What's Cooking?

I'm working on my meal plan for the rest of December. It's always a challenge to ensure that we have enough around the house (my husband absolutely panics if we're short on fruits & vegetables), but not wasting while we're traveling & out & about.

Here's what's up for the rest of the month (we have salad & fresh veggies with every meal, so I don't mention it with the menu):

• Monday (12/9) - adults will have leftover pizza, kids will have leftover tacos.
• Tuesday (12/10) - Grilled chicken + pasta. Our go-to staple.
• Wednesday (12/11) - Spaghetti & meatballs (from the freezer)
• Thursday (12/12) - Oven baked chicken risotto. My favorite "cheater" risotto.
• Friday (12/13) - Leftovers (risotto or meatballs)
• Saturday (12/14) - M & I are attending a birthday party, & eating there.
• Sunday (12/15) - homemade pizza.
• Monday (12/16) - Some sort of casserole that I have in the freezer. Can't remember what I made. ;-)
• Tuesday (12/17) - Leftover pizza
• Wednesday (12/18) - Leftover casserole.
• Thursday (12/19) - Whatever is left in the fridge. Clean out before we leave.
• Friday (12/20) - Tortellini & chicken (from the freezer)
• Saturday (12/21) - I'm meeting a friend who is in town, & the boys will make sandwiches or something.
• Sunday (12/22) - Eat up whatever is left in the fridge.
• Monday (12/23) - Eating in Portland with my sister, after our flight.
• Tuesday (12/24) - Christmas Eve! Contributing $ to our family potluck, since we can't bring anything. We usually have ham.
• Wednesday (12/25) - Christmas dinner! My mom cooks.
• Thursday (12/26). We'll be at the beach for the first time in four months. No clue what's in the freezer, but we'll eat something from there, & pick up any fresh ingredients as needed. Likely, chicken & pasta.
• Friday (12/27) - Ditto the freezer comment above, & add in goat cheese crostini.
• Saturday (12/28) - my parents will be visiting. We'll either make burgers or steak.
• Sunday (12/29) - my parents + my sister/nephews will be visiting. We're getting a couple of pizzas + salads, & will be having some sort of appetizer with the kiddos.
• Monday (12/30) - grabbing dinner at the airport before our flight home.
• Tuesday (12/31) - New Year's Eve! I'll poll the crew & see what kind of fun/fancy dinner they'd like. Maybe homemade pizza + dessert. :-)
• Wednesday (1/1) - I have the day off of work, so I'm thinking chicken marsala casserole.
• Thursday (1/2) - Leftovers
• Friday (1/3) - Tilapia + pasta side dish
• Saturday (1/4) - May try my hand at Lubia Polo again (Persian recipe that M's mom makes).
• Sunday (1/5) - I'll try a new stuffed peppers recipe. 

What about you? Do you have all of your holiday meals (and those wedged between) all planned out? How are you planning on spending your December grocery budget? I am fairly certain that we'll be over, but I'll do my best to keep the spending in check!

Happy Monday!

Is that a real expression? ;-) I'm taking a cue from Carla today, & trying to focus on the positives on the week ahead. Monday is usually a turkey of a day. See picture of wild turkeys that always chase me on my runs at the nature preserve. ;-)

Two weeks from today, we're flying to Portland to see my family for the holidays, & then heading to our vacation house. Very excited about that!!

Here's my list of tasks I'm hoping to accomplish this week:

1. Create a menu plan.
2. Mail out all holiday cards.
3. Wrap last few gifts.
4. Finalize packing list for holiday trip.
5. Book February/birthday trip.
6. Five cardio, 5 strength, & 5 stretching workouts. This is ambitious. :-)
7. Make a special gift/note for my husband for Christmas.
8. Have two no spend days.
9. Work on my patience in the evenings (not a task, so much as a reminder "goal"), and spend more time doing bonus snuggles with my boys.
10. Work on menu for holidays (out of town items).

I think that will most definitely do it. I'm about to embark on a hugely crazy time at work (it's our busiest season anyway, and the person who does the operational side of my job is about to take an unexpected 6 week leave to care for an ill family member. I'm about to be thrown into the deep end of the pool!!! 

Sunday Night Chit Chat

This was one of those rare weekends when we didn't have much going on, in terms of planned activities. Thank goodness, because we had a ton to do! Here's what happened around our house.

First up, on Saturday morning, we went out & picked all of the ripe fruit, knowing it was going to freeze overnight. Here was our harvest. Still a *ton* of citrus fruit & avocados on the trees, so hoping they survive. In the bowls, we have - red leaf lettuce, four giant Haas avocados, 8 mandarins, 3 lemons, 4 smaller oranges of unknown variety, and 5 Valencia oranges.

We juiced the oranges & made these orange muffins. Last time I made them, they were amazing. This time, they had a slightly bitter flavor. I wonder if it was because the oranges were too big. Next time I'll add more juice, & peel part of the rind off when using larger oranges.

Since it was chilly, I also made one of my favorite (and incredibly easy) soups - tomato with chicken & gorgonzola. We use feta in place of the gorgonzola, because we always have that on hand.

I also made homemade pizza (taco, a childhood favorite - taco meat, cheddar cheese, mild chiles, topped with fresh tomatoes), Italian chicken sausage/pesto/mushroom pizza. And, since the kids had already had pizza once that day, I made their pizza dough into pigs in a blanket/weiner wraps. They were fantastic! M & I even had wrap. :-)

We took the kids to see the Christmas lights last night, and there was a clear winner. The picture doesn't do it justice, but . . . wow. So much going on! :-)

I also ordered our Christmas cards today, & attempted to make an old family favorite holiday recipe - cardamom bread. My great aunt made it every year until I was in college or so. We would toast it & eat it with butter on Christmas morning. Her version was a yeast bread with cardamom (of course :-)), candied fruit, nuts, & a glaze on top. I finally tracked down the recipe, & gave it a shot. Her instructions (from memory, of course) were a little vague, so it wasn't perfect, but the taste is great, & my house has never smelled better! I still have to add the glaze tomorrow, and then wrap the loaves for the freezer. I plan on bringing them in my suitcase for Christmas with the family, as a surprise. :-) 

Thanks to Carla for hosting!

• Reading: Nothing. I haven't gotten into any books lately, & I need to fix that. Just the usual mix of blogs these days.
• Listening to: Christmas music, all weekend.
• Watching: Nothing. We don't typically watch TV in the evenings.
• Cooking/Baking: See above! The kitchen was busy all weekend.
• Happy you accomplished this week: So happy that I finally ordered our holiday cards, & ordered the last gifts. I'm officially done with our shopping.
• Looking forward to next week: I need to wrap the last couple of gifts, & mail out the cards, & I'll be on to the relaxing part of the holidays. :-)
• Thankful for today: Having two boys who are just at the perfect age to enjoy the holidays. Love it!
• Bonus question: What is your favourite Christmas carol? - I like any Bing Crosby song, but am also partial to "Christmas Wrapping" by The Waitresses.

Hope you all have a great week!

Doctors and dentists & a call out for weight loss motivation

It's been a wild week! I finally got Sam in to see a dentist yesterday. He's been having swelling near a crown. It turns out he has an abscess and a huge infection between the crown & the permanent tooth that's trying to come out. The dentist cleaned it up, but referred us to an oral surgeon. We had a consult with the surgeon yesterday, but his computer is down, so he can't schedule us for surgery. Also, this is going to be a very painful extraction, so he has to be fully under for the procedure. I can only imagine how much that will cost. I haven't used our dental insurance through our new employer, so I guess it's time to do some research & see what's covered!

I'm also worried about time away from work. I'm still "new" at my job, and left early yesterday for the dental consults, and worked from home today. . . I had my own doctor's appointment & finally got in to the rheumatology clinic at Stanford. I've been waiting for a few months, and am almost out of medicine, so the timing was good. I loved the two doctors I saw, but going there took three hours, round trip with traffic. Yikes. I had blood drawn to check all of my levels, & the doctor spent close to 90 minutes with me. He was fantastic. He basically confirmed that I'm on the right track with my self management (combined with medicine), but also recommended that I drop my weight by 12 pounds. Although I'm not overweight at my current level, the drug I'm on is the lowest possible dose (my choice, to minimize risk), and works best when a patient is between 130-135 pounds. Something to do with the fat, etc. All I know is, if my choice is to increase my risk of blindness, or to lose 12 pounds to get more out of the medicine I'm already taking. . . well, the choice is clear. The medicine will also hopefully be slightly more effective at 135, which would mean fewer headaches, less muscle aching, & more energy. None of that is a guarantee, but being at the right weight increases that possibility.

Anyway, it's time to get extremely serious about my weight loss. I've been fooling around in the 140s for a good 18 months, so it's now on! I have a follow up appointment in 8 weeks, & my goal is to lose 4 pounds, which I think is reasonable with the holidays.

Again, I have no idea how much this appointment will cost - time to research my new health care plan! I'm on a high deductible plan, with an employer contribution. I chose that hoping that I wouldn't use the full employer contribution (since I started work mid-October) & could roll some over for other years. Who knows if my plan will be successful. :-) I also have close to $2400 in an HSA that my previous employer rolled over for me. 

Fingers crossed that Sam gets in to the surgeon asap! The longer he goes with the infection, the greater his risk is of it spreading to other healthy teeth.

Please give me your number one weight loss tip! I track my calories, work out, & am generally pretty knowledgable about what I eat. So, apparently, it's a motivation problem. :-) 

Where did all of the money go - the November Edition

November was an unusual month - I got my first two (complete) paychecks, as well as my sign on bonus.

