Dixie Chicks

Last night was the Dixie Chicks concert in Toronto that I went to with Jill, Beckie and Nicole. It was a fun day!!!
We left Listowel around 11, and headed to HomeSense and Ikea in Etobicoke before we went down town. We were done shopping early, so we headed down about 3, found parking, and then walked to the Keg for dinner.
We were there in enough time to be able to sit down and have a nice relaxing meal. We first got a couple of salads and appitizers and split them between the 4 of us, and then we took our time and ate our meal, then it was dessert time. We had all decided that we would walk back towards the ACC, and stop in at a William or Second Cup, and for those of us who though they wanted dessert.....they could order that, and for those of us who wanted coffee/tea.....we could have it. When it came time to paying I had myself a heart attach when I could not find my change purse which had all my money, my debit card, and my VISA in it. I had to stiff Jill with the bill, and we high tailed it back to the car to try to find it. I knew that I had it in there, because I used it when we piled into the parking garage to pay. When we got to the car it was laying on the back seat, right under a bag.....THANK GOD!!!! We then went to get coffee, and then headed to the ACC for the concert.
It was a good concert, but all I could remember was the amazing performance that they gave the last time that I seen them at the ACC, and I was disappointed with this one. I guess it is never as good the second time around.
It was a late night, and I am defiantly feeling the effects of it today. By the time I crawled into bed, it was 1:45a.m. leaving me with only a mere 5 hours to sleep. That is certainly not enough time for this girl to have her head on the pillow. I need at least my minimum of 8 hours to be able to function the next day. I know that today I felt tired, but I know that I always feel worse on the second day, so tomorrow will be a write off.
Here are a few pics from the concert................I'm off to bed!!!!!!!

A Day of Fall Creations

Today was full of adventures and activities all about fall.
We first got bundled up and mom, Curt and I headed out to the bush to look for pine cones. I am sad to report that we did not find the type of cone that I was looking for. We found lots of the long skinny cones, that you usually find on most pine trees, but not the small, round, fat ones. I am not sure what I am going to do for this project of mine that I need them for, but if worse comes to worse, then I have found somewhere that I can order them from over the internet. I have one last hope though. I have a amish lady that is looking in Millbank for me, and she said that she would bring some in to the bank, and if they are the right shape and size, then I can go and pick them. Keep your fingers crossed for me!!!!
When we got back from our hike in the bush, we carved our pumpkins. I was going to do it last night, when Curt went to the hockey game, but he informed me that he would like to do it too, so it would be nice of me to wait until he was around to do it. So last night, while he was out enjoying himself, I did the best part of it....scrapping out the grinds.
When I was a little kid, and we carved pumpkins, I always remembered my mom taking the pulp and sorting out the seeds, and roasting them for us as a treat, so that is what I did. I always remember the great aroma that the roasting pumpkin seeds left in the kitchen, and I got a little taste of my childhood memories this afternoon when I roasted ours.
So we had two pumpkins to carve, one for Curt, and one for me, and here is our end results.............Bet you can't you guess which one is mine, and which is Curtis's???????????????????

4 Days to GO!!!!

On Sunday Beckie, Nicole, Jill and I are heading to Toronto to see the Dixie Chicks.
I CAN NOT WAIT!!!!!!
This will be the third time that I get to see them in concert, once at Lilith Fair, one other time at the ACC, and then on Sunday night.
We are making a whole girls day out of the event including shopping, dinner, and the concert, nothing that the guys would ever want to do with us. It would be like pulling teeth to get them to go and see the Dixie Chicks and that is why it is a GIRLS DAY OUT, and is going to be SOOO MUCH FUN!!!!
I will have picture of the outing to post on Monday.
(p.s. I hope that you girls have got your vocal cords ready, because I have been listening to their c.d.'s for the past couple of weeks in preparation for Sunday. Hopefully I get rid of this nasty cough)

The Hunt for Pine Cones

I am working on a little project, so this weekend we are going to go hunt for some pine cones.
The picture to the left is the type of cone that I am looking for, and I need about 200 of them, so if anyone out there knows of somewhere in the area that I would be able to find these, could they please let me know. It will make Curt and my job a whole lot easier if we know where to start to look.

