2012 Monthly Goals In Review

For 2012, I made a goal for each month.  Some were successful, and some were not.  Here's the year in review:

January: Make one of these note card journal calendars. And then use it. I have note cards, so if I don't get to making it right away, I can at least start journaling.  I did this one! I love how it turned out, and I actually used it to review for our Christmas letter.

February: Deep clean my refrigerator. It's not a glamorous goal, but it needs to be done. Not a pretty job, but complete.

March: Make a spring/Easter decorative hanger for our door. Or maybe finish the one I started last year...After finishing this, I don't love the color combination (I went with what was in the pattern), but I am glad to have completed an unfinished project.

April: Make a reusable Swiffer duster refill (or two, since I have two dusters). These are really useful, and the kids still do most of the dusting for me!

May: Make at least 2 "busy bag" learning activities for Jonah.  I did get a few of these made, although not until July...

June: Get everything packed up, purged, and organized for our move. It's not a big move. Just back into town. But it is still moving, and all the fun that goes with it. Complete!

July: Get our new place set up, and routines reestablished. A new place, plus the busy-ness of moving, will throw everything off for awhile. Complete!

August: Take $10 and go to the dollar store and/or thrift store and find something to take from trash to treasure in a crafty way.  I had high hopes for this one, and it just never materialized.  Maybe next year?

September: Bake myself a pretty birthday cake (or cupcakes, or whatever I'm in the mood for).  I made myself a yummy chocolate and peanut butter cake.

October: Begin planning Christmas gifts for the year. This last year went pretty well, because I planned early, but I still ended up working on quite a few projects well into December. This year I want to figure everything out and set up a schedule so I can spread the projects out more, and enjoy more free time (and baking!) in December.  First half: successful.  I had everything planned with plenty of time to spare.  Second part: miserable failure.  I didn't start working on most of my projects until mid-December, and this was definitely another stressful time for me.

November: Prepare an Advent calendar with fun activities for each day in December. I wanted to do this last year, but didn't end up having time.  I started the Advent calendar.  And it honestly hasn't gotten much beyond what is in those photos.  But I do plan on continuing to work on it throughout this next year, and hopefully it will be done for next year.

December: Create at least 3 homemade Christmas decorations, including at least 1 with the kiddos. Projects are fun!  Fail.  I had lots of grand ideas, and while we did make some treats together, I spent most of my time crafting presents for other people.  There's always next year?

Overall, I enjoyed this method of making New Year's Resolutions better than just having a general list for the whole year.  I did discover that I need to make sure to actually refer back to the list more frequently, because some goals I simply forgot about because I hadn't looked at it in awhile.  For next year, I haven't decided what I want to do yet.  I have no idea how the addition of a new baby in May, plus another potential move to an as-of-now unknown location will throw things for a loop.

I've also thought of doing a monthly goals post instead of one list at the beginning of the year.  It will be more accurate to whatever our current situation may be, but will still give me something to work towards, which definitely helps me keep my sanity as a stay-at-home mom.

How about you? What are some of your goals for this year?

The Advent Calendar Project

So quite a few weeks ago, I posted about The Advent Calendar Project, which is a weekly project to make an ornament to go in a pocket calendar, one for each day in December leading up to Christmas (so, 25 total).  They're on week 16 (I think?).  I haven't made any ornaments yet, although I have a whole bunch of ideas saved.

One of my monthly goals for this year (for November, but I started early) is to make an Advent calendar for our family to use.  I knew I wanted to make one with pockets, so we can have options for the month of December.  An ornament a day?  Sure.  A piece of paper with a special activity? Why not.  A little treat for the kiddos?  Maybe.  So I came up with this plan.

I promise, it makes sense to me.  I still haven't finalized the design for the background, although it is going to be mainly red.  But I have started working on the pockets.

I cut out lots and lots of pieces.  25 fronts, and 75 sides (left side, bottom, right side for each pocket).  I grabbed the number patterns from a pattern book I have for various kid learning toys, and I worked on those during naptime, so I could focus and make sure they're (mostly) centered.  That's the tricky part.  So now, while the kids are playing, I can pick up whatever number pocket I'm on, and fill in the white.  Because I'm just doing filler work, I can watch the kids and not mess up.  Yay progress!

I still have to figure out how to for sure finish the massive two-panel background, design and make the decorative top, finish and attach all the pockets, and figure out how to hang it (and stabilize the sides so it doesn't curve inward).  Good thing I still have a couple months...

Bottle Caps and Dried Beans Busy Bag Idea

A few days ago, the boys were getting crabby and restless.  It was hot (hence the diapers only apparel), and they didn't feel like doing much.  So I got out a few plastic cups and bits for them to play with.

For Matthew, who is just shy of 18 months and still occasionally puts things in his mouth, I grabbed some bottle caps I had been saving.

He started dumping them back and forth between the two cups.  I had cut a slit in the bottom of one of the cups for him to push the bottle caps through, which he did once, but then he decided dumping them was more fun.

Jonah, on the other hand, thought the slit in the bottom idea was a great one. I put him to work on a container of dried beans.

He was quite amused for awhile, picking up a handful and dropping them in, one by one.

Since that night, I have cut the slit in the bottom of Jonah's cup bigger, and split the bottle caps between the two of them (and I still add caps as we come up with them).  

We have left the beans alone, because Jonah got upset about something and threw a bunch on the floor, which we had to quickly pick up so Matthew wouldn't put them in his mouth and choke.  So, for now, bottle caps it is.  Both kids have enjoyed that game, and we get the cups out almost every day!

My monthly goal for May was to make 2 busy bags for Jonah, which I never did.  Since my June goal was to move (successful!) and my July goal was to get settled in our new house (also successful!), we'll count this as half of May's project.  Perhaps I'll be able to come up with another one sometime soon...

Swiffer Duster Refills

My April goal was to make washable refills for my Swiffer dusters.  I received both of these as free samples, and when we had the actual Swiffer dust cloths on them, Jonah and I dusted a lot because it was easy and kind of fun.  But then the cloths got icky, I threw them out, and we dusted less.  I didn't want to continually throw money away by buying more, so I decided to make these. 

I used the pattern here, and leftover fleece from Jonah's blanket and a Christmas gifted scarf.  Because I was hand sewing, each refill took me about an hour to cut and sew, but I think it was well worth the effort.  Some of our window ledges were extra dusty, but as you can see, the dusters picked up A LOT of dust.

I am so happy that these were on my project list, because I know dusting will become a regular chore once again.  And the best part is that since Jonah's is made of "his" fleece, he thinks dusting is the most awesome chore ever, and anything 3 feet and lower is already clean.  Awesome!

Spring Door Hanger

I realized about halfway through March that I hadn't worked on my goal for the month at all. That goal was to finish the spring door hanger that I started last year but never completed. It took me a few extra days, but yesterday I added the wire and hung it on our door.

Just in time for Easter! I like it!

Fridge Deep Cleaning

My February goal was to deep clean our refrigerator. All of the shelves needed to be wiped down, and those little ridges in the door had been collecting yucky stuff for far too long. I didn't take a before picture, because when I got in the mood to clean the fridge (or at least as close to "in the mood" as I was going to get), I didn't want to waste a minute!

I promise we normally have more in our refrigerator than butter and wine. This was the day or so before shopping, and since it was extra empty, it seemed like a perfect time.

And here's our fairly empty (really!) freezer. I wiped that out too.

I'm super excited to get this checked off my list of to-dos, and it actually motivated me to clean out my dish strainer and clean off my counters too!

On a side note, I actually think it's really interesting to peek into other peoples' refrigerators and freezers. So now you've seen mine. What's in yours?

Iron Craft #1: Note Card Journal

I happened upon this project over a year ago and thought it was absolutely awesome, so I planned on starting it right away in 2011. And then I didn't. And then I found it again a few months later, but who wants to start a calendar type project in the middle of the year? So I knew in 2012 it was going to happen. If I remembered it. And I did!

You'll have to keep reading to find out how it works, but first, the detail shots of the postcard dividers for each month. They are all things that I love, or things I thought were pretty and inspiring at the time I was making them.

January: A mug of coffee (this photo was actually from an ad for Caribou Coffee, my absolute favorite).
February: It's hard to see, but it's Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet that starts "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." I cut up a book for this project. That was actually hard for me to do, but it was a book I had gotten for free specifically for craft projects, so it's okay?

