Monthly Archives: March 2010

Descriptive gratitudes

Posted on by
Reply

I haven’t blogged since Friday??  What is wrong with me?  Apparently, I’ve been busy ;)

I’ll mix it up a bit with this past week’s Gratitudes and fill you in on my life at the same time.  How’s that sound?
  • Top-secret literary pursuits, and my mad proof-reading skillz.  That’s all I can tell you for now…
  • A super-full calendar this week; I made the decision to start working “full-time”, devoting 40 hours a week to my business.  So far, I’ve been part-time which I manage to treat as “free time”, and it reflects in my paycheques.  It’s time to get serious.  I’ve set up office hours, childcare and weekly expectations.  It’s about 6-8 hours a day, 5-6 days a week.  I’m logging my hours, so I’ll know if I need to work weekends or not.  Stay tuned :)
  • Meeting some really great business owners in my community
  • Snow all last week that turned into leaf buds on all my trees this week!  The battery charger for my camera is MIA, in case you’re wondering why I have no photos lately…
  • The smell of grinding fresh coffee.  Oh my, what a feast for my senses :)
  • 24 hours without children!  My in-laws took the bugz Saturday afternoon and kept them until Sunday at dinnertime.  Leith and I had a cheap date night planned, using gift cards for dinner and a movie.  We did go for dinner, but we were too lazy to hang around Edmonton for 3 hours until the movie started, so we just went home.  He puttered in the garage and I went to bed at 8:30pm!! He left at 8am the next morning to go quadding, and I slept in until 11:30am!!
  • The beautiful Jubilee Auditorium.  I have been blessed to see many shows there, and to dance many times on its stage.  My sister and I went to see “Chicago” on Sunday, and while the show was less than impressive, the theatre itself always takes my breath away.
  • Good books
  • Middle-of-the-night snuggles, and tucking them back in when they’ve thrown their covers off
  • Kit-kat adamently declaring that there is “No way kiss a fwog!” after we watched “The Princess and the Frog”  :)  C-boo, on the other hand, has been making out with her stuffed frog ever since… :)
  • A huge parcel of photos printed off from London Drugs
  • Little voices and big imaginations!  As I type this, C-boo is wandering around with socks on her hands, singing into a teacup
  • Mud puddles to splash in, and pretty rainboots to wear!  

Are you a statistic?

Posted on by
1
How cool would it be to see my office up there on the 2nd floor?  How amazing would it be to be open by January 1, 2011?
Oh, but my vision has been s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d.  Cameron & I went around town on Tuesday and met some of the people in the community, spreading the word about our business and what we do.  From that, I was able to book 3 brand new appointments.  Happiness :)
I am so excited to be back on track, clear, calm and FOCUSED.  I feel a drive, a sense of urgency to do my job to the utmost of my ability.  My schedule is cleared, my obstacles are removed.  
There was a report in the Globe & Mail yesterday, confirming that which we’ve been telling our clients for years: if Canadians continue to save like they are saving, they will not succeed in retirement.  From age 30, you need to be saving 10-21% of your income if you want to live on only 75% of your pre-retirment income – basically, maintaining your style of living without improving in retirement.
Read the article here
Scary thoughts, people, scary thoughts.  Who wants to work at age 75, just to make ends meet?  Working in retirement should happen because you want to, not because you have to.  It seems that people are so willing to bury their heads in the sand and hope that what they are doing is the right thing, rather than spending a few hours seeking out some education on the multitude of safer options and strategies available for them and their family.
Like it or not, money rules this world and knowledge IS power.  Most people spend more time planning their vacation than they ever spend planning their financial future, and as a result, NINE out of every TEN Canadians will retire at or below the poverty line.  That is frightening to me.  People are so concerned with the immediate gratification of living now that they neglect to realize that we are living longer and life is getting more expensive.
You can have your cake and eat it too, though – you just have to talk to the right professional and find out what strategies will suit your family, and your dreams and goals the best.
Think about it…

_uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

For Today

Posted on by
Reply

Outside my window … fancy that!!  Another grey Wednesday, lol :)  Spring was peeking around the corner with a smiling face, but March has eaten up that idea in the past few days.  Snow, snow, everywhere and cold wind chills to boot!

