Wow, May was a month – more leaking roof, terribly unwell Don, quick trip to Melbourne, dreadful cold (seriously, still have intermittent coughing), completely mad SML month.

ACK! Not a great deal was actioned – though if I look back through the very sporadic blog posts, I see that I did actually do some stuff.

Time for the reckoning: TL;DR version – of 12 projects: 5 achieved; 5 partially achieved; 2 not achieved.

Surprisingly not too bad.

1. war on sloth
   – running at least 3x per week / daily exercise – core + glutes (even 5 minutes is better than nothing).
   NOT ACHIEVED: Gosh, this was terrible! I finally got back to running (though only 3km) Saturday and Sunday both this weekend and last – which is a pretty gratifying. Don and I walked 21km (!) the Saturday we were in Melbourne. We need to do more walking, it is pretty fun.

2. war on graffiti
   – never let the graffiti on the front of ThePalace(OfLove) remain unpainted for more than 24 hours. Always photograph, always report.
   ACHIEVED: we have thus far remained untouched since the last incident.

3. war on duopolies
   – minimise shopping at Coles / Woolies and their associated companies.
   – support small, independent businesses
   ACHIEVED!: 158 DAYS!!!! I’m really happy with this outcome. I also realised that I have been completely under-reporting they day count since February, I’ve gone back and fixed prior months.

4. war on clutter
   – get rid of everything we don’t need or want or things we have been holding on to for stupid reasons
   ACHIEVED!: Two giant bags of mostly clothing ready to cart off to the charity shop.

5. war on chub
   – continue with amazingly successful 5:2 diet
   – no booze (except for holidays)
   PARTIALLY ACHIEVED: Yeah, well the no wine thing didn’t go so well. I’ll be calling a halt to alcohol consumption from July to December, but there is far too much going on in June.
   We had access to a scale in our hotel room, so discovered I’ve lost 13kg since starting 5:2! I’m sure I have lost more since then (clothes are a smidge baggier) which I put down to lack of post-SML snacking on non-fast days. I generally hoover down a frightening volume of peanuts and such after work, but we’ve not really had any time to grocery shop and so have had nothing to nibble on. I’m considering a snacks ban.

6. war on unnecessary spending
   – don’t buy anything that is not absolutely essential – none of this fudging with the definition of essential.
   – take lunch to work at least 4 days per week
   NOT ACHIEVED: ALL THE PRETTY DRESSES WILL BE MINE!
   We took lunch on one day – hey, it is a start!
   We have decided that between now and the end of the financial year we will buy anything that we think that we really need / want and then we’ll be on a frugality kick until the end of the year – this is in line with The Plan (which I need to post about separately I think).

7. war on the uncreative (apologies for the lame project title, alternative suggestions welcome!)
   – make one thing per month
   – blog at least every second day
   – take at least one photo every day
   PARTIALLY ACHIEVED!: Another pair of pyjama pants for Don
   Blogging and photography did not happen anywhere near as frequently as planned.

8. war on blandness
   – read good books | watch good films and television (at least once a week)
   – eat good new things (two per month?)
   – listen to one improving podcast per week
   – avoid reading the increasingly dreadfulsmh.com.au
   PARTIALLY ACHIEVED!: No new things! I’ve been cooking A LOT, but have added nothing new to the repertoire
   Yes, podcasts, I still have my faves and dabbled with a couple of new podcasts but found nothing that I loved, suggestions welcomed.
   Yes, no smh for FIVE whole months.
   No, films + tv. Bessie has been binge-watching the Newsroom – I’ve caught bits and pieces when I’ve been cooking.
   Yes, books. I finally completed getting things done. I also finally finished wolf in white van and I can’t say that I loved it. I really, really enjoyed the power of habit. Next on my radar is the golden age of murder – which looks just the thing for chilly winter evenings.

9. war on the shoddy / shonky in ThePalace(OfLove)
   – have the leaks fixed
   – finish the last bits of the paintering
   – get quotes for balcony sliding door | shutters | conservatory
   PARTIALLY ACHIEVED: our wonderful plumber repaired the hole in the roof and replaced all the nails/screws. Unfortunately we had another minor leak again during another bout of heavy rain. WonderfulPlumber came back and discovered the air-conditioning units on the roof have been installed incorrectly (quelle surpise) and did a patch-job with silicone – and didn’t charge us! A proper fix is in our future.

10. war on our genX slackerness
    – get our finances in order
    – get our estate planning in order
    ACHIEVED!: We now have A Plan. I’ll blog separately as it will be pretty all-encompassing.

11. war on the career (see genX slackerness)
    – ramp up the professionalism in dress, grooming and manner.
    – just knuckle down and do this advanced manageressing course. FIVE times a week.
    – take this “I am expecting big things from you in the next six months” seriously and action accordingly.
    PARTIALLY ACHIEVED: No course work. I’m really not going to do this, am I? I think that as an extrovert I learn much better in a group setting – this distance stuff is *really* challenging for me.
    My appearance is more professional now than it has been in my entire life. I have such nice things! I’ve not found a new hairdresser since mine shut down, so I am verging on unkempt.
    These Mysterious Big Things have yet to reveal themselves, sometimes I wonder if they actually existed at all. But hey – aggressive targets are being met just as I said they would if we worked to a plan – suck it, Hecate.

12. war on poor self-esteem
    – just stop entirely reading the social media accounts of those who make me feel inadequate (of course, this is not you dear reader)
    ACHIEVED!: This has been pretty effective – once you get out of the habit of regular checking it is much easier to sustain (as is the way with most things).