This year in review

Here are last year's resolutions:

Painting the spare room, dining room and hallway
Well, I'm one for 3 on this. The "spare" room is now Dorian's room. And it is painted. But the dining room has only been prepped and the hallway is still a hideous pale yellow with diarrhea brown trim. So this is a bit of a fail. Oh, well. At least I'm motivated to get the dining room done first thing in the spring.

Building a fence
It was built. It works.

Growing a great garden and canning some of my own produce
I grew a fine garden. I did not can any of my own produce. Only produce from local farms. I also don't foresee being able to can any of my own produce for a few more years. The raspberries and blueberries are too small just yet, and I'm terrified of pressure canning, so we'll ignore this one.


Not allowing myself to get roped into anything I don't really want to do, especially where Sebastian's school is involved
We all know what a joke this one is. I have resolved to not take over the nature program next year, so I have made some progress on this front. Just not as much as I should have. Where were the reminders of this resolution when I agreed to be Treasurer for the PTA? I need some sort of alarm other than my conscience and the friends who always warn me--- okay, I need to just plain get a grip. Gripping.

and trying to find realistic, non-pharmaceutical solutions to my mental health issues.
This didn't really happen either. But I'm not locked up in the Retreat yet, so I must be doing something right.

I'm going to try not to look at this year as a failure. Plenty of things have been fine if not good. The kids are doing well in school. Owning a house hasn't bankrupted us. I fell into a job I really enjoy. So what if I have gained a little weight and been a little lazy on the painting front? There's always next year.

As for next year, I will try to:

• get back in shape again.
• get the dining room painted and the laundry room painted and the organization system installed. Forget the hallway for now.
• continue doing things I enjoy and make my life better, and learn to stop doing the things that make me miserable and don't positively impact my life or anyone else's.

Wish me luck...