We’d like to thank Jessica at Settle Your Finances for nominating us for the Liebster Award!
I had never heard of it before, so I had to look up what it is. We are flattered to be nominated! Get ready to learn more about your favorite DINKs.
11 Random Facts
Norm
1. I used to be a member of a curling league, and now I avidly watch curling coverage during the Winter Olympics.
2. I read the Heathcliff, Mark Trail, and One Big Happy comic strips every day.
3. Our Netflix DVD queue has about 350 movies in it, and our Instant queue has about 200.
4. My first bookkeeping job in college was working at the condo of an old, retired woman, maybe in her 80s, ostensibly for her business, but mostly working on her personal spending. Earlier in her life, she was a bigshot in New York City, who, with her husband, was making serious money. I won’t even tell you their respective jobs, that’s how high up they both were. But when I worked for her, she was just an opinionated old lady living a pretty simple life, and spending a lot of her time trying to get the family fortune back from her deceased husband’s mistress. Intrigue!
5. I made about $1,000 selling paintings of Nintendo games in 2006 and 2007.
6. Every winter, I grow a winterbeard to protect me from the cold, then shave it into a different shape before taking it off completely on the first day of spring.
Marge in Charge
7. The details about me other people seem to find endlessly interesting are that I do not have pierced ears and the long, very uncommon middle name that my sibling and I share. The stories behind these facts probably disappoint with their banality but people are always curious.
8. I’m a mimic…Of voices, accents, sounds, speech rhythms, strangely phrased phrases that catch my ear. What’s always been a kind of a…..”tic” shall we say has probably evolved into some kind of actual talent from being honed for a couple of decades.
9. I’ve been a classical flute player for the majority of my life. Don’t ask me to play “Danny Boy” at your funeral or “Canon in D” at your wedding.
10. I am an embroiderer. Don’t call it sewing.
11. I am obsessive about dental hygiene. It’s important, guys.
Questions
1. If you had to pick only 5 movies to watch for the rest of your life, what would they be? (For clarity, you’re not being forced to spend the rest of your life watching these movies, rather, they are the only 5 movies you can watch for entertainment when you choose to do so. :P)
Norm
I’ve watched each of these movies repeatedly, so I know they are safe bets.
Jurassic Park – What a classic. I had this movie mostly memorized by age 12, but I still get choked up when that When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth banner falls down. I want dinosaurs to exist!
The Ice Storm – You might remember this as the Ang Lee-directed portrait of suburban ennui starring Christina Ricci, Tobey Maguire, Frodo Baggins, Joan Allen, and Kevin Kline that was ripped off two years later by American Beauty. Aside from being an excellent movie, it was filmed in Connecticut, and reminds me so much of my hometown in November.
The Truman Show – A creepily bright and cheery satirical film noir and high-concept comedy with 1950s costuming. This movie was made for me.
I want my fourth one to either be my movie with the most laughs per minute, like Office Space or Best In Show, or one that I just enjoy looking at, like Marie Antoinette or The Third Man. But I get a lot of laughs from my fifth movie, so it might actually be Marie Antoinette.
Culturally astute readers might be able to figure out my fifth pick based on the reference in our pen names. (Hint: They are pictured to the left.)
I’m going to guess that one of Marge’s picks will be Napoleon Dynamite.
Marge in Charge
Ok, does the five movie rule in apply to all narrative, screen based, entertainment I choose to experience? Or, does it only effect movies? Can I still watch television? What if I’m watching a movie for educational purposes and not entertainment? This answer is probably more revealing than any movies I pick but either way, living in a world with only five movies at your disposal is neither a worldly living nor a livable world I say!
However, if I had to choose I would probably pick something really dense and detailed so there would be always something new to notice. Can’t go wrong with Coen Brothers or Wes Anderson. With those guys and Jurassic Park I’d be set for at least a little bit. Those guys, Jurassic Park and Napoleon Dynamite. Yes, that’ll do it.
2. What is your favorite thing to cook or your signature dish?
Norm
I’m known for making scones, and my favorite thing to make right now would be pulled pork and cornbread.
Marge in Charge
Complicated cakes, roasted eggplant, and macaroni and cheese
3. What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Norm
I don’t know if this is so much a piece of advice as just a statement, but in high school we had a math teacher who taught an elective accounting course every year. And to get people to sign up for it, he’d tell the story of how he used to work in a state unemployment office. And he said, “I never saw an accountant in the unemployment line.” I was a math-oriented kid, and when he said that, I was convinced to take the class. And here I am today!
