Weight Gain of 3.5lbs....

Yes, sad but true!

But luckily I was holding my Sealed Pot when I was on the scales!! I know in terms of money 3.5lbs isn't a lot but then $5 bills don't weigh very much tee hee! I save my pennies, nickels and dimes in a separate pot and when I have enough to roll I add them to my Sealed Pot and today I was able to make a roll of dimes - so another $5.00 for the pot!

I haven't done a financial report yet for March so here goes:

Money in the bank - yes
Owe money to the bank - yes but less
Credit cards paid off - yes
Interest and payments made on line of credit - yes
Food in the fridge - enough
Bills all paid in full - yes
Money transferred to savings - yes
Money transferred to credit card ($88) to pay for TV in June - yes
Tax refund received - not yet but soon

So, there you have it. The budget is chugging along taking care of itself. Payday is next Thursday and I'll likely have my refund by then too. I read somewhere that getting a refund is just poor planning. That I should ask to have more tax taken off at the source as opposed to lending it interest free to the gov't but I kinda like getting a nice little lump sum that would probably otherwise just get frittered away.

I am giving myself the gift of today to have as a lazy day. Read the paper, drink coffee and tea, catch up on blogs and posting, start a new book, maybe take a nap. I had a lovely dinner out with my brother and sister-in-law and then caught up with friends to go dancing and listen to a band that a friend plays in. I had a great time dancing and laughing with my girlfriends and Michael but when I got home my head was buzzing and my ears were ringing so I stayed up for a while to unwind making it 3am by the time I got to bed! But, that's ok, because I have a week off to catch up on things I need to do. Today, I can just "be".

What have you been up to on this lovely sunny Saturday?

C'mon Baby One More Day!

The school year continues to whiz by at a frantic rate of speed. My friend Christy is already on March break as they start theirs today instead of Friday, lucky duck! She's already cracked open a bottle of wine to celebrate :) It's funny in that so many teachers have mentioned looking forward to putting their collective feet up and sipping a glass of vino - in fact one friend said to me on Tuesday that she had already opened one up the previous night! She was sort of embarrassed because she said that she and her husband usually make it til Friday before uncorking one and there they were on a Monday night - stressed out and impatient - getting into it!  I can now LAUGH in her face because Michael and I made it all the way til TUESDAY BWAHAHAHA!!

Yes, I  can admit to being tired out but I'm hopeful that this year I won't be sick over March break like I usually am. That's the incredible thing about stress and colds - they seem to go hand-in-hand HOWEVER I can almost always WILL the germs to wait until I'm on holidays before they strike me down. I don't like missing days of school because my class isn't the easiest one to leave to a supply teacher. So I am somehow able to wait until the time is "right" before I surrender to some dastardly disease.  Since I just had a cold though I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to get to my chore list everyday instead of  lounging on the couch with a box of kleenex.....though the lounging part does sound tempting!

Unfortunately the stress of labour unrest is also affecting most teachers in Canada this year as our contracts expire and our unions begin to battle with the government and school boards over new contracts. It ain't gonna be pretty! I'm very OK with a zero percent raise and even with a two year contract instead of four but there are other issues that will need much negotiation. But I try not to think about that stuff as I'm not much into unions and politics (though I admit to closely following the race for top Republican!!) - it's just so crazy interesting!

Well, I'm going to toddle off to the kitchen now and see what I can whip up for supper....oh yeah....there's LEFTOVERS, my FAVOURITE!! Have a great night y'all!

March Break Begins...

in two more days!!  And I am preparing a list of things I want to get accomplished. For example, I plan to strip the old caulking from around the bathtub and re-caulk it. I'm going to clean the grout between the tiles in the bathroom with bleach. My daughter got a printer with her mactop and has never been able to hook it up to work wirelessly so yes, I'm going to solve that problem (maybe). I MUST get rolling on listing items for sale on Kijiji - that's only been on my TO DO List for a few months... ETC. ETC. I won't be twiddling my thumbs! If I get bored I have these to keep me occupied:

 Right now I'm reading a book on my Kindle AND I'm almost finished "The Introvert Advantage" (you can see my bookmark sticking out.  And Michael wants me to get started on "The Soul of Money" which a friend sent to him on his birthday - he's finished it and is raving about it. I'm really looking forward to being able to sit for a couple of hours and just read :)

Happily I am back on my bike and pedaling like MAD!! Only 120km from Philly (and no, I haven't forgotten about you Sluggy! I have a stubborn 3 pounds to lose to get to my 10 Pound Challenge goal and have (once again) renewed my efforts....sigh... Speaking of losing weight (not) I have my daughter's fave recipe baking away in the oven - it's called No Peeking Chicken (kind of a play on words of Peking Chicken just in case you didn't catch the reference!) It's the easiest recipe in the world!! You put a bunch of skinless chicken in the bottom of a roasting pan - I'm using thighs this time but any parts will do, and cover it with a mixture of a can of cream of celery soup, a can of mushroom soup, a can of water, some sour cream if you have it but that's optional (well, not optional for ME) and a cup full of either wild rice or brown rice. I had some celery stalks that were getting a little floppy so I cut them up and tossed them in too. Mushrooms are nice in this recipe too. Then sprinkle some onion soup mix on top. Put a lid on it and bake 2 hours in a 350 oven - and NO PEEKING because the steam needs to stay in the pot! Yum yum yum!! Course I'm having some chicken but only a teeny weeny bit of rice. Yeah, right!

