New Year

I generally don't partake in large New Year Celebrations. I spend it with may family, we'll have a nice dinner, a movie or games and then a small toast (Egg Nog!) when the count down is over. Despite the fact that our celebrations aren't grand I've always enjoyed New Years Eve. There's just something about standing on the cusp of a new year that makes me excited about what the next year is going to hold. After all the last year was grand so the next one should be stupendous. Here's what 2014 has in store for me:

-Four masters classes in four months. (The normal load is three but I don't do things small.)

-I'll start taking respite foster care placements. I've working at the approval for 7 months, but the social worker in charge of my file says it will be signed soon and I can start the fun part.

-Lots of new stories written down. I've been writing stories down since I was a kid, but it was just in the past November that I made it a priority, and that feels great. In 2014 I'll plan on spending an minimum hour a day (20 min on the bus to work, 30 min on my lunch break and 20 min on the bus home) writing fiction. Who knows? Maybe I'll even manage to sell a story.

-Summer vacation at the cottage. With my cousins summer vacation is always a hoot and nature doesn't get any better than my grandfather's cottage.

-Start my thesis. Kind of a big scary unknown, but I've got some great classmates and a couple of really supportive supervisors.

-At my current rate of saving I should become Financially Self Sustaining sometime in 2014. Which means that, if I really had to, I could live off of my Net Worth indefinitely. (Granted there would be no fun and my house would have to be sold for more modest accommodations, but I could keep a roof over my head and food on the table.)

In short my 2014 looks like it's going to hold a lot of interesting happenings, and I'm looking forward to it.

Writing Fun

Many of you will know that I was absent from this blog a fair bit last moth because I was partaking in an absolutely silly venture. I signed up with NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) to write a 50,000 word book in November. I can now say that I won!

Yes folks, over the course of 30 days I pounded out 50,000 words in the form of a novel. Either I'm really good or I need my head checked. So what did I learn from this insane venture?

1. Friends are important. One of my good friends also took part in and won the challenge. We had each others backs that whole time and e-mails back and forth were frequent. We pushed each other and then got to celebrate together at the end.

2. I had cut active fun out of my life way too much. Sure I took in some passive fun, usually watching TV while I made and ate supper or folded laundry, but I wasn't DOING things that I enjoyed. Writing a novel every day was to be constantly thinking planning and plotting, on the bus, during chores, and as I slept. I was always excited about getting just a couple minutes alone to pound out some words.

3. I can manage a heck of a lot when I put my mind to it. I worked 32 hours a week and was doing a full time masters (including final projects) while I wrote my book. Nothing else suffered as I dedicated myself to my writing during my off time, if anything I felt more balanced.

4. I need to set more writing goals and work at them earnestly. My friend from point 1 will be helping me out with this by holding me accountable as I hold her accountable.

5. I am so doing this next year. A novel in a month is sooooooooo much fun. Especially when there several 100 thousand other people doing it too.

Pay Day 1 December 2013

So my monthly pay check is in for a total of $3,805.97.  My pay has increased for the next few months as I’ve paid my EI for the year. My budgeting will continue as if I did not see this extra $200 and that amount will be put towards my House Payments

Housing 40% - $1,439.35

Mortgage - $646.62

House Maintenance - $315.00

Housing Taxes - $192.00

House Insurance - $72.00

Utilities – $213.73

Total – $1,439.35

Savings 10% - $359.83 – All going to my RRSP

Extra Mortgage Payments 10% - $359.83

Transportation 15% - $539.75

Bus Pass – $0

Train - $0

Other - $15

Car Savings – $0

Total - $15

Leftover - $524.75

Life 25% - $899.63

Food - $130

Cell – $30

Internet - $60

Health Insurance – $23.52

Clothes - $10

Gifts - $10

Misc - $10

Big Ticket Item - $100

Entertainment - $10

Social/Sports - $0

Financial Planning - $14

Cat - $10

Slush – $492.11

Total - $1107.21

Extra from not having to pay EI - $207.58

Of Note:

- Between my normal mortgage payment ($646.62), my Extra Mortgage Payment Amount ($359.83), what is left from the transportation budget ($524.75), my Slush money ($492.11), and my Extra from not having to pay EI ($207.58) I have a total of $2,240.89 to put against my mortgage. Which means not only can I afford to increase my monthly payments from $711.28 to $782.40 but I can double up my payment to $1,564.80 and have $666.09 left over to add to my yearly 10% pot.

- My BTI money is earmarked this month for a wisdom tooth extraction. Truly there is nothing more exciting to spend $100 on. 

End November Goal Review & Salad Waste

First things first I had to waste the last serving of a wonderful salad because one of the ingredients had gone off. I made a huge bowl of it at the beginning of the week and just kept eating it. The down side is that when one part goes the whole thing need to be tossed. The up side is that I actually ate salad this week. The result being I will make more week long salads and just make sure that I use ingredients that are roughly the same age.

Lets take a quick look at how goals shaped up over the last month.

Financial

- Set up RRSP investments with my return of value pension from the military and contribute $359 a month for the year, along with any tax refunds. CHECK [It's on auto pilot and I'm looking forward to more RRSP room next year.]

- Pay off house in 5 years.  I should be able to accomplish this by doubling up every payment and paying a 10% lump sum every year.  CHECK [I put my second 10% principle payment down this month and now own 43% of my house.]

Educational

-Start Masters of Science / Masters of Science in Nursing in the fall.  CHECK [One take home exam and one big paper and I will have passed my first semester.]

Social

-Join two new clubs in the local area.  CHECK [I’m actually up to two writers groups plus quilting.] 

Other

-Have my novel accepted to be published.  I plan to have it ready by the end of the month (January), so I can start sending it out. CHECK [Getting ready to launch query letters at people again, plus I'm 48,443 words into my second novel.]

-Become a respite foster parent. CHECK [I’m in the process of being matched up.]

-Finish my current crafting projects.  NOPE [But Christmas break is coming which is usually a very productive time for me in this arena.] 

A respectable 86%. December goals will be (1) getting my school work done in the first half, (2) spend some time on crafts over Christmas, and (3) keep up the good novel writing habits I developed in November. 

I'm Alive

A small note to all my readers that I am indeed alive and well. I do apologize profusely for my absence from cyber space. I have been somewhat busy between my day job and wrapping up my first semester of day classes. On that note I thought I would share a little joke with you.

What do Duplo, a stuffed panda and a TV remote all have in common?

They are all absolutely essential if you wish to explain the Neuman System's Theory to people. Seriously though, if you ever have to do a Graduate Studies presentation bring Duplo. People will laugh and enjoy your presentation instead of falling into a coma looking at power point slides.

Switching to the more fun side of my life I'm still going strong in the National Novel Writing Month competition. I've hit 44,728 words so far this month so I should hit the target 50,000 words by midnight on the 30th. Add to that I've finished all my paperwork for a volunteer position at my local children's aid so that should start soon as well.

In short it's been a crazy wonderful month and I'll try harder in the future to keep you entertained with the goings on around my place.

Keep Busy, Have Fun

I've always been a busy person. My parents can well attest to the fact that as a child I was always launching into great big fun projects (from my perspective) that were guaranteed to eat up all and any free time for the foreseeable future (from my parent's perspective). As a kid I competed in sports every season of the year; went to schools (of course) and spent more time on homework then any other kid in my class; acted in plays; entered math competitions and science fairs; volunteered for different charities over the years; learned to sew, cross stitch and crochet; concocted hair brained schemes with my siblings (house wide elections, our own science museum, etc.); and devoured book by the ton. This turmoil of activity has taught me two things.

The first is to manage things wisely. As a kid my mom was the one who threw on the brakes when she figured I was going to take on too much for me to handle. As an adult I think I've learned to manage my own time fairly well. None of what you're doing is fun when you're to tiered to enjoy it. But I've also learned to prioritize. There does need to be time for the fun stuff that you do just for the heck of it along with all the purposeful activity that comes with being an adult.

The second is that anyone who is bored isn't looking hard enough. That also goes for anyone who has to spend gobs of money trying to entertain themselves. There is so much out there that no one should be sitting idle. Learn something! With the internet you can get info on pretty much any subject for free. Make something! The next time you need something make it yourself. So what if you've never baked your own bread or built a table? There was a time when you had never tied your own shoes, you've managed that eventually. Go outside and look at stuff. There is an amazing, beautiful, absolutely insane world out there.

Sure when you get busy and start doing stuff besides watching TV there are people who will tell you that it's a bad idea. Just tell them Elizabeth said it was ok and refer them here.

Disgruntled Lettuce and Where I've Been

My food waste confessions for the week include half of a slimy green pepper, the tail end of a container of yogurt and some lettuce. I have good reason to believe that my lettuce is disgruntled because I completely forgot that there were a few leaves left and started and almost finished eating a large package of spinach. I am truly sorry for my neglect Mr. Lettuce.

As for where I've been. My regular readers will have noticed that my posts have slowed down a good deal. The irony is that I'm writing even more than I use to! You see there was a reduction in posts so that I could keep up with working 32 hours a week while doing a master's full time. That said my writing per day has increased as I've been involved in the NaNoWriMo competition. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it let me explain. It stands for National Novel Writing Month. It is basically a bunch of crazy people decide that getting together and writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days is fun; of course I thought "why not?" and dove right in.

We're halfway through the month and I have reached 26,360 words. I've also been having a blast. I could expand on all the lovely reasons why my current excursion is a good idea. But that is not for now. Simply rest assured that if my posts are less frequent and shorter than usual it means my main character is having one heck of a day.