Monthly Goals Update and This Week's Goals

I am typing this with a box of tissues on one side of me and a hot cup of tea on the other, even though the temperature inside my house is around 88 degrees or so.  Getting a head cold when the temperature outside spikes from the mid 50's to the mid 80's?  Not my idea of a fun time.

Anyway, despite not feeling great due to lack of sleep (my poor son's eczema has just been going nuts all summer and his skin cracks, itches, scabs, itches, repeat) and now a cold, thus a supreme lack of energy and motivation, I was able to get stuff done anyway.

1.  I've gotten the VERY tip of the iceberg of sewing projects done.  I got one tablecloth made this week (seen above).  I made the tablecloth (and have another one cut out and pinned) out of muslin.  I have been trying to buy this as my main utility fabric when it goes on sale for 50% off, or I have a 60% off one item coupon when it's not on sale. It's a great way to get it cheap.  Last time I was able to get 18 yards for like 16 dollars after coupon, so it was definitely a good deal.

Anyway, onto the tablecloth.  I'm trying to bring more white into the house in the way of tablecloths, dish towels, etc so that I can just plain BLEACH them.  I get tired of going to the used store, buying some nice colored table cloth and then someone in the house getting some oil on it or something and then I can't do much about it because the table cloth can't be bleached.  So, I figure white is the answer to that.  I'll use cloth scraps to make colored napkins, table runners and place mats as I need them, but for the time being white seems like a good solution.  I'll still have some colored table cloths, but I'm hoping to use them for more special occasions or when I absolutely have to.  We'll see how it goes.

In other news the more I work with muslin, really the more I like it.  While it did shrink when I washed it, it didn't shrink too much and it gets really soft after I wash it, so it's nice to have as a utility fabric.  I have a lot of plans of things to make with it.

2.  I got the kids registered for the next school year, which took a lot longer than I wanted it to on my "I love to freeze up if you look at me wrong" laptop, but I got it done.  So yay for that being out of the way!
 
3. 

I got some of my kitchen cabinets mucked out and organized better.  They were getting kind of bare as I started using things and condensing everything down into my pantry, so I thought emptying out the cupboards and scrubbing them shiny was a nice way to put a good spin on things.  And it IS nice having things a lot more organized and being able to find things better in my kitchen.  I've still got a ways to go, but it's getting there.

4.  I've gotten some better ideas of what my canning and preserving list is looking like, part of which came about by cleaning out my cabinets.  I found two packages of dried figs and a large bag of dried apricots in my pantry that I knew I had but had forgotten where I had put them.  So I am planning to use those to make Heavenly Fig Jam and apricot jam (if the recipe for that turns out, I'll post it for you).

5.  I staked my other tomato plant before the weather got hot, so I got that done.  Good feeling to be sure.

6.  The laundry, actually, is pretty much caught up.  At least 98% of it is clean right now and I started working on folding and sorting "Mt. Foldsalot" today.  I got about half done and am hoping to get the other half done tomorrow.  It's been slow going this weekend as I'm worn out and sick feeling.

7.  I got the top floor carpets of my house shampooed today.  I wasn't planning on doing it, but my son broke out in hives and I was worried it was something in the carpets, since my husband had complained of getting itchy after lying on the living room floor yesterday.  So, I determinedly got the top floor carpets shampooed, which will hopefully help stave off the hives for my poor little kiddo.  I plan on getting the bottom floor carpets done tomorrow no matter how I feel.

This Week's Goals Are:

1.  I got nothing done in the way of mucking more things out of my 40' van this week, so I'm hoping to get some more out of there this week.  Although, honestly, the way I'm feeling right now I'm not counting on getting much done in that regard.

2.  Continue to work on sewing projects and mending

I found about seven more of my husband's socks that need mending today *sigh*.

3.  Make new dish towels.

4.  Work on husband's birthday gift

It's a month away or so, but I'm figuring it's going to take me a while to get it done.

5.  Continue to work on pantry and kitchen.

6.  If weather permits at some point, make fig jam, apricot jam and strawberry jam.

7.  Work on new curtains for son's room.

8.  Get up early and bake bread and cookies.  

With the way the heat has been this has to be done early before the house gets too hot.

9.  Shampoo bottom floor carpets (as stated above).

10.  Prune tomato plant.

The verdict is out on whether pruning the suckers off of tomato plants helps the fruit or not, but for Early Girl tomatoes, the variety I plant, it seems to be recommended, so I'm going to start doing that now that the fruit is starting to form.  We'll see if it makes a difference in the size of the fruit as usually the tomatoes I get are decently prolific but really REALLY small.

Here's hoping I can get any to all of that done with a head cold this week.