If you're wondering how come I am writing this post before noon on May 1st, and not on the weekend, it's because I took the day off from both my jobs. March and April have been a two month-long orgy of work, work, and more work, and I knew this going into these months, so I planned a day off to reward myself, and I am taking it. I'm going to work tomorrow, which was unplanned: this was supposed to be a long weekend off but circumstances beyond my control threw a serious monkey wrench into that part of the plan. However, that is no reason not to enjoy today, so here I am.
I started the day off a little early: last night I ate about half the pint of Haagen Dazs ice-cream I had been saving for this day. It made for a great dinner, if I do say so myself. Today's meals will consist largely of the rest of that ice-cream, and chips and salsa of the Tostitos brand, but only the "Medium" salsa and not the "Hot" one because after nearly three years of scouring every place in E.L. that has food for sale to the public, I have come to the conclusion that either none of the stores stock it because no-one buys it, or everyone buys it so there never is any when I look. My money is on the first alternative. I've eaten about a third of the jar by now, and have a somewhat interesting tingle on the sides of my tongue, but that's about the extent of the "spicy" factor in a "Medium". Oh, well.
Looking at my day book, I would say April went well, indeed. I wrote 7 goals and 2 notes, and, of the 9 items, 8 were actionable in April. The ninth item requires some budget adjustments starting in May, so it will be carried forward to this month.
I planned to save for the April weeks from the 52 Week Money Challenge ($15+$16+$17+18=$66) by setting aside $22 from 3 each of the weekly paycheques from my seasonal position, and did exactly that. If you're wondering why I didn't save each week's amount from a cheque in each week, it's because I wanted to have this particular item accomplished well before the end of the month.
Three other goals for this month were also financial, namely, to keep paying down the balance of one of our two low limit credit cards, to pay both off once I received my income tax refund for 2014, and then to snowball the payments I made monthly on the lower limit cards to the card with the next higher limit (multiple credit cards is the bane of the modern North American's financial existence, if you ask me!). My return was duly assessed, Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) agreed with my figures, and refunded the excess income tax deducted. Both smaller cards now have a nil balance, and I have quite the sense of accomplishment in keeping both at nil. I was able to make a second payment on the next-higher limit card in April, and the plan for May is to put a little from each pay towards it.
One goal and two of the notes involved writing: I wanted to write my April blog post over the Easter weekend, which I did, and the second goal and note involved reading then writing "take-away" points from a book I borrowed from the Library at Job #1. Since last year, I have been reading through the Self Development and Personal Awareness list compiled by that library, and each time I borrow a book on the list I try to write a summary of what I read that really resonated with me. April's book was "Smart Women Finish Rich" by David Bach, which was so popular I had to wait 3 weeks on a waiting list before I could take a turn reading it.
I would recommend the book as reading material for any woman, no matter where she is in life financially. It is solidly grounded in the reality women face in dealing with finances, and written on the premise that any woman can hold the reins of her financial life and do just fine at it with some guidance under her belt. Bonus: the book was originally written with American women in mind, but the version I read was specifically targeted to Canadian women, and contained some eye-opening facts and information about my financial future as a female Canadian resident.
My carried forward goal actually relates to something I learned from reading "Smart Women Finish Rich", which was to figure out where you stand financially and where you want to go (Chapter 3). After doing my figuring, I decided to "max out" my Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) contribution room for Job #1, and after doing the calculations demonstrated by the book, I realised I was only contributing about half of what I need to in order to make that a reality. (RRSP contribution room is set by the CRA, currently the figure is 18% of earned income for the previous year, up to a set maximum limit of $23,820.) In composing my Goals & Notes for May, I now need to state my plan for making it happen, and get it done.
One goal was related to G's business, namely, doing the bookkeeping for January through March of this year. In 2014, I tried to do the bookkeeping on a monthly basis as much as possible, chiefly because I had to the bookkeeping for all of his first year (8 months in 2013) in four or five days in a rush to get his information ready for having our taxes done. I would learn later on from our tax preparer that had I not done the bookkeeping myself, his fee would have been considerably higher than the sum I paid. This year I fell behind because I have been working every weekend since mid-February, but with winter 2014/15 as slow as it was for him, I was able to do the first quarter over the course of a day in April. Hopefully, I can go back to the two hours or so each month now that my weekends are soon to be mine again.
To wrap up April on a high note, my seasonal employer has asked me to continue on throughout the summer on an ad hoc basis, whereby she will turn over to me some of the work she usually does herself in that business, so she can focus on another that she co-owns. I will not have as many hours as I did from January to April, but even a smaller income stream is better than no extra income at all. I will have access to additional training resources and information, which means I can also upgrade my skills to be of even more worth when the next season rolls around. I am very excited about this opportunity, and need to do some forward planning to make sure I take full advantage and give the best possible service.
It's a beautiful day out there, I think I have rambled enough for today. It's time to get some air and sunshine!
Friday, May 1, 2015
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Changes, challenges, and choices
Just like that, March is gone, and the first quarter of 2015 is over. Looking back, I'd like to say it was successful, this first quarter of another year.
According to my Day Book, I made it to my goal of 90 days straight meditating with Headspace. I'm really happy, and very pleased with myself for sticking to this particular goal. Meditation is a real challenge for me, I have quite the "monkey mind" going on, and can mentally leap and veer from issue to issue with seeming abandon. Sitting still and observing this behaviour, without judging and with gentle compassion, is very hard for me.
