Well it has been two months without alcohol. I have not had a beer, wine or anything else for the last two months. I made it through thanksgiving without a social drink, and Christmas should not be a problem either.
My cravings for beer went away after a few weeks. That was the hardest part. The increased sugar and carbohydrates my blood system was used to really would scream out for a beer. But after a few weeks, it seemed my body went back to normal.
The benefit of no alcohol I noticed first was my ability to sleep better. When I used to drink I would wake in the middle of the night, or when I woke I would still feel tired and exhausted. This stopped almost instantaneously when I removed alcohol from my diet. I now woke feeling like I slept all night and refreshed. I can't explain why this is, but WOW it felt nice.
Now I was never a drunk (at least I didn't think so). I can't remember that many times in my life that I was ever drunk. However, I always seemed to have a drink. I would have beer while I was working around the house, relaxing in front of the TV, or doing whatever. I slowly became a habitual drinker.
This is why in my opinion it was even harder to stop drinking. None of my friends thought "I had a problem." many people looked at me strange or have started to treat me a little differently since I stopped drinking. Even people close to me that have commented in the past about drinking, have said "well you can have beer once and a while." I am really surprised at the reactions of some people. Giving up alcohol for the benefit of yourself and your family is almost treated like a communicable disease. I have to go cold turkey and stop for good, or nothing would have happened.
I have also noticed an increase in my productivity. I am able to focus on more tasks and complete more things than I used to. Also I notice is a more positive relationship with my children. They look up to me more since my decision, and that is what matters most.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
New Laundry!
It's funny how the small things in life can increase your quality of life so much.
At the new house the laundry was right off the kitchen in a hallway in a closet. Well this house has cathedral ceilings and the hallway is used all the time. So that meant there was always piles of laundry in the hallway and we could hear the laundry all throughout the house. It was terrible.
So I moved the laundry into the basement and I am pretty proud of myself because I did all of the plumbing (copper which had to be moved across the basement, drains), the woodwork (building the platform and putting the wood on the concrete), and the electrical (adding a breaker and moving the 220) all by my lonesome. Of course I had my father in law over to guide me in some things (my soldering sucks sometimes and where we tapped into the plumbing was the low spot of the house).
Overall we are very please with the finish product. I even added another drain for a sink or another washer.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Our experience buying a short sales house
My wife and I have recently bought a home through a short sale. While it proved to be a financial gain for us, it was a long process that created much stress on us. We initially placed our bid in January 2009 and received acceptance of our bid in June 2009. We are closing July 2009.
A short sale is when the occupant of a house gets a financial offer for less than they owe on the mortgage. They then present this offer to their mortgage company and the mortgage company either rejects the offer or accepts the offer. Bank would accept a short sale offer in order to get the seller out of the house and to avoid foreclosure.
Since it took such a long time for the bank to accept our offer, we thought that we would not get the house for what we offered. We had to keep extended our purchase and sale agreement, re-applying for another mortgage and did multiple viewings of the property. We viewed many other homes in this price range, but nothing compared to the short sale house we placed our bid on.
This period of time was extremely trying on my wife and mine’s patience. We have excellent credit, great jobs and enough money for a substantial down payment. In a period of a down housing market, why was the seller’s bank taking so long? It would be beneficial to the bank to get us into the house and get the mortgage stream going again. However, we had to remember that the seller’s bank wasn’t analyzing us, it was only analyzing their asset (the house). Still our patience was getting thin.
We finally got notification that the bank has accepted our offer and now it was time for the home inspections. We had all of the typical inspection completed (septic, well water, building, pests, etc.) . However, I had a complete radon test order since the previous owner mentioned that the house is built on bedrock. Sure enough, the radon in the house and in the water was extremely high and needed to be addressed before we purchased. But since this is a short sale and the owner has no money, how would this get done? The seller’s bank ended up paying for the install of the equipment and the post monitoring.
The human factor of buying a short sale is very trying. In this particular case it is a divorce situation. The woman is living in this house with her children, her husband has moved out. She is no longer able to pay the mortgage. Her life seems destroyed. She and her children are forced to move back in with her parents at 40 years old. Since she is perceived as a deadbeat by her mortgage company and real estate agent, she is not given the proper respect a normal client would receive. For instance her real estate agent never notified her of the closing date; I happened to run into her boyfriend and told him we were closing in 6 days. Even a renter gets 15 days (sometimes 30 days) to vacate a property! This person’s mortgage company gave her 6 days.
It has been a long road to buy this short sale house. It has been a great financial move for my wife and I. We have purchased this house at 120K less than it is assessed at. But it was a long road and we had to be ready within a moment’s notice to close. As soon as the bank accepts the offer, they want to close and get the liability (house) off their record books. If you have the option of buying a short sale house, I recommend it, but remain flexible. Don’t try to buy one if you need to move right away. And always remember that no matter what the seller’s situation is, you are helping them out also and they too are humans.
