One Month Cash Only Challenge

I found this intriguing thought on Dave Ramsey's web page.  A one month cash only challenge. 

I've done a noSpenduary Challenge, where I didn't buy anything we didn't need to survive for a month.  It is an interesting and effective challenge, but once the month is over, you are back to spending money again.  Sometimes the bad spending habits creep back in, and sometimes you find that most everything you own has broken in a 6 week period and needs to be replaced.

This is an interesting challenge in that it forces you to be more mindful of the money you are spending.  Because you are paying with cash, it forces you to stop and consider whether or not you have the money on hand to pay for what you are buying. 

The even bigger bonus?  Because you are paying with cash, you don't have to worry about your credit information being stolen.

I think I'm going to give this a try for the month of September.  I'm always up for fun and unique ways to save some money, as well as to be more mindful of the money I do spend. 

Dave Ramsey is not suggesting forgoing credit/debit cards completely.  He is suggesting that you use cash wherever you can in your budget for a month.

Simple but devious thought, isn't it?

I'm really curious to give this a go!  September starts tomorrow, and so does this challenge!  I'm looking forward to seeing how much I can save!

How about you?  Are you willing to give it a try?

Book Review: The Name of the Wind

Notice: This post contains Affiliate Links.  Your purchase through this link helps to support this blog.

Rothfuss, Patrick.  The Name of the Wind: The King Killer Chronicles, Book 1.  2008.  DAW Books.

Kvothe, the most powerful magician of this, or any age, begins recalling his early life - and the experiences that made him into a household name and a legend in his own time.  Currently living as an innkeeper in a small, in the middle of nowhere town, he strives to keep his name and true identity hidden from the people that he lives with.  When the Chronicler appears seemingly out of nowhere, he cajoles Kvothe into telling his tale so that the truth - not the legends - can be recorded for all time. 

The story weaves through the extraordinary circumstances that surround Kvothe's early life and the beginning of the Legends that will surround Kvothe until the end of his days.


This story moves fast, and you will find yourself wound into the tale and intertwined with the characters faster than you can name the wind...

Monday Musings

Today I get to move middle child into his dorm. He's beginning his last year of college. How is this possible?  It seems like only last week that he graduated from high school!   This morning promises to be a fun one!  This is the day everyone who is not a freshman gets to move in. It's going to be hectic, crowded, and frustrating. I'm going to need a lot of patience as the day goes on.

One of my least favorite memories from college was standing in the bookstore lines to get my textbooks. Thanks to the Internet, we ordered textbooks online last week, and they have been delivered to the house. What a difference!  No long lines! 

One of the perks of my new job is the required reading!  I've got a list of 50 books I need to work my way through in the next few months. I'm looking to reading outside of my comfort zone!  I've already got the first round of books on my dining room table, waiting to be read.  I'll be sharing some of the titles with you as I finish them.

Luna has spotted a Praying Mantis on the window screen!  It was really big, too!  Do you see it in the corner of the window?  

Today is the first day of school for many school districts.  Please keep an eye out for kids running for the bus, and for red lights on the school buses! 

Niagara Falls

We spent two separate days at the falls. We drove down to the Canadian side one day. We explored the town, the falls,the river, and took the inclined railway back up to the town level. On our way home, we stopped on the U.S. side of the falls and explored Niagara State Park. What a gorgeous little islan!  If you ever get a chance to go, take the opportunity to walk all the way around the island. It's not a long distance, and it's flat. You get some amazing views of the river, too!  But for some sad reason, most people only visit the falls and miss out on the rest of the "island experience".  It's well worth your time!

The falls themselves defy description. I can't even begin to capture the wonder, might and majesty in words, so I'll just share a few of my favorite pictures. 

From the Canadian side of the river:

* take note of this shot here. Do you see the person next to the walkway by the falls?

