tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80414409308695692042024-03-13T07:44:47.575-04:00Red Four Forty TwoAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-5979051081942812982015-04-23T10:41:00.003-04:002015-04-23T10:41:56.607-04:00Update: Betty and green things growingWell, I have done it again! I have failed to keep up with posting on a semi-regular basis like I promised I would (anyone surprised by that?!). It's spring now (although the sprinkling of snow outside would beg to differ) and my last post in <b>February </b>was about Betty getting spayed - my little baby growing up! What has been happening since then?!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JFPDLuuWjs0/VTkCCG51GYI/AAAAAAAABm4/eXO2OpLQJV4/s1600/DSCN8990.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JFPDLuuWjs0/VTkCCG51GYI/AAAAAAAABm4/eXO2OpLQJV4/s1600/DSCN8990.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Betty sporting her cone-of-shame on her bed in front of heat vent.</td></tr>
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Betty was totally fine after her spay, she was sleepy for about half a day after she came home them BAM she was back to crazy puppy (so much for a break!). After Betty got home from surgery she was doing really well with her house training - I had feared the night in the vets doing her business in a kennel would set her back but she seemed okay...seemed is the key word there. Two days after the surgery and Betty seemed to revert back to the week we got her, pooping and peeing in her crate over night, going anywhere/everywhere in the house. What a nightmare! It took some time but she got back on track with her pees on the training pad at the back door but poops?! Lost cause. Keeping up with Betty has been keeping me busy. She has completed the next level of obedience at PetSmart, she has so much energy I take her for two walks a day (average walk distance is 3 km, usually takes anywhere from 45-60 minutes to get the walk completed) and as for house training?! I am taking her out in the backyard at set times to do her thing and she is getting it! The only thing we need to work on is her telling me when she as to go outside. I can't imagine the scheduled trips outside will work for her and I forever, so I have to get her to give me the signal that she has to go out - especially if we are visiting my mum (the only place she is still using a training pad is at my mums, since she plays so much more, drinks so much more and has to pee way more!). All around Betty is doing much better, I think the walks and scheduled days make a huge difference in focusing her energy. The only issue that I am currently dealing with is her new desire to attack my feet when we are on a walk - this is a whole other issue that I won't get into today.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Betty is growing up and is learning about the joys of laying in a warm sunny patch.</td></tr>
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So what else has been happening? Well it is spring and major garden preparations have begun. There have been some beautiful days so far, I have been digging in the dirt, things are being constructed in the backyard (more on that later). But over the past two days the temperature has dipped again and there is a tiny bit of snow in the backyard - enough already! I have plants that are crying out to get in the garden, I need to set them free!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U9005na4HOA/VTkC2hsqH9I/AAAAAAAABnE/kw8JehLXXN0/s1600/DSCN9026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-U9005na4HOA/VTkC2hsqH9I/AAAAAAAABnE/kw8JehLXXN0/s1600/DSCN9026.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pepper forest starring Jalapeno, Ghost and Trinidad Scorpion peppers.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Close up of a Ghost pepper.</td></tr>
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I have started plants from seeds again thins year. A lot of plants. Vegetables and flowers (annuals and perennials). And yes, in my excitement I started too many and some I started too soon. Oh well, could be worse!? I have a forest of pepper plants in the upstairs studio. I have lost count of how many plants to be exact, but lets just say we wont be short on Jalapeno, Ghost and Trinidad Scorpion peppers. Funny thing, I know I will only use the Jalapeno peppers, the other two super hot peppers are for my brother, but if these plants are successful there will still be too many peppers for him to use...what else can I do with an excess of such hot peppers?! The rest of the plants I have started are in the basement. I have three shelves set up with grow lights and they are overflowing with plants! There are several varieties of tomatoes that are doing pretty well but I know the basement has been a cold and less than ideal space for them to get started in. I also have eggplants, bell peppers, daisies, cone flowers, forget-me-not, sage and hyssop growing like crazy. I so desperately need the weather to improve so I can get some of the flowers outside to make room for more seeds to be started. I think I have a problem...addicted to sowing seeds?! Is that a thing?!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-9594446044530771892015-02-26T10:30:00.000-05:002015-02-26T10:30:38.844-05:00Photographing BettyToday I am browsing some photos of Betty since she is away at the vets being spayed. She is staying overnight at the vets so this makes for some quiet time for me and Buster. I don't think Buster trusts that she is really gone - he has already done two sweeps of the house looking for her, he can't believe the house is <i>finally </i>dog-free!<br />
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Getting photos of Betty has not been easy and sadly I missed getting loads of photos while she was a tiny pup. I have been trying to get more photos whenever I can, but it sure is a challenge! Below are a handful of the recent snaps I was able to get of her in the few seconds she stopped tearing around the place like a little tornado!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking a peek at the snow outside</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No idea why her ears are standing up like this</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lounging by the heat vent</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Warming her bum</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sitting still for a split second...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...before jumping at my face!</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-49624726789495358502015-02-25T09:59:00.000-05:002015-02-25T09:59:07.115-05:00Dreaming of a gardenSo it's been really cold lately, like REALLY cold. As in the -30's with the windchill. Oh, and it's snowed plenty. Yet all I can do is dream about this summer's garden. I am hoping that spring shows up soon but who really knows what is going to happen this year. Last year it felt like it took ages for the snow to go and for the ground to warm up, I hope this year isn't quite so severe because I cannot wait to get cracking on the garden!<br />
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All I can really do now is plan, shop for seeds and daydream...oh and soon enough I will be starting some seeds indoors. Seeing little green sprouty-things in the dead of winter indoors helps cheer me up a little. When I do get seed starting in the coming weeks I will share a bit more of what I am planning on growing in this years vegetable garden along with some flowers I plan on starting from seed - some seeds I have bought and some that I saved from last years garden. Until then my fellow gardeners of Southern Ontario, stay strong!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-84363096700490769322015-02-23T13:27:00.000-05:002015-02-23T13:27:18.893-05:00Stay inside and stay warm Part 2Did I mention it has been cold? Well it has. Very cold. We need a new word for cold its that damn cold. I have decided the best way to stay warm is by staying inside - genius, I know! But what can you do indoors day in and day out to stay warm? Bake! Bake all the yummy things your pantry will allow and get that oven cranked up to heat your house!<br />
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I have attempted two apple cheddar quick bread loaves following <a href="http://everybodylikessandwiches.com/2011/10/slice-into-fall-apple-cheddar-quick-bread/" target="_blank">this recipe</a>. Both turned out pretty good, not perfect, but certainly edible enough for me to have to make that second loaf, having demolished the first one in about two days. I did tweak the recipe however, using olive oil in place of canola oil and while baking the second loaf I lowered the temperature to 375 degrees, since 400 seemed too high the first time around and left me with a loaf that was rather brown on the outside while still a bit under-cooked inside. I may still experiment with the recipe as I have found the loaves are a bit too moist and dense, not as bread-like as I had hoped.<br />
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Next up were cookies. I made two types of cookies, first was chocolate chip following <a href="http://everybodylikessandwiches.com/2012/05/the-very-best-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe-ever/" target="_blank">this recipe</a>. They turned out great and made a very large batch. If you are going to make these be sure to follow the baking times closely. I thought the cookies looked underdone so left them to bake for another few minutes when they really were done the first time I checked. They were a bit on the crunchy side because of my own doing. The second batch of cookies I made were sesame tahini cookies following <a href="http://everybodylikessandwiches.com/2012/03/sesame-tahini-cookies/" target="_blank">this recipe</a>. I figured I would give them a go because I had all the ingredients on hand and I often have a hard time getting through an entire jar of tahini before it goes bad. Again, follow the recipe and don't leave them in the oven longer than recommended - I have a bad habit of this! The only change I made to this recipe was to roll the cookie tops in cinnamon sugar with some extra sesame seeds rather than just the raw sugar the recipe called for. The cookies turned out really well and I have really enjoyed them - they are definitely different than your usual cookie and remind me a bit of shortbread.<br />
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Finally I whipped up another quick bread, this time a cheddar jalapeno loaf following <a href="http://www.sugarforbreakfast.com/2012/05/jalapeno-cheddar-quick-bread.html" target="_blank">this recipe</a>. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly, but I used pickled jalapenos. The bread turned out really well. I am not sure how much the pickled jalapenos may have changed the flavor of the bread but I am happy with the outcome.<br />
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Sadly I still have issues with eating bread. I basically stopped eating bread altogether because I was always left feeling not great (serious indigestion) after consuming pretty much any bread product. I thought for a while it was the yeast in the bread that was doing it but I have come to realize it is likely the flour - maybe an issue with gluten? I am torturing myself by eating what I have baked over the past few days and if I don't want to keep feeling like crap I am going to have to try some gluten-free recipes.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-27593706774147373922015-02-19T13:36:00.002-05:002015-02-19T13:36:39.917-05:00Stay inside and stay warm Part 1It has been really cold lately, as in the high -20's with the wind chill...and the sun just keeps on shining...fooling me into thinking it will warm up slightly. So what do you do when it's this cold outside? Well, you stay inside of course! But I am getting pretty tired of sitting around inside, since there is only so much you can do to keep yourself and a hyper-active 5 month old puppy busy day after day. I have tried to get Betty out a couple of times when the cold hasn't been too severe but she has shown her extreme dislike of this weather by stopping at the bottom of the walkway in front of the house and turning around and running back home. We have been getting out once a week to go to puppy class at Petsmart, which gives her time to socialize with other puppies and dogs, practice her skills (sit, stay, come, leave it etc.) and she gets a nice walk around the warm store! We have also taken trips to my mum's place so Betty can have a change of scenery and run around with/torture my mum's dog Millie. This past Saturday though marked the end of puppy class and Betty won't be starting an Intermediate level class until mid-March. What to do?! We plan on visiting Petsmart for a few indoor evening walks. There really isn't an alternative as there is no where else indoors to take a dog. <br />
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In between eating, drinking, pooping and terrorizing me, Betty likes to spend her time snuggled on her puffy bed, covered in blankets positioned in front of the heat vents. She is one clever puppy - she moved her bed from one side of the room to the other just to be near the heat! I think we should all be like Betty and park ourselves in front of a heat source and snooze for the rest of the winter!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-1645060546011168122015-01-23T10:31:00.000-05:002015-01-23T10:31:00.926-05:00Goals for 2015Never mind New Years resolutions, this year I have made myself a set of goals for 2015. These goals are simply things I want to achieve through the year - do more of this, less of that, try some new things and get some essentials done around the house. I plan on revisiting this list of goals every so often and I will let you in on the progress I am making. Does anyone else out there have a list of goals for 2015? What do you want to accomplish this year?<br />
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<b><i>1. Get Betty house trained</i></b><br />
My number one goal is to get Betty house trained. Some puppies seem to be easier to train than others. I am sure Betty is not the worst but she has been frustrating. I plan on having her fully house trained as soon as the good weather rolls around. I also hope to have her trained fairly well in the areas of <i>sit</i>, <i>stay </i>and <i>leave it</i>. Right now she is doing pretty well with <i>sit </i>(when a treat is involved) but <i>leave it</i> is a biggie we need to get sorted! I would also like to improve her walking on-leash skills. She loves walks, no doubt about that, but walking nicely without ripping my hand off? We will see!<br />
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<b><i>2. Organize and clean the basement</i></b><br />
I started on this almost right away, but whether anyone besides me could notice the difference in the dungeon of doom, its hard to say! I figure this will be a long term project and will require weekly maintenance because of the nature of our basement and the state it is currently in. To sum it up, the house is over 100 years old, the foundation in referred to as a "rubble foundation" and it is in need of repairs and until the repair work is done by a professional (this is NOT the type of foundation fix a DIY'er can or should try solo) the walls continuously "shed" dust, sand and dried mortar. In case the crumbling walls weren't enough of a messy challenge, the main floor of the house has no sub floor, so there is a constant flow of dusty debris raining down through the cracks in the floorboards creating a layer of yuck on everything stored in the basement.<br />
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<b><i>3. Increase the vegetable garden in both size and yields</i></b><br />
The summer of 2014 was my first year at growing veggies in the garden and for my first year I think I did pretty well, but improvements can always be made. I am hoping to expand the garden this spring, build some additional raised beds, make better use of the raised beds I already have and try some new crops. I also intend on setting up a dedicated seed starting space in the basement.<br />
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<b><i>4. Attempt canning and preserving what I grow</i></b><br />
For a long time now I have been interested in canning and with last summer's veggie garden I had good reason to start canning to preserve some of the veg I was knee deep in! I didn't give it a go last year so this must be the year! I was gifted some canning supplies for my last birthday and I plan on putting them to good use this year.<br />
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<b><i>5. Use my studio space</i></b><br />
Lucky me, I have studio space in my home! I hijacked the smallest bedroom to use as my very own creative space and to date I haven't put it to good use. More often than not it has become extra storage space, a dumping ground for <i>stuff</i>. This year I plan on using the space as I originally intended: to get back to making things, working on the artsy stuff that I have always wanted to dedicate more of my time to. To up this goal a notch, I also hope to re-open my Etsy store (pretty sure I said that last year...regardless this will be the year!).<br />
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<b><i>6. Eat more real food, less processed crap and get healthy</i></b><br />
I suppose this must sound like a typical New Years resolution of "lose weight", but I am not cutting out anything cold turkey, I'm not starting some crazy trendy diet and I am not setting unrealistic goals or sinking money into gym memberships that will go unused. I know I need to lose weight and make improvements in my life to get healthier and there is no better time to start making those improvements than right now. I am trying to make slight adjustments here and there by cutting back on some things and substituting good foods for the bad ones. I have a target weight that I would like to reach by the end of the year - nothing outrageous or unrealistic for my body type, just something that would make me more comfortable and that might help alleviate some of the health issues I have had that can be attributed to being overweight.<br />
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<b><i>7. Be more active</i></b><br />
For starters I need to do more walking, less sitting on my butt, no excuses now that I have a dog to walk! At the moment the weather has not been good for going for walks, its been pretty cold and icy out - too cold to take the puppy out but I should still be getting out there...and I will! In the better weather I am aiming for two walks a day, I need it and Betty needs it, she is a very high energy dog. I expect to start and end my days with a walk with the pooch, along with all the other walking around and physical activity that will take place in the garden. I also aim to use my bike more. This past summer I failed at getting on my bike and I don't know why? There's no shortage of trails around my house. This year I intend on a bike ride a week (once the weather is right). I have not decided yet, but I may look into some exercise classes this year (like I did in 2014). I found some to be really enjoyable and they really made me push myself, the down side was the classes were a drive to the other side of town - there wasn't anything very local.<br />
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<b><i>8. Get my drivers licence</i></b><br />
Have I mentioned that I don't drive? Yup, I don't drive, don't have my licence, have never driven a car (with the exception of a spin around an empty parking lot with my dad when I first got my learners permit, which expired so many yeas ago!). Oh, and did I mention I live in a town where you really REALLY need a car to get from point A to point B? My goal is to take my written test for my learners permit (G1), get some practice driving in, take driving lessons and attempt to get tested for my G2 as soon as possible. This one is a big goal for me because I cannot continue relying on other people for drives everywhere, I want to be able to go on a road trip across Canada one day and must be able to share the driving responsibilities with my trip-mates and there are some people (cough *husband* cough) that have said they don't believe I will ever drive, so I must prove them wrong!<br />
