If you can read this

............I got iphone signal way up in the boreal forest!!   Sipping coffee, watching the lake. Watching the birds fly over. Loons. Ducks. Geese. Smell of campfire. Bacon cooking. Great nephew giggling. That fantastic ' I slept in the tent - doesn't my hair look great???' look going on combined with the 'campfire was wonderful last night' smell. Both of which I actually love.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh wonderful

Long Weekend

It was ridiculous traffic yesterday as I ventured out and about. August long weekend in Sask means lake time for a lot of people. The roads were full of trucks hauling trailers/ fifthwheels, and boats being hauled. Gas stations had lines of folks fueling up to get out of town. The parking lots of the grocery stores were full of folks grabbing last minute items as they headed north to the lakes.


Things are not much different in the jolie household. We're heading up north about 2.5 hours to spend the weekend with family, including the 2 new babies and the baby to be.

Summer is short in SK. One has to take advantage of the time.

Have a great weekend all! See you Monday!

Upppssssss and Downssssssss

Seriously, I need some dramamine (gravol)

DOWN!  - Desktop bad!!! Not working. Into the shop it goes. Was just there at the beginning of June. He could have driven himself.

UP - there was only one son home this week so less fighting over the computers.

DOWN - laptop smoking hot to the touch. Keys.  Power button. Mousepad. Oh boy!!! More repairs = more money. It gets shut off and left alone for two days. Can I say, I love my IPHONE, so I can keep up to speed???

UP - Puter techie says that the destop harddrive is fine. He wants to see my mouse and keyboard. Seriously??? my keyboard can Eff up my harddrive showing up on my monitor? Didn't know that.

DOWN - Took DS1 to the city to buy new Skates, elbow pads, can etc. It's been a couple years for these and they ALL need replacing. Cost just under $1000. Kinda sorta saved.

UP - I text DH to ask if he is able to contribute to the hockey equip costs. He says yes.

DOWN - so many power outtages here it's ridiculous. At least we don't have the massive damage my sister in the north does.  Trees down everywhere.

UP (ish) - Desktop comes home with a $70 bill. Labour and a new keyboard. It all seems to be working. Fingers crossed!!!

DOWN - DH flips out and reneges on his agreement to pay for some of the costs of the equipment. He did this with the trip for DS too. One has to wonder what kind of freaking power trip game he is playing, if he is doing it consciously. If it is subconscious, that really speaks loads about the quality of his character. I am so angry at him I could spit. He really does not GET the money situation and that it is normal for him to be responsible for some of his own child's costs. He goes all twelve with a big 'Whatever!! F*ck you' as his comeback/final statement. Classy

UP - I went to pick DS 2 up from his camp. He was dirty and wet and smelled and he had a wonderful time. They had been doing maintenance on the camp  and cut down a bunch of trees from the storm.

DOWN - Road construction on the way home. In the no pass zone, a big &ss diesel truck goes whipping past me  and flips gravel up onto my windshield. Two huge stone chips. I did not get the license.

UP - You can get them goo filled  at the glass shop and that is covered by my package policy.

DOWN  -  one of the chips is too deep and big to cover properly with the goo fill so the windshield would have to be replaced.

UP - I have a package policy

DOWN - I have to pay $100 deductible for the darn thing. I never even caused the problem. GRRRRR

And that's just a small portion of my week. Oh boy!!!

Seriously????????????

my desktop computer has crashed again. That means back to the shop it goes tomorrow. Same symptoms as the last time. I need to find me a course in computer troubleshooting to see if I can fix some of these things. There goes another $100.  le sigh.

Do your belongings talk to you?

I am fairly confident that my level of sanity has not changed. Note: I never claimed full sanity - merely that the level I have, has remained constant.

It began in June when my cell phone's keyboard slide started to say 'I don't really feel like making the letters f and r when you touch us'. I took that as a personal challenge. I can create sentences without f and r in them. It's brain exercise. Pick up your brother after school becomes - pick up you bro  at 3:30. Kinda makes me hip? n'est ce pas? lol

Then in mid June, when I pulled the slide out to text, as soon as I pressed the first letter, the phone completely shut off. Not all the time. Just sometimes *Jolie smiles brightly*.

