Take care of those UFOs in 2020

Over the last few decades, like many others around the world, I have listened to the “gurus” and have spent the end of every year planning my New Year’s resolutions for the upcoming year. Some years I am able to keep the resolution momentum going for a month or two, but usually my will doesn’t last that long and I end up ignoring the list as the guilt is too much to bear.

This year, however, I am not making resolutions.

This year is going to be my UFO year.

No, I am not into space travel or Star Wars or Area 51. My UFOs are “UnFinished Objects.”

This year, my goal is to finish some of the unfinished items and projects that I have started over the last many years, but have not completed. I have been making a list of unfinished items, and that list is vast and diverse and growing longer each day. The list of UFOs range from the embroidered towels I started years ago to the cross-stitch kit that was a bigger project than I anticipated, to the quilt that is almost done but needs a bit more matching fabric. I have lots of these UFOs in my house, and I have worked on them from time to time as the spirit moves. But too many times I lose interest before the item is completed and off I go to get a new, more interesting project to work on.

This year my goal is to take the UFOs, one by one, and get them finished.

Some will be given away to the people who are patiently waiting for the item, like the daughter-in-law waiting for the quilt for over five years. Other items will be a wonderful surprise to someone who will appreciate and enjoy it as, by this time, I realize that if I had really wanted the item, I would have already finished it.

My UFO year will not only include objects to finish, but also UFPs, projects that have not been finished. Like the mirror and table waiting to be stripped and refinished, or the small pieces of flooring in the back hallway that need to be cut and laid in place. There’s also an ever-growing pile of genealogy papers that I need to sort, organize and file so I know what I have already and what I need. And the huge pile of miscellaneous items that need to be ironed. And I can’t forget the bird feeder I bought years ago so the cats and I can enjoy watching the birds come to eat. I even have listed the closets that are packed full, waiting to be cleaned out with stuff to be given away and the remaining items organized. The list grows longer the more I think about it.

So, this year my goal is to work on finishing at least one project or item each month. My plan is that finishing the first one will spark me to keep going, to work at finishing more of them. Even if I get only a couple of months of projects done, it will at least get a few UFOs out of my house.

To help keep me accountable, I’m going to drag my husband into this. He won’t like being made a part of my UFO Year as, he says, they aren’t his projects. But I will need his help on some of them, and I will definitely need his nagging to keep me going. Yes, I’m giving him the permission to nag me, but just for this year. I’m sure he’ll be happy to oblige while reminding me that I gave him permission to do so.

So for this year of 2020, I’m not making any lofty New Year’s resolutions. This year, I’m just making a list of UFOs and UFPs. If I can get a handful of them done, that will be of more value to me than the resolutions that I never keep.

This coming year is the end of the decade, and it’s time to truly finish the old stuff. Next year I will worry again about making lofty New Year’s resolutions. And maybe, if my momentum keeps going, getting the old done will help me in keeping some new ones next year.

Kim Samuelson lives in the Kettle River area, where she enjoys spending time with her family and friends as well as reading, writing, photography, and way too many artistic projects to finish in one lifetime.