I have been really busy the last few weeks and I feel exhausted. Most of the busyness has been work-related, but I have also managed to squeeze in some fun along the way.

On Friday, March 15, I attended the concert of a favorite traditional band with a few friends ($44 for 2nd row seat). Joyful music was just what I needed to start that weekend. Then this past Saturday I went cross-country skiing after a big Friday night snowstorm (have a season’s pass). The conditions were fabulous! I wanted to go again on Sunday, but decided to stay home to relax and get some things done around the house. On Saturday evening, I took myself to a nearby tiny venue for some Bach music played by two women on piano and cello ($15).

Tonight I’m meeting with a few members of my knitting group. For the potluck dinner, I’ll make a salad from veggies I already have in my fridge and I will take a scarf project that I’ve been knitting for about two years now. We’ve been getting together for probably over 15 years and it turns out that I don’t enjoy knitting! We always have delicious food, though, and great conversations. Of the five women who are available this evening, four of us are beginning ukulele players and the other is wonderful singer/musician, so I suggested that we all bring are ukes and do a little jam session!

I worked at home on my sun-filled porch yesterday. I’m still busy, but it's a quiet week overall at work because my boss is on “vacation.” I’ve worked with her for 20 years and last summer she took her first legit vacation where she actually did not check in via email at all for about four days. It was heavenly! This week she is staycationing and has only sent a few emails so far.

I finally just submitted my 2018 medical flex-spending claims. The deadline is March 31, so I hope that they all get approved without a problem and that I receive the entire $1300 available for 2018. It’s not “free” money – I elected that amount and a little was withdrawn from my paycheck each pay period.

I recently hit my 2019 out-of-pocket maximum, so I should probably submit claims for the $1200 I elected for this year while the process is still fresh in my mind. I’ll have to go through my 2019 EOBs, which will total $1100, and then remember that I have an additional $100 kicking around if any other expenses appear throughout the year. I always wait until the very last minute just before the final deadline to deal with these medical reimbursements, so it would be very unusual to get the money an entire year in advance.

I also need to finish my taxes. I entered all of the information about two weeks ago and just need to review and decide whether or not I’m going to contribute up to $6500 to my traditional and/or Roth IRAs. I go through this song and dance Every. Single. Year. Do I or don’t I contribute? Traditional IRA and get a refund or Roth IRA for future tax-free withdrawal? I put the max amount into my work retirement plan plus my company contributes an additional 15% of my salary amount. My IRAs are not well invested – I should really look into that this year.

My lunch break is over – back to work!

Edit: Adding this because I just realized that today is only Tuesday, not Wednesday - yahoo! I'm so relieved - more time for some work projects with upcoming deadlines and one extra day for making sure the med reimbursements get processed! I thought this week seemed to be flying by...