Tricia's Musings

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



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Archives for 2009

PC Mac and online games for Christmas

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My husband and I will be starting our Christmas shopping this week. We aren’t going to be going all out this year, simply because we can’t afford it, but we’ll still get some gifts for the kids in the family and a few close relatives. One idea that we came up with was to possibly buy some PC, Mac or online games as gifts.

I haven’t played many online or PC games in the last few years, well, with the exception of an online puzzle and a Mahjong game that I play every once in a while. So I’m trying to figure out which games would be good for teenagers and younger kids? Any suggestions?

I was looking online and games such as Princess Isabella – a Witch’s Curse, City Lights, Zuma’s Revenge, Luxor Adventures, Trapped and Campfire Legends seem to be interesting games that I think my nieces and nephews might like. They’d certainly make good stocking stuffers!

Another idea that I had was to possibly buy some memberships at an online game website, that way the recipients could easily play online games or buy games that they like for a discounted price. They could even download games right to their computer – games like Amazing Adventures The Caribbean Secret, Avenue Flo or Big City Adventure.

Have you ever thought of gifting someone an online gaming membership? I think at least two of our nephews would love that as a gift.





The yard work is done for the year – now it’s time to finish our renovation projects – oh boy!

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My husband and I spent a couple of hours outside today getting the final yard work for the year finished.

We cut down plants that had died off and sawed down the sunflower stalks – yes, the stalks were extremely thick so pruners wouldn’t do the job – we had to use a small hand saw on them to take them down! We also put leaves on the garden beds to protect them through the winter, and put away our many planter containers, teak table and other odds and ends.

It’s good to be ready for winter! Of course that doesn’t mean that I’m anywhere near ready for it to snow. The snow can hold off for months as far as I’m concerned!

Now I’m tired. I shouldn’t be, but I’ve been much more tired than usual over the last two months or so, and to top it off I haven’t been able to get to sleep easily this past week, so that’s just compounding the tiredness.

So now I’m just relaxing on the couch, watching HGTV shows like Disaster DIY – which is making me think of all the renovations we’ve started in our home and haven’t completed (yes I believe we’re prime candidates for the Disaster DIY show) and preparing to get our christmas cards done.

I’ve found that I’ve been watching reno shows on HGTV more often in the last few weeks and it’s making me think about our renovations.

We’ve done a lot of work on our house since we moved in such as redoing all of the hardwood floors, painted all of the walls, did venetian plaster in the master bedroom and the living room dining room, tore down walls in the living room, dining room and entrance way (prior to painting etc), put a skylight in the roof of the enclosed porch as well as putting in a hardwood ceiling and refinishing the whole enclosed porch, totally refinished the hardwood stairs, put in a new sink and cabinet in the upstairs bath and a bunch of other things. I can’t even remember everything we’ve done, but I guess I could also include landscaping our front and backyards and putting in a fabulous garden.

Now, other than our plans to renovate the kitchen, two bathrooms and finish the basement, we still have to finish some renovations that are about 80% complete. The main ones I’m thinking of are the living room dining room. As I said we tore down walls, refinished the hardwood floors and did venetian plaster on the walls … but the ceiling still needs to be done. We bought tin ceiling panels … oh 6 or 7 years ago, and we still need to put them up. We also need to put crown molding, base molding and quarter round in the living room dining room. Then it will be done.

We’d better finish it soon because I’m already tired of the venetian plaster. LOL … and I’d like to see the rooms complete before I decide to sand and paint over the lovely plaster.

Since I’m really getting in the mood to finish our work, I’m hoping that maybe in January Chris and I can start finishing what we started so long ago. Believe me, I’m tired of look at the unfinished ceiling!

As I’ve said repeatedly over the last several months we have absolutely no extra money. However I don’t think that will slow our finishing of the renovations if we can make ourselves get started again … Why? Well, we already have all the supplies we need or pretty much everything we need. We have the tin ceiling panels (already painted – but I’m hoping we have enough of them to cover the ceiling!) and the molding stored in the basement. At the most I think we still have to buy the quarter round that we need and then some paint to finish off the molding.

Just the thought of starting up our renovations again is making me tired, but I’m just sick and a little bit embarrassed by the look of our unfinished home. Hopefully that will help spur me on to finally get started again. I’m also worried about what to do with our dog when we start finishing our renovations again … she wasn’t around when we started this big project. Hopefully she’ll listen to us and lie down in a corner when we’re working, otherwise she’s going to be a dusty and possibly paint covered dog.

So how many of you have homes that could be on a show like Disaster DIY? Have you started reno projects and found you didn’t have time (or the knowledge) to finish them? If so, are you going to get around to finishing your reno sometime in the near future?

I can’t wait until the scuzzy neighbors next door leave

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I can not wait until our renter neighbors next door end up getting kicked out. Note that I didn’t say move out … I’m sure they will have to be kicked out given the stories and history of them we’ve heard from some friends that used to live in the same apartment buildings that they did.

