All Quiet

So it's been pretty quiet since DH got back from his trip. We're slowly trying to get ready for the holidays (very slowly). I keep hearing about all these people with their trees up, lights on and baking done and I'm just sitting there with my mouth open going..."How in the world have you done this already!?! It's not even December yet folks!"

We're hoping that maybe in the next few weeks we can get ourselves out and get a freezer. I have very little space in our fridge freezer and really would like to start baking soon. No idea what I'm going to be making but I do have some cherries (for a pie) and blackberries (for a crumble) that are waiting to get made into something.

I will say though that I have managed to get a jump start on some things...Christmas shopping! So far I've bought

I spy bags for some of the kids

Two of these purses for sister in law and step mother in law (not this fabric)

Two of these credit card holders to go with purses (not in this fabric)....there may also be a third one in the pile for myself *whistling*

Cute little apron for my secret Santa name pull in my family.

And two of these belt buckles for brother in law and my secret Santa name pull for Hubby's family.

Hrm now to figure out what DH needs...and to vacuum the floor. I just noticed now there's a weird black dot on my card photos. I really hope it's fluff and not a bug.

All By Myself

Okay now I'm going to have that song stuck in my head

"All by mysellllllfff.
Don't wanna be
All by myselllllfff anymore"

Okay that's outta me now.

So Hubby was away for 5 days in Dallas Texas at a conference. It was cute because before hand he tells me
DH: "So you want to go on vacation?"
Me: "Ooooh sure. Where?"
DH: "Dallas"
Me: *blink* *blink* "Ummmmm...."

Dallas isn't really on my top list of places to got. Heck I'm sorry to say it's not even in the top 75 (yes I have a list) but I'm sure it's a wonderful place to visit but with the little vacation time I have right now I didn't really want to use it by going to Dallas. So I'm home...single...until Wednesday.

To pass the time I took over the couch in the living room and did these:






Also I did a stupid thing on Tuesday night. I was making myself a snack after work of cracker and cheese and as I was slicing the cheese I managed to slice my thumb open as well...and I mean really slice it. Like I've never bleed that much before in my life sliced it.

I was looking up numbers for clinics, finding out how deep a cut has to be before you need stitches. It took almost 30 mins for the bleeding to slow down/stop but thankfully I didn't need stitches. The whole time though I'm thinking "OMG...okay don't go into shock.You'll be fine. You can still drive if you have to. You're going to be okay...(I'm not very good with blood)." Thankfully though all was fine and I finally calmed down but it was definitely an interesting night.

What's weird though is as I was starting the cut I was telling myself "don't cut yourself". Plus while I was waiting for the bleeding to stop I was mad because I had a huge craving for cheese now and couldn't cut any as one hand was bleeding and the other was trying to stop the bleeding. I was not impressed!

So now I'm trying to function with out the thumb and I must say it's been interesting. I never knew how much I used the thumb on my left hand before but now that I can't use it it makes doing some stuff a little more interesting. I hope I'm back on track soon. Don't like using my index finger in place of a thumb...but I do get a lot of sympathy from Hubby so I guess it's not all bad ;) .

I Remembered!

Yay I remember to grab the memory cards out of the cameras this morning. So here's what's been going on lately:

First it was sad to pack up and say good-bye to the old place

It was such a mess in the end though


and very empty

We had some great times there and it was our first place but we really did need the room.

When we got to the new place the first thing that had to happen was the wall in the garage had to come down.

It's a fire hazard and not allowed and the last thing we wanted to do was get strata mad at us

The guys had fun though taking it down until it came to the framing and they forgot to bring a drill.

But it did come down only to fill the space with all our storage items.

The other major project that Hubby worked on was the tiled wall in the living room (and matching wall in the kitchen nook)

The boys went to tackle this and...well I'll let the pictures show what I ended up with in the end





I'm not letting them touch the kitchen nook now!

But no we'll get it down in the end however we're calling a professional as the wall is two layers of drywall and Hubby just doesn't feel comfortable tearing down two layers then putting them back up. I just hope I don't have to wait too long before the wall gets fixed. That hole in the wall isn't exactly what I was picturing!

I Feel Bad

I feel bad. I've been neglecting this blog. It's not that I've forgotten about it it's just...I don't know. I've got all these photos of what's going on and I feel so bad because I either keep forgetting to take my memory card out of the camera or don't have the energy at night to make a post. I will say that the last few weeks have had lots of ups and downs for Hubby and I but more on that later. For now I've just got to tie that piece of string around my finger and try try try to remember to get those pesky photos off my camera.

Oh and PS...I was getting tired of the old colours and thought a change was needed.

Gobble 'Til Yah Wobble

It's been a crazy few weeks and this blog unfortunately got neglected :( . DH and I before we moved in told the family that this year we would like to have everyone over for Thanksgiving dinner. As of Sunday morning I thought this might have been a big mistake.

The last 2 weeks have been busy moving boxes around, trying to unsuccessfully take down tile, putting together what felt like a hundred chairs (really only 10...and hubby did half), and getting our place respectable enough to have 15 people over for our first ever dinner party.

FIL (Father in law) came over thankfully early Sunday morning to help with the turkey as this was foreign territory to hubby and I. I can proudly say though I did not make the rookie mistake...the giblets and neck were not left in the bird. FIL gave us some great tips on stuffing and prepping the bird and I loved the fact that we used cheesecloth bags to put the stuffing it. Soooo much easier to take out later.

However the fun part came when we had to baste the bird. It took both of us and we checked on it every hour. We even rotated it because it was looking a little more brown on one side then the other. We got a little nervous too because the bird kept making sounds while it was cooking that almost made us wonder if the thing was going to blow up in the oven.

In the end though we all managed to squeeze both everyone and all the food on the table. The turkey was a success and I received high praise on both the bird and the gravy which made me sooooo happy. I've been told the torch has been passed and we're welcome to host Thanksgiving dinner any time we want.

Now if only there were some magical way my dishes could wash themselves. Sigh.

Almost Feels Like Home

Haven't been able to get caught up with things online lately it seems. I've fallen behind on blogs, boards, Facebook and now my own blog. I'm hoping my excuse is good though. You see Hubby and I have moved and I tell you when we looked at the town house it sure didn't seem that big but now that all our stuff is in it, it seems HUGE! There's a whole bathroom and bedroom that I've barely even been in yet. The packing is coming along slowly and we couldn't have done any of it with out the help of our wonderful friends and family. It will take a few more days and week until we get things really organized but it's starting to feel like home and we're working towards making it our own. Just hope we're ready by Thanksgiving. Who's crazy idea was it to offer to hold it at our place anyways...oh wait I think it was me!

Summer's Almost Gone

So the weekend was a bit busy for us. It started on Friday rushing to get into Langley to hopefully go on a hot air balloon ride. Sadly though the weather once again was not in our favour. Apparently only 40% of the rides that this balloon company schedules ever make it up. There was one gentleman in the group that had been trying for 2 years and this was his 6th try. We're going to give up for this season as they go into October but most of the prime spots (aka evening flights) are already booked. However since the tickets were our friends who knows if we'll be able to make it up again next year. Oh well we'll just have to play it by ear I guess.

To drown our sorrows we went home and opened our anniversary gift we received from Papa F. I thought this was a great idea.


We received a bottle of wine for our first anniversary and a bottle of wine for our fifth anniversary. Can I just say that the fifth anniversary wine just might not make it if it tastes as good as this one does!


The weekend though was saved by our friend inviting us out to go boating at Alouette Lake. We were originally planning Saturday but again due to weather had to hold out until Sunday and what a gorgeous day it turned out to be.


The boys got the boat in the water, only to have to pull it out and put it back in again (apparently a plug was left out and the boat ended up having a bunch of water in it). Us girls and the kids waited patiently though and in the end the boat finally got into the water.


We started the day off with fishing but before we went back in Hubby and our friend T wanted to get some tubing in. First we had to pump up the tube (here's the answer to the question "how many men does it take to pump up a tube")


then they were on their way.




Not sure who had more fun...the guy in the tube...or the guy driving the boat.

One Year Ago

One year ago I was stressed out beyond belief...

One year ago I was up to my neck in ribbon, paper, fabric, phone calls, e-mails...

One year ago I married the man of my dreams!



So it's our anniversary. Our first anniversary. They say the first anniversary is suppose to be celebrated with the traditional gift of paper and thankfully we have lots of that around. It's being used to wrap things up but at least we can say we celebrated in the traditional sense.

We spent the day together trying to get a few more boxes packed (gotta love the dreaded junk draw...which now becomes the junk box)



and getting caught up on a few of our favourite shows. It was nice to have a day at home just to ourselves and to relax a little. We went for a great dinner out at the Keg (the shrimp was huge and sooooo tasty) and I think the couple next to us helped give us dinner and a show. Can't remember a lot of the conversation but they were definitely loud and animated. Plus hubby had to roll his eyes at her outfit. Hubby's not a big fan of the halter top with bra look...especially when the bra doesn't come close to matching the top.

After dinner it was off to the movies to see the Ugly Truth. Good movie, no where near Oscar worthy but definitely good for a date night which is what we wanted. Then came cake. Yes my wonderful mother managed to save and salvage our wedding cake and hide it away in her freezer. Thank goodness she did or it might not have made it to our anniversary.



