Things I want to start doing (again) once we move

• Baking my own bread - need to find a good whole grain recipe
• Sewing - quilts, aprons
• Knitting, crocheting, cross-stitch
  
• Painting (watercolours, not walls)
  
• Baking cookies & granola bars for J's snacks
• Cooking from scratch more often
• Cooking ahead - batch cooking - meatballs etc...
• Thrift shopping
• Getting on the treadmill at least every other day
• Spend some time each day on hand crafts (knitting, sewing, cross-stitch etc)
  

Shopping trip - not frugal

Today J & I took the bus to the mall. We went to see Nancy Drew - but more on that later.

So we got there at about 10:30am and had breakfast (if you can call it that) at McDonald's.

Then we bought a $30 gift card & a card for my nephew's birthday on Saturday.

Next we went to Payless shoes and got J two pair of running shoes, one pair of beige Airwalks and a pair of black hightops - both for school ($45).

Next store - we got J a new khacki and cammo back back and lunch bag ($40).

Then we bought J a pair of sunglasses, a wallet and a studded wristband (do you see a theme here?)($25).

We also bought Kernel's Jalapeno Jack popcorn to take into the movie with us. ($12)

Then we went to see Nancy Drew, which was actually pretty good but it was constantly out of focus and I complained when it was over, as did the other 8 people in the movie and we got free movies passes - so we spent $10 but have a free movie to see sometime soon.

After the movie we went to Zellers where I bought a summer purse, a pair of slip on shoes (that ended up killing my feet), a breezy turquoise scarf, a pair of denim shorts and a floppy hat ($98).

Then we had some time to kill before K picked us up on the way home from work. So J spent some time in the video store and ended up finding a PS2 game for $9 (resale) so he got that too.

By that time I was bushed - so we sat and waited for K outside.

On the drive home we stopped at the grocery store to get nacho ingredients for tomorrow's dinner and at Blockbuster for a couple movies.

K may be going out of town tomorrow afternoon, so J and I planned a movie night.

What I have accomplished over the past two days

I've packed:

• 3 boxes of books
• J's fall clothes
• good dishes
• roasting pans and dishes rarely used
• board games

called the following to change hookups & addresses

• hyrdo (needed to change to new provider too)
• gas (K had to do this one as it is in his name - changed to include me)
  
• phone (new number too)
• cancelled CIBC Visa
• mailing direct deposit change to child tax benefit
• water & sewer
  
• sears

Still to do today:

• finish laundry and put it all away
• make dinner for J and I from pantry, K will have leftovers
• see what else I can pack tonight
  

My weekend in review - Harry Potter!

Well on the spur of the moment on Wednesday night, we decided to invite my Mother in law over for the weekend.

My husband drove there on Thursday evening to pick her up - he called ahead of time to let her know he was on his way (that was about 6:45pm) -it is about an hour's drive. He came home 3.5 hours later with her. When he got there they were just sitting down to dinner and although she had told him on the phone when he called that she was packed and ready to go, it took her another half an hour to get ready after dinner. This kind of thing really bugs me - why can't people respect other people's time.

On Friday at noonish, I had my first ever (and hopefully my last) root canal - it actually wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. It was not painful and I didn't have any pain after the freezer wore off. I have to go back next Friday to have the temp filling replaced with a perm one.

So anyway, we had a nice enough time with her here - her memory seems to be slipping a bit - the evening she arrived, we showed her the flyer and computer pictures of our new house explaining what each room would be used for etc...

Then on Friday, she picked up the flyer of the new house, studied it awhile and said she liked the stairs int he picture - she asked if I liked stairs. I said I wouldn't have bought that house if I didn't. She looked surprised and said "What this house? You bought this house?" She thought it was just something we got in the mail. She had completely forgotten our conversation from the night before.

I also got my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows delivered to my door on Saturday - it wasn't there when I first got up (as the last one had been) but was there when we came back from breakfast out.

I read the entire book over the weekend finishing it last night at about 11pm - it was really good and tied up a lot of loose ends nicely. The spoilers I had read on Friday evening were mostly false.

My mother in law offered to give me a bunch of fabric (I requested only cotton), she said she has several boxes, some not opened for several years (we shall see what is still usable). She is not able to do any sewing living at her daughter's place, as she only has her bedroom which does not have enough space. She will bring me some of these fabrics once we move into the new house. I really want to get back into quilting again, I will have more space to do it in there as well.

Friends of our's got me 6 pints of raspberries on Sunday - Yummy! I love fresh raspberries. I have just been eating them plain. Two pints finished so far.

On Thursday I made mexicalli chicken with pasta.
Friday my MIL made a salad made of salt cod for her and K, J had KD and I made a pasta salad for myself.
Saturday was chicken skewers and shrimp skewers with grilled vegetables and bruscetta.

On Sat I also made a pork tenderloin curry for Sunday's dinner. It was a bit spicy. Oh ya, we also had corn on the cob.

K took his mom home on Sunday evening - her daughter goes back to work on Monday and my MIL watches the kids.

I am really itching to get back to doing some quilting and sewing but that will have to wait at least another month or so.

We will probably being having friends down on the labourday weekend (as K has already invited them) I wasn't planning on it as it will only be that we move in two weeks earlier. We will also have to buy a double bed for the guest room sooner than I had anticipated. Oh well.

I have several To Dos for today:

• laundry
• pack clothes that MIL brought for J that do not fit yet
• pack at least one other box
• wash dishes
• repack my water colour box

Mortgage mania

Ok back in May when we decided to move, I called the bank to see how much of a mortgage we qualified for. Our regular mortgage person was very busy and gave us the name of a different mortgage specialist to contact, which I did.

At this point we didn't know how much our house would sell for nor what the new house would cost (cuz there wasn't a new house at the point yet), so we played around with the numbers and came up with what we qualified for - great!

So fast forward, a month and a bit later - we find a house we want to put an offer in on - I call the mortgage specialist back, give her the details (my agent has also faxed her all the required paperwork) and ask if she can let me know what mortgage payments would be (at this point we still haven't sold our house). She starts telling me the mortgage amount and I realize these are the same numbers she gave me back in May, wait I said, this is what you told me our payment would be with a mortgage 20K more (just the numbers we played with) then we actually need for this new house. Oh, she said, it must be a computer error. She said she would look at the numbers again and mail them to me. Um you mean email right? Oh ya I guess I could email them to you. Huh? At the end of this call she says "Oh ya I need the address of the new property", "ummm didn't my agent fax you all that?" "Oh did he, oh ya I guess he did, OK"

So I wait - she never emails it to me. I call her again to get the new numbers. She says to call her again once our house sells to firm up the numbers.

My real estate agent calls her because the offer we made is conditional on financing and since she is charge of that - he requested a commitment letter stating that we do indeed have financing. She took this to be a ridiculous request and pretty much said so, then called me to tell me to tell me that my agent is requesting personal information from her. I explained that he just needed something in writing stating that we had been pre-approved for the mortgage so he could remove that condition from our offer - following me so far?

So she finally sends him the commitment letter.

Our house finally sells. I decide to call the original mortgage specialist. I tell her I am not confident with this other one. She says no problem, that she will handle everything for us, she has to handle the bridge financing anyway. She has a copy of our file. The closing date for the new house is listed as Aug 15th. It has never been Aug 15th. I don't know where that number came from. Yet another mistake. So she sets up an appt with us for today - she wants copies of both the offers etc...

We go in today. She take the copies and pretty much says we are done. Wait, I thought you were going to handle the mortgage, our final numbers have changed and we need to refigure them. She says no, the other specialist will do that. So why the hell are we here? No reason really. We could have waited till a week befor our closing to deal with the bridge loan. My husband left work to come do this - he is not pleased. A stupid waste of time. And I still have to deal with the other incompetent mortgage specialist!

Sold the house!

We signed the papers today and after the inspection, it will be final on Monday.

Woo Hoo! I finally have my house back to myself.

No more having to make the beds each morning, no more not cooking so the house won't smell and so we won't have any dishes in the sink, no more having to wash, dry and shine the sink each and everyday - sometimes more than once, no more vacuuming the room 4 times a day (just to get the few pieces of lint), no more telling the kid to not touch any of his things in case he messes up the room.

And finally, no more having to leave the house at a moments notice because some stranger wants to look at it.

All done! Yah!

So now I have to get back to cooking, using up food from our freezers and pantry, and also get back to my packing.

Tonight dinner was from the freezer, a chicken lasagna for K & I and pizza bagel bites for the kid.

I have a bunch of bananas in the freezer that I am going to turn into muffins soon.

I also have to start contacting utilities to change our address.

Lots to do - 5 weeks to do it all.

Works for Me Wednesday -Frozen Shrimp

I like to keep a bag of frozen peeled raw shrimp in the freezer for quick meals.

We are trying to sell our house and it is hard to plan meals when we don't know if we will be having a house showing or not - we are usually given only 2 hours notice.

For that reason, I don't often plan dinner - we have ended up going out so often the past month, I am sick of eating out.

So for a quick easy meal with little planning, I take out enough frozen shrimp for us, put it in a bowl of cool water to thaw, boil some angel hair pasta, and heat up a jar of alfredo sauce.

Once the shrimp is thawed, I sautee some diced onion and garlic and throw in the shrimp till cooked.

Pop the drained pasta on the plate, add sauce and shrimp- viola quick dinner!

Works for me - for more great tips, pop over to Rocks In My Dryer.

Tuesday

Less than a week left to sell the house. Had one viewing last night, there was on scheduled for this morning, but they cancelled and our agent is bringing someone by tomorrow at noon.

We all got up early this morning - K dropped J & I off at the community centre at about 7:45am so J & I could go swimming. Just us and a bunch of lil old ladies bobbin around the ppol. We stayed about an hour then left, got changed and waited until the library opened at 10am.

Got a couple more novels, and then walked home - stopped on the way to get J some Benydril - his hands are itching again.

Came home and read some more. Nice lazy summer day.

Friday

So yesterday I get this extreme toothache - I actually called the dentist - who wasn't in but I made an appt for today.

Before that happens, my real estate agent shows up - he has just checked out the house across the street that went up for sale last week - it sold today - the people who came to see our house last night bought it. And the house on Avondale that has been for sale for a month or so sold last week. The house across the street is smaller than ours but has bigger bedrooms (our's has the family room), had hardwood floors and a finished basement and was 5K less than our's. I probably would have picked that one too.

So we have dropped our price yet again.

So next comes my dentist appt - I need a root canal - great - I am on antibiotics for 5 days and then get a root canal done on Wednesday.

I don't know how soon the new house price will be listed but I really hope we get some prospective buyers in this weekend - I hope we get an offer next week actually.

We now have 10 days to sell the house or our offer on the other house is null and void.

Didn't do much else today except read cheap romances and eat too much. We did Swiss Chalet for dinner - did Montana's last night - spending way too much on food these days.

But it will all be over soon - I know it will and life can get back to normal and I can get back to packing.

Wednesday

Haven't done much today. Rainy yucky day. Only drank two cups of water so far. Had two cups leftover spaghetti with sausage. Two pcs whole grain toast with marg. One rice crispy treat. One coffee & one tea. Just finished 16 minutes on the treadmill.

J has his friend over to play video games.

Been surfing my blogs, reading a bit and watching TV.

Have a chiro appt tonight - it has been about 2 months since I have been - I really need an adjustment.

ETA: I managed to drink another 4 cups of water and will make myself drink two more before bed. Not sure why it is so hard to drink today. I was once in the habit of drinking 1.5 litres (6 cups) of water before 8:30am - it was while I was working, I would bring a 1.5 litre bottle of water to work - get there at 7:30am and make myself drink it by 8:30am. I did well - I filled it up again and drank another at least by the end of the day, often more.

I had a bowl of chicken noodle soup for dinner and 2 pcs of whole grain bread with marg.

I had my chiro appt - my neck feels so much better. I think it is caused by all this looking down for my new laptop. I will have to work on correcting that.

K had to get a new toilet handle tonight, I got him to pick up a couple tennis rackets and balls while there. I want J & I to try playing tennis. I could use the exercise.

While they did that, I went to the grocery store. Wow they do not have much selection there on a Wednesday night.

I bought:

• red leaf lettuce
• cucumber
• cauliflower
• 4 kiwi
• tomatoes
• frozen shrimp
• frozen pollack fillets
• bananas
• celery
• shelled sunflower seeds
• almonds
• deli turkey
• deli ham

Tomorrow I will eat healthy.
I can make some eggs with feta and tomato for breakfast.
For lunch a salad with romaine and leaf lettuce, cucumber, tomato, sauted shrimp, feta and low fat dressing.
Dinner can be pollack baked in the oven with garlic and onions, roasted cauliflower and maybe more salad.

For snacks I will have celery, banana or something like that.

I am going to eat better. I am going to lose weight.

Tuesday

So far today I have had one coffee, with stevia, 1% milk and some coffee creamer. 2 cups of water. 2 cup of mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries) with honey & lemon juice.

We have two weeks left to sell this house.

ETA: 4 more cups of water. 1 cup of leftover lentils & rice, 2 pcs whole grain bread, mayo, fried egg (in EVOO), 1.5 slices ham bacon sandwich, rice crispy square.

Inspiration

It can't hurt.

Holiday Monday

So not a lot happening today - I have laundry to do, as usual.
So I did my 15 mins on the treadmill yesterday. I still have to do it today, but the boys have gone to the school to practice soccer so I will wait until they get back - I don't like getting on when no one is home in case the phone rings or some other stupid reason.

So I have been reading all these weight loss blogs and one says that I am supposed to be drinking half my weight in ounces of water - I thought I was doing well when I managed to get in 3! So I still have a ways to go. (For my non-Canadian readers, there are 4 cups in a litre - so I need to drink 20 cups of water each day!)

You know one thing I noticed while browsing the many many weight loss blogs out there? While dieting or trying to lose weight, we focus WAY too much on food - I mean as soon as I decide I am going to attempt to lose weight, I start planning meals. The entire time I am trying to n ot eat as much, all I think about is food, what I should eat next, what I shouldn't. Way too much attention and focus on food. I wish I could focus on exercise instead but I am just not there yet - I will do my treadmill time but not sure what other exercise I will be incorporating.

So, so far today, I have eaten, 1 cup of taco rice & lentils (reheated from last night), a handful of tortilla chips (ya I know), and a choco banana muffin. Oh and a coffee, I used stevia and coffee sweetener instead of sugar (there is sugar in the sweetener but less then if I just used sugar yanno?)

I have downed only 3 cups of water so far - and it is 11am. Gotta get gluggin! Wow to drink 20 cups of water each day I have to average 1.7 cups of water every hour - either that or I have to get up earlier :)

ETA: 4pm I am now up to 9 cups of water. I have also eaten another muffin, had a homemade cafe mocha, a cup of edamame, and about a dozen bites of sausage spaghetti sauce. Now I am feeling full and will save the spaghetti sauce for dinner tomorrow night instead.

Dear Mr. President

Another one by Pink that really gets to me.

Pink - U And Ur Hand

This song makes me want to move.

Treadmill

Ok so I got on my treadmill tonight for the first time in several months. I did 15 minutes and burnt only 61 calories - what the heck is up with that? Can't I burn that much just watching TV?

Shouldn't a 250 lb woman burn more than 61 measly calories in 15 minutes? I wasn't going very fast, about 2 miles per hour, I didn't break a sweat but did do some jog/dance/wiggle/walking to Pink's "U and Ur Hand" I put it on repeat.

Ok random thought - shouldn't carrying around an extra 100 lbs on my 5'1" frame count as lifting weights?

49 days and counting

As my dear son so lovingly reminded me yesterday, I turn 40 on the 19th of August.

Wow. And damn. I was supposed to have accomplished so much more by this time of my life. Where did all the time go? Damn.

Ok so I have been browsing the world of weightloss blogs for the past two days trying my best to get super motivated and get back on track to losing weight. I have approx. 100 lbs to go. Damn.

So I have to lose weight - who doesn't right. But I keep talking about it but nothing happens - it sux how that works, talking about it just doesn't help.

Ok so I'm about to go get the treadmill set up again - we had it set aside when we got the house ready to show - we are selling our house - if you haven't been reading my long boring whiny posts about trying to sell my house.

My husband is in the basement on his PC - I am in the dining room on my laptop - so rather then yell down at him - I msged him on Yahoo - I asked him to help with the treadmill but I typed it treatmill - freudien slip? Get on the treatmill for 15 mins and don't feel guilty about that extra pc of bread. Blah.

Ok so time to get serious.

I won't go into exact details cause I don't know who reads this thing - but I have approx. 100 lb of extra fat on my body to get off of it. I have slightly high blood pressure - I have been on meds for it for a couple years now I would like to get that in check and get off them. That is it. No other health concerns other than OH YEAH I'm morbidly obese!

My husband also has an extra 100 lbs or so on his body - now he is about 10 inches taller than me, so his doesn't look so bad. But his recent checkup showed cholesterol just slightly too high.

He is a huge meat eater and bread too - whereas my downfall is chips, chips and chips. Did I mention I like chips?

So I have asked (told) him for like the millionth time, that he not bring chips into the house because they CALL to me - I swear it - and I WILL eat them.

So I know I have to start out with mini goals, so here goes:

• 10 mins at least on the treadmill each day
• min 2 litres of water a day - aim for more though
• make myself back away from at least one tempting food each day

Ok more on this another day - have a great Canada Day!