It's COLD!

Ok not really, it's only -1. It's not like it used to be when I lived in Ontario. And not like it is in places like Thunder Bay where I have friends. AND there's no snow :) But I seem to be broken......

A few years ago I lost a ton of weight. Which is awesome! but I lost a lot of insulation as a result of that. Since then, I find I get cold very quickly. This winter, I seem to never be able to warm up. I work in a basement, and at a hockey arena, live on the ground floor of a house that needs all the windows replaced and as a result has a mean draft and lets the heat out, and it's just a different kind of cold here. It's a damp cold...gets right to your bones.


COLD ALL THE TIME.

I'm almost looking forward to going home for Christmas because I can handle Ontario cold. Easy...just gotta get through what is supposed to be the coldest winter in 20 years over here. Yay.


In other news! Netflix has all the original Degrassi's now....so if I don't post...you know why!

Teen drama's never knew problems like DH....

Oops

I've been just terrible....Every week I meant to update and I just never did!!!

Quick catch up

I won the Low Car Diet!! Yaaay!! Scored a ton of awesome prizes!! Thanks for everyone for voting!

Avery Clara was born September 26 sometime in the wee hours of 4 am or so. She's so freaking adorable and I can't wait to see her again. She looks just like my sister did as a baby. Creepy

It's been getting very cold here. It's such a different cold than home. Brrrr.

We celebrated our one year of being married!! Huzzah! It was awesome.

Daisy is doing fantastic. She's just as adorable as ever and learning new things all the time. I'm so happy every day that we ended up with her.

It's been so long that I can't think of what I'm all missing. So I will just say this. I will update more

Thanks!

Bye Bye LCD!

It's the last day of the Low Car Diet. I think I win...considering I don't have a car and thus couldn't cheat! Here's my last vlog for it

I'll miss that helmet cam! 

I just realized I have a 5k run in two weeks. I am very not in shape for it...and Daisy is coming along! It's the SPCA Paws for a Cause. We are fundraising for the BC SPCA, which is where we adopted her from! If you would like to donate just click here!

Adopting Daisy has been a massive highlight of our lives. She is SO amazing. I wish I could explain just how much of a personality she has. Her facial expressions and body language are just as unique and expressive as any humans. I love her so much :D!

watching her second favourite show. She loves Cesar!

Please donate :D. If we can help the place that brought us together with our angel save more animals then we have done something right.

What is your animal's story?

Sad Monday

Found out a few minutes ago that NDP leader Jack Layton died of cancer.That's the world of breaking news. I really hate cancer. It just destroys lives. I'm really saddened about his death. He was such a charismatic leader, and just a NICE guy. He was going to do some really awesome things in Parliament. Very bummed.

I feel kind of strange posting what I originally planned but here goes.

This is the last week of the Low Car Diet and I'm pretty sad about it! It's been really fun and I'll miss all these vlogs. Maybe I'll try to do more for this blog! I hope we win the grand prize! Vote for us! (when it's time)

Yesterday we walked down to the Kits dog park with Daisy. We've been hoping we could take her and she's really starting to listen and work off leash, so we took her to see if she can swim. It was pretty obvious very quickly that she had never swam before. But of course (being a dog) she picked it up really quickly and was fetching her ball in no time. She even made some new friends.

We've decided she's the weird kid on the playground though...She was far more interested in digging holes on her own 

A long day of play + a bath = le tired..and a bed hog.

We can't wait to take her back. Hopefully the socialization helps her to chill out...and maybe lose the long leash! We're pretty sure she won't run away like she used to...but we aren't positive she will come when we call her yet...but soon...very soon.

I got a new tattoo this week! 

I'd actually been thinking about this for a week so or but was really motivated to go on Wednesday. It has two very special meanings to me and it's just pretty :) 

I guess I'll give you some faves :)

Tattoos! • Family • God • Love • notalwaysright.com • Warmth • New running shoes! (they finally came!) • my wedding rings • pedicures • The smell of Daisy after a bath • Playstation • Fast phones • Support

Would you ever get a tattoo?

Monday just keeps on coming

This morning I woke up and just did not feel like riding. I have to ride to catch my bus. It's too far to walk and too costly to constantly cab. But this morning I just wanted an easy way to get there :( Alas.

