Happy Birthday Canada

Spring Cleaning a couple months late

I finally got around to cleaning out my basement this weekend. I had tons of things that I had out grown, no longer liked or wanted, or just didn't fit in with my current decor. The sad thing is, I have never thought of myself as a packrat. Every spring and fall, I go thru my clothing and get rid of things I haven't worn in a while or things that don't fit. I pack them up and take them to Goodwill. However, when it comes to household items, I just banish things I no longer like or want to the basement.

I really have to break myself of that habit...because this is what happens when you don't get rid of stuff semi-anually.









Some of these items are going to the dump, some of these items are going to my cousin up north who is setting up her appartment, and the rest is a donation to my mom and dad who are going to have a charity yard sale in the fall.

This weekend I also signed up at the local community centre for a one month pass, which allows me to swim, skate, or walk. The community centre has a great indoor track. 13 times around equals a mile. I know I have a treadmill, and I have been using it for the last several weeks, however I just don't get the same workout on the treadmill as I do on the track. (don't ask me why, I have no idea LOL) This also gave me an excuse to go out and buy some more exercise goodies. I bought a "lap counter". It is really a pitch counter but it does the same thing. You just click a little button each time you go around the track and you don't have to keep count in your head. It is far to complicated having to walk and keep count all at the same time...lol.

I am really starting to see the change in my body as well, I don't think I have lost any more weight (I'm not a big fan of that damn scale) but all my clothes are just hanging off me, so I'm happy with that. People keep telling me the pounds will start to come off too, but for now I am just happy that my clothes look like they belong to someone else. Hopefully 6 months from now they will be in the Goodwill pile.

Last but not least.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY to my Dad.

You're pretty cool for an old guy dad.



Even if you won't wear pink or yellow.
Love you lots.

What a beautiful day.

Well, I have not quilted in quite some time and I'm thinking about closing down this blog and starting a new blog that is more about daily happenings. Sometimes I'll write about quilting, sometimes gardening, sometimes healthy eating, you get the idea. I haven't really decided yet...but if I do start a new blog I will let you all know. :-)

Today is a beautiful day in Southern Ontario...it is sunny with a nice breeze and not too hot and more importantly not too cold.

Usually I walk in my basement on the treadmill or on the track at the YMCA. Today I walked outside...I put on my ipod shuffle turned it up loud and hit the road. I walked from my house to my parents house. OK, so no one told me that walking outside would be harder than walking on my nice treadmill. LOL. You see, outside there are hills (uphill hills.....LOL) I don't have that problem on my treadmill ;-). All is well though, I made it to my parents and lived to tell the tale...and I did it in 37 minutes. (I am very pleased with that time.)

Before I started out for my walk I made myself one of these.



The Famous Green Monster.

A couple blogs I follow (Polly and Sarah) are always letting their readers know how good they are. So the other week I jumped into the Green Monster craze.

I changed Polly's recipe just a bit.

My recipe was as follows:

1 cup of skim milk
2 handfulls of organic baby spinach
2 heaping tablespoons of Vanilla Activia Yogurt
5-7 chunks of frozen banana. (probably a whole banana. When my banana's get too ripe I peel them cut them into chunks and freeze them)
1 teaspoon of raw sugar.

OH MY GOD!!! It was heaven. Now, please keep in mind I am probably the pickest eater on the planet...this thing was TO DIE FOR. Super Yummy and very filling.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

Is it really the end of May??

For those of you in Southern Ontario you will know that our weather has not been very spring like. We have been lucky to have quite a few sun filled days but it is cold and windy.

Me and my Gardener did some gardening and lawn work this weekend. I took pictures last weekend and this weekend. My gosh can you ever see the difference in just a week. Just imagine if it was actually warm out...lol






















Now look at the pictures I took today and see how the garden has grown.















I even managed to get a sewing project done this weekend. 32.5 came over and *cough* did *cough* helped me make a curtain for my gazebo. It looks great and helps block out my neighbours backyard.



That's my weekend in a nutshell.

Spring has sprung!!

And my mind is racing in 100 different directions and none of them include quilting.

I worked on my yard today and it is really starting to look nice. I pulled about 10,000 dandelions. Thank goodness my gardner (DAD) has a fancy shmancy dandelion plucker. You can do it all without having to get down on all fours. (not a pretty site..lol)










The Happy Gardner.


My mom and dad.

It was a little cool today...about 11 degrees celsius (about 52 fahrenheit)but it was sunny all day.

I also did some work on the inside of my house the last few weeks. The Canadian Government is offering a tax grant to people who do renovations on their homes...so I took advantage of that and had my stairs and upstairs bedrooms recarpeted. I also had a little painting done.


Here is a large picture so you can see close up how disgusting my carpet was...don't you just love that huge stain?? I have no idea what it was that was spilled on the carpet but it went right through and even stained the wood subfloor underneath...yuck!




Before.


After.



I had the woodwork painted out on the stairs. I am so glad I did it.

Well, my blogging buddies, I think that brings my life up to date.

I hope everyone is enjoying their springtime. Happy Quilting!!

This is just to cool not to post

I hope this makes you smile as much as it did me.

Happy Monday!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY&feature=player_embedded

Happy Easter

I did some sewing today. I worked on my multicoloured stacked coins quilt. It is going to be a lap quilt...I think I still need to add one more border to it.





I know this next statement will be hard to believe but I don't have any fabric in my stash that work as my final border. I guess I am going to have to make a visit to my favourite quilt shop.

I was talking to 32.5 today and we made sure that we both wanted to go to the Creative Needlework Festival. I enjoy the spring show so much better than the fall one.

Just an update for my faithful blogland friends. I'm feeling good....I'll be going back to work soon. I'm still not smoking (woo hoo) and I will be attending a Cardiac Rehabilitation Program. I am really looking forward to that, as the program teaches people how to live a heart healthy lifestyle.

Happy Easter to everyone.