Growing & Staying On Top

It had been a busy month for us both at the store front and also for my vlogging  business.  The store is growing and we know that we are going to have to buy a bigger place really soon.  So we’ve been on the hunt for the longest time and may finally settle on a place this year if the price is right.

As for the vlogging business, it has been going great, I cannot ask for a better advertising co-ordinator who does all the flying arrangement and meeting of clients for me.  All I have to do is show up and look pretty.  On the home front, it has been awesome too, we’ve hired a part time helper to help around the house, cleaning and re-arranging things and cooking for us as we’ve been so busy of late and I’ve been traveling so much more now.

Chloe is doing well in school , although I want her to do better, so a tutor may be in order soon.  As for her piano , she is doing awesome, and I cannot ask for more.   Health front, PB , Chloe and I are planning to join a local gym to exercise 3 times a week, I suggested yoga classes and we are currently looking into it.  I also took an x-ray for my legs and awaiting to hear back from my doctor.

 It had been a really busy January for us and even though we had many storm days, we were still on top of our sales as compared to last year.  So we are totally blessed.  And those who’ve time to sell me, please let me know.

The End Of 2014

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A few more hours and we will be in 2015.  What will 2015 bring for us ?  I don’t know but 2014 had been a great year for us in terms of business wise and my online work.  The store had been really busy the entire year and my online work had taken a new turn because I started on vlogging with an American brand magazine for woman after 50.  It had been an extraordinary ride and I enjoyed all my assignments tremendously.  I doubt I would be able to finish using all the skin care and cosmetic that I’ve received thus far but I really am happy with experimenting with everything and being paid for it.

Chloe is doing awesome in school, she have the best teachers and this year I’ve also taken a step back and let PB do most of her school stuff with her since I had been traveling a bit for work.  On the home front, besides investing in a cottage near the beach, we also bought another property in the city because we’ve been going up there more often than usual as we have a great part time help from now on.

We also got to spend time with family and concentrated on doing family stuff but of course, I got to go out with my friends as well.  I’ve also met some really nice new friends along the way and did more charitable work this year.  Well, globally and not so much locally, although we did donate to some good causes this year locally as well.

Now health wise, I have to say that my legs is still giving me problems, so I’m gonna go take care of it next year but PB’s and Chloe’s health have been good, no major illness here.  My father – in – law and brother – in – law are also doing well , so I’m really happy about it.  But we have aunt helena to be thankful for too , for she took on the “grammie” role ever since the passing of my mother – in – law a few years ago.

This year, we focus a lot more about doing charitable work for different organization that both PB and I are passionate about and to my foster kids.  We also wanted to teach Chloe good values about being grateful for what we already have and not want more than needed.  I think overall, we did a pretty good job with managing our personal lives as well as money for 2014,  i hope you had as great a year as us.  Happy New Year !

Epic Drawing About My Family

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Muahahah!!!epic!  I am gonna frame this up and put this in our cottage , so that everyone can have a good laugh.  How candid is this?  and so much like us at home and at work.

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But what I loved most is what Chloe wrote at the back of the drawing.  I love her to bits.

Approaching 50 !

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In a few months or so, i will be turning 50 – 5 decades, the real 5 0  !!  wow!  surreal ?  a little but I think this year had been such a productive year for me and a lot of growing done.   You must be wondering about the growing part right?  what is  this about the growing ?  after all, at almost 50 what the hell “growing”  am I talking about ?

When you are approaching 50, you tell yourself, you don’t really want to care a lot about what people think of you but to live life to its fullest and do whatever makes me happy.  So this year, I concentrated on doing what i love most, blogging and vlogging and boy!  was it a great experience being able to network with other vloggers and bloggers.  This year, I concentrated on what’s most important to us, meaning, chloe and the spouse and since we have been investing more on properties and buying and renting, it had kept us busy for the most part.  And I’ve done away with a lot of people around my life.  Being “friendly”  is not enough to be considered a friend no more, I have no time for “friendly”.

I also quickly realized that at almost 50, I didn’t want to waste time on people you don’t care to be with or be friendly to.    And I don’t want to do things that I feel oblige to do or be polite to people I don’t want to be polite to.  I don’t want to go beyond my call of duty to please or be a do gooder ,  I just want to do what makes me truly happy.

As I’m approaching my 50, I couldn’t care less about what others think of me or my blog, I  want to write what i feel or how i feel at that particular moment and not having to worry about the person reading about it might get offended.  Because it ain’t about them, it’s about me and how I feel and the situation I was in at that point of time.  I don’t want to bend over backwards for people who ain’t important in my life or worry about what they would think of me if I didn’t do what is “appropriate”

This year, because of my “growing up”  I’ve traveled a lot more and networked so much with both Google and Youtube that I could never have done before,  had I worried about what people would think of me leaving my daughter with the spouse alone for days.  In other words , when you’ve lived almost 5 decades, what’s most important in life is me, myself and my family, the rest can take their turns when I have the time.  If they don’t like it, it’s not my problem.   What’s is important is getting enough rest and giving enough time for my daughter and spouse and taking care of our health and most importantly not having apologize for being a success in our life, both home and at work.

There’s no pretending here nor am I ashamed to write I have the best spouse and the best kid (in my humble opinion), we have a successful business and we own our own place and a cottage by the beach and many acres of land to develop as well as several houses out for rent.  I can also  afford to up and travel anytime I want and buy anything I want not just need.   We have enough money saved up for Chloe’s college and a little more for her traveling.  If people are offended because of it, so be it.   They are entitled to their opinion and it doesn’t affect us one bit.

