December Goals

Keepin' it short & sweet this month as there'll be lots to do this month and I want to make sure I take some time out to enjoy the holidays.

1. Send Christmas Cards
2. Have a real date night with hubs
3. Have fairly straightforward move
4. Enjoy the holidays
5. Eat delicious food and do some holiday baking

That shouldn't be too tough, you think?

Hope you're all taking it easy on yourselves this month!

November Goals-Judgement Day

Holy poop! In all this frustration and excitement, I forgot we've changed months!

Normally hubs has to physically restrain me from putting up Chrismas decorations and blastinc NSync Christmas until December 1st...but not this year. Yikes!

Here we go, I anticipate crummy results:

1. Send cards Completed
2. Have a real date night with hubs Completed
3. Sell House Completed!!!!
4. Buy House Completed!!!! (come on! It counts as November!)
5. Start Christmas shopping Partially completed
6. Meal plan each week Hahaha---not even once
7. Sew something-anything Not completed
8. Try making a stew Not completed
9. Try 1 new recipe Completed-the week I was off sick I tried 2!
10. Have people over for dinner at least once Not completed

Overall, I'd say I broke even. Meh---with #3 & 4 crossed off-I couldn't care less.

November Goals

I've personally got a short month this November right from the start, but let's give 'er a shot:

1. Send cards
2. Have a real date night with hubs
3. Sell House
4. Buy House
5. Start Christmas shopping
6. Meal plan each week
7. Sew something-anything
8. Try making a stew
9. Try 1 new recipe
10. Have people over for dinner at least once

Quite food related...could I possibly be a little hungry this morning???

October Goals-Judgement Day

I know, I know, it's November 9th!

But I was in captivity being a mutant and quarantined last week, so didn't have easy access to the internet.

So, here goes:

1. Send cards Completed
2. Have a real date night with hubs (it's anniversary month afterall) Completed-more than once!
3. Sell house Not completed!
4. Sell house (Twice for good measure) Not completed OKAY! Sheesh-I get it.
5. Buy house Of course also not completed
6. Enjoy Thanksgiving Completed!
7. Make at least 2 decent meals a week (I have been sooo supremely lazy/unmotivated to do any kind of meal planning or cooking in the last several weeks. Time to remedy that) Actually completed-I'm shocked.
8. Bake something (besides bread) at least once a week Partially completed. 3/4 weeks I did.
9. Go apple picking Completed
10. Get to work on time 2x this month I can't remember. I'm going to say not completed if I'm honest though-I wasn't as late as I have been, but I don't think I've been on time either.

Whoopsie-not my most successful month.

October Goals

I think this month, it's clear where my goals lie. I'd like to do a lot more Suzy-Homemaker-y stuff, but for now, I'm going to try to focus on selling our house. If we don't sell it in the next couple weeks we'll un-list it in order to enjoy the holidays, so I'll give it one final push, and if it doesn't sell, at least we didn't already buy a new place!

1. Send cards
2. Have a real date night with hubs (it's anniversary month afterall)
3. Sell house
4. Sell house (Twice for good measure)
5. Buy house
6. Enjoy Thanksgiving
7. Make at least 2 decent meals a week (I have been sooo supremely lazy/unmotivated to do any kind of meal planning or cooking in the last several weeks. Time to remedy that)
8. Bake something (besides bread) at least once a week
9. Go apple picking
10. Get to work on time 2x this month

September Goals-Judgement Day

As I mentioned earlier this week, overall I don't think I did too bad this month. Let's see:

1. Send cards Completed
2. Have a real date night with hubs Completed
3. Finish organizing the basement Completed
4. Stage 2 spare bedrooms Completed
5. Hit up an antique store or auction Completed (see review here)
6. Make cinnamon rolls w breadmaker Compeleted (and deeeelicious-recipe here)
7. Get to work on time at least 1x per week Haha--massive FAIL. I got to work on time ONCE. All month.
8. Organize our closet Completed
9. Host at least 1 open house Completed several times over
10. List & sell our house Partially Completed. It's listed, it's just not yet sold.

Me thinks that may be my most successful monthly list to date! Unfortunately the one that would make me the happiest, is the one that's only partially completed. Oh well, soon-I can feel it.

