Five on Friday

I'm joining in with Amy's 'Five on Friday' and because it's the first week of the month, I'm sharing five intentions about what I hope to accomplish during October.  But before I do that, here's the update on my September list: 

 

• Finish tidying the garden and take the rubbish over to the skip.  Draw up a plan for the stone patio I'd like to replace the slippery decking and arrange for some quotes. Done, but I'm still waiting for a couple of quotes to come in, before I can make any decisions.
• Complete the (boring) financial things that need to be done.  Done and I'm negotiating my retirement date!
• Make a list of days out and activities from Sept to the run up to Christmas. Done - here's the list  
• Send some unwanted items to a charity shop.  Done; I didn't take anything to the charity shop but I donated some more books to the friends of the hospital where Ced was treated, for their fund raising.
• Set aside some time to create and update a Flickr page for my photos.  I've started this but it's going to take ages!  The Flickr page now exists but I haven't loaded any photos yet.  I'm still editing the ones I want to add to the page but it may have to wait until I finish working.

 

So, onto my October intentions:

 

One |  Start playing the piano again - I haven't played regularly for ages and I miss doing it. I still have to work hard at learning a new piece so my standard of playing drops off really quickly when I don't practice. I know I can avoid that frustration by playing every day, I enjoy it when I do and it's a great way for me to relax ... so why aren't I doing it?  I'm hoping that if I focus on this, by the end of the month I'll be back in the routine of regular playing.

 

Two | Get in the kitchen and try some new recipes.  I keep saving bookmarks to recipes I think I'll like and then never do anything with them!  I'm trying to get my recipes organised (inspired by Ella's progress) but have let my own efforts slip recently.  I hope to try out two savoury meals and two desserts/cakes this month, which have to be selected from my saved recipes - the last thing I want to do is search for any new ones as that'll just add to the problem!

 

Three | Get in touch with an old friend I've lost contact with.

 

Four | Get some quotes for the bigger (i.e. expensive) work I like to do in the house.  The boiler will need be to be replaced soon, I think, and if that's the case I'd like to see how much it will cost to have it moved up to the airing cupboard as this will give me some much needed extra storage in the kitchen. I want to get the rest of the rooms decorated and look at the cost of replacement sofas.  And maybe a new front door.

 

Five | List a minimum of five things for sale on eBay, Gumtree or Amazon.  But hopefully more! I'm not sure whether the lack of progress is due to not wanting to let go of his things, or just lack of effort on my part.  I know it has to go - I don't really want it and don't have room for all of it - and I know I'll feel better once I have the space that will be left, but letting it go just makes it all seem so final.

 

I'll review my progress in the first week of November.

 

Thanks to Amy for organising this.