I hate winter it has been so cold, wet, windy and dreary almost everyday for 3 months..we occassionally see the sun peek through the clouds...but not often...so everyone has been feeling a bit down that we can't get out more into nature, beach etc....but we have had some unexpected things happen...first 2 things happened to our car that we have never had happen before...the seatbelt latch broke in the car so you couldn't do the seatbelt up...so one was ordered..we got it fixed...it still had a light on which means if we were in an accident then the airbags would'nt go off..which means it was faulty so had to order another one and get that one replaced...finally that was all done...then our ignition switch stopped working...so had someone come out and look at it...was an easy fix..the keys were getting old (car is 15 plus yrs old) so it wasn't connecting with the ignition swith and we just got a new key..it cost $220 but cheaper than an all new ignition switch...so that was some unexpected expenses we werent expecting

Now for some shocking...disgusting news...that is not money related but I am sick to my stomach about!!

10 days ago my niece aged 24, who we have nothing to do with as she takes drugs, she is violent and breaks the law etc...was arrested for child neglect and child endangerment!!!...she has a 5 year old and an 18 month old who she barely raises...her mother has them way more than she does...apparently her and her mom got into an arguement and werent talking....so the police showed up at her mothers house and said they needed her to go with them as they were taking her children off of her...the house was a mess but shockingly the 18 month old had an over flowing diaper that had live maggots in it...I am sick to my stomach..knowing those kids went through that...I am beyond disgusted that I am related to her and I was hoping they would keep her in jail...but today she got bail and home detention...she is not to be within 50 metres of children...and has to wear a monitor...I know she will break her bail conditions...she is that sort of person like the rules don't apply to her...she has 7 convictions of physical violence against her, she has breaking and entering...not sure if she has been charged with that...but I am just appalled to be related to her...sorry for the rant but I just can't seem to get past this...on the upside I have been changing all my banking to a new bank and getting it set up...and hoping to pay off our CC by end of year so we will debt free and I have started using an investment app and starting off small and just adding to it until I learn how to invest better!!

So I called the tax office back after a couple weeks like they asked me..waited till after the 4th...tried to explain again to a new person what has been going on and to see if we owed anymore...as we had to amend our taxes...she was looking through it and said that the person who did them messed them up and added the tax in instead of readjusting it...they didn't read the notes so she did it while I was on the phone and she is seeing what she can do about the late fees/interest etc, so she said the first 2 letters we get don't do anything as it will say we owe around $2800 (we don't) and then we will get in 3 more letters and that will say what we owe...so fingers crossed after that we will be done...

Other than that and a few extra bills we have to pay we are finally getting back on track and starting to get some $ in the bank again...will update later in the month