April 26, 2009
The April sky is heavy and gray with rain clouds and the wind is blowing fiercely. Trees are thick and green with spring but the branches thrash wildly in the wind. The wind and the clouds mean rain will come soon. Typical for this time of year. Tornado season has begun.
It’s called the Rite of Spring in Oklahoma City. No, not tornado season! Although I wouldn’t argue with that assessment either. I’m talking about the annual Festival of the Arts! We don’t miss the Arts Fest. It’s my favorite event and a big part of what I love about downtown OKC. Football – Sooners, Cowboys, Bedlam, Red River Shootout – is what excites most people here in the state. Not Joe and me! It’s the Arts Festival we look forward to each year.
It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m writing this from a table on the 2nd floor of the library in Downtown OKC, overlooking Park and Hudson Avenues. I can see the Museum of Art from where I’m sitting. Leadership Square is behind us. Downtown Oklahoma City is a community all its own. Tall grey buildings. Concrete sidewalks. The Conncourse. Denizens scurrying back and forth between buildings and cars. Government buildings, office buildings. Parking garages, parking meters. And each spring the Festival of the Arts brings new life and excitement to it all.
Probably the main draw at the Arts Fest is International Food Row. It’s always the first place we visit, as we did yesterday. 25 or so local restaurants host food booths; each booth partners with an art venue in town. The kids were each allowed to get one “real” food, and one dessert. And there’s so much to choose from! Nathan got a slice of cheese pizza from Sammy’s Pizza & Prairie Dance Theater; Jodie got smoked ribs from Brewer Entertainment & [Artspace] at Untitled; John got a gyro from PaPa’s Greek Foods and Allied Arts Foundation; Joe got a bratwurst from Made 2 Grill & OKC Zoological Park and Botanical Garden; and I got a brisket baked potato from Sweet Corn Express & Oklahoma History Center.
The place is crowded and the lines can be long. Seriously, the 6-day festival boasts 750,000 visitors in all. That’s over 100,000 on any given day, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if there were 500 or more festival-goers in the food court at any given time. But the food is always worth the wait.
The day was warm and muggy, but we hardly noticed it as spring breezes filtered the air. The five of us found a shady patch of soft grass among the trees at the Botanical Gardens to sit and eat. John and Nathan, having already finished their lunches, skimmed back by the food booths in quest for funnel cakes for dessert. I kept seeing other festival-goers nibbling on fruit kabobs. Chunks of pineapple, banana, and strawberry were skewered on a stick and drizzled with chocolate sauce. They looked scrumptious! I mean really, how can you go wrong with FRUIT and CHOCOLATE, two of nature’s most delectable offerings? As soon as I finished my brisket potato I had to have one!
Hmm, ahh, um, actually, it wasn’t as good as it looked. That’s OK; you never know til ya try, right? Joe and Jodie each picked up a Strawberries Newport for their dessert. Flaky pastries are covered with a rich vanilla pudding, then topped with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Yum. No wonder it’s a perennial favorite.
After filling our tummies with that awesome festival food, Joe, the kids, and I walked around to look at the 100 or so art booths. Artisans from around the country proudly displayed their paintings, pottery, sculptures. Artwork of every design and genre could be found. I bought one this year, a print of a painting by Keith Andry from Baton Rouge, LA. I’ve admired his work for many years, but during most of that time I was a single mom living on a solitary income and paying off debts. I couldn’t afford to spend $50 on such a luxury as a painting or sculpture or ceramic work. Thankfully now I’m in a much better place and can appreciate and support the Arts.
Music of all tunes and tempos floated through the air as bands played on the sound stages throughout the park. We strolled around the pond at the Botanical Gardens. Once at the top, Joe and I let the kiddos join other kids in rolling down the hill back toward the pond. Down, down, down they rolled! It always seems to be the kids’ favorite part.
Meanwhile Joe and I lay in the soft, thick grass under the shade of the trees, gazing up at the blue spring sky. It was peaceful. The smells of roast brisket and deep-fried funnel cakes floated through the air. Young children giggled and yelped with playful excitement against the background of music playing on the Water Stage.
Food, art, and music, all under the canopy of springtime in Oklahoma. So much excitement, so much to see and do at the Festival of the Arts!
Friday, February 4, 2011
Our Latest Adventure - Looking for a House
March 26, 2009
Now that our family is expanding, we’re going to need a bigger house! Joe and I are going to be married soon, and all five of us sure can’t live in the house I bought for Nathan and myself in 2002. This house has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a 2-car garage, but the kitchen is small and narrow. It was like a castle after leaving that 750 square foot, 1-bedroom apartment we rented for a year, although our home now is barely 1300 square feet.
Joe and I have been looking at new homes for a few months now already, and we finally found one that could really work for us. We looked at it last Thursday evening, and we love how well the owners have kept it up, inside and out. It’s a 4-bedroom, 3-bath, about 2100 sq ft, built in 1983, on Elk Run. The home appears to be owned by a couple with 3 young kids. They have bunkbeds for the boys in one room, and an adorable baby room for the girl. The 4th bedroom is set up as a weight room.
The interior décor is very updated, very modern. Nice spacious livingroom, and lots of counter space in the kitchen. And, I really like the neighborhood. It’s a lot more settled and homey than some of the newer additions. Asking price is $182,900; of course we’ll have to get my house ready to sell too. According to Zillow.com, my home is worth $137,000 – although I seriously doubt we’ll get that much for it. Whatever we sell it for, I’m hoping to net in the ballpark of $30K from it. And, we’re wanting our payments to be in the range of $1,200 - $1,600/month. We shall see.
