... Winter that is...

Got up this morning to discover that yes Virginia we do get winter weather in Canada. A belated thank you to the folks in the West for taking for us up til now...

About 4 people to day have commented that Oklahoma is to blame. Don't something you normally hear weather wise here

Had lunch out with a group of friends. Very very enjoyable.

Went to check out a normally great quilt store this afternoon. As far as I could see didn't have what I was looking for - and no one offered to assist me. So I enjoyed a quick look and fabric fondle and left with my wallet intact.

Tired today. Got to sleep at a good time last night but was awake from 2:30am to 5am - yuck.

Getting going on cooking yesterday though meant I had coffee ready this morning and food for lunch!

Unless I do some more grocery shopping its likely to be a no spend day - yeah!

Some stores are more stupid than others.

Sign found in the grocery store tonight

3/$5.00

Offer available in multiples of 2 only or pay $1.99 each.

Good thing it was for a product that didn't appear to be on the shelf. I

I've been going for a while but last night was my first time back after Christmas. As it is cheaper in the long run I bought a six month membership.

The leader and the receptionist (who have been there for ages) I wasn't keen on at first - but with all that has happened over the last six months - they are helping me feel more and more positive - they so rock

Went to dollar general to get a coupon organizer today. Tired of having my coupons in a big useless pile.

Bought a few things on Christmas Clearout too- kept pretty sensible but bought a bit more than I'd planned to.

Also went to Giant Eagle and bought some stuff for lunch and New Years Day breakfast.

Did some preliminary work on the coupons. Should get up and do some more rather than being a slug...

We had a nice quiet night last night with a friend over for dinner. I like these sorts of nights where you don't spend money and you get to enjoy the company of a someone nice

Watched a movie - Step up I think. I enjoyed it even though it was reminiscent of Fame - in both plot and characterizations. 1980 meets hip hop.

Bought a few more fabrics for my quilt, and a pattern so I can actually make a quilt. Am procrastinating startin cutting by doing this entry. Its my first quilt using batiks.

Was good at the quilt store. Only bought 2 fabrics that aren't for this. Both of those were in their Chrismas sale - one a gorgeous laurel burch and the other a kid print in the colourway I love doing baby quilts.

Now to start sewing. See ya laters

A couple of rants. These are not directed or inspired by anyone here. I'm on a lot of different forums and some of what folks are saying is starting to get me. Better I rant quickly here then hurt someone's feelings there

If someone buys you a gift certificate for hundreds of dollars quityerbitchin' please. You ain't getting sympathy from me cause you really were relying on cash and got the lousy gift card. Yanno if it is that onerous of a gift send it on here and I'll see if I can manage...

And if your family is all fighting, and someone refuses to give you and your kids gifts it isn't going to ruin your kids Christmas unless your attitude is as sucky as I think it is. And then it is your attitude about it all that is going to ruin christmas.

They are called gifts for a reason. If they were obligations they'd be called OBLIGATIONS and not gifts. Be grateful for the company of family and loved ones. That is what Christmas is about not about the gifts. Oh yeah they are nice, but they are the icing on the cake, not the reason for the season Maybe teach your kids about the joy of giving and spending time with family rather than inventorying their "haul". This is called teaching them values.

/end rant

Thanks I feel better now. And again this wasn't about anyone here so please don't take offense.

I'm putzing around this morning doing the flylady thing

Our Christmas and Christmas eve plans firmed up finally today! We are going to a friends for Christmas Eve dinner and for Christmas we are going to spend it with his X's family (the X will not be there).

I'm excited. There is going to be a spiral ham for dinner. I love spiral ham. Yummy

We did a trip to Trader Joes tonight. I went totally nuts. At one point my boyfriend stopped me and asked if was shopping for wants or needs. Usually I'm very good at sorting on that criteria and staying sane in my shopping. I was just annoyed by his words tonight. But i did calm down after that. The $9.99 scallops did get put back on the shelf. I kept to buying all kinds of veggies both fresh and frozen! I'm craving veggies these days so I can't wait to cook delicious things with them for lunches over the next few days as well as dinners.

