Sunday Update: Reading, Sports, Sleep

Sunday again and it's officially spring.  Every day is currently 5 minutes lighter than the day before.  Which means in 2 weeks we will get an extra hour of daylight a day.  It's honestly a bit excessive, I'm really happy for the sun to come up at 5am and down at 7:30 and never get longer than that.  I guess I probably should not have moved to Wales and instead moved to... Albuquerque. Or Tehran.  Maybe Wales is ok, even if it gets too light in the summer and too dark in the winter.

Reading

I finished All The Money in the World by Laura Vanderkam this week.  It's a really interesting premise - how does money make people happy?  I like the argument towards seeing money as a tool for happiness.  I told Andy this and he said that buying lots of bikes would make him happy so he should buy lots of bikes.  That's not really the point though, my first road bike ever cost £250 and made me so happy.  My last road bike ever (or at least, untill I become a road rider again) cost £600 and also made me happy, but possibly less happy than that first bike.  It's the hedonistic treadmill - we always tend to return to a base state of happiness and so you can't just buy lots of stuff to make you happy.

There was also an interesting chapter on how spending money on other people can make us happy.  I know it's easier when you have money to share money, but also I don't think there is a threshold above which you have money to share and below which you don't have any money to share.  Actually, there are definitely points where people don't have money to share, but there is a lot of mid ground.  Anyways, I've decided to try and be more generous with people and see if that increases my happiness (or ruins my budget - we do have a gifts budget so I can at least monitor what we are spending).  Last week a colleague who I like had a baby and I gave £10 towards her work present.  A friend of mine went into surgery this weekend and I sent her a gift voucher for a food delivery service.  Both these things made me happy.

I am still reading Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman.  It's just good.  Also, once I got used to reading physical books again I decided I like physical books.  I might read more of them.   Kindle books were great when we had babies in the room, but now that I'm not waking up at night anymore (yay!) and reading for an hour or two it's nice to stick a bookmark in a chapter book when I'm done at night.

Sports

It's been another awesome week for sport.  I am still ravenously hungry all the time but I am at least enjoying all the sport that's making me over hungry.  I also got to do a workout with San on Peloton again - yay! On Monday I am going to be a total Peloton nerd and do my 100th ride and I've invited all 5 of my Peloton friends to join me.  Maybe this time I'll get a shout out... maybe! Either way, 100 rides since buying the Peloton in October feels awesome.

• Monday
• 35 minute Peloton while watching Emily in Paris season 4
• 20 minute evening yoga flow
• Tuesday
• 1 hour yoga flow class IRL (I've done 5 in person yoga classes now, so 1/3 of the way to my 2025 goal of 15 in person classes)
• Wednesday
• 20 Minute Full Body Strength with Ben Alldis
• 5 Minute Core with Ben Alldis
• 10 Minute Upper Body with Ben Alldis
• 10 Minute full body stretch  with Ben Alldis
• 1 hour run with local run club at night (it was a sprint session - ouch!)
• 10 Minute Focus Flow - Healthy Back with Kristin McGee (because I thought sprinting had hurt my back but it was OK)
• Thursday
• 20 Minute pop-punk ride with Bradley Rose
• 10 Minute HIIT ride with Denis Morton
• 10 Minute Focus Flow for Riders with Ross Rayburn (and San!)
• Friday
• 30 Minute Low Impact Ride with Hannah Frankson (live!)
• 15 Minute FOcus Flow for Runners with Denis Morton
• Sunday
• Junior Parkrun - 2k run with the kids
• 30 Minute Intervals and Arms with Olivia Amato (live!)
• 20 Minute Queens of Pop ride with Ally Love
• 15 Minute Full Body Stretch with Ally Love

It's been a really fun week of sport.  Here's me running super fast at night:

Sleep

This is where it's less good.  My rolling average is 7 hours.  I went out to dinner with a friend and stayed up until 11pm on Saturday.  11pm!!!  Also, I've been waking up at 5 or 5:30, before the twins wake up, but without enough time to go back to sleep or do anything useful.  Usually by the time I get downstairs I can hear Aubrey talking.  Also, Andy and I watched a TV show on Friday called Severance because my slow cooker came with 3 months of Apple TV.  <----(That sentence is so mid-life middle class I can't even)

This week we have no evening activities and I'm not doing the run club due to being in the office on Wednesday so hopefully it will be a more sleep week.  Then the clocks spring forward on Saturday so that will be its own nightmare.  Since our kids already go to bed super early it's actually the easier time change for us... although let's see if I say the same thing in two weeks.  Time changes are the worst.

Are there any ways in which money has been a tool for your happiness in the last week? Have you watched the show Severance?  

Thursday Thoughts: Working Moms and Overheard at the Cafe

I heard two moms talking at a cafe.  They were both talking about their kids entering school nursery and how nice it was to get 2.5 hours a day to themselves now.  Their kids must have just turned three, and newly qualified for 2.5 hours of free school a day.  The one mom asked the other if she was thinking of going back to work

"Not really" said the mom "because I would still have to pay for wraparound, and it would be like £300 a week in childcare, so it doesn't really make sense".

I've thought about this a lot recently.  I live in a place where lots of moms don't work or work very part time.  Not in the LA "yummy mummy" way, but in the "it just makes sense for me to watch kids" way.

It's interesting to me that the decision to leave the job market seems often be a financial one.  However the decision to leave the job market when kids are young eventually keeps one out of the job market specifically because of the decision to leave.  Childcare costs make this decision more and more difficult - the most expensive childcare is for the youngest children.  

Childcare gets cheaper as they enter school, but if one has been out of the job market for 5 years then even cheaper childcare now can't keep up with the salary loss of a career gap and re-entering the market.

I am so glad I have stayed in work (which I obviously wanted to do as well, but I feel there is a lot of pressure against that decision here) because I can afford childcare.  I can afford childcare because I stayed in work.  When all my kids are in school I will be able to afford... other things.  

My husband and I make roughly the same salary now.  I have never heard him or his friends lament how so much of their salaries go to cover childcare.  I have never seen them calculate their take home after childcare.

I guess it's odd to me that there is financial pressure to leave the workforce when kids are small, because childcare is so expensive.

Then there is financial pressure to stay out of the job market when kids are a little bigger, because only lower salary jobs are available to returners.

Then there is financial pressure to get a job when... kids enter secondary school?  By the time getting a job makes sense, the monetary value of the kind of employment available is so low that it seems one may as well not work at all.

I wish I could more often express the sentiment that I am not *loving* the experience of childcare now, but I am *loving* continuing to develop professionally, not stagnativing my career, and making enough money to employ someone else. I love feeling like I am financially contributing to my family, and knowing that every pound we pay in childcare now will be a pound we can put into something else later.  

If I wasn't working, every pound I saved by not working would decrease in value over time - lack of earnings does not benefit from compound interest.  

There is no inflationary bonus on housework... there is just more housework.

[Obviously if you love staying at home with kids then great! Do that! But when people say "are you thinking about getting a job" I feel those people should answer "no, I love staying at home with kids and doing pick up and that's what I want to do" rather than "no it's not worth it financially".]

Sunday Update: Reading, Sports, Sleep

Happy Sunday! The sun is out but it is COLD.  It's still March.  

This week had some really good things.  For example, I had Tuesday off work and I hiked up a local mountain with a friend and it was great

On Wednesday, I was doing a cheeky midday workout and I saw that San was doing a Peloton ride and I joined her!  It was super cool to know someone I like was doing the same ride as me at the same time as me.  I don't know that I would have bought a Peloton without reading how much San loved it, and I can say I still love my Peloton rides just as much now as when I first bought it in October.  Thanks San for the eternal inspiration and I'm so glad we finally rode together!

On Wednesday evening I went running with a local ladies run club.  I'm so glad I got out with them, the first time with a new group is always scary but they were nice and I will definitely go out with them again.

I love getting stronger and knowing that I will never be pregnant again so all the work I do to get better and stronger will not get reversed soon to have babies.  I can actually see and sustain improvement.  It's great.

Reading

I started reading again.  Real books.  I'm reading both of these now:

I find All The Money In The World interesting, but I feel it might be written for me - a semi frugal middle income earner.  It's interesting to think about how infrequent big things (houses, cars) don't necessarily give us as much joy as frequent little things (lattes, meals out).   

I thought about this when we bought our most recent car.  Our previous car was £500.  Our new car was more than 20 times that.  I asked Andy "is this new car twenty times better than our old car?" It turns out it was, because our new car fits all our children (along with other benefits) which is twenty times better than not having a car we can use. Also, it brings me frequent joy to drive a car that does not feel like it's going to fall apart on the road.

I know Woody Allen is an awful person, but books like this remind me of his quotes about money:

"Money does not give happiness, but it procures a feeling so similar, that it needs a very advanced specialist to verify the difference."

"Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons"

Sports

A great week for sports again.  Yay.

• Monday
• 15 Minute Peloton ride (it was supposed to be 30 but instead it became 15)
• Tuesday
• 7 mile hike up and down a mountain. Yay!
• Wednesday
• 20 Minutes Arms and Shoulder Strength with Rebecca Kennedy
• 20 Minute Standing Core Strength with Rebecca Kennedy
• 20 Minute 90's Ride with Cody Rigsby (and San!)
• 10 Minute Lower Body Stretch with Ben Alldis
• 1 hour Run with Running Group
• Friday
• 1 hour gym with gym buddy
• Saturday 
• 30 Minute Broadway Ride with Bradley Rose
• 30 Minute Full Body Strength with Katie Wang
• 10 Minute Stretch with Ben Alldis
• Sunday
• 10 Minute Glutes and Legs with Ben Alldis
• 10 Minute Chest and Back with Ben Alldis
• 10 Minute Upper Body Strength with Ben Alldis
• 30 Minute Sundays with Love ride
• 10 Minute Full Body Stretch with Ben Alldis

I learned this week that on Peloton app you can "stack" classes and that's what I did on Sunday and it was fun.  I made a list of classes and did them one after another.  

Sleep

We have been on a sleep mission lately.  I have averaged 8.2 hours this week, which I did not think was possible.  I thought I couldn't sleep more than 7.5 hours a night.  Maybe it's because I'm doing more sport, or maybe it's because other stressful things have resolved, or maybe it's just catching up from years of not sleeping, but it's great.  On multiple nights I slept straight through from 9pm until 5am.  On Friday I slept from 9pm to 6am.  9 hours of sleep.  Dreamy.

Habits Update

Y'all wanted to know more about my flossing habits right?  Well my dentist appointment was this week and they basically said I had the best teeth in Wales.  That's not a great benchmark, but it was almost unmotivating in how wonderful my teeth apparently are.  I mean if I can undo a year of floss neglect in 4 weeks of intermittent flossing then what is the point of good dental care?  Also, is floss itself old school?  Does everyone use TePe brushes or floss picks now?  I will still try to keep this habit up.

Another habit - Food.  I have been tracking my food for a while and was suprised at how generally unhungry I am as long as I get a decent meal at 10am ish.  That all ended this week when I have been ravenous all the time. Maybe it was my hike that broke my hunger levels, but I have been eating everything.  I figure I will go back to eating like a normal person soon, but last week for lunch I had a cheese sandwich and a slice of quiche and a bowl of pasta because I was just hungry.  I pretty much eat whatever I want usually but I am trying to make sure I eat fruit for at least once meal or snack, in addition to whatever other things I want to eat for that meal/snack.  Tracking has shown me that I definitely eat vegetables every day but I have to remind myself to intentionally eat fruit.

Do you eat fruit every day? Do you find your hunger levels vary a lot week to week (or month to month?) Have you slept more than 8 hours in a row recently?

5 Phone Thoughts on a Friday

This week I joined a local running group.  I signed up to facebook in order find the group, found where they run from, and then joined them.  When I got there I was told I needed to sign into the group with an app, which I didn't have because I generally try and avoid apps.  Luckily I was OK to run with them once and we did hill repeats and it was nice to run with some new people. 

