September?

The breezes taste
Of apple peel.
The air is full
Of smells to feel-
Ripe fruit, old footballs,
Burning brush,
New books, erasers,
Chalk, and such.
The bee, his hive,
Well-honeyed hum,
And Mother cuts
Chrysanthemums.
Like plates washed clean
With suds, the days
Are polished with
A morning haze.”
-   John Updike, September
Tonight’s low will be 22 degrees celsius.  With day time highs of 32 before you factor in the humidity, it’s seems more like July then September.  This is day two of a projected 5 day heat wave, then on Saturday we can expect a hurricane by the name of Earl.  Doesn’t get much more exciting.

George Carlin’s stuff routine

After this week, I’m convinced  if we  don’t stop buying magazines, china and fabric, we just might end up on the television show Hoarders.   I was complaining to a neighbour about renting storage to keep our stuff when he reminded me of George Carlin’s stuff routine. Not for sensitive ears.

I’ll be leaving on a business trip tomorrow morning, back on Tuesday evening. Now if I could only remember where I packed my shoes.

There’s always something

The house sale did not close yesterday.  Apparently with the rush to sell their home and buy ours, the purchasers lawyer did not have time to file all the necessary paper work by yesterday afternoon.  So the closing date has been amended to on or before September 3rd.   We however are settled (if you could call it that) into the apartment.

Every home I have purchased has had it own particular little twist.    When I purchased my first home 32 years ago, it was a divorce sale.   We put in a bid, the offer was accepted and the sale date finalized.  Then the owners began to argue about the property settlement and who would get how much.    When closing date came, they were still arguing.  As we had already given our notice on our apartment, we agreed to rent the house until they made up their mind.  This took another three months, until I stated that they would either  finalize the sale of  the house or I would set on the door step telling all prospective buyers what we went through.

House number two, we had to move into the day before we purchased it.  You know the story, sell your present home to get enough money to have a down payment on your new home.  The little old lady we bought it from could not care less as she was in a nursing home, her children were up in arms until the deal closed.

House number three was a bit easier.  By that time we had enough credit, to take a short-term loan, to own the new house a week before we sold our previous house.  We decided to paint the house throughout and varnish the hardwood floors.  Guess who ended up in the hospital moving day? Paint and varnish is just too much for anyone with asthma.

House number four – another divorce sale which we purchased from a co-worker.   The ex-husband was threatening to put down the two cats that were left behind when the wife left.  THe days of the sale, he refused to take the cats, we already had two cats so we could not help.  She kept calling hysterically, not wanting the kitties to be put to sleep.  Finally her aunt agreed to take the cats, but he would not allow her in to retrieve the cats or her stuff until he  moved out.  Needless to say, we stayed in the apartment another day to allow her to move her items and the kitties.

So for a house number five to go without a hitch, did not think it would happen.  There’s always something!

Four letter words

Wooo

Hooo

Very

Very

Glad

Home

Where does the time go?

Life has been very busy lately.  My DH arrived home unexpectedly which was a tremendous surprise. He is home for the weekend but has to return to the job from hell on tomorrow.  Hopefully it will wrap up next week.

I have been busy clearing out my china cabinet in hope that our home will sell soon. I`m starting to think that maybe fabric is not my only addiction.

A couple of years ago I purchased 5 meters of felt for $2.75.  Today I finally found a use for it.  It is perfect to wrap around china platters.

We plan to have a quiet weekend at home, a luxury when you have  a spouse who travels for work most of the summer.   DH will putter in the yard, mowing the lawn, trimming the hedge. I`ll spend my time doing laundry and cooking.  Life in the fast lane……..I would not  have it any other way!

I felt the love

Yesterday was a wonderful birthday! Just after noon I received a phone call from my DH to go out to the parking lot as a parcel was waiting for me.  And there he was!  My DH, who has been away for the past 22 days. Standing there with his signature rose and a birthday card.   I thought it could not get any better.

I was mistaken.  Not only had he left the job site to drive 4 hours, just to spend my birthday with me, he brought presents too!  One package of high-end Lee Valley clothes pins, a small flashlight and wait for it…..a Lee Valley Hardware catalogue.   Nothing says I love you, like your very own Lee Valley catalogue.

Needless to say, I did not stay at work for the rest of the day.   DH and I had a delicious barbecue chicken supper at home, as he eats at a restaurant three times a day.   Instead of birthday cake, we had my favourite chocolate cream pie. The evening was topped off by a visit to the Bulk Barn for kitty litter.  Yes, I have a life to be envied.

Throughout the day I received Facebook wishes, cards, birthday comments and my horoscope (thanks San).   My children and grandchildren even remembered it was my day.  In fact, my grandson Addison, tore himself away from  Star Craft 11 long enough to call and wish me a happy birthday!

