No rest for the wicked

 Yes, on this lovely Saturday,  I am busy at the school working. I might as well. DS2 is gone, DS1 is at the lake with friends and DH is at my sister's acreage cutting grass.

I did quite well this year. I stayed out of the school until the third week of July. I think that's a record for me.

I came in once in the third week of July to find 'wet wax' signs so I turned around and went home. But reality is reality and there is work to be done. I have put in about 14 hours so far. While I am fortunate enough that I do not have to pack up my whole class, there is still a lot of work to do when the floors are cleaned. I spent about 3 hours moving all my furniture back where it belongs and wiping off the surfaces. Funny, those don't get cleaned by anyone but me. I then decided it was time to purge and re-organize things. I am close to the end of that. Then the real work begins of prepping, reading more new curriculum and planning new units to go with it.

I have come to the conclusion that I have toooo much stuff. I have been in this building for 12 years now and while I have purged and cleaned before, it really needed to be done again. It is frightening to see how much I have here that I have purchased. There is no budget for such things. I have rubbermaid tubs of all sizes, clear snap lid containers for units with lots of pieces, my own desk chair, stackers and dividers and dishtub sized containers everywhere. Magnets, pens, markers, a filing cabinet and three sets of shelves. Whiteboard markers and cleaners. Novels. tons of novels for the students to read.

I have over 100 ARGUS posters. I mean really....at $2 each minimum, my I have spent a lot of money over the years. Some are funny, some are thought provoking....some go with particular units or themes. I teach most subjects so there are a lot of topics I felt the need to buy posters for. Even second language ones since I teach French as well.  I haven't bought for a couple years but I let myself buy three new ones this year.

Anyways..... I have about 2 more hours of cleaning and sorting and tossing. Some goes to the garbage. Some goes to the recycle bin and some goes in a 'free to a good home' pile in the hall to see if anyone else may be able to use it.

I am not the only one who has been in. One is painting their bulletin boards. Another is painting their whole classroom. Two of the girls have been in and have their room set up and decorated.   I have a lot of work ahead of me before the actual start of work when I get paid again. I have to do lists all over my desk, by topic LOL

Have a wonderful Saturday everyone, wherever you are.

a hard time taking money

DS1 got paid yesterday for his work in July washing dishes. It was a long wait for him. He said he had no idea how people survive only getting paid once a month. His dad gets paid weekly and I get paid monthly. There was my prime moment to chime  in with a "that's why your mother has to plan things out and create 'fake paydays' each week'

He had a few debts. He owed his father $30. He is 'desperately' wanting a Chicago Jersey before they come to Saskatoon in September. He found one he liked in February when we went to Edmonton.  It, however, was $229.  He had decided when he was getting his job that he would save for the jersey. Then along came a friend who ofter orders things online and he was ordering a jersey. So DS and a few of his friends got together as they were cheaper with more being ordered. DS paid $30 for the jersey (borrowed from his father). It has not yet arrived so we shall see what quality it is. For $30 it could be a great deal, or a great lesson. He also borrowed money from me to go golfing with his trainer at the fancy golf course.  Thirdly, he agreed he would pay for part of his new stick he needs. The sticks run about $250 for his level of hockey. scary chit.  We decided he would pay $100 of it.

So yesterday he withdrew $190 of his hard earned money to begin payback. Funny, I had no trouble with him giving me the money he worked hard to earn, for his vehicle insurance, but for this, I really had a hard hard time taking the money from him.  He understood it and had no problem giving me money.  I had to do a lot of self talk to take it. The mother in me did not want to take his hard earned money. I  knew the lesson it created was more important that my desire to take care of him and provide for him.

and in the end, I didn't want to have to pay that MC bill all on my own.

I guess mama needs to keep learning too.

On a side note, my mother and father have decided that they don't want to cut their own grass anymore. They are 69 and almost 75, respectively and they work like dogs at their projects. Far harder than I do. But for some reason they are willing to give this up. DS1 has been hired at $20 a pop to cut their huge lawn. DS2 can do it if DS1 is out of town. Gas money!!!!

RRSP Update

I got my RRSP statement in the mail today. I only have it come twice a year so it's always a big surprise. I had made $100 in growth last statement in February. Much better than the one before that, where I made a whopping 89 cents.

I don't expect it to grow exponentially, but it was nice to see that I had made $75 in the last six months. That's more than I have been able to save for this year's contribution so how can I not be happy.

It does show though that interest and earnings grow and I didn't have to do anything to get that money. It motivates me to get more money in there so I can continue to watch it grow.

Clarity comes with fresh air, sunsets, campfires and baileys

and in the midst of it all, I thought 'Hey!!!  I have my debt total wrong in my sidebar'. It was right when I started this little adventure, back in 2008. But then I realized that when I bought the new vehicle in 2009, I changed how much I OWED but never changed the total amount of debt owing. Bad Jolie!!!

So to clarify, my starting debt was $84 458.22. Then I added on the sum of $29 661.30.

That means my actual debt total was $114 119.52. Ack!! that sounds even more awful.

But change it I shall.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

What a lovely weekend with family. There were 26 of us there in all. Bodies everywhere.  There was sunshine and fresh air......lightning storms and flooded tents............bbq ribs and burgers and freshly caught fish............... tubing and jetskiing (not for me) and fishing...........campfires, singalongs............. dogs and new babies and lots of baileys.

Family time just cannot be recreated or replaced.

I read a few books. Some for pleasure. A couple for school. Made my plan of attack for August... budget, to do lists, schedules etc.

Now off to do a mountain of laundry before I sent DS2 off for 2 weeks of Scout camp. I think he goes up to the Churchill River for part of it. for DS1, hockey try outs are looming on the horizon.

Happy Tuesday all.