Valentine Wishes

This is just a short little post to wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day. Look what I baked Hubby. It’s his favorite treat, a double layer white cake with a rich butter cream icing. The saying goes that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach but, for my man, I have to get past his sweet tooth before I can get anywhere else.

I spent a couple of hours getting this ready on Sunday afternoon. Hubby was upstairs and he figured I was making cupcakes but I fooled him. He was pretty pleased to get the cake instead.

Hubby’s Valentine cake, the lucky fella!

I got a lovely red mini rose bush and a really sweet card. These plants are great, I’ve had them before. Later this spring I’ll be able to plant it outside where it may last a few years.

My mini rose bush.

That’s all for now I guess. We had had another storm to day and more is expected overnight. Blah… How long until spring?

This little bobble-head frog just wants to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day!

Snow For Sale... Cheap!

Sno Cone Picture via "Make Five"

Snow cones anyone? They are just about the only good thing I associate with that stuff. We were hit hard on Thursday and have lots of snow to spread around. We believe in sharing so the snow is going very cheap. Actually, you can have it for free if you bring a shovel and want to load the back of your pickup truck for weight. It’s all yours baby. Clean, white, pristine, heavy and FREE; just what you need!!!

The Witch’s Island can look cold and lonely in the dead of winter. It’s still beautiful, just different. It’s really a special place where you can find beach combers on the coldest of days looking for that washed up treasure. I haven’t found any recently but would like to share some photos and hope you enjoy your day around a warm fireplace with a good book which is what I plan on doing This afternoon.

You really don’t want to step too close to this edge.

This crow was surprised to find somebody out walking around.

The walkway might just need some work this spring.

It was cold enough that Hubby decided that he wouldn’t go swimming after all.

This is not actually the surface of Mars.

There was some light on the horizon.

Oh, the book I’m reading is “The Girl Who Played With Fire” by Stieg Larsson, the second one of his trilogy. Hubby bought me the set for Christmas and they are just as good as everyone is saying. My fireplace will be warm and toasty and hubby will bring me a glass of red wine. Life is wonderful in the Witch’s cold island paradise.

You can get yours from Amazon.ca.

Grocery Shopping For The Week

We had our first big snow storm for the season last week. That is pretty amazing when I think about it. By this time last year we had had snow on the ground for almost three months!

On Friday some stores closed early in the day due to the weather, which made Saturday's grocery shopping an awful chore. The store was so busy that there were no shopping buggies to be had. People were actually lining up to wait for the cart wranglers to bring some in from the parking lot. Hubby cut to the chase and just went out and got his own. The check out lines were crazy, every cashier had at least ten people waiting. Never again will I be shopping on a Saturday after a storm.



I did get some good deals because they were having a B.O.G.O. event (you know, Buy One, Get One) which may have also contributed to the crowds. Anyway I'm all stocked-up for now. The cost for our little adventure was $114.27 and you can see for yourself what that gets you here on The Witch's Island.



I thought I would share a few pictures with you of Hubby blowing out the driveway. He had to do it three times over two days, poor fella. He didn't mind, though. Any reason to play with the power tools is a good one.

Valentines week

All week I have been cooking and preparing for the big day when I can surprise Hubby with my amazing Valentine's Day cookies for him to enjoy, (I hope). They have taken a total of three days to prepare and decorate but he is worth the effort. On top of that, I had to hide them for the finally viewing. Not a easy thing to do when you have a cookie hound around.

I hope you all enjoy the pictures. Look good, don't they?!!! Martha I'm still waiting for you to discover me.....







Hubby got a hair cut today and then we cleaned the house from top to bottom which is a regular Sunday chore. Have I told you how much I hate Sundays for this very reason? Plus, you know tomorrow is back to work. Where do the weekends go?

Today, I'm making a big batch of chilli and then we are also baking a pork loin roast in a honey garlic glaze and some rice. It's a Sunday power cooking day here which will make it easier through the week if one of us has to work late.

We have lots of snow down and it just keeps on coming every day. What's up with that?! I want Winter to be over NOW, YES, RIGHT NOW! Damn, nothing happened, the white stuff is still here. I do have to admit though, that in the mornings going to work it looks like diamonds on the road and I really like that effect. What girl wouldn't like diamonds and plenty of them.

This week we have to go into the Credit Union and deposit some money into an RRSP so we can lower hubby's tax exposure and then take the refund to pay down the mortgage. We have also increased the mortgage payments again slightly by lowering the tax portion and increasing the total amount we pay every two weeks, so hopefully we can get closer to our 5 year goal of paying this off. YAAAAA!!!!!!

I also want to max out my TFSF. I just need $400.00 more and our emergency fund is in place. Out of sight and out of mind. Then I want to start saving for a vacation this year. It will probably be in the Maritimes somewhere because it is really truly a beautiful part of Canada. We are very lucky to be living here.

A Conversation With Gail!

I was surfing this morning and I happened to land on a site where I noticed that they were going to have an on-line discussion with Gail Vaz-Oxlade titled "Keeping your head above water in a recession" and they were inviting readers to send in questions for her to answer. Well, all week we have been trying to decide if putting money into RRSP's was a smart idea this year and now here was my chance to get some advice from a real expert! So, I fired off my question to the comments section...

Hi Gail, I listen to your advice all the time and I love your show.

We have about $10,000 in our savings (thanks to you, in part!) and we want to take the most advantageous use of the money. We want to put it into an RRSP and then use the tax refund to pay down on our mortgage. The question that keeps us up at night is, with the financial state of the world right now, is this a good time to be buying into mutual funds? Would we be better off applying all the money to the mortgage this year and waiting to see some recovery before investing in RRSP's next year?

Thanks,

Two hours later I checked back and, wow, they'd added my question and Gail wrote a response!! I was so excited.

