My new obsession

A few of my co-workers, and some friends have gone on and on about a series on HBO for a little while now. They would talk about the books, they would talk about the episodes, it seemed like they were always talking about it.

So last weekend Andre was working all weekend and I was left alone and desperately wanting to do something, anything other than laundry and housework. So I went online and searched for Season 1 of this show:I watched all 12 episodes of the first season over three days. (For those that are wondering I did get my housework and laundry done.) I am hooked. I was addicted to Six Feet Under when that was on, so I figured if it was from the same creator, the show can't be that bad right? Well I love it. I'm addicted. It's funny, dark, dramatic, and very sexy. Perfect for the summer when everyone is desperate for something a little different to watch on television.

I even did what I thought I would never do. I went to the office for my cable company and got digital cable, just so I could have HBO Canada and watch the shows as they air instead of waiting for them to uploaded onto a website. Andre was very resistant at first. He even had the nerve to tell the woman at the cable office "I really don't watch that much tv" (PUH-lease!) Last night he sat in the living room for the longest time researching what channels we now had as well as going online to see their listings. He even forbade me to through out the list of the channels they gave us. He told me he would be "lost without it".

Now who watches a lot of tv?

Calling all Blogaholics!

A little while back there was a discussion on one of my favourite sites The Nest about blogs. Someone wanted some suggestions for some good blogs to read, and then someone mentioned this wonderful thing, Google Reader. It was like the angels were singing!

I follow about 25 blogs regularly. They range in topics, some about home renovations, some about decorating, some are blogs of friends, you get the picture. I had them all bookmarked on our computer and I would have to click on every single one to see if there was a new entry. Can you say major pain in the ass? So depending on what topic I felt like reading about that day I would choose that blog. I thought I was organized but this makes it so much easier. It's the answer to a busy girls prayers really.

For all I know I am the last person in the history of blog land to use this neat little thing, but just in case there is one person out there that has been living under a rock longer than yours truly, I wanted to mention it.

So there, I did my good deed for the day.

You're welcome.

Our garden

While I was snapping some pictures of the new patio set I decided to get some pictures of the flowerbeds that I had planted this year. As per the rest of the house, the backyard had been sadly neglected as well. The grass is covered in dandelions and violets, and the (naked) flowerbeds were edged in railway ties. If you have no clue what they are, you will soon find out.

I spent many hours running to the windows on both sides of the house to see where the sun was at that particular time to judge what flowers need to be planted where. Unfortunately I do not have any before pictures of these flowerbeds, but just close your eyes and imagine a pile of dirt and weeds, that's pretty much the before. Here are the during:

The left side garden:
This flowerbed has sun for a good portion of the day, from dawn until 5pm. So there are 3 mini rose bushes, a clematis on the far right in the corner, a hydrangea in the middle, and then a border of sun impatiens to add a pop of colour this year while everything is getting established. The big leafy thing is the remaining bit of who-knows-what. It was on Andre's to-do list today to chop it down, but as of right now it's 5:16 and it has yet to be done. It's anyone's guess if this will happen! Remember what I said about railway ties? Well all that wood lining this flowerbed is railway ties. I want them ripped out on the outside and a scalloped border put in. That's next on the list.

Now for the far right garden:This garden gets absolutely no sun, so for over here, I chose a classic bleeding heart with white flowers, and some shade impatiens for a little bit of colour. Eventually the bleeding heart will take over most of the space, exactly what I want to happen. We will edge this garden with a scalloped border too, but I still have to decide if we will be widening the patio a bit more his way, so until that happens it will remain as is.

So there you have it! That's are garden as it looks today. As soon as I take some after pics of the front I will post the before, during and after.

The Patio set

Dum dada dummmmm....I know that you've all been waiting patiently on the edge of your seats since I told you all I would post the pictures. It's been busy. That's my reason and I'm sticking to it.
Thank goodness it was a sunny day so I was able to snap a few pictures this morning (the others coming soon) but for now here is the long awaited pic of the new patio set:

It's from Lowes. My mother had spotted the table when she was shopping with my grandmother, it was $60 for a 42x42" square table. Our patio isn't that big, as you can see from the picture, so that was the perfect size for us. Just yesterday morning I was looking through the latest Lowe's flyer and there was the entire set, on sale. Not impressed. One of the items on my to-do list is to call and see if I can be refunded the difference. Some companies do this, others don't. It never hurts to ask, especially when I could be refunded $40.

We haven't had a chance to actually sit down and eat at the table as the weather here in Steeltown has not been conducive to outdoor dining, but the set has two features that I feel are very important: comfortable chairs that are also stackable. It was also a great price for all 4 chairs, the umbrella and the table.

So there you have it, our new patio set.

Big purchase weekend

You'd think we were made of money the way we were spending it this weekend!

Well the one purchase is something that we had budgeted for. We bought ourselves a brand new patio set! I tried to find pictures online from the Lowes website, but no such luck. I will have to try and snap one tomorrow. When Andre and I were living at my grandmother's house the one thing we loved was sitting out in the backyard in the summer enjoying our meal. We're really looking forward to being able to do this in our own home this coming summer.

Our second purchase was a total want of mine, this was a "treat":

For those of you that have been living under a rock for an extremely long time this is the Nintendo Wii. I thought that it might get Andre and I out of the sit-down-and-watch-tv-till-bedtime-rut that we have been in for what seems like forever. It's worked at least one night.

Tonight we played two games of bowling before I tried my hand at boxing, and won! The fun lasted until I came back into the rec room from the changing over the laundry to find Mikey our cat sprawled out on a table sleeping and Andre sleeping on the couch. Oh how I wish I could've taken a picture!

So we'll see how often Andre uses it. I think the boxing alone will serve as wonderful therapy after a frustrating day at work for me. He has been talking about checking out the different types of games they have, so I think that the Wii will grow on him eventually over time.