Frugal Friday

It didn't feel like the most productive week, with some leftover jet lag, & M being out of town. But, we managed a few frugal wins:

• No eating out. This is a pretty big win, as I normally would take the kids out to eat at least once when I'm on my own & we have crazy schedules. This week, I really worked hard to prep as much as possible, and it paid off.
• Eating random leftovers for dinner. This also worked well. I didn't make any main meals this week (traveling Saturday, too tired on Sunday), so we made do with what we had on hand, vs using fresh ingredients. This helps to eat down our freezer stash, and makes sure nothing goes to waste.
• Drove the electric car for all commuting & errands (including multiple carpools) & charged for free at work. 
• Realized I was not managing my investments as well as I should be, and made a small tweak. Basically, one of my investments (a California muni, tax advantaged) charges a flat fee for every purchase. I didn't notice the first few times, and was just turning over my monthly stock equity sales into this, generating a fee each time. Now, instead I'll bundle & make the purchases less frequently. The double benefit is I've moved the waiting investments over to a high yield savings account in the interim. 
• Worked on keeping the power low around the house, and we all bundled up with blankets & I drank hot tea to keep warm.  
• Cashed in points & miles from my last trip for gift cards for Christmas. Given the length of the trip, it was a lot of points. The best option is always a direct use of the points/miles on the hotel or airline providing them. However, I have a few that don't line up with my personal travel options & are hard to convert, so I went the gift card route. I ended up with $380 in gift cards!

That's it for us. We're off to a soccer tournament tomorrow, so I'll pack food (there is a planned brunch out for the kids, but the adults will have packed food, and the kids will also have packed lunches & snacks for after). We wanted to take the electric car, but it's pushing it a bit with the mileage, and the area we're going to doesn't have as many charges as we'd like to be comfortable. We'll check it out & determine if it's possible for next time, as we have plenty of games there. 

What about you? Any frugal wins for the week?

Planning for 2018

As one of my November goals, I'm working on our 2018 budget & travel plans. I haven't quite gotten my head around the travel plans, as so much of that will be dependent on my work schedule. Currently, our travel looks as follows (and, doesn't take into account any work trips for M).

Travel planning for 2018:

• January - I have a work trip to Tokyo. (Last one? Unclear, work plans TBD)
• February - we're taking the kids skiing at Tahoe for a few days over ski week
• March - nothing planned. If I have to squeeze in a final London trip, I'll do it in March
• April - tentatively have a girls trip planned to Las Vegas. We have a free room booked at the Encore (my favorite), so assuming we can find cheap flights, this is a go.
• May - potentially a girls trip to the beach (my mom + my sister) for Mother's Day. We've been discussing this for a year, but are open on dates. It's my mom's Mother's Day & birthday gifts for a few years, and her top request for any gift is time with her daughters. :-)
• June - TBD. Will likely head to the Oregon coast for family time, near the 4th.
• July - 4th of July at the beach, and potentially a girls trip tacked onto that.
• August - Portland to Coast relay
• September - nothing planned
• October - nothing planned
• November - nothing planned
• December - Christmas with my family + the Oregon coast

As usual, things get a little jammed for the first half, and settle down a bit the last few months of the year. We'll see if that holds.

Financial planning for 2018:

As for the financial planning, there are plenty of unknowns. The major one is my job, and when I plan to quit. Dates I'm currently considering are 3/25 & 6/25, but anything is possible. I'm waiting for equity details from my recent performance review, and a large equity grant could keep me there a bit longer. We also are working through house plans (updates) & any big budget items may require a slightly longer time horizon, depending on how we choose to fund. M & I plan to have a few "budget/planning" days over the upcoming months to lock in these plans & ensure we're aligned.

The electric car purchase:

I didn't make much mention of it, but we bought an electric car. I'm pretty excited about it. There is great infrastructure where we live to support this, and I get free charging at work, as does M. The car will be my primary car for everything, and we will sell our 2005 sedan to cover the base price of the electric car. We're leasing it (buying an electric car gives me pause, as batteries and such are unknown from a life time perspective, and the technology is changing so much in this space). We'll make some other minor budget changes to accommodate the $120/month leasing fee. Our reduction in gas will hopefully cover the majority of this. It's our first month with the electric car, so I'll report back once I have a better sense of overall cost/benefit.

