Extreme Cold Warning....still in effect!

Extreme Cold Warning

Issued at 10:48 a.m. EST Thursday 19 February 2015

Summary

Bitterly cold arctic air has once again returned to Southern Ontario. Strong and gusty northwest winds will combine with the frigid temperatures to produce extremely cold wind chill values of minus 30 to minus 35 today through Friday morning. People outdoors should

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Yesterday was a stay inside day and today isn't any warmer! We are amusing ourselves by throwing seeds out onto the snow in the patio area and watching the squirrels fight over them. Luna and Lily are absolutely glued to the patio doors! Do I know how to have fun or what!?!

This morning I had to take out the recycling and it was a struggle just to breathe let me tell you! I'll have to find another DIY project to keep myself busy like I did yesterday. I'm so happy with my fix-it job!! I had this kitchen cabinet door that squeaked/groaned horrendously every time we opened it, which was frequently as it's the door that has the garbage bin behind it. A week ago I thought that if I squirted some WD40 on the hinges I could make the squeak/groan go away. No such luck, in fact, I made matters worse because then the hinges were so slippery the door wouldn't stay open. I'd open the door, grab a plate to scrape and the door would be closed!!

So yesterday I took the door off and took off the hinges - turns out one of them was broken. At least that's what my carpenter's helpers told me...

..and they did a very good inspection! 

Off I went to the local Home Hardware store and bought new hinges...so far so good...

...but there was a slight problem - the new screws were a lot smaller than the old screws...they're not going to work very well in the old holes made by the much fatter screws!! Nope, door fell right off again!

I started digging through my large supply of differently sized screws but most were too long as I had less than an inch of depth to work with...

So I wondered about anchors...but again they were too long for the depth I had to work with and stuck out...

So...I flexed my muscles and tried forcing the old fat screws through the slightly smaller openings in the new hinges and it worked!! I didn't think they'd line up properly with the old holes but they did!!  Once in a while things go right!!

Ta da!! The door is back on and nary a sound does it make...

and it stays open!! Amazing how such a little thing can improve the quality of my life - no more groaning, no more closing when my back is turned!!

After that I carved for awhile and then did my first bit of sanding - it's looking good! I

also made a big pot of leek and potato soup which I'm going to have RIGHT NOW!!

A productive day:)

Doing it Yourself...(or cheaping out!)

Saving $$ - that's what it's all about! So today's post is about just that...

Exhibit One: I call this one "The Millionaire's Bird Feeder" 

  

Yup, that's a toilet paper roll! Covered with peanut butter and rolled in bird seed and stuck on a large, metal butterfly that has so far resisted several squirrel attacks! Not my idea - gleaned from The Globe and Mail newspaper. It works and it's cheep cheep cheep!

Exhibit Two: Standing Desk

It has taken awhile but I finally figured out a combination that is right for my height. I was using the kitchen counter but it was a bit too low and I found myself bent over and  leaning on my elbows trying to find a comfortable position.

What with all the hullabaloo about "too much sitting being worse than smoking ten packs of cigarettes per day" I thought I'd try and find myself an alternative to hours of sitting. So far so good. I like standing while I'm using the computer... right this minute I'm doing waist twisting and bending and listening to all of my vertebrae crack and pop while I type! Can you hear that? AND I just discovered that I can use the brace on the bottom as a foot rest - SCORE!!

Exhibit Three: Art Shelf
I used to have a tonne of shelves...until I decided to move and rid myself of most of them...sigh... However we all know about "creativity" in the face of "diversity" or "necessity being the mother of invention"...

I used a piece of barn board from my dad's barn that no longer exists. The painting is of an area near Otter Creek in the village of Norwich where I grew up and painted by my talented brother. It needs to be framed but in the meantime it has a sentimental spot to hang out.

There's our barn in the background. That's my dad washing his boat rather large car in the neighbour's driveway. It must be spring as there are no leaves on the trees yet. That's the large back yard where my painter brother and I had fun shooting arrows from his bow and arrow set straight up into the sky. Happily we didn't "take anybody's eye out"!!

Sadly when my parents passed away and our home was sold the lots got severed and now a house sits where the barn used to!! Sacrilege!! That barn had initials, including mine, carved into the boards dating back to the mid 1800's!! Attached to the left of our barn you can see the chicken coop where I would gather the eggs daily right out from under the chickens' bums!  Grope grope grope - no wonder they clucked at me! There is also a house now where the walnut trees were (you can see one to the right of my dad - there were several and earned someone a pretty penny when they were CHOPPED DOWN!!)

A couple of weeks ago I became Facebook friends with one of the boys who grew up in the white house that you can see through the trees on the right side of the photo. My house is out of view on the right side - there was a sidewalk that connected the barn to the house.

Finally - the CUTENESS photos!!  My screen addicts!! Lily watching the movie "Tracks" last night - it was full of camels and dogs and she loved every minute of it.

And Luna watching some "kitty porn" this morning - a friend's post on facebook about a cat lounging in front of a heater on a cold day! Hysterical!!

What have you made yourself lately - any great DIY projects we don't know about??

