Happy New Year!

A new year, a fresh start filled with good intentions, resolutions, lists and goals. I'm always full of ideas - goals I want to accomplish for myself personally, experiences I want our to have family, things I want to do to our house. Of course not everything happens - the to-do list for the house is a mile long, I still bite my nails when I'm stressed, and I'm not sure I'll ever be as organized as I want to be. But... as I reflect on the past year, there's always hope for the future - and after the Autumn we've had, we definitely could use a fresh start!

Over the holiday break I had good intentions and big plans, squeezed between many fun holiday activities with family and friends. Unfortunately we got sick, not all at the same time, but it was definitely enough to mess up our productivity. Not that there's anything wrong with relaxing over the holidays - it just would have been nicer to rest and relax while healthy instead of recuperating. I did get some overdue Fall cleaning done that had been delayed due to the ankle injury. Like dusting behind and under larger furniture (bye bye dust bunnies!), cleaning out the fridge and freezer. Christmas decor was not only cleaned up and packed away, it was also reorganized from a dozen boxes into six plastic tubs. I found a home for all the Christmas presents. The tree is on the curb awaiting pickup (though I'll be vacuuming up stray pine needles until May). We even took advantage of a couple unseasonably warm days to finish cleaning up the raised bed garden (which sadly was only half done before).

The rest of the yard cleanup (all those backyard plants nipped by frost) will have to wait until Spring. January in NJ is a month of ice and snow, more hours of dark than light. Only 9 weeks until the clocks go forward again. Winter is a good excuse to stay home and hibernate for a few weekends, to get a little more done around the house.

Our top priorities this winter (Onwards! Upwards! A new year!): the basement and the upstairs hall, which we plan to work on concurrently.

Basement:
- Organize and store the last of the boxes of my childhood
- Mike is going to add some much-needed electrical (a light and a couple of outlets)
- Get a new mini fridge for next to the deep freeze (a Christmas gift we can't wait to pick out!)

Upstairs Hall:
- Patch and paint the ceiling (now that the attic floor is boarded no one will step through again)
- Patch several spots on the walls, repaint the walls (same color, Edgecomb gray)
- Add crown molding
- Patch and repaint the bathroom door
- Replace the light switch  and blinds and the old brass light with the new one to match the ones purchased for the stairwell
- Rehang the artwork and add to it