Heading over to the U.S. side:

*Remember the earlier shot of the person standing by the edge of the falls?  That's where I'm standing as I took this picture, and I was a few steps down from that spot for the one below:

A couple of shots of the river upstream from the falls 

Like I said, this doesn't even begin to do the area justice. 

#bucketlist, #alliexpectedandsomuchmore

Hamilton, Ontario

We decided to stay in Hamilton for our vacation. It is centrally located, less than an hour from Niagara Falls and just a little over an hour from Toronto. This Historic City is a beautiful place to visit!  (And because we weren't in Niagara Falls, the cost of the hotels were more than reasonable.

In addition to the gorgeous library (I shared the pictures yesterday), there was a beautiful art gallery, an underground mall that connected many buildings, The Canadian Football Hall of Fame,  the lake....

The  municipal park at this end of Lake Ontario.

The walking trail was beautiful!  It was a rainy day, and it began pouring when we got to the point - prompting a very quick run from that point back to the car!

Have to have the picture of one of the downtown signs! 

Whitehurn - below, sign above.  This historic house was located less than two blocks away from our hotel - behind the municipal courthouse.

Below- the view from the street corner on Bay St.  Beautiful architecture!

Hess Village - a funky little conglomeration of restaurants and bars was just down the street.  I loved exploring this little neighborhood on foot!

Gorgeous old building on Main street.  I love the architecture of this building!

So, I found this sign in front of a restaurant in Hess Village.  I thought that the Tragically Hip menu was a play on Hipsters.  Wrong, wrong, wrong you ignorant American.  Tragically Hip is a band.  A very big band.  They had a concert that night in Hamilton.  (one of the last two concerts with the current lead who is battling cancer).  The special menu was a nod to concert goers - a meal that would be quickly prepared for them so that they could get on their way to the concert.

Later that afternoon, the crowds headed down to the concert.  Before the doors opened, the lines wrapped around that corner by the light, and the parking lots were full.  We saw so very many people headed in to the concert!  I found out after the fact just how well loved Tragically Hip is by the people of Canada.  I've since found their music on i-Tunes, and I've got to admit, I'm a fan.  I wish I had known of them before now!

I wish my pictures of the crowd letting out after the concert had come out!  So many people, so many cars, so many tail lights.  It was quite the sight!

Hamilton is a beautiful city, and well worth exploring.  I am so very glad that we decided to stay here! I loved our Canadian adventure!

Hamilton (Ontario) Public Library Central Branch

We stayed in Hamilton, Ontario on our recent journey north.  I'll write more about that beautiful city tomorrow - but today, I wanted to highlight the library!  (Of course.)  The public library was located across the street from our hotel, and on a very rainy Wednesday, we journeyed across the street to go have a look around.  I've been in several Central Libraries in large cities, and Hamilton's library did not disappoint.  The architecture was very modern, but large windows and balconies gave the entire space a warm, open feel. On the right is a picture from the first floor, looking up the stairs from the A/V collection.

Do I really want to admit this was my favorite part of the library?  It's the automated book return!  Slide your books into the slot, the RFID tag checks them in, and down the conveyor belt they go to the circulation workroom.

The children's section.  Like I said, very modern design.  To me, it looks almost industrial, but I know very little about architecture, so I might be calling the design wrong.

THIS was the neatest, most amazing thing EVER!!!  The farmer's market is indoors!  This view was taken from the large windows in the children's section, looking down into the farmer's market.

The view UP from the first floor to the roof. Look at the stairs, the balconies!  Just a beautiful use of space to allow light into the building!

Of course there are lots of shelves full of books....

Lovely view of one of the study areas.

A view outside to the plaza between buildings.

Card catalogs DO still exist!  Okay, mostly in historical societies!  The Hamilton Historical Society is located within the central branch.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of the card catalog!

A view from one of the top balconies down to the first floor.  I would not want to have to water those plants.  Yes, they're real plants.  The person who waters them would have to be someone who doesn't get woozy when looking down.  (Like me.)

