A Time For Everything

 

 

In my 01/16 Fresh Start Goals post, I left three four of my goals a bit undone, so for accountability's sake I've come back to document that I did as I said I was going to do...

...which was to a) get an exercise regimen in place, b) get my treasurer's tasks identified and scheduled for each month, and c) have a workable housekeeping plan in place.

Here's how those goals are going to happen:

A) First of all, since Mom died, I've worked on getting back to my daily step counts. Every hour at the 50-minute mark, barring being in a meeting or at an event where getting steps at that point isn't feasible, I dutifully get up and get my steps in. Over the past several months, I've worked at upping the minimum average daily step goal.

Surprisingly, my phone tells me I've been averaging 5K a month since August. June and July were mid-4K, but since then I've been doing well. For some reason, I thought I was still cruising along just under 5K, but that doesn't appear to be the case. So 'well done' me. I don't have any desire to up that much further at this point....

...because getting steps in the manner in which I get them doesn't seem to burn an appreciable amount of calories. The doing of it mainly keeps me from getting stiff while I sit at my desk and work all day. Which is no small thing for me right now.

I'd been trying for weeks at the end of 2022 to get back to using the elliptical/recumbent bike, but I just couldn't seem to make it happen. Also it's very tedious, so there's just no enticement there. I might need to tie it to some sort of tv/video consumption activity. You know, pedal while watching something. Problem is, I don't tend to watch stuff on a daily basis.

I've also been wanting to get back to doing yoga. The problem there is also time. But I found a chair yoga plan for seniors. No, I'm not officially a senior, but these exercises will take all of ten minutes and get me started. I can upgrade in a month or two.

So I've been doing chair yoga at the end of the work day before I leave my desk. The rotation is three days exercise, one day rest. I'll definitely have to make a point of doing these on the weekend even though I may not be at my desk.

So steps, chair yoga, and I'm thinking about walking Rascal daily. He could use it, he would enjoy it, and I think I'd enjoy it too. But...time...we'll see.

B) After taking some time to think about the various treasurer tasks as well as pulling out the "duties by month" document I have, I outlined a schedule and noted it in my planner. I'm in my planner every day / week, so I should be good to go.

C) Finding a workable housekeeping plan was a challenge. And honestly I didn't really. (YET) But I did start noting chores in my housekeeping planner. For the past couple of Sundays, I've looked at the week ahead and, keeping in mind the rooms I want to focus on, as well as rooms that need constant focus (baths & kitchen), I listed tasks to accomplish each day.

So far, it's working pretty good. If I see something else that I want to do, I just leave myself a note in the planner and then, when I schedule for the next week, I pencil it in. I should probably keep a master list of random tasks like cleaning the oven. Is that a monthly task? Quarterly? Annual? Even annual would be better than not-at-all, eh? lol

And--I forgot to mention above, but remembered along the way...

D) Watching & reading all that "writers education" I paid for or stored up. I forgot that until I re-read my big goals post from a couple of weeks ago when finalizing this post. >face palm< I've blocked some time on Sunday mornings after grocery shopping for this. I need an hour off my feet after that big event, so it's a good time.

I'm not sure if this is the final plan for all of the above, but it's a start, and sometimes getting started is the hardest part. As I keep on, I can tweak and alter how to navigate things based on results. Is something working? Is it not? How could it work better? Become a bit more efficient? Would it make more sense do things that way instead of this way? Etc... Etc... Etc...

So there we go. More plans, more rules, more parameters. We'll see how these tasks pan out.

Here's to a great week. Catch you on Thursday.

 

So-- Ice Cream. I attempted chocolate strawberry chocolate chip. It wasn't bad, but it needed to be sweeter. Next time around, I need to add a bit more sweetener to the jar. Also not terribly keen on the frozen bits of fruit. So I need to mash or blend the fruit up into more of a compote too I think.

From this:

To this:


The recipe makes a bit more, but I'd nibbled a bit before remembering to take a picture. :0) Add all ingredients to a mason jar, shake for five minutes, then freeze until done. Easy peasy.

More to come!

* * * * *

DD came home with a little tiny baby Stars jersey for the cat. Karma was not impressed.


Now we need to get one for the dog and take pet pictures of them together--ha!

* * * * *

How was your weekend? Mine was productive, especially on the writing front, as I had the house to myself Friday evening, all of Saturday, and half of Sunday. Since writing time starts pre-dawn, I was able to invest myself in writing sprints for as long as the write-brain would cooperate.

I also took the broom and Swiffer mop to our bedroom. Last task in there is to dust everything on the walls. Dusting. Blech! My least favorite household chore.

I'm also debating on whether or not I'm up for re-painting my bedroom. It's been well over a decade and, with some of the spoils of our fireworks season, DH and I are getting a new bed. If there's ever a good time to repaint, I'd say that qualifies.

Not really going to change the Americana  theme, but if I paint, I'm going with a different set of colors. Right now, my walls are light blue above a wallpaper border and dark blue below it. So I'd have to remove the border for sure. When I move forward with this project, I'm pretty sure I'm going to paint the wall the bed is on some shade of burgundy and then go with a light beige/cream color for the other three walls. New mini-blinds are in order as are new window coverings. And that should do it.

I'll keep you posted...

Anyway, back to work. Have a great week.

Six day until my friend from the UK arrives, eight until we leave for Albuquerque.

It's definitely time to get my butt in gear and get things finalized for the trip. Yikes...

I have no pictures, but this past weekend, I re-caulked my bathtub. That included cleaning out the old stuff, cleaning the tile and tub and then replacing the caulk. It looks so much better now. Why didn't I do that long ago...? Mostly because I wanted to paint the tile rather than just re-caulk, but as I mentioned before, that whole project would be cost and labor intensive.

I have my lists ready so now it's time to start checking things off...

On another note--FALL has arrived!!! It was 62* this morning when I let the dog out.

Hope you had a great weekend!!

In the last couple of weeks, I have been a guest of friends with considerably larger homes than my own. In getting to these friend's homes, I had to drive past newer, larger, more expensive neighborhoods than the one I live and I wondered: if I could afford and upgrade, would I want it?

And the answer is, quite frankly, no.

The size of my house is perfect. Enough rooms for what we need and not so large that I can't clean it myself in a weekend if I were of a mind to. Which I'm not, but I could do it.



The yard is a decent size. We live in the middle of the block. And we don't currently have any overly-noisy neighbors.

DH is not especially fond of our house or the neighborhood we live in, but even when we get around to moving, I still don't want a bigger house. A little nicer one, for sure, but not much bigger. On the other hand, I'd love more property. I'd love to be out in the sticks where I can watch the weather roll across the countryside and see the crops growing. Maybe someday.

Have a great weekend!!

The bulk of the work for my writing group's new contest (more on that Wednesday) is done.

I spent the weekend worried that there was something I should have been doing. I kept pondering what that might have been. I kept up with questions and judges acknowledging receipt of panels, but other than that, there wasn't anything that needed my undivided constant attention. Whew.

Instead, I puttered around the house. Something I haven't done in ages and it felt good and nice and a tad bit indulgent. I still kept thinking that some task for the contest needed doing, but I couldn't think of what aside from what I was already doing (see above).

Of course, I did the usual must-accomplish weekend chores: grocery shopping and laundry.

I also cleaned out a closet. It's practically empty now. Some stuff went straight in the bin, some went into the donation pile, one box had an assortment of old VHS tapes. I'd been wondering what had happened to Gone With the Wind! There were some other movie treasures in there that I think I can make some money from at some point, but that's a post and project for another day.

 The house still needs a good going over, though. Once I'm working part time from home, I plan on getting back to my old method of cleaning house (another blog post for later).

As for my future, a few weeks ago, I mentioned DD had talked about moving out by May when Sonshine graduates from high school. Then the plan sort of stalled for a few weeks. But it appears to be on again and the move-out date has been moved up to no later than mid-March. I mean, she packing her room up and making lists of must-have things for her new abode...

So soon I will have a bedroom to decide what to do with and then redecorate!

Here's what it sort of looks like now:



Sonshine has requested a guest room, though I'm not sure why since we rarely have guests that stay overnight. Well, except a random friend of his, but they usually end up crashing on the couch.

I guess it's time for a trip to Lowe's to look at their paint cards. I like the ones that show the rooms painted already rather than just the cards with variations on a shade.

Any suggestions for my new room?

