60 Dollar Fireplace Makeover

I wasn't feeling the love from our gas fireplace.

Problem #1: We went for the supposedly groovy glass-chips fireplace look. It's a contemporary alternative to fake logs. Yet, the glass chips I selected we're purple and they looked like a pile of crushed coal. Hardly eco-friendly chic.

Solution #1: Cover the glass-chips with Mexican River Rock. These gray, monocrome, uniform disks look super cool with blue flames shooting out. Our groovy English friend Dominic Green gave us this idea. It's a good look. I'm pleased.

Problem #2: The hearth was a cheesy piece of gray specked marble from 1989 (when the house was built). It even had a few chipped corners. Aside from the look, I'm not a huge fan of marble, because it is so cold...figuratively and literally.

Solution #2: I ripped out the marble slab. We replaced it with a red, shiny, translucent 1/2 inch resin panel. In honor of the BCS bound Utah Utes (just joking, but it's fun to get a reaction from die-hard BYU fans). Because the panel is translucent, we put a birch vaneer scrap I got free from Lowes under it...so you can see the wood grain through the red panel. We fastened the panel with star-drive finishing screws to give it a rivited, industrial look.

The panel is made from recycled plastics from a company called 3-form from my home state of Utah. We have a couple other 3-form installations in the house. We love the stuff. It's from their "reclaim" or scraps department. It's much less expensive than marble, and in my opinion much more visually interesting...not to mention it's not cold to the touch.

How to score cheap hotel rooms!

Everyone loves a good bargain. Here are some tips and websites that I use to stretch my travel dollar. The picture is of the Grand Hotel in Florence, Italy. Carmen and I stayed in this room in 2003. We felt like royalty!

A better way to use Priceline. Before I found biddingfortravel.com, I always wondered if I had overbid for the rooms I booked on Priceline. Biddingfortravel is a message board on which people post their winning Priceline bids for hotels in cities around the world. This helps you get closer to the lowest price that Priceline will accept. The site also has great advice for how to get multiple re-bids in the same cities & hotel class without having to wait 72 hours. Pretty tricky. Check it out.

If you must stay at a Marriott. Use their "look no further guarantee". If you find a Marriott room cheaper somewhere else, they will beat that price by 25%. Here's what you do to get the best deal:

a) book your room by calling Marriott telephone reservations (888 236 2427);
b) place your reservation on a 24hr hold (no need to give a credit card number);
c) meanwhile look for the same hotel room on a hotel aggregator site like Mobissimo or Kayak...you will probally find a better deal than what Marriott offered;
d) finally fill out the claim form and within 24 hours Marriott will beat the rate by 25%.

I just did this an scored a room in Vancouver BC for $70 rather than the $170 that Marriott initially offered. Now I can spend that $100 I saved on gelato and dim-sum.

Bonus section - Airfare. Farecast.com is a great site that uses an advanced algorithm to accurately tell consumers when they should book in order to get the best deal. Just put in the date and the route you want to fly, and it will tell you to either buy now or wait for a better deal. If you hate seeing a better deal come along after you've already booked as much as I do...then you'll love this site! Happy travels!

Funny sidenote: I stole the happy travels phrase from the travel guru Rick Steves, who I saw in-the-flesh in Bath, England ordering a Whopper at Burger King. Pretty ironic based on the "get to know the locals" approach he espouses. I have pictures to prove it!

Joseph, Emma & Politics

I went as Joseph Smith this Halloween. Carmen masqueraded as Emma. It's a great American love story. Honestly, as Carmen and I have learned more about them this year we have been impressed for the love, trust, & perseverance that they exhibited to each other in the midst of severe persecution.

I know the wig is a bit goofy. It's the best I could find. It's a mullet wig that we chopped the back off. Most people were able to guess that I was dressed as Joseph though. Some thought I was Thomas Jefferson and someone even said I looked like the Beast from Beauty and the Beast.

Joseph was a candidate from Illinois for the President of the United States who ran on a platform of change & tolerance. Sound familiar?

My political preferences are difficult to pin down. This is because I have been unable to fully associate with either party on all issues. I do my best to align my votes with my faith and common sense. The elephants don't have a monopoly on either of those, neither do the donkeys.

The two party system baffles me. Here are a few examples:

• Why does someone who generally prefers free market economics have to align his/her vote with those how advocate for AK47s for 12 year olds?
  

• Why does someone who is passionate about environmental protection have to also believe that abortion is a woman's choice?

• Does the fact that one doesn't support broadening the definition of marriage mean that they are intolerant and don't support equal benefits?

• I could give many, many more

Answers: No, no and NO!

I've thought about this quite a bit today, because protesters jeered us outside church today. They were fighting the victory of Prop 8 in California. It concerned me to think that some protesters must consider me narrow-minded because I was in favor of this proposition. Don't they know that I'm a super cool, progressive, environmentally active, social conservative?

Full-sized Candy Bar Neighborhood

The Haul: Darn right. Out of the 30 or so houses we visited, about 10 gave full-sized candy bars. I always thought rich families gave less (e.g. their frugality is what made them rich in the first place). Not so in our neighborhood. Costco must have had some killer deals on boxes of full-sized bars.
The Conditions: Halloween night was ideal in every way. 60 degrees, clear, kids racing too and fro, great decorations, parents not hovering too close. It was like Mayberry. A good time was had by all.

The Costumes: Aja and Anna spent the entire year deciding what to dress up as. Every two weeks they'd change their minds. Throughout the year they had some pretty cool ideas (cob or corn, a shoe, hunk of cheese). Yet, when forced to choose the real thing, they chose they safe classics of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Naturally, I was disappointed I was hoping for something a bit more edgy. That said, Carmen sewed the costumes and they turned out great.

I was "Al" the gas pumper. It was easy and authentic. People couldn't figure out if it was a costume, or if I'd just got off work. At the church party on Tuesday Carmen & I went as Joseph & Emma. I'll post some shots of the pioneer couple when I get them.



















The Fairy: Rather than let the girls chow down on their candy as they please, the Halloween Fairy visits our house on 11/1. Aside from a couple pieces, the candy is traded for a gift. This year it was My Little Ponies. The girls have been running around singing "Pony, pony, pony, pony" to a tune they made up themselves. They are psyched.

In case you're wondering, the fairy is a Socialist (Gobama!) who redistributes the candy for the common good of the Jensen's...in our 72 hour emergency kits, M&Ms and chocolate get saved for cookie ingredients, some in my work bag, and some gets trashed.

Lame Auction Booty & Observations on Honey Crisp Apples

Carmen has been psyched for weeks to go to the Relief Society (the women's org) Charity Auction at Church. This is an annual event. At the auction, would-be bidders earn points for everything from being on time to the event to the number of stitches make on the quilts for the needy. Those points can buy some pretty cool stuff.

Each participant donates a few items & then the bidding begins. I understand it gets pretty crazy...you know how cheapskates like us get when there's free-stuff. This year Carmen donated a pizza dinner at our house and one of her amazing chocolate ganache cakes. The winners are in for a yum-fest.

Apparently Carmen bid and lost on a Korean BBQ dinner, which I am still bummed about. She also missed out on a morning of water skiing and a weekend at a cabin on a lake. However, she didn't really try too hard win those super-cool items...she was holding out for a dress-up tutu. Yes, you heard right Carmen, being the devoted mother that she is, was sure that the tutu would fulfill Aja & Anna's ballet fantasies. I applaud Carmen for her devotion to our girls, yet sadly the tutu was recieved with big frowns and some crying. This is because it was it was blue and not pink or purple.

I have to say that Honey Crisp Apples totally live up to the hype. They are so darn tasty. If you haven't tried one, stop what you are doing right now and go get one. Let me know what you think.

Pumpkin Door

One of the benefits of having an orange door (yes, there are other benefits)...is that it can easily be transformed into a jack-o-lantern. All it takes is some black construction paper and a small scrap of orange to cover the peep hole, otherwise it looks like a zit.

This year we decided to go with a happy looking face. I've had enough gloom-and-doom for 2008 already, thank you very much. So this jovial pumpkin is greeting all who drive or walk by our house.

It has now been 2 years since we moved-in, remodeled, and repainted this place. We selected the trendy green color to give this neighborhood a bit of an edge. At first a few neighbors didn't like it (our sinister objective), but most actually did. Now, the green color has become more mainstream and people no longer associate it with a grandma's house in the 70's.

I guess we'll have to pick a new color to replace the green over the next couple years. I plan to keep the brown part, but I'm right now I'm thinking some glossy gray/blue. With a glossy white iPod looking door that I could make into a groovy ghost for Halloween of 2010.

Update on Jer

Many of you may have seen the headlines about Wamu. I could write a book about what has happened over the past 6 months in economy, what has been written in the media, & what actually happened. But I won't. I'd rather move on & play with my girls during my free time.

That's not to say I'm not frustrated. I'm proud of the work that I've been a part of over the past 5 years at Wamu. I have been a part of arguably the best branch banking team in the industry. This is not the mortgage division. We have regularly been #1 in customer satisfaction and on "most admired" company lists. Not only have a grown & learned significantly at Wamu, but our team has also delivered amazing results. JP Morgan Chase is thrilled to combine the with Retail Bank that I'm a part of.

I still have a job. Things could change in next 3-6 months. I don't know what will happen right now, it's too early. I could either stay with the bank or move on to something else. I do know that I have:

• a solid education,
  
• a track-record professional success,
• no debt (except part of our home),
  
• a kick-butt attitude (like my man, Usain Bolt), &
  
• family/friends that love & care about me.

Thank you for all of your concern. I'll keep you updated as things become clearer. Expect good things...