Archive for February, 2008
Feb
Another Reason To Want Spring
As if I really need to give you another reason. Yesterday’s storm dumped between 10-12 inches of snow on us. Blargh. I’m done with the snow, and done with the cold temperatures. I just want to be able to open up the windows and get some fresh air in the house. I think that’s one of the worst things about winter: being all closed in. Makes me want to consider looking at air cleaners. I am a Febreeze addict, I admit that, but I know they don’t really “clean” the air — just freshen it up. Still, there’s no substitute for fresh air from the outdoors so Mother Nature — are you listening? Can you take it easy on us for the duration of this depressing season and possibly give us a tease of Spring? Thank you.
Feb
One Goal: Met!
Luckily for us, my husband and I are in very good financial shape. Our only debt is one small car payment and our mortgage. Neither of us have ever been ones to carry balances on credit cards and when we were a two-income family we were excellent about putting money into savings. Of course, that’s no so easy to do when you’re a one-income family with two extra (though little) mouths to feed. So we haven’t been able to save as much as we’d like. One thing I really wanted to do this year, though, was open up an IRA and D. took care of that last night. Even better? It saves us $400 on our 2007 taxes. So that’s one item I can cross of the to-do list! I suppose the next thing is investigating life insurance. We’re both in good heath and high risk life insurance policies aren’t something on our radar, but it’s something we really need to look into.
Feb
Shop till you drop
While we were on our own this weekend, we did a lot of shopping because it’s something that the boys don’t tolerate for long. A quick run to Target? No problem. Spending an hour browsing through Marshall’s? Uh… not so much. We hit most of the stores I wanted to check out, with the exception of Kohl’s. I couldn’t remember if I had any Kohls coupons at home so I didn’t want to buy stuff and then head back home and discover I could have gotten 20% off or something! I usually have good luck there, so I knew I would not be walking out empty-handed. Next time I’ll remember to put the coupons directly into my purse.
Feb
Simple Comforts
So we had a nice weekend while my parents watched the boys. It was good while it lasted 
We went up to MA yesterday to have lunch at my mom & dad’s and then bring the kiddos home. By the time we made it back it was already getting dark. To me, there is nothing more depressing than coming home to a dark house and of course I forgot to turn the front light on before we left. Luckily we have motion sensor lights on our garage, so once we pulled up those came on and that was better than nothing. Definitely felt like a “welcome home” you know? It’s not something I have ever really thought about, but those little things like that really make a difference.
Feb
Furniture Clubs
I was thinking about way back when we bought our first house and didn’t really have any furniture. At one point we investigated a furniture club to get discount prices. I don’t remember what it was, but it was similar to DirectBuy. Basically, you paid a membership fee, but then you were able to get massive discounts on furniture. Well, I guess technically they weren’t discounts — you were purchasing the furniture at manufacturer-direct prices, so you wouldn’t be paying the huge mark-up furniture stores tack on. Ultimately we decided it wasn’t for us at that point, but it certainly an interesting concept and I think if you were going to be furnishing an entire house, it might well be worth it.
Feb
More basement stuff…
Drew was telling me the other day how glad he is that when we moved into the house, he ran Cat6 up from the basement to rooms where we thought we might need it at some point. Back then we weren’t really thinking of doing anything with the basement, but now that we’ll be putting up drywall and hiding all those cables, it sure makes his life a lot easier.
Feb
How terrible
I was reading over the news today and came across a Canadian study of workers and asbestos. According to the survey by the B.C. and Yukon Building and Construction Trades Council, about 300 construction workers in B.C. will die of asbestos-related diseases (like mesothelioma) each year for the next five years. It’s just horrible to think that someone’s job is literally killing them. I think that my mother-in-law still has some asbestos in her house, but was told she’s better off just leaving it as-is for the time being rather than having it removed. I am kind of freaked out by it, either way. Just one of those no-win situations.
Feb
Valentine’s Day ideas
Can you believe that Valentine’s Day is this coming week? How did it get here so fast? I swear, it feels like it was just New Year’s Eve. Anyway… do you have anything fun planned, or are you one of those people who eschew the holiday? I take it for what it is, and I have fun with it. I have a fun gift planned for the hubby (something he’ll never expect), and I’ll put together a few goodies for the boys. We keep it pretty low-key, but if you wanted to really go all out, you could buy a bunch of wholesale flowers and have the scattered all over the house (assuming you either don’t have kids or you can get someone to watch the kids for the evening!) for a very romantic setting. I think that would be very dramatic and would really “wow” someone! Don’t you think?
Feb
Midwest getaways
We just came back from a really fun vacation in the Poconos. The location is great because it’s far enough away to really seem like a vacation, but only a 2.5 hour drive. We stay at a family-oriented resort with a lot of fun things to do. I’ve heard that Branson, MO has a lot to fun family-type activities too. The rates at Branson hotels are pretty reasonable and if we lived out that way, I think that would be a fun place to check out.
Feb
Shag or berber?
We’re in the planning stages for finishing off our basement. Drew’s been gathering material on dropped ceilings, and planning out what he wants to do. We will also need to start thinking about what to put down on the floor. Obviously we’re not going to just paint the concrete, we’re going to put some kind of carpeting down. We want something that will stand up to traffic and I was looking at home theater carpet, considering that as an option. We won’t be using the basement as a home theatre per se, but as a bar/game room. Still, I think it is a viable option. But that decision is ultimately up to the boss — it’s his project after all!