get stuff DONE!

as I think I am much better than I used to be about getting things done. These days I am juggling far more to be done, and very little rest time, so Im pretty proud of the progress.

For now I want to concentrate my list-making skills on getting things ready for the wedding, which hopefully will be a little more interesting than my household chores lists!

Just about staying on top of general household things… the house doesnt look like too much of a mess – living room is fairly clean and gets hoovered, laundry is just about being done, kitchen is relatively clean and washing up getting done, I have been to the supermarket with baby on my own twice now, and I am just about managing to cook us meals to eat on an evening…

So all in all, i feel like while the household is quite smooth, and I am needing help from BashfulC with a few things, that Im staying on top of things better than I expected. Although some of this is possibly at the expense of taking an opportunity to sleep, so I might need to let a couple of things slide over the next couple of weeks so that I get some more sleep…

Did bugger all on my list last week, so am making a concerted effort this week to finish off the remaining items… given that I will want to be kept busy to take my mind off the fact that bubba is late, I imagine Ill blitz this list this week…

Made a good start on the list today, with BashfulC helping out on the car front, though may have to do things a bit more gently this week as my back is hurting already :o(

Kitchen

• Clean Oven
• Sweep & mop floor
• Reorg freezer

Living Room

• Cobwebs
• Wash skirting
• Sort out CDs
• Hoover

Bedroom

• Keep on top of laundry
• Wash skirting
• Cobwebs
• Hoover

Airing cupboard

• Re-organise & sort out

Bathroom

• Clean cobwebs
• Sort out cleaning stuff
• Wash all skirting
• Hoover

Nursery

• Hoover

Spare room

• Dust
• Hoover
• Wash & change bedding

Car

• Sort out all the CDs
• Fill washer bottle
• Get new indicator light
• Wash car
• Move ringbinders out of book

Other

• Pay council tax
• Pay bank
• Order tescos shopping
• Make replacement beef stews
• Try out experimental rhubarb cheesecake
• Find & buy nice ‘baby on board’ sign for my car
• Bring sunshades down for Deans car
• Midwife visit on Weds

Oh, a new week with no sign of labour, a new to-do list.

Kitchen

• Clean Oven
• Sweep & mop floor

Living Room

• Cobwebs
• Wash skirting
• Sort out CDs
• Hoover

Bedroom

• Keep on top of laundry
• Wash skirting
• Cobwebs
• Hoover

Airing cupboard

• Re-organise & sort out

Bathroom

• Clean cobwebs
• Sort out cleaning stuff
• Wash all skirting
• Hoover

Nursery

• Hoover

Spare room

• Dust
• Hoover
• Wash & change bedding

Car

• Sort out all the CDs
• Fill washer bottle
• Get new indicator light

Other

• Buy pressie for Phil & Victoria
• Post pressie

dont know if its because it is SO HOT but im not quite feeling as big an urge to finish off my to-do list…

Thats said I did head straight for the shop after my breakfast and pick up some of the things which I needed, and I have just spend an hour driving around the village handing out the remaining thank you cards which I had – so its not like Ive been sat on my bum all day!

Maybe if I have a hour hour rest now, take molly out into the garden, then Ill feel motivated to tackle something else on my list… worth a try I reckon!

This is my NEW to-do list, as I completed so much of my last one!

• Buy lots of long lasting food
• Try out Tesco direct

• Write up all my recipes into my personal recipe book

• General clean out and sort out of all kitchen cupboards
• Clean Oven
• Mop floor
• Cobwebs

• Re-attempt to sort out BashfulC’s photo frame
• Cobwebs
• Wash skirting
• Wash sofa covers
• Sort out CDs

• File away post
• Sort out pile of random stuff in the corner

• Wash the baby bedding
• Dust

• Keep on top of laundry
• Clean mirror
• Wash skirting
• Cobwebs
• Sort out wardrobes
• Ironing

• Re-organise & sort out

• Clean cobwebs
• Sort out cleaning stuff
• Wash all skirting

• Sort out all the CDs in there
• Fill washer bottle
• Get new indicator light

• Buy some more thank you cards
• Post leisure club letter
• Maternity dates check up & email work
• Post back letter from water company
• Write letter to solicitors about car
• Post letter to solicitors about car
• Write up birth plan

My maternity leave to-do list is still going well – although every time i do something i do keep adding something new!

Anyway, am quite pleased at progress and will keep chipping away :o)

• Buy plastic tubs for freezing meals
• Buy a cake tin
• Buy egg cups
• Buy new oven gloves
• Buy lots of long lasting food
• Try out Tesco direct

• Look up recipies for meals for cooking & freezing
• Buy ingredients to make all yummy meals
• Make LOADS of yummy meals for the freezer
• Make sure all meals in freezer are labelled
• Write up all my recipes into my personal recipe book

• Sort out the Baby kitchen items into their own cupboard
• General clean out and sort out of all kitchen cupboards
• Clean Oven
• General spring clean
• Make list of pre-cooked food for the front of freezer

• Sort out stuff in the cupboard
• Get rid of work stuff
• General spring clean
• Find and do Alisons Christening video

• File away post
• Sort out pile of random stuff in the corner

• Wash any new items so ready to use
• Tidy away clothes from baby shower

• Do all the laundry
• Sort out BashfulC’s drawers
• General tidy up
• Move furniture to make room for Moses basket

• Re-organise & sort out

• Go through selves/drawers and have a clean out

• Clean it out

• Post Julie’s pressie
• Council tax
• Bank
• Electic bill
• Write leisure club letter
• Post leisure club letter
• Thank you cards
• Maternity dates check up & email work
• Email antenatal friend
• Post back letter from water company
• Send info to solicitors about car
• Sort out change for the hospital bags
• Do a remember list for the hospital bags
• Do a phone number list for the hospital bags
• Write up birth plan onto notes

Am getting on quite well with the household tasks, keep thinking of new ones to add to the list but am getting a fair bit done during the days at home :o)

Im thinking Ill have completed this task list by the end of this week… gosh, what will i do then?!

• Buy plastic tubs for freezing meals bought, though will need more now I think!
• Buy a cake tin
• Buy egg cups
• Buy new oven gloves
• Buy lots of long lasting food

• Look up recipies for meals for cooking & freezing
• Buy ingredients to make all yummy meals
• Make LOADS of yummy meals for the freezer
• Make sure all meals in freezer are labelled

• Sort out the Baby kitchen items into their own cupboard
• General clean out and sort out of all kitchen cupboards
• Clean Oven
• General spring clean

• Sort out stuff in the cupboard
• Get rid of work stuff
• Do BashfulCs photo frameI attempted this today and got stuck… might need to give up on this one
• General spring clean
• Find and do Alisons Christening video Have now got all the photos, bits of video and music i need – just need to now pick up the right cable tomorrow and some DVDs to burn it onto, and Im done!

• File away post

• Wash any new items so ready to use

• Do all the laundry
• Sort out BashfulC’s drawers

• Re-organise & sort out

• Go through selves/drawers and have a clean out

• Clean it out

• Post Julie’s pressie
• Council tax
• Bank
• Electic bill
• Write leisure club letter
• Post leisure club letter
• Thank you cardsMajority written – just waiting on BashfulC to come home to check a couple of minor details
• Maternity dates check up & email work
• Email antenatal friend
• Post back letter from water company

Well under orders from BashfulC I have paused cooking, even though I still have 3 things left to cook… my feet hurt after being on them all day yesterday, and I felt like my ankles were going to explode, so today I took things a lot easier…

So far in our freezer, I have managed to cook from scratch:

Stilton & Cauliflower Soup (2 meals)
Tomato & Basil Soup (2 meals)

Cottage Pie (2 meals)
Shepherds Pie (2 meals)

Steak & Potato Pie (1 HUGE beautiful crusty pie)

Chilli con carne (3 meals)
Chicken Casserole (2 meals)
Beef Stew (1 meal)

and I have just completed a Fish Pie (1 meal)

So that leaves me to cook next week:

Lasagnes (2 meals)
Irish Stew (1 meal)
Roasted Pepper Soup (2 meals)

(I did make a Red Pepper and Lime soup yesterday, but it tasted foul and despite many attempts to rescue it, I couldnt make it edible, so I am going to do a different variation next week).

