Tar Wars Episode Two

So I had my plans all ready to vacate the premises yesterday while the paving crew got busy (not that kind of getting busy!!) in front of my condo...but all for naught! They never showed up! I assume it was because two large Aluminum Associates trucks were parked out front of our fourplex because our condo corp. is also installing new sliding patio doors in every unit.

I moped around all day because they were installing patio doors near my unit and I really really hoped they'd get to my condo yesterday...again, no such luck! Not a good day to buy a lottery ticket.

Anyhoo I woke up nice and early to an earthquake this morning...oh no... that was just the asphalt truck - every time it dropped a bunch of asphalt I could feel the house shake and things going "tinkle tinkle" in the cupboards.

Hard at work!

What a feast for the senses! Tinkling, nasty odour, clanging and banging of the trucks - at least I didn't have to touch it! So I headed out for some shopping and meditation (great combo no?) - by the time I got back they were finished. Tomorrow the lines and numbers will be painted and all will go back to semi-normal. I imagine tomorrow or Thursday I'll be getting the patio doors installed as they are one unit away from me. I think that's it for improvements for this year.

Not hard at work! Coffee break! 

All done except for lines and numbers!

In other news...I've been hoping and praying for a good thunderstorm to clear the air around here - I'm sitting in my condo with the central air on and my skin is still "dewy". That's not as pleasant as it sounds.  Driving around today I thought my prayers had been answered as the sky grew darker and darker!

Yes, I'm driving around the city taking photos through the windshield! Talk about a great hobby! By the time I got to Shoppers Drugmart their parking lot was dampish. YES, I thought - the rain is on its way!!! Better be quick so I don't get caught in the storm!! A few minutes later I leave Shoppers and the parking lot was dry!! CRAP!! We received about 15 seconds worth of rain!!

My skin is still dewy. Not from the rain.

IT'S NOT FUNGUS HURRAH HURRAH!!

It was as I thought - a blister under the toenail. I might lose the nail but then again I might not. However, toenails grow so slowly it'll be awhile before I know either way. As long as it's NOT FUNGUS I am a happy camper!

Well, happy until I look at my budget this month. I've been pointedly ignoring it the past couple of weeks and it hasn't been doing too well on its own. Don't ever leave your budget to look after itself...just sayin'...

Is March like the longest month of the year? It's only the 13th today for Pete's sake! Already I've transferred small amounts of money from savings into chequing to cover things...possibly but highly unlikely I might have $$ at the end of the month to put back into my savings but I'm not getting my hopes up too high.

So what has the misc budget been spent on so far this month??

• my lovely new Merrell hiking sandals shown above around half-price $66.00 (includes taxes) I'm somewhat optimistic that spring, summer and fall WILL OCCUR at some point this year and when they do I'll be ready!! These give me an alternative to my hiking boots - I might even be able to wear them occasionally when hiking Hadrian's Wall when/if the weather is nice. At the very least I can wear them each day after hiking to give my feet a break! I just started wearing them around the house and I feel as though I have nothing on my feet. 
• expensive eye drops and omega 3 vitamins to combat "dry eye" syndrome (I'm so tired of winter and it's effects on my body!!)  $32.00
• some household things from Dollarama (oh...and candy!) $17.00
• load my Timmy's card - $15.00
• income tax software - $21.00
• donation to help bring Nate home  $20.00
• truck repair $11.00
• movie $10.00
• utilities (I underestimated both my electricity and natural gas - damn winter!!) $15.00
• Ancestry.ca membership $192.00 (I swear this gets more expensive every year!)
• Take-out food from Hong Pings $43.00
• Wine - $20.00
• Giant Tiger (jacket & chocolate bar) $32.00

That comes to a total of.....$494.00. I have $306 left in misc for a total of $800. Since my misc budget is set at $600 that means I've pulled $200 out of savings. I still have over 18 days left in March!! Yikes! I am REALLY going to try to make many of those NO SPEND DAYS!! 

The good news is I received over $800 in interest payments this month and am anxiously awaiting my tax refund to be deposited (over $1200). These monies will all go towards travelling this year. I have possibly 4 trips in the offing from a 4 day weekend to 2 weeks in England.  AND I'm hoping to buy a trailer soon. 

Bye bye money!!

Anyone else having an expensive month?

It's the Little Things in Life...

