Mid-March Madness

Money-wise this has been a March like no other. Thankfully in a good way (mostly....) Somewhere along the way I made a $300 mistake in my budget...in my favour!! How often does that happen? Usually never right? Occasionally I make an error in adding or subtracting on my budget sheet and of those errors about 98% of them are NOT in my favour! Most times the mistake is under $50, usually less than that. Am I looking to figure out how I made the $300 mistake? Ummmmm NO! - I'm crossing my fingers I can get to the end of March with that error intact! Counting the days....

Between that $300 and my misc budget line I have almost enough to pay for 3 weeks of airbnbs in Scotland! No money taken out of savings! My goal was to spend no more than $1,000 (Cdn) for the 21 nights with my brother contributing the same amount. The final tally came to $818 (Cdn) each - EXCELLENT! (Works out to just under $40/night/person!!) I'd call that "extra spending money" except that the British pound is going up up up while the Cdn dollar is going down down down. The savings on accommodations will hopefully cover the extra we'll have to pay to buy British pounds (or poonds as the Scottish say...)

So all is booked and confirmed. Though I had mega-problems with my President's Choice Mastercard. After booking several airbnbs my mastercard was frozen due to my making transactions out of my usual pattern. Okay then, I let them know I had a few more to book so this wouldn't happen again. Well, it did, after one more successful booking my account was frozen once again. Another lengthy ordeal on the phone..."there are 23 people on hold ahead of you....." all I can say is thank goodness for Paypal which I used instead! Sorted once again I assumed my problems were over. I filled in a "travel alert" so they would know when I was travelling and act accordingly.

On Thursday I met with my brother once again as we needed to book a night near Stirling and 3 nights in Glasgow. Guess what? You guessed it! Account froze again. Well when I finally got a REAL person I went up one side of them and down the other. I'm usually very mild-mannered but this was just TOO MUCH!! After getting sorted for the 3rd time they apologized and offered me 20 President's Choice points to make me feel better - I don't think he liked it when I laughed loudly and said "don't bother - you know that's only 20 cents right??"

So here's the thing - I think I need to switch to another credit card. I received NO notifications by phone, email or text about so-called suspicious activity. (You know the messages I mean - an unusual charge just happened with your credit card - if it was you please ignore this message, if it wasn't you please call immediately!) He couldn't believe that I hadn't received any such contact and did a search only to find I was right.  Stupid stupid man...

Have you ever encountered this problem? What am I doing wrong? Any recommended credit cards (remembering I live in Canad...) Grrrrrrrrr! The thought of having to switch cards irks me to no end!

Strange growths in Kilally Meadows!

After my daffodils popped up their heads we had a fair bit of snow and it got very cold again. I think they died as I don't see them now that the snow melted. Rats...

I've been checking almost daily but no activity in the nest yet. I thought I saw an osprey flying very high yesterday (I could see the wing shape) but it didn't go near the nest while I was looking. Soon!

Marching on....

I hate losing an hour. But I do like seeing the sun shine past 7pm - that was a treat yesterday. My daughter thinks spring is just around the corner..... if by corner she means the end of March then she could be right!! Until then we have lots of snow still in our forecast though on the bright side it'll likely melt quickly.

Kilally Meadows

Kilally Meadows

After going to our doctor, then sitting in emerg for 6 hours followed by another visit to our doctor Kazi was finally put on a round of antibiotics. She has been sick pretty much continuously since the Olympics started in February: extreme sore throat, body pain, fever, headache, congestion, cough etc. It has been a long hard slog but after taking 3 pills (not all at once!) she started feeling like her old self again. Or should I say young self. She missed a lot of work - first full days and recently half days BUT today marks her first full-time day at work in several weeks. What a flu season this year!! I really hope she's past it all now.

Kilally Meadows

Not a lot else going on around here - I've been on nurse duty all of this time and beside trips to the grocery store for SOFT food (yogurt, jello, broth, applesauce, popsicles etc) I haven't been doing a heck of a lot. When the weather has cooperated I've gone for long walks and went to my volleyball games. Last Thursday and Friday I spent mostly with my brother booking Airbnbs in Scotland which is quite the exercise in patience - accommodations are not easy to find in the highlands and we spent hours and hours searching and booking. We're pretty much set except for finding a spot in Glasgow for the final 3 or 4 days.

So what to do with my freedom today? Well I think I'll head to Kilally Meadows after doing my yoga. The sun isn't shining but I want to check the Osprey nest. They are due back by the end of this month though I've never personally seen them in March. But I won't see them if I don't check! I also want to see if all of the flooding has receded. When I was there last week most trails, maybe 75%, were no longer under water but the MUD - oh my!

Enjoy your day! Hope the sun is shining where you are. We are only 8 days away from the official first day of Spring!! Wheeeee!

Where's the Money at??

It's been a long time since I did a budget recap. As August rolls to an end it's time to close out this month's budget and look ahead to the fall.

The Good:

• My upcoming trip to Scotland (leaving Sunday!!) is fully paid for after I pay off my President's Choice Mastercard this week. 
• September 1st I'll be able to put $1,000 into savings once again - I haven't transferred a full $1,000 to savings since May as I was paying off my trip; booking trains, airport shuttle from London to Toronto, Airbnbs and so on. So it's nice to get back into my savings routine. I also paid $800 off of my Mastercard this month in addition to the $400 that will pay off the card in full over the next couple of days as my pensions get deposited. No consumer debt owing after that.
• I added nothing more to the Transportation budget line since my previous post! Next month there will be no deductions for car insurance or gas. There will be NO transportation costs for September as they are all paid for as part of my trip.
• Property taxes went DOWN from $158 to $139. I don't know why but I'm not going to complain!
• Utilities are at their annual lowest point - $34 for natural gas (heat, dryer, hot water tank); and $43 for electricity (central air, stove etc). It hasn't exactly been a HOT summer so the A/C didn't get used much. Again, not complaining!
• Used over $100 of my President's Choice points to purchase things needed for my trip (bandaids, lotion, toiletries etc) as well as groceries.

My favourite recent photo of Luna and Lily. Luna has one paw over her eye, in apparent disgust, as Lily sprawls below to lick her belly and nether regions!!

The Bad:

• Still had to pay car insurance for August but that's it for now! That money will now make its way into savings.
• The cost of internet went up by $5.00 monthly. I may shop around when I return.
• I've been buying a lot of odds and ends for my trip: I've ordered a special spray to renew the Gore-Tex waterproofing of my super duper rain coat. Should arrive on Wed., snacks, new water bottle, thrift shop clothing, bug repellent, midge-proof clothing and so on. Necessary expenses.
• Two of my siblings had landmark birthdays in August so there were gifts and cards to purchase.
• Reloaded my coffee cards - I have two. 

The Ugly:

• costs involved in trip to Bracebridge to see sister for her 70th birthday: $200 - my portion of Airbnb and gas. Another $200 put towards eating out and groceries. A wee bit of shopping. That's the only semi-UGLY cost for August and really it wasn't very costly and all planned in advance so it wasn't a surprise expense at all. 

Looking ahead to Fall:

I look forward to getting back into my fall/winter routine of volleyball, carving and genealogy research after September's trip is over. Kilally Meadows is really nice in the fall and I much prefer cool weather hiking to HOT so I hope to get out for a lot of hiking!! In November I will start receiving annual interest payments for several investments. Free money :) Anything extra like that goes right into savings. I'm considering less travel/more redecorating in 2018 but who knows, I may change my mind. It would make sense to travel while still relatively young and do renos and redecoration (hire someone) when I'm too old to hike around the world and spend more time at home. So I'm going back and forth with that idea. 

That's about it for now. Yesterday I cleaned and water-proofed my hiking boots and did a trial packing of my suitcase. All trip clothing has been laundered and rolled - I feel I have improved suitcase organizational skills and am trying to not make it too heavy. I won't be taking my laptop with me, just my iPad, phone and camera. I likely won't post on my blog but will try to post a daily pic to facebook - if you are not a Facebook friend of mine and would like to be send me a friend request. 

Jane Harrison - and the profile pic is a shadow picture of me. 

Okay, must continue to get organized...!

Out to Lunch

Thought i'd check in with you folks. Not sure what's going on with my laptop but sometimes i can't get capital letters using the shift key. The right one works and the left one doesn't so perhaps i need to clean under that key. i'll try to cope ;0

i'm having an interesting time in Bracebridge ontario, Canada which is four hours north of london where i live. one of my older sisters is turning 70 this month so my brother, my sister-in-law and i have come to celebrate with her.

my brother found us an old house to stay in through airbnb in a small village outside Bracebridge called utterson. it is VERY small - just a couple of houses and a takeout restaurant. The house, which used to be a general store has two bedrooms, a bathroom a kitchen and nice sized living room. it's been awhile since i went anywhere with my brother - the last time was when he and i went to pei to visit our other older sister. i booked the hotel for the way out (a best western with free buffet breakfast from which we were able to take enough food for lunch as well!) and he booked our spot on the way home - (a youth hostel with crappy bunkbeds, a dirty bathroom, no breakfast, no wifi and a TV in a common area. ) i was not impressed! The price difference was not enough to make it worth while but we survived...barely. Did i mention he's cheap?

But he did well this time and we are really enjoying our stay. i've taken pictures but haven't loaded any to my computer yet. our first day the internet wasn't working but we called the host and they rebooted the modum and all is well, obviously ;0

And that's my report for today. not terribly exciting - I'll try to do better tomorrow!

Victoria B.C. Time to Explore!

