Welcome to the site of Lobster Shorts. Come explore life with a happy, go-lucky, Canadian, that loves to laugh, and share experiences. I love plants, kayaking, reading, hanging out with my guy, watching horror movies, be in nature, write letters, make cards, and try new things. Come join me on my adventures and journey through life.
I bought my second stock, one share of WISH. One share came to $41.44 Canadian, through Wealthsimple. There are no brocker fees on Wealthsimple, but they do charge you currency conversion fees. So I ended up paying an extra $6.00 Canadian on top of the stock price, adding up to $41.44, for the one share.
I went a little over my budget this month. Wish is new on the market. I wasn’t sure if it was still relevant, but I asked one of my younger acquaintances and she said her and her friends still shop there often. I myself do not. The vendors on Wish are known for swiping photos from other stores and sending you a cheaper, crappier version of the product you thought you were buying. There are many videos on Youtube of this happening. If you do shop there, make sure there are reviews with photos.
I bought the stock because it’s a popular store and the company is worth a lot of money. The next day after I bought it, the stock dropped a lot. It went up a little bit, but I’m still down (especially with the currency conversion fees). My GFL stock dropped too, but last time I checked I was up a couple cents. I’m not a rich gal yet
I made two Valentine’s cards, with cutting dies from Aliexpress, steamy and sweet. I attached them to a kraft cardstock base and left them simple.
The steamy one reminds me of a tropical beach at sunset. I had originally ran the dark blue card stock through an ocean patterned embossing folder, but it looked too busy, so I left it plain. The sweet one started with a tartan background strip because the silhouette reminded me of preppy (do people still use that word, preppy?) college kids, but they grey and black one won out.
I really like how they turned out and I’ll make more in the future.
I bought my first stock today! I didn’t get it until my second attempt. I learned that there is a market price, and a limit buy. If you ask the market price, you might end up paying more than you expected. With the limit buy, you put the maximum price you are willing to pay. My first try I put the limit price too low and it was cancelled, my second attempt was successful.
I bought one share of GFL this morning for $38.17, on WealthSimple (it’s up $0.05!). The reason I picked it, is because GFL is a waste management company. China stopped taking a lot of Canada’s garbage and recycling a couple years ago and we’re likely not going to be able to keep dumping our trash onto other countries. We’re going to have to start managing it here. That was my thought process, and I haven’t researched any of that. I could be completely wrong here. The stock seems to be climbing and I’m going to be obsessively checking on it. Do not use anything in my blog for advice on investing. I have no idea what I’m doing!
My lack of researching is one of the many reasons I’ve set a limit of $30.00 a month. Since I spent more than that on this stock, I can only spend $21.83 next month. I haven’t picked out the next stock yet, but I’m going to wait until February to get it.
I made a couple more cards this weekend. My favourite is the one on the left (the little frenchie dog). I’m sending that one to my future inlaws for a Valentine’s card. They have a little frenchie and it looks so similar to the one on the card. I bought the stamp for this reason and I love how great it worked. It was another of my Aliexpress purchases. The one of the right was made with cutting dies, also from Aliexpress.
I finished a book I really liked, by Samantha Irby (I wanted to hear more about pooping in a blizzard). I enjoyed reading her work and want to read her other books, she’s a funny lady.
I got an old playstation on the classified adds and I’ve been binge playing it off and on since the holidays. I ended up buying three consoles. The first two I bought from a gaming store and had to return them twice. Both consoles didn’t work! The shop owner refunded me and I got one through the classifieds. This one worked (YAY)!
I’ve been playing Baldur’s Gate Dark Alliance. I want to get my hands on Dark Alliance II, it’s my favourite game and I can’t find it anywhere (unless I want it for $80 or more which I might actually pay one day, but not right now) and Scooby Doo Night of 1000 Frights. Now that I’m old (haha) I get nauseous if I play games too long and my butt gets numb. I’m sitting on a Bosu Ball while I play. If you don’t know what that is, it’s exercise equipment. I’m sitting on my butt playing video games on exercise equipment. I realize how laughable that is. It’s been fun.
