Lobster Poutine, Driftwood & Rocks

I confess I have never been a big fan of Seafood! Growing up I didn't eat fish not even fish & chips. Well I did eat chips and plenty of them. Hubby has been trying to convert me and I have to admit seafood is definitely growing on me. And now that I'm living in area where seafood is at it's best, I'm trying to be adventurous & spread my Foodie Wings. Since I've landed in Nova Scotia, I've eaten haddock aka fish & chips, halibut & salmon purchased roadside from a truck selling fresh seafood and lobster poutine! Can't go wrong with anything poutine! 

My first Lobster Poutine! Enjoyed this fabulous meal with hubby darling son & daughter in-law & visiting family, bro & sis in-law! Great Company Great Times & also an excuse to be an absentee blogger! 

While I haven't always been a fan of Seafood, I have been a longtime fan of Driftwood. Love the weathered look of it, the uniqueness of each piece and the feel of the smooth wood grain.

My Driftwood Collection awaiting projects of a Pinteresting Kind!

A pic of some interesting Rock finds. These guys will be making their home in my gardens. Oops just noticed my toes made it into the pic. Note to self; paint toe nails before including them in pics! 

Why buy new when used will do & !st beach walk with Penny L

Had this old picture frame kicking around. Actually found it in the trash several years ago. It's damaged but it will be perfect for my basement bathroom. Gonna leave it as is, except for a few coats of lacquer to prevent it from further deteriorating & gonna add a piece of mirror glass. I know it's easy to just go to the store & buy everything brand new but sometimes a used piece has a bit of character and helps you achieve a look that is unique. And of course, using something you already have saves a bit of cash too! Ya probably have figured it out by now that I'm a fan of the distressed, weathered & worn look! And I love giving an object a new purpose in life!
Right now downstairs bath is being used by visiting Ontarians so downstairs bathroom pics coming soon! Stay tuned!

Why buy new when used will do!

Went for a beachy walk with Penny. Penny L loved digging in the sand & barking at people & dogs. The beach we visited was Lawrencetown Beach which a popular beach for the surfing crowd. Not much of a surfer so didn't do any of that. And besides it was mighty chilly & windy the day we went. Could have, should have put on an extra layer or two!

Achieving Balance, Dandelions & Painting with Chihuahuas

I don't know about you, but I often struggle with finding balance in my life. No I'm not talking about standing upright or balancing on one foot or anything like that. I'm referring to finding a balance of spending time on a variety of tasks & fun stuff  I want to do it all and despite having just as many hours in a day as anyone else, I never seem to get my too do stuff all done. Oh there are so many things that I want & need to do like exercise, bike ride, go for walks with Penny L, clean the house, do laundry, work in the yard, enter contests, coupon, shop, read, research and blog, the list goes on and on ...

Although I have a difficult time focusing, once I do get focused on something, I get totally obsessed with completing the task and neglect doing other things. And right now I'm obsessed with digging dandelions out of the lawn, as fun as that may sound! (Yeah unfortunately there are dandelions in Nova Scotia!)
In fact I've had to limit myself to digging out just one bucket a day weather permitting, otherwise I would be out there digging from morning till night!
After all a bucket a day keeps the doctor away right? Oh right that expression is solely for apples and it's just one apple and not a whole bucket of them!

While hubby worked on installing the downstairs bath tub surround, I primed the old vanity. Well Penny L insisted on helping out. She took great interest in the paint roller as well as the foam brush and so this is what painting with a chihuahua looks like! Didn't read anything about painting with chihuahua's in Chihuahua's For Dummies! Perhaps that's a chapter that will be added to a new revised edition!


Painting Chihuahua Style

My one overflowing bucket of Daily Dandelions! 

Oh by the way, downstairs bath & surround are fully installed & functional. Walls are being prepped for painting and flooring is here and waiting to be installed. And a gym friend who lives in the neighbourhood stopped in while walking her dog and she is gonna loan me her dandelion puller. I wonder if I'll be able to fill my bucket faster. Maybe I should increase my daily dose of dandelions to two buckets! 

Although indoor renovation continues, gardening is also on the go. Hubby has been digging up a patch of grass in the backyard to create a veggie/herb garden. Got the railway ties for free from the other side of the fence in No Man's Land! 

Officially Gone Coastal & Pepto Bismol Blue

Well it's definitely official now that I've Gone Coastal with this pillow hanging out on one of my new Ikea chairs in my living room! I've been admiring these customized pillows from afar from Girliture and I now am the proud owner of one myself thanks to darling son & darling daughter in-law. They delivered it yesterday as a housewarming gift. Love it! It will also go perfectly with my new sofa once I get it.

I may have mentioned this before, more than likely I did. But just about anything exterior, at my place is painted a blue, a blue that in my mind is what Pepto Bismol would look like if it was blue! It may have been a pretty colour when it was originally painted but it has definitely faded and now is what I call Pepto Bismol Blue and I'm definitely not loving it.
Even the front step was painted in that colour. For the most part this lovely Pepto blue didn't bother me all winter, but when folks or delivery people came through the front door, pieces that were peeling from the front step often found their way indoors. Good thing we didn't use the front door all that often.
I know it was Mother's Day today and all, but the weather was gorgeous so I decided that the Pepto Bismol on the front step had to go.
Was gonna take a before pic but once I got hold of the power washer there was no holding back. You can still see a little of the Pepto Blue colour. Just had to leave a little so you could actually see the colour. But by the end of the week, I reckon it'll be gone!
 I consider it a Mother's Day gift to myself! Happy Mother's Day to all the Mamas's out there!

Exploration & Penny video

Well been backing off on cleaning up the yard and back is feeling a whole lot better. Rode my bike to gym for the second time ever. Maybe it wasn't such a great idea. Did a spin class just before, had nothing left in my tank and there was a strong headwind combined with a few climbs. Done need I say more! 

Took a mini stroll to no man's land just behind my backyard because I'd been officially cut off from doing yard work ( thanks to my sore back ) and discovered this cool stream & mini waterfalls. Not the best pic cause I just took it with my phone. Need to bring hubby back here when he's done with all the yard work. 

We had pork chops on the barbecue yesterday and hubby decided to give Penny L a bone to chomp on . Well kind of freaked her out. Here's a mini video of what it looked like.

Back on Track with Renovations

With hubby back in Ontario for roughly a week, home renovations were put on hold. But glad to have him back safe & sound. And now that youngest darling son is now living in New Brunswick for a new phase of ATC training, I now have 2 of my 3 kids close by. It won't be long term but hey I'll take what I can get.
Oh and here's a couple of better views of my now pretty much completed kitchen reno.

Can't believe it actually happened but I'm glad to report that as of Monday ALL of the snow has melted from my yard both back and front. There is still snow to be seen, mostly in shaded areas and in parking lots where it was pushed together by the snow plows. So have been spending time outdoors cleaning up the yard. But have had to back off thanks to my chronic back issues. My house used to back up against a golf driving range which no longer exists; now I have a new phase of subdivision being built which is a work in progress. But I still have the sign to prove there was once a golf driving range next door! Fore!

Now that hubby is back downstairs bath reno is back on track. New tub has been delivered and is awaiting installation. It will be great to have a second bathroom  for guests and easy access to a bathroom when working outdoors. Perhaps you can't see it clearly but I did remove lots of glue & tile from the floor when hubby was away! 

Gym Guilt, Walk Find & Contest Prize

So I skipped going to the gym the other day and I feel guilty about it. I always feel guilty when I skip going to the gym. I have a mindset that tells me I need to go at least 3 times a week.  But my back has been super achy and I know from past experience that it is telling me to back off. Maybe it was my first bike ride to the gym  that did it in. Although it was a shorter bike ride than I used to do to get my old gym, it was definitely a tougher one with a few pretty good small hills to climb.And it was also my first outdoor bike ride this season.
I'm sure that the floor that I've been patiently scraping, has also contributed to my back issues! Hopefully I can get to the gym at least one more day this week!
On another note, I did go for an hour long walk with Penny L today, hoping it would loosen up my back. But it didn't. But Penny definitely needs a little more exposure to the outside world after this long long winter.

Oh look what I found on my walk! No not the Cesar's Rules book; that was given to me to read, by a new gym friend & neighbour. It was the $5 dollar bill that I found wrapped around a tree. Kind of glad now that I went for a walk instead of going to the gym!

Super happy that my $500 gift card prize from a contest came in! That is a prize we definitely can use. Well who can't use groceries right? Been spending a fair bit of cash on renovating & stuff for the new house. Kind of freaks me out even though we did budget cash for that reason. 

Well folks it's the first of May. Kind of hard to believe as we still have some snow in the backyard. And I'm sure there are still snow mountains at the plaza &  in parking lots. Kind of been a drab, gloomy kind of week.Right now I don't care if it's cold out but I just wanna see some sunshine! 

Here's to sunshine!