6 1/2 week thread, march to may

[Chicken lady]

Good Morning! And welcome to another installment of chicken lady tries to get through the year. :)

if anybody would like like to join me with some short term goals, please jump in!

i am going to keep working in my areas from the last thread, but this time I have some specific goals.
way too many specific goals! They are mostly spring focused.

1) spring pottery sale - make some cylindrical vases (whatever I get done by this weekend) and try selling them with little willow trees. Fire at least three loads of my new style of pot. Check hippo inventory and fill in gaps. Don’t over pack.

2) garden - make a plan for planting and get things in on time. Keep the vegetable garden area weeded/mulched, clear the blackberry canes from the fruit/ornamental area.

3) barn - finish cleaning off/up and organizing the paved area. Move boy goats to outdoor living, update goat registrations and get new babies on Craigslist. Post winter bunny grooming and goat pedicures

4) work - get out graduation letters to seniors and make them hippos (tradition), finish lesson plans to the end of the year, start an evaluation for each student. Finish cleaning out and organizing the slip molds and packing materials.

5) home - big push this week to look for trash - last service day is March 29. Finish getting all non- pottery stuff out of studio space.

[beckyliz]

By end of March: finish taxes and finish retitling assets into my trust. Also need to get new accounts set up for our church- we've merged with another small one and I'm treasurer, so have to get all accounts renamed, etc..
April - start back up with the interior painting projects in the house.
May - yard work (flowers, clean-up, etc.).

[Gardnr]

March:
1. start seeds in greenhouse: eggplant, cucumber, zucchini, and
2. I'm going to start beets in there too. Quail love to eat any seed directly sewn and we get no food. little buggers.
3. finish 2 more quilts for my charity group.

April:
1. clean up garden beds and
2. apply fresh mushroom compost so it can settle in (planting here is after June 1).
3. Do finish work on new 1/2 bath at the cabin.
4. Make a decision on flooring for our city home. This carpet no longer looks clean after extraction so it's really time to go. (decor is of no interest to me but I don't like the dirty look worse).


Oh yeah, do our taxes......

I think that's enough on top of 50h work weeks and being gone for 10d in April: 5d vaca and 5d business meeting in Nashville.

[Yppej]

Lose the weight I gained over the winter by going back on the keto diet.

Start a new job, either the transfer approved at work already or I have an interview outside the company scheduled next week.

Start going on day trips on the weekend since with a new job I will not have time off or not be able to take vacation while in training even though I have the time at my existing company.

Plant the garden.

Deal with homeowners insurance. I got a letter today that my agent is switching companies without checking with me. Time to price shop. The hitch is I may need to unfreeze my credit to do this.

Finish reading 1000 Books to Read Before You Die and develop a master reading list for myself.

[Chicken lady]

Ten days in and i’m Already overwhelmed by all the things I won’t be doing on that list!

i am working on inventory for the pottery sale, but the cylinders were a pipe dream! I’ve started what I hope will be a series of 100 of them that will take as long as it takes. I have done two successful firings of the new to though, and anticipate more than one more. Hippos will be what they are.

garden - doing ok, need to repot seedlings.

barn - done nothing.

work - made a little progress on slip molds and packing materials

home - trash collection is over and I did pretty well with it. One big deconstruction project I didn’t get to, so maybe if I get trash service again in two years. Tomorrow I have to make my third call to them about billing/their equipment (for three months of service - not counting the one to sign up or the one to cancel - because they wouldn’t let me just sign up for three months) I will be happy when they take their recycling bin away and send me a correct bill and I mail it in!

[Yppej]

Weight is the same.

I had my outside interview and should hear this week. My boss is stalling on my internal transfer.

No weekend trips yet.

I planted arugula and Swiss chard seeds. The rest will wait until we no longer have a danger of frost.

New homeowner's policy is written, but no bill has generated yet as it is more than 45 days out. I am trying to get the policy at a new company I never authorized cancelled with the old agent. They unilaterally decided to switch me as of my policy renewal date.

I finished my reading list.

[beckyliz]

Taxes are done. Still have two items to retitle for trust. No painting as of yet! I've gotten side-tracked with another project. Our church has merged with another one. I'm treasurer of both one of the old churches and the new one. I've been busy getting the tax ID number, new accounts set up, payroll, etc.

[Yppej]

I decided to withdraw my application from the outside job due to some red flags.

The old insurance is cancelled, waiting on the bill for the new one. I did receive the policy.

This weekend I will be hiking.

[Chicken lady]

How did the last week go?

my spring sale went well. I was good on hippos, and got plenty of my new style pots done, although I should apparently have made more orange. I punted on the cylinders with trees. I overpacked less.

the garden needs to be the next focus - I have repotted fewer than half of my seedlings and don’t have a plan. I also have a lot of native trees to plant.

Barn still on hold.

graduation letters out but haven’t started hippos.

made some progress on the slip molds at school, but none on my studio space. I’m feeling more relaxed now that the trash service is over - one less deadline in my weeks.

[Teacher Terry]

Glad your sale went well. My friend came over with her rainbow vacuum that uses water and her, my husband and I ripped apart our bedroom and moved all the furniture out from the wall and the amount of Noki hair was unbelievable even after him being gone 2 months. Then we discovered Max has been peeing on the outside of the crates and had to take them outside to be scrubbed. A lovely combination of hair and pee. That should be much better for my allergies and asthma.

[Yppej]

Weight is down slightly, but the hiking trip did not work out logistically. No further trips as DS and I are not getting along. I should plan something with someone else.

My boss says I have to train my replacement before he lets my transfer go through. In 3 1/2 weeks he has only interviewed one person and I overheard him telling her he is "early in the process". Ugh!

[Chicken lady]

Hmm, it may be time to start doing outside interviews again...

Teacher Terry, how does the vacuuming fit into your short term goals? Are you working on a total spring clean?

[Teacher Terry]

Yes every spring I clean the entire house including windows, curtains, etc.

[Chicken lady]

I put together a general plan for the garden. It starts “build time machine, plant two weeks ago...”

ok, but actually I am stripping winter cover off beds and hoping to get something in the ground this week. Progress, not perfection.

yesterday I moved the boy goats to the far field (I had to patch the fence in three places) and did one goat’s hooves.

i am going to work in my studio this morning because anything I make for the class I am taking has to be done by Sunday. And I’m not sure I can get into the studio on Sunday...

[Teacher Terry]

How are you guys doing? I did the living room today. I don’t love to clean but love the end result.

[mschrisgo2]

You all are making great progress! Sometimes I get inspired to tackle a chore after I read here...

[Chicken lady]

The studio is closed, but I did end up making 11 pieces. Two I am less than excited about, but I want to use them to try done glaze techniques. I’ve actually had two post sale inquiries about my work, and one looks like it will lead to an additional sale (with no bite for commission, which is nice!)

garden still not planted, but dh and I planted 45 trees today.

barn us a disaster because the boys escaped from their fence again (I can’t figure out how) and had a wild rumpus. Still need to groom bunny and hooves.

Made more progress on the molds and packing materials in my classroom, but my home studio is falling into disarray again.

[Yppej]

My weight is slightly up, which I attribute to stress from slow progress on my job transfer. The boss has said I can go for 3 days training in May and after that "we'll see".

DS and I have patched things up and have a day trip planned for next weekend.

My seeds have not sprouted so I have a Plan B in mind for the garden.

I am getting estimates on a roof replacement before the new homeowners insurance company possibly sends a spy out to nitpick at the property.

Thank you bumping this thread up so I can focus on trying to get back on track.

[Teacher Terry]

Y, it’s terrible that your boss can hold you up for so long. When I worked for the state they couldn’t keep you more than 2 weeks. CL, wow 45 trees is a huge undertaking.

[Chicken lady]

They were very small trees - two shovels of dirt and hammer in a stake.

it is so wet we didn’t feel a need to water them in this year, but dh said to only get 30 next year.

i’m sure Iris lilies would say get zero trees....

yppej, i’m Sorry about your weight. It sounds like you are making some progress however. Your boss annoys me.

[iris lilies]

They were very small trees - two shovels of dirt and hammer in a stake.

it is so wet we didn’t feel a need to water them in this year, but dh said to only get 30 next year.

i’m sure Iris lilies would say get zero trees....

yppej, i’m Sorry about your weight. It sounds like you are making some progress however. Your boss annoys me.

In order to keep nature balanced, DH is continuing to chop down trees here.

[Teacher Terry]

Your property must be huge if you are planting all those trees. IL, I think I totally understand that this house is your new focus project and you don’t care if it takes decades to finish.

[iris lilies]

This is the Internet and you all only know about me what I choose to share. :~) So in a rare spirit of complete sharing,
I will also say that we have planted quite a few trees: fruit trees, plus a screen of arborvitaes. All trees are not bad, just trees that are in the way also weed/junk trees and nearly dead trees. These latter things are all very bad.

[Teacher Terry]

We have 3 fruit trees in our backyard. I have a love/hate relationship with them because although they provide shade for the back of the house they are messy. Right now the little flowers are falling off all over my patio and get tracked into the house. We will clean them up and within days we have more. Yesterday I tackled the dining room and got it done.

[Yppej]

I have started training for the new job. There is a lot less free food there and I have lost a little weight. For the next three weeks I will be splitting my time, then I will be permanently in the new location.

So far I have gone on one day trip to Great Blue Hill.

I am still dealing with the homeowners insurance switchover. For weeks I have been trying to get a bill. After over a dozen contacts with the insurance company and insurance agent I was finally told deposits are required for new policies. My agent never told me this or collected one which messed everything up, and no one knew this was the issue until I demanded to speak to a supervisor. They kept saying just wait another day or two.

Mother's Day weekend I will get and plant my frost-sensitive plants.

[Teacher Terry]

Great news Y on starting the new job. My spring cleaning has come to a halt and I have done nothing. I have picked up some consulting work and been doing some fun things.

[iris lilies]

I have started training for the new job. There is a lot less free food there and I have lost a little weight. For the next three weeks I will be splitting my time, then I will be permanently in the new location.

So far I have gone on one day trip to Great Blue Hill.

I am still dealing with the homeowners insurance switchover. For weeks I have been trying to get a bill. After over a dozen contacts with the insurance company and insurance agent I was finally told deposits are required for new policies. My agent never told me this or collected one which messed everything up, and no one knew this was the issue until I demanded to speak to a supervisor. They kept saying just wait another day or two.

Mother's Day weekend I will get and plant my frost-sensitive plants.

How can insurance agents be so incompetent? I would be thinking about changing over to a different one, especially if he can get a different agent that Percent of the same company that you signed up for.

[Yppej]

The agent is AAA and they have the best prices around. The supervisor said going forward it will be a renewal and I will not have these issues. They have a script that they must ask, "Is there anything else I can do to help you?" at the end of the call and I said, "Yes, call the agent and educate him" and she said she would on Monday.

[Chicken lady]

Yppej,
i hope that the insurance becomes simple now.

i did part of all my goals, but none of any. I think the progress approach is definitely better for me. I have been reading a book called “the renaissance soul” which is really speaking to me. I will post more about that in starting the next thread, because, happy beltain, it is a new cross-quarter.

[rosarugosa]

I have started training for the new job. There is a lot less free food there and I have lost a little weight. For the next three weeks I will be splitting my time, then I will be permanently in the new location.

So far I have gone on one day trip to Great Blue Hill.

I am still dealing with the homeowners insurance switchover. For weeks I have been trying to get a bill. After over a dozen contacts with the insurance company and insurance agent I was finally told deposits are required for new policies. My agent never told me this or collected one which messed everything up, and no one knew this was the issue until I demanded to speak to a supervisor. They kept saying just wait another day or two.

Mother's Day weekend I will get and plant my frost-sensitive plants.

I totally missed that you got the new job - congratulations! I hope it works out well for you. It is a much better commute, right?

[Yppej]

Yes, it cuts the time in half though not the miles. It is a transfer to another location of the same company.

[rosarugosa]

Well in this part of the country, it is all about time rather than miles!

[Teacher Terry]

So lately I have been side tracked with helping my husband in the yard. I deep cleaned my office/guest bedroom and pulled all the furniture out. I could have made a baby Noki out of all that hair.