Tag: green thumb

May Favourites 2021!

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Let’s Go Eco Reusable Tote Bags

I’ve been trying to be more eco friendly in my life so I’ve slowly been making changes. Using a reusable coffee filter, dry balls instead of dryer sheets, reusable bags instead of Ziploc bags and more. I have bags I bring to the grocery store but they’re not made to carry food, it’s like those Roots bags or they’re thin and break as soon as you put 3 packages of meat in them. I was throwing out more than I should be! My Mum found this site because it gives you those seasonal box sets and she knows I’m trying to find good reusable stuff. I told her these bags were cool and to my surprise she ordered them for me and shipped them to my house! Best Mum and these are the best bags. I went to the store the other day to pick up some essentials we ran out of and used them, because they have sorting pockets on the inside it evenly distributes the weight and prevents you from cutting off circulaton to your hand and arm. My Mum got these off letsgoeco.com and the 2 pack is $30. I will definately be ordering more!

Zenni Optical

So I finally went to the eye doctor after not going for years and needed to get new glasses. Glasses are so expensive especially if you get name brand frames, some frames alone are $200 and then you have to pay for the frames and everything else on top of that. My family has used Zenni and they love it so I thought I would give it a try since were in a pandemic and all! I research glasses and tried them on virtual for about 2 weeks to try to find the ones that I would really like. Eventually I just kept coming back to the same pair so that’s how I knew they were the ones. They tell you the measurements and everything so I could compare them to my old glasses to make sure I didn’t get a pair that had things I didn’t like about my old pair. I also got prescription sunglasses so I can actually see while I’m driving in the sun (I’m short, the visor doesn’t work!). My glasses frames were $40 and sunglasses frames were $55 then you pay for lenses and anything else you want to add on. I got the bluelight blockers for my glasses as I’m either watching tv, on my phone or using my laptop, my sunglasses I got them mirrored and polarized and 2 cases. In total it was about $300 but if you break that down $7 for each case and $143 for each pair of glasses. That’s not a bad deal considering some frames alone are $143! Check them out if you need classes and compare the prices to other sites aswell!

Botanica Modular Hanging Garden Planter

At my apartment I have a long but narrow balcony, of course I want to put plants and make it beautiful but having planters on the ground takes up room. I looked into getting a plant shelf but that sold out by the time I blinked. Everyone in my apartment was getting those planters that sit on top of the railing which is nice but I’m 6 floors up and if one of those falls off that could be bad. I decided to get something that would hang on the inside so if it fell it just fall onto the balcony. I ordered these from Canadian Tire and they come in a set of 2 and you don’t have to hang up one below the other! I set up the straps, plants my plants and put up the planters side by side with a little space in between and it looks nice! Plus I have space on my floor! My plants have been growing like crazy as they’re in the sun more and the colour is nice; it comes in grey and terracotta. I got this set for $50.

Thanks for reading,

Maeg

September Favourites 2020!

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Camelia Grey Rug

As most of you know I’ve been slowly buying things for our apartment and am pretty close to having everything for the livingroom. One of the things I needed was a rug. Everywhere I looked rugs were so expensive so I finally looked at structube and found one for $89. I thought that was a decent price for the size I got and it’s a great quality rug, even my dog loves it! The ordering process was easy, we went into a store, asked to order it and once it was back in stock they would call me and I can pick it up. The day I got the call I had to be at work so my boyfriend picked it up for me. Simple. Structube is the best store when it comes to getting simple pieces for your house for cheaper then bigger box stores.

Majesty Palm

This tree falls in line with things that I wanted for our apartment, we have a pretty big balcony and I wanted to have nice plants for the summer. I’ve tried planting things because of the quarantine but they either did their things or just didn’t work because I don’t have a green thumb. I went to Rona to see what they had and sure enough I got this tree for $15! I was in shock since it was already kinda big but I’ll take it! Now it’s inside since it’s -5 outside and it won’t stop growing. Next summer I think I’ll move it to a bigger pot and see how much that grows since it has to come inside every winter. I wanted more green around the house so the plant worked out perfectly! Plus having a plant around to care for keeps the mind at ease with all this COVID bullshit going around!

