Weekly Wrap - it's only a towel folks, sorry!

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I'm just a wee bit late with my Weekly Wrap but who gives a rat's ass?  Surely not me. Things are going along fairly well, considering all that's happened over the past month. If I sound a little bitter it's because I AM! 
Ok, down to the facts - there's relief to be found in the facts.

1. Clean Diet - Can I just say, on the record here, that in the past month I have not eaten a single smartie? I am still drinking homemade juice from my juicer every morning; homemade vegetable soup of some sort for lunch (black bean this week) and a mainly veggie dinner - tonight I'm making veggie fried rice with egg and peas/carrots/onion/tomato. Can't wait! I give myself top marks in this category - no processed food, no pop, no gluten, very little dairy, very little meat. Instead of drinking coffee @ $2.00/day I am making my own "tea" at school from lemons and ginger root. For snacks I make airpopped popcorn and eat almonds.
2. Budget - I left myself in a bit of a bind for the last two weeks of January giving myself only about $200 to cover gas and food and misc. However, my fridge is FULL of fresh fruits and veg. With only myself to feed I will not need to buy any more food til my next pay day on the 31st. Not even then. I've put in some gas and my tank is 3/4 full. That will carry me through to the 31st no problem. Barring any unforeseen emergencies I should coast into my next pay day on the $$ I have left. (About $73.00) (Plus about $20 in my wallet)
3. $1500 shortfall in savings - Today I transferred $300 to my savings thanks to a reimbursement cheque from school. I have "found" $500 of the $1500 shortfall! YES!!
4. Cycling - Thanks to watching "Orange is the New Black" I am having no problems cycling 15km several times per week. That makes me happy!

 Have I said how much I love my local Asian store?? This is what $23.00 gets you there: 18 yellow peppers, a 10 pound bag of red onions, several cucumbers, potatoes, apples and tangerines, a big bag full of ginger and a container of turmeric, 6 lemons. Not bad eh?

And then I went to No Frills and found some awesome deals on the "old produce" stand - this stuff is at its peak of ripeness, full of juice and perfect to put through my juicer. Oh, I just love deals like these. 

I'll never beat Sluggy for deals - in Canada this is as good as it gets! 

Don'tcha Love Quickies?!

I have 7 minutes to write this post then my computer reboots. Yes, I'm at work.  It's still dark outside and sometimes at this time of the morning I feel like I'm the last person alive in the world. But I make a nice cuppa and put my new Billy Bragg CD in my computer (yes it'll stop playing also when the computer reboots - it's a system thing) that I received for Christmas. Not that I feel lonely, because I don't. I can't really remember ever feeling lonely - I like my own company quite a bit :)

I had a Low Spend yesterday. Kazi and I took our neighbour out for dinner, an annual event. We each had a gift card so the total left to pay was about $9.00 including tip. Pretty thrifty I think! I also bought $54.00 of groceries yesterday at our local Asian store. Bags and bags full of cauliflower, beets, carrots, spinach, celery, cucumbers, ginger, apples, etc etc etc. The fridge is stuffed and this morning I am drinking blood - well, that's what it looks like. I love adding a beet to my morning juice - it gives it such a brilliant reddish purple colour and makes the juice a bit thicker/heartier.

Ok, down to 2 minutes...hmmmmm...pressure's on to be quickly witty and humorous - ain't gonna happen! Going to my brother's SHED tonight - he's having the first annual "Stones in the Shed" night....oh crap....ran out of time...

Ok, back again. My brother has a shed/workshop where he creates birdhouses and occasionally holds a "shed night". He puts a flag out on his front porch and the local neighbourhood guys see the flag and show up in the shed for a night of craft beer and single malts. I guess tonight is a new and improved version of the "shed night" as we are supposed to bring Rolling Stones albums, 45s and one of the guys is providing a sound system to play them on. Add in drinks and snacks and voila!!
"Stones in the Shed" night. I am hoping I can keep my eyes open long enough to join in the fun - I have lots of Stones albums and even a 45 or two or three like "Hey You Get Offa My Cloud"!

I have every 45 collected by my 4 siblings and myself. I've carted them around to every house I've ever lived in, probably in the original box.

Well, better go. Friday is Fun Day around here so I'll wish you all a Happy Friday and hope you have some fun in your day too!

