OCTOBER 2023 To-Do List Outcome

What was suppose to get done in October......

*  Pay Bills  DONE  Always done first.  No bills put on credit cards and balances carried forward.

*  Go to Ridiculous Amount of Dr. Appointments  DONE  I can't even remember how many.....the cardiologist here, 2 appointments with the surgeon in OH, 3 PT sessions in OH, the DME doc in OH, the pre-admission testing doc in OH, a wound check with my old NP in LA, 7 more PT sessions in LA before Oct. ended.  I'd call all that a ridiculous amount. 8-)

*  Fly to Ohio  DONE  

*  Have Surgery  DONE  See previous post on that

*  Fly Home  DONE  This almost turned into a disaster thanks to the third party healthcare provider our insurance used.  You would think they'd seat someone who just had knee surgery 2 days before(and could not walk as her walker had to be in the cargo hold and not stowed in the passenger area of the plane)in the front of the plane.

*  Start PT for Knee  DONE  It's been slow going due to other medical issues but I show up and make the effort.

*  Clean and Organize Stuff in House  PASS   I did a little as I was able before leaving town for OH.

*  Buy Stuff for House  DONE  The only things besides groceries, etc. that were bought were materials needed to replace the kitchen sink/countertops.  Hubs was in charge of all that.  Hubs also has been spending on other things that need fixing/doing around the house.

The sink and countertops finally got installed!

Don't you love the avocado green tiles they used for a backsplash?

This part of the counter looks like someone took a sander to it.

And the sink was fiberglass and had been mistreated so badly that the finish was flaking off.

And here is the new stuff.......

A new stainless sink and new faucet too.

*  Buy a CD  DONE  I took some excess cash out of the checking account and bought a 12 month CD to earn a little more in interest on that money.

*  Do Something Fun  FAIL  I had hoped to do something fun before flying off to OH for surgery because I was going to be in no shape to have "fun" after then in October.  We had won 3rd place at Trivia at the burger joint we like a month or so ago so I had hoped to go eat for free at Trivia in early October.  Daughter gave us the news that this branch of the burger chain closed down in October so that was a no go.  And now I have to find another branch of this burger joint to use this gift card at and the closest one is in Dallas. sigh

*  Clean out Inserts/Coupon Envie  DONE  Not much of a job this one anymore and I'll be taking it off my To-Do Lists going forward.

*  Edit More Photos  PASS  Been editing photos and moving them into folders but I still have a lot more to work through.

*  Post about Old Trips  PASS  I think I worked ahead and got two installments of the month long Western Adventure in 2017 posted before leaving for surgery.  Needless to say with all the medical stuff I slowed down on this goal after surgery. 8-(

*  Work on Genealogy  PASS  This is one of the few things I can do right now while recuperating from surgery so I work on it when I feel up to it.  I haven't posted anything genealogy stuff but I do work on it.

*  Move Video Files to New Computer  FAIL  I didn't even attempt this with so much other stuff going on.  Some day......

*  Plan Travel for the Holidays  PASS  While we really don't have any plans yet for Xmas, I had hoped to be far enough along to go see my youngest in PA for Thanksgiving but I made the judgement call that it's too soon for my knee to sit in a car for 3 days each way for that trip.  Daughter is going to her in-laws for Thanksgiving with her Hubs and while her Hub's mom invited us again this Thanksgiving I am just not up for being there with a ton of Daughter's Hub's father's kids/spouses/baby daddies/grandkids/great grandkids from his first marriage.  I don't know these people, even after last Thanksgiving and being in pain and around strangers is a very foreign way to celebrate turkey day.  I appreciate the invite but no thanks.  So Hubs and I will be alone for Thanksgiving.

Daughter decided to hold a 2nd turkey day the Sunday after Thanksgiving and invite us.  I've got almost everything for the meal so I'll have Hubs take it over the day before so it won't cost them much if anything.  But now the issue is what are Hubs and I going to eat for "real" Thanksgiving?  I'm not a big fan of turkey anyway so having it twice in a week is not going to happen.  And I'm not up for cooking or going to a restaurant filled with yet more strangers.  We had hoped the Chinese restaurant by my PT facility would be open so we could get takeout but sadly for us, they will be closed.   So I guess we'll sit home and eat whatever is here.

I am hoping with all the medical testing I am still going through, by mid December I will feel up to going to PA to see younger son and his partner.  We'll have to wait to leave after Daughter's birthday in mid December however because last year the Panama cruise kept us from being here for her birthday.

That's all I got.

Sluggy

The To-Do List.......October Update

Let's take a look at how the October To-Do List turned out.........

* Pay Bills  DONE  Always the top of the list, always my priority.

* Read 1,2 Books  PASS  I didn't get the 2nd book finished before October was over(and traveling got in the way of getting #2 finished)so I get a Pass.

I read this book..........

"Letters to America" by Tom Blair

An interesting and highly readable book.  Mr. Blair has written a collection of stories about everyday Americans, from the 1600's immigrants to Virginia, to the 1990's which was the actual authors life story.(None of the other stories are of real people, but anonymous ictitious  people who lived through certain times and struggles in our country's history.)
Some of the stories didn't seem fully fleshed out (the young girl who worked in a sewing factory at the turn of the 20th century and the Jewish youth with an Uncle named Mordecai)and some just went on and on and on(you can tell that Mr. Blair is an aircraft/aeronautics and WWII fan).
Could have been better but the good parts were excellent and worth the read.


* Purge Inserts and Q Envie  DONE  If I don't do this one it makes like difficult as far as shopping goes so I do it monthly.

* Hold Giveaway  DONE

* Mail Giveaway  DONE  Mailed and received

* Make Tomato Sauce for Freezer  DONE  Well I made the sauce but I didn't freeze it.  We used it up in October.

* House Train Puppy  IN PROGRESS  Still working on this one.  A bit of a setback due to Dixie going into heat.  Not fun.

* List Items on eBay  DONE  I got about 5 more items listed and 3 items sold n October.  Nothing to write home about but I'll take it.

* Put Garden to Bed  DONE  Hubs did this mostly while I was in Ocean City.

* Work on Christmas Gifts  IN PROGRESS  I got Kim, her Sissie's, my brother and sister in-law's gifts wrapped and packed up.  Everything was delivered to the recipients in October.  I've got the rest of the folks I buy for to wrap up but that can wait until after Thanksgiving.

* Pack for Oct. Trip  DONE  I packed it all up and filled my car.

* Go on Oct. Trip  DONE  

Craziness in OC

And warehouse stores in VA

* Have FUN!  DONE  Fun was had and merriment ensued............
It was a good month.

Onward and upward to November!


Sluggy

To-Do List.....October Edition

Let's take a look at how much of our To-Do List for October we achieved.......


* Pay Bills  DONE  Everything got paid on time or early.  No interest paid.
Go me. 8-)))

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

"Founding Rivals: Madison vs. Monroe, the Bill of Rights, and the Election that Saved a Nation" by Chris De Rose.

It was a thumping good read! ****
 Since I am related to both Monroe and Madison(Monroe being my 4th cousin 7 x removed and Madison was the husband of my 3rd cousin 7 x removed)I was compelled to read this book. ;-)
Two of our founding fathers with very different views on how to structure the government.  If the congressional election of 1789 had turned out differently, the course our country took might have been very different and the USA may well have been a very different place that it is today.
It was thought provoking especially given I was reading it in the month leading up to our mid-term elections.

And then I read this one.........

"Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination: The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford's Theatre" by Thomas A. Bogar.

Being a denizen of the "theatuh" I found this book exactly in my wheelhouse.  It's a fascinating take on the whole event and a must read for anyone interested in the history of the American theater or a nineteenth century history buff. 
This book is not how this event affected the country or the Presidency or the misguided actor John Wilkes Booth but rather how one single high profile murder of a President affected the rest of the lives of 46 individuals working in Ford's theatre that fateful night.  46 regular people.....actors, stage hands, designers and the owner of the theatre....who had the bad luck to be on site that evening and witness the assassination first hand changed all their lives and not for the better.  The fallout from that evening was tremendously damaging to these regular folks, who for the most part were just doing their jobs and trying to make a living.  It also opened my eyes to the muddled mess that was the investigation of the assassination by the police, the Secret Service and Secretary of  War Edward Stanton and the lack of justice handed out to some citizens(I'm looking at you Mary Surratt and Ben Spangler.)

