To-Do List.....May 2022 Outcome

 Here's what got done in May.........

* Pay Bills  PASS  Always #1 on my list

* Read 1 Book  PASS  I reread a book I had here before I sent it off to Salvation Army

* Hold Giveaway  PASS  

Yep it was held.

* Mail Giveaway  PASS  Mailed out and hopefully received though I haven't heard back or checked the tracking yet.

* Clean out Inserts/Coupon Envie  PASS  Something I do the beginning of every month(and sometimes during the month as coupons expired later than the first.

* Editing More Old Photos  PASS  I am now up to August 3, 2017.  Still got a ways to go! lol

* Post about Old Trips  PASS  Well I got one post done.  Maybe I'll get two done in June.

* Work on Genealogy  PASS  Been working on a few things and helped someone with their ancestry.

* Roll/Spend Down Bonus Cash  PASS  May was a good month for rolling BC but mostly I grew it didn't spend it down. 8-)

* Eat Down the Freezer/Pantry  PASS  We've made some progress in the freezers and pantry.  There is more room in the freezers as well as the pantry.

* List Items on eBay  FAIL  Though I did some research I didn't actually get anything listed. 8-(

* Prepare for Stockpile Sale  PASS

Got it all pulled together in less than a week.

* Hold Stockpile Sale  PASS

I got quite a bit sold.  I sent a few bags of leftover stuff to the Food Bank as well.  I swear I could probably have another sale there is so much still here. sigh.

I'll call May done and a success.  Not a rousing success but not a failure.

Sluggy

2020 To-Do List....May Update

*PLEASE NOTE--Posting may be a bit sporadic over the next week or so as I am sort of on vacation between getting stuff done here in Virginia and don't feel like writing blog posts worth reading.
I'll try to write something worth reading a few days a week.  Thanks for your indulgence on this.


Let's see how we did at getting stuff done in May.........

* Pay Bills  DONE
Always number one on the list and always done.

* Read 1, 2, 3 Books  PASS
I only got 2 books read in May.
First off was this lovely tome..........

"The Land Will Be Deluged in Blood: a New History of the Nat Turner Rebellion" by Patrick H. Breen

This one read like someone's Master's Thesis that they expanded a bit.  Very boring for the most part especially if you don't like reading about history.  But I say that reading a book is always ok if you learn something from it.  Specifically I learned about the dual justice/court/legal systems in the Antebellum South which I was totally unaware of before this book explained it in great detail. 

and then there was this one...........

"Shakespeare's Rebel" by C.C. Humphreys
If you enjoy historical novels and are in love with all things of the Tudor/Elizabethan era and Shakespeare's plays then run and get this one!
The protagonist is a deeply flawed character called John Lawley, a drunk, ex-soldier and sometimes actor/sword master and fighting choreographer. Lawley is a fictitious character who interacts with historical persons of the era: William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage,
Queen Elizabeth I(my 4th cousin), Sir Robert Cecil(father in-law of my 10th cousin), and Robert Devereux the 2nd Earl of Essex(my 6th cousin, etc.).
I didn't get through a 3rd book in May.
Ah well.....


* Hold Giveaway  DONE

* Mail Giveaway  DONE  The first winner never contacted me in the 48 hour window so I drew another winner and she has received her goodies and is enjoying them.

* Do a Sewing Project FAIL  Nope, didn't get anything sewn.

* Cash in a Savings Bond  DONE  We had a  Bond mature in May so it got cashed in.  Don't let US Savings Bonds sit if they have fully matured.  It's like putting cash under your mattress and letting it sit and not earn a penny.  Put it somewhere it will earn at least a little bit(or better yet, if you have debt, throw that cashed in bond toward your debt).

* Mail Cards  DONE  I needed to send two sympathy cards out to 2 friends.  The rack of cards was decimated at the store, the sympathy ones, I suppose due to Covid 19 victims lately.

* Plant Garden  DONE  

We planted our usual garden along the backyard deck. Dan planted green bean seeds along the back of this area but nothing came up so after that the buckets behind the fenced barrel in the photo below, holding the collard plants I finally found at the nursery well after everything else was planted got put where the green beans didn't germinate.

And greens were planted in the 2 half barrels on either side of the backyard deck garden.

* Make a New Garden  DONE
We have an old dog run from when we had our beagles which has just sat on the back side yard for years.
I finally had a good idea on how to use it in the flat circular area of the backyard where our pool us to be................

We moved the dog run there and I had Hubs build raised garden beds inside.  Not a lot more space but enough to grow a bit more veggies this year and expand the garden with a built in fence to keep the deer and rabbits out.
Go us! :-)


*  Start Seeds  FAIL  I just didn't find enough time to get this done.  Then we got a spat of very hot unseasonable for us weather so the seeds went right into the ground instead.

