Whats For Dinner?

Grilled Steaks with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce


4 steaks of your choice, 1 1/4″ thick (strip, ribeye, sirloin, filet etc.)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Gorgonzola Cream Sauce (see below)

1. Let steaks sit on the counter for 15 minutes to take off the chill. Pat the steaks very dry, brush each side with the oil and season with salt and pepper on both sides (go easy on seasoning the steak with salt—the gorgonzola is a salty cheese).

2. Heat a grill pan or frying pan over high heat. When very hot, add the steaks and cook 3 minutes. Flip the steaks, turn the heat to medium-high and cook for an additional 6 minutes or until you reach desired level of doneness. Let steaks rest. Top with the Gorgonzola Cream Sauce.

Gorgonzola Cream Sauce

Serves 4

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley or chives
4 ounces crumbled gorgonzola
2 ounces grated parmesan
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, stir in heavy cream, parsley or chives, gorgonzola and parmesan cheese. Season with nutmeg. Whisk and let simmer for 30 seconds or until the much of the cheese has melted. Serve the cream sauce over steaks.

Five Question Friday

Hip Hip Hooray!  Its Friday!  I am so ready for this weekend!  This was the first full week I have worked in...oh I don't...three weeks!  I just about killed me!  = )

Without further ado...

 

1. What were your school colors?

Mine were officially red, blue & gold.  But, there was almost always white thrown in there too!  We were the Commodore's.  I'm not sure why we had so many colors though!

2. What's the best compliment you ever received?

I get compliments on my eyes all the time. 

Once somebody told me I am "full of grace".  That seems pretty darn nice!

3. Do you buy cheap or expensive toilet paper?

Up until last year, all I can ever remember buying is Quilted Northern.  I didn't care if it was on sale or not, I was a very loyal QN user.  Then the Costco opened near us.  Now I am a devout Kirkland user!

4. Have you ever had a surprise party thrown for you? Or have you had one for someone else?

Nope & nope!  I guess I am boring when it comes to parties! 

I was kicking around the idea of holding a surprise party for my hubby's 40th birthday next year, but I don't think he would like it very much!

5. What is one material possession that you "can't live without"?

hmmm...I think might be my laptop.  I am not head over heels with my phone (yet) because I have a boring slider phone.  I am potentially upgrading to a smart phone this weekend or next, so that might change though!

Quiznos Meal Deal!

Here is a great deal from Quiznos!

Print a coupon for any small sub, chips and regular fountain drink for $2.99.

Little Luxuries

I was reading an article lately about life's little luxuries, so I got to thinking about my own personal luxuries.  I am a fairly frugal person.  I don't think I have a lot of luxuries, but there are a few!

Eating Out - Eating out is definetly a luxury that I partake in, probably more often than I should.  In some ways I see it more as a necessity though.  Working full time outside of the house can be stressful, not to mention exhausting.  Sometimes the absolute last thing I want to do when I get home is to cook.  Sure I could save a lot more if we didn't eat out, but sometimes my sanity is worth more!  Don't worry, we don't eat out every night!

TV - I wouldn't say TV in itself is a luxury, however we have DVR and the NFL Sunday Ticket program.  Both of those are definetly a luxury that we could don't necessarily need.  We justify it because we don't have a babysitter.  Nowdays our entertainment happens at home more often than not.  Instead of a regular movie out, we spend a little more on our TV bill!  The other thing, we like an NFL team that is rarely shown on our local channels.  In order to watch them play, we have to sign up for the special programming.  Its a lot cheaper than having season tickets to the local football team though!

Massages - For our 15th anniversary my husband gave me a membership to Massage Envy so that I could spend a little bit more time relaxing and pampering myself.  I love getting the massages, but I tend to forget about them way too often.  Its hard to find the time to schedule an appointment.  At least I know I have a few massages saved up in my account and can use them when I really need them!  I think I might schedule one for this weekend, in fact!  I don't know that I will renew my membership, but its a nice little luxury to have for now!

Dream Dinners - A couple times a year I treat myself to a session at Dream Dinners.  Its not exactly the most frugal thing to do, but its not so outrageously priced that I can't justify it occasionally.  I love spending an hour or two of uninterrupted time preparing the meals.  More than that, I love knowing I have meals in the freezer that are super easy to fix after work.  Most of them are delicious too!  I know I could duplicate the effort at home for a lot less money, but there isn't anybody to follow me around cleaning up after me!

What are your little luxuries? 

Our Finances: Tips for a better appraisal

I stressed about the appraisal almost constantly for the entire next week!

We scrubbed the house from top to bottom...twice!

Going into it, I knew the value that http://www.zillow.com/ estimated and felt that it was probably a fair amount considering the local and national real estate economy.  I was not sure if a profession appraiser would agree though!

Over the course of a week the estimate increased by $2,000.

