To-Do List for 2014

Now that it's January of 2014, I thought it would be good to do a quick look-back on what we got done in 2013 and what's ahead of us for this year:

To-Do List for 2013:
finish basement shell- waterproofing and insulation, walls, ceiling and lights, heated tile floor, internet and electrical
IF we can get all that done and still have time/money left, we will also do the shed in the backyard

Well, we did get the basement finished (yes, it sort of crossed over to 2014, but I'm calling it 2013), while the shed in the yard didn't happen. We did however, get gutters up on the front of the house, put in another flower bed around the tiny oak tree in the side yard and started the living hedge in the backyard. We also traded in both our cars, so while we may have car payments added back into the budget (ick), crazy random repairs and the worry of a dead-on-the-side-of-the-road car is no more! (yay!)

leaving other long-term projects for 2014 like:outdoor patio around bottom of deck stairs (grill moves off the deck)walkway from driveway around lilacs to outdoor patioboxwood border along far-side of yard and down drivewayplant flowering shrubs on inside of yard edgeback-up generator for entire house
new sofa for living room 
seal metal bar supports and possibly re-level kitchen barair-exchange unit for house


Hmmm... The above list for 2014 has been revised to look more like:

1. whole house water filter - we have an artisan well and while we love it, we're starting to see some serious mineral build-up in sink faucets, shower heads and appliances.
2. new bulkhead - finishing the basement showed us how truly leaky and unsealed the current bulkhead is and since we've just finished the basement, we want to protect it!
3. fix the granite bar - it has been shifting down for the last few years and is no longer level. We had it looked at to make sure it won't fall off - that would be awful! - but it needs to be fixed.
4. furniture: new living room couch (current couch will be going into the basement) and ottoman, coffee table and media center (with new TV) for the basement.
5. yard: fill in raised beds in back with big plants (hydrangeas or butterfly bushes), fill-in oak tree flower bed and continue living hedge. 
6. go on vacation! - we've been very bad at this in recent years but 2013 summer with weekend adventures and camping showed us how much we love to travel and how much we NEED that downtime!

Nothing hugely exciting, more maintenance to keep the house going. We'll also address anything else that comes up over the course of the year but this is the basic plan of action :-)