Today's Goals-Week of 12/1

[SRL]

That first week helped me so much to start setting goals and feeling like I was making progress in small ways. I did get some things accomplished last week but I also got sidetracked reading a new series. I can get lost in any project...except houswork.

1) I've been starting a pile of stuff that needs to be moved out to thrift shops each weekday morning. I'm going to continue that because I've simply got too much stuff to manage in this house.

2) I need to tackle one of these today: general living room pick up (which is worse than it sounds because that's where everything seems to clutter up) or do a serious vacuum job in the kitchen (high shelves, behind stuff, etc).

3) Limit myself to one can of soda. I am pleased to report that after a year of trying I've finally tamed the Diet Dr. Pepper habbit. I would be happier if it were due to just plain desire to live healthier and discipline on my part but it was contributing to my inner ear problems so that forced the choice. I was drinking soda like water for too long, so to be able to go for several weeks without caffienated soda has been a huge health hurdle to overcome.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

This week I need to get my car in for it's 30K mile checkup, figure out why the tire keeps loosing air, schedule an eye exam for me, call the dentist and figure out why we haven't been reminded about our annual checkups, keep on easy child to get those scholorship apps in the mail, help difficult child finish up the experiment portion of his science project, do the grocery shopping, order all my year end tax forms at the office, figure out a gift for my mother in law (last gift of the season!), and then just attend to all the regular weekly stuff.

It's going to be a busy week!

Sharon

 

[hearts and roses]

SRL and Sharon, you both have set some pretty big goals for yourselves this week! I can't wait to hear how we all do!

My goals for this week at work:

1) Finish holiday letter and labels - mail out by Friday.
2) Finish client gift orders by Friday
3) Go through all account payables and make sure the new bookkeeper is doing them correctly and reconcile AR.
4) Get orders for the holiday hams for the employees out of state.
5) Record and invoice 30 files using time sheets from 3/07!!! (this guy is always late with everything.

My goals for this week at home:

1) Prod easy child to make an appointment with an oral surgeon to have her wisdoms removed.
2) Have a date night with H.
3) Go through the games and magazines in the living room to make space for our tree.
4) Decorate my new front porch!
5) Stick to my dinner menu.

 

[SRL]

Sharon and Jo, you both sound so much more organized than I am. I am NOT a listmaker so even doing this goes against my grain. It does help make me accountable.

Of my three things yesterday, I gathered up a garbage bag full of stuff which goes to the thrift shop. I wound up with two cans of soda instead of one, but the other was diet caffiene free so I'm fine with that. I opted to go with the living room and wound up concentrating on cleaning out the games cabinet because it was so full that we had games scattered out in the living room. Being that I'm not a list person, I'm okay with adjusting it, as long as it's forward progress.

This afternoon
1) I need to be disciplined at the compter and need to turn it off if needed.
2) Put together supper early because I have kids going in all directions tonight, including daughter who has Nutcracker practice every night this week.
3) Continue with the living room and gathering up for thrift. I just don't have places for stuff anymore so it's out and iabout it's making me feel defeated. It's not very fast progress though.
4) Keep up with laundry, which for me means about 4 loads today.

 

[trinityroyal]

Goodness!

Yesterday was such a whirlwind I never actually sat down to make a list until evening.
I spent the morning ripping apart my home office and then putting it back together. I moved all of the furniture into a configuration that works much better for me.

Desks in an L-shape, so that I have a bit of room to spread out and don't have to keep moving the same pile of paper around. Turned the furniture so my back is to the busy window, and I'm facing the quiet window, so I can still look outside but don't get distracted by whatever the neighbours are doing. Cabinets repositioned so that I can reach everything I need, etc.

I feel so much better! The old arrangement was playing merry havoc with my ADHD. Too many distractions in my line of sight, and the desk just didn't "feel" right. It's MUCH better now.

Didn't get anything else done yesterday (except to write my to-do list), but it was worth it to come up with an office layout that makes sense to my brain.

So...my list for this week:
1) Write a letter to difficult child's psychiatrist about treatment modifications.
2) Follow up with the Recruiter about a job interview I had on Friday.
3) Follow up with the other Recruiter about a possible job interview next week.
4) Make a batch of shrimp-vegetable soup.
5) Fold the laundry that's been sitting in the dryer for days, and put it away.
6) Finish filling out difficult child's grant application paperwork
7) Finish filling out difficult child's insurance application paperwork
8) Do something with the yard to make it look less of an eye-sore. Rake the leaves or something.