I am a positive person. I can handle a phone that needs naps.

Then towards the end of June, anytime I opened the slide, it shut off.

Sigh... not good. I could still attempt to text using the dreaded T9. I have students who can whip off a dozen texts like rapid fire using T9 - looking at the phone whilst texting, optional. I floundered for awhile but it was like an elephant trying to play the flute....while wearing oven mitts. Mostly just very, very sad.

My phone is almost 4 years old. Contract expired after 3 years. A new phone was in the works, but what to get???

In SK we have Sask Tel for a phone provider. There is also Rogers but their coverage in the rural areas of SK is not yet perfected and the per month fees are higher than Sk Tel. I live in rural SK. I NEED coverage!

So off to SK Tel I go. I face the tough question ' Do I want a data phone?" I don't have one currently and I have to admit that more and more in the past year, I have wanted it. A need? Well a few times at conferences and such when I couldn't GET to documents that were asked for, it was a need. An ongoing need? probably not.  I'm not sure. A want? definitely.

The options out there are mostly data phones (crackberry and iphones, the latter of which is new to the SK Tel network). What are my needs? Well I need a keyboard/slide. I just can't function effectively without one. Ok. So that eliminated a few phones off the choosing board.

Here we can purchase the phone outright, or pay anywhere from $0 to $100+ for a 1 year, 2 year or 3 year contract. Probably not much different than other parts of the planet. Obviously it costs more for the phone for a 1 year contract than for a 3 year. My first 2 phones were $0. My last one with the slide was $25 plus a 3 year contract.

Here are some of the options I had - though some were not necessarily available locally at our store. The price you see comes with a mandatory 3 year contract. There were a few that were $0 and also had a full keyboard...and some with those options that cost more than $0.

Ok so then I had to decide if I wanted/needed a touch screen. It was a want for sure.

I needed a full keyboard. The LG Rumour is like my old phone. The models there were $25 plus a 3 year contract. The LG Optimus was a slide with a $0. I had 3 students with that phone and all of them had had it in and out for repairs. sigh, I guess that is what $0 gets you?

OK so chances were good I would be paying SOMETHING plus the contract. I wrapped my brain around that for a couple days then accepted it.

Then I had to decide if I was ready to go (pay for) data plans.  For anything with a touch screen or a crackberry, there was no choice. You have to purchase a data plan. Data plans run about $25 to $30 a month.

So that cut my choices down dramatically if I did not wish data. I wonder, in three years, if there will even BE options that do not include data???

So I ran that over my brain for a couple more days, and talked to a lot of my co workers and....data I went....and I continued to surf. I tried out a few keyboards to see if my fingers could work the teeny weeny keys. The blackberry curve caught my eye. So did the Iphone 4, for $159 plus 3 years. I laughed heartily at that.

I did a quick survey at school - of the 15 staff I talked to, 6 had I phones and the rest had a form of crackberry.   I have to admit, I started to covet an Iphone. I was seeing all the things they were doing with them. I'm also realistic that $159 is ridiculous.

I convinced myself to choose a crackberry with the best keyboard. I talked with my students about what they have, what their parents have, etc. I mean honestly, my students have better phones/electronics than I do and they know a whole lot more. I was, though, angry with myself for covetting a more expensive phone. I thought I had gotten much better at that.

Then came the last day of school. Lots of hugs and goodbyes as my students move on to the High School. I get gifts sometimes. Realistically, teaching junior high, one doesn't get the same adulation as a Grade 2 teacher and I am quite ok with that :-) I often feel incredibly awkward when I am gifted. Usual gifts are mugs, gift cards, a bouquet of flowers....all wonderfully thoughtful and welcome and appreciated. A gaggle of students approached my desk together with a wonderfully decorated gift. I opened the gift and found it only the first layer. Oh goodie, they had wrapped the entire thing in tape AND hidden all my scissors. They took great joy in watching me try to hack at the tape with my keys, or gnaw on it :-)  What was inside? A gift card. Several of the families had gone in together and gifted me with a total of $150 gift card......for my phone provider!! It was very very generous and sweet of them. They reasoned that together they had spent less money than they would have as individuals. The card was for 'product'.  and they all knew what kind of product I should get. And I allowed myself to get very excited.

