Let It Snow

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, and the fire is so delightful. The snow finally arrived. We've had a couple of rainy days yesterday and the day before with some generous amounts, almost 2 inches in some areas. Wow. And, initially, we weren't expecting much snow. That has changed. The rain changed over to snow early this morning, and now, we're supposed to get 3 to 5 inches. It's actually really nice. I've got the weekend off, and can relax and just watch the snow fall. We ventured out this morning to get some snow boots for my daughter, grab a baby gate to keep our dogs out of the basement, and grab a pizza at Papa Murphy's Pizza. All in all, it's a great day! And, I have to admit, the traction control on our car is wondrous invention. When the rain was changing over to snow, we did have a period of freezing rain. So, the inch or so of snow that we've already got was deposited on thin layer of ice. While other cars were spinning and sliding, our Honda Accord was driving through it like butter. You've gotta love technology! Happy New Year!

What Are The Odds?

A few months ago, my wife suggested that she'd like a Magic Bullet for Christmas. I'm sure you've seen the informercial on late-night TV. It's the little silver plastic blender that you can slice, dice, chop, grate, or blend just about anything in. I have to admit, I've looked at them myself, and thought they would be a neat appliance. My wife makes diet-drink smoothies every morning, so she thought it would be more convenient than the full sized blender. Little did she know on that day back in August that I was actually listening.

So, when Christmas rolled around, I thought I was being the most clever husband on the planet. I actually bought her the Magic Bullet. I knew she would have forgotten about her suggestion to me this past summer, and it would be a pleasant surprise. It was going to be a grand Christmas. That is, until she informed me yesterday (December 23rd) that she was very excited to open the present from her folks as it was a Magic Bullet. She said her Mom asked her about a month ago if she wanted one, and my wife said Yes. I about fell out of my chair. The Christmas gift that I thought would be the end-all be-all surprise was a dud. In other words, by the time my wife would open her gift from me, it would be a been-there done that experience. So, I confessed my little secret, and apologized that she wouldn't be having that great of a Christmas. I did have 2 other presents under the tree for her, and those would have to do.

Then, today during the family gift exchange, as my wife was opening her Christmas present from her sister, I again about fell off the couch. Lo and behold, she opened a new pair of pajamas. My wife had dropped hints that she'd like a new pair of pajamas for Christmas, but unfortunately, she dropped the same hint to both me and her sister. Yes, you guessed it, that was my second present for my wife, a new pair of pajamas. While they are different prints, it's the theme that counts. Ugh.

Geesh, what's a guy to do? I thought I had put a lot thought into the gifts for my wife this year, and have now found out that 2 out of my 3 presents have been shot down. Damn. I wanted to head out to the mall for a last minute shopping spree, but alas, there wasn't time. So, my wife will have to return the two dud presents after the holidays, and get something that she really needs or wants. And, I guess in the end, ol' Scrooge has been scrooged himself, in that those gift receipts will need to be used after all.

An Extreme Case of Butterflys

After our Christmas Eve lunch, we attended Christmas Eve mass, which started at 430 pm. We had to be there at 330 pm, because our 10 year old daughter is in the children's choir, and it was their turn to sing. Plus, for the Christmas eve mass, you have to get there early if you want a seat. And, as an added bonus, our daughter was to be the cantor for this mass. A cantor is the person who leads the congregation in the responsorial psalms, and also also sings the verses solo. I was literally scared to death for our daughter, fearing that she'd choke under the pressure. She has before, and I didn't want it to happen again. She received the song about two weeks ago, but didn't spend a lot of time practicing. She knew the song well enough, but I didn't think she was practicing as much as she should have been. Right before she was scheduled for her solo debut, I literally thought I was going to throw up, I was that nervous. Wow. I haven't felt that way in a long time. Our daughter took the podium, looked at the 750 member congregation, and got this very nervous look on her face. I thought that was it, that she'd step down, but she completely surprised me. She adjusted the microphone, waited for the intro notes, and blasted out the most beautiful voice I've ever heard. She nailed it. She did awesome, and I couldn't have been more proud! This was going to be her make or break moment. I'm glad she was able to prove me wrong, and so happy for her that she was able to overcome her fear and make a great impression. Many friends came up to her after the service and congratulated her. We were all impressed and I think she was really excited at doing such a great job!

Sub Sandwiches

We had our family Christmas today at our house. My wife's two sisters and their families were in attendance, along with my wife's parents. We decided to have the gift exchange today, but still have another dinner tomorrow. Today, we decided to do a quick lunch, which included appetizers and a sub sandwich. We've ordered large sub sandwiches before and they've always been a hit. But, it occurred to me today that this may not be such a good deal. Here's the catch. You can go into any Subway and order a 1 foot Subway club for $6, which includes all of the condiments. Not bad. We ordered a 3' sub club sandwich which cost $12 per foot. So, why didn't we just order 3 1-foot long subs? We could have spent half as much. LOL. I'm not sure of the logic there, but I'm guessing that's why Subway does such a great business. To be fair, I think the 3-foot party sub was actually about 4 feet long, and it was twice as wide as their regular subs, so in essence, I believe we did get twice as much sub, but at first glance, it still seemed odd.

Wasting Time

It's no secret that I like to gamble. My parents used to gamble all of the time, whether it was weekly trips to the horse races, or yearly trips to Las Vegas. I suppose I inherited that gene from them. Although, I don't like to take a lot of risks in my personal life, I do enjoy playing Blackjack. Living close to a casino affords me the opportunity to occasionally play the game at least once a month (and occasionally more). All in all, over the course of playing the last 5 years, I'd say I'm about even. There have been days when I've won, days when I've lost, but in the end, I believe I've gained nothing. Yesterday was a prime example. It's ironic, I love to gamble, but have not been to Las Vegas myself as an adult. Life if funny that way.

I did have an ulterior motive yesterday though, in that I often take Iowa recyclable cans across the river to collect the 5 cent trade in value. While we don't drink pop at home, I have volunteered to take the cans from my workplace to help our snack fund's bottom line. So, if I have to make a trip for that reason, I may as well stop and play cards for awhile. See the logic? I also had another reason to visit yesterday, in that the casino occasionally offers a free tee shirt to its patrons. Since living in Omaha, I've received no less than 5 free casino tee shirts. It's kind of cool actually. Plus, I get a coupon once a month for $3 off the buffet at the casino, and it's a really good deal. So, I had "several" reasons to stop and gamble at the casino.

Unfortunately, and more often than not, you don't win big. That was the case yesterday. In total, I spent about 5 hours gambling, and only won $10. To make matters worse, the free tee shirt giveaway was "last" Monday, as I misread the coupon. Ugh. Yesterday, I got down very quickly, within the first hour or so, and it took another 4 hours to battle back. A little up, more down, a little up, even more down, a big gain, a tragic loss, and eventually, I was able to get my head above water again. Time was running out as I had obligations that I had to attend to. Plus, I had been awake for 24 straight hours, and it was time to go.

In the end, I was able to make enough money ($10) to pay for my lunch, plus the gallon and a half of gas that it cost to drive there. Not bad. Was it enough to buy me that shiny new MP3 player I've had my eye on? No. Or, was it enough for a down payment on the new Glock handgun I've been wanting to purchase? No. But, I didn't lose any money, had a great time while playing, and that's about as good as it can get. An extra $200 would have been nice, but there's always another day.

Christmas Scrooge

It's that time of year again when everyone goes crazy and completely overboard. And the preparations have been ongoing for at least a couple of months, with decorations, lights, parties, gifts, and more. I said the very same thing last year, and still feel the same. I think the holidays are overrated, and frankly, could do without them. A lot of people have forgotten the true meaning of the holidays, try to outdo or spend more than what they did last year, and truly aren't thankful for what they have. The whole concept of gift giving has gotten way out of hand. I mean, seriously, for as much time as people spend trying to "find" the right gift, it's often unappreciated, and the only question they ask includes, "Does it come with a gift receipt?" So, for that reason, I suppose I'll forever always be the holiday scrooge and that's OK. Some people love the holidays, and are able to truly revel in what the season really means. But, for the majority of folks, it's become a ommercial blitz of the senses with no real sense of what it all represents. Bah humbug!

Shuffling Money Take Two

You may have read in my last post that I've been shuffling money among various credit cards to take advantage of low monthly interest rates. Some may think it's crazy. I call it being frugal. A penny saved is a penny earned, and I like my pennies.

