We tried another recipe last night: grilled cheese, sun-dried tomato and spinach sandwiches. Wow, it was so delicious! There was pesto in it too and the whole thing was fried in olive oil. It's a keeper for sure, and it was easy to kid-friendly it by just giving them plain grilled cheese. So that's 7 recipes tried, 43 to go.

I've been doing pretty well with my eating and exercising; I've only had a couple of night snacks and they were related to socializing. I haven't lost weight but at least I've maintained. Hoping if I'm really good this week I'll have some progress on the scales Sunday. So far I've skipped breakfasts and night snacks, done my AM weekday strength training, and kept up with my Stepbet goals.

I've begun setting aside 11% instead of 10% of AS's pay for her SEP retirement fund, so that goal has been reached. I'm waiting to see what NT's new paycheck is before I decide whether to up our retirement a bit more or wait to see if I get a raise this spring. Another thing we could possibly spend his raise on would be life insurance, which I've never gotten around to getting (for any of us).

My bank switchover is nearly complete. I want to see the direct deposits and autopays come through OK next week and then I'll rest easy. I had to mail in requests to change the bank info on the kids' Pax funds, and I'm waiting confirmation that AS has been added to the new checking account so I can switch her bank info in her Vanguard account. I finally closed the old account yesterday and deposited the remaining money in our new one. I'm hoping to get checks delivered today so I can pay daycare tuition and our bathroom contractor. I think I still need to go online and cancel my USBank line of credit. There's a lot involved in switching banks! Hopefully I'll stay happy with my new one and never have to change again.

We've started planning birthdays and travel for the year, although I haven't made any purchases yet. I know AS has a lot of money coming in any day now, but right now our shared spending is a bit in the hole (mainly due to AA's ER bill from when she had strep, and the late fees on that one credit card. Also we've been using Lyft kind of a lot lately.)

Once the money's in the bank, we can start putting money toward our planned birthday and travel stuff, which includes (all estimates, no exact amounts):
Cabin rental for April ($735) + rental car ($250?)
AA's party in March ($200 mani/pedis + $70 lunch?)
SL's party in March ($90 karaoke stand)
NT's road trip in Feb. ($65 car & $75 hotel?)
CJ's NYC trip in March ($300 plane + $400 food & expenses?)
Grownup bday celebrations in March ($100 each for food?)
Family trip to Va. this summer (TBD)
AS's solo trip (TBD)
NT trip to England for sister's wedding in November (TBD)

My tentative plan is to take AS's net pay (and any other windfalls) and save 1/3 for home renovations, 1/3 for travel, and 1/3 for other shared spending (including birthday-related expenses). Currently we've been saving half for home renovations and half for misc. shared spending. Hopefully the money rolls in fast enough to cover all the above things (which are nice-to-haves but not necessities)!