I did an extra vid for the Low Car Diet this week. I can't believe it's almost over! Hopefully I can put out a couple more of these Supplementals before then

My week 3 video will be up later today as well. Also on my youtube channel you can find the radio interview I did with CKNW. It was pretty fun!

My dad headed home last week. I miss having him around already! Luckily I'm heading home in September for Kallie's birthing-ness, so I'll get to see all family! Hopefully the baby is a little early or right on time!

I've become so hooked on Popchips. They are so yummy and probably better flavoured than any other chip brand I've ever had. I have to control myself!

The usual Monday excitements!

Almond Breeze unsweetened almond milk • Davids Tea (not my husband, it's an actual store!) • Old The Lonely Island • Fruit salad • watching old videos from college • Terry Tate • Words with Friends • Vanilla Coke • sleeping in • Daisy the nighttime cuddler • orca whales • our amazing new camera (have I said that yet?) • making decorated cupcakes • Down Goes Brown 

My New Balance shoes arrive this week. I'm SO excited. My running shoes are past being replaced, but since I got a free pair with the Low Car Diet I held off on buying some. The ones I ordered are like running on air. I can't wait!!

Anything new headed your way?

So I'm a couple days late but I wanted to share with you the garden explosion!!

As you can see the sunflower nearly doubled in size in two weeks!! And you can see at the very top that the flower is FINALLY starting to form!!

The tomatoes are days away from turning red!

It's a big plant

The broccoli is ready! Apparently I was supposed to pick it before it flowered...I didn't know that. So the one is now for seeding and the others I harvested today as you can see in the photo

The Charlie Brown tomato plant is trying to grow tomatoes...silly plant. The Chives are good and it looks like the Lavender is FINALLY joining us!

The grapes now need some string to help it vine up!

The beans are also having trouble growing up...but they are still yielding some awesome beans!

A strawberry flower!!

Cherry tomatoes!!

I shot all this using our new Canon Rebel T3. We really wanted to invest in a GOOD camera because we've always just had point and shoots and now it's acting up. So we invested in this and it is AMAZING. I can't wait to use it to take photos our little niece or nephew due next month!!!

Daisy was outside helping me take photos. I interrupted her playtime. You can really tell!

Sunny Monday!

At least I assume it's sunny. I'm in a sub-basement of sorts until 9am. No windows. Just track lighting. So here's hoping!

This was a really exciting week! My dad arrived on Wednesday and we haven't stopped experiencing Vancouver since! Lions game, Whitecaps game, beach walks and much more! I don't have a ton of photos right now because I forgot to upload them before going to work. But I do have a couple from when we went ziplining...turns out it wasn't just ziplining but a whole high ropes course!

 David went right to the top!

I screamed... a LOT!

It was a great week for the Low Car Diet also. Take a look at my first vlog for the program. 

I have week 2 done, but I'll give Zipcar a few days to work with it. Also we had an article in the paper and I did a radio interview yesterday! I should have a clip later this week and I'll post it to the youtube channel. Keep an eye on that channel for extra videos I will be adding this week and for the rest of the challenge!

Today is going to be a really fun day! David got his new passport so we can actually go to the states today..unlike the last failed attempt. I'm pretty excited. I haven't been since I moved to Victoria, and even then we didn't stop in Washington, drove straight through. So a family trip to Bellingham (in a Zipcar!) should be really fun! I can't wait for some Vanilla Coke!

Some of my favourite things

Being green • visiting family • my jobs • technology • my hair getting super long (can't wait to chop it off to make a wig!) • Groupon • Being Erica • Hot days with a cool breeze • Belugas • SPUD • Fruit Salad • Vanilla Coke • popChips • Not Always Right • Ravelry • comfy shoes • when work goes by quickly! (like today!)

I'll try to get some good photos up on the Shutterfly site soon, and watch for Low Car Diet videos on youtube!

Could you do the Low Car Diet?

Holiday Monday!

Welcome August...hopefully you are the bearer of SUMMER!

It's actually for reals finally starting to be warm and sunny. This week isn't calling for one DROP of rain :D Let's hope it stays that way

My dad comes into town for a week long visit tomorrow! I can't wait. He stayed with us for a month during the Olympics because he was a volunteer (probably the one with the coolest job too). So the city is going to look VERY different to him now!