And what surprised me is that even a year later it still tastes as good as I remember and gave us a little buzz from all the sugar. I think I'm still shaking!

Thar She Blows

So Friday night...doing dishes (yes I have no life). Actually it was Friday and we had been out for dinner and had a friend over and while hubby and he talked I thought it would be a good chance to get caught up on the dishes. Now the faucet has been whistling for weeks now which we assumed was just a washer problem. It only happened when the hot water was running and yes we thought we should fix it soon but never got around to it.

So the sink's about half full when suddenly the water just stops. No warning...and no water. The boys at this point are just loving this because you know what this means right? TOOLS!!!!



So they set to work trying to fix the problem while I sit and wait for the verdict. Verdict reads death sentence...no call from the governor, no last meal.

So we traipse out to Curtis Lumber the next day in search for a faucet. We find the cheapest (but still not cheap) one we can and start hooking it up later that night. Well guess what...we should have listen to my dad's advice which was "Do you think you'll need new pipes as well. Not all faucets have the same length to them"



So back again we go to Rona this time for the pipes. But thankfully it's all working now and I can do dishes again (um yay?). Too bad that I can't enjoy this baby for long though.


18 days left and counting.

Busy Busy Busy

So it was a busy weekend and the week is going to be pretty busy as well. It started with welcoming into town Hubby's good friend from Halifax. N had been living in Winsor Ontario for a few years working on his Master's degree and has decided to join us here in beautiful British Columbia to work on his Phd. He was joined by his younger brother M and the two of them have been cruising around town seeing all that Vancouver has to offer.

We also moved in my mother in law this weekend to her new place. It's a small one bedroom rental apartment in downtown but the views from it are amazing. My favourite thing would be to sit outside in the morning with a cup of coffee and just look at the water and the boats in English Bay. If she gets tired of that view though she can turn around and look at a small sliver of Coal Harbor on the other side and the rest of the downtown core. It's only a short stay though in this place (4 months) but it's definitely a good find!

And finally there are a few birthday's this week as well. The first is Hubby's on Tuesday and the second is my mom's on Wednesday! I wish them both a very very happy birthday and wonder...what the heck am I going to get them? Off to go find some ideas!

We Bought A New Place

So we got a new place plus new kitchen on the weekend. No it's not another town house. It's...


a tent

and

new 2 burner Coleman stove!

Yup it's a 6 person tent with vestibule and man is it ever big! Hubby and I had more then enough room in there for a large inflatable mattress plus all our gear. We have morphed into the drive in camping people which is completely different from my "what ever you carry on your back is what you get" days.

We also got a new stove and let me tell you what a joy it is to cook on this. Again with the carry it on your back method you take with you the smallest camp stove I've ever seen. This baby has 2 burners and sure packs some heat!

Overall though Hubby and I had a great time relaxing and hanging out with our friends. The lake was refreshing, the bugs stayed away, the kids were so much fun to be around and of course what camping trip would be complete with out the

They're Everywhere

They're everywhere.



In our living room...
hallway...
bedroom...
and even our storage locker



And what's scary is I think it's only going to get worse as time goes on!



send help
...and more boxes...we have a lot of stuff in this place!

Sign Your Life Away

So our real estate agent stopped by last weekend to give us this.



As well as a bottle of wine and made us sign our life away. The conditions and subjects are all off so the deal is done and the townhouse is ours! There is still some baseboards that the previous owner has to fix for us and the wall in the garage and living room have to be dismantled but otherwise the place is ours! Oh and the "SOLD" sign went up on our place as well. Always a nice feeling when you drive by it.

Lists And Progressions

So hubby and I sat down and had a really good talk over what we want to do with the new place. Why is it that the place is twice the size of what we currently have and yet I still feel like our stuff won't fit in. Maybe it's because our storage locker is full of stuff not to mention everything my parents are storing for us as well aren't currently in our place. Hrm. But we made a list of the things that we'd like to do/get when we move in and wow. Didn't expect it to be so long. Also as you can see I have to start carrying around note paper with me but thankfully we had a napkin to write down our ideas.



Now if only I can remember to bring home boxes so we can start the packing!

What Are We Going To Do With It All?

So we've gone and done it. We're townhome owners now. Hubby and I signed the papers and we've still got some conditions that need to be addressed but otherwise the place will be ours at the end of September.









Could be an interesting adventure for us. More room, which we have to figure out how to fill. Wall in the garage have to come down and tile in the dining room and kitchen nook have to get torn down so it could be a little work but we're looking forward to it. Now to convince hubby that the larger of the two rooms would work best for a craft room instead of an office!