• 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

Wandering Husband

February 21, 2006 by Tricia

Oh no, not the kind of wandering that you’re thinking. I mean wandering, as in he literally goes outside of our house, presumably on a mission to do something and disappears for hours!

You see, my husband is what is known as a Social Butterfly. He is kind. He is sweet. He sees humor in just about anything. He is a compulsive talker. He’s the kind of guy that will talk to you about anything and everything, whether you want to talk or not. LOL

Whenever he’s outside our house he’s always spotting someone on the street and yelling (and I mean yelling) “Hi Neighbor!” and then running over to them to see how they are or what they are doing. He’s like a friendly dog.

When he leaves the house I never know how long he’s going to be. You would think that if he left to go to the corner store which is two blocks away from our home that he would return within say ten minutes. Nope- not very often. He usually finds someone to stop and talk to on the way to the store, at the store, AND on the way back home. Sometimes a trip to the corner store can take an hour.

At this moment I’m waiting for my forever wandering husband. At approximately 5:30 pm he went to visit one of our neighbors who happens to be an electrician. You see we are trying to finish up one of our many renovation tasks. We are putting in ceiling lights in two of our upstairs bedrooms, and moving the electrical switch in the bathroom so that it’s closer to the door. This project was started two years ago!

Did I tell you my husband is the worlds greatest procrastinator too?

Now, I tend to do my share of the renovation work that we decide to do. I come up with the ideas so I am the chief designer, visionary, and decorator. I do the majority of plastering, painting, staining, varnishing, sanding and finishing touches. But I don’t do electrical work … and neither does my husband it seems!

Two years ago he spent a good month putting new wiring in through the attic and down through the walls of our house, so that we could replace some old knob and tube wiring, and put new lighting in some of our rooms. We purchased the fancy ceiling lighting and set everything up. All that is left to do is to attach the new wiring to the electrical box in the basement and have it inspected and approved by an electrician. Once that’s done we’ll install the lights which I certainly hope work, after all I purchased them two years ago and likely won’t be able to return them if they don’t!

So, for two years approximately 90% of the work has been done. Why I’ve waiting so long for my new lighting upstairs I don’t know. It’s not like I haven’t asked my husband to speak with our neighbor and work towards getting the wiring hooked up and approved.

So that’s what my husband is doing now. He’s gone over to our neighbors- who by the way talks even MORE than my husband does, to see if he can get him to come over and look at the wiring job and show him how to do the final hook-up.

It’s going on 7:00 pm. My wandering husband is 5 houses away- I think! He might be visiting one of our other neighbors by now or standing on the corner talking with people passing by for all I know. Either way he’s been gone for an hour and a half! LOL

I’ll be sending out the search party soon!

Update: 7:20 pm, my laughing husband came home without the neighbor that he’d gone to retrieve. He states he was stuck there helping them. He’s mumbling something about moving things around in their basement. We’re both laughing. He says “you know Tony”, and I say “yeah you’re just like him, the two of you are the worst people in the world to put together and expect to get anything done ’cause of all the talking”. Gosh, what am I gonna do with my wandering husband?





Filed Under: General Musings, Home and Lifestyle, Home Renovation, Life with Chris, Socializing, The Neighborhood Tagged With: ceiling, electric, electrician, Home and Lifestyle, Home Renovation, house, husband, lights, neighbor, neighbour, remodeling, renovate, renovation, social, Socializing, talk, talkative, The Neighborhood, wandering

The Stalker

January 29, 2006 by Tricia

Yep, Sofie again. ๐Ÿ™

She just called me a little while ago to remind me not to forget her. She also told me that she can see me working at my desk.

Remember … I said my computer was near a window? Well, our windows are opposite each other. For her to see me from her window she likely has to get to the farthest left side of her window- meaning wedging herself between her window and her dining room table that is against her window wall. My computer desk is at the furthest left side of my dining room window. I’m sure she can barely see me and that it must be difficult for her to get to the exact spot in her window that she could see me from. But she does!

This is new behaviour for her. At least new in the fact that she’s telling me she’s watching me from her window. ๐Ÿ™ She’s told me twice in the last week.

Since it’s winter and I’m not going outside much- at least not to my backyard – she’s gotta find another way to keep an eye on me.

Arghhhhh! Go watch T.V. Sofie!

Filed Under: Home and Lifestyle, The Neighborhood, Toronto Tagged With: backyard, dining room, elderly, member, neighbor, not going out, sofie, spy, stalker, The Neighborhood, watching, watching me, window, Windows, winter

Sofie

January 28, 2006 by Tricia

Neighbour, second mother, grandmother, Stalker?

Sofie is my elderly neighbor. I think she’s been telling us she’s 84 for about four years. Her husband passed away 4 days before we moved in to our house. She has three children, but doesn’t want to live with them … she wants to remain in her home and likely pass away there.

Nothing wrong with that. But she’s lonely, and perhaps a more than a little bit depressed. She’s been very upset since her husband passed away, her nerves are bad, she doesn’t sleep well, and the way she talks to us – I think she hopes to join her husband soon.

She’s very sweet. She’s Macedonian and while she says she doesn’t speak English well we seem to understand her just fine. I think I’m actually picking up the Greek and Macedonian languages since I’m sure there are times I’ve caught her speaking to me in Macedonian and I’ve understood her perfectly.

