How did those Ocotober Goals End up?

     I was doing such a poor job of completing  any goals on my list I stopped even creating a goal list through the rest of the summer. I gave it a go again as October approached. Did I do any better? 

Financial

• Get the Household and Grocery (H&G) spending to $300 for October. This was a really good success-if we ignore the eating out and only concentrate on the shopping. This included desk items for me at work and food and personal care items sent back with DD2.
• Limit entertainment spending to under $80 for the month. I've got some ideas for this one without being cheap. With the anniversary and the museum fees, we were well over, but entertainment like apple picking gave us food as well as fun. 
• Limit the eating out/take out budget to $125. This includes work lunches, but padded a bit for an anniversary  dinner and an outing or two when DD2 is home for a week. (Technically since the anniversary dinner was so cheap we were closer to this than it looks, but spending over $100 the week DD2 was home was a crash to this goal.)
• Revisit the Baguette and Croissant fund-see where the tin is at, and use as motivation to save the change towards a weekend away. This is really growing-nearly $40 in there! Since we use our credit card for most purchases, neither of us have a pocket full of change most days, so to essentially have this much in just found around the house change is a nice little boost. 

Health and Wellness

• Increase my walking. I signed up for Denise Austin's 30 day walking  group. I will get tips and such in my  e-mail, along with I'm sure dozens of offers to buy her products, but I'll see what motivation that might bring. I could do much better, but it was a slow start. 
• Get to a nature center, regional or state park each weekend for a long hike, challenging myself to different  inclines and terrain. DD1 has her car back, with her state park sticker. While she hikes at a brisker pace than me, I might be challenged to try and keep up over time. Hopefully in November.
• Use the yoga  videos on Fab, Fit, Fun at least twice per week. My knee has really been bad and so many of the positions just plain hurt. I hope after my ne PT regiment starts, I'll have better success. 
• Try a new vegan recipe-I have my mind on trying to recreate the butternut squash pizza we had at Veg Fest. Well, DD1 tried the new recipe-a delicious pizza but I got to eat it. However, last Saturday I was in the mood for something a little sweet and knowing we did not need a full batch of cookies, I looked up a few vegan peanut butter oatmeal type recipes, ones DD1 would eat and I could share some cookies with her, mixed and matched and came up with these. 
• Vegan PB Oatmeal Cookie
• 2 flax eggs 
• . 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• 1/2 cup Maple syrup
• 1/3 cup apple sauce
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup flour
• 1tsp soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• Mix first four ingredients, then add the dry. chill for a bit to get a little firmer before scooping onto the cookie tray. Bake at 350 for 13-14 minutes. Mine made 19 good size cookies. No idea of the calories, but I think they would compare to a granola bar, but with no preservatives. I ate two shortly after they got out of the oven and they really packed a late morning hunger relief punch and were just sweet enough. I don't often have real maple syrup, but I did on Saturday and now think it might have to be a staple-these were yummy. 

Organization Let's just call this a big old fail!

• This one is a reboot from July's list that went no where! Purge at least one more bag of my clothes, two of DH's (his dresser and side of the closet have gotten out of control), two of DD2's clothes. I hope when she comes home she will bring with her items of clothing she never  wore and probably won't so we can bag them up and donate. She also left a dresser full of clothing.
• Clean out my the armoire desk in the family room so it can be used as a proper work area. It has gotten to be the  dumping ground for odds and end things and most everything could just be thrown. 

Self Awareness/Improvement/Focus

• Add final chapter rough draft to book-yeah, another reboot from summer that just sort of sat there. I just need some better  focus. I can't write if I can't think well. 
• Go out and take some pictures, just for fun. I want to keep up on this one.
• Update our home calendar. Not much to update, but success.

Social

• Play trivia at least twice.
• One more attempt at the faltering book club regrouped. This will truly be my last try. 
• Host friends for a football game with food and drinks instead of going out.
• Go apple and pumpkin picking with the girls. We already have October 19th picked out.
• Go the Minneapolis Institute of Art while DD2 is home-one of our happy places.  We ended up at the Science Museum instead, but an outing none the less. 

     Lists are just lists, aren't they? Nothing to define me and who I am. The things in red are still good ides and the items in green should be continued. I'll have to think about even doing a November list. My biggest thing for November is to get my health back in order again. I have several weeks of PT scheduled on my knee and a new OBGYN consult for a whole new issue that may be developing. Plus, I have a work trip the week before Thanksgiving and then the holiday season starts. Perhaps just two major areas to focus on-health and mindfulness, and see where the month takes me.