Dreaming of Next Summer

It’s been a long morning.  I won’t go into details but it’s been the longest morning I’ve had in a long time.  I’d say Izzy feels the same way too.  I had another post ready for today but decided that I’d go with something a little more cheerful. 

Every summer, Micah and I do a trip.  In the beginning, when we were not as well off, it was usually a week long road trip somewhere.  Lately, because of the travel budget and lots of miles, we have been able to go on longer trips off the continent.  Right now we have enough miles saved to pretty much fly ourselves (both of us) anywhere in the world.  Of course, in order to use the miles, we have to book soon. 

I can take about 3 weeks off and Micah is free all summer.  We were talking about it, and here are a few options we’ve been throwing around.

Thailand

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I went to Thailand when I was 3 years old and all I remember of it was the floating markets and a temple with some scary golden soldier statues with ruby eyes.  I was three remember?  My Mom’s oldest friend is a professor at the University of Bangkok.  He actually baptized me (when he was priest) and he’s my last link to my grandparents (beside my Mom).  I’d love for him to meet Micah.  He couldn’t make it to the wedding because the flight to Seattle was too long for him.  He promises to take us around to some great off the beaten path spots.

Guatemala

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Guatemala was actually a contender for our honeymoon destination.  I really wanted to go and now can’t remember why we didn’t pick it.  I really want to check out more of Central America since I’ve only been to Costa Rica.  Micah has never been to Central America at all.  I’ve also been thinking about Honduras too.

Turkey

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Micah’s parents went to Turkey this summer and could only say great things about it.  Again, we’ve both always wanted to go.  If we picked Turkey, we’d have to do it as soon as he is out of school since it get HOT there in the summer.

Alaska

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When I was finishing college, I worked for Holland America selling cruises.  Ever since then, I’ve really wanted to go on two cruises, Alaska and the New England/Eastern Canada one.  The Alaska cruise is totally doable for us since most Alaska cruises leave from Seattle.  Maybe we can tack on a week exploring Anchorage and checking out Denali National Park.  We wouldn’t have to use miles for this trip and since it would be shorter, we could take another small trip in the fall.

Africa

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I don’t mean the whole continent, I just don’t know where.  Part of me wants Micah to see Zambia, Malawi or Ethiopia since I’ve spent so much time in those countries over the last 4 years, and part of me wants to go somewhere new like Ghana, Tunisia, Uganda, or South Africa.  Tanzania and Zanzibar would be awesome too.  I’d try and tie in a personal trip with a business trip but I’d never get enough notice to make that happen.

I’d love to do Portugal and Spain or even Scandinavia (I’ve been but not Micah) but we did Europe (or at least Italy) this year, so it would be nice to head somewhere different next year.  So, what do you think?  Where would you go?  Is there anywhere you’d add to the list.  We’re trying to avoid places that will be SUPER hot.

Lessons Learned Advice

So last week we shared our very expensive lessons learned with everyone.  It was hard admitting our mistakes but it had to be done.  A Weddingbee friend saw the post and asked for some advice.  She’s remodeling her bathroom and was in the process of meeting with contractors to collect bids.  After I emailed her our advice, I thought maybe I should share it with everyone. 

Please note, this doesn’t just apply to bathroom remodels, but any work you have done in your home by someone other than yourself.

1. Always make sure the contractor, plumber, etc. is licensed, insured and bonded. They should be able give you their license number and you can use it to look them up on your State’s Department of Labor and Industry website.  A professional will have their license number printed on their business cards, normally.  Make sure the person you are talking to is the insured contractor or works for them.  Dadtractor says he’s seen people try and used a family member’s license to do work.

2. Check if they have complaints against them and if they have canceled their bond a lot. When clients aren’t happy and try file complaints with requests for refunds or damages, a contractor’s bond goes up. Those contractors then cancel their bond and try shopping around for another bond company or get it under a different name but same license number. Dadtractor has been in business for almost 30 years and never had a complaint. He has never canceled his bond and has only used 2 bond companies.

3. Ask if they have reference and when you call reference, ask if you can see the work.  I’d be happy to have people come over and look at the siding.  I’ve had Dadtractor’s potential clients come through and look at our wood floors.  Dadtractor did an amazing job on them.  If only I could keep them paw print free  (Izzy, I’m talking about you).

4. Permits are big. I would call your local version of the Department of Planning and Development at an off-peak time, explain to them what you want to have done and what permits will be needed. Usually they can tell you off the top of their head. Getting it in writing (via email) is better but sometimes they don’t respond. Once you know which permits are needed, write into the contract that getting xyz permits is required and you need a copy of them before payment. You should always have a copy of your permits just in case an inspector gets a complaint and makes a visit when your contractor isn’t around.  They might think this is overkill or that you are high maintenance but a responsible business owner will appreciate your thoroughness.

5. Have them detail all the materials that will be used. If you are picking elements out yourself like bathroom fixtures, have them go over it with you. There is a lot more to buying a faucet than the hardware you see on the outside. It might require special valves and things which could cost a lot more than you expected, especially if they are from a European company. If you show your contractor the faucet you want, then he can tell you everything you need for it and maybe even help you get the parts at a cheaper price.  We had to get all sorts of adapter pieces because our tub faucet was from a German company.

6.  Be as clear as possible.  If you have a certain vision in mind, show them pictures.  Remember our tile mock-ups (here, here and here)?  I think we got exactly what we wanted (minus the caulking color – for another post) despite the language barrier because we had clear pictures. 

7.  If you are in a hurry and need to get the job done fast, go with someone who has done similar work in the last 6-9 months.  Codes, permit requirements and regulations change all the time.  If your guy hasn’t remodeled a bathroom in a few years because he’s been doing mostly kitchens, then it’s possible he may not know if codes are different.  Our first cement guy didn’t know about the triangular exterior step code (triangular steps outside = big no no) and that cost us money and time.

8. Go with your gut. If he/she seems sketchy, they probably are.

I’m sure we have more advice but this is what comes to mind.  Any other pieces of advice to share?

Inspirational House Song #1

I (Micah) am often stuck for things to blog about.  It’s not for fault of having ideas; I always think of a brilliant idea (usually on a bike ride) and then promptly forget it by the time we get home.

A while back, Catherine suggested that I do a music series on the fortytwentyfour; I wasn’t so sure it would relate.

After the follies of this week and our staircase; I decided it was time to unleash the first Inspirational house Song—something to get us through our work for the week and our subcontractor stress.

IHS#!=”Shutterbugg” by Big Boi f/ Cutty

I picked up the Big Boi album “Sir Lucious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty” on Saturday and have been listening to it non-stop.  The name alone is reason to buy the album, but it is epic. 

I always thought (whisper) that Big Boi was the more talented member of OutKast when it came to music, and his half of their double album—”Speakerboxxx” was evidence of that.  I loved love Outkast and their string of albums in the late 90s ending with “Stankonia” was amazing.

“Shutterbugg” is classic Big Boi; deft, clearly enunciated rapping and a bounding beat that makes you wanna dance.  I just watched the video and it’s even better.  Some of the more intriguing elements in the video: a blatant Crown Royal product placement, puppet versions of Big Boi and his band, neon bodysuits, and dancing in front of a wall of keg cups. 

This first IHS would be good for cleaning, cutting back blackberries, enjoying some post work drinks, or just about anytime you need a little inspiration,…and someone to rhyme “cut a rug” with “shutterbugs”

Expensive Lesson Learned

You learn a lot of things when you build or remodel a house.  Some of the time they are good lessons.  Some of the time they are good lesson at a price.  We’ve learned three REALLY expensive lesson, two of them still unfolding.

Lesson 1: Compare Apples to Apples

Once upon a time, our friend Sean made us an amazing lighting design.  We loved it.  We took it to a electrician that came highly recommended.  He loved it and we hammered out details over a few meetings until everyone was happy.  Of course, that was until we got his quote.  It was A LOT.  After some searching, Dadtractor decided we should go with a guy he’d worked with before who asked for less than half of the first guy wanted.  Seemed like a good deal.  He had seen the lighting design and said it was doable.  Of course, as the work started we realized that though the lighting design was doable, it wasn’t what was being done.  It turns out the chosen electrician thought of the lighting design as suggestion and not as the plan he should follow.  The contract with him didn’t reference the lighting design at all.  We also found out that his quote didn’t include any fixtures or parts, we had to hunt for everything ourselves.

