Saturday Happenings

I'm a bit on the struggle bus this morning, as I did not sleep well! Our bedroom was too warm, which feels like a strange complaint in March, but is true. Not a fan of the overly warm start to spring.

I had to book three work trips yesterday, and I was hoping to avoid two of them, but here we are. One to southern California (no big deal), one to London & one to Tokyo. All of them involve weekend traveling, which is so difficult, particularly because you miss a full weekend when you leave, & then you arrive back the following weekend so jetlagged that you don't get a weekend on the other end. Oh well. It's one of the responsibilities of my current job. 

I will be ready to be done when I hit my milestones for this role. They are mostly financial, but also time bound, as I receive several incentives at various points. One is in July (definitely staying for that, as it's the year mark) & the next one is at the end of the year. When I signed up for this job, I was optimistic to make it three years (July, 2028). Barring something happening, I think July 2027 is the absolute most optimistic timeline, but January 2027 is the most realistic. We shall see. Watch this space. :-) 

On a related note, I'm in the phase of doing a lot of financial planning, both short to mid term & of course, retirement planning. Going really deep into this makes me feel more secure & able to tackle decisions that lay ahead, as M & I get older & plan for the future. I don't know that I'm ready to "retire" when I quit this job, but I'm definitely ready to take some time, and then do something much more "casual" & not a "big career job". I really miss the flexibility I had last year before I went back to work. 

What am I up to today? It feels like a very "health & fitness" minded day, for sure!

• Yoga class
• There's a bit of a gap while I wait for another class, so I will do some lifting & cardio
• Pilates class
• Getting a deep tissue myofascial release massage
• I need to sort out Nick's cell phone activation, get all of his laundry washed, & figure out if he's checking a bag for tomorrow
• Sounds like some folks are coming over to swim, so I will likely make food for that
• Menu plan
• Pack for Las Vegas/Zion trip
• Figure out schedule for next week + workouts for the week
• Finish reading a Kindle book, as my subscription ends tomorrow!

What about you? What are you up to today? 

Frugal Friday

 A few frugal moves below, but can't imagine how much my youngest child is spending on gas this week. He is enjoying catching up with all of his friends, but it's a ton of driving & we all know how spendy gas is right now!

Saving on things we buy

• I drove to the airport & parked, picking up Nick. Parking set me back $4 (I like to go in & wait), which is still much cheaper than a ride share. I'm an early bird, so staying up late for his flight was the only wrinkle, but I did it!
• Allowed Nick to choose a gift from REI & used my rewards (plus some extra) to buy a birthday gift. Birkenstocks, for the curious. He is truly a Colorado boy now. ;-) Actually, all of his California friends wear them as well. 
• Used iBotta for a cash back CVS offer & saved a whopping $1.36 off of a prescription. 

Earning money

• Sold an old gift card we weren't going to use, and after fees, made $13. 
• Got a notice from Aetna that my last submission didn't go through. I get one $75 reimbursement for a standard medical appointment/wellness check (there's a long list), but the one I had that qualified was a mammogram. Resubmitted & already received my $75 back. 
• You might remember that I ordered a very light weight & very water resistant rain coat for our trip to New Zealand. It was quite pricey. I listed & sold my old rain jacket on eBay & made $17. Didn't come close to the cost of the new one, but made a little back & also don't have two rain coats sitting around. 

Avoiding spending

• I pre-ordered food for Nick on his flight home, knowing he would be quite hungry, and they didn't give it to him. I filled out a refund request& received a note that they would reimburse me the $15 I was charged. 
• Booked two nights stay at a hotel in Boulder using points for family weekend. The rooms cost $1200/night without points! Insane. It's crazy to book this early, but this is a great opportunity to use Hyatt points. 

