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Books I’ve Read: Q3 2018

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I honestly had to go back and look at my GoodReads account to see what/if I read this last quarter. I go through phases: I’m either obsessed with reading and can’t get enough or I won’t pick up a book for months. I’ve got a number of great titles on my list but I’m just unmotivated to read these days. I’m thinking that’ll change soon because it’s getting darker and it’s getting colder in the evenings. I’m determined not to turn on the heat until at least November 1st (Thanksgiving would be even better), so hopefully I’ll be snuggled in earlier in the evening with the beau and a good book. Or three.

I did read two books during the first week of July:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

This story is about 15-year old Christopher who is logistically very smart and decides to write his first novel as he tries to figure out who murdered a dog in the neighborhood, Wellington. I know someone very similar to Christopher – with high functioning autism – who also has a knack with numbers. This first person tale put even more into perspective for me (re: yellow cars) and I have to admit, I too enjoy making lists and found this format comforting. I gave it 3 stars.

The Call by Yannick Murphy

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT THE BOOK: The format, it’s told from the perspective of a veterinarian living in the Northeast, receiving phone calls from people within his community. While off-putting at first, you’ll easily adjust and want to read more.
WHAT MADE ME LAUGH: The little stories throughout – what his wife was cooking, what his children were up to.
DID IT MAKE YOU CRY?: Yes, yes it did.

I randomly picked up this book off of the bookshelf at work while waiting for another to arrive, and read it in two days. Chosen only because there was a cow on the cover, I got really lucky. The story is about a father looking for answers after his son was injured during a hunting accident. The format made it feel like you were reading through his personal journal, which made it very easy for me to get drawn in. Yes, I may have seen the ending coming a mile away but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it when it happened. I gave it 4 stars.

And I did start three other books this quarter – reading about 20 pages of each and returning them when they were due.

  • After This: When Life is Over, Where Do We Go? by Matthew Walker
  • Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Claire Bidwell Smith
  • Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews – I still have this book by my bedside and am now about 80 pages in, ha! This is an interesting book to say the least… also on the Great American Read list.

I’ve read 12 of 15 books in 2018.

Hiking Pillsbury Mountain Fire Tower

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I’m on a blogging roll! Can you believe it?!

Last Wednesday I took advantage of the cooler temperatures and lower humidity to hike another fire tower. And this time I brought a friend! He’s just getting started on his fire tower list so we plan to hike a lot together over the next month to get his numbers up and me in shape for this race.

Rocco and I were on the road at 6:30AM from Saratoga and headed west on Rt 29 and then north on Rt 30 until we reached the seasonal road leading us to the trailhead. I pulled over briefly at the lookout on Mason Lake to confirm on my map that we hadn’t passed the dirt road and saw three loons! They were at the edge of the lake closest to us, such a treat! Rocco had never heard of a loon, noting that they looked like ducks, so later that evening I sent him a YouTube video of loons at night. “Loud!” he said.

About the dirt road: it’s approximately six miles to the trailhead and at times, very bumpy. I had read warnings about low-riding vehicles and parking at the Sled Harbor “clearing” (didn’t look like much of a clearing to me) but I wanted to take it slow and give it a try… mostly because when we stopped the car at one point for an oncoming vehicle, the car was SWARMED with deer flies. Nope. I wasn’t about to tack on 3+ miles if the bugs were that bad. I took it slow, at some points needing to downshift into first gear, and got us there safe and sound and in one piece. It took us about 30 minutes to cover those 6 miles.

Before getting out of the car, we lathered on the Young Living Insect Repellent. I was admittedly a little nervous about it working because this was my first test hike but let me tell you, worked like a charm! Neither one of us came home with a bug bite, despite the deer flies attacking the car and the trail being wet due to rain the previous day. It says it’s not greasy, but it was. Never did I feel heavy or sticky however, I just noticed the sweat beaded up more so than usual. It didn’t stain my clothes and it’s vegan / plant based sooooo that’s all that matters in my book.

Reading reviews for this hike, it states that it’s strenuous and difficult over the 1.6 miles up to the summit. I tried to prepare Rocco as best as I could for this immediate climb and told him to lead the way; we’d take a break whenever he needed one. It wasn’t that bad! And the kid agreed! While there were sections of continuous climbing upward and a couple of water breaks, there were nice recovery sections throughout. I want to say the last half mile or so was pretty enjoyable. We chatted about vacations and other hikes we’d like to do eventually and before we knew it, the tower was in sight!

