I gave my father a puppy for Christmas.

Since my mom wanted a dog that does not shed and my dad wants a big dog (but not a standard poodle), we decided to look for a Labradoodle. Labradoodles pups are the result of cross-breeding a labrador retriever and a  standard poodle. While there are no guarantees, the breed tends to be low-shed and hypo-allergenic.

I contacted and offered to adopt two adult labradoodles, but each already had a pending adoption. The only other adult labradoodles in the area that were up for adoption have behavior issues, and my parents were not ready to bring home a dog with pre-existing behavior problems.

I found some Labradoodle pups listed on Craigslist and called the owner, Scott. Scott explained that he is not a breeder and only has this one litter because his veterinarian convinced him that his gentle, AKC registered golden lab would make a great mom for breeding. When the pups were born, most were already claimed by their new owners, who had paid a deposit for a Labradoodle puppy. Several families backed out and forfeited their $250 deposits, though, because they could not pay the remaining $500 of the adoption fee. That left Scott with a lot of Labradoodle puppies. He actually lives in Oklahoma but had to bring the pups to Dallas because there were not enough people interested in buying the pups in Oklahoma City.

The logistics of buying the puppy worked out very well, and Scott came directly to my parents’ house on his way from Oklahoma City to Dallas. It was quite a site to see five 3-month-old Labradoodles running around the front yard. Of the five, four had black coats and one had a golden coat. My father selected the one puppy with a golden coat, who also happened to be the largest of the litter. Originally named Noah Bear, the golden Labradoodle puppy has been tentatively name Sherman (after William Tecumseh).

In all honesty, the reason my parents finally agreed to get a dog is the movie Marley & Me. It is a wonderful movie, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes dogs. The dog Marley has the nickname “clearance puppy.” In the same spirit - because he was already returned once due to a misunderstanding of apartment dog weight restrictions, my nickname for Sherman is “final sale puppy.”

Within the first 12 hours of getting the puppy, my mother and I together spent a total of $600.
$250 for the puppy
$300 on food and supplies (a crate, etc.)
$50 in donations to the Fort Worth Animal Shelter (because they asked and I felt guilty for not adopting from a shelter)
Staying up half the night because the little guy whined in his crate - priceless

Here is a short clip of Sherman “romping”

Merry Christmas Eve!

This is my first holiday season with a full time job, and I am a little sad to be working on Christmas Eve - I fly to Texas late in the afternoon and will be with my family on Christmas morning.

With everything going on in the world today, I am very grateful to have a relatively simple and safe life. And also to be employed. To celebrate the holidays (and also being gainfully employed), I made a contribution to every organization that asked me to. I enjoyed picking out a pink box of Legos (because girls need Legos, too) for Toys for Tots and some sweaters for a young adult in an alternative high school.

Tomorrow morning I will make “monkey bread” for Christmas breakfast. Only once a year can I justify eating bread soaked in butter, cinnamon, and sugar. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

A while ago, I wrote about my health insurance. For various reasons, I spent several hundred dollars out of pocket and had to file a claim form with my insurance company.

When a month after filing the forms I had not heard anything, I called the insurance company and then the billing departments of the doctor offices I had seen.

In total, it took 7 phone calls to get two doctor offices to reimburse me for what I had paid out of pocket.

My favorite phone call:

Katy: [spends 3 minutes telling the story of why I need to be reimbursed]

Billing representative: Well, let me pull up your file. … Why, you don’t owe us anything!

Katy: That’s right. You owe me money.

Fortunately, the lady burst out laughing. Probably most of her phone calls are exactly the opposite - with her asking patients for money.

Tip from Janice:

Many of the stand-alone clothing stores (Ann Taylor, Banana Republic/Gap, etc) have a 14 day (2 week) price reduction policy.  It used to be printed on the receipt for Gap and Banana Republic, but is no longer.  If something you buy is discounted or is reduced in price within that 14 day period, you get the difference back.  All you need to do is give the cashier your receipt and ask if any of the items you have purchased have been reduced.  I just got $15 back on a pair of jeans I bought at the Gap that way.

I am amused when a store will not offer a price adjustment but will accept returns. What is to stop a customer from returning an item and immediately repurchasing the item at the reduced price?

As the weather has turned cold (I saw snow last week!), I am reminded of how unprepared I was for winter when I first moved to New Jersey from Texas. My first two winters were miserable.

During the first winter, the heat was shut off in my dorm for 24 hours. Feeling very cold that evening, I decided to take a hot shower to warm myself up. I put the shower on hot and let it run for several minutes to get nice and scalding hot. After a few minutes I dropped my towel, hopped into the shower, and screamed. When the heat is turned off, so is the hot water.

