The BIG FAT Annual List Tradition

At the end of every year, I make a list. I don’t have anything against resolutions… but that’s for another post – and they are very general for me… mostly about heart matters rather than physical things. My BIG FAT ANNUAL list is mostly a guideline so that I can aim towards a goal. I make long lists, so I don’t expect myself to get it ALL completed… sort of like how you can’t read every book in the library. Lists are living, breathing, always-changing reminders of things that you don’t want to forget about… things that are important to you. They aren’t meant to intimidate… but to be a safety net when you aren’t sure what to do next. Glance back at the list… and there’s always something there for you to check off – and checking things off is like a piece of dark chocolate: delicious!

I brought some of this list over from 2009 – which was when I started this big fattie… because it is either relevant again (with ANOTHER new baby on the way… I was expecting the Viking back then), or because there were things that never got done. I made sure to clean it up and add new things, too. Something old and something new.

Want to make your own list for 2011? Join me. You can sign up for the linky here… I’ll pick a random participant and mail you a special gift if you share your list with me. Who knows, maybe you thought of something I didn’t!

134 things to do in 2011
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(Key: Bold = Working on it this month, Strike = done)

1. Spend time every day with God – prayer journal, prayer, meditation, Bible reading
2. Pay off a credit card
3. Get hospital bag ready for labor and delivery
4. Put up the crib
5. Paint Morgan and the baby’s room
6. Sell the car seat/stroller combo and get a new car seat and double stroller
7. Finish painting the book case for the baby’s room
8. Completely give up soda pop with sugar or artificial sweeteners – forever
9. Read a book/watch marriage tapes with my husband (about relationships)
10. Find a really good homeschool groove
11. Get the Christmas decorations put away by January 15th and up by December 1st
12. Fix Kev’s truck
13. Do the Love Dare for my husband
14. Buy a baby book
15. Have the baby and make sure to get photos of his wrinkly feet
16. Put school before housework no matter what the house looks like
17. Get the taxes done for 2010
18. Print my list and start checking it off
19. Get completely caught up with grading, recording, filing, and portfolios for school
20. Wash, organize and prepare for baby
21. Redesign my blog
22. Spend time outdoors every other day (why is this so hard for me?)
23. Finish indexing my blog (after the move to WP)
24. Buy 5 new must-have books or curriculum texts for the school library: Book of Time, …
25. Work on a project for a company needing homeschool expertise
26. Listen to/watch the Word of Promise New Testament all the way through
27. Work on being better about routine – bedtimes, getting up, school times, etc.
28. Purge emails and keep the boxes cleaned out
29. Renew library card and pay fee
30. Do another 5-10 portrait/conference photography jobs for my portfolio
31. Get through my review box and do all the give-aways I’ve committed to
32. Make birth announcement cards after the baby comes
33. Have the kids copy a book in the Bible
34. Learn how to use the stupid video camera
35. Say no to something I can’t do – without feeling guilty
36. Set aside a planning day for homeschool every other month
37. Prepare and plant the garden for Spring
38. Homeschool Tracker lesson planning/recording weekly
39. Do a new Bible study
40. Cut my hair in February
41. Blog about procrastination projects completed
42. Keep a correspondence calendar/notebook and keep in touch with family and friends all year
43. Make a budget
44. Install a baby gate at the top and bottom of the stairs
45. Purge things we don’t need – sell, donate, & throw away
46. Quilt some pillows with Ammie for the school room & baby bedding/bedspread
47. Get portraits made of all the children together and our family after the baby comes
48. Redo our school schedule and adjust as needed to our new routine
49. Print the photos we have in digital format and put them in albums
50. Help the kids blog every week
51. Install Win7 on my hateful laptop
52. Work on my blog series each week
53. Read 3 homeschooling how-to books to inspire and encourage me as a teacher
54. Start doing a family devotional and reading time
55. Reorganize my closet and sell my maternity clothes
56. Get down to my pre-pregnancy weight and then my goal weight after the baby arrives
57. Sync the iPad
58. Get a case for my iPad
59. Cook and freeze meals
60. Create a will and make sure life insurance papers are updated
61. Send Kristen’s wedding pictures to her
62. Schedule time for myself every day and keep a journal as to how it is spent
63. Get Kaden to organize his display of Lego creations
64. Read 50 GOOD books with the kids
65. Keep up with menu plans and weekly meals at home (eat out less)
66. Get a few large cooking pots (cast iron, dutch oven, casserole, deep cake pan)
67. Get a water softener system for the house so our appliances don’t die
68. Put the photos in albums
69. Get pictures made in a photo booth
70. Let the kids cook a meal without help for dinner each month
71. Train someone to take over admin at the Post
72. Read to the kids every school day
73. Do more art and fun activities with the kids for school
74. Height and weight measurements twice a year for kids
75. Declutter once a month (set a schedule up for it)
76. Nature journal with the children each week
78. Finish our state postcard project by the end of this school year and fill out our state books more
79. Find a good place to back up my photos online & organize them on my external
80. Send Valentine postcards
81. Be better about birthdays and Christmas giving/thoughtfulness
82. Reward myself with a special treat when I get half way through the list
83. Go swimming once a week while the pool is open
84. Get a copy of our credit reports and go through them
85. Post a recipe on Gathering Manna three times a week
86. Pick peaches
87. Print a blank 2011-12 calendar (school year) for my dayplanner in August
88. Deep clean the house
89. Go to the doctor and have my moles checked
90. Do more with coupons/find more ways to be frugal
91. Finish one scrapbook
92. Experiment with digital scrapbooking
93. Go on a retreat or a God-centered conference to charge myself up
94. Have someone over for dinner each month
95. Finish reading the manual for the camera and read a digital photography book
96. Give the kids standardized tests
97. Paint a painting
98. Fix the king bed frame
99. Organize scrap supplies and papers
100. Let the kids have more sleepovers
101. Make window coverings for the upstairs
102. Learn how to make dolmas
103. Participate in Flat Stanley
104. Donate books to the library or another homeschool mom
105. Thanksgiving in June or July (just for fun)
106. Buy a cordless mouse and keyboard
107. Get a new house phone system
108. Watch the rest of the Beth Moore videos that I left off in my last Bible study of hers
109. Have at least 10 date nights in 2011: 1 – Greek food in January, …
110. Make cookies and take them to the librarian
111. Go on 8 field trips, 1 M to the Opera, …
112. Host a holiday gathering at my house
113. Go through the last boxes in the garage from our move 3 years ago (ha!)
114. Decorate Kaden’s room and paint his walls
115. Redesign Kaden’s blog
116. Hire a maid to come help with cleaning the house at least 5 times in 2011: 1. Lucy over in January, helps me take down my tree!, 2. After the income tax return …
117. Buy a drawer full of new underwear and bras
118. Plan ahead to do Ann’s Advent Devo next year & Jesse Tree
119. Eat at the Melting Pot
120. Steam clean the carpets
121. Install overhead lighting in the game room
122. Get Photoshop and Light Room/learn how to use them
123. Do a web design for money
124. Add new handles to the filing cabinets?
125. Tile the bathrooms upstairs
126. Save money for doing our flooring next year (every year we push this out)
127. Finish decorating the garage (hanging tools, pegboard, painting concrete & walls)
128. Get a new set of beaded jewelry and a hat at Charming Charlies
129. Buy some lighting/lamps for the bedroom
130. Make Christmas ornaments and bake cookies next holiday season
131. Make 2010-11 annual letter for next Christmas
132. Detail the cars
133. Take the kids to see Christmas lights next year, plan on going to Little Bethlehem ahead of time
134. Create a new holiday tradition for our family

And I’m sure there will be more… things that get added along the way. I’ll add anything extra to my monthly “check-up” posts to keep track of how I’m progressing – rather than bog this list down.

I first plan to organize the list in to a daily, weekly, and monthly chunks… and to count out the leftover assignments to see how many “procrastination projects” I’ll have to complete each month to get the list finished. Then I’ll probably pencil them on a blank yearly calendar by month as they seem to fit (obviously the Christmas related ones will go at the END of 2011).

After I have a digestible, organized idea of how to go about tackling my list, I’ll be writing out each month’s chunk on a blank sheet of paper (writing helps me internalize things)… and I’ll keep that small list in my dayplanner to see each day when I open it.

Sounds like a plan, eh? Want to join me and all the other crazy list-makers out there? Just add your link below.

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Let’s see your list!!!