Sorry its been a so long since we posted last. It has been a relatively crazy time since we got back from Singapore. We got back into Chicago on July 1st and spent all day July 2nd and 3rd looking at houses. The 4th was the holiday and we just hung out at Aunt Cheryl's house and enjoyed a good ole fashion American BBQ. I worked on the 5th followed up by some more houses on the night of the 5th. We decided on a house and made our first offer on Friday 6th. It got rejected and then they made a counter offer which we rejected and then we made our final offer on Monday July 9th. We will close July 23rd and move in hopefully soon after.
About the house: It is in Carpentersville, which is a western suburb out I-90. It was a corporate relocation so it was empty and had been for ~140 days. We got the house for approx 15% less than what houses sell for in the neighborhood and 8% less than what it sold for in 2006. It is 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath, all white trim, hardwood floors, nicely painted and built in 2000. The backyard is treed and already fenced in. We will post some pictures of the house after we close on the 23rd.
We are currently living with my Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Bob in Bolingbrook and I have to make the daily commute up to Arlington Heights for work. Depending on the time I leave it can take anywhere from 45 minutes -1:15 hours. Definately a long trip but sometimes goes by quicker than I would have thought. Delaney has been spending time playing with Kayla (my cousin Julie's daughter). Kayla is ~16 months older but they have a blast playing together and never have issues.
Well stay posted for photos after the 23rd.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Pictures
Here is a link to pictures....
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QcNGLly0asXYA
It is currently 2:17 am Thursday...the day we leave. The three of us were planning on staying up all night to "trick" our bodies back to the States time. Derek left the ranks at 11:30. Delaney fell asleep on the couch (and is snoring beside me as I type) at 12:15. I on the other hand, have made it, so far (as has the lizard...he was heard and then spotted about a half hour ago).
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0QcNGLly0asXYA
It is currently 2:17 am Thursday...the day we leave. The three of us were planning on staying up all night to "trick" our bodies back to the States time. Derek left the ranks at 11:30. Delaney fell asleep on the couch (and is snoring beside me as I type) at 12:15. I on the other hand, have made it, so far (as has the lizard...he was heard and then spotted about a half hour ago).
Monday, June 25, 2007
Three More Days
Hi all,
It seems like the time since Thailand has gone by so quickly. We only have 3 more full days left in Singapore! Delaney wants to go back to the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel because they had shelled peanuts there. She loved the fact that she could throw the shells on the floor. She also liked her virgin Singapore Sling (she better for 15 dollars!) We are going to head to the zoo tomorrow for one last walk. We have one or two more playdates with friends here before we have to say good-bye. We are going to do our best to stay up all night Wednesday so acclimate our bodies back to the other side of the world's time.
Delaney had a birthday party here. Her friend Lauren shared it with her, as she turned four on Monday. It was at a placed called Go-Go Bambini which is an indoor playground. The kids had a lot of fun. As soon as pics are uploaded, I will post them.
We went out with the adults last night to a Mexican restaurant. We had a ton of fun. The daiquiris were great. Then, they made Derek do a tequila shot. He handled it much better than I did when it was the girls' turn.
Delaney has walking pneumonia. She started with a cold about 2 weeks ago, and as of Wednesday it wasn't any better, so I took her to the dr. Not too impressed with him because he made me make the medical decision of whether or not to have bloodwork done. Isn't that why he went to school for umpteen years??? I decided not to and she's been on antibiotics since Wednesday. She's doing much better, so hopefully we'll all stay well for our 25 hour journey.
Classes have been keeping me busy. My Phoenix class ends officially tomorrow, but I am finished. I hope that I am done with Phoenix classes for good. There's a chance that I will have to take another, it just depends on what the state of IL has to say about it. I may need to take a reading methods class, but I had one in my undergrad, so I hope they take that into consideration. I can't handle another 3 weeks stuck on the computer. On the other hand, my math class, which I am taking through a WI uni, is great...very relaxed.
I know Derek did a post about life in Singapore....where we live is not filthy! It's definitely cleaner here than in the States. Trash is not found everywhere.
The spitting is an issue, even in women's restrooms. I've had to shush Delaney a couple of times when she asks what that noise is coming from a stall or why is that lady spitting in the sink???
People do not move out of the way. They stop in the middle of everything and people have to go around them. I got used to it, but it's still annoying.
Most people (85%) do live in HDB flats. They are definitely cheaper than private residences, but they are still pricey compared to home. We heard today that a 3 bed/2 bath can go anywhere from $275,000 - $480,000 Singapore (about 180,000 - 375,000 US). The closer you are to the city center the more you'll pay.
