Where's the knitting?

I've got a confession to make: I'm kinda ticked at the fact that, even though I *think* about knitting pretty much every day, it seems like lately I don't really get to DO it that much. I think I've only managed about 10 rows on my one and only active WIP in the past week! Days are for working, evenings are for soccer, running, blogging, catching up with friends, etc., weekends are for running errands and being with family. When do I get to KNIT, darnit??? I was über-excited to have the evening to sit and veg out on Monday, but after folding 3 loads of laundry all I managed was 2 rows between talking on the phone and my kitten eating my yarn. *Sigh*


So I've got no pretty pictures of FOs to share - again - even though I've got 3 that I have yet to blog about. What I DO have are some pictures of me water-skiing! (I know... it's a bit of a strange segway, but it's my blog and I'm running with it, so there).


This summer has been the shiznits as far as boating has been concerned, mainly because we had little or no snow in Winter and little or no rain in Spring, so there's little or no water in the river (see how that works?). But after a few fairly heavy rainfalls over the past few days, Phil deemed the river to be "OK", so off we went for a boat ride.

Now, when Phil and I started dating, a BIG part of our summers was spent on the boat, water-skiing and wakeboarding. I loved the fact that, contrary to sports like, say, downhill skiing, this was something we could actually DO together, but each at our own level of proficiency (ie: breakneck speed and crazy-ass jumps for him, moderate speed and casual turns for me). But since getting pregnant with our daughter Émilie (who's turning SIX in a few weeks!), I hadn't been. Phil went occasionally while I stayed home and took care of the kids. It happens.

Well, on Sunday we both decided that that sucked ARSE, and I put on my skis and went for a ride.

Turns out water-skiing is like riding a bike: you never really forget. I was up on the first try, had a good run (for me), and didn't even get my hair wet when I let go of the rope ('cause I was tired). I had fun, re-discovered something I used to really enjoy, and most of all? I impressed the CRAP outta my kids, heh.

Happy Knitting Everyone! (if you're lucky enough to GET to knit! Grumble, grumble...)

ps: Oh! An update on the 2010 for 2010 Challenge! I put aside 75$ this Monday (Yay!). I now have about 4,47$ in my purse and 13,73$ in my bank account until my next paycheque (Boo!).

Setting the bar

Recently, while reading Ysolda's blog, I found out about a knitters' retreat that will take place in Iceland in September of this year. Now, I don't know about you, but I can't think of anything cooler than that. I mean... KNITTING IN ICELAND!!! I wanted to go. Like, a lot.

The only problem, of course, is that I don't happen to have 287,000 Icelandic Kronas (roughly 3000 Canadian dollars) lying around. Nor do I have the cool grand to fly to Iceland, for that matter. But then again, I haven't checked the pockets of my winter coat yet, heh.

All of this yearning for that which I can't afford led me to a fairly basic question: why don't I ever have any money??? I make a decent living, our mortgage is paid, we're not in debt... So why don't I have any money????

A quick look at my spending habits over the course of the past few months made it fairly obvious: the fact is that I'm a really impulsive shopper, and I buy what I want when I want it. I pay off my credit card every month, I set aside money for my RRSP, but I don't really question my daily purchases. And let me tell you: when you buy a pattern here, some yarn there virtually every week, it really adds up.

So! What to do about this? Inspired by my friend Robyn who's taken up a de-cluttering challenge (you can read about her progress here), I've decided to set up my own personal savings challenge: put aside 2010$ for 2010!

The 2010 for 2010 Challenge!

Goal: put aside 2010$ in savings by December 31st, 2010.

How? Change my spending habits! (DUH!)

I'm going to try to control my spending by separating my purchases into 2 basic categories: Things I Need and Things I Want (I know, you'd think I went to business school, right? Genius!)

Things I Need would be things like groceries, gas, kid items, and personal items of the essential variety (ladies, you know of what I speak). These will continue to be paid for as I've done to this point (although I'm definitely going to be looking at the coupons at the grocery store from now on!)

Things I Want would be things like yarn, books, social activities (restaurant, movies, etc.), wine, and personal items of the non-essential variety (like, say, getting my hair coloured). You know, the fun stuff that makes life worth living, basically. These will be paid for in CASH, and I'm only allowing myself 100$ per week. At the end of the week, whatever's left over (if there IS anything) will be put in my ME pot, to be used however the heck I feel like it.

I'm starting pretty late in the game, so I'm not going to lie, it's going to be TOUGH. But I think I can do it!

Happy Knitting Everyone! I'll be over here, quietly going through shopping withdrawal.