Hi, how are you? I apologize for being the friend who says "I'll call" and never does. The volume of posts has plummeted without warning here at CFO, mostly because I find the days just speeding by. I've begun getting certified as a college counselor, so that's taking up some time - in new and challenging ways. I haven't been in school for 20 years, so it's been weird having real homework. But it's also been good: I enjoy what I'm learning, and I'm excited at the prospect of creating a new career for myself. With my youngest being in eighth grade, I want to set myself up for the inevitable time when he goes off to college, and I no longer have the active role of "Mom" to keep me busy every day.
So that's what's been going on with me, and along the way, I've found some things I want to share that I think you'll find useful and/or entertaining:
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If you'll have a kid in college in 2023 or after, you should know that big changes are coming to financial aid. In the second pandemic relief package passed by Congress last year, they tacked on the FAFSA Simplification Act, which reduces the number of questions on the FAFSA, what counts as income, and more. The changes take effect in October 2022, which is when you can file the FAFSA for the 2023-2024 school year.
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Thanks to #Read21in21, I've been reading a lot this year. Check out my Instagram profile to see all the books I've finished. (I've started quite a few without finishing them - they count toward my daily reading, but don't make it onto the list of "books read" this year.) If you have a book recommendation, send it my way!
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I recently came across this insight from writer Annabelle Gurwitch, in an interview with Gretchen Rubin:
I had a close friendship that hit a snag. At first, I thought I couldn’t get over the hurt I believed my friend had caused. Then, I realized my own responsibility in the situation, but I was still upset and thought it was unsurmountable—this is a friendship-ender. I just couldn’t land on how I wanted to proceed, but then I asked myself, “How important is it?” The incident and the bad feelings that resulted were upsetting, but not as important as our long-standing friendship, which I decided was an essential part of my inner circle. Now, that question didn’t resolve our issues, but it allowed me to focus on repairing the relationship and by asking the same question of other situations I was facing, it eliminated some other challenges I was spending time on that weren’t worth my attention.
She's articulated a process I went through last fall when a relative deeply hurt my feelings. Like her, I concluded that the relationship was too important to forfeit. But I wish I'd been as articulate about my conclusion.
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Almost exactly a year ago, not knowing what to expect with the impending quarantine/lockdown, I stocked up on canned tuna. As I was planning my menu for last week, I thought I should start using the cans, when David Lebovitz fortuitously published a recipe for tuna melts. I didn't take pictures, but they were delicious. (I skipped the capers because I didn't have any, used parsley instead of dill because that's what I had on hand, and mixed the gruyere with some shredded mozzarella for extra meltiness.)
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It looks like my kids will be heading back to school at the end of April, or at least, we'll have the option to send them back to do their classes online in a classroom. No, that's not a typo. Apparently, they can go back twice a week with half of their homeroom class in their homeroom teacher's classroom. The teacher will provide some social, emotional and college support/instruction/activities, but most of the day will be spent doing what they do at home - attending class through a screen, while their homeroom teacher teaches their own classes. It's not ideal, but we'll probably do it since the kids could really use some time outside the house, and they would at least get to see a few friends. Which isn't to say I don't have anxiety about this, because I do. It would sure make me feel a lot better if vaccines were more widely available by then.
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My oldest turns 16 this month! We're not doing anything big, and we're definitely not getting him a car, but he asked for a surprise cake, so I decided on a rolled ice cream cake, a mashup of this Smitten Kitchen recipe and this Barbara Bakes recipe. My plan is to prepare the cake according to Smitten Kitchen's directions, use Cherry Garcia ice cream, and cover it with the Barbara Bakes ganache. I'm going for an result reminiscent of Baskin Robbins' Roll Cake with Cherries Jubilee, which was my mom's choice for a birthday cake when I was growing up. (I did consider this money cake, but decided it was a bit much. Maybe for high school graduation, though.)
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I really enjoyed this insight into how one family's food expenses changed from 2019 to 2020. I haven't tracked my own family's expenses, but I'm sure ours have gone up too. For one thing, I'm not shopping around for deals much, and I hardly use any coupons. My pantry is also more fully stocked than it normally is, because I'm never sure when I can get something if I run out. Has your food spending changed since the pandemic started?
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I'll leave you with a link to the tweets I've liked. They're mostly cute animal videos, and the perfect way to get a feel-good fix when you need one!
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