I don't have a gardener's green thumb, but I'm loving it this year!

Last year, I had my front garden cleared out, and a landscaper came in and redid my garden.....He came in, and pulled out all the plants(we had a garden full of perennials, and weeds.....) and he replanted, saying it would be something easy for me to maintain, and it would be very nice.... I know nothing about gardening......I know the basics...plants grow in dirt, and they need sunshine and water......I have a hard time telling the difference between plants and weeds....I know what a dandelion is, but that's about it....

There are some hostas, and I have mini roses, but that's about all I can tell you on that side....

There are some bleeding hearts and more hostas on that side.....

The rest...no idea...

When the garden first went in last year, we weren't sure...It didn't look like anything special....But this year, with the rain and warmer temperatures we had early on, it has all come in very nicely.....Probably the best decision I ever made.....and it is so easy to manage now!  Makes a big difference to the front of a house.....

And yes, those are garden gnomes.......My mom made them....Ceramic..They've been in our family a long time....

A movie date with my hubby? Huh?

I went out for a movie date with my husband for the first time in.........I can't even remember the last time we did this....

It sort of happened by accident.   We were supposed to have a softball game, and I had made arrangements for the kids.   Friends of ours were going to watch them for a couple of hours while my husband and I went and played Co-ed slo pitch....But...the games got rained out....so I called out friends and told them that we didn't need them afterall, but thanks for the offer.,....Five minutes later she called me back, and offered to take the kids for the evening.    She said, "I know he two of you don't get to spend a lot of time together..so we don't mind taking the kids..."  What a wonderful offer......It's not often this happens, and it's great to have friends like this!  It was nice to have the evening out.....

We went to Costco and picked up our passes...

This is the best deal!   $24.99....for two adults, two popcorn and two drinks....We chose this film...

It was my pick....My hubby wasn't totally keen...but he gave in...and agreed....It was in 3D, so we had to pay an extra $6 for that feature.....But the Costco passes, still the best deal! 

We enjoyed the flick....I'd give it an 8.....Tommy Lee Jones...wow, he is aging!    The makeup couldn't even hide how much he has aged....Perhaps that's why he took a bit of smaller role in this film....Josh Brolin did a great job in the role of "Young K"..and Will Smith was fantastic as always....

We got home at around 8:45pm, which is past my bedtime.....The kids were tired, so it was into the pj's and straight to bed.....

It was nice to have an evening out with my wonderful hubby though......Even a couple of hours, makes all the difference.....I love him to death...I'm very lucky to have a man like him...He is a wonderful father, and a great husband who would do absolutely anything for me or my kids.....and even though we don't get to spend a lot of time alone together, I cherish the time we do.....

Planning a vacation? How about PEI? I've got the perfect spot!

My parents are once again renting their cottage for the summer....and I thought, where is the perfect place to advertise?  How about my blog?   Might give it a little exposure, might not, but what the heck....It's worth a try!

It's located in Meadowbank, Prince Edward Island, which is near the South Shore....It is about a 10 minute drive to Charlottetown, and it is in a very quiet location.....

It's very cozy with two bedrooms, one bath, and full kitchen...

We vacation there for a week every summer, and it fits our family of four just fine...I've spent time in this cottage since I was about 6 years old, so I know it well.   It has changed over the years, my parents have done a lot of updating, but I've pretty much grown up with this cottage....

The rental fee is $700 for the week....But if you're planning on vacationing in PEI, that's a pretty good price....It's very clean, and more spacious than some of the smaller units you would get in Cavendish....I highly recommend it!(I'm a bit biased because it is my parents cottage.....but I wouldn't lie..It is very comfy!)

If you are interested, follow this link...

http://vacations.kijiji.ca/c-Canada-Prince-Edward-Island-Charlottetown-Cottage-for-rent-on-the-South-Shore-in-PEI-W0QQAdIdZ380403489

It's available from May 28 until October 27.....

The Big Year

I watched a good movie over the weekend....or at least I thought it wasn't too bad.    It stars Jack Black, Steve Martin and Owen Wilson....

Okay, it wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, but it was enjoyable...and it had a really good message at the end....Coming in first place doesn't necessarily mean you've won.....it's what you achieve along the way that makes you the real winner.

It's not an action film,  so if you're looking for blood and gore, or guns and fighting, this one definitely isn't for you....It's a drama, mixed with some comedic moments......Jack Black doesn't play his usual crazy role, he actually is somewhat down to earth in this one....If you're a Rogers subscriber, you can get it on demand.....if not, well, I'm sure it won't be hard to find....

It's not a 10.....but I would give it a 7.5......

UPDATE:   After some reconsideration, and a posting from a friend.......I have decided that it is probably worth at least an 8 out of 10.....

Loving this weather! I wish it lasted all year long!

Just wrapped up a weekend of doing good deeds all around.....well, somewhat.  I helped out with the garage sale/bake sale/fundraiser at my daughter's school yesterday morning....They are raising money for a new playground, and now they are $1400 further ahead than they were yesterday morning.....I spent some time in the backyard with my kids, and our latest addition that provides recreational enjoyment for the whole family.

I have wanted one for years....and with the decision not to buy a tent trailer this year, we decided to go ahead and get a trampoline...The kids love it.....It takes up a lot of space in our backyard, and frankly, there isn't much left to our backyard as a whole, but that's okay.....

Now the kids go between the trampoline and the play set....so they have two things to keep them busy.  One of the things I really noticed this weekend is how fast they are growing up.   I think my son has shot up several inches..He seems so tall!  My daughter as well...She is turning into a little lady......Oh boy, do I ever feel old......  :(

We have a lot of birds in our backyard right now, and it drives them crazy when we are out back.....There are baby birds in the trees all around us,  in our backyard and in our neighbours...There is a robin who is constantly flying food back and forth to the nest, and she makes noise the whole time we are out there....It's harder for her to get around us I guess....and our cat goes out on the deck, and the birds drive her crazy!

Once the kids went to bed, my husband and I sat out on the deck with a glass of wine and tried out the new bug zapper....The junebugs were out in full force(and it's not even June!)..Those bugs are so stupid, slamming themselves up against the house....but the noise they make is really eeewwwwy...Yuck! 

 I snapped a few pics of the moon and the clouds.....

Our cat sat out with us as well, and kept a close eye on the junebugs...I can't believe how light it is at 8:30!

So that was my Saturday in a nutshell....

As for Sunday, spent the morning cleaning, and took a few more pictures of the birds...I managed to snap  a photo of one of the baby birds that is in our tree.....She can't fly just yet, and she sits in the same spot in one of our trees...I think it's a robin.....I leaned into the tree as close as I could.....but I think the pictures came out pretty well!

There was also what I think is a blackbird, up near the top of the tree...I'm  not sure if it a young bird or not....

Oh, and I can't forget the ducks that were living in my neighbours pool!  I took these photos a couple of weeks ago.....The same thing happened last year...I don't know if these are the same ducks or not...but they live there until my neighbours have the salt added to the pool water, and then they leave...

This afternoon we took my daughter and her best friend, and my son to Crystal Palace.....They rode the roller coaster four times!   My son's first time on it!      

So, a completely satisfying weekend!   Back to work tomorrow, and I already have plans for next weekend!   Busy, busy!  No wonder warmer weather months go by so much faster than the others!  They're so much more to do!

Ooooops! This was the beginning of a bad day for this truck driver!

I don't normally post news stories that we follow in the newsroom, but I just couldn't resist this morning.  In downtown Moncton, a transport truck decided it would attempt to go under the railway overpass on Main Street (known as the Subway Bridge)  and it failed...

My co-worker, Reporter Cathy LeBreton was live on the scene with reports in my newscast throughout the morning and she took these pics....

It will take most of the morning to remove the truck, because it is loaded with wood pallets, and they have to unload before the truck can be pulled out....

Hmmmmm......Do you think the driver will be given a warning?  I might suggest an eye exam before he heads out on the road again.....(I might note the two signs on the bridge, with pictures of a truck, with a big line through each?) 

I am ALL Bingoed out!

I managed to make it onto the Bingo bus to Maine this year!   I had full intentions to go on this bingo adventure last year, but unfortunately on the morning of the trip, I came down with that nasty flu bug that was going around, and I had to cancel....

I call this a bingo adventure, because that is exactly what it is......12 hours of bingo.....Yes...I said 12 hours of bingo...That is not a typo.....6 hours on Saturday and 6 hours on Sunday....with very large jackpots.....On Saturday, they were roughly $5, 000 a game, with one game worth up to $25, 000.......On Sunday, they ranged between $1100 to $1400......How much did I win?    Zip, zero, zilch....Oh, with the exception of the $25 I won on the bus....Yes, we played bingo on the bus as well.......You could say, I am all bingoed out for now...at least until next year....

