Happenings

It's definitely interesting  around here these days.

• DS2 is employed. Not in the field he has to be for his course, but at a lake doing maintenance. Not sure how we will meet the requirements for his course, but we will have to figure things out. Best part is - he is living at my sister's. They are empty nesters and had the space and love having him there.

• 3 weeks left of school. Holy crap. So much marking. So much to do. A lot of it is new since I am in a new building.

• My colitis is back in full flare. I have my little stash of steroids so I put myself on them last Wed while I wait to hear back from whoever is covering my specialist's mat leave. She said I could do that last time and just documents amounts and dates. Work gets awkward and I am ticked that I really had NO fully healthy colitis month this school year. Boo!

• DS1 is home. He originally said he was coming home today, but the surprised me and texted yest at 5AM to say they were on the road. It was a busy day of cleaning and linen laundry to get things ready - more for the girlfriend than for DS. I always get stressed having house guests.

• We had a 25th anniversary party for my oldest sister and her husband yest. They got married the same year we did. It was a nice gathering of a lot of family. Best part was when DS and gf showed up around 10 PM to surprise the cousins

• My house is clean. I did all kinds of laundry this weekend and real grocery shopping to feed DS. I fed him homemade beef barley soup for lunch and tonight we are having steak and ribs and corn on the cob. GF likes asparagus so they will cook that too.

• GF's mother is coming tomorrow. Works out that we were going to my parents for supper so she can join us there. DS wanted home made sweet and sour meatballs and rice so I made up the meatballs and sauce this afternoon and ran it over to mom's. She can toss it in the oven to do the last hour of cooking tomorrow. I have an apple rhubarb crisp in the oven. Apples had to be used up and the rhubarb is from my sister's garden.

• Now we just need to find DS1 a job

May change

It was a fairly stable change month. This coinage comes from when I shop for groceries, gas etc with cash. Any coin goes into the jar.  The pennies came from a baggie I found in DS1's room. Most of them are US ones he dumped there the last time he was home.

• 1 roll toonies - $50
• 1 roll loonies - $25
• 2 rolls quarters - $20
• 1 roll dimes - $5
• 2 rolls of nickels - $4
• 2 rolls of pennies - $1

Total of $100.

This will go towards gas as DS1 makes the 17 hour drive home from the US this coming weekend. He will put it on his CC and I will pay it off with the coins.

Grateful for...

It's May long here in Canada. Not too many years ago I would have been at the lake with the boys enjoying family time. May long weather is mercurial at best. One weekend alone we had  30 degree temps, a small tornado and then snow the next day.

Alas my world is different now. DS1 is still away in the US at college, taking spring session. DS2 is up volunteering at his scout camp, organizing activities for a few dozen lil scouters.  DH went with DS2 as an advisor.

So it's just me this weekend - well and the cat too.

This is our last long weekend before the last 6 week push til the end of the school year so I promised myself I would make it as positive and productive as possible.


And to be grateful for the time I have.

So, I started yesterday by getting a  pedicure after school. DS1 had given me a gift certificate at Christmas so this was my first pair of pretty feet since late last summer.  I am grateful for smooth feet with a pretty polish for no cost but the tip.

I didn't do a whole lot after that. We pulled a frozen pizza out and made a salad for supper and then I pretty much crashed after that, exhausted from the week. I was grateful for nothing scheduled so I could sleep, guilt free.

My cat woke me up at 7:02 this morning. She was worried I didn't know my husband had left for the lake at 7:00. So up I was, early, on a Saturday morning. I had coffee outside on my little patio. There was a soft breeze. Birds were singing. My cat was happy to have me outside with her.  I am grateful for not losing out on the peacefulness of early morning.

While I am still in rotten health, I was able to get my front and back lawn cut. I was grateful for the breeze blowing while I was cutting, to keep me from overheating (which seems to be a condition I am experiencing a lot lately)

My mom and dad are out at the farm and asked that I let their dog out a couple times today. My dad is going to be 80 and while he still works his ass off, cutting the grass really tires him out fast. I managed to get their lawn cut for them (as I did last weekend). I am grateful for enough strength to be able to surprise them.

For both lawn cuttings I was grateful I could do some activity but be close to the house for the multiple trips in to the washroom. Thanks colitis.

We have been waiting and waiting for any kind of rain. There has been virtually nothing this year. Fire bans are everywhere and it's super dry.  There are clouds in the sky and rain is predicted but we shall see if it comes.

With the wind it was a good day to do laundry and hang things on the line. I am grateful for my laundry line to dry things without using up energy in the dryer.

I did a quick run to the pharmacy to pick up my 2 prescriptions and DS2's prescription.  Before health coverage it came to $357.77. I only paid $ 19.05 .  I am grateful to the health insurance program I pay into which covers these meds.

The wind picked up and my eyes got blinky. I am grateful for a lazy Saturday afternoon to have a nap.

We had a tiny bit of rain. We need more. I would be ever so grateful for that.

Where the money stands

as of May 4th

Debt
Mortgage - $17 256.95
College LOC - $12 094.91

Total Debt - $29 351.86



Savings/Planned Spending
TFSA/EF - $7100
RESP - $5 500
RRSP - $10 946
Summer 2016 - $1000
Back to School - $500
RRSP 2016 - $1000
XMAS 2016 - $160
TSFA 2016 - $706 (through snowflakes)
Plates - $500

RRSP Update

When last we met, my RRSP had taken a bit of a hit with the plummeting Canadian dollar. It was sitting at $10 946.62 after a drop of $30 and a drop before that.


I haven't changed what I have invested. Still Canadian Bonds and Canadian Equities.

It was good to see that it was up to $11 438 - a gain of just under $500, at $492.

I really hope to be able to add to this in 2016, but things are tough. Neither DS has been able to find a summer job yet. DS1 can't until he is home in June and most summer jobs are gone then. DS2 is supposed to get one in his field as part of his course. The flood of people coming back from Alberta due to job loss have eaten up most of the jobs in his field. I am not sure what we will do. 

Times are tough around here.