Goal numero 5

Wow---I'm not doing too bad on my goals this month! What's up with that??? (Although, we'll see about # 7 in a couple of days)

So my older sister and I hit up a few antique places this weekend, something I've been meaning & wanting to do for a while.

We started by going to the Fall Flea Market at Landsdowne, which was sold to me as an antiques show. Nah-it was definitely a flea market, and borderline a room of a bunch of garage sales (which I suppose are almost the same).

I certainly didn't find anything of substance, but I did manage to pick up several children's books for a future collection that I remember from my childhood
Remember these books? Wow--they used to have a lot more imagination built into them back then. I always loved these guys:
And classic 70's & 80's children books-the Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit series: (sorry, I don't know why it keeps rotating)
And of course...a start of a Dr. Seuss collection:
After that, we went further down Bank St on a hunt for the Ottawa Antique Market. We didn't remember the exact address, but about where we thought it was we saw a big old "Antiques" sign, so figured that must be it. It wasn't. It had some neat stuff, but it wasn't super well organized, it was incredibly expensive and it was very dusty.

On the walk back to the car, we slipped into Found Design, which was definitely neat. Total blast from the past (literally, like the movie...it was before my time) and made us wonder how much similar stuff our parents would have had 30 years ago (or even 10-15!).

And eventually, we did accidentally come across the Ottawa Antique Market, which was definitely better than the other place. Far better layout, much better prices and much cleaner. Lived up to the hype, and my sister almost walked out of there with a buffet.

Overall, I think a pretty well accomplished goal considering I didn't actually buy any antiques...

Goal # 9 and Open House Recap

Well, the first open house has come and gone. At least I can cross another goal off my list.

Short answer: It went quite well, had a lot of people come through and several of them seemed genuinely interested.

Longer answer:

The open house was supposed to be from 2-4. The first couple came at 1:40 and the last group left at 4:50.

I tried to keep track, and I think there were about 12-13 groups that came through. At one point, there were 5 groups in at the same time. It was hard to give them all a tour and/or the attention I thought was necesary to acknowledge the potential buyers. I managed pretty well though I think, and double-teamed a couple groups with the tour and questions.

Of the 12-13, I figure 5 of them I wouldn't be surprised to hear from. Everyone seemed interested (they wouldn't tell a homeowner their home was crap), but the other groups were 'just starting to look' or something similar. Just didn't get the "I'll hear from you soon" vibe from them. But hey, all we need is one, right?

It was so busy, I had to keep cancelling my texts to hubs giving him updates and it took me about 40 minutes to finish my sandwich I'd planned to eat before the open house started (plan was vetoed by the early arrivers).

The last couple to leave also came back for another showing at 8:30 with a friend who's in real estate. I asked if they wanted to tour again, or if they wanted to walk around on their own. They opted to go on their own as I'd already given them the tour, so off they went. They were looking for a while and I even overheard them placing furniture, discussing changes they'd make (hmph!) and stuff like that. It doesn't take a real estate agent to know that's never a bad sign.

Overall, I was poo-oooooped when all was said and done and was asleep before my head hit the pillow after the group left last night. I'm hoping it isn't necessary to have another open house, but I'm trying (again, and probably unsucessfully) not to get my hopes up. It seems very promising though.

Cross your fingers for us if you don't mind. I'd love to put a great update similar to this one and this one sometime very soon!

September Goals

For obvious reasons, September's goals are a little more home-centric.

1. Send cards
2. Have a real date night with hubs
3. Finish organizing the basement
4. Stage 2 spare bedrooms
5. Hit up an antique store or auction
6. Make cinnamon rolls w breadmaker
7. Get to work on time at least 1x per week
8. Organize our closet
9. Host at least 1 open house
10. List & sell our house

Although the first 9 individually aren't super ambitious, all combined together to make goal # 10...yeah, it's a big month. But we're ready for it. I think. No, no, we are. I hope.

What's on your monthly goal list?

August Goals - Judgement Day

Wait a second--August's over...ALREADY?!?! That's totally insane and I feel soooo old, but I feel like I blinked and it was over. C-razy.

