March Goals Update

Looking back at my mile-long to-do list for the month of March, I didn't expect to be very successful. I surprised myself. The momentum of those first few days helped me to get some things accomplished. I even vacuumed and washed the downstairs floors, which was not on this month's goals, but hooray for me. The end of the month was not a total wipe-out because I decided to come here to my daughter's house to help her out. It is where I wanted to be all along, so I guess we both benefited. She has been able to rest and recuperate and have more energy to get things done, while I try to help out with some housework and entertaining the grands.

House:

• Use my Home Depot gift card to buy some cheap pine lumber to trim out walls, doors or windows.     Done
• Paint those pieces of trim with white primer     Done
• Buy more caulking or wood filler as needed. Use gyproc compound where needed. 
• If I can get into the shed by the end of the month, look for mitre box and saw.
• Purge 30 items. That is only one a day.     Didn't even begin

Garden:

• Buy potting soil     Done
• Repot my aloe plants     Done
• Try starting  plants from seed     No

Spending:

• Print out and follow my budget sheet for March     Done
• I have removed $360 cash from the bank for household expenses and gas.  Keep track of all expenditures in my daily journal.     Done
• Get my taxes done.      No

Savings:

• Put money into savings account and gift accounts     Done
• I won $28 in scratch tickets for my birthday, which I have put into my piggy bank of "found money".     Done
•  I was asked to make feminine birthday cards for my niece for which she is paying me.     Done 

Family and Friends:

• Continue to send out at least 3 "Thinking of You" cards a week to friends or family members 
• Send out birthday cards in a timely fashion     I didn't quite keep up. One birthday card was mailed out late. However, I did send out lots of kid's cards. 

Health:

• Keep the appointment with my psychiatrist this week     Done
• Get blood work done at the end of this month and then make appointment with my GP early in April     Haven't done this yet but will when I return.
• Spend one hour each week on self care and moisturise every night    No
• Lipstick every day and makeup before leaving the house    No   A dismal failure.

Crafts and Leisure:

• Make at least 25 cards this month   Yes, yes, yes.
• Make a baby card and birthday cards for my niece     Not yet.
• Work on the scrapbook....at least another 14 pages     No..a big fat zero
• Work on the embroidered pillow cases     Finished one and still working on second
• Work on Easter or Springtime cards for the middle of next month     Done
• Start a macrame project for an upcoming gift     No

Beach Day

So apparently on the last Friday of the month, there is a theme day at the elementary school that my grand kids attend. Today they could dress as though they were having a day at the beach. It is still winter here, so that kind of limits their wardrobe. My grandson wore a souvenir t-shirt I gave him 2 years ago after I returned from Cuba. He also wanted to wear a pair of shorts, but obviously that was out of the question. His mom did allow him to wear a baseball cap and sunglasses however. He has a hood on his jacket to pull up, and a pair of mitts in his pockets, if he gets cold at recess. The day is very sunny and it will probably warm up quite a bit by afternoon.....still not warm enough for shorts however. 

Apparently, I was supposed to change my password on my email server before I left town. As a result, I have been locked out of my email account. I haven't got my password with me. It's safely locked up at home, so I am kind of stuck without email until I return. To those who haven't heard from me in a while, note that I only have access to Facebook messenger and text by phone.

My daughter had to take my grand daughter into the hospital again today, which was an unexpected 5th consecutive trip this week. On Wednesday, they both had to stay in for an extended stay and eventually returned at seven o'clock that night because a transfusion was needed. My grandson and I had dinner alone. He had spaghetti with tons of parmesan cheese because he loves it (that isn't weird?), and I had shredded cabbage again. Today was just going to be a quick check up for my grand daughter, but unfortunately they determined another transfusion was needed. She has to have another procedure done at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto on Monday, so they want her to be stronger. I can already see where I may be needed here until after Tuesday because of schedule conflicts. No one is kicking me out yet. I guess I haven't outworn my welcome. Ha. But my grand kids do NOT like what I am cooking for myself. My dinners even SMELL weird. Funny, I think they are delicious.

