Glad to see your post here, Scott. Long time.

You are sure pushing buttons for me, nearly all of your points strike a tender spot. I'll try to be brief and only mention a couple at this time.

House. Well, we have a few projects hanging fire and want to finish them all this year. I do not want my DH to expend all his energy on them, so what we do must be hired out. He will be 78 in Feb and I will be 74 in June. It is time for us to finish what MUST be done, and then plan to enjoy what we WANT to do after that. That means: garage and kitchen and then no more, except for gardening.

The FUTURE. I worried for a while about 2012, and then I decided it was out of my hands. If the world ends, nobody will get out of it alive, so be it.

Future Generation. Now, I totally agree about your two sons. They need to learn to be logical and not be hoodwinked. I have no children, but I do have granddaughters and grandnieces. I made a big mistake a couple of months ago expressing my concern for the futures of my nephew's children. I was meaning all kids growing up now, with a strange new world on the horizon, but he felt I was saying something quite unintended about his ability to protect them. Nawwww, that is too complex for one ordinary person to do when immense wealth has the upper hand and is willing to sacrifice anything for a quick profit today.

Anyway, I do worry about the future of mankind, peace on earth, personal freedom, health and environment, and the creatures we share this earth with. Also, potable water, climate change which can make less land available for an increasingly large population, famine, and religious conflict. Peace be with us all, always.

Oops, I thought I posted this in the Conversations area. My apologies to the GW screeners.

Scott

Now that the kitchen is winding down (just backsplash and trim to do), I need to concentrate on my health. DH is tired of running and fetching for me and I am tired of barely getting by. I need more strength and endurance and a lot less weight. I will be moving toward far fewer carbs in my diet in the next weeks, and will return to the nice warm pool in a neighboring town for water aerobic and strengthening exercises a few nights a week, after work. I can't do that stuff on land with my weight and hyper-extending joints. The new kitchen design should make it easy to prepare meals in advance so that I will not have to rely on fast food chains.

For Christmas and Birthday presents, we bought ourselves a far-infrared sauna. Once we have the electrical circuit in place, we will rearrange my craft room and set up the little dry sauna hut in there.

If time,money and energy permit, I do want to strip wallpaper, paint, and put flooring in DFinL's former bedroom. I can then get a nice older bedroom set in there for guests to use.

And new windows are on our agenda as soon as it warms up enough for our carpenter to work outside. This week, we expect to hear from him about getting the attic insulation done.

Organization and better de-cluttering are always our goals, too. Both DH and I have problems in this area!

I do hope to work a few more hours a week. I average about 30, but can work up to 37. The extra money can be put away or be used for our ongoing projects so that we do not touch our savings. Once April hits, I may face a decrease in pay (again), so there is a tendency to want to make hay while the sun shines!

But whatever else the new year brings, improved health has to be my first priority. That will help me in so many different ways!

Not so much 'resolutions' as a daunting 'to do' list!

Lord willing, this is the year to get started on the new place in SC. I have to clear land, build a barn, and build a house. I'm not sure what I'll do in my spare time......

I plan on putting this all in motion this spring, so I have a LOT to do here in FL before starting the SC project. Stay tuned!

I've been feeling the same nancy, I want to take better care of my health and stop putting other things first, health and slowing down a bit are my new priorities for this year.

with the house, I want to get the fireplace finished, I started installing the surround over xmas and now Im fiddling with and fitting the quarter round to get the woodwork part out of the way (which has been slow going with hand tools). Im still not happy with it so I will play with it for a while longer. I also want to get the hallway done, it needed lots of prep and painting but I want it finished this year including getting the hardwood floor refinished, beyond that I dont want to make too many plans or put pressure on myself. I always feel like Im making so little progress with the house but when I look back over 2010, I did get some long overdue projects done so I did ok.

This year I just dont want to be rushing around or stressing about stuff, I just want to enjoy each day more and not get so frustrated with the lack of time and energy to keep up with things or do as much as I'd like and just generally take better care of myself

I'm new to the forum and it's a new year... Maybe that's a sign?
My husband and I have been married for 25 years, and we finally have an empty nest so our 800 sf house is finally a little less cramped. The first thing I did when the last little bird left was turn his bedroom into a dining room. We had been living in this house for ten years eating off trays in the living room! I had a fairly large studio which I can downsize since I'm semi-retired from my jewelry making business, so I turned half of it into a library/guest room. At last I can pull all the rest of my treasured books out of storage! (We moved from a 2200sf house into this one-- it was not easy)

With the economy the way it is, and us being down to one income, we have to go slow; but I think I'll start doing some redecorating this year. I'm hoping to build a deck on the side of the house, with a pergola or gazebo at the opposite end from the spa... maybe put in a french door in the newly dedicated dining room to give ready access to the deck? Of course, I'm also starting a vegetable garden so who knows how far my energy will go... *sigh*

Scott, as a teacher, I want to say, "THANK YOU!" I wish more parents did what you are planning to do for your boys. Teaching my kids to *think* is at the top of my list, but I have trouble getting support from our parents as thinking takes time...and no one seems to want to be patient these days. It's faster to think for your kids, I guess.

As for resolutions...I stick to the home ones for this post:
1. Redrywall/floor our back room and convert it to a library (add doors to master)
2. Redo the kitchen (low budget)
3. Get the house on the market and move closer to DH's work
4. Paint the exterior trim (painting the house by myself is heading into a two year process)

I understand the 2 year paint job, young-gardener. We did the same thing.

Welcome brightsea! You sound a lot like us. When we bought this house 15 years ago, we expanded the tiny kitchen into the dining room and all 4 of us ate at a tiny bar in the kitchen or in the living room. We're just now getting ready to build the dining room. I've drawn up the basic plans and dh keeps wanting me to go down and get the permit. The woman at the city is supposed to be a, um, tyrant, and I told dh that he had to talk to her next time. The last time I talked to her to ask what the city wanted to see when I got the permit, she went off on me about getting an architect and following code.

Hummmmmmmmmmm Well I have a few yard things I hope to get done. Nothing earth shattering. I think I would like to get some inside house painting done. Still trying to decide on removing the living room carpet and exchanging it for vinyl. Do not want to paint in here if we are going to do that soon.

Guess I have lots of little piddly things I kind of hope to get done. Guess we will just have to see how much energy I have. We are really comfortable here so it becomes easy to just let things be as they are. This is a good thing. I know a person is never done.I have just kind of looked forward to the time I did not have to push so hard all of the time and take time to do those little things that are just fun to do.

OOH, Marti, sounds like you have one of those women who let a little bit of power go to their head. Hopefully you won't have someone like that for an inspector as well, or you might as well give up and get an architect or construction company NOW.

... We've been having a brief thaw here, with daytime temps soaring into the low 40's. It makes me impatient for spring to come. I have plans! I have a garden to start, a deck to build, and I want to finish painting inside.

Scott, I am glad you posted this on the "wrong forum", I have found it very interesting.

I have no idea where 2011 will take me....but hoping this house will sell, have a household sale of most of our furniture in this large house because we don't need it anymore and move to a smaller house in a smaller town where crime is less and taxes lower...either build again or buy something ready-built, if we can find a suitable one. So that is a huge mountain in our lives.

I am also making a commitment to myself to take better care of my health. I have let exercise and diet slide and it really shows in my health and appearance...so I am going to the gym at least 3x a week...if there is no ice/snow because I am terrified of falling again....I have had two joint replacements and will have a meniscus repaired in two weeks that was torn from the last fall. I hope otherwise this will be a "surgery free" year. I have too much arthritis to do much physical work, but I try to keep busy...and this forum is a good place to keep busy LOL.

My kids are all grown and for them I pray they will keep their employment and they all have good health and are kept safe.

May all of my new found friends who I have found on "Small Houses", I wish you health and happiness and may 2011 be a good one for each of you.

My main goal for every year is to make sure I move forward, no matter what. 2011 is mostly working on BALANCE.

HOUSE: I told myself I would work on my kitchen in 2011...take my time with it, and get it done if it takes all year. I got the motivation over xmas time and I've got 85% of my list done already. I wanted to spend the quiet winter months knitting, reading, and taking a break from "projects".

I really need to focus on slowing down, so I'm finishing the kitchen since I'm in the groove, and no more indoor projects until 2012.

As a single parent, I work full-time and raise my kid. When she's with her father every other weekend, I love my alone time with my DIY projects, but my projects are physical and tiring. I love my time, but I gotta slow down. Not fun to be sore from my projects, have a couple hours to shake it off on Sunday afternoon, and pretend it doesn't hurt when DD comes home and wants me to pick her up.

KID: My daughter is 5. She missed the Kindergarten cut-off date by 7 days, so she's still in daycare. She's caught between older/her-age friends who talk about school and bigger-kid things...and little toddler-talk at daycare. I'm working hard to get out more and expose her to things bigger in the world than what we're used to. Step out of the little-kid things. You know what I'm talking about.

5 is such a transitional age for her and for me. I don't want to be caught up in being too busy that we fall into the toddler routines because it's easy for both of us.

PERSONAL: Since my kid is now 5 and more self-sufficient, I'm finding small blocks of time to read books again, do some quiet things for me, care about hair, makeup & clothes, and just being a girl again. It's only been 5 years since she was born, 4 yrs since we left that awful marital existence, and I'm feeling like things are stabilizing and not so frenzied. Yay.

I really love my life, and as long as I continue to assess, make changes where necessary...and now in 2011...slow down and BREATHE...it should be wonderful.