Basement, fitting furniture issues and new job

 Wow. Alot has happened since I last blogged. The basement is finished.  Or at least the structure itself.  Stuff in it? Well that's gonna take some time.  

So we painted it ourselves and installed the vinyl plank flooring.  What a cluster that started out as but after 2 days and 8 hours of missteps we finally found our grove and knocked it out the next two days and it looks fantastic.  We're still waiting to do the stairs when the a little more of the furniture etc is delivered.

So lets talk the furniture. We went over budget and picked a really nice bar & back bar out. I looked at the dimensions hard core and knew it would fit thru the door down to the basement. You know what I didn't consider? The angle of the ceiling going down. You have to tilt the bar at an angle and the closet top opposite the basement door is not tall enough (ie there's a wall in the way.) So the movers didn't even take it off the truck as they saw there was no way it was fitting. When I explained "but I measured!" They politely explained that even if they fit it thru the door itself then a) all the weight would be on the guy on the stairs (it weighs over 300 lbs) and b) it'd then have to tilt to clear the height down and then the top corner would hit the door frame.  Math is hard.  

So back to building it ourselves. Awaiting back pieces to arrive Wednesday. Front bar won't arrive til mid summer.  Ah shipping issues during a pandemic.  Patience Kati, patience. 

Knowing this new found wrinkle we went in search of a couch that would fit the tight turn and tilt. Looked everywhere until we realized it would have to be modular and not only that but the backs need to be removable. Thus La-Z-Boy is our only option.  Found the perfect one in the perfect fabric. Only issue is it won't arrive until late August/early September. But the recliner will arrive in June. Oh and it's more than double what I wanted to spend.  And like 40% more expensive than our family room furniture. Damn! La-Z-Boy ain't cheap!

But the game arrived and fits so my husband feels that's all that matters for now 😆 and we have the TV, fireplace and beer fridge.  So a bar stool or bag chair will have to do for now.  

We've taken on the attitude of "fuck it, pay now on credit to do it right" so while we've paid 100% in cash for the construction everything in it is going on credit as we did not win a thing in Vegas (figures-the one year I want/need it, it doesn't happen).  But I said 'ok but this probably means no home improvement next year as we'll just be finishing paying off all this stuff with some of next March's bonus.'  It is what it is and I finally relented that I'd rather have it done really well to enjoy the next 20 plus years. Perspective Kati, Perspective.  

Now I'm on to looking for artwork & rugs but feels like maybe I shouldn't order anything until more stuff arrives. IDK.  I almost think I should make a vision board.  Which is just a clear sign I've watched waaay too much HGTV. 😂

Oh, but I started my new job 2 weeks ago after basement completion so no time to blog at work as thankfully I'm too busy.  Days go so much quicker when you have actual work to do.  The raise will also help fund all this.  Looking forward to next year when the extra money won't all be allocated to debt. 

Basement after 5 days of work

 So work started Monday. Monday and half of Tuesday was just cutting the cement floor trench to add the halIf bath.   Did not know that concrete cutting took that long! But then the next 3 and a half days - massive progress! Plumber did 90% of his work, electrician did over 50% of his work (these two contractors on just Thursday) and Brian framed the whole basement walls and 75% of saufets (sp?l on the ceiling. Just has half a saufet left and a grid for the ceiling left before ready for finishing electric & plumbing (half day) then drywall can begin.  

 I still don't understand the grid on the ceiling because it's drywall, not an 80's drop but whatever, we'll find out. We had the new water heater installed  yesterday which means today we're dealing with iron rust sediment in our water. So I couldn't take a bath this morning and I've now filled and emptied the tub 5 times cleaning out this red grainy sand like substance. He assures me it will flush out but like dude how long does this take? I'm tired of repeatedly cleaning it without the benefits of a nice long relaxing soak or you know - being clean. He also says it's not harmful so I could take a bath or shower but how can I feel clean with this nasty grit? Hoping I finish flushing it out tonight. 

He also still says 4 weeks total but we think he's under promise / over deliver as we don't see how with how fast it's gone so far that drywall, doors and trim can take 3 weeks with only half a day needed for the rest of plumbing & electric. I guess nothing but to do but watch and see.  But he'll be working week 3 while we're in Vegas so we won't see the progress then.  

I can't seem to add photos when doing this on my mobile phone so will try to remember to edit this tomorrow to add pics of progress.

Day Dreaming - European Trip

 So I've said for years we should take a trip to Europe for either our 15th or 20th anniversary.  (We'll be celebrating 12 years this summer so we're a few years off from either).  But when thinking of what I'd like that two weeks to be.... I've come up with a itinerary that might be overly ambitious but honestly I don't know.  But with a lot of my random thoughts I kind of want to put it down somewhere to remember it so here we go. 

First off I will say Jeff and I are both lucky in that we've each individually already been to Europe as teens.  I went to England and Wales as a 12 year old as well as having went to Hungary when I was 18.  My best friend is Hungarian and I saved for months working at JC Penney to pay for the flight and spending money (I remember I had like $400 for two weeks LOL) but we stayed in a condo her family keeps for relatives and food was seriously cheap there.  Plus some relatives feeding us here and there so the money lasted and that's all that mattered.  Jeff went between his Junior and Senior year of High school as part of a touring Team USA in soccer.  They went to like 3 or 4 countries for soccer tournaments over 3 weeks.  I've never heard him say that his team won anything so I'm guessing compared to the teams out there they were not that great.  But still; I'm married to an international soccer stud. LOL

That said, I've never been to Paris and would like to go.  Jeff has been as it was one of their stops and he has a picture of his team in front of the Eiffel Tower.  I figure Paris can be done (maybe not thoroughly but well enough in 3 days).  The obvious high points being the Louvre and Eiffel.  Walking along the Seine.  And eating lots of bread and cheese. If you figure we spend most all of day one flying over, day 2-4 in Paris From there I am thinking a train or flight to Nice. It's a six and a half hour train ride or a quick flight.  Either way I think and afternoon/evening in Nice is all that's needed.  But um, Monaco is 20 mins away.  And we like to gamble.  And I think at least one day in Monaco is totally required for us.  So depending on cost of hotel we might do two nights in Nice and just day trip into Monaco.  Or two nights in Monaco and spend an afternoon in Nice.  You get the point days 5 & 6 done.  So that leaves 7 to 8 days for Italy and flying home.   I'm thinking 2 days Venice, 2 days Florence and 3 days Rome.  

