Bookworm Bloggin

I finished this book the other day:

White Girl Problems by Babe Walker


This book...I wasn't sure if I would want to keep this book on the shelf or get rid of it the second I read it. I think I had a "book crush" on this book from the time I read the dedication page,
"For Me."
Awesome.
I loved the fact that she wrote it about herself, for herself, without a lot of crap behind it or the really mushy stuff. haha. Not that I would know who I would dedicate a book to, but just sayin'.

This book was very real yet unbelievable at the same time. I guess I say that because of one of the defining factors of the book - I, unlike the author, did not come from a home/life of privilege. There were things in there (as well as some of the fashion designer names) that were so unbelievable that they seemed unreal. Like, how in the WORLD could that have EVER happened to ANYONE?!
There were parts of the book that were a little more sexually graphic than I would have liked (something I keep running into oddly enough). Like, odd-to-be-reading-on-the-bus-surrounded-by-complete-strangers-book, if, given the completely oddly based fear that any one of them could read my thoughts, read what I was reading, and judge me harshly. But seriously guys - people in the bus totally creep on what you are doing/reading on your phone/kindle/nook/iPad/paper/book, whatever. I am totally guilty on a few occasions. One time I didn't even realize I was doing it until they "turned the page" on their Kindle and I was like oh - yeah...this is not my book...You are not reading that... (I was standing in the aisle and they were sitting down - easy to read what they were reading. It probably helped my cause because the woman had her font set at a very large setting).

So, the verdict on this book is that it will stay on the bookshelf for now - I feel I could want to re-read this book again sometime down the road. For now.

-LD

Adventures in Budgeting

Derick and I recently sat down and had some serious money conversations the other day. After touring multiple homes of one particular builder, we are hooked on one of the model homes that they make. When we were getting serious about moving, i.e.: looked at our funds, spoke with our Realtor and a financial person to determine our capabilities of making this house ours.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
The Good - we will be able to afford this house!!!!

The Bad - we found out we would not be able to move into the one in Rogers that we had found and loved (from looking at online) - the house was in a cul-de-sac (awesome), and the home backed up to a pond (double awesome), and that means no neighbors right behind us! (* this actually turned out to be a good thing that we didn't get this house, which I will get into a little later).

The Ugly - we needed to budget to be able to afford and move - to see what our finances held for us and to get a general picture of how long we were talking before we could move.

Now, budgeting, for me, has always been a term that I have heard others use and apply to their lives. I have always been a pretty responsible spender. So, I would be lying if I didn't say that I didn't WANNA had fears and bad thoughts about the idea of the whole process and actions required.

After looking at our finances and obligations, we actually came down to a monthly spending amount that should work out for us - able to pay off debt AND - save for our dream house. Granted, we are still looking at looking to buy a lot or start looking for the actual house in about a year and a half from now and potentially moving two years-ish from now. Which, sort of seems like a long time in some respects, but then when I think of how long I have been at the job I have...not so much. Time has flown recently. I am sure it will go just as fast, if not faster the next two years - but when you are putting things down on paper (and Google Docs), it can feel like an eternity before you get things paid off, afford things, yada yada.

So, I guess you could say that budgeting starts now, and so does the countdown to us relocating!

Are you budgeting for anything? Rainy Day Funding anything?

*(sorry I had forgotten to tell you why this was actually a blessing in disguise!) So, we met up with the realtor  for the home in Rogers that we thought would be the IT house - the right model, the right location, and an awesome lot (backed up to a pond). Fast forward to us pulling into the cul-de-sac, and seeing that there were three hockey goals set up at the ends of the three driveways surrounding the one we were going to look at. um....
Strike One. Not that we dislike kids, but we wouldn't really enjoy the sound of hockey pucks being slapped around, and probably end up in the yard, against the garage, etc.

Strike Two: Upon entering the house and walking straight through to the kitchen and dining room area to inspect the yard - we looked down and were almost looking DIRECTLY into the pond. There was pretty much NO backyard whatsoever. Probably just room enough for a narrow dog-run for Tucker, and that would be it. Upon looking across the pond, at the other established homes, I noticed large decks built onto the backs of a few of them, and made a comment to Derick - if we wanted to eventually build a deck onto the back of the house - that would be our back yard. period.

