• Home
  • Blog
  • Archives
  • Links
  • About
  • Guest Blogger
  • Contact

Tricia's Musings

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

  • Home and Lifestyle
  • Recreation
  • Health Fitness and Beauty
  • Entertainment
  • Web and Technology


You are here: Home / Archives for Home and Lifestyle / The Neighborhood

The missing flower

April 29, 2007 by Tricia

Join Green Thumb Sunday
Join

IMGP2314

Last week, I think it was Wednesday, I happened to look out my front window and I noticed that our very first tulip of the year was blooming in the boulevard garden bed. It was morning and I was still busy doing some things around the house, so I took note of the flower and made a mental note to go outside later in the day to take a closer look and perhaps even photograph the flower.

Unfortunately that was not to be.

At some point in the afternoon I looked out the window again and saw that the flower was missing. Someone had picked it – taking the whole stem and all.

I couldn’t believe it! Someone had taken my first tulip. I didn’t even get to enjoy it. Can you believe that?

A lot of young school children walk by our house each day. There’s an elementary school just a few blocks away. I suspect that it was probably a child that took the flower. If it was I’m not that upset. However I still would have liked to have at least taken a closer look at it and perhaps taken that photo.

The tulips shown above grow in the back garden but they aren’t blooming yet. I took that photo last spring.

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.





Filed Under: Green Thumb Sunday, Photography, Recreation, The Neighborhood, Tricia's Garden Tagged With: bloom, bulb, first tulip, flower, green thumb, photo, photos, spring, spring bulb, spring flower, stolen tulip, sunday, tulip, yellow tulip

Trapped in the dark

April 16, 2007 by Tricia

Unbelievable! Our power went out!

I was sitting there in total darkness. Ok, well I was, but I went and found some candles so I guess I was sitting in candle light as I waited for the power to return.

The house was so silent it was eerie. Chris went to bed early because he has to wake up at 5 a.m. to get ready for work. He did wake up when the power first went off though. You see it flickered a few times before failing and this triggered my radio alarm clock and made it blast music for a few seconds. I guess he might have also woken up because his c-pap machine that he must wear each night for his sleep apnea would have stopped working too. No more air forcefully being blasted into his nose. I’m sure he didn’t mind that it was off. LOL

I was in the middle of writing a big article for an advertiser. I had actually spoken with the advertiser via email on and off for a few days and we had decided that my article of his site going up on a Monday might be best because I sometimes have a peak in site traffic on Mondays. Hmmm I hate it when things I promise don’t work out – especially if they are due to circumstances that I have no control over. Luckily the power came back on after an hour and I’m busy working on the post again. I did lose what I had written. That was a drag!

All I wanted to do was finish writing and posting my article and then I was going to go to bed so that I would actually get up at a decent time for a change. Now, I’m sitting here trying to re-write what I had written and hoping that it comes out as good as it did the first time round. So much for actually going to bed early for a change.

The power was on just up the street. The street lights and traffic lights were working in that area, but here it was only darkness. The power failure was just from the corner of my part of the street and eastward. I’m sure the hospital, if was effected had to go on back up generator power. I used to hate when the power would go out at the hospital. All the doors would automatically shut, and the fans that circulated air would stop and it would get so warm.

That’s one nice thing about living so close to a hospital. We are on the same power grid as the hospital so when the power goes out in the area or in the city like the big blackout of 2003, they work to restore power to this area first. Well, I mean any areas with hospitals or areas that offer vital services to the public would be first on the list of course. Luckily the power doesn’t go out here very often.

Naturally I wasn’t able to access the Internet either. Our wireless router was off so our Internet connection was down. I wrote the bulk of this post, and have just now changed the tense from present to past, in my email program while using my laptop. Worried the whole time that my laptop battery wouldn’t last the length of the power failure. If the laptops battery had failed I wouldn’t have gotten anything done.

I’m so happy the power came back on … I just hope it stays on at least until I’m done the article that I promised I’d have already posted by now.

Filed Under: Blogging, Home and Lifestyle, Recreation, The Neighborhood, Toronto, Web and Technology Tagged With: article, busy, candle light, candles, Hospital, house, Internet, laptop, Music, post, power failure, sitting in the dark, write, Writing

karaoke Neighbors

January 1, 2007 by Tricia

Enough about Sofie my little old lady stalker neighbor … this time I wanna talk about my gawd awful Karaoke singing neighbors!

They Are Driving Me Nuts!

Friday, beginning sometime around three p.m. I began to hear what possible might have been country music through the walls of my home. The sound was coming from the adjoined neighboring house … the Karaoke neighbors. The music was accompanied by what can only be described as the sound of wailing dogs left out in the cold and howling to get in. Yes, they were singing.

OH my Gawd, they were singing?!?!

They continued on through the evening, at least until 11:00 pm. It was unbearable! The music changed but unfortunately if anything the singing was worse. We’ve been through this before. They were probably partying and drinking. The music gets louder and louder through the night- probably thanks to an unhealthy dose of alcohol, and unfortunately the singing only gets worse.

