Random Friday: A detailed look at my weekly calendar and to do list

• This school year I bought a planner and have been using it for a month. It shows a week at a glance with a section for my to do list, and a side bar for additional notes. (It's technically for menu planning, I don't use it for that.) It's ridiculously full each week, because I write a daily to do list on it, but it's really working out for me.  I tried to make notes for how I use it, but you'll have to click on it to see it bigger. The key turns out to be writing out my to do list in excruciatingly tiny detail. Each morning I make a new to do list, carrying over whatever didn't get done yesterday. It does not include things like laundry and feeding children. The section under the pirate ship are future blog posts, if I ever write them.  How would you tweak this to do list to fit your life? What am I missing? What could make it easier to get organized?
• I dusted off the made by lisah blog yesterday, with a post of my Favorite Etsy finds of the past week. Pop on over and take a look!  (I also worked on sprucing up the sidebars and vacuuming the dust out of the corners.)
• We're going to have a little friend staying with us a couple days a week. We've had her here twice now and I think it's going to work out well. She's a little younger than the Bug, but he still enjoys her company. We'll be calling her Little Bo Peep, just cause I think "Bo Peep" will be fun to type.
• I've been lugging these 4 or 5 underbed boxes of paperbacks around with me for the last 12 years or so. As part of my storage unit clean out, I just purged 4/5 of them. I added them to my yard sale stacks, but honestly I can't imagine who is going to want to buy 15 -18 year old Harlequin romance novels, or other old, non-stellar, titles.  I did keep a handful of my favorites. (G, if you're worried, Jake's Mountain is safe!)  I also purged about 1/3 of our other books. I still have 2 or 3 boxes to go, but a lot of them are Mike's so I suspect they will stay put.

What I Read this week:

• Finished Divergent by Veronica Roth. I loved it so much. Probably more than The Hunger Games.I might even review it.
• Started The Help. In Large Print!! Kinda worried I'm not in the mood for something serious, which means the next one is really crazy...
• Started Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I've been telling Trish I would read it and the anniversary of 9/11 seemed like a good time.

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Today's to do list, and the 21DC, Day 3

Ok, I know I promised to do more than just post outfits. Y'all, I'm so swamped today I can't think past getting an outfit posted! We are taking a mini-vacation tomorrow, 36 hours of just my family, and I have to cross every single item off this list before we can leave.

• Finish the current banner and get it in the mail. 
• UNload the car from the last camping trip.
• Pack overnight clothes/toys/gear.
• Find extra bedding. (We are staying in a camping cabin, they provide the beds, you provide the bedding. Most our "extra" anything are in a storage unit.)
• Possibly go to the storage unit.
• REload the car.
• Do the most basic of housekeeping- garbage, litter box, dishes. More would be awesome.
• Log my work hours for the last two weeks.
• At least an hour of paying work.
• Prep my invoice to submit Friday.
• Daily life stuff, like, oh, feed the kids. Maybe talk them into putting on pants.

So, that's taking up my entire brain.

Today's wardrobe challenge prompt was "pattern mixing." Now, in theory, I like it. I love it on other people! But when I walked into my closet I discovered that I own about 6 striped shirts, one floral t-shirt, and one Hawaiian print button up. I have a lot of printed skirts, but none were in the same color family at all. Fortunately, we were allowed to use a patterned accessory. Whew.  This was the best I could do.

I've made a note to be on the lookout for more patterned shirts, specifically florals and maybe gingham. (I keep a list in my phone of things to look for at the thrift store. Am I the only one?)  Tomorrow is color blocking, and if my experience today is any indication it should be easy peasy.

Scarf: Thrifted
Shirt: Kohls, via consignment store in TN
Skirt: Maurices, thrifted
Shoes: Same black ballet flats from Pamida as yesterday


Onward!

Teething bites and Tuesday's list.

I have too much to do to be awake all night with a crabby girl! We got out of bed this morning at the time we should have been getting into the car for school.  The Pirate is the only one presentable.

Since I posted my list yesterday and it kept me accountable, I'm doing the same today. I did pretty well yesterday, don't you think? (Updated list here.)

Today's list:

• Unload car.
• Sort crap from car.
• Try to move boxes in garage to make definite areas for "things that go to storage" and "things that go to the apartment" so that I do not have to be present while loading.
• Start packing playroom.
• Drink more coffee.
• Take a shower.
• Pack hall closet. One coat each is plenty for the next week! Move the extra winter coats to storage and pack the hoodies until this weekend.
• Work at least 2 hours. (Not so ambitious today, afraid sitting here too long will put me right to sleep!)
• Continue laundry.
• Feed children, change diapers, etc.

That seems like more than enough, no?



I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

My done list and my to do list for Monday.

Things I done did:

• Drove approximately 149.5 miles of a 150 mile trip prior to blowing out my (not at all old) tire.
• Blew out my tire half a mile from my friend's home, my final destination.
• Stayed up way too late and the slept in a twin bed with two of my children.
• Loved myself for purchasing Roadside Assistance when I swapped insurance last month. Hi, free tire change in the snow!
• Spent much of Saturday chasing down a new tire for my odd sized car. A $167 tire.
• Side note: I dealt with four different companies for all this, and had excellent customer service at all four: the company that handles Progressive's Roadside Assistance, Carter at Tow Pros, TMA and Martin at Tires Plus.  I would recommend any of them.
• Went to Target to console myself.
• (Mike, look away.)  Bought new sandals for me and the girl. (Wanted these but her feet are too thick.)
• And a shower curtain.
• Loaded all of the rest of my crap from the old house into a trailer.
• Drove 3 hours back home with a crying 5 year old who wanted out of the car. 
• Stopped at one point, in the absolute middle of nowhere, and offered to let him out.
• He declined.
• Did I mention, it was snowing? (See: new sandals.)
• Unloaded trailer at storage unit.
• Came home, did not unload car. Dude. I'm tired.
• Woke up to more snow. (See: new sandals)
• Took the Pirate to school while the Bug complained, loudly, that he wanted the Pirate to stay home.

We move on Friday. That's like 4 days away. I have a lot to do. This is my list, just for today:

• Drink coffee.
• Feed baby.
• Print new weekly to do list and fill in already scheduled tasks.
• Do dishes and wipe counters. (twice)
• Put roast in crock pot.
• Move all the laundry to the laundry room.
• Start laundry.(three loads!)
• Unload car.
• Sort boxes of crap from the car into things that go to storage, things that go to the apartment, and trash.
• Attempt to do 4 (four) hours of paying work today. (This is a bit optimistic.)(1.5 hours as of 8:45pm)
• Pack the baby's closet.
• Pack the office closet (this house has a wide closet with a built in office.)
• Do not get distracted by sorting paperwork. Just pack it.
• All the other daily things like meals, diapers, school pick up, etc.

Yeah, not so bad. I can do that. Rah rah!! (I'll let you know how it goes.)(Updated: 8:45pm- original post at 8:51, not 7:51, I can't figure out how to change the time zone for posting!)



I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

RF: Today's To Do list

I have one meeeeeellllion things to do before 5 pm today when the kids and I pack up and go back to Rapid City to see some friends (and do a little work at the old house so the sale goes through!)  Would you like to see my list? Yes?

• Watch my 2 month old nephew (in addition to the Princess and the Bug) until 3. Go pick up the Pirate at three. Watch all 4 children until 5. My nephew needs a blog name. 
• Ignore that I sometimes used the number (3) and sometimes wrote it out (three) with no regard for grammar rules. This whole post ignores every rule of grammar and outlines. Go with it.
• Do at least one load of laundry so that there are clean work clothes for Mike on Monday morning. (He'll be joining us in Rapid City tomorrow night, it's a crazy weekend.) This means finishing the laundry already in the washer and dryer.
• Pack for the kids and I. The Princess needs a lot of stuff.
• Empty the car. 
• Fill the car with gas.
• Find some snacks for the car ride. This is a hard one, as I have two babies in bucket car seats AND a (almost) 3 year old. Going inside a store isn't really a good idea. Thank god for Coolers Drive Thru.
• Do a minimal amount of cleaning, including the litter box.
• Try to squeeze in as many work hours as possible. Most days I try to work three hours. I would be happy to work one today.

And now, Random Thoughts:

• The sell of the house looks like it's going to go through! Yay!
• We move one week from today (ok, one weekend from now. But it starts on the first.)
• I still believe I'll be ready. I am more ready than I was a week before our last move.
• I have some pictures of an adorable baby in an adorable mama-made dress to show you- but they are on the camera and my camera cable is at Mike's office.
• It is supposed to snow this weekend. I'm done with winter.
• We planted some herbs in one of those window greenhouse boxes you get for five bucks. They are sprouting! I have the best idea ever for planting them in a container garden after we move. Cross your fingers that it's as cute in real life as it is in my head.
• The Princess has figured out that she can move if she tries. She isn't crawling, but she scoots on her butt and makes decent progress across rooms. I am SO happy to be moving to a flat house.

What I Read This Week:

• Dash & Lily's Book of Dares  by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. Finished it! Look for a buddy review (my first!) on this one.
• All I Ever Wanted (Hqn) by Kristan Higgins. It's marketed as a romance, but seems much more general chick-lit to me. I'm enjoying it a lot. I couldn't get into the author's Too Good to Be True so I'm happy to like this one.

Other bookish notes:

• I checked  Lolita out of the library on audio. I had to request it from ILL! And then I realized that I am never without my children and probably they should not listen to it.  No idea when I'll get to hear it.
• I also got Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins on ILL. Really looking forward to that, but have four other books on the go and don't want to add it in.

From the Library:

• I have a HUGE stack of library books checked out and can't bring myself to return any of them unread. I'd show you a picture, but I'm too lazy to go take one.  
• Coop: A Family, a Farm, and the Pursuit of One Good Egg (P.S.) by Michael Perry
• Not That Kind Of Girl,  
• Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture, 
• The Girl in the Green Sweater: A Life in Holocaust's Shadow
• Population 485 Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time - 2002 publication. by Michael Perry
• Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot
• In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan
• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
• The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom
• Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti
• Matched by Ally Condie
• Can't Stand The Heat (A Recipe for Love) by Louisa Edwards
• One Day (Vintage Contemporaries Original) by David Nicholls
• Except the Queen by Jane Yolen
• Dreamfever: The Fever Series and Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning
• Liar by Justine Larbalestier
• Whew. What do I read next? (Well, Anna and the French Kiss, since it's ILL, but after that?)

Ok, gotta get to it to do it! have a great weekend!


I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Monday morning to do-ing for a brand new life.

In a lot of ways today is the first day of a whole new life for me. Maternity leave is over (my last day would have been tomorrow) and the Bug is now home full time with me. For the first time, I'm now a stay-at-home mom, at least for the next few months. In an effort to stay on track, I'm pulling my work habits home, and making a Monday morning to do list.  Not everything on the list will be done today, it's more of a list of goals for the week, along side scheduled things like my 6 week postpartum doctor's appointment, and a note that the Pirate needs to wear red on Thursday. Regardless, getting the high points written on paper will hopefully make it easier for me to adjust to this brand new world.
So what's on my list?

• library story times (In case I'm brave enough to take the Bug and the baby out together)
• return library books and donate the (literally) hundreds of books I purged this week
• first run of Goodwill donations
• return Redbox movies (ok, that one has to be done today)
• red ribbon week activities
• second coat of paint on the bathroom floor (basement bathroom, mostly unfinished, unused by us)
• The Pirate's parent teacher conference
• a list of blog post ideas, starting with tomorrow's post about planning your SAHM day, cause I'm gonna need HELP!

The picture is of my side table. You can just see the edge of my computer on the right. Then my coffee in my favorite mug, my to do list/ calendar (still blank for the week), some library books, an unread O magazine, the spiral notebook with my master to do list for moving, a pile of baby socks, and my box of baby supplies. We find it a lot easier with a new born to have a small basket of diapers, wipes, lotion, burp clothes, Mylicon (if you are expecting a baby, start stocking up on it or cheaper alternates now!) all at hand. It keeps the whole living room from becoming a baby room.

There are many other things I'll do this week, like pack and pack and pack, but these are the specific things on the list. So far. What's on your list for the week?



I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks.