quick visit with DS2

At this moment I am a privileged mama. Both my boys are under my roof.

DS2 texted this AM to say he think he has strep and was driving the 2.5 hours from my sister's to go to see the dr. He brought with him 3 weeks of laundry.  He was working for 10 days then did his scout camp, orientating (is that a word?) the new recruits, then he was off up north for his annual 5 day Canoe Trip on the Churchill River system. "It was ONLY 125 KM mom" . lol

I sat in ER with him waiting for 2 hours and got to catch up with him. Pure one on one time, if you don't count all the strangers in there too.

They did swabs of his throat and those will get sent off for testing. He gets some time in his own home, for all that he says he did not feeling that missing home longing. He gets fresh laundry and a home cooked meal of his choice.

DS1 is off to the city for his 3 on 3 hockey tournament in a couple hours.

My laundry line is full of clothing drying and the washer is still going.

And I am  happy.


PS - does anyone know how much a 45 min load in the dryer would cost in $??? I am curious how much I save by drying things on the line.

Big dental summer

I certainly feel like I spent a  lot of time at the dentist this summer. Between myself and DS1 we were there six times. And the kitty went twice (to a different dentist lol )

DS needed 2 wisdom teeth pulled out, a couple fillings and some serious scaling and cleaning. He hadn't been to the dentist is years. Bad mother for sure.  All the staff there found him so funny and so charming. Said he made their summer. I am assuming it wasn't just financially lol

I went for my check up and cleaning and had to go back for 2 fillings. I also have trouble with a tooth that was filled then root canalled and now needs a crown. I am waiting on word from our health plans to see how much is covered.

DS is 21 so he had been phased out of our health plans. We had to provide documentation to both health plans. I had to pay each visit outright. The dentist office then sent off the claim directly to DH's (has to go through his first) and then I sent the balance off to mine. We are just starting to get those second cheques from my provider.

It did prompt me to sign up for online claims and direct deposit refunds so that was a good thing.

Between DS, myself and the kitty, I plopped down $2461 on my VISA. Can't wait for those last couple copays to come back and get that card back to zero where it belongs.

where the money stands

as of August 8th

Debt
Mortgage - $16 299.61
College LOC - $15 151.16

Total Debt - $31 450.77



Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $8100
RESP - $5 600
RRSP - $12 400
Summer 2016 - being spent
Back to School - being spent
RRSP 2016 -  added to RRSP
XMAS 2016 - $700
Plates - $1500
Flights - $800

A few changes. I added $1000 to the TFSA and $1500 to the RRSP.  I am spending some of the Summer and Back to School money.  I have never really commented on the Flights category on here, or included it. I add $100 a month (most months) to this savings category. It is for flying DS home at Christmas. If there is leftover, I keep it in case I need to arrange a quick flight home for him in case of emergency. It's nice not to stress about how I will pay to get him home.

A flashback to the old days.

Sometimes I mourn for the way things used to be. Then I remember that it wasn't really 'me' who experienced the good old days, but my older sisters. By the time I came around, we had moved from the farm into town and we didn't get to the simple farm community experiences.

A couple hours from here is  a small, former 'regional park'. It was closed a good 10 years ago and is now privately owned. It was at these  little parks in the middle of nowhere, that countless weekends of summer fun used to take place.

The people who now own the land spent a good couple months hacking away at overgrown campsites and cleaning the place up for what they hope will become an annual event.  It was a mini, small town SK sports and music festival. Campers descended upon this 'good old days' park, brining with them 12 slowpitch teams and a 24 beach volleyball teams for a weekend of sports fun. The ball diamonds did not look like they had been dormant for a decade. Vehicles jammed in to watch the games, or to listen to the half dozen little bands that had been booked to come in. There was even a food truck there with some amazing food. Good, simple fun without flashy toys or fancy cabins.


DS went with his girlfriend and her brother, and joined in their slow pitch team. I had never been to this little spot on the prairies before and it took a good while to find it. Back road upon back road. Blink and you'll miss it.  For a kid who never played ball growing up, He did well. Hit a few home runs andmade some visually interesting catches. DH and I drove down and visited with DS's 'mother in law' while we watched the games.

We didn't stick around for the bands or the beer garden. I fear I have aged out of that.  I wish I had had experiences like that when I was their age.

Long Weekend Camping

Everyone was there. All my siblings, their spouses, their kids and their spouses/significant others, and all the great grandkids.  And dogs. 12 dogs. Everything from a little shitzu Pomeranian blend to Norwegian Elkhounds. Sister 3's german sheppard adopted me and wanted to play stick for hours. Despite that many dogs, it wasn't that noticeable... and I notice things like that.

Jake, jumping off the dock to get the stick I threw.

It takes a lot of schedule coordination to get everyone there, even for part of the weekend. Takes a lot to schedule food for that many people. My niece does a great job of creating the menu and dividing up the protein, veggies and fruit, breakfast items etc.

Mom and dad took up their fifth wheel. It will probably be their last time. He was exhausted just getting there. All the grandkids helped set up their camp. Sister 1 (with MS) spends the summer at a lake near us with her trailer so she just rented one of the cabins on the lakefront for the weekend. Sister 2 stayed with mom and dad. Sister 3 had her fifth wheel.  Four of the nieces and nephews had trailers. We took a little cabin above my sister, and two of my  nieces and their families crammed into another one.

We got there, quickly unpacked and DS1 and gf went off in the boat to fish with some of their cousins. The water was perfect. All the little ones use Aunty and Uncle for my kids and their cousins. It's just easier. DS was excited that his favourite nephew brought in his very first fish, all on his own. He is 6.  Here he is jumping off the dock.

Supper was a huge fish fry. We had fresh filets done in cast iron pans over the fire. My brother in law also brought up his Coleman 'deep fryer' and we had delicious nuggets of deep fried fish. There was also a big pot of chili for those who don't love fish. There was a massive tray of leftover perogies from those who were there Thursday night.  A variety of salads rounded things out. So delicious.

The owners of the private campground came and we gathered together for a family pic for my dad's 80th. It isn't until the end of August, but people will be away then so this was our opportunity.  All but one of the little ones was looking at the camera. A near miracle.

It was a great night around the campfire as we all just got caught up on what was happening in each other's lives. A few too many spruce beetles came in like drones towards the fire. They are so ugly and sly, and they bite.  We spent a good 45 minutes playing spot the spruce beetle, in the dark, before they landed on one of us.

The ones at the lake looked like this. 3 to 4 inches including their antennae.

Saturday morning was big breakfast day. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, hashbrowns, delicious fruit and toast. It sure helps that there are about 4 of those big Coleman griddles in the family, to cook it all. Everyone helps out with the little ones, getting them to eat and occupying them while their parents eat. We had all kinds of little ones...from 3 months old, 11 months old, to 18 month twins, up to the 6 year old.

After everything was cleared up the boats loaded up with everyone who was going out and off they went to fish, or tube or wakeboard. They got back about 2 and we had lunch, finishing just in time, before it started to rain. And it rained. Steady. For 12 hours. It wasn't 'on the water' weather.  We gathered in the cabins and one of the fifth wheels, pulled out the cards, and had a massive Kaiser tournament. They played from 3 til about 10 PM. Supper was crockpot lasagna and Caesar salad.

Sunday morning the rain was still coming down lightly and we couldn't get a fire to stay going for anything.  We did bacon and eggers or ham and eggers out of my sister's cabin and people took things back to their own place to eat. By 11 AM the skies had cleared and they had another lovely day out of the lake and campfire that night.

It was a great memory building weekend.