The Change of Season's

With every change in season it seems that is the time that people seem to catch bugs [flu bugs, or colds....not insects:)]
The bug hit Davidson Ave. a couple of weeks ago, but it hit across the street first. Harrison was down and out with a cold and flu about three weeks ago, Jill had it two weeks ago, Curt seemed to catch it last week, and this week was my turn. Mine start last weekend, when I had 1001 things to do, and I felt like crap. I was off work on Tuesday, not being able to lift my head of the pillow, and all week I have had this terrible cough.
BEWARE ALL....STAY AWAY FROM DAVIDSON AVE., OR YOU TO MAY CATCH IT!!!!

Just call me Betty Crocker!!!

In the past 2.5 years that Curt and I have lived together, I can not recall one occasion that I have baked.
I am not a real baker, I am more of cook. Well....that all changed yesterday.
Last week I decided that I was going to bake some cookies muffins to have around the house. I do not usually buy cookies, and Curt really likes them, so I decided that I would bake some. While I was at it, I thought that I would make a batch of muffins so that I could freeze them and take them for my breakfast in the mornings.
We woke up yesterday morning and went and got all of the supplies that we needed for the day of baking.
When I got home I pretty much found everything else to do before I had to start with the baking. I had to clean out the fridge after we had brought home all of our groceries. Then I had to organize my cupboards...because I had been meaning to do that for months. I did some laundry, and then decided that it was time. I got the flour, sugar, and eggs out, and went to town.
I am happy to report that we did not burn anything, nothing stuck to the pan, and we know have a fresh batch of raspberry muffins (Curt really did not like them, but they are a Weight Watcher's recipe...so really, hardly any sugar ='s Curt disapproval), and about 2 dozen peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. I brought some cookies to work today, and the girls really liked them, and they are still kickn' this afternoon, so I think that I did o.k.

A Weekend of Weddings

This weekend was a very busy one with 2 weddings to attend on Saturday. One being in Listowel, and the other in Waterloo, it made for it to be a very long and exhausting day.
Curt's cousin Carrie was the first one that we attended.

I did the hair for the 4 of the 5 bridesmaids, so I was up at 6:45 starting to do my hair, and getting everything packed up to go out to her parents place to do the hair. Everything went very smoothly (there was only one girl that I had not done before, so I know what the other three wanted). I was home by 12, which gave me time to sit down and relax for about 1.5 hours before I had to start to get myself ready for the wedding.

The weather was not very nice on Saturday, but it managed to clear up in the afternoon for them to get their pictures done outside, and so that no one got wet when they were transporting from the ceremony to the reception. As I was doing the girls hair in the morning, it was raining, hailing, and snowing. It did not look very promising, but turned out pretty good. Cold, but no rain.

After the dinner at Carrie and Marco's wedding, we headed down to the Waterloo Inn for Pacey & Ashley's wedding. We had missed the ceremony, meal and speeches. We had just got there when the speeches were ending, about 10:30.

We missed most of the day, but we had a chance to talk to Pacey and Ashley, and wish them our best.

Dress Shopping

Last night our search finally ended for our bridesmaid dresses for Cara's wedding.
We headed to Kitchener after work to go to Ballett's, and we found the dress.
This was our second time we had all got together and went looking. The first time we found a dress and it was one of the very first dresses that we tried on. Every other dress that we tried on that night did not even compare to it, and Cara was sure that was the dress that she wanted us to wear....until last night. We tried on some newer dresses, that we had never seen before, and we had it narrowed down to two made by Alfred Sung. It was a split vote between the bridesmaid's, and Cara finally made the decision of the one that we got. It is kind of hard to explain, but I can tell you that it is chocolate brown, and it seems that it will suit every type of height, bust line, and waist line of the different shapes of bridesmaids.
Good choice Cara.....check one more thing off of your list of things to do.

What a week!!!!!!!!

I am trying to ease myself into a new weekly routine.
Until know, I would just do hair whenever someone needed it done. All summer I have not had a free night to myself, and my life has been a little crazy. Until know I can not remember a night that I have had that I could just come home from work, have dinner, and lay on the couch.
This week was to be the week that my new routine was to be implemented. The new routine consists of going to the gym at least 3 nights a week......√ (managed to get that one done), restrict myself to doing hair only ONE night a week...... X (did accomplish that one due to my friends Jill and BJ), and having one night to myself, to do whatever I want...... X (this didn't get done due to house work needing to be done).
One for three......I think that I have some improving to do.
As for next week.....Monday, Thanksgiving @ the McLaughlin's, Tuesday....appointment in Kitchener, Wednesday.....hair, Thursday.....dress shopping for Cara's wedding. Looks like it is a write off too.
What is a girl to do???? The way that our lives run, I am not sure that we will ever be able to try to throw any other lives into our equation.

