Sunday Salon

Again, it wasn’t a big week for reading or writing, however I did some facsimile of both. I’m still in the throes of redecorating and spring cleaning, with a self-imposed deadline of getting as much done as possible before leaving for our Florida vacation (in one week).

Hubby and I are both highly focused types, sometimes to our detriment, but frequently to our advantage. In Enneagram parlance (and I will discuss Enneagram types during March and in April for my A-Z blogging challenge), we’re both “gut” types (as opposed to “head” or “heart” types)—which means we have bountiful physical energy. We don’t spend a lot of time thinking or brooding about things, and especially not “feeling” things—we’re quick decision makers and speedy at completing tasks. 

As with all types, being a gut type has advantages and disadvantages, but as far as getting things done, it’s an advantage to be a gut type.

Reading this week: . . . umm . . . I did sit down in the evenings and go through the list of 700 people (so far) who’ve signed up for the A-Z Blogging Challenge in April. I open about 15-20 at one pop in my browser, find out who they are, and decide whether I want to visit them again in April. I can generally get through 30-40 blogs in an hour. If I decide I want to revisit them in April, I RSS them, putting them into a folder in my Google Reader called A-Z challenge 2013. Then when the official challenge starts in April, those are the blogs I will read again, and possibly follow. So far, there are 138 such blogs, however with a number of them, I already followed them during past A-Z challenges, and so I’ll just be stopping back and saying “hi.”

I downloaded Newbery winning Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz, which is on sale at Amazon for $2.99! (Do you get Amazon deals in your email every day like I do? I love being alerted to what's on sale.) I haven’t read any of Ms. Schlitz's works, but I recall from buying all of her books for the library, that they always intrigued me. This will be a good start, and maybe I’ll go back and read the rest.

I also downloaded Wonder by R. J. Palacio. It wasn't on sale, but a couple of people who commented on my blog recommended it. 

Writing: I did actually set some thoughts to paper this week. On Wednesday, I sensed that I’ve been moving too quickly these past two weeks, and was feeling overwhelmed, at sea. I’d accomplished a lot but, typical to gut types, I hadn’t slowed down enough to think about what I’d completed, and also what is still unfinished. I could not hold it all in my brain (which some Enneagram types—the “head” types, and especially style 5, are able to do), I needed to write it all down and see it on paper. So I spent some time doing that.

What I’ve completed over the past two weeks: 

1. Read 4 (of 10) Golden Heart contest entries for judging
2. Signed up for A-Z and Have checked out all signups so far (about 700) and will stay current;
3. Selected image matches for 27 pairings for my theme, uploaded and scheduled the posts
4. Began work on the writeups 
5. Prepared and Painted Kitchen, dining, family room
6. Cleaned and organized all kitchen cupboards
7. Selected, ordered, received a Spice Rack
8. Painted laundry room
9. Cleaned and organized laundry closet and put all appliances in new appliance storage closet
10. Cleaned and organized main floor bathroom cabinets
11. Re-hung curtains in laundry room
12. Living room area: “dusted” the big tree; vacuumed and dealt with clutter
13. Washed 13 windows in all
14. Re-hung curtain valances in kitchen, dining, family rooms
15. Took everything out of the closets in my bedroom
16. Painted my bedroom
17. Put everything back into the bedroom closets; brought out spring/summer clothes; now my closet is holding all of my clothes except the wintriest, due to spring’s fast approach and our Florida vacation’s faster approach
18. Shopped for wallpaper, artwork and other decorative items for the new bathroom
19. Moved all of my things back into the bathroom—filled the new cabs!
20. Spent time online selecting art prints of places visited in Hawaii; selected sizes, mats, designed a 5’x7’ layout—but then decided against the $600 price tag. (Will see if I can come up with a DIY version)
21. Repotted six plants
22. Selected and ordered new carpet for bedroom; set installation date (Friday, Feb. 22)
23. Cleaned/reorganized linen closet (4’x8’) (took a full day—I’d been holding on to linens for bed sizes that no longer exist in this house!)
24. Spent two hours light ironing the curtains, valances, bed skirt for the new window treatments in our bedroom 

Do on Saturday or Sunday:

1. Clean/organize the closet that still contains my wintriest clothes
2. Figure out curtain situation in main floor bathroom—order new curtains?
3. Clean/reorganize my office
4. Go to Home Depot and buy 3 more curtain panels 
5. Take movie back, get other two (Tom Selleck starring in Jessie Stone, a character created by Robert B. Parker)
6. Go to Pier One and (maybe) buy the Transom Mirror; spheres; bird print artwork
7. Go to Walmart and get BP med; buy 12 white towels and xx others (rust; coral; lime; emerald; baby blue to navy blue); curtain holdbacks
8. Buy xx rugs that coordinate with towels
9. How many curtain rods do I need, if any? [my bedroom; my office; 2 windows on main floor]
10. Buy ironing board cover

Mike still needs to:

Hang spice rack; hang curtains in my office; hang curtains in our bedroom; re-hang the ivory shades in the living room windows (?); hang smoke alarm

Jonathan needs to: (Completed on Saturday)

Hang toilet paper holder, mirror, above-toilet cabinet; towel bars; plant hanger; curtain rod; peacock art; rip out the window trim and base in master bedroom; install base in laundry room; install base and trim in bedroom (after carpet installation)

Next week:

1. Monday morning: be interviewed for newspaper column
2. Book a motel room; car and figure out what to do/see in Florida (It’ll be our third trip—we’ll see what we haven’t before, the NW corner)
3. Finish reading GH contest entries
4. Finish writing A-Z posts and upload
5. Write two book reviews
6. Spruce up blog for A-Z—change background
7. Friday morning: remove dresser, end tables, bed from my bedroom
8. Vacuum the new carpet and put dresser, end tables, bed back into bedroom
9. Wash old comforter
10. Install new comforter
11. Pack for Florida trip
12. Begin writing query letters, if time
13. Saturday Morning, assuming the wallpaper border arrived according to schedule: Hang wallpaper border in bathroom

In March, after returning from Florida:

1. Shampoo all carpets and upholstery
2. Ammonia-clean the vinyl flooring in the kitchen (meaning, use ammonia to melt and scrub the imbedded dirt out of the divots)
3. Go thru my own Hawaii pix and find similar; Find collage frames and see what I can do on my own for $100 instead of $600
4. Put Scrapbooking on my plate as a regular part of my schedule: maybe one hour daily: Begin scrapbooking 2012, 2013; Make page backgrounds with inchies 
5. Decide whether to repaint kitchen/dining/family room and if so, what color?
6. Think about replacing tile backsplash~see what’s available
7. Clean/reorganize storage room
8. Begin or continue the querying process
9. Begin a new book
10. Begin designing a website
11. Read and review more books

In April:

1. Participate in the A-Z blogging challenge
2. Help Mike move machinery/spring work
3. Weekend flying trips, when time is available
4. Begin yard cleanup; clean up the back patio area (and decide what should be re-planted, and where); re-plant the flower bed on the North side of the house
5. Contract someone to build our new deck (maybe with a sunroom aspect) or if not that, a Pergola
6. Mike needs to: Replace garage door and finish painting the outside of the house

CONTINUE THE QUERYING PROCESS

BEGIN OR CONTINUE WRITING NEW BOOK

CONTINUE READING/REVIEWING

CONTINUE SCRAPBOOKING AS A REGULAR THING IN MY SCHEDULE!

How was your week, reading, writing or otherwise? I love to hear from you!