Hey Lady - Wanna buy a Timeshare?

Thanks to the Trip a Day giveaway on a Jazz station in San Diego, my daughter Kristen invited me to share in her 'trip for 2' won to Cabo San Lucas. Too bad no one warned us of the timeshare culture we were about to step into upon clearing customs. The 5 day 4 night trip ended up with 2 days of adventure, 2 days of travel and 2 'half' days sitting thru timeshare presentations.

Here's what we EARNED: 1 trip for 2 to ride ATVs to the beach, 1 trip for two snorkeling up the baja coast, $100 cash, 2 free breakfasts, 1 dinner and 2 spa treatments, lots of pre-paid taxi and shuttle fares. We calculated our earnings at about $100/hour while on vacation, and were only saved from signing the dotted line by reality. We had no 'cash' for a down payment, thank goodness. Anyhow, on the shuttle back to the airport we learned that a timeshare can be picked up on the resale market for about 10 cents on the dollar.

So once I get 10 cents, I'm buying a timeshare in Cabo.

Awesome place!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

First you were born. Today you are 5!

Voting in Cass County Nebraska Ain't That Tough

A few days before the election and I'm in a panic once I realize my plane leaves at 8:30 a.m. on 11/4 and the polls don't open until 8:00 a.m. The airport is 30 minutes away. It's too late to apply for an absentee ballot.

On the news, the lines are already long by Friday before the election, so imagine my suprise when I call the registrar of voters, and she says, "come on down". It was halloween and her comment when I arrived was, "you're our first costume of the day". There was no line. Two workers, 3 polling booths and just me, voting early.

I proudly added the sticker "my vote counts" to my outfit and I was out the door and heading back to work 5 minutes after I arrived. It's good to live in Nebraska.

Buy a Waterfront Home in Nebraska?

It turns out buying two homes before the real estate market crashed was a bad idea. So our waterfront home is now for sale.

Custom designed and built, we puchased the land 10 years ago and drafted the floorplan on graph paper before finally asking our brother-in-law, Mike Koch of the Flooring Studio to built the house.

People ask me, how can you sell after all the landscaping you've done? To Brian and I, it has been a dream to build the house.

In spite of waterfront and beach, a 3,400 square foot home is a bit much for just two of us. Our plans next, finish up and relocate to the flip house and have no mortage at all.

Hey, anyone know where we can get a renovation loan?