On a more relaxing note...Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Finally Back to Normal

All of our hard work and efforts have finally paid off. The renovations are completed!!!
OUR HOUSE IS FINALLY BACK TO NORMAL.
Saturday I headed to Ikea first thing in the morning to pick up our new bed frame, and I put it together yesterday afternoon all by myself. I got our new sheets, duvet, and pillows on the bed, and put everything in its proper place. Curt commented last night that it was so nice to have a bedroom that actually looked like a master bedroom, instead of mismatched, chipped furniture, that did not have any matching points to them.
After complete three rooms this fall, I think that we are going to hang up our paintbrush for a couple of months!!!!!!

Curt's away.....SO THE GIRLS GET TO PLAY!!!!

This weekend Curt was in Montreal on a stag, so Lexy and I had the house to ourselves.
Friday night was a 'catch up on our shows' night. We got caught up on this weeks Grey's Anatomy, Beverly Hills 90210, and ER. We fell asleep around 9:30, and were out for the night.
On Saturday morning, Jill and I headed to Ikea so that I could pick up our new bed frame, and we could finally say that our bedroom in complete. I dropped Lexy off at my mom and dads for the weekend, so that she would not have to be at home all alone. I also had to get my dads truck so I could bring home the boxes that the bed was in. We stopped at a few places on the way, and then had to rush home because we had a shower for Curt's cousin Carrie (she is marrying the one that Curt went on the stag for), and then we were going out on her staggette.
We were only an hour late for the shower, but that seems to be our style. I don't think that Jill and I have every been on time to something that we have been invited to. We had a little problem with Jill's I.D. being in Harrison's wallet in Montreal, and wondered how the hell she was going to get into the bar. Finally Jill remembered that she had a passport, but it was at her parents, so we had to find a way to get that, and get ready, and try to be at the shower in 15 minutes. Needless to say we didn't make it there in the 15 minutes, but all was good, and she got into the bar.
We took a bus to London to Cowboys, and it was a pretty good time. The dance floor was not very big at all, and by the end of the night, you could hardly even get near it. There was not much seating in the place, unless you wanted to sit in a totally separate room, where non the action was. By the end of the night we discovered this little room with pool tables in it, and it had big comfey leather couches. A few of us crashed on the them, while we waited for the other girls to be ready to go.
We didn't get home from London until 3:30, so by the time we got to bed it was after 4:00.
I slept in today until 12:45. I can not remember the last time I even slept in past 10:00. It was great. I just lounged around all day, but did manage to get my but off the couch around 4:30 tackled the feet of putting my bed together. I went up to my parents after I was done to pick Lexy up, and in hopes that there would be a dinner on the table that I would be invited to stay for. When I walked in all I could smell was candles, no aroma from the kitchen...but she did not disappoint me. They ordered Chinese food, and invited me to stay, so I got a good supper out of the deal!!!!
Curt has just arrived home, and has gone to McDonald's for dinner with Matt and Jill. All he really said to me as he came in and right back out again was that all he has had to eat was a little mcmuffin at 10 this morning, and that he was starving. I guess that I will have to wait until his tummy is fed to get some stories of the weekend although I can pretty much guarantee that he will tell me.....what happens in Montreal, stays in Montreal.

Curt's DREAM Weekend

This weekend Curt is going on a stag that will take him to Montreal. For anyone that knows Curt, they know that he lives, and breaths the Montreal Canadiens. He really only shares this love with 3 other people, Sholt'c', B.J., and Marco (who is the one that is getting married). Thank god there is at least one person that will be there so he can share the joy.

