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We’re going to have to do some exterior maintenance on the house this year

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I think this is the year that we’re going to do some work on the outside of the house. There’s some areas that have needed work for a few years and I don’t think we can ignore them much longer.

Our house is triple brick. Actually it’s an older home, built in 1927 which of course means that it’s all lathe and plaster and of course that triple brick. Outside of the house there’s about three feet of foundation? that’s parged and the parging or cement is starting to crumble in some areas. So I think we’re going to have to re-parge part of the exterior.

While we’re at it we might spruce up the look of the house too. I’ve always thought house with exterior shutters looked quite nice … even just cosmetic ones that doesn’t actually close. Perhaps we’ll price some exterior shutters and see if they fit our budget.

I’ve also toyed with the idea of moving some of the plants around in the garden. I created our raised garden beds back in 2002 so many of the plants are now quite mature and they are crowding out some of the smaller plants. I think if I move a few plants around the garden will look quite nice. That will be a big job that will have to be done mainly by me … so we’ll see if I’m feeling up to it in about a month or so.

Are you planning on doing some work on the exterior of your house this year too? Perhaps some maintenance work like the parging I discussed above or possibly putting in a garden or deck?

March Break is here and it’s like Spring in Toronto!

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Well March Break is in full swing here in Toronto!

I’m home most of the day usually I only see young kids and teenagers early in the morning and between three thirty and four thirty in the afternoon. Well at least in large numbers!

The weather’s been so nice here this week that the kids are out ALL of the time! Parading around in their new urban clothing, skateboard, rollar blading, and bicycling.

I guess if we were having our typical winter I’d barely see all the kids … I mean, usually we have a foot or two of snow and there’s usually one or two snow and ice storms! This year however it’s like Spring in Toronto. It got up to 16 Celsius today (60 F) and it’s supposed to be warm all week!

Oh and my plants in my garden are coming back to life! My chives and several other plants (maybe early irises?) are bursting out of the ground and many of my roses have tiny leaf buds! This doesn’t normally happen until April.

I’ve even seen quite a few people walking around in shorts!

Yes we Canadians are optimistic! LOL I think it’s still a little cool for shorts, but when you think about it, it’s usually well below zero at this time of year so hitting 16 C (60 F) really is like early summer.

So … is it march Break in your area too? Did you make any plans? Holidays? Or are you home with the kids trying to keep them busy?

Fingers crossed that the awful renter neighbors next door will be gone

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I’m just waiting for the house next door to ours to be empty! We got word from the home owners that they are kicking out or rather having the awful renters next door evicted!

It was supposed to happen yesterday according to the home owners but it doesn’t look like the sheriff showed up to evict them. I’m not sure what happened there … but I know the home owners won their case, so the scummy neighbors should be gone very soon!

I just hope that they don’t cause trouble when they get kicked out. These people are really bad – I would not be surprised if they have a gun in the house … yeah so if I do see the sheriff and or any police outside when they are being evicted I think I’m going to either go upstairs or to the basement and hang out there until it’s over. Hmm maybe I should check on our life insurance before all this goes down? LOL

Have you ever had terrible neighbors that you just wanted to be gone? Seriously, if these people found a way to stay or delay their eviction we might just put our house up for sale … yes, they’re that bad.

An online university sounds like a great way to get a degree

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I’m sure at some point in most people’s lives they think about changing their career. These days more and more people are doing just that because of the recession from which I hope we are slowly starting to recover.

If you’ve been thinking of changing your career but perhaps you can’t afford to go back to school full time due to having children to care for and bills to pay, you might want to look into getting a degree at an online university such as Western Governors University.

Not only is Western Governors University a widely respected University that currently serves over 14,000 students, but it also offers accelerated courses. They’re programs are also accredited – something I know that I look for in a college or university.

WGU has a wide range of programs. Perhaps you are interested in Business Management or maybe Information Technology Management? Of course you could look into getting an bachelors degree online.

Other courses and degrees offered by Western Governors University include Humane Resources Management, Information technology, health care professions, Marketing Management or Accounting just to name a few. They also have an online teachers college.

If you’ve been toying with the idea of improving your education to better your career opportunities take a look at what WGU has to offer.

Ah the in laws are coming for a visit

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Darn! We just got a phone call from my mother in law. They’ve decided to come to Toronto for a visit tomorrow.

It’s just supposed to be for the day, but they’re older and more than half the time when they come to Toronto to shop for things like organic foods at the Big Carrot, eye cream and other goodies that I’m sure they could get in their home town, they tire themselves out and end up staying over night.

Not only that but it’s not just my mother in law and father in law that show up. They bring along my father in laws sister too so we end up having to put up three people that totally take over the house for the whole weekend.

By take over the house I mean that they put everything they bought at the organic store in the fridge (jam packing it), move things that they have no right to move like things I use all the time, do a wash, use 10 towels and so on. Oh and they even walk into the washroom when the door is closed! Who does that?

It takes me days to recover and get my house back in order after they’ve visited.

Do you dread an in-law visit too?

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