2019 To-Do List.....December Update

Here's how I did getting stuff done in December.......

*  Pay Bills  DONE
All paid on time or early.  Now we have the added joy in January of doing the books for 2019 now that the financial year is complete.
Good times.....

*  Read 1, 2 Books  DONE
First I read this one......

"Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee" by Charles J. Shields
This is an updated version(added to since Nelle Harper Lee's death in 2016).
Anyone who loves Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird" really needs to read this book.  Though not written with any input from the persons detailed in the book, the author gives us a very personal and detailed account of Harper Lee's life and personae. 
5 thumbs up!

Then I read this one.......

"A Gushing Fountain" by Martin Walser
Written by one of the best post war German writers(and just recently translated into English a few years ago), this semi-autobiographical work is well worth the time invested to read it.  It is multi-layered and deep and can be slow going.
On the surface it's about the life in a small rural provincial town in German in the early 1930's through WWII as experienced by a young boy/young man.  It's a coming of age story, it's a family dynamics story, set against a Germany heading into it's Third Reich government phase and all the sordid outcomes that brought about within Germany and beyond.
I saw many reviews of this book that basically said this book was so lame and boring.  I just don't think any of them got the point of this book.
If you are a fan of history and especially of the WWII era, this book will give you much to chew on and think about beyond the surface tale of a young boy coming of age.
Another 5 thumbs up but be prepared for a long slog through it or having to reread chapters(or the whole book as you'll get more out of it if you do that).

*  Hold Giveaways  DONE
I did two giveaways in December.

*  Mail Giveaways  DONE  All mailed and received(at least I think both were received because Jennifer didn't let me know if she got hers yet).

*  Do Christmas Cards  DONE  I mailed 20 cards and put 1 card inside a box I mailed, so 21 cards mailed.  I think I forgot a few folks unfortunately. 8-(

*  Decorate for Christmas  DONE

Other than putting up the tree and decorating it, wrapping pine garland on the stair bannister and setting out the Nativity creche that was all the decorating I did this year.

*  Wrap Christmas Gifts  DONE  Everything got wrapped.

*  Work on Christmas Gifts  DONE  I didn't have much to work on this year which was a good thing what with the wedding stuff coming up a week after Xmas ended.

*  Dr. Appointment  DONE  Got my bloodwork and OV taken care of.  Everything was fine and we are staying the course on the treatment I have going now.

*  Get Flu Shot  DONE  While I was at the doctor's office I remembered to ask for my flu shot.  Hey, that's an accomplishment for me....ask me how many times I went to the bank before I remembered to ask for more coin rolls to roll my change! lolz

*  Redo Address Book  IN PROGRESS  It's not finished but it'd mostly done.  I used the sending out Christmas cards to take the time to transfer addresses into the new book.  I still need to go through the old address book and make sure I didn't miss anyone before I pitch that one out.  I haven't updated my address book in 20 years or so and there were lots of changes of address plus many persons in that book that are no longer alive.  sigh.

*  Hang Curtains in Hubs' Room  DONE
I don't have a photo of this(as it's really nothing exciting to look at)but I got it finished.  Hubs waited until the last minute to put the rod up too.  Eldest son was sleeping in that room over Xmas and it gets the morning sun bad(or good if you like bright light in your eyes first thing in the morning)so this needed to be finished before the 25th.  I had to nag at him to hang the rod plus I just couldn't put the curtains on the rod and be done with it....the curtains had to be hemmed up so they didn't hang over the electric baseboard heater and I didn't know how short to hem them until I could see/measure the length from the rod. ugh.  men.

*  Cook for Christmas  DONE
I cooked and did as much prep and pie work as I could the day/night before.  Eldest son's GF doesn't eat Beef(except for tacos and burgers)and we were having a Beef Roast so I had to additional chore of making a Lasagna too.  fun times.
But it all got done and went well.

*  Hem Dress for Wedding  DONE
As soon as Xmas company was gone I went up and tried the dress on and with Hub's assistance pinning it, I set to hemming my dress.  It was a fairly easy chore and sent fast but it got put off too long due to so many other things on my plate in December.

Everything got accomplished(or in the case of the Address Book got a good start)in December.

I didn't put much on my To-Do List so I didn't get stressed out over the Holidays.  Maybe I am growing wiser in my old age? lol  I could have loaded the list up with so much more but I knew it would all be there in 2020 waiting for me and just the important/timely stuff went on the December To-Do List.

Sluggy

To-Do List....the December Update

*   Pay Bills  DONE  Boringly paid on time or early and no interest charges.  Boring is good sometimes.  ;-)

*   Read 1, 2 Books  DONE  I actually read THREE Books in December.......

"Grover Cleveland-The Forgotten Conservative" by John Pafford.
The one review on Amazon dumps on the book and it's author.....I agree that the book is way short but to rag on the author because he's obviously politically conservative?  Um, who else would write a book on a conservative POTUS?....certainly not someone with extremely liberal views! lolz
Short but very informative.  Grover Cleveland is truly one of the "forgotten" presidents even with him serving 2 terms.  Forgotten nowadays because of his unwavering conservative principless in office and that US modern society thinks "conservative" anything is a dirty word.
One of the few late 19th century and 20th century POTUS who did NOT usurp the Constitution and use his office to garner power to upset the balance of justice over the other 2 branches of government.  
A man of his convictions and a lot of common sense....not something you see much in politicians nowadays.

A short read but worth taking a look at to get a sense of the man.

Then I read...........

"Mary Boleyn-The Mistress of Kings" by Alison Weir
I thought going in that this book would be a fictionalized novel drawn from the little we know of the historical person of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn.
But no, I was pleasantly surprised that the book, written by a well known historian and author, 
deal with the facts that are known of Mary's life and then posited possible rational suppositions from there.
No great surprising outcomes/facts were reached.  The reader is given the facts and suggestions of possibilities and left to draw their own conclusions.  It was thought provoking and would make a good Book Club selection...but of course I am biased here, because Mary is my 3rd cousin through marriage.  ;-)

And lastly I read this one............

"Death Come To Pemberley" by P. D. James

Not being a big Jane Austen fan I wasn't greatly invested in this read but it was enjoyable.  James is a well-known crime/mystery writer in the UK and abroad.  She used Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" as the jumping off point for this book.  It will help your enjoyment of this novel if you have read/are familiar with the P&P world/characters and the Jane Austen style.
I think P.D. James nailed the Austenesque style but with staying true to her own voice.
This book was made into a PBS show a couple of years back too.


*  Make Xmas Card List  DONE but a little FAIL too
I made my list but realized after mailing out my Xmas cards that I neglected to include a few folks.   Sorry about that! eek  I will be writing letters to them in January instead.

*  Write and Mail Xmas Cards  DONE but a little FAIL too
Ditto what I said above.

*  Get Out Xmas Dishes  DONE
Got them out, washed them up and used them for a few meals at Christmas.

*  Put up Xmas Tree  DONE
Got it up but the decorating took waaaaay too long since the kids didn't help. grrrr

*  Decorate other than Tree  DONE
I ran out of energy on this and we only also got the banister garland-ed(not a word), 3 of my Santas put out, the Xmas runner and the Crystal reindeer and sleigh put on the buffet and my Bavarian Whirligig set up.

*  Hold Giveaway  DONE

*  Mail Giveaway  DONE

The winner received it in a timely manner even though it went out right before Christmas. ;-)

*  Sew 1 Project  DONE

I actually got an unfinished sewing project completed in 2018!!!  I know it's shocking. lolz
I put myself under a deadline for it so it got done....otherwise it would probably still be sitting up on my machine table.
I had these jams for my brother to finish.  I told him about them, took them to VA in October so he could try them on and I could mark them to hem and put the elastic in the waist and gave myself a Xmas deadline so he could unwrap them for the Holidays.

Hubs is holding them up for the photo.

I even put this Vogue Menswear tag in them....I got those years ago when I bought a Vogue Menswear pattern or two.  After my brother opened them he was confused because he didn't remember trying them on in October when we were down in VA and he thought I had "bought" them for him since it has a Vogue label in them.  Hehehe  Maybe my sewing skills are so good the jams appeared to be factory sweatshop produced? lolz

*  Clean the House for Company  FAIL  Well a little cleaning got done(bathrooms mostly and some dusting)but I hurt my leg right before Xmas and Hubs made me try to stay off it and nobody else here did much of any cleaning in my absence.  sigh  The house was clean enough I suppose.

*  Purge Inserts  DONE  Got the old inserts purged and purged my clipped coupons out of my coupon case(aka pencil case).  Only about 6 inserts left in the stack.

*  Go Through Xmas Gift Box  DONE  Got if gone through and all the gifts in there wrapped or put into the stockings.

