Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto
by Tricia
One of our neighbors just got a motorcycle. I guess it’s that time of year isn’t it? Now I don’t know much about motorcycles, but this is a nice one. Chris was talking to the neighbor and found out that he purchased it at a victory motorcycle dealer and he apparently got it for a reasonable price.
I think he’s been using the motorcycle to travel back and forth from work. I keep hearing it rumble early every morning. Wouldn’t it be nice if motorcycles were just a little bit quieter?
by Tricia
If you’re looking for a new mortgage or your current mortgage is up for renewal you might be interested in visiting eAgent.com. It’s a new kind of way to find a Mortgage Deal check it out.
When you go to the eAgent Mortgage website you’ll first see a map of North America. You can click on e-Agent Balloon icons that you see in your State or Province. There might even be an eAgent in your city. Once you click on the e-Agent of your choose you can take a look at their mortgage offers and then if you are interested in discussing a mortgage deal with them you can fill out your contact information and that specific e-agent will get back to you within a short period of time with more information.
You can view deals up front without having to make any kind of commitment, plus, your contact information is only given to the eAgent that you’ve chosen to contact, no one else.
This is certainly a new way to find a great mortgage deal. Give it a try.
by Tricia
The dating game is really hard. I remember what it was like to meet a guy that seemed nice, go on a date and find out that he was the opposite of what I was looking for when his true colors emerged. It was frustrating. I’m happy that Chris and I found each other and that I don’t have to worry about the dating scene anymore.
I know that many of you reading this post are single – well I hope you are – and dating, or trying to get dates. I bet there’s times when you feel like you’ve hit a dry spell and go for a while without having a date?
If you are frustrated with the dating scene or want to get out of that dry spell you might be interested in this new dating guide “How to Make a Man Interested in You”. This e-book was created to show women tips and techniques that will help you attract men to you.
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The creator of this book states that by the time you finish the book and employ the tips and techniques discussed throughout the book you’ll be going on more dates and be on the way to finding the loving relationship that you’ve been seeking.
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by Tricia
Did I tell you that I spent several hours on Sunday doing our taxes? Ughhh yeah, I did, and I finally got them in. We sent them off Monday morning.
Luckily we are each expecting refunds! I don’t know how we did it, but if I filled everything out correctly it looks like we’ll be getting a combined total of just a little more than $3000 in tax refunds!
The only problem is – this isn’t on this years taxes! I was sooooo sick last year I never did do the taxes when they were due. Yeah I’m bad, slap my hand. Hey I was home sick and not earning any income, and Chris had been sick and off work for a period of time that year as well when we thought he had a rare heart problem. There was no way I was going to come out owing taxes!
So yeah, I’ve still got 2006′ taxes to do too, but with any luck we’ll get a refund on that one too.
Two weeks ago, I made a lot of money in one day through some work on the net. A lot of money. Chris got all excited and started talking about this special piece of equipment he wanted to get for his guitar. It only costs $500. I wasn’t thrilled. The money I earned that day could pay off a lot of bills and keep us sitting above water for a while. So I told him we’d wait and see how our finances are when I do get paid that money and if we’re really in good shape he can get his new toy.
Well I guess our tax windfall on Sunday got him thinking about more guitar equipment because he was searching the internet yesterday for a special peddle for his acoustic guitar. This new item on his wish list is only $250.
Gee thanks Chris … I haven’t even thought of anything that I’d like to get – other than totally debt free. It’s not like he’s whining that he wants these things, but he is making a list. LOL
So I made a deal with him. When I get paid that big windfall that I made a couple of weeks ago we’ll hold on to it, or use some of it to pay bills if we have to. We’ll wait and see if the tax refund that I calculated for our 2005 taxes really is just over $3000 and if it is, he can use about half of his share of the refund to get his new toys. See I’m smart. His list is up to about $700 to $800 now and that’s about half of what his tax refund is supposed to be. Ha!
Guess what he did when I said that? He got back online and started cruising through the free auctions looking for guitar equipment. I’m ok with him finding the items that he’d like to get for lower prices, but I’m worried that he might find something else to add to his wish list.
If, when I do our 2006 taxes, it turns out that we’re going to get another decent refund, I might get another laptop. No I don’t need one. Not really. I’d get it for Chris to use. We both want to use the laptop when we’re sitting watching TV in the evenings. Trouble is, with only one, we can’t both us it can we?
It looks like if things keep going our way financially Chris is going to have a good year.
by Tricia
I was just telling you about the road trips that I used to take with my parents when I was a kid. Well, we drove out west too. Not once, but at least three times. One of my brothers lives in Vancouver, British Columbia and we’d drive from Ottawa Ontario all the way out to Vancouver. I guess for Americans that would be like driving from New York to Seattle. It’s about 2000 miles each way!
I think on all of those trips we brought our pop up trailer. I actually have one of the last pop up trailers that my family owned. Chris and I really do have to take a road trip sometime with it. Oh we’ve taken it camping but we haven’t taken it on a long trip where you repeatedly stop and set up each night like we did on those long trips out west and back!
Ontario is the largest province in Canada, and as far as North America goes it might be the biggest province/state … I could be wrong but I think it’s bigger than Texas … if not it’s close to the same size. If you are driving from Ottawa in the South East all the way to the Northern tip of Ontario it can take more than two days if you aren’t pushing it really hard. By this I mean two to two and a half 10 hour days as opposed to 14 or 18 hours days of driving!
Going through the other western provinces is much faster. The prairies can be driven through in one day, and once you hit the Rockies in Alberta count another days travel or so to get to Vancouver.
The three times we drove out west we drove through Canada on the way there, and then through some of the US states on the way back like Washington, Montana and Idaho.
I think we only drove through Montana twice but it stuck in my mind. I really liked the scenery, the farmlands and the small towns that we drove through. I think I must have seen a lot of cows in the fields as we drove through Montana because when I remember Montana I always seem to picture cows. LOL You know, if I ever struck it rich I’d get myself a ranch in Montana. Maybe I’d contact bozeman montana real estate to see what kind of properties they’d have for me.
I think that after we’d hit Idaho we’d always head back into Canada for the rest of our trip home. It was a long time ago and I can’t remember exactly what areas we passed through, but surprisingly, even as a teenager I enjoyed those trips. They were long but enjoyable.
I think through all those summer vacation road trips with my family I’ve seen most of the USA – except for several of the most southern states, and all of Canada except for the Territories and NewFoundLand. That’s a lot of traveling … in a car!
I was just thinking that it might not be that economical to take trips like that these days with the gas prices being so high, but for some of the time period that my parents and I did our road trips gas prices were also high too, and my parents were very frugal so I guess it was still cheaper to travel that way – especially if we were renting cabins, camping or staying in our pop up trailer.
Did you go on road trip vacations with your family when you were a kid? Or do you go on them now with your family?