A Belated Happy New Year!
Once again, things have been so busy that there just hasn't been a lot of time to update my journal. One of the biggest problems is that the connection from the farmhouse is flakey at the best of times, and by the time I get home at "sometime after midnight" I'm really not in the mood to deal with that. So my updates are often left until Friday nights when I can sneak some time in after hours at the shop.
As I mentioned in earlier posts, Mom came to see us on the farm for Christmas. She stayed until just yesterday (January 3rd) though she had originally planned to head home sooner. I'm glad she stayed longer, and I wish she could have stayed longer yet, but she's got things happening back in Calgary that she needs to take care of too. I'll be in Calgary myself in just overa week anyway for a training session with Kohler engines. While Mom was here, one of the most important things we did was to get an RESP set up for Marian and Elizabeth; We did that on December 28th, to make sure we got it in before the yearly deadline of December 31st. Mom got the ball rolling with a substantial investment, and we will be setting things up for monthly installments hereafter. The government has a tax-credit of $100 per child per month for the first few years (five, or six I think?) and we will be dumping those funds directly into the RESP to get it built up as much as we can. Like an RRSP, the more you can invest earlier, the more it will grow down the road.
The Shawnee - Shaunavon's chinese restaurant - had a smorg on New Year's, and Mom treated us to that. The town also had a bonfire and fireworks display, but there was an incredible wind roaring through and we decided to just head back to the farm instead. Surely, we thought, they wouldn't be launching fireworks in such a wind. Apparently they did though, and from what I've heard it was a pretty good show. Sorry to have missed it, but to us is wasn't worth the risk of getting stuck somewhere. As it was, several times we had to slow down almost to a standstill because the wind was whipping up so much snow that it was creating white-out conditions! There wasn't any new snow coming down, this was just the stuff that the wind was whipping up off the ground!
Business has been quiet at the shop this week, and darnnear dead at the bowling alley. It's to be expected right after the holidays, but I'm hoping it picks up again quickly - bills wait for no one! I have a customer coming in to pick up his generator tomorrow afternoon, and he said he's going to pay in cash. This is good, as I was a little leery of the idea that he might want to pay by cheque. Cash is always good though, so long as the ink is dry! ;)
One of the members of the Shaunavon branch of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation came by on Wednesday to see if we could donate anything for their auction fundraiser. We donated a gift certificate for the bowling alley, which is worth a little over $25.00. The Federation is sort of like a smaller version of Ducks Unlimited - amoung the many things they do is buy up land to keep as wildlife reserves, and apparently this branch has also been working on a Trout Pond just outside of town. I had heard rumours about it just a few days prior, and now I know more of the story. It's a 10-acre park, landscaped with trees, a cookhouse, porta-potties, picnic tables, and (of course) the trout-pond. Anyone can use the facilities for free, and there's no charge to fish either! Because it's privately owned, you don't even need a license to fish there! I'd like to think that people who do use it would donate to the Federation, or take out a membership. A family membership is only $27 a year, so we signed up for one. One of my main reasons for joining was to get some firearms training, which I'd really like to have before purchasing a rifle.
On New Year's Day, I got on to the scale to see how bad things had gotten, and it was not good. I knew I had packed a few pounds back on, and I suspected I'd gained a few more over the holidays, but this was worse than I had expected: 337.6 pounds! GEEEEZE! This is the second-worst I've ever been, and I've been forcing myself to cut way back on the munching (and portion sizes) as a result. The immediate result is that I'm tired, hungry, and cranky! I'll get over it though, and the main goals for this year are to get my weight and my debts back under control. The debts should be easier - trixstir and I will be meeting with the bank later this month to see about getting a consolidation loan to get rid of our credit-cards. The weight will be harder, but I am determined to get rid of it - I'm 43 now, and I really don't want to die in my 60's, let alone before then! Eating less isn't that hard, the harder part is getting some physical exercise. That was easy when I worked at the Co-op gas-bar; it was constant, low-level activity. Here at the shop, there's very little activity (mostly sitting or standing, but not much moving) and that's been part of the problem. Somehow, I've got to fit in an exercise regimen to an already over-crowded day to get back into a healthy shape. Round may be a shape, but it's not a healthy one. :/
It's a new year, a new start, and filled with all kinds of possibilities! Let's see what comes of it!
As I mentioned in earlier posts, Mom came to see us on the farm for Christmas. She stayed until just yesterday (January 3rd) though she had originally planned to head home sooner. I'm glad she stayed longer, and I wish she could have stayed longer yet, but she's got things happening back in Calgary that she needs to take care of too. I'll be in Calgary myself in just overa week anyway for a training session with Kohler engines. While Mom was here, one of the most important things we did was to get an RESP set up for Marian and Elizabeth; We did that on December 28th, to make sure we got it in before the yearly deadline of December 31st. Mom got the ball rolling with a substantial investment, and we will be setting things up for monthly installments hereafter. The government has a tax-credit of $100 per child per month for the first few years (five, or six I think?) and we will be dumping those funds directly into the RESP to get it built up as much as we can. Like an RRSP, the more you can invest earlier, the more it will grow down the road.
The Shawnee - Shaunavon's chinese restaurant - had a smorg on New Year's, and Mom treated us to that. The town also had a bonfire and fireworks display, but there was an incredible wind roaring through and we decided to just head back to the farm instead. Surely, we thought, they wouldn't be launching fireworks in such a wind. Apparently they did though, and from what I've heard it was a pretty good show. Sorry to have missed it, but to us is wasn't worth the risk of getting stuck somewhere. As it was, several times we had to slow down almost to a standstill because the wind was whipping up so much snow that it was creating white-out conditions! There wasn't any new snow coming down, this was just the stuff that the wind was whipping up off the ground!
Business has been quiet at the shop this week, and darnnear dead at the bowling alley. It's to be expected right after the holidays, but I'm hoping it picks up again quickly - bills wait for no one! I have a customer coming in to pick up his generator tomorrow afternoon, and he said he's going to pay in cash. This is good, as I was a little leery of the idea that he might want to pay by cheque. Cash is always good though, so long as the ink is dry! ;)
One of the members of the Shaunavon branch of the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation came by on Wednesday to see if we could donate anything for their auction fundraiser. We donated a gift certificate for the bowling alley, which is worth a little over $25.00. The Federation is sort of like a smaller version of Ducks Unlimited - amoung the many things they do is buy up land to keep as wildlife reserves, and apparently this branch has also been working on a Trout Pond just outside of town. I had heard rumours about it just a few days prior, and now I know more of the story. It's a 10-acre park, landscaped with trees, a cookhouse, porta-potties, picnic tables, and (of course) the trout-pond. Anyone can use the facilities for free, and there's no charge to fish either! Because it's privately owned, you don't even need a license to fish there! I'd like to think that people who do use it would donate to the Federation, or take out a membership. A family membership is only $27 a year, so we signed up for one. One of my main reasons for joining was to get some firearms training, which I'd really like to have before purchasing a rifle.
On New Year's Day, I got on to the scale to see how bad things had gotten, and it was not good. I knew I had packed a few pounds back on, and I suspected I'd gained a few more over the holidays, but this was worse than I had expected: 337.6 pounds! GEEEEZE! This is the second-worst I've ever been, and I've been forcing myself to cut way back on the munching (and portion sizes) as a result. The immediate result is that I'm tired, hungry, and cranky! I'll get over it though, and the main goals for this year are to get my weight and my debts back under control. The debts should be easier - trixstir and I will be meeting with the bank later this month to see about getting a consolidation loan to get rid of our credit-cards. The weight will be harder, but I am determined to get rid of it - I'm 43 now, and I really don't want to die in my 60's, let alone before then! Eating less isn't that hard, the harder part is getting some physical exercise. That was easy when I worked at the Co-op gas-bar; it was constant, low-level activity. Here at the shop, there's very little activity (mostly sitting or standing, but not much moving) and that's been part of the problem. Somehow, I've got to fit in an exercise regimen to an already over-crowded day to get back into a healthy shape. Round may be a shape, but it's not a healthy one. :/
It's a new year, a new start, and filled with all kinds of possibilities! Let's see what comes of it!