Damage Control

[Beth-B-Fit]

Hi! Happy New Year! We had a great time visiting Aaron. His new place is better than his last so he feels good. He's in Santa Monica since last December and even though his company moved some of their offices back to San Francisco he wants to stay where he is. We would be happy to go back to San Fran though. The traffic is not nearly as bad and we've learned how to use the public transport there. LA is so spread out.

We saw the new Bob Dylan movie with him and went to the California Science Center to tour a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit. It was great. We also saw an IMAX show at the center on the future of cities amidst global warming. It was positive and made me feel so much better about civilization surviving. We also had too many good meals and got to hang out and walk our granddog.

The travel was ok. We got home last Thursday/Friday night at 11 and then had to drive 2.5 hours home so it was a long day. Then I worked Friday-big mistake-won't do that again! I also got some kind of upper respiratory virus for a few days so laid low until Tuesday when I went back to work. I feel ok now.

We didn't do anything on New Year's eve-we've been watching The White Lotus since getting a deal on MAX for 6 months (2.99 a month). It's a satirical show highlighting the differences between classes. It's very funny.

Workout wise I have not done much. I was happy to be able to walk 5 miles in steps a few days in California. I've been doing my stretches and PT strenghthening moves. Maybe today I'll do an upper body? I don't know. I have to work tomorrow. I feel like I might still be recovering from my cold or whatever I had-sleeping in, going to bed early, reading a new book. I'm just taking it easy.

I'm glad you got your hot water heater fixed! I can't believe how much it cost! I hope you recoup a good amount-that is insane. Your hoarder sounds like my hoarder. I went into his room last week and asked him if he needed any help cleaning his room-"No...it's fine". A bit frustrating.

This Sunday my parents, two uncles, aunt, and brother are all coming for dinner. My oldest uncle is not well and the three brothers will have one last visit. So sad. My mom is of course overwhelmed with the visit and I offered to have everyone for dinner so she didn't have to deal with that on top of getting the house ready for their stay. They are driving up Sunday and going home Monday.

Any resolves for the New Year? I am going to try to save more for retirement by not buying any clothes. I'm also cutting back to one cup of coffee and am going to try to limit my alcohol to one serving a day or less. Caffeine and alcohol are not good for bone building and I need to do as much as I can. I'm also gearing up to make homemade pho this year. We loved eating it in California and we love soup so it seems like a good dish to learn.

Glad you have a long weekend ahead!

Beth

 

[rmrmr]

It sounds like you had a wonderful time. The drive home-not so much. LA traffic is the worse. My company has a large campus there. One of the younger gals I work with, her rent is more than my mortgage for 2 bedroom apartment. Santa Monica is a nice area. Did you go to the pier? It's so nice of you to take on the dinner for your mom. Sorry to hear your uncle is not doing well.

I didn't make any resolutions this year. I am putting in as much as affordable into my roth 401K. My company match goes to the pretax portion of my 401K. I have been reading some financial books as I gear up for retirementin the next 5 to 7 years. Well, I listen to them on audible or spotify. I will teach you to be rich by Ramit Sethi is very good. I also read Vivian Tu's Rich AF. The one I just finished listening to is The Millionaire Next Door. I also like James Conole on youtube. He's a certfied financial planner and founder of Root Financial. He provides a lot of withdrawal scenarios and is very easy to listen to.

Let's see, Thursday was a full body buy in-super fun and challenging. Friday was back and shoulders, and I got to use my landmine. It was also a very good workout, I marked it as a favorite so I can come back to it later. Today was, bi's, tri's, shoulders, a bit of legs and cardio. It was a nice mix.

Not much going on here. I did clean part of my office. We have so many bills due in Jan-the annual condo fees, my car insurance, HOA dues etc. Just by paying all those, taking care of filing and throwing away/shredding a bunch of junk was enough to make good headway.

I have massage scheduled for this afternoon. It is someone in the neighborhood who will come to my house. She is offering a neighborhood special, 60 min massage for $70 which is very good.

Did you see that Cathe had knee replacement. I'm looking forward to reading more about that.

Enjoy your family this weekend!