Small Places

I thouhgt my place was small until I saw this.

http://vitality.yahoo.com/video-second-act-jay-shafer-20910192

Here's Buster once we got home.

He's a tired pup.

We stopped and got ice cream at Erickson's in Carver and he got a vanilla cup - I got a kiddie size black rhaspberry cone.

The rain came for a little while and cooled things off quite a bit.

We also stopped on the way home to help a baby snapper cross rt 58. He was about 4" long.

Yardsale Summer Squash...

Just came home from a trip to pick upi my share from the CSA today. On the way I stopped at a yard sale and found a Summer Squash plant for sale. It has little summer squashes growing on it. I just brought it out to my garden area and put it down.

Here is the chili I made today.
I used Carroll Shelby's Chili Kit.
Not as hot as we like it but it does the trick.

It calls for
2 #'s of ground beef
1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
2 8 oz cans of water

I don't follow directions...

For the meat I used the 1.1 #'s of meatloaf mix beef/veal/pork, a steak tip left over from last night, and some turkey breast that I cooked earlier today.
I browned the meatloaf mix with onion and garlic, then drained it and added:
1-28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1-10 oz can of Rotel Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies
1-14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with roasted garlic and onions
1-15.5 oz can White Beans
1-15.5 oz can Black Beans
1-15.5 oz can Dark Kidney Beans

I think we're having chili dawgs for dinner tonight!

Daily Calls

I have begun calling the Tax Man daily.

Tax Man is on my sh*t l*st

If you read one of my early posts, you know that I was a first time homebuyer last June. To get the credit it requires people to paper file their tax return. I brought all my documentation to the tax guy (because there was just so much stuff I did not feel comfortable doing it myself) on MARCH 17th, in hopes that the luck of the Irish would ensure a speedy process. Yeah right!!!

During my visit I learned that to be able to claim the septic installation, (before we could pass papers - a new septic had to be installed and we paid for part of it) I needed to get the certificate of compliance from town hall. A few more documents were needed, as was a list of all the donations to charities over the past year to do an itemized return. It took me about a week to get all that stuff together and I dropped it off.

A couple weeks went by and I was thinking he must be done by now, he had to ask some other professionals some questions that arose from our meeting. I called him a couple weeks later, he was busy so I left a message asking for him to return my call with the office administrator. A couple days went by, no return call, so I went to his office after work. My phone call did not rate for a return call... he came down the stairs and had a somewhat surprised look on his face. The 'good' part was he remembered my name when he saw me. We spoke a little, I mentioned I had called and left a message but had not heard back, he said he had not returned my call as he was not done with my return. My thought is return my call and tell me you know I called and just have not had a chance to finish it yet. Don't IGNORE me. Grrrrr. He tells me he will move me to the top of his pile and muttered something about the squeaky wheel getting the grease.

Around April 14th ... I called again, I spoke with him and he told me he still has not done but there's good news, because of the flooding and Plymouth County it was declared a disaster zone and the deadline has been extended to May 11th. Yay for him bad for me, I want my return NOW! I have big plans for my tax monies. This new house I've been living in since late last June is starting to wear on me bad. This time he tells me he has moved my return to the top of the pile. Um huuummm I've heard that before. I called him on May 9th and he tells me that he hopes to get it done so he wont have to request an extension but that it is possible he wont get it done for the deadline. Are you kidding me? Right? So guess what, May 11th comes and goes and my taxes are STILL not done yet. I am livid.

I am supposed to get the first time homebuyer credit monies, a return on Federal, and a return on State!!! I have plans for it and time is ticking on the good weather. I need my land surveyed, fence installed and gardens started, not to mention the interior work I want done, and exterior siding and the roof. No one wants to do a roof in August! I get all worked up everytime I drive home and pull in the yard.

I had problems with this company last year too but not nearly this bad. Last year they just misfiled my completed return in their call list and when I called, every time they looked in the file they said it had not been completed yet when in reality it was done and just filed under the wrong last name. This year I spoke with the owner and told him of my bad experience. He said he'd make good on that. I just wanted to give this company another shot because I had gone there for quite a few years with no prior issues. Just trying to support local business.

Anyone know a GOOD RELIABLE tax professional in Plymouth MA?
Lemme know.

Quilt I won

I won this quilt at the Marshfield Fair back in the late 90's. It was created by some women from the Senior Center of Marshfield. What a score, I am finally displaying it in an easy to view place. In my previous location it was just in a dark hallway, this shot is toward the top of the ceiling of our livingroom area at our new house. The Fan pull is in the middle of the picture and our African Grey's cage is on the side, the window to the left has no trim around it but what the heck, at least there's a wall to hang the quilt on.

Spring & Summer = Yardsales!!!

I love to yardsale. Here are some things I picked up over the last two weekends.
Here are the cool things I got and started using or am planning to use. The house is a work in progress and will be that way for a while. So I will share my tore up place with you in hopes that someday you'll see what it turns into...

Hunting

We had been house hunting for quite a while. I think we started looking toward the end of 2007. We began looking on-line and in the papers, toured many, and drove in areas we thought we wanted to live in when we had time, scoping out potential new areas. We had all these hopes for our new place to be. We (ok mostly me) wanted to have a decent size lot/yard. After a while I started wanting something a little bigger. By mid-house hunting I was expecting an acre and at least 2 bedrooms.

Then... I got laid off in March of 2008. House hunting got put on hold. We had an offer in the works on a house at the time, it was an old farmhouse in Plympton. Loved it!!! It had rental income from 2 units and a decent area for us to occupy. It had a little paddock out back and a nice yard on a quiet street with a great garden space, I had big plans, then the lay-off.

So, house hunting got put on hold for a while. I ended up becoming employed after a brief stint on unemployment. I started going to the classes at the unemployment office. Some of it was informational, some was just basic stuff, I found it helpful for the most part. I ended up networking into my new job. Pure luck bumping into Joel (my 'new' boss) at a local deli. I worked with/for him at a prior company. A few weeks later I interviewed for a position and was offered a job.

House hunting, back on!!! We start looking again. We went through some of the money we had compensating for what unemployment didn't cover. So the downpayment shrunk. Our expectations lowered, due to the houses we could afford and what we originally wanted. Reality. Well, we looked at quite a few made 2 more offers that went nowhere then lowered our expectations again. Hey, third times a charm right, or so they say - another handfull of houses and a new offer. This one was countered, we had had that happen before, a house with 3 acres in Middleboro. I liked that place a lot, but it had no cellar and needed a septic installed before we could buy it. Back to the 'third time' tangent... we made the offer, it was countered, we countered and it was accepted with negotiations.

YAY finally.

*happy dance*

To be continued...

The Big Debut

This is it... I have a blog and it's all set up.

I look forward to documenting the progress on our house and keeping in touch with people.

I welcome creative comments to help with my blogging.

Enjoy!