A short sale is when the occupant of a house gets a financial offer for less than they owe on the mortgage. They then present this offer to their mortgage company and the mortgage company either rejects the offer or accepts the offer. Bank would accept a short sale offer in order to get the seller out of the house and to avoid foreclosure.
Since it took such a long time for the bank to accept our offer, we thought that we would not get the house for what we offered. We had to keep extended our purchase and sale agreement, re-applying for another mortgage and did multiple viewings of the property. We viewed many other homes in this price range, but nothing compared to the short sale house we placed our bid on.
This period of time was extremely trying on my wife and mine’s patience. We have excellent credit, great jobs and enough money for a substantial down payment. In a period of a down housing market, why was the seller’s bank taking so long? It would be beneficial to the bank to get us into the house and get the mortgage stream going again. However, we had to remember that the seller’s bank wasn’t analyzing us, it was only analyzing their asset (the house). Still our patience was getting thin.
We finally got notification that the bank has accepted our offer and now it was time for the home inspections. We had all of the typical inspection completed (septic, well water, building, pests, etc.) . However, I had a complete radon test order since the previous owner mentioned that the house is built on bedrock. Sure enough, the radon in the house and in the water was extremely high and needed to be addressed before we purchased. But since this is a short sale and the owner has no money, how would this get done? The seller’s bank ended up paying for the install of the equipment and the post monitoring.
The human factor of buying a short sale is very trying. In this particular case it is a divorce situation. The woman is living in this house with her children, her husband has moved out. She is no longer able to pay the mortgage. Her life seems destroyed. She and her children are forced to move back in with her parents at 40 years old. Since she is perceived as a deadbeat by her mortgage company and real estate agent, she is not given the proper respect a normal client would receive. For instance her real estate agent never notified her of the closing date; I happened to run into her boyfriend and told him we were closing in 6 days. Even a renter gets 15 days (sometimes 30 days) to vacate a property! This person’s mortgage company gave her 6 days.
It has been a long road to buy this short sale house. It has been a great financial move for my wife and I. We have purchased this house at 120K less than it is assessed at. But it was a long road and we had to be ready within a moment’s notice to close. As soon as the bank accepts the offer, they want to close and get the liability (house) off their record books. If you have the option of buying a short sale house, I recommend it, but remain flexible. Don’t try to buy one if you need to move right away. And always remember that no matter what the seller’s situation is, you are helping them out also and they too are humans.
Cirque Dream Jungle Fantasy review
On Sunday Aug 12th, I took my family to see Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy at the Foxwoods MGM Theater in Connecticut. This show is advertised as “direct from Broadway”. The advertisement states spectacular costumes and striking visual effects. This was supposed to be fun for the whole family.
Well……. The show stars 1980’s one hit wonder Debbie Gibson. I can’t even remember what song it was that she sang back the 80s. But I think we might have roller skated to it. The show starts off with her singing, as a matter of fact, whenever there was a change in the acts, she sang. Which was extremely annoying since it was too loud and distorted and we could understand what she was signing. Also if the show is supposed to be for the family, why is her dress cut up to her privates and the Violin player a muscle dude with no shirt? They both showed that they were really in shape. Maybe since the show was 15 minutes late to open, they were still working out?
The acrobats are always amazing. There were ballerinas that amazed me. When a girl can stand in a ballerina pose on top of a man’s head that’s amazing for both the girl and the man. She then stood in this pose on his bicep which I was in awe about. Very strong people indeed.
There were the tight rope walkers, the girls on bikes doing tricks, the trapeze artists, and every kind of circus act you could think of. That being said, that what it was, a bunch of circus acts with fancy costumes. All of the costumes were jungle themed. Some of them were very cool, kids that looked like frogs, iguanas, butterflies, etc. But at one time there were four large neon people costumes that came out, I thought they were cool, but my children thought they were scary.
Overall the show was interesting. It would have been much better if it wasn’t for the singing. This was just a normal acrobat show you could see at any county fair or circus. We had discount tickets and I believe almost everyone else did too. I’m glad not too many people paid full price, because it wasn’t worth over $10 a ticket.
Well……. The show stars 1980’s one hit wonder Debbie Gibson. I can’t even remember what song it was that she sang back the 80s. But I think we might have roller skated to it. The show starts off with her singing, as a matter of fact, whenever there was a change in the acts, she sang. Which was extremely annoying since it was too loud and distorted and we could understand what she was signing. Also if the show is supposed to be for the family, why is her dress cut up to her privates and the Violin player a muscle dude with no shirt? They both showed that they were really in shape. Maybe since the show was 15 minutes late to open, they were still working out?
