Over the past year, we’ve really accomplished a lot, even if not everything on our list of resolutions got crossed off. The older (and wiser?) I get, the more I realize that the best plans sometimes don’t work out like you intend. So, even though it can be discouraging to not cross off every item on our list of goals each year, it’s still fun to look back and see just what we did accomplish, and what we still need to work on.

So, here’s a recap of how we did with our resolutions and goals for 2013. Here’s the initial post about our 2013 resolutions, the first update, and the last update, for comparison.

1. Take a vacation that’s at least a long-weekend long. We went to Texas in April over a long weekend, recapped here. Then, we went to Tennessee in July for a longer, “real” vacation, recapped here or below. We also snuck off to Branson a few times, including our most recent Christmas trip, so I’d say we had a successful year of travels. We still have plans and hopes to expand our travel map pins a bit farther outside the midwest, but we know we have a lifetime of travel opportunities in the future, so there’s no need to rush.

2. Keep the kitchen counters clear by developing the habit to always put dirty dishes directly in the dishwasher. (Unless of course, the dishwasher is full or running.) I do put dishes in the washer in a speedier fashion that I did, perhaps a year ago, but I still sometimes put off washing any non-dishwasher items until I have several piled up to do, and I’m not so great at putting away clean dishes right away either. I guess this is really a different issue, though, so I’m going to make this one off, at least partially.

3. Replace the basement door and enlarge the storage shed back there. We just didn’t get around to this one in 2013. Between all the different plans and discussions of what we really wanted to do down there, we just ran out of time. Maybe next year!

4. Organize the built-ins and vanity in the hall bathroom, the built-ins in the hallway, and even the kitchen cabinets. Sort-of done. I posted about organizing our guest bathroom earlier this summer. I organized the hall cabinets this winter, and the kitchen, well, it’s been sort of abandoned since I know new cabinets are (hopefully) coming soon. Actually, everything is going fine in the kitchen except the plastic storage containers. They are starting to overflow and the lack of organization in that cabinet drives me crazy almost daily. 

5. Build the kitchen table and refinish the chairs and bench. Done! Well the chairs aren’t done, but at this point, I don’t care. The table is beautiful and lovely and I know we’ll get to finishing the chairs soon enough. (We have some temporary ones there now, so the space already feels at least mostly finished. (This dark icky photo is your first official sneak peek of the finished table on the blog!)

6. Buy a dresser for our master bedroom.  Check!

7. Visit a financial planner to set up maternity leave/retirement/tax savings plans for this self-employed writer. We ended up doing some planning on our own this fall after speaking to an accountant/tax professional in the spring, and even though we have more future planning ahead of us, I feel at least a little more prepared. Still, there’s a lot to learn. Freelance income isn’t as easy to work with as a salary, but I’m still so enjoying this path.

8. Plan how to best functionally use the basement. (Maybe make some progress down there with painting, but I don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves.) We do have some thinking still to do on this, but we’ve tossed around a LOT of ideas and even settled on some plans for the future. Now to just get to work and get some things done!

9. Clean and organize the two basement storage rooms and the garage. The basement is in great shape after my mom came up to help a couple of times this fall and winter. I’m sure there’s still more we can sort out to get rid of, but I know how far we’ve come already so I’m pleased. Plus, I know that the garage has been clean most of the year, even if it seems a bit messy now after our marathon table-building session in late December.

10. Find a home church where we can finally find a family of believers to really belong to. We’re officially “regulars” at our church now and we’re happy to be meeting more people and slowly starting to get involved. Yay for feeling settled in a place where we can grow and learn!

11. Read 10 things that are already on the bookshelf, combined. This turned into me doing all the reading because Hubs ended up reading some new books about math and statistics and other semi-work-related things. That was fine though, because I still ended up with a total of 12 books.

Technically, there are only nine books in this pile, but the giant one on the bottom is a complete Sherlock Holmes, and there are really four books included in this one giant one.

12. Write five things that are just for me. I tried this one last year, too, but didn’t accomplish it. Here’s to second chances! I only made it to 2 things, possibly three if I count a journal I kept all year, but I am going to try this again next year. Maybe the third time’s the charm!

13. Speak each other’s love language in a big way at least once a week. We started out trying to do this, but honestly, we strive to love each other in multiple ways every day, and it was just too hard to measure which language we were speaking in. Bottom line, we’re passionate about protecting and nourishing our marriage, and it doesn’t really matter how that happens as long as we both feel loved and respected every day.

14. Have a real dinner party four times this year. We made it to four “formal” dinners (not fancy, but rather planned out and at the table), if we include the one we had with my young cousins.  They might not have provided “adult conversation,” but that was never really a stipulation, so I say it counts. We had several other get-togethers as well, so I’m still very pleased. 

15. And the last one’s from Wyatt, “Write one blog post every month.” He rocked it! See below for just some of my favorites!

• December: Barnwood Christmas Tree, Barnwood Tabletop
• November: Tabletop progress
• October: DIY rolling garage cart, Building the Table Base
• September: The storm door, parts one and two. (These were really in August, but he posted four times that month, so it counts.)
• August: Adding a Junction Box, and Sharpening Mower Blades
• July: Honda Temperature Controls
• June: Map Pinboard, Replacing a Gas Hose, and Building a Bird Barrier
• May: Porch Light Caps, Hanging Shop Lights, and Lining The Garden Boxes
• April: Building the Garden Boxes, Making a Storage Hard Drive, and Making a Mason Jar Toothbrush Holder
• March: Curtain Work
• February: Mirror Fix-up, Sanding the dresser
• January: Replacing a Ceiling Fan, Adding an Extension Cord Reel to The Garage and Fixing the Honda

Want to see how we did compared to last year? Read our 2012 Resolution Recap post, here. You can also see our progress throughout the year for 2013 with resolutions updates, one, two, and three.

So there you have our list of resolutions for 2013 and how we did on accomplishing them. Now it’s your turn to fess up and tell us what you’ve accomplished in the last year!