Speaking of interest rates, I recently opened a Citibank E-Savings account in hopes of earning more than the 1% offered by our local bank. Citibank has a deal right now where you can get 5% interest, as long as you open a checking account at the same time. Well, we already have a checking account at our local bank and don't need another one, but I would like to take advantage of the higher interest rate for our savings.

Over the last several years, I've been saving a little here and there, to build up an emergency fund. Of course, we've been saving elsewhere too by tucking money into our work-related 401k accounts, buying stocks, mutual funds, savings bonds, and so forth. But, cash is king, and you never know when you'll need a cushion to fall back on. Dave Ramsey, famed financial adviser, recommends 3 months salary as a good emergency fund. I've been feverishly trying to accumulate that, but let me tell you, it's hard. Especially when you "like" to spend money, have new things, and all the latest gadgets. Ha.

But, I think we're about to that point, but earning only 1% interest is not a desirable option right now. So, after some thought, I decided to transfer our emergency fund from our local bank to Citibank, to earn the 5% they offer. I'm not sure of any catches, but it seems there might be some withdrawal limits on the account, in that you can only withdraw a certain amount of money each business day, and can only have so many withdrawals each month. Plus, you have to do all the banking online, i.e. not in a branch, but I think the limits are something we can live with. The extra interest will be nice, and the money will be available if and when we need it.

Moving Money

While I'm not happy about it, I freely admit that we maintain a credit card balance. Despite my best efforts, we still manage to spend quite a bit each month, occasionally beyond our means. There, I've said it. LOL. It's the American dream afterall. We're not talking a huge amount of credit debt, but the national average, as listed by The Today show this morning. In fact, we're just slightly above the national average. Sigh.

Anyhow, I've become very adept at moving money around various accounts to try and get the best interest rates possible. It's been an easy task previously, but I'm beginning to think the gravy train may be drying up. In the past, I've usually been able to get balance transfers with no transaction fees, for anywhere from 2.9 to 6.9 percent. So, whichever credit card had the best rate would get my business. I'd shuffle money from card to card using balance transfers. Keep in mind, we've been making healthy payments each month, but we also keep spending. It's an evil cycle. Kaching! So, while this money shuffling has kept our interest payments low, we haven't made any significant progress in paying these damn things off. At this point, I think it may be a perpetual cycle that will be with us for our lifetime. I know, we'd fail the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class with ease.

This month, all previous low interest rates had expired, and it was time to play the shuffle game once more. Although, this time, we didn't make such a great deal. All of the cards are now back to charging a transaction fee for the transfers (at least in our accounts), which is typically a 3% fee, with an upper limit. We did have one card that had a transaction free interest rate of 4.9%, but unfortunately, that was the card that all of the money was on this month. Crap. Oh well, it's not the end of the world. I did manage to find a balance transfer rate of 0.99% through April 2007, but with the dreaded 3% transaction fee. Let's just say, the 3% transaction fee will be cheaper than paying interest at 21%. And so, the chase begins anew. Note though, we're not opening new credit cards. We have 3 main credit cards, and we've been shuffling money through each of those 3 cards. So, it's not that bad, and in the end, we're getting some pretty good rates. I wonder if the credit cards have figured this out? I'm sure they have, but as long as they keep offering the good rates, I'm going to take advantage of it whenever I can.

Our Two Dogs

I don't write much about our two dogs, although they are definitely a part of our family. They are both toy rat terriers. Ginger, the white and sable dog is 2 years old, and we've had her since February 2005. She's a great dog, albeit a bit hefty. We have nicknamed her Petunia the Pork Barrel as she really loves to eat. She weighs about 11 1/2 lbs, and was only supposed to weigh 6 to 8 lbs. Hmm, I think she needs to go on a diet.


Maisy is our second dog. She's only 11 months old, and has been with us since May 2006. She is a very hyper dog, still very much has that puppy inside her. Hopefully, she settle down a little bit when she gets older. She's so firey, she's not afraid to take on the biggest dog in the neighborhood, even though she only weighs 6 lbs. They are both great companions though, and have become fine watch dogs.

Christmas Lights Complete

Ok, I know it doesn't look nearly as grand as it sounds, but trust me, there are 2500 lights in this picture. LOL! Each of the 3 icicle strands has 300 lights, there are 400 lights in the front tree (with the green trunk), and there are 1100 lights in the shrubs in the front, plus 100 lights in the spiral tree. Actually, it looks kind of puny in retrospect, but I'm happy with the display. Good enough for this year.