End of Summer

I can’t believe how fast the summer has flown by.  I had a little hiatus from riding my bike this last week since my back tire wasn’t holding the air.  I started taking the bus again while the bike was out of commission. Good timing since I was in the middle of reading the Hunger Games trilogy finally.  Talk about a book that is hard to put down.  I blew through all three in under two weeks - just reading during my commute.  But I did realize I really get something from the bike riding.  Not only a little exercise, but also some thinking time apparently.  I just picked up my bike from the repair shop yesterday where I also had them do a tune-up and what a difference.  It definitely helps having better tires but everything just runs so smoothly.  I guess you don’t notice the decline when it’s gradual.   The ride in this morning was so easy and carefree.  I knew I was working a bit harder earlier, before the tune-up.  Being passed by a jogger might have been one give away.  I was that slow, but figured I was getting a work-out - more resistance and everything.  Now I’m making a mental note to bring the bike up in for a tune-up at the start of each summer.

I’m also trying to figure out if I can ride my bike further into the fall/winter season.  I usually stop riding when I find I’m commuting home in the dark.  There’s something different about riding your bike in a fresh summer evening with tons of people out walking their dogs, hanging out by the pond and playing in the fields beside the bike path and general merriment, versus the evening when it’s really dark on the bike path - the trees block the moon and there are no bike path lights.  I did figure out the other night, a new way to bike home parallel to the bike path on a side street/parking lot, which limited the bike path riding to just a small stretch.  And I did pick up a new bike light which hopefully will last a little longer than the last lamp.  I’m almost wondering if I can ride my bike year round.  I may be too eager since in the winters the bike path can be out of commission most days and biking on the busy streets are not my cup of tea.  For now, I’ll just enjoy my nice bike rides in the remaining summer evenings.  And figure out the rest as I go along.  It’s nice having the bike back and better than ever.

On other fronts, I’ve got tons of travel in the works.  Work has calmed down - so not too much travel although I will have some coming up this fall.  I also have my wonderful deal I bought last year coming up this fall - Copenhagen for only $350 round trip.  Crazy right!  I was one of the lucky few that got in on the promotional deal.  And then just got another promotional deal for Amsterdam pop up this summer so booked that for this spring.  Not quite as good but still under $600 which is hard to find.  And I just was notified of a new deal that popped up for Oslo that is under $600 and fits in with my plans to explore the Nordic/Scandinavian countries.  But am having to be good and not book anything.  Partly for expense and partly for time. Having two vacations within a 6 month period taxes the vacation days and budget.  Also in the mix is a potential trip with mom and Nick that I didn’t realize was wanting to be end of spring next year too.  It’s hard when you want to travel and can’t find any good flight deals and then other times when you all of a sudden stumble upon a bunch but can’t take advantage of them.  

On the home front, I’m slowly making progress of updating the place, one project at a time.  I reupholstered my living room chairs with new blue velvet seats.  Fairly simple to do compared to other upholstery projects I have on the list.  I got all the chairs done in a weekend.  The one thing of note for future self is to make sure to put the velvet facing the same way for each chair.  The original chairs had velvet material that was put on in two different directions and it didn’t seem to matter.  But with the blue velvet, sitting next to each other, you can tell the different shades.  Minor detail since most of the time they are not next to each other and are under the table hidden away.  I also had Dad and Barbro, during their visit this weekend, help me move the giant mirror that was in my bedroom.  I think this is a New England thing since I’ve seen a bunch of places have this - a big 4’ x6’ piece of mirror (or bigger) hung up on a wall.  The aim is to make the room look bigger and brighter.  In my place, when you looked into my bedroom, it seemed bigger because of where the mirror was.  Only it really doesn’t fit in with the design I’ve been working out and I am getting close to finalizing paint color and want to clear the walls for painting.  So I moved it to my living room, along the wall that I would like to knock down eventually.  It gives me a preview of what the room will look like bigger.  It really changes the room, but in a good way which is nice.

The big annoyance right now is that I’m in the process of going through everything I own and figuring out if I should keep it or finally let it go which means a lot of stuff is getting pulled out and taking up more space under foot.  I’m aiming to finally have a garage sale in a few weeks, which means pushing forward with making piles of stuff to sell.  And I’m running out of storage space - the basement is pretty full and my enclosed back porch, so now it’s bleeding into the other rooms.  It doesn’t seem like that much stuff, but it does take up room.  It will be nice to down size and I imagine it will take several cycles of going through and weeding out.  It’s amazing how little clothing I have now.  The process really made me take stock of what really works for me style wise and what looks good. And what I really wear.  It’s making getting dressed and put together so much easier when there aren’t a million options and combinations.  So much so that I’m not inclined to go clothes shopping much anymore.  That’s a first for me in 30+ years. 

 And of course, I’m leaving out all the fun get togethers and visits of the summer but will save that for another post, if I get to it.

Refinanced!

Success!  I just closed today on refinancing my mortgage.  I was thinking about locking in a lower interest rate back at Christmas and am kicking myself I didn’t start the paperwork in February when the rates were really good.  But still better late than never.  I still locked in a nice low rate, even though my place isn’t that old.  It took a bit longer than I thought it would - considering it was just refinancing.  I figured the paperwork would be easier.  Not really - still tons.  But apparently it’s about to get worse in the next month with new regulation on mortgages.  Glad I missed that headache.

I’m really excited, because I paid off a bit of my mortgage and with the new lower rate, I’m paying the same amount per month as I was before and just went from having 28 years left on my mortgage to 15.  It’s nice to know I’ll have my place paid off before I hit retirement age.  Granted I don’t move, of course.  It was interesting as I’ve been soliciting more financial advice from folks in high up “paying-off-the-mortgage-early-was-one-of-the-best-things-I-did” came up a lot.

 

Also nice to hear was the appraisal.  The guy who came out shared that my town is really solid - it was one of the few that maintained house value during the real estate hit a few years back.  And the market is doing really well.  It was nice to see that the value went up pretty nicely.  A very different feel than what I had back with my place in Michigan - where I bought high and sold low. 

I had to pick up a bank check yesterday in preparation.  I thought I’d be one of the first into the bank when it opened at 9 am, but a bunch of people were ahead of me.  And they all had something in common.  They were older (i.e. retired/senior).  It was the thing to do I guess.  One woman just came in to ask about her balance on her account.  But the other three people were getting money and all asked for big bills - $100 bills.  Very strange since I was just talking with Nick last month about how $100 bills apparently are used more internationally than nationally.  Which seems right since I hardly ever come across a $100 or see someone use one.  And US currency is used for transactions where paper money is needed, especially in developing countries.  So strange to suddenly see a bunch of people asking for the big bills.  I started envisioning some underworld organization thing that the senior folks were working in.  Not money laundering but something like that.

Needless to say, I was happy to pass the check on today.  I don’t like having that much money on me that could possible go missing.  My checking account feels awfully barren right now.  I keep reminding myself it will be in good shape soon.