People, no matter what they believe, do not sing better when they’ve been drinking.

That was Friday ….

This is now early Monday morning.

They took Saturday off.

Unfortunately, they did not take Sunday off.

I was sick all day Saturday. Actually it started Friday night. I’m only guessing that their music stopped at 11 pm Friday because I fell asleep on the couch to escape my pain and perhaps them as well. Saturday was not a good day for me – fevers and pain in my belly all day. I took it easy because I wanted to go with my husband to see his brother and the rest of his family for New Years Eve. I didn’t make it though. I felt a bit better on Sunday but not enough to be able to go out and party all night.

So I’m home. Spent the afternoon and a good portion of the evening working on my sites. I actually felt like I got something accomplished without Chris hovering around me.

At about 8:30 pm the horrid Karaoke began again. It was sporadic, but very very loud. I didn’t want to go and knock on their door because I’m feeling yucky and look horrible. Wait a minute that might have actually helped!

Instead I spent my time yelling at the walls. Yeah … I’m hoarse now from yelling at them to shut up – not from screaming as the year changed. What a twit huh?

If you are picturing a woman, no make up, dressed in sweats and looking ill, holding her hands cupped around her mouth and yelling loudly at a wall while stomping her feet, well yeah, that’s me you’re seeing. Now forget you ever saw that, and we won’t speak of it again.

Their house quieted down sometime after 10. I thought I’d lucked out and that maybe they went to a friends. They must have gone somewhere, but not for long because around 11:30 I started hearing a lot of loud voices and thumping feet over there, and the sound of microphones being dropped – you know that bang and hiss they make when they fall and their turned on and the sound comes out the speakers. Yeah. Not nice.

Right after midnight the Howling music began. I swear it sounds like they are in some big empty warehouse. Their music and singing almost echoes. I can’t make out the words to their songs but they sing so bad I doubt I could if I was in the same room.

Christmas Eve was like this too, but if anything their awful music and singing was better than it was Friday or today. I can’t believe they’ve managed to get worse through the week! My husband refused to complain about it last Sunday, no matter how much I plead with him to go over and knock on their door. He said it was Christmas Eve .. leave them alone. Yet he complained all week about how loud they’d been last Sunday. Yeah … whatever Chris.

Calling them doesn’t help. They can’t hear the phone. Heck I can’t hear my phone at times since it sounds like they are in MY living room. Knocking on the door doesn’t help much either. When we’ve complained in the past they tone it down for a bit, and look at us like there’s something wrong with us complaining about their music. They claim that they can’t hear us. Well, let me tell you – I can hear them. All __ The __ Time!

It’s actually just about 1 a.m. and if they don’t stop soon I’m going to go bust their door down. This is really inconsiderate. I am very angry at them right now – so angry in fact that I might even call the police. I’ve never done that to anyone before.

I know it’s New Years and I really don’t mind people having fun … I like to have fun too, but if you were here and you could hear how loud and how awful the sound is you’d be wanting to call the police too. It sounds like they are IN my living room. Going upstairs doesn’t help either because it’s almost as loud. Plus, this is the third time in a week that they’ve driven me nuts with their loud awful singing.

Once I can forgive, three times in a week, uh huh.

This time I will be complaining.

The real problem is that they are actually very nice people, and overall they are good neighbors to have. They don’t do this very often anymore. They used to all the time, I think our complaints and actually bringing them into our home to hear how loud they were helped a bit.

I’ve already told Chris that our next home will be DETACHED. No more semi-detached for me, thank you very much.

Hmmm now I’m done editing this post and it’s 1:10 am .. I heard noise at their front door and I think their guests might be leaving. The karaoke stopped about 10 minutes ago too. Keeping my fingers crossed that it’s over.

Filed Under: Chronic Pain, Culture, Entertainment, Health Fitness and Beauty, Home and Lifestyle, Inflammatory bowel disease, Music, Recreation, Shopping, The Neighborhood Tagged With: bad singing, Chris, christmas, crohns, Family, fever, Health and Fitness, Health Fitness and Beauty, house, IBD, Inflammatory bowel disease, karaoke, karaoke neighbors, loud music, loud neighbors, neighbor, pain, semi detached home

Ignorant People

November 26, 2006 by Tricia

I’m getting tired of my neighbors visitors. Chris went out to the store Thursday evening. He was gone as little as 20 minutes. While he was gone our neighbors relatives came to visit. Unfortunately the single parking spot on our short block that is legal to park in was taken so rather than parking the car on the street opposite our house where most people park they parked behind the car in the legal spot.

Which means that they parked on the street and blocked our driveway.

Our two closest neighbors friends and relatives do this all the time. I don’t mind so much if they are just parking there for five minutes – like when they are picking up one of the elderly ladies to take them somewhere or dropping them off. That’s fine. But parking there for close to an hour? No way.