The main questions in my head are to rent a car, fly or train all the rest of the way after Nice/Monaco?  It's a 6 hour drive from Monaco to Venice.  but there are towns like Genoa or Verona (Juliet's balcony?) we could stop on the way.  But then that takes away from our time there for 2 days...so a flight that only takes 70 mins out of Nice seems the obvious choice.  BUT from then on, Venice to Florence is only 3 hours.  And then Florence to Rome is only 3 hours.  And these are the towns it seems best to have a car.  But you can also take speed trains and it's only 2 hours between cities.  So then it's - is enough stuff walkable or taxi? And how much to save for such a trip?  I figure $20k.  Flights, hotels, food money & spending money.  Yowza that's a lot of money.  But it's once in a lifetime trip.  Five cities.  Can we do it?  Will it happen or will it remain a dream?

Have you ever been to any of these places? Thoughts on "must sees" or amount of time are welcome in the comments - even you're complete strangers that stumble upon this page.  I'll need to start a bit of researching eventually but 3-8 years is plenty of time to learn more LOL.  For now, it's fun to day dream. 

Basement costs - OMG

 So were we BOTH waaay off. OMG this thing is gonna be hella expensive! I thought my husband was crazy insisting the walls, plumbing & electric would be less than we paid for our kitchen granite counter and travertine backsplash. But he was so insistent that I figured giving space it would cost $1k-2k more...so I guessed that would come in around 7-8k.  Nope! Double that shit. 

We've now downgraded from tankless to just a new tank water heater. And now we have to add couch etc since old furniture won't fit thru the door. 

Thankfully his bonus was really nice. And we should get the full stimulus $2800 this weekend. And we will probably end up charging about the $3k I said in previous post was my limit. So there are 4 possibilities on how to finish financing this project. We have enough to pay for all NEEDED items. The amount we'll be needing to charge and over is for the bar & couch and golden tee arcade game etc

Option one - don't buy the stuff til next year when we have full on cash for everything all at once (seems unlikely as who wants a new beautiful space with nothing in it?

Option two - buy $3k on credit and the rest use the money I have ear marked for a 12th anniversary get away in June and instead stay home. 

Option three - sell the stocks, spend 3k on credit and maybe still need to borrow some from anniversary trip.

Option four - we win big in Vegas and have no issues. 😂🤣😆 now admittedly last trip we won enough for this option but will lightening strike twice? 

My guess it will be a combo of coming home from Vegas with some, spending some on credit, and taking some from anniversary stash. We both agree we don't want to touch stocks unless absolutely needed. And we agree instead of paying interest on our current credit we can do a no interest for a year type deal wherever we buy the couch sectional from so it's not horrible.  

Work probably starts next week. Eeek! Will be complete to the point of ready for Jeff and I to paint, and install floors and trim ourselves (to save money) about a week after we return from Vegas. We hope everything is complete in time for when we host Mother's day to show off to the family.  Oh but the layout has also changed and now the cousin will be installing a back bar with sink. And the layout changes will help make the room feel larger/ not as sectioned off into areas. And he convinced Jeff on an actual ceiling- which I wanted originally. Getting real excited now that I've seen the chalk outlines on the floor etc and really laid everything out.

13 years ago....seems like a lifetime

 I feel like a meme from the Golden Girls "Picture this...Feb 19th, 2008...."

It was Democratic primary day in Wisconsin.  A Tuesday.  I was working as an account executive for a local ABC Television affiliate.  My only plan for the day aside from work was to vote after work and the following day Jeff would come up (he used to be able to "work from home" one day a week and he chose Thursdays so that he'd come up Wednesday night, work from my apartment Thursday so that we could have a middle of the week night together before driving down for Thursday night bowling and then I'd see him again either Friday or Saturday.  I think that's when I knew he loved me for sure- when he started doing that 90 minute drive in cold January Wisconsin winter in the dark just to see me for like 4 hours.)  ANYWAY - bam!  I was fired that day at around 4:30pm.  Man do I wish they had done it in the morning instead of spending the day working but I digress.  

Looking back, I totally get why they did it.  Back the previous summer US Cellular had gone national so I had lost them as my biggest regional ad agency client.  They brought in over $800 a month of my paycheck and over $325,000 a year to the station.  It was not my fault that they went national but I was told I would need to "step up" and bring in at least $50,000 in new business to make up for it (new local biz was paid at 20% commission so would be the equivalent in my paycheck of the 3% I got from US Cellular).  I needed to step up because to get by from the US cell move, they were supplementing my income from various places as a "favor" to this shock instead of my 100% commission just suddenly being $800 lower.  

Well if you remember the economy in 2008 - you remember it was the start of the crash.  And one of the first expenses companies cut are things deemed "unnecessary" like advertising.  Especially locally.  So I after over 6 months I hadn't come close to pulling in the 50k in local business I needed.  And I was the only non-Wisconsinite sale person so I think they thought I always had one foot out the door anyway.  And I had been dating a man from my home town for almost 8 months now and it was getting serious.  So I was the easiest thing to cut for them to tighten their budgets during the downturn and forthcoming recession.  

That said.  It was devastating to me.  At this point I had worked in TV for over 7 years at three stations around the country.  I had more than tripled my salary in that time.  I had won an "employee of the month" at my first station for having the most new local biz in a month ever.  TV ad sales was my identity.  But truth be told I was burnt out for the last year even before US Cellular pulled its ads.  I was losing hair from the stress of the 100% commission.  I drove with a dictaphone so I could record billboards I saw or radio ads I heard.  I slept with a note pad next to me because I would dream of work and things I needed to remember.  I also developed a rare eating disorder called Night Eating Syndrome NES (if you're really curious, look it up but I dealt with this off and on for years during high stress and would eat up to half my daily calories in my sleep often waking 3 to 5 times between 11pm and 6am and felt the need to eat in order to fall back to sleep).  The stress was a bit all encompassing except for Jeff.  I slept thru the night on nights when he was with me.  So while we'd only been dating 8 months, he was my first phone call after filling a box and doing the walk of shame out of the building to my car.  Not my parents. (clue number whatever that he was my whole heart).  

