Monthly Goals - October 2014

In an effort to keep myself accountable and realistic about our house and life goals, I am going to attempt to document my  our goals each month.  I want to really see how much progress I made and see if I am being honest with myself.  I am also going to have a little Project Elephant {as inspired by Abbie at M is for Mama's Project Elephant} that will be nice to bite a bit off of each project each month, but if necessary can be pushed - but progress on that is important!

This month we have the following happening: our new nephew will be arriving {sorry Maggie, September birthday is no longer an option!}, there will be a new puppy to the pack {my parents' new puppy, don't get excited}, Aubrie's birthday, two days of JA, and plenty of OSU Cowboys football. It is a packed and extremely monumental month.

So in the effort of being honest with myself, I like to plan my month by weekends.  Or more specifically, "Weekends available".  This month, we have 1.  Yup, welcome to our normal life.  We laugh that February is the only month that we tend to not have something every single weekend to do.  I guess that is a sign that we are blessed to have as many family and friends and abilities to do the exciting things that we get to do. 

Yes, currently our house is the spooky haunted house to us.  So that picture seemed appropriate.

That is certainly a lot to do with only one weekend in the month of October.  

However, it just means we have things to do during the week, without burning ourselves out.  {We typically attempt to take off on Sundays or at least only do the enjoyable work in the effort of rest and together time or, let's be honest, screen time.  But we do realize sometimes that doesn't work.}

Here's the details or reasons behind the projects:

Project 1: Cleaning out the attic will allow us to organize the garage which will then allow us to park our cars out of the weather.  All of this is a huge bonus.  We haven't done this yet because a) it wasn't pressing, 2) it was way too dang hot, and 12) it was just too dang hot (yes, hot enough it should be mentioned twice).  This has been on our looming list since we "finished" the kitchen {more on that in a minute} and the weather started cooperating {a whole 2 weeks ago}.

Project 2: Foundation issues.  We are in quite the situation with this one.  Let's just say we don't know what to do yet because we don't know who is responsible for what, what is needed, or how much it is going to cost.  In the effort to help educate others about these issues, we will try to document the process as we go.  There are little to no resources out there on what to do for a problem like this - and we will do our best to not contribute to that lack.  We don't know the steps, but we are beginning this process.

Project 3: Hang pictures.  Yes, you read that correctly, in a minimum of 50% of the house.  Start small people. 

Project 4: Organize cedar closet.  This closet is inside the laundry room and could be such a huge asset.  Unfortunately, during the painting and remodel, it was the only thing left untouched - so it took on a hunting-not-needed-but-gathering role.  We have mostly taken care of this but I need to organize instead of throw things inside.  We could probably do some item combining also {I think we quite possibly have light bulbs galore in both closets.} Realistically, I think this should probably only take an hour or two one afternoon/evening.

Project 5: Polish wood floors.  When we installed the flooring {pictures coming soon}, we had them polished once before we moved things in the very next week.  However, due to the kitchen remodel happening simultaneously, there was a lot of dust and grime.  The dust and grime is so much easier with a few polished under its belt.  Therefore, we really need to do this cleaning thing right one more time: move all of the furniture and rugs, clean, polish, let dry, and replace items.  We aren't going to do this in the bedroom due to its proximity to the kitchen not allowing it to get as bad as the rest, but the couches and tables must be moved.  Especially before the china cabinet arrives {see mom and dad, I really am listening, I know it is coming, but not yet!}

Bonus Project: Hold lots of baby Cooper.  We really need to break in the "aunt" and "uncle" names right!

A very special project:

This project doesn't quite fall into Project Elephant or our October Goals.  But it must get done either way. We are going to be refinishing my Grandma Shirley's dresser.  She was struck by the HGTV inspiration bug and has decided to redecorate.  She is trusting her beautiful dresser in my sticky fingers {she still has time to change her mind!}.  We have decided to try Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint for the first time.  And I think we are going to try it over a weekend when we already have other things going too - because that's how we roll.  However, everyone says it is easy.  There's always that for reassurance. 

Project Elephant

Most of these projects are focused on truly finishing up the kitchen.  It appears to be done, but we know it is definitely NOT finished.  

We shall see how this goes!