Normally the boys take turns on the perch. It's not a big perch and let's face it, Eddie is a big cat. This week, though, they've been curled up in various poses up there. So I took pictures all week long and that's what you'll see in the slide show on the left.
Here's a rare video of Wally sleeping while Eddie grooms.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Spending intentionally
A friend who is a personal trainer and a hero of mine has a fitness blog and her tag line is Eat Intentionally. I love that notion and think the intentional part can be applied across most areas of my life. Like our budget.
With that in mind, Kent decided to ditch cable TV. I am not a TV watcher in the least, and Kent hardly watches anymore either. When he does watch, he’s more likely to get movies from Blockbuster to take on his business trips. Well it turns out that to have just internet costs more than to have the exact same internet plus basic cable. I’m sure ComCast has metrics that show people who sign up for basic cable can be persuaded to upgrade. But I don’t think we will, and we’re saving a bit over $50 a month now.
Along the same lines, I read this article about brand disloyalty on Casual Kitchen. I giggled at his account of how he was blindly loyal to Tide. I did the same thing regarding certain brands for years but now that money is tight, I find I have very little brand loyalty. I’ll try the generic brand for pretty much anything, and if I like the quality, I’ll stick with it. For example, I tried the generic brand of regular oatmeal and it was disgusting, the texture was all wrong. So I’ll buy Quaker unless I find another brand to try. On the other hand, I love the store brand of organic diced tomatoes and won’t spend more on a brand name now.
We’re zeroing in on our final budget and will kick the whole thing off on Monday, June 1. I found some interesting statistics regarding percentages for various categories and as I suspected, our housing costs are higher than recommended since we spend almost 50% of our income on housing costs (the national average in 2007 was 34%). On the plus side, we spend very little on transportation—about 3%.
The whole point of doing all of this is to both prepare for our future and also to make sure when our money leaves our pockets, its bringing us exactly what we want.
With that in mind, Kent decided to ditch cable TV. I am not a TV watcher in the least, and Kent hardly watches anymore either. When he does watch, he’s more likely to get movies from Blockbuster to take on his business trips. Well it turns out that to have just internet costs more than to have the exact same internet plus basic cable. I’m sure ComCast has metrics that show people who sign up for basic cable can be persuaded to upgrade. But I don’t think we will, and we’re saving a bit over $50 a month now.
Along the same lines, I read this article about brand disloyalty on Casual Kitchen. I giggled at his account of how he was blindly loyal to Tide. I did the same thing regarding certain brands for years but now that money is tight, I find I have very little brand loyalty. I’ll try the generic brand for pretty much anything, and if I like the quality, I’ll stick with it. For example, I tried the generic brand of regular oatmeal and it was disgusting, the texture was all wrong. So I’ll buy Quaker unless I find another brand to try. On the other hand, I love the store brand of organic diced tomatoes and won’t spend more on a brand name now.
We’re zeroing in on our final budget and will kick the whole thing off on Monday, June 1. I found some interesting statistics regarding percentages for various categories and as I suspected, our housing costs are higher than recommended since we spend almost 50% of our income on housing costs (the national average in 2007 was 34%). On the plus side, we spend very little on transportation—about 3%.
The whole point of doing all of this is to both prepare for our future and also to make sure when our money leaves our pockets, its bringing us exactly what we want.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Happy birthday, Kent!
Yes, today is Kent's birthday. I love this picture of him because you can really get a sense of his playfulness. He's decked out for a day at the lake and I'm very glad he takes his skin protection seriously. He doesn't tan at all, he only burns so in addition to the clothes he's wearing here, he also slathers on 50 SPF sunblock.
And in the interest of fairness, here's a picture that shows how nicely he cleans up. This was at his brother's wedding a year ago April. RAWR I married a good looking man.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
New running shoes
I've read a few articles lately that discuss how modern shoes tend to do our feet, knees and legs no favors because we end up with very weak foot muscles. This makes sense to me because when Kent and I spent a week on Little Gasparilla Island off the west coast of Florida a few years ago, I took very long bare-foot walks along the shore and had the sorest muscles in my toes! I didn't even know I had muscles like that there.
Yoga—and to a lesser extent Pilates—has strengthened my feet a lot. In yoga, you really use your toes, arch muscles and the entire foot in the various poses, while in Pilates, you are constantly pointing your toes. So my feet are much stronger. But my running shoes don’t let me use my feet when I run, and I feel very disconnected from the pavement.
My dear friend, Laura Haney, runs barefoot for just this reason (see also here). She’s struggled with knee issues a lot and the bare-foot running has ended all that. Well I am a bit vain about my feet and don’t want huge ol' calluses plus to be honest with you, I would never ever ever run barefoot in Boston. You just never know what you’ll step on! So this week I got a pair of Nike Free 5.0.
They are very different shoes, I’ve run in them once so far and so far I really like them. It will take some getting used to, feeling the pavement this way and really using my feet when I run. But I think it’s good for my feet, my knees and my entire body.
Yoga—and to a lesser extent Pilates—has strengthened my feet a lot. In yoga, you really use your toes, arch muscles and the entire foot in the various poses, while in Pilates, you are constantly pointing your toes. So my feet are much stronger. But my running shoes don’t let me use my feet when I run, and I feel very disconnected from the pavement.
My dear friend, Laura Haney, runs barefoot for just this reason (see also here). She’s struggled with knee issues a lot and the bare-foot running has ended all that. Well I am a bit vain about my feet and don’t want huge ol' calluses plus to be honest with you, I would never ever ever run barefoot in Boston. You just never know what you’ll step on! So this week I got a pair of Nike Free 5.0.