I've booked my flight home for September for the birth of my sister's BFB (big fat baby..her nickname for it teehee) So hopefully the little...it..comes on time. They are keeping the name and sex a GIANT secret so it should be exciting!

I'm also dreaming of going home next July for my family's reunion. Every last Sunday of July is the big festivo because that is the closest Sunday to July 28th, Peru's day of independence. I haven't been in so long and I miss it. Especially since it's gone from casual attire to PERU EVERYWHERE.

I think is like 1/7th of my family...There are no kids under 10 in this shot. There are at least 20 of those ones running around somewhere.....

You can also see my sistur and BFB on the left! I can't believe she fit into her shirt! Anyway, I must be back for this at some point...especially since we haven't been back since we got married...(womp womp) So half my family have never met David....

Some fun news! David has started running! When I started (and since) he's always gone on about how much he HATES running. Then out of nowhere I casually mentioned (for the eleventy billionth time) that he should come with me sometime, and this time he said yes! So we got him some shoes and away he went. He's pretty fast. He really likes taking Daisy with him, and since she loves to run, it works for everyone! The best part it we got a good pair of shoes and those aren't cheap...so he can't quit or he would be wasting money! Muahahaha. I don't think he will quit though, he's good at it and he tends to keep doing things he good at. He quits when he sucks *cough DDR* 

SO ANYWAY! Since for everyone who isn't in television has a holiday today I will entertain you with some of my favourite things!

My New DSLR camera: Okay so it's brand new so I'm not even sure it's my favourite yet, BUT it's really fun and exciting to have a GREAT camera. Sadly, I have forgotten everything I learned in photography class...so I have to muddle my way through figuring it out.... My notes don't make ANY sense either. 

Zevia sodas (all natural and so yummy) • Nintendo DS • Playing Tekken with David • Final Fantasy VIII • baking • potlucks! • Sunshine • getting tons of things done in one day • crafting • watersports • Yogi tea • scones • grilled peanut butter and chocolate sandwiches • Stat pay! • Awesome regular bus drivers

We are having a big work potluck in a little bit....I heard rumours of a Winnie the Pooh waffle maker! Excitement!

What do you hope August brings?

Garden is growing!!

Well! Not posting about the garden for a month really gives it time to grow!!!!

Sunflower is really getting up there :D

I went to go wrap the beans around a stick to grow up and look what I found!! BEANS!!!

Grapevine goes up!

So happy to see green on the Christmas tree

I left the lettuce for a white and it really grew! The spinach is still a write off :(

The broccoli appears!! Still little but I love that things are happening!

First little tomato!! We have a cherry tomato plant and the big tomatoes. Very excited!

Nothing much happening with the strawberries....just more leaves.

I thought I took a photo of the the lone surviving cherry tomato plant and the basil...but I guess not. They are both doing well :) 

It's been quite a learning curve for the garden. It needs a good weeding this weekend.

On another note, we're back using SPUD! Last time I ordered from it I just kind of went pellmell and ordered random things which ended up being few items and a lot of money. But SPUD is a sponsor for the Low Car Diet and they sent us a free box of fresh produce. I then discovered I can order just a box of produce, which is exactly what I want to do! Our lives have also changed and we have become those people who don't have time to run up to the store and get fresh stuff! So now, we'll get it delivered each week and just use the rest of the bulk things we get a Costco each month.  I'm really excited!!! I've been missing my vitamins and minerals 

End of July!?

That's just not fair. Summer started in Vancouver YESTERDAY and the season is half over?! Not cool Zeus....Not cool.

Hopefully August isn't such a jerk...

The Low Car Diet starts today! I think I get my starter kit today so I can commence with recording my adventures to shape into awesome vlogs...or so I envision. Either way, very excited to get this thing going. Make sure you're keeping up with Team Vancouver. You're definitely going to want to vote for us at the end :)

I find myself dragging my feet this morning. I hate garbage day. You put out the recycling and at 2 am, can people think that is the best time to rummage through everyone's bin and take what they please. I don't really care if you are taking my bottles and cans. Fine....TWO AM!? When everyone is sleeping and the only sound that jars us all out of our happy state is you and your bottles rattling through our bins!? It's infuriating and compounded by the fact that I can't do anything about it. Just come back tomorrow BEFORE the truck....don't YOU sleep? What are these people doing up at 2 am...

Anyway...mild rant because I'm so tired because of Bottle Billy making noise last night. Annoyed.


