Resolutions, as it were

I know we're already twenty days into this new year, but I've been perfecting my list of resolutions, as it were.

I usually only make a few really big resolutions, but this year there are so many things, both big and little, that I really want to accomplish. So I’m writing myself a list, and setting deadlines.

I really could just list all of the many projects involved in buying our new house and making it into a home, but that somehow feels a little bit like cheating. I am including a lot of the bigger plans for the house and a couple of the smaller things that we really want to get done. Lots of these are little crafty resolutions, or projects I want to complete, but if I don’t make the list I’m afraid they’ll never get done.

1. Develop a business plan for Suitcase Art and apply for the appropriate licenses

2. Open a business banking account for Suitcase Art

3. Develop a logo/identity for Suitcase Art

4. 365 photo project (starting on May 10th – my 24th birthday)

5. Close on the house (we don't know when this might happen...)

6. Pack one box a day until we’re sure about the house, then – pack like crazy.

7. Build a darkroom (contingent, of course, on buying the house)

8. Participate in NaNoWriMo (in November - and complete it!)

9. Plan my train trip to New York – see my father’s childhood home, make a trip to Dead Horse Bay, and celebrate our family’s 100th anniversary of arriving in the United States with the rest of my crazy relatives

10. Save $500 for the New York Trip (saved $100 so far)

11. Refinish (at least) one new suitcase by year end


12. Refinish the floors and decorate our new house

13. February – Suitcase Art – list (at least) two items each week

14. March – Suitcase Art – list (at least) three items each week

15. April – Suitcase Art – list (at least) four items each week, and continue schedule through year end

16. Flesh out Abandoned Trees Project

17. Flesh out Typewriter Anthropology Project

18. Organize (build) work area and art/craft supplies

19. Build a pantry in the new basement (again, contingent on getting the house – fingers crossed!)

20. Do at least one small sewing (or crochet or cross-stitch) project each month

21. Invest $300 in Suitcase Art in the form of business filings, logo, new business cards, (1 more) photo light, storage and (if there’s anything left, which I doubt) stock

22. Refinish my thrift store desk

23. Build a camera display case/shelf for my ever growing collection

24. Liquidate some of my duplicate vintage cameras

25. Plan, fence off, and plant our vegetable garden

26. Build a compost bin

27. Make 1 dozen crochet cupcakes (1 pincushion for me, 1 pincushion for Beth, 6 for presents, and 4 just for fun)

28. Write/brainstorm in my journal/sketchbook every Tuesday and Friday. I’m putting it on a schedule in hopes that I will get back in habit of writing and journaling more frequently.

29. Plan 52 themes (one for every week) for Etsy Discoveries by the end of January

30. Work out at least twice a week. I’m going to Richard’s school to use the weight room on Mondays and Wednesdays… hopefully soon I’ll be able to add Fridays over at my parents’ house.

31. Work on my weight and health. Eat better, more fruits and vegetables, and lose twenty pounds by June.

32. Clip coupons and plan our menu for the week every Sunday so we can make the most of our food budget

33. Bike more. After moving to Milwaukee it just doesn’t happen. In Oshkosh I would just bike when I needed to get places but now I have to make special plans to go since everything is so far away or it involves really busy streets non-conducive to biking.

34. Keep a better calendar. And check it. I’m really sick of missing things, or forgetting obligations I’ve committed myself to. It doesn’t happen too often, but when it does I just feel awful.

35. Finish making the super-secret cross-stitch pattern and stitch it.

36. Open a special savings account and set aside all of our coupon savings this year for an “emergency/vacation fund”

37. Refinish my wooden wine rack and silverware box

38. Scan one box of old photos every two months (six boxes by year end)

39. Build/Buy a flea market wagon before the first Maxwell Street Days on May 30th

40.

So the last two things are blank, but I foresee something coming up that will need to be added to the list.