Morning glories, happy to share the final update to my Autumn 2024 Bucket List and Fall Goals post from earlier this season. Happy to share it because we have actually completed a number of the things on my list. Forward progress has been made!! Will be putting together my winter bucket list and goals and hope to complete some of the projects started this fall.
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Final Update Autumn 2024 Bucket List
You may remember that I use this key to indicate my progress on each activity whenever I do an update bucket list and goals post. When I indicate that work on a goal or activity is underway, it means we have truly started doing something toward realizing it. Let’s see how things wound up.
Key to my Progress:
- ⏱️ = work on goal underway
- ✔️ = goal met
- ❌ = goal not met
- Bread baking: using the sourdough starter from Brennyn and my 100-year-old yeast, and maybe try my hand at making this green chili cheese bread. Check out my bread baking Pinterest board, here. I have kind of met this goal. Did make a loaf of sourdough but it wasn’t the best. We ate it like it was, though!! Helped Brennyn make sourdough (kinda) during our visit. So going to give this a checkmark. Still really want to make this green cheese chili bread. ✔️
- Care package for Bren and family: because Lauren and her family live here in El Paso, I have more opportunities to do little things for Lucia and Camila and to help Lauren and Francisco now and then. Wanted to put together a care package for my Ft. Worth lovies. Sent Declan some new clothes a week ago, and then ordered books for him today, bought Brennyn a thankful graphic tee and a hoodie and long sleeve tee for Cadence. We are going to see them in 10 days – driving – so hope to take a few of their favorite El Paso foods when we go. ✔️
- Complete my “Hay There” fall door round: started working on it when I broke my foot. Want to finish it up and get it hanging on our front door. This was such a fun project. So much fun that I signed up for Over the Artsy Moon’s “Snow Happy” door round. ✔️
- Dinner theater date at UTEP: had originally hoped to see “Beauty and Beast” at the University but it was sold out almost immediately. Instead, I bought tickets to “The Illusionists” at our pretty Plaza Theater. ✔️
- Fall decorations and Dia de los Muertos altar: was afraid this might be the hardest order to fill. PC really doesn’t get very excited about my seasonal decorations but he was a trooper about bringing in my bins. I didn’t put up my Dia de los Muertos altar which hurt my heart. I went through my fall decorations, purged about a third and put the rest around the house. ✔️
And then…
- Figure out a Halloween costume: this was kind of iffy, depending on my foot. Originally wanted to wear something Renaissance-ish looking. But had just been cleared to start walking on Halloween!! My clever sister suggested I go as a hiker in my boots, with PC’s walking/hiking sticks, and a pack on my back. And that was what I did!! ✔️
- Finish my puffy kitty art project: another craft activity I started when I broke my foot. For now, I have put her away. I did get the face and body stuffed and painted and I began working on the clothes for my kitty but needed to clean up some of the craft stuff I had all over the house. So I’ve packed my Purrsimmony away for now. ❌
- Fix prayer bracelet: my prayer bracelet goes hand-in-hand with my WOTY – lighten (up). I have used it to remind myself to pray when things are worrisome. And to give thanks when things are peaceful. It broke right after I broke my foot, and I want to have it restrung using the same beads. I have purchased 2 replacement prayer bracelets but like my original one best. Still hoping to get it restrung. ❌
- Holiday plans: needed to iron out our plans for Thanksgiving, Declan’s birthday and Christmas. Not sure this is a bucket list activity but putting it here anyway. Talked with Brennyn and we have decided to drive to Ft. Worth on 12.18.2024 to be there for Dec’s bday on the 20th. We will have an early Christmas with the kids and then drive home on 12.22.2024. ✔️
- Movie with the grands: had read good things about “Wild Robot.” Also wanted to see “Here” with PC for a date day. Check, check. Enjoyed both movies. Both have good, wholesome messages. And the popcorn was yummy, too. Bonus, both movies are based on books. The Wild Robot, here, and Here, well, here. ✔️
Also…
- New restaurant, coffee shop or pub: we are creatures of habit and so often go to the same old places because they are familiar, comfortable. It was time to explore some new spots in town. We visited several new coffee shops and restaurants, both at home and while visiting Pinos Altos and Silver City. ✔️

- Pumpkin things: ’tis the season… needed to taste all the pumpkin things and maybe try some new recipes? Made Shay’s pumpkin and sausage pasta and girls, it was delicious. Have had 2 pumpkin coffees – one being a pumpkin Frappuccino (my first ever Frappuccino) and one a Chai pumpkin spice latte. And eaten my way happily through several plates of pumpkin spice pancakes. Plus pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. ✔️
- Writing weekend getaway: looked for a place fairly close to home where we could go to really relax and write on our stories. This was delightful. And much needed. ✔️
Now, let’s look at the projects for house and home I had dished up on our plate!!
