To-Do List of 2012

I love lists. I make all sorts of lists. Menus, grocery shopping lists, to-do lists for busy days, check boxes for work. Sometimes I make lists that include things I have already done, just so I can have the delicious satisfaction of crossing things off my list.

Much more ambitious than a list for a day or a trip to the grocery store is Project 52, the creation of Karen and Jennee. A list of goals for the year, Project 52 gives me the chance not only to make the list, but to have support as I go through the year, crossing things off.

I enjoyed this so much last year that I am participating again this year. I've been thinking of my list for over a month, and am so excited to finally make it real, to write it down, so that I can get on with the best part: crossing things off.

1. Find one drawer/closet/cupboard to clean out each month.
2. Get to know my neighbors.
3. Finally overcome my blogging insecurities, and submit posts for SITS (if you have any ideas for posts of mine that you have liked, let me know.)
4. Visit Chicago again.
5. Plan a great spring break vacation.
6. Get a rain barrel.
7. Start posting my menus on my blog.
8. Share some recipes.
9. Get a plant for inside my house.
10. Visit three new places.
11. Get serious about finding a job, meaning I actually have to submit my CV or talk to an actual person.
12. Break out the oil paints and put brush to canvas.
13. Cook with an ingredient I have never used before. Do this three times.
14. Do the Couch-to-5K program.
15. Make a bedtime and stick with it.
16. Make new chore charts for the boys.
17. Send a handwritten letter to 5 friends.
18. Do something special for turning 30.
19. Donate money to something.
20. Get through my anesthesia question book twice.
21. Introduce my boys to art.
22. Get my boys in the kitchen cooking with me.
23. Get a pedicure.
24. Make bread.
25. Go to a drive in movie theater.
26. Go ice skating.
27. Ride a train.
28. Read a parenting book.
29. Learn to take a compliment.
30. Do three home improvement projects.
31. Plant a garden.
32. Make maple syrup.
33. Visit two museums.
34. Volunteer at the school.
35. Start family sharing at the dinner table.
36. Get a better handle on our finances.
37. Write at least 10 blog posts a month.
38. Dance in the rain with my children.
39. Make a baking soda-vinegar volcano.
40. Work on the boys (not so) baby books.
41. Print some of my pictures.
42. Clean the garage.
43. Ride my bike to work at least 10 times.
44. Visit family.
45. Invite friends over for dinner.
46. Let go of the clothes that don't fit.
47. Buy myself flowers twice.
48. Surprise Hubster with a date night.
49. Sew something.
50. Sign the boys up for swimming lessons.
51. Go camping three times.
52. Actually, for all seriousness, get my passport.

52 items feels like a lot. But that's where Project 52 and all the support that comes with it is so wonderful. I can remember that I have an entire year to do all these things, working at them slowly a week, a month at a time. I may not get everything done. But the goal is to have something definitive to show for the year, to cross things off.