August Wrap Up

August Goals:

Read 5+ Books 

• "Kill Me Softly" Sarah Cross
• "Wolf-Speaker" Tamora Pierce
• "Grave Mercy" Robin LaFevers
• "Dark Triumph" Robin LaFevers
• "Firebrand" Gillian Philip
• "Where the Heart Leads" Stephanie Laurens

(Including 1+ nonfiction) - Nope. I tried to read a cat psychology kind of book and didn't make it through the introductory chapter. I need 'how to live with a cat for dummies' apparently... 
Go on a bike ride
Practice piano and clarinet twice a week - Not even close. 
Try a new recipe  Key Lime cupcake things 
Attend the quilt expo
Social outing with friend/s
Plan trip to visit the C family - planned yes, I think. Accomplished, not yet. 
Start planning for Christmas shopping - This is another still in progress, but I've started the process. 
Start working on the quilts that accompany all that math  - I haven't had a chance to talk about this yet, but I have started. Kind of. More on this soon - though not too soon... I'll explain later. 
Set up meetings with permit/building depts. - Well, this plan fell through. So it's looking like it'll be winter before we make any progress on this front. 
Sell the old car
Make time for doing fun stuff - Ha. This was not a good month for putting this on the do to list. This month I actually turned in payable hours at about full time all month. But for every day of payable work, I was also putting in 4+ hours of additional work (networking, marketing, drive time, etc.). I was lucky to make time to do laundry and cook - things like practicing my instruments or spending time on fun things was not happening. And in all honesty, September is already looking like it could be equally busy. 
Plan at least one week of menus and groceries - Huzzah! I took a jump with meal boxes and they have worked wonders around here. I seriously look forward to coming up with new ideas for the boxes - which means I'm looking forward to meal planning and grocery shopping. Two things I never thought I'd like! 


So, ultimately, August was really a month of putting in lots of long, hard days at work and not much else. We did set aside a little time for a few fun things - like a visit to my favorite 'local' quilting shop when the quilt expo proved not to be to my liking this year and some sneaky shopping for later in the year. It's a little difficult to complain - because we are working hard to grow the family business and being this busy feels like steps toward success in that regard - but at the same time, it's hard to be putting in so many hours for work and doing so little for ourselves. I'm hopeful we'll be able to work on finding a balance soon, but right now it feels like we'll be running ragged for the next little bit in fear that oncoming winter will see our usual slow down. Again, I'm hopeful we won't have so much slow in the winter as we have in the past, and that we can work toward finding a balance of work hours per day vs. other hours per day. Guess the only way to know what the future holds is to live through it!