Dirty rakes and other adventures

Friday

Friday night began with a phone call from my Dad, outlining what he had done around my yard that day. He extended the driveway and suggested if I was ambitious to rake it up and level it. Ok, a rake... yet another thing I don't have in my house yet, so I knew I'd be going rake shopping at some point this weekend. At the very least I thought I had better do the suggested raking, seeing as how Dad has done everything else outside. Dad also cut down the weeds in my yard, so it looks less like a jungle, and my stepmother donated a lawn mower to me, which is much appreciated. Dad needs to show me how to use it. Oh, and I need to get a lawn first as well. Last on the list were the trenches he dug to put in more drain pipe and get the water flowing from the edge of the house out to the ditch. He's gotten those partially done, and will probably finish it up sometime in the next week or two. The drainage will be put in, and then covered over, and then I can get started on some landscaping.

While Dad was over at my place, my next door neighbor (the one in the duplex) stopped to chat with him and Dad did him a favor by removing an annoying stump with the backhoe. They're nice neighbors, even though I haven't officially met them yet. On the other end of the scale, the "Is your hubby home" nosy-ass neighbor from the next street came running over to ask my Dad if he was from the City and was there to fix his flooding problem. Dad told him no, he wasn't. This guy insists the City is coming back to make changes to the ditch so he doesn't get flooded out next winter... uh, buddy, the City just hydroseeded the ditch. That means they're not doing any more work to it. So now I'm going to have to go call the City before I start the landscaping just to make sure some trucks don't show up some day and wreck my new lawn. When I get a lawn.

After my phone call with Dad, I then headed to what is now "the usual": karaoke. Had a great time, though there were fewer of us there than normal, so we ended the evening with some DQ ice cream instead of a restaurant meal. Decidedly cheaper as well. Though I have to say, Friday night at the DQ is probably the busiest time to go. Jenn and I had to wait a good 10-15 min for our ice cream, but Lisa & Brian managed to hop the fast line and were done eating by the time we escaped.


Saturday

Saturday was an anniversary for me, as the 16th marked the day I took possession of my house. I started the day by cleaning up and getting ready to have people over. The good thing about a small house, and living by yourself, is the fact that that whole process only took a couple of hours... and it only took that long because I am a perfectionist. In the afternoon I headed out for my haircut, then killed some time out east before church. Stopped at Wal-Mart McD's for lunch (mmmm, grease), went to Future Shop and bought the Season 1 original Star Trek DVD set, which was on sale cheaper than at Costco. From there I headed to Kent.

Now, you see, I decided since I was going to be getting my hair done, and it was an anniversary of sorts, and just because I felt like it, I would wear my new capri pants suit. So one might say I was "dressed up", more so than usual anyway.

I went into Kent to find a motion-sensor floodlight (ok, no problem) and a metal rake. I don't know what it is about that store, but I can never find anything in it. Never. I don't like how it's organized. I walked around forever before I found the outside tools (which, of course, were right next to the front door). Alright, fine. So I get to the rakes. Brand new rakes, and as filthy as can be. Why is a brand new rake so filthy that my hands were brown after pulling one down off the shelf? I don't get it. Was very annoying. No consideration for the customer who actually may want to keep their hands clean while in the store. That or they only expect to sell metal rakes to men who are already dirty. Next time I go to Moncton, I'm heading to Home Depot to see if they also sell dirty rakes. If not, I will be shopping there first once ours opens in winter.

After leaving Kent, I headed to pick up Jay and we went to church. Watched a couple of entertaining children during mass.

Church ended and Jay headed to a pub crawl, and I headed to Sobey's where I ran into B, then picked up a couple of things for the House-iversary.

A great evening was had by all. Actually ended up being a Suspect night, sans Mare & Chris. The unfortunate part was the fact that at 8pm the wind shifted and it got quite cold, so we had to retreat inside. Have no idea when it will actually be warm enough to sit outside so I can have the patio lights on. I guess "never" is the answer to that. Watched Pirates of the Caribbean and then called it a night.


Sunday

Sunday saw me cleaning up after the party for a bit. Then in the afternoon I headed to Frenchy's with Jenn, and while driving around in between we listened to The Flip Side. I did miss parts of it because I was shopping, so I will have to catch the tape later this week. At Frenchy's I scored with a pair of low rise Old Navy jeans and a pair of navy Abercrombie & Fitch pants, and 4 shirts. A good haul.

Sunday night I spent cooking some BBQ for supper and eating outside. Managed to get bit on my heel, while wearing socks... little bastard mosquitoes. After supper, I got to work and raked the new section of driveway. After about 5 pushes of the rake I was exhausted. I have no strength in me, but I stuck at it and finished the job. I started to gather up some of the weeds/hay/grass that Dad cut down, but realized it was going to be a much easier job if I had a leaf rake. Another thing I don't own... yet. I took a couple of minutes to relax outside and cool down, then in for the night.