Headed to the states today. Did the entire trip in 6 hours which is excellent. Mao worried me cause he didn't sleep at all. Normally he's an excellent sleeper for drives on the highway. I bet he will be quiet the next day or so as he catches up. That cat loves his naps

Picked up some wine and beer at the duty free. Customs was a breeze. I started to declare my items and he was waving me through, so I stopped declaring and said thanks and drove on! Woo Hoo! Made me wish I got greedy buying more booze at the duty free!

Didn't spend much at all for food. Used some gift certificates for breakfast and lunch was the 2/99 hotdog (plus cheese) deal and Sheetz.

I'm tired though.

This time for a rabies vaccination, but it also included picking up more meds and an exam.

I swear Mao actually enjoys these because of the opportunity for people to worship him. He got lots of worship and didn't even flinch or startle for the needle. He's such a good boy.

Decided at the last minute to pop in at the walk in clinic near me. I am "between doctors". Right now I don't have a GP or a Gyn and I've had a couple small medical issues.

So popped in and got my ears checked - and the wax syringed out of one and got a prescription for an arm brace. Seems I've somehow managed to get golfer's elbow. He did the test for it - told me to say something if that hurt. I screamed quite spontaneously and loudly. He got the message, LOL.

I liked how he listened to me about what I knew about my body. He believed me when I said that no I didn't need to soften the wax in my ear and he also adjusted what he was doing when I told him he had the angle wrong as he was syringing. It was nice being believed. I've had to fight with doctors about this in the past.

So,I will go back to him in January to get a full physical. The full "oil lube and filter" of physicals including stuff that you'd rather not have done but you know is important. I might officially join his practise if that goes well. I just want to make sure I'm comfortable with him.

I know this blog isn't strictly financial (no copays or deductibles here) but looking after myself is part of what I need to do for me. I want to keep my health so I can enjoy my financially secure retirement many years from now...Well hopefully not too many...

We survived the shopping. We went to an outdoor big box shopping centre. Brand new and built more on the lines of a Strip Mall or Power Centre (is that a Canadian Term or a General Term?)than anything else.

We parked at one end. Walked down to the other end (other than two stores we went in early on in the visit) and worked our way back to the car. The grocery store at the far end (more like a Superwalmart than a regular store) was nuts and we dealt with that in short fashion by leaving quickly. The rest of the stores were busy but not overwhelming. We were about to finish the shopping we had planned to do in good time. We even stopped at a Pita place for a quick snack and to regroup on the list.

Then home and a nap.

We are heading out to a dinner out and party tonight. Should be an enjoyable evening!

The actual total raised from the Cookie Basket raffle was $539 - though someone threw in an extra dollar to make it $540! Woo hoo.The money is going a Christmas Fund for children that is run by a local radio station. The company I work for has been a sponsor of that fund for likely the entire 40 years it has been active. While I think there are worthier charities (not saying this one isn't well run, all the overhead covered by the sponsoring company, and it does do a lot of good work - I just have my personal preferences) it made sense seeing we did it this at work, to hook into the corporate charity.

We did the draw on Friday and found quickly the two people who won! One is a single guy who now has more cookies than he knows what to do with. The other is a lady who I don't know much about who was really excited to win.

This took more work than I expected. I'm glad I am raffle free for the next year! I'm glad to do it but it reinforces why I didn't pick a career in fundraising.

Changes in how the senior management in our department want things to run are really getting me down.

Taking responsibility is being removed from our jobs. Yes we are being made to meet deadlines and the like but we are more and more just supposed to do our little part of the job - where before each of us would take ownership of a project and run with it and be responsible for the outcome).

We are being made to be cogs in the machine. We aren't supposed to bring our knowledge of the industry to the table; we are just supposed to run the numbers (of course when we do that we were supposed to have brought our other knowledge to the table..) Sigh...

Our managers are being told they can't organize such as to maximize the use of our talents. We all can do the same basic job but we all bring different strengths to the table.

I wish I was one of those people who didn't care and would just go with the flow. I wish I wasn't afraid to work hard and would be happy to coast. It is a hell of a lot easier being a cog than caring.

The good news is that I'm off in a week for two weeks. Absence won't make it go away but it will be nice to be away for a while and not have to watch the demotivation of an entire department of people.

The package did get there today. Yeah!