The rare photo of me at work from back in those days. This was May 2007 at upfronts when I first started to really not like my job.  That is a fake smile and I've cut out the General Manager from the photo that I hated and the media buyer that was just an angry moron that I had to placate with schmoozing at events like this one of the aspects I really hated.  I thought I should be able to sell on facts, not what free crap I could get you.  Ugh, some of the evils of old fashion sales. 

I do not remember how quickly he said "lets move in together" as the next day, hell the next week or two, were a blur.  But I know he suggested it sometime that first few days because I learned I could get out of my lease, researched and found us an apartment (he was moving out of living with his parents to live with me), rented a Uhaul, and had my brother and a friend help Jeff and I get everything out of that apartment to our townhouse rental all in 17 days.  Looking back I was so worried (what if I'm uprooting my life for someone where it doesn't work out? Do I even really know him from 2-3 days a week?) I had never lived with a man.  Would my parents be disappointed I was quote "living in sin"?  Seven days later he proposed.  On March 15th it will have been 13 years since I said yes to my best future, I just didn't know it yet.  I couldn't imagine it at the time but really getting fired was probably the best thing that could have happened as it pushed me off a cliff I don't know what it would have taken for me to jump off of voluntarily.     

Sometimes we laugh about how far we've come from that first year living together.  Turns out we really are so alike that living together has been a breeze.  And the only fights we ever really had were those first few years when I was mentally adjusting going from corporate world (and making a hella lot of money) to being a part time hourly worker at various rando jobs.  Like I said, I used to think my job was my identity.  But it turns out when people say "do what you love" don't know that it can sometimes stress you out to no end because you care almost too much.  And if you lose it, then you lose yourself.  And instead- doing something semi-menial  that at the end of a shift I can completely forget about and live MY life.  Not live to work.  I had to find out who I was (or remember it was there all along since before I got the jobs).  Again, I know it's a privileged situation being that my husband's job and love for me lets me to this.  My mental health is so thankful for that love.  

Sometimes I miss the TV world.  Sometimes I miss having a job I was proud of.  Sometimes I still deal with "shame" of being an hourly employee somewhere.  But then I remember how good I've got it.  And just revel in the gratitude that this life thru a series of chance happenings stumbled into my lap.  

Edit to add:  The reason I remember the specific day (and I had to look up the actual date) was because after I was fired and talked to Jeff, I did call my parents next and my dad asked me "what were you planning to do tonight?" and I said, go vote for Barak Obama in the primaries.  And he said - "I really think you should do that.  It will make you feel at least a little better."  So I did.  I drove straight to my polling place, placed my vote and a little over 8 months later he became the best president of my lifetime.  So there's that too.  If had been any other Tuesday night I'm not sure I would remember aside from it was February.  

Challenge Yourself - even in small ways

 As with every new year, there are a lot of people trying to get in shape.  I'll admit I've almost never been one of those people.  I am who I am.  Not great, not horrible. I know what I like to eat.  I know that I tend to be a bit lazy when it comes to physical fitness.  I know if I over indulge for a few days, then I need to eat healthier with extra salads if I want the trend to go back down instead of keep climbing up.  Maintaining the status quo for my weight has been my basic goal my entire adult life.  Since 1999 I have gained and lost 20 lbs slowly, and repeatedly.  I'm at the bottom of that 20 but even when I've been at the top I know that small tweaks will get me to good, not life changing diet and exercise.  Could I improve even more or faster if I did challenge myself? Sure.  But I also know I'd be setting myself up for (some form of) failure because any time I've tried to exercise I either stop after a month or two because I'm lazy or I keep at it but get pissed off because the scale doesn't move much.  In 2005 & 2006 I swam twice a week 30-45 mins at a time on and off for two years.  My weight didn't do a thing.  I joined a gym 5 years ago and worked out 3-4 times a week for 6 months.  I lost 4lbs.  In six months.  

Now, the logical part of my brain knows that I was probably gaining muscle while losing fat, and muscle weighs more than fat so therefore while the scale was not changing I was healthier (the only thing to keep me going before I had to stop due to osteoarthritis took over my lower half and literally everything hurt my knees).  But I was still pissed and considered it a failure.  

So instead for Christmas I asked my in laws for a recumbent cycle.  It is not physically challenging (can't change tension, it is simply for movement of joints without weight baring).  I sit on the couch and do it.  I do not sweat, my heart rate stays fairly calm.  But I have done it every day, 5 days a week for weeks.  Not for weight loss.  Simply to keep my knees and hips feeling as good as they can.  Because I didn't think of it as weight loss, it doesn't feel like failure at all.  I thought of it as a way to help my joints.  And I've have not had to ice my knees or heating pad my hips since.  HOLY SHIT is that a win!  Now, I know that this won't last forever as my condition is degenerative and the gel shot will continue to wear off etc.  But to draw this process out is good.  This was a slight challenge to myself and it feels good to feel good.  Feeling like a failure never feels good.  

So I thought what other way can I challenge myself and my thinking with during a cold, isolated covid winter?  What's something I wish I could do? Bread. Bake bread.  Not just any bread - sourdough.  I didn't think 'I'll do this because it's supposed to be the hardest bread to make'.  I didn't even know it at the time.  No, when I go to restaurants (back when we used to do that, remember?) and they offer toast or choice of bread for a sandwich; my first question is always "do you have sour dough?"  Maybe I was a sheltered child. Maybe it was offered but I was a picky eater.  But I remember the first time I actually had sour dough was in the right spot - San Francisco, CA when I was 17.  OMG I fell in love right then and there.  I can even remember what the interior of the restaurant looked like (sage green linens and all).  I think I had sourdough with every meal the rest of the trip.  

