Journey Home - Part 3

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. 

 Ralph Waldo Emerson

I returned home from my Christmas travels on December 27, 2012. Part 1 of my journey photos can be viewed here.  Part 2 can be viewed here. This is the last installment of this series.  I hope you enjoyed the peek into the scenery around these parts.

We are at Herrling Island just before you get to the City of Chilliwack.

 

I think I was just taking photo of the traffic sign and the red barn to the right of the photo.

Chilliwack is a farming community and in this photo you see row upon row of greenhouses.

A photo for my international readers so you can see what is on the side of the road. I think KFC is now in many countries including Kenya. It is a fried chicken fast food outlet.

 

A scene from the freeway toward one of the many suburbs outside Vancouver. I think this is part of Port Coquitlam.

We are fast approaching the new Port Mann Bridge. You can see it in the distance to the right of the photo.

We are on the new Port Mann Bridge which has only been open about a month and cost 3.4 Billion dollars or thereabouts. It has already been closed to traffic twice due to the bad weather we've been having. They need to find solutions to the problems that have arisen thus far. It's atrocious that the bridge cost that much and can't help move the traffic in bad weather, especially when drivers have to pay a toll fee on top of it all!

A close up view. You can see the posts are designed to join right above the cars below. This was problematic after a snow fall when icy snow bombed cars below causing numerous accidents and bridge closure just before Christmas.

After we crossed the 2nd Narrows Bridge to the north we travelled west on the Upper Levels Hwy. (Trans-Canada Hwy. to Taylor Way and then south to Future Shop at Park Royal Mall). You can take this highway to the Sea to Sky Highway which takes you to the beautiful ski town of Whistler where many locals and celebrities go skiing.

We ended our long journey with a several hour shopping expedition at the Future Shop looking for appliances. It was a busy store that day and my leg was very sore. I was not in the mood for shopping. Thank goodness my brother and nephew were there to do the "legwork".

I was glad to finally get home to Vancouver that day!

This is my submission to Skywatch Friday. You can see the sky was very gray in the last hours of our journey. If you look at Parts 1 and 2, you will see we had a variety of skies that day.

Happy Skywatch Friday! 

Starting the Year With a Bang

The first few days after the holiday are always busy. Busy trying to take down Christmas decor, unpack from travels, reflect on last year's goals and set new ones and generally trying to be organized for the new year.

I'm off to a good start. I've been busily researching courses and workshops in my local neighbourhood and at my Alma Mater which is quite a bit farther. I've re-enrolled as a student at my Alma Mater and I'm possibly taking a course next week.  It will require several evenings of my time each week for the next several months. Next week I'll know more fully whether I will take the class. If I do take it,  my nephew and I will be classmates. This is hilarious as I haven't been to uni. in decades.

Over the holidays, I purchased several appliances and dealt with all my technical needs (television, speakers, laptop and new operating system for my PC).  All appliances are stainless steel and all were purchased at excellent seasonal discounts.

My appliances were delivered today! Yeah!!

Today, I also got rid of the old refrigerator and stove and have put everything (all the frozen food) back in the new freezer before it began to thaw.   The refrigerator is much bigger than the old one so it also takes up more space. It is heaven to have a refrigerator that is nicely organized inside and has lots of space for everything and more!  I'm still tearing the plastic off the new stove so probably won't use it for another day or so.  Tomorrow the new dishwasher will be installed and the old one taken away for recycling.

To add to my happiness, I found out today that I got another 15% off the dishwasher because the store extended it's sales this week.  That meant another trip to the store for the refund but it was well worth it. I shared the refund with my brother who actually caught on to this sale and went himself to obtain the refund for me.

I didn't take the following photos but they show you what the appliances look like.

Once the dishwasher is installed my kitchen will be more or less organized and I can get back to cooking again rather than eating take out.

One of MY commenters (Judy, below) asked about whether I get rebates from my utility company for the new appliances and whether the utility company would take away old appliances for free and give me a discount on bills.

Oh boy, do I wish that were the case!  The utility company does buy back old refrigerators.  Sadly I forgot about the buy back program and instead paid $30 to the retailer to take my old refrigerator away. I guess that means the company made $60, since they will likely take the refrigerator to the utility company themselves for the $30 rebate.

The utility company does pay an energy rebate on certain appliances. You have to check the make and model of your appliance to determine if it is eligible for a rebate.  Then you mail in all the required information and wait a few months.  When I purchased my washer and dryer I found they were eligible for a rebate. It took about 4 months to process but I was pleased to get it.  If I remember correctly the amount of rebate was about $75.  I'm so pleased with the purchase of the HE washer and dryer because they use so little water and power.

One of my other plans/goals for the year is to investigate and "cost out" some modest renos in the kitchen.  This goal has become a little more heightened in priority because of the refrigerator.  It is actually larger in size though characterized as the store as "standard".  Due to the larger size, the baseboards had to be taken out in the "refrigerator closet" to make room for it to slide in. When I re-do the kitchen counter and possibly the kitchen floor, the "closet" walls can be narrowed a bit to make more room for the refrigerator. Right now you can't see where the baseboards have been removed so things will be fine until the remodel work is done.

So all in all the week has been very busy and the new year has gotten off to a busy start.

I hope you are all having an excellent start to your New Year also!