Reclaiming the Garage + Early Christmas Prep {November Goals + October Goals Recap} -

Most pics in post from our somewhat failed day adventure to the pumpkin patch

I just hit my 30-week mark in the pregnancy today, and lemme tell you—I am FEELING it. That being said, I’m also feeling a strong nesting urge to attend to All the Things, just because I still have a hunch this baby might come on the earlier side (like Mathias did, who came at 37 weeks exactly). Of course, if this baby chooses to come at 37 weeks, that would be December 20th, so you might understand why I’ll be scrambling a bit this month to get a serious start on holiday prep.

But first, a recap to see what we were able to accomplish last month:

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October Goals

Get haircuts (both Matt and me)
- Matt got his, but it’s a little trickier for me to find a time (and stylist) to do mine. This will be a rollover goal for November, as I really want to get this done before the baby comes (especially as I only get two haircuts per year…).
~~Mail tripod to be repaired~~
- Whew, finally finished! It was expensive ($28 for shipping—ouch!), but I’m hoping they’ll be able to fix it or give me a new one, as it’s still under warranty. At the very least, I figure paying $28 is still cheaper than replacing it myself, so that’s a small consolation.
List Mazda
- We got the car all cleaned up and ready to list and then…we couldn’t find the title. So now we need to order a new title and then list it. Rollover goal for November.
~~List van~~
- Well, it’s all listed…and then I’ve been remembering why I sometimes despise listing things on the local classifieds. People can be so flaky! I get texts daily asking if it’s still available and then…nothing. I have people tell me they’re going to show up at such-and-such a time to look at it and then…they don’t show. Frustrating. I’ll be so relieved when these two vehicles are out of our possession.

Prune all shrubs
- Matt got a decent amount done on this one morning, but we’ve been hit with an early winter (it was 8 degrees two days ago! and snowing the day before that!), so we haven’t finished. If we get lucky with a mild Saturday this new month, we’ll try to finish this up, but for now, it’s looking like we might have to wait until spring.
Finish weeding front yard
- Nada, for the same reasons as above.
Wash comforter
- This is proving to be quite the conundrum to figure out. I have to go to the laundromat to do this (and obviously stay there the whole time), which means I’d either have to brave the two hours with the kids in a confined space or wait until an evening or Saturday when Matt is home (which always seem to fill up quickly with other projects). This reeeeally needs to happen, though. Rollover for November, and fingers crossed I figure something out.
~~Pick up more crafting/art supplies for Raven~~
- I took the kids to Michael’s one morning, and you’d have thought we were at an amusement park—both kids were squealing over everything and simply delighted by the stickers and craft paper we picked up. I might have to go there monthly just to have a guaranteed win of an outing.
~~Go on day adventure~~
- Our pumpkin patch day adventure was a bit of a bust since a hard frost had come through and killed all the vines and caused the pumpkins to start rotting, but we were able to find a few smallish, non-squishy gourds and pumpkins (only one of which we carved for Halloween). We also went to the local Pumpkin Walk, which is an annual tradition for us. I usually prefer our day adventures to be something brand-new to at least some of us, but for now, we’ll count any fun family outing as our day adventure.

~~Get family pics taken~~
- We had our friend Rob come and snap a few dozen pics for us one Saturday morning, which he then gave me the permission to do the post-processing/editing on. We love them! I’m excited to post more from that session soon, but if you want to see more, you can find a few previews on my Instagram.
Finish studying April General Conference talks
- I read a decent amount–20/31–but this will be a rollover goal to finish in November.
~~Make 5~~ ~~Food Nanny~~ ~~recipes~~
- I made six, including a surprisingly delicious cornbread recipe (which usually Matt and I are not a huge fan of, but this one was scrumptious). I have now officially made my way through exactly half of the recipes in the book (104 out of 208), and I am converted forever to the idea of continuing this goal in the future with other cookbooks. (Related Post: What I’ve Learned So Far From Cooking My Way Through a Whole Cookbook)
Read one book to go towards 101 in 1001 list
- My reading life has been hijacked lately by all my summer book holds finally coming in, so this one didn’t get finished. However, with my new Backlist Blowout Challenge, this one should get done several times over next month.

~~Sign Raven up for swimming lessons~~
- She’s in the middle of them right now and is LOVING them! We ended up having to switch the original time from mornings to evenings, which ended up being a huge blessing–it’s meant we don’t have to pay for parking AND that Matt has been able to to either take her to the lessons or take Mathias so I only have one kid to worry about. If there was another session available right after, we would totally do it, but as it is, it looks like we’ll have to wait until the new year.
~~Visit with my new ministering sisters~~
- Done! I’m super excited that both of them like getting actual visits, so this should become a monthly thing. (For those not of my faith, each woman is assigned a female companion from the congregation, and you both are assigned to visit, serve, and otherwise minister to 2-3 other women in the ward (church congregation). It’s a way to build community and friendships, to make sure everyone is being taken care of, and to follow the example of Jesus Christ).