So I looked into it, and bought a started kit.  I named my blob of fermentation Mortimer.  I had read that since it's a living thing, you should name it.  And Morty sounded like a guy who could make good bread.  I read like 25 articles (I'm not kidding) as I daily fed and warmed my blob with nothing but the oven light.  After 10 days I decided it was ready to make (smelled like sour dough, had bubbles, etc. and I had been dreaming of it for 2 weeks now).  Nope! Worst.  Bread.  Ever.  It didn't rise.  It was the weight of a brick and just as thick & dense.  Had to trash it after a few bites from me, and one bite that was instantly spit out by my husband.  But I decided I was not going to just give up.  Because how many times as an adult do we do that?  Kind of figure, oh well I tried.  Yes, but only once.  Parents wouldn't let their kids get away with giving up something they really want to do just because they tried only once.  So I read another 25 articles or so, asked friends on social media for help, made several adjustments and TADA! one week later, I have made tasty (and more importantly edible!) sourdough bread.  Was it fantastic? No, there's still room for improvement.  But I did it.  I triumphantly gave Jeff a slice stating "You want to know what success tastes like?" Is it perhaps sad that I felt so triumphant over something so minimal in the grand scheme of life? No damnit!  Celebrate any win that you feel proud of.  

As President Bartlett would ask on the West Wing; "What's Next?"  There is something I've been looking into vaguely for 18 month on and off.  Night Photography.  I originally looked into it for our Grand Canyon trip as you see so many pictures in the desert of the Milky Way.  And how many of us have tried to take a picture of the moon on our phone for it to look like blurry shit?  Since my fathers passing in August, I have inherited his Nikon.  I think once it gets warmer out I might want to really take a deeper look into doing it right.  I learned a word/phrase in college that has stuck with me: intrinsic value.  Basically, I find something valuable and I can't explain why, it just is.  Why do I love night photography? I don't know why, I just do.  Why do I like the ability to bake my own sourdough, when I could just buy it in a store (for a lot less than I ultimately paid to make it myself)?  I don't know, I just do.  

I like to challenge myself and succeed.  And I think we're all too hard on ourselves.  I think we need to celebrate the small victories, because we all need to feel good.  Soak in self congratulations, even if it's something as simple as finally getting that sink full of dishes done.  Because with this stupid isolation of covid, we have all been our own best company this past year.  And so, if you're one of those people who has been trying harder at being 'healthier' in the new year (whatever that meant to you), I hope you remember to also take care of your mind & soul and celebrate yourself for challenges you've overcome.  

New furniture & snag with old furniture

 So the furniture we ordered from Ashley Furniture less than 4 weeks ago arrived today! Woohoo!  Now, I'm a little sentimental about my old furniture and I'll tell you why.  Back in mid 2004 I was 4 years out of college, 3 years into my career as an ad exec for local television stations, and this furniture was my first major purchase as an adult. My apartment had nothing but old donations from my parents.  So this was the first time I picked something out myself.  And I was able to afford it with cash thanks to how expensive advertising was in 2004 due to it being a presidential election year and a summer Olympic year. My single largest commission check was that summer just about to start my second year at the NBC station in Charleston West Virginia.  Ah - think back to what an innocent time 2004 was LOL.  Bush running for second term.  And I thought that was bad. Bwahahaha.  How naive I was.  But do you remember your first "I'm an adult!" major purchase? I mean sure, I had been living on my own for 3 years, paying rent and bills.  But this.  This was my choice.  Not only did I purchase the couch from Lazyboy and a chair & ottoman from Ashley.  I picked out end tables (that are now our nighstands in our bedroom), artwork (photo of Grand Canyon that's now in our dining room), wall sconces, pillows and a throw.  I mean I chose the entire look of that room to express 25 year old single working woman me.   

But after 16 and a half years, it was time for a new set - couch & chair. And thanks to the stimulus check that hit our account covering almost half the cost, this was our contribution to the economy.  Would have liked to have "shopped local" but all furniture around here is pretty much big box; but hopefully our sales gal at least got a commission.  

So about 15 years ago my brother bought a new couch that had this feature where the center back of the couch folded down as a table for between either side that I thought was just cool.  But having just recently purchased my black leather couch, it would just have to be envy.  But now we own one as Jeff agreed for us, it's a nice feature.  It also has cubbie holes in the arm rests for secret food and keeping junk out of site.

 Here it is with the center table folded down.  It didn't come in black so it's a realy deep chocolate brown.  I had set aside my laptop and little lap desk on it as I'm working from home.  The table also has two outles, USB port and two cup holders.  Shown here with White Sox mascot Southpaw pillowpet, that yes we talk to as if he's a real pet.  Because we're weird like that.  Power recliner and power headrest.  Feel like Chandler and Joey when they got new recliners.  Aaaahhhh!  And without how poofy the chair & ottoman we had were, we have about 3x3 feet of extra space now.  

But I had thought, at least I don't have to say goodbye completely yet to my old set as it would go down in the basement as we refinish it until we can pay for new stuff.  But there there is a problem.  Turns out we can't fit it down there.  Access to our basement is tucked under our stairs leading upstairs.  So along a wall, we have a little cut out that's about 3ft by 3ft. One side, is the basement door, the other is our downstairs coat closet. If you stand the couch on it's end, it's too tall to fit thru the door.  If you lay it down, it can't make the little turn.  So not only can we not have that old couch, we can't have any couch down there that is a) not a a sectional and b) is wider or taller that 3ft in order to pass the doorway.  So it might take a little longer for the basement to "look" totally finished if we don't have furniture for the TV area.  And now I need to go learn a bit about sectionals.  

Stairs down the door
to the left, closet opposite. Maybe 3x3 nook

Can't compare apples to oranges

I worry a little at times when I post on any social media about our home improvements or vacations (and since moving on from infertility that's all this blog is HAHA).  Do people think I'm bragging or am I coming off tone deaf to society? I really hope not, as that is not my intention.  

First of all; I just like to share and see.  Did you get a new dress? I want to see it.  Are your kids being super silly? I want to see it.  Cook a new bomb ass meal? I want to see it.  And because I want to see everything from others - be it because it gives me ideas for my life, I like a peak into others worlds (am I a voyer?!), or if a friend is excited about something - even if it's not my deal - - -I want to give them a little space to celebrate their excitement.  Geek out!  This means I like the same in return.  They say people like to talk about themselves and I guess in may ways I'm no different.  Do you know how often you talk about your life or interests (kids, job, politics)? But ya know what? That's your life, so it makes sense.  Talk away!  I may not relate to some or any of it.  I may not know how to respond sometimes (especially if the topic is kids), but I'm fine with hearing about it.  But yes, I fully understand they take a LOT of time and money.  But since we were not lucky with infertility treatments, we have to fill life with other things.  

So my life.  Yes, I read a lot of books.  And I try to cook new things (currently spending way more time and money then seems logical to try to make sour dough bread from scratch as it's a personal challenge that interests me).  I want to get decent at night photography someday.  I like to travel. I like to gamble. I like to do home improvement projects.  I like a good stiff drink on the weekends (and occasionally mid week).  I looooove taking baths.  There's always room for a pickle.  Cheese and peanut butter are the foods of the Gods.  And for entertainment; I'm more interested in serial killers and documentaries than super heros.  That's me in a nut shell.  And I know it's not for everyone.

Secondly on me sharing my life - You cannot compare apples to oranges! Yes people make different amounts of money...but there is also cost of living in different areas of the country, what you find important to spend your money on, levels of debt, etc. A comment that I'm lucky I can finish my basement giving us 600 square feet more of space? Yes! True! I do consider myself very lucky.  But if you're already living in a house with way more square feet than my house because you live somewhere that has a lower cost of living, or you bought a house when you had less debt or higher down payment so therefore could afford "more house" to start with - all I'm doing is catching up to you.  Or on the flip side, you live in an area that has an even higher cost of living so your house is smaller than mine and doesn't even have a basement.  Or you bought a "move in ready" house because home improvement scares you or you just don't have the energy for construction.  Or you're one of those people that given lots of choices you feel suffocated and can't make a choice instead of knowing what you like, what you want and so therefore do nothing.  Maybe your kids are taking up all your time, energy & money.  What I'm saying is EVERYONE'S situation is different.  And often you don't even know someones full situation.

One of my favorite phrases is "Don't compare someone else's highlight reel to your raw footage."  In other words, people tend to put the best of themselves on social media.  You don't see if they cry in the shower or toss & turn at night thinking of all the horrible things going on in their lives or the world.  You don't know if they "can't afford" something because they're saving way more for college for their kids or early retirement then you could ever dream of.  Maybe that's their goal; and you'd rather work longer and enjoy while you're young.  I have friends & coworkers that are shocked at what we spend going to Vegas yet they will drop hundreds on a designer purse twice a year while I carry around a $30 cheapo for 3 years straight.  Or their busy saving/spending on the kids, while we would have gladly done the same but we simply don't have them.  It's because what everyone spends their "discretionary money" on is not the same, because life and goals are unique.  

And then there's living paycheck to paycheck.  And trust me I know that one as well.  I have a budget goals post blog from like 7 or 8 years ago.  If you went back even further -like 12 years ago- I was $20k in credit card debt.  Jeff had a judgement against him and law school to finish paying off.  Hell my car got repossessed because I was a few weeks late on the very last payment because of odd wording on the payoff slip!  (Do you know how embarrassing it is finding your car gone at work only to learn it was repo'd? Never felt so ghetto in my life.)  We not only didn't have discretionary money, we sold his old class ring and some family jewelry at cash for gold so that we could make it some times.  I woke up at 4am for Toys R Us sale on black Friday because I couldn't spend more than $20 per nephew one Christmas.  We only went out to eat if someone had given us a gift card and often ate more like college kids (ramen, mac n cheese, tombstone pizza) because it was cheap.  We struggled. We scraped.  We chose to pay off everything and get our credit scores up before we bought the house.  And that's ON TOP of paying $30k for infertility out of pocket thru 401K loans and such.  Which is why we were 37 & 43 by the time we finally bought the house while so many friends bought 5 to ten years prior.  

And I feel I'm starting to ramble.  All I'm saying is - I try to celebrate others and not come across as braggadocios.  And I routinely count my blessings and remember how far we've come in a short time.  If you had told me 7 or 8 years ago the position we'd be in now I would have said you're crazy.  But you NEVER know the hardships someone else either IS facing or HAS faced both financially and emotionally.  So let's celebrate each others wins.  And I'll share mine.  Because damnit, we've worked hard to be here.  I'm not saying if you're not here, you're not working hard.  And I know my privileges.  Or I at least try to be cognizant of them. But life is worth celebrating.  In the grand scheme, we're not here for long. Might as well do what we want when we can.  Set goals, work to reach them, celebrate, set new goals.  

Finishing the basement?

So I had hinted in a blog the other week...and it's looking more and more likely we will be refinishing our half basement (half crawl will remain untouched) starting here in the next 6 weeks.  I hate the phrase "man cave" as it's a party room for me too!  So we'll have to think on what to call it if we don't just call it the basement. Here are some before pics of our current ugly ass basement.  

This is looking toward the backwall.  Image the bar toward the righthand corner.  The arcade/Golden tee will probably be along the back wall left side hidden currently by the water heater/air conditioning which we'll have to room off with a little bump out room.  

Pic to the left is looking toward the front of the house.  This far wall will have a TV hanging above an electric fireplace insert (or that's the dream) with our 16 year old black leather couch & chair, and the big old stereo system from Jeff's youth.  

Next is a pic below the stairs.  We plan to put a wall just to the right of where the mud sink is and have the toilet right there with a sink tucked under the stairs.  Don't know if the support beam post will be walled over or visible. See water heater to the left? Want to change to a wall mounted tankless, shove that blue water softner closer to the crawl space and make a little utility room with these two and furnace.

So anyway, we have been talking a lot more about what we're hoping to do, and what items we really want.  What's funny is I've been loosely looking into this for two years - Jeff has barely taken a peak online.  And he said he thought it would cost us $5k. Bwahaha!  Yeah OK. More like $15k.  Turns out he meant just the cost of walls, floor, and half bath.  Not all the items that go INTO the basement.  But still buddy - I think you're off.  If it was only $5k we could have done it this fall when we came back from Vegas with our entire bank roll intact.  I want to see how close we stick to what *I* think it will cost and be able to look back at our dreams and plans vs reality.  First off let's look at the items on our wish list:

Tankless water heater - average cost of midrange unit $800
6-8 foot bar nothing especially fancy  - $1400
Big Screen TV - $450
Electric Fireplace Insert - $350
Jeff's *Ultimate Basement Item* Golden Tee & Arcade Legends Console - $3,100

That's $6,100 just in stuff to put in it and I didn't even look at rando stuff like a small fridge, window cling & drapes (who wants to look at a basement window well?), end tables to go with our couch & chair that we're moving down there next week when our new family room furniture arrives. Eventually I think we'll also want a mini shuffle board (if there is room) and table/chairs for game nights/poker games and an area rug for the couch area. Now lets look at the cost of actually finishing it.  

It's about 600 square feet.  In terms of flooring, we're both on a similar page of wanting wood-looking vinyl because we obviously can't have real wood in a basement that *could* flood and we're not the biggest fans of parquet. I think tile for a cold basement just adds to the cold factor so vinyl it is.  Going on the lower end of mid-range stuff...below is what I like. We are not putting in a drop ceiling, so we've decided we'll paint the ceiling and do the floors & bath vanity in a grey color.  Stair treds leading down; I'd like to match the upstairs wood with the risers being the same grey as the ceiling to tie the brown wood and grey colors together. Furniture we're moving down there is black leather and I think a black bar with a white or wood top would then pop.  Walls will remain white with sports and or Vegas artworks.    So main colors of the room are white, grey, and black in a sort of modern farmhouse chic look which is different that the rest of the house and yet still clean lines with ties to the look of upstairs without everything being too "matchy- matchy".

Floor choice at Lowes 

  This cost 1.68 per sq ft. And will cost us just under $1200.  Add a toilet $200, 24 inch sink vanity $200, and stair treds and risers $450 and lighting $250(looking at 4 lights like right picture as main lighting, and 2 pictured below for the bathroom vanity area and a six pack of can lights on a dimmer for mood lighting/movie nights).  Add in tax & delivery and suddenly we're talking about $2500 and no one's even roughed in the bathroom or put up walls and dry wall! Let alone paint the ceiling and walls once they're up.   

Vanity Lighting...see? Farmhouse chic

So thankfully with a lot of our home improvement projects; while Jeff and I are willing to tackle a little here or there (We recently did the closet organizers.  And Jeff is super proud of the outlet he installed in order to have a microwave over the stove instead of just an exhaust fan.  And don't even get me started on the hours and hours we spent rebuilding our deck in Treks engineered boards two summers ago).  For bigger stuff, we contract with his cousin Brian.  So Brian gets work, but gives us a bit of a deal so we save compared to if we hired non-family.  And we take on smaller aspects of it.  We've decided we can put in the floor and baseboards, stairs tred covers, paint and install the toilet/vanity/lighting.  We just need him to rough out the bathroom, frame the walls/prepare electrical, and drywall and maybe hire someone to paint the ceiling.  We won't know his costs until he comes and give us a quote.  I suppose it can be as low as $3k, can be as much as $7k so I'm hoping/guessing $5,000.   So my estimate of $13,600 is VERY thought out.  But I'm guessing there's always a little extra cost here and there so $15,000.  This *might* include the mini fridge, rug, end tables, etc I talked about earlier.  Maybe not.  Earliest we can get Brian in for a quote is Mid February, and we could start Early March.  Eeek!!!  

It's looking more like Jeff will get *something* of a cash bonus.  But won't know the amount until late Feb.  And we have some stocks from last years bonus we can sell.  And what if the next round of stimulus checks comes and still includes us? And can't forget the small amount we have in savings that's not earmarked for Vegas and paying Taxes come April?  What if we come back from Vegas with some money? (We've come back the last 4 trips with anywhere from $2-8k) If everything falls into place (except Vegas winnings - never ever count on that LOL) we'll have enough.  If one or two of the smaller things fall off (stimulus checks don't include our income level or taxes are more than last year etc.) I can see putting a *little* on credit cards (and by this I mean under 3k).  If his bonus is vastly different or the stock price makes selling them stupid we've decided we'll look into a home equity line of credit.  But he knows I really really don't want to do that.  I want to have cash up front.  As we've done for all our projects so far.  I'm a planner.  I plan for every scenario.  Now I just have to sit here and be patient as we wait for news of all of these balls in the air over the next six weeks.  If you knew me well, you'd know I am sooooo not a patient person.  Once we decide to do something I'm like - OK ITS GO TIME.  But here I sit.  Thus why I thought a post of my brain vomit on this might help me.  NOPE.  Only more excited and want answers NOW. 

Atlantis - Paradise Island, Bahamas Jan 2019

 So, another perk of being a Diamond member with Caesar's is free rooms not just at any CET property, and $100 dining credit, but a deal with Atlantis in the Bahamas.  Say what you will about you really are "paying" for it through gambling, we would gamble even without the perks so to us they really are reward perks.  When Jeff hit Diamond because we'd gone to Vegas twice in one year in 2018, we thought - this may be our only opportunity to use this benefit.  Not knowing he'd remain Diamond for the next two years and counting and that I'd hit it in 2020.  So we jumped at the opportunity and are thinking of going again in Jan 2022.  So what's the deal? Five days/Four nights free room at the Royal Tower (main center tower in Atlantis property that you'll see in most photos), one free dolphin experience, one free round of golf (which we didn't end up using), and deals at 3 of their 5 top restaurants.  

My favorite shot I got of the property

I apparently didn't write a trip report on Trip Advisor for this so this is all by memories and photos - which happen to be popping up this week.  I do remember that by the time we landed, the one hour time change, and the drive in a van from the airport to the resort it was late afternoon.  Our room overlooked the harbor where Cruise Ships come in.  OMG their HUGE!!  Our first evening and night, we just walked our building which has the main aquarium and a bit of the near by grounds, grabbing a bite to eat at a 50's style diner and then a few hours checking out the casino.  The complaint I saw from most people on the travel forum was the prices in Atlantis.  Maybe it's going to Vegas so much that we were prepared for sticker shock.  But $30 plus tax and tip for soup, sandwiches, fries, and drink didn't seem outrageous to us.   Now $15 for a cocktail? Yeah, that seems more like Vegas.  But strong! And we only paid for one or two around the pool  and each night with dinner.  The rest on the casino floor were comped.  