There was an old caretakers cabin and some lumber on the summit, I’m assuming for updates to the cabin of the tower. I had read that the tower cabin was closed but I wasn’t expecting there to be minimal wire on the stairs. As someone who’s afraid of heights and watching a kid not her own, we only climbed up three levels. There was still a wonderful view and a breeze to keep the bugs at bay. We each enjoyed a Pillsbury crescent roll – thanks mom! – and some Pirate’s Booty. We didn’t sit for too long because the breeze gave us a chill.

Note: we saw a lot of toads on this trail! One peed on me when I picked him up; him couldn’t help it.

I enjoyed this hike despite the drive being longer than the hike. I’m determined to get Rocco camping at least twice over the next month so that we can knock out 4 more long distance towers, even if that means having his younger brother tag along for company / moral support; these boys have never been camping! Challenge accepted! Rocco if you’re reading this, get ready!

Pillsbury Mountain brought my fire tower challenge total to 22/23 and 4/23 for Rocco.

Random question: anyone know what kind of animal poop this is?

 

Hiking Poke-O-Moonshine Fire Tower

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Last Friday I took the day off from work to take advantage of the beautiful day and hike another fire tower peak. And to start getting miles under my feet on trails. With my September race quickly approaching, I’m scrambling to hike as much as I can.

This trail head is almost 2.5 hours away from our doorstep, just a few miles off of Exit 33 on the Northway. I hit the road at 5:30AM and was geared up and walking into the woods at 8:03AM… without any bug spray! I couldn’t believe I drove that far and didn’t pack any bug spray. I almost panicked because last month when I had hiked the mosquitoes were UNBEARABLE, and I wasn’t about to turn around. More on this topic to come…

I decided to hike the Observer’s Trail because I wanted as many miles under me as I could, especially because it was such a long drive. Out and back, this trail only totals 5 miles. Almost immediately the trail starts to head up but gradually and nothing to make me stop and need to catch my breath. It was a gorgeous sunny morning and everything looked so green! And because I was hiking solo, my senses were heightened; every chipmunk seemed to make me jump! And there were a lot of them! But I think I scared them too, many of them peeling out making their little screeching noises.

Before I knew it I came to a clearing that’s flooded due to beaver activity. After reading reviews, I was curious how the crossing would be and it was just dried mud but I could see how it would be a problem in the spring or after some heavy rain. I snapped a couple photographs and continued up.

There was a short section just below another clearing where the trail was wet with a small stream running. Nothing sketchy but I made a mental note for the run down. Eventually you come upon a short landing with a privy and lean-to; if you were to continue straight at this junction, you’d start heading DOWN the mountain and down the trail that begins in the old campground two miles up from where I started out. You want to take a left toward the old caretaker’s cabin remains to reach the tower. It’s clearly marked, especially if you turn around and look back at the lean-to (sign is on the front of the lean-to). From there, it’s only .3 up, pretty easily, with a gorgeous view southwest toward the 4,000ers.

Walking past the tower, there’s a spectacular view! Not only can you see the tallest ADK peaks, but you can look across Lake Champlain and see the Green Mountains. And if you work up the courage to climb the tower (I only went up three sets of stairs), you can clearly see more of Vermont and the lake. I sat up there for about 20 minutes eating a snack and snapping photographs, soaking up the views all by myself.

I was back and forth about running down the mountain because A. it was such a long drive and I didn’t want to rush things and B. I didn’t want to fall and get hurt and be alone in the woods, hurt. But once I hit the trail down, I started moving and grooving, convinced someone had to pass me eventually on this gorgeous day. And they did, a summit steward, about a half mile from the trail head. But I hadn’t fallen and I wasn’t hurt, so I didn’t stop and just shouted hello as I zipped passed.

I was back in the car and on the road at 9:40AM.

And didn’t have a single bug bite. There was the occasional buzz from a black fly on the way up but nothing annoying, even on the summit with the occasional breeze. Golly did I get lucky!

