UPDATE: HOW DID I DO ON MY VACATION GOALS?

If you remember this post....back on March 6th, I said these were my goals for the three weeks I would be on vacation from school:

* get my blog back the way I like it
* plan and cook meals
* plan for the last 12 weeks of school
* emissions check
* read a book
* make a memory board for photographs
* spend time with my parents
* get April's letter and pictures ready for "K"
* wash windows
* clean my stove and refrigerator
* do some prep for spring planting
* find cheaper car insurance
* find a better cable, Internet and phone service plan

HOW DID I DO?...well....

* My blog is not perfect and I'm still missing a few things, but all of you seem to like it. So, after my rant about "someone" messing it up....enough said. I'm still working on it.

* I did cook a few meals, but more importantly, for now anyway, my husband and I have come to the understanding that I'm just going to cook on the days that he's home early. On his late days, he works from 12 to 8 p.m. So, when he gets home I'm ready for bed. I don't mind cooking, but I hate for food to go to waste and he tends to be a picky eater or changes his mind half-way through the day, on what he's in the mood for. I'm still working on meal planning and saving money on shopping. CVS is coming to town and I am very excited to see how much I can save there. Michelle inspired me to check them out. She uses them all the time and finds amazing deals. So when I found they were finally coming to town I got my store card right away.

* I did get a lot of planning and copying done for my classroom. I have a skeleton plan of the next 12 weeks hashed out. I also have the next 3 weeks totally done, because most of that will be STANDARDIZED TESTING. A lot of people think that because I've taught for 19 years, that I just take out past plans and "voila" your done. Every year is different and every set of students is different, so although I have some things in place year to year, other things are newly created. It would be very boring and I would not be a very affective teacher if things were the same from year one of my career to now. 

* Emissions check....done, passed, mailed in.

* I'm reading the Bible daily (I try to do about 20 minutes a day.), but I didn't finish an entire book. Right now I am reading...

I'm almost done....and...

....the chapters on months 4 and 5. I love to read, but finding the time has been a challenge. I used to read every night before I went to bed, but when I lay my head down now...I...fall...fast...asleep....zzzzzzzzzz.

* I did finish my memory board for photographs, and hopefully, one day soon, it will actually be on the wall. (Richard are you reading this....Hint...Hint...!?!)

* We spent a lot of time with my parents too. Either they came here to visit or we went there, about 4 times a week. We even had dinner together a couple times. Grandma is loving watching Samuel grow up!

* "K's" April letter is almost done and I just have a few more pictures to develop.

* The front yard has been weeded, fertilized and the old leaves picked up. The grass in the back yard has been aerated, power raked, and reseeded. I've even got TruGreen Lawn Care set up to service it. I've tried, for 6 years, to take care of the grass myself, but it always ends up with bald patches and weeds. So, this year, for $131.00, this company will do it for me and they guarantee thick grass and no weeds. All we have to do is mow and water.

I need to plant my Morning Glories and other flowers, but it still gets cold here at night, so that will have to wait a few more weeks.

* We switched out car insurance to GEICO and we will save $525 a year!

* We will be staying with our present PHONE/CABLE/INTERNET plan for now. To get something cheaper and have what we want, we'd have to go with DIRECT TV and I don't like the dish, plus we'd lose TIVO. The bill will go down a little, though, because we are cutting back on our channels some.

* As of the writing of this post my windows, stove and refrigerator have not been cleaned out, but I don't go back to work until Friday, so hopefully. We have a daily chores list, which helps, but the bigger tasks are hard to fit in. If I had extra money, I think the first thing I'd splurge on is hiring a cleaning lady. A lot of you seem to have cleaning plans (...that you actually stick with) and must have spotless homes, but being that my schedule changes every twelve weeks, fitting in the big cleaning jobs takes a back seat....Yes, it's an excuse, but I tried. I don't know why I beat myself up about this so much. I still battle feeling guilty that I can't do it all, perfectly. 

SO OVERALL, I ACCOMPLISHED MOST OF MY GOALS! 

I think having a list of projects to do really helped me get things accomplished. I posted it on my refrigerator and did a little bit every day. This summer I'll have six weeks off, so I think I'll try it again.

My big job will be sorting through all this clutter in my sewing room. The door is always closed, so I've been able to ignore it up to this point. I've been following Darryle and her forum has inspired me. I was trying to save stuff for a yard sale, but I think I'm going to make a big run to GoodWill and the consignment shop instead. 

It's amazing the amount of stuff you acquire when you have a child. For instance, I made a beautiful dollhouse, (...see it tucked in the back on the table...) thinking I would give it to my daughter, one day....no daughter....and now I want to find a good home for it. Check out the pictures of it here. I paid about $100 for the kit at Hobby Lobby. I build it from scratch (Many hours of hard labor went into it's construction.) and it comes fully furnished. I've probably spent about $600 on furnishings. Any takers?? I think I'll need to start a Craig's List pile too.

My other big job will be the garage........

We do keep out cars in there, which helps keep the clutter to a minimum, but I still have a lot of storage containers, Christmas decorations, paint supplies....

.....gardening supplies, tools and cleaning products that need to be sorted through. The floor is also due for a good sweeping and hosing down. Note to self...the next home you buy, make sure it has a three car garage!

So, I had a very productive, restful, busy vacation.....time to get back to the "paying" job on Friday.