Vacation Week Goal Update

Well, vacation week is over and we're back to work.  While I didn't get all of my list done we really kicked it in to gear and got quite a bit accomplished while still having some fun.


The highlight of my vacation?  My living room was completely redecorated.  I was hoping to paint, finish my cushions & get new windows treatments.  Not only did we do those things but we bought new prints and a new TV/entertainment system.  It really looks amazing and I'm very appreciative of the work Mike did.  I'll be writing about what we did and showing you my before and after pictures.


We did have some fun.  We had a frugal afternoon at Cabela's and took in a minor league baseball game.  Mike and Michael were picked to do a fun stunt on the field.  I'll be posting about non-expensive ways to attend a baseball game and I'll include some pictures of them battling it out.


Here is my original list and how I did under each category.


Organizing
Laundry Room (I've been struggling with sustainability and need to get it up to snuff)
Master bedroom Closet
Basement Closets
Coat closet (I'm embarrassed to admit but we still have some winter coats in there!)
Movie room credenza
Utensil Drawer
Garage organization


I started to do some work in the laundry room but since that's the only unfinished part of our basement it becomes the staging area when we're purging.  With all the work we've done we have a pile for Goodwill as well as some furniture that we no longer need.  Rather than wasting my time in that area I'm focusing on getting the rest of my projects finished and then will work on re-organizing that area.


I feel pretty good with the three organizing projects that I did get done.  I took before and after pictures of the credenza so I'll be writing about that in the near future.

Decorating
Finish couch cushions (I know, this has been on the list for a long time but I really mean it this time! :)
Window treatments for living room
Replace computer desk in basement (This is half done.  I purchased the replacement bookcase but didn't have a chance to get it up yet)
Paint living room
Hang print we recently bought


Holy smokes Batman - we totally kicked butt in this category.  I've been nagging mentioning to my husband that we needed to redecorate the living room.  We've lived in our house for 19 years; we still had the original white walls, original window treatments and quasi original furniture.  I say quasi because this is our original furniture but I have bought at least one new cushion set for them.


Re-decorating the living room took us two full days.  Because of that I wasn't able to finish unloading our computer desk and put up my new bookcase.  I'm hoping to get to that this week yet otherwise it will probably be a couple of weeks before I finish.


Since we no longer needed our bedroom TV in the living (long story) we were able to move it into the bedroom and finally get it hung on the wall.  Let me tell you, hanging a TV isn't as easy as they lead you to believe!  The changing of the TV's was a minor redecorating project itself which I'm not quite finished with yet.  One more thing to add to my to-do list!


Mike also fixed our garage door opener.  With all the work he did, I didn't have the heart to mention that we still needed to hang our new print in the basement.  I'll probably let that slide for a couple of weeks :)

Freezer Cooking
Breakfast bowls (I'm trying to wean myself off McDonald's!)
Shredded Chicken
Mashed potatoes
Applesauce
Cranberry relish


I did do some freezer cooking but I just wasn't in the mood to get crazy.  I'm going to admit to a couple of lazy mornings where I didn't do much but sleep in and watch Ancient Aliens.  However, I did get my breakfast bowls made which you can read about here.  I also made up two batches of applesauce which made my kids pretty happy.

General Upkeep
Garage door trim (paint)
Replace garage window
Basketball hoop (paint pole)
Stain front porch slider
Clean out and re-plant side bed

The first half of our vacation was so hot that we didn't do anything outside.  Once the heat broke we took advantage of the cooler weather to take the kids to a baseball game and then spent two days on the living room.  What that means is we didn't get anything done on this list.  Do I at least get credit for buying the stuff to do the front porch slider?

Blogging
Write posts
Buy dishes for food pictures (I thought I'd check out Goodwill to add some visual interest to my pictures)
Buy a new computer
Update various aspects of the blog itself


I actually spent quite a bit of time blogging.  I didn't get as many posts in the hopper as I wanted but that's OK.  The new computer has gone on the back burner and I didn't buy any dishes.  However, I have created a new Christmas portion at the top.  Since I seem to write so much about the holidays I thought I'd give the holiday it's own label!  I'll be adding to it but check it out and let me know what you think about it.


New Recipe Trials
Mango Ice Cream (I found this recipe I wanted to try out)
Sushi
TBD Cupcake


I did make the mango ice cream (you can read about that here) but I didn't get to the sushi or the cupcakes.  


This Friday I'm having a get-together at my house so pretty much all of my goals for the coming week revolve around getting prepared for that!  Of course, I'm hoping that part of the preparation includes getting my new bookcase up but it won't be the end of the world if I don't get to it.


Have you done anything fun around the house lately?