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Seventy-Eight & Seventy-Nine

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Day Seventy-Eight:

This day was pretty uneventful. I honestly don’t really remember what I did. The weather has been pretty hot again so Drax hasn’t wanted to go on very many walks, even went I do take him out to pee he gets over heated and just lays down for a couple of hours.

I did go to Walmart to get migraine stuff since I knew the rain/pressure was coming not that anything is working right now but I’ll live.

Day Seventy-Nine:

Welp, a little more activity today but not much, I drove to Vaughan to pick up products for my family then drove to my Mum’s house to drop them off. It was something small but it was good to get out of the house with a task and not just going to Walmart to see what I can find.

Today I decided I was going to do a plant update!

Here we have all our herbs and leafy greens, they are growing wild to the point we have trimmed them and used them in our food. Some of them have died and others got burnt in the sun. The garlic grows underground so we might pull that up soon but I need to check how many days it takes!

This is our bin of lettuce, it’s still growing slowly but this was the last thing we planted so it’s got to catch up!

This is my pumpkins! I’m super excited that I have flowers out of it now, shitty part is bees will be around until the flowers turn into the pumpkin but it’s been too hot to sit out there when the sun is directly on my balcony anyways. Usually we can sit on the balcony around 2:30pm and on, it’s not too bad.

Drum roll on the sunflowers! Dave’s is on the left and mine is on the right. Mine is still taller but Dave’s is catching up! We need to get bigger pots for them eventually as mine seems to be growing out of that one quickly. It’s a pick em at this point! (cheer for mine, postive vibes!)

That’s all for the plants! I’ll keep update the more things change, right now I’m just excited for my pumpkins, maybe they’ll actually grow for me this time! Last time my step-dad tricked me thinking it grew but he just bought a small pumpkin…yea, I know! It was a good laugh though.

That’s all for today.

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Sixty-Five

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Good evening!

The weather was absolutely beautiful today and a little bit on the hot side! It was way to hot for Drax today so his walks were limited but later on at night we took him out and he was having a blast in the cool air.

Drax actually got a new collar since he’s growing so much his old one was too tight and he only wore it outside since it has his tags on it. Dave also got him a cooling mat, this thing is pretty cool and even I want to lay on it!

Today I did go to Walmart to get shirts and yoga pants since my other ones are more for louging around. There’s one shirt I need to return or just lose the weight and I love the yoga pants. Most likely will be going back for more of those!

Today I said I would do a plant update so here it goes!

So here we have our regular plants, arugula, spinach, garlic and rosemary. They are growing wild and I’m excited.

This is my pumpkin that is growing crazy! I know it’s going to be super vine like before I get any pumpkins so I’ll just keep taking care of it!

We planted some lettuce! They are just little babies but I’m excited for this. Never planted this before so we’ll see how this goes! Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for….who has the best sunflower…still in progress…drumroll please!

On the left we have Dave’s and on the right is yours truely. Baby sunflowers! So cute but it’s turning into a close competition! They are standing on their own currently and I will most definetly need to get bigger pots for them ass they get bigger.

That’s all I have for today, not much else was done!

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Forty-Four

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Today ended up being a good day!

Today was the first day that I was actually productive, the weather definitely helped even though it was crappy out this morning.
The morning started off normal with Drax getting breakfast and then it wasn’t normal. Today was Drax flea and tick medicine day, when he was a puppy he thought it was a treat so he ate it no problem, now he’s a pain in the butt. This thing has a strong smell so of course dogs can smell it even more than humans can. I put it in his breakfast, today breakfast was his sprouts, spinach, pumpkin pure, blueberries and beef with the medicine broken up and mixed into all this food. I could smell it so I knew he could smell it but I was hoping all the food would make it better; this smart cookie ate around the medicine. I mean there was a pile of blueberries to the side that he could eat and EVERY piece of the medicine push to the other side. He was eating so slow so I knew he was being a smart cookie with it so I just took it out of his food and gave it to him like I would a pill then we carried on with our day.

After a walk, eating my breakfast and play time with Drax I started with paying rent, doing my expenses and setting up this months budget plan. Once that was taken care of I started the process of cleaning my apartment, it doesn’t take that long but I was in the mood so I was doing a deep clean! At noon we walked Drax then I left to get pick up the curbside pickup from Kitchen Stuff Plus (favourite store!) so I can start organizing my pantry. I already had some containers from Christmas so that helped, I was focusing on baking needs, flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, etc.

