February 23, 2006 9:32 PM Thursday, San Francisco, California           

The Chosen Mark

 

"Many are Called but Few are Chosen". This parable does not mean that God calls a lot of people, picks over them, and keeps only a few. It means that God calls everyone and gives them the power to respond—but to be chosen, we must respond to the call, using the power God gave us for that purpose.

 

The illness of Aunt Judy is a major blow to our family last year.  She was hospitalized many times and was finally diagnosed with liver failure thus she urgently needs liver transplant… the sooner the better. 

 

Aunt Judy’s only child-daughter, Delphi waste no time to seek out help from family and friends to be the donor. All the members of her “tribe” responded to the call so did I, DH and my brother-in-law, Kuya Allen.  However, the three of us were disqualified in the first round of testing due to different reasons.  Among the many prospective donors, Mark stood out to be the most qualified donor. He went through all the tests including personal, emotional, financial and psychological screenings and he turned out the perfect match! He’s the Chosen One.

 

Today, surgery went very well. We can’t thank God enough and of course the magnanimous donor, “the chosen Mark” and his family for their munificence in taking the plunge to risk Mark’s life in order to make a big difference in this world particularly in the life of our dear Aunt Judy. God Bless your heart, Mark.   You have our family's undying gratitude. You are one existent hero to our family!

 

Just you know folks, “the chosen Mark” is one true and unadulterated friend of Delphi for many, many long years.  He is an epitome of a genuine friend we all dream to have in this world.  Delphi is so lucky to have found him as a real friend.

 

Thank you folks for all your prayers.

February 17, 2006 7:32 PM Friday, Jacksonville, Florida           

 

Trip to the West Coast

 

Our trips for this year are going to be mainly visiting and reconnecting our ties with my DH’s side of the family.

 

We are set to fly to the West Coast  to visit my mother-in-law's side of the family and while we are there we might as well take the chance to do some sight seeing around Sacramento, San Francisco Bay and hopefully Lake Tahoe in Nevada.

 

Sometime in summer or in the fall, we are also planning to visit my late father-in-law's side of the family in West Virginia.

 

A long time good friend of ours, Edith and Duane in Sacramento munificently offered their home for us to stay and spare car for us to use for the whole duration of our trip there but while DH appreciates the generosity and hospitality of this couple, he never ever likes to bother or hassle anyone else about our trip. Heck, he won’t even take the generous offer of very close family members to accommodate us in their own home whenever we come up for a visit.  Imagine how much money we would be able to save if the hotel and car are free of charge for 10 days especially in California? But DH would rather spend a fortune to stay in a hotel and rent a car than take advantage of a free hospitable offer from family and friends. That's how much he puts importance and respects his and other people's privacy. If it is just me, I would take the offer in an instant.  

 

On the other end, my mother-in-law is not much of a great help in our diet regimen. Is she? 

 

Here’s an email from her yesterday:

 

Tony & Rhebs, on Sunday evening we will be eating at the Esquire Grill (their pork chops are excellent and their crab cake appetizers are very good). Judy will be with us. Then on Monday night we will go to Danielle's where they serve a very good French Onion soup and dessert crepes served hot with fruit and ice cream (forget about diets!). Tuesday we'll play by ear.

Love you both.
Mom

 

She just loves to feed us.  She's been feeding us for all these years which basically explain the reason we are overweight!  Yeah, sounds like she shoved the food in our mouth right?… Of course not!  She only did the invites and it is up to us to make the choice.  BUT… who the heck in the world would refuse to dine out in a restaurant with scrumptious food?  Heaven knows DH and I love to eat… too much!  I think I am just eyeing for someone else to blame as an excuse for our own damn failure of not shedding off any pounds for this month of February! :-P  

 

Anyway, with all these trips lined up for this year, I don’t think we would still have enough budget and vacation left for our 7th year wedding anniversary in September.  I guess our early on plan to take a 10-day Alaska Cruise in this year's Wedding Anniversary is now in limbo.  Oh well...

