What did you accomplish this year

[peach]

We made it through two miscarriages and are now expecting a baby

We went on our first "real" family vacation EVER

We crossed off a ton of stuff on our house renovation list

We started a bible study group with other young families - we had NO couple friends and we decided to just be brave and invite some random couples from church. We now have a pretty close knit group of people who are a huge support to each other.




And Mrs, Jacinth...if you aren't in here AWing your massive weight loss I will do it for you !

[Susie]

In 2 weeks, we'll be adding to our family, and our blog Guin's Yard will become "Guin's and Marcy's Yard":


Meet Marcy Derkins, 5 weeks in photo.

She's 6 weeks today. We are so excited for her to come home.

In other accomplishments, we:
- Completely renovated our half bath
- Leveled the backyard
- Bought a media cabinet for the family room (delivered this week, blog updates to come), which we'd been intending to do for the past 2 years
- Paid off >$25k worth of student loans
- Saved up enough to pay for next year's trip back to Ireland
- I also had some sports "firsts" in terms of distances and finishes in races.

[kaylie]

OMG Susie. I'm dying. That tiny tail!!!! I might have to go down the street to the puppy store for my lunch hour.

We bought a house.

I learned to use power tools.

We survived our first year of marriage.

[heygrey]

I completed immigration in Canada and got a job.
We painted every inch of our apartment.
I feel like we really settled this year. We went from being the new kids in town to being regulars.

[sjh722]

I want to snuggle with Susie's puppy. Can't resist.

We made a baby.

Bought a house. Ripped it apart. Paid for all the renos in cash.

Had a very successful year at work.

[gnomesweetgnome]

We redid the floors in the living room and hallway and repainted.

We also saved ~40% of the funds we will need to complete our adoption.

We both got new jobs (although mine will end when I graduate in May), increasing our income, time at home, and time spent together.

[thewop]

Um.....I didn't have a breakdown about work? 2012 was a pretty uneventful year for me.

[narockshard]

These are great, good job everyone!

This year was pretty uneventful but the best thing that happened was my husband landing a new, awesome job and almost doubling our income. We also paid off a couple student loans and have decided to go really hardcore on the rest starting Jan. 1 to hopefully have the rest paid off by mid 2014 (and thus be debt free except for the house).

H&G related-we finally just bought everything to do a mini-makeover of our basement laundry room. It WILL be done before Dec. 31!

[simpsongal]

We did a ton - we started our search for a house in January and closed on it in March. We spent about $45K on renovations, a lot of DIY, another $15-12K on decor (more DIY). The projects are too numerous to list (though I have a 2 page word doc that lists them). To finish it all I'm hosting a Christmas party tomorrow and hosting Christmas w/my family. ETA: We evem managed to refinance in November.

Between the move, the projects, and the contractors, I'm looking forward to a more relaxed 2013!

Susie - I'm dying - I want that cutie!!!!

[emoflamingo]

We had a new baby after an early loss.

We bought a second house.

I didn't get fired at work!

[abby]

We finished a complete basement renovation by ourselves and paid for it in cash.

Had a second baby and adjusted to life as a family of 4 + our beloved pup.

The second one took up most of our year:)

[pickle123]

We sold our first home within 3 weeks!
We designed and built our house, that was the bulk of our year!

[lauree1183]

We had an awesome 2012:

-We refinanced our mortgage to a 15 year at an awesome low interest rate.
-We added a third bedroom to our townhome (paid cash).
-We bought a family friendly vehicle (paid cash).
-We paid off 25% of my student loan (our only debt besides mortgage).
-Ran my first race in Sept- 7.5 miles.
-Ran my first half marathon in October.
-Lost 10 pounds as a result of starting to run regularly. DH lost 30 pounds as a result of exercise/watching diet.
-Visited three new states we hadn't been to before.
-Graduating with my BA degree tonight!

This year has been a huge year for us. We decided last December we would start TTC this next January- so 2012 was all about getting our finances, house, and health in order in preparation for a wee one

[mrs.jacinthe]

Hmmm. We didn't do much as related to the house since we rent:

*Finally offloaded the OH house in May.
*Looked for a house, hated everything, decided to wait.
*Made a garden, grew a bunch of veg, canned/froze a bunch of veg.
*Dealt with two separate surgery complications with our pets (Dot got a corneal ulcer from her eye surgery and Cat had a serious complication from tooth extraction)
*I lost ~50 pounds (still 20 to go)
*R lost ~100 pounds (still 30 to go)
*Swam my first 2.4mi race, sucked, swam a redemption race with EXCELLENT results.
*Ran my first mud run.
*Dealt with some serious parental health problems (my dad)
*Decided to TTC in 2013.

[pitterwoo]

*My boss who terrorized me for 6 years was fired! I'd still coping with the transition, but starting to learn to be less tense. Next step, get a raise of some kind.

*Best year of our marriage yet (#4) and we finally decided we want to ttc in 2013 despite everything not being 110% ready.

*Paid off the mortgage much to my surprise (H didn't tell me and I wasn't involved in this). A lot of drama but ultimately a positive thing.

*Gutted bedroom and moved from our old bedroom into the "new" one which I looove.

[sierramist03]

Became an aunt
Embraced by sewing and craftiness
Attended advanced training for a new instrument at work

[Deleted]

-Stripped and refinished all our living room trim
-Painted the LR for the 4th time
-Started eating some sort of vegetable almost every day, courtesy of my CSA (And can I say that I still despise them all? But at least I'm choking them down now.)

Yeah, that's about it. I bought some new LR furniture and rugs and DR furniture that will arrive in 2013... Man, I really have to step up my game in 2013. How about I commit to some goals since I can't share any 2012 success:

-Finish new roof
-Save up and actually plan our trip to Costa Rica instead of talking about it. I did buy a Frommer's Guide, so that's a start, right?
-Save up for kitchen reno
-FINISH OUR BEDROOM CLOSET
-Figure out what to do with our guest quarters. It's a D&R nightmare.

[lb2006]

I mostly lurk for home remodel ideas, but here goes:

- started demo in our dream location, 1970s house (closed around NYE 2011)
- met with an architect about plans - have stamped plans ready for remodel
- met with contractor & have quote
- picked out/purchased some major remodel items

non-house related
- ran a marathon
- began the adoption process in April
- saving money like crazy for home remodel+adoption

[sassafrass]

I did some home improvement stuff and got my house organized.
I lost 55 pounds

[bunnymendelbaum]

Wow, not much considering other years...

Not D&R:
-Made (and welcomed?) a new daughter
-ran first half marathon (and was pregnant!)

D&R:
-Decided to sell the house
-Redid the office
-Redid my old dollhouse for DD
-planted a garden
-did nursery #2
-fixed back porch wall
-kitchen window seat
-hired out drywalling of guest/playroom & painting of TONS all around the house

[wawa]

It feels like so little when you list it out like this...

But:
Made most of a baby
Finished most of Phase II of the house reno (demolition and rebuild of both upstairs bathrooms, then all upstairs finish work) Hopefully we can squeeze out all of it by the new year.

aaaaand...yeah, that's about it I guess.

[roselis]

I got divorced.
My brother moved in
I transformed my bedroom from boring to ME!

[prazenjc]

i obtained two significant certifications for my job this year. one was a 4 month process of training and big $ saving project, the other i just finished today after a week long training (but somehow no test, which i found interesting). dh both lost a job and got another one after about 3 months (not tremdously as big of a deal since he also has been doing an accelerated program to get another degree and will finish in may (oops, that is next year)).

we made our 2nd attempt with IVF to get pg and succeeded (yes, we are a very lucky IF couple that way).

D&R related, we refaced our fireplace, repainted both our living and dining rooms and updated the curtains in each area, too. otherwise, chasing our toddler prevents much more than basic crafting every now and again for decor items.

