And I ran...I ran so far away

If you're older, you now have a Flock of Seagulls in your head :-)

So when I finished paying off my vehicle 2 years early I had money to reallocate. Several of you suggested that I take that first month's $ and do something for myself instead of whapping it onto debt as I usually do.  I hummed and hawed about that, unsure of what I wanted to do.

After my doctor appointment on the 19th I had a lot on my mind and my spirits were low. I had a lot of figuring out to do, a lot of reading to do to learn about some of these drugs and a lot of reconciling to do that I will have this disease for the rest of my life. I have to tell you that a lot of the pages I read were so sad and so depressing. The stories from others didn't give me a lot of hope as they wrote about the troubles they were having with the disease, and with the medication side effects.

I decided I needed a bit of me time. I always loved driving longer distances (with no mountains or no large cities in my way - they freak me out LOL) so I decided a 2 day round trip road trip was in order.

I went away last week on Wednesday early in the morning and returned Thursday by supper. A whirlwind trip to be sure but a lot of good self reflection went on.

I decided to head to Drumheller, Alberta. The Royal Tyrrell Museum is there.

 For dinosaur lovers it is the mecca. I had gone there years ago with the boys so I knew how to get there, sorta. It was a great morning to drive the beautiful prairies, though on the way there, I felt like I was doing the 'gas station bathrooms of the prairies' tour. I learned I really can't eat and travel. Too far to the next town sometimes for safety.

In Drumheller, I felt like I was meeting ghosts of myself everywhere I went. I went by dino statues where I remember the boys posing...the ice cream shop we stopped at....the Smittys where the boys both argued over who got the blue crayon....and in the museum itself, I watched younger couples with their children and felt ancient.  I flashbacked to being there and some dad was trying to pronounce  a sign for his kids. He said it wrong and I remember him saying "sorry kids dad's not sure how to say that one'. DS1, who was 5 or 6, leaned over and said 'It's CRETACEOUS". precocious little bugger :-)

I drove by the hoodoos and remember climbing them, and then the Atlas Coal Mines, where we did our tour.

I spent the night in a  hotel, with AIR CONDITIONING (I have none in my house LOL) and a KING SIZE BED. beyond exciting and sooo comfy.

The next morning I was off on a new adventure.... Dinosaur Provincial Park.  I hadn't even known this place existed. Silly girl.  This place is a UNESCO world heritage site and the field station for where a lot of the dino excavation takes place. You are just driving along minding your own business beside fields of wheat and canola with nothing to indicate what is coming (except for a sign that says 'snakes at risk. drive slow and preserve our rattlesnakes' *huge eye roll* lol

Then out of the blue the whole topography changes and you see this magnificient sweep where glaciers carved out chunks of the earth and show all those great layers of earth. There is a lookout point where I stopped and carefully walked to the edge, watching for those snakes I am supposed to 'preserve'. It is quite amazing to look at. I was the only vehicle there when I arrived but within minutes there were a handful of vehicles. As I walked the perimeter I came across a family from Manitoba with three little ones. They were asking the mom questions she wasn't quite sure how to answer and she said "maybe that lady knows" LOL So I found myself giving a little history lesson to the family, pointing out a few of the features I had noticed from the lookout. "You should be a teacher" said the oldest of them. I just laughed.

These are a couple of the pics I took from the top.

Following the road down to the bottom, there are areas for picnics, for camping, a concession, bathrooms (yessss) and an indoor mini museum and gift shop.  There was a fee for the museum part.

Here are a couple of pics I took from inside the museum.

Outside there are all kinds of trails to take. Long ones and short ones. Ones with guides (for a fee) and ones without. There is even a bus tour for those who can't do the hiking, with stops where the guide gets everyone out to show and explain different features.  If I were to take the boys (and be in better health) I would take one of the hiking ones with your own guide. Worth the $

I walked one of the shorter trails, tagging along behind an older couple and a family of four. Just figured it would be safer in case I got sick, or met one of the dreaded 'preserved' wildlife. When I got back to the main area one of the guides was talking with another group who had indeed encountered a rattler.


Here is a pic from right below a formation:

I wandered about the gift shop and picked up a couple of rocks for my dad, who collects different specimens.I laughed beacause when  you pay at the museum they want to know where you are from. My 'Saskatchewan' seemed rather paltry when I listened to the three groups after me who were from New  York, France and Israel LOL I also bought myself the necklace here below.

After that I began the drive home. I did think of a few of my blog visitors who live in the Drumheller, Brooks, Oyen areas. I was near you :-)

I had a lot to come to terms with on the drive. That I have been massively overweight for all of my adult life. That that weight has kept me from experiencing many things in life. I have spent too many summers going "next summer maybe I can...", I am going to have colitis for the rest of my life. I can take different meds and I have no idea what side effects they are going to give me. I have no clue if the meds will work to keep the disease symptoms at bay.  I have only a couple years left before the boys are both gone - I have to make the most of them.  Did I come to terms with everything? no but it was a lot of good time to think.

Costs for the trip?

• Gas - $150
• Tyrrell Museum - $11
• Dino Park - $3
• Necklace and 2 rocks for dad - $32
• Hotel - $137
• Food - $25 (don't eat much when it comes back to haunt you LOL)

Total - $358

Sunday Evening Chit Chat

Pop on over to visit Carla, for her sunday evening  chit chat.

This is a picture of my parents' dog in their backyard. This is the first dog they have ever had unless you count farm dogs years ago when we lived on the farm.

What am I reading?
I finished reading Code Talker, for school. I am also almost through Candace Bushnell's One Fifth Avenue. I bought it in the city when I was in for my dr appt. I needed cheering up and had some money left in my 'allowance'. I got this hardcover for $4.99 on the summer discount table. I wasn't a Sex in the City watcher, but thought I'd give the book a try.  While it was interesting, I preferred Hedge Fund Wives, which I read last year.

What am I watching?

Yup, the Olympics :-)  My favourite events are the swimming,diving, gymnastics and athletics, though I watch pretty much any of it as I putter about.  Cheering on Canada, of course, but I do have a soft spot for the Czech Republic, since I have actually been there.

What am I listening to?

The fan, trying to cool me off

What am I cooking/baking?

Tonight was BBQ at my parents' house. Steak, fresh corn on the cob, new potatoes and peas. Yum!!

What am I happy I accomplished the past week?

I did a ton of decluttering, which made me feel very good. I stayed on points with WW again. Every day is a bonus for my  'usually fall off the wagon' ass.  I also ran away for two days. All by myself. Post to come on that. It was incredibly therapeutic.

What am I looking forward to this coming week?

Well this is the last week of my self proclaimed decluttering. Have to get done what I can get done and then move on to other things.  Have to start my to do list for the classroom so when I go in I don't waste time and I can just get right at it.

What am I thankful for today?
Another week of good health. I can walk without accidents and while I am still in very rotten shape, each time I am out there I thank God I have one more good day and the chance to be out and about, get fresh air and get some exercise.

Sunday morning

After a busy day yesterday I am enjoying a bit slower pace today.

We ended up having a power outage last night due to a storm. Was off for about 4 hours.

The crock pot pulled pork turned out good. I added a couple things to the recipe. The last time I made this I tried one of those Clue House seasoning packs. Too many chili flakes in it for us. Great if you like hot and spicy.

Thanks to a video I found online I got two of my three hard drives out. The screws on my most recently deceased laptop are tight tight tight so I will try it again today. Those will go to the recycle depot tomorrow.

I am watching Canada vs Great Britain beach volley ball right now and curled up with one of my kitties, my coffee and my laptop.

Life is good.

It's crock pot day

I see that July is almost done and I did not try any new recipes. I found this one yesterday and it seemed perfect for a hot busy day when I don't want the oven on.

Crock Pot Pulled Pork

I had tried a couple different pulled pork recipes but they were too spicy for my vanilla palate. It is weight watcher friendly so that helps keep me on program. I am rounding off the end of Week 3 tonight with WI tomorrow morning.  I will serve it with new peas and potatoes from the farm garden. mmmmmmm

DS2 is coming home from camp today. Actually DS1 went out to get him. He used to go to that camp too and misses that he can't go any longer. It will give him a chance to visit with the directors, who miss him. Must say it's rather nice to be able to just send the boy out instead of driving out myself. I gave him gas money for the trip and his car is cheaper on gas than mine so I saved a wee bit of money.

I visited Staples  today and talked to the manager. She was able to match the teacher appreciation discount (earlier than planned) and deducted the cost of them running the virus repair the other day when led to my code blue on my old laptop.  So I am coming to you via my new laptop!!!!!!! that I got for just under $600. Virus programs are running and I will tread carefully the next few days. I need to move my pictures and files back on here, maybe a few at a time. dunno if they were infected.

I have laundry on the line and I am finishing the last bits of the decluttering I had planned to do this month. More laundry to come when DS2 gets home in an hour.

I need to go over my budget to see where I am at and come up with a plan for August.

And watch some Olympics :-)



As a side note.....I plan to take the motherboard out of my two old laptops and my old desktop so I can recycle the devices. Anyone have tips on how I do that? new to me.



Hello Murphy!

I was happily PF blog surfing on Tuesday night and  whammo! more viruses and trojans than I could shake with a stick. It wasn't from one on my blogroll, but one in a bookmark I visit from time to time. I can't even remember which one. It wouldn't let me access my AVG. Couldn't open any programs. I cold shut down and opened and more of the same.

I took it to  the doctor and it is gone. dead. rip. so much damage they couldn't ressussitate. It had been giving me problems lately and had been to the dr in the past but I didn't think I was going to have to replace it quiet yet.

Thank god my pictures and files were on a flashdrive.

So began the shopping for a new laptop. I checked out a few different ones. Not a whole lot different in price between HP and Acer and Toshiba.  Staples gives 15% off for teachers on the 9th of August, so that is when I will go. 15% is good assuming the prices aren't 15% higher than other places. I will have to do a bit of quick research before then to make sure I am getting as good a deal as I can get.

They charge for set up. $99. I may opt for that.

they charge $50 for Norton and installation. I do not think I will do that. I will go back to AVG. I found norton slows my system down so much.

I lost a few of my bookmarks but I have some of them downstairs on the desktop so hopefully I can find everything again.

This will take about $600 to $700 out of my budget. I will have to spend some time between now and then to figure out how to make this work so that this does not  become new debt.

My favourite App

Last year this time my favourite app for my then newly purchased Iphone was angry birds :-)  The past 3 weeks the app I enjoyed the most for my Iphone is the Nike + GPS app. I bought it earlier this year but never got to take advantage of it really until this month.

The cost? $1.99

It was designed for runners but as a "only can walk' kinda gal, it's fun too. It lets me keep track of how far I go even if colitis rules her ugly head and makes me have to walk in shorter bits. It keeps track of my time and my speed. As you can see from the (not mine) photo above, it shows your route and the purdy colours show where your pace was fast, where it was medium and where it slowed down. I suspect for a die hard runner, that would be the best part.

I tried using it when I was cutting the lawn. Frankly I was curious to know how far I walked while doing it. I know it takes me about 40 minutes to cut. I know I am moving the whole time. I know I am sweating like a pig (thanks to being in such poor health LOL).  I turned it on and tried using it. Poor app was so confused. I could hear it screaming "what the hell are you doing???? You walk 10 steps then turn then walk and then turn again. where are you going??" It wouldn't register a distance at all.

While it might be inspiring to runners, it sure can be for walkers too, especially those trying to get back in the habit.  No guessing how far you walked. No driving the route to track how far on the odometer. A little voice at the end tells me if I have broken one of my records: distance, time, speed, etc. While I am not out there to break records, it sure was fun to hear Lance Armstrong's voice this morning telling me I did a great job after I walked 3.25 miles. Farthest I have been able to walk in a stint to date.

Thanks lil APP


*this is not a paid promotion. wouldn't even know how to begin to do that :-) with a kid in hockey though, I am sure I contributed to the summer home of one of the fine CEOs at Nike though LOL

A productive day

Since my health is kinda outta control I thought I would spend my Friday doing something I COULD control - cleaning

I was able to walk 1.5 miles in the morning before it got too hot. Being massively overweight and very heat intolerable, one works up a sweat quite easily LOL

I used and abused my clothesline outside. Perfect weather for drying things. I washed sheets and mattress covers and did the boys' laundry since most of their shirts need to hang to dry anyways. I have room to hang up one load at a time inside and it takes a day for them to dry. This way I got tons done. I popped on the new sheets my mama got me for my anniversary. Nothing better than sleeping in brand new sheets :-)

The boys worked their hineys off this week putting together the four cabinets I bought. They don't get along at the best of times and I was SO proud of how well they did putting these together. DS2 is the instruction reader and had to open up everything and count all the pieces and figure out where they went before they started. DS1 needed to learn patience and did well. The hardest parts were getting the hinges right so the doors hung correctly. DH helped with that.

I made DH go through his scout shelving unit last night. Said all of that shelf needed to go in his cabinet. No overflow, nothing on top. Was good for him to purge. He'd be a hoarder if I didn't intervene from time to time. His cabinet is done and filled to the brim.

The boys and I need to put our shelves in our units and then fill them.

DH's scout shelf and a 2 drawer filing cabinet were empty and both were in less than 100% healthy shape so the boys took them out to the front lawn with a  FREE sign on them. I was pleased to see them gone before nightfall.

I am all about the clutter right now so that was my focus for the afternoon/evening. I went through my bookshelf, cleaned and organized it. 40 books are purged and going up to where we camp. There is a laundry/shower there and the lady who runs it has books ppl can take. She is running low so I will give her mine. I ran a load to the recycling and I have a big load ready to go to the school - some for classroom libraries, some for my room and some on a table in the hall with a 'give me a home' sign. Like our own private garage sale :-)

Tomorrow I am off to get my hair coloured courtesy of a gift card. Back to red I go. wheee!! Then to the school to drop off what I gathered and home to continue to clean.

My goal is to get the house decluttered by July 31 so I can enjoy the long weekend. Then it's time to get thinking about school.

Thanks for listening, and for all your support.

Colitis Update

** this is only a health/wellness post so for some of you, this may not be a post you are interested in, and that's ok :-) **

Yesterday at the specialist

DR: so how are things going?

Jolie: well you're not going to be happy with me. I went off the second (newer drug) at the end of June. The side effects were killing me. I kept on with the main drug

Dr: Well that's not good. What were the side effects?

