Help me make October Count for Kids!

Ethan is fundraising for Unicef this year through his preschool. He wants to raise '50 loonies' Please help him make his goal! Click the link to donate through his personal Unicef webpage!

Help me make October Count for Kids!

~Garage Sales etc Deals!~

Well we have had incredible luck with garage sales, Goodwill and Value Village this summer!  Every time I go out I set a goal of what I want to find…so far we have bought:

Electric Pressure Washer $25 – sell for $175 in store

Whirly Bird (Air thingy for roof) $25 – sell for $75 in store

Tupperware Jel-Ring Mini Molds – 6 Molds FREE w/ purchase of Whirly Bird – going for $37.50 on tupperware.ca

Scotts Spreader $30 – sell for $55 in store

Step2 Art Desk $25 – sell for $150 in store

Electric Paint Sprayer $10 – sell for $60 in store

Metal Sawhorse $5 – sell in store for $50

Foam Craft Sticker supplies $4 – sell in store for over $30

Picture Frames x 4 Wood frames $3 – sell in store for $40 at least

Cars themed table, picture frame $5 – probably $30 in store

Antique Wooden Airplane & Metal Farm Tractor $2 – going for around $200 on ebay

Tupperware Veggie Divider Dish (Value village) $6.99 – going for $50.75 on tupperware.ca

Various Flash Cards for Ethan $1.50 – going for like $10 each in store

LeapPad Learning System plus 2 cartridges $10 – going for around $75 for all

Leappad Cartridges x13 (Goodwill find) $9.99 – going for around $130

Tonka truck for Backyard $1.00 – going for around $20

Ikea Sun Light for wall (Thrift Store) $2.00 – going for $10

Huge Bag of Felt $3.50 – around $10 worth from a dollar store!

2-3”Binders + Portfolio(GoodWill) $2.97 – probably $25 at Walmart

Lawn Easter Decoration (Goodwill new in box) $3.00 – Reg Price $19.99 on box

VCR for a friend FREE – Reg Price $20 new maybe???

3 Chairs that match our Kitchen Table $9 – at Zellers they are $55 each!

That’s not all but a good portion of our deals..

Our Total Spent = $183.95

Store Cost = $1458.24

OUR SAVINGS = $1274.29

What did it cost us?  A little bit of gas, some money spent at Starbucks but we got to spend family time together, met some people, enjoyed the sunshine and in the case of the Value Village etc; we donated to a good cause!  A HUGE win overall!

What will we be doing for the rest of the summer on Friday night or Saturday morning?  Searching for deals!

~Big Bike 2010 – The HomeDepotHeartthrobs!~

Well this was my first year doing the Big Bike for The Heart & Stroke Foundation.  I started late raising money so sadly I only raised $60…but my great company that I work for, The Home Depot, will match my fundraising efforts and turn that into $120!!!  Isn’t that awesome?!?!  As a team we raised over $3200 with our company match! That is only the tally from the people that showed up tonight, there were quite a few that did not make it…they wussed out because of the rain!  So we may be a lot more then that!

Only 12 of us showed up to ride the bike…far less then the 29 that it can hold.  Thankfully it is quite easy to ride.  The only thing is that in Grande Prairie we start a the bottom of a large hill…they gave us the option to push it up the hill but we decided to ride up…I wasn’t in on that decision I can assure you!  I feel like a smoker again is all I can say!  They told us afterwards that no other team has been able to make it up that hill with that little amount of riders.

We did a short circuit because we were pretty wore out as a group from the hill and lack of legs pushing…we were gone around 20 minutes.  It was fun, we had people honking and waving, pointing and taking pictures…the whole nine yards!  Here are the pictures, I’m looking forward to next years ride already!!!

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They told me the shortest pedals were in the back…notice where to tallest riders were…wtf??? As you can see, my short butt had a hard time getting on…

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Notice the hill?  Not loving that hill…

On a side note, Ethan wanted to just run around and play…and was a total little shit the whole time we were there.  He charmed everyone but I’m sure they sighed a big sigh of relief when we went home…

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He spent a lot of time chasing a squirrel around the park…that was the cool thing to do!

Anyhow, we are looking forward to joining in on many more good causes like this one as a family…we will all benefit in the end!

~One Million Acts of Green~

Don't know if you've heard of this very cool initiative that George Stroumboulopoulos of The Hour is asking Canadians to join but I wanted to share because I am very passionate about the environment. You can join by going to this site One Million Acts of Green and joining, or you can simply get some great ideas on how to live your life 'greener'. I hope you can contribute to this awesome movement!



The picture of hottie George is for my fabulous friend Jess! Yummy!

~Happy Canada Day!~

We went today with our friends, Kim and Terry, to the park by our house to watch the Canada Day parade. It was scorching hot outside and perfect for being out because there was a nice breeze. We sat down from the street so that we could have some shade, thank goodness for the shade! Anyhow, it was a fun day and we got lots of pics! Here we go!

By the time we found the perfect spot under a tree with a breeze, Ethan was ready to eat! So him and I flopped on the grass and I fed him!



This float was students from a local taekwondo school and they were soooo cute! They were shouting in unision "Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday Canada!" In like sharp tones like it was a part of a teakwondo move! It was cute and we could hear them all the way down where we sat in the shade.


These guys had so much fun trying to make the dragon wave! You would think by the time they got to us (we were near the end of the route) that they would have had the hang of it! They were fun!

Our friend Kim and Ethan. He loved her holding him because the breeze was cooling him off!


My cutie on his first Canada Day!

This truck caught my eye. On the side it read "Big Book Box" and then had a sign for the DavTee Society. So I came home to find out what it was all about. It is a local charity (you can read more here: DavTee Society) and they are trying to fill that container with educational books! Wow! I'll be looking into them a bit more!

Loved the little maple leaf waving in front of the birthday cake! This was the Green Party's float!

Humpty from Humptys Restaurant. They almost lost him as they came off that bridge. It was a tense moment, LOL!

And lastly, Ethan as the parade came to an end, crashed in his stroller!


Happy Canada Day friends and family!

~ Have you Had Your Timmies Today???~

It's Camp Day! Where all coffee purchased at Tim Hortons locations across Canada is donated to their Childrens' Foundation. It sends kids to camp that otherwise would not get such a chance. You can read more about it here: Tim Hortons I did my civic duty and waited in line for half an hour this morning for a coffee and a bagel and made an additional donation too of course. Anyhow, you still have time if you haven't gone already head on out and support a good cause and get a great cup of coffee while you are at it!