This past week has been such a blur…I feel like I’m going to need the entire month of December to recover from the move (except that I don’t have that luxury because we’re currently living in a state of construction/chaos). We originally had thought that the company Matt works for would have moved down to the new southern location this last week, but that hasn’t happened, which meant that I’ve been on my own in the new house with the kids. I won’t sugarcoat it — this last week has been Stressful-with-a-capital-S. As of now, the company has the goal of being down here by Christmas and they for sure have to be out by the end of the year (because their rental contract is up), so at the very least, we have a definitive timeline!
I know some people ask me why I still continue to set goals during such a time of stress and transition. To be honest, having goals helps to offset a lot of that stress because it gives me something concrete that I can focus on, and it also reminds me of what I do have control over (since at this point, so much of the timeline with the company moving down has been completely out of my control).
While I do break down my specific December goals below, my general priority for the month is to just cut down on the chaos as much as possible, which means getting systems put into place (i.e., laundry, organizing, cleaning, cooking) and unpacking all of our most-used things so that I’m not spending literally hours every single day looking for items that I need. The thing that will help the very most though is Matt’s company finally moving down here close by us, because it will mean I’m no longer on my own during the week and will have more of the headspace and energy I need to actually tackle this giant to-do list.
Let’s get to it!
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November Goals
Move to the new house!- I already did a post more about this, but in case you missed it, we’re officially in the new house! We moved here on Black Friday, and the move itself went as smoothly as moves really can go. We were especially grateful that we had good weather and lots of help on both ends!
Clear out storage unit and cancel lease- I ended up not having to be a part of this at all since I was coordinating the move from my mom and stepdad’s house while Matt was at the storage unit, but it all got done! Granted, all of our stuff from there is covered in dust and I’m having to wash literally everything it seems, but it is nice to have all of our own stuff again 🙂
Pick up couch from my cousin- I picked up a used couch in great condition from my cousin for just $50, which is currently in our front room. Pics to come eventually, when you can actually see the couch for the boxes and clutter around it. (If you’re curious, the couch is similar to this one, though some features are slightly different.)
- Complete flooring, paint, and lighting projects on main floor of new house
- I knew this was an ambitious goal, but we did complete an impressive amount before we moved in, especially considering that we could only work on it on the weekends. Thanks to a lot of help from family and friends, we were able to get almost the entirety of the main floor painted (we still lack the second coat of paint in the master bedroom), we put the new flooring down in one of the three rooms where we’ve removed the old floors, and we got three of the light fixtures updated (we’re just lacking one more of these at this point). Not too shabby, and everything we’ve completed so far looks amazing! For a slightly more detailed look at some of what we’ve been up to, you can check out this post.
- Start the process of painting the kitchen cabinets
- Nope. And with how tricky things have gotten with all our stuff being everywhere since moving in…I don’t know if this will get completed this month, either. I’m shooting for the end of January at this point, though I’m hoping to at least start the process before the end of the year!
Sell chicken coop- We sold the coop within about 24 hours of listing it, which was such a relief. We basically sold it for the cost of materials, so it’s not like we made a profit on it or anything. Although I was sad to say goodbye to it (especially since it represented so many months of Matt’s hard work!), our new coop and chicken run is an excellent fit for us.
- Call about van key
- I tried to find the phone number the car place gave me but couldn’t. This isn’t likely to happen now that we live so far away. Bummer 🙁
Finish “big” Christmas shopping- I still have a couple of little gifts from our kids for the cousins whose names they drew, but that’s basically it. Oh, and stocking stuffers.
Finish up editing photo sessions + share galleries with clients- I finished this just before the move, which was my goal. It’s always such a relief when I can close the books on another busy photography season!
Print updated pictures for my stepgrandma + mail/deliver- My stepgrandma has been requesting updated pictures of our family and kids for a few months now, so I finally got some printed off and sent last month.
