Leisure Engagement Passion

I haven’t had a chance to write lately.  I’ve been wanting to and meaning to but I’ve been busy with my husband moving out of our home and into our Dream.  Our 40′ Alpine Coach Motorhome.

Dreams Do Come True

Thirteen years ago when we first moved from Hawaii to California, our dream was to buy an RV and live in it and enjoy the entire US.  Well, we recently did it!  We downsized from our 2300 sq ft home into our 400+ sq ft Motorhome.  Why it took us 13 years?  As the saying goes, “Life gets in the way”. (personally, I think it’s having a J.O.B.)

Last spring we made it our goal to find the best RV to our liking.  We knew back in 1996 which coach would have been the “one”, but that RV was now too old.  What we did realize by waiting (justification) was that technology in the travel trailer industry was now up to speed.

We’ve had a business from home since 1990 (we learned you get lots of tax advantages early on) and we were both interested in making sure we could still work from the motorhome.  Our (my) biggest concern was internet access.  We found out that most RV parks had free WiFi, (that took care of my addiction) and since we both have cell phones, no landline was needed.   Along with the WiFi and phone connections, we are pleased to know that cable is available at most parks for our TV needs and if not we have our satellite dish.  So it’s business as usual, just now it’s on wheels.

Although, we’ve only been in the coach full-time now for a month, I could not be happier with our decision.  I know it’s taken me away from focusing on my business, but it’s been worth it.   I have to remind myself that I’m not on a vacation everyday, even though that’s how it feels, and I’m now settling into a routine for our United First business to become our number one goal.

Following our desire to control our destiny led us to find United First Financial and without the Money Merge Account and UDeduct we probably would still be dreaming of  living in our RV.  Making the right financial decisions with the help of our personal financial “GPS” now let’s us live our dream in full color.

CA wants to legislate a 9% tax on all veterinary services, including meds.  This is really reprehensible at a time when so much is being done to heighten awareness regarding caring for animals.

Veterinarians, who’s training and licensing is as rigorous as that of MDs will now have their care taxed as though they were dispensing canned goods.

And the cost of surgeries, neutering, etc. is high and an additional 9% will discourage many from giving their pet care.

If you oppose this tax on all veterinary services, the following information is for you. It only takes a few seconds, pushing some telephone buttons -

you don’t even have to talk to anyone.

Please call the governor’s office and make it known that balancing the budget at the expense of our pets’ health is not acceptable!!!

It only takes about 20 seconds because it’s all automated.

Subject: No veterinary tax in California, please!

Call 916-445-2841
Press 1 for English.

Press 5 for the veterinary tax proposal.

It will ask you to press 1 if you’re calling about the veterinary tax proposal,

so press 1.

Then press 2 to oppose the tax

Please forward to others. Thanks.

This only takes 5 seconds - you can punch the numbers one after the other.
Say NO to taxes on our vet services!

(916) 445-2841: then, 1 - 5 - 1 - 2

The Real Estate Market is in bad shape and according to this 60 Minute segment it is only going to get worse in the next 2 years. As a loan officer, I tried to keep clients out of interest only loans and pay option arms, but for some of them that’s what they wanted. They were not subprime borrowers, they just wanted lower payments. Some of my clients even refinanced out of the 30yr loans I afforded them with other lenders and are now in trouble. California’s Real Estate is going to be hit hard.

Watch CBS Videos Online

Once we saw all those little schipperke puppies trying to run around, we were hooked.  Our Schipperke Dogs are family and they know it.

I’ve written about quite a few things since I started this blog and didn’t even realize I had not mentioned the babies of our Nadamoto family.

Schipperke dogs are difficult to photo

Aja and Nali are Schipperke Dogs.  Aja is almost 9 years old and we got her from a breeder in Stevenson Ranch here in California.  I never thought I wanted a pet considering I worked in the airline industry and was always traveling for work and it wasn’t that I didn’t like pets, but it was because I didn’t want to neglect them by never being around.  But my husband on the other hand worked our business out of our home and as soon as we enclosed the courtyard he, we, went ahead and researched what breed of dogs would be good for us.

I think he already new he wanted a Schipperke.  Schipperkes according to him had very long lives, no real health problems and are great watchdogs.  And since he would be home to care for her, I went along in the decision.  We were lucky that when we were ready to bring a dog into the family the breeder we found had just had a litter.  We weren’t allowed to go over until they were 8 weeks old.  As soon as that day came we went right over to pick out the one we wanted.  The Schipperke puppies were all sooo cute.  They had different colored ribbons around their necks to tell them apart.  They weren’t given any names so that their new owners could name them.  My husband didn’t want a boy, he said boys like to “mark” their spot all over the place.  So we had our eyes on “Pink” and “Red”.  We decided on “Red”, she had alot more personality than “Pink” did and so we signed all the documents and we were on our way home.  That was in April of 2000. Her champion name is Nautica Somewhere Over China or Aja.

Then one day we thought “what if we had a companion for Aja?” I’ll post about Nali soon. (He’s the one with the tongue sticking out)

USC Notre Dame Rival 2008

When I asked my Godson Bryce what he wanted for his 14th Birthday and he said he would love to see his favorite College Team, Notre Dame play USC, I couldn’t say no.  I don’t have children of my own and he is my only Godson, but I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.  First of all, I didn’t realize how hard it would be to ‘acquire’ tickets to this sold out game.  Yes, I live in Los Angeles County and I know how popular USC is but I wasn’t expecting the anxiety I would have locating tickets he and I would be happy with.  I’ve been to NFL games and have sat in the nose bleed sections and also in seats right behind the bench, neither I would recommend, but when they are free you take what you get.  Anyways, I wanted to make his first College game experience (and mine) his most memorable so I held out as long as possible to get the best seats for the amount of money I was willing to spend.  I searched  eBay, Craigslist and all other ticket outlets I could think of.  I even sorta begged some USC alumni and parents I met on my Hawaiian Air flights to see what they could do in my quest.  I lost a bid on eBay and was kicking myself for not going just a bit higher.  Then when I broadened my search to all of California on Craigslist, I found an ad that gave me hope.  I emailed the seller and probably gave too much info but I was getting desperate.  I had two weeks to find tickets.  Did I mention that my Godson lived in Kansas and that he was already booked on a flight to arrive the day before Thanksgiving?  I knew I could get nose bleed seats for a price I was willing to pay, but I didn’t want his first college game to be looking thru binoculars or always watching the big screen.  (We could have stayed home for that).  So I waited…

Then one day online, I get an email from the Craigslist seller.  First one to pay on paypal gets the tickets.  YES!  Right then, instantaneously, I submit payment to paypal, I email the seller and I get an immediate reponse that I was the first person to pay and therefore I get the tickets.  Luck, maybe, persistence probably, but most importantly, my Godson and I get great seats for our first College Game.

Teenagers Dream of Playing for Notre Dame