It was better than Christmas!

We've been doing a lot of online shopping recently and I had waited until all of the packages had been received at the local post office so that I only had to make one trip into town to pick them all up.

Man, there were a lot of packages!

Got all of them home, and started opening up boxes. It felt just like Christmas, only better because I knew that we were getting just what we wanted!

Eight packages to open!

Yes, our expenses are going to be a little on the high side this month. But, it was all stuff that we were going to need before we head out of here at the end of September, so now the shopping is mostly done.

What did we buy?

First, a new pair of hiking boots for Ruth. We're sold on the Merrell brand, and they don't often come on sale at a decent price. We bought them from Canadian online retailer shoeme.ca at 30% off and no provincial sales tax. One of the benefits of buying online means that you often only pay the 5% GST here in Canada. So her $160 boots only cost us a total of $117.60 tax included.

(Of course I'm talking Canadian dollars here. For our American readers you can currently take a further 25% off these prices for U.S. dollar terms!)

Ruth can't wait to use her new boots!

Several of the boxes were parts and tools to do the timing belt replacement on the little blue car. That job can wait until September when things quiet down a little bit around here. I bought the timing belt kit which includes the belt, two tensioners, and the water pump ($103), the serpentine belt ($26), and two specialty tools that I was going to need in order to do the job ($40). 

Next box contained a new Acer 7" tablet ($79) which I wanted to try out with the thought of possibly returning it. But now that we've got it, we're thinking we might keep it. I'll explain below.

7" Acer tablet.

Ruth needed a new laptop. Her little 10" Acer netbook is going on six years old and is starting to fall apart. We've had a lot of problems over the years with the power supply and the connection at the laptop is starting to fall apart. And it's missing two keys. It was time to look for something else, so last week there was a special deal on Amazon.ca and here's what we bought...

ASUS Transformer Book with 11.6-Inch Touch Screen, Intel Bay Trail-T Z3775, 2GB, 32GB, Windows 8.1, Dark Blue (T200TA-DB11T-CA)  - Free Windows 10 Upgrade

Except that we only paid $299 Canadian. A great deal on a new traveling "transformer book" as they call it.

Now, our thinking is that all of this electronics is fine and dandy for when we're in the motorhome, but for our upcoming Colombia trip we'll bring the new 11.5" laptop and the new 7" tablet. And we'll leave my bigger 15" laptop behind. Of course we'll also have the iPhone, but that's mostly for hiking and mapping. Yikes...too much electronics!

The only problem is that we also need to buy some kind of protective covering for the laptop and a case for the tablet. Not that expensive, but it all adds up.

The next envelope actually contained money!

I had seen a deal from the Canadian Mint where they would send you 10 uncirculated quarters that celebrate the anniversary of the Canadian flag. How much did they charge for that? $2.50, shipping included! So, I paid $2.50 for $2.50 worth of quarters. Too funny. Then the mint paid the $1.65 shipping cost. Can you tell the mint is a government run operation?

I thought these would make nice little tokens of appreciation to give to any couchsurfing hosts this winter. It's always a nice gesture to give something related to your home country. Many people give out Canadian flag pins, but I thought these were a little different.

So, that's enough shopping for now.

But you guys can still do some shopping! On Amazon.com this morning, the Lifestraw Personal Water Filter is on sale...an amazing invention!

LifeStraw Personal Water Filter

And here in Canada, I know some people who might want to buy a propane firepit!

Outland Firebowl Deluxe 890 Portable Propane Fire Pit