the MONEY MAN

I think the MONEY MAN (or woman, man just flows better) has been testing me this past month.

• Just after booking a trip to Cancun, Hurricane Wilma puts a damper on our vacation plans, but it takes over two weeks before the flight is cancelled and they actually agree to give us a refund rather than a credit. I mean who would really want a credit with an airline that flies mostly in the states when you live in good old Canada?

• OP gets sick, very sick. The initial rough estimate was about half of actual costs when you factor in all of his surgery, hospitalization and analysis. So now we have a $2100 cat, thank goodness we love him so much. And he really is so incredibly cute!

• After paying off my mechanic bill (for getting my brakes done last month) at the beginning of November, my car decided to act up again. After arriving home from a visit to a friends house I noticed a strong rubbery smell and smoke coming from my driver side front tire. After replacing the brake calipers, drive shaft and one CV axle, I'm in for another $350.

• J and I frequently browse the housing listings, looking for townhouses, as we know that eventually we will want to move. After seeing a flyer for a brand new townhouse unit in Surrey we decided to go on down and check it out. They were beautiful, three floors, three bedroom and den, three bathrooms (one of which is a private ensuite), approximately 1800 square feet and all for under $300,000. Unfortunately, although we would love to move somewhere new and beautiful, it would just about double our mortgage costs and we are presently lacking the funds to pay any more than we already are.
  
  
• Oh yeah and did I mention that Christmas and the Holiday Season are just around the corner?!! We have started Christmas shopping, but have yet to put a dent in the list of things we need to buy. And of course that list is purely theoretical, we have no idea what to buy for over half of the presents.

Money...Love it when you have it, hate it when you don't.