In the end, the two electricians bid on two different pieces of work.  If we had to do it again, we would have paid more and gone with the first electrician in a heartbeat.  I actually feel embarrassed every time Sean comes over and we have to turn on a light.  Seriously.  There are a few things the second electrician did that we’ll have to fix.  It will probably cost us a few hundred bucks.  We’ll probably never fix the wiring so it is according to Sean’s plan though.

Lesson 2: Check References

Dadtractor used to have a heat pump guy.  He would install heat pumps, water tanks and air conditioning units for a good price.  The heat pump guy moved to California and now we were without a heat pump guy.  We (all of us) called around and ended up with two new heat-pump guys.  After collecting bids, we decided to go with Craigslist find.  He was licensed, insured and bonded, and after a quick check with the Better Business Bureau and the Department of Labor and Industry, we knew he had no complaints after 24 years in business.  Good right?  So we had the Craigslist guy install a heat pump and it seemed fine.  He came and did 90% of the work in a timely matter.  The other 10%?  Well, he made excuses and never came around to finish.  Since it was minor work, Dadtractor did it.  No biggie.  Then we requested our final inspection and we find out that the Craigslist guy only got 1 of the 3 required permits.  We tired to get them ourselves but only the Craigslist guy could do it.  While we made calls to the Craigslist guy, the temperature in Seattle went up.  We flipped on the AC and after twenty minutes there was nothing.  Dadtractor came by and he couldn’t figure out what was going on.  We had a new company come out and look at it and it turns out the AC was not installed right and now it was broken.  We also found out the heat pump wasn’t installed right.  Awesome.

After some discussions with an officer at the Department of Labor and Industry, and our electrical inspector, we were encouraged to take the Craigslist guy to Small Claims Court.  We tried calling him, we tried Facebook, we tried email – nothing.  Actually, that’s not true.  The Craigslist guy said he wasn’t doing anything and we’d see him in court.  He’s hoping we’ll too lazy to file.  We’ve filed the small claim and are in the process of serving the Craigslist guy with papers.  In the meantime, we need to get the heat pump taken care of so we can pass our inspection.  The cost of fixing the pump?  $2500.  We hope we’ll win the small claim.  We have the contract and documentation from several people stating the pump was never installed properly.  If we win, it should cover all our costs including all the time on the issue.  We should have checked references.  We should have insisted on getting copies of the permits prior to the work being.  We should have done a lot of things.

Lesson 3: Charity Should Not Begin When Building a Home

Remember the stairs?  We were so happy to get them.  Finally, we didn’t have walk around the block to get the mail.  It started out OK.  The stairs weren’t exactly how we wanted them, but they look good.  Then we found out that part of the stairs weren’t up to code and we had destroy and redo a section.  We probably would have known that if our cement guy was licensed.  He was a friend of a friend who actually did work on the house before.  He did the walkway on the cat neighbor side of the house.  He really needed the work.  He was working part-time and had 10 kids at home.  He was a really nice guy and we really liked his work and it didn’t seem like such a risk to go with him. 

He destroyed the stairs as our building inspector instructed and said he’d be by when the weather got better.  That was 3 months ago.  After calls and visits to his house, we realized he wasn’t going to finish.  Luck for us, we hadn’t paid him for most of his work yet.  So we found someone else to redo the destroyed section.  They did it in a style that matched the stair walls which doesn’t match the 19 stairs to the house.  In order to get everything looking the same and fix a few of the mistakes the first guy did (we’ll go into this in another post), it’s going to cost us at least $8,000 we don’t have.  Why didn’t we just hire the guy as a gardener and actually go with a real company.  We’re lucky we didn’t pay the guy in full but we still paid for all the materials and concrete is not cheap.

We should have known better.  We’re mad at ourselves because we spend days doing the research on which garage workbench to buy and we didn’t do it on projects that cost over $3000 each.  What’s wrong with us?  I have a million excuses – we were planning a wedding, they were recommended, etc.  Excuses, excuses.  We’re dealing with the last two lessons right now and it every time we have to discuss them, we feel beat down.  I’m collecting new quotes for the stairs and I physically feel sick when I have stand there and tell them what we did or didn’t do.  All we can do is remind ourselves that even with the mistakes, we saved almost $300K on this house. 

Anybody else learn any expensive lessons lately?

