4 AM is way too early!

Wow...4 am up and having coffee and wearing joggers and sweatshirt but I did put a hat on :),  watching the parade of Royals and Royal watchers. It's now 10 am and it feels like it should be 10 at night.
That was some spectacle for sure. It reminds me of just how much money that is associated with that family. The money in just the cars alone would be enough for me to buy an island of my own in some tropical place with maids and all of the 20 year old pool boys I could ever want.
She did look beautiful and they make for the cutest of couples, but in my opinion the dress was nice, but wasn't really 'regal'.
Perhaps because of her upbringing that was the look she was going for, but nonetheless they  both looked so happy and 'cute'.
Did you hear what Willy said to Harry while he was standing at the alter?
He said 'I thought we were having a small family wedding', lol
I am also wondering how all of those hats stayed on their heads. Especiall Victoria Beckham, and what the heck was up with the hat on the one of Sarah Ferguson's daughters head?
It looked like some kind of television, cell phone ,or WiFi antennae, lol

Anyway after 5 hours of Royal watching I am kind of royaled out, so off to other ventures.

Finally we are getting some sunshine. I just got back from my walk and actually had to take my sunglasses out of storage. It's getting really nice out and I can see or at least anticipate sitting out on the deck this afternoon to take in some sun and get a bit of Vitamin D that we lack during the winter.
I do need to get some work done around here though and do some grocery shopping as I have my brother and Sister in Law coming tomorrow for a visit to help declutter our home of some of our furnishings.
As I said we left most of our furniture with our home but they will take most of our patio furniture, bed, a couple of dressers etc.

Once they leave we will then know what we are left with and it will make things/packing a lot easier.

It saddens me that we can't take a lot of things that I really wanted to take but it was going to cost $8K to ship those things and we do figure that we can replace everything for less than that.

I am taking a couple of boxes with pictures etc, things that are important, and Don is taking his screwdriver!! LOL

The sales of the lots in Costa Pedasi are going great. Most of the waterfronts are sold now. I sure wish we could have afforded to buy one, but with being a partner in the hotel we just couldn't afford to.

The hotel area is being cleared (video attached, and will need audio) and things are looking up there too. It's going to such a nice Boutique hotel. Just 6 rooms with indoor outdoor restaurant, gym, spa, and a 90 foot infinity pool directly on the Pacific Ocean.

I will be running it, and as I have never attempted this kind of work experience before, I think I had better take an online crash course in Hotel Management or you all will get free rooms, meals and drinks, lol

Gotta run and do some grocery shopping for my guests tomorrow.

Looking forward to 17 degrees and complete sun tomorrow as Ribs on the BBQ are on the menu. The weather 'experts' better not be wrong.

Have a great weekend all and TGIF.



My toes are becoming webbed!



Don and Sadie draining water from the pool!

Well another day of doom and gloom. I have decided though, much to my shagrin, that I will now embrace the rain. As the old saying goes "if you can't beat them, join them", so I must succomb to the elements and at least pretend that all is well.
It looks like rain, and more rain until Saturday and then it's going to be nice and sunny.
Above is what my poor hubby had to do today even in the rain.  He's a trooper for sure:)
Better him than me though lol. Found a huge frog as well, but fortunately that is all that we found. Usually there are all kinds of critters in the water that didn't make it through the winter's harsh grip.
We did manage to get the main coat closet cleaned and things thrown away. It's amazing how many boots/shoes that one collects. I had two pairs of high heels that were at least 4 inches high. What was I thinking?
They were from my 'Victoria Secret' days....those and the sexy back baring dresses are all long gone ...Sigh!!!!!!!!
I will pass them on to my daughter but she is kind of a 'klutz' so worried that she may break a leg. (sorry Beej)
Example:
One day she and her dad were in a store returning a 6 X 8 foot carpet. They were at the check-out and Bobbi had the carpet on her shoulder. Her dad asked her something and she turned to answer him and knocked a few articles  off of the counter with one fell swoop, and when she turned around to see what all of the commotion was about she knocked the remaining items off of the counter.
That is just one...there are many, so you may understand why I am reluctant about giving her the VS high heels.
Maybe I will give her my flip flops instead, lol.