Probably not, but I’m still going to do it. I started reading “Rich Dad Poor Dad” (I’m still reading it). I’m a 40 something receptionist, in debt, with poor spending habits (please refer to previous blog posts of rampant shopping sprees on Aliexpress and Ebay), I have no savings, and I’m not practical. I always pay my bills on time, my credit is excellent, but I have nothing to show for this admirable credit rating, besides being a financial institutions wet dream of incessant spending, while barely topping the minimum payment.
Wealth Simple has a Trading & Crypto feature (I have no idea what Crypto is, but let’s be real, do I even have any informed idea what trading is – no). I signed up with Wealth Simple, but had difficulty linking my financial institution with the trading feature. I kept trying, doing the same thing over and over again, and it finally worked (what’s that old saying about doing the same thing over again?). I don’t know what the problem was, but I was able to add funds and now I’m waiting for them to clear.
So now I wait. I have a stock picked out (it’s a Canadian company and I’ll tell you what it is when I can actually purchase my first stock. I had initially wanted to purchase a stock for MINISO (that odds and ends store found in malls in Canada), but it wasn’t listed with Wealth Simple. No idea why some stocks aren’t there. I have no idea what any of the stock lingo means. I have a list of books I need to get my hands on this, being one of them.
It’s pretty obvious here I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s gambling. Right now I’m unable to make an informed decision, but being the overly impatient person I am, I’m proceeding. I’ve decided $30 a month is a safe enough amount to royally screw up. Some of you might be yelling at your screen… that I should apply it to my debt, and you’re probably quite right to do so, but this is an experience I want to have. Hopefully I learn a lot and get good at it!
It’s those little things that get you. like the bag of treats you forgot to toss/donate. That one article of clothing that you would roll and roll and could never get all the fur off, no matter how hard you tried. Not having to wake up early, or rush home. That new freedom, you don’t want. How you regret not taking her collar. The empty spot on the floor where her bed used to be. These things still sting.
Where is she? Is she happy? Has all the knowledge of the universe been bestowed on her? Has she ceased to exist? Is she someone’s new baby, with a concerning obsession for chewing shoes? These questions sometimes keep you from sleeping, or occur randomly throughout the day, like when you’re making a sandwich.
When will you be able to talk about her without crying? When will you make it through the list of neighbours asking where she is? That yes, 15 was old for a big dog, yes she lived a good long life, yes it’s good she didn’t suffer.
One day you’ll be able to laugh at all the stupid things she used to do. How she swiped and ate an entire Christmas dinner off the counter, while you were outside saying goodbye to your family. How she kept you up all night because it gave her explosive diarrhea. That time she chewed apart every single pair of shoes you owned, and you had to go to the mall in January in flip flops. How she loved a water fountain on a hot day. If no one was around you’d let her go for it.
The end of the week found me at the mall, shopping for a birthday present. I went to Indigo (I still want to call it Chapters) and saw this book that sounds hilarious. I’m looking forward to reading it. I can’t go to a bookstore and leave without a book.
As for what’s in the Sephora bag, I got some hair care products.
I tried using cornstarch for dry shampoo, but it just doesn’t work very well. It does help, but left white powder in my hair, even through the next day. So, I’m giving real dry shampoo a try.
I tried the hair scrubby thing this morning and I loved it! I have a problem with shampoos building up on my hair and collecting on my scalp (I also found out your not supposed to use a handful of shampoo, you’re only supposed to use two dime sized amounts. I tried it, it’s true, that small amount of shampoo will clean your hair. I was basically doing everything you’re not supposed to, insert video here). This scrubby felt amazing, my scalp felt better, and it did feel like it helped with residue. I think with time, I will love it even more. It had great reviews on Sephora. I must have seen it advertised somewhere, like a lot of other people, because the salesperson at Sephora said it was super popular lately. I don’t even know how I was brainwashed into buying it, I don’t remember where I saw it advertised, but I like it.
Also at the mall, I got shampoo and conditioner from LUSH, to try. I haven’t tried many of their products. These are tiny bottles and they were really expensive for the size. Maybe I’ll love them and since I don’t use a handful of shampoo anymore, it will last a long time (I still use a handful of conditioner).