For the last 30 days of my 90 day count, I worked on Headspace's "Focus" pack (a pack is a meditation series designed to guide you through a particular mental challenge), and I came to the conclusion that I will need to repeat this pack several times before I will feel like I am comfortable with the techniques. Although I find visualisation one of the easier techniques, my vivid imagination also proved to be my downfall. I spent quite a bit of time bringing myself back to the visualisation that is part of the meditation from the tangents that I suddenly found myself wandering off on.
March was the second month in a row I chose not to spend unless I was using cash or debit, i.e. no credit card purchases. I came to the realisation that it is quite useless to try to pay off a credit card while adding charges to the balance (the bank is doing so without my assistance!) , so I stuck to my decision to get off that particular treadmill.
Having to stare at my bank balance or rummage in my purse before every purchase made the decision to spend money that much less automatic and forced me to be more aware of what I was doing with my money, and it is working. I am coming to like seeing my money sitting in my bank account, or resting in my purse, as opposed to vanishing into the ether to pay another credit card bill, or into someone else's till. I have kept up with the 52-weeks savings plan to week 14, another March goal. I aim to continue this theme into April, and will make some changes once I apply my tax refund to additional debt repayment.
It is most definitely spring, the snow is receding. The sun's warmth is actually felt, it is not just bright on sunny days. G has plans to begin raking the lawn and garden, and has started raking the backyard so that the accumulated leaves and other debris that got buried in the winter snow can be gathered easily as the backyard dries out. There is still slush and ice in the backyard where the shadow of the house covers it, but if the weather continues the warming trend, that should also pass by the end of this month.
It will soon be time to put away my sweaters and pull out my not-winter wear. To make life easier for myself this year, I have decided on a "uniform" for work, to minimise time wasted in contemplating/worrying/choosing what to wear. After reading the same exhortation on several minimalist living websites, I have decided that a "uniform" is not a bad thing. Several public figures, including President Obama, the late Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO) are all pointed to as examples of this, as they are all known to wear more or less the same type/colour of clothing daily.
On the one hand, it is certainly easier for men to do this, but on the other hand, I am from a country where working people are used to wearing uniforms and I never had anything against the practice. I found it convenient not to have worry about what I would wear to work, as there was no choice: most of my employers provided uniforms, and I wore them. Certainly, it was cheaper: uniforms were either a deductible expense to the employer or a taxable benefit to employees, but it meant that the clothing I wore for most of the day was not an out-of-pocket expense.
Since coming to Canada, most of my spending (including many of the charges to said credit card I am now paying off) has been on clothing. Quite often the first thing I asked myself before buying something was: "Can I wear this to work?" and if the answer was no, I was always conscious of a very tangible sense of guilt at spending money on something that wouldn't get worn very often. Last year, I tried to buy spring and summer shirts that could be worn either for work or during leisure time, but found that I was still buying too much, as I am more often at work than anywhere else. Indeed, whenever I am out and about, it is either work-related or just after work so I am wearing my work clothes.
To that end, I chose a "uniform" outfit from what I am most comfortable presenting myself in for work: long-sleeved Oxford shirts and dress pants or skirt. Long-sleeved, because I work in air-conditioned surroundings in (largely) sedentary jobs and find that I feel cold quite easily. 23* Celsius, the normal temperature of the buildings I work in, is just a tad on the cool side for me if I am not moving around. Having made the choice to stick with wearing this uniform outfit, all I need do now is ensure that the clothes are washed and ironed each week. (Yes, I still iron my clothes. I have not adopted the Canadian habit of using the dryer or relying on "wrinkle-free" material.)
G and the pups are napping yet again, so I think I will do some reading while I have the peace and quiet. Today, I finished reading "Smart Women Finish Rich" by David Bach (the Canadian version), and wrote some take-away points that I hope to include in my financial planning over the rest of this year. I am going to take up again reading "The Simple Living Guide" by Janet Luhrs, which I bought for a toonie ($2, coin) at the last library sale. I had to pause reading Simple Living Guide as I had Smart Women for two weeks only from the library at work, as it is very popular and I had to wait to get my turn to read it and want to ensure I have it back in time for the next person.
Until next time, enjoy these photos of the pups:
According to my Day Book, I made it to my goal of 90 days straight meditating with Headspace. I'm really happy, and very pleased with myself for sticking to this particular goal. Meditation is a real challenge for me, I have quite the "monkey mind" going on, and can mentally leap and veer from issue to issue with seeming abandon. Sitting still and observing this behaviour, without judging and with gentle compassion, is very hard for me.
For the last 30 days of my 90 day count, I worked on Headspace's "Focus" pack (a pack is a meditation series designed to guide you through a particular mental challenge), and I came to the conclusion that I will need to repeat this pack several times before I will feel like I am comfortable with the techniques. Although I find visualisation one of the easier techniques, my vivid imagination also proved to be my downfall. I spent quite a bit of time bringing myself back to the visualisation that is part of the meditation from the tangents that I suddenly found myself wandering off on.
March was the second month in a row I chose not to spend unless I was using cash or debit, i.e. no credit card purchases. I came to the realisation that it is quite useless to try to pay off a credit card while adding charges to the balance (the bank is doing so without my assistance!) , so I stuck to my decision to get off that particular treadmill.
