1. Km. cycled - 80km!! Yay me, that's a very good number as my goal is 60km a week. I'm going to try cycling 20 km each time now instead of 15km. The only thing standing (sitting?) in my way are my poor old creaky knees. I need to remember I'm not 20 anymore (or 30 or 40!) and sometimes my knees need a break.
2. Days left til retirement: 168!!
3. No Spend Days in January - (I include days that I buy food and/or gas as they are necessities!) I am 8/12. I spent: $7.00 to go to a movie, $9.00 to take our neighbour to Swiss Chalet, $11 for a bottle of wine to take to the "Stones in the Shed" night, and withdrew $20 cash yesterday to cover the cost of a newspaper & a coffee whilst visiting with my brother and sister-in-law at the Red Roaster. I did buy a coffee today as well but I used a Tim Hortons giftcard that a student gave me for Christmas. So I have spent a total of $47 on purchases outside of paying bills, buying groceries and gas. That seems pretty thrifty to me.
4. Juicing: I juice once daily now and make enough for Kazi to have a glass too. I juice while making dinner and take it to school the next morning for breakfast. I'm feeling healthier and stronger by the day. At lunch I eat some sort of vegetable soup and for dinner I've been eating salmon, stir fry root veggies and salad. Today I'm making more soup and Aloo Gobi, an Indian dish made with potatoes, cauliflower (the vegetable of the year I'm hearing!) and peas. I lucked out and bought 3 packages of skinless, boneless chicken on sale at the Canadian Superstore today so will be eating some of that too this week.
5. Finding $1500.00 - I was reimbursed this week for some expenditures at school so I transferred $100 into my savings leaving me with a total now of $1300.00 left to find.
What a crazy week! As you know we had two days off at the beginning of the week. I was up at my usual time, 5am, ready and raring to go, then got sent home. Needing to do something with my energy and not able to go out due to snow and extremely cold temperatures I got busy, very busy, around the house.
What with all the renos going on around here the house has been a disaster zone for several months. On Monday I focused on the kitchen scraping the wallpaper backing from above the cupboards. I also cleaned out all of the cupboards and washed the cupboard doors. The pantry got cleaned out too. I washed all the floors and vacuumed and cleaned the bathrooms. I did about 10 loads of laundry and filled the truck with bags and bags for Talize (thrift shop) and took bags and bags of garbage to the dumpster. Whew!
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| New floor & clean cupboards |
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| New subway tiles - I love them! |
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| Removing the wallpaper backing |
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| Wallpaper all gone! Ready for painting. |
Then I had Tuesday as well! So I cleaned the laundry room and decluttered it - several more bags of garbage. I rearranged what was my bedroom and turned it back into the TV room. I am now sleeping upstairs in my former bedroom. I dusted, decluttered, organized the linen closet and my closet. I carried furniture from upstairs to the basement and from the basement to upstairs. Again, more bags for Talize and more bags for the garbage. I cleaned out the storage area under the stairs and now there is lots of room in there for the storage bins I've been filling with the things I want to keep.
And I finally did something I've always wanted to do - at the bottom of the stairs to the basement there is some extra space. Michael used it as a little office but I always wanted to make it into a cozy reading area. So I did! I put an antique rocking chair, footstool, some bookshelves filled with my remaining book collection and a lamp!
Wow. I was so impressed with myself. The only area needing attention in the basement now is the furnace room/workroom. If I can psych myself up I'll start it today after lunch.
This is not to say the basement will be completed. I still have to fill nail/screw holes and paint everywhere! And I'm considering replacing the cheap laminate flooring with something impermeable to water, either ceramic or vinyl. BUT almost all of the house now is usable. AND I know where everything is once again. There's still lots to do but at least we can now live comfortably in the house.
Kazi went to an interview on Thursday for a "big girl" job. It was with a great company and the interview went well but it wasn't what she wanted. Darn. So she's still looking and going to Australia is on hold for now.
Well better go, it's almost lunch time! What have YOU accomplished this weekend?
I am impressed with you too. I was exhausted just reading all the things you did.
ReplyDeleteI love subway tile too. I miss it from our old house.
You are so badass!
ReplyDeleteSent home from school 2x in one wk!
It is amazing what a determined woman can do.
All I managed to accomplish was buying just enough groceries so the kids don't start chewing on one another and casting on a new sock. You amaze me lady!
ReplyDeleteYou are such an overachiever! I fear if I had known you while in school we wouldn't have been friends b/c I am a slug....thankfully that wasn't the case, huh? lolz
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear the house is livable again and not all torn up. I only had 2 rooms torn up this year and could barely make it through the day.....not fun living in a reno zone, is it?
You are rocking that remodel and every hour of sweat you put into it will give you that much more in selling price!!!
If you are looking for something to do...I could do with a hand!
ReplyDeleteJane x
Good gravy lady slow down, you remind me of ME! It is scary.....
ReplyDeleteI'm on a mission, what can I say?
ReplyDeleteIn highschool I was the one climbing out of the window during french class to go get icecream at the local dairy bar. I'm sure we would have gotten along just fine :)
ReplyDeleteYes, I have the "garbage pile", the "donate pile" and the "yard sale pile"!
ReplyDeleteYou're right, determination is key!
ReplyDeleteBelieve me, I'm exhausted too lol!
ReplyDeleteI am trying to do a room a month, from top to bottom and getting rid of anything we don;t need or use. My living room closet was just scary. 3 bags of stuff off to st. vinnys. Plus I rearranged the furniture to make it more comfy and got rid of one of the end tables..just to much furniture in there.
ReplyDeleteHow did Kazi's interview go? And I am glad you made yourself a nice reading room. You deserve it :)