March: The only postcard I kept as is, aside from adding a tag for the word "March".
April: I knew I wanted sheet music and a pretty flower, and the elephant just fit very nicely with this one. I used a combination of cutouts from magazines, greeting cards, and cardstock I already had, so no money spent on materials!

May: The background was a photo of blankets and pillows on a bed. I love sleep, but I don't get nearly enough of it.
June: William Wordsworth's "Wandered Lonely as a Cloud". One of my favorites since my freshman year of high school in Professor Kirk's class.

July: One of the best iconic photos there is, and a great way to celebrate the month of our anniversary.
August: Martha Stewart Living magazine had a spread awhile back of a bunch of old cookbooks from various decades, and I saved the few pages because I thought they were neat. I used them for both August and September.

September: More old cookbooks, these from the 1940s, because I love baking!
October: A cool map of part of Africa from a magazine, and a church from a greeting card. A nice reminder to go spread God's Word.

November: The third and final cut into the book (for now). There was this cool picture of a town in the front of the book that I stole a part of.
December: Candy canes, a snowflake, and a nativity. Pretty much everything but the tree (which I almost put in that corner, but the colors were off).

Here's my big stack of note cards, cut in half, one for each day. (We had a huge pile of note cards, and after I took some for this project, there were a whopping four left). Here's how this works: Each day you write the year and one sentence about what happened that day. The first year isn't as exciting, but every year after that you can look back and see what happened on that day.

The note card journal in action. Love it!

New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year! This year, rather than an over-arching list for the whole year, I'm attempting to accomplish something specific each month. Some are bigger projects that need to get done. Some are specific to events. Some will probably be changed before the year is out.

January: Make one of these note card journal calendars. And then use it. I have note cards, so if I don't get to making it right away, I can at least start journaling.

February: Deep clean my refrigerator. It's not a glamorous goal, but it needs to be done.

March: Make a spring/Easter decorative hanger for our door. Or maybe finish the one I started last year...

April: Make a reusable Swiffer duster refill (or two, since I have two dusters).

May: Make at least 2 "busy bag" learning activities for Jonah.

June: Get everything packed up, purged, and organized for our move. It's not a big move. Just back into town. But it is still moving, and all the fun that goes with it.

July: Get our new place set up, and routines reestablished. A new place, plus the busy-ness of moving, will throw everything off for awhile.

August: Take $10 and go to the dollar store and/or thrift store and find something to take from trash to treasure in a crafty way.

September: Bake myself a pretty birthday cake (or cupcakes, or whatever I'm in the mood for).

October: Begin planning Christmas gifts for the year. This last year went pretty well, because I planned early, but I still ended up working on quite a few projects well into December. This year I want to figure everything out and set up a schedule so I can spread the projects out more, and enjoy more free time (and baking!) in December.

November: Prepare an Advent calendar with fun activities for each day in December. I wanted to do this last year, but didn't end up having time.

December: Create at least 3 homemade Christmas decorations, including at least 1 with the kiddos. Projects are fun!

I Made Bread! and an Update on the New Year's Resolutions

I love homemade bread, but I had never actually made any myself. Until now. The loaf got a little smushed coming out of the pan, but it turned out awesome otherwise. I used this recipe.

And now, for the rest of the resolutions...You can see the original list here, and the updates here and here. And since then, I've completed a few more that I don't think I ever posted an update about:

Spiritual/Family:

• Birthday board
  

Baking:

• Jonah and I made a graham cracker and frosting house like this one, but we ate it before any pictures happened. Oops!
  
• My birthday cake and Jonah's birthday cake
  

Other Food:

• My first roast!
  

I obviously didn't finish all of them, but that's okay. I think for next year, I will have a smaller list, or maybe a goal for each month. Stay tuned...

My Birthday Cake

My birthday isn't technically until Sunday, but I wanted to make myself a pretty cake. I've wanted to do a cake with fondant and pretty frosting for years. Years. I've just never had all of the right stuff. But then I found a set of 4 frosting tips for $3.00 at Walmart. And 2 vinyl frosting bags for $2.00. And a recipe (kind of) for homemade fondant that only had two ingredients. It seemed like now would be a good time to try.

So. I did it. This was my first time doing fondant, and my first time using frosting tips. I actually found the fondant part easier than I expected, and the frosting harder than I expected. Because the fondant "recipe" didn't include any measurements, I guessed, and I ended up making way too much. Luckily, it has a bit of a shelf life, so now I have some for Jonah's birthday cake in a few weeks.

My fondant started to rip apart as I transferred it from my board to my cake. I figured I could fix it on the cake. But you really can't. At least not without ugly lines. Next time, put it back down and re-roll it. Lesson learned.

The bottom border of frosting was easy. Drawing lines and doing handwriting was really hard though. If there were any air bubbles in the frosting bag at all (there were), it made the lines go all wonky. And frankly, I don't have the prettiest handwriting anyways, so trying to make it look nice on a cake? Not so much.

I made a complete mess of the kitchen, ended up doing dishes 3 times in one day, got frosting on the floor, the wall, and in my hair. But in the end, it was a really yummy cake, and now I kind of have an idea of how cake decorating works. I'm really excited to do it again in a couple weeks for Jonah's birthday. I already have his cake planned out in my head. It will be similar to this one, but with extra embellishments.

Update on New Year's Resolutions

Not the most exciting ones, but...

• Finding money for various upcoming events in our lives and putting it where it needs to be is just about done. All we are waiting on is our tax refund, and then everything will be set.
  
• Rework the budget to include fun money! We each get $20 a month. Not a lot, but I get my Caribou every so often, Jesse gets a new book, or we go out to eat. Or whatever. It's our fun money. Now I want to see how far I can make it stretch...
  
  We also adjusted some of our other budget numbers to account for things as they are now - we've been going off of numbers from the beginning of last year for awhile, and some of them were a bit off. For example, we have coin laundry machines in our apartment building. Laundry money never really made the budget sheet. We just kind of grabbed quarters from the bank as we needed to. Now it's on there.
  
  The idea is that by budgeting for everything, and maybe even over-budgeting on some items, we'll have extra at the end of the month that can go toward saving for our next big goal. We have yet to determine what that is, although our emergency fund or a new (to us) car, seem to be the most likely options.
  
• Finish Jesse's Christmas present. It only took me until February.

The big goal for me now is to finish Matthew's baby blanket. He's less than 2 months away! I see lots of little squares in my future...

Jesse's Christmas Present

I got the idea and pattern for this from my friend Lawanda. The verse on the right hand side is Joshua 24:15. "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." In Hebrew. She made a cross stitched version of this for her house, and once I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for Jesse's someday office. It's our wedding verse, and a verse that we try to apply to our lives every day. My favorite part, though it's kind of hard to see in the picture, is the little french knot for the doorknob.

I finished most of the lettering and the house right away, but I finally finished the white background this week. Now all I have to do is find a frame that will work for it - it's about 9x12, give or take a little bit. Maybe I'll use one of those Hobby Lobby or Michael's sales to get a nice mat cut to size and a cool frame.

My Homemaking Binder

To help make my home life run more smoothly, I wanted to start using a kitchen binder and a homemaking binder. You can read about my kitchen binder here.

The homemaking binder is still a work in progress, but right now I have a few things in there. The first page is my weekly plan. You can find the customizable downloads from Money Saving Mom here. This includes my to-do list, my weekly chores, my meal plans, any upcoming birthdays/events, devotional lists, work/meetings/appointments, and blog posts I want to write. A few are filled in for you, but most of these are headings I came up with because they work for me. Yours may be different.

I also use the front pocket for any recipes I've found that look interesting. If I use them in our weekly menu and we like them, I copy them down into my kitchen binder. If we're not fans, or if they've been sitting in there for awhile without getting made, they get tossed.

Next I have my monthly calendars, which I printed off here. I have birthdays and anniversaries listed, as well as my work schedule, appointments, trips, family plans, Jesse's school schedule, and pretty much anything else I want to remember. I refer to these when I'm setting up my weekly plans, and take note of anything in the next couple weeks that I need to be aware of.

I also keep a blank notebook in the back for anything I need to write down: grocery lists and meal plans, project lists, coupon match-ups, and so on. Eventually I want to have an "ongoing projects" list for my crafts, organizational stuff, and so on, but I haven't quite gotten that figured out yet. I also need to buy or make dividers still, but I have the groundwork done. I am most definitely a list person, and I love being able to cross things off of my weekly plan sheet and see how much I've gotten done!

How do you stay organized? Are you a list person, like me, or do you have some other way of doing things?

My First Roast!

Are you sick of me updating about my New Year's Resolutions lately? I've been on a cooking kick, which is why I've had more food than crafts. When it's as cold out as it has been the past couple weeks, being in the kitchen makes me warm and cozy.

I got my roast and veggies ready to go. First up, I seared the roast in some butter for about 10 minutes to seal in the flavors and moisture. This is what the handy Internet told me to do.

Then off into the crockpot it went! I added some veggie broth and water, garlic, pepper, and Lawry's seasoned salt, and my carrots, onions, and potatoes.

I cooked it on low all day long, but the meat itself was fully cooked after about 5 hours. I like to think the extra couple hours just sealed in the flavor. It was really moist, and quite delicious, if I do say so myself. And aside from the initial prep work, it was REALLY EASY! I love meals like that!

My Kitchen Binder

Another one of my New Year's Resolutions was to organize my Homemaking and Kitchen Binders. I'll have a post later this week about the first one, but I wanted to show you my Kitchen Binder, which I got more or less put together today.

It's just a standard 1-inch binder from Walmart, which cost about $1. I found a couple old blue folders in our office supplies to designate my sections, which are:

• Dinner: Soups & Stews
• Dinner: Other Entrees
• Lunch and Other Recipes

I chose these categories because they work the best for us. If you're making your own binder, you'd obviously want to divide by what makes sense for you.

I got a 50-pack of these inserts on Amazon using my Swagbucks. I am part of the Amazon Moms program, so I got free shipping. The packs are regularly priced at $11.99 plus shipping. Each sheet holds eight 3x5 cards. I have a mixture of actual recipes, recipe names with corresponding page numbers from my cookbooks, and names of recipes that are either so basic they don't have a recipe, that I've made so often that I just know, or that change each time I make them. I went through a couple of my cookbooks today and I'm not even close to out of space in these inserts.

My main goal with this binder is to have all of my "usual" lunch and dinner ideas in one place, so that when I'm planning out our menu, I can flip through and decide what to make. I'm also attempting more new recipes, and if we like them, they get a card in the binder. This will hopefully be a lot easier than trying to remember what we've liked (or not liked!), and should make my meal planning go a lot faster. How do you stay organized in the kitchen?

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  If you purchase through these links, I receive a small commission at no additional charge to you.  Thank you.

Homemade Granola

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to make homemade granola. I am pleased to say it is delicious! A little sweet, but not too much.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups rolled oats
• 1/4 cup flaxseed
• 1-1/2 cups chopped nuts (or so - doesn't have to be exact)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Mix the dry ingredients together - everything but the butter, syrup, and vanilla. In case anyone was wondering, I used almonds and walnuts for my chopped nuts. The walnuts were pre-chopped, so they blend in. I chopped up the almonds, which is why some of the pieces are really big.

Melt the butter, syrup, and vanilla together. You can do this in the microwave or on the stovetop. Stir into dry ingredients until everything is moistened. Next time I might use just a smidge more syrup, because I like the maple-y flavor, but otherwise, this turned out really well.

Spread onto 2 jelly roll pans (cookie sheets with sides) and bake at 300F. Stir after 10 minutes, then after another 10 minutes, then after another 10 minutes. Continue baking and stirring every 5 minutes after that until you reach your desired crunchiness. I did a total of 40 minutes for mine, and it's a bit crunchy, but not too much.

You can reuse your oats container to hold some of the granola, and you'll just have to eat the rest! I got the idea and the baking temperature/timing for this recipe here, although I modified it based on what I had in the cupboard.

Yum!

Update: For a variation, I've been using 1/2 cup honey instead of the syrup, which is also delicious. I'm looking forward to trying a peanut butter variation one of these days too. I'll keep you posted.

Update on New Year's Resolutions

I've started on a couple of my New Year's Resolutions, so I figured I would update on my progress.

For Matthew's baby blanket, I've decided to do a bunch of knitted squares in blue and white, and then sew them together in a checkerboard pattern. They're small, so it's going to take a lot of squares...



I also started to organize crafty corner. You can read more about that here...

And, in the next week or so, I'm going to attempt my roast with potatoes, carrots, and onions, because there was a deal on those exact items at Cub Foods this week!

New Year's Resolutions

Awhile back, I had made a 25 Things to Do Before I Turn 25 list. And since then, some of the things have kind of become irrelevant to me. So, for the year including my 25th birthday, I've decided to just make a big list. And there are 30 items on it, so that way if I decide not to do some, it's all good...

Spiritual/Family:

• Daily personal devotion time. I need to find a good woman/mother focused devotion. I think that would be helpful. Until I do, though, I think I'll probably start with one of the People's Bibles, because those are easy to read, and already divided into sections.
• Show love to Jesse each and every day. Because I love him, but I'm not always the best at showing that.
• Help Jonah adjust to having a little brother. He's been clingy lately, and I'm pretty sure that has something to do with it.
• Breastfeed Matthew. Or don't. I'd like to, but if it's as much of a struggle as it was with Jonah, I am giving myself permission to quit.
• Remember and acknowledge all birthdays and anniversaries. My master list is updated, and I really want to do better at this this year.

Baking:

• Make a gingerbread house from scratch, then decorate it. This one will probably happen closer to next Christmas, and that's okay.
• Make stained glass cookies. It's a recipe in my big Betty Crocker binder, involving melting candies, and it looks cool.
• Make homemade cupcakes with homemade frosting and pretty decorations.
• Experimental chocolate coconut cookies. My parents gave me some coconut pudding powder that they had gotten but won't use, so I'm going to attempt to make up a recipe.
• Decorate a cake with fondant. This was on my original list, and I still want to do it...

Other Food:

• Make a roast, with carrots, potatoes, and onion chunks to complete the meal.
• Come up with a yummy homemade marinade.
• Make my own salad dressing, probably some sort of viniagrette.
• Bake at least one loaf of bread!
• Make some yummy homemade granola.

Organizational:

• Go through my closet and get rid of things I don't wear. I am planning on this being mostly post-pregnancy.
• Scan bills, pay stubs, and other miscellaneous documents, save them, then shred the paper copies.
• Pawn, donate, and get rid of miscellaneous items. Some are already gathered, and many could be added.
• Start my homemaking binder and my kitchen binder. The homemaking binder is going to have my daily and weekly to-do lists, a spot to save recipes I want to try, ongoing project lists, a calendar, and so on. The kitchen binder is going to be where I keep my most-used dinner recipes (or at least a card with the name and page number of the recipe), which should make meal planning easier.
• Sort through my crafty corner. Let's just say Christmas made it explode a little bit.

Financial:

• Get a copy of our credit reports. You're supposed to do that annually, and I've never actually seen mine. Oops.
• Find money for Rachel's wedding, my "maternity leave" (the three months after Matthew is born before we move), and possibly a new vehicle. We have money saved and/or designated for most of this, but it's more a matter of putting it where it needs to be.
• Plan the babymoon. We are tentatively taking a little trip over Jesse's spring break or before, and we have free flight vouchers which we may or may not use toward this, but either way, I need to figure out what we're doing.
• Rework our budget to account for fun money. That seems to be our biggest downfall each month, and I hope that by giving us a set amount, we can save the rest.
• Start an emergency fund. Car troubles and unexpected trips came up this year, and luckily none of them were anything major, but I'd hate to have that happen and not have a way to deal with it.

Crafty:

• Make Matthew's baby blanket. I think it's going to be similar to Jonah's (knitted patchwork quilt), only with smaller blocks. I still have to decide what colors I'm using, although I'm leaning toward traditional blue and white.
• Make an embroidered animal onesie. Or maybe two. (Take a plain onesie, trace a simple animal shape onto a colorful fabric, and sew onto the onesie.)
• Make a standard door hanger for our front door. We have a Christmas one, and a Valentine's Day one, but I'd like an everyday one too.
• Make a basket to hold mail and/or bills and/or coupons to file. Basically all the stuff that piles up on the dining room table. I'm thinking one of the folded magazine ones, only rectangular, but we'll see.
• Finish Jesse's Christmas present. In my defense, I just found the picture and pattern from a friend's picture the week of Christmas.

Yes, I realize there are many things on this list. And yes, I know that with a new baby, a wedding, moving, and whatever other big things come up, this may not all happen. But really, I love lists, and it's good to have goals and projects. What are your New Year's goals?