Beach & Pool Day

 

Day 2 - first full day, up before the sun (I believe in Jan it didn't rise until after 7am) I got dressed and found Jeff in the casino.  We agreed to walk the entire property to get the lay of the land for best areas of the pool, beaches, and exhibits.  Are there no other morning people who travel? Even on vacation, as long as I've been up an hour and had a cup of coffee...let's go! Yet between 7-9am I swear we were the only people around except for facility crew and a few diehards determined to get their towel out before anyone else took their favorite spots. 

Slushy Cocktails!

It was pool day so after breakfast at that diner we got changed and hit the "Aqua Adventure" that is Atlantis.  Before I lost my nerve I agreed to go with Jeff on the largest water side there called the LEAP OF FAITH that end up going through a tank with sharks (you're in a tube, they're swimming around) before you end up safely in a pool.  We did two other slides, the lazy river, a walk to dip in the ocean at Cove beach and back for a slushy cocktail.  Lunch, afternoon nap and dressed up for first "fancy" dinner at Seafire Steakhouse where we had free cocktails.  I ordered a conch chowder soup (as conch is what is knowns as a true Bahamian cuisine).  When I hear chowder, I think cream based.  This was tomato & broth based  so a bit of a let down - but the conch itself was fine.  Fishy/crabish type flavor but if a little more rubbery.  Night at the casino and bed. 

Cove Beach

Leap of Faith with Sharks

Day 3 was Dolphin Day!  This was something I was really looking forward to!  So much so, that for some unknown reason I was wide awake at like 5am.  Couldn't get back to sleep with Mr. Juice snoring away beside me so decided to walk the property in search of the sunrise at 7.  So leaving him a note at 6am off I went for coffee and the breach of night to day.  Turns out it's too far off property to safely do alone but still a lovely peaceful walk alone was had.  Breakfast and back to room to ready for our 9am dolphin swim.  First group of the day, the group was split into two groups of 10ish.  We got a male dolphin named Menus (like Venus only with an M) which is Greek for first born male.  He was named this as he was the first born male from the group of dolphins they rescued after Katrina that this habitat was built for.  We each got a chance to pet him, give him a sign for a trick, and then pictures.  Aside from individual pic, you could get a travel group/couple photo, and entire group photo.  The entire pkg is like $75 - um no! I don't need photos of strangers.  But $35 for the single photo of Jeff & I seemed like good memento especially since our casino pkg was buy get one free for the experience itself.  This nights fancy dinner is Nobu a Japanese restaurant where we have free appetizers.  I get a vegetarian entrée (very good but seriously the cost for no meat was insane!

Our time with Menus the Dolphin

Fort Charlotte

Day 4 was our day to explore Nassau.  I had researched a few things to do so we hopped a cab for Fort Charlotte.  (It is virtually across from the main market & beach but we are not shoppers, so we decided to skip the market).  It was a fort built by carving into a limestone hill.  Took two years to carve out.  A bit sparse (I'm sure my impression is tainted because I've toured lots of castles in England as a child) but still interesting none the less.  As the only people there when it opened at 9am, we got a private tour guide.  Great view of the lighthouse from here.  

View from Fort Charlotte of lighthouse on Paradise Island tip

Rum tasting at John Watling Distillery

Since we couldn't catch a cab with no one there we decided to walk into town to find our next stop (how far can it be?) Apparently without good GPS signal so just going by what I could remember of a map and our drive past in the cab that morning - you can take a really long way around.  We ended up walking 1.5 miles to arrive .6 miles away at John Watlings Rum Distillery.  10am short fifteen min tour and then tasting of 4 rums. Woo! That will wake you up feeling tired from lack of sleep. From there another 1.5 miles wandering around to finally find the Queen's Staircase.  Which was again carved out of limestone but took 17 years to complete.  Kind of cool, but wouldn't walk that far again.  Thankfully we found it at the top of the staircase, not the bottom as my legs were growing weak.  Cab back to Atlantis decided we'd walk this much - why not go seek out the turtle habitat and lunch at a lagoon bar.  Dinner was at Todd English (very delish pasta meal) and cocktails strong enough to get these old married folks frisky ;) A wonderful end to a great vacation.  

Next day we'd heard that you should ask the casino desk if your play warrant's any back end comps (so any CET Diamond members that cross this path) DO IT! They took off over half our bill (of meals and drinks we'd charged to the room).  So no longer did this place seem so expensive LOL.  We flew out of the sunshine and returned home just before a blizzard hit Chicago.  Welcome back to reality.  

Lake Tahoe 2020 Trip

 So statistically I can see three of ya have peaked at my last two blogs each; but can't see who.  Seriously, surprised anyone did after 6 years gone.  But if you like travel or home improvement - stick around.  Or if you're just a voyer filled with boredom in these times of covid - HI! But feel free to say hello or ask a question if one pops in your head.  Upcoming hopeful home project - If hubs gets a bonus in March (and lets be honest, that's a big old IF with this economy) then I'll be documenting us finishing out basement.  Hell, we might sell some stocks or win in Vegas in April in order to do it.  But for now, another look back at travel. This time at our Lake Tahoe trip we took this July.  

I'll start off by saying that I've said for YEARS that Lake Tahoe is the prettiest place in the continental United States.  And that's with only having been there for 4-24 hours at a time over 3 trips.  I first saw it on a family trip when I was 17.  My brother and I had a snow ball fight on the fourth of July on top of the mountains in the morning, and in the afternoon I had a swimsuit on and was dipping my toes in the lake.  We left the next morning on our way to Yosemite.  But less than 24 hrs there and I knew - it's my kind of place.  I don't know what it is about a lake in the mountains that does it for me but really to me there is hardly anything else as beautiful.  So when Jeff was still bowling in national competitions, I had a chance twice to go with him to Reno; and then convince him to take one afternoon or day to drive the hour over to the lake and do the loop.   But that's as much as I'd spent...only hours.  

Well thanks to Covid and the travel industry taking a total nose dive, places have been giving up great offers.  And since we're gamblers, one of those companies is Caesars.  Since we're Diamond members, they sent Jeff an offer for 4 free nights at Harrah's Lake Tahoe and half off flights (and the flights were already cheap!).  