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During the social run the social runners took a lot of photos for instagram and facebook.  Life must be a lot different when it needs to be continually documented.  I am torn though, because I do love all-female running groups, and I imagine a lot of the facebooking and instagramming makes for better community and a more inclusive running.  The group did say that they were a very inclusive club, although apparently that doesn't extend to including the app-less.  (this is a bit unfair, I think I can go back, but I probably have to figure out how to make an online account for the website for the app.  I don't think they'll be super happy if just show up without App-RSVPing again)

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There was another app-less runner in the group.  She was from New Zealand and said that her phone was a New Zealand phone and therefore she couldn't get UK apps.  That is a good reason to not get apps!

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I always find it hard to explain why I don't want to get apps, and I usually laugh and say I'm generally don't do phone stuff and app stuff (which I realize is a ridiculous thing to say).  People will very quickly try and show me things on their phones, like how easy it is.  I find it interesting that the assumption is that if I just understood how *easy* apps were then I would want to use them more.  I just... don't want to do more phone.  I wanted to run.

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We bought Ezra a secondhand coat and it has a phone pocket.  He asked if he could have a phone, to put in the pocket.  I think I might get him a pack of playing cards, because it is the same size as the pocket, and I'm pretty sure that would satisfy his pocket filling desires for now.  Lily also decided to ask for a phone, and I told her she could have one when she turns 16.  She told me that will take one hundred years.  Touche.

Sunday Update: Reading, Sports, Sleep

 It's Sunday again.  This week was a rather wild ride.  A bunch of non-bloggable stuff happened (Oh I finally get to be a vague blogger!) but all of it is mostly good or will soon be mostly good.  In addition to all the crazy stuff, normal life happened.  For instance, I took Ezra and Lily to the ballet and they got to take a photo with the dancers:

It was a children's ballet and it was 40 minutes long which is just the right amount of ballet for me too.

Also we took the big kids on a big train adventure.  They did great.  

FYI, living in a country with trains is great if you want to take 2.5 hours and spend £50 to get somewhere that would take 90 minutes and cost £30 to drive and park.  

Also, since we don't let the kids have screen at home, they really loved these feedback stations and spent about 15 minutes playing the "video game"

Reading

I finally finished The Dictionary of Lost Words.  super interesting premise.  And a bit... meh to read. The book is sort of about the production of the 1901 Oxford English Dictionary, and how the dictionary was predominantly written by men.  I can see the author's interest in who decides what words are word and how the entire dictionary is a rather classist / gendered approach to differentiating "real" words from "other words". It was an interesting topic, just maybe not the book for me right now.

What to read next though?! I want to read another Wedding People.  I loved that book.  I've started my real copy of Meditations for Mortals, but what if Oliver Burkeman's other book (4,000 weeks) was the perfect book and I already read it and this is just a worse version of that?  Like how I started reading The Plan by Kendra Adachi but decided The Lazy Genius Way was just better.

I also got a Libby/Kindle copy of Amazing Grace Adams but have not started reading it yet.

Sports

Last week I decided writing a list of my sports was boring and I wasn't going to do it anymore, and then I immediately spent a week doing barely any sport.  Perhaps my sports list keeps me going, in which case I am now going to start writing it again.  Sorry not sorry?

• Monday
• 15 Minute Arms & Shoulders Strength with Rad Lopez
• 15 Minute 90's ride with Hannah Frankson
• 5 Minute Core with Emma Lovewell
• Tuesday
• 90 Minute hot yoga with my yoga buddy
• Thursday
• 20 Minute HIIT and Hills with Ally Love
• 15 Minute Hill Climb with Ally Love
• Friday
• 1 Hour gym session with my writing buddy (I know, my writing buddy is now my gym buddy! My gym buddy was away this week and I feel like I was cheating on him but also... working out with new people is fun too. )
• Sunday
• 1 hour run (5.2 miles, 11 minute miles).  The kids were at Sunday School for 90 minutes and I went for an out and back run through a really nice part of town I never spend much time in.  It was a fun explore, and my longest run this year.

On Thursday I was in work and complaining to my colleague about things and she said "you should go do a 20 minute peloton ride" and I did and I felt waaaay better.  I've had a lot of trouble focusing in work this week, and while I definitely had days in the office where I got nothing done before, it feels weird to be unfocused at home since usually I am super focused at home.   I've decided if things get me down I need to do exercise first and complain second.  It was good advice from my colleague.

I normally go to the gym with my gym buddy on Fridays but he was away this week and magically my writing buddy was free so we went instead.  She usually does cardio machines but I brought her to the free weights area where we did some bench press and overhead press and I pushed a sled with her standing on it and it was super fun.  I love bringing more women into the free weights section of the gym. 

Sleep

On Thursday my rolling average for the week was 6.25 hours which is NOT GOOD.  Andy and I had a date night on Friday and we went out for pizza and wine but still made it back for a 10pm bedtime (being old is great).  On Saturday we had a reverse lie-in (going to sleep early is how grownups sleep late) and were asleep by 9pm.  I've managed to claw my average back to 6.92 hours, but  I will definitely be in bed by 9pm tonight.

One of the cool things about tracking my sleep is that I am aware that I am not feeling well because I am not getting enough sleep, and I am aware that I need to get more sleep soon, and it helps me realize that my life isn't going off the rails, but a few small things are not great and more sleep will help.

Other things

I made these Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal Bars for Ezra's lunches, but I substituted Tahini for Peanut Butter.  They are not as good with Tahini, but we are not allowed nuts in the school.  I thought about asking whether Sesame was OK, but since I send him with hummus every day I figure it's probably fine.

Our grocery store finally restocked canned pumpkin (they had been sold out since thanksgiving!) and so I made both pumpkin waffles and pumpkin pancakes this week.

I can hear birds in the morning now.  And it was a balmy 13c/54f today! I wore a jumper and no jacket for a while! I ran in a short sleeved shirt! Spring might come agian!

Do you like canned pumpkin?  Have you ever tracked your sleep and did you learn anything interesting?  Are you in a reading slump right now?  I feel like a lot of people are!

Monday Update - Reading, Sports, Sleep, Habits

I missed a Sunday update.  Oops!  

This week I crammed a 5 day workweek into 2.5 days.  100% don't recommend.  It's way easier to take a week off work than to take a Monday, Friday, and 1/2 day Tuesday off work.  

It was school holidays, so on Monday I watched all the kids (for some of it).  I took our 4 kids to a playdate with a family of 6 kids and it was great.  Although I have no desire to have 6 kids (we are 4 no more) I can see it's very different when the age range is 13-11-9-6-5-2.  We didn't want a big gap between kids, but 6-4-1-1 is pretty small.  Seeing older kids does make me more excited for 10-8-5-5.  But, I am not wishing life away.  Life is good.

Tuesday we had friends visit in the afternoon for a park adventure.  Wednesday and Thursday were work days.  Friday we took the big kids out to lunch, and it was Ezra's first time having lunch at a restaurant (I think? Or maybe second?) and he was pretty excited about the coloring

On Saturday we took a family trip to Costco.  In addition to 5 £1.50 hot dogs we got 2 dozen bagels and 12 croissants.  I don't think costco croissants are great but also, you can't go wrong with 12 for £5.49.  

(Side note -would you rather have 12 really average croissants for £5.49 or one really good croissant for £4?)

It was only upon reviewing this costco photo that I realized Lily was wearing a spider man onesie for the whole shopping trip.

On Saturday afternoon I got out for a trail run! The sun came out, it wasn't cold, and I even wore a hat.  I ran just over 4 miles and I am keen to be out more.

My 12 year old trail shoes may be reaching end of life

Reading

I'm not reading a lot right now and I'm worried I'm going to lose my loan of The Dictionary of Lost Words before I finish.  Need to just sit down and read.

I got a hardcover copy of All The Money In The World.  

I will add this to the pile of paper books I'm not currently reading either.  I got it second hand because I don't think this book was actually published in the UK, but I found it on an online charity shop.  I tend to have a "I can buy a book I want from a charity shop for £5 or less" rule.  

I am still looking for a copy of Build The Life You Want from a online second hand book store but I haven't seen it for £5 or less yet.

Sports

I did a decent amount of sport this week.  I've gotten bored of my own summary.  I am still super enjoying Peloton. I've been working on more Strength classes and enjoying using my new 10kg weights.  

