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?

Fresh New Budget!

This was a month of spending......for my trip to Scotland! Everything is paid for by my Travel Savings Account. Otherwise everything else is about the same.

The Good:

• overestimated utilities by $30.00 - the weather has been much warmer than usual for this time of year!
• I underspent for gasoline and food! I went to the grocery store only 4 times over the month spending $197 of my $280 budget. Kazi ate out a lot with friends - that's the only reason I can come up with why my food spending was so low. Not complaining :) Also had $20 left in the gas account. I've been walking a LOT! as it's been so mild.
• Interest from investments comes due in Feb. and March which replaces a lot of what I spent on travel. 
• went to the 27th annual Firehall reunion! I used to go to the Firehall before they started having reunions ( a loooong time ago!!) - my initiation into the blues! It was an awesome night made even awesomer by the fact that Kazi tended bar that night so my friend and I got in free ("we're on the list") and got free beer - love you Kazi!
• Transferred $1,000 to savings - my usual monthly amount. 
• Have enough misc fund money left to purchase more British Pounds Sterling :) 

The Bad:

• my original iPad has been gradually falling apart and not functioning well. I used it mainly for reading: both downloading books from the library and purchasing books via my Amazon Kindle app. To me this is a NEED not a WANT (or maybe it's both!) so I forked over $372 for a new basic mini-iPad. Used savings to cover the cost. I love the smaller size for reading in bed. I can't tell you how many times I have fallen asleep while holding my big old iPad and the pain when it hit the bridge of my nose was awful! The mini doesn't hurt nearly so much 😂 !!
• Ummmmm, need to rein in the Amazon spending spree! And iTunes! It's just way too easy to purchase music and books etc especially now that I have free delivery on many items from Amazon. I purchased several guide books for upcoming travel, a few other books which support my future plans, and a COMPASS! I just need to learn how to use it! 
• Had to pay, yes PAY for a haircut for the first time in 15 years. It was less than $20 but still...
• Renewed my Ancestry.ca membership ($299) paid by savings

Misc Spending:

• In addition to the above I had a nice dinner out
•  went to see "Lion" - the movie about a lost boy in India who gets adopted by a couple from Australia and how he finds his home village using Google Earth. Excellent movie - needed multiple kleenexes however! 
• Paid for Turbo Tax and completed my taxes - yippee! 
• two trips to LCBO (one was for a birthday party of a friend - honest!!)
• have developed an addiction to pistachios!! $10.00 a bag!! Oh well, could be worse...right?
• okay - here's a good one. Apparently I bought a top and can't even remember what it looks like! I guess I didn't really need it, did I?

So a very spendy (in a good way)(mostly) kind of month! 

Bring on March!!