HAPPY CANADIAN THANKSGIVING!!

Greetings from Canada eh? Yes, here in Canada we celebrate Thanksgiving looooooong before Christmas. We don't like the stress of having one major holiday (Christmas) follow another major holiday (Thanksgiving) so closely! We're funny that way. Yes, funny "strange" not funny "hahaha"!

Actually the real reason is that we can stand getting together with relatives only so  often - twice within 4 weeks is really too much.  At least at Christmas we're rewarded with presents whereas at Thanksgiving we only gain a few pounds. That's yet another problem with holidays so close together- weight gained over Thanksgiving in Canada has time to drop off by Christmas.

Theoretically, that is :)

My photo above was taken pre 1998. The reason I know this is that gorgeous maple tree fell on my parents' home during the Norwich tornado June 8, l998.  Now it no longer exists except in the form of a few carvings I made from a branch I saved. It was something my mother always worried about - the tree falling on the house - and us kids always scoffed at - ain't gonna happen! Well, as we know, mothers are always right!

But in this picture it is how I remember it being in the fall - full of glorious reds and orange, leaves carpeting the ground. My dad's Ontario flag flying bravely, the proverbial white picket fence still in place - HOME SWEET HOME.

Now someone else lives there, my parents have both passed away, the tree and flag are gone but the memories remain. For which I'll be forever thankful and blessed.

Hello? Is there anybody in there?

Hello? 

Is there anybody in there?

Just nod if you can hear me

is there anyone home?
(Roger Waters, David Gilmour)

Remember me? The gal on a 5 year plan to retirement? The gal who thought life wouldn't start til I retired? The gal who met a life changing man named Michael?

The gal who is now on the final leg of her working career? With only 259 days left til retirement? 

Yup, that gal! That's me, Jane! 

Now that I'm into my final year of teaching Part 37A, Section 271B has kicked in. Basically - get rid of as much sh-t as I can so I don't have to move it when I sell the condo...and fix up the condo so someone will actually want to buy it. Ah yes, the final lap!

We are now surrounded with storage bins and boxes which are rapidly filling up with the detritus of the past 20 years that we've lived in this condo. Much has found its way to garage sales over the past 3-4 years, some has gone to second hand stores, some is listed on Kijiji and the rest we trip over constantly!

Shelves and cabinets are being emptied. Flooring is being ripped up - yes, we haven't always lived with plywood floors!

There are currently 15 gallons of paint in the basement waiting upon us to fill in nail holes in the walls.

There he is - wave to Michael! He's had the wonderful job of ripping up the carpet. And right now he's driving with the truck full of patio stones to our former trailer where the current owners are going to put them to use.  We are going to replace the patio stones with flagstone to upgrade our patio area. He sure got a good workout yesterday loading them into the truck!

So we are living in chaos but oddly it feels just fine. Actually it feels great to finally reach the final stages of divesting ourselves of one life and preparing for another. 

We feel we are going on an adventure and the waiting is finally over! The idea of having an adventure before us as we head toward our 60's is exciting and scary and magical!

Kazi's room - obviously we haven't started in there yet!!

It would be nice to get everything done by Christmas so we could enjoy our two week break but I think that's being a bit too optimistic. 

When I look at these photos I see so much STUFF still to deal with.  But we've made a great start! We've ordered new carpet for the upstairs bedrooms, new ceramic tile for the kitchen and bathrooms and new bamboo hardwood for the dining and living areas. We'll have professionals install the carpet and we are going to do the ceramic and hardwood ourselves with the help of experienced family members.

I hope I can get in the habit of keeping you updated on our progress but I think it's better not to make any promises :) I've been on a blogging break now since May so who knows if I'll be able to keep it up now that I'm working AND redecorating. 

My feeling is that I don't really want this to be a personal finance blog - that was never my intent but that was the habit I sort of fell into. So, I've eliminated my financial goals (which really don't change anyways) and want to focus on our day to day adventures...or maybe there won't really be a focus at all! 

Edith Jane Eileen Catton

The other "Mother's Day" post below is from two years ago though the content has been updated to reflect what's happening today - which is pretty much the same. Wow, how boring is my life!?!

But while I love to pay tribute to "mothers of blogdom" I also want to pay tribute to Edith Jane Eileen Catton - my amazing mother. That's her in the picture and my two brothers and one of my sisters. I'm the wee one with the pout. I have a few pictures of myself at that age and I often pulled a pout - even then I wanted to always have my own way! Stubborn little puss I was!

Somehow my mother had the patience of Job. By the time I rolled around she had already parented 4 other children and probably didn't have much patience left! Happily for her my two sisters were (and still are haha) 9 and 11 years older than me so they pitched in to help raise me. Even so I had enormous admiration for my mother - she was someone I aspired to be like when I grew up even though she was very much unlike my "cookies and milk" friends' mothers. When I came home after school it wasn't to cookies and milk, oh no, it was to the sound of the typewriter keys being tapped away in another room, a room with the door closed.

And while I might have wished for "cookies and milk" I was also filled with pride because my mother was so very different from other mothers. She was so so intelligent - she wrote stories whenever she could carve out some time from caring for 5 children and a husband. She was a stay-at-home mother except for one day a week when she worked at the local "Sales Barn" where farmers brought their critters to market. She helped with the accounting. And she also sold her stories so you can imagine my heart swelling with pride when she'd purchase a Jack and Jill magazine for me and there was her name in print beside the title of the story she'd written!

So while I had to forage in the kitchen by myself it was worth it. No doubt it helped me become a more resourceful child - I don't remember ever resenting her for being behind a closed door when I came home from school. I knew she was special! While other mothers slopped around downtown in slippers and curlers she was creating!  When she did go downtown she was very well turned out. We weren't very well off but boy did she have STYLE!!

I grew up in a different generation from my older sisters. I grew up not thinking about marriage or having kids when I was finished highschool- I grew up thinking I could become a writer or anything else I wanted. I knew that I would work and have a career. There were many bumps along my road and I didn't do things in the usually accepted way but then neither did my mother. I admired her for being so different from the average mom so is it any wonder that I have lived such an unorthodox life?

Edith Jane Eileen Harrison - I wouldn't have it any other way!!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO AN AMAZING BUNCH OF MOTHERS!!

I know that not all of my readers are mothers (though some of them may be mothers in a few years) and I know not everyone recognizes Mother's Day. 


My feelings are this: I'll take what I can get bwahahahahahahahaha!


Sure it would be nice to have say, one day a week, like Sunday, when everything is done for me instead of by me. Perhaps if I had started that tradition when my daughter was tiny I'd get taken out for breakfast every Sunday, but I didn't. I only had one child and I took care of her every need - in fact - I admit that I did more for her than I should have. 


However, she is still my precious little 22 year old bundle of joy and I'm still her "momsy". And if all I get is Mother's Day on which to be appreciated more than usual then I'll take it. A free breakfast is a free breakfast after all lol!!


So, here I sit, it's 9:30am and I'm waiting, as always, for everyone else to get ready. I still had to wake up Michael and Kazi but that didn't bother me in the least - when someone promises to take me somewhere I hold them to it! After all, I am a mother and this is MY DAY!!

Grown up Daughters...more or less!

For some reason the font seems really small now on Blogger.  I'm squinting as I type this. Changes have been made and I haven't kept up with them...that's what happens, I guess, when you become a part-time blogger...

That happens around the house too - lots of things go on without my knowledge....

The other day I was in the upstairs bathroom washing my hands....I turned to the towel rack to dry my hands and this is what I saw!!

Now, luckily I've encountered this before so I wasn't as startled as I was the first time I encountered a sasquatch in the bathroom!  The first time my face was dripping wet and I had my eyes closed - you can imagine my...um...surprise!!

I was hoping that something would happen in my daughter's room without my knowledge - like a major cleanup now that she's DONE SCHOOL FOREVER!!...but no such luck...let's take a little peek shall we?...

EEEEEEEEEK!! Looks like the sasquatch got loose in her room!!  Closing the door once again before it gets out and renders the rest of the house unlivable ...!!

Sigh...this is the same daughter who drives 4 hour round trips on major highways for her job. Who always looks like she just walked off of a page in a fashion magazine and who graduated university and college with top marks. Ok, having just said that I now understand the state of her room!!

The good news is that after a week of snow, freezing rain, sleet, hail and rain, yesterday we finally had a day of  sunshine and mild temperatures and are looking forward to a week of the same! Any day now the leaves are going to burst open on the trees, I just know it! Spring, after many many delays, has finally arrived.

Which reminds me to check my "countdown to summer" counter - only 61 days til I leave for PEI!! I can handle that! Now that some level of sanity has returned to my classroom with the replacement EA fitting in VERY WELL I am free to plan field trips and lots of fun activities to keep everyone focused and happy til the end of this term.  I have my peace of mind back and you can't put a price on that!

And now... I must go fold laundry because it doesn't fold itself!! Rats...

Funky Blues

I have been in a bit of a funk lately! And I had very good reason to be; you see....

a new EA who started working in my school last October recently accused me, my Dep't Head and one of our VP's....

 of bullying and harassment - yes you heard me correctly...the truth of the matter is...

 she was really upset because she had been declared surplus at the school she used to work at...

 and turned that feeling into a large festering wound that spilled over onto those of us who tried to get her to do her job.

 She also had many personal issues she was dealing with at the time and made a lot of bad choices and decisions. Some illegal ones.

The good news in all of this, yes there is good news, is that her accusations against us were dismissed and she is under a trespass order - she can't come into the school where I work.

 She received a slap on the hand (kind of laughable when you consider the seriousness of what she did which was basically slander and defamation of character) and has been placed in another school!! Scary! She has been ordered to do some training etc and is closely supervised.

The investigation continues with a focus on the other, illegal things that she has done which do not pertain to me or my other colleagues.

It has been a truly horrendous experience, one I hope never to repeat.

I am slowly coming out of my funk. I am lucky to have a "life coach" as a partner and he has stood by me through all of this. Thank you Michael. My daughter, who weighs about 90 lbs offered to go beat her up for me lol,  Of course she was just kidding - we are a peace loving bunch and not exactly strong in the physical department :)

Scrub a Dub Dub!

Good morning!  It's alternating between sunshine and dark clouds today, pretty breezy too. But all of that is AOK because the temperature must be around 10c!!!! Yeehaw!! Spring has sprung at last! Maybe.....

Ok, we won't dwell on the possibility that Mother Nature is rubbing her hands with glee at the thought of dumping a pile of snow on us again but I CAN DREAM CAN'T I???

Oh dear Lord, please let it be SPRING!

On to business.....

I just found $1,000.00!! Yes, it's true! No I'm not losing my marbles though I know some would argue with that. Here's how - because I'm nice that way - I want to share my wealth-building strategies with you because that's what it's all about right?

OK, here goes.
Step One:  Buy a truck for $5,000.00
Step Two: Take money out of your Line of Credit to pay for it.
Step Three: Think that you are taking out $5,000.00 but really only take out $4,000.00 and use savings to cover the other $1,000.00.
Step Four: Forget Steps 1 through 3.
Step Five: Make a payment of $1250.00 on your Line of Credit and check your balance remaining.
Step Six: Do a HAPPY DANCE when you realize you only have $2750.00 left to pay back instead of $3750.00!!

Easy peasy!  You're welcome!

In other financial news I have purchased the lovely pair of appliances shown below for our PEI home. I'm feeling pretty darn happy that I was able to cross off TWO MUST HAVE items for our retirement abode - Dougie the Dodge  and now a washer and dryer!!!!! They are scheduled to arrive on July 5th!  I am paying for them with my tax refund which should be rolling in by the end of this week.  Dougie the Dodge will be paid off by the end of April and all of my savings in May and June will go into my EMERGENCY FUND (which is currently empty!!) - around $5,000.00.  Then all that I can save between July and December of this year will go towards long term savings - my TFSA and RRSPs.

Aren't they pretty?  

This is how we did laundry for the last two summers. (And of course we will continue to use our clothesline as much as possible to keep our electricity bill down).

Unfortunately I only have pictures of Michael hanging the clean clothing on the line. I don't have pictures of how he cleaned our clothes. Can you guess? YES, IN THE BATHTUB!!! I don't know how I let that photo op go by uncaptured! A half naked Michael, very damp, muscles pumping as he scrubbed and scrubbed....leaning over the tub....

Do you think I can still cancel my appliance order??