20 in 2020 | How I Did (85.75%)
21 in 2021 | How I Did (89.5%)
22 in 2022 | How I Did (86.4%)
Here we go!
Inside Home Things
1) Reorganize bottom of basement stairs
This area is kinda chaos. It has some of the wire cubes which might be what's been there since we moved in 17 years ago. It needs some real organization. This is where we store things like extra rags, light bulbs, batteries, some lesser used cleaning supplies, and various things that are on their way out of the house (old cds to recycle, batteries to recycle, empty toothpaste tubes to recycle, crayons to recycle, basically, all things that need recycled at different places). This is one area of our house that could HUGELY benefit from some organization, starting with replacing those wire shelves.
This might be the biggest project on this list, at least for me. We've been talking moving/adding on for YEARS. YEARS. (There is no consensus yet.) But while we wait out that decision, I figured I could give the kitchen some attention. We last painted the cabinets 11 years ago and they are due for some new paint. Yes, at least some of them WOULD be blue. You might even be able to guess the shade. (Is is close to my favorite sweatshirt, maybe.)
3) Replace kitchen hardware
*I* think it would really help streamline the kitchen if we moved ALL the hinges in the kitchen to inside the doors instead of outside. Matt pointed out how many cabinets we have (for a small kitchen...it's actually a lot). This really probably comes down to the price. Matt said it would be $15/door which would get pricey. So CHALLENGE accepted to find it for a reasonable price. Also, new pulls. At minimum there will be new pulls.
This was on my list before painting the cabinets! The front of our fridge and the backdoor (also magnetic) have both become overloaded. This is what happens when I've bought magnets on nearly every vacation we've ever taken. Plus various papers and art projects and such. I need to relocate some of the school papers we have on the back door and find a different place to display the boys' rotating art collection. But this could also streamline the look of the kitchen!
This May will, somehow, be 9 years since we redid the bathroom. The light over the sink was bought on clearance and has been giving us some problems for awhile. Matt's is fully on board with this project and I like that it is keeping with my list tradition of replacing at least one ceiling light a year in our house. Hah. Most of those he didn't see the point in replacing but this one he does!
6) Make flamingo pillow covers
YEARS ago, back when I was frequenting Jo-Anns much more than I do now (and sewing much more than I do now), I bought some flamingo fabric with the intention of making pillow covers with it. And every summer I think "maybe this summer I'll make those"...and then never do. EVEN THOUGH I know the pillow covers take maybe 30 minutes. This year I am going to do it.
7) Do a thorough clean-out of a significant area once a month
This is my attempt to spread out my urge to purge over the whole year. We have 7 rooms in our house, basement excluded, and this gives me time to tackle almost 2 spaces in each over the year. Really, I just need to do 2 in November because this won't happen in December but tackle 12, somewhat spread out is the intent.
8) Replace string light timer
Yes, this is probably a fairly easy internet search to fix. We put up our string lights in July 2020 and LOVED THEM. But then after 2 years the timer started making a noise that sounded like a ticking bomb...so we unplugged it, even though the lights hung up for another 2 months or something. I miss having them on so we just need a new timer.
9) Make another raised garden bed
This is a repeat from last year and I am nominating it for "least likely to get done" but there are multiple members of our family who would like to try to grow things that need a little more space and thus...this raised bed is needed. We'll see. At least this is just year 2 for this! I've had projects linger way longer!
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| This was before raising the rain barrel, painting the garage, and moving the compost bin! |
10) Plant a vegetable that we will eat
Here's the thing. We put in raised beds a few years ago. Then last year they turned into mostly raised flower beds. And I LOVE growing the sunflowers and zinnias but we also, probably, could use more vegetables in our lives AND we have the perfect place to grow them. We need to do better here.
11) Plant dahlias
I LOVE how these look and already have a reminder in my phone to plant them. The internet tells me this needs done about the same time we are planting tomatoes. Also, I realize MORE flowers isn't helping with #10.
Every year when I make our budget, we talk about how THIS is going to be the year we have more people over...then June comes and we get busy and it never happens as much as we intend. So we are aiming for 6 cookouts. We can do this.
13) Bake with boys once a month
Two years ago I had the food goal to use my new instant pot once a month. Last year it was baking with yeast once a month. This year I'm going to try to bake with the boys once a month. This can also count as an adventure!
This is at least the 3rd year this has been here and we've been successful the last 2 years! It's a fun excuse to try restaurants or count the sno-cone place in a pinch.
15) Farmers market 4 times
I think we went 3 times in 2021 and it was fun! Then we got out of the habit of going and the boys and I just went once last year, for about an hour between rain storms. I would really like to do this more regularly, especially in the warmer months and it's outside. I'm always glad we've gone but also kinda need to be in the mood to spend money...which I am often not...
16) Go on 10 dates
In 2019 we started with the goal of 4 dates in a year and we barely made that. I increased by 2 dates a year until we got to 10 last year which we did but I think that's about as many as we can count on in this stage of life with young kids. There are just some months, with vacation and life, that a date doesn't happen easily. I feel good about 10.
17) Finish 5 photobooks (San Antonio, 2023, Sam, Luke, 2023 vacation)
These are somewhat of an easy one because it feels like I am constantly ordering photobooks but...there are 23 slots to fill and I used photobooks even when I had fewer items! San Antonio is catching up from 2022 but the rest are ones I haven't even been able to order yet (nor are ANY of those complete at this moment...)
18) Read Rose Code by Kate Quinn
I read a lot, anyone who has been around here for awhile knows that. Yet, this book has been lingering on my TBR for nearly 2 years because it is 600+ pages. It is RARE I read a book that long. So I have been putting it off but by putting it here maybe I'll finally read it (I will, I just need a little more motivation to ignore all other books for a week).
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| This was our deluxe cabin in Maine, after 12 hours in the car and it was 8pm and we hadn't had supper yet, just finished emptying the car and dumping it all. Whirlwind 45 minutes of unpacking and eating! |
Useful
19) Make packing lists
Last year we did a variety of ways of traveling - our beloved deluxe cabins at KOAs, rustic cabin at Jellystone, flying to an hotel, driving to an hotel...all of these require different things to pack and I was constantly concerned I was forgetting something. I need to make standard packing lists for each scenario that we frequently do and then I can hopefully stop that "I know I am forgetting something but I forget what that something is..." feeling. And hopefully it would speed up and ease up the packing process!
20) Systemize keeping quotes from the boys
Right now I have these saved in a variety of ways in a variety of places and I need to consolidate. My best way to save them now is to immediately text to Matt and then screenshot it. That gives me a date, a record, and don't need anything besides my phone (and the funny kid). However, I have been doing this sporadically for awhile and need to actually DO something with those quotes besides keep them in a folder on my computer. Also, I have quotes other places too. This all needs cleaned up!
21) Art books
Yes, I need to get back to these. Did A LOT of photographing of art in 2022 but now need to catch up since I was last caught up AND work on getting things in the books. Sam's was caught up at one point and the process of actually putting them in the photobook software wasn't hard! I just need to do it. Although Luke has at least double the art Sam does...
22) Recycle sneakers
I have a pile of outgrown and worn out shoes in the basement that I've been holding onto for when I find a good way to dispose of them. I think I have found that solution but I need to try it out before I open it up further. Also, this would help get things out of the basement.
23) Project at Luke's School
This was the last project on my list last year too, the one I made just the smallest amount of process on. BUT...I have ideas and I really think it could make a difference. More to come on this, somebody please tell me to get my butt in gear.
That's it! Plenty of things to keep me busy this year and quite a few that I can start on soon-ish! Let's go! If you make any sort of similar project list, I'd love to hear about it! Let's motivate each other!
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