Pumpkins, part two

 The boys had so much fun yesterday, that they asked M for more pumpkins. Here's what $6 of "more pumpkins" will buy you.

Best $6 I've spent in a long time, as the boys had hours more of enjoyment. :-) 

Here's what we were up to on this lovely Sunday:

• House cleaning
• Long walks in the sunshine (me)
• Running a 5k (belated family run participation) - everyone else
• Making coleslaw, salad, & chicken dumplings in the slow cooker
• Laundry (always, so much laundry)
• Planning our anniversary next weekend

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

Pumpkins & such

 I picked up a couple of inexpensive pumpkins at Trader Joes a few weeks back, and they've been sitting on our front porch. Today, I convinced Nick to bring down our Halloween decoration tub from the attic. Inside the tub was a bunch of random stuff - a few adorable decorative plates, a few strands of pumpkin lights, 4 Halloween costumes long since outgrown, 2 masks, 3 holders for candy, & a few other odds & ends. I cleaned everything, & made a free pile of costumes for the neighbors. I also happened to find the rest of a police officer costume I'd hoped to sell or give away, so that's now complete. And, I'll either sell or donate the masks. Moving forward, we definitely won't need a tub, so I'll have to find the right place to store our few remaining items.

At the bottom of the tub was our pumpkin carving kit, bought on clearance years ago. When I saw that, I asked the kids if they wanted to carve our porch pumpkins & they did. My, has COVID changed our world. It's been probably five years since the kids wanted to carve pumpkins, but these days... that type of activity is a winner! Both listed the pumpkin carving ( and their socially distanced soccer- which, is a far cry from soccer of the past) as their highlights. While life isn't the same for them (at all, at all), it's so nice when there are things that feel like a bit of fun, in the midst of everything going on. (Sam's pumpkin, on the left, says "Beautiful". While he wouldn't admit to it, I think he made it so he could send a picture to his girlfriend.;-)) 

Other happenings today:

• I ran a virtual 5k with my family - a harvest classic. We all posted pictures & shared some laughs over our times. They are getting together for soup & dessert & I wish I were there.
• The boys had socially distanced soccer
• We went out for an evening walk
• M finished installing shelves in the closet of doom, which means I can put everything away tomorrow
• I packaged & mailed an eBay sale
• I went through both kids socks & underwear drawer, finding things to donate & toss. Everything is much more organized
• I menu planned
• M went to Costco & got groceries & a flu shot
• I picked up an anniversary card - our 15th is next week. We had originally hoped to be celebrating in Italy. Ironically, we were supposed to celebrate my 30th birthday in Italy, but I found out I was pregnant, which was a huge & lovely surprise. So, we decided our 15th anniversary was appropriate... foiled again. Our 20th, perhaps? ;-) 
• Nick made Szechuan noodles with fried eggs on top. Yum. 
• M & I drank a glass of wine while playing rummy 
• I did laundry (so much laundry) & dishes (likewise, always so much)

On the eBay sale, last week Nick & I picked up a few books off of a neighbor's "free" table. They also had a package of bike maps out (also free). Nick picked them up, but was not interested when we got home. A bit of research indicated they might be valuable, so I listed them on eBay on Wednesday, & sold them last night for $96. Crazy! They are now safely wrapped & ready to do to their new owner. 

What about you? Any fun activities this weekend? 

Frugal Friday

 It was another busy week, so I'll just echo what I said last week. Good frugal habits help so much during weeks where frugality isn't top of mind. Because, sometimes life comes up, but good habits allow you to be frugal even without much time/effort.

Saving on things we buy

• Combined a store sale + a Fetch offer to buy a couple of boxes of cereal for $1
• Contacted a company about a missing item, & received the credit, plus a $10 loyalty credit, which was awesome. 
• Combined a store sale, discounted "sell now" meat offer & a promotional credit to get 3 lbs of lean ground beef for $1.70 (total). What a deal!
• I'm still hoping we can go visit family for Christmas, and purchased flights months ago (at the start of the pandemic). I decided to trim one day off the trip, and adjusted my dates - turns out, it saved $200 ($50x4)!
• Took advantage of two Amazon prime deals & earned $20 off of things we'd purchase anyway

Earning money

• Sales have been very slow, but I've continued to list items & eBay & make a few small sales. Here's what I sold this week:
• A workout tank I don't wear
• A kids cookbook. Nick has another one he loves, and this one was a little too young for him
• A pair of indoor soccer cleats that were outgrown during COVID

Avoiding spending

• A few weeks ago, I picked up a Friday Freebie of coffee creamer. My sister was in town, and prefers creamer, so it was great. Since she left, I've been using it in my coffee in place of my preferred almond milk. It's almost gone (it was a small sized container). Hurrah! I hate waste, so prefer to use it, but will be happy to see the end of the container. :-) 
• Used a free movie credit from work to rent a movie. We watched McFarland, which we all enjoyed.
• Went through our freezers & created a list of things we should use up (e.g. things I've forgotten were in there, and/or need using up reasonably soon.) I'll plan these into our upcoming menus. 
• I cut up a pineapple & a mango that were about to go bad. Now that they are chopped & in the fridge, the kids will use them for their morning smoothies. They are too lazy to do all of that while they are still waking up. ;-)
• I picked up a few books off a neighbor's "free" table, and also did a book exchange at a local lending library. 
• A neighbor dropped off a few lemons from her tree, as a thank you for sharing our herbs.

For others

• Helped a neighbor fix her printer
• Gave a neighbor garden produce
• Gave another neighbor a box of Hot Pockets that no one in my family will eat. (It was a Costco sized box!) I'm glad to have it out of the house, and being used by someone else. I felt terrible about potentially tossing it, and frozen foods are hard/impossible to donate, so this was a great solution. 
• Signed up for two volunteer activities. One is one time help, the other is a more consistent level of volunteering. I've committed to signing up for more volunteer options & getting out of my comfort zone a bit. One activity benefits womens shelters & the other benefits girls in technology.
• I made a couple of donations

What about you? Any frugal wins or kind deeds to help this week? 

In the neighborhood

I got up this morning & made breakfast for myself & then M, who was washing our cars. He washes the cars almost every weekend, and I don't think we've paid for a car wash since I've known him. We do invest in car washing supplies, but I have to imagine it's still much cheaper than taking the car to be washed.

I put on my back pack & went for a walk this morning. My destination? Yesterday I'd spotted a neighbor a few miles away who had a table with free books. Some of them looked like they may be a good read, or if nothing else, good for future donation or listing on eBay. I picked up those, and then spotted another local book lending library. This one appeared to have a few kids books, so I'll round up some books we're done with & take Nick to see if he finds any winners. 

I also arranged to have someone come by to pick up the 15 Hot Pockets that my husband bought at Costco & no one in my family will eat. I'll begrudgingly eat 1 or 2, but there's no way I'm going to eat 15. Unclear how they made their way home with us, but I found someone on our local Buy Nothing who was thrilled to pick them up. I was also able to pass on one of our many ice packs, so double win!

M is working on installing shelving in our "closet of doom", and I'll be thrilled when that's finished up, so I can put everything back in the closet. Right now, all items are stored in four other closets, and very haphazardly, I might add.

Other things today... 

• I'm doing laundry (always)
• Nick is playing tennis this afternoon. Tennis is a great socially distanced option right now
• I sliced up a pineapple & a mango, so the kids would use them for smoothies in the mornings. They were both about to go bad.
• I listed an item on eBay
• I helped Sam make a daily "checklist" for school. Here's hoping it helps him focus a bit more. Online learning is a real struggle for someone who already has challenges with attention. 

It's a gorgeous fall day, & I'm enjoying the sunny weather, moderate temperature & smoke free skies. Later today, I'm planning to try a Keto friendly chicken parmesan recipe. The pico de gallo, taco slaw, & guacamole I made yesterday used up almost all of our garden tomatoes. Woohoo! We're down to just a small bowl for now, with more ripening on the plants. 

Hope you are all enjoying your day. 

Baby photo + current photo

 Thanks to Anne for the inspiration. I don't have an infant photo, but here's me as a young ballerina. It's a photo of a photo, so excuse the quality.

And, me at the end of a "virtual" 5k fundraiser last weekend. 

As for today, I did a long hike this morning (2+ hours), & now I'm catching up on a few things. Once I get my productivity mojo back, I need to make pico de gallo & guacamole for dinner. We're having warm taco slaw (think of egg roll in a bowl, but taco style). It's delish & Keto friendly, for those of you who enjoy recipes. My non keto eaters wrap everything in tortilla shells. ;-) 

I'm going to drop off some tomatoes & herbs at my neighbor's house, and other than that, I'm hoping for a glass of wine by the pool. 

What about you? Any baby photos to share? Any plans this weekend? 

Frugal Friday

 It's a good thing I try to build frugal habits, because I spent very little mental energy on it this week. Here are a few things we did to save money:

Saving on things we buy

• I received a $20 Uber Eats offer, so used it to order a Saturday night pizza for the boys. They were thrilled. I spent a bit out of pocket to cover the tip & tax. 
• Purchased Starbucks gift cards at the grocery store to earn $60 in rewards. This will be enough Starbucks cards for the next year or two, depending on whether we ever go back to a more "normal" life, but either way, the boys occasionally bike to Starbucks to get an iced tea. 
• Used a $1 coupon to buy a box of pasta for $.50, found other pasta on sale $5/5. The $.50 is unheard of, and was a limit of one. The $1/box is my stock up price, and I will likely go back for more. 
• I try to make Gatorade/sports drinks a rare purchase, but we've had continued temperatures in the 90s, and the boys are playing (modified) soccer. They had a great store deal ($3.99 for a 12 pack, as long as you bought 5) & there was a Fetch offer as well. 

Earning money

• Continued to sell a few things on eBay, although it's still very slow
• Cleats Nick didn't get a chance to wear much (COVID)
• A running watch I bought from a neighbor for Sam, but didn't work for his needs. Sold it for exactly what I paid for, so at least I didn't lose any money
• A top I never wear
• Sold our toaster oven (we used during the remodel) on Nextdoor. Left out on our porch, for a contactless pickup. 

Avoiding spending

• I've been giving a bunch of stuff away on our local "Buy Nothing" group. While I was posting, I noticed someone was giving away padded envelopes. I picked them up & will use them for mailing out eBay sales. 
• I paused our produce box delivery. I love it, but I'm working on cutting back our grocery bill, and this is an easy way to reduce at least part of our spending
• Continued to meal plan, eat leftovers, and enjoy our tomatoes from the garden

Things for others

• Made several cash donations
• Donated pantry items to families in need at our school (included hand sanitizer & wipes, which can still be hard to find)
• Helped a neighbor who was struggling
• Made donations of goods to our local shelter

What about you? Any frugal wins to report? 

A lovely Sunday

 The weather has dropped to 80, the air quality is 50 (healthy-ish, for those of you who don't regularly follow), which means we can be outside safely again. Woohoo! It's a beautiful day & I'm sitting outside, enjoying the cooler temperatures.

I got up this morning & met a friend for a socially distanced (with masks) 7 mile hike. It was great to catch up, and we got our hike in before the weather got too warm. I also did a 5k (virtual) race for work yesterday, and put up a reasonable time, given the heat, smoke & the foolishly hilly route I chose. 

I forgot to customize my produce box a week back, so really need to make it a priority to use up the ingredients I ended up with. So far, I've used 1 1/2 onions, a package of mushrooms, a bunch of carrots, and the remainder in the celery to form the base of a red sauce with meat. I also found a 1/2 full can of tomato paste & a pizza marinara side dipping sauce that went in, so I'm feeling good about "using things up".

I still have:

• Beets
• Whole carrots
• Asparagus
• Parsley
• Brussel sprouts

I think I'll roast the carrots & beets. I'll pan saute the brussel sprouts tonight with dinner, and steam the asparagus tomorrow. That just leaves the dreaded parsley. Particularly ironic, since we have a plant (the seeds we bought were marked as "cilantro", so we have a huge parsley bush in the yard anyway. I'll give that one some thought. 

For the menu this week, it's looking like:

• Friday - Nick made butter chicken with couscous & parmesan zucchini coins
• Saturday - I used an Uber Eats $20 promo to get the boys a pizza, while M & I did a date night
• Sunday - Nick is making chicken shwarma bowls. Depending on how those turn out, we may also have the spaghetti sauce of pasta. (I've learned to always have a backup plan, when a 13 year old is doing the cooking.)
• Monday - roasted veggies, asparagus & kebabs (freezer)
• Tuesday - pasta & meat sauce
• Wednesday - finish off the roasted veggies, asparagus & kebabs
• Thursday - chicken arugula salad
• Friday - TBD

What else is on my to do list for the day? I'm going to be hard pressed to move out of my chair by the pool, but I do need to get a few things done:

• Calendar review for the week ahead
• Set workout schedule for the week, based on meetings
• Roast veggies
• Figure out how to use parsley
• Package up & freeze the pumpkin muffins I made this morning. I tried this recipe & it was fantastic. Highly recommend
• Laundry
• Dishes
• Vacuum
• Clean kitchen
• Clean bathrooms (the boys help, but supervision/quality checks are needed)
• Call my parents

That's what's happening in our world. Hope you are all having a lovely day. 

Frugal Friday

I'm late to get this out, because it's been a whirlwind today. Another week, another Friday! 

Saving on things we buy

• I've never tried "Fetch" before, but after reading about it on a few frugal blogs, I gave it a try. I uploaded my first few receipts, and painlessly have already earned an Amazon gift card. I'm only a few days in, but will report if I think it's easy to do/valuable. If you are interested in trying it out, here's a referral link. You'll get $2 in points for uploading your first receipt. 
• We got on the roof & cleaned our solar panels. Our production has been way down (September was equivalent to February) due to the smoke in the sky & ash on our panels. We can't make up for the lost production, but hopefully this will help boost production moving forward. We saw a 27% increase in production after cleaning, despite the next few days also being hazier due to new wildfires. 

Earning money

• Continued to list & sell things on eBay. I sold:
• A book
• A pair of outgrown shorts
• An old race tshirt that no longer fits me (it's in pristine condition, and is from a very popular relay. Otherwise, I don't think there's demand for this type of stuff).

Avoiding spending

• I had Starbucks reward points expiring, so I stopped by to pick up a free sandwich on my way to the store. 
• I received an offer through work for a waived cost refi. I followed up & while the rate was lower, once you factor in costs, it was pretty much break even from our current mortgage, so we will stay where we are. Although this didn't work out, it's always useful to keep an eye on your options, to ensure you have the best deal that matches your financial situation. 

Things for others:

• Made dinner for a friend who lost her father recently
• Gave away a few things on "Buy Nothing", and added in herbs as a bonus surprise
• Dropped off fresh mint for a friend who was looking for some
• Connected with another neighbor who was looking for basil & mint
• Dropped off cookies for another friend/family
• Gave away organizers, a roasting pan & a suitcase. Glad to get them out of my house, and into the hands of someone who will use them

What about you? Any frugal wins to report?

October Goals

 As I say every month, the days are whizzing by. I use my goals to create as much daily accountability as possible, particularly during this unstructured & unpredictable time of life. 

Here are the goals for the month:

Financial:

• Stick to the budget. Figure out a realistic WFH grocery budget for 2021 & the rest of the year
• Pay down our mortgage to the next mini milestone
• No clothing/shoes purchases for me (essential running gear excluded)
• Make $500 in side hustle
• Work through pantry/freezer clean out (10 random items out)
• Have will/guardianship appointment

Family:

• Go for walks, make dinner together, enjoy this time of closeness
• Off the computer by 7:30 each evening (not counting reading)
• Have a weekly half hour alone with M, schedule two creative "dates"
• Schedule a call with M's family, or at a minimum, record a few videos for them
• Two hours of practicing Spanish or Farsi
• Compliment M every day
• Complete one project every day

Fitness/health

• Lose 2 lbs
• Work out 31 times in October
• Track calories & aim for 1450 calories/day
• Complete 1400 minutes of cardio, 5 strength & 5 stretching workouts
• Meditate 10 times
• Journal 30 times

Personal/creative:

• Do something social at least 2x
• Volunteer
• Journal 30 times
• Improve myself
• Judge less
• Listen more often
• Reduce/eliminate swearing
• One kind deed a day
• Read one non fiction book

That's it for me. I'm looking forward to a successful month! What about you? What's on your list of goals for October? 

September Goals Recap

 September, what a month! Wildfires, heat waves & plenty of other COVID fun. But, good progress was made in some areas, and I'm reminded that flexibility is key, now more than ever. 

