Honey-Do, Job Jar and Delegating Saturday

[Harriet]

Saturday is traditionally the day when we have a little more help around the house and yard, though it may be Sunday, if Saturday is the Sabbath. Spouses and older children with payroll can sometimes spend more weekend time on projects together than other days. There is more chance for supervision for children, so they can lend a hand efficiently.

How do you use a "Job Jar", a "Honey-Do List" or other family plan?

Are there chores you should be delegating but aren't?

How can you use delegation to move your household along swimmingly?

[Harriet]

I have made a Honey-Do list for HRH, who is more knowledgeable about the printer than I. Dd13 needs new cartridges for our color printer before she begins work on the visual part of science fair doin's, and since he'll be at the Office supply place for that, he can pick up a tri-fold and any other supplies or info helps that impress him there, and save me the time. I don't have to be personally responsible!

There's a pet supply place next door and he can pick up the big bag of dog food and a soft bed for a tiny, frail cat, so I can move her around to suit me. She has turned into The Princess and the Pea , and can't sleep unless there are extra pillows under her, and she can't have my bed pillows!

Dd13 has been holding her job jar requests in her mind for too long and I think we need an actual JAR. Every time her school work gets into a crunch time, her room goes downhill fast.

Twins Mom, I thought of a sensitive-tooth toothpaste for you. Might be very little help, but if one can believe the commercials, possibly some help.

Wish there was some commercial that gave me an idea for Mr. Harmony! Best idea is an Abbot and Costello marathon to bolster a merry heart!

[Twins' Mom]

Oooooh, wishing I could delegate more to dh; his opinion, tho, is that he is much, much too busy "earning a living" so I do what I can, and then ask if he wants me to "call someone" for major jobs. He does do some things - after 15 years in this house he usually knows that Tuesday is garbage day. And he does work very, very long hours so I try to cut him some slack.

Delegating can also mean hiring someone - such as a cleaning lady - as Elizabeth and I are doing.

Dh has gone to Torah study and I will meet him at temple in about an hour and a half to go finalize our appliances for the new house - an expensive project since the builder's allowance is for a very, very basic electric stove and oven, dishwasher and microwave. We want a gas stove top with the electric oven, and the model that I think we have chosen also has a warming tray in the bottom. (I think helia was also to receive a gas stove top with electric oven earlier this week!)

My sensitive tooth was fine yesterday until dh and I went out for dinner after services with dfriends - the chicken quesadilla somehow set me off, but thankfully not as bad as Thursday p.m when it went on for hours. I slept well last night w/o pain pills! (Could strangle ddogs who desperately wanted me to get up this morning.) Yes, Harriet, I have been using Sensodyne, not to brush teeth, but to rub onto sensitive places, per the dentist's instructions, but it doesn't give instant relief as a layer of it must build up to protect the tooth and it takes consistency and time.

I'm going to try to finish up a.m. routine before I take off - I think today is a relatively quiet day and tomorrow dh and I have an afternoon meeting at 4.

Yesterday I did (finally) make progress on my crafty/stamping area. I got the desk cleared off and scraps of cardstock refiled or discarded, and started emptying out the wire cubby thing, which is leaning precariously. If I can get it emptied and better organized (and send some unloved stuff to a school art dept or somewhere) then I can use it some during tax season for R&R and be ahead of the game in terms of moving it next summer. So I hope to have some time this weekend for that.

[Emptynester]

We are off to breakfast at the clubhouse and then the last minute moving of fridge stuff to the MH.

We should be on the road by 10.

So TTFN. We'll see you when we set up in Q.

[OKay]

I don't like the word delegate. I wonder why? I need to look up it's meaning because I most likely have a wrong impression of the word.

When I mention challenges that have me struggling to DH, he usually jumps at the chance to help. Yesterday I went outside and left the washer going with 3 rugs in it. YUP. Dumb thing to do. The washer wobbled all over the place until it shut itself off. Thankfully it didn't break any of the plumbing while it was traveling around the laundry room. When i came indoors and found the washer situation it was time to start cooking lunch so I didn't do anything with the washer. DH arrived home while I was cooking and I mentioned the situation to him - he immediately assessed the laundry room situation and put the washer back in place. NICE!!

[BookSaver]

Good morning, villagers ~
Oops, I thought I posted Thursday morning, but in my haste to get out of town must have just been talking to y'all in my head again.

I've been up to DSis's for a couple of days. At the last minute, I decided to throw a few things and my Rx in an overnight bag in case I couldn't drive back home Thursday night. Good thing I did, the drive up on Thursday was a nightmare in blowing snow and very little visibility. I maybe should not have risked it, but got there ok. As I walked in the door, I told DSis sorry, you're stuck with me for the night because I'm not going back out in that mess. She laughed and said good, we'll have a slumber party.

DSis and I worked hard for 2 days on the hundreds of condolence cards and gifts she's received since the death of DNiece. DSis and her ex(NOTd)h had already opened the cards and deposited money into the memorial fund. They will be making a donation to children's cancer research.

