10 Things Tuesday
January 8, 2008 by mrschili
Times ten… plus eight…
I’ve been both intimidated and inspired by both Kizz and JRH to compile a list of goals for 2008 - both their lists for this year can be found here. I’m intimidated because, damn - one hundred and eight things?! and inspired by how much these ladies were able to check off of their “107 things in 2007″ lists. Anyway, here goes:
1. Go on vacation with my family. Preferably to someplace warm and with almost no agenda or schedule.
2. Use lotion with sunscreen every day. Kizz’s head cleavage of 2007 inspired this one.
3. Eat more veggies.
4. Eat out less.
5. Try more recipes. I’ve got literally shelves of cookbooks and cooking magazines, many of which have Post-It flags indicating recipes that intrigued me. It’s time to start testing them.
6. Make wills/trusts. The financial part of this is easy; deciding who would take custody of the girls should Mr. Chili and I… erm… co-decease is a little harder. Any suggestions? Any takers?
7. Encourage / facilitate the completion of the upstairs bathroom and the back deck.
8. Find and hire a contractor to replace the siding on the original part of the house and to replace the original roof.
9. Have the yard landscaped (and have those pathetic, snow-broken front bushes removed).
10. Schedule physicals for Mr. Chili and myself.
11. Get back in to the flossing and Lysterine-ing habit. I was good with this for most of last year, but I got lazy. That leads me to…
12. Go to the dentist.
13. Stop procrastinating so much. I’m getting a little too good at avoiding things, to the point of it stressing me out. I know this is a vague and general goal, but I’m going to try to put a check next to it when I review this list in 2009.
14. Visit my grandparents once a week.
15. Visit my mom once a week (or, at least, call her once a week).
16. Spend more time with my sister.
17. Go to NYC for a weekend with Kizz.
18. Meet at least ONE blogging friend in the real world. Any takers?
19. Vote. CHECK!
20. Be consistent in my classroom policies. If I say I’m not going to accept late work, I’m not going to accept late work, dammit!
21. Meditate once a day for at least five minutes.
22. Walk three times a week for at least half an hour… when the weather is warmer.
23. Establish a family game / movie night. We’ve got Scrabble and Boggle and Sorry and Uno and Monopoly and a ton of DVDs; I want to have a together-time routine established before the girls get too far into the pre-teen thing.
24. Clean out “my half” of the basement; set up a sewing table; purge and reorganize seasonal/holiday stuff.
25. Keep up my grade book. I’m not bad at doing the grading, but I kind of suck at entering the grades and attendance on my computer. This falls under the “procrastination” heading, and is something that I end up dreading because I put it off for so long.
26. Balance our checkbook every month. This isn’t such a big deal as our records are kept online, but I’d like to have copies in my accounting software, just in case.
27. Open a savings account and direct a certain and as-yet-to-be-determined amount each month into it.
28. Pay at least an extra mortgage payment for the year.
29. Invite my in-laws to dinner once a month. I think part of our relationship troubles stem from our not spending sufficient time together. I could be wrong about this, but it’s worth a shot.
30. Double-check our homeowners’ insurance to make sure we’ve got sufficient coverage. Find out whether big-ticket items need to be catalogued somewhere.
31. Complete professional development workshops at TCC. As an adjunct, I’m not required to do this, but I want to take advantage of the credit hours for my licensure.
32. Write to my biological grandmother once a month.
33. Move my IRA CD to our investment account, and encourage Mr. Chili to consolidate all of our investments under one statement.
34. Have the cars regularly maintained; oil changes, tire check-ups, annual super-cleaning, that sort of thing.
35. See some of the movies that I’ve bought but haven’t yet watched.
36. Schedule one do-nothing day a month.
37. Read non-stop; never be without a book. This is pretty easy, what with my literature classes and the Dark and Stormy Book Club, but it’s going on the list anyway.
