Home for Her

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Ready. Set. Grow.

It's officially summer this week and the warm season gives us an excuse to abandon our usual routine, slack off on our inside chores and spend more time outside, including taking care of the lawn.

I still don't have a lawn mower but I've managed to get by thanks to my kind next door neighbour who cuts my side of the lawn whenever he cuts his lawn. Seriously, I should buy one soon.  I must admit that my lawn maintenance skills have improved since last year.  I make sure that my grass is watered every 4 to 5 days compared to once a month last summer.

Aside from keeping the grass green, my dad planted my vegetable garden again, this year I have collards, lettuce, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, hot house tomatoes, zucchinis, blueberry bush, red peppers, hot peppers, green onions, mint and beans.

Might be a lot for my one person, but I growing your garden is a good investment, since it's organic and costs much less than purchasing them at the grocery store.

Even though I still have a lot to learn about gardening,  here is what I've learned so far (courtesy of my dad):

Use peat moss to mix with your current soil, try to use compost to add nutrients
Consider spacing when planting certain vegetables
Certain plants grow better when planted close to specific plants - according to my dad
Water garden 4 to 5 days, make sure the garden is soaked.  You'll know if you are watering it properly if you can still fill the moisture in the soil a couple of days later.
Cut the tips of certain plants to promote growth

That's just a couple of tips I've learned so far.

Ready. Set.  Grow.

Lessons Learned

Yesterday I learned a very important lesson about renovating.  Never get hasty.

This became crystal clear to me when I spent my Monday evening trying to move all the shit that has accumulated in the basement over the last 1.5 years.  (I'm getting a mini-panic attack realizing how long this process has dragged on).

My dad is almost done insulating and adding the vapour barrier, now it's time for drywall. Before we can do that, we have to clear space for the drywallers to come in and do their work.

This meant a lot of clean up in the basement.  There was leftover ABS pipes, copper pipes, old junction boxes and many pieces of wood that were kept for so long.  There was no real use for these items, we just held onto them just in case we needed to.  Well that hoarding bit us in the ass, because we were forced to move them.  Some items were transferred to my dad's trailer,  while most got dumped in the garbage bin.  Unfortunately the bin was getting full and there was still shelving that had to be discarded.

Luckily I live in an urban area, so I plopped some of the pieces of wood and cabinets on my front lawn, clicked a photo and posted it on Craigslist.  I purposely made the ad as vague, forcing people to actually come by to take a look at the items.  My hopes is that somebody will just take the items just because they made the trip to check them out.  If that makes sense.

So after the pieces of wood, pipes, tools, bags of concrete and mortar were all moved, we still had the many boxes of tiles and 14 cases of laminate floor that had to be moved.  Yes, tiles and flooring.  I bought these over a year ago, the wiring wasn't even done.  What was I thinking!?

The laminate flooring was purchased through a supplier at work after I found out that I could get an employee discount.  I will admit, I was naive and my head was still in the clouds.  I was too preoccupied with paint colours and HGTV and didn't pay attention to the actual work that had to be done to get to the finishing stages.

I was already out of breath moving all the tools and junk and had little energy when I saw the tiles and flooring. Thankfully my tenant was around and was able to help.  By this point I was kicking myself for buying the flooring.  Why didn't I just a buy a condo?

So there you have it.  Don't bother with the finishes until the drywall is done and you're 100% ready to decorate.  I bought my flooring thinking that I would be living in the basement.  Well I'm not going to living there anymore.

Right now the flooring is tucked under the basement and I'm hoping they won't have to be moved until they are ready to be installed.

Curb Alert!

Signs of summer

We've had a wonderful bout of weather in Toronto over the last couple of weeks.  I think it's now safe to retire the winter clothes for the season.

I never really had to store my winter clothes while living at my parents house.  Now that I'm on my own, space is limited and it makes sense to store the winter clothes.  It also gives me the chance to carefully go through my winter wardrobe and edit any pieces that I no longer wear.

Before opening up my drawers, I googled "How to store winter clothes" and found a great video on Howcast.com.  I removed all my winter clothes, with the exception of some light sweaters (just in case, you never know what Canadian weather!).  All my heavy sweaters and heavy pants are now in a pile ready to be washed and stored.


According to the video, I should buy some acid free tissue paper and lavender oil to keep the moths at bay.    I also have a couple of winter boots that need to be wiped clean and conditioned before I store them.

This is no fun task, but at least I get to make room for new summer wardrobe.  I don't know about you, but I always seem to have a shortage of spring/summer clothes this time of year.

Specifically I'm looking for summer pieces that I can wear at work and layer with a shawl or cardigan.  I need something to keep me warm when the office air conditioned is cranked to igloo temperature.

I did some window shopping this week but the prices are a bit to steep for me.  End of July is the best time to buy clothes for Spring/Summer.  Prices go down dramatically; so right now I'm making mental notes of the pieces I want, including:

Cute summer wedges - I've had my eyes on these puppies since April.

Rompers, because shorts are coming back and I have none in my wardrobe!

Trouser jeans.  I've been thinking about buying a pair for at least 2 years. They are perfect for the office and can hide my hairy legs between leg waxings.

Those are just a few wardrobe pieces I've been thinking about. Now I'm wondering if I can hold off until July?!

Pampering Mama

This past Saturday the sisters and I took mom out to Body Blitz Spa  for her Mothers Day gift.  Yes, I know, Mothers Day was actually last weekend but it's not worth going out on the holiday because everybody wants to take their mom to a spa.  Nothing like a busy and crowded spa to ruin your experience.

