Tag: Update

Wow! It has been a while!

On By jackiblosblackisIn PersonalLeave a comment

I have not been on here in a hot minute! I LOVE blogging and just some how it fell to the complete back. I miss it and I 110% plan on getting back here regularly. Now, about the time I fell off here, I entered the world of Instagram. I suppose it still gave me taste of what I was missing out on. However, I can get much more in depth here. That is what I am completely lacking. I am coming back with the same post I write up at the beginning of every year.

Looking Back on 2019 and Looking Forward to 2020

Since I dropped the ball with my site. I did not keep track on how I was doing with my goals in 2019. Let’s see how I did without making myself accountable at all.

  • Renovate two room in the house (if I can I would like to include both bathrooms as well).

HA! I actually fairly quickly dropped this off. I will do some kind of catch up post I am sure. I got my Little Monster’s room done in total. Little pieces here and there have been done but not what I was planning on doing.

  • Get the outside cleaned up and the driveway redone. The yard had been started and it just needs an actual attempt.

I got some real progress here but its not quite finished. I also did not get the driveway done. Some financial things came up and I just did not have the money to get it done.

  • Missy in swimming lessons (locally).

Finally! I did this goal. My Little Monster very much enjoyed going and she passed!

  • Start taking the weekly local yoga class in the fall.

I forgot about this but no. I am still happy doing it at home when I have a chance. I might get to the class but I am not pushing for it to be honest.

  • Have Missy enrolled in some programs.

We have done a few things (aside from swimming). She had an awesome friend and unfortunately they are moving a way.

  • Visit NiaNia and YeaYea.

We were not able to do this. I am aiming again for this year. No matter what it has to be done by before she gets into school. Which in reality is only a couple years,

  • Continue working on myself and striving for an organized (realistically) life.

ALWAYS. This will always be there. This is not something that is ever done for a person. At some point and at some time, a person grows in some fashion. We evolve.

  • As always try and keep the blog updated ha-ha.

We all know how that worked out…

  • I have always had something about debt on here. Now that it is paid off, I still would like to have a money goal(s). The big ones I want to do are making the maximum extra mortgage payment and to match what I have in savings. This is very ambitious of me and as long as I get part of each I will be happy. That mortgage payment though I need to make by June so it is not like I have a full year to save up for it.

No, rather I went backwards on this. Things happened and well. I will get things figured out. I just need to get a break really. Even if that does not happen I will make it work. I always have and no reason to quit now.

For those who may not know. I do not make resalutions but rather goals. Maybe they are the same thing in the end. I do not feel heartbroken when I slip up. I feel sad about some of the things above but not defeated over it. With that being said. Lets come up with some goals for 2020!

  • Immediately I want to put my Little Monster back into swimming lessons come summer.
  • I am looking to get the remainder of the outside finished. The parts that do not have to be contracted out. Plans just need the action now.
  • Really trying to make it to China by the end of this year.
  • I want to be more organized time management wise. I am not ashamed that this is an area where I need much more practice at.
  • I want to get back to this blog regularly. I do not want to lose my foothold with Instagram either. I am there and just need to at least keep up with where I am while bringing this back into the picture.
  • I need to get this whole financial situation thing sorted. I mean I just want it sorted once and for all. I hate having the back and forth. I want a happy medium!

Really I think that is it for now. It’s all pretty achievable and I may decide to add more as the year goes on. Life can be unpredictable and sometimes we just need to roll with the punches. Bring on 2020!

Looking Back on 2018 and Looking Forward to 2019

On By jackiblosblackisIn PersonalLeave a comment

Happy New Year!

I do a goal/objective list every year and I also look at how the previous year went. This will be my 3rd or 4th year doing it. No reason to switch things up now. If your would like to check out 2017/2018 you can view it here. I also do quarterly updates through out the year ( I did miss the 3rd quarter in 2018 though) to keep myself accountable. Also to view where I wanted my focus to be and of course to keep you all updated on if things needed to be changed.

Lets take a look at 2018:

  • First and foremost I want to get Missy into swimming lessons. I am not a strong swimmer and this is something she should know how to do. It is a safety thing.

