Stupid, stinking, $&#@ing vehicles!

Our lovely 2003 Blazer, Benjamin is at 100,000 km.

Boris bought Benjamin when he was a brand new baby in 2003! He was smart and purchased him with 0% financing and Benjamin has been completely paid for since June 2008. Ever since then, we have been car-payment free. sweet!

Yesterday, we took Benjamin in for his 100,000km check-up. It included so many flushes and cleanings and rotations of stuff that I can't even list it all.

Then, at 9am I get a call from the shop. This can't be good right? Well, it wasn't. We had serious brake issues, suspension problems, other flushes needed...blah, blah, blah.

In the end...a disgusting $2,200 bill was waiting for me. $@#&!!!!

All I can do is tell myself...it's still cheaper than buying a new vehicle. sigh. I guess these things happen.

Unfortunately, I don't exactly have $2,200 sitting around. crap! So, I will be putting it on my HELOC for now. sigh.

I do have a payment plan all figured out though. Normally, we put $200 bi-weekly to the HELOC. The other day, I discussed that since my EI and CPP is paid up for the year that I would be tacking that onto the HELOC as well. That's another $150 bi-weekly. Finally, we put $275 bi-weekly into ING to pay for home and vehicle repair/upgrades. It's depleted right now due to my dental bill and last year's vehicle bills. So, I am going to stop the ING transfers and put that $275 right onto the HELOC for the next 8 paycheques (December 10th is the last date).

That means I will be putting a total of $625 onto the HELOC each and every bi-weekly pay period. It sucks but it needs to be done.

crap crap crap

First...and last camping trip of the year!

That's right. Boris and I have been quite the slackers this summer. We kept saying we should go camping but neither one of us got off our butts and did anything to make it happen...

until last week.

This weekend we are going camping! It will be my first time camping at the ocean...well within a very short trail to the beach. We aren't actually on the sand or anything as this is good old fashioned "drive-in" camping. weeeeee!

Unfortunately, due to the horrible fire season going on in BC, it is highly unlikely that the government will be lifting the fire ban. I guess it's stove camping for us. I'll miss the campfire and I'll continue to cross my fingers but with zero rain in the forecast for foreseeable future, I don't anticipate that it will be relaxed at all.

oh well

Time to get menu planning huh? Any favourite camping meals out there?

bye bye gym...

for Boris. After not going to the gym for 4 months straight...Boris finally quit. He quit the gym! I did my best not to nag him about HIS stuff and HIS memberships. It took him longer than it would have taken me but...he quit! That's an extra $40 a month saved. Yay

Plus, he is still riding his bike to work about 4 days a week so he's actually getting more exercise than he ever did from the gym. He is so not a gym guy.

Quitting can be a good thing.

Wendy is coming to visit!

My sister Wendy (you remember her right?) is coming the BC to visit me! She has never been to the city I live in so I'm excited to show her around. Hopefully she appreciates it as much as do.

Plus, she's bringing her boyfriend...shall we call him Peter (as in Peter Pan)? Yes, I think we shall.

So Wendy and Peter are going to be here for 5 nights! Oh the things I have planned.

Although, Wendy is about to go back to school and Peter has been working hard to save up some money to one day move out so we'll be doing things cheaply.

We'll do free outdoorsy stuff (of which there is lots to do) plus we will eat and drink at home quite a bit to save on eating out. Oh, and their accommodations are covered because they will be staying my in-laws for most of the time and here for a bit.

Should be a fantastic little vacation. Plus, it gives me an excuse to take a few days off work. :D

I picked a course!

Since I've decided to take a course for the GMAT exam I thought it was high time I booked one!

I decided on the $1,200 option that I would take as a live, on-line course. I will officially be in class starting on August 23. I will be "in class" every Monday and Wednesday for three hours in the morning for seven weeks! seven weeks! That's a heck of a lot of learning going on.

Of course, I talked to my boss about it and he is in full support. He said that since they couldn't afford to pay for the course (fiscal restraint and all that jazz) he could at least afford to give me the time to take the class. So I will actually be getting paid while learning. I will be sitting in my own home, looking at my own computer, learning...and getting paid!

Plus, for some random reason I thought to myself...I wonder if there are any discount codes online for this course. So I did some top secret sleuthing (aka googling a basic search) and voila! A code!

In the end (after stupid shipping costs) the $1,200 course actually cost me $1,116. Not too shabby huh? I wonder if this is something I can write off on my taxes...hmmmmm.

So, if anybody out there is going to take a Veritas Prep course...let me know and I can share the code AND my email address which would give you an extra $100 off!

I'm feeling good about this.

Home reno anybody?

Maybe some of you are handy people. I think I am. I am slowly learning tools and things but so far...pretty good.

If you were to ask Boris if he was handy what do you think he would say? If you think he would say "I sure am handy dandy" you would be right (ok, he wouldn't quite say it like that but you get the idea.

If you were to ask me if I thought Boris was handy...do you want to guess what my answer would be? It would be a diplomatic, "well, Boris sure thinks so". Translation: No, I do not think Boris is overly handy.

I don't think he is inept but for whatever reason...things often don't turn out quite right or if they do, there is alot of swearing and frustration involved.

So about two years ago he decided that he wanted to replace our kitchen dimmer switch. I have been good about persuading him to "hold off" for now. This past weekend, we could hold off no more! Boris wore me down and I agreed that we were smart people and certainly we could replace one dimmer with another dimmer right? right?

So, off we go to Home Hardware. We buy a fancy looking dimmer ($30), electrical tape ($2), an electrical checker thing-a-ma-jiggy ($15), some wire ($1), marettes ($3 - things to hold the wires together), and oily stuff ($4 - to keep the wires from sparking).

