Catie George

I use dog grooming shears to cut human hair .. mine are low end Kenchii but have more than doubled in price since I bought them 5 or 6 years ago. Now cost about $85. Mine get much heavier use on the dog than on me, but have held up very well.

Can I suggest going into a beauty supply store and trying some out? Sally's is the chain I see here.

I chose mine in a local pet store that has a bunch out, and figuring out the right blade length and fit for your hands makes a big difference. My mom has a pair that were about the same price as mine that were ordered online, and they are about twice the weight and I hate them! Paying an extra few $ for less hand fatigue is worth it to me.

I have had cabbage naturally overwinter in Zone 4, for what it's worth.

It may have been somewhat mulched with leaves, and certainly was snow covered.

My last Christmas gifts of the season will be delivered tomorrow, weather gods willing (right now they look pretty unwilling!)

Did I succeed in a Zero Dollar Christmas?  Not quite, but close enough I am happy.

In addition to previous purchases, I spent another $3 to buy a Christmas tin for a food-gift when I ran out of containers.  I suppose I also went over budget on food supplies, though those are hard to count, since I had them on hand, and just handwavingly used reward points at the grocery store to 'pay' myself back for them, and besides, how do you value 2L of homemade maple syrup?- but I had atrocious luck with candy this year, for a long list of reasons.

I suppose theoretically I could count the gas I spent to drive to visit for Christmas, but I visit about once a month anyways, so I'm not counting it!

All in all about $38 of real money spent on "Christmas", $35 of which I would have spent even without the holiday, (and about $80-100 spent of reward points, which I normally hoard and never use), with Christmas still being it's usual busy self, with token gifts for about a dozen people, and "good" gifts for 3. Could I have given fewer token gifts? Probably, but Christmas gifts are culturally/socially expected, and fairly important for relationship maintenance, so I am happy I managed to still do it. Plus, I enjoy it! I'd have felt awful NOT having return gifts for people who gave me small gifts.

I ended up going to a buy nothing event, where I got rid of some things I no longer needed, and found myself some sparkly gold glass Christmas tree ornaments and a few other things I needed.  I was also given a strand of Christmas lights for my indoor houseplant Christmas tree, which I admit made the tree much more festive.

I ended Christmas still feeling like I got to enjoy all my favourite parts of the season after a very difficult year and despite a very tight budget, and I didn't end up feeling like I was being 'cheap'.

I would have ended up spending far less in total than my usual month, and did, in most categories , from groceries, up to and including my hydro bill, saving enough for the dishwasher AND the cabinet - except for 3 unforeseeable  major emergencies in December which thoroughly destroyed my budget for the foreseeable future.  Oh well. I'll get the hookup installed, and will keep my eyes open for cheap used dishwashers and used laminate countertops, and finish the project whenever time and money allows. Perhaps not what I had hoped to build, or quite as soon as I'd promised myself, but I will get it done. And find a used fridge, while I'm at it since mine is actively dying... In the spring, when I can get my trailer out. Sigh.

I bought a whisk at a restaurant supply store after a couple disappointing ones that were too floppy , frustrating, and eventually broke.

I believe mine is Hubert brand, and is durable, easy to clean, stainless steel, and stiff enough to do a good job beating things. It's about 10 years old now. My mom's restaurant supply whisk is over 40 years old at this point and doesn't look visibly different.

You're pretty close to Winnipeg I think?

This is a traditional Manitoba folk song ( or traditional parody of a traditional folksong??)

I sing the second verse to myself every time I'm annoyed about changeable weather.

Sung to the tune of "Red River Valley".

https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=2093

Oh, my grandpa came west in the 'eighties
To the prairies where grain grows like grass
But the bankers and freight rates got grandpa
And so grandpa went east, second class.

chorus: Oh it's forty below in the winter
And it's twenty below in the fall
And it rises to zero in springtime
And we don't have no summer at all.

It was raining and hailing this morning,
On the corner of Portage and Main,
Now it's noon and the basements are flooded
And the duststorms are starting again.

(Chorus)

Come and pay for my fare if you love me
And I'll hasten to bid you adieu
And farewell to your Red River Valley,
And its natives, all shivering and blue!

Here's a YouTube version.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6S09kbHq5uk&pp=0gcJCR4Bo7VqN5tD

Earlier this week we went from +2C and sleeting, to -15C in less than 24 hrs. My driveway still has an inch thick layer of ice in areas.

I very much disagree with the idea that you NEED to feel gratitude at all times. Or even most of the time.

That's a huge expectation, and in my experience, a recipe for resentment. I had a few people try to coach me into that mindset 'be grateful, at least it isn't ________";and quite frankly, it was awful for my mental health to always focus on how something could maybe have been worse and how I should be grateful for what I have, when yeah, my physical health sucks, my mental health isn't great, and the world keeps hitting me when I'm down.

I treasure when I feel joy, and plan my life trying to find those moments - but think of joy as a gift I sometimes have, not a constant companion I need to fight to keep. It's okay not to always have joy, or gratitude. I'm human.

I think what I am reading between the lines is that you are not feeling respected, and that's a really hard thing to live with - and fixing it will probably require intentional work from two people - you, and your husband.

Sometimes stuff sucks and anger is a reasonable emotion. Sometimes stuff sucks for a long time.

Figuring out how to express ' I am angry, and disappointed ' in a healthy way does take some effort, but bottling it up just leads to resentment, in my opinion. And it's a very toxic environment if you CAN'T express when you are angry, and disappointed (in an adult way without insults and yelling).

I could try to find gratitude, today, that I discovered that my roof is leaking, but at least I caught it now, or I can be right pissed that the house inspector missed it, when, in retrospect, it's obvious there was a previous leak here and I now think it's been slightly leaking since I bought the house, and just suddenly got worse, and now I might not get the thing I have been going through extreme pennypjnching for 3+ months to save for, that I've already had to delay 3 times.  Being pissed at the world is healthier for me, than trying to feign gratitude for likely needing to replace my roof 3+ years earlier than I'd planned.  And no, I don't feel grateful to own a house today! Try me after the roof's repaired and I'm no longer scared about what else is going to be found to be wrong when I fix it.  I'm not going to yell at the inspector, or misdirect my anger at friends, which won't help, but I will let myself be mad.

And it's reasonable for you to expect support from your husband when things go wrong, and stuff is frustrating. An appropriate thing to do, if the wood stove door is hung the wrong direction, is to expect him to contact the installer to replace it, or give a hefty discount for providing the wrong product. And if it turns out that he actually didn't specify the things you asked for, or was told in advance it wouldn't work, then it's very appropriate to be angry at him for lying to you about it, and dismissing your concerns, and to expect HIM to help rearrange your house to make it work, since it was his mistake, and he needs to take accountability for it.

Did your husband express any frustration at the installation and wrong product being delivered, or just frustration at you for being angry about the wrong product?

As for the brother in law ... Unhired help is much harder to dictate to than hired help. That's the sort of thing where I might consider asking them to build the frame, and doing detail work yourself.  Getting your own power tools is a powerful feeling - can you ask for power tools as Christmas/birthday gifts? There are a lot of things in the world I prefer to do myself and borrowing tools (which invariably comes with the owner's opinions!) gets old very fast.

Is moving to a more urban area, where there might be more English speakers an option? Is taking language lessons an option? Your mental health matters too.

My $0 Christmas Challenge continues, with a few failures, and a lot of success.

- I spent far less than average in November, and am on track to do the same in December, which means I'm booking a plumber to install a dishwasher hookup for January. Success! Not quite sure I have enough to cover the cabinet I need to build, but I should by the end of January.

- A store selling Made in Canada clothing had their first sale since I started watching them over a year ago. I ordered something  for myself, and for my mom. I would have bought it even if it wasn't Christmas, and have already bought my mom's gift, but I'll count the $30 I spent on my mom's gift as my first 'real money' spent on Christmas since I'm wrapping it for her. Failure, but I'm still way under my yearly clothing budget even with this 'splurge'.

- I apparently don't have much wrapping paper/wrapping supplies saved from previous years (I think they are at my mom's ) and don't feel like making more reusable bags. Luckily I *do* have a ton of brown paper I save from online orders over the summer to use in my wood stove, which makes perfectly acceptable gift wrap!  Success!

- I found a few random tools in my house I need to return to my mom which I can wrap as "gifts" and make her laugh. Success!

- The wreaths have been a big hit with everyone I've given them to, and I ended up making and giving them to more people than planned. I decorated them using only stuff from my yard as a fun Christmas activity with my mom, and had a wonderful time. Huge Success!

- I was given a free bar of biodegradable, unscented soap with a bulk order of cleaning supplies that would normally go in my stash, because it might be useful some day... I wrapped it, and will give it to a friend who will actually use it. Success!

- I discovered more ingredients than I knew I had in the freezer/cupboards so haven't needed to use as much reward money as expected for making Christmas gifts. Theoretically I'll end up replacing them eventually, but I count this as a win. Success!

- I found a $5 item at a thrift store perfect for a friend who is buying a house. It's a housewarming gift, but since I'll likely give it at a Christmas, I'll include it. Failure?

- I decorated my orange tree with Christmas decorations as my 'Christmas Tree' and have cut branches from my yard for my dining table. Success!

- I used the infuriating 'free' Christmas cards sent out by a charity I donated to in the past, sent to guilt me into donating to them again, to send cards to far away friends. I normally toss them angrily while swearing to never donate to that charity again, but this year I avoided the waste and used them (while angrily vowing to never donate to them again)Success!

So far I'm at $35 in real money, a few stamps, plus $70 in rewards points for Christmas gifts (and a housewarming gift) for 9 people, and I could argue the $35 is really not 'Christmas' spending at all.

And... I'm done Christmas shopping, wrapping, and decorating for the season!  I would say I've successfully prepared for Christmas on an (almost) zero dollar budget, without feeling like I've missed out on any of my favourite traditions, 'the Christmas spirit' or giving fewer or 'worse' gifts than normal.

I am planning on going to a Christmas downtown event with a friend, and likely will spend some money there on the charitable donation for the wagon rides, etc. It's a Christmas event, but I'll argue it's part of my normal socializing budget, since EVERYTHING is a Christmas event in mid-December!

Here is my personal, grumpy-guts feeling about Christmas gifts.

If you know someone well enough to be giving them a Christmas gift, you should know them well enough to give them a gift that solves a problem they have, that they've told you about, without asking them what they want for Christmas. I tend to watch people and write down things months in advance of Christmas and seldom struggle to choose Christmas gifts, and my gifts tend to get used because they solve a problem people don't know they have (or are edible and tasty). My biggest issue is occasionally discovering the person I'm giving the gift to bought themselves the item a few weeks ago! Most people have little things they gripe about, if you listen to them, that are easily solvable with a bit of thought and a <$30 gift, even if it's something silly like an extra long USB cord or a big roll of cotton butcher twine (both gifts people in my life have been super excited about), or someone's favourite hard to find chocolate.

If you're truly stumped, it's okay to ask what someone wants, but it takes the joy out of Christmas gifts to ask, and then ask the person where to buy the thing, and task them to provide them a precise link to the thing they want, which puts the onus on the person receiving the gift to guess the giver's budget, do the research, choose a gift in that price range, and then find the best item available in that price range online, with workable shipping, etc. Ugh. That's the exhausting part of Christmas!  Just give cash at that point!

I'm personally a fan of 'spend this cash on something fun and tell me what you buy' gifts, too. I miss my grandmother's Christmas cheques, where she'd give me a cheque, and I'd call her in a month and say thank you for the really lovely shoes or coat she bought me! Money for education funds is also a great gift for kids in my opinion.

Anne Miller wrote:

William Bronson wrote: Frozen cider makes Applejack, a shelf stable product.

How does freezing cider turn into Apple Jack?

Inquiring mind want to know ....

The name applejack derives from the traditional method of producing the drink, jacking, which is the process of freezing fermented cider and then removing the ice, increasing the alcohol content.[1] Cider produced after the fall harvest was left outside during the winter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applejack_(drink)

Alcohol freezes at a lower temperature than water. If you pour off the unfrozen part of a partially frozen low-alcohol beverage, then refreeze, and pour off the partially frozen part again, you can dramatically increase the alcohol content. (This is called freeze distillation)

Note that this also concentrates OTHER kinds of alcohol, so it's not a clean product like a heat distilled spirit (anecdotally, relatives who have tried it report a massive headache the day after).

I wonder if this is the origin of the term 'jacking up the price'.

Schatzi Hall wrote:Has anyone canned cider. I don’t want to use plastic. Any ideas to freeze cider NOT in plastic. I have around 20 gallons.

Cider is essentially apple juice. Lots of recipes online for canning apple juice.

This gives instructions for safely canning pints, quarts, and half gallons:

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/canning-fruits-and-fruit-products/apple-juice/