Giving to others and money........

Got a letter in the mail this week from the church.  Why they had to mail it I do not know, as the vicar probably goes past our house a couple days a week..........OR he could have given me it this week when I attend church.  Anyhow there was a newsletter that was pretty long winded and didn't make too much sense to me.  A "fancy" envelope for the Thanksgiving service...........I am guessing they want you to give more during that service???  I give the same small amount every week, it's what I am comfortable giving, and I know it won't be as much as a lot of people, but it's better than nothing.

Also there was mention that they are collecting for the local women's and children's shelter.  So when I went grocery shopping on Friday I picked up a few boxes of pasta and some toiletries (shampoo, conditioner, soap and toothpaste) to put in the collection box.  I'll pick up some more things next week when I go shopping again.

Is it something you do, give to shelters etc?   I feel I should volunteer my time somewhere as well, but can't figure out where the best place to volunteer would be.  I have been asked to volunteer at the local museum, but as yet haven't commited to anything.

Next week we're going to meet with a financial planner to go over where we are at, and where we are going money wise.  We have always basically done our own financial planning, but decided we should maybe get a professionals point of view.  We're under no obligation to do anything, so thought why not take advantage of the service.

Money with a bit of a whine now..............our bank requires us to keep $3,000 in our chequing account, so that we don't pay service charges of $12.95 per month.  Isn't that a rip off?    If we only kept $2,000 in there we would only get 25 transactions a month free.  If we kept $1,000 in it, we would only get 10 transactions a month free.  I can't make $12.95 per month in interest anywhere else on that $3,000, so we have no choice but to keep that money in that account.  I need to research other banks with the view of moving our accounts to another bank.

What's stopping us moving everything at the moment, is the work involved, changing our direct debits etc.  Still it's annoying how much money these banks are making every year.

Busy day on Saturday as the kids are coming over and we are going to do some jobs around the house.

General chit chat...........

It poured down all day on Thursday, so it was just as well dh got all the gutters and downspouts sorted out, so no more leaking and clogged gutters.

We went out for the day to a mall, Vaughan Mills Mall.    Only ever been there once, and to be honest won't be rushing back to the place.  Most of the stores had very loud music playing in them, so that means they are not stores we are rushing into!!  I am also wary of stores that only have half a dozen items of clothing hanging on the rails.......you know you would be paying through the nose for anything in that type of store.

We went into Bass Pro Shop not a store to my liking.  I couldn't get over the Camouflage Furniture, again not my cup of tea.

It's gone cool, very Fall like.   We have managed to hold off putting on the heating and haven't put the fire on yet. 

I am finishing off this post on Friday morning.  I have chronic toothache AGAIN.  Obviously whatever he put on my tooth has worn off so now I am feeling the full effects of it all.  So I am going to pop some Advil Gel Caps to see if that dulls the pain.  I can see it being a long week!!!

All I can say is that this must be punishment for something bad I have done?

The good, the bad and the ugly..........

The Good:

Do you like my new kettle? I got it for free, even better eh!!!  I ordered it from Amaazon, and paid with it using my Amazon gift cards, I get through Swagbucks.  That is a $100 (with taxes) kettle that I didn't pay a penny for.  So if that doesn't persuade you to join Swagbucks nothing will.  Here is a link for more detail on the kettle and here is a link for you to join Swagbucks.

The Bad:

So as everyone now knows as I have whined continually about it, I had to have a root canal on Wednesday.  Well I had three quarters of a root canal, not a full root canal, oh no, I have to go back next Wednesday to get it finished.  Why, well it's something to do with one of the nerves in my tooth and the infection and it wouldn't stop bleeding, or something like that.  So he's packed it with medication and a temporary filling, and back I go next week.

He did say I was a great patient, although he didn't give me a gold star for being a good girl.  I must say it wasn't as bad as having that first tooth pulled, now that really did hurt.  So back I will go again for another session on the chair, though he did say it would only take 20 minutes this time instead of the hour I was sat there yesterday.

The Ugly:

Well we all know what's that's going to be..........actually it should be ugly and stinky........yep the honey wagon arrived.  Well he pulled the lid up on the septic tank it was full.  We were told that the septic tank had been pumped in 2007, but of course they couldn't produce a receipt.    The septic guy said it hadn't been pumped out in a number of years, so once again the people we bought the house gave us false information!!  Shouldn't be surprised by that now, it's par for the course when it has something to do with them.  Anyhow, the guy told us to have it cleaned out every five years, so we'll do that.  He also gave us a pamphlet explaining how everything works in a septic system, so I need to read that.

Change of plans.........

It was a lovely day on Tuesday, so I called the septic tank guy and asked him if he could come by on Wednesday instead. He said fine, so off we went.  We actually went to Orillia to have a look around and have lunch out.  We had lunch at Zats Restaurant on the main street and it was really good and well priced, for anyone ever going to Orillia.

This was a sign in a store.............wonder what happened?

I have been looking for a stained glass Welcome sign and found one at the Olde Stanton Store.  Although this is on the dining room window, I am actually hanging it in the window in the mud room beside the back door.  We all use the back door rather than the front door.

I picked up these Jim Shore Santa's at Apple Annie's in Orillia.  I love his stuff and thought they were so appropriate for our family as one is the Canadian Santa and one is the British Santa.   Here is a link to the Jim Shore site where you can see more of them.

We took the scenic way home and followed a couple of school buses for a few kilometres. 

They only stopped the once, and then turned off.  It was carrying high school kids, so they are quicker to get off the bus.  The lights were flashing, and there is a stop sign that sticks out of the side when it stops, and traffic has to stop both ways while the lights are on.......info for people not in the States or Canada.

If you click on this photo, you will see the huge watering machine thingy that they use to water the crops.

I just love the sky in this photo, the clouds seem to go on forever.

No idea how this barn is still standing as it has more holes in it than enough!!!

Most of the photos were taken from the car........

Wednesday will be a busy day with having the septic tank pumped and me having that root canal done.  Must say I will be glad when that's done as my tooth is still painful.

The honey wagon is coming to visit today......

What's a honey wagon you ask............it's the truck who comes and pumps out the septic system.  Because we have had nothing but trouble with this house, we decided to have the septic checked out.  First of all though, dh had to find the lid for the septic tank.  To find that he had to dig down 3 feet in one of the flower gardens.  I thought he was digging to China!  We have no idea if or where there is another access lid.

We had guests for lunch on Monday, so I made quiche, baked potatoes and salad.

Although we had cheesecake and fresh fruit for dessert, I also made some butterfly buns.

I also made a loaf of bread in the breadmaker, it's been a while since I had used it.

Pleased to say there was plenty leftover for supper, so easy to put together.

More photos.......and other things.........

Bought three garden mums on Saturday.  There are lots of flower heads on them, but they are not out yet; I got one in a cream, one in a light rust and one in a darker rust.  I also picked some pumpkins from the garden, plus that huge orange squash, I think it is a Boston Marrow Squash.  No idea what I am going to do with it, and I have one butternut squash ready.  Overall quite an attractive fall display don't you think?

I thought I had picked all the ripe tomatoes last week, but I see I have a lot more that need to be dealt with!

Here is a photo of the plants I picked up on Saturday.  They include a couple of Rose of Sharon shrubs, one white and one lilac.  I picked up a Holly bush which is both male and female, as you do need both the get the red berries.  There are also a couple Rose Mallow plants, one in white and one in red.  The small lilac plant at the front is a Penstemon, I have never had one of these plants before.

A bit of good news we have sold out the first batch of the recipe books, and people are still wanting them.  I finally got a cheque signed so I can now pay for the first batch.  I am playing telephone tag with the vicar but when I finally catch up with him, we can figure out what the next plan of action is.  I want to order another 200 copies, but it's not my money, so we will have to see what/if anything is planned over the next few months, like fundraising dinners, where I can sell the books.

The key is to try and sell as many before Christmas to encourage people to buy them as Christmas gifts.  I am not 100% sure if I want to get too involved in doing all the fundraising for the church, but left to the regular parishioners nothing much will get done.

We had a day around the house on Sunday.  Dh got a couple little jobs done around the house.  We are going to get the septic system looked at and cleaned out.  So one job we do have to do is locate the lid to the tank.  We have a vague idea where it is; we were told it was in the middle of one of the flower gardens.  So I cleaned it out of the annuals, and dh made a start on digging the hole.  He is now two feet down and still no sign of the top.  He'll work on it a bit more on Monday, as it could be as far as four feet down!

Put dh's blanket on his side of the bed, so it is officially the cold season now, as per dh!  He did well this year by not having his blanket on for three months of the year.  I refuse point blank to hunt out the flannel sheets yet, maybe next month.  I am also hoping to not put the heating on for another month, however I doubt that will happen.  I did check on the level of oil in the tank and it was above three quarters full.  We had it topped up at the end of June, so fingers crossed we can go through to November before getting it filled.

It's funny how only a week or two ago we were absolutely sweltering and now I am talking about putting the heating on.  Fall is upon us now.

Dh now starts his last week of vacation.  The first two weeks have just flown by, hopefully this week won't

Today's Flowers

All the Fall displays are in the stores now, along with some Christmas ones.  Here are a couple of Fall displays that feature Sunflowers, the quintessential Fall flower.

This was a display outside of the garden centre which has some Fall Sedum in it.

For more Today's Flower photos, please click on this link