5C's Que Pasa

It was cold at 7AM Saturday as we set up and the wind off the lake was miserable.  Fortunately the rain held off.  Holiday Park Resort hosts several garage sales through the summer and does extensive advertising which brings in a good number of lookers as well as buyers!!  Perfect opportunity for us to lighten our load of ‘stuff’!!

I finally got a break about noonish. I do believe this is our last garage sale EVER!!!!!!

These shoes seem to be the rage is the US right now. This shopper thinks they are the greatest and have allowed her to walk like never before. When we were at the Egoscue pain clinic in San Diego in early April all the staff were wearing them. Have you tried them?

We wrapped up the garage sale by 1PM. What wasn’t sold was divided up with a donation to the Salvation Army and a box of free stuff placed at the community garbage bin.  I took a few things back into the house which I will pack up for the new house.  A few of the large items I posted online for sale, hopefully that will bring us another $ 200.00.  We  did net $202.20!!  Not bad for a few hours of effort.  It was fun meeting new people and some were fellow RVers who also travel to Mexico.  Once we cleaned it all up and tidied both yards, it was time for Colin to head to work for the evening, some special shoot at Mission Hill Winery.  Meanwhile I was back to packing a few boxes but I was tired, very tired.  Some vino and bedtime came soon!

While we were selling, Robert was enjoying the lake and snapped the first beaver sighting of the season. Great shot. I can hardly wait to move to the lake site and enjoy all these things myself.

Tags: 319, critters, garage sale, Mexico, money, vino

…knock, knock!! Colin who’s there……oh umm do we know them…..I remember…. that couple from Ramona, California.  They live in Kamloops and spent last night here in Holiday Park.  They had no problems crossing into Canada but oh why oh why is it so cold!  Sorry folks….perhaps even a touch of frost tonight.

Friday sunset reflecting on the day's new snow fall.

When they realized all that had transpired in the past few weeks, they offered to help us with our packing.  No gracias but milles gracias.  A lovely couple who we will see over the summer on the beach site but really we only have known them for 48 hours.  RVers are wonderful people.

Then we have other friends……. lovely people also.  They really truly want to help us find a heron for our new home….well I think they do???

"So sorry about the loss of your heron. Gord and I have decided that we will sell you our cement crow at the bargain rate of $10. The attached photo shows it's true beauty. That gives you a savings of $290 of free money. Enjoy!!"

Is it appropriate to tell them to eat crow???  I guess we shall discuss it over wine once we get moved into the RV on the beach site, that is after they finish packing up, for they also are homeless, having sold their home just a few days after us.  Perhaps they will move in next to us here at Holiday Park for a few months.  Again, RVers are just the best, even willing to sell us their crow:)

...meanwhile, things are getting a tad crowded in here.

Tags: 319, friends, Funny, Holiday Park, sunsets, Wine

Are you a saver or a bottom line spender?

When I buy something on sale I like to say ” I saved so much on this item and now we are ahead so many dollars?”

Colin prefers to say “that cost us so many dollars….bottom line”.

For instance with the sale of the house I like to add up all the money we are saving by moving and not paying maintenance, taxes, gardening, etc. on two sites.   Colin says that is not money saved because we just never spent it in the first place!!  I still prefer to believe we are ahead all those dollars.  What if we never had sold our home?

We both do agree that all the points we collect on TD Visa or CIBC Visa or Air Miles are indeed to be treated like bonus free money.  We have purchased two high definition TV’s, a sound system for the RV, running shoes, and recently $440.00 worth of fuel cards.  Now that is really found and free money.

One of my favourites is buying online when the Canadian dollar is up over the US dollar and saving all that money.  If  I get it at par I am happy.  That reminds me I better order our new fireplace soon….coming in from the USA!

Maybe something similar to this....different color of course or even in a satin brass finish!

The entire last two weeks Colin is calculating to the penny while I am just out there having fun  ( within reason )!  He of course is concerned as we haven’t had time to ‘work’!!!

But who has to work when I keep saving us money:)  Our new shed cost $1500.00 at Home Depot but I found the very same one and the very last one at Canadian Tire for $1200.00.  In my book that means I have an extra $300.00 to spend on anything I want.

So I guess we are one of each.  Which are you?

Tags: 319, money

…when we first moved to Kelowna we sold a ton of stuff….I mean a ton.  There are two items that we regretted.

The first is our beautiful Italian heron statue that was a deal breaker…the fellow would only pay us the thousands we were asking for our 4 poster solid oak bedroom set if we threw in the heron for an additional $300.00.  Colin was not home that day and now nine years later I am still reminded almost on a daily basis of how much he misses that heron!  Well, my opinion at that time was $3300.00 in the hand, cash I might add, was worth sacrificing a bird!!!

It was gorgeous!

Nine years ago we had no place to put it and now we do. So if you ever see anything like this let us know. We want it back! I'll even pay you a finders fee!!

The other little…..well I guess it is now a huge issue was the sale of our rosewood dinning room set.

We still have the rosewood hutch and the rosewood side buffet but once again we had to sell the table and chairs because of space.

We especially loved the way the chairs curved to support the lower back and how the wood continued right to the ground.

Over the past year I have spent many hours online trying to track down an oval rosewood table.  I had no idea that rosewood was so near extinction.  Many types of rosewood are indeed extinct and others are protected.  The only way to replace our dining set would be to buy used.  Twenty four hours after selling this house I decided to do a search online and I found an oval table in Toronto.  So sight unseen, just looking at photos I bought it.  A week ago I found rosewood chairs online at a different store in Toronto, they had been posted just a few hours earlier.  I bought those also without even sitting on them.  So now I have recreated our dining room furniture to a certain degree, certainly not the same quality we had years ago and we will build the house around it. All the pieces will be shipped here next week.  At least Colin will be happier~

Now if I could only find that elusive heron!

Tags: 319, furniture, heron, rosewood

What is the minimum wage where you live?  I am curious what that wage is, whether you live in the US, Mexico, Europe or Canada.  It will be different in each Province and State…..

Do you think that the minimum wage where you live is fair?

Here is a news article re the minimum wage in our province here in Canada.

Raising the minimum wage?

The BC Federation of Labour has applauded Tuesday’s increase in the provincial minimum wage.

At the same time, federation president, Jim Sinclair, also expressed disappointment in the government’s decision to leave some workers out.

Tuesday, the minimum wage jumped to $10.25 an hour for all workers except liquor servers and hand harvesters.

The fed says piece rates remain the same while liquor server minimum wages increase to $9 an hour.

“It is absolutely unfair and arbitrary for this government to increase the minimum wage for some workers and not others,” says Sinclair, who called on the Minister of Labour to outline the government’s plans for future increases.

Sinclair noted a commitment by Premier, Christy Clark, to put in a process for future increases in place and to review the wage rate in the summer.

“Today’s increase to $10.25 is good news and long overdue. Unfortunately, even at $10.25, workers in BC don’t reach the poverty line,” adds Sinclair.

“We are looking for a commitment by government to increase the wage again six months from now.”

Sinclair and the Federation have proposed an increase in the minimum wage to $11.25 an hour in November followed by a system of yearly minimum wage increases based on recommendations made by an independent panel, similar to a system in place in PEI and Alberta.

Photo of the day...midnight grilled cheese sandwich to keep the energy level up.

Self portrait!! Needless to say, I was asleep.

Tags: money