It’s Thursday night, and I got my first dose of the Pfizer COVID vaccine yesterday. I’m about 24 hours past the shot, and I’m pretty dang sleepy (I slept in until 8:45am this morning!), but otherwise very, very thankful to be on my way to being fully vaccinated. After helping assist 200+ people schedule their vaccine appointments, it was finally my turn. I didn’t realize how emotional I’d be afterward, but I was. I am so grateful.

And, as my kiddo announced to the pharmacy tech when we arrived yesterday, “My Mama’s here because she’s part deaf and overweight!” Ah, six year olds. But for real, getting to be eligible for the vaccine earlier because of my hearing loss is the only perk that’s ever existed since I lost my hearing four years ago, so I’ll take it.

Friday’s Frugal Five

1. Getting my shot on a Wednesday afternoon was very good timing, as I’ve been more tired than expected, and with Thursday being my day off work, I was able to sleep in (and thankfully the kiddo did as well). My work also covers paid time off to go get the shot and encourages sick time to be taken afterward if you’re run down.

Unfortunately, I’ve made vaccine appointments for folks – even childcare workers – who have only been allowed a one hour lunch break (at best) during the work day, so I’m very lucky to work for somewhere that isn’t the case.

2. My mother in law and Bob came over and helped with the chicken coop build some more on Thursday. I was moving a bit more slowly thanks to the shot after effects, but I still was able to be somewhat productive (I was also the one sent to the hardware store and to pick up lunch).

I specifically went to McClendon’s Hardware to pick up what we needed, even though they are a bit more expensive than Home Depot or Lowe’s. One of my goals with this most recent stimulus check is to shop even more locally for the coop build, even though it’s more expensive.

3. A local FIRE friend and her daughter stopped by on Thursday as well to pick up some garlic and kale starts and some of the strawberry plants I’d thinned last fall. I was also able to share some seeds with her that I’d saved in previous years.

She has a daughter who is six months older than the kiddo, and they had a great time playing together. We talked about how we wished we had done more of these low key play dates over the last year, but with all the unknowns of COVID it hasn’t felt safe until more recently, even with masks and outdoor play time. Hope is starting to peak through though, and seeing people in person does my heart good.

4. That friend is also a founding member of the WPF community, which made me feel so good and supported when her name popped up on the founding members list. With the most recent cohort release, we’ve received paid annual memberships, which means we got to do our first drawing for the free memberships for women who can’t afford the $20 monthly cost.

Thanks to that giveaway, we welcomed four new annual memberships onto the site ahead of our first monthly exclusive live event. Another personal finance friend, Slowly Sipping Coffee, donated another annual membership, so we are able to pick a fifth woman! We had so many entries, and I look forward to having more opportunities to extend membership to them.

A paid community is so different from the Facebook group, that is free and welcome to all, but there are some really good things that come out of this community – including paying writers! Seriously. Paying women writers is the absolute best.

5. Going back to format this post, I realized I skipped #1, but I’m tired, so I’m not fixing it and you all get the Frugal Four this week. And goodnight. 😴

Exercise Update

We went camping again last weekend (this time at Bay View State Park), and I got to check off another new to me hike, this time the Padilla Bay Trail. We also threw around a very over inflated football, and my left middle finger is still recovering. Whoops.

Monday and Tuesday were decent step days (around 14,000-15,000), but honestly I can’t remember what I did. Wednesday was a short run and then a hike around local trails after getting back from my vaccine appointment. Thursday was a very low energy day and I didn’t do much other than haul around some concrete bags for the chicken coop.

Have you been lucky enough to be vaccinated yet? If not, are you eligible soon?