Friday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.25 coffee + $1.50 coffee + $15 lunch + $55 dinner for two

Saturday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $20 2 bottles wine + $5 lamp

Again, the Greenwood Art Walk. I didn't go through the whole thing because, well... let me tell you below.

I saw a lot of wonderful photographs and caught up with a couple of the same artists as last year. I would have loved to buy a couple of things, so I thought I'd do the frugal thing instead and take a few myself of the day.

Who wouldn't love a bucket of marbles? Plunge your hand in -- they are amazingly cold.


The lamp store always amazed me. Every other store, the wares are laid out along walls, or they come up through the floor. Here, you are encouraged to look up at the constellation of lamps, your nose brushing against price tags. It makes the ceiling seem bright and ciliated.


Some urban edginess between the Greenwood Library (left) and a brick apartment building (right).


I thought that the pug pulling against his leash was pining for his master. Nope. His leash was just an inch short for he really wanted. See that little bit of orange kibble to the left of his paw? "Sometimes he loves me for me," his owner (dark orange and black fleece) said. "Sometimes."


Here's the reason I cut my Art Walk short. I took a break and walked into an estate sale a block from the Art Walk, chatted with the cashier, turned to the left and saw this gorgeous brass lamp. I must have been in a lamp mood from the lamp store. Here's an action shot in my living room (apologies for the mess).

What a deal - $5!

My new stock Drip - IP - has the same transfer agent as another one of my Drips, so I could apply directly to the transfer agent. All it took was to fill out an application form and $600. I was expecting a good week or two before the account was created and the check was cashed. So I scheduled a transfer from my savings a couple of days after I mailed the check, not right away.

Imagine my surprise and light horror to find out that the account had been created already, two days after I mailed it. It started a shuffle of money, just in case the check was about to be presented to my bank. My checking account didn't cover it at that exact moment so I moved some money from brick and mortar savings, but only enough to keep that account up at $300. Then I had to check to see if I had a transfer from checking to brick and mortar savings. I did, so that had to be moved.

And then there's the money coming from ING. It shows as having left my account but not in my checking account yet. It should happen within a day or two. Maybe.

I have to tell you, electronic transfers are not what they're cracked up to be. I just know its going to be a fight because you KNOW the bank is going to pick the method that will allow them to charge a fee. Grr.

The transfer of Ameriprise money (grandma's trust) to Vanguard is nearly complete. All that remains is to close the Ameriprise account. It will be nice to get rid of one account - I won't have to monitor it, remember usernames and passwords. Blegh.

Found an unusual storefront on my walk yesterday.


And yes, what's in the window is what you think it is...

Turns out it's an ad agency..

Friday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $3.25 coffee, bagel + $1.70 coffee (McAmericano - hah hah) + $25 duck ride ticket + $11 lunch + $20 2 CDs

Thursday
Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.80 coffee + $13 lunch + $11 crockpot cookbook + $30 graphic novel

Made my gym appointment yesterday (181.8 lbs!! yay), but also played tourist at the little shops inside and underneath the Pike Market. Ate lunch at my hideout in the market, and afterward in one of the shops, found a crockpot cookbook that had a couple of good ideas and contained a number of pork recipes (DH loves pork and brings some home all the time). Also, you probably don't know this, but I do follow one particular comic/ graphic novel "world". A new novel came out and I was glad to see it. There was a very bad movie made of that comic world - it seemed to clear out the poseurs, I guess.

Today I rode the Duck ride - amphibious craft will take tourists throughout downtown Seattle, then will splash into Lake Union, chug around Lake Union for 45 minutes or so, then come up onto the road, drive around Fremont a bit and head for base. At least twice a week every week of my workday, as a pedestrian I passed a Duck picking its way through Pioneer Square. After nine years, curiosity got the better of me.

The only vaguely frightening part - the driver (Captain Hoohaw) needed both hands to get his wig on. Hope he was steering with his knees.


Coming on the left and over you on the water...


