Ottawa Home and Garden Show

I managed to win a couple of tickets to the Ottawa Home and Garden Show and I got my hubby to take a day off so we could go. He chose Thursday, opening day, and we picked up the tickets across town from Ottawa Home Services shortly before the doors opened. I thought perhaps there would be a long lineup for the opening but if there was it was gone by the time we arrived and it wasn't crowded in there at all. It was great to be able to wander around and see everything without having to wait for others to get out of the way.

I've been to the EY Centre for other events at one end or the other but was pleasantly surprised to find that they could open sections up and make the display area bigger. This show took up three areas, side by side, connected by doorways I never knew existed before.  No wonder it didn't seem crowded!

I had seen pictures on social media of the work being done to construct the garden area. That was quite impressive, and the results were stunning. There were food concessions over in that section too, but by then we had already eaten.

One of my friends mentions he never goes to these events as he generally ends up buying something he later wished he hadn't. I talked to several tradespeople about some jobs that need doing around our place. I gathered cards and brochures, was given a collapsible plastic water bottle and a bookmark ate some of the candies available at the displays and filled in a few contest forms. I saw one or two products that I would happily have brought home but I wanted to see everything first. I've learned that if I jump on a deal too soon I find something I'd rather have had later so I always like to see everything that is offered before I make my choice. I often manage to talk myself out of such purchases before going home too.  Hubby, however, was quite taken with a silicone squeegee that got windows and mirrors spotlessly clean with no streaks at all.  I was even given the chance to clean a window myself and I have to admit it worked far better than my current method, Usually, I have to rewash some of my windows a few times to get rid of the streaks. Of course, there is always this deal where they offer you more if you buy it during the show, or in this case, if you are one of the first 50. The price was really high enough that I'm sure there was no real deal to be had, but we have two very large windows and one of them is very difficult to clean from the outside. The very idea that this tool will help is what sold us. It will be getting a good workout soon.

Earlier in the day, I was able to dodge a bigger bullet as I was scooped into a chair where a guy applied a product under my eyes that magically removed all traces of any bags, circles or wrinkles. He just did one eye first so I could see the difference. Well, there is always a difference with my eyes anyway, since I've had Bells Palsy and the other side of my face is ageing faster than the side he chose.  So yes, I saw a dramatic difference between the two eyes. I did, however, tell him that I would have been more impressed if he had done the bad side. So then he did that one too, which was good as I didn't want to walk around the rest of the day looking totally weird. The product did it's magic and made that eye younger too. He started to tell me which other products he would be throwing in as part of their early bird special. I said something about how I expected this all to be rather expensive. He said, "Oh, no.  Botox would be expensive and this is much cheaper." The price came in somewhere well over $300 and while he went to fetch a bag, I was able to escape from his chair. He seemed totally surprised that I wasn't taking him up on this deal. While it looked like it would fix any issues I'm starting to see in my face, I still think I'm doing rather well for my age. There is no way I want to start spending that sort of money knowing full well that once you start you would never suddenly want to see those wrinkles again when you ran out of the product in 6 months. I had a hard enough time growing out my natural hair colour!  This product pulled the skin tight and was not at all soft to the touch. I knew I had made the right choice when the product cracked and created verticle lines under my eyes. That certainly isn't becoming, not is it a natural look. At least not for me.  I'll keep my wee lines. I've earned them.

It was a lovely day out, but of course, by the time we paid for gas, lunch and the window washing system, it was hardly free. Maybe I'll win something.

Spending my Prizes

Last year at this time I was telling you about the lovely basket of gifts I won from the merchants of Almonte. The contest was to promote the town, and it worked as I had not been there for many years and was surprised at the amazing changes in the place. It's not just a pretty village anymore. It's well worth the visit now, to shop and eat and spend the day.  We've been back several times since then and I've told lots of people about it.

So, while I had won some amazing prizes by this time last year, worth hundreds of dollars, this year I'm winning on a much smaller scale.  Yesterday I got to go and collect a couple of my freebies.  First, I had a certificate that I got from Kelloggs that I could spend on a $10 toy. I didn't figure I'd get much for that but when I walked into Toys R Us, one of the first things I saw was a game that the grandsons had been asking for just a couple of weeks ago. How could I pass that up? It's not the big board version but a compact one that folds into its own case and is easy to store. Just the thing for Nana's house! And hey, it was $9.99 so I got to spend the whole coupon, which is great as they don't give you change. I expect I'm going to have a break from our ongoing Mille Bornes challenge while I figure out who done it while playing Clue.

After that, I went for lunch and used a gift certificate I won from New York Fries for a free regular poutine. I asked if I could upgrade that to one with the works and was told that the regular, in this case, referred to the size, and I could have anything I wanted on it.

So while I had a calorie-laden lunch for free, my hubby ate more sensibly but it cost him over $10 for his salad.

I still have a $10 Walmart gift card to spend too, but I haven't decided what I want to shop for yet. I won it on Facebook from a page that promotes freebies called Mae-Mae's Freebies. A lot of the offers there are just for people in the United States, but I won it so soon after I joined the page I didn't realize that yet. Occasionally there is something for Canada or other places too though, and the odds are good for the contests as competition isn't all that big yet. But it is growing.

Anyway, I am still having some luck, though nothing like last year. That's fair. It's not good to be greedy. After so many years of never winning anything at all, I'm still quite amazed when I win something and actually thrilled with even these little prizes.

People are still asking me how I win. The only advice I can give is, you can't win if you don't enter.

That goes for life in general. You can't succeed at anything unless you are willing to go do it.