Settling In

Photo of Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island
I have been unemployed on purpose for four weeks now and have found the most difficult part of that is feeling productive. I have never really been unemployed and there have been a few times this month where panic has set in about not having money coming in(me), which in reality is not true since hubby's company is already making money and we have savings in the bank for the purpose of taking time off.

Most of the month has been spent packing, driving, moving, unpacking and arranging hookups, insurance and getting ready to change over our auto insurance to B.C.. Hubby drove his car over the mountain this past Thursday and now all our vehicles, hamster, and crap is here so we can relax a little.

We go to the Ocean(five minutes away) at least three times a week and as my mother lives just under two hours away we have visited a couple of times. She gifted me four flower pots this week which is great since only one flower pot made it on the moving truck as the others were too large. The planting supplies will be purchased this week as everything is on sale due to being very late in the planting season. The budget for plants and seeds will be $30 which is very low but I intend to be creative with a mix of flowers, herbs and some tomatoes. Once planted I will share some pictures with you.

There is a great farm market near where my mother lives with really cheap veggies so I stopped and got:

10 lbs potatoes $3.99
3 lbs onions $1.49
bunch of celery .99
two red delicious apples .63 (.69/lb)
field cucumber .99
loaf home made bread $1.50
large Yellow pepper .70 (.59/lb)
Pineapple $1.59


Total $11.97

Likely savings were 30% to 50% from a regular grocery store which usually have one or two of those items that cheap as a loss leader but not consistently that low. Later in the summer the prices go even lower so I will go to this market every time we visit her. Next week I will share with you my May and June Grocery budget results as both months were over budget(with good reasons) but I will make the overages up in the Fall once things settle down and the pantry is once again full.

Mother also gifted some vintage goodies and a new thrift store was found so will share all those items in a post tomorrow.

For all those who live in Canada Happy Canada Day and all of those in who live in the USA happy Fourth of July. I am a dual citizen of both USA and Canada so can celebrate both! For anyone living anywhere else - have a great weekend!

Unpacking Thrifty Finds

Hubby, hamster Chewy and I safely made it to our new home with the moving truck. The last five days have been spent unloading, shopping for furniture while we still had the moving truck to haul it and trying to make our little Island pad from house to home. Oh yeah, we painted too. Now I can finally relax with a cup of tea and make a nice Sunday breakfast.

I wanted to share some thrift finds that were scored right before we packed the rest of our house up in Alberta. Most of these will be for resale in my Etsy store - when I open it up later this year.

The first item I am keeping. My first piece of Vintage Pyrex - quite rare. Made in the 1940s in Quebec this is a Delphite fridgie - missing it's lid. I will find a replacement lid later. It has no chips - but does have some dirt I can't quite get off so will be soaking it at a later date. I haven't collected any pyrex in the past, just have a few modern Pyrex pieces in the kitchen that we use on a daily basis. This is the start of my Delphite collection. I would have never known what it was but for these great Canadian bloggers: Six Balloons Vintage Delights, Sir Thrift-A-Lot, and Vonlipli's Favorites. It was a "Holy crap, that's Delphite for 2.99 at Goodwill!" moment.





In the same shopping trip these Goodwill goodies were found


1970s cocktail shaker - $1.99. I love how thick the glass is on these old shakers.



Vintage Relpo Flower vase - love the blue and yellow. I think it would look great with some white flowers. 99 cents



While pick up packing boxes I spotted a garage sale down the street from our Alberta house. I bought these five for $1 (yes, 20 cents each!). Some collect these glass insulators - they are all Dominion. Three are perfect and the glass on the underside on two are chipped/broken. If you go to pinterest and put in glass insulators there are some great ideas to repurpose these into things like votive holders. I am sure someone will want them if I price them right and sell them in one lot.


Last but not least this Blue Mountain Pottery 1960's plant pot - $2. This Canadian pottery is quite famous and a very collected Canadian pottery. My mother still has several pieces of it that I remember from childhood. My 14 year old stepdaughter loves the colours - so do I and am a bit on the fence about whether this is a keeper or to be sold.

Linking up with Her Library Adventures Flea Market Finds and back to unpacking.

