Impulse Purchase

Tallulah has at five full-sized dog beds in the house.  All of them are big enough for her to stretch out on her own, or curl up with the wee beastie.  The two dogs often share beds, so it never occurred to me that Lewis might need or want his own bed.

I'm not sure what I was thinking last night  - this was a complete impulse purchase - but something tells me it's a hit.

These (quick - low quality) shots were taken at various times throughout the day today.

Apparently, Lewis wanted a bed of his own.

If at first you don't succeed...

Assuming that the basement will eventually be finished one day, I'm going to want a TV down there.    At first, I was going to get one through Telus, when I switched over to them from Shaw for Internet/TV/Phone.  I quickly determined a free TV wasn't worth having to deal with Telus, though, so I bought one on Black Friday.

That TV came from BestBuy.com.  It was sold as a smart TV, but when it arrived I realized that it wasn't web enabled... was in fact only called smart because it had two USB ports. (!)  It took no less than - honest to God - four and a half hours on the phone to convince them to take the TV back and give me a full refund.

After that, I waited until Boxing Day to take advantage of the sales.  Since my experience with the last TV convinced me that Best Buy is not a store I want to support anymore, and options are limited if I don't want to drive to the big city, a friend told me about her nephew that works in an electronic store that could probably get me a deal.  So, I woke up early on Boxing Day and went out to meet the nephew.  He didn't get me any huge savings, but the price was slightly lower than anything else I'd seen until then.   I bought the TV, hauled it home and set it up.

Yesterday, I was at Costco and saw that they had the same TVs, only bigger and $60 cheaper.  I went home and called a friend who helped me load the Boxing Day TV back into the car and return it, then drive out to Costco, pick up the new one and take it home.  The Costco TV is in my spare room and still in its box.  I probably should set it up today so that I can test it out and make sure it works before the return period is up.  After having set up and disassembled so many TVs, it shouldn't take me too long but I am having trouble finding the energy.  One thing's for sure - this is the last TV that I'll be buying anytime soon.

I Win!

Sorry - this is a bit of a novel, but I thought I should keep a record of this in case I'm ever tempted to change my media provider again.

I am very much not a fan of the big media companies.  You know the ones... phone/internet/tv providers.  In Alberta, we have the choice between Telus and Shaw.  It used to be that Telus had the monopoly on TV and internet, and Shaw had TV but now they both do it all.

I hate Telus for too many reasons to list here, but suffice to say their customer service sucks, and they have hidden (not so hidden, actually) charges up the wazoo.  I have avoided being their customer ever since I've had any other options - Shaw.

This all started a few years ago, when I started working from home.  I talked to Shaw a bunch of times,  about slow connections and cutting in and out; but the responses were hit or miss.  Mostly, I felt like I was being told to upgrade at my own expense before they would bother trouble shooting.

That, combined with the basement renos (which means that I would soon have two TVs) convinced me to give Telus another chance.  It's been years since I've been their customer, and they do claim to be making customer service a priority.  Plus, I like the idea of using one PVR for all TVs, so I can wander from one room to the other.  Also, Telus was giving away TVs when you sign with them.

I signed with Telus in September.  I was all set to switch over to them when a guy from the Shaw retention dept called me and made all sorts of promises.  I wouldn't have to pay to upgrade, because he agreed to give me the fastest internet available (broadband 100) a new PVR, and decrease my monthly bill (for TV/Internet/phone) to $70/month.  He also gave me his direct phone number so that I wouldn't have to deal with the spotty service on their phones.  I agreed. The Telus contract was cancelled, and  a tech came out to set up my screaming fast internet.

Two things about that, though.  The internet was NOT screaming fast, and I didn't get the PVR I was promised.  I called the guy I'd talked to earlier, but the number he gave me was for somebody else, and nobody ever called me back.  That made me mad.  I went down to the Shaw office and talked to a lady there who sent me home with a PVR and booked another tech to address the internet issues.   The second tech came out, spent three hours fiddling with the internet, *almost* had it fixed, but then got a phone call over something urgent, packed up his tools and left without registering my router.  I didn't have any internet at all.  That made me madder.

Long story short(er), that got fixed, but it left a bad taste in my mouth.  Then, issues with the new PVR and new connectivity issues at work that were known to be related to Shaw convinced me to try Telus again.  I agreed to sign up for a three year contract for similar services to what I have at Shaw, only I'd get a whole-home PVR and a new TV.    And I'd pay $145/month instead of $70.

Then I started finding hidden fees everywhere.  If my TV breaks and I replace it, I'd have to pay Telus $100 to come out and reconfigure the digital box that goes with the PVR.  I have to pay to keep my phone number unlisted.  Having it "Private" isn't an option.  I emailed Telus about one thing, which led to a whole bunch of other things and suddenly I realized this was not what I wanted.  A Telus employee and I went a few rounds before I finally pulled the plug and cancelled my contract with them (which I could only do because they hadn't yet set up my services).

Today, since Telus had previously said they'd make the arrangements for my Shaw account to be closed, I called Shaw.  I didn't trust Telus to un-cancel the cancellation, so I wanted to make sure that Shaw had no plans to terminate my services.  I lucked out by being connected to a rare breed of service desk staff who really knew her stuff and wanted to help me out.  All I wanted to do was confirm that my account wasn't being cancelled, but she asked for my reasons for almost leaving so that she could address them.  It turns out that Shaw also has a whole home PVR system that nobody had told me about earlier.   She arranged to send a tech out to set one up for me, and agreed not to charge me anything, as long as I'd return the new-ish PVR that I'd received in September and wouldn't be using anymore.

So, I get the pvr system I want, I keep the discounted rates of $70/month and I don't have to deal with Telus.  Oh, and that free tv that I didn't get?  It's a 42" LG.  Telus claims that it's worth $800.  I got up early this morning and took advantage of the Black Friday deals online.  I ordered a 46" Samsung smart tv that was on sale for $500.  The way I see it, it'll only take 6 months of the discounted rate I'll be paying, and I will have saved enough to cover that expense.

I didn't mean to...

I wasn't going to furnish the basement room (combination office and rec room) that is being built.  The plan is to outfit the room with only what I need to use the room as an office, and leave the remainder of the space empty for now.

I couldn't help myself this weekend, though.  This was both discontinued and on sale:

I think it'll make a great little table to set the tv on, if and when I ever get a second one.  And, it's purple.  I've been on a purple kick lately.

Luckily, Winter seems to approve.  

Dollar Store Crafts

I had an idea a few months back, to make a sign that I wanted to hang on the wall.  I managed to find all of the materials that I thought I'd need at a dollar store, so I was feeling pretty good about myself... until I tried to do it.

I started with a canvas, which I painted brown.  Then I tried to stencil a saying on it, but had trouble with the spacing and some leakage.  So, I painted the whole thing brown again and mulled it over for a while.

Last night, we had some time to kill before the movie started (Identity Theft - laugh out loud funny!) so we wandered another dollar store.  There, I found a package of letter stickers for $1.50.

After the movie, I used the stickers to write out the saying, and then I used a dollar store paint and brush to paint over the stickers.  I gave it a few minutes to think about drying and then peeled off the stickers.

It's not exactly fine art (I doubt I'll put it on the wall), but for $5 and ten minutes worth of work, I don't think it's half bad.

maintenance

Things have been getting a little run down Where the Fur Flies.  I haven't been able to use the sink or tub in my master bath for over a month because of clogs.  I'd cleaned out as much as I could, but no go...  Those drains were blocked.

I wasn't going to use Draino, so I've been using the main bathroom while I mulled over the more eco-friendly solutions.  Then, the exhaust fan in the main bathroom bit the dust and suddenly, I didn't have anywhere to have a shower.

So, today I hit the Mecca (aka Home Depot).  I invested in a $9 plumber's snake and a $33 exhaust fan replacement motor.    The exhaust fan was dead easy...  all it took was un/screwing a screw and un/plugging a plug.  The hardest part was climbing the ladder.    The drains were a little less pleasant. You shove the snake in, twist it around and pull it back out.   It seems easy enough, but the challenge in this project was in not ejecting the contents of my stomach while pulling the clog out of the drain.  Hair is gross, folks!

Anywho... it's done now.  Exhaust fan has been repaired, drains are unclogged.  I'm out $42, but I suspect it could have been 10 times that if I'd called in the professionals.  So, as far as I'm concerned, I just earned myself a $360 treat from Italy.

Random thoughts and photos

• I made a pizza last night, based on unrelated leftovers in my fridge: roasted corn, ground bison,  black beans and onions.  I also had a spicy pepper of sorts, which made me realize that I had the makings for a Mexican... whatever... but sadly it was a little too old to use.  I threw it all together (with salsa instead of tomato sauce because I couldn't use the hot pepper).  Honestly, I had really low expectations, but hot damn was it great.  

This is what it looked like before cheese or being baked - kind of gross, if you ask me.  

There's no after pictures... it's gone now.  I might have eaten the leftovers for all three meals today.

• My mom has agreed to stay at my house next week, and keep care of the pets while I'm away.  My dad has decided to come along with me on my trip to Kelowna.    Honestly, I'm not sure if he really wants to go to Kelowna, or if he's afraid of his directionally challenged daughter driving through the mountains on her own.  

• There used to be a small crack in the sidewalk in front of my house.  It's gone now... as in, the sidewalk is gone.  They tore it up today, and I'm assuming will put a new one down soon.  The crazy thing is that this is the second time in six years that this sidewalk has been replaced.  When I lived in Edmonton, the sidewalks were like spiderwebs, they had so many cracks.  I tripped on them all the time.  I guess this is a benefit of living in a smallish city, but I'm thinking that our tax dollars could probably be put to better use.

I took this picture for the nephews, who still seem to think that heavy-duty equipment is cool.  

The sidewalk is now gone from the middle of my driveway to about where the tree is.

• I found jeans that are long enough - which is a miracle in and of itself - for only $19 a pair.  WHOOT!

• And this one's just because...

$100

I have finally reached the point in my weight loss that I could no longer put off acquiring some new clothes.    It was getting embarrassing, my old clothes are so baggy, but at the same time, I really didn't want to spend a lot of money on clothes that I hope won't fit me for much longer.  And, then there's the upcoming Italy trip to consider... I don't want to look like a hobo while I'm over there.

And so, I shopped sales and stretched some dollars.  If you can still find them, leftover fall/winter stuff can be purchased at a great price near the end of the summer... and that's what I did.   I also took advantage of some back to school sales and got a couple pairs of jeans for $20 each.   (And they were a size smaller than I expected them to be thankyouverymuch!)

Then, I hit just about every store in town, looking for shirts that would "do".  I really had very little choice in colour or style at that price.  They aren't fancy, but they were $10 or less and they fit me.

I threw my new favourite necklace on top of the pile because it goes with every single one of those shirts - almost looks like it was made to match each one exactly... except you can't tell that in the picture.  So, take my word for it: the necklace goes with each one of those shirts.  And, it (or maybe a scarf or two) will be worn frequently in Italy, to class up my $10 solid colour t-shirts.

I also got a fleece jacket, which is more for wearing around the house than to take on the trip.  I didn't realize until I got home that the arms are a little longer than usual, and there are slits cut into the cuffs.  

As somebody who grew up being told constantly to pull my hands out of my sleeves, I don't know if I should cheer about this little fashion statement, or begrudge its late arrival.

All in all, though, I think that two pairs of jeans, 5 T-shirts and a hoody's not too shabby for (just under) $100.

Italy Shoes

These are not Italian Shoes - they're shoes for Italy.

I need something comfortable that I can wear while walking around all day on cobblestone and not come away with stumps...  Preferably something that isn't bright white and screams "TOURIST!", or that I won't be embarrassed to wear around here when the trip is over.

Here's the thing... I love shoes.  However, I have never been a person who likes to wear them.   I prefer to go barefoot when possible.  I have narrow feet with a very high instep, which means that a lot of shoes put pressure on the tops of my feet.  Plus, since the whole foot swelling issue prevented me from wearing shoes for almost a year, and then having worked at home since I got better meant not having to wear anything more confining than socks... shoes just seem more uncomfortable than ever before.

Today, after weeks of looking, I think (hope) I managed to find shoes that'll work - they're Josef Seibels, which is a brand that I've always liked.  My plan is to wear them every day until I go, so that they're broken in and comfortable enough to walk around Italy all day.

I did alter them right off the bat, though.  They came with regular (grey) laces, but I have never managed to master the art of tying laces so that they'll stay done up for more than 5 minutes.  So, I stopped at a kids' store and got striped curly laces that don't need to be tied.

I hope these will work.  

