Winter woes

This winter was particularly brutal not so much snow but the bitter cold and the amount of ice build up. There was flooding in the Flour Mill and Notre Dame was closed for a bit.

Most of the snow has melted away :) To pass the cold days and nights, I've been dabbling in photography lately, Sharon's been busy with yoga.

The upcoming long weekend will be our first opening of the cottage and I hope that winter hasn't been too hard on it. We've been giving serious thought to relocating south, closer to the cottage and better business opportunities. I'm hoping this will be our last year in Sudbury - crappy roads, cold weather, limited employment opportunities and a whole lot of rocks. We'd also be closer to Ashley and Jordan. Ashley graduated and is now working in Human Resources for a Toronto area firm. Jordan is now self-employed as a home renovator.

This has been one of the coldest darkest miserable winters that I can remember. While the amount of snow has been reasonable, the temperatures have been dismal and the sun rarely shines through the clouds.



We're thinking perhaps it's time to move to Southern Ontario. Sharon could find accounting work and there are relocation options for me in the mining industry.



Having just purchased a smaller home almost two years ago, the value of the house has increased - but do we want to relocate ourselves yet again? So much incertainty.

Signs of spring

It's been a miserable winter, although not as cold as I'd expected it might be. Sharon took up curling and I've gotten my lazy butt back to the gym. Ashley came home for reading week and helped us paint the rec-room.
Tax season is gearing up and that means a lot of clients rushing in to file their taxes. Some of them think that carrying fees for their mutual funds are a deduction but not if they've set them up as a TFSA.

A TFSA is a great way to save some money without feeling the taxman's bite when it comes time to withdraw.

Sudbury roads are full of potholes and as usual the city won't take any liability for them unless you put up a 10 foot billboard informing them of the holes in the streets.

Until next time.

Summer coming to an end...

A year and a day later... has it really been this long since the blog updated? Well there isn't much content to begin with and I doubt anyone is really following this. The nights are getting a little colder which sucks, but it was a hot beautiful summer.


I was able to get some roadtrips in, and the kids had fun. It's rather wet and cold here in Sudbury and I actually had to close the windows before going to sleep... gone are the days of listening to the wind blowing through the window. :)


The Vale strike is over and everyone is back to work now. It was almost an entire year and many people ended up losing their homes or vehicles.


Speaking of homes, we painted the kitchen and living room and laid down new flooring. Here are some photos of it, taken with a point and shoot camera:

The garden has been neglected this year, due to laziness more than anything. We wanted to go blueberry picking as well but again, due to laziness, didn't. I've started takig up walking at night trying to get a little more exercise instead of lazing around the house.

Summer 2009

Well the summers have been quite wet haven't they? The few weeks that we do have sun sure are beautiful though. It's a perfect time to head to the island and enjoy the sun.

Where has summer gone? It seems like only yesterday that spring was here. Summer is slowly fading away and I'm almost in tears thinking about it.

Well.. for now we've got a few more weeks of beautiful sun and camping around a fire with a nice cold refreshment.

Renovations

It's been a while since updating my blog. This was due in part to some major changes in life. The recession is taking a toll on Canadians from coast to coast.

Xstrata in Sudbury, laid off 686 workers which will definitely hurt our economy. I can't help but feel terrible for those workers and their families especially the sole income ones. These are some of the hardest working guys (and gals) you will ever meet.

GM announced they are laying off 10,000 workers as well.

2009 is not going to be pretty.


My hours have been cut back as well. After a lot of thought, Sharon and I decided that it would be best to sell the rental property while the market was decent. The sale took place in March of 2008. Since that time the value of property continues to decline and we didn't make much of a profit.

This means very little to me though when I think about the families who might lose their homes due to economic hardships. There are some people who might not be able to keep their only home, while we were fortunate enough to own two of them.

I've since decided to volunteer at the soup kitchen and we make regular contributions to the food bank. If we can help out anyone less fortunate, then we'll do so.

Sharon recently hired a woman whose husband was laid off at Xstrata. While it's only for six months, that money will help put food on her table.

There are no winners in this recession and nobody is better than anyone else. Let's hope that this economy gets back on track.

Camping

Camping season is almost upon us. Grab your gear, marshmallows and fishing rod!!!