Having to stare at my bank balance or rummage in my purse before every purchase made the decision to spend money that much less automatic and forced me to be more aware of what I was doing with my money, and it is working. I am coming to like seeing my money sitting in my bank account, or resting in my purse, as opposed to vanishing into the ether to pay another credit card bill, or into someone else's till. I have kept up with the 52-weeks savings plan to week 14, another March goal. I aim to continue this theme into April, and will make some changes once I apply my tax refund to additional debt repayment.
It is most definitely spring, the snow is receding. The sun's warmth is actually felt, it is not just bright on sunny days. G has plans to begin raking the lawn and garden, and has started raking the backyard so that the accumulated leaves and other debris that got buried in the winter snow can be gathered easily as the backyard dries out. There is still slush and ice in the backyard where the shadow of the house covers it, but if the weather continues the warming trend, that should also pass by the end of this month.
It will soon be time to put away my sweaters and pull out my not-winter wear. To make life easier for myself this year, I have decided on a "uniform" for work, to minimise time wasted in contemplating/worrying/choosing what to wear. After reading the same exhortation on several minimalist living websites, I have decided that a "uniform" is not a bad thing. Several public figures, including President Obama, the late Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook CEO) are all pointed to as examples of this, as they are all known to wear more or less the same type/colour of clothing daily.
On the one hand, it is certainly easier for men to do this, but on the other hand, I am from a country where working people are used to wearing uniforms and I never had anything against the practice. I found it convenient not to have worry about what I would wear to work, as there was no choice: most of my employers provided uniforms, and I wore them. Certainly, it was cheaper: uniforms were either a deductible expense to the employer or a taxable benefit to employees, but it meant that the clothing I wore for most of the day was not an out-of-pocket expense.
Since coming to Canada, most of my spending (including many of the charges to said credit card I am now paying off) has been on clothing. Quite often the first thing I asked myself before buying something was: "Can I wear this to work?" and if the answer was no, I was always conscious of a very tangible sense of guilt at spending money on something that wouldn't get worn very often. Last year, I tried to buy spring and summer shirts that could be worn either for work or during leisure time, but found that I was still buying too much, as I am more often at work than anywhere else. Indeed, whenever I am out and about, it is either work-related or just after work so I am wearing my work clothes.
To that end, I chose a "uniform" outfit from what I am most comfortable presenting myself in for work: long-sleeved Oxford shirts and dress pants or skirt. Long-sleeved, because I work in air-conditioned surroundings in (largely) sedentary jobs and find that I feel cold quite easily. 23* Celsius, the normal temperature of the buildings I work in, is just a tad on the cool side for me if I am not moving around. Having made the choice to stick with wearing this uniform outfit, all I need do now is ensure that the clothes are washed and ironed each week. (Yes, I still iron my clothes. I have not adopted the Canadian habit of using the dryer or relying on "wrinkle-free" material.)
G and the pups are napping yet again, so I think I will do some reading while I have the peace and quiet. Today, I finished reading "Smart Women Finish Rich" by David Bach (the Canadian version), and wrote some take-away points that I hope to include in my financial planning over the rest of this year. I am going to take up again reading "The Simple Living Guide" by Janet Luhrs, which I bought for a toonie ($2, coin) at the last library sale. I had to pause reading Simple Living Guide as I had Smart Women for two weeks only from the library at work, as it is very popular and I had to wait to get my turn to read it and want to ensure I have it back in time for the next person.
Until next time, enjoy these photos of the pups:
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| Nipper on the yoga mat |
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| Nipper and Ariea |
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| Ariea hogs the yoga mat too |
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| Sleepy buddies |
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| Spooning puppies! |
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Spring? Already?! (Also, the apps that keep my life organised)
I am late with this entry, but at the very least it's still March!
It would appear that spring is definitely going to happen sometime around the spring equinox (Friday March 20 this year)! Last week temperatures began to warm up, and the amount of melting that has happened in that week is simply amazing. Mind you, we have less snow this year, and the frost went deeper into the ground because there were very cold days as usual, but the snow has melted dramatically. In just a single day, we went from small, random patches in the backyard to large swathes being completely uncovered. Even the front lawn is giving up its snow cover quickly. While being undeniably glad to see it go, I'm also hoping it doesn't go too quickly, because flooding of basements is always a concern at this time of year.
Flipping the page back to my February Goals and Notes, I see that I did well on several of my goals for the month. Having hit a 30 day streak on the Headspace app, which I am using for my meditation and mindfulness training, I decided to go for the gusto and hit a 90 day run. I decided to mark off each day in 15 day increments in my monthly planning book, and it kept me in good stead all through February. February ended with me successfully two-thirds of the way to the 90 day mark. If it takes at least 84 days to successfully make something a habit, I am on my way to meditating daily.
February also featured financial goals, including:
It would appear that spring is definitely going to happen sometime around the spring equinox (Friday March 20 this year)! Last week temperatures began to warm up, and the amount of melting that has happened in that week is simply amazing. Mind you, we have less snow this year, and the frost went deeper into the ground because there were very cold days as usual, but the snow has melted dramatically. In just a single day, we went from small, random patches in the backyard to large swathes being completely uncovered. Even the front lawn is giving up its snow cover quickly. While being undeniably glad to see it go, I'm also hoping it doesn't go too quickly, because flooding of basements is always a concern at this time of year.
