NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION 2012 EDITION

I haven't made a real new year's resolution since 1999. At that time I was the "good girl" in my friend group. I was the one who always did the right thing. I always took care of others sometimes to the detriment of my own happiness or fun. So for 2000, my resolution was to do the opposite of what I would normally do. WOW! What a year! New Year's Eve 1999 was the beginning of about 5 years of fun and debauchery. It was the only resolution I have ever kept. And I was so successful at it, I did it for roughly 5 years. Unfortunately this kind of lifestyle is expensive which is part of the reason why now I am still paying for indiscretions of the past. Do I regret it? Not a penny. Perhaps I could have used a little more restraint in certain circumstances but it is what it is.

So I think it's time to grow up a little bit more. I am making a resolution - two actually - for the first time in 11 years. ONE - to go to the gym or do some sort of physical activity at least twice a year. I have bought a gym membership and hopefully that will inspire me. TWO - I need to declutter my house and life. I have way too much stuff for one person.

Wish me luck!

I DID IT!

The green one is the old fence. All the other photos are the new one. It is made of green pressure treated - the other one was made of pine. Obviously not my decision, no one should make a fence out of untreated wood in a northern climate. Also the post were put 4 feet in the ground - the other one was about 2 feet, which explains the heaving. Again this is a northern climate issue. If the posts are not below the frost line, they will eventually move - simple as that.














I am very pleased with how it came out. A couple of neighbours where sniffing around asking questions. Mom and I traveled for two weeks after the fence was built. When we returned, two neighbours were obviously inspired by my success. Two new fences - exact replicas of mine were built in a 4 house radius of mom's place. Mom is made at the "copycats". I prefer to think that copying is a form of flattery. Originally, I had two friends lined up to help and I had budgeted 3 days. Both friends bailed two days before the posts were to be installed, so I figured, I'm on my own. Luckily for me, my mom has an awesome neighbour who came out to help demo the old fence and helped me for the 7 days it took to complete. That's right 7, not 3. I was off work for 7 weeks so the extra days didn't make a difference except to my aching feet and back.

But it's done, and it's awesome. And now I can tackle my 100 feet of fence in my yard this summer. And I have someone who has already volunteered to help. Giddy up!

For My Next Trick

My mom's fence is falling apart. It has been heaving - only one one side for about 5 years - roughly a inch a year. Now it is to the point where some boards are rotting and it needs to be replaced. I have never built a fence before but how hard can it be. I have offered my mom to build it for her. We have driven around the neighbourhood and looked at all kinds of different fence styles. She has had no opinion. I have told her if you have no opinion, you can't complain. I know in my head what I want the fence to look like so now we will see if my vision can become a reality.

I Need A Schedule

I have been horrible about doing this blogging thing. One of my goals for the second half of this year is to blog once every two days. So far I am failing because this is the first blog since february. So let's catch up shall we. I have done some renos, I have paid off some debts, I have incurred some debts. I have to block off some time to update the account amounts because they are way off.

I traded in my old vehicle for a brand new shiny truck. I figure I deserve one brand new vehicle in my life and this just felt like the right time. My other car needed about $2500 worth of work and I wasn't going to keep it long enough to make spending that kind of money worthwhile soooo - new truck. It is exciting. Everything that goes wrong with this vehicle will eith er be my or Chevy's fault. I LOVE IT. I love everything about it, well almost everything. Now I want to trick it out. I want a locking tailgate. That should be happening next week. I want a cool tonneau cover. I also want some other bling that the bling will wait until I install command start. Winters are harsh and I am a suck. My baby needs to be warm when I get in. We also have a name - Rufus. I know it's weird but it works.

What else? I installed a new exterior back door. I wanted the whole pre-hung dealy because I am not so good at the door business. It was either $500 for a door with 3 inches cut off or $150 and I cuty the 3 inches off the house. So I cut my house. Grrr, it was awesome, sparks and sawdust everywhere. It looks awesome and finally the door swings the right way. It used to swing to the right and block off the storage area in the porch. Now it swings to the left and opens flat against the wall. Right on!

I have 6 weeks off. (And will still be getting paid - schweet!) I have high hopes. I want to

(1) build my mom a new fence

(2) build a fence between me and my crappy neighbours to the west

(3) visit the relos for two weeks - we got a wicked deal on tickets

(4) Soffit / fascia / eaves

(5) hire someone to grind 3 stumps in my yard

(6) get into the habit of blogging regularly

and then I will be broke.

Stay tuned!

Wow, I haven't been here for a while!

So in the past 6 months I have not really gotten anywhere with my debt. I got my roof done finally and perhaps too late. There is some watter damage on my living room ceiling. It took a long time and I fought with the roofers but they did a great job.

I also rebuilt my crap ass back deck. Me and my 64 year old mom. I took 3 days and cost about $800. My first deck and it came out great. My neighbour across the back lane came over a couple of days after I finished and told me what a great job I did and how great it looked. He was very surprised that it was built by a chick. The deck was more expensive than I expected because I decided to go with cedar for the decking but it looks awesome. So the top pictures are the new deck and the lower pictures are the rotten old one. I didn't realize how dilapadated the old one was until it only took me an hour to tear it down by myself. Mind you, I was pretty angry at the roofers so I was a little motivated.

One of my new year's resolutions for this year was to write a little bit everyday but you can already see how that went.

Debts. I haven't done well in that area. I have two high interest loans that are costing me an arm and a leg.. Fortunately one has a beginning and an end. The other however is a line of credit and I was making a fair bit of head way in the fall and then Christmas came. And now I am back where I started. So I made an application for a low interest bank loan to get rid of that. With the payments I am making now, I can be free and clear of that in two years. Less if I get really motivated.

I am waiting for the result of the application.

Oh yeah, Happy Valentine's Day. I hope you all get to spend it with someone you care about.