The Mom Weekly, Volume 15: November 7, 2023
A Week Late and a Dollar Short
… to paraphrase the common saying.
I actually didn’t realize that I had missed posting The Mom Weekly until early (last) Tuesday morning when I was at Mass and thought, “Oh man, it’s after 6:15 a.m.”
The car trouble woes that our family experienced on Monday just knocked it out for me, and getting the car fixed 90 miles away led to some long driving days. Anyway, that car is fixed now. Then I got a flat tire fixed on my car. Last week was the week of forced car maintenance, apparently.
I had intended to title last week’s newsletter “Happy Halloween” ironically because it is my least favorite holiday. But I do love the mini Halloween candy, and when I saw them on 50 percent off on November 1, I stocked up.
A few changes on the horizon
I “might” change the format of The Mom Weekly. Sometimes I want to talk more about a book, podcast, or link that I share, and this would allow me to do so. Then I can just have a few quick links for other things, instead of the current explanation for each item. I’ll start with that next week, I think.
I am definitely going to create a separate newsletter just for financial information and ideas. It would not be weekly, but occasional, and have both essays (Jane Austen on personal finance! Why you should expect to be scammed) and to-dos.
I will send out a version of that newsletter—yet to be named — to The Mom Weekly list, and you can decide if you want that one as well.
That’s all for this week!
Remember how much I love you,
Mom
Interesting watch: documentary “Below the Belt”
“Below the Belt: The Last Health Taboo” is a PBS documentary about endometriosis and how misunderstood it is, how little it is treated, and how that should change. One of my biggest takeaways was that people–especially women– need to be advocates for their own health, and to persist even when not getting answers.
The documentary reminds me of a surgeon I follow on IG who does surgery for endometriosis and others surgeries for reproductive medicine. She’s pretty impressive and a good source of information.
(A kind-of digression: “Being an advocate for your health care” reminds me of this article I shared with Dad about why you should never use a metal grill brush. It’s from the “Medical Mysteries” section of The Washington Post (gift article link).
Interesting read: Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come by Jessica Pan.
I found about this book from Christy Isinger, who I’ve known for years. She reads a ton, and we like some (but not all) of the same things.
After reading about Jessica Pan on this post, I immediately requested Sorry I’m Late from the library. It is near perfect reading, especially for introverts.
If you aren’t planning to read the book(but you should!) this article from Jess Pan’s Substack is a taste.
An Action Item: Check your employer’s retirement options
This shouldn’t take more than few minutes, but take some time to log into your employee account for your employer’s retirement plan, and find out how much you are putting away for retirement.
If you do not have the login for the information, that will be your action item.That may take a little longer, but it is a good idea to have that login and make sure it has 2FA (two-factor authentication) complete that this week.
What are you doing this weekend?
The Mom Weekly schedules to post on Tuesdays. One of the reasons for this is to encourage you (and me, too!) to think about weekend plans. All too often, I have let that go until Friday, and then it’s hard to get people together, or make plans for coffee, or figure out when you go to Mass (other than the default, which is what we typically do).
So, now that it’s Tuesday, what are you planning for the weekend? I’m going to suggest trying to cover four “F”s to get ideas flowing:
*faith—when are you going to Mass?
*friends—what friends will you see or connect with?
*food—any fun recipes you plan to try, or restaurants you plan to visit?
*fun—anything interesting you are going to play, watch, or do this weekend? Now’s the time to think it through, and put it on the calendar (even informally).