Pumpkins and Painting Oh My!

We had horrible weather nearly all summer. It was first week of June or so before I could put my herbs out and plant in the garden because we were still having frost overnight. Then out of nowhere ~ BOOM! ~ summer hit with a vengeance. No in-between. We had extreme heat and humidity. So bad that it was like how my friend described it, "like being in a dryer with wet clothes." Very apt description. I would go out very early in the morning to weed the garden and since it was so dry despite all the humidity... (How the hell can it be 85% humidity with 0% chance of rain?! Aish! ),.. I would go out just as it was starting to get dark and hopefully was cooler to water the garden. And since we have no hose hookup, it was several trips around the house with a big watering can.

Things are starting to finally really grow. It took two months for my carrots to look like carrot tops and not weeds! My onions are still looking like chives, though. The lettuce did fine, but... I think my pumpkin plants ate my spinach.

So bear with me for a moment here. I've never grown pumpkins before. I should have researched it like I do anything else. I never would have put them in the garden. I'd have put them closer to the rhubarb. We had to build, what I now affectionately call The Trump Wall to try to contain them! They're mutants!

Tiny garden with huge pumpkin plants. 

 The Trump Wall. But the plants will not be contained.

The flowers are closed due to rain, but look at the size next to my grand-daughters!

So I've been really wanting to get back into painting. I enjoyed it when I did it years ago. So I got some supplies. I'd lost many of them over the years. My kids borrowing brushes for projects, some lost in a move, etc... I still have more to get, but I'm really excited about getting to it again.

I had already bought a portable easel during the winter. Comes in a case and everything. Today some more supplies came in.

Yes, those are Bob Ross paints. I like them.

 This little bit was almost $200 with the shipping.

So now I need paint knives, more brushes, a big clear palette, more canvases, and a few more colours I forgot to get, and odourless turpenoid.

I want to play with them now, but I'm not ready supply-wise. So it's killing me to look at them and not touch them. 

Living With Stickers.

I feel like this is going to be a post about some incurable disease and how I've learned to live with it or am trying to live with it. It's not. But it is something I've learned to live with.

Stickers.

If you have young children or young grandchildren then you may know what I'm talking about.

Stickers.

Everywhere.

On everything.

Little kids' way of 'blinging' up normal everyday things so no one can deny you have young children or grandchildren around.

The signs are unmistakable. Sudden appearance of colour on things that didn't really have pops of colour before.

On what used to be a pristine white tower fan.

On an HP printer.

On and inside a laptop.

On a mobile phone case.

The stickers can appear at any time when you are not looking, and even, in the rare occasion, when you are.

The stickers are unmistakable: bright, in several shades of colour, more times than not can ruin your adult reputation with other adults who grin and comment on the stickers. 

Removing them can lead to questions of  "Why did you take my stickers off?", disappointment, and in a few rare cases tears and the re-appearance of more stickers. So tread lightly. I've learned to leave them there until a day they fall off or I can sneak them off, but they often are replaced by new stickers who bring all their friends to the sticker party so there is less chance of them being kidnapped and their bodies dumped in the trash.

They may clash with your decor and are prone to bring on chuckles from other adults. Men can also suffer from stickers. 

Stickers can last years until the child(ren) is old enough to understand that not everything should be 'blinged' up. Oftentimes this will happen naturally as they age and want to appear cooler and more mature in front of their schoolmates.

Note: though some stickers are easy to remove, there can be those who would survive a nuclear bombing and any attempt to remove them could prove challenging. They are especially stubborn to remove from dressers, refrigerators and desks. Proceed with caution.

This has been a public announcement on living with stickers. 

To Touch Or Not To Touch... That Is The Question.

I have a touch-screen laptop, a nice little Lenovo Flex that I love. My grand-children love it too. They love that they can play games on kids' sites and just touch the screen rather than try to use the mouse. So I'm often cleaning fingerprints off the screen. Some of those have been rather sticky. Sigh.