Fall 2024 Goals
You might remember that I like to divide my goals into 2 categories. Things that are external I categorize under House. Goals specifically revolving around me directly I categorize under Home. And here’s a key to my the emojis I use for determining my status on each one.
By sharing them here, I am not only accountable to myself but to you, as well. Once I share them here with you, I try to get my goals scribbled onto the goal blackboard that sits on the floor of my bedroom. It puts my goals front and center where I see them as I begin my day.
Key to my Progress:
- ⏱️ = work on goal underway
- ✔️ = goal met
- ❌ = goal not met
Here are my fall goals and our progress on them.
House
- clean garage: oh, girls, this was overdue. Like all my cleaning projects were. But now that PC is retired and I am on the mend, we are getting busy. I would like to see us take everything out of the garage, evaluate it – trash, giveaway, keep – and put the garage back together again. Included in this, purging my decorations. A couple of weeks ago, PC suggested we rejoin Planet Fitness gym. We had been members for a number of years until Covid hit. Then we gave up our membership and bought a mini-gym’s worth of equipment in order to workout in our garage. Now, we are back to the gym and have sold everything but the elliptical and treadmill. Have begun going through my bins of decorations, too. Purged about a third of my fall things. Had pared down my Christmas last year. This project is still underway but not completed. ⏱️
- fall ‘spring’ cleaning room to room: got started doing spring cleaning 6 months ago but didn’t get far. Have had to start all over again but that’s okay. So proud of US!! As of this week, we have thoroughly cleaned the entire downstairs with the exception of the garage (see above). I mean we have really cleaned…blinds, windows, windowsills and baseboards, all art on the walls, closets, drawers, linens, drapes, carpets, area rugs, bedding, ceiling fans, light fixtures, pantry, appliances, you name it, we’ve cleaned it!! Now onto the rooms upstairs but probably not until after Christmas. Giving us a checkmark because we have worked so hard!! And moving the second floor to my winter goals. ✔️
And Then…
- figure out what to do to in the yard on the west side of the house: (carried over from summer) we have decided we definitely want to build a walk that goes either from the pool deck in the back yard across the west side yard and to the gate that leads to the front yard OR just on the side yard. Paul has purchased the materials for this project and decided he is up for the challenge of creating the walk himself. He has laid out the stepping stones so there is an actual walkway coming along!! Bumping to my winter goals list. ⏱️
- paint baseboards: (summer 2023 goal) The baseboards are going on 17 years old and look pretty banged up. Hoped to freshen them up with a coat of paint. We have the paint and PC has started touching up the baseboards but we are just getting started. Another project to bump to winter. ⏱️
Then There’s…
- replace carpeting in the bedrooms: the carpeting was never the best even when our house was new. Now with going on 17 years of wear and tear, the traffic created by us and 3 dogs, 3 kitties, 4 grandbabies over the years, it really looks bad. Haven’t mentioned this (in awhile) to PC but sure would like to see this happen. No progress. I have hinted that it would be nice to replace the carpeting after we paint. But we haven’t painted either!! ❌
- scrub balconies and patio: clean the furniture, wash the rugs, organize the outside storage. PC took the lead on this. We will need to do it again in the spring but things look pretty good out there. ✔️
Also…
- touch up wall paint inside the house and paint the pullouts on the front porch: (another goal carried over from last summer) our walls are in very good shape but there are knicks here and there that could be touched up but would like to get some touch up paint as close to our wall color as possible and fix those spots. We also need to repaint the stucco pullouts in the front and back of the house where cracks in the stucco were repaired and primered. Need to determine the closest color choice for the interior and get started. We have the paint for the pullouts, just need to use it. ❌
- update linens in our room: (from last summer) this is going to sound crazy, but I purchased a new quilt, pillow shams, and curtains a year ago…and then LIFE. Got the curtains hung and stopped there. The linens have been sitting in our closet since. Wanted to refresh our room by finally getting these pieces in place. Nothing to share. Want to get the bedroom purged and cleaned first. And we have had 3 different mattresses in the last 3 months. I hope we are keeping the current one. ❌
Home
- faithfully use Revitalash and RoC Retinol and Musely: need to get back to a self-care routine again using these products and my teeth whitening, too. Finally, something I am doing!! Even brought all the stuff on our getaway to New Mexico this weekend. Going to give myself that coveted check mark on this one. ✔️
- get back to walking, exercising regularly, 4x a week: PC and I were daydreaming about what we want to get back to doing in a couple of weeks. Walking, hiking,
using our little garage gymnow going to Planet Fitness, lifting weights, doing Supernatural and senior workouts again. Cannot wait. Well, 4 months in and I am still limping along. Making progress through physical therapy but not up to hiking. I have been doing Supernatural workouts again and now using the weight training machines, stationary bike and treadmill at the gym. ✔️
- manis/pedis 2x a month: at home. Hate spending the money on this. And with all the cleaning I am hoping to do, my nails will take a beating. Have purchased new Sally Hansen gel polish in fall colors. Hope to make this a habit. Have given myself 2 pedis (one of those with Cami and Lucia’s help) and have been caring better for my nails on a regular basis. Even brought my manicure kit to New Mexico – actually, PC packed it for me. A hint? Check out my tootsies!! ✔️
Plus…
- participate in NaNoWriMo: on 11.01.2024, the National Novel Writing Challenge begins. Participants agree to write everyday of the month. They can sign up to meet the challenge goal of 50,000 words or create their own word count goal. I need to decide what I am going to write and then figure out if I think I can wing the official goal. We did it!! Both of us. I didn’t meet the 50,000 word goal but met my own goal of 27,333 words.
- track my Weight Watchers points: carry-over from summer and spring, and winter, and last fall. Scared to see how much I weigh when I can weigh myself again. Going to have to get serious about eating less, making smarter food choices, cooking more. This is probably not a goal I am ever going to realize and be able to move beyond. I start tracking then stop, start again, then stop. Ongoing. And with all the Christmas baking, there has been more stopping than starting. ⏱️
I like having goals and activities to guide my days. You know that about me already. And I get a big charge out of making daily/weekly to-do lists and checking things off. Glad to see we earned a number of checkmarks this fall. Now to make plans for my winter bucket list and goals.
Your Turn
These bucket lists really encourage us to enjoy new experiences. I say US because PC is here in the middle of all of these things, right beside me. If you haven’t tried making one, I would suggest you give it a go. Some years, I have done a bucket list just for the holiday season. Haven’t decide whether to try that this year. Maybe a little one? And then go into a winter bucket list right after? Winter and the new year are a great time to put together a bucket list.
What activities did you enjoy this autumn? What goals did you complete this season? Inspire me in a comment below.
This is a busy week on the blog as I try to get things wound up for the year. I will be by to visit your blog this week, too. I am long overdue!!
Hugs and kisses,

You were here in Fort Worth? Are you still here now? I think I read something about you coming in 10 days? Would love to arrange to meet you! I think your daughter only lives two exits down the Chisolm Trail Parkway from us.
