first day

see spot start at 7:15 AM at work flipping pancakes
see spot get home after 5 PM
see spot run run run all day long with new class
see spot's kids going to register for high school. one in AM and one in PM
see spot drag the first with her early this morning and swap him at noon for the other son for staggered registration.
see spot's voice begin to fade
see spot's feet begin to throb.
see spot collapse on couch after supper and dishes.

see spot blog.
blog spot blog


heh

wedding

Well we made it through the wedding. It was quite a 'holy crap am I old' moment, to be honest. With the first of the grandchildren getting married, it definitely solidified me as being in  the older generation.

This Sister1's oldest getting married. The service was held outside at Sister2's acreage. We had white chairs, created an aisle with tulle and posts and had an arch at the front for them to stand under. Off to the side at the front was a small table and chairs for signing the documents.

There were four in the wedding party plus the bride and groom, and the doggie ring bearer. They had rented a limo and we all watched it drive up the long driveway and then came around on the prairie grass to park at the back of the 'aisle'. There was a lovely breeze and it all went very smoothly.

They did pictures in my sister's yard - by the pond, in her maze she created, in her backyard and then did a few more at the traditional spots in our community where folks get their pics done.

The hall we had decorated the night before. I got there early with DS2 and helped get the bar set up and set out the tables for food etc. This was not a traditional catered event. We did the food up ourselves. Roasted potatoes, baked ham, roast beef, salads etc. They had fruit and a chocolate fountain, which was new to me.

My niece and her significant other were the MC and I did the grace.

It was the first wedding my boys have been to and it was interesting watching them watch it all. They had no clue of what all happened, or the order, etc.

The saddest part of the evening was the groom/mother of the groom dance. His mom is my sister with MS and while she was able to do some small steps, she couldn't move very well. They stayed in one corner of the dancefloor.

My other two sisters and I were standing at the back and all looked at each other to see we were all crying. We all realized at the same time that when my next nephew gets married, it is very likely his mother won't be able to do that dance again.

My mom got to dance with all of her grandsons and even took her wee 10 day old great grandson out on the floor for a dance. My boys don't know how to dance but they dutifully each did one with their mother and then were dragged out by  my middle two sisters, repeatedly.

It's so weird to see how our little family of mom dad and four daughters has now expanded to include 3 son in laws, one ex son in law (who was there with his someone), 11 grandchildren and 9 grandchildren's significant others.

The party went til 3AM and then we were back at the hall by 11 to set out food for the gift opening and take down the decorations.

Now I'm curled up at the school and the reality that students come tomorrow has hit me. I'm exhausted :-)

post shopping bills

Sorry for the away. It's been crazy. Back to work. New great nephew. Nephew getting married tomorrow.

I promised the scary $ from shopping so here it is rounded up to the nearest dollar

• DS2 needs the uniform that goes with his newly achieved rank of Service Scouter. ($90)
• DS1 needs new hockey pants. about $200  (came to $220 with tax)
• I am picking up something to wear for the wedding this weekend that I could also wear to work. ($120 for long skirt, top and some baubles)
• I need clothes for work ($200)
• Boys' school supplies ($150)
• a couple things each for the boys for school  ($165)
• Costco run (did not happen)
• Walmart run did ($125)
• Lovely lunch out with the boys ($55)

shopping

Today is the big shopping day. The boys and I are off for the city to get everything on our list as we head into back to school.

• DS2 needs the uniform that goes with his newly achieved rank of Service Scouter. No clue what that will cost.
• DS1 needs new hockey pants. about $200
• I am picking up something to wear for the wedding this weekend that I could also wear to work.
• I need clothes for work
• Boys' school supplies
• a couple things each for the boys for school
• Costco run

should be pretty interesting.  Since I get 'extra' money on my Aug check (EI and CPP are done, I think) and since I have $200 left of our summer money, there will be no debt for this. It will go on my Mastercard for the airmiles and then tomorrow or wed I will go to bank and pay it all off.

I will NOT go to a teacher store I will NOT go to a teacher store I will not go to a teacher store *fingers crossed LOL*

End of Garage Sale. End of Weekend. End of Summer

Well our three day garage sale extravagansa is done now (thank god) and I am glad it be all done with that. Thurs was slow. Friday was DEAD. As in 18 ppl in 6 hours. I confess I didn't sleep worth a darn Fri night thinking 'wtf am I going to do with all this big stuff when I have no place to store it??"

We started Saturday at 7:30. It was cold!!! Of course I'd rushed out the doors to get to mom's early to haul stuff out and open the garage door. I forgot my coat. So after it was all ready to go, I sat there all curled up under a fuzzy blanket I stole off her couch, sipping coffee and baileys and enjoying one of mom's buttermilk bran muffins straight out of the oven. mmmmm delicioso.

It was intermittantly busy but I would call the day a success. Someone bought our old couch set and end tables (woo hoo!!!!) and they took the giant solid oak (heavy) entertainment unit that honestly doesn't fit the new flatscreen tvs. The airhockey table ended up going to the girl I grew up next door to. Her boys love it so I am glad it's gone from under DS1's bed where it had been stored. I kept stubbing my toe on the thing!! The universal gym (which we affectionately called the clothes dryer) went at the very end of the day. The lady was unsure and thought she should wait til her husband was home later Sat night and then she'd have a way to get it home. To heck with that!! "I have a husband and two sons and a truck. We can take it right now if you want!!" . she did. wheeeeeee

I was so happy. The china did not sell. It's back in boxes with 2010 newspaper around it instead of 1992 paper lol. I brought home 2 boxes of videos and books to store and everything else is going to a donation depot where they give it /sell it to families in need. I am beyond happy about not having to store it.

The results?

•  well I have  an almost empty recroom while we await the arrival of the sectional, which I can pay for fully :-)
• I have a bit of extra $ to go towards back to school shopping in the city tomorrow with the boys
• I have a semi empty teeny garage. Still too small for  a vehicle but you can walk in it and everything now :-)
• If I had to measure what I got rid of over the summer in the equivalent of big black garbage bags, it would be close to 100.
• My grocery budget is very healthy. Mom fed us all those meals so I can use the money in that to pay for some of the boys' school fees.

It's wicked cool today and very grey outside. DS1 and his father went off to another city to watch Ds's hockey buddy do HIS tryouts for his hockey team.

I am at the school and the pressure is on to get everything hung up and in it's place so the real planning work can begin. I am gone tomorrow to the city so that day is out. Tues I have a haircut and Wed is my once  a year pedicure so time is crazy slipping away. Thurs work begins. Students arrive Monday.

On the bright note, my niece is at the hospital in Calgary having her baby. Thank god for text updates. The last baby born in my family was DS2 and that was 13 years ago so it's been a long time. She won't be able to make it home for my nephew's wedding next weekend, which is too bad. We're a close family and she will be sad not to be there when everyone else is, but 8 hours driving with a new baby is too much for anyone.

ok to work I go. Thanks for listening.

Friday Freebies

erlier in June I had seen Girl Makes Cents mention she'd gotten some free samples from P & G. I happily clickity clicked and managed to snag some myself before their summer freebies were gone. I am sure they will have another round in the fall.

Well they finally arrived and here is a wee snapshot of the items.

So on the top is Regenerist Micro Sculpting Cream. It's so cute and tiny -:)

Going from left to right:
a) The conditioner of their new line Flat to Volume for fine hair
b) Olay Regenerist Eye  Cream
c) The Shampoo of their Flat to Volume line
d) Secret Clinical Sport Antipersperant

I love free things. Thanks Proctor and Gamble

Garage Sale Update

Day 1 - very very slow.

sold $115 of mine

Have only got rid of one of the big 'please I don't want to have to store this" stuff.

night

How China made me cry

(a bit of a 'woe is me'. I try not to very often :-)

We were going through things yesterday for the garage sale (which begins today). Among them were three giant boxes that have been in my mom's basement in storage.............since 1992. Yup a long time ago. In 1992 we lived in a wee house and had been married a year. I was heading back for my final year of university to get my teaching degree. My husband agreed to move in with my parents so we could afford my rent and tuition in the city for that final year.

Packed away in those three boxes was my wedding china. I hadn't registered for china when we were getting married. 'china' just seemed to be so far away from the kinid of life we were living then. But two of my aunt's got together and gave us a starter set for a very simple set. Bone white with a simple gold trim. It was by no means an expensive kind, but it wasn't dollar store dinnerware either.

