Keep It In Your Pantry

Once upon a time, Cookbook cleaned out her pantry. Hilarity and shame ensued. I was inspired, but very lazy. A long time went by.

Yesterday I decided to clean out my pantry, a hot and sweaty process that includes having to watch where I put my feet, because my pantry also holds the cats' litterboxes. My oh my, was this illuminating. I decided to get it in some sort of order and eat out of the pantry for a bit to figure out what I really have and need. Peanut/almond butter? Tea? Dried fruit? Take away my debit card if I've got any of that in my basket.

I ran out of room/motivation when it came time to sort out the dried fruit and nuts and the pasta section. As I finish out some other food, I will have to move items around.

Strange things I found:

Couscous--I have philosophical differences with couscous. It is a pasta product, but pretends to be a grain. Let's not encourage subterfuge on behalf of the refined flour products. Why then, do I have 2 boxes of the Near East Herbed Chicken Couscous, and 16 ounces of unflavored bulk couscous? Why?

One six pack of hefweizen--Since it's over a year old, I have removed it to the bathroom to use as a hair conditioner. What? My grandmother used to do it.

One six pack of San Pellegrino Limonata--This shit is sour. I removed it to the "Cocktail Hour" section of the pantry. Oh yes, I now have a Cocktail Hour section. Clearly, if my fantasy self can't make cocktail parties a reality, I need to throw more with myself and the cats in attendance. I believe Willa is the sort of cat who gets silly on coconut rum, while Cain is a vodka cat. We will eat crackers with cheese and cornichons. Because I have some of those in my pantry too.

Three bags of brown sugar--Of course each is half-used. But strangely, not yet hard as a rock. Hmmm.

Three cans pumpkin in 2 different sizes--Well, we know who will make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.

Cherry balsamic vinegar--Suggestions for its use are greatly appreciated.

3 half pints of the cherry peach bourbon jam I made last summer--Did anyone ever eat that, aside from the Huntress? She thought it was delicious.

A quarter of a bag of apricots that had turned brown and hard--Somethings are just not worth the attempts to resuscitate.


So pretty now!

How I Spent My Relaxation Weekend

Oh my goodness.

It's like my blood pressure is normal or something. Or I had a bad massage--I'm not so relaxed that it's like I had a good massage, but a bad massage is better than no massage.

I only worked a half day on Friday. Then I went to Happy Hour at Applebee's with The Crimson Conquest and a new friend. Did you know that they serve their sangria in a size called "Mucho?" Granted, half of it is ice and garnishes, but two of those and a appetizer plus tip is $14. And while I wasn't so intoxicated that I made impulse purchases over at the Target.

Saturday, Dusie picked me up with a sleeping Peaches. She had put on her kitty socks in order to visit with Cain, who is the patient and less cranky and afraid cat who doesn't mind a little girl petting him. So we went out for Vietanamese food at Cyclo, which Peaches woke up for so she could have tofu and share my beef noodle soup. Then we went to their house to wait for Baba to come over.

Peaches showed me her newest toy. It is a little electronic reader int he shape of Violet the dog who you scan over some little books and it does interactive talking in different voices, makes noise, and tells you to pick out different things in the picture. Dusie said, "Do you hate that toy?" Yes, I kind of do, but maybe some of it was the Thomas the Tank Engine.

Then we went to my house, where my mom and Dusie read while Peaches petted Cain and then we read Catch That Baby! three times in a row and ate cherries. Peaches liked that book because she is also a baby who likes to run around naked.

Then I cleaned up my closet. Today I ran errands and cleaned other things. Blah blah. But a clean house makes me happy.

As for an adventure, I might next week go to Ikea. On the bus. I need hangers and a new shoe holder thing.

And this is the most boring but satisfying and relaxing weekend I've had in a long time.

Tiny House--Love Or Hate?

Family of 3 lives in a 320 square foot house.

So, what do you think? I'm not convinced that that's the best designed small house out there, and even with extreme family politeness it's cramped. The kid's room in particular looks like hell. And the mom seems depressed--she has flat affect.

Anyone else remember the Apartment Therapy kerfluffle when the Gillingham-Ryans said they were going to live in the 365 square foot apartment as long as they could? Granted, I think the toddler/little kid stage is the reason that would be unfeasible (and their smugness, and the $20,000 upgrade to an apartment they didn't own). Did they ever move?

I can really see a house like that for a single person--I'd love it as a retirement home.

I've Said This Before...

But Erin on Unclutterer said it better. Women have more societal pressure than men to have a clean and cute home. I think it's a way of keeping women busy but not thinking about how they are being used in relationships, the workplace, and the home. It's just one more damn thing on the plate, you know?

In the comments, several women mentioned that they were taught cleaning and that some of their value as a partner lay in their ability to keep house. I got that too--my mom made us clean house with her every Saturday and Sunday. The Don was a notable slob; it was our role to clean up after him and keep things nice.

I find myself drawn to minimalism, personally. Partly because it's fun for the cats to have so much room, partly because I am not so keen on the shopping for accessories, partly because I'm a visual organizer. But mostly because I see it as personal recognition and an outward sign of "I am not who you think I am," a rejection of artifice and a show of my true self. Which is at least sometimes Slob Lady.

Two Cutes In One Picture

I scored one of the elephant teapots from the Target "Calypso" line. Willa decided to pose with it.

I Live Like An Adult Now

I Hate It That Blogger Won't Let Me Post Photos From The Web

But in case you want to see it, here is the futon cover I am anxiously awaiting: Kirby Lapis. It should be in next week. Sigh.

Home Ignorer Turns Over A New Leaf

I got my mom to help me run errands yesterday. She was happy to do so because I bought a futon mattress and cover. Pictures to follow in 2 weeks--the cover is on order. It's white with a black vine and leaf pattern and the leaves are colored in with aqua, green and some other colors. Matches everything and will look so good. It's also dry clean only, which means we will all have to be SO careful, right, cats? No eating flowers and puking on the futon.

I'm also taking off 3 days at the end of the month to list on eBay, organize and spring clean the place. Look for tedious lists of accomplishment starting the 23rd.

In Which I Throw Up My Hands And Admit I'm A Neat Freak

Well, maybe not a total neat freak, but something close. See, after at great weekend in NC with Genevieve and her family, I was totally out of sorts for a week. I just couldn't get myself together to clean the cat barf up off the floor, to do laundry, make dinner, do my ecourse. Next time I leave town I have to remember to plan it so I have some time on the other end to get resettled.

I think what the squalor of the last week drove home to me was that I really need to get my living room and kitchen into some sort of neat and organized shape. Oh, and buy more underpants. Usually I think that people who obsess about decor and their style are just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic of their dysfunction, but the quality of the home has been wearing on me. It makes it harder to concentrate and get things done. Off to buy a futon mattress and a bookcase. Pictures to follow.

If You Are In Phoenix And Overburdened By Crap

The National Association of Professional Organizers is having an event up at the Town and Country Shopping Center next Saturday. You can get papers shredded, sell, donate and consign on the spot, and recycle e-waste (goodbye laptop with bad logic board that has been sitting under the cabinet for 2 years!).

Input Needed

So you know the buttons and bits of thread you get along with clothes sometimes? How do you organize them in case you need them later? I have a stack on my desk but think I could use a better organizational method.

And I agreed to make a dessert for Tuesday group lunch. Strawberries are on sale, I have eggs, lemons and carrots. Any low-cost, fairly easy ideas? I can make lemon curd and cake again for the sugar rush, or lemon pudding. Or carrot cake. Any other ideas? It will be hot here, but they did turn on the a/c recently.

The Final Fun Of The Foreclosure

So, I got the paperwork from the mortgage company about the foreclosure that I need to do my taxes. The fair market value of my house? $55,000. Purchase price in 2001? $99,000.

As is being reported in the press with articles like"No Hope In Sight, More Homeowners Walk Away", the market is wrecked, the modification programs are not working, and it's a big mess.

When I play with the "Does It Make Financial Sense To Walk Away And Rent?" calculator I get an estimate of 30-50 years before I regain equity, depending on the variables I put in. It was right to walk.

Now on my reading list, although I've done pretty well so far--Life After Bankruptcy: Living Well With Bad Credit.

10 Things I Like About My Home

Per Wende's request:

1) It's cheap. Under $700 for me and the cats, heat, a/c and water included.

2) Cats are allowed.

3) It has a balcony, which Cain enjoys (do you sense a theme here?)

4) It's within walking distance of work.

5) I don't have to use a car to get things done. I am within walking distance of the fancy cupcake place, library, lots of food options, grocery, Target, Costco and off 2 bus lines that would take me anywhere else. The Walkable score is 78, but I actually think it's much higher than where I lived in Lakewood.