Homemade Enzyme Cleaning Products

I'm going to geek out for a bit... sorry.  I can't help but get excited when I find a way to be more eco conscious and save money at the same time.

I have loved this cleaner for the last 5 years or so, but it's been discontinued in Canada.  I was OK for a while, but eventually my stash dried up.  I've tried other eco friendly cleaning products, but never liked anything as much as TKO.

And, then, I discovered instructions on Pinterest to make it at home.  Because I'm me, I ended up doing something of a blend of a few sets of instructions that I read and then doubling the recipe I came up with.   That was a few weeks ago.  My little experiment was finally done late this week.  I haven't tried it on everything that the claims say it can do, but it's worked well on basic bathroom and kitchen cleaning.  It's particularly good at cutting through grease.

I started with a pineapple and a bag of lemons.  I cut the pineapple according to the instructions found here and saved the peel, the eyes and the bits of pineapple that came with the eyes.  I also threw in some of the core as well.... so basically I used the waste from the pineapple.   The pineapple fruit is still good - I set that aside to eat later.  Then I squeezed the lemons to make fresh lemonade so that I'd have all the rinds for this.

I chopped up the pineapple and lemon waste into pieces small enough to fit through the top of an old 4L (1 gallon)  milk jug, and shoved about 600g or 4 cups of the pieces in.  I added a cup of brown sugar, 2 tsp of yeast and 2 litres ( 8 cups) of water and stirred until the sugar was dissolved, then I poured it all into the milk jug.    I labelled the jug with the date and put it in the fridge.

For two weeks (14 days), I opened the lid to release the gas created by the fermentation and gave the jug a swirl every day.  Two weeks later, I poured the liquid out of the jug, filtered it through a coffee filter to get rid of the bits of fruit or yeast, and poured it into a jar.

(I don't think there's any worry of people drinking it at this stage, but you might want to label it as a science experiment or something if anybody but you goes into the fridge)

That sieve didn't do a good enough job to filter it.  I had to pour it through a coffee filter to get the gunk out later.

I'd label it at this point, so that nobody mistakes it for juice.

So far, I've used it to clean the bathroom and the kitchen.  I tried using a small amount to clear a seriously, seriously clogged drain in the bathroom sink - I think it helped, but I didn't want to use it all up on this one thing so haven't really tested it out thoroughly on that.  Next, I plan to use it in the laundry, and to spray some on the dog pen to help prevent the eau de dog pee smell that crops up on humid days.

Some tips:

• Don't use a jar with too tight of a lid when you're making it.  I think the milk jug lid was about right, but have read that people who do this in pop bottles have had explosions.  Either way, open it daily to release any gas that builds up from the fermentation.
• The yeast speeds up the process.  Without it, you need to leave the fruit and sugar 3 months to ferment before it's done.
• Most of the sites that I found for this recommended only lemons or citrus rinds.  Only one mentioned the pineapple, but it made sense to me and seemed to work.  Mostly, you're looking for acidic fruit.
• I don't know if the results need to be refrigerated once it's done, nor do I know how long it'll last. I'm keeping it in the fridge for now.

Claimed Uses:

• mix 1/2 cup of enzyme cleaner with 1 litre (4 cups) of water in a jar for an all purpose spray cleaner.
• for dishes and laundry (use 1/4 cup of enzyme)
• for washing bathrooms and toilets. grime comes off easily (1 part enzyme to 10 parts water)
• for removing stubborn stains and odours (coloured fabrics and floors) (use undiluted)
• to clean vegetables and fruits (1 part enzyme to 10 parts water)
• clear blockages in kitchen sinks and drains (use concentrated or blended pulp/sludge of enzyme)
• as a natural insect repellent (use undiluted) for ants, cockroaches.
• for mopping floors (1 part enzyme to 20 parts water)
• as fertilizer for plants (use 1 part enzyme to 20 parts water, or use the leftover mop water)
• as a skincare product, e.g. facial cleanser or toner (1 part enzyme to 2 parts water)
• wash cars – cars will look as if they have just been polished! (1 part enzyme to 20 parts water)

Front Porch Redo

I've wanted rocking chairs for my front porch, since the day it was built.    The problem is that I have a set of perfectly good, comfortable chairs that make it hard for me to justify buying new rocking chairs.