38. Inventory and either purge or use the items in the freezer.
39. Buy and install a new dishwasher and refrigerator.
40. Go swimming with the kids (mine and the Bowyer boys) this summer, either at the health club pool or at one of the several lakes within striking distance.
41. Learn how to work the gas grill in the back yard. I’m too dependent on Mr. Chili for burgers and steak in the summer.
42. Take the girls (or all the kids) to the Museum of Science for a day.
43. Forth of July on the Charles?
44. Be more sustainable / less wasteful. Bring canvas bags to the grocery store, use my Nalgene more often, that sort of thing.
45. Reduce the soda habit to one or two cans a week.
46. Plant perennials in the yard, especially in the back yard where I can see them out of my kitchen windows.
47. Take a multi-vitamin.
48. Encourage my family to take a multi-vitamin.
49. Send my husband love notes when he least expects them.
50. Tuck love notes in the girls’ lunch boxes when they least expect them.
51. Call my friends for no good reason other than I miss them.
52. Organize the garage and build “soda shelves.”
53. Take more pictures.
54. Try to say “yes” to my children more often.
55. Drink more water.
56. Remember friends’ birthdays - even far away friends.
57. Attend a Pride event.
58. Become a member of my NPR station.
59. See Laura once a month.
60. Get to know Tonks better.
61. Moisturize my cuticles once a day.
62. Have the prongs on my rings checked.
63. Have the cats’ shots updated.
64. Get flu shots for the family.
65. Go through my closet and purge anything not worn in a year.
66. Complete YNG training.
67. Complete the Holocaust Studies fellowship.
68. Coordinate a kick-ass Constitution Week activity at TCC.
69. Establish a home yoga practice.
70. Include Mr. Chili in that yoga practice.
71. Sit in on a culinary class at TCC.
72. Sit in on some colleagues’ classes at TCC.
73. Take a cooking workshop offered through TCC.
74. Eat at TCC’s restaurant.
75. Spend time with the girls in the kitchen. Teach them to make one reliable recipe that ISN’T mac and cheese from a box.
76. Read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
77. Go to a faire with Tonks and Bowyer.
78. See a jazz concert with BoBo and his Mrs.
79. Take my husband on some dates. Maybe once a month?
80. Establish a manageable housekeeping routine. Do a little every day.
81. Plan something special for our 12th anniversary (June 29th).
82. Plan a fun birthday party for Beanie in March…
83. And for Mr. Chili in May…
84. And for Punkin’ Pie in June.
85. Keep my computer’s address book updated.
86. Purge stuff we don’t use anymore and either donate it or have a yard sale.
87. Read Memoirs of a Geisha.
88. Rent and watch The Queen, The Kingdom, and Retribution.
89. Keep my Amazon wishlist updated.
90. Do Boot Camp with my kids at Beanie’s elementary school.
91. Donate to Mr. VeryTall’s fundraising efforts on behalf of Special Olympics (damned fool is going to jump in the Atlantic on February 2nd!)
92. Keep up with my chiropractic care.
93. Visit my OB/GYN.
94. Teach during the summer term at TCC.
95. Update my resume.
96. Apply to adjunct positions in other local colleges.
97. Look into applying for a Master’s in History at Local U.
98. Get a pedicure (maybe as a treat for finishing # 66?)
99. Buy Christmas or birthday presents whenever I find something that reminds me of someone instead of waiting until the proverbial last minute.
100. Send out holiday cards. (This one is harder for me than it seems; I’ve not been able to manage it for three years now.)
101. Spend some Mommy and Me, alone time with each of my daughters.
102. Re-pot the house plants, including the ficus trees if they need it.
103. Create at least two new step routines for class.
104. Scan and catalogue all of our family Christmas pictures. I’ve taken one a year since before Mr. Chili and I were married, and I want to make sure I’ve got them all.
105. Go to Apple Harvest Day and have handprint tiles made of the girls to add to the collection started in 2005.
106. Establish a chore routine for the girls, that includes an allowance, to teach them more about family responsibility and money.
