Survived Prom

Well it was definitely a different experience for prom with DS1 than DS2 for prom, but we are through to the other side.

DS1 was definitely a social butterfly and considered 'popular', for those who find that classification important.

DS2 has a small group of friends, but is definitely not popular and considered weird and different by the 'popular' crew.

DS2 seems to be ok with who he is, and has no patience for dramatic and superficial people but there are a few things he says here and there that make me wonder how he feels about where he fell into the social groupings.

I was somewhere in the middle, in high school. I think.

DS2 wasn't going to go to prom but a friend had broken up with her boyfriend and asked him to be her escort. It was good for both of them. She got  her escort without worrying about dating and all that goes with it, and he got to be a white knight.

Don't get me wrong. He could have cheerfully missed the whole thing and been seemingly content with it all.

He stayed until about 12:30 AM (It goes until 3 AM). He did the pre prom pics with his escort, the grand march, danced with her, with his mama and a few in the middle where his escort and another girl dragged him up. He hung out with his friends and won one of the prizes (hello toaster oven) and then they were ready to go.

Then we came home, he changed and went to meet his friends at a house (with parents home) and they had a fire and enjoyed each other's company.

He looked great in his suit. I am sure glad I didn't have a girl. Listening to some of the other moms talking about the dress cost, alterations, shoes, practice hair sesson, picture hair session, prom hair session, make up, gel nails, TOE gel nails,  pics... it was staggering. More than one mom quoted numbers in the $1800 to $2000 range as I .......overlistened to conversations. And these are not kids of doctors or lawyers or those kinds of big income jobs. Sheesh. DS can wear his suit again for weddings or funerals. Those girls will never wear their dresses again.

We are just nicely back from the facility where we cleaned up and took down decorations and such.  The next big event is at the end of June for the actual graduation. Cap and gown.

May change

It was a lean month for change here.

A few rolls to go to the bank with some $ I had snowflaked off grocery and gas.

1 roll of quarters - $10
1 roll of dimes - $5
2 rolls nickels - $4
2 rolls of pennies - $1

The pennies were waiting for a 'just need a dollar more to make things even' month.

Total $20

I also did four half periods of noon supervision which netted me $5.50 for each half period. That gives me another $21.


This $40 got me enough to meet me $200 mini goal. I took it to the bank  yesterday and I now have met my $2000 goal for TFSA for 2015.  I will formally apply it to my TFSA  in July when I have time to go in and do the paperwork.

Yeah mini goal.

What I am reading

I have had this book on my list for quite some time and yesterday was a good day to start it. Fortunately the library had it. It is a biography of Wallis Simpson.


 I enjoyed two hours last night sitting out in my yard, appreciating the breeze in the holy cow summer is here 28C temps.

My younger cat, decided to wake me up before 7 AM this morning. I missed his breakfast time and he was concerned I had slept in :-)

I spent a glorious, self indulgent early morning outside reading it, with my coffee.

I will admit to skimming a few of the society who's who portions. I don't know who a lot of those folk are and it reminds me of the begats in the Bible :-)  I prefer the story parts.

Happy Saturday everyone!

RRSP contribution limit

I realized that I  happily greeted the cheque portion of my income tax return, but never looked at the Notice of Assessment (summary) that came with it.

Among other things it has the RRSP contribution limit that I have left should I find a windfall and decide to dump a ton of cash into it.

I have over $50 000 worth of room left to contribute. HA!

I have no illusions that I will max out my RRSP. I started too late and have too many other places my money has to go.

I am grateful for the $10 000 ish I have in my RRSP portfolio and the money I have in my pension. I am becoming more and more aware that I am on the downward slope of the years I have left to work.  I definitely have a lot to learn.

Long weekend wrap up

It's been a very peaceful long weekend for me, complete with a bonus day of today.

I didn't hit the lake like DH and DS or like most of my friends and staff, but I feel like I got things done, and relaxed too.

Eating out of pantry and freezer: success

I found lots of little bits, which I paired with rice or a little bit of salad (colitis still has a hate on for veggies and fruits) and I didn't feel deprived. Friday night I used frozen ground beef and made a little taco salad for myself ( ok mostly meat and cheese and such, so I use the word 'salad' loosely). Saturday I had poached eggs on toast for lunch. I found some turkey chili in the freezer and some of my mom's home made buns, so supper was good to go.  Sunday morning I made myself a couple pancakes and paired it with a few strawberries. Sunday lunch I had a bowl of turkey noodle soup from some containers in the fridge freezer. For supper I found some M and M meatshop pulled pork, and put that with some coleslaw and another of my mom's buns.   Cost out of pocket for all this? $0

School work: success

But I say that with the caveat that it is never finished. I put in 3 hours on Saturday, 3 hours on Sunday and 5 hours today marking projects and exams. No prep work got done and there is still a pile of marking, but I feel good about what was done. Most people take their marking home now to do, but I just am so much more successful going to the school, spreading out without TV (or nap) distractions, and being able to sort and tidy and search while I work, instead of hauling home tons of things, only to find I am missing stuff.

Free to a good home: busted

I had put a few things out on the edge of the lawn that wouldn't be worth anything to put up on a buy and sell page, but that we had no need of anymore and were just sitting in the garage taking up space.  DH came home to find one large piece of luggage still there. Mine. He got mad and hauled it back in. I didn't tell him about the other things. They were all mine and none of them were gifts from him, but it still would have ticked him off. He would rather hoard things and not use them, ever, and complain about them being in the way.

House cleaning: success

Like school work, it's never done, but many of those little things got checked off the list. Probably nothing anyone else would ever notice, but I do. So there.

Walking: fail

It just was not colitis safe, unless I didn't eat or drink anything for hours before I wanted to go.

Summer college tuition: fail

I went to the bank Saturday to get the draft to send down to the States. They have (again) changed how they do US drafts, and it has to be done 'upstairs'. Of course, "upstairs' is not open on the weekend so I have to go back tomorrow after work.


Errands: success

I returned a book, two magazines and a CSI New York DVD to the library (curse you sad Canadian version of Netflix which has so few choices).  The book and magazines appeased my need to want to buy something new.

I went to the bank to get my Week 4 jar money.

I filled up on gas for the week. I didn't use much last week so I didn't need much, even with the jump in the prices. My weekly budget is $60 and in the winter, I use that much.  I got away with $25 needed to fill up. $15 went into my 'gas' wallet. I save bits here and there to go towards  oil changes or extra gas money should I want to go out of  town and need more $. The remaining $20 went into my 'snowflake goal' wallet, which brings my total thus far to $70/$200

I went to Walmart to pick up a few things. I used $80 of my weekly $180. Half of it went towards household things like laundry soap, toilet paper, kleenex and catfood.


Fresh air time: success

I got the lawn cut. I sat outside and enjoyed sunshine and breeze. It was chilly and windy here but there were patches of good moments. It frozen each night here - to give you an idea of how chilly.

So today while I was at work, DH tried to fix our laminate flooring. It was starting to separate at some of the seams. Quite a bit. He spent four hours trying to do four boards. I am glad I wasn't here to witness it :-)  I still have crap laying in my hallway, not put away from his handiwork.

Supper was just the two of us. Home made BBQ burgers and Caesar salad. Tres simple. I had four questionable apples in the fridge that I turned into an apple crisp. My I do love the smell of apple crisp baking in the oven. Can someone tell me why I have FOUR jars of cinnamon?? sheesh

Now I am just puttering with dishes while the hockey game is on. When the dishes are done, it will be time to enjoy THIS:

Not all of it. Just a glass :-)