While I would love for my entire month of December to just be one of recuperation from the stress of the last couple weeks, I know that ultimately, getting the house into some sense of order will go the furthest in actually making that feeling of restorative rest possible, so we’re pressing on with the house projects (which we can still only do on weekends, due to Matt not being here during the week).
Maybe by February or so I can relax, right? RIGHT?!
December Goals
- Get oil changed in van
- Now that we’re in a totally new part of the state, we have to start all over with finding professionals that we trust, so the search for a new auto mechanic will begin this month as our van needs an oil change.
- Register Raven for kindergarten
- In case you missed this post, we’ve decided to stop homeschooling our oldest and send her to kindergarten now that we’ve moved to our new house. I would have already done this, except I can’t seem to find her birth certificate and immunization record anywhere in the hundreds of boxes strewn throughout the house. Hopefully as the unpacking progresses, these will turn up so that I don’t have to worry about continuing to homeschool on top of everything else.
- Celebrate Hyrum’s birthday
- Our baby turns ONE on the 11th! Can you believe it? Talk about a wild ride of a first year. We’re keeping the celebration small and simple, but we’re still looking forward to his special day.
- Get washer and dryer set up and working
- This is priority numero uno right now in the new house, as it’s holding up progress on a lot of our rooms (aka, we can’t set up our bed in the master until I’ve washed the cover as it’s filthy from being in storage).
- Find a pediatrician and set up Hyrum’s 12-month appointment
- I’m so sad that we had to say goodbye to our last pediatrician, and I’m hoping I can find one that I like just as much down here.
- Find a pediatric dentist and a regular dentist and make appointments for all of us for January
- Ditto as above, especially as we had finally found a dentist for Matt and I that we both liked that actually used LASERS to fill cavities rather than you having to need the terrible shots in your mouth. We’re seriously tempted to just drive three hours north twice a year to get our teeth worked on, but I guess we’d better give a shot to a dentist down here first just in case. (And just pray that we never have another cavity!)
- Finish flooring in kitchen
- Moving into a house that’s in a state of construction is hard, especially when it involves the kitchen. Having the new flooring put down will seriously ease so much stress since we can then start setting up and moving about the house more normally.
- Finish flooring in playroom
- Ditto as above. Seriously, every project that we’re able to finish this month will just have such a domino effect on the stress that it will take off the other areas of the house. Having the playroom floor in place will mean that we can move the guest bed in there (since the room will be performing double duty), the dresser with the kids’ toys, one of the bookshelves, etc. etc.
- Finish second coat of paint in master bedroom
- This will take less than an hour to complete, as only about a fourth of the room is left. The tricky thing will just be finding the focused time away from kids and the energy to do it.
- Update light fixture in master bedroom
- I think my stepdad is planning on doing this for us next week when he makes a trip down for Hyrum’s birthday, so it will be nice to have all the lighting projects completed!
- Start the process of painting the kitchen cabinets
- I originally wanted to set the goal of entirely finishing the painting of the cabinets this month, but after one week on my own in the new house (and seeing how little I was able to complete in general as a solo parent during the week), I quickly revised my original plans. I still want to start the prep work this month, but the painting will probably not be happening until January.
- Complete Goodreads yearly reading goal
- I set a goal on Goodreads (follow me HERE if you aren’t already!) of reading 60 books this year, and I’m only two books shy of reaching it. Even with how crazy busy and stressful this time is, I should still be able to complete this!
- Enjoy Christmas!
- Even with a to-do list a mile long, I still want to make sure we enjoy this Christmas season, as strange as it’s going to be. Right now, I hope to knock out a lot of the major unpacking and house projects before Christmas so that we can mostly just relax and cozy up in our new home the last week of the year. (We’re also crossing our fingers that Matt’s company will have moved down here close to us by Christmas so that we’ll no longer be spending the whole week apart!)
That’s the plan for our December! What kinds of plans do you have for this last month of 2020?
