Ben is enjoying the sunny day before heading to his game.

Winter is dragging on. The cold keeps me from the workshop, and keeps the family inside more than we would like. The boys want to play on their electronics more than they should. The dogs don’t get the exercise that they want. The house is cold, and the oil bills are expensive.

But, winter isn’t all bad. It is a chance to try to find other projects to work on.  Like writing in my blog. Unfortunately I don’t like writing when there isn’t much to write about. I like to think about spring and the summer. And plan. I like to plan. It is fun to talk about ideas. But I’m not sure it is as much fun to listen (just ask Susanna).

February brings Will’s birthday. Which means a birthday party. We get to have his birthday party every other year, and this year was our turn.  Winter birthdays are difficult. The kids don’t want to spend as much time outside, and a large group of 5th graders is way too loud to keep inside for very long.

This year we held the party in the boys’ clubhouse above the garage. I moved the portable heater up there, and the room was warmer than the house. They can be as loud as they want, and jump on the furniture out there.  I think everyone (mostly) had a good time; but if you get enough 5th graders together, you will eventually find a pair that don’t always get along.

I forgot to make pizza dough for Friday night, so pizza/movie night was moved to last night. The boys even helped clean up from dinner (and washed the dishes).

So, what are we all doing to keep occupied during the cold weather?

Ben and Susanna are working on a 1000-piece puzzle. Ben has been building Legos and practicing his trumpet.

Will has been writing a book. I have been trying to get him to take some of the creative ideas that are in his mind and put them down in words. It is difficult for him, he types much slower than he thinks. But he is making progress (as of this morning, he has a chapter and a half written). When he isn’t writing, he is reading or trying to earn time to play on his iPod.

Both boys are playing indoor soccer. Will and Ben are on one team together, and Ben is on a second team without his brother.

Susanna and I are trying to exercise more, and are trying to run a 5k race in March. It has been a long time since I have run much at all, and it is slow getting back into running.

I have been doing small house projects and on warmer days working in the workshop (a very little). We have a three-day weekend next weekend without the boys. Our plan is to finish the hallway and maybe some smaller projects (e.g. the last set of hinges on the kitchen doors, shelves in the storage loft, clean the basement).

Will is one of the most creative people I know. Sometimes it seems he lives in a fantasy world. Or many fantasy worlds. I have been trying to encourage him to put his thoughts down in writing.

Sometimes he can find the interest to write. But, mostly he writes in his blog because I force him to. Tonight, he decided to start writing a story. He wrote a page or so, and shared it with us. It is a ways from being a complete story. But it is a start. And since he normally hates writing, it is nice to see him spend a couple if hours focused on it.

Yesterday I finished one of the small projects that I had left as a remnant from a bigger project. I usually have a couple of them. It is just how my brain works. Why completely finish a project when another one is just waiting to start? It just wouldn’t seem fair to the new project.

But, it feels good to finish things. Even if it is not always fun to do the last 5%.

So, this morning I finished changing the hinges and hanging the door that Susanna had re-refinished. Maybe this is an appropriate place to make a joke about something being well hung in the house… but maybe not.

After lunch (and Ben’s soccer game) I decided to not start a new project, and keep trying to finish up the remnants. Before New Year’s Eve, I ran lights up to the boys clubhouse. I left a space to add switched lights to the stairs up (and the side of the loft we use for storage). This afternoon I spent an hour or two and ran a switched light at the top of the stairs. We no longer have to go up the stairs in the dark and plug in one of the overhead lights. Of course, I will probably move lights around later this spring as we redo the storage area, so maybe it isn’t a project completely done. Then again, a 120 year old house with two barns will never be completely done.

I am looking forward to some workshop time next week. Hopefully the weather will support. It was crazy in December and I didn’t get nearly as much time in the shop as I needed. Susanna and I plan on replacing the vinyl floor in the bathroom this week while the boys are away. It should be a quick Saturday project. We have talked about taking a few weekends this winter/spring to do some minor upgrades to the bathroom (repaint, install exhaust fan, add shelves, and improve closet storage).

One year done… another one to look forward to.  Last year was a good year. Maybe an 8 (out of 10). It was also a busy year. There are lots of things we did better in 2013 than in 2012. For example, last summer was much less chaotic than the summer before. We had a much better trip to Lucia. We missed a family vacation last summer, but had a wedding instead.

I made a list a year ago about what I wanted to accomplish this year. I didn’t do them all, but that is okay. A list is a place to start.  Here is the list from last year:

• Get the sailboat in the water and go sailing (Done. We had a great summer with the sailboat.)

• Build an island for the kitchen (Done. I could have made the top wider, but it is a great improvement over the table.)

• Build two larger woodworking projects. (Done. I built the kitchen island and a nightstand for the boys. I also built a chicken coop, shelves for the garage, and a trellis for the garden.)

• Get garage ready for the wedding this summer (Done. Though with a lot of help.)

• Ride bike into work more often than last year. (Not done…. I’ll need to work more on that this year.)

• Finish painting the outside of the house. (Done. But mostly by Susanna…. we have a little to touch up this summer though.)

• Continue organizing the workshop. (Done)

• Build a wooden hand plane. (Not done. Maybe this year…)

• Go camping with the boys. (Not done…. but I went camping with Susanna)
• (added very recently) – finish repairs to Will’s room. (Done)
• and of course… get married to Susanna. (Done))

Now to look forward to 2014.  What do I want to accomplish this year. Of course, I have ADHD, so any list will likely change. Daily. But that is the fun of a list, it is a place to start and deviate from.

For the house:

• Paint the garage
• Fix 4 windows.
• Replace the bathroom floor.
• Focus on cleaning up the yard.

In the workshop:

• Finish the nightstands for the boys. Build nightstands for our bedroom.  I’ll be pretty sick of nightstands by then.
• Build a bed.
• Finish the workshop floor, and repair/replace the doors.
• Add better heat before next winter.

With the family:

• Take the sailboat out for an overnight trip.
• Go camping.
• Buy a new car.
• Print books from Will and Ben’s blogs.

Personal Goals:

• Exercise more
• Keep writing in the blog

And, overall, have fun!!!

It has been a busy month. I’m pretty sure that December is normally a busy month. But, we made it extra busy. Why? Because it is more fun this way! Not really. It wasn’t really our planning, it just happened. It has been a good month, but next year, we will try to keep it a little less busy.

We didn’t even have time to set up a tree. The only reason the house has any lights is because Susanna doesn’t mind the cold and put them up a couple of weeks ago. Or rather, she minds the cold, but minds a dark house even more. I couldn’t feel my fingers after working outside for 15 minutes, so I decided to not help decorate at all. She even climbed on the porch roof to install the lights. That is dedication when it is 20-degrees out (or just crazy).

The rush started with Susanna flying back to Sweden over Thanksgiving for her aunt’s funeral. It finally feels like things are slowing down now, a month later.

I was able to clean out the boys’ rec room/loft over Thanksgiving weekend. The boys were here almost every weekend since Thanksgiving, so I had to get the project finished early. Plus, it is more fun to try to drag heavy crap up the stairs to the loft by myself. No point in waiting for help to return home.

Susanna was singing in the Church of Sweden Lucia concert in New York City. That took up every Sunday for 2 months for rehearsals. She had to leave in the mornings after breakfast to get to the city on time, and returned late after dinner. And then there was the concert in mid-December. We all braved the snow to drive to New York for a weekend and to enjoy the concert. It was a blast. Will even said (without me asking), that it was the best trip away he has had in a very long time.

A week after the concert, Susanna and I drove to Florida to visit my mom. The boys got to spend Christmas week with their mother. The trip down was great. We planned two days driving each way, but traffic heading south was pretty heavy so we took 2 1/2 days driving to Florida. We camped the first night in a canvas tipi North Carolina. The second night we bailed after dinner in Jacksonville.  We stayed in Florida until the 26th and began our trek back home. It was much easier driving north, except (of course) traffic around New York City. Though, next time, I think we will fly. Or just wait long enough that we forget how long of a drive it is.

We had a great Christmas in Florida. We went out on the water the afternoon we arrived. It was warm enough to go swimming (for an adult to go swimming, Will and Ben will swim in almost any weather). Christmas Eve we enjoyed a light show at the state park. Christmas day we headed for a walk, and even stopped by the beach for a bit.

The past two days have been all about the boys. They came home yesterday morning and we had our Christmas. I was hoping that we could open presents in their new rec room/game loft, but the weather was too cold, and I didn’t feel like dragging the heater from the workshop up to the loft (though I think I will have to for New Year’s Eve). Susanna and I gave the boys empty fish tanks (they both have talked about getting fish for a while), and we even had time to go to the pet store so they could buy fish for their tanks. We had a nice surprise and got to babysit Michael Matkovich for the night while his parents took a date night.

Today was chore day.  Ben got his stitches out (he got two stitches in his upper lip on Christmas Eve when wrestling with his brother) in the morning. We worked on cleaning up bedrooms for an hour in the afternoon. We didn’t quite finish, but progress was made. Hopefully we can finish tomorrow. We spend a while in the rec room/loft with the boys. It is cozy up there, but does need some real heat (so does my workshop, and I’m pretty sure I’m putting good heat in my workshop first). We got a couple of foosball games in before the boys had to head to bed.  I need to level the foosball table (at least that is my excuse for losing most of the games).

Susanna and I are visiting my mom and Ron in Florida for our Christmas vacation. Here are some pictures from the trip so far: