our Mini Vacation

So the boys and I are back and really glad we went. It was just the three of us and while it was low key, we had a lot of fun.

There were costs, to be sure, but isn't there with most anything. The top three were the hotel, the fuel to get there and back, and feeding the three of us for dinner x 2, supper x 2 and one breakfast.

It was the first time I'd taken the two of them away on my own and I am really glad I did.

We spent most of our time at West Edmonton Mall. We checked out the movies but there wasn't anything we were dying to see so we decided not to waste our money. There wasn't a ton of 'shopping' per se, but we did come home with a few things. I bought the boys each a book they wanted, and one for myself. They used their own money to buy a couple more each.

DS1 spent his money on some clothes and a hat (hockey based, n'est-ce pas?) He really wanted a KANE jersey, but it was $229. I suggsested that the jersey could be his first goal for saving when he gets his part time job. Perhaps after saving so much a week for many weeks, he will realize it wasn't worth the expense. Or perhaps he will still want it and that will be fine as he's saved for it. He said 'oh there's lots more I NEED.' Then he laughed and said " ok not need, but WANT. I do know the difference'. Good to know since he's the spender in the family.

DS2 didn't really want to buy any clothes. Said he didn't need any right now and saw little point in buying some until he did. He's the saver.

I bought some clothes using a gift card my mom gave me for Christmas, some lotion and that was about it.

Some of the highlights of our trip were:

Sea Lions at West Ed Mall. DS1 was just fascinated by them. It was quite amusing to watch his face as he watched them. He said they are his new favourite animal. I offered to go down to the 'paid spots' you can see in the pic but he said it wasn't worth the $9 each. I didn't see the $ sign but he must have. We caught their show probably 3 times.

Crabtree and Evelyn Citron body Lotion. Lotions and potions are my trigger and I ended up buying the one on the far right of the photo. I was given a free mini sample of the mousse you can see in the jar. We can't wear scents at work so that will have to be my weekend or lift my mood treat. It has a wonderful lemony scent.

 We hit Petsmart. I told the boys I didn't want to go in there. They know how I react to cats in cages. And cry I did. There were probably 10 cats in there. Zeus, captured my heart. An adult male. White with orange. A tail like my tomcat's. If I could have, he would have come home with me. The boys each bought a pack of toys for our cats.

Our last stop was at Campers Village. This was at DS2's request. He bought a flint and stone for his Scouting summer and I bought him a microfiber towel that bundles into a teeny little pack no bigger than the palm of your hand. We spent over an hour in there. DS2 was in heaven LOL

All the way up and back we listened to the boys Ipods. I learned that along with the hockey songs DS1 listens to and the inappropriate ones I wouldn 't let him listen to, that both my boys like Taylor Swift. It was quite amusing to hear them both singing away to her songs.

The trip cost, to be sure. I am waiting for one more charge to come on my Mastercard and then it will all get paid off in full. Yes I could have used that money to plunk more down on my vehicle loan or put towards my savings goals. I didn't, and I am glad for the memories the wee trip created.

A Successful Mini Week

The grand total??? 27

Yup, 27.

27 containers and vials, tubes and bubble packs of lotions and potions are now gone from my house. Some to trash and those who could, joined their little plastic friends at the recycling depot.

I used up soap, shampoos and conditioners, bodywash and hair gel. There were face creams, footie creams,  ey creams and hand creams, even some generic ones for the 'whole body' :P

It's amazing how many one can accumulate. Some were freebies. Some were from students. Some..........I'm honestly not sure.

And after my Edmonton trip, I now have 1 more soap, 1 more shampoo and conditioner, and a wee sample of a lemon mousse body lotion from Crabtree and Evelyn.

Shaking my bitters

First I wanted to thank all of  you for your kind support on Saturday when I felt all blargggghhhhhhhh. It certainly helped to not feel alone in those feelings. I spent Sat and Sunday doing little things to feel better.

I lit some Party-Lite Candles and appreciated their fragrance and flickering warmth. I crossed a couple of deep clean items off my to do list. I got a phone call from a couple friends and we went out for a good long coffee. And we laughed. and laughed. It was a good feeling.

Sunday were the awards for DS1's hockey. This is our first foray into the high muckymuck league. There were 8 awards handed out and DS received 2 of them. Was very proud of him.

Today the boys and I head off for Edmonton. We'll go. Have a nice supper. Toodle about West Ed. go to a movie or not, depending on what's on. We'll spend the night and shop as long as they can stand it tomorrow and come home tomorrow night. It will give them something different during their week off.

Thanks again everyone.

ok this made me smile

Snow Angels

Bad case of the bitters

Some major envy going on in my world right now and I know it's not a healthy place to be in. Perhaps I just have cabin fever...or I need something different to shake my world up right  now. I 'feel' very boring and I'm struggling with 'never having anything or going anywhere'.

