November 2015 Goals

November already! Is anyone else finding they blink and a whole month has gone? We’re getting scarily close to Christmas now! I hope you’ve all had a good few months – sorry I missed my monthly goals again in October! I was only getting round to updating my goals by the middle of the month so I decided to hold off a couple of weeks so that it lined up with the beginning of the month again! Hopefully things will get back on track now! Anyway, here is the summary of how I faired with my September goals, and the goals I am setting for the month of November. Enjoy!

September/October Outcomes:

Once Upon A Time Sampler – I had really hoped to get that banner in but I have been so off cross stitching recently…I think the Barcelona Sunset took it out of me! At the minute I am just about keeping up with the monthly designs (not that it was finished when I took the photo but it is now, I promise!) which isn’t too bad, if the banner has to be added as a late addition then so be it!

Cut Thru’ Caravan – I was really hoping to make serious progress on this over the last few months but since I lost my cross stitch mojo it’s just not got anywhere! Sadly I’ve accepted that it isn’t going to be ready in time for Christmas (it would have been a tight squeeze anyway!) so it has been put to one side for now while I focus on other Christmas gifts and I will complete it for Christmas 2016 instead!

Kawaii Halloween Swap – If you read my previous post you will have seen that I sent my Kawaii Halloween Swap parcel at the beginning of October, and you will have seen what it contained! You will have also seen the amazing goodies I received! If you haven’t had chance to have a look, do pop over there! I didn’t have the time to make all of the items that I wanted to include, but luckily my partner seemed pleased with what she got so I’m really happy.

Christmas – Christmas is somewhat on track… I still have a batch of Christmas cards to make, a handful of gift boxes, a mountain of edibles and quite a few sewn items. I’m a little behind where I had hoped to be but I’m trying not to panic. I’m just going to keep going to complete as much as I can but over the last couple of months I have made some pretty good progress overall, particularly with the soap making…

Exercise – My exercising still isn’t quite on track. With the dark evenings I’m finding it really hard to motivate myself to work out when I get home from the office! (Curling up on the sofa in my PJs under a blanket is much more appealing!) I’m not completely convinced I’ll find the motivation to get back into a routine before Christmas, but hopefully the new year will motivate me to get going again as my holiday to Florida in September gets nearer!

Slimming World – Overall my Slimming World progress has been good! I’ve now surpassed the 3 stone mark which has  amazed me as I really haven’t been as strict as I should have been the last few weeks! I’m now just 4 pounds away from my target weight, although I may review it in the new year and lose a few extra pounds before my holiday (with every intention of putting them back on again while I’m there!)

Spring Cleaning – We’ve had a lot of decluttering success recently! Although we didn’t manage to finish the whole house before the end of October, we did manage to sort every room except the craft room, which is going to be the biggest challenge I think! All of the other rooms are looking great though and we now have well over 10 bin bags full of items for a car boot sale!

Pen pal letters – I did manage to reply to my penpal letters finally which I was thrilled about! I’m completely on top of my responses now which is great, and it means I can get busy writing my Christmas letters!

Blogging – I did manage to get some posts out (technically) but not by the end of September as I had proposed! I’ve drawn up a schedule now which will hopefully work for me…keeping my fingers crossed!

November Goals:

Once Upon A Time Sampler – This month I really want to keep on top of the monthly designs so as long as I am able to complete the November block I will be happy. Ideally I would like to do some more work on the banner but as Christmas is getting closer I have much more pressing projects that I need to work on at this time!

Cut Thru’ Caravan – Since I have accepted that I’m not going to finish this one in time for Christmas I have parked it to one side for now so I can focus my time on other Christmas gifts. I’ll pick it up again in the New Year in preparation for Christmas 2016.

Christmas – This month the aim is to just churn out as many presents as possible! I want to get all of the cards and gift boxes done, I need a sewing day to make all of my stitched presents and we need to make a start on the handmade chocolates, as well as finishing the last of the handmade soap…phew! That one may take a miracle!

Exercise – It would be great to keep up at least a bit of regular exercise this month as best as I can. I don’t want to fall behind with my weight loss in the run up to Christmas, but I don’t want to really begrudge doing it either. I usually really enjoy working out so it may be time to switch up the routine or to have a short break before coming back to it feeling even more determined.

Slimming World – It would be amazing if I could hit my target by the end of this month! With only a few pounds to go it is quite achievable, but as I am away in Seattle this week it may all go horribly wrong! I’m hoping it will motivate me to work hard though just to lose this last few pounds in preparation for Christmas!

Spring Cleaning – The craft room is the job this month! Once the craft room is done we will be ready to hold the car boot to clear out all of that stuff, ready for a thorough house clean before the Christmas decorations go up…I’ll be thrilled once that’s all done!

Pen pal letters – At the moment I haven’t got any letters to reply to, but I do want to send out Christmas cards and letters to my penpals over the festive season! It would be nice to make a start on these so I can dedicate some time to them, rather than writing them all last minute!

Blogging – I’ve written myself a blog calendar for November so my aim is to stick to it! I’m trying to forward plan and schedule as much as possible to keep up with my regular posting.

Have you set yourself any monthly goals? Or have you set yourself some goal to achieve by Christmas? As the New Year is getting closer, will it inspire you to set goals for 2016? I’d love to know!