Small Home Projects to Start off 2010.
Jan/100
Sometimes you go after a home improvement project, with planning, designing, and gusto.
Other times, the home improvement project plops in your lap regardless if you want to do it or not.
We’ve had both in the past few weeks.
The bane of Trevor’s existence in our home of late had been the disorganized, chaotic state of our closets. Specifically, our kitchen pantry where food items were crowding and falling over each other, our guest room closet which was the catch-all for accumulated stuff without a better place to put it, and our under-the-stairs storage closet also known as the pet, cleaning, and storage supercenter.
Determined to bring order and structure to these messes, we spent some time shopping around online and in person. We finally made some purchases – simple plastic baskets to sort our pantry items, a few air-tight square containers for easy stacking and storing of loose rice, lentils, and pastas, and then stackable wire cubes to organize the other closets into compartments. The result is a dream come true for us, but especially for Trevor… (our newly sorted guest room closet shown below)
The second project landed in our lap. But it really landed in our lap about 2 months ago and we put off doing anything about it. One day many weeks back we discovered that our cold water faucet could not be stopped; a perpetual drip was occurring no matter how we turned the faucet handle to shut it off. Then we discovered a leak under our bathroom sink. Items below the sink were soaked and we were not sure what to do. So we did the easy thing: shut the cold water off completely. So yes, we have had nothing but hot water in our bathroom sink. Only a minor inconvenience when, say, brushing your teeth. Then the sink leaked again from the pipes. So, push came to shove, and we reluctantly agreed to fix it… ourselves.
We purchased a nice, new brushed nickel double bathroom faucet fixture, and Trevor along with my father-in-law Jamie tackled the problem. While the problem was not one we were looking to undertake, the fellas undertook it with gusto all the same!
In progress shots…
The final result…
Hello, 2010!
Jan/104
Switching gears to the new year. A time for fresh starts. For renewed commitments and new aspirations. A time, albeit however arbitrary, to get excited about life, and the newness of things, and the things to come.
Goals are already forming for us in our thoughts, and we’ll divulge some of them here. We’d also love to hear your goals, so please share!
Kristi:
- Open an Etsy store
- Complete a Master Gardener program in the fall
- Do more photography, both for fun and freelance jobs — I think we need to put a limit on how much shooting we’ll do for free.
- Develop a proper perspective in all areas of my life. This starts with having a proper understanding of my identity in Christ. I definitely need to work on that!
- Run a 10K to raise money for a worthy cause. And I’ll extend an official invitation to anyone reading that wants to train and join my sister Karen, friend Rebekah, and me in this endeavor here in Lexington this summer!
- Read books. Some of them include titles I wanted to read last year and never got around to it, and some are entirely new. They include:
and
If I can throw in there another Dostoevsky, like Demons which I meant to read last year, then I’ll try to make it happen. But I have a feeling this list is ambitious enough for the present moment.
- Finish watching the AFI Top 100 movies. I started this with my friend Lauren in 2005, continued it the summer of 2008 when Anya was living with me, and with a Netflix subscription given to us at Christmas, I am picking up where we left off with Trevor.
- Visit Belarus, maybe even with some friends and family members.
- Get a bike and become accustomed to using it frequently in the summer.
- Enlarge our vegetable garden for the spring, summer, and fall months.
Trevor:
- Participate in NaNoWriMo
- “Step out” of my comfort zone to take more “risks” (learn to not live life based on fear or even comfort, but joy, faith, and adventure)
- Complete some of the many art projects (beyond just photography) I have imagined doing
- Print off more of my photography (which means taking more, and better, pictures) — and might mean playing around with film and the darkroom (a desire both Kristi and I share)
- Spend the whole year reading. My current 2010 reading list is:
- Use our tax return to pay off our car loan (which will make us DEBT FREE!) and build up our emergency fund
- Practice simplicity by organizing and minimizing material possessions and organizing/planning meaningful use of time and resources
- Continue to complete goals made at our marriage retreat
- Pour into friendships
- Spend more time with my parents and grandparents
- Take life slower, enjoying each day, and not worrying about what I actually complete on the list above
We hope that you have time to reflect on the successes (and even “failures”) of the past year so that you can look forward to the new year as a “fresh start” in 2010. Scripture says that God’s compassion is new every morning, so tomorrow is, in essence, new. We hope you’ll take advantage of the new day by making goals and aspirations that you will strive to fulfill in 2010. And always be open to the wonderful experiences that might not be on your list, but are just as fun, exciting, and meaningful as the rest.
Feel free to share your lists in the comments.
10K Training
Kristi's Training Mileage:
Trevor's Training Mileage:
Good Reads
Kristi's read shelf:
Trevor's read shelf: