Friday 9 December 2011

Goal 33. Create an inviting, organized entry

Sorry about my unannounced break. I just felt like most of my posts were getting kind of boring, and I didn't really have anything to talk about. But now I do! Here it goes!

This week I bring you news of a great and wonderful event..... we have an entry way that regular size people can fit in!
You see, when we first moved into the house we had those ugly sliding doors that come with many rental apartments built in the 1970's. You could only get into one side of the closet at a time, and it just seemed like a dark pit in there. We also didn't have enough shoe storage, so we were just throwing things on top of each other and then jamming the doors open to get at things. To make it worse, the closet is really way too thin, so our coat were constantly sticking out of any opening they could find. So! We needed to do something about this.

Cue my fiendish pinterest binge. Oh? You don't know what pinterest is? Click here to see my boards and then follow me!

So after going on pinterest and seeing a whole slew of cute entry makeovers here is what I have come up with so far. I still have a few plans, but I will reveal them as they happen.

Friday 11 November 2011

Goal 100. Do a Samaritan's Purse Shoebox

I love Christmas! For some reason I have always loved everything about christmas and winter. Maybe it's because I grew up in an area that rarely had snow, so I always loved the idea of snowy days inside drinking hot chocolate by the fire. Or the decorations. Or the music. Or the gifts. I love it all!

I have been planning for Christmas for a little while already, including writing wish lists for Prince Charming and I, developing my gifts-to-give plan, and planning my decorations. I have been looking at Pinterest a lot!

But one of my favourite activities that usually marks the beginning of christmas is filling a shoebox with gifts for an anonymous underprivileged child. I support Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child, by filling a shoebox that will be given out as a christmas present to one of these children. Usually charity just means writing a cheque or sending in some used food or clothes. But this charity event is actually really fun!

Thursday 3 November 2011

Goal 46. 10 minutes to drop-dead gorgeous



The title of this post makes me laugh. I am currently wearing exercise pants and a ripped old t-shirt, my hair is twisted up into whatever makes it stay and I have no make-up on. And now I am going to start talking about being "drop-dead gorgeous"?! But there in lies the trick of this goal.

Recently I got a job and had to define what being "drop-dead gorgeous" meant to me and have been experimenting with trying to actually look good, while sleeping in.

Thursday 20 October 2011

Goal 30: Get permanent full-time work


So this is a great week for me! I can finally announce that I do in fact have a job, and it's a position! I have a schedule and benefits. Since I am a nurse it is evening and day shifts, but its a great unit and all the staff are really smart and personable. So I am really excited about this goal being completed! Now I am going to go get ready for work, so its a short post this week!


Tuesday 18 October 2011

Menu Plan Monday: Quick & Easy Edition


This week I will be doing evening shifts and having house guests, so my menu has to be something that can prepared early in the day and very easy to prepare. Here is what I have come up with:

Sunday: Turkey Salad (from last week, we didn't get around to it)
Monday: Fish Tacos
Tuesday: Chopped Salad
Wednesday: Thai Curry Chicken on Quinoa wi. Side Salad (from the freezer)
Thursday: Two Bean Chili

I only planned this far as I also bought some treats for Adam to make.... Kraft Dinner! And I figure by then I will be exhausted, so it will be leftovers, random fend nights and eating out. Some weeks are like that, so I think its better not to buy too much food and let it go to waste, but to accept the reality of the situation.


I really loved this recipe for Turkey Salad which I adapted from Canadian Living: Make Ahead Meals. It's a light recipe to use up that turkey and a great change from heavy holiday meals.

Turkey and Mixed Greens wi. Honey Vinaigrette ~ Serves 2
Salad: 
4 cups mixed baby greens
1 cup cooked turkey, cubed or shredded
1 pear, diced
1/8 cup dried cranberries
1/8 cup pecan halves
pinch each salt & paper

Dressing:
1/8 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 tbsp. honey
1/2 tsp. dijon mustard
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup canola oil
1 clove garlic, minced
sprinkle each salt & pepper

In medium bowl, combine salad ingredients; set aside. In small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients. Use as dressing to taste.

Thursday 13 October 2011

Goal 21. Host a fancy dinner party

I have wanted to plan and put on a fancy dinner party for a long, long time. However, I have never actually had a reason to do this until this past weekend. Prince Charming and I hosted Thanksgiving: Prairie Edition for Belle, Cogsworth and Jafar. It was a really really fun evening, during which I was fully able to relax and enjoy myself. In fact, I was a little nervous because it didn't seem that hard, even though I had planned a fairly intense menu. So here is how I was able to do that.



Monday 10 October 2011

Menu Plan Monday: Turkey Time Edition

I am lost without a menu plan. I am even more lost without a grocery list. I'm not even one of those people who write the list and then never look back at it, I have to look at every item on the list and even then usually have to go back to get at least one thing.

But luckily I very much enjoy the solution to this problem..... meal planning!

Thursday 6 October 2011

In progress goals

This week has been very busy.

We have learned that nothing in Alberta makes sense to us or them. We have learned that Alberta is all about rules, but rarely has the infrastructure to support these rules. Right now I am not a huge fan of Alberta. Our week has been about trying to finish up final moving items and me doing a lot towards the employment situation. No goals got actually accomplished, but we are making progress on some of our larger goals. This is still pretty great and Alberta has a pretty autumn.


This weekend is also Thanksgiving! I will be doing a big turkey dinner, which is going to be my big fancy dinner! Hopefully there will be lots of great pictures in my post about that.

So until then, remember to give yourself time off between accomplishing your goals. Maybe you can spend some time finding more goals by reading other blogs!

The Nester over at Nesting Place has been doing a 31 Days Series challenge on her blog. I think around 700 different blogs are participating in this with many different topics. Click here if you want to check out all the topics. Here are the ones that I am reading and enjoying. 

My Life as Prose: 31 Days to make your rental a home. So applicable!

The Complete Guide to Imperfect Housemaking: 31 Days to Organized. This one is my favourite so far!

Thinking about Home: 31 Days to make a House a Home. I loved today's post about Sound. All too often my house is full of cold silence or a blaring TV. Time for some nice music. 

Green Willow Pond: 31 days to Slash Your Budget Painlessly. So far a round-up of easy and interesting tips to help save money. I already do one! But I would love to make my own laundry soap.....

Everday Ordinary Dawnings: 31 days to Build a Better marriage. Very wise words. 

And of course Nesting Place: 31 days of Lovely Limitations. The blog that started it all. Also check out her past 2 years of 31 days. They are really fantastic. 

I hope you enjoy!


Thursday 29 September 2011

Goal 53. Get securities to meet current needs


Let's talk about...... money!

So far on One Neurotic Egghead I haven't talked about money at all. Which is interesting since an entire section of my goals is based on money and I really really like playing with my budget! Oh yeah, you heard me, I actually enjoy it (most of the time). I think playing with a budget is the poor man's way to play in piles of money like Uncle Scrooge. 

One of the reasons I think money is fun is because I really hate shopping and to me when you are deciding where you get to spend your money it's like shopping in your mind. You know where you go into one store, find the perfect item, it happens to be on sale and you buy it? Yeah.... fantasy. So some parts of budgeting is fantasy based. But this post is supposed to be about reality. The reality of some non-"fun" parts of the budget....... Insurance.

Thursday 22 September 2011

Goal 74. Walk somewhere you would normally drive



Since I clearly have lots of time to spend, I decided that Tuesday was a great day for a walk. It was a lovely day, and very warm. In fact, I dressed far too warmly, thinking it was a warm Fall day, when it was actually a warm Indian Summer day. As I walked I thought about the last book I took out of the library, Organized Simplicity, and the main thing that struck me is how complicated simplicity can be.

Thursday 15 September 2011

Goal 80. Streamline cleaners


The best part of moving house means that you also get to do a huge junk removal process. Before moving we got rid of tons of stuff (boxes of books, huge bags of clothes, furniture and kitchen gadgets) and we are still continuing this process. I have already taken a box to Value Village and have started a second!

While simplifying and minimalism are great ideas it is important not to just focus on reducing but the reasons why we simplify. It is not enough just to get rid of things, but a lot goes into deciding what to keep and what to toss. It's like editing a paper. (Prince Charming has gone back to school so academia is on my mind!)

One of my goals has been to streamline my cleaning products for a long time. I also wanted to keep the most effective and green products I could. Here's how I decided to finish up this goal.

Thursday 8 September 2011

Goal 35. Design a Grown-up, Cozy Living Room



The goal that has been overtaking my life! taking my time this week has been sewing curtains. Since I am still fun-employed I have been working on getting my house set-up and gorgeous during this time.

As part of my goals I had written down the feelings I wanted in each of my rooms, and then to further this intentional decorating I wrote down the functions I wanted each room to play. In my living room I wanted it to be a room to share with others, so I decided to move some things out of it (read: ugly textbooks), and move other things in, such as the board games and DVD's that we would want to share with others. I also am going to be using this room as my "office" space. I haven't figured out how to do this yet, so right now I am just stashing my stuff on a shelf behind doors. Right now it would also be a guest room, as we wait for me to find a job! It is doing a great job of holding all these functions.

Last week I found a great series of posts on the Nesting Place called 31 Days to a Better Dressed Nest. I have been devouring these posts, and trying to use them in my own house. In particular, 2 of her suggestions: Incorporate fabric, and Group it. I decided to hang my curtains and made a grouping of pictures as my focal point. You can see both in the video below and see how I made these curtains.

Thursday 1 September 2011

New Year, New Look!


