Monthly Archives: February 2013

Snow Day Fun at the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery

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Sunday was a very snowy day with about 8 inches of the cold white stuff falling. We had made plans with our friend Sean to go to Fort Collins to see the Museum of Discovery there. We weren’t sure if they would be open or not, but when we called and they said they were and Sean said he would drive in his 4×4 truck we said we were up for the adventure! And it was a bit of an adventure…

We actually got a flat tire on the way in! Thankfully we were all the way to Fort Collins and were stopped at a gas station because he noticed the tire pressure slowly draining away. So I went in the store and got a hot tea and Britton and Sean changed the tire out in the snow.

Then we arrived at the museum and had a lot of the fun. The main station we spent the most time at was the music one. It was fun playing with all their hands on exhibits and learning a little bit about different musical instruments and the science behind music.

Britton Bass
Britton and the upright bass

Cassie and Sean
Me and Sean at one of the music exhibits

They also had some nature science exhibits with an emphasis on the flora and fauna that is or was native to this area. Including this bison!

Buffalo Gal
Just feeding the (taxidermied) buffalo

Britton in the dome
Britton playing in the beaver house

It’s been a long time since we’ve gone to a museum but this one was fun and interactive. There were a lot of little kids around, but since we didn’t have any to watch ourselves, we got to act like them instead! 🙂

Afterward we went to our favorite restaurant in Fort Collins and I had the most delicious Harvest Squash Ravioli and we topped the night off by splitting some tiramisu. The roads were icy as we drove home, but we made it back just fine even with the new tire.

Overall it was a great Sunday snow day adventure!

 

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Taxes Hurt!

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We just talked with our accountant and he said that we are going to have to shell out quite the check to the Federal and State governments. This is mainly due to the sale of our rental house last May. While we still came out ahead, it is REALLY expensive to sell a house especially if it is not your primary residence. Ultimately where we thought we had a nice profit margin from the sale, we are only walking away with about 40% of that. Sixty cents of every dollar we made went to either tax, fixing it up for the FHA requirements or the realtors and closing costs! That is insane!

property-tax-bill

We were bracing for this tax bill ever since we sold it, but it still hurts when the time comes. I can see why the government does tax withholding on labor income because even though we paid way more than this amount throughout the whole year in automatic withdrawals (from our employment), it hurts a lot more to just write the big check all at once.

The thing about taxes is that it pays for many good and important things in society, but your contribution just feels like one of many and the roads and schools and things would still be there if you weren’t there (or hadn’t sold a house). Unlike a direct purchase where you get to use it right away and see its direct effects, taxes are much more ephemeral.

As it might be fun to get a little card in the mail like those programs in Africa where you feed a child and they send a note from a full-bellied child thanking you for your donation, it would be nice to get a thank you card that says “so and so street was built due to your generous tax contributions” or “this and that fire station” or “some war was paid for because of you” (well maybe not that one so much). But you get the idea.

Oh well, it’s a part of society and as they say there is nothing certain about life except death and taxes. In the mean time, I am dropping the Rincon progress vine down just a bit to adjust for this big bill. :-p We’ll make it up, we always do, it just hurts for a while. And we can’t lose the perspective that we still made money on the whole thing. Just not nearly as much as we thought.

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The Waiting Room

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After we got our new carpet installed, we decided that anything we weren’t going to be using right away, would go into the empty upstairs guest bedroom. We called it the “waiting room” as all the items in it would be just waiting to be sold or given away. We made a goal of listing at least 3 items on Craigslist each week with the hope of selling them.

Dresser
We sold this dresser in about 10 minutes!

We really don’t have that much stuff if it can all fit into a 11×11 room. But it is still enough that we have to figure out what to do with it. The hardest is stuff like my shoes and closet full of clothes that I love, but will have absolutely no use for down there and which, to be perfectly honest, I really don’t wear that much here anyway. I have about 5 pairs of shoes that I always wear. Similar story with my clothes. The rest are just for fun or special occasions. So far I haven’t sold any of my shoes, but I hope to at the right price. It would be a shame to have to toss these nearly new shoes and boots!

Shoe Collection
Some of my shoes I have collected over the years

We also have all of our various houseplants and gardening tools to contend with.

Lime Tree
We sold this beautiful lime tree and I think we made some new friends in the process as well!

Germination Station
We also sold this germination station heat pad super quick!

We’ve also made some bigger sales including one that is pending and Britton has started to go through and sell his old records like this autographed Guns N’ Roses album that he sold on Ebay.

IMG_2823
Guns N’ Roses Album

It’s been a lot of fun going through all of our stuff and selling it in sort of a laid back garage sale sort of way. Craigslist is cool because unlike a garage sale, people aren’t just browsing…they actually want your stuff, like we did with when we bought a  Kitty carrier we found on there. It’s not as cheap as garage sale prices, but it’s a LOT less than full retail and you can do it any time of the year.

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Puerto Rico’s Spot in the Limelight

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It seems that lately there has been a flurry of activity about Puerto Rico in the media. I watch the NY Times for news about Puerto Rico on the national level, but there is not usually too much that hits that level. However, lately there has been the in-depth NPR series on the migration of Puerto Ricans to the mainland U.S. and more recently, and locally to Rincon, the episode on Hotel Impossible of Casa Verde Hotel which is much less serious than the NPR piece.

Casa Verde

It is funny because I have mixed feelings about Puerto Rico being in the spotlight. On the one hand, more people will know about Puerto Rico and on the other hand…more people will know about Puerto Rico, if you know what I mean. Basically, I feel like it is sort of a hidden treasure to most mainland Americans and I kinda like it like that. While the island certainly has its serious challenges, it is also an often overlooked gem.

It is so cool that we will get to know this place at such an intimate level as calling it our new home!

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