Other financial changes in 2018:

• We're cutting out our cleaning service. The boys can continue to increase their chores on weekends, and if I'm not working and/or traveling less, this is definitely something we can (perhaps uncomfortably while I'm working) make happen. It's a pricey expense, so one I'm motivated to end. 
• Healthcare coverage. Depending on when I leave my job, M will add us all to his insurance, and that increase will need to be factored in.
• Gym membership (after I leave my job). I'm on the fence with this one. I live in California, so outdoor workouts can happen pretty much throughout the year. Especially as I'm a Seattle girl who isn't afraid of rain. ;-) But, once I quit my job, I feel like I might need the social connection & structure, and the local YMCA has a bunch of classes for not that much money. TBD.
• I'll review all of our 2017 budget categories & adjust based on actual spend. Sometimes, actual spend doesn't quite align with planned spend. ;-) Who knew? 

We're also spending quite a bit of time thinking about the kids out of the house future, which for us, is about 7.5 years away. It helps to break our planning into a few chunks:

1. Kids in the house
2. Kids out of the house - in college
3. Kids out of college - on their own
4. M hits 65
5. I hit 65

All of these milestones factor into our financial & lifestyle planning. Once the kids go to college, we can sell our current house & move somewhere much more affordable. We're in the research phase for that, but want to stay west coast. Current options we're considering are:

• San Louis Obispo
• Bend, Oregon
• Vancouver, Washington (also known as where my sister lives!)
• Hawaii is on the potential list, but travel costs make this hard, as is general COL. We'd likely do this part time, while retaining our Oregon house. 

Ahhh, so much to think about & plan for! I love the planning & thinking that goes into life. It's one of my favorite things to ponder. What about you? What changes are you considering for 2018? 

November Goals

I'm looking forward to a few days off to spend with the family over Thanksgiving. I am on call for most of the month, but fingers crossed that it's nice and quiet at work. Here's my list of goals for November!

1) Financial - 

• Meet with a financial planner
• Finalize our 2018 budget. Really!
• Finalize our 2018 travel plans (2nd half of the year)
• Make progress on list of house projects (i.e. prioritize a couple that are not dependent on other projects, and work on budget & timeline for those)
• Find one alternative cost cutting option
• Sell another $100 of items on either eBay or my local Facebook swap site. If nothing sells, donate & get rid of the clutter.
• Finalize our long term financial working doc, and share with M. Take a day off & have a financial review meeting, align, adjust the plan, etc. 
• Get our gas bill down to $60 for the month. We have one trip that we're unsure if we can make with the electric car (soccer tournament), but other than that, we should be able to stick to just the electric car for the majority of our commuting. 

2) Family - Spend more time together as a family!

• Plan our Thanksgiving menu, and have the kids help with the planning, shopping, prep & cooking. 
• Have a family game night. 
• Finish Christmas shopping & planning
• More decluttering & organizing in our new house (would like to get the boys closet shelving installed, so they can put away/organize all of their games & toys)

3) Fitness/health - Lose 2 pounds in November

• Eat five servings of fruit & vegetables (combined) per day
• Complete 1000 minutes of cardio
• Complete 6 strength workouts.
• Complete 6 stretching workouts
• Register for & complete a Turkey Trot
• Run 20 miles in November. 

4) Work/career - Improve my work life balance.

• Keep better perspective at work/reduce stress 
• Work from home 2x this month.
• Plan a spa day. I have a gift card from work that I received over a year ago. Find a day I can make this happen, & take the day off, & relax!
• Brainstorm how I would spend my time if I wasn't working. Really think creatively about what this would mean, what the challenges would be, etc.
• Spend no gas on my work commute. Electric car only! 

5) Personal/creative - Spend more time on myself/creative pursuits.

