Post Wedding

Well it is the day after the wedding. Lisa looked beautiful and Peter very happy. I have so much to write, I think it may take a few days. Here at my desk I have a lovely bunch of flowers to look at for the next few days. I ended up with several of the table setting which I have taken apart and put in different vases.
The day started out early, Detta and I headed off to have our hair done. Mine was very quick, as it is short. The hair stylist thought it would be easier to straighten Detta's hair and then give it a trim. I thought so too but one and half hours later, I was thinking this was not so good an idea. Detta was in tears, I had to get a towel so she could wipe her eyes. Her hair has not been combed through properly, though she does brush it. I was on the phone to Hugh, to get everything in the van and be ready to go. On the way home I bought the children McDonalds for lunch. So Detta and I had 30 minutes to get dressed and ready to go plus Detta had to eat her lunch. Finally we were on our way.

There were a few stops on route mind you. The first was to buy petrol as we were under a quarter tank. Then just before the 401, we had our second. The kids all started shouting, 'there's a wasp in the candy'. Hugh and I didn't get it at first but we stopped. Yes there was a wasp inside the candy container. How it got in there I don't know. All the candy was in its own bags, nothing was loose. But the wasp flew away. Finally on the 401.

Then as we were just heading through Oshawa in the fast lane, this suv was really trying to overtake us. I mentioned to Hugh that this driver was going back and forth behind, all I thought was another crazy driver. Finally Miles says, 'I think that driver is trying to say something'. Hugh had a look and sure enough the other driver was pointing at the back of our van (not so crazy after all). So we pulled over in a safe spot and Hugh hopped out to have a look. Sure enough our back passenger tire was going flat. So we exited off the 401 and drove looking for a petrol station. There were none around and we drove past the next exit off the 401. Finally I saw a petrol station and we got some air. In the mean time I called Anne to let her know we had a half flat tire and could possibly be late for the wedding. Then we headed off. By Bowmanville, the van didn't seem right, so we stopped again to check the air pressure. All was okay, thank goodness.

Away we went to Bethany. Finally we made it to the church. I missed the turning, I can't believe I got lost in Bethany (looking later there was no street sign!!). Anne actually only arrived just before us. The church was very small. Detta, Miles and Donovan sat with their cousins in the second row but there was no room for Hugh and I so we sat in the front row. No one else was sitting in the front row and to top it off, the table and chair with the documents for the bride and groom to sign were right in front of us. The best part about our location is we had the occassional cool breeze.

OMG - THE VASE

I can't believe it!! I was packing the vases for the candy buffet in a box and as I lifted one of them out to reorganise, it hit the top of the tallest vase!! The centre piece of the candy buffet. A piece about 4 inches long came off the top!!! I am devastated. And of course this had to happen at 8:25 pm. As I stood speechless, well maybe a few profanities, Hugh said 'get on your bike'.

Well I jumped in the car, in the middle of a huge rainstorm, at least the thunder had already passed. I raced up to Homesense (I just drove quickly), the electricity was out in the middle of Ajax. At least the stores still had power. I found an inexpensive vase and bought it. Then I quickly went over to Pier Imports and found another one, bought it. And one more stop was to be Bouclairs but the electricity was out so I gave it a miss.

It took longer to drive home. DOES NO ONE KNOW HOW TO USE STOP LIGHTS WHEN THEY AREN'T WORKING????? Well not too many here know. IT BECOMES A FOUR-WAY STOP!!! PLEASSSSEEEEE!!!!

Flower Arranging

Today after heading into the kitchen I realised I had forgotten to make the brownies for the rehearsal party. So at 7:30 I started mixing up a batch of brownies, no walnuts though. Then after they were finished I made a second batch. I headed out to Joan's about 9:30 and they were still hot in the boxes.
When I arrived at Joan's, Kath was there with Peter's Mum, Margaret and her sisters, Anne and Lisa. Names like this will make it easier for me to remember their names. They were all preparing the flowers to put in the vases which were spread around Joan's dining and living rooms. Anne arrived just in time for tea and brought some lovely squares with her. Lisa and I ended up going out and getting boxes from No Frills to carry the flower arrangements to the hall. I think Andrew is going to pick them up tomorrow. Joan has put most of the flowers in the arrangements but there is still filler, the bonbons and candy to put in. Detta and I are going to pop over tonight and help.

Oh I forgot, Hugh and I had a trial run of the candy buffet last night. We set the vases out and started filling them with candy. We are supposed to make candy skewers but I think that may be removed. I may just fill the dishes with jelly beans. And then there is also red twizzlers to put in. It is going to look really good.

