Bucket Lists, Goals, and Failures

In January, I joined Leslie, Mireille, Joanne, Bo, and Christie to blog about our bucket lists and goals. I warned you, back in January, I am not good at making and keeping goals or bucket lists. And, I can’t even stay on the time table for that matter. I should have done this about a month ago, but life…ya know. I did fairly well on my first quarter. You can read that here, if you like. In fact, I’m so bad, I didn’t even get this post up in time for you or even me to participate in the link party!

Without further ado…

Last quarter, I focused a lot on cleaning and purging. This go round, I’m looking at things I want to do but might not do unless they’re here on the blog. Then, I feel like I need to do them! Here they are:

• Finish at least one UFO (knit or crochet) Nope…I have two this (insert two fingers centimeters apart) close to being done
• Go on  a picnic. Another big nope. Nigel had his hip surgery on May 22nd. If he got down on the ground, I’m not sure he’d get back up. We could try finding a picnic table, but I think of picnics as sitting on the ground and nibbling at our favorite finger foods. I even have a picnic blanket we bought at an English Heritage site.
• Do photoshoots at Friend Park Hey! Here’s one I actually did! Nigel and I did one, but he could just barely make it. It was fairly soon after his surgery.
• Clean out Nigel’s closet Another nope. I just can’t bring myself to pulling all that crap out of his closet and asking him what he wants to keep and what he wants to get rid of. If I didn’t have to consult him, it would be fairly easy, but…I don’t know…I just don’t have the motivation to do it.
• Begin walking routine. Nope. See, I’m a failure. Walking is just so doggone easy. In my defense, I did spend several weeks in intense pain in my right knee (the one I twisted on the plane on the way to Ireland last year). I got an injection which took a couple of days to kick in. I should have started, but…
• Join gym. Another nope, except I’ve at least found one to check out. It’s just a few minutes away from our house. I really just need to go. If that one doesn’t work out, there are two or three in the same strip of buildings.
• Continue to save toward new shower in primary bathroom as well as fall trip – this will probably be ongoing. Big ol’ yep! I’ve save enough to actually do the shower. I don’t have enough for a fall trip yet.
• Plant more perennials and annuals on the hump. This is is a big-ish yes. I planted several cosmos plants on the hump. Many of my perennials didn’t come back up which is kind of a bummer because they were all pollinators. The bunnies have been having a field day with the echinacea I had planted last year. Every time, one of them has gotten sorta big, the bunnies just nip them right off. I suppose they figure I’ve planted a nice vegetable garden for them.
• Plant at least one more heirloom rose bush Nope. We were going to buy another, and then Nigel had surgery. I would have to figure out where it goes, and I just didn’t have the energy.
• Add to plantings around the house. I planted some dianthus to replace what died out last year. I also moved some chrysanthemums from the front of the house to under one of the trees.

By way of explanation…

Nigel had his left hip replaced on May 22nd. This was totally unexpected for me. I thought we were thinking this fall, but Nigel decided to move it up because he was having a lot of pain. The surgeon agreed. I do have to say this recovery has been easier and yet not. He’s really struggling with getting out of bed and chairs as his right leg isn’t 100% yet. But, as far as walking, I can see a huge difference. I just have to get him to stand up straight rather than hunching over his walker. My teacher voice has even emerged a few times. Since he can’t get out of bed easily, I’m up with him a few times throughout the night. Let’s just say this girl is tired.

Even better…

I graduated from the docent training program!!! That took up so much more of my time than I thought it would. We had our regularly Saturday meetings, but then we also had virtual meetings as well as other non-mandatory meetings. I attended as many of those as I could. Then, I had to find and research my pieces of art and complete a template. I’m planning a blog post for this in the very near future. I practiced with Nigel holding my iPad (with the images), and I gave the tour to him. It’s funny because, if you saw yesterday’s Style Imitating Art post, Nigel immediately recognized it as Bouguereau! So, the planning and the studying took lots of time. I realized learning and memorizing things in your 60s is a lot different from doing it when you’re in your 20s and 30s. But, I did it!!! If you’re ever in Indianapolis, let me know! I’d gladly take you on an impromptu tour.

My bucket list from last quarter…

• Go out to lunch with a friend. I actually did this with a group of friends from the docent program. Yes, I’m making friends!!
• Take a road trip. This was a nope because I can’t leave Nigel at night, but I’m determined to do it. I want to prove to myself that I can handle doing something like this.
• Continue to plan trip to London/Liverpool This is on hold for a bit. My youngest has a serious significant other and has a big trip planned. He says he wants to still go after the first of the year, but we will have to see what pans out.
• Begin to think about Spring trip with my travel buddy. We have talked about this, but we haven’t sat down and really planned anything other than that we want to go to Paris.
• Plan and present “graduation” tour at Indianapolis Museum of Art. Dunzo!!! I was nervous only because I was afraid I wasn’t including what I needed. Guess what? I didn’t! I was supposed to include transitions, and I wrote them. I just didn’t say them.
• Take a college level art history course in person I have actually looked into this but haven’t done much more than that.
• Meet up with a blogger or two in the area or travel there. Nope. I haven’t even tried to locate any bloggers close to me.

New goals…

• Find and study three pieces of art at the museum, then develop into a tour.
• Give at least one public tour at the museum.
• Finish at least one UFO (knit or crochet)
• Do photoshoots at Friend Park
• Clean out Nigel’s closet
• Join gym. I am serious about this one because if I strengthen my legs and glutes, I can put off knee replacements (yep, I need them but not for a long time) for a long time.
• Continue to save toward new shower in primary bathroom as well as fall trip – this will probably be ongoing. .
• Plant more perennials, including mums this fall, if I can get to the clearance section at Lowes.
• Add to plantings around the house. Again, maybe I can find some perennials in the clearance section

Bucket list…

I really hope to accomplish quite a few of the items on this list. You’ll notice there are repeats here, too. I look at a bucket list as something that is not necessarily easy to accomplish. I am not going to feel badly if I don’t accomplish anything on this list as I can always move it to the next quarter.

• Go out to lunch with a friend.
• Take a road trip.
• Continue to plan trip to London/Liverpool
• Begin to think about Spring trip with my travel buddy.
• Find out about a college level art history course in person
• Meet up with a blogger or two in the area or travel there.

Thank you!

I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for reading, commenting, subscribing or emailing! It truly means so much to me! If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, you can find me here.

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Where you can find me:

Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style,  Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, Suzy Turner, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World and A Fresh Cup of Coffee. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, Style Splash and Elegantly Dressed and Stylish as well as the Senior Salon Pit Stop (Esme’s Salon) and Slices of Life. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend every Thursday with Melynda, Lisa, and Sue. I also host Final Fridays on the last Friday of the month as well as 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!