It did not help that my office was poorly heated. My office temperature never got above 70 degrees in the winter, but it also never dipped below 67 degrees, which was the threshold for arranging a visit from Maintenance.

There was also the day I slipped on ice on a sidewalk, right as a yellow school bus full of children drove by.

My poor mother heard countless time how cold it was, and one day she had had enough of it. I called her and spent ten full minutes relaying every detail of the cold. When we got off the phone, I found a $200 Lands End gift certificate in my email inbox. I promptly ordered the warmest socks they sold (intended for arctic hiking and camping) and the warmest long underwear available (upwards of $60 a pair).

This gift may be the most transformational gift I have ever received. It literally changed my life, and I complained far less the three remaining winters in New Jersey.

Every time I pull out the arctic camping gear (like today), I think of my mom and am so grateful she used money to solve my problem of being cold.

A few weeks ago I attended a wonderful outdoor bbq with some new friends. I showed them my iPhone, and amid the admiring comments, someone asked “How much does it cost?” When I said that the total cost over two years is around $2,000, the admiring comments stopped.

This weekend I saw a few of those friends, and they were eager to tell me what happened after the iPhone conversation. One of the girls at the bbq had been pining for an iphone ever since they came out. Now whenever the topic comes up, though, she says, “But you know, it costs $1,000 a year.” She no longer wants an iPhone.

Cost of using an iPhone for two years
Monthly service: $70/month * 24 months = $1680
Phone : $200
Case, cover, and other accessories: $100

Splurge: $3 Chai Tea from the coffee stand outside the office

After my first month at the office, I found out that the orange coffee pot contained regular coffee. Instead of drinking 2-3 cups of decaf a day, I was drinking 2-3 cups of regular coffee. This would explain why I was slightly jittery all day and had trouble falling asleep at night.

To stop drinking so much regular coffee, I decided to have one cup of Chai tea each morning, which I could get from the coffee stand outside.

Scrimp: $3 box of Oregon Chai Tea from Trader Joe’s (7 servings)

After paying $15 in one week on Chai Tea, I found a box of Chai Tea at the grocery store. It tastes wonderful and takes about a minute to prepare it at home.

I try not to be too judgmental about how people spend their money (when they can afford their purchases), but there are a few things that I think are pretty silly to spend money on. Here are two things I have never bought (and I cannot imagine ever buying these things).

Facebook presents

A 10×10 pixel birthday cake costs $1. I can make you a 10″ round birthday cake using ingredients that in total cost about a dollar. I will even take a picture of it and send it to you.

World of Warcraft Gold

In the video game World of Warcraft, players ‘harvest’ gold in order to buy things in the game - like a new sword. But why waste your time harvesting gold when you can pay some guy in India to do it for you!

I cannot imagine doing it, but I do understand the concept. I have a Wii and have tried playing Paper Mario. Some levels are just frustrating, so I pull up the internet and search for a walk-through (like this).

Scrimp: Keep using the very-heavy 27″ CRT television that I got for only $50.

Cost: $50 one year ago

Maybe the next time I move I will ditch (sell or give away) this TV for a lighter flat-panel. Since the TV made it through my most recent move and is a good size for my living room, I will keep using it.

Splurge: a beautiful 42″ LCD television

Cost: $800-$4,000

Recently, I watched a movie on a friend’s new 42″ LCD TV. The picture was perfect, and it felt like being at the movies. Note that this was in a very large living room, with seating at least ten feet away from the screen. In a smaller room, the screen would be overwhelming.

During the primaries last spring, I got into many discussions about the importance of voting. While voting is a part of civic duty, it is only one small part. I am slightly annoyed when people act patriotic because they voted. If you care about an issue, go spend one hour volunteering for that issue. Most of the time, that will create more of an impact than casting a vote.

I told one friend that it would be more effective for me to make a campaign donation than to go and vote myself. He disagreed, and to get me to vote, he offered to make a donation of $25 to the candidate of my choice. What a deal! This way, not only would the candidate get my vote, but the donation could be used to convince other people to vote, potentially getting 16 extra votes for my candidate.

Here is some info about mobilization efforts and the cost per vote generated:
http://www.newvotersproject.org/text-messaging

Apparently, text messaging is a good way to get people out to vote, with a cost/ vote generated at $1.56, compared to $67 per vote generated by direct mail.

I suspect that text messaging is effective because it is a good last minute reminder that is quickly read. Though I screen phone calls and ignore political email messages, I receive little to no phone spam, and therefore would probably read a text message.