I loved this hike and wish it was closer to home. I’ll have to hike it again with my friend that’s just starting his tower challenge. Oh! And you can see the tower as you’re driving up the Northway, which got me excited and pumped to hike, especially while blasting the Black Eyed Peas. There were a ton of cars parked in the old campground when I left, I’m assuming to rock climb; the rock face is impressive!

This tower brought my count to 21/23

June in Review!

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June: the never-ending month of birthdays and extra spending.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the people we purchased gifts for this month, but golly, the extra spending seemed never ending because our gift envelope was empty before the month even started. I vow to never try to get pregnant that would result in a May, June or July birthday baby, ha! Too much information? I’m just being honest. Eight birthdays, two Dads for Father’s Day, a wedding and our favorite Troy brewery turned four… much to celebrate!

Despite all of the spending…

We paid off another student loan! 
When we started this journey back in September, we owed $14,443.03 on this student loan. It was originally taken out back in August 2005 and was originally projected to be paid off on 9/25/2029, according to Navient. We paid it off 11 years and 4 months ahead of schedule – boom pow!

We started tackling student loan 5 of 6! 
We are down to the final TWO debt balances! TWO! Yes, they are the largest but I can see that little flash of light at the end of the tunnel. We are now tackling unsubsidized Stafford Loan 1-03. The beau originally took out this loan back in August 2007 and its original balance at 5.8% was $12,000. When we started this journey back in September, the balance was $16,656.09 and if we stay on Navient’s track, our anticipated payoff date would be 2/25/2036. My personal payoff goal for this loan is October 2018… that’s a 17+ year difference! After all we’ve dumped on to the balance this month, the balance is now $11,239.87 rolling into July. *Note: we are just now under the original loan balance, ugh! Watch those income based repayment plans if you can…

Our income based repayment plan was denied. 
I discussed this on my IG stories a couple weeks ago, but realizing that some of you don’t follow me there, I’ll share on this space too. We refiled the income based repayment plan application at the beginning of the month and were declined because we filed our taxes jointly this year and both of our incomes were included in the decision making process. I then refiled indicating that our finances are separate, and we were declined a second time because the beau “makes more than the poverty line…”

…which is bullshit because when I asked what the poverty line is, she told me $44,000. Last year when we filed and were granted an IBR plan, he was making more than that number soooooo that makes zero sense and she couldn’t justify the difference in the decision making process. All they know is that he got a $2,000 raise and that’s “too much” money and think he can now afford a couple extra hundred dollars each month. A $2k raise only equals an extra $56 each payday. I’m frustrated because their process for granting IBR plans is flawed but I’m thankful I am on this plan because if we didn’t have a plan, going from a $65 payment to a $276 payment would be so so overwhelming. I didn’t fight it and they didn’t ask me why or how we were paying off the other loans so quickly, so I just let it be.

I got my fitness on!
The beau won a free gym membership at his work health fair day! Whoop whoop! Fully knowing he wouldn’t take advantage of the membership (he rows at home almost every day), he let me have it so that I could start spinning again. Love I tell ya. I reached out to my coach to readjust my schedule and I’m now spinning 2x per week, giving up my recovery runs. Spin it to win it! I’m still aiming to run 4 days a week and for the most part I stayed on track throughout the month of June. I ran 106.89 miles this month, a significant increase from last month! My mileage isn’t as high as I think it should be (because I slacked the last couple of months) but I’ve got two months to slowly increase the time on my feet. In July I’d like to hike at least 4x and complete 2 loops at each ARE STRS location. Gotta get more time on the trails, it is a trail race after all.

I survived my first month without meal planning!
This was hard, y’all. I’m a planner. We both enjoy knowing what we’re having for dinner when we walk in the door every night and I like walking into a grocery store with a specific list and a mission to come in under budget. It’s hard staying under budget without a plan! But we did it, BARELY, and I’ve already got a new game plan for July.

Instead of planning the meal, I’m going to plan the carbohydrate for each dinner. We’re pretty good at getting creative with ingredients and this way we’ll have a general idea of what we’re going to end up with. And this method will help me stick to shopping twice a month. In example:

Mondays: couscous
Tuesdays: rice
Wednesdays: homemade corn tortillas
Thursdays: pasta… and so on.

We have zero time to prep for our CSA delivery each Saturday but so far we’ve been able to easily incorporate / eat up everything. I can tell you it’s wonderful not purchasing lettuce! We’ve got so much growing in our garden, coupled with the deliveries, I’ve been adding lettuce to my smoothies to use it all up. I’m loving the variety – yes, even the zucchini (NOT my favorite)! I checked out the Chloe Flavor cookbook from the library and cannot wait to cook my way through it this summer; the scallion pancakes, cauliflower tacos and corn chowder were delicious! (You can photographs of those meals on IG FYI)

Other fun facts about June:
We finally got our chimney repaired! This home repair has been looming for the last couple of months but it happened the first week of the month and yes, not only did we pay cash ($1,000), but we got a slight discount for doing so. Cash is a motivator, friends! Once the work was done, we withdrew the last of our savings ($500) to dump toward debt, leaving $1,000 in our emergency fund per Baby Step #1.

The only other non-gift that we cash flowed this month that was not part of our original June budget were two metal clothes racks off of Amazon. Total: $2.89, using the Amazon gift cards that we earned from CDPHP to cover the remainder of the balance. We had one wooden rack that was probably 10+ years old and it finally broke from the weight of wet clothes and I knew this was an item I wanted to upgrade, and duplicate. Not only does drying clothes on a rack extend the life of your clothing, it also saves you money on your utilities bill. Win win!

Numbers wise, we paid off 23.41% of debt this month, totaling 68.14%! Two thirds of the way done! Our balance is now $28,401.41, having paid off $60,674.04 since September. LESS THAN $30K TO GO!!! Pinch. Me. It still blows my mind that that much money has passed through our hands over the last ten months. $60,674.04 of essentially extra money. That’s money we’ll never see again. That’s money that wasn’t spent traveling the world. That’s money that wasn’t spent fixing up our home, investing for our future, or given away to local charitable organizations that mean something to us. But soon we’ll be able to do all of those things, and more. February 2019 is my new payoff goal: I’d love to celebrate our second wedding anniversary debt free! You read it here folks, eight more payment months!

When I sent our final stats to the beau after I made our last payment of the month (I’m the nerd), he asked, “how’d our numbers get so big this month?!” This was my response:

  • $500 as mentioned above was transferred out of savings (we are officially down to $1,000, so this won’t happen again)
  • $1,500 reimbursement: the beau took a class this past Winter and paid cash from our savings in full; his job finally reimbursed him
  • June was a triple pay month for the beau: we deposited his entire 3rd check toward debt
  • the rest was all side hustle!

Story time!
For the last three days of the month, our bank account / spending was on hold (because we made our final payment for the month toward debt). The beau wanted a six pack – sorry, no money I kindly reminded him. The beau wanted to go buy waffles – sorry, no money I kindly reminded him. Well, the beau wanted ice cream… so he found a blood drive. After giving a pint of blood on Saturday, they gave him a coupon for one free pint of ice cream! I have never laughed so hard! Now THAT’S sticking to the budget and giving like no one else!

Goals for July: have any? Feel free to take the leap and share them below!

May in Review!

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May was a FABULOUS month for us!

Not because of our numbers, well, those helped too, but because I started teaching my first Financial Peace University class. I was nervous because I had never attended the class let alone led one, and because the response was lower than I expected. Our small group is pretty open with each other, not something that is required to attend the class FYI, but I think has really brought us closer. It’s a judgement-free zone and we make sure each of us leaves confident for the next step / week ahead of us. Nine weeks sounded daunting as I was making the decision to commit but we’re half-way through the course already and trying to figure out how we’re all going to stay connected when it’s over. And if you’re curious, I will most likely be teaching another class this fall! It won’t be free and it won’t be in my home — but I can promise that it’ll be just as good!

Now let’s get to the numbers!

Our income increased this month, which helped us DUMP cash toward debt! If you can’t cut your spending any further than it already is, you’re only other option is to earn more to make a dent in the process. I participated in Market Research one evening, I received a Young Living check, and the beau took on freelance work.

This month we reduced our principle balance by $10,785.23 or 22.53%!!! To date, we’ve paid off $51,992.72 or 58.37%!!! in 9 months! We only have $37,082.73 in debt left to pay off and to meet our goal, we need to keep this momentum up, big time.

To put things into perspective:

  • In September 2017, our monthly minimum payments totaled $718.27
  • As of June 1st, our monthly minimum payments are only $194.20

That means if an emergency were to happen and we needed to stop the snowball, only $194.20 would be needed to cover minimum debt payments. Not too shabby!

A lot of people are curious how we eat and stay on budget. We only plan our dinners, here was our meal plan for the 1st thru the 15th:

  • Mondays: fajitas
  • Tuesdays: veggie stir fry
  • Wednesdays: taco pasta
  • Thursdays: BBQ tempeh with a crockpot green bean casserole and sweet potato fries
  • Fridays: tofu & broccoli + a birthday dinner out
  • Saturdays: dinner out at a Mets game + tofu & broccoli
  • Sundays: king oyster mushroom pulled pork sammies + a Mother’s Day lasagna

My mom had been requesting this lasagna for months, so I offered to make it as an early Sunday dinner. I made the sauce and roasted the veggies ahead of time during the week so that it would be less to do on Mother’s Day (more time spent with my mom).

This was our second time making the pulled “pork” sandwiches via Bosh = so good! And we had enough leftovers for another meal, so we froze the cooked mushrooms…. we shall see how those hold up! I’ve never frozen mushrooms before, I’m hoping they’ll be okay and then we can just cook ’em up in the air fryer.

Oh yeah, we won an air fryer! Whoop whoop! Culinary Square had a giveaway for TNO and I entered after picking up a bridal shower gift. We’ve fried mushrooms, gyoza, sweet potatoes, chicken-less tenders, eggplant, zucchini, tofu and russet potatoes (home fries) – this thing is awesome! The beau tends to use more oil than I do (but he does get things a lot crispier than I do), so I was excited to use this device and cut back on oil. LOVE IT!  

The beau requested I buy canned green beans for the casserole because fresh or frozen were still too crunchy for him. Confession: I had never purchased canned green beans (or any canned vegetable for that matter). I was a skeptic at 40 cents a can but I have to admit, they were delicious! Yes, these canned beans were not organic and yes, they were in a can but I have to remind myself that these are the sacrifices we are making now so that we can invest more later. Don’t judge… at least we’re getting a serving of veggies.

Our meal plan for the 16th thru the 31st:

  • Mondays: tempeh jalapeno wraps with roasted broccoli
  • Tuesdays: veggie stir fry
  • Wednesdays: pasta with TVP sauce and roasted asparagus
  • Thursdays: Chinese takeout + tofu + broccoli
  • Fridays: tofu + broccoli + loaded potatoes
  • Saturdays: eggplant parm + loaded potatoes
  • Sundays: southwest quinoa burgers + tater tots

This month we cash flowed ($585) a CSA with Denison Farm – all USDA certified organic and I have to admit, I’m a little nervous about it. I’ve been rocking the whole meal planning thing and now I’m going to have to shop / cook on the fly with what we receive each Saturday at the Farmer’s Market delivery. I like shopping twice a month. And I also prefer shopping on my lunch break, avoiding the weekend crowds. Once the CSA begins in June, our monthly food allowance will decrease by $27 per week because of the prepayment amount. I’ll surely have an update next month with how I’m juggling this change.

We also cash flowed:

  • a birthday gift and two mother’s day gifts – sinking fund envelope
  • hair gel for the beau and soap for us both
  • a new website layout (business investment)
  • tickets for a show at the Egg (beau)
  • the beau signed up for a watercolor class at the Arts Center of the Capital Region
  • parking at the train station (the day we went to a Met’s game)
  • stuff for our garden (some seedlings, burlap, screws and twine)
  • our 6 month car insurance payment – sinking fund envelope
  • and a small gift certificate for an employee on my work team

This month I also tried to focus on my running more, as last month (April) it took a back seat… and I have a race to run in three months! I ran almost 70 miles in May, which wasn’t what I was aiming for but I’m happy with because I feel like I’m easing back into a routine and not overwhelming myself. I’m remembering what it feels like to be sore and getting use to being out of the house before 5AM.

June will hopefully bring a lot of miles… and a lot of cash because I’ll be working downtown again on Saturdays. I’ve picked up a side hustle at Annick’s during the farmer’s market – hey, I’m going to be down there anyway getting my veggies!

That’s it folks, we made yet another budget, told our money where to go, hustled and made it happen. No magic, just a plan!

[Again, sorry no photographs, I should be purchasing a new phone over the next three months prior to race day.]