Allllrighty. September goals! By request!
When I posted my summer bucket list wrap-up, I mentioned the idea of a monthly to-do list as a regular feature around here, even during the school year, and a lot of you said yep, you'd like to read that.
And since publicly posting my goals is super-duper helpful to me, this seems like it'll be a winning feature. You'll be happy, and I'll get things done.
Which in turn will make me happy.
It's all good.
My school-year goals are gonna be smaller scale than, say, painting and redecorating Sonia and Zoe's room, but hey, small bits of progress are better than no progress, right?
So, let's see. What do I think I could accomplish in September? I think I'm gonna try to make this a mixture of work AND fun because my personality has a strong work ethic but not such a strong fun ethic.
(Which means that if I put "do a fun thing" on my to-do list, then I actually get around to fun things. Because then it's sort of like a task and I can do tasks.)
(Yes, I know that sounds pathetic. But you gotta do what you gotta do, given the personality you've been given.)
Wow. I am taking a realllly long time to get to the goal-setting part of this post.
I think I'm actually ready now.
1. Get an estimate for the stair-refinishing project.
Mr. FG and I started on this project, ran into some road-blocks, noticed we were out of steam (the fact that the stairs sat untouched for two months clued us in), and decided to see about hiring someone.
(Please let the price be reasonable!!)
2. Cook once with each kid.
Four kids, four weeks....that seems doable, right?
3. Go on four bike rides with my kids.
I did pretty well with taking my kids to the pool during the summer months (we went five times last week!).
But, given that the weather's about to change, I'll need a different outdoor fallback activity.
And since biking isn't that fun when the heat and humidity are both in the 90s, fall seems like a good time to do this.
4. Do a plan-a-month session.
I'm not a very spur-of-the-moment person, which means that I function better if I make a big plan all at once rather than taking each day as it comes.
(That makes me feel panicky.)
So. I want to plan all of my meals for the rest of September, plan church music for the rest of the month, and plan S&Z's history and science for the rest of the month (those two subjects are the main ones that require me to do some prep.)
5. Pick carpet and get it installed.
I really wanted to get this done this summer, but oh well. I did at least get the girls' room painted, which was definitely a thing I wanted to accomplish before school started.
We just need to get carpet in the kids' bedrooms, as all the other flooring in the house is either wood or tile now.
We have beige carpet right now, but given that all of the kids' rooms have cooler-toned colors (gray, silvery gray-blue, and a slightly cool aqua), I'm thinking that perhaps we should go grayish rather than beige.
(If you have thoughts on this, do share!)
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I think that's about all I can probably handle this month, given that school is starting and that's a big adjustment in and of itself.
I'll report back at the beginning of October to let you know how this went.
If you want to join me, share a few goals in the comments, and then you can update us at the beginning of October too!
I would go with the more grayish carpet. I've been toying with the idea of switching all my builders grade beige walls to a light gray for a while now. The problem I run into is that my carpet is tan, bleck. Either way the house needs a facelift!
I have to always laugh at the I want what you gots! I wish I had all hardwood floor and not carpet, and you have hardwood and want carpet! It's like the curly hair vs straight hair! Anywho, I would suggest with carpet and kids you get something with a fleck in it, not solid light color ,it hides everyday wear so much better.
Oh, no, no, no, I LOVE hardwood! I'm not a big fan of carpet at all. But the kids didn't want us to put hardwood down in their rooms...they wanted something soft. So, carpet it is.
Another vote for gray, and another vote for getting one with at least one or more 'flecks' to hide dirt and stains. We have a very, very light cream short shag with light beige flecks, and it has worn beautifully vs our prior 'no flecks' cream carpeting.
September goals: 1) Make scads of pesto from my desperately-needs-pruning basil plant, and freeze to give to gal-friends at Christmas, 2) Hard clean and seal my floor tile grout, 3) Make and freeze two batches of pizza dough, and 4) Make one meal using homemade pasta (to justify the expensive pasta attachment I bought for my Kitchen Aid mixer last year . . . )
We had looked at some with flecks, but then wondered if it just looks dirty all the time? I dunno.
Picking flooring is so hard. And it's a big expense, so you're kinda stuck with whatever you choose!
Point for the record: if you get the replaceable carpet tiles, you're not stuck. On the downside, they're not to most people's taste - you see them more in offices and basements than bedrooms. (For a reason, if you ask me.)
True, true. They're usually not super plush, right? So not that great for bedrooms, but perfect for a preschool classroom.
I'm going to go to at least two Fall festivals this year since I haven't been to one for a couple years. The best one I've been to is The National Apple Harvest Festival in Gettysburg PA, over an hour away, but it's worthy of a goal. I've been once before having kids and once with my kids. My youngest is potty trained now so being outdoors all day is much easier!
I'm voting on gray as well, and I agree with the flecks--my mom has a solid color carpeting and it shows EVERYTHING. My kitchen flooring (and countertops) have tan and gray shading to them and they are wonderful for hiding minor messes. I don't think carpeting with flecks will look dirty all the time (referencing your above comment)--I think solid carpeting will look dirty all the time cuz it's next to impossible to keep everything perfect when you have kids underfoot. Can you tell I feel strongly about this??? 🙂
Good luck with your goals! For October, my main goal is to get as far ahead on my blog as I can. We've been traveling a lot ever since buying an RV so it's been a little difficult. I'm not complaining though 🙂
I love the idea of monthly goals. It seems you really accomplish a lot, Kristen.
New Year's resolutions seem so overwhelming sometimes!
Gray carpeting sounds lovely.
I like the grey or silvery-grey carpet, too. And I have to admit I like plain colours because hey're easier to spot the fluff and other stuff and look so nice when they're vacuumed! We've had grey carpet in our living room and dining room for many years (about to be replaced with wood) and although these were not high traffic areas the carpet still looks decent. It was a sculptured carpet, though, so that might have made it look better longer.
I made my goals list and realized I had about a year's worth of work on there, but instead of removing the excess I just put a star by the priorities for the coming month. I'm more of a spur of the moment person and I find this is a disadvantage because I lose focus; the list helps me a lot even if I don't end up doing everything on it. The best month I ever had, accomplishment-wise, was when I used a method I saw on another blog (sorry, can't recall which one): list one thing for every day of the month. Then each day choose one thing from the list. At the end of the month you will have a LOT more things done than at the beginning, even if you have a few days you can't manage to do it. I think the reason this worked so well for me was precisely because I'm a spur of the moment person - having a choice of what to do on a given day allowed me to go with something that appealed to me that day.
I meant to say in the first line "the grey or silvery-blue" carpet
Cook once with each kid, great idea....that is now on my list as well!
I would so desperately love to be able to sit down and plan an entire month! I'd settle for planning a week, or even a DAY! Alas, this type a planner married a railroader who works 100% on call. I never know when/if my husband will be home at any given time. Yesterday he got home at 8:30am as the kids and I headed to church. He went to work today at 1:45 am and will likely get home around 3:30. Then factor in his need to sleep based on when he'll work again and I basically can't plan anything, ever! I rough sketch a menu and then shuffle it around each day depending on when he'll be home. Sometimes that means a large family breakfast and other times I'm making our family meal at lunch or dinner. Always an interesting day in our house!
I'm in the same boat with my husband not having a set schedule, and I'm more of a planner like Kristen. Meals and everything else can be sketchy. Not unusual for me to be cooking at midnight!
Hi Kristen, Love the goals for the next month but I'm really impressed that you are going to menu plan for the next month. I can barely manage a week without making at least one change. By the way I like the grey carpet too. Xx
The gray carpet made me feel depressed. The beige carpet made me think of walking on the beach on a foggy day. I prefer the latter. And I prefer specks of color--have you ever looked at sand?
Hi Kristen! Thanks for the inspiration :-). I have one BIG goal for September, which is not to say I don't have many smaller goals to meet.
I subscribe to only one other blog, HappyMoneySaver. Blogger Karrie is a strong proponent of making Freezer Meals - prepare as much of a meal as you can ahead of time and freeze it, and then when you need the meal, defrost it and finish it. As a matter of fact, she prepares as many as 50 freezer meals at once. You can go to her blog to find out more.
I came across this post back at the beginning of summer, but I try very hard to NOT turn on my stove in the summer. So now that the cooler weather is approaching, I would also like to cook 50 freezer meals in one day.
On a related note, I try to have my kids (ages 15,13, and 8) plan and prepare a dinner meal every week. I have to do more to work with the 8 year old than the other two.
So this month, I want to see if I can combine preparing the freezer meals with having my kids cook every week. I feel it's a big undertaking, which is why I only have the one goal. Good luck everyone!
Whoa. 50 is a LOT! Hope it goes well for ya!
I like the gray carpet, it matched better. We moved to our new home last month so a lot of my goals revolve around minor remodeling/home decor. Some are 1. Paint small bathroom ceiling. 2. Paint at least one more room. 3. Buy and install blinds at least in the bedrooms.
I loved Liseys bedroom color so I chose something very similar for our master bedroom, it came out beautiful. Thank you for the inspiration
Yay! Glad your bedroom turned out great.
Have you looked at the faux wood blinds they sell at Home Depot? We love our white ones!
For this month:
-Finish crocheting current baby blanket project
-Organize chest freezer
-Update address book
-Go camping
-Get up to date on posting pictures
Definitely gray! We went with a gray/brown combo in the basement and I love it! It's so dirt friendly. Ha ha!
I am a fan of the warm grays in general. It looks like the wall color could go that direction while the large gray sample is a little more cool. Are the hardwood floors in the hallway outside the rooms? Be sure to think about the transition there too. It should be a soft visual transition from the hallway to the bedroom, not too harsh on the eye. I would take a look at the Flor tiles, they are for commercial and residential and the lines have come a long way. You may find something that is in the traditional contemporary vein of your style! Good luck!
Definitely gray! And maybe take a good look at some flecked samples.
I love it! Monthly goals!
I'd like to do a freezer cooking session.
Attend a fun community event (I tend to talk myself out of them, because there's always so much work to do!)
Get deputized to register Texas voters.
Watch The Civil War on PBS. It's hard to sit still for that long, but I remember it was such a good series!
Please share the gray carpet you chose: color name and maker. Thanks
Oh man, I don't remember the details. I'm sorry!
@Kristen,
I’m trying to make a decision in carpet now. What did you decide?
We went with the grayer color on the left in that photo!