Tatijana99’s Neighborhood

Well, it has been an interesting two weeks around this place, that's for sure. I seem to have gotten into the habit of the bulleted post again. Maybe this would be a good point to stop that and just use the standard paragraph. I think I could make that work. First, I'd like to say I hope you all had a wonderful and Merry Christmas. I know there were a few neighbors who experienced some really tragic things and to them, I would like to send out an especially warm (((HUG))) and hope that they can find peace.

Christmas time is also the time that my employer is doing it's maintenance shutdown work. Which means that I ended up working a whole lot just before and right after Christmas. Before Christmas I was setting up projects, making sure that everything was lined up for all the projects we have scheduled to complete. Someone has to help allocate money, people and line up parts for the work. Not to mention all the risk assessment stuff we've been doing lately. After Christmas is the one week period where we have to get all of the actual work completed. So this weekend has been one of hustle and bustle. Tracking project timelines, adjusting schedules and prioritizing work. There is always more work to be done than we can do, so it's a matter of starting with the high priority stuff and working down.

Good news to all the working is that every day worked is paid as triple time, plant holiday pay plus double time. In my case, I have the option to defer the holiday pay and take it as another paid day off later in the year. That means by working this week, I will add another week to my vacation and still make double time doing so. Awesome end to the year. Woohoo. But, in the middle of all that, I needed to shop for Christmas, pay all the year end bills, clean the house, do the baking and cooking adn everythign else. Whew. I made probably upwards of a gross of cookies and still haven't gotten the sugar cookies, the macaroons and the gingerbread stuff out of the fridge. I made the doughs up Christmas Eve, so tonight, the cookies get baked. I'll have pictures to share hopefully soon.

Got the new freezer, but still haven't gotten its new home set yet. The laundry room needs a thorough cleaning before it goes in there. until then, it's still in the corner of the Lego room. And no, I didn't buy that semi truck load of bricks. It's amazing what temptations having money sitting in the bank will bring. Even though I know it's supposed to go for paying bills, I still wanted to buy that stuff. Shame on me. Instead, bills will be paid and paid off. The New year will come in with much less debt than this year had. Almost every credit card will be paid in full too. Now that's a great accomplishment. Of course, knowing the credit card companies, they will lower my limits and/or cancel the accounts which, instead of helping my credit with no balances, will screw it up with closed accounts. Did I mention that I hate credit card companies? Yeah. I do. Like a dog hates a vaccuum cleaner.

Besides all that running around and going crazy, it's been pretty quiet actually, except for the huge piles of snow everywhere. Like Springtime in Chicago, only here in Kansas City. People here have a hard time driving in snow too. Maybe it's just me, but there are a lot of people in the ditch lately. Slow down and increase your distance between you. Seriously folks. Just do it. Or better yet, stay home. There, I feel better now. Alrighty, clock says it's time to go, there's an oven with my name on it, just waiting to bake some more cookies. In case I get tied up before the end of the year, I wanted to wish for every one of you to have a wonderful and happy New Year. Keep your underwear on and remain in the (semi?) upright position, at least if you are going to be out in public. Peace, Joy and Hope for the new year.

Well, ok, not mine specifically, but rather some ones on the the web that caught my interest. I plan on attempting version of all of these this holiday season. So here they are with a brief description:

• Rosettes: So many people are talking about these, I just had to find a good descriptive how-to for everyone. These bring back many fond memories as a kid. My mother used to make these and freeze them weeks in advance of Christmas and when she would take them out of the freezer, over half would be gone. <innocent whistling>
• Poofy Sugar Cookies: Yes Virginia, there is a poofy sugar cookie, one that doesn't break a tooth and is still as sweet as the sugar that goes into it. Anyways, yep. Sugar cookies the soft and poofy way.
• Coconut Creme filled Macaroons: Yes, that's correct. Filled macaroons. Actually, it's more like macaroon sandwich cookies. Take two macaroons and glue them together with coconut creme. I actually got this one just for the macaroon recipe. I want to coat the bottoms in Lindt white chocolate/coconut... Oh hell yes.
• Joy and Noel Jam Tiles: This one gets an A+ in my book for creativity, taste and simplicity. They look stunning, make great gift and are neat to layout at the Christmas buffet. Who can resist? These are at the top of my holiday cookie list. I just need to order the letter cookie cutters. Found them on Amazon! Awesome...
• Peanut Butter Cookie: I know, I know. Nothing strange or exotic on this one. But it was the words that Sarah J. Gim wrote in this article that intrigued me.

"Cookies – all of them – are never bad. Even peanut butter. I never grew up with peanut butter, don’t have even a childhood nostalgia for peanut butter, can’t stand the texture of peanut butter, am not particularly fond of the fragrance of peanut butter, cringe at the thought of how fatty fattening peanut butter is.

But a peanut butter cookie is still a cookie.

And I will eat it."

• Gingerbread: Once you scroll down through seventeen pages of pictures of the most magnificent gingerbread houses you have ever laid eyes on, you will find the details and recipe that they use to build these delicious mansions. I have had a detailed gingerbread house bakers die laying around for over ten years adn have yet to utilize it to make one single house. This is the year. I swear by all that is holy, I will at least bake the damn thing before January 1st of 2010 or everyone is invited to my house for a head shaving ceremony, mine.

And for those of you who absolutely adore Food Porn, the site you need to visit is TasteSpotting.com, where these purveyors, um, wait, they don't sell anything so I guess they really aren't purveyors. Free Food Porn! Yeah, I like the sound of that. LOL. Search for ingredients, or recipes or just oogle at the pictures displayed for your gastronomic pleasure. But be warned, it could cause hot flashes from standing in front of the stove later...

Actually, I did no such exciting thing as going to Cleveland. There was something in Ohio I wanted to go see, but can't for the life of me recall what it was. Lego Museum or soemthing maybe? Hmmm... Anywyas, where was I... Ah yes. A week has passed and I was goign to do an update on what's been going on. Once again, too much to really detail, but here goes some main points.

• Went to court over the ticket the city gave me. Won and lost. Still had court fees to pay for the ticket the city wrote, because I did have an unlicensed vehicle parked in the driveway. Bastards. Anyways, I won in that I cna park the RV in the driveway with no more trouble from the city. the odd part is, since I parked it in the storage lot, I think I'll leave it there. It's easier to get out and I can get to it 24 hours a day for access. Plus, it's far enough away that I don't have to worry about kids wanting to come visit and stay in it... Just saying. LOL
• Attorney handling the case of the RV Dude sent out the letter for demand of payment and the time for action on his part is up on Monday. Basically the letter states that we want the full amount due by Monday or we file repo paperwork. Might end up in Texas over Christmas to repo the damn thing. Approximate total owed: $12,500.00. Merry Christmas...
• One of my wonderful neighbors sent me a wonderful present of wonderful goodies from down under. I got up the morning after my Birthday a little later than usual and went out to get the mail. there was a package, which I thought was a shipment of Lego bricks at first. Until I noticed the address. Australia! I opened the box to find two bags of the most delicious cheesy snack food know to man... Cheetos Bacon Cheese Balls. Ambrosia to the common man. Only made in Australia. A whole lot of loving in that little box right there. Today at work, I sat in my office and ate them. Explaining the whole story to everyone. It was awesomeness in the First Degree. Thank you Emjay. I am beyond happy now.
• Lessee... I worked Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. Holy moses. That's more days than I've worked in a long time. So, the paycheck should be a good one. Paying down more debt... Yahoo!
• Oh, and the big deep freeze arrived. It's sitting in the corner of the Lego room for now. Monday, I get it's space all configured so we can start freezing stuff again. Right now, our fridge's freezer is jammed full of whatever will fit and the overflow is over at the kid's house in our old freezer there. Come on after Christmas food sales!
• Tuesday was a run my butt off day trying to get several things done all at once. I succeeded in most of them. But if anyone has a right front charcoal door trim panel for a 2001 Ford Escape, that would help tremendously. LOL
• Speaking of vehicles, I got the plates on our RV and even managed to take it out on a four hour road trip north of Kansas City. It was good to finally, after over a year of sitting because of the RV Dude not paying, take the thing back on the road. bad part is I had to pay for two year plates and there's only one year left on them. Gah! Damn Gubbermint...
• Did have some bad news. The main bathroom sink has died. Well, is dying. I noticed some water trickling on the floor in there. First glance it appeared to be the toilet. Upon further review, there is somethign corroded under the main sink. Like majorly corroded. So, it too is on the list. I cleaned up under the sink, dried it up with a few old towels, but the whole thing has to go. It's fifty years old, so no luck in finding a replacement. Plus, the plumbing under there is all wonky as well. It's ready to fly apart. So, that will be my big project for after the new year. I just need to baby it along and empty the tote every so often. I'm thinking it would be a good time for new tile as well...
• Maybe I should call Redz... Hmmm... LOL
• I tried out three different recipes for chocolate chip cookies. Fluffy, chewy and crunchy. All were met well and the final decision is in. Fluffy with big chips is the winner. I forgot, I made them with mini and regular chips each too. So, on to the other recipes I want to try, which I will post late. Good stuff.
• And a little side note, I've been looking for a commercial meat slicer, like Hobart or Berkel brands. You know, the big tank sized stainless steel behemoths behind the meat counter at the deli. I found one for sale but the guy had already sold it by the time I called. I want to pursue the dream of sandwich shop. I don't want to just talk about it, I want to go after it. Patiently, slowly, but I want it. So, I'll be getting some equipment to try the stuff at home before I get the physical place. Recipes too. Need to try out all sorts of things. Best part is we can eat the mistakes as well as the successes. Oh! And the bread baking as well. Yes indeed. There will be plenty fo that...
• What else have I got... Um... Oh yeah! Wookie Girl finally, to much fanfare, got her learners permit for driving! Hooray! Now we just need to get her behind the wheel and show her something. LOL. Everyone has been forewarned, Student Driver, beware! LOL. Oh, but there go the insurance rates.

Thanks for reading along!

I was sitting down with my Excel sheet tonight looking at how I was going to try and extricate myself from the voracious appetite that are my bills. Having done some massive calculations, my brain absolutely is throbbing, but a way out might be possible. I've often talked about stupid things I've done, not in a bragging rights sort of way, but in an "Oh My God! Don't Do That!!!" kind of way. By far one of the biggest of the boneheaded things I've done has to do with motorhomes. You've heard me lament about the dude in Texas who owes me, lemme see now... Over $11,000 for the motorhome I sold him on contract. Yup, that's right, I'm boned big time. So let me tell you the story behind what started this whole sordid mess.

Back when the Missus and I met, she had a small RV that was old, but still cool to take out for the weekend trips to the cornfields near my hometown. Not too many years after we met, the RV and us parted ways. Of course, it was replaced by a shiny new conversion van, so all was fairly well. Fast forward to a few years ago, when the RV'ing bug bit real hard. It started by me driving past the local Credit Union and seeing one parked in the back lot for sale. I inquired within and even took a tour of the unit. I was solidly hooked. Only, the one at the Credit Union was well worn, having been someone's permanent residence for the last few years. So, we opted to go see what the market had to offer.

From all the research, customer satisfaction, cost of ownership, design, etc..., we chose to go with Tiffin Motorhomes, made in Red Bay, Alabama. Just so happened, there was a new dealer right here in Kansas City. Our trip there was quite memorable. While the wife was looking at the smaller Class C motorhomes, the cost of those versus the Class A ones was very close. Only difference is the Class A ones are built on a heavy duty truck chassis, not a van or pickup type chassis. In other words, they last longer, but are a bit more expensive. They were having an end of year inventory clearance, being September and near the end of the RV season.

I don't think I even test drove the unit, as a matter of fact, I think Middle Daughter did, but the inside. Oh my...

Tiffin32BA

32 foot long, lots of space, lots of comfort. It has an oven, three burner stove, dual overhead A/C units, furnace, Convection Microwave, on and on the list goes. You could live in this thing, as a lot of people do. It served us well for over a year and we put almost 15,000 miles on it in the short time we had it. It was while we were in Michigan, getting the Mustang GT Convertible that the genereator had problems. We called the dealer and told them we could make it home and would bring it right in. When we got home and dropped the unit off, we saw a beautiful 35 footer in Chili Red and were immediately smitten.

Tiffin35TSA

A view of the inside doesn't show much difference, but the three feet in the back end makes all the difference in the world. Also, the 35 footer has a slightly heavier chassis that drives oh-so-much nicer than the 32 footer. So we had a bit of a dilemma on our hands. What to do with the 32 footer? Our options were, sell it, which we were a littel upside down on it due to financing the taxes into the loan, we could trade it in, but still, the upsidedowness of the loan, or the final option, we could rent it out through their rental program. Which we did. And then purchased the 35 footer for the same price we'd gotten the 32 footer for! (It was November) 

Not only did it have the same goodies, but it had an ice-maker in the fridge, satellite TV dish, built in vacuum system, and a bunch of other goodies. Since we had a 7% note, the rental program paid very well for the 32 foot unit, all costs plus put some money in our pocket as well. Not to mention the awesome tax deductions we got to take on both units. One as a rental home, one as a second home. Ahhh... Life was good. For about a year and a half. And then...

Well, then the rental manager quit. And things went horribly wrong. The unit had massive service charges, sat unrented for over a month and the list kept growing. More fees, more charges. We ended up pulling the unit out of the program. It barely paid for itself and all we were doing was basically paying for someone else to have a vacation. Which oddly seemed to foreshadow the circumstances of today. We engaged a broker to sell the unit and sometime after the sale, he went out of business. No word or anything. Just disappeared. Which left us holding this contract for sale on the motorhome, but still liable for it financially.

Now comes the really bad part. The guy that it was sold to turns out to have really bad credit and he gave the broker over $8,000 just to close the deal, of which I saw exactly none. The broker was supposed to have us float the note on the RV for about six months to a year so he would have time to find a lender to finance the unit and get us out from underneath it. Um, that didn't happen. He was also supposed to recover the unit if payments were not made. That didn't happen either. On and off now, the guy has been so spotty on payments that he owes going on six or seven payments, plus the insurance that I have to keep on it in case of whatever, plus I have to pay taxes on the thing since I still technically own it and due to where I live. Yeah, he owes for those as well.

Now, I'm left with engaging an attorney 900 miles away to repossess the unit, try to liquidate it and sue him for all costs and such. Yeah, court sucks. Even worse are my chances of getting the cash. So, when I talk about this on VOX in a bummer way, just know that in all, I'm about $120,000 deep when all is said and done minus whatever the unit sells at auction for. Bright Spot: These units are selling for pennies on the dollar in this financial market. I've got my work cut out just trying to remain positive that I will get out from under this thing within the next two months, I truly hope. According to the contract, he is stuck with the costs of everything, so there is that, hopefully. Anyways, the really sad part is that the 35 footer sits out in the driveway. Sitting because I'm footing the bill for the unit he currently has to keep my credit from going belly up and cannot afford to take mine out on the trips it longs to take.

It sits there, just a daily reminder to me of my stupidity. <sigh> Anyone wanna buy a used motorhome? LOL

I was reading over at the New York Times and interesting article on weight loss. I know a lot of my Vox neighbors are doing many different types of things to lose weight, myself included. I found it most interesting that the article didn't touch on exercise and diet in the traditional sense, but something completely different that apparently has an even greater benefit than just weight loss, longevity. That's right, living longer through losing weight. How you may ask? Well, I'll try to summarize the article.

First, it is not technically a diet. It does not limit what you eat, only how much. It does this through the process known as Calorie Restiction. In other words, before they had these people do this study, they studied the people. They found out what the people's current calorie burning level was. What did they burn in a day, what is the efficiency of their human power plant. Once they had that number, they used it as a baseline for the study. If you had 2000 calories, the number they cut it by was simply 25%.

Why 25%? Well, they determined that 50% was lethal in animals, not immediately, but they couldn't sustain themselves long on that. By some scientific methods, they made the determination that 25% was the magic number. Now again, this isn't a diet per-se, rather just you eating less calories than what you would normally take in by 25%. What they found was that this number would cause a weight loss of a certain size in the first several months to a year and then plateau for a while before going down further.

This is your body adjusting to the new level of intake. Now, the benfits of reducing caloric intake versus more exercise are that your body doesn't have to work so hard to burn the fat off, it does it naturally but a littel slower. It also increases your immune system, as has been shown in animal studies that showed when caloric intake was reduced, your body responded by beefing up your immune system to keep you healthy through a period of little food. Less work for the body if you are not sick, so the body burns less calories getting you well again.

Oh yeah. The longevity thing. With diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol levels through the roof, this works to reduce those as well. First, through weight loss, second through eating more wholesome foods, what they refer to as foods that are not energy dense. Like vegetables and fruits instead of nuts and sweets. Things that your body has to work harder to digest and get nutrients out of than eating a donut that goes right to your ass. It does you know. Superhighway there for it. I swear. I read about it online somewhere. Anyways...

To sum all this up, most people have a hard time restricting their diets to reduce caloric intake. In the study, they meticulously measure everything that goes in their mouths. The good part is that you don't have to do that to benefit from this type of weight loss. They just do that for the scientific integrity of the study. The most important part about doing this is to learn your "Number", what your specific caloric intake should be. Then cutting down on what you eat to come in 25% or so under that figure.

The article shares some really good information on the process and why it is much more effective for long term benefits than just dieting. It also has a couple of really good links to places like Calorie King, so you can always have a reference to what you are eating. Anyways, I hope you get a chance to read the entire article and that it is helpful in your weight loss or get fit program. I had been aware of the caloric intake reduction as a means to longevity, but never really looked at it as a viable solution for weight loss as well like this article goes into. Very well worth the read. Be sure to leave a comment on what you find interesting or complete rubbish about it as well. Always happy to hear your thoughts.

I'm driving into work tonight, another killer 12 hour night, the umpteenth in a row. I'm half awake, thinking how I'd rather still be lying in bed asleep and listening to the soft rain patter outside. Doing as I must, I'm going to work instead. As I'm driving, I flip on the radio, hoping that something on it will help to kick my brain into gear. I mean, who designs these torturous rituals we must got through? Wake up, half asleep, run a sharpened metal edge over your face, a razor and hope you don't cut off something necessary. Or how about the one of getting behind the wheel of a two ton death machine with a powerful V-8 that can crush the nearest pedestrian like yesterday's potato salad? Yeah... Nice.

Anyways, I'm in the truck, half awake, listening to the radio, flipping channels. I stop on one and hear the song 100 Years by Five for Fighting. It takes me instantly back to a concert at the high school where Wookie Girl is doing one of her last pieces. Even now, the old eyeballs are leaking some around the edges, just remembering it. There I was, sitting in the auditorium, listening to the orchestra playing through their pieces when the next piece was 100 Years. As I sat there listening, my head started running through the lyrics and I became very emotional.

I realized that there I was, twice the age I was when my little girl had come into my life, twice her age now, and before I know it, another 20 years will pass and who knows where things will be then. I realized how much I had missed of her growing up because of all the grown-up responsibilities I had. Even the Middle Daughter has said things about how much I missed out with her because I was always gone. I guess the whole thing just kind of hit me that life is so short, things fly by so fast. You turn around and when you look back, that little baby who used to run around the house in only a diaper is now a young woman and the little girl who came into my life then is now a mom with two kids and a third on the way.

I guess what my take away from all this disjointed mess is that I need to simplify things in my life, get back to where I've got time to actually live life, enjoy life, surround myself with all the wonderful things life has to offer. Immerse myself in life. To take it all in, to make every waking breath about enjoying life, not about the money. To enjoy everything I can in life. I've spent too many of my 100 Years doing what I felt I was supposed to do and missed out on a lot. I plan on spending the rest of it alive. Enjoying life.

Because, I'm 41 for a moment.... And then that moment is gone...

Cheetosbag

Finally. <burp>  All the way from Australia to my doorstep. One bag lasted all of about two hours. The longest and tastiest two hours of my life... LOL

Now for the review: While not bacony is the real sense of bacon, as in, no meaty bacony goodness inside, they did have a wonderful bacony taste. This was accomplished somehow through the miracle of modern flavoring technologies. Whatever, they taste really good, like smoky, bacony, cheesy goodness rolled into a little ball, just waiting to explode with flavor inside your mouth. It's no wonder that the bag only lasted two hours and that was severely pushing it.

Highly recommneded, however the airmail costs make these a very high priced treat. Something along the lines of $1 per ten grams. You read that right. $15 a bag with shipping costs included. So, if you know anyone in Australia, who could say, ship a whole case in the cheapest shipping method possible, slow boat to china method perhaps, they would be a great treat. Which begs to ask, why don't we make these here at home in the good old US of A? On to bag #2...

Whew. Now I have a scapegoat. It's not my fault, as it turns out, it's all my parent's fault. How you may ask? Well, let me tell you a bit about that. I was perusing some articles tonight and ran across THIS gem about how spanking your children can actually lower their IQ's. The crux of the article, which is very open to interpretation as most articles of this type are, is that spanking children is an act of agression and as such, it is responded to by the flight or fight mentality. In other words, brain shuts down and sub-concious mind take over.

Now, knowing how much we were beat as kids, I would say that it would most definitely have kept me from being a member of Mensa. I mean, I have a fairly high IQ as it stands, but how much higher was my potential if I were raised without being beaten by sticks, brooms, belts, wooden spoons and the like? Did it also affect me getting smacked in the head by my 6'5" 300 pound, line backer sized father with a fist the size of a hamhock? I'm sure it didn't help my case any that I was always the kid in the line up when he said, "And if I hear one more peep out of you boys..." that it would always be me to say the actual word, "peep" when he turned his back.

I could play the victim here and say that all of the above are reasons why I didn't get into Mensa, I truly could. But I know better. It was just plain laziness on my part. Oh, not that I couldn't get in, I was just too damn lazy to ever actually apply. LOL. Hope you had a good read. thanks for stopping by.