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Post by drsarah on Jul 26, 2016 11:03:26 GMT
So... it's the summer holidays (I still work, but only two days a week), things have been getting badly on top of me this past few months, and I have an overwhelming pile (literal and metaphorical) of tasks. We all know what that means, right? Long boring thread where I go on and on about all the stuff I'm doing to catch up!  I meant to start this thread a few days ago when the holidays began, but I actually ended up just jumping in and working instead, which is all to the good. And I'm very pleased with progress so far... but there's a LOT more to do, and I thought I'd start this to track what I'm doing. It keeps me going.  So here's what I've done so far: Saturday: Caught up on all the work stuff I can catch up on via remote control. Which I meant to get done on Thursday, and then I meant to get it done on Friday, but.... whatever. It got done. And you're never behind, right? Sunday: Took the 'crisis cleaning' approach to my work and worked in bursts of three 15-minute increments on different things. Thanks to which, I finished the day with the huge messy pile of stuff on my desk looking at least somewhat smaller, a start made on catching up with reconciling my bank statements, and an educational module I'd been dipping into for a week or two finally finished, which put me two credits to the better. Plus a couple of e-mails sent that I needed to send. Also remembered I needed to check how much tax I owe before the end of this month... which turned out to be more of a palaver than I'd expected, because the login screen for HMRC has changed so I couldn't get in on my saved login, which meant a fair bit of time proving my identity online. Which was, however, very well worth it because it turned out that they owe me for once and so I got to claim a healthy chunk of money! So that was a very definite bonus of starting to get organised. Monday: More work on my desk. Got caught up with reconciling all my statements. Paid off my overdue credit card bill. Chucked out more junk. Moved my now-up-to-date finances onto Banktree in preparation for upgrading to Windows 10 (apparently the programme I'm using may not be compatible with it). Did another educational module - 1 credit. Tuesday: So far today I've unloaded the shopping delivery and been through the by-now-much-more-manageable piles on my desk to chuck out all the stuff that's too out-of-date for me to do at this point. So that's a good start. But there's still a long way to go. Most important jobs on the agenda: - Upgrade my mainframe to Windows 10. Which I absolutely have to get done, as Friday's the deadline for getting it for free. So that is numero uno top priority.
- Catch up on my pension contributions, which have got horribly behind again.
- Send off for the insurance payment on my dental work.
- Get more training modules done - way behind on those.
Ideally, I'd like to get the first three of those plus one credit done today, though that may be too ambitious, as there are also the normal Tuesday or everyday jobs that have to get done:
- Take out the rubbish from the kitchen bin and vacuum/mop the kitchen floor
- Get the kids out for a walk somewhere. Preferably somewhere fairly energetic so my son isn't tearing the place apart at holiday club tomorrow.
- Get packed lunches made for tomorrow, as it's a work day for me and the kids will be in holiday club
- Get some exercise done. Including my isotonic exercise session which I didn't do yesterday.
- Make dinner, as it's my night for it.
- Get the kids to bed on time.
So... busy day ahead! Thanks for listening, and now I think it's definitely time to stop writing about this stuff and go and start doing it!
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Post by drsarah on Jul 26, 2016 13:03:48 GMT
OK, some progress: I wanted to get anything important on my PC backed up before installing Windows 10, so I've just spent the past hour or so going through and checking what I wanted to keep. Think I got everything backed up now - which hopefully leaves me ready to roll!
I also got the kitchen floor vacuumed and got lunch for everyone. So, pretty productive as hours go, but still a lot more to do. Next step - see if I can actually get the install started!
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Post by drsarah on Jul 26, 2016 17:13:08 GMT
Oh, well, so much for that... Started off the installation, and it told me it couldn't upgrade because such-and-such were incompatible with Windows 10. So, I spent ages on googling for a solution, and then googling for a solution for the thing that wasn't working with the first solution, and then trying to check for an update I supposedly needed for the solution for the thing that wasn't working with the first solution but failing because updates take forever to download on Windows 7 these days, and finally DH got home and took a look at the original problem and told me the trouble was that my computer was just too old and wasn't going to support Windows 10. So that pretty much took up my whole afternoon. Oh, well - I feel better knowing I at least tried and found it wasn't an option, and I'm very glad I found that out while it was still free to do so - it would have bee horrendous to end up paying for Windows 10 and then finding out I couldn't install it! My computer is still working OK on Windows 7 and I use my laptop for most things anyway, so the plan now is that I just keep going with this computer until it finally dies on me, and then I'll just have to upgrade. Meanwhile, this has also had the big bonus that I backed up all the stuff I want to keep and so if my computer blew up tomorrow I wouldn't lose anything vital, so I feel a lot better about that. Also, I got to look at several very cute pictures of my children when they were younger that I had saved. So... not much actually done today, but in a way that needed to happen, if that makes sense. Right - now time to exercise and hopefully shower before dinner! |
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Post by drsarah on Jul 29, 2016 17:55:44 GMT
Well, so much for Wednesday. Didn't seem to get my act together all day at work; maybe because I hadn't slept much the day before. Anyway, it wasn't exactly a day of speed and efficiency.
Thursday still hadn't had much sleep and was still tired, so morning was a bit of a dead loss, but, spurred on by thoughts of posting back here, I pulled it together for the afternoon. Got caught up on more work jobs that had cropped up, and cleared out my work bag, which really needed it - nice to be able to close that sucker now!
Today was a quieter day at work and I caught up on a bunch of minor tasks that I couldn't do via remote login. Only had a couple of letters to do, which made a very nice change, so I finished those off tonight and that's me done with work stuff over the weekend - more time to concentrate on other stuff!
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Post by drsarah on Jul 30, 2016 12:05:44 GMT
Here is my most immediate to-do list. (Obviously, the full list is a heck of a lot longer. These are the things I'm making a priority right now, just to keep my mind focused.) - Keep on catching up with the CPD (continuing professional development) - a unit a day, where possible.
- Catch up on the mail that's come in during the last week, so that my desk pile doesn't actually grow while I'm getting round to shrinking it
- Pension forms
- Clear out my shoulder bag
- Get those receipts sent off for that dental claim.
If I can get that lot done without taking so long about it that other major stuff builds up meanwhile, I'll be able to relax more.
Three and a half days till my next work day, so hopefully can use them well...
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Post by drsarah on Aug 1, 2016 22:00:50 GMT
Phew! Still a couple of the incoming things from last week to catch up on, but, other than that... done that lot!
Pension forms - caught up. (What a nightmare. Missed the deadline on quite a few of them, will have to return the money to the practices - how embarrassing. But finally done.)
Shoulder bag - cleared out.
Dental insurance claim - sitting on my desk stamped, addressed, and ready to post tomorrow.
CPD - three credits done over three days.
And I also ironed a pair of trousers and two tops (one of my goals for August, in honour of laundry month, is to aim to catch up on the huge bag of ironing sitting in the living room waiting to be done).
Hooray! Time to head off to bed and get a good night's sleep ready for a day of similar achievement tomorrow!
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Post by drsarah on Aug 4, 2016 17:52:11 GMT
Update: - Another 1.5 credits done
- Another pair of trousers and, um, I think half a dozen more tops ironed
- Dealt with one or two incoming things
Wednesday was really busy at work, so I haven't got as much done as I'd hoped, but every bit helps! Dinner in a few minutes, so I'll spend them working on another CPD credit.
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Post by drsarah on Aug 6, 2016 14:31:17 GMT
I forgot to mention that I got some other stuff done on Tuesday - someone was coming round and so I did some tidying up. Stairs got cleared (yup, they were a total mess again after getting cleared at the beginning of May in the Super Fling Boogie - oh, well, it's always good while it lasts!), coffee table next to the sofa got cleared, and I tidied up quite a bit of stuff from the living room windowsill even though I didn't clear it. (It has a bunch of puzzles and Lego stuff on it, so would be quite complicated to clear off completely in a hurry without getting bits mixed up.) I am pleased to report that the stairs stayed clear for the next three days. Amazing how much easier that is when you're not coming in from school with a bunch of letters and paperwork that needs to be put down somewhere. There is stuff on them at the moment, but it's my husband's stuff so my conscience is clean even if the stairs aren't! I've now got a further 1.5 credits done for CPD, which brings my total for this week up to 5.5, which I was really pleased about when I sat down and counted up. I'm also keeping up with the work stuff that can be done by remote login, although I haven't made as much progress as I'd like on the stuff in my inbox at work. Still, every bit helps... One annoying thing I'm going to have to do over the next few weeks is to work on the appeal regarding my son's tribunal (don't ask). That is such a major time and energy suck, but at least it feels good to have enough time and energy freed up now that I'm not completely defeated by it. Getting the most urgent jobs done, plus having a few weeks of much less than usual to do, has made a massive difference to me. So, two weeks into the holidays, things are going well. I want to keep on using this time wisely while I have it, so, apart from working on the tribunal, my plan is to focus on four main things that are my priority for catching up on: - CPD credits
- Ironing
- Clearing stuff that's still on my desk
- Working on my tax return. (I have until the end of January for this, so no great rush, but it would be so good to have it out of the way before the last minute.)
In addition to this, I want to keep on top of all incoming stuff so that I don't have the Forth Bridge effect of new jobs building up as I'm getting on top of the old ones. So, my overall tentative subject-to-lots-of-revision-as-needed plan for stretches of free time is: Start with 15 minutes of CPD. Change to another job. Continue doing 15 minutes of CPD interspersed with other things until I've completed at least a credit per day (exception made for the two work days each week). Other jobs from that list to be done in the priority order of incoming, ironing, desk stuff, and tax return. OK, that's a plan... enough of one, anyway. So, time to start on 15 minutes CPD again. It's about half past three, so will get on and start now. |
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Post by drsarah on Aug 13, 2016 15:07:35 GMT
Not such a successful week, unfortunately, though not entirely my fault as I did have a bunch of stuff to do regarding my son's tribunal plus arrangements for homeschooling him! Only got one CPD credit done, and the only other thing I'm managing to stick to is the ironing. Progress so far: - Ironing - stuck to doing a bit of this every day that I wasn't actually at work, including today. Down to only four things in the ironing bag, so that's a big improvement.
- Work stuff - finally managed to get some of the stuff in my inbox done, though less than I'd hoped for considering I'm only working two more days before the end of August.
So that's something, anyway.
Will keep going according to the current plan. Have caught up again on what work stuff I can do by remote login, and taking DS out for a walk in a few minutes. After that, I'll start working on the CPD again, then stuff on my desk.
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So here's what I've done so far: