Happy Holidays…

My little kitty Wilbur, doing his best statue impression. Secretly I think he is
counting down the days till he gets to open up his stocking. Yes! I give my cats a stocking!

L and I spent the weekend putting a few Christmas decorations around the house. We decided to do a full-size tree this year for our downstairs living room and put our little 3.5" artificial tree upstairs. I have to be honest—I think I still like the little tree best. It's just the right size and fills up nicely with the ornaments we have collected over the years.

Our full fire place—though I have yet to light a fire within.

Home for sale…

We finally have our house up for sale and in the *listings*. Having never sold a home before, everything is a new experience for both of us. The cleaning, the maintenance, the staging—it's all a lot of work plus keeping a business running on top of all that.

One of the first things I read while preparing to sell our home, is to de-clutter it. Needless to say, we had a lot of clutter, mostly in the form of toys on L's part. Oh man, does he have a lot of toy robots! We also removed extraneous furnishings, all family photos and anything that could be conceivably offensive or questionable to a potential home buyer—including but not limited to diplomas, books, nick-knacks and more. It all went into storage or to the donation bin.

We moved all our furniture to best maximize the space in the house. It doesn't feel very comfortable anymore but it does feel large in our modest house. I also painted our bedroom, bathroom and will likely paint my office.

Another thing I read is that if you have pets, to remove or at the very least contain them while showing the house. We had a test run of that yesterday with our first showing. I left our oldest cat, Moses, in the house as he just hangs out on the bed. I bundled the three little ones into one cat carrier and drove around the neighborhood with them, blasting the A/C in my truck. This did not go so well. Their nerves, coupled with the heat had them panting in quick order. Our littlest—Jupiter—looked like he was starting to show signs of heat stroke so I drove them over to their vet. He did much better when we weren't moving around, but they will now be bundled into their carrier and left in my office. It will just be a lot less stressful for all of them.

Our realtors, and a few others that we've talked to assure us our house is poised to sell well. It's at a price point that is currently selling, it's clean, it's move-in ready and we're offering a home warranty with the sale. So, here's hoping for a quick sale.

Packing dilemma…

This is why I can't get any packing done around the house. I turn my back for one minute and—BOOM!—a cat's in the packing supplies sleeping all cuddled up. Oh well… it's cute.

Saying goodbye to our little abode…

We're putting our house on the market. I know it's a crummy time to sell, but it's a great time if you're buying a house. L and I have been in this house 10 years now and we'd like to move to a new neighborhood. We'd been thinking about this for a while and thought it was two years out at least. But after analyzing interest rates, housing costs and the job market, we figured now is the time.

First though, I really hate packing. I can't believe humans can gather so much stuff. Why do I have so much stuff and why is it mostly in the kitchen?

Secondly, we have a lot of work to do to this house before showing it. Sure, we could show it as is, but to sell at a decent price, we're going to paint both interior and exterior, do some landscaping and clean out the entire house of any clutter, personality or distress. This weekend, we're moving almost the entirety of our home into a storage unit. We'll be living out of a suitcase for a while.

Right now, we have our eye on a three bedroom, two story house located in a neighborhood called Civano. It's a neighborhood focused on the idea of energy efficiency and according to its designers an "antidote to urban sprawl's five banes: loss of community, loss of open space, traffic congestion, air pollution, and poor use of resources,"

We just like the homes there, the feel of the community and the way the neighborhood is laid out. So for now, we are separating ourselves from our current house and working hard to get it show ready.

New Car…

This post is a little late, as we actually got the car in mid December. We were facing yet another repair with L’s Miata—after already having put in nearly $1,000 to repair a failed heater coil. That failure had created a leak in the coolant and put the entire contents of the coolant system into the floor of the car. Coolant is toxic and even more so when run through a heater, or vaporized. After that repair, one really cold morning—yes they do happen in Arizona—the knobs on the heater/cooler settings were no longer working. The knob was turned to maximum cold and he couldn't adjust it. D'oh!

I told L, maybe he should consider a new car. So, he started doing some research and suggested a few options—used options. I said, "no, I mean a new car, as in never before owned, brand new shiny off the lot." "Oh…" He spent the next week researching car's fuel mileage, costs, availability and reliability. We then spent a full Saturday looking at a number of different cars—Hyundai's, Toyotas and then Fords. He really liked the Focus, but did they have in in standard, not automatic? Well, sure, but they also had a fully equipped automatic—heated seats, leather interior, full set-up—that just happened to be marked down for end-of-year to the same price as a base-line standard. He test-drove that, fell in love with it and now we own it.

This is the first ever new car we have ever owned. Seriously. All other cars have been used, some heavily, some lightly, but all have been past warranty and previously owned.

It's pretty exciting and I'm especially relieved that we were able to get payments within our acceptable price range and term length. It's also nice knowing that he won't get stranded on the side of the road—which has happened at least 1/2 a dozen times in the past year from the Miata. The crazy thing is, the cheap, cheap, cheap Miata was actually costing us nearly $100 more per month than a brand new car when I amortized the repairs over the length of time we owned the car. I've yet to drive the car though—it really is L's, not mine—and I'm sure over the course of us owning it, I'll probably put on less than 1,000 miles.

Javelina: pig or not?

Not! The Javelina, or peccary, is a pig-like animal found in many parts of the country. There are four species living in the American Southwest alone and today, two little critters found there way onto my front lawn. As I sat working away, I noticed something in my tree out front. Wait… that's not a dog, what is that? As it came out from under the branches I was astonished to see this little guy.

We don't usually see these in our neighborhood, especially since we are so suburban. The pair was traveling up our street, then back down into the wash behind our house. Again, this is why I love Arizona. I've seen so many critters out here—though I could do without the spiders—I feel like I live in a zoo at times.

Spiders…

OK! I am tired of encountering all these darned spiders. First, a pile of black widows in my garage, each one seemingly larger than the last. Then, after a walk around the neighborhood, I saw a large black 8-legger wash down my drain in the shower after rinsing my hair! And last night? Yeah, as I was coming home from a night out, all sleepy and ready to just chill and watch a movie, I step up to my front door, over a thing and then my brain realizes said thing is a frikin' tarantula. Gross. OK brain, fight or flight, fight or flight? At first, brain tried to just shove the key into the door and run into the house. Then it was like, "no way, we run." So I ran back out to the front of the house sure the whole time that the spider had crawled up my pants leg. Finally we went in through the garage door, me making L do a spider check at least 10 times.

By the way, spiders really freak me out. Easily as much as snakes freak out Mountain Mama. Well, big ones do any way, and Tucson is abundant with big spiders. I kept my cats sitting next to and on me the rest of the evening, and L eventually went out to the front of the house to see just how big it was. I heard him through the door making sounds of alarm as he shooed it away from the house. "Jeeze it's fast." "Man, that's big." And so on. He asked if I wanted him to squish it, but of course I did not as it's just doing its thing, eating bugs and whatnot. It's not poisonous so he shooed it into the neighbors yard—the one who lets their dogs run amok and use my tree as their own personal toilet.

I'm not sure I'm going to use the front door for a while, I can tell you that much. When we'd left for the evening we saw the cutest, tiniest lizard on our way out and after my freak out I cried thinking "I bet that thing ate the little lizard!"

A Week in the Mile High State…Part II

— PENZEYS SPICES —

Tuesday started out a rainy and dreary–albeit hot—day and Sister, Mom and I went to Arvada to go to the retail store for Penzeys Spices. I'm kind of a spice nut as I really don't like using salt and feel almost any meal can be made better with the right spice. I had my eye on getting really good cinnamon and found the Extra Fancy Vietnamese Cassia (not a true cinnamon by the way). I enjoy it so much I put it in my coffee as well as breakfast smoothies.


I would definitely recommend going to this store if you have the time. My family each bought a number of bags, then divided them up into the jars, which they sell at the shop. I walked away with about 15 new spices to try out.

— WHAT I MADE —

Fresh gingerbread. This recipe is super moist, but now that I've made it I'll be changing up some of the ingredients. First, I'll be substituting most of the butter with applesauce, doubling the cinnamon and ginger and serving it with hot coffee. Delicious! The recipe as modified is below.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 2 tablespoons softened butter
  
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup mild molasses (not robust or blackstrap)
• 3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk (I used 3/4 Tbsp lemon juice and 1%milk to make 3/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup hot water

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350ºF with rack in middle. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.
• Whisk together flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Beat applesauce, butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg until blended, then beat in molasses and buttermilk. Mix in flour mixture on low speed until smooth, then add hot water and beat 1 minute (batter may look curdled.)
• Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until a wooded pick inserted into center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack.

Next up: Estes Park, CO.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

To celebrate, Lindsay and I made a few of our more favorite Mexican style dishes. Chile Verde, Nacho Dip and Key Lime Pie.


Chile Verde (This is a variation of my chile verde, found HERE)

• 2 Lbs. pork rib meat
  
• 1 Lb. tomtatillos
  
• 2 jalapeños
• 3 green chile peppers
• 1 Small chopped onion
  
• 1/2 cup cilantro
  
• pork rub or seasoning
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 Bay Leaf
  
• 2 cans white beans
• Cumin to taste (I use about 1/4 cup!)

Accomaniments:

• Cubed jack cheese
• White jasmine rice

Prep:

Roast chili peppers, jalapeños and tomatillos under broiler until skins turn brown and bubbly, then place peppers in covered container for approx. 10 minutes for skins to loosen.

While vegetables are broiling, place pork in crock pot and season with desired seasoning.

After removing skins, combine peppers, tomatillos, cilantro, garlic and onion in blender and blend until smooth. Poor mixture over pork and add in bay leaf; cook covered until pork is tender and can be pulled apart with a fork.

Finish:

After shredding pork, add in white beans and cumin and cook an additional hour.

Serve with cubed jack cheese and rice if desired.

Nacho Dip

• 1 can refried black beans
• 2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1 cup guacamole
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1 small can chopped olives
• 1 small chopped onion
• 1 small can chopped jalapeños
• 2 tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cups shredded cheddar/jack mix

Accomaniments:

• Tortilla chips
  

Prep:
Mix refried beans with chili powder and spread in 9" casserole.
Layer remaining ingredients in order and top with shredded cheese.

Finish:

Serve with tortilla chips.


Key Lime Pie (as adapted from Gourmet, May 2003)
For crust

• 18 graham cracker squares; crumbed
  
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For filling

• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 20 Key Limes; juiced
  

For topping

• 3/4 cup chilled heavy cream

Make crust:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl with a fork until combined well, then press mixture evenly onto bottom and up side of a 9-inch (4-cup) glass pie plate.

Bake crust in middle of oven 10 minutes and cool in pie plate on a rack. Leave oven on.

Make filling and bake pie:
Whisk together condensed milk and yolks in a bowl until combined well. Add juice and whisk until combined well (mixture will thicken slightly).

Pour filling into crust and bake in middle of oven 15 minutes. Cool pie completely on rack (filling will set as it cools), then chill, covered, at least 8 hours.

Make topping:
Just before serving, beat cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Serve pie topped with cream.

A Garden…Finally!

I have what you could call—a brown thumb. Most of my plants either die by under watering/over watering/too much plant food (oops!) or just plain old neglect. Much of that stemmed (hoo ha; did you get that pun?) from the fact that I used to work at the office about 50-60 hours a week. No way did I have any desire to do much of anything after getting home.

But, here it is—proof that my little planting experiment is working. Now I just hope that I have not started these woefully late. But, with the long growing season out here I'm not that worried. That's the blessing of living in Southern Arizona.

My experiment consisted of:

1. Using old natural no additives dirt put into recycled paper cups
2. Placing seeds, then adding more dirt
3. Marking all cups with a Sharpie marker so I knew what I was looking at
4. Placing all cups onto cookie sheets
5. Shooing away the cats now and again; no this is not catnip
6. Watering cups any time I notice the tops are dry

If all goes well, I will have

• Two types of tomatoes
• Tomatillos
• Jalapeños
• Annaheim peppers
• Peaches and Cream corn
• Silver corn
• Summer squash
• Zucchini

Air Conditioning…

or … “How I became an HVA/C Technician”

Last September, about a week after I started my own home-based business, my Air Conditioner met the great compressor in the sky. As an A/C is a rather expensive piece of hardware, we decided to readdress this situation come springtime. That time is now. I sat through a few days of 86° in the house but overall, winter has been kind to us—and cold! Now it is hot again and I'm feeling the need, the need for sp-coldair?

First step: I signed on with AngiesList.com, as heard about on NPR and found A-rated HVA/C service companies. First up, a gentleman came out to measure the house, check the duct-work and figure out the overall needs of our A/C. After these, he discussed the various options his company could offer, and off he went. Oh … he forgot his ladder, so we have great new $60 ladder sitting in our garage.*

QUOTE: $4,400 for new A/C compressor, coil and install

Second step: Contact next company with A-list rating on AngiesList.com. Another technician in our house, looks over everything and we discuss options. He addresses some issues with specific brands and provides some reading materials and advice.

QUOTE: ~$3,500 for A/C compressor, coil, furnace and install

Now, after getting quite a bit of information I find myself on THIS page. So glad I found this information. I now know what R-22 is (dupont, I'm looking at you!) and SEER and R410A (Puron), what the ratings actually mean and how they can be used. Also, I know that you can in fact buy too large of an A/C unit. Know your square footage before anything else.

Yep, I'm pretty much an expert now. So, I'll be getting my license and bonding downtown tomorrow and starting in on the lucrative career of A/C install.**

______________________________
* I will actually call this company and return their ladder
** No, no I really will not become an A/C technician. That's a joke on my part. A pretty lame one, but…

Home Revisions…

Scooter and I are in the process of rearranging our entire house. Yes, that's what I said. It's a much less costly way of redecorating. Of course—being the nut that I am—I had to draw the entire area out in SketchUp, furniture and all. It's essentially a digital way of doing the graph paper and cut out shapes method, but for me, much more fun.

This is the view from my office. My whole house is a dusty green color called "Campaign Green," which I equate to Coleman Tent green. It is a very nice compliment to the desert atmosphere. I have long wanted to do red accents, but my time at my previous office always told me otherwise. So many times, I would present a red/green, pink/lemony-green, deep orange/olive design and the first comment I always received was, "It's too Christmas-y." Well, too bad. I like those colors together.

Overview of the plan. I'm going to choose a brownish-red for the one wall in the living room, which will be the only thing I want to paint (except for my office).

From the bedroom door looking towards my office and front door.

I think this plan will open up our house quite a bit more. If anything, it's an excuse for me to thoroughly clean the whole place, which it is in desperate need of.

A couple things that I noticed while creating this model.

• The SketchUp database is full of user posted artifacts like furniture, appliances and more.
• The generic girl model included looks an awful lot like myself. What does that say? I'm that generic. D'oh!
• As a graphic designer/illustrator I just can't be happy with a simple "move it and see."

PS: I did not draw the bathrooms or bedrooms … yet.

Taxes! Woes…

What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin. ~Mark Twain, Notebook, 1902

Taxes are due today—well for those running a company anyway—and Federal taxes only. The rest are due with all the personal income taxes on the 15th of April. Oh la vache, what a pain in the rear my taxes were. I had all my tax paperwork to my CPA by the middle of last month. They're done today, I stop by the office and he presents me with a deposit coupon that has to be completed today. Basically, at your bank where you have your business account they will make an automatic deposit to the IRS.

Well … my bank—a credit union—won't do this transaction. Why do they even offer a business account if they aren't able to complete simple business transactions? So, they send me to a large bank. Apparently, that means something like Bank of America or Chase. Well, they won't do the transaction either because I don't have my business account with them. So, long story short, I have to go and send the money today as quickly as possible and eat the late fee that I'll get from the IRS. Jeesh! I spent 4 hours running around town today from bank to bank to pretty much get nowhere.

Taxes, after all, are dues that we pay for the privileges of membership in an organized society. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt

Snow Day…

It's not too often that we get actual snow out here in Tucson—at least not down in the city. But this morning, after 2 straight days of rain, we woke up to this.




I realize it's nothing special for those in cold climates, but it's a lot of fun out here.

A Changing Landscape

About a year ago Lindsay and I were able to redo our backyard. By that, I mean actually live in it. We needed some help getting all of the weeds out, mostly because every time we would spend some time out there, the weeds would be back within a week. So, one Saturday morning a landscaping crew came out and within an hour our backyard went from overgrown brush to bare dirt.

A week later, Lindsay and I spent 3 days carting 10 tons and 350 wheelbarrows full of gravel from our driveway to our back yard. It has been an amazing change for us and our small house has gone from 1 living room to 2.

Before: None of these plants were planted in our yard,
just weeds that blew in over the years. Over the years
we found lots of scary critters back here: snakes, centipedes,
pack rats, lots and lots of spiders and others.

After pulling the weeds, we laid down the weed
barrier to help keep the yard weed-free longer. This was
a lot of work and a lot of the nails ended up being bent
by all the calichee in the ground.

After 2 days of carting gravel, we ended up here! I still
don't know what we were thinking about doing this in July
in the Arizona heat, but we are very happy that this is done.
This year, we plan on adding some container gardening for
fresh veggies and flowers.

This is the fire pit that Mom got us for Christmas. It's been used
numerous times and helps keep it warm and mosquito free.
I took this shot with a 10 second time exposure to try and
capture some of the flames.