How to make yourself feel better by shopping 101

Today, because I had a customer freak out on me for a mistake, and because I had time to kill before I picked up Stephan, I decided that the perfect pick-me-up would be to do some shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond. A.K.A buy some toys for my purrrrty kitchen!

I got two juice jugs. One has a section in the middle you pull out, fill with water and freeze, and the place back in so it stays cold. The other one has a thing in the middle you can fill with fruit, so it mixes with whatever you have filled it with (juice, water). I thought they would be great to use with your new patio set when we have dinner out there! So I bought some lemonade mix, and some fresh fruit. I put just water in one, and lemons and raspberries in the decanter. And the other one is filled with lemonade. YUMMY. Perfect for patio weather.


Ok, the next item makes me REALLY domesticated....but I think its adorable, and cute...and I do make a mess when I cook, so its much needed.....
So after I picked up Stephan, I cooked up dinner (wearing my new apron of course) and we ate dinner, for the first time together out on the back deck on our new patio set. It was a beautiful, cloudless day and the perfect day for a patio dinner :) Just one of the pros to owning a house :)

All by myself....

Stephan left to day to work way up North for the next 8 days. But then I get him for a whole 2 weeks! He gets 6 days off, and then after that he has a week vacation while my parents are here visiting! Last night, before he left we talked about getting a patio set for the back deck. We really wanted to be able to eat outside and enjoy the nice weather. I was looking around, and we found a great deal on a 4-seating patio set from Walmart and decided to get it. So after work, I went and bought it :) AND, put it together....all by myself...because Stephan is gone. I'm kinda proud! It took me awhile, but I got it no problem. Stephan might need to tighten some screws just to make sure, but its great!

However, we still want to get a bbq and I'm a little worried about space. We have a little over 4 feet to fit in a small bbq, and it has to be gas. CAN you get a small gas bbq that is smaller than 4 feet?! I hops so! Because you can't sit out on a patio at the table without bbq-ing!

But anyways, here are some pictures of my handi-work:

the colour is not this dark, its just the shade from the over-hang on the deck making it look so

Here is the actual colour!

This is just to show how much space is left for the bbq. My mom did make a point that you could stack the chair on top of another chair while you bbq, to give you more space, and than move it back when its time to eat. That would give us another 6-8 inches at least.

weekend recap

Friday was awesome. I miss my piano students, but it was so nice to come home and make dinner before going to the German Club, instead of being stuck eating fast food.

Saturday was a busy day. We didn't sleep in, and we had our usual pancake breakfast. Stephan got a hold of a drill, and we hung up the curtains on the back sliding door. Finally, curtains! Now I don't feel so creeped out sleeping at night, knowing people can't see into the house. Especially when Stephan is gone during the week.


I did some cleaning, and then we got a last minute invite out to a friends house for a birthday bbq. I took the opportunity to bake some cookies (to test out the oven), and to include as part of the birthday present. It was the perfect weather to just hang out on the patio and bbq, and a great evening with friends. We followed it up with a few drinks at the bar. All in all a great night.

Sunday was church, I got up earlier to get stew going in the slow cooker before church. We had a presentation, and then a choir practice after church. I stopped by to grab a few things at the grocery store, and came home and had a nap while dinner finished in the slow cooker. We followed the evening up with a movie on the couch.

How was your weekend?!

house pictures!

Here are some pictures of the house, now filled with some furniture :) keep it mind, it still needs quite a bit of decorating, there are a lot of bare walls! Enjoy!

weekend recap - MOVING DAY!

First of all, I have more pictures of the house to share with you! But, my camera is acting up (the batteries are dead, and its an older camera so it has to have power to connect to the computer), so I will have to wait until they charge and show them to you tomorrow. Sorry :(

Friday was moving day! I had to work, but I had everything packed up and sorted to go Thursday night. Stephan and 2 of his friends from work took the work truck and trailer and moved all the furniture. I had most of the boxes already moved over and unpacked at the new house, during the week which was a huge help. I finished work and came home to an empty apartment, so I quickly vacuumed and mopped and headed down to the new house. I spent the night unpacking the last of the boxes and organizing. Pretty much everything is unpacked now, except for a few odds and ends.

Saturday we had pancakes for breakfast...made on the new stove! Wow, does it cook a lot faster than my old stove! I'm gonna have to readjust all my recipes, which means they will probably get done in the time they are SUPPOSED to get done. Stephan helped me hang up some pictures and paintings, and we talked about what else we would like to do for decorations. In the evening, we had a house warming party for one of Stephan's friends from work, who happened to be one of the guys who helped us move.

Sunday was father's day :) I had church in the morning, of which my Aunt and Uncle were in town in order to visit my cousin Johnny and Rachel, and their baby boy Henry. I made sure to give my dad a phone call and had a nice conversation with him. He will be receiving his present late because of the Canada Post strike. But there's not much I can do about that. Other than that, Sunday was relaxing. I had a long nap in the afternoon (I also had one on Saturday ...it was an exhausting week moving stuff to the house), and cooked our first dinner in the new house. Stephan also got to talk to his family on skype while I was at church, and got to see his nephew for the first time (he just took his first steps recently!), so it was a really nice treat for Stephan.

I have to say, we both love being home owners. We love having a place to call home, something that is ours and that we can make our own. And we are relieved not to have bad neighbours above us anymore. We are happy to be out of a basement apartment, and into something that is so bright and airy. Even the air feels better here, better air circulation I guess.

Hopefully I can get the pictures posted tomorrow :)

How was your weekend?

weekend recap - Happy Birthday Babe!

This weekend was relaxed, which was nice because this week is going to be busy getting ready to move into the house on Friday (4 days!!!).

Friday was a quiet day for me. I finished my last day of teaching at the music studio (I decided to quite because the commute will be almost an hour each way, just to teach a few hours for 2 nights a week). I dropped Stephan off at a pup to meet up with some of his friends from work, so he could go out and celebrate his birthday. I stayed home and organized some paper-work for the new house, and immigration papers. Soooo much paperwork. I feel much better now that is orgnized.

Saturday was Stephan's birthday. We had plans to go out fishing for the day with Gordie and Aryn, however the rain and thunder-storms cancelled those plans. Instead we slept in a bit, and I made Stephan a birthday-pancake breakfast. Then, since Stephan was up late the night before (and I was up late so I could pick him up at the end of the night) we went back to bed and had a nap. We lazed around the rest of the afternoon before I made Stephan a birthday dinner of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and carrots. After dinner we headed to our favourite pub for one last get together with friends before we move far away from this area. We had a great time with Aryn and Gordie, just chatting and hanging out, celebrating Stephan's birthday. And of course, I gave Stephan his birthday present: a new wallet, and a couple editions of a German magazine he likes. I also got him a "National Geographic" for him to read. If he likes it, I'll get him a subscription for a year.

Sunday, we both got up and went to Church in the morning for Pentecost service. The afternoon was quiet, we got home from church and had left overs for lunch. I took a nap. Followed by packing up some of the kitchen stuff so I could bring it to the house today. Stephan was really kind and loaded it all up in the car for me last-night.

I'm getting really excited to get into the house on Friday! I'm still trying to figure out where and how to get our mail box key, and Canada post is supposed to be "resolving the issue" by June 15th, so Wednesday. Which is a little tight, and it has me a little stressed. But fingers crossed it all works out.

How was your weekend?

Happy Wednesday!

I want to start linking up for "What I'm loving Wednesday", but I'm unsure of who I link up with...do I link up with anyone I read who does this? Or do I link up with the original...if so...who is that?!

So I'll skip it for this week, and just update you with the week so far, and upcoming plans.

This week has been busy slowly moving things over to the house. At this point, I've moved most things over except for a minimum amount of clothes for the 2 of us, and our kitchen stuff. I've also unpacked as I went, so there is less to do all at once. I think it is going well. Although, not a lot will get done this weekend since Saturday is Stephan's birthday, so we'll see how next week goes. Next Friday is the big move-in date, when we will actually sleep at the new place. By that day, all I should have left to move is the big furniture which Stephan and his friends will handle while I am at work.

