Yummy Saves

Haven't heard from that company again about the nasty cheese they sold me.

The rep came over to get it all the while being quite distainful that I called the company and didnt' bring it back to the store...

Hmm. I'll give it til Monday to follow up.

This house, located in the City of Toronto Canada is believed to be Toronto's smallest house.

Occupying what used to be a driveway,
it's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom house
that sits on a parcel of land 7.25 feet (2.2 metres) wide and 113.67 feet (34.6 metres) long and has an interior area of just under 300 square feet (under 28 square metres).

The asking price is $179,900.!!

Here are the house's listed features:

a.. 'Completely Re-Done Top-To-Bottom, Front-To-Back!'
b.. Tumbled stone entrance walk
c.. Renovated Bath
d.. Renovated kitchen with newer stove, new cabinets and new stacked washer/dryer
e.. Bedroom with Murphy bed + 'Built-Ins' - doubles as den!
f.. Walk-out to fenced patio
g.. 100-amp service
h.. 2 satellite dishes and receiver
i.. 'Window A/C Available'

Not a joke

Opened a large bag of shredded cheddar from a small local dairy/cheese place. Was going to sprinkle some on my chilli until I tasted it and found it tasted more like a cross between feta and blue cheese than cheddar.

Needless to say I had the chili without any cheese...

Found the number of the company and called them. I think its a relatively small family business. They called me back and I finally got them today.

I'll get a refund most likely but they are going to send a sales rep to pick up the product as they want to find out what happened to it.

Oh fun -- told them to drop by one morning next week. Time to remove the trapeze from over the coffee table (kidding) - seriously my living and kitchen need a slight sprucing up before anyone visits... Guess what I am doing this weekend...

Hmm....

I just dont' get spending that much on a purse. In some area's that would get you a small house or a sizeable downpayment on a house.

No I'm not advertising that would be trite.

Guess which stupid travel place sent this to me, here in Canada? You really think they aren't going to send me one more email with deals to sunny locations for the next three months? February is usually very cold as is March and we assume night frosts will go to the middle of may.

Yeah right, and nobody will be sending me emails wanting to enlarge my male member while helping me lose weight and be the man with the stamina I always wanted to be. Strangely, I'm pretty happen with the woman i am.

Stupid ads and spam are abundant.

Nesbitt, a stock brokerage has been sending me a statement each month for the last 2 years saying I have nothing in my account. These folks are mental morons I think.

This month I finally wrote to them and asked them to close my account. Okay so I wrote it on the statement and said "please close" and signed and dated it

I hope they do. But I'm not holding my breath after all their systems don't question the point of keeping an account open with $0 in it.

Did the rebate offer online at Staples. Way way easier than filling them all out, photocopying and mailing.

Looking forward to getting my check. Sad it takes them a month to send it though

Oh and the customer service at Staples was great. No product on the shelf - told an employee.. they checked the computer then they went around looking for the 11 that they supposedly had. Finally one of the two people looking found a carton of them hidden away some place. Nice when they take the extra effort.

The sale price on the mouse was really not to bad at 39.95 but it will be even better if you do the staples rebate as then it will end up at around $10 plus tax..

It will make up for it being an impulse buy.

I've started putting toonies aside for either a flat screen computer monitor or some other such thing that I want but can't really justify buying.

So far I have 20 toonies or $40. Nice!

I'm proud of me today - actually made toast and tea here for breakfast. I'll buy a coffee or tea on the way to work but at least I won't be buying a bagel..

Baby Steps

I've been eating out way too many meals lately. Too much money wise and calorie wise. My goal next week will be to pack lunches for work and get back to making breakfast at home rather than grabbing a Timmies bagel and double double (sweetner) on the way to work.

I went to Walmart last week. Had a number of things to pick up and decided I'd brave Walmart, even though I'd normally avoid it, as it would be one stop shopping for everything I needed. Cold weather means one sometimes organizes shopping trips by number of stops and availability of underground parking (this walmart has parking underneath as well as around it)

Other than the mother teaching her child to scream "woo hoo" cause the Mom thought it was "cute" and the toddler I found in the aisle with no parent it sight (yes I stuck around til a parent showed up).. the visit wasn't too bad .. found some good deals; the best being some clearance undies (2 pairs of underwear for 25c) and some nice tops for $4 each. I love good deals like this.