I am thinking … about some major business dreams and goals, and how shallow it is for me to cry over my broken iPhone…
I am thankful … for a day spent getting to know people in my community, making great contacts and pushing ahead
From the kitchen … something relatively easy for lunch, and leftovers for supper.  Maybe we will just have leftovers for both meals!
I am wearing … my jammies, soon to be traded for workout clothes, then to be traded for a shower and real clothes ;)
I am reading … my same 2 books (The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Animal Vegetable Miracle), but also a couple of very interesting reports about the sad state of Canadians’ retirement planning strategies
I am going … to see Chicago with my sister on Sunday!
I am celebrating … the end of March and all the freshness that comes with spring-cleaning your heart and soul
I am hearing … the quiet sounds of 3 little girls pretending to nap
I am creating … a positive space around myself, free from limitations and negative criticisms; a place to thrive, nurture, dream, educate, learn, help and grow
I am quoting … Anthony Robbins: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”
Around the house … the laundry is finally caught up, the kitchen is clean, the clutter is minimal!  If I washed my floors, I’d be all done :)
One of my favorite things … an unbridled passion for life with a Dark Cherry Mocha from Starbucks in hand!
A few plans for the rest of the week … babysitting Tay, training at the office, two more client appointments, a bit of prospecting and dreaming, a date night on Saturday and a musical on Sunday – whew!
Here is a picture-thought I am sharing with you:


The office space I am building my dreams around :)


_uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

A tale of 3 winters…

Posted on by
Reply

How did your Sunday end?

My looked something like this:

Sunday began with all the promise of a beautiful spring day.  Leith took our supa-cool bugz for a bike ride in the river valley while I had an awesome massage!

Forgive the blurry pictures.  We were driving….
Later that evening, I set out for the airport to pick my parents up.  They’d been livin’ it up in Mexico for the past 2 weeks, and I’d been voted chauffeur for the night.
Let me preface this with a story:
In March 2008, I was bedridden with threatened preterm labour.  My parents had booked their annual trip to Mexico before they even knew we were pregnant.  I wasn’t supposed to be due until mid-to-late April anyway, so the whole premature birth thing kind of threw a wrench into their plans.  I assured them to go on their trip and that I would hold it in until they got back on March 8.

Needless to say, I had the girls at 6:18 and 6:20am on March 8, around the time they were boarding the plane in Cancun ;)  But rather than getting back to Edmonton in a timely matter, their flight was delayed and they missed their connection in Seattle.  They had to stay overnight in Seattle, take a connecting flight to Vancouver in the morning, and a 3rd flight to Edmonton in the afternoon.  My sister picked them up at suppertime and promptly ran out of gas.  Then her car broke down.  My parents got to the hospital around 10pm on March 9, about 40 hours after the girls were born.

Suffice to say, I should have known…
Their flight was late arriving, but they got through customs quickly.  We pulled up to their house just after 10:30pm, and my mom looked at me and asked, “Do you have a house key?”  NO!!  Why would I have your house key, Mom??  Well, normally I have a copy of their house key on my key chain, but I only grabbed my spare van key, since Leith was at home.
No house key.
As it turns out, she didn’t bring a key because my sister dropped them off, and my mom was tired of people making fun of her for being over-prepared ;)
We called my sister, since she lives in the city and has a key to my parents’ house.  No answer.  We started off down the highway to my house to pick up my key to my parents’ house.  Jocelyn called back. We detoured downtown.  Halfway there, we got smacked with a snowstorm – one of those ridiculous spring blizzards that you only ever read about in Little House on the Prairie.  Golf-ball sized snowflakes pelted my windshield and I could barely see.  We got to J’s apartment and she tossed her key down to us from her 3rd floor balcony.  We headed back to my parents.
Seriously, Mom.  No key?  This is soooooo not my fault…
The snow was light on the south side, so I decided to truck on back out to my house.  It was already 11:20pm … I had to be up early to drop the bugz off at their sitter and go in to the office.  Bad idea…
Long story short, I was stranded before I made it past Highway 60.  I literally had to turn my headlights off to see in front of my van.  I was the only vehicle heading west on a major highway, and I couldn’t keep it in a straight line.  I was barely plugging away at 50km/h.  I nearly hit the ditch on either side of my 3 lanes to choose from several times.  I could hardly breathe.  There was no rhyme or reason to compare to the disorientation I was feeling.  My adrenaline was surging, and my panic was mounting.  I was concentrating so hard on the task at hand that I could barely keep a prayer in my head.
Somehow, I managed to hit the off-ramp for Acheson.  I flipped my headlights off so that I was able to see just enough to get around the ramp and onto Highway 60.  I have never been so happy to see that Husky sign in my entire life.
I decided to pull over, grab a coffee and wait it out for awhile.
Another side note:
In the years I ran my dance studio out in Thorsby, I made many a treacherous trip back to Edmonton when I would have been wise to stay at my parents’ house.  One night, I was caught in a similar blizzard and only made it as far as Leduc by the grace of God, rumble strips and knowing Highway 39 like the back of my hand.  The 25-minute drive took me nearly 90 minutes in second gear.  I holed up at the Tim Horton’s for 45 minutes or so to regain my composure, and made it back to Edmonton without further incident.  Last night made this story look like a walk in a butterfly-and-fairy-filled park.