Flipping the page back to my February Goals and Notes, I see that I did well on several of my goals for the month. Having hit a 30 day streak on the Headspace app, which I am using for my meditation and mindfulness training, I decided to go for the gusto and hit a 90 day run. I decided to mark off each day in 15 day increments in my monthly planning book, and it kept me in good stead all through February. February ended with me successfully two-thirds of the way to the 90 day mark. If it takes at least 84 days to successfully make something a habit, I am on my way to meditating daily.
February also featured financial goals, including:
- limiting incidental spending to cash only,
- paying down the balance of one of our smaller credit cards while keeping the others current with just-above-minimum payments (the goal being to eliminate balances one at a time in this fashion),
- keeping my spending overview app Spendee up-to-date instead of waiting until weeks (or even months!) have gone by to look back at my income/outgoing comparison,
- setting aside some savings using the 52 Week Money Challenge (click this link for a .pdf template), and
- bringing my own lunch for work daily, rather than buying it.
Aside from still being lax about updating Spendee (I only got to it twice in February), I managed all the other goals.
I started a "gratitude practice" in February. This involves writing down three things from the past or current day that I feel grateful for. This has become a sort of preliminary to my meditation practice, to set the frame of mind for a period of mindfulness. At times I feel almost apologetic about the things I feel grateful for, they can seem so trivial, rather ordinary and mundane.
Gratitude for the fact that I have a less rigorous workout on Friday mornings has been a recurring theme. Lately, I have so little motivation to get up in the mornings (see last year's rant about daylight saving time) that knowing all I am required to do is twenty minutes of yoga and 3 sets of 5 reps of one-arm dumbbell rows is all that gets me out of bed at the end of the week. For the rest of the week, Bodbot schedules my strength training workouts, and I have been learning the basics of yoga from Rodney Yee's excellent Beginner's Yoga DVD (link to his website here).
My work week right now includes Saturdays, as I am trying to get in as many hours as possible at my seasonal job. There's about two weeks left in the "peak period", so my manager tells me, and then we will "coast" for the next four weeks to the end of the season. On the one hand, I will have more time on my hands, on the other I will go back to a single income stream. For now, I am making the most of things by paying down what I can, so that when we are back to the lower income level there will be less it is required to cover.
I can now go to Trello, and move writing this blog from both "To Do" (last week's card) and "Doing" (card for the week before that). I felt quite guilty as it sat undone on the Weekly Planning board, in two places, for two whole weeks, let me tell you. I find that visual reminders work very well with me, so lately I have taken to putting things where I can't avoid seeing them. I am learning to utilise Trello as a sort of "big picture" viewer, whereas when I want to plan a specific activity such as my housework day or a day of doing G's bookkeeping, I prefer to use Evernote, if only because it has a cleaner, more utilitarian feel, when compared to Trello's decidedly creative feel.
In spite of all this reliance on technology, I haven't given up pencil and paper. I still carry an agenda: this year's is a smaller, pocket-sized Moleskine (I don't know how to pronounce it, either) Daily/Weekly agenda, complete with handy labels. Looking back at last year's agenda, I see I used it mostly to record hours worked, and the odd event, so I didn't mind graduating to a smaller size this year. There's a lined page across from each week where I can put a checklist of things I need to do or remember, and I update Trello from this list if necessary. And, of course, I have my "day book", where I record my monthly goals and anything of note that comes up (registration keys for products, for example), and keep a copy of each month's calendar once past, so I can see how many days I worked out for the month.
G is awake, and out of the bed, taking the dogs with him, so I can finally fold the laundry. Aside from accompanying him to the grocery store and doing some light tidying of our bedroom, that's all the housework I am doing today, so no list for that. I hear a book calling my name, because it will be a while yet before dinner is ready. I don't know which it will be, but I need some uninterrupted reading time before my rest day is done. Here's what the bed looked like while I wrote this:
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Three Yellow Ribbons, and hello, February!
Well, the shine is off 2015, it's already February 1. I could say something about how fast time is flying, but I sound cliche enough when I say that out loud.
Yesterday, to close out January, I participated in the Walk for Memories put on by the area chapter of the Alzheimer's Society. This is my third year participating in this Walk, so I have three yellow ribbons decorating a lanyard on my bedside lamp, one for each year. This is the last year I will be doing the Walk for Memories, though. Oh, I will still be supporting the fundraising efforts, but starting next year it will be the Walk for Alzheimer's, under the theme "Make Memories Matter".
My family was very briefly touched by dementia when my great-grandfather regressed to his youth shortly before his death at the age of 87 (almost). He was convinced my mother was his mother, and that she was upset with him because he wasn't at home, and he kept trying to leave the home he had lived in and raised children with my great-grandmother in for more than 30 years, including my mother. I loved him as the only grandfather I knew, and this period of his life intersected heavily with ours because my mother was his main caregiver, and I still remember how helpless she felt because there was nowhere she could go for help. It matters to me that others affected by dementia have support locally, so when I was asked to participate in the fundraising and walk, I had no trouble saying, "Sure!"
