September Goals

September will be all about getting back into the swing of working (& work travel) again. I'm heading to Boulder next week, and then Tokyo at the end of the month. Here's what I'm hoping to get done in September.

1) Financial:

• Stick to the budget
• Come up with a new way to reduce what we need/spend on an ongoing basis
• Made $500 in side hustle
• Sell ten items
• Use up 10 freezer items
• Use up 5 irregular pantry items
• Go back to work, & into the swing of two full time working parents
• Complete one business trip
• Build plan for moving to part time role
• Finish our refi & shift investments over to a better interest yielding account

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

• Do one fun activity/month with the kids
• Off of the computer by 8:00 each evening
• Have a date night with M
• Continue with Sam's plan, meet with school. Meet with counselor.
• Choose 2 deep cleaning house projects
• Finish remaining projects at the beach house (fridge repair, fire pit volcanic rock, wood storage, Costco for fridge compensation)
• Finalize house projects & budget/schedule for work. Drapes, second round of doors, budget & plan for trim.

3) Fitness/health - lose 4 lbs

• Run 12 times
• Stay on track with my calories & fitness while traveling
• Track calories (1400/day) & eat 5 servings of fruit & veggies/day
• Work out 30 times
• Meditate 10 times

4) Personal/creative

• Do two social things
• Volunteer, or find an option that will fit with my schedule
• Journal 15 times
• Read one non-fiction book

That's it for me! What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish in September?

August goals - how did I do?

It was a lovely month, but I definitely felt the "end of summer" pressure to get everything done, as my sabbatical was coming to a fast close. . . particularly because I cut a week off at the request of my manager.

1) Financial:

• Stick to the budget - we did okay this month, although not great. We were under on child care (thanks to my sabbatical) & over on groceries. It was a pretty close month, however, with just $15 over. We were also over on dining out, but I covered half of a dinner out with a large group for my dad's birthday, and bought discounted gift cards that we will use for future dining out. When calculating all of the categories, we were over by $215. 
• Come up with a new way to reduce what we need/spend on an ongoing basis - I don't think we did much for this one. 
• Make $500 in side hustle - I made $670. It would have been over $1,000 if I hadn't had two expensive eBay snafus. Sigh 
• Sell ten items - I sold 18 items, which is huge for me!
• Use up 10 freezer items - I used up 11 items. 
• Use up 5 irregular pantry items (you know, the things that linger & aren't a part of your normal menu) - I did this, although a few things were also just tossed, as they were expired, stale, etc. 

2) Family - spend more time together as a family:

• Do one fun activity with the boys - I took Sam skating, & Nick rock climbing. 
• Off the computer by 7:45 each evening - I did "okay" with this, but find when I don't have a great book to read, I'm more tempted to get back on the computer. (I rarely watch TV).
• Have two dates with M - Yes! One at the house, and one out for a friend's birthday, followed by dinner.
• Continue with Sam's plans (meet with the school, set up additional tutors)
• Met with doctor
• Researched insurance benefits
• Had a call with the school counselor
• Set up first therapy appointment
• Deep clean the entire house - I actually still have a few things on my wish list. It's silly to do all of the deep cleaning before our doors are finished, as the door installation makes a huge mess. 
• Finish remaining projects at the beach house (fire pit, contractor work) - the fire pit is done, the doors were installed this week, but the fridge repair was pushed out until next week. 
• Finish house projects - drapes, second chandeliers, doors, trim - we finished the chandeliers, but 1/2 the doors are still on back order. We also need to order the drapes. Hopefully today!

3) Fitness/health - lose 4 lbs - sigh. I don't think so. 

• Run 12 times - I ran 1x. It was super hot in August, so getting outside was challenging. 
• Track calories (1400/day) & 5 servings of fruit & veggies/day - I was at 1630, which explains the lack of weight progress. 
• Work out 35 times - I worked out 24 times. 
• Meditate 10 times - I meditated 4 times. 
• Complete relay at or below pace time - I finished, but struggled on my second leg as I wasn't feeling good. It was my personal worst for that particular relay leg, which is 8 miles. I did it at 3:00 am, which certainly didn't help. 

4) Personal/creative

• Do four social things - had lunch with a friend, went to a brunch with another friend, and did two workouts with a friend. 
• Look for a flexible volunteer option - tried to find a slot for volunteering at back to school day, but it didn't work with some driving I was already scheduled to do
• Journal 18 times - I journaled 10 times. 
• Read one non-fiction book - nope
• Tackle six projects from my sabbatical list:
• Family photo books complete - the rest are digital, and M has been working 80 hours weeks. I need him to access the digital photos. 
• Wash all windows - done
• Stain table - nope
• Declutter the rest of the house - everything but the kitchen
• Power wash the patio - nope
• Continue yard work (front & back) - yes, although not done
• Figure out what to do with fence posts - requires M, so not done
• Get quote for fridge damage & submit to delivery company - decided to skip, as we are still waiting to have the fridge repaired.
• Order glasses - yes
• Get a hair cut - yes
• Find geometry tutor for Sam - so far, we haven't needed this. 

While I would have liked to have seen a few more greens on the list, I did get a few other things done that were on my sabbatical list. I got in three more workouts at the studio I bought the monthly pass for, I got a massage, got all of the paperwork done for our refi, moved investments to qualify for the additional refi rate drop, etc. Let's hope I can get a lot done in September!

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

Menu plan + great grocery store deal

I'm trying to get ahead of the menu planning this week, as I'll be back to work next week. Here's what we're planning on having this week:


Friday - pizza (Keto friendly for the adults, pepperoni for the kids) + salad
Saturday - date night. The kids will be with a sitter, and they will likely have quesadillas.
Sunday - taco casserole (new recipe)
Monday - M is making burgers, and I'll make coleslaw
Tuesday - leftover taco casserole
Wednesday - leftover burgers & I'll whip up a fresh batch of coleslaw
Thursday - carnitas (freezer)

I had a great grocery store trip yesterday, and combined rewards + the Friday freebie + marked down meat & the last of a gift card for an awesome stop. They had 1 lb packages of ground turkey marked down to $.99/lb. I bought three. The Friday Freebie was a package of 10 KCups ($7.99 regularly). I had $2.00 in rewards, and used a gift card to cover the $.97 remaining. What a deal!

As for today, Nick has a soccer scrimmage, & I'll pick up a friend to help another mom out with logistics. After that, Nick will be swimming with a buddy & Michael & I are heading to a 40th birthday party. A sitter will be coming over. We haven't needed our "nanny/driver for activities" at all, due to my sabbatical, so we'll have her cover our date night tonight, giving her some money. She is fantastic & so flexible, so I like to help out & try to ensure we give her hours when possible.

I am hoping to go for a run while Nick is at soccer, and get a few scheduling things sorted out for next week.

And with that, I'm off to work on the grocery list for the week. What about you? What's on your menu for the week? Anything new or any special grocery deals?

Frugal Friday

This week when by so quickly. I can't believe it's already the weekend! I'm looking forward to the long weekend together before I have to head back to work.

Saving on things we buy:

• Found frozen cheese pizzas at Costco for $4.99 for a four pack. There are a medium sized pizza, and we keep them in the freezer for emergency dinners. What an incredible deal!
• The kids occasionally go to Sweet Tomatoes (a casual salad bar restaurant) while I'm traveling. I buy gift cards at a discount to keep on hand for these times. We were out of gift cards, so I bought $110 worth of gift cards for $100, and will earn a bit more back on Rakuten.

