Shake it Like a Polaroid Picture

I'm loving this time of year. It's great to take the dog for a walk through my neighborhood, the weather has cooled down, the almost daily rain has made everyone's lawn and gardens lush.

This spring I decided to remove several shrubs from my front garden bed. They were old, I had tried to prune them last year, but sometimes shrubs need to be replaced. I wasn't sure what I wanted to plant, so instead of looking for shrubs I decided to do an easy fix, I bought a flat of bright pink geraniums and some yellow columbine, the colour combination works great. It's strange how you can mix different colours in nature and they all seem to work, but how many people do you see walking around wearing bright pink pants and a bright yellow top?

I noticed this morning that one of my neighbors has a beautiful yellow perennial in full bloom but I'm not sure if I know what it is. She's normally out in the morning gardening and I always say hello, but this morning she wasn't there. Instead of chatting with her, I actually had a chance to have a good look at what she's got growing and I liked what I saw. I've made a mental note to find out what is growing next time I see her.

Someone else in my neighborhood has a bright pink perennial that I thought would look amazing beside my neighbor's yellow one. I have no idea what it is, or who lives in that house, or when they are even outside, so now I'm not sure if I should stalk this person or creep back in the middle of the night and dig up a portion of that plant. I might start by checking out the garden centre first, but it's always good to have a backup plan.

I'm thinking instead of planting shrubs, I might opt for these two perennials instead. It's too late for this year, but if I find out what they are, I can be prepared for next spring instead.

My oldest daughter's boyfriend is of German descent. He has been following the Eurocup soccer with great interest, it became even more interesting to him when his team made it to the finals.

He decided it would be great to find a bar with a German atmosphere to watch the final game. My husband suggested he try The Musket and yesterday he, my oldest daughter and my son left for the game. While we are not of German descent ourselves, my daughter did paint the German flag colours on their faces and my son even went to the expense of purchasing a Germany t-shirt from the Adidas outlet store in my area, in an attempt to really get into the spirit of things.

My daughter was interviewed by a local newspaper about the great seats they had found. They had a wonderful afternoon and even though Germany did not win the final game, it was an experience for them, they had never seen first hand just how enthusiastic soccer fans can be. The local paper was also taking alot of pictures and my daughter's boyfriend was hoping he might even make it in the paper. Which he did. A great shot of his elbow. And his foot. On page 2 of The Toronto Sun, you can find a picture of my son and my daughter. You can also see a picture of my daughter's boyfriend. Well, his elbow. And his foot.

My daughter's interview did not make the newspaper. She'll have to settle for a picture of herself and her brother and her boyfriend's elbow and foot.

It's my son's birthday next Sunday. I asked him for a list of things he would like for his birthday. I don't know why I ask him for a list, it's been the same list for years now.

the latest video game
shirts
boxers
hockey pucks
sunglasses

Do you have any idea how bored I am with this list. Every birthday and Christmas, the list is the same. I'm lying, it's not quite the same. At Christmas, instead of asking for boxers, he asks for white socks. White socks? Who asks for white socks?

Hockey pucks are always on the list. I never buy them. There are approximately 100 hockey pucks currently in my garage. Do I really need to buy more? Every time I see this on his list, I go into the garage and dig them out of corners and off the shelves them have landed on. And sunglasses? He has an obsession with sunglasses. He has about a dozen pairs. Every time we go to the mall, he looks at sunglasses. I could leave him at the sunglass booth when we arrive, go and shop for hours and when I'm done and ready to go, he'll still be deciding on what pair to get. The video game takes me approximately 30 seconds to pick up. I went to Best Buy today and it was out of stock. I almost panicked. I asked the sales clerk to check and see when it was going to be back in stock, which he couldn't tell me, but he did find two copies at another Best Buy and then he suggested I go across the street and try Future Shop. Future Shop had it in stock. This year the video game took me about ten minutes to buy.

Shirts and boxers? I went to AE yesterday, they have a great shirt, it's a short sleeved white shirt with little blue mermaids on it. I thought it was great and talked to the sales clerk there, who also thought it was great. However, is my son going to think it's great. Probably not, so I left it on the rack and picked up a boring striped shirt instead.

Tonight at dinner I asked him what kind of cake he wanted. Does cherry pie count as cake? If it's what he wants it does.

The shopping is done and this year, there are going to be some surprises, but sadly, no mermaids.

I don't like the direction my blog has taken the last week. All I seem to do is whine and complain, new neighbors, teachers, even the low life that frequents High Park.

Today is a new day. Today is a good day. Today life is good.

I received the following e-mail from Very Best Baking.

As one of our Canadian Very Best Bakers, we wanted you to be the first to know that NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Morsels will be available in Canada in September.

This is big, and we want to make sure we do it right! If you have the time, we would appreciate it if you could complete an easy survey for us, to help us serve you better.

Take Survey Now!

You can be prepared for the arrival of NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Morsels in September with fantastic recipes from VeryBestBaking.com. And, of course, there are plenty of recipes you can make right now!

Thanks for your help.

Sincerely,
Your friends at NESTLÉ and the entire VeryBestBaking.com team NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® is Coming to Canada!

I rescued my dog from a shelter two years ago. Since that time she has grown to be a big part of my family and I now understand what it means when someone says "you're a dog person". Because I am. I never had a pet growing up, I now truly understand what it means to become attached to your pet. I waited until the time was right to introduce a pet into my family, she is a wonderful addition. She goes to a leash free park in my city, it is a fully fenced area where she can run through a forest, chase any squirrels that are silly enough to venture into that park, she can play with other dogs who are also enjoying the leash free environment, she can even go swimming in the lake that the park borders on.

There is another beautiful park in my region, it's in an area called High Park, I don't go to it, it's about 20 minutes east of me. It's a suburban area with large trees, the actual park has areas that are heavily forested, the leash free park is very popular with dog owners. But there is someone there that doesn't like dogs. That person has left antifreeze in the water dishes for the dogs and bread soaked in antifreeze has now been found outside of the leash free area. Two dogs have died, there are others that are sick and it is now being reported a number of raccoons have also been found.

Over the years, occurrences like this have happened from time to time. I have never understood why someone would purposely leave something out to injure an animal. My own dog was turned into a shelter after the owners abused her and she was no longer wanted by them. Today, the news of what is happening in High Park, in an area so close to me, makes me understand the pain these dog owners must be feeling and leaves me with a heavy heart.

Is it okay for a school to have a dress code for students and not their teachers?
Is it okay for the teachers to wear items the students are not allowed to wear?
Is it okay for a 24 year old teacher to dress like a 13 year old student?
Why is it when I attend these Parent/Teacher nights, the male teachers are always dressed in shirts/ties and jackets and the female teachers are always dressed in pant suits or dresses?
Why is it when I drop into the school during regular school hours, the male teachers are wearing golf shirts and casual pants and the female teachers are in capris, t-shirts and flip flops?
Am I wrong to want my child's teacher to dress age appropriate and set an example for my child?
Does What Not to Wear film in Canada?

I live in an older neighborhood, nice size lots and big size trees. My city has lots of rules, which I generally do my best to follow. I have great neighbors, friendly and easy to get along with yet also respectful of each others privacy when need be.

I have a large tree on my front yard that has needed to come down, it's slowing dying. I had a tree guy come and look at it last fall and he confirmed it was too late to try and save it, it should come down with the next few years. My city has a by-law that requires a permit to remove a tree with a stump of a certain diameter, I decided to have it removed without the permit, hoping none of my neighbors would rat me out. The tree came down without a visit from the By-law Enforcement department but my neighbor directly beside me, Mrs. Treehugger, did ask me why it was taken down and did I intend on planting another one. I showed her some of the wood from the tree, it was easy to see that it was in fact rotting from the inside out and yes, I do intend on planting something else, so everything is fine with her.

I now need to dispose of the tree, right now it's in sections on the greenbelt behind my backyard. I thought I would hack away at it, sending the small branches to be composted by the City which they will pick up once a week. I realized after this week that it's going to take forever so I thought I would start to burn some of it in my backyard firepit. My city has a by-law about these firepits as well, but I figure if Home Depot is selling them, I should be ok. I had planned on having an all day bonfire and was surprised to see just how much smoke is produced from the leaves on the tree. I had the bonfire going strong for several hours, without a visit from my local Fire Department, when I met the new neighbor.

I hadn't realized he had moved in, he's quiet, didn't seem to mind at all that I was having this bonfire, but there's something about him, something kind of creepy. There he was this morning, minding his own business, soaking up some sunshine, but that first sight of him made me realize, I'm probably always going to feel uneasy around him. What exactly is it about Mr. Snake that makes me feel this way? I know he'll be a good neighbor, he won't complain about any noise I make, he'll help out around the neighborhood eating those pesky flies and mosquitoes, he'll even leave his skin every so often, which if I was crafty enough could probably even make myself a new purse, but now I'll hesitate about walking barefoot through my backyard, fearful I might accidentally step on him.

I do have great neighbors and while I know he's going to be a good neighbor, there's just something about this one, something creepy about the way he slithered into the woodpile, I wish I could just put our first meeting behind us and look forward to a new neighbor who I know I don't need to worry about, because for as much as I really don't look forward to seeing him again, I know he feels the same way about me.