Stuff...a lot of stuff.

Yesterday Lowell and I took advantage of "Bay Days" and bought the goods on our wedding registry that we hadn't yet received (using the generous amounts of gift cards we received).

We bought a few things:

Oh, and don't forget to look in the trunk!

80% of the trunk is towels, but still...impressive non?

We got a lot of household items that make living and organizing a lot more pleasurable. For example, we bought a utensil divider (we splurged $2.99 at Ikea for this one).

Utensil drawer before:

Utensil drawer after:

While we are thrilled with all of our purchases, I have two favourites. First one: An ironing board that is both an ironing board (obviously) :

..and a step ladder! Brilliant. Who woulda thunk... :

Well, I'm not actually doing anything with the light. I'm only pretending. Lowell, however, was doing something:

SO handy!

And now for my number one favourite purchase of the day:

These ear protectors function as an accessory to our blender:

Our blender is LOUD with a capital L-O-U-D. Wouldn't want to damage my hearing, so these muffs come in right handy! They're also very easily accessible as they're hanging on a wall in the kitchen. In sight, in mind right?

Moral of the story: PROTECT YOUR HEARING (Oh, and go to The Bay. They have smokin deals during Bay Days)!

Yes we are Dutch.

Well, I’m Dutch. Half Dutch. So Lowell is Dutch by association.

Today while Lowell and I were grocery shopping, we couldn’t bring ourselves to pay ridiculous amounts of cash per pound for red peppers. But we really wanted the red peppers. So, we did what any wise Dutchman would do...we decapitated them. We pulled off the green stem tops so the peppers would weigh less. Genius non? Well, actually, no. The only difference that it made was that we left the store with topless peppers.

Only use this technique if you are buying 500 red peppers at a time. Turns out that the stems don't weigh anything.

Topless Peppers.

It's been one of those days...

At around 6:30pm, Lowell and I went for a walk in the river valley. While crossing the river, we noticed flashing lights on the other side. We looked below (as we were crossing the bridge), and tons of cops/paramedics etc were hovering over a body and covering it up. Suicide? Murder? Accident? Who knows, but it was eerie. The little detective in me is just itching for the details.

About 20 minutes after Lowell and I got back, we noticed flashing lights outside our windows. something happened DIRECTLY outside our condo! There were several emergency vehicles, police tape was out, and the police were scouring the bushes with flashlights. It's been a couple hours, and they're still there.

WHAT THE HECKLE DECKLE DOO?

Apparently Edmonton is just living up to it's title of "Homicide Capital of Canada". Now if that doesn't make one proud...

PS- I still love Edmonton. It's pretty. Just stay out of the sketchy parts of town.

**edited to add:
It's morning and there is still a cop car and police tape. Here's the rumour:

Death being treated as "suspicious."

Thu, 2007-09-27 05:50.

Ron Clark

City police investigating after the body of a man was found, burning, last night, on the northside of the river. They're not sure at this point if the man was set on fire by someone else, or if it happened accidentally. Police say it appeared some homeless people had set up camp in the area. The medical Examiner will try to determine today, if the man was dead or alive, when he caught fire.

Captain Invincible!

(No that is not a blanket, it's a very intimidating super hero cape. And yes, that is bed head. I just woke up from a nap.)

That’s me…or so I thought.

I used to get sick every year and it would last for a week to a month. The ol’ stuffy nose, can’t-breathe-and-lay-down-at-the-same-time type. (Personally, I’d rather be nauseous). However, for the last three years, I haven’t been sick at all (well, minus head splitting headaches and your regular run-of-the-mill IBS symptoms). I’ve been popping the vitamins regularly and have been a happy clog-free camper… until 2 days ago. I’m not sick per se (yet), but I can completely feel it coming. My throat is clogged and painful, and my left ear hurts like stink. I also mysteriously seem to need to blow my nose even more than usual. Apparently my regular dose of vitamins are no competition against 20 snotty-nosed-constantly-sick preschool kids.

I’m going to up the vitamin dose because I refuse to get sick. I can’t. I mustn’t. I will NOT GET SICK!!!

After all, I am Captain Invincible.

Mysterious Freezer Delivery

Last weekend, Lowell and I very excitedly ordered a freezer. We discovered that we could squeeze one in the little storage room, and we looooonged to have a lasting supply of frozen goods. Delivery time was Friday “anytime between 8am & 5pm”, so Lowell stayed home all day anticipating the arrival of our latest appliance.

Around 1pm, Lowell called the company (which shall remain nameless sears) to check up on them because he hadn’t heard hide nor hare from them. The individual who answered the phone was rather curt and firmly told Lowell to wait 'till 5pm. So wait Lowell did, and did a freezer or phone call come? Nooooooo. By 5:40pm, Lowell called again. The lady said, “Your freezer may or may not be coming today, and the delivery guys may or may not call because they may or may not be late. The next available delivery date would be the following weekend. Ummmm… ridiculous.

The story’s not over.

At about 6:20pm, a man who lives on the same level as us knocked on our door and asked (with a hook-in-brow look), “Did you guys order a freezer?”

