That is welcome news, Dorothy! And what a difficult job - having ice cream as a reward for the hard work is the least you can do!

I agree about thrift stores - when years ago it seemed like much of what was there was heavily used but still had some life in it, now many things have clearly never been used. I have filled out sets of glassware by visiting various Goodwills and Salvation Army stores in the area. Never make a special trip, just stop in if I'm in the neighborhood.

One eBay item out of the house today and a couple of others have watchers. I need to have enough things listed so a steady income comes in. Now if I sell one thing, but then end up at the grocery store spending the same amount, it feels like they just cancelled each other out. The trick is to be constantly selling and building the PayPal account. I use PayPal to pay for quite a few things, don't even bother to transfer to the bank first. It's great for things like paying for online USPS postage.

Dorothy, I'll put another photo of that home-made awning up on facebook so you can get a look at it. The tarp came from Harbor Freight and they always have 20% off coupons around (you can print them from the site online also). If there isn't a store in Canada, next time you're in the US, it's a great place for a number of everyday tool-like items.