Well, here it is, April 2 and I survived Easter. 4 days of merriment and adventure…. *sigh*
Where to begin? Well, the beginning is as good a place as any, I guess.
Thursday, I left work at my usual time and headed home. Alex and I had discussed Easter and what we were going to be doing. It was decided that we would have a few friends over. Roy was going to come over from Victoria on Saturday, Bonnie was going to come over on Sunday and Sunday Morning, I would pick Angela up from the airport. She was going to be coming home from a 10 day trip back east.
Alex mentioned to some of our new neighbours that we were having a bit of a barbecue and then next thing we knew, they were coming over, too! Not that we minded, though. (as a side note, we seem to have great neighbours all around the park).
Since we had all these people coming over, we figured we had best get our deck finished off. That meant more $$$$$. We decided that we should go and get some furniture for our deck. So, after dinner, we hopped in the car to go over to Canadian Tire. The second that I put the key in the ignition, I knew we were in TROUBLE. The battery was dead! Dead like Lindsay Lohan’s acting career. In other words, majorly dead.
AUGH!!!
So, on the phone to the local cab company. Took a cab off to the Canadian Tire to fetch a new battery. $130 and 30 minute laters, I was home and struggling to put the new battery in. Unfortunately, Canadian Tire didn’t have the battery for my year of vehicle. I found one that was for a Kia two years older than mine. Needless to say, it didn’t quite fit, but, Alex and I jostled and swore at it and ‘lo and behold! It fit. Sort of….
I tentatively put the key in the ignition, said a silent prayer (to whom, I am not sure) and turn the key. It fired up like there was nothing wrong! Hooray! Now the truly annoying part started. When the battery died, I lost all the pre-sets on my radio….
But, I digress. Off to Canadian Tire (again) we went. We found the conversation set we were looking for. It was the last one in stock! Good fortune!
Then, off to Wal-Mart we sped. There we found our dining set. Again, the last one in stock.
The Umbrella is in our backyard to provide much needed shade for Nykie.
We left them in the boxes as it was so late on Thursday, there was no way I was going to get them assembled in a timely manner. So, off to bed we went.
Good Friday arrived far too soon. Alex, Nykie and I piled into the car nice and early and headed off to our condo. We needed to do a clean up on the place before we gave the keys back to our landlords. Our friend, Bonnie, showed up at the condo about 10:30 and the three of us began cleaning, touching up, washing, scrubbing, vacuuming and general maintenance in earnest.
By 4:00 pm, we were exhausted. I had forgotten how big our condo was and it hadn’t had such a cleaning in a couple of years. But, it was beginning to look cleaner than when we first moved in. Other than some mishaps with some paint, we were almost done.
We left around 6, drove Bonnie home and went back to our house where we grabbed a quick bite to eat. I then tackled the furniture. When they say, “Some Assembly Required.:, what they really mean is “We are going to provide you with instructions in Swahili, diagrams that most computer programmers would scratch their heads at and pictures that look NOTHING like the finished product.”
I started to put together the living room furniture and discovered that I was missing one package of screws. AUGH! So, back into the box, everything went and I hauled it back to Canadian Tire. Once there, I struggled to get the box into the store where the Store Manager greeted me warmly and within 10 minutes, I was out of there with another set. *sigh*. Someone liked me that night.
You can see the end result above. Kudos to Scott Road Canadian Tire for their amazing customer service.
Once they were assembled, I tackled the dining room set. Fortunately, the chairs were already assembled and it was just the table that needed to be put together. 10 minutes later, the set was up. (again, see above). The very next day, Alex was sitting in one of the chairs, pulled it closer to the table and broke one of the arms…. I almost started to cry.
Back to Walmart with the broken chair. Fortunately, the Seasonal Manager was understanding and kind and decided that it would be easier to swap a chair than to replace the whole set. Whew!
Nykie loves the umbrella in the back. It provides him with some much needed shade.
Once the furniture was up, it was Alex’s turn. He set out candles, decorations, pillows and made the whole deck nice and inviting. I sat out there with my computer tablet until almost 11:30 basking in the joy that we had a cool outdoor space.
When we finally went to bed, it was close to 1 am….. We got up the next morning bright and early and started off, again. First a trip to the grocery store for some items we forgot. Found the “No Frills” on Fraser Highway. Great store! Great prices!
I finished off the grocery shopping in time to run home, drop everything and head out the door to collect Angela from the airport. I got to the airport just before her flight arrived. She looked tired but so happy to be back on the West Coast. She was home!
We then went and picked up Bonnie and her daughter. Bonnie’s car was giving her grief. She needed new tires and was afraid to drive it. I concurred and so agreed to pick her and Sarah up. We then went home where Alex was waiting patiently for us to arrive.
On the way to our place, we found out that Roy chose not to come over. So, that meant one less person to feed.
That being said, Alex, being an East Coaster, likes to cook for small armies. We had two chickens, ribs, a massive bowl of potato salad, another massive bowl of cole slaw, a blueberry crumble, a coconut cream pie and a variety of munchies. I haven’t seen that much food in one place in ages. It was like he was prepping for the end times!
Dinner began at 5:30 and we must have eaten for about 2 hours before we finally gave up. I then spent the next hour washing dishes, finding bowls to put all the leftovers in, de-crudding the barbecue and making sure that all our guest had their whims attended to. Our neighbours left around 7:30, I drove Bonnie and Sarah back to Bonnies place around the same time.
I got home around 9:00 and walked in to find both Alex and Angela glued to the TV. Their newest Guilty Pleasure? TLC’s Myrtle Beach Manor. Apparently, it is a reality show about a Mobile Home Park! Was the cosmos trying to tell me something? Gawd, I hope not!
Monday couldn’t come fast enough for me. We went to bed at around midnight. Got up the next morning and took Angela to the Ferry. Got home to have Alex waiting for me to take him back to Home Depot. I swear that Home Depot is going to be his second home….
Spent another $120 there. More plants, more lawn stuff and more dirt….. We are going to have a veritable jungle when he is done…. But, at least we will eat well. He has been getting tomatoes, potatoes, beets, carrots, radishes, blueberries, strawberries and a host of herbs all ready to plant.
Sure hope he runs out of space to put things. Thus endeth my Easter Weekend.
There are, a ton of small mishaps that occurred on this weekend but, I have successfully managed to block them….
Suffice to say, my weekend was a hectic one and I look forward to going back to work to rest up from my weekend.
Al Zylstra 