Good Morning (9/7)

[americaninoz]

How was your weekend?

[dorothyinAus]

Good afternoon!

The weekend was not bad. Saturday was pretty lazy and Sunday was productive. I went shopping and found a new dress for my Dad's retirement/Christmas party in December. It's sleeveless, so I am now looking for a shrug or a jacket to go with it, preferably not black. But I needed a dress for a NOLA Christmas, which can be anywhere from freezing to 90 degrees. And while we were at the mall, I found a copy of Captain Corelli's Mandolin (I have been looking for it for a couple of months) and DH found an import delicatessen and I indulged in Reese's Pieces, proper Skittles, Hershey's syrup, and unfrosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Poptarts. I haven't decided if I will share the bounty with DH yet. We also found a sale and got DH three new pair of jeans, and a birthday present for his Dad. My FIL was a bit jealous of my convertible mittens and we found a pair, so they are kind of a useful gag gift.

[americaninoz]

sounds like a great shopping weekend dorothy!

we had dd's 2nd birthday party yesterday with family & friends - it was lovely! nice to celebrate but not be stressed about it (we only invited a few people)

looking forward to having my house back and just getting back into our routine now that the ILs have headed home today

[jigginjessica]

Reading "9/7" I was confused for a second. Haha!

Good morning! (well afternoon for me now)

[irish]

Morning! A fairly damp, muggy day here... and it's only going to get worse!

The weekend was good. Saturday turned into a lovely sunny day unexpectedly! We got passport photos for N in the morning (she is not going to thank us for them in 20 years time!!), I got my hair done, pottered in the house and then went to the park (actually there were 3 park visits during the day - 9am to feed the ducks, noon to kill a bit of time and tire N out chasing birds and 5.30 for a proper play on the swings and slides... we live that close to it!)

Sunday, N woke really early (for her!) at 6.15 but went down again until 7.15 (still early for her!!) so she napped earlier than usual. We went to my aunt's for lunch (around the corner from us) and had planned to visit a vintage car show after that but the weather was not good for it (had drizzle most of the day and it was on a sports field...) so we headed to my ILs instead for a while. They had tidied their attic and found a toy gerbil/hamster that goes in a plastic globe and rolls around... the globe was broken but the toy still worked and N though it was hilarious!!

I started knitting her a lacy cardigan to go with her dress for my brother's wedding in 5 weeks... bit complicated but it will be lovely I think... (I'm doing it in white to go with a red dress)

[aMrsin09]

Hello

Weekend was OK. It's been raining so I got some laundry done, but the last load I want to do won't dry in time so that has to wait.

We are trying to decide if we're going to upgrade our solar system. We have about 4 hours to decide this. The rebate goes from $.44 to $.08 after midnight. We are on the edge right now. If we upgrade they will owe us $ every quarter, but we're also OK if we don't. With what we have right now, our quarterly bill is between $40 and $70.

[irish]

Jul 9, 2012 1:32:36 GMT -5 aMrsin09 said:

We are trying to decide if we're going to upgrade our solar system. We have about 4 hours to decide this. The rebate goes from $.44 to $.08 after midnight. We are on the edge right now. If we upgrade they will owe us $ every quarter, but we're also OK if we don't. With what we have right now, our quarterly bill is between $40 and $70.

From a financial point of view...

What is the cost of upgrading your system? How long will the payback be? For example, if it will cost you $1000 to upgrade and instead of paying $55 a quarter you will receive $10 a quarter (just say...) it would take just under 4 years to pay back ($1000 cost/($65 swing x 4 quarters a year))...

If the payback is something like 10 years or more (for example) I would consider not doing it because: a) you may have moved house before it is paid back; b) the system might be obsolete before it is paid back (and you need to spend more money on it...). Of course the 10 years could be a smaller number based on your own circumstances...

[jennybee1018]

Morning!!

Weekend was good...nice and relaxing! Friday, I didn't leave the house and spent the day in my pajamas. That is the best kind of day :-)

Saturday, we met some friends for lunch, and then I meal planned for the week, and did some grocery shopping. Nothing too exciting, but it was a good weekend.

We need to decide if we're going to attempt the alcohol store before Ramadan...if so we should do it soon!!

[aMrsin09]

Jul 9, 2012 1:49:18 GMT -5 irish said:

Jul 9, 2012 1:32:36 GMT -5 aMrsin09 said:

We are trying to decide if we're going to upgrade our solar system. We have about 4 hours to decide this. The rebate goes from $.44 to $.08 after midnight. We are on the edge right now. If we upgrade they will owe us $ every quarter, but we're also OK if we don't. With what we have right now, our quarterly bill is between $40 and $70.

From a financial point of view...

What is the cost of upgrading your system? How long will the payback be? For example, if it will cost you $1000 to upgrade and instead of paying $55 a quarter you will receive $10 a quarter (just say...) it would take just under 4 years to pay back ($1000 cost/($65 swing x 4 quarters a year))...

If the payback is something like 10 years or more (for example) I would consider not doing it because: a) you may have moved house before it is paid back; b) the system might be obsolete before it is paid back (and you need to spend more money on it...). Of course the 10 years could be a smaller number based on your own circumstances...

It is just under $4000 to upgrade and the swing would be around $180 a quarter. So about 5.5 years for it to pay for itself.

[glitterfart]

Morning. The weekend was ok, not nearly as productive as I had hoped. No chance to sleep-in or take a nap. Sniff, sniff.

