Declining, Distressed, Severe

Posted on February 6, 2008 by jeannie

Who ever said that bankers weren’t creative? According to the finance officer I spoke with today, “declining,” “distressed,” and “severe” are all part of banking terminology used to describe the housing market. Wells Fargo deems the current state of affairs in California to be a “declining market.”

What does that mean? It means that my house in Joshua Tree is now worth $20,000 less than what I bought it for two years ago and if I want to refinance that the bank will ask for 5% more down payment than it would in non-declining times. Which means, yes, the interest rates have dropped – but the banks are scared to loan you money so loaning guidelines have become extremely rigorous.

I originally got my house in Joshua Tree as a first-time home buyer teaching at a under-performing school and so I was able to get an amazing 30 fixed at 5.125%.

Now that it’s rented out to a tenant and somehow my financing agency has gotten wind of this, I am no longer qualified for the loan and must pay the loan in full. Unfortunately, I now have to come up with 25% of the current value of the house to borrow a maximum of 75%, which is about $25,000 short of what I need to cover the loan.  And this is after I put 20% down two years ago!

This is why I spent the better part of an hour talking earnestly with a finance officer this afternoon. His advice: re-occupy my JT house, show proof of my occupancy to my loaning agency, and continue with my present loan.

My second option is to re-finance the JT house as my second home: that would allow me to get away with only coming up with 10% down.

A non-owner occupied home is the most difficult one to finance. It would require 20% down (25% right now because of the declining market). Yikes!

Boy, they really know how to stick to the man. Tell me again, why did I think becoming a landlord was a good idea?

Posted in house hunting, money | Leave a comment

Check out the Sidebar

Posted on February 5, 2008 by jeannie

Just thought I’d mention it; but I’m particularly happy with all the items under Jeannie’s Stamp of Approval at the moment. The frozen improv troupe at Grand Central made me gasp and laugh out loud. People who were witnessing the situation hardly knew what to do with themselves – it was like they had been transported to an episode of Heroes. I should have saved this post for tomorrow, but I wanted my sister to watch it while she was at work…

Also, Chad sent me an interesting article today that you can read here. It’s called “Ten Things That Will Change Your Future” and it’s a list of new objects, vocabulary, and ways of thinking. You might be familiar with Twitter, but have you heard of a gizmo called Chumby? It operates entirely with widgets and keeps track of your online stuff for you – kinda like a window into your personalized homepage all day long: your ebay auctions, your news headlines, your feeds… The article is from the Sydney Morning Herald, whatever that is.

Posted in art, technology | 2 Comments

More Things To Do In Bangkok

Posted on February 4, 2008 by jeannie

My brother’s friend is honeymooning in Bangkok soon and Songbae asked Sue if she had any tips. Well, having lived there for two years, the tips just tumbled out of her. Here they are.

“i would recommend:

1. brunch at the shangri-la. open only on weekends. go there HUNGRY b/c no matter how hungry you are you won’t be able to eat all that you want to when you get there. there’s SO MUCH delicious food (but it’s all more like lunch or dinner food rather than breakfast, e.g. sushi, roast, etc).

2. drinks/cocktails at distil on top of the state tower. this is just next to vertigo which is more famous but more loungy and relaxed. but definitely check out vertigo also while you’re there… its quite spectacular.

3. wat pho (reclining buddha) and wat pra kaew/grand palace. wat pra kaew is the emerald buddha and is the most important buddha to thais. after walking around the wats, recommend getting to restaurant ‘the deck’ just before sunset and sitting on the balcony on the 2nd floor for dinner while the sun sets behind wat arun (you’ll be located on the riverside).

4. massages… lots of them. lots of places… to go. regular price should be about 200-300 baht/hr or 1.5 hrs. but once you get fancier (own room, etc) the price goes up quickly, e.g., 400 to 1200 baht an hour for thai massage.

5. spa. all of the nice hotels have good spas.