At the gym my friend asked me how much I can deadlift and I know it is at least 21.5 kg because Clara is 10kg and Aubrey is 11.5kg. Although I guess I usually lift them from a squat so I'm sure I can deadlift more than that.

Lifting things and getting stronger is fun.

Sleep

Oh internet friends I averaged 7.7 hours of sleep which is a definite max since probably 2022.  It was great.  I'm not getting up in the morning early enough for morning routine and me time, but I go to bed around 9:30 and wake up around 5:30 and it's working and it's great.

I'm wondering if every metric, every tracking adventure, and perhaps every mood I have is purely related to how much sleep I got the night before.  It might be that the secret to happiness is literally sleep.  Maybe.

Habits

I am happy to report that my flossing habit is improving.  I decided I will floss when the kids brush their teeth.  I can't brush my teeth when the kids brush their teeth (it just, doesn't work) but I can floss while they brush.  I have a dentist appt in 2 weeks and hopefully this one month effort will be worth it.  And maybe it will even stay on as a good habit!  

I did 12 strength sessions in Feb, which brings me to 22 for the first 2 months of the year.  My goal was 100 this year so I am doing well. 

And that's another week gone.  It's so nice to not recoil in horror at the idea of the kids being off school for a week.  Younger kids were very hard.  Slightly older kids are slightly less hard.  Next week everyone is back in school and I am back in a 5 day workweek.  Boring life.  I like it.

Do you shop at Costco? What's your favourite Costco find? Would you rather have 12 really average croissants for £5.49 or one really good croissant for £4? Do you like the £1.50 all beef hot dog or the £1.95 slice of pizza?

Goodbye February! And a bunch of FIGS

February is finally over!  I mostly experienced February as long and dark and cold with endless coughs and runny noses (fun fact, our house went through 15 boxes of tissues in Feb).  

However, in the spirit of Elisabeth's FIGS (Finding Joy in Gratitude) Here are some great things that happened in February:

*Aubrey and Clara learned how to walk.  Clara quickly learned how to live life dangerously

*I did 12 Strength workouts and 2 live yoga classes

*I survived a half term with only 2 days of childcare

*My uncle came to visit.  We went to our favourite local castle

(Uncle not pictured)

*More friends from Bristol & America came to visit and we went to the same castle

*We went out to lunch as a family and friends group of 10 and managed to all sit together AND eat food together

*Lily and I went to Bath for a sleeover and stayed in a hotel and went hotel swimming

*Lily and I saw a play wile in Bath and Lily loved it

The Snowy Day

*We all went to visit Andy's family for tea and cake.  This is the first time we took Aubrey and Clara to another house since they were tiny babies (and we only took them out once then)

*I hosted two of Lily's friends from Nursery for a play date

*Ezra had his first drop off friend play date at our house.  It turns out friend play dates are so easy! Bring on age 6.

*I got a free pedicure from a trainee at my local salon

*I did two hot yoga classes with a friend

*I discovered a local museum has a large open space for small kids to wander around

*Aubrey started sleeping until 6am! Then she started waking up at 5:30 again.  1/2 FIG here.

*Repeating weekly meal plan is working well.

    Monday: Soup

    Tuesday: Chicken nuggets or fish fingers and potato & veg

    Wednesday: Pasta

    Thursday: something in Buns and Chips

*I had a few mornings to myself for life and it was lovely

*I averaged 7.36 hours of sleep per night this month, which I'm fairly sure is my natural average.

*I managed to do an adequate amount of paid work while still taking days off for childcare and life and nanny cover

*Aubrey and Clara started to learn bike riding skills (never too early!)

*The sun came out a few days.
*Andy and I went indoor climbing for our monthly date then had a quick drink after

*I met a work colleague for dinner and we made plans to go to the theatre

*I joined a Best of Both Worlds Patreon Meetup about Adventure

*I wrote this blog post while Aubrey squeaked UPPPP and now I have to go get her even though it's only 6:20.

*It's light at 7am and at 6pm. 

There were actually a lot of fun things in February.  Very unexpected.  February is still not my favourite month, and I am still looking forward to spring, but it's nice to remember that february is not really the *worst* month.  Or maybe it is the worst month and the worst month is not that bad?

How was your February? What is the worst month?