Monday, November 24, 2008

Productive

Torsten and I got so much done over the weekend. I still can't believe how productive we were. I am more than halfway through my list.

I changed my name everywhere except with work; they require a Social Security card before they will change it, and that will take a couple weeks to arrive. I also didn't change my name with my health insurance yet, since that's through work, and therefore also not with the pharmacy and doctor's offices yet. But everywhere else: Done, or at least applied for. It was much easier than I was expecting it to be.

Bonus: Now that Torsten and I are married, he can be on my health insurance, which costs literally half as much as his AND provides better coverage. Ah, the legal benefits of formalizing your love and commitment.

Torsten and I went through our whole kitchen, emptied the cabinets (and scrubbed them down--something we need to do more often in the future), washed everything, packed up the old stuff to donate, and put the new stuff into the cabinets. We also ordered a few things that we registered for and did not receive so that we will have a fully stocked kitchen. We have plans to have friends over for dinner in early December and I am very much looking forward to serving a meal with our new china, silverware, and glassware. I feel like such a grownup owning a full service for twelve.

We haven't gone through the closet yet, but that can wait. One thing at a time, right?

We wrote and mailed all of our thank you notes. They are done and gone. The only one still here is waiting for a friend who just moved to email me back with her new address. Writing them was not a painful experience at all, and it made us realize how incredibly much fantastic stuff we received. We are very lucky.

We figured out a bunch of gifts. In fact, I either already have gifts or know what I want to buy for everyone on my list. And because we organized the kitchen, the huge pile of presents is gone from the dining room, so we now have space to put a Christmas tree, which we will buy after Thanksgiving.

The only other thing on my list is cleaning and preserving my wedding gown, but actually, I'm thinking I'm not going to do that. It isn't really dirty, and I harbor no illusions that my future daughter will wear it in her own wedding. I love owning it and think I may not be quite strong enough to sell or donate it, but I don't think it needs to go through some fancy, expensive process before sticking it in the back of the closet. It can just go as is, in its garment bag.

I also edited a big document for work, went out with Torsten, slept in, and had a bit of down time. All of this was aided by the fact that I had Friday off, but even still, I can't believe I got all that done over the past three days. I am an uber-productive MASTER, as far as I'm concerned. And now I can focus all my energy on getting through these next three days of work and then celebrating Thanksgiving!

Also, I realized that at the end of the month, I will have worked only 6 days in November. If only every month were like that, complete with regular paychecks.

Lastly, I lost 2.4 pounds this week. LOVE that.

I leave you with two photos of our new dishes, taken by Torsten with our new camera:


31 comments:

  1. WHy is it not shocking at all that your new chine is purple with polka dots? I love that.

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  2. Your organization is making me feel inadequate. I can barely wrap my brain around it being the end of November!

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  3. I let out a little "ooh!" at my desk when I scrolled down to the picture of the dishes. That is the perfect shade of pale purple!

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  4. that man of yours is very loving (or uncaring) to be fine with loads of lovely purple dishes, my man?
    would veto that.

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  5. You are awesome... organizer extraordinaire!
    And purple polka dot china... trés cool!

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  6. Wow, I can't believe how organized you are. I admired that through your wedding planning process as well. How do you do it? My to do list is twice as long as yours and I hardly got anything done. Kudos to the weight loss. Any tips there?

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  7. Wow, I can't believe how organized you are. I admired that through your wedding planning process as well. How do you do it? My to do list is twice as long as yours and I hardly got anything done. Kudos to the weight loss. Any tips there?

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  8. Good job! I cant believe you lost weight even after the wedding and honey moom and at this time of year! I would be happy just to stay the same weight through the winter and not gain anything from all the comfort food of the season.

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  9. Congrats on your weight loss! As well, those dishes are so cute!

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  10. OMG. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the dishes. I wish I had them.

    We have the white or cream I guess, Mikasa Countryside set. Conrad's grandmother bought those for him when he got his apartment and moved to Houston. She's passed away now and I just can't bring myself to get rid of them. I never met her, but I think about her everytime we use them. Maybe one day when we more room I can buy a new fantastic set and store the ones she bought somewhere in a cabinet. *sigh*

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  11. Your super productiveness makes me feel guilty. We got married 3 months ago today and just started the thank you cards this weekend. Oops.

    Love your china! It's so cute!

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  12. I am in love with your china pattern. We have been in organizational mode as well. We are making big progress.

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  13. You are insane! Want to come to my house next?

    And congrats on the weight loss!

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  14. Very Cute dishes!

    You may want to think about getting your dress cleaned b'cuz sometime the things we can't see - like deodorant-causes stains as it sits. Just a thought

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  15. Isn't it amazing how much you manage to force yourself to do just by writing up a list? Same deal with my whole November Improve Yourself Month.

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  16. We've almost finished with our kitchen, too. And we took a run to Williams-Sonoma this past weekend to exchange a few items and upgrade others. SO MUCH FUN and I'm SO EXCITED to cook for Thanksgiving this year (only a few dishes, but still...).

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  17. You ARE a productive Master!! Also, your new china is super cute :)

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  18. aaahahaha i love the dishes!! doesn't it feel great when you've done a big clean/reorg like that?? (uh, you'd think i'd do it more often, since i'm so enthusiastic about the accomplished feeling. you'd be wrong, though.)

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  19. Your china is brilliant!

    Good job on getting everything finished! We have just as of this week wrapped everything up - and my name change is still in process.

    All of my organizational motivation died the moment after the wedding was finished, I'm loving the ability to stall and procrastinate again lol

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  20. Your new dishes are SO CUTE. Also: I keep seeing purple kitchen stuff and thinking of you! I saw little purple prep bowls, purple salad tongs, purple mini rolling pin...

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  21. dude! your dishes are WICKED CUTE!

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  22. I’m also not shocked at all by your china. And go you for being super productive! Holy cow you weren’t kidding.

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  23. Get your dress cleaned. A friend of mine didn't cause she thought the same thing and later in the year some stains started showing.

    Also, if you get it done, when you pick up the dress in the box make sure it's yours. I worked at a dry cleaners in high school and we once gave one woman the wrong dress. We figured it out when the other woman came to pick up the dress (the two got switched) but...

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  24. love the dishes. good job with the to do list.

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  25. Those dishes are like something out of a story book! (I mean that in a good way. They're adorable.)

    Good work on the list. I wasn't even one-tenth that productive this weekend.

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  26. Cute dishes. :)

    If you want to keep your wedding dress, and see it in the same splendor it graced your wedding with - then have it cleaned.

    Otherwise you can expect yellowing fabric, prominent sweat stains, and other little stains to appear and darken as time marches forward. Donate it or clean it - because otherwise it will turn into a tattered version of its former self.

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  27. The cuteness of that china blows my mind!

    And so very Jess! :)

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  28. CUTE dishes!

    And yes, now I'm feeling just a little bit guilty about my slackerlyness.

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