HOUSE: Newburgh + Life + Health

Vacation to-do.

I’m not going back to work until January 3rd, and I have a TON of stuff I want to get done around the house between now and then. The last few (six?!) months have been so hectic, and nothing around here feels complete or organized. There are little piles of stuff all over the place—papers needing to be sorted, recycling that has to go out, tools that either need to be put to use or put away, out-of-season clothes…ugh.

WINTER VACATION TO-DO:

+ Laundry.
+ Vacuum.
+ PUT AWAY ALL THE STUFF.
+ Organize kitchen pantry.
+ Clean out kitchen cabinets.
+ Clean the refrigerator.
+ Cut and mount roller shades in the kitchen.
+ Screw down the threshold in the vestibule (this has been on my to-do list for almost two years!).
+ Figure out what frame sizes we need, and maybe even buy frames.
+ Refinish that dresser, already. OK, this isn’t going to happen.
+ Paint the dining room.
+ Figure out the materials list for built-in bookcases.
+ Put the new slipcover on the sofa.
+ Put the new blankets on the beds.
+ Hang the Flensted mobile (thank you, Mommy!).
+ Figure out where to put the String light.
+ Wash Bruno.
+ Bring out all recycling on Friday. DON’T FORGET.
+ Shred everything in the shred pile.
+ Moisturize. (ongoing)
+ Take pictures.
+ Write real blog posts with real pictures in them.
+ Redesign this blog.
+ Get the oven repaired.
+ Bake something.

OK, so I have nine days to get things done. I hope I can cross off most of these items, but honestly, if I just get as far as putting away the bottle of Pepto-Bismol that’s been sitting on the dining room sideboard since August, I’ll be feeling pretty proud of myself.

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42 Comments

  • Reply Jen Appel December 25, 2011 at 11:24 am

    I take a lot of solace in the fact your to do this is just like mine.

  • Reply victoria December 25, 2011 at 11:29 am

    daunting, but it feels so good when you get to cross them off. 🙂

  • Reply jodi December 25, 2011 at 11:34 am

    good luck!

  • Reply Kim December 25, 2011 at 11:37 am

    Go get ’em! (If I were you I’d add “make my vacation to-do list” to the list and then cross it right off, a good start to getting things accomplished!)

  • Reply Monica December 25, 2011 at 11:37 am

    Ok, you don’t mess around. Instead of a Merry Christmas I will wish that you get to put a line through every single one of those items. Well at least through 95% of them.

  • Reply Grumble Girl December 25, 2011 at 12:32 pm

    I love lists… i hope you get through at least HALF of it.

    Happy Happy, Anna!! xox

    PS – get some rest too 😉

  • Reply Julia December 25, 2011 at 12:44 pm

    When I am off I use to write to do lists also… but I never get all the things done I wanted to. So, i think you shouldn’t stress yourself because it’s ok, when you don’t do EVERYTHING on the list! :)) In German you say “der Wille zählt” maybe you could translate it like “the will counts”??

    And now “happy holiday” and have some fun too!!

    Julia

    • Lena December 25, 2011 at 5:14 pm

      I think it would be more like “the good intention counts”, since the saying means, even if you can’t do something (properly or finish it or whatever), that you had the intention of doing it is the important thing.

  • Reply Mo December 25, 2011 at 1:05 pm

    Awesome list, you’ll feel so good even getting a lot of it done. Can’t wait to see some of the results.

  • Reply Julie December 25, 2011 at 2:33 pm

    The Pepto-Bismol bottle. I know! It’s obvious from your home that you want a beautiful, organized home. Isn’t it amazing how we’re able to ignore a lot…All the things we need to, in order to survive a very, very busy time. Think of that bottle as the way you survived it all. Here’s my wish for you to get back to inhabiting your home as you want it to be.

  • Reply desiree December 25, 2011 at 3:22 pm

    Merry★Christmas and many happy days to you
    desiree

  • Reply dagmag December 25, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    Roller shades? Roller shades! Do you have a secret Ikea stash or do you have a great new source? Do tell!!! Dying for Enje shades in my kitchen and so disappointed that they are discontinued… Hope your holidays were merry and bright!

    • Anna @ D16 December 25, 2011 at 4:42 pm

      I’ve had them sitting around since last year, but ENJEs have been back in stock for a while now. They weren’t discontinued, they were just being redesigned to meet the new safety standards.

    • dagmag December 25, 2011 at 10:58 pm

      Oh yeay for the Enje! They are not in at my Ikea yet, but I’ll certainly keep my eye out. Thank you!!

    • Emily January 6, 2012 at 1:02 pm

      Oh, this was the SAME exact question I was just going to ask.

      I just checked the website, and I didn’t see them, but I am going to hope and pray that I can find them soon. I DON’T want to spend over 150 bucks a window for custom.

    • Anna @ D16 January 6, 2012 at 1:06 pm

      They definitely have them back in stock again! The IKEA website is not known for being particularly reliable.

    • Emily January 17, 2012 at 10:44 am

      I purchased my enje shades this weekend! I have one hung that did not have to be customized, and it looks great. My only gripe is that it’s close to impossible to get it to roll all the way up. It seems to only want to go back to half rolled. No bother – I keep it fully closed almost all the time anyway.

      I have two other shades to cut down to size. My only question is that since they have now moved from a chain shade, to a spring loaded shade – and I going to find something complicated to put back together once I cut the top rod? I guess I’ll be finding out the hard way!

    • Anna @ D16 January 17, 2012 at 4:33 pm

      I don’t know anything about the new spring-loaded shades, sorry!

