Layout:
Home > Archive: November, 2015

Archive for November, 2015

Balancing Act

November 30th, 2015 at 07:27 pm

I've been trying to balance minimal household chores, cooking, and family time with the mountain of grading that is staring at me. Despite some frustrations, it's going pretty well.

We spent some time over the holiday discussing whether we could afford French camp for DD again this year. Those numbers and our weakening water heater has brought on another round of belt tightening. Oh, and there's the plane tickets to the UK for my father-in law's 90th. I've reset the frugal daily spending, making an impromptu dinner at home after Saturday's post-holiday driving, parked in the free zone enabling a long walk to class today, and brought my own coffee. If I can make that work for the next few weeks, we'll call the water heater fund started. Maybe Swagbucks can kick in $100.

It's all about the balance.

Hacking Away at the List

November 22nd, 2015 at 01:03 am

This is the time of the semester that I despair of ever getting everything done. I spent a chunk of yesterday on personal chores including buying a winter jacket for DD, getting Thanksgiving groceries and wine, and listing some outgrown clothes for sale--and I paid for that time later. After dinner I started in on my massive mountain of grading and graded steadily until 2am with only Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear for company.

But I'm now three-quarters done with the grading and assignment creation, made soup, lasagna rolls, and cookies. I could really use three days at home, but DD has a cold and we've skipped out annual tree lighting visit, so I may get more done tonight.

It's been a spendy week between jackets, wine, and various fill-in spending. Better get back to it to avoid another Longmire-filled wee hour binge.

Simple Shopping

November 13th, 2015 at 04:15 pm

I've spent an hour this morning catching up and getting ahead on some needed shopping. I had stopped in Kohl's on the way home Wednesday, but abandoned my purchases mid-shop as I could feel I was buying too much, was too tired, and not very focused.

But armed with several coupon codes, the Swagbucks portal, and good night's sleep, I bought curtains for the office, pj pants for DH, and new valances for DD's room. I made much better choices, found office valances on line they didn't have in the store, and saved a lot of money. Kohl's kind of makes me crazy and it's much better online.

I now have several things for Christmas purchased and ideas for many more. I also bought a dress for myself from Loft. My work clothes are tired, and I actually wore a dress the other day to teach--and got a ton of compliments on it. I need a few new things.

Any one have recommendations on the best (control top) black tights? I used to buy Donna Karan tights, but I'll bet there are better cheaper ones out there.

November? Really?

November 1st, 2015 at 04:43 pm

It's a beautiful morning here after all the rain and gloom of the past few days, so it's hard to believe it's November. I have to admit, I love November. The fall cooking is fun; my classes seem to have settled down, and Christmas crazy hasn't started yet.

I'm having a rare moment of feeling caught up --which probably means I've forgotten something--but I feel like doing some planning. Maybe I'll start with menu planning, then go on to allocating some money to different pots. We put off our bathroom remodeling when DH's job was shaky, but things have settled down a great deal, and I think I'm ready to get a couple more bids and get started.

I've really been enjoying the World Series. Usually I consider watching sports not the best use of my time, but I can easily write assignments and grade them on the laptop with baseball on, and I'm almost caught up on laundry. Now the horrible choice of the Series tonight or the Packer game.