6) I have a dishwasher and garbage disposal. Oh, dishwasher! What joy you have given me!

7) I have plenty of storage. In the bedroom I have a walk-in closet, and my pantry is huge and would be walk-in if I didnn't have the litter boxes there. I could totally put a year's worth of food in that pantry. I also have a closet in the hallway between the bedroom and bathroom.

8) It's bland and modern. After living in a house built in 1913, mod cons and straight walls and closets and apartment carpeting are a relief, seriously.

9) It faces east, so it gets the morning sun. Granted, in summer it's always hot here but imagine western sun in summer.

10) It's an apartment. I don't have to do any yardwork. I can ignore my neighbors without feeling guilty, and for that I'll trade off the occasional roach problem. And that's been much better recently, really.

Who The Hell Is Hope Marsh, And Why Does She Now Own My House?

When I was in Cleveland, I did stop by my old house to see what was up. My key didn't work in the door, but I could see inside that someone had been doing some work. I thought it was a bit odd, since the house only transferred to Fannie Mae on August 6th and I didn't believe banks were putting any work into foreclosures.

There was an envelope in the box addressed to Hope Marsh from Northeast Ohio Title Company. "Why is that name familiar?" I thought.

I looked up the transfer details online when I got home. Hope Marsh bought the house for $62,000 on August 27th. That's good, as it puts the decline in value right where I thought it would be. Remember, I bought the house for $99,000 in 2001. But that name...why was it ringing a bell?

Oh yeah. Hope Marsh is a prominent Cleveland-area real estate agent.

Keep in mind, I have no emotional attachment to the house or the issue anymore, and I am happy with the way I relinquished the house. But I am a thinking person with an interest in macroeconomic trends and foreclosure crisis issues. This is very, very interesting to me.

• While Hope Marsh and my real estate agent do not work for the same company, I can't help but think the practice of realtors buying property in the area they sell in as being a conflict of interest or a form of insider trading. I mean, what realtors are touting is their customer service and ability to leverage relationships, not just to find the buyer the home she wants but also to negotiate with the seller and their agent and recommend contractors, inspectors, insurance agents, mortgage brokers. That's a lot of information and ability to manipulate it and market players to capitalize on it for one's own gain.
  
• Realtors control the MLS. What's recently sold, at what price and why is not necessarily apparent or comprehensible to the man on the street. My real estate agent recommended an original price of $110,000 which if you recall I thought was optimistic. Now I wonder if she wanted a higher price that was unrealistic in the market so that it wouldn't sell and an investor friend could scoop it up. Again, manipulation of the market.
  
• Frankly, I am a little surprised that an investor bought the house, and that I assume the plan is to rent it out for a bit. One of the things I learned on the housing audit is that investors are buying the better houses on the market, and here in AZ it was a horrible frustration that working people who intended to stay in a neighborhood for a long time were unable to access decent properties And certainly that a sale was completed within 3 weeks of my surrender of the deed being filed is suggests that Ms. Marsh was able to put her own knowledge and contacts in the Cleveland area market to good use. But is that really good for the neighborhood in the long run?
  
• As we've been rickrolling the blame for the foreclosure crisis through the major players (investors, banks, people who bought too much house who should have known better, appraisers, mortgage brokers), real estate agents and their role haven't been examined, as far as I can see. And I do think they had a bigger part in stirring up the froth that they've been credited with.
  

Any comments, aspects of this I've missed, opinions? I'd love to hear them!

Life Does Go On After Foreclosure

I got a couple of questions from friends last week about the house and the repercussions of having the house go into foreclosure, along with hearing the radio report up in the title there. I figured it was time to address the details for those interested.

Look, there's this popular misconception that people are just walking away from homes like it's nothing, but I tell you--it's not true. The financial devastation is so bad that you'd either be incredibly stupid or very desperate to do this. I haven't had the nerve to check my FICO score or credit rating, but from what I've heard it is as bad as bankruptcy. I can tell you that my credit card limits were slashed and the interest rates raised. I'll be at this apartment complex for a couple of years until I improve all that and can rent a better apartment without a cosigner. I start working on improving my credit in October after I've managed to get my furniture out of Cookbook's garage. And I'm lucky that I've wound up in a fairly stable job that is more lucrative than what I was expecting.

I wound up handling losing the house in a fairly efficient way out of dumb luck. I had a firm idea of what I wanted--to be out of Cleveland and free of the house. Putting the house on the market below the price I bought it at in 2001 as a first step worked out because it showed that I had tried--it's just that the market was against me, and later that I had already exhausted that option, as well as having 2 years of underemployment and tax records that showed it. When I contacted the agency the PMI company contracted to work with me on this, I was very clear on that I wanted to surrender the deed in liu of foreclosure.

That the new mortgage relief plans look to be difficult and lengthy to maneuver and that employers are now running credit checks on applicants makes me nervous about my future, but happy that I choose the solution I did. I don't mind spending the next 7-10 years cleaning up my life. Frankly I'd rather have it in shape by my early 40s than deal with this dragging on forever.

It drives me nuts that some people think that avoiding foreclosure is somehow tied to personal honor. The banks that loan money are doing it based on calculated risk--that's why I had PMI. If that we both got caught in the subprime fueled decline of the Rust Belt, so be it, but my worth as a person is not tied to the fact that I defaulted on my mortgage. And as for the people in the story in the title who are criticized for trying to save their house and afford that over their health--look, when you're short of money, you prioritize. They prioritized poorly, because their home meant a lot to them emotionally. To somehow think that they shouldn't feel ambivalent about the huge weight that's gone, or spend their newly spare money on things they need--as what, penance?--is unrealistic and cruel.

I figured out what the differential was between the rent I would have paid and the cost of improvements I made on the house, and I'm frankly down $65,000 over the years. It's amazing to me--I never thought I would even have so much money, and I thought for so long that I was actually improving my long terms financial prospects when I could have gone traveling or bought a monkey. I'm not the only one; it looks like single women in general got completely snowed by the idea that we were being sensible and thinking long-term buying property. It's a feminist issue no one's talking about much now that it's gone wrong, the fact that a lot of women who bought homes as a place to live and for long term security are now screwed financially.

Any questions? I don't mind talking about this and answering questions based on my experience.

Where I've Been: Domestic News

This is avocado, red pepper and red onion salad with red wine and balsamic vinegar. I eat this 2-3 times a week for dinner. Cain likes avocado--he licks the pit eagerly.



And here he is spying on the birds. We have a pigeon problem at the The Hitchcock Arms.* He loves the balcony--he begs to go out in the morning while I get ready for work.



My Valentine's tulips.

* I refer to my apartment complex as The Hitchcock Arms not just because there is an ongoing bird problem. You can see a little bit of the courtyard and get an idea of the view in the photo. In spring/summer, I anticipate hearing even more of everyone's business. Perhaps I shall shame the jerk who doesn't clean up the dog poop by the barbecue grills.

The bird problem is a little more complex--they recently cut down most of the trees around the complex because they were destroying the foundation. I'm lucky the ones closest to my apartment escaped that fate. We still have tons of roosts for pigeons though. I see so many of them that I started to worry about a scenario like The Birds. Then the parrot lady moved in! She wanders around with her two parrots on her shoulders. I feel the avian population will start to collude.

What else is going on in my domestic world? I am about to get a ton of lemons from a coworker--limoncello, lemon curd, Morrocan preserved lemons to come! I made oven fried chicken for Aces on Sunday and a white bean, bacon, onion and pepper concoction of my own devising that turned out quite nicely.

I still don't have heat--the pipes here needed to be replaced throughout the complex. It's Phoenix, so it's only mildly annoying. That's because it's been about 10 degrees below normal temperature. I'm more worried I'll get psittacosis when they do get it working because they left the access panel outside my door open and I think the pigeons are setting up a home base there.

The irony is that as they were doing this work last week it was "Tenant Appreciation Week." Personally, I prefer information about the lack of heat to offers for door to door garbage pickup, a party sub, and other activities during my work hours. Also ironic? A week and a half before that they sent out a begging flyer asking us to refer our friends to this complex. I think not.

I bought a wicker chair at Ikea this weekend. I sit in it; Cain scratches it. I like having firniture that fulfills multiple needs.

Oh, and I have started eating oatmeal for breakfast. Yes, my actually getting it together for breakfast is a novel domestic innovation that should be marked.

You Can Sit On The Floor

I promised pictures of the new apartment a while back, and although it's no much to look atyou can check it out here. My new bed gets delivered at 6pm Monday and I anticipate being asleep in it by 6:30pm.

