Christmas decorations are finally down (finished on the 15th...I would say that's the latest every but I know one of the first years we were married that I still had some things up in March...) so it's time to really start thinking about this year. Matt will be in school nearly the entire year (he'll finish right before Christmas 2024 and gets a few weeks off during the year) which just means this year will be a lot different than other years. Boys & I spend more time together and Matt's off (mostly in his office) doing his schoolwork. So this year just feels different but it's still going to be a good year! I am determined!
This is my 7th year of publishing one of these lists on the blog and I've mostly gotten a passing grade although never even hitting an A. May this year be the year!
20 in 2020 | How I Did (85.75%)
21 in 2021 | How I Did (89.5%)
22 in 2022 | How I Did (86.4%)
23 in 2023 | How I Did (79.5%)
Inside Home Things
1) Paint kitchen cabinets
Always good to start with where you failed the year before...I have a possible time blocked out for this though AND already have the paint for the lowers so I am slightly more optimistic this will happen this year!
2) Replace kitchen cabinet hardware
This one might be a little harder because I am still holding out hope that I can get the hinges moved inside the cabinets instead of mounted on the outside like they currently are. We'll see, either way I want to replace the pulls. It's still the ones that came with the house 18 years ago!
This is one I've been considering doing for awhile and I think will finally do this year. I have frames kinda picked but need to do the math of how many I can fit. I've even had some pictures pulled for this in a folder on my computer for YEARS. (Although I did delete about half of those that I pulled all those years ago.) It might mean more frames to wrap at Christmas but would be exciting to finally do the gallery after I've kinda been thinking about it for years. (This is the wall the couch is on most of the year, we move it for the Christmas tree and then don't move it back until we're getting ready for the boys' birthday party in March.)
4) Hang pictures of MIL
When my mother-in-law died last summer, my parents and sisters gave us a garden stone with a quote on it. I don't think I want to put it in the backyard but hang it on a wall in the stairs (it does have a hanger on it) and then hang two pictures with my MIL in them with it. (I've already printed one of them! The last picture we took of our family of 4 with Matt's parents.) Matt has approved this plan but we were waiting until after Christmas since there was something else hanging there then.
Outside Things
5) Plant Dahlias
MAYBE this year they will take!
6) Run outside every month of the year
I have run every month, January - December, but never all in the same calendar year. I'd really like to do this and I WAS checking the 10 day forecast to see the possibility of it happening in January (I will not run in the bitter cold we've been having or on ice.) December is really the only other iffy month, I nearly always run, at least once, March - November and often in February. We'll see if I can make it happen.
Nagging Tasks
7) Finish our will
We met with an attorney over a year ago, in late 2022, to start the process...but we've never finished it. We need to finish it.
8) Buy cemetery plots
Equally cheery...we've been talking about doing this ever since MIL died. Our parents will all be buried at the same cemetery so it makes sense for us to go there too...and I know it would, eventually, in DECADES hopefully, take a little bit of the burden off the boys if we got this taken care of.
9) Get a dumb phone for home
As we occasionally start leaving the boys home alone, we need a phone for them so they can get a hold of us. I want a dumb phone that can only text and call that we only give the number to a very select number of people, Matt & I, family members who live especially close, etc.
10) Sell a Lego Millennium Falcon
We bought a few a few years ago that have been sitting in our closet or under our bed every since. The Christmas we were engaged, I gave Matt one of these (neither version we have to sell) and it remains maybe the best gift surprise I've ever gotten him (this was when the internet was MUCH LESS HELPFUL for shopping than it is now!). We've been planning on selling one for months, we just need to actually do it. The price is 2-3x's what we paid for it! I even have a box it could ship in! (That was a holdup for a long time.)
Food
11) Try a new chicken recipe every month
I try to do a beef, chicken, vegetarian (mostly meatless pasta) meal rotation and we are severely lacking in the chicken recipes right now. And chicken is even easier to cook in the Instant Pot than beef! I need to find some more idea to round out our standards. Making myself try a different one each month is a start.
12) Make a standard fall/winter and spring/summer menu plan with grocery list
I started this a few years ago, after reading The Lazy Genius Kitchen, but haven't completely fine tuned it yet. (More chicken recipes would help.) I never got to the grocery list part of this and that would be very helpful. My current (not finished plan) is 3 sets of 2 week menu that we'd just rotate through. But I need to finish this up because menu planning is one of my least favorite tasks, even though I'm always glad to have done it.
13) Host 6 Cookouts
So close last year. This will be the year! Maybe!
14) Go on 10 dates
We hit at least that last year. This might be harder this year since Matt should no longer have his day off every week (after 4 years!) since he has to do clinicals on those days but he has taken an extra day off (paid) work about every 3 weeks to catch up on schoolwork so we could still do some of these then. And there is also the times our kids are home too. I think we can get in 10.
This has gotten pretty ingrained into our routine ever since we started doing it years ago. We rarely eat from non-local restaurants besides the occasional fast food and have found many local favorites.
16) Finish 4 photobooks (2023, Luke, Sam, summer 2024 vacation)
Only one vacation this year with Matt's school schedule and I have the other 3 books nearly completely up to date! Maybe I'll spend less time on this this year.
17) Go to the Farmers Market 6 times
Last year we made it 4 times! I think we can up that a little this year, especially now that I know where both indoor markets are!
We got Monopoly Deal last year and played it constantly, almost immediately, to the point where we all got good at it very fast. That makes it easy to work into our game rotation. We have many other games we've never all developed that comfort with and I'd like it if we did. I don't know that there are 12 we don't play regularly but once we get through the unplayed ones we can circle back to ones we play but not super often. Plus, at nearly 6 and 11 (WHAT!?!?!?) the boys are good ages for this.
Helpful items
19) Buy a grey sweater (to keep)
I have had the HARDEST time finding a grey sweater that I like enough to keep. The fit is always off, either too long or too short. I've bought and returned many because nothing has worked. It would feel like an accomplishment to find one I like enough to keep. And wear.
20) Dye a dress
There is a dress that I own that I like the fit and cut of but it is in a color that doesn't work with my skin tone. Too pastel and I need darker colors since my skin is so pale. I have the dress. I even bought the dye! I just need to do it (probably when the weather is a little warmer at least, for outside dying).
21) Figure out how to use Gmail better (clear-up inboxes)
Towards the end of college, I set-up a gmail address and that is what I have used for nearly 20 years. However, I have NEVER put the time in to figuring out how to best use it. One of the inboxes has 130 e-mails, some going back years (I still have one from a friend saying she can't make our wedding). I know there has to be a better organization system for this...I just don't know what it is. Also, there are places where I find TONS of realllllly old e-mails, like library notifications from years ago, that I thought I had deleted. WHY are those there????
22) Fix tags
I've been tagging my pictures on my computer for many years. Windows changed how I can sort by those now so it's gotten harder to see where I've mistyped or accidentally combined some tags. Occasionally the wrong one pops up when I am tagging something and I've been intending to go back and fix these...for years. Probably need to start with writing down the wrong ones that I find.
23) Art books
This is a multi-year project with little forward progress. I have one kid who keeps asking to look at his...which has never gotten close to the printing stage. I'd really like to get these done.
24) Make a step on green project at school
What is that step? I don't know. But I am writing this after having done lunch duty at school and the waste is disgusting (who knew most kids won't eat oranges??? At least at school.). I actually have another meeting set-up with the principal next week (in the past by the time this publishes) so we'll see what we can get going.
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