I have a little less than a month left before school starts, which is making me feel a little twitchy.
Bucket lists are usually filled with fun things, but I can’t lie: this list is really gonna be productive stuff because I will feel better going into my fall semester if I get my ducks in a row.
Also, I do actually find joy in crossing things off a list, so….
I’m sharing because I need some public accountability, so thank you for being here to keep me in line. 😉
1. Finish the @#$!% scuffed table
+
I am so tired of looking at this half-finished thing in my carport. I need to just find some good weather days and knock it out.
2. Hang some things on my walls
I did such a good job of settling right into my rental in almost every way except one: I have quite a few things I haven’t hung on the walls.
And this is silly because my landlords told me from the start that it was fine to hang things up!
3. Go through my house room by room and declutter
I have lived here for two years now (how crazy is that??), which means that I have most certainly accumulated some things I could get rid of.
May 2022!
I know I will eventually move out of this house (my landlords are committed to keeping it as a rental, which means I cannot buy it), so that’s gonna be my mindset as I go through my stuff.
I’ll ask myself, “Do I want to pack this up and move it eventually?”, and that will help me figure out what to get rid of and what to keep.
Rooms on my list:
- my bedroom
- my office
- Lisey’s old room
- my bathroom
- the kitchen
- the living room
- the boiler room (our unfinished basement room)
4. Do my pre-school assignments
I have a little stack of assignments I have to knock out before school even begins. I printed them out and was reminded that my anatomy and physiology knowledge of the nervous system definitely needs some reviewing!
Luckily I still have my A&P book!
5. Practice my competency head to toe 2 times a day
I’m a little rusty on my head-to-toe assessment routine because PCTs do not do assessments!
My third-semester professors said a lot of students fail the first time around and have to come back for retesting in the fall because they did not remember to practice over the summer.
As we all know, I’d much prefer to pass competency on the first try, so I’m gonna be faithfully practicing between now and then.
Competency testing happens in the first few days of this fall semester so I gotta be ready by the time school starts.
(If you’re new: competency testing happens every semester before clinicals. We go into the labs at school and do various skills while a professor watches us and grades us pass or fail.)
6. Eat down my kitchen freezer
If you’ve been here for any length of time, you know I am forever and always struggling to keep my kitchen freezer under control.
Will I struggle with this for the rest of my life? PROBABLY.
It’s so easy to throw things in the freezer and think you’re saving them. But if you don’t keep on top of it, the freezer is just a pit stop on the way to the trash can.
Sooo, I wanna eat that down. And if I can manage to use up some things from my little chest freezer too, then great. But mainly the kitchen freezer contents are my focus.
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Alrighty! I think that’s enough for four weeks.
Wanna join me? You can make a list in the comments and we’ll all check back in a few weeks and see how we did!
(and you can make your list more fun than mine if you want. hehe.)
Laura
Monday 12th of August 2024
My short list includes: -scheduling well child and dental appointments for the kids - grilling at least once more -back to school shopping -reading a book at the public pool -a weekend away to bring the kids to visit their grandparents - working out school carpool schedule -as many ears of fresh corn as I can work into meals while they last - helping a relative recover from surgery - going in an evening bike ride just for fun…at my own slow speed
Hanna K
Thursday 8th of August 2024
On my to do list is: 1. Sort my family photos and get them labelled and into albums 2. List the clothes I’ve culled on ebay 3. Declutter my study/home office
Lizzy
Wednesday 7th of August 2024
I do have a list of August goals:
-have my late parents’ accountant file a final return on their estate. ( It makes me really sad, so I have been procrastinating.)
-buy a new refrigerator (I knew it was on its last legs, but I thought I had more time! I did not. It died, and I bought a new one yesterday)
- lose 10 lbs
- have the car serviced
- go to the gym 12 times
- walk on the beach or swim 12 times
- schedule and have a mammogram
- schedule an endoscopy
- make sure my HOA board approved impact windows
- Try to transfer my late husband’s car title to my name so I can donate it.
- have my house spotlessly clean by the end of the month
Liz B.
Tuesday 6th of August 2024
Kristen, I can totally relate to your list. I, too, love to cross things off my to-do list, which is paper. I've tried using online "to do" apps, but nope, I'm old school. I really admire how conscientious you are about prepping for school, too.
My own list:
1. I *WILL* get my niece's high school graduation gift to her *BEFORE* she moves away to college. She graduated in May. (Hangs head in shame). Life happened, DH offered to take it on, then he ignored it for a couple of weeks (sigh, I knew better, he was in a super busy phase of work), and here we are. I'm just waiting on one gift card to arrive in the mail, then will put it all together to send to her.
2. I will clean out my raised bed (that is full of weeds) in time to cover it over in the fall. First, I have to transplant the coneflowers growing in there, that someone in my Buy Nothing group gave me last year.
3. I will read the continuing education book I bought last year (!!) and take the quiz to get continuing ed credits....the quiz expires at the end of this month.
4. I need, and must, use up what's in my kitchen freezer, too. I'm not entirely sure what's in there (at least one package of bacon, that much I know, lol). Your freezer looks 1000% better than mine.
5. I will clean out our garage (with DH's help) so we can get our garage door opener serviced. It's about a year old, and still under warranty.
That's plenty to do! Good luck, Kristen and everyone!
Chrissy
Monday 5th of August 2024
If I were to write a list, it would be endless. I can look in every direction and see something major to do. So I will write about what I have done that has motivated me to carry on little by little. The truth is, if I accomplish anything, it is progress. I cleared my desk by throwing away much unnecessary paper stuff and filed pertinent information. I cleared off the kitchen table to change the seasonal theme to "lemons." I like to decorate with little touches for the season. For a while the table was so cluttered, I was a little afraid I'd already be into Thanksgiving. Also cleared off the buffet. I maintain a tray of ready to serve items for drop in guests (which I never have, but still am ready). This one has lemonade mix and a lemon embossed pitcher, lemon shortbread (from Marshalls), lemon-lavender candle. I also have a tiered fruit stand with veggies from my garden and what else? lemons and limes to make citrus pie (2 cans swt condensed milk 2/3 c. juice, 3 egg yolks, blended well. May add some zest. Pour into a 9" graham cracker crust, bake for 20 min. Let set for an hour or two before serving w whipped cream. Refrigerate leftovers.) Because it is a small house, with minimal counter space, the microwave is on the end of the buffet. I need to purge the craft room. I no longer do many of the things that I have items for. Will look to FBMP or thrift store drop off. Silk flowers for wreaths (mostly high end. If it's not real, I want it to look like it is) and flower arrangements. Want to take down living room drapes and wash them, replace them with the long curtains in the kitchen (that are not really kitchen curtains). It is imperative to have backed drapes or heavy curtains for winter in case of subzero weather even though I cover the inside of the windows w plastic. When I was thinking of new drapes/curtains for living room, I found/thought about using the kitchen ones. I also already have some very cute cafe curtains I made for the kitchen a few years ago of colorful realistic looking flowers. What's old becomes new again. Wash windows in the process. Clean out pantry cabinet of large and shaped cake pans. I no longer make three tiered wedding cakes w 16" bases. Want to keep madeline pans, molded teacake pans, etc. for tea party treats. Want to inventory and measure table cloths (I have over 30 lace table cloths in white and off white for church tea parties, and mixed assortment of white and seasonal ones.) Also want to inventory tea pots, china tea cups, and china sets and serving ware. I have opened totes of dishes and thought "Oh, I don't remember having this." Will stop with the long term. Still have several things to do in the short term.