Hello Goodbye

A couple of weeks ago we kidnapped the 6 week old kittens that were born outside. We've had fun socializing them and having cuteness in our front porch. We had hoped that someone would adopt them. We had a "Free Kittens" sign out front and I had posted some pics on Facebook. Lots of neighbours stopped by to see them. Some people on Facebook said they were interested. But alas we still have all three in our front porch. So, sadly today we must go to the Toronto Humane Society http://www.torontohumanesociety.com/, where they are already overloaded with unwanted cats and dogs - and McGuinty isn't helping the matter (see the THS website for more on the lack of concern for animals).
So today I bid a fond farewell to Murray, Jeb and Pie! I hope they find good homes. Oh, and so you don't think we're dumb we are taking in the mommy cat too! I hope Cupid finds a good home too. I'm gonna miss them all.

Summer's going Fast

Wow, August 21 already! Where has the time gone? This summer I didn't get out much, but my man and I went to the nice parks around the area. We watched all the cats grow, and some were born. We moved upstairs into the light. My pops had his birthday - and gained a new library. Man! Do we ever know how to shop for that man :)

My work schedule has been slow. Therefore it has been a case of lots of time, but no money to do much with it. Story of my life :)

There has always been something about the end of August that always makes me feel sad. Kinda like Sundays make me feel. Must be a school day feeling, because I do love Autumn. All the beautiful colours. The ending of a cycle where everything prepares to rest until Spring.

It's what follows in our great country of Canada. Cold and snow. Salt stains in everyone's entry ways. Wearing heavy coats, so even if you do wear a really cute sweater (say that you bought at Value Village for a really good price), Who's gonna see it? The poor strays staying in the cold outdoors. (though my man and I have fixed up a shelter for our guys.) Winter is just not something I look forward to.

For now I will just think for today...looks like rain today, not snow. Perhaps we will be able to go walking in the park after work...

Stubby's Hiding Spot

I love this pic...she looks like an owl.

Finally settling in...

It took 3 full days of cleaning before I was satisfied, but its starting to feel like home now. We've been upstairs now for 17 days, most things have been put in their place. The cats still want downstairs sometimes, but I think they are adjusting well. The only thing left to do is paint. The bedroom and computer room were painted a dark dark green. I am learning to really hate dark green. I have plans though. My man and I have decided that the office will be the light blue that we painted our old bedroom (the one in the basement). And I want the bedroom to be a lilac purple. I'm a lucky girl because my man says I can pick any colour I want as long as its not florescent. Yippee for me!!!

I have plans for the computer room closet. I want to set it up for my Ebay stuff. Should be easy enough...I hope.

It is nice having more space and sunshine. The kitchen skylight is my favourite part. I keep trying to shut the light off in there to conserve energy...

Movin' On Up

Literally. At the end of the month my man and I move upstairs and the current renter moves downstairs. I'm quite excited about the move. There will be more space and sunlight. Easier access to the back deck. Only two things bother me about this move. First, how will the cats react. Stubs and Bee are a bit skitish at times. Tida has already visited upstairs quite often so at least we don't have to worry about her. The second thing is all the hard work we've put into the basement apartment. Oh well, I'd rather be upstairs...where the home improvement projects will continue.

More Kitten Pictures

I know we shouldn't have, but we named the kittens...the fluffy one is Conan, the Black one is Chow Mein and The tortishell is Hendrix. So cute! Wish I could keep them :(

May...the busiest month

May has always been pretty full of action for my family. With Mother's Day and Victoria Day, we also celebrate two wedding anniversarys and three birthdays. And if that weren't enough I have been bombarded with work. Which I am grateful for, but I am starting to feel like I haven't had a day off in a very long time.

Today I am helping my boyfriend's mom install a wood laminate floor. She was so impressed by the one we installed in our apartment, she just had to ask us for help. But, darn it, my man had to work at his real job today. So me and his mom are gonna find out if we have the muscle to do it ourselves... we're tough ladies, it should be fine.

On another note, one of the stray cats we tend to had kittens and she brought them over the other day. There are four of them. And boy are they cute. Almost makes me want another...I have to keep reminding myself that Stubs, our kitten jumps on me every morning at six, regardless of what day of the week it is. Three cats are enough for our little apartment. Sadly, if we can't find anyone to adopt these little ones we have to take them to the Humane Society. At least there they have a chance of finding good homes.

For some reason, I must look into, I've been taking dark shots with my camera. Anyway, here are some pics of the little ones.

