Time To Say Goodbye . . .

Even though I'm not yet vaccinated***, life is picking up speed because most of our friends now are, as is my husband. As a result, I'm once again feeling the pull to turn my attentions elsewhere as our world begins to expand. So it's feeling like the right time to say goodbye to blogging for now.

***I'm getting vaccinated! I just learned that I qualify via my food pantry volunteering postion,  and will be getting my first shot this weekend. 

I will of course continue to visit those of you bloggers that I've come to consider friends over the years, and I'll continue to post on Instagram via WestCoastTamara. (As an FYI, I don't believe you need an account to view my photo posts, just if you wish to leave a comment.)

I'm also closing Comments down as I don't want anyone to feel obligated to leave a closing remark. 

I am ever so appreciative that this blog was available to share my thoughts and to reconnect with fellow bloggers as we all did our best to navigate this most difficult of times.

Here's to brighter days ahead for us all!

Five Happy Things: SGOTUS!

  

Here are five things that have recently made me smile, laugh, or sigh in contentment. The hope is that by keeping track of and sharing them here, I will continue to focus on the good things in life, of which there are so, so many, even if its metaphorically storming elsewhere..

1.  Doug Emhoff Sighting in DC.  I was in Metro DC last week visiting my youngest daughter and two granddaughters, and on Wednesday we headed to the Distract Wharf for lunch and to walk around. While we were chilling along one of the docks watching the girls play, a detail of very serious people walked by, along with a handsome masked man wearing dark denim jeans, a white shirt and a jacket. After staring hard for a few moments, my daughter and I realized it was none other than our first SGOTUS.

2.  'I Love You Nana.'  I get (and give!) lots of "I love you's" from my oldest granddaughter, but this past week is the first time my 2 year & 9 month old youngest granddaughter told me same. Heart. Melted.

3.  Best Whale/Dolphin Sightings Ever.  I have done lots of whale and dolphin boat excursions over the years, including in Hawaii and Alaska, but the one I did with my granddaughter during her recent visit was literally the best one in my lifetime. Firstly, it was, yeah, a gorgeous blue sky day. Second we saw not one, not two, but four whale breachings. It was breathtaking to watch the young adult whale (per onboard naturalists) leap out of the water again and again right in front of us.

But that wasn't all. After our thrilling gray whale sighting, we spent time being surrounded by hundreds of bottle nose dolphins (the Flipper dolphin if you will) that leapt alongside and under out boat for a good 30 minutes. There were lots of babies alongside their mother's, and my granddaughter was absolutely spellbound, excitedly telling me at one point that  This is better than both popcorn and TV!  😄

We then went on to find a similarly large pod of common dolphin, who added to the excitement of our day by speeding alongside and under our catamaran within easy viewing sight for at least 20 minutes.

What a day! My only regret is that my granddaughter may have just experienced the peak of her whale and dolphin watching experiences at six years of age!

And, happily, we now know for sure that she does not get seasick. The swells were significant enough to require constant hanging on to guard rails, but the bigger the ups and downs of the boat, the more she loved it.

If it's pink and ruffled, my granddaughter is there for it.
The pink leggings underneath were a compromise. 😀💖 

4.  Bloody Mary's.  Yesterday, Sunday, my husband and I went for a long walk along the beach in San Clemente, stopping in at Cafe Mimosa along Del Mar Avenue on the way back, because I had spotted Bloody Mary's on their menu. I came to the Bloody Mary scene somewhat late, discovering them in 2016 at the famous Darling Oyster Bar in Charleston, SC, and have loved them ever since. 

The Bloody Mary served at Cafe Mimosa did not disappoint. And I loved that it came with a pickled green bean, pepperoncini, and thick slice of bacon.

Yum!

5.  The Return Of Happy Hour.  Happy Hour pricing pretty much went by the wayside when the pandemic hit last March due to restaurants having to move to first take out only, then take out and outdoor seating only, thus limiting significantly any of their special event 'slow time' pricing such as Happy Hour. As time-flexible retirees, we had gotten used to enjoying great food and cocktails at discounted Happy Hour pricing, so we've missed it for sure. However, now that our county has moved into a less restrictive tier, meaning restaurants can expand capacity by reopening some of their indoor seating, Happy Hours are beginning to resume operations, and we'll be partaking for the first time in a year this coming Friday. The restaurant we're going to seats their Happy Hour customers outside, which continues to be a non-negotiable priority for both of us.