I did not put Missy into swimming lessons. She was not old enough to be registered for our local summer ones. The ‘city’ (does not really seem like a city in my opinion) the lessons fill up insanely fast. I will be moving this to 2019 and if I remember correctly she will be old enough. As long as we have an instructor that can teach that young.

  • I want to get our front and backyard all pretty and cleaned up.

This did not happen. I did get somethings done but I was way to ambitious. I also new that when adding it onto the list. We will see how things go this coming year. While it did not make things pretty. I removed three trees from my driveway, one was not healthy and the other two were right next to my neighbours house. I just kept picturing them falling over and well the bedrooms are on that side too.

  • Setting up the garden and green house.

I did do this for the most part. I did not get the garden bed soil switched out but I will be doing that sometime this year. I will not be planting anything in it either but leaving that for next year. The green house had plants but it needs some repairs and well my plants did not do all that well.

  • Keeping Missy’s Christmas/Easter Cactus alive. It is her first plant and her Grandma bought it for her.

I think it is still alive ha-ha. I am going to re-pot it (again). I need to check out the roots. It is just not thriving and I feel like something is going on below the surface.

  • As always trying to keep up with the blog.

I think I did great at the beginning of the year. After that things seemed to taper off though.

  • Have my debt paid off (even with taking mat leave I am sure I can do this).

I did have this done at the near the beginning of the year. I mean there are still things like the mortgage and car loan. Which I acquired in 2017, so it was not part of the debt payment plan. There is now a little owing on one of the credit cards but that also is recent. I am hoping to make an extra payment on the mortgage this year though.

  • Seriously getting my life organized. I mean it is now more important than ever to get things to become habit. And good habits that Missy can grow up seeing.

Middle of the year I was doing pretty good with this. Missy’s screwed up her sleeping schedule which in turn screwed everything else up. I may have at least found some things that worked though.

  • I want to get at least two rooms renovated. Probably the office and Missy’s room. There is nothing big that needs to be done. Pretty much just painting and adding working pieces to the rooms. I am only saying two since I want to focus on outside.

Ha-ha right. Maybe by the time this is posted I will have Missy’s room nearly finished. I knew the office was not going to happen in 2018 but was trying to get my room down instead.

  • I also need to make sure I focus on me some this year too. My health really depends on this.

I did that here and there. Somethings I started doing to ‘treat’ myself but also makes my life easier. I do feel like I should make a post about this all on it own.

If I look at 2018 and what was actually accomplished, it does not look like much. The year is gone and there is nothing I can do about it. I am also not going to beat myself p over it either. All I can do is strive to be better in 2019. With that being said lets take a list at those goals.

  • Renovate two room in the house (if I can I would like to include both bathrooms as well).
  • Get the outside cleaned up and the driveway redone. The yard had been started and it just needs an actual attempt.
  • Missy in swimming lessons (locally).
  • Start taking the weekly local yoga class in the fall.
  • Have Missy enrolled in some programs.
  • Visit NiaNia and YeaYea.
  • Continue working on myself and striving for an organized (realistically) life.
  • As always try and keep the blog updated ha-ha.
  • I have always had something about debt on here. Now that it is paid off, I still would like to have a money goal(s). The big ones I want to do are making the maximum extra mortgage payment  and to match what I have in savings. This is very ambitious of me and as long as I get part of each I will be happy. That mortgage payment though I need to make by June so it is not like I have a full year to save up for it.

All of what I have listed is quite achievable but it does not include work things or the unexpected. As long as I can work towards these things, that is all that really matters.

Do you have any goals or objectives for this new year?

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Christmas is Coming!

On By jackiblosblackisIn PersonalLeave a comment

I have been away, clearly. Christmas is almost here and then soon will be the end of the year. Missy’s birthday has passed now and that I really dropped the ball on. I wish I could say things are getting caught up but it does not seem to be that way at all.

I missed doing my 3rd quarter update and in just 4 weeks I will be doing the update for the end of there. At this time, there is no point in typing it up. Missy’s room should have been finished months ago now. My room should have also been done but of course it is not even started yet. This means I am still stuck sleeping on the couch. I am completely over that.

