Archive for April, 2009

One of Joe’s more extraordinary photos

Kasia April 25th, 2009

Take a look here.

Not sure what I can add to this…

Kasia April 25th, 2009

Since the embed emphatically did NOT work, here it is.

Of COURSE it’s not anti-Howard!

Kasia April 24th, 2009

Some people are so sensitive, what with their talk of, you know, slander and libel and calumny. And lawyers.

Thanks, Digi. Curtsies to both you and the Curt Jester.

At last…

Kasia April 22nd, 2009

So – just short of 90 days after the wedding, I have finally succeeded in changing my driver’s license.

I tried to go a week or so after the wedding, but was turned away because I hadn’t updated my name with Social Security yet. Then I tried to go on another convenient day, and it turned out it was Presidents’ Day. (Yeah, you know, one of those “holidays” that normal people don’t have off? Only government agents and banks?) Two other times I tried to go but was deterred by the length of the line and the shortness of my time. (Hey, once in a while you do get in and out in a hurry – it didn’t hurt to try.)

Today…well, I waited in line for just shy of an hour (good thing I’d brought a book), but I:

- got my name changed on my license
- ordered one of those fancy-schmancy “enhanced” licenses for quick and easy border crossings (my passport is about to expire, and it’s looking like they might actually stick with their June 2009 date for requiring a passport or similar for land crossing into Canada)
- got my title and registration updated with my new name

Alas, it’s never quite as simple as you think…I just looked more closely at my new registration, and it has my old driver’s license number on it. (D’OH!!) So I’ll call the Secretary of State tomorrow and see if they can fix it and mail me a new one. (It never hurts to ask.)

I really need to make friends with someone who works for the SOS…sigh…  :-p

Now, I still need to change my name with the utility companies…and the mortgage companies…and on the title to the condo…and on my library card and my bus pass debit card…and I’ve filled out my new passport application, so I can mail that off in my three-pay May…

Ain’t marriage grand?  :-)

Pantry percolations

Kasia April 22nd, 2009

As some of you know, Canuck and I reside in a lovely, though not overlarge, apartment-style condo. Particularly not overlarge: the kitchen. What’s more, the existing cabinetry doesn’t really make the most of the possible storage space. (TBS has a nearly identical condo in the same complex, but her kitchen is laid out much better.)

We’re not in a position to remodel the kitchen at present, nor are we likely to be in the next few years. There are other priorities: heating/cooling, car, etc. And we’re not likely to be able to move any time soon, given that selling a home in metro Detroit right now is pretty much a pipe dream. So I had been thinking about ways we could maximize our current space.

Well, it occurred to me that we have an exceptionally large hall closet that was just not being used to its full capacity. So my beloved and I went to Home Depot and priced out, then bought, some shelving – nothing fancy, just the stuff where you screw some metal strips to the wall, attach brackets to the strips, and pop the pre-made shelves onto the brackets. Not ideal, and certainly not the prettiest option (though also not the ugliest!), but it’ll do in a pinch.

Let me just pause for a moment and admire the fact that my beloved managed this home improvement project with just one trip to Home Depot. (A fellow parishioner – male, of course – was very impressed by this.) Oooooo…  :-)

So now we have a makeshift pantry. I think we’ll be getting another shelf or two eventually, but it’s a start. I am a very happy little Clam about this.

We also decided, after some considerable deliberation, to use the Christmas gift money that Mère de Canuque had allocated for me to purchase a Costco membership. So far, I think it was worth it; even if we just bought gas there, based on current prices and our current consumption, we could pay for the membership in gas savings alone. (It’d take a bit of planning to not have to go out of the way to do so, but it is theoretically very feasible – Costco is not much out of the way of our route to and from church each week, for starters, and that’s not the only reason we go by 696 and Gratiot.)

Obviously, we’re not going to be buying a lot of fresh food in bulk with just the two of us; but we were pretty pleased with our options for nonperishables and non-food household items. We’re being very careful – it’s easy to spend a lot of money there! – and watching our budget, but so far, so good.

Anyway. One of the things I was thinking we might try purchasing in bulk is flour. (Canuck and I both really enjoy making bread; he makes a mean pizza; etc.) We haven’t done so yet, primarily because we don’t have a good storage option for a large quantity of flour as of yet. But I found myself wondering whether an airtight Rubbermaid bin (like we use for our cat food) mightn’t be the solution.

Well, I went online on my lunch today, and I have to admit that I’m confused. Perhaps one of my blog friends could help?

I found some beautiful, professional-grade ingredient bins that were designed for just such a purpose. However, those run over $200 each. I don’t think we’re going to realize much savings on buying bulk flour, if we’re weighing the savings against the cost of investing in a $225 flour bin. At the least, it’ll be many years before we break even; and who knows what may change between now and then? (Yes, I saw the $105 economy bin, but I’ve dealt with those kinds of lids before, and I’d be shocked if it’s airtight. I don’t think they even claim it as airtight on the site. And I was really thinking more in the $25 – 50 range…)

I also found smaller containers, more in the 12 – 22 quart range, which would work in a pinch. But really, I have a cracker jar that holds (I’d guess) around five pounds of flour, that I would probably continue to keep in the kitchen for convenient day-to-day use. (I have another one for sugar.) I’m really looking for a big bin that I can dump the bag into and tuck into a corner. The smaller containers would, I think, be a bit of a nuisance.

I did find this, but I noticed that the way they advertise it is for holding, say, a bunch of bags and boxes of snacks. I’m wondering if there’s a food-safety issue associated with dumping foodstuffs into it? If so, is that something a lining (whether a plastic bag or the original flour sack) could neutralize? Or is this just the way they’re advertising this, and it could really be used in the way I’m envisioning?

Finally, I also found containers that advertise as airtight pet-food containers, rather like this one. Canuck and I currently use a similar bin to this, though smaller and without casters, for our dry cat food. (The boys are on the pricy prescription fatcat kibble from the vet, so you’d better believe I buy in bulk and make it last as long as I can). I’ve always just emptied the bag into the bin, but now I’m wondering if there’s a safety issue involved there. (It does get washed periodically.) I’m thinking specifically of the melamine-in-pet-food scare, and then the BPAs in plastic baby bottles, and wondering if this kind of bin is (a) designed to be food-safe, and (b) actually food-safe.

What do you know? Anyone out there have insights? I have to say that the cats don’t seem any the worse for wear, and I’ve been using the bin for a couple of years now…but is this something that Protective Services would take away our hypothetical kids for?

I wonder how many of these yahoos call themselves “pro-choice”?

Kasia April 10th, 2009

So the Bidens adopted a German Shepherd puppy from a breeder, and animal rights activists have been going (excuse the term) ape.

Ya know what? All things being equal, I’d rather they had adopted a shelter dog too. Lots of animals out there who need good homes…plus not a lot of no-kill shelters…it adds up to a sad situation.

But ya know what else?

It’s not my business.

Nor is it PETA’s. I’m not really even sure why the Veep adopting a pet is considered newsworthy; but the only people who were party to the transaction were Joe Biden, Jill Biden, and the breeder. Period. No one else gets a say. (Not even President Obama, unless the Bidens decided to consult him.)

And yes, I said “transaction”. Puppies, kittens, cats, dogs – they’re wonderful creatures. They’re cute, they’re lovable, and the long-suffering Canuck will gladly tell you what a sucker I am for them. But they’re not people. They are chattel. And although I am happy to report that it is illegal to torture or harm pets – even ones you own – you do still own them, at least in a legal sense.

How someone can make death threats against the Bidens and the puppy breeder for this is beyond me.

But I’ll bet you a cookie that the folks who did, see no problem with abortion.

C’mon, guys – isn’t this another “choice”?

Testament to sad times

Kasia April 7th, 2009

There are a lot of vacant or auction homes right now, and a lot of people without homes or jobs. I’m not sure why this particular auction home makes me so sad, except maybe that I’ve loved this house for years and wished I could buy it.

I don’t think that’s the only reason, though. It’s definitely one reason – here my dream house is going up for auction starting at $10,000 and I can’t buy it. That’s grounds to be a little bummed.

For those who are wondering why not: terms of sale are cash, for one thing; and I already have a mortgage on the little condo Canuck and I are calling home, for another. Unloading a property in Michigan in this economy is the stuff prayers are made of (which is why that house is up for auction right now). Besides, on my salary we’re in no position to maintain a house like that. Even if we got the house for $40 or $50 K, and could finance it, what happens when you need a new roof, or the septic field – which I guarantee that house has – goes kaputt? Old houses need ready cash. (Just ask my poor dad, who has owned several, including a notorious money pit about fifty years older than the house we’re talking about, and a barn of a house from the 1920s that was, I gather, a nightmare to heat.)

Anyway. I can see that that’s part of what’s making me sad.

But I think more of it is that I’m looking at this 100+ year old house – maintained very well if the exterior is any indicator – that someone else has loved and lost.

People other than me loved this house enough to maintain it to last the past 108 years: through wars and the Depression and lots of lean times. And maybe it’s my imagination, but I think it looks like a house that’s held a lot of love. How do you fill four bedrooms, but with family and friends?

But the last someone who had this house…who knows? Maybe they couldn’t afford it when they bought it. Or maybe they bought a different house expecting to be able to sell this one (because it’s been on the market for some time), only to find that the bubble had burst, and they made two payments for as long as they could, until… Or maybe they lost a job – or two, or more - and simply ran out of savings.

I don’t personally know anyone who I know to have fallen in the first category, but I know plenty of people who fall in the other two. And I suppose a lot of what’s making me so sad about this house is that it reminds me of those people. It reminds me of friends and acquaintances who, through bad decisions or bad luck (and in some cases, both) have lost their financial footing and are trying to get it back in other, less economically ravaged areas. It reminds me of others I know who are on the edge, or near it, and who are living every day with the knowledge that that could happen to their house next.

Yeah.

I think that’s why I’m so sad to see it up for auction.

It’s Michigan in a nutshell.

Is it just me…

Kasia April 1st, 2009

…or is there a certain irony to a bankruptcy lawyer accepting Visa and Mastercard?

Get your free Catholic Blog at StBlogs Catholic Blogs