I'm glad Canada Post decided that next day delivery was today and not Thursday. The guy at the post office yesterday really did give me a scare saying next when mailed Tuesday meant Thursday...

Well according to the dude at Canada Post it is. Sent a package express post. The web said next day deliver for where I'm sending it to. Cool. A bit pricey but insured and will get there quickly, so I figured that was the perfect way to send it.

Bring it to the postal outlet. Not a "real" post office but a counter in the back of the store. They took it and said yes, guaranteed next day delivery. So it is guaranteed there Thursday. Not there Thursday I get my money back.

Until now the next business day would be Wednesay if today is Tuesday.... Learn something every day.



Same post office also wanted to charge me an extra fifty cents for using the debit machine. I had them cancel that transaction and paid cash. I don't think so...

What is it with security guards?

The grocery store I go to (best categorized as a wannabe walmart superstore) has security out the ying yang. Most of it is bored young teens who look like they are hoping to patrol the edge of the shopping centre so they can sneak in a smoke break. The store, of course, also has the obligatory older dude in the white neon with the flashing orange light patrolling the parking lot by car.

Then I head to the drug store where there are a couple of security guards checking out the patrons. Can you imagine the service they likely do us all by communicating quickly with each other "middle aged woman in aisle 5 just put some chocolate, advil and playtex tampons in her cart.. make sure they open another cash STAT"?

The other day when I was at the liquor store I noticed that they had the serious security there. Off duty cops working extra hours to do security. Now those were a couple of the city's finest and they more than did justice to their uniforms *fan self*. Never mind in comparison to me they were babies - Part of shopping is checking out the merchandise - one can enjoy looking

Seriously, what is with all the need for security. Or am I one of the few last honest shoppers out there? I mean worst I have done is park in the expectant mother parking when I dash in 10 minutes before the store closes or put 9 items (2 identical) through the 8 items or less cash.

When cooking careful what you put in the sink. I don't know what I was thinking but in the middle of making stollen, I was washing up some dishes and realised I decided the rest of the sugar in my container of sugar needed to be washed...

A total "duh" moment.

I really need to just toss out junk mail rather than read it.

I got a leaflet from Blue Cross for their Health Insurance package. No medical, no questions no nothing. Limited benefits (limited is almost too generous a description but I can't think of words that are more limiting than limited) but like that would be surprise with this type of product. Was looking to see if I could get it and milk it for all that it is worth. Hey, what I can I say I'm that type of girl.

Never did finish that calculation. I was looking at the small print (I work for an insurance company - when you help create small print for the products your company sells you look for the small print in other company's products). The small print was pretty hilarious for this one. The price quoted is only for people ages 18-39. Everyone else has to call in to get the price and maybe have medical proof of not needing coverage. Like I want to call a call centre that has this urge to sell me insurance I don't need.

Excuse me while I go find the circular file for this offer...



Click on her (dare ya)

I love this survey company. In the last two weeks I've just done two surveys for them. They are always so prompt to pay too!

What is it with gas prices?

Every day in the am gas is about $0.88 to $0.90 a litre.

Every day coming home from work gas is around $0.80 to $0.85 cents.

It makes me feel like starting one of those "boycott gas" emails... you know the ones.. Let's not buy gas on Nov 15th.. (picked a day in the past on purpose so not to start one with this rant". I'd of course modify it to don't buy gas before noon. If it is too early to have a drink, its too early to buy gas...

Shouldn't really be complaining too loudly - I bought gas last night *gives self a gold star*. The price on the sign was $0.84 but the price on the pump was $0.82 Woo Hoo!

Was at the grocery store tonight to pick up a couple of things and looked around and realized how many beverages people buy. Flavoured water is big business - be that drinking boxes, pop/coke, juice, milk, coffee or tea from your favourite local coffee house etc...

Want to save money. Drink water or add your own flavouring to water (drink crystals, tea, make pot of coffee at home etc).

Even milk - if budget is important buy powdered milk and make it up yourself. You can get a bag of apples or oranges for what you can pay for a carton of apple or orange juice.

Or realise when you buy the convenient mixed for you products that you are paying for ease and convenience.

That's the name our family uses for our gift exchange game. We play this at our extended family christmas gathering. I think others may have more sedate names for this.

