Black Friday shopping

Last week, I decided to go shopping this coming Black Friday to take advantage whatever low pricing there are for baby clothing. I have read and heard of people get stuff for great deals but they have to be waiting outside the store very early in the morning and in the cold. I am not a fan of all that. There is absolutely nothing that I want so badly that I want to sit in the cold and wait outside the store for deep discount for…at least I haven’t thought of anything worthy of my time and energy.

I don’t have much hand me down baby girl clothing so now we have to go shopping for her needs as she grows. I am looking into buying for next winter as well as for the fall and spring. And I am looking into shopping after the season is over for greater deals.

I have looked into a few web sites and this web site seems to be my favorite.

Learn to organize (clothing and accessories) from my unorganized other half

When it comes to organizing a home and documents, I think I am much better than my husband. However the other day, I realized there is something he does much better than I am in organizing – clothing and accessories.

My husband occupied much more space (although he gave me some drawers and closet space) in the closet than I am because I moved into his apartment after we got married. He organized his clothing by category in drawers and shelves. He puts all his white socks in one draw, another draw with all black. He has all his ties in one place, all his sweaters in another shelves all together, all shirts are together from light color to dark color and all of his winter accessories (hats, gloves, scarves) in one bag. I finally appreciate how he put all his accessories together in one place and makes it very easy to change a pair of gloves if he chooses to.

I bag (with label) all my clothing by season. I have 2-3 bags of clothing for the summer. And then I have another 2-3 bags of clothing for winter. If I need to look for something, I have to go through the bags to find what I want. I have casual, formal and sporty clothing all together in the bags. I have my winter accessories all mixed up in my coats and winter clothing. So when I put on my blue coat the other day, I was wearing a pair of completely different color gloves because I didn’t have time to look for the blue gloves I have.

I am in the mission of at lease put all my winter accessories together in one bag (with label) so when I need to change a coat, all I have to do is go through this bag and get the color that matches the best.

My next bigger project will be organizing the clothing I have. Summer, winter, fall, spring, bathing suit, scarves, gloves, dresses, formal wear, casual wear, sporting wear, winter coats, spring jackets, dressy coats and jackets etc…Who has the time for all of this!

Remembering My Grandma

I still think of my grandma who passed away this past February. I remember I packed up a box of soft tissue for her. She used a lot of tissue because she coughed every once in a while. I also packed a nail clipper to help her cut her fingernails; a comb to comb her hair; a new soft cloth (those that babies use to wash their face) to help her wash her face.

Unfortunately that Saturday morning before I got up to go see her and deliver all that stuff to her in the hospital, my mother called and told me that she already passed away. When I got there, she was already wrapped up in plastic and only her face was showing. I touched her face, her hair, her arms and her feet. She was still warm and then she turned colder. We were all very sad but I knew she was at peace finally. She was in too much pain the few nights that I spent with her in the hospital.

Doctors said she lived to age 98 that is like live twice for other people. Indeed she did live a long life but from seeing her go through surgery, rehabilitation, falls and to dead, I hope I won’t have to go through as much if I were to live that long. I hope to live a healthier life than her. She is always in my mind and reminds me of what life is all about and not to sweat the small things in life.

Cash for Clunkers Program and The First Time Home Buyer’s Credit

While the Clunkers program was in effect, my husband and I analyzed our situation on whether to buy a bigger car and take advantage of the cash for Clunkers program. Unfortunately, our car did not qualify. And even if we did, we properly did not want to be part of the program as well. Reasons: (1) We are living on one income right now. (2) our car mileage is only 50k - 60k (3) even if our car qualify for the program, we would still have to spend money…that’s is adding debt...it’s not a good idea for a one income family at the moment.

We came to the conclusion, “just because something is on sale, it doesn’t mean you have to buy It”. I think I mentioned this as I was de-cluttering our apartment. I bought office supplies and clothing just because they were on sale. And now, I have tons of office supplies that take up space and a lot of new clothing that I haven’t worn.

As our family grows and as the economy gets better (hopefully within the next few years), when I return to work full-time and accumulate enough money to buy a bigger car, we’ll paid cash (if not all, it will be mostly cash) for it.

I feel the same way about Obama’s credit for first time buying a house. (1) we have one income, (2) just because something is on sale, it doesn’t mean you must buy it (3) I want to be able to sleep at night because I do not want to be in big debt. This type of debt we can not and will not be able to pay all cash but would definitely take advantage if we have 2 incomes. This isn’t the right time for us.

For that, I will be able to sleep at night because we are not in big debt and we are not spending simply because something is on sale.

Family dinner

We finally received our dinning table and eat as a family like how our parents always had it when we were young and had dinner together every night. Our daughter got so excited that she refused to take a nap. While we were eating dinner, she fell asleep on her high chair. It was hilarious.

I got a table cloth and realized it didn’t fit because what was inside the bag didn’t match the description of the box. It was too late to return it because it was just 2 days after the 30 days return policy. Thank goodness it wasn’t an expensive table cloth. I had to go back to the same store (Century 21 – Zagat rated #1 discount store) and look for another one. I got a vinyl table cloth instead of a regular cloth one. It fit nicely on the table but would look much better if we have a regular table cloth. With toddlers at home, even this loose vinyl table cloth isn’t going to work. Toddlers like to pull on tablecloths. So our final decision for later is to buy a elasticized vinyl table cloth from Improvements.

Our first dinner together as a family was wonderful. I can’t wait for many more to come. I just hope if we ever move, the new home that we’ll move to will be able to accommodate this dinning room table. Even though I can remove 1 leaf to have it as a smaller table, I love the space of a big table. I can do many things with flat surfaces…reading a paper, paying bills or simply a cup of tea.

My passion test result

I finish reading the book “The Passion Test” many weeks ago. Ok, I didn’t read line by line the 2nd part of the book because I was busy and reading other books at the same time but I got the basic idea of it. One awaken moment for me was when the book mentioned about living your passion while you are home with your baby (children) and husband. It said my passion could be my family and then another one could be my interest so while I put my family as my priority/top passion, I can still work part-time on my other interest/passion. It never occurs to me that my family is my passion. I always thought of them as my family and they are important to me.

Well, that’s it. The book served its purpose for me. It woke me up and I found out what my passion is at the moment and I believe this passion will continue to be my first passion. I am aligned with my passion and value. My other part time passion – I am in the process of working on it or still figuring out if it is indeed my passion or is it just a hallucination.

Our Vacation

After 2 ½ years, we finally took a vacation. We decided to go locally for 2 days and 1 night but at the last minute, we decided on 3 days and 2 nights instead. We went upstate NY, the Mohonk Preserve and Mohonk Mountain House for hiking and just relaxing. It’s a 2 hour drive. I’ve checked out the Mohonk Mountain Hotel. It’s $200 per person per night which included hotel and 3 meals. That would be $800 if we stay for 2 nights. That is way over our budget. So I decided we go to a motel about 20 miles away after reading all the reviews online. Our trip turns out to be less than half the cost if we were to stay in the Mohonk Mountain Resort.

The first day we got there, we hiked in the preserves which is not the same as the Mohonk Mountain House (it is privately own). It was a nice, quiet 5 miles hike round trip except at the end. We took the West Trapps Trail and started off with the Overcliff road. The trail was dry and easy but when we got to the Undercliff Road towards the last quarter of the trail, there were a lot of millipedes. I hate anything that crawls on the floor like snakes, worms etc.. The Millipedes were disgusting. I held my husband tight and screamed all the way till the end of the trail. There were a few people on the trail and they were wondering what I was screaming about. Sure, my husband was a little embarrassed by me. I couldn’t help it. I told him that I’ll never go back to this trail ever again.

On the 2nd day of our vacation, we had lunch first, and then drove to the Mohonk Mountain House. Admission was $18 per person. And if you want to park closer to the house, it’s an additional $10. There is a trail which we can hiked up to the house so we figure we would hike since this is the main purpose of our vacation. At the end of the day, I would say it was a mistake to hike the additional 2-3 miles just to get to the Mohonk Mountain house. When we got to the Mohonk Mountain House, I was amazed with the beauty of the resort. We had to hike some more toward the Sky Top Tower. In additional to that, we walked around one section of the garden outside the Mohonk Mountain House. At the end of the day, we still have to hike back to our car. Our shins were sore. We wished we had paid the extra $10 so that we parked closer to the hotel rather than hiking another 1.5 miles back.

On our 3rd day, we planned on doing more (going to the Storm King Art Center, Apple Picking or something else). We ended up driving across the bridge to Poughkeepsie and then drive around Newburgh and came home before rush hour.

I was glad to be back to see my baby. It was a nice get away with no cooking, cleaning or baby sitting for a couple of days. We won’t have another vacation for a while.