We have a certain piece of software that offers these options if you try to install it and it already exists.

That's my goal for the next three weeks or so, though most of my efforts will take place between Christmas and New Years Day.


It used to be that when the men got involved in fireworks season, I tackled a project around the house... Or so I thought. But then I realized I don't do projects during the Christmas break because I'm too busy shopping for and then wrapping Christmas presents. Then of course there's the holiday itself when we go to my mother-in-law's house to celebrate and exchange gifts. And then a few days later it's New Years and we all work the store those last few days/evenings/nights.

So when do I have time to complete any projects? That's right, I don't. I do projects during the summer break.

But this holiday break, I'm hoping to get some of my neglected chores done as well as complete a few repairs. Minor, inexpensive ones. We have a few little things that could stand to be taken care of. So that's the plan.

Removing anything I no longer use.

Repairing some minor things around the house.

Modifying some things, like mowing the backyard and raking up the leaves in both the front and back yards.

Maybe some reading. If there's any time left, though I'm not holding my breath. On the other hand, I'll need to rest in between bouts of removing and modifying, so...

Oh, and some TV watching. One of my most very favorite shows finally came out on DVD after like twenty-three years. And I bought the whole set. What is this show you ask...?



Oh, yeah!!!

Anyone else watch and LOVE this show???

Sonshine has no school today and is here in the office with me. One of his Christmas gifts was a WOW game pack add-on and can only played here at the office. We don't have a family PC at home large enough or powerful enough for the game. (My laptop doesn't even have a disc drive of any sort.)

Saturday's writers group meeting was fantastic with the romance reader savvy Sara Reyes from FreshFiction.com.

Sunday's dip back into writing went reasonably well. I was able to add just over 350 words (goal was 300). Of course quite a few of the old words got tweaked or deleted altogether, but that was inevitable and a part of revisions.

Also, the house is tidy...I've been working on it over the last week or so, and having a clean house makes the writing easier because I don't keep thinking I should be cleaning rather than writing. :)

And now it's Monday again and I'm back at work.

How was your weekend?

I can say it this week without reservations. Nothing looming except housekeeping. and I'm looking forward to it. Mostly. My house hasn't had a good cleaning in a while. My endurance for a pseudo-clean house is pretty long, but even I'm reaching my limit. I'm surprised DH hasn't said anything, but of course he was gone for three weeks and has been run ragged since he's been back because our remaining employee is on vacation. (He returns Monday or Tuesday.)

The rest of my weekend includes completing my judging duties, as well as finishing Regina's book, which has picked up speed and has me racing towards the end. I'll be done this evening, no doubt. I'm eager to see how it wraps up.

And for some pretties, here's the eastern sky this morning on my way to work. Gorgeous!! (The pics don't do it justice.)



Happy Friday, friends! Have you got big plans??

I've still been productive, but I'm feeling the strain. I'm getting tired so easily, but the end is in sight.

Last night, I spent way more time than I should have putting up new mini-blinds in the bathroom. I won't go into detail, but they do look good now that they're up. I had planned on adding a window treatment only to realize for the second time (doh) that the brackets for the rod did not extend far enough past the top of the mini-blinds to actually be able to install the rod. I knew it was going to be an issue and even looked for longer brackets when at the Home Depot exchanging the too-short (width-wise) blinds I bought the other day. They carry them, but had none in stock. Ugh!

I'm also on stand by for a trip to the fireworks store. DH may have to come home to sit in trial and listen to the prosecution's forensic expert and ensure he accurately represents the findings. Experts are not supposed to be biased either way toward the defendant, they're just supposed to present the facts. Many a time has DH told an attorney--a defense attorney-- "your client is guilty as sin, make a pleas or take a deal". Seriously.

Anyway, this trip couldn't come at a worse time. I still have things to do before my big weekend. On the other hand, it's forced rest. All I have to do is drive there, be present while the boys run the show, and drive back. The problem only lies in how long it'll all take. If it's today, no problem. If it's tomorrow...well, I have dinner plans.

Quick update--just talked to DH and they don't need him after all. So I'm off the hook. On the other hand, he's expecting to be busy at the store this weekend, so now I have bribe convince bribe DD to go down there and help out. She's not going to be happy about that.

