My Mother's Day Week-end

My Friday morning started early again with my appointment to get my brakes fixed at 8 AM. I stayed in the waiting room watching the news on television and finishing off the yellow washcloth I had started knitting at the beginning of the week.

The good news is that the valve that was ordered the second time, cost less than the first, so instead of almost $800, I only paid a total of $576.77 (less than the bill for the four tires installed) I came home to pack my bag and some things I had set aside to take to my daughter's house, including the tin of home baked chocolate chip cookies. I grabbed a bite to eat and headed for Toronto when the "check engine" light came on. I turned around and headed back to the Canadian Tire in Kingston. By the time I arrived, I was so upset I was beside myself. Those servicemen took the van immediately and gave it a thorough inspection. They found an emissions leak where the gas cap goes on. They removed some corrosion and fixed the problem and charged me nothing for the inspection and the work that took more than an hour. They assured me it had nothing to do with the work they had done on the tires and the brakes. The timing was coincidental; but they felt so bad for me having spent all that money and having to come in so many times during the week, they had decided not to charge me anything. They did leave me with the invoice however. Had this happened at any other time, it was a $95 job. Luck was on my side today.

I finally got away to Toronto, but didn't arrive in Bradford until almost 6 PM. Of course, I arrived in the middle of rush hour traffic on a Friday afternoon. But I made the trip myself, without any problems, when I had never done it before. *patting myself on the back* Saturday was my grandson's 6th birthday. We spent a couple of hours in the morning decorating, blowing up balloons, and preparing snacks for the party. It was an Avengers themed party for some of his classmates and a great time was had by all. Later in the afternoon, after his party guests  left, the second party got underway when extended family arrived. My poor grandson was ready for an early bedtime that night. We all went to bed early as a matter of fact.

The next morning, soon after Mother's Day celebrations, I decided to hit the road early to try and avoid any heavy traffic. It looked like it might rain so I was anxious to beat the weather as well. The off ramp from the 404 to the 401 is really tricky and I knew I would have to pay close attention. There are four lanes that exit: two go into the downtown, one exits to the 401 West going to London, and the fourth exits onto the 401 going East to Kingston. I had to be in the correct lane or I would have had to make a forced exit to somewhere I didn't want to go. It was a white knuckle drive, but I made it. *again, patting myself on the back* The rain held off until I arrived in Oshawa. From there it is smooth sailing as there are few merging lanes or off ramps to contend with.

I made good time despite the rain. By the time I reached Napanee, the sun was out. So I decided to do some grocery shopping at No-Frills and Giant Tiger. By the time I left Napanee, the dark thunder clouds had moved in. By the time I brought everything inside the house and took the dog outside, it just started to rain. While I was taking pictures and putting away the groceries, there was thunder and lightening. I slept for a while before I had to get ready to go out for dinner at my son's and his GF's apartment. They had invited her dad and step-mom, her brother and myself for a lasagna dinner with salad and garlic bread. So yummy! The moms got to take home some potted mums for Mother's Day.

There were a number of phone messages waiting for me when I got back home, but it was too late in the evening to respond. I am very glad that not all my weekends are this jam-packed with activity. It was an incredibly busy time.

Produce cost $13.12

 5 lbs imperfect carrots $1.97, frozen bags of veggies $1.50 a bag, red potatoes $1.49, 2 tomatoes $.89, and celery at $2.77

Meat cost $28.37

 Pork loin was $8.16, 4 lbs. of ground turkey for $10, hotdogs cost $1, 30% of centre cut pork chops cost $4.21, and Montreal smoked meat was $5

Pantry items only cost me $11.18

 Campbells soup cost 50 cents a tin, mandarin orange slices cost 79 cents a tin, Primo spaghetti sauce was 88 cents a tin, pizza sauce cost me 97 cents and Nescafe instant coffee was $3.87

Bread was $6.89

Dairy cost $8.91

The 4 packs of yoghurt were only 50 cents each.

Finish dishwasher detergent was $3 off for a price of $13.97

Total groceries cost $84.42, including taxes, with food costing $68.46