Jolie: Migraines everyday that 6 to 8 Extra Strength Tylenol wouldn't even dent. Joint pain so bad it was  a challenge to go up or down stairs, get in/out of my vehicle, sit down, sit up, walk. Morning sickness for 2 hours every morning. Dizziness. And complete exhaustion. I was down to working maybe 2 days a week and that was a struggle. and it didn't stop the primary symptoms of colitis completely. I was on the med for 10 weeks.

Dr: oh wow well this isn't good at all. so when you stopped taking  the second med, how did you feel?

Jolie: Better. almost immediately. No more of any of those symptoms. I could walk a bit. I could DO things. I had some energy.

Dr: (after a long pause) Unfortunately, while you may feel better because those side effects are gone, the colitis is not. The relief from the primary symptom of colitis is probably only temporary and you are only experiencing that because of the benefits of that second drug.

Jolie *blinks, lots*

Dr: If we went into your colon, it would not be healed. You have whole colon ulcerative colitis. The main drugs you are still taking will not keep severe colitis like yours at bay. It's only a matter of time before you are sick again like you were at Christmas. Since you can't take this family of second drug with these kinds of side effects, we will have to explore the third (and final) level of drugs available.

She begins to rattle off a list of about 6 different kinds of meds we  can try. Some are FDA approved in Canada. Some are not but are on trial basis. Some can make MS symptoms worse (which is in my family).Some are auto inject drugs. Some are IV infusion drugs where I would have to take a day or two off work each month to get. Some are trial drugs in case studies.All have side effects and who knows how they will affect me. These are the ones that will cost $30 000 a year and aren't covered. There is paperwork up the wazoo to get a small % of gov't assistance to pay for these meds. My eyes glaze over and I begin to cry.

Jolie: I honestly thought I was getting better.

We talked quite a while and I honestly was overwhelmed.  Reality is that if I start a new drug with unknown side effects, I will have to take a leave from work. It isn't fair to me or to the students to have me sick like that at work.

Jolie: Can I just stay in denial for the rest of summer while I am feeling better and then we can see?

Dr: Absolutely. 

She gave me  a few pages to read on the different drugs because most of what she said was a cloud of confusion in my mind. I will go again in a month and we will see how I am feeling then. If I am not good, then decisions have to be made. If I am good, I want to ask for another month to see what back to work in September does to me.

Just feeling very sad that it is so bad. I read some blogs with folks with colitis, and some forums and it made me very depressed. Those with severe like I have often don't get to go back to work, they lose their colon and have to wear a bag or they get colon cancer. 

Blogger/Blogspot Question

I am wondering if it is possible to 'create a new post' on my secondary pages like my Books Page or my Goals page. I can go in and edit those pages to my heart's content but when I go to create a  new post I don't see an option for which page to put the post on besides the main one.

Is this possible?

Thankss

Sunday Night Chit Chat

Brought to you by the lovely Carla. 

What am I...

Reading?   Don't Cry Now, by Joy Fielding. I have only read one other of her books,The First Time , which focused on a woman who is diagnosed with ALS. It touched very close to home as I lost a very dear friend to it.

Watching?  A rerun of The Good Wife, which I hadn't seen before. I can't wait for the season to begin again the fall. It had a great cliffhanger.

Listening to? The sound of rain still lightly falling outside, and the sound of DS2 in the shower, scrubbing away two weeks of camping.

Baking/Cooking? Tonight was crock pot night. I cleaned out the freezer of my wonderful upside down fridge as I hadn't been in there for awhile.  We had crock pot chili, crock pot beef barley soup and a crockpot of deer sausage to go with a salad. I also took advantage of the cooler temps and baked cupcakes earlier this morning and a banana bread this afternoon.

Happy I accomplished this week? I finally was able to get out walking and mr colitis did not interfere. It was very exciting. I am so out of shape and overweight it is ridiculous. I also did a successful first week on Weight Watchers. Just on my own. I never had success with the new Points Plus program so I am giving the old points program a try.

Looking forward to next week? I have a trip to my specialist. It will be nice to touch base again and get her input on my different meds and what I learned about them and how they affect me.

What goal is my top priority? Staying on WW and walk walk walking. Perhaps I can lose another couple pounds this week.

Refreshing Sunday

Finally our heat wave has been broken. It got cooler yesterday afternoon and cloudy and the forecast was for rain. It was so nice to be able to have the windows open and not hear the fan droning away. I felt like I was able to DO things instead of swelter. Can you tell I don't handle heat well?

I got in a couple walks, did some laundry, did some cleaning and I even dared to turn the oven on to bake cookies in the early evening. Even boiling something on the stove made the house infinitely hotter and muggier so  being able to turn on the oven without melting was a bonus.  I even managed to get the lawn cut before it rained. DS1 was at work.

It was refreshingly cool last night and about 2 AM a light, steady rain started coming down. It was such a wonderful sound.

