"We've got full size chocolate bars"

Everyone slept well and everyone is feeling okay. The boys went to school for a morning of work and an afternoon of partying (well Smallest, Small had to work) It was a cool morning but with sunshine and certain times it was lovely but mainly it was cold. Huffle worked.

The Grade 8's don't dress up at school for Halloween

I went to The Royals and did a couple for hours of gardening. I dug out Golden Rod, cut down sumac, peonies and ferns and planted bulbs. My hamstrings were killing me by the end. Mrs Royal gave me a bag of crab apples, a jar of pickled bettroot and a recipe for Crab Apple Jelly.

The Royals old tree

Lovely day for shadows

Huffle and I had a very quick lunch together before I went out for a walk with ClownRose where we bumped into the school Halloween parade. We walked some more and then bumped into the parade again. We stopped for a chat with some other mums and then came home.

The parade.

One of the houses who entered the Halloween contest. Wow!

This afternoon I stuck the gummy worms in the jelly, made some Halloween spider Lemon and Poppy Muffins and started to put dinner together.

All the boys watched the Stoke game (they won 3-1) and I let them eat their dinner in front of it while I sat in the kitchen and watched Poldark.

We got dressed for Trick or Treat and walked down to The Royals. We scared them and collected our 'candy' and came back home so Huffle could drive us into the middle of the Hamlet to continue our Halloween stuff.

The houses were decorated brilliantly again and we were properly scared by a man sitting on the porch pretending to be doll. The boys went to the doors and we held back a bit, enough so people could see us but not to collect sweets. One or two asked if we wanted any.

One house in particular is known for giving out full size bars of chocolate and when we got to the door the owner said "we've got full size chocolate bars" very smugly. We found this very funny. Not only did they give the boys them but they announced it first. Excellent! Another house gave me a chocolate martini which was very welcome and very warming. Of course, we had to go to the famous 'carpers' who always put on a good show, normally a haunted house. Small and I usually keep back and let the brave two go ahead but today it was set up like a scary Christmas Halloween. I swept their drive a bit with my broom and got a bag full of sweets.

We had a very good evening and walked 5km in all. With aching feet and bags full of goodies, we gave up and came home around 8:30pm. While Smallest cleaned his teeth we sorted the stuff out. We had a full table. I won't be buying any crisps for the rest of the year.

 

 

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Happy Halloweekend

A good night's sleep helped me feel much better. Smallest suffered again a bit with sniffles, still not sure if it's allergy related or not.

We had a pancake and fruit breakfast. Yum yum. Today Small helped me to flip and add ingredients to the pancakes. Smallest was in charge of fruit and Huffle did tidying and setting the table. Good family effort.

After a quick play and a try on of Winter Boots, we all went out to buy some new ones as both boys have big flappy feet which have grown since last Winter. We had a plan of where we wanted to go which included one big shop, then the Mall, dinner and a walk. However, we did exceedingly well in the first shop we went to and managed to get both boys some really nice sturdy boots (in the sale). Strangely, Smallest is in the same size boot but Small has definitely gone up a size or two. I suppose he has to have big feet to stop his tall frame from falling over. At a loss as to what to do with the rest of our shopping time, we decided to go for an earlier walk to get our appetites.

We drove down to the lake and walked our familiar lakeside walk but this time a different way. We think we walked 9kms in all which isn't bad at all. We climbed a big hill which we now call "Smelly John" in homage to Old John in Bradgate Park where we used to live in the U.K. We called it Smelly because it happened to be right next to the sewage plant. Ahhhhh that's why it smelled so bad! It was a fabulous view though.

In my search for the perfect photo of the boys getting along!

At the top of Smelly John

A log called Fred and some graffiti

Lakeside

Jumping and climbing

Seagulls, piggy backs and boys

We did lots of rock climbing, jumping, weird running (oh no that was someone else who had the slowest run we have EVER seen). We also saw two secret agents passing messages to each other (we may have watched too may Bourne films). We walked until we were definitely hungry and then Huffle drove through a very salubrious part of Ontario. It was an eye opener and even though we needed to stop at a shop for Halloween Gummy Worms, we didn't stop there! Even Huffle said "I'm not shopping here". Two signs that made us laugh on the way home were......

