Weekly Wrap - Jan. 12/2014

Here are this week's numbers:
1.  Km. cycled - 80km!! Yay me, that's a very good number as my goal is 60km a week. I'm going to try cycling 20 km each time now instead of 15km. The only thing standing (sitting?) in my way are my poor old creaky knees. I need to remember I'm not 20 anymore (or 30 or 40!) and sometimes my knees need a break.
2.  Days left til retirement: 168!! 

3.  No Spend Days in January - (I include days that I buy food and/or gas as they are necessities!) I am 8/12.  I spent: $7.00 to go to a movie, $9.00 to take our neighbour to Swiss Chalet, $11 for a bottle of wine to take to the "Stones in the Shed" night, and withdrew $20 cash yesterday to cover the cost of a newspaper & a coffee whilst visiting with my brother and sister-in-law at the Red Roaster. I did buy a coffee today as well but I used a Tim Hortons giftcard that a student gave me for Christmas. So I have spent a total of $47 on purchases outside of paying bills, buying groceries and gas. That seems pretty thrifty to me.

4.  Juicing: I juice once daily now and make enough for Kazi to have a glass too. I juice while making dinner and take it to school the next morning for breakfast. I'm feeling healthier and stronger by the day. At lunch I eat some sort of vegetable soup and for dinner I've been eating salmon, stir fry root veggies and salad. Today I'm making more soup and Aloo Gobi, an Indian dish made with potatoes, cauliflower (the vegetable of the year I'm hearing!) and peas. I lucked out and bought 3 packages of skinless, boneless chicken on sale at the Canadian Superstore today so will be eating some of that too this week.
5. Finding $1500.00 - I was reimbursed this week for some expenditures at school so I transferred $100 into my savings leaving me with a total now of $1300.00 left to find.

What a crazy week! As you know we had two days off at the beginning of the week. I was up at my usual time, 5am, ready and raring to go, then got sent home. Needing to do something with my energy and not able to go out due to snow and extremely cold temperatures I got busy, very busy, around the house.

What with all the renos going on around here the house has been a disaster zone for several months. On Monday I focused on the kitchen scraping the wallpaper backing from above the cupboards. I also cleaned out all of the cupboards and washed the cupboard doors. The pantry got cleaned out too. I washed all the floors and vacuumed and cleaned the bathrooms. I did about 10 loads of laundry and filled the truck with bags and bags for Talize (thrift shop) and took bags and bags of garbage to the dumpster. Whew!

New floor & clean cupboards

New subway tiles - I love them!

Removing the wallpaper backing

Wallpaper all gone! Ready for painting.

Then I had Tuesday as well! So I cleaned the laundry room and decluttered it - several more bags of garbage. I rearranged what was my bedroom and turned it back into the TV room. I am now sleeping upstairs in my former bedroom. I dusted, decluttered, organized the linen closet and my closet. I  carried furniture from upstairs to the basement and from the basement to upstairs. Again, more bags for Talize and more bags for the garbage. I cleaned out the storage area under the stairs and now there is lots of room in there for the storage bins I've been filling with the things I want to keep.

And I finally did something I've always wanted to do - at the bottom of the stairs to the basement there is some extra space. Michael used it as a little office but I always wanted to make it into a cozy reading area. So I did! I put an antique rocking chair, footstool, some bookshelves filled with my remaining book collection and a lamp!

Wow. I was so impressed with myself. The only area needing attention in the basement now is the furnace room/workroom. If I can psych myself up I'll start it today after lunch.

This is not to say the basement will be completed. I still have to fill nail/screw holes and paint everywhere! And I'm considering replacing the cheap laminate flooring with something impermeable to water, either ceramic or vinyl. BUT almost all of the house now is usable. AND I know where everything is once again. There's still lots to do but at least we can now live comfortably in the house.
Kazi went to an interview on Thursday for a "big girl" job. It was with a great company and the interview went well but it wasn't what she wanted. Darn. So she's still looking and going to Australia is on hold for now.

Well better go, it's almost lunch time! What have YOU accomplished this weekend?

The Hunt for Red October

 Oh, there it is...I guess the "hunt" is over:) I'm ready for October to be OVER actually as my wallet just has a few pennies in it and some Canadian Tire money. We are doing REALLY well on our "NOT shopping for groceries challenge" (well, the grocery store doesn't take Canadian Tire money now does it?!!), though I noticed we are on our last bag of milk. So I will be buying milk, bread and salad greens this week - nothing else. Dinner tonight? Succulent ribs and bean stew - yum yum! The fridge and freezer still look pretty full so I'm going to see how long we can go before I break down and do some shopping!

