As much as I always tell people that they need to get their debt under control and knocked out, I'll also freely admit that I'm not flawless and I do have a bunch of debt sitting around. The mortgage on the house, obviously. But also credit card debt. A lot of it comes from a particularly rough summer a few years ago (Tucker needed surgery, the air conditioner needed to be replaced, some other expensive event that escapes me at the moment), but a lot of the rest is just general stupidity or impulse purchases or the usual "something came up". Life gets in the way of our perfect ideas, but the important thing is to keep soldiering on and get it under control.

A useful tool to help out with that is a balance transfer offer that your credit cards will frequently give you. They're pretty standard - your rate drops to some low number (usually between 0-7%) for several months or years (or if you're really lucky, until the balance is paid off), and then hops back up to whatever your normal ... continue reading Running the numbers

I wanted to write this up real quick before I forgot.

Babe and I went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner tonight. We ordered the KJ bucket to split - mussels, scallops, and crab. It was very good.

But, unfortunately, about 5 of the mussels were closed and hence inedible. So later when the waitress came over to ask how we were doing, we told her that several of the mussels were unopened. To her credit she immediately said that that wasn't good and she'd get it taken care of and they'd probably just re-make the entire bucket. Sounded fine to us.

She came back a few minutes later, apologized, and said that they could only re-make the mussels, since the rest of the food had been eaten. That was fine with us since, after all, all of the other food was fine. We just wanted some more mussels.

A few minutes later, the manager brought over a fresh pot of mussels and made a big production of opening up the top, telling us that they got it right, and if there were any problems they'd keep re-doing ... continue reading The dessert is alive!

Alex is going through a fearful stage. He periodically decides some of his stuffed animals and toys are scary, and he wants them out of his room.

To date, this is what has been banished:

All 3 monkeys

Curious George

His turtle pillow (a Pillow Pet)

2 dragons

A penguin (Opus)

A 3-foot tall Easter bunny

Spring 1992: I'm a junior in high school, driving my dad's pickup truck to school. It's pretty early in the morning, and the horizon is ablaze with color. I've got Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" playing loudly on the radio, and the birds in the sky seem to dance in tune with the melody. My friend Jonathan has introduced me to the music of Vivaldi, and it's the first classical piece with which I've made a connection. The music stirs me, provides a solace in the turmoil of adolescence. Later I will identify what I love about Vivaldi: the deep dramatic tones. I hear bass, strings, and a melancholy mood. It's the cello that rings out, leaving such an indelible impression on me.

Spring 1994: I'm a freshman in college, meeting with Professor Miller, my freshman advisor. We discuss my interests, and I tell him I'd love to play the cello, but I can't afford lessons. He encourages me to talk to Professor Lessing, who plays cello in the college orchestra. He's sure an arrangement could be worked out ... continue reading The Four Seasons: Spring

I'm sitting at my dining room table on a Tuesday afternoon. It's a snow day; we've kept our son home from daycare, and I've used this excuse to stay home from work. Alex, two years old, is napping upstairs; my husband, Jim, is working at his computer in the living room.

Sally, our smallest basset hound, is sitting beside my chair, waiting for some attention. I'm trying to read, but she's persistent. I reach my hand down to scratch her under the chin, and though she'll sit like this all day if I keep petting her, I'm obliged to continue.

At 35 pounds, Sally resembles a beagle more than a basset. Her small but strong body is covered in short, white fur that looks like it's freckled; her head and ears are brown, while her face is growing whiter every year. Her soulful, intelligent eyes are a chocolate brown, pleading for more attention while always alert for something to bark at.

Tucker, just over a year old, wanders over. He outweighs Sally by ten pounds, and by the size of his paws ... continue reading A Day With My Dogs

I took Alex to Story Time at the Library today. Instead of the usual Mr. John reading books, they had a special event - Mother Goose was in one of the bigger rooms and it was a big production. Apparently we should have registered in advance, but fortunately they still had sufficient space for the people that didn't know about it.

So Mother Goose told some stories and had ... continue reading Mother Goose at the Library