On top of all that cleaning, I've been revising. Not as much as I would otherwise, but I'm still making progress. I'm also writing again. I need new words to earn the next charm, you see. So yesterday I opened an old project, one I'm going to use for my chapter's 30th anniversary anthology.



Where was I? Oh, yeah, I wrote over 1100 words yesterday, which felt really good. I've done nothing but revisions for about three weeks now and I'm feeling a bit weary. But I'm gonna push through and finish the damn story. Eventually. My new deadline is July 21st, my next writers group meeting.

Speaking of revisions and writing, I'd better get to it. But before I sign off, let's check out another giftie. Oh, heck, let's do two. We're almost done.

The Twelve Days of Jen

I raved about this movie several weeks ago, well, I guess a couple of months go, actually...I enjoyed it so much I told DD I wanted it for my birthday. And I got it. :)



And at the end of the birthday/Mother's Day shopping frenzy, there was still some cash left, and I wasn't about to let DD just have it--that's my money after all, so I told her to just give it back to me.



One more giftie to go and I'll share that on Friday.

In the mean time, keep cool!

So I have fifteen followers now. How cool is that? Okay, so I know a lot of people have way more than that, but I'm always tickled when I see a new one. Hey, Lara!!

Fan girl meet ups are imminent!!

This weekend is my JAG meetup. Tonight is dinner (leaving at 2 today to go early and visit), tomorrow is hanging out at someone's house and visiting some more. I've changed my mind about going. These are my friends and I only get to see most of them once a year. So I'm going to go and hang out and have fun. (After I run some errands in the morning.)

I know there's a parallel here to my family whom I'm terribly bad about keeping in regular communication with. (Hi Mom.) I know, I know. Really, I do. One of these days, I'm gonna do better. I swear.

Next weekend will be Robin Hood meetup. Other folks have met up in twos and threes so I think this will be the largest gathering--there will be five of us. One will be coming from Minnesota, one from Colorado, one from Kansas, and one from southern Texas. Two will fly, two will drive.

I'm just thankful they agreed to come here this time as I wouldn't have been able to justify the expense of going somewhere else to meet people I'd never met before. And since they are coming here, the least I can do is pay for the food. I'm also putting together goodie bags for one and all to remember our time together. I need a few more things for those bags, but I'm running out of time. Time to brainstorm.

In preparation for the RH meetup at my house, I have been busy cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. I normally clean this time of year anyway while the men are gone, but because strangers are coming, I've amped it up just a bit to include things I might not normally do. Like clean the ceiling fans and the windows (just certain ones). Clean out the fridge. Mop all the floors. Cut down the dead hedges. (That may fall by the wayside, though.) Anyway...you get the idea.

As I was cleaning last night, I came across a picture of Marching Band Boy.  During UIL competitions, there's a photography company that moves amongst the kids while they're on the field and captures images of them. Then you can go online later and look for your kid and buy copies. I've bought a mug the past two years as well. By the time he's done with high school, I hope I'll have a set of four. :) Any how, I came across a picture and my heart just swelled right up. In case you're new here, I brag about my son a lot. I love my daughters, I really do. But my son...he's something else. Yeah, he's sixteen. A typical teenage boy, not wanting to do his school work and copping an attitude and everything else that goes with that age and gender. I know that, I acknowledge that. But he's so awesome. So here he is (though not the UIL photo as I don't have a scanner.):








And now to wrap this up, another installment of the Twelve Days of Jen. We're getting close to being finished now...

A candle warmer lantern...


The one with the candle I got for Christmas and I thought a pair would be nice. The light bulb is not powerful enough to melt the candle all the way through like the other candle warmers you can buy that heat from the bottom up, but it provides a nice little light in the kitchen at night so that I don't have to turn on the big fluorescent light every time I want a drink of water. But I think I'm going to find some decorative wall bracket/plant hangar thingies and hang them in my writing room.

And that does it for this week! Happy Friday and see you back here bright and early Monday!!

For the next seven days, it's just the dogs and me. The men have departed and DD is gone as well.

What to do, what to do??

