Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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Archives for 2008

Moving out of State or across the country? Try U-Pack Moving

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It seems like a lot of people in my neighborhood are packing up and moving away this year. At one point, back in June, the two houses closest to use were empty and a house a few doors down went up for sale and the owner moved out almost immediately after she sold her house.

The house beside us, Sofie’s – my elderly neighbor, just went up for sale. She had a mild stroke in February and her family spent the summer fixing up the house and they just put it up for sale a week ago. Now another neighbor is selling their home too.

All these neighbors moving away and new neighbors moving in got me thinking about the hassles of moving. It’s a big job and it can be quite expensive to move too, especially if you are moving to a new city or perhaps even a new State.

I just learned of a company that offers what I think is a unique moving system. It’s called U-Pack Moving.

The concept is simple. You contact them regarding a Truck Rental and then on your moving day they’ll deliver a trailer or one of their ReloCubes to your home, you pack the truck with your items and then the company will drive the truck to the location of your new home.

The cost of your move is based on the amount of space your items take up in the trailer or the ReloCubes rather than the weight of your items. You can save a lot of money this way.

Plus, I don’t know about you, but when you rent a moving truck to do a move yourself … well .. someone has to drive it. I know when we moved I wasn’t comfortable driving the truck so my husband had to do all of the driving. Since the U-Pack Moving company drives the truck for you that’s bound to ease some of the stress of a move especially if you’re moving out of State!

If you are planning a move in the near future you might want to go online and get a free quote for their Moving Services or you can call their 1-800 number to get a free quote.

I wonder if any of my neighbors that have moved away have used a moving service like this. It sounds like a great idea.





The dog’s under the table

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Wordless Wednesday

IMG_4903 copy

I love this picture of Midnight. She was lying under our teak table in the backyard when i snapped the shot. I love how the legs of the teak table frame her face.

I really like our Teak table. It’s made with recovered teak wood – as in teak tree stumps and or old fallen branches. These pictures aren’t great, but you can get an idea of what the whole table looks like:

IMG_4906 IMG_4898

Click on the pictures to see a larger image.

It’s ffffreezing!

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Brrr! I can’t believe how cold it is outside right now. Did winter arrive when I wasn’t looking?

it’s 11 Celsius (51.8 F) outside at the moment but before the night is over it’s going to drop down to 7 Celsius (44.6 F). I can’t remember the last time it was this cool this early in September. Scary!

Just before Chris headed to bed he went into the basement to flip the power switch for the furnace to the ON position and we set the thermostat to 17 c (62 F). Since we are in the middle of stalled renovations we actually have the thermostat attached to the top of wall along the basement stairs and since the basement is cooler than the rest of the house we have to set the temperature lower so the the furnace will come on when the “living” part of the house is at a slightly higher temp – but one that’s starting to be a little too cool. So … if our furnace does come on tonight for the first time since last Spring the main floor of the house will probably be at about 66 F.

Weird little system we have, I know … but once our reno is done (if ever!) we’ll put the thermostat in a much more logical location.

I can tell you that I did not enjoy taking the dog out for her last outing of the night. It was freezing outside. I almost turned around to go back in and get my winter coat!

I hope it warms up again for a while. I can remember many Septembers and Octobers here in Toronto when it’s been almost as warm as early summer most of the time. The temperatures we’re experiencing tonight are more like late October temps! Maybe we are going to have an early winter.

**shudder**  I hope not! With gas and oil prices so high I’d hate to have to pay all that extra money to heat the house for two or more extra months if it gets cool earlier than normal. Believe me, the furnace is already going to be set a lot lower than normal this winter as it is.

How’s the weather in your area this evening? Did it cool down drastically?

Looking for a new WP photoblog theme – help?

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I need a new WordPress Theme for my photoblog – Breath of Life Photography.

You’d think it would be easy enough to find a nice theme for a photoblog considering that there are thousands and thousands of free WP themes out there … but no … there are very few that are suitable for displaying a large image in a single post.

The theme I’m using now is OK, but it incorporates the post page (single page view) into the main index page, so that cuts down on your options if you want to display certain things on your index page and other items (or exclude items) on single post pages. Also … there’s no sidebar. I guess I could live without a sidebar, but a theme with footer sidebars incorporated into it would be cool.

The current theme displays images up to 720 px in size. I’d like to find a theme that displays pictures that large or at least no less than 600 px wide.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions for a new WordPress theme? I’d prefer a free one if possible!

Thanks!

Striped flowers

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Join Green Thumb Sunday

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Most of the flowers in my garden are solid colors or have petals that subtly go from one shade to another, but I only have a few flowers that have stripes.

One of the striped flowers is new to my garden this year. It’s a petunia. I purchased my annuals in the middle of June and when I saw this particular Petunia I thought it might look great in a planter by my front steps, and in planters in my backyard.

red and white petunia

Of course I had a Canada Day (July 1st) display in mind when I purchased this petunia. The Canadian flag colors are red and white just like this flower so I called this my Canada Day flower.

The other striped flower that I grow is in my backyard. It’s a striped Malva Zebrina.

Striped Malva

This beauty reseeds itself each year and I find myself pulling out seedlings that are growing in the wrong areas each spring and early summer. It’s a pretty flower and it’s easy to grow and manage.

Do you grow any striped or unusual looking flowers in your garden?

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information. GTS participants remember to check in at As the Garden Grows each week so that we’ll know you made a new post!

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