4 Saturdays

It's official, there are 4 Saturday's until Christmas. That is exciting, but also makes me nervous about all of the shopping we have to do! 

Has anyone started shopping? I've completed 10 out of 19 gifts so far, plus whatever gift exchanges and parties come out of the woodwork. Ay caramba. 

Philip & I have already distributed our Christmas lists which are sometimes fun to put together. Since sending it I've seen a few other things in stores that I'd love, so I've been keeping notes for my July birthday. Not trying to be selfish, I think because we've been putting most money into our house it's just exciting to get to have some of the things that I wouldn't buy for myself right now with all that we have going on. 

I love Christmas! We have 2 gatherings already planned for the 14th & 15th (one at our house!) followed by countless more right around Christmas. 

My goal was to finish all Christmas prep before the end of November, so that in December we can take some time to relax as we both have 2 weeks off. We have less than one week to go so I'm going to be furiously shopping online, doing my Christmas baking, and organizing our plans for the holidays. This past weekend we put up our tree and decorations and we've been playing Christmas music non-stop so we're well on our way to the Christmas spirit! The other thing we've been trying to do in preparation is to finish as many of our house projects so that we can relax guilt free when Christmas break comes around.

What have you done to prepare for the holidays? I'm hoping that all of our preparation means a calm and jolly holiday season!

Christmas Projects

- Decorate
- Bake
- Shop
- Wrap
- Bathroom
- Guest Room
- Office
- Cleaning
- Basement
- Host
- Celebrate

Summer Bucket List

The fact that we're anticipating snow here in Winnipeg this weekend has us anxiously awaiting Summer and what is has in store for us. We spent some time this week writing down some fun Summer ideas that we hope to do. There are 50 of them - are there even 50 Summer days here? We'll have to see how far we get. 

Here's a list of 50 fun things to do if you're going to be stay-cationing it this Summer in Winnipeg. My friend Brittany and I sat down and each made a list of 50 - there is a lot of overlap - and I'll share mine here. Warning, this is a long post - but I hope it will inspire you to do some great things this Summer. We would love to spend the summer being tourists in our own city and creating some fun days to spend together.

Summer 2013 Bucket List

1. St. Norbert Farmer's Market (with Brittany)

The market is hosted every Saturday starting June in St. Norbert (south of the city) and they sell farm fresh vegetables, fruit, meat, and flowers. They also have craft stands selling various other wares. We're looking forward to heading there bright and early on a Saturday morning, and then spending the afternoon cooking up a feast that we can share with our Manitoba grown purchases.

2. Gimli

Last year we went to Gimli for the day, and I'd love to do so again this year. My hair dresser is also planning to move out there so I might have to stop in for a new hair-do. It's a great beachy small-town to spend a day in.

3. Outdoor Movie at Assiniboine Park

In the Summer, Assiniboine Park plays popular movies outside. We didn't have a chance to go last year but would love to go this year! 

4. THE ZOO

I'm a zoo freak. I love going to zoos. Nuff said. 

5. Prairie Dog Central

I've never been on a train (aside from the commuter in Chicago), and this makes for a great day trip. I've wanted to go for a few years, and I'm hoping this will be my year. The train takes you to a couple of small Manitoba towns and you can get off to eat lunch/see the sites. 

6. Mennonite Heritage Village

Have to learn my new heritage one of these days. This will not be Philip's favourite thing, but we have to get 'er done. 

7. Strawberry Picking

I've never been strawberry picking, it would make for a good day out in the sun, and some pretty tasty treats later - so this summer strawberry picking it is!

8. Road trip for shopping weekend (Minneapolis or Edmonton or somewhere else driveable)

We've gone to Minneapolis almost every Summer, so we're thinking of switching it up this year with somewhere else within driving distance that provides us with some shopping. 

9. Camping

We'd love to spend a weekend camping with our friends. We don't have anything planned yet, but if we don't get out in a tent one weekend we'll certainly be sleeping on the couch in Philip's parents trailer at some point. 

10. Bake a pie

I've never made a pie - gasp! I'm thinking rhubarb.

11. Golfing

Last year I didn't get out golfing at all, but it's a great Summer sport that both of my parents enjoy so it would be nice to give it a go at least once this year.

