…until I start my new job. I’m so excited!
It’s hard to believe my summer is coming to a close. Starting my new job was always something looming on the distant horizon. How did it come so close? I begin working five weeks from yesterday. Still plenty of time to finish studying for my last exam and tackle a few domestic projects before the new phase of my life begins, and yet eighty percent of my summer is past.
I got the score back for Auditing: another 99. I feel so surprised every time that number pops up. I started studying for BEC three weeks ago and have another two weeks before I take the exam. I feel like the schedule for this section is the most luxurious. So far, no stress.
And now for a colossal update on my goal tracking. I have not really given a complete update since week five, so I’m definitely due for one.
1. Study for and pass all four sections of the CPA exam
- I think I have said enough about this one. I have passed three of the sections with flying colors, with one more remaining.2.
3.
4. Volunteer 75 hours - (30/75)
5.
6.
7. Go camping - The forecast for tonight predicts a low of 39. I have not had the chance (or made the effort) to go camping, and it’s too late to safely attempt it now. Fail.
8. Create a list of contact numbers in case my purse ever gets stolen - I plan on doing this after completing the CPA exam.
9.
10. Sort through and organize receipts, bills, lecture notes, etc. - I did some work in this area earlier in the summer. I even bought a new file box to keep old receipts and bills. However, this isn’t the sort of project that should only be attempted twice a year, so I definitely need to do some more organizing before I can check this goal off the list.
11. Make one new recipe each week - (19/25)
12. Make five crock-pot meals - (2/5)
13.
14.
15. Read the New Testament - I’m 67% of the way through the New Testament, but 80% of the way through the summer. I’ve been reading two chapters a day for a long time now, but I think I might need to increase that if I am to finish on time.
16.
New recipes:
- Eggplant parmesan (7/22)
- Artichoke with lemon butter (7/23)
- Shrimp-stuffed eggplant (7/25)
- Apricot pork with garlic green beans (7/30)
- Green lantern (8/2)
- Scrambled burritos (8/2)
- Farmer’s market quesadilla (8/5)
- Blueberry peach cobbler (8/12)
- Chicken piccata (8/17)
- Jalapeno poppers (8/23)
- Slow cooker chicken tortilla soup (9/11)
- Spaghetti alla putanesca (9/16)
- Pasta all’ amatriciani (9/22)
- Key lime cheesecake (9/27)
- Slow cooker chili (9/28)
- Pesce al forno (9/29)
New books:
- Where the Wild Things Were (7/6)
- Amusing Ourselves to Death (7/21)
- House of Mirth (7/22)
- The Omnivore’s Dilemma (7/27)
- The Hiding Place (8/6)
- Under the Tuscan Sun (8/17)
- Doing Well and Doing Good (8/18)
- A Room with a View (8/26)
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (9/13)
- The $64 Tomato (9/19)
- Pilgrim at Tinker Creek (9/21)
- I Capture the Castle (9/23)
The move to Des Moines was a success! We have unpacked at least 75% of our stuff, and so far nothing has been damaged. I have less than two crazy days to finish unpacking and cleaning before my parents come to see me for a few days this weekend.
Yesterday I spent $86 on things I do not need. I’m not usually a big spender, so that is quite the feat for me. I wouldn’t feel as badly if I had splurged on a new purse or pair of shoes for work, but tea, a manicure set, and books to be used primarily for ornamental purposes? My problem is that I’m horrible at telling people no. Two of the three purchases were made in response to a sales pitch. I had to say yes to the nice sales woman, didn’t I? Even if saying yes to the girl in the booth selling Dead Sea lotion cost me $60. Why can’t I just say no to people? Is that really such a hard thing to do? I will never see any of these people again, they might not even get a commission for their work, and now I am $86 poorer because of it. Although I must say, the tea is phenomenal, the manicure set really is amazing, and those books will add to my lovely collection on display in the living room (although if I keep going at this rate I won’t have a living room to put them in). I told myself and my husband, who witnessed all of these purchases, that I am not allowed to buy anything for myself for “a long time.” It’s probably best to keep this time period vaguely defined, just in case I am faced with another sales pitch in the near future.