Other Notable Accomplishments NOT Included on the Original Goals List:

We did some serious organization in the garage in order to prep the space to fit both cars again.
- My mom came up a couple days this last month to help me get more organized before the baby comes, and our big project was the garage. We ended up going through alllllll the kids’ clothes we currently have (which is a LOT, considering we have clothes for both kids from birth up until age 4 (for Mathias) and age 12 (for Raven), as our siblings have been giving us their hand-me-downs over the years. We’ve also gone through numerous other boxes and things in there, which has greatly reduced the amount of stuff we were storing. Matt also cleared out our small storage shed in the back so that he could fit things like our little outdoor plastic slide, the grill, etc. in there to store them for the winter.
I *almost* finished up the editing process for all my photo shoots, which should about wrap up the season.
- I didn’t advertise really for my photography business this year because of how tired I’ve been this pregnancy, but I still did have a few shoots. I only have one more session to finish up (which should be done tomorrow), and then I’m probably done for the season! Always a relief.
Donated three van loads of clothing and other items to Deseret Industries (like a local Goodwill, basically)
- All that garage cleaning led to a LOT of boxes of stuff to donate. There are few things I love more than getting rid of a bunch of stuff we don’t need, I’ve decided.
Got flu shot and recommended pregnancy vaccines
- I had the kids get their flu shots too, and while it was a total fiasco (Raven had to be physically restrained by me and was kicking and screaming the whole time, which isn’t like her at all), it’s still done. Only twelve more months before we have to repeat that nightmare…

November Goals

Do majority of Christmas shopping
- The past couple of years, I’ve been pretty good at getting the Christmas shopping done early, but this year I want to take it even further–I plan to not only have all the shopping done early (ideally by the end of this month, minus some stocking stuffers perhaps), but I also am hoping to have everything wrapped and ready to go by about the second week of December. Fingers crossed I can pull it off, because it would take a huge load off my mind.
Put up all Christmas decorations (including outside lights)
- This is usually something we try to do the weekend of Thanksgiving anyway, but some years it’s gotten pushed back until later. Also, I bought outside lights for our house two years ago, but we’ve never put them up. Let’s let this be the year!
Host Friendsgiving
- Let’s get Year 6 of this tradition in the books!
Buy fresh flowers
- A fun 101 in 1001 goal I have is to buy myself fresh flowers every month for at least six months. If I do it in November, I *think* that will make six months running now (and if not, I plan to keep going with it anyway just because it’s a $5 treat that gives me a boost for weeks).
Go on day adventure
- No idea what we’ll do yet for this. It’s been awhile since we’ve done something truly “new” for us, so maybe I’ll see if there’s something that fits that bill that we can try.
Go to chiropractor
- It’s been nearly a year since I hurt my back, and it’s only gotten much worse with pregnancy (as expected). I’ve tried traditional medicine, going to a physical therapist, stretching, icing…nada. Time to try something new! (I’ve never actually been to a chiropractor so I’m a bit nervous, but luckily I found someone by us who specializes in prenatal care, which helps me feel a little better about things.)

Get haircut
- Rollover goal. And I’m hoping to find a stylist closer to home to have at least as a good backup option, as my current (and favorite) stylist lives an hour south of here.
Start hypnobirthing practice
- I’ve been putting this off because I didn’t want anything that could possibly encourage the preterm labor symptoms I’ve been having. This month I’ll be far enough along in the pregnancy that I feel comfortable starting this up, which I’m hoping will also really help me with some major sleep issues I’ve been having lately (restless leg syndrome, anyone? It’s the WORST). Related Post: Why Every Pregnant Woman Should Take a Hypnobirthing Class, Even If She Wants an Epidural)
Order + install new hardware for mud bench
- We love the custom mud bench Matt built just for our entry by the garage, but it’s driving me crazy that we still haven’t installed any hooks or hardware on it yet (coats everywhere!!). We have GOT to do this soon, for sanity’s sake. (FYI, we get our hardware online through D. Lawless Hardware because their selection is huge and their prices are awesome.)
Finish organizing garage + install hooks
- In years past, our garage organization mostly consisted of shoving everything off to the side so we could fit the cars in again. With my mom’s help this year though, we’re finally putting some serious thought into the process. I bought a bunch of hooks as well as a tool/yard implement organizer (similar to this one), but we have yet to hang them up. I think it will make a huge difference to get all that stuff off the floor!
Winterize chicken coop
- We’re new to the raising chickens game, so we’ve been trying to research out what we need to do to help them be prepared for winter. At the top of the list? Buying some kind of heated water thing because their water keeps freezing regularly (as it’s been getting as low as the single digits around here lately).

Install new baby gate
- We’ve been using an old baby gate of my mom’s since Mathias was about 5 months old, but it’s getting harder and harder for me to step over it (and especially to lift Raven over it), so my sister was nice enough to give us their newer one that they no longer use much, which is one that you install with hardware and that opens and closes. I’m inordinately excited about making the switch!
Wash comforter
- Rollover goal.
List Mazda
- Rollover goal.
Make 5 new Food Nanny recipes
- I have less than a year now to cook my way through the rest of this, so I really should be making more like 8 a month, but we’ll keep it at five so I don’t feel overwhelmed.
Finish studying April General Conference talks
- Rollover goal.
Read 4 books towards Backlist Blowout Challenge
- In case you missed it, I’m doing a fun Backlist Reading Challenge to start reading some older stuff again (and finally tackle a few of the hundreds of unread books we own). I’m really excited for this!

That’s a reasonable amount at 7-8 months pregnant, right? Right?! Ha ha. It will be easier to do it now with just two kids rather than trying to get it all done with three…at least that’s what I’ll just keep telling myself.