Goals for June

I promised myself I would set out some goals each month.  Here are my goals for June ...

1.  Back in April I got a free lamp at a yard sale.  I knew it needed work - it had a taped up cord (possible fire hazard?  Electrocution?!) and bent lampshade hardware - but I thought it had a good base and for $0.00 I thought I would try to do something with it.  I've bought the lamp kit (Atron Lamp Kit at Home Depot - $17.98); Walter thought I should spray paint the base white which I think is a perfect idea; and I just need to figure out what to do with the brownish shade - keep it, update it, or change it out.

2.  We just got our blinds for the front upstairs windows installed.  Now, I desperately want to change out the rose-coloured shears that are in the master bedroom.  I've never liked the dusty rose shears, but they work ... so I thought I should wait.  The waiting is wearing me down, so I'm thinking of sewing some curtains.  Of course, I'll need a new rod with brackets to replace the existing hardware, but I do have several fabrics at hand that could work.

3.  I've been putting all the objects we no longer want into a pile in the basement with the thought of having a garage sale once there is enough items to justify the effort.  However, I recently read in our local paper that a twice monthly boot sale happens.  For $10 I can join in the fun, selling my stuff from the back of my car (hence the "boot" reference ... so very British).  The first boot sale of the year is June 8th.  I won't be ready for that one, but I'm hoping I can have things organized enough to join in on June 22nd.

4.  I was reading local gal Ashli's blog, Mini Manor Blog, which happened to point me to Jen's Simcoe Street blog ... which led me to Carmel's Our Fifth House.  Phew!  At that point I had to stop because a possible project caught my eye.

See those boards with the clothes pins holding artwork?  That would be perfect to hold/display artwork that Walter does.  Also great for artwork that needs some drying time.  I could also envision using something like this for holding important paperwork that needs to be kept handy.  I've already got all the materials necessary to make this happen, including the clothes pins.  Hmmm  :)

So Canadian, eh?

I recently attended a three-day workshop for my job.  We had an American up from Portland to give the class.  A very nice man with lots of good things to say about Canada.  Nothing like hearing how great your country is to make you feel good, right?!

He particularly liked to point out the subtle differences between the US and Canada ... something I think we all do at times.  One interesting observation he made was our use of the word Sorry.  He was greatly amused that our buses said "Sorry, Not In Service" since he never saw it phrased this way in the States.  He said you'd only see "Not In Service" ... he found the use of the word Sorry on the bus sign to be ... so very Canadian.

I thought about this a bit, and had to agree with him.  We Canadians are polite to a fault at times.  Even our buses are polite.

Goal Setting

Katy, over at The Non-Consumer Advocate blog, had an entry recently discussing her weekly goal setting.  Springing from her son's obsession with soccer she decided to set a "Goal.Of.The.Week."  Her idea was not to choose something that was incredibly difficult or unattainable within the allotted seven days, but something practical, perhaps even rewarding.

Her post made me think about my own goal setting - both for this blog and for the things I want to get done.  Both intertwine ... I write about the things I accomplish (or struggle with), and I try to accomplish things so that I can write about them.  For me, it's a positive way of getting my rear-in-gear, so to speak.

Of course, picking one thing each week is not my method ... I prefer to pick 2-3 things and give myself a month to do them.  Since I work fulltime and have a soon-to-be six year old, I need enough leeway to succeed.  Having 2-3 things on my goal list lets me move back and forth between them and chances are better that I'll at least get 1/2 - 2/3 of them done.  That's a passing grade in goal setting ;)

Do you set goals for yourself?  Do you use Katy's version, my version, or your own version?  And, of course, how successful are you with meeting your goals?