Also on the To Do List.

Besides trying to become more organised, I do have a few other things on my to do list for this year. I must, must, must get back to doing the things that I used to love doing but have fallen out of the habit of doing over the past few years.
Things like reading and sewing.
Last year I heard about a book club through a friend. But it was full. I had to wait for someone to die.
Or leave town.
And then a got the call.
Someone had died or left town. Not sure which. Was just so excited to have got the call. (Seriously, I think someone left town. I don't think they died.)
So, the first read - The Help

Loved this book, and loved being able to discuss it with other people who have a love of books. Yet, I wonder if we have anything else in common.
Like any town, this town has THE area to live in.
We don't live in that area because we don't want to be broken by a mortgage the size of a small countries economy.
Most of the book club members come from THE area. Yet to see if a love of literature can cross that divide.

On the side, I've also read Rob Lowe's biography. My teenage pinup.

Apparently it's not on the official reading list.
But I did enjoy it.

Sewing - I have been going to a quilting group every second Monday night for a while now. We work on quilt together. Not always the kind f quilts I would make. Actually, very rarely. But I love the social side.

And I love the appreciation you develop of other peoples tastes.
Actually, this quilt has a lot of meaning to members of our group. It's called the travel quilt because each block has a piece of fabric in it collected from various travels- Hong Kong, Spain, France, USA, New Zealand, outback Australia...
But it is time to get back into making some things of my own. I feeling mentally overwhelmed by the amount of half done things I need to finish. So, I just need to start.

The Captain gave me a DSLR camera for my birthday. So the next thing on my to do list was a photography course.

We are up to week 4 of a 6 week course.
So far I have learnt how to take photos of things moving fast at night.

I just don't get aperture.
I need to buy aperture for dummies.
Is there such a thing? Seriously, can anyone explain it in simple, understandable terms?

And that's my list so far.

HAVE To Do List

Here I am still thinking about my New Year's Resolutions and what do you know- the year is almost a quarter of the way over already! Maybe my resolution should be to make a resolution. I heard someone say that resolutions were a new beginning to bad habits. Probably right.

I don't normally make resolutions. I'm just not a committed enough person. I would just be setting myself up for failure. But there are some things that have to happen this year. Not resolutions. Just changes in order to make things better. I HAVE to lose weight. At least 5 kilos. Sounds so easy. But I'm lazy when it comes to exercise and I love food. And Chai Lattes. And diet coke. And the occasional glass of red wine. And eating out with friends. And it doesn't help that Miss E and are trying to cook our way through Women's Weekly Cooking Class. Or that Mr J has enrolled for he Duke of Edinburgh award and cooking is the skill he has elected to develop. Walking BORES me to tears. I just keep thinking of better things I could be doing. But really, if I want to lose weight there probably isn't any better things I could be doing. Right?? So, I do make myself go occasionally. I won't go though if I don't have a good book loaded onto the iPod. Otherwise it really would be a senseless waste of time. And I finished the last book I was listening to 6 weeks ago. I haven't decided which one I am going to listen to next. So, I haven't walked since. You can't rush these decisions you know.

I am back at work almost full time this year. I'm meant to be working 4 days a week, but so far it has been five every week. Not that I am complaining. I am very grateful to have a 12 month contract at a beautiful school. Such an improvement on last year. But this increased work load means greater organisation at home. The plan was to have a meal planner so that on any one night when I am busy with work commitments, any other member of the family can look to see what they need to cook for that night. Good in theory right? The problem is that my meal planner has become more like a menu, with the child perusing the list to see what exciting things they might be having this week and then waiting for me to cook it for them, no matter how late home from work I am. That wasn't the idea. But at least I know what I will be cooking when I get home I guess.

And that's about as far as my organisation at home goes. My ironing pile seems to grow of it's own accord. Like the magic porridge pot. It just bubbles over and seeps it's way through my lounge room. The result- morning chaos. Nobody has any socks or underwear in their drawers. They're all in the laundry baskets. It has become somewhat of a morning ritual to have a formation resembling a rugby scrum over the washing baskets searching for socks, with only two minutes to spare before the bus comes. Articles of clothing end up everywhere in the frenzy, undies thrown across the room, socks dangling front the chandelier. I don't really have a chandelier. But come to think of it, one would look good in the family room...

So, organisation and weight loss. Two of the things on my HAVE to do list. Not my two strong points. This is going to be a challenge.