Whenever I travel now I book my accommodations on Airbnb. So far I haven't been disappointed. Victoria was no exception. The things I look for are: close to downtown but not TOO close, separate quarters from the owners, doesn't cost an arm and a leg, wifi,  a fridge and a corkscrew :)

This lovely setup met all of my requirements. It had a nice living area with a patio...

...a full size kitchen with all the needed appliances... (I stocked the fridge with yogurt and blueberries for my 3 breakfasts...)

...and it was on the main floor of a house with the owner and her two very quiet young boys living upstairs...

...a very comfortable bed and a brand new bathroom...no tub, but a really nice shower!

The location was St. Lawrence St. which was just a few blocks away from "downtown" Victoria. On this particular trip I needed a parking space too and there was a short driveway that was just the right size and was conveniently located next to the patio and patio doors so it was easy to carry things in from and out to the rental car.

It was a nice street with attractive Craft style homes with loads of flowers, shrubs and trees. The section of the street I was on was one way and very quiet.

At the end of my street, two blocks away, was a park that I walked through arriving at the Fisherman's Wharf. I could see clear across to the other side of the bay and watched the activity of the many boats and pontoon planes.

The harbour contains a "working wharf" which is very colourful and full of different kinds of businesses, not just the usual fishing boats.

This became my favourite place in Victoria and my friend Troy and I ate there on my birthday - I had seared tuna for the first time with a lovely chardonnay - it was so fresh and tasty.

It's a very busy place!

 

What I loved the best were the "floating houses"! There are 33 of them occupied year round. There was one for sale - if only I had a spare million lying around! Small living appeals to me very much, and living at the wharf year round sounds ideal.

Some are one story, most are two and many have a rooftop patio and garden. Some people operate businesses from their floating house.

This very colourful one appealed to my artistic side...

Piers become streets...

Most floating houses show the characteristics of the owners...

The green one has a nice rooftop patio.

There were many water taxis to help people get quickly to the other side of the bay...

 I continued on to explore downtown Victoria seeing a well-occupied fountain...

The HUGE Empress Hotel which I would have loved to explore but we weren't allowed...

The Parliament buildings were quite beautiful I thought...

A closer view of the Empress Hotel. If you book far enough in advance you can enjoy High Tea for about a million dollars.  (Now I need TWO million dollars!!)

Here's my high tea :)  After strolling the streets and taking in the sights I found a pub called "The Local" where I enjoyed a cold beverage and a quesadilla.

This is my view of the bay from "The Local" ...

...a different view...

 Remembering the dead in both World Wars...

 

A Sequoia tree that was planted in the late 1800's - it grows about one foot per year! Every Christmas it is loaded with lights.

You can see tiny people on the sidewalk beside the tree which shows how huge it is!

Parliament and First Nations going head to head - saving sacred land is an ongoing battle.

I saw this in a window of someone's home business - I couldn't resist!!

Lots of plants and flowers that I'd never seen before - beautiful!

And that was my first day - I travelled 3700 kms by Uber, plane, rental car and ferry and safely arrived at my first destination. Tomorrow I'll head to the west coast of Vancouver Island for hiking and exploring. The weather forecast looks great!

Fiscal Foto Friday

Here we are - it's Friday once again. And it's time to close out April's budget now that next month's money has magically appeared in my bank account.

Retire early if you can - it's wonderful! (Most parts of it)

I didn't do a weekly accounting post of my money in April - I knew it was going to disappear quickly and it did! But I had great times with relatives, I have a new thermostat installed (thanks JIM!) My sister and I found some great thrifting treasures, I bought new towels etc for my visitors, donated $50 to cancer, bought a plant for my sister-in-law when her mother died, bought some music from iTunes, spent $ at Michaels for decor items, bought an extra set of my dishes to replace inevitable breakage (50% off), paid for a prescription and got Dougie the Dodge in for an oil change. Phew!

I'd like to think that I can rein in my spending for May but I get to spend $108 (such a great gift for my birthday!! Thank you Ontario government!!) for a new license sticker for Dougie. Last year it was $98 and the year before that $75. Those are huge increases!!

Also I booked an AirBnB room in Dublin as I'm staying one more night at the end of our trip so that comes off my May budget. Booked and paid for. I really lucked out - the room is in a Victorian home right in the area I wanted. And she doesn't charge an exorbitant "cleaning fee" that a lot of the others were charging. I'd forgotten to book anything for that night so I feel fortunate to get such a nice place. A lot of places also want you to book for a minimum of 2 nights so again, I was lucky.

One year ago in photos...the weather was MUCH nicer than today! I'm getting a bit tired of the gloomy skies!

A gorgeous red trillium. Ontario's official flower is the trillium.

I was on a hike :)

Wild leeks!

Blood root

trout lily

Gotta go - a friend and some yummy Thai food awaits me!!