I scooted home at lunch that day and checked my piggy bank that holds my loonies and toonies. Jackpot!!!

So happily I skipped over to the mobility store and picked out my new Iphone! What a wonderful and unexpected treat. How blessed I am. 

I got the white Iphone 4 - 16gb. There was NO way I was paying $269 plus 3 years for the 32gb.

So here are the costs to me.

• Phone plus taxes was $175 (phone, tax, enviro etc). I paid $25 out of pocket from a roll of loonies. 
• Activation Fee - $25. This will go on my first bill.  Activation Fee would be for ANY new phone, regardless of the kind I got. (2 rolls of quarters and 1 roll of dimes)
• Data Plan - will be about $25 to $30 a month. I will know better at the end of August as that will be the first full month of the plan.

On July 5th, I posted about being done paying for my computer and having an additional $48 on each paycheck. The Witch asked how I would repurpose that money into my budget. There is my answer. I will put it towards the data plan. That will leave me a balance $18 to $23 to place elsewhere, once I know how much the monthly cell costs will be.

I also realize that there is NO way I could justify spending that full $159 straight out of pocket. It was a very interesting self exploration lesson.

I am having a great time exploring what this phone can offer me. While Angry Birds IS great fun, I need to fully embrace how this can be an additional to my professional and personal life.

A goal met

Well today DS1's plates (insurance) were due. The car is technically registered under his father's name so it was a good thing the happy Scouters got home last night.

We went down to SGI (Sask Government Insurance) to take care of the plates. You can go month by month, or by groups of months or by the year. For this vehicle it just makes sense to take care of this once a year. It was a good opportunity to teach my son about saving up for known expenses.

He had saved his share and I saved mine. Since it's under hubby's name, I went down with him, with DS in tow. DH signed the papers and I put the full amount of $1075 on my Mastercard.

DS looked confused. After all, we saved up all this money and I put it on my CC??  I then took him with  me to the bank and we put the cash straight onto the CC. "What was the point of that??", DS asked. I explained that if one has a CC with rewards (airmiles on mine) and one can save up and keep a 0 balance, then by doing this, we earn air miles.

He still looked confused. Remember that night I spent over an hour on the phone with Airmiles booking the rental car for your hockey camp??? I asked him. Yup he says. Well actually his yup was some sort of unintelligible cavement grunt with an affirmative sound to it :-)  THAT is what airmiles paid for. A $300 ish car rental that we just have to pay a wee admin fee portion to and not even close to the full amount. OHHHHHHH, he says. (caveman grunt with a rounder sound and eyes open wider).

Not sure how much he got but he was along for the ride :-)

Now, to help DS and his father understand that SMART ppl would start tucking money away each week so that next year (when it is DH's turn to pay 2/3) the money is there, ready to go.  Methinks I will have better luck with the boy than his father LOL

A week of This n That

As I write this....it is a soft morning outside with a cool breeze coming in my front door screen. I am curled up with my coffee, listening to the birds, watching Til Debt Do Us Part - Home Edition, and catching y'all up on my week.

It has been a very different week for me, with DH and DS2 away in BC for their Scouting Jamboree. As I write this, they are now off the ferry and back on the mainland  and slowing driving their way home. I've heard a few times from them (thanks be to texts) and while it has rained a lot, it sounds like they have had a fantastic time. The theme was Lord of the Rings, so I suspect DS2 had a fantastic time. They had a 'news from the Shire' on youtube each night, which let me see some of the things happening there, but I did not see our local group.

On the homefront, it's been rather quiet with just two of us here. I have caught up on the laundry, and know that as soon as the guys get home, I'll be swamped again.  I have puttered about in cleaning the house, catching up on bill filing etc, but I can't say that I have accomplished anything massive, aside from rejuvenating myself.

