509 Things

Remember this?
So I did it! Today I hit 509! I know I said I would do it in a month, but I didn't. I could have, but I didn't.
I was totally ruthless with my stuff, Adam on the other hand has a strong connection to a stained lab coat, a bright orange traffic vest and a too small suit. He insists to keep the first two in case he needs a costume and the suit because it will be better to have it altered than to buy a new one.
Let work on him together okay? A new suit that fits him is the best idea. Not one that fit him when he was prepubescent. However, I was able to throw away all of his horrible acrylic sweaters which made my skin crawl when I touched them.
On my side of the closet, it's nearly bare. I got rid of all of my work clothes, old dresses and anything that I haven't worn in a year and don't fit. I have lots of room to shop now, I mean Trixie's clothes are less cramped now.

Even after everything is all done and I've hit the 500 mark, there is still a lot of purging that can be done, so I'll make another goal of 200 things before the end of May. Let's see if I can do that! Same rules apply as before.

Also? I challenge anyone else to try for 100, I bet you can do it!

Whiney!

Yesterday we bought heaps of wine, but in that haul were some bottles of ice wine. So those of you in the know would be all shocked that I bought ice wine in New Zealand, I was. But, young grasshopper, I would reply, it is possible to make ice wine, even in the warm parts of New Zealand. Yes, technology, even the ancient kind, you know the kind where you apply cold to something and it freezes!
So apparently it is possible to make Ice wine in NZ. They just cheat! I asked a few places how they did it, one place picked their ice wine grapes at the same time as all of the other ones, then froze them whole for a couple months to dry them out and concentrate their sugars then pressed and made wine. This results in a more acidic, yet sweet ice wine. It's light like a Canadian Late Harvest, not thick on the palate and really sweet like a traditional ice wine. Also, so cheap! Like $8 US a bottle! I liked it, but it does pale in comparison to Canadian late harvests or ice wines. The acidity that it has is interesting, and it helps to cut the overt sweetness. They can achieve this by picking the grapes earlier.
Another way that it was made (I learned) was to pick them a little later then freeze and crush. Results in a sweet ice wine with less acidity. Still not as good as the Canadian counterparts, and still cheap cheap cheap. The last way I learned was to pick early or late, crush then freeze... I didn't notice much difference in the freeze then crush vs the crush then freeze, still not as good as the Canadian stuff.
I also found a Late Harvest in NZ, which is left on the vines and gets a mould or a fungus (I can't remember which) and the mouldy fungus dehydrates the grapes leaving them sweeter, and makes for a late harvest. I've also had wine from Napa like this, sold as a late harvest. Here's it's also called a Nobel wine, or if you get a cheeky sommolier a rotten wine. It's more expensive than ice wine here, and still not as good as a Canadian Late Harvest.
Now a little confusion, Late Harvest in Canada (as I learned) is when the grapes are harvested late, and thereby frozen, but not as cold as ice wine. So they are harvested at perhaps minus 8 rather than minus 13, which makes them a late harvest. However here it can be the result of the mouldy fungus, and the same in Napa. So it's not a true late harvest, which I understand to be the result of actually harvesting the grapes late, when they are frozen. Perhaps I have issues with it 'cause I am Canadian and proud of our wines, like the French are of their Champagne. So I will call a late harvest a late harvest and the rest are merely rotten wines... unless of course they are Nobel.

On another note, Chardonnay.
Those who know me know I love an oaky Chardonnay, and the oakier the better. But I'm noticing a trend that there are less and less okay Chards being made, with wine makers trending towards a less oaky, less buttery Chard, which is disturbing. So I think I need to start a movement. If you want a fruity, light white wine then drink a Pinot Gris/ Grigio or a Sauv. Blanc, but please don't mess with my oaky Chardonnay, I do love it so!
(That being said, I did have a buttery un oaked chard, which was quite good, but would have been so much better with the oak.) (to make it buttery they add an enzyme, fun with chemistry!)

Finally another wine after my heart, port, or fortified wine to call an apple an apple. We found a lovely one, which was oaky and fruity and so lovely....

Hmm after all this talk of wine, I think I'm off to have a glass or two or three....

We will take a break...

...from our regularly scheduled mumblings to talk about shoes.
When I was working in a bank I put a lot of thought into my outfits everyday and made an effort to wear a different pair of shoes everyday. (in order to prevent any of them getting jealous....) Now that I'm not working I don't often find a reason to wear my mary jane heels, or my cute little heeled ankle boots, or my lovely purple faux snakeskin heels (which made all of the older ladies at the branches look at me and wonder if I was weird). Now I live in flip flops or my Sketchers which are getting old and should be retired. I look at my "work shoes" getting dusty in the closet wondering what their fate will be, since I don't see myself pushing a stroller while wearing my cute strappy green and blue sandals with a little kitten heel. I feel it's time for me to move onto some more practical shoes. While I love my fuchsia flats they haven't seen pavement in nearly 2 years, since they are meant to be worn with nylons and not socks, and in my life now, nylons aren't even considered.
So here I am, a former shoe-a-holic wondering what to do. While I have slowly and carefully weaned myself off of buying new shoes on a weekly basis, I still love them, and right now actually need some practical, yet cute shoes, I'm at a loss.
What is this practical I mention? I think I have bought myself 2 pairs of practical shoes in my whole life. Just before I went to Korea, and just before I went to England. Yet here I am desiring practical shoes. So I went looking. I went online to Zappos and looked around. Oddly enough everything that appealed to me were mary janes. Here I am 30 years old and coveting mary janes, but they're so damned cute!
I will forge on to find the perfect shoes. In the process I may have to buy several pairs. All in the name of research.
That's right, I'll take one for the team!
I'll let you know how it goes....

Oh Expensive Day.

It's been no secret that we've been on the great couch hunt. We had a few prerequisites: it needed to be leather, comfy, attractive, within our budget and black or brown. I was adamant that it not be Ikea, but Adam liked the Ikea best. Sigh. So on one of my Internet poking aroundings I found a couch which suited most of our requirements. Then today Adam and I went to go and see the couch, and it was nice, really modest design, simple, decent leather and not Ikea but still in our price range, which is dismally Ikea-ish. Unfortunately they weren't able to deliver until the 14th, which was not good for us. So we went to several other places and they had nothing we liked. Finally we went to the last place, and they had a lovely sofa, which was a rich shade of brown, very sleek, no overly poofy cushions, and nice leather. The down side is it came in a set with a reclining chair and an storage ottoman, we only wanted the sofa. I explained this to the sales guy who said it would be okay, and quoted us a price, I responded by asking if there were going to be any sales and he said maybe and he'd have to check. When he came back he said that there weren't really any sales. However I was determined to get the couch, which was slightly out of our pre-determined price range, so I explained this to the guy that we had found something very similar for a lower price. He became much more eagar to talk about a better price. So he hurried off to talk to his manager, and we made the mistake of sitting in the reclining chair, which was so cozy. When the sales guy came back I joked an commented that Adam was selling himself on the chair, so he said that he would be able to get us a really good deal on all three of the pieces if we got them all. I gave him the go ahead to see what he could do, meanwhile Adam and I talked about what would be our threshold price, and when he came back he was well below it. We accepted and it's being delivered on Tuesday!


*so every time I say we, I mean me....

On buying Costco gas....

Tonight we went to Costco and then we bought gas. We only bought it there because Maggie-Car needed gas, and conveniently there were gas pumps there. However, as we were sitting in the gas line up for an insane amount of time I wondered if Costco gas is really a good economical choice.
I rationalize:
An average car holds about 12 gallons.
Costco gas is about 10 cents a gallon cheaper.
Therefore, you save about $1.20 per fill up.
However, if you are in line to fill up for over 15 minutes (like we were), leaving your car idling, I am sure that you have wasted close to what you will save just waiting. Furthermore, I am adamant that my time is worth more $4.80/ hour! So unless I need gas, (like tonight) I won't wait in line at the Costco gas bar to save a little money.

I also wondered about the people who are waiting to buy cheaper gas. If they are like any other Costco shopper they went with a list comprised of frozen chicken breasts and toilet paper, which would come to a grand total of maybe thirty dollars. However they left with the chicken, the toilet paper, a bouquet of sunflowers, a giant watermelon, a package of Costco sized muffins, a movie, a camping stove, a infrared garbage can (we have that one, it's great), a carton of Twix and a carton of Trident. Grand total $200.00, net over spending, $170.00. I can see why saving $1.20 at the pump is so worth it!

Moving on to bigger savings. When we bought Maggie-Car the dealer told us the price (which was in the tens of thousands) and then when we began the haggling process he dropped a couple hundred dollars. To which I replied that a couple hundred on tens of thousands isn't really anything to be proud of. I told him that we needed to talk in terms of thousands, or we would leave. He gave me an utterly blank stare and went to "telephone his manager" to see what he could do. He came back with another offer of a measly couple hundred. I countered again saying that it was an unacceptable offer and that we couldn't even consider it. He went again to speak to this manager and came back, sullen. This time I asked if I could speak to the manager, as I saw this back and forth continuing all day and I didn't have the patience for it. The sales guys was shocked that I would suggest it and had no idea what to say. Apparently no one has ever asked to explain their argument to the manager before. So long story short I got my way. My theory was that it's a waste of time to haggle over a small amount relative to the total amount. Much like a couple cents on a gallon is a small amount, hardly noticeable in the grand scheme of things. Now a couple cents on a litre would be more noticeable, but only barely.

Maybe when our parents were younger and gas was under 40 cents a litre or $1.50 a gallon a couple of cents was a much larger portion of the total. I think that we've picked up budgeting from them and have it ingrained into us that a couple cents really makes a difference, when in reality not buying the carton of Twix, Trident, the flowers etc. is what will make the difference. But now I am getting onto another subject for another day.

Hello world.

I know I've been remiss in my blogging duties, I have no excuses, or apologies.
Now on with the show!

Adam signed us up for the Netflix's beta program which allows you to watch movies directly off of your computer. Initially I was not to excited about it because the movies were clearly B rated, but lately they have been getting some much better movies. I'm most excited about the range of Jane Austen movies and the workout ones, which personally, I think is brilliant on Netflix's behalf to include them. You see, you are granted one hour of watch now time per dollar you owe per month on your membership. Adam and I have the 4 at a time membership which is $23.99, so we get 24 hours of watch now movies a month. If you watch a workout video a day, that would take you over your limit. See? Brilliant marketing Netflix!

Also I've discovered this new product that I am all a-rave about. It's castile soap. (I would link to a definition, but my linky abilities are a little disabled at the moment.) Anyhow castile soap is a pure vegetable product soap, no animal fats in it, so that's great for vegetarians. I love it because it's a pure soap, not a detergent which is loaded with other stuff which are irritants. Castile soap can literally be used for EVERYTHING in the house. I use it for laundry, and it's been making my towels fluffier! I love it. I prefer it over detergents because I have crazy sensitive skin. Last summer I used a national brand which comes in a bright orange package, and it left me so irritated, I itched and itched until I bled. Bad news internets! So I try to buy sensitive kinds, but they still have the "stuff" in them, which bothers me. You can also use the castile soap to clean everything in your house (with a few exceptions). If you search it online you can find lists, I won't bother here. Some marketers sell it as a body cleanser or a shampoo, but I am a little leery about that because it has a higher PH than your hair and can be drying. So be warned. Also I've found it in peppermint and lavender scents, we have the peppermint and it's nice.
Oh and we mustn't forget that it's much more environmentally friendly than other detergents.

So that concludes my consumer report for today.

Onto other notes, I finally got all of the weeds pulled from my back yard which is nice. The citrus trees are blooming and the yard has this wonderful smell, it reminds me of jasmine tea. The past few days have been really windy and there are petals all over the yard from the flowers, and it kinda looks like a light snow! The neighbour has a tree that has flowers that grow in a ball, and several of the branches hang into our yard, it's really pretty. I'm really enjoying spring in California, although it's getting quite hot.
Next I aim to tackle my front yard, which the landlord have covered with large ground cover shrubs and trees, but there are still weeds which have infiltrated the plastic under the bark mulch. I hate that our yard looks so ghetto on such a nice block. Adam think it just looks like greenery, but I think it looks bad. I hope our neighbours see it like Adam does!

The pets are good. Chachi rolled over on command the other day and I was beside myself praising him. Bonsai is turning into an ornery old man, but he's still happy and healthy. I've started both of them on a new kind of pet food which lists meat as it's first ingredient, and contains no grain. Chachi loves it and pulls big mouthfuls out of his bowl and spits them onto the floor to pick out the new brand and leaves the old stuff behind. No matter how often I clean up the kibble around his bowl he perpetually has a radius of a couple inches of kibble around it.

Well that's all I have for now. I'm off to make Adam dinner.
ciao!