Get the Hint?

Hmmm. Do you think that the fact that Daniel helped put away groceries last evening and might have seen this inside the refrigerator...



...would have anything to do with me finding this on the whiteboard this morning?
It's one of those things that I've kept pushed to the back burner lately. The bananas were markdowns when I bought them, so if I never got around to making banana bread I would only be out a few cents. I had no intention of just letting them rot, but other things were far more important and pressing than taking care of a few bananas. I had every intention of making banana bread or muffins when I bought them and then life went crazy for a while.

Thankfully the refrigerator is great at preserving the insides of the bananas so I think I'll be doing a little baking this morning ;)

2010 Goals Review

Way back at the beginning of 2010 ("last year" already. Wow.), I wrote a post of my goals for that year. I wanted to follow through and see how I did with each one. I always wondered how I would do with a list of goals, and now I know. I do plan to come up with a list for this year now that I feel like I can breathe a little.

2010 List of Goals
Personal
*Go to bed, at bedtime, together - sometimes. Not as much as I wanted.
*Spend time together as a couple each day - fail. I don't count supper, and we didn't do very well at specifically spending time together with just the 2 of us.
*Spend time together as a family each day - fail again.
*Regular date nights for just the two of us (monthly or bi-monthly) - MAJOR fail.
*Daily personal quiet time with the Lord. - Improved but not 100% success.
*Read at least 1 book a month - Ho, ho, ho, major fail again.
*Exercise 3x a week or more. - fail, fail, fail.
*Lose baby weight and then some (after the baby's born, of course!) - fail. I lost about 2/3 of what I gained, though not from conscious effort.
*Choose and develop 1 or 2 new habits each month - Fail.
*Eat breakfast together more often - we did do this a little more than never, so success?
*Don't overschedule our calendar. Keep time free for "us" and know that it's ok to say "no." - as much as possible, so I'd say "success".

Financial
*Cash only for groceries, entertainment/recreation. - Success for a time.
*Stick to budget! Less impulse buying! - Partial success, but we also need to overhaul the budget.
*Put SOME money into savings each week, plus any extra that is possible. - fail.

In the kitchen
*Menu plan each week 1 week ahead. - bah, humbug. Fail.
*Serve salads with meals 2x a week - Fail at the every week part, but salads were on the menu more than before.
*Find or create the happy medium for eating healthier without going overbudget. - success, I think. Now to just fine-tune it.
*Update the freezer inventory quarterly (basically print off new sheets to correspond with my chicken scratches and changes on the existing one). - Rolling on the floor laughing. Fail.
*Try new recipes more often. - success!
*Use crockpot 1x a week. - yes/no.
*Reduce food waste - stay on top of leftovers and freezer inventory. - I won't mention that I had to throw away an entire, freezer-burnt turkey. Fail.

Household
*Donate or throw away more. DO NOT KEEP CLUTTER - success, but the house is still too full.
*Complete To-Do lists daily. - Um, having a baby changes everything. Fail.
*Stay on top of filing paperwork (aka - keep the desk clean!). - Why did I put this on my list?
*Print off, write on and put photos in albums monthly. - and why did I put THIS on my list?
*Maintain clean and welcoming bedrooms. - closing the door is easier.
*Put curtains in kitchen windows. - the material is still up in the attic.
*Continue with weekly or monthly "Monster Projects" - can I call "Parenting" my Monster Project?

Miscellaneous
*Blog more regularly. - Does considerably less blogging = "regularly"?
*Clean out coupon file quarterly. - It makes a nice place to pile stuff.

Above all else
*Do all things in a manner that glorifies God and brings honor to my husband. - I know there are areas I succeeded and plenty where I failed in this department.
*Strive to be the best wife and mama I can be. - Ditto.
*Maintain a peaceful and welcoming atmosphere in our home. - The only people I've turned away were the Jehovah's Witnesses. I hope everyone else felt welcomed!

Christmas Vacation

I have intentionally been scarce around here the past couple weeks. This December is a whole story in itself for another time, but I wanted to share this Christmas Picture of our cutie pie :)

I took this picture of Susannah Sunday afternoon (the day after Christmas). I specifically dressed her in a white shirt and red jumper because I remember similar pictures of my older sisters and wanted to do the same with Susannah. I think my Mom made the jumpers for my sisters - something I thought about doing and wanted to do for Susannah but it was impossible this year.


It has been a while since I've had Susannah at the piano, and when I sat her on the bench Sunday, all she wanted to do was turn around and play it instead of holding still for a picture :) Since then I have pulled her highchair up to the piano and let her have fun for a while - she loves it!

Another good reason to be scarce is pictured below :)


Yep, we were at the beach. With snow. With more snow than we got here at home!

We still have a lot going on (when do we ever not?) until life will hopefully settle back down to some sort of normalcy, so have a wonderful rest of the year!

Out and Up!!

Yesterday morning a bunch of guys showed up and the work began!! Things were supposed to start Thursday but it snowed all day. Yesterday (Friday) they got the 1st floor framed/laid and the sub floor down, and the outside corner posts in place.


This morning as soon as they got here they started framing walls.


Right before lunch (1:30pm) they had the second floor joists (TGI's) in place.


After lunch I ran an errand and then fried the donuts that I'd been waiting all day for. I'd made the dough very early this morning to have donuts ready for when the guys got here, but the dough did not do right and took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to rise ev-er-y time. They turned out great, though! Maybe not as light as they could've been, but tastes definitely over-rode any toughness.
Here's Daniel and his dad enjoying hot donuts :)

This evening most of the 2nd floor sub-floor is down, they may or may not finish that. Our choir Christmas party is this evening (started 11 minutes ago) and the 2nd in command guy here is also in the choir and wants to go. I think we'll go, too. They just put temporary stairs in place!

This is so very exciting. Shawn (2nd in command guy) and his 2 guys will be here next week, and Daniel has off Monday and another friend will be here Monday as well. They should get it all framed and under tar-paper, maybe as far as windows and siding, if everything goes well and quickly.

I have been crazy busy with making full spread lunches for the guys. The kitchen is always a heap of dirty dishes piled everywhere when they come in, but today I told Daniel that a good meal means dirty dishes :)

Well, I've gotta go feed Susannah supper. She's been doing pretty well. She napped great yesterday with them working right outside her bedroom! Today she hasn't napped as well, but she's still doing good.