My job was to create a spreadsheet for the info, so that I can print address labels. (We know that proper etiquette says the envelopes should be addressed by hand, but DSis already has a full-time job.) DSis looked up people in the phone book and made a lot of calls and texts and FB requests to get the info, since about half did not include their address and some did not even sign a last name.

(BTW, does anyone know who Mike and Jill are? That one still has us stumped!)

I told DSis when she retires she can be a private investigator since she's so good at tracking people.

Weather yesterday had improved so much, we were able to go out for lunch. My drive back home last night was pleasant, quite a change from Thursday.

I'm waiting on a few more addresses, then I will print the labels. DSis will either come here to pick them up tomorrow, or I'll run them up to her later in the week. It's obviously going to take DSis many nights after work to write out all of the thank you notes.

I think I gave her enough stamps for mailing, she'll be able to pass the leftovers to the DNiece that is due to have her baby literally any minute now.

[helia]

I don't really do honey-do lists for dh because (1)I'm not good at seeing things that need to be done and (2) dh is very good at seeing things that need to be done. In fact, dh knows that he is a perpetual "improver," always looking for ways to improve everything around him. That has its pros - and its cons as you can imagine. If anyone does honey-do lists, dh does them for me. Not usually on paper, but he'll ask me to look into something, find info, etc.

My Saturdays have become days to (1) do kids' activities and (2) prep for small group if needed. Today, I am taking ds to the area solo/ensemble festival about 45 minutes away. His time slot is 1:50. Small group is at our house at 5 today. I'm hoping I'll be home by 4 for last minute prep.

--This sat here for a while. Ds announced at the bfast table, "Oh, _______ (major university) emailed me and they want to interview me Sunday or Monday." I doubt he will get in, this is another school with acceptance rate under 10%, plus it is not really known for the areas ds is interested in so, depending on how one looks at it (program vs. school name), he could do better -- but we are proud that ds made this cut. We don't expect ds to interview well. I hope he does perform his solo well today ,though. This is also his band final exam grade. I don't like that policy, but the director didn't ask me. ..

[Lilac]

Booksaver, I am sure that you are a lot of comfort to your dsis and that she appreciates the spreadsheet you have created. On the subject of etiquette, I have no problem with someone using labels on thank you notes, invitations, cards or whatever. What I do have a problem with is someone not sending thank you notes. I know it is time consuming but I have just always felt that it needs to be done.

Twins, dh and I seriously considered building a new home instead of buying from dd2. Then we realized that all the upgrades we would want, to keep it on budget would probably put us in a way too small house. It never fails, we just seem to gravitate to the more expensive item on most purchases. So I am enjoying hearing all the details of your new home. By the way, what do the twins think about this? I know our dds both felt funny when we moved into the other house because it was our home and they would never live there.

I haven't mentioned this lately, but we are very happy with this house and are glad we made the leap. We don't miss the other house but that may change when it sells.

Dh worked this morning. He will be home soon and we will be at the other house this afternoon. The special ordered sink for my bath arrived Thursday. Since that bathroom is a major selling point, we can't take pictures with a gaping hole where the sinks goes. It is a 6 sided sink and dh had to take it out to get the measurements to order it. Anyway, hopefully we can get it listed early next week. This has taken a lot longer than we thought. With it being paid for, at least we aren't making 2 house payments. We won't be doing anything big on our list of improvements though until it sells.

I better start thinking about lunch.

[Kathryn-in-Canada]

(((Booksaver))) it sounds like you were a wonderful help. BTW, when people don't include their contact info, they are assuming that relieves you of having to reply.

My day is moving too slowly. But I did three days of devotions, so I'll be caught up by tomorrow. And the first load of laundry is on the line. Plus I exercised.

Next challenge is to start the next load of laundry and then make some lunch. Although I ate breakfast at 11 so I shouldn't be hungry.

Got a phone call saying "let's put off the trip to Vegas until after Africa." I'm all for that so gratefully accepted. I might combine it with my trip to Atlanta (go down with dh and the old biddies the week before, and then fly directly to Atlanta.) That will cut my costs by about $300.

[Harriet]

Mike and Jill are most likely a thoughtful couple who want to give to the fund, but don't want your sister having to bother with a thank-you note on their account since she really doesn't know them. So glad you made the trip safely.

I have gone over and checked on the other house and set the alarm, changed lights and lessened the water dripping in sink, on which I feel HRH tends to go overboard. No pun intended. Picked up the paper, righted the recyclable bin. The alarm was off because ds was over there last evening.

HRH took the cat fountain apart and cleaned everything, and refilled with ice. He is off on a variety of errands now, having added to my list.

Veggie omelet breakfast eaten.

OKay, I have some negative emotions associated with delegation, too. Nobody wants to become a "nag", because that's counterproductive. But as HRH is fond of saying, "If you won't tell me, I won't know."