It was an experience.....I'm guessing up to 900 people, came to play bingo at the Penobscot High Stakes event...This is where it is held.....It is an old arena converted into a bingo hall on the Penobscot Nation.  The Indian Nation is located on a beautiful River......but I have to admit, most of the homes there are run down.....The people at the Bingo Palace, I assume who were the the organizers, were very friendly, and welcomed us in....There were roughly 12-15 chartered buses parked out front, filled with people who had come from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Massachusetts, along with others states in the U.S, to play bingo for the weekend....Some of them went home big winners.....while others went home with VERY empty pockets........It's amazing the amount of money that some of these individuals drop at this type of event.....Some had bingo cards that literally spread from one end of the table to the other.....with the hopes that would increase their chances of winning the big one.......For some, it worked(including the woman at the table next to us who chose to "Shuush"  one of the women who I was travelling with)  She scored big with a win of around $5000.....But I think she probably spent close to $1000 with the hopes of that win.....Bingo players came with their good luck charms, that ranged from miniature Buddhas, to rubber chickens.....or just simply a picture of a loved one........The bingo bags full of daubers....in a number of colours.......They're not just red, blue and green anymore.....They come in coral, or lilac, or even with sparkles......

It was almost like going to a Star Trek convention......But with bingo players who don't dress up.....But they all have their rituals....whether their cards are taped a certain way on the desk, with their good luck charms set up in just the right order...with their daubers lined up.....all of them rehearsed and ready to yell "Bingo" at a moments notice........And I realised that the job of a bingo caller is certainly a lot harder than I thought......These people, I'm convinced, must be required to attend bingo caller school......because they would have to be able to cope with the verbal abuse they take from the players.......Misread a bingo ball....Oh boy, you won't make that mistake again.....Call the numbers too fast, or call too slow....I'm sure the bingo callers have been called every name in the book.....It's amazing how grumpy a room full of bingo players can get after they've dabbed for 5 hours straight without a win......The air is not just thick with the cigarette smoke....it's also from the steam coming from the players ears because of how angry they get that their numbers haven 't come up....(This bingo hall still has a smoking and non smoking section...But really, what's the point.....I still smelled like a pack a day smoker when  I left the place....and I haven't lit up since I was in my 20's)

This was some serious bingo playing.....Not like the kind in local Lions Clubs and community halls......There was a lot at stake......The dauber ink was flowing, there was tension in the air......(oh, and I must make mention of the woman who had tucked her cell phone into her cleavage, while playing bingo.....On vibrate?   Didn't want to miss a call?  I'm not exactly sure.....)

So aside from sitting at a table, chatting with your neighbour, dabbing the numbers on your card...what else goes on at a bingo hall?   Eating......Constant munching......It`s like the adrenaline makes the players hungry....except I`m sure it wasn`t burning the calories.....There`s a reason why a lot of the men and women who play bingo are overweight, aside from the fact that they are sitting on their tushies playing bingo......The hands are constantly going....Dabbing, eating, drinking....dabbing, eating, drinking.....with a winning holler of "bingo"  once in awhile in between....

Those are some of the ladies I travelled with.....There were many others as well, aboard this chartered bus from Moncton....Many of the ladies in the group I was with, hoped for the win....but they mostly travel to Maine for the shopping and as a weekend getaway....Only one of us got lucky.....and she only managed a win of around $75....But it's better than nothing...

This was our bus.....Very comfortable, and air conditioned...which was important...When you are travelling with a load of ladies over the age of 40.......It's important to have air conditioning!   LOL

Now, while we spent the majority of the time at the bingo hall, we also did some shopping as well......Walmart, Kohl's, Marden's and some of the ladies went to the Christmas Tree Shop.......It's not all about Christmas there.....they sell just about everything....and it is all a great bargain.......I now love Kohl's, and I couldn't believe the prices.....Even Walmart was an experience!

I think that a lot of New Brunswickers had the same idea over the long weekend....They headed to Maine to shop...The border was lined up...

Overall, it was an exhausting trip.....Lots of time spent on the bus made it tiring, and we were on the go the whole time.....I have no regrets...It was nice to get away, and I met some new people.....And to be completely honest, it was very refreshing.....I missed my family and it was nice to come home......It's true what they say, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder......" It's nice to get away for a bit of a break, but it's even nicer to come home..... And I picked up a few treats for my hubby and two kids while I was away.....(My daughter suggested that I buy something for our cat as well.....But I figured she is spoiled enough!)  

