Sunday, January 17, 2010

New Year's Resolutions... Er, New Year's "List"

I've never set New Year's Resolutions before-- too much pressure.  But lists?  I love lists.  I live by lists-- grocery lists, things-to-do-today lists,  bills to pay lists, birthday gift lists, wish lists, etc.  And there's something so gratifying about crossing that important "to-do" off the list too. 
So this year, in lieu of ignoring a New Year's Resolution, I thought I'd do a New Year's List-- A list of things that I hope to accomplish this year.  Some practical, some silly, and some mundane.  Then I can come back every few months or so and cross off the stuff that I've accomplished-- crossing off stuff... that's the gratifying part.
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2010 - The Year of the Organizer
Lookie, I already got to cross-off some stuff!

Set-up and organize my craft room/mud room
circa January 2010
  • buy desk and shelving unit
  • buy baskets to organize shelving unit
  • buy not too spendy shelves and other organizational gizmos for the walk-in closet
  • buy/create a gift wrapping area for not too much $$
  • buy/create a message or chalkboard
  • buy mudroom stuff-- hooks, bench, shoe storage, etc.
  • hang wall art
  • actually unload boxes and organize all the stuff!
Set-up and organize the office
circa January 2010
  • Order office furniture
  • Hang wall art
  • Organize files (ick!)
  • Unload boxes and organize the other stuff (double ick!)
  • The electronic/computer set-up is all The Mister's "to-do".
Set-up and organize the kid's playroom
the playroom in all it's glory - circa January 2010
  • Buy shelving to organize toys
  • Buy system to hang kid's art
  • Set up organizer
  • Set-up art wall system
  • Set-up photo wall
  • buy/set-up a magnetic wall for all those magnetic toys that don't stick to our non-magnetic refrigerator.
  • Buy/install more lighting... aside from the family room, the 2nd dimmest room in the house!
Set-up a wall calendar, mail sorter, bulletin board area to keep us up-to-date and on schedule
  • order/make large reusable monthly calendar
  • organize mail bins (already bought but never set-up at old house)
  • buy/make a pretty message board 
  • set it up so it's both lovely and useful
Organize the walk-in pantry and kitchen drawers
photo circa January 2010
  • figure out how to organize a walk-in pantry... don't know how since I've never had one before.
  • buy canisters, bins and drawer organizers
  • make those canisters cute!  Very important-- ha, ha!
For the Rest of the House
  • Hang wall art, frames and mirrors in all rooms
  • Set-up decor
  • Figure out what we're going to do with the random tables and wall art.
  • Window Treatments... We're in desperate need of new window treatments. The ones that came with the house are literally falling apart, or are broken and can't be opened or closed.  I'm sure they're hazardous to the kids as well (sigh).
  • Lighting...Either buy more lamps or call an electrician to install ceiling lights in the kids rooms, family room and bonus room.  It's very dim at night.
  • Set-up Happy Vee's big boy room.
  • Clear out the old house, minor touch-ups and either sell or rent it.
  • Set up the kid's playset in the backyard.
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Fun Plans for Me
  • Blog more... it's a great creative and stress outlet.
  • Read more... should be easier with the Kindle.
  • Cook more... without groaning.
  • Create a monthly meal plan... less grocery shopping on the fly.
  • Hang out with my girlfriends more. 
  • Actually go to a theater and see a movie in 2010-- that's a BIGGEE... it's been a couple of years since I've seen a movie from start to finish, let alone in a, gasp!,  theater.
  • Find a babysitter
  • Make homemade marshmallows-- I'm not even a marshmallow fan, but supposedly homemade ones are to-die-for and they just look Fun!
  • Figure out what to do with all the baby stuff (sniff)
  • Go on dates more-- Spend more personal, kid-free time together... that's a hard one!
  • Take a zumba or yoga class... or maybe a bollywood class-- fun!
  • Get my hair cut (at least more than once per year)
  • Enjoy every precious (and sometimes, not so precious) moment with my two awesome boys.  They just grow up way to fast (sniff sniff).
Travel
Kauai
  • Oregon - I'm hoping we can make a trip this spring to visit friends and also sneak in a spa treatment or two.
  • Alaska - The Mister and I have always wanted to go on an Alaskan Cruise-- even though I'm not a big fan of cruises due to one unfortunate Norovirus-tinged Mexican Riviera cruise we took 7 years ago.  But evidently there are deals to be had, and although the kids are still on the young-side, they do travel pretty well...
  • Hawaii - We missed our annual trip last year, so it's up there on my list.  I'm hoping we can visit with family and also get some R&R at a nice, kid-friendly resort.
  • San Diego is always on our list... try to get there one weekend a month.
  • Maybe do a roadtrip up north to San Francisco or Monterey-- It's doable with a few stops along the way.
  • Wow, there's no way we can fit in all this travel in 11 months... but I'll just keep it on the list.
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This list is a work-in-progress, so I'll be stopping by every now and then to cross-off stuff and add more to-do's.  Wow, writing that all down was really therapeutic!