The #2 good piece of advice came from a woman working in my HR office when I was first hired out of college. It was my first week and I was in a totally new environment, having to think about supporting myself, and now having to go through all these personnel forms. She mentioned our 457 retirement plan and said, “You should contribute to this. I wish I had done it when I was hired” or something to that effect. I probably wouldn’t have contributed anything to my retirement at the time since I had all these other worries, but since she had expressed her regret over not doing it herself, I was convinced to start saving early for retirement.
Ooh, one more. When my aforementioned former boss in Random Fact #4 asked me rhetorically, “Do you know what compound interest is? It’s the greatest thing in the world!”
Marge in Charge
Like Norm, my very first boss sat me down on my first day and told me that if I started putting money into investments that “it was totally possible to retire with one million dollars!” This seemed ridiculous to me at the time. I didn’t think I would ever live long enough to see one meeelion dollars but the “get a million dollars” goal stuck with me.
Also, the idea that “you are not special” I find is excellent advice. It’s freeing in a way to keep in mind that you are not hugely smarter, dumber, more talented or less talented than anyone else.
4. What is your favorite form of frugal entertainment?
Norm
I could say “Oh, I like going for hikes and our dog is so much fun,” but seriously, we need to talk about real entertainment, and I’d be kidding you if I said anything other than streaming internet television. If you can read this, you can watch one of my favorite tv stations, NHK World, the Japanese broadcaster’s station for an international audience. It streams for free online, and you can pick it up on a Roku and other devices. I won’t miss an episode of Cool Japan, Kawaii International, or Somewhere Street.
We also live in a downtown, so we can get free entertainment right from our window. For instance, we just watched a guy try to get his minivan out of a parking spot for 15 minutes. Took seven people, but it finally worked!
Marge in Charge
Actually I can’t really think of anything I like to do that is especially pocket draining. Nature stuff is fun. I like walking around in antique stores. Reading is pretty free. There’s all kind of entertaining material to watch and read on the internet that is basically free too.
Honda Civic as pack mule
5. Do you have any travel plans for 2015?
We’ll be spending about nine days in Peru just before Easter. We will be spending about ten days in Japan in October. And we’ll be camping in a tent at our favorite spot in New York’s beautiful Thousand Islands for a few days this summer. And through the mindful accumulation and use of airline miles and hotel points, the trips around the world won’t cost too much more than the camping trip!
6. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Norm
I don’t think I have one favorite flavor. It all depends on who’s making it. But if I had to pick one ice cream treat, it would be a Meteor Milkshake (sometimes called a Boston shake) from the Big Dipper in Prospect, CT, that is a dutch chocolate milkshake with a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream floating on top.
Marge in Charge
Anything with chunks. If you’re going to have ice cream you might as well jam it full with other goodies as well. It’s not just a dessert, it’s a treasure hunt for your mouf!
7. What’s a book you would recommend that I read?
Norm
Without knowing your tastes in books, Jessica, it’s hard to know what to recommend. The absolute best book I’ve read in the past two or three years is Independent People by Haldor Laxness, a real tome about an Icelandic farmer. I thought it was incredible, but others might find it incredibly dull.
Some of the best books I’ve read have been by Alice Munro. She is a short story writer who won the Nobel Price for literature a few years ago. Anything by her is good, but the ones I liked best were Friend of my Youth and Open Secrets.
As for non-fiction, my three recent favorites are Devil In The White City by Erik Larsen, River of Doubt by Candice Millard, and Going Clear, the Scientology exposé by Lawrence Wright.
Marge in Charge
How much time do you have? I read mostly non fiction so this list is heavy on the Bio, Science, History genres
River of Doubt by Candice Millard
Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen
Queen of the Air by Dean Jensen
Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick
Emperors of Chocolate by Joel Brenner
The entire Mary Roach oeuvre
8. How do you treat yo self while staying on track with your budget?
Norm
I have to say, flying business and first class using points is something I really, really look forward to. We live such a cheap lifestyle that flying where they treat you like a king is really out of proportion and nothing but a treat.
Marge in Charge
Yes
If you’ve read this far, I’ve got one more special message for you…
Did you know that Seinopsis, Marge’s Seinfeld synopsis podcast is the #5 podcast on iTunes right now!?? It’s not true! So why aren’t you subscribed? Now is as good a time as ever. Episode 5 is up today!
Subscribe through iTunes here.
