Organizing my to-dos

I've been experimenting with different ways to get stuff done and keeping track of all my to do items. I was starting to feel like I was rewriting the same list or just felt so overwhelmed with how long my list could get that I just gave up making lists and figured if it's important I'll remember it. Not always true mind you. 

I came across the idea of the bullet journal and briefly tried it out but it was more work than I wanted. But I liked the structure of the journal, and specifically the idea of having an index to keep track of the different pages of content. 

About a week before thanksgiving, I went through my house and pulled all my random projects into one big pile in the living room. Everything from mending a sweater to my folder of figuring out my style/outfits to installing a new fire alarm to my knitting project. I also pulled my multiple lists together. It helped seeing everything together. Granted there were several things I didn't include - in situ projects (finish painting my bedroom) or large and heavy projects (sort through my boxes of papers from childhood to present or my yarn collection). 

What was helpful was I started seeing patterns and was able to group projects. I had my craft projects and enough material to warrant knitting and sewing to have their own separate lists. I had a pile of stuff I was doing because I was motivated by making others happy - in a good way (write personal thank you/birthday cards). I had a list of things to do to save/earn money (call my internet provider, post items on craigslist). And on and on. Then I took an old notebook from my use it or lose it pile which meant it wasn't precious, so I felt comfortable experimenting and not wasting a brand new notebook. And each page I wrote out what I was doing that day. Top of the page was my projects/to-dos I needed to do. They were top priority and I consider them a necessity. And the bottom half was a bunch of other stuff I wanted to get to but if I didn't it was ok. I planned out most of the week and tried to focus on categories for my future self, money related, time sensitive items (cook the chicken in the fridge before it goes bad) and a few items from the "others" list. 

It's still early days but it's made things lighter for me and I don't feel as daunted. I'm able to realize that some items I may never get to and when I copy the lists over I might drop some items and prioritize others. And, I just had a nice little boost today to keep up my momentum.  I had a call midday from an old college friend. She has always been so good at sending me birthday cards and I've not always reciprocated so figured I'd return the favor and have been sending her a series of cards these last few months. One, I'm using up my stationary collection that really was just sitting around and being too precious to use. And two, I knew she was going through probably one of the hardest parts of her life right now. We chatted and caught up and at the end she shared that the cards were just heaven sent and just what she needed in this most trying of times. And I didn't even realize to the full extent of what she was going through. She said she felt like I was her angel sending her love and support when she most needed it and that I somehow sensed it. Anyways. It just reminded me of the old saying, "the path to hell is paved with good intentions."  Which I didn't really understand until way into adulthood. I thought good intentions was a good thing. And then realized if they are never acted upon and no action to carry them out then it really is just nothing. Still don't get why you would go to hell for something like that but I digress. Earlier me would have known cards would be a good thing to send this year but would have never gotten around to executing the idea. It's a great reminder.

Wild beasts, groceries and Antique Roadshow

First off, this morning. I was baking away for the week and using brown sugar. After I was done I noticed I was getting low and thought, "man, I thought I had stocked up on brown sugar, that would have been a good thing to use my grocery coupons on the last two months."  And then an hour later, guess what I found in my mail - more grocery coupons for December. It's the same grocery store as last month that just opened up and is a bit far away, but not too bad. I'm not sure I'll use every weeks coupons, but think I'll make use of the $3 off $15 some more. 

Yesterday, I popped up to NH for an orienteering event. I wasn't sure what to wear as its getting quite brisk outside but even hiking up and down hills can make you overheat. Anyways, great crisp sunny day and I headed out with the first wave of folks also orienteering. As usual, the second control tripped me up - I went too far and over shot it. Well, to make it to the third control, there was no easy way to get there on trails so I went off trail, following, what we in the know call a "handrail" (look at me learning the lingo). I followed a stone wall, now overgrown with trees and shrubs, in the middle of the forest. As I passed under one tree I saw a strange pile of dirt in front of a hole at the base of a large tree in front of me. It wasn't natural and I was curious so I headed straight towards it to investigate and that's when I saw some movement inside the hole, and I made out a black furred beast that was moving around and pointing its rear at me. Yup, I sprinted away as quickly as possible as I'm 99% sure it was a skunk. I felt bad I disturbed its home and felt bad that there would be a bunch more people probably following the same handrail and disturbing the skunk again and again. 