On a happier note, today I got my new Capresso coffee maker. It was our housewarming present to ourselves, and well-timed too considering our last coffeemaker died three days before we moved to Des Moines. The Capresso machine is easy to use and makes a great cup of coffee. It has a thermal carafe that keeps coffee warm for hours, a gold-tone permanent filter, and a water filtration system that I will probably only use until our first filter wears out. The best part of all of this is that I bought the coffee maker refurbished from the manufacturer, so it only cost a little more than half the price of a new one. Basically I bought a coffee maker, two ounces of tea, a Dead Sea manicure set, and twelve ornamental books for the price of one coffee maker. Not bad, VandeKrol…
Well, I feel like the REG exam went fairly well. The first testlet was a breeze; the second and third were much more difficult, but I still felt pretty good about most of the questions. My performance on the simulations is much more sketchy, and it doesn’t help that I have no idea how strictly they grade the written portions. It has been two weeks since I sat for REG, but I’m sure it will be a few more before my scores are posted. I’ll keep my fingers crossed as I start gearing up for the FAR exam. Today I reviewed an entire chapter from the Becker FAR textbook and worked through well over one hundred multiple choice questions. I feel like I still have so many weak areas to struggle through during the two weeks remaining until I take the exam. FAR is proving to be much more difficult than REG, that’s for sure.
After a three week break, I’m easing back into learning Spanish. The more time I spend studying it, the more I feel like I will never really learn it. I’m over 80% of the way through Spanish I, which isn’t much of an accomplishment given the fact that this is the fourth time I have reached this point in my quest to learn Spanish. I usually make it all the way through I, then spend hardly any time in II before I quit studying. There has been a good reason every time, but I really want to get farther this time around. Hence the lofty goal, “Complete Spanish I and part of Spanish II.”
I have only finished one book to add to my summer reading list since my last post–Where the Wild Things Were by William Stolzenburg. It’s about the importance of top predators in ecological systems. Kevin read the book a year ago and has been persistently reminding me that I should read it ever since. It sounded somewhat boring to me, but I checked it out from the library to oblige him, still without especially strong intentions of ever picking it up. I finally started reading it when we were in St Louis, and found that old Kevin didn’t have such bad taste after all. It was one of those books that made me sad to finish. If only it were just a little longer.
New recipes:
- Basil pesto pizza with caramelized onions and peppers (7/3)
- Herbed baked eggs (7/4)
- Spinach risotto (7/8)
- Balsamic-glazed salmon (7/8)
- Boule bread (7/15)
- Brown rice and black bean casserole (7/16)
- French onion soup (7/17)
I have made a lot of progress with the old goals in the past two weeks. After finishing my first pass through the REG materials, I have been busily reviewing the content to make sure I understand it all. I scheduled the exam for July 7, which gives me a few more days to rework old exam problems and memorize the flashcards I have created. I’m both nervous and excited about taking this test. It will be so nice to have it behind me, if I can only pass it!
In addition to making good progress on studying for the CPA, I have also purchased a home in the Beaverdale area of Des Moines. This has been one of my most time-consuming and nerve-wracking goals, but it’s mostly behind me now. The house was built in 1941, and as such will need a little bit of work. Structurally it is in great shape, but the wiring and plumbing need updating. The house could also use a good coat of paint inside and out and some work on the landscaping, but these things seem more like fun than work.
Last Saturday was my first day at my summer job. It took a few weeks to get started, but now I can happily settle in to working 10-15 hours per week from the comfort of my own home. It’s hard to beat a job like that.
Books I have read in the past two weeks:
- Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit (6/14)
- The Last Lecture (6/18)
- In Defense of Food (6/23)
- Adventures in Missing the Point (6/25)
- Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (6/26)
In Defense of Food was by far the best one of the lot, and probably the only one I would recommend with the possible exception of Alice in Wonderland.