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Everything is labelled but it’s just paper taped to the containers, I still need to get the proper labels but that’ll probably be the last thing as paper and tape just works fine for now! I just love organizing! The next shelf is the pasta shelf but that’ll be next month or so!

After Kitchen Stuff Plus I actually stopped by my Mum’s to pick up these Titanic prints in frames that I’ve had for awhile. I have the perfect wall for them in my place so I decided today was the day!
I laid out all the photos on floor and figured out the order, moved our furiture around the way we wanted it, then started to hang the photos only to figure out we don’t have the right size nails and nail holder. We almost didn’t put these pictures up because I knew Walmart was going to have a long line up but I decided to go anyways. I was in line for 12mins and got back home, 30-40min trip! Came home started hanging only to knock on the wall and hear solidness – firewall, aka pure concrete. I start tapping the wall to see if any spot could work and we found one all the way across, then the hooks don’t work so we bend the nail holder to be able to hook onto the frame – finally it works!

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Success! Our plan is to get a bench with storage to go beside the “shoe rack” and a side table because the couch in the corner. All in due time though!

Today I remembered to take photos of our plants so here they are!

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Here we have our herbs/leafs, going left to right, argula is going well, garlic is coming in but slowly, one spinach is going well, the other is dying (no idea why), rosemary is just chilling? and cilantro is coming in nicely! Next up, pumpkins!

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Pumpkins grow on vines so this bad boy is growing like CRAZY and I hope the weather stays nice so I can put this outside before it gets really crazy inside my house. I hope I actually get a pumpkin out of this! Next up our sunflowers!

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On the left is mine aka Posty. He is doing well and growing tall, I need to get sticks to help him stand up until he’s strong enough on his own.
On the right is Dave’s aka S.F. Malone. His is coming in nicely and a third is slowly coming in. Dave randomly put fertilzer in his and now his soil is looking weird so hopefully that doesn’t affect it’s growth – bold move.

Dave did plant two new things but they haven’t sprouted so I’ll save you from looking at dirt.

That’s about it. Who do you think will win the bigger and better sunflower? Let me know in the comments.

That’s all for today, hope everyone is staying safe.

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

 

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Thirty Four

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Welcome to day 34.

I honestly don’t even know what to say about today, it was a complete write off of napping, walking Drax and playing Animal Crossing. LOL when is this going to be over?

This morning the weather was like this…

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Now it’s cold but there’s no snow anywhere to be found. The weather has been strange lately but I’m hoping it’ll get warm soon but not too warm, just typical spring weather would be nice. This is why my plants are all inside still, the weather has been so crazy this year that we can’t. One minute it’s warm-ish and sunny then 5 minutes later it looks like the picture above!

Let’s see, tomorrow I want to attempt to finish my cross stitch I made for my friend now that I have grey thread thanks to my amazing neighbour Amanda, hey girl! Then finish the one I started for myself and I need to get started on the rest of the ones I want to make but I have time since I wanted to give these as Christmas gifts (part of).

Mother’s day is coming out and I need to figure something out with my sister. However I can not write it on here because my Mum reads my blog every morning! Hey Mum! Anyone have some good ideas?

That’s about it for today, plants are growing like crazy which I’m excited about. I’m hoping I can actually grow a pumpkin because last time I tried it didn’t happen and my step-dad tricked me by buying a pumpkin and putting it outside next to the vine. I got excited then bummed out lol! Also I have attempted to grow sunflowers before but the squirrels got to it so hopefully that doesn’t happen. I’ll just have to keep getting Drax out on the balcony once it’s nice, he’s been slowly getting interested in them so I’m sure he’ll love that!

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Thirty-Three

Maeg1 Comment

Happy 4/20!

Today was a blur, I didn’t do much so there’s not much to report. I did get invited to his FitBit challenage that is pretty cool, it’s bingo. I have a month to complete it but it’s insane numbers since the person who invited me does A LOT of steps. It’ll be fun though I guess and I will keep you posted!

I did say I was going to give you updates on my plants, so here it is!

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Starting with the two pumpkins, they got moved to a large pot since they were getting so big so fast! They’re the mini pumpkins, not those big ones since I only got so much room for these bad boys.

