Tricia's Musings

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



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I keep saying no to an invitation and it’s driving me nuts!

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My sister-in-law is driving me nuts. She’s been calling just about every week for the last month or so to ask my husband and I to go up to their trailer for a weekend.

Now normally I love getting holiday invitations but …. I don’t like their trailer … or well the area it’s in. It’s in some kind of members only Lutherian ranch. I don’t have anything against that of course, but the few times I’ve been up there I found it boring and the place had so many rules you couldn’t do anything!

It’s not that I’m a city girl. I love the city life, but when I was growing up we had a cottage that we went to almost every weekend and when we were weren’t at the cottage on holidays we were traveling around North America camping, staying in trailer parks with our own trailer or cabins … so I’m a little bit country. LOL

I guess it just comes down to the fact that I don’t like where their trailer is or the fact that when my husband his brother in law get together the party begins! Oh yeah, they like to drink together and it’s like taking care of two little boys. The last time they had a really good drunk together was when I tripped on a curb at a friends house and really damaged my knee and they just laughed at me instead of taking me to the hospital! (It took my knee 8 months to heal! so yeah, it was damaged).

Maybe you can see why I’m leary of having these two get together … somehow I’m the one who suffers. LOL

So far we’ve been able to turn them down because we’ve had other plans or my Crohn’s has been acting up (truth!), but we’re running out of excuses … how do I turn her down for good without hurting her feelings?

Do you ever get holiday or party invitations that you just have to turn down because there’s no way you want to attend?





Redneck neighbors!

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I think my neighbors are moving out next week. Yeah!!!

They moved into the house next to us in early January and it’s been one thing after another with them since! Ok … they’re nice enough when you talk with them, but honestly some of the things they do just drive me nuts or make me shake my head in wonder!

I wrote about them a while ago on one of my other blogs- how they don’t really take care of their Lab/ American Bulldog mix puppy, how the guy bought a third car – a boat of a car (Buick Regal) and now every second month it’s parked in the driveway … well wedged in our tiny shared driveway so that we can’t access the driveway or side of the house from the front … and so on.

Then there’s the tires! In the past month the guy has rolled a total of eight tires into their backyard. What he’s planning on doing with them I don’t know, but there they sit with weeds growing in and around them. LOL

Oh and I’m sure many of you know that we’re having a garbage and city workers strike here in Toronto? It’s been more than a month! All residents are supposed to hold on to their recycling, but the city has set up temporary dumps (much to the dumps neighborhoods dismay) so we can still get rid of our real garbage. You know, the smell stuff!

Has our redneck neighbor taken any garbage to a dump site? Nope! There’s maybe 6 bags of smell garbage sitting in the driveway along side their house and uh … 12 to 15 bags of recycling … all of it smelly!

I can’t open the windows at the side of the house because of their smelly garbage and all the flies it’s attracting.

We’ve asked them several times, politely, if there were going to take their garbage to a dump site soon. As it turns out the guy is a little scared to take it because some of the dump sites have huge delays and the strikers and residents get into scuffles. I still think it’s time he tries taking the worst smelling of the trash away. It’s becoming a health hazard!

We’ve only got two bags of recycling. We try to be efficient and given the strike we try not to buy a lot of prepackaged stuff so we’ll have less to recycle. We also only had two bags of garbage and Chris has taken those to dump sites when they were full.

Now that we know the neighbors are about to move we’re wondering if they are going to take all their garbage with them or just leave it there. Unfortunately I suspect they’ll leave it. They are apparently going on a trip to the Outer Banks once they move … so even if they take their garbage with them I guess it will sit at their new rental home until they return. Argh.

It’s so frustrating living beside people that just don’t care about the home they’re living in or about the neighbors. I guess since they are renters and know they aren’t staying nothing matters to them.

Do you have redneck neighbors too?

Still wiped out

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Well I thought I’d be recovered by now from having a house guest and a big family barbecue last weekend, but I don’t think I am!

Last night Chris and I decided to go to the Street Festival part of the Toronto Beaches Jazz Fest. I seriously thought I was up for it .. but a few hours before we went we had a huge storm – 30 mm + of rain in an hour or so, and oh buy did the humidity ever rise!

That humidity zapped me as we walked the crowded street passing and stopping to watch multiple bands play jazz, blues and funk. Oh I had fun! the music was fantastic, and I’ll post some photos in another post soon … but I just wasn’t feeling well last night. Not at all.

It’s the Crohn’s of course that’s doing me in. When it’s active I can’t do a lot of activities – not just because of the pain and other symptoms … but because the more I do the sicker I seem to get. I also get tired really easy too. There are days I’m so wiped out that I couldn’t even read a colon cleanse review or anything else for that matter!

Chris is on holidays this week and we don’t have any specific plans … however, I think for my sake, I’ll just try to take it easy for the next couple of days and maybe I’ll feel better.

Are any of you on holidays this week? What are your plans?

Recovering from our big family BBQ

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OK, recovery mode – over!

As I mentioned last week my brother came in to town this past weekend (Vancouver to Toronto) for a business meeting on Monday.

It had been a long time since any of my siblings or I had seen my brother … close to two years! So naturally, along with his three and a half day visit to Toronto we needed to arrange some kind of family get together. We also had Chris’ parents coming into town to take Chris and I out for a meal on Saturday.

I’d only found out that my brother was going to be coming for a visit and would be a house guest last Tuesday or so … So we were in a mad scramble to 1. clean the house, 2. prepare for a family gathering and 3. figure out how we’d see the in-laws on Saturday as well!

There were lots of family emails going back and forth all week as we tried to plan for my brothers visit. Finally I came up with the idea of us having a backyard BBQ on Sunday that any family who wanted to come would be welcome to attend.

Now, I wouldn’t say our house was dirty … but we are in stalled renovation mode, and with a ceiling with slats nailed to it awaiting the tin ceiling we hope to put in … the house seems to get dustier quicker than it should. Not to mention the fact that our dog seems to be going through a heavy shed …

So I guess I started cleaning on Wednesday and put in a full day and a half on both Thursday and Friday! By the time my brother arrived I was exhausted … and I still had to get the food ready for the BBQ!

Luckily my brother is really easy going, willing to help out a bit and pretty much a perfect house guest! He happily tagged along on Saturday (after we’d gone out for a noon hour late breakfast with my husbands parents, picked my brother up at the airport and brought him back to our house) to the grocery store and beer store as we got everything we needed for the next days barbecue.

In the end I bought too much food! We were expecting a total of 13 people and I served Octoberfest sausages, Greek spicy Italian sausages (I know weird – made by a Greek butcher, but Italian flavor LOL), fresh corn on the cob, a green salad, potato salad and the food that my sister, sister in law and niece were bringing as well!

I guess my family aren’t big eaters … we only went through about 10 sausages, and 8 hamburgers and had about the same amount of each (not yet cooked thankfully!) left over. I’d also cooked 15 corn on the cob and only 7 were eaten … So Chris and I have spent the week cooking up and eating the sausages that were already thawed for Sundays party and finishing up the salads and desserts!

I guess for us it’s been a week long barbecue!

On Monday evening we drove my brother to his Airport Motel (he had an early flight the next day so it was easier for all of us if he stayed closer to the airport), and then we spent some time in his motel room having a last visit. By the time we returned home it as close to midnight and Chris and I were beat.

Actually I was exhausted by Sunday evening or truth be told after all that cleaning before the weekend has even begun! Darn Crohn’s disease … it just wipes you out. Monday I had a massive headache all day … probably from being overtired and well .. I had a few drinks on Sunday … and I don’t drink very often these days.

Tuesday and Wednesday were right offs as well … It’s only today that I’m starting to feel more like myself.

I’m sure that if I were healthy (ie no Crohn’s!) having more than a dozen visitors descend on our home wouldn’t have fazed me all that much … but considering my health it was quite a big task … one that I made worse with my insistence that the house be as clean as it could be.

Have you ever been totally wiped out after having a family gathering and at least one house guest?

Anyone else having a big family gathering or reunion this summer? We had a great time at ours (my oldest brother couldn’t make it, but the rest of the siblings were there).

This month is so busy for me!

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Holy smokes it’s been a busy week!

A week or so ago I mentioned that Chris’ parents were going to be coming down on the weekend to take us out for dinner … well that didn’t happen. It was postponed and they are coming into town to take Chris and I for an early lunch this Saturday.

As it turned out it was just as well that my in-laws didn’t show up as my sister had an operation on her leg and knee last Friday so we went to visit her in the hospital on both Saturday and Sunday for several hours. She’s doing well- thankfully!

Then … just as the week started and I thought things were settling down, I got an email from my brother in Vancouver stating that he’s coming to Toronto this weekend and uhm … could he stay with one of us (ie us, one of my other brothers or my sister).

I volunteered our home, and since none of us have seen my brother for oh about a year and a half we decided that sometime on the weekend we’ll all get together for dinner. We might end up having a BBQ here on Sunday if the weather holds up. Right now the weather forecast says it’s going to rain on Sunday so we might all meet up in a restaurant after all.

If we do have a barbecue I think we’ll have at least ten guests! So it will be a busy day getting food prepared for the BBQ and preparing for guests. At least if it does turn out to be a nice day we can all sit outside in our garden.

I think I’ll be spending the next two days making sure our house is immaculate! I wish our dog wasn’t a shedder!

LOL I’ve been so busy lately with all the things Chris and I have been doing and now weekend guests every second weekend or so … I certainly wouldn’t want to be getting a life insurance quote right now as I think I’m getting a bit stressed out. In a good way of course, but still … I always get a little stressed when expecting house guests … especially if they’re my in-laws!

Have you been having a busy summer too? Expecting any house guests? Do you get a little stressed out as you prepare for guests in your home?

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