Good Friday

"They sang a new hymn: "Worthy are you to receive the scroll and to break open its seals, for you were slain and with your blood you purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue, people and nation. You made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they will reign on earth.

"I looked again and heard the voices of many angels...and they cried out in a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches, wisdom and strength, honor and glory and blessing.

"Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out: "To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever."
Revelation 5: 9-10, 13

Your sacrifice for me, Lord...and I sure didn't deserve it. But you did it anyways -- for me. For everyone.
Thank you.

Keeping Your Head Above Water

I have been paddling like crazy this week...

A huge batch of appraisal reports to do. Everyone and their sister needs this info -- especially for donating purposes. The IRS now requires appraisals done by a certified appraiser -- great for extra opportunities, hard because they require reports and forms done NOW.

I'm grateful for the work. Really. But there are other balls to keep in the air, too.

Ah well.

Stayed up until 3 a.m. getting two reports done...now to sign and stamp them, get them off in Ye Olde Mail, then finish up the OTHER two reports that are waiting. If the Post Office loses them, I think I will quietly have a heart attack.

Then it's time to start work on our taxes, too. See the swirl of water? The bubbles coming quietly up?

Coffee Review: Joffrey's Jamaican Me Crazy

Disclaimer note here: I got this coffee sample free in the mail, but am not being paid to write this review.

Joffrey's Coffee (see http://www.joffreys.com/ ) has just started up a club, and yours truly was one of the bloggers to join. Their first sample arrived last week -- Jamaican Me Crazy.

Love the name! But the coffee won't be making a long-term stop in our household. We like our coffee strong and dark, first and foremost: the coffee should speak, then any other flavors.

JMC is a mild Arabica coffee. It has an aroma and aftertaste of toffee. The latter seemed reminiscent of the caramelized-sugar aftertaste often found when using Mexican coffee beans.

If you prefer a lighter flavored coffee, you'd enjoy this one. Stronger coffee buffs might want to abstain -- I tried using more for a stronger pot, but it just got bitter.

So not bad -- but not for us.

Seven Signs of Spring

* Asparagus and strawberries are on sale at the grocery store

* Daffodils are out -- blooming on the dining room table, and popping out of the ground!

* The sun angle has changed....it floods the southern side of the house in the morning, instead of the afternoon. (Something about how our windows were installed.)

* It's time to plant spinach and peas. (Thank you, St. Patrick's Day.)

* We're both antsy as all getout. "Spring fever" is a reality in the Brick household. Mostly expressed in the need to TRAVEL.

* All the t-shirts and tank tops newly resurrected from the back of the closet reveal pasty skin and jiggly arms! (sigh)

And the winner:

* Smells. The house -- musty or 'foody.' The couch, our winter refuge -- stale. Everywhere -- stale. The boys -- full of doggy aromas. I'd love to air out and/or wash everything, including the dogs. but it's snowing like crazy outside. (Another sign of the season.)

Ah, spring.

Part 2: Smartest Purchases

Looks more like winter outside today...but the daffodils are up and poking toward the sun.

Here are some of our smarter purchases over the years:

*Things we saved for. The leather couch that took two years of my freelance income. The armoire and antique highboy that still look gorgeous after decades of use. They weren't cheap (even though we got a good price). We made do for years with crates and a crappy couch until we could afford something better. (Our bed is still just a mattress and springs -- but someday I'll get that mahogany sleigh bed I've admired!)
The window seat, with cozy shelving on both sides that framed in a mountain view -- built in by the best handyguy in Castle Rock, Ken Knopp. The outside patio, where we say good morning to Pike's Peak, and a curving walk, poured by the best concrete guy in Castle Rock, Tom Madrid.
All of these items took time and patience to save for. Every one of them is more than worth it.

*Things we bought on a '12 months free' agreement -- and paid off in 11 1/2 months. Our "doctor's choice" mattress, which made all the difference between back pain and none, was purchased on this plan. Every month I set aside more than 1/12 of the price...and two weeks before the deadline, I wrote a check. This worked so well that we just got a second laptop (at a GREAT price!) using the same plan. Caution: set aside more than you need to, early on. Not only will you have the total price earlier, but the overflow acts as extra savings for emergencies.

*Purchases we researched before we bought. Rentals --and houses -- that we committed to only after we'd looked at 20 or 30 others first. (Our first home purchase -- $10,000 under the asking price, which was reduced to begin with -- came only after we'd seen at least 70 others.)
The mattress was researched. Ditto the computers. Vehicles. Vacations. (Cases in point: last year's Caribbean cruise, celebrating our 25th anniversary, was 12 nights -- $595. The Mexican vacation the year before that was for a week: approx. $700 for both of us, including airfare.)
You can get anything -- anything -- higher quality at a lower price, if you only search.

