Last year I wrote a post titled “12 in 2012”, listing all the things that I wanted to accomplish during the year. It was never supposed to be a list of resolutions, because, let’s face it, I’m great at breaking resolutions. And then I’m like, “Oh well, I broke that one. I’ll just try again next year!”. Instead, this list was supposed to be a to-do list, that way if I drifted off-course, I could look at the list and recommit to my goals. I promised to keep you updated through the year and hold myself accountable…but, well, other than one post, that didn’t really happen. So here it is, the post where I share the good, the bad, and the ugly. The post where I hold myself accountable for all that I did and didn’t do last year. The list (in bold) is cut and pasted directly from last year’s post, which can be found here.
1. Get Greenleigh potty-trained. Done! She’s only potty-trained during the day, but I’ll take it. Eventually, I’ll get brave enough to potty-train at night. If only the idea of getting up in the middle of the night to change the sheets a few times (if/when she has accidents) was more appealing…
2. Finish the grandparent’s Christmas Valentine’s gifts (photobooks). Fail. Complete and utter fail. There were no 2011 photobooks for the grandparents. I could lie and tell you that I’ll go back and do it later, but honestly, that probably won’t happen. On a positive note, I did get 2012 books done thanks to the awesomeness that is Shutterfly, and I completely plan to do 2013 books when this year is over, so there’s that.
3. Go on vacation with my husband. I struggle on whether to call this “done”. You see, we went to NYC together when I went up for BlogHer. No kids, just us. And we flew in a day or two early so we had some time to spend together, but the purpose wasn’t really for us to get away together, it was for me to go to a blog conference. We had a good time and I’m glad we got to explore the city together, I’m just hoping that this year it doesn’t take a conference for us to go away together.
4. Get more sleep. I totally failed here. I tried though…sometimes. It seems that I always have 26 hours worth of stuff to squeeze into a 24 hour day, which makes this one almost impossible.
5. Be a little cleaner. Done – I definitely won this battle! I think the major problem when I wrote this list last year was that we were living in a place that was too small for our needs. Once we moved to a bigger place (with tons of storage space), this problem worked itself out. Suddenly it wasn’t as hard to keep it clean because there was room for everything. We still have to work at it on a daily basis, but the inside of our home no longer resembles an episode of Hoarders. Thank God.
6. Cook at home a minimum of 3 nights per week. A little bit win, a little bit fail. I did really well with this one, until we moved August. And then things really went downhill. I’m slowly getting back on track this year and feel great about it. I also noticed that I was conscious of eating all of our leftovers when I made food at home, which was a money saver and reduced the amount of food we wasted last year.
7. Stop comparing myself to everyone else’s highlight reel. Done! Surprisingly, this one wasn’t hard at all. I really didn’t compare myself to others much this year. Sure, there are those that I’m jealous of because they appear to have it all together, but I know that even they have a bad day and sometimes things aren’t as they appear.
8. Help a family in need. Done, but not the way I expected. My original plan was to get involved with a local organization called Neighbors4Neighbors and adopt a family, but that didn’t happen. Instead, we donated to various charities throughout the year, got involved in Operation Christmas Child, and even donated a few extra toys to the girls school for their Christmas celebration. I feel like our family did a lot of good this year, and that’s what this one was all about.
9. Move. Done! During the hottest month of the year, we packed up all of our stuff and moved to a bigger place. Although not the circumstances under which we expected to move, we are now happy and comfy in our new place.
10. Start and finish Hazeline’s first year scrapbook. Okay, I’m just going to come right out and admit it – I can’t scrapbook anymore. At least not in the traditional sense. And I hate even typing that, because I love scrapbooking. The die cuts, the paper, the embellishments, I love it all. But I don’t have time for it. I wish I did, but I don’t. So Hazeline is going to have a 1st year photobook from Shutterfly. It will still have pretty papers, embellishments, and gorgeous pictures, but it will be different from Greenleigh’s traditional 1st year scrapbook. Let’s hope she doesn’t have to talk to a therapist about it later in life. This hasn’t been done yet, but that’s because I just found out how awesome Shutterfly photobooks are and all the things you can do with them while I was making the 2012 photobooks for the grandparents. This will get done!
11. Learn how to use my camera. Done! I have learned a ton about my camera this year. I know the difference between my lenses, can make basic adjustments to my settings for the shot I want to take, and can tell when a picture isn’t quite in focus where others might not notice or care. I’m not going to lie, I have lots more to learn, but I have made great strides.
12. Throw my mom an awesome retirement party. Done! And it was fabulous!
Wondering what’s on the list for this year? Come back next week when I post my 13 in 2013!
Any goals you fell short on in 2012? Any that you’re really proud that you completed? What were they?
You are a brave soul telling on yourself like that. although it sounds like you were pretty successful. Happy New Year! Found you through Bloggy Moms.
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