Half Way To Home - Part Deux

We survived loading the one ton budget truck yesterday (barely) on Fathers Day with the family crew. Apparently, when the moving truck went from by to pound (if we had hired movers) to by the truck(moving self) we kept a bit too much stuff. Hubby managed to stuff almost everything in and we only left behind a couple of replaceable flower pots, a shoe caddy and some bookshelves. When I say stuffed, I mean STUFFED to the gills. There is zero possibility of the load shifting as not even a spider could navigate any space between all our worldly possessions. We are halfway to our new island home (again) on this move from Alberta to Vancouver Island and that peppy Budget truck is doing much better than we expected.

Our hamster, Chewy, is not such a fan of road trips. Being a senior hamster (just over two years old) his days are mostly spent sleeping in peace with a few hours on the wheel in the middle of the night. Today he travelled hundreds of miles, in a noisy, bumpy hot truck pelted by rain and he also had to listen to us all day. Part way through the trip I realized the engine heat was heating his little cage up (set between us) so had to take his sleeping pod out and hold it on my lap so he would not dehydrate. Then he decided to wake up and be grouchy the rest of the trip regardless of peapod or peanut bribes. Needless to say, he is very happily sleeping in our nice quiet cool hotel room as we speak. Thank goodness the weather is not that hot and I had two water bottles in his cage so am sure he will be fine.

We saw a very young moose (no antlers yet), a black bear, and two mountain sheep this trip but no photos of those as I only had use of hubbys iphone today and was not quick enough on the draw.

I was shocked at how much the South Thompson River had risen in the two weeks since my last drive over the mountains. This area near Barriere and Kamloops had terrible forest fires a couple of years ago which you can still see the blackened trees - now they are under flood watch. We saw one home partially under water and several in jeopardy of being washed away. Hopefully the rain will stop soon.

Tomorrow the newest furry British Columbian, Chewy, gets to take his first ferry ride. I am pretty sure he will like that a lot better than the drive over the mountain.

Making Do With What You Have

"Before" shot - bedroom with pink walls - we had patched the holes at this point

Our very outdated bedroom/mattress set will be left in the Alberta home for our own use when visiting family but as a result all bedroom furniture will have to be purchased here on the Island. Something I would not do is buy a used bed unless it was from a very close friend or family member due to the possibility of bed bugs. Our temporary bed had been a Coleman double high air matress that worked very well for a short period of time but due to hubby's bad back a good mattress set was an immediate requirement.

We ended up buying an extremely high end Sealy set with the low end price as it was a spotless floor model the local furniture store was no longer carrying and had been only been out on the floor for a short period of time. Due to buying local the store was able to deliver the bed within a few minutes of the purchase - for free. Retail on the bed? $1900. What did we pay? $1175 including a really good mattress pad. That still sounds expensive but is much cheaper long term than costly chiropractor visits for hubby. We did not buy a metal bedframe as intend to buy the bedroom suite as soon as we find the right one. Although we can afford to purchase a set right away as it was budgeted for I would like to shop around as it is a really large purchase and am trying to research to ensure we get the best deal. This is the best bed I have ever slept in and am very glad we found such a great deal.

Welcome to minimalist living or making due with what you have until your circumstances change. Two rubbermaid containers are our nightstands for now - they work quite well. The tv stand was borrowed from my mother - my stepfather(now passed) had made it about twenty years ago and it works perfectly for the space - as we only have 62 inches between the bathroom door and closet door we were very limited as this is where the cable outlet is. I know, some don't believe in a TV in the bedroom. We like one as watch lots of movies together and as hubby is also an audiophile and musician we also have all the surround sound crap to go along with it - this was all transported down in my car.
"After Shot"




This setup will work as long as it takes to find the right furniture for the bedroom, and also takes the pressure off to buy furniture right away that we may not be in love with. The bedroom looks so much brighter now that we have painted the pink out. We chose an off white - lighter colours work better in this area as winters can be long and dark (but much warmer than Alberta which is why we moved here!) and is much better for resale if we should ever choose to sell - such an easy way to bring equity to your home is to paint out the bad colours the prior owner chose. We will bring in bits of colour later with our choices of furniture and art. We only painted the bedroom and still have two others along with all three closets to paint the pink out of, a project for a later date.



