Saturday things

 I'm meeting a friend for a hike this morning, and am excited to catch up with her. We were "funemployed" together, and have spent a lot of time hiking, and she's the friend I went to Moab with. She's a lot of fun. We both went back to work at a similar ish time (a month or so earlier for her), so we haven't been able to catch up much. 

Other things I'm up to today:

• Menu planning, particularly for the tail end of the week, when my sister + BFF will be here
• Travel planning for my 50th birthday. Can't remember if I've mentioned it, but we are likely to cancel our anniversary trip to Hawaii, as that would likely come at a time when M will just be onboarding to a new job (he's still interviewing, but fingers crossed) & I likely have to go to London for work. Instead, we are thinking of pulling the trigger on a joint celebration trip, and doing one of my bucket list items - an 8 day hiking trip in New Zealand, followed by a couple of nights at a winery. Lots of logistics to figure out for this.
• I'm also going to do a light clean on the house. I did find someone to clean the house, and she is going to start coming every other week, on Thursday (perfectly timed ahead of our guests arriving), but the house needs a cleaning ahead of that.
• Budget updates. I got my first paycheck (although, just one week, given how the pay periods fall) & need to do some budget tracking & overall planning.
• If it cools off, I need to get some gardening done, and deadhead our potted flowers.
• Shopping list for Costco + the grocery store. M will go to Costco (he loves it?!), and I'll go to the grocery store.
• Plan my schedule for the week. This involves looking at my work schedule, trying to slot in workouts, & looking at any other personal commitments.
• I might try to get ahead & finish up two work trainings, so I can flex my time a bit more on Friday.

From previous posts, you might remember that M has been buying 2lb packages of green onions at Costco for $5. He loves green onions, but we definitely can't get through that much, so I've been planting the extra. However, given he keeps buying them, we are also struggling to eat the planted ones. It's quite a vicious green onion cycle. ;-) I finally pulled out one that we'd planted, and the thing was a beast. It was actually delicious.

What about you? What are you up to today? 

Frugal Friday

 It was a pretty quiet week on the frugal front, minus Nick's AP credits, which were the big winner. 

Saving on things we buy:

• Uploaded receipts to Fetch, & earned more grocery store rewards. This time one of the coupons was for a free Kind (protein) bar, which I'll redeem next time I'm there.

Earning money:

• Still working through my benefits & perks at work, but hoping to find a spot to charge the car for free at the office when I go in. 

Avoiding spending:

• Nick earned 20 credits through AP testing, which saves about $20k in college costs. Most of his credits will satisfy classes towards his current major, and a few will give him general Ed credit. This is super helpful to give him a boost towards graduating in four years, while also keeping the number of credits he needs to take each semester more reasonable. His classes will be hard!
• Nick & I also went through the items we brought back from Sam's dorm room, and he will be able to reuse the vast majority of it, which is awesome. This not only saves costs, but avoids waste, which I love. Our list of what Nick needs to buy is pretty minimal. I also love that the school provides a mini fridge/microwave, to keep the kids from having to buy new ones & then figure out what to do with them when they move out. 
• M dropped Nick & a friend off at the airport for their flight to Hawaii (senior trip, take 2). 
• Drove to the town our office is in, and met a few people from my new team for a picnic (free lunch) + a volunteering event. It was nice to meet some of the folks in real life. 

Eating what we have:

• I made a chicken skillet dish on Saturday, and ran out of shredded cheddar cheese, but I was able to dice up some pepper jack cheese & that worked out great. It was all melted anyway, & I liked the additional flavor the pepper jack provided. 
• Used up lots of garden goodies in our meals, including making a caprese salad with garden tomatoes & basil.
• Bought healthy snacks & meal items, and did a good job of working our way through those.
• Used up the rest of the burger patties, and chicken skillet, with nothing going to waste.
• Nick & his GF joined us unexpectedly for dinner one night, so I pivoted & baked up a tray of the Costco breaded chicken tenders, made a pound of pasta, and cut up a ton of fruit & veggies. It was enough for everyone, with leftovers for me for a few days, which is always a win. 

