Tricia's Musings

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



You are here: Home / Archives for Culture / Toronto

Whew … got my brother and his wife all moved into their condo!

by

Boy, am I tired!

My husband and I got up early today and traveled outside the city so that we could help my brother move from his house to his new condo! Figures it was a hot, muggy and rainy day! (well it only rained a little where we were, but there was a huge downpour here in Toronto!).

When we arrived at my brothers house we discovered that they had started the move earlier than planned. I guess my brother and his wife got up early and started moving boxes outside beside the moving truck and when my sister-in-laws sisters and one of their husbands arrived they started moving the really heavy stuff (bed, china cabinet, freezer etc).

Still … there were lots of boxes to move and pack into the truck so even though the truck was at least a 1/3 packed when we got there, there was still a lot to do. Luckily there were a lot of us helping so it only took about an hour to pack the van.

Then the waiting began. My brother had to wait until the lawyer received the payment from the person who bought his house, and then the money was supposed to be transferred from his own bank account to his lawyer to pay for the condo … all before they could get the key to the new condo so moving in could begin …

We sat around talking in their backyard as we waited. I hadn’t see my sister-in-laws sisters since my niece’s baby shower about a year and a half ago! Lots of catching up to do!

My brother only had the elevator in the condo until 5 pm – after than people aren’t allowed to use it for moving or deliveries. So we waited and waited, calling his lawyer every once in a while to find out how things were progressing and if they could get the key to the condo soon. If he didn’t get the key on time we were all willing to come back on Wednesday morning to help them complete the move.

In the end, they didn’t get the key until 4 p.m.! Luckily their new condo was only a couple minute drive from their old house! We scooted over there and started packing things onto the elevator at about 4:15 pm.

We broke up into teams to make the work go faster … my sister-in-law, my husband, my nephew and my niece’s husband were upstairs unpacking the elevator and moving things into the condo, while the rest of the gang were downstairs unpacking the moving truck and loading up the elevator.

We really had some good team work going! Can you believe we unpacked and moved a full moving truck of household items in 45 minutes!

Between the moving, the heat and the effects of a long day I was a sweaty red faced mess by the time the final elevator load was moved into the condo!

While all this was going on our dog, Midnight was at home in her crate. I think we left her on her own for about 9 hours! That’s the longest she’s ever been alone. Man was she happy to see me when I came into the house and let her out of her crate! She just circled me and circled me, occasionally taking a good look at my face as if to ask “Are you really here?” LOL So she’s one happy puppy this evening!

And I’m one tired person this evening …

To top things off, about two hours after we got home i got a call from my brother in Vancouver. Guess who’s coming back into town for a quick business meeting? Uh huh … he’s flying in tomorrow night and he’ll stay over at our place for two days before returning home.

So I guess this is the week that I help my brothers! Hmmm I wonder if my oldest brother will call about an upcoming visit now? LOL





My garden has a hold on me!

by

Join Green Thumb Sunday

Join

I was still feeling crappy yesterday thanks to yet another Crohn’s flare, but in the late afternoon I decided I wanted to go outside and at least take some photos of my Rose of Sharon tree.

You see, it just started blooming about a week ago – huge lavender Hibiscus like flowers – lovely. In fact, yesterday, while gazing at the tree I could see more flowers than green leaves. Yes, it was blooming like crazy!

While I was outside with my camera I must have had a surge of energy because suddenly I didn’t feel as bad as I had an hour or so before. I noticed that some of my plants were flopping over and that some of the roses had some dead branches and the next thing I knew I was busy tidying up my garden!

Meanwhile … my husband was in the front yard watering and as he made his way to the back I put him to work helping me tidy up some of the garden beds too.

All in all I think we were outside from about 5:30 pm until 10 pm! By that time I was in pain … my poor back was aching and my stomach was screaming in pain. So I guess I’d better be careful the next time I want to go out and take some “pictures”.

I didn’t upload the photos from my camera that I took of the Rose of Sharon tree and my other plants yesterday, but I’ll do that soon. I’ll probably post them on my gardening blog when I do! In the meantime … here’s a couple of photos of some of the other plants that are blooming in my garden right now.

Climbing Westerland Rose
Climbing Westerland Rose
Lavender flowers 2
Lovely Lavender
Climbing iceberg roses 9
Climbing Iceberg Rose

Of course there are plenty of other plants blooming, growing and or producing fruit and veggies … this is just a sampling!

We also picked raspberries yesterday evening and plan to have them for dessert this evening. Yummy!

Do you garden? If so, what’s blooming or growing in your garden this week?

Redneck neighbors!

by

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

by

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

by

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).

Meta

Search this site

Tags

blog blogs camera Canada Chris computer crohns dinner dog Family flower flowers Food friends funny garden Gardening Green Thumb Sunday Health and Fitness Health Fitness and Beauty holiday home Home and Lifestyle house husband IBD Inflammatory bowel disease Internet Music neighbors pain photo photos plants puppy Shopping sick sleep spring Toronto TV Video visit website Wordless Wednesday