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That's it for me at the moment. What's making you happy this week?

New Retirement Budget Category

After a full decade of living on fixed withdrawal rate on our Day 1 retirement portfolio (meaning no budget increase year over year, even as our investments have continued to grow), we are moving into a new era of money streams that includes Medicare, pensions, and social security. I'll break these down a bit more below,  but the overall result of these new money flows is the creation of a new budget category we're labeling simply Miscellaneous, and today's post is about how we've elected to allocate that money this year.

Prior to the onset of Medicare for my husband upon his reaching age 65, we were spending $12,000 a year on just his medical premiums alone. This has now dropped to under $2,000 a year, leaving us with $10,000 in 'new' money to reallocate.

Also new are two modest pensions that add up to an additional $15,000 a year.

Still to come is Social Security for him upon reaching age 70, Social Security for me upon reaching age 62, and Medicare for me. We've gone back and forth about whether to keep our retirement budget as is and just lower our withdrawal rate, or keep our withdrawal rate as is and increase our annual budget to include these new revenue streams. My argument was why in the world would we pull less than our already modest pull, particularly in that it doesn't include the value of our home? My husband's argument was that we were already enjoying a nice retirement lifestyle, and it would leave a larger legacy for our daughters. 

It took some time, but I finally convinced him that the girls would be left with plenty of money regardless, so why not enjoy the opportunity to live it up just a bit more while we are still alive? Plus, I pointed out that we could always elect to pass along gifts of money to our daughters while still alive, rather than waiting until we both died, should we so choose.

So instead of throwing the additional $25,000 back into savings, we created a new budget category. I wanted to make a deliberate effort to spend the money both thoughtfully, and throughout the year, rather than all at once, because I believe there is value to contemplating our decisions, and then building in wait time. Otherwise, my concern is we will focus too much on 'what's next' rather than enjoying what already is.

So after much thought, here is how and when we've elected to spend this year's Miscellaneous allocations:

January

• Two Advanced Frame inflatable kayaks (upgrades to our current Intex inflatables)
• Sliding Coastal Door in upstairs Guest Bedroom to replace old and unsightly pocket door
• Repainting of all bathrooms after recent remodel
• Removal of Spanish style arches in our downstairs Primary Bedroom

February

• New family room furniture

March

• Two carbon fiber bicycles to replace our 16 year old aluminum frame bicycles

April - July

• Nothing in that we'll be taking delivery of our new family room furniture, plus be away on an extended RV trip

August

• Reupholster a small chair sofa in our living room, and our six dining room chair cushions.

September

• New washer, dryer, and dishwasher

October - November

• Nothing . . . money now all spent or allocated other than December below

December

• Holiday checks of $1,000 to each of our daughters

I haven't given any thought to 2022 at this point, because I really do want to enjoy and appreciate the above 2021 items, other than that I would imagine our year end giving to our daughters, plus some preferred charities, will continue to increase. Otherwise, what I'm really left with is a good deal of appreciation for the impact that having a well under 3% withdrawal rate has had on our portfolio in retirement, similar to how living below our means for 30 years got us to retirement well ahead of schedule. 

And not to be too simplistic, but I do think it's also a testament to how being iron-fisted in keeping expenses like groceries, utilities, and insurance in line, works together to leave additional funds for spending elsewhere. 

Five Happy Things: Whales, Plus Alaska!

  

Here are five things that have recently made me smile, laugh, or sigh in contentment. The hope is that by keeping track of and sharing them here, I will continue to focus on the good things in life, of which there are so, so many, even if its metaphorically storming elsewhere..

So here are this week's Five Happy Things . . . 

