a peek inside the fishbowl

Posts Tagged ‘finances

07 Apr, 2017

It’s that time of year again (Sponsored**)

Posted by: andrea tomkins In: Sponsored posts

Back in March, I posted some handy info that was shared with me by the Ontario Ministry of Finance. In a nutshell, they’ve developed some handy resources to help us figure out whether we’re getting money back this year. (You can read that post right here.) Did you know that last year almost 60 per […]

We have officially hit a new parenting milestone: we are filing our children’s taxes this year. The girls are 15 (almost 16) and 17 (almost 18!) and both of them have been working at real jobs that actually issue T4s. It’s a rite of passage! It started with allowances and savings and now we’re at […]

30 Dec, 2013

About that Shopping Embargo…

Posted by: andrea tomkins In: Challenge me, challenge you

Since Christmas 2006 our family has participated in a self-imposed annual “Shopping Embargo.” This basically meant that we stopped buying unnecessary stuff and paid greater attention to the things we did buy. There was a list of rules, but basically, from December 26 until February 28 we restricted our purchases to the basic necessities: groceries, fuel, […]

31 Aug, 2012

A back-to-school-post with food for thought

Posted by: andrea tomkins In: Fishbowl patrons|parenting

You may or may not be totally shocked by some of the information in this post about RESPs. I know I was. Oy.


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  • Jenn Jilks: That is really exciting! Break a leg!
  • fun88: I was excited to discover this page. I want to to thank you for your time for this fantastic read!! I definitely liked every part of it and i also
  • Gretchen Humphrey: I had a beautiful bee& birdbath filled with a solar fountain and dozens of antique marbles that were suddenly disappearing. At first I thought my
  • Jinjer: I am sobbing reading this post. And you're right, companion is not enough. Little furry treasured gifts that they are. Thanks for sharing cutie-pi
  • Karen: Dear Andrea, Mark and your daughters I am so very sad for your family xxx Piper was/is my favourite Instagram post. You shared with us so intimately
  • Christina Banuelos: Thank you for sharing Pipers life with us. Your posts of Piper brought me joy. Every time I see your post and see what kind of mischief Piper was gett
  • Carla Slocum: I am sitting here yet again crying at your loss. We have known that loss with Asta the WFT our first pup but now have the enormous gift of Stryker the

The Obligatory Blurb

My name is Andrea and I live in the Westboro area of Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Piper who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. We also have two human offspring: Emma (24) and Sarah (22). During the day I work as a writer at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.

If you'd like to contact me, please use this form. If you're so inclined, you can read more about me here. Thank you for visiting!

 


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