Life Admin

Another thing I did on my free weekend was to sit down on Saturday morning and methodically check off a big list of Life Admin tasks that had been looming on my to do list for WAY too long.

They included:

• renew my license plates (online)

• log in to Beachbody and update my membership from quarterly to yearly. I’d been paying quarterly, which had been just slightly more expensive than the yearly. But when I joined during the pandemic I didn’t know if I’d want to keep it, hence the quarterly only sign up. Now they’ve changed it so that the quarterly membership is like, $75/quarter, compared to I think $120 for the whole year!!! Clearly, the quarterly membership is a terrible deal, now. I guess they’re trying to force people to just do the yearly membership.
  
  I debated for a minute if I should even keep BB, now that I’m back in the gym most days, but for only $10/ month, I really do like the BB option. It’s quick and easy to do, has tons of workouts, and I like following a program. Also, I find that having access to it has “taken away” my excuse of “I don’t really have time to go to the gym today, so I can’t exercise”. I usually always can find 20 minutes to fit in a quick workout at home, at least. I know there are lots of free options online….but that would require taking time to look for them, try them out, see which I like/ are any good….I’m just not interested in pursuing other options at the moment. Especially because I feel perfectly satisfied with BB- it’s only a “filler” to my main workouts, anyway.

• Print my 2021 tax return!! I filed electronically months ago and saved the returns on my computer, but I like to have a printed copy. This took…3 seconds. But I’ve had it on my list for ages.

• Order a big new batch of hot tub chemicals. I was getting dangerously low on a couple of them.

• Order a new band book for Asher

• Fill out the camp medical forms for both boys. I thought I’d done this months ago, but I guess not, because I got an email reminder. It required pulling up the boys’ immunization records (from their whole life) and filling in dates for every single vaccine basically they’ve ever gotten since birth. Fun!

• Order new contacts. I am super low on contacts. Normally I order from my eye doctor’s office, but I had decided that I wanted to do a little “price comparison shopping” this time. So, I didn’t order any the last time I was in for an exam. (I’ve never really price comparison shopped on contacts- I usually just order them and pay whatever the lady tells me at the desk after my appt, after applying my vision insurance benefit, because that is easy.)
  
  But I’ve always wondered if I’m totally overpaying?? “Price comparison shop” for contacts sounded like another “hassle-y” thing to do (ha…I like my made up word….), though, so this sat on the list for a long time too. Finally did it- kind of. I really only checked a few other places and called it good. (In the end, from what I saw, my eye doctor’s office’s price was just as competitive!)
  
  

---

In other news, Asher is enjoying being an only child this week while Ethan’s at camp. He has been (surprisingly? maybe?) very interested in hanging out with me.

Yesterday we went for a walk:

(I questioned, on this walk past the pond, WHY Mama Duck didn’t, perhaps, choose to make her nest somewhere in this huge stretch of grass right next to the pond???)

He went to the gym with me both Monday and Tuesday to workout!! This was actually REALLY fun. We lifted some weights- I did my workout, he did his own. (It’s really cute- he downloaded a strength training app that provides personalized strength workouts, based on his height/weight/goals/etc. It allows him to swap out exercises that might be too challenging, or he just can’t do yet. It also provides how-to videos of how to perform each exercise, and a place to record his weight. I don’t know what the app is called- he found it himself.

So Monday he did chest/back, I think, and yesterday he did legs. He is obviously still fairly new to strength training, so I’m actually glad he is willing to do it together, so I can keep an eye on his form. (That being said, he does not love getting corrections from me…. it’s a little frustrating….apparently mom doesn’t know anything). Ha. (except that I actually do!)

On Monday he wanted to do some sprints on the sprint track at the end. I did not, so I just sat on a bench and timed his sprints. 🙂

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for this mixiote that my mother-in-law brought from Mexico! It’s this very soft, very delicious meat, seasoned with guajillo and pasilla peppers, among others. You eat it as a taco, in corn tortillas, topped with salsa AND….the most important part….onion, HABANERO peppers and lime juice. THIS IS HOT HOT HOT. And soooo good. I can handle a ton of spice- like, impressive amounts- and this was so hot it made my ears hurt. LOL!! It’s a good pain. 😉

Ivan made the habanero mixture: