Our FI Nest

Dear Mr. Shandro, I keep hoping this government will start to listen to the people and keep their promises not to cut health care spending. I keep seeing comparisons to spending in other provinces and how BC, Ontario and Quebec all spend less than Alberta yet supposedly have better outcomes.   I'm not sure how they came to this conclusion, at least where delivery of service is concerned. I lived in Quebec for 14 years and moved back to Alberta 3 years ago. In my dealings with the healthcare system as a generally healthy family the system is significantly better in Alberta. Why do we want to tear apart our system and break it so it matches theirs? It took me 2 years on the waiting list to get a family doctor in Montreal. I got one within 3 months of moving back to Alberta. Prior to finding a family doctor I'd have to go to walk in clinics. Often it would mean getting there at 7:30 am for the 8:00 am opening and hoping to be seen by someone by noon and not bei

My daughter turned six a couple weeks ago so that meant another birthday party. Honestly if I could skip birthday parties for ever I would be very happy. However the kids love them so I feel pressured into doing them. She invited six or so friends and three were able to make it to the party. Perfect amount in my books. Saves my house from being overwhelmed by screaming girls. Well mainly me from feeling overwhelmed by screaming girls. I have also scaled way back the Pinterest inspired pressured decorations. In fact I did none this year. The kids did not even notice. Only downside is I don't have a ton of pretty pictures to share because I did not spend hours creating it all. Her birthday present was Just Dance 2020 to go with the switch the kids got for Christmas. That provided the entertainment for the party. I also limited the party to two hours. That is plenty of time for the girls to play, eat cake and open presents. Party menu was veggies & dip, chips and some

I just realized I never blogged about these Eléonores I made back in May 2019 (with the fabric I bought in 2018). They are my most worn pair of pants. Well they are also my only pair of pants that are comfortable to wear since I gave away all my maternity pants. Just to clarify, I'm not pregnant, just a size I've never actually bought clothes for as I was generally losing post-partum weight at this size, not settling out here for awhile. The Éleonore pattern calls for 20% stretch but these ones have about 40-50% so are a bit more forgiving when you gain 10 lbs. Mental note I need to get out for a run tomorrow before the temperatures drop again and I'll be back on the treadmill. I think I actually bought this fabric using some money from a biggest loser competition I won planning to make clothes for back to work. So a little ironic that they are the only pair that fit since gaining back 10 lbs but I digress. Let's focus on the sewing, shall we... They really are my

I was trying for another quick win with my sewing plan before I started the pants but got hung up on trying to muslin and adjust a pattern to make it perfect. However in this case, and most cases I'm often better off accepting good enough, at least for the time being. I want a few more simple Tee-shirts in my wardrobe so when LoveNotions re-released their Classic Tee and had it for free over a weekend I grabbed it. It was exactly what I was looking for and free is always my favourite price. It's still available for $5 US on their site and if you join their facebook group * you can often find promo codes for free patterns to try them out. That is what enticed me to try and I've loved pretty everything I've made. There is a reason they've gotten so popular! For my first version I left the bust alone and added an inch to the waist. It looked pretty good, but had a bit of wrinkling above the bust and a fair bit of wrinkling at the back. I got some great