After the flowers, Joan, Anne and I headed out for Reitman's. We bought some clothes and used up our $25.00 vouchers. I bought a skirt, jeans and 2 blouses. Then we headed over to Pickle's which is now called Wimpy's. But the food is just as good. I had a roast beef dip (again). It was very good, the gravy was not too thick.

Anyways I must decide tonight if we are going to do the skewers or not. Then I need to press my dress lightly and find the boys trousers. Detta probably needs something so I better go and get my last minute preparations done. Tomorrow morning Detta and I go to the hairdresser and then pack the candy in the cooler. Oh yes it would be a good idea to pack the vases tonight.

Wedding Preparations

Today I headed into Toronto at 9ish. I wanted to be at the Bay on Queen when it opened. I wasn't far off but it was incredibly slow driving along Richmond, just past Jarvis, it went from 3 lanes to 1!! I found a gorgeous black dress from Jones of New York. It is very 'Little Black Dress', very Coco Chanel. I also bought this gorgeous silk skirt in black and beige. It is beautiful, that may be returned if I wear the black dress (not on sale). There wasn't much to choose from, all the spring/summer clothes were on sale which obviously had started several weeks ago and there wasn't very much in for the autumn collections. Very sparse. I then headed over to Reitman's in the Eaton Centre. I found a lovely jacket to wear with the dress (but I may return it).

I headed home from there, took Miles and Detta to McDonalds for lunch. Funnily enough I ran into the lady, Jeanette who I met when Detta and I were flying from Belfast to Heathrow. What are the chances of meeting someone, you met on a plane in the UK, in McDonalds!! Yes she does live in the same town as me.

After lunch, I insisted Detta stop watching television as we needed to dress shop for her. We went to the Laura outlet. A very nice saleslady helped us choose about 10 dresses for Detta to try on. We finally settled on two so I bought them both. They were marked down so I thought why not! I found a lovely white jacket with black buttons which will look excellent with the black dress. I think this jacket will look much nicer than the one from Reitman's. We then headed to Walmart for ribbon, but Detta found shoes she liked there. They will look nice with one of the dresses she choose. I also found some shoes, maybe not for the wedding but they look great. It did take me a while to find the second shoe but I did persist, on the floor looking between the racks did it.

We then stopped at Bulk Barn. I liked the gum drops Joan had, so I did like Joan and just picked out all the pink ones. I think I got them all. Then our last stop was the Dollar store for a couple of vases which we are putting our candy skewers in.

Now I am putting my labels on the chinese boxes and tying very small bows, all 120 of them. I have more than half the green ones done and Detta is putting the ribbons with labels on the pink ones. I will then tie all the bows. I need to buy more ribbon though, I need ribbon for 23 more green boxes. Detta and I were over at Joan's yesterday evening, we finished all the bonbons!!! YESSS!! Detta skewed all the candy and put them into little baggies for each table arrangement. Joan sorted the bonbons for the table arrangements also. Everything looks so pretty.

I keep downloading pictures from my camera but most of my trip to the UK is still on the camera. I just don't want to remove them yet. There are only 540 pictures on the camera.

Lisa's Wedding

Yesterday, Detta and I headed up to Kath's again. We didn't go quite as early this time. Today we started working on decorations for the sides of the pews in the church. It took some time to actually figure out what would look good. And then more time to work out the logistics of the whole thing, like tying it to the pews and having it hang properly. No this is not Lisa's wedding bouquet but one of the pew decorations though in this picture it is not completed.

For dinner, we went to the Village Inn in Bowmanville. It was very good. I have in the past few months rediscovered a meal, I loved as a child, roast beef sandwich au jus. It has different names in different restaurants but is basically a roast beef sandwich you can dip in a thin or thick beef gravy. The Village Inn had very thick gravy so I also dipped my most excellent fries in it also.

After dinner, we went to the movies. Anne and Lizzy met us there plus another friend of Kath's. We saw Julie & Julia. It was so good, Meryl Streep is such an excellent actress.

Today I headed back to Kath's. By lunch I had finished with the glue guns. So all the pew decorations are finished. Lisa and her mum can put the finishing touches on them when they go to the church on Wednesday. I got home and jumped in the pool with Donovan. It was so nice. I haven't spent that much time in our pool all summer. We are now going to have hot chocolate (I might add some coffee to mine for the caffeine).

Lisa & Peter's Wedding

We are really starting to get the flower arrangements done for Lisa & Peter's Wedding. Last night Detta and I went to Joan's house and made bonbons! Well not really bonbons, but styrofoam balls covered in pink or green tissue wrapped in cello paper and tied at each end like a bonbon. They look really pretty. We only have 120 more to make!!

