Halloween Pumpkin - 2008

So every year we carve a pumpkin for Halloween. It is always a fun evening that we look forward to. Here is a picture of the pumpkin that we carved this year!!

Birthday snowman and another trip to Seattle

Hello!

Sherri celebrated her 27th Birthday on the 12th and we had my mom, my dad and Susan over for dinner. We had received some snow that day and my mom, unbeknownst to us, was outside making a "birthday snowman" for Sherri before she came in. So when she got here we looked outside and this is what we saw...

Pretty funny.

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Also, I got a call from my boss yesterday asking if I would mind going to help some of the hotels that we have in Seattle for a couple of weeks. The economic downturn has really hurt them and they are in need of some extra help. I will be in Seattle from November 2 - 14. Sherri and I aren't looking forward to being apart for a couple of weeks but we make it a point to talk several times a day when I travel and we text a lot, so it will be OK.

That's all for now

Taxes...the truth

During this presidential election there has been a lot of focus on each candidates tax plan. I found this great chart put out by a non-partisan tax group that helps explain exactly what each candidates tax plan will do.

I am sure that I will blog more on this later as I have some VERY strong feelings when it comes to taxes and redistribution of wealth.

What a difference a week makes..

This picture was taken last weekend, after we put up some of our fall decorations.

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This picture was taken this week after our first snowfall!!

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All of the snow has melted and it has been replaced by rain, but winter is certainly on its way!!

Missy hates us...

We bought our cat, Missy, a great new Christmas outfit. It comes with a reindeer hat and a jingle bell neck thing. She absolutely hates it. But it looks SOOO funny. Here is a picture of her trying it on. She is SO not happy. Pets are great fun.

Please Use Spell Check..

Sherri and I were at True Value looking at Christmas lights and we noticed a spelling error on ALL of their boxes of multi-colored LED lights. All of the other colored boxes said "Strawberry", but these "special" boxes said "Starwberry". How is it that thousands of labels were printed, attached to boxes, sent to True Values across the country, and this was not caught? I am pretty sure that someone lost their job when this was discovered.

Economy...

Hello Readers!!

The economy has been front and center in national news recently and financial matters seem to be at the front of everyones mind. We all have to be savvy and smart with our finances, one way that we can do that is choosing where we keep our money. Local banks and financial institutions are great, but for saving money they offer some of the lowest interest rates around. Sherri and I use ING Direct for our general and emergency savings accounts because they pay some of the highest rates around. We have been VERY happy with them and highly recommend them!!

We received this from ING Direct and I really liked it and thought I would pass it on. It is a good read and helps provide some good financial points.

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OUR DECLARATION OF FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE.

1 - We will spend less than we earn. Saving a little out of every dollar we bring home is the foundation of independence. Without it, we can’t build equity in our home, we can’t invest for the future, and we can’t be ready for challenging times. We promise to pay ourselves, always.

2 - We will use our home as a savings account. Besides shelter and comfort for our family, the role of a house in our financial life is to build equity. We will have a healthy down payment when we buy. We’ll choose the mortgage that lets us pay down the principal fastest. And then we’ll leave that equity safe where it is instead of spending it on things that don’t last.

3 - We will take care of our money. It’s not enough to have money in a bank. We will put it where it will grow. We’ll keep track of it. And we’ll check every account we have every year to protect ourselves against fraud.

4 - We will defend our credit worthiness. Good credit is going to be precious in the years to come. We will pay our bills on time. We’ll borrow only when we need to and in amounts we can comfortably pay back. And then we’ll do just that.

5 - We will ignore unsolicited credit card marketing. We decide when we need a credit card, not some marketer. And mostly, we probably don’t need another one at all. We won’t even open those solicitations. We’ll shred them.

6 - We will know the cost of borrowing. The interest lenders charge us is real money, too. When we buy a mortgage or finance a purchase, we’ll figure out what that interest is really going to cost in dollars, add it to the purchase price, and ask ourselves if it’s still worth it.

7 - We will invest for the long term. Futures are built out of patience and prudence, not luck. We will not put off being a saver because we think there’s a lottery win in our future, in Vegas or on Wall Street.

8 - We will take care of the things we have. We work hard for our money, and it’s disrespectful to waste it – or the planet – by treating our possessions as disposable.

9 - We will remember what matters. We are not the things we own. If we have to spend and spend on bigger, more impressive things to keep up with our friends, then they are not our friends at all.

10 - We will be heard. Our representatives in government and the corporations we deal with need to know that we are paying attention. If we’re silent, we’re accepting the status quo, and the business practices that got our country into this situation will continue. We are not going to accept that.