Here's a photo I took last week in Portland. I'm betting that tomorrow the leaves won't be quite as green...just in the past few days the leaves have started turning gorgeous brilliant red, orange, and yellow!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Well, that was productive...NOT!
Turns out, our friendly tax assessor deemed our house "not 100% complete" when he drove by on 1/1/07, so our house was "not 100% assessed in taxes."
That's governmentese for "you got a break last year on paying your taxes lady, and be lucky we can't retroactively go back and get more money from you!"
This year, on 1/1/08, the assessor deemed our house 100% complete, so we were "fully assessed" - which resulted in a 45% (or so) raise in our MAV (maximum assessed value). How did they work that magic? :) See, Oregon has a law that property taxes can only raise 3% per year - but there are "Property Event Exceptions" (read: loopholes) that allow counties to do stuff like what they did to us.
If it is any consolation, from this year on we'll only see 3% per year. Unfortunately, now our mortgage payment will change (read: go up).
Sigh. Can't win - and I feel extremely lucky that there is no legal way they can get what they consider "back taxes" for the year they assessed as not complete.
Turns out, our friendly tax assessor deemed our house "not 100% complete" when he drove by on 1/1/07, so our house was "not 100% assessed in taxes."
That's governmentese for "you got a break last year on paying your taxes lady, and be lucky we can't retroactively go back and get more money from you!"
This year, on 1/1/08, the assessor deemed our house 100% complete, so we were "fully assessed" - which resulted in a 45% (or so) raise in our MAV (maximum assessed value). How did they work that magic? :) See, Oregon has a law that property taxes can only raise 3% per year - but there are "Property Event Exceptions" (read: loopholes) that allow counties to do stuff like what they did to us.
If it is any consolation, from this year on we'll only see 3% per year. Unfortunately, now our mortgage payment will change (read: go up).
Sigh. Can't win - and I feel extremely lucky that there is no legal way they can get what they consider "back taxes" for the year they assessed as not complete.
Monday, October 27, 2008
I'm calling the county assessor's office this morning.
We received our property tax statement (a courtesy copy actually, since our mortgage company pays the property taxes) and about fainted!
I won't go into numbers, but this is what happened:
Land Value: value went down about 7-8%
Structure: value went up approximately 65% from previous year
Total RMV Value: went up approximately 30% from previous year
Assessed Value: went up approximately 45% from previous year
THEREFORE: Our taxes went up $1,000 from last year. Yes, you heard right. *thud*
We received our property tax statement (a courtesy copy actually, since our mortgage company pays the property taxes) and about fainted!
I won't go into numbers, but this is what happened:
Land Value: value went down about 7-8%
Structure: value went up approximately 65% from previous year
Total RMV Value: went up approximately 30% from previous year
Assessed Value: went up approximately 45% from previous year
THEREFORE: Our taxes went up $1,000 from last year. Yes, you heard right. *thud*
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Older Building #2 Pearl District
Another picture from the Pearl District. This is the top of the Chown Pella building. Amazing how cool it looks with a little post processing.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Roloff Farms - Waterwheel
Another photo from Roloff Farms. A waterwheel I saw just prior to getting to the old west town.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Roloff Farms Information Pumpkin
A message board scrapbooking friend of mine asked me to visit Roloff Farms, the pumpkin patch you've seen in "Little People, Big World" on the Discovery Channel. The Roloffs live approximately 20-25 minutes from me here in Oregon.
It was quite the experience. I've never seen lines like that, so on Saturday, we actually turned back out of the line. On Sunday morning, I got to the turnoff for the farms at 9:30, 30 minutes before they opened. There was a line, but I wasn't on the major road. I had a Starbucks drink and a book, and settled in to wait.
Once I got in, I bought a ticket for the Original Town Tour, which includes the old west town Matt Roloff built for his kids. I'll have more pictures up this week, I just wanted to get one photo up for now.
It was quite the experience. I've never seen lines like that, so on Saturday, we actually turned back out of the line. On Sunday morning, I got to the turnoff for the farms at 9:30, 30 minutes before they opened. There was a line, but I wasn't on the major road. I had a Starbucks drink and a book, and settled in to wait.
Once I got in, I bought a ticket for the Original Town Tour, which includes the old west town Matt Roloff built for his kids. I'll have more pictures up this week, I just wanted to get one photo up for now.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Pearl District Reflection - Tanner Springs Park
My husband and I went on a photowalk this morning in Portland, Oregon. We did a 1.8 mile 2 hour walk around the Pearl District, taking photos of cool things. I tend to focus on textures, reflections, and lines. And since there were no convenient puddles to do reflections in, this park's water did just fine.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Me
Here I am in Las Vegas on 10/9/2008. I have sunglasses on because the smoke was so bad my eyes were bloodshot.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
RacefortheCure_2008 (5 of 20)
Here I am this morning with my husband at the Race for the Cure. http://www.komenoregon.org/Race_for_the_Cure/
They told us at the start line this morning that the Portland race is the largest race on the West Coast. This year, instead of walking with the local radio station (K103), I walked with my friend Amy's "Adidas - Impossible is Nothing" team. Really cool shirts this year!