Yesterday was such a gorgeous fall day so of course we went hiking (in my new boots!)! Perhaps these luscious looking berries would go well on my morning oatmeal??  Yes, being of Scots origin I lurve my oatmeal and make a big batch every Sunday to get me through the week. It's a complete meal in a bowl as I boil it in skim milk and cinnamon along with some wheat germ, then add dried cranberries, ground flax seed, almonds and sesame seeds or whatever else is hanging around. It's also really good mixed with apple sauce or a small container of yogurt.  Very thrifty and if you know us Scots we love to be thrifty!!

My favourite pic from yesterday's hike. Isn't she just so precious in her yellow boots, they're almost as nice as mine! Those two geese at the top of the picture don't look real, they look like a pair of bookends but they're real, I swear! The little dumpling was crumbling up a bun and dropping it in the water for the ducks and the geese...she was really popular:) I love her nonchalant pose and mop of curls - so cute!

Almost as nice as mine, but not quite!

I had this post ready to go last night but then lost my internet connection so here goes today, hope it works! Made it through another day without spending - I'm going to try for 5 no spend days in a row. Saturday I'll have to part with a little cash as its our annual Halloween bash - I have no idea what I'll dress up as yet but "biker chick" comes to mind....


Do YOU dress up for Halloween?? What about that "Witch" out in PEI???

No Spend Days

Yes, I've kept my money in the vault this week!


Monday - No Spend
Tuesday - No Spend
Wednesday - No Spend
Thursday - I cannot tell a lie; I bought a coffee for $1.65


Friday - ?? I will be doing some food and beverage shopping for Thanksgiving weekend. Because of my frugal ways this week I have $$ left to cover these expenses:) We have been invited to my nephew's cottage on Lake Erie (near Port Dover) for the holiday weekend.  He and his partner bought it this past summer and they've invited us a few times but this will be our first visit. 


I am so excited as the weather is supposed to be PERFECT!! We are going to go hiking, sit on the beach, bask in the sun and no doubt I will put back on a pound or two! Well, I have to show how thankful I am for this year's incredible harvest lol!


Tomorrow I'll be buying two pumpkin pies from our highschool's culinary class and I 'll be picking up a bottle or two of wine to take with us. Saturday I'll be picking up a few things at the farmer's market (squash, bread etc) and then I'll be cooking OUR turkey and all the fixings for a Saturday night Thanksgiving dinner with immediate family. Early Sunday we'll head to my nephew's place and come back on Monday - a nice little get-a-way!! Ohhhh my stomach hurts just thinking about all of that rich food. I will try to take very small portions so that I don't totally negate the progress I've made in weight loss.


Tomorrow I will post my weekly wrap and then I likely won't post again til Monday night. I have lots to write about such as goals and challenges for 2012. Lots of you have been writing about similar things and it's got me thinking. Which is good.


Well, gotta go. I want to see some of the NHL game tonight (Montreal vs Toronto...go Habs!) and then see who our provincial premier will be for the next 4 years...yes, it was election day today!  Did I vote?  Of course!! 


Ok, bye for now!

Lost and Found

Tuesday - No Spend Day! I made myself a tea at school, grabbed a free newspaper from the office and sat outside in the sun at Starbucks - the one whose patio gets the afternoon sun. As I sat there I swear I could hear the birds going "cheap cheap!"


I have "lost and found" the same two pounds for the last two weeks!! I've been falling off the wagon...a lot! Very frustrating - I don't think I'm going to hit my goal of another 10 pounds off by November! My rate when I was just losing was about 1.5 pounds a week so.....not  going to make it. But I am renewing my efforts and did really well yesterday...today I had lost those 2 pounds once again! Now the real effort must be put into NOT regaining them.


Good news: Michael got a one-off gig coaching Good Life Fitness executives at their PD day - $1500.00 for one afternoon!! Woot! AND my daughter left me a note to say she's been promoted to bartender - no more serving!! More money!! I've asked her to pay for her car insurance ($50 per month) and she hemmed and hawed, now she doesn't have any excuse!


Happy HUMP DAY to all of my fellow working stiffs!