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Next is the arugula, garlic, spinach, rosemary and cilantro! They got moved to a medium sides one since they’re still small still and need more time to grow before they get in they’re regular pot.

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And as promised, the sunflower contest. On the left, we have Posty who is CLEARLY winning at the moment and S.F. Malone on the right. Dave is convinced I’m cheating some how but mine just grew fast then his!

That’s all for today, I hope everyone has a good 4/20 if you’re into that!

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Thirty Two

Maeg1 Comment

Do not cut your hair at home.

Today I watched my step-dad attempt to cut his own hair, it was interesting then my mum attempted to help and that’s when I said fuck it; I went over and cleaned up what they had did. They didn’t do that bad of a job, they were asking me questions before but eventually it was too stressful to watch. Plus my parents did pay for my hair school so they should get to enjoy it LOL

After that interesting part of the day I came home with donuts that Dave wanted and fell asleep on the couch. For some reason I was so tired at that point in the day but now I’m good. Drax went on many walks today and cut his paw on the ground – he does it all the time cause he gets the zoomies. We noticed AFTER he got on the couch so hopefully the blood stain comes off, his paw however is fine. I was a lifeguard for 7 years so cuts are my forte.

For some reason today I also am extremely full! I ate a bagel for breakfast at 830am had a small homemade poutine at 330-4ish pm then didn’t eat dinner. I did however snack throughout the day and that is why I’m full. I had two clementines before coming to get just to tie me over for the night (which probably was a bad thing eating this late).

Tomorrow when it’s bright out again I’m going to take update photos of our plants because they have changed quiet a bit! Dave thinks I’m cheating with this whole who has the bigger, better sunflower. You will see!

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Thirty

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ONE MONTH!

I can’t believe it’s already been a month for my being in quarantine. I still can’t believe all of this is happening and yet we still have another 28 days. Today on Twitter and Instagram I kept seeing posts saying that all of this social distancing is actual starting to work and we might be starting to open more things. I also saw other places not wanting to open anything for 1 year and a bit. I guess it just depends where you are but still all of this is so weird and scary.

I don’t have much to say about my day because it’s really just the same thing over and over.

This morning I moved all our plants into bigger pots so they can grow big! It’s still cold in Ontario so you can’t put plants outside yet. Tomorrow is suppose to be nice but we’ll see how that goes! Warmer weather will be nice but at least with this colder weather it is keeping people inside.

Not much else is happening.

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.

COVID-19 Layoff: Day Twenty-Nine

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Snow, snow, snow.

Did it snow where you live today? This morning I woke up to a beautiful sunny but cold morning. I walked Drax, made my breakfast and started a movie while Dave was asleep. All of the sudden outside went dark and I looked over to see white. It was a blizzard outside. Literally all day that happened so we had to time our walks with Drax to not get caught in a random blizzard. Oh and all the snow, didn’t stay the sun would come back out and it melts.

Today was a meh day, I don’t know if it was the weather or what but I just wasn’t feeling it. Not much was done, I played animal crossing, made oatmeal chocolate chip muffins and started the first season of Ozark. Dave has seen the first season but he’s a bad Netflix boyfriend and watches shows without me. For example the movie I watched this morning was called 13 hours. He woke up an hour into it and said we already watched this! I said no, I’ve never seen this. He once again said we did. 13 hours is based on a true story and I love movies based on true stories and usually get hooked onto them – I have never seen this movie until this morning. Dave finally realized he watched it without me. Do any of you have bad Netflix significant others? Let me know in the comments!

So everyone in the quarantine has been baking, since you know all the flour and yeast have disappeared from grocery stores. What is everyones favourite quarantine recipe? I’ve only really made two new things so mine would have to be the bread, once I find the recipe again on Pinterest I will link it for you. I want to make more things though!

Working out needs to start again so I will figure that out. I want to get Hannah Bowers bands but money, money, money!

Tomorrow morning I’m most likely going to move all our plants into a bigger pot since the roots are coming out the bottom of most of them. I’ll have to take a new picture to keep you updated. My Mum sent me a picture that says, “Happiness is watcning your plant starting to grow.” 100% accurate. I don’t know what it is about it but it does make you happy. Even the succulent my client gave me is growing and THAT makes me happy because I usually kill those but I love them.

How’s everyone holding up? Another month to go, we can do this.

Thanks for reading,

Maeg.