My DH left at 5:00 this morning to return to the job site.  Hopefully the job will be done within a week.

Tonight everything is back to normal…….. me, the kitty and leftovers.   But life is still good!

Chick flick week-end

The weather is incredible, sunny and hot. Between showing the house I have spent most of my time reading and watching movies.  DH is stuck on a job site  so rather than feeling sorry for myself, I am having a ME weekend. Slathered in 50 SPF sunscreen I have been doing the things I enjoy, shopping, yard sales, watching chick flicks, drooling over quilt magazines and eating what I like.

The local video stores rent movies at 99 cents  once they have been out for more than 2 months.  I usually rent 3 at at time, increasing my odds of picking a winner.   So far my favourite has been  The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and the incredible Betty White.   When I get old I want to be the type of grandmother Betty White portrayed in this movie.

Movie number 2 was  Duplicity with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen.  He alone is worth the price of admissions but the movie is one you need to pay attention to, as it has many twists, turns and subplots.  Bouncing back and forth between time, this is one DH would have not enjoyed.   That is the beauty of 99 cent movies, if you don’t like it, take it back.   Much better than spending $10.00 each for a ticket at the local theater.

Movie #3 New In Town, I’ll enjoy later on today, when the temperature is expected to hit 30 degrees.

Shiitake Saturday

The shiitake mushrooms we grew last year were so delicious we decided to grow even more this year.   600 more to be exact.   We left home at 7:30 a.m. early Saturday morning to drive 2 1/2 hours to our friends Rick and Pearl’s home, across the river from our property.  Rick’s Dad had picked up the mushrooms from the Co-Op the day before.

While Pearl and I caught up with each others life, the guys hiked into the woods to retrieve a maple tree which had blown down earlier in the spring.   Mushroom spores are very fussy when it comes to moving into a piece of wood, it has to be at a certain stage of decay.

The 600 mushrooms came in small thimble size plugs on a plastic tray. While Rick cut the tree into manageable lengths and my DH routered out 1 1/2 inch holes with the drill,  we cut the plastic tray into manageable strips. The instructions read  push the plug into the drilled hole by pressing on the end of the plug. After a few attempts we found it much easier to cut the strips into individual thimbles.

Within the first half hour we had perfected our own stuff the mushroom plug into the maple tree limb trick.  A small slit in the side of the plastic thimble (my  pink Swiss Army knife was the perfect tool), a slight push on the other side and out popped the plug.  Wearing rubber gloves to prevent contamination and working in a assembly line, we finished the job within 2 hours.   We left all but one stick with Rick.

To celebrate, we had lunch at the local country diner (beans, home made raisin bread, ham and potato scallop).  Our husband certainly know how to show us a good time.

We made a quick visit to check on the property.  This will be the spring time view from our front door. Can’t wait to be there harvesting the mushrooms.

3 days on the road

I’ve returned from the whirlwind visit to Nova Scotia. It was work related and I traveled with 9 men in 3 vehicles. Needless to say not a lot of shopping was done, but we had some really good laughs and quite a few good meals.

Wednesday night was spent in Halifax at the Marriott Courtyard hotel. A very nice hotel.  The best part of that evening was spending it with my sister Wanda and her absolutely crazy husband Andrew.   After a delicious home cooked meal, followed by mile high lemon cake, Wanda treated me to a Reiki session.

Thanks to Wanda and the session I was sinus problem free the entire trip.

The next day we drove another 4 hours to Yarmouth.   At the end of the day I only had enough energy to go to supper with the guys at Rudder’s Seafood Restaurant.  The drive through the Annapolis Valley was beautiful despite the rain showers.  I’m hoping to travel back that way with my DH, but next time I would cross from Saint John on the Digby ferry traveling to Halifax along the South shore route.

We lucked out  the entire trip meal wise.   The best meal I had was the seafood chowder at the Haley’s Lounge in the Rodd Hotel Yarmouth.   Though the fried scallops in Dartmouth certainly were enjoyable.

Friday morning we left at 6:45 and were on the road most of the day.  Every few hours we would stop at a Tim’s for tea and a pee.  I was one tired puppy when I drove into the dooryard at 5:45.  With only kitty home to greet me, as my DH is on a job site in Grand Falls,  it was worth the trip.

House for sale

Take a look and let me know what you think.   The Property Guy rep, Tina came to visit 4 weeks ago to help us list the house.  There has been plenty of action on the site, but not much follow up.

Since January my DH has been working 4 days a week in Fredericton.  What began as a two week job quickly transformed into 3 months, but now he is home.   The house is clean, the yard is swept, we are ready.  Now all we need is that one person who loves the house as much as we do.

Keep your fingers crossed.