Blogging Challenge Things I Love/Hate

Thanks to Afthead and Tracy for posting this blogging challenge. Choose 10 things (or 5 if 10 seems overwhelming) that are contradictory. It’s harder than it looks but FUN!

1) I love gardening but I hate weeding

I have a half acre property and over the past 22 years I have added 24 gardens. I love digging the soil, planting new plants, re-arranging plants, pruning the trees and shrubs, mulching and most of all sitting on my back deck or on the patio and enjoying the beautiful textures and colours. Often, though, I only see the clover that has inched in or the creeping Charlie that seems to overtake the space. I really don’t like all that work that gardening takes.

2) I love Canada but I hate winter

Approximately 4 months of the year we experience glorious, warm, sunny weather here. We can spend it at the beautiful beaches, cottages, pools, outdoor patios or even in our own yards. Canada is a beautiful country. Then there is that horrible rest of the year where we have to wear boots, hats, coats, scarves and mitts. We have to shovel snow and drive in slippery driving conditions. We have to scrape snow and ice off our windshields before we can even think about going anywhere. My goal is to retire to Florida for the winter.

3) I love having a clean house but I hate vacuuming, dusting and washing floors

There is nothing nicer than a clean, orderly home. I just love the fresh smell and feel of clean floors and furniture. I really don’t like doing housework. That’s why my husband does those chores. When he retired I told him, I’ve done it for 30 years now it’s your turn for the next 30 years. He does a great job.

4) I love wine but I hate that it makes me hungry

I enjoy a glass of champagne or red wine occasionally. I love the taste and it’s very relaxing to sip outside on the deck before dinner. There are consequences however because of the sugar content. It rises my blood sugar triggering a spike in insulin which makes me hungry the following day. I can’t seem to fill myself up. 

5) I love hardwood floor but I hate dust “bunnies”

We ripped up all the carpets in our house several years ago and laid hardwood floors. I love the clean look and feel of the wood. I don’t like that you can see the dust on them and the little dust balls that form under beds and furniture. We have put down area carpet over some of the floors.

6) I love having company but I hate all the preparation
I used to entertain several times a year. Big parties and holiday celebrations. I always hosted Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Both would be huge family affairs with many appetizers and a huge turkey dinner. I always invited the extended family for a Mother’s Day bar-b-que each year too. Thanksgiving, Easter, birthday parties and card parties were always fun. For the past few years I haven’t had the same enthusiasm so we don’t have company over as often. I figure it’s time for the next generation but they don’t seem to care like we did.

7) I love water but I hate swimming

I dream of living by the lake or ocean year round. I would love to just sit on a comfy chair and look out over the vast expanse of water and drink in the fresh air. I don’t like cold water to touch my skin and avoid swimming whenever I can. Unless it’s a heated swimming pool you will never see me in the water.

8) I love sunbathing but hate suntan lotion

As I have already mentioned I love hot and hate cold. If I had my way I would sit in the sun from morning until night. I’m a redhead, however and burn very easily. I have worn suntan lotion over the years but I just perspire and it runs into my eyes burning them. I try to stay out of the sun except for short intervals.

9) I love dairy but I hate diarrhea

Sorry about that! I just discovered that I’ve likely become lactose intolerant at aged 58. All my life I’ve eaten cheese, yogurt, milk, cream, butter and most other milk products. Lately, they make me sick. I won’t go onto too much detail but it’s painful and uncomfortable.

10) I love my husband but hate sports

I’ve been married for 36 years to a man who watches golf, hockey, baseball, tennis, car racing, horse racing, all the Olympic activities, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few. I’m not the slightest bit interested in any of it. 

*I did forget one….football!

25 thoughts on “Blogging Challenge Things I Love/Hate”

  1. Isn’t this a great post idea? I loved writing mine! Hey, maybe we could house switch in the summer; it’s hot as heck here. Today’s high was in the 90s. I love snow and cold and hate, hate, hate everything about hot weather–except tomatoes and suntan lotion, what a great smell. I’ve been dying to see Canada. I’m sorry about the lactose thing. My husband is lactose intolerant and takes LactAid pills. They work like a dream. Actually, he uses a cheap gneric brans, and voila, we can both live with his love of dairy!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I discovered lactose intolerance at 50 too ! At first I thought : my god ! what will I eat ? Dairy is everywhere! But I did nicely : replaced all butter by olive oil (you get used to the different taste) I banned cheese (except buffalo and sheep , and some goatcheese , which contain not much lactose) and replaced cream and milk with coconutcream and milk (which is totally different, but again I got used to it 😉 ) So ..I survived ! And I like a lot of things too. Did you know that almost everybody in the world, like eastern people, is lactose intolerant? Only West- european people had tis strange phenomenon of being lactose tolerant , somone told me a while ago . Which means that you and me are normal 😉 the others are abnormal (there’s always a different way of looking at things, he?) .
    And your husband ? well, he is so very Lucky to have such a complementary wife 😉

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I switched to olive oil years ago to stop eating so much saturated fat. I have switched to almond milk in my coffee and am just resisting the urge to eat cheese. I LOVE cheese! I will try goat cheese because I do like it. I can’t tolerate feta. I’ve been hearing for years how North Americans are the only ones who eat cows milk but until I actually felt the affects of it I didn’t take it seriously. My daughter was lactose intolerant as a small child but I did use Lactaid then and she out grew it.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Dear Cathy,

    It’s a beautiful post and I enjoyed reading at Tracey’s blog too. 🙂
    I feel you have beautiful gardens. Having created 24 gardens is something. I am happy about married life too. As I was reading about the cold weather in Canada I was thinking that we are all harassed by something or the other. We here in India mostly love winters as temperature doesn’t go below 0 degree centigrades in most of the country.

    I cherish winters. Kind of the best season for me. I was filling a fun quiz on FB and it asked a few questions and it gave me “Canada” as ideal place of residence for me. 🙂

    Now as I read about winters in your post I remember it. Isn’t it wonderful to see varieties across globe. But life is one. One truth. One reality.

    I thank you for visiting my blog and following it. I wish you very best. 🙂

    Anand.

    Like

      3. Yes yes true. But on the other hand it could also be cathartic. Once you have put it on paper and told it to someone else–you tend to bring the onlooker witness sense in play–you no longer stay attached to the mind which hated things and might accept the things which can’t be changed without complaining about them anymore. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  6. Life is full of contradictions. I liked the last one – and while I’ll never understand why women hate sports, I can tell you that in all probability your husband is relieved that you don’t share his enthusiasm. Two zombies together could bring the house down.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Oh…and I loved the first one too – Gardening is fun, weeding isn’t. This could be right kind of task for him – Wifey says we are a gardening team – I grow the plants, she appreciates them.

    Liked by 1 person

  14. Wonderful fun! But for me, I want to retire to Canada for the summer (or maybe forever) – can’t stand the heat, and love all the boots, sweaters, coats, etc.
    xx,
    mgh
    (Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMore dot com)
    – ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder –
    “It takes a village to educate a world!”

    Liked by 1 person

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