Of course I didn't get the thing for my bathtub I wanted. I looked in bathroom stuff and in the organizing areas and didn't find the expandable "fit to size" pole thingy that sits in the corner of the tub and has shelves for stuff that would otherwise clutter up the rim of the bathtub. A friend told me that I should have looked the hardware and plumbing area for this. Oh well next time I go there or a similar store... but how it rates up there with a toilets, gasket seals, and fixtures is beyond me. To me it should be in the organizing stuff or bathroom stuff but no one asked me...

Got to the cash register. A nice cashier. No issues at all. Not even a price check needed. Woo hoo .. bonus.......Go home put bags down and ignore them for two days. Okay so I needed the stuff but not right that evening. And once put off.. well you know how it goes....Don't tell me I'm the only one that's done this...

Go to open one of the bags and find this treasure trove of stuff I wasn't charged for. Obviously once opening it was bought by someone very concerned with dental hygiene. 2 small bottles of Listerine, Aquafresh toothpaste, Colgate Max, and two kids toothpastes. None of this stuff is on my bill (and my bill was actually in this bag I think so I'm not sure what happened).

I'll likely use the Listerine and give away or send to the food bank (they'll take toiletries as this will save people money that they can use on food) the other items as I don't use any of those brands.

The odds are this is karma balancing out the stuff I swear I bought that never made it home...

No one courts you more than a phone company that you have left.

I've gotten cards, notes, calls and now emails begging me to return to Ma Bell.

Of course when I asked them why they didn't treat me this well when I was with them they really didn't say anything but indicted that things now I'm gone are "different". Now they'll do backflips to get me back.

You know what. Had you treated me better as a customer I might have stayed.

I've not really been in the xmas spirit this year but went out today anyways to get some gifts.

Bought two gift cards (keeping it simple) from stores the recipients like. Bought a couple of kid gifts. Still have a few gifts left to get. But that's okay. Got the most of it done.

Had fun at superstore (like a huge walmart). The cashier got quite offended at me having $2.00 coupons for an item that cost $1.99. She couldn't bear the thought of me making a penny on the deal (not that I would have with taxes). I convinced her to put them through at 1.99. Better being out 6c than having to deal with 20 minutes of discussion. My time is worth way more than that (so is keeping my temper!).

First dealing I had with them was when my mom died. She had some insurance with them. I guess there are two parts to sending a beneficiary cheque.

Step 1: Add beneficiary to mailing list to sell insurance to

Step 2: Send cheque and advertising crap to beneficiary.

They called tonight to sell me something. A breakthrough in insurance (yeah yeah.. something with low payout high profit I'm sure)....

I interupted to rant about how they used sending me a beneficiary cheque as an excuse to put me on their maililng list.

The best? They hung up on me!

Likely could have bought somethng a bit cheaper. Panel was about $11 backing fabric about $4.. the white and pale green borders were fro the stash as was the batting.

But I love giving a home made guilt. Even if it was mostly a "cheat" to any real quilters.

Went to Zellers (very similar to target in the US). To get a buggy they now make you depost a $1 to use the cart.

Yeah you get it back but holy crap. That's totally annoying.

I got revenge by buying only the one item I went there for. I won't be shopping there much any more. Seeing I never shopped there much before I am sure they're too concerned about my annoyance.

Went shopping for a friend tonight.

Got great customer service at the two stores I went to.

She had seen an ad for little tykes digital cameras for $30 - and wanted two but there weren't any in the store in her town - and they only get in one shipment of toys each xmas.

First store I went to didn't have them but got a raincheck in case I found them later. she went online and got me directs to a store that had them.

Drove there in the snow (still early enough in the year no one seems to remember what snow is and how to drive in it).

Got them! Woo Woo

Best part of the shopping? I'm getting all my money back from her!

Walk in. As I pass the cash area I hear two girls say hello to me (or should I say to my back. as I had passed them).. Okay whatever.

Go look at that camera I'm interested in.

Two clerks at the counter.. one girl looking at a camera at another part of the counter.

Stand there for 5 minutes trying to get camera to work. Clerk looks my way. I ask him why it isn't turning on.

He gives me this look and in the voice you'd use to talk to a retarded 3 year old he says "oh that camera uses batteries, we don't have it plugged in".

I looked at him and left.

The girl this time facing me said goodbye. I looked at her and kept walking.

Wow a digital camera that uses batteries. How surprising. Amazing how all the other more expensive cameras can be plugged in so we can try them.

It will be a while til I shop there (or best buy - they are the same company) again.

The good news is that a friend is picking up the camera for me for around $100. The price at future shop for this model was $200.

Got the credit card with airmiles. It comes with enough airmiles for a trip anywhere in Canada. I'm thinking I might keep the card for a year, use the airmiles and still be ahead, assuming I cancel it then.. unless I travel enough and use the card enough to rack up lots of airmiles....

I'm wanting to travel more so this might work out nicely. Or not. It all hinges on using it...

Got a great limit if I want to go into stupid debt...

Now to find out what happened to the other card that was being sent to me overnight about a month ago.. it still hasn't shown up...

I had a meeting with my financial advisor earlier this week. It was much more positive than I expected it to be. My mutual funds are doing very very nicely.

We are tweaking one fund and moving it into a more aggressive global energy resource fund. Its currently 5% of my portfolio so I'm thinking of it as a fun opportunity. Add that to the fact I have quite a few years to go to retirement and I don't think its too risky an idea.

Got my car back from Crappy tire. I dropped it off Sunday. The very bright mechanic said "oh I paged you in the store today when it was finished.

I just looked at him and said "I dropped it off Sunday and while I like roving around in the store its now thursday; I don't like your store that much. After a second he got it. If he worked on my car I'm a bit scared.

Cost just under $700. But I got a freebie - A pair of travel mugs and 1.50 in Crappy Tire money.

My car is in the shop. It is a 2000 Saturn with nearly 200,000km on it so things are starting to wear out and go wrong.

I know intellectually that repairing it is cheaper than buying new but its so tempting to just get a new car and not pay huge repair bills.

I am told the car should be ready for pick up tomorrow night. And I should be nearly $700 poorer.

Yikes

At a restaurant tonight.

A couple with two preschoolers was in the restaurant at the other side of it. I got to listen to their kids both as they talked and as they tossed ...erflung madly against the wall toys in the small kids area that was tucked to the far side of the section.

I gather the entire concept of inside voices vs playground voices is passe? So is, as far as I can tell the entire concept of playing quietly

I payed, with tip, almost $30 for my meal. I really would have liked it a tad quieter. Yes this is a family friendly restaurant but still..

Got more of my fiesta unpacked and am trying to figure out how to display it nicely.

That made a ton of mess (unwrapping, boxes). Got rid of that.

Errands today included to the nail place to get a nail fixed. Two nails fixed and new polish and the total was $7 - less than I expected

Then to drop the car off at crappy tire. Guess on a 2000 Saturn with 197000 you can expect stuff to go wrong. Break light is out and i think its more than a wire (the other place tried to fix it and weren't able to. They also told me my oil pan was leaking.

On top of that my plats are expired a and I need a drive clean test done ASAP...

Tonight I few to Montreal And now I am having trouble sleeping.. ick

Did a mall shop today. Saved about 33% using coupons - got a free 2lb margarine and some dove pro-age stuff for less than 50c each plus tax after the Buy 2 save $6.00 coupon!

I always feel accomplished when I get stuff for nothing or next to nothing.

Could have lived without all the screaming and running around kids and the family reunion in aisle 7..

Got not one but two invitations for a free dinner for myself and a guest.

It includes a "fun and relaxed 90 minute introduction to making money on the Internet"

90 Minutes YIKES!

And you get a free business organizer (A $39.99 VALUE!!!)

The small print says the meal will be served at the end of the 90 minute conference! And the organizer may be available at the conference or mailed to you after the conference.

Offered by some company called Stores Unlimited out of Utah? Anyone sit through this conference? I wonder what it is exactly they are selling.

I think I'll pass.

Not sure what happened but consider this the ghostly entry that never was - a figment of your imagination!

Misplaced my visa while on holidays. I have no idea if it is lost or stolen but I think more likely lost - no charges other than mine have been made on it.

Rather than stress (and I have been) I had them cancel it. They are sending me a courier that I should get tomorrow with a new card.

Until then I'm fine as I have a debit card (not hooked up with visa or mastercard here in canada) and cash.

Friends just had their cards compremised - three cards all in their possession still with $18,000 in charges racked up (car, car parts (guess the theif bought a lemon), and flowers in London England. The one place they'd used all three cards was an internet server company. The card companies made it "all better" very quickly and were very interested in that connection....

Misplaced my visa while on holidays. I have no idea if it is lost or stolen but I think more likely lost - no charges other than mine have been made on it.

Rather than stress (and I have been) I had them cancel it. They are sending me a courier that I should get tomorrow with a new card.

Until then I'm fine as I have a debit card (not hooked up with visa or mastercard here in canada) and cash.

Friends just had their cards compremised - three cards all in their possession still with $18,000 in charges racked up (car, car parts (guess the theif bought a lemon), and flowers in London England. The one place they'd used all three cards was an internet server company. The card companies made it "all better" very quickly and were very interested in that connection....