Then, after the Duck ride, 3 block walk and a little shopping at a CD store - both new and used. The checkout person saved me 50% - she was interested in buying one of the CDs that I had so she knew that there were a couple of used copies.

So far, it has been a bit more spendy than usual to play the tourist rather than the working slob ... on the other hand, no hotel rates, no gas consumed, no terribly pricey restaurants.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $13 brunch + $4 coffee, water, apple

Well, I was curious, so I checked it out. Yes, I can walk from 4th and Pike back to my house in Greenwood. Talk about an extreme commute. Whew!

It was such a nice day. Too nice actually for this project - it hit the upper 70s, so walking got quite warm. The best walking weather for me is low 50s. Then you get just warm enough to be pleasant, and you want to keep moving to keep warm.

Anyway, if you are familiar with Seattle, its long and lean and if you are going north you have to pick your bridge. For this experiment I went direct - walking along Aurora Ave, picking the Aurora bridge. It took a soulless hour twenty minutes to go from downtown to Fremont; then I rested a bit, got myself a water and an apple in Fremont; then another rest at the Phinney Neighborhood Center; then home. Including the breaks, it took 3 hrs and 5 minutes.

Next time, I've got to think about hitting the Fremont bridge. Crossing that one on foot is far less scary for someone with a fear of falling.

I'm proud of myself. In a true emergency, even something like a repeat of WTO, getting home in 3 hrs by my own steam has got to be better than waiting 3 hrs for a bus.

10 blocks from home, I photographed a joke at the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Company.

Laugh all you want, gaming's probably recession proof.


And spring has sprung in the Fred Meyer parking lot...

Saving log - $5 tip box
Spending log - $3.28 bagel & coffee + $15 groceries

This weekend was gym laundry weekend, which meant a Sunday trip to the office to stow my clean gym clothes in my office. Long explanation for a Sunday tip box entry.

Saturday DH and I went Fry's Computer to pick up a digital camera tripod. Of course, I got a lot, lot more - $164 worth. Because after a year and a half, my headphones were starting to cause an ache against my ears - headphone cup would press against ear which would press against the frame of my glasses - I decided to try earbuds one last time. $99 worth. They feel great, have great sound, and come with a lanyard to keep the weight off the wires and cause them to pop out of my ears. Again, the cheap man (me) spends the most. By buying a few cheap earbuds and earclips, I spent 30$ needless dollars two years ago. DH, though, wants my headphones so he'll probably use them up.

I also have a weakness for purses and bags and picked this beauty up for $22.

Its made of 70% neoprene and zips up completely - perfect for Seattle weather. Also, if I stuff it enough and zip it up, I have a stretchy Russian kettlebell that I can whap a purse snatcher with.

The rest of the purchases were the tripod - night pictures! - and a GPS case. I don't have a GPS unit, but MP3 player fits into it very well, and I then can use the large cell phone case that I'm using as an MP3 case for my digital camera. A good frugal trick is to remember that most digital objects are similar sizes. Just because a tag says that its a large cell phone case doesn't mean that you have to use it for a cell phone. If the digital thingamajig fits, you can get at it, and the zippers and pockets are useful to you, who cares!

The last picture is for a laugh... if you know Latin, that is. You probably don't want to translate either one for the kiddies.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $3.28 coffee, bagel + $1.65 coffee + $6 pho lunch

DH worked President's Day, while I could play. It was a glorious sunny day, which never happens in Seattle this time of year. Mostly did errands - made the chiropractor appointment, then walked north through the Pike Market, through Belltown, then cut through some of the Sculpture Park, Myrtle Edwards Park, then the park maintained by the Port of Seattle, then crossed over the Amgen double helix bridge - about 4 miles.

Picture time!

This one was actually taken last week at the Pike Market. How did he get that cat to wear that hideous sweater?


The one thing I missed seeing the first time at the Sculpture Garden was the Neukom Vivarium. Its a nurse log gently and greenly rotting under green filtered glass. Simple, but refreshing.


A very different perspective of one of the bits of sculpture. If you don't know what a typewriter eraser is...well that dates you!


Shot of glorious blue water and blue sky, with a freighter and ducks.


More blue sky, a squiggly tree sculpture, a red ampersand sculpture, and the PI globe.


Inside the Amgen double helix bridge.


Then the bus mostly home. I'm doing my taxes late this year. Normally I do them myself and get right on it to have it over and done with...but because I inherited and sold property, received a 1099 where I might have to fill out a Schedule K, and earned decent money off of taxable investments, well, discretion is the better part of valor this year. I made an appointment with a local CPA this afternoon three weeks from now.

One last thing - I managed to score two fantastic deals at two different grocery stores 1. on frozen vegetables - .99/lb for frozen corn, peas, peas & carrots, green beans; 2. ground beef at $1.49/lb. The freezer is full.

Saving log - $2 tip box
Spending log - $1.19 coffee + $5.45 lunch

For anyone who has winter on their mind, good or bad. Seattle became a winter wonderland overnight. These pictures were taken at sunrise at, oh, about 7:45 am.

The pocket park, facing west


The turned around view, facing east. 89th Street lay before you.


This was the most peaceful part of the day. After that, it went downhill rapidly.

Saving log - $0 tip box
Spending log - $1.84 coffee, milk + $13 chirashi lunch

Saturday was high holy day for the shopping of grocery staples. 49 cent cans of chicken stock, 48 cent canned tomatoes, $1.98/lb butter, $.99/lb frozen peas and frozen green beans, 69 cent cans tuna, 33 cent/lb pasta. If DH had been around, I could have given him a little teaching moment about steel cut oats at .79/lb. All because of Thanksgiving at the end of the month. None of these prices were fantastically rock bottom low, but compared to what they were like a month or two, well, you curse the fact that the dip is not as low as you'd like, or you stock up, figuring that inflation will make things even worse in a few weeks. Now if only the produce would even approach a good value. Nothing much for under a $1/lb except for unbagged carrots, yellow onions, and bananas.

I sent off the email to the trustee administrator for grandmas account. Got word from sister that the trustees really want to close this out by the end of the year. Sister also told me how much we've inherited - it was large enough that she quieted down a bit. She told me that it wasn't about the money - I'm thinking that by her actions that it actually kinda was.

There is a tiny pocket park run by the City of Seattle right in back of our little duplex. The Japanese maple at its focal point starts to put on its show right about now.


Sitting on the bench at the foot of the tree is also another sign of the season...

And no, I never did learn how to identify mushrooms - I love mushrooms, and if I learned to identify them, I'd be tempted to try them. There are old mushroom hunters and there are bold mushroom hunters, but there are no old bold mushroom hunters.

To give myself a little break from the kvetching. Fall is here, the bus rides are getting darker and darker, but the views are atmospheric!

From a stopped bus off the Ballard Bridge at bit after sunset.


Mid day in Occidental Park - the tree leaves obscure Smith Tower. In the early 20th century, Smith Tower was the tallest building west of the Mississippi.


Benaroya Hall in the early evening. Blurry, but I just loved the purple lit windows.


A neighbor got into the holiday spirit.


Last night DH and I went to a Halloween Party - I didn't do much in the costume department, just sprayed some green hairspray in my hair and smeared some fake blood on my face. Total cost - $2. Bought nuts for the potluck tray - $10.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.16 coffee + $8 lunch

I wonder how many people walking up or down the Cherry Street hill between 2nd and 3rd Ave past the parking garage ever noticed the fern growing out of the side of the building? Thinking about all the nasty paint and the shade the fern has to deal with, wow, its amazing its here and looking good.


This morning, I used the restroom, which meant washing my hands, which meant either wiping down the massive puddles around the rim of the sink and the counter, or ignore them completely. I've been wiping down the sinks and counters, but man, I'm just sick of it. This is what I did:

1. Wrote this on a PostIt note in tiny lettering -

"If you can read this -
You probably now have a line of soapy water cutting across your pants.
Please wipe down the counter when you are done."