*Higher quality -- purchased 'almost new.' The Peruvian alpaca sweater...$3 at our local thrift shop. (The imported cashmere sweater was a bit more...$7.) My nicest clothes -- best quality, high-end labels -- come from thrift shops. Daughter Angel found a pair of Italian leather pumps fresh from the runway -- at a thrift shop. (Price: $4.)
Appliances are a lot more reasonable if someone else breaks them in. Our refrigerator, washer and dryer, chipper/shredder...we could afford a much better brand if they were gently used.
We do the same with cars. (Once we research them!) Our favorite: the Jeep Cherokee. We've had three vehicles, all purchased secondhand for much-cheaper-than-usual prices. And all extremely reliable in all kinds of weather. (Now if they'd only be more mpg-efficient!)

*If we buy it retail, we buy it on sale. Or wholesale. Or direct from the source. There are very few exceptions to this in the Brick household. Fabric? Purchased by the bolt. Appliques? By the box. If it's apples, we get a bushel or two from an orchard on the Western Slope. (They store great in the garage and the refrigerator crisper.) A bushel of tomatoes gets canned or frozen for winter chili and spaghetti sauce.

Which brings up another guideline: the price is often better if you buy more at once. Case lots are cheaper than individual cans. I just bought two cases of canned crab meat...for 91 cents a can! (The next best price was approx. $3.50 each.)

*Or we make it, grow it, sew it, repair it or cook it ourselves. My garden produced all the green beans we could eat -- including wintertime, thanks to the freezer. My dad built bookshelves, and Dave replaced our faulty thermostat. (Not only saving on repairs, but making our whole heating system more efficient.) Dave changes the oil in our cars. I fix ripped sleeves and buttons, bake cakes, stitch Christmas presents. Doing it yourself saves a lot.

And our smartest purchases?

*Getting an advanced degree. It took time. Worked our butts off in jobs and loans to pay for it. But our M.A.s -- Dave's in engineering, mine in literature -- have opened a lot of doors.
Certification and advanced training have paid off, as well. Things like this not only help you work better -- they help your work BE better.

*Buying a house -- for less. Putting the biggest downpayment (which we had saved, partly because we paid the lowest rent we could find). Getting a low interest rate because we had an excellent credit score.

and finally -- a few simple rules:

*Pay your bills. On time.
*Never spend more than you pay. (Don't do it, even if you CAN afford it!)

But best of all is

Faith in God.

Love for your family. Your community.

A good name.

An honest reputation.

These are the things I most value in life.

Learning From Stupidity

Debt Kid is hosting a "share your dumbest purchase ever" contest -- take a look!

http://www.debtkid.com/share-your-dumbest-purchase-ever-win-my-ds-lite

I don't care about the "ds-lite" Debt Kid is offering, but I did enjoy the idea. Readers' comments got me to thinking about our dumbest (and smartest) purchases. So here goes...

DUMB AND DUMBER

*Appliances. When we were first married, we tended to buy our appliances -- coffeemaker, blowdryer and such -- new. What were we thinking, when you can find perfectly good pieces at the thrift shop, Craigslist, or on sale? Fortunately, we soon wised up.
Dave's best find in this was an imported espresso/coffee maker at the local thrift shop for $10. In spite of having all the proper accessories, it didn't work properly. No problem -- Dave is a genius at fixing things. Another ten bucks for a part, and it worked like new. Best Girlfriend stopped by for coffee, and stared at the machine: "you got one, too?" Turns out her son bought her the same coffeemaker -- for nearly $150! (Maybe this should be in the smarter department!)

*Clothes -- new. See the comment above. (And later on in the smarter department, too.)

*Refinancing -- only a few months before we paid the house off. We ended up with a lower interest rate, true. But we also paid fees, and the whole process required time and energy better used elsewhere. In the long run, we didn't save money -- we lost it.

*Too many fancy foods. We could have done just as better using these as an occasional treat, even if they were on 'sale.' Artichoke hearts and shrimp were wonderful -- but they should have been a treat, not a privilege.

*Going out to eat. Read the previous paragraph? Ditto.

*Buying 'bargains' instead of investing in higher quality. Quilts, clothes, embellishments like lace, buttons and so on, fabrics -- especially hand-dyeds, BEFORE I learned to find them more reasonably priced, or make them myself.
After a number of hard lessons, I realized this: money invested in a well-made piece will keep its value and last far longer than the same amount used to purchase four or five 'bargains.' (The only exception: a well-made unusual quilt sold at a bargain...that I can restore!)

And the top two winners in stupidity:

*Not arguing harder for our daughters to attend community college for the first few years. Both went to a much more expensive state college. Both came out of their first year with no discernible improvement for having gone to State U instead. (In spite of their initial rude remarks about Community U, both have gone or are going there now. Lesson learned) Guess whose pockets furnished the extra hundreds (no, thousands) of dollars needed for attending State U?

*Buying a larger home. Husband and I fell in love with the open, spacious feel of our current place. (We live on a hill with hundred-mile views in three directions, and a wooded bluff in the fourth.) The house was twice, no triple the size on a larger lot. It had a fireplace. A master closet.
And it was a bargain by Colorado standards.

But our much-smaller house had a much smaller mortgage. It also had wonderful views, a fenced backyard with deck, fruit trees and a productive herb garden. We could have remained there quite comfortably, even though we didn't have as much room as the Big House.

The owners of Big House insisted on the sale going through, regardless of whether we sold Small House or not. (We referred to them as "Ma and Pa Kettle" for their rabbit hutch in the garage, school bus full of tomato plants and multiple barking dogs.) Ma & Pa were most anxious to leave -- it turned out they were being chased by their debts. (We found this out the hard way during the next few years when irate bill collectors would show up on our doorstep and INSIST that we were them.)

We did it. We went through with the purchase. We wanted that house.

The upshot?

Ma and Pa Kettle finally moved out -- only because we were moving IN. We literally passed each other, carrying boxes. Their stuff ended up in piles on the lawn, the littlest kids peering out the schoolbus windows. (We had to wait a week before the rabbits followed their reluctant owners.) I found misc. left-behind items for months, but Ma and Pa refused to give us a forwarding address. (I understood when the first process server showed up.)

Ma & Pa 'forgot' to mention that tree roots in the backyard not only clogged the sewer system, but were literally tearing up the concrete walk. They didn't point out that the same tree's leaves helped clog an outside drain and flood the downstairs library during heavy rainstorms. (We finally cut the tree down, broke out the old concrete, and repoured a new walk. All expensive.)

Ma & Pa neglected to tell us that the house's wiring was not only antiquated -- but half of it was backwards. (It was a miracle everything hadn't shot up in flames long ago.) They didn't mention the leaky spots, the holes in the siding that let in mice, the cheap & shoddy 'improvements' they'd made that would have to be torn out and redone properly.

Thankfully, we had a wonderful friend who was also a genius at home inspection. He noticed things, and we submitted a lower price -- the difference which was finally 'eaten' by the desperate realtor listing the property!

We knew the carpet was old. Big House's siding was an awful blue that made me cringe. Doors and windows would need to be replaced upstairs, and repainting done from stem to stern. (What we didn't realize was how long that process would take...and how much it would cost.)

And Small House? We cleaned it up as best we could with limited funds and put it on the market, where it waited...and waited. And waited. Any number of would-be buyers traipsed through, but no one made an offer for more than three months. We couldn't afford both mortgages, so I took an extra job doing layout and editing for a local newspaper. (That was fun...trying to take care of the house, my normal work,the kids...AND the second job.)

We finally sold Small House, for a reasonable-but-not-great profit to an investor who tried to keep all of the furniture we'd put in the house for show. Plus the deck furniture. Plus a gorgeous 1890s Ocean Waves quilt top I'd had displayed in the stairwell. (He managed to weasel out with the deck furniture and the quilt top -- darn him.) I gratefully left the extra job. And over the next decade, I learned another lesson: extra space only means it gets filled up faster!

Big House has appreciated in value...thanks in great part to our hard work. But it has taken much more energy and effort to keep clean and tidied up. It has a widening maw for even more improvements.

And within only a year or two, it swallowed a huge percentage of our funds. If I had known our total income was going to shrink by two-thirds, I would have never gone along with Big House's purchase. (Husband was in "love," me in "like.")

It came out all right in the end -- but there were some seriously iffy moments in between.

Next time: Our Smartest Purchases!

More From Obama's Side (then I really will shut up about all this)

http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/03/10/obama-disses-veep-talk/

quotes:
"With all due respect, I've won twice as many states as Sen. Clinton, I've won more of the popular vote than Sen. Clinton. I have more delegates than Sen. Clinton. So I don't know how somebody who's in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who is in first place. I mean, I'm just wondering, cause if I was in second place, I could understand it. But I'm in first place right now...

"There's a second point. This is an interesting point. I want you guys to follow me on this. President Bill Clinton back in 1992 when he was asked about his selection for vice president, he said the only criteria, the most important critieria for vice president ... (was if) he or she would be ready to be the commander in chief. That was his criteria." Obama said that HRC's campaign has spent the last two or three weeks challenging his credentials to be commander in chief. "If I'm not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president. Do you understand that?"
"You can't say he's not ready on day one unless he's willing to be your vice president, then he's ready on day one."

Don't believe me? This setting has a YouTube soundbite with Obama actually saying this...

More ways to save...and an ode to coffee

One of the very best sites I've ever visited in search of freebies, samples and great coupons --

http://www.moneysavingmom.com

Honestly, if you've got five minutes to check a blog every day -- this is the one to visit. The specials change almost daily, and I've already saved a pocketful of cash. You will, too.

One of the things that has gotten me through the past (not always easy) months is coffee. Yup. That first cup, dark and rich. We're just finishing up Trader Joe's Bay Blend -- fantastic -- dark but surprisingly mellow. Then it will be back to the staple, Boyers' Rocky Mountain Thunder. You can't use a really heaped tablespoon -- like we generally do -- or it can be bitter. But made in the drip pot then enhanced with a swirl of milk...wow.

I like it best in the early morning, when Dave has left for work and the house is quiet. The sun comes up gently, turning everything, including the mountains that are our daily view for three directions, pink. Then the sky turns its bright blue and the mountains settle down into their usual blankets of white.
The coffee gently steams...time for another warming swallow, and the paper. Contentment.