My husband is useless in this matter. He doesn’t mind. Since it’s usually relatives of these neighbors that do this he figures he can just either park on the street until they are gone, or knock on one of the neighbors doors and ask them to move if we have to go somewhere.

Right. That’s a nice attitude, and that means my husbands a nice guy … but I guess I’m not so nice. I just think it’s rude and ignorant and I sit there and wish that the traffic cops come round and give them a BIG fat ticket when I see them parked out there.

Two years ago when my husband was sick with what the doctors thought was a life threatening heart condition I’d get really pissed when I’d see a car blocking our driveway. I took him to Emerg so often back then that the though of someone blocking our driveway when we’d have to get out for an emergency ticked me off.

Why do people do this? You just make people angry, and if you get a ticket it’s probably going to be two or three times more expensive than parking on the street in a no parking area.

Grrrrrr! These people make me so mad!

How would you feel if someone was blocking your driveway?

What types of things do your neighbors do that makes you angry?

Filed Under: The Neighborhood Tagged With: angry, blocked driveway, car parking in front of driveway, fine, illegal, neighbors, The Neighborhood, ticket, visitors

Sofies TV blew up!

November 25, 2006 by Tricia

Ok, her TV didn’t blow up but when Chris went over there on Thursday afternoon after she’d knocked on our back window, as she loves to do several times each day, he discovered that her TV wasn’t working anymore and that it had a distinct electrical smell to it.

Our elderly neighbor Sofie told Chris that her son was going to bring her a new TV the next day. Why, then did she call our house twice and knock on the windows a few times? I’m not sure. I hadn’t been feeling well on Thursday and I was upstairs in bed trying to sleep when I’d heard the taps on the window. I didn’t get up because I was totally out of it … plus I figured she was just coming over to say hello like she does several times a day anyway.

Chris being the nice guy that he is decided to take our small TV that we keep in one of our guest bedrooms over to her. She’s elderly and easily bored so he thought this would help her pass the time through the evening until her son would show up with another TV for her. But her other son showed up while Chris was there and he’d brought a TV with him.

Cut to Friday. I guess Sofie didn’t have any problems with the TV on Thursday night, but on Friday she had problems. Between Chris and I we’ve been over to her house to turn on her TV or change the channel for her no less than 7 times.

She can’t see the displayed numbers on the TV when the channel changes, nor can she see the numbers on the TV converter in her hand. She likes leaving the TV on channel 4 so I really don’t know what the problem is. We’ve shown her how to select the numbers in a few different ways like counting the buttons or using the channel up and down control, but every time she gets herself on a different channel she calls us.

We’ve called her son and told him that he must get her a TV converter with gigantic buttons so that she can see the numbers. Maybe that will solve the problem. If it doesn’t she’s going to keep calling us and asking us to come over several times a day.

She refuses to live with her sons who have each invited her to come live with them. She likes living on her own and I don’t blame her. However in the past year there’s been a lot of signs that she’s not coping well on her own. She’s lonely, she’s fallen several times and now her eyes are obviously failing – plus the visits to fix her TV probably weren’t just because she couldn’t get the channel that she wanted back on, I’m sure they were cries of loneliness.

Neighbors! ARghhhhH!

Filed Under: The Neighborhood Tagged With: elderly, exploding tv, neighbor, sofie, The Neighborhood, TV, visits

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 28
  • 29
  • 30
  • 31
  • 32
  • …
  • 34
  • Next Page »

Connect with Us

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Categories

Sites of Interest

Useful Links

Eavestrough Cleaning Toronto

Shopping

Gifts, Gadgets,
Books and More!

Recent Posts

  • Is your home well insulated or do you have energy leaks?
  • Pet Safety Tips
  • Top 10 Most Fundamental Yoga Poses For Beginners
  • Will My Interior Décor Stand The Test Of Time?
  • Outdoor Furniture- Spicing Up Your Backyard
  • Ensuring You Have A Good Experience Staying At Hotels With Children
  • Mother’s Day Cookies

Recent Comments

  • Bill on Top 10 Most Fundamental Yoga Poses For Beginners
  • [bonus]old school new body-f4x workout on Why does my husband always bring home the wrong stuff?
  • Rodhe Stevens on 5 Little Known Secrets To Finding Cheap (But Durable) Furniture
  • Julia Carlson on How To Install A Mosaic Tile Kitchen Backsplash
  • Humane Raccoon Deterrent Idea on Helped save a baby raccoon last night

Subscribe


Subscribe to our RSS Feed It's FREE!

Subscribe to Tricia's Musings by Email It's FREE!


Follow me on TWITTER

Find us on Google +



Find us on Facebook



I have two mottos-
1. Live life to the fullest; and
2. Don't have any regrets.

Get More Traffic

Visitors since 2006

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

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

Blogs I Visit

  • Sans Pantaloons
  • Table For Five
  • BlogTO
  • Casual Slack
  • The Domestiquette

Copyright © 2026 · Lifestyle Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in