Foto Fri....Sat....Sunday!

I just had breakfast for lunch. Why? Forgot about turning the clocks ahead til just a few moments ago! So today I'll be dining elegantly at 7pm! 

Below is a photo I took one day last week and it was like 6:15pm! Tonight if I get to see a sunset it will be 7:15pm!! We're getting closer and closer to spring! Not with the weather however. A winter storm is coming our way...again...

The next two photos are from my 5km walk that I try to do everyday but there's been a lot of flooding lately even on city street as many of the drains are clogged up with leaves and debris.

This was one of my favourite signs at the International Womens' Day that I attended last Wed. It was so windy that we didn't march after listening to the speakers - we could barely hold on to our signs and banners.

This photo below is from my 5km walk the day after the big wind - a large spruce was brought down. I have several tall spruce trees behind my condo and I was keeping my eye on them due to the 90km/hr winds - they seemed to be bending over at almost a 90 degree angle to the ground but thankfully none of them were uprooted.

The next few photos are from Friday's fun activities. After my weekly sit-in I had lunch at The Trini Man Kitchen with my two best buds - I could eat blackened chicken everyday of my entire life!!!

Then my friend Jules needed to go to a nearby art store to purchase supplies for a week long kids' art camp held at our city gallery. It's now March Break. I looked around and found a box of soapstone pieces!! So I bought 2 small chunks because I work small and the cost for the 2 pieces was a mere $3.43! I'll be going back soon to get more!

While I was at the sit-in in the morning I was able to purchase some farm fresh organic eggs from my friend Celeste. She has a small illegal farm in the city but hasn't been caught yet! I also purchase organic honey from her!

The campaign I'm involved in is to try to keep Ontario Hydro a public utility - our government is trying to sell it off for short-term gain. I was given a Hydro mug as thanks for being a part of this protest movement.

This was my small grocery shop that I did on Friday. I'm currently eating mostly vegetables, a smaller amount of fruit, and protein in the form of chicken and fish. For snacks I'll grab a few peanuts and will make my detox drink from lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, honey, cinnamon and boiling water. I've lost 5 pounds in combination with moving my body 25km per day. (walking, hiking and biking). I hope that by lightening up my weight my knee won't hurt so much. Worth a try.

I buy unsalted peanuts in the shell and pistachios too.  I will complain just once about all of the empty shells in the bag! I did try buying from the bulk store but an equally high or higher amount of empty shells :(

I received in the mail this week - a guide for The South West Coast Path which is over 600km in length.  What an adventure that would be!!! I also received the guide for the West Highland Way in Scotland that I'm doing this year.

The last photo is the worst of the bunch!! A couple of years ago the cost to renew our annual license plate sticker was $75. Then the next year they raised it to $90 (and I know I complained about that on my blog!) and this year!!!!! $120.00!!!!!!! An increase of $30 - holy crap! Once more reason to go car-free!

And that about wraps things up. Last week was a busy week of going out to lunch, going to a Council of Canadians dinner, sit-ins, going for walks and to movies (saw Fences and Manchester by the Sea). I missed seeing "Moonlight" but it's out on DVD so I'll rent it.

Now, with a shorter day, I must get the laundry going and get onto my bike. It doesn't look very inviting outside so I think I'll skip my walk. It's -10c and we have another snow squall warning in effect.

Did you remember to turn your clocks ahead?

Monday's Money

Who doesn't love to count their money on a Monday??

Jane's Budget:                          , 2015   

Pension     2261		PCMC
Property tax             155	UnionGas                   65
Condo                      256	London Hydro          60
Bell                             83	Netflix                       8
Kazi                        +200	Savings                     350
Insurance                 312	Gas                           180                                   128
Reliance                     33	Food                        280                                   137
Rogers                       79	Misc                          600                                   370

So far so good. I've had a few No Spend days now that I'm only shopping on Mondays and Fridays. Funny how that works! I have managed to delay several impulse purchases with the result that they weren't made at all saving me lots of moolah!! I've read that if you put off a purchase for even ONE day you will usually rethink it. 

