August GOALS **strong emoji**

 

Some of these are silly. Some of these are aimed at instilling good habits before the back to school schedule punches us in the face. (We do not go back to school until September! YAY!). Some of them are honestly stuff I just have to do, so why not get the dopamine hit of checking a little box?

Caveats/ tl;dr:

I am not concerned about sticking to a certain calorie goal on MFP, but I do want to track every single thing I eat (even the stuff I wish I hadn't) and see where I am at in terms of calories in. I also want to eat 100 grams of protein and 25-30 grams of fiber every day, so it will be helpful to track these things. It would be so nice to know what's maintenance for me, versus a starve and binge cycle that is probably actually maintenance calories but makes me feel like crap.

The new restaurant is a chain, and I know that makes me the most basic bitch ever.

The Apple Pay goal was OG something about not buying coffee on campus, but I have TA training at the end of the month, and I know myself.

I have always been a slow waker, but these past few years walking with Minnie have made me someone who just sort of oozes along like a freaking glacier. I need to  NOT lag blocks behind my fam when we are out and about. I am going to start by picking up the pace on dog walks and move on to walking from my parking garage to my office in 5 minutes or less.

June/July and summer fun when there is still work to do....

I got the BEST random sales email yesterday from a local coffee shop. The tag line was CHEERS TO A MONTH OF PURE SUMMER FUN, and that is exactly what July is! No school! At ALL! Anytime this month. ALL FUN. 

SuchI a good reframe.

Especially for me. Especially right now. I love summer and everything about it AND ALSO my summer class ramps up this week and I have two adjunct online sections this term-- I do have work to do in the midst of all the fun. And yet! The kids are staring at a rolling wave of pool days and friend hangs and movie nights, which is of course, exactly what I want for them. I just need to figure out how to balance all the fun and all of the things I have to do.

So, with that in mind, here's a little mini review of my summer so far

Swim lesson session one was a raging success-- both the timing (right before the pool opens for open swim and in the sort of middle of dance driving, which has made Coop really step up as a big bro) and the lessons themselves. Minnie passed level 3 and is ready for level 4-- stroke refinement, She has strokes to refine!

JUNE

✅Run, lift weights, and do yoga before 7:30am: THIS WAS SO GOOD YOU GUYS SO GOOD.

✅Get dressed in real clothes every day: ONLY 1 FAIL and it was because we spent the whole day in the pool, so I put these running clothes ion over my suit

🟡Read my Book of the Month books that have been hanging around: As of this writing, I have read THREE of the FOUR but I also ordered one for July

🟡Take a quick walk after every meal: Extending this one because I mostly forgot about it after the first week of June (still walked for 60 minutes every day, so I'm not totally slacking.

🟡Read all the random Amazon First Reads kindle books I have waiting for me on my Kindle before I buy new books: My library holds have been amazing, so I have not read this OR bought new books.

❌Work outside the house 2 days a week: NOPE NOPE NOPE. This month??

✅Water my gardens: YESSSSSS

✅ Attend 3 dressy events and buy ZERO DRESSES for me OR the girls. DID IT! Thanks to our niece for the clutch dress loan for D.

JULY

1. Visit Eau Claire

2. Have a cheesy family 4th of July celly with a Jazzminton tourney

3. 2 date nights OUT OF THE HOUSE (driveway fires do not count, but grocery shopping together might)

4. Keep exercising by 7:30am and getting dressed for the day (pool clothes count)

5. Maximize pool days/ minimize TANNING. I get so tan so fast with sunscreen. Current strategy:

6. Stay on top of all deadlines (work, personal, volunteer-- THERE ARE MANY BALLS IN THE AIR)

7. Master my summer schedule by July 9th (because it changes a bit in August, but there's no way I can call myself a master before then)

8. Keep the dinner bowl menu train on the tracks

9. Renew my commitment to my daily planer-- stuff is falling through the cracks, and I am still not motivated to check in. I need to go back to making a nightly to-do list for the next day. My nights have just skewed so late and I have been getting up so early and bah.

10. EMAIL MADNESS-- fix it!

Goals: May Review/ June Preview

 To review, I had loooooow Maypectations. And! SPOILER: I did not meet them.

✅Get dressed in real clothes every day

❌Yoga every day

✅Lift weights every weekday

🟡Prepare for KID SUMMER: can anyone ever really prepare for 5 kids home all day?

🟡Date night for my birthday: day date instead-- no booze and not as fancy, but still nice.

❌A visit to my mom for Mother's Day

June Goals:

1. Run, lift weights, and do yoga before 7:30am. It's OK if I start these things before 7:30 am, but it would be even more tremendous if I could be DONE with them by then.

2. Get dressed in real clothes every day. Let's keep the momentum going!

3. Read my Book of the Month books that have been hanging around. I have The Lowe Job, Our Perfect Storm, It's Not Her, and Lost Lambs languishing on my bedside table.

4. Take a quick walk after every meal. Research says this can be really good for you, and I think it would be a better way to tell my brain we are all done eating than, say binge eating Tru Fru chocolate strawberries, you know?

5. Read all the random Amazon First Reads kindle books I have waiting for me on my Kindle before I buy new books.

6. Work outside the house 2 days a week. This is goin to be tricky with SO MANY kids travel events on the calendar, but it would also be SO GOOD FOR ME.

7. Water my gardens.

8. Attend 3 dressy events and buy ZERO DRESSES for me OR the girls. CAN I DO IT? Will I still have to buy shoes?? Stay tuned!

MAY GOALZ: Not very many.

 May goals:

1. Get dressed in real clothes every day

2. Yoga every day

3. Lift weights every weekday

4. Prepare for KID SUMMER (with lots of alone time, a massage, an indulgent Kindle budget, plenty of work time in coffee shops, and chunks of time where I sit in the house and close my eyes and have ZERO SENSORY INPUT FROM ANYONE/THING (except maybe the dog))

5. Date night for my birthday

6. A visit to my mom for Mother's Day

I see May as a brief interlude between seasons, since I am done with the semester, but the kids are still in school, so I am going to prioritize rest and relaxation. (Also we have a weekend of dance and two different weekends that will see Ben in FL with Cooper for dive meets, plus a weekend were Ben's at work for commencement, plus a kid coming home for summer, so maybe the idea of rest is a nonstarter...)

SPEAKING OF NONSTARTER, I did NOT do a good job of meeting my April goals. At ALL. YOU GUYS.

PD

1. Work on course prep for fall ❌
2. New prep for spring❌
3. Read more AI stuff❌
4. Review new textbook❌

Hobbies and Home

1. Use IG to promote blog posts❌
2. Meet up with a blog friend I have never met in IRL before❌
3. Buddy read Kin✅
4. InstaKids Chatbook this month and make an April album✅

Fitness

1. Maintain a calorie deficit every day this month ❌
2. Hit fiber and protein macros every day this month❌
3. Yoga every day again!✅
4. Get new medium weights🟡 YOU GUYS! My old heavy weights are now my medium weights, and I need new heavy weights! KILLED IT!!!!

Celebrations

1. Take Jack out for an 18th bday dinner✅
2. Super fun Easter weekend✅
3. Plan graduation but like for realz❌
4. WORK ON THOSE STOCKING STUFFERS .❌

But! You know what I DID do?

I kept up a new tradition of starting a phone photo album for the moth and throwing good photos in there-- so easy to make Chatbooks and IG posts! I also got stronger! And kept up my running streak! And did some cool professional stuff that's not bloggable! Also I changed everyone's sheets on the regular. It's the small stuff, you guys.

I leave you with this, the work of a kindergarten planner in the making...

February Ins and Outs + January Goal Post Mortem

 

February goals:

Schedule at least one fun thing every week. So far I have a pedicure (I bought this polish, which is the most perfect combo of 2 favorite shades), coffee, lunch, and 2 date nights on my monthly spread

Get my hair trimmed, and get Dorothy and Minnie's hair trimmed, too. Ugh. We are switching salons and stylists, so this one is kind of a pain. ALSO we have zero free time after school, and our weekends are filling up.

Finish prepping CA260 for the semester. Maybe a reach goal, but it wold be great to feel like I have the whole class ready.

See all of the Best Picture Oscar movies, plus the Kate Hudson and Rose Byrne movies so I can see everything in all the major categories before the Oscars. We are almost 1/2 way through the best pics with the middle 3 kids and hope to do a family Oscar pool/viewing party.

Buy Dorothy's bday presents, and start buying Easter basket stuff. She sent us a list, so I feel like this project can really start. I am also thinking the bunny might bring spring shoes...

Make sure every kid hosts at least one hang at our house. It feels like it's our turn in all contexts.

Sign up for Crazylegs and start an 8K training plan. I am the queen of the 12-minute mile, but I really want to finish in under an hour and plan to reward myself with a post-race bloody mary.

Buy pillows before they are gone from Costco's seasonal offerings!! (They have a $20 2-pack of "hotel pillows" whatever that means that would be totally great for Ben's shams)

Decide when and where we are celebrating Jack's high school graduation

January goal check:

Apply for 2 jobs ✅

Join a gym 🟡 I did not do this, but I do not know if I want to do this. Cooper's dive team has started training twice a week (outside of their FIVE PRACTICES) at a gymnastics place doing strength and trampoline and conditioning, and his tourney baseball team has started practicing. This means he has MORE THAN 7 sportsball practices of some sort a week, and I have Apple Fitness, a bunch of different weights, an ellipitcal, and a love of jogging in the freezing cold.

Run up hills (seek out hills; pick up the pace on the way up): FORGOT THIS ONE. ❌

Buy Vday gifts for the kids and stuff to send to Harry ✅

Explore more blogs to find designs I really like ✅

Open my book project and decide if it is still alive ✅

Decide on dates for Ben and Dorothy's bday celebrations ✅

Look for Apple Watch sales for Ben ✅

Become a mini-expert on the AI academic landscape 🟡 I am not a mini-expert by any means, but I did attend a panel the other day.

Seasonal/Monthly Goals and Some Questions

Snowy run! It was so fun to be hot an sweaty and also cold. 

SPEAKING OF FUN!

FUN is my word of the season. I cannot commit to a year of fun, but a season? BRING IT.

This month, I am going to focus on putting the FUN in fundamental and do some stuff that will set me up for success across domains in 2026.

My yearly goals are HERE, and I have pulled out a few more specific things to dive deeper into this season:

Second semester (?) goals:

✅1. Make a Disney decision: NOT GOING. (we were supposed to go with Ben who has a quick conference at the Beach Club (our favorite Disney hotel) BUT. Jack could not go (finals) and Harry also could not stay with him (obligations in Eau Claire). SO, that was complicating. Then Cooper made the school spelling bee and didn't want to miss. And Dorothy had a dance practice added to the calendar that she also did not want to miss. And! The dates overlapped with my first week of classes (again, not impossible, but complicating for sure). So. We decided not to tag along. **whomp whomp**)

2. Big sticky process goal: writing creatively-- what will this look like? I just read A Long Game by Elizabeth McCracken, and it was AMAZNG and helpful in thinking about my own process/practice. I am still thinking about this and what success in this category even looks like.

3. Professional development/apply for new jobs? A big one for sure. 

4. Find a second semester race. This is tough because our weekends get gobbled up by dance and dive starting in  February.

5. Holidays: V-day (my faaavorite) Ben's 47th; Dorothy's 13th; Jack's 18th; Easter/Passover

6. Visit Eau Claire (complicated for the same reason race weekend is complicated)

7. Blog design: begin this project

8. Blogger meet ups (some in the works; some to be planned)

9. 10K training planning/joining a gym with Coop/ subscribing to some runner content

Ongoing things that will be sort of running in the background all year:

New systems for tracking content, books, movement, etc

Hitting macros and workout routine

Cookie baking

Looking at real estate

Noticing sugar intake

Keeping my eyes peeled for stocking stuffers

January, specifically:

Apply for 2 jobs

Join a gym

Run up hills (seek out hills; pick up the pace on the way up)

Buy Vday gifts for the kids and stuff to send to Harry

Explore more blogs to find designs I really like

Open my book project and decide if it is still alive

Decide on dates for Ben and Dorothy's bday celebrations

Look for Apple Watch sales for Ben (ongoing until March) (He has a first gen Apple Watch that is finally starting to be glitchy after a decade of constant wear).

Become a mini-expert on the AI academic landscape. I want to know what's out there in terms of tools, how people across many disciplines are using them, and what kind of consensus (if any-- not really expecting any) exists among people who teach writing. I also want to see what's going on in terms of policy-- both larger institutional policy and personal syllabus-level policy. I think this goal will transcend the month of January because I don't anticipate having a ton of free time to devote to it, but I can see what the heck is out there and get a better idea of scope with just a few hours of work, I am pretty sure.

Questions:

Is "second semester" a good label for this season?

When does the second semester end? For me, it's MAY FIRST! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. But the kids don't get out until JUNE TENTH. SO that's a month and 10 days when they have school and I am on break.

So is May-August summer? Or is May its own little epoch? With June-August being summer break?

I guess I want to follow my schedule since the kids are still technically in their first semester of school (they break in February), but I am for sure in spring semester mode right now. SO I am already following my schedule and not theirs.

How do you break up your seasons? Quintiles? Quarters? Something more specific to you? For me it would be

January: Fresh start/ everyone's schedule is effed/ I don't even know what day it is most of the month

Feb-April: Dance and dive regional season; baseball tourney season; spring semester

May-second week of June: End of kid year/ schedules changing/ I don't even know what day it is most of the month

Third week of June-July: Summer break, baseball, summer dive league, dance nationals and tryouts, and dive nationals season

August: Dregs of summer/schedules upended/dance, dive, and baseball on break/I don't even know what day it is most of the month

September-October: Back to school

November-December: Holiday season

OR I could do the less insane

Spring Semester

Summer break

Fall Semester

Winter break

and just recognize that there will be anomalous months in each season...

I have never though about things by season before (except to realize when I am in one that sucks), so I am not sure how I want to think about it... Help!

September Love List

 I have fallen in love with the Edit Your Life podcast recently, and I listened to an episode on minimalism (LOL that will never be me) that contained the advice to curate a love list. This was in the context of shopping online-- like, instead of immediately buying something, put it on your love list and see if you still want it or if the act of creating a list satisfies your shopping urge.

But! I love the idea of a love list (kind of like Nicole's favourite things or Elisabeth's happy things Friday) each month where I reflect on the micro delights (another Christine Koh term) that got me through.

Here's what I loved in September:

1. Kodiak Nuts and Seeds Oatmeal: A lot of people said they eat oats and whole grains to get their fiber, and I do, too, but I find myself wanting most of my fiber to come from fruits and veggies because you gotta eat A LOT of whole grains to hit the 30 gram goal, which means there's less room for eating other stuff. Enter this awesome instant oatmeal with 14 grams of protein (more if you eat with 1/2 cup Fairlife milk) and 4 g fiber. Add an apple, and you have a nutritionally dense and super filling meal. The other day, I also mixed in peanut butter, and for under 500 calories, I was full until dinner time. (24 grams of protein and 10 grams of fiber)

2. JOGGING: YOU GUYS. I LOVE TO JOG. And I am in good enough shape to just lace up my shoes and do it. It's wild.

3. Sunset on the prairie: We are soaking up every single second of the most delightful fall weather imaginable, including outside play time after school and after we do dance and dive drop off.

4. Kindergarten: I am lucky enough to volunteer in Minnie's class an hour a week, and I also got to chaperone her first field trip to the pumpkin patch. Kindergarteners are the very best. I am actually thinking about going back to school to get licensed to teach early elementary-- I think I would love it a lot.

5. Big kids

Healthy* habits I plan to keep in August

1. Exercising 7 days a week. I LOVE IT. Annabel and I are so happy when I make sure we get an hour of walking in, and I adore seeing myself get stronger doing strength workouts. I have muscle definition in my thighs (front and sides!), and I can see muscles in my arms for the first time in a looooong time. I love it.

2. Avoiding added sugar for the most part. I FEEL SO GOOD YOU GUUUUUYS. YES I still put Fairlife chocolate milk in my coffee. YES I eat mini Cliff bars and mini Larabars, which both have a bit of sugar. YES I am eating dark chocolate after dinner, but otherwise? No sweets for me, and the longer I go without them, the less I want to eat them. Minnie and I made banana chocolate chip bread, and I didn't even think about eating stray chocolate chips from the counter or tasting the bread as it cooled. It wasn't that I wanted those things but didn't want to eat them, I just... wasn't interested. 

3. Balancing meals and snacks:  During the banana bread making, I was also full from the rosemary ham (Trader Joe's), brie, mustard, and arugula sandwich (with 2 plums!) I had for lunch and the string cheese, pecans, and apple I ate for an afternoon snack. I am making sure to have protein and fiber at every meal and snack, and I am not walking away from any meals and snacks feeling hungry or unsatisfied. If I feel hungry, I eat more food. It's great.

4. Eating an anti inflammatory diet. I eat most of these things (except avocado because I am allergic) every day, and I feel SO GOOD. I am sleeping well (THANK GOODNESS). (Most days-- I had a crappy night recently and am going to talk about it with my OB next week). My mood is great. I don't experience energy spikes and crashes. My wedding rings fit again, and I can wear them every day. I also think the red skin around my mouth and nose has gone away, but that might be my tan.

5. Wearing my dorky vest and ankle weights. I feel very strong and capable. Also dorky. Did I mention that?

5. Making sure my exercise clothes are at least semi-presentable. I feel better when I look better, so I will make sure to buy a few pairs of not-ugly joggers and sweats as the weather gets cooler. I used to work out in rags and then if I had to go somewhere before I got a chance to exercise, I would skip the work out or I'd get up crazy early to fit it all in, and, it turns out, I just needed better clothes. Now I can run an errand, take a kid somewhere, etc before OR after exercise-- game changer. I felt VERY validated when I heard Kendra Adachi talk about the magic of starting her day in a sports bra on The Lazy Genius podcast because I stumbled upon this hack on my own, and it has really been genius.

6. Thinking about macros: For me, this is a totally emotion-free lens through which to view food. I want to eat around 100 grams of protein a day and around 30 grams of fiber and have about a 40/30/30 split for protein, carbs, and fat. I also want to keep sodium under 2000 mg. It is fun to plan meals (for everyone!) with these guidelines in mind. Last night, for example, the kids and I had steamed broccoli and snap peas, roasted sweet potatoes (with olive oil), and chicken breasts, and they also had french bread and butter. It was easy, quick, and delicious. For dessert they had ice cream and wafer cookies, and I put almond butter on half an HU salty dark chocolate bar (it is common for us to have dessert every night and for people to choose their own from a variety of sweet options). 

7. Prepping meals: A bigger goal of mine is to do a better job of batch prepping meal components a few times a week. I have done this to an extent lately (making enough sweet potatoes for a few days; cooking a bunch of beans and quinoa at once), but I could be more strategic about it, and I would LOVE to remember to make steel cut oats ahead of time. It would also help me to have a bunch of protein options ready to go. I do this with chicken, lentils, and black beans pretty well-- but what else do I want to eat? Chick peas? Cottage cheese? Turkey? What do you eat for protein that's not red meat? (I am eating fish a few times a week, but, for me, that's not a make ahead food). Minnie and I went to TJs the other day, and I remembered all of their pre-cubed starchy veggies and fresh veggie noodle options-- I will be back for these!

(She gave me one of her stickers)

8. Swallowing those supps. I am taking fish oil and fiber and apple cider vinegar gummies and B6 in the morning and magnesium at night, plus melatonin as needed. I also eat my trusty Costco super greens sometimes (caffeine in them, so if I don't remember them before 10, I skip them).

*Healthy: Was my use of this word disingenuous in this post and in previous posts? Should I have said diet or weight loss instead? I don't think so, actually. I want to be healthier AND ALSO I want to lose weight. I have lost 15 pounds and I would really like to lose 15 more. And weight loss CAN be healthy-- and you can lose weight in a way that is good for your body, happens WHILE you are building muscle, and is also good for your mental health. Weight loss and good mental health are not diametrically opposed, and if I am planning the number of times I might indulge on sweets in an especially celebratory month? I actually think that's OK, you guys. If I skip the bread and butter at dinner because I would rather eat other things that deliver carbs and fat in a way that better supports my cholesterol and sugar management, my macros, and my weight loss goal? That's OK, too. Being mindful about what I consume is not automatically disordered. Yes, I like the way I look better when I am thinner (thanks, diet culture-- none of us grew up in a vacuum), but I also really really like the way I feel when I am stronger and on a more even keel thanks to more regular exercise and a really nutritious diet. So. For me right now in the way that I am doing it, weight loss is part of my healthy habits.

