Happy 2010

What are you doing to me!!??

Ticket wasn't too sure about the New Year's Eve celebration last night. The noisemakers and party hats were a bit much for him, poor guy. We spent a quiet evening at home, watching a Three Stooges marathon. It's great to hear the children giggling so loudly.

Another year is behind us and the new year opens up before us like an empty book, waiting for us to write the story of our lives in it's pages. The past year has had it's ups and downs and I'm looking forward to continuing work toward our dreams here on this little piece of land that we have.

I've been giving lots of thoughts to what I want to accomplish in the year (and decade) ahead. I've got some goals for the coming year, some broader and more vague but most very specific. So the format will be a bit different than last year. I bet you're dying to hear what I've got in mind for 2010, aren't you? Here goes:

Home/house goals:

• Sand North wall in the kitchen and paint
• Finish kitchen island (V's mother sent us a gift card that we are to use for the countertop!)
• Finish work on upstairs bathroom
• Plan and begin construction on deck
• Sort closet and donate clothes to Goodwill
• SELL HOUSE IN TOWN!!!
• Replace septic system (dependent on selling house)

Garden/land goals:

• Complete raised beds (at least 2)
• Construct herb spiral(s)
• Draw master permaculture plan
• Plant apple trees
• Plant apricot and/or cherry trees
• Replant strawberries into raised bed
• Add another blueberry bush or two
• Remove fence between yard and meadow
• Build three bin compost pile

Personal goals:

• Once again, get in better shape. This isn't as much about weight as it is about health. While I've always been in pretty good health, my parents both have trouble with blood pressure and the extra weight I'm carrying has been causing mine to creep up. That NEEDS to change.
• Learn a new skill or two. OK, I'll confess- this is the knitting goal again- and this time I'm going to make it happen.
• Complete CEUs. My professional license is due for renewal in June. With the craziness of the last year, I really need to get going to complete all my continuing education for that.
• Spend more quality time with V. We have been so busy and working so hard that it seems like most times we have a chance to sit down on the couch together one or both of us fall asleep. I'd like to have more focus on our relationship. We went through really tough times a few years ago, mainly because we didn't communicate well with each other and I don't want to fall back into old habits.

Food production/security: I'd like to aim for the 50% home or locally produced goal again but I found that it was so hard to determine that percentage. I think that rather than aim for an overall percentage that is hard to gauge, I'm going to go for at least 2 local meals a week.

The other thing I'd like to do is try our hand at making wine. We tend to drink quite a bit of wine and, while we have made some in the past, it is something that we haven't done for years. Maybe now that we have more space we'll need to get back into that. But not a firm goal for this one.

The three R's: I want to continue to repurpose and recycle as much as we can. We still need to be aware of our purchases and be more deliberate about where our limited finances are going.

I'm sure this master list will be morphed over the year. I've got it typed into my ipod so I can keep modifying it as I go.

What do you think? Am I being reasonable with myself this year?

And what goals do you have for 2010?