*  Finish Shopping  DONE  I really didn't have much to buy coming into December(I'm a shop ahead person for the Holidays.)  There was no pressure to hit the stores for another.  Hubs always waits until the last possible minute to give me his list and then it's scramble time to get something he wants...drives me crazy.  I usually do that shopping online so I don't have to face the crowds in the stores.  Hubs and I did shop a little store browsing/shopping at our leisure.  No pressure, just the way I like it.

*  Wrap Presents  DONE  Everything got wrapped/bagged.

*  Mail a few Xmas Gifts  DONE  Only had a few items to mail out and I got them all out in the post in time to be received before Xmas.

*  Plan Winter Holiday  PARTIALLY DONE  Well I did some thinking and planning on this but Hubs has been dragging his feet with imput or ideas.  Nothing is booked yet so still up in the air.
Sonya is not ready for a visit yet so the SW is out so we have less ambitious ideas for where to go/what to do.  I really do want to go somewhere out of the snowbelt in February so I'll continue to work on this in January.


So that's it for what got done in December.  Nothing very ambitious and mostly having to do with Christmas time.

I hope y'all got everything you needed to do done last month!
I'll be back in the coming days with my Yearly 2018 Goals and how all that turned out too.

Sluggy

To-Do List.....December Update

Here's the December To-Do List and the outcome for the month......

*  Pay Bills  DONE  Everything paid and early or on time.

*  Read 1, 2, 3 Books  DONE

This book was very good.  Lots of often overlooked and obscure stories about US history.  I learned much.....mostly that Thomas Edison was a colossal asshole! lolz

This one seemed promising at first but then it turned into a snoozefest.  There were nuggets in there but you had to mine them.  It was mostly about the growth of the animal rights/laws movement.  Like I said, zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. 
The best thing was the cover art. *snort*

This one was a short read and I was able to fit it in under the December 31st wire.  I think it's a YA fiction...if not, it should be.  Some lightweight reading worth a look.

*  Sell Stuff  DONE

I sold 5 items on eBay.  Profit after fees/shipping/cost of goods was $300+/-.  Woohoo!!
I didn't get around to using the local FB yardsale site to sell locally in December.

*  Write Xmas Cards  DONE  26 cards were written.

*  Mail Xmas Cards  DONE  26 cards were mailed out, 2 inside of packages/24 separately in envelopes.

*  Ship 2 Xmas Presents  DONE  Since eldest was home for Christmas I didn't have to mail his, only my brother and his wife's gifts and 1 package to a friend. 8-)

*  Hold Giveaway 1, 2  DONE  A December box was offered up......

......as well as a restaurant gift card 

*  Mail Giveaway 1, 2  DONE  Both mailed out and both received.

*  Load to Sallies(Salvation Army)  FAIL  Just didn't get my act together and get the stuff into the trunk of the car and have Hubs do it.  Too much other stuff going on around here and then it got too cold/bad weather so not worth driving there.  It will go up at some point in January and this is staying on the To-Do List for now.

*  Bring CB and his stuff Home   DONE  Hubs got home from the rescue mission and the next day I drove him in a snowstorm up to U-Haul to rent another cargo van. Hubs, College Boy and all his crap got back late that afternoon/early evening.  We shouldn't be having to rent trucks again until we move away from PA but that's at least 1.5 years off in the future.

*  Go to Dr. Appt. 1, 2  DONE  Got those visits marked off during the first week of December.  My weight continues to go down and I got off 1 more medication. rah!  Now I am on semi-annual check-ins with these two docs.

*  Decorate the Tree, House   DONE  

The extent of inside decorating this year was putting the tree up, hanging up the Xmas cards we received in the kitchen window and putting a garland strand on the stair railing.  One of our numerous nativity sets did NOT get put out once CB brought home his ceramic class projects and they were deposited on the top of my new dining room buffet. sigh.

*  Wrap all Presents  DONE  Most were wrapped before CB came home for Thanksgiving.  Last minute gifties were wrapped and bowed a good week before Xmas day, but not put under the tree as Chester was too interesting in them.  Many lost bows to Chester once they hit the floor. lolz

*  Fill Stockings  DONE  I had to get a stocking for Chester(since Daughter's dog has a stocking too)so I picked one up at the Dollar Tree.  Next year, if I get ambitious, I'll use glue and glitter and write his name on it.
Santa was very good to everyone as this photo attests.