Earning money:

• Found $.02 on the ground at the relay I attended this weekend
• Cashed out points on a customer panel I'm participating in, and transferred $15 to Paypal. I also completed a few additional tasks. I don't have enough to cash out yet, but I've earned another $10 or so. 
• Listed a few more items on eBay, and listed four items for my sister. I'll give her any money I earn. I'm trying to help her kick start her own side hustle
• Cashed out $50 in Swagbucks for an Amazon gift card. 
• Filed a claim for missing eBay item. Since I'm out the money on an item that was lost, fingers crossed that this gets quickly approved & paid out.

Avoiding purchases/spending:

• Packed water bottles & snacks for the airport. Packing enough snacks for a hungry 13 year old was a challenge, but we managed ;-) 
• We made sandwiches vs buying at Subway for our relay team. 
• Didn't buy any relay swag this year. I have a cute hoodie I wear all the time from a few years ago, so I'll just stick with that for now. 
• M brought home leftovers from a work event, and that fed the kids for a couple of lunches
• Had two free lunches at work, as I met a friend & was on campus for another errand
• We once again ate all of our leftovers for the week, which is always an accomplishment!

What frugal wins did you have this week?

Menu Plan Monday

Our team finished the big relay this year, and placed quite highly (3rd in our division). We did great, and Sam was amazing. It was quite an adventure for him to stay up late, sleep in the van, do his leg at midnight in the dark. He was incredibly fast, and didn't get passed once. He was very excited.

We are both sore & tired today, and I'm trying to get the house unpacked & my chores done before they shut off the power. The power company is doing some work in our neighborhood, and the power is supposed to be off for most of the day.

I'm late to the party with my menu plan, and I didn't cook over the weekend due to being out of town. So, here's what I'm thinking about for the weekly menu:

• Sunday - we had frozen lasagna
• Monday - egg roll in a bowl
• Tuesday - leftover lasagna
• Wednesday - leftover egg roll in a bowl
• Thursday - tacos. Sam has been asking for tacos for several weeks now
• Friday - homemade pizza for the boys, Keto pizza for the adults
• Saturday - date night. The boys will have tacos

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

Frugal Friday

It's been an expensive week, with two eBay issues (one my fault, and I should earn most of the money back by relisting. The second, not my fault & will require a claim with the post office.) I tried to still pull out a few frugal wins.

Saving on things we buy

• Submitted vision coverage reimbursement for the two pair of glasses I ordered

Earning money

• Nick found a dime in the change machine while we were doing automatic check out at the grocery store. I've (sadly) never though to look there, but I will now.
• Found $.20 on the ground on my run (2 nickels & 1 dime)
• I adjusted my sabbatical to end a few days early. I will at least get one paid holiday out of it (so, get paid for 5 days, work 4).
• I had to transfer some of our savings to our new bank in order to qualify for an additional rate reduction. I noticed that there was a new client offer that would generate $600 for an investment transfer of our size. Filled out an application for both myself & M, and should be receiving that in 60 days. That's in addition to the rate reduction we received from making the transfer.

Avoiding purchasing/spending

• We've done a good job of managing leftovers this week, which is always a relief. Used a grocery store freebie (cottage cheese) & a $.99 lb of ground turkey to make a delicious keto friendly lasagna. Yum!
• Had an inexpensive date night. We'd originally asked if our nanny was available to babysit on Saturday night. She was out of town. A sitter would be $50, plus the cost of eating out. Instead, a friend offered to take the boys to an event they wanted to attend. Cost was $30 for their admission. We made a Keto pizza at home, and each had a cocktail. We probably saved close to $100 between the price of dinner out & the $20 difference on an activity vs a sitter. Win!
• Finished all of the leftovers in the fridge before Sam & I left for Portland. M isn't great about using them up, so they often go to waste when I'm gone.

What frugal wins did you have this week?

