Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Recurring car sounds

We had our left axle replaced by Johnson's Automotive at the beginning of the summer because the van was making a clicking sound when turning. Almost right after that, we started hearing another sound when turning the wheel, kind of like a squeaky fast clicking. We took it back to Johnson's, thinking it had to do with the axle again, but alas, the sound stopped the day I brought it in. I explained the sound to the mechanic, and he suggested that it might be squeaky bearings in need of lubrication and that when we hear the sound we could bring it right over anytime. OK, great.

But now, it's as if our van is taunting us. The sound comes and goes, only occurring on weekends, or other times when we cannot possibly take it right over to the automotive shop. So we haven't been able to get a positive answer yet. I figure that since the sound is only occasional, it must not be too critical. It does get annoying, though.

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Monday, September 29, 2008

Paperwork shuffle

One important thing to keep in mind when shopping for mortgage quotes is to ask the bank if the mortgage is through their institution, or if they are selling it to another bank. For example, we decided to go with a local bank for our mortgage because we figured it would be easier to deal with. Imagine our surprise when we discovered the bank had sold our mortgage to Washington Mutual. It didn't make much difference to us at the time, but now that we are dealing with a large insurance claim that involves the mortgage company, I really wish we could deal with it locally.

Apparently, when the claim is over five thousand dollars, the check is made payable to the mortgage company as well as the homeowners. The mortgage then deposits the money into a restricted account and will only release half of the funds until the homeowners send in a bunch of paperwork to prove they are actually having the house fixed. Once the work is completed to their approval, they release the rest of the money to the homeowners so they can pay for the work.

So we are busy juggling through paperwork, while work is being done and the contractors (understandably) want to be paid for their work. Then a couple of days ago, Washington Mutual was bought out by JP Morgan Chase. Oh, great. So now we are worried that this will slow things down even more and it will take longer to see the money.

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Saturday, September 27, 2008

Computer future

As I mentioned in my last post, it is getting more and more difficult to share one computer between my husband and I. Although all of his sources of income are internet-based, I also make a little cash with my blogs. So he is on the computer about 80% of the time, while I squeeze my online work in the remaining 20% of the time. This is a fair arrangement, I think, but it is frustrating sometimes to juggle the other household tasks and errands around my other jobs and the online ones.

We have been considering setting up the old desktop computer again, since we had the hard drive rebuilt. We are just hesitant, since we don't know what the future will hold. We will probably have to put it in storage while we build our tiny house on the land we purchased.

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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Timeshare computer

A few months back, the desktop computer that my husband did most of his web design work on crashed beyond repair. Rather than purchasing a new one, we decided to take turns using the laptop with separate log-in profiles. This has put quite a strain on the laptop memory, which causes it to run very slow. Simply booting up and logging on takes a good 5-10 minutes, and switching users takes just as long.

I think a better idea would be for us to go down to the library while the kids are in school, so one of us can use our laptop and the other can use one of the library's computers. Then we can knock our work out at the same time, and spend less time overall on computers and online.

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Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Vegetarian at heart

If it were up to me, our family would be vegetarians. It's not that I hate meat, but I could take it or leave it. My children prefer vegetables to meat in their meals, and would live on fruits and veggies alone if they could. We went completely vegetarian for a little over one year, but my husband got bored with the tofu and bean concoctions and started craving meat again. I mean, it's not like he would ever join a bacon of the month club or anything, but he does enjoy meat a few times a week - especially if it is cooked on the grill.

The thing I miss the most about banning meat from the kitchen is the ease of cleaning. I feel like my kitchen is much more sanitary when I don't have to worry about cleaning up after raw chicken, pork, or beef that has been prepared there. With meat, you have to be conscious of which utensil was used for what, and did it touch any raw meat, or did anything drip on the counter, etc... It is much easier to clean the cutting board and the knives if they were only used to chop veggies.

Oh well, at least we have two or three vegetarian dinners in our house per week, which is a reasonable compromise between the meat lover and the veggie lovers.

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