2. Attached said PostIt eye level onto the mirror.

Went back to the bathroom at 5 pm. No PostIt but the counters were dry. I'm considering it a win.

Yesterday, on our way to the grocery shop, we drove past glorious autumn trees around Green Lake. Its very rare to see great fall color in Seattle - it mustn't rain if you want the trees to develop brilliant color.

Later, I walked around Green Lake with a camera in hand. Admission was free - it only cost me a few calories.

Cascade in gold.


The bluer water part of Green Lake. Many other places near the shore had algal mats, which aren't photogenic.


On the trail, colors turning. Green Lake is considered "Seattle's backyard". I overheard plenty of gossip, and if it wasn't in Russian, I might have had chance in understanding it.


Even the wildlife got into the gossip act. What were the ducks and turtles talking about anyway?


This tree's fully turned.


Just to let you know you are firmly in Seattle.

This is one of the more fascinating tip jars in Pioneer Square Seattle.


A few years ago, this coffee shop's tip jar was stolen regularly. The baristas came up with a novel solution: immerse the tips in water. It does cut down the desire. Water's heavy - you can't just grab the jar and flee - and who wants to stick wet money in his pocket?

Its just very interesting to see the tip money come out. The coins are easy - a quick wipe and they are dry. The bills have to be hung up along a line like the wash. And since dollar bills are 25% linen and 75% cotton, they are wash.

This is a little tour of the grounds, especially the pieces that now the Wisconsin Dept of Nat Resources (WIDNR) owns. Warning - lots of fields that all kinda look the same. You just can't make that composition interesting.

The zoning situation, in a sign.


This is due east. The clear area is now WIDNR to be restored to wetland. They've sprayed for weeds and have seeded.


This is southeast, taken from the road. The weeds are from the road. The soft gray area in the background is the WIDNR's previous purchase of our eastern neighbor's land 15 years ago. Its a sign of things to come.


From the south, through the weeds. The foreground weeds are all ours, BTW.


The property line between us and WIDNR cuts close to the solar panels. They have a bit of "our" pasture. We are on the left, WIDNR is on the right, and yes, it sure looks greener on that side.


Sister in our weeds.


View from the southwest.


On the west edge, we discovered that our property line is about 10 ft farther than our fence line. So we own that 10 ft of grass past the fence. Its what caused that slightly increased acreage that freaked us out at the final step.


A picture of the corporate farm that sister despises. They were kind of interested in the property, but we were less interested in selling to them than to the WIDNR.


Fun shot of one of the barn kittens. He looks so much like my dead Augie that I just about cried.

I know you are curious, so as threatened, pictures of the farmette. These are shots of the house and barn. Warning - long, long, long, with lots o' pictures.

House - facing west. This is the side facing the barn, which we will see later. The foundation got recently fixed.


House - facing east. This is the side facing the garden and the property now owned by the Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources. We'll see that later, too. We never ever used that porch.


This is the north side of the barn and the now fixed up milkhouse. The red barn door is now new, and there aren't many diamond windows around on barns these days. The house would be behind you and to your left.


Inside of the old shed on the east side of the barn - all you would do is take a few steps to the left of the previous picture. This old, 20 ft shed contained the old, copper-bottomed still my grandfather (father's side) used to make whiskey during Prohibition.


This is the south side of the barn. The barn is actually in the shape of an upside down U - The milk cows were generally led in the central courtyard before milking and went there during rainstorms. Nowadays, the solar panel stands proud on the left. Its generating power - kind of fun watching the inverter go in reverse, sending power back to the utility.


Close up of the three poles. We installed three poles in case sister and I wanted to install two more solar panels. Under the three poles lay a trenched copper cable which delivers the power to the farmette. In the background, the southwest corner of the house is peaking through the trees.


Close up shot of the back end of the solar panel.