March Break Begins...

in two more days!!  And I am preparing a list of things I want to get accomplished. For example, I plan to strip the old caulking from around the bathtub and re-caulk it. I'm going to clean the grout between the tiles in the bathroom with bleach. My daughter got a printer with her mactop and has never been able to hook it up to work wirelessly so yes, I'm going to solve that problem (maybe). I MUST get rolling on listing items for sale on Kijiji - that's only been on my TO DO List for a few months... ETC. ETC. I won't be twiddling my thumbs! If I get bored I have these to keep me occupied:

 Right now I'm reading a book on my Kindle AND I'm almost finished "The Introvert Advantage" (you can see my bookmark sticking out.  And Michael wants me to get started on "The Soul of Money" which a friend sent to him on his birthday - he's finished it and is raving about it. I'm really looking forward to being able to sit for a couple of hours and just read :)

Happily I am back on my bike and pedaling like MAD!! Only 120km from Philly (and no, I haven't forgotten about you Sluggy! I have a stubborn 3 pounds to lose to get to my 10 Pound Challenge goal and have (once again) renewed my efforts....sigh... Speaking of losing weight (not) I have my daughter's fave recipe baking away in the oven - it's called No Peeking Chicken (kind of a play on words of Peking Chicken just in case you didn't catch the reference!) It's the easiest recipe in the world!! You put a bunch of skinless chicken in the bottom of a roasting pan - I'm using thighs this time but any parts will do, and cover it with a mixture of a can of cream of celery soup, a can of mushroom soup, a can of water, some sour cream if you have it but that's optional (well, not optional for ME) and a cup full of either wild rice or brown rice. I had some celery stalks that were getting a little floppy so I cut them up and tossed them in too. Mushrooms are nice in this recipe too. Then sprinkle some onion soup mix on top. Put a lid on it and bake 2 hours in a 350 oven - and NO PEEKING because the steam needs to stay in the pot! Yum yum yum!! Course I'm having some chicken but only a teeny weeny bit of rice. Yeah, right!

Last night I worked on income tax as Kazi printed off the tuition forms from her university. I juggled numbers and got us both a very juicy refund. Hers will pay almost half of next year's tuition!! Plus she's mailed forms away for a tuition rebate from last year's tuition that our very in-debt gov't is offering (though probably not for long!) Mine will be put towards my line of credit though I might allow myself a new spring top as it was a robust 15c today with lots of sunshine. One of those days that are such a gift in early spring. So, tonight I file my taxes online and should see the $$ next week! Yippee!!

And finally - Today's Inspirational Moment:

Michael bought these flowers on Valentine's day and has gradually been removing the dead ones as they wilted, dried out and fell onto the table. Yesterday I took this other picture:

this is all that remains after 3 weeks. Michael's been going through a bit of a yucky time and we were inspired by how beautiful these perky little remnants looked floating around in a dish or water. They have no stems anymore and the petals are curling up but there is still a bit of life and loveliness left. Here is what we came up with after having a good long heart to heart talk:

"Even in the midst of our mess we can salvage something good." 


Whenever we go through a tough time we can ALWAYS take away something good. Whether is be a lesson learned, an inner discovery of our own strength or simply the satisfaction of knowing we did our best in a difficult situation there is always a silver lining if you look hard enough.

Here endeth the lesson.

Making Your Own Firepit

As I sit here by the fake fireplace at Starbucks my thoughts turn to Crofters Lane and the firepit Michael built there in August.  The house wasn't "officially" ours yet but the owners allowed us to "camp out" in the house until we signed papers at the lawyers in a few days. Michael had some very definite ideas about what he wanted to accomplish during the week we spent at our new home - first was the firepit, then he wanted to transplant some spruce seedlings from our forest to build a wind break to the north of the house.

It was an interesting week - we had a small bar fridge and ate a LOT of sandwiches. We had an old table in the diningroom and a couple of mismatched chairs. Upstairs we had a king-sized air mattress, some towels and toiletries. Although the owner loaned us a TV we had brought our own source of entertainment - a six-inch black and white TV with AM/FM radio. We found K-Rock 105.5 and turned it up high. This was one place where we'd be able to play our music as loud as we wanted to!

And then, Michael got busy!

 We used rocks from our driveway which had recently been levelled. There were literally hundreds of rocks in the culverts on each side of our .4km driveway to choose from and Michael spent a good while hauling them up in a wheelbarrow.  He picked the perfect spot for the pit and started digging.

 We didn't have a lot of tools but we had enough. Michael worked up a good sweat digging the firepit hole in the distinctive red PEI soil. Me - I was cleaning all of the woodwork inside...hence the yellow rubber gloves:)

 A spot was carefully dug for each rock and each rock chosen for its particular shape and size. Nothing left to chance.  Gradually the firepit began to take shape.

 Michael really gets "into" his work:) However, I would suggest that next time he pick a different coloured T-shirt...perhaps reddish brown??

Certain flat stones were chosen to be "set in" for seating or as small tables for holding candles and/or drinks:)

Looking good Michael but I think it's starting to get dark! The sun is starting to dip down behind the forest.

 Let's put out some candles - it gets REALLY dark around here at night - it's nothing like the city!!

Michael brought up a lot of extra rocks - he's thinking about expanding the "lip" of the firepit, or he might save them for another DIY project.

                                                                             It works!!

                                                                  All cleaned up.

And this is how you cook when you don't have a stove or a BBQ! A couple of good sturdy sticks long enough to reach across the top of the firepit and a small metal rack to hold our food.

There's a well-seasoned chicken inside that foil - we felt a bit like pioneers:)

Except I don't suppose they had tinfoil.

It was scrumptious!

Working hard.

Isn't it beautiful??

Functional AND mesmermizing!

We burned up a lot of stuff - two musty old dressers that were left behind, we broke them into pieces and fed them into the fire.

There's enough fallen limbs in the forest to keep the fire going for a long time.

If you're driving down Butcher Road next summer and you see a glow from a campfire, drive on up our laneway and sit a spell by the fire.

You'll always be made welcome:)