I sat in the parking lot of the Husky gas station, sipping lukewarm, decaf truck-stop coffee and eating a Super Jo Louis (really, Meaghan?  Gross…).  After an hour and a half of the snow and ice getting worse, my mom and Leith convinced me to get a hotel room for the night.  So, at 1am, I gave up and crawled into bed at the Nova Inn for a restless 5-hour snooze.  The desk clerk even took pity on my poor rattled soul and gave me the truckers’ rate for my room.  I was up at 6am, showered and on the road before 6:30am.  The roads were plowed but still horrible.  I made it home just after 7am.
Thus, I am staying home today.  Screw you, March.

Although I will admit that the rooms were very nice, the rates were very cheap, and there was something thrilling about getting to stay in a hotel room all by myself on a whim like that ;)

Why RESPs stink

Posted on by
Reply

Good bright-and-early morning to you!
_uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

After a weird night of dreams (a common occurrence lately….), I found myself up far too early, stressing about our stupid (stupid, stupid, STUPID) RESP accounts.  Grrr!  I have been stressing about this for weeks now, trying to figure out how to keep from losing the over-$3000 we have saved with a certain RESP company.
See, when we moved, for some reason their mail was not properly forwarded to us.  And in the chaos of switching banks, I somehow neglected to notice that their monthly contribution was missed (bad Meaghan, I know…).  So for 5 months, they did not receive our direct deposit into the bugz’ RESP accounts.
Fast-forward to the end of February, when I receive a bundle of correspondence from the company, stating that we are past-due and our accounts will be terminated.  Along with the various letters were two that contained termination cheques for about $350 each.  This was all that was left over from over $1500 in deposits per child, after they take their enrollment fee.
GAH!!
So I’ve sent online secure messages.  I’ve tried several times in the past month to contact our sales rep.  I’ve called the customer service line NUMEROUS times, only to find out I’m #25 in line, and that my wait time is approximately 30 minutes.  I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t have 30 minutes to sit on hold in this house, clutching a piece of paper.
Finally, my anxiety reached its peak this morning, and I looked at the clock.  6am local time meant 8am Eastern time, so I hopped out of bed and dialed into the customer service centre.  Lo and behold, I did not have to wait on hold, and was blessed with a VERY helpful lady who reinstated our plans and told me every little step needed to get our money back into the account.  PHEW.  She also took a couple minutes and prepared the necessary paperwork to send out today, while I was on the phone.
I really, really, sincerely appreciated that.  
But it all leads down the path that I know now to be true:  RESPs are NOT the best choice for your childrens’ education savings.  They seem great, and the reps are sooo good at getting at you while you’re freshly postpartum, sleep-deprived and confused.  But here’s a little breakdown for you:
PROS:
*familiar-ish concept (much like RRSPs … a story for another day)
*widely advertised and available from all banks
*government grants (up to $7200!)
*tax-deferred growth
CONS:
*must be used for accredited post-secondary studies before the 25th birthday
*withdrawals are fully taxed as income
*cannot be used for non-accredited programs – basically, if you can’t qualify for a government student loan for the program, an RESP will not qualify for withdrawal either
*if you do not use it for post-secondary studies, or by the 25th birthday, you lose ALL the interest, ALL the government grants, and the fees paid.  You will ONLY get your principle deposit back.  Zero growth, minus fees
*if your child does not go to school, you’ve spent 18 years making 0%
There are a lot of other options that are more productive and allow for many more options for your child’s future.  Don’t get sucked in to the first shiny offer – ask around and talk to people about other ways to save.  Think of it this way:
What if you spent 18 years saving towards your child’s future and they couldn’t use the money to follow their dreams?  What if they wanted to open their own business, or buy their first home?  Wouldn’t it be nice if they could use their savings to THEIR best interest?  Not every child will go to post-secondary, but it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t still be saving for them.  It’s more important to have options on their 18th birthday, rather than having them feel obligated to go to school so that your hard-saved money isn’t wasted.