Sofie has been in love with us since the day we moved in to the neighborhood. The second day that we owned our house- while we pulled out carpet, knocked down walls and hung up ceiling fans, in the midst of a heat wave- she brought us tea, milk and cookies as a snack. Very nice, very sweet of her … but it was much too hot for tea. ๐Ÿ™‚

During our first year her family was over visiting all the time, cutting the lawn, shoveling the drive, getting groceries for their mother. However as the years have passed, we’ve come to take over a great part of that role. It’s not that her family doesn’t visit often- they do- but since the lawn is always cut (at her insistence, just prior to one of their visits) they don’t have to do much to help her out.

Sofie always says- I love you like a daughter, and to my husband I love you like a son, and I guess we love her too. As I said – she’s sweet, but she sure knows how to get us to do things for her. ๐Ÿ™‚

In the summer of our first year at the house we concentrated on doing some renovations on the inside … but over the long winter I planned a beautiful garden for our backyard, and come April of 2002 we started measuring, and mapping out where our stones, raised beds, and patio were going to go.

Our garden is now full of flowers- 60 roses, 100’s of perennials, and each year at least 100 annuals. Sofie has a garden too- but it’s earth for a least 6 months of the year, and then she plants peppers and Tomato’s in June.

I start planting my seeds and new perennials in April … she’s out digging in her earth. Every time I step outside, she comes out too … she’ll water if I’m watering. It doesn’t matter if her garden is just soil. She’ll dig if I’m digging. If I’m pruning she gets her scissors out and cuts her grass by hand. LOL

If it’s a work day for me, she’s outside on her front porch to wave good-bye to me. It doesn’t matter if it’s -20 C, or 37 C she’s out there. ๐Ÿ™‚

If my husband and I are going somewhere and taking the car, she’s outside saying hello and “don’t forget me”.

If I’m sitting in my home- as I am now – typing at the computer, near a window. She’s occasionally watching me in the window.

I love this dear lady and I’ll do anything to help her, but I’m starting to feel stalked. She’s very focused on me, my husband not so much.

I’m starting to feel as if this is a reality show and I’m the star. I definitely wouldn’t make a good celebrity. I like my privacy too much.

It’s gotten to the point that in the summer when I’m watering the garden (larger garden that needs watering daily or at least every second day) I’ve taken to waiting until after dark to go out and water. Sometimes she still sits and watches me, but half the time she goes back inside after I’ve been busy for a while. Unfortunately watering after the sun sets isn’t supposed to be that great for the garden … and worse … that’s when the raccoons and skunks and neighborhood stray cats come out. So while I might not have my neighbor watching my every move … I still have creepy sounds, raccoon visitors etc contend with. ๐Ÿ™‚

Sofie and Chris Rock'n and Rollin'

Sofie and Chris play guitar in the backyard.
What do I do?
Tricia, The Stalked!

Filed Under: General Musings, The Neighborhood Tagged With: elderly, flower, garden, General Musings, grandmother, lonely, mother, neighbor, plants, renovate, sofie, stalker, The Neighborhood

The Neighborhood

January 28, 2006 by Tricia

We’ve lived in our house for 4.5 years. We live in Greek Town- The Danforth Village- in Toronto. More than half of our neighbors are Greek or Italian, eighty percent are elderly.

It’s a great neighborhood. Very safe, very friendly. The day we got the keys to our new home (June 28th, 2001) we met at least 20 of our neighbors. All within 30 minutes of arriving at our house. They were waiting for us. ๐Ÿ™‚

All but a couple of our closest neighbors are elderly. They love us. We cut their grass in the summer, shovel their walkways, sidewalks and driveways in the winter. We also provide their daily entertainment value.

One neighbor, who passed away this past summer, used to always watch us. His name was Jim, but we called him the Policeman. He had to know what was going on and he had to be involved. I swear he must have been keeping an eye on both the front and the back of his house at all times.

The second day we owned our house we removed all the carpeting in preparation for re-finishing the floors. We also knocked down a few walls in our living room. We get busy FAST. Jim of course was always standing outside our house trying to see what we were up to, and at times, coming right inside the open doorway and just watching us work. He wouldn’t say a word … he just watched. That was a little creepy.

As we got to know our neighbors they would pop in on us when they knew we were home or when they saw us in the yard working. Jim was very good at sneaking up on us. Most of the time I heard him shuffling down our driveway, but sometimes he just seemed to appear. Always with the question “what are you doing?” “Why?” “you don’t need that!” “flowers- you have enough flowers, phfwwww”.

When friends came over to visit us or to pick us up to go somewhere, If Jim hadn’t seen us that day, he’d make it out of his house before we did and tell our visitors that we weren’t home. LOL

At least we knew the house was safe while we were at work or if we went out of town for a few days.

At times- along with our other neighbors being interested in what we were doing when we were outside- we got to the point where, if we’d see Jim in his backyard, or coming down our driveway, we’d sometimes duck down behind some of our garden plants so he couldn’t see us. We didn’t do it often, and we felt bad when we did it, but hey … sometimes you just want your privacy. Privacy is something that is greatly lacking in this neighborhood … at least if your names are Trish and Chris.

I miss Jim the Policeman. I miss hearing him shuffling down the driveway or complaining about other neighbors, or telling us that we don’t need to be doing whatever we are doing. You wouldn’t think I would miss that, but I do. I just wish there was a tiny bit less of it while he was alive.

Jim and Helen cleaning windows

Filed Under: General Musings, Home and Lifestyle, The Neighborhood Tagged With: back yard, Canada, danforth, elderly, entertain, Entertainment, friendly, garden, General Musings, greek, Home and Lifestyle, house, neighbor, neighbourhood, plants, renovate, safe, The Neighborhood, Toronto, visit, watch

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 32
  • 33
  • 34

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

  • Table For Five
  • Organic Gardening Tips
  • Get WebStyle
  • The Domestiquette
  • LifeCruiser

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