Eating what we have

• Knowing we'd have hungry eaters around again, I remembered to defrost some of the leftover pizza I froze when my parents were in town. It was actually well timed since (see above), Nick didn't get the food I ordered on the flight. He came home & are quite a bit of the leftover pizza. I did this with two different bags of pizza on two different nights, so I'm clearing out the freezer!
• Pulled out baguette & goat cheese from the freezer to make crostini to go with the birthday steak Nick requested. I also used a lemon from our tree, and thyme from the garden, and the only other addition was garlic, which we already had on hand.
• Squirrels made a huge mess in our planters, even though they don't eat green onions. I pulled out a bunch that they uncovered, so I'll be using them this week & will replant the bottoms again. 
• Opted to make chicken salad for my contribution to our work potluck. There was an option to also donate money to food delivery. There was no one signed up for a main (isn't that how it always goes - mostly at our work because it's hard to keep things warm), so I opted for chicken salad, which is easy to put together. Not the most cost effective (I bought rotisserie chicken, grapes & celery at Costco), but definitely less than I would have contributed to food delivery. Also, we have about 1/3 of the rotisserie chicken meat leftovers, 3/4 of the grapes (boys will definitely eat them) & I'll use up the remaining celery as well. I mixed in 1/2 Greek yogurt & mayo from the fridge, a bit of garlic salt & topped with green onions from the garden. 

For others

• I've been on a huge decluttering spree, and giving away a bunch to our neighbors. 

What about you? Any frugal wins to share? 

Thursday Happenings

 In sort of miscellany format, here's what's happening at our house this week.

Nick:

It's been so much fun to have Nick home for spring break (& his birthday) this week! That said, he's been super busy catching up with friends. He's been to the beach twice (we are having crazy heat breaking warm weather), Napa, and UC Davis. He also went to the dentist, because Mom is fun like that, setting up appointments for him. He had a filling fall out, so needs to go back today. We all went out to dinner for his birthday, and it was just so much fun to have the time together. 

Work:

Manager is back, but things are still chaotic. Went to the office yesterday & caught up with a bunch of folks (we have a one day a month "required" in office day). My meeting schedule for today is particularly light due to some cancellations, so I'm planning to tackle a lot of carryover work from the past few weeks when I was covering for my manager. 

Finances:

I paid our federal taxes, and oooh, it hurt to pull that money out of savings. We've agreed on a different strategy moving forward. I had big goals for 2026 savings, so hopefully I can make up a bit of ground a bit later in the year by cutting costs elsewhere.

Fitness:

All is cruising along pretty well, although I've had a real mix of workouts this week & today I'm going t my challenging workout class. I hiked with a friend yesterday, and even at 5 pm, it was over 80 degrees. No thanks! It's only March. 

That's what's top of mind for me. What about you? What random things are on your mind? 

Fitness Monday

 Another week has gone by!

Weight: 158.8, a drop of 2.6 lbs, some of which is hormonal timing of weighing in

Calories: 1,163. I had one day where I was not hungry & ate about 1/2 of my normal calories. I did, however, keep my calories very in check this week in general. 

Steps: 10,275. Still tracking behind, as I didn't get a hike in yesterday & had a few low step days when I was in the office. 

Workouts:

• 2 - 45 minute elliptical workouts
• 1 workout cardio/strength class
• 1 strength body pump class
• 1 yoga class
• 3 walks

Goals for the week: Overall I'm pleased with the week and pretty much did the best I could given my schedule. I'd still like to increase my steps, and get in one more strength class & one more cardio class. I'm  not sure what's realistic, but I only have to drive to the office one week instead of two. From a calorie/nutrition perspective, all was well with the exception of needing more fiber. I'm tracking protein & fiber to ensure I'm getting in all of the correct nutrition. 

How did you do last week with your health & fitness goals? 

Menu Plan Sunday

 Another busy week, but excited to cook a few of Nick's favorites. Hopefully he will grace us with his presence. ;-) 

• Friday - grilled chicken Caesar salad
• Saturday - grilled chicken (freezer)
• Sunday - steak & crostini
• Monday - tacos
• Tuesday - birthday dinner out
• Wednesday - spaghetti & meatballs (in office day, need something fast)
• Thursday - leftover spaghetti & meatballs
• Friday - chicken pad Thai 

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

Saturday Happenings

 It's supposed to be a gorgeous day today, so I'm looking forward to getting outside a bit.

I picked up Nick at the airport last night, and had a few minutes to catch up on the ride home. I went to bed after pointing him in the direction of available food. He ate & then went out to meet with friends who are also home. 

I was overly tired this morning, so I skipped yoga, but went to a Body Pump class, which I really enjoyed & found challenging. Always a good sign of a class. 

Things for today:

• Get tax form from Nick & finish taxes
• Yard work
• Wash all bedding
• Work schedule for next week
• Workout schedule for next week
• Pick up the house
• List a few items on ebay
• List a few items on Buy Nothing
• Read in the sunshine

What about you? What are you up to today? 

Frugal Friday

 Here's what's happening in our world, on the money saving front. 

Saving on things we buy:

• Used another $5 of CVS rewards to buy Nick some treats to accompany his cash birthday gift. iBotta has a very regular CVS cash back offer (entire purchase, not specific items), so I uploaded my receipt & saved a bit extra. 
• Used $20 of grocery store rewards to pick up items we needed for dinners & four bottles of wine that were on a very big discount. Downloaded the digital coupons to my app before shopping as well. I could go on a tangent about how much I dislike digital coupons, but I'll skip that for you. ;-) Uploaded receipts to Fetch. 
• This is more along the lines of "use what you pay for", but I went to yoga on Saturday, taking advantage of my Y membership. My goal is to go 2-3 times/week, to make the cost very reasonable on a per visit basis. 
• We have been keeping a much closer eye on our power usage, after an unfortunately high true up bill from our solar. One of the easiest things (file this under the category of "why didn't we do this before") was setting our dishwasher start time to after midnight, at which time rates are much cheaper, and also just running it less. It helps that Sam often works during dinner & it's mostly just the two of us, so we can go longer without using the dishwasher. 

Earning money:

• I received a $3700 "true up" 401k contribution from my employer, due to the way they calculate 2025 contributions. That was a nice surprise. 

Avoiding spending:

• I bought a subscription to Calm (it's a meditation app) when they had 100% cash back through my credit card offers. I prefer Headspace, but free is a pretty great price.
• Requested reimbursement for the sports medicine massage I got on Saturday. My company offers a $480 per year reimbursement that you can use for the gym, massages, etc. Definitely going to make the most of that! I'm really working on my health & fitness & pain reduction for my back & hip. I love a massage, but this particular massage was one of the most painful experiences I've ever had. That said, I have so much more flexibility in my hip! So, worth it. 
• Used an Amazon gift card to order things M needed to change the oil in the boys cars. He does almost all of the maintenance himself, unless it's a really tricky issue. 

Eating what we have:

• I researched dinner recipes using items I needed to get out of the fridge: a large container of cottage cheese (I love it, but my stomach doesn't like it uncooked), spinach, and leftover mini tortillas. Gemini recommended a recipe, so we had that for dinner on Saturday night, and used up a bunch of leftovers: spinach, mini tortillas & cottage cheese. Hurrah. It was also delicious. Highly recommend to blend cottage cheese with salsa & use that up as a creamy & high protein sauce. This recipe was deconstructed enchiladas & was really delicious & easy. 
• M made up a large batch of grilled chicken, and used lemons from our tree as part of the marinade.
• I made coleslaw, using up extra coleslaw mix from our egg roll in a bowl dinner. I chopped up a green onion to add to the dressing, which always increases the flavor. We have an endless supply of green onions in the garden. 

For others:

• One of my consistent things I do is return abandoned grocery carts that block parking spots at the grocery store. I don't know why people do this, but the lot has very few spots in front, and the store attracts a lot of older residence, so parking further out is not convenient for them. It always makes me feel good to round up a few & put them back in the correct spots. This is a tiny, tiny thing, but I hope makes someone else's day a little bit better, when they find a close spot at the store. 

What about you? Any wins to share? 

Looking forward to Friday

 And, not just for the typical "work week ending" reasons, although certainly that as well. Nick comes home for spring break on Friday (hurrah), and my boss theoretically returns from her sick leave on Monday of next week. So, Friday is the end of my filling in for her (+ one other person). I'm still filling in for three other people, but... she obviously has the most stuff going on, the most challenging stuff to navigate & just generally the biggest priorities. Not managing her work will be a huge gift! I am also falling behind on all of my own work, which creates stress, as I'm a real "get it done/check it off the list" kind of person.

As for today, I'm heading to the office for a summit, and we will have a team dinner tonight. It's important & I need to be there, but it's also a 14+ hour day, which is just.. a lot. Luckily, this dinner prevents me from having to drive into the city for another dinner I was invited to for work, so I suppose small blessings, as I'll save a few hours of additional drive time. 

M & I have been looking at our budget & expenses, and using a lot of double checking of our numbers to determine when I can quit & not have a career job anymore. (I might do something part-time, or because I really want to, but not for a career job salary/stress.) I definitely need to complete one full year, and would like to get to January. July of 2027 would be ideal, but... unless I fill some of these open roles, January feels more likely. 

We are also planning our next "big" trip. No idea when we would take it - 2027, or later, but we have a lot of fun options on the table, including Tasmania for the Overland Track, or Torres del Paine in Patagonia. If time is a challenge, we are open to Banff as well, which has been on my bucket list for years.

That's what's up in my world. What about you? What are you looking forward to today?

March goals

 I'm very overdue, but better late than never is my motto on this. 

Financial:

• Continue to pay for both boys college expenses
• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry or freezer items
• Be more intentional about saving & spending
• Find one expense to optimize
• Finish taxes

Family:

• Continue to help the boys navigate college & life
• A monthly date with M
• Have a fabulous & on budget trip to Las Vegas/Zion with friends
• Enjoy having Nick home for spring break & his birthday
• Finalize summer plans for everyone
• Book summer travel
• Figure out next big adventure with M

Fitness:

• Start therapeutic massage appointments
• Get hip dry needled at Stanford
• Lose 3 lbs
• 10 positive days in a month (strength train, No S, meditate)
• Come up with a general workout template (strength, cardio, Pilates/yoga)
• Positive eating: track protein & produce
• Average 12,000 steps/day

Personal:

• 10 days of language lessons
• Declutter 50 items from the house
• Get together with friends
• Try something new
• Say yes to more adventures
• Get to know our neighbors
• Try a new recipe

What about you? What are our goals for March?

Fitness Monday

 First off, it's generally such a lovely group of readers/commenters (thank you!), but sometimes... 

AnonymousMarch 8, 2026 at 4:10 PM

Are you making comments on the Iran war? Or is that too much for you too? Loving the high gas and food prices. So much for savings!!

There are so many things I could say in response to this, but I'll just go with... you obviously don't know me at all, and you must not be a reader. 😂

Okay, back to the regularly scheduled programming. 

Weight: 161.4 (basically flat, or down by the tiniest .1 amount)

Calories: 1,548/day. 

Steps: 9,635/day. Oof. So low. With a focus on getting in different types of workouts & less cardio focused, this is causing a pretty big drop in my steps. I had a ~10 mile hike yesterday, so this is particularly crazy given how much that offset the rest of the days. I really need to find time throughout the day for small walks. 

Workouts:

• 1 mile treadmill walk
• 1 cardio/strength combo class
• 1 strength training class
• 1 stretching class
• 30 minutes on the elliptical
• Yoga class
• 9 mile hike + walk & talk chat with friends

Other: as part of my quest in 2026 to improve my health & dedicate time & money to resolving the issues that really bother me (notably, my chronic back pain that interferes with my sleep & the tendonitis in my hip that interferes with many things), I got a deep tissue sports massage on Saturday, that focused on trigger point therapy, myofascial release, and active release techniques (ART). Let's just say that, short of childbirth, it was one of the most uncomfortable experience I've ever had. That said, I will go again, because while we only had time to focus on my hip, I regained quite a bit of additional mobility & my back & hip pain are both noticeably better! Next up I will go & have them focus on my lower back pain. The tendonitis in my hip is causing a lot of tightness elsewhere in my right side, which is pretty uncomfortable. 

I have also been adding a lot more stretching & yoga, which is awesome for me, but reduces my cardio output & step. I'm still working on the balance there, but I'm happy I'm making time for things other than cardio. 

Goals for the week ahead:

• Drop calories to 1400/day. I saw a suggestion to eliminate breakfast a few days/week, which I will likely try. I don't typically snack during the week days. I also need to reduce portion size by 10-15% at dinner, to see some progress.
• Increase steps.
• Add in another cardio workout

Unfortunately, this is going to be another intensely busy week, requiring two trips to the office, and one or two work evenings, as I'm still filling in for my boss. That means I need to "make hay while the sun shines", or get in the workouts when I have the chance & really focus. I also need to be creative this week, perhaps commuting in earlier than my 7 am time & bringing my gym bag & clothes & working out/getting ready before my day starts. Daylight savings is not my friend in this endeavor!

That's it for me. What about you? How are you doing with your health & fitness goals?

Menu Plan Sunday

 It's that time again! My goal this week was to use up the following ingredients: spinach, cottage cheese (it's getting used in the sauce of a couple of dinners, below) & coleslaw. 

• Friday - leftover grilled burgers, over salads
• Saturday - grilled chicken & rice
• Sunday - green enchilada skillet (new recipe)
• Monday - creamy spinach & chicken alfredo (new recipe)
• Tuesday - leftover chicken + coleslaw
• Wednesday - out with a work event, M will likely have salmon
• Thursday - leftover enchilada skillet
• Friday - leftover creamy chicken & chicken alfredo

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

February Goal Update

 February was quite a month. We had our incredible trip to New Zealand, quite a lot of stress with M's family & reimmersion to life. My manager is also unexpectedly out due to a health issue, and that compounded with other people being out means I'm currently covering for five people. It's a lot.

Financial:

• Continue to pay for both boys college expenses - done
• Stay on top of food waste by using up 3 pantry or freezer items - done, broth, soup & cauliflower rice
• Be more intentional about saving & spending. Move savings to account for Nick's college & track for motivation - I set all of this up, but it's been a very expensive month
• Find one expense to optimize - canceled my Kindle Unlimited subscription, saving $11.99/month
• Prep for taxes - did a lot of work early in the month, then finished Sam's taxes, but need M's input on a bunch of stuff & haven't made progress on that recently

Family:

• Continue to help the boys navigate college & life - yes
• A monthly date with M - New Zealand!
• Have a fabulous trip to NZ - it exceeded all of our expectations
• Finalize logistics for Greece trip - yes, booked additional flights, activities & ferry travel
• Sort out/finalize move out trip to Boulder - yes, booked
• Bucket list travel planning - we keep adding to the list, but generally yes!

Fitness:

• Two medical appointments (menopause & hip) - yes
• Lose 3 lbs -up roughly two pounds
• 10 positive days in a month (strength train, No S, meditate) -5 strength training, 7 No S, 3 meditations
• Positive eating: track protein & produce - did not track well during February
• Average 12,000 steps/day - 13,384

Personal:

• 10 days of language lessons - 3/10
• Declutter 50 items from the house - 62 items out of the house!
• Get together with friends - yes, a hike, a workout class & a champagne/charcuterie meet up
• Try something new - went on an epic adventure, tried a guided tour for the first time, tried a few new workouts
• Say yes to more adventure - see above, plenty of adventure!
• Get to know our neighbors - no progress this month
• Try a new recipe -made a chicken tostada recipe that we liked

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

Frugal Friday

Honestly, money hasn't been anywhere near the top of my mind lately, but going through the motions of real life helps me feel a bit more grounded. 

Saving on things we buy

• Used $13 of CVS rewards to pick up some vitamins, a birthday card for Nick and eye makeup remover. I still paid out of pocket, but it was nice to have the $13 of savings. Additionally, I uploaded my receipts to both Fetch & iBotta, and iBotta had a cash back offer off of an entire CVS purchase that I took advantage of. I had to go to CVS to pick up a prescription, so this was a nice way to double up on an errand. 
• Used $30 of grocery store gift card money (earned from buying gift cards at some point in late 2025) to pick up things we needed: coconut milk (must get this at Trader Joes next time, due to cost), coleslaw mix x2, carrots, sandwich bread for Sam, discovered we didn't have enough chicken). 

Earning money

• I had a mammogram done in January, and my insurance company offers a once a year $75 reimbursement for standard screening & health care checkup. (It's a high deductible plan.) Filled out the $75 claim form. 

Avoiding spending

• Packed my lunch on Wednesday, when I went to the office. After more than a decade of working at a company that provided lunch, plus the first six months of my current employer providing lunch, I was out of practice. Luckily, I was busy enough at work that this made sense, even though I was surprisingly the only person to do it out of my work group. Saved $7 over the salad I would have bought. 

Eating what we have

• Made protein pancakes, and used up the remainder of a container of oats, as well as three overly ripe bananas that were otherwise destined for the freezer. Definitely liked these (made a large batch) & will make them again. 
• M & I teamed up for dinner on Sunday, and I made a delicious egg roll in a bowl recipe, and he made rice to go with it. We typically just serve the egg roll in a bowl on its own, but I needed rice for a weekday dinner, and opted to go ahead & have it made on Sunday to make things easier during the week. It was fantastic together & dinner was a hit. 
• Used up green onions from the garden, and we have a lot more where that came from!

For others

• A teacher on BN was looking for a Roomba vacuum for an area where their custodian doesn't clean, leaving the teachers to need to vacuum between planning periods, etc. It just so happened that I had a Roomba a friend had given us when they moved, and didn't really know if we would use it. The teacher was so excited, and she + the other teachers sent me a lovely note. It was very serendipitous that I could help them out. 

What about you? Any wins to share?