Today, Detta and I met Kath for breakfast. I had the sausage scrambler, it was very good. Detta tried the egg blt wrap. She ate most of it, I am very impressed with all the new foods Detta is trying.

We drove back to Kath's house and started on some flower arrangements. We did 3 big ones for the church. They took us about 3 hours to make. Kath did most of it. Andrew helped with the cutting of the flowers. He also held the rectangular ones up, one of them may be on a piano. After some grilled cheese sandwiches, made by Andrew's friend, Alex, Kath and I went for a nice dip in the pool.


Then Detta and I headed back to Whitby. I went to Valentino's to get my hair cut. It looks great. Nice and short and really thinned out. I lost my pendant that Miles gave me for Christmas though. I am sure I lost it at the hairdresser but it could have been any number of places. It was the first Christmas present that Miles every gave me. I am very sad to have lost, I wore it all the time.

I did manage to get Joan and Kath the same shirt I bought for myself last night at Marks Work Warehouse. The shirts were $5.00 each, a great deal. Actually I have an extra white one which I may see if Anne wants.

Pirate Donovan

This week is Pirate week at Donovan's daycare. Hugh put scary tattoos on Donovans' arms. Here is the skull and cross bone. Hugh did a ship and a big scar on his other arm.





Pirate Donovan all kitted out, looking like trouble. He has all his loot, bracelets and necklaces. Plus he has his sword tucked in his belt and of course his pirate map in his pocket.

Thunder Showers

What about that thunder storm on Sunday? What a light show! I have posted a link to a website that has some great shots of the storm:

BlogTO

Toronto Star

Lisa's Wedding Shower

Well the wedding shower at Joan's house is over. It went very well. Eleven people attended which was just right and there were enough seats for everyone. Lisa really enjoyed herself even if she had to wear the special Bridal Bra. I think everyone else enjoyed themselves also. Detta had fun also.

We had a high tea so there were scones with jam and cream, little sandwiches made of egg salad, cucumber and grated cheese and 2 Victoria Sponge cakes. Plus Hugh had bought some small tarts of lemon, raspberry, butter tart with nuts and without. And of course, lots of tea. There were no sandwiches left. Katherine took the leftover Victoria sponge cake and the tarts. She is having a bridal shower tonight for a friend's daughter.

We had a bunch of games to play which goes with bridal showers. The ones we did were Guess the Ingredient, The Price is Right, Herbs and Spices, Bridal Shower Bingo, Thank You Card, Bride Leaves the Room and Purse Raid. There were more than enough prizes which Anne supplied. It meant everyone went home with something.

This is the first Wedding shower I have attended so it was quite fun. Lisa has another one next week at her Bridesmaids house. Detta will probably go but I'll see if Alex and Lizzy go, if they do, I may give it a miss.

The countdown is on now, less than 2 weeks to the wedding.

Job, Baking, Knitting & Misc

Well it has been an age. I didn't get the job. The other person has 6+ years as a parttimer over me so she got the job. I was very disappointed but on the upside I saved paying an extra $20.00 a month in parking. And there are quite a few other jobs that I need to apply for.

My niece, Lisa is getting married in a few weeks. The wedding showers are flying in. My sisters and I are having one on Sundayfor her and then there are two more. I am not sure I am going to go to all these. So I am at the moment making some butter tart squares (from Canadian Living). I have made a number of substitutions which include Splenda sugar, Splenda brown sugar and 'I can't believe its butter' light. And I did add walnuts instead of pecans. I just took them out of the oven and they look delicious. I can't wait for them to cool down so I can try a piece. Now I just have to figure out how many WW points they are.

A few things I forgot to mention from my trip to Ireland. Patricia and Kenny's son, Paul, is off to Brazil in a couple of weeks. He will be there for 2 years. Paul has been there before, a couple of times but what an adventure. The other thing I forgot to mention is Patricia has the same car as me. Patricia's is red and mine is blue. I thought that was very funny, we both have great taste. Unfortunately our lease will be up in January, we probably will return it.
I have decided I must finish a few knitting projects. I have a little baby jacket I had finished knitting. I just need to sew it together, the part I dislike the most. I tried putting it on round needles since the sleeves are raglan but it didn't work. It is very pretty though, I can't wait to see it finished. I also have to finish the hat for Barbara's baby. It is purple and pink, very striking. Anne also let me know that Al's niece loved the hat I knit for her baby. It is always nice to hear what people think.