SNOW DAY!!

I was just talking to Kazi yesterday about what a gift a snow day is to a teacher. Our lesson plans are prepared and we are all set to go. Then when the schools are closed, LIKE THEY ARE TODAY, we can save those lesson plans for the next day....hence...NO PREP! But just so you don't think we teachers sit around eating chocolates and watching the soaps on a snow day I do have plans to finish my marking and do some research for my next unit - The Winter Olympics!

Here's the funny part, sort of. I managed to be sitting at my desk in my classroom by 6am this morning as usual. Yes, there was a foot of snow on my truck so I just went out earlier with a broom to clean it off. Yes, not all the roads were plowed so I stuck to the main roads. Yes, the parking lot at school was filled with mountains of snow but I managed to park my truck. Yes, the buses were then cancelled but I didn't think they'd close the schools. BUT, lo and behold, at 7am the school boards announced the schools were closed! So, silly me, I gathered my belongings and headed for home.

Now I have a chance to write a post, read the paper, leisurely work at my marking, shovel out my parking spot so it's not a mess for tomorrow and get some cycling in. I've changed into workout clothes so I can get 15km in on my bike. Life is good.

Challenges:
No/Low Spend - I am 4/6 (4 No spend days out of the 6 days of January) Well, it is only 8:17am but I'm not going to any stores today. We'll eat what we have on hand so I feel confident I can call today a No Spend Day.

Cycling - 15km yesterday after taking Saturday off. Will cycle another 15km today for a total of 60km so far in January. I'll try to aim for 300km this month.

5 Day Juice Fast - COMPLETED!! And I feel so much better. Good energy, alert. I am having a breakfast juice right now (beet, beet greens, carrots, celery, cucumber, ginger, grapes and a grapefruit. I also drink two mugs full of hot water laced with lemon and fresh ginger every morning instead of coffee. And I drink cold water throughout the day infused with lemon and cucumber. Yum.

How's the weather in your neck of the woods??

No/low Spend

I had a nice day today, I am happy to report. I got up a little earlier and went to have coffee with my brother Gord and sister-in-law Pat. We chatted for almost 3 hours! Then I went to my Asian grocery store as I needed more cucumbers for juicing and some zucchini for making Ratatouille.

While I made soup I listened to the World Junior Hockey Game (Canada vs Finland) on my laptop. I don't have cable TV anymore, just Netflix, so I listened to a live audiocast of the game. Unfortunately my team took a lot of really stupid penalties - like a 10 minute misconduct for a stick to the head of a Finnish player. We deserved to lose that game. Tomorrow Canada will play for bronze at 9am and guess who will be listening while she does her school prep?

Tonight I am going to see The Life of Walter Mitty with a girlfriend. I watched the trailer and it looks pretty inspirational - just the kind of kick in the pants I need.

So while I didn't have a NO Spend day I consider it all money well spent. I made a huge pot of soup that I'll take to school for lunch saving me mega lunch money. And I'll make coffee or tea at school instead of spending $2.00 daily at Timmy's.

For the price of a coffee I got to see family members and listen to my brother ramble on about birdhouses and motorcycle trips. And for the price of a movie I get to spend time with a girlfriend who understands my life right now.

So all in all I spent ($2.00/coffee + $12.00/vegetables + $9.00/movie) for a total of $23.00. No, I won't be having popcorn. This is Day 4 of my Juice Fast and I'm doing great! I've had two mostly green juices today (kale, chinese broccoli, celery, cucumber, carrots and a fruit thrown in to sweeten it up - blueberries in one and an apple in the other. Delicious. Really. I mean it.

I'm beginning to notice more energy and more clarity in thinking. And my immune system really needs the boost. One more day and then I move on to Ratatouille and a root vegetable stir-fry. Can't wait! I use potato, sweet potatoes, turnips and onions and believe me when I say it is sooooooo tasty!!

No time for biking today but that's OK. I was really feeling it in my knees today so I'll postpone til tomorrow. And I did do 16km last night. So, I'm on track for spending, on track for biking, on track for juicing and on track for getting out there and socializing.

Yup, a good day. Hope yours was just as good...or better!!!

PS - I never thought I'd say this but I just told Kazi to have fun at Bingo!! Now who's the old lady?!