This morning I was awakened by an odd sound outside my bedroom window. I always sleep with one ear open when DH is not home. Cautiously I raised my head to the window to find a  young deer outside munching on my dogwood shrub. We both were equally startled lol

This morning is a beautiful soft morning. I started it curled up in the living room with the front door open, enjoying the cool fresh breeze and the sound of the rain falling. Such a privilege to sit with my coffee and relax, and watch a few Til Debt Do Us Part reruns. As the rain stopped for a bit I could hear sounds from the ball diamonds echoing up to my house.

I have cupcakes in the oven and they smell great. I will be good and not have one :-)

 DS2 will enjoy them when he comes home tonight. FINALLY. I miss him. He will be tired after working 18 hours a day at his scout camp in this weather. There are tons of mosquitos and horseflies up there too. I don't know how he does it. He's been running camps for small groups that come up. Teaches them knife skills, firebuilding skills, canoeing, archery, shelter making, cooking over open fire. etc. He had a group of four of them out on an overnight Thursday night.

Friday morning he was in for a shock. Two of my sisters headed up there to visit him and see his world he thrives in. It's harder to share in his passion. With DS1 they can go to his hockey games. With other nieces and nephews we can go watch them curl, play football or volleyball, perform in a play etc but often DS2 doesnt get those moments of family at his activities. So the blond duo headed up. DH paid for their use of the camp and DS2 taught them all the things he would teach a regular group. One of my sisters is a photo hound so there are TONS of pictures of the whirlwind 24 hour visit.

Here are a few:

 This is DS2 with one of the aunties (sister #2). She proceeded to dump the canoe to 'check' to see if DS remembered his lessons on how to get back into a canoe from the water. He got her back later :-)

Their slingshot targets - a great way to use old scratched CDs.

My new favourite treat

I was blessed at the end of the year with different gifts from students - post it notes, little plaques with sayings about cats, a wind chime, coffee cards, and a wonderful memory book where the kids each wrote something for me.

The gift I am currently enjoying is:

Sweetened Ice Tea in a K cup for my Keurig machine.

You brew it over ice, and then add a bit more after and it's wonderfully refreshing and different. I am trying to drink mostly water this summer so this is my treat. It IS sweetened so there are 70 calories (I think) in each Kcup. I dutifully jot that down in my WW Points tracker so I don't forget.

So thank you my student. I had  not had it before and I am enjoying it very much!!

Not my best purchase

In Feb of 2011, I had gone with the boys to Edmonton for a mini holiday. Just the fuel getting there, the hotel for overnight and the food, cost enough.

While we were shopping I wandered into CrabTree and Evelyn and found myself attracted to one of the lovely lotions there. I am a bit of a lotion addict and I thought that since I wasn't really buying anything at all for myself, I would get this lotion.

I don't know if I bought it  because of the lovely lemon smell, or because it was in a 'fancy' store, but bought it I did. Cost = $22 plus tax.

Fast forward to last weekend while I was cleaning. There is my lotion, barely used. What seemed like a good idea at the time, never really came to fruition. Turns out the lemon scent is quite strong. We can't wear scent at work so I can't wear it there. I tried wearing it before bed but the smell was overwhelming and  even DH complained. I couldn't wear it to most of my outings as they involve the same folk I work with who are allergic. Wearing when I was about to eat took away from the great food aromas. So sat, it did.

Now I have it and I won't throw it out and no one in my own little world wants it so use it I shall. I can wear it when I go out for my walks. Perhaps with the breezes of the day it won't be quite so strong. Or maybe, it will keep the prairie mosquitos away :-)

I guess it shows that I shouldn't buy something just because it will make me feel fancy. It has to be practical for the long term.

I'm sure there are lots of folks out there who enjoy the scent of it and that is great.  Everyone has their own thing they love.

And wouldn't life be boring if we all loved the exact same things, and disliked the same things.

It was a good reality check for me. sometimes lessons are best learned after the fact, so you can make better choices the next time around.

$1= good karma

So Wednesday it was darn hot and humid for here. With the humidex it 'felt' like 48C. The temp was about 36C. I don't do well in heat. AT. ALL. I am a 20C kinda girl. Give me a bit of cloud cover or a breeze - even better. 

I thought I would kill two birds with one stone by heading to the library - the Air Conditioned Library - and return 2 books which had  a small fine for being over (<$1).  Off I went and found the lobby of the library filled with table after table of books. Each table had a sign that said "Box of Books - $1". Below the tables were boxes of all shapes and sizes.

I tossed my 2 books in the return slot and wandered over to the table, rather intrigued. You know me and books. Of course several tables were books that were very old and worn, some on some really boring (to me) non fiction topics. Then I found the fiction tables. My fingers wandered down the spines and my eyes stopped on some familiar authors. Hmm, I thought. My fingers kept going and I saw a book I had owned, but had been ruined when water had been spilled on it. Hmmmm I thought. When my eyes hit a novel my students sometimes read, which was signed inside by the author, my mind had been made up.

