Somebody's Going to Need a New Insurance Company

Image by bcmom via Flickr

With all the tornado damage around here, people are getting a chance to find out how their insurance companies come through.  One of the contractors I talked to gave me the name of a really good insurance company that is taking care of the homeowner really well, as well as the name of an insurance company that is being a total pain to deal with.  Some of our friends are having problems with their insurance company, too.  I don't remember who they have, but I guess I better find out, so I never call them!  Something tells me that, after this all shakes out, some people will be getting new insurance quotes and finding a new insurance company.

Some of the contractors may be looking for business insurance quotes, too, maybe looking to use some of the really good companies for their insurance.

It's really easy to get those quotes nowadays.  Instead of calling a bunch of companies, you can go online, fill out one form, and get multiple quotes.  Whether you're looking to find California business insurance with Netquote, Wisconsin home and auto insurance, or Ohio life insurance, you can find it all.  There's no reason to keep an insurance company that won't take care of you when you need them.


You'd think they'd know that. Or maybe they're just hoping that we don't.

Deck Repairs and Computers

There wasn't much damage to our deck, the deck that Cory and Jeffrey built last summer.  One of the rails will need to be replaced, and a couple spindles in some other ones, but that's about it.  The furniture blew around, and a couple of the ceramic tiles from the top of the tables broke.  So the boys will fix the rails, and we can get new tiles for the table.  Even if they don't quite match, we figure we can get 4 new tiles and put them in the little table, and it won't really matter, as long as they go with the frame.  We didn't use a Home Depot coupon code when we went, but we  picked up some wood on Wednesday evening (when we were looking at the patio doors) so they can get to work on that.  Summer will be over before you know it, and Cory will be heading off to college, so they need to get busy.  The deck needs to be stained this summer, too.

Speaking of coupons and college and saving money, I need to start keeping an eye out for good  Hewlett Packard coupons or other savings on computers, because we need to find Cory a laptop he can use for college.  He may not really need one because he's got his desktop and printer to take, but I think a laptop will come in handy.  It will definitely be easier to bring home on the weekends or breaks, and he can take it to the library or other places when he needs to study or write papers - or whatever it is he'll be doing in college.

Back when I was in college, we didn't have computers, and I had to type my papers on a typewriter at the library - but that's been a long time ago.  (and really doesn't have anything to do with anything)

We've been looking through the Best Buy ad every Sunday to see what's on sale and if we can get a good deal.  That's the most important thing, right?  Finding good coupons & deals.  Pretty soon we're going to have to make a decision about what he needs and just go for it.  Either that, or we could wait until after college starts and he gets an idea of whether he really has a use for a laptop or not.  That might be the best idea.  What do you think?

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Looking at the Sky on Friday - 61

I’m so glad there’s a meme like Looking at the Sky on Friday, because it means all the time I spend looking at the sky, and taking pictures of it, has a purpose! Click the badge for more info.

Last Wednesday evening – clouds + setting sun = one gorgeous sky.

Watching the sky is definitely more fun than setting up a health savings account!  Maybe not as useful, but definitely more fun.  I think I just might be addicted!

If you enjoy skies as much as I do, be sure to check out Looking at the Sky on Friday.

I Forgot the Crackers

Pick 'n Save had Kellogg's cereals and Keebler and Sunshine crackers on sale this week - 8/$10 and you get a checkout coupon for 2 free gallons of milk.  Yesterday was double coupon day, so I got my coupons ready, and we ran in there last night to get our cereal.  I had coupons for 6 boxes of cereal and 2 boxes of Keebler crackers.  I wanted those Flipsides with the cracker on one side and the pretzel on the other.  I love those.

Then we got into the cereal aisle and started picking cereals - and I forgot all about getting the crackers.  It wasn't until the nice lady at the checkout ran my cracker coupon through the barcode scanner and it didn't work, that I thought about the crackers again.  By then it was a little late. This is what happens when I try to get through the store quickly.  I'm going to forget something.

At least we have plenty of cereal now - and a coupon for 2 free gallons of milk.

Too Much Help?

A couple days ago when Jeffrey and I were walking, we noticed that the yard across the street really needed mowed.  Since their house was quite damaged in the storm, those neighbors won't be living there for a while.  We thought it might be nice if we volunteered our teenage son to mow the yard for them, giving them one less thing to worry about.

I mentioned it to Cory, but he didn't really feel comfortable just going over there and mowing their yard, though he was more than willing to do it if we talked to them first.  Then yesterday, the neighbor who lives right next door was mowing his own yard, and when he finished his, he kept right on going and mowed his neighbors' yard, too.  So Cory didn't get a chance.

