House Goals for 2012

On Monday I recapped how I did at achieving last year's house goals.  I said how much I loved having goals to refer to all year, and I really did.  I am excited to prioritize the things I want to do for my house this year so I can start saving and scheming.  It is going to be a "tight" year, considering we need a new vehicle that will fit three children in the back seat, and I have to pay for a c-section with a huge deductible.  Plus, I really want to save my money this year for a great camera, which I have put off for a long, long time.  But I'm praying for a few people to hire me again this year for decorating and party planning so I can accomplish a few things in my own home!

Because of the year we have ahead of us, I am going to name just two "big" projects (I define a project as big in that it will cost triple digits to accomplish), and the rest will be little things I can do throughout the year when the money "appears."

1.  Make the baby a beautiful nursery of all his own.

• Paint the walls
• Make and buy artwork
• Buy / make crib bedding

This room really needs to get finished in the next eight or so weeks, so it is priority number one!

2.  Beautify this bathroom!

• Put up bead board paneling
• Add color with paint
• Frame out or change the mirror
• Add artwork

3.  Finally do something with this empty wall in the dining room.

4.  Get Brennan new curtains.

In our old house, these curtains were the right length.  In this house, they have shrunk in the dryer and been hung higher, so now I'm committing a real decorating faux pas.  It drives me crazy every time I go in there!!

5.  Frame a map on this wall in the play room.

Jim's parents bought Brennan a world map for Christmas, and I thought it would be fun to hang it in the play room.  Unfortunately, frames of that size cost $100 - $200 (it is not a standard poster frame).  So, we need to make our own.

6.  Paint unfinished furniture.

• Cora's nightstand
• Toy bench
• Storage for half bath

7.  Fill in the living room.

There is so much to do to make this room more like a part of our home, but it is going to be expensive.  I need a new chair, drapes, and an area rug.  Still, a larger vehicle and a healthy baby seem more important!  For this year, I will settle for:

• Another side table and matching lamp for the other side of the couch
• Secretary desk brought down from the bedroom.
• A lamp on top of the desk.

8.  Get a bookshelf for the master bedroom.

Now that we've had to move all of our books out of the guest room, they are in boxes where they can't be accessed.  Some of those books are just fun, but some we really need to access for school and church, so we need a good place to store them.

9.  Make artwork for Cora's room.

10.  Paint the guest bathroom.

This room has no color, no personality, no interest, no nothin'.  It is purely functional and needs a little boost!

11.  Hang something above the bed.

The room will look so much less "naked" if there is something hanging up there.  Every single wall in this bedroom is empty!

It's hard to stop!  I look around and see light fixtures I want to change, walls that need to be painted, and empty rooms that need furniture.  But I think this list is doable and very realistic for now.

What are your goals for this year?

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I'm linking up to The Nester's 2012 Home Goals Party.

Reviewing Last Year's House Goals

Last January I set nine house goals that I wanted to accomplish in 2011.  If you want to reread them in detail, go here.  Otherwise, to keep this post from becoming overwhelmingly long, I will simply restate each major goal, show you a before picture, and, if I achieved my goal, I will show an after photo.  Here we go...


1.) Finish the coat closet hallway.  

Before:

After:

2.) Work on the family room

Before:

After:

 3.) (Nearly) Finish the play room.

Before: 

After:

4.) Work on the guest bathroom / kids' bathroom.

Before... and After  :-(

 (That's what you get for setting a goal that depends on your husband without consulting him first!)

 5.) Give some TLC to my craft room.

Before:

After:

(Even though it doesn't look really different, I didn't totally fail on this one.  I have managed to keep the room neat and usable for several months now, and that was part of my goal.  I consider it a huge victory!)

6.) Get curtains for our bedroom.  

Before:

After:

7. Hang something on this wall in the dining room.

Before... and After :-(

8. Trim out the chalkboard wall.

Before: 

After:

(Not only did the wall get trimmed out, but Jim installed an overhead light for me so this little "hallway" is no longer dark!)

9. Add more lighting to the formal living room.

Before... and After :-(

And there you have it.  :-)

Mathematically speaking, I accomplished 6 out of 9 of my goals, which is only 67%.  However, I don't feel like I earned a D.  Honestly, I would give myself more of a B for the use of my time and money.  I mean, that play room alone was a massive undertaking and must count for more than the few lamps and artwork I ran out of money to buy, right?!  :-)

I absolutely loved having this goals list to refer to all year.  Each time I would earn extra money for something, I knew exactly how to allocate the money.  It made my decisions so much easier and more concrete, and I didn't feel guilty about spending money on something I had already decided I wanted to do.  

I am looking forward to solidifying my goals for 2012.  I plan to link up to the Nester's Home Goals Linky Party.  Time to start prioritizing and taking some pictures!!

2011 Goals in Review

Last year, on January 15th, I committed to paper screen the three things I wanted to most accomplish in 2011.  Here were my three personal goals for last year:

1. Read every word of the Bible in a year.
2. Write on my blog at least once a week.
3. Leave the Nashville area at least four times.

So, how did I do?  Well, I accomplished two of the three, and if you read my blog regularly, you know at which one I failed.  :-)

I did read every word of the Bible in a year, and I left Nashville four times.  (We went to Dallas twice, I went to Townsend, TN for a women's retreat in the spring, and we went to Bryson City, NC for our anniversary over the summer.)  I did not manage to blog once every week, but I did become a little more consistent about blogging than I had once been, so it is at least a step in the right direction.

Here are a few specific thoughts on reaching my goals:

Reading the Bible
Reading the whole Bible last year was amazing.  I wasn't always consistent about reading every single day, but I did promise myself I'd get done in a year, and I did.  Reading God's word from Genesis to Revelation was enlightening and powerful and it at least doubled or tripled the size of the box I put God in.  I have been a Christian for almost twenty-six years, and I had never once read the entire Old Testament.  I feared it, and now I have to admit I really enjoyed it!  If it's possible, salvation means even more when you read the whole story.  What an amazing, thorough, perfect, incomprehensible plan God has for us!  Why on earth I hadn't taken the time to read God's whole love story to us is beyond me!

I have two friends already who have told me they have made reading the Bible a goal for 2012.  I am so encouraged that others want to take this magnificent journey, too.  I have been asked now several times what reading plan Jim and I used, so in case you are interested, here are the details:

• We used a chronological reading plan.  Personally, I have never understood how all of the pieces of Bible history fit together.  Before, if you had talked to me about "before or after Babylonian captivity" I would have given you a blank stare.  Reading the Bible in chronological order helped me to connect the dots I already had as well as put some in place that I didn't even know I was missing.
• The website we used is http://www.youversion.com/.  I like youversion because it can sync up with your phone (I finished some readings in car line, at the airport, or at the chiropractor), and it gives you a check box after you've finished a chapter.  This doesn't sound like a big deal, but for someone like me who doesn't always keep up with reading (or who may get interrupted by needy little people), it is very helpful to know where you left off.  I'm not saying that youversion is what everyone should use, but it met my needs better than anything else I found.
• I read a translation that was comfortable for me so I could apply it to my life.  It wasn't King James and it wasn't The Message, but it was somewhere in between.  :-)

If you decide to read the Bible through, please let me know!  I love hearing and seeing the domino effect of one person encouraging another!

Leaving Town
I really am a happier person when I see new things and have adventures to look forward to.  This past year was a difficult year for us financially and emotionally as we had a lot of unexpected things come our way.  I really think that one of the reasons our marriage stayed so strong is because we had three trips out of town together without the kids.  This is a lot (!), and I know it isn't realistic to think we will have a luxury like that every year.  However, I believe that God knew what we needed and when we needed it, and He provided perfectly.

Blogging
Having a "successful" blog isn't as important to me as keeping a record of our daily lives and milestones and having a forum I can use to connect with other women like me.  It does make me a little sad when I pour my heart and soul into a post and no one comments here on the blog, but I've decided that if the blog isn't for me and my family, it isn't worth having.  So for now I'm okay with posting when I am able and letting go of the rest.

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I am still trying to figure out what my personal goals are for 2012.  (I do have some house goals, and I'll share those in the next few days!)  I really liked having goals this past year, and I feel a little lost and directionless without them right now (which is so weird, since I have never set any like this before).  However, I know that this year is going to be very different with a newborn, and I don't want to get in over my head.  So, I'm praying and waiting, and I guess we'll see what God lays on my heart.

How about you?  Did you set goals last year?  How did you do?  Do you have goals for 2012?

Goals Update

Last Saturday I realized that 2011 is 1/3 of the way done.  (What?!? Where is this year going?!)  As I thought about the goals I had set for this year and how I am doing in achieving them, I decided I would share a little update.

In January I set two kinds of goals: personal goals and house goals (you can follow the links to read more in depth).  Here is an update on both sets:

Personal Goals for 2011:

1. Read every word of the Bible in a year.
Let me just say, if you have never read through the Bible, it is an awesome thing to do.  It does require some dedication, but the rewards are so great!  I am loving seeing God's plan for his people throughout history and better understanding the great God I worship.  So far I have read Genesis, Job, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I Samuel, and currently I am in a mishmash of 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, and Psalms.  (I will admit that I am currently struggling... These are not the most engaging books, though I completely understand why they need to be a part of the Bible.)

For those who have asked, Jim and I are following a chronological reading plan, so we are reading the events in the order in which they happened.  There are many, many chronological reading plans available, but we are currently using one available on YouVersion.  Each day I have about 10 - 15 minutes of reading (except when I get behind, which happens more often than I would like), and there is an app for my phone so I can read in car line, too!  :-) 

2. Write on my blog at least once a week.

You can check the progress of this one for yourself.  The archive list over there to the right doesn't lie.

3. Leave the Nashville area at least four times.

In February we returned to Dallas for a visit, a few weeks ago I went to The Smoky Mountains for a retreat, and in October we will be returning to Dallas for my friend Erin's wedding.  I just need to plan one other getaway in order to reach my goal, and squeezing that one in around our schedules and finances is going to be really tricky.  Time to think, plan, and get intentional...

House Goals for 2011:

DONE:

Finish the coat closet hallway

Before:

After:

IN PROGRESS: 

1. Work on the family room

get a mirror or  artwork to go above the sofa

hang something below the ledge shelf in this picture above

fill in the vertical space(s) next to our feature photo wall

change the throw pillows... I'm hoping to add pops of aqua to the room.

Before:

After:

Before:

(I was trying to decide what size piece I need over the couch.  I still haven't found what I am looking for!)

After:

2. (Nearly) Finish the play room

• paint the walls
• make throw pillows for the couch
• create a place for the kids to showcase their artwork
• hang stuff on the walls
• make new light fixtures
• have Jim re-wire the lights

Before:

After:

3. Trim out the chalkboard wall

Before:

After:

This isn't officially done because we still need to fill in the nail holes and touch up the paint.  But it looks good, and I am thrilled that I decided to do it!

I also made a few magnetic frames and some glass magnets:

Buckets give me a place to keep chalk, chalk pens, and an eraser.

TOTALLY NOT DONE (OR EVEN STARTED!):

• Work on the guest bathroom / kids' bathroom.
• Give some TLC to my craft room.
• Get curtains for our bedroom.  
• Hang something on the empty wall in the dining room.
• Add more lighting to the formal living room.

Having a goals list for the house has been incredibly helpful.  When I have had a little extra money, I have been able to make good, intentional choices.  My eyes are always peeled for things that will help me accomplish my goals, and I can prioritize my time better.

In a few weeks I am having a garage sale, and I am already trying to decide where to spend the money I make.  Having this goals list helps me to narrow down my choices considerably and keeps me focused.

I will try to do another update in four more months.  Hopefully I will have 2/3 of the list done!