October goals:
- Finish a rough draft of family photo book-done
- Finish will for Jon and I-done
- Write one handwritten letter- not done
- Read 3 books-done
November goals:
- Read two books to complete reading list for the year
- Write one handwritten letter
- Finish family photo book and get it off to the printer
For reference here is my master list for the year:
Create a living trust for my husband and I-DoneCreate a business checking account or get a business use credit card- DONEMax out our Roth IRA-on trackPay off our Honda- DONE!!Create more “circles”, whimsical items and patterns into my home, as discussed in Ingrid Lee’s book,Joyful.I’m also intrigued by her blogAesthetics of Joy-Done- Take a self defense course- not sure if this one is going to happen this year
Learn how to fully use and integrate my CMS business software-on trackDo a month long Facebook fast, excluding business (I’m doing this right now and I’m loving the results so far!)- DoneSave x amount/month for a family vacation in July- DoneStart ballroom dancing again-DoneDesign a garden for our backyard-DoneBuy curtains for my living room-DoneMake a recipe from The Great British Bake Off-Done- Read 60 books (4 more than last year)- I’m ahead with 58 books read!
- Make a 2017-2018 Family Photo Book- in progress
Get passports for the kids-DoneMake a photo book for my oldest son- DONE- Write and mail at least 5 “old-fashioned” letters- have one more to do
What are you doing in November to set yourself up for success?
Hi Jenny,
With company coming, I want to make the upstairs bedrooms more peaceful, clean and uncluttered – or more calm. Depending on how you look at it, it’s all kind of the same thing.
We’re getting rid of many things we no longer find important in our lives and many things we are not yet ready to part with.
We’ve washed repaired, and painted walls, swept the cottage cheese ceilings, thoroughly dusted the furniture and drawers inside and out, and then arranged, discussed, and rearranged bit by bit, one room at a time, it’s coming together more quickly than I thought. I found one drawer with “stuff” still in it, as I was cleaning furniture; I put it in a box to go through later and put it in a “collecting station” as I didn’t want to stop the arranging process I was doing at the moment.
One morning, as a chore like doing dishes, laundry, or vacuuming a room, I will pull the box out and go through it. It’s mostly unimportant scraps of paper (like a 2001 optometrist prescription for eyeglasses), but there are a few things that need to be looked at, donated or just thrown out. Not everything is worthy of donating even if
it is still in good condition.
I also take a break and do something relaxing or fun so that I don’t burn out before the project is done.
These rooms won’t be the final outcome by the time family arrives, but it will be clean and comfortable. There is a bedroom that’s become the “collecting station” where we have set items (mostly furniture) that we have not yet decided to keep or donate.
Our Thanksgiving Feast will be scaled down, less hectic, more simple. I’m focused on the house and good times together rather than the hassles of lots of cooking. It’s going to be papers plates and not the chores of polishing the silver and handwashing the holiday plates.
That’s what’s happening for Thanksgiving’s holiday this year. Next year may be very different.