Visiting the Grand Kids

I arrived here on Saturday afternoon. I called my son the night before to see if he would be available to drive me here (or should I take a bus), and he said he was able to drive me here at 10 AM the next morning. That was quicker than I expected, so I packed my things that night and made sure I was at the Bulk Barn first thing the following morning. I needed more almond flour to bake my keto loaves, some black pepper and some chili powder. I stopped at my pharmacy to pick up a prescription refill and my bank, before I headed back home. I drove into the driveway at 10 AM sharp and beat my son's arrival. I packed a lot of food from my freezer to bring with me, so I would have most of the items I needed for my keto diet.

It was a fairly quiet weekend because the "boys" went on another ski weekend, and the girls stayed home and played cards and board games. While my daughter has been taking my grand daughter to medical appointments, I have been walking my grandson to school. Being alone a lot through the day, I have busied myself cleaning and helping out my daughter (since I wasn't doing a very good job for myself). Today my grand daughter and I started a school project on "sound" while her mom had other matters to attend to. Over the weekend, I encouraged my daughter to take some afternoon naps while the kids and I played some games, or watched funny animal videos on the tablet. She has a lot on her plate right now, so I hope my presence is a help rather than a hindrance. I tried to cook a family meal last night, but my efforts were not well received. My chicken tasted "weird", according to my grandson. My daughter suspects it was because it wasn't chicken nuggets or chicken fingers. Lol.

It has a been a busy time but fun to be with the family. They also have bunnies in their back yard, but they are being fed by several neighbours so are very tame. I have been able to see them up close and personal. Have a great week ahead.

Leaving Town This Weekend

Yesterday morning I gathered the trash baskets from throughout the house and put them outside in the garbage bin. There wasn't enough to put out for collection, so I just put out the gray recycle bin for paper and cardboard. I put away the primed 1x2s and 1x3s and brought out the three 1x4s for two coats of primer. Between coats, I baked a loaf of keto bread. Afterwards, I put away all the primed pieces of lumber and cleaned up afterwards. I did manage to get some paint spatters on my chairs, but they were easily removed.

Today I wrote out two "Thinking of You" cards and walked them over to the post office. For the rest of the afternoon I played with my Cricut machine and made some die cut backgrounds for future cards. I am so unmotivated to do any cleaning.  However, I watched some tutorials on YouTube for putting together scrap book pages. In the back of my mind, I really do want to work on the scrap book I started, but I am hoping to learn through osmosis. Ha. Maybe at least I can be inspired by other peoples' enthusiasm.

In the meantime, my daughter has asked me to come this week to Bradford. I'm sure I will be able to help her out, especially since I am useless here at my own house. Another pair of hands to share the work is always helpful. I haven't seen my grand kids since before Christmas, so I am very anxious to be there. I don't know how long I will be needed, but my schedule is fluid. I will be taking my laptop and my tablet, so there shouldn't be an excuse not to keep up with my blog.

Here is the menu plan for the past week: (from Friday to last night)

• shredded sauteed cabbage with pieces of smoked sausage
• porkchops, cheesy veggie casserole and leftover sauteed cabbage
• creamed spinach over turkey slices, with leftover cheesy veggies
• turkey slices with creamed spinach and a side of roasted veggies
• chili with avocado slices and a side of broccoli
• leftover chili with sliced avocados
• veggies in a cream cheese sauce baked with farmers sausage on top

Wednesday morning

It is after noon already. I just don't know where time goes anymore. I have taken a phone call and a face-time message and I have only written one long awaited email response to one of my SILs who is married to my youngest brother. I have quite a few more that I need to write. If I can push away from the computer in the mornings, I seem to get more done. However, there are times when it is important to maintain communications within the family and other things must wait.

Yesterday I had already watered my plants and made a big pot of turkey and vegetable soup by this time. I was also able to scour my bathtub and clean my hanging shower shelves. I got rid of empty containers and product that is very old and which I will not use any more. There were some soap slivers and used razor blades that also went into the trash. I don't know why I don't dispose of them immediately like I do with the contents of my medicine cabinet. I washed the shelves thoroughly of any soap scum, ran it through the dishwasher with my dishes last night and it looks great now. The tub enclosure wasn't bad at all, so I left that for the next time. So there is another item off my to-do list. Yay!