I felt a little bit like I didn't fit in this first time on the bus......These ladies have been doing this for years together.....But it gets easier every year, once you get to know the laides a little bit better.....Hopefully they'll consider inviting me next year too(hint, hint Deby and Wanda!)...I think I'd like to do it again.....and maybe do a little more shopping next year...........

I certainly don't have any plans to pick up another bingo dauber until then!

Mother's Day in PEI

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, my parents recently returned from Florida and are now back in their home in Prince Edward Island.    It's a pretty amazing place....They're on a country road, kind of in the middle of nowhere, but not entirely because they have neighbours....But their neighbours are far enough away, that when you look out the window, you aren't staring at the side of their house just feet away....My parents have about 1.5 acres of land(I think).....It's a far cry from the houses they owned in Ontario...They were all in subdivisions, packed with home after home after home....So I imagine this house in PEI has been a bit of an adjustment.....But it is so peaceful ....I sat outside on their front deck for about 10 minutes on Sunday morning, and it's just nice to breathe the fresh air, and enjoy the quiet....

This is a view from the front porch, looking at their driveway...

This is my dad's garden...or at least one of them..He is starting up a new one on the other side of the yard where he plans to grow corn....In this garden, this year, he'll have cucumbers, onions, carrots, beets, radishes, strawberries and potatoes.......My dad grows some great strawberries!   His neighbour Roger, has earned himself a reputation as the strawberry thief!  He comes over on his four wheeler and stops by for a snack on a regular basis during the summer...LOL :)

This is also the view from the front porch.

My parents have an old play set for the kids.  It was there when they moved in.  My husband and my dad decided to move it over the weekend closer to the back of the yard...

My dad's garage.     He built it new when they moved in.....

And finally the back of the house.....

One of the things I love is the number of birds they have in their yard....My dad built a bird house that they put on top of their clothes line...and this year a family moved in.....I did my best to get some pics of the parent birds flying in with food for the babies(which you could hear clearly from the ground while they chirped away)...It was hard though to catch the bird who would go in, feed the babies, then fly away...

My parents also like to watch the hummingbirds....They have a feeder on their front porch...

They are extremely hard to get a good picture of.  I had to take these through the front window looking out onto the porch, because if you sit on the porch, you have to be perfectly still or they fly away...They're really neat to watch, how fast their wings go...

My kids always love a ride on Poppy's four wheeler......That's one of the toys my dad bought when they moved back to PEI from Ontario...

 My husband loves it too, because he gets to drive it, and he is definitely a kid as well!

And finally, the pond......It's not quite finished yet.....My dad is planning to built up the rocks a bit more for more of a waterfall.....But it's a start....I couldn't get a picture of any of the fish, because they were all hiding underneath....But he has about 12 or 13 fish.....Some of them are fairly big....

So as you can see, it's a pretty nice lot....Lots of work for my dad to do around the yard......A  major adjustment going from the big city in Ontario, to this.....A lot slower paced, that's for sure....

That's my mom!  Happy Mother's Day!

And my dad sitting with Spicey....She is having a hard time getting around....A bad hip I think...She hobbles around a lot now......My parents dogs are spoiled to death!(just like us kids were, and still are!)  The Yorkies are my parents new babies....

Like my dad's pants?  One fish, two fish from Dr. Seuss!  (he'll probably kill me for that pic)  I think they are the coolest PJ pants!  Not many grandkids can say, "My Poppy wears Dr Seuss PJ pants!"

That's Cinnamon with my son...She is my parent's other Yorkie...

After a long Mother's Day weekend in PEI, we hit the road and headed for home.......And the exhaustion kicks in.....The kids caught a few Zzzzzzzzz's on the way home.....

(looks like the picture is sideways.....but it's actually my daughter who is....She is leaning on a stuffed animal)

Oh wait, I almost forgot the horse.......We stopped at the cottage on the way home, and my Auntie and UncleMillard (AKA Ucle Poppy) live just up the Hill from it....They board a couple of horses, so I got a picture of one of them who was roaming the fields....I forget the name of this one...I'll have to ask again this summer...

We'll be heading back to the Island in July for vacation!  Can't wait!