12. Have Each of our Family's/Friend Groups Out to the House

We're hoping to host our family's and friends this year at some point as not everyone has been out to see our place yet. BBQs will abound. 

13. Portage la Prairie

Another Manitoba town to visit, I don't know if I've been there before. Definitely looking forward to lots of day trips!

14. Go to IMAX

I have very happy memories of going to see Mount Everest in IMAX with my Oma & Opa as a kid, and would love to relive the experience.

15. Rainbow Stage

Every year we go to Rainbow Stage, and this year will be no exception because Mary Poppins is playing! 

16.  Fishing

While it seems boring, I'm willing to give it a go. When we camped as a kid we used raw hot dogs as bait, might have to upgrade to worms.

17. Amusement Park or a Rona Parking Lot Carnival

I'd like to go on a ride this summer. Philip doesn't like amusement parks, but I think I could convince him to at least go on a Ferris Wheel or something at a parking lot carnival. Oo this reminded me that the circus should be on this list somewhere, I haven't been there since I was a kid!

18. Read One Book a Month
We both love to read and don't always have time. If I could read one book every month this Summer I'd be happy. Maybe in a hammock??

19. Go to Library with Philip
Philip doesn't often have time to go to the library because he's at work during the day, but it would be nice to get there together at some point. 

20. Picnic
Who doesn't love eating outdoors once in a while?

21. Do a 1000 piece puzzle
Maybe we'll save this one for when we turn 65. Puzzles can be fun though, and it would be a fun thing to have out throughout the Summer and slowly work away at. 

22. Hike in White Shell
Definitely want to take some time to get outside as much as possible. It's easy to forget that we have this beautiful a  place in our prairie province. 

23. Stella's Patio
Last year I ate on that patio at Stella's for the first time, it would be nice to go again!

24. Gelato & 25. Shopping in Osborne
Paired with number 25, this would be a great day.

26. Folklorama
I haven't been to Folklorama in a few years, but we used to go a lot as kids because of the Holland Pavilian that actually doesn't run anymore.

27. Make a new summer flavour of homemade ice cream
We love making new kinds of ice cream - maybe this year we will make a new kind to top last year's Rhubarb. 

28. Make popsicles
Another great homemade summer treat, I need to buy those popsicle molds and it'll be just like elementary school days. 

29. Grand Beach
I can't remember if we went to Grand Beach last year. This year it's going on the list. 

30. Spend a day in Steinbach
We'll have to pair this with the Mennonite Heritage Village. We recently went to Steinbach for my cousins hockey game, and 2 of my aunts & uncles live there so we'll have to head out for a day to do some visiting and sightseeing an hour from home.

31. Go to Brandon
Brandon is another Manitoba town that I haven't been to in a long time, what's better and more cost effective than being a tourist in your own province?

32. Plant Vegetables
While we plan to get rid of our huge farm-like vegetable garden that we currently have under the snow somewhere, it'd be nice to still plant some vegetables. I'm not sure in what capacity - at some point we plan to do raised beds but I'm not sure if that's on the agenda this year. Either way, maybe raised beds or maybe a container garden.

33. Cross the border for dinner
When I turned 21, we went to Grand Forks just for dinner. It was fun and felt adventurous to tell the border patrol - "We'll be back in a couple of hours, just going out for dinner 4 hours away", I'd like to do it this year again!

34. Watch a movie outside
As a fun date night, it might be fun to take the laptop outdoors next to a campfire and watch a movie.

35. Have a garage sale
Many people know we plan on a garage sale this year, hope it'll be a hit and we'll see lots of you there!

36. Meet our neighbours
We've only met one neighbour. To our credit, we only have one direct neighbour due to the power lines on one side of us and across the street, as well as the park behind, but hopefully this Summer we'll venture over to meet a couple more and be friendly.

37. Sit in our new seats at the Bomber Stadium
We have Bomber season tickets once again this year and I for one am super excited about no more ramp, and no more bench seating. 

38. Get a mani-pedi
My feet need some love. I'm dreadfully bad at painting my own toes.

39. Buy our 2nd anniversary keepsake (or make?)
On our honeymoon we bought a clock at a store in the small town we stayed, then on our first anniversary we were in Chicago and bought a large stone W to hang on the wall in our future frame gallery, this year I was thinking we could make sometihng. This has started our tradition of buying/making something together that will be a keepsake as an anniversary gift to ourselves instead of buying each other gifts, especially since our birthdays are also in Summer. 

40. Make a mix cd to represent our Summer
Ah the days of the mixed CD, do people still make them or is it all iTunes playlists? Philip and I will definitely conflict on the contents of said CD, but I think it'll make for a good Summer.

41. Take a lot of pictures
At some point we'll probably get a higher quality camera, but for now you'll have to tolerate iPhone 4 photos. I'm always bad at taking pictures, but would love to have lots of photos of family and friends to display around our home.

42. Roast hot dogs on the fire
Confession: I'm really bad at roasting hot dogs - at least without dropping them in the flames. They always fall off the stick! This year I will learn, or Philip will roast them for me.

43. Jiffy Pop!
Need I say more?

44. Carve our names in a tree in our yard
Might be a cool memory to show the kiddos one day, or for when we move on to another house and the next homeowners can see it. 

45. Go to The Melting Pot
I've wanted to go there for a few years (although I've heard mixed reviews), it's a fondue restaurant!

46. Refinish a thrift furniture find
We've been keeping our eyes peeled for a couple of furniture items we have in mind places for. We'll keep you posted!

47. Go for a walk at Kildonan Park
Maybe we can pair this with the trip to Rainbow Stage. Have to get all 50 done some how!

48. Do the Forks River Walk
Apparently we're going to be getting a lot of outdoor exercise this Summer.

49. Have a Movie Classics Marathon
Have to rest from all that walking.

50. Make a Bucket List for next Summer
Comment below or on Facebook if there are things we've missed! What are you looking forward to doing this Summer, in Winnipeg and beyond? 

Winter 2013 Scramble

Well, according to our to-do list, Winter 2013 ends with this month. We took a bit of time to make some updates to the sometimes ominous list, as we finished some things that weren't scheduled for weeks, while leaving others for a later date. Our list now is more reflective of what we actually think we can accomplish for now. We'll have to keep updating as we go, but this leaves you with an idea of what we have to accomplish this week to stay on track and what is coming up next.

In order to get refocused, I wrote out on paper the Fall 2012 & Winter 2013 goals that we had. I checked off anything we've completed, and then went to work making little notes about if the things were accomplish-able by the end of February-ish or if they should be pushed to Spring and beyond. Once Philip was in agreement with my list, it was time to make the necessary amendments to our official list. 

Go ahead and head over to the To-Do list section of our site to see comprehensive changes, but for now I'll explain the changes we made.

Right now this week and the end of Winter 2013 (not by the Groundhog's calendar, but by our To-Do lists standards) look like:

• Install Living Room Blinds (complete!)
• Install Hallway Light Fixture (we think we can squeeze this in this week because we already have it thanks to a friend's free giveaway, and it won't take long to do)
• March Banner Update!

This means a lot was pushed to Spring, but luckily we didn't have much slotted into that time, just some yardwork, so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. 

Spring 2013 (this looks slightly different than the To-Do list you'll see on our page, primarily due to paraphrasing):

• Cut Insurance Rates/Address Inspection Issues: There are a couple of things left to get checked off the old inspection so we can bring it to our insurance company and get our rates lowered (since we didn't have an inspection originally they just gave us basic rates that they'll adjust with an inspection but we figure we'll get rid of any concerns the inspector had first). 
• Rehang our Interior Doors
• Regain some Master Bedroom Sanity by moving the extra furniture out and starting to hang some artwork and things like that. 
• Finish our 3rd Bedroom
• Start dreaming up ideas for the rest of our house (deck, kitchen, basement, and the very far reaching idea of an en-suite bathroom and walk-in closet).
• Brace the Basement Stairs (when we gutted the basement the stairs lost a bit of their strength - they're still super safe but we're just going to make sure they're as safe as possible). 
• Plow unwanted flowerbeds
• Sod open spaces
• Plant flowers/bushes/trees/etc.
• Finish Bathroom (this is obviously higher on the list than this - I was even nervous to move it to the Spring category because that technically gives us till May to complete - but I'm hoping no more than a month and it'll be ready for a nice bath). We had planned to finish insulating this past weekend but have ended up needing to hire that out - we'll update on our bathroom progress this week!

What did you accomplish this Winter? What do you hope to do this Spring? Any ideas on how we should update our banner for March? I don't want to keep doing holidays but I suppose St. Patrick's day is an optional theme. 

Day 4: Be Prepared/Take Inventory/Does Everyone Else Have Hand-me-Down Cleaning Supplies?

So you've survived a week of Reclaim 2013 (technically it's only been 3 days...and I haven't really survived...but who's counting). Great job! Last week was hard for me, some of those tasks were a bit intense (ugh cleaning out the fridge), but I think this week will be a bit better because not every area covered is a problem area. I think I might have heavily weighted the front of the month with items that I knew were plaguing me with my procrastination.

As you might have noticed...Day 3 didn't happen. I had big plans to conquer my kitchen cupboards on Saturday but with Philip working in the bathroom with a friend and creating a lot of messy dust and debris all through the house, it didn't make sense to take clean dishes out into the mess. Sunday we were out all day for Super Bowl fun and came home to a bit of a catastrophe related to the bathroom renovation...so this weekend was just not having it. Instead of trying to power through that today and then move on, I'm going to go ahead and save Day 3: Kitchen Cupboards for the Catch Up Day later in the month and just move right along to Day 4: Cleaning Supplies today. 

As you start organizing areas of your home, you'll want some cleaning supplies handy. Use today to go through your cleaning inventory to make sure you have the goods you need to get 'er done.

If you need the extra motivation..."Be Prepared" from the Lion King is definitely intimidating enough to warrant grabbing your cleaning supplies and doing a quick run through.

I haven't bought a lot of my own cleaning supplies actually, because when we moved into our condo Philip's Oma's supplies were mostly still there...and there was a plethora of them. I keep a basket under my sink, as well as one in the broom closet - and try to segregate items into categories as best I can - the main reason for this is that my two baskets don't fit together in the broom closet or under the kitchen sink...so two locations it is! That might change as we renovate things up, but for now it works. I'll admit I don't use half of this stuff though, so today's the day to get rid of whatever is never going to get used, or at least keep it somewhere else so it isn't getting in my way (I don't want to waste good products!).


There wasn't really anything to get rid of here, but I did move some of my extra cleaning supplies to the laundry room. 

Here are my two cleaning baskets!

I use mostly a multipurpose cleaner for a lot of things like cleaning toilets, floors, anything really. I have some bathroom sprays that were hand-me-downs that I use on occasion, Windex for my table, mirrors, windows, that's mostly it! Here's a great resource if you aren't sure which cleaning supplies you should have though:

http://housekeeping.about.com/od/productreviews/a/cleaningsupply.htm

Tomorrow we'll be tackling entryways. Remember to comment and tell me about your organization progress or instagram your photos! 

Day 2: What I Dreaded Most/Winner for Most Procrastinated

I hope everyone's working on their junk drawers today! The weekend tasks are fridge/freezer and kitchen cupboards so in order to stay a day ahead for you guys, I'm on to Saturday's task of Fridge/Freezer. Maybe a month or two ago...and this is embarrassing...some ribs dripped in my fridge. No big thing, left one spot. Planned to wipe it up. Never did. Who knows what kind of spills are happening in there. So it's time to tackle it!

Since this weekend is fridge/freezer as well as kitchen cupboards (what was I thinking when I made that calendar?) I had to start out by catching up on some dish washing. Good to start with a clean slate! So I washed all of the dishes, cleared out all the clutter and wiped counters so that I had somewhere clean to put all of the clean dishes that were going to be coming out of my cupboards. Then it was time to get to work on that fridge.

1. Empty Fridge
I just emptied mine one shelf at a time, wiped it, and replaced the items. My fridge wasn't too cluttered as we don't buy that much stuff and we're pretty in control of what groceries are in there. If your fridge is crazier than ours though, do what you have to do. Just make sure to get rid of anything nasty hiding at the back! One thing I implemented last time I cleaned out the fridge (although I've slacked on it lately) is writing down the leftovers on thee fridge so that when I'm making Philip's lunch I know what's in there that I should use up before it goes bad.