• Try a new recipe using my new crockpot
• Do something social at least once per month.
• Volunteer a minimum of 1x/month.
• Write at least 6 blog posts. (Including one on mileage maximizing strategies, per request :-)).

I think that's it from my side - what about you? How is your November looking? Any big goals? I'm excited to do the Turkey Trot, and looking forward to our family time at Thanksgiving. What about you? Anything you're particularly looking forward to? 

October Goal Review

October was a very mixed month, with a fabulous vacation & then a business trip with some seriously long travel. As a result, we didn't accomplish as much as I'd like.

1) Financial - 

• Meet with a financial planner - Nope. This got pushed off. 
• Finalize our 2018 budget - We're in pretty good shape. Now the question remains about my timing for leaving my job, which has us a bit up in the air. I need to finalize this in November. 
• Finalize our 2018 travel plans - I have the first half of the year sorted, but need to finalize the second half. 
• Make progress on list of house projects (i.e. prioritize a couple that are not dependent on other projects, and work on budget & timeline for those) - Nope. This got pushed off. 
• Find one alternative cost cutting option - Well, we are selling our car & bought an electric car. We should be just a smidge under the monthly price, all things considered. We paid $5K up front for a lease, and expect to get almost exactly that back on the sale of the other car. The cost of gas negates the $120 monthly lease fee. We can charge for free at work. I'm optimistic that this could be a cost savings for us, as we will try & get our gas bill down to the bare minimum. 
• Sell another $100 of items on either eBay or my local Facebook swap site. If nothing sells, donate & get rid of the clutter. - I sold $85 worth of stuff, so at least some progress!
• Stay on budget for our Hawaii trip - yes!

2) Family - Spend more time together as a family!

• Cook one meal with each kid, so they can start helping with the cooking. - This definitely didn't happen in October. 
• Have a family game night. - Yes, we had an Uno party. :-) 
• Start our planning for Christmas - Yes, I kicked off the process. 
• More decluttering & organizing in our new house (would like to get the boys closet shelving installed, so they can put away/organize all of their games & toys) - This hasn't happened yet. 

3) Fitness/health - Lose 2 pounds in October

• Stay on track on our vacation & my business trip - I worked out a ton on my vacation, and twice on my work trip. The jet lag made anything else challenging. 
• Eat five servings of fruit & vegetables (combined) per day - eh, not while on my business trip. 
• Complete 1000 minutes of cardio - yes! I completed 1075 minutes. 
• Complete 6 strength workouts. - Yes! I completed 9 strength workouts. 
• Complete 6 stretching workouts - And, 9 stretching workouts!
• Register for a Turkey Trot - I found one, but haven't registered. Will take care of this in November. 

4) Work/career - Improve my work life balance.

• Keep better perspective at work/reduce stress - Eh, I did get promoted, but any time I travel for work, I realize how very hard it is for me. 
• Work from home 2x this month. - I managed only once, but I was on vacation for a couple of the days. 
• Brainstorm how I would spend my time if I wasn't working. Really think creatively about what this would mean, what the challenges would be, etc. - I made no progress on this one. 
• No driving to/from work - use only carpool options - I was over 75%, but we had a few days where I had childcare responsibilities, so had to drive. 

5) Personal/creative - Spend more time on myself/creative pursuits.

• Try a new recipe using my new crockpot - Yes! I made a yummy potato soup. 
• Do something social at least once per month. - Yes! I went on a hike with a friend. 
• Volunteer a minimum of 1x/month. - They no longer need volunteers for the one school event that worked with my schedule, so I need to find another alternative. 

The colors nicely reflected what happened in October - a mixed month. Our vacation was absolutely fabulous, so no regrets there at all!

What about you? How did you do with your October goals? Any big wins to celebrate? 

All the jet lag + a menu plan

I flew back from Singapore yesterday, and oh my, was it ever a long adventure. I had a 6 am flight from Singapore to Tokyo, then a three hour layover in Tokyo, followed by a flight from Tokyo to San Francisco. It was about a 30 hour travel day. I actually took a nap yesterday. I take a nap maybe once a year or so, so this was a big deal. I also managed to sleep around 11 hours last night.

