for the record

when it hits 29 degrees and then you factor in the humidex, well it's damn hot.

so picture this: im in a deep slumber, and little do i know but a storm is brewing and wipes out the power, no problem right? i mean im sleeping. ohhhh no wait the FREAKIN' AIR CONDITIONING NEEDS ELECTRICITY TO WORK!!!! and here enters grumpy, hot, hives developing, sleep deprived Laura, fml friends, fml. you see the issue is im allergic to heat, as in i dont develop a heat rash when im overheated, i quite literally break out into hives. it's so much fun. this heat wave is making settling into my new 3rd floor loft only an a/c unit in the window apartment such a lovely experience. hurry up october!!! i want fall, i want red, yellow and orange leaves, i want leaves crunching under my toes, i want cooler temperatures damnit!!!! ok rant done now :)

im still sorting out life at my new place. all of the boxes and bins are unpacked and everything is mostly where it should be, but there are a few minor details like: installing a curtain rod, putting up shelves, figuring out where my 21937238957 picture frames are going to go and oh.my.god that giant audrey hepburn canvas ugggghhhh....just the minor details.

on a happy note i bought a blender last night. yes to most this may not seem like a big deal BUT i am pretty much on fire to start eating well and become more active, i want to go back to myself 15-20 lbs ago, i know it's a possibility, i just need to work at it. and step one is eating healthy stuff and not the normal garbage i would pollute my body with. so the blender, it's for smoothies! i made a kick ass raspberry and banana smoothie this morning and if i knew where my camera was among the mess i call "things to put away" i would have taken pictures, but alas i did not, maybe next time. and ive taken the milk plunge, as in i have left my lover of 23 years, 2% milk and moved on to soy milk. now let me start by saying, it was NOT an easy break-up and soy milk is an acquired over time kind of relationship, but i feel like i can do it, i just keep telling myself it's one step closer to smaller thighs. oh yes the bonus about the blender, after searching high and low, literally went to every store that could possibly sell small kitchen appliances i scored an awesome sale at Home Outfitters. It's a 10 speed Oster blender, that has a magical smoothies button, regualr $69.99, marked down to $39.99 with an additional 30% off, so that's rigth folks my new blender was a grand total of $28!!! don't factor in HST, it just makes me hostile, damn new tax.

so anywho, today is a day for clean up, final arranging and then im making my "world famous" chili, it's honestly really simple. but my dad and his wife are coming over for dinner and as per his request he wants my "world famous" chili....

happy weekend folks! try not to hit any old ladies crossing the street and pray for me that the power doesnt go out again, or i may seriously start to cry.

oh right a picture....ive made this silent rule for myself that no blog post will be posted sans picture, so here are a few of my nephew. it was an intense game of memory and even teddy was playing. i especially love the ice cream on his face :)

shake your money maker

standing in line at subway today, little guy, probably age 3, told his grandma (or at least im assuming it was his grandma) that the line was moving slowly, she asked him to be patient. you could see that he thought about what she said and then tugged on the shirt of the lady infront of them and promptly told her to shake her money maker. the grandma, looking mortified apologised to the woman and gave the little guy an evil stare. what did i do...started humming "shake your money maker", as in the terrible r&b, rap, whatever you wanna call it song. and i was laughing hysterically. grandma not impressed, little guy gave me the thumbs up.

on a side note, phase one of my move is done, which included the aunt pack deep clean and kitchen move in. what a day that was! my aunt pack, aka my mom's sisters and sister-in-law rounded up every cleaning product known to man kind and gave this place a scrub down...pretty sure you could lick the toilet bowl. and my cousin helped delegate and organise desk and bar chair construction that was being played out by my uncles. and of course my oh-so-adorable niece Olivia kept us entertained with her cuteness.

so blessed to have had all the help from my family.

and because i havent uploaded the moving pics yet, i leave you with a shot of Otis, because he's cute and everyone needs a little cuteness in their day.

taste the rainbow?

with moving taking over my life i feel like i have really neglected this blog. after all rule #1 of blogging is to blog at least once every two days. i have a lot of things i'd like to share/write about, but it's just difficult to find the time. so instead of writing anything else today im going to share some pictures i took of my sammy bam, these are a few months old but i love the colour in the shots. he was eating that superkid popcorn from kernels...looks pretty, but tastes kind of gross, not that the grossness stopped him from eating the entire kid sized bag!

coming up white and green

i havent always had the greenest thumb, which some people may not believe considering i come from a long line of green thumbers. yep im making up words now :)
as you can see from the first two pictures below my "chicks and hens" (im sure this plant has an official plant name but i could care less) were looking a little brown, a little sad and a little on the oh my God im killing them side!!!!! my aloe vera plant was also struggling, the ends kept turning brown and the plant itself was half the size it used to be. i wasnt quite sure what the problem might be, so i consulted a professional...my dad. he said because the pots i was using didnt have anywhere for excess water to drain i was drowning the plants! he also told me it was an easy fix, buy new pots or add some drainage. DONE AND DONE.

i rounded up some supplies, new pots, on sale of course, new potting soil, river rock from the dollar store, gloves, and a few gardening tools to snip the brown parts and dig up the dirt.

the first thing i needed to do was address the pots that did not have a hole for drainage at the bottom, i used the river rock and a smaller gravel like rock to create the drainage for the bottom of the pot and opted to put the aloe plant in a bigger pot.

i added the new potting soil, put in each plant and mounded more soil around it.

and as you can see below, i clearly made a mess in the process...so typical!

i also increased the number of chicks and hens. its been 2 weeks since ive done this mini indoor garden project and the aloe plant already has new leaves and the chicks and hens have new baby plants! things are looking up, i cant wait to move these new pots to their new home in a week or two. im still preparing for my move, part 1 will commence tomorrow , let's hope that my moving goes as well as my gardening did.

zoo times

how is it possible that in just 2 weeks i have 775 pictures on my memory card?!


a lot of the pictures from the zoo didn't turn out the way i wanted them to, it was randomly cloudy and then bright and let's be honest, 2 year olds and 3 year olds don't always cooperate for pictures, right?


(above) my darling nephew Isaiah....i think he may have been a little wary of the animals being so close, with the ability to touch and feed them!



(above) my crazy nephew Liam has no problem approaching the animals, he was loving it!!!

(above) my sweet niece Olivia enjoyed the view from her stroller, i love how she has her chubby little foot up resting on the bar!

(above) this pictures makes me laugh so hard. my youngest niece, Ella, was not impressed and Olivia is looking at her with a "What the?!" look on her face, priceless.

all in all i think everyone had a good time, it was short afternoon at the zoo, perfect timing, decent weather, and no meltdowns from kids, mommies or aunties :)