Before Christmas we found one on Platt Drive that we absolutely LOVED. Also in an older, more settled neighborhood, it’s 2200 sq ft and was built in 1981. The asking price was just $160,000, which is well within our budget. The couple selling it have lived there for 17 years and have raised 3 children who are now all married. Overall the house seems to have been kept up really well for being nearly 30 years old. The interior décor is lovely. There’s a good sized backyard, a nice pack patio, and a deck off the 2nd floor. We loved it so much that we had already started thinking how to arrange the furniture! But, it was just the first house we’d looked at so we decided not put all our eggs in one basket.
As much as we could have moved right in that very day, we don’t want our kids to have to change schools, and moving into this home would have required Nathan and Jodie to go to a different middle school.
In early February Joe and I walked over to 46th Street to look at a house for sale. At initial inspection the house already had one strike against it: we didn’t care for the small, corner back patio. But we were willing to give it a chance…until we saw the backyard. It sloped steeply downhill, a feature we didn’t like at all. So we struck that one off our list.
A week or so later on a Sunday, Joe, the kids, and I looked at a few houses after I got home from working overtime at the office. Joe met his realtor, a very sweet Vietnamese lady by the name of Mai, when he was looking for a house on his own before he met me. She emails him listings of homes on the market that match our criteria: Yukon schools, 4 bedroom, 3-car garage, 2000 square feet or more. And you know, although our nation is in a housing and mortgage crisis, it is true what they say that Oklahoma has not been hit nearly as hard as the rest of the nation. Yukon, anyway, has LOTS of homes up for sale. I’m surprised just how many meet our criteria; what we want is pretty narrow, especially the location.
So on this particular day, we had a list of 5 or 6 homes that we wanted to look at. One was on Derail Street. Derail Street? Really? A new neighborhood is going up just west of Garth Brooks Blvd. on Hwy. 66, and the streets are named for “railroad” words. One is Derail. Who would want to live on a street named after a potentially deadly disaster? And one is Hobo Street. Isn’t that a little derogatory? Isn’t “hobo” a politically incorrect word for a homeless drifter? Who thinks of these names??
We drove up 36th Street to view a home in the Sunrise Hills addition. It had just gone on the market so I guess the owners weren’t quite ready to show it. It was beige brick on a corner lot, was about all we could tell. We couldn’t go in; all we could do was drive by. But just looking at the exterior, I wasn’t very impressed.
Then we drove south on Mustang Road to 10th Street to look at a few in Drakestone. Neither of the two from our list on Ellsworth had “for sale” signs out; 613 Ellsworth for SURE didn’t look like it was on the market. So Joe, being the bold guy he is, went and knocked on the door to speak with the resident. Turns out, the resident is RENTING the home on a contract that wouldn’t expire until June or July. He was appalled that the owner would have the home on the market when he was on a contract, paying $1600 a month, at that. Same with 617 Ellsworth, only they are renting month-to-month. So that was 2 homes scratched off the list.
We drove around the neighborhood to 5th Street to view another home. It, too, did not have a “for sale” sign out front. So we surmised that the home might be being rented out also.
Then it was north on Mustang and back down 36th Street to Lakeview Estates to a home on 39th Street. This one was another “cookie cutter” house similar to the one we’re in now, only much larger. We liked what we saw on the outside but couldn’t go in. Joe said we’d have to have Mai show us inside this one.
Mai came over last night to look our home over and give us ideas as to how to make it more saleable. We’d sure like to buy the one on Elk Run so naturally we have to get our house ready to sell too. She said our light fixtures were outdated. Huh?! The house is 6 years old, and it’s outdated?! That blew me away. She said anything with gold plating looks “nineties.”
So we will need to put in some new light fixtures. She also said that ceiling fans are a big selling point, and the only one we have is in the livingroom. Joe said it’s no problem to install some of those. She was a little concerned with the paint color in the livingroom (mauve/plum)…and she said to take down all family pictures, because people want to see themselves in the house, not someone else.
Aside from that, she said that mainly we needed to de-clutter. We bought about 20, 18” x 18” x 18" boxes last weekend and I’ve gotten 4 boxes packed so far. She was looking throughout all the rooms in our house, and said a couple times, “You need a bigger house!” to which I responded with, “That’s what you’re here for!”
She asked, “So, do you think you’ll be ready in a couple weeks?” Meaning, to show the house. And my thoughts were, 2 weeks, no friggin’ way. A month MAYBE. We do have jobs. Joe and I both work full time, and it’s not like we have nothing to do but pack and clean.
And we do have a wedding to plan. Mai is estimating a selling price of $115,000. I was hoping for $120,000, but $115K is already at $90/sq ft. That’s about average for the market here in Yukon. So after fees and commission and other costs, at that price we’ll profit about $20,000. Not as much as I was hoping for, but of course, any profit from the sale will go towards the new house. Our worry now is, will we lose the house we want while trying to get ours sold?
Now that our family is expanding, we’re going to need a bigger house! Joe and I are going to be married soon, and all five of us sure can’t live in the house I bought for Nathan and myself in 2002. This house has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a 2-car garage, but the kitchen is small and narrow. It was like a castle after leaving that 750 square foot, 1-bedroom apartment we rented for a year, although our home now is barely 1300 square feet.
Joe and I have been looking at new homes for a few months now already, and we finally found one that could really work for us. We looked at it last Thursday evening, and we love how well the owners have kept it up, inside and out. It’s a 4-bedroom, 3-bath, about 2100 sq ft, built in 1983, on Elk Run. The home appears to be owned by a couple with 3 young kids. They have bunkbeds for the boys in one room, and an adorable baby room for the girl. The 4th bedroom is set up as a weight room.
The interior décor is very updated, very modern. Nice spacious livingroom, and lots of counter space in the kitchen. And, I really like the neighborhood. It’s a lot more settled and homey than some of the newer additions. Asking price is $182,900; of course we’ll have to get my house ready to sell too. According to Zillow.com, my home is worth $137,000 – although I seriously doubt we’ll get that much for it. Whatever we sell it for, I’m hoping to net in the ballpark of $30K from it. And, we’re wanting our payments to be in the range of $1,200 - $1,600/month. We shall see.
