Well, I think we've all figured out that I'm the Queen of Procrastination. Recently I've been perfecting the art of procrastinating about posting on my blog. But today was payday and it's a day when I try to do some things I've been putting off. So here I am.
It's late. I'm tired. I have a lot going on, both at home and at work. But I need to get a sense of how I'm doing and to remember that I actually have goals other than getting through the day in one piece. I have a variety of bills to pay, though I'm not behind on most of them at this point. But I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and am therefore not paying too many things today.
I am on track with one thing. I've put away $50 into my TFSA each paycheque so far. That's good. I've also kept on track with adding to the Emergency Fund but I'm not giving myself much credit for that because I'm planning on breaking into that money soon to help pay for my daughter's birthday party and dinner. I realize that birthdays come around with predictable regularity and that they aren't normally considered emergencies (unless you're giving birth while driving to the hospital).
However, after the party was all planned (including guests coming from the States) the money that was expected to cover it suddenly and unexpectedly wasn't there. A paycheque of a certain regular size has shrunk to pure commission without any warning. I'm just not going to explain to an 8 year old that she can't have the party we've spent weeks planning with family and friends. Yes, we'll be tightening our belts somewhat afterwards. But you can't just cut everything, especially when kids are involved. And, no, it's not a three ring circus. It's just at an outside venue because of our constant, ongoing renovations. And some close friends are coming up from the States.
So, if our financial world is in a bit of upheaval, how am I doing with the non-financial goals I set on January 1st? The rural house goals are also on hold, but more because of the state of the roads than anything else. It is winter, and we do travel through 2 mountain passes to get to the house.
That leaves 2 physical goals. The first was to go out to exercise at least 1 x week. The second was to exercise at home all the other days. I'm happy to report that I have, in fact, gone out to exercise at least once (usually twice) each week. What about at home? Well, I'm not perfect, but I have managed to exercise at home when I haven't gone out on all but 6 days so far this month and most of the days I missed were during the time we had company staying over. Not bad.
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Signs of Life
Yes, I am still here. I'm just very, very busy. And tired. And bored or frustrated with certain aspects of my life.
I got through all the Jewish Holidays. I went off to the US to the wedding I talked about before and had a fabulous time. And I've been exercising pretty well twice a week.
On the other hand, our car was totalled recently. We weren't in it; a family member was cut off on the freeway. The family member is okay but we've spent the past while arguing with ICBC over the value of the car. They did come up from their initial, offensive, offer but we're probably still out about $2,000 over what we'd have to spend to replace the car.
And more things have gone wrong with the house. If anybody tells you old houses are money pits, believe them! A leak in the main bathroom upstairs led to a gigantic hole in our kitchen ceiling and another, smaller one. Our upper cabinets are mostly down (with the contents in boxes) and the bakers rack I keep a lot of our other kitchen stuff on is sitting in the living room. Basically, the living room is unusable. We pass through it to the kitchen, bath and our daughter's room.
The floor in the bathroom and through most of the kitchen is laid and part of it is grouted. We should get our new toilet put in within anywhere from a day to a week, depending on how busy our son-in-law is and how fast he gets around to both it and to putting the vanity back in the bathroom (with the new top on it). The thought that we might finally have a fully functioning bathroom is exciting but seems slightly unreal. It will be wonderful not to have to go upstairs to use the facilities there in the middle of the night, however. I'm really looking forward to that!
Once they finish the work in the bathroom upstairs comes the messy part. The new drywall will have to be taped, mudded and sanded until a thick layer of white powder covers pretty much everything in the house (including, no doubt, my lungs). After that the new upper cupboards and new range hood can go up. If that happens before Pesach I'll be thrillled.
And then there's money. I'm so messed up there. My credit card is maxed. Actually, it was over limit until a few days ago. Now it's exactly at the limit and I have to make another payment before they add the interest or that will put me over again. I skipped a couple of transfers to my TFSA, although I still have over $1,000 in there. And I have a huge cell bill from my trip to the US. I tried to use it as little as possible but still incurred over $80 in long distance or roaming charges. A bunch of those calls were incoming ones from my hubby or daughter, so I couldn't exactly refuse to pick up!
What next? Well, I'm pretty well broke until Wednesday and I'll probably be broke again almost immediately afterwards, once I pay the various bills that absolutely, positively have to be paid. But we'll technically have money sometime this week, because we'll get the cheque from ICBC. We still have to decide what we're going to do about a new car. We have to decide new, near new or very used. We're still debating over what kind of car to get (since we have to replace it, the only sensible thing to do is to buy one this time that will fit all four kids in their car or booster seats, plus at least 2 adults). And we have to decide if we're going to do it now or wait until my hubby receives money from his late mother's estate (probably a few months away).
I got through all the Jewish Holidays. I went off to the US to the wedding I talked about before and had a fabulous time. And I've been exercising pretty well twice a week.
On the other hand, our car was totalled recently. We weren't in it; a family member was cut off on the freeway. The family member is okay but we've spent the past while arguing with ICBC over the value of the car. They did come up from their initial, offensive, offer but we're probably still out about $2,000 over what we'd have to spend to replace the car.
And more things have gone wrong with the house. If anybody tells you old houses are money pits, believe them! A leak in the main bathroom upstairs led to a gigantic hole in our kitchen ceiling and another, smaller one. Our upper cabinets are mostly down (with the contents in boxes) and the bakers rack I keep a lot of our other kitchen stuff on is sitting in the living room. Basically, the living room is unusable. We pass through it to the kitchen, bath and our daughter's room.
The floor in the bathroom and through most of the kitchen is laid and part of it is grouted. We should get our new toilet put in within anywhere from a day to a week, depending on how busy our son-in-law is and how fast he gets around to both it and to putting the vanity back in the bathroom (with the new top on it). The thought that we might finally have a fully functioning bathroom is exciting but seems slightly unreal. It will be wonderful not to have to go upstairs to use the facilities there in the middle of the night, however. I'm really looking forward to that!
Once they finish the work in the bathroom upstairs comes the messy part. The new drywall will have to be taped, mudded and sanded until a thick layer of white powder covers pretty much everything in the house (including, no doubt, my lungs). After that the new upper cupboards and new range hood can go up. If that happens before Pesach I'll be thrillled.
