to do

fall goals.

21 August 2016 / goals, pictures, ronni, to do

Yesterday, I was at Magic Kingdom, fresh off the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and eating corn dogs and fries at Casey’s Corner. Today I’m in my living room, trying to shake off day-after-vacation disorientation and feeling sad because Aidan goes back to Ohio tonight. He starts 8th grade tomorrow and he’s officially my favorite person in the whole Universe.

And tomorrow starts my work week (I hope my inbox isn’t too much of a mess) and hopefully I can start jumping on some goals and to dos I’d like to accomplish before 2016 is out.

To Dos
– get car jumped
– get emissions test
– register for Anderson’s YA Lit Conference
– massive laundry
– various medical things
– trip report blog post
– process photos

Goals
– write a short story
– read at least six new books (to make my goal of 15 for the year)
– start writing a new novel
– go to yoga at least 10 times
– pay off two credit cards
– visit the arboretum (I missed it last year)

Hmm. The lists seemed so much bigger when I was making them in my head. I guess six goals to finish out the year isn’t too overwhelming, though, so that’s a good thing.

Now I’m going to relax and read before heading to dinner and the airport with Aidan.

Summer always goes too fast. But at least I like fall. 🙂

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still so much to do.

30 July 2013 / life, pictures, ronni, to do

Holy cow, I have so much to get done. Now, I’m taking a break so I can make a to-do list and maybe wrap my head around all the stuff that’s going on. I also need to get my Life Planner in here so I can write everything down in it!

Here’s the stuff that’s been going on and I will someday maybe write blog entries about:

01. Cut my hours at Rainbow down to 15 a week, working from home. It was just too much for me otherwise.
02. Working at VSA a couple days a week for a project.
03. Went to the zoo with Aidan and Adam.
04. Went to Six Flags Great America with Aidan, Adam, and some friends I’ve known online for years.
05. Went to the ER with severe kidney-stone like pain which turned out to be something else completely (although they have not ruled out the possibility that a kidney stone may have occurred right before I got there).
06. Been dealing with a sick cat; Helena’s not been using the litter box very well for months and we took her to the vet, where she was diagnosed with a major UTI. Had to take her again yesterday for follow up because she doesn’t seem to be better. 🙁
07. Finally joined up with Young Living as an independent distributor. Which means OILS OILS OILS OILS OILS! Any of you interested in ordering therapeutic-grade essential oils, contact me!
08. Worked with Adam to redo our bookshelves after a shelf of books collapsed on me.
09. Got head shots done.

Here’s what needs to happen this week:

01. At least one day at VSA, probably more.
02. Moksha August newsletter.
03. Moksha fall teacher training newsletter.
04. Moksha Sukhava Bodhe newsletter.
05. Prep for Musecon, b/c I am teaching a yoga class there.
06. Loyola program sheets.
07. Eat the rainier cherries.

Here is what needs to happen in the (near) future:

01. Laundry
02. CLEAN MY ROOM
03. Blog posts about the rest of my June Disney trip.
04. Upload Six Flags pix to flickr and facebook.
05. Re-establish yoga practice.
06. Genius bar to figure out why my iPhone’s battery is draining like a mofo.
07. Completely unpack from my June Disney trip.

I’d like to do these things before Aidan leaves for Ohio but will probably run out of time before I can:

01. Go to the beach.
02. Go to Morton Arboretum.
03. Go to LEGOLAND DISCOVERY CENTER.

Here is what I’d LIKE to happen sometime this year:

01. Make and order a photo book of my June Disney trip.
02. Start saving money again.
03. Visit at least one friend in another part of the country.
04. Start acting classes.
05. Have ONE day where I don’t find rogue cat turds somewhere in the apartment.

And finally, here is how I’d like to relax sometime in the next six months:

01. Have a Harry Potter movie marathon.
02. Have a Twilight movie marathon.
03. Go to King Spa and soak in the hot tubs.
04. In fact, have a spa day in general, where I get a massage, pedicure, facial, and have to wear a robe and there are rose petals and glasses of pink champagne waiting for me.

So yeah, that’s what’s been up over here. Hopefully I’ll have time to write a more in depth entry soon. Till next time….

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Monday

25 March 2013 / life, miscellany monday, pictures, ronni, to do

Every time I write an entry like I did last night, I get a bit apprehensive. I immediately want to take it back and apologize for being such a basket case. It’s taking everything in my power not to go and hide it right now. I can’t promise I won’t still do it.

I was just going through my photos on Flickr, and there is one from November 11, 2012, where I’m talking about how the weather feels like Spring. I remember that day. It was in the 70s and I got my last mani/pedi of the year. So, I’ll try not to complain about the cold lingering so much since the warmth obviously lingered for a while last fall. Not making any promises, mind you, but I’ll try.

I didn’t sleep very well last night. I went to bed about 1:30am, and I read until I fell asleep. But then I was up at 5:30am. The “non-working” medication I was complaining about last night finally kicked in apparently!