Strike Three: Finishes.This may not seem like that big of a deal, but when you are looking for a place to call home for the next hundred years (I kid, I kid - I'm going to live WAY longer than that...) the finishes are something important to me because I would be looking and living in and around them every.single.day. the carpet was weird, the counters in the kitchen were an undesirable pattern, and even the upstairs layout in the master was a little off compared to the other ones. It is really interesting to see all of the differences that you can have for the same type of house!

So, this ended up being a blessing that we could not come up with the funds for this house because it was not all that we wanted.

We had also went just before this, to a bit smaller model from the same builder, and deemed that house style as too small to fit our needs. I felt, being in it, that we would constantly feel like we were already out-growing the main level of the house. And with a Vizsla, heaven help us - it would feel tiny in a hurry! They tend to need a racetrack's space of running room at all times in the house.

-LD

Bookworm Bloggin'

Hello? Spring? Is that you?
Oh no, it's just Minnesota's Spring - very different from that of a normal springtime...
Haha - Mother Nature sure likes to torment us with the fluffy white stuff, doesn't she?
Well, in acceptance of weather patterns out of my control, I am pleased to provide you with some of my most recent reads - rundown style.

I will tell you right off the bat, two of these books that I just finished stayed on my bookshelf (not an easy feat to accomplish in my mind, especially these days when I am trying to par down on the amount of books I have lining my shelves and collecting dust - in my quest to go (mostly) reading-digital by the end of the year 2013).

Without further ado, I give you:

Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo

This is one of those books that I really have tried to stay away from. It seems like every so often, a herd of them storm through the Best Seller's List as the greatest, most true thing since...well, anything. I have read a couple similar books in the past and found that they tried too hard, or sounded fake, or just weren't up to snuff. This book on the other hand, seems to be completely, Real. I find myself still thinking about parts of the book here and there since reading it. Especially about this photo that was described and included in the book as to what Jesus really looks like in Heaven:

Without having been there myself, how am I to know? But I guess I am using this photo as a stand-in for my visual-learning-self in the meantime. 

Anyway, if you want a quick, funny, real read that makes you wonder about  the end of yours, or your loved ones' days, pick up this book and pass it along. I intend on passing it along in the near future. So, you could call this one a KEEPER for me, although I will be passing it along to someone else more than likely very soon!

Secondly:

The Art of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein

This book was really good too. I had picked up this book at a Goodwill because I had seen so many copies of it there over time, that I was curios about the title, and the dog on the front cover (yep, totally judged this one by the title and the cover, just sayin'.)

First off, I didn't know a thing about the book and I did not read the back of the book before starting to read it. After reading a few sentences, I said, hey, wait a second...and read the back of the book. The book is told from the point of view of the dog. That totally threw me for a loop before I figured that out. 

Once I got that down, the book was a quick read and I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next and look forward to the next time I was going to be reading it again and get to the end. I also saved some room for this one on the shelf as well to hang on to. I really liked it - beginning, middle and end. Really good read, and not as sad and cheesy as Marley and Me, and a lot of those other books of man's best friend, man's best friend bonding with people and man's best friend dying, sadly...Dog lovers, I recommend this one to you as you curl up with your pooch on a drizzly day. It made me look at Tucker, and ask, "Do you think that about me?!" It was funny because when I actually asked Tucker that once, he looked up at me once like he understood me and knew what I was talking about. Silly puppy. I might need to look into the other books that he has written - once I make the move to my Kindle/phone.

The latest book I am reading right now is:

Love The One You're With by Emily Giffin

I am already learning that I am sort of "over" this author. She takes everything right to sex and I am sick of her stories always heading there first. I do like her writing style other than that - so that is probably what keeps me coming back. This is one of the larger of her books that I have read so far. I only have one more in my stack of hers to read (Heart of the Matter). Then, I might part ways with Giffin for a bit. I have already read most of her other books - the Something Borrowed, Something Blue and Baby Proof books. Might as well round it off for now, eh?

So there is my current book status. I feel like I might have missed one more in there, but can't remember which one it could have been.

OH - look what I just found right across the street from my parent's old house!!!:

A Little Free Library!! I was SO excited to see this the last time that I was over! I grabbed one book from it already and brought a small handful of others over to donate to the library! I SO am making one of these someday! love love love them!

Happy Reading!

-LD