New Years Resolutions - checking in.

Its been a busy year - like always! And so busy that from about halfway through the year I ran out of blogging steam. Its cold and crisp and as a result I'm happy to warm up by tapping away ona keyboard again - hopefully this will last a little longer again.

As its nearly 2017 I thought I'd check in on my NYRs and see how I did over the year : 66/106 completed - just over a 60% hit rate!! Like most to-do resolutions some things floated on to the list with urgency - rewiring of lights and switches and central heating repairs - and some things floated off the list in terms of priority or importance : we have decided to delay the work on the top floor for another year, and we decided that a lovely holiday was far more important than a new garden shed and garage!

All in all, there are two resolutions that I'm sad that we missed. One was teaching Luca basic recall - he's still deaf and blind when outdoors and as a result needs to be on the lead at all times. It's still being worked on and hopefully this coming year we will achieve it.  The other  one I'm sad to miss out on was the quarterly visits to a spa - perhaps I should add that back onto the list for 2017!

How did you do with your 2016 plans? 

1. Clean & stain IKEA patio table, chairs & bench 
2. Lay tiles in utility cupboard
3. Replace waterproof silicon edging at back of kitchen sink/kitchen surface
4. Grout the tiles under the craft table
5. Repair edge of kitchen patio
6. Fit draught excluder to mudroom
7. Repair exterior giant table on main patio
8. Repair glue pipe of rear gutter & do extension into grid
9. Repair garden bench
10. Fill crack in the wall by back door
11. Mount curtain poles in the living room
12. Make window fillers for the circular windows
13. Make window shutters for the circular windows
14. Lay  drainage pipe down to the canal
15. Clean tiles on roof
16. Replace top half of rear stable door
17. Finish floor in the stables cupboard room
18. Stable cupboard room inject DPC 
19. New lights in the stable
20. Mudroom doors on the cupboards to be made & hung
21. Craftroom doors on the cupboard to be made & hung
22. Whitewash wood in craftroom
23. Whitewash wood in mudroom
24. Repair & repaint dog scratches
25. Build a mud & water catcher tray
26. Mini diamonds for the gate to stop the dog escaping
27. Replace exterior pole light near house
28. Eat more healthily & take home made food to work at least twice a week
29. Brick edging for garden beds
30. Second coat of paint on the gates & fences
31. Fix the wooden arch  base between rose  & flower bed 
32. Make up a wooden pane and tile the hole in the laundry room
33. Install squares on the gate tops at the front
34. Hem curtain in hall
35. Glue harp trim
36. Mosaic stones for garden walkways
37. Home made curtains for craftroom
38. Home made curtains for mudroom
39. Finish putting coving around the ground floor : hall, mudroom, craftroom, bedroom, laundry room. wardrobe, bathroom, kitchen. ( only done the living room so far!)
40. "Beschoeing" along the front edge of the garden - timber edging with bespoke vole exits & cat ramps to stop the garden from being washed away by the canal flow
41. Lay the garden footpath from gate to kitchen patio, from gate around trees to the boardwalk under the trees
42. Make a fishing boardwalk under the trees!
43. Install anti-leaf devices in the gutters to encourage leaves not to settle in them!
44. Remove the old dog pen
45. Drink more water!
46. Level and lay new turf around front & garden side of the house
47. Finish dining room chair makeovers
48. New lamp near house, and a new lamp by the gate
49. Lay matting around the fruit trees
50. (More) Raspberry frames - make and train raspberries up them
51. Make raised beds for the kitchen garden
52. Grow a summer feast in the raised beds!
53. Build the new garden shed & garage
54. Finish the Pfaff table upcycle
55. Finish the Singer table upcycle
56. Repad/stuff Granddad's old chair
57. Craft an elf village for the trees
58. Extend the removal of nettles throughout the garden, as far as the hay barn.
59. Repair the haybarn
60. Gingerbread trim for the conservatory
61. Mosaic the postbox base
62. Accomplish at least 1 upcycling or crafting project per month
63. Complete design of first floor & above with the architects
64. Powerwash stables
65. Repaint all the woodwork on outside of the stables - 'heraldry' on stall shutters
66. Repaint stable interior
67. New tiles - mudroom, hall, kitchen (maybe delay until after first floor work?)
68. Home made Xmas decorations - wood tree
69. Octagonal bench around the chestnut tree
70. Wooden flower boxes on the kitchen patio
71. Reduce wardrobe clutter by 50% in a journey to a minimal & organised wardrobe life
72. Standing bar tables  made by W in wood
73. Move the laundry line & rebuild
74. Make a rotating rainshield for laundry line (maybe?) 
75. Chill out at a spa at least once per quarter!!
76. Garden lighting
77. Make boot remover
78. Make giant garden games
79. Clean blinds in kitchen
80. Clean blinds in conservatory
81. Powerwash all patios & stonework
82. Re-sand the brick flooring 
83. Make moss art on the back of the stables
84. (WT)Fit new garden doors
85. (WT)Re-do bathroom ceiling : replaster, repaint
86. (TZ) re-lay rear patio
87. Teach the hound to come so that we can run and play on the beach together without a leash
88. Lay out a chequer board herb garden
89. Wildflower meadow on the banks of the canal ( opposite side)
90. Treat & repair wood in the riding ring 
91. Treat & repair wood in the starvation paddock
92. Clear & relay central walkway between ring & paddock,
93. De-weed starvation paddock - Zen garden layout
94. De-weed riding ring - zen garden layout
95. Clear out stuff in the loft and send at least a car load of stuff off to a better (new)  home
96. Build a clay wood oven for making pizza near the BBQ
97. Have a giant summer barbeque!
98. Prune old fruit trees
99. Remove old concrete blocks from the front & 
100. clear/plant the front area
101. Get old grain store cleared
102. Remove asbestos shed ( subject to building new shed)
103. Level floor in the stables (?new concrete?)
104. Breed ladybirds for the lime trees
105. Keep n do a good job in my day job
106. Relax, be happy, and garden on!