Let's turn this around shall we!

Monday FAAAAAVVVVEEESSSS

Margaritas in a bucket • A full nights sleep • The sun • picnics • Lazy Sundays • Timbits • Cracked.com • Sunscreen • swimming in the lake • Letter mail • sports • X-men • Farmer's markets • being warm (which I am NOT right now) • Peanut butter • Keen's • Street festivals • Giant Goldfish crackers (why bother with the little ones!?)

I'm freezing cold right now...the AC is always cranked to full in my edit suite...I hate that I want a snuggie so I can work and be warm...:/

I'll have my Harry Potter post in the coming weeks...when it's all good and outdated. I've picked up the book again so I can further detail the many reasons why I didn't like it...but don't worry, Prisoner of Azkaban the movie will always be the worst :)

Low Car diet!

So perhaps you remember my post from March about Zipcar, the awesome car sharing company we use. Well I've been selected for a very exciting event with The Low Car Diet!

Basically, it's a challenge in the big Zipcar cities. There are teams of 3 or so and the challenge is go to use alternate methods of transportation for a month! There will be lots of vlogs and tweets and updates on how it goes! It's really exciting. There are a lot of sponsors to help us too! Launch Cams is providing us with little helmet cams so we can document our adventures. New Balance gave us some shoes, YYoga, Steve Nash Fitness World, Travelsmart,  Logmein and SO much more (I get the rest of the start up kit Monday so I'll find out what other goodies there are then)

I'm really excited to get started! I don't think it's going to be a radical change from the life I'm currently leading. We got rid of the car last fall and so have been Zipping, bussing and biking since. But I'm excited to share with people just how EASY it is to live without a car. We really have never looked back about getting rid of the Enterprise, and have no plans in the near future to get a new car. Although, it's thanks to Zipcar that when it IS time for a car (a couple kids might make that a must) we know we want to get a Prius, which is our favourite Zipcar to drive!

Also, at the end of the month, the public gets to vote on what team they want to win the grand prize (and it's a really awesome prize....so please vote for Vancouver!!!)

So make sure you stay tuned to that website for all the updates, follow my Twitter for all the recent news, and watch for the hashtag #lowcardiet to see how everyone else is doing!

Also, if you are interested in joining Zipcar, scroll down until you see the little badge and you can get $25 in free driving for joining through me!

Manic monday!

I know! It's been a while since a Monday post!!! Yay! I also went ahead with a new template. What do you think? Pretty simple, but I feel like being simple right now!

I'm sure you're all wondering how my triathlon went!! Yes you are. David took some photos via Instagram. I'm hoping we can get a really GOOD camera soon...then he won't be taking photos with his iPhone all the time.

The SWIM!

The swim portion was easy for me. I swam for more than half my life competitively. I was the 4th fastest time and it gave me a massive lead over the others.

Getting ready to cycle

I lost a lot of time here. People who finished the swim after me caught up and passed me here. I learned that if I want to keep doing these...I need a tri-suit. The cycle was meh. I'm not super great and it was tough after swimming. There was a good incline which sucked. But I didn't get passed by too many people so yay!

The finish!

The run was TOUGH. I am not a very good runner to begin with (why I keep doing it I'm not sure...) but having swam and then biked before this made it hard. AND I wasn't allowed my iPod...which is what gets me through runs! So I sang to myself the whole time! Strangely enough I came in at my usual 5k time...which is BAFFLING to me....I feel like I went so slow! But go me!

We earned these bottles!

This was probably the biggest challenge I've ever done, and the greatest thing I've accomplished. I'm really glad I had a friend doing the race too. I signed up before her, but when she heard I was doing it she was in too...which is awesome! It was fun to have someone to train with. Actually she came first in our age group and second overall in the women!!! She's GOOD. I hope she keeps doing them! I might keep doing the short ones...but I think I would make a great part of a team in a triathlon. My swim is awesome! It was also amazing having David right on the sidelines cheering me on. Literally right there. He actually ran with me from the swim to cycle transition. All day long he kept going on about how proud he was of me and smiling. I could tell he really meant it and that made me so happy :D!

Since it's Monday I will give you some faves! I had some great posts planned before my hard drive bit it so I'll try to get back on track with those soon :)

Monday faves!

