With every new year, comes the inevitable looking back to the past, or making resolutions for the future. At this time I am going to do a little bit of both.
As a school administrator, I get two weeks off at Christmas time, just like the students. I am going to reflect on the last two weeks, and only the last two weeks, for my memory of the whole year is not that great(or maybe just not interesting).
My wife has finally figured out that I can get some serious housework done on my extended school breaks. For example, over the Thanksgiving Break, I repainted my daughters bedroom(2 coats) and our bedroom(2 coats), as well. Anything to keep me from just laying around the house doing nothing, is usually perfect for me.
That being said, I had no idea what I was in for over Christmas Break. My wife and I decided to get new living room furniture. The main reason for this decision was the fact that our current furniture was worn out and uncomfortable, not to mention the dogs and the number they have done on our couches. So we went out on a Saturday, before Mass, and purchased our beautiful new couches and set up delivery for the Tuesday after.
My wife and I had incredibly different levels of excitement for getting new furniture. My excitement came in the form of new furniture. I would no longer have to build up the worn down armrest with pillows. I would no longer sink down, every time I sat on the worn out, ten year old couch, etc. My wife's level of excitement came only after she decided that we should sand, stain, and seal our wood floors. By the way, my wife thought of this project, the day before the furniture was to be delivered.
So, it was off to Lowes to pick up the necessary materials for this endeavor that took about two days longer then I thought. I must say, I am not good at house work of such magnitude. This is something that I would normally hire out, for the simple reason, I have no idea what I am doing. My wife, on the other hand, is more than happy to take on any home improvement task, so off we went.
This is, without a doubt, the hardest, most involved home ownership task I have ever done. But as you can see, in the pictures below, we(and I use we very lightly, for my wife did most of the work) accomplished this week long task, quite well, if I do say so myself. And, our new furniture's first couple of days were in the garage covered with plastic, but now it is on floors that look as new as the furniture itself.
This is the floor before any work is done
After phase one, sanding
The early stages of staining and sealing
Finished Product
So over the last week of Christmas Break, you can tell my wife and I were pretty busy.
Now to the resolutions: my hope is to read more, at least one chapter of a book, per day. When I say read, I mean read for enjoyment, not for work related things. So if you have any books recommendations, I will gladly take them.
I also, hope to start grad school, this February, for my Education Specialist(EdS) license. I would have already been in classes, but the university I plan on attending has had some enrollment issues.
Finally, I hope to blog more often. It has been a very, very, very long time, but I hope to make more time to share the things that happen in my life, my family life, and my work life. There are a lot of good things that happen, and I hope to share them with you all, on hopes to balance out the negative things we hear about so often in the news.
Wishing you all the Happiest of New Years.
