General Craft & DIY discussion

What resolutions are you going to make for the new year? What's on your honey-do, 'round-to-it, or to-be-done pile? Has it been there for a while? Let us know & keep us apprised of your progress.

I don't make New Year's resolutions nor do I celebrate the day. I don't really know why, but guess it's because I try to keep up on chores.

I do have lists of things to get done, though. Most are written on a piece of plexiglass on the front door in dry erase marker. While the board is rarely empty, I rarely fill it up, either. Sometimes things will sit for months waiting for the right weather or other conditions, though.

I stopped with New Year's 'resolutions' because a month later it was usually pretty obvious it wasn't working.

I do, however, have something a bit less specific, more like "goals I'd like to work toward during the year" sort of thing. I have two, this year.

First: I have a small (almost miniature size) pony stallion coming that appears to be tremendously athletic. Ever since I saw the "White Stallions" movie years ago I've wanted to train a horse to do the upper level work that they do in hand and on long lines. As I've gotten older, I still have the "want" but can't keep up with the big horses, so I keep downsizing. Recently saw a YouTube video of a trainer doing this with a pony ... so ... I now have a pony coming in January that I think will be capable of doing this, now I just have to start training when he arrives.

Second: Making a serious effort to market my artwork on line. There is no local market and no local galleries so Internet marketing is my only option. My plan is to start with two images, get them professionally scanned and put up on one of the good print on demand gallery websites, add a Facebook page just for the artwork and re-design my blog and keep it updated.

I have one of the two images completed now, the rough draft finished for the second and a dozen ideas for more.

Edited to add: Just today I picked up a 'new idea' on the art forum I frequent so I'm now buried in new ideas, new rough sketches ... and lots of plans. The process involves doing the 'background' on regular paper and then the focal image on architectural drafting Mylar, which is a bit 'frosted' in tone but the matte finish accepts pencil/graphite very well. you then lay the Mylar image over the paper background and have 'instant fog landscape' for a background. Can't wait to try it and have at least half a dozen new images bouncing around in my brain now.

The "New Year" doesn't start here until April.... so that gives me four months to set next seasons goals!

I have four months to 'play' with my indoor projects. Once April gets here I don't have time to do anything except the planning and start to the horse breeding season. I've got two *new* stallions to train and I'm already trying to figure out how I can keep down to my plan of no more than four foals a year with 8 mares I want to breed.

I'm a bit confused on the math there, Sharon...
;-)

Jim wrote: "I'm a bit confused on the math there, Sharon...
;-)"

Join the club!

Three years ago when I started breeding again after getting down to my planned numbers, my 'goal' was no more than 4 foals on the ground in any one year. That usually means you breed four mares in the spring of the previous year.

I own 10 breeding age mares. I'm trying to cut my eight "must breed these mares in 2013" down to four and I am not having much success. However, since I only had one foal of my own in 2011 (the other was an unexpected foal from a boarded mare so doesn't count) and three foals in 2012, that should mean I'm four foals under my 4 foals a year goal for the two years.

So far I'm not getting very far convincing myself this is the way it was supposed to work.

Sounds like our resolution to keep our number of animals down. At one time, I was quite firm about no more than 2 dogs - we're up to 4. Unless Erin is home, then we have 6 & 2 cats. Oh well, best of intentions...
;-)

We really need to get our garage cleaned up and reorganized. That's a big one so far.

Winter is the time to plan the garden and review the budget for next years construction. I'm hoping to rent a dumpster and start exploratory demolition on the old farmhouse, basically taking it apart far enough to see if it can be recovered safely. It's leaning to one side, the floor is buckled, and it's questionable whether the rotted chimney is the only thing holding up the roof..

It took five years and $3000 to restore the fox tower, and it was in worse shape!

Honestly, I'm not too keen on New Years Resolutions. Don't usually get past mid-February!

This year, I just want to focus on my health and weight. Not a kid anymore and weight is now in the gain mode which is hard to bear for someone who was always on the slender side. :)

Gravity works, too.
;-)

Since no one does resolutions (I KNEW crafters had common sense!) this is about making progress on the goals for the new season.

Today the Johnnie's seed catalog arrived (as opposed to the multiple unsolicited seed catalogs the farm gets) and inspired me to start planning the gardens. Hopefully I've finally found a one stop source in Vermont for fertilizers, but the really fun part is deciding what crops to do!

I had so much success with the sun flowers last season (the only crop last season as the big garden was resting) I'm looking at trying cut flowers in addition to new varieties of vegetables.

A great way to spend a snowy Winter day!

Sounds like fun. I love looking through seed & plant catalogs, although I don't buy anything very often.

I still enjoy the seed catalogs even though I am no longer able to garden extensively. I do still plant some lettuce and onions, three or four tomato plants and a couple of summer squash ... that's pretty much my limit as far as gardening goes. I'm barely able to keep up with the horses and rabbits during the heat/humidity in the summer so my gardening has to be very limited now. Just not enough 'working hours' for me in the summer.

I will always remember the time I spent as a child with my mother and grandmother during long Montana winter evenings, paging through the seed catalogs. We were much more limited then, as there were so few short season varieties available, but it was wonderful to look at.

Yesterday was the fun part of planning the garden... admiring perfect pictures of possibilities! Today was the work part calculating costs, setting up the greenhouse schedule and planning the row layouts.

I never know if I'll get crops like the "perfect pictures", but occasionally I do and it's nice to dream!

I resolve to hide the fact that I own a truck and tools, from friends and family.

LOL! That should save you some time & frustration.