Today marks the 365th day for my goals!! Which means I am more than a third of the way through my time to complete all these goals, and I am definitely not one-third of the way through the goals. I need to get to work!

In the past few months I have been posting, which has really made me focus on completing my goals more.  That is the primary intention of this blog. However, another intention of the blog was also so that I could communicate the going's-on of my life with friends and family that do not live close enough to actually see what we are doing. One thing I have realized is that since I never post on any type of schedule it would be frustrating to try to follow this blog. So... I have a new plan! Each week I am going to post on Thursday nights the round-up of all goals I have completed that week. This way people can read the posts as they like and don't have to waste time checking to see if a new post is up. Let's see how it goes!

In other news, we made progress on a goal!

Wednesday 24 August 2011

Goal 29. Move - Part 2

Well I'm calling it! We have officially moved in. We don't yet have all the boxes unpacked, we still get our mail forwarded and I just got a Jury Summons from Victoria (which I cancelled! Yes!), but we are here permanently. In fact, I did my first grocery shop!


Here are some photos from our trip here and getting settled.


Tuesday 16 August 2011

Goal 7: Symphony Splash 2011

This past weekend, in amongst wedding plans for my sisters wedding (in 2 days!!!) we went to Symphony Splash. Symphony Splash is this great free event that happens in Victoria, BC every year on the August Long Weekend.

The Victoria Symphony plays a free show, while set up on a barge. The traditional climatic end is the 1812 Overture complete with real canons and fireworks at the end. It's pretty spectacular. They often feature a local band in the afternoon before the symphony. This year it was the TimeBenders, who played popular music from the 50's right up to Lady Gaga. They were also pretty spectacular.

We had great seats on the Legislature Lawn and a bunch of friends and family around. It was a great afternoon, and a great way to end our time in Victoria. We will miss you!


Wednesday 20 July 2011

Lots 'n' lots of Goals!!

Since my last update I have done a lot of Goals work! Here is what has been going on in the past two weeks.

Goal 17. Use Ticketmaster Tickets - completed!
    While in Edmonton we went to Cirque du Soleil's DRALION. It was my very first Cirque experience and was spectacular. I was also happy because we have had these tickets for a long time and we finally got to use them. We had a great night out with my parents, sister and her fiancé.

Saturday 11 June 2011

Goal 45. Complete a 30 for 30 Remix

So this is an idea from the mind of Kendi Everyday. What I did was take 30 items of clothing (tops, pants, jackets, shoes) and create 30 different outfits. Every single one of these outfits were actually worn by me, except the last two. But I have worn them before.

The goal of this challenge is to demonstrate just how many different outfits you can make from your existing wardrobe and get your creative juices flowing. As a side benefit by seeing 30 pictures of just me in an outfit I have realized certain things about how I dress and the clothes I buy.


So here are all the outfits!


Friday 27 May 2011

Goal 29. Move

Wow! So this is the only one word goal on my list, but it is probably the most life-altering one on here! We are currently in the middle of planning for our move which takes place on July 1! Yup, we have both given notice at work, have told our manager (but not technically given notice, which we should do!) and are searching for future jobs. Prince Charming is going to University of Alberta for a Bachelor of Education and I will be working as an LPN in Edmonton. I just got my notice that I am eligible for licensing in Alberta, and so the job search begins.


There is a lot of work going on right now, both in finishing things well and planning for future things. And this requires a lot of waiting, patience and communication. Which are not things that I am great at but here are some things I have been learning.

Wednesday 18 May 2011

Goal 40b. Make a useable Home Management Binder

So last week I discussed how I have made my Finder into my version of a Home Management Binder. This week I want to discuss what goes into my Home Management Binder Folders, and how this works for me. The best thing about this system is that now I don't have a million scraps of paper all of the place that I have to clean. Even when my home management binder is disorganized and messy it is all contained within my laptop and disappears when I turn off the screen. Nice!

Monday 16 May 2011

Goal 40: Make a home management notebook



I love the idea of organization. I spend lots of time reading blogs, magazines and books about how to organize and have collected thousands (really thousands!) of tips about organizing. But I also have a secret. I am not very organized.

I am really good at collecting tips and designing new ways to be organized. But when it comes to maintaining things I am pretty darn lazy not very good. This was the problem with any home management book I have devised until now.

Monday 25 April 2011

Goal 59. Buy a new car


We were able to buy a new car! This is a wonderful blessing, as it is exactly the car we wanted. It has a huge capacity (the seats flip over and hang on the sides), plus a comfy ride and good look. It is also very fuel efficient and has All-wheel drive. We are very happy.

In my goals we said we wanted to pay $3000 down. We were able to do this thanks to our tax return, as well as save the YNAB buffer. Things are looking great right now!

Here is a picture of our new baby:

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my blog! And with a click it is born! I am going to be tracking my 101 goals progress, outfit and food pics and just random information about my life. I hope that something here interests you!

Wish me luck!