I've just read over September goals and boy...I thought I was doing so well! Did I over plan? Perhaps in some ways. Looking back, I know I did accomplish many things, just now all of the things I'd hoped to accomplish. I confess I'm a mite disappointed in myself at this moment. It's a good time to read through that post and remind myself to not be quite so terribly ambitious with this month's goals.
Spiritual: No on Bible study last month, so so on prayer.
What will it take to make this a habit once more? Years ago, I started reading the Bible daily and I very, very rarely missed a day. Then when I started keeping Caleb full time this year, I let it lapse and here we are, a non-reader. Since a full-on Bible study seems to be beyond me and my mind, I'm going to go back to basics. This month, I'm going to try to read a chapter a day. I'll go back to Roman's and start where I left off in August. I know that eventually I'll have the time to do a proper study, but it seems to me that reading alone is better than good intentions and doing nothing.
I did get better at journaling daily and some of those days turned into a written conversation with God which was nice. I hadn't expected that my journal might become part of my daily spiritual practice. Since it did, I'll add here that I hope to write daily.
Outdoors: I didn't get the broken rocker off the back porch, no encourage John in looking to see if there's any way possible to fix it. I'm thinking maybe two small 'L' brackets might do it. We'll see. I might even attempt it myself.
I did get the excess things off the back porch and then came back to find the headboard sitting there...I'll get that to the shed this month, heck this week.
The front porch needs a hard cleaning and by hard, I mean it needs a good hard scrubbing. Since I've just about got my shoulder where it's not super painful all of the time, I find I'm really reluctant to test it out. I know from the past that I can do this in small sections and since I'm out there nearly every day, I'll attempt to do it in that manner first.
The patio table is still there on the patio and with the new playhouse, the water table, scooters and bike and the two wagons, and all the planters it's looking mighty crowded. I can move something away and put it under the carport for now. Speaking of which there is a table under the carport that needs to be removed as it's falling apart. Mostly I leave the carport to John, but I put the table out there and I expect it will be up to me to remove it.
The fall/winter garden has been planted and there are mums and pansies planted. I am still hoping to find snapdragons and Kale, but I haven't found any yet. As we get nearer the end of the month, I want to plant garlic, and then I need to get the Mandevilla up out of the pot it's in and ready to go into the bin for the winter. I'm hoping the Hibiscus will overwinter. They're supposed to here in our area.
Caleb: Potty training goes on...
We are getting outdoors every day just now, unless it's full-on raining. This has been so beneficial to him. He's afraid of every little thing, no kidding, but he's growing in confidence and being more independent out there as long as I'm standing by.
Indoors, there are too many toys in the toybox and he either ignores them or dumps them all out in a search for something else. I'm going to bag up a few things to send over to Katie's boyfriend's, so he has some of his own things there. I won't overload that poor man with my cast offs. Some I will simply put way in the shed and hold them until he needs something fresh to play with once more. I find rotation helps. How it is that we ended up with such a lot of stuff is beyond me, but we do.
House: I pulled out a 9 x 13 pan and the lids to my pots and lo and behold, my kitchen angst died. Those were all the items I brought out...nope, I also brought out the 12-cup muffin pan after I found my cheap 6-cup one from the dollar store was rusting. Those things have made a huge difference in how I feel in my kitchen.
This month is supposed to be the start of our renovations. Will it be? I honestly can't say. I guess we just limp along until he shows up and then if he's not here when November starts, we try calling once again. In the meantime, just all the cooking, cleaning, etc.
The house is a bit better but there's a lot of backlogs of work to be done. Getting back into Zone work has meant that something is being done in every area every month and that's something I plan to continue working with.
I started a running list of things I am completely out of stock of in my pantry and this month I hope to fill those gaps with not only one for now but two for later in most things and case lot in the areas that are affordable as case lots. We don't get special sales on those around here, but these are the canned items that aren't typically horribly expensive anyway. Other things, like Maple Syrup and Spam, I'll work at over the next few months.
Restock my supply of candles. I only have one matching pair left to use in the candle holders on the table. We typically burn them for Shabat but in the darker months, I've been known to light them at the supper table and on really dreary days even at lunch, just for the brightness they give. Kids love it when I do that.
We'll just leave that there. I tend to examine upcoming zones and know pretty much what I'll be working on when I hit that week.
Personal: Continue with my plan to eat better. I did get into a couple pairs of pants this past month that had been too small to even consider zipping. I'm not saying they aren't snug yet, but I'm able to close the zipper and button them. That's progress. So I plan to keep going with this and yes, I did this despite entering whole heartedly into baking fall treats this past month.
I got my coat. And a pair of leopard ballet flats. Right now, I need to step back and assess where I am and what I think I need before I buy anything else for my outer wardrobe. In October, I start to look for new bras, nighties, and underwear then I buy a few pieces each month, so that will be my direction starting this month.