The actual appraisal came in at exactly the same dollar amount as Zillow (before the increase).  So either the increase was wrong, or the appraiser was just slightly conservative with his figures.

Tips to follow for a better appraisal:

1) If Zillow is available in your area, check it out - Zillow does not have market data for every residential area in the country, but most of them.  It tracks recent purchases as well as homes currently for sale in the area and calculates an estimate of value for homes in the area.  You can also use it to value homes when you are in the market for a new house.

2) Clean - Make sure your house is clean and tidy.  Appraisers are looking for condition of the home and checking actual measurements.  They are not looking to inspect your cleaning ability.  However, an unkept house could signal that other maintenance issue are not being tended to as well. 

3) Landscape - If you have weeds that need to be pulled...pull them!  Its better to have them not notice them, than to draw their attention to the unsightly weeds growing along the edge of your house.

4) Pay Attention to the Details - After all the cleaning and tidying is done, walk around your house.  Get down low, look up high.  Notice those cobwebs and the dust on the baseboards and take care of it before the appraiser sees it!

5) Finish Projects - If you have any projects that you are doing around the house, finish them up.  Consider delaying the appraisal so that you can finish them.  If there are unfinished projects, the appraiser may assume there are other maintenance issues that have not been taken care of as well.

6) List Upgrades - Make a list of all upgrades you have made to the house, big and small.  Don't assume you will remember them during the inspection!  Trust me, you might not!

7) Don't Talk - Don't follow around the appraiser trying to talk to him/her.  Let them do their work quietly.  Answer questions when asked, but don't chit chat.  They may miss something important in your house if they are busy trying to keep up with a conversation!  Most importantly, don't tell them what you think the house is worth, or the amount you need it to be worth!

Our Finances: Real Estate Values

Since we weren't exactly planning to refinance, I was worried the appraisal might not go so well!

About a year ago I remember looking at http://www.zillow.com/ and finding out that our house was worth 15% more than we purchased it for back in 2004.  Over the past year I have not really paid much attention to the local real estate market or the estimated value of our home since we weren't looking to sell any time soon.  Nonetheless I used that amount on the refinance application, thinking it probably had not changed all that much.

The day after our refinance was approved, I was out walking with Morgan in the cul-de-sac.  I happened to strike up a conversation with a neighbor about the house directly beside our home.  The people renting it had moved out recently and the house was starting to look abandoned.  It seemed odd to me, since we knew the owners and knew they cared a lot for this house. 

I found out from the neighbor that the owner had lost his job and the house was in foreclosure.  As I walked back to our house, I noticed the flier on the for sale sign said "Just Reduced" and it was $50,000 less than it had been a few months ago! 

Holy crap!  How the heck were we going to get an appraisal for the amount I had listed on the application when the bank was asking for less than we paid for our house and that house is bigger and nicer!

I ended up having to amend the application!

Even still, I knew we had to get our house appraised as quickly as possible...before that house sold.  At that price, I could not believe it was still on the market even.  It ended up going under contract that very afternoon!

Tomorrow I will share some appraisal tips!

Our Finances: Time to refinance the mortgage

Its no secret that we are currently in the middle of a refinance on our mortgage.  Its not exactly something I was planning to do though.  I had heard that rates have been pretty awesome lately, but I did not think we were in a good spot to qualify for a refinance since we have way too much debt (althought we do pay it all on time!). 

A couple weeks ago I received a letter in the mail from our current mortgage company talking about lender paid mortgage insurance vs owner paid mortgage insurance, and how we should consider getting a new loan to save money.  It was extra confusing to me because we currently have an 80/20 loan.  The whole point of the 80/20 is to avoid mortgage insurance!

I promptly called the bank to see what the heck the letter was all about.  The representative that answered told me the mortgage department was closed and she could not help me at that time - but I was welcome to call back the following morning.

So I did what every frugal, internet savvy woman would do...I ran to google!

I never did figure out what they were talking about on that letter!  Instead I figured out that rates are at an all time low and it might be a good time to refinance.  What the heck, I can at least try.  The worst they are going to say is NO!

Too bad for the current bank - It looks like we will be closing on our new loan, with a new lender almost exactly a month from the date of that letter!!

It turns out, a refinance is much easier to qualify for than a new mortgage, especially if you aren't taking any extra money out.  They view it as debt you already have.  As long as you are paying on it as required, you are pretty much golden.  The rate you will qualify is based on your credit score.  I am not sure if they are loosening the requirements in that regard though, because our credit score is not all that high considering the amount of debt we have.  We managed to lock in at 4.75%!

A lot of lenders have turned their backs on the 100% Loan to Value loans of the past though.  If you don't have enough equity, you might have a rough time finding a lender to help.  Most lenders are looking for 20% equity.  Thats hard to achieve considering how much real estate has gone down in recent months and years.  Do your homework and search around - there are some lenders out there that can help if you don't have that much equity anymore.