All my hard work this last year seems to have paid off and I received a small wee windfall as a bonus this week. It’s actually enough to pay the remainder of my car loan off, which is absolutely amazing! It’s also let me have a couple of decent treats … one of them stitching related.
My TiVo has been playing up something terrible over recent months, and I’ve spent a bit of money on it trying to replace the WiFi connector etc … I’ve almost missed lots of shows over the month or two because it hasn’t taped them … so my first treat to myself is to buy a new Panasonic DVR. As the TiVo doesn’t appear to be greatly supported anymore (I couldn’t even replace the remote when it broke the other month), I’ve decided not to spend any more money on it. So, DVR is now ordered and will hopefully be ready for pick-up when I get to work on Monday. That means when my TiVo packs a sad again next time I’ll be prepared with a back-up! Plus in the meantime while it’s still working it means I can tape extra shows that I would normally have to miss out on – woohoo!
Treat number two is a trip home to NZ to fly to Nelson for my best friend’s 50th birthday. She pretty much begged me recently on FB to come over, so that was the first thing the money is going on (even before the car loan). I was already thinking of surprising her by turning up on the doorstep on her birthday, but I’ve ended up letting the cat out of the bag and telling her I’m coming. She’s been so down lately, I thought that news would help spur her on and pick her spirits up a bit.
That leaves the final big treat … I’ve put down a deposit on the 2017 Victoria Sampler Retreat in Victoria, BC. It’s great that I get to save up over the next year for the remainder of the retreat costs, and really have a full 18 months to get some spending money together for the trip. I received ‘airline tickets’ from work for my 15 years of services last month, which means I can use that to get to Los Angeles – I just have to pay for the airport and service fees/taxes. It means I’ll also get to meet up with some family and friends. I haven’t met many of my Canadian family (which is Dad’s side of the family – they emigrated to Canada before we emigrated to NZ) so it would be great to meet them – plus I would also get to meet my Northern Twin, one of my closest pals here in the stitching community.
Sadly that has now spent all my wee bonus even without a stitching stash splurge … but seeing as I’ll now be just over $600 better off every month with the car loan paid off, I think I just may have to splurge on a big order when my next pay day rolls around 😀 I’ve got plenty of charts etc, so I’m thinking a bit thread order would be awesome to get some of my wonderful projects kitted up and ready to be stitched … especially my canvaswork charts and perhaps a Chatelaine! Ooooh, bring on payday!! 😀
Feather Stitching 
Congratulations….what a windfall….and sounds like you have made some fun decisions! I love to travel too. Have fun with all.
Thanks – yeah, it’s very exciting! I’ve been very responsible, though, and the bulk of the money is going to pay off my car loan so I’ll have a lot more $ in my pocket each payday going forward 🙂
wow! that’s awesome. what a weight off and what a lot to look forward too! x
Awesome! Sensible spending with a special treat too. And that’s a mass of money saved each month to put towards your trips or whatever. So happy you’re getting to meet Jenna at long last! 🙂
It’s true, it really is exceptional! I’ve been chatting to the Canadian rellies the last 24 hours and can’t wait now 🙂
We can’t wait for you to visit too. I haven’t seen Anne since she was about 10 years old.
Sounds like your windfall went to very good use!
Anne, you’ve done well to be both sensible and a bit indulgent with your windfall! I’m so glad I’m going to be at the VS Retreat to witness you and Jenna’s antics! What a time we’ll have!