Hello 2012! Now this is what we're going to do....

I think I've said before I'm not a person for resolutions, but I am a fan of goals.

Having created a Christmas Bucket List this year (oops, I mean last year now don't I?) and worked my way through about 3/4rds of it, it's cemented in my head that living each season or event as if it's possibly your last is a very good way of doing things and overcoming the twin spectres of procrastination and stagnation. You never know when you might not be there for your family or members of your family might not be there for you....so creating memories and trying to make the most of our time seems not too crazy a thing at which to aim.

PLUS, obviously it's 2012 and we've all seen the movie advertised (or have you actually seen it?), the conspiracy shows on the Discovery or History channels or read the scaremongering in the newspapers......the world ends in December! Yes, again.....honestly sometimes real life seems to mimic the script of Buffy the Vampire Slayer a little to closely ("what's that? The apocalypse/end of the world is coming? We have no hope? Oh was, that it, thank goodness we escaped...again").

Sorry I'm talking gibberish aren't I? Blame it on staying up on New Year's Eve into New Year's Day until 1am ish....and then insomnia striking so not getting to sleep until about half four....and me not being 20 anymore so not coping with staying up like I used to.

I'm getting sidetracked again aren't I?

Deary me.

OK. 2012. Let's do this thing! Let's do stuff we've always wanted to but put off until another day. Let's have more fun together. Let's do things that might help us live longer and better if we do get to get to 2013.

• DIY/Remodelling/Renovating - making our house a home: so last year we sold our house in the UK and we bought a house in the USA. Although we've started making it our own (mainly putting up pictures and making curtains) it's still very brown and not very 'ours' yet. Spurred on by watching 'It's A Wonderful Life' and seeing how Mrs. George Bailey shown making their house a home (with a montage of her putting up wallpaper etc), that's what I want to do and take pride in doing. I want to make our house a home, to make it a warm, colourful, safe haven for my kids and husband (and me) to come back to each day. I've done a fair bit of extreme DIY in our 200+ year old house back in the UK so I can definitely do it again here where walls have the chance of being straight. So expect lots of painting, minor woodwork, minor electrics and possibly a little pumbing, as well as flashbacks to work we've done on houses in the past. I think Melchett and Goth Child can join in too, especially as they have previous experience, like being trusted with some jobs and learning some DIY skills can't hurt:

 

 

• Making our house a home - the baking and cooking edition: hey, if I'm going to be a home maker I might as well aim high towards the domestic goddess target ;) I've always enjoyed cooking, and baking especially, but never really made time to do it. Melchett loves it too and I'd really like my girls to be able to cook a little (or at least knowing the basics my Grandma and Dad passed down to me) when they're grown up. Being the one who can cook always wins you friends at college! I'm also aware that I have put on more weight than I like in the past few months....it's making cycling to school an effort....so if I know what's going into the stuff we put in our mouths I can swap some of the ingredients to slightly healthier ones and create smaller portions too. Only sadness is how much I miss my beautifully wonderful kitchen from back home and especially my White Westinghouse range. The cooker in our new house is possibly the most basic type ever, and 2012 unfortunately is not the year we're going to re-do the kitchen.

 

• Developing my own style: I had this as a goal last year sort of and did make some progress. I decided that I wanted to re-ignite my love of fashion and make-up. I read some books, and lots of magazines, I bought my first ever pair of converse, my hair became progressively redder as the year went on, I improved my sewing skills and made a few items of clothing for myself. I want to build on this in 2012. I've been amassing sewing patterns/books and fabrics. They need making. I'm going to have a mega clear-out and re-assessing of what's in my closet. I'm not going to buy cheap replacements, but save up and invest in somethings I'd normally say I couldn't afford because the children came first etc. I'm going to have some fun!

• Blogging and social media: ok these are repeat goals from last year, even though I did make some minor progress on them in 2012. I love blogging, it's my therapy, a creative outlet, hopefully it will be some sort of record of our first few years in the USA for the girls in the future. But in 2012 I want to make my blogs remarkable. I want to make them a joy of surf around. I want to make them pretty to look at, whilst easy to navigate. And I want to make the most of my social media and networking.....it needs a bit of an overhaul, a re-organisation....to make it reach a useful potential instead of a intolerable time-waste.

• Silliness: having fun and having goals to aim at are equally important. I'm not sure what 'silliness' I'm going to aim for in 2012, but I do know that I'm going to create a little bucket list for the year for myself and the family to try and tackle. When I was 39, I had a '40 things before I'm 40' list and blogged about my experiences (unfortunately the blog is long gone). That prompted me to try out things I'd never have done otherwise. I need to do something like this again. New experiences are needed.

And there are various projects I've started since we moved to the USA that I haven't yet completed that I'd like to get out of the way, so I'll be working on some of them too.

So bring it on!