Reviewing 2012 Goals

Instead of making New Year's resolutions for 2012, I decided to set goals.  I wanted the goals to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-specific).  I set 12 goals for the year in various areas of my life.  Some were yearlong goals that would need to be evaluated monthly and some were goals that referenced one time events.  To end 2012 and get ready to kick off 2013 I need to review the goals.

Goal 1: Maintain a weight under 210 pounds.
Success!  I had a little weight creep during the holidays, but managed to keep it under the magic number.

Goal 2: Visit three new states.
Success!  Our trip to the Northwest in June included Washington, Oregon and Alaska.

Goal 3: Complete the Covenant Health Half Marathon.
Success!  I finished the half marathon in 1:49:40.

Goal 4: Participate in four additional races.
Success! I ended up running in 9 additional races.  Six 5k, two 10k and another half marathon.

Goal 5: Complete 200 new miles of Smokies trails.
Close, but no cigar.  I completed 182.4 new miles of trail on 15 separate hikes.  I completed 91% of the goal.

Goal 6: Try five new vegatables.
Success!  I sampled brussel sprouts, fennel, swiss chard, parsnips and bok choy for the first time this year,

Goal 7: Pay off our credit cards at the end of each month.
Success!  Well, mostly.  0 balance to end the year at least.

Goal 8: Have $X in savings.
Success!  Setting up a direct deposit into a savings account was key.  If it never hit the checking account, it was like we didn't have it to spend.

Goal 9: Pay off the Civic.
Success!

Goal 10:  Post a 5k time of under 25 minutes.
Success!  My best time for the year was 21:44.

Goal 11: Run 1000 miles.
Success!  My total for the year was 1169 miles.

Goal 12: Read at least 10 new books.
Success!

Having goals that were specific worked much better for me than a general resolution (lose weight, etc.).  I'm looking forward to getting to work on my 2013 goals!

A New Sidewalk

When I moved into my house, I built a quick and inexpensive pea gravel walkway to link the house and garage.  After five years of use and effects of gravity with the slope of my yard, it was time for a change.  The pea gravel continually shifted down the hill and had to be raked back into place every couple of weeks.

After much discussion and debate we decided to go with a boardwalk to avoid lots of grade work and to keep costs down.  We found a multi-hued hardwood floor on Pinterest that served as an inspiration for our final product.  We decided to floor the boardwalk with a combination of 2x4, 2x6, and 2x8 boards stained with three different colors.

Step one was to cut all the floorboards to their final width of 36" then stain all the floorboards and boards that would become the substructure.

After everything was stained, we used recycled bricks and newly purchased capblock to serve as a foundation for the sidewalk.

Next, we put in the substructure.  We used 2x4's for the upper side and middle and 4x4's for the lower side.

Next came the floor boards and some 1x4 trim to finish the edges.

We used a repeating pattern every nine boards to ensure that we used all the boards and didn't have matching boards side by side.  Next steps include building steps off the boardwalk into the back yard, plantings along both sides and a new fence between the boardwalk and back yard.