As I was finishing up the course, I started picking up fallen pine branches from the ground. And by the time I got back had a big armful. And as I drove home, I noticed another big branch from a different kind of pine tree fallen on the ground. I had a quick argument in my head about stopping and ended up turning around and going back for the branch. Except the branch was bigger than I had thought (it didn't fit in my car). So I take my hand clipper (i came prepared for this outing) and started trimming off good boughs for my collection. There was a guy leaf blowing the front yard, a way back from the street and came over to check I was ok and not broken down. When he saw what I was doing he went and got bigger loppers and helped me. How nice, right?  Now I have a pile of branches in my living room I need to figure out how to decorate with. 

And finally, I've slowly been cranking through projects - one of which is finally getting around to selling stuff I want to let go of but think I can get some money. I reached out to a local company that sells mid century furniture to see if they would be interested in my Thaden Jordan bent plywood dining set. Looks like they are interested and want to know how much I want. I figured I'd do a little research, and look what I found. One of the chairs was on the Antique Roadshow.  And just one chair goes for at least $800. Not sure how this translates to real life prices. But needless to say, I'll hopefully recoup my initial cost buying and shipping the set. I had a momentary pause about selling the set but reminded myself that although beautiful, by letting go of the set, I open up space (physically and figuratively) to let even better things come into my life. 

Grocery Run

For me I find coupons bring more stress then they are worth. I've been collecting old newspapers from dad for a spring time attempt to block weeds and came across the Sunday insert of coupons.  I ended up using one for contact solution. A different brand than I use but it was $1 off. Well, I fell for the marketing trick - using a coupon to get customers to try a new product. Strike one. But then, on top of all that, I don't know what it is, but I've gotten an eye infection two different times this fall. I finally figured out it was the contact solution and switched back to my tried and true and no problem. Strike two. So now, I'm back to my rule of only using coupons on a brand I like and that I need. I can't tell me how many toothpaste coupons I come across but I don't need any more tubes. 

My other rule is to only use coupons that are for a store and not a product. My local ace sends me monthly $7 off $25 purchase, so I stock up on those for when I need something. And that was about it until this fall. October I got a promotional sheet of coupons from a grocery store down the street. I think they're trying to keep up with whole foods since this was the first time I ever saw this promotion. Anyways, it's the kind where you get four columns of coupons for each week of the month for $7 off $25 purchase and then $1 off different departments. So $9 off each week. I had trouble finding stuff to buy by the end since I had stocked up my pantry and wasn't wild about their produce - I like buying local, in season produce. Anyways, final week I felt good that I saved good money about $25 without buying anything I wouldn't normally buy and fits in with my new approach to eating - buying single ingredient foods (mostly).

And then, a few days later, wham, in my mail was another mailer for a new grocery store next town over.  Another set of four weeks of coupons for November. I didn't think I'd use them all, skip a week or two. Well, I ended up using them all (not the meat or bakery coupon). And just finished using my last set yesterday, saving about $25 again. 

I'm all stocked up on dry goods and onions and dish detergents and everything. And wham, guess what I got today?  Yup, another promotional deal for groceries - single coupon for $35 off your first purchase. This time it was at my gym.  They were having an open house with a bunch of different tables. I almost skipped them but ended up chatting with one group, "Farmers To You" which is just up my ally. It's a small organization in its early days but it's basically like your online grocery delivery, like pea pod or other similar companies. Except this one is a partnership with small Vermont farmers. Great story revitalizing the dying art of farming in New England. Lots of great stuff, but a bit pricey for my budget. However, as I start buying less and less and really just the necessities, I don't feel as overwhelmed focusing on environmentally and socially responsible purchases. Especially with food that you are consuming. Local is always so much better and New England has such great biodiversity in its farming. Tons of options. Anyways, looks like I'll be shopping for December foods with my latest coupon. I'm curious if three is it or will I get another monthly coupon promotion in January. 

Gym Update

I fell off the wagon for November. Can you tell from the lack of posting?  I want to write it down though so I can try to learn and keep trying new approaches. Ironically, it was because I was trying too hard. I was good, going all week long the first week of November, and then I was popping up to dads on Friday. I didn't even want to go Friday morning as I lay in my warm comfy bed, but since I was leaving after lunch for dads, and had a bunch of work to do that morning, it was a "now or never" moment. I realized this was a good lesson and thought, I should try to figure out how to create more now or never moments. Because the most frequent downfall for me is, I'll go later today and then never do. 

Since I wanted to keep up my run of working out first thing in the morning, I packed my running gear and Saturday morning I woke up, waited for it to be light out and went out for a run. I was happy to have confirmation that my gym membership is worth it. I kind of hate paying to run on a treadmill when I can just run outside (and I use the gym for other things too). But it's the cold that would make it even harder to motivate and get going. Doable, but I need to remove my road blocks not add more. I started off and it was cold out.  I was glad I had my hat and had added an extra layer. I ran down to a neighbors house to drop off a note as part of my networking. I wasn't running too much - run walk combo. But in hindsight, realize I was warming up and it was all up hill mostly. I got to the end of the street and turned around and said, try running the whole way back to the Main Street. I didn't think I'd make it but that was my goal. And oh my goodness, no problem!  It helped that some of it was downhill but still, earlier me from the summer would never have been able to. I was so energized that instead of turning to run home I went the other way towards town to take the long way back. As I was rounding the corner and heading up the hill to dads I noticed the gate was open at their neighbors. Their property backs up to a grand house with even grander gardens - they are often profiled in magazines and on walking tours. The front part is formal, but the back part is more wooded. I popped in to check out the back part.  It was wooded but this strange manicured wilderness. Really neat. And I noticed at the top of the hill/cliff the back of dads place. I figured it was so early no one was up and I hadn't seen any do not trespass signs and I wanted to get home, this was the shortest way. I made a dash up the steep hill and came into dads neighbors backyard (opps) and I quickly made my way home quite winded with that last bit. All told, my run was 5,000 steps and 25 flights of stairs. Not bad and I felt really good after. Not tired or sore at all and energized. 

Dad and I went for a hike in the afternoon and then the next morning we went orienteering together. We did the orange course like usual but man, at the end was I tired. It was longer than normal, over two hours. And looking back, it was a lot of hills and almost all off trail (instead of just half). It was really cool because there were a lot of stone walls in the forest (from the farming days) that you'd follow... Up and down and up and down hills. 

The next day I was so sore and wiped out. I realized that weekend I had done too much. I think of it as bars on a ladder and I'm at one level and it's OK to push yourself a few bars further up than the usual bar, but if the gap is too far, it's too much and you just fall hard. That's what happened here. And it took a few days before my body was up for more work out and by then my hormones had swung and it was hard to motivate. And as I noted before, the bigger the gap from your last workout, the harder it is to get going. 

On the upside, I used accountability to motivate me and at thanksgiving I was up at dads again. And both mornings I went for a run first thing and it felt good (not as good as that first time) and also kind of nice to non-verbally brag. Hard to brag just to yourself when you are on your own. 

The first run, I went a different direction (I knew part of the run was the novelty of the route for the first time). I went south and realized it wasn't too far from some public woods that dad and I hiked after my first time running in nh at the beginning of the month. I decided to pop into the woods and run around the pond. It was gorgeous, early winter morning and so picturesque. I was able to visit my favorite spot we had discovered and I named Gnomeland. The moss and lichen is amazing in early November - super green and full - blooming. And there is this one swath of lichen or pale white green moss in amongst these mini baby furry pines.  It looks like a blanket of magical snow. It's just so quaint and untouched and your imagination can run wild with something like that. I didn't dawdle though because, 1) it was cold, 2) I suddenly became aware I was alone in the woods. 

I don't know about you but I've always tried to be street smart and never be in a situation that makes me vulnerable, especially as a woman. When I travel, I stay in at night (I'm exhausted anyways), and although I love the woods I never go on my end. I think what got me this time was that with orienteering I've gotten used to being "alone" in the woods, but you're actually surrounded by tons of people so it doesn't seem desolate. And I had just been to these same woods a few weeks earlier with dad so they had a familiarity and I thought of them in conjunction with dad. 

Anyways, I realized dad and other orienteers were not actually with me, so I ran quickly the rest of the way around the pond, trying to take in all the picturesque beauty but not stopping or slowing down. I got back to the road and ran until the foot of the steep part of the road. And walked the rest of the way. I'll have to see if I can get a picture of the place from nick. We ended up going there later that day for a hike, me, dad and nick.

After thanksgiving. Nick spent a few nights, while visiting friends before flying back to DC and I kept up my gym visits. And then Monday hit and I got the beginning of a cold. I still went to the gym but the rest of the week I was super stuffed up. Tuesday I was drinking so much I think I visited the bathroom over 20 times. It was just drink water, toilet, drink toilet, repeat. Anyways, I didn't know the etiquette about having a cold and the gym (turns out, it's best to be considerate and stay away while your contagious), and I didn't want to overdo it again and push my weakened body too much. 

I'm still stuffed up a bit, but feel on the mend, this Saturday morning. I plan to go to the early morning Tai Chi class I've been meaning to try out and if I'm feeling good, stay for the step class I usually go to Saturday mornings. It's all about thinking in terms of resets to break the cycle you are in. I. Trying out a new reset system I've been experimenting with and formalized for this month. So far so good, buts only day 2. I'll keep you posted.