Showing posts with label resolutions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label resolutions. Show all posts

Thursday, January 6, 2011

House Goals 2011

So, I've already shared my personal resolutions for this year here.  I've got some goals for the house, too.  Although I suppose these are goals for me too, since the closets aren't going to organize themselves.

1.  Create an organization system that really works for the front hall closet.  I've organized the coat & shoe closet several times, but none of those systems have taken hold.  Currently, we can't put away coats without stepping on shoes. 
I dream of something like this.
But since my reality doesn't exactly match up to Christina's(except possibly the half naked child playing with my shoes,) I'd be happy with this.  Just simple order.

2.  Rebuilding my stairs.  Currently the stairs that lead to our basement are a scary deathtrap.  We were completely oblivious to that until this past year, when I ripped the carpet up off of them.  This change allowed us to see how much the stairs move and bounce when you traverse them.  Scary stuff.  Checking underneath them, there are no stringers.  The stairs are nailed into tiny cleats, not stringers.
I'm not sure if I'm going to go with painted risers like these.
Or something fun like these wallpapered ones.
3. Build more bookshelves.  We're a family who loves to read.  Each of the boys have bookshelves in their rooms, and we have shelves in the family room, but I'd like to build some in the living room also.  Some of the best light is in the living room and it'd be nice to keep my fave books there.
4.  Finally put some $ into the landscaping.  We love our backyard.  We have a deep wooded yard, the deer come right up to the house, turkeys come down off the hill, and it's not unusual to see a rabbit or a groundhog.  Unfortunately all that wildlife means that our grass is patchy, and our flowers and veggies get eaten and trampled on.  We'd like to plant some new grass, put in some hardscaping, maybe a pond, and finally plant a garden that will look pretty year round.

5.  Overhaul my laundry room.  This one is way down on the list, because it might be a 2012 project.  I showed you all my pretty laundry room doors that I created here.  It'd be nice to walk into an equally pretty room.  This is a much larger both CG and myself type project, so it may not get done this year.  DIY remodel projects can be hard on a couple and I'm not sure if we're ready to handle another big project just yet.  We've been discussing how hard DIY remodels are on a marriage over on the Gardenweb Kitchen Forum in this post here.   Sidebar: if my MIL is reading this please, for the love of all that is holy, don't click on that gardenweb link.

Thanks for popping in and listening to my house goals for the year.  I'm linking this up to the Nester's Home Goals Party.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

New Year's Resolutions


1.  This year I resolve to do less and be more.  No, it's not the death knell for my blog.  Don't worry, I have tons of projects that I plan to work on and share with all of you.  What I mean is I'm not going to feel obligated to say yes to every single request for help.  I'm not going to stop volunteering, but I'm going to be a bit choosier so that I can give each volunteering opportunity a better me.  Do Less, Be More.  I like it.

2.  I resolve to cancel my gym membership.  What?!  Nobody quits the gym at the start of the year.  Nobody, but me.  SB received an XBox and Kinect from Santa this year.  I vow to play with my kids more.  If I cancel my gym membership, I'll have to play with the kids more just to get the cardio in.  I vow to run and jump around the family room with the kids, to say yes when WD asks if I want to toss the football around, to remember that I have them on loan for just a short time before I send them out into the universe and whatever else I'm working on can be set down for a bit.

3.  I resolve to get organized and purge.  People who know me personally are confused on this one.  Yes, I love baskets and bins.  Yes, I'm quick with the p-touch labeler.  But, my craft room is a disaster, the foyer closet is down right scary, my multiple closets are full to bursting, and it's all because I have too much stuff.  Nobody needs 85 pairs of shoes.  Not even me.  I vow to be brutally honest about what needs to stay in paring down everything in my home.  This one's going to be baby steps.  I'll start with boxing up 10% and see how it goes from there.

4.  I resolve to stop flipping out and yelling at CG when he steps into the kitchen on party day.  This one's going to be a tough one for me.  I prepare for parties with carefully written lists.  The day of any party has me dancing a carefully orchestrated number of steps to ensure that every dish is plated and ready to go at just the right temperature when the guests arrive.  CG inevitably steps into the kitchen, because he's hungry, one of the kids is hungry, or he just wants to give me a hug and what do I do?  I flip out.  My head spins around like in some horror movie.  Someone ought to throw some holy water on me.  I vow to remember that nobody will care if only half of the hors d'oeuvres are plated when they arrive, but they will notice if CG is skulking around like a cat who just got its tail stepped on.

Are you planning any resolutions for this new year?  What changes are you hoping to make?  I'd love to hear what you all are planning for 2011.