...that annoy me!! This has been a week of getting those little annoying jobs done. I've been working away at my list and while it's getting shorter I keep thinking of more things to add to it. Grrrr...it seems like the to-do list never really gets to-DONE!!

So far this week I've changed the furnace filter - Luna and I have been sneezing a lot so I thought perhaps there's too much dust in the air? But it needs to be done on a regular basis anyways....
*(Luna has not sneezed once in the past two days...so success??)

Then I returned a pair of Icers to Lee Valley for a refund:

I've worn the "icers" over my hiking boots several times since I purchased them in November and haven't enjoyed the experience. No matter how I adjusted them the toe straps would end up coming off and I'd be trailing one or both icers behind me. They are also heavy and clunky and I think may have contributed to my sore hip. Happily I received a full refund even though I was over the 90 day return policy. I didn't say a word about it and thankfully neither did the cashier!

**(Just so you don't think I'm in danger of sliding off into the ravine here's a picture of my hiking boots - the very amazing Lowa Renegades. I've worn them without Icers on many occasions over snow and ice and find they work very well on their own. Look at that tread!!)

Another nagging errand that's been hanging around for awhile involved a gift I received at Christmas. Kazi bought me several hand towels and wash cloths in "Anchor Grey" from Home Outfitters. Just what I wanted! (she can take a hint hint) But when I washed them prior to using one of the hand towels frayed around the edges. I dutifully went to exchange it but they were out of stock and gave me a gift card. So yesterday I gave them a call to see if they had them in stock now. (after 2 months - see how long I can procrastinate??)

After being transferred a few times and then ultimately cut off (!!!) I managed to reach a real person who set aside a hand towel for me. Well wouldn't you know it came to $2.62 more than the value of the gift card??  Hmmmm...yes, it was on sale originally and now it wasn't!! NOT MY PROBLEM!! The cashier saw it from my point of view (I can be persuasive when I need to be!) and after keying in a discount or two I left with my new hand towel. It sure better not unravel!!

Another odd little errand I had involved this:

I don't know if this will amount to anything but I found an old roll of 35mm film in a drawer whist rummaging for something else. I'm very curious to see if there's anything on it. I can remember when I started using a digital camera - Kazi and I went to Nova Scotia for a highland dance competition when she was 15. Now she's 24 so this roll of film is at least 9 years old! I don't want to get too excited about this but I'm seeing a potential Christmas gift for Kazi (my main photo subject!!)!! Keeping my fingers crossed!  Oh, and by the way...Walmart doesn't do "film" anymore but Shoppers Drugmart does!! But not quickly...

My exercise chart in the sidebar has been updated - "due to weather beyond my control" I've biked inside for the last two days. Today, however, the sun is shining and it's a balmy -2c so after I have lunch I'm going for a hike along the river!! March Mojo Madness continues!!

Spring is in the air!!

Famous last words!!

Have you had any odd, annoying little errands/jobs to complete lately?

Caribbean Gala

The weekend was good. Enjoyable, memorable, some funny funny moments and the sadness was minimal. Though I would give a great deal to have some motivation, some pep, some inspiration and not feel so dang lazy. It'll come. If not then I'll read a lot of books! 

Anyhoo on Friday night I went to a "Caribbean Gala" put on by the hospitality students of Fanshawe College. A friend of mine works in that department and organized two tables for her family and friends. It was amazing - the large room was festively decorated and a steel drum band played for us. 

Can you imagine Christmas music played on these steel drums? Apparently it can be done!  I have to admit though that after an hour or two all the songs sounded the same and I would have been ok if they'd taken a break once in awhile!! Enough already!

The menu was SEVEN courses and that didn't count the appetizers!! I was full by the soup course (which followed the variety of caribbean breads, the Jamaican patties, the shrimp salad and preceded the main course and the two desserts!!)

This dessert was pineapple cake with coconut icecream topped by chocolate palm trees!

 ...followed by a side dish of one very cute kitten!!  Okay, just accept the fact that every post will contain at least one kitten picture!!

I did a little Christmas shopping on Saturday. Shoppers Drug Mart was offering more $$ per points spent this weekend so I paid only $32 for my bill of over $100, so that's Kazi's stocking completed. I'm pretty close to being finished my shopping for this year. Which is good news considering I have a dental appointment tomorrow and I no longer have benefits. December's money has to STRETCH a little further than usual.

Today we hiked along the Thames and came across an interesting sight...no, it's not a mushroom!

Erosion is taking its toll - yesterday this area was under water...

 ...and the usually gentle Thames is on full boil!!

This is a chapel near St. Peter's Seminary seen through the leafless trees- it made me think of England.

 It was a dark and dreary day, though very mild. Tomorrow it's back to 0c BUT sunshine is back in the forecast for the first time in at least a week! SUNSHINE!!! Wheeeeee! That'll perk us up!  Maybe I'm not sad, maybe I just have S. A. D. 

The Wacky World of Weather

I didn't think to take any "weather" photos yesterday but then it would have been near impossible what with the constant downpour and heavy winds. 

Anyhoo, it would have looked like this!

And I was a little busy once I found that the living room was drenched because I hadn't closed the patio doors. Did I say drenched..... I think I meant soaked. I was busy wiping up floors and furniture and now have a lovely display of wet towels draped around the house. I may have to run the dryer as nothing hanging up is going to dry today. Silly me. I was sitting high and dry by my bedroom window glad I was safely indoors and thinking "boy, that wind is strong" all the while not realizing that strong westerly winds were blowing in through the patio doors. 

Oh well, it could always be worse. 

Here's what southwestern Ontario looked like all day yesterday. And today. Can I just point out however, that I am brilliant (accidentally) when it comes to "timing" - I pulled into my parking space yesterday just as a few little drops started appearing on my windshield. By the time I got myself and my packages into the house all HELL broke lose!! Dodged that one...sorta....Today it's only 13c!! Once again I am sitting by an open window and the breeze is freakin' COLD!! 

However....not quite THIS cold!! This is Alberta where winter arrived in summer! They've had over 6 inches of snow and it's still coming down and so are the tree branches. It's a mess out there and I'll take thunderstorms any day over snow.  Which is a good thing I guess since more thunderstorms are forecast and are heading eastward to all my maritime family and friends! 

Watch out!  You're welcome!

Dear Diary:

Brrrrrrrrrr! It's been a long time since I've seen the sun shine and my head is starting to feel the effects of that loss - pound, pound, pound. It's a whole +13c with more rain forecast for today but at least it's not snow like in Alberta.

I got a good bunch of my shopping done yesterday before the rain shut everything down. I went out to MEC and found 2 good pairs of hiking pants - one was on sale and was for "short" legged people like me. Then I found 2 long-sleeved tops, both on sale :) I also purchased 3 pairs of sock liners which worn under hiking socks is supposed to absolutely prevent blisters. I seem to have a major fear of blisters probably due to the fact that I seem prone to getting them. And I bought a "platypus" which is a flat plastic container for water which takes the shape of a bottle when filled. Easy to pack. 

Then off to the Bulk Barn where I purchased cashews, almonds, dates, peanuts, hazelnuts and chocolate covered ginger. Plus a box of CLIF granola bars and a whole bunch of carrot/apple/ginger thingies (like the fruit leathers I used to buy for Kazi before the dentist told me they were the worst things for children's teeth EVER!! (I mixed all the nuts, dates and chocolate covered ginger in a huge bowl and then filled 14 sandwich sized plastic bags. This is my trail food and quite possibly my lunch. My plan is to eat the free traditional English breakfast and then use my trail food to get me through til supper. I need more ways to get "ginger" into my day (for pain relief) so I may take some ginger tea bags and hopefully I can make a tea at the B&Bs I stay at. 

After that was Shoppers Drug Mart to pick up an item for Annie and a couple of things for myself - they had little first aid kits on sale for less than $4.00!! so I bought one for my backpack.

Lastly was Walmart where I bought a long sleeved black top for $7.00 (it's all about layering!) a travel purse (strap goes cross body so that the purse part hangs safely in front) to hold my passport, boarding pass etc - don't want to be rifling through my backpack. Also bought a luggage tag, got a new watch battery as I'll be checking my watch a LOT to make sure I'm on time for the train, tube, plane etc. Also bought 2 sizes of plastic bags to hold my trail food and other items that I'll want to keep dry (daily maps) and to put things in that might break in my suitcase - hydrogen peroxide etc. 

Figured out with the help of google last night how to change the resolution on my camera so I can take more pictures but will also buy another SD card just in case. The one I have is 4g but I think I'll also get an 8g. I'm not a shopper, I'm a picture taker and my worst nightmare would be running out of space on my camera for more photos!!

All that's left to do is lay in supplies for Tisky and get the SD card for my camera. Oh, and laundry...and packing...:)