This week's Weekly Roundup is more of a Life Update. It's unusual for me to lift the curtain on my private life as whatever gets published on the Internet tends to live on forever. But for the sake of authenticity, I do want to allow a bit of a sneak peak at what has been going on behind the scenes at LBH just to provide a bit of context. This year has been tumultuous and stressful, even more so than last year. Without warning, I became a Singleton again. I didn't have much choice really as I discovered that my long term partner had been having a long term affair. One plans for retirement, for a holiday and for buying a new car or appliance but never for a separation. I ended up picking up extra hours at work wherever I could and for long stretches of time I was working 12 hour days. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep that up anymore. Years of being in a toxic relationship had taken its toll on my heart (really and truly!!). I am so thankful that I live in a country that has public health care. But now a lot of time gets taken up with visits to the doctor and the cardiology clinic. On top of all that, after 2 years of negotiating, my workplace finally unionized! The down side to that is that we had to wait over a month to get even a partial payment of wages while management came to grips with such novel concepts as direct deposit and biweekly pay. I'll leave my thoughts on that for another post. What this meant was a tightening of the belt. In the spirit of WWII's philosophy of Make Do and Mend, anything that needed repair was mended instead of rushing out and buying a replacement. The strap had ripped off one of my favourite tote bags so I took it to a local tailor to have it sewn on again.
Tintin and Snowy get to live again! You can make out the extra stitches on the upper left side. I love that my tote bag gets an extra lease on life and I am supporting a local small business.
I have always liked strolling the aisles of Dollarama (Canada's version of The Dollar Store). You just never know what sort of deals may be lurking on the shelves. While I was waiting to get paid, trips to Dollarama pretty much became the order of the day. I was very pleased to find Canadian healthy pet treats there.
Any pet owner will tell you that healthy, natural pet treats and food normally come at a premium price. This pack of freeze dried chicken was only $2.50. Now if only I can break the furkids' addiction to the junky stuff...
I was thrilled to find a couple bottles of my favourite hypoallergenic shampoo (which I have written about here).
Live Clean hair products go for over $9.00 at the drug store but it was only $4.00 at Dollarama.
I have to take my hat off to anyone who is able to maintain a heart healthy diet and live on a tight budget at the same time. Recipes and tips would be greatly appreciated!
In the future, I hope to keep you updated on everything I have learned in terms of financial recovery, adjusting to life as a Singleton and reconnecting with myself after living for years in negativity and chaos.
