Thursday, October 12, 2017

What's Shaking



I finally took the tomatoes off the vine, I have been blessed with dozens and dozens of cherry tomatoes this year.  My plants are still blooming if you can believe it.  This is the latest I've been able to keep them on the vine but temperatures at night are getting low and I didn't want to lose any of them.  I am hoping to stall them getting ripe and expect to be able to take them into November.  The beefsteaks didn't do quite as well but still produced ok.  I have had to freeze a lot of them as couldn't give them away (friends all have their own) and there are only so many we can eat fresh.  After this picture was taken last Friday I pulled off 4 more as had to leave anything that was smaller than a quarter on the vine.  There are still at least 20 tiny tomatoes on the vine, I will leave them until the vines die off now although they don't show signs of wanting to do that.  

The title of this blog refers to an earthquake recorded yesterday off of Tofino on the other side of the island.  It was 2am so very few felt it but as always we are ever aware that the big one could be right around the corner.

 This is Buddy wondering where I am.  Hubby texted me this photo.  Mom and I were checking out our brand new hospital, only open 4 days when she had a bad fall getting out of the bathtub.  She ended up with a terrible concussion and a ton of bruises but thankfully no broken bones, that being the good part.  I like to see when my taxes pay for something worthy and our healthcare system and that hospital are two good examples.  We are very blessed in Canada with our healthcare, others in the world are not so lucky.  We got the absolute nicest doctor, she was fabulous. I spent the night with Mom Thursday due to the concussion but she was quite perky on Friday so I went back home.  Total bill for this emergency room visit was zero.  She didn't even need to pay for a prescription as was given two tylenol in hospital and everything else was covered under her healthcare.

This shot is at our local farm market.  I bought 10 kg of their carrots, they are only open a few more weeks and they have the sweetest carrots which kept in the fridge will last a couple of months without getting soft.  This pumpkin patch is pick your own.  They had lots of big ones left.  I also bought hubby some brussel sprouts, he loves them.  I don't like them but he tells me they were fabulous.

We enjoyed a really nice Thanksgiving dinner with some friends whom I had invited and Mom was able to make it, bruises and all.  I had bought a 16 pound turkey which I managed to get on sale for .97 cents a pound.  It was grade A, this is the first year I have been able to get a grade A turkey for less than $1.50 a pound. I usually just buy Grade B utility turkey but last year that cost .99 cents a pound so this was even cheaper.   It turned out perfectly, was probably the best turkey I've ever cooked.  Everyone ate and laughed lots.

I have been busy booking flights, booked our December trip to Edmonton and also booked one of my stepsons(S3 for son #3) at Christmas, all using points.  He had a new job and couldn't confirm what days off he gets at Christmas until this week.  Due to the flexibility of RBC avion points didn't have to shell out for a $700 ticket to get him here, paid $230 instead which was for tax and the $100 extra over their normal cap on the fare.  My Stepson that is in the military(S1) is also coming for Christmas but is booking his own ticket as the military will pay for that once he knows where he will be.

He has told us he is moving to Ottawa in the Spring, he met a girl there this summer and they are serious.  He will finish his contract in the military in February and then move, and wait until September to go to school in Ontario.  He wants to become a cop, the military was a stepping stone to do that and the schooling is the second part.  The money for schooling was saved years ago but he is responsible for his own living expenses so will be a reservist and likely get another part-time job until school starts next September.  So, it looks like seeing Ontario is in our future at some point.  We've always wanted to see Quebec and Montreal is so close to Ottawa that definitely will be in our future travel plans.

I have also been wheeling and dealing to try and get our Italy flights booked for May.  I found a seat sale but by the time the two adult kids(S2 & S3)who are going with us were able to confirm dates off work the sale was over.  At least now we know the dates so I can keep my eyes peeled for another sale, there will definitely be another one.  With four of us going we will not be booking hotels but will book an AirBNB, the first time I've done that.  We have been saving money like crazy for this, our number one savings goal so now that the money is saved the planning begins.  We will take the other 2 kids(S1 and D) on a European/large vacation adventure in future years when their lives and jobs permit.  We love to travel and want to share that with them, worth spending the money in our minds.  Save on the things that don't matter to spend on the things that do!

My grocery budget went off the rails this summer.  Going into October I am $365 over for the year.  Last month I ended up using $50 worth of PC points on over the counter meds when hubby got sick or I wouldn't have made the budget of $550.  In the end, even after using those points I ended the month at $545 so only had an extra $5 to take off the previous months overage.  I had hoped to save those points for December but had them available so used them to stay on September grocery budget instead.

We entertained more this summer with friends and family but mostly the overage is due to the fact that grocery prices just keep increasing. Oh well, I can only keep trying to stay on budget.  This month we will be eating down what is in the freezers as I need to defrost our large one as it got stuck partially open for a few hours and got a little frosty.  We did not lose any food as discovered it early enough and it runs really cold normally so things were still frozen rock solid.  I have $150 left in the month so will have to be ultra careful to stay on track.  In an effort not to waste any food I am about to eat the last piece of pumpkin pie (take one for the team?)for a midmorning snack :).  I did not bake it as was far too busy but for $5.99 the Costco pumpkin pie rules, it tastes pretty darn good too.

And that is what is shaking in our little corner of the world.  I am hoping for some quieter weeks ahead, both work and life wise.  We need to do some winter prep on the house and get some projects done.  Have a great weekend everyone!

21 comments:

  1. Glad your Mom is OK. At a certain age, it's best to replace the bathtub with a good shower. Getting in and out of a bathtub could be dangerous. As always, Prevention is the best cure and the best healthcare system.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She has bars to help her in and out of the bathtub, unfortunately replacement of it is not in the cards as it is a condo that we can't change that out - but we did some other things to help her out a bit

      Delete
  2. One Tylenol in the US would be $50.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That should be a crime and is the fundamental reason that no healthcare system in the States will likely be good for all people

      Delete
  3. Sounds like your doing just fine.
    Coffee is on

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Things are ok, everyone is upright (now lol) so any day that happens is a good day

      Delete
  4. Glad your Mum is okay, what a scare.
    What a cute picture of Buddy.
    That pumpkin field looks brilliant, I'd love to run through that - I'd also collect a couple on the way, I love spiced pumpkin soup, pumpkin dhal and South Indian pumpkin curry.
    I'm trying to look for flights at the moment and it's doing my head in, just when I think I've found a good price I look a bit closer and discover the plane stops three times on the way! xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You really have to look closely at those flights, often the cheapest ones come with a weird or extremely long stopover. I found one with an overnight in Iceland but it is so bloody expensive there and we can't see anything in just one day that that one got shot down

      Delete
  5. So glad you Mom is alright. Nice to have a new hospital nearby.

    We got one of those Costco pies and gave half to a neighbor. I didn't have any but Colin says it was very good.

    I wonder if we might end up in the same city in Italy at the same time come May.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are likely going around the 28th of April for 9 days but I don't quite know where we are going yet

      Delete
  6. Hallelujah for Canadian health care. When you hear some of the horror stories and older people worrying about health care in retirement, it makes you so appreciative of what you have doesn't it. Anna

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Definitely. Mom is a low income senior and other than her prescriptions we don't have to worry about her not going to the doctor for fear of the bills

      Delete
  7. I was actually considering a move to Canada the other day and I was telling hubby about where you live. The healthcare alone is worth putting up with winter weather. Glad mom got taken care of by a caring physician. Nice to hear.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My part of Canada is the mildest with hardly any snow and it rarely gets below freezing. It is so much easier to live here, even if you are in the lowest income bracket like my Mom is. We still have to pay for prescriptions, dental and visioncare but our basic healthcare rocks.

      Delete
  8. Thank goodness your mom is okay. It sounds like it was a worrisome time not only for her but you as well.

    Travel is definitely the way to learn how big, and how small our world truly is. I learned about a site I've never used - Google Flights - I don't believe you can actually book, but you can call the airline to arrange the flights (or your Avion or Airmiles provider). I checked it out for flights for January as a test as I'm planning a cruise in January 2019. Got some good results.

    Good luck with the planning! Your adult children are very fortunate in having parents who are so generous.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I started using google flights this year too! It sure is handy. We tried not to spoil them when they were younger and they have all grown into decent human beings who each is able to support themselves. We love travel, only took the kids on road trips when they were younger as it would have been a nightmare with all six of us otherwise.

      Delete
  9. When we lived in Los Angeles feeling an earthquake was quite common, but it's something you never get used to. The earth is supposed to stay put if you ask me. I just picked the last of my tomatoes this morning. All the rain was making the plan wither (sound funny but probably the soil was too saturated). I only grew Roma tomatoes this year. They turned out smaller than the ones in the grocery store so sere almost cherry tomato size in some cases. - Margy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My plants are starting to wither too but I figured as long as they still are partially alive I will leave them to try and get the few tomatoes on the vines to a size we can actually eat. I haven't felt a single earthquake since we moved here five years ago, then again all of them have been pretty small

      Delete
  10. So glad your mom's injuries weren't more serious though I know how tricky a concussion can be. Big sigh of relief eh? Here you are all busy planning trips again :) I loved this sentence in your post: "save on the things that don't matter to spend on the things that do!" I'd say we think along the same lines!
    Just heard from the other end of the country - my sister in PEI - that they had a hard frost last night so she's been busy harvesting as well. She's an amazing gardener, like my dad was. I didn't really inherit the green thumb unfortunately.
    I didn't have room to store my pumpkin tarts and apple tarts in the fridge so after a few days there were signs of mould. Darn. Not that I need the calories though :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't had much success here growing anything else except a few herbs but then again, I don't have a full garden, just a couple growing boxes down the side of the house. I'm glad the pie is gone, I don't need the calories either

      Delete
  11. Thank god your mom is fine!. In Canada we are really lucky to have our healthcare system. I love Buddy's picture. Such sweet face!

    ReplyDelete