The box with Paper Pumpkin on it, is a card making subscription box. I haven’t opened it yet. I’m always really excited these kits and happy when it’s delivered.
I’m about to take on a new hobby, or really pick up an old one I haven’t done in a long time.
Making soap! I used to really like it. This kit is the melt and pour glycerin based soap, that I got at Michaels. With this style youbasically melt ready made soap in the microwave and add fragrance and colourants to it. I used to make the oil and lye style soap, and I will be again. I’m waiting for a loaf mold and soap cutter to come (it’s going to take a long time to arrive). I’ll also need a stick blender, which I am positive will be easily found at the thrift shop. I got this kit to play with until my loaf mold comes in. It also takes over a month for lye soap to cure, before you are able to use it. I’ll be using natural colourants, like turmeric and beet root powder, when I make my own, and scenting them with essential oils. I’m so excited!
I also want to learn to sew, all because of this video. what a beautiful dress! But I don’t have that much time to add another hobby at the moment, and that would be taking on too much on top of all my other much loved hobbies. One day though. How amazing would it be to make your own clothes!
I’ve read tea is loaded with pesticides (I’ll post the article here), so I’m searching for alternatives. I found Boreal Forest Tea, with its wild harvested and organic ingredients. I’m hoping it’s a safer alternative. It’s a Canadian company, located in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Each bag of tea was $16.00 and shipping was $16.00.
The tea is on the pricy side, but really good and there is a lot of tea in the bags. The package also came with a sample of cranberry mint to try. My favourite is the Evergreen. It says caffeine free on the website and packaging, but this is likely a mistake, since it’s green tea. I even called the store, and they said it shouldn’t say caffeine free. So be aware of that. I have ordered 40 Below and Evergreen from this company before. I’ll definitely be ordering from them again. They had lots of other flavours to try, but most of them contained chamomile, and of that I am not a fan. I plan to keep my cupboard stocked with Evergreen and 40 Below. I did like the other two flavours as well, but these were my favourites.
Below, I’ll post a video of the tea unboxing, if you want to see it.
It was such a beautiful weekend! The sun was shinning and the weather was beautiful. I went hiking through the woods at Wildwood Conservation Area. It’s such a pretty walk there. The trail does a loop to make it 24km long. I only went 10km this time. I love walking here.
There’s lots of interesting things to see and the trails are easy to walk on.
To make the weekend even more wonderful, this unexpected package was waiting for me in my mail box. It was from my friend in England. She sent me this adorable hot water bottle.
How perfect for the weather! I’m always cold, this is going to so helpful. I have the sweetest friends ❤
Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional.
I spent a lot of my Thanksgiving waiting for a COVID swab to come back (it was negative). I didn’t get the results until late Saturday, when it was already most of the way through the family dinner I was supposed to be at. My spouse and I didn’t know how long we were going to have to be stuck inside, so we ordered groceries delivered to our home, with contact free delivery.
We weren’t feeling the “cooking” vibe and got all convenience food.
I got vegetarian stuffed turkey to try.
My spouse ordered the boxed stuffing and potatoes and I made fun of him for it, but they were better than my “turkey” thing. The turkey part was okay, but the stuffing it was stuffed with, wasn’t very good. I wanted to like it, but I didn’t. I do love other products from this brand though.
So this was dinner. It wasn’t quite homemade, but I was with my love, and that made it wonderful.
I did make a pie. I used a store bought vegetarian pie crust (I don’t remember the brand) and got the filling recipe here. I didn’t have enough strawberries, so I just made up for it in apples. I wanted a crumble topping and got the recipe for that, here.
It turned out really good. It was the best part of the dinner, and I’m embarrassed to say, we ate the entire pie in under 24 hours!
OMAD did not happen while I was isolating at home. I ate breakfast, lunch, dinner, and lots of snacks. I am much better when I’m not home. When I’m around the food, I seem to have trouble staying out of it.
Despite being a human vacuum for food these past few days, I only gained one pound for the weigh in. I was really surprised about that, I was expecting much more. I did do some hiking once my results came back. It must have helped a lot.
There was also Crispers and Drumstick caramel ice cream. No regrets!
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