HONEST AUTO SALES!!!!!

And WILLIE STOUT (a pub) with a Chinese Massage Parlour above it!!!!!

We had dinner and then picked up our worms to adorn our brain jelly for Halloween tomorrow. When we got home we decorated the house outside. We put up CAUTION and DEAD END tape. Ghosts, skeleton, Frankenstein. We tied a Mummy and a Frankenstein to the trees and hung a bat and monster from the porch. This evening we entered the Hamlet Halloween House Decorating Contest. Knowing how well houses get decorated here, I am under no illusions that we will get a prize but we had fun doing it.

The boys and Huffle selected their costumes and put them out ready for Trick or Treating tomorrow. I will be a witch again. Probably a witch in the ditch as I normally get pushed in there just so they can laugh at me.

Smallest

Everyone watched Xfactor and were appalled once again that HoneyG got through and Gifty left. What a ridiculous load of poo! Small likes it though. Smallest left to go to bed having had enough of it half way through and Huffle was disappointed no one sang. Monster Mash.

 

 

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20 points for an ugly moth

Huffle and I woke up super early but then went back to sleep and didn't get up until 9:30am. Huffle put the Leicester game on the TV for me and we sat and watched it while we ate our breakfast.

Smallest had his first indoor football game of the season today at 12 midday. Small stayed at home and emptied the dishwasher stayed in his pj's and played on his tablet. I dropped Smallest and Huffle off at football and then went and picked up some essentials from the supermarket. I got back to football just in time for the start of the game. Angel was there with her new baby. Lovely, though she was asleep all the way through. Smallest's team won despite their coach being on holiday. Smallest almost got a goal and played very well. The score was 2-0. Nice start boys.

Back home we all had lunch together and then watched Alice Through the Looking Glass. Such a lot of faces in that film. We enjoyed it.

The boys had a fight over Cow Football (don't ask me) and Smallest ended up in his room while the rest of us made Calzone. Small made some garlic bread. I rolled out the dough and cut the ingredients and Huffle constructed the Calzones. They were very yummy.

After dinner was all cleared away and the kitchen returned to normal, we all played Fish and then Manchester which we renamed PUMPKIN just for today. Smallest was our adjudicator and Huffle won tough it was very tight.

All the boys played table football and I crocheted. This evening we watched TV and relaxed. Smallest had trouble with allergies this morning and had to have antihistamine and nasal spray. I washed all his bedding in case it was dust or dust mites. He was fine for the rest of the day. Huffle is struggling with his back again and is treating it with warmth and doing his exercises. I am feeling hot and cold and have started to get shooting pains. I feel sick and hav stomach cramps on and off. I've had this before and the doctor said it was flu but it doesn't feel like flu. Huffle and I are very tired.

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Murray Mint Wrappers, Tampax and a Rock*

We managed to get up in time this morning, despite the darkness. There had been a little more snow but nothing too drastic.

The boys went off to school, one of them with gloves! Huffle and I left soon after in order to get to the school morning assembly because we had been told that Smallest was getting an award. We didn't know what for though. I don't know why we are always told to get there for 9:05 and we dutifully do but the assembly never starts until at least 9:30am. Still it's interesting to see the parents turn up and then watch the unruly, untidy kids file in. First up to get an award was Small for Outstanding Results and Leadership. (He thinks it was for a Maths test where he got a 39.5/40 plus leadership in 'stuff'). Smallest then got an award for Demonstrating Responsibility though he doesn't know in what or when. Smallest also got a medal for playing football for the school. The whole school was asked to stand up if they took part in one of the extra curricular activities and both boys stood. Small for Band and Smallest for his football. Excellent. Well worth turning up today. We are very proud of our clever responsible boys. We also watched the school take part in 'minute to win it' in which a representative from each class tried to suck smarties up a straw (no not up one, that's impossible). Anyway, there didn't seem to be a winner which is weird because that's part of the title but............... it was very noisy and they did it because it was fun and helps them grow (yes if they eat the smarties they will grow!!!).

Huffle came home to work for the rest of the day and I went out to Costco where I met up Suffolk, renewed my membership, did some shopping, tasted over sweetened rice pudding (no need!), squishy frozen steamed veg (awful, why not use fresh!) and a seven grain thing that was spicy and made my throat sore. We had a quick look in Peir1. I like this shop, always lots to look at but I never buy anything. Ummmmmm.

I came home, put the shopping away, had some lunch and watched The Missing (BBC) while I crocheted. Oh my goodness, what a series this is!!!! I cleaned the kitchen, the boys came home and did their homework and then played on their tablets before dinner which was a mish mash of leftovers from the week.

This evening we took the kids to a farm far away where they took part, for Scouts and Cubs, in a Maize Maze (Corn Maze) in the dark with torches (flashlights). Four leaders (that we know of) and they still asked us to stay! NO NO NO! Had this not been a Scout/Cubs thing, we probably would have stayed and done it with them but instead Huffle and I went off for an hour on our own. Huffle took us to a Pool Hall where we had several games (one of which I won wahoooo) of Pool. It was very enjoyable though we did get a phone call two minutes prior to us arriving back at the farm to say they had finished and were waiting for us. All leaders and kids had gone and left one leader in charge of Small and Smallest. Well, at least they didn't leave them there on their own this time! The boys said the leaders justbstayed together talking and swearing (yes that's a responsible thing to do when you are looking after boys between the ages of 8 and 13). They both got annoyed with the other kids and the leaders and ended up going round the maze by themselves and just talking and trying to scare other people. They seemed to have fun and it's nice they had each other. See they can be nice to each other sometimes. Small lost his torch which he borrowed from Smallest because he couldn't be bothered to look for his own. He gave him one when we got back.

It was 9pm by the time we got home and Smallest went straight to bed. Small watched TV in his room for a while before going to sleep. Huffle and I watched Tutankhamun (ITV). Very good.

Smallest brought these glow things home from the maze. They are now hanging in his bedroom.

 

*things I found in my winter coat pocket that I haven't worn since March (ish). Always important to carry a rock around. Possibly picked up on a walk along the lake!

 

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I can only remember one meatball back

The boys forgot to wake us up again and it was 8am before Huffle realised the time. It was sooo dark and it had snowed. It also snowed, sleeted and rained throughout the whole day.

Gardening a la Royal was cancelled due to yucky weather so I decided to go to Suffolks instead and we had a cup of tea and then went to Scholars Choice. This is an educational toy shop which was excellent and we spent ages in there. I got lots of little Christmas presents for the kids (mainly Smallest) and a couple of bigger ones. The ladies who served in there said we were very polite and considerate and she wished more of her customers were like us.

We had lunch in a Pita Pit where we completely confused the servers in there and then spent the rest of our time in Michaels a huge craft shop. Here we bought wool, letters, photo frames etc., and more little Christmas things.

We had to rush back in time for the kids getting home and I just had time to hide my wares before rushing the kids off again to get their hair cut. Our hairdresser has always been a celebrity on a local daytime show but now she has her own show, we were lucky she could fit us in.

Hair cuts done, we came home to find Huffle starting dinner. He had made the meatballs and was just starting to cook them. What a helpful Huffle he is. He went off to the office this morning but came back before he got there because the roads were gridlocked (accident we think).

After dinner, Small and Huffle went off to Small's football where there were too many players on the field and Small hit the post trying to get a goal. Smallest and I sat and played on our tablets, I crocheted and then we read some more of BOY.

 

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Show no mercy!

It is sooooo very dark in the mornings and sooo very dark so early in the evenings. Booooo you Winter!

As usual, I watched the boys get on their school bus. Then Maurice the driver pulls over and let's all the cars behind her go by. She is not supposed to do that and I know that some of the parents have complained already and the school contacted the bus company about it. Safety wise, you are not supposed to pass a school bus in case the kids are getting on and off and crossing the road. Silly Maurice!

I went to aerobics and left Huffle working. I have hurt my neck possibly by overextending it. I vaguely remember ExerciseNic saying DONT PULL ON YOUR NECK, I KNOW YOU WANT TO. Well I obviously did. OUCH!

I came home briefly, picked up my gardening tools and went off to Suffolks to put in her new plants, bulbs and cut a few things back. She rewarded me with a hearty Smoked Sweet Potato Curried Soup which was delicious. We finished with a cup of Cammomile, Mint and Ginger tea (new thing for calming the tummy and getting rid of trapped wind - lovely, but it does work!!!! PARP). My hamstrings are killing me from Tuesdays gardening, aerobics and bulb planting. I should be gardening at TheRoyals tomorrow but we have snow due through the night YES I SAID SNOW and rain for the rest of the day.

I came home just in time for the kids coming back. Small had had a good day finding things he thought he had lost. They both did their homework and I made dinner. Smallest and I played a couple of games of Stack 'Em Up.

After dinner I took Smallest to football where he played a game against the older Girls Rep Team and beat them easily. This coach was their goalie for half of it and then they brought in a boy/man. At the end of the game all the team, including subs, and coaches were on the field. I found out that we have to pay an extra $130 because they chose to add an extra practice night. I think it is outrageous but we don't seem to have a choice. If we don't pay, the kids aren't allowed to play in the game on Saturday. That's an increase of around $400 more than last year. Bloody ridiculous!

Huffle took Small to basketball. Huffle was annoyed by the lack discipline and of the 11 kids, only three parents stayed and one of them was Huffle. Another parent shouted out that the kids weren't listening which is unusual but did please Huffle greatly. I think the biggest problem is that most parents use the session as a babysitting service which is wrong. Huffle thinks the parents are too embarrassed to stay but I think the reason the kids are like that is because they don't have responsible parents in the first place. I don't particularly like the Coach either, he is too soft and talks too much. We are already looking into alternative places for Small.

Smallest and I came home and after his shower, Smallest sat in his room and watched The Great British Bake Off. He wasn't allowed to say who won as Huffle and I watched it later and Small will watch it tomorrow. I think the right person won though they were not my favourite. Won't say anymore just in case.

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Smeg off dog poo face

I had weird dreams of running down stairs trying to escape from someone last night. I was exhausted when I woke up! The boys went to school. Now they are wearing long trousers and fleeces, still no coats, gloves etc but the weather is certainly getting colder with snow forecast on Thursday and Saturday :(

I left Huffle working at the kitchen table and went off to work. I know that MrsM was not completely happy with me for not coming in last week when I cancelled to take G&G shopping but to be fair, I am only a volunteer and I shouldn't be relied on. We worked hard cutting things down (mainly grasses and flox). We also spent a considerable time inside warming ourselves and keeping away from the Septic Tank emptying (just in case it was Smelly). There is no Tuesday work now for a while but I may be called upon to do some greenhouse work on other days. I love going there and I have learnt so much, so I will continue going. I came home with a couple of things I dug out of the path. One was a salvia and the other, I'm not sure but it has yellow Autumnal foliage and I planted them in our garden as soon as I got home.

Huge clematis high in the pine

I had lunch with Huffle and we watched Travel Man in Helsinki. (C4). I think Huffle is a mixture of Carl Pilkington and Richard Ayoade. Funny! I spent the afternoon making Beef Cottage Pie and a Veggie Cottage Pie. Mine had a multitude of vegetables in it. Ten actually. It was yummy.

After dinner, all the boys went off to Smallest's football practice. Smallest got himself a new pair of Messi boots (from Coach's locker) and Small tried out his new boots too, by having a kick about before getting kicked off the field (Health and Safety). I stayed at home, sorted washing, cleaned the kitchen and watched Tv while crocheting.

 

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Don't Assuage Your Guilt

I couldn't get up this morning. In fact it was past 8am before I woke up. It's so dark in the morning now. The boys didn't wake me and Huffle got up to help the boys get ready for school while I had a shower. The kids helped Huffle to get their lunches ready and I came down just before they went to school. What good boys they all are.

My morning was a myriad of disasters stating with me getting up late, running late for my day out with Suffolk, rescheduling but still being late. Small called home to say it was tree planting day and they needed their wellies. The calendar today said TREE PLANTING DRESS ACCORDINGLY!!!!! but we all ignored it. I drove to school, couldn't park in the car park because of the school bus so had to park down a side street meaning I had to run down said street, across the road and into school, just in time to see the bus drive away with Smallest in it!!!! I gave Small his wellies, gloves, hat and drove off to the tree planting which was only just down the road. I bumped into the principal who took Smallest's stuff from me to give to him. Both boys thanked me later for bringing their stuff. They planted shrubs and trees in order to help the Salmon that they released earlier in the year.

Suffolk and I went out to Port Perry today to celebrate my birthday (as she missed it when G&G were here). We met in a coffee shop and she gave me a present of two boxes of lovely writing paper. They were lovely and I had said I was looking for some for ages but everywhere sold notelets and not paper. Very thoughtful. We then wandered around the shops. Crafty ones, furniture ones, homewares and clothes. Suffolk took me for lunch where we had soup and tea and chatted for ages. We finished with a few more shops and finally went home.

The boys were already home, Huffle was busy working and I made dinner while the kids had their piano lessons. They are learning Christmas songs for their Recital in five weeks (one of which is Halloween). It seems far too early for Christmas.

After dinner we took Smallest to Cubs for a night of pumpkin carving. Small, Huffle and I were going to go for a walk but it was cold and started raining so we came home and helped Small clear and clean his shelves in his room.

 

 

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Turkeyshwa

This morning we sat watching TV with the boys watching XFactor. More rubbish. We had a late breakfast and the boys helped me sort out the Winter Cupboard. Hats, gloves and scarves were tried on, discarded or put in the correct place. Snowpants were tried on and then they played on the Wii for a while as swiffing, sweeping etc was done by Huffle and me.

Late morning we headed out to look at some cane furniture which was on sale at a second hand garage sale shop Huffle knew. We decided to buy it and the shop agreed to deliver it for us late afternoon.

Today, for dinner, we ate at the Number1 Trip Advisor restaurant in Oshawa. Now I am often heard to refer to Canada being stuck in the 1970's, normally this refers to Sears Department Store and the public attitude to drink driving, but today the restaurant was definitely a throw back to the 70's. Smallest and Huffle had Turkey, Gravy and potatoes which came with a startedr of soup and a roll. This turned out to be completely unnecessary due to the hugeness of the meal. Smallest, of course, finished his pile of turkey as he truly is a carnivore (though it was a child's portion) but Huffle had to take half of his turkey home. The menu said if the child was good and finished their main meal, then a sundae could be had. The said sundae came in a small stainless steel 1970's esque bowl. I was surprised we weren't offered a Prawn Cocktail. My only vegetarian option was an omelette. It was all 'okay' but I can't imagine we will go back. Their big seller was a cream coconut pie and a strawberry tart.

We needed to walk off our dinner and went to the lake and walked along for about forty minutes. It was cool and we all had coats on. I feel the iciness of Winter upon us. Huffle says he saw a snow symbol for next weekend!!!

This was a hand powered machine that gave is information about the various marches in the area. Clever.

Small seeing if he was as tall as his Dad yet! Not far!

Plenty of silliness

I took a lovely photo of the boys chatting and getting on. I wondered what they were talking about and asked them later. This is what Small said "I was throwing Smallest around the world and a raccoon caught him and threw him at Santa's workshop. A polar bear threw him back to me". I have no idea how this conversation started or why it did. I will pretend they were being nice to each other and having a lovely chat as two brothers that get on well would.

We came home. The boys and I had a leaf fight where I seemed to come off worse. I am still taking Leaves out of my hair. We put green cobwebs on the outside of the house and added green light up spiders (for Halloween or is that obvious?) and Huffle Skype Grandma and Grandad. Our furniture arrived and we put them in the tidy barn (don't worry Grandad, we didn't make a mess) until I make cushions for them and then we placed our new plants and planned what we wanted to achieve. We decided on a nice row of grasses to make a kind of swishy hedge at the front (or back as we look at it from the house) of the garden. We planted and worked hard and rewarded ourselves with a cup of tea.

The boys played on the Wii, had showers and then we all played Squarrels and watched a bit of The Crystal Maze SU2C (C4).

 

 

 

 

 

 

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So I brought you a fork.....*

Happy Hall House. Two football games being played simultaneously. Stoke City (2-0) in Small's bedroom and Leicester City (3-1) in the Living Room. Lots of cheers (well five in total) and happy people.

When I got up this morning, I found the two old men (boys) watching The Great British Bake Off. Then they watched Would I Lie To You and when Huffle got up, we all watched The Extra Slice. What happened to cartoons and kids stuff?

It was a very windy start to the day and we decided to go back to the Garden Centre to take advantage of the 70% sale plus I needed to blow away the cobwebs as I was feeling a bit yucky (head cold I think).

