Mortgage shopping

Well, I have had about 3 straight days of shopping for a mortgage company and have finally settled on one. After dealing with people that wouldn't call back, got annoyed when I wanted a lower rate/fees or I just didn't like, I finally am going with a guy who did whatever I asked as soon as I asked him. I asked for a lower rate at the same closing costs and he gave it to me, so he has my business. I finally went with a spreadsheet approach to analyzing all my loans. I could then calculate how long the loans with higher rates but lower fees/closing cost would be an advantage overall compared to the lower rate but higher fees/closing cost loans. I narrowed it down to 2 loans with the lower fee loan being financially better for the first 9 years of the loan, and the other being better after 9 years with the same loan. So for me lower fees=good and Wells Fargo got my business. If any of you ever think about refinance again I would definitely suggest looking at my spreadsheet approach to help with making the decision.

Anyway, all this came about because house value in the area has supposedly gone up 70-80% in our area in just the last 6 months, so $177,000 X 70%= "a lot of money". So with the refi. We may be able to get a little extra dough out and pay for a brand new shiny bamboo floor throughout the downstairs of our house. It is just a thought, we will have to wait and see what the house really appraises out to be. We went and looked at the bamboo and love the look of it. The only drawback over some other hardwoods is that it does tend to fade more, so you have to be diligent about moving rugs and furniture around.

We ate our first peppers and two artichoke that we grew ourselves. The peppers were good, the artichoke was a little tough but I 'choked' it down. I bought a few more gallon perennials from Freddy's that were half off ($2.50). Next year my flowers should be quite nice. Greyson has gotten as far as getting the wood laid out on the yard. Ada is already using the piece of plywood to sleep on so apparently we don't actually need to put it together to form any sort of house for her to use it.

Work is fine. I am not doing much still. I do have about 2 weeks of work in early sept. that I will be gone for. After that who knows. I decided to sign up for guitar lessons when I get back. Hopefully I will be playing some real music by Christmas.

Anymore thoughts on my Lasagna making? I suppose that doesn't really save any money like the applesauce or jam making.

Oh, and we are going to the Black Crows/Tom Petty concert at the Gorge amphitheater on Sat. It should be a great concert but a long drive (but Greyson said he would do the drive if I went with him).

Ada got bit by neighbor dog. We had to go have a chat with them. She is fine, just a couple puncture wounds. Sorry this is so long, that is what happens when we don't write very frequently.