I'm finding it hard to believe that it is already April. March flew by and I'm not even sure where it went. I do know we were busy and had a lot of fun! The downside is that I did not get nearly enough done on my goal list. I was thinking the other day - if I could actually accomplish what I want to get done this year . . the next year, I should be able to sit back and relax :-) Things would be organized and cleaning would have a perfect routine to keep it light and easy. Yet so often the motivation to do anything is just not there HA!
Here's whats on the radar for the coming month.
Home
1. The Kitchen/Dining room - I'm back to the first area I tackled back in January. So it is deep cleaning in these two rooms once again. This time I want to focus more on the corners and the windows. Basically cleaning into the corners of each room - lots of floor and baseboard cleaning. Plus, cleaning the windows inside and out to get ready for summer and, if possible, updating some window treatments. Finally, I need to do some touch up painting both in the dining room and kitchen.
2. The basement - My nemesis. HA! I have a huge goal this month - to get the whole basement done. This entails cleaning up the playroom and setting it up for real play, organize the storage/work side, and just do general cleaning. I don't know why this is so hard to do - I know that in the end, it only takes 3-4 hours to get it all done and cleaned back up but I just don't like doing it HA!
3. The Outside - This is a new item on the list but it is time to start focusing on the outside. I'll break this done into a few areas.
a) The garage - the past two years we have not been able to do our semi-annual garage cleaning because of Darryl's back/recovery. This entails cleaning off shelves, getting rid of some broken shelving, going through and cleaning out the outside toys, finding spaces for the bikes and getting rid of anything that doesn't belong.
b) The landscaping - All of the flower beds need to be raked and then have new mulch put down. The trees need to be trimmed, and I have some new plants to pick up and plant along side the house. Along with landscaping is figuring out our garden area and prepping for that as well. We also need to get sand to fill the sandbox.
c) The outside of the house - We are (crossing our fingers) going to start painting the outside of our house. It's just a matter of buying two gallons of paint and starting. (Yes, we'll need more than two but this will be a slow process so we'll get two and go from there!)
School
1. Our number one goal this month is to wrap all of our school work by the end of the month. I'm kind of amazed that we are wrapping up Kindergarten for Josh. Wow.
2. Summer Planning - I know that we need to continue with phonics and math. So, with that in mind I want to put together some plans for work for 2 days a week. A friend mentioned to me that she also focuses on Science more in the spring, summer and fall because it is fun and there is so much that can be studied. I might look into that idea a little bit and come up with some "units" of study to do maybe one day a week.
3. Continue in either saving and/or ordering our books for the fall. There is a Homeschool Convention coming up in May I plan on attending so I want to wait to purchase everything until then - I should be able to get some things used at a better price.
4. Organization - I need to go through everything we currently have on hand and sell what we are done with and won't use again. That money can help go towards the next years purchase. (Plus it will clean out my homeschool stuff!)
Scrapbooking
1. Photo organization - I've been lacking on keeping my photos organized and backup-ed on the external hard drive so this month I will get it all current. I also need to upload them all into Snapfish and start ordering them.
2. I've done this next step so many times it isn't funny but then I go a year without doing anything and lose my notes! So, I need to go through my projects and figure out what needs to be done and starting working on them.
3. I will budget to start getting my stuff caught up - ordering page prints, pages, an album, and protectors. (This is the second part of #2 above)
4. Continue work on the graduation album for my nephew. This month I will be e-mailing the family and asking them write their letters to him so I can add those to the book.
5. I am going to an all day crop this month. With that in mind, I need to prep what I want to get done on that day which includes finishing 2013 (I just have a few days left to do).
Camping
This is a totally new line item but we have 4 different camping weekends booked for this summer so, it's time to start working on this item!
1. Food - one of the more expensive parts of camping is the food. It tends to be different that what we eat at home and, well, we tend to eat more while camping probably due to all of the extra activity! I learned last year that convenience is key so buying snack sized things is key - I realize they cost a little more than making my own snack bags but buying the prepackaged stuff means that it will stay fresh all summer so what we don't eat on what trip, we can use on the next one. So, I need to make a master list/menu and work on picking up a few things each week including the steak for our kabobs which I can cut up when I buy it and freeze it ready to go!
2. Activities - I had a lot of fun last year planning activities for our weekend - right down to a small Bible lesson with a craft for Sunday morning. The dollar store becomes my best friend because I know that whatever we use while camping ends up dirty and broken HA!
3. Supplies - I need to rework my list of supplies. Our first camping trip in May is local - about 10 minutes down the road - I plan on using that first trip to set up the camper and make it user friendly for us for the rest of the trips.
Holidays
1. Easter - It's only a week away so it's time to get busy! I want to have a craft to do with the kids on Friday, plus eggs to decorate/hide on Saturday and small Easter Baskets. I'm guilty of going overboard on things so I'm trying to do better. I plan on getting the boys each a small lego set and a little spray fan they want. My kids are not big candy eaters but I know what they like so I'll add one or two of their favorites.
2. My Birthday :-) Darryl and I were just talking about some ideas for my birthday weekend the other day so the plans are in motion.
3. I still need to do my recap/ideas for Christmas - I wish I would have done this back in January when it was fresh but I need to work on it now anyway. Also need to make my Christmas storage plan since the boys saw the gift under my bed (oops) but I just kinda grazed over the conversation and have since hid it elsewhere.
4. Birthdays - My goal this month is to come up with the 5 day plan (a week of birthday). Then go from there.
Misc
1. I still have my 4 things I'm working on. Aprils a new month so I'm hoping to have more success!
2. Quiet time/devotions - Looking for a new Bible Study!
3. Plan April's Budget and stick to it.
Just One Thing - I really love this concept - it helps me focus on those things that I tend to never get done!
The last few months I didn't list things but this month I think I will.
1. The truck - it's that time of year - time to deep clean the truck. I even have new truck mats waiting to go in. I also need to "refresh" the truck bag to make sure it has everything in it we need for the unexpected :-)
2. Finish the kitchen wall - just need to pick up one thing for it and hang it - then it will be done.
3. Clean the blinds in the bathroom
4. Do the closet exchange for Darryl and I - move the winter clothes downstairs and the summer stuff upstairs.
5. Change the Monthly Menu for the summer plan to begin in May. This also means I need to "stock" the grilling area so we are ready to use the "outdoor" kitchen.
6. Update the photo boards in the living room
7. Clean out the filing cabinet and update the files so I only keep what we need.
8. List 1-2 things on the local garage sale site to start cleaning out things. I was going to do a Mom to Mom Sale but the thought of all of that work is more than I want to do. So instead, I'm going to just list a couple of things at a time. This money is all going towards Birthdays/Christmas.
9. Work on my "find a home - make a home" concept - One thing we have struggled with in this house is finding homes for things. It has to do with lack of stoarge. I've made a lot of progress with finding creative ways to make a home (like a three armed hook in the kitchen where winter coats/snowpants can hang in the winter!) My main goal this month is the kitchen - my counters tend to get cluttered because the cabinets get full . . .I want to make sure things have a home - an easy to use home - so we don't get the piles!
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