I bought a new planner for the upcoming year, I am still giving my current organization a shot, and a bright shiny outlook! Well as much so. There are people in my life that are not doing well health wise. I have my ups and downs. There seems to be a never ending task list of things that NEED to be done. I HAVE to make myself a priority (after Missy) because the truth is no one else is going to do it. I need to be some form of productive in my own life.

I know it will get there and I know that I really am my worst enemy. I think we all have these moments in life and that more people can relate than they would like to admit. Documenting these things helps me take responsibility. Also, if I can make any movement in my life, hopefully I can inspire someone else.

Cleaning and Organizing – Update Part Two

On By jackiblosblackisIn House, Organization1 Comment

I cannot believe how long it took me to think of something. Now that I have though, I can come up with a bunch of different examples. The kitchen is once again going to be the example location. I also have pictures to show for the beginning. I will explain later on why I do not have after pictures yet.

This bottom cabinet has worked well for me. Now, Missy is crawling and while she cannot reach the knobs on these door yet. I eventually will want to unlock the doors. As much as I plan on teaching her the safety of small appliances. I do not want to tempt her having them in immediate reach (at any small child age). These need to be moved.

In this top corner cabinet is serving dishes. Put up top because its a large cabinet for things like platters. A way from little hands too. I use my serving dishes proudly. At least half of it is from my china set. If I did not use it, it would be in the box with the rest of the set.

This bottom cabinet does not have a lock. The reason for this is because it is Missy’s cabinet. Stuff I am not worried about her playing with or breaking. Well clearly, there is stuff in there that needs to be moved. The baby bullet cannot stay in there and there are glass water bottles in there. These are kind of heavy so I should move them or she might break a toe if she dropped one.

This one is just because I want to move her dishes to her cabinet. There is no reason for everything to be off limits and she cannot break them.

Now the reason why I do not have after pictures. Up until recently I did not have a space that I could move the small appliances to. Somewhere that I am able to access with out a lot of extra effort. It might make me sound lazy but lets be realistic. If it takes to much work to put a way. One of two things will happen. The first being it will take work to retrieve as well and I just will not use it anymore. Or the second would be I use and do not put it away. Neither one of those cases is appealing to me.

I have a solution now. I came across a used buffet and hutch. Honestly I did not buy it to make the kitchen a safer place for Missy but my cows need a new home ha-ha. I only just thought of this solution. So the reason I do not have after pictures is because I am getting a new glass shelf cut. When I went to view the hutch one of the shelves somehow got busted. Not a big deal. There will be a whole post dedicated to it since it is pretty much my entire dinning room.

Moving the content of these cabinets should be my next post in this series. That does depend on how long it takes for me to have the new shelf cut.

Cleaning and Organizing – Update Part One

On By jackiblosblackisIn House, OrganizationLeave a comment

So far this series has not turned out how I wanted it too. It is not that I do not want to post. The problem is I do not have my phone with me all the time to take photos. I always think about it after the fact. I want to catch my daughter growing up and I never have my phone to take those pictures either.

Not going to lie; I have no clue where my phone is at the moment ha-ha.

I also organize things as I go along. While something works in theory, it may not work in practical. This means systems need to change until it works the way it should. If it takes too much effort to put things back where they belong, than the system does not work.

An example of this would be my cookie sheets. I did have a system that worked. I have since consolidated three drawers into two. I needed a drawer for ‘healthy’ snacks that would be in reach of Missy. In this case unless I add another set of drawers in the pantry I will just get over it. It really is just a pain in comparison. So this one does not have an end yet. Until I find my happy place the sheets just keep getting shuffled around.

Another example would be….who knew this would be so difficult. I am having trouble thinking of a decent example. Even from the duplex before this place was purchased.

I will have to come back to finding an example. Rather than trying to do the full room, I am going to split some of the areas in to parts. I also have to go back and change what I have organized in the first place. I do not want to go over the entire room again if I have only touched a small area (which usually has a large impact). Breaking things up to simply just what I have done, if there is enough content, will make me feel less overwhelmed. It will also keep you feeling good about your place compared to mine.