Well, several things have conspired to make me think the refi thing is just not worth the sweat right now. So my progress on that is, I have my decision for now, unless something changes in our situation.
We got a quote on the insulation and it's quite a lot higher than the ballpark figure the energy audit guy threw out -- our share of the house alone would be over $8K -- so we're going to get a second quote. If we do go with this, that will pretty much rule out saving up much for the kitchen reno this year. But it would be nice to have insulation -- the comfort levels of the house vary wildly depending on where you're standing. 
We tried another recipe last night: "Pizza bowl" from the cookbook "Isa Does It." OMG. It was nothing like a pizza, but it was aMAzing. OK, maybe a little too garlicky -- I enjoyed it going down but did not enjoy the strong aftertaste on my tongue for the rest of the night. Next time I'd cut a few garlic cloves and make sure I cook the sliced ones more thoroughly. But other than that it was amazing -- brown rice, vegan sausage, red onion, kale and a red pepper-cashew sauce, topped with olives, fresh thyme and chili flakes. Definitely a keeper with a small edit to the garlic. That's 4 new recipes tried, 46 to go!
Progress on goals
January 19th, 2017 at 10:57 pm
January 20th, 2017 at 03:22 am 1484882569
January 20th, 2017 at 05:09 am 1484888977
January 22nd, 2017 at 08:00 pm 1485115223
January 22nd, 2017 at 08:00 pm 1485115253