Being a triathlete • my sweet new water bottle and shirt from the tri • post race day eats • Coke Zero • frozen yogurt • bike sleeves! • my new bike • where I live • music • eBay • thrifty shopping • supportive in-laws! (it's fun sharing interests with them!) • the library • my hair

I saw the last Harry Potter movie yesterday. I was SO disappointed...what a let down...that is a WHOLE blog post of it's own though!

Did you see HP7 pt2? What did you think?

Delays

Yes it has indeed been quite sometime since a post. I'm sorry. I have a multitude of excuses, but I won't bore you with them! As a consolation prize, I've uploaded new photos to our Shutterfly Share site :) I also think it's about time for a layout change...don't you?


I don't have garden photos for today. Not toooo much is going on. The tomato plant finally has some flowers on it though! Soon they should be tomatoes! Very excited.

I have my triathlon on Sunday. Very nervous...hoping it will be easy (yea right). After that we are going to go see Harry Potter!! I don't think I've ever waited so long to see on..usually I go opening night or something. It's like torture!! But our schedule just didn't allow for us to go until Sunday! It should be a good reward for the triathlon.

On the somewhat subject of biking. I got a new bike!!! Yes finally! I'm very excited. It's quite different from the Fuji (AKA Daria) that's for sure.

Original ad? Fuji Finest Mark 2, circa 1980

As you can see, Daria is a racing bike. And until two years ago sat unused in my dad's garage. When he shipped it out to me, it even came with the bottle and pump featured in this photo (the bottle was pretty rank and the pump broke shortly after that) However, it was pretty much mint condition. It's slightly too big for me and somehow too small at the same time. It's really strange. Regardless, I was putting a lot of pressure forward when I was leaning on the drop bars and it was causing a lot of pain in my shoulder and back. Also, treating a racing bike like a commuter bike isn't very good for the bike at all. I recently had the entire gear system replaced so I wouldn't be killed in the middle of traffic (which was going to happen) I've added some accessories to the bike so it's not exactly as pictured here but close enough :)

Taaadaaaaa!

This bike is as of yet unnamed, considering I only got it yesterday. It's the Garneau Urbania 1.0 and  is obviously very different. Sitting upright on a bike makes me feel 12 all over again. This bike is the right size for me and as a result I can pedal standing up again! Also it has many more gears than Daria so hills are SO much easier. It still has thin tires which is great. I spent most of last night pimping out my ride. I also finally have a pannier rack! I'm very excited about this! Now I can carry things around! It's all shiny and new and yay! I'll try to get a photo of my exact bike in the future. 

The only problem now is space. David has his commuter bike AND his road bike (he wants to start getting into loooooong bike trips) and now I have my commuter and my racing bike (for all my triathlons.....*cricket*) and we don't exactly have a garage for 4 bikes. I'm sure we'll work it out...it's just annoying that there are three bikes being stored in our storage room that NO ONE is riding. Seriously. The layer of dust on these bikes should be criminal.

One thing I'll add before this post gets terribly long is that I have a new life mantra! (I'm actually not sure mantra is the right word....it's...just a new thing that I do...lol) I'm not paying full price for anything anymore! (Ok, by anything I mean most things)

Since moving to BC, I've gotten way more into the reusing portion of the 3R's. In the past, we've made a lot of our furniture purchases on Craigslist but it was limited to just that. It only recently occurred to me that you can find ANYTHING on there. There is just so much STUFF in the world that it's very easy to not buy new. Combined with thrift ships, consignment stores and general sales, it is SO EASY to not pay full price! Since the beginning of July alone I've saved nearly $500 buying used. I actually only yesterday discovered the wonder of consignment shops. I'm going to live in those from now on.

There are exceptions to this lifestyle. Food for one. I could do couponing and just shop the sales, but I don't have the patience for that. I need food to live. I don't need most of the things I'm buying used to live, hence why saving on those is good. Also exempt are things I can't find used!! I'll generally look for a while, give it a good time to have new items pop up online or scour in case I missed something. Otherwise, it's off to the shop! But so far so good! It's pretty exciting actually. Who doesn't love a deal!

Do you like to shop used?

BUSY weekend!

I bet your thought Sunday was the only busy day I had this week.

NOPE!

Monday we took Daisy to Stanley Park. We've been wanting to do this for a long time and finally we had the time and the drive. She had a BLAST. So much to smell and run and see.