I was originally much more set against buying furniture, but I've decided I would like some sort of seating arrangement. I have other stuff to spend money on first though. The other thing is, I'm a messy housekeeper but I cannot see this place being a hassle to keep clean, even when kitties join the household.

Deja Vu

I moved into my new apartment last night. I was very anxious about the whole situation--what if I made a bad choice; you never can tell about places until you move in; even with the door locked I could get raped and murdered MY VERY FIRST NIGHT; it's more urban than I'm used to (and I don't mean black ghetto--it's less suburban than Lakewood); there could be weird Phoenix cockroaches along with the roof rats. Just my freakout nature. But it was really okay, and I met the security patrol and one of my neighbors, and there's internet to steal.

Now I'm just anxious because OMG, the money I have spent in the last 24 hrs. It gives me the vapors since by nature I can't spend money on useful stuff, just crap. I mean I have the cash to spend, but it's just a lot of little pesky things--a shower curtain, the rings to hang it up, dishwasher liquid, a coffee maker, and Ikea kitchen set in a box, glasses. Dusie is loaning me a spare set of dishes, thankfully,

I will take pictures and upload them to my flickr page tomorrow.

The other thing is even though this is a nice enough apartment, it's giving me a case of cognitive and emotional dissonance because it's very much like my first apartment after college which also had brown carpeting and neutral walls. Between that and the single girls status (although I wasn't single back then), new career, new town, etc,. I have this wacky feeling that I've reset the clock 11 years back. The layout here is better and there's a balcony, but it is frankly a bit down market. And I'm not ashamed that this is what my complex financial life affords me, but I do have a nagging feeling of, "oh wait--weren't things supposed to be different by now?" I don't think I've completely screwed up my life, but I was hoping to be a bit more in control of the situation by this time.

Onwards and upwards, I hope.

Joe, Joe, Use Your Mojo! Sell My House So I Can Go!

Before I left Ohio, I buried a little statue of St. Joseph under the lavender bush in the front yard. For those of you who aren't Catholic, when you have trouble selling your house you can bury a St. Joseph in the yard and pray to him and he'll help you find a buyer. St. Joseph is the patron saint of fathers and carpenters, so he's generally interested in the real estate troubles of people with starter houses. (Look, I know I'm not the most spiritually advanced person out there, but cobbled together folk Catholicism fills what little God-shaped hole I have.) Anyway, I have been having problems with the whole praying bit, although I do have a candle.

But, as The Don's daughter, I'm throwing down the way he would, bribery-style. Please, please St. Joe, sell my house and I'll give your nuns $300. There's 2 showings this weekend, and it's been on the market 6 months at a good price and I'll consider any offer. I'll venerate you in my odd, barely confirmed, Vatican 3.0 way. There will be a diorama involved.

Adventures In Apartment Hunting

I need some input from people who are current or recent renters to remind me of what to look for and avoid in a place. I went wandering around work looking at possible apartment complexes.

DrWende confirms that the adjective "luxury" has no meaning out here due to indiscriminate overuse, Aces warned me that a western facing apartment will be hell in the summer, and The Romance Heroine reminded me that single men and families with kids make lots of noise. Anything else?

My criteria are few:

1) Cheap. Because I still own a house in Ohio.

2) Small space. It's me and a cat. We don't technically need more than a studio, but I might fall for a 1 bedroom with a balcony/patio. Cain would like it.

3) Within walking distance of work. I have an older car that I need to get a couple of more years out of, and I am not the world's best driver anyway, especially in heavy traffic. Plus, why did I move here if not to enjoy the outdoors? I am not someone who hates cars or doesn't like to drive (I think they are a necessity in most of the country, and people who are rabidly anti-car seem to have a streak of martyrdom that annoys me) but work is across from a Target, a Costco, a grocery, a poorly reviewed strip club and a Starbucks, 2 blocks from the library, and half a mile from other amenities like a post office, other food, a movie theater, etc. I'd have to buy another babushka cart! It's more convenient than a lot of Cleveland!

4) A decent amount of light. It makes me cheerful.

5) Thick walls. I listen to a lot of music, I wear shoes in the house, and I try to be considerate, but I don't want to feel guilty.

6) A professional management company. No more landlords who buy small properties and have weirdness.

7) Anonymity. Sorry coworker, I don't want to live across the street from you in Tempe in your neighbor's cottage and be forced into commuting with you. I am not a Tempe person anyway.