2020 List Recap

Surprisingly I complete 28 items from my list another 10 or I started but never finished as well.  So many things cancelled due to the pandemic, like traveling, thrifting, play dates etc.  I also didn’t hardly quilt which seems surprising since we were home more.   I did do a lot of home projects that weren’t listed because well we hadn’t bought the house when I made the list.  (Photo above is unrelated but from New Years)

Completed items.

1.MOVE - done 

2.Make bruschetta - done

3.40th List - complete

6. 40 before 40 - complete. 

8. 4th Birthday Party Thea - complete 

9. 6th Birthday Party Jones - Complete

10.Buy some “patterned clothes” - done. 11.Buy/Make new bed frame - done 

12. Up Average step count (currently it’s about 6000 on weekday and 10,000 on weekend).  Complete - Overall average 9k the weekend went way up and the weekday was slightly higher

12. Listen to a new podcast - complete listened to DropOut 

13. Launch a new training program at work - I think I launched like 10

20. Repair my pink/yellow quilt -done

22. Visit zoo - complete bought passes went 3x

23. Cross stitch something - complete

24. Get big calendar - complete bought 2

27.  Vote - done

28. Monthly “hikes” with my kids.   - we maybe didn’t take a specific one but we probably did 12+ 

30. Fairy house - done 

31. Donate socks - done. I gave them money instead

34. Get Chai with Kathleen - done

36.  Play date with Brooks - playground

37. One second Everyday - done 

38.  Help jones with his you tube channel - done

40. Swim laps - done 

46. Make doughnuts - done 

47. Summer bucket list - done 

48. Find Jones a Summer camp - done 

50. Music jar - done

52. Make new list - done

36 - play date with brooks

Ages ago (like October). We finally got to meet up with my brothers family at a playground.  We played a long time and the kids loved it outside at a great park in Fishers with masks.  It’s sad that this is the way we have to socialize as a family now.  But if this is what it takes to avoid getting our family sick then we will do it.  They seem so much older now.  

Phew

I have been very absent on my blog for several years occasionally popping in to update on my list.  but I feel like I should document this moment.  This election season has been so anxiety ridden.  After RBG died I called my senators 3 times, I donated money I probably should have saved for a car, I wrote letters and I felt anxious.  I am generally not anxious.  Our current president though is just so awful and hateful.  I truly believe he only cares for himself.  

We voted early in person here in Ohio and on Election Day we went shopping and to the park and raked leaves.  Later we watched the incoming returns talk about additional anxiety I had trouble sleeping all last week. I am truly sad all these people find trump an appropriate choice I just don’t get it.  Anyhow suffice to say when the news came out Saturday I was so relieved and excited. 

I also feel so delighted we will have a women Vice President.  I cannot believe we haven’t had one until now.  The works not done yet but I feel very good about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s upcoming presidency.  

47 Fall Bucket List

We missed the summer bucket list we did have a quarantine one but I never took a photo of it.  This is our fall bucket list to replace the summer one I never did.  We’ve already done a bunch more since I took this photo like camp fire, Halloween movie, bike ride And more Halloween decor.  Lots of fun things happening. 

Bike ride - on the new trail by our house it’s super nice and we can’t wait to try it again

We loved the orchard.

We’ve had amazing weather it’s like 70s in the day and 50s in the evening perfect for camp fires.  (Let’s pretend I weeded the fire pit).

We did a Halloween craft kit thing.  thea loves to pretend with this little set.

We got new Halloween decor. thea has taken three of the skeletons as her “babies”.  

Fall Will be fun.

30 Fairy House

One of the things on our list was to make or get fairy houses.  We have 1 bazillion places we could have a fairy garden in our almost an acre yard so we may end up with more fairy houses in other places too.  I bought birdhouses on sale at the craft store.

We painted the houses.  Jones and Thea did the bases and some of the decoration and I helped encourage them to add patterns like stripes and dots and flowers to decorate them a bit more.  And I finished them off and put a coat of sealant on them.  We also found a old birdhouse in a honey suckle bush we removed and put it with them too.  

Jones calls this one the “mayors house” I like his camo he made for it. 

This one is one of Theas I love how she made a rainbow on the front and left the fairy a berry to eat. And that little stone path.

Here’s the random birdhouse.  Jones planted it wheat!

And these little ones are in the ficus tree.  The round one is Theas.

Anyhow it’s such a fun addition to the yard and we have since also painted acorns to add for the fairy’s as well.

2 - bruschetta

I have wanted to make bruschetta for two years.  I don’t care much for tomatoes but tomatoes in things like fresh salsa and bruschetta are my jam.  I love them.  Bruschetta reminds me of my grandparents when I was in Michigan with them years ago i would make it as an alternative to my grandpa just pouring vinegar all over tomatoes.  

We recently got a Hello Fresh Bruschetta Burgers kit in our meals and I seized the opportunity to make the bruschetta.  This was okayish.  The balsamic vinegar included in the kit was not my favorite and honestly you needed like 25% less.  But I am crossing this one off.  If my tomatoes in my garden ever ripen I may make more or maybe I will make salsa instead.

29 - Geocaching & Hiking

We started some geocaching this last week it’s like a hike + finding things.  And this really made things more interesting for my kids.  It’s also helping them read maps and decipher how to describe things in relation to each other.  They love that some of them have little trinkets inside.  

I downloaded the geocaching app and so far we have only found geocaches available for free within the app. We do plan to meet up our friends to geocache with them sometime soon.  

I am counting this as one of our hikes for the year too because I have lost count of when we took them and when we didn’t. 

21 - quilt repaired

The quilt I keep on my bed has binding come undone.  It was hand sewn and probably poorly.  So I replaced it with new binding.  The new binding is much brighter pink but it was fabric on hand but I don’t dislike it.  

The quilt is mostly vintage sheets - both the flower prints and yellow are sheets so it’s sooo soft.  

Jones was my photographer and this one is so big I couldn’t really even hold it.  I need to find a tree in our yard I can hang quilts from. 

Up closer. 

From 2011 when I finished this quilt. 

1 - MOVE

Did I ever mention we moved? 

Back when I wrote this list we were still toyih with the idea of moving across the country to colorado.  I still wish we could have done that.  But cost of living + the house size we needed made it more of a pipe dream.  

We placed an offer on this house before the Pandemic was a thing even.  

So many times I questioned if we should proceed with buying our new house.  Does you still buy a house in a pandemic?  But one thing we learned from sheltering in place in 1000 sq feet was we NEEDED this.  It’s been such a blessing in so many ways.  We love it.

6 - 40 before 40

Last summer I started the 40 selfies before I turned 40.  And I finished it the night before I turned 40.

None of these are perfect photos of me, most of them I have messy hair or bags under my eyes.  But they are me, celebrating my last year of my 30s if you could call it that.  

40 List

I made a list for my 40th birthday.  I had planned to go on a trip with my friends but in a pandemic that seemed ridiculous.  Then I wanted to have a day without my kids but that didn’t happen either.  Babysitting in a pandemic is ridiculously impossible, when you are a single mom it’s ever harder.  I miss it sooooo much enough of that wallowing.   So instead I made a list of other things.  Things I like I want to do. I refined this list down from 30+ items.  

40 birthday list

Make lemonade

Watch Hamilton

40th Jar

40 works of art

40 donations

40 Take 3 trash pickup

Work on Secret Garden

Drink lambic Framboise

Send Cards

Hang Art

Thrift Store

Geocaching 

One thing I didn’t add was that i wanted to resume writing here more.  I still want to do it but i couldn’t quantify how much, just that i wanted to.  

I already got a jump start on my list too.  I picked up this trash:

I started my jar:

I made a donation actually two:

I made lemonade (which was so delicious):

Edited** this item was actually on my list for 2020 too.  I have completely forgotten and lost track of my list since this pandemic has derailed all things.

24 Cross Stitch 100daysofkatiesxstitch

I ended up doing 100 days of cross stitch.  So far I have made this little portrait of my family - I plan to add a border but I am not sure what I want to be so I left it.

I started a triangle cross-stitch but I don’t love it.  I think I might change it up later but I also put it aside for now.  

Now I am working on this Bee and Flower cross stitch.  I am planning to add another bee and maybe some fun butterflies too.  I don’t have any patterns I am just kind of loosely getting inspiration from other cross stitch and nature.  

I look forward to continuing this project.  I have wanted to cross stitch for a while but never bought any cloth so this has been a fun 10-15 minutes of craftiness in a time that seems to be extra busy and crazy. 


If you want to follow along on Instagram it’s hashtag #100daysofkatiesxstitch 

46 - Make doughnuts

Since we aren’t going anywhere or seeing friends.  I have been baking and cooking things.  This past weekend I made biscuit doughnuts with a glaze and sprinkles, oh the holes i did cinnamon and sugar.  

They were enjoyed.  I prefer a cake doughnut but I didn’t want to sift a bunch of flour.  

Two more hikes

Well since we have officially been social distancing 8 days we have gone on two hikes at the local state park.  They weren’t long maybe 20-30 minutes plus we did some exploring too another 20 minutes or so.  

We did the Sugar Bush trail up to the point where there was a massive mud pit and turned around the other trail wasn’t a real trail just where someone made a path as there was no signage and it ended maybe 10 minutes up in a thicket of thorns. 

I guess if there’s an upside of the coronavirus it’s that we have been getting in nature more.