No.432: 100 Little Things, Round Seven

This is my seventh year with the practice of 100 Little Things.  I can honestly say that this practice has changed my life for the better.  That sounds a little ridiculous and extreme, but I believe it to be true.  This list allows me time every summer to sit with my to-do list and my dreams and create a wonderful mixture of both.  It keeps me focused on the memories that I’d like to create with my husband and children.  It keeps me from throwing money away at the Target Dollar Spot because there is a list of things I’d really like to purchase.  It keeps my own health and self-care on track so I can pour from a full cup.  It is just a little list, but it is so, so good.

Thoughts on Round Six: The final goal was 52 tasks accomplished, which I think is a personal best!  I really feel like I hit my groove with this one and it seemed to be a nice balance of fun things and necessary things.  Last year, I had written: “I tried to focus on the goal of noticing (my one little word for 2019), especially taking care of the things we already own, taking care of myself physically and spiritually, and taking care of the people in our community.”  Even without completing all 100, I think I accomplished that.

Thoughts going into Round Seven:  I was really inspired with the idea of increasing my skills as a creator versus a consumer, so homesteading skills, gardening and even some handicrafts have a strong presence on the list.  There are a handful of tasks that need to be tackled and half-finished ones to be completed.  And because after three really hardcore years of debt reduction, I allowed myself to dream a little about home projects and purchases too.  So fun.

Here’s my list for August 2020 – July 2021:

1. Complete Baby Step #3: save six months of expenses
2. Refinance the mortgage
3. Pay one extra payment on the mortgage
4. Make homemade Greek yogurt
5. Learn how to make pickles
6. Make cinnamon rolls from scratch
7. Make a cookie cake
8. Make a new flavor of homemade ice cream
9. Make homemade vanilla extract
10. Bake a two-layer cake
11. Make and can tomato sauce
12. Invest in half a cow
13. Learn how to make a homemade caramel macchiato
14. Sew cloth napkins
15. Sew a piece of clothing
16. Learn how to darn a sock
17. Set up a clothesline
18. Make my own laundry detergent
19. Expand the garden
20. Grow herbs
21. Plant flowers along the outside perimeter of the garden
22. Finish painting the garden fence
23. Build a wood shed
24. Build a chicken coop
25. Get chickens

31. Learn how to crochet
32. Learn block printing
33. Finish the scrap quilt
34. Finish the princess cross-stitch pillow
35. Finish the flower garden quilt
36. Finally finish my “winter” cross-stitch
37. Complete a new embroidery project
38. Make citronella candles
39. Finish the 1000 Item Declutter Challenge
40. Buy a new couch
41. Decide what to do with the first floor textured walls
42. Paint Sophia’s room
43. Replace the tile in Sophie’s bathroom
44. Hang the dining room chandelier
45. Grow paperwhites indoors
46. Purchase new electric candles to put in the windows for Advent and Christmas
47. Choose a new piece of art for our 15th anniversary present to each other
48. Make sure every bedroom has its own crucifix
49. Buy outdoor lanterns
50. Make a firepit
51. Finish painting the second floor shutters
52. Fix the basement drywall
53. Buy a snake plant for the master bedroom
54. Plant lavender under my bedroom windows
55. Install more shelving in the laundry room
56. Buy a master bedroom headboard
57. Get Lucy a new dog bed
58. Whitewash the fireplace
59. Sew a slipcover for the living room chair
60. Add another bookcase to the school room
61. Finally finish the Bible reading plan
62. Get to 50% on my 20th Century Reading Challenge
63. Read Don Quixote
64. Read The Pilgrim’s Progress
65. Read another book from Agatha Christie
66. Read another book from Wendell Berry
67. Get Goodreads TBR to under 375
68. Say five different novenas
69. Celebrate the kids’ feast days with special dinners
70. Pray a 54-day novena
71. Read the Catechism of Saint Pius X
72. Learn about a new Marian apparition
73. Print pictures of all of the kids and make photo books
74. Hang a few family photos on the walls
75. Make another Extraordinary Ordinary video
76. Make a “1 Second Everyday” video to share on the blog
77. Find a new dentist
78. Invest in a new pair of winter pajamas
79. Buy myself a pair of snow pants
80. Invest in a new pair of spring/summer pajamas
81. Buy new slippers
82. Go to the eye doctor
83. Order new glasses
84. Find simple stud earrings
85. Invest in a high-quality linen dress
86. Read Around the Year with the Von Trapp Family
87. Send someone flowers, just because
88. Send Christmas cards
89. Donate to our local volunteer fire department
90. Donate to the food bank
91. Donate to a semi-local veteran retreat center
92. Sell the remaining inventory from my little Poshmark business and officially close
93. Participate in Project Feeder Watch
94. Thank the mailman
95. Thank the workers at the dump
96. Finish my self-defense DVD course
97. Get a haircut
98. Help place Christmas wreaths on veterans’ graves at the cemetery
99. Take the kids to the beach
100. Use Amazon as little as possible