The Radio Girl

Hittin' the Road

My Fella's parents have had it...

 
...with the weather! 

Even though winter hasn't frozen our little Okanagan beach town yet, the In-Laws are making their escape early.  They've packed up their RV and they're heading out on Monday for the first (of many) annual winter getaways. 

Safe travels you two.  Hopefully we can hook up somewhere along I-5.  We'll bring the slowcooker and the crib board if you supply the cervezas  :)

(Nutty bunch.  Glad I fell into this wacky family  :)

Now onto my other fave things... 

Numbers. 

This sounds super geeky, but I usually monitor my investment account gains (or losses) throughout the month.

At least once a week I grab a pencil, whip out my calculator and get lost in the numbers.  Ever since I saw a video of Dennis Gartman (a well known US investor and author of the Gartman letter) I've been more aware of monthly changes in my accounts.  Gartman doesn't go for the big score.  Instead he tries to make small gains of 1% - 1.5% per month.  If he's successful, his small monthly gains add up to 12% or 18% per year. 

I don't agree with all his investment theories, but this strategy is very sound.  Especially when it works  :)

• LIRA +5%
• RRSP +10%
• TFSA +11.8%
• non-reg +7.6%

Of course, there's still the final week in October where things could fall apart.  Gotta stop counting my chickens, yada, yada, yada. 

(Can't seem to find any chicken pics so Mother Goose and the babies will have to do) 

Here are my current non-reg holdings in order of weighting:  Student Transportation, Crescent Point Energy, Armtec, Altagas, Inter Pipeline, Pembina Pipeline, First Capital Realty, Bonavista Energy, Davis + Henderson Income Fund, Killam Properies, Superior Plus, Morneau Sobeco, Alaris Royalty Corp, Artis REIT, Power Financial preferreds, Westcoast Energy preferreds, FutureMed, Sun Life preferreds, cash.

And the best news of all, my PIG (Passive Income Goal) is up to $26,047 a year, which is like earning $33,000/year in BC, before taxes.  

 

Things That I KNOW I Know

There is so much I don't know. 

For example, why does my cell phone company insist on labeling it a System Access Fee, when we all know it's just a cash grab?  Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?  Did Noah have two woodpeckers on the ark, and if so where did he keep them?  Why is Oscar green?  Can you yawn in your sleep?  Why do I crave purple cabbage? 

See? Soooo much I don't know.  But here are three things that I KNOW I Know.

1- My Fella and I can live happily in a much smaller space.  Like an RV. 

I now realize that 200 square feet is enough, as long as My Fella and I have our own private space. 

Over the past couple weeks I've been super aware of where we spend the majority of our time.  The only rooms we use regularly are the kitchen, the bedroom and The Pit.  (The Pit = second bedroom where my office is.  That's where I do all my stock stuff, hence 'The Pit'  :) 

We don't watch a lot of tv so we're hardly ever in the living room.  And we never use the dining room table, except as a place to store our fruit.  I'm actually thinking of listing it on Craigslist.

 
If we go ahead with Project Gypsy, living in a 200 square foot space will be less of a challenge than I thought.  As long as we have a place to get away from each other.

#2 Thing That I KNOW I Know: Cold weather makes me miserable. 

Snow, ice, slush, cold...I hate it all.

 
Living/working/playing in a summery climate is a huge key to my overall happiness since everything I like to do (tennis, walking, gardening, hiking, camping, looking for golf balls) requires warm weather. 

 
If I never had to wear pants again, I'd be ecstatic.  Not sure if that came out right, but I think you know what I mean :)

But speaking of pants...

#3 Thing I KNOW I Know:  I don't want/need a lot of clothing. 

I've been keeping a close eye on my wardrobe, specifically the clothes I wear regularly.  In a previous post I mentioned my lust for the Khaki GAP miniskirt, and the fact that I now own 12 of them.  ($10 each at the GAP Outlet store, what a steal.  You Americans are sooooo lucky!)  

Anyway, in a wacky little experiment this morning I discovered that I can fit all the clothes I wear regularly into one large suitcase.  That includes socks and underwear, but not shoes or coats.

Time to give away more clothes.

October in the Okanagan

Our little Okanagan beach town is turning orange, yellow and green. 

October = a cold lake, but happy fish. 

 
If you're visiting the Okanagan this weekend, expect grey skies, a few showers and highs of only 13 to 15C. 

First Full Day of Fall

Not looking forward to winter, but I love how fresh everything smells in the fall.  

I wish this picture was scratch-and-sniff so you could smell it too  :)

Final Friday of the Summer

Fall begins next Tuesday so this is the last weekend of summer 2009. 

The Okanagan forecast calls for sunny skies and a high of 28 today.  It's my day off but I have some quick errands to run (ship off those baby clothes, restock my fruit bowl, clean old plants off the balcony) and then I'm gonna take a walk to the dock this afternoon and say goodbye to summer :(

I watched this video on YouTube this morning - Richard Marx and Endless Summer Nights.  It is soooo eighties cheesey.  Love it.

And I had to laugh out loud at the gal in the video with the ponytail on top of her head.  There is no photographic evidence but I wore my hair that way almost every day in high school. 

I found this pic of Richard Marx with Daughtry.  Wonder if Marx misses his 80's hair...

Okanagan Weekend Weather

There is a Heavy Rainfall Warning in effect for the Okanagan today.

The rain started last night and it just poured all night.  That's awesome - our gardens and our fire crews need the moisture. 

More rain today and a high of 21, but then sunshine and high 20's all weekend.

Our Neighbourhood Hoser

This is a great time of year to visit the Okanagan Valley.

Local greenhouses and fruit stands are jam packed with goodies and Environment Canada (a.k.a Some Guy In His Basement) is predicting blue sky and temperatures in the low 30's until Sunday.

That's why I'm working outside this morning.

Here's one of my co-workers, The Little Hoser.

She's a little neighborhood kid who has decided her summer job is to water the grass.  ALL of the grass.  She calls herself The Little Hoser.  For some reason, I think her dad came up with that title. 

The Little Hoser is very good at her job and this morning she also watered my tomatoes, my green onions, and half of my patio furniture. 

You'll notice in the pic above, our Little Hoser doesn't actually look at what she's watering.  Still perfecting her technique, I guess  :)

Okanagan Weekend Weather

Sunny and 32C today in the Okanagan.

It's errand day - bank, Chinese grocer, drug store, etc.  And I think I'll swing by the lake on the walk home, just to dip my toes in.

If you're planning a weekend trip to the BC interior, here's the forecast:

Mainly sunny and 29C Friday

Cloudy Saturday and 21C

Sunshine and 23C Sunday

And sunshine and 26C on Monday 

Okanagan Weather

Okanagan forecast:

Sunny and 13 today, sunshine and 17 tomorrow and a high of 16C right through the weekend.  And the rain we've had over the past couple weeks should green things up quickly.

Earthquake in Italy

More than 90 people were killed as a powerful earthquake struck the heart of Italy last night. 

At least 1500 people were injured as entire towns were flattened, leaving tens of thousands of people homeless and many still trapped under the rubble.

I swiped this video from Channel 4 News in London.