The two main things on my plate are to revise book one and to clean my house. Cleaning also entails completing small projects. So far, my bedroom is almost done. I need to dust and clean off my dresser and then mop the floor. I started with that room first because it was easiest and because it's my sanctuary. I like it when it's clean and tidy and the bed stays relatively made. :)

The house normally gets a good cleaning while the men are gone, but this year I'm also having guests towards the end of that time frame. Some fellow Robin Hood fans are getting together at my house. It's got to be clean, clean, clean. First impressions and all that.

And with everyone gone, no one else has to be considered but the dogs. And they're easy. They get the same food day in and day out, no thought or preparation required. As for me, I've discovered that Albertson's has a really awesome cobb salad in the deli and I'm gonna pick one up every night. (See if I can't drop a few more pounds this week while I have to feed only myself and can eat whatever I want to do that.)

On the weight loss/get healthy kick I'm on, I ordered a set of bicycle pedals last week. The first few nights I only did 20-25 minutes, but yesterday I decided that I was going to pedal for the length of an episode of Bones, and I did. I'm going to do that every night and see what happens.

I'm walking twice around my office building each morning, calisthenics during the day, and now this bike pedaling. Of course, with this amped up calorie burning, I'm hungrier too. But as long as I'm careful about what I use for fuel, I think I'll lose more than I gain.

(All right, enough of that, even I'm getting bored.)

The Twelve Days of Jen

So today, because I'm wearing a pair, and that made it easy to choose the next giftie...socks!

 I'm wearing the blue pair today...

On a slightly more melancholy note, I'd like to remember my dad. Not only was yesterday Father's Day, but it was my dad's birthday. If he were still alive, he would have turned sixty-five this year. Sadly, he died in 2009, three days before Thanksgiving at the age of sixty-two.

I love you, Dad!

For about 4.5/5 hours Saturday morning.

I think it started somewhere around 4am, though that's a guess, and it rained until 8:30/9am. It didn't rain as hard as I would have liked for all that time, but beggars can't be choosers, I know.

Saturday remained "cool" only reaching the mid-80s temperature wise. Sunday was a little warmer, though I don't think we broke 100*. But today we're back to triple digits.

The house is 98% done. Now it's time to put it all back together. My FIL starts a new job today and will return next weekend to finish up minor things.

Tonight, I'll go over my new bedroom floor with a couple of coats of Mop n' Glo before moving my furniture back in there. I'll dust my ceiling fan and all the shelves and decorations. Then each piece of furniture will also be wiped down before it gets to return home.

Unfortunately, our bed money had to be spent to buy additional boxes of flooring, so no new bed anytime soon. :( I will have to buy new sheets though.

Once we're back in our room, we'll work on getting Sonshine's room put back together. His room & furniture will undergo similar cleaning in the process. Despite his penchant for falling asleep on the couch, he is looking forward to getting his own bed back.

I did get to enjoy my writing room yesterday though my bed's still in it and I didn't actually write. I cross-stitched and listened to music. It was nice and cool and quiet. :)

Pictures tomorrow.

Yesterday was my birthday--I enjoyed a nice quiet day, including a nice good long chat with my momma, a meal I didn't have to cook, and a replay of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The men are still gone, but will be home no later than Wednesday. Of course, they'll be back out the door by Saturday at the latest. DD left for children's camp this morning, so it's just me and the four-legged girls until the men get home.

My one and only birthday gift so far is a 320GB portable hard drive. I've been wanting one for a while to hold all my music, movies, and TV shows. I have too much to keep on my laptop. I found a good one (Seagate) at Wally World for $49. A pretty good deal.

Actually, another lovely gift was my nomination for a Sweet Award by my sweet friend Regina, who chose to nominate me (among others) because "Jen FitzGerald who reminds me of the little treasures buried in each day." Isn't that a lovely thing to say. Thanks again, Regina. :)

As mentioned in a previous post, when the men leave, I clean and complete projects. And when I'm not doing that, I'm reading, writing, or watching fun things on TV/DVD/Netflix/or iTunes.

I'm about halfway through the cleaning, but haven't started completing the projects, though I have what I need to get started. Tonight, I'll be getting started--painting the trim in the former spare bedroom, now computer room. My other project is to work on Sonshine's room. At least to clean it and then buy & paint the molding. The men can put up the molding when they get home.

And I can do laundry without having to babysit the washer. The pipes were getting clogged with gunk, so I had to stop the machine several times during the drain cycles. But it finally reached critical mass and for just under $100, I have unchaperoned laundry once again.

