Productive Week: Catching Up on What’s Behind

Good morning! The new vlog is up. You can watch it HERE.

After a couple of weeks of majorly ignoring my To Do List, to learn how to rest and relax, I felt a burst of energy this week to “catch up” on those things that I was ignoring and procrastinating. The end of the year and busy family times are quickly approaching. So I’m pushing to finish up some projects and tasks to have more time later. However, the week sometimes gets busy so, can I do it?

Other updates in the last few days:

I’m so happy to have been able to get my YouTube topper done. I’ve made a few more tweaks since I last posted here. Also the new Blog Topper. I think I made another change to it as well since I last posted.

We went to Green Hills yesterday and I picked out my new iMac, all in one. I had to go down to a 24 inch screen instead of 27 inch in order to save over a $1,000 on it. This is not a cheap purchase. What I did get was over $2K, but it has a much better processor with the Apple M-4, MUCH more memory at 24GB while my current has 8GB (which was a big problem once I upgraded to Sequoia). It has 1TB of SSD storage, which I don’t really need I don’t think but we paid a little extra for it and this point alone I believe is why it has to be custom built. And I got a white one. So this should last six years at least, if it’s like my other one. And I guess it’s about .96 cents per day. Which honestly since I use it sooo much, I’d be willing to pay more. It’s also an investment into my YouTube channel. And I’m also wanting to do some writing next year, if it pans out and I have the time. I have aspirations but you know me and TIME. I always plan more than I can truthfully handle. But I’m excited about the new Mac. And I think the 24 inch will be ok. It’ll give me some much needed room on my desk but will still be big enough to see what I’m doing. The double bang with this is that George will get my current Mac and will attempt to use it for Garage Band. But we’ll see if he is able to do that with the memory it has. Maybe if it’s reset and that is all he does on it, it’ll be ok. It will be a while before I can pick up the new Mac. So I’ll limp along til then.

Currently Reading

I finished my Beth Moore book. I give it 3.5 stars. It had some good parts in it but I was not totally engaged with it. For starters, the writing was itty bitty. I love Beth Moore, she has truly changed and built my spiritual life for the last 30 years. And I am glad that she wrote this book even though I did not rate it more than 3.5 stars. It did make me question myself and feel pale in comparison to her and I know that was not her intention, but it did also do what she probably hoped, and gave me pause to talk to Jesus more and tell Him how I love Him and how I’m so glad He’s a part of my life and that I want to love Him more like Beth does. So a win for her if you want to look at it for its purpose. There were a few moments of reading that I enjoyed when she talked about her life. I love this woman. She has such fire and devotion. I have a fire for Jesus too, but my personality is more subtle and laid back and maybe that’s really the difference in our approach to Jesus. I’ve decided I do love Jesus but in a different way, I just have a different personality. And I’ve decided that is ok. Mine is not poured out so much in being on fire, but more like gently flowing water beside a flowery meadow… humorously I’m really thinking my personality is more like a slow riding donkey down the side of the Grand Canyon. Whatever….. :-/ I still love Jesus, like there’s no tomorrow, and well, there might not be, lol. But the 3.5 stars come from that I did not enjoy the book much. I guess a lot of it I already knew or felt and it didn’t draw me into it. But there were some parts that made me laugh and also that I enjoyed. It wasn’t gripping or new info and that is ok. I mean God is not a new thing, lol. So…. I guess my point is, I wouldn’t recommend going out and buying the book full price if you want a good gripping read. And I don’t think it’s going to tell you how to love Jesus more. But it might guilt you into talking to Him more, so in that respect it’s worth trying. So those are my thoughts, but I highly highly higgle (that’s 3 times if you are counting) recommend that you do a Beth Moore Study or workbook and I think this one is critical to read and it helped me soooooo much “So Long, Insecurity: You’ve Been a Bad Friend to Us”. So much meat in this. And it really helped me. And that’s what I’m talking about! That’s the one you need by Beth. I’m just always giving my honest reviews. And though the book wasn’t more highly related, her other materials are top star. A+.

I’ve also started this DEVO which will take me into the next year. And I’ve also started reading the Chronological Bible on my Bible phone app YouVersion. You can find the chronological bible on there and read it as it happened on a time line. I started that as I was going to start it next year, but I think I want to do some reading at night as I get in bed. It’s very calming to read a chapter or two. So I went ahead and started. Some of these devo books only have a daily devo with a verse or two and while that’s good for daily application, I feel like I’m missing a lot by not reading more of God’s Word daily. So now I’ve started bookending my day (literally, lol) by starting and ending my day reading.

And I guess that is about it for today other than cooler temps finally arrived this week. Very excited about that. Got the scarves out and the flannel PJ’s are ready to be added in the drawers and putting my less worn open toed sandals up. I’ve about got everything seasonally upstairs as we have reduced things, but I still have ONE TUB of seasonal things that I don’t have room for and have to store. Two if you include the extra throws. I just tuck them out of the way and in the tubs for storage when it’s summer. So I’ll be switching those things out today.

Today’s Big To Do List

In case you wondered, this is what’s on the to do list today. I still feel like it’s Saturday like when I worked and had an off day. Mainly because I am so busy with the YouTube Monday through Friday. lol. So here’s what on the list for today and NO it won’t all be done but at least I’m happy because I am doing it in the order that I want to and not making myself follow a script. That has worked. I still do try to do the top 3 things though across the day, if that makes sense, otherwise I’ll just be freaking balloon blown around by air all day, lol.

• Book Dexter for daycare for next week
• Change George’s sheets (every 2 weeks)
• Promote the Vlog
• World Bible School
• Devo
• Put up my Amazon shipments (mostly dog food) and try on the snow boots that were on sale for $21 that I’ve had in my Save for Later pile, normaly $34 – if they fit, George will give them to me for Christmas. 😉
• Put out my winter scarves and flannel PJ’s and take up the summer ones – swap drawers
• Cooking tonight – George Foreman grilled chicken, pasta with mizithra cheese and grilled asparagus
• Clean and dust my office. Mainly just dusting as my desk needs some oil (some TLC) to continue to preserve it.
• Plan next week
• Laundry
• Read
• Work Puzzle
• Clean stainless steel appliances (monthly finger print removal)
• Shop for Mom’s supplies from her Medicare freebie perk
• Spot clean fridge and throw away leftovers (every 2 weeks)
• Continue going through papers from the basement (have another container to go through)
• A bit of video planning
• Christmas wrapping and vlogging part of it for Vlogmas
• Working on an entro for Vlogmas
• Watch my next video for next weekend on “What I’d do if I couldn’t Retire Early” and make sure it’s ok
• Do thumbnail for said video
• Check on Mom

So how’s that for a day? So typical of ALL my days really, just some of the tasks change. But I’m excited for the day and for the season coming. No more hot weather. Just hoping for no sickness at Christmas and excited for the rest of the year and the new year with it’s new anticipations, new goals, new ways of doing things – and we’ll see what happens. Stay tuned. How’s your weekend lining up?

If you need the vlog link again, watch it HERE.