Before Christmas we found one on Platt Drive that we absolutely LOVED. Also in an older, more settled neighborhood, it’s 2200 sq ft and was built in 1981. The asking price was just $160,000, which is well within our budget. The couple selling it have lived there for 17 years and have raised 3 children who are now all married. Overall the house seems to have been kept up really well for being nearly 30 years old. The interior décor is lovely. There’s a good sized backyard, a nice pack patio, and a deck off the 2nd floor. We loved it so much that we had already started thinking how to arrange the furniture! But, it was just the first house we’d looked at so we decided not put all our eggs in one basket.
As much as we could have moved right in that very day, we don’t want our kids to have to change schools, and moving into this home would have required Nathan and Jodie to go to a different middle school.
In early February Joe and I walked over to 46th Street to look at a house for sale. At initial inspection the house already had one strike against it: we didn’t care for the small, corner back patio. But we were willing to give it a chance…until we saw the backyard. It sloped steeply downhill, a feature we didn’t like at all. So we struck that one off our list.
A week or so later on a Sunday, Joe, the kids, and I looked at a few houses after I got home from working overtime at the office. Joe met his realtor, a very sweet Vietnamese lady by the name of Mai, when he was looking for a house on his own before he met me. She emails him listings of homes on the market that match our criteria: Yukon schools, 4 bedroom, 3-car garage, 2000 square feet or more. And you know, although our nation is in a housing and mortgage crisis, it is true what they say that Oklahoma has not been hit nearly as hard as the rest of the nation. Yukon, anyway, has LOTS of homes up for sale. I’m surprised just how many meet our criteria; what we want is pretty narrow, especially the location.
So on this particular day, we had a list of 5 or 6 homes that we wanted to look at. One was on Derail Street. Derail Street? Really? A new neighborhood is going up just west of Garth Brooks Blvd. on Hwy. 66, and the streets are named for “railroad” words. One is Derail. Who would want to live on a street named after a potentially deadly disaster? And one is Hobo Street. Isn’t that a little derogatory? Isn’t “hobo” a politically incorrect word for a homeless drifter? Who thinks of these names??
We drove up 36th Street to view a home in the Sunrise Hills addition. It had just gone on the market so I guess the owners weren’t quite ready to show it. It was beige brick on a corner lot, was about all we could tell. We couldn’t go in; all we could do was drive by. But just looking at the exterior, I wasn’t very impressed.
Then we drove south on Mustang Road to 10th Street to look at a few in Drakestone. Neither of the two from our list on Ellsworth had “for sale” signs out; 613 Ellsworth for SURE didn’t look like it was on the market. So Joe, being the bold guy he is, went and knocked on the door to speak with the resident. Turns out, the resident is RENTING the home on a contract that wouldn’t expire until June or July. He was appalled that the owner would have the home on the market when he was on a contract, paying $1600 a month, at that. Same with 617 Ellsworth, only they are renting month-to-month. So that was 2 homes scratched off the list.
We drove around the neighborhood to 5th Street to view another home. It, too, did not have a “for sale” sign out front. So we surmised that the home might be being rented out also.
Then it was north on Mustang and back down 36th Street to Lakeview Estates to a home on 39th Street. This one was another “cookie cutter” house similar to the one we’re in now, only much larger. We liked what we saw on the outside but couldn’t go in. Joe said we’d have to have Mai show us inside this one.
Mai came over last night to look our home over and give us ideas as to how to make it more saleable. We’d sure like to buy the one on Elk Run so naturally we have to get our house ready to sell too. She said our light fixtures were outdated. Huh?! The house is 6 years old, and it’s outdated?! That blew me away. She said anything with gold plating looks “nineties.”
So we will need to put in some new light fixtures. She also said that ceiling fans are a big selling point, and the only one we have is in the livingroom. Joe said it’s no problem to install some of those. She was a little concerned with the paint color in the livingroom (mauve/plum)…and she said to take down all family pictures, because people want to see themselves in the house, not someone else.
Aside from that, she said that mainly we needed to de-clutter. We bought about 20, 18” x 18” x 18" boxes last weekend and I’ve gotten 4 boxes packed so far. She was looking throughout all the rooms in our house, and said a couple times, “You need a bigger house!” to which I responded with, “That’s what you’re here for!”
She asked, “So, do you think you’ll be ready in a couple weeks?” Meaning, to show the house. And my thoughts were, 2 weeks, no friggin’ way. A month MAYBE. We do have jobs. Joe and I both work full time, and it’s not like we have nothing to do but pack and clean.
And we do have a wedding to plan. Mai is estimating a selling price of $115,000. I was hoping for $120,000, but $115K is already at $90/sq ft. That’s about average for the market here in Yukon. So after fees and commission and other costs, at that price we’ll profit about $20,000. Not as much as I was hoping for, but of course, any profit from the sale will go towards the new house. Our worry now is, will we lose the house we want while trying to get ours sold?
Sunday, January 16, 2011
I Want a Life....
March 10, 2009
I want a life…. Where I can enjoy a quiet morning, a soft spring rainfall, a silent snowfall. I want a life….where I’m not chained to a desk or an office. I want a life….where I can take as long as I need to take a walk, ride my bike, or even drop by the cleaners or run other errands here in YUKON and not have to be half a state away from home. I want a life…that isn’t wasted on rush hour traffic.
I want a life…where I can sleep when I want & need to, and not have to depend on caffeine to get me thru the morning or afternoon. I want a life…where I can take time off to travel, hike, or camp. I want a life….where I can spend more time tutoring or teaching Nathan, or doing art-craft projects, or whatever. I want a life….where I can use my creativity more freely.
This has been my 10th busy season as an accountant. I like my job, I like what I do, I just wish I could have more flexibility. This busy season has been especially rough, since Kassie left for another job. She was one of our key year-end people. She’s been here for 4 years and has a wealth of knowledge and experience! The rest of the staff has stayed mega-busy being sure we gleaned all the information we could from her.
Monday, January 19, was the Martin Luther King Holiday, and I was allowed to work from home. It was fantastic to not have to be up at a certain time, waste time on the freeway, be chained to a desk or office, and be able to throw a load of laundry in the wash or fix the kids something quick for lunch – and still get my work done. I only got 3 hours’ worth of work in, but it was all I needed. It was so much more relaxed and convenient and I was certainly no less productive.
I had thought I’d see if I can work from home more often. But after conferring with Human Resources and the President of the company, our Division Director announced that we could no longer work from home. Huh?! Why?! I could be so much more relaxed and therefore so much more productive, not having to rush around every morning trying to beat the clock. Heck, by the time I get to work at 8:30 I’m ready for a break.
An ice storm blew in the last week January – a massive storm unusual for Oklahoma. Monday we were sent home from the office at 2:00. Well, that’s the time I usually start getting drowsy, so I looked forward to getting home and taking a nap. It took me 20 minutes to get the car warmed up and scrape the ice off. I hadn’t realized how bad the ice was already. Driving was slow; I took Reno rather than I-40 for added caution. I got to the Middle School a little after 3:00, and met Nathan on his way to walk to Granny’s. I flagged him over and he jumped in the car. At home I made us bowls of hot, buttery, brown-sugary oatmeal. Yum, yum.
The office was closed again Tuesday as were the schools. I finally had time to work on year-end financials for the Homeowners’ Association. I worked on it starting about 1:00 for 5 hours – I was so absorbed that Nathan had to ask me “when’s dinner” at 6:30 – and finally got all the income and expenses balanced and reconciled and in a readable format.
It was GREAT to be able to work at my own pace, when I can be most productive – like on the MLK Holiday. So I’m getting tastes, here and there, of what it is like to work at home on my own schedule. It is NICE. Plus it felt good to have some time off, without the guilt. I hardly yawned all afternoon – normally I yawn constantly. I get so tired of yawning all the time; wouldn’t it be simpler if I could just get enough sleep in the first place?
Wednesday, surprisingly, the schools and state agencies were closed again. By then I was getting cabin fever, so I ventured out around town, doing a few errands, picking up a few groceries. The streets weren’t bad at all; the main roads had been cleared out. Joe came over, we had spaghetti for dinner, we watched The Great Gatsby on DVD (which I STILL don’t understand much more than I ever did), and called it a night.
It was wonderful to finally get enough sleep. I wonder how much more I could accomplish, if I could sleep or nap when I NEEDED to.
February is always our knock-down drag-out month, and I would get so sick with stress that I hardly knew what day it was sometimes. And this busy season was compounded by having one less person. Besides that, I’ve taken on many of Kassie’s job responsibilities, and doing so at a critical time. It’s wearing me out, but it won’t be for much longer.
For most of the month, I did little else than audit work. That is, preparing schedules and analyses for our independent CPA auditors. I had to come in 7 hours the first weekend just to get the normal month-end work done. And it was 5 hours at the office each of the other three weekends to work on our annual reports and filings.
It’s funny – when I tell people (especially my family) that this is “our busy season,” they respond with something like, “Oh yeah, tax season.” I don’t do taxes! I haven’t done taxes in 8 years! I don’t think they know what I do. I’m a statutory accountant, I do insurance accounting, and our big annual deadline is March 1.
And March 1 did finally come around. The worst of the deadlines were finally over; we finished the annual state filings and reports about noon the day they were due. By then my brain was little more than mush. It’s amazing I’ve made through this whole stressful season, without getting sick or having to take some time off. Often I would get ill in my stomach from all the nerves, like I was going to throw up. One pressure-filled weekend I thought I was going to have a stroke or something from the stress.
The Dow dropped below 7000 yesterday, and is 6822 right now. It’s down to 1996 levels. It’s unbelievable; I really didn’t think it would get below 8000.
Finally, it’s mid-March, I’m feeling much more relaxed. Most of the pressure is off now. Still a little, but nothing like it was.
I want a life…. Where I can enjoy a quiet morning, a soft spring rainfall, a silent snowfall. I want a life….where I’m not chained to a desk or an office. I want a life….where I can take as long as I need to take a walk, ride my bike, or even drop by the cleaners or run other errands here in YUKON and not have to be half a state away from home. I want a life…that isn’t wasted on rush hour traffic.
I want a life…where I can sleep when I want & need to, and not have to depend on caffeine to get me thru the morning or afternoon. I want a life…where I can take time off to travel, hike, or camp. I want a life….where I can spend more time tutoring or teaching Nathan, or doing art-craft projects, or whatever. I want a life….where I can use my creativity more freely.
This has been my 10th busy season as an accountant. I like my job, I like what I do, I just wish I could have more flexibility. This busy season has been especially rough, since Kassie left for another job. She was one of our key year-end people. She’s been here for 4 years and has a wealth of knowledge and experience! The rest of the staff has stayed mega-busy being sure we gleaned all the information we could from her.
Monday, January 19, was the Martin Luther King Holiday, and I was allowed to work from home. It was fantastic to not have to be up at a certain time, waste time on the freeway, be chained to a desk or office, and be able to throw a load of laundry in the wash or fix the kids something quick for lunch – and still get my work done. I only got 3 hours’ worth of work in, but it was all I needed. It was so much more relaxed and convenient and I was certainly no less productive.
I had thought I’d see if I can work from home more often. But after conferring with Human Resources and the President of the company, our Division Director announced that we could no longer work from home. Huh?! Why?! I could be so much more relaxed and therefore so much more productive, not having to rush around every morning trying to beat the clock. Heck, by the time I get to work at 8:30 I’m ready for a break.
An ice storm blew in the last week January – a massive storm unusual for Oklahoma. Monday we were sent home from the office at 2:00. Well, that’s the time I usually start getting drowsy, so I looked forward to getting home and taking a nap. It took me 20 minutes to get the car warmed up and scrape the ice off. I hadn’t realized how bad the ice was already. Driving was slow; I took Reno rather than I-40 for added caution. I got to the Middle School a little after 3:00, and met Nathan on his way to walk to Granny’s. I flagged him over and he jumped in the car. At home I made us bowls of hot, buttery, brown-sugary oatmeal. Yum, yum.
The office was closed again Tuesday as were the schools. I finally had time to work on year-end financials for the Homeowners’ Association. I worked on it starting about 1:00 for 5 hours – I was so absorbed that Nathan had to ask me “when’s dinner” at 6:30 – and finally got all the income and expenses balanced and reconciled and in a readable format.
It was GREAT to be able to work at my own pace, when I can be most productive – like on the MLK Holiday. So I’m getting tastes, here and there, of what it is like to work at home on my own schedule. It is NICE. Plus it felt good to have some time off, without the guilt. I hardly yawned all afternoon – normally I yawn constantly. I get so tired of yawning all the time; wouldn’t it be simpler if I could just get enough sleep in the first place?
Wednesday, surprisingly, the schools and state agencies were closed again. By then I was getting cabin fever, so I ventured out around town, doing a few errands, picking up a few groceries. The streets weren’t bad at all; the main roads had been cleared out. Joe came over, we had spaghetti for dinner, we watched The Great Gatsby on DVD (which I STILL don’t understand much more than I ever did), and called it a night.
It was wonderful to finally get enough sleep. I wonder how much more I could accomplish, if I could sleep or nap when I NEEDED to.
February is always our knock-down drag-out month, and I would get so sick with stress that I hardly knew what day it was sometimes. And this busy season was compounded by having one less person. Besides that, I’ve taken on many of Kassie’s job responsibilities, and doing so at a critical time. It’s wearing me out, but it won’t be for much longer.
For most of the month, I did little else than audit work. That is, preparing schedules and analyses for our independent CPA auditors. I had to come in 7 hours the first weekend just to get the normal month-end work done. And it was 5 hours at the office each of the other three weekends to work on our annual reports and filings.
It’s funny – when I tell people (especially my family) that this is “our busy season,” they respond with something like, “Oh yeah, tax season.” I don’t do taxes! I haven’t done taxes in 8 years! I don’t think they know what I do. I’m a statutory accountant, I do insurance accounting, and our big annual deadline is March 1.
And March 1 did finally come around. The worst of the deadlines were finally over; we finished the annual state filings and reports about noon the day they were due. By then my brain was little more than mush. It’s amazing I’ve made through this whole stressful season, without getting sick or having to take some time off. Often I would get ill in my stomach from all the nerves, like I was going to throw up. One pressure-filled weekend I thought I was going to have a stroke or something from the stress.
The Dow dropped below 7000 yesterday, and is 6822 right now. It’s down to 1996 levels. It’s unbelievable; I really didn’t think it would get below 8000.
Finally, it’s mid-March, I’m feeling much more relaxed. Most of the pressure is off now. Still a little, but nothing like it was.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Questions for Michelle
January 22, 2009
Joe says I’m beautiful. But I’ve never thought of myself as pretty. A girl who is not, in the traditional sense, pretty, has to work eight times harder to have value in this society. I have spent my life in the fact that girls who are “pretty” by society’s standards, get more privileges, and to get those privileges, all they have to do is just --be pretty. A girl who isn’t pretty by society’s standards doesn’t get noticed, no matter how smart or talented she is.
What brought this all to mind is, the Inauguration. Yesterday was a historic day in our nation; we inaugurated our 44th president, and the first black president, Barack Obama. The only thing the news and blogs mention about the First Lady, Michelle Obama, is what she’s wearing. What designer. What color. What style. That is what gets a woman noticed. That is what gives a woman value in our society, what she wears.
No mention is made at all about what kind of person she is, how smart or talented she is, or what she can actually CONTRIBUTE to our nation. There is talk about her being the next Jackie O. I don’t doubt Michelle Obama is an intelligent, educated lady. I also don’t doubt that she’ll have her own agendas and programs to better our country. But you know what? She probably wouldn’t have the visibility to accomplish what she is capable of, without her husband being president. Women are still identifying themselves in terms of men.
What did Women’s Lib do for us? Women burned their bras and their steno pads. And yet, here in the 21st century, more women are in clerical, administrative assistant jobs than are in “professional” jobs. In the sixties we denounced our femininity, yet here and now, many women dress to draw attention to their bodies. Not saying that anything is wrong with that – If you got it, flaunt it! But not all of us “got it.”
Here are some questions for Michelle (I don’t care what she’s wearing):
*Why did you choose Harvard Law and why is your chosen profession important to you?
*What causes are important to you and how would you make the world a better place?
*What advice would you give to mothers of young children, or to the young women of today?
*What sort of role model do you wish to portray to the young women of today?
*What kind of wife are you? What do you believe a wife’s role is? How would you encourage women to be better wives?
*What were your parents like? What was your upbringing like? What values did you learn from her parents?
*What are your views on the world your daughters are growing up in?
*In your opinion, what values are important to be a “young lady” in today’s society?
*What involvements or interests do you have in the arts? (music, theatre, museums, art, etc)
*Do your daughters have chores? Are they expected to make their beds, do dishes, take out the trash, vaccuum the livingroom floor? Are they learning to cook, iron, do laundry, keep and decorate a home, handle money wisely, shop for groceries, plan meals?
Answers to these questions would tell volumes more about what the First Lady can offer our country, than how she chooses her wardrobe.
Joe says I’m beautiful. But I’ve never thought of myself as pretty. A girl who is not, in the traditional sense, pretty, has to work eight times harder to have value in this society. I have spent my life in the fact that girls who are “pretty” by society’s standards, get more privileges, and to get those privileges, all they have to do is just --be pretty. A girl who isn’t pretty by society’s standards doesn’t get noticed, no matter how smart or talented she is.
What brought this all to mind is, the Inauguration. Yesterday was a historic day in our nation; we inaugurated our 44th president, and the first black president, Barack Obama. The only thing the news and blogs mention about the First Lady, Michelle Obama, is what she’s wearing. What designer. What color. What style. That is what gets a woman noticed. That is what gives a woman value in our society, what she wears.
No mention is made at all about what kind of person she is, how smart or talented she is, or what she can actually CONTRIBUTE to our nation. There is talk about her being the next Jackie O. I don’t doubt Michelle Obama is an intelligent, educated lady. I also don’t doubt that she’ll have her own agendas and programs to better our country. But you know what? She probably wouldn’t have the visibility to accomplish what she is capable of, without her husband being president. Women are still identifying themselves in terms of men.
What did Women’s Lib do for us? Women burned their bras and their steno pads. And yet, here in the 21st century, more women are in clerical, administrative assistant jobs than are in “professional” jobs. In the sixties we denounced our femininity, yet here and now, many women dress to draw attention to their bodies. Not saying that anything is wrong with that – If you got it, flaunt it! But not all of us “got it.”
Here are some questions for Michelle (I don’t care what she’s wearing):
*Why did you choose Harvard Law and why is your chosen profession important to you?
*What causes are important to you and how would you make the world a better place?
*What advice would you give to mothers of young children, or to the young women of today?
*What sort of role model do you wish to portray to the young women of today?
*What kind of wife are you? What do you believe a wife’s role is? How would you encourage women to be better wives?
*What were your parents like? What was your upbringing like? What values did you learn from her parents?
*What are your views on the world your daughters are growing up in?
*In your opinion, what values are important to be a “young lady” in today’s society?
*What involvements or interests do you have in the arts? (music, theatre, museums, art, etc)
*Do your daughters have chores? Are they expected to make their beds, do dishes, take out the trash, vaccuum the livingroom floor? Are they learning to cook, iron, do laundry, keep and decorate a home, handle money wisely, shop for groceries, plan meals?
Answers to these questions would tell volumes more about what the First Lady can offer our country, than how she chooses her wardrobe.
Steinbeck's Greatest Work
January 8, 2009
As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been reading The Grapes of Wrath. Reading what is probably John Steinbeck’s greatest work, has become a true-to-life example of “unschooling” for both Joe and myself. The story has presented itself as a study primarily on the Dust Bowl years of the Midwest during the Great Depression. Oklahoma was a big part of that, and Joe suggested that his Uncle Forrest (who was born in 1929) might have some stories to tell, whether memories of his own or stories handed down from his parents.
The story has really made me thankful for everything I have. Drought hit the Midwest in the 1930s so the farmers couldn’t grow crops. With nothing to sell they had no money to pay their mortgages, so the banks drove them off their land. They had nothing – no home, little food, and even less dignity.
Rumor was all over that plenty of work was to be found in the orchards and farms of California, so thousands of “Okies” packed up what little they had and headed west. They lived in poorly-maintained migrant camps, found that work was scarce and wages were low, and to add insult to injury the Californians spurned them as being dirty, stupid Okies. People died of starvation and disease. It’s a sad, sad, story, one that happened to thousands of people during the Dust Bowl years.
The Grapes of Wrath is a study of the old Route 66 and the cities it winds through from Oklahoma to California. It’s a study in the geography of the heart of America. It’s a study of life during the Depression. It’s a study of migrant workers in the San Joaquin Valley in California. Joe and I have even studied up on John Steinbeck himself. He was a newspaper reporter who wrote this book based on the many stories being done about the migrants in the 1930s.
The “Okies” as described in the book make me think of the “Mexicans” of today. As a culture we call all illegal Hispanic immigrants “Mexicans” whether or not they are actually from Mexico. We resent their presence in our land. We despise their bringing their ways of life into our country. We hate that they are taking over our schools, our stores, our communities. We hate that they speak their own language instead of learning ours. We label them lazy and dishonest. And maybe most of all, we don’t want them mixing socially among our people.
Some of those stereotypes may be true, for some of the immigrants. For others, maybe not so much.
But it’s easy to see how the Californians must have thought of the migrant workers of the 1930s. The migrants were collectively labeled “Okies” even though over half weren’t even from Oklahoma. And to be called an Okie was not a good thing. It was like being called a n----r or a
f----t today. The Californians despised the Okies and wanted them out of their land. The Okies were just doing the best they could, trying to survive the only way they knew how.
As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been reading The Grapes of Wrath. Reading what is probably John Steinbeck’s greatest work, has become a true-to-life example of “unschooling” for both Joe and myself. The story has presented itself as a study primarily on the Dust Bowl years of the Midwest during the Great Depression. Oklahoma was a big part of that, and Joe suggested that his Uncle Forrest (who was born in 1929) might have some stories to tell, whether memories of his own or stories handed down from his parents.
The story has really made me thankful for everything I have. Drought hit the Midwest in the 1930s so the farmers couldn’t grow crops. With nothing to sell they had no money to pay their mortgages, so the banks drove them off their land. They had nothing – no home, little food, and even less dignity.
Rumor was all over that plenty of work was to be found in the orchards and farms of California, so thousands of “Okies” packed up what little they had and headed west. They lived in poorly-maintained migrant camps, found that work was scarce and wages were low, and to add insult to injury the Californians spurned them as being dirty, stupid Okies. People died of starvation and disease. It’s a sad, sad, story, one that happened to thousands of people during the Dust Bowl years.
The Grapes of Wrath is a study of the old Route 66 and the cities it winds through from Oklahoma to California. It’s a study in the geography of the heart of America. It’s a study of life during the Depression. It’s a study of migrant workers in the San Joaquin Valley in California. Joe and I have even studied up on John Steinbeck himself. He was a newspaper reporter who wrote this book based on the many stories being done about the migrants in the 1930s.
The “Okies” as described in the book make me think of the “Mexicans” of today. As a culture we call all illegal Hispanic immigrants “Mexicans” whether or not they are actually from Mexico. We resent their presence in our land. We despise their bringing their ways of life into our country. We hate that they are taking over our schools, our stores, our communities. We hate that they speak their own language instead of learning ours. We label them lazy and dishonest. And maybe most of all, we don’t want them mixing socially among our people.
Some of those stereotypes may be true, for some of the immigrants. For others, maybe not so much.
But it’s easy to see how the Californians must have thought of the migrant workers of the 1930s. The migrants were collectively labeled “Okies” even though over half weren’t even from Oklahoma. And to be called an Okie was not a good thing. It was like being called a n----r or a
f----t today. The Californians despised the Okies and wanted them out of their land. The Okies were just doing the best they could, trying to survive the only way they knew how.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
A New Year Begins
January 5, 2009
2009 has gotten off to a flying start! Describing everything that has happened in the past few days would take hours. Maybe I should start with the things presently on my mind. I have only 2 chapters left in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. It’s such a richly-written book. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it; it’s very descriptive. Of course, I’ve seen the movie so I already know what happens. But reading it is so much richer than just seeing the Hollywood version.
I’ve become fascinated with that whole time frame – the 1920s & 1930s, The Roaring Twenties, the Crash of 1929, the Great Depression. If I could go back in time, that’s where I’d go. I’m fascinated with “the way things used to be.” So I guess my latest diversion is no surprise: collecting antiques. I have so much fun shopping at thrift stores; I never know what I'll find. It’s like a treasure hunt. I always find interesting knicknacks and gadgets. Sometimes I find name-brand china and I’ll look up the stamp on the bottom of the dish, on the internet. Sometimes a piece is worth something. Not hundreds of dollars, but if I buy a cup & saucer for $2.50 and I find it priced for $30 on an antiques website, well, that’s something. That’s a 1200% profit.
Joe’s grandmother has passed down to him many of her knickknacks and collectibles. She collected teacups & saucers, much of it low-key “made in Japan” stuff. But we found a few pieces with the “Haviland” or “Limoges” name. Limoges is a town in France where high-quality porcelain was manufactured in the 1800s and early 1900s. If a piece has the Limoges stamp, most likely it is a piece worth keeping. I should start reading up on antiques and educate myself, and should probably have some of the pieces appraised.
I took Joe to Lin’s Super Buffet at MacArthur and I-40 for a late birthday dinner. He’s a Christmas Eve baby; his birthday is Dec. 24. Going out to eat – or anywhere, for that matter-- on Christmas Eve is just not the most practical plan! So we waited until now. I had wanted to take him to Sushi Neko or Mahogany Steak House or even Yamato Japanese Steak House. But, this new Lin’s Buffet opened up recently and that’s where he wanted to go. Buffet, sushi, & steak -- that’s what he had a hankerin' for, so that’s where we went.
For a birthday dinner, it was just right. Lin's has an outstanding selection, and is one of the better Asian buffets we’ve eaten at. They did have steak, and sushi (which I tried and didn’t care for), octopus, and crawfish. Of course they had chicken and (fake) crab too, along with the usual dishes like Kung Pao Chicken and General Tso’s Chicken and Beef & Broccoli. Their wontons were yummy; the cream cheese inside was sweet and buttery. Their egg drop soup was warm and delicious; I didn’t try the hot & sour or the seafood soups. The dessert bar was luscious and extensive; but I was already full so just had some jello, a couple pieces of cantaloupe, and 2 cream puffs. I never knew cream puffs could be found at an Asian buffet.
And that’s how 2009 has gotten started for us! We have a wedding to plan this upcoming year, and we need to start looking for a bigger house. I think I’ll re-read the “Little House” books too, and see if they strike me differently now as an adult rather than as a schoolgirl.
2009 has gotten off to a flying start! Describing everything that has happened in the past few days would take hours. Maybe I should start with the things presently on my mind. I have only 2 chapters left in The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. It’s such a richly-written book. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it; it’s very descriptive. Of course, I’ve seen the movie so I already know what happens. But reading it is so much richer than just seeing the Hollywood version.
I’ve become fascinated with that whole time frame – the 1920s & 1930s, The Roaring Twenties, the Crash of 1929, the Great Depression. If I could go back in time, that’s where I’d go. I’m fascinated with “the way things used to be.” So I guess my latest diversion is no surprise: collecting antiques. I have so much fun shopping at thrift stores; I never know what I'll find. It’s like a treasure hunt. I always find interesting knicknacks and gadgets. Sometimes I find name-brand china and I’ll look up the stamp on the bottom of the dish, on the internet. Sometimes a piece is worth something. Not hundreds of dollars, but if I buy a cup & saucer for $2.50 and I find it priced for $30 on an antiques website, well, that’s something. That’s a 1200% profit.
Joe’s grandmother has passed down to him many of her knickknacks and collectibles. She collected teacups & saucers, much of it low-key “made in Japan” stuff. But we found a few pieces with the “Haviland” or “Limoges” name. Limoges is a town in France where high-quality porcelain was manufactured in the 1800s and early 1900s. If a piece has the Limoges stamp, most likely it is a piece worth keeping. I should start reading up on antiques and educate myself, and should probably have some of the pieces appraised.
I took Joe to Lin’s Super Buffet at MacArthur and I-40 for a late birthday dinner. He’s a Christmas Eve baby; his birthday is Dec. 24. Going out to eat – or anywhere, for that matter-- on Christmas Eve is just not the most practical plan! So we waited until now. I had wanted to take him to Sushi Neko or Mahogany Steak House or even Yamato Japanese Steak House. But, this new Lin’s Buffet opened up recently and that’s where he wanted to go. Buffet, sushi, & steak -- that’s what he had a hankerin' for, so that’s where we went.