1.  Granddaughters And Visits.  My husband is currently on the east coast with my daughter and granddaughters, helping out with the girls while my daughter gets the house ready to be placed on the market. She and my son-in-law will be relocating to Germany in the spring as part of his next naval assignment, but currently my son-in-law is at sea so she has much appreciated the presence of her dad to lend a hand during a very stressful time. We are FaceTiming multiple times a day currently, and I smile each time at how cute the girls are, and how both exhilarated and exhausted my husband is . . . we are our granddaughters favorite 'toys' and without me there to share the load, he's wiped! 😄

Anyhow, he and my oldest granddaughter will depart the east coast for California today, and I'm so excited to pick them both up from the airport tonight. She'll be here for a week, then she and I fly back together to the east coast so that I can then lend a hand to my daughter, while also getting to spend time with my youngest, two and 1/2 year old granddaughter.

2.  Sunshine and 70's Weather In Winter.  I do not particularly enjoy being alone for long stretches of time, so knowing that my husband would be gone for five days, I made a series of dates with girlfriends to do outdoor activities like hiking, biking, and kayaking. The weather, most fortunately, has been glorious this week, and it's been much appreciated.

Cocktails at the beach with my gal pal Wendy, after a long beach walk this past Friday.

3.  Gray Whale Migration Season.  It's gray whale migration season here, which roughly runs from December - March, and this weekend is our annual Whale Festival, tampered down significantly due to COVID, of course. Still, there will be much going on at our harbor, and one of the activities I've signed up for is an adult-child marine art lesson and whale watching tour to do with my granddaughter.

I've done a good number of whale watching tours, and they are always fun, but this will be my six year old granddaughter's first time and she is beyond excited.

4.  Retiring Friends.  My husband and I retired quite early - I was 48 and he was 56 - but now that we're ten years into retirement, many of our long time friends are entering their 60's and thus beginning to join us. One of my best friends just announced that she will be retiring on April 1, and another close friend will be hanging it up this summer and wants to start RV'ing together. As an extrovert, this makes me sooo happy!

5.  RV Caravan Tours.  Nearby friends recently purchased a motorhome, and as a result of their doing research on where to go, and how, told us they were thinking of joining up with an RV caravan tour to visit Alaska. Which has been a state my husband and I have long wanted to RV around after seeing just snippets of the state's incredible natural beauty during two previous ship cruises. So I asked her for more information, she gave me an extra brochure she had on hand, and I was off to the races. The various trips into and around Alaska via western Canada look amazing! 

Most of the trips run between 50-60 days, plus we'd need to add in additional two - four weeks to get to the starting points and back (Seattle, WA or Coeur d'Alene, ID, depending), so about three months in total. In that we are hoping to be in Germany next summer visiting my daughter, plus doing our delayed walk across Spain, we are eyeing the summer of 2023 to do this trip.

In the interim, however, there is a shorter two week caravan down to Baja Mexico to visit the gray whales that birth there each winter that we are eyeing to do in early 2022. These tours all begin at the California/Mexico border, which is just 90 minutes south of where we live, so we are thinking it would be a great introduction to RV touring in order to see if we like it, before committing to the much longer Alaska tour.

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That's it for me at the moment. What's making you happy this week?

10 Down, 10 To Go

I know you all are gonna want pictures, but for now I'm just posting a face shot I took in the car last week to send to my granddaughter. I labeled it 'Fancy Nana' in homage to her favorite storybook character and series, Fancy Nancy. I sent it because she rarely sees me dressed up when we chat on FaceTime, and I thought she'd enjoy it, but I like that it shows my face looking leaner than it has in a while:

With 10 pounds gone as of today, I'm feeling better about myself than I have in a while, but let me tell you that losing weight at this point in my life (age 58) is hard! I don't want to come off as discouraging for anyone out there that is struggling, plus my experience is mine, and not what anyone else may experience, but I have had to cut my calories significantly, in spite of my very active lifestyle, in order to effect weight loss.

For me, at 5'3", small build/bone structure, my calories need to stay at or below 1200 daily to result in any weight loss. I offset that by some additional calories for the days we hike or walk more than eight miles, by approximately half of what we burn, using a set standard of 100 calories burned per mile. So, for example, if we are going eight miles, I build in 400 extra calories. If we do 10 miles, I build in an extra 500 calories. And so on.