No Spend Days

How's THAT for motivation? My plan this week is to have 5 No Spend days, including today. And gathering from the way I'm feeling it shouldn't be too difficult.  My cold symptoms went underground yesterday and I thought I had really evaded the bullet. Ha ha on me. So I stopped taking oil of oregano thinking smugly that I had pulled a fast one on these puppies:

Yes, today I started having symptoms again so it's back on the oil of oregano though I think I'm past the point of no return. Crap. So it will be straight home from work for the next few days, no stopping at Starbucks or any other cash-sucking evil stores. Speaking of which...


Yesterday Michael and I took more old clothes to Talize and received our $5 coupons. That gave us a total of $15 in coupons so we decided to go in and have a little look around.  Yeah, really, we're only looking...HAH!! What with the chill in the air and me not wanting to turn on the furnace yet I thought I should get a few long-sleeved tops to wear. Usually my hot flashes keep me more than toasty but when I spend a while sitting and using my laptop I do get chilly. I found a couple of really nice tops - one still had its original tags on it! Michael was looking for shirts to wear to work and found a really really amazing leather jacket for $25.00! How he ever found that in the shirt aisle I'll never know! 


But now I'm down to $78 in personal spending money til my next payday which is Oct. 14th. This should be more than enough as I only tend to spend money on the weekend and there is only 1 weekend between now and payday. But I will help myself along by declaring the weekdays as No Spend days. Hey, whatever works right?

Fiscal Fast Update

I was asked on the weekend what creative ways I was going to come up with to solve my overspending problems this month so I tried really hard to think of something really new and amazing that you would oooooh and ahhhhhh over and then you would say - gee that Jane is really smart...why didn't I think of that?


Well, I failed to come up with any new ways to save some extra $$ so that I could pay off the $443 that is sitting very uncomfortably on my President's Choice Mastercard right now. 


My navel gazing has only resulted in the usual and the mundane. Here is my list of things I am currently doing so that I can a) not go any further into debt and b) perhaps end the month with a few dollars leftover which will be immediately put against my outstanding debt.

• make the groceries in the fridge last until next week and skip grocery shopping this week ...as much as possible (with $200 left in the food budget I've spent just over $30...I hope to have maybe $100 left if I pull in my belt another notch or two...this could really benefit my weight loss program!...love those hidden benefits:)
• go eat at my friends' homes - can you guys give me your addresses? 
• drive as little as possible; siphon gas out of other cars at work (ha!)
• take my own snacks/drinks absolutely everywhere; I already take my lunch everyday to work (I suppose I could steal food from other peoples' lunches?)
• stay out of stores and coffee shops! (especially Starbucks because I now have only 34 cents left on my card
• go directly to work and then go directly home after, no pit stops! no passing Go or collecting $200!
• grab a free newspaper daily from the main office or read news online (for reals as my daughter would say!)

I am open for suggestions. Any other creative ways of saving a few dollars come to mind??

Weekly Wrap

Who wouldn't want a wrap like this?

Okey dokey, let's roll out the numbers for the past three weeks:

I've painted myself into a bit of a financial corner this month. The numbers all worked fine at the beginning of the month but I find that the $$ are quickly running out and that I'm going to have to pull a No Spend final 10 days of March. There is very little wiggle room.

We have spent all of our grocery money plus a little more
and that little more was all for ICECREAM - oh my poor thighs!!
(This month seems extremely loooooooong!)
I have a bit of gas money left but not a lot so trying not to do
any extraneous driving.
I have a grand total of $33 left in misc spending and that's all she wrote.
The rest of the $$ that is sitting in my account is earmarked:
$130 for bi-monthly PEI mortgage
$152 for property tax
$87 for heat/dryer (natural gas)
$56 for electricity
$70 transportation (gas & due for an oil change!)

If only I could get my hands on my daughter's T4 and get our income tax finished then we would have two hefty refund cheques in our
hot little hands and I could inject a few more dollars into the budget.
It was supposed to have been mailed a week ago in the same city...
do you suppose they forgot to put on a stamp???

Hmmmmm...am I being taught some sort of lesson here?
Well, if so I'll have to figure it out later.
I am starving and then I need to jump on my bike and race another
25km north/east on my trek to PEI.

How's your budget doing - will you make it to the end of the month before the end of your money??

TA DA!! WE DID IT!!

So, there it all is, in black and white.

If you need a larger view just click on the graph - it is in two

parts as I couldn't get it all onto one screen grab.

The Highlights:

• almost $2000 went to debt repayment which is over 40% of my income; I am really whittling away my line of credit; this is my #1 goal to get my LOC paid off before I retire and I am proud to say I may get it paid off EARLY if I can continue at my present pace:)
• although my income was down by $300 from the previous month I managed to save as much as I usually do - over $1200!!
• with help from other family members we kept the grocery and gas bills to a minimum and I found that I don't have to shop for groceries every week; instead I can go just when we need something - it really makes a difference to the bottom line!
• 17 NO SPEND DAYS - I think this is a record for me (sickness had a LOT to do with it though)
• I cut way back on entertainment basically because I was sick for a good chunk of the month, but hey - I'll take my savings anyway that I can!
• we came in under budget for heating and hydro - it really does pay to be conscious of utility use (not to mention that having frequent hot flashes means setting the furnace at a lower temp! hee hee)
• My total misc spending was $133; it could have been lower - I didn't HAVE to buy rubber boots and I didn't HAVE to buy a book; however I could afford to and I don't believe in total deprivation!
• My debt reduction and savings combined are 68% of my total income - I think that is quite an accomplishment. It means that the three of us are living on 32% of my income. That also means that I am a member of the Saving a Quarter club as $1213 in savings equals just over 26% of my income.

I am really excited about March. My income goes back up a little after having paid the Ontario College of Teachers their "membership fee" AND it's TAX REFUND month:) Most of my refund will go to paying my trailer property fee (well worth the cost) but I will have some extra to play around with - and playing around with $$ is one of my favourite pastimes! Yes...I am a geek!!

Congratulations go out to well, me, and all the other participants of the No Spend February month  (thankyou Sharon our fearless leader!) for hanging in there through thick and thin, for being so supportive of each other and encouraging some of us who faced some unexpected expenses and personal obstacles. We stuck together ladies and the bond we have formed will continue to help us through the months ahead as we do our utmost to beat down the debt monsters while also trying to save for the future.

It's a tough journey to go it alone so having my blogging friends to share it with has made it a daily practise that is something to look forward to rather than something to dread. I get so pumped reading your stories, your challenges and your triumphs and am so glad I stumbled across such an amazing group of women. It is truly inspirational!

Girls' Night In

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yummy!

This is my contribution to our girl's night potluck supper.

Actually, I didn't make it 'cause around here the

master chef's name is Michael!

Michael made 40 Clove Chicken in the crockpot

and we're talking garlic

here - yes 40 cloves of garlic - though he says

he used what we had and there weren't 40 cloves left

but I sampled a tiny bit and it is so deliciously

garlicky and tender and moist. Other

ingredients include - wine, lemon juice, parsley,

oregano, basil, red pepper and celery.

Scrumptious, that's what I say!

I know there's going to be corn bread and crab cakes and

who know's what else - hopefully something chocolatey!

We're staying in and will likely kill ourselves

laughing, play guitar hero (Oh yes, I am pretty good on the

drums and guitar!), play board games, dance,

eat, drink and be merry!

Hope your weekend is getting off to a good start!

I'll do my weekly financial summary in a day or two.

Remember how I accidentally put too much into savings

at the beginning of NO Spend February leaving me with only

$82 misc spending for the entire month??

Well...due to only spending $150 in groceries for the

first two weeks of February and underestimating a couple of bills

I now have $114 in misc spending!!

Magical! It's gone up!!

Let's have NO SPEND MONTH every month!

And that's after I spent $13.45 on a small bottle

of rum - my only misc spend so far this month other than

service charges!

 Now I'm hopeful that I can make an extra small payment

on my line of credit to round it off to an even number.

A payment of $90 would bring it down from $48066

to $46600 for the month of February:)

Woo hoo!

That's nearly $10,000 paid off since August, 2010!

I'm going to put myself on the line here and predict that

by August of this year I will have paid off

another

$10,000.00!!

I really think I can do it!

Bad Day - Turn that Frown Upside Down

I pride myself on maintaining my sense of humour even on the worst of days. My day was pretty crappy, but not as crappy as the escape artist's day is about to come - yuck yuck yuck!

I don't want to go into great detail because I'm not a whiner - suffice it to say that a couple of my students had a really tough time today, then I had a looooooooooong meeting about one of the students, then I had a lot of school-related errands to run and arrived home finally at 6:45 pm, more than 12 hours after I left this morning. Then I proceeded to work up a new schedule for one of my students and just finished a couple of minutes ago. Just in time to get ready for bed as my throat/cough is adding to my sense of general blechhiness (yes, that's a word - in my dictionary anyways;) all day I was having hot flash after hot flash and then I realized - I probably just have a fever, silly me! 

And so, I leave you with a song as music always soothes the soul, hopefully it will get your toes tapping...

 

On the bright side I had another No Spend Day! :)

The Greatest Discoveries Were Made by Mistake

Some incredibly wise person once rationalized their mistakes by saying the following:

"The greatest discoveries were made by mistake."

That incredibly wise person wasn't me but I'm happy to agree with good ol' whatzername.

I made a little oopsie, well more of an omission, it was really nothing at all, at least...I did nothing...and that was the problem.

What I meant to do was reduce my long term savings to $500 for the month of February from the usual $650 due to lowered income this month...due to my exceedingly generous donation (payroll deduction:p) to the Ontario College of Teachers. H  o  w  e  v  e  r...I forgot to make the change to the automatic transfer from my chequing to my TFSA and $650 was transferred.

Oh poo.

So my reckless and carefree plan (oh, yes, I have a plan) is to leave the $$ in savings, take it from my misc amount which leaves me with a whopping $82 in misc. spending for the remaining 25 days of February. Seems a wee bit tight but who knows...my mistake may turn into a great discovery like...I can live on less! Or perhaps I was meant to sell pencils on the corner...who knows???

Over the past 3 days of our No Spend February Challenge I have spent $0.00 in total above and beyond fixed expenses.  If I limit my spending to weekends only (not hard) plus Valentine's Day (that's a total of 9 days) I can spend $9.11 per day - hey, that's not so bad. OR, if I just spent $$ on Saturdays and Valentine's Day (5 days) I could spend $18.22 per day - wow, that seems like a lot!

Ok, I think I've figured out the "GREAT DISCOVERY" - my ability to do mental arithmetic in rapidly improving!!!

A Most Unusual Tuesday

Today is one of two days per school year that I am allowed to work at home. It is exam week and today is the day that students can go to school to talk about how they did on their exam. Since my students don't have exams they, and I, didn't have to go to school. Though it is expected that I actually will be working. And I did.

I finished the master schedule which magically meshes together the work schedules of 6 EAs with the timetables of 10 students. Of course, if it really was magical, it wouldn't have taken me a week to get it done! Then on top of that I created an individual schedule for each EA so that when they have a sick day I can give it to their supply. And then I created a Crisis Response Plan for the two students I have that display aggression from time to time. Then I stopped for a coffee break and played Free Cell and then took another break and made a pot of soup - now that's what's magical about working from home. Not to mention I'm wearing my sloppiest looking workout clothes (actually Michael's track pants - thanks honeybuns:) and a stretched-out discarded sweater from my DD. LOVE IT!!  NO MAKEUP - even better!!

So my envy of you working-at-home ladies knows no bounds!

The best part of today is that it is both February 1st - the first day of NO SPEND MONTH and a NO SPEND day! There's another advantage of staying home in my sloppy clothes and no makeup - I don't dare go out of the house looking this to spend any $$:)  Hmmmmmm - maybe I could come up with a mysterious illness that requires me to stay home for the next 28 days!! I'd better get on google!

I'm also hoping that the "Baby Armageddon" of a snowstorm that is on its way here from Texas keeps me home for another day tomorrow. It's a PD day tomorrow and last I heard we were being given the time to prepare for next semester which starts Thursday. Could I be so lucky as to get another day at home? Probably not.

Before I go I have to give a shoutout to Niki for guessing the ABBA song the other day - she was the first, but not the last:) Yay Niki!

Here's today's lyric - guess the band! And the singer!

"I have finally found a way to live



Just like I never could before.


I know that I don't have much to give,


But I can open any door.




Everybody knows the secret,


Everybody knows the score.


I have finally found a way to live


In the color of the Lord."

Cheers!

Weekly Wrap - Missing the Green

Wrap de Jamon y Queso Crema

Newsbeat:

Ha ha ha - wrap...get it?

Sorry, it's been a long day. And I'm tired and ready for a nice lay-in tomorrow morning, til at least 8am!

Anyhoo, my weekly financials are kind of ho-hum. I finally got paid today and my estimate was over by $11 so that sucked as I was really hoping I'd under-estimated. AND we (Michael) bought Sarah McLachlin tickets today as she's coming to London in March. ($164)!! Michael's paying for them but since it's his birthday on Monday and he LOVES Sarah I'm thinking of paying for them as a gift. That'll really put the squeeze on my budget but I think I can swing it. I ended up with an extra $100 in my misc. budget due to spending less on gas and groceries. I could put it towards debt BUT I still want to purchase a birthday gift.

Makes sense...I think:)

This my two week chart. Susanna, you mentioned that the phone/cable/internet was so low - well, that's because only my cell phone bill has been paid so far this month, the home phone, cable and internet haven't been paid yet, when they are you will see that column take a big jump.

I spent another $13 on iTunes - my goal is to purchase ALL the Beatles music one album at a time. That'll take awhile. Other than breakfast out last Saturday and putting $20 on my Starbucks card last Sunday I've spent NO money, NONE! Oops, told a lie... we went to see Black Swan today after school, a matinee so it was cheaper:) Wow, the music is still running through my head - SUCH a good movie.

Heartbeat: had a tough few moments with my daughter this week. She broke up with her boyfriend of over two years. It was her decision and she talked to us about it and seems good with her decision.  The tough moment was when I got up Thursday morning to get ready for work (5:45am) and her bed was empty. What a feeling and the thoughts that rushed through my mind - it was horrible.

I checked my cell phone for messages - nothing...checked the home phone - nothing. Asked Michael to check his phone...nothing.

So I called her cell number. Rang and rang and rang. I'm pacing around, what to do what to do...Called her number again and she answered - she and her friend had gone out together on Wed. evening and she ended up sleeping at her house. Of course at that point all my anxiety became relief and then anger. Later we talked, cried, rehashed things, hugged.

Man, being a mother can be hard sometimes. And scary.

Header: Prince Edward Island - isn't it so green?

Cheap Night In

I am feeling pretty good about this week - I've had $0 in my wallet all week and STILL have $0 in my wallet lol! Other than bills out of my account I've spent nothing - I'll do my weekly wrap later today.

Last night I pedalled along Hwy. 401 another 20km. Witch is right that having a visual (map of Canada) to chart your progress is highly motivating. (See side bar for kms biked each day.) So far this week I've travelled 66km which took me through Ingersoll, through Woodstock and well on my way to Cambridge.

After dinner we watched a movie called "Amnesia" that we borrowed from the library. It was British and very good but then it ended in the middle of things and we realized it was a series. Of course now we're hooked! The second episode is on the DVD and I can only hope that the library has all episodes of this series. I was in bed, lights out, shortly after 10pm. Trying to get more sleep these days as part of looking after ME!

Today as I drove to school I heard the radio announcer talking about the Canada/Russia hockey game in which Canada blew a 3-0 lead and lost 5-3 to the Russians. He happened to say that most people have lost sight of the fact that while we didn't win gold we did win silver! And I realized that I was one of those people.  All I was thinking was that we LOST. Yes, well we lost gold, but we WON SILVER so woot woot to those wonderful young men who did their best and brought home silver medals. There is certainly no shame in that.

Why is it that we only value the top prize to the exclusion of all the other prizes?? Canada didn't lose gold, they won silver.  I'm going to keep saying that to myself all day.

See you later for my Weekly Wrap:)

Weekly Wrap

News Beat: Here it is, only Dec. 5th, and I can see trouble ahead already. To balance out my extravagent weekend I need a WEEK of NO SPEND days. That will be my goal for this week. I have $20 left in my wallet and plan to keep it there til next weekend. This will not be an easy task but I have to rein in my spending somehow.

After work on Friday (not a great day at school) I decided that I wanted to go and browse at the local Talize (a really great second-hand store near us...we have turned the name of the store into a verb as in "let's go talizing"). That should have been the first warning sign to me to stop and evaluate my thinking but I chose to ignore my inner voice. I justified going there to myself because I am in need of long-sleeve tops to wear to work - my classroom is cold and although I suffer from hot flashes throughout the day inbetween times I freeze.

Michael had some extra $$ and so off we went talizing. We each spent around $140. That doesn't sound too too bad especially when I told myself that I saved a TON of money by buying second hand instead of new. I just know you are all familiar with that old excuse!!! But did I need that gorgeous pair of black boots as well??  Did I need that Le Chateau black blazer with the jewel-like buttons that I may wear once or twice a season?? 

 NO AND NO!!

I'm not done yet...by the time we left Talize it was 7:30pm and we were absolutely famished. I suggested we go down to the local Vietnamese restaurant and have a bowl of soup...ding a ling - warning warning!!

 Well the soup was really good and so was the chicken chop suey and the lemongrass chicken!! There are still leftovers in the fridge because like my mother always liked to point out: YOUR EYES ARE BIGGER THAN YOUR STOMACH!!

I wish I could heave a great sigh and say that was it, but last night was our dinner out in Sarnia with friends - we spent $$ on gas, $140 for dinner (YIKES) and then another $20 in a martini bar. I actually don't feel too bad about this one because it was a planned outing and I had $$ ready for that one but it still seems so extravagant after several months of living frugally! However, we had sooooo much fun, great conversation and a ton of laughs so I have no regrets.

I am hoping I can make up for talizing by having a no spend week (or three)! ha ha yeah right! I'm a little worried about my cell phone because when I got it out of my purse last night it was on the internet somehow (not on purpose) and I don't have a data plan - I use it only as a phone so I am hoping I don't have some whopping big charge on my next bill!!

On the bright side...let's see...is there a bright side?...I have spent 0$ of my gas money as Michael has been keeping the gas tank full and I still have plenty of grocery $$ left to last until the 15th. The heating bill came in $13 under budget:), and due to paying $2500 extra on my line of credit last month the interest was reduced by $4, not much but every little bit helps, and my car insurance was reduced by $3 a month because I bought a car that was 2 years older than my other car. Because of these little savings and a $100 HST cheque that will be coming sometime in Dec. I may just be able to make up for this expensive weekend. Only 3 more December weekends to go!!

Heartbeat:

Blended families can be a challenge sometimes so it was truly wonderful to spend some quality time with both Michael and Kazi yesterday getting our tree. Everyone was in good spirits and we all fell in love with Bruce the Spruce. I will post pictures when we get him all decked out but right now he is still outside (probably frozen) in a large pot filled with water....er...ice.   Because we were going out of town it seemed like the best idea to keep him outside in his element until we were ready to get into full decorating mode...



Bruce the Spruce getting snowed on this morning! Poor Bruce!

 How are you balancing all the EXTRAS in December??

Making Your Own Firepit

As I sit here by the fake fireplace at Starbucks my thoughts turn to Crofters Lane and the firepit Michael built there in August.  The house wasn't "officially" ours yet but the owners allowed us to "camp out" in the house until we signed papers at the lawyers in a few days. Michael had some very definite ideas about what he wanted to accomplish during the week we spent at our new home - first was the firepit, then he wanted to transplant some spruce seedlings from our forest to build a wind break to the north of the house.

It was an interesting week - we had a small bar fridge and ate a LOT of sandwiches. We had an old table in the diningroom and a couple of mismatched chairs. Upstairs we had a king-sized air mattress, some towels and toiletries. Although the owner loaned us a TV we had brought our own source of entertainment - a six-inch black and white TV with AM/FM radio. We found K-Rock 105.5 and turned it up high. This was one place where we'd be able to play our music as loud as we wanted to!

And then, Michael got busy!

 We used rocks from our driveway which had recently been levelled. There were literally hundreds of rocks in the culverts on each side of our .4km driveway to choose from and Michael spent a good while hauling them up in a wheelbarrow.  He picked the perfect spot for the pit and started digging.

 We didn't have a lot of tools but we had enough. Michael worked up a good sweat digging the firepit hole in the distinctive red PEI soil. Me - I was cleaning all of the woodwork inside...hence the yellow rubber gloves:)

 A spot was carefully dug for each rock and each rock chosen for its particular shape and size. Nothing left to chance.  Gradually the firepit began to take shape.

 Michael really gets "into" his work:) However, I would suggest that next time he pick a different coloured T-shirt...perhaps reddish brown??

Certain flat stones were chosen to be "set in" for seating or as small tables for holding candles and/or drinks:)

Looking good Michael but I think it's starting to get dark! The sun is starting to dip down behind the forest.

 Let's put out some candles - it gets REALLY dark around here at night - it's nothing like the city!!

