Garden Updates

The hostas that D's mom gave me are doing wonderfully.

The varigated one is huge!

This unique yellow hosta was given to me by my friend and neighbour, T. Notice how the stems are red? It was not growing well in her full sun garden, but is flourishing in my shady one!

The astilbe that T also gave me is doing well. I've lost the tag she gave me with it, so I don't know when it will bloom, hopefully soon. The little purple flowers I bought at Wal-mart, but it wasn't until I got home that I realized that they were for full sun, we will see how they do in the shade, but I may have to give them to T next year.

The Daylilies from D's moms garden are just starting to bloom, I wonder what colour they are going to be? I can't remember what her looked like from last year, and I keep forgetting to ask her.

This is an Alpine Columbine that I bought from Wal-mart. I just love the unique shape of hte flower, but aparently it's hard to photograph with my camera...

This looks like I was down a hill trying to take this picture, but there is no hill there!

And... we're done

See? I knew that happy feeling wouldn't last long.

Three weeks ago (three weeks already!!) D went to see our GP about a red spot above his belly button that was very tender and hard, like a penny under his skin. She took one look at him and sent him right to emergency to be seen by the surgeon. It was an abscess/fistula that needed to be drained. The procedure of draining it was very traumatic. A little local anesthetic, and a slice. The Dr. didn't even give him any pain medication for after the anesthetic wore off. Luckily my sister had some percocet left over that my mom brought over to us.

That first weekend was rough. The surgeon didn't put a big enough bandage on the wound and the first night D bled all over him self and the bed. F#$&ing surgeon, can't properly dress a wound and wasn't concerned with his comfort at all! The next day we went to the hospital again, this time to the Community Care Access Center Ambulatory Clinic to have the dressing changed. The nurses there are very nice.

"Is that all they put on there?" Was her reaction to seeing the amount of gauze the surgeon put over the incision.

Every day D has to go back to the clinic to get the dressings changed. Inside the incision is a strip of gauze that they call a "wick", just like a candle. It is used to keep the incision from healing and to promote drainage of the fistula.

Over the last three weeks there have been some ups and downs, and last week we honestly thought things were starting to look up. He was off the antibiotics, it was draining less, the nurses were even talking about having him come in every other day instead of every day. However, this weekend D took a turn for the worse. He started having a lot of pain on his right side, where his inflammation is and the wound started draining A LOT.

Even the big pads the nurses put on haven't been able to contain it the last couple nights. Yesterday D called his specialist to see if he should be back on more antibiotics, but he wasn't in until today. This morning when he went to the clinic, the nurse thought that perhaps he should be on IV antibiotics. That would require him being admitted to the hospital. I really hope that it doesn't come to that, because he would be really upset if he had to miss a bunch of work. That would upset him more than actually being sick.

** Updated** D does not have to be on IV antiboitics. However, he will be back on pill form antibiotics for the next month.

Sunshine and Rainbows

I'm not exactly sure what has got into me the last few days; maybe it is the weather, maybe the long weekend, maybe it's the donuts that were brought into the office, I don't know. But whatever it is, it is fantastic! I am so happy. I noticed it yesterday at lunch. I went to Tim Hortons for some soup because I didn't have any left at work and as I was standing in line I couldn't help but smile. I was smiling at the little old men that probably go there every day for coffee, and at the way the sun hit the maple trees blowing in the wind. I was happy and content. I felt muscles in my face relax that I didn't even know were tense. It was wonderful.

I am well aware of how fleeting these moments of true happiness are, so I am savouring every second of it.

Long Weekend Projects

Back to work after a lovely long weekend. It came early this year, which I don't like because of the higher probability of cold weather. Saturday ended up raining a bit so it was a good thing we tackled our first project that day and stayed indoors cleaning the house. D's mom and some of her girlfriends were passing through town and had not seen the house, so they were going to be stopping by. Our house has not been this sparkling since we moved in! And it stayed clean for about a whole 24 hrs.

Sunday we started our biggest project of the weekend, new lighting for the kitchen and bathrooms! We have been waiting for a tax refund to be able to buy the lights and that, after a year, finally came in last week so we went shopping! The first store we tried to go to was closed, and the second one was too expensive but we found all 5 light fixtures we needed at Canadian Tire of all places. A couple were even on sale! We managed to get the first one installed before my parents came over for dinner that night (we thought we'd take advantage of the clean house and have everyone in). We almost installed 2 more on Monday but realized that we need a ceiling hook to complete the light over the kitchen table, so that will have to wait. for now, it is hanging so low that it is almost hiting the back of the chair. I'm not sure when we will be able to get to the bathroom vanity lights. Hopefully soon.

The last project this weekend was kind of impromtu. I went to the garden center with my neighbour T, just to have a look, and found some wonderful purple and white flowers. I planted them in some urns in the front of our house.

Our One Year Anniversary

May 1 2008 started out like any other day; we got up, and went to work like always. But when the phone rang at 3 o'clock that afternoon, everything changed. It was our lawyer calling to say that our massive amount of debt is official and we can come in and pick up the keys to our new home. I then left work early, went to his office and was handed a small brown envelope that held 2 keys on chains from his practice. From there, I drove back to our apartment to pick up D and Jak so we could all go to the new house together as a family. Together, we unlocked the door to our new home and life together.