Each adult buys a gift for the exchange. Usually about $20 to $30. Regifting is allowed from prior years. "Action Figure Jesus" has been a feature of our exchange for few years. Each year he shows up again in pristine condition. Seems whoever gets him wants to share the joy...This year other gifts were drill set, memory box, dvd, toaster (my contribution), mixing bowls etc.

Each person draws a number. First person picks from the pile. Second person can steal the first person's gift of pick from the pile. If someone has their gift stolen they can't steal (although in the past we have allowed one "bonus steal" - makes the game go on a long time) but pick from the pile.

We have blast playing this and look forward to it each year. We enjoy it more than exchanging names. Takes a while to play - lots of laughing and joking.. Amd way way more frugal than buying a gift for each person.

For the kids we all contribute toward a gift for each of them and one person gets the wishlists from the parents and buys and wraps for each of them. That way everyone leaves with one gift and the focus is on fun and reconnecting and not on getting stuff.

click on the spreadsheet and the right picture appears

Dangerous retail therapy.

There is a chain of stores here called Len's Mills that sells quilt store fabric for non quilt store prices. Now this is still considerably more than you'll pay for quilt material in the US. Somehow fabric crosses the border and doubles in price. I know we have more taxes here but still it doesn't make sense.

Anyways, headed out to Len's and enjoyed a good couple of hours looking through their material. Bought some more of the yellow and pink that they have that I use for the baby quilts I make. They are running out of it and since they buy closeouts...

I got annoyed by one of the quilt kits they were selling cause the sample shown had different and better quality materials than the actual kit. Too bad because it was really cute. They had another sample that I almost bought the kit for then realised I had a couple of the materials at home (or a close enough substitute) - so I just bought the main fabric.

Picture of the front and the back of quilt I made for my nephew.

Our extended family Christmas get together was yesterday. A good time was had by all

Total of 23 people - short by three people who weren't there. It was the first Christmas without Mom so I'm counting her as one of the missing. My boyfriend and an uncle didn't make it. Both of them were down with the flu/bad cold. Of the people that were there most were little tikes. The eldest child was 13, then 9, two 5 year old, and one 4,3,2 1 and a 6 month old! It was a lively gathering But at a house that is totally childproofed so no worries there!

We keep the presents down to a minimum. Most of us contribute to the kids gift (each child gets one gift at this event), and each adult brings a gift for the Killer Kringle game that the adults play. Reducing Christmas presents in this way has been a godsend. The focus is on being together rather than "what did I get". My contribution to the Killer Kringle was a toaster Felt like I was going to a bridal shower when I bought that but it was a popular item being stolen at least once - a cousin needs a toaster it seems

My contribution to the food was a make-ahead carrot dish - I've just posted the recipe to recipezaar and am waiting for it to be approved - as I mixed a few recipes together to come up with the finished product. Got lots of good comments on the dish. Easy and not too expensive. Would have been less expensive had I swapped baby carrots for regular carrots and taken the time to cut and peel them, but I was a bit strapped for time.

It is still raining. I'm tired of it raining.

Last night came home after the vets and my head was pounding. I was so fed up of migraines this week that I took a percocet. The rest of the evening was spent in a happy daze on the couch!

Mao was excellent with his pills and eye drops this morning though he did not seem to be amused when it was done.

Did a quick shop this morning of some of the things I need for tomorrows big family 'do'. I'll do the rest of the errands tonight.

The vet visit was $268. Ouch

Mr Mao had blood taken and a refill of his tablets. He's not too bad about taking his tablets and vitamins. He's also got a bit of an eye infection so he's got eye drops too. Mr Mao loves eye drops slightly less than he enjoys most things. To put it in perspective it is easier to bathe him than to give him eye drops. The drops are only for a week but it might be a dangerous week for me. He has ways (and claws) to make his opinion very clear.

Strangely Mao doesn't seem to mind the actual visit to the Vet's. He pretty much purrs through it and accepts in his graceful Siamese manner worship from the various staff members there.

Otherwise he was doing well. I forgot to get them to weigh him though. He's Mr Porky on his expensive special prescription vet food.

And yes, like on all visits the vet and I spoke about whether this was the right thing or whether a "decision needed to be made". We spoke about Mao's quality of life.