• Has your car been stuck in a snowbank recently? Sit in the Rogers Centre on Saturday night or Sunday afternoon and imagine how that would never, ever happen again if you drove one of the stars of the Monster Jam.


• On at the Direct Energy Centre since January 10th, the Toronto International Boat Show continues to invite you to defy the weather and plan for a summer on the water until 6pm Sunday.


• These are the last few days of Fringe Toronto's Next Stage Theatre Festival and according to their most recent newsletter, many upcoming shows are already sold out.


• Serious investors - or anyone who wants to get serious about investing - may want to check out the Financial Forum & Wealth Management Expo on from Thursday to Saturday at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.


• On Saturday afternoon a Café Scientifique discussion at the Rivoli will ask the question "Can Game Theory predict the outcome in politics, the economy and dating?"


• On Saturday night visit the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts to hear When Sisters Speak, a spoken word concert presented by Up From the Roots and including performances by Torontoians Truth Is and Jemeni.


• On Sunday morning supporters of High Park are hosting a talk on "The Social Lives of Plants: Birds, Bees and Butterflies". Check the Green Toronto Calendar to learn more.


• Also on Sunday is the 13th Annual High Park Winter Fun Day from 11am-3pm at Colborne Lodge. Activities include taffy pulling, horse and wagon rides and marshmallow roasting. Admission is free, but there may be fees for some activities.


• On Sunday there's a Chinese New Year Extravaganza at the Royal Ontario Museum. The activities and performances are included free with admission - and yes, the ROM's Winter Weekends special of one free child admission with each regular paying adult, student or senior continues.

Add a comment to share your ideas of things to do this weekend!

Walrus Magazine and Journalists for Human Rights have teamed up to mark the 50th anniversary of the United Nation's Declaration of the Rights of the Child with an essay contest for Canadian students 18 and under.

Five finalists will have their 1000-words-or-less pieces published in an e-magazine and have the opportunity to go to a Human Rights Training Summit being held right here in Toronto in August. There are also tech prizes for the winner and the runner-up.

If you or someone you know would be interested in writing and learning about the Rights of the Child on the domestic or international level, visit www.jhr.ca/writethewrong for more details on rules and prizes, and for the writing prompts to get you started. The deadline for submissions is April 10th, 2009.

Winterlicious is Toronto's annual winter festival of fine dining during which over a hundred restaurants offer prix fixe lunch and dinner menus. In 2009, you'll be able to take advantage of these deals between January 30th and February 12th, but to do so you need to make a reservation first. As of today American Express cardholders can use their "Front of the Line" advantage to start making those reservations, and everyone else will be able to do the same come Thursday (remember to specify that you'd like to make a "Winterlicious" reservation when you call!).

• How to Make Reservations for Winterlicious

Today the price of mailing a letter in Canada increases from 52 cents to 54 cents. Meanwhile, this is also the day Loblaws grocery stores will begin charging 5 cents per plastic bag.

While those very minor cost increases wouldn't even count as nickel-and-diming it (tuppence-and-nickeling it, perhaps?), for a lot of people every cent counts now more than ever. It's well-timed then that today's guest on The Motts radio show on CFRB is Gail Vaz-Oxlade, host of the Slice television series Til Debt Do Us Part. Apparently they'll not only be speaking with Vaz-Oxlade, but also be giving away a 2009 Til Debt Do Us Part Life Planner complete with all the tools you need to makeover your finances Gail-style.

If you're not familiar with the show or Vaz-Oxlade, she uses a very no-nonsense approach to help struggling couples change the very way they think about money and sets them on a path to getting out of debt. Whether or not you're currently having debt troubles, you can also get a lot of tips on how to stay out of date in the first place, which is one of the big reasons I've seen so many episodes.

• The Motts air weekdays on CFRB from 1pm-3pm (1010 AM, or listen online).
• Visit the Slice.ca website for more on Til Debt Do Us Part.
• Or visit Gail Vaz-Oxlade's website which includes her regularly updated blog.