Monday Monday 3.24.2008

Hello All,

I know that you have all been thirsting for a fresh addition of the Monday Monday, so I'll quench that ailment with my (almost) weekly composition.

I've not written since Maggie and I spent the weekend in the Maryland, Virginia, and Washington DC area a few weeks back, but I'm happy to report that things are on the up and up. With the current housing crunch and the economic downfall of America, mortgage rates have taken quite a fall since we bought House Number 1 last April. With that in mind, Maggie and I raced off to Bank of America to begin the paperwork of refinancing. Because of the previous interest rate and our habit of paying a little extra each month, we were able to reduce not only our interest rate but also the term of our loan. We haven't actually signed the papers, but it appears that we'll be sitting happy on a 15 year loan at 6% interest. Most readers of this email probably don't care about this at all. . .but for those of you that may. . .rates are pretty good right now and it is your market. . .stop renting and buy.

Activity
Onward and upward, we seem to be away from home an awful lot lately (whether it be visiting friends or taking a weekend trip), so enjoying a weekend home in Charlotte was in many ways a vacation! When we were in Washington, Maggie and I picked up a 500 piece puzzle depicting the signing of our Constitution. As avid puzzlers, we spent three to three and a half hours assembling this masterpiece. This experience should be earmarked by the fact that it was our first project to be completed on our NEW . . . . ready. . . . drum roll. . . .project table. We put an order in for this new piece of furniture about three to four weeks back, it arrived on Friday, and it is awesome . . . maybe my favorite place in the house now. It doubles as a desk and because it is high, I can see out my window into the (and I'll use this term loosely) "backyard." Back to the puzzle. . . Now that we absolutely dominated this puzzle, we'll be ordering another one from the National Archives' on-line store. Soon they will both be glued, framed, and hung for all to enjoy in our South Carolina home.


Dining
I crafted up some Chicken Parmesan (a dish that I don't even eat) for Maggie this weekend. It got good reviews from her, so I guess that was a success. For myself on the same night, I used some spices that I picked up when vacationing in Puerto Rico in January. Although you can order it in almost any diner or restaurant, Jerk seasoning is still one of those things that I simply can't get enough of. On Saturday night, we decided to go a more simple route by fixing up a couple of cube steaks on the grill. One of the great things about our dining experiences this past weekend was the fact that we were able to enjoy our meals out in the bar. For any new readers (or those who have forgotten), we have turned our garage into a bar where we store a variety of delicious beverages with assorted pub decor and furniture.

Weekend Scoreboard - Ryan 2, Maggie 1
So it wasn't a shut out, but I fared pretty well in the following competitive lazy man sports.
Golf (Card game not the club swinging sport) - 1 win for Ryan Joy
Parcheesi - 1 win for Ryan Joy
Ad-Hoc Cribbage - 1 win for Maggie (Ad-Hoc because we forgot most of the rules, so we made up our own)

All in all though, we had a pretty terrific weekend. We'll be going even farther south this weekend as we'll be venturing off to Orlando Florida. Not to visit Mickey Mouse or anything of the like . . . no no. . . .we'll be going for a much more memorable event. Oh what . . .you can't guess. WRESTLEMANIA 24!!! Until next time, this has been a Ryan Joy email and in the words of the immortal Will Ferrel (as Ron Burgundy) - "You stay classy . . World"
-- Ryan Joy