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
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April 24, 2009
Or was that just my family?
I didn’t even score an A- on this CNN money quiz, I pulled down a whoppin’ B+ but I’m not ashamed. They dinged me on diversification, but frankly, it’s because my allocation used to be 90/10 and the stock market changed it to 75/25 just for me.
I was just working out, with pen and paper, how to reallocate but instead decided to dump a whole bunch of money into the stock side of my retirement funds. That’ll make up for the low contributions throughout the year and increase my exposure to stocks. That’s a quick fix and easier than selling off some of my bonds in the Roth IRA and buying stocks with it. Probably. Yes? No? Whatever, I’m taking the path of least resistance for now. Until I start sleeping through the night again, I’m not making life any harder than it needs to be.
As for life insurance? I got sick of dealing with private insurance brokers and enhanced the term life insurance that I get through work after making sure of its portability. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing and will serve as a safety net until I buy private life insurance. (Which I should do while I still have an income!)
April 23, 2009
Nickel’s article, Economy Got You Down? Pig Out! made me laugh out loud. Just this weekend, I was taken to the grocery store for snacks for the week because, “food is the only thing that makes you happy, at work.”
Too right!!
Forget the whole losing-your-job bit, now I have to listen to coworkers scheming to move their cash out of accounts to “prove insolvency” so they can claim their bit from unemployment and food stamps. Yeah. They’re planning to really make the most of this situation by defrauding the system to the highest extent. Money, and keeping food on the table, is not the least of my worries, but this is just wrong.
Anyway, since there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it whilst they’re plotting, I’m preventing an irrational reaction by feeding my soul. And not incidentally, my mouth š
So if Nickel’s citation is true, “The calmer you feel, the less likely you’ll do something irrational,” bring on the comfort food!
This week’s treats stashed in my “drawer of inappropriate starches” (Topher, Dollhouse):
Trader Joe’s Triple Ginger Cookies
Lemon Zest Luna Bars
Middle Eastern flatbread, and tzatziki (which is actually quite good in a breakfast burrito!)
Honey whole wheat pretzel sticks
Hmm…I’m lacking salty stuff. I’ve finally developed a taste for salt and vinegar chips which I used to hate! FB keeps talking about golden Oreos on Twitter, though, and that’s tilting the imbalance further in the direction of sweets.
I’ve also soothed my agitated soul by watching Psych and Burn Notice during my off hours. Friends with a ready supply of DVDs and comic books are great, I never watch TV in my normal life so this is like a free, at-home hiatus.
Of course, then I get to figure out how to repay friend for the loan and support. ’tis a cycle!
What nice things are you doing for yourselves these days?
April 22, 2009
These are the best CD rates Citibank’s offering right now:
What’s even sadder is that the 2.25% APY is still marginally better than my regular savings accounts which hover just around 1.5%. Yay. P’raps it’ll be worth my while to lock up about 10K in the one year CD. It’s certainly not worth my time to hunt around for slightly better rates if I don’t want to open up yet more bank accounts. (I don’t.)
April 14, 2009
My obsessiveness with the bag has subsided (though not my love for it!)
This post is to satisfy FB‘s curiosity about the contents of my bag. I didn’t think you’d be interested, so I actually emptied it all out before taking pictures the first time around. š
My basic work pack includes a planner – yes, I’m still operating on a paper and pen basis there, a little notebook for my scribblings, a pencil case-like make-up bag from elf.com that holds a pocket mirror, lip balm and other little essentials, my wallet, the cell phone charger, tissues in the side pocket, and lotion with SPF in the other side pocket.
Much as I love technology, there’s something therapeutic about literally scribbling notes and financial calculations in a little notebook at the end of a long day in front of the computer.
Outside the bag are these little pouches, perfect for holding my Bluetooth in one, and candy in the other.
My phone and keys reside in the front side pouch which I think you’ve already seen.
Curiosity satisfied? š
Back to regularly scheduled programming soon ….
April 12, 2009
Status: Food coma
Having nothing better to do on a lazy Sunday, I trotted ’round to the local Fresh and Easy in pursuit of a 77 cent/lb ham. The only available specimen was a hefty ten pounder, which I hoisted into my cart, and added a jug of apple juice and honey for good measure. The latter two items were for my honey-apple glaze, the idea for which I must thank the iPhone + Google.
For the record, I’ve never ever cooked a ham before. Fair warning.
The already-cooked ham was dutifully wrapped in foil, and placed in a roasting pan which, miracle of miracles, only took me ten minutes to find.
[Might I point out that this is 90% of the reason I don’t cook? It’s simply not my kitchen, and for all that I’m heartily grateful that my dad cooks 99% of the time, his idea of housekeeping and organizing is levels away from mine. And I cannot stand to cook in a messy kitchen, so as soon as the ham was wrapped and popped into the oven for the first-stage, 3-hour roast, I commenced 3 hours of dishwashing, kitchen cleaning, drain deodorizing, and grocery shopping. And cleaning out the fridge, packing food into actual containers instead of left willy-nilly on plates. Ugh! Also, matched up tops and bottoms to plastic containers.]
After the third hour, basting of the uncovered ham began, as did vegetable prep. I found this awesome recipe for new potatoes and green beans from A Veggie Venture. I didn’t want two pounds of baby red or white potatoes, so I opted for the (cheaper) loose, bulk Yukon potatoes. Tasted delicious, but I realized the reason you want the babies during the last step of cooking: the cut-up cooked potatoes got a little smashed in transition. But that didn’t affect the taste one iota.
I added rice and scarfed immediately.
Man. I’m a good kid. I made a great dinner and left the kitchen cleaner than when I started. Oh, and did I forget to mention home-made yellow cupcakes?
[No frosting, too sweet for my aging teeth.] I had to substitute olive oil for veggie oil, but that didn’t affect the taste.
Ham, $8
Juice, $2
Honey, $3
Green beans, $1.50
Potatos, $1.50
Cake, $1.50
Cleaning supplies (dish soap, vinegar, baking soda): $7
Total Cost: $24.50
April 10, 2009
It’s heee-rreeeee!!
I’m so glad that I’m one of those people who falls madly in love with things I have or will have.
So this is the baaaaag ….. !!
Side view, with the side pocket for the phone and keys:
A side pocket under the tab:
The innards with a side zip pocket on one side, and two non-zip pockets on the other. I love that the side pocket zipper area is reinforced:
The other side with another side pocket, and a magnetic button:
I had to get a major close up on the side pockets so you could see the quality of the fabric. I don’t know if you can really see it clearly, but these pockets (non-zip) are even doubled up:
I had forgotten about the weight of leather – I think the weight via UPS was listed as three pounds! But it’s not too much, I immediately switched over all my stuff and carried the bag home with all my junk in it. The flat leather straps, versus the rounded straps, make a significant difference. It definitely smells like leather but not overpoweringly so, so I don’t plan to do a smell-rehab like FB has to with her beautiful leather bag.
April 7, 2009
I hope you all understand by now that I’m amused by the strangest things. You do, right? Good. Because a friend brought by a heart-shaped brownie, and my mission was to cut heart-shaped servings by following the existing lines and not “wasting” any brownies cookie-cutter style. Each serving was about this size:
Came from the parent heart like so ….
And I could only cut three out easily. I could have started from the bottom up for the next few servings, but I was done with three. š Incidentally? Super yummy!