I found  a paperbox under the table that looked just the right size and I headed back to the first placed I had hmmmmmmed and began to put books in my box. I had a great time. Sure there were lots of books that were in rough shape, and sure there were books that were of no interest to me, but there was a wealth of books that interested me. 

With my box full of over 30 books (mostly hardcover) I headed to the counter to pay for it and my fines. I had a toonie in hand to cover costs. When the librarian clicked on my account we discovered I did NOT have any fines. How nice!!  So there I was with this extra loonie in hand. I glanced over to see this young lady - by young I mean about 23 or so. I can tell I am getting old when I  have that as a frame of reference for 'young' now. She had a box of books and we had exchanged excited smiles at the treasure that was ours for a dollar. I Handed my loonie back to the librarian and said "I'd like to buy that lady's box too. I feel the need for a good deed".  The librarian was surprised as was the lady, when she went to pay.

I came home, happy I did something nice and excited about my box of  books.

So where is the karma, you ask?

Meet Tiny, below. Tiny is one of the five kittens who had been born last year at my sister's acreage. She and her four siblings (one black, one white, one orange and one calico) all survived the winter out there with their mama. Come spring, all the females found themselves expecting, as well as the original mama. So many kitties. Tiny hid her kittens so we couldn't find them.

Fast forward to Friday, July 6th. DS1 came out with me to help feed the kitties while my sister was gone. As we approached the turnoff to her place we could see something on the road in the other lane. It was Tiny. She had been hit. DS1 - well I was really proud of him as he is squeamish - he found a shovel and we got her off the road and took her to the trees and buried her.  We looked and looked for the kitties, but nothing.  Same thing for Sat, Sun, Mon, and Tuesday. 

My sister got home Tuesday and started looking. After that many days in such hot heat, with no mama, it didn't look good for the babies. When I got home from the library Wednesday I got a text from my sister than she had found them under a shed but she couldn't get near them.

Off goes the catwhisperer (MOI) to the farm. My sister had put a bowl of milk, one of water and some dry cat food near the hole under the shed. I knew they couldn't survive alone way on the other side of the property. So I take a can of wet catfood, and the two remaining mamas at the farm followed me over to the shed. I was hoping one of them would see the kittens or sniff them out, and adopt them. The main mama got over there, got spooked and ran off. The other mama just wanted the food so I put it down near the hole. As she was eating it this tiny face popped out of the hole. It had a wee milk mustache so I knew it had had a bit of fluid. I was not pleased when the mama growled at the kitten. I gave her a stern lecture and I waited for the little head to appear again. When it did, the mama whapped it with her paw. OUT she went. 

So I sat there in the prairie grass (got a tick) in 33C heat and waited and mewed. Finally the little head appeared, and went right past the food and straight to me. Crying and wanting to be held. Just about broke my heart. While I held it, two other heads popped out and ate some of the wet food and drank some milk. They all were very tiny and had weak, wobbly legs. I kept putting the first one down by the food but she kept coming back to me.  If there had only been the one kitten I would have brought her home.  So the little butter brown kitty and I went on a field trip across the yard to the other mamas, the two males and the remaining four kittens at the house. I was hoping  the mamas would accept her. The wee kitty purred the whole way. I put her down by the oldest mama and was so happy to see her accept her. The kitty wandered in and out between the legs of everybody else and no one, not even the males, got upset. 

Feeling relief I headed back over to get the remaining two. They were not nearly so friendly as the first, but after a long time of me mewing and encouraging them to be brave, I got them, one at a time. The little black one was so happy to be with other kitties. The orange striped one was a bit hissy en route and bit me but once he got there, he was happy. 

After two hours in the heat and sweat dripping off me and in all kinds of unmentionable places, the orphans were nursing and playing with the rest.  I went over to Tiny's grave and told her we found her babies and they were going to be ok now. 

Man I love cats :-)

I would like to think that my good deed earlier contributed to our being able to find them and rescue them.

Itching to Store

With four of us in an 850 sq ft house (with basement) space is at a premium. Each summer I get purging fever and feel the need to go through things and chuck (recycle, donate etc). I guess it is my way of psychologically balancing the 'one in one out' that doesn't always get done over the year. 

Each summer for the past four summers I stare at the far wall of my recroom and cringe. It's full of clutter. Boxes and containers and piles of stuff. Mostly DS1's hockey stuff and a whack of DH's scout leader stuff. There is no store room in the house so this is where it gets dumped.  On Sunday, I with the temps soaring, I sought refuge in the cooler basement, which is usually occupied by the boys. I stared at that wall and went batsh*t crazy. Couldn't stand it. So off to the internet I went to see how much it would cost to put cabinets on the wall. I have talked about it before but talk is cheap when one never does anything about it.

I found a few that were interesting but required drives to a neighbouring city. I checked out our limited resources in town and found they just didn't have what I wanted. 

