Got to Keep Busy

Yippee! The new carpet is in! Thursday night while I sat in an empty living room on a nasty carpet, I realized how much bigger the living room looks with less stuff in it. DH and I agreed not to return all the furniture back to it's original place and I have to say our house looks bigger because of it.

Of course that means we have 5 boxes of "stuff" that we now need a home for so I've got some hardcore cleaning, throwing out, and organizing to do next weekend! DH and I went through all of our clothes yesterday and were able to remove 3 garbage bags full. And I'm hoping with the rest of the cleaning we can move a bunch of stuff in boxes to the garage. Our spare room is full of seasonal stuff and things only used on a rare occassion so I'd love to remove them from our every day living areas so we aren't as cramped.

Items for labor day weekend (or before):

• clean out filing cabinet (top 2 drawers)
• top drawer of spare room dresser
• spare room closet
• top half of kitchen hutch
• 5 boxes of books and DVDs need a new home
• the kitchen cabinet with baking and coffee stuff
  

So before my hiatus, I listed out some goals for the summer. Well since the summer is almost over I thought I'd check in on my progress.

Inside

• Paint bedroom
• Paint living room
• Paint kitchen walls
• Paint kitchen ceilings
• Paint baseboards white throughout house
• Paint doors white throughout house
• Clean out the filing cabinet
• Buy new microwave (on hold)
  
• Make a curtain for back kitchen door (no longer needed)
• Hang pictures in kitchen (tried and didn't like)
• Get new carpet for living room- 2 more days til complete
• Get new carpet for "master" bedroom- 2 more days til complete

Outside

• Get estimate for redoing the garage (roof, sheetrock, backdoor, overhead door, update electrical box)
  
• Paint the rest of the "porch"
• Power wash the whole house
• Get outside table
• Brainstorm for making patio next year
• Mow and water the lawn regularly (in progress)

I've been pretty sucessful inside the house and how I just need to focus on the outside before the weather gets bad again. All and all not too bad...

Prioritizing Money

DH and I have a long wish of hopes, dreams, and wishes. And of course all of these things take money. To help us prioritize when and where we spend out money we've started a list:

• Xbox 360 (for DH)
• Carpet for living room and bedroom (slated for Aug)
• Garage remodel (need estimate)
• October vacation (going to Florida)
• New computer desk
• Vacation to New England (2010)
• Trip to Portland
• Trip to Seattle
• Pay off independent student loan
• New couch
• Trip to San Fran (Alcatraz)
• Car GPS
• Tires for Versa (Aug)
• New bed
• New microwave
• New work boots for DH
• Savings to sell house/move
  
• New weights for DH
• New clothes for me

As you can see we have quite the list. Some of it is nonnegotiable like replacing the bald tires on my car and others are a long time off like selling the house and moving. As a planner I need to have an organized strategy. Even if it is never used I like knowing what I'm getting into to help stay on target and keep progressing in the right direction. Our next step is prioritizing our needs/wants and setting goals to meet them.

New Addition to Dream Job List

This morning over coffee and brownies (yes, I ate brownies for breakfast), I stumbled across this slide show of Netflex's corporate culture. If you are as interested in corporate culture as I am flip through it. There is some pretty interesting stuff in there and a lot of that stuff I am currently struggling with as my previously 80 employee company was bought by a company of 2,000+ employees.

If you aren't interested in corporate culture then just know that Netflex has joined the ranks of Amazon.com, Zappos, Google, and Ben & Jerry's as companies I'd love to work for.

Freedom & Responsibility Culture