So after lunch yesterday, I prepared some bookplates that I will gift my grandchildren with. I found them on-line as a free colour printable and I thought they were adorable. They are quotations about libraries and books that have been taken from the Lemony Snickett series of books for 8-12 year olds, and right away I thought of one of my grand daughters. So after I printed out the 12 different book plates, I attached 2-way tape to the backs of them so she can sign her name and affix them to the front inside covers of her books at home. After that, I attached some different  printed birthday sentiments inside the birthday cards I have made and constructed a gift box to keep them in. (These are the ones I made for my niece). So this was the "paper work" I got caught up with yesterday.

Before making supper, I laid down some brown paper and newspapers to protect my floor while I put the first coat of primer on some of the 1x2s and 1x3s I bought at the beginning of the month.

Today I hope to get a second coat on and then I will see how I feel about starting something else. It is a bright and sunny day today and that usually inspires me to get things done. Have a great day.

Daybook: Monday, March 18/19

Outside my window.....we have experienced sunshine and we've had snow flurries (heavy at times) all within the same day. It must be spring.

I am thinking.....how tired I'm feeling now at 5 o'clock. I'm just sitting down now at the end of the day to post my blog.

I am thankful for.....longer hours of daylight these days. We are almost at the Equinox.

From the kitchen.....I started my day by straining the turkey stock from the crock pot and I removed all the meat from the carcass to add to the soup I plan to make tomorrow. I hand washed the oven roaster and lid that I roasted the turkey in, the crock pot I made the stock in overnight, and the lid to my yoghurt maker.  I also washed my four Cricut mats to prepare them for more die cuts in the future.

I am wearing.....blue jeans, gray socks,and  gray sweater with flutter sleeves

I am creating.....more cards. On the weekend I made 6 more kids cards and one thank you card.

I am going.....nowhere today, except for a walk to the post office to mail 3 cards and to pick up mail

I am hoping.....to get some emails written tomorrow. I am behind in responding to some I have received recently.

I am hearing.....a lot of traffic right now from people returning home from work

Around the house.....there is always spring cleaning to be done but I don't seem to have either the energy or the motivation to get started on it. I'm afraid we will need to get some more sunshine and warmer temperatures to kick start this operation.

One of my favourite things.....is my working dishwasher. I always appreciate it more after I have had to do up a load of hand washing.

A few plans for the rest of the week.....include cleaning up my Craft room.

Goals for this week:

• respond to overdue emails
• give my bathtub and enclosure another good scrub
• vacuum the upstairs and the staircase
• do some tidying up and cleaning in my craft room
• mail at least 2 more "Thinking of You" cards
• try to get one spa hour in this week
• moisturise every night, lipstick every day
• keep journaling every day

Roast Turkey on Sunday

It has been a busy Sunday for me. I slept in until 8:30 this morning, which has put me feeling behind for most of the day. After face messaging with family members, I made a batch of yoghurt and I put the turkey in the oven before I even made my two egg omelette with ham, spinach and mushrooms. I worked on making cards for a while and then I proceeded to cut the pork loin into 2 small roasts, 4 packages of chops and a container of pork chunks to use in a stir fry or pork fried rice later on. I made 3 freezer bags with 3 sausages in each. By that time, my turkey was done. I didn't take into consideration that it would cook faster without the stuffing, so I was surprised how little time it took. I took all the meat off the bones and bagged it. I split the carcass and drippings into 3 sections. One is in the crock pot now turning into broth, while the other two are in the freezer with three very full  quart freezer bags of meat. I kept the fourth bag out for this week. Finally, I put away the two loads of laundry I did yesterday. I was on my feet a lot today, so I am feeling beat.

Here are two cards I made for my 7 year old grand son. He likes receiving fan mail.

Let's look at this week's goals and see how I did.

• Mail out 3 "Thinking of You" cards     No. I'm surprised by this, because I was making cards most every day this week. I did send out a birthday card, but even that was late. 
• Mail out 3 kids' cards     Done
• Gather tax papers together     Kind of. I put them all together as they arrive throughout the year. My brother has offered to do them for me, and I have no plans to go anytime soon. 
• Buy a bag of potting soil this week, as it is on sale at Home Hardware     Done
• Repot some of my aloe plants     Done
• Make a baby card     Not yet. I think I will wait until after the baby is born, so I know the sex.
• Start making feminine birthday cards for my niece     Done
• Purge 15 items this week     No, but the day isn't over yet. 

I may not have accomplished all that was on my to-do list, but I do feel that the week went very well. I was busy and productive and that is what counts the most for me. I was able to stay out of trouble. And how was your weekend?