I started on the bottom shelf, where I currently have 4 lbs of carrots and 2 lbs of parsnips...all from Christmas. I don't lie. My mom told me they can last a long time though, and they still look good, I will make it my mission to try and use them in the next week so they don't go to waste. Philip hates when I throw things out. Some things are certainly going to be thrown out in the making of this clean fridge though.

2. Wipe all shelves
3. Clear out expired/old food
The only things I really had to throw out were a 3 month old thing of guacamole (I don't even like guacomole so I'm not sure why we had this...) and some chicken leftovers from too long ago to deem okay to eat. Philip  hates throwing things out and I know he would have loved to still eat it, but sometimes for his health I have to throw things away when he's not home.

4. Put everything back in
5. Empty Freezer
6. Wipe out
7. Get rid of food we won't eat - donate, share with someone
8. Put everything back in
9. Lather, Rinse, Repeat with Deep Freeze

Mine only took a small chunk of time because we don't stock up on tons of groceries that we don't need, but in just this small amount of time my fridge  and freezer went from...

This blurry photo of our fridge adds to the terror effect of what was inside. 

To...

And that's that! Now on to the kitchen cupboards. I'm going to start tackling them now so we'll see if I get the post up today or else I might break rules and post on the weekend. Just wait and see! Hope you're having fun exploring your junk drawer, instagram or post your pics on Facebook!

Resolution Progress

This poll wasn't well publicized as I've been running out of steam on poll ideas! However, we'll still use this opportunity to share how well we're doing on our resolutions (or not so well). 

Philip:

1. Get two rejection notices.

This deals with my desire to move my dreams of being a writer forward. While I didn't send anything off to a publisher, I did keep working hard on two fronts: directing our church's Valentine's Dinner Theatre that I wrote, and outlining the plot of the books I want to write. (Yes, books. I never like to make it easy on myself.)

2. Watch this year's Best Picture nominees before next year's ceremony.

Let's have a look at the scorecard:
Amour: No.
Argo: Not yet.
Beasts of the Southern Wild: Nuh-uh.
Django Unchained: More like Django Unwatched at this point.
Les Misérables: Cass saw it without me.
Life of Pi: Want to read the book first.
Lincoln: Not yet.
Silver Linings Playbook: No.
Zero Dark Thirty: Not this one either.
What's Your Number: Oh heck yeah!
Wait, that last one wasn't nominated? And it was released a couple years ago? And wasn't even close to getting nominated? Darn.
That said, I did watch Winter's Bone. And like I told Cass, the folks adapting Mockingjay for the screen better try to find something great in that mediocre source material or else perhaps the greatest actress in a long time will be wasted on that movei. (Cass: When editing it I could have changed this to *movie* but I chose to stick with the way more cool movei "mov-eye" is how I pronounce it.)

3. Get everything upstairs that's not related to the kitchen done.

The bathroom has remained stalled for these last couple weeks, but that's going to change this weekend (I hope). We've put in an order for some bathtub hardware and are intending to do some final demolition and reinsulation/vapour barrier work this weekend.

4. Rediscover my At-Work Mojo

A bit boring to talk about, but my energy and motivation levels have grown significantly. I'm responsible for a lot of the content marketing and social media for our company, and on both counts we've been making headway. And just recently I wrote some well-received ad copy for an interesting new campaign we'll be running this year.

5. Run a marathon.

On Saturday, I was outside shovelling snow for two hours. Twice last week I caught an earlier bus home that drops me off at a stop further afield, so I got a pair of brisk 15-minute walks in both of those days. And that catches you up on my exercise for the last week. Not exactly carving a chiseled six-pack, but I haven't lost hope yet.

Cassondra:

1. God Related: Do a great job with Sunday School & Care Group, start a new daily devotional and get back to daily Bible reading.

The first two are a bit hard to measure, but we have started a great devotion book I'd recommend! It's the Experiencing God daily devotional, I believe we got it from our church at our bridal shower. I like it because it's very practical, it's a very small page to read which is nice before bed and actually gives us more time to discuss what we read instead of one of us slowly dozing off as we read it, very easy to relate to and read. 

2. Philip Related: 2 dates a month.

We mostly failed at this this month, as far as intentional dates (although we're hoping to have one Wednesday - we'll see). However, I'd say that we did have lots of good quality time and were close as a couple this month which was a great thing to see. Definitely recognizing lately how important it is to put time and effort into being a better spouse and having a strong and healthy marriage. 

3. Health Related: Get outside and exercise more.

This month I helped Philip shovel way more often than normal, so definitely got outside - but not every day. The exercising is going to come too, I did a couple of times this month even with our fish bowl window, and our blinds are coming in a couple of weeks which will mean no more excuses!

4. Blog Related: Write more posts ahead of time, learn Photoshop, line up some house tours and guest posts.

I did pretty good at this this month! I planned all the posts out at the beginning of the month, and it only started to fall apart a few posts ago. This post was written yesterday, and at the same time I wrote some posts for the end of the week and next week so that's not too shabby! Also the series for next month should help with this because it will give me a month to get ahead on writing house update posts. 

5. House Related: Get the main floor to a place we're content with.

We're still working away on our bathroom and extra bedroom this month, so we're getting there! Also the February organizing series will help to get my butt in gear with getting settled into some of the already occupied rooms.

6. Finance Related: Enter receipts regularly.

I did pretty good on this too! I have a few receipts from this weekend I haven't gotten to yet, but I did catch up on receipts and entered them pretty regularly this month. On our way to being even more in control of our finances!

This made me laugh out loud,
even though it might offend some I thought it was worth sharing.

How are you doing on your resolutions? Should we share more monthly updates on these? Also, not sure how we'll do on sharing our quarterly t0-do list at the end of February because of the series I've mentioned...might have to postpone that until the end of March - but don't worry, we'll still be working away at that list! Also make sure to enter this week's poll as we think ahead to Valentine's day!

February Kick Off

January is ending this week and many of you like me are probably thinking, wow that happened fast, we're already 1/12th through a year that just started! February is a short month, and so before we start feeling like time is going by and we aren't getting anything done, I thought that together we could be motivated to tackle some major projects. I've come up with 28 tasks to complete in this upcoming month, one a day, and I hope you'll join me in getting them done. Whether you want to follow my list (the items are pretty generic), or come up with your own 28 things, I think this February could be just what's needed to keep the resolutions on track and not let the year get away from us too quickly.

Here's a calendar (click to enlarge) outlining what I'm planning to tackle around my house, and I'll share a bit about it each day as I hopefully accomplish the items. If sharing this publicly can't motivate me I don't know what can. If you also participate, let me know in the comments or email me! I'd love to hear the stories of what you did to transform your space during the month of February.

I thought I'd give a heads up about this early in the week so you can consider participating and sign up by Friday when February 1st begins! If the calendar is hard to see let me know and I can email you a copy of the document, or you can just follow along each day as the posts go up.

The weekend posts will just be combined across Friday/Monday - so this Friday I'll talk about the Day 1, 2, 3 items, and so on. Each day I'll share instructions and insights into the tasks, as well as a look at how I accomplished them and before/after photos when possible.

Thanks for following along and hope that we can work together to conquer 2013 one motivating month at a time! 

What We're Looking Forward To

Last week, we asked what you're looking forward to most in 2013. Obviously there's probably some broader answers out there than the poll allowed, so feel free to add those in the comments. 

Here's a glance at what we're looking forward to most over the next 51 weeks or so. 

1. Enjoying a full summer with a backyard.

Last year we moved into the house at the end of August and mostly only had time for yard maintenance and some clean-up at the end of the outdoor season. We're looking forward to getting settled in our back yard, hosting lots of BBQs and bon fires, and starting up some gardening (that might be hopeful...I'm a plant killer). Philip also told me to share that he is looking forward to not wearing long underwear every day and to eating cookie dough ice cream. 

2. Investors Group Field

Our local Canadian Football League team is getting a new home and, by the looks of it, it's going to be night and day from the old one. Watching the Blue Bombers with this view, not having to walk around an endlessly-spiralling ramp  to get to our seats, not having to pee in a trough, and a lot more leg room are just a few of the amenities we're eagerly anticipating come late June (this one came from Philip - don't worry, in Canada women do not pee in a trough). 

Got to admit, I'm most looking forward to no more ramp to walk up, and no more squishy bench. 

3. Celebrating 2 years of marriage.

With marriages falling apart so easily these days, I feel so blessed to have a husband that I love and am looking forward to celebrating our 2 year anniversary. It isn't long, but marriage is hard and so every anniversary is a great time to remind ourselves of that. Last August we went to Chicago to celebrate, so we'll see what we end up doing this year!

4. Heading to Ontario. 

I was born in Ontario, and still have a large number of loved ones there, so we're hoping to get out to Ontario at some point this year for a visit. The planning has just started on that one so we'll have to see how it pans out! 

5. Getting settled in our home.

This continues off of number 2, with the hope that we can start to live more permanently here and be content with the work we've finished. It's not likely that we'll get to finish our kitchen any time soon so we'd like to just get settled in and used to what we have here already. Then we can slowly work away at things as we have the financial means. 

6. The unexpected.

In just 3 short years we've met, dated, become engaged, married, renovated a condo, moved to our house, and a lot of other exciting milestones and events too! We're looking forward to whatever 2013 has in store, because I'm sure that some of it we haven't planned for. 

7. Turning 24 & 28.

Although my husband looks ridiculously youthful, he's on the older end of this one. I'm looking forward to turning 24 and celebrating his 28th birthday. Especially with our new DIY skills, I've already started putting some thought into what kind of project I might be able to whip up for this May. 

8. Having only one wedding to attend (crossing our fingers - sorry to our friends who get a less than pleasant response if they get engaged soon)

Last year we had 5 weddings, the year before 10, and the year before 6. 2013 has only 1, and we could not be happier. We've loved celebrating love for the past few years, but I'm looking forward to just enjoying one wedding this year and celebrating wholeheartedly with really good friends. 

9. Having some free time?

According to our to-do list, we actually have nothing scheduled this Fall, so if things stay that way we'll have some time off. Also hoping for a vacation or two, so that will be wonderful. 

10. Learning more new things. 

It's been very exciting learning how to do some home improvement projects, learning to be better at being married and domesticated. I'm excited to see the things we learn this year, as the past couple of years should have earned us a University degree in new experiences. 

2013 Resolutions: Philip

Cass asked me to share my New Year's Resolutions with you. Last year, I stuck with my unpublished goals through until May. This year, I hope publishing them puts me over the top.

Now, everyone has goals about diet and exercise, relationships, and even faith spirituality. And those are good, so briefly: I want to exercise every day, max out at one sweet a week, keep a bimonthly date night with my wife, and get back in the habit of having daily time with my Bible (or YouVersion app, as the case may be). But those resolutions are boring to read; you've seen them a million times. What I want to do is focus on the New Year's Resolutions that are a little less common. Like...

1. Get two rejection notices.

Some of you may know that I'm a bit of a writer, with dreams of being an author/screenwriter/playwright (really, whatever storytelling medium will have me, poetry slams included). But so far I haven't gone and sent anything off. Why? Maybe I'm too nervous. Maybe I just don't know where to start. But this year I intend to start changing that. And aiming for two rejection notices is a bit of a hedge; as long as I send stuff a couple of works off to a publisher, I either make some strides forward in my writing career or I achieve my resolution!

2. Watch this year's Best Picture nominees before next year's ceremony.

That gives me a year to watch 9 movies? I can do that. Part of striving to be a great artist is understanding what makes art great. Being truthful and discovering your voice are great, but if you don't have a good understanding how to deliver, you're back to square one.

As an aside, maybe I'm just starting to hit the target demographic, but this year's batch seems pretty strong. ZeroDark Thirty, Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Argo; these are all movies I wanted to see as they've come out. I've missed them all so far, but there's no reason for that to continue.

Cass: I'm going to pretend I don't know Philip only wants to see this for Jennifer Lawrence. 

3. Get everything upstairs that's not related to the kitchen done.

Okay, so our bathroom reno has started to drag on longer than a Fiona Apple album title (h/t Hollywood Prospectus podcast). But we will get it done! And we will get the spare bedroom done! And the living room-ish! (It butts up against the kitchen, and our plans for it can only be fully realized when we can scratch together the coin to actually finish the kitchen.)

Having a beautiful living space is a top priority. Can't wait to share it with you as we make that happen.

4. Rediscover my At-Work Mojo

Last year I was kicking butt at the beginning of the year. But then some plans changed due to my company's integration with some of our sister companies. And then we lost one of the employees in our department and a lot of his work landed on my desk. And somewhere in that maelstrom, the je-ne-sais-quoi that had me at the top of my game at the beginning of the year faded.

It's time to refocus on what makes me great and what holds me back, so I can release my inner Kraken.

5. Run a marathon.

Ha. Haha. Hahahahahaha. I'm totally kidding. While I have the utmost respect for those who can, the reasons I don't want to run a marathon are legion (although if you quizzed me right now, the fact that many marathoners lose control of their, ummm, plumbing during the race would be reasons #1 through 18 on my list). But being able to jog 5K without dying would be nice. Maybe I'll work toward that.

So those are my resolutions. I hope to be back on the Friday Phil horse soon; as Cass mentioned, I'm directing a play that I adapted (writing pretty much all of it last week), but who knows, you may have me back sooner than later. (That is, if the blog will have me back!) This week, tell us what you're looking forward to most in 2013. 

January Motivation

With 2013 in full swing, and my resolutions staying pretty strong so far, I thought I'd share a few of the January home decor/organizing/cleaning resolutions that I've seen on the interweb that you might be interested in participating in. Philip will be back for his regular Friday post at some point in the future, he's just really busy writing for the church's drama these days so we're giving him a little break. Plus he'll be sharing his resolutions on Tuesday so that's something to look forward to.

1. Apartment Therapy: The January Cure

Apartment Therapy has provided a calendar for January with tasks to do each day that are related to reinvesting in your home (buying flowers and hanging artwork), purging (using an outbox to help collect things throughout the month that you're ready to part with), and cleaning in general (this past weekend they tried to force me to mop and vacuum my floors - but I didn't have a mop handle after painting my ceiling and breaking two of them - so I fooled them!).  I've tried to follow along with it, although a few of the things weren't as applicable to me or I wasn't interested in doing them, so I've sort of tailored it to fit my own lifestyle/needs. For example, instead of buying flowers this past weekend since I didn't want to spend the money, and I am a plant killer, I rearranged my mantle post-Christmas with beautiful  new things that I was gifted and that make me happy. 

2. iHeart Organizing: Home Office Challenge

Jen at iHeart Organizing is planning a monthly challenge throughout 2013, each month focusing on a different area of the home. January is the Home Office, and it's a great place to start especially as tax time approaches and we want to get our paperwork in order. We finished renovating our office, but now there is stuff everywhere. Hopefully this challenge can motivate me to organize all our paperwork this month. I started the other day with a warranties/instructions binder to house all of the paperwork that comes with the furniture/electronics/appliances that we're buying for this new house. Once it's done I'll be sure to share it! 

3. Real Simple: Organizing Challenge

This challenge is a lot more open to your own ideas, basically you just send in a photo on instagram of the space you organized. This month is the kitchen, and they give a few suggestions as to what you can organize. Not sure if I'll participate in this one (maybe!), but I am a bit of a Real Simple fan and a subscriber, so I thought I'd share it. 

4. Home Storage Solutions 101: 52 Weeks to an Organized Home

I did subscribe to this one, but am unfamiliar with the site. We'll see how it goes, but I can always use weekly motivational reminders of projects I should be doing around my house. Especially as a new homeowner, I can let things slide just from even not knowing how often something should be done. The first week was making goals (did that), and the second week involves some kitchen cleaning that I will try and do tomorrow! 

Is anyone else participating in some internet challenges to help them stay motivated? Any interest in us running something like this? I'm considering a series in March or April on Spring Cleaning/Purging - I'm not a cleaner, but I am an organizer/purger so hopefully that could help me to get better at cleaning, and maybe I can motivate some other people to do something I'm passionate about - which is get rid of all the extra stuff in your house that someone else could make better use of. Let me know what you think of that in the comments, or even send me an email at cassondra.wiebe@gmail.com with ideas for the blog.