Pay Day and Sleep Deprivation

So I ended up depositing $$ from my formerly Sealed Pot to cover some forgotten expenses (against your advice as it turns out) but hope to replace it soon :(   Yes, woe is me. But I'd rather owe ME money than one of these guys...)

But it is kind of disheartening to take out in one fell swoop money that I'd been socking away over the past two months. But the bills must be paid.

I got into a bad habit while I was nursing my pinched nerve in January - I purchased quite a few books for my Kindle. Reading was basically all I could do while I was recovering (recovering at 90% of my usual paycheque I might add). So.......EARNING LESS - SPENDING MORE = NOT ENOUGH MONEY IN THE CHEQUING ACCOUNT WHEN THE PIPER NEEDS TO BE PAID!!

Lesson learned....I hope.  I should know better. I DO know better but I was feeling sorry for myself. Now I feel even sorrier.

Happily today was payday and included one week at 90% and one week at 100% pay. I have a whopping $257 (after bills are paid and $$ put into savings) for gas and groceries til Feb. 28th. Michael and Kazi will also contribute to these two categories so as long as nothing Murphyish happens (there I go just inviting disaster to happen!) we should be OK. Sigh.

The other piece of good news is that Monday is Family Day here in Ontario so we have a long weekend. Just what the doctor ordered. I have developed another bad habit - one that I can't seem to fix. Every morning I wake up around 4:30am after about 4-5 hours of sleep. I toss and turn til the clock reads 5am and then get up. I am arriving at school at 6am! I am so bloody exhausted! Today I came home from school around 3pm and took a nap til 6:45pm - and I am not a napper ordinarily. I take calcium before bedtime, drink a glass of warm milk, take melatonin to regulate my sleep patterns but to no avail. My alarm is set for 5:30am but it never  wakes me up - my whacky inner clock gets me up long before that. I have no problem falling asleep but I just can't STAY asleep.

Any advice?

and the GOOD NEWS just keeps coming....

The last four days constitute the ultimate version of the "week from HELL"!! I won't bore you with all the details, just suffice it to say that tomorrow will be a "mental health day" pour moi! Ok ok I'll tell you this much: I was at the walk-in clinic last night (wasting my time waiting for over an hour though I did finish the book "The Jane Austen Book Club" so I guess the night wasn't a total waste) (also wasted $1.00 in coins for the parking meter only to be told by the doctor that they're never checked...WHAT!?!...guess who'll NOT be putting money in THOSE meters anymore??) ok, where was I?.......oh yeah I had to get checked over and a form filled out by the doctor because I had been in a "workplace violent incident on Tuesday...well actually three violent incidents but rest assured it's only soft tissue damage and soon I will be able turn my head and shrug my shoulders without pain again, in fact, I would say that in comparison to yesterday the pain is reduced by about 75% and I've only taken ibuprofin once today compared to about five times yesterday. So, see, I'm just fine!

On Tuesday I had THREE, yes THREE supply EAs which is rather a challenge when they're working with students with autism who don't handle change well. So I intervened several times because the students know me better than total strangers (duh) but by then Paul was already on edge. So twice he put me in a headlock (from behind...didn't see him coming and no one said "watch out") and once he twisted my arm. The pain was in my neck, shoulder and back but very minor injury, as I said the pain is almost all gone already. But of course bureaucracy demands 87 forms in triplicate so I complied.

But my post isn't about that stuff so forget about the last two paragraphs ok?

No, this is a GOOD NEWS post! Looky looky looky!! Yesterday in the mail I got my set of beautiful handmade coasters from the very talented Debby!! from Nanny's Place.  Aren't they so springy? I told Debby that these coasters would be travelling east with me this summer and take pride of place out on our world famous front porch:

So THANK YOU Debby for sending me the gorgeous coasters - I'm thinking about a cold pitcher of margarita's right about now :)

AND I just saved myself about $100!! All in the space of 5 minutes!! Yes, that's right. I had an email from my antivirus provider to say my time was almost up and I could renew for the low low price of around $100. I thought to myself  "I can do better than that" so after a quick google search I downloaded for FREE  antivirus software that works with my Windows Vista so I'm all set for another year!! Yippee, I love FREE!

AND when I got home today there was money on the kitchen counter from my daughter who had downloaded a book on my Kindle that she needed to read for an exam AND a bottle of red wine with a note from Michael which read "Welcome Home Jane"!  Awwww, ain't it great to be LOVED??

So, as always, LIFE has its ups and downs. It all balances out in the end. Even though the week has been brutal on several levels I know I'm loved and I have the best friends in the world - literally from all over the world!! YOU!! and YOU!! and YOU TOO!!

AND my two besties are planning to come out for a visit to PEI this summer. Can life really get any better??

Julie, Troy and me - I love you guys!

C'mon Baby.....Kindle Me!!

If I don't seem to be around much anymore blame my family. They Kindled me for my birthday - I actually jumped for joy!! (And my birthday is still 9 days away!! They must really love me!!)


I was planning to purchase one for myself when we moved east in 3 years because my favorite newspaper, "The National Post", isn't delivered to my remote farmhouse or surrounding area. Knowing that I can't live without my newspaper meant investing in a reader of some sort and having the paper delivered by "whispernet" - (doesn't that sound cool, kind of CIAish) at 5:45am each morning. Perfect!! That's the time I get up in the morning!! And I'll never have to go outside on a winter's morning and find an empty mailbox because the newspaper van couldn't get through the snowdrifts!!


Recently my nephew was showing me his Kindle (sounds kinky but it's not, Mark), and all of it's cool features and I thought to myself (though I may have said it out loud)..."wow, I want one of those!" This from an avid book fan, this from a person who said they could NEVER use a reader, that's just blasphemy!!  Well, I'm converted! 


I will always love to hold a book, but there is definitely a place in my life for a Kindle. 


On another note I am happy, actually overjoyed to report that finally, in it's third year, my lilac tree is going to bloom!!! 

Yay! I'm not a failure as a gardener after all!!