Slacker

Clearly I need to write a post-it note to spend some time looking at this. Time seriously flies by!!

The kids are all back in to their activities (hockey, curling, swimming, piano) and back at school. I'm very grateful for the return of warm weather we're having, summer seemed like it ended so abruptly!

With the arrival of fall, Greg and I are feeling motivated to get organized too. Including reviewing our budget, making adjustments and plans for the coming year. It amazes me how so many costs have increase over the past two years, but also proud of the positive changes we've made. I'll see if I can link the spreadsheet we used to help us do our budget, I believe I found it on www.pinterest.ca a few years ago. It was very handy! If you have any tips on making your money go further, please leave a comment, I'd love to hear it :) One thing that has worked well for us is having "money jars" and using cash for everything (other than our bills that our automatically paid). It is a continual learning process for us! 💰


Abbey @ The Cards we Drew has a great looking budget download.
This blog has a spreadsheet that looks very similar to the one we used, check it out! 

Anticipation

Wow, I kind of forgot about starting this blog! I have since planned the trip for my husband's 50th birthday surprise and am looking so forward to that.  Life has been busy this year with a couple of trips (Disney World - a first for all 5 of us plus my step-mom, and an unplanned trip to London England where me and the kids flew to meet Greg for a week while he was out that way with work), kids activities (my son and his team won the Banner for the atom gold division they competed in, woot!!), and great times at our cabin in Ontario. We are nearly done finishing our projects at the cabin too. We only have a few small items (bathroom finishes and some trim in the bedrooms) left to complete. I can't wait until it's done! After that we can start thinking about building a bunkie for some extra space for guest/kids.
I created a couple of things for decor in our house that I am super happy with as well. I made a huge family sign (with old wood from a fallen ice shed at our cabin) and have used some driftwood to add some interest to a vase in the living room. Next I'd like to figure out what to do with another wall in that room, something a bit rustic and three-dimensional. I need to think on that for a while but have been collecting ideas on pinterest for a while now.
Thanks for reading, and we'll see how long it is until I take fingers to keyboard again! Happy Labour Day weekend to all :)

Cold as ice

Anyone else wondering why we live here?  I'm questioning that this week.  I know overall it's a fabulous place to live and fits well with my low-risk tolerance level, but I can't help but want to go somewhere warm for a couple of weeks! I'm planning to take my husband somewhere next winter for his birthday so if anyone has recommendations please pass them on!  The only prerequisite is it has to be somewhere warm 😎 As 2017 comes to a close, I am thinking about all that I am thankful for as well. It's been a great year, the kids are enjoying their activities and we are all looking ahead to 2018 and all it has to offer. I am also SUPER grateful that the days are getting longer now, I am so not a fan of all this darkness. Thanks for reading, happy new year to you 📣