Notice of Valuation

Received our property tax statement for this year and the estimated valuation for next year...
The value of our house:

2011 - 390k
2012 - 380k
2013 - 330k (est.)

Our taxes went up a bit in 2012, even though the value when down a bit.  I am sure hoping that we see a big reduction in 2013 though.  Pretty insane what the value of our home has done.  When it was appraised for the initial loan it was worth 540k (the appraisal).  When we refinanced in October it appraised for 430k; that hurt because we had to pay 60k to stay under 80%.

Oh well, it is in our best interest for the value to go down, because we have no plans to sell it for many, many years and our taxes should go down with the value.  Only negative is that we would like to get a HELOC so that we can do some improvements.

Clearing the land

Grandma and Grandpa came over and brought Grandpa his new toy :)
We spend the day clearing and working on cleaning up the area where we are going to be erecting a play set for the kiddo's!

Christmas Letter

It has been an eventful year for our family, starting last November I along with a 1000 others were informed that Lockheed would be closing its facility in Eagan.  I started interviewing right away and in January was extended an offer to work for Trane in White Bear Lake.  Working with Trane and Lockheed I was able to start my new job in March, but continue with Lockheed until my layoff date in April (it was a very busy month).  Since then work has been good, no travel and normal hour, which has been good since...

We welcomed our daughter Madelyn Olivia in August!  She came into the world in quite a rush.  Jen woke up at 4am and Maddie was born a little after 6am!  Life with 2 kids has been very different than life with 1, but very wonderful.  Maddie is doing very well and really starting to develop her personality.  She is very fond of her brother as well :)

Nick is growing into quite the "big boy," his biggest accomplishment recently has been to shed the diapers and start using the toilet.
 - Why does Nick have juice? Because Nicholas needs juice.
 - I no need nap. it's in here, it's in my body.
 -





Jen is taking the year off to care for Nick and Maddie, and loving it!  She has become very strong from carrying Maddie around while playing with Nick,

Apparently I never got around to finishing this letter (shocking), but I thought I would publish it anyways :) 

Life Insurance

Just paid for our new life insurance policy.

$500,000 for me, 20 year term for $322 a year.
$250,000 for Jen, 20 year term for $122 a year.

How does that compare with your policy?  I also have some insurance though work, so Jen would get a bit more in the case of my demise.  Just checked as well it looks like death benefits are not taxed, so that is good 5 years of income should be enough, right?  I am not sure a 20 year term is right for us, but our agent really recommended it...

Supposedly we will also realize a ~2% discount on our home and auto policies.

Rotato, best kitchen gadget ever?

Nick and I were making Apple Cranberry bread last night and I was again allowed to use one of the best kitchen gadgets I have had the pleasure to use.  The Rotato :)  It makes very quick work of pealing, and the side effect of having "apple strings" is not to be dismissed.  A very health snack that Nick will run around eating!  Happy snacking :)

Why companies announce layoff early

I enjoyed this summary of the reasons that companies announce layoff early.  The first is my particular favorite, in order to reduce severance costs, as people bail early.

Great Depression 2

I believe this is what the occupy wall street protests are about.  If you click on the link there are number of other charts that illustrate different perspectives on this.  I think we are headed for a very large correction again.  Why the current crop of plutocracy can't see this and work to prevent it, implies they are expecting to profit from it; Or in denial.