The 2010 Year in Review

Wow, I can't believe we almost have another year in the books! I was stunned to realize that it's been almost 3 months since I've posted anything. Yikes. That's pretty much a testament to how busy life has been this year. There have some really big highs and some really big lows, but no matter what, I've pressed ahead and tried to get some things accomplished.

As I've mentioned (ad nauseum), I'm an obsessive list maker. It's a gene that was passed down from both my parents families, so my girls are doomed to follow in my footsteps. This year I published a couple of lists that I'm trying to make some progress on. I'll talk about the first one in this post and the other list in a post later today. So, let's recap the progress from my "to do" list of 2010.

Family Finances
1. Construct a budget and post it on the computer cabinet monthly - I had some great moments of triumph with this one. Consistency will be the key in the new year.
2. Get debt snowball plan created and posted - I created it and posted it and then promptly deviated from it. Perhaps for the new year, I should add "sticking to it" to the list.
3. Get emergency fund completed - We did complete the emergency fund and thanks to the expense of purchasing a new home, it was depleted. Guess what's showing up on the 2011 list?
4. Get plan together for next year's Christmas - I did this and it was immensely helpful. This was the first low stress Christmas that we've had in a LONG time.

Hobbies
1. Finish the Patten Chapel cross stitch - This has almost become a running joke amongst my friends. Our 15th wedding anniversary is next November. Guess who has a new target completion date?!
2. Finish the Bambi cross stitch - Epic fail on this one. However, I'm optimistic that we'll turn this around in the new year.
3. Finish the 2008 Disney Album - WIN! I did it and am so glad that it's done! Now we have to go back so I can put another album on the "to do" list.
4. Keep family album up to date - This wasn't a good year for this. I took far fewer pics this year than I have in years past which curtailed my desire to scrapbook. I made up for this in the last month which means I need to put the next 3 weeks off from work to some good use.
5. Try to read a book each month - While I didn't read a book a month, I did read a lot more this year than in years past. And by the looks of the HUGE pile of books on my "to be read" shelf, I would say that the new year is going to be great for reading.

Blogging
1. Get my review blog up & running - I did this and had a lot of fun with it until I got completely side-tracked with the new home purchase. I'm hoping to get back on track in the new year.
2. Save up to redo my primary blog - I had a change of heart on this because I want to get back into blogging full time before I redo the layout.
3. Post at least 4 times per week - Yeah, maybe this should've been 4 times per quarter.
4. Be a better commenter on others blogs - I've fallen down on this one too. I'm narrowing down my google reader list and trying to focus on blogs that I can consistently and meaningfully comment on.

Personal Goals
1. Get in 3 workouts per week - Nope. And my health issues this year reflected it.
2. Do weekly meal planning - I didn't do this consistently but will vastly improve on this in the new year.
3. Shoot for a size 6 jeans by December 1st - Not even close. Bummer.
4. Spend more time outdoors with the kids - While I did improve on this, I definitely want to spend even more time with the kids outdoors in the new year.

So there were some definite triumphs that I'm proud of and I can see all kinds of room for improvement in 2011. The new year is definitely going to have a theme to it. And that theme is U.F.O.

More on that later...