Thursdays on the Bench

(Cathy) It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring..... well, he's not snoring, he's upstairs on his laptop. I had a nice day today in spite of the rain. Hubby and I went to Humber Nurseries where I purchased a much wanted Bay Laurel plant. (Sunshine) I have no idea what plant that is. I also bought a Lemon Verbena bush, as well as some lemon thyme, cilantro, an oxygenating plant for my pond as well as a few marigolds and dirt for a container. I think that's all. It turned out to be customer appreciation day so I received 10% discount as well as points on my loyalty card. (Carolin will be very proud of me!) Afterwards, Hubby and I went to try out a thai restaurant that Carolin likes called the, "Bamboo Garden". It was tasty, we will go back. Thanks to Carolin for the tip. (is this the little one by the fish store? Yes, it is. If so, we have never eaten in the place only got food to go and it is very yummy and cheap!)Hubby had the chicken in lemongrass sauce with pad thai and I had the chicken in basil sauce also with the pad thai. It was the lunch special and each dish was only $6.99 plus tax! After our tummies were full we went to the grocery store, (the only way to go, never, ever go to the grocery store hungry!!!) Our younger son is in a cooking stage. It's great! So far he has made: spinach and cheese tortellini in a tapanade sauce with green beans, chicken in a light cream sauce with broccoli and tonight he is making a meatloaf with baby potatoes and green beans. Yummy! I just heard the dinner bell, so I'm off to dine. Wow, when is he available to cook for me?
Sounds very good, I remember the when the teenager went through that stage. Unfortunately it didn't last long. Though today she made cupcakes (from scratch) and saved two for me without icing (I don't like icing) and they were great. The drawback though is the big mess that is always left behind. Little Miss Sunshine loves to bake but she is not yet independent enough with the baking to make things on her own.

The teenager graduated today from the RAP program at her high school. Her Dad and boyfriend went for the ceremony. The husband said it was very loonnngggg. It started at 8:00 AM and went to 10:30 AM, with the music students being last (she is in the music program). At this time she seems to be indifferent about the whole thing but I am confidant that she will be proud of her accomplishment as the years progress. Congrats to the teenager, what a big accomplishment.

I have had a good, busy week so far at work and I am only open for another week. I am looking forward to heading up north to Hunstville to work at the G8 Summit. I am excited to learn new skills and work on new equipment. But most of all I am looking forward to being on my own

The more and more I read and watch about China the more I am concerned. The husband and I discussed making a conscious effort to not purchase items that are manufactured in China. I am concerned about the constant quality issue, health issues, and human rights issues. I don't know about you but I get these emails about the food that Walmart sells (ie; chicken, pork) is imported from China and that is why it is so cheap. I don't shop at Walmart often and have never bought meat from them but it does make me wonder. Also, I don't know about you but how are we supposed to know just were our meat comes from? I have been told that our meat comes from the states and New Zealand and even when it says Canadian grade A meat. All that means is it has been cut and packaged here. Is this true?

(Louise)Yes it is raining....I just spent the evening at my son's soccer game sitting in the rain and it didn't matter that I had a hat, jacket and umbrella I got soaked. So did he, but he loved it. I was home today because my little one coughed all night long and then started a fever. He's been coughing for a few nights now, but now that a fever started I thought I would get it checked out. Let me tell you......walk in clinics......they are just horrible...I think we waited about 45min. and let me tell you; that is not easy with two young boys. Finally I thought, I'm just going to let them be and not try to contain them any longer it will either get us kicked out or they will throw us in a room. After the ball came out and I stopped telling them to come and sit and be quiet they put us in a room. Then the doctor came in, he seemed very nice but he kept calling my little one a girl or kept saying she.... I think??....His accent was so strong I couldn't really understand. Do you ever notice when people seem to not understand you or you can't understand them you just seem to talk louder and louder.....It really doesn't help! Anyway, my son doesn't have an infection and that's all I cared about anyway. He gave me a prescription even after I kept asking him about cough medicine and small children( I thought they banned it) but he gave it to me anyway and said the pharmacy may fill it out, he wasn't sure if they have taken cough medicine off the shelf for young children??? I think I just asked him that??? If not just try some puffers.....Okay then........I just shook my head, and I really hope that we will never be sick again... I hope that everyone will be better soon.

My daughter is off to OFSAA tomorrow(track meet) with the school, she will be gone until Saturday, she is so excited!!! I would be too....Good luck to her and her school!!! Run Run Run!! I hope she has a great time. Our school is at OFSAA as well, so I hope she does well but of course not as well as my school! :) Good luck to everyone, I heard a lot of buzz about that tournament at my school all week.

We were also at soccer in the pouring rain last night. We were all soaked but the kids had a great time. It's been such a long week. Mr Sunshine is off to Halifax and PEI until Saturday. I swear we hardly see him these days anymore. My car has been having some trouble so we spent the last two and a half hours at Canadian Tire. All fixed for now, lets just hope that it stays that way. The ants in my house have been back so we had arranged for a second spraying. This morning was the third time that I had a scheduled appointment, and the third time that they did not show up. I had to rearrange everyone's schedules three time and I was absolutely livid this morning when they did not show up. I called the company and told them that I was leaving as I had to drop off one of the kids at school and then go to work. When I get home, there was no phone call for apologizing or anything. They seemed to get here on time and on the correct day when they took a big chunk of my money. It is guaranteed for one year ant free and re spraying free of charge if needed. I guess the jokes on me as free of charge means that they do absolutely nothing. Actually that's not true they do make me rearrange everyone's schedules as we need be out of the house for four and a half hours after they have sprayed. What has happened to good customer service???????????????????????

So, I left the house very unhappy, then I had car trouble on the way to work and Mr Sunshine was on a plane out of town. CAA , there was no time to call them. Well the teck guys at work helped me out so that I could make it to pick up the girls and get to a mechanic. Thank goodness, I am very thankful for their help.

We had the pool opened on the weekend and the pool company arrived during the chaotic garage sale and they turned around and left. We had to call them back and tell them to come and park in the neighbours drive way and open the pool. They finished and we payed and later when we were out there we noticed that the diving board was not on. Mr Sunshine called to ask them to put the diving board on. They left a message explaining that the technician spoke to me and advised me that the diving board was cracked and he could not put it on (personally I think that the technician is on crack, because he never said anything of the sort to me, I saw him for all of one minute as I handed him a bottle of water). Well they will not be back to put the diving board back on because if something were to happen then they would be liable even though Mr Sunshine says that the board has always been cracked (I didn't know that). We had to ask why they did not list that on their paper work but they listed the fact that they left the hose running and owner must turn water off when the pool reaches desired level. Once again where is the service???????????????????????? And why was I not deducted some opening costs when no diving board was installed??????????????????????????????????

The more I work and make practically nothing, the more it bugs that things are outrageously expensive and no one cares about customer service and very few companies stand by their product. How do these people sleep at night knowing that they willingly rip people off daily?

Well enough ranting and raving for now. I am going to have some dinner, and put my feet up and relax tonight, at least I hope that's what will happen. Have a great day.