PS, just so y’all know, I’ve been spelling “withdrawal” wrong for YEARS.  This post changed my life :)

This ‘n that on Thursday

Posted on by
Reply

My, oh my, but I am fulllll of blueberry pancakes!  I always use the PW Pancakes (but without cake flour – just regular, organic all-purpose flour).  Normally, pancakes are reserved for Saturday mornings around here, but I was in a pancake mood this morning :)
_uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

The recipe made about 15 pankcakes, and my monkeys?  They ate about 4 each.  We are talking about 4-5″ pancakes!!  Oh, my goodness!  Their little bellies are hard as rocks, and they keep asking for more. They are going to explode!
I treated Sherrie to her first BodyRock workout last night :)  We did the Fast Burn Workout – I haven’t heard from her yet today, so I’m not sure if she is still alive ;)  I managed to sucker a back rub out of Leith though, so I’m not as sore as I thought I would be after two days in a row.  I’m actually going to put the bugz down for a nap right away and throw down a quick workout.
I’m trying SO HARD to get my scatterbrain fixed and get somewhat organized again.  So far, I’m doing all right today – I’ve sent a couple emails and follow-ups, and I know of two more that I need to make right away.  I’ve got a date with my (fabulous massage therapist/sweet-shoppe owner) friend, Suzy this afternoon and a night of training at the office.  
There’s nothing like the thrill of being on top of things to whisk away the cold in the air.  Apparently, Mother Nature ignored my memo about winter being OVER:
What.  The.  Heck?  Aghhh.  Oh well … my garden will just have to be patient a little longer…

UPDATE:


I just did the Sucker for Sweat workout.  I’m off to die shower.  I recommend you try it ;)

For Today

Posted on by
1

Outside my window … I am watching the trees sway in the wind.  It always seems to be cloudy on Wednesdays ;)  The sun is up, however dim it may be, but I know that we are expecting a high of +8 today, so bring on the spring!!!

I am thinking … about how excited I am for Julia to come and organize my office!
I am thankful … for little green things poking up when I rake.  Spring is here!  I don’t care, it’s here, it’s here, it’s here and I am READY!
From the kitchen … coffee??  Um, I haven’t even made breakfast yet ;)  I’m seeing how long the monsters will go on a banana each.  So far, an hour.  We have lots of leftover vegan chili from dinner last night too, so maybe it will just be a leftover day!
I am wearing … jammies, but in my defense, it’s only 8am and I already showered – which is more than I can usually say at this time of day
I am reading … take a wild guess!!  Yes, still Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan.  I just can’t seem to make time to read lately!  They are very good books, too, so please don’t take my slow reading as a sign.  I also want to read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.  
I am going … to get my life organized in the next 2 weeks!  April 1st is my deadline to have everything in clear order, on paper or white boards or cork boards – whatever it takes to see visual what I need to do and where I need to be on any given day!
I am celebrating … St Patricks Day!  I hope you’re wearing green, or I’mma gonna pinch you!!
Around the house … priming and painting the finished walls, which will not be done today as the bugz and I are watching Tay-tay for the day!
I am hearing … three crazy toddlers tearing around my house.  Oh please don’t let it be a long day … let there be happiness and quiet, with no temper tantrums today?
I am creating … a monster file of photos to send off for printing.  Would you believe I have not printed a single photo for the bugz photo albums in their entire 2 years??  That would fall into my list of “disorganized things that need to be fixed”.  I’ve ordered 164 prints (some doubles; I think there were 101 originals) just from my old BlackBerry album alone!!
One of my favorite things … Easter egg hunts!  My parents did them for me and my sister until I was well into my 20′s.  I really hope that the snow has melted enough for an outdoor Easter egg hunt this year.  I really want to start that tradition for our bugz; I think that this year they will be old enough for that!  
A few plans for the rest of the week … yoga tonight, an appointment and training tomorrow, and starting my “official” office hours on Friday.  
Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you:


