1) Summer Plans - As many goals as I had for August summer fun, most of it different didn't happen - I started the summer strong but then between the heat and then lots of planning for the fall; I let this slip.
2) Decluttering - I never once made it to the basement.
3) The Big Room Switch - This ballooned near the end of August and is almost done.
4) Homeschool - It's ready to go!
5) Potty Training - FAIL! Geesh
6) Scrapbooking - I met the goal of 100 pages this summer (but I'm only through the beginning of May!!)
7) Celebrations- I had planned to plan the boys birthday parties but I think we will be doing something different than parties this year. My boys LOVE to go to a hotel - they even play "Hotel" and pack little bags, tell me good bye, get on their trikes, and "leave". We are still planning to have the grandparents over for cake and ice cream but I think we might do something totally different this year :-)
So, lets regroup for September
1) The Big Room Switch - With the help of my parents (painting, taking the kids, helping with the floor) the room switch WILL be done by the end of the month!!!! We have already moved rooms. The classroom is actually all set up but, at the end of the month, we will empty it and put in some laminate floors (the carpet is worn . . and pink HA! It is about 12-13 years old so it's ok to git rid of it!). Our new room is almost done - I have minor decorating to do (I have vinyl picked out for the walls). I plan on having it all done by the end of the month. The boys room - that is our HUGE push this first week. On Labor Day, my parents are coming over and volunteered to help paint the room while they are here so we can get it done quickly. They are then taking the boys home so we can seal the floor, and, hopefully get most or all of the laminate floor down by Saturday (anything left, my dad will help me finish up next Saturday when they bring the boys back). I have the bedding picked out, Nate's bed picked out, and art pieces I created ordered or in the process of being made. It WILL be all put together by the end of the week. Hard to believe that this project is actually going to be done by the end of September.
2) House Projects - This is a new category. My husband and I walked through the house, inside and out, recently and made a list of all of the things we need to finish. I'm not going to share the list - it would be overwhelming to anyone else but for us it is a focus. It includes everything from painting one wall on the garage that we never painted because no one can see it to putting a new front door on the house. Some projects, like putting the last of the swingset together, cost nothing or next to nothing while others, like a new garage door opener, putting in a door in the basement or getting some work done on the truck that are a little more expensive. It gives us a goal to work towards and how to prioritize items. Each Month I'll list the projects that we actually complete. My goal is to wipe off 4 items each month based on what finances allow.
3) Scrapbooking - I need to refocus on my big project list. I'm been so focused on staying as current as possible that my other projects have gotten no where. I need to go back through everything and make a new list of what needs to be done, updated, and ordered. Also, I want to complete all of May and June by the end of September. Both April and May and HUGE amounts of photos thanks to my new camera, weddings, and vacations but I've already noticed a lot less photos in July and August :-) Plus I will budget for ordering the rest of the pages that I have done digitally - I'd like to order about 15 a month.
4) Homeschool - I just need to keep moving with this. September will be a trial and error month so I really will just report our progress at the end of the month
5) Potty Training - It is going to be one of our life skills we are going to work on in September.
6) Celebrations - With the holidays coming, I want to get our calendar set for Sept-Dec. with family activities, birthdays, and holiday stuff. And, don't forget, I plan on making more trips to visit the folks so I need to get some of those on the calendar too :-)
7)Planning the Yard/Outside stuff - This summer, our yard, garden, and other plans were totally burned out by the heat. Normally I at least get a break to do some dreading weeding but when it was 100+ degrees for days on end, well, no way, no how. So, I've made it my "winter" goal to work on the yard. How? I plan on doing a lot of research from everything on how best to KEEP weeds from growing in the flower beds to what plants/small trees to plant to how to best build small, decorative retaining walls around burms at the base of trees. We also have some deck work to do so I want to research some plans, costs, ect. Please understand, I am not, by any means, a Gardener. I don't even like gardening but I do like having a nice yard. So I also need to research how make the yard greener and less weedy and there are some holes to fill in too (thanks to the great mole hunter named China HA). I also want to find some nice lawn furniture - a swing, a table and chairs and a sun chair or two AND to make it nice outside, we are looking at some things to put up for shade - I really love the shade sails so we'll see if that is the best plan. Finally, we want to upgrade our $15.00 pool ;-) Nothing big because I still believe that the pool shouldn't be any deeper than the kids can handle but we'd like to go up in size some so that we can all enjoy it in the heat of the summer. Buying a slightly bigger pool is a whole lot cheaper than putting in central air ;-) LOL Which brings up something else I'll be adding in this list of research - the best window units so we can actually cool the house next summer during the hottest days. So yes, that is a lot of research but what better time to do it than in the middle of a snowstorm? :-) My main goal this month is to take pictures of all of the areas and do a lot of measuring so I know what I'm working with.
That's where I stand for now. :- )
