2015 or BUST!!

I'm glad a new year is coming up soon - hopefully it will give me the fresh start that I desperately need.

Christmas was good - Kazi wishes we were a bit more exciting I'm sure but it is what it is.  She had a rough Boxing Day working retail and ended up coming home early with a migraine. "Worst Christmas Ever" were her exact words I, believe!

We spent Christmas Day with my two brothers, my sister-in-law, my nephew and his wife and my great-nephew. Kazi made her world-famous guacamole and it was gobbled up by everyone- she should have made twice as much! There were more treats than we could possibly eat and then we had a huge traditional turkey dinner!! Oh my!

Here's Ollie playing with his favourite toy of the day - a remote control dinosaur complete with many sound effects including FARTS!!  No wonder it was his favourite!

 The dinosaur's eyes glowed a variety of colours indicating his mood - green is good!

We had a good time opening gifts - I received a gift card for Indigo Books (PERFECT!!), a book about David Bowie (my nephew knows my musical interests) for my "reading nook", another very special book about my dad's navy days put together by my oldest brother, leg warmers!! (the last pair of those I owned was in l982!!), a metal lantern with decorative holes to let the light of a candle glow through and the notes that my mother wrote for her novel about an Inuit boy. These were greatly appreciated as I have put some "writing time" into my schedule for the new year!!

My oldest bro checking out a gift - not sure what it is?!

My nephew - giver of the David Bowie book :)  He's a pretty cool "hipster dude" and works as a graphic artist.

My beautiful daughter - she's wearing one of the tops I bought her at Topshop in Norwich, England! I was a little worried as she has very particular tastes when it comes to jewelry and clothing but she liked everything I got her, even the Icelandic wool socks! Phew!

She gave me a necklace, an infinity scarf, grey hand towels and washcloths for my upcoming bathroom redecorating and other stuff I cannot recall at this moment!

There's my other brother, squinting as he is wearing his glasses over top an eye patch he's still wearing after his surgery for a detached retina. His vision is slowly recovering.

Dino nuzzling up to my sister-in-law's shoe - she better be careful as his mood can change at any moment...

 ...as you can see in the next photo!! Hang on Gord - we'll get him off your nose!

We didn't stay TOO late as most of us get cranky if we don't hit the hay at our usual time!! On Boxing Day I called my two sisters who live too far away to join us on Christmas Day. NO SHOPPING!! Then I decided, since it was +8 outside, I would go for a walk and thought I'd add a bit of a challenge by strapping this light weights around my ankles.

See? However, it wasn't the best idea in the world as I pulled a muscle in my butt while walking!! Well, I assume it was while I was walking - it didn't start to hurt til a couple of hours later. And I'm supposed to hike tomorrow! Hmmppff!

So I'm either using a donut pillow to sit on from my "bad back" era or standing at the kitchen counter to use my laptop. Fun, fun, fun! Therefore, I'll be taking it easy today - I have some cooking to do while I listen to Kazi yuck it up while watching "The Interview" - the movie about the North Korean leader that was initially banned, then offered for limited viewing at a few theatres and on youtube.  It sounds pretty funny judging by the amount of laughing going on!

That's a wrap for today. I'll be sharing my new 2015 budget with you soon as well as goals for the New Year. I don't make resolutions as I just can't stick to them. The good news is I ended the month in the BLACK with almost $300 left in my chequing account - I'm impressed! That will get socked away into savings!!

Do you have SAVINGS goals for 2015?