I thought I would also share a photo of one last piece of furniture that was sold off in Alberta - our china cupboard (was purchased for $500 about eight years ago but well taken care of). When we removed it from the dining room the space looked larger and we kept the table and six chairs for family use when we are there. We sold it for $275 and the downsize crap sold tally aka Vancouver Island fund came to $8185 (the truck was $5500 and the rest was furniture and household items). We were a little surprised at how high that tally was considering we ended up taking the house off the market and keeping some of the furniture we had originally intended to sell to furnish the Alberta home until we sell in a couple of years.

This afternoon we fly off to Alberta to make the second long run with the rented one ton truck and the rest of our "stuff" that made the downsize cut. And yes, the gigantic thistle is no more. You were all so wonderful in your identification of my flowers. Thanks and cheers!

Please Help Identify!

So, I successfully weeded and think I left all the good bits as the beds are really separated by each bush or flower. In order to figure out how to care for these lovelies I need to figure out what they are:

I am pretty sure these are peony bushes. There is a rose right in the middle which you can't see (I grabbed it with bare hands thinking it was a weed). These are overtaking the yard - either I am going to have to prune them down or remove some of them - anyone?
They are a little weather beaten and past blooming stage so don't look that great right now. The bumble bees love them though - they were very friendly and happily buzzing around when I was weeding.



Not sure what most of these bushes are, again, I think I will have to do a bit of trimming as it is looking a little overgrown.








Day two of the 1400km road trip was not nearly as photogenic as day one as it rained most of the day and the pretty bits were when I was careening down the mountain highway with no pullouts with a semi truck on my tail.

Here is a shot of Horshoe Bay Ferry Terminal(from Vancouver to Nanaimo Duke Point) lineup and one off the back of the ferry as we left port. I missed the ferry by 20 minutes due to construction traffic so had a long wait for the next one but I was so close to home at that point so I just sat back and relaxed.

Guess what? I get to do the trip all over again next Monday with a one ton moving truck and hubby by my side as we bring all of our downsized crap to our new home.





Finally, I have been harrassing crabs on the beach to pose for me - this little guy was none impressed.





Hubby safely arrived so today we shop for a bed(we have been sleeping on a Coleman airbed) and start painting our bedroom. Cheers!

Garage Saling In A New Town

First I would like to say a big thank you to the followers of this blog for your kind well wishes on our move - I really appreciate every single one and would love to come have coffee with you if we ever should cross paths.

This week has been a bit like a vacation, other than the 1400 km road trip. I have slept in but also have gotten up at the crack of dawn to enjoy the sunshine and my new life. As hubby flies in tonight I have been missing him but also enjoying the freedom of not cooking or cleaning and the schedule of only what I feel like doing. Today I finally got internet and cable so can work with the laptop as hubbys ipad is not Blogger friendly.

Apparently the thrifting gods heard that I want to open an Etsy store later this year and that husband bought enough bubble wrap to protect our breakable items in the move - all of which will be re-used for packages sent from the Etsy store. Now to find some stock!

This made in Japan vintage duck egg cup shown above was found in the 50% off table in the back of a dusty warehouse section of an antique store that I was looking for furniture in. He is completely chip free and adorable. $2.80.

Yesterday I felt like garage saling so used hubby's iPad gps and mapped out several sales (will be borrowing the iPad more often for this use) including the first stop that was a senior community sale. My first find were these four apothecary lab jars. I believe all four are vintage and the one on the far left is marked Pyrex on both bottle and the stopper. A second one is marked Pyrex on stopper only. I am always attracted to glass and pottery and these will look pretty on the bathroom sill until I can part with them (our furniture has yet to be moved so forgive my staging attempts as have little to work with right now). Total for all four $1.



The next item is not likely vintage so will be saved for a flea market that I intend to do in Fall. I don't wear scarves but love this ones colours. The design seems possibly Indonesian with religious figures and the building in the corner. Very eclectic style and it is silk - a steal at .25.