I am finding that drinking water in quantities of 4-6 cups a day alleviates a good amount of feeling hungry between meals. I'm also continuing to shun as much processed sugar as I can, primarily because I'm a sugar addict, and it's simply easier not to go there vs. trying to stop once I get started on it.

I'm also keeping a private online blog where I track my daily goals, and I am including an inspirational outfit photo each day depicting clothes and shoes I already own, but don't quite have the courage to assemble as shown until I lose the last 10 pounds.

Here is today's inspirational photo as an example. I already own every clothing piece shown, and I particularly love the wrapped jean jacket as a way of providing some additional 'bun' coverage. 😄

I'll update again once I lose an additional five pounds, and I'll share my starting and current weight at that time, because there's a numeric bar I want to break through before doing so.

It's a beautiful day here in S. California, and we're headed out shortly to meet friends for a beach walk followed by sushi outdoors. 

I hope you likewise make it a great day wherever you are!

The Big RV Trip 2021

 

Planning is well underway for our upcoming 10 week trip to the Pacific Northwest. All of our RV overnight reservations have been made, and I'm now fleshing out the available options currently available in each location, with hopes (but not expectations) that even more options will come online between now and then as more people receive their COVID vaccinations. But even with the limited options as they exist today, it's going to be an amazing trip due to the plethora of outdoor sights and activities.

I am incredibly thankful to be fit and strong enough to be able to schedule the majority of our time doing things like hiking, biking, and kayaking, which are not reliant on anything other than our own physical capabilities, and which are completely COVID-compliant regardless of what might be going on in the US at that point.

Here is a map of where we'll be traveling, essentially traveling up via the 5 interstate, and returning via the western coastline. Going up the 5 puts us in the heart of the Great Cascade Mountains, during which we'll be visiting Mt. Rainier NP (a return visit for us) and North Cascades NP (first time for us).  We'll then turn west upon reaching the Canada border, circling the Puget Sound in it's entirety, and continue west upon reaching Port Townsend at it's tip. From there we'll travel over to the Pacific Ocean via Olympic NP (also a return visit for us) before turning south for the return trip home via the coastline.

There will be 19 stops in all, over 70 days of traveling, with the majority of our layovers ranging from 4 to 7 days. We are so excited, as are our best friends, who will be traveling alongside us in their own travel trailer. We've done long RV trips of similar duration before, but this will be their first time doing any trip longer than the three weeks we spent together in 2018 RV traveling around the Southwest. I'm actually surprised at their enthusiasm in being gone for so long, and hope it maintains for them as it did for us during our first lengthy RV trip, but if it does not for some reason, the beauty of this trip is that we can easily continue on on our own.

That's actually a lesson I learned painfully many years ago - plan each and every trip the way we want to, without make concessions. If I make concessions, I then set myself up for resentment should things take a turn for the worse. Conversely, if others choose to join in with us on a trip we've planned to our particular liking - fantastic! Plus, there is no law saying our friends have to do each and everything our way. There will be plenty of opportunities for us to each plot out days to our individual preferences, and it will be fun to regroup after doing so in order to hear about each other's daily adventures. Because adventures, both good and bad, are pretty much guaranteed - towing and living in a travel trailer, exploring new locations, moving frequently . . . yep, adventures both good and bad will undoubtedly occur! 

Between now and then I am doing a deep dive into each location we'll be staying at in order to identify interesting places to hike, bike and kayak, interesting places to eat outside or get takeout , interesting geological sights to visit and photograph, and interesting COVID-conscious organized activities such as a jet boat ride on the Rogue River in Oregon, a paddle boat ride along the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington, and a guided horseback ride along the beach in southwest Washington. 

I'm also jotting down local museums wherever I can find them, but these are of course very volatile in a pandemic environment, so there are on my list as bonus activities should we be so fortunate.

