Sunday, November 15, 2015

Monthly Goals Update and This Week's Goals


Wondering where the goals update went last week?  Well, I decided not to do it.  Mainly because my goals for this last week were simple.

1.  Try and recover Apocalyptic disaster that was my house.
2.  Try not to cry.

My house, was quite simply, THAT bad.  With the kids being sick so much and having to get picked up from school early and my son being grumpy with teething and super destructive my house looked so awful it depressed me.  And I had a broken vacuum that didn't want to suck up anything until I could get some duct tape, so it was NOT a fun time.  Between the house and just general monetary stress, it was a pretty depressing time for me.

This week I ended up breaking down cleaning chores by day as I tried to recover the house as much as possible.  I ended up having to pick kids up early a couple of days due to hives or the weather or other issues, but for the most part I was able to get the house semi-recovered.  I still have some of my over-sized dishes that don't fit in the dish washer (like cookie sheets) that I have to wash and put away, but at least I can find my kitchen counters again, which is a definite improvement and the upstairs and downstairs is vacuumed, which is definitely better than it was.

The top sprayer of my dish washer started working really cruddy this week and I finally figured out how to unclip it to check on it and found the gasket is half gone on it, which means the top sprayer is going to continue to work cruddy until we can afford to get a replacement gasket.  I'm figuring between this and my daughter being a real pain about playing with water in her room no matter the punishment that is dished out, it is time to go with my dad's old saying of, "Why would I buy a dishwasher.  I helped create one."  Basically, dish washing is now going to be on the nightly chore list for my daughter and hopefully it might get some of the want to play with water no matter what worked out of her.

This weekend, for me, was a weekend of firsts.  For the first time I had to figure out how to light my furnace as the temperatures have tanked hard here and our pilot light suddenly has decided this last month to randomly go out and need to be re-lit.  My husband was at work and so I finally managed to get the furnace cover off, read the directions and had the furnace lit in under five minutes.  I felt pretty good about that as being mechanically inclined is usually not part of my general make up.

The second first I ended up doing this weekend was I replaced my first ever jacket zipper (seen above).  My daughter's winter jacket had a really miserable tongue on the inside of it that was too long and not stiff enough so it would get caught in her jacket constantly.  I was always telling her to be careful and not force it, but, of course, she decided to force it yesterday and got the zipper jammed up good.  My husband decided to take over on trying to fix the problem and ended up ripping out four zipper teeth in the process.

I was not happy, at all, but we ran by Jo Ann Fabrics and picked up a zipper and I went home, got busy with a seam ripper.  Being VERY careful and observant on how the previous zipper had been installed I got the new zipper installed in a few hours.  The zipper size on the jacket was a really weird size (right under 21 inches) so I ended up cutting down the zipper and then I hand sewed in the top of the zipper to be sure everything would fit okay and filled in the topmost teeth of the zipper with thread, once again by hand, to create a new "zipper stop".  It worked great, thank goodness, and the benefit was that I could move the zipper pull out of my way as I worked by keeping it up and out of my way on the part of the zipper that I was going to have to cut down.

Since getting a zipper replaced at a seamstress is about 40.00, I felt good that I was able to do this task.  Sure, it is not as perfect as if a seamstress did it, but it works and pulls smooth, so I'm happy.

Anyway, onto the goals for this week!

1.  Continue to work on Christmas gifts (making progress!)

2.  Mix up some spice mixes (I'm running low on my favorites)

3.  Continue to clean the house, especially get the kitchen detail cleaned in preparation for Thanksgiving next week.

4.  Find turkey brining bucket so I know where it is for next week.

5.  Pull out Christmas decorations from storage. 

 I move them inside early so that they come up to room temperature before I have to worry about putting them up.  This way, too, I have a few weeks to find them as they get dispersed around it seems.  And it's cold, so making this a general goal works for me.

6.  Put Halloween decorations into storage for year.

7.  Finish getting caught up on laundry and put laundry away.

8.  Dust ceiling fans.

9.  Polish wood furniture.

10.  Breathe and try not to panic about money. 

It's counter productive and is just going to give me an ulcer eventually.  I need to try meditation.

11.  Work on mending, especially the socks.

12.  Clean mirrors and windows.

13.  Dig out gravy mix to donate to school for Thanksgiving baskets. 

Every year my daughter's school gives away a few baskets to needy families.  I try to donate at least one thing a year.

And there you are.  Some of my goals for this week.  Do you have anything you're working on this week?

5 comments:

  1. Great job on the zipper replacement. I wouldn't have known it was replaced until you mentioned it. My husband has about as much patience as yours, so I can relate to the frustration.

    This week I plan to get more baking done and work on Christmas gifts as well. I spent one night this weekend waking up and racking my brain what I want to give/make for my 2 nephews and niece, whom are all in their senior year of high school. I'm sure I will figure it out before Christmas, but it's bothering me that I don't have a plan yet. Also, I start my training at work on Wednesday, for the school Christmas programs (I work seasonal contracts at a pioneer village museum). It won't be many hours, but its an income.

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  2. I'd love to work at a pioneer village museum. I always thought people who got to work at those were so cool when I was a kid and I have some friends who work in one down in Utah and have a blast (they're both retired so they can dedicate a lot of time to it).

    For kids that old...hmmm. How about an MP3 bag to wear around their neck that will hold the MP3 player and their earphones? If you can get cheap earbuds you could knot around the earbud cord via the friendship bracelet method and make some decorative earbuds for them to wear (it seems to be a thing right now). Handkerchiefs might work and depending what they are into (like if the niece likes to knit or read) a personalized to them tote bag would be cool. I made a knitting bag for my sister-in-law a while back and she loved it and basically it was just a glorified tote bag with a fancy metallic butterfly pattern for the liner.

    I understand how hard it is to think of what to make for people as they get older. Needs and wants change and it seems now a days those wants for older kids ends up being technology based wants, which doesn't lend to something you can make yourself.

    Good luck :).

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  3. Next year I plan on buying both these nephews a pocket knife. I did this last year for their older brothers, both of whom were basically done high school. I'm hesitant to buy one until they are done with high school because I do not want to be blamed if they get suspended for bringing a "weapon" to school. As for MP3's those are out as well. They all have high tech smart phones for stuff like that, which they stuff in their pocket or are permanently attached to their hand...I'm not sure which *laugh*.

    The niece is easier. I have thought of making her a purse or cute embroidered pillow...lots of options for her. It's the boys that are driving me crazy!!! Sure I could buy a gift card, that's easy! But I'm trying to come up with something that costs less money but looks like I spent money...if you know what I mean. This can drive one mad!!!

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  4. You are so talented, when my new coat's zipper broke I had to get it fixed. Cost was around $30-$40.00. I really have no sewing skills. I am sorry for your money worries, I worry too. For the pass four months we have spent close to $4,000 get our cars fixed. Christmas always seem to bring bad luck to our family. One year our well's pump went, $1200 right before Christmas. Cheryl

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    Replies
    1. Ouch, that has to be hard. I panic at the thought of something serious going wrong with a vehicle or something like a pump going out as I have no wiggle room at all money-wise right now.

      As for sewing skills, I really don't have any either, believe it or not *laugh*. I've just practiced a lot over the last three years by having to, really. I am planning on doing some really basic sewing tutorials like my (excellent) home ec teacher did when I was in junior high though, to hopefully get more people familiar and comfortable with their sewing machines :).

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