Wish List

When we moved into our new home in June of 2010, we fulfilled our biggest wish and dream of owning a real house that comfortably fit our family. There hasn't been a day since then that I haven't woken up and thought to myself "I love this house". Every day, I'm so grateful to have a house that has extra room for the kids to play, and a kitchen that's big enough to fit & feed company, and a more private bathroom attached to my room. I'm still so much in love with our home.

After moving from a 2-bedroom single-wide trailer into a 4-bedroom house that's nearly 3 times the size, we realized that our furniture no longer seemed adequate. Everything had to be smaller in our old house, but our new home didn't look right with all the small furniture in it. So in July of 2010, I discussed with Josh things that we would need and things that I wanted to make our new home feel complete. We couldn't afford to buy everything right away, so we created a 2-year Wish List. It included items that we wanted for our new house, and dreams we had for ourselves, and larger purchases we wanted to make within the next 2 years. I hung up the list on the fridge as a visual reminder, and as items on the list were purchased, I crossed off the item and wrote the date next to it.

It's been 2 years since the list was created! The list has now been removed from the fridge; I think it's time to make a new one. But just as a reminder to myself of how far we've come in the last 2 years, and how much we were able to accomplish, I'm posting the list on this blog. Not everything listed was crossed off, but that's okay: these weren't goals, they were wishes!

Our 2-year Wish List as of July 2010:
King Bed Box Spring & Headboard 10/10
Wood Stove Mantle & Pipe 12/10
Deck on the back of the house 7/11
TV for twins' room 8/11
New printer 10/10
Sectional couch 9/10
TV/DVD combo for master bedroom 8/10
Treadmill 12/10
New car 1/11
New 4-wheeler 5/12
New van
Car Port
Family trip to Disneyland
Couples trip to Mexico
Kala trip to Italy

we found our new (used) sectional on Craigslist

 Josh helped install the tile for the wood stove mantle & back door entrance. 

In addition to the Wish List, I created my own "Want List" last summer. My "Want List" was a paper from IKEA with a list of product specifications and pictures. I circled the items I wanted and hung it next to the 2-year Wish List on the fridge. I finally just removed that paper from the fridge a few weeks ago as well. Only one of the items that I circled ended up being the exact item that I purchased, but I'm happy with everything that I have now that started as an idea on that list.

"Kala's Want List" (as of Summer 2011)
New leather couch for family room 12/11 (bought red couch from IKEA)
China cabinet 6/12 (bought white glass-door cabinet from IKEA)
New dining table 8/12 (bought used one at garage sale)
New benches & chairs for dining table
Food storage shelf 1/12 (found one in the ranch shop, and cleaned it up to use)
Outdoor furniture for the deck 6/12 (bought 2 benches that convert into a table at a yard sale)

The new (used) dining table is bigger & will fit 2-4 more people than our old one.

It's also made from real wood so it's sturdier, too.

The 2 outdoor vinyl benches that convert into one picnic table

(one of them is flipped to show how they convert).

And here's our next 2-year Wish List, as of Summer 2012:
3-car garage
more chairs for dining table
new mattresses for boys' beds
double-headed shower for Master Bathroom
hardwood floor in Family Room
outdoor bench swing
couple's trip to Mexico
new truck
new motorcycle
new van