As of now, my husband and our best friends either already are or will soon be fully vaccinated (hubby's second appointment is today!), and I am hopeful to be by then. If not, we'll be our own pod, and as vaccinated co-travelers, anything my three fellow travelers might pick up would expose me minimally per the health and science articles I'm continuing to read as the pandemic moves along.

We still have a few months to go before we kick off our big trip, but with much research remaining to be done, and with three more local RV trips occurring before then, I am optimistic the time will pass quickly.

Here's the specific areas we'll be visiting. Excepting Sacramento, which is just a one night layover to breakup the otherwise long drive up to Oregon, recommendations on things to see, do, and eat much appreciated!

Pinnacles National Park, CA

Sacramento, CA

Central Point OR

McMinnville OR

White Salmon WA

Packwood WA

Rockport WA

Anacortes WA

Gig Harbor WA

Port Townsend, WA

Sequim WA

Port Angeles WA

Astoria OR

Cannon Beach, OR

Winchester Bay, OR

Crescent City, CA

Mendocino CA

Bodega Bay CA

Pismo Beach CA

70 days, 19 locations, 5 national parks, 4 people, and 2 travel trailers . . . it's going to be an amazing trip!

Five Happy Things: Skinny Jeans!

  

Here are five things that made me smile, laugh, or sigh in contentment. The hope is that by keeping track of and sharing them here, I will continue to focus on the good things in life, of which there are so, so many, even if its metaphorically storming elsewhere..

So here are this week's Five Happy Things . . . 

1.  Malibu.  We just returned from a wonderful RV get away to Malibu RV Park, which is situated on a bluff overlooking the ocean. Our views of the ocean were sublime, the weather was great for most of our stay, considering that it's winter, plus we hiked almost 20 miles during our visit, and enjoyed some pretty awesome food on a particularly balmy night at local fav Marmalade Cafe.

In addition to the beautiful ocean, our RV site also had wonderful sunrise and sunset views. 
It was hard to leave!

2.  Friends getting vaccinated.  Our County is moving fast through it's 65+ population, and another vaccine site, UC Irvine, recently opened up a slew of available appointments, meaning that pretty much all of our senior friends not yet vaccinated were able to book their first round appointments as a result. For now this simply means a continued expansion of outdoor activities (hiking, biking, and kayaking) that we can enjoy with friends, as I'm still not vaccinated (I'm in the next tier to come online) and the variances continue to be of concern.

3.  Power Crunch Bars.  I love these bars, which I'm generally able to buy on sale for about $1.25 each. They make a good breakfast when combined with a banana, taste great, and are decently low in sugar and high in protein, meaning I don't experience any sudden changes in blood sugar after eating them.

4.  Beach walk & lunch date.  I'm meeting up with two girlfriends tomorrow for a long walk along the beach, followed by fish tacos to go that we'll enjoy together outside somewhere. 

A simple pleasure that never gets old.

5.  H&M super stretch skinny jeans.  These jeans are the best, simply the best. I have been buying them since I retired in 2011, and needed to jazz up my non-working wardrobe. First, the price is great, and hasn't changed in ten years - they are still $19.99 a pair. Second, and most important, they contain a small amount of elasticity so they conform to any body type.

Just recently I noticed a higher waist option, which was nice in that the lower rise jeans can necessitate a certain amount of tugging-action (LOL) over the course of a day, so I ordered seven new pair, pretty much every color available. With a 15% online coupon the pants came to just $16.99 a pair, and from prior experience I expect them to last for years and years. Plus they are super versatile, and can be worn with pretty much any footwear (flats, heels, boots) and paired with about a hundred different combinations of tops and sweaters.

Some of the ways I've styled my various H&M skinny jeans -

Here's a link to the specific jeans I ordered: H&M Super Stretch High Waist Skinny Jeans

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That's it for me at the moment. What's making you happy this week?

Five Happy Things: Kumquats

Here are five things that made me smile, laugh, or sigh in contentment. The hope is that by keeping track of and sharing them here, I will continue to focus on the good things in life, of which there are so, so many, even if its metaphorically storming elsewhere..

So here are this week's Five Happy Things . . . 