Because of that and a fairly busy month that made it seem even quicker, I just don't think many goals will be met this month. Let's see:

1. Send cards for every birthday & event Yay! At least one goal is met. I got my parents anniversary and all the birthdays, one that even required a little street stalking since I didn't know my friends exact mailing address.
2. Have a real date night with hubs Just in the nick of time. We've had a bit more us time lately and Friday night we went on a real date.
3. Ugh-Organize the basement Mostly complete. I made a huge dent in this goal over the month, and actually plan to finish it tonight. If I do (ha!) it'll be officially completed.
4. Seriously! Work on Bedroom drapes Yay again! Despite a little hiccup, I've since hemmed and ironed the drapes and moved them to fill out the rods a little more. Now genuinely think they look great. And make SUCH a difference.
5. Get creative with my birthday parteh As I've mentioned, I've already counted this goal as completed. The party was a success and there were definitely creative components.
6. Look for new desk for office Failed. Totally wasn't a priority this month.
7. Art for Front entrance...a little DIY Ditto.
8. Hit up at least 1 antique store Just couldn't swing it. Although I found out a friend likes to hit up auctions, so...I'm very excited about that option.
9. Enjoy cake decorating classes (they start tomorrow!) Definitely met this goal. As discussed here, here, here, here , here and here. (Wow-I apologize for the cake infestation this month)
10. Enjoy summer and stop stressing about the house Partially completed. I definitely have been enjoying the summer thanks to a few nice days and weekends (finally!), and I certainly haven't been stressing about the house on a day-to-day level. However, our recent decision to sell has definitely caused excessive thinking, and, I'll admit it, a good dose of stressing.

Well, alright! I guess I did much better than I'd anticipated. I guess I did make it pretty easy on myself. But for the last month of summer, I think that's more than fine with me.

How'd you do?

Goal #5 AND #9

So this past Saturday night was my and one of my best friends birthday parties. Our birthdays are a week apart and have had the exact same group of friends since I can remember, so we usually do a joint get together.

Unfortunately due to the timing (ACDC in Toronto, a sports conference in Toronto), several of our close friends couldn't make it, so it was a smaller get together with somewhat of a random group of prople. As such, I didn't really feel it necessary to get particularly creative, per se with the party as I goaled (eh?) myself to do this month. A little bit though, and I think it was perfect for our group.

Lots of food. I mean, LOTS of food. Since I know our friends and I know that, despite several requests, I may know get an rsvp, so I wanted to make sure that there was enough food for unexpected drop ins. Plus a few people brought food that I wasn't expecting, which was very nice. So there are a lot of leftovers, and hubs will be bringing hamburgers, sausages and pasta salad for lunch every day this week. And probably most dinners too.

The menu was:

Nacho dip

Veggies & Dip

Chips & other munchies

Plus, some friends brought spinach dip & pumpernickle as well as a veggie puff pastry pizza appy

Hamburgers (we ran out of ground beef, so had to buy meat for the first time in 7 months)

Homemade chicken burgers (using our bulk meat)

sausages

caesar salad

potato salad

pasta salad

Birthday cake

Birthday cupcakes

Fruit skewers/kabobs

Plus, a friend brought a bin full of sliced watermelon as well

Sounds delish, huh?

I was relieved for a change, that my job has some *ahem* dry spells, so I could plan everything prior to the weekend and avoid scrambling around trying to get everything done and being stressed & panicked when it wasn't. And, I'm an accountant, and naturally anal-retentive by nature, so of course I had a spreadsheet to organize everything, including the timeline (inspired by the now defunct Hyper Homemaker). Most of the prep was done Friday night, so I even had time for a pedi on Saturday afternoon-excellent.

So, basically the point of this all is to toot my own horn at the cake and cupcakes I made for us. The cake was for my amiga and the cupcakes were for me (it just didn't feel right baking my own birthday cake). Both took significantly longer than I'd alloted to decorate, but I think in the end, it worked out:

So I'm pretty certain I can check off both goals this month with confidence. I'm definitely enjoying the classes, and I did put a lot of effort into Saturday's celebration. Plus---if you consider the coincidences of matching plastic table ware thanks to Dollarama, as well as my co-birthday girl and I both wearing white bottoms and purple shirt, which happen to (unintentially, I swear) coordinate with the cupcakes & cake...it's pretty flippin' creative :)

August goal 4-YAHOO!

Phewf! I was starting to get embarassed about my August goals..thinking the only shoo-in (weird word when typed!) was #9. Fortunately, however, we've made a bit of progress otherwise.

I picked up some Ikea Merete drapes and some Lummig rods last week and we finally got around to getting them up last night. Yay!

So, just so you understand what exactly we were dealing with, not to mention the relative "urgency" (obviously not really urgent) of improving on our ghetto window covers, here are the before pictures, which have been exactly like this since January 30:
Please note 2 different throws flanking the bed. Although they match each other fairly well, they are certainly different (1 fleece, 1 cotton) and certainly not drapes. You will also note 1 (one) set of drapes hung on 2 (two) separate large windows, clearly way too short to even attempt to pass as actual drapes. All 4 of these coverings were being held up with miscellaneous nails and tacks. Lovely, non?

It's amazing what you learn to live with, and what your eyes and mind just accept. Looking at them in the photos, I can't believe we didn't change these immediately and I can't believe we showed anyone this room after 6 months of them looking like this.

Anyway, despite their former coverings, they really are gorgeous windows that deserve to be showed off. Here they are sans coverings and with all our new drape stuff spread out (not to mention a curious feline checking out what all the fuss is about):
Unfortunately you can't tell with these photos, but the lighting is phenomenal with no drapes, or if we had been able-open drapes. Seriously it's so open and light in there we had to just sit back for a moment to enjoy what we had no idea we were missing.

So after washing, drying, measuring and iron-hemming them, we hung them all up. Which, unlike our nailed-in-place, ghetto previous coverings, can be opened to let all that gorgeous light in (when it's not raining during this crummy "summer"):
Honestly, though once they were up I was kinda disappointed. Obviously INFINITELY better than the before, but they just weren't what I was hoping for. I guess I was so stuck on getting drapes with grommets/eyelets, I didn't consider that I may have preferred something a little softer, like these (which, of course, happen to be significantly cheaper): Also, I love him, but hubs hung the rods so we couldn't have the drapes wider than the window frame. I'm going to play around with them tonight to see if I can put a grommet on either side of the support to remedy that rather than have him re-do them all though.

And as a final kicker, they're so flippin' long! After washing and drying them (in order to account for shrinkage, heh heh) I measured one, assuming they'd all have shrunk the same amount and hung them. Wishful thinking on my part I guess, because some of them were perfect, but some of them look like this:
Which isn't working for me. So, I'll have to get in there tonight and re-hem them and measure them each individually...ugh. Oh well, better to get it right in 2 nights than adjust to another set of blinds that don't measure up (pun intended).

Still much better though, don't you think? And certainly overdue.

August Goals

Here they are:

1. Send cards for every birthday & event
2. Have a real date night with hubs
3. Ugh-Organize the basement
4. Seriously! Work on Bedroom drapes
5. Get creative with my birthday parteh
6. Look for new desk for office
7. Art for Front entrance...a little DIY
8. Hit up at least 1 antique store
9. Enjoy cake decorating classes (they start tomorrow!)
10. Enjoy summer and stop stressing about the house!

Clearly, the main goal is the basement, which is a disaster. So I'll be focusing on that and trying not to take on too much so that I actually have a hope of completing it. Otherwise, I think I'm taking it pretty easy on myself. But so what?

Good luck to anyone with their own August goals!!

July Goals-Judgement Day

1. Send cards for every birthday/significant event Failed I'm totally slacking on this one.
2. Have a real date night with hubs Completed! It was great, even though we left it until Friday July 31st!!!
3. Make or bake 1 new dessert each week Completed
4. Make a care basket for our friends going through a very hard time Completed (and seen here)
5. Spend more time with my girls! Failed Miserably. In fact, I saw them less in July than in several months..boo! But I saw my sisters a lot...so different girls.
6. Work out at least 5x per week Completed. This one was a challenge.
7. Make or buy window coverings for family room (let's hope 2nd time's a charm) Failed. Seriously, I need to get it together!
8. Surprise goal Partially Completed. I've started and just have a few more things to submit before it's official. Hopefully I stop procrastinating and get it done soon.
9. Decorate at least 3 walls/areas...it's just silly that there's a stack of art & hangings sitting in our house and so many empty walls Completed and loving it!
10. Hanging plants: Hang 'em somehow...our front porch looks lonely Failed-didn't even think about it.

So...all in all, not an incredibly successful month. 50% completed only...

In my defense, it's summer though. And who wants to actually do this kind of stuff in the summer? Anyone? Anyone?

Here's hoping August's a bit more successful.

How'd you do???

Goal 9 - check!

We're having weekend guests next weekend, and late last week I was starting to get anxious about getting ready for them. They're hubs' dad and step-mom, and they haven't seen the house yet although they've been super excited about it since we told them we purchased it. So, I want them to like it and I want them to feel very comfortable and enjoy their stay.

Heck, we've lived here now for over 5 months, so we may as well put some stuff in the main bath and master bath!

So I made a to do list, and on it for Friday night was to hang a few things (party on).

I went ahead and did a bit more than that, and here are the (crap pics thanks to crap-tastic camera again) results:

Main Bathroom:

Hung some nice modern sconces. I've had them a while and really like the, but they're kind of too modern for a lot of the main floor, but I thinkthey're perfect in here.

Master Bathroom:


Hung another sconce as well as pic by the same artist as our family room "eye" pics. I acknowledge that the red candles do nothing for it, but it was a last minute decision and just need to swap 'em for a more neutral colour.

But I also wanted to make the spare bedroom a little more home-y:



So we hung a mirror and some framed Thai batik. I was going to put some scrapbook paper in the frames originally, but when I was looking at our excessive collection of frames and stuff, I noticed them sitting there waiting to be framed and enjoyed. And up they went.

And after way too much Tyra-esque deliberation and a lot of holding and viewing, we decided to put the St Maarten art in the family room, but decided it needed a bit of height to ground it, so moved the vase o' sticks over there as well until we get lamps or some other stuff:


You'll note a couple things.
1-Yes, there are still eyes on the main wall. The plan to add a third pic didn't work out because there were minimal pieces the same size and when I did find one, learned photoshop and went to frame the doctored image, I realized that the new mat was ivory and the ones we had were white. It just didn't work.
2-My walls are not pink. I have to keep my camera on the colour swap setting for it to work and it makes all the colours wonky. They're a beige-y taupe. Trust.

With the St Maarten picture in place, my other 2 important pieces needed a good place, and the original plan for the SXM piece was a perfect fit. So I hung this piece

(my fave of the foursome) at the top of the stairs:

Where you can see it from the entrance, stairs and hallway.

And I hung this piece:
On the wall heading back down the staircase:

And the 2 smaller prints in the upstairs hallway like this:

They're all Aboriginal Australian dot (re)prints that I bought when I lived in Sydney for 6 months. I wish I had many more and I wish I had some that coordinated a bit better (gave all the neutral ones to mom).

Overall, hubs and I are both happy with the way things are starting to look and I seriously wonder why we didn't do this 5 months ago? Lazy arses.

I'd still like to hang the art in the dining room and some in our bedroom too. And...in the long wall in the entry way, but I need to first decide what I'm putting there in way of storage, seating, etc etc. Indecision and setting up a home are not a good combination.

You likey? Please tell me we're not the only ones who wait so long to put stuff up...

Goal 4 - check!

I was a bakin' machine this weekend. I don't know what's gotten into me, but the past few weeks I'm loving the baking. I've never been a great cook, so baking's always been my contribution.

Goal # 4 was to make a care basket for hubs' and my good friends. They've gotten a lot of food over the last little while, and though I've given them some too, I thought something sweet might be a nice treat.

Unfortunately my camera's been crap-tastic again and I don't know what to do. Because of this all my photos for the next while will, once again be crapola and my walls will look pink. Gah!

Here's the snack pack, which includes some ah-mazing chocolate chip cookies (I'm complimenting the recipe here, not my abilities), some browines with PB flavoured candy melts melted over top and some candied pecans.

Hubs went over there Saturday morning to help with some installations and he informed me that one of our friends ripped it open and scarfed down a few of the cookies immediately. Good to hear.

It's nice to remember how easy it is to do something so small, but appreciated for special peeps in our lives. Plus it's just daggun fun to bake and decorate a pretty package (wow--that sounds lame even to me).

In addition to those treats, I also re-attempted and was quite successful this time in making Pastor Ryan's Bloomin' Herb Bread, compliments of Pioneer Woman. It was delish...and I'll definitely be trying it again, but cooking it about 2 minutes less and with some different herbs.