Close up of the courtyard where the cows lay. The flooring - ahem, compost - is like scotch: very well aged.


This is the south west corner of the barn. That little blue-green thingee sticking out is the automatic manure spreader - how cow manure got out of the barn.


Grounds and fields next.

The Bridge Motel, a 12-room motel that I pass by on the bus nearly every day, is now defunct. Artists took it over Saturday night for one night. Next week it gets torn down for something else. Its a small shame - it was at its best a cheap salesman stop right at the Aurora Bridge (hence the name) - but we need our semi-seedy places. What and where would writers write about otherwise? Besides, without care even the most upscale places turn seedy.

At the front - in color


Enter Other Side - and we did


The art crowd


The front office


Room of salt with "buried treasure" - greeting cards and found paper objects


Spiral of found, crushed cans (makes a fascinating background on the laptop)


A Twilight Zone, 2001-esque moment in the window of one of the rooms.


Entertainment was free ... well, I spent 3$ on a plastic glass of red wine. Actually, I spent only $2.99 - I found a penny on the stairs. I saw a ton of pennies on the roof when I stuck my head out of an upper window. Didn't try for those.

Saving log -$1 tip box
Spending log - $1.15 coffee (still no no-fat or 1%) + $5 lunch

We have a display case near our offices. I rearranged the letters, as a shout-out to the James Bond fans out there. We'll see who notices.

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1 coffee + $7 lunch + $7 snack, mocha

I was away from my desk all day today at a training in Adobe Acrobat. It was entertaining and a nice change of pace. I got wind from DH that I'm going to participate in interviewing a temp staffer bright and early at 9am, which means I conned DH into driving me back to work to print out the interview questions, the resume, the job description. I shouldn't have looked at my other emails, but I did. Crisis! Sigh. Sometimes I think some of my coworkers can't find their collective hhmmm with two hands and a flashlight. If you know what I mean.

Had the camera on me, so a couple of interesting snaps.
Yeah, how many space needle pics can you take?
This one looks like the War of the Worlds Martians had just landed, mid-zap.


And this one looks like the Daily Planet. Not quite, its the PI building (the training was held a block away).

well, entertaining lunatics...




In case you missed them, the signs said:
Needs Good Home
Take Me. I'm yours.
Cheap & Easy
If I Could Talk

Oh yes, don't be fooled. The only thing more uncomfortable than those chairs would be a board with nails in it.

(And yes that's a vault door in the background. Our building used to be a bank. It cost too much to get rid of it during the remodel, so it remains as an historical artifact.)

Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $1.84 coffee, milk

Saving log - $0
Spending log - $11 Denny's + $40 groceries + $26 CDs (1 a 2 record set)

The probable pentultimate gasp of paperwork for the 74 acres (second property minus farmette and 7 acres) came today in the mail, along with a few useful letters. It came from sister's lawyer.

In front of a notary, I'm to sign the Construction and Tenants affidavit and the Warranty Deed. Apparently the Transfer Return form is just for my files - sister, since she's readily available, is to sign that one. I get to call the lawyer and confirm.

And then sister and I each pay off the property taxes for 2007, now that dad's estate is no more (out of probate). I'll check with sister to see if we can use the joint checking account to pay it off. After all, its what I envisioned this joint account would be for.

According to the DNR letter, when this batch of paperwork is done, the Wisconsin DNR will get the clear title and cut us a check.

A couple of photos for today. This afternoon, it appears that fall has come a little early to Seattle. We got a spot of rain...


And another fall sign, lots of birds congregating on a wire. I felt a tad like Tippi Hedron as I snapped it. 'IMDB' Tippi Hedron for you young whippersnappers.

So Duvall friends told me they had no ripe blueberries...


And they swore they had no ripe huckleberries...Cripes, this is the most huckleberries ever I've seen on a bush. I must not get out all that often, I guess.