*  Work on 2018 Goals  DONE  Goals were worked on but not finished.  This week is all about finalizing those.

*  Work on 2018 Budget  DONE  Hubs and I had a money meeting and came to some agreement on some of the budget.  The man doesn't want to be pinned down or commit to an itemized list of spending so I can only do so much on the budget. *sigh*  

How did your December goals turn out?

Sluggy

December 2016 To-Do List....Hahaha!

Let's see how we did with our December To-Do List, shall we?
My month didn't go as planned because of Hubs' accident early into December but we salvaged what we could from the list.

* Pay Bills  DONE  If nothing else I always pay our bills in full each month.

* Bike Something  PASS  Well after Hubs' accident I didn't have much time or energy to bike in December.  I got a few miles in but nowhere near how many I wanted to do when the month began.  Even if I didn't get biking done I was moving a lot more in December so should be in a little better shape by month's end.

* Read 1 Book  DONE  Actually I haven't quite finished it as I only get a few pages in each night.  I highly recommend "As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto" by Joan Reardon.  It's a collection of personal correspondence between the two women from 1952 until soon after Julia's book, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" was published.  Besides chronicling the path to publication, there are recipes discussed and cooking talk, national politics of that time, as well as personal stuff.

Avis DeVoto was the wife of historian and writer Bernard DeVoto, who was quite popular in the earlier part of the 20th Century in the US.  He had done a magazine article about how French knives were superior to US cutlery back in 1952.  Julia, living at that time in Paris, had sent Mr. DeVoto a fan letter about his article along with a couple of French knives.  Avis, DeVoto's wife was also his secretary and answered much of his mail. Avis ended up writing Julia a reply and a thank you and thus began their pen pal correspondence and later a personal friendship that lasted until Avis' death in 1989.  If anyone can be credited, it is through the efforts of Avis DeVoto and her connections in the publishing world that got Julia's epic book into print and into the hands and hearts of American cooks.
5 thumbs up!

* Shred Papers  FAIL  Nope, just not enough hours in my day in December to get to this.  The project moved to January's list.

* Hold Giveaway PASS  The December giveaway took place.

* Mail Giveaway  PASS  The package was sent off well before Christmas and received heartily.

* Finish SA Donation #1, #2 CANCELLED  After Hubs' accident there was no way I had time or the ability to get this chore done. 

* Take Donations in #1, #2  CANCELLED  Decluttering and Donations can wait and be done in 2017 once the invalid is off my hands.  8-)

* Go to 2 Dr. Appointments PASS  Appointments done and Yours Truly is doing so much better healthwise.

* Put Xmas Tree Up PASS
No tree.....

Tadah!  A tree.

* Decorate for Xmas PASS considering what I had to work with.  Hardly anything got put out other than stockings, a purple garland on the stair railing and the Christmas tree. Hubs had put the door wreath up and the porch lights outside before the accident so we had the bare minimum.
I never got around to hanging the Xmas cards we received onto a silver garland and putting that around the kitchen window frame.
I did however set them all out on the kitchen table for a few hours and snapped this photo.....

While I didn't get much Christmas decorating done I did cook a lot of goodies and food for the Holiday.

* Finish Xmas Shopping DONE  The bulk of it was finished before December began(thankfully)otherwise there would have been little under the tree this year.  I did run out the Friday morning before Christmas for some last minute gifties(and partly just to get out of the house and away from the invalid). ;-)

* Wrap Presents DONE  I do believe I was up Christmas even wrapping some items and having to fill stockings.  Just not enough hours in the day with Hubs' incapacitated to get everything done sooner this year.

* Make Charity Donation DONE  This year I wrote a check to the local Food Bank.

* Pick-Up College Boy DONE  He got picked up by my Daughter since she was done with finals earlier that day.  This was a big help to me not having to drive to his school and back with everything going on here.  Of course, after I saw what they spent on fast food on the way home on my credit card I started second guessing sending her! lolz

* Finish 2017 Budget FAIL What with a decrease in pay after 1 month on disability and not knowing still when Hubs can return to work and his usual paycheck it's hard to get this finished.  But we are close and I hope to have the budget in place before January is out.

* Take Care of Invalid Patient(and don't kill him) DONE  Well as of this morning I haven't killed him yet.....not that I haven't been tempted some days. 8-)))

I should be able to get a tad more done in January as Hubs gets to where he can do more for himself.

How did you do getting chores on your December To-Do List marked off?

Sluggy