Whatever it was about the dishes, it sparked this vision for my future life...a life not unlike what most people have. A 3 bedroom bungalow. Good sized kitchen. dining room. Holiday meals hosted.

Well after university I wasn't able to find a teaching job that first year. They were scarce then and I applied allll over. After the first summer, I told mom we needed to move out as I was unexpectedly expecting.

We moved to a tiny place, which in turn was followed by  the tiny house we live in now. With a kitchen that doesn't really sit four without hassles. No dining room. No deck.

No family dinners. some youthful. just married dreams, shattered.

The boys and I unpacked it. I stared at it a long while. And I knew that the youthful, just married dreams were over.

My kids are both in High School and I don't see anything growing on my money tree outside, nor do I envision a money fairy bestowing anything on us to buy a larger house where things will be different.

When the boys marry, their wives will pick out their own pattern and style so there isn't anyone to pass this stuff down to.

I went down by the pond water feature thingie at mom's and cried for awhile, then went back  up and inventoried it and priced it for sale.

I am not a craigslist or ebayer so that isn't an option for me.

And so another day begins.

A nice gift

Thanks to all who wished DS1 some luck on the weekend. He's in a 'so far so good' after four cuts, which is two more farther than we made it last year lol I am hoping it works out for him. He worked really hard on the weekend and I'm very proud of him.

He was particularly happy when his summer off ice trainer came to watch him play. Some huge hero worship going on and I find it very amusing. This man played hockey his whole life and semi professionally in the US for a few years so he knows his stuff. I find it hard to call him 'man' when I taught him as a squeaky voiced pre-teen years ago LOL.  After DS1's session he got out of his skates faster than I've ever seen him  to come out to the stands and run up to go see him. They talked a bit about some of the plays and DS1's face lit up with the praise AND with the constructive criticism. I hope he gets to coach my son one day.

Anyhoo, long story short, trainer is moving away for winter season for a coaching position and his wife sells Arbonne, which is a skin care line. She gave me a big bag of products to try for the month while they get settled.

I've tried arbonne before. I  have used a sea salt scrub which I loved and an under eye cream, which I desperately needed, and which I loved. For those like me who spend very little on skin care, the products are ridiculously priced. For those who buy good skin care products, I'm not sure where it fits in the $ range for you.

I'd have to save up my spending money for a long while to purchase a set of the products she gave me, so I am going to have a heck of a good time using it while I can. I rarely get to spoil myself in this kind of way. It smells great and feels marvelous :-)

I'm off to go start setting up for the garage sale. Have a great day everyone.

Camping Pics

Finally got around to scanning in some of the camping pics from when my boys went with their Aunt and Uncle.

Here is some of the northern meadow they went through while quadding.

A lovely pull in the tube.

This is a fort that the grandkids have been building since we first started going up there.  The first two who started it were 10. They are 22 now. It's been a family tradition to keep on building it. They have a skywalk from tree to tree now.

This is DS1 (I think)  wakeboarding.

Just a shot of the boat launch.

Here are some of the fish the boys caught. We call them jackfish. They are also known as Northern Pike.

Friday this and that

It's been a slow week but a busy one, if that makes any sense.

On Sunday we went to pick up DS2 at Service Scouter training camp. He spent a week about 3 hours north of here at a Scout camp training to become a service scouter. It was a grueling week...Think Survivor for kids. They did canoe training, hiking with full pack. First Aid Training.  Compass and maps. They had to cook their own food over  a fire. They were kept up for 24 hours and had to do canoeing and finding their way through a swamp (with full gear) in the dark. Things like that. He was full of black fly bites when he got home and totally exhausted but he loved it. We are waiting to get our letter to see if he passed the course. Pretty good for 13

We have been cleaning and getting ready for the garage sale. My mom graciously agreed to host it in her big 2 car garage so that we have more room to spread out and we can be getting ready ahead of time.

It was miserable on Tuesday so after I dropped DS1 off at the gym I headed to the school. Literally pulling  in ahead of me or right behind me (in a 2 min span) were 5 other teachers. For a staff of only 15 teachers, that is a pretty high %. It was great to talk and catch up on things.