I started back at the gym. A shmeful waste of money I have been giving them each month and not going. It was almost paralyzing fear going the first time. I am not sure why...it's a ladies gym and a small one at that. In fact, when I got there, there was only the worker and myself. I know I am woefully overweight and out of shape and if we put the whole scale number aside......just my physical health is ridiculously poor. I have also been walking about 3.5 K once, and more often, twice a day. I do love walking and my heart rate does go up. Another sad commentary on my physical condition.

One of the worst parts of the summer so far have been the infestation of mosquitos. Hey I'm from Sask. We always have mosquitos. It's our provincial bird!!  But this summer is one of the worst in a long time. The reason is simple - our river flooded this June and there is heaps of stagnating water lying around in the low parts. They started to hatch last Monday, July 4th and just got worse and worse. They cling to the screen, just waiting for us to open the door. You have to run to your vehicle to get in and then spend time killing them before you start to drive, or they divebomb your face. To go walking, I had to douse myself in OFF which kept most of them off, though they still go after your face. They (the town) sprayed Thurs night though and I have to say it's been significantly better. Good thing too as there was no OFF to be found in town.

Thanks to the walking and the gym and watching what I eat, I have lost 3 pounds. A teaspoon in an ocean, but one has to start somewhere.

DS1 and I ran into the city on Monday. He needed his passport renewed. His bad mother let it expire as of January 31 of this year so we had to go through the whole thing again.  He needs his passport for his trip to Europe at Easter, but as well, he needs it for his hockey camp at the end of August. The Western Hockey League plays out of both Western Canada and the North Western States. If he makes this team he would be living in BC and travelling. I am not sure I am ready for this but we can't have this strong of an opportunity present itself and not pursue it to the fullest.

We went to CAA for our passport pics and got them for free since we had booked his trip through there. yeah some  $ saved. You can mail away the forms but I needed them to be on time and I always fear I will fill something in wrong and have to redo them. So off DS and I went to Saskatoon so we could file for the passport in person (no in person in our week community).  He and I haven't had captive audience alone time in quite a long time so it was an amazing 'date' day. We talked about so many different things. I truly do enjoy his company and the two of us get along quite well.  After we found the building for passports, we hit the mall. His shoes were falling apart. Then we treated ourselves to a quick lunch at the food court and off to the movies we went. Transformers 3 in 3D. Now I am not the huge transformer fan that the rest of my household is, but I enjoyed the entertainment and watching it through my son's eyes. We did not  get  snacks from the concession, though I will confess to having a massive hot flash - personal chinook :P and sent him for water so I would stop feeling like I was about to burst into flames.

DS1 has been working a few nights a week and starting last night, he works the next 8 or 9 in a row. We learned that he gets paid once a month (not every two weeks, like I thought) so I will have to front him a bit of gas money until the end of the month. He is not far from meeting his goal for his plates so he is deciding on his next goal. He knows he needs to build up a gas fund for the time he is not working. He really would like a jersey from his favourite team - Chicago. We have tickets to see their exhibition game in the city in September. He also will need another stick for the fall. I have told him if he wants to save for the stick, I will match him dollar for dollar. If he wants the jersey, he is on his own. Both items are over $200. It has been interesting to see how he waffles back and forth over what goal he wants.

I spoiled myself a little this week too.  I went with a friend for a pedicure on Tuesday. My feet badly needed it. I could pumice them every night and I just can't get rid of the yuck so I felt positively indulged with soft, nice feet.  On Wed, I drove for three hours (one way) to meet a friend I haven't seen in 7 years. She drove three hours and we met in the middle for a good 3 hour long coffee and walk in the park. Texting and emails and the occasional phone call is great, but it felt SO good to visit in person. I have to say it is beyond weird to know I could just leave home and not worry about the children ( ok, the one child). I just got in my car and drove. What a change for me and such a liberating and also frightening feeling.

I spoiled myself again last night and drove to the city with a friend to watch Bad Teacher. It was showing here in town earlier but going to a theater where I literally know EVERYONE to watch a bad comedy just feels wrong. I wouldn't have been able to relax. the movie was awful and funny and it was great to get away and visit with my friend from town. Our worlds are both busy and we don't often have time to connect face to face.