The public transportation is amazingly clean and efficient. It took some getting used to not having a car to hop in and leave, but it's not bad. We get taxis b/c some places we go it can take an hour and half to get there by bus and MRT and it only takes 20 by cab. Taxis aren't expensive either, but they do add up if you use them all of the time!
I do like the weather. It took a little getting used to the humidity, but I don't mind it so much anymore. In fact, I have worn jeans on some days and not gotten hot! I also love the fact that there are 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of dark. My body clock is perfectly set!
I have really liked having a housekeeper three times a week!!! Our apartment is never dirty...maybe disorganized, but not dirty!
Milk here is expensive...it works out to over 6 dollars a gallon...and you Americans complain about the high gas prices (yes, we will join your complaints soon!).
I will miss Larry, our lizard. We saw him last night heading behind the air con. I can't remember if I told you that Delaney and I caught one in the house before Thailand and set him free outside. The poor guy was stuck in the sink and couldn't use the amazing feet to get out. We used a bowl and cardboard to get him and then released him by the pool. Only a day or two later we saw this other lizard. I always kind of thought there were two...this one is not the same as the other b/c he's much larger.
Delaney's become quite the tennis player. She and Derek go out about every night. She can stand b/n the service line and net and consistently hit balls over the net. The great thing about her is that she switched b/n her right and left hand, so she may never have to learn a backhand! Watch out Maria!
Delaney is infatuated with High School Musical. She's probably seen it 15 times since Stacie and Paul brought the movie over. She also listens to the soundtrack nonstop. Derek caught her doing one of the dances the other day! The main character is Gabriella. When I told Delaney that Aunt Jess (my best friend) had a little girl named Reese Gabriella, Delaney decided that she would call the baby Gabriella, like Gabriella Montez on High School Musical. She's gotten to the point that she even quotes lines! Too cute, but a little scary....my seventh graders last year loved this movie!
Gotta go get some shut eye as it's past midnight! I will post when we land!
It seems like the time since Thailand has gone by so quickly. We only have 3 more full days left in Singapore! Delaney wants to go back to the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel because they had shelled peanuts there. She loved the fact that she could throw the shells on the floor. She also liked her virgin Singapore Sling (she better for 15 dollars!) We are going to head to the zoo tomorrow for one last walk. We have one or two more playdates with friends here before we have to say good-bye. We are going to do our best to stay up all night Wednesday so acclimate our bodies back to the other side of the world's time.
Delaney had a birthday party here. Her friend Lauren shared it with her, as she turned four on Monday. It was at a placed called Go-Go Bambini which is an indoor playground. The kids had a lot of fun. As soon as pics are uploaded, I will post them.
We went out with the adults last night to a Mexican restaurant. We had a ton of fun. The daiquiris were great. Then, they made Derek do a tequila shot. He handled it much better than I did when it was the girls' turn.
Delaney has walking pneumonia. She started with a cold about 2 weeks ago, and as of Wednesday it wasn't any better, so I took her to the dr. Not too impressed with him because he made me make the medical decision of whether or not to have bloodwork done. Isn't that why he went to school for umpteen years??? I decided not to and she's been on antibiotics since Wednesday. She's doing much better, so hopefully we'll all stay well for our 25 hour journey.
Classes have been keeping me busy. My Phoenix class ends officially tomorrow, but I am finished. I hope that I am done with Phoenix classes for good. There's a chance that I will have to take another, it just depends on what the state of IL has to say about it. I may need to take a reading methods class, but I had one in my undergrad, so I hope they take that into consideration. I can't handle another 3 weeks stuck on the computer. On the other hand, my math class, which I am taking through a WI uni, is great...very relaxed.
I know Derek did a post about life in Singapore....where we live is not filthy! It's definitely cleaner here than in the States. Trash is not found everywhere.
The spitting is an issue, even in women's restrooms. I've had to shush Delaney a couple of times when she asks what that noise is coming from a stall or why is that lady spitting in the sink???
People do not move out of the way. They stop in the middle of everything and people have to go around them. I got used to it, but it's still annoying.
Most people (85%) do live in HDB flats. They are definitely cheaper than private residences, but they are still pricey compared to home. We heard today that a 3 bed/2 bath can go anywhere from $275,000 - $480,000 Singapore (about 180,000 - 375,000 US). The closer you are to the city center the more you'll pay.
The public transportation is amazingly clean and efficient. It took some getting used to not having a car to hop in and leave, but it's not bad. We get taxis b/c some places we go it can take an hour and half to get there by bus and MRT and it only takes 20 by cab. Taxis aren't expensive either, but they do add up if you use them all of the time!
I do like the weather. It took a little getting used to the humidity, but I don't mind it so much anymore. In fact, I have worn jeans on some days and not gotten hot! I also love the fact that there are 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of dark. My body clock is perfectly set!
I have really liked having a housekeeper three times a week!!! Our apartment is never dirty...maybe disorganized, but not dirty!
Milk here is expensive...it works out to over 6 dollars a gallon...and you Americans complain about the high gas prices (yes, we will join your complaints soon!).
I will miss Larry, our lizard. We saw him last night heading behind the air con. I can't remember if I told you that Delaney and I caught one in the house before Thailand and set him free outside. The poor guy was stuck in the sink and couldn't use the amazing feet to get out. We used a bowl and cardboard to get him and then released him by the pool. Only a day or two later we saw this other lizard. I always kind of thought there were two...this one is not the same as the other b/c he's much larger.
Delaney's become quite the tennis player. She and Derek go out about every night. She can stand b/n the service line and net and consistently hit balls over the net. The great thing about her is that she switched b/n her right and left hand, so she may never have to learn a backhand! Watch out Maria!
Delaney is infatuated with High School Musical. She's probably seen it 15 times since Stacie and Paul brought the movie over. She also listens to the soundtrack nonstop. Derek caught her doing one of the dances the other day! The main character is Gabriella. When I told Delaney that Aunt Jess (my best friend) had a little girl named Reese Gabriella, Delaney decided that she would call the baby Gabriella, like Gabriella Montez on High School Musical. She's gotten to the point that she even quotes lines! Too cute, but a little scary....my seventh graders last year loved this movie!
Gotta go get some shut eye as it's past midnight! I will post when we land!
Friday, June 22, 2007
Investing
Lets talk about some fun....making money (and sometimes losing money). Some of you out there know that I am pretty passionate about investing both mutual funds and stocks. I use mutual funds exclusively in our IRAs for the majority of the money and stocks for some smaller amounts. My mutual fund strategy is look for solid managers that have had recent success (I use a 5 year benchmark). My strategy for stocks has been to identify solid companies that I either believe have a strong future or ones that sell products/services I like to use. My investment philosophy for stocks is pretty much buy and hold. I do protect my downside by placing limit orders 15% the current price....worse case scenario is that I buy it and the next day it tanks....the most I am out is 15%. This philosophy wasn't always in place....in fact my initial dive into the stock market was during the stock bubble of 1999 and I made some bad bad buys and chased some high flying stocks. I recently combined all my multiple spreadsheets that tracked stock performance onto Google Finance. It has made it much easier to get an updated performance of the stocks. Now that I did this it has given me perspective of my performance over the years...
So lets talk performance. Here are Midwest Family's Top 5 best returns for stock we have owned and also the Top 5 biggest losers that have graced our portfolio.
Our Top 5 Winners of All Time
1. CVS – 441%
2. NXTL – 437%
3. CYTC – 197%
4. SBUX – 111%
5. EQIX – 106%
Our Top 5 Losers of All Time
1. JDSU – (83%)
2. CE – (71%)
3. EMA – (67%)
4. ISO – (63%)
5. PLT – (62%)
It needs to be said that 3 of the Top 5 losses (JDSU, CE, PLT) were all results of buying into the stock bubble at the TOP and watching our money evaporate. Since then I have started using stop losses to avoid big drops. Many of you are probably saying "Geez, I wish I had stocks that went up 441% or 437%, and losses that only were at 83%". I need to point out that I put all my investable money into those losing stocks during the bubble and lost a lot of money…the stocks where I made great returns had small dollar amounts in them because I learned to diversify. So net/net its not as rosy as you would believe…but I can't complain. What has been everybody's BEST and WORST investment?? I look forward to checking the comment section to see what people say…
So lets talk performance. Here are Midwest Family's Top 5 best returns for stock we have owned and also the Top 5 biggest losers that have graced our portfolio.
Our Top 5 Winners of All Time
1. CVS – 441%
2. NXTL – 437%
3. CYTC – 197%
4. SBUX – 111%
5. EQIX – 106%
Our Top 5 Losers of All Time
1. JDSU – (83%)
2. CE – (71%)
3. EMA – (67%)
4. ISO – (63%)
5. PLT – (62%)
It needs to be said that 3 of the Top 5 losses (JDSU, CE, PLT) were all results of buying into the stock bubble at the TOP and watching our money evaporate. Since then I have started using stop losses to avoid big drops. Many of you are probably saying "Geez, I wish I had stocks that went up 441% or 437%, and losses that only were at 83%". I need to point out that I put all my investable money into those losing stocks during the bubble and lost a lot of money…the stocks where I made great returns had small dollar amounts in them because I learned to diversify. So net/net its not as rosy as you would believe…but I can't complain. What has been everybody's BEST and WORST investment?? I look forward to checking the comment section to see what people say…
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