Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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I’m tired of human created comment spam

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A couple of days ago I wrote a post about comment spam. I find it really funny that every time I write a post lately about buying a home or real estate or travel that someone comes along and promotes – literally promotes – their own website in the comments.

They try to disguise it by tucking their link to whatever they are talking about but since comments from first timers are moderated here it doesn’t get by me.

Watch, I’m just going to place this link for Denver CO real estate and see what happens. My bet is that within 24 hours I’ll have at least five people come along trying to leave a real estate based comment. Well … maybe that won’t happen since I’m calling them out in this post, but that’s what has been happening. It’s ridiculous!





Family professions?

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I come from a large family. I’ve got four siblings. I’ve also got lots of first, second, third and so on cousins.

It amazes me when I think how well almost everyone in my family has done for themselves. No one is rich or rolling in dough, but I think just about every of my siblings and cousins has taken on a professional career or started a business of their own.

What made me think of this is that while all of us pretty much do different things from one another two of my cousins became lawyers. I just discovered that both are listed in the American Lawyer Referral lawyer directory. Pretty cool huh?

I’m not going to list their names since I try to keep my maiden name private and uh their last names are the same as one of my current names so I’m not listing it here. I am happy for them that they were listed though. Hopefully they’ll get some new clients out of their listings.

Funny that there’s only two lawyers, one doctor and one nurse (me) in the family. The rest are chemists, biologists, geologists and so on. Mostly scientists of one type or another and a few artists mixed in here and there to keep it interesting.

How has your extended family faired?

It is easy being green

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I’m glad to see that some of you really liked the eco-handbags in my last post. I really like the company and what it stands for as well as their products.

I really do think that I’m going to get one of their handbags. I need a new purse. I do, I really do.

As for living green. Laane said in one of the comments “If you’re really eco-friendly you recycle at home. Because all the transport costs a lot of pollution too.”

Well you’ll be pleased to know that recycling is the law here in Toronto. Our recycled materials are picked up every two weeks. Garbage is picked up on alternate weeks.

Green garbage – kitchen peelings, used paper towels, coffee grounds and other biodegradable “garbage” is picked up weekly. We do have a composter though so a good portion of our green garbage goes into the compost as well.

I’ve written a few articles on As the Garden Grows lately about living green and how to save money by living green. Making a few changes now can save you a lot of money in the future and none of the things that we to make our life greener are all that hard.

Check out those articles if you want to be a little more eco-friendly and save some money too.

Why do we have more money living in a house than an apartment?

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It’s amazing how much different our life is since we got our house six years ago. We’d been living in a small apartment, paying fairly low rent given the area – and we didn’t really have the same kind of bills that we have now that we have a house, but it always seemed like we were struggling to get by.

When we living in the apartment we were both paying off student loans, had a car payment, paid for cable, internet, car insurance, and telephone and paid our rent (only $725 which is cheap for a nice apartment in a good area of Toronto). We both had full time jobs that paid decently too.

I really have no idea how we got by without having applied for a student loan consolidation. We would have saved a lot of money on interest and our monthly payments probably would have been lower too.

Still we pushed on. The student loans were our biggest bills other than rent back then. I am glad that we don’t have student loans to pay off anymore. I’ve thought of going back to school but it’s the loans that scare me! If I ever do back to school you can bet your boots I’ll be consolidating the loans next time.

I think getting a house gave us more of a sense of responsibility. We used to buy what we wanted when we wanted. Now we think about it for quite a while. We still buy what we want but by the time we’ve put all that thought into it we’ve often saved the money to pay for that item outright.

I know our living expenses are higher in the house – mortgage, property tax, water bill, telephone, cable, cell phone, internet, electricity, oil for the oil furnace, insurance – no car or student loans anymore though, and yet we still seem to have extra money and I’m not even working these days.

Sure I make some pretty good money via the internet, but Chris makes less than he did when we lived in the apartment so income kind of evens out. As I said it must be just that we are more responsible with our money these days.

