March Brain Dump

It’s Friday! It’s Friday! We’re so happy it’s the weekend except that Micah has to chaperone a high school dance (LAME). Yes, he’s chaperoning. When you work for a private school, they write in duties like chaperoning into your contract and don’t pay you extra for it. Boo. But we have most of Saturday and all of Sunday (minus all the lesson plans) to play with. We’re going to a Limoncello party on Saturday afternoon which will be fun. We’re old pros at the old limoncello making. I might have to bring my meloncello (yes, melon – so good) to the party to share. Besides sweet Italian liquors, here’s what’s on our (mostly mine) minds.

Popcorn

Yes, popcorn. I am OBSESSED. I will eat it for lunch (which I have twice this week) because it’s SO good. Not the microwave stuff or jiffy pop but fresh stove popped popcorn. I am so obsessed that Micah bought me a Whirley Pop for Christmas. It is indeed a pot just for cooking popcorn. Is it necessary? No. Do I love it with all my heart? Yes. Currently, my two favorite popcorn combos are nutritional yeast and salt, and olive oil and sea salt. The olive oil one is really good (thanks for the idea Trader Joe’s). It is possible that on Saturday night while Micah is at the dance Izzy and I will be having popcorn for dinner. Yes, Izzy loves popcorn. She’ll catch it in her mouth if you throw it just right. I think we’re up to 4 catches in a row. See, obsessed.

Tax Return

It’s that time of year – tax time. My goal this year was to get them done before we went on vacation (check). I was dreading doing our taxes. I didn’t think we’d get much back which was disappointing after last year’s haul. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised and we have a very healthy chunk of change headed our way. Last year I actually paid for an online service for our taxes. Paying the $30 was really hard for me ( I know, I’m cheap) but Micah thought it would be a good idea with all the house stuff. I’m glad I listened to him. We felt pretty tax return savvy before – we knew about all the educator deductions and few other things. Now we use the software and I’m blown away about what we’ve missed out on. We can deduct sales tax in Washington because it’s SO high. If we were smart and kept receipts for all our big home purchases, we could have gotten more via an itemized deduction instead of using the standard one. Luckily, we were smart enough to keep receipts when we were building the house. We learned we could deduct the cost of part of our car tabs (really?) and it was really helpful with all the deductions associated with our mortgage refinance. Kind of amazing.

Tax Return Money

So, now that we have a little money in our pockets, what are we going to do with it? As usual, because I’m boring, I’m making us save a good chunk of it and apply some of it to our mortgage. I am Momager’s daughter. We’re putting a good amount into our travel fund, a few hundred bucks will be fun money for maybe a party, or a couple fancy dinners or a few concerts and the last bit goes into a new house project. We are not even done with the current project (the master bath) but we already know what the next one is. It’s probably more than we can handle and I’m betting it will require me to take a few days off to really do right. It’s another project we’re going to have to figure out on our own as it’s completely new to Dadtractor. What is it? You’ll have to wait until next week. Until then, we’ll just be waiting patiently for our tax return money.

Winning?

Late last year, Micah started playing the lottery (that should give you an indication about his work situation). He buys a ticket a week and hopes that he’s got the winner. Over the last month, he’s also been entering contests. We have entered the occasional contest before – you know, win a free ipad, win a trip to LA or something -- but not regularly. Overnight, it seemed like we both were entering the HGTV dream home thing to win Kindle Fires or trips to France daily. It takes a minute and it’s a good way to waste time on the train when you forgot your kindle at home. But here’s my question, does anyone ever actually win one of these random drawings? I’ve won a bracelet and few things off blogs but neither of us has won anything big (valued more than $200) or really known anyone who has. Actually, I lie. My uncle once won $5,000 playing the lottery and I think my grandma won the jackpot in Reno playing the nickel slots. What can I say, I’m Asian – we like to gamble (except me – too cheap again).

Hawaii

This is hard for me to admit to anyone but Micah but I wasn’t sure I’d like Hawaii. I know, that’s stupid. But hear me out. I’d never been before and it was never very high on my list. I like sun and I love the ocean but I’m not really a lay on the beach kind of person. I like to wander and see things. Everyone (literally everyone in Seattle) told me Hawaii was great because you get to be warm and lay out on the beach and drink Mai Tais and just relax. What would I do there after the hour of laying on the beach was over and I was bored? I’m weird, I know. I thought Hawaii would be like all the other things that were popular that I didn’t like (ex Lost, Michael Buble, doughnuts, Lake Chelan, Shabby Chic décor, Dirty Dancing, the Princess Bride, etc.). I was actually really worried about not liking Hawaii. Micah assured me that it was impossible not to like Hawaii but I wasn’t so sure. Verdict? I loved Hawaii (well, Maui). I like that the beach was everywhere and I could just spend an hour there, do something else and then come back in the evening for a swim because it was always going to be beach weather. I loved that the people and culture were much like my own but different. Good lord, Filipinos everywhere. I think I spoke and heard more Tagalog there than I have in Seattle in the last year. I loved all the spontaneous whale watching, the swimming with turtles and that it was always warm enough to hike in shorts and a t-shirt. Also, I pretty much love any place I can be mistaken as a local. I like it so much that I promised Micah we’d go again – soon (like in the next 2 years). Maybe Kauai this time.

Another Dog

Don’t tell Micah but I kind of want another dog. We’re not getting one, but I want one. It’s not really for me (not entirely), it’s for Izzy. She spent the week at my sister’s house where she got to play with her dog cousin Giacoma. She did this running/chase thing with Giacoma in the back yard and she was in heaven. I mean pure doggy bliss. I know she was overjoyed when we came home and she was really excited to get back to her own house but I did notice she was a little sad. She was looking for Giacoma. She’d bring her toys and we’d play, but it wasn’t the same. After a few minutes, she’d get tired of Micah or I and go take a nap somewhere. We’re going to try and arrange regular doggy sleepovers so they can play but it’s not quite the same. Oh well. I’m not to ask for another dog because it’s pretty much a miracle we have Izzy at all.

101 in 1001

Have you seen/done this? You make a list of 101 goals you hope to accomplish in 1001 days. I liked the idea but I didn’t think my personal goal list belonged here. I’ve been thinking that we need a 101 in 1001 for the house. I think a little under 3 years is a enough time to really finish the house and you know we have more than 101 smaller goals that need to be done to get us there. So we’re doing it. 101 in 1001 for the house. When (if) we get it done, we’re throwing a party. A big one. I’d say we’d go on a trip but let’s face it, we’re going to do that anyway. Right, so we have 1001 to really finish the house. I better make that list.

So tell us? Have you done the 101 in 1001? Or, better yet, have you actually won a big prize/contest? We want to know that it isn’t all just a scam and we aren’t wasting all that time that could be better used to play Ticket to Ride on our Apple devices.