Resolutions

Well, Blogger still isn't allowing me to upload pictures .(The "upload" button totally disappeared. I googled the problem and it looks like they're trying to fix it, but for now, no pictures.) So I am gracing you with a picture-free blog on my resolutions from last year and my resolutions for 2013.

First, 2012. My resolutions were:
1. Take a trip with Dan - no kids.
2. Read 30 books.
3. Make a blurb book of our blog from 2008.
4. Make a t-shirt quilt using my old shirts.
5. Start some kind of schooling with Sam at home.
6. Go through each room and declutter.

I successfully completed each of those resolutions except the last one.
1. I went to Peru with Dan on an awesome adventure.
2. I read 38 books. I am going to list them now. I understand if you keep scrolling past it, but I want to record it for myself.
The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
 Escape by Carolyn Jessop
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (reread)
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Turn Right at Machu Picchu by Mark Adams
The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
Desperate Passage by Ethan Rarick
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
Halfway to Heaven by Mark Obmascik
Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (reread)
Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
Divergent by Veronica Roth
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Having Our Say by the Delaney Sisters
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (reread)
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
The Invisible Wall by Harry Bernstein
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum
The Fogotten Garden by Kate Morton
The Maze Runner by James Dashner
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte
The Book of Mormon
The Professor by Charlotte Bronte
Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson
Six Ways to Keep the "Good" in Your Boy by by Dannah Gresh
I Brake for Yard Sales (more of a coffee table book...) by Lara Spencer
The Healer's Apprentice by Melanie Dickerson

I also halfway read The White Rock and The Black Count but I just couldn't finish them. My favorite reads of the year were Halfway to Heaven (about a middle-aged father of three who decides to climb all the mountains over 14,000 feet in Colorado in one year), North and South (a classic set in industrial England), Unbroken (a true WWII story), and Edenbrooke (a cheesy can't-put-it-down love story that got a little too over-the-top sappy at the end, but other than that was really cute).

3. I made the Blurb book. It took forever but my brother informed me of a way to make it quicker in the future.
4. I made the quilt. I love it. It took a long time. I think there's a picture of it in one of our November or October posts.
5. We've started doing "lessons" with Sam. He can pick either a reading or writing lesson. Each lesson is only like 10 minutes or so but we try to make him do a lesson before he can watch a show or do other things.
6. I wasn't so good at decluttering. I cleaned, but I didn't go through stuff as thoroughly as I would have liked.

Okay. So for anyone still reading at this point, here are my resolutions for 2013!

1. Read biographies on the first 22 U.S. presidents. This is a little daunting, but I think I can do it. I'm thinking a lot of presidents (like Millard Filmore) won't have very long biographies. My brother asked me why I would read biographies on the presidents if it didn't even sound like fun, but I am terrible at history so I think it would be nice to learn more about the people who shaped our country. So that's #1.
2. Finish the dining room. We already painted and got a rug. Dan finished the chair rail and I just finished the curtains this week. Now we need to pick artwork and I'd like to learn how to reupholster chairs so that we can do those, too.
3. Practice the piano for 20 minutes, 5 times a week.
4. Complete three service projects. (Organize and invite others to help, them do 'em.)
5. Make Blurb books for our blog from the years 2009 and 2010.

So there you have it! I only really started making resolutions a few years ago and so far I've enjoyed it. We'll see if I can do each of these things in the next 359 days.