Too Much Information

Back has been bugging me a bit, probably from walking home from the gym with my backpack carrying everything but the kitchen sink. So part of my workout routine today included hanging out in them massaging lazy boys at the gym. Was gonna take a selfie hanging out but I'm pretty sure taking pics at the gym is frowned upon and considering those chairs are situated right across from where management & staff hangout, I thought I'd forget the selfie. 

But here's another one I thought I might share. So maybe too much information for some but this is what going to the bathroom now looks like! Good thing hubby knows photo shop & was able to photo shop the hair off my legs. Never been a fan of shaving legs; it's kind of up there with ironing and in the winter the shaving of legs is one thing I avoid like the plague! Makes my legs super itchy and makes me want to scratch my legs till they bleed. So unless absolutely necessary no leg shaving until spring! Would appreciate any tips/secrets to help avoid itchy legs in winter! 

On another note, should have asked hubby to photo shop  me a fake tan on my legs so I actually look like I went somewheres warm this winter! 

Tried out a new route walking home from the gym. It's more scenic and off the main drag with less vehicle traffic. Thinking it might be a quicker way home, but hard to judge on a day when the sidewalks were like an ice rink. It was great to have a day or two of plus temperatures, sunshine & melting snow but when all the melted snow freezes up overnight, it creates super treacherous walking conditions. 

Came across this poor stop sign on the walk home. I reckon, a snow plow got the better of it. 

Wordless Wednesday

Countin Flowers on the Wall & Penny happy with her new sweater

Ever heard the song Flowers on the Wall; Counting Flowers on the Wall, that don't bother me at all? Well I unfortunately didn't write the song but I can tell you these Flowers do bug me/bother me & yeah they so gotta go even if we're not exactly ready to reno the main bath yet. 

And since the wallpaper in the kitchen came off super easy, I thought I'd rid me of those flowers in the bathroom too. Well turns out these particular flowers weren't so easy to get rid of. They were kind of plastified & designed especially for bathrooms & moist/damp spaces. Took a garment steamer & my concoction of fabric softener & hot water to get rid of em and mind you a little elbow grease too! Still some of them darn flowers left; only so much a girl can do in a day! 

And now thanks to a stencil painting beneath the border I'm now countin bows as well as flowers! Maybe I should write a song about that!

 

Propane Oops, Penny's 1st bath, gas prices & FNC license plate

Well the gas prices went up today in Nova Scotia, up to $111.6. Friday is the day that gas prices change. And you don't have to go searching for cheaper gas cause unlike in Ontario, gas prices here are regulated and it's the same price no matter where you go. ( Although some stations give you a lower price if you pay with cash ) Only thing that is different from one gas station to another is their loyalty program. One may offer air miles and another station such as Atlantic Superstore will give you a coupon towards your grocery purchase. So which gas station you choose is more about which loyalty program you prefer. I kind of like getting a discount on groceries cause that is something you always need. 

Oops on another note, we noticed the propane fireplace went out yesterday at some point. Positive we basically had free propane since the time we got the house until the propane ran out.  Negative we ran out of propane and have to wait 7 business days to get the tank filled unless we are willing to pay a premium to get it filled sooner. Never had propane & a propane tank before, guess that's something we need to be on top of especially since we will soon be cooking with propane once we get our new range. And good thing right now, propane is not our only source of heating our home. 

We got Penny Lane about 2 weeks ago. I figured it was time to give her a bath, not that she was dirty but just want to get her used to the idea. I don't think she was totally impressed but she's so tiny the bath took no time at all. And she did enjoy being snuggled in the towel afterwards! 

Hubby finally got around to changing his license & plate and stuff like that. So we got ourselves a FaNCy new license plate. Only 1 plate cause that is all the province requires and it goes on the back of the vehicle. Even though our vehicle is fairly new, from 2014 because it came from out of province we had to do a Motor Vehicle Inspection. All set now for a couple of years.

A Visitor & Removing Wallpaper

Finally got to getting our bird feeder on the go. I'm sure this blue jay appreciated it in the dead of winter. 

Today was the day that we really started ripping the kitchen apart. We've been doing our research, figuring out what we want and visiting home renovation stores. Decided to take down the wallpaper in the kitchen and thought it would take several days. And thanks to my daughter in law, it didn't. She suggested a mix of hot water and liquid fabric softener to be sprayed/sponged on and it worked amazingly well. Wallpaper gone in less than an hour!

Kitchen minus Upper Cupboards; really opens up the space! 

Dining area; wallpaper gone. So much brighter! 

Not in Love & Tiny Project

I'm not Head Over Heals in Love with my new gym yet. And I would be further along in the falling in love process, if it hadn't taken a week to set up my discounted membership. So it's really no surprise that any little excuse to stay home has a stronger pull than my desire to go there. We had some more snow & well it's still snowing and and that was a good enough reason to keep me home from the gym today. Once again the outdoors looks like how you want it to look on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day. 

Even though I stayed home, I did get in 40 or so minutes on the elliptical, did some weights and sit ups and push ups. Probably did more than your average person in a day, so not completely a slacker! And tomorrow I AM GOING TO THE GYM! 

On another note, I've been working on a little project. This little shelf was hanging by my kitchen range and was really kind of useless there. Decided to spruce it up a bit and hang it where it actually serves a purpose. I had some left over Chalk Paint from a project in the old house so painted it and waxed it to seal it. The neat thing about Chalk Paint is that no sanding is required although I did lightly sand this little shelf. You can see my finished project if you scroll down a wee bit. 

Here is my finished shelf in it's new location in the front hall. It now actually serves a purpose & is the perfect spot to hang Penny L's leash, collar and harness. By the way finally found a harness to fit Penny in the cat section. Wouldn't have thought of looking there if it weren't for a shopper who overheard our conversation about tiny harnesses and suggested we look there. Just don't tell Penny it's designed for cats!

All Tuckered Out & More!

It was a busy day in the East and even Penny L was tuckered out by the end of the day. We were having dinner and she wanted some cuddling time and decided to curl up on hubby's feet! 

Since we are planning on doing a bunch of renos, we attended The Real Home Show in Halifax. Picked up a ton of literature on Heat Pumps; just need to sit down and read it all. Seems like there is a Heat Pump Revolution goin on here in Nova Scotia probably cause generally due to minimal areas of natural gas availability, home heating is electric. And electric is definitely not cheap here! Don't exactly know how expensive but when our electricity bill comes in, I'm sure it will be a shocker! Pretty sure, installing a Heat Pump is the way we are gonna go once we decide on a brand & size. The folks from Efficiency Nova Scotia were at the Home Show & apparently they will come to your home and install some energy efficient products at no cost too you. So yep that is definitely going to happen. Will let you know what kind of stuff they all provide. Also found out they pick up old appliances like fridges & freezers & air conditioners and actually pay you to remove them; imagine that! So once I have all my new appliances in place & working, will definitely be giving them a call. 

Learning how to use my new washer/dryer combo. Just need dear son to come by and give hubby a hand with stacking the dryer on top of the washer.