Mom's moving in today. It'll be a great money saver for both of us. She won't be paying her rent but she'll be bringing down ours by paying part of it. No idea when she'll move out, but we know it'll be at least Spring before that happens. Who wants to move in the winter!
It's a hell of a lot easier to move 1 person into a 3 bdrm house than it was to move 4 people into a 2 bdrm apartment back when we first moved to Cornwall! Most of her stuff is going in the basement and she's taking over Isaac's room. I really wish I had been able to paint it first, but I've been so busy with our first few weeks of homeschooling. Oh well, maybe we'll try to move around stuff later...
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Remembrance Day
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Today we remember the fallen and the ones who have served. Bow your head and honour them with a moment of silence at 11am today. Freedom isn't free. Someone had to pay for it.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Die Cold Die!!!
Ugh! Been sick since Friday. Evil cold has also spread to Olivia who is miserable poor baby! It's not really terrible, just stuffed/runny nose and a cough but it's enough to be freaking annoying!!!!
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Hockey, Hockey, Hockey!
Mom won hockey tickets for last night's game from work so we had a mommy/daughter date. Lee pouted over having to stay home with the kids, but we have plans for him and mom to go later and me stay home with the kids.
It was Canadian Forces Appreciation Night so there was loads of all branches of the military there and they had a ceremonial puck drop. We also finally got to handle the giant flag as it went around for Oh Canada! YAY!!!We lost, but it was still a great game! Lot's of crazy plays and luck floating around out there! All the while it was snowing like crazy! Turns out we got next to no snow at home, but in Ottawa there was loads! Mom and I had a mini snowball fight after the game.
We went to the back parking lot for autographs and several players stopped. We collected David Hale (pictured), Jesse Winchester (pictured), Matt Carkner, Mike Fisher (pictured) and Zack Smith's autographs. Finally got home at 1am to get up at 7am for curling this morning!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
I love my insurance agent!
Got some papers in the mail from my insurance for the renewal of my car and house insurance. Couldn't figure out which number was my new premium amount (turned out the one I thought it was was right), so I called them. After we get it all sorted out (with a $30 drop in my premium amount) she asks if I have a full driver's license. I tell her I don't drive at all, but Lee's had his license for 22 yrs. She says, I'm gonna make a phone call, we have a new Preferred Customer program that you should qualify for and it would dramatically drop your premium! I'm thinking another $20 or so off would be awesome!
She called back about 5 minutes later and say great news! You ARE qualified for the Preferred Customer program. Wonderful! Your rates are dropped a lot, ready for it? $122! HOLY CRAP! My current rate is $224, so this is freaking great!!!!!!! Over $100 extra in my pocket every month!!!!!!!! Ah, I love a great insurance agent!
She called back about 5 minutes later and say great news! You ARE qualified for the Preferred Customer program. Wonderful! Your rates are dropped a lot, ready for it? $122! HOLY CRAP! My current rate is $224, so this is freaking great!!!!!!! Over $100 extra in my pocket every month!!!!!!!! Ah, I love a great insurance agent!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Grocery Bills
This has been brought up on several of my boards over the years and it continues to boggle me. I keep hearing of families of 3 spending $600 a mth, families of 6 spending more than $1000, ect...
I am feeding a family of 4. Currently I'm still buying school snacks/juice boxes, ect... for a school child. I'm also feeding a labourer. He eats roughly twice what a average "desk-job-man" would eat. He has to. His job relies on the amount of calories he consumes. I, personally, am a lover of food (could be the reason part of this blog is about the diet I struggle with lol). Then there's the baby, who on some days, eats close to what Brianna eats!
When you add in the amount of food Lee alone consumes, I am essentially feeding a family of 5. But even going by an actual count, I'm feeding a family of 4. We spend roughly $200 a month.
Now, I am not one of these super crunchy house-wives who lives and breathes for natural/homemade everything. I mean, yes, we have a garden, but seriously? It's like 6x8 feet. It gives us slightly more than we can eat in a summer. With the exception of this year's green peppers, we usually never have anything left from the garden past October. I don't make most of my own grain products. I mean I like baking and will occasionally make muffins or quick breads, but for the most part I buy store bought. I buy store bought everything with the exception of what the garden provides during the summer. And even then! While I buy a lot less, I DO still buy fruits and veggies from the store during the summer!
I don't keep livestock, so I buy all my meat and dairy from the store (some of the biggest expenses at a grocery store too!). I also buy a lot of convenience foods. I don't soak beans, I buy canned. I buy boxed foods once and a while. I buy things like Mr. Noodles and Kraft Dinner (Mr. Noodles especially lol).
I buy a lot of brand name products. I DO buy some no name, but honestly, most of my foods are brand name. I don't deprive us of certain foods (eg. meat and dairy) to save money (ok, I will go once and a while without cheese because of the expense). We DO eat vegetarian sometimes, but it's because we LIKE it, not cause we're skipping meat to save money. Heck, I bought pizza pockets this week lol
I truly DO NOT understand how a lot of people are doubling (or more) our grocery bill. And especially my American friends! I remember (before the big passport broohaha) I LOVED shopping in the US for groceries because of how CHEAP it was! For example. A HUGE block of velveeta cheese is $6 or so. Here, a block 1/4 of that size is $6. A savings for 75%! I WISH we had American prices here!
I truly DO NOT mean this as an insult to my friends whose grocery bills are higher than mine. This is honestly a bit of pure confusion. Maybe cause we are used to living off of so much less money per year than some of my friends, we are able to make our grocery budget stretch further. Maybe my friends eat fancier foods than we do. I just don't get it.
I am feeding a family of 4. Currently I'm still buying school snacks/juice boxes, ect... for a school child. I'm also feeding a labourer. He eats roughly twice what a average "desk-job-man" would eat. He has to. His job relies on the amount of calories he consumes. I, personally, am a lover of food (could be the reason part of this blog is about the diet I struggle with lol). Then there's the baby, who on some days, eats close to what Brianna eats!
When you add in the amount of food Lee alone consumes, I am essentially feeding a family of 5. But even going by an actual count, I'm feeding a family of 4. We spend roughly $200 a month.
Now, I am not one of these super crunchy house-wives who lives and breathes for natural/homemade everything. I mean, yes, we have a garden, but seriously? It's like 6x8 feet. It gives us slightly more than we can eat in a summer. With the exception of this year's green peppers, we usually never have anything left from the garden past October. I don't make most of my own grain products. I mean I like baking and will occasionally make muffins or quick breads, but for the most part I buy store bought. I buy store bought everything with the exception of what the garden provides during the summer. And even then! While I buy a lot less, I DO still buy fruits and veggies from the store during the summer!
I don't keep livestock, so I buy all my meat and dairy from the store (some of the biggest expenses at a grocery store too!). I also buy a lot of convenience foods. I don't soak beans, I buy canned. I buy boxed foods once and a while. I buy things like Mr. Noodles and Kraft Dinner (Mr. Noodles especially lol).
I buy a lot of brand name products. I DO buy some no name, but honestly, most of my foods are brand name. I don't deprive us of certain foods (eg. meat and dairy) to save money (ok, I will go once and a while without cheese because of the expense). We DO eat vegetarian sometimes, but it's because we LIKE it, not cause we're skipping meat to save money. Heck, I bought pizza pockets this week lol
I truly DO NOT understand how a lot of people are doubling (or more) our grocery bill. And especially my American friends! I remember (before the big passport broohaha) I LOVED shopping in the US for groceries because of how CHEAP it was! For example. A HUGE block of velveeta cheese is $6 or so. Here, a block 1/4 of that size is $6. A savings for 75%! I WISH we had American prices here!
I truly DO NOT mean this as an insult to my friends whose grocery bills are higher than mine. This is honestly a bit of pure confusion. Maybe cause we are used to living off of so much less money per year than some of my friends, we are able to make our grocery budget stretch further. Maybe my friends eat fancier foods than we do. I just don't get it.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
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