Day 19 of Money Saving Mom's 4 Weeks Challenge {Simplified}

I believe today and tomorrow are the last days of this challenge. Unfortunately, I have fallen behind in the last two days. What I did do yesterday that I was proud of was to do about 15 minutes of a workout video, take 15 minutes to pick up the house, finish packing and addressing a Christmas package, and finish three loads of laundry. I took the kids to the weekly library story time, which was also nice.

Oh, and I let Nick paint and play with Play-Doh at different times during the day yesterday. Usually I don't like to set up for that kind of mess. He was good with the paints, for a three-year-old, and the Play-Doh was not as messy an undertaking as usual. Xander and I made some thumbprint-Christmas-lights cards while the paint was out, so we got some more cards made at the same time.

Oh! The more I think about it, the more things I did get done yesterday. I uploaded the last of my articles due this month for The Homemaking Cottage.

The assignment today is to:

• Get dressed in something that makes you feel great.
• Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and make a list of 5-7 daily goals based on your weekly goals.
• Set the timer for 15 minutes and wipe down your windowsills and trim around your windows. If you have time, wash the dirtiest windows.

This is what I did:

• Got dressed in something that made me feel great. 
• Checked my list from yesterday. I still had 7 tasks that weren't completed yesterday, so I took those for my goals today. Like I mentioned previously, I tend to write over-optimistic to-do lists. I actually don't mind doing it this way and then carrying over the other items to the next days. Most of the things on my lists should be done this week but not necessarily on a specific day.
• Took 15 minutes to wipe down windowsills and trim and then to half-heartedly clean some of the windows. I find my windows very hard to get to for cleaning.

Update: I also vacuumed during the commercials of the show Erik and I always watch on Thursday nights. That was a task from yesterday or the day before. :)

Windowsill After

As for my to-do list, I:

• Finished a load of laundry.
• Got the car in for new tires (Ugh. No wonder I procrastinated. This is expensive.)
• Made a medical appointment for myself.
• Finished knitted accessories for a little gift I'm sending someone.
• Made my grandma's traditional Christmas wreath cookies. Double batch, of course!

This is what the house tends to look like when I focus on making cookies with a time-intensive recipe without having the boys help me.

A Happy Thing

I have been feeling a wee bit negative about my capabilities the last few days due to a couple of minor challenges. So let me take this moment to focus on something positive that is small but cheering. I spent a bit more than I thought they were worth on some green ornaments that smell like pine (because we have an artificial tree). I hung a few on our tree and one or two on our door wreath. Multiple times a day I catch a whiff of this scent and I just feel good. I have also been making homemade potpourri with these really strong-smelling cinnamon-scented pinecones. The house has been smelling great for a week or so!