Joys of Homeownership

Wow. This weekend was filled with home improvement projects. Thankfully, all of them got done and I had some indespensible help. It's such a relief to have all these things crossed off my list!

1. Purchase and install proper bolt-type hook mounting thingy for hanging my towelrack on the bathroom door.
2. Purchase and install new floodlight halogen bulbs in my kitchen track lighting.
3. Re-install screen that came off when I was trying to put birdseed on the sill for the birds. One of the handles came off and we had to get all MacGyver on it's ass.
4. Have painter come and scrape damaged paint, reapply plaster, and touch up walls damaged from the ice dam that formed on the roof above my unit during Snowmageddon.
5. Replace burned out garbage disposal.

Yikes! That was a lot of stuff to do. Thankfully, since I own a condo, we have a management company that holds a master insurance policy on the building. So they arranged for and will pay the painter. While he was here, he offered to replace my disposal for what I considered a fair fee (cost of disposal plus $100 installation fee). He went right over to Home Depot and came back and did it the same day!

The hooks, screen, and lightbulbs were done courtesy of my very own personal general contractor/chef/walker-to-worker/other duties as necessary man. Many thanks :)

Here are some phots of the water damage to my walls:




Here are the walls scraped and re-plastered:





And the finished product, good as new:

Pretty Good Shopping Trip

Harris Teeter March 27, 2010

1 Quaker Oats
6 Uncle Ben's wild rice
1 Raisins
1 Mitchum deodorant
3 pkgs chicken breast (three in each package)
1 Ben & Jerry's Phish Food
12 Yoplait yogurts

Subtotal: $65.01
Coupons: $39.52
TOTAL: $25.49

I am doing pretty well... spending about $25/week at Harris Teeter for groceries, which is down from about $65/week that I was spending last year before paying attention to coupons and sales.

I haven't had, nor will I need to go, to CVS for a very long while. And I've accumulated enough of a stockpile of certain items (bought for free or for pennies) that I am about to take two huge bags of dry goods and personal care items to the Capitol Area Food Bank.

Small goals

In my ever-present quest for self-improvement, I have decided to set two small goals for the rest of the year.

1. To read the entire feature article in National Geographic each month.
2. To read the entire feature article in the Washington Post magazine every month.

Starting tonight with the Nat Geo 'water' issue... a very serious issue. I'm excited :)

Observations

The National Mall is getting crowded! Here are a few observations from my run this afternoon:

1. A lot of people are fat
2. A lot of people smoke
3. I love helping people with directions :)
4. I'm surprised more tourists aren't hit by cars
5. Republicans, especially those under 25, are instantly recognizable
6. I will never understand why people are so fascinated with squirrels

Lately I'm obsessed with this song...

Keeping my mouth shut!

The weather is getting warmer and everyone seems to be thinking about tank tops, swimwear, and getting rid of their winter weight. I'm really happy to hear so many people at work wanting to get healthy and active but it's very frustrating to hear the things they say. There's a lot of mis-information going around and a lot of frustration with lack of results. But when you hear the things they say it's easy to see why the things they're doing aren't working.

Fifteen minutes on the elliptical and fifteen minutes of walking on the treadmill three times a week ain't gonna do it if you eat Popeye's for lunch every day. I'm sorry.

I stay out of conversations unless someone invites me in. It's quite common knowledge that I run and practice yoga, that I cook my own meals and eat well (and cheat occasionally!). I don't want to get preachy or anything... at the same time I can so easily pinpoint where people are sabotaging themselves and it's tempting to want to offer help.

Oh well. This is why I have a iPod I guess.

Staying Consistent

For a moderately athetic person such as myself who runs for enjoyment, weight control, and stress relief, consistency is almost more important than intensity when looking at the long haul.

That's why I forced myself out there today. It was raining and gross. Humid. Wormy. I felt flabby, which for some reason usually means I DON'T want to run (running when I feel thin is great, but I feel thin when I run consistently... so....).

Somewhere deep down I found my mojo and went out for a slow and gentle 30-minute jog in the neighborhood and my goodness do I feel good.

In my many years of experience I've found that it's very, very important to resist skipping runs simply when you 'don't feel like it.' Those are the days when you need to just lace up your shoes and go. Over time, those 'don't feel like it days' really add up, and doing something is always better than doing nothing so that when you look back over the past month or two you find that you've run more days than not.

And that's when you find that running is accomplishing what you want it to accomplish. When you find that you are maintaining your weight, when your clothes fit, when you feel overall pretty darn good.

Otherwise, what's the point? Running should be an activity that works for you, that adds to the quality of your life. When it becomes too off-and-on, well, I find that the effort isn't worth it. There's no payoff!

