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Tag Archive for planning

We Have our Weekends Back

Posted on November 24, 2014 by Renee Spindle

There was a time earlier this year where Travel Man would be gone for weeks on end. Weekends really did not mean anything to us because our time together was limited, and never the same day of the week. Now don’t get me wrong I realize there are a lot of couples that go through life together with wacky, crazy schedules. We too are one of those couples. The nature of Travel Man’s work keeps it that way.

In July, Travel Man decided enough was enough and decided to make a job change. He is in the same industry, service technician for food packaging machinery, but with a different company. The company that he is working for now has given him the opportunity to have his/our weekends back. He is now normally travelling Monday through Friday, and home on the weekends. We are so elated with this transition, I am almost willing to say we are giddy, but I do not want to jinx the weekends. I do not think either one of us realized what a tremendous toll his old job was taking on us. It was affecting his health, straining our relationship, and generally making our lives crazy.

Travel Man started his new job at the beginning of August, and he has been home every single weekend since then. Yay!! We can now look forward to making plans for the weekend. This is a new concept for us. Going camping, going to a movie, the sky’s the limit. He’s home for family events, gets to spend time with the Grandkiddies, and me too of course. It has really been wonderful just being able to plan for things to do on the weekends. I did not realize how much I was truly missing our weekends together, until recently when we got them back. I would always feel bad making plans for family events happening at our house knowing that Travel Man would not be home to join us. Just that fact would tug at my heart strings.

We both know and recognize that there will be many times when he cannot be home or get home as planned. That is the nature of the work he does and the business he is in. That’s ok. As long as we both know there will likely be more times that we can make plans and fulfill those plans with a minimum amount of changes and disruptions. We’re so thankful to have our weekends back.

One comment Posted in Travel Man

A Week Away

Posted on November 20, 2014 by Renee Spindle

Can you believe it’s only 7 days until Thanksgiving Day is here? Where does the time go. Weren’t we just passing out Halloween candy. There’s a lot to get done before next Thursday, if you are in charge of the meal planning for your family. Have you already started your planning and preparing?

Guest listing – Are all your invites out there?

Menu planning – Are everyone’s favorites included?

Grocery listing – Did you check your spice cupboard?

Grocery shopping – Will you get the turkey you wanted?

Pumpkin pie baking?? – My oldest son has taken over this task. I love it.

Turkey Thawing – What day does your turkey need to be in the fridge to be ready for baking?

Side Dishes – Have you delegated your side dishes out to family and friends?

Drinks – Did you give someone the task of bringing the wine?

This is probably one of my favorite holidays of the year to be with my family, and just eat, visit, and enjoy each other’s company. No other commemorations or gifts are attached to this day, just counting your blessings and being thankful for the wonderful family members that gather around your table for an amazing meal.

I am in the midst of the planning for our meal for about 10 people this year. I will be looking forward to letting you all know how our dinner turns out. Let me know how the planning is going in your neck of the woods.

2 comments Posted in Holidays

Planning a Party – Facebook Style

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Renee Spindle

For the past two weeks the ladies/girls (sorry twenty something’s you will always be my girls, even though I know you are fine young ladies) in our family have been planning my brother’s fiftieth birthday party. It has been such a fun time.

First I need to give you a little back story. The ladies/girls in our family have a private group on Facebook. We call it Renee’s Revelers. Girls only, no boys allowed. We use this page to encourage one another, vent about life, and just generally have lots of chatty, girly fun.

So this turned out to be a perfect location to do our private party planning so my brother could not find out what we were up to. Tee-Hee!

My role for this party was Project Manager. Once we had decided on a date, and the theme it was time for the brainstorming to begin. There were separate posts on our page for decoration ideas, food ideas, and entertainment. I will be the first to admit that the threads of comments got a little crazy after the first couple of days, and it got kind of crazy to follow. The other girls will attest to this too.

Then I plowed through all of the comments and made a to-do list, and a who’s doing what list. That was a Word document, and it got posted back to the Renee’s Reveler’s group so everyone would have an easy read of what was happening. Also that way I could have an accurate checklist to keep us all in line and on track. This was a really fun way for my sister in Montana to stay connected with what we were planning, and throw in her two cents.

The other fun project that evolved on the girls page for this party was photo posting. My sister was putting together a DVD montage for my brother to document his first 50 years here on planet earth. We used the Reveler’s group to post pictures for my sister to download and add to her collection. She would let us know a specific time period she needed a picture from, and the research group( i did not do much picture hunting) would peruse their photos and post it for her.

We had a great afternoon of making party decorations together once all of the to-do’s were in place. The group effort by the ladies/girls was tremendous.

We had such fun we’re looking for our next project to plan together! The party planning and decoration creation, and food planning was a great success. More on the party later.

How did your last big party planning go?

2 comments Posted in Around the House, Family

11 Things I was Reminded of During our Home Improvement Week

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Renee Spindle

If you are a follower of my stories you know that Travel Man and are near the end of a project remodeling the entryway of our home. After a few marathon work sessions last week it reminded me that we almost always have a great time together with our projects, and here’s a few reasons why we do:

1. Projects with my Travel Man are fun.

2. We work well together.

3. It is important that I pay attention and know when to leave Travel Man alone to let him think and work. It can be all fun and laughter.

4. Working a project and meeting our deadline is like a well orchestrated dance.

5. I’m a great “sous” carpenter- clean up is my specialty.

6. Planning is everything.

7. Changing the plan when you are actually in the middle of the project can be important. Be flexible.

8. It’s ok with me if Travel Man doesn’t like to paint, because I love to paint!

9. Finishing all of the detail work gives you the greatest sense of accomplishment.

10. The detail work is what makes your project spectacular. This one is still in the works as I am typing this post.

11. I need more exercise, I am seriously out of shape.

As our entryway project comes to a successful close I have to give a big shout out to my wonderful husband. He worked by hard to get a lot of work done in a short period of time. And of course, this week he is back on the road. That’s our life, planning and executing, and trying to get things done on short notice. I will have pictures a little later this week, remember patience is a virtue my friends.

No comments Posted in Around the House, DIY Projects, Family, Travel Man

Home Improvement Projects

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Renee Spindle

My wonderful Travel Man has had a few days at home in a row which has been a rarity since the beginning of the year. We decided to take advantage of this week, with him at home to get some home improvement projects rolling along.

For most of this week we have been texturing and painting the walls in our entryway, installing new flooring, and getting all of the trim work completed. We are down to the wire and will be finishing up tomorrow morning. Travel man is off to Canada on Sunday. This project has been a long time coming, and it is just delightful to see it all coming together. I will post a slide show of pictures once we are completely done.

We have also been putting together a plan to landscape our front yard. Our house sits on a corner lot, the first house on the south side of our street. So we have a lot of front yard going on. We had the front yard graded probably two years ago now, and have just been keeping the dirt free of weeds and in check since then. Putting a plan together with a blank slate is somewhat of a daunting task. You want the grass and plants to look nice, and you don’t want to make a mistake with your plan. This is why we have waited to spend any money on our front yard. We had to have the time to get a vision, agree on that vision, and put a plan in place to execute. That sounds so “Corporate world” doesn’t it?

Anyway, we have been doing so much planning for the front yard, and supply purchasing for the entryway I told my husband one morning this week that I had a dream we were planting in our entryway!! My thoughts were a little mixed up don’t you think? All of this planning an executing has been making my head spin.

The entryway project is coming along so beautifully it is already creating “the domino effect”. You know what I’m talking about. You make an improvement in one area of your home, and it pushes the domino into the next room that needs to be painted or remodeled, which in our case is our living room. And we all know the “domino effect” creates a never-ending “to-do” list. But I love lists so that’s ok.

Watch for my entryway pictures in the next few days. I’m excited to get this project off of the “to-do” list and work on the front yard before it starts to get too hot. Happy home improvement weekend everyone. How’s your “to-do” list going?