[Deleted]

This past year has been insane. Overall it has been great, but a little too much happening for my liking.
Starting 12 months ago:
-Dec 17, 2011- DH's truck is hit while parked outside of work. It is totalled and we become a one car family
-Feb 16, 2012-DH FINALLY gets a new job offer after almost a year of looking.
-Feb 18- Get DH a new truck to celebrate the new job.
-Mar 5- DH starts new job that doesn't have medical benefits starting until May1.
-Mar 31- Med insurance from previous employer runs out.
-Apr 11- Give birth to DD2 while uninsured and waiting on COBRA which is a nightmare.
-June- Decide to sell our home after talking with realtor and spend the next month doing a ton of minor home repairs to get ready for listing.
-July- Search for new homes. List old house and get 4 offers in one day.
-Aug- Can't find a house to buy, decide to build.
-Aug 20- DS starts 1st grade
-Aug 25- Move into small apartment with 3 kids
-Aug 31- Close on old house
-Sept 1- break ground on new house and DD1 starts preschool
-Sept, Oct, Nov- House building continues
-Dec- Stepdad is diagnosed with cancer. Will have surgery after Christmas.
-Dec 14 (Today)- DH is offered another new job. This will be his second new job in 9 months. He loves his current job but this has a 30%+ pay increase and more growth potential so it was a bit of a no-brainer.

Hopefully that is all for a while. DH will start the new job on Dec. 31 and we will move into the new house in March-ish. Other than that I REALLY hope things settle for a while. We have had some great things come our way and now we are ready to sit back and enjoy them.

[mrsemilys]

I painted the last few rooms in our house. I finally finished our guest room and started on our master. I have almost lost the baby weight and am finally feeling like myself again, which is huge. 2011 was huge for us-house, baby, decorated the house so 2012 was a lot of adjusting to our new lives as parents and building better friendships here

[katie4253]

Too much.

- Put our house on the market
- Moved 1500oz of breastmilk myself (I flew it in coolers...that is insane)
- Found a place to live and DC (and a pet sitter)
- Moved 2000 miles
- Went from SAHM to Working Mom
- Both H and I started new jobs
- Lots of new medical stuff with Gabe (tons of illness, lots-o-shots, a couple of surgeries, added physical therapy)
- Sold our house (and lost a shit-ton of money)
- Lost both of our girls...which is not an accomplishment at all. But, working on moving on is.

The last 12 months (well, 19 when you look back at Gabe's start) have been the most trying of my life. We are finally in a pretty good place, now though. I hope it stays that way.

[candreco]

Sold our first home, and bought what we're planning to be our forever home. Made a good start on making this OUR house, not just the house we moved into.

Made a baby

The project at work I've been on for over five years actually started production this summer- it's amazing to be able to touch something that's been all paper for so long.

[MrsAxilla]

We paid off all our debts (except the SLs; they're at 2%)

Went to Italy

Bought our first house

Started a business

Got a puppy

[sillygoosegirl]

- closing on our first and hopefully forever house on the 27th (put in the offer in April, were looking around a year before that)
- in October, purchased our second car and paid cash for it (first new car, first not-from-family car, and first second car), though I'm actually more proud of 10 years of harmoniously sharing a car with DH and making it to age 30 without my own car, even though that is now coming to a close
- survived 9 months of traveling almost every week for work (PDX to SFO), and made gold flier status, not to mention lots of money
- instead of being laid off in September as planned, got extended at my contract job in a mostly from home capacity (travel 1 week/month instead of 3-4 weeks per month)
- started visiting new friends on a regular basis (finally, after a very lonely first year or so after relocating)
- are currently at the tail end of a really awesome 2-week vacation in Hawaii (saw the volcano, hiked the Kalalua Trail--something I've wanted to do for around 10 years--and did a bunch of awesome snorkeling, topped off with seeing a giant sea turtle in the wild this morning)

It's been difficult (in the all-work-and-no-play sense) for most of the year, but has gotten very rewarding at the end here.