As part of my “resolutions,” I made a to-do list for this year. Its a bit odd, admittedly, haha, but I like a good list 🙂 Some of it is simple. Some of it is a lot bigger. Some of it is in my control, and some isn’t. But I thought it would be a fun idea to see how far I get! The first month of the year wasn’t particularly gentle, and I didn’t have many opportunities to accomplish anything. While thats been kind of hard to swallow for me, I’m trying to remind myself that its just that first month. There are many more to go. And frankly, January was spent working on the first item on the list! So, in no particular order…
1. Physical restoration. Thats a pretty big goal, but of utmost importance. I’d love to be back in good health as soon as possible. So I did that for a month, and I can tell you I’m still working on it. I can confidently say there has been great progress, and I’m so grateful for that 🙂 Win!
2. Make noodles. I’ve been wanting to make my own noodles for a long time now and for whatever reason, I find it super intimidating. I have a great noodle roller machine and everything, but I’m just spooked. I’d love to get over that and at least try it once. If anyone wants to noodle with me, that would go a long way!
3. Kids in new rooms ✅ Dekker and Solly room together downstairs now. Laela and Wavy share the bigger room on the mail floor, and Rowan has his own room now! When does the middle kid ever get their own room?? And he’s the middlest middle kid!
4. Tidy up the Christmas mess in my room ✅
5. Organize craft stuff. This is an area of my house that I find SO overwhelming! I can make it beautiful and organized and SO clean, and it gets trashed so fast. As our house comes together, we’ll soon be buying a particular cabinet that will hold some of the craft stuff. We don’t have it yet, and I’m pretty confident that our craft area will be overflowing until we have that extra space, no matter how much I purge and tidy. Its just too many things in one space. The craft cupboard holds ALL the craft stuff, extra packs of paper, the printer, external hard drives, and extra cans of coffee, haha! Maybe this one should actually be called “Buy IKEA cabinet.”
6. Wash high chair ✅ My mom just did this for me the other day. It was HORRID and she soaked it and scrubbed it and made it like new again ❤️
7. Wash car seat covers. Ugh. This should be done from time to time, right?
8. Anniversary plan ✅ I had a plan in mind a long while ago and never brought it to fruition. January was NOT my month, wow. I had a backup plan for a home date, and then Brady surprised me with a date night, flowers, and earrings. So, I didn’t do this, but Brady did!
9. Pinterest board for backyard. Ok, I’ve juuuust started this. Like I have one pin. But I’m working on it 🙂
10. Pinterest board for garden. Am I crazy to think about putting in a garden this Spring, assuming we get the fence and grass all put in as early as possible? Might as well save ourselves having to dig up fresh grass and just throw that garden down early, right? Who wants to help me garden?? 🙋♀️
11. Retrieve blanket box ✅
12. Get knocked up. Lol! This is a high priority, yet its also completely out of my control 🤷♀️ Sooooo its on the list, but if I don’t reach this goal by December, I guess I don’t. But, let’s just say I will. Ideally the goal it so carry a sustainable, full term pregnancy.
13. Plan trips! I have a couple of little weekends/day trips I want to go on this year, and I would really love to plan them in advance so nothing gets missed 🙂
14. Dining floor. Ugh. I have to wash that thing. I hate mopping, and that floor is beyond a mop. It needs a scrub by hand. And I’m willing to do it, except that my hands are currently in no shape to be scrubbing crusted on gunk off of such a large space. That one is going to have to wait.
15. Meal plan? Question mark because I’m trying to be realistic. This is something I think I could do, but in the past, I’ve done it and enjoyed it for a solid week, and then it all drops off and I feel like a failure. This is something I’m not sure is worth prioritizing for me right now. I think I could be great at it, and meal prepping, when I have no kids at home. But, no promises. Rather, I’d like to do a month where we get super creative and eat out our freezer and pantry completely, and see what we end up with. Then I could see us meal planning and only buying what we truly need. This one is more something I want to think about and consider. Not necessarily do.
16. Price drop ceiling ✅ We have the price, but we’re not in a rush. Likely, the ceiling will wait until our yard is done.
17. Price fence and shed. These pricing ones are more for Brady, but still, they’re on my list so I remember to ask. If we have the information, we know roughly what to save for each project. Our fence is 1/3 done thanks to our lovely neighbours, so we’re only on the hook for two sides. And the “shed” will be the area we close in under the deck. Its pretty tall in there, so we figured, our yard isn’t so big itself, we may as well use that space up!
18. Price out grass. We’re looking at hydroseeding, based on a recommendation of a friend. Have any of you done it? What do you think – before or after fence?
19. Order Vitex.
20. Back up laptop ✅ The backup, however, did not solve our problem. We’ll either have to take it in for diagnostics orrrrr buy a new one 😩
21. Keep saving blog books. I can’t do this without a working laptop, so it has to wait. BUT! Did I mention I ordered some a while ago?? I was SO behind in ordering them, but I had FIVE completed and waiting to be ordered!! Woot!
22. Quarterly report ✅
23. Create system for the island. The island is our dumping ground for whatever junk doesn’t have a home. Its also the centre of our home, and pretty much the first thing people see when they enter our house. Those people include me, and I haaaaate how messy it always is. Whether we find specific homes for the things that always fall there, or just a system where its tidied every evening, something like that, it needs to change.
24. New toothbrush setup ✅ This one is moot, actually. For the longest time, we had a cute little toothbrush drawer that fit everyone, until there was Waverly. We chucked her toothbrush in with someone else’s, and it was fine, but I wanted to make a setup that fit her better, and no one’s tooth goo had to touch anyone elses. But then Dekker and Solomon moved downstairs with their toothbrushes! So the drawer upstairs happily fits the three it needs, and the two boys have theirs downstairs in the drawer. Easy fix.
25. Hose off living room rug. Ok, so we have that black and white IKEA rug that just about everyone has. It used to be white, and now it isn’t. When our basement was still concrete, Brady took it down and drove a carpet cleaner on it over and over and over again. It used SO MUCH cleaner and the water never came out clean. It was SO gross. We never managed to get it even close to back to its original colour. My plan, this Spring/Summer is to ask a friend with a concrete driveway if we can put our carpet out on it and spray the heck out of it with a pressure washer. That should do it, right?
26. Knit something wearable. I know. I’m kind of “off” knitting right now. But I’m SO eager to get back to it. In moderation 😉 I’ve had a couple of different items in my head for such a long time now and they just do not exist on this earth!! So I guess I have to make them! And I’d love to get the ugly newb stuff out of the way early on so I can actually make comfy cute things for next winter 🙂
27. Get contacts. This was a goal last year, but money was just too tight. I haven’t had contacts since high school and I miss the convenience of not fogging up in winter and not sliding down in summer.
28. Set up my Fitbit. I got a Fitbit a while ago and I tend to not pull that stuff out until I’m ready to set it up completely and understand it fully. These times where I’ve been laid up in bed would be those times, except that I wasn’t ready for the thing to tell me I only took 30 steps that day. Lol! So maybe when this whole pain thing is over but I have some time.
29. Clean carpets
30. Get more gravel to level out our driveway until we can actually pour one. (Notice pouring a driveway is not on this years to-do list. Maybe next year.) Last fall, we said how many times that we NEEDED to get some more gravel before winter came, as our van presses it down SO quickly, and then there’s a significant badump when we drive in. But we didn’t get there. Hopefully in spring!
See me with my reasonable goals? These aren’t so crazy! And let’s be real. Its a pretty haphazard list. But maybe I’ll be super on the ball, and we’ll look back at it together in December and see how much I did?? Orrrrr how many things are left? 🙈 Also a possibility! But, positive thinking!! Lots of these things are fun, or easy, and not stressful! But in the times of pushing myself, GLORY STRENGTH! Right guys?? Its going to be a great year!
Whats on your to-do list for 2020?