Weekend In Review/ May Goals & April Goal Re-Cap

Well, since today is the last day of the month, I decided to post my Weekend in Review with my traditional goals post. Hope my readers don't mind! :)

 Most of you know that I love a good, thrifty find. Something useful, tasteful and which has a purpose. Well, the first picture here is of a brand new set of 6 dessert plates and a cute stand for them, complete with a ribbon! I got that at Value Village for $5.60 This weekend!

 The next picture is kind of strange, so I'll explain it. It's also a Value Village find, for $7.99! I am always looking out for a fun, simple way to enhance our cozy little nook where we eat. I saw this piece, and thought that it would be great on the table! I was right - it goes very, very well with it! (The pitcher, sugar and creamer dishes are just in there to show how big the piece is). I put tea lights in the candle holders, but they were too small. I put votives in, and they just looked silly. I went to our cousin's garage sale and got some plain white votive/ tealight holders for free that compliment it perfectly! (Picture to come tomorrow, I promise!)

 I also found some great buys for Robert! I love finding stuff my husband would like, since he never really likes to spend money on himself. :) I was thrilled when I found two cookbooks ($3.19 and $2.39 for both) that I knew he'd love. The book on the left is about chocolate, and the book on the right is actually from Williams Sonoma! Awesome! He was really happy that I found those for him, which made my day. I would love to get this book as well for him someday:

Strawberry Mascarpone Filled cupcakes!

 The lighting in these last two pictures is terrible, I know. But on Friday night, our CYC meeting was held at Mom & Dad Crombie's house. We planned to have a dinner, dessert and discuss our goals for the upcoming year, our budget and everything. I offered to help Mom out by taking care of dessert. I did splurge quite a bit for it, but it was totally worth it! This is a Giada recipe, which can be found here. I love Giada! I bet you could do this with any fruit, really. I added some lemon zest to the strawberry-mascarpone mixture for added zing. Also, when I spread the frosting, I did purposefully incorporate some of the filling on the top for look and taste (I had Robert fill these from the top down, rather than the bottom up, as the recipe suggests).

If you ever watch Sandra Lee, you know she does a lot of "round 2" recipes. I borrowed that idea and used some of the remaining cupcake filling for crepes for lunch today! (Homemade crepes are SUPER easy, BTW!) It was delicious! Only took about 15 minutes, too.

I'm still drooling over this crepe pan: Oh, someday....


Anyway, my goal update for April is as follows:

Keep making the bed - Yes. As much as I could, yes. 

Stay caught up on laundry - I say no. It got washed, dried and folded, but due to the very painful burn on my left forearm I got on Friday the 13th from ironing sheets (you'd think I'd learn!), I put the ironing aside for a bit, and yeah - some of the laundry kind of hung out on our floor. 

Get caught up on all Bible reading - HA! If only! I'm re-purposing this goal now...

Get rid of old TV - It's going this weekend. I say yes. 

Plant pansies out front - Yep! 18!

Don't worry about other people so much - I have no comment. I'm not even marking this as a pass/ fail.

Find 3 hours per week for myself - Yep! (Organizing counts....right? :) ) 

Pick one book to read and start it - Yes! 

Clean off desk in my office - Yes! Bigtime!

Buy a new shower curtain liner for the guest bathroom - Oops! I forgot about it....even though I did think about it several times!

So, here are my goals for May:

Get caught up on ironing
Have a garage sale
Get back into listing on eBay again
Practice piano 1/2 hour each day
Keep flower beds looking sharp (we've been doing so good!)
Find 4 recipes for dinner and 4 for dessert to incorporate my homegrown herbs & veggies into
Pick one organizational and one cleaning task per day to achieve
Finish my one book and start another
Keep desk cleaned off in office
Buy that shower curtain liner for the guest bathroom
Organize shelves in office
Find a home for our bobbleheads (i.e., not in stacks, as they are now!)
Work on getting to bed by 10:30 Sun.-Weds.
Schedule 3 coffee dates or lunch meetings with friends
Learn how to knit! (Barbara, you have GOT to help me with this one!)
Post Spring Cleaning/ Amitions & Goals lists (yes, this is coming!)
Make the Info board at church beautiful for May
Stay caught up in Bible studies (Including Sunday School, I've got 4! 2 Ladies' Bible Studies, a small group study, and Sunday School).
Work the floor cleaning into my week more often (like, more than twice a month!)
Make my office (at work; not home) more beautiful
Organize pantry/ cupboards in the kitchen with my hubby
Take a bubblebath when I need to relax (I probably should have done that today!)


I realize this is a long list! But I know that I can do it all if I just set my mind to it. (Phil. 4:13!) I really want to aim to be the best steward I can be of the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon me. (I know my husband is probably sick of hearing me say that!)

Help keep me accountable, friends! What are your goals for the month? I'd love to hear about them so I can encourage you!