NME: August, I love you

 New! Month! ENERGYYYYYY!

August goals:

1. Get ready for back-to-school (Mentally. Plus buy shoes for all and first day outfits for anyone who wants one)

2. Help Jack apply to college (GULP)

3. Fix my blender or buy a new one

4. Book spa services at Sundara and finally use my bday gift card

5. Catch up on my Book of the Month books and read all my darn library books

So much to love about August:

• School prep (the best part of the yeeaar)
• Minnie's bday
• Our wedding anniversary (TWENTY YEARS )
• Annabel's bday
• Summer's last gasp

We have a really easy August calendar:

• Dance is over after 8/14.
• The girls and I are all getting hair cuts. 
• I have a follow-up OB appointment and acupuncture. 
• Middle school has announced the dates of open house, and we are waiting on Minnie's kindergarten conference date. (Jack is taking care of HS registration on his own) 

College applications opened 8/1!

• Jack and I have a date to apply next weekend
• He has already asked teachers to write letters and has told them he's going to apply crazy early
• He figured out how to secure his unofficial transcript and knows who to ask about his official ones (his counselor retired at the end of the school year, so there might be a lag here
• He's working on essay drafts right now
• Like Harry, he will start his senior year with college apps done and dusted. I LOVE THIS!!! (He is applying to Bradley, UW-Eau Claire, UW- Lacrosse, and UW-Milwaukee). (UW-MKE is a direct admit school, but I have no idea if he checked the box to be directly admitted... I probably should have followed up on this with him, but he is more interested in the selective admission school, so I ... didn't).

I KEEP buying lunch boxes and food from school lunch displays because I AM A LITTLE BIT EXCITED ABOUT SENDING THE KIDS TO SCHOOOOOOOOOOOOL. 

Ben is absolutely making fun of my lunch box purchasing-- it might be getting weird. 

(I have bought two $3 insulated lunch sacks from Target-- probably for me-- a Loveshack Fancy knockoff for Dorothy (she DESTROYED her $40 Hydroflask lunch box last year, so no more expensive ones for her), 4 of the $2.99 insulated bento covers from the Target dollar spot (they fit Bentgo bentos and Planet Box Rovers, and they can be used as lunch boxes w/o bentos), and I bought Minnie a back up Cat and Jack bento so she can have 2 boxes in rotation (love Bentgo bentos, but Cat and Jack's are TEN DOLLARS, so I had to try) I have also stocked up on sandwich cutters in fun shapes and adorable ice packs. Plus a cute pouch for snacks for our after school runs and those viral Target pencil cases which are PERFECT for stashing snacks that should not get crushed in backpacks and activity bags.)

 I AM READY to send the children out the door is what I am saying.

How can this little dolly be off to KINDERGARTEN????

March goals check in/April goals overview: Surviving and thriving-- thriving optional

 I checked a few boxes in March:

Book-- Elphie: A Wicked Childhood

Albums: Lady Gaga Mayhem; Mumford & Sons Rushmere; Japanese Breakfast For Melancholy Brunettes

Cookies: Soft and chewy oatmeal chip (5/25)

New-to-me restaurant: Butterbird

Date night: SAME

Donations: We got a haul from Dorothy's room, Minnie's room, the small storage room, and the family room, bringing us to 9/25 loads to St. Vinny's.

BUT. I did no yoga and no writing. I also did not wear my weighted vest (but I am back on that bullshit for April).

I applied for a new job in February, got it, and then got a surprise retention offer from my current job, so that took A TON of my mental energy and also my time. And! It was a really long process and completely derailed my writing flow, which I just haven't been able to re-establish.

Also! Politics CRUSHED and preoccupied me in March.

And (related?) my anxiety and menopause symptoms are off the charts. You might remember that I was prescribed anti anxiety meds, yes? Well, it turns out, I AM TOO ANXIOUS TO TAKE THEM because I worry about side effects and that they would just mask other, more serious problems. TOO ANXIOUS AND WORRIED TO TAKE THE MEDS THAT ARE FOR MY WORRY AND ANXIETY. This is where I live now. I am sleeping like shit. Having hot flashes ALL DAY (and night), gaining weight, feeling unshakable DREAD-- all of the things.

So. APRIL And all of the new month energy. I am going to BANISH MARCH''S BAGGAGE.

First of all, I am on the waitlist for a menopause clinic that sounds amazing (it is through a different HMO, so I did not realize I could use it, but I can!!) and I have an OB appointment to be treated for my yucky menopause symptoms next week. (An estrogen bath would be perfect, thanks).

Second, I am doing the Cool Blogger Walking Club (have been doing it since we got Annabel, actually), wearing my vest, and upping my cardio this month-- I really could use the endorphins.

Third, I am going to get back into spending tracking-- I slacked on this the second other stressors entered the chat.

Q2 goal: Clean out our large storage room and convert it into a 6th bedroom-- this one is really exciting!!!

Money Monday: Welcome to FOOD WASTE FEBRUARY

 We spend over two thousand dollars a month on food-- mostly groceries (typically around $500/week for groceries-- more if we are going to Costco to stock up on things). And then! Nights out, quick dinners, takeout-- all of the things. So closer to 3k (and over?)

Soooo, when we are taking a look at our budget and trying to cut the fat, this is, of course, the first/ most obvious category to consider.

This month, I am going to keep doing the 2 no-spend days a week, and I am also going to tackle the problem of food waste. I think (based on nothing but casual observation and a hunch) that we are wasting quite a bit of fresh food, and if we ate it, we'd all be healthier.

Frist, Ben and I cleaned out the two giant (and really annoyingly deep-- I think the shape of our kitchen cabinets really contributes to food waste) cabinets where all of our meal ingredients and snacks live. We only got rid of expired things and stale things, and the the difference is startling. We can SEE what we HAVE, which is radical for us.

Also, say hello to the winning expired products of shame (beating corn bread mix from 2021 and green beans from the start of the panny): RAMEN FROM 2018

Next, I have started encouraging everyone (including myself) to open the fridge first when they are looking for a snack, not the cupboard.

Third, I have started cutting up veggies in small amounts every other day or so (I used to wash and chop and prep them all when I put away groceries as part of weird pandemic hygiene theater), and then I have them on hand to offer as a pre-dinner snack or eat myself when I need something crunchy.

Fourth, I am saving and re-serving fruit the kids don't eat. Dorothy, for example, ate like a third of an apple at breakfast, and I knew she had another apple in her lunch (and giant off-season organic honey crisps are like $2 a pop). I sliced up her breakfast apple and put it in a bag and returned her lunch apple to the fruit bowl. Minnie might find, for example, her leftover cutie wedges from breakfast mixed in with sliced strawberries at lunch. She eats half a banana every night after dinner and refuses the other half the lext day because iut gets brown. So now I have a tupperware of browning bananas for bread/muffins.

What other suggestions do you have for me as I solve this problem in February?

January goals check in

Something that is becoming a bit of a pain point is PLANNING. I am starting to miss one-off Zoom meetings ( this frustrates me to no end, especially when I am just, like, SITTING IN MY OFFICE), and I have missed yoga a few times (LOTS OF TIME YOU GUYS). One of the items on my list was to develop an evening ritual that included my planner, and this is FOR SURE something I was to make sure I do every night in February.

I also want to hit my yoga goal, especially on the WEEKENDS, and I want to work in more writing time. These are really related-- I do a bad job of working most kinds of self care into my weekend because my routine gets thrown off, and we get busy. I am going to reflect on this problem in February and try to figure it out. Choosing a yoga video (Adriene all the way!) and making sure my mat is ready to go would go a really long way.

We had one day of ludicrous spending with many new non-necessary items (not all the kid stuff I complained about-- that was obvi all necessary, even the sequined Valentine skirt), and you know what? I TRACKED THEM ALL-- go me!!

I also can already check off my blogger meet up! (But I want more of these in 2025).

I fell short of my pomodoro goal, but I did use them to do some writing and also some work stuff that I hope I can tell you about later. I have set up a simple tracker going forward to make sure I get them all in.

