I just bought myself (from my parents and James) my birthday present - a kayak! With band ending, I was looking for a new activity for my once-a-week "me time." Kayaking is a favourite pastime, and a great sale on at a local store meant I could treat myself to my very own! I plan to go about once a week.
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The garden is very slowly getting in. Very slowly. Very very very slowly. Right now I have two strawberry plants in, and that's it. But I do have two 4'x4' boxes built and sitting in the garden, and all the ingredients for "Mel's Mix" (Square Foot Gardening) in the backyard, and all my seeds and seedlings on the deck ready for planting. I also dug up the purely decorative plants to make way for my new blackberry bush. The plan is to get it all in over the next couple of days, providing my lobster-red sunburn eases up enough that I can start walking without shuffling.
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This afternoon James and I are planning to head out and buy a swing set for the boys, complete with sandbox and fort. That will be a full day's work, putting it together (the recommendation is 12-14 hours, after taking inventory of all the parts! But I'm in my glory in this kind of setting (inherited from my dad) and so I'm actually looking forward to it!
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Our other big purchase was a tent for camping. It's a nice big one, that "sleeps 8" (which really means 5 + luggage and toys). It's got two great little vestibules, perfect for luggage or toy storage, or a nap for a tired boy in an afternoon. The centre part is huge, which will sleep the whole family. We still have a 4-man tent from our pre-children days, which will be great as a play tent for hot or rainy days. We hope to put it up in the next week to air it out (and probably James and the boys will break it in overnight!)
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The basement is our big house project this year. No, we're not finishing it, but we ripped up the dingy carpet down there to find holes in the floor near the walls, which of course lets in water. It's not a big disaster; we just need to fill in the holes with concrete and then seal the floor. But the lights have also been giving us problems, and we're at the point now where we need an electrician. Once all that is done, we may decide to put up two small sections of drywall, since James has to work down there.
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As summer arrives, so does the Canadian real estate boom. We won't be ready to move for another 5 years or so, but a girl can dream. Every time we hop in our car for a drive out of town, my eyes take in the beautiful hills and forests and properties around. I don't want a large home; just a small country house on a good size acreage (10, maybe?), a place to garden and plant apples trees and space for the boys to run around and have adventures on. If the house has good bones, I'm not afraid of a little work. Mostly I'm after the outside ambiance. It will be a long process, for sure, since we'll likely have to wait for just the right property in the right price range to come along. But it would be lovely to buy a home to which our grandchildren will also visit one day.
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2 comments:
Don't rush the garden...it's supposed to dip REALLY close to freezing a few nights next week!
Glad you found a tent too!
As for the Real Estate Market, I totally hear you! You'd be surprised at how much you can get for how little up here though (north of 89.) And you never know when that perfect thing will come up, so it's best to keep an eye out, I always say! (Plus MLS is totally addictive!)
We should arrange a playdate soon - I'd love to see your property and the area up there (although it's probably too far for my husband, who has to commute to Toronto). I think our boys would have a blast on a lovely day outside with all that space!
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