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<b><i>9. Finish all the DIY jobs I have started</i></b><br />
So there are a couple (okay, maybe more than a couple) DIY jobs that I have started but failed to finish around the house. I am vowing to complete the half done projects before diving into any more. For starters, the shelves in the dining room - the brackets I needed that were back-ordered at Ikea for about 8 months FINALLY came in, I can get cracking! Oh, and there is another unfinished dresser in the basement that needs a coat of paint...the list goes on!<br />
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<b><i>10. Hold a yard sale</i></b><br />
I have wanted to do this for some time now and this summer feels right! I hope to hold a yard sale to help get rid of some of the excess amounts of stuff I have in this house - it is scary to think that barely 3 years ago I moved from a 1 bedroom apartment to a 3 bedroom house (with a basement and garage) and I still have managed to over-stuff the place! It's time to de-clutter and let go of things I have been holding on to for far too long.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-495019326301033312015-01-21T13:19:00.000-05:002015-01-21T13:19:34.258-05:002015 What, already?! And a Betty updateSo a bit of time has passed since my last post...oh and also Christmas and New Years! I hope everyone had a great time over the holidays and got their 2015 off to a great start! Christmas was good but a little hectic for me, having to deal with the world's craziest puppy and all! Betty has been doing pretty well since New Years but the month of December was difficult. She is one stubborn little puppy that does not want to be house trained and that wants to grab anything and everything with her little razor blade teeth! We started a new puppy class on January 3rd and it has been going pretty well. There are only 3 other puppies and their families attending the class and the instructor could not be more patient, friendly and in love with what he does.Overall Betty is taking steps in the right direction but I am hoping that with her puppy teeth due to start coming out any day now, the biting and random chewing on things will ease.<br />
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As for house training, great progress has been made over the past 2 weeks. Betty is not getting me up in the night anymore AND as a bonus she is not having accidents in her crate! She had stopped getting me up in the night at one stage but continued to pee in her crate. I cannot begin to explain how frustrating it is to have to change the blankets and towels in her crate once, sometimes twice a day! Betty is now having very few accidents in the house - when she does its usually because she has been playing and gets distracted and out of nowhere a pee hits her! She is almost exclusively using the training pads stationed at the back door. I would like to get her going outside and abandon the training pads but it has been pretty cold lately and she seems just too small to handle the cold (and when it takes 2 people 10 minutes to get her coat on each time she has to go out I haven't bothered).<br />
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One big regret I have with Betty so far has been my lack of picture taking with her. I had grand ideas of getting videos and photos to document every step of her journey with us...that has been really difficult. I am at home with her all day myself and I have been kept so busy running around after her, cleaning her messes and being chewed on that I haven't really had time. She also tends to not want to sit still, and to top it off she is a black dog that doesn't photograph well - especially with our dark wood floors (sometimes she is nearly invisible). It doesn't help that I have a crappy camera and that with it being winter and all, by the time the husband gets home from work and could potentially help with handling the moving target known as Betty, it's just too dark and any attempt at a photo comes out looking dreadful. One of my goals for 2015 will be to get more photos of Betty - its just sad that I have very few photos of her as a squishy teeny-tiny little puppy. I am hoping this winter doesn't drag on like last winter and we can get outside more and snap some photos.<br />
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Along with taking more photos of Betty, getting her fully house trained and hopefully morphing her into the best behaved little doggy on earth (yeah right!), I have several other goals for 2015...I will post more about them later and I promise to share my progress with reaching these goals as I go.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-27097073200602671462014-12-11T11:32:00.002-05:002014-12-11T11:32:42.524-05:00What has been keeping me busy?As my last post mentioned, I have kept quite busy since the summer. September started off with me getting the finishing touches completed on the spare bedroom. There was a massive cleanup that happened, the closet/office was finished with some shelves we made, the empty bed frame finally got a mattress and bedding, curtains were hung and an old dresser I bought from a thrift shop almost 2 years ago was finally refinished and given a proper home! I wish I had some photos to share but didn't get any when the room was all clean and set and since then Buster cat has made a mess of the bed to an extreme - getting fur everywhere wasn't enough, he had to get sick all over the new duvet!<br />
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The spare room was completed as we were having visitors from Ireland. In traditional fashion, when you live in Ontario and have guests visiting Canada for the first time, we went up the CN Tower immediately following their arrival. Let me tell you, it is worth going up for dinner. Let's be honest, going up the CN Tower is an expensive elevator ride and depending on the time of day and weather, you never know what kind of view you will have. If you go up the tower for dinner then the elevator ride is free - and the fixed price menu makes it really worth while. The food was fantastic, and what luck did we have?! There was a massive thunderstorm happening during the dinner - we are talking MASSIVE thunderstorm! From the time we sat with our drinks until well after we left for the night, a lightning storm hit the tower - now it would be difficult to plan a trip like that if you wanted to see such a light show, but if you have the chance to be at the top of a giant lightning rod during a storm, take it, its madness! The tower is so solid you couldn't really hear the thunder but the flashes of light were something else! The tower was hit repeatedly while we were there and it was spectacular. The only downside is that the outdoor observation deck is closed in such weather...boo! The following day we packed our bags and car and took our visitors for a week of Canadian cottaging on Georgian Bay. As this all happened the week school started back there was virtually no one in the area staying in the surrounding cottages so it made for a quiet and relaxing time. The weather was good for the first half of the week before we got a good dose of rain and cooler temperatures. We still managed a splash in the lake and a hike in a near by park where I saw my very first porcupine up close and personal! I love porcupines and have always wanted to see one and in the excitement surrounding the sighting I forgot to take photos.<br />
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Almost immediately after our visitors set back off for Ireland, the husband followed - for a week long visit for a friends wedding. Left on my own I made the crazy decision to take a part time job when offered a position by a former employer. What was I thinking?! It was not bad at first, getting back into the swing of working outside the home and going back to a job I was very familiar with, but very quickly I remembered some of the reasons I had moved away from that job all those years ago. I stuck with it for a short while but this week is my last and then I'm back to being productive at home in my studio...also...I'm at home taking care of the newest member of our family...meet Betty!<br />
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Betty is a Boston Terrier Pug cross and she is super cute but the biggest (little) devil of a puppy. I have been kept running around non-stop since we brought her home (towards the end of October). What a handful a puppy makes and what a mess when this stubborn little ball of energy does not want to get house trained! She is currently sleeping on my lap while I type this...I am enjoying the 15 minutes of peace I will have before she gets up to terrorize me once again! I have been doing my best to train her but she is stubborn and possibly a bit mental (like all puppies). We have been going to puppy school, which was a waste of time and money - we are going to look for a new school after Christmas where we hope to learn more of the basics with her and have a chance to get her better socialized with other pups. She absolutely loves people, a few people in particular she is so crazed over she cries uncontrollably when their visit comes to an end. She has been pretty good with any other dogs she has met but she is just so much smaller than all of the other dogs and puppies she has encountered that she hasn't had a good chance to play with someone her "equal". She does however love terrorizing my mum's dog Millie (a 12 year old miniature dachshund). Betty thinks the world of my mum's house, full of carpet and used dog toys! She also loves driving Millie mad - Millie is good to put up with her but has definitely had to grumble at her and show her teeth to get Betty to settle.<br />