Trinity

 

[trinityroyal]

So...my list for this week:
1) Write a letter to difficult child's psychiatrist about treatment modifications. Yup. Received a reply this evening.
2) Follow up with the Recruiter about a job interview I had on Friday. Yup. Didn't get the job, but the hiring manager has me in mind for something in January
3) Follow up with the other Recruiter about a possible job interview next week. Not yet. Frankly I'm afraid to. husband has worked for the hiring manager before. His picture is in the dictionary next to Toxic Boss. I hope the other one comes through before I have to do the interview for this one.
4) Make a batch of shrimp-vegetable soup. Yup.
5) Fold the laundry that's been sitting in the dryer for days, and put it away. Finally. husband mentioned that he has no underthings for work tomorrow and I can't have him going commando to the office. Eeek.
6) Finish filling out difficult child's grant application paperwork
7) Finish filling out difficult child's insurance application paperwork
8) Do something with the yard to make it look less of an eye-sore. Rake the leaves or something.

Getting there...
Now the grant application and insurance paperwork...those are scary.

 

[Marguerite]

I've been fairly quiet here for a while, been too busy. So my goal this week is to try to get some rest, for one day at least. If I can get some sun in there, even better. I just always seem to be busy away from home on the hot, sunny days! I also have some gardening to do, I'll still count it as a rest day if I can get some gardening done too, as long as I also get to rest.

If I can get the rest, some gardening and beach sand between my toes - I will consider I have accomplished all I could do. For this week.

Marg

 

[SRL]

Good for you, Trinity. What an interesting life you lead, what with toxic bosses and commando husband. ;-)

Marg, I think making rest a priority is a wonderful idea. Hope you enjoyed this day.

This afternoon
1) I need to be disciplined at the compter and need to turn it off if needed. I did--turned it back on a few times but got off fairly quickly. I'm going to need to do this more as my computer is in the kitchen and I'm too pulled to it.
2) Put together supper early because I have kids going in all directions tonight, including daughter who has Nutcracker practice every night this week. Did that so everyone had a good dinner before heading out.
3) Continue with the living room and gathering up for thrift. I just don't have places for stuff anymore so it's out and iabout it's making me feel defeated. It's not very fast progress though. One more bag to the van for the thrift store. I realized yesterday I'm making more progress by not thinking I'm either going to get through this all "today".
4) Keep up with laundry, which for me means about 4 loads today. Washed but still need to hang one of those.

Wednesday--in addition to the usual stuff:
1) I need to run errands to get my daughter ready for Nutcracker: buy makeup, an extra pair of tights, etc.
2) Get dinner into the crockpot so it's ready early.
3) Choose one area for decluttering.
4) Call to make an appointment to have my furnace looked at.

 

[smallworld]

What great accountability! I'm going to join you on this thread (need to get motivated to get more "at home" stuff done).

For Wednesday:
Pay bills
Email roofer to clean gutters
Make dentist appointment
Plan meals for rest of week and start dinner for tonight (J has a psychiatrist appointment from 6 to 7 pm)
Email J's psychiatrist with weekly update
Call gymnastics for refund (A has a concussion and can't go back for a while)

 

[Fran]

My week is so hectic that I was feeling frantic. I have done my lists every day and scratched them off as completed. The ones I haven't completed go on tomorrow's list.
I like the idea of sending husband out in the cold commando style. Maybe it will help him remember where the hamper is.

I have 4 or 5 major issues to deal with(plus the holidays) and I'm a one hit wonder kind of girl. I wish one or two would be settled so I can not be so scattered. Everytime I leave to go to attend to mom, I erase the slate and can't remember where I left off with phone calls and responses. I'm trying to keep the notebook updated of daily calls so I don't keep chasing my tail.

My plan this week is to catch up with mail,bills, phone calls, hair, car, dog doctor etc that has piled up for being out of town. I still have to hang clothes from my emptied suitcase and put the laundry away. I'd like to get farther along on the Christmas decorating, card writing and all the other extra stuff. I feel tired all the time which I'm sure is from being on the go.

Lists, I would be a mess without them.

Do any of you have a hard time looking through recipes when you are trying to eat on the low calorie side of life? My mouth was literally watering. Yum. It's going to be hard to keep some discipline.

 

[smallworld]

For Wednesday:
Pay bills For tomorrow morning
Email roofer to clean gutters Done (but haven't heard back yet)
Make dentist appointment Done
Plan meals for rest of week and start dinner for tonight (J has a psychiatrist appointment from 6 to 7 pm) Done
Email J's psychiatrist with weekly update Done
Call gymnastics for refund (A has a concussion and can't go back for a while) Done

Fran, I try to only look at low-cal recipes when I'm trying to eat low-cal. That way I don't get tempted to stray. One of my favorite cookbooks du jour is The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great by Pam Anderson. Have you ever taken a look at it?

Keep up the good work with your lists, everyone!

 

[Marguerite]

Fran, you said, "Do any of you have a hard time looking through recipes when you are trying to eat on the low calorie side of life? My mouth was literally watering. Yum. It's going to be hard to keep some discipline."

