Belated New Year's Resolutions

Happy 2008!

Like most slacker bloggers, we let ourselves get all caught up in the holidays and holiday aftermath, and we've neglected the blog for almost two weeks now. I could rattle off a list of excuses a mile long, but that's not the spirit of this post. Nope, the purpose of this post is to look ahead to a 2008 full of home improvement possibilities.

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions. I don't really see the point of waiting until the New Year if you need to make a change. And I think that trying to force change just because you think you're supposed to is really just setting yourself up for failure. Despite that, I've been reflecting a bit on 2007. Particularly the last 2 1/2 months of 2007 as we dipped our toes in the do-it-yourself ocean. I have a feeling that by the end of 2008 we'll be in at least chest deep and hopefully completely over our heads at one time or another--that's part of the fun. So, as I look to the year ahead, I give you my home-improvement New Year's resolutions. I'm afraid the fact that I haven't even gotten around to making these resolutions until now--a week into 2008--isn't a good sign...

1. I will stop bugging Joe about the electrical work that needs to be done in the house. He knows my position on it (I want it fixed immediately) and I know his (it's not a priority). Guess who's winning on this? Not me.
2. I will learn how to strip and stain woodwork, specifically in the front entry.
3. I will learn how to mow a lawn. Yep--that's right--I've never mowed a lawn in my life.
4. I will relax about the heating and cooling work that needs to be done. I will realize that people survived for centuries without air conditioning and that many children have grown up in homes with baseboard heat and lived to tell about it.
5. I will make a point to learn something about all of our new neighbors besides their names and what their house looks like from the outside. This sort of assumes, of course, that we will sell the highrise and actually move to the country estate in 2008, but I digress...
6. I will hire a landscape architect to draw up plans for the outside of the house. As someone who's never even mowed a lawn nor has ever been able to even keep a houseplant alive, I should probably leave flowers, grass, trees, and shrubbery to the experts.
7. I will let Joe continue his quest to fix and restore all the windows in the house himself without questioning his sanity.
8. I will throw away the home-made body builder display and energy drink can collection that were left by the previous owners.

And finally...
9. I will know that Rome wasn't built in a day, and that it may take 5 years (or more) for our vision of this house to be fully realized. I will stop suggesting that we take out a huge loan to do everything in the spring and recognize the value of putting our own elbow grease--and hearts and souls--into this project. And I will remember to stop every once in a while and enjoy the house--and our DIY lifestyle--for what it is rather than what I want it to become.

We'll check back in December and see how I did.