THE blanket that would never end!

I am SO proud to call this blanket mine and when you come to visit I will NOT share this blanket with you (well, maybe YOU, but NO one else)!!!


Hours upon hours went into this blanket and it took just shy of 5 years to complete...but it's done now and it means SO much to me!

I originally started this blanket when I quit smoking, in May 2005. THINKING, it would be a great distraction while I conquered NO smoking (and thinking I would have it done THAT year - WRONG)!

Between the 3rd and 4th year of quitting smoking, I came to the realization that I would probably NEVER get this blanket finished. I got the nerve to ask a friend of mine to help me out, and she DID!!!

After SEVERAL attempts at the squares (first making the squares too small, then discovering our knitting tensions were different) and many hours into the helping me project, she gave up on the squares and decided to crochet the rest of the blanket (something that was much easier). After several attempts to make it look right, it is finally finished!

I am AMAZED at how beautiful it is and so VERY thankful to my dear friend that helped out.

So this is THE blanket that symbolizes VICTORY on quitting smoking and FRIENDSHIP because without her dedication, this beautiful blanket would have remained in a bag and never been completed!!!






THANK YOU to my sweet friend who helped me get this blanket finished!!!

Valentine's Day 2011

This year, our Valentine's Day was celebrated over a few days.  Oh what fun!


A few weeks ago, Noah expressed that he was a bit sad that he was going to miss out on decorating a box to exchange Valentine Cards with his friends at school.

My heart broke and I knew I had to do something to keep his focus positive on a day that is meant for LOVE!  With my broken heart, my mind started to work over time!

So THIS was the plan!

First, we made a Valentine's BOX to collect Valentine's cards!

Then we hide Valentine's Cards all over the house to find during a scavenger hunt

(Noah's most FAVOURITE surprise activity).

Noah sets out to collect all his Valentine's Cards

(they were hidden where all the sticky hearts are)

Once he found all the cards, he opens all his treats. 

 

Once he opens his cards, he sees that each of them were addressed

TO: Noah  LOVE: each one had a different LETTER

(that he figured he had to spell something).

It ended up spelling:

GREAT WOLF LODGE

And with that,

we told him that we were going to Niagara Falls the following weekend to go to Great Wolf Lodge!!!

How exciting!!

WHO SAID HOME SCHOOLED KIDS

CAN'T HAVE FUN WITH VALENTINE'S??

On the weekend (before Valentine's Day), Noah surprised Jacques and I with breakfast in bed all decorated with a Hershey's Kiss and a little candy heart that said 'Love You'!!!

NOTHING, starts off a day better than with your child making you breakfast in bed!

THEN,

on Valentine's DAY, I did a little something special for Noah.

I wrote him a note, put it on his night table that told him to STAY IN BED.

I brought him a special breakfast in bed that included:

Pink Banana Pancakes, topped with peanut butter, cool whip and decorated with heart candies

Hot Chocolate, decorated with cool whip and heart candies

Apples (in the shape of a heart) and Grapes

He LOVED it, and this was a first for him (to have breakfast in bed).

We had SO much love celebrating Valentine's Day this year.

Noah even bought me a Toblerone ROSE, with his OWN money!  I was so touched by his heart and generosity!

We finished it off by shovelling lots of snow, considering out snow blower is in the shop.  ALL hour and a half of it.  I called it our 'Grown-up Valentine's night'!!!

We had fun at the end, burying each other in the snow.

We felt LOVED so what more could you ask for!

It wasn't my idea of what I wanted Valentines day to be

Animals

Just sharing a few of my favourite photos of our animals over the past month.

Downloading all my iPhone photos and getting caught up!

As you can see, life is really ROUGH in our house if you are one of our animals!!!

HOUSE FOR SALE - spread the word!

Asking price:

$164,500

see all details below photos

Located in Grand Falls (St. George), New Brunswick. This home sits on a large fenced lot (approximately 100'w X 80'd) and is approximately 1700 square feet "living" space. It offers a single car garage, with 3 bedroom and 2.5 bathrooms. It's a split level home with central vac. It has 2 furnaces (a wood furnace, with enough wood to heat almost a full season next year and an electric furnace, that can be used for back up or as a stand alone). It also has a wall air conditioning unit that keeps the upstairs cool in the summer.


The main level features an open concept with a warm and cozy ambiance, lots of windows (all PVC). The main level has hardwood and ceramic throughout. The kitchen has a movable island with a 2 seat breakfast bar, built in dishwasher and a good size pantry.


It has 3 good size bedrooms, a main bath with jacuzzi tub and a 2 piece en-suite off the master bedroom. There is lots of storage, 2 linen closets, a broom closet and an extra large storage closet just upstairs.


The basement offers a large family room with an electric fire place for cozy winter nights. It has a sub-floor with laminate flooring. Off the family room, is an oversized 3 piece bathroom with in floor ceramic heating. The basement was finished in 2008. Off the laundry area, there is a good size storage room with big shelves and extra closet space.


