Happy birthday week to me! I “leveled up” to age 34 on Monday and had a fabulous day. I know not everyone loves getting older, but I adore my birthday and the privilege and luck of getting to see another year on this earth.

Though I have to say, it’s hard to believe it was already my birthday again – and almost Christmas. Time doesn’t really exist in a linear fashion these days, and December really snuck up on me. Two weeks until 2022? Really?

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Friday’s Frugal Five

1. I took my birthday off from work this year for the first time ever. The kiddo still went to my in laws for the day as normal, so I had the day entirely to myself. It was awesome.

Breakfast was coffee and a pastry at a favorite local bakery, followed by an hour run and then a leisurely perusal of the local bookstore. New book in hand, I headed home for an afternoon of reading in a quiet house. I’m hooked, and I’ll be taking my birthday off in future years to have a day entirely to myself to do whatever I feel like at the time.

2. The chickens have apparently started laying again? Right around Thanksgiving, I’d cleaned out the coop and there were no eggs, so I didn’t continue to look daily. Until the husband texted me a picture of a clutch of eggs Tuesday night when he and the kiddo went out to close up the chickens at the end of the day. We collected sixteen eggs that night.

With nine hens, that might only be a week’s worth of eggs, and since we’ve gotten two to three eggs a day since then, I’m thinking that’s accurate. They’re very young, so maybe they’re just confused – we had a spurt of nice sunny days – maybe that did it? Regardless, I’m not going to argue with fresh eggs in December.

3. Thursday is my day home with the kiddo, so we spent the afternoon in the woods. One of the best parts of homeschooling is getting out during the daylight hours to just be out in nature.

In theory, we went for a walk, but once we made it to the stream, the kiddo planted himself there and spent a good hour just exploring and playing around the water. We verbally worked on spelling and letters on the walk there and back, but otherwise, his afternoon classroom was the mud and the flowing water and discussions of beaver dams.

4. On a trip to the local grocery store, we decided to ask if the produce department had any fruits or vegetables headed to the trash that we could take to the chickens. After getting passed along to a couple of folks, we ended up talking to the produce manager, who gave us a bag full of old and bruised apples and tomatoes. The chickens were thrilled with the treat, and we kept a few more things out of the landfill.

From now on, we’ll be checking when we head to the store to see if there is anything we can take back for the chickens. I may never have dumpster dived, but I’d say this is one step closer.

5. Thursday night was for holiday parties – Women’s Personal Finance Insiders and the admin team for the vaccine appointment finding group I’ve been a part of. Both were on Zoom, and both were absolutely wonderful. At the end of the night, my face hurt from smiling so much. 

Regina and I gave away some swag to the Insiders, which was also a lot of fun, and we just talked and chatted with a wonderful group of women that we’ve gotten to know better over the year, plus welcomed some new Insiders from the last few weeks.

PS – we have a “social hour” in the Insiders Discord every other Thursday, and it’s been a great way to grow closer friendships and talk about all things from money to relationships to favorite books. If you’re interested, Insiders is open right now through 12/31. Come join us! We’d love to get to know you better.

Exercise Update

Saturday we went for a soggy trail hike, noticing the high water levels throughout the park. Sunday was some stairs and a couple hours of walking. Monday, my birthday, was the hour run and two hours of walking, landing me at over 23,000 steps for the day and very happy. Tuesday was a workout on the elliptical, as I was surprisingly not sore from my long run the day before.

Wednesday was another day of 50 x 10 body weight squats and a long walk. Thursday I was a bit sore, but not too much – perhaps time to find some weights for the squat workouts. The kiddo and I went for our hike, and then came home and danced to some music together before dinner. 

Do you take the day off for your birthday?