PLSG: Week of 10/29 - Goals for the week?

[lindrusso]

Hi all! I didn't have any goals for last week other than getting through my Halloween party. Now that that is over, I'm ready!

I've started the week off well by getting all of my Quicken updated. I am really, really bad about letting my receipts pile up! So, I resolve that I will keep up on these receipts and not let my bills pile up! (They get paid, they just don't get entered and reconciled! :) )

My list of goals is very long, but I'm taking it one week at a time, so I have two other goals for this week:

*Insurance Papers - I need to go through and see what has been filed, paid or still outstanding. Need to get these in order before the end of the year - don't want to miss out on any insurance money we may be owed!

*Organize Baby Pictures - I am working on a scrapbook for my mother. She somehow managed to throw away all my oldest DS's baby photos, so I'm making her an album for Christmas. DS is now 7, so this project will take quite a while - locating negatives, making copies, etc. I need to have these all ready to work on by November 10th - my next scrapbook workshop.

That's it for now.

How's everyone doing???

[AndreaU]

I'm still working on my goal from last week (curtains for the new house- one room at a time... ), but this week I'd like to focus on Thanksgiving Dinner. DH volunteered our house as the hosting site, so now I'm scrambling to plan it out. I'm going to do the turkey and potatoes; all other dishes are coming with the guests. We already have our wine selections, so I have to focus on cleaning and organizing (as half our life is still in boxes). I also have 2 or 3 appetizer ideas- one I can make ahead, freeze and reheat that day. I'm shooting for next weekend on those. The other apps can be put together the night before. I'm going very simple because that's all I can handle right now between the house and teaching full-time!

[donleyk]

Umm.... I can just carry mine over from this weekend. Shucks. And if the weather holds out we may camp this weekend which will likely put my organizing and hauling back another weekend. :(

[KathrynY]

Originally posted by lindrusso
I've started the week off well by getting all of my Quicken updated. I am really, really bad about letting my receipts pile up! So, I resolve that I will keep up on these receipts and not let my bills pile up! (They get paid, they just don't get entered and reconciled! :) )

Oh, I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one with this problem! :) Quicken is such a great tool, but updating it does take some time. I recently decided to "share" this task with DH, so now one of us sits at the computer and enters/updates, the other one sits on the floor in front of the file cabinet and files receipts. Do you have online banking? It's really nice - I use my bank debit card for almost everything, and use electronic bill-pay, then download all of the transactions from the bank right into Quicken. All you have to do from there is categorize them and reconcile.

BUT - that's not really the subject at hand, is it? ;) I will admit that I didn't finish cleaning out my dresser drawers from last week, but I did get some other things done instead (4 hours raking leaves!) so I'll carry over the drawer project for this week.

[Peggy C.]

so it probably didn't get done. But I wasn't totally lazy. I did some yard work and some cleaning. But, I am hosting my Supper Club on Friday and need to clean and still need to select what I'm making for the main dish.... I can say without a doubt I will get this weeks goals done, I don't think the SC would like it if I served them grilled cheese.

[Gina O]

I love the idea of this thread, but didn't post last week because I had so many things I wanted to get done I didn't know where to start. The things I did get done were:

basement cleaning - since SO and I moved in over a year ago, we have been just sticking stuff in the basement and it has become quite a disaster area. So, I finally went down there and began the process of organizing it. It looks much better, and much less like a scene from Arachnaphobia (we have had a spider problem). I also realized the extent of my empty box collection problem. :o

Whew! Thank goodness I decided to post here, I had forgotten to put the trash out!!!

biscotti baking - okay, so not a major task, but it is a small part of a larger task. For the first time ever, I want to give food gifts for xmas. Actually what I want to do is give the baked gift, a prepared "mix" and the recipe. So, I need to try out all the ones I am thinking about giving, this was the first one.

working in the yard - after two days of strong winds, my back yard was full of trash from the house they are building behind me. Got all that picked up, brought in my tomato baskets, planted 110 tulip and crocus bulbs, put away old pots and hanging baskets that are already dead, watered all the still living things, and generally prettied things up a bit.

This week:

supper club - several things to get ready for hosting supper club on Saturday evening: clean the house, grocery shop, polish some of the copper (I love my copper kitchen, but it sure is high maintainance), shop for a new table cloth and candles. I am sure there is more, but those are the biggies.

garden - I need to finish up here by tilling and adding manure. My yard is virtually all clay, so my garden didn't do much this year. I am hoping the addition of manure will help for next year.

Halloween - I have 5 pumpkins on the porch, I want to carve at least 3 of them. My original fantasty was to buy about 10 small pumkins and carve them and line the driveway with them like luminaries. Fortunately ??? I could never find them cheap enough.

Well, should get me started.... oh, and I also need to pay bills.... Gina

[lhall]

This week it's Clean the whole house!, or at least the downstairs. We're hosting our first Supper Club dinner this Saturday.

I'd also like to get DH to clean up the yard some.
Chop down the lirype (sp?. he calls it monkey grass), and pick up some leaves.

Oh, we're good about entering things in Quicken, but we just put the bills in a drawer and fill them later. I usually have 3 or 4 months worth to file at a time.

One project that still isn't finished is dismanteling my scrapbooks. I only have the honeymoon album left. I'm putting everything in boxes instead because the albums I have are very bad for photos, and with my job I just can't live with myself if I leave them there.

I'd like to continue working in my Christmas Shopping, but I don't think I'll have time. I'm maybe 1/3 done!! I do have the neat "Grandpa and me" frames for my Dad. Maybe I'll have time to find pictures of him with each of the girls so I can put some in the frames before I wrap them.

Leigh

[Kelli Kerrigan]

I did really good last week. I had promised not to cook and I did real well until I had to cook for my Halloween party. I will carry this goal over to this week also. Unless I'm using up leftovers, my lunches and dinners need to be coming from my over-stocked freezer!
I did not find someone to help me remove the A/C unit from the window, so that too will need to carry over to this week. The stacks of paperwork got worked on and the summer clothes ended up in the basement for the winter.
Now, for this week!
I need to clean up the house from the Halloween party. This includes washing seven rooms of hard wood flooring on my hands and knees.
I need some light carpentry work done. Someone is coming to give me a price tonight. While I typically do all the construction in my house, I can not stand cutting and hanging trim. Ick! So, I want to find a person that will do it for a good price.
My other large goal is to get ready for my Kitchen Sale this Saturday. I've invited some foodies over to my place. I have way too many kitchen appliances, tools, gadgets etc for one person or one house! Most haven't even used and still in the boxes. I've invited some people from the board that live in Chicago and I plan on making some nice munchies to have with coffee. It should be a lot of fun.

[HDgirl]

Kelli, your get together sounds fun....BTW...if we were your neighbors, SO would have had your AC out for you. Our neighbors love him.

My goals from last week...garage cleaned out...washed one wall down from the wall paper stripping...got side tracked. SO cleaned the basement and I the downstairs.

This week...finish the other three walls and start a furniture project. A desk that I am giving a face lift to for DD's room.

[Wendy w]

Same as last week.:o

[lindrusso]

Originally posted by Kelli Kerrigan
Unless I'm using up leftovers, my lunches and dinners need to be coming from my over-stocked freezer!

That is one of my challenges for the next month. I somehow managed to DOUBLE my normal spending amount for groceries last month!! :o I think I was stocking up on too many sales - cheeses, healthy cereals, etc. I just cannot believe how out of hand it was. That's what I get for letting my Quicken go so long - I had no idea how over-budget I was!

So, I'm doing sort of the same - I need to cook only from the freezer and pantry. I've come up with a week's worth of dinners so far and all I have to buy is sweet potatoes, asparagus and green beans! Plus all the regular staples - bread, milk, etc. My DH wasn't sure if he should be impressed by that or not (visions of Ramen noodles every night :) ), but then I assured him that these would be "real" dinners!

[Dewey]

OK, I'll jump in here in the hope that by telling all of you my goals for the week, I'll feel compelled to do them...

#1 Finish painting the trim on the barn (a job that *should* be done by Friday)

#2 Make two new dog beds for the pups (which involves re-learning how to use my mom's old sewing machine that she just gave me.)

#3 Clean entire house (with DH's help)

Here's hoping that we all succeed!

[Peggy]

I am so happy to be part of this group. I was getting tired and alittle lazy at the end of last week, but I met my goals because I knew I had to post my progress! I respond well to group pressure! Anyway, I am happy to say I finally got my Halloween decorations up and my bulbs also got planted. I am especially pleased that I finally got around to making my annual check-up appointment with my OB/GYN and my teeth cleaning appointment with my dentist. I don't put these off on purpose...I just never seem to get the phone calls made. A big relief to have those on the calender.