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I hope to post a bit more often than I have been lately, especially since I won't be working odd retail hours anymore, so I aim to keep you up to date on the progress Betty (and I) are making with puppy training. I also hope that once this little fur ball gets more trained I will have the freedom to get cracking on some projects in the studio - when that time comes I will update you on what I'm working on.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-44463809080089419402014-11-13T12:08:00.000-05:002014-11-13T12:08:49.061-05:00Where did the summer go?No posts (garden or otherwise) since the middle of July?! I'm terrible, I know. All I can say is that I became so involved with the garden that I barely touched the computer unless it was to do veggie-related research. Along with being up to my armpits in soil and tomatoes, we had visitors from Ireland (which meant finishing the guest room), a trip to a cottage on Georgian Bay, I started a new job and there has been a new addition to the family (more on that later!) so blogging took a back seat. I will do a slight recap of what has happened since July, but as it's NOVEMBER I won't spend too much time going too far into detail.<br />
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Let's start with the garden...<br />
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After being excited and snapping so many photos of the first few vegetables I quickly became overwhelmed by the volume of veg that the garden was spitting out that I stopped taking photos. What more can I say?! Below are some snaps of the garden that stole my heart this past summer.<br />
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I dare not take and post photos of what the garden looks like now...lets just say there are four empty boxes full of soil in the back yard, covered in leaves topped with a light sprinkling of snow! As far as garden successes and failures, there were many! One of two zucchini plants was extremely productive, the other not so much, but I still managed a total of 51 zooks that were all a very decent size. The chard and kale (the few plants that survived the caterpillars of doom) showed their worth towards the end of the summer, in fact I harvested the last of both just a few weeks ago (blanched and frozen into cubes). Lemon cucumbers were a winner, producing so many so fast I couldn't keep up with them. I only got about two dozen carrots but what I did harvest was great and I can't complain since the seeds were free! As for tomatoes?! I harvested over 85lbs! That was far more than I expected, especially since the weather was pretty rainy and damp and we didn't have as much heat as we often do through August. Sadly there was a lot of lost veg from the week away at the cottage - a soggy, rain filled week that helped rot take hold of the few remaining toms. Radishes were great, beets and turnips didn't do so well and the parsnips? I got about 10 parsnips, some a bit small, others a great size but taste-wise they were lacking. I suppose they could have used longer in the ground (several frosts?). I waited until they had experienced two frosts but perhaps they needed more? Now what on earth did we do with all this produce you ask?! Well there is still a considerable amount of veg frozen in the freezer, we ate veggies non-stop through the summer, I supplied family with more tomatoes than they could handle and box after box of veg went with the man to work!<br />
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Of course now that the growing season is finished all I can do is daydream, research and make plans for next years garden - I cannot wait! And stay tuned, my recap of the past few months will continue with a post on our visitors from Ireland, the Georgian Bay cottage trip and I will reveal the new addition to our family!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-62305926375228952112014-07-18T12:07:00.000-04:002014-07-18T12:07:30.276-04:00Garden snaps and a harvest updateI will keep this post short-ish and simple because I have to dash outside and get to weeding the back lawn (boo)! Below are some garden snaps over the past two weeks along with some of what has been harvested. To date I have picked 8 zucchini, several bunches of chard, 8 little spring onions, 65-70 radishes and 3 turnips and 3 beets - both of which were small, I picked too soon (I was excited!). Here is hoping I get much more in the weeks and months to come!<div>
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Oh, one more thing: what to do with your zucchinis? Anyone who grows zucchinis knows you can easily get overrun with them - chocolate chip zucchini loaf is great (just supply your mum with one or two zucchinis and hope for a loaf in return!). But have you tried zucchini fritters? Best. Ever. I whipped up a batch on Wednesday, they took no time to make, were so easy and yummy. Give them a try when you are up to your eyeballs with zucchini! The recipe I followed can be found <a href="http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2011/08/zucchini-fritters/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-59150918193997247772014-07-08T14:39:00.000-04:002014-07-08T14:39:01.296-04:00The garden is out of control!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, my bad. I hadn't realised how long it has been since I last posted. I suppose I got caught up in gardening and yard work and all of that fun, time consuming stuff. Since the last time I posted, the veg garden has got out of control - in good ways and bad. I won't go into too much detail, but take it from me, you don't want to plant zucchinis in a raised bed...unless that raised bed is huge...and you don't want to grow anything else in that raised bed! I have learned the hard way. Below are some snaps from the past few weeks, just look at everything grow!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Remember this? The zucchini plant on June 3rd. How amazing is it that I grew this from seed?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-13dLK0pXwUI/U7weHAglU_I/AAAAAAAABaE/1jULyy77T-U/s1600/DSCN8270.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-13dLK0pXwUI/U7weHAglU_I/AAAAAAAABaE/1jULyy77T-U/s1600/DSCN8270.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This was taken June 17th. Everything was really starting to take off at this point.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">July 1st...what the heck, right?! The marigolds have taken over and the zucchinis...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...out of control!</td></tr>
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Some advice from me, the beginner gardener who has been doing lots (but maybe not enough) gardening research online: if you research square foot gardening and find the same information I did, that 1 zucchini plant can be grown in a square foot, it is a lie. Someone out there is having a laugh at me right now for believing it. Also, companion planting, a wonderful thing - marigolds and tomatoes, magic right?! Do your research before planting your marigolds...turns out one marigold can easily grow to fit a one foot square (in your square foot garden). So don't plant 3 marigolds and then scatter your remaining seeds to "see what happens". You end up with a massive, solid as all hell marigold bush that slowly but surely spills over its 1 foot allotment and consumes your beets and carrots. Bad marigolds...and bad me for not doing more research. This will be my summer of learning!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a battle between a marigold, tomato and zucchini. I honestly can't tell who is winning.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carrots!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tomatoes!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And chard, oh my! Note: this chard and only this chard became riddled with perfect little holes, why?<br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yesterday I harvested some chard. The few kale leaves to the right are the only ones to survive the dreaded green caterpillars of doom! Where did they come from?! I don't know, but what I do know is they made short work of the kale and to top it off, they left nasty kale poops everywhere!</td></tr>
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In the coming weeks I hope to be doing more harvesting, so stay tuned. I promise to keep snapping photos and posting about my garden adventures along with some of the <i>finally </i>completed projects that have been happening around the house!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-59473284158848247612014-06-13T23:21:00.001-04:002014-06-13T23:21:23.265-04:00My first zucchinisToday I picked my first two zucchinis! I didn't know how large they should be before picking, but after doing some inter-netting, it sounded like if I wanted a tasty zucchini with good texture, I better not let them get to big. As it is, these two are pretty solid, they aren't the usual shape of zucchini I would buy at the farmers market or grocery store - a different variety maybe? Or maybe I did wait too long to pick them...will wait until dinner this evening to tell how they are.<br />
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I shouldn't complain, because there are far worse things to complain about, but this weather and the frequency with which I step outside has lead to a certain someone crying constantly to go out in the backyard with me. I mean constantly. All. The. Time. I cannot go to the kitchen without Buster running after me and standing at the back door crying to go out. I do take him out on occasion on a leash and harness, but I cannot keep up with his demands. I am cooking, he's crying. I do dishes, he's crying. I am anywhere on the ground floor and you can bet he is crying. And if I am upstairs he follows me upstairs and annoys the crap out of me until I follow him downstairs, where he cries, cries and cries some more. I took him out this afternoon for his usual wander around the yard, grass eating.<br />
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Typically something will startle him and he will make a dash to get back to the house but not today, he was going to keep me outside until I had a decent sunburn! I finally hauled him back in, where he protested by crying at the back door before finally giving up and lying beneath an open window. What a tough life he lives.<br />
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If this kind of weather keeps up, I will be spending plenty of time outside with the cat...nevermind the garden! If the weather is nice where you are, I hope you are enjoying it as much as Buster is!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-49527907218896179262014-06-11T12:51:00.003-04:002014-06-11T12:51:55.804-04:00One of these things is not like the other!Today I decided it was time to clear the remaining seven radishes from one of the veg beds. Five of the seven picked were good looking radishes, while the other two must have been crowded and didn't form properly. Of the five good ones, one in particular stood out.<br />
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Can you guess which one?! Maybe the giant purple one on the end?! Believe me, this photo does not do this radish justice. It is much bigger than any of the other radishes I have picked to date and it is purple! Not pink or red like the others. What a thrill...sorry to those of you who have grown veggies for years who have seen it all - this is new for me and the little things - like purple radishes, are really exciting!<br />
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In other exciting (for me) garden news: the sad little lemon cucumbers have actually started to flower! This is a thrill, since the seedlings could barely handle life outside their greenhouse dome, I definitely thought they would have died by now, never mind actually produce flowers! Will see where they go from here. I had trellis for them for the longest time but they just didn't seem to be budging (not growing, but not dying) so I got rid of it. Now they are growing a bit, still not much and they have flattened to the ground. I'm going to let them do their thing and see where they go.<br />
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And last but not least, the most beautiful zucchini I have ever seen (obviously, I grew it myself!). Pay no attention to the protective netting - that net will go nowhere as long as I have successful veg growing in that bed! I can't wait to harvest what I hope will be the first of many zucchinis this summer.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-24612805614710250022014-06-10T13:56:00.001-04:002014-06-10T13:56:06.390-04:00What to do about garden pests?When I started the vegetable garden this year, I didn't really think I would have a huge problem with pests. I figured the resident rabbits might try to get in the beds and nibble away at the tasty goods and that squirrels and chipmunks might snack on some tomatoes later in the season...I was somewhat prepared to deal with these situations if and when they occurred. But what I was not prepared for was for this year to be the year of the CHIPMUNK.<br />
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Last year I don't recall seeing too many chipmunks in the yard, maybe the odd one here and there, cute little guys, right? This year the chipmunk population has boomed - not just in my yard, my mum who lives on the other side of town has had a constant flow of chipmunks running through her yard as well. This years chipmunks are fierce, nasty little jerks hell-bent on ruining everything in my garden.<br />
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Before there was anything planted in the raised beds, I would notice the dirt all dug up and tossed about, I naturally assumed it was the squirrels up to their tricks. Soon enough I was seeing more and more damage, and fewer squirrels. As soon as I started to plant anything (vegetables, seeds, flowers - you name it) they were being dug back up. In one case, within an hour of planting a flower I started from seed (in a peat pot) I watched from the kitchen window as a CHIPMUNK dug up the peat pot and tried to carry it away!<br />
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Obviously the vegetable garden has been a big target for the 'munks. I quickly got tired of smoothing over the soil every morning and knew that no seeds were going to survive at this rate. So I netted each bed. I got a bamboo pole in each corner, topped with a plastic cup, and strung animal netting over each bed. Using dollar store garden clips and some leftover stones and bricks, I tucked the netting down as secure as I could around the base of the beds and then covered the edges with the surrounding cedar mulch. This has been working pretty well. The plants have taken off, seeds that were left in peace have sprouted, garden life was pretty good. Little did I know the chipmunks where laying low and plotting against me.<br />
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After a week of peace, I noticed everything that was not netted was being hit extra hard, the 'munks were clearly trying to send me a message. One evening a friend brought me some of her rhubarb plants (yay!). By the time I was up the next morning to plant them, the plants were destroyed - I mean obliterated! I salvaged the root balls and planted them, fingers crossed...until this happened:<br />
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And it hasn't stopped there. Sunday morning, all was good in the garden. In the afternoon it rained and by dinner time when the rain slowed and I could poke my head outside I saw I site that made me sick...a 'munk had found its way in to one of the four beds and had torn up every last turnip, flattened all green onions, smothered my marigolds and had a good dig around all of the tomatoes. Why?! I had to wait until Monday to fix and re-seed the turnips. I checked every bed and secured the netting as best I could. This morning, as usual, I checked the beds to see if they survived the night only to discover a violent little 'munk trying to get in to one of the beds! It was thrashing around, so much that I thought it was stuck in the netting, then I realized it was throwing a full-blown chipmunk tantrum because it couldn't get in! It then proceeded to knock over the remaining tomato plants I had on the deck and further chew up the remaining rhubarb stumps. It has been back to taunt me through the day. I am going to lose my mind.<br />
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Cute as they are, they are nasty little buggers. I have whipped up a batch of pepper spray, hoping that will deter the little devils. I have also scattered blood meal around the beds. As well as the vegetables are growing now, I feel the threat of terrorist chipmunks is only going to grow and that this year, my battle will not be getting my plants to grow as much as it will be protecting my plants from the dreaded chipmunk.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-67100974252953374722014-06-06T12:17:00.001-04:002014-06-06T12:17:47.923-04:00What's growing?I must confess, I am obsessed with going out into the garden and just staring at it...the neighbors must think I am a nutter. I just can't help it. I am so excited that everything growing in those four raised beds was started from seeds I planted - why didn't I start vegetable gardening sooner?! Since I am so addicted to garden watching, I am seeing some incredible progress but I am sure I am also missing some things, like just how big some of the plants are getting. Not until looking back on photos today did I realize just how big the zucchini plants are getting - BIG.<br />
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Today I picked 6 more radishes for a total of 13. The largest of those radishes were growing along side mustard greens - I guess they grow well together? There are also two teeny tiny zucchinis developing, they are looking great so far. Next year I am not sure I will grow zucchinis in the raised beds since they seem to already be taking up a load of space...must get to work on planning more beds for next year (too soon?!).<br />
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What else is growing? The parsnips I planted are starting to make an appearance. As per some information I found online about parsnip growing, I placed seeds in wet paper towels in an air tight container for about a week until the seeds started sprouting, then I planted those seeds that had sprouted - that way I am not planting any dead seeds, and the seeds get a head start. The turnip seeds planted at the same time as the parsnips are also surfacing. The spring onions are looking good, although I am, having a hard time believing they are going to grow into the lovely green onions I pay too much for at the grocery store (and that usually only last 2 days in my fridge before flopping into rubbery green nastiness). Time will tell! The kale is looking well, as for the swiss chard, its kind of hard to say; some look pretty good but they are starting to flop over a bit. The tomatoes are all looking pretty good, some of the weakest plants are looking quite strong now and I think I have even spotted some flower buds forming!<br />
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Unfortunately I did not get any photos, but over the past two days I have spotted several honey bees in the garden - that makes me all kinds of happy! Don't get me wrong, I love the bumble bees that usually hang out in the yard, but this is the first year I can say I have witnessed honey bees! I better get planting more bee-friendly plants in my flower bed.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-22163457238741800182014-06-03T13:51:00.002-04:002014-06-03T13:51:14.159-04:00A vegetable in the garden!Today is a wonderful day! Why you ask? Well for starters, we finally got some much needed rain, so I now have two very full rain barrels at my disposal and the vegetable and flower beds got a decent watering. Last night there was torrential rain, high winds and the power was knocked out for a short while - I know the garden needed the rain but I was a bit nervous I would wake up this morning to see all my baby plants destroyed. Well, not only were the plants NOT destroyed, some were ready for picking - that's right, I picked my first vegetable today! A lovely hot pink radish. I am the first to admit I am pretty impatient, and that isn't going to work in my favor when gardening, but today I just couldn't help myself. I could see the pink of the radishes poking up above the soil and thought it wouldn't hurt to pick one to see how big it is (and how it tastes). So I did it and woo-hoo! Now I will hold off on picking more for a few more days, I think they could use a little bit more time to get a tad bit bigger, but I am so pleased to see an actual edible vegetable come from my garden - that I grew all by myself from seed. Happy day!<br />
