25 Things in a Year - June update

I'll have a post soon about some of the incredible things that I saw and did on my trip. I pushed my personal limits and was rewarded for doing it. Who knows, maybe my next step is skydiving??

I'll be doing a complete update on my journey soon... probably with a few details left out to protect the guilty. ;)

At the beginning of the year, this was my list. Some of these things were to be done around our trip down under, so I have a quick update on where things stand:

1.             Be more positive
Being on vacation for so long has both helped and hurt this goal. I desperately needed a vacation after not having time off for over a year, but now that I’ve been to Australia, all I can think about is how I can move there permanently.

2.             Lose ~13% of body weight (or eat healthier and exercise at least 3x a week)
I was at 8% before vacation, but I put 5 pounds back on during vacation… mostly due to drinking excessively and eating sweets! Now I’m back to a reasonable diet and exercise plan… although it’s taking me a while to get back to the working out portion. I’m still having some problems with jetlag.

3.             Start a few plants from seed for the garden
Some of my plants reseeded themselves! I shouldn’t have even attempted any garden plans this year, since I was gone when I should have been planting.

4.             Come up with a new budget and stick to it
I’ve done a pretty good job of this. We also stuck to our Australia budget, apart from upgrading our flights at the end of the trip, which put us over budget.

5.             Get rid of the red couch and chair that I freaking HATE
Still not yet. Then again, if there is any chance that we are moving to Australia, I’ll live with the stupid couch.

6.             Purchase new furniture and decorate downstairs
See number 5. If I can make my dream a reality, decorating isn’t very high on my priorities list.

7.             Put together a time capsule for our house
I have it, but it's sitting downstairs on my kitchen counter. Still.

8.             Blog at least twice a week
I may catch up eventually. This shouldn’t count for any time that I’m on vacation, so I get a pass.

9.             Get organized - important documents, books, seasonal items, etc.
I’ll get there.

10.          Be in good enough shape to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing (aka Mount Doom) in New Zealand
I definitely could have done it, but unfortunately the weather wasn’t good for that hike while we were there. When (yes, WHEN, not if) we go back, hopefully it will be during summer or early spring so that we don’t have to contend with snow. It IS the “ALPINE” crossing after all.

11.          Raise a small flock of chickens for meat (at least six)
Hmm. We’ll see about this. I think that Mouse might be a candidate for the soup pot soon. He’s terrorizing some of our new chickens and he’s attacked me a few too many times. Last time he even left a mark on my leg.

12.          Sell some eggs, otherwise we'll be overrun when the new chickens start laying
I will definitely need to do this. Guess I should order a big supply of egg cartons.

13.          Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, even though I'm scared of being eaten by a shark
Completed! Not to mention my fear of deep water, which apparently I am getting over. Actually, I went scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef AND saw a 4~5 foot white tipped reef shark! We also saw carpet sharks (which Jay tried to pet) during our first dive at Cook Island when we were in Coolangatta. Scuba diving was such an unexpected joy for me, and I am planning to get my open water certification in time for #25.

14.          Snuggle a koala
Possibly one of the most amazing things in my entire life. Her name was Tiger Lily and she was the sweetest thing ever.

15.          Install the heat pump downstairs
It is delightfully cool in our entire house, I am happy to report.

16.          Make room in the budget for a cleaning service
Still working on this one. I’m pretty sure we’re going to do it though. When we got back from vacation, we saw what a mess our house ends up being without us there for 3 weeks. Apparently two cats is enough to destroy a house in no time at all.

17.          Get the crawl space insulated
We’ll see how we make out with having the second heat pump.

18.          Have photos done and send Christmas cards out this year
I need to meet up with Laura Dye to get these pictures done. Although we have so many great ones from our trip, I might have to photoshop Santa Hats on our heads.

19.          Fence in yard
We have the rear privacy fence up. Love the look of it and would like to do the entire yard like this… we’ll see though.

20.          Hatch out some silkie and black/red star mixes
We did and they have turned out to be pretty funky looking! Unfortunately I’m pretty sure that two of them are going to be roosters. So we might be eating a few more chicken dinners.

21.          Say no and not feel guilty afterwards
Doing this more often and I would say that I've been quite successful. The more often I do it, the less guilty I feel. Being on this trip made me remember that I have an awesome husband that I want to spend time with, so I’m trying very hard to not book up all of our weekends months in advance so that we can do more on our own as a couple.

22.          Have an awesome time at the Mardi Gras Ball
I did have an awesome time, although I must say that I was quite happy and relieved when it was all over. I was even happy to clean up the next day!

23.          Can tomatoes from our garden
I will can some tomatoes if we actually get some this year! I might cheat and buy an already potted porch type plant.

24.          Print "before" collages to frame and hang in the house
I’ll do it one of these days. Now my big job is to download all of the photos from vacation… there are HEAPS of photos.

25.          Use at least one week of our time share
We’re booking using our friend Leslie’s Shareholder status, which gets us a discounted daily rate and a sweet villa. I’m still waiting to hear back from some of the people that I’ve invited. Now that I’ve had quite the adventurous trip down under, I’m worried that our lounge-around-in-the-sun-eat-and-drink vacation might be a little boring, so I’m planning to do horseback riding, a diving trip and some whitewater rafting while we’re there.

Last week in photos

Trip to Baltimore for the dentist and happy hour with my old coworkers

USS Constellation

Chickie driving me home from work

One of the peeps hatched from our eggs

Martinak Canoes

Martinak sunset

Osprey... time to get a better lens

Martinak sunset

Lonely sunset

Ancona chickiepoo. I need to name you.

Easter Egger chickie... I think I'm going to name her Chippy...

She is too freaking cute

With those chipmunk cheeks

Dr. Tasty, Esquire inspecting Miss Chippy

And running away...

This chick looks just like Mouse when he was a baby. One of my boss's kids claimed the little guy.

Farewell old IKEA dining room table, you've been good to me! Jay has spent the last week refinishing a table that his grandfather made. I'm struggling a bit with the color, but I'm hoping that eventually I'll get used to the lighter color wood.

Another gratuitous pic of Chippy

One of the White Marans chicks... pretty sure that's what she is. No name yet.

That's all for now!

25 Things - Update on Progress

At the beginning of the year, I posted my goals/quasi-resolutions... here is an update on how I'm doing:

1. Be more positive
   I think that I'm getting there. Honestly, therapy has helped me a lot... I do what I can, try to understand others and their motivations, then let the rest of it go.
2. Lose ~13% of body weight (or eat healthier and exercise at least 3x a week)
   I'm at 5.11% of my body weight. That's progress! I've also exercised at least 3 times a week for the last few weeks. I'll take it.
3. Start a few plants from seed for the garden
   I have the starter seed kit, I just need to figure out when to start the stuff. 
4. Come up with a new budget and stick to it
   I've figured out the budget - next update will tell you if I stuck to it. :)
5. Get rid of the red couch and chair that I freaking HATE
   Ugh, not yet.
6. Purchase new furniture and decorate downstairs
   Also not yet. I have to make sure that it fits with #4.
7. Put together a time capsule for our house
   I have it, but it's sitting downstairs on my kitchen counter. It doesn't need to go in until we finish the drywall in my old bedroom's closet.
8. Blog at least twice a week
   Failing that one. Oops.
9. Get organized - important documents, books, seasonal items, etc.
   Maybe later this year. I'm just happy to have my house mostly in one piece!
10. Be in good enough shape to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing (aka Mount Doom) in New Zealand
    Definitely not yet. We leave in 50 days, so I think that should be enough time as long as I stick with those 3x a week workouts.
11. Raise a small flock of chickens for meat (at least six)
    This is gonna be a tough one. Not sure if I'll ever be able to do this.
12. Sell some eggs, otherwise we'll be overrun when the new chickens start laying
    Later this year... probably August or September when the new girls start laying.
13. Snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, even though I'm scared of being eaten by a shark
    Oh it's gonna happen! Flights are booked, baby!
14. Snuggle a koala
    Also going to happen at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in less than 2 months!
15. Install the heat pump downstairs
    This is finally happening tomorrow! I can't wait to have whole house HVAC!!
16. Make room in the budget for a cleaning service
    Not sure about this... I'm thinking that now that the house is completed, it's a lot easier to keep clean. Also, if we get a normal driveway and make some landscaping improvements, it will be much easier to keep our floors clean.
17. Get the crawl space insulated
    Yeah, yeah. It'll happen one day. Maybe soon. Maybe later. But someday this year.
18. Have photos done and send Christmas cards out this year
    Maybe I should make my appointment with Laura Dye  now so that I don't slack on this one. I want the cats and chickens in our "family" photo. I think that would be awesome! Maybe an American Gothic kinda thing in front of the house. But with Jay in his turnout gear (shirtless with suspenders would be HILARIOUS) and me with a chicken under one arm and a cat under the other. 
19. Fence in yard
    This is going to happen, although not sure if it will happen before or after the trip
20. Hatch out some silkie and black/red star mixes
    They're hatching tomorrow! Squee! :)
21. Say no and not feel guilty afterwards
    I've been doing that more often. Really.
22. Have an awesome time at the Mardi Gras Ball
    I did have an awesome time, although I must say that I was quite happy and relieved when it was all over. I was even happy to clean up the next day!
23. Can tomatoes from our garden
    Gotta plant them first. And put up a fence so that the chickiepoos don't eat them.
24. Print "before" collages to frame and hang in the house
    I started to get some of these together. I need to make this happen.
25. Use at least one week of our time share
    We are planning to take a group vacation to the Dominican at the end of the year, but when I wrote to the timeshare people, they told me that they couldn't confirm a villa for us until a month out. GRRR. So in all likelihood, we will be using another person's timeshare to make sure that we get what we want. I'm quite irked by the whole thing.

Today is a fabulous day

After several setbacks in our refinancing saga, we closed on our loan today - at 3.75% fixed for 30 years. AWESOME. I've never been so excited to pay off bills. As of next Wednesday, Jay and I will have $0 in consumer debt, have the funds available to finish our house (HVAC, crawlspace insulation, new shed/shop, privacy fence), have 4 months worth of emergency savings, and last but not least will have our Australia/New Zealand trip paid for. Oh, and did I mention that the refinance will also be saving us $500 a month? So with our new savings plan, we will be socking away 10% of our income, which we should really be doing anyway. We had been doing a great job with our savings, but car repairs or other unexpected expenses would always chip away at the account. My 401k is also quite happy these days. Financial stability is feeling mighty great.

To save even more, we've been thinking of getting rid of DirecTV, but our favorite shows are on SyFy, which doesn't work well with Hulu Plus or Netflix. Rather annoying. In three more years, we will also have paid off our DR timeshare (although I expect that we'll get suckered into the next level when we go back) and Jay's student loan will also be paid off, saving us even more money each month. We're keeping his student loan since the interest rate is so low.

I'm also getting a massage after work (a gift from one of my coworkers that I finally booked - great timing!)... plus Jay and I are going out to dinner to celebrate our loan closing! 

I've lost 8 pounds so far on Atkins. Not as much weight as I was hoping to lose in a month, but it's progress. I'm hoping to lose at least 16 pounds before our trip. However, as long as I lose at least 12 pounds before May, I will be back within "normal" limits. To weigh what I did when Jay and I started dating, I will need to lose about 25 more pounds. However, I would be happy with a 23.1 BMI (losing an additional 18 lbs or total weight loss of 26 lbs).

That's it for now! Hope to post about some of our New Zealand activities over the weekend. :)

 

Squeee!

The waiting is over!

I am happy to report that all of our hard work has finally paid off.

Our house appraised for $50,000 over what we needed. Now it may be time to do some rate negotiation, as our LTV is pretty significantly lower than we originally expected.

Tom Petty had it right

The waiting really is the hardest part.

 The good news is that we are officially approved for the refinance and the commitment letter has been signed. The bad news is that we are still waiting for the appraisal, which is a condition of the approval. As each day passes, I get more anxious about our home’s value. On Wednesday, our loan officer said that the appraisal was in the review process with the in-between company and that hopefully it would be released tomorrow. Gah!! Well, it’s Friday and the main thing standing between an incredibly fast closing is this stupid appraisal. The appraisal could make or break this refinance. If the appraiser wants to be picky, she could throw in a bunch of things like we have to install railings for our steps or repaint/cover the fascia and soffit. Or maybe she could throw in other things that I haven’t even thought of or noticed.

We’ve wanted to finish the fascia for quite some time, but didn’t know anyone who had a brake. We were not planning to repaint the wood yet again. The plan was to cover the wood with metal, which stands up to the elements much better than wood. It also stands up to birds much better. And squirrels. These critters love to gnaw and peck through wood and nest in our attic. We also haven’t installed railings yet because we are planning to get rid of the brick steps and replace them with wood. So obviously we will do those things, but we just have been busy with the inside of the house. So if we have to do those things first, it will probably put us out another few weeks with the refinance. We’ll have to get the work done and then the appraiser will have to come back out and confirm that those things have been taken care of. I would hope that she would be more lenient since it’s a refinance and not a new purchase.

Part of my relentless obsession over the dollar amount of the appraisal? How much was all of this work really worth? The blood, sweat, tears, stress and the amount of money that we actually put into the house. Will it pay off? Would it have been cheaper to tear the whole thing down and start over? Emotionally, I don't think I could have done that. This was the place I grew up and the place I want to raise my future family. We have put about $80,000 or more into this project, so I am going to be heartbroken if our appraisal doesn't equal the amount of money we put into it.

So… if the appraisal comes back today in the amount that we need with no “subject to” repairs or conditions, I will be a happy camper.

On to the more gooderer stuff!  I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a long time - this is the first weekend since the beginning of November that we a) haven’t had guests b) have no plans and/or c) Jay hasn’t had to work. We are making a trip to the grocery store tonight and after we get home, our cars are not moving until Monday. I might make it to the gym sometime this weekend, but we’ll see. The Atkins diet is crazy hard, but I’ve had amazing results already. I lost 4 pounds the first week! I know that a few pounds might be water weight. However, I’ve been tracking my exercise and food using LoseIt, and according to that app, I should have lost at least 2 or 3 pounds last week. My clothes feel looser (hurray for less sausage legs) and even though it hasn’t been easy, the quick results have been worth it! I’m hoping that I can stick with the induction phase for at least a month. I do have some challenges coming up – wine and chocolates for the Women’s Club event next Wednesday,  a birthday shindig for a friend next Saturday, more festivities the following weekend. There are plenty of things to get me off track. My plan is that if I’m going to cheat in any way that I have to make up the difference at the gym. I’m going to try hard not to cheat and to stick to a single drink at each event – or have no more than two rum & diet cokes. Or club soda and vodka. Which is disgusting and makes me not want to drink anyway.

So that’s what is up in my world this week. What's up with you?

Before and After

We are nearly done. I am beyond exhausted and hurt all over.

There was a mad rush to get everything done this weekend - getting the porch painted to improve curb appeal, straightening the yard, painting trim in the house, straightening, dusting, sweeping, mopping, shining, staging. You would not believe how filthy the house was - and I feel like we just cleaned it! Constant construction = constant dirt and dust. Jay had to work yesterday, so I busted my ass from the time I got up to the time I crawled into bed. We had hoped to finish the stairs, but at 10 pm last night, I gave up. The steps still needed to be sanded before we stain and poly them and there was no way I had another 2 hours in me. Overall, we spent 51 man hours from Friday through Sunday working on our project. Jay spent 21 hours between Friday and Saturday, I spent 27 hours between Friday and Sunday, and my girlfriend Angela came over and helped us paint for about 3 hours on Saturday.

Why the mad rush? Our house is being appraised today for refinancing. When my dad died, I inherited a substantial sum of money. However, since he wasn't planning on dying anytime soon, the majority of the money was in an IRA. I don't think he knew much about how IRA's work, because the money that he had inherited from my grandparents was all in cash, which he converted to the IRA. Since I wasn't a surviving spouse, nor of retirement age, I took a HUGE hit on taxes, which left me with less than half of the original amount. I won't lie - I spent about half of the remainder on a ring to wear in my dad's memory, furnishing my Odenton apartment, paying the disparity in rent between what I was putting in to make up for my ex not making much money, Ann Taylor clothes for work (and good makeup & skincare products) and took some nice vacations with the ex (which was also mostly on my dime). The rest of the money went to dumpster rental and some emergency repairs with the house, mainly the roof and porch to the tune of $30,000. By the time I met Jay, most of the money was gone - so I had to take out a home equity line of credit for the actual rehab project. And of course aforementioned rehab project ended up taking more time and costing way more than what I took out from the HELOC. So that is the long story short of why we are refinancing. Once the new conventional mortgage is in place, we will be saving almost $500 a month - or more, if the appraiser gives us a better LTV (loan to value).

Add all of this work to the Atkins diet that I started last Wednesday? My body is screaming for more nourishment. I probably should have eaten more this weekend, but we were so busy. The thing that I've noticed about Atkins is that I'm not as hungry, and things with the least number of carbs suddenly tastes ultra sweet. We had green beans on Saturday and they tasted sugary to me. Weird! So that's going pretty well, but I need to force myself to eat more often. Today is day six and I feel pretty shaky this morning. I'm sure it's because I didn't eat enough this weekend and I put my body through hell.

Unfortunately I don't have photos of every room for the before comparison.

So, without further ado... I give you the final comparison (and some in-between) photos:

Not too shabby, eh? :)