  • Reply hungryandfrozen December 25, 2011 at 4:54 pm

    I love that ‘moisturise’ is on the list. Of all the things I always forget…

  • Reply Kat December 25, 2011 at 7:37 pm

    I love, ‘PUT AWAY ALL THE STUFF’, ambiguity at its best 🙂

  • Reply Tara December 26, 2011 at 7:01 am

    Good luck! Hope you get a lot done. And where are you putting the built-in bookcases? Can’t wait to see them! With instructions and any advisories you may have for amateurs like me!

    Happy holidays!

  • Reply Melanie December 26, 2011 at 9:07 am

    Your list is making me unreasonably excited. I think I have a organizing/recycling/donating/throwing away fetish. On Christmas Eve I cleaned out and scrubbed our refrigerator. The day before that I went to IKEA and got brand new sparkling white dishes to replace the black ones I got 10 years ago. It felt so good to go through the cabinets and get rid of stuff I hate or never use.

    I can’t wait to see your site redesign and a photo of the string light after you hang it. I love that lighting fixture.

  • Reply Abigail December 26, 2011 at 9:19 am

    Having read Door Sixteen for a few years now, I’d say that list looks a lot more achievable than some you have posted. Yay for long holiday breaks!

  • Reply Becca December 26, 2011 at 11:45 am

    My list is a lot like yours (especially the kitchen pantry), except mine hasn’t made it out of my skull yet. I hope you don’t end up needing a vacation from your vacation. Same for me.

  • Reply Laura December 26, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    Ha i love it one of my top to do s was frame the picture my sis in law gave me last xmas before they call they call this year. It didn’t happen. Enjoy the hols. Ps. Hid all the laundry in the en suite shower no one noticed stiil tidying after hosting 26 for christmas dinner.

  • Reply Jen b December 26, 2011 at 3:57 pm

    I have laundry and vacuuming on the top of my list as well. I started at 7:30am this morning. Washed all the sheets, comforters and blankets for all four bedrooms. So happy! Looking forward to your new posts over the holiday. That’s quite a ambitious list!

  • Reply Jessica December 26, 2011 at 4:35 pm

    Ah yes, you’ve reminded me that I also need to PUT AWAY ALL THE STUFF.

  • Reply Adam December 26, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    What color are you painting your dining room?

    • Anna @ D16 December 26, 2011 at 8:58 pm

      I’m just going to continue the black wall from the living room so it makes a continuous line through the first floor of the house.

  • Reply ellen December 26, 2011 at 5:32 pm

    If you do half of this in the next week, you win the Nobel Prize.

    • Anna @ D16 December 26, 2011 at 8:57 pm

      Hahaha, which one?

  • Reply Ceci December 27, 2011 at 11:40 am

    Can’t wait to see what you do to your dining room & built in shelving!!

    Sharing…My little 5 year old nephew gave me the Michael Jackson Immortal doulbe CD for Christmas!! It’s amazing! He heard me say I missed MJ once and remembered. 🙂 Have you heard it yet? I thought of you.

    • Anna @ D16 December 27, 2011 at 11:43 am

      I’m not really interested in hearing/seeing anything that’s been done since he died, but I’m happy that new generations are still discovering his music. 🙂

  • Reply leaca December 27, 2011 at 1:32 pm

    Wash Bruno….my dogs are on my list too. It is my least favorite to do. I have two dogs and the one is a little stress ball and the blow dryer freaks her out. So it is never a fun task.

    Good luck with your list. This may sound crazy but I love my lists and I love them even more when I see I have cleared them.

    May the force be with you!

  • Reply Jenn Ski December 28, 2011 at 1:22 am

    yeah my shred pile is huge!

  • Reply Julie December 28, 2011 at 7:28 am

    Think about how ah-mazing it feels when you can cross them off. I really need to make myself a list, maybe tomorrow;)

  • Reply Petal December 28, 2011 at 1:01 pm

    I love that mug!

  • Reply jbhat December 28, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    #3–I have that on my list too. It’s probably never going to get crossed off. The stuff just multiplies when I’m not looking….or else reappears somewhere else as something else. And it’s hard to figure out WHERE to put it sometimes too. Ugh.

    jbhat

  • Reply Tania December 29, 2011 at 3:20 pm

    I realize this wasn’t the point of your post but I really want your teardrop mug… Moisturize made me smile, if you told me five years ago, I’d feel too busy too moisturize, I would’ve thought you were nuts and now, here I am all dry & scaly.

    I have a huge work to do list. It is overwhelming for me at each year end. I always wish time would stop for one month until I could catch everything up on my desk without adding anything new to the mix.

    At home, my doors are unpainted. Every single of one them. It’s not a I love natural wood design statement, it is a we were so sick of construction delays, we told them to just hang the damn doors as is so we could move in already. Maybe they’ll be painted by summer, maybe…

  • Reply moparbrownstoner December 29, 2011 at 3:26 pm

    Hey! Happy holidays! I’m getting a lot of cleaning done, but not so much writing. I cleared an enormous amount of trash out of the office — a full car load of donations plus dozens of bags of recycling and trash. The room now has twice as much space.

    At least I’m procrastinating helpfully.

  • Reply mopar January 5, 2012 at 2:53 pm

    You crack me up! Awesome, way to go. This is the third time I’ve checked this post, so I get to see the crossed-out lines increase. We got some major reorganization done over the holiday too — filled dozens of recycling and trash bags and sent a full car of donations to Goodwill.

  • Reply rose January 11, 2012 at 4:26 pm

    I keep coming back to this post too. I like seeing things get crossed off your lists. Then I wonder how it looks and what you will do next.

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