I hate jet lag, and that groggy no energy feeling. It makes it hard to feel engaged with life. But, I'm back & have things to do, so . . . suck it up buttercup.

I'm working through my list of chores, including making a menu plan for the week ahead. Michael is traveling this week, so we'll be eating more freezer based meals than normal.

• Sunday - I defrosted a chicken pasta casserole, as I'm not up to prepping an entire dinner tonight. That's what freezer meals are for!
• Monday - we'll have leftover lasagna
• Tuesday - If there are any other leftovers, we will have that. Otherwise, I'll make breakfast for dinner (pancakes, etc)
• Wednesday - Soup & bread (both from freezer). There are a few soup options in the freezer, but I'm thinking potato soup is at the top of the list.
• Thursday - baked chicken & pasta 
• Friday - M arrives home. I'm taking the day off, as the kids have no school. I'll likely make risotto.
• Saturday - we'll be at a soccer tournament all day, so something easy. Maybe naan bread pizzas. 
• Sunday - I'm hoping M will make kebabs & rice.

That's it for the menu plan. I also sold three things on eBay (woohoo!), so need to get those mailed tomorrow. Everything is now wrapped & ready to go. I'll print off the labels tomorrow, and get them off in time. 

What about you? Any quick & easy (kid friendly) meals to recommend this week? 

Frugal Friday

I normally do a better job of tracking these things during the week, but it's been another crazy week. Post-vacation, pre-business trip. I leave for Singapore on Sunday, and am not ready at all! But, there are a few frugal wins to be had:

1. Cancelled the cleaning lady this week. My mom was here, and always leaves the house immaculate when she leaves. Such a gift!
2. I found inexpensive options for the boys Halloween costumes.
3. Packed lunch for myself on Sunday, as I knew I wouldn't have time to eat between activities. It was nothing I really wanted, but ate it anyway (leftovers). Bonus points. ;-)
4. Updated our benefits at work, and found a few new options that seem like they will save a bit in 2018.
5. Got a promotion & a raise. :-) My salary is about 1/2 of my overall compensation, so I won't know the bonus & stock increase for a few more months. The raise is a few hundred dollars/month more, which I'll use to increase our savings. 
6. Made dinner at home every night this week. Even though the boys were jonesing for a meal out. I know they will eat out when I'm in Singapore (as will I), so for all of our health & our wallet, it's better to wait.
7. Listed three items on eBay. I'm not a huge eBay fan, and find it a hassle, but discovered a pair of new black dress pants (that don't fit) when I was packing, so it was the kick start I needed to list those & a couple of other items. 

In other news, the school district had trouble processing our move paperwork, so I spent about half of my day on Monday straightening that out, leaving the work to pile up for the remainder of the week. That's now sorted, and I'm slowly working through my work before I head out. We also have a soccer tournament this weekend, which should add to the chaos. ;-) 

What about you? Anything fun on the agenda this weekend? Any big (or little) frugal wins?

Menu plan Monday

I'm trying to get organized before my next trip, so here's what we've been eating so far, and what's on the menu for the next few weeks.

• Friday - bits & bobs from the freezer. Too tired post-vacation & work to do much of anything. Used up a cheese pizza base (freezer) & doctored it with thinly sliced meatballs & fresh tomatoes. 
• Saturday - M is grilling chicken & potatoes. My parents will be with us for one final dinner before they head back home
• Sunday - I made butternut squash soup, and served that with goat cheese crostini + salad
• Monday - Potato soup (freezer) + rolls
• Tuesday - Pesto pasta with chicken (leftover from Saturday)
• Wednesday - Leftover soup + any final rolls
• Thursday - Leftovers, or spaghetti & meatballs
• Friday - Orange chicken + rice
• Saturday - one skillet chicken fiesta rice
• Sunday - Kebabs & rice
• Monday - I fly to Singapore. The kids & M will eat leftover kebabs & rice
• Tuesday - Singapore. The kids & M will eat leftover chicken fiesta rice
• Wednesday - Singapore. The kids & M will eat any leftovers. If none, spaghetti & meatballs
• Thursday - Singapore. The kids & M will eat tacos (freezer)
• Friday - Singapore. The kids & M will most likely go out. 

I'm back form Singapore on Saturday. Hurrah!!

What about you? Anything fun on the menu this week? 

Back from paradise, & Frugal Friday

We got back from Hawaii late on Wednesday, and I was clearly not prepared to go back to work on Thursday morning. It was a really rough adjustment back to life! :-)

Hawaii was amazing. We stayed at a hotel that had free activities & fitness classes, and I did 2-3/day most days. I went to 10 yoga classes! What a fun treat. We also went to Haleakala & hiked, swam with turtles, and went canoeing. But mostly, M & I just spent time together. Laughing, talking, riding in the car with no one else interrupting . . the simple pleasures. It was fabulous & I'm so happy we went!

Here are a few frugal highlights for the week:

• We stayed on track with our vacation budget. In fact, we only spent $25 at the hotel (minus the room cost, which we booked through Costco). Two poolside drinks on our last day, and a scoop of ice cream. YUM!
• We brought our own wine in our (free) checked bag, and had that on the lanai every night. 
• Stuck to happy hour for most dinners, and had one more elaborate meal out to celebrate our anniversary
• Ate breakfast in the room (protein bars, muffins, & bananas), as well as lunch almost every day. We stopped by Costco & picked up a few groceries. Our hotel room didn't have a kitchen, but it did have a mini fridge, so we kept our groceries there & got creative. 
• Took advantage of all the free workouts & a few activities as well - making the most of our resort fee that's included in the hotel.
• Free carpool to/from work both yesterday & today

What about you? Any big frugal wins to report? 

With that, I'm off to put together a meal plan, so the rest of the week ahead won't be so scrambled! 

Pantry Challenge Update & Saturday Happenings

I got up this morning, and whipped up some cashew butter, and then went for a two hour hike with a friend. When I got home, I took Nick to soccer, and then went to Costco, the produce stand, and the grocery store. We are all sorted for supplies for the week, as well as for our trip to Hawaii.

I wanted to give an update on where I stand with my pantry challenge. Some definite progress, although more work to do! My dad will be visiting next week (while we're in Hawaii!), so hopefully he'll eat some of the cashews. ;-)

• An enormous (25 oz) jar of green olives. Side note: what was I thinking?
• 1/3 or so of a package of chocolate breakfast cereal. This is nothing we would allow the boys for breakfast, but I'm open to using it in something a little more snack like. One of our house guests brought this. - used, in a batch of granola bars!
• The end of a bag of pretzel chips. Used these for these delicious granola bars. 
• Two 1/2 used boxes of lasagna noodles - Used one 1/2 box, so down to the other half
• A 1/2 bag of pine nuts. -  Used some for homemade pesto, but only had enough basil to use a bit. 
• Most of a container of almonds - used about half for almond butter, when I ran out of peanut butter
• Most of a container of cashews . . . ditto the almond butter. Used about half for cashew butter, to replace peanut butter. 
• A few bits & bobs of trail mix - used, in a batch of granola bars!
• Most of a large bag of sourdough stuffing. 
• The last of a bottle of green chile sauce (from the fridge) - used up in chicken fiesta rice!
• An unopened jar of Nutella - turns out this was expired (& had a funky taste), so unfortunately, it was tossed. I have no idea why M bought this way back in the day, but it will never make it on another grocery list, so I feel like we can avoid this type of waste moving forward. 

Other than that, I need to do the laundry (Nick's uniform - as he has a game tomorrow), finish packing, wrap up my granola bars, and potentially sit by the pool with a book & a glass of wine. I'm making this yummy pilaf for dinner. I'll sub almonds for the hazelnuts, and add chicken.

What about you? What are you up to this Saturday? Any lingering pantry items you want to use up? :-) 

Frugal Friday

We're in the home stretch ahead of our vacation. SO excited! Here are the frugal wins for the week:

• No eating out. Made creative use of leftovers. I can highly recommend this new recipe (one pan chicken fajita rice. YUM!) 
• Took free carpool (work thing for October) to & from work every day. Also, walked to work on Wednesday! (7 miles) Combining commute time + my workout is a win! I don't have time to make it a regular thing, but it was great.
• Ordered the boys yearbooks before the deadline passed
• Received an offer for three free nights + $400 at my favorite Las Vegas hotel. I've been trying to find a way to do an affordable girls trip to Las Vegas in July, and this popped up. We will swap the dates (Las Vegas in April, the beach in July) & this will save a significant amount of money. 
• Started my list of packing items for our Hawaii trip. We will plan to: pack granola bars & muffins, so we can have breakfasts in our room/on the lanai. We'll pick up fruit at Costco as well, to supplement. 
• Working on creative options for Thanksgiving break, so we can avoid sending the boys to camp. Savings of ~$600
• Transferred earnings from recent business trip straight to my personal mileage account, soI can use the miles to offset our travel budget.
• Came in $2.57 over our grocery budget. Honestly, this is a huge win, as I did a big stockup of clearanced items for $20 earlier in the month, and that will save us in the long term.  Also, sticking to our grocery budget has been a huge challenge, so this is good progress. My goal for October is to *actually* be at my budget. ;-) 

That's it for me! What about you? Any big frugal wins for the week?

Setting October's goals

And with that, October is here. I love fall & am excited about the changing weather. We also have a vacation planned in October, which makes this an amazing month. I'll close out the month with a work trip to Singapore. Less excited about that - such a LONG flight!:-(

1) Financial - 

• Meet with a financial planner
• Finalize our 2018 budget
• Finalize our 2018 travel plans
• Make progress on list of house projects (i.e. prioritize a couple that are not dependent on other projects, and work on budget & timeline for those)
• Find one alternative cost cutting option
• Sell another $100 of items on either eBay or my local Facebook swap site. If nothing sells, donate & get rid of the clutter.
• Stay on budget for our Hawaii trip

2) Family - Spend more time together as a family!

• Cook one meal with each kid, so they can start helping with the cooking.
• Have a family game night. 
• Start our planning for Christmas
• More decluttering & organizing in our new house (would like to get the boys closet shelving installed, so they can put away/organize all of their games & toys)

3) Fitness/health - Lose 2 pounds in October

• Stay on track on our vacation & my business trip
• Eat five servings of fruit & vegetables (combined) per day
• Complete 1000 minutes of cardio
• Complete 6 strength workouts.
• Complete 6 stretching workouts
• Register for a Turkey Trot

4) Work/career - Improve my work life balance.

• Keep better perspective at work/reduce stress 
• Work from home 2x this month.
• Brainstorm how I would spend my time if I wasn't working. Really think creatively about what this would mean, what the challenges would be, etc.
• No driving to/from work - use only carpool options

5) Personal/creative - Spend more time on myself/creative pursuits.

• Try a new recipe using my new crockpot
• Do something social at least once per month.
• Volunteer a minimum of 1x/month.

Lots of similar goals for October, with a few new ones to keep things interesting! What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish this month? 

September Goals Review

And just like that, another month is gone. Here's how I did with my goals in September. Overall, I did okay. It was a busy month, but I managed a few wins. Looking forward to October! Also, I tried a new recipe & it was amazing! I highly recommend this one pan chicken fajita rice. We served it with: sour cream, diced tomatoes, guacamole, & chips. Sam used the chips to create nachos (excellent!) & I think we'll serve the leftovers with tortillas, so people can make their own burritos. Loved this recipe, and both M & Sam also loved it. Winner, winner!

1) Financial - 

• Meet with a financial planner - I ended up having a work conflict, so I had to push this out. 
• Finalize investments & budget from post rental house sale - Yes! I may shift things around, but so far, so good. 
• Plan our 2018 budget - I think this is mostly done. 
• Plan our 2018 travel plans - Mostly. I need to sort my two girls trip still. But, overall priorities & budgeting is done. 
• Finalize list of house projects for our "new" house - we're on the fence about how much work we can/want to do. So far, we've identified two "must do" projects. Otherwise, many of the others are dependent upon each other, which is a challenge. 
• Find one alternative cost cutting option - Not really. I continue to look for ways to reduce & reuse where possible. 
• Sell another $100 of items on either eBay or my local Facebook swap site. If nothing sells, donate & get rid of the clutter. - Sold nothing. 

2) Family - Spend more time together as a family!

• Cook one meal with each kid, so they can start helping with the cooking. - the boys have been helping with fruit & veggie prep, but haven't yet started making their own meals. 
• Have a family game night. - Sam, M & I had a Monopoly battle when Nick was out of town. 
• Get the kids involved in prioritizing our 2018 travel. - Yes, the kids helped to prioritize and decided on skiing in Tahoe vs Hawaii. 
• More decluttering & organizing in our new house (would like to get the boys closet shelving installed, so they can put away/organize all of their games & toys) - We haven't made much progress here. Definitely more to do. 

3) Fitness/health - Lose 4 pounds in September - I lost 3 pounds! Woohoo!

• Stay on track on my business trip to London (complete at least 3 workouts) - I did two workouts, and more walking than usual. 
• Eat five servings of fruit & vegetables (combined) per day - I was on track, but failed on my trip with this. It's harder when traveling. I averaged 4/day.
• Complete 1000 minutes of cardio - September was my lowest month of the year - 595 minutes. Normally I have at least one two hour workout, to balance out the shorter ones. Not this month. :-( 
• Complete 6 strength workouts. - I had 7 strength workouts!
• Complete 6 stretching workouts - but only 2 stretching workouts.
• Find another event to train for, now that my relay is over - I'm looking at a half marathon with my sister & friend. 

4) Work/career - Improve my work life balance.

• Keep better perspective at work/reduce stress - international travel is a great reminder that I cannot/do not want to do this anymore. 
• Work from home 2x this month. - achieved. 
• Brainstorm how I would spend my time if I wasn't working. Really think creatively about what this would mean, what the challenges would be, etc. - Haven't started this yet. 

5) Personal/creative - Spend more time on myself/creative pursuits.

• Try a new recipe using my new crockpot - yes! I tried a potato soup recipe. I didn't love it, but I did try the crockpot out for the first time. 
• Do something social at least once per month. - Yes, I went to a painting/wine party that I won at the school auction. 
• Volunteer a minimum of 1x/month. - they've changed the volunteering event I primarily did (at the school, & have used technology to replace the parents). I need to find another volunteering event that fits with my schedule. 

What about you? How did you do with your goals in September? Any big wins, or goals you need to carryover to another month?

Menu plan & other weekend updates

I ran a bunch of errands yesterday, and took the boys to soccer games. That, plus my normal house work left me exhausted by 7:30 pm. I was pretty proud I made it that far, given the jet lag.

I made dinner rolls, two ingredient cookies, & whipped up the casserole we had for dinner. Today I'm making a triple batch of banana muffins (freezer), trying out my crockpot for the first time with potato soup, and making the chicken fajita rice. I'll report in on any winners

We also have: a school fundraiser, one soccer game, and two birthday parties. I was up by 5:00, so I've already gotten the soup in the crockpot, and have the last round of muffins in the oven.

• Saturday - Italian baked chicken & pastina casserole
• Sunday - One pan chicken fajita rice
• Monday - potato soup in the crockpot
• Tuesday - Ground beef tacos (meat from the freezer)
• Wednesday - leftover fajita rice
• Thursday - Eat up any & all remaining leftovers
• Friday - Hazelnut mushroom pilaf (with chicken) 

In frugal news, I pushed on with making dinner, even though I really, really didn't want to cook after the last soccer game. 

And, with that, I'm off to plan the day, make our schedule for the week, and figure out how to squeeze in a workout! What about you? Trying any new recipes this week?