mutterings". She "says" and you answer with the first thing that comes to mind.

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Ready? Here goes.
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I say ... and you think ... ?

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Habit :: Sister Rosalita and Grade 10.
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Relaunch :: Getting myself out of bed each morning!

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Mondays :: A fresh start at the work week!
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Bootstrap :: Pull them up, Sandy, and get on with it!
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Funk :: 1970's and dancing to Earth, Wind & Fire!

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Appreciate :: Soft mattresses, alone time, my children.
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Yay! :: God!
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Life :: A precious, wonderful gift to be tasted, savored, treasured and lived to the utmost!
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Sheets :: Clothesline scented

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Date night :: Non-existent ........ but I ain't dead yet!

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Hey! That was fun! Give it a try; and check out LunaNina.

Extreme Motivation for Cleaning your Basement!

I came home Tuesday and discovered that I had no hot water. So, I called my trusty handyman, Brady, thinking that perhaps a fuse had blown. While he was on his way up to my house, I prepared for him.

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I had to move these items --- the cupboard (containing my supply of emergency vino![ MUST BE SAVED AT ALL COST]!) which was next to the laundry tub which was next to the de-humidifier (which had been leaking lately) which was in front of the tall shelf full of many, many paint cans which was in front of the hot water tank ...... arggggg ....... so Brady could get at the beastie. Of course, all sort and manner of other basement goods had to be moved to make a spot to put all the displaced items! (Daily workout accomplished - I thought!)

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That was when I discovered that the de-humidifier was NOT leaking. The beastie was!!!

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(Cue doorbell) Brady arrives; removes little cover over electrical part of beastie; lovely brown water gushes out and rains down the side. "Yes!" said Brady. "You need a new water tank".

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We disconnected the old hot water tank and used the super-duper dolly to wheel it around the corner, through the downstairs (maneuvering around the recent acquisition of Daughter #2's collection of stuff from the break-up), up the stairs, over the threshold, down the stairs and into the side yard where it sat and drained lovely black water next to one of my flower beds. I'm hoping there's nutritional value in that black gunk!

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In between helping Brady with the installation of the new beastie, I wheeled the old beastie by myself (cue impressive "Oohs" and clapping) down the driveway, up and over the curb and into the not-yet filled out bushes at the end of the bottom driveway. Clean-up week is sometime next month: and in the meantime, I artistically camouflaged it with December's Xmas tree. (Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle! That was the sound of even more needles falling off as I lifted it into place!)

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Three hours later and $400 lighter (Bwaaaaaa!!), I had a beautiful new hot water tank, a new appreciation of my friend Brady, extra muscle ("ME AM WOMAN!!") and a total and overwhelming feeling of exhaustion. And all just in time to watch Lost!

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I love having hot water. Isn't she lovely?

Both the above tanks are hot and beautiful!

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Now --- Where do I begin with the rest of the basement!

I guess I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

It's begun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, it's begun; and it's only mid April!
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"What's begun?" you ask.
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Why, the season of ignoring the housework while you lovingly toil in the garden. These rather embarassing pictures are the proof! (And I suspect there are more of you out there with houses that look exactly like mine! Fess up and join the club!)

I took my Easter decorations down a week ago and have been meaning to put them away every evening! And the clean clothes on the sofa have been waiting to be folded since Saturday. But do you see that sunshine on those clean clothes? How can I possibly spend time indoors when I see that!

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I thoroughly enjoyed my Saturday ---- NOT CLEANING! (I'll post later). And Sunday afternoon, Adriana and I headed outside to clean up the brush that'd been left behind from last fall when Brady and I cut down those trees. I could have had Brady make several trips to the local landfill site (and paid for his gas as well as a fee to have them take it off our hands). But instead, I came up with what I think is a much better solution.

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I created a "brush fence" along my property line! Not as pretty as a real fence: but the land between mine and the neighbors is wet and boggy; and the brush creates a perfect place for birds to nest. You can get an idea of this fence from the next 2 pictures.

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There are lots of ferns that will come up in front of the "fence" to camouflage it. And once that happens and the leaves come out on the trees, I'll be able to see what I'm dealing with for the next addition to my forest garden. (I can't remember what "phase" of the project this will be this year. But I'm certainly not tired of it yet. I think it must be Phase "I-Can't-Wait-to-get-at-It"!!! *

And because every good day's work deserves a treat, Adrianna and I (and her friends Dulci and Jorge) went for the 1st spring ice-cream of the season and then a great hour long walk around Miller Point Peace Park. *

I love gardening! I love "hanging out" with Adrianna! I love spring! And I love ice-cream!

HAIR's a Super Duper Deal!!

While grocery shopping Saturday at my local Sobey's store, Adriana and I came across a cart full of various hair products and ................................. everything was 50 cents!!!
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50 cents!!

Where do you get a bottle of shampoo or a good conditioner for 50 cents, huh?

For that matter, where do you even find a crappy bottle of shampoo or conditioner for 50 cents!

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Well! You didn't have to ask us twice.
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We parked our cart there for a good 5 minutes while we went all the various items. And this little ole blogger was the last of the big time spenders! I bought hair products for all my girlies spending a grand total of $7.50 plus tax. (Brownie points for the Mama!)
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Look at this great stuff!
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• This is Mama, Libby and Molly's assortment. The Infusium brand is usually around $5 to $7 a bottle. (It's for "color treated hair"; and , of course, it must be for one of my girls 'cause mine is all natural, right?) The other brands and products normally sell anywhere from $2 to $5 as well.*
• And this is Adrianna's bag of goodies. She loves me a lot now!

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So, we just gonna be a houseful of cute chickies with fantastic hair for the next little while.

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Let's hair it for a good sale!

Hip, Hip, Hair-ray!!

Fertilizer Friday Apr 9th

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How exciting to be linked once again with Glenda of http://www.tootsietime.com/ and my fellow linkies for Fertilizer Friday.
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Nova Scotia has been experiencing beautiful weather for the past month! And that means that everything in my garden is earlier than it's been for the 2 years that I've been here and been gardening. It's been glorious.
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I've anxiously been waiting for my tulips to open. They've multiplied this year and, so far, the deer have stayed away. Here are 2 that just opened today.*
My Pulmonaria (Lungwort) is looking beautiful. This plant always reminds me of my wonderful mother-in-law who is no longer with us. She had this plant in her garden (it was from her grandmother's garden) and passed some on to me (along with the Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart) for my first garden in Dartmouth. This particular Pulmonaria came from my good friend Laura (aka the Easter Bunny).*
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Every day is exciting to me these day: I'm back to my familiar morning walk through the garden to greet the "babies" and after work walk through to check on their progress. They really do grow each day!
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I'm looking forward to seeing your babies too.
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Happy growing everyone!