Then today, someone else showed up to mow the yard, someone they had hired to do it.  I guess Cory was right about talking to the neighbors first...  The hired guys stood around for a bit, like they were wondering what they were supposed to do now, and then one of them went ahead and mowed - even though it had just been done yesterday and didn't need done again.  I don't know if mowing is the way he gets his ab workouts or if he didn't want to miss out on getting paid for mowing.

The good thing is that, ever since the tornado went through, people have really been coming out and helping their neighbors and helping the community.  At one point in time, the Red Cross said they had more volunteers signed up to help than they thought were needed.  You don't want to see a disaster like this happen to anyone, but it's encouraging to see people pull together and help each other.

Waiting to Hear From Our Insurance

Of course, before we make any of those decisions like which shingles and what siding and whether to get French doors or a sliding door, we have to find out how much our insurance is going to pay.  Our adjuster said we need to have all the shingles on the roof replaced and all new siding on the house, as well as new soffits and new fascia and a new window for Cory's room.  He's supposed to get us a list what our insurance company says the costs should be for all that.

In the meantime, we're getting quotes from several different contractors, so we can get an idea of what the cost really is.  Hopefully they'll match up pretty well, and we can get a check from our insurance company that will cover everything we need to get done, without too much of a fight.  You hear too many insurance horror stories about insurance companies that do everything they can to get out of paying.  The family in one of the houses behind us is having all kinds of trouble getting their cheap insurance company to pay for what it should. 

There are some really good insurance companies, too.  I've heard of at least one guy in town who's already gotten a check from his insurance, and they gave him more than it's actually going to cost.  I hope our company comes in on the good side.  They've always been really good when we've had miscellaneous claims against our auto insurance, but this is the first time we've had to claim anything on the homeowner's insurance.  We've been paying our premiums all these years, and they haven't had to pay anything, which I'm sure is the way we both would have liked to keep it - but now that we need it, they need to come through.

We'll know soon enough.

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French Doors or Sliding?

The seal on our back sliding door broke somewhere along the line.  It's kind of irritating, because the door always looks like it's dirty now, and since I like to take pictures out the back door, it's particularly frustrating.  Since we're going to have to have the house re-sided, we thought it would be the perfect time to replace the door, too.  Then someone suggested just getting the glass replaced, so we had someone from a glass company come out and give us a quote on what it would cost.  Just to replace the glass on that side of the door would be over $350, and the other side might last 20 years or it might do the same thing in a year or two.  So now we're thinking it would be best to go with a whole new door, and we went to Home Depot to look at some tonight.

Jeffrey was thinking he'd like to maybe go with French doors, and I think they look nice.  I just don't know if that's the way we want to go or not.  I'm not sure I like the idea of having an actual door that needs room to swing open.  A sliding door doesn't take up any extra room.  Also, I like to be able regulate the air flow through the house by how far I open the sliding door.  I'm not sure how that can work with the French doors.  And, I hadn't thought of this, but a lot of times I'm opening the sliding door with my elbow or foot when I'm carrying things out to the deck or back in.  Will I be able to do that with a French door?

It's just hard to decide, so if you have any insights or suggestions I'd love to hear them.  All these decisions we're going to have to make - what kind of shingles and what color, what style and color of siding, etc.  And before that, which contractor we want to do the work.  At least I don't have to worry about spa filters because I think that would just be too much.

NO Rodeo

Image via Wikipedia

I'm feeling a little bummed tonight.  We were supposed to go see Brooks & Dunn tonight at Summerfest.  Since this is their last tour (The Last Rodeo) and they were so close, we figured we just had to go - there would never be another chance.  We got the concert tickets, and we got our Brooks & Dunn t-shirts - surprisingly only $7 and $10 from the Brooks & Dunn website with very fast shipping.  The weather is even nice and cool, perfect for wearing boots, jeans and leather jackets and riding the motorcycle to Summerfest, but no concert.

Ronnie Dunn is supposed to rest his voice for at least 3 weeks, doctor's orders, so they canceled the concert.  We'll get our money back for those concert tickets, but what I really wanted was to see Brooks & Dunn.

Summerfest replaced them with Lynrd Skynrd, .38 Special, and some other bands I'd never heard of, but I didn't really feel like seeing some Louisiana Jones Act replacement - so we didn't buy new tickets, even though they were only $15, and we just stayed home.  And if Brooks & Dunn are really serious about this being the last tour, we'll probably never get another chance to see them.

Yes, I know I'll survive, but it's still kind of frustrating, at least for tonight.

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Cory Got His License!

