Helping you plan a flawless "I do"!

This comprehensive wedding planning tool contains checklists, helpful articles and information about the best wedding professionals that Sarnia-Lambton has to offer! 

To the bride and groom, I have a few in stock or go to

www.divinedetails.ca

519-479-1815

Trailer - "A Christmas Carol" - Charles Dickens

A dramatic reading of Charles Dickens' - "A Christmas Carol"

Presented by; Christ Church Forest, CBC Radio, The Forest Florist, Fisher Electric, and The Forest Standard

In Support of Contact House.

2 hour DVD is available for $10. through Christ Church Forest

Order Now for Christmas

Proceeds go to Contact House

Thank You to Residents and Staff

I really enjoy my time with the residents and the staff is very helpful and friendly. Thanks to all.

Is it a NEED or a WANT???

I know the answer........I want this so bad, I can't stand it. Do I really need it? Probably not.

I've been going through this debating thought process for the last 24 hours now. Should I or shouldn't I buy it. It would make the movies and picture presentations so much better, easier and faster. I like the faster. With the system I have now, it takes approximately 3 to 4 hours to produce a 3 minute movie. I dare not go over 4 minutes.

However, this MacBook Pro starts at $2100 and with the features (I need/want) it will total around $3200. yhoo whoo! I tell myself, "lets be reasonable here. It is, just another toy. You have a computer."

Then the child in me wants to say, "well Kirk got all his toys when he wanted them. He has two boats now, extra boat motors, fishfinder, GPS and many rod and reels." Gee, whats up with that?

We think we have come up with a solution. When Kirk sells one of his boat motors ($4500.) I get to have a Mac attack.

Patience is a virtue.

Modern Fire Escape

I received this in an email from a friend. Modern technology is great!

The turkey hunt?

Gee, I know I keep on about prices here but I just can't help it. Last Tuesday I bought a frozen turkey at $1.79 lb. I figured, that is about as good as it's going to get around here. Mind you there is only one grocery store in town so not a lot of choices.

Kirk felt I bought it too soon as he figured prices should go down the closer we get to Thanksgiving. (which is Oct. 8 here in Canada) He, of course, is still thinking in North Carolina mode and prices. I had to remind him the days of 69 cents per lb for turkey is not going to happen here.

Well, low and behold, the local IGA flyer arrived today. For all your Thanksgiving needs, your best price store brand frozen turkey is $1.99 lb. and it goes up from there. Yippee!

In short, Kirk was glad I shopped early. Besides, it might take until next week to thaw.

Happy Columbus Day. (click on the picture to find the turkey)

Sticker shock!

Kirk went out to buy a new battery for my truck. It's been a long time since we needed a battery. Today, Kirk got a shock. Not from the battery, from the price. The shock feeling feels the same, either way.

We were use to spending $35 to $60 for a car battery.
This small one cost $110. - with tax it came to $125.40.
Now, we haven't been out of the USA that long, will someone let us know if prices of batteries have gone up that much in the south?
Our dollars are a par right now. We have a mind to get us a load of batteries for the future. Heck, be a black-market battery dealer.

What do you think?

This shopping trip made Kirk rethink his welding/fabricating charges. Again.

Request for an Easement

This is a good one. We may not be the brightest little bulbs on this earth but some things just don't figure right with us. So, hear is the story as we understand it........

Last month we received a letter from the Municipality of Lambton Shores requesting an easement across our property. The easement would be approximately 10-15 metres in width, with construction tentatively scheduled for the 2008 construction season. This request is because the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) prefer not to have construction of water mains within the highway right-of way. (We are on HWY 21)

Kirk gets a call today asking if we have decided on granting an easement. Here is punch line....

They are going to charge US, $10,000 to dig up OUR property. Kirk let them know, we are still undecided. My fear is, someone is going to decide for us and we are not going to like it.

Help!

The Shirt Police

No shirt, No shoes, No service. We have all seen the signs on the doors of businesses.

Today, I made the mistake of waiting on a young man with no shirt. I have to admit, I didn't notice the fact he was not wearing a shirt. (gee, I'm getting old) He was covered with a black substance which either came from working with metal or asphalt. It is a hot day. I noticed those things.

I think I understand the reason for this rule - health reasons. The part I don't understand; when someone comes in that has "some" clothing on but shows more skin than this guy with no shirt. That's just called sexy?

It wasn't made clear to me how to handle the situation in the future.. I might just tell him to give his money to his friend to pay for his coffee and let the "shirt police" usher him out of the premises.