They are very different shoes, I’ve run in them once so far and so far I really like them. It will take some getting used to, feeling the pavement this way and really using my feet when I run. But I think it’s good for my feet, my knees and my entire body.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Score!
And the budget stuff continues on with some successes.
We finally got our own store loyalty card for Stop & Shop—I got tired of hoping to get the card discount but not knowing if the cashier would do it or not. So we got our own card probably two months ago. This week I looked at the bottom of my receipt, and to my shock we’d already saved over $50 just by shopping wisely and using that card.
Yesterday I saved even more with it. You accrue points every time you buy stuff there, and those points (which expire in 30 days) reduce the price of gas per gallon. If you have 100 points, you pay 10 cents less per gallon, and so on. I (finally) needed to put gas in the car—first time since Thanksgiving, can you believe it?—so I used my card. You already get a discount for using the card, usually about five cents. I had enough points that instead of paying $2.18/gallon, I paid $1.93/gallon. How cool is that?
But the real score came at Target. Try as I have (and I have tried, believe me), Kent is not interested in giving up soda. He has at least switched from the pricier cans to the 2-liter bottles but he still drinks a fair amount of it. So when I find a good deal on diet Coke products, I stock up. Target had 2-liter Coke products on sale 5/$5.55 which is a good price. But wait, it gets even better. Caffeine-free diet Coke was on sale at our Target for $1/2-liter bottle. So I got five bottles which are sitting in the smelly (and cool) closet just waiting for their turn in the fridge.
We finally got our own store loyalty card for Stop & Shop—I got tired of hoping to get the card discount but not knowing if the cashier would do it or not. So we got our own card probably two months ago. This week I looked at the bottom of my receipt, and to my shock we’d already saved over $50 just by shopping wisely and using that card.
Yesterday I saved even more with it. You accrue points every time you buy stuff there, and those points (which expire in 30 days) reduce the price of gas per gallon. If you have 100 points, you pay 10 cents less per gallon, and so on. I (finally) needed to put gas in the car—first time since Thanksgiving, can you believe it?—so I used my card. You already get a discount for using the card, usually about five cents. I had enough points that instead of paying $2.18/gallon, I paid $1.93/gallon. How cool is that?
But the real score came at Target. Try as I have (and I have tried, believe me), Kent is not interested in giving up soda. He has at least switched from the pricier cans to the 2-liter bottles but he still drinks a fair amount of it. So when I find a good deal on diet Coke products, I stock up. Target had 2-liter Coke products on sale 5/$5.55 which is a good price. But wait, it gets even better. Caffeine-free diet Coke was on sale at our Target for $1/2-liter bottle. So I got five bottles which are sitting in the smelly (and cool) closet just waiting for their turn in the fridge.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Happy birthday, Jen!
It's kind of weird to realize I've known Jen for almost 10 years. I first met my future daughter-in-law when she and some of Ben's other friends came over to watch movies. Another girl was there also and had the most annoying laugh. I'm so glad Ben didn't end up dating her! I never had a daughter, although I always wanted one. Now I feel like I do have a daughter, and even though I didn't raise her or anything, I don't think I could love her more if I had.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Of budgets, eggs, and general penny pinching
Kent and I have pulled together a spreadsheet we keep on Google Docs. We’ll use this spreadsheet to track our spending, list future purchases so we can save for them, and continue saving for retirement. If you’re interested in budget resources, I bet you can find something that suits you here.
Speaking of eggs, I paid $3.49 for a dozen eggs two weeks ago. I ended up short for a recipe I was making, so I headed out to Whole Foods and paid dearly for not realizing I didn’t have enough. To make things worse, I dropped one egg in the sink. At 29 cents an egg, that hurt. The best price for eggs that I’ve found here in Boston is about $1.99, but that’s on sale and only rarely. Butter is worse, I’m lucky to find it under $3 a pound. I bet you feel better about the cost of your groceries now, huh.
In the general penny-pinching category we have these lovely napkins. We’d already greatly reduced how many paper towels we use—not really out of any great initiative to save the environment, I’m sorry to say, but because we keep the paper towels in the cabinet under the sink. And that cabinet is almost always secured with our Velcro ties to keep them safe from Wally. We use the tea towels Kent’s grandmother made for him (mentioned in this blog entry), and they work really well.
This week I thought hey let’s do the same thing with cloth napkins. So I bought the four new napkins you see in the picture to go with the solid red napkins we already have. I sprang for ones from Crate & Barrel because I think they are really cool-looking and we’ll use them for a long time. The green glasses are our patio drink ware, and they are also from Crate & Barrel.
Speaking of eggs, I paid $3.49 for a dozen eggs two weeks ago. I ended up short for a recipe I was making, so I headed out to Whole Foods and paid dearly for not realizing I didn’t have enough. To make things worse, I dropped one egg in the sink. At 29 cents an egg, that hurt. The best price for eggs that I’ve found here in Boston is about $1.99, but that’s on sale and only rarely. Butter is worse, I’m lucky to find it under $3 a pound. I bet you feel better about the cost of your groceries now, huh.
In the general penny-pinching category we have these lovely napkins. We’d already greatly reduced how many paper towels we use—not really out of any great initiative to save the environment, I’m sorry to say, but because we keep the paper towels in the cabinet under the sink. And that cabinet is almost always secured with our Velcro ties to keep them safe from Wally. We use the tea towels Kent’s grandmother made for him (mentioned in this blog entry), and they work really well. This week I thought hey let’s do the same thing with cloth napkins. So I bought the four new napkins you see in the picture to go with the solid red napkins we already have. I sprang for ones from Crate & Barrel because I think they are really cool-looking and we’ll use them for a long time. The green glasses are our patio drink ware, and they are also from Crate & Barrel.
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