Backup plans & refi updates

Sam is still not feeling well, & I'm starting to panic about the relay. If he's unable to join, it will be so disappointing for him & everyone else. He came home from school yesterday & slept the rest of the day. Fingers crossed that he turns the corner today! We have worked out backup plans (who will cover his legs) & have a few other ideas that we might put in place if he can't make it. But, here's hoping he feels better quickly - both for the relay & also because he's just so miserably sick. Poor kid.

We received news that we have conditional loan approval on our refi, and our appraisal came through at a really high number, which was the final piece. We are getting an additional drop on the interest rate by transferring investments to Bank of America, so I'm in the process of waiting for all of that verification to be completed & for the transfers to go through. We're in the home stretch! I'm thrilled, because a refi is so much work & it's really nice to know what a difference this will make in our loan & interest. It gives us a much better shot at our aggressive goal of having the house paid off before Nick heads off to college.

What else is happening today?

• I took the kids to school, and will pick up. This is unusual, as they normally bike. I thought I would save Sam the energy, so he can focus on his school work, & getting better. 
• We're having leftovers for dinner, which I love. Easy peasy. We're having leftover burger patties in a feta/tomato/cream gravy. They were fantastic.
• I vacuumed & handled a few inside chores
• I filled the yard waste, and our bonus bin, as pickup day is tomorrow. I could fill that yard waste up every day of my sabbatical, with all of the leaves & debris from our property. It's a never ending battle.
• I'll go to the library & pick up a few new books for my airport time over the weekend.
• I also need to put together a schedule for M for the days I'll be gone. Nick's soccer schedule, weekend tournament details, etc.
• If I don't hear back from USPS, I need to chase what's happening with my missing package.

I'm also hoping for a little break to read by the pool, now that the weather has cooled off. What about you? What are you up to on this Tuesday?

Two weeks to go & eBay frustrations

With two weeks to go until I return to work, I wanted to create a revised goal list for my sabbatical. Here it is:

1. Get in three more workouts at the studio I bought the one month new joiner pass for. It was $99 for the month, so every workout makes me feel like I've reduced the per class cost. :-)
2. Get together with friends 2x.
3. Deal with our fridge at our vacation home (repair person + Costco discount)
4. Order drapes for our dining room
5. Sell or donate light fixture that we've had sitting around for two weeks
6. Finish front yard project
7. Decide what to do with remaining back yard project
8. Get all funds transferred, & finish refi
9. Deep clean the house
10. Finish my relay
11. Get back to 1/2 marathon training
12. Clean inside windows & spot clean outside windows where there are streaks
13. Decide whether we're getting Sam a geometry tutor. If so, line one up.
14. Get vacation house doors installed.
15. Set up photo shoot for the family
16. Photobooks. These are TBD based on M's availability to pull digital copies. He's been working 80 hour weeks, so this is probably not going to happen.
17. Refinish side table.
18. Get one more massage
19. Meet M for another lunch
20. Figure out wood storage option for vacation house

I think I can get most of that done. I'll be out of town Thursday-Sunday this week, which will put quite a crimp on my time schedule. 

I was so happy with my eBay progress, & the lack of drama with all of my sales. I should have never had that thought, as I've had two issues crop up with the two most expensive items I've sold. The first issue is mostly my fault. I had a ring I was selling. I had it sized when I first bought it, but must have listed the ring size pre-sizing for my finger. It therefore doesn't fit the buyer. My fault, so I'm providing a refund. I'm frustrated with myself, mostly because it was an expensive mistake, but it's such a hassle (for myself & the buyer, I'm sure). I can relist it & should make most of the money back, but the fees & double postage will eat into quite a bit of the profit. An expensive mistake.

I've also had a terrible experience with USPS scheduled pickup. With the first pickup, the day of pickup came & went & no one picked up the package. In the evening, the postal worker rang our doorbell & asked where the package was. I explained it was there until recently. He said another postal worker picked it up earlier in the day. Sounds strange, but okay. I received a pickup confirmation, so thought nothing of it. Except, the item has never arrived, & the tracking number was never updated to show it ever made it to the post office. This is an expensive item, & I had insurance on it. I had two other items I'd scheduled pick up for. Neither of them got picked up, but I received email confirmation from the post office that they were picked up. I had to schedule yet another pick up, and that time, left a very detailed note that they were missing the pick ups. So, I have zero confidence that USPS is picking up and/or that the confirmation of pick ups mean anything. I've filed a claim with USPS over the first one, but we'll see what happens. So frustrating. 

Sam is also not feeling well, and we have our big relay this weekend. I'm nervous that he won't be able to join, or won't be feeling 100%. He *never* gets sick. My sister & I worked out a backup plan, in case he's unable to attend, but it means several other people adding additional legs. In addition to a lot of wasted money (flight, registration, a few items of clothing he needed, etc). Fingers crossed that he's feeling well enough to participate. 

How is your Monday going? 

Menu planning & other miscellany

I did our menu planning earlier than usual this week, as I went to Costco on Friday to avoid crowds. That was a generally successful strategy.

Here's what we're eating and/or plan to eat:

• Friday - the kids had pepperoni pizza, M & I had a Keto friendly pizza I found at Costco. We paired that with a cocktail & sat by the pool, as the kids attended an event. Date night!
• Saturday - I made a super yummy Keto lasagna. I thought this was fantastic, and we will definitely make it again. It also used up things lingering around (a Friday freebie of a tiny cottage cheese, fresh mozzarella, shredded mozzarella, an open jar of pasta sauce, and a lb of Italian seasoned ground turkey I bought for $.99.) Sadly, I discovered too late that this only serves 4. Otherwise, I would have doubled the recipe.
• Sunday - Keto burgers with cabbage
• Monday - leftover lasagna
• Tuesday - leftover burgers
• Wednesday - hot dogs & coleslaw. We've enjoyed this coleslaw recipe
• Thursday - Sam & I will be heading to Portland to join my family for a relay, so we'll be eating out to celebrate my dad's birthday. I'm guessing M & Nick will have either hot dogs or go to a local salad bar.
• Friday - Nick is attending a rock climbing event with a friend, & dinner will be served. M will likely make a steak for himself. Sam & I will be eating whatever we can find at a roadside stand on the back roads of the Oregon coast. I think last year I had a baked potato, and it tasted like heaven after my first leg of the relay was complete. 

On the agenda today:

• A workout
• Packing for Sam for the relay. He wasn't feeling well yesterday, so we need to tackle this today.
• Mailing an eBay package
• I hopefully have someone coming over to buy a light fixture that I've had listed on Nextdoor forever. I finally have someone who wants it. Let's hope they don't flake.
• Washing the windows. I'd really like to get this done
• Carpooling for next week + the rest of the soccer season. A few emails to send & coordination to get together
• I need to work on an email to my parents about some work we're having done at our vacation house & they are supervising, so they know what to expect.
• Have the boys call my parents
• Make my goals list for the last two weeks of my sabbatical

What's on your menu this week? Have you tried any good recipes recently?

Saturday stuff & thinking through sabbatical return

M & I had a lovely & unexpected date night yesterday & it was so nice to get an opportunity to chat & laugh together. I also got a hair cut yesterday & cut about six inches off, & love it. It's now a shoulder length bob. Let's hope it will be easy to maintain.

Today will be soccer, working out, & getting ready for our trip next week. In a two day relay, there are a lot of logistics & gear (in a tiny space), so I need to ensure Sam & I both have everything we need for the trip.

I've continued a consistent drip of eBay sales, so I've been prepping & listing, photographing & tracking down USPS (which has failed two pick up two packages in a row - despite the confirmations that the items have been picked up.)

Sabbatical stuff:
Yesterday I received a message from my manager, asking if I was open to the idea of returning to work two days ahead of the end of my sabbatical. There is an important planning summit, and it would be useful for me to be there. The days are Thursday & Friday, 9/5 & 9/6. My company also has a paid holiday on 9/2. I've been stressing a bit over returning to work without any warm up time (and, returning to work in general, but that's an entirely different post). Because there's a company holiday I would be eligible for if I have my last day be the Friday before, and I'd have the opportunity to read all of my emails & have a catch up lunch with my manager before the planning summit, I will likely cut a week off of my sabbatical. (Four days, actually, because of the company holiday.) I haven't fully committed yet, but I can't imagine walking into a very senior level planning meeting without having read a single email for three months. Additionally, every day that I'm working during this year is another bonus eligible day. Because of the size of my bonus, it adds up to a reasonably significant amount of bonus money, in addition to my salary.

I would greatly prefer not to return to this job after my sabbatical ends, due to the international travel & APAC late night calls, but there are quite a few compounding factors. I'm up for promotion this cycle, and need to finish this performance period on the same team. I've also (loosely) committed to staying in role for a bit after the promotion (assuming it happens) & then would plan to leave the company and/or find a more flexible role. Mentally I've committed to staying for a year, although I may not be able to handle that. With Sam's new health challenges, international traveling will be very difficult on our family. I'm very aware of that, and need to be upfront with my manager about what's possible.

I'm planning to do a sabbatical recap post soon, for myself if no one else. It's been a wild ride the last few months & I'm so grateful for the time with my family!

What about you? What's your plan for the weekend? Any fun happenings?

Frugal Friday

The big news is that I've hit the $1,000 selling mark on eBay for the past 60 days. I'm so excited, because I'm making money (particularly while not getting paid) & getting junk we don't need out of the house. Win/win! I've made $1250 in 60 days!!

Saving on things we buy:

• Bought gift cards for stores we use for kids clothing shopping. Earned a $40 gift card to our local grocery store. I love these offers, and keep the store gift cards in my wallet. When the boys need something, the gift cards are there & ready. I did the same with a Rite Aid offer, and earned $30 in store credit
• Used a 30% off Rite Aid coupon, and rewards to pick up back to school snacks & a few supplies for the kids. 
• I also bought Uber gift cards, earning $10 in credit. We use Uber in place of airport parking, as it's cheaper. If we don't use it for personal travel, I use it for work travel (hopefully not too much of that in the future) & get reimbursed. 
• Saved $1 by digging around & finding a granola bar coupon I knew I had somewhere in my purse while buying back to school snacks. Sure enough, I did. Likewise, bought the boys ice cream bars & picked up two boxes, so I could use a $1 off coupon. With the weather so hot & the boys having friends over, we'll go through this in no time

Earning money:

• Sold an expensive Tumi bag M received as a prize. Earned $185 on eBay. Woohoo!!! Split the money between college funds & mortgage pay down. 
• Found a dime outside of Rite Aid
• Listed a bunch of new things on eBay, & sold a few other items. I sold 6 items on eBay yesterday alone. The sales are hot right now, for whatever reason.
• Participated in a consumer focus survey (invited via Swagbucks). Earned & redeemed a $25 Amazon gift card. It was actually a $37 focus group, so I will wait for the next discounted Amazon offer to roll around before redeeming the rest.

Avoiding purchases/spending:

