Tuesday, December 3, 2019

I've not gone underground

So we are back from our 4 night trip to Alberta.  It was minus 17 degrees celcius for most of the time we were there - we are sure wimps since we left.  I was cold the whole time.  I do not regret for a single moment moving out to Vancouver Island.  It did dip just below zero at home while we were gone but it really happens so rarely and yet we still have 4 full seasons here, which I like.  The days leading up to the trip were filled with madly trying to finish painting the living room and decorating for Christmas as I like to have most of it done before we leave on our annual December trip.  When we were putting up the outside lights on the house I found this in our gutter. Some bird must have dropped it on our roof, either an eagle or a crow.  It was fully petrified - didn't even smell so must have been some time ago. 




I got a smoking deal on peanut butter right before we left.  $1.44 per 1 kg jar of peanut butter.  Hubby eats it every single day so these will only last a couple of months.  Not our usual brand but for $1.44 a jar he will eat it.


I spent the Sunday before our trip decorating for Christmas.  Not the best picture but you can see what it is starting to look like.  We will paint the ceiling tray in January as it is still the old color.


I love this time of year - 66 cent bananas and .99 cent a pound mandarin oranges.  They look great in the $5 Mexican pottery bowl I bought on our Facebook bidding site a while ago.  


We came back thoroughly exhausted but managed to see family, friends and business associates.  It has been a tough year business-wise but hubby came back rejuvenated in that area.  We picked up Buddy and he was equally tired after partying for four days with his other human family and dog family.  

A wee bit of unfortunate news though - we've had to set our Mexican trip back to the end of March due to unforseen circumstances with our dog sitter.  We could have tried to get another sitter but would worry the whole time we were away so decided to change our dates (with change fees) instead.  Animals are lovely but sometimes they are a pain in the butt.  Buddy is worth it though.

I have a few minor Christmas preparations left, putting up our vintage Christmas lights outside in the back - I usually like to wait on those as they suck up a lot of power so mid-December is soon enough.  I do love how they look though or I wouldn't put them up.  The newer less energy draining ones are on the front of the house and are on now until January 1 every night.  I also need to make cookies as zero baking got done.  Finally I need to do my Christmas cards to my American relatives up and get those in the mail by Monday if they are to make it there by Christmas.  I still send some as most of Mom's sisters and brother are not on social media and they do enjoy getting a card from us.

We also are helping my friend get her tree on Saturday, she usually gets a 12-13 ft real tree as has the ceilings for it.  Next week I have two Christmas get togethers so life is busy.  I haven't been able to read any blogs and have to do a bunch of work here before I even consider it but I just wanted to let everyone know I am alive, just trying to catch up!  

16 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you had a safe trip. Now get busy with all that Xmas stuff! lolz

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    1. On it! Cards part way done, rest of vintage lights hung, did 1 batch cookies, need to do rest next week (but really more room in freezer is required before we can fit in cookies!)

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  2. So glad you had a good trip and didn't run into any winter storms. Your living room looks so beautiful. I love all the windows!! When peanut butter is on sale, we stock up as it's a staple in our hurricane preparedness kit. Thank goodness hurricane season is over. We went another year without a weather event. Whew!

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    1. The windows is what attracted us to the house. They look onto our cedars which are about 18 foot high and give us lots of privacy. You can see why grey is ok as we do have lots of light, even on dark grey days. So glad to hear you missed the weather events - but snow! That is quite rare for you isn't it?

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  3. Your house is beautiful! I love that Talavera bowl. And I wish I could find a deal on peanut butter. I love it. It tends to be expensive here and in very small jars. I go through it so fast.

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    1. I eat it too, just not in the quantity that hubby does. Nothing like a good PB&J (*he didn't know what that was for the first 50 years of his life lol)

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  4. -17°c? I don't think I could stand it. Glad you had a good trip.
    What a shame about having to postpone the holiday but it makes perfect sense, you'd never be able to relax if Buddy didn't have his usual carer.
    Your fruit bowl is gorgeous!
    Love peanut butter (my once a week treat) I buy a brand called Whole Earth as it contains sustainable palm oil, more expensive but better for the planet.
    Your lounge is looking very inviting - I'm off to Google what ceiling trays are, I've never heard of them! xxx

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    1. I can't remember how I stood it for all those years as minus 25-30 is a regularity there in winter. Minus 17 is actually fairly mild lol. I don't know if they call ceiling trays something else but our homes (all less than 100 years old) lack architectural elements so that is what they gave us - just a higher ceiling height in part of the living room

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  5. Brrr...glad you had a great trip despite the cold weather. It's been nice in AB and SK this week but the deepfreeze is back after the weekend. Why I want to move to the island!!

    It's hard to believe we're only 3 weeks away from Christmas. Time just flies. Sorry you had to move your vacation plans but at least you'll get to go. And Buddy is definitely worth it!

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    1. Exactly - the trip was not cancelled and Buddy's well being is so important especially after his injury. Christmas is coming too fast right now!

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  6. Calgary weather- brrr. The room looks great.

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    1. Thanks Susan-that was Edmonton but actually Calgary was worse as got a foot of snow dumped on them on that cyclone thing that went through the states. Glad we missed that!

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  7. Love the look of your living room. Your home is gorgeous. That looks to be a new to me anyway brand of peanut butter. Colin living on it. I usually bas the Adams brand as it is peanuts only. It comes on sale mid September and I buy enough until the spring.

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    1. I think it is a new brand of PB - likely why the sale:) I will buy just about any brand at that price. I am only brand loyal on certain things and even those only if the price is right.

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  8. I remember one time getting -15° here and that was hell. I can't imagine living with temperatures like that for any length of time. I'm glad you had a good break though, and your living room does indeed look lovely! Better get going on my Christmas decorations then I guess!

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    1. Yeah, I hated the cold and barely went out in Alberta in the wintertime other than to run to the car and drive to work. Now I can actually walk the dog in winter!

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