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One of the benefits of having the netting up over the beds is obviously to keep the animals out, but it also helps keep me out! I have been bad for poking around in the beds when I don't need to (like I said, I'm impatient), the netting being such a pain in the butt to put up and take down, keeps me from rummaging and disturbing the goods that are growing.<br />
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I also spotted the beginnings of a zucchini today. I am so glad, especially since I put the zucchini plants out during a few warm days we had, then I was hit with the threat of frost and the plants looked a bit traumatized for about two weeks following that time - dodged a bullet!<br />
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The southern curled mustard greens are looking well, along with some scattered lettuces. I didn't expect anything to come of these old seeds, so I just threw them in the beds and didn't save enough seeds to do another round of planting, so I will harvest these as baby greens instead of letting them grow to full lettuces.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-81096989130672054262014-06-02T10:38:00.000-04:002014-06-02T10:38:03.846-04:00Update on the raised bedsI have been so preoccupied lately with getting my hands dirty in the garden (I do own garden gloves, honestly, I just don't often wear them!) that I have failed to post some updates on the actual progress of the garden - the completion of the raised vegetable beds, what has been planted and what is and isn't growing. So, since I need to take a break from baking in the sun and fighting off mosquitos, I will give you a quick update.<br />
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As you can see from the photos above, there has been a lot of work going on in the back yard! The raised beds and surrounding area are complete. The beds measure 4 feet by 4 feet with approximately 3 feet spacing in between the boxes. They were built using cedar and treated decking screws. The cost to build the boxes was approximately $200 - as I mentioned previously, I did not shop around for wood, so I'm sure it is possible to get some cheaper wood and as far as deck screws goes, they can be a bit pricey, but the bigger the pack the cheaper they are...the problem with that is I knew we didn't need 500 screws, so I had to go with the smaller, slightly more expensive option. Surrounding the beds is natural cedar mulch, in total I think 18-20 bags were used at a cost of $2.99 per bag. The boarder keeping everything neat and tidy is made of cement paving slabs, they were basically the cheapest we could find, just something to hold the weed barrier ($20 for one roll, $15 for the landscape staples) down and make a clean edge. The pavers were $1.49 each and 46 were used. The beds were filled with a mix of compost and peat moss. I didn't track the cost as closely as I would have liked because we hopped from one store to another over the course of a few weekends buying whatever was on sale - I checked weekly flyers to get THE best price I could - who wants to pay big money for dirt?!<br />
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Slowly, I have been planting in all four beds a mix of plants I started from seed as well as direct sowing many vegetables. Unfortunately I quickly realized I had a battle on my hands: the animals - chipmunks and squirrels to be specific. Birds so far have not been a problem, beyond cheeky starlings stealing the cedar mulch to make nests. Squirrels keep running through the beds and chipmunks have not stopped digging up everything I've planted! Every morning I would head outside to check on the garden progress and every morning I found a different area destroyed - seeds tossed around, plants ripped apart. I had no choice but to net the four beds. Netting isn't the best looking, but if I want anything to grow this year it's my only option. I bought cheap bamboo poles and stuck one in each corner of the beds, topped the poles with a plastic cup and pulled animal netting over each bed. The cup is so the end of the bamboo pole does not go through the holes in the net. I have tucked all open ends into the mulch and used garden clips and leftover bricks to close off the bottom. What a pain! If I have to get into the beds its an ordeal but so far nothing has got in and the plants have had a few days of undisturbed growing time to get moving!<br />
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I started zucchinis, marigolds and tomatoes from seed. The two healthiest zucchini plants are now taking off in the beds with the early signs of an actual zucchini forming (yay!), the marigolds are doing well and the seeds I didn't have room to start indoors are now taking off outside. I was lucky to get more than enough viable tomato seedlings, there are about 3 tomato plants in each bed. The varieties that I have are Beefsteak, Brandywine and Old German along with some Tiny Tom cherry tomatoes that were started from some seeds that were about 3 years old (what luck!). I also planted radish and lettuce seeds, also 3 years old and everything has taken off! I can't believe how fast the radishes are growing and how strong they look! The other new seeds that have been started straight outdoors are spring onions, parsnips, turnips, some FREE carrot seeds, rhubarb Swiss chard, beets, red Russian kale and dwarf curled kale. So far the onions are popping up pretty fast, the beets are also showing themselves (but most of those beet seeds had been tossed around by chipmunks, so they aren't growing in the neat rows I planted them in). The kale and chard is starting to sprout and looks much better than the specimens I tried starting indoors. All in all I am pleased with how things are growing at the moment - it was difficult to predict what success - if any, I would have this year. As long as I work to keep the animals out I think I should come away with a few good bites of veg!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-89971358187266000312014-05-20T12:20:00.000-04:002014-05-20T12:20:25.080-04:00Garden: Week of May 18thBelow are a few photos of the garden taken over this past holiday weekend (Victoria Day in Canada - the official start to the summer woo-hoo!!!). There isn't much growing in the vegetable garden yet - some radishes are doing really well, but they are about the only thing the pesky squirrels have not dug up. I am an animal lover, but right about now I have had it with the neighborhood squirrels! They are constantly digging through the raised veg beds - not eating anything, just digging compulsively (for gold?!). They have destroyed my strawberries in hanging baskets, dug up my zucchinis and have even tipped over my pots of marigolds (yet to be planted). However, I am pleased to see some flowers coming to life in the garden...and with flowers comes bees, of the honey and bumble (my favorite) variety!<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am hopeful that these radishes will survive the gang of neighborhood squirrels that seemed determined to destroy my garden!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunday May 18th, a hint of the flower to come...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">...only two days later and look what we have!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bumble bee visiting the crab apple just as it starts to rain.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And of course, a shot of a bumble bum!</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-30281246857161000342014-05-08T12:09:00.000-04:002014-05-08T12:09:14.041-04:00Early May: photos of the gardenLife is creeping back into the garden. I am shocked at how well the rock garden has come to life. I truly thought most of the plants would have taken such a hit from the winter (and the roofers that stomped all over them) that they would either fail to survive or struggle at best. But boy was I wrong! So far most of the plants in the rock garden are looking as good as they did at their peak last year and they still have the summer to get growing through! The rocky little nook was brought back from the brink last year, so I didn't truly know what I was dealing with, what plants were in there and what their potential would be. Let's hope they keep going strong!<br />
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As was the case last year, here is the ONE and only tulip. Several other sets of leaves appeared through the garden that looked pretty tulip-ee, along with a few daffodil-esque leaves, but only this one sad flower emerged. It did appear to have a sister tulip that some creature decided to taste test - they did not approve of the taste but succeeded in killing the other flower shoot.<br />
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What are these little purple guys? There are only these two little plants but I wouldn't mind getting more. It is encouraging to see a splash of colour in the garden after such a depressing winter.<br />
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Finally some buds on the lilac and the pink crab apple. The lilac has yet to flower since we have lived here. It is a young looking bush, very healthy, but I don't know if or when it will start to flower. The crab apple will be getting its lovely pink flowers in a while and I can't wait!<br />