• I met a friend for lunch last week. I provided some coaching & guidance on a tricky work situation, and she bought me an unexpected lunch as a thank you. I took home leftovers, as the meal was huge. 
• We were all craving Mexican food on Saturday, & came really close to going out for dinner. Likely it would have been $80+ for the four of us, even at a moderately priced place. Instead, went to Trader Joes & spent $17 on groceries. Not totally frugal (could have made do with the leftovers in the fridge), but we made excellent carnitas nachos. I quickly defrosted carnitas from the freezer, and added the purchased chips, sour cream, pico de gallo & guacamole. Yum! Everyone was thrilled. 
• To mail the bag mentioned above, I could not find a box big enough to hold it. At the kids soccer game, I noticed a box sitting by the garbage bin. I decided to take it home & see if it worked. If not, I'd planned to recycle it. It was the perfect fit. Saved something from the garbage, and avoided the cost of a new box!
• Picked a few more things out of the garden. It's been a rough year with the squirrels, so we haven't had much success. We did manage to get a tomato, strawberry, and plenty of basil this week.
• Made lunch from things around the house. I started with salad as a base, and would add things like, a scoop of the leftover guacamole from nachos, leftover chicken from the boys lunches, etc. Every day was different, and they were all good.
• Repurposed a couple of Amazon shipping envelopes for eBay sales.
• Arranged for a free USPS pickup for a few eBay sales, saving a trip to the post office

What about you? Any frugal wins for the week?

Last day of summer

Well, not from a seasonal perspective, but the boys go back to school tomorrow, so it's the last day of their summer anyway.

I had a doctor's appointment for Sam yesterday, an ophthalmologist appointment today, and a an appointment with a rheumatologist tomorrow. So much fun. ;-) I know taking care of my health is important, but it does feel like it sucks up a large portion of time right now. Ah, well. Let's do it.

I mentioned this on Sam's blog, but I really need to get back to minimal carbs/sugar. I felt better, and I was losing weight consistently. Since I've gone back to eating carbs, I feel bloated & I've definitely gained weight. I feel gross. Time to clean up my eating again.

I've been doing well on accomplishing my daily tasks, although I didn't work out yesterday. I'm battling a head cold, and just didn't have the energy.

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

• Make a batch of coleslaw
• Ophthalmologist appointment
• Laundry
• Have the boys prep their lunch & outfits for tomorrow
• Wash two windows (ooh, this is optimistic. We shall see!)
• Sweep the patio
• An indoor workout
• Email again about M's ski pass
• Go through my closet & the boys closet/drawers for items to clean out & donate

What about you? What's on your to do list for today?

Tuesday Happenings

I'm hoping it's going to cool off a bit this week, but the weather forecast says otherwise. The heat makes it difficult to get in my workout, and/or do any yard work. But, grateful that we have AC for the days we need it. And, grateful that we have solar as well. The two offset each other reasonably well. We put the AC in at the same time we installed solar, knowing that our house was both a great candidate for solar, and that the energy savings from solar would help to power the AC. So far, so good.

The boys are home with me until Thursday, and then it's back to school. I can't believe Sam is starting his last year of middle school! I forgot to mention that he met up with a girl he met at camp on Sunday, and they went roller skating together. It was adorable. She was very sweet & four inches taller than Sam. :-) Being in a roller skating rink with the 80s music blaring reminded me of my middle school days! Sam made me promise not to "embarrass him". I think I did reasonably well. ;-)

I listed a few new items on eBay yesterday, and sold three things. I'm thrilled! Just when I think I've cleaned out anything & everything that we could possibly sell.... I go a bit deeper & find something new. Yesterday's big score was a Victoria's Secret bikini. As much as I'd like to pretend I will wear it again... probably not going to happen. Before I had lupus & was consistently running 30 miles/week, my weight was *cough* in a different place. The bikini sold overnight. Probably should have priced it higher!

I'll continue to clean out the house & see what else we might have that we can get rid of. I also requested a bag from ThredUp, to see if we can get rid of some of the boys clothes that are in great condition. We've had no success via other forums, so it will be good to check out an alternative.

Here's what else is happening in our world today:

• Mail & package three eBay sales
• Appraiser coming over at 10 am, as part of our refi
• Working out - need a cool option
• Taking Sam to a doctor's appointment
• Taking the boys to back to school night
• Taking Sam + carpool buddies to soccer practice
• Start gathering ThredUp items
• Return 3 library books that are due today
• Run to the produce stand. I went yesterday, and forgot one of the items I went for. Oops.

What about you? What's happening for you on this Tuesday?