About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
I brought this purse back from my last visit with Grandma three years ago always intending it for a gift. But it never quite seemed to fit the personality of the gals I know. (I was going to give away the Southwest drink coupons too, but I have no idea where they went. If enough people mention they’d like them in their comments, I’ll try to find them.)
P’raps you’d like to help it find a new home? P’raps you would like to welcome this purse into your home?
To Enter: 1. Leave a comment with your name and email address, and who you’d like the purse for. (1 entry) 2. Tweet about this giveaway, include my handle so I can track your entries: “Win a tiny purse from @RevancheGS: http://bit.ly/9SnS2L” (1 entry per day) 3. Blog about it and leave a comment with your link. (2 entries) 4. Bonus entry: Referring another entrant who will credit you for the tip! That entrant has to leave your name in a comment.
The Rules: 1. Enter by Monday, August 16th, 11:59 PM PDT. 2. Winner will be chosen by randomnumber.org and all decisions are final. 3. Winner must respond to my contact email within 48 hours or I’ll choose another winner. 4. Open to U.S. and Canadian readers.
“They” always say not to save credit card or rewards points, and once again, “they” are right.
Somehow, I lost track of my various hotel loyalty programs and let one of the more valuable programs lapse.
It’s possible I wouldn’t have noticed it even today except I was browsing a lot of online sales and after fussing over a lot of clothes I’d like to order BUT didn’t want to pay shipping for, I came to my senses. If I’m going to spend on clothes, that can’t come out of my regular cash funds! They’re already stretched so it was time to go hunting for some point redemption for the next good sale.
That’s when the brilliant idea to cash in those long hoarded Starpoints flashed through my mind: Starpoints usually redeem at a 1:1 ratio and offer some premium stores like Nordstrom. Blissfully ignorant, I popped into the SPG website and tried to log in. After several failed attempts, I called the customer service number inquiring about my account.
Oh. It had been inactivated.
22,000 points, gone.
It’s been over 18 months since my last account activity and that meant it was fair game for deactivation. In fact, my Starpoints account had gone inactive back in April but I’ve been a little busy not staying in hotels or vacationing, sadly.
!!! I was really ticked at myself for letting that happen, so carefully asked about having the account reactivated which was surprisingly easy. The rep even volunteered the next happy bit of news: I haven’t permanently lost my points yet. They’ll reinstate those points in about 3-5 days.
My hoarding was with the best of intentions: I thought I’d find a way to earn a few more points to maximize my redemptions for up to $250 in gift certificates since I no longer travel and stay in Starwood hotels for work. Regardless of intentions, though, the result was that I almost lost a hefty redemption of $200 in gift certificates simply because I got greedy.
Don’t let your points get stale, redeem them if you’re not earning any more!
We had friends over the other weekend. By “we” I mean, PiC said they could come stay for the weekend and then took off on a previously planned trip. I kid, we both agreed it’d be great to see them but he had plans he couldn’t change on the same weekend so that left me with them. And I was fine with that, they’re great fun. But I realized that I’m not only a less than social creature, I’m not a great hostess.
I have this personal definition or image of a good host: you always have fresh linens on the bed, you have all kinds of goodies in the fridge, cook every meal and clear up afterwards letting your guests be entertained at their leisure. Kind of like the best dinner party slash sleepover ever, right?
But realistically, how on earth does a single person DO all that?
I definitely presided over the cooking/kitchen, there were certainly clean linens for the air mattress, fresh towels in a newly cleaned bathroom and I set it up for them but they helped me with the dishes, used their own towels, and fought with me over every bill.
2 to 1, I was bound to lose some of those fights. And let’s be honest, I’m not really comfortable with the predominantly Asian contact sport known as Give-Me-The-Bill-Or-I’ll-Throw-An-Elbow on a number of levels.
Looking at it from the other side, my cousins, for example, have hosted me (I’m nearly the youngest in that grouping) and they paid for everything, took care of everything, and chased me away from the dishes in the long ago past. That’s where I imprinted the idea of good hosting. Then again, when I’ve stayed with friends, I’ve done their dishes (and their roommates’), cleared up any messes, and chipped in for meals and household supplies that I used.