1.  Kumquats.  I first tasted kumquats just a couple of years ago, because until then I'd never understood the concept of why anyone would enjoy eating a mini orange with the skin still on. But I gave in to pressure one day, accepted a kumquat from a friend, ate it slowly, and, well, mind blown. So with it now being citrus season here in California, trees are bursting with fruit, and I've been on the lookout. This past week we were hiking past a loaded kumquat tree, and the owner came out and kindly invited us to pick a few, which we did . . . yum!

2.  COVID vaccine appointment booked for my sister-in-law.  I'm not eligible quite yet, but my sister-in-law is, and yesterday she got the notification that she could now go onto our county's supersite vaccine page and book her appointment, which I promptly did for her. She doesn't drive, so my husband will be taking her to first vaccine appointment today, big relief.

3.  RV'ing Reservations.  I'm wasting no time now that California has allowed campgrounds and RV parks to open back up. Between now and our big Pacific Northwest trip this summer, we have a series of weekend trips now booked in a variety of nearby communitities - Malibu, Huntington Beach, San Diego, and Carlsbad, roughly one each month. We'll follow the same COVID-conscious plan and protocol for each trip - bring our own home-on-wheels, food, wine, hiking and bicycling gear, plus pick up the occasional local meal via takeout. 

Feels so good to have things to look forward to!

4.  Our Home's Ocean Views.  We've actually had a very stressful week here due to a soon-to-be-resolved issue, so several times I went out into my yard simply to gaze out at the ocean in order to settle some of the anxiety I was experiencing. We are two miles away from the ocean, but because of our elevated location and clear line of sight I can observe kayaks, boats, sailboats, and ships, and even waves when it's a bit choppy out over the water. So just standing there and taking a deep breath while I gaze puts me back into a better place pretty quickly. 

The view from the back corner of my yard.

Sunset view from same. This was a fairly tame sunset, but still pretty!

In addition to what I can see from my home, our hilly community is replete with canyon ridge trails, and this was our view while out hiking a few days ago on another lovely sunny day.

I am thankful every single day to live so close to the ocean, and to live in a hilly community that affords these views.

5.  Sunshine.  Yesterday got up into the high 70's and I relished sitting outside in the sun reading and dozing, reading and dozing. I have not been sleeping well lately in spite of spending much hiking and walking, so I can't sit out in the sun for for very long without succumbing to a nap, but still lovely either way.

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That's it for me at the moment. What's making you happy this week?

Weekly Report: Progress Not Perfection

 

As an extrovert, public accountability is a strong motivator for me, so I'm now listing and tracking my daily, weekly, and monthly goal results here on my blog each Monday. Having and achieving goals makes my life feel immeasurable richer, so much thanks to those of you that read along here.

Last Update for JANUARY:

Daily Goals

• Exercise (Run, walk, hike, bicycle, kayak, do yoga, or lift weights).  Achieved 3 out of 7 days. All three days involved meeting up with other people, either my hiking club or my spouse. The days I didn't do anything were when I was on my own, so I need to work on finding the motivation to be active without other people being involved. 
• Tue:  Six mile hike
• Sat:   Eight mile hike
• Sun:    Six mile hike
• Practice guitar.  Achieved all 7 days. 
• Practice 15 min Spanish.  Achieved 6 of 7 days. 
• Limit processed sugar intake to Sat & Sun only.  Almost. I had a small piece of freshly made banana bread on Tuesday evening, but otherwise adhered to my goal. On Saturday night I had two cookies, and on Sunday night I had just one cookie. Sunday night was an easy stop, so I think I'm past the worst of the sugar weaning process. If I am good to go over the next five days, my plan is to reduce my processed sugar intake to just one day a week, and not worry about what day that occurs.
• Consume eight cups of water.  Averaged 4 cups a day. Even though I'm not yet hitting my goal of eight cups a day, this is the most water I've consumed on a regular basis, pretty much ever. So I'm very pleased with my progress thus far, and will continue working to get to eight cups a day. 
• Complete a unique household chore.  Achieved 5 of 7 days.  
• Cleaned the screen door tracks for all three of our sliding patio doors.
• Sorted and stored the leftover paint from our recent bathroom painting project.
• Dusted behind the piano
• Laid snail-deterrent copper meshing along rear wall of backyard.
• Did some minor grout touch ups in upstairs guest bathroom.

Progress not perfection is my mantra for all of my goals.

Weekly Goals

• Read and finish one book.  Achieved, I read two.  I read Evicted: Poverty And Profit In The American City by Matthew Desmond. I started this book not expecting to get too excited by it, because it was an assigned read for my spiritual congregation book club. But dang, it was so compelling I had a hard time putting it down, and read the entire 330 page book in four days. Way more to this book than I can possibly unpack here, but if you are interested in trying to better understand the issue of the cycle of poverty in our country, this is the book.

I also read The Island by Elin Hilderbrand, an easy to read and pleasant offset to above.

• Lose 20 pounds by summer, at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week.  Achieved.  I lost 1 pound this week. For me, there is an extremely strong correlation between processed sugar and overeating, so by working to keep sugar at bay, everything else fell into place and my total number of calories consumed dropped. 
• As of 2/1/2021:  2.5 pounds lost, 17.5 to go
• Menu plan and grocery shop, including at least one new recipe  Achieved. Here was my menu for the week, with the new recipe's in bold, and links to recipes as I'm able to find them online:
1. Pioneer Woman Meatloaf, baked sweet potato, sauteed broccoli. I left off the bacon from the meatloaf, but it was still terrific. And enough leftovers for at least two additional meals.
2. Leftover Huevos Rancheros from last week, fresh fruit.
3. Chicken Stew with Carrots, Parsnips Red Potatoes and Celery, from Cook's Country One Pan Wonders cookbook, Pillsbury biscuits. I like parsnips, but I decided to swap them out for some red potatoes I already had on hand and needed to use up.
4. Above leftovers
5. Mustard & Panko Crusted Salmon With Roasted Red Potatoes And Broccoli. Also from Cook's Country One Pan Wonders cookbook. It really is a great cookbook!
   
6. Chinese take out
7. Wine Club Dineout (and I do mean dineout . . . it was brisk!)
• One game night in lieu of TV  Achieved. We had fun putting together this Clue mystery puzzle, working to solve the mystery as we did so. I found the key to making this happen was to pull out the game ahead of time, setting it out on our dining room table so it remained nice and visible during dinner.  BTW- I saw this game on sale on EBay for $45, wow! Pretty sure I paid less than $10 even though it was 20 years ago, when my daughters lived at home.

• One reading night in lieu of TV  Achieved.  Since entering post-menopause I find that I struggle to stay awake in the evening, due to waking up between 3 and 4 AM most mornings - not on purpose, trust me.  But to my surprise, not only did the time fly, but I felt nice and alert as I read.  

Monthly Goal Updates

• January Goal Focus:  Home  This final week in January we had the glass shower walls and doors installed to finish off our recent bathrooms remodeling project. 

I also did another round of dusting to get rid of any residual dust still left from the project. We also enjoyed lots of YouTube fireplace music, mostly jazz saxaphone, on the TV in our family room as we went about our chores and various activities each day. I embraced my kitchen again now that we no longer had to depart our home while workers were present, and made a loaf of fragrant banana-chocolate chip-bread on a rainy afternoon. And as a result of our home feeling very finished and cozy, I spent a rainy afternoon huddled up reading on a sofa in front our family room TV, which was 'playing' a faux crackling fireplace. It felt sooo good to be done.

• February Goal Focus:  Romance  It's February, it's Valentine's Day soon, and with so much stress now lifted (2020 election, COVID vaccine rollouts, our home remodel project, and delivery and set up of our new travel trailer) I feel lighter and brighter than I have in some time, and I want to spend this month focused on the relationship between me and my husband. He is such a wonderful person, and I appreciate him more with each passing year, so I look forward to lavishing him with love this month. My intention is to pick one item each day from a book I purchased years and years ago, called 2,002 Romantic Ideas. 

