I know everyone is interested in saving money....I have found that the Great Value brands at Walmart are in fact quite good value. I have tried the popcorn, pasta, tomatoes, paper products and more....anyone else have come ideas on what generic brands work for you?
Friday, August 26, 2011
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Our 20th Wedding Anniversary
An interesting 20th wedding anniversary celebration....we had planned to leave for a week of camping last Saturday, but it was pouring rain all day. On Sunday, we got ready to pack the camper and discovered it was gray-green with mold throughout. Chuck emptied every nook and cranny & I spent 2 days scrubbing every accessible surface with a 10% bleach solution & washing every washable item (not the way we had envisaged our anniversary!).We headed out to Campbell River on Tuesday and had a lovely time camping in the back country. However, the weather deteriorated until it felt like snow, and we headed home on Friday morning. As we headed over the top of the massive Strathcona dam, a construction worker waved us over to show us a huge blister on the inside of our right front tire. After a challenging tire change on top of the dam, we ended up spending $1000 on new tires in Campbell River enroute to Port Alberni.....we were very glad just to be safely home.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Top Ten Signs of Spring at Shobacres
10. Chester is INCREDIBLY DIRTY and requires a bath before any social interaction inside the Shobode.
9. Chuck spends a whole week watching the Masters.
8. Christine haunts all the local garden centres.
7. Chuck wrestles the ride-on mower into the old pickup to deliver the mover for its yearly tuneup to Bruce's Small Engine Repair.
6. Chester rolls in something OFFENSIVE and requires a bath before any social interaction inside the Shobode.
5. Christine inspects every plant in the garden and anxiously awaits signs of life and/or actual growth.
4. Dandelions pop up fully grown and blooming in every part of the property.
3. Christine buys new plants to put somewhere on the property,
2. Heather and Peter work in Heather's garden and come up with yet another strategy for improvement (this year it is no tilling and a chicken tractor.)
1. Chester rolls in something INTOLERABLY DISGUSTING and requires a bath before even being allowed to enter the Shobode.
9. Chuck spends a whole week watching the Masters.
8. Christine haunts all the local garden centres.
7. Chuck wrestles the ride-on mower into the old pickup to deliver the mover for its yearly tuneup to Bruce's Small Engine Repair.
6. Chester rolls in something OFFENSIVE and requires a bath before any social interaction inside the Shobode.
5. Christine inspects every plant in the garden and anxiously awaits signs of life and/or actual growth.
4. Dandelions pop up fully grown and blooming in every part of the property.
3. Christine buys new plants to put somewhere on the property,
2. Heather and Peter work in Heather's garden and come up with yet another strategy for improvement (this year it is no tilling and a chicken tractor.)
1. Chester rolls in something INTOLERABLY DISGUSTING and requires a bath before even being allowed to enter the Shobode.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Thursday, August 27, 2009
SHOBOAT TOO has arrived at SHOBACRES
We have a "new" boat - a 24' 1979 Sabre Craft - that we purchased as a "project boat" - a fixer-upper. Information about the boat and our progress towards its restoration can be found at http://www.goboating.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=007618#000000 .
We'll be updating that site regularly as we prepare the boat for cruising and camping. Check it out.
Chuck and Christine.
We'll be updating that site regularly as we prepare the boat for cruising and camping. Check it out.
Chuck and Christine.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Shobirds back in Canada - briefly!
Dear family - As you know, we are now back in Canada. Christine flew from Palm Springs to Edmonton for a (too short) visit with family, while Chuck drove back with the trailer and Chester to Langley, BC. Chuck made a fast trip to Port Alberni over the weekend. We were just reunited as Christine flew to Vancouver today (leaving some miserable snowy weather behind!).
Today Chester goes to visit www.smallpaws.ca, where he will be boarding while we are in Spain. They have their own blog at http://smallpawsdogs.blogspot.com where you will be able to see photos of Chester and the pack while we are away!
We will leave on Thursday for Seattle, and fly off to Spain on Friday, returning March 27.
Today Chester goes to visit www.smallpaws.ca, where he will be boarding while we are in Spain. They have their own blog at http://smallpawsdogs.blogspot.com where you will be able to see photos of Chester and the pack while we are away!
We will leave on Thursday for Seattle, and fly off to Spain on Friday, returning March 27.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Snowbirds
Greetings dear family
We have been here in Indio for 10 days and finally feel like we are settled. Chuck has played golf, I have shopped, and we have been to 2 dances at the clubhouse. We have also got a lot of work done on our contracts, and Chuck built an enclosure for Chester out of plastic lattice, so he does not have to be continually tied up. Chester is now officially back into using a litter box, which only took a day for us to re-teach him....makes it much lot easier to clean up after him!
It looks like Chuck will be able to volunteer as a course marshall at a nice golf course here, and get to play free in return. He was actually offered paid employment at a really posh country club course, but cannot accept due to no work visa!
Tomorrow I plan to start attending the weekly quilters group here in the park, and Chuck played poker last night with the weekly poker group (he was up $4 at the end of the evening :-) There is also a daily aquasize program which I will eventually make it to! We are learning how to take Chester along when we go bike riding....Chester is really very adaptable and the only problem occurs when he stops in the middle of the road to take care of business....
We are still struggling with our email as we can only use webmail at the moment - this is a pain, as there is a limited storage capacity...but hopefully we will be able to sort that out with the ISP. In the meantime, if you want to send us any photos or large attachments, please use cmmarles@yahoo.com
Looks like we may have several sets of visitors here - possibly Wendy, Cindie and Bob, my cousin Elizabeth, and of course Mom and Dad are booked for January. We are planning to go to Houston for Christmas and then come slowly back and do some exploring along the way.
We travel to Long Beach this weekend to attend a big antique fair, so are trying to explore a bit further than we did last year. The weather is mainly high 70's low 80's and very cool at night, so we are enjoying that very much.
Hope all is well with you.
Much love Christine and Chuck
We have been here in Indio for 10 days and finally feel like we are settled. Chuck has played golf, I have shopped, and we have been to 2 dances at the clubhouse. We have also got a lot of work done on our contracts, and Chuck built an enclosure for Chester out of plastic lattice, so he does not have to be continually tied up. Chester is now officially back into using a litter box, which only took a day for us to re-teach him....makes it much lot easier to clean up after him!
It looks like Chuck will be able to volunteer as a course marshall at a nice golf course here, and get to play free in return. He was actually offered paid employment at a really posh country club course, but cannot accept due to no work visa!
Tomorrow I plan to start attending the weekly quilters group here in the park, and Chuck played poker last night with the weekly poker group (he was up $4 at the end of the evening :-) There is also a daily aquasize program which I will eventually make it to! We are learning how to take Chester along when we go bike riding....Chester is really very adaptable and the only problem occurs when he stops in the middle of the road to take care of business....
We are still struggling with our email as we can only use webmail at the moment - this is a pain, as there is a limited storage capacity...but hopefully we will be able to sort that out with the ISP. In the meantime, if you want to send us any photos or large attachments, please use cmmarles@yahoo.com
Looks like we may have several sets of visitors here - possibly Wendy, Cindie and Bob, my cousin Elizabeth, and of course Mom and Dad are booked for January. We are planning to go to Houston for Christmas and then come slowly back and do some exploring along the way.
We travel to Long Beach this weekend to attend a big antique fair, so are trying to explore a bit further than we did last year. The weather is mainly high 70's low 80's and very cool at night, so we are enjoying that very much.
Hope all is well with you.
Much love Christine and Chuck
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