12 in 2012

I am playing along with That Mama Gretchen's 12 in 2012 as a way to hold myself accountable for and keep track of the goals I'd like to reach in the coming year.

1. Eat local food. This will include joining the local CSA and shopping at our farmer's market at much as possible this season so that I can preserve food to get us through next winter.

2. Buy used. My husband and I are turning to craigslist and the Goodwill in our goal to try to buy "used" as much as possible this year, everything from clothing and toys to home decor and household items. We are trying to cut down our budget as well as things like packaging and supporting companies/corporations with unfair trade practices.

3. Read Little House series. I'm not sure how I got through my entire childhood without reading this series. I suppose I got stuck in the woods and never wanted to move out to the prairie with the Ingalls family. Madelynn enjoyed Little House in the Big Woods so much, that I plan to read the rest of the series to her as well.

4. Hike! This is an old goal I am revisiting. I want to hike with the kids as much as possible this summer, and have been studying up the Washington Trails Association website, reading as much as possible about hiking with kids.

5. Run a half marathon. This is something I hope to accomplish in 2012, but if I only make it to a 10k, I'll still feel pretty good about it. Running is something I've really never done, but have no excuse not to do since I have a pretty sweet double jogging stroller and a kiddo who loves to ride in it (just need to wait until baby Milo is big enough to join him in there).

6. Become a licensed daycare provider. I have started this process twice and even though I talked myself out of finishing it both times, I still have it at the back of my mind feeling like it is something I need to do. I plan to become licensed, and then go from there, starting small to be sure it is actually a good match for my family (I think it will be).

7. Sew more. When Max was still tiny, I was pretty good about sewing clothes for the kids. To my surprise, they enjoyed wearing my creations just as much as I enjoyed making them. This will probably have to wait until the summer though, when I'm done working for the school year.

8. Spend more time unplugged. I'm specifically talking about the television (ok, computer too). We haven't had cable for about a year (minus a few months when we plugged back into just basic), but we did end up with streaming Netflix on our Wii. Though we spend considerably less time in front of the TV than we used to, I'd still like it to be less, and replace that time with time spent outside or reading or doing some sort of learning activity with the kids.

9. Finish our backyard. I have had a vision of what I wanted our backyard to be like for awhile now, but we have to first reclaim our backyard from our St. Bernard. I want it to include a tire swing, a small patio with a marshmallow roasting area, and some sort of garden space. It will first and foremost include repairing all the damage our dog did as a large puppy.

10. Visit family more often.


11. Dye fabric. I want to experiment this Summer with dyeing fabric a variety of different ways. I'd love to try out some new tie dye techniques, as well as batik.

12. Reduce. I am specifically referring to the amount of garbage my family produces. Many factors will play into this, including my above goal of thrifting, remembering my cloth grocery bags on every trip, and taking advantage of my mom's next door chickens and compost bin, as well as paying better attention to what we can recycle.