January Kindle books: Ward D by Freida McFadden. I mean. You guys know I liked this one. The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery: this was for Engie's CBBC, so I will save my notes for those comments.

January new release: What Happened to the McCrays by Tracey Lange

January Albums: DeBi TiRAR MaS FOToS by Bad Bunny: This was GREAT cooking dinner/getting dressed music. (Also the title translates to I should have taken more photos, which,YES, I feel that). My favorite track is "El Club." I also listened to Lower by Benjamin Booker-- good writing music. I also think SZA's SOS Deluxe: LANA should count since it came out the last week in December, My favorite is 30 for 30.

January Cookies: Browned butter chocolate chip-- these were delish. Brownie cookies- YES PLEASE.

January word games: I randomly spaced out on completing Wordle (left with 2 guesses on the table and never came back!!), so instead of declaring the whole year a lost cause (first instinct, natch), I am going to track per month. 30/31 Wordle for Jan; perfect score on Connections; 28/31 Geniuses on Spelling Bee (forgot to play a few).

January date: We went out to breakfast, which was lovely. We will definitely do that again-- a great use of preschool time and rare morning lull. 

January restaurant: Old Glory in Clarksville, TN on our way home from Hilton Head.

January yoga tally: 18/25. I could not remember to practice on the weekends.

1/25 bags of donations are at the thrift store! Go me!

I BOUGHT PLANE TICKETS!! You guys!!! To go to Portland in April!!! More about this soon.

Minnie is FEELING her new clothes, and I love it so much

Money Monday: January Goal

 Ideally, this would be the first money post of the month, but, alas.

Okay. My goal for January is to have 2 days every week where I spend ZERO DOLLARS. I think Ben is also going to do this, but our days might not sync up because it is easier for me to do it when he is gone and probably easier for him when he is home.

A few things:

• We share all of our money, so when one of us spends, we both spend, and these days are totally arbitrary, and I KNOW THAT at least.
• I am not going to make Ben buy things on my zero days because this seems like a loophole I could really use. Hey can you run to Target and grab…
• It actually probably matters more that I spend/don't spend since I am the one buying ALL OF THE THINGS for the kids and the house and paying school fees, etc etc etc, so if Ben wants to play along, I love that, but I am the one with $1500 latte problem or whatever the hell Suze Orman says.
• Obviously, if someone NEEDS something I will buy it, but also, I like how this goal is structuring my spending. For instance, I was planning a no-spend day on Tuesday. But! The middle school sent a notice about ordering yearbooks. I know from my experience in this school district that yearbook ordering is a shitshow until high school, and I will be bombarded with emails about ordering for the rest of the semester and I can never remember if I actually did it and it is all outsourced to a vendor so no one at school can confirm (high school yearbooks are purchased at registration right there in my Infinite Campus account, and this is heaven). SO ANYWAY, my new policy (a few years old) is to just order the damn books the minute I first see an email. That happened on Tuesday. So, I pulled the trigger on a Target pick up and also stopped by the pharmacy to grab a script for a kid and then declared Wednesday and Thursday no-spend days. Bonus: errand consolidation. 
• I am, as you can tell by the bullet above, an abstainer, not a moderator. If I do any spending on no-spend, I will do all of the spending, so the fewer loopholes the better.

Will no-spend days bring my weekly spending down, or will I just spend MORE on the other days? Who knows-- I will keep you posted.

Dumbest thing I bought last week:

 Probably a shirt to match my planner. But! It was only $4 at Old Navy, so I really think I have bought less responsible things. This is just, like, super silly.

(Also, on the topic of frugality-- I found the jeans I am wearing in that picture in the back of Cooper and Jack's closet. I think they used to be Harry's, and they no longer fit anyone, so I chopped off the legs to just above the ankle, and I am in love. Stay tuned for this summer because I made 3 more pairs of old boy jeans into awkward jorts)

Best thing I bought last week:

Last year, I was too slow on the add-to-cart (NOT MY USUAL PROBLEM), and I missed out on Target's cute v-day sweatshirts. NOT THIS YEAR, FRIENDS.

(Also I will wear this year-round because I heart hearts.)