***Snap out of it***

Back last month, I was discussing with my sister how she felt disorganized. She knew she could keep a clean house, work full-time, and be a wife and mother (and don't forget daughter and sibling and....)

Ah, hmmm. Anyway, I've been feeling the same way for quite some time. (Disorganized, that is. I'm still male, thank you very much.) I look at all my projects and my time and know I can get a handle on it all.

...


Huh. Change in focus on this post. What was to be a whine session (with soy cheese, of course) has set the wheels in my head spinning as my brain revs up to figure out what are my goals, projects, and daily tasks.

Be right back. I have things to do--

***Let's go goals, goals, I wanna do my goals....***

Accomplishing goals one stumbling step at a time.

One is our finances. Specifically, this is the year we rein discretionary spending and bleed...er...divert it towards remodeling the house. I followed up with the bank on certain financial setups that I hope to complete in a couple of weeks. Once it's finished, we'll even have less funds available on a monthly basis. Sigh. But our future will be more financially secure.

In a similar vein, I continued some more food shopping after working out. Did you know Walgreens carries lots of breakfast/protein/low carb bars for cheap? Not only will this help our losing weight goals, but it'll cut one of our biggest expenses: eating out. I've already been buying soups in bulk and am eyeing several TV dinners for specials. Lean Cuisine had one of those "buy one, get one free" last week.

We're planning a vacation this year. I'm looking into using points from our credit cards to help finance a big chunk of it.

Besides reining in our spending, we're hoping to make some funds by uploading more stock on our side business. I'll be taking a more active role in preparing the products for sale instead of just handling the backend. I can already see many a weekend where we're both working on the business. Sigh. What's that old adage? Ah, yes: "The couple that works together...."?

Just like using our credit card points to help finance our vacation, we'll be combining charity and housework. I've already donated my car to a charity. We're planning to do some major cleaning of the house with many items such as VHS tapes, clothes, etc., to be donated to charity. My fingers are itching to clear out the closets and their accummulated piles of memories. Books, obviously, are the exception to this rule.

Socializing with friends and family is near the top* of our list. We already started by joining friends back in November and--especially--December for various activities. I've already scheduled to see the parental figures this month and we're hoping to join friends for plays. And once the house is ready, we'll be having the long-delayed (try seven years!) housewarming party(ies.)

There's so much stuff to do!


*By the by, what's the top goal? Spending quality time with each other, of course.

***Chillin'***

Spent much of the weather indoors.

Part of the reasons was due to the rains. SoCal's finally entering its other major season (the first, of course, being bright and sunny). Three small storms from Hawaii have brought four days of chill (low to mid 60s), wetness, and gray to the state's otherwise bright, hot, and parched sky and landscape. SoCalifornians, of course, reacted appropriately, driving with little, if any regard, to the weather. Accidents rose in reactions; I've seen at least one major accident a day. Sigh.

Saturday we early, which is unusual for us on the weekends. That's because we had to drop The Spouse's (TS) vehicle off at the dealership. What a line! I noted the other dealerships (Saturn, GM, and Mitsubishi) had but a fraction of the size. At first I thought the numbers reflected problems with Honda cars; I then realized the sheer number of the popular import in SoCal.

After dropping off the car, we had breakfast at one of our favorite local restaurants. We were surprised at the number of customers (or lack of). Blame (or praise) the weather for keeping folks indoor.

We relaxed at home before receiving a call from the dealership stating the car was ready. After we picked it up, I ran errands, then rejoined TS to check out one of the local stone slab outlets for countertops for the bathroom. We then headed to Huntington Beach and purchased--finally!--appliances for the kitchen. I'm so glad we didn't try to buy two cars this year! Dined at a local restaurant before heading home to relax for the rest of the evening.

We woke on Sunday at our usual time of after 1000. Had brunch at one of our favorite Indian restaurants. The weather was definitely lightening; we didn't even bring our umbrellas or jackets. The rest of the day and night was spent indoors watching anime, reading, and surfing the Internet. (There were other things, too, but this is a G-rated blog.) We originally planned to do chores as well but since TS was on-call today, we decided to chill like the weather. (Well, outside. We were warm and toasting indoors.)