Barely dented the to-do list

... but got stuff done that really needed doing. I actually did some housecleaning (yes! It can happen!) but didn't make it as far as the filing. I didn't finish Bümfmag (although I know what I need to add now... it's just a matter of adding it.) Don't forget, if you want me to send you a copy, comment on the Giveaway post. I didn't get any crafting done and several web updates went undone. I didn't even have time to play with the shiny new OTTO.

However, I did get Kiddo's school supplies and new school clothes labeled with the Lovable Labels I received (expect a product review later this week) and I mowed the part of the lawn that really needed it. Meanwhile, Hubby drafted some help and built much-needed railings for Kiddo's tree fort. He needed the jigsaw and I offered to go into the underdeck storage to look for it... and that led to my pulling out enough stuff to rearrange things and find more room in there. I also labeled all our big Rubbermaid™ tubs so we don't have to play "guess-what's-inside" every time. I never did find the jigsaw though. He made do.

Here's Kiddo's new and improved tree fort:

She's looking forward to painting it sometime soon.

Word of the day: anxiety

The moving van gets here Thursday morning but we still haven't officially signed everything or got a set of keys. Before we get them, I need to get a plumber into the house to assess the situation and (with any luck) get the work done before the movers get there with a truckload of belongings.

Meanwhile, I have been suffering from a nasty head cold since last Wednesday night (Kiddo's sick too) that has kept me from working (or thinking) at full speed. Of course, I do still seem to have my strength. I tried to take down the folding table we bought to stage the office but could only find one latch. I thought the hinge was "stiff" but instead I ended up bending the other latch in a perfect U-shape. Ooops.

Happily I have an organized Hubby, a loving (though also anxious) daughter, and a cat, oblivious to the pending move:


At least I don't have to work this week. Sigh.

Mini-vacation begins...

I'm off work for a few days for a combo of getting stuff done (today and tomorrow), seeing family (Saturday-Monday), and celebrating my birthday (officially it's Monday, but we're going for brunch Sunday). And then there is the "bonus" day off Tuesday, Canada Day.

Today was getting stuff done; check off: book hotels for next month's road-trip (actually I did that last night), renew my driver's license, clean bedroom, clean bathroom, do laundry, vacuum carpets, drop off and pick up Kiddo for last day of first grade, go to ArtEVO opening.

The highlight of my day was definitely watching Kiddo marching along the street and later around the living room while she sung the Imperial March from Star Wars. The low point was surprisingly not cleaning the toilet -- that, at least, felt satisfying. No, the low point was the ArtEVO opening.

I signed up for the "preview opening" online with the promise of a free gift (this turned out to be a rather monochrome print of a nude with a violin -- definitely not to my taste). The gallery, while it looks kind of swish, is nothing spectacular. Only slightly interesting is that it seems to be a bricks and mortar outlet for its online store; in the centre of the store are two kiosks where buyers can search the full range of available art. Unfortunately, the art is average, at best, in Victoria's market which is so rich with local artists. I wish them luck.

I also had fun booking all the hotels along our route up-island this summer. We decided to go pretty much to the top of Vancouver Island -- the full route we are taking is a little over a thousand kilometres, round trip and will take us about a week. We are camping the first night, then staying in hotels the rest of the way. I tried looking for Bed and Breakfast places, but I only found one that was suitable for families. (If we ever open a B&B it will definitely have at least one family-friendly suite.)

Tomorrow will be more cleaning and some decluttering around the house plus some craft time with Kiddo.

To Do or Not To Do....

OK... so Monday night, hubby and I had a look at our Big List O' Unfinished Projects. It's still big, and that's a problem because we got to a point where we looked at it and glazed over. So we tried another attack. Inspired by a blog post at Agile Development, we used a quadrant grid with axes of importance (high/low) and difficulty (easy/hard) we tossed each project into the appropriate quarter. What we found were 10 no-brainers, 10 difficult but important, and the ... chaff. Though mostly the chaff was still important, just less likely to make money. Anyway, this is what our table looked like:

Incidentally, I crossed one item off already; one of the "No Brainers" (easy/important) that I had just been ignoring.

Meanwhile, I read an interesting piece at LifeHacker on separating your to-dos from your email (you know, those Action items that you forget to follow up? You never forget? Well, congrats on being the only perfect person I know.) Me, I forget about half of them whether I add a star, a flag, or even a reminder -- especially since you can "snooze" reminders infinitely.

Of course I have also found keeping a little to-do list on the front of my Google Homepage iGoogle home tab is helpful, as long as I keep it to under 10 items (more than that and I start to ignore it).