This week I need to hang some pictures in our bedroom that we purchased 4 weeks ago!:( If I accomplish that, I will be satisfied.

Good luck to everyone else!

Peggy

[Gina O]

Figured I would bump this up to remind us all of our goals for the week! (I went searching for it to remind myself.) :)

So far, I have done quite well: Pumpkins carved, bills paid, shopping done (although there is a story attached to this that I will post on the great food board....) and copper polished.

The garden and the house cleaning remain. Since it rained a bunch last night, the garden will have to wait except for some basic things. I have started on the cleaning, but will do most of that tonight and Saturday.


So, how is everyone else doing????
Gina

[KathrynY]

Well, I can report that my project to clean out one drawer turned into a clean-out of every clothing-filled drawer and closet in the house! :o Isn't it funny how you get started on something and it just mushrooms?!

I now have a living room FULL of old clothes destined for Goodwill that need to be folded and recorded for tax purposes by Monday. I'm having company on Monday evening, and if the clothes aren't gone there will be no place to sit! It will be great to have it all over, done with, and out of the house.

Hope everyone else is having a productive week :).

[lindrusso]

Hi Gina! Good idea giving everyone a reminder before the weekend starts!

I did manage to go through my DS's photos and now have a plan. I just need to get the negatives to the store to get copies made - I'll do that today or tomorrow.

Insurance papers will wait until probably Sunday.

I have one more goal for the weekend:

Fall Garden Cleanup: It's supposed to be sunny and mild here this weekend and with all the rain we've been getting lately, that's been a rare event! So, we need to take advantage of this weather and get the gardens "put to bed" for the winter.

And since it's nice out and Halloween's over, let's also add taking down and putting away Halloween decorations.

Oh and Gina - We have the same nasty, hard-to-work-with clay in our yard. Sand helps loosen it up too - apparently it helps better than things like peat moss since it will not break down - I'm not sure if manure would have that same tendency or not (although it certainly will help the soil, even if it doesn't loosen it as much as you'd like). Our house had no workable garden beds when we moved in and after struggling to put a few in, I've about given up - it's soooo much work! Someday....

[pammy]

Holy Cow Gina, can you come over to my house and take care of the garden, bills, and cleaning?

I purposefully ignored this thread when you first posted it, Alysha, because I have become such a disorganized wreck lately. Not sure what to blame it on (well... I was away on business all week), but I had better get my butt in gear before way too much piles up.

Here goes:

1. Call and decline my wine club's optional offer (or else I will owe them $90 for a magnum of 1997 Cabernet- I'm almost tempted to forget, because 97 was a great year, but we're really trying to stay within a budget, I want my new kitchen next year). And have them change my delivery address to the office.

2. Give the dog a bath before it gets really cold.

3. Wash windows before it gets really cold (probably tomorrow afternoon).

4. Figure out what I am making for Christmas gifts and start the prep work. I am considering making sourdough starter for everyone (drying it, and putting it in little jars along with a bread recipe and a loaf I made myself - might be a little too ambitious given my time constraints).

Well, in addition to the regular cleaning, shopping and cooking, that is enough for this weekend.

Thanks for reminding me Alysha, take down Halloween decorations :( , I'm going to miss them.

[lindrusso]

Originally posted by pammy
Thanks for reminding me Alysha, take down Halloween decorations :( , I'm going to miss them.

Yeah - the cobwebs I put up around the house for my party gave me the perfect excuse not to dust! :D

I know what you mean about being a disorganized mess. I think I feel doubly guilty because I stay at home and have no big excuse now that the boys are older. Slowly but surely I'm getting there, but the key for me is to take one thing (one drawer, one closet, one room, one pile) at a time. It will be really, really nice when it's all done. I'm definitely one of those people whose brain gets cluttered when things get disorganized.

Here's to getting ourselves whipped into shape! :D

[lhall]

Well, I did good.

Got the entire house cleaned, although I just did a light dusting upstairs. I need to have company more often.

Got out some pictures to put in the "Grandpa & me" frames.

DH got most of the yard done, but simply ran out of time. One section in the back and the monkey grass around the mailbox didn't get done.

I even did something that was not on my list!
Clean out the refrigerator, and since I did find a dead fly in there I guess it's a good thing I cleaned it out:confused::confused:

Maybe next week I'll file the old bills and updat the retirement accounts in Quicken.

Leigh