They told us at the start line this morning that the Portland race is the largest race on the West Coast. This year, instead of walking with the local radio station (K103), I walked with my friend Amy's "Adidas - Impossible is Nothing" team. Really cool shirts this year!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Moon Over Crane
This is one of my favorites from the photowalk. I love that you can still see the moon up in the left hand corner.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk
Yesterday, I had a great time participating in the (hopefully first annual) Scott Kelby/Photoshop User Photowalk. I walked the 1.2 mile route taking pictures of landmarks, architecture, and cool things. This is just one of my photos.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
This is my nephew Matthew, not cooperating with me as I try to get a cute shot of him looking like a little man. :)
I used Andrea Burns "Little Rascal" kit, which is available starting today at The Digi Chick. Andrea is having her annual birthday sale! 29% off everything till Sunday night! The sale goes from today through Sunday night. The discount will show up during check out.
I used Andrea Burns "Little Rascal" kit, which is available starting today at The Digi Chick. Andrea is having her annual birthday sale! 29% off everything till Sunday night! The sale goes from today through Sunday night. The discount will show up during check out.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Fly Free
My newest layout for the Week 2 Challenge at TallyScrappers.
This is for the Olympic challenge. I had to use monochromatic blues, overlays, and there had to be an element that looked like swim cap material/latex (the title).
I used the following supplies for the challenge:
"Watercolor Solids 1" by Andrea Burns
"Watercolor Solids 2" by Andrea Burns
"Watercolor Stripes" by Andrea Burns
"Glitter Brackets" by Andrea Burns
"Coconut Tree" by Amanda Heimann (the vinyl letters - which I then colored and used the Sponge filter on in Photoshop to look like swim cap material)
"Birthday Boy" by Andrea Burns (ribbon, stitching)
"Artistic: Journal 1" by Fee Jardine (brush to do paint journaling boxes)
"Shabby Mommy" by Shabby Princess (white sanded overlay)
"Garden Gems" by Andrea Burns (gem flower)
"Curled Flowers" by Andrea Burns
This is for the Olympic challenge. I had to use monochromatic blues, overlays, and there had to be an element that looked like swim cap material/latex (the title).
I used the following supplies for the challenge:
"Watercolor Solids 1" by Andrea Burns
"Watercolor Solids 2" by Andrea Burns
"Watercolor Stripes" by Andrea Burns
"Glitter Brackets" by Andrea Burns
"Coconut Tree" by Amanda Heimann (the vinyl letters - which I then colored and used the Sponge filter on in Photoshop to look like swim cap material)
"Birthday Boy" by Andrea Burns (ribbon, stitching)
"Artistic: Journal 1" by Fee Jardine (brush to do paint journaling boxes)
"Shabby Mommy" by Shabby Princess (white sanded overlay)
"Garden Gems" by Andrea Burns (gem flower)
"Curled Flowers" by Andrea Burns
Thursday, August 14, 2008
A layout I did with more pictures from this summer's birthday party for Miss K. This kit is perfect for bright and colorful summer photos! I used Andrea Burns' "Lulu" kit at The Digi Chick.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Here's my latest digital scrapbook layout. I did this for a challenge at a scrapbooking site, and used mostly supplies from Andrea Burns (Vintage Photo Frames, Color Pop Action, Golden Glory, Glitter Brackets, and Watercolor Solids), Glitter Flames from Susan Bartolini, and an alpha from Amanda Heimann (Coconut Tree).
Thursday, August 07, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Well, it's been quite an eventful month or so.
The highlights:
On July 4th, my father-in-law passed away. He had congestive heart failure and Type 2 diabetes, as well as a few other things, but started having some gastrointestinal internal bleeding on July 3rd. I did not have a happy 4th - I spent most of it in the Providence Portland Medical ER or Cardiac unit. He passed away at 6:35 p.m. Pacific time. I pretty much stayed in my MIL's house for the next 5 days, finally getting "home" (across the Metro are) yesterday. Sleeping in your own bed is such a pleasure.
Today, I converted my Weight Watchers Online account to a WW Monthly Pass account, so I can attend meetings. I find myself needing the support group atmosphere, as well as the accountability (one of my coworkers is doing it with me).
The highlights:
On July 4th, my father-in-law passed away. He had congestive heart failure and Type 2 diabetes, as well as a few other things, but started having some gastrointestinal internal bleeding on July 3rd. I did not have a happy 4th - I spent most of it in the Providence Portland Medical ER or Cardiac unit. He passed away at 6:35 p.m. Pacific time. I pretty much stayed in my MIL's house for the next 5 days, finally getting "home" (across the Metro are) yesterday. Sleeping in your own bed is such a pleasure.
Today, I converted my Weight Watchers Online account to a WW Monthly Pass account, so I can attend meetings. I find myself needing the support group atmosphere, as well as the accountability (one of my coworkers is doing it with me).
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