I think this has spawned from some of my family's recent activity. Sister 2 did her 'trip of a lifetime' to Egypt in Nov/Dec (before all hell broke loose over there). Sister 3 is off to the Mayan tomorrow with her two youngest (I think the kids are going. They are 17 and 15). Niece 1 and her Signifcant Other built this wonderful house. Niece 2 has a fancy new house to go with new baby. Nephew 1 and his girlfriend went to Mexcio right after Christmas. Nephew 2 and new wife just got back from the Dominican on Friday and they also have fancy new house. Niece 3 is finishing  her Geology Degree (which she has worked her assss off for) and has been offered a 2 year contract with a company in Australia.

No one in our family is more than middle class, if one wants to define things that way. We're not rich and we've all come from relatively humble backgrounds. All except Niece 2 have gone to post secondary. Electricians. Welders. Youth Drug/Alcohol Counsellor. Home Care Nurse (that's one of the nephew in laws).

It's very common in Sask for people to jet away to somewhere warm over the winter. It used to be more uncommon but not so much anymore. Heck even on my facebook page today I had over 12 different people on there giving there 'woo hoo so long 40 below Sask, hello Mexico/Dominican/Disney/Costa Rica.

We all make different choices with our money. I suspect almost all of the family listed above are 'financing' their trips...with different speeds of payoff.

Could I get a loan to finance a big trip? yup. In fact I did that...........5 years ago to take DS1 to Europe for hockey. I also know it took me 4 years to pay that loan off. I don't want to be in that place again....lol but neither do I want to be in the "I never get to do anything' place I currently am in.

This too shall pass, I know. I will be fine and process/swallow/deny my feelings and life will move on. Right now though, I need to  shake the bitter betties.

It's MINI week

It's been mini week around my house. I dumped all the mini bottles of lotions and shampoos and conditioners etc into a basket and I have been using them up one at a time. The hotel shampoos wreak havoc on my hair but they are fantastic as shower gel/creams. The lotions are working great on my skin, which is dried to bits from this winter weather. The samples of moisturizers and skin care products have been great.

It feels good to use up things that have been cluttering up my world, and I am saving money as I am not using my regular products.

Do you have a ton of minis around your house? Try a mini week :-)

Staff Appreciation Week

Oh my are we getting spoiled. The staff room table is covered with muffins and squares, cookies and treats. For a girl on WW this week is going to kill me.

I very much appreciate the parents who sent the items in. I am picking out my favourites and encouraging the two pregnant staff members to eat them. If my favourites are gone, then I can't eat them right? I am so evil LOL

I curled up and ate an apple and a bag of cut veggies.

The giant pot of Tim Hortons is very much appreciated as well.

so for all the parents out there who participate in one way or another, in appreciation weeks...thank you!!!!!!

Whirly weekend

I know, I know, it's only half over but it feels like go go go.

Friday night was supper at mom's. It was gentle 2 C for a Saskatchewan February and my dad wanted to bbq some steaks. Who am I to say no to that?? With baked potatoes and grilled garlic mushrooms, it was deeeelicious. My oldest sister  came over as well. She is finally ready to consider Liberation Surgery for her MS. We are thinking Costa Rica. The husband of a good friend of mine is going there for his next month, so we will have some first hand information on the process. It's about $23 000. Saskatchewan has the highest per capita incidence of MS in the world and it's particularly heavy in this part of the province, so I am hoping we can get some research and treatment here in the province.

Saturday was a child busy day. DS2 headed 2.5 hours up north to join his provincial scouting buddies at their camp. The road was snowed in so they had to walk from the highway in about 1/4 mile, grab some canoes out of their shed and head back to the road to haul their gear in, sliding ever so gracefully in the canoes over the drifts. They were sleeping outside with tarps and snow shelters. I can't wait to find out how it went.

DS1 had hockey in the city. I fed him well and he headed off to join his team. His father and I drove in the 1.5 hours to watch the game. It was very intense. We lost in overtime with only 30 seconds left of the OT period. We got home about midnight and DS1 got home about 1:30 AM. The team stopped to eat at a restaurant instead of pizza on the bus. again. He plays again tonight in the city so back he'll go. His father is going but I am undecided whether I can teach effectively when I get less than 8 hours sleep.

I did a bunch of cleaning at home yesterday. With the warm weather, the cats have been doing extra shedding so a good cleaning was needed.

Today husband went up to pick up DS2. DS1 is still sleeping as it nears noon. I woke with a massive headache but it seems to have ebbed thank goodness.

I read one too many PF blogs this morning where folks were baking yesterday and peer pressure set in. The bread machine is making up dough for some cinnamon buns. I am far from proficient at these (compared to my mom who is queen of dough and pastry) but I'll give them a whack. DS1 will gobble them down regardless. I will have to tuck some aside for DS2 if they work out.

I need to menu plan today. I fell short the past two weeks and I really felt the stress of 'what should we have'. I need to do laundry today. I need to get groceries today. I need to get to the school.

One year of RRSP

In Feb of 2010 I ventured for the first time into the land of RRSP. I put in $1000 which counted for my 2009 tax return.  Six months later, I got my first statement from the Investment Company. I laughed at how my investment had grown by a whopping 89 cents. In November I added $1500 to the pot for my  2010 contribution. math tells me I have $2500 plus 89 cents.

I received my next 6 month statement yesterday. My yearly fee of $29.35 was taken off. I knew this and expected it. To my pleasant surprise, my $2500 was now worth $2600 after yearly fee deduction.  A lovely growth of $100 for one year's 'work'. The fancy lil charts and graphs tell me that it is a growth of 9% which sounds fantastic.

 If only I had had a ton more money in there.

Where the money stands

as of February 7th

Debt
Mortgage - $34 953.96
Vehicle Loan - $14 778.87
Total Debt - $49 732.83

Savings
EF(TFSA) - $2000
Summer 2011 - $1000
Back to School - $267
Total Savings - $3267

Planned Savings
RESP - $6650
RRSP - $2500

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I'm under $50 000!!! So exciting to see. It's been a long time coming and it is wonderful to see.

From this time last month I managed to reduce my debt by $1342.79 which is largely due in part to the extra $ put down on my vehicle loan.

Saturday This n That

We went from frigid cold Monday and Tuesday and then moved to plus 5 yesterday. Today it's just below zero and there are big fluffy flakes falling down outside. I love watching them.

It's a quiet Saturday morning thus far. I was up at 5:30 to get DS1 off on his weekend road trip for hockey. They have a long drive ahead of them to the south of the province. DS2 is still asleep and their father is ice fishing today. Even the cats are asleep on my bed.

I am beginning to realize that the past 16 years have been all about my kids and I have lost 'me' in the journey. They will not need me much longer and then what? A lot of years of just me.

I did some housekeeping on the blog. I added a piggy bank to show what I am saving for DS1s vehicle plates.

I added/updated the other two pages. I added a few books read to that page, and updated my 2011 goals to the other.

I need to come up with a plan for the day so I don't fully waste it.

Have a good day everyone. Thank you for reading and for giving me places to go read too.

RRSP contribution room

I dug out my 2009 tax returns. I looked for the very first time at the RRSP contribution room. In fact, it took me a little while to find it on my forms as I have never looked before.

I learned ..... husband doesn't have that line anywhere on his forms from 2009. was very weird.

I learned...................my contribution room is about $44,000.  holy wow

That makes a lot of sense given I only started last year, but holy wow.

Now I am not a financial genius by any stretch of the imagination, but I THINK I can safely say, with quite a bit of certainty, that I will not max out my contribution room anytime soon, if ever lol

I think I never looked before because I truly didn't want to know. ahhhh the life of an ostrich.

Scary/happy bill

Back in December, I wrote of my grumpy day. It was a day of great confusion and frustration with product and customer service with our phone company.

Today arrives my first bill with the new phone combined with my phone. Boy those bills are sure confusing. For two phones it took six pages to spit out the charges. There was no long distance on there nor is there an itemized list of texts as texting comes free with the plan.

It shows doubles of most everything since the bill was pro-rated for the less than full month plus the current month.  I am trying to figure out what a 'normal' bill month will be but with the prorated piece I honestly won't be able to piece it together based on this month. Since the bills adds the one time activation charge of $25 I know that I can subtract at least $25 for the amount. Then, too, will come the % of tax that was added because of the $25.  Perhaps also some of those 'pro rated plus regular charge' items will be less since it will just be a regular  month??

There are lots of CR (credit listed along the list) but I suspect most of those come with the signing on of a new phone. 

A most pleasant surprise was the $10 Credit labelled 'adjustment'. As I looked more closely at page 4, I see that  I see that adjustment means....'good PR'. Someone gave me a credit for all the troubles I went through. How nice. I highly doubt it was any of the ladies I dealt with in person. My best guess is that the nice lady I spoke to at head office the next day gifted me with it. She was amazing to deal with and I told her so more than once that day.  How lovely to receive a credit.

Total 'new' charges was $154.25. Subtract the $25 for sign up and the % of tax that goes with it, my regular bill comes to around $127 for the two phones. Will be interesting to see how close I am.