Today is the day DS1 begins his hockey tryouts. It's a pivotal time. It is his last chance to make this level. He has a lot of skills but politics does play it's role.

We're also working on getting Sister #2's acreage/farm yard ready. Sister #1's son is getting married out there in two weeks. There's a ton of work to do and darling nephew doesn't have a bloody clue. We're a wee bit annoyed at him for that. This is the first of the grandchildren to get married. In the meantime Sister #2's daughter is due anyday so she may not even be out at her place for the wedding.

So today is divide and conquer. Husband and DS2 will go to the farm to work on the yard with my sister and my parents. DS1 and I will head to the rink.

Have a great day everyone!

Auto Insurance - once a year vs monthly

So earlier this year one of my savings goals was to save up the money so that I could pay for my plates (insurance) all in one shot rather than doing the monthly payments. I haven't done a once a year in forever...probably since they started offering the auto monthly payment option.

I wanted to do the once yearly as they offer a  significant reduction in rate to do that, or so I thought.

I had called in the spring to see how much the yearly amount would be and got an 'oh no dear we couldnt' possibly know how much it would be this early'

I really hate being 'oh no dear'd' LOL

So I saved up $1000 as that was approximately what it was last  year.

This week the renewal statement came. To pay monthly, as I have done before, the cost is $86.32 (or $1035.84 over the year). To pay in one shot it is $996 (or $83 a month).

I am not sure how much I was thinking I'd 'save' doing it this way but I guess, deep down, I expected it to be more. By paying once I am saving $3.32 a month or $39.84 over the year.

If I had realized this, would I have worked to save up ahead of time? honestly, probably not.

What is the 'savings point' where it would have seemed worthwhile to me? lol no clue honesetly.

Ah well. It was a good learning lesson and I do love those!

Book Review

I've been reading a lot this summer. Some romance. Some historical. A couple mysteries. A couple dramas.

I finished one yesterday and I have to say I just couldn't put this book down.

It is completely a light summer read kind of book. I hadn't heard of the author but found it in the 'recently released' shelf. I scanned the blurb on the back and thought it would be fun.

I will confess I know diddly squat about what hedge funds are. I know it has to do with investing and portfolios and that a lot of the folks who run these are insanely wealthy and some have lost it all.

This book is about the wives of said men and what their worlds are like. Worlds that I can't even begin to imagine. Name dropping designers I've never even heard of LOL

On my little 'it amused/entertained/taught me' ranking, it's a 5/5.

Where the money stands

As of August 5th

Debts
Mortgage - $36 439.41
Vehicle Loan - $ 21 251.26
Total Debts - 57 690.67 

Savings
EF - $2000
XMAS 2010 -$1000
RRSP = $700

Total Savings - $3700


Planned Savings
RRSP Portfolio - $1000
RESP - $1500

It was a good month. I managed to get the total debt down by $2242.61. That makes me very happy!

Top Referrals for July

Wow I can't believe how fast the month has gone. It's time to give props to those who send folks my way to peek at and wander about The Tree.

The majority of my readers have no referred link so I believe that means I'm part of their bookmarks. Then come those from blogger.com.

Since it was July and that was the 7th  month, the top 7 wonderful blogs that sent some link love and put me in their list are...

1) Saving for Later

2) Frugal Dreamer

3) It's me, Sam

4) Gail Vaz-Oxlade's Blog (from comment linkage)

5) BeachGirl's Blog

6) Debt Marathon

7) Always the Planner

Thanks to all of you. There were new folk commenting here and it was great to see and hear from them. And for all of you silent, stealthy readers, thank you for coming by :-)

What lurks beneath the stairs

So  a virtual miracle happened yesterday. The husband consented to sort and organize and clean...what lurks beneath the stairs. This man loathes this kind of cleaning. If I gently ask, it's like I'm asking him to go for a vascectomy with a rusty blade...lordy the look on his face.

We started in the recroom with his scouting things. He has a whole big bookshelf filled with tubs of different items and stacks of papers and binders. I honestly thought that if we could do this, it would be OMG wow. I told him to look at it and imagine 1/5th of it gone. Hint...use a weird fraction, outside of the traditional 1/2, 1/4, 3/4 etc. It confuses them. The shelf was bursting. I never told him to throw anything out. I just unpacked a tub and held each item up and he either said to keep or toss. Not a whole lot came out of the tubs but when we hit the papers and magazines etc, we finally saw some progress.

Results - 2 big black garbage bags to go to recycling and 2 big ones to go to trash. Everything fits on the shelf. Success

We moved then to DS1's hockey gear. Camp starts in 10 days and we need to see what fits and what doesn't. I was crossing my fingers the whole time as last year he'd grown so much that it was a big pile  of $$$ to replace what no longer fit. A bunch of things went to the garage sale boxes, some to the trash and we were left with a small list to replace, thank god.

I went upstairs to do dishes and in a bit got a call up saying 'do you want to do more?'

I was stunned but I moved quickly lest he change his mind.

So we headed to the dreaded under the stairs. It's been a catch all for all kinds of crap and storage for years. Most of the stuff is his so as much as I wanted to go down and just purge my heart out, it really wasn't my place.

It took 2 hours but ohhhhh the results.

• 12 bags to the trash (had to drive to the dump and pay to dispose)
• 7 bags to the garage sale pile
• we all need a chlorotriplon for the dust
• it's clean under there!! there's room. (for more stuff that was just piled in other places)

We found the darndest things under there. 2 big boxes full of hats. like ball hats. He used to save/collect them. OMG they smelled musty lol. His old stereo we will try to sell at the garage sale as well as a box of records. surprisingly, people still buy them. There was a box of kids winter clothes I had forgotten about. I washed them all and put them on the line to air out for the garage sale. My grad dress was under there. I didn't know it was there...thought it was at my mom's. If only I could fit into it LOL My grad jacket was there too as well as husband's. The box of blankets that were made for the boys' births was there. They smelled great but that was because I had them in a rubbermaid tub with a mess of bounce sheets.

It was great to get this done. My garage is a mess right now filling up with things for the sale, but it's nice to see all that 'won't be there anymore' once we sell it.

And my husband....well his back is out today. Actually it was hurting yesterday morning before we even started. Every year for the past 10 years he has taken holidays the first week of August and EVERY year during that week, his back goes out. I swear he's like the August ground hog!!

Spreading the Link Love

Hey all! It's that time of the month again (lol not THAT time) and I wanted to spread some link love around. Below are four blogs I have been reading for quite some time. I know our little Blogosphere is a small world, but on the off chance you haven't explored these sites, feel free to wander about and explore.

Seredipity -  is having a No Spend Month. Bless her for that because I surely couldn't manage one of those in August.

Moonblossom - has had Murphy visit her lately and do some damage to her EF

YBP - Life is busy for her. She's just completed her second Masters, is getting ready for a wedding, and today is deciding about adding the wonderful luxury of a housekeeper to their world.

Quest to Be Financially Abundant - She's working on some no spend days, which we all know, can be a challenge.

Enjoy. Explore.

Spending the summer savings money

During the winter, one of my savings goals was to put aside $1000 for summer 2010. I wanted to have some money so that if we went somewhere or the boys wanted to do something, there was a pool of money to support that expenditure.

I always leave summer feeling guilty that I haven't given my boys a ton of camping at the lake or a trip away somewhere.

So this helped. It wasn't enough to go somewhere fancy, but it was enough to add little bits of flavour here and there to break up the potential monotony of summer days stuck at home.

With summer halfway over, I have spent $600 of the $1000. Here are some of the things I have spent money on:

• provincial park season pass
• money towards their tenting/fishing trip up north
• money to my sister/brother in law for boat gas that gave the boys a chance to tube and wakeboard
• golfing for 3 and a cart at the lake course
• dinner out when we went car shopping in the city
• a weekend at the provincial soccer finals
• dinner out yesterday up north when we dropped DS2 off at scout camp
• gas for some of the out of town trips

Gas has taken up a big part of it. As has food. Is that wrong? well when I didn't really specify what things were for, then, no, it's not really wrong. It does make me wonder if I should add to the summer 2011 budget that is specifically for gas, or just add to it in general.

I'm very very glad I saved up this money for summer though. I will absolutely do it again!