I do feel a lot better today.

Had an awesome phone call this morning with one of the freelance clients I’m working for. I really like this company and the work and the people I work with a lot. One of the reasons is that I get to use Track Changes in the things I’m editing, and guys…I really like using Track Changes. She asked if I’d be interested and available to take on more work as they go into their busy season. Um… YES and YES. I feel blessed when I get to do work I enjoy and get paid for it too.

So, it’s Monday, and here’s what’s on my plate this week:

01. projects for DSA 🙂
02. Moksha newsletter
03. babysit tomorrow morning
04. clean Aidan’s room (this is mostly Adam’s job but I’ll do the fiddly-diddly things that he misses)
05. buy “filler” and gifts for Aidan’s Easter basket
06. put away laundry and clean my side of the room
07. teacher training homework
08. possible onsite project for VSA Thursday morning
09. get Aidan from airport Thursday night (this means dinner at Pop’s beforehand. yummy!)
10. make Aidan’s Easter basket
11. buy a few Aidan-specific groceries

It’s a quiet week, so I should be able to do all of this without any trouble. Adam just went off to Ikea to get a new mattress. 🙂 That’s some good stuff. I’ve had the mattress we use now since 2006. I guess it’s time to replace it. We’re getting one with the individually wrapped springs so that when he tosses and turns, I don’t get thrown up to the ceiling.

Oh my God. Am I becoming boring? I just wrote a paragraph about mattresses. That means it’s time to sign off.

Till next time.

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Back to Life, Back to Reality!

4 March 2013 / life, pictures, shenanigans, to do

On this lovely first Monday of March 2013, I am getting back to reality. I spent a magical five days in Florida at Disney World and loved it. I came home and spent the weekend taking it very easy. Reading, playing on the computer, talking to Aidan on the phone. It was nice.

But now that it is Monday, it’s really time to get back to reality. And here is the list of things I need to do:

1. Unpack my bags from my Disney trip
2. Take a shower
3. Freelance work
4. Mail off important paperwork and bills
5. Put things back in their places

The rest of the week, I need to do the following:

1. Finish and turn in thesis
2. At least one yoga class (preferably 3)
3. Attend a thesis
4. Get a massage
5. Work 2 workshops
6. More freelance work
7. Edit and upload Disney pictures
8. Blog about Disney World! 🙂

I also have 4 King Spa vouchers I need to use before the month is out. I suspect two of them might already be expired, which sucks, but oh well. I know I have 2 I can still use. Once I have my car back. It’s in the shop now. Thanks for that, Mercury Retrograde.

Just… let me vent a bit about the havoc Mercury Retrograde has brought upon me. It hasn’t been anything I couldn’t handle, thank goodness, and somehow, things are still working out. But there have been some nervous-making moments, that’s for sure!

1. The big project I was working on for Nancy? Remember how it kept crashing and I finally sent it to her? Well, something was seriously wrong with the Word docs I was using to create the manual (which I turned into a PDF at the end). Those docs crashed my entire hard drive. Yup. Guess who was up until 3am doing computer surgery and then trying to transfer files over? THIS GIRL! Fortunately, I got the hard drive into an enclosure and was able to get all my important stuff on the new computer. WHEW.

2. Had decent luck all week at Disney until our last day. We had to catch the Magical Express at 6:10pm. We got to the bus stop from the Magic Kingdom at about 5:35pm. It takes about 15 minutes to get back to our hotel from Magic Kingdom. Now, this was partially my fault because I underestimated the time it would take for all of this to go down, but normally, a bus back to the resort shows up within 5-10 minutes. WE DIDN’T GET A BUS UNTIL 6:13PM. And it had someone in a wheelchair, so further delays to get him all loaded up. We got back to our resort around 6:30pm. I was for sure thinking we were going to miss everything and be late to the airport and miss our flight, etc. Fortunately, a 6:40pm Magical Express bus was coming, and it wasn’t full so he let us on. We got to the airport in plenty of time and all was well. The security line was smooth. We’d checked in at the resort, so we already had our boarding passes, and our bags were already at the airport. Our flight was delayed five minutes, but I never care about delays on the return flight.

3. On the plane, a man sat next to us who was clearly very sick. He had a really nasty sounding cough and it was relentless. Of course, once we were in Chicago, he wanted to shake Adam’s hand. (I gave Adam hand sanitizer when the guy wasn’t looking.) Adam is susceptible enough to getting sick. He does not need airplane germs to make it worse.

4. Adam went out to start the car yesterday to find that the battery is completely drained. He went to the mechanic (they are close by) and they gave him a portable charging kit to borrow. EXCEPT SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THE HOOD LATCH and Adam couldn’t get the hood open. He called for a tow (the guys only charged us $5), and now my car is sitting at the shop until we figure out how to get the hood open and the battery charged again. I guess they’ll work on it tomorrow.

5. I was working on my domain when all of a sudden, NOTHING WOULD WORK RIGHT. And I checked my control panel to find that somehow I’d gone over my quota of space when just a few minutes earlier it was fine! I freaked out because I’d been with this company forever and couldn’t understand why I was out of space. I put in a support ticket to get some answers and looked into upgrading. I got an email back within 20 minutes. Because I’d been with this company since 2004, they doubled my space for free, and told me where the high usage was. I fixed that and now everything is working smoothly again. I also cleared off a bunch of files that I’d put there to access in other places. I have PLENTY of space now.

So all things considered, I’m OK. And I can look back on it and giggle. Kinda. 🙂 But I’ll be glad when Retrograde is over on March 17. That’s two weeks. I can make it.

‘Til next time….

P.S. I must be running out of original title ideas. I apparently used this one a few years ago.

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Autumn 2012

21 September 2012 / life, living in chicago, pictures, to do

Well, there was no more denying it after today. Temps in the low 60s/upper 50s, rain, grey. Adam’s favorite but blah to me. Still, it was a good day and for that I cannot complain. And as you can see, I’ve updated my site’s theme to reflect the new season. Do you like it?

Today the iPhone 5 came out. Adam and I were both due for upgrades. I was going to wait because my iPhone 4 is still great, but when Adam came home with his new phone and started ordering Siri around, I decided I wanted to go ahead and upgrade today as well. Especially because he told me that he’d only waited in line for 20 minutes. By the time I got there, there was no line at all!

I got the white one. It’s so fast and lightweight and the screen looks great.

I also got another big purchase. Remember last year when Disney released a bunch of Designer Princess dolls? (I didn’t post about them here, but I did on my Disney blog.) This year, they released a bunch of Designer Villains. Well, they’re not all out yet. I only wanted Maleficent and surprisingly, getting her was NOT at all the big deal it was to get Jasmine and Tiana last year. No long lines. No getting up at 6am. No hoping to get a number and the disappointment when they ran out right before me. No crashing websites. I just sauntered on to the Disney Store’s website early this week and she was there. Easy as pie! I got cash back from ebates for that purchase, too!

She’s GORGEOUS. And this photo does her exactly zero percent justice.

Maleficent-Disney Villains Designer Collection

I am going to visit my mommy for a few days. I can’t wait to see her. I haven’t seen her since Christmas. WTF. So I’m looking forward to the drive (I typically hate road trips, but I plan to make Adam sleep while I listen to Lana Del Rey, Mariana and the Diamonds, and Purity Ring) and just cruise for about three hours. Then I’ll wake him and make him drive the rest of the way. Hee hee. I have a lot to do before I get there.

· back up the computer
· charge iStuff
· go to Bari and get Italian subs for Mommy and Greg
· pack (clothes, electronics, homework & textbooks, books, bathing suit (my mom’s place has a pool!), snacks & sandwiches for the road trip–will help me avoid being tempted by McDonald’s)
· clean out the car (gonna suck b/c it’s going to be cold and rainy tomorrow too)
· straighten up the place so we won’t come home to a dump

And while I am there, I need to (in addition to visiting with whomever I can):

· work on anatomy homework
· write book review for Fire of Love
· write out apprenticeship sequences
· email Zoey private lesson reports and info about the class I took outside Moksha
· email Susan at VSA re: next friday
· work on freelance projects (I’m expecting at least two to come in—finding Internet will be tricky but I think I can manage it as long as there is a Starbucks around)
· personal yoga practice and/or hit the treadmill

I already know this trip isn’t going to be long enough. I’d wanted it to be somewhat relaxing but it won’t be, because I’m taking a to-do list with me. And once I get back, I’m going to have to hit the ground RUNNING. It will be exhausting. I will have to make sure I get good sleep and take care of myself so I won’t get all overwhelmed and stressed and stuff.

But hey, see how I mentioned anatomy homework? I’m enjoying that class! It’s three hours every Thursday night, and the teacher, Shanna, really makes it relateable. For example, she will talk about certain muscles and have us feel the muscles on our bodies. And I don’t know, I just like the way she teaches and the stuff I’m learning. We have a big binder and every week we focus on something different. Last night, we did bones and joints. Here I am, randomly before class started:

Wow. That is SO not flattering.

OH. And remember last months when I was talking about how I was going to try to clean this place up? Here are some of the fruits of my labor. Only one before/after because I forgot the other times.

My Nest

Bedroom

Bathroom

What do you guys think? 🙂 I mean, you can’t tell what my interests are at ALL from those photos, can you? And why yes, we do have a bookcase in the bathroom, what?

I got hit with a horrible stomach flu type thing Wednesday night. I was so sick. Managed to stumble into work Thursday but it wasn’t good. I was so tired and weak and COLD. Maybe that’s why I look the way I do in the photo from last night.

Anyway, that’s my life update for now. Till next time!

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