October! Pumpkin everything! Apple everything! Hot Apple Cider! Hay Rides!
What are you looking forward to this summer?
1) Lose 25 pounds. Gain 10% muscle mass.
I changed this goal over the summer. I am concentrating more on gaining muscle and worrying less about the stress of losing weight. For right now, that goal is gaining 7 pounds of muscle by the end of the year.
As of this writing, I have gained 2 pounds of muscle. That 2 pounds took way longer to earn than I thought it would. I'd like to think I will gain 5 more pounds of muscle by the end of the year, but at this point, any amount of increased muscle mass is a win!
2) Visit 1 new to me state.
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| Hawaii |
We thought about visiting a new to us state this fall, but we are going to take a staycation. Everything is so expensive. Once we worked out the cost of hotels, airfare, car rental, etc, it was difficult to justify the expense for just 5 days.
3) 3 repairs/improvements to the house.
Project #1: Add surge protectors to the heat pumps and the house. It's not a sexy fix, but it will definitely keep the heat pumps around for a longer period of time! We've noticed an increase in the number of power surges we've had lately. The newer HVAC systems are very sensitive to power surges and they can damage the equipment. Honestly, who wants to spend to replace an HVAC system? They are not cheap. I want them to last as long as possible.
Project #2: We are getting the basement waterproofed. We've had leaks in the basement for a while now. We currently have standing water in one corner. The contractor who remodeled the main floor was supposed to fix that, but ended up not doing it. So now, another not so sexy fix. But, it's important to the overall health of the house!
Project #3: New storm doors for the front and basement doors. Finally! An aesthetic repair!
4) 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge
It's been a while since I've done this. You get 40 bags or boxes of stuff out of your house over the 40 days of Lent. I did NOT get 40 boxes out over the course of Lent. I got rid of 6 boxes.
I'm beginning to realize that I did this a little backwards. My goal is to empty out the storage unit - and I'm making excellent progress on this particular project. Once I get everything out of the storage unit and really begin purging things, then I will get the 40 boxes (and then some) out of the house!
Boxes out of the house during March: 6
Boxes out of the house during April: 4
Boxes out of the house during May: 2
Boxes out of the house during June: 6
Boxes out of the house during July and August: 21
Boxes out of the house during September: 34
Total to date: 55
5) Organize old correspondence/letters
I found a treasure trove of old letters and notes from high school. I have them in a box to sort through next month. The bigger question is - what gets kept and what gets thrown out? Do I really want to save any evidence of high school me? Most likely, NO.
On the other hand... I was given a box of old papers from a historical organization that I volunteer with to organize. I was in my happy place, organizing that mess! Many of the documents were of historical value, and there were a lot of photographs. The photographs have been placed into acid free albums and labeled to the best of my ability. The documents were sorted and organized into binders in acid free pages. The next step - for someone else - is to digitize those documents so that back up copies exist somewhere.
Update on this: the letters are somewhat sorted. I thought I would put them in binders and shove them away somewhere. Some of them have been organized and put into binders. This is a much bigger task than I originally anticipated. I'm not certain I'm going to get this finished this year. This might be a 2027 project.
6) Big backyard garden project.
I want to put in some sort of shelter for the local pollinators. I've been searching through the garden catalogs for just the right thing. I saw something when we were in England a couple of years ago that really tickled my fancy! I have thoughts. I just need to make some things happen!
I found the first part of my thoughts on this while in Old Ellicott City last month. Once the weather cools down a little bit, we're going to look at finding a way to install this in the backyard.
7) Finish the cross stitch project I've been working on for 3+ years.
This is finished! Well over 3 years after I started, the project is finally finished! I need to block this out and get it professionally framed later this year.
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| From the end of February. |
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| End of March |
8) Transfer Dad's slides to digital.
See my post here about transferring the slides!
9) Put those images into an album.
See my post here about the album.
10) Fill my America 250 Passport with lots of stamps!
No stamps this month. I've got a plan to get some more stamps next month!
11) Clear out the storage unit.
Done and done. 4 years after we started clearing out the house to get "a little" work done, we moved most of our possessions out to a storage unit. And now, almost 2 years after the work was finished and we moved back into our house, we finally got all of the detritus out of the storage unit. Much of what was left went directly to the dump. Rodents had been all over what was left, and there was mouse excrement everywhere. It's all gone now.
Being perfectly honest - there is still some stuff laying around on the carport. Okay, a lot of stuff. And no porch pirates have bothered to relieve us of our miscellaneous junk.
As of October, this pile is mostly gone. I have a handful of stuff that I want to make go away by the end of the year. The middle child will be home this month, and I've got plans for him to help me get rid of the last of the things.
12) Do one totally irresponsible and fun thing each month!
I took one of my Fridays off and went down to have lunch with my oldest son. We enjoyed tacos al fresco. After I left his house, I ventured over to a Spice Store, where I picked up some desperately needed spices. I stopped in at a park on the way home and moseyed around the flower garden before heading home.
13) Go see Falling Water. (Frank Lloyd Wright)
This is a Bucket List item. Time is ticking down on getting this done in 2026...
14) Visit 12 new to me bakeries.
I'm falling behind on this. I need to put in a concerted effort to rectify this sad situation!
1) Eli Mochi Donut
2) The Reister's Daughter
3) Leonard's Bakery (Honolulu)
4) Tour les Jours
5) Paris Baguette
6) The Bake Shop - Williamsburg, VA
7) Raleigh Tavern Bakery - Williamsburg, VA- not new to me - it's a lifelong favorite!
