New Venture

For a while now I have batted around the idea of owning some apartments. I think it would be a great way to have some extra income every month. There would be some downsides to it, but I think it would be great to have that extra income to add to the bottom line every month. I think I would do the eco thing and get eco green mattress for the apartments I would own. The other mattresses last a while and then people just throw them out. With an eco green one, when it comes time to retire it, at least nothing will be harmed in doing so. Perhaps this can all come together one day.

Perhaps It Is Time

I haven't been exercising as much this year as I did last year. I believe that lack of exercise is beginning to show. I don't seem to be growing vertically as fast as I am growing horizontally. Perhaps it is time to invest in some fat burner pills or drinks to get the extra weight off. I would rather not go that route, though. Those things tend to be just the easy way out and not don't keep things off forever. Nope, the best way to get thing is the old fashioned way: exercising and eating right.

Happy Halloween

It is Halloween and time to get some candy. This year, our oldest is going as Mario, our middle son is going as Wa Wa Wubsy, and the baby is going as a bee. Should be pretty fun. We are going to go over to mother-in-law's house in a bit to get what she has for the boys over there. Then it is back to our neighborhood to get more candy and to give more candy out. This year, we are not going to be leaving the candy out on the front porch again. Last year, we had to leave to go to the inlaws and left a big huge bowl of dum dum suckers out on the porch. When we came back, all of the suckers were gone including the bowl. It was not a good looking bowl so I don't know why someone would take it. Note to self, don't trust older kids on Halloween. Some of them like to take more than just candy home.

Every Week

It's Saturday and do you know what that means? It means television is full of infomercials. Everything from the best weight loss pills to the best vacuum cleaner is being sold today on television. I don't understand fully why everything is put into a huge commercial on Saturdays. Usually, I'm too busy on a Saturday to sit and buy everything I see advertised on tv. I guess those commercials work, though, because they keep coming on tv.

Wow

I was watching a show on tv the other day and this lady was showing off her wedding ring. Her ring had one of the biggest diamonds I have every seen. If it was real, that hand must be super muscular because it was holding up a lot of weight. The thing made the ring I bought for my wife seem like something you would find at Walmart. It was honestly huge. I really can't understand why a woman would feel that she needed a diamond that big. I'm also afraid that every thief that would see her would feel the same way.

Vacation Needed

It seems that vacations are dirt cheap nowadays. You can honestly go on a week long cruise to Alaska or Mexico for a few hundred dollars a person. I wish we could get orlando vacations just as cheap. It would be fun to take the kids to see Disneyland or Universal Studios. It just isn't as cheap as the other options I mentioned. A vacation is definitely needed, but not at the price where we are paying for it until we go on vacation again.

The True Halloween

When I was growing up, Halloween was about getting the most candy. You would dress up and go around the neighborhood and get candy from the neighbors. Then, you would have a huge stash of candy to dig into for the next month of so. You even knew what houses to go to to get the best candy and which ones to avoid (we always avoided the dentist's house because all he gave out was toothbrushes). Now, it seems Halloween is about dressing up as slutty as possible and seeing how much vandalism you can get away with. Halloween is supposed to be a fun holiday. Please, raise your kids to keep it that way so it doesn't get destroyed for those of us who want to give our kids the same experience on Halloween that we had.

Progression

There has been a lot of talk about the health care system in this country. Many feel that we can't get the government involved at all. That would mean the doom and gloom of this great country. I think the government does need to get involved. It got involved when people were losing their homes. It needs to get involved since many can't get medical help and those that can, end up with medical debt for the rest of their lives.

Those who are for it, but think the government is not doing enough right now need to remember that social security did not originally include some things it does today. it used to just cover old and poor in terms of a monthly income. Now, it has social security disability and social security benefits for survivors.

The insurance industry says the government should not be involved and to let the free market determine how to deal with health care. In my opinion, the free market is doing a pretty crappy job when it comes to the health of the people in this country. Your health should never be determined by what the market deems fit.

Bad Calories

Seeing how it is Halloween, the calorie intake for me and my wife have taken a steep spike. We were saying that if you eat a lot of candy, you should also eat a lot of healthy stuff. That would cancell each other out and you wouldn't gain any weight.
Not sure if that is medically true, but logically it makes sense.

Now, I'm not saying that strategy is as good as getting a bunch of fat burners and using those to take the weight off. I just think our way may be more fun.

Easy Workout

My wife and I were talking today and she mentioned that she liked the body tone I had when I was working on a production line. On that line, I was lifting 45 pounds every 2 seconds. It really helped the body tone. However, my current job doesn't have much lifting at all.

Now, the only lifting I do at work is to get the soda from the desk to my mouth. It would be nice if I could get a Kettlebell. That way, perhaps I could lift that on an hourly basis while I am working. Not sure if that would be allowed. If it were allowed, I would have to trade off hands. One would exercise, the other would write code. Not sure how productive that would be.

Feeling Old

There was a time when I would come home from work and still have energy to do things. I could stay up for a few more hours and watch tv or just plain do nothing. Anymore, however, I can't seem to stay awake past 9:30 on most nights. And, yes, I have three kids, but my job has changed to where it doesn't require that much energy, so you would think it would equal out.

I'm thinking I am just reaching the point where no matter what I do or change, as long as I have kids in the house, I will always be tired and my favotire potatoe chips will always be gone.

Seasonal

Recently my wife has started looking for a part-time seasonal job. We have been working hard to get our student loan debt paid off, which makes things kind of tight, so we figured it would be nice to have a little extra money for Christmas. It's kind of hard to find just the right job though. She needs something that's evenings and weekends so she could still be home during the week with the boys, plus she needs something that doesn't require a degree or experience since most of her jobs have been phone jobs and fast food. The other day she was looking through the classifieds and couldn't really find much. There was almost a whole page for Nurses Job Searches but obviously she can't do that without a degree. She only found one job in the whole 5 pages that might work. It's ok if she can't get a job, we can get buy without it, it would just be nice to not worry about Christmas costs.

Floor plans

Next year I plan to remodel some of the flooring in our house. We have dark green carpet through most of the house, linoleum in the kitchen and 2 bathrooms and tile in the laundry room and 2 bathrooms. The tile is great, the rest not so much. So next year with tax return money I want to at least get the living room and kitchen done. We want to put hardwood floor in those rooms. The living room carpet especially needs the makeover after 1.5 years of a dumb cat who thought it was his own big private litter box. I'd also like to get the other 2 bathrooms tiled if we can. We already have some tiles in our garage that were left from the previous owner, so we'd just need the other supplies and maybe hire someone to help us since we've never tiled. If we can find a good deal on carpet and installation than we may get that done too, but that can wait another year if needed.

Cold-blooded

My wife is always complaining about the cold. I think she must be cold-blooded or something. Her hands and feet are always freezing and she like to warm them up on me whenever she can. Brr! I wish we could afford Las Vegas vacations every winter to get out of the cold. At least we have working heat in our house to keep us warm. Right now we have it set at 72* and I know my wife would like it higher, but it's amazing how much just a few degrees can make a difference in our gas bill. Last year we had it at 74* for a month then at 70-72* after that and there was a huge difference in our bill. So now we set it lower and then just wear a sweater and socks if we are a little chilly.

Family Pictures

Me and my beautiful wife

Family

Jason

Jacob

Nathan

The boys

And all of us again

About time

Last Saturday we finally did something we have been remiss in for 5 years. We had family pictures taken. Yep, it had been 5 years, almost to the day. Our first son was only 1 month old the last time we did, and those were just cheap WalMart pics. Luckily we didn't have to find some Naples photographer or something because my wife's sister-in-law recently took some photography courses in college and got a really nice camera and she was happy to take some pictures for us. We were glad we got it done last Saturday because this week we got snow! So we were able to have the nice autumn leaves, and it wasn't too cold, though some afternoon rain showers delayed our plans a little.

2 months away!

I can't believe Halloween is not even over and they are already having all kinds of displays and advertisements for Christmas! It's 2 whole months away for heaven's sake! We haven't even thought about holiday gifts for our kids. We have a few ideas, but haven't started buying yet and probably won't until after Thanksgiving. We have some gifts for our parents already, but that's only because my wife had a Relief Society thing that had them. A few weeks ago I did give my wife some ideas of what I might want. I'm hoping we can get some good deals on Black Friday so we don't have to spend a ton of money. Black Friday is always crazy, but if you get lucky you can find some great gifts.

On the way to bumps and bruises

Our baby Nathan just started crawling a few weeks ago. Since he was so late doing that I figured he would probably be late pulling up, cruising, and walking too. Boy were we surprised when yesterday he pulled himself up at the coffee table! That means that cruising and then walking won't be too far behind. I'm not looking forward to the bumps and bruises that come with walking. When our first son started walking he tripped every single time he got near the coffee table, tv stand, end table, etc. Every. Single. Time. His head always had bruises on it and he actually has a little scar on the bridge of his nose from tripping into my broth-in-laws coffee table. Our second son wasn't quite as clumsy, and hopefully little Nathan won't be either.

Carving pumpkins

This last Tuesday we carved pumpkins with the boys. They had fun, though they didn't like the part where we made them scoop the seeds and gunk out of their own pumpkins. We don't let them do the actual carving because we don't want any trips to the ER for severed fingers, but this year we had them drawer a picture on paper that they wanted us to carve so that it was still their design. Here's some pictures of the fun.

On the other hand

I think it would be fun to one day own an RV to take my family on trips, but on the other hand, it's much cheaper to just pack a tent. Plus if we had an RV we'd have to pay for the gas, sewage and water hookups, rv insurance and registration (and registration costs for vehicles in Utah are awful already). So while it would be nice to just pack us all into a nice comfy RV, I think we'll probably just save money and deal with trips that are not as comfortable but still worth it because we are together.

Need an upgrade

I hate how our computers never last long enough. They are practically obsolete by the time you take them out of the box! Our laptop is only 2 years old and I wish we could replace it. It has problems with the wireless network card (that we already had to send it in for once to get fixed) and overheats if you actually hold it on your lap or try to watch video on it, and then runs so slow. I wonder if industrial computers have these kinds of problems too, or if they are made to last longer. It seems that consumer products are always made with parts that are cheap but lack in quality.

Own Website

I started piecing together a website where garage bands can upload and sell their music. I'm also kicking around the idea of having a marketplace on that site where those same bands can buy and sell their merchandise for their band. I'm hoping I can piece it all together. I'm also hoping I don't need a business plan consultant or anything for it. It's just supposed to be a small thing to hopefully bring in some extra cash to the home. There are some kinks to work out, but I'm really thinking I have a good idea here.

Extended Warranty

Last year at this time, we had just recently bought our new plasma tv from Circuit City. We had so much trouble with our previous one that we spent the extra 300 dollars to get the extra warranty on it. Anymore, it seems it's almost expensive to fix these tv's as it is to buy one. Well, wouldn't you know it, a couple months after we bought the new tv from Circuit City, they went out of business. Luckily, the warranty is actually serviced by a third party. I really, really hope I don't have to ever use the warranty in the first place.

Easy Fix

The trend in America is we want everything now. We want to see results now, we want to have instant gratification, and we want things fixed now. We even have this attitude when it comes to our weight. We use weight loss pills instead of exercising. There isn't anything wrong with wanting to get things done as soon as possible. However, true, lasting results take longer than a couple days to attain. Things like lasting weight loss is one of these things. Not every goal can be put in a simple package you buy in the checkout line.

Housework Is Like ...

My wife came across a great quote the other day. It said: "Housework is like speckling a hole in the drywall and then punching a whole in the freshly-placed speckle". With the playroom in our house, that quote rings true. The wife and I cleaned it up Friday night and now, two days later, you can't tell we did anything. It's a wonder we even clean it in the first place. It's frustrating to keep in clean when the boys have so many toys with many pieces. Playing with one toy involves pieces being strewn all over the room.

Extra Cash Needed

I've been trying to thing of ways to bring is some residual income to our family. I keep seeing ideas that people have come up with that I could have easily come up with. I keep thinking if I get the right idea, I could not have to worry about food money for a while. I may have to draw the line at doing a colon cleanser review for money, but I've tried selling things and currently, I'm trying to think of something I can sell online that everyone will use and use everyday.

Sunday TV

Sunday seems to be the day for infomercials. There are infomercials for everything from acne cream, to home kitchen appliances, to brooms, and even things that say they are the best wrinkle cream. In my mind, it actually is a very smart idea to advertise on Sunday. Most people are home and just watching the tv. The products are advertised in such a way to say that you must have these items and they are life-changing products. And if you want anything on Sunday, it's something that will be life-changing.

Hide The Problem

My wife and I were watching an infomercial today where ladies would wear a bodysuit to hide the extra fat on their bodies. We were laughing at it because it always seems that people want the diet pill like Fastin or a body suit, instead of doing things that may be a little harder like dieting and exercising. Those ideas may not get the instant results we want, but the results may be more lasting. The easy way is not always the best way.

Seasonal Chore Time

Summer has finally broken and now it is winter. Well, it feels like winter, being how cold it has gotten. That's how the weather works here in Utah. With the changing of the seasons from summer to winter, the seasonal chores are on the to-do list now. We now need to close down the a/c. There is a bit of work to get this done. The pump needs to be taken out and the water drained from the a/c. It then needs to be sprayed out to get any particles out. Then, the a/c needs to be covered up and then the water line needs to be disconnected. Once that is all done, the a/c vent needs to be plugged up with some thick blankets. We do the blankets because the vent doesn't close due to a bad cover. I haven't gotten around to buying a new one.

The next chore that needs to be done is a bit tougher. The sprinkler system needs to be drained. This is more than just turning off the water. The plugs on the system need to be pulled out to let the water in the pipes drain out. To get to one of these plugs, the entire sprinkler box needs to be pulled out and then put back. The next thing that needs done is to blow the system out. I usually use my shop vac for this. Once it has been blown out, the plugs are put back, and the sprinkler box replaced. Then I probably need to say a prayer that I got all the water out so the pipes don't burst in the winter time due to water being left in there and expanding when it freezes. The first year we were in this house, that happened and it was not a pleasant experience to get the system to work again.

At least these chores only need to be addressed once or twice a year. Ahhh, the unseen joys of home ownership.