Last night I worked on income tax as Kazi printed off the tuition forms from her university. I juggled numbers and got us both a very juicy refund. Hers will pay almost half of next year's tuition!! Plus she's mailed forms away for a tuition rebate from last year's tuition that our very in-debt gov't is offering (though probably not for long!) Mine will be put towards my line of credit though I might allow myself a new spring top as it was a robust 15c today with lots of sunshine. One of those days that are such a gift in early spring. So, tonight I file my taxes online and should see the $$ next week! Yippee!!

And finally - Today's Inspirational Moment:

Michael bought these flowers on Valentine's day and has gradually been removing the dead ones as they wilted, dried out and fell onto the table. Yesterday I took this other picture:

this is all that remains after 3 weeks. Michael's been going through a bit of a yucky time and we were inspired by how beautiful these perky little remnants looked floating around in a dish or water. They have no stems anymore and the petals are curling up but there is still a bit of life and loveliness left. Here is what we came up with after having a good long heart to heart talk:

"Even in the midst of our mess we can salvage something good." 


Whenever we go through a tough time we can ALWAYS take away something good. Whether is be a lesson learned, an inner discovery of our own strength or simply the satisfaction of knowing we did our best in a difficult situation there is always a silver lining if you look hard enough.

Here endeth the lesson.

Money Saving Tip

I'm sure you've all heard the saying "You gotta spend money to save money!"  Well, I'm here to say that I'm going to put that old adage to the test. Just for you, I'm going to make the sacrifice and see if it holds water. Or not.

Yes, that's right. In the name of ECONOMIC SCIENCE, a well-known branch of the MONETARY SCIENCES, I am volunteering (you can thank me later) to participate in the study of "Chicken Wings: Are the Cheaper Monday Night Wings of EQUAL VALUE to the higher-priced TUESDAY NIGHT WINGS and the WEDNESDAY NIGHT WINGS and the THURSDAY NIGHT WINGS etc??" I will submit my detailed analysis in a week's time. You're welcome!

Or was that "You've gotta spend money to make money?"

Oh well...

A Number of Things

My lovely mother used to write a column for the Norwich Gazette and she called it "A Number of Things".  Like her, I don't always have just one topic on my mind to write, I often have, well, a "number of things".  So today's post title is brought to you by:

Va va voom, mother dear!
Wish I was as thin as you!

First I'm going to show you what our talented Carla made for me. I'm going to a baby shower on April 1st and look at me, I've already got the present and paid for it out of my gift fund! A blanket, ribbon blankie and burping pad.

 About a day or two after I found out that the mom-to-be was decorating the nursery in a "Peter Rabbit" theme Carla posted her new baby sets made with, what else, "Peter Rabbit" fabric backed with minky! And the predominant colour is green which is perfect as this couple isn't going to find out the gender of their baby.

Well, I mean they will eventually but not before!

 Worried about spit up Peter?? Don't worry, it'll wash out!!

Also included is a hand made card - so sweet!

That wasn't all I purchased, oh no! I had also ordered a mug rug pour moi! I loved the brown paisley materials Carla had posted recently and when I saw the mug rug she made for Makky's mom (I think!) I just had to have one for myself!  And look!

It fits on my little side table perfectly.

 And is a really nice match to my brown paisley chair where I sit to read and blog every day.

 I think this picture is upside down, not really sure, but does it matter?

It works! I love it, thanks Carla!
And I'm not done yet! Carla gave me a bonus gift! Yes she did, I know, she's so sweet!

 It's my own little whimsical wallet - isn't it so cute?? I adore it!  My favorite fabrics!

 So what am I going to use it for?

I'm going to carry it everywhere with me in my purse. It'll replace the boring white envelope I currently carry to put my receipts in. See, there's one in there already!
Thanks Carla - that was an unexpected treat!

Strange story: on Friday when I was leaving Carla's I noticed something hanging down underneath my car. I don't think that's supposed to be hanging like that - and at first I thought it was part of the car. I got down on my knees to take a closer look and saw the word "Emerson", then "play", and "record". At first I thought it was from a pile of stuff I'd taken to Talize, a second-hand store. But that didn't make any sense. I pulled and twisted and finally freed it from the car. Then I hoped and prayed that all of the car's fluids wouldn't leak out!! It was indeed the plastic front of somebody's old VCR!! One of us must have run over it and it got jammed under the car. So far the car seems to be running fine and there are no warning lights on or strange noises or odors! So far no one is admitting to running over anyone's VCR, but then Kazi drove the car last year with a flat tire and didn't notice that either...I'm not accusing anyone...just sayin'.

Here.i.am

DISCLAIMER! THIS IS ONE OF THOSE POSTS THAT DOESN'T REALLY HAVE A TOPIC!

So I'm going to try to distract you with ...what else...the sweet innocence of little girls waiting to go in and celebrate their first communion.

My sister called and left a message while I was out buying laundry detergent because we had run out and neither of the two previous laundry-doers bothered to let me know!! So I go downstairs to do my laundry this morning to be greeted by the empty container. Thanks, thanks a lot.  Anyhoo, my sister was worried because I hadn't blogged since Tuesday's post so she wondered if I was so sick that I couldn't open my laptop and get down to it.

Thanks Lanniekins, but I'm fine. I'd say by about Thursday I was feeling much better - the runny nose has run dry, the scratchy dry throat doesn't keep me up at nights and although my energy is still low the worst is most definitely over. But it's nice to know you care:)

More distraction, like it?

So where the heck was I? I think that Wed. I just decided to take the day off from writing a post. On Thursday I played mother and wife by preparing a delicious dinner for my beloved family. (bought a roasted chicken at the Superstore - nothing but the best for my loved ones!) Oh, and wine of course! Pour a couple of glasses of wine first and no one cares what you've made (or didn't) for supper! And then yesterday my friend Troy and Michael and I went to see Wanderlust with Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd - very funny, I recommend this movie if you want a few cheap laughs. Then we went out to eat at the Fox and the Fiddle which also had karaoke and I'm telling you, between the very ordinary food and the off-key singing we'll be exploring other restaurant options next time!

Jennifer's new boyfriend, Justin Theroux on the right

Once home I tucked myself into bed while Michael went out to a club called The Cobra to meet up with his son and his son's new girlfriend. They both live in Trenton which is about a 5+ hour drive so Michael doesn't get to see his son very often. I'm reading a good book on my Kindle so was happy to have some quiet time to read but within minutes of sliding between the sheets my head jerked up and I noticed my Kindle had taken up a new position on the floor so I turned off the light and had a great sleep.

I'm sorry that nothing exciting happened that I could tell you about. I'll try harder tomorrow.

THANK YOU

Thank you everyone for being great friends. I don't often get "sappy" as I call it, that's Michael's department :) but I can't let the outpouring of support from you go by without a warm thank you. It means a lot to me to be able to just let rip with what is in my heart and on my mind "in the moment" without having to worry what you would think of me. That is a precious gift.

Today I am breathing again. Metaphorically anyway. Some, not all of the pain is gone and I had a good sleep last night. Things are looking up!

I'm giving myself a bit of a break from biking, but I will get back to it soon. I'm still so stuffed up, my ears are popping and my head's a bit achy - believe me, I'm the worst "sick" person ever. I actually feel indignant when I get sick, like "why me!?!" "What did I do to deserve this?" "I eat my veggies, take my vitamins, wash my hands etc, I shouldn't be sick...this must be a mistake!!"  It never does any good but I whine anyway. I get very cranky and stomp around the house looking for the kleenex box. I'm telling you I should have bought shares in Kleenex the way we go through it around here. My daughter can go through a box of Kleenex in a day, easy. The garbage can in the bathroom is full yet they don't even look like they were used. I know, gross topic eh?

I can be sick for about two days tops, then I just want to get back to normal life. One day is kind of nice...lay on the couch, stay in my jammies all day, drink gingerale, spend hours on Pinterest or read a trashy novel...it's wonderful.  Day two and I'm starting to get restless...maybe I should get up and vacuum as I'm feeling really useless.  I watch a movie or two and then I'm really getting stir crazy. But I can't put my glasses on because my sinuses hurt so I have to stay in...but there's nothing good to eat so I should go to the store...because when you're sick you know that calories don't count.  You didn't know that? It's a well known fact - you can eat whatever you want when you're sick because the extra calories work hard to fight the nasty sick cells in your body. So now you know. You're welcome.

Well, it's time to warm up my Anti-Stress Microwaveable Neck Pillow with Lavender and Chamomile and go lay down so my sinuses will clear. Now THAT's too much information!!!

But, before I go, here's a few pictures of my snowdrops now blooming. I know you folks out east buried in snow will be sooooooooo jealous but they just make me smile so thought I'd share: