2017 Resolutions

I love keeping track of my resolutions online.  It reminds me, months into the year, of the goals that I had set at the beginning of the year.  As a result, my house is cleaner, I'm more organized, and I've made progress towards remaking my life into the person I want to be.


1) Complete 12 Home Improvement Projects This Year

We recovered the kitchen chairs!  The seats of the chairs have suffered some significant damage at the claws of the cats.  Over the past 8 years, their little claws have dug into the seat as they've jumped on and off, and the seats have been torn.  The seats look so much better now!  I used fabric that I picked up on clearance last year for $3/yard, and replaced the foam cushion with new cushions that I picked up last year on sale before Thanksgiving. How did I recover the chairs?  Easy - I watched a whole bunch of YouTube videos!  Since the repair was only to the seat bottoms, it was a pretty easy DIY project.

Disclosure Notice- My husband refuses to let me use the staple gun anymore, so he was the one who did the actual stapling of the fabric onto the seat bottoms.  He was also the one who made certain that the seats were firmly screwed onto the chair bases so that the wouldn't come loose!

2) Lose a few more inches around my waist.
Working on it.

 3) Get away with my husband - just the two of us - twice.
Already, this is not looking very promising.  Something about my work schedule not coinciding with his and me not having much leave.

4) Lenten Cleaning Challenge


The time is quickly approaching!  Can I get rid of 40 bags of crap in 40 days?  I have already started sorting.  Making the time to get these things out of the house is going to be tricky!

5) Post at Least 12 Book Reviews on my Books for Teens Blog
One down!
Stealing Snow.  My Review:
 http://librarynut-booksforteens.blogspot.com/2017/01/stealing-snow.html

6) Finish the Hallway Bathroom
This one ties into the one below...
March 31 is the date we will have the amount of money set for our budget, and the chaos begins!  (or is it ends, considering the work that needs to be done?)

7) Participate in the NoSpenduary Challenge
January has been finished!  Tuition has been paid for two children - the last ever tuition payment for middle child is now - OFFICIALLY - in the books.  Even with tuition, money was still set aside for the bathroom remodel this spring.  The kids paid for their own textbooks.  Middle child only needed one book.  Daughter picked up her books from the library for two classes, and the professors for her other three classes are only using materials available online - either freely available on the web, or through the university subscriptions.  THANK YOU to those professors who took the time to do the research and find FREE to the student relevant materials.  I know it was more work on their part, but their effort shows great compassion to the students and their bottom line.

8) Learn Another Language
Our public library has Rosetta Stone available online.  I've begun working my way through the Spanish program.  I'm also watching Sesmae Street on VeMe (Spanish Language PBS)

9) 100 Things Every Marylander Should Do
I didn't get out much this month.  That whole not spending thing, you know.

10) Finish Daughter's Quilt
It's been pinned, and it's in the quilting hoop.  Quilting has commenced!

11) Clean Out the Closet and Dresser Drawers in the Master Bedroom
I feel like the turtle racing against an unseen hare.  We have two dressers in our room.  I've finished one of the two dressers - I've cleaned out the drawers, reorganized them, sorted and matched funky socks, etc.  I've cleaned off the top of the dresser, hung up necklaces, and I found a nifty wall-mounted earring holder for sale on Etsy.  Unfortunately, I'm one month into my three month moratorium on spending, so....  I'll have to see if I can cobble something together with items I have laying around the house.  Who knows?  If I can recover kitchen chairs, I'd like to think that I can also put together something to hold matching earrings together for next to nothing.

12) Clean out the little room in the basement and make it usable.
I'm still working on the closet in our room.  Good Lord, my house is a mess!

13) Work on the landscaping in the front yard.
It's too cold to start right now!

14) Take at least one class through the American Library Association.
I'm three weeks into an online class!  I am learning so much, and enjoying every bit of it!  I can't wait to see if I can put some of this into action this summer!

How are you doing on your resolutions?