Now here is when I'll lay out my personal feelings on traveling during covid (obviously everyone if different and your comfort level is your own but here's mine)- I will not go somewhere that has an over 10% positivity rate.  I will only travel to places with a mask mandate, I will only travel to places where eating establishments either make you sit outside or have limited dining inside to 50% or less with over 6 feet and the staff has maskes.   Illinois has adopted more than these and I have lived with it since Mid March 2020 so I'm sure that's where I get my views.  Because I can look north to Wisconsin who has not had these measures in place and constantly has a positivity rate over 30% for MONTHS.  And I can look to Indiana, and they too have had north of 25%.  But Illinois? In July and Oct when we traveled ours was between 3-4%.  It's currently at 7%.  Yes the spike after Thanksgiving & Christmas we went up to as high as 14% and have slowly cut that in half and I expect in the next month we'll be back to 3-4%.  And you can bet your boots I stayed home that entire time except to grocery shop.  When not on vacation, we have only eaten out twice this whole time, both times outside.  So anyway, I just want people to know we're not anti-maskers. Far from it!  But we also didn't hide away from life.  I wish that everyone felt this way but it is what it is.  

OK, so I had like just 3 weeks from accepting this trip to plan and research.  I looked daily at county covid numbers, poured over things to do, etc.  And came up with a small list while keeping expectations low due to the pandemic.  Below is the trip report I wrote on Trip Advisor with extras and pics thrown in. 

I had new masks for each day as well as plane rides, 3 travel size hand sanitizers and clorox wipes. The airports were fairly empty & took less than 10 mins to get thru security at both O'Hare Chicago & Reno (probably the only time in my life that's going to happen at O'Hare!). But the planes themselves for the limited number of flights were fairly full and on a return flight someone did get kicked off after we taxied to the runway for (we assume) non compliance with mask.

Stayed at Harrah's in Stateline Wednesday thru Sunday and it was not crowded except for Friday & Saturday nights after 7pm. Only real issue was occasionally trying to catch an elevator down with 4 people or less (required for social distancing) but never waited for more than a few mins for second or 3rd elevator.

Breakfast spot

First day there we just stuck to the casino area once we checked in.  Next morning we walked down to the lake and had breakfast outside facing a beach park.  

  

Our yacht LOL

Thursday night we did the Harrah's Tahoe Star yacht cruise (if you're a diamond member you get 2 free tickets). Due to covid once a travel group reserves, it's yours alone. So private cruise to Emerald Bay! Amazing! It was a 90 min cruise out to the Bay and back, box dinner provided (sandwhiches, chips, fruit cup, etc) apparently they usually have a small buffet but again - covid roll with it!  And because it was just us two, the captain and the bartender left us alone on the deck except to take one photo or refresh drinks.  So this is how it must feel to be really wealthy!  Wouldn't mind winning the lottery to live like that haha.  

Vikingsholm close up

The little tea house on top the island 

Picture the captain took of us and Vikingsholm

Look how happy we are on a boat :)

Sand Harbor

Friday we rented a car from Budget to drive around the lake. Stopped at Sand Harbor at 845am; got one of the last parking spots as when we left at 915 the gates in where already closed to incoming traffic. We are not beach folks, just walked around the paths for photos for 30 mins but the beach itself looked crowded so if we had wanted to stay that would have concerned me.

Mr. Juice's must-do was to stop at Squaw Valley Olympic village for late breakfast. He's a Olympic fan (always gets these questions right on Jeopardy). It was perfect as it was practically deserted.  Absolutely gorgeous area. On the way saw tons of people rafting on Truckee river.

Couldn't stop at Emerald Bay pull off unless we wanted to wait for parking. But since we had seen it on previous trips, and saw the previous night from the lake we moved on. If you are looking to go I'd suggest very early morning on a non Fri/Sat/Sun but know that tours of Vikingsholm interior and kayak rentals are closed due to CV19. This was one thing I was fairly disappointed in (the fact that it was closed, as I really wanted to do a 1 mile hike down to Vikingsholm and then kayak out to the island and climb around.  But once we found out the tours and kayaking was closed, and we got the cruise - well it all worked out.  But if we ever go again, this is going back on the list!

Saturday we went to Heavenly Mountain to ride up the gondola. Got in line at 910am for ticket opening at 930 and were 6th group in line. Line was really long by 930. Each gondola is per travel group for precautions and smelled strongly of disinfectant. Jeff has a fear of heights (I do to some extent as I learned looking over the edge at the Grand Canyon last year but I was fine on the Gondola.  Jeff however was not and said, never again! LOL)  On the way down they were loading every other one I think to start cleaning in between (is an employee hoping on to clean as it rotates?)

Atop Heavenly Mountain

Panoramic view from Gondola

Our final night we had dinner in a restaurant on top of Harvey's with this view.  I mean seriously? Does it get better than this looking out at the sunset?

Dinner view at Sunset on top of Harvey's

Cocktails & crab legs, with this view! Don't mind if I do!

All restaurants were either well spaced (Nevada) or spaced and outdoor or takeout only (California). Many with QR code for phone menus or paper menus trashed after use.  We felt fairly safe, avoided people and were still able to have a beautiful trip.  We had a limo ride back to the airport, shared only with one other couple (a former Football player for the Jaguars who regaled who went to college and played with one of Jeff's second cousins at Perdue.  He told us the most wild stories of injuries and mishaps.  

Limo back to reality, but one last cocktail!

Overall it was a fantastic time away from the insanity that was 2020.  Of course, one couldn't totally escape it all with constantly wearing masks, but out in nature here and there with no one in site, it was like we were the only people on earth.  Worth it!  Sadly, the last conversation I had with my dad was two days after we got back on Tuesday .  He wanted to hear all about it.  The next scheduled call was Sunday, but he had his heart attack that morning and never regained consciousness.  So any relaxing I had gotten from the trip was over.  But at the same time, I am so glad I had that trip not just for the trip itself, but my dad was no longer able to travel and loved to live vicariously thru hearing our adventures.  He seemed to love to hear the tale of this trip.  And I got to have that one last phone call because of it.