Services

Dealing with people and public services has it's ups and downs. Today we had our share of both.

You may remember that we are still working on permanent residence status for Kirk. This seems to be a continuous endeavour. Our paperwork was returned from Kentucky Police requesting more money and additional forms to be completed. (In the first set of instructions they only required $4.00 for processing.)

I race to the bank to have them change the $4.00 US money order to a $10.00 US money order. Filled out the form which only confirms the information we sent them in the first place but now it is written out on their form. It is off in the mail again! We are dealing with four states. This is only the second of the four states we have to hear from. At least NC Police called us and asked for money. (the original instructions stated - no fee)

At least the bank didn't charge us the $6.50 fee this time to issue the money order. I think she sympathized with me as, she was the person who issued the original three money orders while listening to my complaint. "Why should we have to do this? Immigration has the FBI report".

In the mean time, Kirk is expecting money back from the keg he ordered for the party. It is new found funds which he wants to use to order charts for his fish finder. The ordering of the charts became an all day ordeal. He called the company that makes the fish finder, the company that makes the charts, and companies that sell both. There seemed to be no one that knew anything. Frustration was setting in. Finally, he called Cabella's. We think the charts are on their way?

We are probably all guilty of not listening or reading. But I feel we try not to assume and we know, we don't know much. But why do some things get so complicated when it starts out just following the directions?

Rubber Ducky

This is not important. It is just an observation of how products change over time.

Way back when, when we lived in NC I purchased rubber ducks for our hot tub. The reason I purchase Munchkin was; the label said the duck would stay upright 99% of the time. To our surprise it did during all the swirling and rough water of the hot tub. It gave us great hours of entertainment. (can you tell, it doesn't take much to keep us happy). We had 5 ducks and the goal was to count the number of times during our tub session our ducks would be in a row. Confirming we could "get our ducks in a row".

Since we have a new hot tub and I didn't move our ducks from NC. I purchased 3 new ones at Wal-mart just the other day. This time, the label didn't mention the upright guarantee. Sad to say something has changed. Sure it floats and says the water is hot! (we already know that) But, it is upright only 30% of the time. (Can you tell I have been studying this) I am disappointed, wrote to Munchkin but with no response to date.

New Rules of employment

Shoes!
Yesterday I noticed the bulletin of the new rules on shoes. I asked the manager in charge if my shoes, that I purchased when I started at Tim Hortons, are OK. She said she would check into it.
Today, different manager in charge said I have to get new shoes and that everyone knew about this for a week now. (I didn't say this but I was thinking it) Well, shoot me. I only work a few days a week so I missed out on the news. OK, I guess I'm buying new shoes.

Right now, I sure don't feel like shopping for shoes. I have a pair that fit their criteria. They are ugly, heavy and yet reasonably comfortable. Birkenstocks. I also have another pair of Birkenstocks that are well worn and also fit the criteria. Maybe I'll just buff them up.

Gee, I dislike shopping.

Honey Do List

I thought a table would be nice. Since we are waiting on the material to arrive. Kirk started on the "Honey Do List". We now have table. The interior of Kirk's truck is clean. Mower is fixed.
I'm a happy honey.

Kirk can go back to studying his fish-finder manual.
Oh, did I mention, the fish-finder has arrived! Taxes paid and all is well. Just may not have a boat to put it in?

(click on picture to enlarge)

One step at a time

Got my answer today on which road to take.

We just received a phone call from GE Industrial.

We've got the contract to build 30 steps for Sarnia and 50 steps for Brampton and an additional 50 steps in a couple of months.

We are busy now! My new job will be cutting aluminum.

Paying GST & PST

Kirk is still waiting for his fish-finder. This morning he set aside the money he has been carrying in his pocket to pay for it. He made a comment "when it comes in, I should pick it up on my own and pay the taxes."

This tells me the past chain of events has really bothered him. I will try to explain.

At the beginning of the year when Kirk was calling and researching where to buy his fish-finder a friend of a friend recommended a friend, who owns a sporting goods store in London. Calls are made, best price was offered, and directions are given and excitement builds. Unfamiliar with the area, and I wasn't much help because I've been away for so long, Kirk's Native friend offered to go along for the ride and he knew the area. Besides, he had nothing better to do, the lake was frozen over.

The deal is made. The ordering of the product is set into motion and out of the blue, the Native friend offers to use his tax free card to save Kirk some money. At this moment, we did not realize how much resentment this would cause. We believe it was offered as just a friendly helping hand in return for helping him in the past. Besides, we are not sure who we are hurting here? Do the "Tax Police" need this money so badly?