Sunday Supper : Pancit and Lumpia

I’m a bad friend. Every second Saturday of the month, my friend Nicole and I meet-up for coffee. We started this at the beginning of the year (maybe February) and I think we’ve only met up twice. All the missed meetings have totally been my fault. Once or twice I missed our meet-ups for a good reason (Malawi and Italy) and other times it was just because I was absent minded.

To make up for our last missed meet-up, I decided to invite Nicole over for Sunday Dinner and make Pancit and Lumpia especially for her. The easiest way to describe Pancit is to say it’s a Filipino version of Chow Mein. Lumpia is like a Filipino fried spring roll.

Before you read the recipe, I have a few things to say. First, this isn’t THE Pancit recipe. Every region, family and person has their own. Mine is like Momager’s but is different from all my Aunts’ versions. Second, Pancit can be a bit labor intensive. My version isn’t a 30 minute meal. Third, there isn’t a recipe for Lumpia below. Momager spent a year perfecting her Lumpia and it’s so good caterers have asked for the recipe. She’s thought about making it as a side business and I don’t want to give away the secret incase she goes for it. Lastly, this recipe isn’t vegetarian friendly. I know that there are versions that are but mine isn’t one of them. I tried it once and hated it. I couldn’t replicate and of the same flavors.

I learned to make Pancit in high school but really didn’t start making it by myself until my early 20’s. I was carless in DC and didn’t know where I could get good Filipino food, so I had to learn to make it myself. This is the first time I’ve actually written down ingredients or measurements for any Filipino dish. I tend to cook Filipino dishes by taste like my Mom does.

4024 Pancit

1 Package Bihon Pancit Noodles (you can use chow mien noodles or cellophane noodles too)

3 cloves garlic minced

1/6 cup sliced yellow or Spanish onions

1 medium carrot julienned

1 to 1 ¼ cup cabbage coarsely shredded

2 Chinese sausage link sliced

1 ½ cup roughly chopped chicken breast or thigh

¼ cup shrimp

1-2 cups chicken stock

2 scallions chopped

¼ cup Cilantro torn or roughly chopped

1 lemon quartered

1 ½ tablespoon canola or vegetable oil

2-3 tablespoons of Oyster Sauce

 

1. Cut all veggies and meats, and have them ready before cooking. There isn’t much time between steps for prep. You can substitute the chicken for shredded chicken from a leftover roast.

2. Heat the oil in a wok at medium-high then add garlic, onions and sausage. I like to get some of the fat out of the sausage and use it to flavor my oil.  You can usually get Chinese sausage at any Asian grocery store.  It lasts forever too!

3. Add the chicken and carrots. You want to cook it until the chicken is about half done. Add the 1^st tablespoon of Oyster Sauce.

 

 

4. Cut the noodles in half using scissors and add to the mixture. My package of noodles came with 5 sheets of noodles and I only used three.

5. Add ½ cup of chicken stock and mix (with tongs) until the noodles absorb the liquid. Keep adding the stock a little at a time. You want your noodles to be cooked but you don’t want them mushy. I added about 1 ½ cups of stock over the course of cooking to get the dish to the right texture.

 

6. Add shrimp and cabbage. Shrimp cooks quickly so I like to add it towards the end. I like my cabbage a little crispy so I also add it at the end.

 

7. Add 1-2 tablespoons of Oyster sauce to taste. Sometimes it only needs a tablespoon and sometimes it needs a little more.

8. Garnish with scallions and cilantro and serve with lemon wedges. I think lemon is a must but others don’t miss it.

This dish could easily serve 6 people, possibly 8.

Enjoy!!

P.S.

here’s the noodle package to look for.

Re-thinking the Fire Pit

A few months back I (Micah) wrote about my newest obsession—Fire Pits.  I had some grand plans for building a firepit over the summer.  Well, the best laid plans of mice and men…

It turns out that Seattle has pretty serious zoning restrictions pertaining specifically to backyard firepits and outdoor fireplaces.  The prospect of having to get a permit just for a little patio firepit made me nauseous and since we haven’t technically passed our final inspection, I couldn’t do it under the radar.  I decided that I’d look into the supplies needed for building a firepit, and then decide for sure about the permit after that. 

Does anyone know how much fire bricks cost?  Or even what they are?  Holy cow, that stuff is expensive.  I’d need a small fortune to buy enough small fire bricks (heat proof—no exploding) to build the beauty I had envisioned.

Second idea: buy a fire ring like these from Park Grills.  It’s a good way to save some money and keep some sort of “fire proofness” but they’re fairly expensive and I’d still have to buy all of the regular brick and mortar to build around it to make it look nice.  Sure, you can get cheaper fire rings, but they tend to be hideous.

I resigned myself to the fact that maybe buying a pre-made outdoor fireplace would be best.  After some searching, I found this beauty from Weber:

I’m a huge fan of Weber products.  I’ve owned two of their grills, several charcoal chimney starters, and even used their seasoning.  We’re planning on a trip to Chicago in the spring and I want to check out the Weber Restaurant there.

We broke in the fireplace a few weeks back and with cooler temps coming to the northwest soon, I plan on using it a lot.  Like this:

or this?

Apparently to use this grill in snow or on a patio; you must enjoy wine with it.  OK.

One of our weekend projects is to work on sinking some pavers in the backyard for the fireplace and for us to sit around.  I’d like it to look like something on these from Studioblog:

Anyone else have the Weber Fire Pit?

Thinking About Christmas Already

When I was younger, I used buy everything and anything I thought was cool when I traveled.  I would toss my worn out clothes out at the end of a trip and load my bag up with cool (sometimes crappy) trinkets and gifts for my family.  During my second European backing trip, I decided maybe dolls would be something fun to collect.  It would limit what I’d buy and it gave me a theme to work with.  There were a few things I noticed about this though like dolls can look the same.  My doll from Lithuania look like my one Poland that looks like my one from the Czech Republic.  The other thing about collecting dolls is that displaying them all together is kind of creepy.  Think Susan’s doll collection from Seinfeld.  Also, at some point, I was too old to have a collection of dolls in my room.  I’m pretty sure a display of dolls in my apartment would have scared Micah off.

When Micah and I started traveling together (and living together), we decided we need to pick something to “collect” when we traveled.  It was when we were visiting his parents at Christmas 4 years ago that we discovered our “thing” – Christmas ornaments.  We discovered it when we were standing in the gift shop waiting for Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede to start.  Yes, you read that right.  It has everything – the nativity story, a meal you eat entirely with your hands, ice skating and competitions between the north and south poles – everything but Dolly Parton.  It’s something special to experience. 

Anyway, we were waiting for the show to start when we spotted this beauty:

I mean look at it.  Who wouldn’t buy it.  There’s Jesus AND a cowboy!  After that, ornaments was what we bought.  A crayfish playing an upright bass in New Orleans, a model of the Opera House from Sydney and a beaded chili pepper from New Mexico.  When we were at the Redwoods during spring break we bought a laser cutout of California made from a Redwood and in Venice, we picked up a ornament made of Murano glass that I love. 

 

I really love the ornament tradition.  It gives us direction when we are shopping on the road.  I also LOVE LOVE LOVE decorating the tree and reminiscing about all our trips.  Because the ornaments are a “us” thing, we only buy them when we travel together.  When I travel alone, I try to bring back things that are unique to the place I’m visiting.  It doesn’t have to be something that will last forever – just something we’ll enjoy.  Olive oil from Italy, wine from France or coffee from Ethiopia. 

When you travel, what do you bring back?  Do you have a theme or do you just wing it?

P.S.  Sorry about the crappy resolution.  Darn my iPhone.

Back to School Planning

Well, it’s that time of year again.  The school supply lists are out, half of Target consists of school supplies and Micah has a mile long pout on his face.  Ah, another school year.

In all honesty, it can be hard being married to a teacher.  During the school year there is lots of grading, lesson planning and the occasional past school hours event that takes up Micah’s time.  His workdays are usually about 10-12 hours.  The summer is no better.  While I’m slaving away at my computer at work, Micah’s sailing, going on bike rides and grabbing lunch with friends.  Don’t get me wrong, he does do house stuff, but he gets to do fun stuff too.

Going back to school is going to be different for us this year.  It’s always an adjustment but now we have long lists of unfinished house stuff, Izzy and new commutes.  We’re trying to get a handle on all this and it requiring a little advance planning.

Our first big adjustment is Izzy.  We used to both start work really early and get home in the early afternoon.  The thought of getting up before 5:30am to walk Izzy is not on the table.  I’m not willing to do it regularly and Micah isn’t either.  We decided that I would change my schedule so I’m going in later and have more time to walk Izzy (and sleep) before work.  I’m happy to get in a morning walk and a few more Zzz’s but I’m also giving up the morning commute on the Lightrail and the freedom of getting out of work early in the day.  I’d have to take the bus into work but could still take Lightrail home.  I also really like having the office to myself in the morning.  It’s quiet and I can catch up on email without the temptation of talking to co-workers.

The next big adjustment is our house to do list.  Now that both of us are back to work and have various things going on, finding time to get projects done will be hard.  We decided a little advance planning is needed.  Our plan is to sit down tonight or tomorrow and make a list of EVERYTHING that needs to be done.  Once we have the list, we’re going to divide it into tasks we can accomplish in a few hours and tasks requiring an entire day.  We’re thinking we can alternate work levels each week.  To make it easier for us, we’ve schedule the house tasks on our google calendar. 

Our first item to tackle is the yard.  The lawn needs mowing, the current veggie patch needs tending to, the winter garden needs to get finished, the cat poop area cleared out and the outdoor fire pit put together and installed.  I know there are more but these are all I can think of right now.  Next week we’ve decided to take it easy and tackle a few accessory refinishing projects we have pending for the master bathroom.  We wanted to take it easy as Micah will have just finished his first week back at school and will probably be tired.  We’re hoping the calendar will help us organize ourselves and get some projects done.

The last thing we need to tackle is breakfast and dinner.  We usually plan our dinners a week out.  Since Micah’s been home, we’ve been able to try recipes that take a bit of prep and long cook times.  Now that he’s back at work, we’ll have to go through the cookbooks and start hunting for quick meals again.   Besides dinner, we’re trying to preplan breakfast too.  We’re trying to be healthier and part of that is actually eating more than a granola bar for breakfast.  Yes, we could make breakfast every morning but we really like to sleep.  There’s no way we’d wake up early enough to prepare anything remotely healthy and enjoyable.  The new plan for breakfast is to prepare things on Sunday for Monday-Wednesday and then make something small on Wednesday to get us through Friday.  We’ve tried breakfast muffins and breakfast loaves in the past and they have worked well.  Maybe this Sunday we’ll tackle a breakfast casserole or strata.

I know there is a lot of other back to school prep we need to do but these are the big ones.  Anyone have any recipe suggestions for us? 

Izzy Milestones

Today was Izzy’s first day of school.  No, you are not confused, Izzy is our dog and not a child we adopted since the last time we posted.  When we adopted her we got a free obedience class from the Seattle Humane Society.  It’s a pretty sweet deal.  The class actually started last week but the first session was only for humans.

Last week’s homework was to gather what was on the supply list.  Yes, she has a supply list.  It  consists mostly of gathering the right treats.

Turkey hotdogs mixed with kibble anyone?  She’ll do just about ANYTHING for the turkey hotdog mix or cubed cheddar cheese. 

She stalked her “school bag” throughout the house.  Look at her eyeing it here.  She knows there delicious treats inside.

We’ve been having trouble with her yanking her leash especially when she sees a anything with a heartbeat.  She means them no harm (except the cats), she just wants to love them.  My boss suggested the Gentle Leader.  It goes around her nose and applies a little pressure when she pulls.  She HATES it but we LOVE it.  She doesn’t pull at all now and she’s only worn it 3 times.  She won’t wear it forever – probably just until the end of the month.  I can’t tell is she’s pouting in the picture because she’s wearing it or because she has to wear it to school.

We were a little worried about school.  We thought she’d be wild and she’d be “that dog.” Everyone said such great things about their dogs last week and it made me think no one but her needed the class.  Thank goodness we were wrong.  She was definitely one of the better behaved dogs, I’d say top 3 out of a class of 11.  I think it’s because we (or I) did the homework.  We had all the right treats and distracting toys to keep her working. 

Apparently the class was hard work because she was absolutely pooped when we got home. 

She’s been laying around like this for a few hours.  Maybe I can get into the garden tonight without her kicking up a fuss.

