Homemade with love.

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day and celebrated it  fully. We made all of the classroom valentines in the week leading up to the day using my scrapbooking supplies. I am realizing I use them much more for cards than I ever do for photos. I also made an apple crumble pie, which was amazing with whipped cream for dessert. Hubby took care of dinner, steak and prawns and spoiled me rotten with roses and chocolates. I am truly blessed to have so much love in my life.



We have also had a new baby born in the family on Valentine's day. I won't share her photo here because she is a second cousin but let me tell you, she is some cute. I had the opportunity recently to snuggle a newborn baby during a baby shower at work, The baby slept on my chest while the parents opened their gifts and had cake. They were glad for the break and I relished in the chance to have a warm baby sleep on me for well over half an hour. There is nothing better in this world than to hold a new born baby. Never pass on the chance to hold one if it comes up.

Clutterfly

I have some trouble with clutter, I always have. I guess I have a difficult time throwing things away that may be useful. I have no problem throwing broken, useless things a away. Anything that may have a future use, however, that is a different story. This becomes a huge problem when you live in a tiny space. This container is just a small example of things that I don't know where they go and I can not get rid of. These things end up in the funniest places and the randomness of them is at times overwhelming to me. I so wish I was one of those people who got up early, opened a drawer and found exactly what they needed, clean and in it's proper place. These wonders elude me. So, while under the guise of "organizing" which always ends up with me making even more of a mess, I photograph my chaos and call it art.

Cleaning it up occasionally actually saves me money because I do not buy new things, but always, halfway through cleaning I get distracted and begin another art project. In this case it was a blog post, complete with photos. I think I`d like to blame my Grandma for this, her post war habits were passed down to my mother and now to me. A ball of string represents a useful thing that must never be parted with. I need to have an attitude of abundance, where I needn`t worry that there will not be enough..
 Maybe next lifetime.
 In this one, I`m a keeper of things, a guardian of goobledegook, a champion of chachkes.
Could be worse.

Beating the February Blahs

 I admit it. I don't like winter very much, I find it tough to get going out of bed, to eat anything that doesn't have chocolate in it and especially to do anything remotely physical. So, when I was asked to play broomball in the winter carnival tournament, I didn't really want to at first. I mean, run in the street with a broom after a ball? In minus twelve degree weather? It turned out to be super fun and a great way to bond with my new co-workers and clients. It also warmed me up and  made me smile. We played against BMO and their team was pretty good. There was a rule that two females had to be on at a time and luckily we had four girls on our team, the Mainstreet Maniacs. We could spell off. Since I am an ex- smoker

(and did I mention my fondness for chocolate?) let's just say I was so happy to be able to switch off when I couldn't run any more! We played hard and with spirit and gave them a run for their money in the first half, scoring two goals right away. Then they got one in and then we got another in. In the second half they owned us, and we finished 6-3. At the end, everyone had rosy cheeks and a feeling of accomplishment and team work. If that doesn't warm the heart in the coldest of months, I don't know what will.

January wind up.

Do you ever sell things online? I know I like to buy things online, so I thought I would give it a shot selling things. Sometimes I sell the things I bought but didn't need. It all started long ago with a slipcover for my recliner. I paid about $40 for it, used it once and then it sat in the closet for like a year because I didn't know what to do with it. Finally, I put it on Craigslist and it sold the very next day for half of what I originally paid. Not bad! So, now, I am trying a few things around the house: new shoes that were worn once or twice, costume jewellery, and, uh, vintage 50's lingerie. Well, one woman's junk is another woman's treasure, as they say. I think of it as holding a virtual garage sale. Since I have no where to do that, this is my solution. I have started the New Year trying to find little ways of bringing in extra cash and this is one of them. Sure, it's peanuts, but if I save the peanuts, then I have enough for peanut butter. I'm also collectiong coupons again, we'll see. Coupons can end up costing me money if I am not very careful. I have a goal for all my meagre earnings, they are going into my vacation fund. I robbed the jar a couple of times last year when I was desperate, but I am vowing not to do it anymore because I really want to go somewhere next year! We also have a goal of buying a new couch and we are very close to having enough saved. It feels so much better paying for things when you have the money than putting them on credit. I don't want to pay for my couch or vacation twice or three times over. Been there, done that. Work has been picking up lately as well, which I hope will help me grow a debt snowball this year. So, I'm off to a good start and I think I will keep up the good work.