So is this a generational thing? Or am I taking advantage of free labor?
If you’re not in the mood for something super savory, or don’t have time to cook up a full meal, I’ve put together a quick and easy recipe that only takes about twenty minutes from concept to sitting down at the table. No photos this time because the pasta never makes it to the table in time for a photo shoot!
Pick your pasta: I love mezze penne and I love al dente: 7-9 minutes. 1/2 c sweet peas: 3 minutes or less in the microwave. I use frozen peas with pearl onions. The steam in a bag type is a total cheat, but they still taste quite good. 1/2 tomato, diced 2 handfuls of finely shredded cheese per bowl. Olive oil
After cooking the pasta, toss with some olive oil, the peas, and half the tomatoes. While the pasta’s still hot, start adding the shredded cheese so that it gets webby, but add with a light hand. I’m normally the kind to pile on cheese like there’s no tomorrow but this dish is best with just enough cheese to bind the pasta lightly. Top with the remaining diced tomatoes and serve.
I’m pretty sure this pasta would be great with asparagus as well, but I almost always have peas on hand and asparagus has been selling for $3/lb these days.
Next time, I’ll finely dice mozzarella with fresh basil to top the pasta as a caprese salad garnish.
Con was pretty fab and so were the geek-celeb sightings. The regular celeb sightings weren’t nearly so interesting; I didn’t even recognize Michael Cera, Brandon Routh or the other Scott Pilgrim stars. That might be more of a commentary on my social awareness than anything to do with them, though. 😉
One of my favorite things about Con is the opportunity to see and support some of my favorite artists and performers like Felicia Day and The Guild. If you’ve never seen The Guild before, you really ought to. Even PiC who is by no means geeky (yeah, how did that happen?) enjoys watching the web series Felicia Day created and wrote. I love the series because it’s so delightfully geeky, the characters are hilariously flawed and frankly, Felicia Day is just adorable.
You should definitely watch the music videos they’ve created in addition to the episodes.
Katamari Accounting: I think it’s time to roll as many accounts into one as possible.
1. The Retirement Funds are now spawning a 4th account due to the rollover I initiated a couple days ago. Let’s make that one Roth and one “massive” IRA.
2. The e-fund is spread across CDs, and savings accounts in two different banks. I’d like to have two big honkin’ CDs: One is already a $15K 5-year term CD, the other might well encompass the rest of the cash as well as the soon-to-mature Prosperish Loan.
3. Pin Money, Moving and School just can’t make up their minds what they really want to be so they should just become Parental Medical Funds.
Financial Planning: Once I reorganize my finances, I need to help a friend structure some investments from an inheritance. We’re talking multiples of what I have personally, but not so much more I couldn’t create a cohesive plan.
Progress: It’s been a niggling thing in the back of my head that I haven’t been paying my fair share OR saving. This month’s increase, even after I paid a great deal of credit card bills off, is both surprising and puzzling. I’ve now redirected a small chunk of the direct deposit, previously all toward the expense account, to actual savings starting this month. Which brings me to ….
Urges and Splurges: In the spirit of absolute honesty, seeing my number go up when I don’t have a specific account that looks like it’s going begging makes me want want want. But ……..
Spending: As usual, binging and purging. By which I mean, I don’t get nice new clothes, underthings, hair ties, new phone, new anything that’s not strictly necessary so that I can spend several thousand dollars on my parents. They have both woefully neglected their dental care and I had no idea how bad it was until recently. I knew my dad needed dentures soon but just found out that many of his teeth are bad and so are Mom’s. I estimate that the costs will start around $10,000 for basic care.
Freelancing: If I want any extras in my life, I’m gonna have to work for it! Time to go hunting for more work.
Reality Check: Beyond that, in less than five years, I’m sure that Mom will need more assistance than Dad can provide. Heck, in two years, she could require a full scale assisted living situation and I don’t have anything near enough saved for that. Looking above, a whole $107K looks like a really tidy start until you realize that I may soon have to spend $60K/year on assisted living for my parent(s). Then I’m nowhere near ready for the future.