In all the 'excitement' of the tornado, I forgot to mention that Cory got his driver's license.  Actually, he got it the day after Jeffrey and I got back from Vegas - so I had plenty of time to mention it (a few days, anyway), but I didn't.  Sometimes I just don't get to things in a timely manner.  Why does real life always seem to get in the way?

Anyway, it was about time the boy got his license.  Last year we just renewed his learner's permit.  Partially it was because we didn't have to pay for the insurance.  Visit autoinsurancequotes.com and you'll see that paying insurance for a teenage boy isn't cheap.  It wasn't just the insurance, though.  Unlike his sister Beth, who wanted to drive every chance she got from the minute she got her temps, Cory never seemed to care whether he drove or not.  Often he'd just rather sit in the back seat and read whenever we went someplace.  And, since he didn't have any real need to drive, he didn't really need to get his license.

Since he's gotten it, it's been pretty nice, though.  It seems he's had graduation parties and other events practically non-stop - and we haven't had to drive him to any of those things!  So, yes, it's convenient.  It was also nice that when he went to Whitewater yesterday for his college orientation and registration I didn't have to take him and then go back later to pick him up.  I'm not sure what kind of autoinsurancequotes.com we got from our insurance agent so I don't know how much this is going to cost us, but I guess it's just part of life. 

We were going to give Beth the Buick and get her off our insurance when she moved out, but we had some issues with emissions and repairs, and I had already paid for the license plate sticker, which the DOT was not going to refund, so we decided to wait until September when it's time to pay the insurance again.  Then she can get her own autoinsurancequotes.com and pay her own expenses, and we'll only have to pay for Cory.  Waiting also gives her a chance to get used to paying her own bills like rent and utilities before adding another one.

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Where'd the Mailboxes Go?

Jeffrey and I were walking this morning, when the paper delivery man pulled into a driveway in front of us, and his helper tossed the newspaper into the driveway.  Normally he can just drive down the street and put the papers into the paper boxes which are attached to everybody's mailboxes, but there are quite a few of those missing. After a tornado, even simple things like delivering the newspaper get a little harder.

In our neighborhood, the mailboxes are all on one side of the street, two boxes to a pole.  Our boxes are on our side of the street, at the end of our driveway.  Our mailbox survived intact, while the neighbors' box was blown off the pole.  These are the same neighbors who live across the street, who had the end of their house and garage torn off - as well as the gas leak, several broken windows, a broken water line, and I don't know what else.  It's almost like adding insult to injury that the mailbox was also blown away!  It was found and returned to them the next day, though, and Jeffrey helped him put it back up yesterday - so at least they'll be able to get mail, even if they can't live in the house for the next few months.  (It's the little things.)

Some of the other neighbors might not be so lucky.  Their mailboxes may never be found, and they'll have to get new residential mailboxes - along with new carpeting, new siding, new roofs, new furniture...

Looking at the Sky on Friday - 60

I’m so glad there’s a meme like Looking at the Sky on Friday, because it means all the time I spend looking at the sky, and taking pictures of it, has a purpose! Click the badge for more info.

We’ve been the center of attention this week.  All day Tuesday, these guys were circling, at least one for every local station, I think.

The thing about a natural disaster is that even a small town like ours can make the news – but nobody’s got power so we can’t watch!  And everyone’s too busy cleaning up to have time to watch anyway, even if we’d known that the best buy we could have made ahead of time was a generator!

If you enjoy skies as much as I do, be sure to check out Looking at the Sky on Friday.

Eagle Tornado, the Morning After

The morning after the tornado, after checking out our own house, we walked around the neighborhood to start checking out the damage.  The more we saw, the more we realized how minor our damage was and how much worse it could have been.  We only walked partially down our street and didn't even see the worst of the damage.  What we did see was bad enough.

To give you an idea of where these houses are in relation to ours, I've tried circling some of them on this map.  Our house is circled in yellow.

The house directly across the street from ours: (circled in red)


and then on the street behind that house:  (left: turquoise, right: green)


A little ways down our street, looking down the first cross street: (left: orange, right: green)


That last house there (circled in green) was completely moved off the foundation, and right across the street from it, where it says 300 on the map, that house belonged to our fire chief, and it was totally destroyed - no house left, just a basement in the ground and a bunch of debris.

You can see the rest of the pics on Flickr.  Start here with the house across the street, and scroll to the left through the photo stream.  I did not continue circling houses, but basically we walked down the street just looking at both sides of the street and being totally shocked by what we saw.

The good news is - no one was killed, and there was only one minor injury.  Houses can be rebuilt, roofs can be repaired, pond fountains can be replaced, trees will eventually grow again, but people can't be replaced.  Journal Sentinel article with some more info about the tornado can be found here.

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So, Vegas

Soon, very soon, I want to sit down and recap all the highlights, lowlights, etc. of our Vegas trip.  I know they say "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas," but I'm not sure that applies to bloggers.  Also, there are definitely some things that should be told.  So, when I get a chance, I will be telling - and posting some pics, too.

One thing I have to mention - before we went I read all kinds of things online.  People said be sure to bring comfortable shoes because you will be doing a lot of walking and be sure to have some sunscreen because Las Vegas is in the desert, and that sun is hot.  What they didn't say is to bring some good eye cream that will moisturize and hopefully do something about those under-eye circles - because you will not get enough sleep.  Sure, we weren't getting up as early as we normally do, but that's good because we weren't getting to bed until way after our bedtime.  In fact, the last night we were there, we didn't sleep at all.  The shuttle was picking us up at 4:30am to go to the airport, so we just stayed up.  Sometime we are going to have to catch up on that missed night of sleep - the little naps on the airplane didn't do it.

Thankfully, the weekend is almost here.

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It Helps to Prepare for the Test

Back when I was applying to college, I took the SAT - because that's the test required by the college I wanted to attend.  The only sat prep I had was this HUGE book full of practice questions, which I really didn't use.  I did like the big book, just because it was a big book.  I wonder if just having it helped me with the test?  Probably not, but I did well enough that I got into college.

Nowadays kids have it so much easier, getting ready for these kinds of tests.  There are practice questions online, and good SAT and ACT prep courses that can help them improve their scores.  Of course, it's the same as the book - if you don't use it, it can't help you.  When Cory was getting ready to take the ACT, I kept telling him he needed to do some studying or some of the practice questions so he'd be ready.  Of course he waited until the night before the test to do any of them.  Still he did well enough that he could get into any of the University of Wisconsin schools, according to his school counselor.

I wonder how much higher he could have scored if he'd done a little prep.

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If Only the House Would Clean Itself

When I was growing up it seemed that there was always something to do during the summer.  We had a huge garden, not only at our house, but at my grandparents' house, too.  We had animals.  There were chores aplenty, and we all had to help.  When my dad wasn't at work, he always had something needing done in the garden or in the barn.  Mom was busy with canning and cleaning and laundry and all the other stuff moms are always busy with.

I'm not saying we never had fun.  There were a few times we went to the park for the 4th of July carnival and to watch the fireworks, and we went to the local lake to swim once in a while.  However, there were also plenty of times when we would've liked to go do something, but home and garden came first.  So, when I had kids I decided that I would make a real effort to do things with my kids.  I would take them to the beach on warm summer days, roller blade with them around the neighborhood, take them roller skating, to the library and the park, and just have fun and spend time together.

Image via Wikipedia

I didn't have a huge garden or any animals to take care of, so I know it was easier for me than it was for my mom.  Still, sometimes the house didn't get straightened up, because sometimes you just have to choose between having fun and cleaning the house.  The ideal solution would be to find affordable cleaning that would have someone else coming in to do the dusting, vacuuming, straightening up, and cleaning bathrooms, so you don't have to choose between doing fun things with the kids or having a clean house.  As it is, I just got as much done as I could in the mornings, so we could go out and play in the afternoons, or I'd take the kids to the park and let them play on the playground while I wrote my grocery list.  Then, after a picnic lunch, we'd do our shopping in the afternoon.  Not as nice as it would have been to have someone else doing the work, but it worked for us.

Did everything always get done?  No, but that's OK.  The most important thing was to spend that time with the kids, because before you know it they're all grown up and they don't want to do fun things with Mom anymore.  The park is a place to hang out with their friends.  It's no longer fun to go to the lake.  They no longer want to roller blade with mom because she doesn't want to go down the hills, etc.  You get the idea.

Once that happens, there will be plenty of time to clean the house.

Get Rewarded for Checking In

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.

I have twitter.  I have facebook.  I have PayPal.  What I don't have is an iPhone.  Why is that important?  Until now it really wasn't.  Sure, the iPhone is supposed to be really cool with all the apps and everything, and the people who have them really seem to love them.  But that's not why.  It's because now, having an iPhone means you can get paid for doing things you're probably already doing.

IZEA, the company behind SocialSpark and Sponsored Tweets, has launched a new site called WeReward.com that pays iPhone users for check ins and tasks they complete in the real world. It integrates with Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, so you can still get your badges and share the way you always have.  (If you're an iPhone user, I'm sure you understand what that means)

Me, I don't have an iPhone, so I'll just watch this video to see how WeReward works.  Feel free to watch it with me.



