Publish at least two Book Reviews. — Did not accomplish yet.
Publish my latest TBR Recap post. — Accomplished!
Spend at least two hours every weekend on my office. — Did not accomplish yet.
Look up at least five new recipes to use in meal planning. — Accomplished!
Celebrate Al’s birthday! — Accomplished!
Celebrate P.E.O. Founders Day. — Accomplished!
Complete the filing project with the filing cabinet in my office. — Did not accomplish yet.
I didn’t have the energy to write the Book Reviews in January, but I’m hoping February will be a different story! Al and I were just talking about getting up 15 minutes earlier in the mornings, to shift back to our “traditional” schedule/routine, so I’m hoping those extra 15 minutes will help me blog a bit more in the mornings before starting work. We’re determined to start it on Monday. He remarked that it was a possible “unpopular opinion,” but I think it’s a good idea. I’m eventually going back into the office full-time, so doing this now will help ease that transition for me. It’s supposed to happen at the end of June / early July, but we shall see.
Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce (See photo below) – This was easily as good, maybe better, than Olive Garden’s. Super easy to make! I poured it over rotini pasta, and it fed us for four nights.
Chicken with Curried Mango Sauce (Haven’t made this yet, but it’s on the list)
Slow Cooker Cilantro Lime Chicken Tacos (Haven’t made this yet, but it’s on the list)
Crispy Honey Sriracha Chicken Wings (Haven’t made this yet, but it’s on the list)
Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas (Mexican Pulled Pork) – Haven’t made this yet, but it’s on the list.
Best Chicken Alfredo Roll-Ups (Planning to do this one next week!)
Honey Garlic Steak Bites (I think I made this once last year, but I can’t remember, so I’m counting it as new)
Hawaiian Roll Ham Sliders – I made this for Al and I and they did not last long. Yummy. I’m making them again this weekend when we watch the Super Bowl.
Crispy Baked Shrimp Scampi (Haven’t made this yet, but it’s on the list)
Found through Facebook.
I also watched Baby Driver (2017) for the first time! It was an excellent movie. Edgar Wright is a master.
Al’s birthday was on a Monday this year. We both worked, and then we had steak, shrimp with cocktail sauce, and crab puppies. My mom made amazing key lime cake for him, and I bought a cookie cake. I’ll post the Crab Puppies recipe below. I’ve substituted the Ritz crackers for bread crumbs both times I’ve made it, and I don’t think I’ll change that. My college roommate, Amanda, made that suggestion when I shared the recipe on Facebook.
We had a wonderful P.E.O. Tidewater Reciprocity Founders Day event – Our first virtual one! We had over 50 women join us via Zoom.
I was able to sell several American Girl items that were duplicates through the big doll board/group on Facebook, so that was exciting! I’m slowly reducing that volume, piece by piece.
Publish at least one Book Review. — Did not accomplish.
Publish my annual “Favorite Things” post. — Accomplished!
Make progress with laundry. — Accomplished!
Make progress with my office. — Accomplished!
Celebrate Christmas! — Accomplished!
Finally send my second draft of my novel to my readers. — Accomplished!
Celebrate New Year’s! — Accomplished!
I wasn’t able to donate blood because I had icky sinus/congestion issues for the entire week before the blood drive. It also took me out of my normal volunteering role. But, I’m glad I stayed home and wasn’t spreading any germs. It was a great drive though – 78 units collected and four first-time donors!
I spent the better part of two hours a couple weekends ago devoted to laundry. I finally emptied the ridiculous basket of clean clothes in front of my side of the bed, went through everything in the smaller basket that was parked in front of my closet for months that Al kept tripping over, and have kept my closet doors closed and clear! Podcasts are my friend, especially the long episodes of Dateline NBC.
One of my big goals for my office was to clear the floor space between my desk and the floor lamp. I did that the weekend before Christmas, and I’ve kept it clean! I gave Al a huge pile of ancient paperwork to shred, filled a trash bag of other discarded things, and recycled two empty copy paper boxes. Al was also nice to clean off one of the filing cabinets that his dad brought down last year, and hauled it from the detached garage into my office. The printer is now far more stable on top of it. The next item to tackle is filling the filing cabinet with hanging folders and paperwork that’s been overflowing between our fireproof box and the dining room buffet drawers.
I sent the second draft of my novel, now with proper chapter distinctions, page numbers, double-spacing, and a lot of wonderful feedback closely noted and appreciated, via email to my amazing readers.
Although Christmas and New Year’s have definitely been different this year, it’s also been a bit more relaxed, if that’s the right word. Al grilled some delicious steaks for Christmas dinner, and I made amazing crab puppies. Al’s already requested them again for his birthday in late January. We had a Zoom call with Al’s parents and his brother’s family. We called my parents and talked to them for a while on Christmas morning. We exchanged gifts socially distanced on our porch on Christmas Eve, and that was such a boost to my spirits! We ate bacon-wrapped scallops and had a meat/cheese tray for New Year’s Eve tonight. I need to finish this post so I can go hang out with Al and the dogs, watch a movie, and then watch the ball drop on TV. We’re excited to ring in 2021 with feeling thankful that we have remained healthy throughout this pandemic, an overflow of gratitude for the essential workers and many other helpers, and good thoughts for the year to come.
Publish a post about my July Camp NaNoWriMo session. — Did not accomplish.
Keep up with my pen pals! — Did not accomplish.
Put away all the clean laundry. — Did not accomplish.
Go through my fall/winter clothes. — Did not accomplish.
Designate what clothes to donate. — Semi-Achieved.
Publish my regular TBR Recap post. — Accomplished!
Continue work on the filing system. — Semi-Achieved.
Clean off the couch in my office. — Did not accomplish.
Complete my American Girl re-organization project with my blue storage cubes. — Did not accomplish.
Prepare for NaNoWriMo 2020. — Did not accomplish.
Help my former professor by reviewing and giving feedback on her book. — Accomplished!
Send my completed second draft of my novel to my readers. — Did not accomplish.
October was even worse than September, if that’s even possible. Working took everything out of me, and the weekends were spent doing other things with the house and trying to keep my mental health together. I’ve gone through a ton of guilt, stress, anxiety, worry – The whole nine yards. I’m trying so hard not to complain though – We have remained healthy and still have our jobs!
With all that said, I’m determined to set up a firmer schedule to stay on top of the blog, and finally clear out the literal clutter surrounding me. I’m so tired of looking at it!
To preserve my mental health, I decided to not participate in NaNoWriMo in November. It was a difficult decision, but I’m really glad I stepped away. As soon as I said it out loud to Al over dinner during the last weekend of October, I felt a lot better. I’m looking forward to Camp in April!
I really enjoyed helping Dr. W. with reviewing and giving feedback on her book. That was a really nice change. She was so appreciative, that she sent me the sweetest thank-you card and a very generous gift card on top of it. That was awesome!
I’m writing this on Friday morning because I’m off from work today for the first time in quite a while, and it feels good!
Also, in major celebration news, I finally paid off one of my credit cards. That feels amazing! I’m determined to be more responsible with it going forward, as well as using the 2X points feature on certain purchases (gas and the occasional dining out/takeout) to my advantage.
It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only two weeks away now. It seems like the holidays seem to accelerate time!
What about you? Did you have any goals for the month of October?
Hot Shot Headlines 
You must be logged in to post a comment.