Busy Beaver

I have been working the day away trying to get several things done. Laundry, cleaning the house, hanging things on the wall, stripping paint off of furniture(as seen below), sanding, etc. This is the first time since my surgery that I have felt well enough to tackle multiple projects at once. I actually have 3 in the process of being completed. And I'm just a little jazzed at how they are turning out:o)

The weather couldn't be anymore perfect for this sort of thing either. So grateful for Fall-esque weather.

We have a big weekend ahead of us. We have 2 kids' birthday parties to attend, a soccer game, and the hubs is having a birthday on Sunday. 

Busy, busy, busy.

Today I just wanted to fill you in on what's going on behind the scenes with my blog. 

As you have probably noticed, the appearance has changed over the past few weeks. I have been working really hard trying to spruce things up and make it seem more appealing. I have scoured the internet for different tutorials on how to make these changes. 

If you check out my Blogger Tutorials Pinterest Page, you can see where I have gotten all of these great ideas.

I have been playing around with this blog for a little over 3 years now. I have had so much fun learning, creating and sharing with you guys.

Now that my kiddos are at the age where they are in school full time, I have a few extra hours in the day where I can get through more projects.

I also have more time to dedicate to this blog and trying to make it grow. 

Growing will hopefully mean turning a profit...yep, I said it. I want to earn an income from blogging. I absolutely love crafting, sewing, DIY'ing, and everything that goes along with blogging. Why not try to make money at something I love doing?

So, hopefully in the not-so-distant future, I will be looking for sponsors. People who I feel my readers, that's you, would want to purchase from.  That part is still in the works right now. Other ways I am earning, is through ads. Every ad-click counts towards me earning a little extra..so if you see something that interests you, click on it:o)

I appreciate each and every one of my readers. I am so thankful that you guys take time out of your day to see what I have been up to. You are what makes doing all of these projects more enjoyable. It's fun when you get to share something you're excited about with other people who will get excited right along with you. I hope that you will stick around and help this little blog continue to grow!

Bicycle Art

It seems like ages ago I told you that I would have a fun little art project for S.R.'s room. Well, I finally got around to making one.

I just needed the right inspiration!

I wanted to do something with a bike, but just wasn't sure what. I came across this really cute vinyl cruiser on Etsy , and knew it was exactly what I needed.

Source

And this is what I came up with.

FrogTape makes a chevron painter's tape. Crazy! I know!

 It's super easy to use! 

I found some at Lowes the other day, but you can also purchase it from Amazon. 

Click the link below and it will take you directly to Amazon.

                               

The tape isn't recommended for use on textured surfaces...says so right on the box. As you can see below, my canvas is a textured surface. I went with it anyway because sometimes you can bend the rules a bit in the crafting world. 

I used a scrap piece of tape to keep my lines even.

Once all of the tape was down on my canvas board, I smoothed out all of the edges, painted, and promptly removed the tape.

After letting the paint dry for about 30 minutes, I placed the vinyl bike on top of the painting.

You have to be patient with vinyl. It can tear easily, and can stick together if you don't follow the instructions.

Once in place, I smoothed it out to make sure there weren't any bubbles.

I had the large frame on hand. I was actually using the frame as a Christmas card holder. However, last year, the cards never made it to the frame. 

So I figured I would make good use out of it, paint it purple, and hang it in S.R.'s room.

I don't normally do anything with colors this bright or go with things that are this contemporary because it's not my style. I'm more of a classic style kind of girl.

However, it is S.R.'s style...so I'm goin' with it;o)

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Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links. By clicking on said links, you help me make money. It wouldn't hurt my feelings a bit if you decided to click and buy;o)

Partying Here:

Craftionary

The Jenny Evolution

Ladder Quilt Rack

I have so many projects I want to get started on, but I am still having to wait on the doctor's approval to start lifting heavy items. I am reminded several times a day that where once was a gallbladder, now resides a slight tinge of pain when I try to over-do it.. I am not a patient person. If the mind is willing, so should be the body, is my thought;o) 

So I have been piddling around the house, trying to clean things out and make things a little more organized.

I love to organize.

 I cleaned out a closet this morning that had tons of junk in it...it was the hubs' junk closet...shhhhh! Don't tell him I threw away a ton of boxes that had absolutely no purpose what-so-ever;o)

He's never been one to throw away boxes that electronics come in. Some of the boxes have been hanging out in that closet since before we moved here...mind blowing, right?;o) 

That last statement is absolutely impossible since we are the only owners of this house;o) A slight exaggeration. 