Next up this adorable little red riding book. The illustrator even made the wolf look sweet - not scary at all. This book was the lady who was having the garage sale's own from childhood. Her parents inscribed it for her for Christmas 1972. All mine for .10.
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Then there were these sweet little liqueur glasses from the 1960's. We had a similar set when I was a kid. Again I am always attracted to glass. Set of six $1.50.



Finally, two non-vintage items for my own home not pictured: small metal basket for toiletries .50 (I used to have more drawers in our Alberta home but our new home has shelves) and a small scale that goes up to 5kg for my new Etsy store .25.

The grand tally for all this loot? A whopping $6.40!

I also weeded my flower beds - two huge full bags of weeds pulled with my bare hands. This big badboy thistle still stands there until tonight when hubby flies in with my gardening gloves.

Yes, he is three feet tall! Apparently nature takes its land back here if left untended - note to self - must weed on daily basis. After the weeds were pulled there are a few spots I can tuck in some herbs and possibly some berries. I will show more pictures of the flower beds tommorrow as need your help identifying most of it.

Linking up with a few of my favorite bloggers: Her Library Adventures Flea Market Finds , Apron Thrift Girl's Thrift Share Monday and a new linky party from Sunny Simple Life, Sunny Simple Sundays!

Officially Now You Can Call Me An Islander

I am typing this blog post from hubby's iPad as that is the only Internet I have for a couple of days. I made it safely to the Island and the worst part of the trip was navigating traffic in Vancouver, go figure.

Life has been busy unpacking, changing addresses and buying groceries. I had a night visitor the first night which I was sure was an intruder (yes we have an alarm) but turned out to be the neighbors cat scratching at the patio door. I scared him more than he scared me, and the next morning he came stalking across the lawn but split the second the patio door was opened. I like cats and hope to make friends with him as hubby is allergic so we can't actually have one.

They call British Columbia lotus land for a reason - especially Vancouver Island. Flowers are in full bloom including my front flower bed and I saw a doe and baby deer yesterday fifty feet from where we pick up mail. There is a large amount of weeds in my flower bed too, but I have to figure out garbage and lawn recycling before I can get to that. For today the giant thistle lives.

Next project on the agenda is priming our bedroom so we can paint the pink out. I will have some fabulous photos soon, but for now our iPad 3G is not cooperatingso only words today.

Half-way to Home-Day 1 of the Road Trip

Next on the cover of "Canadian Bear Vogue"

Today I drove 911 kilometres (566 miles) or 10.5 bum numbing hours through several national parks(Jasper Park, Mount Robson Park and Wells Gray Park).

Live animals seen: One deer, two mountain sheep, four elk, one bunny and three brown bears.

One of the elk and three of the bears even posed for photos.








No, I was not two feet away from the bears when taking these - I would rather not be an appetizer for furry creatures. Thanks to my telephoto lens I was able to pull my car to within 50 feet of them. There was a large cement divider between us. Bears are known for being the fastest tree climbers but not so much for pole vaulting.

The mountains were not bad either, although the weather was a bit hazy but these give the gist of at least of eight of the hours.







And, no cellular service for seven of these hours and little radio (no, I am too cheap for satellite radio). Just me, a little Journey, U2, Kansas, and the Outfield and the creatures. The price of gas was much scarier than the dandelion eating bears, by the way.

Tommorrow, driving over another piece of the Rocky mountains, navigating around Vancouver, the ferry and our new home!!

Artfully Unemployed - On Purpose!!

Well, holy cow but my job is done. I said my last goodbye's to co-workers today and they graced me with loads of gifts (wow, totally unexpected) of things to enjoy my new life with: slippers, wine, coffee mug, chocolate, pie (yummo strawberry rhubarb!), bubblebath, and a book! I really will miss these people. I have only worked them for two years but a really nice bunch. What I won't miss is the 6am alarm (although I am sure I will still wake up sort of early) or the job itself - very stressful.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life with my best friend and hubby as an Islander, when I can go down to this beach and look at this view any time I want! And Monday the adventure starts - the big move. Stay tuned.