For others:

• When M went to the Boulder orientation, one of Nick's classmate's family also joined. They will be flying their daughter to Boulder for move in, so we've offered to take some of her extra items in Nick's car, when he & M drive to Boulder. It will save them the cost of mailing things. 
• My sister put together a medicine kit for Sam, and he didn't end up needing it last year. Nick & I went through it, and pulled out a few duplicate items. We gave those away on Buy Nothing, and he will add a few of his preferred options. Fingers crossed that he also doesn't get sick, but best to be prepared. 

What about you? Any wins to share?

Healthy eating

 I've been really working on healthy eating, because I know it has such an impact on my energy, not to mention weight & overall health. It's not easy some days, and grabbing easy snacks can be tempting. We stocked up on fast & healthy options over the weekend, and that's definitely helping.

What I'm eating lately:

• Sourdough toast with natural peanut butter + a banana
• A salad (bagged mix) with a sprinkle of feta cheese + 2 diced boiled eggs 
• Avocado toast. I like to mash my avocado with some lime juice, spread over sourdough bread & top with a little feta + tomatoes
• Lots of fruit as a snack: cherries, strawberries, & melon. We tend to have a lot of cut fruit ready & available for a grab & go option
• Sourdough toast (it's a theme, I love sourdough bread) + fresh mozzarella & tomatoes, sprinkled with salt & pepper
• Protein bars. Barebells are most certainly not the cheapest option, but they taste like an actual treat. If you ever find these on sale, they are worth it (IMO). Trader Joes sells them.
• Dinner leftovers

I need to make more hummus, because that is delicious to add as an option with veggies, or on a salad.

And, we are also enjoying all of the produce from our garden (a small sample), but the very clear winners are the tomatoes. Tomatoes on everything!

I warned M that those jalapenos are *spicy*, but he didn't believe me & cut up too much for his salad. He had some regrets. ;-) 

What are your easy grab & go meal options? Bonus points for healthy + plenty of protein! 

Fitness Monday

 The week went about how I expected, with fewer planned workouts & much more impromptu, "fit in what I can, when I can" things. I did manage to go to Orange Theory 3x, thanks to the 4th of July holiday. 

Weight: same as last week

Calories: 1,830/day, which is WAY over my target of 1,500

Steps: 12,446. A lot of intentionality went into this, between meetings, etc. 

Workouts:

• 2 workout classes (combo of running, rowing & strength training)
• 1 -45 minute strength training only class
• 3 elliptical workouts
• A few short walks

Overall nutrition: I did much more "grab & go" food than usual, as I was quite busy with meetings, and didn't do a great job of tracking my calories until the end of the day, which is clearly reflected in my calories. We also had margaritas on the 4th of July, which I love, but pack quite the calorie punch. And finally, we had mini ice cream cones (Hold the Cone - Trader Joes) in the house, which we almost always have on hand & I successfully resist. This week, not so much. 

Goals for the week:

• 3 no s days
• Calories below 1500
• 4 Orange Theory workouts
• Lose 1 lb

What about you? How are you doing with your health & fitness goals?

Menu Plan Sunday

 We definitely need a menu plan to stay on track, with my work schedule, the boys activities, & M's interview schedule. Nick is the only one not working this week (the restaurant he works at is closed for some updates), as M's prepping for interviews is more than a full time work load.

Here's what's we're eating this week:

• Friday - grilled burgers & watermelon
• Saturday - one pan chicken fajita rice
• Sunday - spaghetti & meatballs
• Monday - leftover burgers
• Tuesday - leftover chicken fajita rice
• Wednesday - leftover spaghetti & meatballs
• Thursday - chicken + caprese salad
• Friday - any leftovers, or TBD

What about you? What's on your menu for the week?

