2007 To-Do List

Ok, here is my short list of goals for the New Year.

1. Read.
I want to read and read lots. I am working on Eragon and just purchased the second book. I have a collection of H.G. Wells stories I bought with my birthday gift card from LabKat. I think I want to re-read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit. I've never made it through The Hobbit. I have another Jane Austen book to read, too. Also hoping that the final Harry Potter book comes out in 2007.

2. Get organized.
I want to get more organized. In my past, I was the consumate planner. People bowed to my prowess in being organized. Alas, when the third child arrived, my organization skills (and much of my good sense) went out the window. I would like to recover some of that.

3. Stop procrastinating.
I want to stop procrastinating and tackle assignments and chores instead of putting them off till the last minute.

4. Get back into my walking routine.
I got busy with work and life and stopped walking every day. Now, I need to change that and get back into a routine and make it just another daily chore that has to get done.

5. Set a budget.
And, live within it. I need to rein in the spending and learn to do without sometimes. We have had to purchase a new range, we have two relatively new cars, a new computer and along with those items come the bills. I need to get them paid off while they are still no-interest and get ahead some. I also want to get back into a saving routine.

6. Be a better person.
As Hot Rod gets ready for his first reconciliation and first communion, I want to get myself on track to be a better person. I need to take the kids to mass every week and set a good example. This may be the hardest task for me of them all.

7. Good housekeeping.
Yeah, I need to make this more regular, too, instead of waiting until I can no longer wade through the knee-high crumbs under the talbe or when I stick to the floor as I walk through the kitchen *I am exagerating, even though I procrastinate on cleaning, too*.

8. Home improvement
*in my best Tim "The Toolman" voice* Arr arr arr. I need to work on maintaining the yard and gardens better, start some painting and touch-up projects around the house, hang my curtains in the front room, get some new curtains for the office and replace the floors downstairs and the fence, as well. Some of this goes back to No. 5 and setting aside money for it.

9. Make time for important things
I need to spend more time with my mom and more quality time with the kids. I need to make our bedtime reading ritual a nightly occurrence. Too often, I'm too tired and we don't read, but it is a special time for just me and that child and I need to make it a daily to-do. I also need to find some more time for Pickle as he is going to be a teenager this year and soon won't want that time with me.

10. Take care of myself better
This goes back to several of the other to-do's above, but I really need to stay in a routine of eating better, exercising more, taking my vitamins and meeting my own needs, in addition to everyone else's. Taking that time to read and relax and getting things done instead of beating myself up for putting off doing them will help.

So, that is my Top 10. We'll see how successful I am at accomplishing them.