Weekly Wrap

News Beat:
That's another week gone by. We had quite the mixed bag of weather this week ranging from gorgeous sunshine (got outside for brisk walks with my students) to today's football weather - cold, wet and muddy! The good news though is my school's football team won their semi-final game so Go Crusaders!

On the financial front: wayell (that's my southern accent attempt) I didn't keep that $20 dollar bill in my wallet but I still have two $5.00 bills so I'm only half disappointed...nah, who am I kidding? I'm over the moon to get through a week and only spend $10.00! (that was for my one weekly beer after my volleyball game on Wed. and Red Roaster coffee that I drank at the local library while using their wireless internet on Thurs. The other 3 days were no spend days - woot!  I think I'll just pop that $10.00 into my Crofters Lane jar and start myself off with a new crisp $20.00 bill for the coming week - that puts a big smile on my face! That's $10.00 closer to my next summer's trip out to PEI! =)

My heating bill (natural gas & I also have a gas dryer and hot water heater) was $25 under budget so I added that $25 to my misc spending which now sits at a robust $280 (that's for the rest of Nov.) I took the $152 I would normally pay for property tax (but have a holiday this month and next month as I am on a 10 month payment plan) and socked it into my Christmas fund and now have enough to book my DD's and my annual Christmas trip to Toronto. 

It's a Mirvish package deal - we are going to see Rock of Ages (love story set to the music of the 80's - Don't Stop Believin....), eat at a New Orleans style restaurant, stay at the very upscale Sheraton Hotel downtown, go see The Warrior Emperor and China's Terracotta Army  at the Royal Ontario Museum and shop at the Eaton Centre.  Well, my daughter will shop and I will hopefully resist the temptations that will surround me, make me weak, bend my will, torment me aaarrrrgggghhhhh!  BUT, if my DD wants to buy me a Christmas gift I'd be ok with that tee hee =)


My DP gave me an extra $100 this month for our budget and I immediately socked that away in the Emergency Account so hurrah for an extra payment towards that goal!

On the down side I find that the rental car I have uses more gas than my little Cobalt. Oh poo.  And I just got notice that my condo fees are going up by $25 in 2010 - pretty big increase:(

Heart Beat:
DD went back to her classes on Wed. & she should only have to have the cast on for a few more days. It was touch and go there for awhile as she attends the University of Western Ontario and the professors were in a strike position but managed to achieve a tentative deal by 3am Wed. morning. So between school and her boyfriend I haven't seen too much of her since Tues. night but we stay in contact by texting and I go into her room when she's sleeping and kiss her sweet cheeks (she doesn't even know:)

So far NO CHEATING on the BUY NO NEW CLOTHES pledge (yay me) and only a wee bit of cheating on the diet...ssshhhhh....don't tell anybody!!  Weigh in on Monday - eek! Here's how I cheated: beer on Wed. night (no it wasn't even lite beer), broken pieces of warm brownies that we made today at school to go with our lunch (well, I couldn't serve the broken bits now could I?), a couple of teeny tiny glasses of red wine mixed with some fizzy water...that's about it...hey that's not so bad:)

Whew - marathon post!
Cheers!

I'm Moving I'm Moving!

MCMom said in a comment yesterday:

"Just wanted to help you with a myth about that metabolism and getting older: the only reason people have a slightly slower metabolism when they age, is because they move less! You can totally have an impact on your metabolism by moving more!"

It's true...I don't move like I used to!

Michael - take me dancing!!

For now I'm moving on right out the door to my weekly volleyball game (to be followed by a beer?!?)

Every little bit helps! (Oh, and no cheating....so far....well except for the "lite" beer!) 

PASTA

My sister sent me the following diet - I guess she saw my post about wanting to lose a few pounds. I am wondering if it's legit...

Italian Pasta Diet....It Really Works



1. You walka pasta da bakery.


2. You walka pasta da candy store.


3. You walka pasta da ice cream shop.


4. You walka pasta da table and fridge.


You loosa da weight!

Hmmmm...so I'm guessing that the key ingredient (tee hee) of the Pasta Diet is the "walking"...they may be onto something here...

I, um, am definitely in need of more exercise so will clamber onto my stationary bike while I watch a rerun of Criminal Minds. Nothing like a good serial killer to get one pedalling faster, faster ahhhhhhh!

Seriously though (yeah right), I am attempting to follow the Calcium Diet which is aimed at women my age (over 40, away over 40!, menopausal) whose metabolism has slowed down allowing the pounds to creep on slowly over time.

I've set up my goal in the sidebar and will post any progress on Mondays - I think once a week is frequent enough though I will weigh myself everyday. 444 is on board for the weight loss challenge and hopefully Sharon if she can stop baking cookies lol!

Stay tuned!

Gail Vaz-Oxladej - Good Debt Bad Debt

The latest from Gail - my money guru!
http://gailvazoxlade.com/blog/archives/2266

Weekly Money Checkup

Here's a weekly money checkup from My Pretty Pennies that you can participate in. She posts 5 questions that have fill in the blanks for you to answer and post. It is a time for you to reflect and think about your relationship with your finances. Go ahead, try it.  I did and I'm glad I did - I just found out I need to track my cash expenditures more carefully!



1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on...I'm not really sure.  I just checked my budget and I withdrew $40 cash last week and for the life of me I can't remember what I spent it on.  Hmmm...hope I had fun!



2. Today I feel...ambivalent towards money, a sort of love/hate relationship I guess. Love to receive it, hate to part with it lol!


3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free/inexpensive thing I did last week that made me happy was ....hanging out at the Starbucks at our local Chapters bookstore with Michael.  I had one of those free drink coupons they give you they make a mistake in your order and I had been saving it until they were selling pumpkin spice lattes again. We took our laptops and used the free wireless internet, browsed through the bookshelves and enjoyed each other's company. 


4. I will consider this week a success if...I don't spend the $20.00 that is currently in my wallet.


5. If I could grow one thing, it would be ...wait for it...my HAIR. I used to have long wavy auburn hair, if you imagine that, but as it turned grey it became rather wiry hence the very short "do".

Snafoo or Human Error?

Through computer, or more likely, human error I have lost a post (and subsequent comments) that I wrote quickly yesterday that included this photo. NLA - you asked if I took the pumpkin picture in my header and yes I did. 

All the photos I use are my own except for ones I "borrow"  from a free photo website called Everystockphoto. 

Heartbeats:

• I wasn't going to mention this but since you folks are the best I will let you know that I ended up NOT going to the party last night. I drove my daughter to her boyfriend's house (first time she'd been out of the house all week) and when I got home I had a crying jag that left me feeling drained and exhausted. I'm sure most mothers try to keep themselves STRONG for their kids and for those single mothers, like myself, all the stress lands on our shoulders making traumatic events like my daughter's car accident even heavier. But eventually we can't hold it together any longer and last night was my night to "let it all out" while my DP, Michael, listened and loaned me "his shoulders" to lean on. Thank you my dear and thank you for making today a day just "for me".

• Today my oldest sister is on her way back to PEI for like me she has purchased a house and acreage over near Montague. She is going to supervise the building of a new red metal roof and get the paperwork all straightened out.  Wish I could go with you!

• Tomorrow Sharon and I are embarking on a ten pound weight loss goal - it's not too late to join us!

Weekly Wrap

Heart Beat:

Dear Daughter continues to improve. She had a friend over today and they worked on school assignments all day. Now she is relaxing with yet another Harry Potter book.  The pain is more manageable and she is sleeping better: she said to me yesterday that all she can do is keep telling the truth to whoever asks about the accident. While waiting is hard it's not nearly as hard when we're doing it together.

Financial Beat:

It's a wrap! The end of another loooonnnng week and for me, the end of the month. I get paid on the last day of the month and if it falls on the weekend then I get paid on the Friday prior making today - PAYDAY! Gee, it seems like it just was payday last week but it's been two weeks! Wow, time flies even when you're NOT spending money - what a concept!

I met my goals for this month - I paid down the line of credit by $1000 (plus the interest) and saved almost 30% of my income - $1400 (split between TFSA, Emergency and RSPs).  My Christmas/Birthday account doesn't get a weekly/monthly deposit as it was an afterthought and didn't make it into my original budget so it is the recipient of any extra money I can squeeze out of my misc., food and gas budgets. The past two weeks I didn't use any of my gas budget ($150) as DD and DP (dear partner) fed the car so that $$ went into the Christmas account.  I also slip spare change and whatever else I can wring out of an already squeezed dry budget into the Crofters Lane Jar as well as any snowflakes that come my way.

Today I spent just $88 of my next $250 for food as we are very well stocked and spent only $15 on gas for the rental. I'm not going to put much gas in it at a time as I don't know when I'll be returning it. No more news from the insurance company so the state of limbo continues. I'm a lot calmer about it all today - it's out of my control for now so will just have faith that it will all unfold as it should. I have appreciated the support and advice from you all.

November will be a "mystery month" for now as we wait to hear about the car. It will have some sort of impact on the budget and I will likely have to rework the numbers somewhat. To what extent remains a "mystery"! Just one more challenge to meet with humour and perseverence:)  The good news is that I don't pay property tax in Nov. and Dec. being on a ten month payment plan so that will be another $304 going into the Christmas fund which will almost bring me to my goal so YAY! for Christmas:) Other goal for November - start my 10 lb. weight loss goal - GO ME!