CheapGurl tip:  Never go out to eat at a restaurant on Mothers Day or Valentines Day, the service is crap and you end up paying a lot for nothing.  If you want to celebrate, go before or the day after.

Oddly enough, the four of us have never had a spa day, not even when my sisters got married.  It would  have been nice to take mama out to a swanky spa, but we opted for something more affordable and so we decided to go to Body Blitz.

Body Blitz is a all female water spa located in downtown Toronto.  For only $48 you can use their therapeutic waters consisting of a salt-water pool, steam room, sauna and hot green-tea pool.  

Reservations are required and the spa is equipped with all the beauty essentials to get you out the door looking fab.  No need to lug around your beauty bag, just bring some face lotion, your make up and a comb/brush. A locker is provided to store your stuff, you just walk around with a key chain.

Each person is given a robe, a towel and sandals during their stay, but I suggest you bring your own flip flops to avoid getting confused with the mass of brown sandals.  Also, there is a tendency to loose track of your robe, especially when there is a sea of orange robes, so I suggest you use the cubbies to store your robe located by the pool.

Overall it was a great time enjoyed by all.  I couldn't think of a better way to bond with the family and indulge in some R&R.   Most importantly, my mother really enjoyed it.

Body Blitz doesn't just offer the therapeutic waters, they offer a variety of treatments and a smoothie bar. Maybe next time I'll check them out.

Pros & Cons

As I mentioned before, my boyfriend is teaching in UK for a year.  It's always been a dream for him and although I miss him like crazy, it gives us both a chance to grow up during this time apart.  Perfect timing since I just moved out of my parent's house and needed to gain some independence.

We honestly don't know what's going to happen when bf's contract is over in July.  The teaching position he currently holds hasn't been renewed.  The school opted to hired somebody for a lesser pay and someone more local.   They didn't know if bf was going to stick around in the UK for another year.  Although a valid reason, it means that everything is still up in the air.

Naturally, the bf's parents want him to move back to Ontario and get a steady and stable job.  However teaching positions are very competitive here, more people graduate with teaching degrees while there is no mandatory retirement age for current teachers.  It's slim pickings I tell ya.

Bf and I have had a lot of discussions about the future.  We talk about moving in together, getting married, although not for another 2 years, I think.  However, if bf can get a job in the UK, then he might just stay there instead of moving back to Canada with no teaching job. 

We've been exchanging a lot of emails and texts lately, so I though I would share a snapshot of our exchanges.  Since I'm really bad at making decisions,  I've made a pros and cons list of the various scenarios we can end up. In the end, it's not an easy decision. There's no perfect outcome, just pros and cons.  Which scenario can we live with?

My email to boyfriend yesterday:

Should I be worried that no job opporutnities are cropping up for next year, or could it happen last minute.


I'm looking at the following pros/cons


Scenario #1 - Stay in England 


pros:
You will have a full-time job 
Remain in Europe , get to travel
Meet more people
I might join you

cons: 
Rent / food costs
There might be a chance that I won't get to move to England
Faraway from friends and family 


Scenario #2 -Move back to Toronto


pros: 
You live with me and eat tuna 24/7
 Near your family and friends
 Focus on paying off debt 


cons:
 No full time teaching job
 Need to buy a car if you end up teaching outside of Toronto
 Not earning a lot of money 


Scenario #3- Teach in another city in Ontario


pros:
Closer to Toronto, compared to the UK
 Full-time teaching job 


cons:
Housing and food expenses - more?
Transportation costs to travel betwen cities 


Boyfriend's response:


Those are all the pros and cons (apart from the tuna) that I've thought about when considering these decisions.. Would you move to vancouver with me?


Like I said, too many decisions!

I love the smell of wood

After a relaxing weekend in Mississauga with the family, it was back to work today and more work on the house this evening.   I came home this evening to the smell of 2 x 4's and man did I love it.

It's a been while since I've rolled up my sleeves.   My father has been doing most of the renos the last couple of months, squeezing in a couple between whenever he has a free moment from his hectic schedule, and man is he ever busy.  He's been working a lot of triple shifts, because typically the summer time is really slow for him so he's trying to take the work while it's available.

Tonight we were installing the vapour barrier.  So what is that you ask?  Well, after you have insulated the exterior walls, you know, that pink stuff that looks like cotton candy, but it's not, and you should never, ever, touch it.  Make sure that shit doesn't come in contact with your skin or your our eyes.  Anyway that pink fluff needs to be covered tightly with plastic to protect the insulation from moisture and condensation.

It looked fun in the beginning, but the novelty soon wore off.   You have to be extra careful when putting this stuff up, because every hole you make will have to be sealed off with special tape.  Sure it was fun to use a nail hammer and pounding the staples in the 2 x 4's, but one small miss and bam, a tiny tear would have to be covered.

It was very hard to differentiate between a tear in the plastic and a dent from the staple, so I ended up putting tape on everything, better safe than sorry.

Anyway I spent 3.5 hours working on it with my dad, and we only put plastic on one side of the wall.  In conclusion, putting up vapour barrier is not fun, unless you know how to use a hammer nail and you don't mind taping up your mess ups.

I'm tired, therefore I don't know how to end this really crappy post.

Soooo tired.  Off to bed. zZZZZZZZZZZ