Mice can be a nuisance in any home. Since we have been living in Greely (rural Ottawa, the country) mice have been a bigger issue than they were in the past. Not only are they unsightly and uninvited guests, but they can also cause damage to your property and spread disease. One of the most effective ways to get rid of mice is to use mouse traps. However, there are several different types of mouse traps to choose from, each with its own pros and cons.

This weekend I decided to take on a personal project in our basement to lighten the room up a bit and to change the style. After watching many different episodes of different home improvement and remodeling shows on @HGTVCanada I noticed a neat effect that some designers were doing on old outdated brick, whitewashing it.

The far back wall of our basement was a brick fireplace with reddish brick.

Over the past year or more I have been slowly making changes to our hydro usage trying desperately to reduce the kWh use and in turn reduce the monthly cost of our bill. I have made many different changes, investing heavily into upfront costs for a long term reduction.

Last October I replaced 38 #halogen pot lights in our new house with low wattage LED's and got quite a significant decrease in hydro usage (LED's and the power to save part one) but these 38 bulbs did not even account for 50% of the bulbs in the house. Recently Save on #Energy introduced some spring coupons to be applied to different power saving items that you can replace in your house, one of these coupons were $5 off #LED #bulbs, single or multi packs. Canadian Tire had a sale that had the $5 off coupon applied at time of sale for qualifying items.

A few months back I purchased a home #security system for our house, but, it was much more than just a security system. It was a whole smart system with the regular security features. The system was purchased from Cannon Security and was installed to a tee with help along the way to help me with all of the new features. Below is a list of the features and items that I added to our system and how they make our house safe, secure, and smart. 

This may seem like a strange post, but if you know me, Hydro Ottawa and I have not had the most trusting and agreeable relationship over the years that I have lived in Ontario.

Back in good ol' 2002 when my now wife and I packed up from Newfoundland and headed West to Ontario for work, we moved into a small one bedroom apartment. We got our utilities and perks installed (hydro, phone, cable, ect...). Then we moved into a house in 2006. Here are some of the issues/problems I have with Hydro Ottawa: