Accomplishments--
- The biggest house related accomplishment is definitely having the trees taken out of the backyard and the new fence installed. Zeppelin loves to roam around his backyard, and we love not standing outside in the cold/heat/rain/wind/etc. with him.
- Also a part of the backyard--we painted the back of the house to a color we're happier with, and replaced some rotten boards on the deck.
- The eat-in part of our kitchen, the guest room and the living room are essentially complete and decorated. 2010 may bring about the destruction of the 'great wall' in the living room, but we are at a happy place with the room.
- Our first 'grown-up' Christmas Tree! This made the living room for us this Christmas season.
- We ran our first 5K (and by the end of the year, I had finished 3 5K's and my first five mile race. I hope to complete a race a month during the new year, and would like to finish a half marathon sometime in 2010, too.
Goals still in progress (because it isn't failure if I've just postponed their completion date, right?)--
- Well, the deck painting project is the first thing on the postponed list. After we realized that the paint color we'd picked out just wasn't going to work for us, the cold autumn rains set in and we gave in until spring. We'll be searching for the right color later this winter.
- Other projects in progress include the built-ins in the library. In September, we ordered two bookshelves to place above the cabinets we finished last winter. They finally came in and I picked them up yesterday, but they still need to be sanded and stained to match the cabinets.
- My dreams of a bathroom renovation are still alive, but the antique dresser (and my future vanity) is still hanging out in our laundry room awaiting restoration.
- Our family room has seen both positives and negatives this year. We recovered from the broken sump pump last winter, and had just gotten back to normal when the pipe that used to feed our ice-maker upstairs popped another leak. Luckily, we caught this one much more quickly, and thanks to my dad's help, the hole has been patched up. I'm still squeezing in sanding work on the drywall mud, and we'll have to repaint the area before that project is finished. We did get the great new TV stand this year, so the furniture in that room has pretty much come together.
- I made great progress on cleaning/organizing my office/craft room (thanks, mom!) this year, and hope to paint and accessorize that room in 2010.
- Finally, our weight loss efforts are on-going. My goal is to lose 75 pounds from my heaviest point (reached on May 1 this year). I'm currently over half-way there and am thrilled to be one of the few people who boast weight loss during the holidays.
Blessings--
- Early in 2009, J and I happened upon several quotes that addressed the importance of living in the moment. After reading and thinking about the many quotes, we boiled them down to a two word phrase--Be Present. This phrase was our guiding principal in 2009, and on those frequent occasions that we became distracted to the point of stress, we found that a deep breath and the reminder to be present could solve almost anything.
- After many years of struggling with our faith, J and I found ourselves at St. Raphael's Episcopal Church this year and have been blessed many times by the great folks there. We joined the church in June, and J was recently elected to the parish vestry.
- J and I continued to adventure this year, and celebrated both our second year of marriage and the fifth anniversary of our first date. Our adventures this year took us from Cumberland Falls last January to New York City this Thanksgiving.
- We continue to be thankful for careers that challenge us and allow us the opportunity to transform The Melton Point, one project at a time.
Happy New Year to you all!
Title: It was a very good year, by Frank Sinatra
