Sunday 22 January 2012

First Steps

About 7pm on January 19, 3 weeks shy of his first birthday, Baby J took his first steps (that mummy and daddy saw). 

And basically hasn't stopped!!  He often decides that crawling is quicker, but will toddle quite a distance first.

Someone is very pleased with themselves!
 

Saturday 14 January 2012

Little boys and animals

We have a deal with my father and step-mum - for Christmas they pay for a family zoo membership which gets us into the Adelaide and Monarto Zoos all year.  Bonus for us is it's a non-cluttering gift - the membership cards sit in Mr Trifectagirl and I's wallets.

Bonus for the givers is the renewal comes due in August, so it technically spreads out their Christmas expenditure.

Baby J and I went in for an hour this afternoon.  He enjoyed being out and about in his trike much more than actually being at the zoo, so it was a pretty quick visit.  The advantage of membership - we can go as often as we like!!  He's really not gotten the whole concept of animals yet, so he didn't get too excited about the whole experience.  Except the giraffs (he could see them from his trike - they're much taller than the fence!)  and some monkeys - he likes monkeys since he won a spider-monkey toy at the Zoo Christmas Picnic last year (who Mum has named Cuddles as Baby J always give him cuddles).

We need to get into going in far more frequently - it's an easy way of killing a couple of hours, give him some fun and get some excersise for ourselves!

Tuesday 10 January 2012

TIBMTD - December Wrap

I did ok this month, and am really glad I did the number one item!!

1 - De-clutter my bathroom cupboards. There's a whole heap of stuff that can just plain go in there. I also need to do the medicine cupboards and clear out all the out of date stuff.  Once I got the cupboard cleared, I found a leak that's done some damage to the cupboard.  On the list to be repaired.  I also got the master bedroom cleared, and part of the kitchen/dining area - all in all, very productive!


2 - Work on my budget for 2012. This seriously slipped this year, so I want to gain control back.  I didn't get to a budget, but I've bought a copy of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, which should arrive soon.   DH's on board, we just need to get our heads around a system.  We're working on cash as much as possible.

3 - Sort out freezer, and maybe try a few crock-pot freezer meals from pinterest.   One of our two freezers had a problem with keeping it's door closed, so we lost soooo much meat, plus the two remaining layers of our wedding cake.  Very miffede about this.  So the freezer sort-out is now a dump (we've been doing it gradually).  The crock-meals will progress to January.

Ok, probably not so much of a good month - but tasks got done one way or another!

Monday 2 January 2012

Plan of Attack

A whole new year - a new set of short to mid-term goals.  I find goal setting far more achievable than resolutions - I've had a perennial resolution of drinking more water, and have failed year after year.  But when I set goals and write a plan (and keep reviewing said plan) I get there - often ahead of the target date. 

So here we go for goals for 2012.

House:  After making sure most of the house was clean and tidy - especially the kitchen table - for January 1 Mr Trifectagirl agreed that it was really nice to get up to a tidy space.  As such, Mr Trifectagirl and I have agreed we need to get some systems and routines in place.  For a few years I used Flylady, which worked really well for me, but fell over when various people moved in and out of my place and I struggled to keep it going.    I plan to educate Mr Trifectagirl on that particular system and put it back in place.  The advantage of this system is it's set up to be gradually implemented, rather than an all in.   Our biggest issue is a lack of space, and Mr Trifectagirl using our kitchen table as a desk - and boy does he have a paper monster.  That is one thing we want to tame this year.

Work: I know I'll need to find a new job early in the year - there are a few up in my old field at the moment I have to get applications written for, so hopefully by the end of the week I'll have applied for about 5 roles, plus I should hear during the week how I went on an initial phone interview for a role just before Christmas.

Mr Trifectagirl has a few assignments to finish on his qualifications, and hopefully he'll find something quickly once he has the bits of paper to support his experience.

Money:  We also need to review finances, budgeting and financial goals.  I've been investigating Dave Ramsey's system in a bit more detail, having used some of the techniques successfully in the past to deal with utility bill blow-outs, so we may look at implementing that in more detail. 

We'd really love to move and do up an older property, so we'll work towards that too.  I also need to really push the guy looking after my step-father's estate to get the last of my sister and I's inheritance issued and put a very crappy 2008 finally behind us - the delay is quite frankly ridiculous - and that's taking into account the unique circumstances of this estate!  That will give us a good deposit for a new home.

So, here's to a fantastic and successful 2012.