Weekend activities

It's our first weekend since we moved to California where we don't have soccer activities. It's been very freeing. :-) Of course, the boys have soccer tryouts on Monday, so it will be short lived.

We started off our weekend with my favorite task - going through the yard & collecting all of the ripe fruit. My helper (Nick) assisted.

In the bowl we have- 12 persimmons, 9 navel oranges, & one lonely avocado. The avocado isn't quite ripe yet, but we're attempting to ripen it in a brown bag.

In other news, the month is more than half over. Yikes! Here's how I'm doing with my goals.

1. Complete 1,000 minutes of cardio - I'm at 462 minutes, so I need to pick up the pace. I'm hoping to do a 60 minute workout today.
2. Complete 10 strength workouts - I'm at 4. I need to focus on strength training these next couple of weeks. The older you get, the more important it is to work on maintaining your muscle mass.
3. Complete 8 stretching workouts - Yikes, I'm at 2. Committing to doing yoga tonight. With Nick. He loves it. :-)
4. Have 1 date night with M. - We've had several lunch dates. We cancelled our official dinner date, as both boys were sick. I'll add another lunch date to the calendar & call it good.
5. Figure out Thanksgiving plans. - We had plans figured out, but just got invited to enjoy Thanksgiving with Michael's cousin's wife's family. ;-) We want to do a turkey trot in the morning with the kids. We were hoping to go to the boardwalk at Santa Cruz, but may have to move that to another day. I also need to figure out what to bring to the meal.
6. Finish (almost) all of my Christmas shopping. - Mostly done! Just have a few things left that I want to order right before the holidays, as they need to be mailed & I don't want them arriving a month early. :-) 
7. Lose 2 pounds, bringing my weight to 144. - I've lost one pound. :-) 
8. Rent our house in Washington - Yes! They moved in yesterday!!!!!! Hurrah!!!!!
9. List our vacation house. - *cough* Let's just say that I'm struggling quite a bit with this one. The market is soft there, so we're revisiting what makes the most financial sense. In addition to my huge emotional attachment, of course. ;-)
10. After I get my first paycheck, build a 2014 budget. - In progress. I've added up & categorized all 2013 spending so far (that was a giant work item, since I'd slacked a bit in October) & now have a firm sense of how we will spend our money in 2014. I have my paycheck & estimated income for 2013, but M's is still varied given that he was dumping a bunch of additional money in his 401K now that he finally has a match available. His previous employer did not offer this. I also signed up for all of the benefits for both of us, & understand what that should cost.

In other news, I maxed out my 401K! Which means that my last couple of paychecks will be larger, & can be used for the holidays. This has been my method of paying for Christmas for the past ten or so years, but I wasn't sure I would hit the max this year with my gap in employment. We also spend our entire Christmas budget ($1200) on plane tickets to Portland for the actual holiday, so it was more important than ever to find a way to source the gifts without pulling from savings. More on the actual holiday spending in a follow up post.

We ran most of our errands yesterday (Costco, the produce stand, picking up a prescription, etc). I have lots of house projects to complete, need to take Nick for new shoes, and Sam is requesting a few games of Battleship. :-) If the kids cooperate, we may also try to take pictures for our holiday card.

What are you up to today? What is the weather like in your area? It's supposed to be cool and 65 here, but no rain!