YES YES YES WE DID!!!

“I just got home from work, and it’s right in front of my door.”

Of course. Why didn’t we think to roam the halls before calling the company? We looked at the information on the box, and it was all correct. Our condo number as well as our phone number. They didn’t call OR go to the right condo number. Weird…

Anyhoo, we do indeedy have our freezer, and we have indeedy already spent a good chunk of my FIRST PAYCHEQUE at Costco. Lowell’s parents also contributed a quarter of a cow to our cause, so we have a freezer filled with meat, veggies, fruit, and all the good freezer stuff.

Freezers are good.

Mmmmmmm.... Fooood....

'Rents, this picture is to show you specifically where we crammed it. Fits like a glove!

**Edited to add...
Megan, your comment inspired this:

The Best Wedding MCs Ever!

Travis & Lisa were the Mcs at our wedding and they. were. the. BEST!! They went above and beyond the call of duty, and I’m pretty sure that it's the popular belief that they should quit their jobs and be MCs for a living. These two are heeeeelarious.

Note the clear shot of the kissing meter and the giant hook.

They made signs to prompt the audience for the appropriate response, and a giant hook to (threaten to) drag people off the stage if they were taking too long. They made a “kissing meter”, as well as our personal favourite: a video to give the audience a chance to know Lowell and I better…

OUR new house!!!

First of all, I just have to say that this is one of my favourite pictures of all time:

It’s “Team Greidanus” in Kenya. Ooooo, I’m so proud of the fam that it gives me goosebumps!

Carlynne did a post on Marc & Kylie’s blog about her and the rents’ arrival…check it out.

In other news, before our wedding, Lowell and I bought a house in Lethbridge. Yes, that made a crazy time about ten times more crazy, and yes, we bought in Lethbridge even though we’re living in Edmonton.

We originally looked in Edmonton, but it’s RIDICULOUS! $350 thousand for the grossest crack shack in the sketchiest and most remote part of town. Lethbridge’s real estate is currently on the rise, but not NEARLY that silly, so we decided to buy there. We think we’d eventually like to settle in Lethy, but if not, well, it’s a good investment!

Lowell was in Edmonton for the summer, but my parents and I went nutso in Lethbridge with the house. We had some help too! We had the contractors who built my parents’ house do some fixer-upper things, and Megan and Uncle Tony helped me paint. It was a big ol’ job, but we are very satisfied with the outcome. Lowell and I look forward to possibly living there someday!

Here it is from the outside: our house!

The front flower bed used to be cedar chips, but my parents hauled them all out and replaced them with a cute little flower garden! (Pardon the dead lawn. We had other things to worry about:)

Here are some before and after pictures of the inside.

KITCHEN BEFORE:

Eichi, Anthony, & Terry were so quick to start, that I didn't even get a good 'before' picture in! The entrance to the kitchen was the left hole, and the hole that you see Terry through was an ugly closet thing. Note that the washing machine is in the middle of the floor. That's how it was when we bought it! The dryer was in the ugly closet, and the washing machine was in the middle of the floor b/c it was too big to fit in the little crevice behind it. Interesting...

This is another shot of the kitchen. Note the counters to the right of the doorway are awkwardly close to the door, and there is no counter space to the right of the stove (although there is a cupboard above where there technically SHOULD be counter space). Oh, and the counter top was already removed from most of the counters, but you may notice the unflattering green counter top to the right of the fridge.

KITCHEN AFTER:

BEFORE LIVING ROOM:

DURING LIVING ROOM:

Megan and I working away.

LIVING ROOM AFTER:

BEDROOM 1 BEFORE:

BEDROOM 2 DURING:

BEDROOM(S) AFTER:

HALLWAY AFTER:

Apparently I don't have a picture of the hallway 'before', but all the white stuff was the wood that you see in other 'before' pictures, and the walls were the same mauvy pinky purpley as the other rooms were 'before'.

FRONT ENTRY AFTER:

We love the Victorian style archways and the RED DOORS!!!

Another great thing is that the whole upstairs has beautiful hardwood under the carpet. You can bet that we'll be tearing out that carpet if & when we move in!!!

Mom and Dad put SO much work into the yard as well. You should've seen it before. It was COMPLETELY overgrown with weeds etc. They are wonderparents!!

Lowell's sister Lori did a much needed pruning job on our beloved apples...and Mom has made many an apple treat with those apples already!!

Mom and Dad were SOOOOO great during this whole process. They helped out SO much, and since the process wasn't totally completed by the time Lowell and I got married and took off to Hawaii, they finished things off and secured upstairs renters for the year.

The basement is also beautiful and being rented out, but I don't have pictures b/c A&M were too quick to move in! Perhaps when they're all settled, they can take some pictures and send them to me (hint hint A&M:)

Oh, and the house is 2 doors down from where we grew up, and not even 2 blocks away from where my parents live now. I think it’ll be handy having “Gramps” and Gran” so close (when the time comes)…don’t you think Mom and Dad?! ;)