New recipes:
- Banana bread (6/17)
- Ricotta gnocchi (6/25)
Tomorrow I accomplish another big goal: vacationing! Kevin and I are going to spend five days in St. Louis at an old mansion that has been converted into a bed & breakfast. I’m most excited to visit the City Museum and the zoo, but I’m sure I will also have plenty of energy to devote to eating and shopping. This is our first legitimate vacation since our honeymoon. We have flown to NC a few times to visit family in the past two years, but have never gone off to somewhere new by ourselves.
Time to pack!
Today I finished my first pass through all of the REG materials. My mind is filled with an overwhelming amount of information concerning taxes and business law–information I have to retain for at least three more weeks. I plan on taking the exam as close to the beginning of July as possible, which will gives me time for review, but not so much time that I start forgetting what I have learned. In addition to preparing for REG, I have been easing into FAR during the past two weeks. This has definitely not been going as well as REG. For many of the FAR homework topics I am only scoring in the 70’s, compared to mid-80’s through 100 for REG. I have a lot of work to do if I am going to be ready for FAR by the end of July.
I have finished five books so far this summer, most of which were selected at random during a trip to the library. Since the summer began, I have read The Mayor of Casterbridge, House Lust, The Joy of Keeping Chickens, The Treasure Principle, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. If my book selection seems unfathomable to you, then you probably don’t know me very well. I enjoyed all of the books I have read this summer, with the exception of the very cheesy Treasure Principle.
The most recent book I read, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, is also one of the best books I have read in a long time. It’s the story of a family who moved from Arizona to Virginia with the intention of eating locally for one year. They raised most of their own produce, made their own cheese, and raised chickens and turkeys. They bought any food they had to purchase, such as flour and beef, from inside their own county. The book is not purely biographical, but also addresses the pathetic fact that we as Americans have no idea where our food comes from, nor would we have any hope of providing for ourselves if it ever came down to that. It is also astonishing to realize that as we are taking public transportation or buying more fuel-efficient vehicles, we continue to purchase food that consumes nearly as much fuel each year as personal transportation. All of these issues are serious, but not surprising given consumer want, laziness, and wastefulness.
Here is where I stand on quantifiable goals, expressed either as a percent or Laura-style:
- Spanish 1 and part of 2 (30%)
- Volunteer 75 hours (17/75)
- One new recipe each week (5/25)
- Crock pot recipes (0/5)
- Have five people over for dinner (2/5)
- Read twenty books (5/20)
- Read the New Testament (50/260 chapters)
I recently discovered that despite my marketing studies in college and a number of books I have read about advertising on the side, I remain a helpless victim to misleading advertising. For the past six months I have been paying a premium for the Tyson brand of frozen chicken breasts, usually two or three dollars more than the generic brand. Why? Because Tyson chicken is hormone-free. A bag of chicken lasts me long enough to seem worth the extra money to avoid all of those terrible hormones that may or may not lead to cancer. I felt good about this purchasing decision, and once I started buying Tyson I never went back to the generic brand.
Yesterday I made a chicken caesar salad for lunch, and while I was removing a few tenderloins from the bag I realized that there was a tiny asterisk next to the large “No Hormones Administered” text. Following the star to the bottom of the page, I identified a previously obscured sentence reading: “Federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones in chicken.” Are you kidding me? A few minutes of research confirmed that Tyson is by no means unique in offering hormone-free chicken–all commercial growers are held to these standards. All this time I have been paying a completely unnecessary premium to ensure the chicken I consume is free of hormones, when any generic bag of chicken would provide me with the same thing. It’s amazing how willing people are to purchase peace of mind, even if it’s a false peace of mind. I think I’ll use the money I save on my future chicken purchases to buy organic milk. But first I’ll make sure that milk isn’t organic by law.
After two and a half weeks, here is an update on my goals:
- CPA Study — I’m just about finished with the taxation section of REG (worth nearly two-thirds of the total point value) and ready to study ethics and business law.