* List items on eBay  FAIL  I just didn't get to this one yet. sigh.  Maybe this month....

* Hold Giveaway  DONE  I actually gave THREE boxes of goodies away.

* Mail Giveaway  DONE  All 3 were mailed and received.

* Finish Processing Produce  DONE(sort of)  I have finished processing and preserving produce from the "garden".  I got a little too ambitious about drying Oregano......

Ambition in the amount I thought I'd end up with as my quart jar is barely 1/4 full. lolz  No worries since I'll barely use up this amount in my cooking before next season.  ;-)
I do have another thing to finish processing still which I'll talk about in November's list since it's not really garden produce. 

* Put Deck Furniture Away  DONE

The patio chairs and the swing awning are put away.  We leave the table out(we might cover it).
Hubs even scrubbed the deck on the couple of sunny/dry days we had in October and got all the mold off.

* Clean my Car  DONE  We finally had a dry, sunny(note I didn't say WARM!)day on the 30th so I got out there and hauled out the vacuum and cleaners and got the Sonic spiffied up.  Of course the following week it rained non-stop and my car interior looks like it still needs love. 
 8-(

* Change out Winter clothes  DONE  Got all the clothes gone through and changed out.  Ok, not Everything gone through.....I still need to finish going through my pants.  Having lost weight over the last year I need to either get rid of or pack away some of my pants as they are too big now.  You should have seen me on the trip w/Kim and her Hubs having to hold onto my pants some days to keep them from falling around my ankles.  Nobody wanted to see that.....lolz!

* Pack for Trip  DONE  We packed very light for the trip to OBX as it was just a quickie of 5 days.

* Go on Trip  DONE  That trip is done and over and was quite enjoyable.  We might have to do one of those trips with my brother and sis in-law again next Fall.

How did your To-Do List go in October?
Did you get much accomplished?


Sluggy

To-Do List.....October Update

So let's see how I did on my To-Do List for October......

* Pay Bills  DONE  The number one item on my list always.  Stay on top of the due dates and pay all the bills in full and on time.

* Read 1, 2 Books  DONE  I actually got THREE books in last month.

The modern American classic by Charles Portis, "True Grit".  I have seen both movies(the original with John Wayne and the remake with Jeff Bridges)multiple times but had never read the book.
Now that I have, I feel the book is a better way to spend your time. ;-)

I also read "Blood Beneath the Skin" by Andrew Wilson.  It's one of the better biographies of fashion designer/artist Alexander "Lee" McQueen.
A very complex person who fought more than his share of demons, Lee left our planet too soon. 
I give this book a recommendation if you enjoy fashion and reading about designers.

And I plowed through this one too.......

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.  This one was a quick read and enjoyable.  I have moved onto the second book in this collection, "The Tears of the Giraffe".  While the books are a quick read, the characters he creates are enjoyable.  
When I first started reading this I got a bad "feeling" after seeing the author's name.  Alexander McCall Smith is so "English" sounding and white European but African in any way.  
McCall Smith is writing in this book as an African would speak and sometimes the language is simplistic.  I got the feeling that the author was appropriating another culture at times for his own monetary gain.  The English in previous centuries had a long history of appropriating lands(Hello? English Empire anyone?!).  All I could picture was a white guy talking down as Africans characters to sell a book.  Mostly this was just my perception.

Then I went online and read about the author.  Turns out he was born and grew up in Southern Rhodesia(now Zimbabwe)which was a British Colony at that time, so yes he is an Englishman by DNA but he is a Zimbabwean by birth. McCall Smith has resided in Scotland since he went off to college so I'd say he is more English than African.  This has nothing to do with anything really but at least I feel he isn't exploiting a culture not of his own anymore.
And I don't see why this series of books is so popular worldwide!  While it's an enjoyable read with interesting characters I don't find them THAT good.

If anyone has any recommendations for good books written by Africans on African cultures please speak up as I'd like some ideas.

* Donation to Salvation Army  DONE  I don't have any photos to share but we took a trunk full to Sallies.  I also took up some items to the local food bank; cold cereal, soup, laundry detergent and contact lens solution.

* Clean Garage  DONE  We did a sweep of all the containers in the garage which resulted in a Salvation Army donation.  I also straightened up/culled the food storage items out there and identified some items to sell.

* Sell Stuff  FAIL  I tried to sell a few things on the local online yard sale site but no buyers.  I didn't get around to listing anything on eBay however due to getting a puppy mid month, which cut down on my time available to sell stuff. sigh.

* Sew Stuff  FAIL  Again, new puppy means less time for sewing so all sewing(unless it's a repair or an emergency situation)will go on the back burner and will leave my To-Do Lists for the near future.

* Hold Giveaway  DONE

Giveaway completed and winner selected.

* Mail Giveaway  DONE  Mailed and received, as far as I know.

* Wrap Xmas Gifts  DONE

Since I had been storing my accumulated Xmas stash in College Boy's room since he went back to school, and he is coming home for Thanksgiving, I needed to get them out of there.  Since I don't have a hiding spot right now I went ahead and wrapped everything I have already.  The little stocking stuffer items I can hide in a box in my bedroom closet.

* Shampoo Rug  DONE  As part of the garage clean/straighten we took a rug my mother willed me out of the garage and cleaned it.  I really don't have a place to put it done in this house so it's going back into wrappings and storage but in a closet in the house as keeping it in the garage is not good for rugs.

* Pick-up Puppy  DONE

We are going into week 3 of being Puppy Parents and we are so tired. lolz  It's almost as bad as I remember having a toddler was.  They never stop and get into everything.  I'll be glad when this puppy phase is over. ;-)  From what I read at 8 months Chester should start to calm down a bit.  Let's hope I last that long......

* Puppy to Vet  DONE  Chester got checked out and given a clean bill of health.  He's had two shots so far and only needs his distemper booster now and he's good to go for awhile on shots until his yearly rabies then.  

* Dr. Appointment  DONE  Not to be confused with Chester's doggy doctor appointment. lolz  I have been cleared of the infection and am back to my regular routine.

So did you get anything accomplished in October?
Tell us what got done that you are glad for.


Sluggy

October To-Do List.....Update

Well let's see how the To-Do List went for October, shall we?


* Pay Bills  DONE  Well if nothing else gets accomplished in my month paying all the bills is the one I want to do! 8-)))

* Bike Something   DONE   While I didn't do much I did get 15 miles in.  I feel good about this even if it's not a lot.

* Read 2 Books   DONE   I read Daisy and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg(Fried Green Tomatoes author) and another book which title escapes me at the moment.  I also read some more of that massive Katherine Anne Porter tome.
"Daisy" is an early work of Flagg's that was re-released(previous title was "Coming Attractions"). It's not as good as FGTs but worth a read if you find it at your library.

* Sew a Shirt  FAIL  Still don't have an sewing mojo going.  Maybe I'll try something simpler in November.

* List Items on eBay  FAIL  Didn't get to this in October and I just don't feel like expending all that time and energy on selling stuff online.  Maybe I'll do the FB local yard sale site instead?

* Shred Papers  FAIL  Didn't get to this yet.  Maybe this week?

* Put Deck Furniture Away  DONE  All got put away into the shed/garage.

* Put Garden to Bed  DONE  But still need to pull up the morning glory vines and put the tomato cages away.

* Go to CB's Concert  DONE  And they sounded marvelous!

* Mail Giveaway Box  DONE  New Giveaway is up too.

* Start another Donation to SA  DONE  Just a couple items that are in the boxes waiting to go to Sallie's.

* Take Daughter to Procedure  CANCELLED  Insurance didn't approve this in time so it's been rescheduled

* Scrub Kitchen Cabinets  FAIL  Well I didn't get to this yet so it goes on November's list

* Go to 3 Dr. Appointments  DONE  Started out as 1 appointment and morphed into 3 as the month went on.  Add in a trip to Urgent Care and 2 x trips to the Emergency Room and it's been a hell of a medical month and NOT in a good way!

* Take CB back to School  A short teachers' strike meant College Boy came home for 4 days.  I got him deposited back at college in time for classes to start back up.  I don't want to have to do THAT again!! ugh.

October was a mixed bag of results for me.  I felt like I was coasting along more than not.  Let's hope I can get more items crossed off my list in November.

How did you do accomplishing items on your To-Do List in October?

Sluggy