Looking at my January goals, I can say I did OK for the most part. Financially, I am still struggling to put a cap on the expense side of the equation. Balancing our household budget was made especially hard over the past three months by the Hydro (electricity) bills soaring past $400 because we were using the electric baseboards to heat the house, after the furnace stopped working.
G kept saying the furnace was essentially done for, and that it couldn't be fixed. When I raised the subject of getting a technician in to look into it, he flatly refused and would only provide reasons having to do with personal issues with prior technicians. To me, those reasons didn't wash against the need to know exactly what was wrong and exactly how much it would cost to rectify the situation, so on a day when he couldn't stop me (he had to go to the hospital for his treatment), I essentially defied him and got a technician to look at the furnace and fireplace. Mind you, this particular technician was not on his blacklist.
Less than $100 later, both the furnace and fireplace are up and running. The fireplace needed to be set up properly and restarted, it took the technician less than 10 minutes to get it roaring away. I was never so grateful to anyone in recent memory once I saw the blue flames burning away. The furnace needed a little longer, but within an hour he was dusting off his hands and leaving. As much as I cringe when I look at the Hydro bills for the last 3 months, I am blissfully happy to be warm again. Baseboard heaters are simply inefficient in a house with rooms this size, central forced air is the way to go if you're not in a small apartment.
On the accomplished side of the list are things like getting the bookkeeping to the end of the year done for G's business. For the most part, that is. There are still one or two things left to be done, but all "cosmetic" touches, really, they will not affect the bottom line very much. Essentially, we are waiting on my slips to do our taxes for 2014, unlike last year when I had to do his entire year's bookkeeping a month before the tax deadline. Starting this year, I will be spending some time each month to do the previous month's bookkeeping, much as I did for clients when I worked in an accounting firm.
Also accomplished was making time each day to meditate before 11 a.m. I am working on making mindfulness a daily habit, and want to get it done as part of the beginning of the day, rather than squeezing it in somewhere near the end, as I found myself doing on weekends and poorly-planned weekdays. The plan is to keep that going into February, as it is supposed to take as many as 84 days to make something habitual.
As is often the case these days, I find myself surrounded by sleeping husband and sleeping dogs. I think it's time I closed this retrospective on January 2015 and wind down to sleep. 5:45 a.m. comes quickly!
Yesterday, to close out January, I participated in the Walk for Memories put on by the area chapter of the Alzheimer's Society. This is my third year participating in this Walk, so I have three yellow ribbons decorating a lanyard on my bedside lamp, one for each year. This is the last year I will be doing the Walk for Memories, though. Oh, I will still be supporting the fundraising efforts, but starting next year it will be the Walk for Alzheimer's, under the theme "Make Memories Matter".
My family was very briefly touched by dementia when my great-grandfather regressed to his youth shortly before his death at the age of 87 (almost). He was convinced my mother was his mother, and that she was upset with him because he wasn't at home, and he kept trying to leave the home he had lived in and raised children with my great-grandmother in for more than 30 years, including my mother. I loved him as the only grandfather I knew, and this period of his life intersected heavily with ours because my mother was his main caregiver, and I still remember how helpless she felt because there was nowhere she could go for help. It matters to me that others affected by dementia have support locally, so when I was asked to participate in the fundraising and walk, I had no trouble saying, "Sure!"
Looking at my January goals, I can say I did OK for the most part. Financially, I am still struggling to put a cap on the expense side of the equation. Balancing our household budget was made especially hard over the past three months by the Hydro (electricity) bills soaring past $400 because we were using the electric baseboards to heat the house, after the furnace stopped working.
G kept saying the furnace was essentially done for, and that it couldn't be fixed. When I raised the subject of getting a technician in to look into it, he flatly refused and would only provide reasons having to do with personal issues with prior technicians. To me, those reasons didn't wash against the need to know exactly what was wrong and exactly how much it would cost to rectify the situation, so on a day when he couldn't stop me (he had to go to the hospital for his treatment), I essentially defied him and got a technician to look at the furnace and fireplace. Mind you, this particular technician was not on his blacklist.
Less than $100 later, both the furnace and fireplace are up and running. The fireplace needed to be set up properly and restarted, it took the technician less than 10 minutes to get it roaring away. I was never so grateful to anyone in recent memory once I saw the blue flames burning away. The furnace needed a little longer, but within an hour he was dusting off his hands and leaving. As much as I cringe when I look at the Hydro bills for the last 3 months, I am blissfully happy to be warm again. Baseboard heaters are simply inefficient in a house with rooms this size, central forced air is the way to go if you're not in a small apartment.
On the accomplished side of the list are things like getting the bookkeeping to the end of the year done for G's business. For the most part, that is. There are still one or two things left to be done, but all "cosmetic" touches, really, they will not affect the bottom line very much. Essentially, we are waiting on my slips to do our taxes for 2014, unlike last year when I had to do his entire year's bookkeeping a month before the tax deadline. Starting this year, I will be spending some time each month to do the previous month's bookkeeping, much as I did for clients when I worked in an accounting firm.
Also accomplished was making time each day to meditate before 11 a.m. I am working on making mindfulness a daily habit, and want to get it done as part of the beginning of the day, rather than squeezing it in somewhere near the end, as I found myself doing on weekends and poorly-planned weekdays. The plan is to keep that going into February, as it is supposed to take as many as 84 days to make something habitual.
As is often the case these days, I find myself surrounded by sleeping husband and sleeping dogs. I think it's time I closed this retrospective on January 2015 and wind down to sleep. 5:45 a.m. comes quickly!
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Twenty Fifteen, and 2014 Resolutions in Review
Happy New Year! Yes, it is 2015. I managed to stay awake until about 11:45 p.m. but alas, not until midnight and the passing of the old year into the new. Oh, well.
Yesterday, I looked back at my goals and resolutions for 2014, as written out in my Day Book, and found that I accomplished not a few of my goals, partly accomplished some others, and came not even close on a few more.
I'll share a few of the ones that went well. The others remain Work-in-Progress, so they will stay unmentioned for now. What went well in 2014:
So, January, what am I going to do with you? Well, I already got one thing out of the way: I created a new spreadsheet for our household expenses, added in the bills under categories, assessed or input what needs to be paid for the month, and started planning what will be paid when and by whom.
I also need a new workout schedule from the Bodbot app, I took a month off from working out in December following a severe bout of the flu, but now that I feel recovered, I am ready to workout with weights again, and need a new starting point.
One final one I will mention: I see from Blogger that I managed all of 5 blog posts here last year. One more than I managed for 2013, so that is some improvement, but not much, really. Having started this month with an entry, I will add it to my monthly goals hereafter. I have a few ideas how the Evernote app can help me there, and that will go on January's plan in my Day Book.
I hope, whatever your plans for 2015, that you find them as exciting as I do mine. Walk good, and all the best for 2015!
Yesterday, I looked back at my goals and resolutions for 2014, as written out in my Day Book, and found that I accomplished not a few of my goals, partly accomplished some others, and came not even close on a few more.
I'll share a few of the ones that went well. The others remain Work-in-Progress, so they will stay unmentioned for now. What went well in 2014:
- Reading 50 books for the year, including at least 5 related to self or career development. In actual fact, I read 10 related to self and/or career development, and even took notes of "Take Away" points from several in my Day Book because I found them to be especially relevant to myself.
- At my current job (we'll call it the year-round job henceforth, for reasons soon to become apparent), I made goals to stay up-to-date with my assigned targets, to inform myself of procedures and processes as much as time allowed. I did well, receiving commendation from my supervisor at year-end.
- I applied for a seasonal job, and was successful in being accepted into the training programme for it. I participated in the training between September and November, and got stellar grades. I have been invited to start working when the season opens in mid-January 2015.
- I set workout goals to: deadlift my bodyweight, and scored a personal record of 195 pounds, or approximately 1.8 times my bodyweight; bench press 60 pounds, and scored a personal record of 65 pounds; and learn to squat up to 45 pounds, and scored a personal record of 135 pounds for reps.
So, January, what am I going to do with you? Well, I already got one thing out of the way: I created a new spreadsheet for our household expenses, added in the bills under categories, assessed or input what needs to be paid for the month, and started planning what will be paid when and by whom.
I also need a new workout schedule from the Bodbot app, I took a month off from working out in December following a severe bout of the flu, but now that I feel recovered, I am ready to workout with weights again, and need a new starting point.
One final one I will mention: I see from Blogger that I managed all of 5 blog posts here last year. One more than I managed for 2013, so that is some improvement, but not much, really. Having started this month with an entry, I will add it to my monthly goals hereafter. I have a few ideas how the Evernote app can help me there, and that will go on January's plan in my Day Book.
I hope, whatever your plans for 2015, that you find them as exciting as I do mine. Walk good, and all the best for 2015!
Monday, September 1, 2014
Farewell, Summer, I hardly knew ye
It's Labour Day today in Canada, same in the United States. As surely as May 24 Weekend/Victoria Day (Canada) and Memorial Day (US) mark the "beginning" of summer, so does this day mark its "end" in both countries. Mind you, there's another three or so weeks left in the actual season as it relates to the Earth's settings, the autumnal equinox falls on September 23rd this year.
Children are either heading back to school this week, or are already there in some cases. Back-to-school shopping is the major expense for parents around this time, and children contemplate whether they are happy or sad that their holidays are over. In Jamaica, it is time for adults to throw around the particularly odious phrase (or, at least, it was to me when I was a student), "Free paypa bun!" (Your free papers are burnt). It used to imply to me that school was some sort of prison your parents sent you to, one of which you were particularly deserving, if for no other reason than you were under-aged and someone else was in charge of your life. Well, joke was on them. I loved school, and looked forward to returning.
This particular summer was less than halcyon, though. Aside from the two weeks we spent in Jamaica, the temperature never rose above 30 *C on consecutive days. I found it particularly offensive this year to hear people complain about how "hot" it was. I might have thought that two years into living in northern ON I would be immune to such statements by now, but indeed my resentment was much worse this year. "Honestly, we have seven months of winter/cold weather, is that not enough for you?", I wonder. I guess some people would complain no matter what kind of weather we have. I find it alarming to realise that several days found me wearing layers, long sleeves, and even sweaters, with temperatures averaging around 10 *C below seasonal averages.
The last three days have been rainy, and grey. I was unable to take Nipper for a long walk yesterday, as much of the day it poured with heavy rains. Towards late afternoon the rain and clouds did clear and let in some sunshine, but this morning was heavily overcast, and the rain started again this afternoon. We managed to get in our weekday half-hour walk this morning, but I spent a lot of it looking at the skies and hoping they wouldn't open up on us while we were still some way from home.
I am hoping that we get a late summer heatwave, the mythical "Indian summer", but I am not holding my breath. All the signs are pointing to a swiftly-coming, long, cold winter. Indeed, there were trees sporting fall colours by the end of July!
Fall is bringing with it new challenges for me, and I am very hopeful that meeting these challenges will take me in new directions. I have been working on getting back into waking early, and will need this "ability" even more as the month of September progresses. The daylight periods will continue shortening, but my "days" will be even longer, and I will need full energy and enthusiasm to take them on.
If summer was only about hot weather and wearing less clothing, I would say I didn't have much of one. As it is also about a break from routine and getting ready for new things, then I will say I had quite the summer, short though it was.
Children are either heading back to school this week, or are already there in some cases. Back-to-school shopping is the major expense for parents around this time, and children contemplate whether they are happy or sad that their holidays are over. In Jamaica, it is time for adults to throw around the particularly odious phrase (or, at least, it was to me when I was a student), "Free paypa bun!" (Your free papers are burnt). It used to imply to me that school was some sort of prison your parents sent you to, one of which you were particularly deserving, if for no other reason than you were under-aged and someone else was in charge of your life. Well, joke was on them. I loved school, and looked forward to returning.
This particular summer was less than halcyon, though. Aside from the two weeks we spent in Jamaica, the temperature never rose above 30 *C on consecutive days. I found it particularly offensive this year to hear people complain about how "hot" it was. I might have thought that two years into living in northern ON I would be immune to such statements by now, but indeed my resentment was much worse this year. "Honestly, we have seven months of winter/cold weather, is that not enough for you?", I wonder. I guess some people would complain no matter what kind of weather we have. I find it alarming to realise that several days found me wearing layers, long sleeves, and even sweaters, with temperatures averaging around 10 *C below seasonal averages.
The last three days have been rainy, and grey. I was unable to take Nipper for a long walk yesterday, as much of the day it poured with heavy rains. Towards late afternoon the rain and clouds did clear and let in some sunshine, but this morning was heavily overcast, and the rain started again this afternoon. We managed to get in our weekday half-hour walk this morning, but I spent a lot of it looking at the skies and hoping they wouldn't open up on us while we were still some way from home.
I am hoping that we get a late summer heatwave, the mythical "Indian summer", but I am not holding my breath. All the signs are pointing to a swiftly-coming, long, cold winter. Indeed, there were trees sporting fall colours by the end of July!
Fall is bringing with it new challenges for me, and I am very hopeful that meeting these challenges will take me in new directions. I have been working on getting back into waking early, and will need this "ability" even more as the month of September progresses. The daylight periods will continue shortening, but my "days" will be even longer, and I will need full energy and enthusiasm to take them on.
If summer was only about hot weather and wearing less clothing, I would say I didn't have much of one. As it is also about a break from routine and getting ready for new things, then I will say I had quite the summer, short though it was.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Vacation and Anniversary 2014
For our anniversary this year, G surprised me with tickets to Jamaica...in February. A little far ahead, but still, it was exciting to think of going home after two years, and celebrating our anniversary on the beach!
Well, it was exciting once we were finally on our way, but leading up to it, I was trying very hard not to be overwhelmed with planning and executing so we would have a smooth trip. I like traveling by air, enjoy the experience for itself and not just that I get to a specific destination. G is, of course, entirely about "Why aren't we there already?".
In the week leading up to leaving, I organized ruthlessly, planning and revising as I went along, to ensure that we left on time for the drive to Toronto (requesting a morning shift where I usually work afternoons), that I only had the necessities in my bags to avoid charges for extra luggage (extensive lists of what I needed, revised often), purchasing currency to ensure we had Jamaican funds on hand rather than relying on credit cards, and on, and on.
Underlying all this planning, though, was an anxiety that ratcheted higher and higher the closer we got to leaving. I was trying to control it, by doing what I always do, trying to pin every detail down. My fears came to nought, and our trip went as well as can be expected.
I was so happy to see my brothers again. My younger brother collected us at the airport, and immediately drove us to Burger King on Gloucester Avenue, exactly where I wanted to go for lunch. I have had a burger from BK exactly once in the last two years. This one was everything I needed it to be. I was home.
We spent the two weeks at my Mom's house in Sheffield. This started off somewhat inauspiciously, as my Mom was in Florida visiting my older brother, and basically left her house looking as though she had left with no notice at all, and did not intend to return. I spent 3 days cleaning and organizing her house to suit myself, and thought long and hard about whether the woman who raised me to believe that "Cleanliness is next to godliness" taught me that because she believed it or because she felt it was something she had to teach me as a good parent (something she became before she was probably ready for it) and had simply dropped the philosophy now that she had no-one living at home with her.
The rest of the time we spent on the beach at Alfred's. Being known there means being able to get what you like to drink without needing to ask for it, and having some of the most incredible views up and down the beach a few steps away from the bar.
For our anniversary, we stayed overnight at Alfred's, and went to a restaurant a little further along the beach. The meal did not live up to expectations, but we made the best of it. I also got my hair cut short for our anniversary. Finally, after 5 long years, G and I compromised and I was able to go short. Not as short as I wanted, but at least I could get it cut, not just trimmed. I had grown weary of long hair, and frustrated with how much time and attention it required to care for it, as I usually do after a few years of keeping it long. Once again, I have hair I can wash without worrying about how long it takes to dry, and that needs no styling to get into bed so that I do not wake with a crick in my neck.
If the first week went by slowly in a daze of heat and sun and sand, the second week sped up and went by like any normal week. Before I was quite ready for it, we were organizing and packing our things to return to Canada. By focusing yet again on the small details involved (did I want to bring this large Jane Austen compendium back with me, what would it do to the weight of my suitcase, what about my other book collections, like my Tolkien paperbacks?), I was able to ignore the thoughts about homesickness and how I would feel once I was back on the plane and headed for Canada.
Honestly? It felt like coming home to be back. Even Toronto and southern Ontario, which I see so seldom, felt familiar and welcoming. Jamaica had been the same as I left it (roads slightly worse than ever, prices higher than ever), and Canada had become familiar enough in two years to feel as though I was also coming home. Last January, returning from my uncle's funeral in New York, I had simply been coming back to G, this was where I lived now, and that was that. This July, I was coming home, from being home. It's an awesome and profound feeling, I imagine, to realise that you are at home in more than just the country you were born in.
In the week since we've been back, I have been focusing on my priorities for the rest of the year. I need to schedule some time to look at what has been accomplished in the first 6 months of the year, and where I want to be at the end of the next 6 months, the first half of my 39th year of life. I'll probably get that done on my birthday, a few days from now. I usually like to reflect as I mark each year, and aim to make time for that once again.
Well, it was exciting once we were finally on our way, but leading up to it, I was trying very hard not to be overwhelmed with planning and executing so we would have a smooth trip. I like traveling by air, enjoy the experience for itself and not just that I get to a specific destination. G is, of course, entirely about "Why aren't we there already?".
In the week leading up to leaving, I organized ruthlessly, planning and revising as I went along, to ensure that we left on time for the drive to Toronto (requesting a morning shift where I usually work afternoons), that I only had the necessities in my bags to avoid charges for extra luggage (extensive lists of what I needed, revised often), purchasing currency to ensure we had Jamaican funds on hand rather than relying on credit cards, and on, and on.
Underlying all this planning, though, was an anxiety that ratcheted higher and higher the closer we got to leaving. I was trying to control it, by doing what I always do, trying to pin every detail down. My fears came to nought, and our trip went as well as can be expected.
I was so happy to see my brothers again. My younger brother collected us at the airport, and immediately drove us to Burger King on Gloucester Avenue, exactly where I wanted to go for lunch. I have had a burger from BK exactly once in the last two years. This one was everything I needed it to be. I was home.
We spent the two weeks at my Mom's house in Sheffield. This started off somewhat inauspiciously, as my Mom was in Florida visiting my older brother, and basically left her house looking as though she had left with no notice at all, and did not intend to return. I spent 3 days cleaning and organizing her house to suit myself, and thought long and hard about whether the woman who raised me to believe that "Cleanliness is next to godliness" taught me that because she believed it or because she felt it was something she had to teach me as a good parent (something she became before she was probably ready for it) and had simply dropped the philosophy now that she had no-one living at home with her.
The rest of the time we spent on the beach at Alfred's. Being known there means being able to get what you like to drink without needing to ask for it, and having some of the most incredible views up and down the beach a few steps away from the bar.
For our anniversary, we stayed overnight at Alfred's, and went to a restaurant a little further along the beach. The meal did not live up to expectations, but we made the best of it. I also got my hair cut short for our anniversary. Finally, after 5 long years, G and I compromised and I was able to go short. Not as short as I wanted, but at least I could get it cut, not just trimmed. I had grown weary of long hair, and frustrated with how much time and attention it required to care for it, as I usually do after a few years of keeping it long. Once again, I have hair I can wash without worrying about how long it takes to dry, and that needs no styling to get into bed so that I do not wake with a crick in my neck.
If the first week went by slowly in a daze of heat and sun and sand, the second week sped up and went by like any normal week. Before I was quite ready for it, we were organizing and packing our things to return to Canada. By focusing yet again on the small details involved (did I want to bring this large Jane Austen compendium back with me, what would it do to the weight of my suitcase, what about my other book collections, like my Tolkien paperbacks?), I was able to ignore the thoughts about homesickness and how I would feel once I was back on the plane and headed for Canada.
Honestly? It felt like coming home to be back. Even Toronto and southern Ontario, which I see so seldom, felt familiar and welcoming. Jamaica had been the same as I left it (roads slightly worse than ever, prices higher than ever), and Canada had become familiar enough in two years to feel as though I was also coming home. Last January, returning from my uncle's funeral in New York, I had simply been coming back to G, this was where I lived now, and that was that. This July, I was coming home, from being home. It's an awesome and profound feeling, I imagine, to realise that you are at home in more than just the country you were born in.
In the week since we've been back, I have been focusing on my priorities for the rest of the year. I need to schedule some time to look at what has been accomplished in the first 6 months of the year, and where I want to be at the end of the next 6 months, the first half of my 39th year of life. I'll probably get that done on my birthday, a few days from now. I usually like to reflect as I mark each year, and aim to make time for that once again.
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