Resurfacing

I took a little unexpected blogging break there but everything is fine here.  I have just spent the last 10 days trying to improve my mental health and not get so involved in total world chaos via the media. 

I bought two gigantic pots of mums for either side of our garage ($12 per pot at Costco) which immediately increased the happiness factor. Mums are so hardy and they look absolutely beautiful.  These will likely last until November as we don't usually get any frosts until then. 

The weather has finally changed here, no more steaming hot days.  We have even got a bit of rain which is still a blessing after our long extremely hot dry summer.  No more AC on and no heat either, that lovely time of year when temperatures are nice and moderate.  Our leaves are falling off trees, not because of frost but because of lack of water and the fact they know fall is coming.  I've taken lots of walks, read, cooked and baked taking full advantage of the cool-off.  

I found this cute little clay owl that someone lovingly made for their Mom (it says I love you Mom on the back).  On the sides are tiny little crooked lines to represent wings.  It has an opening at the top which I think is for toothpicks.  As I keep it on the window sill overlooking my kitchen sink it currently lives with all the tomatoes that are still ripening.  He makes me happy and my cash outlay was a whopping 10 cents.  I have a menagerie of other creatures that live on the ledge with him that I will share one day, all found for pennies at the thrift store as well.

banana pinneapple spice muffins for yesterday's brunch

Our business is booming again, always full throttle at this time of year.  Hubby worked all weekend but as I was waiting on him to write a presentation that I will produce I went with Mom garage saling on Saturday.  There are three kinds of garage sales. Those that think their stuff is worth retail prices, those that really have nothing to sell (or even donate for that matter) and those that just want to move the stuff at decent prices.  We only found garage sales of the first two types.  I bought 4 books and Mom bought one, we spent a whopping $2 total.

Saturday night hubby and I went to Ribfest which is a fundraiser for an organization he used to belong to.  That is the primary reason we went.  We came home $85 lighter out of pocket and determined that hubby's ribs might possibly be much better than he thinks they are, something that we have been telling him that all along.  I am not sure we will go again but it was nice to get out of the house together.  Next time I would rather just make a cash donation.

Yesterday I cleaned the entire house from top to bottom and cooked a meal for two days so that no cooking needs to be done today.  I was preparing for what I know is going to be a very non-stop week for both of us work-wise.  I am glad my new fit bit shows calories burned as housework is hard work but short on steps.  After the entire cleaning I was only at 4000 steps so ended up going on the treadmill to make up the rest of my 10,000.  It was a stormy windy rainy day so walking Buddy was out of the question as he was busy taking long warm naps.  He hates rain and hates wind even more so he just enjoyed a nice quiet day.  Housework can be challenging to accomplish weekdays due to hubby's internet conferencing so usually I just do it in bits and pieces at the end of the day or on weekends when he is not trying to talk to clients.

Last month I downgraded our cable, shaved off $30 per month.  I would get rid of it altogether but hubby disagrees so for now we still have basic cable plus the news channels and Netflix.  We both watch far more Netflix than anything.  We don't have Hulu in Canada as access is blocked (there are illegal workarounds) so are kind of limited as to what we can watch at low prices.  We both enjoy the news channels but this weekend I had had enough and instead turned everything off and just read instead.  The only Netflix watching was while on the treadmill (watching Hinterland, a BBC series).

Tomorrow I have my annual dentist appointment and tooth cleaning.  I love it how dentists came up with a plan to bill more by telling people they need to have their teeth cleaned twice a year.  When I was a kid it was only once a year.  People's teeth have gotten much better since then, so I still only go once a year unless I have an issue.  They are trying to do maximum billings on people's benefit plans but as we pay as we go I stop them when they even try and book another appointment six months down the road.  Anyway, I fully expect to be out of there $300 later but the money is saved in a health account so I will charge it to the credit card to accumulate points then pay it off immediately.  My next move is going to get my eyes checked as I know they have changed and I need new glasses.   The current glasses I wear are six years old, purchased right before I quit my job and moved to Vancouver Island on a work benefit plan.  No one on the planet needs new glasses every year either unless your eyes are changing that much - then you have far more serious issues at hand.

And that has been life here at the island pad, just trying to keep all the company balls in the air and living the good life at the same time.  Have a great week everyone!