DH set up our little pool, and today I have to go get a new filter and ph test kit so we can actually use it. I´m really nervous about it. It´s covered, but it means I have to watch DD like a hawk and can´t just turn my back and let her play in the yard for a couple of minutes without mommy. Sigh.

Lots of work to do today and the rest of this week and next. Not to mention the house work that needs to be done.

[americaninoz]

Jul 9, 2012 2:10:23 GMT -5 aMrsin09 said:

Jul 9, 2012 1:49:18 GMT -5 irish said:

From a financial point of view...

What is the cost of upgrading your system? How long will the payback be? For example, if it will cost you $1000 to upgrade and instead of paying $55 a quarter you will receive $10 a quarter (just say...) it would take just under 4 years to pay back ($1000 cost/($65 swing x 4 quarters a year))...

If the payback is something like 10 years or more (for example) I would consider not doing it because: a) you may have moved house before it is paid back; b) the system might be obsolete before it is paid back (and you need to spend more money on it...). Of course the 10 years could be a smaller number based on your own circumstances...

It is just under $4000 to upgrade and the swing would be around $180 a quarter. So about 5.5 years for it to pay for itself.

if you think you'll live in your house at least that long I'd go for it, my inlaws did that when rates were high and the sell back whatever they don't use at a great rate!!

[aMrsin09]

Jul 9, 2012 2:19:11 GMT -5 americaninoz said:

Jul 9, 2012 2:10:23 GMT -5 aMrsin09 said:

It is just under $4000 to upgrade and the swing would be around $180 a quarter. So about 5.5 years for it to pay for itself.

if you think you'll live in your house at least that long I'd go for it, my inlaws did that when rates were high and the sell back whatever they don't use at a great rate!!

We don't think we'll live in the house that long, but we will own it for that long. We'll just have it written into the lease that the power stays in our name and the renters pay us for the bill. Because if it switches names it goes to the $.08.

[allibally]

The heat finally broke over the weekend. Back in the 80s for Chicago instead of 100s! Means the apartment has finally cooled down. We didn't do much. Just stayed in to relax. H didn't want to do anything. Which was fine but next weekend I want to go do something.If he again doesn't want to do anything then I'm calling my mom to see if she wants to meet me somewhere. I'm not laying low two weekends in a row.

Today. I think I'll be driving the 6 miles to the Fedex facility to pick a package up. I wasn't home at all last week and they failed 3 times to deliver it. H apparently didn't have the skills to read how to send it to a closer pick-up location. Jokes on him because now I'll be heading to the large mall that is nearby. Retail therapy

[popcorn]

Morning! This weekend helped me get out of my I hate living abroad funk. DH figured out a way that we were able to get the car thing settled so now we have new plates and everything is fine. Which is a load off my mind! Today our kitchen arrived, but just the pieces. Tomorrow a crew is coming to put it together and we will finally be back to life as "normal." Over the weekend we also hung our TV on the wall, figured out how to incorporate the dog crates into our living room so they aren't taking up tons of space (they are under the tv) and hung DH's beer bottle collection. So our house is feeling more homey now. And I'm feeling much better.

I also just bought tahini at the health food store and made a delicious batch of hummus. DD and I are sharing and I made enough that there should be plenty for DH when he gets home and for snacking tomorrow.

QOTD: Woops, wrote this before I realized there isn't one. Habit, I guess.

[doctoranda]

Good morning! We had a great weekend. On Saturday we picked up our kitten (almost 9 weeks old). We spent the whole weekend indoors letting her get used to us, the house and the house rules. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing. When she was sleeping we watched movies and TV and drank beers with some snacks. The kitten is getting settled in really well and we love her to bits and pieces.

Today I have to do some political stuff and work on the dissertation.

[GilliC]

The weekend brought more rain. Ugh. So tired of rain!!! PSA to the Norse weather gods: Norwegian summers are supposed to be beautiful! Remember the grilling in the park thing?! Yeah, we can't do that if it keeps raining and the ground is all wet on the one day a month that it stops. Bring back the sun, and I'll sacrifice a sausage to you on the grilling altar.

[Deleted]

The weather finally cooled down on Sunday, which improved my mood significantly! I can't stand stifling heat.
The cat caught a mouse yesterday - unfortunately she didn't quite kill it. I'll spare you the details. Kitty was so proud of herself and was purring up a storm. She slept with me last night and is now snoring on her favorite chair. The other kitty was a nightmare last night and seems to be continuing the trend this morning. She likes to knock things off counters and chew on important papers. Good thing she is cute.
I also did a little online Sephora shopping. I'm kind of stocking up on makeup before the move, because, while they have Sephora in Shanghai, the prices are much higher than here and they don't have all the same brands. I love shopping there because of all the free stuff they send with!

Now I'm off to get blood drawn and then get some Starbucks. Then it is back home to listen to my Bar prep lecture online, since I'm not driving in for it.

doctoranda: Congrats on the kitten!

[crimsonandclover]

It's finally a little cooler here, so yesterday we went to the zoo with DD and my parents. We have season passes, and DH and DD have gone pretty often while I work, but this was the first time we've all gone together. The lions were roaring at each other, which was cool. :-) I love big cats.

[Deleted]

Good morning!

We had a great week end. We went to see ABT at the Met, went to the met museum yesterday, had a fancy lunch and too a walk in CP. I also had my hair appointment and had a lovely chat with my stylist who is extremely pregnant and told me all about the "custom" of throwing reveal parties, which I'd never heard before. I told MH the whole story and we're so in love with the idea that we "decided" to do it when the time comes... Sounds like loads of fun!