19 in 19 - Oops!

Oh dear, I am way off track with this.  I didn't even get an update done for August and now we're into October so this will have to be a 2 month catch up!

1. Be more organised, plan ahead and waste less time
Ha I am still wasting time but planning ahead is definitely better and I like to think I'm an organised person.  (I'm trying to see the positives here! lol) 

2. Work on the garden
I've made a few more additions to the garden including a bird feeding station.  It's looking a bit untidy at the moment as my gardener has been on holiday (as well as me) and we have had lots of rain in the last couple of weeks.
 
3. Plan a lunch date/date night with Nick once a month (theatre/cinema/meal/outing)
Epic fail on this front.  This needs serious attention.

4. Eat at 6 new-to-me restaurants
Well I certainly managed this while on holiday with my cousins.  We ate out every night.  Although of course I'm hardly likely to revisit those restaurants unless I get to Kos again.

5. Complete the A – Z blogging challenge
Success!

6. Family weekend away for my birthday - in June
It was lovely! Read about it here.
 
7. Look after my health – eat well, sleep well, play well
I deinitely ate well and played well in August & September with our family get together and then a holiday with my cousins.  Not sure my health has benefitted though. 

8. Visit my brother
At some point!  (Although I may get to see him next week!  Rumour has it that he will be attending my cousin's birthday party which I will definitely be at.)

9. Visit the beach
Done!

10. Complete my reading challenge (52 books for the year) 
Yay!  Done!  I'm currently on about to start book #56.  I did a lot of reading during August and September (although reading up means blogging down).  I won't bore you here with the details but, as always, details and reviews can be found on my Goodreads site.  (Or you can use the tag book review to find them here on the blog.)

11. Keep a journal
Journal?  What's a journal?  Enough said!

12. Blog at least once per week (plus regular memes)
August figures were up, September down.  As I mentioned above, I've been doing a lot of reading and been away so the blogging has taken a back seat.
 
13. Organise/Take more photos
Well I definitely took photos while I was away so maybe a tick here.

14. Update my clothes/accessories/make up etc regularly
Well this is such a wooly target.  I will definitely build this in again next year but it will need to be more specific and time framed.  Although I did review my swimwear before my holiday family holiday and trip to Kos.  Just as well as I needed to buy new (and larger) swimsuits!  Definitely need to work on #19.

15. Do more crafting – move the sewing machine!
My one piece of crafting during this spell consisted of sewing some buttons onto a very plain dress.  The end result was well received by my cousins which was pleasing.  The amount of time that had lapsed between me buying the dress and the buttons and actually sewing them on was not.

16. Try out a new recipe or do a bake each week
Oh goodness this has fallen off the radar completely.

17. Visit/see Grandson Noah every month
Well we saw a lot of him in August (thanks to our family gathering) but September seemed to run away with us.  We will be seeing him in a couple of weeks though and then we'll need to get dates in our diaries to keep this on track.

18. Make progress on the house plan
Well the girls are making progress.  The house they are renting has been sold and they have to vacate by 8th November.  Unfortunately they have not been able to get a mortgage sorted out to buy anywhere but they have now secured another rental close to where they are living now and will move on the 1st November.  This will give them some breathing space to get their finances together (Becca has just started working as a consultant) get a mortgage offer and find a house.  They will probably wait about 6 months before looking again and hopefully the uncertainty over Brexit will have been settled by then.  (Sorry I had to mention the B word although it's all such a mess.)

However, now the girls have definite plans and we know we won't have to provide them with temporary accommodation between homes, it does mean that now we can get back on track with getting things done in our house.  We also don't have to worry about hosting Christmas either as Michael and Liz will be off to the States to visit Rory's other Grandparents and family, Matt & Amy will be staying in Nottingham with Noah and the girls have invited us to theirs for Christmas so that's all sorted!

19. Lose 19 pounds
Still on square 1 but considering I've had a holiday with lots of eating and not much exercise it could be worse.  I seem to have lost my "get up and go" recently which hasn't helped.  My medication review also revealed my blood pressure was up a bit so keeping an eye on that now and waiting on some blood tests to see if I'm just "getting older" or if anything else is going on.  Not sure which outcome is more depressing! 

Well a mixed bag of progress again.  It's definitely clear to me that my objectives need to be more specific,  actually they should probably be SMART! * Considering my background and training I should have seen that from the beginning but it's easy to get out of good habits when time is your own.

* Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & Timely