House Thoughts:
In important updates, we got the rug from IKEA and it looked bad in our house. Andy took it back to IKEA and now we still have the same old rug. He did see another potential rug, but shipping is £35 and I am not paying £35 to potentially return a rug.
Someday we will go to IKEA and pick up this rug:
I moved our existing rug under our sofa, because I saw a picture on Elisabeth's blog and her room it looked so nice! Photos in the future because I just moved the furniture when writing this blog and it was dark and I don't feel like picking up any toys.
Budget Question
I have a budget question, for those who do budgeting. My husband and I share bank accounts and keep track of all our spending in the following budget categories.
Recently, one of us got a parking ticket. What budget should parking tickets go under?
Feeling Generally Behind on All The Things
This morning I updated our budget for September and uploaded August photos to Snapfish so I could work on photo albums. Usually I do budget around the second week of the month and I aim to upload photos in the first week of the month. Also, I am feeling a bit of ennui/dread (there must be a better word) about the August albums. We did so much in August - there are 177 photos! I can't believe how much we adventured and how many visitors and day trips we did. But also, I need to corral these all into the 4 kids albums and 1 family album and it feels like a lot.
I also feel like I'm not staying on top of things that make my life easier - for example I went to the office on Wednesday. On Tuesday evening I went to the gym with my gym friend and got home late and hungry, ate a salad, watched a mountain biking video with andy, took a shower and went to bed. on Wednesday morning Andy was doing a peloton ride so I had to get kids up and get breakfast sorted, and also pick out clothes and pack for work. The clothes I picked were not a good combo, because I was tired and getting dressed in the near-dark. I only realized how silly the dress-tights-trainers look was when I was in the toilet at work and saw myself in a full length mirror. I could have picked a better outfit if I had picked one the night before. I also didn't pack food, so spent £7 on coffee and a sandwich.
Wednesday evening we did our
FLOM and I was so tired I could barely think of food choices for the week. The FLOM finished when we both couldn't focus on anything and went to bed.
Running Thoughts
I am not sure running is very good for me. I think the net result of my training is that I am tired all the time, I am very hungry, I crave sugar and chocolate, and I have gained 5 lbs. I'm not doing running to lose weight, I am doing it because I (nominally) like it, but I think I would be much better off not running.
This is kind of good, because the weather has been 100% against me for the last two weeks. I did 38 minutes of my 45 minute run progression run on Tuesday. I did not run Wednesday or Thursday. I will run tomorrow (Friday) and definitely do a long run on Sunday.
I'm starting to look forward to my post-half marathon sport revamp. I want to do more Peloton rides and a Peloton Strength programme. I'll also keep going to the gym with my gym buddy and with my NEW gym buddy (I mean, she's my sport buddy of years but recently we have started to try and lift heavy Sh*t together after she read a Stacy Sims book and I am just keen for any sport all the time.) I would still like to do a long run once a week, but maybe I will *only* do a long run once a week and keep the rest of my weekly sport more... not running.
Weekend Adventures/Weekend Survival
On Saturday Andy is going biking all day (and taking the car!) which means I've got 4 kids and no car. It is his 40th birthday present but I am also pretty concerned about how the day will go, but I wasn't ahead enough to make any play date plans, or try to sort out someone taking one of the kids somewhere... so it's me and 4 kids and no car.
He said one of his friends might be able to drive (he's driving all his friends) but I am fairly sure that all their wives do not want to be left at home all day without a car.
On Monday I texted a friend I haven't seen for ages and in the middle of a longer text I said "if you're around this weekend I'm solo parenting without a car and it would be great to see you if you're free for a catch up/play date?" They hearted the text but I am not sure if that means they are keen for a play date? I need to figure out how to ask again... perhaps I should have been more specific on a time... but also hanging out with me is kind of the worst when I am trying to watch 4 kids so maybe a play date is not a great idea anyways. Two year old are hard. Two two year olds are extra hard.
There are also lots of good things
- Going into the office was great, and I got to go out to pizza with my new team and they seemed very happy that I have joined them.
- Even though I complain about running, I am so happy I've been strong and healthy enough to run
- Our childcare situation is working so well at the moment. I did not realize having a nanny could be this good, she is so good with the twins and she also makes kid dinner twice a week and other super helpful things.
- The big kids are doing well with the school routine
- I may have found a cleaner to do fortnightly cleans (fingers crossed)
- My new job is going well (I think) and tomorrow I get to work out what I'm actually going to deliver in the first 3 months
- It might stop raining next week
What budget does a parking ticket go under? Are you feeling behind on all the things (is that just September energy)? Would you have a play date with twin 22 month olds (I recommend not).
That's a bummer about the rug not working. Such a hassle. I used to put fines in our personal fun money budget of the person who got the fine - haha. With your running you might want to look at is your fueling around your runs. You may already be doing these things, but eating something small before a run, and a good quality meal afterwards with a decent amount of protein can help a lot with avoiding cravings and fatigue later in the day.
ReplyDeleteYou are spot on Melissa - my fueling is terrible. I think I spend enough time figuring out what to feed the kids and how to get my sport in that I don't spend any time figuring out what to feed myself. I"ve decided to start eating breakfast this week, and making sure I can get to food before and after a run (and protein!) and see if that makes me feel better. Thanks for the advice!
DeleteI tuck all our rugs under our couches/beds. I find they stay put much better. Mine could probably be brought out just a smidge...
ReplyDeleteI'd put the fine under auto. It's a cost associated with owning a vehicle (if you didn't have a car, you wouldn't have the fine). What a bummer.
I'm so glad your new job is going well!
And I would definitely go on a play date with young twins. Now that my kids are older, I'd bring them along and my daughter would LOSE HER MIND with delight in entertaining your kiddos. Seriously. She would be amazing and we could just chat and have fun and you'd have free childcare.
Hmm interesting that you put tickets under Auto! That seems to be the common approach here and is probably less prone to ill feeling than deducting it from hobbies budgets...
DeleteAww I *wish* you could come for a play date with Belle this weekend! Help! I am severely lacking in the "Girls age 12+" category of friends who can actually help with twins... I think it's one of those things where my social circle does not have any older kids and then when I have older kids my circle will not have any twin toddlers!
I would put the ticket under transportation. I put anything about car, gas, maintenance, parking or getting from a to b under transportation.
ReplyDeleteI think a heart is not a yes. It is an acknowledgement of your text. My boss used to say that you always had to ask open ended questions. Instead of...do you want to have a playdate on Monday, he would say something like, it's been a long time since we caught up, are you available at 2 or 4 pm on Monday? As if the answer was already yes but now you just needed to hammer down the time.
Hmm interesting another vote for transport! OK!
DeleteI am sure a heart is a no, although I'll see if they want to stop by sometime this afternoon if it's not chaos, and if not at least I've thrown out a vague and then more specific invite. It was a sort of rubbish invite from me too, normally I would invite someone over if I could actually spend time with them, but this invite was a "it's going to be chaos, want to see?" invite... Which I of course would accept but not everyone wants to see what 4 young kids looks like on a saturday.
Id put it under transport.
ReplyDeleteI am feeling a little behind on some things but not majorly. Tony was away this week so- solo parenting and that is always hard. But I think I held it all together rather nicely.
Tonight he is back and I’m just gonna throw the kids at him and crash lol
This weekend will be rest, rest, rest.
Daria from momofchildren.com
DeleteOh another vote for Transport! Interesting! Well done on making a week of solo parenting. Hope you get a lot of rest this weekend.
DeleteI'd put the parking ticket under "misc". I don't think it fits anything else - unless maybe transport?
ReplyDeleteI wonder if you'd be interested to do a Power Zone Challenge sometime?! This might be a nice change in training. I agree that a rigid running training plan can be tiring at times. I definitely felt that during HM and M training!
Parking ticket could fit under house expenses, transport, or misc. Or a new category: Unexpected Bummer. -rachel
ReplyDelete