When you are almost 50, like yours truly,  you can tell people exactly what you think of them and stop making excuses for their behavior.   When you are almost 50, it’s okay if another do not agree with the way you are bringing up your kid or the way you speak or write, it’s not my problem, if they want to take it whatever way they want.    When you are almost 50 like I, you don’t have to like everyone, and you can ignore your crazy ex – neighbor, crazy church friends as well as your crazy customers.

PS  :  At almost 50, it’s ok not to have to justify what you do online or offline to anyone especially to people who are insignificant in your life.  

Keeping Your Marriage Healthy

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A healthy marriage  is a happy marriage.  Besides not owing anyone money and having a flourishing business, the spouse would surprise me once in a while by buying me flowers and gifts that he knows I would love to have.  The spouse is a good provider, I never have to use my own money for anything, I even get a pocket money from him each month.  Money for me to splurge and to buy the things I wanna buy.

Some might not think that he is very talkative or funny but to me, he can be if he wants.  He is always there to help and never whine about anything even when he is ill.  He does all the heavy duty stuff , like mowing the lawn and bring the laundry up and down the basement and carrying all the groceries.

We talk about everything under the sun and moon and have total trust in each other, he is very supportive in any venture or direction I want to take in raising Chloe or my online work. We don’t argue at all, if he doesn’t agree with me, he would let it go at that moment and only chat about it when I’m calm down.  As for work at the store, we are totally in sync when it comes to dealing with customers.  We loved our jobs and our life and every now and then, the spouse would surprise me with flowers, perfumes, handbags and eye lash luminizer, what else can a woman ask for right?

My Baby Is In Grade 5 !

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Well, I can’t exactly say she is a baby anymore – afterall, she is in Grade 5 and almost 11 years old now.  Yes, this year she is in Grade 5 and she is very excited about it too.  Same teachers from last year, so I’m sure she will do well with the teachers.  She also begin her piano classes the same week she starts school.  I’m glad I’m in town the week she starts school , for next week I have to be in Seattle.

Time has flown !  and we have to say that she is growing up to be a fine young lady.  She is a lil’ sassy, a lil’ bratty and a little naughty at times but hell! she is a whole lot good too.  So weighing the good and the lil’ bad – I say, she is doing pretty good for a 10.5 yrs old.

Simply Joyous

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The summer had been going so well for all of us , from store front to home front.  Chloe is enjoying her summer camp and looking forward to art classes both at the Yarc and the art gallery.  She has several play dates a week and is quite popular of late. And this morning, we saw Pinot and Augustine who will be performing at the Yarc.  Chloe said she didn’t mind watching them at the Yarc, so we booked tickets for the show on Friday.

She continues practicing her piano and reading daily even though it is summer holidays and we shall start with some Grade 5 school work with papers that we received from a friend in Halifax.  We looked forward to August because we will be traveling quite a bit for my work as well as squeezing in a short holiday with Chloe.

At the store front , we have a friend who is helping us out when we are on vacation this year and we are so happy about it.  I know that PB will be able to relax because this friend is pretty smart when it comes to manning the store.  Thus far, he is the only person who didn’t need a lot of training.

We are also spending our weekends at the cottage and just last week, the neighbor at the cottage stopped his truck to say how beautiful we’ve turned the cottage into.  But the cottage is not even completely renovated yet, we still have work to do.  Wait till he sees the inside when everything is done.

Did I also mentioned that someone from the United States wants to buy an acre of land from us at the cottage for $80K?  yup ! you heard right! and right now, we are negotiating the price because the piece of land is right by the beach.  So yes, simply joyous!  cannot ask for more.

Family Insurance

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Yes, yes !  we did buy another house in town for investment , it is currently rented out to a couple who moved from Vancouver to here.  And just the other day, Chloe had asked if we had insurance for all our properties, in which I had replied that we certainly do.  Our current insurance company is just as good as  allred insurance  that my g/f uses in the USA for all her investment properties as well as health and life insurance.

Chloe is constantly worried about fire and us dying, I have no idea why.  If someone’s place is on fire from out of town, she is afraid that ours could be by a bush fire or an electrical outlet malfunction.  Just this morning, she told me, I hope you don’t die *slap forehead*  I don’t know why she comes up with things like that.  So I told her she don’t have anything to worry about because PB and I have life insurance, health insurance, the houses and cottages are insured, so we are pretty much quite safe.

Repotting

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For the longest time, I never had time to plant or beautify my lawn or garden.  Plus everytime, I’m ready to do it, the bugs and mosquitoes are in full force.  Last year, a friend made a huge flower planter for us – of course we paid him for the trouble, so this year, I’m repotting some flowers on my own.  I’m really enjoying it so much , as my current neighbors are wonderful people.    And they are so good with the kids and never sweat the small stuff. Chloe would go over to play with their little boy and no complains.

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I’m loving the potting and repotting of plants, my MIL would be proud of me if she was alive today.

Back To Nature

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I have a wonderful father-in-law, not only does he grows baby bok choy for me because I missed veggies from home, he does all the cool stuff for Chloe, like building chloe first swing for her and now another one in his house.  We even had our own camp fire , so that Chloe can roast her marshmallows.

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Chloe had so much fun and so did I.  I loved going out and enjoying the fresh air, minus the bugs and mosquitoes.

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Here’s chloe on the swing , with PB , grampie and Aunt Helena looking on.