Reminding myself of all this, and that there's never any pressure to set any records out there, I am, once again, glad I didn't skip it. I'm always glad when I don't skip it.

Adventures in Home Improvement - Part II

My consultation with Dan Benjamin of Sundance Construction went really well. I get the feeling that this guy really understands what I'm going for and he seemed to know his trade. He's done a ton of work in several houses on my block and said he would call one of his former clients for whom he did a similar built-in bookcase and ask if we could come over and look at it together.

He looked over my design drawings, took lots of photos, and will have a quote for me by Tuesday.

On the business side of things he comes with great references, lots of repeat customers, is registered with the DC Better Business Bureau, was about ten minutes late but called me right at our appointment time to let me know that he was on his way. He was not rushed at all and stayed to talk with me for about an hour. He made friends with my cats.

So... now I wait for the quote. If I like the quote and decide to hire him he said he will do a mock-up for me to look at and go from there!

Stay tuned!

Geography of the Genders

Seeing as how this is a milestone year for me, I really appreciated the following descriptions of how a woman changes as she ages.

GEOGRAPHY OF A WOMAN

- Between 18 and 22, a woman is like Africa - half discovered, half wild, fertile and naturally beautiful!

- Between 23 and 30, a woman is like Europe - Well-developed and open to trade, especially for something of real value.

- Between 31 and 35, a woman is like Spain - very hot, relaxed, and convinced of her own beauty.

- Between 36 and 40, a woman is like Greece - gently aging, but still a warm and desirable place to visit.

- Between 41 and 50, a woman is like Great Britain , with a glorious and all-conquering past..

- Between 51 and 60, a woman is like Israel - has been through war, doesn't make the same mistakes twice, and takes care of business.

- Between 61 and 70, a woman is like Canada - Cool, self-preserving, but open to meeting new people.

- After 70, she becomes Tibet - wildly beautiful, with a mysterious past and the wisdom of the ages.... An adventurous spirit and a thirst for spiritual knowledge.



THE GEOGRAPHY OF A MAN

Between 1 and 80, a man is like Iran...

--- ruled by nuts.

THE END

Adventures in Home Improvement - Part I

It's my first true act as a homeowner! I'm changing the inside of my home. I can do it! It's mine!

I am looking to install some custom bookshelves to frame my closet and bathroom doors, which are on the same wall. The shelves would start on the left side of the wall and go up and over the bathroom door, down the middle wall to the floor, and up and over the closet door. There would be one row of shelf above the door so it's as though you are walking through the shelves when you walk through the door.

I have a to-scale design drawing and some magazine photos that show some of the finer details I'd like.

Tomorrow at 3pm I have a consultation with the owner of a well-recommended carpentry/home renovation company. He knows my building - I told him the location and he wrote back "Is that the old nunnery?" so that's encouraging He comes well-recommended on the community list-serves, has a lot of repeat business, etc.

I would also like him to replace one missing cabinet door in the kitchen. It's the one that goes to the garbage disposal so it's kind of ugly not to have a door on that cabinet. I have the handle but I need a door.

Anyway, the shelves would look like this except I have two doors and those aren't my colors. I wish that were my piano!!



This is what the current wall looks like.



There is another two feet of ceiling above the heat vent.

I will be keeping all my faithful readers updated on this process! It's a learning experience for me... so stay tuned!

Dear Uterus:

We have been through this many times. I do not now, nor will I ever, want to have children. So can you please pack your bags and leave? Or at least shut down operations indefinitely.

Sincerely,
Your disgruntled owner

Notes and Asides

I love this time of year! Perfect running weather.

Confession: I drink Carlo Rossi jugs of wine as my 'everyday' wine during the week! The burgundy is actually pretty good and for $10.99/gallon you really can't beat the price. I have to have someone else carry it home for me, though, it's freaking heavy!

I got my very first property tax bill and assessment and because my taxes are going down a tad this year my monthly mortgage payment will also go down - a whole $12! I'm gonna be rich banking the difference - not.

The venerable captain Niklas Lidstrom's third period powerplay goal edged the Red Wings past the Colorado Avalanche last night in what is becoming our playoff push. The Wings are healthy for the first time all season and hungry to get into the post-season for the 19th straight year!

February Savings Round-up

My budget is:

Pharmacy $50
Grocery $250

Let's see how I did.

Harris Teeter
Subtotal: $283.49
Coupons: $159.93
____________________
Total: $123.56 which represents a savings of 56%

CVS
Subtotal: $136.44
Coupons: $ 68.92
____________________
Total: $ 67.52 which represents a savings of 51%

So I am still over-budget at CVS, however, those categories blend a little. I do get some personal care items at Harris Teeter and some groceries at CVS. Maybe I should just make a general "Grocery/Personal Care" budget since I do so much overlap-shopping and am not OCD enough to split my receipts when I've made purchases in both categories.