The Duvall friends were interested in doing pickles and marmalade. Are you crazy! I told them that berry jam is easy with no botulism potential. And the quick pickle steps usually had the "put in salted ice water for hours" step, which means canning the next day. The only problem with the jam is what couple can really go through a quart of jam in a reasonable time and without an insulin shot?

So we picked up some pint jars in addition to the quarts we got from the other friend. They'll use the quarts in the next few weeks. I showed them what you look for when you go through jars. We got one bad cracked one, one with a rough spot on the rim (I use those, but that one gets opened and put in the refrigerator after canning), and one mayo jar. No mayo jars as a canning jar for me.

We picked berries for a couple of hours, doing grizzly bear style picking - stripping the berries, rather than picking each one. For the huckleberries it still meant a lot of stripping for a small volume and it meant a lot of cleaning of leaves, berry stems, bugs, overdone fruit. My advice: use a fair amount of water. Leaves float, and the overripe stuff tends to sink and dissolve. Still it took about an hour to clean and pick.

The first step is to measure, which is a bit of a craft, because if you pack them down, you change the volume. This is 4 cups of blackberries, 7 cups of blueberries, 2 cups of huckleberries.


We made two batches of jam - 6 pints of a blueberry huckleberry lemon combo with added pectin, and 6 pints of a straight cooked-down blackberry blueberry number with sugar. The Duvall friends took lots of notes, but they did fade in and out, something you can't do during canning. Something about hot boiling water and hot boiling sugar that keeps you on task.

Here's the waterbath canner in action, steam surrounding it.


The batches of jam. Blackberry on the left, huckleberry/blueberry on the right.


Turns out that the added pectin number did something strange. It passed my fork test for jam, which means that it would jam up, but it seems jammy at the top and syrupy at the bottom. Tastes fantastic though. The cooked jam number took forever and ever to cook - it never really fully passed the fork test - but it jammed up nicely in the jar. Tastes great, but blackberry is always stronger than blueberry in my book.

Spent Friday night and Saturday in Duvall Washington, at the north edge of the county. The Duvall friends invited us to the tractor fair Saturday morning and early afternoon. Not only did it harken back to a more frugal time, it was a blast!

This is an International Harvestor (IH) tractor M - a tractor that my dad had and "Nut" borrowed as a ransom. This one is in far, far better condition.


These weren't just for show - they had to run enough to participate in a parade and some, for a tractor pull. This is one of the oldest tractors restored and running - a 1919 Allis Chalmers.


The 1919 tractor with one of the newest tractors - from 1981.


It wasn't just tractors - any old engine or gas fired appliance that could be restored seemed to appear. This is a gas powered washer. You primed the beast using the pedals at the bottom.


And a more detailed shot of the gas iron. Inside the base of the iron was a pilot light! To a farm wife, the question "did I leave the iron on?" had a whole new dimension.

Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.84 coffee, milk + $5.50 lunch + $2.73 grocery

My WA bank completed the test "Bill Pay" transaction to the WI bank, from my end, on Friday. I expect that in the next couple of days that sister will see it from her end as a deposit. I'll call her tomorrow and ask. She'll have to tell me that she's seeing it before I send the rest - I just don't want to send tons of money without a little practice.

Picked up some produce - peaches at $1/lb and bananas at .50/lb. I used the HT cloth grocery bag at Safeway. Safeway deducts .03 if you bring a cloth bag, Greenwood Market deducts .05. Big grocery irony - HT, the kung fu grocery where I got the cloth bag deducts 0! C'mon man - if you are going to promote your cloth bag, make it worth our while!

Took a snap of a dustmop wearing a sweater.

Didn't have that much to post about.

It turns out that on Wednesday, August 8, a film crew is going to film along 2nd Ave, where I work, go to the gym, and hit the chiropractor.

They should get a glimpse of blooming magnolias in Seattle. These are on 2nd and Marion...

Namely, the Greenwood Seafair parade tonight. Seafair is a two week celebration culminating with hydroplane races. All over Seattle, neighborhoods hold parades and events.

The bead guy, selling a little bit of Mardi Gras in July.


The theme of the parade was the Greening of Greenwood. One truck took it to a funny turn.


Cheerleaders...


Drill Teams...


Bands...


Careful listening to the bands provides for its own entertainment. Five years ago, one of the school bands played School's Out for Summer. No one, though, dressed like Alice Cooper, but you still had to give them props. Nothing so entertaining tonight, but fun nonetheless.

Got bought breakfast by DH.

It was the best grocery shopping deal of the season. Peaches for $1/lb, 1/2 flat of blueberries for $6, frozen green beans for $.99/16 oz bag. (Corn and peas get that low, more rarely broccoli, but green beans getting that low is very rare.) I know, frozen's not as chic as fresh, but the best price for fresh green beans this year was at $1.49/lb, today they ran at $1.99/lb. There's chic, and then there's doing the math - last I checked, 16 oz equals 1 lb. Double the price.

My meal was a festival of good fats - guacamole with avocadoes & salmon, with homemade potato salad with green beans in it as a bit of a vice, and blueberries, blueberries, blueberries.

Up on the DVD tonight is the last episode of Deadwood - let the obscenities begin.

Fun image this week. A little bit of drama on the bus. Will it fall and fly around inside?

...well, the license plate on the car he would drive. Wouldn't work as a getaway car.

Savings log - $0
Spending log - $1.84 coffee, milk +20$ chiropractor +$7 lunch + $9 in the ear earbuds

Found 3 pennies on the sidewalk and in the street. Lately I've been finding them all dinged and beaten up as if they have been coming up from the blacktop.

Everybody's been in and out at work. A stylistic thing for a Wednesday holiday. Do you treat Wednesday as a last day of a little break or the first day of one?

Picked up some in the in-the-ear earbuds to give my ears a rest from the headphones. The headphones are great, but the ear cups press against my ears which pinch against my glasses.

The image today is in honor of Dollars for Dough Nuts for her quest to find vacation lodging.

Saving log - $lots, see later in the post
Spending log - $20 for 2 breakfasts, $5 lemonade

This weekend's the Fremont Fair, which I usually don't go to even though its free - it just concentrates badly behaved people - but I wanted to see the art cars. I didn't realize that Seattle hosted the 3rd largest art car gathering in the US.

Here's one using materials familiar to a blogger:


This one can only be described as a tart car, with black bras and curlers on the top:


A working fountain on the hood?


This one has a wicked sculptural quality to it - the top of the windshield has the words 'outta my way' in mirror image, so you could see them that way in your rear view mirror.


Art cars intersect with frugality in weird sorts of ways. For instance, the one thing that art cars share is that the car part is all paid off; I'm sure that GM Financing takes a very dim view of gluing black bras on the hood of a car that you are still paying on. . In most cases, the materials used as a motif for the car - discs, lingerie, beads, chalk, paint, match box cars, pennies - are usually cheap or worthless. Making something out of nothing, as it were. And you have to be very, very willing to live with and still use the results.

Today I also received the 4th payment from dad's estate. The state of Wisconsin signed off and is buying our 2nd piece of property, but that money hasn't come into the estate yet. With this 4th payment, the sale of the first property is now divided up between sister and I. The amount is small enough so it would be FDIC insured as a CD, but large enough that its weird to see it as a simple slip of paper. Shouldn't it have a gilt frame or something?

Wednesday
Saving log - $3 tip box
Spending log - $1.84 coffee, milk + $7 lunch

Thursday
Saving log - $0
Spending log - $1.84 coffee, milk + $5 lunch

In Paris, DH was quite taken by the number of 2-seat Smart cars on the streets. Today, I saw something one better - a Sparrow in the street.


Its a one-seater; one bag of kitty litter would have to drive itself home.


And another shot of the stickers - an electric car. The caption underneath the Sparrow says, "Ruler of the City Streets".


Tomorrow I see what my new paycheck will look like. I've learned not to form an expectation, otherwise I'll be disappointed.