RATHER THAN DWELL on a single topic today, I’m going to serve hotdish. You know, this and that all mixed together to create this Minnesota-based post.
- First off, if you follow my writing regularly, you know that I hang laundry outside. But even I’m beginning to wonder about my obsession. When I hung freshly-laundered towels outside Thursday morning, the outdoor air temperature stood at a bone-chilling 17 degrees. Yes, the towels froze nearly instantly. My fingers did not; I worked at a rapid pace. And, yes, the towels were dry when I pulled them from the line at 4 p.m.
- Our proposed 2012 property tax statement arrived on Wednesday. I nearly fell over. The taxable market value of our property plunged $30,000 to $50,200. If this keeps up, the value will be lower than the price we paid for our house in 1984. The interest rate on our loan then was 10.75 percent. No typo, folks. Nearly 11 percent. (The loan was refinanced to 8.5 percent and paid off early long ago.)
Even though our proposed 2012 property value dropped $30K, our taxes will apparently increase by 12.6 percent or $72. Now tell me that makes sense? There’s a story here; I simply need to figure it all out.
- If you dye your hair with an over-the-counter product and don’t use the same color or brand you’ve always used, beware. If your hair shows tinges of orange during the dying process, you should panic. This happened to me once.
Wednesday night, with a new color and a new product, the dye appeared white on my head. I do not need white hair to replace my gray hair. But this time I did not panic, trusting that the color would magically transform to the promised “tiki hut.” It did. Whew. I will not need to fire my hairdresser.
- Back to the money thing. Every time I go to the grocery store, I walk out shaking my head. I cannot believe that I just paid $80 for groceries that fill only two bags.
- After 10 months of placing cardboard over my living room windows because I didn’t have window treatments for my new windows, I am happy to announce that I have purchased grommet-top panels, the same ones I was eying, oh, about 10 months ago. It is a good thing I waited so long. I got them on sale.
The panels are bold and colorful and unlike anything anyone would expect to find in my home. This is proof that even I can occasionally emerge from my conservative shell. I expect the panels to be in place by Thanksgiving. (Yes, I will post about them here and show you photos.)
- My 17-year-old made his acting debut Thursday evening as Dr. Thanatos in the Faribault High School production of Teenage Night of Living Horror. When I heard the name of the play, I laughed. Those teens won’t have to act, I thought. Wrong.
Consider dressing like a Zombie if you attend the FHS play. Here's one of the 25 Zombies from the production.
If you live anywhere near the Faribault area, you have two more opportunities to attend this horror genre production. (Don’t bring young children.) Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. tonight and 2 p.m. Sunday. Word has it that if you arrive tonight looking like a Zombie, your ticket price will be discounted $1. No official confirmation on that…
FEEL FREE to comment on any of the above. Let your voice be heard.
© Copyright 2011 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
I believe the property tax increase is related, at least in part, to the repeal of the homestead credit by our fine government.
Yes, Amy, I think you may be right. I have not dug into any of that yet. I know it’s going to give me a headache.
But that devaluation in my property by $30K in one year is what shocked me even more. I guess I won’t be moving for awhile. Not that I planned to…
The MPR.org site was a wonderful explanation of the property tax situation (almost everyone is finding the value of their property declining at the same time their taxes are rising) using Legos.
It’s informative and an ingenious way to make the situation comprehensible. You may have to put “property tax” in their search window. I think it has been moved down a few layers.
Thanks for that MPR tip. I knew MPR was working on a story, but had not checked to see if it was done. Any easy way to understand this works for me. I’ve also gotten references from several other readers to help me understand.
P.S. Is the “turkey choir” print still hanging in your dining room awaiting Thanksgiving Day guests’ appraisals?
I am so proud of you for choosing your curtains! I love grommet styles! We have a set of those in our bedroom right now, but we could only afford curtains in the bedroom to block out the light, but if we could afford more, they would be all over my house!
I hear about the grocery bill every day at work, and it is depressing. I trust that you typically buy healthy food and it would seem as if your money is better spent. There are too many people that come through my check out line that have government assistance that buy nothing by frozen dinners, and spend that much money. My tax dollars at work…I will only scratch that surface of my soap box today…..
And as for the curtains, I look forward to seeing them in December! 🙂
Well, Amy, the patterned grommet panels are taking some getting used to after those cardboard cut-outs and prior to that, white blinds. I’ll adjust.
As for food, I try to make healthy choices. No frozen dinners for me. I know exactly what you’re talking about, though, with the types of food purchased by those receiving government assistance. I worked in a grocery store many decades ago and saw the same poor food selections.
Let me know what dates you’ll be back in Minnesota. Would love to see you and Jon.
The drying on the clothes line is VERY impressive. I heard a story once about hanging laundry in Arizona. When she was done hanging them, she returned to the first item to remove them…they dried that fast!
Oh, and also, I have lived in this house for over 6 years…and still have no window treatment over the sliding door. We’re hoping to put on an addition in the next couple years…so I figure…why bother now?!!
Wow, that’s some fast clothes drying in Arizona. FYI, I haven’t hung anything out the past few days, since the snowfall. But with temps expected in the 50s again, you can bet I’ll be back out there pinning laundry.
I don’t feel so bad now about less than a year without window treatments. However, you live in the country and I live along a busy street in town. I might never put up window treatments if I lived in a rural residence.