And then there's money. I'm so messed up there. My credit card is maxed. Actually, it was over limit until a few days ago. Now it's exactly at the limit and I have to make another payment before they add the interest or that will put me over again. I skipped a couple of transfers to my TFSA, although I still have over $1,000 in there. And I have a huge cell bill from my trip to the US. I tried to use it as little as possible but still incurred over $80 in long distance or roaming charges. A bunch of those calls were incoming ones from my hubby or daughter, so I couldn't exactly refuse to pick up!
What next? Well, I'm pretty well broke until Wednesday and I'll probably be broke again almost immediately afterwards, once I pay the various bills that absolutely, positively have to be paid. But we'll technically have money sometime this week, because we'll get the cheque from ICBC. We still have to decide what we're going to do about a new car. We have to decide new, near new or very used. We're still debating over what kind of car to get (since we have to replace it, the only sensible thing to do is to buy one this time that will fit all four kids in their car or booster seats, plus at least 2 adults). And we have to decide if we're going to do it now or wait until my hubby receives money from his late mother's estate (probably a few months away).
Friday, June 25, 2010
School's Out...For Summer!
Yesterday was the last day of school. This summer I'm lucky, in that my Eldest Daughter is home on maternity leave. That means Dear Child will hang out with her. (Not sure that Eldest Daughter considers herself lucky, since that leaves her with 4 kids every day, and 5 if my Number One Son's daughter comes too, as she did some of the time last summer.)
Next year will be a much bigger financial burden for all of us, as she'll be back at work and all the girls will have to go to day camp right through the summer. As it is, we are putting them in a couple of sessions of swimming lessons (necessitating me leaving work to pick up and drive everybody to and fro). The lessons are 4 days per week for 2 weeks (but only 1/2 an hour per day) and we hope that the sustained amount of pool time will enable everybody to move up at least one level. Last session (which was 8 classes once a week) nobody passed, although they all made progress.
DC will go to day camp for 2 weeks this year too, as my granddaughters' other grandparents are taking them out of town for 2 weeks. That will give my daughter the relative quiet of only having her nursing baby at home.
Yesterday was payday. I paid some stuff then and some more this morning. Right now I'm pleased to say that I'm current on all my bills (paid the water today) and that I have $651.14 in my TFSA, right on track for the year. Property taxes for the rural house are due next week. I have to check, but I think I have enough in the rural credit union to pay them. Yay, me!
I went away to the house last weekend and spent some money, money on myself (gasp!) as well as gas. But I just have the $50 odd dollars I charged for gas on the way back to pay back still. And I made the regular $90 payment on the credit card anyway.
So, I have to pay for swimming lessons and I'm going to start some exercise stuff of my own that I'll also have to pay for. And I only have about $150 left in my chequing account for food, etc. for the next 2 weeks. But all in all, I'm not doing too badly. And my hubby should be transferring some money over to me at month end.
Next year will be a much bigger financial burden for all of us, as she'll be back at work and all the girls will have to go to day camp right through the summer. As it is, we are putting them in a couple of sessions of swimming lessons (necessitating me leaving work to pick up and drive everybody to and fro). The lessons are 4 days per week for 2 weeks (but only 1/2 an hour per day) and we hope that the sustained amount of pool time will enable everybody to move up at least one level. Last session (which was 8 classes once a week) nobody passed, although they all made progress.
DC will go to day camp for 2 weeks this year too, as my granddaughters' other grandparents are taking them out of town for 2 weeks. That will give my daughter the relative quiet of only having her nursing baby at home.
Yesterday was payday. I paid some stuff then and some more this morning. Right now I'm pleased to say that I'm current on all my bills (paid the water today) and that I have $651.14 in my TFSA, right on track for the year. Property taxes for the rural house are due next week. I have to check, but I think I have enough in the rural credit union to pay them. Yay, me!
I went away to the house last weekend and spent some money, money on myself (gasp!) as well as gas. But I just have the $50 odd dollars I charged for gas on the way back to pay back still. And I made the regular $90 payment on the credit card anyway.
So, I have to pay for swimming lessons and I'm going to start some exercise stuff of my own that I'll also have to pay for. And I only have about $150 left in my chequing account for food, etc. for the next 2 weeks. But all in all, I'm not doing too badly. And my hubby should be transferring some money over to me at month end.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Steps Forward and Back
I had some ambitious goals for 2010. My first payday for the year was yesterday. How am I doing?
First of all, I took one fairly big step backwards at the end of December when we were going away to our rural house. I bought discontinued bedframes at IKEA for $170.98 and charged it on my MasterCard. Yes, the card I've barely used in over a year, the same card that just increased my credit limit by $3,000. I'm really glad I bought them though. We've been sleeping on mattresses on the floor at the house and it's not that comfy. Having the bedframes will really help. We got them to the house in our car by putting down half the back seat and running them up between the front seats. There wasn't time while we were there to put them together but I hope to do them on the next trip.
Then we were at the house for the weekend and I charged groceries and birthday presents for Dear Child to the tune of $159.14. I did have money left in my chequing account but I thought that a cheque I'd written for $162 hadn't cleared yet. I didn't want to end up bouncing a cheque, so I charged it all. Turns out, luckily, that the cheque had cleared and I just hadn't noticed.
So, the net result was that my card balance went up from $5,868.52 to (gulp) $6,198.64, almost $200 over my old limit and $330.12 higher in total. And it will be worse in a couple of days when the interest hits my account.
However, there is also good news on the horizon. First of all, I got a raise! Okay, it's not huge, just 2% but there were no raises last year so this is good. I've paid the $159.14, plus paid the water and made a payment to Home Depot. Oh! Oh, oh, oh!!!! I almost forgot! I paid off the first Home Depot payment plan on December 31st! That's one of my goals for the year (because it was due January 1st).
I also took a big step toward another one of my goals today. I had to go in to the credit union to activate my new, permanent debit card (the temporary card they gave me when my card was skimmed was only good for 30 days) so I opened my Tax Free Savings Account at the same time and put $50 into it. My goal this year is to get it up to $1,300 by the end of the year. Yes, I know that you can put in $5,000 per year (and that my eligible amount for this year is $10,000 because unused amounts carry forward from year to year) but let's be realistic. It'll be a stretch to make my goal. There's no way I'd ever be able to put $416.66 away each month, unless I did it at the expense of paying down debt. How dumb would that be? Ooh, I'll earn maybe 2% on $5,000 of savings while paying 17% on $6,000 worth of debt. Don't think so. On the other hand, having an extra grand or so in an account that can be accessed if I need it is a good add-on to the ever-underfunded Emergency Fund.
While I was at the credit union I deposited cash to my rural credit union account (via the ATM). Why cash? Well, I pay to order cheques and they take a minimum of 5 business days to clear from the one credit union to the other. Cash should clear once the amount of the deposit is verified the next business day. The cash was for all the rural set-asides I've created. That includes the electric bill, property tax, garbage pickup and fuel oil. When next December rolls around and I need another tank of fuel oil the money will all be there. How grown up and responsible is that?
So, all in all, I'm doing fairly well in the financial area. And I've been walking for half an hour 5 days out of the past 7 (yet another goal).
First of all, I took one fairly big step backwards at the end of December when we were going away to our rural house. I bought discontinued bedframes at IKEA for $170.98 and charged it on my MasterCard. Yes, the card I've barely used in over a year, the same card that just increased my credit limit by $3,000. I'm really glad I bought them though. We've been sleeping on mattresses on the floor at the house and it's not that comfy. Having the bedframes will really help. We got them to the house in our car by putting down half the back seat and running them up between the front seats. There wasn't time while we were there to put them together but I hope to do them on the next trip.
Then we were at the house for the weekend and I charged groceries and birthday presents for Dear Child to the tune of $159.14. I did have money left in my chequing account but I thought that a cheque I'd written for $162 hadn't cleared yet. I didn't want to end up bouncing a cheque, so I charged it all. Turns out, luckily, that the cheque had cleared and I just hadn't noticed.
So, the net result was that my card balance went up from $5,868.52 to (gulp) $6,198.64, almost $200 over my old limit and $330.12 higher in total. And it will be worse in a couple of days when the interest hits my account.
However, there is also good news on the horizon. First of all, I got a raise! Okay, it's not huge, just 2% but there were no raises last year so this is good. I've paid the $159.14, plus paid the water and made a payment to Home Depot. Oh! Oh, oh, oh!!!! I almost forgot! I paid off the first Home Depot payment plan on December 31st! That's one of my goals for the year (because it was due January 1st).
I also took a big step toward another one of my goals today. I had to go in to the credit union to activate my new, permanent debit card (the temporary card they gave me when my card was skimmed was only good for 30 days) so I opened my Tax Free Savings Account at the same time and put $50 into it. My goal this year is to get it up to $1,300 by the end of the year. Yes, I know that you can put in $5,000 per year (and that my eligible amount for this year is $10,000 because unused amounts carry forward from year to year) but let's be realistic. It'll be a stretch to make my goal. There's no way I'd ever be able to put $416.66 away each month, unless I did it at the expense of paying down debt. How dumb would that be? Ooh, I'll earn maybe 2% on $5,000 of savings while paying 17% on $6,000 worth of debt. Don't think so. On the other hand, having an extra grand or so in an account that can be accessed if I need it is a good add-on to the ever-underfunded Emergency Fund.
While I was at the credit union I deposited cash to my rural credit union account (via the ATM). Why cash? Well, I pay to order cheques and they take a minimum of 5 business days to clear from the one credit union to the other. Cash should clear once the amount of the deposit is verified the next business day. The cash was for all the rural set-asides I've created. That includes the electric bill, property tax, garbage pickup and fuel oil. When next December rolls around and I need another tank of fuel oil the money will all be there. How grown up and responsible is that?
So, all in all, I'm doing fairly well in the financial area. And I've been walking for half an hour 5 days out of the past 7 (yet another goal).
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Goals for 2010
Okay, so here are my financial goals for 2010, with a few goals for our rural house and my fitness thrown in. There are a lot more goals here than last year but many of them should be relatively easy to carry out. For instance, I already wrote and sent in all the post-dated cheques for that $1,500 of debt and the $1,080 in regular credit card payments will happen if I just pay $90 every 2 weeks. In fact it will be more than that but I don't know exactly how much more. Last month I paid just over $88 in interest, so there's about an extra $2 that I'm paying down, plus the interest I'm charged goes down every month as my balance declines.
Just before I start listing goals I wanted to share that I logged onto my credit card website the other day to see if my most recent payment had posted and if the statement was available. It wasn't, but I got a shock when I looked at my available credit. I guess starting to pay $90 every 2 weeks has had an effect. My credit limit has just been increased by $3,000! You keep hearing about the opposite happening these days. People are complaining that their credit limit has been cut or that their interest rates have increased. Well, not only has my credit limit increased, but I've noticed over the past several months that my interest rate actually declined at least twice!
Financial Goals
Rural House Goals
Physical Goals
Okay, so there are my goals. How about yours?
- Pay down $1,300 directly in credit card debt. Pay down $1,500 in other debt. Pay down $1,080 in regular credit card payments. Total: $3,880. Round up to $3,900.
- Open a TFSA and put $1,300 into it.
- Put a minimum of $520 into the Emergency Fund.
- Put a minimum of $520 into my RRSP.
- Keep putting money into my set aside accounts, rural credit union account, etc.
- Keep current on all my bills.
- Come up with $3,000 for Dear Child’s dental surgery.
- Pay off both Home Depot payment plans on time.
- Plan out and create a garden in the front of the house (south west side of driveway area).
- Plant lavender border.
- Go to house 2x per month in summer.
- Finish new floor in master bedroom.
- Get weight down to 120.
- Walk for at least a half hour per day (or use elliptical for same length of time).
Friday, September 25, 2009
Good Health for the New Year
Just wanted to get in a quick post before Shabbos to say that I've been working on some things that pertain to my health. I had been to the doctor a little while ago and finally finished the various tests I was supposed to have. They only call you in if there's a problem and I haven't gotten a call, but I should go in again anyway. I want a referral to a dermatologist for a couple of moles that I can't see well and that should probably come off (since it's hard to see in between one's own shoulder blades).