I get obsessed with recipes and cooking. However, I find cooking special meals for others (not always healthy, but often healthier than usual) can make me feel better. I also tend to play with healthy recipes more, especially using lots of fresh herbs from the garden. I've got some unusual herbs (like salad burnet, purple basil, chocolate mint) which each have their own recipe that tastes fabulous with their special touch.

What REALLY works well for me when I'm dieting - like today, I make fancy biscuits. I have special shape cutters and have fun playing, using a biscuit dough that doesn't have any baking powder or self-raising flour in it. Just plain flour (aka all-purpose flour). I make two to three batches, each one a different colour/flavour and also decorate with choc chips, silver cachoux, any other things like those sugar snowflake shapes or butterfly shapes.
I put the biscuit dough in the fridge, rolled into a long cylinder shape (each flavour separate). When it's cold and hard I cut thin slices, then I use the cutters to cut out different shapes. I like to have cutters in different shapes, such as stars or hearts in three different sizes. You then cut say, large hearts in two different flavours and put them side by side. Then get the next size down and cut shapes out of the two large hearts. Swap them over so you have two-tone biscuits. If you have a third smaller heart, do it again. You end up with concentric hearts in alternating flavours. I use a skewer to make a small hole in each biscuit before baking, so I can thread string through them afterwards.

A tip - once you slice the dough, put the biscuits on baking paper (or silicone baking sheet). That way you don't have to move them once you start playing with different flavours. Any dough you cut away, roll it into a ball and put it back in the bag to put back in the fridge.

I prepare a tray of biscuits at a time, often with different shapes and different treatments. Any leftover dough will keep for weeks. You can freeze the dough or freeze the biscuits.

Today I got some sugar snowflakes (each one smaller than my little toenail) and used them as buttonholes on my tiny teddy bear shapes. Another fun trick - a larger teddy bear shape with a smaller person shape cut out from the middle, like the bear ate someone. And silver cachoux or choc bits for eyes.

When you're low on dough you roll it all out (each one) into a flat sheet. Sandwich the sheets together then roll them up. Put them in the fridge again then when hard, slice across. You should have pinwheel biscuits which you can decorate with cachoux. I'm also cutting out leaf and flower shapes and pressing on the leaves with a skewer to make indentations for the veins of the leaves. I put green colouring in those ones and also made some flower biscuits to match, using cachoux for the centres of the daisy shapes.

They take a little longer but keep my busy without me wanting to eat any. It's like I'm testing myself, then I enjoy making other people happy with a packet of fancy biscuits.

Another fun trick you can try - cut circles, then cut out a smaller shape from every second circle (you can bake the smaller shapes too). Then use a butter cream to sandwich the biscuits together, with a 'window' on one side. You can sandwich the tiny cutouts too, as baby biscuits. Or you can put some chopped up boiled sweets inside the cutout biscuit (using silicone or baking paper) and it should melt into toffee during baking, so it's like a stained glass effect filling the hole. These also look good hanging on the tree (hence make a thread hole before baking).

It's fun to play.

Marg

 

[trinityroyal]

So...my list for this week:
1) Write a letter to difficult child's psychiatrist about treatment modifications. Yup. Received a reply this evening.
2) Follow up with the Recruiter about a job interview I had on Friday. Yup. Didn't get the job, but the hiring manager has me in mind for something in January
3) Follow up with the other Recruiter about a possible job interview next week. Not yet. Frankly I'm afraid to. husband has worked for the hiring manager before. His picture is in the dictionary next to Toxic Boss. I hope the other one comes through before I have to do the interview for this one.
4) Make a batch of shrimp-vegetable soup. Yup.
5) Fold the laundry that's been sitting in the dryer for days, and put it away. Finally. husband mentioned that he has no underthings for work tomorrow and I can't have him going commando to the office. Eeek.
6) Finish filling out difficult child's grant application paperwork
7) Finish filling out difficult child's insurance application paperwork
8) Do something with the yard to make it look less of an eye-sore. Rake the leaves or something.

Getting there...
Now the grant application and insurance paperwork...those are scary.

To-do list update...

Still dithering on the grant and insurance paperwork. I just hate them and keep putting them off until the last minute.

As for the things I DID do...

husband's underthings drawer is empty again. I'd better get on with the laundry. Once I'm back at work we will be splitting laundry duties again, but I figure I can clear up what's in the baskets before the weekend is out.

Need to make another batch of soup, since I polished off this one. Maybe hamburger soup this time...

difficult child's psychiatrist is doing research, based on the letter, and I need to write another letter to follow up...

First recruiter came back with a job offer, so I told the second recruiter (the one working with Toxic Boss) to go away. Politely, of course...

As for the yard...I've decided to just let it be an eyesore, wait for the snow, and then deal with it in the spring.

Happy Friday!