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GratiTuesday #1

Last week on Twitter, my friend Jim made the following posts...

I thought this was the BEST IDEA EVER. So we committed to keeping each other accountable. Every day we would take notice of all the good things. He's posting his daily at his blog, while I decided to tweet them with the hashtag #BestThingToday and then post a weekly roundup here. Every Tuesday. Mostly so I could use that horribly cheeseball title. Because I am a cheeseball. I am okay with this.

These posts will usually cover the previous Tuesday to the Monday, but since we started this journey last Monday, this one's got an extra day. (Hopefully future posts will also include photos and videos, but for this week it'll be just a text dump. Sorry!)

Monday February 9, 2015 - Obviously - Jim & I committing to looking for the highlights in every day. I feel like this is the start of something big! Also, it was announced that Spider-Man is coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Coincidence? I think not. Also, also? I won a free coffee.

Tuesday February 10, 2015 - I won a free donut! I'm on a roll (unintentional pun). Also, this afternoon I purchased an item of clothing I've always wanted to try but thought that, as a fat woman, I would never be able to pull off. I got myself an awesome jumpsuit! This is going to be perfect for summer concert season.

Wednesday February 11, 2015 - My sister offered to make me dinner tonight. I got some great food to eat and the absolute delight that is getting to hang out with my 4 year old niece. She is just the best.

Thursday February 12, 2015 - Had a great 'character study' discussion at a great local coffee shop with the director/the 2 actors playing my favourite characters for the play I am Assistant Directing (Steel Magnolias). I am so excited for this play. When I got home, after a struggle with my computer, I finally got a load of new albums loaded onto my phone. Yay new music!

Friday February 13, 2015 - The simple but pure pleasure from a good bubble bath. I used the magical blend of a Unicorn Horn bubble bar and Northern Lights bath bomb. PERFECTION. Afterwards, I used an extensive amount of different face products (aka magic potions) and it was just a delightful night.

Saturday February 14, 2015 - Valentine's Day! Even as a chronically single lady, I really love Valentine's Day. Mostly because I get to celebrate the one I love. ME. Got up early(ish) and went to the grocery store to get some ingredients to cook myself an awesome brunch. I had baby naan bread with mashed avocado, egg whites and sauteed crimini mushrooms. SO MUCH YUM. I spent the afternoon reading comic books in bed. Then, one of my bests picked me up so we could get some Heart-Shaped Pizzas for dinner. We headed back to her house where I brought out my surprise activity - FLAVOUR TRIPPING (blog post to come). Afterwards, two other fab ladies joined us and we watched some episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal and played the GameCube game Donky Konga (1&2) and then Mario Party 2 on N64. Best. Valentine's. Ever.

Sunday February 15, 2015 - There is something to be said for having an all day pajama day. Especially when you were up till 2 am the night before playing Mario Party...

Monday February 16, 2015 - Today was my dad's 60th birthday! We all went out for brunch at one of my favourite restaurants then spent the rest of the day at my parents house. We FaceTime'd my other sister in for cake & present time and it was just a lovely day. HBD Daddio.


And there you have it. My first week (and a bit) of taking note of my favourite part of every day. I challenge you to do the same. Let's see where this takes us.

Be sure to follow Jim's posts too, at Positively Jim!

Advent Movie Challenge.

I. LOVE. CHRISTMAS SPECIALS.

I love them so much that this season I decided that I would watch a Christmas movie or TV special every day from December 1st to December 25. And I actually did it!

I figured I'd let the TV schedule dictate what I would watch what day, and if there was no special on or a special I had already watched I would draw a title at random out of a jar. A jar I filled with slips of paper with the names of about 27 different Christmas specials. Yeah. I took this seriously.

Unfortunately, this method prevented me from FINALLY watching Scrooged or Die Hard. When I do this again next year, I think I'll just start with those two.

Here's what I watched!

  1. A Muppet Family Christmas
  2. A Charlie Brown Christmas
  3. Toy Story That Time Forgot
  4. AD/BC
  5. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
  6. Frosty the Snowman 
  7. Pioneer Woman's Cowboy Christmas 
  8. Great Christmas Light Fight 
  9. Santa Claus is Coming to Town 
  10. Jamie's Cracking Christmas 
  11. Nativity!
  12. Radio City Christmas Spectacular 
  13.  Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger
  14. Holiday Baking Championship 
  15. MasterChef Canada: A Holiday Special
  16. Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas
  17. Elf
  18. A Garfield Christmas Special
  19. The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (1966)
  20. He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special
  21. The Wiggles: Go Santa Go
  22. White Christmas 
  23. Merry Christmas Mr.Bean
  24. Would I Lie to You at Christmas 
  25. Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade

challenge accepted: Live Below the Line

This is what I ate on Monday.
All-You-Can-Eat sushi night alone cost over $20.
Monday's meals weren't really anything out of the ordinary for me.

From April 22 to April 26 I'll be LIVING BELOW THE LINE.​

On Sunday I'll go out shopping with only $8.75 for 5 days. The total cost of the food and drink I eat each day can't exceed $1.75– the Canadian equivalent of the extreme poverty line.

How does it work? (from livebelowtheline.com)

  • The full cost of all the items you consume must be included in your budget. This means budgeting for whole packets of food items such as rice, pasta, noodles and eggs etc.
  • For items such as salt, pepper, herbs and spices, simply work out the cost of each item per gram and budget your shopping proportionally. Separate your items before the challenge so there’s no need to be digging around in your cupboards.
  • You can share the cost of ingredients amongst a team, as long as no participant spends more than their total $8.75 budget. Working as a team will allow you to pool together funds and do more with your cooking.
  • You can’t grab a cheeky snack from the cupboard unless you include the cost of buying the item new in your budget.
  • You can use food sourced from your garden as long as you can account for the price of production!
  • You cannot accept ‘donated’ food from family or friends, but monetary donations towards your fundraising goals are acceptable, and encouraged!
  • You are allowed to drink tap water – remember you should try and drink at least 6-8 glasses of water each day.
  • Remember that cigarettes don’t come cheap either! Can you Live Below The Line and still manage to smoke?

Last week I did a little "scouting" at the grocery store. The first thing I saw was a block of cheese that was more expensive than my entire budget. I headed off to look at what I assumed would be cheap, filling options. Shock. Rice and lentils by themselves ate up almost all of my budget.

I took notes furiously at the store. Was I really this oblivious to how much things cost? Yes. Yes, I was. I've never had to worry about if I had enough money in my bank account to pay for a tin of beans.

When I got home I spent several hours working out a meal plan - which I am still tweaking. I take so much for granted!

This is going to be hard.
But that's ok, it's supposed to be.

The 1.4 billion people who have to live under the extreme poverty line every day have to make their $1.75 a day stretch to cover a whole lot more than just food and drink.

challenge accepted.

Visit livebelowtheline.com for more info!

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