Thursday, June 1, 2017

Monthly Goals Update: May, a Month in Review

Since I didn't get to doing monthly goal updates last month due to life being hectic, I figured I'd try to look far away and visionary and post up a review post of the last month (since I'm terrible at selfies and wouldn't know how to look far away and visionary, please enjoy Price looking like it instead above ;).

So, let's review May shall we?

When it comes to goals last month, I did get some of them accomplished, but I veered off at some point and got a bunch of other stuff done instead (life does that).

I did work on the garden and planted seeds and then planted THOSE seedlings in the garden along with more seeds.  I'll save the progress on that end for the update tomorrow, but other than losing some lettuce seedlings (not quite sure why, honestly...I don't think it was the cold, but more like I just waited too long to plant them), the garden is coming together so far :).

I finished up the lettuce in the hydroponics garden and started some herbs (which came with the garden originally, so I wasn't out any money to plant them).  So far all three herbs have sprouted (the parsley worried me there, but it finally popped up a couple of days ago *thumbs up*) and I'm letting the little garden do it's thing.

I mended some things last month, but not as much as I would have liked.  The last few days I've been cleaning like a mad woman and reorganizing everything in the den and such so that when the phone company guys came today they could get to everything and I didn't have to feel bad that my house was a mess.  So, I scrambled and found places for all of the sewing things that were scattered to the four winds, pulled out a couple of different types of fabric to make shopping bags out of and wrote down some measurements.  Overall, I feel great about the progress I've made the last few days on the "getting embroidery projects started" front :).

By the way to those who inquired about special orders for embroidery...at this point I don't want to commit to those types of projects because time is so scattered around here.  For now I just want to make things with materials I have on hand, finish said projects and then sell them.  Sorry, but maybe in the future I'll feel more confident doing special orders.

I conserved pennies I didn't even know I had this month and am working on conserving them as they come in as well.  As for egg recipes...well eggs were kind of scarce this month due to broody chickens (which I THINK we might be on the other side of it completely now as the last one seems to be breaking out of it, but at least I'm up to two eggs a day right now), but I'm planning on getting some baking done tomorrow and over the weekend to use up some eggs and more importantly get some different things into the freezer.
So, yeah, our little rendition of "Breaking Broody" this month took up some of my time.  And then there was finding apples on reduced cheap, so I also made applesauce, a pic of which is above there.  Out of 6.00 worth of apples I got ten pints of applesauce.  None too shabby if I do say so myself!

I worked my tail off trying to get some Spring cleaning accomplished, but suddenly with the son having behavioral issues, we instead ended up going to a psychologist and have spent the entire month working on finding the right type of medication for him to take (which he's starting on a new one tomorrow as soon as it comes in...they had to compound a pill into a liquid for him).

I did, somehow manage to squeak out some cleaning, though, especially the last few days.  The downstairs looks okay now (need to get recycling out of there, though) and I managed to get the rest of the Christmas decorations into storage (yes, Christmas decorations.  Don't judge *laugh*) and got the mattress that was in the den drug across the lawn and put into storage as well.  My arm is more mobile then it has been in months and isn't hurting as badly, by far, so I'm kind of hoping I'm on the mend there, as well.

So some of the cleaning I got done on the Spring cleaning front.  I got my daughter's room dusted down really well (she helped) and my daughter started to organize it again.  My son kept messing with his fan and trying to unscrew the fan motor from it's casing (which my husband was even impressed by), so I ended up moving his bed a few days ago and rearranging his room so there was NO WAY he could reach his fan anymore before he hurt himself or wrecked the fan...or both.  I got the master bedroom mucked out and organized a bit better, which was nice to get done. 