107. Spend book gift cards.
108. Finish this list! CHECK!
Phew! Now, watch me think up four more things to add to this as soon as I hit “publish.”
I’ll check back on this periodically and see how I’m doing, and right around the new year 2009, I’ll do an assessment of the long-term progress. Wish me luck!
100. Send out holiday cards. (This one is harder for me than it seems; I’ve not been able to manage it for three years now.)
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Have a GREAT Tuesday!
Barb
Swing by the store any time for your rings to be checked, Mrs. C. Either I or Tonks can do that for you.
I was gonna say I’d lend you “The Queen,” too, because I thought we had it, but upn further review it appears we do not. Odd. I must have just rented it once for Cookiemaker.
My husband may be returning to a job that required a lot of overseas travel. While it is hard, the plus side was that at one time we had enough frequent flyer platinum miles for 9 free plane tickets! Perhaps a meet and greet would not be impossible if he takes this job!
Lots of things on your list are worthy of consideration for myself, as goals, too. Except for sending your husband love notes. I’ll change that to mine.
I think every woman who has made a list has the gyn appointment on it. Even if we’ve been the previous year. Why is this such a major thing for us? I haven’t been in years and I don’t have a regular “good” gynie and it’s just such a sucky thing. Why can’t we make it less sucky?
That being said, perhaps the pedi should be a reward for something that truly needs a carrot in front of it like the gynie and the dentist.
When are you coming? Do we know any bloggers close to NYC who we could meet together?
RE: #70, this year yoga, next year tantra! Now that’s an anniversary celebration! (I was going to say “it’s a slippery slope” but that seemed to dirty.)
‘Tis a good list.
We are all crazy for making them, though.
Oh, this could be my list! Now I don’t have to do one, I’ll just use yours. oh, well, maybe I’ll just let you do yours and live vicariously……
In answer to Kizz’s question:
WARM UP THE DUCK LIPS!
Oh, and I like the idea of a pedi as a treat for finishing the YNG training. I have thought of doing that as a post-race treat.
How do we make it less sucky? How about finding a nicer, less uncomfortable way to get a sample for the damned PAP test? I don’t mind the duck lips so much (my doc keeps them in a warming drawer in the table, so it’s not so bad), but I hate to HELL the little mini toilet brush she uses to invade, scrape, and abuse my poor little cervix.
Jodi, I was going to tell you to make your own damned list, but I live vicariously through so many people myself that it would just be hypocritical of me to do that, so I won’t. You’re welcomed along for my ride, my friend. I’ll keep you posted….
too much info to process. brain failed.
Don’t try to take it all in at once, Liv. It took me DAYS to compose it, and I’m giving myself a whole year to get through as many of them as I can. Pace yourself, that’s what *I* say!
Geez, now I feel so inadequate. LOL That’s one heck of a list!
Your list is too long.
Make another item: shorten the list.
Gerry, it wasn’t my idea - I’m just following the rules…
I’ll help with the yard stuff. I know I said that last year but it was kind of late in the season. Can I have some creative control? I have already been thinking about what I will do in my own yard! And you forgot to add ” Plan something fun for Auntie’s birthday in May” How about we all check out the new zip line place? Just sayin..
Auntie. Zipline. I’m in.
Good luck in 2008! I’m here to support you in whatever way you need. Thanks for inspiring to get my own list started. I think I have thirty things so far, and I’m sure I can do the entire 108. I’ll post it when I’m done.
We just saw The Kingdom (good movie, hated what they did with the camera — stop jiggling it during the chase scenes! Who decided that was a good idea, anyway?) I need to watch The Queen too(I love Helen Mirren).
And did someone say there is a zip line for grown ups? That sounds so cool! The girls have one at preschool, and while it could hold me (yes, really), it’s too close to the ground.
This is a great list of goals. It covers every aspect of your life, and is ambitious but do-able. I won’t say “good luck,” but I will say “go get ‘em!”