I've been going to the physio now for about 6 or 8 weeks and my shoulder is much improved. If I'm still doing well at my next appointment in a couple of weeks then I'm done with that, although I'll keep wearing the core shorts and sitting on my little round thingy that makes me sit straight. I paid for them, so I'd better keep using them! Now, I just have to put the paperwork in for the reimbursement for the cost of the physio sessions themselves.
And, today I signed up for a free month at the gym here at work because I want to see if I can actually force myself to just go downstairs and use the treadmill for 20 minutes or so every day or two. I get half off for working here but I had given up our family membership earlier because we weren't using it and it was costing about $45 per month. If I don't keep it up there's no point in taking on even a single membership for myself but, if I do get in the flow of it, it's a little cheaper (about $30).
First of all, my health is important. Second, I'm still wanting to lose about 10 pounds and my weight just isn't budging (other than the normal 1 to 2 pound variance I see over the course of the month). It's a new (Jewish) year. It's a good time to take charge of my health and I'm trying not to bite off more than I can chew.
Are you doing anything now to improve your health? Even for non-Jewish readers, the kids are back to school and it's a good time to make some changes!
I've been going to the physio now for about 6 or 8 weeks and my shoulder is much improved. If I'm still doing well at my next appointment in a couple of weeks then I'm done with that, although I'll keep wearing the core shorts and sitting on my little round thingy that makes me sit straight. I paid for them, so I'd better keep using them! Now, I just have to put the paperwork in for the reimbursement for the cost of the physio sessions themselves.
And, today I signed up for a free month at the gym here at work because I want to see if I can actually force myself to just go downstairs and use the treadmill for 20 minutes or so every day or two. I get half off for working here but I had given up our family membership earlier because we weren't using it and it was costing about $45 per month. If I don't keep it up there's no point in taking on even a single membership for myself but, if I do get in the flow of it, it's a little cheaper (about $30).
First of all, my health is important. Second, I'm still wanting to lose about 10 pounds and my weight just isn't budging (other than the normal 1 to 2 pound variance I see over the course of the month). It's a new (Jewish) year. It's a good time to take charge of my health and I'm trying not to bite off more than I can chew.
Are you doing anything now to improve your health? Even for non-Jewish readers, the kids are back to school and it's a good time to make some changes!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
September and Back to School
Today was Dear Child's first day of Grade 1, her first day with a new English [secular] teacher, her first day in uniforms and....we were late. Sigh.
I went shopping for school shoes with her yesterday afternoon after Hubby came home to watch our granddaughters and we had mixed results. Just like last year we had to try on pretty well every shoe in Payless that was likely to fit her. This year that meant everything between size 10 and size 11 1/2. Some of the shoes came off when she ran. Some shoes hurt her toes or cut across her instep. Some shoes hurt her heels. Sometimes her heels came up when she walked.
We eventually settled on a pair of brown suede Airwalks for indoor and gym use (with Velcro straps for easy on/off several times per day) and the same black boots she had last year in a bigger size. It was BOGO but the boots were $50 so I spent about $68 all told. We had no luck at all finding "outside" shoes. Even the cute black shoes she had last year and wore out didn't work in a bigger size (they were among the ones that hurt the top of her instep). She ended up wearing her pink crocs as outdoor shoes today. They can't use crocs as inside shoes but they're okay as outdoor shoes. Don't ask me why.
I also took care of getting the school all the money I owe them in tuition (post dated cheques), textbooks and workbooks, school supplies, field trip money, etc. so as not to be in the huge crowd of parents who had to do that today.
The other thing I did yesterday was to get my new flipper. It's smaller and more comfortable than the old one, but it cost $361.60 because I hadn't had the old one for enough years to be eligible for a new one on our dental plan. Tell that to the Dog! Heck, if I could convince him to get a job maybe he could pay for it (seeing as how it's his fault I needed a new one in the first place). But, no. I show him all the working dogs on TV and he just ignores them....
Today, after I got Dear Child into class (with no tears!) I headed to my physio appointment where I got politely chewed out for not doing the exercises I've been given to do at home regularly enough. He wants to see me again in a week and I'm supposed to shape up in the meantime. Oh, yay. Fun.
I went shopping for school shoes with her yesterday afternoon after Hubby came home to watch our granddaughters and we had mixed results. Just like last year we had to try on pretty well every shoe in Payless that was likely to fit her. This year that meant everything between size 10 and size 11 1/2. Some of the shoes came off when she ran. Some shoes hurt her toes or cut across her instep. Some shoes hurt her heels. Sometimes her heels came up when she walked.
We eventually settled on a pair of brown suede Airwalks for indoor and gym use (with Velcro straps for easy on/off several times per day) and the same black boots she had last year in a bigger size. It was BOGO but the boots were $50 so I spent about $68 all told. We had no luck at all finding "outside" shoes. Even the cute black shoes she had last year and wore out didn't work in a bigger size (they were among the ones that hurt the top of her instep). She ended up wearing her pink crocs as outdoor shoes today. They can't use crocs as inside shoes but they're okay as outdoor shoes. Don't ask me why.
I also took care of getting the school all the money I owe them in tuition (post dated cheques), textbooks and workbooks, school supplies, field trip money, etc. so as not to be in the huge crowd of parents who had to do that today.
The other thing I did yesterday was to get my new flipper. It's smaller and more comfortable than the old one, but it cost $361.60 because I hadn't had the old one for enough years to be eligible for a new one on our dental plan. Tell that to the Dog! Heck, if I could convince him to get a job maybe he could pay for it (seeing as how it's his fault I needed a new one in the first place). But, no. I show him all the working dogs on TV and he just ignores them....
Today, after I got Dear Child into class (with no tears!) I headed to my physio appointment where I got politely chewed out for not doing the exercises I've been given to do at home regularly enough. He wants to see me again in a week and I'm supposed to shape up in the meantime. Oh, yay. Fun.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
And They Say You Can't Go Home Again....
There are definitely times when I think it would be useful if I could clone myself! As I mentioned in my last post, I've been incredibly busy. My lunch with my Executive Director ended up being postponed to this week because we didn't have time last Thursday!
I did go to the doctor and the news was all good. She said all my blood work was normal. I'm not anemic and my thyroid was normal. The stress test results were normal too (meaning that I didn't have any kind of problematic heartbeats during or right after the test and that my heart rate slowed back down afterwards within the appropriate time frame). She feels that I'm not getting enough exercise and told me to do a half hour per day, every day. I'm trying, but it's not always working out that way. I think it will take a while to get in the habit and to manage to fit it around everything else.
Dear Child had her Kindergarten Graduation (which was very cute) and only has 2 days left of school. Tomorrow is a field trip and Thursday they pack all their stuff up to bring home and get their report cards.
My summer schedule is going to be insane. Mondays generally home with all 4 girls. Yes, four. This summer my oldest granddaughter is joining us, as her mother is working Thursday to Monday (and my Number One Son works Monday to Friday). Tuesday and Wednesday my daughter-in-law is off and has all the girls. The catch is that my son-in-law (the one we share a house with) has to take our 3 with him at 7 am and drop them off with her on his way to work! This should be, um, interesting considering that I spend about half an hour on average from 7 to 7:30 am talking to Dear Child, stroking her, tickling her, anything that will wake her up (while not putting her into a grumpy mood). Then we normally leave at 8 am. She moves fairly fast once she's awake but she's very hard to wake up (her father's daughter). There is No Way I want to get up at 6 am and start trying to wake her. I have a hunch she may be going in the van in her nightie with food she can eat in the car! Thursday and Friday are my son-in-law's days off and he gets all 4 girls here.
So, on the surface, it looks like I'm getting a break over the summer because I'm only responsible for one day per week instead of the current 3. However, my 4 year old granddaughter is registered for 2 or 3 weeks of summer camp (and the baby is registered for a week, as of today!). The older camp kids eat lunch there and finish at 1 or 1:30 pm; the littles finish at 11:30 am. That means on Tuesday and Wednesday I can only work until 11:30, go downstairs, pick up Boo Boo, hang out in the building until the older group finishes, pick the 4 yo up too and head home. Meanwhile, my own child will be happily playing with her niece, half an hour or so from home. Mondays should be even more fun. I'll be doing multiple pickup and hanging out at the centre for at least 1.5 hours with the older girls too. And I still haven't decided if I'm going to try to put DC in camp for a week too! The best part of that is that it would be an Orthodox kids camp instead of the community centre one, so it's in a different place and I don't know if it has the same pick up time ('cuz you know I'm good with being in 2 places at one time, see cloning comment above). I've been putting it off because I haven't checked with all her friends' mothers to see if their girls are going and which weeks, etc.
Anyway, to get back to what happened over the past few days, Dear Child complained of an upset tummy on the morning of her graduation and threw up in the car on the way to school. Into a plastic Safeway bag. The kid gets brownie points for not getting anything on her Shabbos clothes because they were all supposed to be dressed up for the graduation. I ended up taking her to my office for a couple of hours and we just took her to school in time for the event itself (I talked to the teachers and that was the decision as we didn't know if she was sick or just nervous and we didn't want her to miss the graduation).
After the graduation party I took DC home, we threw things in the car and I headed off on a 4.5 hour drive with a kid who had already been car sick once that day! Yes, I gave her Gravol and she had a fresh bag handy! Baruch Hashem [thank G-d], things went well and we arrived without incident and in enough time that I accomplished about 2.5 hours of intensive yard work before Shabbos. It was the first time in about 7 months that we've been to the house, so not too surprising that there was a lot to do!
Shabbos we just hung out, went for a long walk with Dog (who is in 7th heaven whenever we go to the house) and she played some with the kids next door. And yes, I did warn the mother that she might be sick. While she felt fine (no aches or pains, no fever, no further queasiness) she did develop the runs intermittently on Shabbos and Sunday. When she had to go, she really had to go. Within about 30 seconds. I was terrified of putting her in the car Sunday afternoon for the long car ride back to the city because I wouldn't even be able to pull over to the side of the road in that kind of time frame.
I did about another 4 hours of yard work on Sunday, some by hand and a lot with my neighbour's heavy duty weed whacker that you hold with 2 hands and swing kind of like a scythe, while holding down a button on the side and squeezing the trigger all at once. Do you think that was what the doc had in mind when she talked to me about exercise? By the time I finished I was in serious pain from my back, arms and right hand. When I say "finished", I mean I did all I could do but had to leave one of the side yards for next time. I ended up talking to Hubby and Eldest Daughter on the phone and the decision was to stay over Sunday night and come back some time on Monday. She worked something out for her girls and we just stayed and relaxed. I left a voice mail at work and that was that.
I took DC into town Sunday evening to buy a couple of things from the store, including a small pack of pullups for her to wear to bed and in the car, just as an insurance policy. She still had 2 more bouts, one about 11:30 pm Sunday, the other at 6:30 am on Monday, so it was a smart thing to do, although she's been out of that sort of thing for ages. We stayed until 4 pm Monday, then headed back and she's been fine. Whew!
My son-in-law took today off to do some work on their van so I worked the whole day and went back for some more time this evening. Now I'm not short any hours, even though I didn't work Monday. I'm really tired though and I'm covered in giant, itchy mosquito bites. At least 32 at last count. I don't think they liked me cutting the grass. Either that, or I just taste really good to them. So, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is payday and Wednesday, so we'll see just what I can accomplish.
I did go to the doctor and the news was all good. She said all my blood work was normal. I'm not anemic and my thyroid was normal. The stress test results were normal too (meaning that I didn't have any kind of problematic heartbeats during or right after the test and that my heart rate slowed back down afterwards within the appropriate time frame). She feels that I'm not getting enough exercise and told me to do a half hour per day, every day. I'm trying, but it's not always working out that way. I think it will take a while to get in the habit and to manage to fit it around everything else.
Dear Child had her Kindergarten Graduation (which was very cute) and only has 2 days left of school. Tomorrow is a field trip and Thursday they pack all their stuff up to bring home and get their report cards.
My summer schedule is going to be insane. Mondays generally home with all 4 girls. Yes, four. This summer my oldest granddaughter is joining us, as her mother is working Thursday to Monday (and my Number One Son works Monday to Friday). Tuesday and Wednesday my daughter-in-law is off and has all the girls. The catch is that my son-in-law (the one we share a house with) has to take our 3 with him at 7 am and drop them off with her on his way to work! This should be, um, interesting considering that I spend about half an hour on average from 7 to 7:30 am talking to Dear Child, stroking her, tickling her, anything that will wake her up (while not putting her into a grumpy mood). Then we normally leave at 8 am. She moves fairly fast once she's awake but she's very hard to wake up (her father's daughter). There is No Way I want to get up at 6 am and start trying to wake her. I have a hunch she may be going in the van in her nightie with food she can eat in the car! Thursday and Friday are my son-in-law's days off and he gets all 4 girls here.
So, on the surface, it looks like I'm getting a break over the summer because I'm only responsible for one day per week instead of the current 3. However, my 4 year old granddaughter is registered for 2 or 3 weeks of summer camp (and the baby is registered for a week, as of today!). The older camp kids eat lunch there and finish at 1 or 1:30 pm; the littles finish at 11:30 am. That means on Tuesday and Wednesday I can only work until 11:30, go downstairs, pick up Boo Boo, hang out in the building until the older group finishes, pick the 4 yo up too and head home. Meanwhile, my own child will be happily playing with her niece, half an hour or so from home. Mondays should be even more fun. I'll be doing multiple pickup and hanging out at the centre for at least 1.5 hours with the older girls too. And I still haven't decided if I'm going to try to put DC in camp for a week too! The best part of that is that it would be an Orthodox kids camp instead of the community centre one, so it's in a different place and I don't know if it has the same pick up time ('cuz you know I'm good with being in 2 places at one time, see cloning comment above). I've been putting it off because I haven't checked with all her friends' mothers to see if their girls are going and which weeks, etc.
Anyway, to get back to what happened over the past few days, Dear Child complained of an upset tummy on the morning of her graduation and threw up in the car on the way to school. Into a plastic Safeway bag. The kid gets brownie points for not getting anything on her Shabbos clothes because they were all supposed to be dressed up for the graduation. I ended up taking her to my office for a couple of hours and we just took her to school in time for the event itself (I talked to the teachers and that was the decision as we didn't know if she was sick or just nervous and we didn't want her to miss the graduation).
After the graduation party I took DC home, we threw things in the car and I headed off on a 4.5 hour drive with a kid who had already been car sick once that day! Yes, I gave her Gravol and she had a fresh bag handy! Baruch Hashem [thank G-d], things went well and we arrived without incident and in enough time that I accomplished about 2.5 hours of intensive yard work before Shabbos. It was the first time in about 7 months that we've been to the house, so not too surprising that there was a lot to do!
Shabbos we just hung out, went for a long walk with Dog (who is in 7th heaven whenever we go to the house) and she played some with the kids next door. And yes, I did warn the mother that she might be sick. While she felt fine (no aches or pains, no fever, no further queasiness) she did develop the runs intermittently on Shabbos and Sunday. When she had to go, she really had to go. Within about 30 seconds. I was terrified of putting her in the car Sunday afternoon for the long car ride back to the city because I wouldn't even be able to pull over to the side of the road in that kind of time frame.
I did about another 4 hours of yard work on Sunday, some by hand and a lot with my neighbour's heavy duty weed whacker that you hold with 2 hands and swing kind of like a scythe, while holding down a button on the side and squeezing the trigger all at once. Do you think that was what the doc had in mind when she talked to me about exercise? By the time I finished I was in serious pain from my back, arms and right hand. When I say "finished", I mean I did all I could do but had to leave one of the side yards for next time. I ended up talking to Hubby and Eldest Daughter on the phone and the decision was to stay over Sunday night and come back some time on Monday. She worked something out for her girls and we just stayed and relaxed. I left a voice mail at work and that was that.
I took DC into town Sunday evening to buy a couple of things from the store, including a small pack of pullups for her to wear to bed and in the car, just as an insurance policy. She still had 2 more bouts, one about 11:30 pm Sunday, the other at 6:30 am on Monday, so it was a smart thing to do, although she's been out of that sort of thing for ages. We stayed until 4 pm Monday, then headed back and she's been fine. Whew!
My son-in-law took today off to do some work on their van so I worked the whole day and went back for some more time this evening. Now I'm not short any hours, even though I didn't work Monday. I'm really tired though and I'm covered in giant, itchy mosquito bites. At least 32 at last count. I don't think they liked me cutting the grass. Either that, or I just taste really good to them. So, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is payday and Wednesday, so we'll see just what I can accomplish.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Walking Again
After not going for several weeks because of bad weather, illness, etc. I went to shul today for the second week in a row. Even better, Hubby and Dear Child also made it. There was a big lunch today, in honour of a friend's son's recent marriage, and several of DC's classmates who normally go elsewhere were at our shul today. She was very happy and split her time between us and playing with her friends after the main part of the lunch.
Then she ended up going to a nearby friend's place with several of the other girls and playing until Shabbos was over. Even better, she let me walk home and didn't insist that I stay with her! I got time to read my Tanya and take a little nap before Shabbos ended and it was time to pick her up. I'm actually happy I walked the hour or so home because I really need the exercise. I've gained another 3 pounds and I know it's a combination of too much junk and far less walking than I'm used to. I'm hoping the weather cooperates for the next while and that I can keep getting to shul on a regular basis. One of my goals has been to lose 10 pounds and that's never going to happen if I stay home and sleep half of every Sabbath away! Plus I really miss it when I don't go.
Eldest Daughter is away again until Thursday so I'm going to bed early because I have to get up when my son-in-law leaves for work to look after the little girls. I hope I'll get a chance to get started tomorrow on the Passover cleaning I planned out the other day. Right now I'm halfway through the first week and I'm already behind. Not a particularly auspicious beginning.
Then she ended up going to a nearby friend's place with several of the other girls and playing until Shabbos was over. Even better, she let me walk home and didn't insist that I stay with her! I got time to read my Tanya and take a little nap before Shabbos ended and it was time to pick her up. I'm actually happy I walked the hour or so home because I really need the exercise. I've gained another 3 pounds and I know it's a combination of too much junk and far less walking than I'm used to. I'm hoping the weather cooperates for the next while and that I can keep getting to shul on a regular basis. One of my goals has been to lose 10 pounds and that's never going to happen if I stay home and sleep half of every Sabbath away! Plus I really miss it when I don't go.
Eldest Daughter is away again until Thursday so I'm going to bed early because I have to get up when my son-in-law leaves for work to look after the little girls. I hope I'll get a chance to get started tomorrow on the Passover cleaning I planned out the other day. Right now I'm halfway through the first week and I'm already behind. Not a particularly auspicious beginning.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
We Now Return to Everyday Life
The holidays are over. Simchat Torah was great. We finished reading the last verses of Devarim (Deuteronomy) and start the annual cycle over again with Bereshit (Genesis). We danced with the Torah Scrolls and all the men took turns carrying one around while reciting from the prayer book. The really big partying took place last night, with a somewhat more subdued version taking place today in the shul proper.
In our shul (synagogue) the nighttime dancing always spills out into the street and the procession of Torahs and dancing, singing men wends its way from corner to corner until they make it back to where they started. Dear Child had a wonderful time, carried on her father's back. I stood just outside the shul, waving her stuffed Torah, as cars honked cheerfully at everybody.
But now life returns to normal. No more 2 day holidays in the middle of the week. In fact, no more holidays until Hanukkah, which will be late in December this year. In some ways this is good. It's hard to get much work done when you're only in the office for one or 2 days, then off again for a couple of days over and over. Meals can go back to being more simple. In our house we generally don't eat meat or drink wine except on the Sabbath and on festivals, so that will reduce our food expenses. My Dear Child will finally go back to school (next week) and learning can really commence seriously for the year.
But I have to say I'll miss the increased spiritual focus of the past few weeks. Yes, now that we start reading Torah from the beginning again, I'll begin again studying the parsha (portion) of the week with DC. This year she's starting to read and I think that will be exciting. I'll get back to doing my daily learning, Chitas (a portion daily from the Tanya, the Book of Psalms and the weekly portion with commentary). I've tried to keep up but the parsha part of it has suffered the most. Perhaps not surprisingly, I know the opening chapters of Bereshit (Genesis) the best. I'm always on my best behavior, the most motivated, etc. as we start the cycle. And there are no holidays for a while to break my concentration.
The other thing is that, with all these holidays on Wednesdays, I haven't had the opportunity to do my It Won't Wait Wednesday projects over the past month or so. And I've been way too busy to get around to a lot of the things that I've been meaning to do. I've got to get back to that.
And the exercise. What can I say about it? We walk a lot during the High Holy Days. Three weeks out of four we have a 2 day holiday when we have to walk to and from services at least once a day, sometimes twice. Plus the Sabbath keeps rolling around where we do the same. If you live close to your synagogue it's not too big a deal. But we walk an hour and 20 minutes each way! The exercise has probably been good for me, although I don't think I've lost any weight (the walking is counteracted by all the holiday food). But, boy, am I tired!
What happens next? I get up bright and early tomorrow morning and go to work for the whole day. I have to deposit my BC Benefit cheque into the bank and update my passbook, then do a bit of grocery shopping. Welcome back to my (everyday) miscellaneous life.
In our shul (synagogue) the nighttime dancing always spills out into the street and the procession of Torahs and dancing, singing men wends its way from corner to corner until they make it back to where they started. Dear Child had a wonderful time, carried on her father's back. I stood just outside the shul, waving her stuffed Torah, as cars honked cheerfully at everybody.
But now life returns to normal. No more 2 day holidays in the middle of the week. In fact, no more holidays until Hanukkah, which will be late in December this year. In some ways this is good. It's hard to get much work done when you're only in the office for one or 2 days, then off again for a couple of days over and over. Meals can go back to being more simple. In our house we generally don't eat meat or drink wine except on the Sabbath and on festivals, so that will reduce our food expenses. My Dear Child will finally go back to school (next week) and learning can really commence seriously for the year.
But I have to say I'll miss the increased spiritual focus of the past few weeks. Yes, now that we start reading Torah from the beginning again, I'll begin again studying the parsha (portion) of the week with DC. This year she's starting to read and I think that will be exciting. I'll get back to doing my daily learning, Chitas (a portion daily from the Tanya, the Book of Psalms and the weekly portion with commentary). I've tried to keep up but the parsha part of it has suffered the most. Perhaps not surprisingly, I know the opening chapters of Bereshit (Genesis) the best. I'm always on my best behavior, the most motivated, etc. as we start the cycle. And there are no holidays for a while to break my concentration.
The other thing is that, with all these holidays on Wednesdays, I haven't had the opportunity to do my It Won't Wait Wednesday projects over the past month or so. And I've been way too busy to get around to a lot of the things that I've been meaning to do. I've got to get back to that.
And the exercise. What can I say about it? We walk a lot during the High Holy Days. Three weeks out of four we have a 2 day holiday when we have to walk to and from services at least once a day, sometimes twice. Plus the Sabbath keeps rolling around where we do the same. If you live close to your synagogue it's not too big a deal. But we walk an hour and 20 minutes each way! The exercise has probably been good for me, although I don't think I've lost any weight (the walking is counteracted by all the holiday food). But, boy, am I tired!
What happens next? I get up bright and early tomorrow morning and go to work for the whole day. I have to deposit my BC Benefit cheque into the bank and update my passbook, then do a bit of grocery shopping. Welcome back to my (everyday) miscellaneous life.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Another Kind of Snowflake
The topic of goals and microgoals came up the other day on The Simple Dollar and it’s pretty cool. Basically, you come up with 10 goals that you want to achieve over the next several years and then you choose a small action (the microgoal) to take towards each large goal every day.
This is a really good way to achieve your goals because as long as you’re taking regular steps (no matter how small) towards your goal you’re in good shape. The key is that you’re always moving and moving in the right direction. It’s really very much like the debt snowball and snowflaking.
With the debt snowball you list your debts, order them either by interest rate or size of debt and plug away at them. You pay the minimum on all but your target debt. That one gets hit with everything you can throw at it. When the target debt is eliminated you move on to the next one in line. This debt gets battered down even faster because now you’re paying the minimum on it plus all the money you were putting towards the original debt. Rinse and repeat until all the debt is gone.
When you snowflake you do all of that but you also take any windfall money (bottle refunds, eBay sales, tax refund, money for taking a survey, etc.) and also apply it towards your target debt. Snowflaking gets you where you’re going even faster. Why? Because you’re focused on your goal and you’re always moving towards it, even with teeny tiny steps.
So the goal and microgoal system is just snowflaking applied to goals other than debt reduction!
I mentioned yesterday that I like this idea a lot and now I’m ready to share my list of goals.
1. Take Religious Studies courses, potentially leading to an undergraduate degree.
2. Become fluent in Hebrew.
3. Study oenology and viticulture, potentially leading to a degree.
4. Grow lavender for sale.
5. Buy a minimum of 5 acres of land in our chosen retirement area.
6. Build a home on the land.
7. Plant grapes and open a kosher winery.
8. Get totally out of debt and stay there!
9. Lose 10 pounds.
10. Accumulate enough retirement funds to supplement our pensions and other income streams.
These goals are ones to be achieved between now and 15 years from now, when we’re due to retire.
Here are my current microgoals (not so much for today, as for this week).
1. Talk with my husband about taking a Biblical Hebrew course starting in September. It’s a weekly class from September to May. Done!
2. This course actually fits into both my first 2 goals. Done!
3. Bookmark information regarding the introductory course at Okanagan College, which can be taken online. Done!
4. Replant 5 lavender plants in larger pots.
5. Check mls.ca for interesting properties. Done!
6. Look online for information on rubber roof tiles that look like slate. Done!
7. Buy yeast and potassium metabisulphite. Done!
8. Pay our share of utility bills for city house. Done!
9. Go to the gym. Do 20 minutes on the treadmill, 10 minutes stretching.
10. Look for the form regarding the reinvestment of my maturing GIC. Well, I found one but I think there was another one too.
How about you? Are you interested in snowflaking towards non-financial goals?
This is a really good way to achieve your goals because as long as you’re taking regular steps (no matter how small) towards your goal you’re in good shape. The key is that you’re always moving and moving in the right direction. It’s really very much like the debt snowball and snowflaking.
With the debt snowball you list your debts, order them either by interest rate or size of debt and plug away at them. You pay the minimum on all but your target debt. That one gets hit with everything you can throw at it. When the target debt is eliminated you move on to the next one in line. This debt gets battered down even faster because now you’re paying the minimum on it plus all the money you were putting towards the original debt. Rinse and repeat until all the debt is gone.
When you snowflake you do all of that but you also take any windfall money (bottle refunds, eBay sales, tax refund, money for taking a survey, etc.) and also apply it towards your target debt. Snowflaking gets you where you’re going even faster. Why? Because you’re focused on your goal and you’re always moving towards it, even with teeny tiny steps.
So the goal and microgoal system is just snowflaking applied to goals other than debt reduction!
I mentioned yesterday that I like this idea a lot and now I’m ready to share my list of goals.
1. Take Religious Studies courses, potentially leading to an undergraduate degree.
2. Become fluent in Hebrew.
3. Study oenology and viticulture, potentially leading to a degree.
4. Grow lavender for sale.
5. Buy a minimum of 5 acres of land in our chosen retirement area.
6. Build a home on the land.
7. Plant grapes and open a kosher winery.
8. Get totally out of debt and stay there!
9. Lose 10 pounds.
10. Accumulate enough retirement funds to supplement our pensions and other income streams.
These goals are ones to be achieved between now and 15 years from now, when we’re due to retire.
Here are my current microgoals (not so much for today, as for this week).
1. Talk with my husband about taking a Biblical Hebrew course starting in September. It’s a weekly class from September to May. Done!
2. This course actually fits into both my first 2 goals. Done!
3. Bookmark information regarding the introductory course at Okanagan College, which can be taken online. Done!
4. Replant 5 lavender plants in larger pots.
5. Check mls.ca for interesting properties. Done!
6. Look online for information on rubber roof tiles that look like slate. Done!
7. Buy yeast and potassium metabisulphite. Done!
8. Pay our share of utility bills for city house. Done!
9. Go to the gym. Do 20 minutes on the treadmill, 10 minutes stretching.
10. Look for the form regarding the reinvestment of my maturing GIC. Well, I found one but I think there was another one too.
How about you? Are you interested in snowflaking towards non-financial goals?
Monday, July 14, 2008
Their Swim Lessons = My Exercise Plan
One of my goals for this month is to lose five pounds, but so far I haven't been very successful. I haven't been buying bag after bag of two bite brownies or any chips and I walk for a total of 2 hours on Shabbat and about 15 minutes every other day, but that's about it. I'm saving some money on food but I haven't seen a real change on the scale (which has been varying between 130 and 128) yet. Do I need to say that I haven't gone anywhere near the gym?
However, I think I may have found something that will help. My DC and my 3 yo granddaughter started swimming lessons today at our neighbourhood community centre. I have to take them there and wait for them while they have their lesson 3 days per week (the other 2 days my son-in-law takes them). So, how will my sitting there watching them swim for the next two weeks help me lose 5 pounds?
Sitting on the pool deck won't help, but the key is that I have to walk them there and back. I have the baby in the stroller, my purse and the bag with the towels and snacks and I have to push the stroller there uphill. We have to walk fairly quickly to get there in 20 or so minutes and I'm out of breath by the time I get to the top of the hill. Going home is easier because it's downhill but it's still a 20 minute walk, so that's 40 minutes of extra walking 3 times per week. That has to do something.
I guess we'll see at the end of the month!
However, I think I may have found something that will help. My DC and my 3 yo granddaughter started swimming lessons today at our neighbourhood community centre. I have to take them there and wait for them while they have their lesson 3 days per week (the other 2 days my son-in-law takes them). So, how will my sitting there watching them swim for the next two weeks help me lose 5 pounds?
Sitting on the pool deck won't help, but the key is that I have to walk them there and back. I have the baby in the stroller, my purse and the bag with the towels and snacks and I have to push the stroller there uphill. We have to walk fairly quickly to get there in 20 or so minutes and I'm out of breath by the time I get to the top of the hill. Going home is easier because it's downhill but it's still a 20 minute walk, so that's 40 minutes of extra walking 3 times per week. That has to do something.
I guess we'll see at the end of the month!
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