Mar 7, 2009

What I'm up to - is it anything like what you're up to?

Sorry I haven't been around much - I've got a ton of things to do and not enough time to do them. Actually, that's always the case but it seems worse than usual this weekend. Things will get better after Alex's birthday party is over next weekend, but it doesn't help that it's tax season, that I've decided to cook more, and that I'm swamped at work. Here's what's on my to-do list:
  • Update my list of accounts and passwords for Marc. This list is critical because I handle the day to day finances and household matters for us, and Marc wouldn't know off the top of his head where all of our accounts are (he'd just know the the main ones), what they're for, and how to access them. Updating this list has been on my to-do list for a while now, and of course the longer I procrastinate, the more things change. For example, I now have to change the mortgage information on this list.
  • Assemble Alex's bike. THANK YOU to Joe, Lady Christie, Aaron, Dedicated, Christy, Carol M., Anna and three Anons, for your bicycle-teaching advice! I'd never even considered taking off the training wheels and pedals but think that sounds like a good way to teach Alex balance so we'll give that a try. Of course, we got the cheapest 12-inch bike we could find, so it was missing a crucial part. I contacted the company and hopefully it will arrive soon.
  • Compose a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. If you caught saw my tweet a few nights ago, you know that my frustration with Amazon has just grown since my last update. I'm no longer entirely sure what happened with my gift certificate balance, I just know that it's about $7 more than it should be. Since I have gotten ZERO response to my email inquiries, and incompetent responses to my telephone inquiries, I am going to write directly to Jeff Bezos. There doesn't seem to be an executive email (the one reported by The Consumerist no longer works) but I found this physical address. I am also considering contacting the Better Business Bureau in California and Washington. And I'm thinking that Amazon isn't worth the convenience and savings.
  • Plan my menu for next week. So far, things have gone pretty well with our plan for me to cook (almost) every night. But the key to our savings is me being prepared, and that means a menu plan.
  • Organize my coupons. I managed to cull out the expired ones, but I have to file quite a few. Plus, I still haven't completed my reorganization, although I am regretting not keeping that fourth coupon file.
  • I have to file a bunch of papers. I used to be so good about filing papers as they came in, but I've fallen farther and farther behind. A couple of months ago, I made a huge dent in my pile, but since then, things have piled up again.
  • I have to make sure I'm ready for Alex's birthday party. I've ordered the cake, I've set a reminder to order the balloons, and I've bought a lot of drinks. But I have to make sure I'm set on the paper goods, favors, activities, and oh yeah, I need to plan my menu for that to make sure there's enough food.
  • I have some thank you cards to write.
  • I want to clear my desk - again. It was clear yesterday morning, but it looks like bomb exploded on it some time after that.
  • I have to order the books from the Scholastic catalog. We are one of those families that orders books each month, but this month is a little more complicated than usual because I have coupons I ordered a couple of months ago that were $2 and have a $4 redemption value. I can't use them with online orders, though, which means I have to order through the program coordinator and that just gets a little more complicated, which means I've been putting it off.
  • I brought work home and haven't touched it yet!
So that's what's going on with me. What are you up to?

No comments: