Seesters and Brudda: By the numbers

It's been ages since I did a "by the numbers" post. So....here goes!

• My first post after my blogging break was #1300!!
• I have been retired for 1505 days!
• I have two sisters and two brothers - ALL older than me. Yes, I'm the baby of the family! My two sisters are 9 and 12 years older than me. My brothers are four and seven years older. 
• I'm visiting one sister and one brother this week...in Bracebridge, ON (Santa's Village!) My other brother and I are going to Scotland soon and I hope to see my other sister at Christmas in PEI though Kazi has a new job and we'll have to see if we can make it happen. 
• Bracebridge is about a 4 hour drive and at one time both of my sisters lived there.
• We leave for Scotland in 30 days!
• Yesterday I rode my bike for 26.7kms :)
• I used points to purchase a $100 Esso card and two $50 grocery store cards (the budget is tight this month!)
• My property tax went down $7 per month! Woohoo!
• My cell phone bill will be increasing by about $15, so much for the previous savings of $7. I added unlimited long distance minutes anywhere in Canada.
• My natural gas bill was a mere $32 in August...but my electricity bill went over budget by $2.37 due to running the A/C. Considering how deathly hot it's been here for weeks and weeks I'm surprised my bill wasn't sky high!!
• So far this month I've spent a whopping $44 on food plus $7 for lemon tarts to share with my Scotland bound brother. Lemon is his favourite - I go to his place for tea every other Thursday and to make plans for the Scotland trip. 
• I have gone to Dairy Queen THREE times so far this month- I only get a plain cone as it has the least amount of calories!!
• And speaking of calories - between eating better (most of the time), cutting out a few things like bread & pasta and riding my bike almost every day I have lost 10% of my overall weight!! I haven't been below 130lbs in 15 years!! 
• I don't think I'll have any $$ to put into savings this month but that's ok. I paid off well over $1,000 on my Mastercard to cover new hiking boots ($423), almost $200 at the Mountain Equipment Company, Greyhound bus tickets to get us to Toronto's Pearson airport, travel insurance and an early birthday dinner with Kazi. Never fear...I clear off my Mastercard every month and pay no interest. 
• I also did some thrifting with my friend Jules; photos in my next post. Can't remember how much I spent but it wasn't much!

Thus ends "By the Numbers" August edition :)

Oops, Ouch and Eek!

Monday Money Madness!

I thought this picture was very apropos because I have NOT been keeping track of my money. And that's not like me. But I know why...........................................................................................................!

It's because my bank accounts look like a bathtub with the plug pulled! All swirling away down the drain..glug glug glug. That little metaphor reminds me of a time when Kazi was about 2 and she was in the bathtub watching the water go down the drain. She peered into the drain and said "is anybody in there?" No answer.

Well I DO have answers...I just don't want to face them! I'm in "money denial!" So much so that my dentist's office just called wondering why I hadn't shown up for my appointment this morning! Ooops.

CAA comes off this month too.  Ouch!  Plus I'm going to pay the remainder of my Ireland trip to the company who organizes the B&Bs/Inns and transfers out suitcases from place to place. Eek!

Some of my bills this month have been reduced so the news isn't ALL bad. The city has finally figured out how much property tax I have to pay this year and I'm going to save $3.00 a month!! Big whoop! My Union Gas bill was only $33.00 this month as I turned the furnace off (mostly). The electricity bill was down by $10.00 no doubt due to the extra daylight hours and not needing to turn on the electric heater in the basement TV room. AND because I'm cycling for cancer research this month I still have 3/4 of a tank of gas left in the truck! I won't be putting in any more gas til July and maybe not even then :)

Food costs are UP UP UP!! Cherries are $6.99/lb and I have indulged. Strawberries are $4.75/qt and I have over indulged! Kazi's boyfriend has been visiting so that means buying more meat etc. Oh, and wine and beer. And snacks.

I think I've done a pretty good job so far with my Misc budget line. I'm trying to rein in misc spending so that I can cover CAA and dentist without touching my savings. Fingers crossed. I guess I should check but I haven't because I'm in.......MONEY DENIAL!! 

Okay, I promise myself I'll update my budget as soon as I'm done this post unless I can think of some way to distract myself!

Hmmmmm, I wonder what I should have for lunch...

Oh look, this is how Lily lies in her bed when it's 32c + high humidity!!

 Airing out my tummy.

The Blogger Blues No More

I wish I could fix everything like that. Wait a day then try again. Hoping somewhere in the reboot process that the computer/blogger problems fix themselves. Sometimes it works! Waiting...what a great strategy!

COULD NOT look at snow anymore but wanted to be realistic so my header photo shows the "melt" in process and some COLOUR!! I got rid of the snow background template picture. Gotta have hope!

I'm buzzing around trying to get things done in case the electricity goes out. We had a card in our mailbox a week ago saying the electricity would be turned off from 9am to 3pm on March 17 and 18. So far today it hasn't gone off so I'm thinking the scheduled repairs only took one day instead of two. My luck however would be sudden darkness whist in the shower. Kinda like what happened to Kazi yesterday because we forgot - she was not impressed :(

So I'm delaying my walk as something I can do when the lights go out and every other device known to mankind stops working due to lack of power. I made chilli in my "Judy" during the night - smart huh? Well, it would have been smart had the electricity actually been turned off today. That's pretty much par for the course around here - forget about it on the day they turn it off, be all prepared for the day they leave it on!! Sigh...

My refund came... my refund came!! ...... and went......

On the bright side my plane tickets to the UK and back are paid for as is my deposit on the hike and my Airbnb in the City of York. Have you ever used Airbnb? I'd never heard of them until my brother used them for his trip to Scotland last year. And I found out that one of his neighbours who I've gotten to know has a suite set up in her basement for Airbnb.

Here's a link to mine: https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/2214112 

Cute eh? Fully separate and private with a yard, my own bathroom etc. And only $265 Cdn for FOUR nights!! Half the cost of a hotel!

Maybe that's what I could do with Kazi's room when she moves out...if she ever moves out...

The little beggars have been really cute lately:

Basking in the sunlight - double decker kitties!

Watching a pair of doves - KITTY TV!

Cat nap!

Waiting patiently at the front door for me to come home.

 Any Airbnb users out there? Stories?