There's a lot of ways you can spend any given Saturday morning. Sleeping in, visiting family and binge watching my TV show du jour are the usual suspects. However, this Saturday morning was different; I was going to pull a UPS airplane.
You may be thinking: "Why in the world would you do that?"
My response: "Why wouldn't I!?"
For the same reason I rappelled down one of the tallest buildings in Des Moines last September, the Plane Pull was also to raise awareness and funds for Special Olympics Iowa. This was the inaugural plane pull. My employer, Two Rivers Marketing, loves to support different non-profits in our community, including Special Olympics. Over the past two months, our agency raised more than $1,000 in order for our team of 20 to pull this massive plane a whoppin' 12 feet.
We weren't the biggest, baddest team in the world - or all of Iowa for that matter. We figured we'd give it our best shot, and just appreciate the experience. Well, we didn't do half bad. We had one long rope to grab a hold of (think tug of war). We didn't have much of a strategy in terms of positioning, except to put the strongest people in the back. It took us about two seconds just to get the thing moving. Once we did, I was able to speed up to a backwards jog to keep it moving. Our total time was 8.5 seconds. The winning team - which included law enforcement officers and Iowa State football players - pulled it in 6.6 seconds. Like I said, not bad.
The event had 36 teams participate and raised $90,000! I would consider that a success. Apart from helping out SOI, it was also a cool event to do with co-workers, their spouses (including mine) and their kids. Our agency has about 100 employees, so this was a great way to get to know each other more outside the confines of 8:00am - 5:00pm.
If my assumptions are correct that this event will return next year, and someone asks you to pull a plane, how will you respond?
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... til the sweat drop down my... Don't you just love when you get a good song stuck in your head?
Anyway! Our house is starting feel more and more like a home every day. This weekend we finally (we've only owned the home two weeks) put some holes in the walls. I have plenty of decor from my previous apartments to hang up at our house, but I'm being very strategic about what I want to use. I envision a rustic, vintage, colonial feel for the house. In order to achieve that, the decor has to be just right. At this point, we've hung paintings/portraits in three rooms. I know you're thinking the group of four Asian landscapes doesn't go with the rustic flavor, but we really like them and felt they were a good fit for the guest bedroom. I'm on the hunt for a mirror for the living room and am hoping to create some art myself to hang in the dining room. I purchased new curtains for the living room and fining room that bring the outdoors inside with nature patterns. Both sets are sheer so they allow a better flow from inside to outside also. Man, curtains aren't cheap! Luckily, I got the dining room panels on sale at Kohl's for $20 each (plus used my 15 percent off coupon). The drapes in the living room were about $35 each from Bed, Bath and Beyond (also used my 20 percent off coupons). That's eight panels in total, plus we had to purchase four curtain rods. Although more expensive than this thrifty gal would have liked to spend, I'm super happy with how much they add to the room and increase our privacy from our neighbors. As a new homeowner, expenses add up fast and your bank account dwindles faster. Surprisingly, there is at least one way you can save a little money. Our real estate agent filled us in on a not-so-secret tax credit - the Homestead Credit - available in Polk County. It's really simple to get and will save us about $175 on our property taxes every year from here on out. All you have to do is head down to the Polk County building at 111 Court Avenue in Des Moines and look for this door (which is on the main floor on the left wall) to Room 195. It even says on the sign "Homestead Exemptions." A nice lady will ask your name and address (she didn't even ask for ID), print you off a paper to sign stating you live there and show you how much you'll save on your property taxes.
Voila! You're a money-saving homeowner. Browsing her site makes me want to never buy another piece of furniture again, and instead build everything ourselves. As a new homeowner (a whoppin' two weeks now), I'm in constant search of the perfect pieces to make our house a home (and a very well decorated one, at that). I came across a photo of a cool cart coffee table on Pinterest and fell in love. A few days later I saw one in a local store for $250. While $250 doesn't sound terrible, it's more than I'd really want to spend.
Last weekend, I caught up with one of my favorite people who lives back in Chicago. We got talking about homeownership and she pointed out this killer sandbox her hubby made. He said he got the design plans for free on this Ana White's website. I'd never heard of her but decided it was worth checking out, especially since Lucas had just decided he wants to build a picnic table for our screened-in patio. On my lunch break, I popped over to www.Ana-White.com. Holy moly! She not only has a slew of design plans for woodworking projects, but she also breaks them down for you by shopping list, tool list, cut list, plus step-by-step instructions with pictures. Designs are also labeled with a category, like beginner or intermediate, with the hope you don't bite off more than you can chew. I'm definitely a beginner, but my husband is probably more intermediate. The cart coffee table pictured here is a beginner project and estimated to cost $50-$100. If you know me at all, you know I'm thrifty. To me, it's completely worth saving $150-$200 by putting in some sweat equity. Not to mention, I'm sure there's a huge sense of pride knowing you built something yourself. That way when guests say how much they love my table (which I know they will), I can tell them Lucas and I built it with our own four hands. We have some other projects lined up first - like the picnic table - but some time this summer I hope to be able to post about my first time building a coffee table... |