2017 Resolutions

Resolutions, resolutions.  We all make them, but how many of them do we keep?  I've been keeping an online list of my resolutions this year, and it has kept me honest.  While I not have kept all of my resolutions, I have completed a significant number of them!  I read an article recently that said that there are several reasons we don't keep our resolutions.  The two that stuck with me the most are

1) Making your resolutions a year long process: something you work on every day.
2) Having an accountability buddy: someone close to you to whom you have to report.

So, by keeping this list for an entire year and checking back in on it monthly, I am ensuring that it does become a year long process.  Also, by making this list public, I am ensuring that I have several accountability buddies!

(If you'd like to read the entire article, you can find it here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/wired-success/201312/why-we-dont-keep-our-new-years-resolutions)


So, having said all of that, here's this year's mix of goals and resolutions for 2017!

1) Complete 12 Home Improvement projects around the house this year.
Do I have specific things I'd like to accomplish?  Yes.  Am I going to list them?  NO.  Last year, we were confounded by unexpected home repairs.  I am going to accomplish one home improvement project each month of this year.  Heaven knows, there's enough stuff that needs to be done in our house!  If I made a list of everything that needs to be done, I think it would depress ALL of us.  So, I'm going to limit it to 12 projects.  12 things that can be accomplished with the skills or materials or money we have on hand.  At the end of the year, I'll share the master list of home improvements... and we'll see how many of them I've actually knocked off!

2) Lose a few more inches around my waist.
Last year, my goal was to lose 3 inches.  I nailed it!  According to the guidelines for women that I've been able to find, the healthiest waist circumference is between 32" and 35".  Losing a few more inches would put me safely into the middle of that spectrum.  Can I do it?  Well, I'm determined. It might mean that I need to sign up for a Pilates class, though.  I'll do whatever it takes!  I've come so far at this point, I'm NOT looking back!  This does mean that I will continue to exercise on a regular basis.  Again, after 2 years of making this my focus, I don't see this going away.  I WILL NOT stop going to the gym and exercising.  As the annoying commercial says, "Just Do It". 

3) Get away with my husband - just the two of us - twice over the next year.
I don't know where we're going to go, but we need to spend some time together, without our children along.  Where are we going to go?  Who knows?  But a couple of weekends away without any of our grown children around sounds like a great idea!  (It's much harder to do with grown kids in the house than you think it would be!)

4) Lenten Cleaning Challenge
Last year's resolution was to get rid of 23 things a week. Boy howdy, did I clean up!  Stuff is gone, and the house is cleaner. But, there's still room for improvement.  I've got a long way to go in order to get this house truly clean.  But instead of setting the bar at 23 things a week, I'm setting it differently this year.  There's a challenge out there that I found to get rid of 40 bags of crap during the 40 days of Lent.  I found it on White House Black Shutters.  I'm pretty sure I've got 40 bags worth of crap laying around here that I can get rid of!  I'm looking forward to narrowing this challenge down from a year long cleaning stint to a 40 day challenge!  It should be great! 

5) Post at least 12 Book Reviews on my Books for Teens Blog
I've fallen behind on posting book reviews, and I need to make myself blog more.  This past year, I started reading more children's fiction.  I am going to shift back to Young Adult fiction this year and will post at least one book review per month.

6) Finish the Hallway Bathroom
It will happen this year.  Middle child is graduating from college and moving back home.  We've got no choice but to get that finished before he graduates.  We also have issues with that toilet.  So, whatever we've managed to save on March 31 is the budget we'll be working with.... with that thought in mind...

7) Participate in the NoSpenduary Challenge
The challenge is not to spend any money outside of the necessities for a month.  Since March 31 is our deadline for saving money to fix the bathroom, I will be holding back on all spending for January, February, and March.  I'll most likely be picking up some extra shifts at work during this time, too.  I really want to have a decent amount of money for us to work with when we sit down and start planning out the budget and meeting with contractors.  *sigh*  I'm both really looking forward to this and really dreading this....

8) Learn Another Language
I took 4 years of Spanish in high school.  After 30 something years, I remember a handful of words.  (Hey, I remember the important ones: Donde esta el bano?  AND  Dos cervezos, por favor!)
I really need to do better.  

9) 100 Things Every Marylander Should Do
Last year, I published a list of 100 Things Every Marylander Should Do Before They Die.  I've done a fair number of them, but not nearly close to all 100.  I am going to knock 12 more of those items off of the list this year.
You can read the original lists here:
100 Things Every Marylander Must Do At Least Once, Pt. 1
100 Things Every Marylander Must Do At Least Once, Pt. 2

10) Finish Daughter's Quilt
She's finishing up at the Community College in May, and will be transferring to a four year school in August.  I have pieced and pinned the quilt - but now I need to quilt it and finish it.  Before August.  (The bigger question here is: Will she go away to school, or will she continue to live at home and commute?  Big decisions need to be made in the next month!)

11) Clean out the Closet and Dresser Drawers in the Master Bedroom
Not just straighten it, but clean it.  I need to go through and get rid of the things I no longer wear, and go through the stash of stuff that I made to sell on Etsy - but never sold.  I need to donate them or give them away or something.  I really need to get everything out of that closet.  I also need to go through the dresser drawers and throw some things away.  This sounds like an easy task - but if it were easy, I wouldn't have had to write it down as a goal, would I?

12) Clean out the little room in the basement and make it usable.
We have a little room in our basement.  When my in-laws lived in the house, my father-in-law used it as an office.  When we moved in, we found a leak in the basement that necessitated the removal of all the drywall, sealing the cinder block wall, and replacing the dry wall.  Now that all of that has been done, we need to address the final issues (cleaning out the last of the stuff we had shoved in the closet, fixing lighting, etc.) and make it into a usable room of some kind.   I had thought of making that into a craft room years ago. We'll see how this plays out, considering the bathroom remodel and some kitchen issues I'd like to address. At the very least, I'd like to make it more presentable...

13) Work on the landscaping in the front yard.
Our landscaping can best be described as "overgrown disaster".  We've pulled two hugely overgrown bushes out - they were higher than the roof on the house.  I want to update the landscaping.  While I might not get the entire front of the house updated, I'd at least like to update the part in front of the master bedroom so that it looks neater and more complimentary to the house.

14) Take at least one class through the American Library Association.
I have several choices, and I need 6 hours of CEU's to renew my teaching certificate.  As long as I've got to take classes, I'm going to see if I can take something that will count towards renewing my teaching certificate in 2019 AND benefit my library.


This promises to be a year of great things!