6. bak klong talaat. 24hr flower market that has an amazing array of orchids and other exotic plants and flowers. best to go sometime after 10pm.

7. at some point you may want to try using the river or canal boats to get around just for the experience. i love being on the river. going to the wats or the flower market or shangri-la for brunch all offer opportunities for taking a boat up the chao praya river.

well, that’s just a few of my favourites … there are heaps of other things to do in bangkok too!

congrats… and best wishes for a long and happy life together!
SUE.”

Posted in says sue, Thailand | 1 Comment

Mission Accomplished

Posted on February 4, 2008 by jeannie

I spent a bit of time in Bangkok hunting for a very specific knock-off purse that Bella wanted but never really came close. That is, she wanted a large slouchy Coach purse and I brought her schoolgirl-style Louis Vuitton bookbag. The thing is, while street shopping in Bangkok can be wondrous and surprising, it is not great for looking for specific items, especially designer purses from this season.

But, the Los Angeles fashion district (Wall and 11th) coughed up what we were looking for. Besides which, I think the girls didn’t hate the Murakami show at the Geffen – and that’s pretty good considering we spent 1 1/2 hours there.

The fake purse pictured cost $35 of Bella’s own hard-earned babysitting cash. We learned belatedly that we could have gotten a better deal, but she was afraid we wouldn’t see that style again. (Of course we saw it at a dozen more stores before the day was through…) We found it on Santee Alley, just south of Olympic.
Posted in art, mothering, SoCal attractions | Leave a comment

Corn Chowder

Posted on February 3, 2008 by jeannie

This recipe comes from Follow Your Heart’s Vegetarian Soup Cookbook and has served me very well the last fifteen years. I can make huge cauldrons of the stuff and there never seems to be enough. It’s perfect for a rainy day.

I’ve changed the amounts of the ingredients very slightly, as I don’t usually measure by cup, but by “each” when it comes to vegetables.

5 c. water

6 potatoes (3 diced; 3 chopped large)

1 large onion, diced

5 c corn (fresh, frozen, or canned – I’ve used all three)

2-3 stalks celery

1/4 head cabbage, thinly sliced

1 large head cauliflower (dice the core, reserve the flowerettes)

4 Tbs butter

2 tsp basil

1/4 c. minced fresh parsley (I often omit this)

2 Tbs Spike

2 tsp. granulated garlic

1 tsp dill weed

1 c sour cream

1/2 block cream cheese

1/2 c milk or soy milk

1 Tbs nutritional yeast flakes

2 Tbs. dried chives

sea salt or more Spike, to taste

1. In your largest soup pot bring to a boil: water, the diced potatoes, onion, 1 1/2 c corn, celery, cabbage, the cauliflower core, butter, and basil. Cook for 1/2 hour or until potatoes begin to dissolve.

2. Add remaining corn, potatoes, parsley, Spike, garlic, and dill weed. Simmer about ten minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Add reserved cauliflowerettes and cook another ten minutes, until they are tender but chewy (almost like clams).

4. In blender, blend together sour cream, cream cheese, and milk. Add to soup with nutritional yeast and chives. Heat gently without boiling.

Enjoy! Even little kids like this creamy soup.

Posted in recipes | 2 Comments

Planning our San Francisco Trip

Posted on February 2, 2008 by jeannie

Through a freak combination of holidays in February, Chad was able to get eleven days off just by taking five days off work, so we’ve planned a family vacation to San Francisco (that means me, Chad, Bella and Bella’s friend Dawkins) next week. Coincidentally, my brother Songbae, who lives in North Beach, will be in Asia that whole time – so we will have his one-bedroom apartment to ourselves for the week. How’s that for a fortuitous collision of events?

We sat down this morning to peruse our half dozen guide books Chad brought home from the library and set up some kind of itinerary for the week. Now Chad already knows the city as he did his undergrad at San Francisco State, but that’s how he’s likes to do things: plan it out, especially to make sure we stay within budget.