Well we booked our flights today to Panama City from Miami.
It brings our flight time that would have been 5 1/2 hours from Toronto  to just a little under 3 hours so it will be easier for Sadie.
We are having this huge problem with Sadie though. She has never been cage trained, so we have been getting her used to being in it for the past couple of months and she is actually liking it UNTIL we close the gate and leave her in it while we go out for an hour or so.
She barks the whole time we are away. We left today for an hour, snuck home, and she was still barking.
I'm not sure what to do so any help on this matter would be appreciated. We can't have her barking the whole time in the belly of the plane, even though we will have her sedated slightly.


We have the appraiser coming through the house tomorrow so poor Don will have to get up extra early to get the house spic and span:)
No, I will NOT clone him but have had many requests to do so from my friends. He's too good and precious to share. You will have to find your own! lol


Well better go and get my chicken cooked. The menu tonight is Ceasar Salad with Chicken and home made bread.
There may be a glass of wine thrown in there too. I just might!!
It is raining sooo hard right now and so dark that I need lights to type this.
I would take a pic to show you but it's even too dark to do that.
But hey....I'm embracing it..right?
This is harder than I thought:)


Have a great night and let's hope that tomorrow the weather man will get it wrong and the sun will shine.

My beach in 7 weeks!

Weather/Packing, Etc.



What our Windows have looked like almost every day in April!



I must start out by saying that I don't think in any of my 38 years (ok....42 years) lol, have I ever experienced an April like the one we are currently encountering! The above picture pretty much sums it up. Rain, rain, fog, dismal and COLD...Who teleported me to England anyway?
Yesterday started out just like it always does so hubby decides he wants to pack. Ugggghhhhhh!! I was NOT supposed to pack....it was supposed to be the one job that I was immuned from but I guess Don is starting to think that it really shouldn't be all up to him to do. Ok then. I will help a BIT..but just a bit!
So we have this sofa table in our entry way with a few of my precious family pictures and he wants to pack them. What? We are not moving until June 17th and you need to take my family pic's and stick them in a dark, gloomy place for no reason?
Well he won! My nice table is now barren from any life form. All I see now is a couple of speakers and dust!! Damn!!

Then Don says we need to tackle our closets. Oh boy. Now that was some fun.
I started in my main bedroom closet as was shocked to find that someone must have entered our home while we were away. There were a lot of pants and skirts in there in a size 8! I even found a pair of pants in a size 6!
What the??? Who wears those size clothes?
Do those people even exist?
Are they some kind of foreign beings..some kind of aliens?
I am not sure, but I got rid of them quickly. I ended up having two large bags of these strange articles of clothing. 
This whole thing reminds me of the joke where a person gets a call from a charity, asking them to donate all of their used clothes to the starving Africans. They told them that if they could fit into THEIR clothes they surely were not starving:)
Anyway we got through all 4 closets and my goodness we ended up having 6 bags of clothes that we haven't even looked at in years. Why do we keep stuff like this anyway? Do we really think that by some magic way we are even get close to the size we were years ago?
We took them all down to the used clothes drop off bin, and as most of my clothes were in really good shape so I do hope that some young girl in her teens will be able to get some use out of them:)
We packed a few more things and then something miraculous happened! This strange bright glow from the sky came down and lit up the outside. It was from heaven!
It got so beautiful out. We quickly cleaned up from packing, set up our patio chairs and plunked ourselves down to take in some well needed rays and indulge in a well deserved coctail or two.
Around 6:30 when the sun was starting to fade we went in and bbq'd some delicious home made burgers. Yummy!!
Watched the Habs get beat (YEAHHHHHHHHHHHH) and then stumbled off to bed.

Had my walk this morning with Sadie. It's not sunny but not too bad and at least not raining, but still wearing the mitts and scarf. One day I will be burning them and that day better come sooner than later.
They (whoever THEY really are) are calling for some sun this afternoon but after that wonderful surprise yesterday I am not putting much faith in their predicition for today. Really..Could they be right two days in a row? I think not.
I told my friend Jan who I see on my walk a lot that I would mention her in my blog....Hi Jan....I'm working on our 'patent' :):)

Well I hear Don out in the garage banging around. He wants to clean that out today. Really does that man never stop? Sometimes he annoys me beyond belief, lol
He just came in, looked at me and gave me the 'stare'. I guess I had better to and at least pretend to help. I may have a episode of 'bad back syndrome' coming on any minute:)

Have a wonderful Easter Sunday friends.
I am cooking a prime rib roast, baked taters, asparagus, Yorkshire pudding for dinner. Pic attached:)

Oh yes, and tons of horseradish! Can't have prime rib without it.

"Stay in the Light" as a very wise and good friend of mine always says.

Happy Easter!

Hi Everyone:)
I hope your Easter is wonderful, full of fun, food and laughter with your family and loved ones:)
It's really too bad that the weather will not be cooperating more. At least here. They are calling for rain, rain and more rain the whole weekend. Maybe Easter Monday a bit of sun might peek out.
Oh well...at least there is wine!

Well yesterday we finalized our plans to drive to Fort Lauderdale after we close our home here in June. My wonderful brother and sister in law are going to drive us making it a much shorter flight, (3 hours) to Panama so it will help with our dog not being in the belly of the plane too long.
We have to fly before July 1st as they say the tarmac is too hot to put dogs or any animals in the belly....But you can fly on June 30th.  So what happens in one day? Does it turn from 60 degrees to 100 degrees in one 24 hour period?
I can't wrap my head around this persons thinking at all. 
I'm looking forward to the drive though. It will be fun and also nice to see Grandma and all of our aunts and uncles and Don's mom also.
We will stay there 3 nights and hopefully fly to Panam on June 25th.
Then off to Pedasi.....our new home for hopefully the rest of our lives.
Our home isn't slated to be finished until late November or Decmber so we are renting a home from a friend of ours in Pedasi who does fishing charters.
I love going out on the Ocean and look forward to going with him and helping him with the fish cleaning....It's fun...:)
The last time we went with him we caught 4 Mackerels and a Bluenose Dolphin (seen in my pic), all of which we had for dinner. If you have never had fresh fish right out of the ocean you really must one day. There is nothing like it.
You can go right to the docks in Pedasi where the locals fish and buy your fish daily for approximately $5 and have it for your lunch/dinner..ahhhhh...now this is living!!!
Our friend Kevin from whom we will be renting also has a pet 'sloth' named Suzie.
She is just the cutest thing. I am hoping that Sadie feels the same way, lol.
Suzie moves at a snails pace so it won't be hard for Sadie to sneak up on her.
Should prove intersting to say the least.

They are progressing very well with the construction of our home. It will be nice to get there and oversee things to make sure everything is done to our satisfaction. The builder is amazing and keeping us informed of everything that he is doing as well.

Well have a great long weekend everyone. I hope that everyone has fun and eats lots of turkey. Myself, seeing as there will be only Don and I, plan on having ribs/baked potato/asparagus for our Easter Dinner.
This just reminds me that the stores are closed Friday and Sunday...Better get out to the store and liquor store to stock up.

Have a good one!!
Write later:)

Weather!!

Well I have never ever seen an April like this one. Honeslty!
Last week I sat outside on our deck and actually got a sunburn. Last night there was a weather warning saying WInter storm. We got downpours with hail and today now it's pouring and sooo cold and windy.
Geez!!!
Panama can't come soon enough.

We decided to drive down to Fort Lauderdale with my brother and sister in law so that Don can see his grandma and other relatives. We were going to rent a van to do this and just checked this morning to see how much, and find out it will cost close to $2000.00 to do this.
We should have stuck with our original plan of flying to Panama from here. Now to re-book our flight here through Copa Airlines it will cost us another $300.00.
What to do?  I'm stumped, lol
If it were up to me I would stick with the original plan but like most, it's always up to the man to make the decisions regarding this kind of thing.

Well anyway I had better go and buy some new lightbulbs as we don't want any burning out as we need EVERY ONE OF THEM ON TODAY, it's so dark out!

Picture of wamth below:)

Spring in Ontario!

Well yesterday was a total washout! It absolutley poured all day and sooo windy it took our power out from 12 pm to 5 pm.
We do have a generator but it hasn't been used in 2 years so we could not get it started! We were without any computer, water, or heat for 5 hours. Fortunately we have 2 gas fireplaces so we had those both on and it kept us fairly warm.
It sure would have been nice if it had of been warm outside but unfortunatley we had to sit inside, but it was just fine.
As I have mentioned before it is so difficult having to take our small dog out of the country. So much paperwork, etc, and the worst part is that we have to put her in the 'belly' of the plane for 6 to 7 hours and that is an immense worry for me. 

Yesterday though we mentioned to my brother that it would be great if someone could drive us to Miami as that would cut the flight time down to 3 hours for Sadie. We have family in Fort Lauderdale, including our Grandma who we want to see before we move and our aunts and uncles who we haven't seen for quite a while and who we really want to see as well.
To our surprise they said they would love to drive us! This works out great as our Uncle also owns a condominium right on the beach in Fort Lauderdale that we can stay at as well, with pool, etc. Yeahhhhh!!!!
So excited for this to happen for all of us and especially Sadie as she will not be a happy camper alone in the dark and dungy 'strange' place with all of the luggage. Poor Baby!! I will me more upset than she will.
I am also looking forward to spending quality time with my brother and sister in law.

Well it looks like the snow has stopped and now the sun is trying to come out.
Still not 'sitting out on the patio' weather but nonetheless it's improving.

Gotta go and get my 'curry chicken' ready to cook for dinner.
Have a great day and I will write more soon.

The Locks at the Panama Canal!!

Picture to prove I did some physical labour:)

Finally doing our burn. I have been saying that we are going to be doing this for a week, but we do have good intentions the night before, but when we get sitting outside in the bright warm sunshine it's hard to get motivated to 'bend over' to pick up all of the branches et cetera, so we just continue 'sitting' lol.
Today though it's going to get done. I have had my 2 coffees and am going outside right now.
Will let you know how it goes.

Ok....see there..I do work...and I work hard :)
Finally though we are done...that was a lot of work, but got the yard cleaned and ready dor grass cutting in the next week or so. We have to have the yard looking nice for the new owners. I threw everything into the fire, including stuff that Don will never know about....He doesn't like me to throw out stuff but what he doesn't know surely won't hurt him:)

They are pouring the concrete on the floors of our home in Pedasi (pic to follow). Yesterday we were emailing back and forth about where to put the ceiling fans/plugs/pot lights etc.
You can't imagine how hard that is when we are here and they are there and we are working from plans on a piece of paper.  I hope we got them where we want..it's difficult. I really don't know why they need them so early though..they don't even have walls up yet, but hey....what do I know about construction anyway?

Well I think I will go and make some lunch...something very low in calories though..Last night we cooked some sausages on a bun and I did not look at the fat content. Don just informed me a few minutes ago that there were 19 grams of fat per sausage...and I had one and a half, plus bun, plus WINE!!! I'm in trouble....big trouble, lol.
Maybe I will just have a tomato and a small slice of cucumber..that is all I deserve. Nah.....I'm having a piece of pizza..Life is too short...at least that is my motto for today:)

Have a great Friday friends...Write soon:):)

What a beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood!!

Now this is turning out to be a gorgeous day! I just got back from my 4km walk with Sadie and it was just beautiful with all the glorious sunshine and birds singing. It makes you feel good to be alive!
Of course the walk took a half hour longer than usual as Sadie has to stop every 5 feet to smell all of the new 'Spring' smells and run in each and every puddle she finds along the way.
It's a good thing she likes to shower. She really does. I take her up to the bathroom, open the shower door and she walks right in and waits for he daily 'cleaning'. She's a cutie.
I also say a couple of Mallards and Geese nesting in the lake along the way. I love Spring.

Our home in Pedasi is coming along great. They have poured all of the footings and the pool. The builder is doing a fantastic job. It's a  bit difficult at times being so far away, but that is one of the reasons that we wanted to rent for a few months in Pedasi while they are building so we can be there to see how things are going and make any changes along the way. I don't know how people had their homes built without having been there to oversee everything.

Well off to pick up branches etc from all of our 2 acres...Don is out right now but we will finally have our fire when he gets home.
We have a huge firepit at the back of our property and it's a hoot having fires and sometimes roasting weinies or mallows:) I will certainly miss this small part of our time spent in this home, but much nicer and warmer things await us in Panama.
Hope you all have a great day and will be back soon. I am attaching a pic of our home in construction.

Bye for now

What a terrible dark dreary day!!!

Well today we were going to get up and gather all that needs burning and have a huge bonfire! Well the weather has 'put a damper' on that so to speak.
I managed to get out for my walk with Sadie (while Don cleaned the house), and got back just before it started to pour.
I have the best Hubby I tell you. He cleans and never asks me to help. I do do things around the house don't get me wrong.
I do the dusting....(his idea of dusting is not moving ANYTHING, just  dust around everything, God love him :)) and I clean the toilets. Yecchhhh!! I also do ALL of the cooking and cleaning of the dishes so I think he has it pretty good too.
Why don't they make toilets that clean themselves each time you flush?  No, those cleaners you buy do not do that. I have tried.

It does look a bit brighter out of the window but still raining. Yesterday it was so hot. The temperature outside was only about 13 degrees but we have this huge patio off of our kitchen with glass railings so it keeps the wind out so we can sit there when you can't sit anywhere else..Both of us got a sunburn from sitting outside for a couple of hours. It was so nice. We just brought out the Bose stereo, listened to music, talked and had a well deserved glass of wine:)

Well the rain is trying to stop and it's getting a bit brighter so we may be able to go and have a sit outside afterall.
I am cooking chicken a la king which I have never made before so will see how that goes. I love to cook so trying something new is always fun.

Time to run.  Checking temps in Panama.....sigh.....29 degrees and complete sun. Every day that goes by is one day closer to our move:)

Chat soon!!

My last April 10th in Canada:)

Well another weekend come and gone. It was a productive one though. Windows washed/screens in and gardens cleaned out from the harsh winter we had.
Today it is very mild but rainging hard. It's acutally humid!

Today we start packing. Well I should say Don is starting to pack. He is the packer. I just stand by and if it's not too early have a glass of wine to help, lol
We are still undecided what to do. We left most of the furniture with the house with the exception of our bed and some personal items, but it will cost about 6K to ship these things and we don't know if it's worth it as we can probably buy everything for the price of shipping but we then think about some things that we would really like to take and we get confused again, lol (not hard for the pair of us)
Last night we were taking nothing and this morning we are taking it all. Seeing as I don't pack I think it's best we take stuff, lol

Time is ticking away and it's weird how feelings come and go with each passing day. Some days it's wonderful and others we become overwhelmed with the things we have to do in order to make this move.
For instance:
We have to drive almost 5 hours to Ottawa to get papers stamped to take our dog with us. This all has to be done 10 days before flying out.
We have to get numerous papers signed by lawyers etc. for her as well. It's very strange why we need all of this. I understand the Vet giving her a physical so that they know she is in good health, but that should be all we have to do.
In Panama you see so many dogs just roaming the streets starving. I am going to try and bring one home once we get settled in.
Sadie would love someone to keep her company.

Well off to do something constructive!
I will keep you posted as to how things are going.
I am attaching a picture that the builder just sent us this morning of our house in progress!!

Go builders Go!!     

See you tomorrow:)