I took my truck in for an overdue oil change and also got new windshield wipers to the tune of $97.00.  One wiper broke due to the deep freeze we were in last week! That comes out of my misc spending.  Other misc spending includes some clothing from Talize, a thrift store - a winter coat, splash pants, hats, backpack etc. I also purchased a book online for my iPad and when I shopped at the art store to use my gift card I spent more than the worth of the gift card...of course!! To the tune of $42.00.  Money well spent I think. And I took out some $$ which paid for dinner out with my 2 nephews and 1 great nephew and a couple of coffee dates.

Today was grocery shopping and gas up the truck day. Gas (a full tank) cost me $52.00 which is way cheaper than usual and groceries were $114 which is more than usual but the last time I bought any food was Dec. 30th! What I bought will last 2 weeks except we'll likely need more jalapenos - my daughter puts a lot of jalapenos in her guacamole and we always run out. 

So here's what $115.00 Cdn buys you these days...doesn't look like much does it?

Some non-essentials, nothing too terrible. We need the multigrain scoops for our frequent feasts of guacamole! And basic crackers for hummus and tahini :)  No excuse for the wine gums :/

The non-edibles - not much here to complain about - just laundry detergent, facial scrub and vitamins. Could be a lot worse!

Lots of chicken and chicken bacon (I had a craving!), shrimp, enough salmon for four meals, ditto on the sole. Mix in a few vegetarian meals and this will last at least 2 weeks - we're not huge meat eaters.

We need to find bigger jars of jalapenos!! Diced tomatoes is the base for so many meals and I love hummus for high-protein lunches and snacks.

And then the main part of our diet - cheap containers of riper veg and fruit for juicing plus lots of fresh fruit (bananas, blueberries, clementines and avocados(are they a fruit or a veg?) and lots of veg - spinach, celery, peppers, onions cucumbers, carrots, broccoli and lots and lots of tomatoes!

And that's what you get for $115!

Does that seem like a good price to you or a bad price?

Weekly Wrap & Other Crap

So October is officially half over. Which means in only 2 more weeks it'll be November...quick aren't I? I have a gift for stating the obvious. Bet you're jealous! 


I was happy to be paid on Friday...very happy. How happy was I? I was so happy that I went out and bought MORE FOOD! And you know what? I think we could have managed very adequately with what we already had! But old habits die hard and like a little robot I trotted off to the farmer's market and the grocery store, not to mention the gas station. 


When I came home I squished all of that food into an already full fridge. Then I made soup, ladled it into plastic containers and squished that into an already full freezer.  Then I thought to myself..."self? who's in charge here, who exactly is sitting in the budget director's chair?"  "Me", I answered, "oh please, let it be me!" So, acknowledging to myself that I am indeed in charge of my budget, I am going to challenge myself, no direct myself, to purchase no NEW food until November except for the following items: 

• milk
• bread
• salad fixings

Perhaps I won't even buy any more salad fixings as we have so many veggies in the fridge that need to be eaten up. So that will be my personal challenge for the remainder of October. 

NO MORE UNNECESSARY FOOD PURCHASES!!!

Because you know what happens when you purchase more food than you can possibly eat - WASTE AND SPOILAGE!! And that makes me sad. AND MAD!! If successful,no, when successful, I'll have $100 extra that I will put into my Emergency Fund as I really really want to get it back up to $2000 again.

I am also going to challenge my wee family to keep the furnace TURNED OFF for two more weeks. That won't save me any money this month as I've already paid my Union Gas bill but it will help with November's bill. Oh, by the way, I decided to NOT go with Superior Energy for my natural gas for the coming year. Their fixed rate was way higher than the market price that Union Gas is offering. I'm taking a wee risk in that Union Gas adjusts their rate every 3 months based on the market but right now the spread between Union Gas and Superior is wide enough to make me  think that it'll be cheaper in the long run. Time will tell.

Since I just posted financial charts on the 12th I'll spare you that today. I am still out of rhythm on my blog topics so will try to get back to doing my Friday Weekly Wrap on Fridays!