Our rhubarb plant is also ready to be harvested again, so Im going to have a look through the recipe books and see what delights I can make with that :o)

Then I just need to make sure we are stocked up on frozen veg (if anything else will fit in our freezer by then!) and rice for the cupboard, and I think thats as prepared as I can be in terms of meals!

Feeling very proud of myself, because it has been hard work standing up all day cooking all of those things, and washing the pots and everything after each time Ive cooked. I wanted to be organised and get it done, but I wonder if part of the motivation was also the ‘nesting’ thing because I have found it hard to sit still when I know I can be cooking!

With all of this done though, it means that next week I can focus on some of the other things on my to do list which are more practical house sorting based. Im going to just do the jobs I feel like doing though, cos I figure the day I wake up with an urge to clean the oven, that I will know Im definitely in the strongest nesting phase!

One of the things which I said I was going to do on maternity leave was to get a loads of meals cooked and in the freezer, ready for our life post-baby.

Well, Im pleased to report I have made a start on that. I spent yesterday looking up recipes on the internet (Im not cooking anything too complicated, but some of it is stuff I havent made before, so I just wanted to make sure I got it right!) then I wrote a HUGE shopping list of all the raw ingredients and went to tescos in the afternoon and bought everything… Then this morning I set about making my first creations!

So far today I have cooked:

2 meals of Cauliflower and stilton soup
1 huge beef stew
2 Shepherds Pies

Tomorrow I am aiming to do:

Chicken casserole (2 meals worth)
1 big Beef & Potato Pie
2 fish pies
2 meals of tomato soup

And on Friday I will attempt to finish off the cooking week with:

2 lasagnes
2 chilli con carnes
2 meals of red pepper & lime soup

If I get through all of that, I might even try and think of something else I could cook for the freezer – though my brain is a bit slow and Ive run out of ideas now…

Im also being super-organised and labelling everything I am cooking with what it is, and when I made it, so that we know when things need to be eaten by :o) I might even make a list for the top of the freezer when Im done, so that you can see at a glance what is in there…

So yes, am feeling pretty proud of myself for getting this far, and planning out the rest of cooking week :o)

Ok, well hopefully nesting instinct will kick in soon (BashfulC doesnt want me to force it, as he wants it to happen naturally so he gets some idea of when baby is due) and in advance I am making a list of what things I know I will want to do…

• Buy plastic tubs for freezing meals bought, though will need more now I think!
• Buy a cake tin
• Buy egg cups
• Buy new oven gloves
• Buy lots of long lasting food

• Look up recipies for meals for cooking & freezing
• Buy ingredients to make all yummy meals
• Make LOADS of yummy meals for the freezer
• Make sure all meals in freezer are labelled

• Sort out the Baby kitchen items into their own cupboard
• General clean out and sort out of all kitchen cupboards
• Clean Oven
• General spring clean

• Sort out stuff in the cupboard
• Do BashfulCs photo frame
• General spring clean
• Find and do Alisons Christening video

• File away post

• Wash any new items so ready to use

• Do all the laundry

• Re-organise & sort out

• Go through selves/drawers and have a clean out

Of course, on top of these things is generally keeping the house nice and tidy. Im going to start the cooking element this week, and hopefully the cleaning element next week – as priority will be getting some meals ready in case he is early. The house is fairly tidy at the moment, so while I do want to finish some things off, thats a slightly lower priority.