I have lots of grandiose ideas, but I'm going to start off small and make a batch of his favorite cookies today, Oatmeal Raisin. I haven't made them in years because I don't care for them at all, of which he is well aware, so I'm hopeful he'll interpret my making them just for him as a small romantic gesture. 

 

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How about you? Any goal updates to share?

Five Happy Things: Wind!

  

Every other week I will be listing five things that made me smile, laugh, or sigh in contentment. The hope is that by keeping track of and sharing them here each week, I will continue to focus on the good things in life, of which there are so many even if its metaphorically storming elsewhere.

Five Happy Things . . . 

1.  The Ocean After A Storm.  We had S. California's version of a winter storm this week, accompanied by enormous amounts of wind. I love going down to the beach to see the subsequent effects on the ocean, and so as I was driving along Pacific Coast Highway yesterday on my way to the market, I swung into the free parking lot at Capo Beach to check things out. There weren't a lot of us there, because it was wildly windy, but those of us that were out there seemed united in our desire to stand at the edge of the parking lot's sandy bluff overlooking the pounding wind and waves, and take it all in for as long as we could.

I didn't last long - it was incredibly windy and cold - but it was still wonderful to take in even a few moments of nature's rawness and power.

2.  TV Fireplace Music.  I stumbled on YouTube crackling fireplace videos last year, and this year they've gone even farther by including music along with the sounds and sights of a crackling fireplace. Plus, no commercials once you get past the introduction ad. They range in length from 30 minutes up to ten hours, and they appear to come in pretty much every variety of music under the sun. My current favorite is either smooth jazz and a fire, or jazz sax with a fire. Just search for Fireplace Music when on the YouTube site (if on a computer) or the YouTube streaming channel (if on a TV).

What it looks like when streaming on our TV. You'll have to imagine the sound of the music playing over
 the crackling of the fire, jazz saxophone in this case.

3.  Reopening Of Restaurant Outdoor Dining.  Restaurant outdoor dining shut down in most of California on December 6 due to rising ICU patient rates, and even though we understood and were supportive, still, it has been missed. Thankfully, ICU capacity is improving and of of this past Monday we are no longer under the emergency order anywhere in the state, and restaurants can now reopen for outdoor dining. So on Sunday, the first projected good weather day after another storm rolls through here,this upcoming weekend we are to planning to visit a nearby brewery and enjoy some terrific local craft beer and food. 

4.  Reopening Of California Campgrounds And RV Parks.  Campground and RV parks were also closed during the recent emergency order, but they too can now reopen. And I wasted no time making RV reservations for next weekend at one of our very favorite places to visit, Malibu Beach RV Park. It's an easy 90 minute drive from our home, and we've booked an ocean view bluff site from which to not only enjoy miles of adjacent wilderness trails, but to also do a thorough test run of our new trailer's working parts - refrigerator, hot water heater, lighting system, stove, heater, and water pumping system. Also hopeful our best friends, who live nearby, will join us for hiking during one day of our visit.

Assuming no rain, this will be the view from our site.
We love it here, but only visit in the winter because prices are insane here otherwise.

5.  Our Last Two Bathroom Remodels Are Done.  We started this project at the discussion phase way back in August, and it finally finished with yesterday's installation of shower glass panels, so it's been quite the long haul. I shared photos of the two smaller bathrooms last week, so here are the before and afters for the remaining two.

Upstairs Guest Bedroom Bathroom Before  . . . 

Upstairs Guest Bedroom Bathroom After . . . 

Downstairs Master Bedroom Bath Before . . . 

We pulled down the drapes, and repainted everything upon move in, but still it was homely.
And that combo Roman tub & shower? Awful!

Downstairs Master Bedroom Bath After . . .

The teak bench is from AquaTeak, and we decided to do this vs a built in bench at the suggestion of our designer.
Right off the bat, it's so much softer and warmer than sitting on cold hard tile.
Plus I love that it's another bit of texture in the bathroom, and that it's moveable.

We love absolutely everything. There is now a rollout laundry hamper hidden behind one of the cabinet doors (lower middle) and the new cabinet tower on top of the countertops is wonderful. We now have more storage than we can use.

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That's it for me at the moment. What's making you happy this week?