Sorry the screen is so bright. I did that on purpose because I was replying to a private email. Notice the pretty stickers my grand-daughter put on? Yes, it's a thing. You have to pretty up stuff with stickers. 

My eldest grand-daughter playing Nick Jr games on my pretty laptop. She still doesn't like using the mouse, and prefers just touching the screen. 

There are so many reasons to like touchscreens. Batteries in mouse died? No problem! Touch the screen until you change the batteries. This is particularly useful if you're in a game in the middle of a battle or something or doing something that is timed. In an awkward spot with the laptop and nowhere to use the mouse? No problem! Fingers on screen or touch pad (I don't really like the touch pad myself, I can't use it right). Dropped the mouse and too lazy to pick it up? No problem! Finger on screen... You get the picture.

Now here are the drawbacks. You get used to it. You get really used to it. My sister asked me to help fix her laptop, and she watched me try several times to swipe on the screen or touch something to make it work. "You can't do that on that one." Crap!

Trying to do something on a desktop for someone (I'm the family techie so everyone comes to me to fix things or do things on computers for them) and start cursing because nothing happens when I try to poke at the monitor screen! "What the hell are you doing? You're going to put a damn hole in that!" Crap!

Any screen becomes fair game for touching. I've tried pausing a movie in my blu-ray player not by the remote, but by walking up to the TV and touching the screen. "Was there a bug?" my sister asks. "I didn't see one." Crap! Of course I'm not going to admit to anything she could laugh at. "I got it. It was annoying me." Use remote to pause movie. "Be right back, gotta go bathroom."

I touch the screen on my smart phone, my laptop, my tablet. I go to the store and many of the debit machines ask you to touch the screen. Bank machines do as well. My HP printer has touchscreen. Is it any wonder my brain thinks all screens are touch? Sheesh! I'm just waiting for the day I got to Best Buy or something and stop to admire the TVs and just reach out a finger and start jabbing at the screen. "Ma'am? You break it you buy it." Crap! Then again, they may soon have touchscreen TVs. You never know.

My lovely printer. I have grand-daughters so they like to put stickers on things to pretty them up. I don't mind. Whoa, I need to dust!

I know there are others out there who are like me. There have to be. I can't be the only one. Can I?

The "Progression" of eyesight.

So our glasses were in. Whoa. If you ever see someone walking and moving weirdly, and they wear glasses, then know this: they just got their new eyeglasses. Sympathize with them. Be patient with them. Okay, giggle a little, but help them if needed.

I've had mine for four days now. I'm nowhere nearer being used to them. Progressives are like being on a roller coaster ride without the cart to be securely tied into. The world tilts, sways, goes blurry before clear before blurry again, suddenly appears nearer or farther... Yeah, real trip. My knees gave out halfway up the stairs when I got home. Never mind trying to wear them in the mall right after putting them on for the first time. I found myself putting them up on my head and going blurry just to stop the nausea. Think I'll just sit on the floor over here and hug my knees, thanks. They told us it could take up to 2 months to get used to it. If we really can't handle them then to let them know and they'll try to think of something. At the price they were, I'm going to get used to them whether I want to or not!

I'm Canadian. Yesterday was July 1st, Canada Day. Something like the US, we have backyard BBQs, drink, go fishing or after the parade to the local fair grounds or wherever they have events. Most businesses are shut down for the day.  I spent the morning watching my eldest play back to back ball games. They lost the first, though they did get warmed up by the end of it, so they were hot by the time the second one started five minutes afterwards, and they won it, securing their place in the semi-finals.

She made a catch at home plate to get a guy out that was a beaut! Brought her whole team bench to their feet cheering her on. Did I mention I was sitting in the shade of a tree behind the opposing team's bench yelling my cheers to her? I got some weird looks, I tell ya!

After the games it was lunch time and my grandson wanted a Happy Meal. I wanted some DQ afterwards. It was hot yesterday. 

BTW, those of my new glasses. It's not so bad in the car, wearing them. It's bi-pedal movement that really screws you over. LOL Isn't my grandson a handsome little man? He was certainly enjoying that cone. 

After getting home I made a cheesecake with vanilla mousse on top and tons of fresh berried layered over it. It was good. We BBQ-ed in the rain. The food was still good despite the thunder and lightning that started. No fireworks that night due to storms, but we needed that rain. We'd had a fire ban due to the weather. Not enough rain, too many sunny heatwaves. Grass everywhere was yellow, gardens dying... But now it looks like no more rain for a few weeks again. Nice. We move to this house and plan all kinds of outdoor work and gardening and heatwaves keep up inside and no rain kills my garden before it gets anywhere. Screw you, summer!  This is why I prefer Autumn.

Heatwaves and Sunstroke and Eye Exams, Oh My!

Apologies for not posting in a bit. Things have been crazy. And it's not so much one or two big things going on that get in the way, but mostly all the little things that happen on a daily basis with a few bonus events that keep you running for days.

A week ago my baby sister and I went to get eye exams. We had been putting it off for too long due to financial issues. But we finally went. No cataracts, no glaucoma or other eye diseases. Well that's great! But... we both need progressives. I was warned I'd need some. My sister wasn't expecting it though. So did you know progressives are basically $250 per lens? No? Neither did we, until they totaled that cost with the cost of new frames that would be possible to hold progressives. So you can imagine our shock. I feel bad for others who need progressives. I mean, by the time you factor in the lens costs and the frame costs and the exam cost... You're looking at $1000.00 or more for glasses. I had hoped to get Transitions or maybe prescription sunglasses. Er, no, thanks, I'll suffer the sun. What the hell?! They're definitely taking advantage of growing old. How many retired elderly people can fork out that kind of money on top of other medical prescriptions and possibly other costs to make living at home easier? That's just horrible.

On the way back from the city we stopped at a store so I could get a little something for my eldest grandchild who graduated pre-k that day and who's grad I was missing due to the eye exam. Went into an Ardene and got all kinds of pretties for her. She's such a girly-girl. Loves dresses, makeup (she's allowed perfume and nail polish and lip gloss) and all manner of jewelry and hair pretties. They had a sale on most of that 5/$10. I also got her hair chalk so we can bribe her to cut her hair. She wants it long like Rapunzel, but hates to brush it. We figured if she could colour it with chalk she'd want it to look nice all the time and might get it trimmed or thinned and brushed daily. They had these "surprise" bags 2/$5. So I got two. These had socks, sunglasses (ironic, but they're not prescription) and hair pretties. She was spending the weekend with me while her mother went out on an early birthday weekend celebration so we had some fun fixing her up.

After the Ardene shopping spree, I only spent $40, we drove around our old childhood neighbourhood. My baby brother was driving. I don't drive. I want to, but in this province taking the course is mandatory and that's $1200. Anyway, the house we had lived in burned down years ago and a pretty new house is there now. But it was nice to drive around and go, "I remember I had a friend who lived here..." or "We played here all the time" or "OMG, nothing here has changed! The houses are still 70s-ish!" After all the reminiscing we headed home. We stopped at a park along the way we had gone as children when our father was still alive. 

We were not exactly dressed for it, I wore sandals and dress pants and a blouse because I had hoped to make it to the grad for an hour, but couldn't. We hiked up the path, careful of bears, and went up nearly all the way to the first waterfall. The path goes up the Laurentian Foothills. Beautiful area. Streams, dense woods, a few breaks in the trees, a rock wall... More reminiscing, more flooding of memories. But we had a heatwave starting that day so we didn't get far and promised we'd come back someday with our kids and my grandchildren so they can enjoy it.

The weekend with my grand-daughter over was horrible in the sense that it was a heatwave and all we had are fans to try to keep us cool. We had prepared with lots of bottled water and cold cuts and microwaveable meals so we didn't have to cook. Try explaining to a five year old why you can't make Kraft Dinner during a heatwave despite that being what she wants to eat. Bribery with ice cream after she eats her sandwich helped. 

After the weekend, on Tuesday, the heatwave broke. It was a sunny yet cool day so out I went to get some work done. Our summer had been late in that we'd had really cold weather until the second week of June. So I wanted to get some gardening done. My strawberry plants were finally starting to show new growth. Our garden is clay so I had found a great deal on black earth. Nine bags for $10.50! Four of them went into the garden and my step-dad brought me a rake and shovel. I worked there, and then started on our walkway. Part of it was leveled so I dug out one side and started to re-fill it for the white stones my sister wanted (we are roommates). Then weeding out back. My two eldest grand-daughters came for the day while their mother went to the hospital. 

I coldn't continue with the digging and white stones until my brother came to level the walkway you see that's overgrown with grass and sinking. He's since done it, but I don't have enough white stones. I'll need another six or eight bags to get it all done. Sigh. The planters of earth will be for herbs and patio climbing mini cucumber plants. 

A full day outside and I never realized that I had a bad sunburn. I've spent the past three days inside, feeling icky and asking my sister to put something on my burn. Why oh why did I not think of sunscreen and a hat? I had that itch to get working and I did. Well, I'm paying for it now. At least the place is looking good. Hahahaha.

Get The Ball Rolling.

Since this is a nice house and we're happy here and we have more room, we want to decorate it pretty. Things we couldn't have in the tiny apartment. Some things we still can't have because some of our cats are little assholes, but some we can. So I thought I'd make some of those balls with thread and/or string and balloons.

Blew up a bunch of water balloons and got everything ready. You know what? It's not as easy as they make it look in the videos to roll these babies! Don't let those videos fool you. I had to re-attempt the first one several times until it was looking somewhat acceptable. My visions of perfectly formed balls are nothing more than dust in the wind. 

Ran out of black floss to make another or two of it. I'll have to get more black. They're going to go into a tray I spray painted with that fake stone stuff in an ivory that I'll trim in espresso and gold. Should look good. When I'm done all of it I'll proudly show it off. But in the meantime, I had one heck of a mess to clean up. These will take a day at least to dry completely. I need another coat of stone paint on the tray, but it's been raining for two days so I have to wait for a less humid day to do so. I don't like to spray paint indoors. 

Before that I helped my eldest grand-child, Malory. While visiting her father, he got her a book she must have chosen. It's like a diary and there are pages to put in photos. So onto Facebook we went to find the photos she wanted from her mother's FB as well as mine. I printed them out and I should have known she wouldn't just choose a few, but want them all on the two pages. 

I had to wait until she was gone before I could even start on my own crafts. Had I not, 90% of my stock of crafting things would be used by her for "pictures" she makes or leaving in a bag with her to use at home with her sisters. Sigh. I love my grand-children, I do, and maybe that's why I can't resist their pleading faces. So I've learned to wait until they are not present to do certain things or bring out certain things. I've also learned not to take them when I go shopping. I learned this the hard way. I learned this when I went $52 over budget because my grand-daughter loves craft things and hand lotions and lip balms and snacks. Yeah.

Life As We Know It In A Box

You never realize how much crap you've accumulated over the years until you have to pack and then unpack. We donated a bunch of stuff before we moved, but towards the end it was more of a "just throw it in a box and we'll sort through it later" deal.

When I say "we" I mean, my baby sister, her daughter and I. Barely anyone can afford to live alone anymore. Plus, my sister and I have the same likes in many things so it works out. We defer to each other on all things, and I let major decisions be hers if I'm flexible on it.

We moved beginning of May, and we've unpacked a lot. We were going to donate a bunch of stuff to help the people who lost everything in the Fort McMurray fires, but they will only accept money donations now so I guess we're going to have a yardsale. 85% of everything packed was my sister's and her daughter's. So we still have several boxes and bags to go through.

We spent the first few days cleaning and sleeping on mattresses on the floor. We washed everything down and shampooed the carpets. Then we started on doing small repairs we could do ourselves and yard work. Then the slow process of unpacking. During the day we worked downstairs until we could finally see some of the living room floor. Then in the evening we worked in our rooms. After a week of this we were sore, tired, and fed up. So we took a few days to recuperate and de-stress. Now that we have the basics put away, we can go more slowly. And as we empty one box, we fill others to sell.

Usually we donate to the less fortunate. The local food bank is our choice. We have some second-hand places in town, but they still tend to over-price. We know what it's like to not have much or to struggle so we would rather donate to the food bank and those who cannot afford to pay much can get the clothes or things for free that they really need. But... moving, eating out for a week because we couldn't cook yet, and getting cleaners and so on, ate into our finances quite a bit. Add in the extra few hundreds for rent for this house, and we will be having a yard sale. It's also a great way to meet neighbours. They wander over to see what you have and get a peek at you, and you can start a discussion.

Though my sister met one neighbour. We wanted to be sure of our property line so we don't tick anyone off by accidentally having stuff on theirs. One day, she saw the neighbour on our left was outside so she asked him politely. He made a noise, pointed and walked away. To him, it was an annoyance to have to deal with it. Well, excuse us! Guess he's not getting any muffins or cookies from us. Look, if you want to be treated decent by your neighbours, treat them decent. It's that easy. If you're going to be a jerk and rude and behave like we're annoying you asking you one little thing or if we say "good day!" then don't expect us to be kind to you!

I was told he complained a lot if you had what he considered too many visitors. Yes, at first my daughter and her boyfriend, our brother and his friends and son came to help us so it was busy here. We thanked everyone with a BBQ for helping us. It's been quiet since. Not that we were loud to begin with. We weren't. But I have grand-children, the eldest is 5, and the youngest is 1. They like to run and play. We have friends and family. They don't always come around, but we do like to have gatherings for Holidays or birthdays or special occasions. We don't need a stick in the mud to bitch we're too lively for his tastes. We don't crank the music outside, we barely crank it inside! We may laugh loudly at times because we like being able to laugh. We would like to include our neighbours in fun times, if they'd like to be included. But we refuse to turn away family and friends to please someone else. I'm sorry. We respect others and noise laws and that others can be sensitive, but we will not become recluses to please you.

Other than that, things are coming along. Slowly, but surely. We still have moments of, "Oh crap, where's...?" And we hunt through boxes and bags. It will remain that way for a bit yet as we purge and figure out how to set it all up. How the hell did we have all this in a smaller place?

The Joys of Moving

At first you get really excited. A new place! We can decorate it the way we want, we can place things the way we want, we can get a new this or that or we can plan this or....

And then reality hits.

We need boxes for packing. Oh crap, now we have to pack. Sigh. What do we not need? We'll pack it right away. We'll just leave the basics we really need out. Crap, now we need more boxes. We have too much stuff, we need to purge! Oh, I know, let's have a yard sale once! Since we're so busy now we'll do it when we've moved so the stuff we want to sell we'll pack together and mark the box that it's for selling. Okay... Now... we need more boxes. Okay... now.... what? We need that thing we packed? We never used it for two years and now we pack it we need it?! Seriously?! Crap, what box is it in? We now have no more room for packed boxes. No, no, we can't block the cube freezer with boxes, what if we need something out of it? Days later: why don't we have this or that for dinner tonight? Soon we'll be eating just sandwiches since we'll have to pack everything. But that entails wading through boxes and climbing over others like a mountain climber and... Oh no! I forgot we need to thaw out the freezer before moving it, and...

Don't you jut love the 70s kitchen? Yeah, that wasn't our choice. The landlord wouldn't renovate or reimburse if we did it. We're moving from a small two bedroom apartment to a house. 

A HOUSE!!!!!! With a yard. A real yard! So now we have plans of a small garden, finding patio furniture and a BBQ and planting flowers... Do you have any idea the cost of patio furniture nowadays?! It's disgusting! I could get a new living room set for that! Or new fridge and stove!