  Lots of collaborative spaces on the top floor!  A Maker Space, a collaborative learning area, and a computer lab.  We also saw a couple of ESOL classes going in full swing in an open classroom area.  What a fantastic community asset this library is!

A view out onto the patio.  Hey, do you see that water out in the distance by the two high rise buildings?  That's Lake Ontario.  One of THE Great Lakes!  Hamilton is nestled around the southern end of the lake.

With my fear of heights, I'm still astonished that I managed to stop and take this picture - perched on the VERY top floor of the library, looking down the stairs.  As you can see, I was right next to the handrail on the top stair, but I had to use both hands to take the picture.  Unless if you have a fear of heights, you just don't understand what a feat taking this picture actually was.  (I'm proud of me!)

What more can I say?  Stained glass artwork suspended in those beautiful windows!


Sadly, I realized once I got home that I neglected to take a picture of the outside of the building.  But, you can find a beautiful picture of the building on their homepage!  You can see their website, and discover more about their library here:  http://www.hpl.ca/branches/central-library

Cornell University and Botanic Gardens

One of our stops along our trip was to Cornell University. We roamed around the university, took a stroll through the botanic gardens, and took a walk over the suspension bridge.  What a beautiful campus it is!  Undergrads had not yet moved in, so aside from a few graduate students, we basically had the place to ourselves!

Here's a few of the many, many pictures I took at Cornell:

We were a little surprised when we parked on campus and found this pile of snow. SNOW!!!!  In August!!!   Upon furthering investigation, we discovered we were by the ice arena, so all of this gorgeous, cold snow was Zamboni clean out. (I was curious how they had such clean snow... our snow never stays that clean for that long!)

So, we found the gorgeous waterfalls on one end of campus. We couldn't find our way down there to see it up close. This is the best picture I have - and it doesn't even begin to do justice to the beauty of this corner of campus.

The steps just look so pretty, don't they?  Gorgeous view!  They look down over the creek that leads to the waterfall.  This is a fairly hilly campus!  I don't know what I was expecting, but it wasn't THIS many hills!

Pictures from the arboretum....  Such a wonderful place to spend an afternoon!

We finally made it over to the suspension bridge over the gorge. Cornell is on both sides of the gorge. This bridge is one of several that connect both sides of campus. Look at that waterfall!

The view off the other side of the bridge. 

I tell you, Ithaca is a beautiful place!  So glad we stopped and spent some time there!

Monday Musings

So about that bucket list...

Even though I started a new job earlier this month, they let me take off last week for vacation. And that's a really good thing, as our vacation consisted of taking an item off of my bucket list: seeing Niagara Falls. Let me tell you, it was great!  I have some pictures I'll be sharing later this week. The trip was totally worth it!

Do we still have the pot?

Oldest son lives in a townhouse with 2 other grad students. He went to school with one of the boys. The other young man they roomed with had taught for several years, and been out on his own before returning to graduate school. They had a great year last year, but the older gentleman decided to move into his own place this year. After he moved out, the boys looked around the now barren kitchen and commented "Wow, I didn't realize how much stuff was his.  Do we still have the pot?"  Son looked under the counter "Yes!"   The response?  Who- Hoo!  We can still make pasta! We're saved!

It never rains, but it pours...

I should have known. I've been half heartedly applying for jobs over the last year. At the beginning of June, when I decided to really look for jobs, I sent out over 100 resumes & applications. I've been to more interviews than I can count. I was offered & accepted my new job at the beginning of the month. Last week, I was offered 3 other jobs. None were as good of a match, I don't regret my decision, but it sure is nice to know that I'm wanted!

Good thing we unplugged everything.  

We always unplug our electronics - or at the very least turn off the power strips when we leave the house. This past week, we decided to unplug everything, including the modem - we even unplugged the DSL connection to the phone line. Good thing, too. We came home yesterday to find out that a lightning strike had taken out the telephone pole at the end of the street.  The thing caught fire.  Our neighbors lost both tvs as well as a computer & the modem. We've had an electrician check the wiring in the house - all is good. No damage to our wiring.  But we're very glad we didn't have anything plugged in!

Why we need the Property Brothers

Husband "fixed" our bathroom toilet the weekend before we went on vacation. We woke up Monday morning to 2 inches of water on the bathroom floor and 4 more inches in the basement. Can you guess what went wrong?  He used the wrong size connection between the tank and the bowl. *sigh*. What a mess to deal with!  We believe it's fixed, but just in case if it wasn't, we turned the water off to the house before we left - AND we drained the toilet tanks, just in case. 

Flowers in the Arboretum at Cornell University.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Turn and face the strange

ch-ch-ch-changes

There's gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time

Read more: David Bowie - Changes Lyrics | MetroLyrics

 

For the longest time, I always thought that the second line read "Turn the world around..."

No matter - my lyrics, or those of the master artist, David Bowie, it seems to summarize my past month.

There have been a lot of changes recently.

I left my old job at my old library after much thought and consideration.  It was not an easy decision to make, but it was the right one for me.

 

I am now working in a public library.  I am home.  I love my library, and I love my co-workers.  It keeps me hopping all day long!  There's always a lot of stuff going on, and I am always busy.  I'm really going to enjoy working here!

Taking a Break for a Few Days

My kids are all home!

I'm taking a break for a few days while we spend some time together.

Enjoy your week! 

I'll be back again next Monday, August 22.

Weird Day at the Gym

I originally wrote this several years ago, and posted it to my now defunct "Mom's View" blog.  I re-posted it on this about two years ago.  I decided to go ahead and repost it today, because the timing on this just seems right today.

I went to the gym this morning.  I was on the treadmill when my nemesis came in and hopped onto the treadmill next to me.  Armed to the teeth with her bluetooth headset and i-Pod  headphones, she got onto the treadmill and began running.

As she runs, she sings snatches of the songs I assume that she's listening to on her i-Pod.  Never an entire phrase, just a couple of words like "What I'm looking".....  silence for a while and then we hear "Hey there Delilah".....  this goes on for a while, until all of a sudden she'll scream out "You go girlfriend!  Who-Hoo!  I've done a mile!  Look at me go!  Next one to go!" ...... and then silence for a while until her phone rings and she begins screaming into it "Hey, how's it going?  OMG!  I just ran 2 miles can you f'ing believe it?  I am so awesome!  So, about those contracts..."  And on and on it goes.

It's always an experience when she shows up.  You can see all of the heads begin to droop when she shows up, and people will shift treadmills or stop early and lift weights once she settles in for her workout.  No one quite knows what to do about it... and the trainers are at a loss.  They can't throw her out for singing snatches of songs badly and then getting them stuck in our heads for the rest of the day, so we all get to suffer together.

As I was leaving, I experienced perhaps the oddest thing I've ever experienced.

Do you remember the scene in "When Harry Met Sally" when Meg Ryan was faking an orgasm at the table in the diner? 

I don't know if this woman was faking it or not, but I swear to you, she was moaning and screaming while running on her treadmill, just like Meg Ryan did in that scene.

I tell you, it brought all activity in that gym to a screeching halt. 

My workouts never end like that.  I must be doing something wrong.

Apple Chickpea Hash

Note: This post contains links to a third party website.

source: https://nu.spoonuniversity.com/recipe/apple-chickpea-hash/

Daughter found this amazing recipe online a couple of weeks ago.  She's made it for dinner three times in the last two weeks.  It's tasty, it's filling, and it's healthy!  We made it over the weekend, and we found ourselves doubling the recipe, it is that good.

The ingredients are simple: Garbanzo Beans, Apples, Onions, and Kale.  It takes less than 30 minutes to assemble this fantastic meal!

Quick, easy, filling and healthy!  It's what's for dinner.


You can find the recipe here: https://nu.spoonuniversity.com/recipe/apple-chickpea-hash/

A Tribute to My Trainer

For the last six months, I have invested in time with a personal trainer.  His name is James.

I had always scoffed at people who did the whole Personal Trainer thing, until I needed one.  I started going to a trainer after I was dismissed from Physical Therapy last year.  Twice a week for six months, I met with James. 

I was expecting the experience to be much like The Biggest Loser experience, but it was not.  James was supportive and helpful.  He taught me how to work out safely so that I wouldn't injure myself, and he showed me how to make my joints stronger by strengthening the muscles around my joints.  He encouraged me to try new exercises, and to push myself harder than I had been.  And we laughed - a lot! 

Sadly (for me) James left the gym last week.  He's headed off to Graduate School in Colorado, and I wish him all the best.  He is going to be amazing - and the world at large is going to benefit from his next great step.

Me?  I'm still working out at the gym.  I'm keeping a log of what I do and when.  I'm continuing to push myself, and I'm proud of the progress I've made.

While I've lost weight and improved my overall health while working with a trainer, I feel as if I've discovered the fountain of youth.  By spending an hour in the gym five days a week, spending time on weight lifting and cardio, I feel better than I have in years.  Joints no longer ache.  I have more energy.

Ah... the joys of having worked with a certified, qualified, degreed personal trainer.  (James' degree is in Kineseology, and he is certified in personal training, among other fields.)  Although I spent much of the past six months sore and tired, and questioned the money I was investing in myself, in the long run - it was worth it!  I will keep up the work I have done to date.  At the age of 50, I am realizing that my health is the greatest asset I have.

James, good luck in Colorado!  You are awesome, and I can't wait to see what you do next!

Monday Musings

It's been a day of reflection!

I was in church yesterday when the woman next to me had a heart attack. I'm glad she has a defibrillator installed in her chest. If she didn't, she wouldn't still be here. She's a very lucky woman!  Glad there were first responders in church to help her out!

One of our boys was home for 10 minutes on Saturday. It was nice to see him, no matter how brief the time!

Have you seen the videos on Facebook that show you how to cook an ear of corn painlessly?  You take the ear of corn, still in the husk and microwave it for 3 minutes, 30 seconds. Using a pot holder, remove the corn to a cutting board. Chop off the end of the cob, just above where the corn cob itself starts. You might end up chopping off a row of corn, too. Using the pot holder, squeeze the corn cob out of the husk. No husks, no tassels, and you don't heat up the house cooking up corn on the cob!  If you haven't seen the video, I found one from Simply Recipes that I was able to link to below. Best corn I've ever had!

Enjoy!

The National Arboretum

We ended up here by mistake, but it was a good mistake!  I was searching for the Corpse Flower, which is in bloom at the National Botanic Gardens. I got the two mixed up, somehow. The Botanic Gardens are on the National Mall, located not far from the Smithsonian Museums. The Arboretum is located off of Highway 50, just inside of the DC line. The Arboretum was in the news a lot this spring because they had a pair of nesting eagles living there, and they set up an eagle cam that allowed anyone to follow the progress of the hatchlings. 

We might have missed out on the Corpse Flower, but we won because we spent many happy hours roaming through the grounds of the arboretum - and we didn't even get to see half of it!  

We spent time in the Bonsai Garden, the National Herb Garden, Fern Valley, The Children's Garden and over by the Capitol Columns. 

This quiet little corner of DC, located far from the maddening crowds of the traditional tourist attractions located around the National Mall is worth a visit!

Some pictures from our day:

A flower bed in the kids garden!

A tipi made of vines!

The Capitol columns, removed from the Capitol building to make room for an expansion. 

Fern Valley.

More Fern Valley. 

From the Bonsai Garden. 

More from the Bonsai garden. 

From the Herb Garden.