They are just plain scuzzy people. The kind of people that you take one look at and get a bad feeling about.

Now usually I give people the benefit of the doubt even if I have a bad feeling about them when I first meet them. usually my instincts are right – but I still like to give people a chance. Not in this case though … Chris and I just got a bad feeling about them from the start and then we started hearing from our friends that the guy had just gotten out of jail and that he and his wife are hooked on drugs and get this – that the guy actually robbed both his sister and his parents recently!

Chris just came back from the corner store and guess who was there just before him … our scuzzy renter neighbors – the guy, his wife and their teenage daughter. It looks like they pulled a scam while they were there too.

They apparently bought a long distance calling card. The store owner gave it to the teenaged girl and the girl proceeded to walk around the store – I guess while one of her parents were paying for the card. A few minutes later the girls said the card wasn’t in the envelope. So the store owner ended up having to give them another long distance calling card.

I suppose it’s possible that the card wasn’t in the package, but knowing these people’s history it’s more likely that they pulled a scam by distracting the store owner while the girl took the calling card out of the package and then said it was empty.

I only wish that the people that own the home had looked into these people better before renting to them. We apparently have no home owner rental laws here in Ontario where the home owner is supposed to do a criminal background check etc on prospective renters – kind of like a pre-employment screening that some companies do.

Why? Well, if they don’t and it turns out that the renters are doing something illegal in the home like making drugs etc then the home owner will be liable for their renters activities and any damages that the police do when they bust the renters … ie if the renters set up a drug lab in the house and the police bust in and break doors etc or tear up walls the homeowner has to pay for all the repairs because they didn’t do a background check on their renter. I guess if they did do one and the renter didn’t have a criminal history but then did something illegal then the story would be a little different for the home owner.

I don’t know exactly how it all works, but it’s clear that the home owners in this case didn’t check up on anything that the renters next door told them. I mean, not even calling their employers. The guy had told them that he worked for the Toronto Transit commission and that his wife was a social worker … but we hear from our friends that the guy got fired from the TTC a year or so ago and then spent close to a year in jail and that the woman hasn’t worked for a few years.

Arg … I can’t wait for these people to leave. I’m sure it will start with them not paying their bills or their rent and then the home owners will have to kick them out. It can’t happen soon enough for me!

In the mean time we’re keeping all our doors locked and someone is always home. Hey, if the guy would rob his own sister and parents homes then it wouldn’t be a big leap for him to rob his next door neighbors – would it?

I want to lose 5 pounds in the next month – help!

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So my niece is getting married in just over a month. Argh!

I found a nice dress in my closet that I’m planning on wearing but if I could manage to lose 5 to 10 lb before the wedding the dress will look great. If not .. well it will look ok, but I’d rather that it look great.

So .. I’m thinking about going on a mini weight loss diet for the next month.

We already eat fairly healthily.

I mean, I’ve got Crohn’s disease and a lot of foods make me feel worse, so my diet is limited anyway … but still, we get in a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit, low fat meats like chicken and turkey and if and when we eat red meats (only once or twice a month really) I try to buy lean meats like extra lean hamburger or I cut off the excess fat before I cook the meat (ie such as the fat around the edges of a steak).

I usually don’t snack between meals either … so I’m not sure what I can cut in my diet to lose a few pounds, but I’m sure I’ll find something. I can’t really even cut down on portion sizes because we already eat fairly small portions … ie one single boneless chicken breast between the two of us and a cup of steamed carrots, broccoli and cauliflower each is one of our main standby meals.

I do have one Coca Cola pretty much each evening, so I guess I could just drink water instead. That would cut a few calories each day.

I think the main thing that I’ll need to do over the next month is get more active. I’m already walking the dog daily, but if I increase the length of our walks and or take her out two or three times a day that will help.

Do you have any ideas as to how I could lose 5 pounds over the next month – when I’m already on a healthy diet that has a little less than my required total calories for my height and weight?

I started using my Wii again- Finally!

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I just started using my Wii again! I bought it last January, but after a few months of using the Wii Fitness game and and a few other games I got busy and stopped using it. I guess summer got in the way?

Anyway, I decided a few days ago that I’d better start using it again. I mean, I spent a lot of money on the console and balance board and a few games to go along with it … so I’d better use it right?

I started using the EA Sports Active that I bought oh … last June or so. I love it. I like it a lot better than the Wii Fit that came with the balance board. I can even use some of my own fitness equipment with it such as a step board, ankle weights, hand held weights or even a balance ball.

I’ve only used it a couple of times so far, but I really like it. I plan to use it at least three or four times a week from now on.

Being at home on medical leave for the last five years has left me in bad shape. My weight isn’t too bad, but my muscles are weak. I’m definitely not as strong as I used to be and I don’t want my muscles to get any more out of shape than they already are!

I’ve also been thinking of getting the new Wii Sports Resort and the upgrade to Wii Fit called Wii Fit plus. Do any of you have those yet? Are they worth getting?

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