This Friday is my last day at the music studio teaching. I gave my notice before I went on vacation. It will just be too far a commute to teach for a few hours 2 nights a week, almost an hour drive. So I decided to leave. I'll be sad to say goodbye to my students, but I'll also be a bit relieved. Working 2 jobs is exhausting. And it falls on the days when Stephan is home from work for the weekends. It will be nice to be able to have dinner ready for when Stephan gets home from work on Thursdays, or to be able to make dinner before the German Club on Fridays, instead of always having to grab fast-food on the way. We'll have more of a weekend together now, more time together.

I can't wait to get into the house! Many of the rooms will be a bit empty and/or unfinished for awhile, until we slowly set up enough furniture to fill all the rooms. But we have the basics. What I'm REALLY excited for is a bathtub (we currently just have a shower), HEAT (the tenants upstairs control the heat and they are stingy with it) and a BED (our mattress is on the floor, it always has been).

1 week and 2 days until move-in day!! WOOHOOO!!!

P.S: Stephan was made job-lead this week at work, for this specific job. Basically, its foreman. But just for this job (the company always has a different job lead for each different job). This is Stephan's first time as job lead, and I'm VERY proud of him! CONGRATS BABE!

weekend recap

This weekend was busy!

Stephan had Friday off so after I went to work he packed up all boxes I had packed so far and put them in the car and unloaded them at the new house. He also met up with a friend of his from work, and the 2 of them went out shopping to get some blinds for the house. Blinds, sadly, were not included. But Stephan and his friend got a really good deal, and the blinds ended up costing us half of what we thought they would. They are venetian style blinds, faux wood and they look really good! They are white, condo rule. The condos have to look the same from the outside. I don't really mind too much, we can always hang coloured curtains if we want something other than white. I worked both jobs as usual (however, I gave my notice at the studio as it will be too far of a commute once I move), and we headed to the German club after.

Saturday was another busy day! We didn't sleep in. We packed up more boxes into the car and headed to the new house. I worked on unpacking the boxes and organizing things while Stephan worked up on setting up the blinds. We were waiting for the brick to deliver our new bed-set anyways, as well as my cousins to arrive with our boxspring. We had found one in good condition that was used, and Johnny and Rachel were picking up the boxspring and delivering it to us. So kind of them! It also gave them a chance to see the new house.

There is still once piece on back-order, a tall chest, which will arrive at the end of the month. Also, here in this pic you can see the blinds!

Saturday evening we went over to Aryn's for a bbq with her and Gordie and while the boys chatted on the deck we watched the movie The Way Back, (starring Colin Ferrel ...I think I spelled that name wrong, but you know who I mean) based on the book called The Long Walk, which is written by one of the survivors. It is about 7 prisoners who escaped a Russian Gulag in the 1940's and walked over 4000km to freedom. Its an incredible story, and I definitely recommend seeing it!

Sunday was a bit more relaxed. I had church and fellowship, and then a nice lazy nap when I got home. The rest of the afternoon was spent packing, ate dinner and did some more packing. We plan to move a few things over to the house almost daily so that on the big move in date (next Friday) we only have to move the big furniture.

Oh, when I got the keys to the house last Tuesday I already decorated a little. While I was gone in Ontario I had received some birthday money from Stephan's family in Germany and so I bought some things to make decorations with:


P.S: if I don't comment on your blog, please don't be offended! I am packing and moving, but I am trying to follow everyone's blogs as much as I can and will, of course, comment as much as possible :)

Just somethings I thought you might like to know...

I'm gonna go with the smaller item first!

1.) My new computer arrived yesterday!!! I LOVE my new dell computer. I do NOT like Microsoft 7. It's giving me a bit of a hard time. Most of my issues have been with stuff pertaining to the internet and its settings. The rest of Windows 7 is good so far.

and now for number 2! You remember how I said I've been really busy lately? Like super crazy busy, but I didn't say why? I know some of you have been asking what I've been busy with. And until last night, I couldn't tell. But now I can!!

The reason we have been so busy is........




are you ready for it?



are you sure?



Really?! Ok, I'll tell.....



WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!! That's right! Our very first home!! We have been busy the last month or so viewing houses, picking a house and dealing with all the paperwork. We wanted to wait until it was 100% sure to tell anyone. And we got the official news yesterday! We are now officially home owners! We take possession at the end of May, and will move in sometime in June! YAY! I'M SO EXCITED!

Hopefully sometime in the next few days I'll get some pics up for you!