- Spanish — I’m now able to make awkward and unnecessary observations about my environment: “The boy has a black cat. The man is not wearing shoes.”
- Volunteering — 9/75 hours complete.
- House shopping — I contacted my realtor a few days ago and requested an updated email listing of potential purchases. I plan on making a visit to Des Moines sometime in June to start shopping again.
- Vacation — I booked a few nights at a bed & breakfast in St. Louis!
- Cooking — I have made no less than five new recipes since my last post: lemon garlic shrimp, penne with chicken and pesto, oatmeal peanut butter cookies, chicken broccoli divan, and cajun chicken caesar salad.
- Reading — I finished The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, an excellent nineteenth century novelist and poet. I am currently up to chapter three in Mark.
I have made quite a bit of progress on my goals this past week, especially considering the traumatic idleness caused by having my wisdom teeth removed. Today is day twelve of coping with huge holes in my mouth, and I’m still in pain and reluctant to eat solid foods (especially meat, which I am irrationally afraid will become lodged in my empty sockets and cause an infection leading to my inevitable death). Despite these hindrances, I have made excellent progress in cooking, reading, organizing, volunteering, and studying for the CPA exam.
- Cooking — I have prepared three new recipes: lemon raspberry muffins, egg drop soup, and deviled eggs. I admit the last two were pretty simple, but recipes are recipes.
- Reading — I am at least 25% through three different books and twelve chapters into Matthew.
- Organizing — I attacked our bedroom over the weekend, mercilessly ridding myself of all my unneeded possessions. Between myself and Kevin, we have two boxes of clothes to be taken into a consignment shop and six garbage bags ready for Goodwill! I also spent a morning last week sorting through hair products, makeup, cleaning supplies, and other items in our bathroom vanity, after which I was able to throw away a whole bag of unused and unusable objects. The greatest joy comes from neither giving nor receiving, but throwing things away.
- Volunteering — I have put in 5.5 of the 75 hours I hope to accomplish this summer. Two of the hours come from preparing for and teaching the Kaio Kids lesson for my church, and the remaining time was spent performing bookkeeping for Aspire.
- Studying for the CPA exam — For those of you who don’t know, passing the CPA exam is an important accomplishment in an accountant’s career. The examination comprises four sections totaling 14.5 hours and covering everything I learned in college plus quite a bit more. My plan is to study for each section individually, taking them about a month apart. The first section I am studying for is Regulation (REG), which covers taxation and business law. REG is the second shortest section at only three hours and I am already strong in tax, so I thought it would be a good start. Between today and yesterday I have spent eight hours studying–a good chunk of time, but I still have so far to go before I will be ready for this section!
Today I find myself in the unusual and desirable position of being placed at the beginning of a six month gap between graduation from college and the start of my new job in November. In an attempt to make the most of this down time (and to keep myself from going crazy!) I have made a list of things I would like to accomplish this summer/fall. I originally set my goals much too high and after estimating that they would take me about 60 hours per week to finish by November, I decided to pare down the list a bit. The last thing I need is to continue the burn-out I have experienced this past semester!
So, with no further ado, here are my summer goals:
1. Study for and pass all four sections of the CPA exam
2. Get a part-time job
3. Complete Spanish 1 and start on Spanish 2
4. Volunteer 75 hours
5. Buy a house
6. Take a vacation
7. Go camping
8. Create a list of contact numbers in case my purse ever gets stolen
9. Create a list of contacts to be notified of a change of address when we move
10. Sort through and organize receipts, bills, lecture notes, etc.
11. Make one new recipe each week
12. Make five crock-pot meals
13. Have five people over for dinner
14. Read twenty books (at least ten non-fiction)
15. Read the New Testament
16. Be less wasteful
In the future I will take more time to explain why I have chosen the goals I have as I track my progress. I have had a hard time sticking with my blog in the past, so hopefully tracking these goals will lend me the focus I have been lacking and keep me writing more consistently.