Michael brought up a lot of extra rocks - he's thinking about expanding the "lip" of the firepit, or he might save them for another DIY project.

                                                                             It works!!

                                                                  All cleaned up.

And this is how you cook when you don't have a stove or a BBQ! A couple of good sturdy sticks long enough to reach across the top of the firepit and a small metal rack to hold our food.

There's a well-seasoned chicken inside that foil - we felt a bit like pioneers:)

Except I don't suppose they had tinfoil.

It was scrumptious!

Working hard.

Isn't it beautiful??

Functional AND mesmermizing!

We burned up a lot of stuff - two musty old dressers that were left behind, we broke them into pieces and fed them into the fire.

There's enough fallen limbs in the forest to keep the fire going for a long time.

If you're driving down Butcher Road next summer and you see a glow from a campfire, drive on up our laneway and sit a spell by the fire.

You'll always be made welcome:)



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!

Weekly Wrap

Oh how I love to "wrap" up another week. October is almost finished and so far I'm still in the black.  This has been a very low spend week and I don't mind a bit.

To summarize: our food budget is empty but as Michael just showed me there isn't any room in the freezer to store any more food. I replenished our milk supply, bought green onions for tonight's pad thai, and splurged on two 2-liter bottles of pop: Jamaican Ginger Beer for guess who and Fresca for me. We seldom buy pop but since we're having a guest for dinner I thought having a couple of different drinks on hand could classify as being "hospitable" and hey - we all need a few juicy rationalizations to get us through the week:)  There is $1.81 left in the food budget til next Friday. Unless we suddenly go on an eating binge (it has been known to happen) we should be ok. Anyhoo, I could stand to lose 5-10 pounds.

On the bright side (and isn't there always a bright side?) we have used NONE of our gas budget as other family members have kindly gassed up the car so that extra $$ will get funneled into Christmas & birthdays which is currently looking rather dejected:(

We are still coming under budget for hydro (though not for long) - this month by $12 so I added that to my misc. spending which now stands at $90 until next Friday. I'll have to buy some Halloween candy with that and a couple of items at the pharmacy but should still have something leftover by next payday (Fri. Oct. 29). Barring any unforeseen Halloween candy eating binges that is...

P.S. the photo in my header was taken on Cascumpec Rd. just a few miles south of Alberton, PEI.  In the few seconds that I stepped out of the car and onto the bridge to take the picture I fended off at least 8,000 giant-sized mosquitoes:) I WON!

Springwater Conservation Area

First off - yesterday was another beautiful day in the neighbourhood so Michael and I took ourselves off to explore a new (to us) trail near Aylmer, Ontario called Springwater Conservation Area. It's only 40 minutes away yet we'd never been there before - had never heard of it in fact - it was recommended to us by another hiker met upon another trail. We took snacks and water with us and other than gas it was another NO SPEND day. (That $10 I had left after Friday night's movie rental is still in my wallet :) I think one of these weeks we should have a challenge where we each put a $20 bill in our wallet and see how long we can make it last - the winner wins $20 ha ha!!

As you can see by the photos Springwater is a natural treasure - full of maples and beech and very tall, very straight white pines reminiscent of the Group of Seven paintings.

For the first time I have spent all of my allotted money for food as I took advantage of a lot of specials while shopping on Saturday: sirloin tip roasts at $1.97/lb., pork loin at $1.29/lb., shrimp, talapia and haddock all half price and so on. So while I spent a lot we will be rolling in meat for several weeks to come.

This week looks pretty busy - meetings on Wed., parent/teacher interviews on Thursday, and a P.D. day on Friday so won't be much opportunity for spending temptations. Just the way I like it!

It was wonderful getting outside again yesterday. When I am able to put myself into such inspiring surroundings I totally forget about the daily challenges of balancing the books, ironing the big stack of clothes sitting on a chair in my bedroom, vacuuming the cat hair or the disaster area my daughter calls her room.

Blessedly all of that inner noise is drowned out by the soft sighing of the wind in the branches 100ft. above my head, birds chirping, frogs glugging, children laughing and me snapping away with my camera. Life is good.

Although there were a TON of leaves on the ground there were still enough left on the trees to ooh and ah over.

Those pine trees are humongous!!

Can you see tiny little Michael on the other side of the bridge walking on the path?

He walks a lot faster than me:)