T-23

As usual, I start something and then it's 4 days later and nothing else has been done.  So, Thursday I did start in the bathroom, but I didn't get very far.  I dealt with about 2 square feet in the back corner between the toilet and the tub.  My "after" looks like a normal person's "gee, this hasn't been cleaned in months, I'd better get on it."

In my (minimal) defense, a large part of that is issues we inherited with the house, like lousy caulking that won't come clean no matter what I do, and a floor that is a project unto itself.  There were 3 layers of linoleum in there when we moved in.  The bottom one is cemented to the wood floor and after trying to scrape it up I gave up about a foot into the door.  There's no removing that stuff short of a sander or new planks.  Above that was another layer, and above that linoleum tiles.  The tiles were relatively easy to get up, and the middle layer only a little more difficult.  This back corner had never been finished though, so I had two layers to remove.  I have tiles I bought years ago but don't know if they will help or if I can put them down any better than this bottom layer is.  Anyway, while I was down there I cleaned the bottom of that side of the toilet and tried to clean that seam between tub and floor and about then my back and knees decided there would be no more of that.

The weekend blew by uselessly.  Today I'm back on it...as soon as I eat something.

T-28

In 28 days my in-laws will be here.  For 27 days I will be in hyper-clean mode and see if it is possible to run through a whole pccx in a month.  Actually, I'm sure it is, but I'm not sure *I* can.

I don't always guarantee pictures, but I will post progress, hopefully daily.

I think I'll try to take things in order of the room-by-room track, so first up is the bathroom.  That's both good and bad.  Good because it's a very small space and therefore should take less time; bad because there is a lot of repair-type work to be done that I just can't right now.

More to come later today.

Oh, and Did I Mention?

My in-laws are coming to visit at Thanksgiving.  Oh yeah.  5 weeks I have in which to cram a year's worth of cleaning.  I'm planning some kind of blogging event to go with it, but I haven't decided what yet.  Open to suggestions.

This Time...

This is mostly the same as a post I wrote today at Spark People, but the same principles apply to housekeeping as weight loss in many ways.

I think everyone, at some point, falls off of whatever wagon they're clinging to.  This is followed, almost inevitably, by a point in the future at which one says, "This time I'll do it right."  I'm all for positive affirmations and goals, but "This time..." is more like a promise, and one that is often destined to be broken.  

I've been slacking for quite some time now, and I wanted to start today fresh and trying harder.  But something about "This time..." rubs me the wrong way.  Maybe it's because it implies other times, more opportunities to fall.  Maybe it's because it implies picking up right where I left off instead of backing up a few steps and building back up to where I was.  Maybe because it's just too general.  Maybe it's because it's been said hundreds of times before and it carries the weight of all those failures with it.  Maybe it's because it encompasses too much time.  "This time..." could be months or years.

I think I'll go with "Today..." instead.  "Today..." I will pay attention to my priorities.  "Today..." I will get some - any - cleaning in.  "Today..." I will track what I need to.  Today I can handle.  It's one day, a finite time.  And if something goes wrong Today, there is always another Today - tomorrow.  If I said "This time..." and fell today then I wrecked the whole thing.  

So far Today is going fine.

I'm Soooo Behind

It's well into October now, and all the screw-ups, mis-steps, and failures of the last 9 months are rearing up to bite me in the you-know-where.

Any progress I made earlier in the year - and some of it was considerable - has backslid so far that I'm nearly back at square one.  I haven't planned diddly and the upcoming holidays are looking a little bleak.  A major, crucial project that should have begun in August is still in limbo today.  Financial decisions are almost always regrets around here.  My house is a wreck - no better now than it has been at any point in the last 4 years.  I'm not looking forward to fundraisers, cold-weather clothes, pictures, cards, presents, baking, etc. in the next 3 months.

I'm frustrated with so many things, not the least of which myself.  I have issues.

Goals, New and Old

So let's see...a month ago I said this:

Specific tasks to complete:
Get my sort-of-secret project up and running
Get up to speed on the holiday planner
Finish any one section of PCCX cleaning
Write a minimum of 4 HK101 essays

Yeah...not so much.

That project - progress has been made, but it's not finished.  It NEEDS to be, NOW.

Holiday planner - not looked at.  Winged it for A's birthday.

PCCX cleaning - I barely did any daily cleaning.

HK101 essays - not a one.

So that was a waste of perfectly good goals.  Most of those I forgot I even made.  Let's strive to do better in October, shall we?

1. Have a functioning business site and marketing materials dispersed.
2. Prepare for Halloween before 10/27.
3. Daily rumbles regularly - at least 1 week's streak by end of month.
4. Dial down expectations - 1 HK101 essay.
5. 4 lbs. lost.

That will do for now.  I'm also setting a reminder to look at these daily so I don't forget and blow them off.

Who's got a goal for October?

September By the Numbers

Once again it's time to look back on a month and see what happened. 

1 - day I didn't track points

10 - days I passed goal (4,000)

104,655 - points earned all month

3,489 - average number of points per day

3 - pounds I lost

5 - friends and family birthdays

8 - medical appointments

2,140 - Spark points earned

5 - days over 100*

7 - days of rain

8,555 - emails and RSS posts deleted

20 - blog posts

27 - days of Wii Fit body tests

13 - books read

61,499 - steps recorded

$87.35 - earned from online book sales

1 - teenager in the house

1 - new dog

And there we have it: September 2011 boiled down to a few statistics.