1st Quarter Check In: What's Working, What Isn't?
Plus, Book Recs, TV Recs, and Emotional Wrecks
At the end of 2024, I was inspired by Kendra Adachi and her Podcast, The Lazy Genius, to sit down and analyze my life in a spirit of complete non-judgment and ask myself, “What’s working and what isn’t?”
Kendra used the example of the time she employed a Lazy Susan to a special spot on her kitchen counter because she was sick of seeing drinks and water bottles scattered all over the home. If the cups weren’t being used, they needed to find their way to “the drink spinner”. Was this monumental? No. Was it working? Yes!
The rules of the analysis were that I couldn’t be mean to myself, and I had to address these goals as a quarter, not a whole year. Quite frankly, failure is an option, and when you fail, you have to pivot or decide if it is something you want to continue to attempt. So, failure wasn’t bad in this setting. Every quarter, I could revisit or start solving a new problem. Shout out to my brother for introducing me to the idea of the 12-week year. It has been a game-changer to me!
Speaking candidly, many things weren’t working. I looked at our swelling grocery bill, piles of laundry in various stages of completeness, and goals that I had set at the beginning of the year, and I tried to solve some small problems.
Problem Solver
First: I was absolutely sick of vacuuming up Legos or having one stab me in the middle of my foot. First up was a Lego storage system. And the first one didn’t work. So we settled on a tower of plastic drawers with labels telling which color Legos went where, as well as a couple of Lego storage boxes for works in progress or masterpieces we weren’t ready to part with yet.
This was the first success!
Second: Our grocery situation had to change and fast. We were spending entirely too much on groceries, and with prices continuing to climb, I couldn’t keep doing what I’d been doing. My meal planning/grocery system is by far my biggest success of the quarter!
The plan was twofold, with both a grocery and meal planning components.
I first made a “Dinner Queue”. This dinner queue was a list of 30 meals that I enjoyed cooking. It was a combination of more elaborate meals that I would spend a slow Saturday putting together and easy weeknight meals that could be thrown together in a pinch.
That list of 30 meals would be repeated 3 times over the quarter. When I sit down to meal plan every week, I simply look at the “Queue” and mark off what I will be preparing and shopping for.
Secondly, I looked at my dinner queue, determined what I needed for the quarter (or month, depending on the size), and made a list.
I went to Costco with a list of how much hamburger meat I would need, how many pounds of chicken, how much turkey/chicken sausage, how many bags of frozen veggies, etc. I also bought snacks and drinks in bulk.
I did my first big shop at the beginning of January and have done supplemental shops each week for things like fresh fruit, fresh veggies, milk, eggs, yogurt, bread, etc.
At the beginning of February and March, I also did small Costco runs and got a few things we needed in bulk. For example, I had underestimated the amount of rice we would need so I stocked up twice!
I would be happy to share my Queue Template with anyone who is interested.
A Costco or Sam’s Membership is NOT mandatory here! The same thing can be done at a smaller store. This is just what worked for me right now.
Other problems were solved as well, but these two felt like the biggest victories to me!
Problems NOT Solved
There are a million and one things I didn’t solve, the chief being laundry. However, I have a plan for it and have started implementing more. We will see how it goes!
Book Recs, TV & Movie Recs, & Emotional Wrecks
The only year-long goal I set this year relates to reading. That was something that did work for me last year. I set aside time for reading, and I stuck to it, so it’s something I’ve continued this year.
I have a goal to read 32 books this year (one for every year of my life), and I am off to a great start with 8!
My Top 4 Reads of the Year so Far Are
Us Against You by Fredrik Backman
Rating: 6 Stars
I know a Six Star rating can be controversial, but this book earned every single bit of it. I read the first book in this trilogy, Beartown, in 2017 and loved it. I finally got around to finishing the whole series this year, and I will never get over this book. It is officially my favorite book of all time, and I don’t say that lightly. This is emotional, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and everything in between. Check trigger warnings before reading any of the Beartown Trilogy.
The Winners by Fredrik Backman
Rating: 5 Stars
No surprise, the second highest-rated book of the year has been the final book in the Beartown Trilogy.
Night Road by Kristin Hannah
Rating: 5 Stars
This was my first Kristin Hannah read. I don’t much care for historical fiction so I have always shied away. This book is NOT historical fiction and is set in the early 2000s (which is its own kind of historical fiction now, I guess, but I’m not willing to address that at the moment). This book is a story of motherhood and the different path it takes for two women.
Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave
Rating: 4 Stars
I love a cozy mystery and Elle Cosimano does that better than anyone in her Finlay Donovan series. This is the 5th book, and Finlay and her Nanny/Accountant/Accomplice Vero, of course, get themselves in all kinds of trouble. If you are looking for a fun mystery that’s not too scary and is also super fun and witty, give this series a try!
TV & Movie Recs
I have watched a few things this year that I would absolutely recommend, but I’m going to start with two shows that are not over yet, so I’m not giving them an official ranking. Severance on Apple TV and The Pitt on HBO are so incredibly good!
This has been a year of TV and movies that have seemed tailor-made for me. I love Saturday Night Live and the history of it, and Bob Dylan is my favorite musician, so this has been a pretty intriguing year for content!
A Complete Unkown was incredible and deserved EVERY bit of hype it got. I had low expectations, but it blew me away! 5 stars!
The Wild Robot: As far as animations go, this was pretty perfect. I was sobbing at the end and haven’t rewatched it with the kids because I am not emotionally ready. 5 Stars!
Saturday Night: I loved this movie as an SNL fan. I would imagine that if you do not love SNL, it would not be a fun watch, honestly, but for me, it was pretty close to spot-on. 3.5 Stars.
Shrinking Season 2 on Apple TV Plus: Yes. If you haven’t watched season 1, start there and enjoy your binge. Season 2 was something else. 5 Stars.
Emotional Wrecks
Okay, we are going to talk about it. The Luka Doncic trade. Otherwise known as The Trade.
Thoughts on this trade will continue to bubble up and form themselves into words over the next months and maybe years, but here is a starting point.
The Dallas Mavericks organization that I have beholden myself to for the past 25 years is no more. The identity of the Mavericks and the culture of the Mavericks could be summed up in one word: Loyalty. That is no longer a defining characteristic of the Mavs.
Dirk Nowitzki, who never wore another jersey, dedicated his career to the city of Dallas and the fans of the Mavericks. It was a basketball blessing of epic proportions to have him on our team for 21 years. He spent his last year on the Mavericks helping train up, but mostly watching in awe like the rest of us, Luka Doncic begin to take the reins from him as the cornerstone of the organization. The Mavericks paraded out Dirk’s loyalty in front of Luka with the underlying message, “If you’re loyal to us, we’re loyal to you.” Keys to the city, retirement announcement ceremony, jersey retirement, statue unveiling, which ironically bears the inscription “Loyalty never fades away”. All the while, they led Luka to believe this was his future as well.
Fast forward six years to a trade done in the middle of the night, which not only blindsided Luka but also blindsided the Mavericks' loyal fan base. I don’t know that the city of Dallas will recover from this for a very long time. Players no longer wanting to join an entity that doesn’t value loyalty, fans not wanting to follow a team that was a shell of what they were previously, and losing multiple national TV broadcast games, streaming service customers, and season ticket holders. The front office staff has done this to themselves, and now they have to either live with it or repair it, and I don’t see them succeeding at either.