I'm trying to be mindful of my skin once more. I do have some very rough looking skin on my arms and with winter coming in they will only look worse. One of you reminded me of a formula I'd used in the past of baby oil, lotion and something. I stopped using it because of the high scent of the products. I realized the other night I could easily sub in the fractionated coconut oil, the unscented lotion I typically use...and seems like a third ingredient, perhaps Vaseline? I'll have to look it up and see if I can't recreate this beauty balm for my skin from the products that have no scent.
Manis and pedis. I didn't quite reach the point of doing it as often as I'd said, but I'm going to keep trying. I did find a nice express dry topcoat that I can use to help extend the life of my polish.
Finally, posture is being a bear for me lately. My shoulder pain is very nearly gone. What helped was sleeping with a rolled towel under my arm (about the armpit and upper breast area) which took some of the pressure off the shoulder at night...Of course, the chiropractor did a lot of work that brought the pain down to something bearable herself, so won't forget to mention that.
I realized that my posture while sitting in my chair was making my shoulders hurt, so I started to put a pillow behind me so that I could comfortably lean back upon it and lo and behold the remaining shoulder pain pretty well has decreased.
Then I found that sitting with my feet up as I like to do was doing a number on my legs. I do need to elevate them some, but I was sitting too long with them up and I noted I was hobbling most when I did. So, I started intermittently putting them up and after 20 minutes putting them down for 20 minutes. Made a huge difference in my gait.
Now to continue with these three things. I need to make one more correction. I need to use another pillow to elevate my laptop better, so I don't lean into it when I'm writing. So that's my last goal in this area.
Finances: I don't think I announced this, but Maxine who comments here on posts often enough issued me an invitation to join her and her daughter in a financial challenge. Our goal was to physically SAVE $125 this past month. Maxine has done exceptionally well with her challenge. I didn't do too shabbily either. I started a whole brand-new savings account and put away about $250. Right now, I'm trying to determine just what I think I'm going to earmark this money for. I also cashed in Fetch rewards and put that into a restaurant gift card for us to use.
I'm setting the same goal this coming month: $125.
I also put aside nearly $400 towards the deficit in the home insurance amount to pay it off in full in November when that bill comes due. That puts me ahead with that as well.
I won't tell you these funds came from a reduction in our grocery spending. I haven't even looked at those figures, but I'm going to. This month, in order to encourage me to reduce that down to my previously budgeted level, I'm going to keep a running tab on my bulletin board so that it is IN MY FACE and reminds me that unless it's a super-duper unexpected sale I need to really stick to my budget, produce and dairy, or my running pantry list, which will be my primary goal when I do shop.
Keep a close eye on Amazon orders and make sure I'm still getting the best price. Last month I got a shipment of two different lots of paper plates. One had been unavailable for months. I didn't get my August pre-order approval notice at all, so I had no idea I was getting a massive shipment of paper plates and being charged for both, which I ought to have been. Not complaining over that. Here's the deal, I can go in and see what's coming each month well ahead of time and catch these things if I'll just take the time to go look. In the meantime, I've come across a smaller paper plate (going from 10 inches to 8.5) for one fourth the price. John can be happy with two inches less paper plate for that sort of savings, or so I say.
I need to work up a budget sheet for the last quarter of the year. This is always a sticky sort of time as we have several annual renewals that we must have money set aside for, two major holidays, six birthdays and Christmas. I've got Josie's three taken care of but there's plenty more grandchildren and children and a husband and mom and family otherwise on that list.
Blogging: Ugh. This one I really didn't do as well in as I had planned.
So back to square one: Try my best to remember to put up an Amazon Affiliate link in each post. My June/July sales from this and the recipe blog netted me $14 in September from Amazon. I thank everyone who took the time to use those links. It's a slow earning, but it's a help. That $14 paid for a half case of Pizza sauce and ten boxes of tissues for the pantry. Again, I thank those of you who stopped to use them. I doubt August nor September will do half so well since I took time off in August and then couldn't seem to remember to add in the Affiliate links.
I hinted I was going to start a new blog and I have posted a couple of the older edited and compiled pieces to a new one. I'm just not ready to totally launch it yet. It needs work. When I do get it fully up, I'll be sure to monetize it as well with ads and Affiliate links. Please understand that this is not an alternate to this blog. It is my plan to direct traffic from public readings to the new blog so that they can read pieces they've heard and skip over all the frugal and daily life stuff. I'm perfectly happy posting here and plan to continue to do so.
I hope to get in a few more posts on this blog. I did fair this past month, but I'd like to be up to at least four posts a week and even five if I can swing it. I can't make a hard commitment to that while I'm watching children. I also need to 'prime' my inspirational pump. It's run dry over the summer. I'm working on that as well.
And that's it for the main goals. Keep an eye out. I'm planning another post on Romancing October...I think you'll enjoy that one!
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Isn't this a pretty planner? And it's two years...
