Too fast

D. is three today. Three YEARS OLD. Does not compute.

That is all.

Neighbourhood love…

I was away for a few months over the summer, and it has reaffirmed for me how very much I love this city. Growing up I never would have thought, in a million years, that I’d enjoy living in a city. I think part of the reason Toronto works for me is because it is more like a collection of neighbourhoods than the concrete-paved wasteland big cities usually make me think of. We walk easily to one of many parks and playgrounds, to the little produce stalls, to a big grocery store, to the library, to a bookstore, to coffee shops, to diners, to (or, mostly, past) fancy, trendy restaurants, to playgroup. And while many collections of amenities like these exist in many, many other places in the city, the neighbourhood does have its own distinct feel. While most people passing through see some bars and clubs and upscale condos and dismiss it as yuppieville with a few families thrown in, it’s honestly very different from that. Huge numbers of kids live around here. Housing varies a great deal in style, cost, etc., which means broke students and small families (raising hand) and newer immigrants live near comfortably wealthy families and young professionals. It’s not the most ethnically diverse neighbourhood in the city, but umm, compare it to anywhere I was this summer in the US, any of the big cities, and we’ve got them beat hands down. I love the contrasts in this neighbourhood: The baby boutique stocking Burberry everything and fancy little handmade French lace dresses half a block from the cheap and awesome Chocky’s where I can get a huge bag of kids basic socks for $5. The Tim Horton’s two blocks from some of the fanciest restaurants in the country.

What I hate? Parking. It’s a freaking nightmare around here.

Budgeting software.

So, when you have practically no money, it’s a good idea to know exactly what’s happening to it… And if you have lots of money you want to keep it that way, I’m sure. Mvelopes sounds like a good idea to me. Just like those old-fashioned envelope budgeting systems, but updated and online. It can automatically pull your bank transactions into its software, as long as your financial institution is one of the listed ones. You can then assign the transactions to your own budget categories. There’s a 2 month free trail and I am tempted to give it a try. The only question is whether this type of budgeting would save enough to justify keeping it going once it switches to a paid system… Hmmm…

Ding, dong, the witch is dead…

PW Botha finally kicks it.

Update, Nov. 12: What a truly bizarre funeral. So much unsaid. So many questions.