It looks easy and fun, doesn't it? If you've got an iPhone, go ahead and Download the App and give it a try. Me? Maybe I'll just watch the video again - and be just a little jealous of all those rewards you can earn for checking in.

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Time to Paint

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Glidden. All opinions are 100% mine.

Jeffrey keeps saying that we need to paint our house. When we built it, we painted all the walls white, and I've been perfectly happy with white walls.  However, it's been more than 10 years, and the walls could use a fresh coat of paint.  While we're at it, we're thinking we should add some color, instead of just going with the white.

Picking out the white was hard enough. You'd never think that picking a white paint would be hard, but there are a whole lot of whites.  I'm afraid picking out the right color is going to be even harder.  I'm really hoping the Room Painter at Glidden.com will be a big help.  Check it out, it's really cool.  They give you three easy ways to pick a color and then let you 'paint' a room to see how it looks.  Glidden even suggests some nice coordinating colors once  you pick a main color.

Still, it's hard to know what it will look like until you actually put some paint on the walls.  That's why Glidden offers Paint Testers.  They're unique little jars of paint with a brush in the lid.  Each tester has enough paint to cover three square feet, so you can get a really good idea what the color will look like on your walls before buying all those big cans of paint.  I have a hard time picturing things I can't actually see, so I think these will be perfect for me.

I signed up for the Get Color, Give Color giveaway on June 1st - so I will be getting two free testers to try out.  I hope we like at least one of the colors. The giveaway has ended now, so if you weren't lucky enough to get your free testers, you can always get them at your local Home Depot store.  Or, if we don't like the colors I picked online, we can get more at Home Depot.  They have paint testers in every color, XL color chips with coordinating color ideas, pictures for inspiration, and of course quality Glidden paint for the entire project.

I'm kind of getting excited about the whole painting thing now.  Of course, my part is just helping to pick the colors and make decisions about what goes where.  Someone else is going to have to do the actual painting, because I won't be able to handle the paint fumes.  Glidden paint is supposed to last for years and be easy to clean, so at least we won't have to paint again for a long time - unless we want to try some different colors.

Food and Conversation

Fruit, French Toast Casserole, and coffee on the deck this morning was wonderful.  The food was great, if I do say so myself, and it is just so pleasant sitting out on the deck.  We were planning to cook out and eating dinner on the deck, too - but it started raining around 2 this afternoon and continued raining.  So Jeffrey still cooked out - he pulled the grill over to the back door, so he could stand under the overhang and cook without really getting wet.  So, we may have had to eat inside, but we still had wonderful grilled food.

Then we sat around talking about all kinds of things like playing lexulous on facebook, house plants and garden plants, big trucks with little horns, over the counter prenatal vitamins, and spoiled little dogs - and plenty of other things I can't even remember now.

Now, it's probably bed time so we can get up tomorrow all ready for the big day - Cory is graduating from high school!

Lots and Lots of Food

• Chicken - marinating
• Barbecue Bean Salad - fixed and in the fridge
• Brownies - baked and smelling good
• French Toast Casseroles for breakfast - being made, as soon as the bread thaws.  A hot oven from baking brownies works really well for thawing frozen bread.

So, I think that's the food for tomorrow - except the fruit will have to be cut up for breakfast/brunch, and I might cut up some potatoes and onions to cook, too.  Have I forgotten anything?  Or is there so much that everyone will leave here looking for the best weight loss supplements?  Probably, considering that other people are bringing stuff, too!

Now, I need to figure out what we're having for dinner besides the steaks I bought at Walmart the other day.  I'll probably do a potato packet for Jeffrey to grill along with the steaks and cook some green beans.  Also, those brownies are smelling so good that we'll probably have some for dessert and make some more for tomorrow.  They're real easy, since they're from a mix.  Walmart had them for 75¢ and I had a coupon for 75¢ off 2 - so I just couldn't pass those up.

So, who's coming?  It sounds like we'll have plenty.

Looking at the Sky - 58

I’m so glad there’s a meme like Looking at the Sky on Friday, because it means all the time I spend looking at the sky, and taking pictures of it, has a purpose! Click the badge for more info.

I really enjoyed this sunset as we were driving home from Illinois last weekend. 

It was kind of fun to watch the sun peek in and out of the clouds.

Since I was shooting from a moving van, I just took a bunch, hoping to get something good. Then my batteries died so I switched cameras, and then Cory shot a few from the back seat. I might even have enough photos for a couple of slideshows, but these are the ones I liked.

If you enjoy skies as much as I do, be sure to check out Looking at the Sky on Friday.