9/20 for 2020

Y'all!  I am totally rocking this 20 for 2020 list.  Like, completely crushing it.  We are only about 1/6 through the year, and I have already accomplished 45% of my goals.  I have to say, I am really appreciating the fact that I didn't commit to all twenty goals at once.  I am loving the flexibility that I have to look at the list each month and decide what I want to accomplish short term.


Here are the first nine of my 20 for 2020 goals:

1. Make sauerkraut. I did it!  Truthfully, it still tastes like salty cabbage to me, or at least it did when I put it in the refrigerator--I haven't eaten any since.
2. Grow an amaryllis. I think I need to change this goal to: attempt to grow an amaryllis.  I don't know if it's too cold by the window or I've been giving it too much water, but I've got zero growth.  I moved it away from the window to the tiny piece of countertop between the fridge and the stove.  It's warmer there.
3. Drink tea.  I did it!  I drank tea.  And I'm going to do it again.
4. Make cloth napkins for more seasons.  Valentine's napkins, so far.  I was hoping to find something flowery or springy or Eastery, too, but all of the ones I liked had prominent white in the patterns.  It's all fun and games until someone wipes taco juice on a white napkin.  I'll keep looking.  We already had fall/Thanksgiving and Christmas/winter napkins, along with a generic, anytime pattern, and a summery pattern.
5. Track something.  I added this to the list, and I started tracking two somethings, because I'm an overachiever like that.  And then I realized that I already track something (egg production).  Winning!
6. Buy a statement necklace. A friend of mine hosted a Trades of Hope party, and I found the necklace I've been looking for for the past 3 years, made by an artisan in India.  Yay!
7. Make a box to sit on our toilet tank.  I attempted to do this last year, but the box was too big.  I tried again, and I love it.  Since it's made out of pallet wood, it's a little wonky, but it is beautiful and just the right size.
8. Make a particular wooden sign for a friend.  I did it!  I just can't show it to you yet, because it's a surprise.
9. Make mayonnaise.

My box.  It's a little wonky because I used pallet wood, but I love how it turned out.  It's perfectly sized, and has a rustic feel.  Now, of course, I need to get serious about painting this bathroom.

Here are three goals I plan to work on in March:

1. Make maple syrup.  I tapped the trees over the weekend, and the sap is flowing.
2. Make and install towel hooks/shelf in the bathroom.  I have the hooks.  I have the wood.  I bought a jig.  It needs to happen.  The installation portion of this goal will probably take place after the bathroom is painted, which will happen after we brood a new batch of chicks beginning in late April.
3. Make a reusable bag out of a chicken feed sack 

And here is the list of potential goals:

1. Crochet a cowl
2. Crochet a poncho
3. Make a reusable bag out of a chicken feed sack (this, and the other sewing-related potential goals, are complicated by the fact that my kiddo just declared my sewing machine officially not-worth-fixing.  I am definitely not up for handsewing this, or anything, in 2020).
4. Make reusable food wrap
5. Make a pretty apron (I would have to find a pattern I like first.  Also, a sewing machine)
6. Make lip balm
7. Make soap
8. Make a console table/thing to keep the step stool from dinging our wall.
9. Make a frame for the B
10. String art
11. Install pallet wall
12. Install gallery wall (we had a gallery wall, but there was just something off about it.  I was never happy with it.  Too symmetrical, maybe.  Or the frames were too close together.  Or maybe too big or too small in scale for the wall.  So I'm afraid to try again, lest I not like it again.  I think a gallery would look better on the wall we're intending to palletisize (absolutely a word), but I don't know if I will want to cover up so much of that wall).
13. Light an outdoor tree (there is a sledding hill between our house and the tree I want to light, so I'm not sure it'll work.  Either there will be an extension cord that we will have to avoid while sledding, or the lights will have to be solar or battery powered, which, of course, would drive up the cost of this project).
14. Go to a movie by myself (not sure what's coming in 2020, but there's bound to be at least one movie that I want to see, but no one else in my family wants to see).
15. Hang the W (MC made a beautiful wooden W sign that needs hanging).
16. Repair moose pillows
17. Log 50 activities on Strava
18. Finish or decide to abandon that darn puzzle
19. Make maple syrup
20. Can apple pie filling
21. Remove a popcorn ceiling
22. Wash outside windows
23. Grow and can pickles
24. Obtain a working sewing machine
25. Make and install towel hooks/shelf in the bathroom.  I have the hooks.  I think I probably have the wood (I need to go through the stack of pallet wood to see if I have a combination of sizes that will add up to the size I want).  It needs to happen.  Now it's just a question of how long it'll take for me to actually take action.
26. New floor.  It's time.  It's past time.
27. Watch the Star Wars movies in timeline order.  I don't think I've ever seen any of them besides Episodes IV, V, and VI.  That is a travesty.
28. Make a cast iron skillet handle cover.  Cast iron skillets are excellent for cooking because they heat so evenly.  Unfortunately, the even heat means the handle gets hot, too.  I'll be making a heat-resistant handle cover.
29. & 30. Plant something new and start seeds indoors.  I ordered some seeds!  And they've been shipped!  Imagine a fruit that looks like, and has the texture of, a granny smith apple, but tastes like honeydew.  That's what I'm growing!  And starting indoors.  I also grabbed a small watermelon and a beet variety.  So fun!