Unique handcrafted Eco-Handbags

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ecofriendly.jpg

Do you recycle? I’ve just been exploring the website of a company that recycles in a very creative way.

Eco-Handbags.ca is Canadian company, based in Montreal, Quebec and it’s been a well received online presence since it’s beginnings in December of 2006. This online retail store sells one of a kind chic, unique and eco-fashionable handbags.

These handbags are made out of recycled and eco-friendly materials such as candy wrappers, chopsticks, 35 mm slides, movie billboards, sails, soda pop tops, bicycle inner tubes and truck tire inner tubes, record albums and cds, magazines as well as natural materials such as hemp, natural plants, denim, recycled canvas, organic cotton and many more interesting materials.

I must tell you right from the start that I absolutely adore most of the handbags. I’ve spent quite a while exploring the site and I’m impressed by the lovely and utterly creative bags that Eco-Handbags many talented designers have created.

This company believes that if everyone did their part for their environment, even something as simple as purchasing a fashionable unique handbag that’s been made out of recycled materials, that the world would be a better place. If you’ve been reading my home and gardening blog over the last week or two you know that I try to live a fairly green lifestyle so I’m quite happy to be introducing you to this wonderful company.

Visit the Eco-Handbag.ca website and you’ll find not only handbags, but also coin pouches, clutch bags, totes, purses, men’s shaving kit bag, wine bags, yoga mat bags, cosmetic bags, gym bags and just about any other type of bag that you might desire.

Enough of me telling you what you can find on the site – let me show you!

trucktirebag.jpg Just take a look at this beautiful mini evening handbag that’s been made from recycled truck inner tubes. The inner tubes used to create this bag have been collected from tire centers then cleaned in an environmentally friendly solution for three days.

The patterns on the rubber are unique to each hand bag.

Fine leather and non leather is used for the trim, Swarovski Crystals adorn the outside of the bag, and the inside is lit with an automatic light system that illuminates the interior of the bag when it’s opened.

candywrapbotero-kiwi.jpg This Botero- Kiwi handbag is made from candy wrappers. Isn’t it beautiful? I think this is my favorite design. I may end up buying this one myself.

This bag was inspired by Columbian Artist Fernando Botero.

The candy wrappers are constructed in a way that creates the attractive bubbly shape. This bag also features a zipper closure, and shiny metal handles.

art005-40.jpg This last bag, an open tote, is
made from recycled art banners. Don’t you love banner that was used for this bag?

This bag would be idea for day to day activities and because you might use it every day it’s been made with materials that can cope with seasonal changes. The banner is made of PVC, it’s trimmed in black, has a black promo lining and has an interior open pocket and cell phone pocket to help you stay organized.

You’ll notice that when you visit the site and start browsing through the various bags that the designer who made the bag is listed. Clicking on the link will take you to the artists profile page and you’ll be able to see all of their creations on that one page. Eco-Handbags.ca does this specifically to highlight and support their artisans.

All prices on the site are in Canadian funds. At this time the Canadian dollar is within a few cents of the US dollar so if you are a US citizen the price in US dollars will be very close to the one displayed on the site. I found the prices of the bags to be very reasonable. Each bag is unique, is a way for you to make a difference in the environment and is a quality handcrafted item.

Shipping throughout Canada and the US is free of charge. Purchases will be sent via the Canadian Postal Service using the Expedited, small packet air or ground service depending upon which country the parcel is being shipped. International orders should contact Eco-Handbags.ca to discuss shipping rates.

I really like this company and not just because it’s as Canadian as I am. They are really all about protecting and saving the earth. Eco-Handbags.ca is a member of 1% for the Planet. This is an alliance of small businesses that pay a voluntary earth tax and donate 1% of their sales to non-profit, non-governmental environmental organizations.

Visit Eco-Handbags.ca and take a look at their lovely handbags. I’ll bet that you’ll love them. Check out their eco-blog and eco-links while you are there too.

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