How I Spent Spring Break

Spring Break is all over and done with. I went back to work today on a very chilly morning, -12 degrees C, and before you know it, it's like we were never gone! There were 3 or 4 mornings when I looked outside and the picture didn't look much different from the picture that is my header. We still have snow covering everything. No grass in sight.

Did I accomplish anything that I said I wanted to get done in my last post? Let's see.

"One project I hope to get done over the break is painting the upstairs bathroom, it's wallpapered at the moment. It is way overdue for a paint job.
I really need to get into my sewing room as well. It is a total disaster area at the moment. No exaggeration. I wouldn't dare show a picture." That's what I said in my last post.

Well, we spent all week working on the upstairs bathroom. After much debate we decided to wallpaper again. It took 21/2 days to strip the old paper. 12 hours straight to put up the new paper, and then 1/2 a day to put in baseboard and moulding and clean. Here are a few before and after pictures.

After all the work

Another job we did is put in these interlocking 22"x22" blocks in the laundry room. Couldn't leave the bare concrete now that we have the 'Pacific Blue' pair!! They are really comfortable to walk on, just like walking in crocs.

Unfortunately I didn't get into the sewing room except to go in and choose some yarn to make a little sweater. Still on the needles-pictures soon.

I did read a book over the break.

V
Very interesting. A mystery, suspense type. Basically, young teenage boys getting revenge on priests that 'took advantage' of them when they were younger. A very good read.

Bye for now.

4 more days!!!

4 more days and it's spring break-yahoo!! Can't wait. I'm sure ready for it. I don't know about spring. It snowed off and on yesterday and today. Fortunately it's not too cold (-11degrees) so it won't stick around very long. It looks like there was only about an inch accumulation.

I don't think there will be too much yard work done over the break though. The general rule of thumb in this part of the country is that you don't do any planting out (unless it's is a really hardy plant) before the May long weekend. That is Victoria day May 24th. We really do have a very short growing season, because by mid to the end of Sept. we can have frost. It seems crazy really. We all run out and spend a ton of money on bedding out plants etc. and they only last 3 months. Oh well, better than nothing I guess.

I have definitely been enjoying my new washing machine and dryer - I didn't think I'd ever say that about laundry!!! They are so quiet, I forget they are on. I'm sure the novelty will soon wear off, but I do love them. lol

Got new taps in my kitchen this last week and new lino in both the bathrooms. Much better. One project I hope to get done over the break is painting the upstairs bathroom, it's wallpapered at the moment. It is way overdue for a paint job.

I really need to get into my sewing room as well. It is a total disaster area at the moment. No exaggeration. I wouldn't dare show a picture. As my husband is always telling me it should have yellow tape around it saying 'condemned'. It's really bad. I go in every now and then and it's so overwhelming that I don't know where to start and so I just walk out again. I really can't keep on doing that for ever. I'll never get any sewing done!!! I have very good intentions, but we'll see what happens.

Finished another book. This isn't a book I would have bought myself. I'm not usually a fan of 'western' type books. A friend gave me the book and I was actually surprised. I didn't mind it at all. It's another one of those very predictable books that you know the ending after a few chapters, a very easy read.

Time to go and make supper. We're having lobster tails-very yummy!

Bye for now.

Pacific Blue

How d'ya like these babies!!! (Don't look at the crappy floor!) These were a huge surprise from son #2 for Christmas! I just want to get a chair and sit and admire them. The colour is Pacific Blue. The picture doesn't show the colour very well but it is very similar to Wedgewood blue. They have all the bells and whistles you can imagine. They were such a wonderful surprise, to say the least!

Son #2 is here to visit for a few days so this post is short and sweet!!

Bye for now

Riverdance

It's been a while, but it seems that the weather has been really crappy all along. For me, really crappy is when it is cold and then it warms up with a chinook. That means a migraine!!! I had a MAJOR one on Thursday and Friday. Then the weather got colder and the headache goes away. But the forcast is for it to warm up again this week so my head will probably be pounding again.

On to better things.

I got these beautiful flowers from DH for Valentines. We also went out for supper to a rib joint. So good!!!

Friday night we went to Riverdance. I've wanted to go for years it seems. We got the tickets for Christmas. It was really good. I think it has changed a little from the original show. There seems to be a lot more singing and instrumental parts in it. I really enjoyed one part where the Irish dancers had gone to America. They meet some street tap dancers and it is like dueling banjo's. Incredible!!!

Has anyone read the new Nora Roberts book, Blood Brothers? It is the first book in a trilogy. It is quite a departure from her usual style. I really enjoyed it and am anxious to read the nest book. It's about stuff that happens every 7 years after 3 ten year old boys go into the woods to visit a Pagan Stone. Scary stuff. I highly recommend it for some easy reading.Tomorrow is Family Day, a provincial holiday here. Makes for a nice long weekend. #2 son is coming to town for a visit. Not sure how long he will stay. Usually just a few days and then he has to go back to work (for an airline).
Bye for now.

