A new year is just around the corner and we’ve accomplished a lot around here, despite set backs. But, as usual, there are still plenty of things I want to get done in the next few weeks…in addition to all the holiday stuff. So here’s my list…

1. Find the top of my desk.

   I’m actually well on my way to reaching this goal. I have been trying to spend at least 15-30 minutes a day decluttering my office and made a huge push forward yesterday. Yes, indeed, after 6 months of chaos in there I have almost everything filed away, trashed a bunch of outdated stuff, grouped all my ready-to-use notebooks together and otherwise made great strides forward in the quest to see the top of my desk. In another day or so, I should be able to work in there again without feeling suffocated. Which brings me to…

2. Go back to working on my desktop computer during the day

   I’ve worked primarily on a laptop for the last couple years, bouncing back to my desktop computer at times, but mostly using the coach as my central command station while Mackenzie played in the living room or watched Elmo. Although I still anticipate doing a lot of work on my laptop, now that we have our desktop computer working again, I remember how great and easy it is to work from a desk. Plus I’m sure it’s a whole lot better for my back.

3. Read more of the books on my shelf

   I’m a book junkie. I love books of all kinds, but especially books about gardening, DIY stuff, self-sufficiency and, of course, cookbooks. I love to read novels too, but to be honest, I haven’t had much time for them since I was couch bound after the accident. I have to make the time to read magazines or to flip through cookbooks, and I’d just like to be able to actually read and absorb more of the material in our bookshelf instead of simply flipping through them from time to time.

4. Hem the curtains in our bedroom.

   This is a little one that shouldn’t take much time at all. But we’ve had them up for a couple years and meant to do them a few weeks ago, but just got sidetracked. Of course, this is a two person project because I’m not actually allowed to operate the sewing machine…but it sure will be nice when we finally get them done.

5. Inventory our fall & Christmas decorations

   I have some idea of what sort of decorations we have up in the attic…but to be honest, I bought a lot of stuff over the last couple years and I’m really not to certain anymore what we have. So I’d like to actually write everything down this year and get a better idea of what I’ve got available for the holidays so I can think of where to put things ahead of time.

6. Get a grip on my recipes

   I have never made anything from the majority of the cookbooks in my collection…not because the recipes don’t look good, but because I just forget to open the cookbook again after I initially skim it. I’ve got binders full of recipes I’ve never tried, mixed in with our favorites.  And instead of consulting the books when I want to cook something new, I just go to allrecipes or google. Not going to cut it. I want to start trying more things from my recipe books, get rid of the ones where all the recipes turn out to be flops and fall in love with the ones that are great. And I’m going to start going through those binders too and pulling out stuff to try. It’s time to break from the norm. There’s so much good food out there and we love our old recipes…but change is good too.

7. Do some of the craft projects I’ve wanted to do forever

   I’ve wanted to put together a bulletin board for my office for years. I have all the materials, just need to finally put it all together. What’s holding me back? About a million other tasks. But I want to finally get some stuff crafted before the holidays to share with others and to make our home nicer now that we’re finally wading through some of the clutter.

8. Get some photos printed for framing, buy the frames and HANG THEM

   Since Stefan bought me my Canon 2 years ago, I have taken something close to 20,000 photos. Seriously. A lot of them haven’t turned out that great and that’s all part of the learning process. But others have turned out fantastic. And I’d really like to get a lot of them blown up and framed so we can add some excitement to our home. We have hardly anything hanging on our walls…and the things we do have up we have had forever. So it’s time for something new.

9. Eliminate more of the chaos in our barn

   I shudder to think about it, but we have a ton of junk in our barn to go through and I am pretty sure we’re eventually going to require a trash container…unless I can get people to pep up on Freecycle. Some of it’s not anything people would want like odd shaped cardboard boxes, which I’m sure will come in handy to mail out some stuff we want to ebay…but a lot of them just need to be broken down and recycled. That’s what happens when you decide to primarily order your pet supplies and other small stuff online all the time instead of taking time out of your day to drive 30 minutes to the store, 30 minutes to shop and then another 30 minutes home. How did I ever get things done before internet shopping?

10. Create new opportunities for NOH and its readers

    NOH has had an incredible year and I’ve already got some amazing things planned for 2011, but I’m also going to be actively looking for sponsors for the blog and finding new companies to work with for giveaways. I just joined up with the Blogmania 2011 Dream Team (and will be writing more about it soon) but I also hope to get more product reviews written about the things we use and love, especially with Christmas coming up!

What do you still want to accomplish before 2010 is over?