The acrobats are always amazing. There were ballerinas that amazed me. When a girl can stand in a ballerina pose on top of a man’s head that’s amazing for both the girl and the man. She then stood in this pose on his bicep which I was in awe about. Very strong people indeed.
There were the tight rope walkers, the girls on bikes doing tricks, the trapeze artists, and every kind of circus act you could think of. That being said, that what it was, a bunch of circus acts with fancy costumes. All of the costumes were jungle themed. Some of them were very cool, kids that looked like frogs, iguanas, butterflies, etc. But at one time there were four large neon people costumes that came out, I thought they were cool, but my children thought they were scary.
Overall the show was interesting. It would have been much better if it wasn’t for the singing. This was just a normal acrobat show you could see at any county fair or circus. We had discount tickets and I believe almost everyone else did too. I’m glad not too many people paid full price, because it wasn’t worth over $10 a ticket.
Basic Flag Etiquette
Ever wonder the U.S. flag is called in different situations? Ever wonder why some people salute during the national anthem while others just hold their hat? Well hopefully this short article will help. Keep in mind that we are just going to scratch the surface of flag etiquette. Much more precise etiquette can be found with the Veterans of Foreign War or the American legion.
When the flag is raised and lowered: there are two important times in the day when the flag is to be raised and lowered. At 0800 (8 AM) is when the flag is raised, and at sunset the flag is lowered. This is called ‘colors.’ On military bases you hear a bugle call announcing first call to colors (this is 5 minutes before raising and lowering the colors). Then at 0800 you’ll hear a bugle announcing attention to colors and the National Anthem played. After the national anthem is played, a bugle sounds the carry on. At sunset it is the same with the exception of the national anthem.
When colors is being held, all personal will stop what they are doing and turn in the direction of the flag and salute. Civilian personal will place their right hand on their heart during the national anthem. If you are driving in a car, you will stop your car and return driving when the bugle call to carry on is played.
That brings me to another point, placing your hand on your heart and removing your hat. You only place your hand on your heart and remove your hat when the national anthem is played. You do not place it on your heart if “America the beautiful” or “Our Country tis of thee” is played. Only when the national anthem is played. This is according to military protocol. (This makes me wonder what song was playing when all of those anti-Obama pictures were floating around when he didn’t have his hand on his heart). Military members will salute at the first note of the national anthem (not when attention to colors is called).
If you are somewhere that a visiting country is present, then protocol will us play the visiting country’s national anthem while their flag is raised. It is appropriate for us to remain standing with our hand over our hearts while their national anthem is play. If on a military base when this happens, military members will remain saluting and civilians will remain at attention. This is common courtesy and we would expect the same respect.
If a flag is ordered to be at half mast (the Governor or the President can make this order for his / her jurisdiction) , then the flag is raised fully (fast), then lowered (slowly) to half mast. If you are taking the flag down at sunset, the half masted flag is fully raised then lowered fully.
The flag is called many things. If the flag is on a vessel such as a ship, car or plane, it is called the National Ensign and is located on the aft end of the vessel. If the flag is being carried, such as in a parade, it is called the Colors. If the flag is painted on a car or plane, it is called the Standard.
Have you ever wondered why the flag appears backward on some uniforms or vehicles? For instance on the right arm sleeve of an astronaut the blue field with stars is on the forward part of the arm? This is because the flag will always flow with movement and with the wind. Therefore a flag cannot purposely be positioned to flow against the wind. The star filled blue field will always lead the way of the rest of the flag.
I know that this may seem a little nit-picking for some. But remember many of our brothers and sisters have died for this flag and we should take this very seriously. When you see veterans walking in the parade with Colors, please stand up and give them the respect they deserve. When you see children doing the Pledge or Allegiance in school, lets lead by example and do the pledge with them!
When the flag is raised and lowered: there are two important times in the day when the flag is to be raised and lowered. At 0800 (8 AM) is when the flag is raised, and at sunset the flag is lowered. This is called ‘colors.’ On military bases you hear a bugle call announcing first call to colors (this is 5 minutes before raising and lowering the colors). Then at 0800 you’ll hear a bugle announcing attention to colors and the National Anthem played. After the national anthem is played, a bugle sounds the carry on. At sunset it is the same with the exception of the national anthem.
When colors is being held, all personal will stop what they are doing and turn in the direction of the flag and salute. Civilian personal will place their right hand on their heart during the national anthem. If you are driving in a car, you will stop your car and return driving when the bugle call to carry on is played.
That brings me to another point, placing your hand on your heart and removing your hat. You only place your hand on your heart and remove your hat when the national anthem is played. You do not place it on your heart if “America the beautiful” or “Our Country tis of thee” is played. Only when the national anthem is played. This is according to military protocol. (This makes me wonder what song was playing when all of those anti-Obama pictures were floating around when he didn’t have his hand on his heart). Military members will salute at the first note of the national anthem (not when attention to colors is called).
If you are somewhere that a visiting country is present, then protocol will us play the visiting country’s national anthem while their flag is raised. It is appropriate for us to remain standing with our hand over our hearts while their national anthem is play. If on a military base when this happens, military members will remain saluting and civilians will remain at attention. This is common courtesy and we would expect the same respect.
If a flag is ordered to be at half mast (the Governor or the President can make this order for his / her jurisdiction) , then the flag is raised fully (fast), then lowered (slowly) to half mast. If you are taking the flag down at sunset, the half masted flag is fully raised then lowered fully.
The flag is called many things. If the flag is on a vessel such as a ship, car or plane, it is called the National Ensign and is located on the aft end of the vessel. If the flag is being carried, such as in a parade, it is called the Colors. If the flag is painted on a car or plane, it is called the Standard.
Have you ever wondered why the flag appears backward on some uniforms or vehicles? For instance on the right arm sleeve of an astronaut the blue field with stars is on the forward part of the arm? This is because the flag will always flow with movement and with the wind. Therefore a flag cannot purposely be positioned to flow against the wind. The star filled blue field will always lead the way of the rest of the flag.
I know that this may seem a little nit-picking for some. But remember many of our brothers and sisters have died for this flag and we should take this very seriously. When you see veterans walking in the parade with Colors, please stand up and give them the respect they deserve. When you see children doing the Pledge or Allegiance in school, lets lead by example and do the pledge with them!
OK OK
Ok I know it has been a while since I wrote anything on the blog.
But I've been writing alot on Associated content. Here's my home page, please vote for me as a top yahoo contributer: https://contributor.yahoo.com/account.shtml
But I've been writing alot on Associated content. Here's my home page, please vote for me as a top yahoo contributer: https://contributor.yahoo.com/account.shtml
lasallette is still the best Christmas Lights in New England
The best Christmas light display in southern New England is by far the Lasallette Shrine located in Attleboro Mass. The Shrine displays thousands of lights over many acres of land. The shrine is located on Park St. From interstate 95, take exit 3 and follow the signs for Lasallette on RT 123 to RT 118.
If you go on a clear night, on Friday of Saturday, be prepared to wait in traffic.
The display starts on Thanksgiving and continues to New Year's Day. The lights turn on at 5pm. be sure to be there to observe the lights being turned on. It is well worth it.
There are various small attractions for the family. This year there was a merry go round, nativity displays from around the world, and some small farm animals for the nativity scene. There are food stands throughout the display. Some of the food is very regional. There are French meat pies, blade meat sandwiches, hot apple cider, hot chocolate, and other great winter treats.
Lasallette has a beautiful life size ceramic nativity scene. Baby Jesus arrives on Christmas. There are small live animal cages on the sides of the nativity. Walk around the rosary pond and climb the lasallette hill to maximize your viewing of the lights.
The cost is free for admittance but donations are greatly appreciated. Be sure to show proper respect. It is a catholic shrine so dress appropriately, no swearing, no littering, and respect religion.
Below are some links to view the Christmas lights and get some information on Lasallette:
http://www.picable.com/Events/Christmas/The-Christmas-Pond.1858569 http://www.lasalette-shrine.org/
It is very much worth the trip and will take about 2 hours to walk around all of the lights.
If you go on a clear night, on Friday of Saturday, be prepared to wait in traffic.
The display starts on Thanksgiving and continues to New Year's Day. The lights turn on at 5pm. be sure to be there to observe the lights being turned on. It is well worth it.
There are various small attractions for the family. This year there was a merry go round, nativity displays from around the world, and some small farm animals for the nativity scene. There are food stands throughout the display. Some of the food is very regional. There are French meat pies, blade meat sandwiches, hot apple cider, hot chocolate, and other great winter treats.
Lasallette has a beautiful life size ceramic nativity scene. Baby Jesus arrives on Christmas. There are small live animal cages on the sides of the nativity. Walk around the rosary pond and climb the lasallette hill to maximize your viewing of the lights.
The cost is free for admittance but donations are greatly appreciated. Be sure to show proper respect. It is a catholic shrine so dress appropriately, no swearing, no littering, and respect religion.
Below are some links to view the Christmas lights and get some information on Lasallette:
http://www.picable.com/Events/Christmas/The-Christmas-Pond.1858569 http://www.lasalette-shrine.org/
It is very much worth the trip and will take about 2 hours to walk around all of the lights.
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