For a birthday dinner, it was just right. Lin's has an outstanding selection, and is one of the better Asian buffets we’ve eaten at. They did have steak, and sushi (which I tried and didn’t care for), octopus, and crawfish. Of course they had chicken and (fake) crab too, along with the usual dishes like Kung Pao Chicken and General Tso’s Chicken and Beef & Broccoli. Their wontons were yummy; the cream cheese inside was sweet and buttery. Their egg drop soup was warm and delicious; I didn’t try the hot & sour or the seafood soups. The dessert bar was luscious and extensive; but I was already full so just had some jello, a couple pieces of cantaloupe, and 2 cream puffs. I never knew cream puffs could be found at an Asian buffet.
And that’s how 2009 has gotten started for us! We have a wedding to plan this upcoming year, and we need to start looking for a bigger house. I think I’ll re-read the “Little House” books too, and see if they strike me differently now as an adult rather than as a schoolgirl.
The Last Day of 2008
December 31, 2008
Today is the last day of this year. And what a full year it’s been. Joe’s plant is closed, so he has been off work since Christmas, although he has to use his vacation days to make up the time. These past 3 days he’s been taking me to lunch. We ate at Bellini’s Monday, La Baguette Tuesday, and Mamasita’s today. Italian, French, Mexican. Over all he spent about $100 just on those lunches, and I told him he didn’t have to take me out again until Valentine’s Day. I’m the one who is all up in arms about spending money eating out. This week was a special occasion though; it’s not very often we get to have lunch together. He said the next time he’d get to take me to lunch would be Good Friday. His plant has the day off; we don’t. Last year on Good Friday we ate at Café Do Brasil.
I like taking Joe to restaurants he’s never been to before. And that pretty much includes the whole northside.
What was this last day of 2008 like? It was cold, in the 40s-50s, not like yesterday, which got up into the high 60s. Sunny. I woke up to the radio before 6:00 this morning, after dreaming I was engaged to Johnny Depp. Why do I keep dreaming that I’m dating these movie stars? One night it was Emile Hirsch; another time it was Robert Downey Jr. I hardly ever dream about Joe. Weird.
I should have gotten up at 6:00 this morning but I so didn’t want to. Joe has been staying with me this week so I would have MUCH rather stayed snuggled up next to him. Of course, I can tomorrow (New Year’s Day), and the rest of the 4-day weekend. I finally got up at 6:40 and made it out of the house about 8:05.
Joe walked me to the car, as he has done each day this week. The workday was uneventful; I have spent most of my time this week on the “financial statement analysis” that our boss wants us to do each month after close. That is, it’s not something he checks on or asks for, but we’re encouraged to do it. And, I wind up being the one to do it, which is fine, because it forces me to look for relationships and patterns in the numbers. Premium this year is almost matching last year’s (last year’s was about 7% below the previous year’s) but receivables have gone up. Not a good sign, but it’s to be expected in today’s economy.
The company’s investment portfolio is doing OK, not outstanding, but we’re holding our own considering the recent crash. Overall, business is still good in spite of the rising unemployment rate, which is 6.7% nationally but just 4.7% statewide. I mention that because we provide workers’ compensation insurance, which is dependent on employers’ payroll. If unemployment is up, payroll is down, and down goes employers’ need for WC insurance.
And that’s all I have to say about today, Wednesday, December 31, 2008!
Today is the last day of this year. And what a full year it’s been. Joe’s plant is closed, so he has been off work since Christmas, although he has to use his vacation days to make up the time. These past 3 days he’s been taking me to lunch. We ate at Bellini’s Monday, La Baguette Tuesday, and Mamasita’s today. Italian, French, Mexican. Over all he spent about $100 just on those lunches, and I told him he didn’t have to take me out again until Valentine’s Day. I’m the one who is all up in arms about spending money eating out. This week was a special occasion though; it’s not very often we get to have lunch together. He said the next time he’d get to take me to lunch would be Good Friday. His plant has the day off; we don’t. Last year on Good Friday we ate at Café Do Brasil.
I like taking Joe to restaurants he’s never been to before. And that pretty much includes the whole northside.
What was this last day of 2008 like? It was cold, in the 40s-50s, not like yesterday, which got up into the high 60s. Sunny. I woke up to the radio before 6:00 this morning, after dreaming I was engaged to Johnny Depp. Why do I keep dreaming that I’m dating these movie stars? One night it was Emile Hirsch; another time it was Robert Downey Jr. I hardly ever dream about Joe. Weird.
I should have gotten up at 6:00 this morning but I so didn’t want to. Joe has been staying with me this week so I would have MUCH rather stayed snuggled up next to him. Of course, I can tomorrow (New Year’s Day), and the rest of the 4-day weekend. I finally got up at 6:40 and made it out of the house about 8:05.
Joe walked me to the car, as he has done each day this week. The workday was uneventful; I have spent most of my time this week on the “financial statement analysis” that our boss wants us to do each month after close. That is, it’s not something he checks on or asks for, but we’re encouraged to do it. And, I wind up being the one to do it, which is fine, because it forces me to look for relationships and patterns in the numbers. Premium this year is almost matching last year’s (last year’s was about 7% below the previous year’s) but receivables have gone up. Not a good sign, but it’s to be expected in today’s economy.
The company’s investment portfolio is doing OK, not outstanding, but we’re holding our own considering the recent crash. Overall, business is still good in spite of the rising unemployment rate, which is 6.7% nationally but just 4.7% statewide. I mention that because we provide workers’ compensation insurance, which is dependent on employers’ payroll. If unemployment is up, payroll is down, and down goes employers’ need for WC insurance.
And that’s all I have to say about today, Wednesday, December 31, 2008!
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