About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
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November 17, 2020
Week 34 of COVID in the Bay Area.
Week 34, Day 234: I had a completely horrible night of sleep because of course that’s how you want to start a week that’s already going to be rough.
This recipe for Slow Cooker Meatballs in Tomato Sauce didn’t have wonderful reviews but it seemed good enough and we happened to have ground beef, ground turkey, and the other ingredients on hand so I tackled it first thing this morning. It just made sense to start early in the day so I could space the steps apart enough to not completely exhaust myself.
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November 13, 2020
1. I insisted on making this keto lemon cheesecake on Sunday. I had juuuuust enough energy to make it happen, though I couldn’t walk for a while after, and it was bliss in a pie pan. I doubled the zest in everything, and used the juice of a full lemon, not just a single tablespoon, because I wanted full on lemon flavor. PiC was happy with the lemon level but I was tempted to make it with more lemon next time. I’ll leave well enough alone though. I can’t eat a whole pie alone if I make it too lemony.
2. PiC mounted a wall clock that’s been waiting for attention for six months, and a new coat rack. Whoo!
3. He’s also going to mount old wall hooks that we’ve had for years for my use. Triple whoo!
Challenges this week: I periodically get this feeling that I have to get everything done NOW NOW NOW because of the pregnancy and that does nothing good for my stress and anxiety levels. I am pacing myself as best I can. But whew. That’s the brain problem. Physically, my hands have been swollen every night for weeks and that’s been rough. They normally get better by mid-morning but lately even that hasn’t been the case.
4. Super kind blog-Twitter friends sent us practical baby-related gifts and their thoughtfulness was so very much appreciated.
5. We are sticking to the hand me downs only rule for clothes and toys/books/no more plushies are allowed, and we’re conserving cash to buy the necessities. I figure we’re going to need a fair bit of formula since I really struggled to produce enough milk last time.
6. November brought a handful of donations for our Lakota families and I’m enthused about being able to help out one more family, though it probably isn’t good that I keep adding one more thing to my plate. I should really stop doing that. I will. I swear.
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November 10, 2020
After struggling to get things in order since we moved, 2020 has been an oddly productive year-long decluttering and organizing period.
After the 2019 winter holidays, I had a truckload of stuff to deal with: secondhand toys, books, art supplies, workbooks, clothes, and some presents. After visiting the homes of loved ones who are hoarders and just have plain too many things for anyone’s peace of mind, I was especially fired up to clear up and clear out all the things!
I asked PiC to feed me the boxes languishing in the garage from when we moved, one at a time. If we haven’t looked at them in 2 years, I’m almost certain we don’t need anything in there!
He got curious and pulled down three instead, so I took them all. I made quick work of two boxes – sorting them into a donation box and a bag of baby stuff that will go to a friend. The third has some electronics I have to figure out. I’m also sorted through another box of books that were passed on to me to donate to the library, the Little Library, and regift (the like-new copies) to young kids. (The pandemic has put a halt to the local regifting and donations for the moment, but the piles are sorted. The trick now is to keep them hidden from JB so they don’t raid it looking for things to clawback.) (more…)
November 9, 2020
Week 33 of COVID in the Bay Area.
Week 33, Day 227: I was having a bad parent day. I was in the doldrums and tired and cranky. Then I was impatient with JB for being tired and cranky and out of sorts. That’s hardly fair. It was incredibly hard to get myself on balance to avoid snapping at them for having the same feelings as I was having (but didn’t realize in the moment).
I did take them out for a short midday exercise session (with all the groaning and whining you’d expect from a tired and cranky under-6 whose parent is being stern and crabby). They did get their exercise in. So that was something.
I was trying to focus on the small good things: a small Christmas treat surprise I found for the family since we won’t travel this year. The order of gift books I placed from an independent bookstore. The spices I will soon enjoy cooking and baking with. The huge batch of ribs that are going into the freezer and will save our butts one of these days when we have nothing for dinner (which feels like most nights).
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November 6, 2020
1. I decided to do a trial of the twice a week schedule and a combo Good things and Link Love post (voila!) just to see if I like it and if it’s also a good compromise.
2. JB was surprised with a fun Halloween end of their tutoring lesson and they were so happy!
3. It’s startling to realize that sometimes we can afford to choose time over money within a reasonable limit. I used to sacrifice all kinds of time for pennies because I needed every penny and because it helped counter my anxiety that I’d end up broke if I didn’t. Now I can choose to just buy the thing when it’s 10¢ or $1 more at the store we’re already buying from rather than making a whole other trip to another store to save a total of $2.35.
4. Once in a while, I’m bitten by a much more expensive bug. There was a sale this weekend at Elhoffer Design and I absolutely love the maxi wrap dress I splurged on for myself last Christmas. It’s been so handy for the pregnancy too. Now it’s the summery maxi dresses I’m ogling because I like maxi dresses for summer but I hate that my two don’t have pockets. After JB came along, I didn’t buy new clothes for three years waiting for my weight to stabilize. I normally wouldn’t buy anything intended for months away anyway, especially with this pregnancy, but the material is very stretchy and should accommodate whatever weird size I am in the coming months easily. I have bought a few things for the maternity and nursing period as I’ve outgrown all my clothes but mostly the clothing spending has stayed low as normal. We can afford a small outlay now and again.
Challenges this week: Everyone is on tenterhooks this week as November 4th draws nearer. This week has been nothing but tumultuous between the Election and the rushed through SCOTUS confirmation that I think was absolutely despicable. Such hypocrites. If this confirmation is valid, than the blocking of Merrick Garland was not and the seating of that piece of work, Kavanaugh, should not have happened. I’m sick of McConnell and I’m sick of him making up rules to suit himself. I’m so sick of this administration.
5. I picked up a really cute teeny tiny sparkly Christmas tree for our mantel. I’ve been wanting one and it was the smallest one I’ve seen that was the right price point ($3). We also picked up several kid gifts for upcoming birthdays and before you know it, the Target Dollar Spot suckered us for almost $40. But they are fun little gifts and covers 7 kids.
6. I had been fretting about holiday gifts for local friends. Happily Penzey’s had a sale on their gift cards which was perfect because one local friend is an amazing cook and was interested in checking out their stock. One more check box marked off the list!
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November 3, 2020
On Money
Income
Our primary income comes from our full time jobs. We have minimal income from investing in index funds and dividend stocks (all reinvested). We earn money on the side to supplement our main incomes. We get a bit of income from Swagbucks and cash back sites (Ebates, Mr.Rebates). Some posts have affiliate links that pay a micro-commission to keep the blog running and I’ve added a way to support the blog in the sidebar to the right!
Our long term goal is to replace our day job income with passive income before my health prevents me from working. I know from my Mom’s experience that qualifying for or relying on disability is incredibly tough or near impossible here in CA. Aside from that, I aim to do my best to make the most of what we can do while we can.
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Dividend income. We received $193.60 in dividends in October.
My experience with ibotta so far is: it’s slow. We don’t buy a lot of the brands they have offers for. But it’s a handful of spare cash, whenever I finally reach a cash out point, so I have no objections.
I’ve been holding a grudge against Achievement for the past few months because it took so long to get my last reward but also because I’ve been too lazy to log back into my mapping apps. Both silly reasons. I should add that back for that slow trickle of earnings.
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October 30, 2020
If you’d like to join me in helping Lakota families and/or rural libraries this year, please read this post. Over 6 weeks in 2019, we raised $2669.94 for the Lakota families, touching 27 lives. What can we do in 2020?
Current total: $1,905.47; Rural libraries, $346.69.
We will be wrapping up on November 1st!
1. I had three bites of red velvet cake that was actually worth eating. I usually consider red velvet a waste of cake but Nothing Bundt really came through.
2. We “celebrated” two birthdays this week with surprise cake for friends. We took pictures “together” with them standing six feet in front of us and just to the side so we could simulate being together. I love and hugely appreciate that our few local friends are taking it as seriously as we are.
3. JB and I held a cleaning session on Sunday and it was really satisfying. They cleaned their whole desk area and scrubbed down all the sticky surfaces on the desk and stool and activity mats. I recycled a bunch of catalogs and empty pill bottle and ran the robot vacuum.
Challenges this week: I have had to work late every single night for weeks. I don’t typically feel it in the moment, so I had forgotten what a toll the long hours over several days and weeks takes.
Smol Acrobat is the flipping Energizer Bunny. They do not stop kicking, rolling, punching, somersaulting and punching my bladder. They are active full days and well into the night absolutely nonstop. This cannot be normal. (It probably is. There is nothing remotely comfortable or dignified about pregnancy, lemme tell ya.)
The SCOTUS confirmation was awful.
4. I can’t wait to watch “Over the Moon” on Netflix.
5. I’ve been doing more regular targeted stretches and micro exercises and they seem to be helping the back strain enough that just the one heating pad during the day instead of at night is working relatively well. Ironically, I find it easier to do now when I’m working way more hours then I was when I was trying to keep it to 35-40 hours a week to make room for rest (and the rest didn’t even really happen).
6. We stopped by Sprouts on Wednesday and I got to indulge in a bit of $5 Sushi Wednesday! No raw fish for me, alas, but a bit of California roll was still a nice treat. Though I just realized that I forgot to pick up some sugar free Lily’s PB cups, drat. I discovered the Lily’s sugar free chocolate brand a few months ago and they are so tasty. I can get them from Target, turns out, so I will watch out for a sale.
:: How are you feeling? What’s good right now?