Arrowroots Make a Great Birthday Gift

Kazi turned 20 in September. I gave her a card with some $$, a Shopper's Drugmart card because the bathroom isn't quite full enough of shampoos, conditioners and cosmetics :) and her very own Starbucks card so she could get a free latte on her birthday.

But I gave her a couple of other gifts too: two bottles of contact lens solution because she's the apple of my eye...get it?

And a huge box of Arrowroots, her favourite cookies because she'll always be my baby...

It's not easy letting your baby go out into the big scary world where you can no longer control their every movement. When accidents happen you wish they were little again and looking at the world from behind your legs. When they were little you could protect them...you could scoop them up into your arms when an off-leash dog comes bounding towards them...you can hold their hand when you cross the street or walk in the mall...you can give them warm loving arms to curl up in when they're hurt, sad or tired...and you can give them all the advice and love that's in your heart to give...but then you have to let them go.

She's sticking close to me right now - wanting me with her wherever she is in the house. I cherish our time together knowing that soon she'll be back out in the world where she belongs.

So you'll have to excuse me while I make a pot of tea and go cuddle with her in my bed and watch the "Gossip Girls" :)

PS - thank you my wonderful friends - I so appreciate your support and well wishes, I am grateful for each and every one of you!

Just Wanna Let You Know

My beautiful daughter was in a car accident late Saturday night - she is Ok - sore knee, fractured wrist, sore tummy from the seat belt and aches from head to toe.  Thank God for seat belts and air bags or her injuries would have been so much worse.  She was hit by another car running a red light.

We spent the day at emerg and I am taking a couple of days off to deal with doctors and insurance claims. We think the car is totalled but will deal with that tomorrow. I'm kind of glad I didn't see the car - I think I would be totally freaked out if I saw the damage. We are just so thankful that she is ok.

Will update you all tomorrow and thanks for being there.

Woops

Right around when this picture was taken (May 2010) I was at my lowest weight for the past few years. I had been following the Calcium Diet and it had been going quite well. And yes, I was going to a highschool reunion in June:)

What I just realized today when I was getting fall/winter pants washed and pressed for the upcoming cold season (yuck) and hence my post title "Woops" is that I gave away all of my "fat pants"!!!

Hmmmmm...didn't think about that when I made the decision to not buy any clothing for a year.  The reason I gave away all of my "fat pants" (you know you all have them so don't judge me lol) was to give me motivation to stay at the lower, more desirable weight. In retrospect I wonder how I could have been so stupid!

Winter is coming, I need to store up some fat to see me through the cold and flu season (see how useful juicy rationalizations are?) but now I have no cushion, no extra stretchy pants with slightly looser waistbands and baggier butts! What was I thinking? I am sitting on the horns of a dilemma.... either that or I am sitting on a large bag of popcorn from the movies last night after a big bowl full of delicious pad thai a la Michael!!  Not to mention a box of Smarties!!

Big sigh...

So now I not only have a budget to stick to but will need to drop a few pounds so I can stay in my current size-restricted winter wardrobe.

Another big sigh....

Perhaps those two goals can work together: eat less food --> save $$ on the food budget. This is going to be tough people - anyone want to drop a few pounds with me and keep me motivated?

Affluenza

Thanks Sharon for sharing this video - I love it!

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!

No Post Yesterday

I seem to be living at school lately. We had parent/teacher interviews last night so by the time I got home all I wanted to do was pop into bed and sleep. Now, a few short hours later I am back at school again for a PD day. The good news is administration is providing breakfast and lunch:) And since both of our VPs are male and our principal is male I know it will be good food!  And of course it's FREE food!

The moral of the story is - there is always a silver lining if you look hard enough!

Cheers!

Stuff vs Good Stuff

Excellent post on Gail Vaz-Oxlade's blog today - check it out!  Canada's answer to Dave Ramsey:)
http://gailvazoxlade.com/blog/archives/2239