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Here is a shot of the raised beds and an overview of the yard. The beds are now filled with soil, a mix of peat moss and a variety of different composts. The tattered newspapers around them is what is left sticking out from under the beds - I mowed the grass down as low as I could, layered newspapers on the ground and covered with the soil mix. Hopefully (if all goes to plan) the grass underneath will be smothered and decompose into good stuff for the ground under the beds. And yes, the newspaper is a mess because I ran it over with the lawnmower - I get a little over excited working on the garden and rather than clear away the excess newspaper and <i>then </i>mow, I went straight for the mowing and now there are bits of paper all over the yard...my bad.<br />
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And who could miss the first dandelion of the year! </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-18937418202518163472014-04-28T16:20:00.000-04:002014-04-28T16:20:57.988-04:00Vegetable garden: two beds becomes fourSaturday was basically a crappy and way-to-chilly day to do anything in the garden. But thankfully yesterday (Sunday) took a slightly warmer and sunnier turn. This allowed myself and the man to get outside and build the remaining two raised beds...and since we had the experience of building two last weekend, we were pros and got the remaining two done in record time!<br />
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Now to smother the crap out of the grass with newspapers and cardboard (free when you get family to save newspapers and scavenge grocery stores for cardboard), fill the beds with soil and fill the surrounding area with mulch (which was purchased yesterday...seriously, we accomplished a lot for a Sunday!). In total the cost of the wood and screws set us back approximately $200. In my opinion, deck screws are overpriced and we didn't <i>really </i>shop around for lumber, realizing the cost difference between most of our local shops would have equaled the cost of the gas to drive back and fourth between said stores. We did however neglect to price check some lumber retailers on the other side of town...too late now, I shall not think about it again. The cost of mulch was about $32 for 11 bags (56L of cedar mulch per bag) and I had a gift card that took care of about half the cost. Next weekend we will be soil/compost shopping, will let you know what that sets us back, but with hope NEXT year I will be able to supply a decent amount of my own compost from the yet-to-be-built backyard compost bin!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-19350872890877733922014-04-25T17:24:00.002-04:002014-04-25T17:24:34.150-04:00Too many projects!I can never have just one project on the go because that would be too easy! Most of the time when I take on one <i>teeny tiny</i> project, it spirals into a much bigger one, and often times that little project triggers many many more. For example, the guest bedroom closet-turned-office.<br />
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So far I have accomplished quite a bit of said project, there are still some built in shelves that need to get into the closet/office, but they can wait. I truly can't finish the room entirely until I get rid of the big dresser taking up way too much space, but how can I get rid of the dresser when it is FULL of clothes? Believe me, I have been through the clothes again and again and again to see what can stay and what can go (donate), but I still have a packed dresser and no where to relocate all the things inside. So here comes the chest-o-drawers project. I bought a tiny chest of drawers sometime last year at a thrift shop, with the goal of refinishing them and putting them in the master bedroom as extra storage (there is almost no space left in the master bedroom, but these drawers are small enough that I can get away with them jammed in a corner!). Well after spending all that time stuck in the basement gathering dust, now is the time to get those drawers done!<br />
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So much sanding. There was a super thick, dark glossy brown paint on the drawers when I started. I never imagined it would take so much work to sand that paint off!</div>
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This past week has been spent sanding, cleaning and priming...and I am still not done! I am going to keep at it and not give up, because a major part of getting the guest room done is relying on getting those drawers done...the existing dresser must go and my cedar chest must go to its new home in the corner of the room...where my computer is currently living. Why isn't the computer living on the new desk you ask? Because the cable internet connection is in the corner on the opposite side of the room and NO, I can't go wireless because as I found out, my OLD laptop's wireless connection doesn't seem to be working anymore. So throw another project onto the pile: buy a new laptop (it's about time anyway, the computer I am currently using is chugging along ready to kick the bucket any day now!). What else needs to get done? Oh, right, curtains and a curtain rod. To get those done I need to move the bed frame but where do you move a bed frame in a jam packed room?! It seems like it will never end...but when it does (which it <i>has </i>to one day, right?!) I will post photos.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-49267308426104135052014-04-22T20:43:00.000-04:002014-04-25T14:43:51.234-04:00Getting a start on the vegetable gardenAs I have already indicated in some of my last posts, this year I am diving into vegetable gardening in my backyard! I have planned on making four raised beds to house a variety of tomatoes, zucchinis and a number of other yummy things. This past Easter weekend the man and I got started on building those raised beds. Two of the four are done, we only bought enough lumber for two to begin with. I think they look great, now all I need to do is dig out the lawn, set the beds in, fill them with soil and get growing!<br />
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The beds are made of cedar (rot resistant and not treated with nasty chemicals) and are each 4' by 4' square. I plan on surrounding the beds with mulch and hopefully making a neat stone or brick boarder against the surrounding lawn. Once the other two beds are made I can give you a better idea of how much the beds cost to make - not the cheapest because of our choice of wood, but not <i>too </i>outrageous and since this is the first year things are going to be more costly, we are starting from scratch after all. The biggest challenge (as I see it) will be finding the right blend of soil to fill the beds. I know it's my first year and I can't expect 100% success, but I hope to get things off to a decent start with the right mix of soil, so a little research is needed.</div>
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What about those seeds I started? Well as you can see in the photos above, some of these plants cannot wait to get outside! The zucchinis* are mammoth and need to get outside sooner rather than later, they look like they are getting flower buds (too soon!). Fingers crossed that the weather works in my favor, I want to get these plants out of my house and into the yard fast!<br />
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*Those zucchini photos were actually taken over a week ago, but I'm only now getting to post them...needless to say, the plants are now even larger than pictured!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-71583956161486381472014-04-15T12:31:00.001-04:002014-04-15T12:31:27.936-04:00Garden snaps 2014: the beginningThis post is my official garden kick-off for 2014! Admittedly I did not get any photos prior to the garden clean-up, which I started last week on one <i><b>hell </b></i>of a windy day, and which continued for most of Saturday, but believe me, you aren't missing much. The garden was, as anyone who lived through this past winter in South-Western Ontario knows, a horrible disgusting mess due to the hellish winter.<br />
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The first thing to tackle was cleaning up all the leaves, garbage and other crap that had blown into the yard over the winter, in addition to cleaning up the mess from the roofers that were here a few weeks prior. Sadly, the roofers did not clean up after themselves like they said they would, I will make a long story short, but due to all the trouble we had with the roofing company and poor quality of work and customer service, I gave up on them and decided to clean up the debris myself. Next I cut in the edges of the flower bed in the back to tidy things up. I had attempted to do this last year, but once things get growing it's a much more difficult job, so this is the time to do it. I will be getting some brick or stone edging to keep things neat and tidy.<br />
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There was a lot of raking to do over the lawn, and I mean a lot! The grass became very matted with the weight of the snow. I have already noticed a difference now that the bulk of dead matted grass is gone, new green tufts of grass are showing themselves! One of the other big jobs that was waiting for better weather was the removal of a tree (actually two) in the backyard. I love trees, and hate the thought of cutting down any healthy trees unless there is a real good reason, so this was difficult for me. But there was a tree in the backyard that had been planted too close to the fence, I mean really <i>really </i>close to the fence! We have not even been in the house for two yeas and have noticed how much the tree had grown. Giving it another one, maybe two years and it would be pushing the fence over. The tree (I honestly don't know what type it was, but some sort of maple) was too big to dig up and relocate, so all we could do was cut it down.<br />
