Much Ado about 2012

So I felt that the new list deserved its own post.  I've decided to not cut and paste last year's list in to "help" me along...it's a fresh start.  Despite the fact that I just read last year's list and made my comments.  Without further ado, here's 2012's To Do:

  1. Do the upgrades that I have purchased for the house.  I have the paint for the side door and front shutters, the paint for the trim on the living room window and spindles, and the paint for the front door.  I need to use it.  As well, I have a new light for the patio.  I need to get it up in the spring.
  2. Move.  I spent part of the summer lap swimming, and loved it.  I want to start swimming at the municipal pool again.  I've bought a new, smaller pair of jeans.  I would love to shrink out of them.  I've stopped drinking pop, but it will take more than that and I know it.
  3. Cook at home more - like, 5 nights per week consistently.  I started taking pictures and posting them to Facebook last year.  My new project is a blog of what I make.  I'm hoping I update there more than I update here.  Sigh.
  4.  Repaint the upstairs bathroom.  I haven't told J this yet, but I want to repaint the bathroom.  We currently have a double towel bar that is pulling out of the wall.  He wants it replaced, and I agree.  I need to decide what I want to put up instead, and then do it.  I am much enamoured of stripes right now.  In greens, blues, and chocolate browns.  Then all the towels I have will still work.  If we don't go away for March Break, perhaps then.
  5. Complete the 1000 Gifts in 2012.  Have you ever read Ann Voskamp?  I can never decide how I feel about her...hers is a style of writing that I do not enjoy.  But I've taken up the challenge of 1000 gifts to bring joy this year.  My calendar is printed, and I've started.
  6. Use the library.  J is in the market for an ereader.  I can't decide if that's something I really want.  But I do have a library card that I don't use enough.  I think about purchasing cookbooks, and then I think, "Why don't I get this from the library?"  I think of a movie that I want to see that's been out for a while, and I realize that I could borrow it from the library.  I want my card to smoke in 2012.  Or, at least obey the laws of thermodynamics and warm a cup of tea.
  7.  Organize.  Erg.  I'm moving into larger categories and away from specifics.  Organize means deal with the boxes on the floor of the living room.  Deal with the black hole that is my office.  Keep working on picking up what needs to be picked up.  But the boxes are the priority.  It's slowly getting there.
  8. Entertain more.  This may be the only thing on the list that involves J directly.  J and I both want to see our friends more, and to spend time with them.  We'd like them at our house.  We've talked about having people in once a month.  That helps with my organization thing too.
  9. Get a handle on our finances, and our legal stuff.  J and I have been making some strides towards this recently, some of which I'll share later.  The big thing is we have no will.  If I die, J loses the house seeing as the title is in my name and the estate would sell it.  This is something that just makes sense.
  10. Apply for a new position at work.  The hiring pool will be opening soon.  I would like to move up, even though it scares me to death.  If not, I think I need to spend some time with a career counsellor talking about what I want to be when I grow up.
So there it is.  Only 10 this year, but I feel they're ambitious.  Doable, but ambitious.  Here's to the year ahead!!

Recapping the Past Year

Wow.  The year is gone.  I'd like to say that I've done lots, but I haven't.  I am nothing, if not the immoveable mass.  Let's review the 15 for 2011 and how we did, shall we?
  1. Hang the garden hose mount on the side of the house and break down the large cardboard box it came in that is currently on my living room floor and has been there since April with the cordless drill that has been charging since late May.  Ha!!  Shout out to my friend Scott, who made this happen with J one day.  The long metal things that were to go into the wall were the wrong size when you did what the directions said mean that it's allllllll good that Scott and J did this.  I would have drilled the holes and cried.  A lot.   
  2. Work on scrapbooking my wedding. It's been 3 years, people.  I may never do this.  You know how people talk about never seeing Star Wars, or reading Anna Karenina?  Perhaps this is how I should view my wedding - the epic I never finished.
  3. Decide what to do about the laundry sink and the current plumbing problems that it has (we cannot turn the hot water tap, there are no shutoffs, the tub itself isn't particularly sturdy)Hooray!  There are shut off valves and new taps, thanks to a faulty trap.  The plumber came, and an hour later we had a working laundry sink!  I get to replace this one!!!
  4. Repaint the side door off the garage, as well as the front door shutters, and the trim around the new window as well as the wood trim and spindles at the front door and the top of the stairsThe paints are all on the living room floor, at the moment.  I painted the shutters this summer.  They look fabulous.  I'm hoping we don't go away for Victoria Day, and that the weather is nice. 
  5. Replace the light fixture on the patio.  We bought a light this week.  That's part of the Victoria Day list.  Must convince J to stay home.
  6. Research how much that front window is going to cost to replace, and then decide if it should be done before the energy reassessment is done on the house.  Oh - and get them to quote on shutters and a new storm doorThe front window has been replaced.  And the storm door.  I've decided to repaint the shutters.  I'm hoping to go nowhere for Victoria Day, and paint then.  The shutters and the garage door.  And the front door.  I've decided that it needs another coat of paint.  Notice how I wanted to stay home last year, and we didn't??  Yeah...In January, I have high hopes.
  7. Learn to operate the sewing machine from my mother in law, or get rid of it.  I've researched buying the manual online.  Has anyone ever done this?  The machine is about 55 years old, but it's a Kenmore - and was top of the line in its day.  I want it for curtains and cushions and so on.
  8. Deal with the boxes on the living room floor.  I'm getting there.  I read about an article about throwing out 50 things at a time.  That sounds doable.  There are more than 50 things on my living room floor.
  9. Buy a great carpet for the living roomAnd great curtains.  Must. Deal.  With.  Boxes.
  10. Practice the guitar.  Ongoing.  Still love guitar, playing Radiohead right now.
  11. Freecycle more. Candles, gift bags, etc, etc.  I also have an Ikea floating shelf to dispose of on Kijiji. I still have these.  Go figure.
  12. Cook at home 5 days a week, and try some of the recipes that seem to be stacking up everywhere. I should not spend time on allrecipes.com.  More on my new project.  They dovetail nicely.
  13. Research and plan for getting a dog.  This is one that J and I have been rolling around with for a couple of months.  We're thinking summer.  This is currently on hold.
  14. Go swimming, or do something. I have been looking at the Summer Activity guide and have come to the conclusion that I should be doing something. Swimming has always appealed, and it's not that much.  Work started, and I quit moving.  It's very sad.
  15. Read. I went back to work, and quit reading.  My mother gave me a 2 book series for Christmas, and my father gave me The Wealthy Barber Revisited.  I'm hoping to read them before June.