All curtains and blinds to remain, except for the curtains in all the bedrooms (however, window coverings and rods will remain in these rooms).


Outside, there are 2 storage sheds, one in the front and one in the back (on a cement slab). In the back, there is a 2-tiered deck, the lower deck of the two leads out to a 24'x52” Intex metal frame round pool. NOTE: the pool, comes with 2 filter systems – one for chlorine and one for salt water system, CAN be negotiated. Also, off this deck is a 12' trampoline with enclosure, that CAN be negotiated as well.


Lots of renovations in the past few years that include:


2006


Roof


2008


Basement bathroom & family room
Decks (back) using pressure treated wood
Pool (24' x 52”)
Fence – pressure treated wood
New front Shed
ALL Counters (kitchen, bath & en-suite)
ALL Sinks (kitchen, bath & en-suite)
ALL interior doors & knobs
ALL light fixtures upstairs
Metal door & casing to the Garage
Refinished main bathroom
Basement Windows to PVC

2009


Deck (front) using pressure treated wood
Fence Gate – pressure treated wood


For more info to schedule a visit, please contact the owners Jacques and Tara Morin 506-473-6858



Measurements of all rooms, decks and sheds:


UPSTAIRS


Kitchen 12'4” X 21'3”
Living Room 13'8” X 13'4”
Bath (Main) 11'10” X 5'
Master Bdrm 12'11” X 11'10”
En suite Bath 5' X 4'11”
Spare Room 1 11'2” X 10'11”
Spare Room 2 10'1” X 10'11”


BASEMENT


Family Room 22'2” X 16'6”
Bath (Basement) 13'10” X 6'4”
Garage 25' X 12'


OUTSIDE


Deck (front) 7'2” X 4'8”
Shed (front) 6' X 8'
Deck 1 (back) 14' X 12'
Deck 2 (back) 28' X 8'
Shed (back) 12' X 10'2”




It is NOT okay to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests.

The results are in...

...and THIS is what happens to your hands after cleaning for 6.5 hours straight, using almost 2L of Pine Sol and 1L of Murphy's Oil Soap.

On the UP side, I worked for 390 minutes burning 1900 calories which meant, I got to treat myself!

I got a small McDonald's fry, a small bag of chips and 8 chocolate covered almonds!  Yum...

On the DOWN side, I had a belly ache after I ate that.

So we're all good now!

And our house is officially READY to put on the market this week - as soon as Jacques gives me the 'go ahead'!

Yuppie!

Big CLEAN

I bought the party sizes of my 2 favourite cleaners. So look out boys and girls, cuz there's gonna be a MAJOR party in the house!!!

I don't know WHY I am SO excited about this or WHY I felt it was picture worthy and WHY I am making a post about it....

We have been waiting for this day for so long now....you know, the FINAL big clean before we list our house to sell and move to Ontario.  This has been in our plans since....ummmm....when I was pregnant for Joshua.  So, very early 2003.  After many delays, big changes in our lives and a detour to Grand Falls, New Brunswick - this is our FINAL stretch!

So WHY wouldn't I be excited???


Yup, NEXT WEEK our house will go official on the PRIVATE market!  YAY!

The places I'm listing on is:

• Kijiji
• Craigs List
• Facebook
• My Blogs
• Local news papers
• A sign on the house

If you can think of any other places to list a house for FREE, PLEASE do share!

So this is it...

First, things first!!!  I'm drinking my mug-O-tea, sending my boys off to 'Daddy's curling tournament' and I'm off to do some MAJOR cleaning.

Happy SATURDAY to you all!  Don't call or stop by (unless you're in the cleaning mood)!!!

Not much to say...

...other than I'm sick of sick. 

YUP, I'm sick AGAIN!  Same thing, all respiratory, most likely bronchitis on it's way to pneumonia.  Thankfully, I've learned a lesson or two the last 6 times (in the last year and a half) I've had the same thing.  This time, I called the doctor on day 2 to make an apt for day 5.  I figure, if it didn't progress then I could cancel the apt, but if it did progress, I had an apt.

SO...thankfully I have my apt tomorrow with my doctor to get meds. Can't wait to get this under control.




Aside from that, I feel like life has been on hold last week and this week.  We are all ready (aside from doing a really good cleaning this weekend) to put our house on the market BUT have to wait.

We are waiting for the announcement to be made at Jacques' work before we officially put the house for sale!  To our understanding, next week is when the announcement is being made, so I am counting the days.


As well, with all the mortgage changes announced last week, we are curious if these changes will affect (either negatively or positively) the sale of our house.  Surely, it has to be a better situation than the sale of our last house.  It's gotta happen sooner than in 9 months.

Actually, I have a feeling we're going to sell so fast!  Just want to say this out loud...


Until later, counting down...