Well...that's it for now. :)

...the cleaning.

June is just around the corner. And of course so is July. Specifically, the 4th of July. Independence Day comes early at our house. Usually starting with D-Day.

I've got you scratching your head now, don't I?

Well, it's like this:

My men go to Oklahoma to play the annual paintball scenario called D-Day. It's usually the second weekend of June. They leave Friday, come home Sunday.

Then...the following weekend (usually) they leave for Elm Mott where the fireworks store is located, and where they will stay until the 5th or 6th of July.

Along with getting them packed up and ready to go, I clean house. A really thorough job of it so that I can enjoy the clean while the men are gone and not waste the time to clean once they've left. Of course, there'll be a bit of tidying up to do once they've cleared the driveway, but not much.

Not only have I been cleaning, I've been cleaning out. Drawers, closets, surfaces, etc. If I can't remember the last time I wore it or looked at it or read it, it goes (mostly). Trash or the donation pile. It's a good feeling to reclaim the space and to see the house look tidy.

On Saturday, I helped a friend paint a couple of walls in her apartment. She chose a lovely yellow-orange color called Golden Chime. It looked really awesome and looked good all day. I say that because she only has a west facing sliding glass door for light. So it looked good without direct sunlight as well as with it. It looked good with her burgundy leather furniture. And it didn't make her apartment look any smaller than it already is. After that, I helped her sort through several containers of stuff and by the time I left, it looked like a completely different place.

I was motivated to work on my own painting project and finally applied the second coat to the upper walls of my spare bedroom. I pulled off all the painters tape and it looks wonderful. I've decided to do everything else white. My color choices weren't the brightest so in order to not make the room look any darker, I'm going with white. Last wall, all the molding, and the floor. So now I have to buy white paint. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the gallon of green I have or the quart of turquiosey blue, but I'll figure something out.

Add laundry and floor mopping and I'm officially bushed. But hopefully I burned a lot of calories along the way. :)

...and that I could afford it. :)

So what was so great about this weekend?

Lots of things, actually.

For one, my men were gone. So the house was quiet and easy to clean and keep clean. And, for whatever reason, I get more accomplished without hubby underfoot. :)

The men left Friday at 4pm to go visit hubby's mom and attend the annual Shootout put on by the wholesaler of the fireworks we buy for our store. Only the Shootout was cancelled because of the burn bans in approximately 217 of the 254 counties in Texas. Argh! But anyway, hubby decided to stay all weekend and do some work in the store, getting it prepped and ready for the selling season--should we have one. If the county the store is in institutes a fireworks ban on top of the burn ban we won't be able to open at all. That would be bad, but it is a very real possibility.

But I digress. The men were gone. So I left work early (shh, don't tell) and started cleaning. Not heavy duty cleaning, but just general tidying in my bedroom and came across a picture of my dad. And I had the desire right then and there to go to Target and get a picture frame (finally!) for it.

So DD and I hied off to Target. Then she asked if I wanted to go to Famous Footwear, which is right next door to Target. I said no. But by the time we were done at Target, I was feeling good and I changed my mind. Three pair of shoes and $130 later! I was planning on buying three pairs of shoes (online) anyway and had a slightly higher budget, so it was all well and good. Plus I didn't have to wait for them to be shipped. My new shoes:




Back home and more cleaning, nothing heavy duty, but I did make a list. You see, my critique partner was coming over Saturday afternoon so there had to be a minimal amount of cleaning. Then on Friday evening once I was pooped out, DD and I watched 2/3 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

By the time CP arrived, the bathroom had been cleaned and a cabinet shelf had been thoroughly cleaned out by DD. Laundry had been sorted, the front and side lawns mowed (by DD), dishes had been washed, a grocery list made. The living room cleaned up, swept, dusted. Ice tea and Kool Aid made. DD and I also finished watching HP/HBP.

CP arrived on time and we chatted and brainstormed a bit and then we decided to go to Barnes & Noble. Nothing really jumped out and bit me book-wise, but I did make a purchase:


I remember Gumby and Pokey well. As a little girl, I had Gumby/Pokey figures and played with them in my metal doll house with my Little People.

