Day 14

Day 14 of the sugar fast. I haven't given in yet, but I sure am craving sugar! It feels like I am eternally hungry, since I am wanting something sweet. I'm dreaming of brownies and chocolate in the end of August!

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Two posts ago, I whined about not getting to shoot the sunset. I was able to shortly after that! The sunset looked promising, but I never got that far, because a rainbow appeared. The sunset fizzled out before it became amazing, so I was able to focus (ha) my attention on the rainbow and its reflection on a lake.

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I was able to buy plane tickets for our trips in the coming months. Very excited to be getting out of town. Not excited to be leaving during fall time, but that is a price I pay, I suppose.

I need to purchase a laptop before too long so I can complete my school work while I am away from home. I have been looking at several, and while I don't need anything special, I do want a bit of processing speed so I can potentially edit photos on the road. Main reason for this purchase would be for school, but the other would be for a photo dump. Now that I shoot RAW, my photo file sizes are incredible, and I fill up memory cards like crazy.

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I am continually saving up money for camera stuff, and I am running into the chicken and the egg problem. My camera is slowly dying. Canon Rebel's don't last long, and I have run it hard in the past year and a half that I have had it. It's most definitely still usable and in working condition, but I am afraid it will not be much longer. I have set my sights on a much more expensive camera, but it will take me years to save up for it. In addition to this problem, the full frame camera will not work with my wide angle lens. Buying better lenses is a great investment, so I have been saving up for those first and foremost. Maybe the solution is to buy a step up in the camera department after this one bites the dust instead of going straight for the pro level one. Not sure.

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In other news, summer is sort of winding down. The fireweed is in full bloom, less tourists are coming through and the days are getting shorter. I start school in a month.
Many people have been complaining about how rainy and miserable this summer is. I admit that it has been quite rainy, but I really have not noticed it much. I work inside all week, so I don't get much chance to enjoy it, and I don't let the weather faze me when I am out shooting, so I suppose I have been a bit oblivious to it. I do wish it would be warm a bit more, since summer is almost gone.

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C and I have a weird work week. Our weekend occurs on Tuesday and Wednesday, and not Saturday and Sunday. It makes it obnoxious to go to church and Saturday events, but we get time off during the week when weekday businesses are open. It also makes lunch dates less stressful as there are less people milling around.

Yesterday, C had to work  and he has to do so on next Tuesday as well. It's all overtime pay, which will be nice, but we'd rather he have the day off instead!

Going into the day, I was a bit confused as to what I was supposed to be doing. Working full time makes me forget that I get to stay at home all winter long. I did the dishes, then went to lunch with a friend, and did the grocery shopping. Then I came home. I ended up finishing up a book I had been reading at work all week on my lunch breaks. Then went out to shoot some flower photos in the yard. Next week I will probably watch a movie.

It's just not the same without him at home!

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Photo by the other photographer at the wedding we shot of our friends' last month. I am really happy with this image!

We went on a hike last weekend and I was taking waterfall shots. Unfortunately, a slow shutter speed does not work well for self portraits!

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I love summertime, because that means that my summer is free for reading novels, instead of textbooks! Here are some I have completed so far:

• Crazy Love by Francis Chan: I had heard piles about this book, and finally picked it up. I ended up skimming through it again after I was finished with it, because it was so thought provoking. Great book for shaking up the mundane Christian life.
• Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater: The newest teenage obsession. An interesting read. The second book just came out, but I have not picked it up yet (saving my money, as stated earlier!)
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: I found this book at the thrift store after having it on my wish list. I have not seen the movie yet. It was an interesting story, but I was depressed after finishing it. I might rent the movie next Tuesday to watch by myself.
• The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker: Ted is my favorite author, hands down, but his recent "supernatural thrillers" are not my cup of tea. This will probably be the last one I read for a while. Seems like he has been beating the same drum for several books now, and I am not interested in the creepiness of it.
• Never Let You Go by Erin Healy: Debut novel from an author who collaborated on two of Ted Dekker's books, that I enjoyed. This was also a "supernatural thriller" like Ted's, but it was not as dark. Good message at the end. I definitely could see Ted's influence in her writing.
  
• The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood b Rebecca Wells: I really don't know anything about this book, but I have seen many copies of it at the thrift store and decided I could spend 50 cents on it. I started it this morning, and so far I am ambivalent on continuing.
  
• In Praise of Slowness by Carl Honore: I heard the praises sung on this nonfiction book, so it is on my to read list next.

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This is probably the longest post I have written in a long while!

Ways we are frugal

I read a lot of personal finance blogs, and have been wanting my blog to be one. But I don't have enough ideas for content to really make it that way, and I love to blog about the daily life much more. But, I've been thinking of one post that I could make for a while.

These are the ways that Caleb and I are frugal in our day to day life.

• Cutting Caleb's hair: There's really no point in getting your hair cut at the salon when you are only getting it buzzed anyway. We've been using his parents' hair cutting kit, but when we went to Anchorage last month, we bought our own. We will be using it soon! I, on the other hand, like getting my hair cut in a salon. But I don't get it done very often..so..
• Bringing lunches from leftovers: When we go out to eat, I take my leftovers to work the next day. Or we make a meal at home that is more food than we can eat and take that. We try not to go out to eat when we are working.
• Grocery shopping only once a week: All summer we did this and it worked great. We spent less by only going to the store once. Now that our routine is different with me starting school again, we have to figure out how to make it work again.
  
• Not going to Soldotna: We live in a small town with no malls or box stores. Everything in town is expensive and overpriced, because of no competition. The nearest town that has a mall is Soldotna, an hour and a half away. When we go to Soldotna, namely Fred Meyers, we tend to spend a lot of money. We only try to go there when we have a long list of things we need or it's a road trip. It helps us not spend!
• Rechargeable batteries: For years, I used AA batteries for my camera and cd player. While my camera doesn't eat them up very quickly, it still is a waste. When I finally got a hold of some rechargeable ones, it was my lucky day. I bought another set of batteries and now I am no longer paying for batteries!
• Moving to Homer: This probably doesn't count, as now I am paying for rent and food, but once we got married, I moved to Homer from my hometown, a 30 minute drive. I was going through so much gas to get to town everyday. I was filling up at least once a week, and now I fill up once for the whole month. I've stopped burning up so much gas, so that must count for something.
  
• Used books: I try not to buy books new, unless it's from a favorite author. So I buy a lot of reading books at the local thrift store now. I find ones that I wouldn't have tried before that way, as well. I should try out the library too. The library in my hometown didn't have much I was interested in, but the Homer one might.
• Eggs: I love eggs. Even though they have gone up in price, they are still a pretty cheap food. I can get anywhere from 6-9 meals out of a carton of them.

So, that's the current list. Most of it isn't the most frugal, and there are ways that we could definitely cut back, but I thought maybe some of them might be slightly unique.