Time Marches On

Bye bye March! Can't say I'm sad to see you go! Though I do miss your weather.... stupid me exchanged my dark and disgusting winter clothes for my brighter more colourful spring and summer wear in my closet. So then Mother Nature stuck her tongue out at me big time for my silliness and sent snow and ice pellets - serves me right I guess. Today I have my front door open anyway just for spite - it's a good thing (sometimes) that I have my hot flashes to keep me warm. I REALLY don't want to have to turn the furnace back on -
NO WAY! 


Just got my natural gas bill and although I budgeted $70 it rang in at only $51.62!! So another $18 for me! Natural gas heats my home, my hot water AND dries my clothes - very economical! I almost put the word "my" at the beginning of that last sentence but thought that might confuse y'all a little - it's not MY natural gas!! (heehee)

So I'm closing March's budget and have April's all ready to go. Although I complained about March being a spendy month I ended up with $16 left in my chequing account and $10 in my wallet plus I paid an extra $88 to my credit card so that when June rolls around I'll have a credit large enough on the card to pay for our new TV that we bought in January. The $16 got added into April's budget and the $10 went into my sealed pot.

I do have a confession to make, however. I did make two other purchases that I will now be working on paying off, hence I've joined Francesca over at the Tasmanian Minimalist in her NO FRIPPERIES APRIL challenge. We are going to TRY to not buy anything but necessities for the month of April. Now, this is going to be hard, especially if the nice weather makes a comeback as I'd like to purchase some new sandals, but I think I can wait until May.

So, my two other purchases....

• I sort of found myself in Winner's a couple of weeks ago when the weather was actually HOT and somehow some new clothes found their way into my cart - I don't know how it happened, really. And just to assuage my guilt I bought a couple of things for Michael and Kazi too!!! (oops)
• This one I'll blame on SFT over at SFT's Travel, Mortgage Freedom, 101 and Life Goals blog! After reading about her anniversary plans and the wonderful inn she stayed in and the lovely meals etc I decided I deserved (there's that bad word - deserved) a birthday weekend away in May! I did some checking around on B&B websites and found the PERFECT ROOM in a simply gorgeous home in Niagara Falls.  The rooms all have names and this room is called THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE STARS which has very personal meaning for Michael and I. When Michael and I first met and he came to stay at my trailer in Bayfield he asked me about the decorations I had attached to the lattice of my porch: a large metallic sun, several stars in different colours and a moon. I told him that at the trailer I have the Sun, the Moon and the Stars as opposed to when I'm in the city and I can't even see the stars at night! So when I saw the name of the room and it's low off-season price I knew it was meant to be! 

Isn't it simply divine??  I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO worth it LOL!!

Rolling Rolling Rolling

So guess what? I'm in Philadelphia helping Judy clean the dust bunnies out from under her bed!  And as if that weren't enough we're going to paint her bedroom next...but she wouldn't go for my colour suggestion:

I don't get it - isn't red the perfect colour for a bedroom?
Is anyone else feeling hot? Is it just global warming or are the weather gods having a great time messing with nature? In any case, I have to say that here it is - 9:25pm - and I'm sitting outside on my back patio with a sleeveless top on and a skirt! WTF??  We've got several candles lit, we're sitting in lawn chairs with our laptops, I'm enjoying a white wine spritzer on ice, tunes playing on the iPod and I can't believe I've got to get up and go to work in the morning!! What is wrong with this picture people??

Anyhoo this is supposed to be a cycling update. Over the past couple of months I've been quietly pedalling away in the basement headed to all points southeast - Philly (I'm ready for those cheese steaks Judy) and a whole bunch of other places nearby (I'd list them but that would mean getting up, going inside and getting the map on which I've marked my journey. So suffice it to say I don't want to get up again. Once it turns cold again, and it will turn cold again, then I'll be in my Room of my Own blogging away and I'll get the map out.

I just updated my mileage tracker in my sidebar and I've actually gone 25km past Philly on my way to ?? Stay tuned for further, more explicit, updates. Yes, I'm lazy. Except when it comes to my bike. Last week I unwrapped my outdoor bike, filled the tires with air and hit the streets. What a blast! I've racked up 80km in 4 rides since last Thursday and I'll be out again tomorrow as the thermometer is going up into the high 20'sc (high 80'sF). I find (you'll find this interesting Mark) that I have fewer hot flashes when I'm pedalling along creating a nice breeze! However, keep your mouth closed as the bugs are back. Something hard smacked me in the middle of my forehead today! OWWW!

So that's my highly detailed update for today - I hope you enjoyed it :)