And finally for family dinner last night, I was (as usual) charged with bringing desert...I love being a bad cook, I get to bring the fun stuff! I had a mild case of baker's block and I've brought lemon or lime flavoured deserts the last 3 weeks and the recipient of jokes about it. So I decided on a chocolate cake, with a fluffy PB frosting (so simple!-PB, butter, milk & icing sugar) and then melted chocolate drizzle and then PB candy melts (can you tell I just found them this weekend?) drizzled over top. I also brought the leftover baking from the care package so it wouldn't stay in my house and be devoured by yours truly in 2.2.

I realize this doesn't have anything to do with setting up our home, but it does have to do with my monthly goals, which I make myself accountable for by posting here, and the fact that our new home is making me more home-y and encouraging me somehow to do this kind of stuff. Not to mention my insatiable sweet tooth.

July Goals

A more streamlined goals list so there's a bit more green on July's judgement day:

1. Send cards for every birthday/significant event
2. Have a real date night with hubs
3. Make or bake 1 new dessert each week
4. Make a care basket for our friends going through a very hard time
5. Spend more time with my girls!
6. Work out at least 5x per week
7. Make or buy window coverings for family room (let's hope 2nd time's a charm)
8. Surprise goal
9. Decorate at least 3 walls/areas...it's just silly that there's a stack of art & hangings sitting in our house and so many empty walls
10. Hanging plants: Hang 'em somehow...our front porch looks lonely

Good luck on your goals, official or not, and Happy Canada Day!

June Goals: Judgement Day

I know I technically have another 12 hours or so, but tomorrow's Canada Day and tonight's my sisters birfday party, so nothing's going to get done in that time.

Here's how the June goals went down,

1. Organize Garage Completed
2. Learn to sew a straight line Completed! YAY!
3. Make a meal plan each week Partially Completed. This week we didn't because it's such a wonky un-schedule-able week
4. Each week, try 1 new recipe Completed
5. Have a real date night with hubs Completed
6. Fill the empty frames in the hallway frame series: Yep, it's been 2 months and those 2 spots are still empty Partially Completed. I filled 1 of the 2 spots.
7. Keep plants alive Completed!
8. Send cards for every birthday: A much easier month. Looks like only 1 birthday and then father's day Completed (well, with tonight's card anyways)
9. Organize recipes into binder Completed!
10. Take more pictures. Not just of my house, but of life. Partially Completed. Life wasn't very exciting this month. I took pics of a golf tournament, my family's first Tim Tam experience and hubs at work, so I guess it's getting there.
11. Buy, lease or steal a new car Partially completed. Couldn't find a good deal, so put a few bucks into fixing up hubs car to buy us a bit more time.
12. Go running at least 2x per week: Except this time, at least one of them has to be 5K or more Partially Completed. This fell off the radar after father's day-before that I was killing it.
13. Run the father's day run for prostate cancer 10K in an hour or less Failed, but 1 hr 3 min isn't too far off.
14. Get camera fixed Completed! (Except as of yesterday it's being wonky again...damnit!)
15. Make or Buy window coverings for family room Failed

Overall a month that started with great intentions but summer brain kicked in near the end a bit I think.

Going forward, I'm going to limit myself to 10 goals a month, and a couple of them will be regulars.

Sewing Dilemma

This is a plea to any seamstress who may come across this post.

In an effort to learn to sew, I've been attempting all sorts of little projects, some with mild success but most not so much.

However, the most recent one I was doing sooooo well, and then part way through, my stitches became all wonky.

Here's the front (or top, I guess) side. Looks pretty darn good I'd say. I'm nearing being able to sew a straight line:

But then the under side looks like this:

It's all loopy and tangly. I tried re-threading everything once, and just re-threading the bobbin at least 3 times and it kept doing this. I even pulled out the manual to make sure I was threading it correctly (which I was-yay me!)

Are my settings wrong? Am I pulling too much? Any clue what I'm doing wrong or how I can fix it? Anyone?

June cards

Per my June goal # 8, and with the first of the festivities coming up this Friday, I had some crafting to do last night. Here are this months cards:
And, ok ok, I'm lying-it's not quite all of them. But the only missing one (which is complete for the record) is for my sister who happens to drop by my blog now and again, so I didn't want to pre-empt her bday by showing her card ahead of time.

And the one that needs to be mailed was mailed this morning and the others will be hand delivered in person, so I can pretty much cross that one off the list. Sweet-because I'm not doing too hot on 'em this month.