I might end up buying the the rockers down the road anyway, but I decided to freshen up the old chairs in the meantime with a lick of paint.

Confession:  

I was aiming for raspberry in colour, and forgot that everything seems three shades lighter outside.  I landed squarely on HOT PINK, 

but I've decided that I like it, especially behind the colourful garden.

One thing that is screamingly missing is a foot stool.  I have one that needs to be repaired and then painted tangerine orange.  I've got plans for the next couple of weeks, though, so that'll have to wait.

Sell or Keep?

Changes at work (and the software that we use) mean that I need to be hardwired into the internet when I'm working at home, and can't rely on wireless.  That meant that I needed to move an armoire out of the niche in the room, and I don't really have any place to put it.

My dad and I emptied it of all contents, shelves and drawers, and managed to drag it to the top of the stairs.  I was going to move it down to the basement for now, but my dad and I quickly realized that it is too heavy for us to get down the stairs, even with a dolly.  We managed to lift it onto the dolly, but it was a struggle just to get it to the stairs, and taking it down is something of a commitment... if we got down three steps and realized it was too hard, we wouldn't exactly have the option of lifting it back up to the main floor.

We talked about maybe me selling it.  I don't really use it much.  It's has mostly stored stuff that I don't need since I moved to this house.  But, it's a solid wood piece of furniture that's fairly nice, in my opinion, and if I sold it now, it'd cost me a lot more to replace it down the road than it cost me back in the day.  So, I decided to call and inquire about hiring movers.

To get two guys to come and carry this armoire 20 feet down 10 steps would cost $280.  That's a good chunk of the value of the piece!

So, my options are:  pay the big chunk to have it moved professionally.  Find and hire some guys under the table, and take the chance that nothing goes wrong (fat chance, with my luck lately).     Move it back to the spare room, and find someplace else to work.  Or, I could sell it.  I don't know what to do.

Winter kind of likes it where it is, but it's blocking the hall.

The Math Don't Add

I budget $200 spending money per week, which includes everything except mortgage, loan repayment and utilities.

Last week, I spent $30 on gas to drive up to Edmonton and buy dog food ($65) and arthritis meds for the cat ($40).   This week, I have to buy cat food, happy pills for Cotton and get the dogs groomed.  The cat food price was just raised from $45/bag to $60/bag.  Happy pills, which will last a few months, cost $30.  Grooming for the dogs costs $100.

I had $5 left over from last week, so that left me with $15 spending money for this week (today being the first day of my fiscal week).  I went to the grocery store and got milk, celery, bread and a butternut squash.  The money is now gone, and I'm going to admit to feeling a little bitter about the discrepancy.

Stubborn

I've been struggling with the insurance company now for about 10 months.  The lady who processed my claim originally made some blatant errors, which resulted in me getting much less money than I was entitled to for some items, and more than double what I was owed for a few others.  While I'd have happily accept the overage, I got my back up over being shorted over laziness.

For example, two of my purses were damaged during the flood.  I claimed them both and then I happened to find a purse on a great sale before my claim was processed.  I was refunded for that one right away, but then the claims adjuster forgot or omitted  the second purse when she finally finished processing my claim.

When my claim was finally processed, I noticed the error and reported it right away.  The adjuster said she'd add the second purse, but she didn't bother to record the actual replacement value of $60 - she recorded $40, which I'd paid for the first one.

For ten months, I've been fighting about this.  I know it's only $20, but it's MY $20 and all they had to do was to look at the original claim that I submitted to see the mistake that had been made.

Long story short, I finally had enough and had a bit of a come to Jesus chat with the adjuster a few days ago.  As a result, she made a number of corrections to the claim, including confirming that I could have up to $60 for a new purse.

Until now, I have refused to replace the items for which the insurance company had recorded the wrong values, because I wanted to be sure I'd be refunded the full amount.  So, now I have a lot to buy in the next month before my claim is closed.

I don't know why, but I've wanted an orange purse for some time.  It makes no sense, because orange is probably my least favourite colour and it would match only a very small percentage of my clothes.  But, I wanted an orange purse.

There's a store in town that has a pretty great purse selection and I went there tonight.  As soon as I walked in the door, I zeroed in on a beautiful orange purse.  It was a good size, and had lots of pockets in the right places.  It seemed to be well made.

It cost $41.

The truth of the matter is, I stood there and realized that after fighting that battle with the insurance company, I simply did not want to submit a claim for a new purse for $40.  I'd fought to get up to $60, and told them repeatedly how unreasonable only $40 for purse would be.  And when I get a bee in my bonnet, it can be difficult for me to back down.  I'm a little bit embarrassed to admit that I came home with a black purse that cost $55.  

It's a nice purse.  It's also the right size, and it has lots of pockets in the right places.  It'll go with just about everything, and I won't get sick of its colour.    I think, however, that I'm going to bring it back tomorrow and trade it in for the orange purse.

Chips - for the dogs

My dogs have  been eating dehydrated chicken breasts for a few years.    The dogs love them, and they do wonders for their teeth.  Except, I have an issue with them:

These freeze dried chicken breasts seem very similar to the chicken jerky that has been killing dogs.  (See one of many articles on the subject HERE.)  Nobody seems to know how the jerky is killing dogs - they eat them for a while, and then suddenly become deathly ill.  I'm neither a vet nor a nutritionalist, but I personally think that dogs aren't built to consume the salt content and preservatives that go into these things... although, I suspect there's more to the problem than that.  Regardless, everything I've read has said that the problematic chicken jerky is coming from China.  I scoured the packaging for the dehydrated chicken that my dogs eat, and I couldn't find anything.  So, I called the manufacturer.  They said that their products aren't made in China; they're made in Taiwan.  Some people say Taiwan is a stand alone county.  China says it's a Chinese State.  Either way, I don't want to gamble with my dogs' lives over semantics.

In a perfect world, I'd make freeze dried chicken breasts for the dogs myself.  However, at the current price for chicken around here, that's not going to happen.  Looking for other options, I found dehydrated sweet potatoes for dogs in one store.  They peaked my curiosity, but seemed kind of expensive at $6 for a small bag.  Then, while grocery shopping, I found a fairly big bag of sweet potatoes for $2.99.  I bought them and googled to figure out how to dehydrate them.

It's dead easy:

1.  slice them about 1/4" thick (mandolins are handy for this!)
2. lay them out on a cookie sheet - no oil necessary 
3. put into a preheated oven at 250 for two hours
4. flip them over, then bake for another two hours.

I didn't think to take pics at the start.  This is after the first two hours.

This is after 4 hours

They shrink as they cook.  

I'd suggest doing at least a few cookie sheets' worth if you're going to run the oven for that long.

More importantly,  they passed the test.

Notice the poodle in the background.  

She snarfed her sweet potato chip too quickly for me to get photographic proof, 

and then thought she was entitled to Cotton's chip too.  

I'm not entirely sure if they'll do as good of a job at cleaning the dogs' teeth, but I'm told that much of Cotton's problem is his lack of chewing.  He chewed on these for almost as long as he normally chews on his dehydrated chicken, so hope it works.

New Seating for the Library

I spent much of Sunday trying to do  power shopping to close out my insurance claim from last summer.  After spending most of the morning doing tactical planning, I spent the afternoon hitting every single furniture or department store in town.   I wanted an ottoman, tuffet or a couple of floor cushions to replace some floor cushions that floated away.  After coming out empty handed that afternoon, I spent much of Sunday evening online, looking for something I could order.  I didn't find anything, so ended up deciding to buy a couple of really good pillows for my bed instead.

Tonight, I went out to replace a purse that was destroyed.  I ended up in a discount department store that I'd been in on Sunday, and didn't have any better luck with their purses today than I did with their ottomans.  Except, today there were new ottomans that caught my eye.  

Even better, those new ottomans reminded me of a clearance chair I'd seen at another furniture store on Sunday.    So, I bought it and crossed my fingers that the chair still hadn't sold (it hadn't).  The colours weren't quite as perfect as I remembered, but they're close enough.  So, I have a new chair and ottoman, curtesy of the insurance company.

Not only does this provide comfortable seating for the library, the style reminds me of my grandparents.  They always had Bergere Chairs in their house, so this reminds me of them.

The red is bold - I'm a little worried that it makes the room look Christmasy with the green dresser and picture mats - but I'll live with it for a while before change anything. I'm hoping that all the different colours of the books will tie things together.   Or, maybe I'll paint the dresser in a robin's egg blue.

And with the bright contrast his white hair, something tells me that Winter has found a new favourite seat.

If You Haven't Got a Penny...

The Canadian Gov't announced today that it will stop producing pennies in the fall.  Apparently, pennies cost more to produce than they are worth, so prices in Canada will be rounded up to the nearest nickel.  (YEAH!)

Coincidently, I have a penny collection... kind of.  I never really set out to collect pennies, I just find that they tend to fill up my wallet.   So, I got into the habit of going into my wallet every once in a while  and taking all the pennies out.  I don't know if I saved them, really, but once I got into the habit of setting them aside, I sort of got out of the habit of paying for things with pennies.  I usually end up paying with a larger coin and get pennies back.  

I started with a cup that I threw my pennies into at first.  It turned into a jam jar and then a mason jar.  Now I've got the pennies in a gallon-sized jar.  Just the other day, I was wondering how many pennies there were in there.  I don't expect they're worth all that much, but I've always figured that one day I'd cash them in and buy myself a treat.  Now, I'm thinking that they might be worth a little more if I save them for a while longer, until pennies are a thing of the past like the $2 bill.

For once, it seems that one of my mindless quirks might actually end up paying off.

Home Show Remorse

I went to the home show yesterday.  I love the annual home show, but I questioned the wisdom of going this year (when every spare penny is spoken for.)

While there, I bought a Magic Mesh Hands-free screen door.  Actually, I bought one and a friend bought one.  I wasn't going to buy one, but it's a lot cheaper to buy two than one, so she talked me into it.

Something was in the back of my head, telling me it was a bad idea, but I couldn't think of why.  So, I went for it.  Today, I opened the box to look at it, and very promptly said a string of four letter words.

There ain't no magic mesh that can contain a cat inside the house.  And Himself ain't no outside cat.

So, if you or anybody that you may know want a Magic Mesh hands-free screen door, let me know.  I have one available for cheap.

I also bought a mandolin, for cutting veggies, etc in the kitchen.  I'm pretty attached to my knives and, in general, I don't use many other cutting implements.  However, I wanted something to help me julienne carrots, etc, and thought I might also use it for salads/stir fries if it was as useful as the promos all said.

I brought my mandolin home and used it to dice some tomatoes, cucumber and bell peppers.  It mushed the tomato, and broke the pepper.  The cucumber was so long it was awkward to hold with the handle, so I ended up removing the safety handle, and promptly sliced a thin layer of skin off of the pad of my thumb.  It could be that the mandolin just requires more practice to be useful, but I suspect that I'll stick with my knives.

The more I think of it, the more I'm convinced that I probably should have skipped the Home Show this year.

An Informational Poll

I know what I should do in this situation, but curiosity has me wondering what other people would do.  I've been asking friends and family their opinions, and everybody seems to differ.

Back in February, I put myself on a strict budget for all variable expenses- food, car, entertainment, pets, clothes, etc.  I'm going to get my Line of Credit (LoC) paid off in two years if it kills me.  Then, if I find that I can maintain it, I'm thinking about keeping to that same budget and paying off the house that much faster.

Since I started living off the strict budget, I haven't always spent the full budgeted amount.  I'm actually surprised and pretty darned impressed with how much I've got left over, but I'm not sure what I should do with the extra.

Should I:

1. Spend it like fun money - it's my reward for staying within budget
2. Set it aside until I have enough for a Murphy Bed.  *** 
3. Put it on the LoC and leave it there
4. Put it on the LoC until I go to Italy, and then take it back as fun money for the trip
5. Add it into savings for the Italy trip.  (I've saved up enough for flights, hotels, food but not a lot of extras.)
6. Put it into a different savings account without earmarking what it's for

***  I told myself when I committed to this budget that I wouldn't do any fixes or changes to the house unless they addressed structural or safety issues.  However, my spare room - where I work all day - is jam packed and a Murphy bed would make things a lot more comfortable.  It's a want, not a need, but I know a skilled carpenter who is looking for work and willing to give me a deal.

I've already made up my mind, but I'll wait until I hear what you say before I tell you.

Appliance Fun

Good:  Yesterday, following instructions I'd found online, I took apart my washing machine to avoid a hefty repair bill.

Better:  Today, I put it back together again and it works.

Best:  Deep inside the bowels of the washing machine, I found money.