At the garden centre we spent over a $100 but the full price should have been around $600 so we were very pleased with our purchases. We bought Heucheras, Grasses, Viburnum, Hypericum (which we call Uncle Johns Wart after Uncle Dermot) and I spent my birthday money from Aunt Pear and bought some birds for the garden. THANK YOU Aunt Pear. We JUST managed to get them all in the car and took them home before going back out for dinner.

After dinner we went to find some Football Boots for fast growing big footed Small who now has size 11 US (which is size 10 UK). We did, however, find him a new Winter coat as he is growing taller and taller by the day. We didn't find any Boots in our first shop but I found some trainers for me in the sale. We then went to Value Village to look for material to make Smallest into a Ghost for Halloween. Instead he chose a costume of The Scream mask and a hooded cloak. Small found a pair of Football Boots and bought an old Gandalf style mask to go with his tee-shirt.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon going in various shops including Dollarama trying on masks and looking for this and that until we finally came home. We watched the rest of Batman vs Superman.

Person in front of us at Dollarama - lovely hoody!

We had several blog titles today beyond the one we chose (by voting and doing rock, paper, scissors). One was Smelly Alan Fartridge's blueberry spill :- we were in a supermarket and we spotted one of the scouts leaders, who we call Smelly Alan Fartridge, who spilt his blueberries at the checkout. We found this funny! Another one was when we were watching Batman vs Superman, which we didn't think was that good actually, and I heard someone say "Arnold Stoner paid for the funeral" when in fact they said "an anonymous donor paid........". Maybe I need to get my ears looked at.

*dinner was Fish and Chips in our usual place. Bearing in mind this is a kind of Truck Stop Diner, the waitress brought us a napkin and a fork each. We all looked confused and wondered where our knives were and when she bought our dinners, Huffle said "can we have some knives please". She said IM SORRY WE RAN OUT, THEY ARE STILL IN THE DISHWASHER, THATS WHY I BROUGHT YOU A FORK! Brought us a fork, as opposed to what? She then came back with a tiny plastic knife each which we laughed at but it did in fact cut perfectly well.

 

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The bare chested man

More rain all day. A very miserable wet and cold day. So what better than to go to the garden centre outside in the rain getting cold. YAY! After the boys went to school (Smallest has given in and put on trousers but Small is still in denial and wearing shorts), I Facetimed Moo and had a chat and catch up with her and then Suffolk came round. The local garden centre had a 70% sale and she drove me there and I helped her chose some premier plants for her new front garden. It was so cold though and we spent a long time looking. She bought a good few and I bought a Vibernum bush and an Actea. We were freezing so drove to Uxbridge and had lunch. Suffolk is Paleo and can't eat dairy or sugar and I of course am vegetarian. The soup today was Leek and Potato (with dairy) so she ordered MeatLoaf which came with panini, cheese and caramalized onions, all of which she can't eat, so I had them and it made my little cup of soup delicious. What a perfect pair we are. We also had two pots of tea, one Echinacea which was lovely and a Pomegranate and Cranberry which was meh! It was nice and warm and the service was excellent. We met a lovely English (Devon) lady in there who chatted to us. She has been here 35 years, married a Canadian, had three children here and was still homesick. There is no hope for me!

Funky Mushroom growing in the garden centre (that's how wet its been lately

We came back to mine and looked at the material for the Blinds. Grandma left me with lots of measurements, drawings and notes and Suffolk made sure I knew what I was going to do next. Huffle and I need to check that the material plus the lining is sufficient for what we want, ie to stop the light getting through, otherwise we might need black-out lining instead.

The boys came home, did a chore, practiced piano, homework and emptied their bags and then played on their tablets until dinner when they organised the living room, found a film and got drinks ready. I made pizza which we ate in front of the beginning of Batman vs Superman. I checked on the internet to see if it was appropriate and it said, for parents, a mans bare chest was on show, there was kissing and the use of the word sh1t and damn. It never mentioned any of the other swear words we had heard already in it but was concerned that Lois had bare legs in the bath!!!! Don't think that will bother my boys!

Small watched his TV in his room (The Apprentice) while we watched Gardeners World and Would I lie to you.

 

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