Me and YOU Monthly - Write a list and use it!

Today is the start of November and so sees the launch of Me and YOU Monthly.  If you haven't followed my blog previously and aren't aware of what this is all about, my very good friend Karlee at The Mother Experiment started a weekly link up for anyone who wanted to set themselves a little goal to achieve through the week (please check out this link for more details.)  It didn't take off quite as she'd hope it would within the blogging community as a weekly linkup and since the birth of her second child William, she has decided to take it monthly.

I have been a great supporter of her link up and have found it to be a great way to get little things done and/or changed in my house and just in life in general.  I think the change to monthly is a great idea.  I was starting to find Monday's coming around a little bit quickly and missed a few weeks just due to lack of time to write a post by the end of the day!

My first monthly goal is to write a 'To Do' list and to actually cross everything off it and to try and do it every month from now on.  Each month when I do my Me and YOU Monthly post, I will also post up what I plan to do for the month, as a kind of To Do List on a new page I have almost finished setting up and work towards crossing everything off it during the month.  (You'll be able to see it via a link at the top of the posts.)

I got my 'list making' tendancies from my Mum.  We are both chronic for it... not that I think it's a bad thing at all! But..... I find that I often make lists, only to never look at them again.  Hopefully by having my 'To Do' list out there for everyone to see, it will be the perfect motivation to get everything done!! Some months there might be a few things on it and some months there won't be much at all (that's the plan anyway!) You can track the progress if you want too, by going to this link (or the tab at the top I mentioned earlier.)

So here is my first To Do List.  This list is long...... I hope they won't be so long in the future.  This one covers off heaps of things, many that once they are done, they are done and will take planning and physical work to get done and there are others that will be ongoing and are just things for me to always keep in mind.

November 2011
My main goal for this month is to finish off all the little 'projects' I've got going on around the house at the moment.  These include:

• Cleaning out the garage.  A second bomb went off in there after I just finished cleaning up from the first one!
• I switched Piper's bedroom to be the one at the back of house, which means I have 2 rooms in all states of mess.  I want to get both of them completely finished with no junk or clutter in sight!
• Paint and hang the girls name cutouts.  I have most of the paint, just need to find the time to paint them.  Hopefully getting on top of some of the other projects and clearing away some mess will help free up some spare time and space out of the way of the girls.
• Finish off a couple of draft blog posts that I've been trying to get to for months.  I'm divising a bit of a plan to get some uninterrupted blogging time each week, so we'll see if I can get that arranged over the next month.
• Clean out the kitchen cupboard and drawers and finally get it 'running' efficiently.  The more children we have, the smaller it gets and honestly....  it's a day to day thing at the moment.  You can find a fork in any number of places it is that cluttered.  Both Todd and I have a good sense of humour about it at the moment, but it is starting to get really boring!!

I also want to:

• Turn the TV off more during the day and get out of the house more, especially on the nice sunny days.  I think this will have a very positive effect on Piper's (and subsequently my) night time sleeping.  It's the night time sleeping problems that cause the lack of energy and motivation to do much, so hopefully a few small changes will turn it all around....  maybe, hopefully.  (Having both girls sick with blocked noses the last few days hasn't helped....  I've been up mainly to Mackenna, which rarely happens!  Piper has actually been quite good the last few weeks since I changed her bedroom.)
• I want to find more activities and games that Piper and Mackenna can play together now that Piper is getting older and more interactive and Mackenna is becoming more aware of this little 'person' (rather than 'thing' that does nothing but scream and cry, suck on Mummy and 'wing' in her swing.)  
• Spend more time concentrating on Mackenna's 'sharing'....  she isn't naughty or cruel about it, she just thinks that her toys are HER toys and we need to teach her ASAP that they are to be shared with Piper.  She does know which toys are Piper's though too and she generally leaves them alone or lets Piper play with them first, maybe because they are boring to her, but it just goes to show that she isn't being nasty about not sharing hers and it's just going to take a little education on our part.  
• I want to also start encouraging her creative side a bit more. Her dancing and singing is amazing for her age and vocal ability (there are 2 or 3 Yo Gabba Gabba songs that she actually sings...  the right words and in the right tone and pitch....  I'm not shitty you!) and  is so cute!  Her writing and drawing is awesome for her age too....  I'm amazed at how well she is picking up the little bits I've been teaching her of late.  I told Todd a few weeks ago that I'd have her writing her name by the time she was 3.  
• And finally I need to go back to being aware of pretty much every action I make knowing that my toddler is watching and absorbing the things I do like a sponge.  Things I really need to work on in particular are....  
• my road rage;
• licking knives (my grandmother would be so disappointed that I lick knives!) and using my teeth to open things;
• swearing;
• the way I sit on the couch (I can't look over the back of it at her, because this gives her the idea that it's ok to do it too, and I can understand...  bit rough for me to get up her for doing something I am doing); 
• the things I leave on the bench and table;
• standing on whatever is closest to reach something I need or water the hanging plants.  
• just even the way I speak to everyone, including the dogs and bird.....  she repeats everything and in the same tone!  

And finally:

• To get into a made bed every night and to get up every morning to a clean kitchen/living area.  I know that these sound like such easy things, and to be honest, they are....  some days I honestly just get so busy with kid wrangling and toys that I simply forget.