Saturday things

 It was so nice to have yesterday off, as a bonus paid holiday. The company I just started with has a really generous time off plan, particularly compared to where I've previously worked. There is a mid year mini break (time off, where you don't have to use your PTO) of a Wednesday-Friday at the end of July, as well as a longer break over the holidays. I've never worked anywhere with mixed PTO (vacation + sick leave), but when given the option to work from home when sick, it's unusual for me to take more than a few sick days per year. There is also the standard collection of US holidays as well. 

What we were up to yesterday:

DH installed a shelf that I ordered for my treadmill. The treadmill hasn't gotten much use lately, because I typically run outside or at my workout class. However, you can set it at the very lowest setting, and walk while doing other things. I have a lot of training videos to watch, documents to read, etc, and this will be perfect for getting in some steps while I'm busy doing other things. My actual workouts will be shorter in the upcoming weeks, but hopefully I can use the treadmill for an hour a day or so at a very slow pace & pick up some steps. I'd like to keep my 12k steps/day goal for the year, if at all possible.

We had a fun day yesterday. DS18 was feeling very chatty about college, and we were able to understand how he did on his AP tests (scores aren't yet released to the students, but have been released to the colleges, so based on the credits given, we know which scores he got). He is going into college with 20 credits, thanks to his AP tests. He scored really well on everything but stats, where he passed, but got a 3, which means he received a general education credit, vs credit for a stats class. He was a little disappointed by that, but got full credit for: calculus & physics, both of which count towards his major. He is also bringing credits for US government & environmental science. All of these credits will save a lot of money in college tuition (about $20k), which is pretty crazy & also help him graduate on time, while not needing to overburden himself the first few semesters, as he's figuring out college.

I made everyone lunch, so they wouldn't eat out, and we chatted about all things college with DS18 & his girlfriend. She's studying abroad in Paris the first semester, and getting excited about her trip as well.

The adults had margaritas by the pool, which was so lovely, & caught up on the trip to Boulder, job searching, my new job, etc. DH grilled delicious burgers, and we had that with fresh fruit, and tater tots that DH made. He was so proud of himself, coming home with an 8 lb package of tater tots from Costco. I burst out laughing because... that's a lot to find room for in the freezer, but also, who is going to eat 8 lbs of tots?! He was so pleased with himself, when the teens loved them & cleared out the pan he made. ;-)

It's supposed to be pretty much perfect weather (for my taste) today, at 75 degrees. Sunny enough to enjoy, but not too hot to be outside & work in the yard. Yes!

I'm heading to a strength workout class this morning, will also do a walk or some sort of other cardio. Otherwise, I have a few errands to run, and plan to get ahead of some work for next week.

What are you all up to today? 

Frugal Friday

Happy 4th of July, for all of you in the US! I'm thrilled to have today off, to go to a workout class, as well as catch up a bit on life, work & prep for next week. 

I'll start with my frugal fail, although it's really Nick's frugal fail. Nick went golfing, and a friend was coming over on Sunday night for a late dinner & hang. No problem, I made some pasta & left out a bunch of hot dogs M had grilled (maybe, 18?) I asked him to put everything back before he went to bed, and he's typically very good about that. However, something must have happened, because when I woke up in the morning, lo & behold, the first container of hot dogs in grilled buns was empty & the container of 18 hot dogs was still sitting out on the counter. Into the trash they went. I hate waste! 

Saving on things we buy

• Once again, I scored on my credit card cash back rewards. (I save any I think there's even the most remote possibility we will use, and then forget about them, both because of my memory, but also because I don't want to make a purchase just to get the reward.) Nick lost his debit card on his road trip, so we agreed he could use the credit card for all of his purchases, and then reimburse me when he was back & had his card. He made a couple of fast food purchases during the journey, so I earned $1.13 from one, and $.26 from another. Basically getting rich here. ;-) But, it's money that takes almost no effort, and happens pretty seamlessly, as cash back from my credit card. 
• Won another $.75 of grocery store rewards with their current promotion, and redeemed another $2 of rewards won on another shopping trip. 
• Sam is going to visit my parents in August, and catch up with his cousin who wasn't around when we visited in June. His job & summer classes will both be wrapped up before school starts again, and he asked for more time with his grandparents, which I love. I used Alaska miles to book his flight, paying just $25 out of pocket. 

Earning money

• I'm officially back at work, and earning money. And, getting health care benefits! Woohoo!! I signed up for the HSA account, as well as my 401k, which felt nice. 
• I received a $36 settlement for something. They take so long to payout, I can rarely remember what they are for. 
• Sold a couple of things on eBay, earning $15, and further continuing out my stuff. 

Avoiding spending

• Picked up a free package of shredded cheese (I had a game piece from the store with this as the reward), which saved close to $5. Wow! Expensive, and not something I'd purchase unless it was much cheaper. 

Eating what we have

• A friend dropped off a flat of strawberries, so we have been eating our way through those, in addition to our garden strawberries. We are also freezing some for smoothies. 
• We managed to clean out the fridge pretty well, which was needed, as it was getting overly full. 
• Sam & I avoided takeout, despite me having APAC meetings in the early evenings. We ate some delicious samosas from the freezer, and had breakfast for dinner one night. 
• I had salads for lunch, and had prepped a big tray of chicken, and added that to lunches for a quick meal option. 

For others

• Bought my sister's flight for a trip she's making to visit in a couple of weeks. She and my BFF are flying in on a Thursday night. We are all going to work on Friday, and cut out a few hours early. Then we will have Friday late afternoon/evening + all day Saturday together & Sunday morning. It was tricky to find time to get together, with me starting my new job, and BFF is a school administrator, so also has a limited travel window. I wanted to thank my sister for hosting Nick & his posse for his senior trip, as she spoiled them with takeout, lots of snacks & homemade meals while they stayed with her. I used a flight gift card, purchased on a discount at Costco. 

What about you? Any wins to share? 

Reflections a few days into a new job

 I'm at the start of day four, and it's been a lot of fun & full on so far. Any time you are onboarding, meeting a bunch of new people, and just figuring things out, it's intense.

• I'm liking all of the social connections
• I'm going to have to work hard to get in physical activity/steps
• I need to meal prep easy breakfast/lunch options, especially in the beginning
• I have a ton of on-boarding meetings to meet new people. It's a big & very matrixed organization, so I think have about 50+ intro meetings over the next month or so! It's a lot.
• Learning how to use new tech is..not my favorite. ;-) I'm still struggling how to set up my computer so I can easily find everything I need. That's been a bit of a journey.
• I most certainly need to find a new workout schedule. I'm fine with it being ad hoc for a few weeks, as my schedule evens out a bit.
• TONS of early morning calls, although much fewer evening calls! The majority of the folks I'll engage with regularly are split between London & the bay area, which means my day is very front loaded with early morning meetings.  I'd much rather have this schedule than the one my London based manager has - late calls in her time zone. My energy levels drop drastically later in the day, which is part of why I work out first thing after waking up. Calls in the evening are terrible on my energy levels. So, if I had to choose one time zone flex, it would definitely be London vs Tokyo. 
• I'll really have to manage my own schedule, to carve out time to eat, go for a walk, etc, because it is way too easy to do back to back meetings for six hours & not have a moment to grab food. The first few weeks are super tricky with all of the on-boarding meetings, but I'm pretty good at calendar management in general.
• Going from having total schedule flexibility has been an adjustment, and I'm generally really tired at the end of the day! So happy I joined on a four day work week.
• There's lots of time off in this role, which is so awesome! 

I really think I'm going to enjoy the group of people, the team & the culture. The work feels pretty familiar to what I've done before, but with enough new twists & business challenges to keep it interesting. And, I really like my boss & think we will get on great. 

On a funny note, I've mentioned my role is pretty niche, which also applies to some of the roles of the folks on my team. I went into my first meeting with one of my team members, and he had previously worked with my direct report on my old team at my last job. Such a small world! 

If you have easy lunch or breakfast options that can be prepped in advance, please share!

Goals for July

 July is definitely going to be an interesting month, with starting a new job, helping Nick get ready for college, and helping Sam figure out if he's going back to OSU, or prefers to stay local & attend community college. I also have friends visiting (yay!), M & Nick are going to Boulder for orientation, and there's just plenty happening at our house. 

Goals for July:

Financial:

• Spend sign on bonus per the plan, assuming all of this is allowed:
• Max 401k for the year
• Max HSA 
• Max 529 contributions to get the full company match per kid
• $5000 to my nephew for college
• Create a new budget, based on new paycheck amont
• Meal plan, and avoid takeout/eating out unless planned. I want to focus on this, especially as I don't know my work schedule, when/if I'm going to the office, etc. 

Family:

• Get Nick's college prep sorted as much as possible, & finish required orientation tasks.
• Have a fabulous visit with my sister + BFF, who are visiting mid-month
• Help Sam decide on fall plans
• One date night with M

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs
• 15, 15, 15 - strength workouts, No S days, and meditations
• Figure out a new workout routine for my work schedule
• Average 12,500 steps/day

Personal:

• Get together with friends x2 
• Say yes to adventure & try new things
• Figure out new work schedule/transition, & get settled into new job
• Declutter 50 items

What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish in July?

June Goals Recap

June was a ride, but with lots of great things happening! Overall, I'm really happy with my progress for the month, even though the fitness side definitely suffered in the midst of everything else. 

Financial:

• Bank all of M's severance, and open CDs  - done
• Shuffle existing CDs for better rates - done
• Find a job - WOOHOO! Done
• Finish teaching class, and invoice for all sessions - done
• Earn $300 in side hustle - I made $2052 in June, with $2000 coming from my teaching job
• Get rid of 3 pantry items - no

Family:

• Have a fantastic graduation for Nick (including time with my parents & celebrating in Washington) - both his actual graduation & the party in Washington were so fabulous.
• Have an on budget & fabulous trip with M to Las Vegas - yes! It was so much fun
• Work with boys on various life stuff. Help Sam decide on fall plans. - Work in progress on both of these. 

Fitness:

• Lose 2 lbs - I gained 1.5 lbs, so I need to get back to this for sure
• 15, 15, 15 - strength workouts, No S days, meditations - 14 strength workouts, 6 No S Days, & 3 days of meditation
• Try something new in my workout routine - I did another treadmill class, which is unusual for me, & definitely pushes me to work on my running pace & endurance
• Average 12,500 steps/day - 12,340, which I will take, given the month

Personal:

• Get together with friends x2 - oh yes, lots of friends get togethers. Walks, hikes, brunches, a birthday dinner, and saw my sister + BFF at my parents house
• Say yes to adventure & try new things - a lot going on in June, and starting a new job is definitely something new
• Reduce screen time - yes! I found that once I had a job, I was so infrequently looking at my email & no need to be constantly on LinkedIn
• Declutter 50 items - 60/50

What about you? How did you do with your June goals?

Fitness Monday

 Finally back & attempting to get back on track with my health & fitness. It was a pretty good week, particularly in comparison to the rest of June. ;-) 

Weight: up 1.5 lbs since my last weigh in! This is why it's so helpful for me to record my food & fitness. When I'm not doing that, the train is off the track. 

Calories: 1502, a little higher than I'd like

Steps: 11,673. I had one day where I was supposed to do a gym class, but instead did the elliptical, after I discovered my tire was super low & didn't want to drive. M fixed me up, but I'd missed my class. I absolutely should have gone for a walk at some point that day, but it's been too warm for me, and I bailed. Otherwise, my steps each day were pretty good. 

