to do list for 2011

This is one reason I love having the blog. It's a place where I can make this yearly list, check it through the year, and check things off of it. I used to make my resolutions at the first of the year, do them for a few weeks (they were usually resolutions to correct bad habits), then give up because I wasn't perfect at them. Now I look at the resolutions as things to work on all year. I do check this list at least once a month through the year, but usually more, to help me remember what it was I wanted to accomplish.

All year I've been trying to complete things on my 2010 list. I got about half of them done. Which was great. There were also several things we did that weren't on the list. I was thinking of listing them, but I don't need to do that. I already feel better just reviewing the last year of blog posts.

Here is the new list:

house stuff

1. ORGANIZE BASEMENT! (this has been on my list for the past 3 years)

2. paint stairs

3. paint stairwell walls

4. paint hall floor

5. finish up hall (paint rest of closet, hang closet doors, fix floor molding, hang ironing board)

6. paint basement walls

7. paint basement floor didn't need to do it, since we got concrete instead

8. install stairwell light fixture

9. curtains (my room, living room, dining room, downstairs room, back door)

10. kitchen threshold

11. finish painting the fence hired someone to do it.

12. repaint the living room (walls, ceiling)

13. quarter round

14. bathroom sink

15. black out windows

quilts I've already started

1. Jack's stripe quilt (top, quilt, bind)

2. my bed quilt (quilt, bind)

3. wildwood coin quilt (top, quilt, bind)

4. KJR 9 patch quilt (sash, quilt, bind)

5. Hello Betty (top, quilt, bind)

6. purple/yellow (border, quilt, bind)

7. quilt for Charlie's teacher

other stuff

1. update photos in dining room

2. church bag

3. music bag

4. get down to my wedding weight - I've lost 6 pounds so far!

5. FHE once a week - uh - this hasn't happened - but I'm trying

6. scriptures with family every night - this hasn't happened either - but I'm still trying

7. learn to play the drums (did I tell you Dan got me a drum kit for Christmas?) this isn't really happening - I have 5 kids!

8. finish 3 songs on the piano -Maybe I should have been more realistic and said 1 song

9. start running - I have started this!

10. go to cash spending (no more on the credit or debit cards) - we aren't spending on the credit card! yay!

11. plant a garden planted a bunch of stuff. Haven't picked it all.

12. plant more plants in the bare spots (park strips, chimney side, front)

13. write in the kids' journals at least once a month

14. write in my grateful journal at least once a month

thanks for reading! what are you going to do?

A look at 2009 and on to 2010

Lots of the blogs I read had posts about what people did in 2009. While I thought it would look really cool to do a mosaic (1 photo from each month) and a mosaic of all my projects completed, it seemed like too much work. So I skimmed through the last year of the blog and was amazed at all I completed. Many more sewing projects than I remembered. And if I actually kept track of the house projects I would also feel pretty great! I got a lot done in 2009!

So - we'll look at the old goal list and see how I did. In this post I listed things I didn't get done in 2008 and more things I wanted to get done in 2009. (You can click on it to see what I got done.) And with that - here are the new lists:

House stuff:

1. organize basement
2. paint hallway
3. paint stairs
4. paint stairwell walls
5. paint my closet door
6. clean door hardware
7. install my closet door
8. paint basement started
9. light fixture in stairwell (etch and install)

Quilts already started:

1. My bed quilt (borders, quilt, bind)
2. Wildwood coin quilt (top, quilt, bind)
3. wonky star bike quilt (quilt, bind)
4. pink squares (quilt, bind)
5. table runner (quilt, bind)
6. purple/yellow 9 patch (borders, quilt, bind)
7. Katie Jump Rope 9 patch (top, quilt, bind)

Other quilts I'd like to make:

1. HR dogs for Luke (sashing, back, quilt, bind)
2. Jack stripes
3. Hello Betty started
4. Pinwheel like this
5. Yellow/orange string quilt (or zig zag quilt)
6. munki quilt
7. Flea Market Fancy quilt
8. church bag (not really a quilt, but I didn't want to start another list.)

The Family Goal:

This year Dan and I decided that we're not always that nice. Sometimes we're just a couple of jerks. So we thought maybe we could help ourselves out with the yearly theme BE NICE. The theme morphed into BE A LITTLE NICER. I'm going to make a nice looking sign for it and hang it on the door for all to remember. This is the first time we've had a theme for the year.

We also made a goal to sit down and eat dinner together every night. It is difficult in our house because our kitchen is too small for the whole family. The kids usually sit in there and then Dan and I eat wherever. Dan usually eats in front of the TV. I usually eat in front of the computer. Not so much of a bonding experience. Eating together every night means that the dining table (which usually looks worse than this) needs to be cleared off every night! Should be good for everyone. Last night was our first night and it went pretty well!

I need to set some spiritual goals for myself too. But I'm not going to blog about them.

And if you read this entire post - here's a photo as a reward. Thanks!



(Dreaming of warmer, greener, more flowery days.)

the goals for today

1. paint (the last coat) on the tops of the benches

2. wash one load of pants (which will be difficult because the paint I'm using for the benches is oil based and if I dry anything while they're drying, it makes the clothes smell like lighter fluid)

3. go to home depot and get some pulls for the boxes

4. drink only water today (no diet pepsi) I was doing so well and then Dan got his nightly refill and it's just a habit that I take a few sips. So there went that goal, right out the window.

5. take a picture of sam and his new missing tooth

6. take a shower (i just threw this one in because i haven't taken one yet and i'll be sure to cross it off my list at some point in the day)

7. read a little bit of the book i'm supposed to be finished with thursday (for book club) (finished!)

bonus. install pulls on boxes

resolutions and stuff

I've been sort of excited and sort of frustrated/overwhelmed with the prospect of resolutions this year. Afterall, I never finished my list from last year. And just in case you'd like a report - here it is:

My first goal was to talk in a kinder voice. Although it's a nice goal, I didn't really decide how I would do it or keep track of it. Therefore, I can't say that I'm any better at it, I may even be worse. Really the goal should be to calm down a few times a day or something that would really help me to speak kindly. Another one would be to not do things that make me frustrated while the kids need my attention. (Things that frustrate would be activities I'm doing in which I do not want to be disturbed.)

My second goal was to get good control of the finances. That was quite the ambiguous goal too, so it wasn't really achieved at all.

The third goal were all of those already started projects. I got 5 of 13 done. Not great. I still would really like to get the rest finished. And so I think I will start with them this year. I do have a bit of time every week while Luke is napping to work on something big. Here are the ones that are left:

1. paint benches (made in fall 2006)
2. sand and paint boxes to go under benches
3. paint and install 2 1 doors in Jack and Charlie's bedroom
4. bind Amy Butler quilt 2 (it's been sewn together and quilted)
5. sew top together, quilt, and bind red and white quilt
6. bind living room quilt (it's been quilted)
7. paint inside front door
8. green cabinet - pulls and legs and get it into the front room


In addition there are a few things for 2009, of course:

1. 1 more set of shelves in the storage room (3 have been done)
2. all stuff from basement into storage rooms and organized (we've been working on this already. progress is always too slow for me.)
3. bind another quilt (baby size)
4. lose weight before sara's wedding in maui. Let's say 10 pounds, but 20 sure would be nice.
5. fence the back yard
6. plant a vegetable garden
7. numerous small house projects

I'm sure I'll be adding to my list as the year goes on, and I'm sure I'll be sharing some of the progress.

another one finished

I finished putting the shelves in Charlie's closet. I'm not going to post a picture because it's really not too exciting. But it is nice to have it done and more space. (This was on my original list of unfinished projects from the beginning of the year).

I'm not feeling the blogging lately. Maybe it's because I've beein getting a little nervous about who may be looking at this site. Sometimes it also feels like a lot of bragging. I don't know - but if anything good comes up, I'll post it.

What do you guys know about blog safety?

the quilt

YAY! Another one crossed off the list. Here is Amy Butler quilt 1. I made up the pattern and I hand quilted it. I think I may make a pattern for sale out of this one. What do you think?

the goals for today (which I am posting so that I will have to do them):

clear off the dining room table and put everything away. (see embarrassing picture below.)



read a book to Charlie (so he doesn't spend all day watching TV).



work out in some form or another.



do something on the basement/door project.

I finished it!

This is a quilt I made for my niece for Christmas in 2006. It was way to small for her bed, so I added some on all sides. I've had it since the summer and haven't done hardly anything to it. It was on my list of unfinished projects to finish this year. Only 11 more to go!

first unfinished project completed!

Woohoo! I have completed project 3L. (See here for the complete list of unfinished projects). The dresser is now painted. I will admit that this picture looks better than the dresser does in real life. After 5 or so coats of stinky spray paint, I remembered that the dresser is for the boys and that making it perfect was a crazy idea. So I stopped at pretty good. Because I never take before pictures, you'll have to visualize that the old one looked something like this, ugly and brown with terrible brass looking pulls. The new one looks quite a bit simpler below. Thanks to Jessica for a free dresser! It's so motivating to finish a project - I've already started on my next one.

it's that time again

The time for New Year's resolutions. I love this time of year. I think this blog will be great for keeping track of my goals. Hopefully it will help me stay motivated to complete them.

The Goals:

1. To speak in a kinder voice.

We had a really boring church speaker a few months ago, but he had such a nice voice. He spoke gently and softly and I thought, "I'd really like to speak like that all the time." I'm not really sure how I will accomplish this goal, but it's one I'll be working on for longer than this year I'm sure.

2. Get some good control of the finances.

Yes, I have okay control, but I will be adding to the 401K this year and also sticking to the budget better. I think we'll go back to the cash days instead of using plastic so much. I'll let you know how it works.

3. Complete numerous projects already started. (Pictures will follow when projects are complete).
a. DONE paint benches (made in a class Fall 2006)
b. DONE sand and paint boxes to go under benches (made in same class)
c. paint 1 2 doors for downstairs bedroom (the new bedroom for Jack and Charlie, once all the projects are completed)
d. DONE rod and shelves for downstairs closet (for same bedroom)
e. DONE finish quilting and bind Amy Butler quilt 1
f. DONE sew top together and quilt and bind Amy Butler quilt 2
g. DONE finish quilting and bind fish quilt for Charlie
h. DONE finish Katie's quilt (resizing because I made it too small originally)
i. DONE sew top together and quilt and bind red quilt
j. DONE quilt and bind living room quilt
k. DONE paint inside front door
l. DONE paint and finish dresser
m. pulls and legs for green cabinet for living room (which I bought at least 2 years ago, but stopped working on it when I accidentally drilled into my hand.)


There are many other projects I would like to complete this year, these are just the ones I started when I was pregnant, and then lost all will to do anything but carry a baby and feed the other boys. (Actually some of them were started well before I was pregnant.) Finishing these should free up some space in all of my closets where I store unfinished projects!

What are your goals for the year?