Denise's Blog Spot

Canada Day Picnic in the Park

Location: Assiniboine Park
Offers: Children's entertainment, fireworks, family entertainment, sports zone

Join the fun and excitement by celebrating Canada's National Birthday at our July 1st, Canad Day - Picnic in the Park event. This daylong event, geared towards families, includes games and activities for children, exciting entertainment on the Lyric Theatre Stage and a spectacular fireworks show to cap off the day's festivities. Canad Day - Picnic in the Park is open to all interested in attending with no admission charged. Various food vendors are located on site for this event from 12 noon to 10:30 p.m.

Canada Day at the Forks

Location: The Forks
Offers: Live entertainment, face painting, family fun, contests

This day-long birthday party is the place to be on July 1. From activities and a wide variety of big stage music and entertainment to a spectacular fireworks display - make sure you bring the whole family.

Riding Mountain National Park

Pancake breakfast, live music, face painting, scavenger hunt

Free admission to Riding Mountain National Park on Canada Day!  Live performances at the bandstand and lots of different activities to keep you entertained.

Canada Day Celebrations

Fireworks, June 30th 2009 at the Gimli Dock
Parade & Free Canada Day Cake July 1st 2009
Entertainment and games for children

article from the Royal Lepage National Files

When it comes to the elements that make a house safe and comfortable, none are as important as air and water.  Poor air and water quality can cause discomfort, damage your home’s structure, and even affect your respiratory health.  Here are three easy ways to obtain better air, better water, and better health:

1. Increase Ventilation

Proper ventilation reduces the concentrations of indoor air pollutants and provides healthier air quality in your home.  Start by making the most of exhaust fans or opening windows when showering, cooking, or using the dishwasher in order to let moisture escape your home quicker.  If you have a garage, install an exhaust fan to the outdoors to prevent car fumes from entering your home.  Make use of ceiling fans that draw up and distribute cool air from the floor on warmer days, and circulate warm air that collects near the ceiling on colder days.

2. Use Water Softners to Combat Hard Water

While safe and suitable for drinking, hard water, or water containing high levels of calcium and magnesium, can still have its setbacks. Harder water creates mineral build-up that can clog pipes and appliances and leave a soapy film on bathtubs and shower tiles.  It can also be tough on your hair and skin, and deteriorate the quality of your laundered clothing.           

Try using a hard water conditioner that traps minerals during the wash to soften your laundry and eliminate build-up on your dishes.  In the bathroom, use an easy-to-install soft water filter on your showerhead to help prevent dry skin and reduce soap scum build-up.  For a more complete solution, consider installing a water softener system in your home.  This will not only benefit your skin, laundry, and dishes, it will also help eliminate mineral deposits in pipes, fixtures, and appliances.

3. Balance Humidity

If the air in your home is too dry or stuffy, it can irritate your skin and cause respiratory problems.  On the other hand, too much moisture in the air can cause mildew, dust mites, and other conditions that can trigger allergies.  That’s why balancing humidity is important.  Humidity is normally measured by the amount of moisture in the air using a hygrometer.  As a rule of thumb, the recommended humidity in your home should be between 30 – 50%*. 

If the air in your home is too moist, a dehumidifier will help prevent a damp environment and protect walls, floors, and furniture from water damage.  If the air in your home is too dry, a humidifier will add moisture and relieve dry skin and many allergy and asthma problems.  It will also reduce cracked paint and plaster occurrences, as well as prevent wood floors from warping. 

*Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

I wanted to share this article as I thought you might find interesting and reassuring.  Looks like we know how to weather a storm...

Manitoba seeing steady growth, jobs, retail sales

By CHINTA PUXLEY, The Canadian Press

22nd March 2009

One might forgive Manitobans if they seem slightly smug these days.

With job losses in Ontario, falling house prices in Vancouver and disappointing retail sales across the country, Manitoba seems to be bucking the recession with its “steady-as-she-goes” incremental growth.

The province’s unemployment rate in February was at 4.8 per cent — three percentage points below the national numbers and the second-lowest rate in the country, surpassed only by Saskatchewan.

While retail sales fell more than five per cent across Canada in December, they only dropped half a percentage point in Manitoba. And as shops close in other parts of the country, Manitoba is actually seeing new stores move in; from its first sprawling Ikea store which will anchor a $400-million retail development to the opening of its first Sephora beauty store.

The housing market has dipped slightly, but about one-third of Winnipeg’s homes are still selling for at or above asking price.

Because of its “even keel” economy, the Conference Board of Canada recently found Manitoba is one of only four provinces expected to experience economic growth this year. The “momentum” generated in the past few years will carry it forward into 2010, the board said.

That momentum hasn’t been anywhere as dizzying as it has in other provinces. But many say that’s why Manitoba is poised to weather this recession better than most — it never climbed to the same heights and therefore doesn’t have as far to fall.

“We feel we’re holding our own and steady as she goes,” said Premier Gary Doer, whose NDP government is tabling its budget March 25.

“We don’t like to have our economy lurch forward and lurch backward. We want to keep going in a steady way. Manitoba relies more on what’s in our heads — our brains — than we rely on what’s in the ground.”

The province isn’t as dependent on the auto sector and its manufacturers are faring better than those in neighbouring Ontario, said Marie-Christine Bernard with the Conference Board of Canada.

Major hydro construction projects are going ahead and there is a backlog of orders in the aerospace and transit industries, which should keep Manitoba humming for the coming year, she said.

“The domestic economy in Manitoba is in pretty good shape,” said Bernard, associate director of provincial economic trends at the Conference Board of Canada. “We’re forecasting some job growth for 2009, contrary to most of the provinces, where they will see job losses.”

Since Manitobans seem to be holding on to their jobs, they also haven’t cut down as heavily on their spending. That makes the province an attractive place for retailers looking to expand, said Lanny McInnes with the Retail Council of Canada.

“While we don’t have the peaks that other provinces may have — like Saskatchewan and Alberta — we also don’t have the correspondent valleys when other provinces are running into difficulty,” he said.

“Manitobans are still going to be shopping so (retailers) look at the province in times like this as an area where they can grow their business.”

The province has also seen an influx of people moving to Manitoba, keeping the demand for housing steady.

Jeff Powell, senior market analyst with Canada Mortgage and Housing, said Manitoba never saw the same speculative buying as other provinces, which protected it from the drop other cities are now experiencing. As employment remains steady, so too does the demand for housing, he said.

“The forecast for prices in Manitoba is really quite stable,” he said.

But despite the relatively sunny forecasts, Doer said Manitoba can’t afford to get comfortable.

The world is in a recession and Manitoba isn’t immune, he said.

“There are challenges because Manitoba is in the centre of the country. We trade east of us, west of us, south of us and north of us through the port of Churchill,” Doer said.

“Canada is relatively better off than the United States. Manitoba and Saskatchewan are doing relatively better than other provinces. But it’s still lower than it was a year ago.”

The show is held at the Winnipeg Convention Centre.  Every year there are thousands of great home renovation ideas to find here.

Celebrities

Peter Fallico hosts the new HGTV show, Home To Flip.

Tommy Smythe is Sarah Richardson’s aptly dubbed “design sidekick” on the new series Sarah’s House.

Times
Thursday - 4pm to 10pm
Friday - 10am to 10pm
Saturday - 10am to 10pm
Sunday - Noon to 5pm

Check out the 2009 Parade of Homes

Show homes open on March 7 and run through to the 22nd.
Show home hours are Monday – Thursday: 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Saturday & Sunday: Noon to 6:00 p.m.
Friday: By appointment only

check out http://www.homebuilders.mb.ca/parade-of-homes.html for showhome locations