Patio Furniture

Summer is almost over and it's almost time to put the patio furniture away. Our shed will be their home during the winter. We have our picnic table, wooden swing sets, trampoline and a fire pit. We forgot to put them away last year and they suffered brutal damages from the winter. We need to replace all the seat cushions next year. Not fun I tell you, specially when you're on a budget constraint. Lesson learned.

Camping

I had the opportunity to go camping for the first time last summer. I never thought it'd be so much fun, even if the weather didn't fully cooperate with us. We had just finished eating dinner when the clouds turned dark. We all knew a storm was brewing. The wind started blowing hard that kids on the playground hurried up and ran back to their families. I immediately looked for storm shelters just in case things got worse. Thank God it didn't. It rained for a few minutes, then it stopped! The sun came back and everyone was happy!

Trouble

Hubby and I crossed the Canadian border yesterday to gamble a bit at the casino. Going in, we stopped by the US duty free shop and bought 2 cartons of cigarettes for my mom. We stayed a couple of hours in the casino, then ate dim sum at a local Chinese restaurant. We didn't anticipate any problems going back into the United States.

I knew the customs official wasn't in a chipper mood when I pulled up by him. We handed our blue passport, and he asked what our citizenship was. I was thinking, "duh! did you have to ask?". He asked if we had bought anything and I volunteered the information that we bought 2 cartons of cigarettes from the US duty free. He about freaked out! He said it is illegal to bring it back in the US because it's for "outside" US consumption only and that we could face up to $5000 in fine. We told him we didn't know but he didn't seem to care. He asked us how much money we have in our wallet, (not much I tell you, after losing in the casino). Then he asked what we did for a living, and oh boy did we get a break when hubby told him what he does! He let us go with just a subtle warning, thank God!

Lesson learned. No more cigarettes from the Duty Free. Mom should convert to e-cig, imo.