The money for the above spoilings came from my entertainment budget as well as some of the summer savings money.

So today??? Well I need to cut the lawn today. I should go do my parents' as well. Brother in law asked DS to cut his grass again this week (gas money!!!)  I am not sure how hot it is supposed to get so I need to pick a good time. Several houses on the street got egged on Fri night. I didn't notice our garage was hit until I was just about to leave yesterday afternoon. I sprayed and did a quick scrub but as I got home last night, I could see that it has either stained or needs more scrubbing. I need to buy some CLR today and get my gloves on and scrub again.

Have a wonderful day everyone!!

My freebies from Shoppers

It seems to be an annual thing. I found my link from last year to do a bit of comparing between the years. There was quite a lot that was the same :-)

It was redeem 50 000 points and get $15 free so basically $100 of product at no charge (except tax).  I checked over the flyer to see what was on sale. I prefer to use the points on sale items to make it all stretch farther.

Most of the items were need items. Nothing overly exciting or fancy. Crest white strips 3d were on sale from $54 to $34. I had  a $7 coupon off for them so I got them for $27 - but since I used my points they were Free.

It seemed like a like as I was buying things, dutifully keeping track of the total on my notepad.....but as I look at the pic, I think "That was $100!!!" I realize how inflation has affected how much one can get for the money.

DS1's first paycheque

At the end of June, my brother in law became in need of a part time dishwasher at his restaurant. Since DS1 had not yet found a job, I jumped at the chance for him. It's just a few hours in the evenings a couple nights a week so it won't bring in a ton of cash....but it will teach him about working for someone, being on time, doing a good job etc.

He got his first cheque last night, for his first two days of work. 7 hours x $9.25 minimum wage. A smidge of holiday pay was added and a smidge of Employment Insurance was deducted and voila! a cheque for $67.42.

He has reffed hockey for a few winters and earns good money doing that so this wasn't WOW a lot of money, but money from a different kind of source.

He has another $100 he needs to add to the pot for his share of his vehicle plates (insurance) which is due on the 19th. His tank was full thanks to cutting grass for Uncle and Grandma and he has some spending money in his wallet.

So we went down to the bank ATM so I could teach him how to make a deposit. I explained that cheques that go through the ATM go on hold for up to 3 business days so if he needed the cash, it might not be available right away.  He withdrew $40 of the $67 and put it in the jar for his plates. $20 stayed in there for gas and the $7 was just leftover.

I gave him an envelope to keep his paystubs in. I taught him to write on the back, the days/hours he worked that were on this cheque. I was robbed a time or two of hours when I was 16 and working.

He should get paid again next Tuesday and I think three days will be on that one, so perhaps he will meet his goal by next cheque.

I don't know how thrilled he was with the process but he dutifully sat through it all with me. I was definitely more visibly animated than he was.  Hopefully the little lessons will sink in over time and he will know more than I did, when I was that age.

Where the money stands

as of July 6, 2011

Debts
Mortgage - $33 680.96
Vehicle Loan - $11 010.43

Total Debts - $44 691.39

Savings
EF - $2000
Back to School - $1500


Special Savings
RRSP - $2500
RESP - $7825

I have taken summer 2011 off the  savings as it is now summer.

year 2 summary of the vehicle loan

Well year 2 of the 5 year loan on the vehicle is done. I have lopped off at least a year off the end of the loan through lump sum payments as often as I could. Below is the chart showing how much was paid in interest, principal and lump sum.

I have to say that Year 3 isn't going nearly as well. With the loss of wages, the computer malware expenses and some other surprise expenses, there hasn't been any to pay down thus far. I am hoping this changes very soon.

Here is Year 1 for comparison.

Happy 3rd blogoversary

It has been a whirly three years full of ups and downs. I have learned a lot over the past 36 months but I know I have a lot more to learn.

I was reading over my entry last year and I have to warn you, I was far more eloquent then, than I am now.

I am still a work in progress. I still have setbacks. The past 6 months have shown me that quite clearly.