Financial

• Stick to the budget - yes, with the exception of groceries. We continue to go over our grocery budget substantially. I need to give some thought to this, particularly for our 2021 budget planning & how we want to adapt. 
• Pay down our mortgage to the next milestone - absolutely squeaking in on this one, but yes. 
• No shoes/clothing purchases for me - nothing purchased
• Make $750 in side hustle - I "only" made $456 in September, thanks to a couple of cancellations at our vacation house due to the wildfires. We charge a very nominal fee to friends to cover expenses, and I apply all of it to our side hustle. 
• Work through freezer/pantry clean out (10 random items out) - used up two boxes of lasagna noodles (pantry), two containers of chicken broth (freezer) & made a dent in items in our fridge. I'll give it a passing grade. 
• Set up will/guardianship appointment - Just today I went ahead & got on the list for an appointment. I was so embarrassed to roll this over to October without progress, so the motivation of the goal & check in really helped! I should hear back about referrals in the next few days. 

Family

• Socially distanced & active family fun, regularly - this is mostly still happening, but I'd like to add in more tennis & walks. The weather & heat have been a bad combination, but we did make time to be in the pool and make dinner together, etc. 
• Off the computer by 7:30 each evening - mostly a pass, minus a few later nights, thanks to work
• Have a weekly half hour alone with M - We're still trying for this. COVID has made this such a challenge! :-) 
• Schedule a call with M's family - No, and I think I'll schedule this for the weekend
• Two hours a week language practice - I've been barely scraping up the Duolingo time, and need to get back into it. I was making good progress. 
• Compliment M every day - Still working at this one, and mostly remembering. 
• Complete one project/day - Yes! Lots of projects have been completed

Fitness/health

• Lose 2 lbs - Yes! I lost exactly two pounds. 
• Work out every day - I got in 36 workouts this month
• Track calories & aim for 1440/day - My calories are around 1650, so still a bit higher, but I'm seeing progress. 
• Complete 1400 minutes of cardio, 10 strength & 5 stretching workouts - 1530, 4, & 4. 
• Meditate 20 times - I meditated 8 times, this one sort of fell off of my daily to do list
• Run 15 times - I ran 9 times, which I'm reasonably happy with. The main reason I couldn't run much in September was due to the wildfire smoke. 

Personal

• Do something social at least 2x/month (virtual is okay) - I continue to do a virtual happy hour with friends weekly
• Volunteer - I donated money this month, but no volunteering
• Journal 25 times -28 times
• Improve myself
• Judge less - always a work in progress
• Listen more often - always a work in progress
• Reduce/eliminate swearing - always a work in progress
• One kind deed/day - while they were a bit irregularly spaced out (some days had several activities, and others had none,) overall I achieved this one & it's made me so much happier to focus on this
• Read one non-fiction book - No, but I have a book I need to read this month for work

All things told, I'm pretty happy with how I adapted to the month. It was a crazy work month, combined with lots of other factors, and I made the best of most of the challenges. I'm going to keep on keeping on! What about you? Did you set goals for the month? How did you do? 

Using things up

 It was a good weekend of getting things done & using things up. We had some frugal wins, & worked to use up what we had on hand. 

• Used up 2 containers of chicken broth from the freezer. Woohoo! These were on my long term "use it up" list
• Likewise, used two open containers of lasagna noodles (leftover from my parents visit way back when) to make lasagna for a friend
• Turned leftover ricotta cheese into blueberry ricotta muffins
• Used lots of garden tomatoes & jalapenos to make my favorite pico de gallo recipe
• Made sure to use up the ripest avocados (plus garden tomatoes) + the leftover cilantro from the pico de gallo to make guacamole (also really like this recipe)
• I had lunch on both Saturday & Sunday with leftover chicken from Friday night, on top of mixed greens from our produce box, plus thinly sliced garden tomatoes. Yum!
  

We picked more tomatoes today, so we have more to use up. 

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

Kitchen happenings & other miscellany

 I did get in a run yesterday, and spent time in the kitchen + helping M take apart our old fence (so we could get rid of it), so that took up the majority of the day. I'll need to get busy today to get the house cleaned. I did end up making a few things, and thought I'd share recipes.

• Used up jalapenos in this feta/jalapeno dip. I did a  mix of roasted & raw jalapenos, as roasting & then scraping out seeds/skins left me with pretty much nothing. The dip is amazing & not too spicy, if you like a moderate amount of heat. I also increased the amount of lemon juice, to offset some of the spice, and give it a creamier texture.
• I also used up the remainder of my ricotta cheese in these blueberry ricotta muffins. I didn't try any, but M says they are amazing. I made a double batch, to add some to the freezer stash.
• For dinner, I made one of our favorite Keto friendly recipes, egg roll in a bowl. I increased the amount of vegetables by almost 2x, and added extra hoisin sauce. I play around with the seasoning a bit, to get the right flavor due to the added veggies.

I also made a "happy hour" while we played cards, although we were a bit more rushed than I'd prefer, given the fence project. I made a caprese salad, with tomatoes & basil from the garden, put out the feta/jalapeno dip, toasted leftover bread from Friday night's dinner, set out a variety of cheese & vegetables. Sam asked for taquitos, so I baked a few of those. It was a huge spread! We all ate a light sized dinner after that.

Nick made another batch of his delicious chocolate chip cookies, so we dropped some off & surprised a friend & her family. 

Here's what's on the list for today:

• Run
• Make crockpot carnitas
• Make pico de gallo & gaucamole
• Clean the kitchen
• Vacuum
• Clean the bathrooms
• With the boys, clean the ash off of the solar panels
• Call my parents
• List a new item on eBay

What about you? What are you up to today? 

Saturday Happenings

 It's a lovely morning here, and I'm drinking coffee & gearing myself up to go for a run today. Here's hoping I get out before it gets too warm. 

The boys will be biking to soccer "pod" practice this morning, as it's at a nearby park. I'm grateful their soccer club is able to find safe/COVID compliant ways for them to get together. It's nothing like standard soccer (smaller groups, masks, no contact of any kind), but it's physical activity that gets them out of the house, they get exercise, and they also get to see friends. It's as close to normal as we will get right now.

Our county is very close to moving to the next phase of re-opening (likely next week), but both kids schools have announced that we are doing full distance learning until at least January. It was expected, and I believe to be the safest option, but still hard to hear & imagine. I'm hopeful that Sam's high school will be able to explore more small group activity, while the weather is good enough to allow for outdoor social distancing. Fingers crossed. Starting high school remotely has been pretty challenging. Nick's situation is a bit different, as he's in 8th grade, so it's an extension of a school experience he's already familiar with. Regardless, I have a huge amount of appreciation for the challenges all of the teachers and administrators are facing as they try to balance such a difficult situation with many compounding factors. 

A friend's father passed away yesterday, so I made dinner & dropped off lasagna, salad, bread, a card & cookies (handmade by Nick) last night. Nick's cookies were so bakery like & fabulous that I offered to pay him $5 to make another batch. He's saving up for something he wants (a bike part?) & it's much cheaper than the bakery option I was considering as a gift for another friend.

Here's what I'm up to today:

• Run
• Clean the house (vacuum, bathrooms, kitchen)
• Decide what to do with planter boxes
• Make feta/jalapeno dip
• Make eggroll in a bowl
• Decide on menu plan for the week
• Shopping list
• Costco
• Finish putting away items leftover from "junk drawer" clean out
• Journal
• Do my posture exercises
• List an item on eBay
• Package/walk to drop off box to mail eBay sale (a book I've had listed for months)
• Make pico de gallo
• Make guacamole

And with that, here's my menu plan for the week:

• Friday - we had spicy chicken, coleslaw & bread. The chicken came from the store, and was an easy option after I'd made a lasagna for a friend. 
• Saturday - we're going to have a happy hour first, as I've promised the boys. That will be bread, sliced fruit, nuts & cheese, & play cards together. We'll have egg roll in a bowl (smaller portions, given happy hour) afterward.
• Sunday - carnitas in the crockpot, with pico de gallo & guacamole
• Monday - spicy chicken on salads
• Tuesday - leftover egg roll in a bowl
• Wednesday - leftover carnitas
• Thursday - burgers (freezer) + salad
• Friday - TBD

What about you? What are you up to today? What's on the menu for the week?