 

February 15, 2006 7:44 PM Wednesday, Jacksonville, Florida            

 Valentine’s Day

My Beloved True Love, Rhebs

When you come into my life, my life completely changed.  My life became complete and now had meaning.  I love you and Only You and I will Always Love You Forever.  You are my One and Only True Love comes true. Those are not trite clichιs but God’s Honest Truth.  I would not trade our love and our time together for anything.  Words cannot express the depth of my love for you.  I can only try to show my love to let the entire world know how much I truly love you.
 I Love You Now, Always and Forever
Tony

As usual DH never failed me.  He is always full of surprises.  He woke me up with lots of sweet kisses and I love you then greeted me Happy Valentines’ Day. Few minutes later, he’s gone to work.  As soon as I got out of bed, I saw the stuff on top of our kitchen counter that really made my day complete.  I thought, Wow, after nearly 7 years of marriage, I guess honeymoon is not over yet ;-).  DH knows exactly how to delight my little heart.  He knows little thing means a lot to me.  He mastered the art of showing and expressing his love to me both in words and in action. That's my man!

I went to work as usual and around 9:45AM a guy from KUHN FLOWERS delivered all these stuff on my desk one at a time, like 10 minutes apart.  I muttered, “who in heavens sent me all these stuff?” As I open the note, I screamed “Ohh they are all from my darling husband!”  My boss teased me by saying, “Why? Are you expecting someone else to send you valentines stuff besides your husband?   Let me call your husband now”.  I refuted my statement by saying, “No. It’s just that I didn’t expect him to send me flowers here at work since I already got some stuff at home when I woke up this morning.

I dialed DH number at work at 10AM but I was told the boss sent him home early because he already incurred 6 hours of overtime for the week.  So I called him on his cell phone to thank him for all the surprises and reprimanded him a little for spending that much money for flowers and stuff. I warned him before not to order anything from KUHN Flowers anymore because I know their flowers and stuff are ridiculously pricey. He just laughed and reasoned out the money he spent was actually from his allowance.

My boss and I got into talking about romantic gestures that other couples had done on Valentines Day. Towards the end of our conversation, my wonderful boss suggested that if I want to take a time off and go home early I could.  It gave me an idea that now is my turn to do something special in return to surprise DH so I took a half day off at work and decided to go home after lunch.   Well.… DH was in for a big surprise when I finally got home ;-). We got to spend sweet long and intimate moments together without interruptions from Midget ;-)

As I was telling DH, if all husbands in this world are like him—you know….husbands who know exactly how to treat and make their wives feel so love and special, there would have been no bitching and whining from unhappy wives and probably less cases of divorce in this world. I mean the gift doesn't need to be extravagant/expensive to please a woman. The thoughts do counts (saw the new commercials on TV?) but 3 red roses, or bouquet of flowers, chocolates and cards with sweet nothings would make a big difference and that means a lot to a woman.  How hard can that be guys?

Well, we concluded our Valentines’ day by indulging ourselves with a treat of a delicious carrot cake and Breyers rocky road and Hδagen-Dazs mango ice cream. There goes the diet part ;-)

Here are the rest of the pictures taken at home.

February 10, 2006 9:07 PM Friday, Jacksonville, Florida          

Plan ahead to reduce an Income Tax burden

One of the important topics I learned from my recent IRS tax training was how to plan ahead to reduce an Income Tax burden. Nope! I never got around to take the IRS certification exam yet. I decided to put it hold as I feel I needed more time to learn and really get proficient with the US Taxation Laws before I will embark myself with this type of career.

Now, allow me to reverberate to you what I have learned from the training. Let me begin it with a quote from the Supreme Court Justice Learned Hand, “There are two systems of taxation in our country: one for the informed, and one for the uninformed.”    Some people unwittingly pay more than their fair share to Uncle Sam because of poor tax planning plus the lack of understanding how income taxes work. I was a victim of this myself until recently.

By learning more about taxes and planning ahead, you will be able to lower your income tax burden. The key to avoid paying too much income tax is by keeping your taxable income low and taking all legitimate tax breaks.  Lowering your taxable income reduces your income taxes in two ways. It lowers the amount on which you are taxed and it may lower the tax rate used to compute your tax, giving you even more savings.

Keeping your taxable income low doesn’t mean you have to work less and earn less amount of money.  What it means is, if you are earning large amount on interest/dividends income from your savings and investments that are taxable; consider swapping them for investment like Roth IRA that gave you “tax-free” interest/dividends income. If your work offers a deferred comp plan like 401-K or something to that effect, it is always best to take advantage of it by putting the max amount you are allowed to contribute—that is if you can afford it.  If you make Traditional IRA contributions you may be able to take an adjustment to your income to lower your taxable income while saving money. Continue to earn but make it less taxing.

If you pay medical insurance premiums, medical expenses, property tax for real and personal property and interest on mortgage of your primary home or vacation home, you can deduct these amounts from your income.

Another thing that I just learned recently was the interest on Home Equity Loan or Line of Credit is tax-deductible!  So folks if you own a house but owed huge amount of debt in your credit cards bearing an interest rate of 18-21% in which you can only afford to pay the minimum required payment, why don’t you consider taking out a home equity loan? Home equity loans usually have lower interest rate depending on your FICO score although you have to pay one time closing costs fee for this type of loan but the whole amount of interest you pay for that loan is tax-deductible year after year! What I mean is weigh your options, play with the numbers and whichever is advantageous to you, go for it!

Also if you are planning to buy a new car, yet you have a paucity of cash to pay for it, rather than get a financing from the car dealership for 3 to 5 years with higher interest rate, why don’t you consider taking a home equity loan or better yet talk to your bank customer care because sometimes the bank offers competitive financing for auto loans. The sales tax you pay for buying a car plus the interest you pay for home equity loan are both tax-deductible.  Here’s the link to a very good pointers that will help you negotiate and get the best deal when buying a car.  (Yup, I am doing a lot of research about car buying because we are due to buy a new car for me sooner or later ;-)

Another technique for lowering taxable income may be to defer income or expenses from one year to another to maximize benefits of itemized and standard deductions. If you expect more Income this year than next, you might consider postponing taking income due in the later part of the year until January of next year, to keep this year’s tax bracket lower and save taxes.

There are many legitimate deductions you can take from income to lower your taxable income. You may find it more advantageous to take the IRS standard deduction in one year and itemized deductions in another.

If you have few expenses that qualify as itemized deductions, you benefit more by taking a standard deduction. If you can postpone or accelerate itemized deduction items so more fall into one year than another, you get to take a bigger deduction in each year. For example, it might be to your advantage to postpone buying eyeglasses or paying for those orthodontic braces until next year to maximize medical deductions next year and take a standard deduction this year. Alternatively, you might want to accelerate paying those real estate taxes this year to maximize your itemized deductions and take a standard deduction next year.

Another way to reduce your income tax burden is to utilize tax credits. Tax credits are a dollar for dollar reduction of taxes. They’re like coupons the IRS gives you to pay taxes. You can get credits for many different things such as paying education expenses, making certain investments, or even having kids (although it’s not recommended that you should have kids just to get the credits—We all know having kids can get pretty expensive to begin with).

I happened to know one very prudent couple who consciously plan ahead to reduce their tax burden.  The wife was due to have a baby (their baby number 3) in the first week of January 2006. However, since that is only one week ahead, they decided to talk to their OB-Gyne to possibly induce the baby to come out in last week of December 2005 so that they would be able to claim the baby as an additional dependent for 2005 tax returns. I thought that was a very smart move!  Do you know how much deductions you can take for one particular child to join the family?

Here you go!

For 2005
Personal Exemption is $3,200
Exemption for every dependent is $3,200
Child Tax Credit for every child is $1,000
Additional Child Tax Credit – taxpayer with 3 or more children may also be eligible for additional
                                               child tax credit depending on their income.
They may also qualify for Earned Income Credit (EIC) with a qualifying child depending on their income.

And, if you provide more than 50 percent of support for a child, a parent, or other person who lives in your home, you can take a dependent exemption amount for each of these people for $3,200..

Always check last year’s tax return to see what credits are allowed. Chances are the same credits will be available this year too.  You won’t know if these strategies will work for you unless you think it through in advance— again, it’s all about a little planning.

Another tax-deductible! Excerpt from IRS website:

"The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 authorized the sales tax deduction as an option for those who itemize deductions, letting them choose between deductions for state and local income or sales taxes. Taxpayers will indicate by a checkbox on line 5 of Schedule A which type of tax they’re claiming. The law provides this choice for Tax Years 2004 and 2005 only.

The tables give taxpayers a sales tax deduction amount as an alternative to saving their receipts throughout the year and tabulating the amount actually paid. Taxpayers use their income level and number of exemptions to find the sales tax amount for their state.

Taxpayers also may add to the table amount any sales taxes paid on:

·         A motor vehicle, but only up to the amount of tax paid at the general sales tax rate; and

·         An aircraft, boat, home (including mobile or prefabricated), or home building materials, if the tax rate is the same as the general sales tax rate.

While this deduction will mainly benefit taxpayers with a state or local sales tax but no income tax – in Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming – it may give a larger deduction to any taxpayer who paid more in sales taxes than income taxes. For example, a person may have bought a new car, boosting the sales tax total, or claimed tax credits, lowering the state income tax paid."

So remember to always save receipts of all your purchases for the year.

Lastly, IRS recommneds to e-file your tax returns. Why? Because it is

ACCURATE!
Did you know that all paper returns are retyped into IRS computers? By e-filing your tax return, your tax information is inputted directly, reducing the chance of errors and mistakes. You know that what you submit is what the IRS receives.

EASY!
Go paperless by using a self-generated Personal Identification Number (or PIN). If you owe money, you can conveniently schedule an electronic funds withdrawal from your bank account or pay by credit card*. E-file today and pay on the 15th.

FAST!
Get your refund in only 10 days with direct deposit or within three weeks if a refund check is mailed to you. Plus, only Electronic filing gives you guaranteed confirmation that the IRS has received your return!

Ok, I got my fair share of tax refunds and it's now your turn to get some of your money back from Uncle Sam!

The tax refund money we are getting back from Uncle Sam was our money anyway. DH witholding tax at work is based on a single status so he ended up having more tax withhold than our taxes due for the year.  It's like we extended a loan to Uncle Sam with no interest. We could have kept that money in our savings account and drawn interest out of it. Well, we didn't know any better before :-P

So folks, make sure you talk to your payroll specialists at work to adjust your withholding taxes to the exact amount of taxes due for 2006.

New learning from Suze Orman show

For couples out there whether married or not who own a house in joint tenancy! 

Do you know that if either one of you (God forbids) gets totally incapacitated for some reasons, one spouse won't be able to sell the house if he/she has to or needed to for whatever reasons without both signatures on the deed? Unless you are willing to go to the court to do the court proceedings and squander prodigious amount of money for lawyers and court fees, then don’t worry about it. Otherwise now is the time. Save yourself some big trouble in the future. Get a Revocable Living Trust or I thought I heard Suze said a Durable Power of Attorney that lasts beyond incapacity would work as well. Not just the regular Power of Attorney that lets you sign for each other because this type of Power of Attorney becomes null and void at the time of your spouse's incapacity.

Same rules apply to old folks out there who want their children to inherit their house or real property. Consider getting a Revocable Living Trust rather than a Will to save your children prodigious amount of money to squander for lawyers, probate fees and court proceedings to get that house transferred to their names if you have to die in an instant. Although she said, the law varies from state to state so better yet consult your lawyer.

Three most important docs that we all MUST have:  Excerpt from Suze Orman's book entitled "The Young Fabulous and Broke":

Will & Revocable Living Trust. A will is not enough. It can create financial and legal hassles for your spouse and other beneficiaries. A trust is a must.

Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care. If you fell ill and couldn't speak for yourself, make sure your spouse (or someone else you appoint as your agent) will know how to carry out your medical wishes.

Term Life Insurance. If there is anyone financially dependent on either of you (a spouse, or children) you need life insurance.
 

February 1, 2006 7:45 PM Wednesday, Jacksonville, Florida            

 

Resolution or delusion?

In 2005, we made a New Year Resolution to seriously loose weight but then after a while the enthusiasm wears off and not long after we realized we had gone the whole year without adhering to it. The “seriously loose weight, exercise more, eat healthy to get fit” resolution turned out to be our major New Year’s delusion.

Anyway, this year, we kick off the first month of the year with great alacrity to get back to the wagon and start all over again.  We vowed to make this thing come to mind by hook or by crook!  So we made a pact and both signed this commitment contract:

January 3, 2006

I, Tony, hereby commit to loose 8 lbs a month by making a healthful food choices and doing regular exercise. The main goal is for me to get down to 190 lbs and keep it off.

I, Rhebs, hereby commit to loose 4 lbs a month by making a healthful food choices and doing regular exercise. The main goal is for me to get down to 108 lbs and keep it off.

I will endeavor to be conscious of when and why I eat and will, to the best of my ability, eat just enough to satisfy my nutritional needs as opposed to my emotional needs.

I will not munch anything two hours prior to my bedtime.

In addition, with the exception of two days a month, I will NOT indulge in any desserts/sweets such as chocolates, cakes, ice cream, cinnabon rolls and junk foods regardless of the nature of the temptation.

Although we believe there are some surgical procedures out there that will help drastically lose weight but the best approach there is at least for us is to stick to the basics by following a healthy and balanced diet plus regular exercise. We all know it's hard but we will persevere. We promised!

Now DH doesn't have to feel guilty for not going to the gym to work out unfailingly because we converted our  guest room into an exercise room.