I am eternally grateful for the PF blogging community for their support on here, and for all I have learned from you as I read your journeys.

I hope that I still have a few pearls of wisdom left in me to share with y'all.

Happy 4th everyone!

ohhh I almost forgot!

In the busyness of the past few weeks I forgot that with my last payday, I am now done making payments on my laptop.

I bought it in the fall of 2009 through a program our work offers. After applying for permission from work, I bought my computer outright on my CC. I then took my receipt into work and signed the repayment contract. They cut me a cheque for the full amount which went straight back to the CC to clear off the debt. Then work takes $x off each month for 10 months or 20 months (1 school year or 2). It is basically an interest free loan.

So on the 25th, I paid my last installment and I now have another $48.56 to add to my budget line each month.  Here's hoping my two computers last so I don't have to do this again for a year or two.

shameful food waste

So as DS1 wandered from fridge to cupboard, unsuccessful on his hunt, I realized there wasn't a whole lot in the fridge.

My home has been rather neglected the past 3 weeks in a lot of ways. I had pulled a lot of 12 hour days at work and I honestly don't know what DH fed those two boys.  I knew I needed groceries. I also knew that I was not putting fresh, delicious new groceries in a fridge that was dirty. First on the list to do was to pull everything out of my fridge and scrub scrub scrub.

There was some pretty questionable items in the crispers, particularly in the veggie one. There was a bad of (I think) broccoli that degraded enough to contaminate all his veggie friends - so out went the bag, some sad withered carrots, some cauliflower, two tired peppers and some say it ain't so celery.

The fruit side fared much better: two shriveled apples and 2 grapefruit that were awful when they were fresh. Must have just been a bad batch. woody and bitter.  I think we just kept putting them back in the crisper in hopes they would improve.

I was merciless in the door of the fridge: out went the expired salad dressings, gone were the two marinades we tried and just never liked. The garlic bulb had seen better days so it was gone too.

In the main part I had two single serving yogurts I found in the back, some questionable deli meat, some dried out tortillas, a couple of 'anyone remember what was in this plasticware' containers and an egg carton with no friends inside. I blame DS2 for that one.

When it was all freshly cleaned out, I returned to the fridge, the items which made the cut. There weren't many. As I cleaned I jotted down the items I threw out which I would want to replace. Then I went to the weekend flyers and made my 2 lists for my 2 shopping destinations.

Food wasted = bad
Clean fridge with pretty fresh fruits, veggies and foods in it =  good

The end of the tunnel

Well, I made it! I liken it to a locomotive racing down a long hill. Whether you want it to or not, the train just keeps building up steam, going faster and faster and feeling absolutely out of control. The sound is deafening and the speed more than a little frightening. And then it hits the bottom and runs out of steam, all in one quick moment. You still feel like you are vibrating, even though you are sitting still, and the sound of the silence is pulsing in your ears.

After report cards were handed out yesterday and everything was tidied and put away for the summer, there were hugs for the two on staff who were leaving and hurried 'see you around' to everyone else. Our paths cross often in the summer, in the building and outside of it. And after that, you just sit down at home and feel more than a little lost.

The group I teach is moving on to the next building so the goodbyes are a little more drawn out and emotional. Most will come back to visit at least once in the next year. Half of them will continue to visit on through High School and beyond. Such good kids.

I came home with two bags full. Materials for units I want to work on. Resources I need to read. I will go back to the school in a few days, and start my cleaning process: filing cabinets, shelves, drawers and cupboards. Little bits at a time can get a lot done.

After I got home and sat for a bit, the plans started. DS2 has to be picked up Sunday. DS1 was negotiating an evening out and curfew time. DS1 and I ran out to my sister's acreage to feed her cats and dog while she is away.  I started to make my long weekend 'to do ' list. Two versions. One for good weather and one for rainy weather. It's currently raining. I know which list I have to tackle and it starts with cleaning the fridge. oh boy LOL. but you can't get groceries until the fridge is cleaned out so the pecking order must be adhered to.

It will be very nice to have the time to tackle all my home and work to dos in little chunks.