* Bathe and Groom Dogs  DONE

The perpetual motion machine Dixie and the guardian Chester after being bathed.

* Change out Clothing for Summer  PASS  I got everything dragged out and changed over.  I threw out a few worn out items and will be glad when I finally get a few more pounds off for good so I can donate a few more clothing items once our thrift stores open back up.

* List Items on eBay FAIL  No motivation at the beginning of May and then since I was going to be out of town I figured wait until I was back to list anything in late June.

* Pack my Bags to Get the Helloutta Here!  FAIL  Nope I didn't get my luggage packed even though I got the Summer clothing out since I didn't know for sure until the last minute whether this trip was going to happen.

* Plan Goals for 2020  PASS  We have very few goals for 2020 at this point in the year.  Maybe a vacation in the Fall and a few house projects with an eye toward moving.  I am working on getting the ball moving on that moving/relocating goal this week.

That's about it for the highlights from my May.
What did you(or didn't you)get done in May that was on your list of stuff to do?

Sluggy

To-Do List.....the May Edition

Here's how the progress on the May To-Do List turned out............

May

* Pay Bills  DONE  Always at the top of the list and the first thing I get done.

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

"Blood Brothers:The Story of the Strange Friendship Between Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill" by Deanne Stillman
The title is a bit misleading once you get into this one.  Mostly it's biographical information on various people of this era-Sitting Bull, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, George Custer and a few others and how their lives intersected along with  general history of the end of the "Old West".  
There really wasn't much of a "friendship" between these two other than Sitting Bull spent 4 months touring with Buffalo Bill's show in 1885.  The author uses this brief acquaintance as a jumping off point to delve into the events such as the Battle of the Little Bighorn(Siting Bull was for decades thought to have been the one to kill Custer), the Ghost Dance and Massacre at Wounded Knee and the Murder of Sitting Bull.  A few interesting stories but more an easy, light read(except for all the Native American slaughter and such). 8-(

And this one........

"Ten Hills Farm:The Forgotten History of Slavery in the North" by C. S. Manegold

This book traces the life of John Winthrop, the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony(the second colony founded in what is now Massachusetts), his descendants and other families who owned the farm-five generations of slave owners who profited from human misery at Ten Hills Farm.

Winthrop owned the 600 acre farm which is where Medford MA now stands called Ten Hills Farm.  It is Winthrop who wrote the first law in the New World condoning slavery and owned a large number of slaves that toiled on his farm there, all the while proclaiming their colony as a beacon of enlightenment and justice.  
Slavery was an entrenched way of life in New England but it is rarely recognized or admitted to.  Many of these founding fathers in MA not only owned slaves but traded in slavery(even when it was outlawed)but also owned slave sugar cane plantations in Caribbean lands(most notably Barbados).  And this doesn't even touch on the New England shipping industry that profited from the Atlantic triangle of trade between the New World, the Caribbean plantations, the shores of Africa and England.

These New Englanders of the gentry class also suppressed religious freedom other than the mainline Puritan teachings(exiling and/or killing those who didn't subscribe to the Puritan ways).  Among the native peoples they made and broke treaties to suit their needs, looked upon the natives as lesser forms of humans and started wars with them so as to sell the captives into slavery and ship them off to their Caribbean plantations. 

It's a long sorted past that the North refuses to acknowledge and it's a breath of fresh air to read this awesome book and see the truth of how widespread this cancer was rooted in the Northern colonies.
Slavery wasn't just a stain upon the Southern parts of America, it was an affliction upon all of it.  The North just got rid of slavery sooner than the South as the North due to weather conditions ended up as an industrial economy while conditions in the South was more conducive to an agrarian economy.  

John Winthrop's legendary "city on a hill", the example for the world of rightful living and a model of "Christian charity" was anything but to anyone other than it's leading citizenry.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interesting in American history and New England history specifically.


* Hold Giveaway  DONE

* Mail Giveaway  DONE  And it's winging it's way to Sue L. as I type this.

* Go on ED Plan  DONE

So far it hasn't turned up any foods my system/my HS doesn't like.   Except my body doesn't like eating only potatoes.  I'm ok as long as it's not a potato monotrophic diet.  I haven't added back in dairy(other than a bit of cheese on that cheeseburger last Thursday)and there were no issues in the 24 hours after eating that.  My HS symptoms haven't changed since going on this ED either(for the good or bad).  

* Start Home Projects  DONE  The Monday after the Daughter pulled out of the driveway we began the purging and cleaning.

Things have been uncovered that haven't seen the light of day since the Daughter moved back home 3 years ago.  The living room has become the dumping ground for items leaving and for items we have to keep and find a new place for.
We have completed a few tasks and we are deep into this project now.
It's a process people! 8-)

* Email a Company  DONE

I emailed Alka-Seltzer about their informing my entry was invalid AFTER the window to resubmit it closed(and they told me to resubmit it!)  Radio silence from them so I am putting them on my AVOID THEIR PRODUCTS list and moving on.
I did return the product to the store for a refund of course!

* Purge Garage Again  IN PROGRESS
We got lots of things removed from the garage, including the evil Dreadmill which Daughter packed into her POD.  However the garage doesn't look like much progress has been made yet since it's packed with garbage cans and trash bags awaiting being carried off by the garbage company.  Daughter and Ex-College Boy have filled so many trash bags that we've had to space out throwing them into our trash collection pile for pick-up over the last three weeks.

This morning 2 large trash cans, plus another 5 trash bags and a large broken exercise bike got picked up.
We only have a large broken desk sitting on the front porch to send to the garbage now.

This is a shot of the garage this morning before Hubs took one of the garbage cans to go back and live on the side of the house as we usually only fill 1 can, but we've been filling two cans+ for the last 3 trash pick-up weeks.
See the clear pathway through the garage?  We haven't been able to walk out of the garage on this side since Daughter started packing and throwing shit out.

* Sort Through Seeds  DONE
I went through my old packets of seeds and found quite a few things I can plant this season.  I put some mesclun salad mix seeds in the half barrels with the broccoli and cauliflower plants.  I've got some basil to sow among the tomato plants later today and in late August I'll plant some spinach seeds after the cukes and Summer squash are done.

* Buy Plants  DONE

Plants were bought in early May from our favorite nursery and everything got planted by mid-month.


* Plant Garden Beds  DONE

We've had lots of days of rain(too many days!)but the plants are hanging in there.  The broccoli and cauliflower are loving the cooler temps though.

* Cash in Savings Bond  DONE
Cashed in the first chance I got to go to the bank and the proceeds are squirreled away with all the other funds from cashed in matured Savings Bonds.

* Move More $ Into a CD  DONE sort of
I got this accomplished on the last day of May(so it was still processing until June).  I say sort of did it because I moved the $$ but I didn't put it into a CD as the rate was lower than the rate to just move the $$ into an online savings account.  I didn't move that much, just the portion of interest earned last year on a previous CD since I didn't roll that CD over fully into a new one.
That $4K+ in interest is now sitting in my "Misc." Fund at Capital One and earning 1% instead of .25% at the brick and mortar bank.
This is just temporary until Hubs and I can sit down and talk over what we want to do next with this $$.

* Help Daughter Pack  DONE

All packed into the POD and her car and the POD got picked up the day after she left for Louisiana.

* Start Selling Locally  DONE

I put a few things on the FB site but the only thing selling are the diapers and pull-ups.  That's fine by me because I had 3 large boxes filled with diapers.  I still have quite a few left(about 30 packs)but I've made $115 so far.
I really don't want to do a garage sale(and I really don't have enough stuff to make it worthwhile)but Summer is not the time to list stuff on the FB site around here as people just want to go to garage sales now. sigh.
Plus people around here answering my FB ads are driving me crazy.  Morons, imbeciles and idiots, the lot of them!!!


Sluggy

To-Do List 2018.....May Results

Let's take a look at how we did on the May To-Do List.........

* Pay Bills  DONE  Everything got paid and on time.  All bills put on the credit card are paid off each month and we don't pay interest on that.

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

"Bill Sublette-Mountain Man" by John Sunder

Though I've wanted to read this book since seeing in the gift shop at Fort Laramie last July I resisted spending $20 on it there.  I got it finally online for under $10(free shipping on Amazon too)and consumed it during most of May.
Bill Sublette, one the original Mountain Men of the American West, along with his siblings, is my 1st cousin 6 x removed.  There were 5 Sublette brothers who each went West for adventure and fortune(they were Sophronia Sublette's brothers-Sophronia has already been discussed recently on the blog).  The Sublette boys were a one family power house in terms of American exploration.  Bill was the most successful in that arena.  The writer paints Bill as a noble, trustworthy and successful business man who went out of his way to help his extended family.
At his death he owned a good portion of what would become downtown St. Louis Missouri.
Much of out early American knowledge of the wilderness beyond the Mississippi River we owe to Bill Sublette and men like him.  There are lots of Western places and features named for him too.
I highly recommend this book if you are into early exploration of the American West.

I also just finished up(ok, I read this into June a bit)........

"All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr

Another highly recommended book due to the writing style and subject matter(WWII). I hope the movie they are making based on this book does it justice.  The author had a winning writing style, the language was simple and the chapters were short(though the book was over 250 pages).  If novels give you pause because of the length this is one you will zoom through to get to the end to see how it all comes together.  It's no wonder this author is an award winner many times over.

*  Clean my Desk  DONE(sort of)
The desk area was cleaned early in the month though looking about me, it is almost back to it's very untidy state and could use some more work. lolz

*  Sell House in LA  DONE!!!!!!!!!

So glad this is off my financial plate.  And the check for the unused house insurance has arrived and is going into the bank today.  Woohoo!

*  Clean out Fridges  DONE  What a mess.  Glad that's done.

*  Clean out Freezer 1, 2  DONE  I went through both fridge freezers AND the chest freezer as well.  Things are a little tidier and I've pulled "lurker" items to the front/top to get them used up.

*  Clean/Organize Pantry  DONE  Another bear of a chore but it's done.

*  Organize Garage  IN PROGRESS  Rome wasn't built in a day and the Garage is getting there.
I've done most of the stockpile in May but in terms of other things out there I need Hubs assistance.  And parts of the garage won't get done until the kids move out! ugh.

*  Change out Clothes for Summer  IN PROGRESS  I've only got to go through my long pants(to throw out some rags and organize it all back in the drawers)and that is done.  I've pulled out some clothing that hasn't been worn in years to donate and some items that no longer fit(undergarments)with tags still on them that I can sell.  I'll use the proceeds of those sales to purchase new bras that DO fit!  Seems I lost most of my weight in my boobs. lolz

*  Hold Giveaway 1, 2  DONE

I held two Giveaways in May, letting each winner pick out what they wanted to receive.

*  Mail Giveway 1, 2  DONE  Got both mailed out and received.

*  Plant Garden  DONE

I need to get another updated shot of what the garden looks like now....coming soon.


*  Plan possible 2018 Travel  FAIL  A big, fat fail as a matter of fact.  We just can't seem to get this together.  Canada is now out....unless we go in the Fall so not quite off the plate.  I wanted to take two or three of the kids down to VA to my brother's house for a visit(he hasn't seen two of them in years)but Ex-College Boy got a REAL JOB! right away and doesn't have time now for a trip and Eldest son won't give me a definitive answer on his Summer plans(He teaches so has Summers off). Ugh...kids!
I want to go out West again(Arizona way)to see Cousin Sonya but she's still stuck in IL with no end in sight yet.  I'd like to go see Lorraine since she has Summer's off but Alabama in Summer is not tempting! lolz
I don't know......I'm a flat squirrel lately. 8-(

*  Work on 2018 Goals  FAIL  I haven't even looked at the few Goals I wrote down at the beginning of the year to see if/how I've done on those or add in any way to them.  It's all I can do here these last few months to keep up with my monthly "To-Do" List of goals.  Maybe I need to just focus on the monthly/immediate goals I can accomplish and not worry about Yearly Goals?
Maybe.

It's been a mixed bag of successes and failures here.  One big goal and some little ones were achieved.
Onward and upward to June!

How did your month shake out?
Any successes?
Any not-so successful ventures?


Sluggy

To-Do List......May Update

Let's take a look at how we did on our To-Do List for May.

* Pay Bills DONE  Everything paid and on time, no interest or fees paid.

* Read 1, 2, 3 Books DONE  With the trip to VA I read 3 whole books this month(plus read a little more in the two books I was reading in April).

The Revenant
Ragtime

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion

All three were good reads and I'd recommend them all.

Incidentally, "Ragtime" was made into a Broadway Musical back in 1998 and ran for 2 years. The actor who played the role of Father is someone I worked with in Summer Stock back in 1980 and 1981, Mark Jacoby.
Here's the opening number as the cast appeared on an episode of the Rosie O'Donnell Show back in 1998.....





* Go to Dr. Appointment DONE  All my tests are good and my weight is down another 15 lbs. from my last visit with my Primary doc in November.

* Hold Giveaway DONE

* Mail Giveaway DONE  Reader Chris won the goodies and has received them.

* 1st Load to Salvation Army for 2017 FAIL  I've got a load to go but we just didn't get them taken up yet.

* Pack for trip to VA DONE  

* Gather Gifts to take to VA DONE  I took 3 canvas bags plus a cardboard box of toiletries plus detergent to gift to various folks including my brother, my sister in-law's daughter, my eldest son and a childhood friend.

* Contact Folks for meet-up in VA DONE  I wanted to get together with 2 friends who live down near my brother but only got to meet up with one of them and that took some doing to work out and about wore me out. ;-)

* Go on VA trip DONE  I went and have returned home mostly intact. lolz

* Visit Eldest Son DONE  I stopped over for 2 nights and stayed with my eldest son on the journey home.  It was a low key visit but good.

* Come Home DONE  Yep, made it in 5 hours from Fredericksburg VA to home.

Not a very strenuous list last month but got all but 1 item ticked off.

How did you do on your To-Do List in May?

Sluggy