The Year of the Project

Over the past couple of years, Geoff and I have completed a fair bit of renovation work around our house.  We:

• finished almost all of the basement:  we built and finished a recroom, a great bathroom, a play room, and a school room (which has been wired in such a way as to be turned into a couple of bedrooms some day).  Everything has been painted, the baseboards are in...the only job outstanding job is to install flooring into the school room (which will first require me to clear out the room because it became something of a storage area while the rest of the basement was being carpeted).

• landscaped our backyard, and built a deck.

• added a mudroom to our house, for all of those snowy winter boots coming in from the garage or outside.

Now that the basic structure of our home is complete, there are a number of projects that I have targeted for completion by the end of this year.  Thus, I have dubbed 2010 as The Year of the Project.  I'm thinking of it as a year of nesting, in anticipation of our Ethiopian-born addition(s)!

Here is my project list for the year:

Paperwork Organization: (DONE - check this one off!!!)
- go through every piece of paper lying around in piles/bags; sort, organize, shred, file, etc
- clean out every file in the filing cabinet; shred what's not needed; organize
- organize new filing system for all incoming paper (including action items)
- set up new workspace in back vestibule, for functionality

- clean out client files pre-dating 2009

(Future) Basement Classroom:
- sort out, organize, give away, toss, etc, everything in that room (there's lots of crap in there - it's like a storage room!)
- choose appropriate flooring and install
- set up for classroom work (hang maps and posters, place shelves, organize h/school books, etc)
- figure out desk area for kids
- clean windows (inside/out)

Library: (DONE - check this one off!!!)
- purchase and install new shelving and relocate the couch to the basement
- centralize all books from everywhere in the house, including all boxes in basement storage
- go through all of the books - give away; sort by type
- place onto shelves
- set up rest of room: chairs; loveseat; rug; pictures; throw; lamp; end table; etc

Dining Room: (DONE - check this one off!!!)
- clear everything out (was using it to store books, papers for filing, etc) except for intended furniture
- hang pictures
- buy large vase for top of buffet

Guest Bedroom: (eventually to be the bedroom of our additional child(ren)):
- clear out closet and dresser
- after referral, choose colour theme and paint
- purchase child-appropriate bed and bedding; decorate the room!!

Office:
- re-think layout (desks; storage of stationary stuff); move piano
- buy/build two work stations as well as shelving for between work stations
- hang pictures

Photos:
- back up all photos onto discs - two discs for each event
- take one set of discs to the bank and open safety deposit box to store them in
- Macbook: delete all duplicates; label all photos (1000s of them)
- start work on online photobooks/albums by year or event

Painting: (DONE - check this one off!!!)
- exterior: garage door; window casings
- interior: additional mudroom shelves; stairwell to basement; dining room by new outlet; baseboard repair

Landscape: (DONE - check this one off!!!)
- plan and plant the front beds

Homeschool: (in progress)
- prep for grade one:  look at provincial curriculum in all areas; establish grade one objectives and areas of focus; review Math-U-See dvds; prepare lesson outlines; review FIAR books and curriculum.

Mudroom:
- buy hangers to install additional shelves
- organize shoes into shoe cubbies
- buy rubber winter mats and cut them to size for boot cubbies

- buy baskets for overtop of shelves

- clean out deep freeze
- install fan between garage and freezer closet

Basement Toy Closet: (in progress)
- sort through; organize; discard where possible
- hang shelf brackets

Pantry:
- sort through; organize

Workshop:
- organize
- hang rod in closet for out-of-season clothing

Master bedroom closet:
- sort through; re-organize; give-away

Aunt's estate: (approx. 75% done)
- finish sorting through her boxes; finish paperwork and tax issues with accountant; file return.

Man, I'm tired just looking at what's left on the list.  I wonder how much I'll actually complete by year's end!