Sometimes it would come in handy

My man and I do not have cell phones. We are not fans of phone conversations. And we are against driving and talking on a cell. However, a cell would have come in handy this morning. My man started a new job this week and he seems excited about it. Getting used to a new schedule is going to take some time though. So things like what happened this morning are not helpful in the least.
The alarm went off at 6:30am. My man got out of bed and ready for work. I stayed in a bit longer since I work later and closer by. Eventually I get up, feed the cats and make my coffee. He had already left by now. So I sit down at my computer and check email and stuff. I look at the time. It's an hour earlier than I had thought... Damn it, somehow the alarm clock was set an hour later, getting us up early.
If my man had a cell I could have called him before he got too far down the road. I tried to rely on the old fashioned way (psychic messaging - lol) but that didn't work. I had only hoped that he would have called by now... I guess he's not going to now. I know its not my fault, but I still feel bad. I think our kitten might have jumped on the clock and hit the time set buttons. At least that's the story I'm sticking to.
For now I can only hope that he isn't too tired today.

Silly Americans...they're from Canada

This article made me chuckle. http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/070507/national/us_cda_spy_coins

I wonder why they didn't catch on to the twoonie finger torture device. lol

New Customer

We got a new customer for our cleaning biz. She came to us after being refered by one of our customers. The only problem is we are based in Richmond Hill, and she is in Toronto. I just hope we can find a nice route to take down, and at least enjoy the ride. And make more money :) You see, I don't feel comfortable taking the 401 or 404 or whatever of the 400 series highways. Yes, people look at me funny when I ask them for non-highway directions. What's ticking me off now is that I use to use Yellow.ca for directions. It use to give me the option of no highway directions. However, I just checked out this new address. No option anymore. I am sad :(

This month is going to be CRAZY! We have Mother's Day of course. Followed by the long weekend (affectionatley called May 24 by us Canadians -- even though it usually doesn't fall on the 24th of May). My boyfriend and I are going to his cousin's cottage for that weekend. On the same weekend are my mom's and Baba's birthdays. Then at the end of the month is my big 3-0!!! My Bro, his girl and me and my man are supposed to get together at Baba's to celebrate my third decade. It should be a fun time! As for June, busy but less so. I'll worry about that once we're into May a bit more.

The Folks are Coming

I'm waiting for my parents to come see our apartment for the first time. My dad just built me a microwave cabinet, and since it wouldn't fit in my car they are dropping it off. Its a good reason to visit. I hope they like the apartment and all our cats :)
Since the weather seems to be cooperating we'll probably take them to one of the parks we frequent. Rosetta McClain park has lots of friendly squirells. The other park, I can't remember the name, has lots of stray cats living in the rocks. Gorgeous cats I must say.
Well, I just hope today goes well.

I Need Help...

I have been selling on Ebay for a few years now. I usually sell cool stuff found at thrift stores, or stuff my mom or I were collecting, but decide to skim down. I have also sold some of my brother's and my old toys. She-ra dolls and Barbie clothes sell like hot cakes, by the way!!

On the last cleaning spree I found these. I would like to put them on Ebay, but I have no idea what they are called. They are transforming charm necklaces. They are by Galoob, and have a copyright date of 1984, 1985. I have searched on Google with no luck.

So now I plead for help. Does anyone remember what these are called????

I thought they were all older than me...

For those of you who don't know, I will be the big 3-0 in May. I'm not freaked out by this. Its kind of exciting. Another milestone. Anyway, my brother hit 30 a couple years ago and survived... it really can't be that bad.

I have become a fan of CSI:Miami recently. So has my mom. She has the 2nd and 3rd seasons on DVD. So we were able to play catch up. Horatio rocks! Anyway, when I'm a fan of something I like to find out about the people involved. So I went to the ever growing, easy to use Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) and looked it up. Well, to my amazement the actors who play Delko and Speedle (Adam Rodriguez and Rory Cochrane) are very close to my age. I've just come to assume that most people on tv must be much older than me. Guess its because I still feel 17. But in a good way.

Another thing I found on IMDB - Rory Cochrane was in the Movie "Dazed and Confused". One of my faves when I was in High School. Man! I didn't even recognize him on CSI. I had to rent the movie, notice Rory right away. Skinny stoner guy with long hair. One on the best characters in the film.

CSI:Miami Rocks! If you haven't already check it out!!!!

Is It Over Yet?

21 days until Spring begins...

Psycho Kittens and New Recipes

Stubs is doing quite well. But I think with all the snow fall all the cats are hyper. When you're a 4 month old kitten that means you bounce off the walls - literally!!!! Looking at the cuteness of kittens I always forget what a handful they can be. Our little one likes to jump on us while we try to sleep. However, who could stay mad at this face? (well, maybe Tida and Bee - our grown-up cats. )

Now that I am finally not living with any adults (by that I mean parental units - I am almost 30 myself!!! EEEEKK!) I'm finding out that my mom really had a tough job. Planning meals, grocery shopping with a budget, taking care of a husband, cats and kids. Not that its a terrible job, just takes a lot of planning. And I don't yet have the kids to worry about!

Anyway, my point here is that meal planning is becoming a challenge. I enjoy cooking, but having lived with my Baba and Mom for so many years (they are both great cooks) I haven't really been in the kitchen experimenting myself. Lately, I've just been making the same 4 or 5 dishes. In other words I'm getting bored in the kitchen... I'd like to play with some herbs and spices.

I just wondered if anyone has a favorite recipe they would like to share. Perhaps I could post some of our faves for everyone to enjoy. The only rules... keep it cheap and simple (both my budget and kitchen are small) and nothing too spicy (my man can't handle the heat).

I'll start the ball rolling here with a meal idea for you perhaps:

Sweet and Sour Pork Chops

Shake 'n Bake the chops. Cook as directed. Add canned peach halves on top of the chops. You can keep them in the oven for a few minutes, or keep the fruit cold - your preference. Serve with sweet and sour sauce (I just buy a jar of it from the grocery store, you can make your own) poured on top. I like this recipe serve with white rice. Its simple and yummy!

Happy New Year...

Okay, so I'm about a month late with the Happy New Year stuff (or just a couple of weeks if we're counting Ukrainian New Year).
Quite a lot has happened over the last couple of months.

My boyfriend and I had started feeding some stray cats that showed up in the backyard around the end of Summer/beginning of Autumn. There were 4 of them. A mommy and 3 little kittens. Being cat lovers we just couldn't resist feeding them. (We have 2 adults in the house at this point.) This is Sketch, with her head in the bowl and 2 of her kittens Zeus (the grey one) and one of the twins, either Cupid or Stupid.



Though we are able to feed them, we don't have the means to spay and neuter all of them. So naturally one day Stubs appeared. She was about a month old at the beginning of November. I tried to pet her but she was a quick little kitty. As November turned to December my man and I feared that Stubs would die when the weather turned cold. I know! It was really mild at that time here, but it was a good excuse to worry ourselves into adopting her. Could you resist this face?



Stubs is adjusting quite well. Though Tida doesn't want to be happy about it.

A kitten at my boyfriend's place in Scarborough. Me, there most of the time. We finally decided, or rather figured out that I was already practically moved in, so I brought my computer over to make it official. Its been working out pretty well. I have to commute now which sucks. But at least its not too long of a drive back to Richmond Hill.

A Parallel Universe

Have you ever looked into a mirror and thought that maybe the image was really you in a parallel universe? Or possibly that you could climb through into this mirror world, like Alice?

It seems my boyfriend found his way in...

  

A job well done!

We finished painting the bedroom this past weekend. I think it looks really good. Especially compared to what they did look like. This is before.


  

  

Pretty yucky! Tape marks on the wall, ugly trim and box (covers the fuse box). But we worked hard and turned it into this...








The cats were a bit upset. They like to hop in each of the windows during the day, but with the wet paint in the bedroom we had to close the door. Teegers kept crying at me to open up the room. She seemed happy once she got back in.


  

Next comes the carpeting...then we can set up the furniture. One room down!

Cleaning, Painting and Being a Woman - Oh My!

The weathers been yucky! Its THAT time of the month! And I've got to work today! On the bright side, they are fairly easy houses. We clean them every week:)

One of these ladies gave my mom 2 baby red-earred sliders. They were her kids' turtles, but I think that mom took care of them. She wasn't thrilled about that. I think she was a little afraid of them. So anyway, mom has new turtles. We named them Pickles and Ice Cream. (Pics coming soon!!)

This coming weekend my boyfriend and I are going to paint his bedroom. After teasing him about painting it pink or purple, we agreed on a colour almost instantly. "Wildflower Wind". Its a nice light blue colour. We had actually liked the darker blue on the same sample card, but it would have made the room feel really small. And I like painting. I love seeing the transformation. And everything looks so clean. So nice! If I can remember my camera for once, I will try to get some before and after shots.

Time is running out...I must get ready for work!

Back to Business

As usual, time is flying by. I had taken a few months off from my Ebay business, as there are less people scanning Ebay in the summer months. The original plan was to get ahead by writing up my listings and wait to post them until September. I ended up writing only 10 listings, when I have around 50 items to go on. I guess I have to admit there is a procrastinator in me.

In my defense my cleaning business has picked up. We now clean 4 houses in a row on one street, in addition to our other houses. All 4 are old Richmond Hill houses to my delight. We are planning to take over the whole street. (insert evil laughter here). And of course I'll admit, I've been spending tons of time with my man.

Well...no more distractions...time to write up listings for a bunch of Bratz dolls and Barbie clothes.