Back again this time for good!!!

Well it took over three months before I got fed up of that online game; gosh they are addictive, but I was really good at it....LOL

Now to get back to blogging and saving money.  The saving money though is my main priority as we had an unexpected trip back to Britain a couple of weeks ago.  Dh's younger brother passed away at the end of December, so we went for the funeral and to see family.  It was a very fast week and VERY expensive.  How people manage to make ends meet in Britain is beyond me but they do it.

So back to the basics for me.  I have signed up again over at Frugaldom's Forums, to keep me on the straight and narrow and to make me accountable for what I spend etc.  I am going to post my grocery totals every week, so I watch what I spend.  I do need to do a pantry and freezer inventory; in fact I have been talking about it for a week or more and still haven't done it yet.  Menu planning which I HATE to do for some reason, is something I do need to tackle.  Eating out which I LOVE to do is something we shouldn't do anymore.

All the utility bills are under control, but there is always room for improvement.  I will be going through those over the next month.  We are currently with Bell Canada, for TV, Internet, home phone and my mobile phone.  Got a deal through the mail with Rogers for six months free service.  That could potentially save us $900+; so need to research that this coming week.

The new house is great and we have been in it now for nearly 8 months now.  Done some bits and bobs so need to catch you all up with that.  Our next job is to complete the basement.  I will take you through that in another post.  Need to save the money up for that job, but some things we can do a bit at a time.  

The grandchildren are all growing like weeds.  The eldest and the youngest are in India at the moment and will be there until the end of March.  Our little guy is coming up 5 months old.  Our Princess is now 25 months old and our little Munchkin is coming up 15 months old.

Here is a photo of her with her new tutu and her gold glitter Peppa Pig wellies on:

As isn't that what every fashionable 15 month old is wearing nowadays?  Yes she is growing and into everything.  She is very tall for her age and wearing 18 month old pants, but is right on age for the size of her body.  She is forever sick due to starting daycare, but that's normal.  Though she can now blow her own nose; sort of!!  Not talking much at all, but makes up for it verbally; and yes she can have a hissy fit when she wants.  Of course she is the apple of her Nana's and Granddad's eye.

Here is what I spent and saved this week grocery shopping:

Grocery shopping February 1st 2015 Exchange rate $1.80 CDN per 1 British Pound

Zehrs:
12 double rolls toilet paper: $3.99
Raspberry Jam: $3.49
3 x Granola Bars @ $1.99 each
1 x Quaker Chocolate & Banana Cookies: $2.49
1 x Lysol Wipes: $1.88
1 x Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner: $1.88
1 x package veggie rotini pasta: 99 cents
1 x canned tomatoes: 79 cents
1 x package crisps: $1.25
1 x Mini Wheats cereal: $2.88
1 x Peanut Butter cookies: $1.99
1 x 4 litre milk: $3.97
2 x Pizza @ $2.88 each: $5.76
1 x Jumbo Bag frozen French fries: $3.99
1 x breaded chicken fingers $3.88
1 x Breaded chicken burgers: $4.88
2 x loaf whole wheat bread @ $2.00 each: $4.00
2 x Old Spice Deodorant for dh @ $1.99 each: $3.98
1 x Gillette Shaving Gel for dh: $1.99
2 x Hairspray for me @ $1.99 each: $3.98

Coupons used $12.49
13% tax on certain items: $3.24

Total: $54.78

$50 worth of points cashed in.

Total paid: $4.78

Wal-Mart (same as Asda)

10 lb potatoes (Yukon Gold yellow flesh) $3.67
3 pk Romaine Lettuce Hearts: $4.97
English Cucumber: $1.67
1 red pepper: $1.47
3 Roma Tomatoes: 97 cents
Lysol wipes: $1.97
Dove Deodorant for me: $2.97
Frozen Garlic Bread slices: $2.97
4 x Lipton Side Kicks rice @ 94 cents each: $3.76
VH Pineapple sauce (for sweet and sour chicken or pork) $2.00
24 pack cheese triangles: $7.47 (for dh's lunches)
1 dozen eggs: $1.99

13 % tax on some items: 64 cents

Total: $36.52

Total spent to date: $41.30 (approx. 22.94 British Pounds)
Savings to date: $62.49 (approx. 34.72 British Pounds)
Best deal this week: two loaves of bread and a jar of jam after $4 and $1 coupon = $2.49 for all three.

Pleased with this weeks purchases, as I got a bit of everything including cleaning products, personal hygiene items, and all food groups.

Black Gold and lots of photos........

I dug and prepared this garden on Saturday afternoon.  It's in a sheltered place by the patio door, and I am going to plant my peppers and tomatoes there.

It was free black gold day on Saturday.  Black gold being compost.

I went first thing in the morning and filled the two recycling boxes.  Then when dh came home we went and again and there was still a pile of compost left, so we got the pile below.  It was 3:30pm by this time, so we knew that most people who wanted it, would have got it by now.

I took the rest of these photos on Friday.  This one is taken from the bottom of the field.

This is looking over at the field, where the Black Angus cows are.

Further up the field looking towards the front of the house.

Looking at the front of the house.  Those are the blackcurrant bushes in front of the house.

Dh put up the clock for me outside.  It looks good doesn't it?

Burnout?

I knew it would happen and it all finally caught up with me on Wednesday.  I woke up with a headache, bad sign.  Plus my heels on my feet are just killing me; that started last Thursday night after being on my feet for three hours straight.


Anyhow, I decided I had better go to the doctors and see him about my feet.  I got an appointment for 3:10pm, and decided to potter around the house, doing some odds and ends.  Then after my 10 o'clock tea break, I figured I would cut some more of the lawn.  Got back in by 11:30am, and my poor head was pounding.  So I did some more tidying up, then decided that the 45 minute drive to and from the doctor's, plus the hour sitting in his office (as he's always an hour behind) with my head pounding wasn't a good thing.  So I cancelled that appointment.


Meanwhile the phone rang and it was the local town's health centre.  I had put our name on the waiting list for a doctor closer to where we lived.  Did we have a doctor, yes we do, so back on the list we went.  They were only taking patients with no family doctor.  However, when I put our name on the list in April we were five hundred and something, now we are three hundred and something, so we are moving up the list quite fast.


Anyhow, after I had something to eat I went to bed for an hour or so to try and sleep off the headache.  By 4pm we had a major thunderstorm pass through, which cleared the air a bit, thank goodness.  Luckily I had brought in my laundry from the line, and got it ironed when I got up.


Oh and I had a groan/flipping heck moment after lunch.  I am a taste tester for a company and today the courier brought me two packets of these new ice cream bars, covered in chocolate.  All I could think of, is I have a blasted headache, I shouldn't be eating chocolate!!

I managed to hold off from trying one until after supper.  I had one of the white chocolate ones, and it tasted like Milky Bar chocolate, so it got a big thumbs up for me!!  I can't tell you anymore as I am not allowed to disclose any information.


So all in all Wednesday wasn't as productive as I would have liked.


We pass this house on the way to one of the towns.  I have long admired it, I love the look of it; and now it has come up for sale.  Don't worry we're not moving, at the price they are putting it up for, I could probably only afford the garage!!  It's still a lovely house though.........

Bit of history about the house, and other stuff.

I went to visit the archives at our local museum on Tuesday afternoon to see if I could find anything out about the house. It was pretty interesting. I have always said our house was built in 1907, however I discovered it was built in 1911.

Here is the story. On March 4th, 1846 the Crown "gave" 100 acres to a John Robinson. Why I say "gave" as the records don't show any money exchanging hands, but there was a Patent fee. Patent fees were around 5 shillings per acre, like a tax. So John Robinson may have paid 25 Pounds in Patent fees, although there is no record of that. British curency was in use until around 1858, see this link

In 1854 it was sold to William Robinson, then passed on to his son John Robinson in 1896, and in turn to his son Harold in 1929.

In 1907 the barn was burned when struck by lightening and was rebuilt.

In 1911 they built the stone house, the one which we live in, and vacated the small log house where all the Robinson family were born.

In February of 1954 the farm was purchased from Harold Robinson, by his daughter and son-in-law. They already owned a farm a few hundred yards down the road from our house.

In December of 1953, they severed the house and 5 acres from the 100 acres and sold it to A. Perry.

Now that is as far as I have got, as I now need to go to the Land Registry Office to find out what's what . I may go down there next week. Interesting eh?

I can't wait to start on the Genealogy, but that's having to wait until we get the new Internet on November 11th.

I went to have a pedicure also on Tuesday morning. I had one Herbal Essences coupon left for a free pedicure, and as it expired on October 31st, I figured I may as well use it. So now I have blood red toe nails. As usual I got a lecture about how I must put cream on the bottom of my feet as they are like sandpaper!! She had to get the razor blade out to cut off the icky skin on the bottom of my feet.

I just pray and hope I didn't block the septic system up on Tuesday morning, as I also shaved my legs, figured I better had as they were a tad on the hairy side, not long enough to braid, but still long, and as I had to expose the bottom of my legs when I get a pedicure, I thought I should make an effort. I don't class it a priority shaving my legs!! Poor Linda has just keeled over at this point. Linda is the lady I worked with, who takes great pride in her appearance.

Outside the salon was parked a Bentley car, very fancy dancy. It turns out a doctor (male) owned it, and he was in for his regular $150 anti aging facial!!!! Must be nice to be able to spend $150 on a facial, don't you think?

One of the big news stories in our area is about a healthy 13 year old dying of swine flu, see here I never get the regular flu shot, and don't honestly see me getting the H1N1 shot despite this happening. How about you?

Cold, wet and foggy.....

you would think I was talking about being in Britain. However, I am talking about Southern Ontario, and Dufferin County which is where we live. It was a real "pea souper" on Friday, and I for one am not used to damp wet foggy weather anymore. It gets into your bones and its no fun. We also had some wet snow in amongst it all, but it melted on contact and was only a few flakes. It was one of those days when you want to put the fire on and hibernate in front of it, with a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

I picked up a couple more books that I had ordered from the library. I am a big fan of Catherine Cookson, and it's well known she was illegitimate. Kathleen Jones, has written a book called, "Seeking Catherine Cookson's Da ." I am looking forward to reading this, as my mother recommended it to me.

The second book I got is "Made From Scratch, Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life," by Jenna Woginrich. It's another one that I am looking forward to reading.

It was really cold upstairs in the house on Friday, so have to say I am glad we are starting on the insulation, as dh is finding it really cold. He feels the cold more than I do. We have closed off all the heating vents in the family room and kitchen in the hopes it pumps more heat upstairs, not sure if it will work we'll have to see.

Have a good weekend, and I will be posting photos of the attic on Sunday.

It's a miracle......

We have a built in dishwasher in this house, infact it's a Kenmore, just like the one I had at the other house. However I have been frightened to use it, as if it is like everything else in this house, there would be a problem with it. I was frightened I would flood the place, or blow a fuse etc.

Anyhow, yesterday was my dad's birthday, Happy Birthday Dad. So my dad and step-mum came over for supper. Of course my dad can't sit still for a minute, so he went upstairs into the attic with dh to do a few more little jobs, while me and step-mum went shopping!!

I made pasta sauce and pasta for supper with lemon meringue pie for afters, which is quite funny, as they are my step-mum's favourites, and dad isn't that keen on them!! Not sure what I was thinking when I planned all this out...LOL

When people come for dinner, other than the kids, I won't let any one tidy up after the meal. So when they went I decided to use the dishwasher, as dh was around and I figured if there was a problem he would be there to help out. Anyway, ran the dishwasher and there was no problem, other than it didn't clean the dishes properly as we don't have the same water pressure as we did in the city, and I never rinsed the dishes.

I was so happy that I didn't flood the place and something actually worked in this house..........IT'S A MIRACLE!!!

By the way this is for Liz, "The Backyard Homestead," by Carleen Madigan is worthwhile buying. I have already learned a couple of things from the book, and will be buying it myself, to have on hand all the time. The only negative thing I have to say about the book is it all about the States, however I just refer to the Gardening Zone, and I am gardening zone 5a.

Hot and Humid..

It's been awfully hot and humid these past couple of days. That is two "H" words I dislike.........HOT and HUMID. The humidity just wears you down and although I don't mind a little bit of hot weather, this is too much for me. I prefer the cool Fall/Autumn days, and those cool nights. Thankfully dh installed a ceiling fan in our bedroom, so that has helped a lot.

I survived my first day at work. It's funny it's been over a year since I have worked there, but I managed to pick things up without too many problems. Did have an issue with the credit card machine, but the customer knew what was what and walked me through it...LOL

The commute was a heck of a lot better than I thought it would be, only 55 minutes, and the way I went, for the first two thirds of it, through some really beautiful countryside. There are a lot of horse farms in one area, and there are some lovely properties on them........if only I had that type of money!!! For the last third of the journey, city driving with city properties, and city driving {{{{SIGH}}}}

We had some nasty thunderstorms on Sunday and early Monday morning, which resulted in more leaks in the roof {{{{{another big SIGH}}}}} So on the phone to "K" and he will get the roofing guy to pop over and take a look, so no doubt MORE MONEY {{{{{{and an even bigger SIGH}}}}}}

Molly was good, no accidents, and she was very pleased to see us both when we came home. Dh got home before me, as I called in at Shopper's Drug Mart on the way home, to spend my $25 for the referral event. I also treated myself to a bar of Cadburys mint chocolate, I love the combination of mint and chocoloate, also orange and chocolate. It has to be milk chocolate though, no dark chocolate for me, it gives me migraines.

Must say though as I am writing this on Monday night I'm tired, I'm sure its the heat; not the fact that I worked today ;0)

Would anyone like to buy a slightly used 1907 Farmhouse with 4.8 Acres?

I know what you're saying, NOW WHAT!!!

Well, got back in from shopping this morning and managed not to get run off the roads, and was washing the downstairs bathroom floor, and discovered water on the floor; looked up and discovered water dripping through the ceiling {{{SIGH}}}

So to cut a long sad story short, the toilet is leaking. The toilet flange wasn't glued properly to something or other.........I am not a plumber so no idea of the technical terms!!! We discovered this after taking the ceiling apart (see photo)

So fingers crossed its an easy fix. Though knowing our luck it won't be. Luckily I had purchased a couple of new toilets earlier in July, so while we have this all apart we may as well put one of the new toilets in. It's just that we hadn't planned on doing this job this weekend. We had the whole weekend planned. We were taking all the old insulation to the dump on Saturday morning, and then working on the roof in the afternoon.

Sunday we have my dad and step mum coming over, and we want to do so work in the garden. Then on Monday dh wants to do some electrical work.

Really we don't want to sell the house, but there are moments when something else happens, you just want to pack it all in and say that's it!!!

Can you hear me sighing and winding down........

You know I love to go on vacation but I do love being in my own bed and being in my own home.

We had a busy day around the house, putting things away and tidying up. I managed to make a big dent in the laundry, and it was a lovely day to dry things outside.........I did wash when we were away, but only during our first week away.

Dh managed to get the sprinklers blown out and all closed up for the winter. He also took down the drapes on the gazebo and put them away for the winter.

Luckily dh has this week off of work as well, so he can relax and hopefully get better this week. I need to tackle the garden as it is looking pretty overgrown. We had dd and her boyfriend come over last weekend to cut the grass when we were away, so that was a help.

I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things with my blog again, as I seem to be all over the place with that as well.

I wanted to add some more photo's from our vacation. I must admit to miss hearing the waves in the morning when I open the patio doors....



and seeing those Spanish Moss covered trees.....



Now to plan where to go next year!!! Also thank you for coming along with me on vacation this year.

Oh and for a little laugh, actually I was in tears laughing at this, click on this link Let me know if you find it funny.........

Home Alarm Systems.........

do you have one? If so why did you get it?

We got ours installed back in February 2006, when we had an attempted break-in. It was something and nothing, but it could have been a lot worse. I was in the house and I happened to be in the living room, and I saw a couple of high school kids walking up the road, they were in uniform, so I knew they were from the local Catholic High School. Never thought much about it, as I figured they were on an early lunch, as they have staggered lunches starting from 9:30am. Next thing I know the door bell rang, and I answer it and its one of the kids looking for another kid. Now this kids name was not a kids name that would live in this house, so I said no and didn't think much more about it.

Later on, I was clearing the driveway's of snow and a police car was going by the houses really slow, so being the nosy person that I am, I wandered over the the police car to see what's up and then the policeman tells me there had been a break-in around the corner and he was just checking to see if there were anymore houses that the doors had been kicked in??? So I am chit-chatting to this police man, and to cut a long story short, I "identified" the kids that had come to my door that morning and they were the ones.

What they do is they ring the door bell, if no one answers they kick down the down and quickly take small electronics, booze and cash. They're in and out in no time. Luckily for me I answered the door. I dread to think what would have happened if I had been in the shower.......there would be a middle-aged naked woman screaming blue bloody murder (excuse my language). They were later charged with I think 50 break-ins, and they live in the area????

So needless to say I insisted on getting an alarm system installed.

We got the ADT system and have been pretty pleased with it. However I must say although I was totally terrified of the whole system, I have got it all down pat. Though last week when I was sick I did set it off. I went to bed through the day so put the alarm on. Got up, and was picking up a message on the answering machine, when I decided to open the patio doors. Forgot I had the alarm on and set it off. So I have to say I was happy to see that it works.

Fast forward to Wednesday night. Dh's pager went off at midnight, so he goes down stairs to call the answering service. In between hands, dd pops by the drop something off in our mail box, on her way home. Sees the light's on and wonders what is wrong as we are never up that late. Lets herself into the house and the alarm goes off.........however it doesn't actually go off it goes beep, beep, beep. So dd turns the alarm off and all is good.

By now I am awake and wander downstairs to see what's what and both me and dh are puzzled why the alarm itself didn't go off. It turns out there is a 60 second delay when its on and when you come in the front door or the garage door. I rang ADT and they told me that. Now I am not sure if I am 100% happy with this situation, as anyone could get in, and they could be out in 60 seconds, and we wouldn't hear a thing until the main alarm goes off??? As once I am asleep I am out for a count, and despite dh telling me he never sleeps (I am rolling my eyes) he also sleeps soundly. Mainly I think because of the alarm.

So what I am asking really is that how your alarm system works?

Our house is my pride and joy........

the way it looks reflects on me. I was made to clean house from an early age. I had two younger brothers and my mam always worked part time here and there, so I had to help out. Plus I went to stay at my nana's a lot, and she made me do jobs, as she had a part time job, plus she ran a Bed and Breakfast.

I have to admit, I have let my cleaning standards slip over the years, but growing up and when we lived in England we did certain jobs on certain days. I always remember Tuesdays being the day when you cleaned upstairs. When I say cleaned upstairs I mean change the beds, hoover and dust right through. That included taking a small hand brush and brushing down all the skirting boards/base boards. I don't think we cleaned the windows every week, but every other week.

We all did a spring and back end cleaning, where in the Spring we put up the Summer curtains, and then in the Fall we put up the winter curtains. All the walls were washed down, as was all the woodwork, the baseboards and the doors etc.

I'll tell you now I don't remember the last time I did a Spring clean. I wash the drapes when they need washing. I don't have summer and winter drapes, mine are year round ones. I do still use a duster and pledge furniture polish, but use those swiffer dusters as well.

I have not been as thorough with my window cleaning as I was, especially on the outside windows, as we have had so much rain this past month, so I know I was wasting my time. Cleaning the outside windows is such a pain, as I can't reach them other than using a huge ladder. I do have that outside Windex, that you attach to the hose, but find that it leaves the windows spotty.

We never had big gardens when we were growing up, so I never really got into gardening until we had our own house. We do though like a nicely cut lawn, so I guess that is the British in us. We have a lot of problems with our lawn, but slowly and surely we are tackling each problem.

Dh was saying the other day, our house is our biggest investment, and if we don't look after it, we may as well be throwing money down the drain.

Our house is also my oasis. Its where I relax, where I feel safe, where I feel warm.

So the house may not be perfect but its comfortable and its ours...........