Dream Home 2011 (or 2012....2013...)

It is 11 degrees below zero outside right now (-32 with the wind chill!) and I am dreaming of home ownership. I got this new job with this new salary and I started to think, "yeah...maybe we can buy a house this year!" We have a long way to go to be sure, but it is possible. This year, well, that might be a stretch. But DAMN I don't ever want to move again and if my current landlords decide to sell their house (which they want to at some point), we want to either buy this house OR buy our own house.

When it is so ridiculously cold outside, however, my desire to buy this house is pretty low. This house is 50 years old, with 50-year-old windows and 50-year-old insulation. The insides of all our windows are iced over. The curtains have frozen to one of the windows. You can feel the freezy cold air seeping in all over the house, and it is sad. That $200 heating bill we paid last month? Yeah, I'm expecting another one of those.

Since getting it in our heads that we might be able to buy a house someday, Jon and I have been talking a lot about what it is we would want to buy. The house we live in would be good for the right price (a very right price), but it needs a lot of fixing up. Like, oh, that pesky foundation/settling issue, or the aforementioned windows and insulation. Also, tiny rooms, one bathroom, old kitchen, etc.

What would my dream home look like? Jon and I have discussed the gloriousness of:

• Three decent-sized bedroom, including a larger-than-tiny master.
• An en suite bathroom to the master bedroom.
• A ranch-style home.
• A little more house than we need, because we aren't interested in a "starter home." Ideally, we'd really like to live in our first house for the next 30 years, have it paid off by retirement, and then be mortgage free.
• In a good schol district. Ideally Littleton, but maybe Cherry Creek or Douglas County.
• Yard for the dogs and Evelyn.
• Updated (if not super fancy) kitchen, bathrooms, windows, roof, insulation, etc.
• A gas range in the kitchen.
• Lots of counter space in the kitchen.
• A garage or shed or some sort of storage area.
• Lots of natural sunlight.
• Nothing scary so I feel the need to call in Mike Holmes for a "Holmes Inspection." (Oh, HGTV, you are killing me with that show.)

So there you go. A short list, in no particular order. If I look at this list, the house we live in now fits half the list (and really the most important parts). Too bad it is driving me crazy!

The blog that time forgot

OK, so maybe time didn't forget this blog so much as I no longer have as much time TO blog. (To blog...a blog...I blog...we blog. Blog.)

Since starting my new job (still fabulous!) I am increasingly busy during the day and increasingly unlikely to turn on my computer in the evening. That's all well and good, but I just don't have the time available to record the detailed minutia of everyday life. Like how Evelyn is getting so big, so fast. She talks non-stop. She is hilarious and smart and loud and amazing. When I am 40-something and Evelyn is smack dab in the middle of obnoxious teenagerdom, I'd like to look back on this blog and remember the cuteness that once was. Like how she breaks into song at random times. "Bob the Builder...yes we can!" "Beauty and the Beast...tale is time...song...la la la."

Or maybe how she has started picking out her own clothes from time to time, and much to the dismay of the Small side of the family, she almost always picks something green. (Bright green t-shirt with pastel green striped sweat pants and dark green socks? Check!)

Or perhaps I'd like to remember how I overheard her tell her blanket that she loves it. And she does. It makes her happy.

All these things are worth remembering.

Other things are worth forgetting, like the volume and the tantrums and the food aversion and the disinterest in potty training. None of that is important.

My little girl. SUCH a little girl. Not a baby.

So close to that 50 percent mark...

Aside from the holiday-sales-and-coupon crush right before Christmas, I haven't been able to reach the 50 percent mark on savings at the grocery store. That is my goal. I've gotten close--last week I thought I would be low on the savings but I found some steals and ended up with 45 percent savings--but I never get quite there.

Most of the savings come from using the store loyalty cards. Second, I always scan the store circular for special deals that week, especially on meats and dairy. Third, I always try to find a coupon to match an advertized store deal. Fourth, I always try to find a manufacturers coupon to match any store coupons, bringing my savings way up. The easiest things to do this for are toiletries, and I have six tubes of free toothpaste sitting in my closet right now to show for it.

But how to get to that mystical 50 percent mark? How to get even higher? I'm pretty sure I need to stop being store loyal. I always shop at Safeway, to the point that I don't even look at the circulars for other stores. If I get an email about a really good deal at Target, I might go there, but I really dislike going to King Soopers (Kroger) or Wal Mart. Both are like confusing, labrynthian planets of the mole people, and I just don't like going into them. But if I really want to kick up the savings, I might have to get over it.

Second, I don't plan far enough in advance. That isn't going to change any time soon, but it is worth noting. I never plan my weekly meal list until Sunday morning when I get the paper and look at the sales. I don't know what I'm going to want or need until a few hours before I go shopping. I do scan the coupon databases (which match coupons to store sales and give you total percent saved) and go after the really high-savings items and figure out how to use them, but that is about it.

Third, I still go "off book" and buy stuff that is neither on sale nor has a coupon. Things like perishables, fresh produce, soda (although I've gotten a lot better about buying soda only when it is less than $.02/oz), toilet paper. That won't change either.

I guess I'm just saying that saving money is fun, I want to get even better at it, and TLC's recent special "Extreme Couponing" isn't helping the situation. Did you see the show? That dude got like 11 pallets of cereal for $100! (He donated nearly all to a food bank.) I'm just sayin...that's awesome.

A compilation of unrelated thoughts

Do you know why grannys wear grannypanties? Because grannys are SMART. Grannypanties (yes, I shall make it into one word) are great. They don't ride up or roll down or scooch over. You don't have to worry as much about VPL. (Tangent: Is a "visible panty line" really a problem? I mean, is it somehow shocking to people who can see your underwear line through your pants that you are wearing underwear? Is this one of those things that women say is their issue but really it was created by men so they can live with the illusion that all the women in their eyesight are walking around without undies? I think so.) Grannypanties are a perfect pairing of form and function, so perfect that only the elderly and wise are assumed to be wearing them. So I'm staging a grannypanty revolution! Who's with me? (Probably not my husband...)

*************
I went to the National Western Stock Show this past weekend (my little sis Olivia was in town) and there was a guy protesting outside with a sign derriding the animal cruelty at the show. He is probably vegan and considers anything but lovely long lives with quick-in-their-sleep-no-pain deaths to be cruel for the animals. I would disagree. The ranchers at the stock show are the cream of the crop when it comes to raising animals. They love their animals. They treat them well. These aren't the guys who have factory ranches with animals bred to hell and back. These are the guys who have been ranchers for generations. Who tend to their flocks or herds or heads every day, with their sweat and passion the only thing keeping them from going under. I'm just sayin. These aren't the guys who are "cruel" to animals. Sure, they eat the animals. So do I. But I'd rather eat an animal that was raised well and respected for its place in the world.
I love the rodeo for the same reason. It's not cruel. It's not like the circus. The sports the rodeo showcases are borne of actual ranching activities turned into competition. (Maybe not bull riding.) Those ranchers have to know how to ride horses, and rope calves, and tie them down for a minute. They have to know how to break a horse, bareback or saddle riding, and hold on. Maybe it's my western side coming out, but I like the heritage showcased in the stock show and the rodeo.
Long live the wild west.

************

Why working is awesome:

When I am at home, I get to be a tiger, a baby jaguar, Diego, DJ Lance, a blueberry bush and a mountain. But what I don't get to be is still. Or quiet. Or relaxed. Or calm. I do get to be happy, amused, loved, and needed. I do not get to be rewarded for my work, appreciated for my intellect, or conversed with in multi-syllabic words.

But at work...well, work is like a dream land. It is quiet. I can close the door without little hands who just figured out they can open doors doing just that. I can go to the bathroom without yelling out, "I'll be done in a minute! Just hold on!" I don't have to wipe anyone's bottom (well, my own, but I'm OK with that) or break up dog fights or clean up spilled milk or keep little toddlers from actively trying to kill themselves. I don't have to decifer games of imaginary orange picking from games of imaginary animal rescue. At work I can choose what I do and when I want to do it, for the most part. I can eat with adults, or all by myself, and I don't have to worry about jam-hands ruining my shirt. To be fair, no one tells me they love me lots or giggle uncontrollably when I say the word "butt," so there is that downside.

I'm just sayin. Staying at home with your kids is exhausting work. Going to an office where you enjoy your work and your colleagues and your company is a whole lot easier. So I guess I took the easy way. THANK God.

*************

Butt. (Now cue the uncontrollable laughter.)

Lists and lists

Things I like about my new job so far:

• Everyone is nice and helpful.
• People have a genuine desire to help the less-fortunate, and that's why they work here.
• The organization as a whole is pretty socially liberal.
• My boss is nice and is trying to help me get acclimated without overwhelming me.
• I work with all women, which really doesn't matter, except they are all lovely and understand what it is like to be a working mom.
• My bosses boss brought me flowers on my first day.
• I have my own office.
• I have a good salary.
• I have good benefits.
• I am really enjoying the work I'm doing so far and I feel like I'll be a valued member of the team.
• My team is going out of their way to introduce me to people I'll be working with inter-departmentally as well as with outside organizations/coalitions we work with quite frequently.
• There was popcorn in the break room this morning for breakfast.

Things I don't like about my new job so far:

• My desk chair hurts my back (but an ergo one is on order).
• The office supply people won't let me order a three-hole punch for my desk.
• There is not a drop of soda available for sale anywhere in the building. Stupid "healthy communities" initiative.

AND THAT IS ALL. Seriously. Not too shabby, eh?

New job

Started my new job on Monday.

Busy busy.

No, really. Busy.

But I like it already and the people here are all very nice.

HOORAY

But enough for now.

Busy.

In like a lion...

It's weird to be back at the office. My cubicle. This chair. Those papers I left right there on the desk. I've been out for nearly 10 days, and I'm only back for three before moving on to a NEW and IMPROVED job.

That's right, people, I'm moving on up.

Right before Christmas, I was offered a job with a national hospital organization to be their director of policy research and analysis. It's a much better job than my current position, with a better salary, better benefits, better title, better office, etc. It also has more direction for the public policy department, more room for personal/professional development, and less chance of the company being bought up and sold off and lay offs and cut backs and yadda yadda you get the idea. More money, more security, more advancement, more excitement. I said yes.

I'm back at my current job for three more days and then I start the new gig on Monday. I am so excited for the new job. I think it will be really amazing and I want to kick some major ass. It is (fingers crossed) a great way to start a great new year. I have been so blessed with employment in my short time in the corporate world.

Cheers!