Overall I'm excited about my grocery store savings. I'm eating well, I have a decent stock-pile of dry goods and yet am coming in pretty consistently under-budget, at least in the first few months of the year!

At CVS I think I just need to be picker about deals. Now that I know how good a deal I can get on certain items, and I have some of those items in stock at home, I should make sure I'm not paying more than I need to.

For example, I recently got two tubes of toothpaste for $0.17ea. Since two tubes will last me quite a while AND since the final price was so low, I should remind myself to pass on seemingly 'good' deals where the toothpaste is on sale but my out-of-pocket would be $1 or so.

GOAL FOR MARCH: NO personal care/beauty products will be purchased unless they are LESS THAN ONE DOLLAR after coupon!

What A Difference Fifteen Minutes Makes

In an effort to maintain some semblance of health and fitness, I'm trying to retrain my brain when it comes to what I consider "long" runs or hard workouts.

There is absolutely no reason why I can't knock out a 5+ mile run during the week. Typically I run about 3 miles on a weekday and save anything longer for the weekend. In my mind, 3 miles is a basic run and anything more is "long."

Eehhhhh. Wrong. I can run five miles in under an hour and there's no reason why an hours worth of exercise should be considered especially intense.

Consider the following routes. The longer one adds about fifteen minutes onto my time when you consider not only the additional distance but also additional stoplights that require waiting, yet the longer one is longer significantly so when it comes to overall time on my feet.

A 45-minute route (starting and ending at home):


Simply continuing on down to the Lincoln Memorial adds about fifteen minutes and 3/4 mile (remember... stop lights... I am not THAT slow!)



Point is, that's hardly any additional distance but enough additional time to really kick the workout into the next level.

I just need to get over the mental block that says that 5-mile run is 'long' and therefore reserved for the weekend. No. If I can work toward a 5-mile run becoming a more common and regular occurrence I will not only improve my weekday calorie burn but increase my overall long runs to a distance that truly qualifies as long.

No More Excuses

At a little English-style diner pub in Fredericksburg, VA yesterday we came across the gem sitting on our table.

No more excuses for not being able to order the perfect glass of wine!

Grocery Porn

What does $30.84 worth of groceries from Harris Teeter look like?

Voila!



Subtotal: $78.93
Coupons: $48.09
Final: $30.84
Savings: 61%

Five boxes of pasta, two tubs of hummus, one tub of guacomole, two boxes of rice, one gallon of soymilk, a huge thing of Quaker oats, two pouches of tuna, two Simply Asian noodle bowls, two Cracker Barrel cheese, two shampoos, two conditioners, a deodorant, two toothpastes, one Ziploc plastic bags, bananas, and an onion.

Opening Ceremonies!

Two great Red Wings, Nik Lidstrom and Nik Kronwall, will be among others from Detroit and elsewhere joining Team Sweden for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver! Opening ceremonies kick off tonight and the men's hockey matches start early next week.

I can't wait to watch some classic Russian finesse hockey, see the Swedes play their intellectual game, witness the Czechs pound the crap out of their enemies, and take in the Canadians doing what they were born to do.

Snow Day #2

Unbelievable! My agency is closed for the second day in a row! I can't believe it. I was sure we'd be open today and I've have to trudge through wind, snow, and ice to my office in the dark. I am really happy for the additional day off.

Yesterday I napped a little, watched three movies, did a lot of reading and crosswording and playing around on the computer. It was a lovely day spent almost entirely in bed! I might consider getting out and being a little more active today... or not. It remains to be decided and at 7:30am the day is my oyster.

I'll work tomorrow but Monday is a holiday, so this has been and will continue to be a really nice break from the routine.

Now hopefully our roof won't collapse under the weight of all this snow and ice!

Owwwww

You know how when your uterus is spasming for 10 hours and it's coming in waves so after each wave you get a few breaths of peace and you're almost tricked into thinking that that one could be the last one?

But it isn't.

Hormonal

I know when I'm running on a surplus of hormones when the slighest things just make me want to scream.

I have one co-worker who's smacking on a peppermint in her mouth... another with the sniffles and one who has this weird whistling tic... he whistlest these short notes that go up at the end, almost like he's calling a dog, about once every ten minutes.

Ordinarily I wouldn't care about this sort of thing and just take it as regular office background noise but today it is driving.me.nuts.

Thank god I have an ipod... and as soon as the first flakes start falling I am OUTTA HERE.

Rant over.