If I Had 11 Million Dollars...

Earlier this year, a co-worker inherited an insanely large sum of money.  He and two cousins were given equal shares on the condition that they use the money wisely to help the family.  Basically, the interest amounts to $500,000 a year, paid in quarterly installments.

That's right.  Every 3 months, a check for $125,000 appears in his mailbox.

After letting a couple of checks sit in his drawer for a bit, he decided to quit his job and traveling the South Pacific... to put a roof on his parents' house, to arrange family reunions, and to talk so some other cousins to see how he can help them.

It's really kind of funny because this guy is VERY NICE but also the dude calculating his share of the tip when the group goes somewhere.  I guess that makes him the right guy for the job- someone with the brains to get the most bang for his buck and the integrity not to keep all that money in the bank for himself.

If I had $500,000 rolling in every year, here's what I would do first:

1. Sell our rental properties and suck up the capital loss.  (The idea of holding onto the real estate was to generate passive income, which I now have through this hypothetical inheritance.  Plus, the valuation is totally screwed up and I don't see us breaking even there within 30 years.)
2. Send an "anonymous" gift to a cousin who is struggling to work his way through college by paying his tuition as long as his grades are good.  (He is very smart but also quite dyslexic so I think he's working hard enough just by undertaking collegiate level studies.)
3. $13,000 annually to each of my parents until their house was paid off.  (Roughly 4-5 years.)
4. $13,000 to each of my nephews in a 529 plan administered by me, made in monthly installments.  Repeat for 4 years.  
5. Start an IRA for my brother. 
6. If they would let me, I'd gift the inlaws $13,000 annually until their condo was paid off too.
7. Quit work and go to law school.  (I would love to study tax law and real estate law so I can do multi-generational estate planning.)  I think tuition and fees are estimated at $14,000 annually.
8. Install a new roof, along with solar fan and heat reflective coating on my grandparents' house on Kauai.  After rebates, this will probably amount to $20,000.  (Small house, low slope roof.)

Even with the loss of income (remember, I quit work to go to school), this still covers significantly less than the interest I would be earning.  But at the same time, gifting more than $13,000 to a single person annually has tax implications.  Speaking of taxes, I guess that would actually reduce the net amount of money I have to play with annually.  But whatever was leftover would go toward paying down my own mortgage.

In follow on years, I would like to tear down and rebuild the 70 year old house we're living in and figure out ways to help out our cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.  Once my husband retired, I would love to do some long term travel abroad- maybe spend a summer in Japan or on a river tour of South East Asia?  Pull the kids out of school and "unschool" for a year?  Hire assisted living aides to help my grandparents live in their homes for as long as possible?

What would you do?

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Thursday Teas: Celestial Seasonings Iced Tea Variety Pack K-Cups

Against my better judgment, I agreed to my son's request to try this variety pack of iced teas.  Fruit flavored teas on the lower end use a lot of chemicals... in fact, I've heard someone with a chemistry degree say, "A good chemist can make a poop sandwich taste like a prime roast so don't think something's good for you just because it tastes good."  So anyway, I know those soft drink teas are totally fake, but I love them anyway.  Plus this is  a "brew over ice" type deal, which piqued my curiosity.

Anyway, here are the flavors you get in this box, along with the description:

Sweet Lemon - the perfect balance of fresh squeezed lemon, fresh brewed black tea and all natural sugars

Sweet Raspberry - tart and tangy raspberries combine with black tea for a truly refreshing glass of iced tea

Sweet Peach - a taste of summer - delightful and sweet without being too sugary or cloying

Unsweetened Black - refreshing, zero calories, traditional black iced tea

First of all, the tea coming out of the Keurig is so hot it melts the handful of ice in the cup pretty quickly. If you add ice to the remainder, then the top is cool but the bottom is warm, so if you want to drink immediately then you need to brew over ice and pour over more ice.  This is more of an inconvenience than anything, as even the "sweet" flavors are not terribly sweet.  If you like a Southern sweet tea, then you'll want to add a tablespoon of sugar to the hot mix and then pour it over ice.  

On the plus side, the teas have a very strong tea flavor, which I like.  

The black tea is just as advertised... a straight up black tea with no sweetening.  It's good if you like black tea (which I do).

The sweet peach is very chemical-ly tasting.  I'm not sure it even smells like peach.  No amounts of sugar can save this one.

The sweet raspberry isn't abominable, but also has a chemical aftertaste.  I can drink this one with a teaspoon of sugar.  Eh.  Not bad.

The sweet lemon is my favorite out of this box.  Tastes just like black tea with sugar and lemon.  

So there you have it.   4 tea reviews for the price of one!

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Pantone Fall 2011 Colors

Artbeads recently posted the Pantone Fall 2011 Colors.

Here is Artbeads recommended Swarovski tones based on the Pantone forecast:

Bamboo -warm yellow with green undertone — Try Swarovski’s Light Topaz

Emberglow -emanates a warm, glowing fire –Try Swarovski’s Padparadscha

Honeysuckle -Continuity from Spring — Try Swarovski’s Indian Pink

Phlox -deep purple color — Try Swarovski’s Amethyst

Cedar -mid-tone neutral green — Try Swarovski’s Olivine

Deep Teal -blue-toned green — Try Swarovski’s Blue Zircon

Coffee Liqueùr-rich brown/alternative to black — Try Swarovski’s Mocca

Nougat -camel tan — Try Swarovski’s Smoky Quartz

Orchid Hush -gray with purple undertones — Try Swarovski’s Violet Opal

Quarry -medium gray, almost slate blue — Try Swarovski’s Indian Sapphire

Incidentally, padparascha is also one of this year's more popular gemstones, according to the Gemworld International report on the 2011 Tucson Gem Show. Some other popular choices are traditional blue sapphires, as well as tsavorite and demantoid garnets, so deeper blues and greens should remain fairly popular as well.

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Hawaii with Kids: Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden

Even when it pours for days on end, it's absolutely beautiful on the Windward side. These waterfalls appear only when it's been raining hard. Gorgeous, aren't they? Well every so often you see an idiot parked on the side of H-3 (where the speed limit is 60mph and most people are traveling at 75 or higher) in the POURING RAIN, trying to get a picture of it.  I also hear stories of folks walking through backyards, which is totally illegal.  Why risk life and limb when  you can get a MUCH better vantage point without breaking any traffic laws or trespassing?

Ordinarily, I am not a huge fan of botanical gardens... so I've actually ignored the signs pointing to Ho'omaluhia quite often.  The entrance is on Luluku Rd, which is very close to the Likelike and Kamehameha Hwy intersection.  If taking the H-3 from the Pearl Harbor side, take the Likelike exit, turn right on Anoi, and another right on Luluku.  If coming from Kailua or Kaneohe, take Kam Hwy toward the Likelike.  Turn Mauka (toward the mountain) at Ko'olau Farmers.  Luluku runs through some residential areas.  There are many brown signs to reassure you that you're going the right way.  Don't worry- if I can find it, anyone can.

Here is the view from the parking lot at the Visitor Center.  Can you believe this?  THE PARKING LOT!!!

There are art exhibits and some other things available at the Visitor Center.  Today, there happened to be a Bonsai class as well as a hula halau.  Behind the Visitor Center is a path to a man made lake.   (A dam was built by the Army Corps of Engineers to provide flood protection for Kailua and Kaneohe.)  There are tons of trails, but we saw lots of other families going toward the lake, so we followed.

Barely 5 minutes down the trail, we found a nice area where some families were feeding ducks.  Next time, we will definitely bring some stale bread!

This would also be a great area to picnic, and a family was having professional portraits taken. 

Lots of space to spread out and find your own spot, but bring your own snacks and drinks for sure!

If you keep walking around the lake, you'll come to an area where fishing is allowed on weekends.  (Catch and release from 10-2, no casting.)  We didn't make it quite that far this time (it's on the far side in this picture), but I think that sounds like a lot of fun too.

This time, we just sat and watched the ducks and fish.  

When it got too hot, we drove around the rest of the park.

There are several parking lots and each alcove of the park has a different "theme" in terms of which region the plants are from.  So you can see everything from introduced Polynesian plants to African plants. 

We saw about a dozen joggers/runners/walkers, two families camping, honeymooning tourists, and two artists painting (one was actually painting a portrait of the other artist painting the mountains).  There were folks sitting around playing music under a tree and several folks on "photo shoots." 

So, we will definitely be back, but next time with our picnic lunch, bread for the ducks, and fishing poles!!!

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Thursday Teas: Bigelow Organic Green Tea K-Cups

Well, I thought I'd try something a little different this week.

I love my Keurig but couldn't figure out how you would get a good tea out of a K-cup when most teas need to steep for 2-3 minutes and the Keurig more or less runs hot water in and out of the cup in less than 1 minute.

Um, yeah.  Disgusting.  I don't know what I was thinking.  The Asian style greens are much more to my liking.  This barely even SMELLS like a green tea.  I have had at least 3 dozen types of green tea ranging from super sweet to ceremonial and this is by far the worst I have ever tried.  Ever tried steaming grass?  I haven't, but if I did, I imagine it would have a very similar taste.  Yuck.

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Sewing Machine Advice?

A few years ago, I bought a new Singer machine rather than pay to overhaul the Husqvarna/Viking I received from my grandmother.  In retrospect, overhauling the 20+ year old machine might've been a better move.  My "new" machine had no-frills and would be ok for occasional sewing, but now that I started quilting it doesn't fit the bill.  Sewing machines have gotten a lot more interesting since I was a kid learning to sew.  What I need is a good solid sewing machine that allows me to freehand machine quilt.  What I want is a sewing/quilting/embroidery machine that can cut like a serger, like one of the new Brother Quattro machines:

*drool*

According to the Brother website, look at all the COOL things it does:

Unfortunately, something like this runs close to $10,000.  Definitely out of my price range.

This is a little closer, but still a little above what I was hoping to spend:

Not nearly as cool, but it does embroidery and sewing for under $500.  Still more than I want to spend but at least this one doesn't cost as much as a small car.

All in all, the Brother machines seem to have killer features at much lower price points than the other manufacturers.  The question then becomes, will these machines last?  Because they have more plastic parts than the high end models.

*sigh*   I wish I'd gotten her Bernina.

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New Show on Animal Planet: Tanked

In addition to beading and sewing, I also love fish. In fact, I've long since decided that my dream house would include a "fish room" (or at least space for a large Amano style tank). I am SOOOOO excited to see Animal Planet has a new "reality" show in production, called, "Tanked," which will begin airing on August 19. Check out this trailer- tell me you wouldn't kill your husband if he thought you would get into a tank of sharks to place the decorations!!!




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Stationed in Hawaii with Kids: Name that Aircraft!

Near the main gate at Kaneohe Bay, there are static displays of old Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, along with a personnel carrier (I think), bulldozer, and some sort of howitzer/artillery. There is also a scaled down replica of the Iwo Jima Memorial. Since there is no dedicated parking lot, it's easy to drive on by thinking you aren't supposed to stop there... but we park either by the Pass and ID office, the Lodge/CBQ, or the Marine Mart and walk, depending on which side of the street we want to take a look at.

This one used to fly out of Barbers Point Naval Air Station, back in the day.

Today, we parked on the "Navy" side (right hand as you enter the base). I call it this because the Navy aircraft are on this side... the other side of the street has more things displayed, which is more than appropriate since Kaneohe Bay is a Marine Corps Air Station.   There's plenty of grass between the  displays and the road (so you're not constantly paranoid that a little one might run into traffic), and placards that explain what you're looking at.

Thought I should include the token Marine Air fighter.  :)

Both of my kids love airplanes.  They don't really care that these aircraft have been retired forever.  You can walk around them, check them out, walk under them, point to the various parts of the plane and discuss what they do, where the weapons are mounted, etc.

This one has been out of service longer than I've been in the service... even counting my days as a midshipman!

I don't see people laying out there, so I'm not sure you'd be allowed to spread out the picnic cloth and park yourself there for the afternoon, but it's an interesting way to kill an hour, tires the little ones out, keeps the older ones engaged, and it's free.  Can't beat that!

Tell me this is not the most pimped out helicopter you have ever seen.  Stunning work.

Five brownie points for each of the platforms you can name.  I only knew 2 without checking.  Another, I guessed correctly because it was similar enough to its replacement (which is about to be retired), and one, I had no clue since its replacement has also been retired for a number of years.


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Thursday Teas: Lupicia Sakurambo Vert (Iced)

This is Lupicia's Flavor of the Month for July, so I got a free tea bag in the mail with their newsletter.  The reviews on Steepster were pretty mediocre, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect other than cherry and green tea in unknown proportion.  Green teas can be very bitter.  Cherry flavoring can be very chemically.  The previous Lupicia teas I tried were mostly subtle and smooth, though.

Since it's the middle of summer, I decided to make some iced tea.  When you open the bag, there is a delicious cherry smell.  I steeped the bag for 2 minutes in 8 oz of hot water, according to the directions.  Although I also like stronger teas, I didn't over-steep this one.  Like I said, green tea can get very bitter and I wanted to avoid the bitterness since I planned to drink this one iced. 

It was a very light green color.  Since I prefer sweet iced tea, I added a tablespoon of sugar, dissolved, then poured the whole thing into another glass over ice to chill.  The ice melted pretty quickly so I had to add more.  All in all, I think I ended up with maybe 10 oz of water if you include the melted ice.  The resulting glass of tea was very light and crisp, with a distinct cherry flavor, and a little on the sweet side but not Southern sweet tea sweet, if that makes any sense.

Definitely a winner for a hot summer day.

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Florida in Pictures: Magic Kingdom

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Happy Birthday to Me!

Yeah, that's right. It's my birthday! Yay! Look how tiny I used to be...

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