Tag: to do lists

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dear diary :: tackling the tasks

I was up, showered and raring to go today. I had a few tasks I wanted to tick off my list and nothing and no-one was going to get in the way. Everything was going quite well; I was making up the guest bed and our own with the freshly ironed linen, DH was in the garage having a much needed tidy up and for once no interuptions.

There were a lot (and I mean a lot) of dust bunnies behind our padded headboard which is covered in a heavy grey linen fabric – we sleep against the chimney breast so I think the warmth creates more dust that sticks to the fabric. I usually deal with it by using the mattress tool attachment on the hoover I hadn’t intended to pull the bed out and clean behind it but once I noticed the dust I couldn’t just leave it to fester (does dust fester? – maybe not). As I cannot move the heavy wooden bedframe by myself I have to wait until DH is around to help. Today was such a day.

By the end of the morning the bedrooms were reasonably clean again and I had two more post it notes to move into the ‘Done’ column of my kanban board leaving me feeling quite pleased with myself. The laundry and receipts are still ‘in progress’ and until these are completed I will not be starting any other project for the time being.

In the afternoon I settled down to enter some more receipts – weeks 47 and 48 and then I went through the pile of Christmas cards to make a note of who had sent one to me this year and who had not. When I do not hear from someone for more than a couple of years it is hard to know if they have moved, died or have just decided not to keep in touch – in fact this year I had heard from everyone on my list and a couple extra who were not. So with this task done I can now progress to cutting up the cards for tags, money envelopes, bookmarks or recycling.

Tomorrow we will need to go shopping and I shall have to make a meal plan. DH has only 3 tasks on his part of the kanban board – peel and chop the oranges for breakfast, put up the coat rack in the laundry room (we used to hang them in the cloakroom that is now the pantry) and return some items for a refund that we did not use in the pantry.

I, on the other hand have 6 tasks to complete – make some birthday cards, ring to book my car in for a service, plant the pack of tulip bulbs still loitering on the laundry room windowsill (a job I never got round to before Christmas and they have set off growing without any soil), cut up the Christmas cards, set up a bank transfer to pay off the credit card bill and of course the already mentioned meal planning.

Mmmmm….it looks like I might have to do some delegating.

Whilst out shopping in TK Max last week, buying the fridge storage trays, I came across these little pottery planters that are to hang on the wall. I am not sure where I will hang them but I am thinking to grow indoor herbs or even just as a vase for fresh flowers.

creating health and well being

I did my meditation session this morning as soon as I woke up and before I got out of bed. I am following week 1 of the Mindfulness for Health CD that I mentioned in my previous post; a body scan meditation where you concentrate on the breath going in and out and then feel yourself breathing into all your different parts in turn from your feet up to your head.

Extremely relaxing.

Once I was up I remembered to do the weigh in and take measurements. My scales also measure the percentage of fat, water, bone density and muscle as well as weight, but I am not altogether sure what the readings mean – I need to research this.

I was at my heaviest last July and I knew straight away when my clothes started feeling that little bit tight. In my wardrobe I have a mixture of size 10 and 12 clothes depending on style and fit – I always go for comfort rather than stick to one size. The NHS website tells me the ideal weight for my height of 5’6″ is between 8st 3lb to 11st that is quite a wide variation. I think around 9st or just under would be ideal for me – so a few pounds to go.

When I had my thyroid removed the shock to my body caused my weight to plummet to under 8 stone in a matter of days and once out of hospital I had to dash down to Sainsbury’s and find some size 8 clothes so I could go out!

Being dependant on thyroxine it is hard to keep your weight stable as my metabolism is now under the control of my medication – take too little or too much and you have weight gain.

It is not my weight that bothers me as much as muscle mass or lack of it. I feel quite flabby in places and I am an unfortunate apple shape which does not help and my waist measurement is something I would rather not talk about but need to do something about. Any weight gain seems to land on my belly which is not good…. so all the research tells me.

Tonight on’ Trust me I’m a doctor’ they tested two groups of people – one doing brisk walking for 30 minutes and the other group 10,000steps over the day. The group doing the brisk walking had slightly better physical results -so I am on to it. 30 minutes each day round the block at a pace. I might even start tomorrow; but on second thoughts maybe I should wait until I see the physio on Friday.

Today I also had more to drink.

Our meals today were homemade tomato and red pepper soup for lunch and because we were quite tired we had a very quick meal tonight of wholemeal spaggetti, cheese sauce and a very large amount of broccoli to try and introduce a little healthiness! And I didn’t forget the apple.

So all good so far – I think I am slowly getting back on track even though I can’t say that I can feel any dramatic changes as yet.

Thank you for all the encouraging comments and advice – much appreciated. x

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seasons :: bedding down for winter

They are certainly grey wintry days at the moment that make you want to stay indoors keeping cosy and warm; reaching for a nearby throw and snuggling down to watch a film or read a book. It is the time of year when the weather can take a turn for the worse; windy, wet and often bitterly cold – we have had all three recently and I find myself yearning for a little snow as snow seems far more pleasant and of course pretty. It is the time of year when you just want to ‘bed’ down and only surface as spring appears.

Indoors I am still ploughing my way through the dirty laundry left over from Christmas and when I have washed and put it out on the line to dry it then becomes part of the ironing pile mountain. Each day I do a little bit in the hope I will ever see the bottom of the basket again – wash, dry, iron then put away. The laundry is a very circular task like prepping, cooking, eating meals then clearing up.

It is the same with our finances – each day I am doing a little bit towards reducing the pile of receipts so that I can balance the bank statements; though I know it would be more satisfying to me if I could take one project to a conclusion, but I also know that if I focus on one thing something else will not get done at all.

I am returning at the moment to my kanban board by my desk in the office / craft room. Here I can stick post it notes to a glass notice board that is marked out in sections – ‘To Do’, ‘In Progress’ and ‘Done’.

The idea is that the tasks move across the board from ‘To do’ to ‘Done’. We each have three colums and there should never be anymore than 3 tasks waiting in the ‘In Progress’ section – only when one moves to ‘Done’ can another task be started. I often give really urgent tasks a different colour of post it note like bright pink – too many of those and I know it is panic stations.

This morning DH made tomato soup for tomorrow’s lunch before finishing off the shelving in the pantry. We decided in the end the lowest shelf didn’t really need the strip light underneath – it seems bright enough in there as it is with the two downlighters.

As I write he is doing the last little finishing touches, then it can be given a final wipe down and I can put the storage jars on the shelves.

Then sit back and admire!

I, on the other hand busied myself hanging the washing out to dry and whilst I was in the garden I reached for my camera. Our mahonia is absolutely magnificent this year and providing us with a lovely splash of colour now all the Christmas lights have been packed away.

Most of the garden has bedded down and is ‘slumbering’ nicely but the primulas have come to life and the cyclamen I planted in the autumn continue to provide me with a lot of pleasure each time I go in and out of the front door.

Even the land cress refuses to give in to the cold wet weather and packed with minerals is an added boost to the supergreen soup we make.

If I looked close enough I could see little signs of life here and there – pushing up through the cold, damp earth and decaying leaves.

For all the signs of life in the garden there has been no signs of life down our road today – not one person to nod or speak to. I think it must be hard to be on your own all day and not see a soul so with this in mind I have added ‘call aunty M and my mum for a chat’ to my list.

creating health and wellbeing

I made the physio appointment today for Friday. It isn’t with the guy I had wanted as he is booked until the end of January and I don’t feel my knee will last that long. I am worried to exercise it now and do the wrong ones – I need specific advise from an expert.

I didn’t attend yoga in the end for the same reasons really – too worried I might put too much of a strain on it even though my teacher is good and will adapt postures to suit need.

I did do a meditation session today….yeah! It was difficult at first to quieten down but soon I was drifting away in my own little heaven, like letting soft waves wash gently over you and after doing it and feeling so good I wonder why I don’t do it everyday – who wouldn’t like to feel completely relaxed and on cloud nine all the time. Of course the answer is distractions and interuptions and giving way to a hundred and one other things I feel I must be doing.

At the moment the CD I am listening to came free with this book. The narrator of the seven various meditations has a very calming, unhurried voice who keeps telling me it is OK if my mind wanders or I don’t feel anything in particular. You just feel what you feel, no right or wrong. I am actually looking forward to tomorrow’s session.

I keep munching the apples too and need to stock up with more soon.

My memory though is pathetic – I forgot the weigh in yet again this morning – I am now worried this may be a form of self sabotage, denial even. I do know the reason though – it is simply that my dressing gown is in the laundry system and I have been getting up and dressing straight away so by the time I remember I need to weigh myself I do not want to undress again.

Today for lunch we used up a dish of leftover mashed potato that was in the fridge so as not to waste it – I heated it up in my ceramic green non stick pan and sprinkled over a handful of grated cheshire cheese, cooked a few mushrooms and added a can of baked beans. There was a bit of healthy side to it somewhere I think and it was warming and delicious.

Tonight we are having the remains of the shepherd’s pie with broad beans (steamed of course). Broad beans are packed with protein and fibre as well as being a good source of both folate and B vitamins, and they contain high concentrations of dopamine – for this reason they are being researched as a possible benefit for anyone with Parkinsons disease.

Starting too many changes is not the aim of my game here but I feel that from tomorrow I will make a big effort to become better hydrated by drinking more and see if this makes a difference to my health.

I have never been a big drinker (alcoholic or otherwise) – at work I always had a small china mug, none of these super sized ‘buckets’ for me. Presently I wake up and have to drink a full glass of water to take my tiny Thyroxine tablet and propel it past my gut into my intestine for it to work properly. I then have an hour to wait before food – but I often end up waiting two – I need to know if this is good or bad thing as yet I haven’t read anything that would tell me. I do know that restricting the hours that you eat is beneficial or thought to be – but that will be for me to investigate another day.

After breakfast I have a cup of green tea and another mid morning then it is a cup of ginger tea after lunch. From then on I have ordinary black tea with milk and a mug of hot milk with an added spoonful of slippery elm at bedtime. The slippery elm is good for lining the gut.

You may notice I don’t actually drink any more water other than in my tea so this is what I will try and rectify by having at least one more glass throughout the day.

I desperately need to get down to planning some meals before we have to go shopping again. We will not need very much as our new pantry actually looks stuffed full of food – I cannot believe that so much came out of our kitchen cupboards.

So after just a few days my health and well being changes list now looks like this:-

  • an apple a day – check
  • a meditation session – check
  • green tea, one or more cups a day – check
  • ginger tea, one or more cups a day – check
  • a healthy breakfast -yoghurt and fruit followed by museli – I think it is
  • a healthy lunch – mostly
  • a healthy evening meal – most days

The question is how long can I keep this up??

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feasible :: October intentions

October….really? Where did the year go – I can feel Christmas getting mighty close now and summer is but a distant memory. September seemed to come and go in the blink of an eye probably because it is a shorter month and we spent almost two weeks of it enjoying ourselves up in Scotland….but subsequently nothing got done at home.

When I reviewed my intentions for September I was pleased that I had managed to spend some time in the kitchen cooking; baking old favourites and trying out new recipes. We didn’t do much meandering this month though, even in Scotland the focus was on gardening and sadly we didn’t even manage to attend any of the heritage events – we had just missed the Scottish one by the time we got up there and then missed the English one by the time we arrived home – not very well co-ordinated this year!

Looking at the shape of this month it is all about getting the pantry done and making headway with the crafts for Christmas. In and amongst we have a couple of celebrations to organise.

I am feeling the urgency of getting the pantry well underway now. I have this rule which is no decorating beyond October – we have done this in the past and it compromises the time it takes to get everything ready for Christmas.. At the moment we have holes in the walls where cables will run for the lighting and sockets. DH went shopping with me today but while I went to the library for a long browse he went to B&Q and Wickes for the boring bits and pieces like lengths of wood. I never thought the conversion of this little room would need so many materials and we have not even got to the painting stage yet.

Before we set off for town I planned a few meals for the week – I am on a bit of a mission currently to try out some new recipes. I have bookmarked a few that look quite simple and use seasonal vegetables. Leek and mushroom pies and dishes using fresh beetroot and parsnips roasted. You can only buy fresh beetroot by the bunch in Sainsbury’s so I will use the remaining beets grated in a winter salad. A pear and chocolate pudding is also on the list.

In these next two months we have a 1st birthday (Sweetie) and a Christening (Freddie) to plan, these special events never seem to stop – I feel like I should start up a catering company as it is so difficult to find just the right venue, food or caterers and we may well end up with a DIY job and ordering from M&S again.

I have a whole list of crafts that I want to do this month – time allowing. I made a start at the weekend and today called in at our local fabric shop and bought the heavier interfacing for the table mats and some muslin – useful for lots of things. I am on the look out for some pretty vyella to make my two granddaughters a winter dress each but I will have to have a trip over to Dewsbury I think to one of the mill shops. One of the main intentions is to get the calendars completed by the end of this month and have an idea for a lino cut Christmas card.

Apart from visiting my mum (and maybe we can squeeze in a trip to Scotland) there will be little meandering again this month, nor cleaning – with the house full of dust from the pantry makeover, it is just not worth the hassle. The best I can do is keep everywhere reasonably tidy.

I would like to fit in some me time – as is often the case it takes a back seat when other more urgent things come up. I really need to set aside more time for exercising – yoga once a week is just not enough and I am finding that waking up feeling quite stiff is becomming the norm. I have been spending more time recently on building a healthy diet but now must include more exercise.

Of course all the best made plans go out the window sometimes – I spoke to my elder daughter tonight and she is not well so I may have to do some babysitting tomorrow, which might even mean missing yoga this week.

Ah well such is life!! x

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feasible :: September intentions

I am sure I am not the only one wondering how we are suddenly finding ourselves plunged into September. I feel like I blinked and missed the summer but that maybe because we have not had a summer holiday this year. Things happen.

August was too busy a month for us to have made any plans instead we just coasted along reacting to whatever came our way day by day. September should see us trying to get back to some sense of normality whilst we wait for significant dates to roll forward.

Although the start of the new school term doesn’t directly affect us it does make a good starting point for the final part of the year; a time when the weather significantly changes and we turn our attentions to different activities more in keeping with this coming season of cooler weather and shorter hours of daylight. Everything will begin to slow down in the garden so I can use the extra time indoors improving my homekeeping skills!

So, with the best of intentions, here is my usual monthly list of intentions.

The new pantry is top of the list for jobs. It has been dragging on all year but now the units and worktop we chose have been delivered and are being stored in the garage until DH can assemble them. We definitely need to make this a priority. I can’t wait to get it up and running.

I need time in the garden too – tending to plants, feeding the lawns and continuing to dead head the annuals to keep them flowering for as long as possible.

When September comes along I think of harvesting the abundance of food that is around – blackberries in the hedgerows, apples from our tree and with the start of this new season I always want to spend more time in the kitchen. As the days begin to get cooler it is a nice warm space to be trying out new recipes, using up the plentiful supply of tomatoes and left over greens to turn into delicious soups. I am even in the frame of mind to make some jam.

I am quite proud of myself that I have been able to keep our house looking neat and tidy throughout the summer. Having visitors helps! Once I had done the initial big clean it has been easy to keep on top of it all. There are some basic household jobs on my list that really need doing this month – clean my new oven and put away the garden furniture and cushions. Maybe switching some of the decorative items around for something a little more seasonal.

Whilst things have not been easy for us during the summer I still managed to keep on reducing our stuff bit by bit, a pair of boots and 3 pairs of shoes I can no longer wear have gone to my daughter. I decided that the fixtures and fittings from the cloakroom and other oddments in there would be best sold at a Car Boot sale – a few extra pounds in the coffers would not come amiss at the moment.

September is the month of Heritage open days. I always look forward to these and squeeze as many venues in as we can wherever we happen to be. We are already making plans and marking off the ones we want to go and see should time allow. Even better now we are not limited to weekends only.

We will also be going up to Scotland and no doubt another trip to North Yorkshire and if there are any late open gardens or well dressing events then we will add those in too.

As the summer is drawing to a close it is time to revise our budget for the four remaining months to Christmas. It is important to conserve what we can so that the cost of Christmas does not become a potential problem. I will be posting my monthly tally in a day or two.

I an doubtful, but quite hopeful, that I might be able to do some crafting this month. I have lots of ideas all I need is time. Watch this space.

I always find it helpful to have an idea of what I want and need to accomplish during the month though I don’t always succeed – but like they say if you fail to plan you plan to fail!

Enjoy September x