on the bandwagon

Let's add one more post to the sea of year-end re-caps crowding the interwebs right now, shall we?

2008 was an interesting year. In January, I set several goals for myself, with varying degrees of success.

To review:

1. Begin and complete renovation of the Rustic Attic
Yup, the attic itself is completely renovated. The stairs leading to the attic are another story and they need to be painted, but the attic is finished. Yay.

2. Decide on and implement new look for the kitchen
Hmm. Nothing's been decided for sure (so, obviously, not implemented either), but I'm thinking of using a striking, rich blue on some of the walls. I'd also like to have one wall in black chalkboard paint, and I think there's a way to make that look really awesome with a rich blue, but also a way to make that look really horrible. The one thing I'm pretty sure of for now is taht any big overhaul-type renovation is a ways down the road, and that a spuce-up coat of paint is on the table for a sooner timeframe.

3. Purge house of unnecessary clutter (or at least reduce said clutter)
I got rid of a few bags of stuff over the Thanksgiving weekend (aren't you proud of me?!), but that's about it. There's still a lot more storage space in my house to sift through. Much of what's there can easily be removed; it's just a matter of setting aside the time to do it.

4. Get a knitting pattern published
This didn't happen. I have one garment that I designed and finished, and one that I'm currently designing as I knit it, but I haven't written up (or started to write up) a pattern for either of them. I did, however, knit a whole bunch of sweaters in 2008. Not the 12 in as many months that I'd hoped, but almost. The scarfy gift knitting derailed my progress on my final sweater, chosen for its purported speed of knitting. Oh well. Stay tuned for a post (with pictures!) on how that and the other current projects are going.

5. Be able to run a 5k again (am signed up for one in March), then improve my time (will sign up for at least one over the summer
Another item that's gone unaccomplished. I will say, however, that over the past month or so, I've gotten back in the habit of at least getting myself to the gym more often than not, which in my mind is at least half the battle. My running abilities aren't where they once were (and they were never in an impressive place, to be sure), but I'm making incremental improvements in the continuing effort to ignore the internal voice reminding me to stop running when I get bored just because I can. And the goal for 2009 remains the same, even to the extent that I've again signed up for the very same 5k in March.

4. Cook and eat real dinners, even if I'm eating by myself (heavy emphasis on soups and vegetables)
Aha! I am cooking real dinners, even though I'm not often eating by myself anymore and thus didn't have to conquer that cook-for-just-yourself issue. Regardless, the point is that I'm eating better food (where "better" = healthier, tastier, and so forth) and being more conscious of what I'm consuming. Usually.

5. Have a rockin' vegetable garden
The garden went pretty well this year. I was able to harvest some food, and I'm looking forward to using some of the mistakes I learned from to ensure that next year's garden will be even better. Particularly important are to plan better, add more space, use tomato cages, and be extra patient when waiting for the danger of frost to pass.

6. Figure out what the heck to do with the decorative garden beds around the house
I started this! I gave away a few hostas that were taking up space in front of the house, and in their places planted a bunch of tulip bulbs. Will have to wait until spring to see if they fill up enough visual space, or if I need to add something else.

7. Bust out the sewing machine and use up some of my languishing fabric
Technically, yes, I did this. I did indeed use the sewing machine, and I did indeed use up some fabric, but the end result was by no means usable. I don't think there will be any sewing in my near future, and certainly not until I de-clutter enough to have a place in my house allocated to it.

8. Decide on and pursue a volunteering opportunity
Well, yes. I did a little bit of political volunteering, and a brief (read: six hour) stint with the local Habitat branch. It was fun, I'm glad I did it, but the personalities I dealt with didn't leave me super excited to sign up for another day. I'm debating how much I want to incorporate it into 2009.

9. Start up an IRA again; look into other investment approaches
No IRA, although I have until April of 2009 to make a contribution for 2008. I also became eligible for my employer's 401(k) plan, so I've been contributing a lot to that. Need to assess for 2009 whether it would be better to keep throwing large overpayments toward my student loans, mortgage, etc, or whether I should focus on building up my account balances.

10. Update blog consistently and hopefully more interestingly
More consistently, for sure (ignoring, if you will, the last few weeks). More interestingly, I hope so!

Lest you take my dismal rate of success above as an indication that nothing much happened this year, I present to you...

Other Big Changes and Occurrences in 2009 (said is booming, movie-announcer voice, of course):

- Suffered near-daily headaches. Had eyes examined; got prescription for glasses. Got super-cute glasses that I love. Warily noticed that headaches returned several months later.

- Bought a lawn mower! An electric corded model. Managed to prevent rioting among my neighbors in reaction to vastly overgrown eyesore of a yard. (Also bought a charcoal chimney - these things are the best! - so as to more easily cook food on the grill in my not-unkempt yard.)

- Went on a *real* vacation. Three time zones away. Via air travel. Saw touristy things, ate nice food, went dancing.

- Met the most wonderful man, who, luckily, thinks I'm the most wonderful woman (not to be confused with Wonder Woman).

It was a good, good year.


... Will jump on the Goals for 2009 bandwagon in the coming days!