Bugeting: Is It Non-Existant???

Good Morning. This picture is not at all related to my post but my little Tess kitty is cute and had apparently decided she wanted to be my mothers birthday gift!

Yesterday I was listening to the radio on my way to work as usual and the people who do the morning mention interesting little bits of news. That morning they were talking about these wallets that a company created so people can be more aware of their bank balance or spend. Basically there were 3 types discussed. These wallets are some how connected to your bank account and the 1st wallet gets bigger as you balance increases and smaller as your balance decreases, the second vibrates when you make a purchase and the bigger the purchase the longer it vibrates and the third has a hinge that gets harder and harder to open as your balance goes down. I could not believe! I certainly understand there is a whole psychology around it being easier for people to spend more on plastic (ie: debit/credit cards) than to spend the physical cash, people are more reluctant to part with it when dealing in cash. However what has become of us that we can not even be aware of how much money we have in the bank! What ever happened to making a budget! I have an excel workbook that I use to track everything, right down to if I should buy a cup of coffee, I track how much I withdraw and what bills will come out when, then I keep track of how much and on what I have been spending my cash. It's not hard, it doesn't take long and once you start it feels good to know exactly where every cent had gone and it becomes kind of fun. We are not children who need to be told by a gadget (that by the way cost you money to buy) that your bank account balance is going down when you spend! I mean really!

Cherry Pie

I really should make a more concentrated effort to take pictures of things! But if I always waited to post until I had a picture to go with it my posting would be even more erratic than it is now. However I do feel pictures make blogs more interesting. I made a very yummy cherry pie last night but forgot to take a picture before we had some for dessert. I have become fairly proficient in my pie making as pies are my husbands favourite! And this particular recipe is his absolute favorite and I must add it is my favourite pie recipe too as it just tastes amazing. It is a recipe using either fresh or frozen sour cherries, I use ones I froze from our cherry tree, the recipe is out of an issue of the Harrowsmith magazine. Two differences in this recipe that I think are key to the amazing flavour are the use of minute tapioca as the thickener and the use of almond extract. Ever since finding this recipe almond extract had become my favourite, I often substitute it for vanilla or even add it when no additional flavouring is called for if I think it would be suitable. The pie wasn't really pretty, it boiled over a bit and I didn't do the nice lattice top but I think all pies look yummy. When I make pie I always use the whole brick of lard and separate it into balls (there are instructions on the Tenderflakes brand box), and then I freeze the extra so next time I just have to leave it out to defrost and just roll it out. As a side note you should not defrost in the microwave, this damages the dough and makes it tough. I have found when freezing the balls it is best to wrap them in cling wrap and then put them in a freezer bag to keep them fresher. My mother in law actually will line her pie plates and freeze it like that so it's even quicker to make the next pie but I do not have the freezer space for this and would worry that I would end up damaging it by putting something on top of it, but it is an excellent idea if you have the space.

Have a good day!

Too Much On The Go!

Disappointingly I have not yet used my new sewing machine. I didn't get to it this weekend because on Saturday I took mom out for her birthday which is on the 19th, and on Sunday I worked on the bedroom, taping and mudding to patch the cracks in the plaster. Since I went to all the work of stripping the wallpaper I don't want to put more up to cover the cracks so if I am to paint I must go through the laborious process of patching even the tiniest hairline crack so it will not get bigger and show through the paint. This process has worked very well on the other two bedrooms, I did the first about two years ago and still not cracks! I want to get the bedroom done before summer so that during the summer break from classes we can work on redecorating the kitchen which is a much bigger job than a bedroom.

I have made plans with my mom, she will be coming over in a week from Saturday (she works every other weekend), and is going to help me with making my skirt. So if I don't get to it before, I will at least be using my sewing machine then. She used to do tons of sewing when I was little. She used to make me cute outfits and Halloween costumes. I think it will be fun and I think it will probably go a lot better with her there to guide me rather than trying to figure it out myself. I have never made clothing before, all I have made are some tote bags, a set of very simple curtains and the garter for my wedding. None of these projects required a pattern or exact measurements.


I also didn't get much of a break between terms. My last exam was on Dec. 21st and classes started up on Jan 3rd (the 4th for me). I shouldn't be surprise at how time consuming it is to work full time plus take 3 university classes since I worked while I was in college but I think being out of school for 3 years made me feel like it wasn't so bad. Lol, it's a good thing though because had I remembered how crazy busy it was I may not have done this. Despite how busy it is I am glad I am doing it. I will only need 6 more classes after this term (so one more year of part time classes) and I then will have both a college diploma and a bachelor of science and my work is very supportive of my doing this.

New Sewing Machine

I don't have a picture yet but yesterday I bought a new sewing machine and am quite excited to use it! I had bought a used one last year but I found it really was not meeting my needs. It did not come with a manual and I was unable to find the model online and it only came with the normal foot, and I really wanted a zipper foot. I also found that once I had a few layers of fabric it had a lot of trouble with it. I think I will try to sell, though not for much, but I am sure someone will have a use for it because it still works and it is good for very simple projects, it's just not good for me as I want to advance my skills, but it would be fine for basic mending and such and it does have some decorative stitches. I have a skirt pattern and fabric so I am hoping to start on it on Sunday or tomorrow afternoon. Tonight I need to clean and bake a cake as my husbands family is coming over for brunch tomorrow to celebrate his mothers birthday. I am going to make my chocolate hazelnut cake (gluten free: no flour) with chocolate cream cheese icing, and I will use butter cream icing to decorate it. My husbands sister will be bringing the main course and his other sister will bring the side dish.