The year of doing something more interesting

That was my keynote for 2011. For us and for the kids.

Specifically we said : Making progress with Crete House, about being healthier, happier and more financially viable individuals.

Not sure this wasn’t more of a mission statement than goal & for 2012 I will be more SMART (Specific, Measurable and um, well you know, Realistic and the other ones).

Was it more interesting than 2010?

The kids seem to have made more progress here than us. They took to climbing like ducks to water, as predicted. The eldest one goes 2 or 3 times each week and makes him very smiley indeed. They both qualified as Swimming Teachers (with top marks – yaay, proud Mummy) so they have a back-up skill if they have trouble finding jobs in their real fields. Ahdel is building a new computer today. Boxes have been arriving all the week. Now he can get on with his IT course. Jamal is still studying ready for enough bash at getting into the merchant navy next summer. He has also taken up Ju Jitsu. Ahdel, of course, also decided he was leaving home but came clean and admitted he didn't want to go so is now firmly settled into home again, must to all of our amusement.

We went to stay in the Crete house for over three weeks which was enough to feel totally absorbed into the atmosphere and community. That was great and I enjoyed having a house full. In fact we could do with a couple of extra bedrooms. Next week we are off to St Malo in France with the rest of the family. It will be great fun. Ahdel can’t come as he is working but everyone else is coming. My dad is already planning where we will eat. We have been out to eat as a couple or a family quite a few times but not enough to be frittering money away.

Did we make progress with the Crete house.
We made really good progress there though with the steps. Plastering and painting, sealing windows, decorating, making shelves, hanging curtains. Very good progress this year, we could only do better by being there more often.

Are we happier, healthier and more financial viable:

We are happy but we were happy already so that was more a goal to maintain. We have done this.
Healthier, more veg, more wholefoods, smaller portions (mostly), more active but still need to work on this one.
More financially viable. Hmm, well we introduced budgeting and are now sticking to it, We have employed a consultant in Crete to look at the legalities of our building works, we couldn’t have done that before because of the expense. We also made the decision to sell up in Syria however things have now hotted up out there and my sister in law doesn’t feel safe going there to sort it out. So we don’t actually have the cash that we were expecting to start work on the Crete Old House renovation. This one needs more work.

I think 70% success. 2912 can be even better