Day 110: A Visit to Home Depot

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 110: A Visit to Home Depot

Now that spring has finally sprung in Toronto, Dieter and I took a trip to Home Depot to buy flowers for the balcony. It’s a trip that I love, although it’s also a bit frustrating. There are so many flowers to choose from, but that I can’t have because many them are toxic to cats. Since I put safety before beauty I stick to petunias.

The petunias were on special actually with a sign that said ‘2 for $11’. I couldn’t believe my luck, two whole trays for $11! As it turned out, the sign was a bit misleading. It wasn’t two trays for $11, it was two baskets for $11 and each tray contained three baskets.

In addition, we also bought two hanging baskets with petunias, a basil plant (because I love, love, love basil), two tomato plants and potting soil.

Total cost: $135.

Before leaving Home Depot we also looked at a new chandelier for the dining room. The chandelier we have in the dining room now is beautiful, but a big pain in the you know where. It’s one of those crystal chandeliers with lots and lots of bells and cleaning them takes hours and hours.

First, the chandelier has to be disassembled, then I wash the bells in hot water with detergent, then to give the bells their shine I rub each individual one with lemon juice, and then the chandelier has to be assembled again. Like I said, it’s a pain, so we decided to look for something else.

While Home Depot had a number of nice chandeliers on display, none of them actually stood out. A few of them were very nice but were made up of crystal bells, and I’m not falling for those again.

Next, we wanted to look at ceramic tiles for the kitchen and balcony. Dieter found some very nice tiles for a reasonable price, but before buying, he would have to measure both areas to know how many square meters we need to cover.

While in the tile section, we also looked at backsplash tiles for the kitchen and that’s where I got into a spot of trouble. I saw some beautiful white and blue glass subway style tiles and got all excited because the price was a mere $5,99. I was all ready to put the tiles in the trolley when Dieter took a closer look. The price of the tiles was not $5,99 per box, but $5,99 per tile. Oh, well that changed things a bit.

It got better though, before leaving Home Depot, I went to look at the kitchen displays. With the first one I saw it was love at first sight: beautiful white cabinets, a generous granite sink, drawers that smoothly opened and closed, it was a dream. I looked at the price tag and saw $2,000. Hm, a bit expensive for six cabinets and a sink.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” I turned to Dieter.

“It is,” he nodded, “but way out of our price range.

“$2,000 isn’t that bad,” I said. “It looks like really good quality.”

“$2,000? Mom put your glasses on,” he said. “This kitchen isn’t $2,000, it’s $20,000!”

Since I couldn’t believe that this kitchen could cost that much I dug into my bag for my glasses and had another look … Dieter was right, these six cabinets and sink were indeed $20,000. OMG!

A cab took us home, we lugged the flowers and soil upstairs and placed everything on the balcony. The soil on the ground, the trays with petunias on the ledge and the baskets on hooks in the ceiling.

And would you believe it, Halley was scared of the baskets. More than just scared, she was petrified. She was fine with the soil and immediately rolled around on the bag. She didn’t mind the trays with petunias, whom she sniffed. But the baskets … oh no, she wanted nothing to do with those.

Dieter picked her up to let her get acquainted with the flowers and … oh no, she struggled to get out of his grip. 

Fortunately, her fear didn’t last long. After only a few days she realized that those flowers meant her no harm and now she quite okay again to go out on the balcony and enjoy the sun. She loves to roll around on the floor and would you believe it, her white coat stays spotless. You try doing that in a white outfit …

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Do good things come in threes

They say good things come in threes. I tend to believe that.

When I opened my email account this morning I found a message from Constant Content informing me that one of my articles had sold. I’ve only been with them less than a month, and only have fourteen articles online, but so far three of them have sold.

A little while later a Fed-Ex courier knocked on the door and handed me a big package. I wondered about the content. I remembered ordering some pencils online, but this package was way too big for pencils. I also ordered a cat toy, but the package was too heavy for that.

When I opened the box, I saw that it was a Vileda spin mop. A few weeks ago, I took a floor cleaning survey. At the end of the survey, it was promised that I would receive a Vileda spin mop, that I was to try it and then I would receive another survey to note my findings. 

A free Vileda mop? …  yeah right. Those things cost in the region of $40. If 100 people took the survey that would mean that Vileda was to send out 100 free mops!

But it was true. Today the mop arrived. I haven’t tried it yet, but it looks promising. No more bending and wringing out a wet mop. From a couple of videos, I watched you just stick the mop in the spinner, press a pedal with your foot, and the spinner gets rid of the excess water.

If good things really do come in threes, and two of them already happened, maybe I’ll win something with the Lotto tonight. I don’t mean a free ticket for 3 right numbers, or $10 with four right number. I mean REALLY win something. 

I’ll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, don't forget to donate to the Toronto Cat Rescue. The fundraising Bowl-a-thon takes place next month on April 29th. Shelter cats need your help and any donation is welcome. Donations of $20 or more receive a tax receipt.

Donations can be made to my PayPal address at:

conny.manero@gmail.com
or at
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/toronto-cat-rescue/bowlathon/team/thebirds/member/the-birds/

$2,000 faucets

It started so innocently.  My son saw beautiful faucets in Home Depot that were on special … $59 down from $99.  Unable to resist a bargain he bought them and brought them home.  Little did he know those faucets were about to cost us close to $2,000.

The first problem arose when the new faucets didn’t fit the current vanity table in the bathroom.  Oh well, the table was old and in need of replacing, so why not go for a new cabinet?

Off we went to Canadian Tire to have a look around.  We saw reasonably priced vanity tables, complete with a sink, but … they were rather small and I didn’t particularly like the design.  

So, we went for a separate vanity table.

Of course, now that we had a new table, we really should go for a sink as well, so … off we went to look at sinks.

It didn’t stop with the sink of course, we also bought new lighting and a new mirror.

When the vanity table and the sink got installed in the bathroom yesterday, we hit a snag … the piping didn’t fit.  Since neither of us are qualified plumbers we had to rely on a professional.  $210 later, the pipes were connected.

Everything look great.  The new vanity table, the sink, the lights, the mirror … except, now that everything looked new and improved we really should finish the job and go for a new floor.

Off we went again to Canadian Tire to look at floors.  I liked simple, square white tiles, but could have those.  According to the sales person they were not suitable for a bathroom, because their shiny finish would make them slippery when wet.  To cut a long story short, we found a nice tile that wouldn't have us slipping and sliding all over the place.

Of course, now that we had chosen a floor tile, we needed cement and grout, a bucket to mix the cement in and tools to spread the cement, a tile cutter, spacers and a sponge.

Were we done?  Yes, we had everything.

At the checkout point something caught my eye … a washing machine.  It looked so cute and was so reasonably priced.  We needed it, it was a nice deal, so … what the heck, why not?

So, all in all … if Dieter hadn’t gone for the faucets, we wouldn’t have needed the new vanity table and sink.  If we hadn’t gone for the new table and sink, we wouldn’t have gone for lighting and a mirror.  Neither would we have needed a new floor.  If I hadn’t seen the floor, I wouldn’t have seen the washing machine.

$59 faucets that turned into $2,000 faucets … oh well, the bathroom needed renovating anyway.