Anyway, we're two days away from being in a new place. All the calls to transfer cable, internet, phone, etc... have been made. I'll be glad when we're there and our biggest problems will be finding which box has certain specific things. I marked them as clearly as I can, but I don't want to make a list on the boxes. And is it just me, or do you get nervous marking some things clearly on a box in case someone moving your stuff decides they'd like to keep it. "Oh, it somehow got lost in the move." No. You're not getting my stuff I scrimped and saved for. 

So at this moment I'm on the phone with the cable/internet company. We had everything set for the 1st, but that's a Sunday and they don't do work on Sundays so I called them. Well, looks like we have no available time for a tech to go set you up.... let me go look see what we can do. We could be without internet for a week or more. That kind of makes me cringe. I can amuse myself doing other things, but I can't even play on the PS3 because I need the internet to save my games (Playstation Plus member here). Well, the 3rd is the earliest they can come hook us up. Sigh. Oh well. 

Well, back to work. More packing to do. I can't wait for all this moving stress to be done with.

I Love Free Stuff!

Who doesn't, right?

We're all looking for that contest or giveaway or group that gives free trials or gifts. We see the word FREE and our attention is caught. For some of us, we don't even care what it is we're getting free so long as we don't have to pay for it.

Free oil change with every tire alignment!

Okay! I don't have a car, but sure, I'll borrow one or something just to get it free!

And we're not the one who's "free" crazy then we all know someone who is. They're often also the coupon clipper. "Here. A coupon to save $200 off Lasik surgery!" But I don't need Lasik surgery! "Someone will need it and you'll thank me for the coupon!"

My mother would go crazy for sales. "Coffee is on for $2.99/jar!" So you got 30 jars? Will you even use 30 jars? My mother would give some as Christmas gifts to those who drank it. Sigh.

I'm afraid that I've inherited some of that. I don't buy 30 jars of coffee, but I clip coupons and I like free things. Today's economy demands it. I do save coupons on diapers for my daughters who have babies and toddlers. Oh, a coupon on such and such! I don't use it, but my daughter does!

Well, this time I'm the one who got something free. I joined Influenster, where you can leave and find reviews on just about anything and everything! Seriously, give it a try. Every now and then they pick some members to get a VoxBox with an item to try for free and review. There are rules, of course, but it's worth it. Mine was for the new L'Oreal Paris Root Cover Up. I did get it free, but my opinion here is my own and honest.

So yesterday after I showered and my hair dried I took the little spray can into the bathroom and liberally sprayed it on my roots. First off, don't use it liberally. Too much is not a good thing. My hair was tacky and dry, reminiscent of the 80s and all the hairspray we used to get those puffy hairstyles. But it did work. And it covers grey awesomely. It's great for in-between colourings. It was a little too dark for my blonde hair, and when I buy it I'd get the light blonde one, but it still blended fairly well despite that and I got compliments on it.  So definitely would recommend it for temporary coverage until you can dye your hair.

I may be a grandma, but I'm still only in my 40s and I'm not ready to go grey yet. Especially since I've been single for a long time and want to find a nice man.

As you can see, it did a great job. I'm prone to grey hair at the front and it covered it quite well. They recommend spraying it just past the roots to blend it in. I left it to dry a few minutes and then brushed it through. At first I didn't think it covered the dark roots too well, but looking at the photos, myself, I see it didn't do too bad. It's a temporary "fix" until you can colour. Especially if you have some event coming up and you can't get it coloured right away. Spray some on, wait a few minutes, brush it out and go. You can style as usual with it on  as well. 

Walmart.ca has it for $11.86 before shipping and taxes.

Amazon.ca has it for $13.49 to $16.18 before shipping and taxes.

Well.ca and Shoppers Drug Mart.ca  did not have any on their sites yet.

If you're interested in Influenster and joining them here is their link.

Let me know if you've tried the Root Cover Up and what you thought of it!