I know...I'm not very handy with proper names for stuff but hey...I know what I'm talking about at least.

We go home and attempt this job. Three hours later we put it all back together feeling proud of ourselves. We were very frustrated and weren't sure if we did it right but we think we did. We flip the power on and...NOTHING! In fact, our hallway lights were no longer working. grrrreat. Just my day.

Sigh, so I called an electrician to save us before we really did some damage. Plus, while he was here I also had him fix a microwave problem we had been having.

In the end, our cheap DIY job cost us $223 for the electrician and $55 for the parts (which did get used) for a total of $278.

Not exactly the cheapest home reno ever is it?

Remember the other day when I was talking about how sometimes it's worth it to pay an expert to do the job (the $2 seamstress). Well, this time I don't know the answer.

Yes, we called an electrician in the end but we still did use the parts that we purchased. IF we could have figured it out on our own it would have been cheaper. AND, we didn't actually damage anything by trying.

I might try this again in the future but maybe I'll start smaller. Are you handy?

Emergency fund is so close!

I am a mere few dollars away from meeting my second stage of Emergency Fund goals! Yay.

It was about a year ago (October 27, 2009 - my birthday to be exact) when I first discussed my emergency fund need. I didn't have one and with all my over-inflated ego, had never even thought to think that I might need an emergency fund. Those things were for other people. Not me. Nothing bad could happen to me.

Of course, Boris was then laid off his job. Granted, he was never actually a day without pay as he was able to line up another job rather quickly but it was still stressful. The uncertainty of it all.

Since then, I have been putting a bit of money into my tax free account at ING and have not touched a dime of it...not once!

I started with zero and made myself a few short(er) term goals:

1. $1,000
2. $2,500
3. $5,000
4. $10,000

It will take me a long time and I don't have an end date in mind. More of a "I'll get there when I get there" kind of attitude. I also assume that I will tack on higher figures as time goes on because well...life gets more expensive all the time doesn't it?

The point is...I am about to reach goal number 2!!!! Yay me! Pretty freaking exciting isn't it?

Where is your emergency fund at today? What is your ultimate goal?

Pay Day!

And guess what? I am totally finished paying my EI and CPP for the year!

Par-tay! Extra money in my pocket! Actually, it's extra money to my stupid dentist bill that I didn't know I owed. Although after 2 paycheques that will be gone and then I will start putting the extra bit onto my HELOC.

Hopefully Boris will be finished his taxes soon too so that we will have even more money to put on the HELOC.

I feel some serious momentum coming my way!

Happy Friday!

Did you say $2?

I bought a dress from Club Monaco last Christmas. It's a cute little summer t-shirt dress with buttons all down the front. It was actually from their summer 2009 line but I didn't see it until Christmas. By then, the $150 price tag was down to 50% off. Then, it went down to an additional 25% off the last price and then because a button had fallen off, I was able to get an extra 10% off. This brought the price down to $50.

Even better, I bought it slightly tight and told myself that by the summer of 2010, I would be able to wear it comfortably.

And I can! Yay!

Of course, as with many items I have purchased...it isn't quite right. In between two buttons, it seems to pucker a bit. Not because it's too tight but because the buttons are too far apart. It had to be fixed.

Yes, I know I could figure out how to put a new button hole into the dress but seriously....like I have that kind of time! It would probably take me 2 hours to figure out how it works. So, I caved and went to this fabulous tailor in my city. She is a friendly asian woman who knows very little english. She works out of her home in a cash only business.

I took my dress to her and explained what I wanted through a series of pointing and sign language and asked, "what will this cost?" I need to know how much cash to bring back on Thursday when I pick it up. her response was "two dollars". uh? I proceeded to clarify with her not once, not twice, but three times!!!

I just can't believe she is only going to charge me $2 for something that would have taken me hours to do myself!

I guess sometimes it really is worth paying for the expert. Let's hope she does it exactly as I want.

I could be rich!

All I have to do is sue somebody....Over the fabulous long weekend, I went to an awesome pig roast. Delicious.

Unfortunately, the homeowner's dog bit me.

Here's the story:

Boris and I were driving up to this house based on very poor directions. We had never met these people but my friend Jane had invited us anyways. We get to the house and Jane and her dog (Dalmatian) and another dog I had never met (Rottweiler) came outside to greet us. I bent over to the new dog to say hello. He sniffed my hand and licked me. I then reached out to pet him and he let me. As soon as my hand went onto his back, he glared at me. I then had that split second to decide what to do (kick him on the off chance he is going to bite me...or turn around and run away). In fact, all I had time to do was to turn my back to the dock who promptly bit my upper thigh. Right below my butt. Yes, indeed.

I actually had to say, "Boris, he bit me!" because it happened so quickly that Boris and Jane weren't even aware it had happened.

Apparently, Jane forgot to mention that this dog doesn't like to be pet on his back. well, thanks for the warning!!!! CURSES!

The rest of the day I had to deal with the questions and showing the bite, and so on. I also had to make the call...do I make a big deal out of it or not?

I chose not to. Ultimately, I am not permanently injured, it doesn't affect my livelihood, it's not disfiguring, and so on. It just sucks.

Although, I wish I could report it so it would be on record for when that dog bites somebody else. Apparently, I am at least the second person to be bitten by the dog.

I'm just so annoyed that the owners knew they had a dog with a history of bitting and they chose not to lock the damn thing up before people started arriving. There were about 80 people there eventually and trust me...if that dog didn't bite me, it wold have bitten somebody else.