Net Income for the month:
Standard income (both me + M) = $12,800
Sign on bonus = $10,080
Total income = $22,880

Total spending for the month = $11,990

The other roughly $10,000 went to our savings account, to save for our anticipated 2013 taxes.

Spending categories (note that for this month, I'm not including our $5,000/month rent in California, as it's our last month of getting reimbursed for our relocation. I'm also not including our rental income from our Seattle house, as the first month mainly goes towards property management fees). Slight errors due to rounding:

• Seattle house mortgage - $4,124
• Vacation house mortgage - $2,250
• Child care - $1,167
• Seattle house utilities/yard service - $703
• Christmas - $619
• Groceries - $499
• Utilities on our current/California house - $434
• Cleaning service - $360
• Gas - $324
• Boys clothes - $322
• House - $266
• Insurance - $231
• Boys - $194
• Liquor - $170
• Dining out - $150
• Health - $95
• Personal - $76
• Car - $24
• My clothes - -$13
• Gifts - -$7

Commentary on the spending:

Highlights:

1. We stuck to our grocery budget!
2. We spent nothing on vacation house utilities (billing cycle) & boys activities.
3. I returned a shirt, and spent $0 on clothes.
4. I used a Nordstrom reward to buy a birthday gift for a friend.
5. Christmas - we're on track with our spending.
6. Not noted on our spending, but I managed to max out my retirement. (Most of it was done earlier in the year, but I put $3,500 in to hit the IRS max with my sign on bonus.)

Lowlights:

1. Seattle house utilities. I can't believe how high they were! I can only imagine that the construction crew had all lights blaring 24x7 all day, every day for months at a time. Luckily, our renter has now taken over everything but $160/month, as we're including yard service in the rental arrangement.
2. Lest you think we're lushes, the liquor budget included an expensive bottle of champagne, & two bottles of wine - all of which we brought to the Thanksgiving we attended.
3. Boys clothes - we had to buy both kids two new pair of shoes each, and my older son outgrew his entire wardrobe. Underwear, socks, jeans, jackets, you name it.

I think that pretty much sums it up! Lots of areas for improvement in 2014, but we finally have renters for our Seattle house. That should tidy up our cash flow quite a bit.

How about you? How did you do with your November spending? Which categories are you hoping to change in 2014?

December goals

It's the last month of 2013, & I still have a lot to do before the end of the year!

Here are my goals for December:

1. Complete 1,000 minutes of cardio.
2. Complete 16 strength workouts (this is my last month hurrah to achieve my 2013 goal!) :-)
3. Complete 9 stretching workouts, which will put me at 50% of my 2013 goal. Not quite, but I would take it. :-)
4. Order & mail out all holiday cards.
5. Figure out all of the logistics of our holiday plans (car rentals, supplies for our vacation house, etc)
6. Finish all Christmas shopping/wrapping/budget, etc.
7. Complete our 2013 spending wrap up.
8. Set goals for 2014.
9. Set budget for 2014.
10. Plan spring break.
11. Declutter our vacation house, so we're ready to list when the time comes.
12. Choose a fitness race/event to train for.
13. Have one date night with MR.
14. Extend myself socially, as I try to make friends & expand my circle with the move. :-)
15. Roll over my 401K.
16. Find a dentist & make an appointment! I'm way overdue.

How about you? How are your December goals shaping up? Are you ready?! :-) 

November Goal Recap

I can't believe it's December (and, I think I say that every month), but here's how I did on my November goals:

1. Complete 1,000 minutes of cardio - I closed out the month with 909 minutes. I'm very impressed that I was able to build in a new workout routine with my work schedule changing things pretty drastically.
2. Complete 10 strength workouts - I completed 6 strength workouts.
3. Complete 8 stretching workouts - I completed 5 stretching workouts.
4. Have 1 date night with M.- No date "night", but we did meet for lunch three times in November. We spent our date night money on a sitter for Veteran's Day, when we both had to work, but school was out.
5. Figure out Thanksgiving plans. - Done! The boys wanted to do a Turkey Trot, go to Santa Cruz, hike up to the Stanford Dish, decorate for Christmas, & visit the Winchester Mansion. We did all of this. :-) 
6. Finish (almost) all of my Christmas shopping. - Yes! I still have just a few last minute things that need to be ordered, but all of my wrapping (that I can do early) is done, and now I just have to finish up my Christmas spreadsheet, to determine the remaining budget that we'll donate to the food bank.
7. Lose 2 pounds, bringing my weight to 144. - I lost one pound! I'm pretty pleased, given the holidays. :-) I'm at 145.
8. Rent our house in Washington - DONE!!!!!!!!!!
9. List our vacation house. - We opted to wait on this, the market is still pretty soft, & we're trying to determine the timing of a sale.
10. After I get my first paycheck, build a 2014 budget. - I'm about 2/3 of the way there. 

Given that this was my first full month back to work, I'm pleased with how things went. I definitely need to devote more time to working out, and cut my calories back a bit further.

How about you? How did you do on your November goals?