Well, it was brought to our attention, Kirk is trying to weasel out of paying taxes. He got a good price and still didn't want to pay that additional 15%. We are stunned. That was not his intention and is now sorry he even accepted the help.

If and when they get to go fishing, hopefully many will benefit from this purchase.

Spa/Hot Tub

It was about 7 years ago we bought our first hot tub. Actually, I was the one who instigated the purchase because of my experience of owning one well before I met Kirk.



Back then, Kirk questioned whether we would use it often enough to justify the cost. It was $4000. plus the cost of wiring which was around $350. It was well worth it. We should have taken it with us when we moved.



Since the hot tub we have here died last fall, we truly miss it. So, we are now on the hunt for a new one.



It seems things have changed since our last purchase. Either our standards have increased or there are too many choices. In short, this hunt has become complicated. We started out looking for; energy efficient, well insulated, 5 hp motor/pump, and lounge that Kirk would fit in with sufficient jets for his back and legs.



Kirk now has hot tub experience. He fell in love with one that has plenty of room/jets for a tall man. (I found one smaller.) Price, delivery charges, etc. is now the issue. I am leaving the negotiating up to him.



I just hope it happens soon and my job will be to fill, maintain and clean it. Plus Enjoy!

I started this post at 1:17 pm it is now 4:17 pm. The deal is agreed upon. The deck is coming apart as I write. They made their offer. Kirk made counter offer. Then, Kirk's patience got low and called back. Something in the middle. All are happy now. We may have Hot Tub up and running by Easter or early next week. (My job, write the cheque/check).

Shopping USA

High point of our day! Pick up an order from the USA.

Kirk ordered his boat material from Florida. The main reason, he has been dealing with this company for years now. Second reason, it is half the price than the local vendors.

It is our first trip and order delivered to the UPS store in Port Huron. The border crossing both ways went without a hitch. We just told them exactly what we are crossing for. Show all the appropriate papers and invoices and homeward bound we go.

Our discussion home is about how much money we saved on shipping/handling/customs/duty and time. The comfort level is high which may mean, many more purchase and pickups to follow.

Kirk decided to have a local upholster business recover his boat seats. In return, he will build a rack for their bolts of material to hang on. Win win situation for both. Each will concentrate on their speciality. Kirk also freely offered his contacts in Florida for material. We hope it works out for them.

Not sure if this is good or bad. We both forgot that today is our anniversary. 11 years.

Affordable Groomer

Click on pictures to enlarge
We found a professional dog groomer who is affordable and close to home.

This is too good to be true.

Her ad is posted on a bulletin board at the Canadian Tire Store. It was one of those things, each time I went by it I would say to myself "I should check this out". Finally, I followed through.

We warned the Groomer of Shadow's age, attitude and now dislike of anyone getting in her face.
Because it was the first visit, the Groomer did ask Kirk to stay during the face trimming. All went well and Kirk left her to finish the job. A few hours later, she called the dogs are done. To our surprise she only charged $35. for the both of them.

Our understanding of the arrangement; we deliver clean dogs every 5 to 6 weeks for her to groom. The hair cut will be affordable and professional. (They do look a lot better than one of my cuts)

For non-pet owners this is going to sound silly.
Since Shadow behaved so well, I bought her a squeaky toy. The hedgehog seen in the picture above. She picked it out of the toy basket right away. Since her vision and hearing are impaired we are not sure if she can see it or hear it but she has claimed it.

Country Boy

"You can take the boy out of the country (USA) but you can't take the country out of the boy. "

Kirk is adjusting well to his new home, but some things are difficult to leave behind. He is finding it is easier to purchase some needed supplies from companies he has dealt with for years in the USA, rather than venture into the uncharted territory of Ontario. This move has even cut my Internet purchases down to next to nothing. Which could be a good thing?

They say, "You can't teach an old dog new tricks."

Problem; most of the companies he likes to deal with do not ship to Canada and if they do, the cost of shipping equals the price of the item.

Solution; we now have a USA address in Port Huron, MI. which is only a 45 minute drive for us.

We could be wrong, but we think we have the best of both countries covered now.

Comics and Cartoon etc.

Way back when, the news paper was the best source of information. I remember buying it.

The best part of the Saturday paper was the comic section. I don't buy a paper anymore. Actually, I haven't for years. I do miss the comics. Thanks to the WWW I found a site that has all the Comics and Cartoons you could possibly think of, all in one spot. It is great. If you like comics and cartoons.