I'm in the middle of enjoying a 9 day stretch off from work. Because I'm only part-time, I ended up working three days at the beginning of the pay-period and two days at the very tail end, leaving me with 9 glorious days off (without using any PTO)!
With the long stretch of days off, I'm attempting to get some long overdue projects done or at least started (although I'm suspecting some of them are going to take me throughout the summer.) This list is mainly for my purposes only - to keep track of everything and to cross them out when done.
1. Copy all of my recipes from magazines and newspapers on recipe cards and organize in my recipe binder. (almost done!)
2. Get pictures of our nieces and nephews and Amaya developed and hung up in the fireplace room and living room.
3. Organize kitchen cabinets (Ruth Ann put away all of our kitchen stuff when we first moved in - thank you, thank you! And now I need to move a few things around to make the things that we use everyday accessible and those things that I don't use very often (waffle maker, blender, etc) a little further away.
4. Clean! Unfortunately with working and taking care of Steve and Amaya - I'm not superwoman and I'll admit, I just can't keep up. Our house stays relatively neat, but I tend to ignore Steve's bathroom downstairs a little too much. Ugh...
5. Read, read, read... I'd like to return all the books I've borrowed - the good and the bad news is that this is a VERY long term project.
6. Check out books from the library on potty training and educate myself on the topic - I'm thinking in the next month or two, we'll give it a whirl - maybe when we come back from South Dakota in August.
7. Finish the three puzzles Mom loaned me.
8. Organize my cross-stitch floss for a new project.
9. Work on making birthday and anniversary cards for July and August.
10. Sewing! Last night I performed hand surgery on Elmo - he's already had major facial reconstruction and I'm proud to report that his hand surgery went well! I also fixed one of Amaya's pajamas - she managed to make the tiny holes near her toes really big! We've also had a case of the disappearing buttons on MOST of Steve's shorts. I need to get those taken care of PRONTO!
11. Take 18 month pictures of Amaya and send to loved ones. (I'm not willing to put Amaya through anymore trauma with the scary photographer at JCPenney and I'm also not willing to take out a loan to get pictures taken at Olive Juice. I think I can do just as good of a job!)
12. Catch up on e-mails that are LOOONG overdue - sorry Shirley!
13. Menu planning for the next three months! I hate making out a grocery list because it always seems like I'm re-inventing the wheel every week. So, if I make 12 weeks out of menus, make a permanent copy of the grocery list, we can just grab the list and go!
14. START AMAYA'S BABY BOOK! (I know, I know... I'm a horrible mother! She's nearing 18 months old and I haven't even started!)
15. Figure out what to do with our fourth bedroom. Right now, it's our dump and store room for all the toys Amaya has outgrown and storage for our luggage, dining room table leaf, etc. I've thought about making it into a play room, but isn't that what her bedroom is for? Steve and I have to share a bedroom, so why should Amaya get TWO rooms to play in? I thought about turning it into a scrapbooking, hobby room, but because of number 14 - that wouldn't be very practical because I haven't had time to scrapbook and I already have a nice place set up in the basement. So, we're leaning toward making it a guest bedroom. This is a little bit more of an expensive project because we don't have a bed or furniture, but at least I could get it painted and get curtains up.
16. Weed through Amaya's clothes again and figure out what fits and doesn't fit. Come on 18-24 month clothes! I'm getting tired of her 12-18 month stuff already.
17. Learn how to dump the pictures from the camera and how to charge the camera battery. Simple, I know... but when you have an awesome husband who likes to do this for you, why learn?
18. Finally memorize my cell phone number and learn how to use my cell phone. Again, very simple, but I just don't use it that much, but I suppose if I'm ever in a bind, it may be helpful to know.
Whew... and these are in addition to today's "To-Do List":
1. Empty dishwasher
2. Fold laundry
3. Change sheets on our beds
4. Clean upstairs
5. Finish thank you cards
6. Fill out Amaya's Developmental form for Mayo
7. Check e-mail
8. Blog
9. Shred bills
10. Update white board
11. Call Carol
12. Play with playdough with Amaya
13. Go outside with Amaya (if the weather cooperates)
14. Read stories
15. Go to Kohl's for new shoes for me.
Ugh... guess I better get cracking - at least I can cross off number 8!