Home Depot to the rescue. We don't have one here but there is one in the city. The cabinets were 72 inches high and deep enough to hold a lot. The price ? $99. Now they are not solid wood. What is these days? I wouldn't have been able to afford them anyways. But $99 I could swing.

So yesterday I conned DH into driving with me into the city to get them. Four to be precise. The boxes are happily sitting in my garage waiting for assembly. I sure hope assembly goes well. The reviews were fairly favourable in that regard.

Where will the money come from? Well in July my paycheque is a bit larger as many of my deductions only come off in the 10  months of the school year. I will get $400 extra. yes!! perfect. So onto the CC it went, to be paid off in 2 weeks when my cheque comes in. There was $20 in tax. I have that left from groceries from last week, so I put it down on the CC already.

I am beyond excited and will be moreso when they are up (without a hitch) and happily storing my stuff.

A free weekend

A rare treat for me today.

DS2 has been gone to his scout camp since last Sunday. DH left last night to join him as they are running programming for a group and adult presence is required.

DS1 is packing up his car as we speak. He is off to join my parents, and a couple of my nieces at the lake, 2 hours from here. It isn't the big family weekend with all the cousins but it is still time away at the lake. I am so pleased both my boys value camping and family time so much. It makes me feel like I did at least one thing right raising them.

My almost 2 year old great nephew will be there. DS1 is beyond awkward and uncomfortable with little kids so this will be a good experience for him. When we hit Walmart yesterday to grab a few munchies for the lake, DS says "does that kid have a fishing rod yet????" I laughed and said, "He isn't even 2". So??? DS replied. "It's time he started".

DS picked out a CARS fishing rod for the boy, lamenting the fact that there wasn't a hockey themed one.

As for me, I have a list of to dos while I stay home and take care of my sister's place, ours and my parents. I need to get to the school too and pick up the items that need to be moved before my floor gets waxed.

Oh boy! me time!

Pop goes the knee-ble

We had a massive wind with rain go through on the night of the 25th. A plow wind. mean. about 118 KMH. It took out all sorts of trees and building and such. On the 4th we had big winds go through here again minus the rain. I thought I heard a crack but never saw much. Yesterday when I went out to cut the grass, I saw that one of our big branches cracked and was down over the fence in the neighbour's yard.

When DS1 got home from his work out, I fed him and off we went. His grandfather (my dad) would have been so proud of how he was up 30 ft in the tree and jimmying a rope pully system for me to yank the branch out as he cut it free. We missed the fence by (__) thismuch. I am pleased to see how much he has grown and learned. I tell ya, he's had me worried a time or two.

While hauling those big ass branches to the truck to haul away, I felt a very unhappy pop. My left knee. Seriously you could hear the pop and feel it go. Needless to say I didn't walk well at all last night. A cane would have been good. It is less painful today but still not all healed.  Getting old sucks man.

Here is the truck, all full of branches, getting tied down for the trip to the farm for dumping.

Adventures in RESP

Now that school is out I have a bit of time to figure out the status of things like the boys' RESP (Registered Educational Savings Plan)

I got my quarterly update for the boys' RESP account. I was so pleased at the end of April to crack the $10,000 point (5 grand each) only to watch it, through May go down down down. Once it was as low as $9800. It sure fluctuates a  lot.


According to the report, the plan shows a 1 year 2.17%. Since the inception it has a growth of 5.31%

Since I started late, I got a Family Plan. That means that I can allocate the money to the boys however I wish and it isn't necessarily 50/50. That helps if either one of them get scholarships. IF

Since DS1 turned 17 last calendar year, he is past his years of contribution that the govt backs. So off to the bank I went to figure out what is what.

I learned that since it is a family account, the $200 monthly I put in goes towards DS2 now since he is still in the age bracket where the gov't gives grants. That will last until Dec 31, 2014, I believe.

I wanted to see if I should add to the money I put in each month, since I have a bit extra now that the vehicle loan is paid off. I had talked about this HERE when I was redoing my budget. I had $300 extra per month I could contribute.

The agent and I went through the fine print and there is a cap the govt allows you to contribute each year without penalty. The $200 a month will put me close to that. I can go in to the bank in December, see what is legally left in contribution room and top it up to that amount. So that is what I shall do.

In the meantime, I have $300 extra per month starting at the end of July. It needs a home. So right now, it's home will be towards savings goals. That may change in the fall when school starts back up. I am not sure what it will cost me to support DS1's Junior A hockey.

Boy there are a lot of details to money :-)

Where the money stands

as of July 5, 2012

Debts
Mortgage -  $30 561.11
LOC - $3450

Total Debt - $34 011.11

Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $2000
RESP - $10 600
RRSP - $4200
Summer 2012 - $1000
Plates $1100


I had to check my debt numbers twice. Then I realized that the debt numbers will go down much more slowly now that I have paid off my vehicle. Concentrating on my savings/planned spending goals right now just means the numbers are changing in different ways currently.  Once I realized this, I panicked less.

The boy and I have saved for his plate/insurance. It comes due the middle of the month. I will put it on my CC and then at the end of the month I will transfer the money from my 'high' interest savings and pay it off. At least this way I will have it in the savings account for a full month to get a few cents more in interest.

Next planned spending goal I will work to fill is my 'back to school' goal of $1500. There was $500 in my end of June budget to go towards that , so I am 1/3 there.

Happy Blogoversary to me!

This photo was taken by a friend of mine at our Canada Day Celebrations.

Wow how four years can fly!

July 4, 2008 was my debut and the start of my becoming a grownup, financially speaking.  I have loved every moment of this journey. I couldn't begin to list all of the things I have learned, both little and big.

I peeked back to my first few entries and smiled and how far I have come.  It truly all starts with baby steps.

I could have never made the growth I did without my lil money tree blog and the blog would never have lasted this long without all of you. thank you so much for all the support you have given me.

I have made a lot of great blogging friends over the past four years and I have learned SO much from all of you.

July goals

On this, my first official day of summer (for me), I thought it good to set myself a few goals for the month of July. They are not onerous at all, but it gives me a bit of a focus. July is always my unwind month. August 1 comes and it feels like 'holy crap summer's almost over'

Here goes:

• Walk 31 miles this month. I don't care if I have to do it in stints around the block where the neighbours start to question my sanity, or in stints on the dreaded treadmill, it will happen.
• Lose 6 lbs this month (and keep it off)
• Bake 4 times (on the cooler/rainier days)
• Try 2 new recipes
• Snowflake $150 (recycling, change, money left from jars)
• Read 4 books just for ME
• Read 5 books for school ( There are so many new books at the middle years level so it helps to have read as many as I can so I can suggest good books for the kids)
• Continue to drink a ton of water and eat what I can to improve my health

I will make this into another page at the top and will update on Sundays.

Monday Morning Chit Chat

brought to you by the lovely Carla

What am I Reading?  Empty, by Suzanne Weyn

What am I Watching? a lovely rerun of Law and Order - Criminal Intent

What am I Listening to? my fan running. No AC in this house. blinds are closed and the fan helps circulate things.

What am I Cooking/Baking?  Tacos for DS1. He's a hungry boy.

What am I Happy you accomplished this week? I am happy I made it through my last week of school. My health was so poor. The last morning I was so sick I just curled up in the shower and cried. 

What am I Looking forward to next week? Rest. Rest. Rest. Rest

What am I thankful for today? Coffee with a friend later. We haven't had the chance to catch up since Easter. 

Change for June

The amount of change I gathered this past month was smaller than usual because I used the debit card and credit card more.  I happily rolled change yesterday and came up with 3 rolls of quarters, 1 roll of dimes and 1 roll of nickles.  That's $37 happy dollars that I will take to the bank tomorrow to save towards the plates (insurance), which is due the middle of this month. Every little bit counts!

An Honourable Mention

I was so pleased to find me on Jeremy's honourable mention list for his Top Canadian PF blogs. He also has his top Canadian Investing Blogs as well.

Thanks so much Jeremy and to those who voted for me.

If you haven't had a chance to check out ModestMoney, please do so. Great articles over there by a man much smarter than I.

A beautiful morning

I am appreciating the simple things today. I had to get up early as DS2 is heading up to his camp for 2 weeks and leaves early. I had time for a leisurely cup of coffee on my front step to appreciate the beauty of the morning. It is a bit cool and a breeze but the birds are chirping and the air is fresh and it was so wonderful. For any neighbours who happened to be looking out the window and saw me with bedhead and jammies on my step, perhaps it wasn't quite such a beautiful morning for them :-)

It would have been a great time to go for  a walk. That cool of the morning is my favourite time. I hope I will be able to do that again soon.

Friday after school I went to a coworkers who was hosting drinks for whoever was around. It was a lovely couple hours of just sitting there enjoying the fresh air (and shade) and just winding down together. I am so fortunate that for us, coworkers = friends.

Saturday was not my best day side effects wise, so I was not ambitious. The dizziness was not conducive to driving or being upright much. I did go with DH out to my sister's to feed her cats. She is off on a solo motorcycle ride to Vancouver. She needs to recharge and this does it for her. For me, I curled up on her back lawn  on a quilt to watch the cats and few remaining kittens gambol about. New kittens are so much fun as they tumble and wrestle. A couple of the mama cats joined me on the quilt and had a nap. We had supper at my parents. Nothing fancy. Just bbq'd burgers and fixings. They are headed off camping to join my third sister and several of the nieces and nephews.

Today after DS2 leaves I am going to do a bit of house tidying, figure out my jars and money and maybe read a bit. SO nice to not spend my whole Sunday at the school as I usually do.

Cost for DS2 for this camp for two weeks - nothing. They run it.
Cost for hanging out with kitties - nothing but the gas to drive the 10 K to her place
Cost for reading - nothing

Having time to appreciate the moments of the day - priceless