On Saturday evening, I brainstormed with an online friend for a chapter of a Robin Hood fan fic I'm supposed to be writing. I was at a total loss--I'm in Harry Potter mode now so fic for RH is tough. After that, DD and I watched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.

Sunday dawned cool and rainy. I started laundry, worked on some fic, went to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth with DD (who has school projects), hit the Home Depot--

--here begins the second half of my great weekend--

I bought new seats for both my toilets. One was broken, one was just old and ugly.

I finally found a chair for my spare room. It's white plastic wicker, but it was only $63, so I am very happy.

DD wanted a shelf for her books and the Home Depot didn't have much in the way of decorative shelving, so I decided we should go to Lowe's...

So we did. And I ended up buying the shelf I've been eying for almost two years. DD put it together for me. My new bookshelf:



DD left to go to the church picnic and I was left blessedly alone. I alternately did laundry, worked on fic (finished one that had been sitting for weeks), put stuff on my new shelf, and cleaned and tidied some more.

I didn't exercise/walk this weekend since I did so much walking at the museum, shopping and cleaning. But I stuck with my eating plan. It's been over a week now, but I can't tell if I've made any progress as I started my period and am now enjoying bloating and water weight from that. :) Give me a few days and we'll see.

So how was YOUR weekend??

Well, I have my computer back. I'm still missing some key programs, like Outlook and Office, but they aren't essential as I can access them on other PCs.

But getting everything re-installed and situated just the way I like, finding all my shortcuts and bookmarks is tedious and done on an as-needed basis.

Getting back into a routine is harder. I have--well *had*--a set list of daily tasks, but because my schedule/routine got out of whack from not having my computer for a week, I am floundering a bit, trying to remember everything and get back into the swing of things again....

And, of course, the phone keeps ringing.

The weekend was good, though. Productive. I like productive. Laundry was done for the week. I got my kitchen floor and half the living room floor (the half that didn't get mopped last time round) swept and mopped. Half the kitchen counter tops were cleaned. All the dishes were done. The spare room ceiling received its second coat of paint and the walls were cut in in preparation for their second coat. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the book was read, the film watched. (Yes, again.)

And, most importantly, time was spent with the kids. We played a couple of games on Saturday afternoon. That was nice. I mean the kids are 21 and 15...so the fact that they still want to play board games is good.

Happy Monday!

toward my 2009 goals. (You remember: a clean house/a finished house & a tidy yard)

The staining (& sealing) of my kitchen cabinets is finally done. The last section was completed yesterday. All *I* have left to do is paint the doors to another (built-in) cabinet. The rest is on my dear hubby.

My entertainment center (which is to say, the corner of our living room where all our entertainment devices are stacked, not an elaborate shelving system) is tidied and un-dog-haired. I pulled every cord and cable off and removed every individual component and dusted and swept. Everything went back in an orderly manner, with all excessive cables wire-tied neatly.

My back yard and patio is cardboard box free, but no completely leaf free. There are *a lot* of leaves...once the leaves are gone, the fleas are next. (Yes, my poor dogs are flea bags, but that is also on my goal list: to de-flea my house, dogs, and yard.)

After my busy weekend, I feel old and achy. I'll skip any heavy manual labor today, and rest my weary body, but back to the leaves tomorrow!

Here's to a clean and tidy new year!

Well, my dear hubby has gotten motivated to get the kitchen done--completely. Finally.

I have a bit of painting left to do: a second coat on the ceiling, and a little bit of wall left, and then the moldings and door casings, and my part is finished.

We bought the flooring on Saturday so it could sit in our home and acclimate for several days.

Today, I'll have to buy more paint--the ceiling was super dry and sucked up a lot of paint. Floor installation starts Friday.

It'll be so nice to have my kitchen. I have a lot of patience as evidenced by the fact that it's been *three* years since we discovered the leak that started this project in the first place. But I am severely close to my breaking point. I want my house to look like a house, and I want it to look clean when it is clean--hard to do with plywood floors.

My house-cleaning system is working like a champ, although I'm not working the system like I should. However, it *is* Thanksgiving week and the kids are out of school, and hubby is on his home improvement jag--so I'll claim those things as excuses for not following the program 100%.

Happy Thanksgiving--my favorite part of the feast is pumpkin cake--what's yours?