Operation 'GET IN SHAPE'

In July when Cara and Justin announced their engagement, and asked me to be part of their wedding party, I thought it was about time to get serious about trying to loose some weight.
In August, Curt come home from work and told me that Dynafit was running a special on a years membership for $299.00, which was $100.00 off the regular price. It was a deal for corporations in town, and my mom knew someone from CIBC in Listowel that got it, so she thought that I should be able to get it, even though I worked out of town, I still worked for a corporation. If they would not give it to me through CIBC, then I could get it as a spouse from someone from W & U.
After trying to commit myself to walking at night was not working, I thought that I better give this a shot. With going to the gym, I could go right after work, and I would not have to come home and get comfortable, and then push myself to go back out. I had been talking about the deal one night when Matt and Jill were over here, and she said that she would be interested in getting it too. I called the gym last night to inquire about it, and was informed that the special ran for the month of August ONLY, but since there was two of us, if we came within a week, he would give it to us. We went down last night after work and got the membership, and tonight was our first 'work-out'.
OH MY LORD....I know that I was out of shape, but I didn't know that I was that out of shape.
We went on the treadmill, and I got shin splints. We went on the rowing machine, but it didn't feel like I was getting any sort of workout because there was no restraint on it. We went on the elliptical machine, and the back of my legs were killing me. I did three of the arm machines, and by the last set on the last one, I could hardly lift my arms out in front of me. I did some sit-ups on the ball, and nearly fell off the ball on to the floor. I ended the season by going on the streching machine, and this, by far, was my favorite one of all. All I had to do was sit there and lean back, and it streached my whole back out. Then I would just have to life my leg up, and it stretched them out for me too. No effort was put into this machine, and I LOVED IT!!!!
So, for day one, I did manage to break a sweat, and use a few muscles that I have not used in a very long time (as I can already start to feel it). Hopefully when I wake up tomorrow I will feel the same way about the new lifestyle changed that I have committed myself to for ONE YEAR!!!!

Overnight Getaway

We have not had an overnight getaway all season (if you do not count the weekends that we spent at the cottage), so when we had the opportunity to have a room at the Royal York for a night (free of charge) we jumped at it. We also had the chance to get two beds in the room, so we asked Matt and Jill if they would like to go with us. Our friend Luke lives in Toronto, so we thought that it would be a perfect opportunity to catch up with him as well.
We left early on Sunday morning (thank god we did because we ran into this marathon in down town Toronto, and we spend 1.5 hours driving in circles trying to get to a street that would get us to our hotel parking). We never managed to get there, but we got parked underground only a block away, and that was just fine with us after the frustration that we had gone through for the past hour and a half.
Once we got the car parked, we walked down to the hotel, and met up with Curt`s mom. We did not have much time to stay and visit with her, as we had set up a meeting time with Luke and Angelica of 11:30a.m. Basically all we did was go up to the room, drop our bags off, get some instructions, and then she had to go to the Convention Centre to meet Sid, so she walked with us. We met up with Luke and Angelica at our Gate at the Roger's Centre, and we went in to catch some batting practice before the game started.
We were at the ball game quite early, and by the time the actual game rolled around Jill and I were so tired, we could hardly keep our eyes open. Actually Jill had to shut her eyes a few times during the first couple of inning, and could only keep them open after I said to her....`Wouldn't it be hilarious if they caught you on the jumbo trane sleeping??' She didn't think that would be too funny, and decided that she better keep her peepers open.
After the game was done we walked over to Luke's apartment (he lives on the other side of the Garner Expressway, about a 5 minute walk from the Roger's Centre), and him and Angelica made us dinner. It was awsome.....they made Greek salad, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, garlic bread, and then we went up to the top of his apartment building, and bbq'd steak. It started to rain, but he managed to get it done, and it was AWSOME!!!!! Thanks again Luke and Angelica for the awsome meal.
After we were done dinner, Luke had to walk Angelica to the train station, as she had to get back to London, so we cleaned up, and sat around his apartment waiting for him to get back. When he got back, we had dessert, and it had stopped raining, so we went up to the roof to see all the city lights. He has an absolutely wonderful view of the city from the top of his building. From the one end of the building, you can see the island, from the other you can see the Roger's Centre, and the CN Tower, and all the buildings down town. It was a great view in the daylight, but all that much better when you could see the city all lit up.
We headed back to our hotel around 9, and went for a swim and to the hot tub, and then back up to our room. Jill and I were tired, so we decided that we were going to go to sleep, so the guys went to Jack Astors, which was right across the street from the hotel, and had a drink while they watched the end of the football game.
Yesterday we were woke up at 6:55 by the alarm at the hotel going off. We had a little blonde girl in our room that was freaking out. There was a voice that came over the p.a. system and told us that it was being investigated. Jill didn't trust them, so she went down to the lobby to investigate for herself, and the rest of us went back to bed. After about 20 minutes, they came on again, and told us that everything was back to normal, and Jill could finally relax.
We fell back to sleep for another couple of hours, and then decided to get up. We all got showered, and packed up, and left the hotel to see if the car was still where we parked. To our luck it was, and we were off. We went and had breakfast at a restaurant, and then stopped at IKEA to pick up a few things, and headed home.
It was a great night away, and it was nice to see Luke and Angelica, and see where Luke lived.

