Wednesday, August 4, 2010

We Built a Deck and Hit the USA

Hi!  I feel like I’ve been gone for-ever!!  I don’t think I’ve ever gone this long without posting, but my days have been jam packed and awesome!  Sunday-Monday were our deck building  giving the backyard a face lift days and yesterday I travelled over to Amherst and Niagara Falls NY to refill my kitchen with goodies!
Before it started to rain on Saturday I took some before photos of what the “deck” looked like.  It was basically a 6 x 12 foot concrete slab that wasn’t big enough to do anything with.  We’re not sure why the previous (and sole) owners of the house made it so small!  IMG_2855 IMG_2853 IMG_2854 **Please ignore the junk that we had there!!**  As you can see, it’s situated under our main floor deck.  We LOVE the *high* deck, but can’t use it as much as we want because there is no shelter from the sun at certain points of the day.  One HUGE plus to making the new ground level deck is that it’s pretty much always shaded so we can enjoy it any time of the day.   We also made it home with all the wood and supplies minutes before it poured!IMG_2858 We had to borrow my Dad’s truck.  No way all that was fitting in our Jeep!  LOL So, that’s pretty much as far as we got on Saturday with that.
SUNDAY
Deck building day!!!  We were at it by 10am and aside from a 1/2 hour lunch break, we worked until 6pm!  I had full intentions of being the deck grunt, but my hubby ended up doing the whole thing by himself….willingly.  He knew what he was doing anyways.  I, on the other hand, spent all the time in my existing flower beds and creating a few new ones.  I figure that if we’re gonna be spending lots of time out back, we should have something nice to look at!  Here are some work on progress shots!
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At one point I left to drive the kids to a friends place and seeing as it was hot, hot, hot and my hubby was sweating like a beast, I made a pit stop at 7-11 for an iced coffee for me and a huge Slurpee for him:IMG_2884
By dinner time the deck was 98% finished.IMG_2888 IMG_2886 IMG_2887 Food for the day went like this….
Breakfast was a lush bowl of oats.IMG_2867
1 cup water, 1/2 cup oats, carob chips, unsweetened coconut and some *real* cream!!IMG_2868  Lunch was a huge, fresh salad with greens from my parents garden, lots of extra veggies and feta:IMG_2881   And some chocolate!IMG_2882
Now that I look at my picture of dinner, I realize that it was rather yellow!  IMG_2889 Grilled chicken breast, quinoa, pan “fried” yellow zucchini, yellow bell pepper & turkey pepperoni from St. Jacob’s market and some coconut mango sauce on the side.  It’s bland hue is deceiving because this was full flavoured!!
Other things I did Sunday were pick some of my gorgeous hydrangeas for the kitchen table:IMG_2880 IMG_2875 IMG_2878 
Purple is my favourite colour in the whole world so it goes without saying that I love these!!  I also made a batch of granola; recipe over at Simply Life.IMG_2865 IMG_2864
As soon as it was cool enough I tasted a shot glass (literally) worth with some USAB:IMG_2861
It’s delicious……and gone!  Needless to say, we both slept like rocks that night and woke up on the stiff side Monday morning!   Nothing cures aching muscles quite like getting back at it, so that’s exactly what we did.   But breakfast came first!  I didn’t drink all my iced coffee so i used the rest of it to make some overnight oats:IMG_2893 Along with the coffee went some water, 1/2 cup Quaker oats and 1 tbsp of chia seeds.  I added some granola before eating it.IMG_2892
I worked outside until noon and then my MIL popped over which was just the excuse I needed to drop the shovel, hit the shower and grab some lunch!  I topped some leftover green beans with a half can of tuna and coconut mango sauce and called it a day:IMG_2894 Sometimes simple is the way to go!  I also heated a zucchini muffin and spread a little honey pecan butter on it.IMG_2860 My hubby took charge of dinner and made a shrimp pasta sauce which I opted to serve over quinoa with some freshly grated parm over top.  It was SO good!IMG_2898 My sweet end was half a Mr. Big bar which I enjoyed on the new deck!!IMG_2895
We sat out there until 9pm then watched some TV.  I hit the sack early because I knew I had a full day ahead of me on Tuesday!!
TUESDAY
This is the day we crossed the border for some shopping fun!  I scarfed back a bowl of ancient grains cereal with bloobs before hitting the road:IMG_2899
And I was SO excited to leave that I left my camera on the dining room table!  I made do with my phone, but please excuse the less than stellar shots!  At one point the Jeep was straddled in between Canada and the USA!  
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We arrived in Amherst right in time for lunch at Panera.   This time I went with the turkey artichoke panini:  IMAG0032  
I took half this beast home with me which was how I planned it.  Next was Target where I dropped some pretty coin, then on to Wegman’s for my groceries.  Lastly, we hit the outlet malls.  Here are my goodies!IMG_2908 IMG_2909 IMG_2900 IMG_2903 IMG_2904 IMG_2905 IMG_2906 IMG_2907
As you can see, I stocked up well.  Especially in the bar department!  I did buy more than just food, though!  DD got this outfit:
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I really liked the message on the shirt!   I also bought the cutest lights for the deck!
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Before coming home we popped back into (a different) Wegman’s to grab some food.  We all did the serve yourself food bar for convenience.  I made a veggie salad with lots of goodies and a fruit salad on the side.   IMAG0034   Once we crossed the border I tore into my cinnamon crunch bagel that Katie told me rocks.  IMAG0033   She was 100% right!  :)  All in all we shopped for 6hrs!  When we got home we changed, put everything away, made drinks, grabbed our neighbour and KC and crashed on the new deck until well past midnight.  Pure bliss and the perfect way to end a busy day!
So, I think I’ll leave off here as I believe this is already long enough!  I’ll be back tomorrow (for sure) to recap today, which has been mellow, and tomorrow.  I hope you’ve all been having a great week!  I’m hoping to be caught up on all your fab blogs by tomorrow morning!!!  Have a great one!
Bye for now!!

15 comments:

  1. So much fun! I love the deck and I cannot believe you guys built it in a day - that is amazing! I pick up a lot of the same things when I'm the US, too. Last time I was eyeing the Target coffee but had already spent so much I held back - now I'm wishing I had tried it!

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  2. The deck looks awesome, Krista! They did an awesome job!! I love your daughters t-shirt and naturally, all your eats look AMAZING... they make me miss so many foods! lol!! Yum!

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  3. Sounds like a great and very productive vacation! The deck looks awesome, and I know you'll get so much use out of it! Great job!

    Love DD's shirt! Great color and awesome message!

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  4. The deck looks great!!! Tell that to the hubz for me please.

    You found the S'mores Z-Bars!!!! Wahoo!

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  5. WOW! Lots going on in your household huh? Deck looks great. Especially with those BEAUTIFUL hydrangea on it (one of my favorite flowers). Glad you got in a restocking trip. Hooray for new bars. DD's shirt is adorable. I need to find that. Good luck with the catch up! I always feel like I'm drowning in blog reading haha

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  6. 6 hours of shopping? woooo!!!
    great job on building the deck with your kids... family project is the best!!!
    and you did stock up well... so many goodies!!
    Keep enjoying~~~ :D

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  7. Your new deck looks great!! It's awesome you all were so handy to do it yourselves :) and glad you had fun shopping on this side of the boarder! :P Target's definitely the place to go if you're in the mood for spending a pretty penny on the coolest stuff :)

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  8. That's so great about the deck! I'm glad your hubby knew what he was doing. I would have no idea what to do.

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  9. wow are you ever busy! Deck looks fabulous! Beautiful flowers!!1

    xo

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  10. omg Mt. Royal Bagel Factory makes cinnamon bagels here that are to die for!! ive gotta pic one up this week and post it, mm gotta love the cinnamon flavor right!!

    i loved mr. bigs growing up but ive definitely switched over to oh hengry's .. maybe its cuz theyre denser or chewier. mm but both are still good.

    all my family ever does is renovate and we did our patio deck last summer and the kitchen this spring.. and now we're working on the front yard. geez always fixing and building something haha

    xoxo

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  11. Good job on getting that deck built :) I'm sure you'll get lots of use out of it.

    And as always, I'm jealous of your shopping trips across the border. I always say I should just pick up and go, but never do. Liking the looks of the dark chocolate peanut butter...yum!

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  12. The deck looks fabulous--what a hard-working hubby you have! :-) And wow, you're pantry is sure going to be stocked with good/healthy treats!

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  13. oooo tell your hubby great work! Your deck looks fab :D

    And p.s you know I am SO jealous of your treats from the states, ehehehe...enjoy!

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  14. Wow, you guys have been busy! Your deck looks amazing though! I just bought those frozen cherries at Wegmans too! (I haven't tried them yet though.) :)

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  15. I love your haul from the States!!! And I'm especially a fan of your daughter's t-shirt! I want one too!!!! lol :o)

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