Not To Be Trusted With Knives

NaBloPoMo – Day 7 – Let’s Check in on my Goals for 2020, Shall We?

November 7, 2020 by Beth

Back in the Before Times, I made a list of goals for 2020, like I do every year. However, 2020 has not been a normal year. #UnderstatementOfTheCentury. So I haven’t really thought a tonne about those goals in the last 10+ months. But hey, now that I’m blogging again, checking in on the goals seems like good blog fodder, right?

The first two I’ve actually done!

1. I’ve KonMari’ed all the bathroom stuff (including toiletries, make-up, and towels).
2. I’ve KonMari’ed all the kitchen stuff. 

I mean, what else are you going to do while you are at home all the time?

This next one I’ve blown out of the water – I just haven’t yet blogged about each of them yet – though that will be remedied soon, as blogging about them are on my to-do for this month:

6. I’ve made 20 new foods and/or beverages that I’ve never made before – and blogged about each of them.

At last count I’ve made 41 things I’ve never made before. Again, what else are you doing to do when you are home all the time – especially when the restaurants were shut in the early pandemic. So be prepared for some delicious looking food photos and links to associated recipes!

Similarly, this one has been long surpassed (and I get the bonus points!):

18. I have baked 20 times this year. I barely did any baking this year and I really enjoy baking. Bonus points if I bake some sourdough bread!

I actually stopped counting once I hit 20, as it’s less interesting to catalogue baking things I’ve baked a million times before than it is to do so for new and exciting foods!

I’ve also done this one:

15. I have fixed my laptop situation (either by doing a factory reset or, if that doesn’t make it run well enough, by buying a new laptop).

I did a factory reset and now my laptop runs sufficiently well! Hooray for getting extra time out of the old girl!

And this one:

19. I have made a list of 100 things that I’m grateful for. (This is from my 101 things to do in 1001 days list – on which I haven’t completed very many items and the 1001 days ends in 2020!)

This one was only a few blog postings ago!

And this one:

17. I have bought and installed new blinds in my condo. Here are the solar shades in the living room:

They block the glare, but you can still see the view. In a small condo, that makes a difference. With solid blinds, it would just make the room feel really small.

In the bedroom, I got black out blinds and they are automated. They are programmed to automatically go down at night so it will be dark for sleeping, but then they automatically go up in the morning just before the time we want to get up, because I find it helpful to have light to wake me. Also, we can control them with our voices, which is just fun.

I considered getting automation for the living room too, but while it is fun, it’s not $1000 worth of fun, which is what it would have cost to automate the two blinds the living room. So those we have to raise and lower by hand like suckers.

This next one I’m not sure of. I have been journalling, but I need to count my journal entries to find out where I’m at compared to my goal:

8. I’ve written in my journal at least one time per week, on average.

Then there are all the ones I haven’t done.

3. I’ve painted the inside of both the front hall closet and the office closet.

I have bought all the supplies, so now I just need to actually, you know, do the actual work.

4. I’ve compiled a list of all my accounts and other relevant information for my executrix.

Haven’t even started anything on this.

7. I’ve read 20 books – and blogged about each of them.

You’d think that with all the being at home time, I would have finished this one easily, but you’d be wrong. I’ve only finished 10 books, and am currently reading 4. Plus I am part of a book club again, so that’s another book that I’ll be reading very soon. I think I can complete this goal by year’s end if I make an effort.

10. I’ve slept an average of 8 hours per night.

I’m actually getting more sleep than usual since I no longer have a commute to deal with, but it’s not 8 hours per night. I’d have to download all my Fitbit data to find out for sure, but I think I’m probably somewhere between 6-7 hours a night, which is MUCH better than recent years.

11. I’ve learned 20 new things and blogged about them.

There are a few things I’ve learned this year, but I need to sit down and think about what and then blog them.

12. I’ve canned/jammed 5 new food products that I’ve never made before (in addition to the 20 new food items mentioned above). I hardly did any canning in 2019 and I want to get back into it this summer.

So far I’ve done two new ones – applesauce and canned pears (which I did count in the above mentioned 41 new foods). Oh wait, I made strawberry jam this year too, which I’ve not made before. So make that 3 new jams/canned things and 42 total! I’m sure I can jam or can 2 more things this year!

13. I’ve made 20 things (not counting food products). It could be sewing projects, painting, knitting – just anything creative.

Zero. I have made zero things. Unlucky item number 13!

14. I’ve published 80 blog postings (that’s a bit more than 1.5 per week, but I like that it’s a multiple of 20).

Definitely not yet, but probably can do it if I carry over my daily blogging into December (I’ll probably have to do a few days with more than one blog posting, but that’s doable.)

15. I have done an average of 20 mins of mindfulness meditation per week.

I don’t think I’ve even done 20 minutes this year =(

The following ones I blaming squarely on COVID for my not completing them:

5. I’ve squatted 100 kg (220 lbs).

Gyms got closed in the early pandemic and in the few months where they were closed, I lost a lot of my strength! I’m working my way back up, but I am focusing on stuff other than big lifts right now, so won’t be hitting this one by the end of the year.

9. I’ve had people over for dinner 10 times.

Unless I can count my birthday party (which was in January, before the pandemic) where I had a lot more than 10 people over1 and we did eat food and it was at dinner time. But the intent of this one was having more like a dinner party kind of thing. And having someone over is not something someone does during a pandemic. In fact, about a week ago the health authority in which I live “strongly recommended” that no one from outside your household go in your home and then today a new provincial health order was issued that the people in my health authority and the adjacent one no socialize with anyone outside their household for the next two weeks. So, yeah, dinner parties are not happening! And I’m totally OK with not achieving this goal!

OK, so that was actually good for me to review those – I was pleasantly surprised that I’ve actually done as many as I have and there’s a few that I can reasonably complete with a bit of effort.

Onward!

1. OMG, the idea of having that many people in my condo seems like a different lifetime and also kind of gives me a panic attack! [↩]

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