1. Take part in the #everybitcounts challenge. My focus will be restocking my pantry and supplies this month. I don't especially need to make jam or jelly. I don't have vegetables to can or freeze, but I do have empty spaces in the pantry that need to be filled. I'm very mindful of what has expired in the past and why. I won't be stocking some things as heavily as I have done in prior years and there are things I won't bother restocking at all. My main focus here at the beginning of this challenge will be on basic items and then I'll look at the 'nice to have' items later.
2. Get to the peach shed at least once here in the next few days. We are nearing the end of peach season. I have had fresh peaches this year and they've been delicious, but I haven't had a taste of peach ice cream. I haven't been to the packing shed even once and I just like the experience of going. It's a summer thing and one I hope to be able to do. I'll have to hurry though. Peach season can't last much longer now that it's August. Typically, it ends in the first two weeks of August. Done!
3. Celebrate the new school year with fresh supplies of my own. This year I find myself running out of notebooks and pens. I could use new ledger sheets, new graph paper, and a few other supplies such as tape and glue. It's all very inexpensive just now and I want to refresh my supplies while it is less expensive to do so. Besides which it feels positively like a rite of passage to restock supplies when school has just started! Started!
4. Plan family times. Gramma's Fried Chicken Sunday with Taylor. Time with the Manor House kids either here or at the library. I'd like to return to our monthly outing for the next few months if we may. Weather is too hot this month for a picnic or playground date, but I can do something with them that is inexpensive and fun. I would also like to see if we might take Caleb, and possibly Bella, out for a playdate one Sunday a month. They are at the age that a trip to Burger King and the play space is a big deal for them. I want to visit Mama at least once this month. And finally, we've got one family member with a birthday here at the end of this month and Henry's first birthday will come in early September, so I need to plan for both of those.
And while it's not quite family time it is family related. Josie has asked for photos of herself and siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and great grandparents on this side of her family. I've never been big into family photos, but I have a few and I'm more than happy to share them with her. I just need to dig out the physical copies as well as the digital ones I've tucked away.
5. Continue with the Pantry/Freezer Challenge for at least two weeks of August. This is not because I have expired or older items on hand that should be used but mainly because this month if one of those 'fifth week' months where we have five weeks between our monthly checks. I will buy milk if it goes on sale or any other really good staple sales, but for the most part, I expect we will survive just fine with what we have on hand. expanded to week 4.
6. Plant a fall garden. Plant flower seeds that will bloom next spring but need fall sowing.
August 11, I planted zucchini, yellow squash, beans, parsley, Japanese eggplant, carrots, green onion tops, and potato pieces that had mutliples of eyes on them.
7. Get back into the habit of meal planning. I've flown by the seat of my pants, chosen meals based on whims, fancy, cravings, momentary inspirations rather than looking to balance costs and nutrients for the past eight week. Time to get back to better habits!
8. Go back to intermittent fasting and watching what I eat. I won't make the goal I set myself in March for September. I did make progress, so I'm not too upset with myself. I needed to take a break this summer as I grew more and more tired and planned less, I let things slide a bit. I held my weight loss though, not putting on any extra. That too is progress in my opinion.
But I do have goals, and I want to get back on track. I want to lose one more size before the year is over.
9. Start setting money aside for Christmas. I have actually already begun this, but I'd like to continue adding to that balance.
10. Make phone calls related to some monthly bills to see if we can further reduce them in any way. There's a possible change we can make that will save us half of what we are currently paying for one service. John initially wanted to do nothing about making a change because he is/was certain it wouldn't be any cheaper. However, I looked at the subject matter and noted that in the past year we are paying $40 a month more for that particular service. I reminded him that a phone call costs nothing and if it happens that we can acquire this new service at half the cost, we'd be coming out ahead reducing that one bill by 50%. Done!
11. Do my best to enjoy the season we're in. For the past two weeks I've been stumbling across Fall related posts. Posts about fall decor and fall activities and fall dreams. I have resented those posts because I feel I've missed a good bit of summer this year, although I did enjoy the parts of it I spent with the little boys.
What have I missed out on? That trip to the peach shed and a scoop of fresh peach ice cream, for one thing. I haven't had a fried green tomato even once this summer. I'd like to remedy that. I had planned to sit outdoors under the sprinkler at least once because that is just the quintessential summer refresher. I might even get a small wading pool and stick my feet in it while I sit outdoors.
I want to make a frozen Coke and sip it on a really hot day while the sun burns my skin ever so slightly. I want to sit on the porch and admire the mornings. I want to sit on the porch in the evenings and look for fireflies, at least until the mosquitoes run me back indoors. I'd like to grill a steak or burgers. There's nothing quite like the taste or smell of charcoal broiled meats.
I want to sip iced tea. Katie made me a glass of iced tea one day at her house and it was so good. I'd meant to indulge in that more than just once this year. I want to cut a bouquet of flowers for the house from my own yard.
And like a squirrel, I want to start to prepare for the next season, not because I'm rushing that season forward but because it is a natural thing in summer to prepare for the colder months ahead.
12: Study. Work on the study of the Holy Spirit I've started this summer. Work on studying deeper about preparing soil for gardening and seasonal planting that can be done in my zone. Study about making pasta, baking bread and ice cream; canning with the pressure canner, getting more out of the foods we have. There's so much I want to learn, and I need to take the time to prepare myself, not just flying by the seat of my inexperienced pants. Pressure canning conquered.
13: Get started working on the genealogy notebooks. Twice in the past week I've had conversations with family about genealogy lines, and it's tweaked my interest in getting back to serious work on that once again. Especially since I have so little information on the paternal side of my family. Done
14. Creative play. While I was keeping Caleb, I deeply enjoyed painting and working with paper crafts. It reminded me that at one point, I took a great deal of pleasure in drawing and in collage artwork. It's been years since I've touched the collage art. I found the whole process with Caleb very relaxing and peaceful and it made me nostalgic for creating my own art once more.
I want to get some new supplies, but first, I'll start by using what I have. Then I can add new pieces to work with as time goes on.
15: Get back into a housekeeping routine. My scheduled housekeeping tasks have fallen by the wayside over the summer. I kept up with the basics and the house has held well, but I'd really like to get back to the routine where I do a bit of deep cleaning in some area each week. Done
16. Continue to be independent. One of the things I appreciated about the summer was having the opportunity to get out on my own and do errands, etc. after work. No reason in the world why I can't make time to do those same things on my own now I am back at home.
John dislikes making multiple stops and sometimes I like to just plow ahead and get all the things done at once and then nest at home once more. Especially this time of year when John is busy keeping up with lawn work is a good time to establish that habit.
That's what I plan to do with my August...What about you?
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1 comment:
You always have the best, most well-thought out goals for yourself. I get stuck before I even start a list! Ha! I do have a goal to figure out what to put in my flower beds at the end of our house. It's in full shade most of the time and had boxwood bushes initially but those all died. I need to do some research to find what will work. I'd like some low-maintenance flowers that can tolerate heat in the shade. LOL So I guess now I've got 1 goal.
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