Sooooo Cold!!!!!

It is so cold here. Yesterday and today it was -29degrees C and with the wind chill it is -50. That is really cold. We had quite a bit of snow on Sunday and the roads are pretty slippery. A third of the student population at school has been absent. Parents don't want their kids riding on the school buses for a couple of hours and they are worried about breakdowns too. I'm so glad we have a garage and an automatic starter on the van. Makes a huge difference-no scraping!!! Just listening to the weather forecast it is supposed to warm up a bit by Thursday (-7) but we should get more snow tonight.

Finished another book. It is actually two books in one. I think most people have heard of the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood but I didn't know there was a book before it. I'm glad the first book was fairly short -2 hundred and some odd pages. I didn't really like it, it seemed to jump all over the place and had lots of characters. I only kept reading because I wanted to get to the second book. I found the second book way more interesting. Very interesting mother/daughter relationship.

This is just a short post as I haven't really done anything other than work, and read and watch tv. It's too cold to go anywhere. Hopefully more to say by the weekend.
Bye for now.

Snowing

I just changed the header picture. I took that picture and the ones below 5 minutes ago from my dining room window! It's been snowing since yesterday. The forecast was for 5-10cm. today. I think we're there already.Didn't go anywhere today. Didn't want to drive in this lousy weather.

We went to a hockey game last night. We won 6-1. Great game. The tickets were the second pair we got for Christmas.
I thought I would keep track of the books I read this year. The three below are ones I read over Christmas break. Not exactly this year, but pretty close.

This is the first Tammy Hoag book I have read. I enjoyed it and will read more of her books. It's kind of scary and a mystery.
I enjoyed this book. Very light reading. Very predictable. You've figured out the end after the first few chapters, but getting there was fun reading. I think a lot of women can put themselves in the main characters shoes.

This is about 4 girls that make a pact in university to always be there for each other, no matter what, and how years later this promise is put to the test. Another very light reading but I enjoyed it.
I've been playing with my digital picture frame that I got for Christmas this afternoon. Haven't got it all figured out yet, but I've downloaded lots of pictures to it.
Time to go and make supper. We're having an "appetizer' night. Just a bunch a snackies!
Bye for now.

Out of Touch!!

Here it is, 2 weeks into the new year and I haven't posted yet. Time flies!!! We have been back at school a week already, and it feels like we never left. It always takes the kids a while to get back into a routine when we have had time off so the past week was a little hairy to say the least!

Our kitchen for the program is finally finished (if you don't count the dishwasher that is leaking, the washing machine that the water doesn't go into, the paper towel dispenser that is too high, no soap dispensers, cupboards that are way too high and I'm sure I could come up with a few more things if you give me a minute). It was supposed to be ready by the time school started in September . Here we are, January, and we are finally going to start the lunch program next week and start cooking.

It's been a pretty tumultuous 4 months for the kids. New school, classrooms that didn't have dividing walls for weeks. We didn't have our sensory room for a couple of months. Then we had to move OUT of the classroom and into the half finished kitchen for a week so they could put new furnaces in the classrooms (portables). They are still in and out of the classroom fixing things, putting up bulletin boards and we still need baseboards and there's some painting still to be done. Maybe by next year it will all be finished!!

To add to all that we (the staff) have all been sick, off and on. I have had a cold every month so far. I had a cough and a cold the entire Christmas break and a 2 day migraine the weekend before we went back to work! It seems like every blog I read, they or someone in their family were sick over the holidays.

Enough of all that. Talk about out of touch. During the 80's I managed a yarn and craft store for 5 years. As you can well imagine, I have tons and tons of yarn etc. We won't even talk about the fabric store I managed after that. I received a gift certificate to a yarn store last Christmas and I had forgotten all about it. I discovered it in one of the recesses of my bag last week and thought I'd better get to that store and use it before they decided that it had expired. As luck would have it the store was closed for inventory!! But, the door was open so I went in. The staff just said hi, and let me wonder around. They offered me a glass of wine as they had been sipping and snacking as they counted yarn etc. This store was very different from the store I managed. This store was very sparse, had comfy couches and coffee tables. Yarn bins along one wall and a few stacked cubes in the middle of the store. There wasn't one textured, or knobby, or fluffy yarn in the store. Everything was very smooth, in different weights, colours and fibres. I guess I've been subjected to Michael's and the like for too long because when I saw the prices I had to do a couple of double takes. There were yarns that cost $49.95/50gm. hank.! Now granted it was cashmere but OMG how much would a sweater cost!!!!

This is what I bought.
2 skeins of Regia Silk. Made in Germany. 50gms/200m. 55% merino new wool, 25% Polyamid, and 20% silk. Very soft in a nice medium brown. The other 2 skeins of Supersocke Cotton. Made in Italy. 45% Cotton, 40% fleece wool, 15% Polyamid. I skein will make a pair of socks. For those 4 skeins I paid $57.97! Gulp! Am I out of touch or what?