Spring is on it's way...

That's what I keep telling myself. I don't know about you but I find this time of year hard to get through. The temperatures outside are -25 or colder with the windchill, the sun barely makes a presence and everything is a blaaa white colour or looks lifeless. On top of all of this I'm another year older. Don't get me wrong, the fluffy white stuff is pretty after a light fluffy sparkly snowfall like we had two weeks ago, but that only happens a few times throughout the winter season.  Most of the time the wind just howls like crazy and blows the white stuff everywhere and makes it nasty to drive in ... oh the joys of Canadian winters in Ontario.

 

Here we are ... it's the beginning of February ... the middle of winter. Let's face it no matter what the groundhog predicts today,  we have at least another two months of this to go.  I thought this would be a wonderful time to sneak in some photos of the flowers I welcome back each year in my flower beds. I intended to do this last winter but the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months and I just never had an opportunity to get around to doing it. The other day when I was picking up the Lil' Man from Preschool the birds were singing such a lovely tune and it truly felt like spring was around the corner and it somehow dawned on me that I had to start working on these posts.  Most of the photos were taken during the spring/ summer and fall of 2013 as last year the weather wasn't the greatest in our area and the flowers didn't do so well. My goal (keeping my fingers crossed I succeed) is to post a photo of the different flowers from our flower beds each week until the nice weather arrives. A little glimpse of the beauty that lies ahead.

The first flowers to pop up will be these beauties and I seriously can't wait...

Our Tulips!

  I saw the above quote this past week and it's so true.

 

 

I wish I could have fresh cut flowers in this mason jar throughout the entire year.

What are the first flowers to bloom in your flower beds?

 

Hello Spring!

The much anticipated spring weather has finally arrived.  

 

 

A sure sign spring has arrived.

 

The love birds are out.

 

The plants in our front flower bed are starting to poke through the soil. Such a beautiful sight as we patiently await to see what will come back to life this year and bloom.

 



 

 

 

Another sign of Spring ...

The Lil Man has found the perfect muddy puddle!

The sunsets have been beautiful!

 

 Enjoy your Tuesday Everyone!

 

What Happened to Spring?

What a Beautiful day! I had the clothes on the line this morning by 8:00 a.m. and by noon it was dry!! At one point today it felt like +29 outside. What happened to Spring? It feels like Summer has arrived.

 

{April . 12 . 2013} Storm

It's hard to believe that a week ago today we were blanketed with  a sheet of ice outside. While this past Monday the temperature  reached a high of 14^oC  (the first day this year I was able to put clothes out on the line). The ice buildup on Friday was so bad that I could not get into my vehicle through the driver's side. I had to drive around Friday morning entering the vehicle through the passenger's side (I'm sure a couple people had a good laugh). The right side of our property was hit really bad. The laundry room and spare bedroom windows were even covered with a thick frosted layer of ice ... it looked really neat.

After a good 30 minutes trying to get the ice off the windshield of the car and getting completely drenched because it had started to rain, I was finally on my way to my appointment with a minute to spare {not very happy at that moment}.

I tried to get a photo of the thickness of the ice on the driver's side door handle but it is hard to see ...

All the parking lots were icy

Once I was done my running around and Hugo went down for a nap I went outside and snapped some photos {the one nice thing about the storm -- I was able to snap some cool looking pictures}.

 

 

By this point a lot of the ice had melted off the clothes line.

 

 

 

 

Another thing that also sucked was the power went out for about 2 hours, just before I was about to warm up my lunch. I had to come up with a way to warm up my soup...

Man was I grateful I have a fondue set. It worked like a charm! Hugo was napping during this part and it was so weird not being able to hear him through the monitor. It's crazy how many things we count on that require power. It is not until times like these that you really notice them.

Have a great weekend!

Rainy Days

Hugo is ready to test the water levels ...

 

There is a problem, however ...

 

Screenshot from The Weather Network 

 

 

 We are in the middle of a winter storm warning today.

 

If April showers brings May flowers, what does April snow bring?

 



Tax Time Again



I can not believe it is that time of the year again - income tax time. For a change this year I finished early {insert jumping up and down}.

 

For years now I just file our own income tax returns. Two of my co-ops in post secondary were at an accounting office completing tax returns. When I finished my post secondary education I worked at an insolvency office and part of my job again was completing tax returns for insolvent individuals. I actually had a running total of all the returns I completed but have lost track now. It must be at plus 3000 returns. For every return I did at the insolvency office for an insolvent person I had to complete two returns which added up quickly, not to mention a lot of these individuals had not filed their taxes for years (part of the reason they were in the situation they were in). Let just say I completed a lot of income tax returns over the past 15 years.

I have a couple returns I do for people during tax time. I must admit it is nice having that little bit of extra money, especially now that I'm a SAHM. I never know how much to charge people though. Some of the people pay me what they would pay to have them done at a professional office (what they paid before I started completing their taxes - they always tell me whether they bring it to me or somewhere else they have to pay to get it done so they rather give me the money) and others ask for me to set a price. I must admit though I always have a hard time setting a price since I do not know what other places are charging and I do not want to over charge people. I figure the amount I charge covers a bit of my time, gets put towards the cost of the program, and my material - I print a copy of the return (which is usually close to 30 pages) and put it in a folder like so...

 

Yesterday I had the radio on and an ad for H&R Block came on and they said their basic returns start at $69.99 plus tax. (I thought it was so odd that I heard this ad ... the timing was just so weird since I had been discussing pricing on the weekend). After hearing the ad I must admit that I was curious to see what they considered a basic return. I decided to go visit their website to find out and let me tell you  I almost fell off my chair when I realized how much it costs to get tax returns done.       

I just had to document what I saw on their site at http://www.hrblock.ca/services/pricing.asp and I took a screen shot on April 7, 2013 ...

 

Most of the returns I do fall in their Intermediate Category which they charge $114.99 each return plus tax. I could not stop my price research here so I did a bit more searching. I figured the reason the price was so high was because it was H&R Block and other places probably charge way less.  I had a couple local newspapers laying around and quickly looked through them closely (I never look at the paper) to see if there were any ads listing income tax preparation and the price and I found a few. Most of them stated their prices for a basic return (one to two T4 slips) started between $55.00 - $60.00, and went up from there for any additional slips. They charge about $10 to $15 less than H&R Block (not really that much cheaper).

I could not believe how much money we save with me completing our income tax returns each year. I never really did the math before. This is why I decided to do this post. I hope it will be a reminder to us for years to come that every little bit we save by doing things our selves (if we have the know how) sure does add up and saves us quite a bit of money.

I think this year I might put some of the money towards a cartridge that I want to get for my die-cutting machine which will hopefully become an investment that allows me to make a bit more extra dough to put towards extra treats for the family (pizza night, ice-cream treats, etc.).

Just curious, do you do your own income tax or do you get them done professionally? If you do not mind me asking, how much are you charged?

Digital Easter Cards

This year I decided to go a different route with my Easter cards. It's not the same as snail mail but for this year it worked as I was a little short on time. I emailed friends and family a digital Easter card to wish them all a Happy Easter. I snapped all the photographs that you see on the cards myself, which took a lot of time and patients, but it was worth it. I also designed all the cards myself which is a big accomplishment for me since I am just learning how to use Photoshop.

Here are the cards that went out ...

 

 

I also did a Portuguese one for my Grandma's (since they don't have email I required the assistant of my cousins to show them- I must admit this is one of the big downfalls of sending cards via the Internet) ...

 

 

 

I'm not sure if I mentioned it on here before, but one of the projects I am currently in the process of putting together is a digital project life book. Sherelle Christensen from My Crazy Life As A Farmers Wife Blog has shared with her readers five free Project Life templates. They are great if you have a basic knowledge of Photoshop. I have used them in the following posts if you want to check them out  Bubbles and Easter 2013.  You can find the templates HERE on her blog. I have started to create some of my own templates for our Project Life Book for 2013. The following is one of my layouts which will be included in our book for this year. I also created  the gingham pattern that you see in the background.

 

 





 Do you use pre-made templates or do you design your own? I personally like the flexibility that is available with creating the templates myself. However, I appreciate the pre-made templates that others have decided to share, as they speed things up. 

 

12/52- Happy St. Patty's Day

Hope everyone had a good St. Patrick's Day! On St. Patty's day at our house we wear green. It's kind of become a tradition.

 

I'm not a beer drinker and had a headache most of the weekend (darn storm that was heading our way) so no alcohol for me. Instead I made a green snack for us to all enjoy! Hugo just had one bite as there was a wee bit too much food colouring ...

Green Rice Krispie Squares!

Hope everyone is having a good week!