When DH put this Weight Bench workout down in his Christmas wish list last December, I immediately went ahead and got it for him without having a second thought. I also bought a Weider 210 lbs Olympic weight/dumbbell set to go with it. It's a cast-iron plates with handle grips, spring clip collars, and 7 ft. bar.  This versatile heavy-duty bench has everything he needs and more for a great total body, muscle-building workout. With the interchangeable lat tower and preacher pad stations, telescoping uprights and multiple bench positions, this bench gives him a huge variety of exercise options. I thought this Weight Bench is way better than the Bowflex exercise machine for less amount of money.

For a starter, he's doing strength training workouts on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  On Tuesday and Thursday, he does 30-minute walk as cardio exercise.

As for me, I got myself a bicycle to ride around the neighborhood as an alternate exercise besides Pilates and Walk-Away-the Pounds.

Believe it or not, our winter this year isn't as bad at all. Best winter I ever had in Florida. I get to ride my bike around the neighborhood as it feels like spring!!!  With high 60's and low 50's not to mention the sunshine, nothing gets better than this. It’s a beautiful weather out there for any outdoor activities and everybody seems happy around here :-)  The worse that it can get is mid 30’s and that’s about the coldest weather we got so far.  Anybody wants to move to the Sunshine State? Come on in! Hey, we don't pay any State tax at all and our sales tax is only 7%. But I guess most people would rather deal with snow/blizzard than a hurricane huh?

Now here's the goodnews! Today is the end of the first month of our diet and exercise regimen and the result is terrific! DH shed off 10 lbs (clap clap clap) while I shed off 4 lbs.

As a little incentive, we both agree to reward ourselves with cash that we can spend on anything we want but foods. We will continue to do this routine month by month and if things go on without a hitch, in less than two years, my DH is going to be one fit and healthy man ;-)

Pet Day Care

We always made a home for Mom's pets while she is away for a trip/vacation. However with both of us working, we can’t just simply leave Midget home all day long otherwise she’ll make a big mess inside the house.

With Mom going away for months, she decided to make Midget's  life a little fun and exciting. She found this Coastal Veterinary Hospital/Pet Day Care to baby-sit Midget while we are at work. Basically, I drop her off to Pet Day Care on the way to work at 7:00am and DH picks her up at 6:00pm. Believe me, I've met bunch of people in that place dropping off their pets every morning like their kids. (sus may pa-kisskiss at iloveyou's pa sila hehehe) There is this one lady who got teary eyed when she left her doggie to the Day care as I overheard she'll be gone for a week.

Mind you, the Day Care has their own daily schedule to follow too:

 7:30  -    8:30 AM .............................. Meet and Greet, Breakfast and cuddle time
 8:30   -  10:30 AM .............................. Outside/Inside Playtime
10:30  -  12:00 PM .............................. Snack Time/Lunch Time and Walk
 1:00  -    4:00 PM .............................. Outside/Inside Playtime
 4:00  -    6:00 PM .............................. Yappy Hour/Winding Down Time
 

But hey, check out the outrageous on-going rates of this Pet Day Care!

Pricing for Pet Day Care

Behavior Assessment           ……………………………………  $ 15.00
(This is a one-time fee required to assess your pet’s behavior prior to entering the Day Care) 

½ day (pick-up before 1:00pm/drop off after 1:00pm) $ 11.00
1 day      ……………………………………………………………………  $ 22.00
5 days   ………………………………………………………………………   100.00
10 days ………………………………………………………………………   195.00
20 days ………………………………………………………………………   350.00

Late Fees (applied after 6:30pm)  ……………………………     $ 5.00/per 5 minutes late
Late Fees (applied after 6:45pm)  …………………………..        7.00/per 5 minutes late
Surprise sleepover fee (applied after 7pm) ………………      30.00/night

 Boarding Rates

 Dogs:  Standard Rooms ………………………………………………  $ 20.00/night
            Deluxe Rooms   ………………………………………………     25.00/night
            Luxury Rooms   ………………………………………………     35.00/night
            Additional Family Dog staying in same room……    12.00/night

 Cats:    Luxury Rooms   ……………………………………………….   18.00/night
             Additional Family Cat staying in same room……   12.00/night

 A-LA Carte Services

Comfort Time ………..…………………………………………………………    $ 1.50/day
Tooth Brushing   ………………………………………………………………       7.20/day
Daily Brushing   …….…………………………………………………………       2.50/day
Play time for Cats …..………………………………………………………       5.00/day

The price makes me want to stay home and take care of Midget and maybe two more dogs but I don't think Mom would like that idea though...hehehe