Appliance lady: 1 - Dina: a little bit broker

Went out as soon as Steve and the kids left for Ottawa to hunt for the elusive affordable appliances. I still had to get a fridge, a stove, and a dishwasher. The stove had to be new, that wasn't negotiable. For the amount of baking I do, I need something that's not going to give me a hassle. The oven had to have convection as well, which pretty much adds $500 on no matter what. Found a flat top, convection, with a warming area for under $1000, a standard fridge, and a cheapish dishwasher and now I have many interest-free payments to look forward to. The plus is that they are new, waranteed, and somebody else will deliver them to my door and haul them upstairs so I don't have to. They arrive Thursday, an early birthday present. After this was done, I went and test drove that Volkswagon. The guy gave me the keys and told me to get lost and take my time, so I drove out to the West Island, picked up Debbie, and drove out to Hudson and back. While I listened for noise and concentrated on the ride, Debbie flipped all the switches, tried the radio and air, and gave me her opinion on the passenger experience. Verdict? Nice ride, very stable car, comfy. There's a hum though that I'm not sure is regular VW engine noise or something else. I brought it back and the sales guy is going to have the mechanic look at it and get back to me. I'm talking to my guy at the garage to ask about general repair costs, because VWs aren't cheap to fix. The more I think about having a wagon though, the more sense it makes. All the things you have to haul around with kids and stuff would be so much easier if I didn't have to borrow someone else's car all the time.
Still, if it doesn't work out with this car then it simply was not meant to be, I haven't fallen in love with it or anything.

meetings and 'sparagus

Finally a couple of nice bright days in a row! This non-stop meeting morning was not as bad as I thought it would be, but I was starved by the time noon came around. Had lunch with Maggie at our Indian place, ah I have missed their food and their chai tea! Some more work, and then picked up Ben and brought him home for ABA and then Naomi, grocery store, then to the kitchen!
Tonight it was bow tie pasta with asparagus, ricotta, spinach, arugula, and parmesan - delicious and fast.
I'm taking the day off work tomorrow (well, trying to anyway), finally taking the car in to the garage, and getting more things organized.
I packed a box last night! I'm not packing too much at once because I want to take things over and unpack them so I know when to stop bringing things over and start chucking, selling, or storing. I need to let go of a lot of stuff that's just not important, or needed, or used.

B is for box, C is for cookie

Today was another slow day. My early morning meeting was postponed until tomorrow (this has happened more than once, but this time there was a very good reason), and I finished some stuff much more quickly this morning than I'd anticipated. Tomorrow I am double-booked all day: a meeting from 8-10, a meeting from 9-12, lunch with Maggie and then I have a meeting I'm going to miss in the afternoon because I have another commitment. I had a great lunch with Irene today. She's one of my heroes. She followed her passions and is an amazing photographer and has created a career for herself around the things that she loves. She is proof that when you are meant to do something, all you need is that love of the work, faith in yourself, and some common sense and anything is possible. She will also give me great deals on her work which is awesome because I will need some art for the new place.
I got home, ate spaghetti, cleaned up, and made cookies!



While I was making cookies I also packed a box of kitchen stuff and got a lot of my tools organized. It's a start :-)

Things I shouldn't admit, part 1

I can't remember which dvds are mine, or how much I paid for the appliances, but I can easily identify my wooden spoons and knives and even tell you where I bought them....the kitchen will be the easiest to sort out.....