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Another slightly smaller tree had to be removed, this one appears to have been a random tree that sprouted from a seed that landed in between some rocks between our shed and the neighbors fence. It was about ten feet tall and looked healthy as anything, so it was another unfortunate thing to have to remove it, but there was no way it could be left, and again, no way it could be removed and relocated, I couldn't even find the base of the trunk, never mind roots! In place of these trees I will be planting some bushes and other plants that are more suited to the yard. As much as I would like a big tree in the backyard, the yard itself is just a bit too small for any trees with the potential for major growth.<br />
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There are signs of life in the garden, and I am so glad to see that the hellish winter did not kill everything off (like I thought it would). Seriously, the winter was relentless. Usually if we get snow there is a time when things melt away a bit before we get another dump of snow, but not this year. Anytime the snow started to evaporate even slightly, we would get another dump of snow. With each new snow storm, the previous snow compacted and became rock hard ice, encasing and flattening everything. At this time all of the snow and ice is gone in the yard and some of the hardiest plants are coming back to life.<br />
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...and who would believe?! The giant dandelion that taunted me last summer in the rock garden is back (I suppose it never went away). I could never get it out, since it is rooted under one of the largest rocks. Here it is, already green and casting a shadow over my little rock-dwellers!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-13005056861672896182014-04-14T14:46:00.000-04:002014-04-14T14:46:28.726-04:00A few updatesI have been keeping myself mighty busy over the past couple of weeks, which explains my lack of posts. Here are a couple of updates of the goings-on around here:<br />
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My last post was about my fitness situation (or lack thereof) and starting some exercise classes. The first spin class was great, maybe too great - I pushed myself too hard and basically couldn't walk for 4 days! Since I was immobile when Thursday's first Zumba class rolled around, I opted out of that class and will be picking up another Zumba class in May. I was disappointed to have to make that switch, but what's the use in paying for classes if you can't go?! The second spin class was better than the first, but I took it easy so as not to bust my leg muscles again. Tonight will be class three, I will push myself a bit harder tonight, but I will still have to keep things in check so I don't over do it...this is what happens when you are as inactive as I was all winter long! As far as weight loss, I sadly haven't budged yet, but I feel better for going to the spin classes and have been going for walks almost every evening - that is something, right?!<br />
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If you recall, I have a project (or two or three!) on the go: the closet/office makeover. Things have been going quite well so far, and in regards to painting I am done! What was involved with painting that awful cedar? Some wood filler and sanding in patches, primer, primer, primer, primer and more primer followed by paint, paint and more paint...with a bit more paint for good measure! I have a light fixture up but need to get some new electrical outlets in the closet. I needed to carpet the floor of the closet because what was there was just unfinished hardwood with plywood sheeting nailed over top (and covered in paint...not my paint though!). I was faced with the same thing in the master bedroom closet and got away with buying a carpet square from Home Depot and cutting it down to size. Unfortunately this closet is about a foot wider and the carpet I had was a foot too short. Wanting to keep my expenses to a minimum I was going to take the same approach, with cutting down a store bought carpet but everything at all of my local hardware stores was either a foot too short or many many feet longer than I needed (what a waste it would be). So I used the leftovers from the master bedroom closet, leaving a naked patch of 6 or so inches on each side of the closet. Not ideal but some shelves and storage baskets will hide the bare patches...so don't tell! The computer desk is in place along with some pictures on the wall. What is left is to make some storage shelves to tuck away on either side of the closet. The goal is to have the shelves and office space done within a week. After the closet is complete I can finish the rest of the spare room - there isn't much to do, just finishing touches, curtains, hanging photos, that kind of thing. Sneak preview of closet below:<br />
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Check back in for the finished project, like I said, the entire room should be done by the end of April. I am really pushing to get everything done because in a house as small as this, one project hinges on another getting done. I am sick of having so many half finished projects and it's time to get a move on! Plus there are already guests lined up to stay in the guest room...not until September mind you, but there is no sense in leaving this work until the last minute, plus working in the summer heat in an un-airconditioned house is brutal!<br />
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And one last quick update for today...my plants! Those seeds I planted that sprouted into baby plants are doing fairly well. I did lose several seedlings; some went moldy, others seemed to wither and die and some got too leggy and weak and flopped. I still have a good amount of healthy plants, but they just didn't seem to be doing as well as I would like - most likely because there has not been enough light. So this weekend I went to my local hardware and farm supply store and bought a grow light kit. I had hoped I could get away without one, but why go to all the effort of starting seeds to let them die due to lack of light?! I got a decent set up at a good price and now the plants are basking in fake sun! I hope that after a few more weeks (more like a month) of grow light and the plants will be bigger and stronger and I can prepare them for heading out into the big bad world! And while the plant babies thrive indoors, I need to get a move on outdoors, building and preparing my raised beds.<br />
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***Bonus photo time! Buster cat snuck in to the plant sanctuary while I was taking photos, and since I was there to supervise, I let him check things out...</div>
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This is a cat being not-so-sneaky licking his lips while approaching the plants! With his track record of plant destruction, I knew what he had in mind. </div>
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Buster got up close to a tomato growing in an old soy milk carton...I am positive he is thinking "why won't she turn away for a second so I can have a taste...just a <i>leeeettle </i>bite?!" and of course "why the hell doesn't this girl drink real milk?" Seriously, the biggest disappointment in this cat's life was when I switched to soy milk, he lived for breakfast time, sneaking milk from my cereal.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8041440930869569204.post-51021252694284191982014-04-01T13:53:00.000-04:002014-04-01T13:53:19.500-04:00Day one/week one: Working out and getting fitActually, yesterday was day one, but here I am posting a bit late. After such a miserable winter, full of filling comfort foods and inactivity, I have decided I need to move my butt if I really really <i>really </i>want to get in shape. I will be honest, I have tried to lose weight in the past, there have been many failed attempts. I have also had some success, but after looking back on the hard work it took to be successful, I have felt pretty discouraged in doing it again. Will this time be any different? I sure hope so!<br />
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So what are my goals? What am I doing?<br />
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For starters, if you know me (and for those of you who don't) I am on the heavy side - chubby, fat, overweight, whatever you want to call it, that's me. I'm not saying I want or NEED to be skinny and that I am hating myself and my fatness right now, but I know I can and should be healthier and it's up to me to make that happen. My goal is to get in shape, lose between 20-30 pounds, have more energy and I hope to feel better all around (less aches and pains, which I know are due to being too heavy). What am I doing? For starters I am working on cutting out all junk foods (chips, chocolate...chips...oh I love chips). Bread is already out (and I feel better for staying away from it). What I am eating are more veggies, fruit, beans and grains. And everything in moderation. I have also signed up for a couple of exercise classes at a community centre. Why a community centre instead of a gym? It is much more cost effective. I have paid for 12 weeks of spin classes and you can bet I am going to every last one. Gym memberships are pricey and it happens all too often that you get one and don't really get to the gym as frequently as you should. Also, gyms can be intimidating, lots of workout-addicted muscle-heads (no thank you). Last night was my first spin class. A small group of 8 (me being the youngest!) and it was intense, but not crazy and competitive. Today, however, I can't walk! I have used some muscles I did not know I had, and those muscles are fighting back, angry because I disturbed them. But the pain has to be good pain, right? I am hoping I recover for Thursday, because that is Zumba night (yay!). I know of some people who have taken Zumba classes and said they were really fun and a great workout, so I thought I would give it a try. In between those two classes, I intend on going for more walks, now that the weather is starting to improve.<br />
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I will post my progress as I go, but by the end of the summer I hope to be a new person!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03129348151056026133noreply@blogger.com0