So anyway, here is another way I have been organizing.

I found this cute ladder (1/2 a ladder to be precise), on a Facebook yard sale page.  I have been able to find so many great deals on our local site. If you guys aren't apart of one, I highly recommend it; from a buyer and seller standpoint. 

It's so much easier than having to get up at O-dark-30 every Saturday morning. 

This little ladder has been a great way to store our blankets in the living room, and it's super cute. And guess what?!? I only paid $10 for it. Awesome, I know.

Now to teach the kids and the hubs how to properly fold the blankets and re-hang them...one can dream, right?

What are you doing with your money while you wait?

Assuming you are waiting to buy or have decided not to, then you have a nice pile of cash building up. What are you doing with it in this forced low rate era?

None of the Central banks (UK, Canada, Euro), despite talking tough about soaring consumer debt have had the balls to increase rates. We are STILL sitting with rates at emergency levels and below inflation.

So what options do we have for our money?

Well a few and none are that enticing.

There is the GIC. Rates are pretty low at the moment. The banks still haven't budged much from the 1.0-1.4% for a one year fixed. You can get a little more by bargaining with your advisor. This has always irked me BTW. Why not just post better rates for everyone. Our banks, like our telecom carriers either need competition or serious regulating.

I just picked up 1.8% for a one year at ING direct which is owned by Scotia now. I got this from a brokerage account and was better than their posted rate. Other institutions with lower credit ratings offer up to 2%for a one year and 3% for a five year fixed. The CDIC will insure up to $100,000 if the GIC is under 5 years.

Either way you slice it, it isn't a big chunk of money. After taxes, it is below inflation. It used to be that a one year GIC matched inflation after tax and a two year beat it. Not now that the Central banks are trying to force us to speculate (and then complain when we do)

So what else is there?

Bonds.

You can buy bonds via any brokerage account. The rates are not much better than GIC rates at present for high credit companies and Government of Canada bonds are even lower. You can tweek things by buying stripped bonds which have a lower tax rate (capital gains instead of interest taxation). You can google this if interested.

Preferred shares.

These are shares that behave like bonds. They come in several flavours, some pay a steady % until maturity, others reset the rate depending on the Bank of Canada rate or rates for a ten year bond, others maybe convertible into the shares of the issuer. They pay higher rates as they are considered 'long bonds'. However as they are shares too, they are taxed better than bonds and so a 5% yield in preferreds would be the same as getting almost 7% in a bond if you pay tax at the highest rate.

Here is a good site which explains and tracks them. Though he also writes of other stuff in his commentary which I usually skip over.

Garth Turner used to be a big proponent of them on his site Greater Fool. They have done very well for the last few years and then got slaughtered recently as rates have been rising. He has not mentioned them recently :)


Then there is the stock market. You can buy stocks directly, or mutual funds or index funds etc. Bank shares have done very well as they have been in the sweat spot.

They have borrowed short (from all the people having one year GICs or getting near zero interest in their savings account) and lending out several % higher to mortgage borrowers. Even though rates are low, the spread between the short end and then long end of the rates curve has been widening and therefore the banks have been making even more money than before.

The best thing is that they have been doing this risk-free. Anyone with high leverage or poor credit risk they passed off to that garbage can of risk - the tax-payer back CHMC. A scandal IMVHO.

However this circus is slowly coming to an end, as outsiders from the World Bank to Investment houses to independent economists have told our Government how poorly risk is managed at the CMHC, they seem to be finally getting the message.

The stock market was a good place to be for the last four years, especially the US market. But I am too leery to put new money unless there is a good correction. Rising rates are usually bad for the earnings of companies

That's about it. Can't think of many more options.

What are you doing out there?

Back to School Shirts

The regular school routine has set in, and things seem to be moving along just fine. It has taken this mommy a little more adjusting than these two kiddos. 

They were both pumped and ready to go. Me, not so much.

I miss them.

The first day back broke my heart and I might have sobbed like a baby...in front of my baby...who is now a kindergartner.

My kindergartner might have shed a few tears because her mother lost it in front of her, but waited for her to leave. Such a strong little girl.

My first grader was a brave and happy little soldier. He's an old pro at this sort of thing now; in his mind's eye.

It does my heart good to see how happy they are with their teachers and their classmates. My favorite part of the day is when they get in the car at the end of the school day, smiles beaming, ready to tell me every detail of their day...competing to see who can tell the most.

Yes, I know these days are very short lived, and there will come a time when they won't say two words to me. 

I'm living in the moment and soaking it all in.

I love it.

We had a "morning of" photo shoot. This year wasn't nearly as fancy as last year's;o)

I will say that this impromptu photo shoot was a lot more fun and waaaay less stressful!!

 I made the kids' shirts to wear on their first day of school. I forgot to get good close up shots, so bear with me.

I found the fabrics from Hobby Lobby.

The shirt S.R. is wearing was created by using a pattern I had on hand. Super simple to put together, and took no time at all. I actually made it the night before school started because I am a last minute kind of gal;o)

 Here is a full view of the shirt along with a pair of shorts I found at a yard sale for $1...I really scored some awesome boutique deals that day.

This has to be one of my favorite shirts to date. I love the bright colors. Super fun!

 I asked E's permission before making his shirt. It needed to be something that didn't seem baby-ish. There is a fine line to walk when you mix applique and almost-7-year-old boys.

He approved, thankfully:o)

I made a pair of shorts to match, but when I finished them, I realized he might have been made fun of if he wore them. And we can't have anybody making fun of my sweet boy!

I haven't taken the time to make anymore clothes for them right now because we're about to head into Fall.

Hopefully I can get a few things together soon.

Hey Y'all...

Soooo....I had my gallbladder taken out last Friday. How did your Labor Day weekend go? It couldn't have been as interesting as mine;o) I mean, how could it get any better than laying in bed with 5,000 pillows tucked under each and every bend of your body, and flipping back and forth between HGTV and the My Fair Wedding marathon?

I had all of these grand plans to host a college football kick-off party and to find somewhere fun to take the family, and just relax...didn't happen.

Pain pills and David Tutera...that's what happened. 

But I will happily report that this is the best I have felt in a month. I will take the soreness over the nausea any day! Good riddance you evil non-working gallbladder!

Enough about that.

 I guess you may or may not have noticed, but it's September, and there hasn't been one mention of a certain child's birthday coming up in 2.5 weeks. 

We're going stress free this time.

We're having the party at a local party space where they get to fix the food, AND clean up. All I have to do is show up and pay them...WOOT!

E wanted to have a camping themed party and actually camp out. In theory, it sounded totally awesome. In reality, it seemed like more work/stress than I could handle.

I talked him into having it at a local party spot that has putt-putt, kiddie carnival rides, bumper cars, and video games. 

It's a pirate themed spot, and he's never really been into pirates, but we're getting there.

I will be putting together some cute party favors, and I will share those with you once they have been assembled.

Since I'm not going through all of the steps of this party like I have in the past, I thought I would share a few pins I have on my 

Pirate Party Pinterest Board.

  

The shirt is really fun. It makes me laugh. I think the hubs needs this.

 Source

The little pirate cookies are adorable. We may go this route instead of the cake. Less to carry and no one can spit on these when the candles are blown out;o)

Source

I love the invites in the picture below. I'm still debating on whether to use paper invitations, or go the e-card route. 

Source

I'm totally feeling guilt-free about not going all out on this party. The kids were able to get 6 good years out of me. I want to actually enjoy a party for once, and not be completely exhausted once everyone shows up.  I plan on doing so, starting with this this one.

Gone are the days where I feel like I have to compete with other mommy bloggers to have the most awesomest (not a word I know) parties.

We can still make a big deal over their birthdays without sending mommy to the loony bin. 

This party is going to be a blast!

 I can't wait!

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If you haven't seen some of the parties from the past, you can go 

HERE

to check them out.

Averages up.

Larry as usual provides the numbers.

Detached MOI = 6.9
Attached =  5.6
Condo = 6.1

These MOI are in the 'balanced' range. However they are a LOT lower than last August. Is this demand pulled in because of the interest rate and CMHC changes or is the Bull back?

Some higher sales have skewed the numbers. Lots of local and HAM big buys in August in the Multimillion range have pulled the numbers up.

Is HAM buying drying up? Not yet. There are some signs that emerging markets are under some financial stress with the Fed TALK (only talk so far) of pulling back on ponzi monetary policy.

However the Chinese PMI number has come in above expectations and that may bring more hot money to our shores.

As I have said recently, we SHOULD have seen the top with everything stacked against RE. However there could be some new dynamic that I have not taken into account which will ignite further buying and if so, then it is time to move on. We will know very soon if this is the case.