Jak was very unsure about his new surroundings and tip-toed around for the first hour, not really leaving our side for fear that we would abandon him here. Jak is a rescue dog and we are his 3rd set of owners (not including the humane society where I got him from) so he is in constant fear of abandonment.

We had a few boxes that we brought over to store in the basement, but other than that, we were not moving any of our stuff in yet. When we gave our 2 months notice to the landlord at the apartment we were told that we would have to be out by noon on April 30 --- April 30?? but we don't have our new house until May 1, what are we supposed to do for the night?? To get a truck overnight and pay for a hotel was more than half the rent. We paid for another months rent.

That night we cleaned until almost 11pm and even though I was tempted to camp out in a sleepingbag ont he bedroom floor, we headed back to the apartment and left our house. Living at the apartment that month worked out really well because we were able to get in and clean and paint the entire house without having to live in the mess and worry about getting paint on the furniture.

With the help of our families, over the next few weeks the house slowly transformed from what used to be a student residence into our love nest.

Bathroom Before* & After

We painted every wall and every piece of trim on the main and second floor - we dared not tackle the basement... too scary!

Scary Basement

We replaced the flooring in the downstairs, and I installed a dishwasher**!

Kitchen Before and After

Living Room Before and After

And we will live Happily Ever After!

*Yes, it really was that bright!

**Yep- that's right- all by my self! D handed me some tools and bits every now and then, but I did it!

A Tip

Advice from Grandma's scrapbook for my friend who is having school group work troubles today...

Maybe, if you’d try, young fellow,
You could make the grade.
But you’ll never do it sitting
Idle and afraid.
Maybe, if that job you’d tackle
With your might and main,
You could do it. But to sit there
Dreading it, is vain.

Maybe, if you worked, young fellow,
You could reach the top.
But you’ll never get there while you
At each barrier stop.
If you’d only keep on going
You might climb the bluff,
But you’ll never do it grumbling
That the road is rough.

If you’d buckle in, young fellow,
You might win a prize.
But rewards are only given
To the youth who tries.
Sitting down and loudly sighing
At each sign of care
Will not, this is straight, young fellow,
Get you anywhere.

-Edgar A. Guest

Thinking

If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don’t.
If you’d like to win, but you think you can’t,
It’s almost a cinch that you won't.
If you think that you’ll lose, you’re lost,
For out of the world we find
Success begins with a fellow’s will,
It’s all in the state of mind.
If you think you’re outclassed, you are,
You’ve got to think high to rise.
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize.
Life’s battle doesn’t always go
To the swifter or faster man,
But sooner or later the man who wins,
Is the man who thinks he can.

CONCERNED*

*I don't know who wrote this, but it was in Grandma's Scrapbook, if I am infringing on any copyright, I'm sorry.

I think I'm in love

The company I work for has outgrown our current office and we are moving to the next town over to a new building that is currently under construction. Right now our offices are all spread out covering two floors and a second building. When we move in July we will finally all be under one roof and all on one level. The only drawback about this move is that we will no longer have a coffee shop within walking distance. So we are looking at alternatives. This week we are having a trial run of a coffee system from Van Hauten seen here:
Totally amazing right?! Each one of those packets is a different flavor of coffee! There are 4 kinds of tea, 3 kinds of hot chocolate, and a milk packet that you can add to coffee to make cappuccino or add to the hotchocolate to make it yummy creamy and delicious, or you can add it to the chai tea for a chai latte! Each cup is made individually so it's always perfect, which is good, because I can't make coffee to save my life.

The Making of a Garden

Last year at this time, while we had possession of our house, we hadn't yet moved in. We were busy painting all the walls, installing a dishwasher, and replacing the floors. There was so much work going on inside, that we didn't bother to do anything with the yard. It did help that a month after moving in, I lost my job and we had no money to do anything outside either... but that's another story.

This year however, with the early warm weather, I got the itch to start a garden. I started with this:

This is hanging just outside the patio doors and it contains: Rosemary, Peppermint, and Oregano.
I have another hanging basket shown here:

It has two basil plants (love basil) and dill. I still have to find somewhere with a lot of sun to hang it. Next to that, is a HUGE chive plant that D's mom divided from her garden. That is going to be lovely in sour cream on potatoes from the bbq... mmmmmm. And in the big green metal pot is a hazel tree that D liked. That pot does not drain, so hopefully that tree can swim. Actually I think we may have to dig that tree out and create drainage in the bottom or at least put more plants in there to use up some of that water.

And finally the pièce de résistance, my little shade garden:

It contains hostas and daylilies from D's mom's garden, a couple hostas and an astilbe from my neighbour, T's, garden that didn't grow in hers because her yard is full sun. The rocks around the edge are ones that I dug up while making this garden (no wonder the grass wasn't growing), I hope to slowly replace those stones with ones from the cottage.

Speaking of the cottage, something I haven't done in a while, here is a clipping from my Grandma's Scrapbook:

Results & Roses
Via Aunt Grace Keller

The man who wants a garden fair,
Or small, or very big.
With flowers growing here and there
Must bend his back, and dig.
The things are mighty few on earth
That wishes can attain
Whate’er we want of any worth
We’ve go to work, to gain.
It matters not what good you seek
It’s secret here reposes:
You’ve got to dig from week to week
To get results, – or roses.