Money Madness

My budget would be in great shape IF it were the middle, or even better the last week of May! There is blame to be shared and the #1 culprit is SPRING!! 
I have a fever.....spring fever!!
Over the past week I have made several trips to Home Depot for these...

3 geraniums for the patio

My sister found this stand while thrifting and I have filled it with flowers!

I have always had a thing for yellow begonias!

I needed to replace a spruce tree that died over the winter. This
one looks good and healthy!

I didn't have to buy these - but they are in bloom so
just had to share.

Just love pansies so got a planter full for my
iron "garden chair".

There were other things I needed - instead of buying a new crappy hose every year I invested in a good one.  And I thought a couple of outside pillows would spruce up my love seat. And they were on sale :) at Jysk.

So I have somewhat overspent (let's not forget all the wine and extra wine and food we needed as Kazi's boyfriend was visiting from Detroit)!!
Mother's Day was lovely - I got to relax and enjoy the...

Thanks Kazi and John!

while the kids cooked me up some...

...pancakes with dark chocolate bits and blueberries and strawberries...and MIMOSAS!!

It was a really nice, sunny day so I had a nice wander in the woods and then I LAID on the couch and read my book before having a nice dinner of greek salad and chicken and pumpernickel bread and spinach dip!!

Then we all needed to...

zzzzzzzzzzzz!!

Disappointment

Yesterday, a friend and I went to an event being held in a new art/antiques/crafts and funky furniture store. It was billed as a creative get together of crafters and artists - a time when we could create together, feed off each other's ideas and forge new relationships within London's artistic community.

It was NONE of these - it was a joke! And the joke was on us! I'll let my friend's email to the organizer explain in the way only she can - honestly and boldly.

"I would like to say the your 'Create with Me' event was a real letdown and as my friend said 'A total rip-off'. Please do not use the photo you took of us in any of your advertising. You need to polish up your communication and other skills such as punctuality and manners. A proper host should not show up late, stare at their phone most of the time, ignore their guests, forget some refreshments like milk (coffee & terrible mini muffins were offered), not explain anything about your business or your goals, not engage your guests in conversations and ignore us when we left without even getting your butt off the couch to say goodbye. An awkward, boring waste of time. We got all this for $7…please help me understand why we had to pay you this when we brought our own crafts? You are clearly out of your element as a host. Big fail. We felt so sorry for the man who showed up late and was left on his own to colour while you continued to gossip with your friend. I was so embarrassed that I invited my friend to this fiasco I ended up treating her to lunch nearby. We both would like a refund of our $7. You can leave it with Kate-who should seriously evaluate any future 'create with me' events at lost&found."

Needless to say we won't be going back. Oh yes, and I was the friend who said it's "a total ripoff!" Stay tuned to see if we get our money back!

In better news, my refund cheque arrived!! Yippee!! A whopping $204.22! Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick! AND all the snow and ice is gone from my patio!! I went out and cleaned up a little bit. I took the tarps off my patio furniture so everything could dry out and of course it's raining today. The kitties have been outside once and now mew piteously whenever I come near the patio door. They have spring fever! I was going to go out on my bike today - the tires feeling quite firm about a winter spent languishing in the basement hallway - but again, it's raining so will have to wait. 

BUT...spring IS in the air!!