Sheilalady's Profile

Hey Canadian Mango!
I'm Canadian too and seems really contradictory to character to leave a room like that! My Cdn ex-husband was the same way...he figured that it was part of the cost of the hotel stay to clean up his mess(!??!??) It was never a bio-hazard, but certainly WAY more than I'd like to face if I were the housekeeper assigned to the floor.

I always tip the housekeepers during a hotel stay, and I do it everyday...you never know what their tip-sharing policy is so rewards go straight to those deserving. I usually tip $5 per day, but when the ex was around, I'd have to sneak at Ten-spot onto the pillow!

I've rented homes for seasons (like ski chalets) and MANY time-share condos and they've all been pretty close to wonderful when we arrived, but upon leaving, we clean better than we clean our own homes!!! True! lol

On the other hand, every apartment I've EVER moved to has been a toxic mess upon arrival (what are people thinking?), and "pristine" when I left (and yes, as a renter...I've even left champers in the fridge for new tenants to hopefully kick off good times, as I've had there!).

I thoroughly cleaned the last place I lived, far beyond duty, even knowing that it was going to torn down. Those were the most clean and sanitary appliances that ever met a dump (Gawd I hope someone picked them up!)

Sheilalady!

Thanks Thill, for the great info! I've just been perusing airbnb's offerings and I'll def use that tip!

Thanks too to mldecarli for the homeaway link! I hadn't seen that one before either! (mind you, my "favorites" is overflowing with villa rental sites...just not the kind that I could actually afford! LOL).

I, like aneelee, have normally used vrbo and had some AWESOME holidays, in fact, we prefer to rent "villas" than stay in hotels or resorts! Depending on the number of guests going it can be both cheaper and a WHOLE lot more fun!

I've stayed in several now (Spain and Jamaica the most memorable) that had been rented by good friends for a month each. All they did was fill all available beds, more or less, with friends, for a week or a few days at a time. It made their holidays virtually rent-free and ours a little cheaper (and certainly more memorable) than any hotel! Of course we paid for airfare, and we knew about it in advance, but if you could travel solo (and separately), or possibly on standby, it's a great way to get outa town for relatively cheap! You'll still have to add in all the peripheral activities as well as food and copious drink, but once you go private, it's hard to go back!!!

Happy Holidays to all!

Sheila!

No mjs7640! You aren't a mean mum, but you're correct about the winter vs. summer thing.

We all had full season's tickets and Blue Mountain has night skiing, but we found that we would ALL head for the hills at about 8:15 am, before the lifts started running (usually we could catch a ride before the hill was officially open!). We'd ski like crazy 'til about noon when the SPORES (Stupid People On Rental Equipment...sorry for an offense to anyone...not all renters are spores, btw!)surfaced from their alcohol induced stupors to terrorize the hill, then go home for lunch a some nap time! For the rest of the time, we'd just ski whenever we felt like a few runs...alone or with others...whatever...very laid back.

As the kids couldn't put in the hours that we adults could and it got dark at 4:30 /-, they had their electronics for added entertainment.

Not only that, but my nephew was 14 at the time and kinda "grumpy" around his adult relatives (hehehe), so this helped him enjoy his time there as much as we did!

...Can't speak for others, but I'd certainly fall through-the-hole and/or down-the-stairs (ladder!!??) on my first night there! Otherwise, I love it!

Gorgeous!

Nothing beats a "Muskoka" (Adirondack) chair for summer (or winter!) comfort!

Several years ago, we rented a ski chalet in Collingwood, Ontario. The first year, "el nino", dictated that most of our skiing was done before 11:00 am, with the warm, sunny afternoons spent imbibing cocktails at our picnic table with front row seats to the hill. The following summer, I decided to ramp up our outdoor furnishings...just in case the next ski season was to be similar.

I wound up making 5 of the chairs using a pattern from a "Cottage Life Projects" book, using cast off skis from garage sales and from friends for the back slats (shovel up and facing towards the seat). I collected for a week or two and found well over 25 decent pairs at one place alone. I then spent an afternoon removing bindings and deciding on combinations based on colour. Each chair required 5 skis for the back and we ended up with chairs coloured red, blue, green and black, with one in natural cedar with 7 natural coloured X-country skis for the back (this one was for indoors). I cut the skis as required for the backs as the different widths took some fancy custom fitting. (The racing skis were especially fun to cut...going through several plies of laminate, foam and steel!).

They were the talk of the town (and copied alot) and although we did take them to the chalet, the next season, we were buried in snow, with only the top 6" of each chair visible! LOL

I didn't have room for the chairs when I moved to my current place so I put them on the street with a sign saying "Free to Good Home"; they were gone in under 5 minutes!

My niece still has the cedar chair and it's been a comfortable conversation piece in her university apartment for the last 4 years!

Sadly, I haven't any decent pix of them...but you can see a bad one at http://www.flickr.com/photos/7547630@N08/ Oh well...

P.S. If you try this, remember to fill the screw holes left by the bindings so that bees, wasps and nasty little biting spiders don't get in there...yup they do...especially with the foam core skis!

Like outsidethebox's Golden, my Black Lab does the same (it's the "soft mouth" retriever thing). She doesn't actually play with the toy...she just likes to show it off! Our toys are in desperate need of a thorough cleaning and I will put them in the wash, as suggested...but will the squeaky-thing inside be okay? That's MY favourite part! LOL

Doesn't the wax produce a weird petro-chemiclly smell when the burners or oven gets hot? I can tell you that I can distinctly smell ANY cleansers I use this way and this would likely be the worst of them.

I'm a landscape designer and I can attest to the benefits of buying locally (meaning growers...NOT retailers).

All (or 90%) of the plants that are sold in the big box stores are "container grown" (good!) but usually come directly from growers in climates incompatible with where they end up...for example...an evergreen grown in Oregon or California and not wintered here in the Northeast, will likely need super-special care to get through an entire season up here. Just because the species should be hardy doesn't mean it will be.

Mind you, there isn't any guarantee that your local nursery will be selling any hardier stock...especially since the demand over the last few years has been phenomenal...requiring intermediaries (jobbers) to bring things in faster than ever...but it's the best place to start! They'll give you info on the maintenance and care of the plant as well as any info you'll need to make sure your plant gets a good start and survives it's first winter.

If you have a good source for plants, LOCALLY GROWN, then by all means, go there! You'll sometimes find them through your local Horticultural Society and through word of mouth. Perennial exchanges and private sales/trades are another great way to build your garden. Not only are you guaranteed of hardy plants, but you'll meet like-minded people and have an inside track to some of the best gardening advice available! (and you'll build a garden where you have a connection and a story for each plant!).

Good Luck and Happy Gardening to All!!!

I have really bad allergies and sinus headaches and I love burning candles. It wasn't until recently that a friend mentioned the nasty, oily fumes put out by paraffin candles...I hadn't even considered this (silly, silly me). Since then, I've concentrated on beeswax candles! I have a total aversion to anything scented yet the beeswax smells great all by itself! Pefection and no need to look further!