Gail Vaz-Oxlade: *, you're asking me if I think market timing is a good idea and my answer is absotively, posolutely NOT!

Since the markets are down, the money you put in now will actually buy you more units of the mutual fund of your choice than it would have a year or two ago. And that's the beauty of a commitment to regular investing. You don't have to worry about timing the market, you can focus on just doing the right thing. Your plan to maximize your RRSP and use your refund to pay down your mortgage is a good one. Go with it. If the markets scare you, consider an index linked GIC that will tie your return to a positive move in the market, but keep your principal safe. Good luck. G

Wow, what a day!!!!!

That's not all. After lots of discussion, we decided to open a TFSA today and I nearly maxed out my contribution room for this year at $4,600.00. Yay, today was a really goooood day! Plus hubby surprised me and he took the day off work,too. Life doesn't get much better than this.

We are also going through with the above mentioned RRSP some time this week and when we get the tax refund it's going straight down on the mortgage. With all the extra money we have put down over the last 2 years it is starting to drop quickly. My side bars are now adjusted to show this.

I bought a Sandisk Fuze MP3 player on the weekend and hubby and I are trying to figure out how to use it. Actually, it's just me who is having problems, as I've mentioned before, I'm not the most techy person around, but I'm learning. I know that it's not an I-Pod but I really counldn't justify the price of the I-Pod over this unit. With taxes in it was just under a $100.00. I'll let you know what I think of this new purchase in the upcoming months.




I've added some more pictures of my baking which I did last week.
Banana muffins and chocolate chip cookies. Yum, and they didn't last long either so I guess there is no taste testing.

Oh, and here's a picture of the delicious Chinese fondue we had this weekend. This is one of our most favorite meals.

I got my paycheck last week with my retro pay and new raise. It works out to be about $120.00 more a month so now I will have to budget as to where this new found money should go.

Today is Ground Hog day and yes, the bugger saw it's shadow, so another 6 weeks of winter for sure. Plus, I just heard on the news that we are supposed to get another storm and 10 centimeters more of snow. Urg. Poor Hubby as he is the one who has to blow out the driveway each morning and night before we can get in or out. (He is my hero).

Past the Middle of the Month Already???

Wow, January is flying by, and I'm glad because the quicker the months go the closer it is to Winter being over and the start of Spring. Yes, I know I'm jumping way ahead, but what the hell! Not everyone is into Winter. Believe me, I've tried to be positive about it but something about -20C temperatures and high winds just don't agree with me.


I've started to knit a scarf which I'm really pleased with so far. It is nice to be creative again with my hands. I wish I could go to community school this year but with the shifts I work I would miss every second week, so why bother. It's too bad because I went to community school for over 10 years and every year I learned a new skill. I also had alot of fun meeting new people. Man, I can hardly wait to retire to be able to do that again! I guess I didn't realize how much I missed it till now (ugh.)

Hubby and I cleaned the house from top to bottom today. All the floors were washed too. The place looks and smells great. Every Sunday is our cleaning day and then its just recreation time after that.

I made some brownies today which turned out very good. I was going to make bread but didn't have enough milk and I really didn't want to drive into town or spend any money today. I didn't get the bread done but I at least accomplished something!

This morning I wrote a response to the performance review from my job. I was happy with the overall review (much better than last year), now just SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!! (and lots of it would be nice). Anyway it will be what it is and with the times ahead I'll be happy with any amount I actually get. It will probably go towards the mortgage, anyway. It's all about getting that paid off in FIVE years so I can retire or move on to something I will enjoy working at more.

This week I'm training another person in our department and we are having a 5S revision done in our shop. Oh Joy!! You don't want me to start on that.

We went shopping in the Big City on Saturday I made a great haul at Value Village, thanks to my Christmas gift certificates. You just gotta love them. The spirit of Christmas just keeps going and going. I'm planning a day trip across the puddle sometime in Febuary and I'm reallly looking forward to it. Maybe I'll spend the rest of my stash then!

New Years Goals for 2009

Happy New Year to you all!!!!!

We have been stormed in for two days and just finally got our main road plowed out at around Noon.
Hubby has been out twice using the snowblower to clear the driveway just to stay ahead of the blowing snow. The drifts were 6' in some areas and out on the road they must be 10' or more.
Welcome to another New Year of storms. The same day in 2008 was also a storm. Weird.

We had a few friends over on New Years eve before we all went to the Community complex for the dinner and dance. Fun times were had by all and the New Year was officially rang in. YA HOOO!!! I'm hoping for 2009 to be the best year ever. Now that's positive thinking.

Goals for the New Year are as follows:(no particular order)

Continue paying down that mortgage as fast as possible.
Buy skates and use them.
Buy a Kayak and try and get over my fear of the water with a life jacket of course.
Learn to play poker and get a good poker face.
Smile more often (maybe that will be my poker face).
Drink more water at work and home.
Try new recipes.
Exercise more often, and use my hand weights.
Lose 10 pounds (I have to weight myself first, so I may need to buy a scale).
Open a TFSA acount and try to max it out if the rates are worthwhile without those darling bank fees attached.
Take a real vacation somewhere in the Maritimes.
Try to let go off the past and learn to live in the moment.
Make more time for myself.
Read more books.
Have more dinner parties and play some game boards.
Get a complete physical.
Learn more about my computer and what it can do for me besides surfing the internet.
Continue to declutter.
Continue to work on our basement renovations.
Paint our t.v room and maybe buy some new furniture for it.
Tweak the budget throughout the year.

Yes this list is long but surely I can accomplish some of these goals and even if it is just a few , I think I would still be pleased.

How about you? Any goals or dreams you want to share.

Take care and all the best to everyone in 2009.