One of the most horrifying pictures of the end of my pregnancy …
my back is actually flush against the bed, behind the siderails …
I actually could NOT touch my hands in front of my stomach.

_uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

A fresh start

Posted on by
Reply

Whew!  I just reconnected with BodyRock after a 3-week small hiatus.  Ooh, it felt good :)  I did the body weight/interval training workout today, minus the pull-ups because I don’t have anywhere to do them.  I like the short, intense 20-minute burn of Zuzana’s workouts, and I enjoy knowing that I am hitting every part of my body.
_uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

I ordered a Gymboss Interval Timer today as well – it was only $23 including shipping.  Of course, I got the hot pink one :)  I’ll let you know how I like it!
Sher and I made a triumphant return to Bikram yoga last night, and it was an awesome class!  I worked my butt off, but it felt so calm.  I wasn’t struggling mentally with any of the postures, but my body was exhausted by the end of the 90 minutes – a very nice combination!  I am also incredibly hydrated for the first time in a few weeks.  It’s amazing how enough water can make you feel soooo good!  I’m am already up 1L today, and I think I drank about 4L altogether yesterday -nice!
I’ve also started switching out my Americano with milk for a latte in the mornings.  I’m trying to limit my retail Starbucks consumption right now (mostly because it was falling into the realm of ridiculous unnecessary), so I have been making my espresso drinks at home in the mornings, instead of brewing a pot of coffee.  Now I am also increasing my calcium intake, which was severely lacking.  I used to drink gallons of milk, but lately I’ve barely been having any.  This should help to bring those levels up!
On a side note, regarding the whole “milk vs soy” debate: I try to base my food choices on 3 areas – clean (unprocessed, natural), organic and local.  Although I can buy organic soy milk, it is still full of junk.  I can buy organic milk that may be pasteurized, but it only contains milk and vitamins A and D.  Milk wins with a score of 2/3.
I am enjoying this new-found workout freedom, with no responsibility to any one form of training.  I love that I can decide what I want to do when I wake up in the morning and not feel guilty about “missing” a necessary training appointment.  If the weather is nice, maybe I’ll run.  If Sherrie is free, maybe we’ll go to yoga.  If the girls are being good, maybe I’ll do a BodyRock workout.  Somewhere along the line, I over-committed myself and that resulted in a complete commitment breakdown.  Too many cooks in the kitchen and all that ;)
Right now, my fitness goals are simply this:

  • do some sort of physical activity 6 days a week
  • try to make at least one of those days a yoga day
  • try to make at least one of those days a running day
  • eat clean, organic and local
  • drink lots of water
Freedom is a beautiful thing!

Tidbits

Posted on by
1

I’ve have been on a peanut butter and banana sandwich rampage lately.  I cannot get enough!!  I don’t know when the last time I had a PB&B was, but I do remember having the same problem with self-control in the past.  What is it about PB&B??  It’s like some kind of crack to me…
_uacct = “UA-4888259-1″;urchinTracker();

***

C-boo walks into my room gagging this morning, covered in brown crumbs.
Me (upon realization of the cause of said gagging): I don’t care if you’re gagging.  Maybe you shouldn’t have eaten coffee grounds out of the garbage can. 
C-boo (frantic): Wash hands??  Wash?? 
Me:  No.  Go find your sippy cup.

The good news is, the tantrums have mildly subsided for the time being :o )
And that, my friends, is what they call Monday.