Workouts:

• 3 60 minute workout classes (combination of running, rowing & strength)
• Two hikes + one more casual walk with a friend
• Treadmill class (lots of running)
• 30 minutes on the elliptical 

Overall nutrition: I ate pretty well, and had a lot of salads & more produce. I had two mini Trader Joes ice cream cones & a couple of days with higher calories than I'd like, but overall pretty decent on the nutrition front. 

Goals for the week:

• Figure out a workout schedule, at least for the next couple of weeks
• Eat well & clean out the fridge/freezer while M & Nick are in Boulder
• Get 12k steps/day, which will be definitely more challenging with work & meetings

What about you? How did you do with your health & fitness goals over the past week?

Menu Plan Sunday

 

We were lazy & ordered Greek takeout on Friday (also celebrating that M had a great interview day), and with me starting a new job, we definitely need a menu plan so this doesn't turn into a trend.

• Friday - delicious Greek takeout. I had a gyro bowl
• Saturday - leftover Korean beef & rice
• Sunday - Philly cheesesteaks
• Monday - chicken fajitas
• Tuesday - M & Nick will be in Boulder, so Sam & I will probably have a frozen pizza, like the party animals we are
• Wednesday - chicken fajitas over salad
• Thursday  - leftovers 
• Friday - likely grilled hot dogs or burgers, for the 4th of July

What about you? What's on your menu plan this week?

Frugal Friday

 It's been a reasonably quiet week on the frugal front, as I tried to wrap up all of my projects ahead of work next week, as well as meet up with friends. 

Saving on things we buy

• Forgot about a Southwest credit card offer I'd saved to my account, and earned $1.46 (big money) o our recent flights.
• Used a 40% promo code at CVS to order a few more graduation pictures for Nick.
• Nick & Sam took their girlfriends on a date night, using Nick's discounted meal that he gets for the place he works. Apparently, it was a lot of fun, and I love that they double dated. 

Earning money

• Sold some hand cream on eBay & made $6.50. I accepted a pretty low offer, as I'm trying to clean out my eBay shelf. Hopefully I can get rid of more in the next few weeks!

Avoiding spending

• M, Nick & I were originally all going to go to his college orientation 7/1-7/3 in Boulder. However, my new manager requested I start on 6/30, ahead of her taking off on vacation. M offered to take Nick on his own. We had the hotel booked with free night awards in my name, and our flight reservations included all three of us. United doesn't make it easy to split a flight reservation, unlike some airlines, but I spent time on the phone & got that sorted. I'll get a future flight credit. I was also able to cancel my free night awards, then transfer the awards to M, and rebook them under his name. Done & done, but saving a lot of money. And, ultimately all of this allows me to start work a week earlier, get a "free" vacation day on July 4th, and get an earlier month of health insurance (July), which is a huge savings. 
• We ate at the airport lounge (for free last weekend while we were traveling), & filled out water bottles for free at the airport both ways.

Eating what we have

• Our garden is really producing, so we have tons of tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, & herbs. Some sort of wildlife is eating my cucumbers & squash, which is irritating me to know end. I want M to set up a critter camera, so we can see how they are getting into our heavily fortified garden boxes. Ate lots of strawberries for snacks. 
• I made quite a few meals out of freezer items (taco meat, broccoli beef, chicken salads for lunch, etc), which has been nice & avoided a trip to the store. We didn't have quite enough of the broccoli beef, so I added a lot more fresh broccoli (steaming right before serving) & served it over pasta, as the recipe calls for. The pasta really adds bulk. Nick had his with meatballs, which meant we had just enough for the three of us eating the beef & broccoli.
• Shredded my one lonely zucchini I've grown this year. I picked it & then didn't have a chance to make it right away, so I figured that shredding was my best option. 

For others

• Let my sister know about the money we plan to gift my nephew for his fall college tuition, so she can plan accordingly for her contributions & overall finances. 

What about you? Any wins to share?