Way back in January I sat down and put some thought into what I wanted to accomplish this year. Granted, it was cold, and I probably didn’t put as much thought into the goals as I should have. However, sometimes it is good to have something to focus on. It is way too easy to get distracted in life.

So what were my goals? And, how am I doing on these goals?

For the house I wanted to paint the garage, fix 4 windows, replace the bathroom floor and focus on cleaning up the yard.  How did I do? The garage isn’t painted yet, though we have the paint and the front has been scraped and cleaned for painting, so I am confident that we will make progress on the garage. I haven’t yet gotten to the windows, but that could be a good fall job – we are now talking about purchasing some quality storm windows to replace the crappy storm windows (I know, I flop on what to do with the windows at least twice a year). I have replaced the part of the bathroom floor that needed to be repaired. Susanna still wants me to finish the other half of the floor; that could be a good job to do when the weather cools off.  The yard, well that is another story.  This summer was crazy and I didn’t get to spend as much time on it as I had hoped.  There is always next year! Or maybe a weekend in the fall renting a brush clearing mower.

In the workshop I wanted to finish the nightstands for the boys and build us a pair of nightstands. I also wanted to build a bed, fix the workshop floor and repair the doors. I had also hoped to add better heat for next winter.  How am I doing? I finished the nightstands for the boys. The rest still haven’t been done.  But I think the floors are on the short list after I finish my current project. Not too sure about building two more nightstands for our bedroom.  Maybe if I have better heat I can get more done in the winter.  However, I haven’t been a total slacker in the workshop; I am working on building three outside toy boxes for Susanna’s preschool. The first box should go out the door next week.

With the family I had hoped to take the sailboat out for an overnight trip, go camping, buy a new car and print books from the boys’ blogs.  How did I do. So far I have done pretty much all of this list. I took the boat out to Block Island for an overnight trip and Susanna and I camped in the boat this weekend. The only thing that I had hoped to do was take the boys camping as well.  There is always next weekend (and the fall).  We got a new car and I printed both books from the boys’ blogs.

My personal goals included more exercise and continue to write. I did better exercising this summer over last summer, but still not as much as I want.  I did keep writing in the blog, even if the last two months haven’t had much writing in them. The summer got very busy at home and at work, and it was hard to find peace long enough to focus on writing.  I definitely think writing helps me reflect on what I have done as well as focus on what I want to keep doing. Both are good for someone with ADHD.

This summer hasn’t been perfect. I started at least one big project that I gave up on (the wooden dinghy). I felt that I had too much going on, so next summer I think it would be better to take things a little easier so I can enjoy more (maybe no garden next summer). It certainly helped to eventually find a way to bring the dogs with us on the boat – that reduces the stress of leaving the dogs home on the weekend after they have been stuck in the pen all week while we work.  Adding air-conditioning to the workshop was a big help during the (very short) hot portion of the summer – which makes me believe that better heat (and insulation) would be really nice for the (probably very long) cold part of the winter.