Catch-up Monday

It is Domestic Monday but I am not feeling it today. It is a gorgeous Spring Day and although I should be outdoors, I am just going to veg indoors and read through some blogs and emails I have missed since last Wednesday. I was out earlier to hang some laundry for the first time this season. I removed everything red, gold and Christmassy from my planters and just left the twigs and juniper branches to give an illusion of growing things. And I took a walkabout to photograph the first spring flowers. The kids are walking home from school right now. Their jackets are off and they are only in their T-shirt sleeves. Spring has sprung. It was icy cold in Ottawa this past Saturday morning with a few snow flurries if you can believe it, and today we have temps in the low 20s Celsius.

Thursday: no spend, no drive day. My SIL arrived early to begin purging and organizing.

I used the last of the sliced turkey breast to make turkey salad with celery and mayonnaise and made sandwiches for lunch. Dinner was a chicken stir fry over basmati rice.

Friday: My SIL and I worked until lunchtime (ham and cheddar wraps) and then off we went to take the purged items to Value Village. We went inside after the drop-off. My SIL lo-o-o-oves our Value Village because she thinks it is the cleanest and most organized Thrift Store she's ever been in. The turnaround is very good, so she finds new items every time she goes in. We both had 30% off cards to apply to our purchases. I bought a new pair of rubber boots (I had already thrown the old ones out), a new pair of black slip on shoes, a new long sleeved t-shirt and a tan bed skirt for my bed. My total came to $26.45 with tax. I was alarmed to see my brake light flicker on and off as I was driving into town so I drove into Canadian Tire and they looked at it immediately. They topped up my brake fluid. The diagnostic and the fluid top up cost me NOTHING. Free!! I love Canadian Tire. I put $50 of gas in my van. I stopped at WalMart on the way home to pick up a 20 kg bag of Pedigree dog food for $35.57 after tax. We drove back to Odessa to pack up our cars (I hadn't packed a weekender bag yet) and then we headed to Smith Falls in time for supper.

Boots were $4.89; Shoes were $9.44

Knit T was $5.59 and bed skirt ( not shown) was $3.49

Saturday: We drove to Ottawa for 9 AM to attend the Women's show. There were over 250  exhibits of brands and products to buy, to taste, or to experience. I bought 2 items....one was a hair accessory to keep my long hair comfortably and easily pulled up; the other was a package of 5 plastic discs with 75 wicks to burn vegetable oil off the surface of water. I remember having these in the late 60s, and they keep coming into fashion about every 20 years. I love them, so I bought a package to share with the other 3 women I went with (my SIL, my niece and her friend) I also had my skin analyzed with a spa computer. Apparently, these computer analyses normally cost $50 in the spa, but I got one for free. Guess what? My skin is younger than I am. That made my day. There were so many freebies to be had. It was a great day, but exhausting.

Remember these?

I love mine.

Some full size product, some samples, lots of high value coupons (not included here)

 Chocolate soy milk drink box, French's ketchup, V-8 energy drink, Amope foot cream, Marcelle facial cream, family sized Orville popcorn white cheddar and caramel, Finish dishwasher tabs, large 70 count women's multi vitamin gummies, Catelli ancient grains spaghetti, goat's milk soap bar, Kellog's cereal bar, Aero cherry truffle chocolate bar, two different manufacturers gave tea samples, a reusable cleaning cloth for your cell phone screen, baby lotion, Nivea cleansing cream and facial lotion, and Dr. Scholl's invisible corn pads and callus pads. There were samples of food and drink, reusable tote bags (not shown) and pens. I am showing my favourite which was a ball point at one end and a highlighter at the other end. On stage there were Spring fashion shows and a seminar on Spring trends in decorating, but we just visited the booths. There was lots of walking and we were exhausted by the end of the day.

Sunday: We returned the following day to Ottawa to see an original crafters' exhibit. There were over 180 original artists displaying their works from all over Canada. We met artists from BC to the Maritimes. Beautiful work. I am proud to say that I did not buy anything, although I was mightily tempted; but I came home last night with lots of ideas.

So today I am only doing up laundry as my domestic arts. The wind has picked up and the sun has disappeared and we are expecting more rain. This will be a no spend, no drive day.