She’s getting better but she definitely has a lot of things to work on.  She started acting up in the car.  She suddenly wants to sit in the front seat with me.  She has separation anxiety.  She cries when she can’t see you though she’s fine (usually) after 10 minutes or so.  She’s really loving and wants to jump on everyone and give them kisses.  She’s started jumping up to see what’s on the kitchen counter or dining table but gets down pretty fast when she gets caught.  There are more but these are the big ones.  She’s doing really well on the housebreaking.  Her only accidents have been when we weren’t paying attention to the “I need to pee” signals which has only happened twice.  She loves sleeping in her crate at night though getting her into it during the day is a little bit of a struggle.  She doesn’t want to get in but is lazy to get out when we get home.

Besides school, Izzy’s other but milestone is that she’s survived a month with us.  A whole month that feels like a year.  I’m not saying getting her was bad, it’s been great but it’s been a change for us.

OK, we’re off to check what the homework for this week is.  We hope it’s teaching her to ride a skateboard.  She saw Meaty do it and now she’s jealous.

Let’s Go Back to Venice

The last week and a half has been a little nutty.  Micah spent all of last week (including our anniversary) boiling in Birmingham, Alabama.  I spent the week handling Izzy alone, helping Dadtractor with his condo project and juggling work while camped out at my parents house.  We live very close to Lake Washington where the annual Seafair festivities take place and our neighborhood gets nuts this time of year.  They close off most of the streets around us and traffic is a nightmare.  Normally the noise doesn’t bother me but I knew that it would get Izzy all worked up.  Did I mention the Blue Angels come?  Yep, nightmare.

I’m behind on a lot of stuff and just wish a had a day or two just catch up.  Or, I’d take a day or two not doing anything here… or in Italy.  While we get ourselves together, I thought I’d distract all of you with some pictures of Venice from our June trip.

What I love about Venice is that you feel like you are in a movie or walking through a postcard all the time.   Even when it’s hot and hazy, it’s still really lovely.

There seem to be a million canals and no matter where they are or what condition they are in, they look perfect in every picture.

I also really loved all the architectural details.  The door knobs, the mail slots, the address numbers – all have so much character.

I also really loved the narrow maze of alleys.  You start walking in them and have no idea where you will pop up.

We went out to Murano Island to buy me a birthday present.  I love all the shops and all the glass.  They had this amazing blue glass sculpture in one of the squares.

We really enjoyed wandering around Venice.  We had no real itinerary (apart from the necklace) and spent a lot of time wandering.  You wouldn’t have to twist our arms to get us to go again.

Budgeting Forty20Four Style

First of, let me say we are not financial planners of any kind.  This is the way we came up with our budget.

We decided to come with a monthly budget when we decided to open a shared bank account five years ago.  The first thing we did was write every purchase we made down.  I mean EVERYTHING.  We wrote down personal and shared expenses.  The key to doing this is to spend as you really would.  It’s cheating if you wait until next month to buy the book you know you would usually buy this month.  The same thing goes for fancy shampoo or even cleaning supplies.  We decided to round all purchases up to make the accounting easier.  A $3.50 trip to the bakery became $4.  Our current checking account does the same thing and deposits the rounded up amount, in this case $0.50, into our savings. 

When it came to bills, we collected all of them and looked at what was fixed monthly and what wasn’t.  We then tried to get on monthly budget plans for the unfixed bills.  Monthly budget plans are great for us.  Utility companies come with an average of what your monthly spending is and lets you pay that each month.  At the end of the year, if you overpaid you get a refund and if you underpay you pay what you owe.  The nice thing is that you usually don’t overpay.  We’ve never overpaid in 5 or 6 years.  Some argue that the utility company is making interest that you could be making but we’re fine with that.  They are probably making about $5 a year from us on interest and we’re happy to hand that over if it means we have a stable budget each month.  I think you have to have a year of billing history to get on a monthly budget plan.

Next, you need some where to save money.  We went with the saving associated with our checking but now are opening a high interest savings account elsewhere to take advantage a mildly better interest rate.  We liked the linked account at first because it helped us transfer money back and forth.  We needed to transfer money back and forth in the first few months as we were tweaking the budget.  In some cases we over budgeted for things and in other cases we under budgeted.

We kept track of our spending by writing everything down for about two months.  We liked two months because we could see how long it took for us to run out of things we bulk buy like toilet paper and coffee.  If you know you won’t write everything down and you trust yourself, you can use your debit or credit card for all your purchases.  We used our credit card since we never carry a balance and we wanted to earn miles. Speaking of miles, we love the Alaska Airlines card.  We have to pay a monthly fee but we get a $99 companion fare coupon every year, vouchers for the first class lounge and you can accumulate Alaska Air miles on SO many airlines.  The only airline I’ve flown that I couldn’t get Alaska Air miles on was Ethiopian Air (which I HIGHLY recommend). 

Back to the budget.  So, now that you can see what you spend, it’s time to makes any needed changes.  We saw that we were buying a lot of books and cds we weren’t loving so we stopped.  The Seattle Public Library has an AMAZING collection and will buy just about any book/cd/movie you suggest.  We cut our entertainment budget and just got better at putting new releases on hold.  We’ll still buy a book we really want and know will reference in the future.   We spent a lot of time on our food budget.  We eat a lot less (or just spend less) in the summer than in the winter.  So that took some adjusting.

Once we had some joint budget categories down, we looked at individual spending.  We decided that $300 each would be good number.  We could each use our money as we saw fit.  Micah’s go mostly to instrument and bike maintenance and mine goes mostly to clothes, crafting supplies, mani/pedis and mutual funds (every other month). 

The next step is mostly a negotiation game.  We took our monthly joint income (minus play money and retirement savings) and started subtracting all the necessities from it (utilities, food, phone/internet, savings, gas, insurance, rent/mortgage).  Once that was done, we looked at everything else like eating out, entertainment, travel, etc. and ranked them by importance.  We really like to travel so we budgeted a lot for it which meant we needed to cut back on happy hour(s) and eating out on weekends.  Back then we were saving for our wedding, so we put less away for travel and general savings.  Now we put more into those budget categories and have a house decorating category too. 

The last thing we did is decide which budget categories should rollover.  We decided money for Izzy, health/beauty, entertainment, dining out (we never under spend here) and gifts would all rollover.  Anything we didn’t spend in the other categories would be applied to the travel fund, the general savings and now the mortgage.  We also decided we’d use any extra money we received (tax refund, rebates, utilities refund) the same way.   Right now, we save a little less and apply extra money to our monthly mortgage payment.  We want to pay that down as soon as possible.

And that’s it.  Sort of.  Our budget is a living thing.  We have to tweak every so often and make sure we’re always getting the best deals.  Sometimes a better cell phone plan comes along or your cable provider will cut you a deal by bundling it with internet service. We check to see we’re getting the best deal on services every 6 or 8 months. 

Our budget has really worked for us and we, for the most part, have been able to live within our means every month.  Occasionally we have an off month that has us borrowing from our savings account but usually they are very few and very far between.  We had a couple of those months when we first moved into the house and realized we didn’t own a lot of things we suddenly needed. 

I hope this helped.  Please feel free to ask any questions!

Homemade House Numbers

The house numbers.  If you’ve been following along, you probably remember us talking about them before.  It taken us months (literally) but we finally got some numbers on the house.

We purchased the alley side numbers online from Sears.  We were coveting another style from another company but they were over $25 a number.  We found similar ones at Sears for about $11 each.  We used a gift card we’d been holding on to since the wedding.

We’re trying to figure out how to fill the holes under the zero.  The first attempt at the zero was lopsided.  The exterior of the house is HardiPanel, so we think some sort of filling agent is available. 

The street side numbers weren’t as easy.  Again, we found something online we liked but it seemed over priced.  The stencil cost almost $40 which isn’t a lot except it’s for a plastic stencil.  I had this brilliant idea to make our own stencil.  I numbers up in 100 size font and glued them to a file folder.  We cut the numbers out to make a stencil.  I wish I had pictures of it but I think they got deleted.

After the first attempt, the numbers looked like this.

So, maybe spray paint wasn’t the best option.  We originally used spray paint because we wanted something that would easily fill all the cracks and holes in the cement, and something that would dry fast.  Um, it didn’t work and the red didn’t really stand out.  It wasn’t bold enough.

With some painters tape and extra white exterior paint, I attempted to clean it up a bit.

Before

After

Yeah, not quite right. I went back over it with a little red paint.

It still didn’t look right so I went back over one last time in white and red.

It’s not perfect, but it will do for now.  All together, we didn’t spend anything for it (I mean look at it).  We had all the paint on hand.  We’re just one step away from being official – that final inspection pass just keep alluding us.