Happy New Year!

I spent WAY too much time yesterday finalizing and analyzing my 2011 Überlist. My theme for the year is finishing what I start, so that meant culling a whole shitload of new projects and concentrating on what I already have in progress, or at least have the supplies for. There are also a lot of loose end repairs, way less sexy and glamorous that my first choices, but this is the year to face the music. I also have a couple dozen rollovers from last year, both unfinished and completed things that I liked and want to repeat.

The stuff in *like this is recurring stuff for the whole year. I’ll be tracking the progress of everything here.

Several bits of my list focus on thrift/fixing crap/culling/establishing routines.

1. FIX: Burn off that last big pile of branches that was too close to the barnyard to burn before (Free!)
2. FIX: Door ($200?)
3. FIX: Finish barn. Specifically: make fold-up door for top of chicken coop; attach overhangs for all top edges of coop; seal all unsealed wood; make a new window cover from old fluorescent fixture plastic
4. FIX: Fix bed and put on new duvet set (Free!)
5. FIX: Glue that stupid loose tile back in place and re-attach that stupid light fixture that’s been hanging there forever (Free!)
6. FIX: Hide/tidy basement wiring (Free!)
7. FIX: Level, anchor, skin, edge with lath and recover greenhouse (>$75 total: anchors, $20; 2 layers of new skin $40; screws for batten, $2; already have old hose I can cut in half for batten material, scrap wood for reinforcing ends, washers, PVC pipe I can use in rows to make spacers between two layers)
8. *FIX: Mend or eliminate an item of clothing every week. If eliminated, these do NOT count toward elimination goal (Free!)
9. FIX: Reclaim those old galvanized trash cans (Free!)
10. FIX: Repair and return stanchion to Sherri (Free!)
11. FIX: Repair leak to roof on north top level ($100 for DIY materials if we can find the leak…)
12. FIX: Replace broken LCD on netbook (Free! Christmas present from Ron.)
13. FIX: Replace white board in bedroom with discarded white board or fabric covered acoustic tiles (Free!)
14. FIX: Roof tape loose seams over all 4 wings ($100)
15. FIX: Staple old billboard panel to cover east side of hay shelter and move dead freezer in for feed (Free!)
16. FIX: Switch bedrooms (Free!)
17. *FIX: Upgrade FP site and add a new recipe every other week (Free!)
18. GROW UP: Follow-up pap + regular annual exam ($200, hopefully)
19. *GROW UP: Keep new Sonicare charged and use it for the full cycle every day. (Free!)
20. *GROW UP: Keep up with chore routine. (Free!) Monday: sweep/vacuum; Tuesday: laundry; Wednesday: garbage/recycling; Thursday: Tidy halls/back doors; Friday: bathrooms.
21. GROW UP: Keep up with CSA produce–plan meals or freeze or can each week when bag arrives (Free!)
22. GROW UP: Lose 10 pounds (Free!)
23. GROW UP: Pick a doctor and get a checkup; encourage Ron to do same. ($200, hopefully)
24. *GROW UP: Spend 5 minutes/day handling/hanging out with the sheep. (Free!)
25. *GROW UP: Walk 3 days/week with the nike+. (Free!)
26. LEARN: Brew cider and bottle ($30)
27. LEARN: Build 1 heat grabber for Ron’s small room ($25)
28. LEARN: Buy a sheep chair and learn to properly trim hooves, dammit! If it’s a failure, admit it and give up completely and schedule regular vet visits. ($100; or $200 if it’s a fail)
29. LEARN: Do something to improve pasture. (?)
30. LEARN: Figure out an IE solution so I can order from Evco with my desktop (Free!)
31. LEARN: Have Ed show us how to actually work switchover thing, and print, laminate and stick instructions inside box and on generator (Free!)
32. LEARN: Install kitchen counters! ($200 for hardware & sealer?)
33. LEARN: Install motion-detector switch in at least one room: boiler room, pantry, shower rooms ($30)
34. LEARN: Install sweeper strip thingy on back door (Free!)
35. LEARN: Keep experimenting until I find a sandwich loaf recipe for the bread maker that I actually like (Free!)
36. LEARN: Learn how to use Cricut or sell it by March (Free!)
37. LEARN: Learn how to use knitting machine by the end of the year or sell it (Free!)
38. LEARN: Make a Hackintosh (Free!)
39. *LEARN: Make a new recipe each week (Free!)
    
40. LEARN: Paint my roaster inserts with grill paint ($6)
41. LEARN: Replace capstone mortar on one wing as a test ($100)
42. LEARN: Research DIY alternative energy and try out something ($100)
43. MAKE: Bottle and label beer (Free!)
44. MAKE: Build and fill a snowdome display ($50)
45. MAKE: Finish Kid’s Superman sweater before the Europe tour (Free!)
46. MAKE: Install the solar light by north back door (Free!)
47. *MAKE: Knit 2 feet a week on the building scarf (Free!)
48. MAKE: Make a deck on top of barn: cut and replace planks, extend railing, and make gate for ramp ($200 for extra hardware, frame for sunshade)
49. MAKE: Make a dozen dolls with Ron (Free!)
50. *MAKE: Photograph and document each foot of building scarf and make a giant scrolling panorama page for it. (Free!)
51. MAKE: Plant a winter garden in the greenhouse using just seeds I already have (Free!)
52. MAKE: Plant and keep up with summer garden ($20 limit)
53. *MAKE: Post something, somewhere every day (Free!)
54. MAKE: Put leather soles on all bunny slippers (Free!)
55. MAKE: Ron’s t-shirt quilt (Free!)
56. *MAKE: Sock a month. Mitten = sock.  (Free!)
57. *MAKE: Sweater a month. Vest = sweater. (Free!)
58. *MAKE: Spin a pound a month. (Free!)
59. MAKE: Tailor Ron’s tape machine cover (Free!)
60. *MAKE: Write, photo, make a pdf and publish a new free pattern every other month. (Free!)
61. ORDER: Clean and organize laundry room (Free!)
62. ORDER: Cull 20 cookbooks (Free!)
63. ORDER: Destash NET 100 balls and 10 pounds of fiber (Free!)
64. ORDER: Finish inventory and clearance out all old DH merch (Free!)
65. *ORDER: Get rid of at least one item a day. It can go into trash, recycling, or the Goodwill bag. But I must cull something each day. Obviously I’m not talking about actual trash here, but stuff that I was deliberately keeping for some idiotic reason. And extras for everything that I bring in that’s not, you know, groceries or household consumables or what-have-you. (Free!)
66. ORDER: Organize the craft room (Free!)
67. ORDER: Put together a binder with sleeves for internet recipes I like (Free!)
68. ORDER: Refresh all wool zones with lavender oil (Free!)
69. ORDER: Start wearing an apron with a notebook and pen all the time (Free!)
70. TCB: Add private workshop packages to HVP site (Free!)
71. TCB: Apply for 2 grants (Free!)
72. TCB: Apply for intern (Free!)
73. TCB: File remaining paperwork for Lab34 ($200)
74. TCB: Finish new proposal by Jan 9 (Free!)
75. TCB: Finish scanning all class pictures ($300)
76. TCB: Finish scanning yearbooks (Free!)
77. TCB: Follow up with county and vandals’ parents (Free)
78. TCB: Get a better accounting system set up ($200?)
79. TCB: Holy shit, lady, file your fracking taxes! (Free!)
80. TCB: Inquire at 3 localish colleges re: internships (Free!)
81. TCB: Join TNNA ($60)
82. *TCB: Keep emergency phone charged and up-to-date and update phone right before balance expires (3/20/11) JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC ($100)
83. TCB: Make 2011 clip into yarn. ($400?)
84. TCB: Make a Lab 34 web site (Free!)
85. TCB: Make huge lot of batts & fiber for Winter Woolfest; add leftovers to site following week (Free!)
86. TCB: Make non-etsy Art Club web site ($100)
87. TCB: Move FP site to joint server (Free!)
88. TCB: New site for Dad (Free!)
89. *TCB: New work routine! Monday & Tuesday=Make (dye, card, sew); Wednesday=Sell (etsy, ads, web site); Thursday=Document (blog, photo, how-to); Friday=Admin (pay bills, inventory, clean, order stuff, plan). Before I always started the week with boring Admin, which seem to set an uncreative tone. I act as if I was religious about routine; I wasn’t. I’m just saying. (Free!)
90. TCB: Organize Cheese School, Wine School or Sausage School (Free!)
91. TCB: Pick bagworms off bushes before spring (Free!)
92. TCB: Process all existing fleece. ($400?)
93. TCB: Put dye lab gift certificates online (Free!)
94. TCB: Research insurance (Free!)
95. TCB: Review successful KAC grants (Free!)
96. TCB: Seek out a lighthouse keeper for Eskridge buildings (Free!)
97. TCB: Send in agritourism insurance thing (Free?)
98. TCB: Send in PSIQs for all 4 buildings (Free!)
99. TCB: Send last 3 years of tax stuff to dad’s new accountant for review (Hm.?)
100. TCB: Separate business account right at the start of the year ($20?)
101. *TCB: Submit a pattern to knitty each session. (Free!)
102. TCB: Upgrade HVP wordpress (Free!)
103. TCB: Upgrade TK wordpress or simply host on WP site (Free!)
104. *TCB: Write, photograph, make a nice pdf and publish one pattern for sale each month. These can be cheap pdfs for my existing free patterns. (Free!)
105. THRIFT: Cancel Dish, send back equipment, and use Netflix/Hulu instead ($370 total, including penalties, but a net savings of about $600 for the year)
106. THRIFT: Check into interlibrary loan thing from the Harveyville Library (Free!)
107. THRIFT: End the year owing less than I did at the beginning of the year. (Free!)
108. THRIFT: Get Purple Wave to auction the following: pizza ovens, broken stove, maybe printing equipment, acoustic tiles, old computer junk (Free!)
109. *THRIFT: Go a full year without buying any clothes or shoes. Nothing. Not socks, not skivvies, not Target Super Clearance, not thrift. Nada. Making clothes is perfectly okay, as long as I don’t have to buy anything new to make them. (Free!)
110. *THRIFT: Keep a budget record for personal and business expenses (Free!)
111. *THRIFT: Resist the impulse to expand hobbies. Stick with ones that don’t require any new supplies or extensive research.

And a few gifts from last year I couldn’t show at the time. I’ll be writing up the cabled cap as a free pattern next week (See #60) and the iPhone mittens for sale the week after (See#104–I still need to suss out the sizes, and it’s a busy month. And they’re not inherently watermelony mittens–I just made them that way to match Sue’s requested watermelon hat.)

And remember, next Saturday is the 3rd Annual Winter Woolfest in Wamego, KS! This year, it will be at the Columbia Theater with plenty of room to spread out! Free demos & classes & door prizes all day! Plus much local shopping. I’ll have an Art Club booth with my usual DIY Batt Bar for your carding pleasure, and I’ll be demoing a layered/blended batt combo, tweedy batts, roving, and a kitchen sink batt. Bring your knit/crochet WIPs or your wheel and join us for a post-holiday fiber break!