Since we will have the kids this time around, we’re including some shopping time and more touristy stuff like Alcatraz. And of course Chad and I like to hit the main museums while we’re up there (SFMoMA, De Young, Asian) and we started to realize that even if we went to SFMoMA on Thursday night when tix are half price, we were racking up the cost of the trip in entrance fees. And then we stumbled across The City Pass.

The City Pass looks like a great deal: $54 for adults and $39 for kids for an unlimited 7-day Muni and cable car pass (which we always get anyway for $25) and free entrance to seven major attractions good for nine days. It doesn’t included Alcatraz, but we’re psyched! Bella and Dawkins at fourteen don’t even count as kids anymore at most of the museums – but they do for the city pass, which counts you as a kid to age 17. Plus, they will be stoked that the pass includes a free one-hour “cruise” along the shore.

Our itinerary so far:

Friday – We arrive late at night and hang out with Songbae.

Saturday – Dim sum in Chinatown, maybe at Gold Mountain at 664 Broadway. in the afternoon maybe the Asian Art Museum? or a little explore of Golden Gate Park?

Sunday – Take the cable car to Union Square, Westfield SF, Powell Street and let the girls get some of their shopping urge satisfied.

Monday – Alcatraz ($24.50 for the cruise over and tour), Telegraph Hill, SF State

Tuesday – DeYoung and Legion of Honor. Maybe hang out in Golden Gate Park a while.

Wednesday – See babies I know in Berkeley (and their parents)

Thursday – Hike the Coastal Trail and eat something chocolate-y at Ghiradelli Square for Valentine’s Day.

Friday – Exploratorium in the morning, maybe hanging out with Chad’s mom and sisters in the afternoon.

Saturday – Cruise in the morning

Sound fun or what?! Chad just pointed out that we’ve gone to San Fran in February 3-4 times already, so I guess it’s becoming a little Valentine’s tradition of ours.

We’re going to try and keep costs down by eating only one meal out a day…

My posts from our trip to San Fran in 2007 here and here and here.

Posted in san fran | 3 Comments

Avert Your Eyes

Posted on February 1, 2008 by jeannie

I didn’t have a very good night of sleep last night, what with the dreams of me trying to get over somebody’s chicken wire fence and running into the returning fishermen whose yard we were trespassing. The fishermen turned out to be friendly and came out of the house to throw us hunks of their catch: still-flexing sea lion flippers and octopus tentacles.

I like eating octopus, but the way the rope-y tentacles were still flexing in Sue’s arms made you think that the octopus wasn’t properly killed before it lost its limbs – ditto for the sea lion. Chad found a bag hanging from the wall, and triumphantly pulled out a large crab, “This is be perfect for the broth!” he cried out.

Where did this nightmare come from? Because from the way my stomach was clenched when I awoke, it was certainly a nightmare – from a lot of things, but especially from this disturbing question I had the other night when a friend somehow brought up late term abortions in conversation: do they kill the fetus with a lethal injection before starting the d & c?

I won’t go any further with that line of thought.

See this is why I avoid watching horror movies – it’s not because the movies are so scary, but because my mind is scarier and it doesn’t need gruesome jumping off points. I used to torture my younger sister not by what I did to her, but what I told her I would do to her.

In any case, today is a day off and a good time to fill my mind with some fresh thoughts. I’m grabbing up Bella and two of her friends and we’re headed into LA to see the Murakami exhibit at MoCA (Geffen). And of course the compromise was that we would check out the nearby downtown fashion district for fake designer purses afterwards. Because how else would I drag three teenagers out for a day of art?

We had tried to pull together a trip to Joshua Tree, but that didn’t pan out. A day trip to LA on a Friday is sufficiently crazy to take my mind off things, I think.

Other elements of my dream may have come from the shark fin soup window display I saw in Bangkok near the Chit Lom BTS. It’s two rows of shark fins.

Posted in dreams | 2 Comments

Buttball

Posted on January 31, 2008 by jeannie

I guess fourth graders just like ball games that involve lots of rules. When Bella entered public school for the first time in fourth grade at Friendly Hills Elementary she was immediately obsessed with this strange game at recess called “Wallball” which involved a rubber ball and concrete wall in the middle of the playground.

Kids would line up to have a turn and there were all sorts of strange rules for playing: for instance, if you wanted to be partners with somebody, you had to seal the deal with a high five.

All I know is that when I witnessed it as a substitute teacher, kids would get so worked up that they come to me crying and arguing about such and such rule. And that there was a never-ending line at all four walls at recess and lunch.

And then yesterday, Bella told me that at over at her friend’s house that they had met some fourth graders. And that they were playing a game called “Buttball,” involving a tennis ball and a wall, and again lots of strange rules.

For instance, if you miss the ball bouncing back at you, you have to stand against the wall and your opponent hurls the ball at your butt. You can choose a soft throw from close up or a hard throw from further away.

Which would you choose? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it? About the development of the human mind?

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Napa Crunch

Posted on January 30, 2008 by jeannie

How does any working person ever get anything done? It boggles my mind that I held a full-time job just last year, because I can barely work part-time and get a soup made in one day. Much less get through the mail or finish my new year’s cards.

Forget the salad, even though that was going to be my post today.

I named it Napa Crunch on my way to work today, and if my ex-husband knew I was posting the recipe he’d probably sue me. Because he was sure that someday he would win a million dollars with this recipe – or at least a year’s worth of Caesar Cardini salad dressing.

Napa Crunch Salad is simple, but I guarantee that it is much more than the sum of its parts. Maybe it will satisfy this mouth-feel for crunch I have going these days. That and bread and butter.

It requires five ingredients:

napa cabbage, chopped fine

red onion, chopped even finer

cilantro, chopped

Red Hot Blues (by Garden of Eatin’), crumbled

several tomatoes, coarsely chopped (I substituted one red bell pepper)

and

Caesar dressing by Cardini

Mix the first three ingredients together in a large salad bowl. Mix well. Mix in a heaping portion of crumbled Red Hot Blue chips and plenty of dressing. Serve immediately.

Leftovers are excellent in sandwiches in place of regular lettuce or sprouts.

[P.S. Napa cabbage is a cabbage that is more tender than regular cabbage and looks more like romaine lettuce. It is the main base for the fiery Korean side dish known as kimchi. If you click on the picture, you’ll go to the U.K. vegetable market I “borrowed” the image from, which makes me feel like I’m not stealing…]

Posted in recipes | 1 Comment

Now That I'm Home,

Posted on January 29, 2008 by jeannie

what’s there to post?

And just to clarify, I had explicit permission from Chad to post the picture in the now-deleted post that was called, “Rainy Day Activity: Alpha-Sort.” After seeing the kinds of comments it was garnering and a light-hearted comment about the S.W.A.T. team bandied about the house, he changed his mind today and pulled it; i.e. doesn’t want words like “illegal” un-optimizing search engines back to us = attracting the wrong kind of attention I mean.

There’s actually plenty to post. I’m just still shorting out my available brain cells getting back in the groove of things.

And to end this complete ramble, here is a leftover picture from Bangkok that didn’t go with any particular post. Joss, Nabi Grace, and I were overtaken by a complete mass of school kids in uniform riding rented bicycles through the park near the Mo Chit BTS station. Although there was plenty of space in every direction, the kids were pretty much all riding within touching distance of eachother – giggling and talking as kids are wont.

At the very tail-end of the group was this one straggler bike. The girl was pedaling casually while her passenger, the only kid not in uniform, played his guitar and sang.

Sweet, no?

Posted in says chad, Thailand | Leave a comment