Graduation/Engagement Party

Today my parents threw Justin and Cara an Engagement party, and also incorporated it with a Graduation party for Cara.
It was nice to meet Justin's family. Since he is from Brantford, I have herd all these stories about the people that I have never met, and it was finally nice to put a face to the names.
The rain held off until we were just finished eating, and people were starting to head home, which was great because there were quite a few people there, and I think that the house would have been a little crowded with all of them in it.
The day was full of friends, family and laughter, and it was very nice that everyone could get together to celebrate these two very special occasions!!!

Happy Birthday Johnston

Last night we went to Ryan's 25th Birthday party. The party was held in the 'Poker Palace'...so you can probably guess what the theme of the party was.
The 'Poker Palace' is Johnston custom cabinets old shop which is located in the back yard of Ryan's parents place. After the Johnston's built a new shop at the other end of town, the guys work a couple of weekends to convert the old shop into a place that they could meet once a week to play poker. So on every other Monday night there is about 15 guys that meet, young and old, and they have a couple games of poker in the shop.
For the party, we all participated in a poker tournament. There was three tables, and when each table would loose a couple of people, then we would take a table away. Curt made it to the final table, and I was the last person put out before they went to the final table. The little blonde girl from across the street (Jill) won the whole thing!!!! Way to go Girl.....you show those boys for not letting any women into the 'Poker Palace'.
Nicole had got my mom and sister to make the cakes for the evening, which I did not have the chance to taste, but they looked very good. One was decorated with a Poker theme, and the other was a plane one for Ryan's mom Sandy, and his sister Heather, as their birthdays are this weekend too.
Happy BIRTHDAY JOHNSTON CLAN!!!!

Fall is in with a BANG

The first weekend of fall =

What the heck is going on?????

I am pretty sure that Lexy was VERY confused last week when all of the rooms where turned upside down and nothing was in it's proper place, and not to mention that the painting seemed to get all of the attention that she is so used to getting.
It started when we did the living room and dining room because we had to move all the furniture to the one side of the room. Lexy likes to lay on the back of our love seat which is set in front of the window, and from Sunday to Thursday, she was unable to do that.
Then on Friday night, we had to move all of her toys, and our furniture out the bedroom. She kept bringing the toys back into the room just to get something familiar in there I think. When it was time to go to bed she was extra confused because we were sleeping in the wrong room, not to mention that there was hardly enough room in the bed for all 3 of us because of the difference in size.
Needless to say, Lexy is very happy that her couch is back in front of the window, and that we are all back in the right bedroom, with the right size of bed!!!!!

Part ONE of the renovations....COMPLETE!!!!

The living room and the dining room are now complete. The curtains are hung, and everything is back in it's proper place.

The dining room looks great with all of my fall decorations out (the go perfectly with the new colors):

we had one wall in the middle of the two rooms, that you could not classify to be either in the living room, or in the dining room, so this is how I decided to complete it: and the living room:

Happy 'International Talk Like A Pirate' Day

Who knew that today was such a special day!!!!
Here is a quick link to find out what your Pirate name would be.
http://www.mess.be/pirate-names-female.php
Just a little fun for a dreary Tuesday afternoon!!!!
Have a GGGRRRRREEEAAATTTTT afternoon mattie, from Bloody Lizzie.

(make sure to leave your PIRATE name in the comment section of the post)

Renovations (part deux)

This weekend was dedicated to getting the painting all done in the house.
On Wednesday/Thursday night we finished the living room and the dining room, and got the rooms back together.
On Friday night we started our bedroom. We re-painted all the walls, and the trim, and then on Saturday, I stripped all the paint off of the furniture from the bedroom. What a job!!!! That paint stripper is powerful stuff. I had to go to a wedding on Saturday night with burn marks all up my arm and on my hands because it ate right through the latex gloves that I was wearing, and every time it hit my skin above the gloves, it left a big red burn mark.
Yesterday we painted up the furniture, and added the final touches to the bedroom, and last night when my parents came over for dinner, dad helped Curt put the trim back up around the room, and mom and I finished antiquing the furniture, and then we moved it all upstairs. Thank you to Doug and Grandma for helping do that..
Tonight we have to get all of our cloths back in the drawers, as they are sitting in messy piles on the floor in the spare bedroom.
I will be so glad when all this mess is gone, and my house (and our lives) get back to normal.

Renovations

We have been in our house for over a year now, and when we moved in we did have to do any renovating. We did re-do one room however, and that was the room in the basement that is considered 'Curt's' room. Mom and I painted it white, with all back trim and doors (to kind of resemble an ice rink) and then we put a HABS border up around it.
A couple of months ago I had been looking around the house one day and noticed that the wood work was really starting to show some wear and tear (probably from when we moved in), and thought that it was maybe time that a few of the rooms in the house could use a freshening up.
Right know we are in the middle of painting the dining room, and the living room. On Sunday we worked from 8:30a.m. until 6:30p.m. (or I worked from 8:30, and Curt didn't start until about 11:00) washing the walls, and getting the first coats of the paint up. Last night Curt put the second coat on the living room, and almost got the dining room done before he ran out of paint. Being as we can not get away with only the one coat, I will have to make a trip down to St. Jacobs tonight after work and get the second can of paint to finish it. I even put Destiny to work last night taping around the trim so that we can go at that with the paint.
On the agenda tonight and tomorrow night will be the trim work, and getting everything back together.
I was plensently surprised that Curt and I could work together on such a project as this one. We have had no major fights, and have managed to even be able to work on the same room. I thought for sure that by Sunday afternoon I would have to be in one of the rooms, and he would have to be in the other.
Here is a sneak peak of what the colors are going to look like:

(the dining room)

(the living room)

REMEMBER

Do you remember what you were doing 5 years ago today when the world received the devastating and life altering news of the terrorist attests on the United States.

Let's take the day to remember the people who lost their lives 5 years ago in the attaches on the World Trade Center buildings, American Airlines Flight 11, American Airlines Flight 77, United Airlines Flight 175, United Airlines Flight 93 and the US Pentagon.

Happy Birthday Sid and Lois

Last Thursday was Lois's birthday, and today is Sid's birthday and since the two of them are so close together, for the past couple of years we have done a joint birthday dinner at our house.
Due to it being a week night, and me not having a huge amount of time after work to prepare a meal, we did a simple hamburger and hotdogs dinner. Curt did the cooking, and his sister brought the cake (DQ). We had Curt's grandparents over too...and we all celebrated their b-days.

HAPPY BIRTHDDAY RON and LOIS!!!!

A Weekend of Lasts

This was our last weekend at the cottage for the year...which just lead into a weekend of 'lasts' for the whole season.

Our last BBQ at the cottage.

Lexy's last weekend to lounge around and chippy hunt.

And our last bonfire at the cottage.

The weather really did not co-operate for our last weekend at the beach...and we did not even make it down to the water once the whole weekend. We did manage to take a drive on the beach, as the Indian's were not charging to get on, and we stopped in to get the last ice cream at the Trading Post for the season.

It was a great season at the cottage, and we are so lucky to have a place to escape to for the weekend, and leave the ordinary behind. I hope that next year we make it up as much as we managed to this year, and the weather is as good as it has been this year too.

Here is to the end of summer!!!!:(

Looks like its indoor activities for the Weekend!!!!!!

So...we are headed up to the cottage tonight, for probably our last weekend of the summer, and the weather man is being truly disappointing.
For as long as I can remember, the last 'official' weekend of the summer has ALWAYS been a good one, and this morning when I did my regular check of the weather, this is what I found:
Saturday: RAIN with a high of 17 degrees
Sunday: RAIN with a high of 19 degrees
Monday (home day): Variable Cloudiness with a high of 21 degrees.
What a bang to the end of summer!!!!!!!