She was observing ducks for potentially the first time.

She had so much fun playing with the ball and running and playing in the ocean. We've found she hates water. She will walk around puddles and hide under the umbrella on rainy days. But once she's wet she doesn't seem to mind it as much...she doesn't like waves though. Those scare her and it's adorable.

Because we let her run pell mell she needed a bath when she got home. And that's when David snapped THE cutest photo of her I have ever seen

She's just so innocent and adorable!!!

So that was a busy Monday. Yesterday we adventured into new territory



Like a fish to water.

 We went climbing with some friends of ours! David was amazing. He went right to the top on his first try! And he really liked the bouldering. I'm thrilled he's found something he likes other than sitting on the couch all day. He worked really hard.

Learning to boulder

Me not so much. I'm not as good as he is for several reasons so I didn't do as much climbing, but I'll work on it. After this we hit up the pool. Okay, I hit up the pool and David hit the hot tub. Turns out I'm not in the swim shape I used to be, and I'm gonna have to swim A LOT more before the triathlon!!

After all that we went to THE most amazing chinese food restaurant I have ever been to. Dinesty in Richmond, we'll be back.

What did you do this weekend?

Bye Bye June

Did we just say bye to May? Sadly it's still not very nice here. The weather seems to have a two days of summer 10 days of winter thing going on. It's annoying! I want to wear my summer clothes!

My 5k fundraiser run went ok. Not as well as I'd hoped, but good to know I need work before the triathlon. I'm getting pretty nervous about it actually. I'm not going for speed, just for finishing, but I also don't want to come in 5 hours later. I won't, but I will be tired! I'm looking forward to a big breakfast after lol.

My bike broke on Thursday. The shop we went to (a fancy racing bike store) said there was nothing to be done and that it was too old. So then we went to a mom and pop fix it shop and guess what. All better. I got a new chain, dereilleur and rear cog for less than $100 bucks, and it runs all shiny new now...it's no longer a death trap. I'm still going to get a new bike for communting and quit treating the racing bike as a daily bike...but it's proving pretty difficult...apparently in the world of biking I'm super mini! It's hard finding a midget bike for me. Everything is too big. :(

I'm a little sore from yesterday. It basically went like this:

Bike to the run
run 5k
bike home
stop at home for lunch and a cat nap
bike to bikefest (learn that we are a day late for said fest)
bike to MEC
bike home from MEC
walk around Greekfest

Yes. I think I earned my little soreness and will take it easy today. I think taking Daisy to Stanley Park sounds good. Tomorrow we are going indoor rock climbing and to the pool for some training! I am looking forward to the hot tub at the end of it!


MONDAY = FAVE THINGS

Getting close to finishing projects! • Enjoying what little sun we get • Mani/pedis • insurance benefits! • my fixed up bike! • shopping for new clothes ( I need to completely overhaul my wardrobe) • Not buying things new (I want to buy on sale/used from now on) • Sunscreen • Air-dried hair • pecan pie • book club! • my honeymoon ( I STILL miss it) • David being interested in doing a bike race (I'm more excited than him I think) • the mail FINALLY returning!! I can ebay again!!

Finally, to start your week off with cute

My little muffin was all tuckered out from the smells and sights of Greekfest. She kills me everyday with her cuteness.

Garden growing and going

My very delayed garden update.

My sunflowers got weedwacked by the neighbours :( I planted some new ones in a more safe place tonight

Pretty flowers...I really need to weed...I need one of those little gardening rakes

Beans! Soon they will be vertical!

The grapes are so leafy!

So much growth on top! But the bottom is still so dead.

The spinach has some growth.....

but in general they are not doing well :(

Lettuce is the best growing out of everything. I managed to kill the top right one though :( I accidently broke it in half when harvesting some. It grows so fast!

The chives are the only thing doing well. The basil never grew indoor or out..and the lavender MIGHT be growing. I'm not sure.

The cherry tomatoes and peppers seem to be going the way of the other two :( Not good.

Strawberries are doing ok I think. I'm impatient for some berries!

The broccoli is SO leafy but nothing yet

This  tomato plant is out of control!!! Not tomatoes yet....so I have no idea how much bigger this will get.

The onions....I assuming these are doing well.

I feel 60% successful with the garden so far. I suppose if stuff will stop dying and food starts appearing I will feel better about it all.