I also took the top of my stove apart and cleaned all of the openings and things and scrubbed the burner covers really well and things.  I finally tried an H2O at Home product I didn't really like, which was the cleaning clay.  SUPPOSEDLY it was awesome.  I had heard all of these stories of seven year neglected ovens being scrubbed by a seven year old with the clay and how it worked wonders to clean the oven sparkling clean and such.  So much for testimonials.  I found it messy (as it foamed up TERRIBLY whenever you grabbed some with the scrubber it came with, so it went everywhere) and it just plain didn't work at all well that I could see.  I finally just washed down the entire stove top in frustration with water (and the counter where the stuff had foamed up all over it) after scrubbing it for what seemed hours and just used some white vinegar to wash the top down as well. Which between that, soap and good old elbow grease at least I'm CLOSE to getting the old grease and the burned on sugar (canning last year...son distracted me at wrong time throwing a fit...results were pure awesome burned on sugar mess) off the top of the stove.  I had gotten the cleaning clay for free with the party I gave, which was good because I would have felt really ripped off if I'd paid for it.  I'll probably use it to scrub out the sinks after I do the dishes or something as it is mildly abrasive, thus it SHOULD polish okay until it's gone.

So, overall, my month I'd say was pretty productive, just not in the way I had planned, but such is life :).  So, how did you all do last month?

9 comments:

  1. Just an FYI - I am a notorious stove top procrastinator and it was so bad I would flip cookie sheet upside down over the burners if people came over. By that point, NOTHING I tried worked and then PINTREST :) ammonia - yes it smells horrific! (and I don't know if your son could handle being around it) - I pour it into the stove burner "hollows" - not enough to cover the starters (gas stove) and then put plastic wrap over it to seal it and leave it overnight. The next morning I use all my old rag towels to sop up the extra (and quickly put them in the washer - geez that stuff stinks!) and then start wiping it down - I only had to do minimal scrubbing and my stove looked AWESOME! Melissa V

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    1. I'll need to get some ammonia and try that. Thanks! I want my sparkly clean stove back lol!

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  2. Good month, Erika. I really hope the new medicine helps your little boy. I don't have any advice on your stove as my stove has a ceramic cooktop, and all the stoves before that were electric with replaceable metal pans under the burners. I now remember that I had a gas stove in my first apartment way back in college, but I didn't remember having cleaning difficulties...maybe I didn't cook much. ��

    May was a busy month for me! First, my daughter graduated from high school! She earned a few scholarships, so college is basically paid! She will be living at home, so that is great. Second, a young friend got married, so I made her groom's cake, wedding cake, and supplied the punch at her wedding. Third, my son got engaged! He's 23 and his fiancée is so sweet. They bought a house, so we helped them paint and move some of their belongings. Of course, I helped my two grown daughters with their kids too. May is always a busy, but fun month for me as a teacher. I teach 11th and 12th grades; I'll really miss the seniors (especially my girl being around school.) Whew! No wonder my garden is full of weeds.

    I've been trying to cook much more at home. I get into the bad habit of stopping for fast food on the way home too often. I'm tired, we're hungry, etc. I've done much better, though. Now that I have some time off, I have been cooking a lot more - even homemade bread and desserts. I cut myself a lot of slack in the cooking department during May. I said if I have something on the table, that's a win - even scrambled eggs or sandwiches!

    I plan to clean closets and organize my pantry in June. I also want to try sourdough bread baking. I plan to finish crocheting one afghan and start another. And, of course, weed that garden!

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    1. Wow! Congrats to both of your children! Sounds like an eventful month for sure!

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    2. Haha! Yes, I think it's one of those times when you do it then look back and wonder how. Does that happen to you? I hope someday you'll look back on this financially tight time and think that!

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  3. SOS pads work amazing for cleaning stove tops, I have never had it not work!

    Joanna

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  4. Love the cat looking visionary! ; )
    I'm so glad to hear that your arm is finally taking a turn for the better.
    I think I had one really productive week in May. Hoping June will be better...

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  5. Try a water and baking soda paste over night on the burners.It works on baked on stuff in my oven. Just keep it
    a little wet or saran wrap. You had a great month!When you worked on improving your credit did you have a form letter or a place of refrences? I need to do that.Sorry I did not comment in awhile my eyes were not able to use the computer.
    Blessings,
    Patti

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  6. Gosh, I would not have the courage to show a picture of my stove on the internet, it has never been clean enough...wait, I just posted a picture of the spider webs in my flower bed. Nevermind, forget I said anything.
    Jeannie
    GetMeToTheCountry.Blogspot.com

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