Congratulations on meeting so many of your goals! Our fall was pretty consumed with moving and traveling. A winter bucket list could be a good idea for me. Now that we’ve settled in, we need to figure out our interior decor and do some exploring in the area around us. Making a bucket list might help me (us) get more motivated!
Hey, I was there in Ft. Worth until Sunday, the 22nd. PC was sick the whole time so it was a stressful trip and we tried to do too much running around. I thought of you as soon as we arrived and then remembered you had moved. I had your old address but not your new one. Never occurred to me to email you or message you!! Ha! But it was probably best that I didn’t expose you to Paul’s Influenza A. Brennyn lives off of McPherson Exit on the CTP. We have to at least grab a cup of coffee and a quick hug next visit.
Come do a bucket list with me!! I am trying to get back in the habit of doing them because I really accomplish more and try more different types of restaurants, activities, experiences when I have a list to guide me. Want to post our bucket lists and goals sometime the first week of January? Tell me when would be good for you!!
Thank you for cheering me on and for being my buddy.
I think you accomplished so much even with a broken/healing foot. I detest cleaning, but I really do need to go room by room and just do it. One of the “rooms” that needs to be cleaned is my laundry/walk-in closet. When we first heard about putting the laundry room in the closet, it seemed to make so much sense. Now, I wish we’d left the original blueprint alone, and they were separate rooms. It just takes away from the closet. And, I think a separate laundry room would be much better organized.
We watched “Here,” and I loved it. I cried through so much of it. Mike was confused by it. I almost think of it as a woman’s movie because there is that emotional undertone to it. I’m not sure most men get that. Mike certainly doesn’t.
I hope you’ve had a wonderful Christmas and an even better New Year!
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
We both enjoyed “Here” very much. I like the way the set reads like the set of a play. Just one room where all the scenes take place.
I wish we had a larger laundry room. One where I could iron. But alas, that is never going to be. And I have a perfectly good space in a guest room to iron. Just hate leaving the ironing board up all the time and hate taking it down, too!! First world problems, huh?
Happy new year! We both need good health and happiness the whole year through.
I love to try new restaurants too and sometimes it is hard to do that when you have so many others that are reliable that you love. I do almost all my mani’s and pedi’s at home! I’d just rather save time!! I’ve never done bread making, but Brian used to be really into it! I wish he still was!! Merry Christmas!!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
I had no idea you did your own manis and pedis. Good for you!! I can’t stand sitting there either – takes much too long. And I am not comfortable ‘chit-chatting’ with the nail tech. I remember Brian being into bread baking. Get that boy back in the kitchen!!
Happy new year, love!!
You are so ambitious! I’m impressed with how much you were able to get done in spite of your foot injury.
Thank you, friend. I am truly feeling better the last 3-4 days. Thinking 2025 is going to be a good year. Happy new year.
Wow, Leslie, you accomplished so much this autumn! I’m impressed by your many cleaning and decluttering projects. I love that you and Paul are working through these projects together. I tried pumpkin chai latte this fall too and really liked it. It’s definitely a “treat” drink, as opposed to a frequent coffee choice, but so yummy. I look forward to seeing what your winter list looks like. I’m right there with you loving the feeling of making a list and checking things off.
Thank you, my friend. I was proud of US. We still have half a house to go but here comes the new year and time to do it.
I love all things pumpkin and we really enjoyed a pumpkin-sausage-pasta dish I made a couple of times in the fall. And pumpkin fettucine, too.
I was surprised PC would eat either of them but he did!! I once tried to feed his spaghetti squash in place of spaghetti pasta, and that was a big no go!!
A few of us are putting together goals/bucket lists/fun lists for winter and will be sharing on 01.06.2025. Would love to have you join us, you fellow list maker you!! If you would like the link up code to add you to your post, just holler. If you would like to join the Instagram chat group for this series, just let me know. Would be happy to have you join the group.
Wishing you a healthy, happy 2025.
Look at all those checks and clocks; you are working your way through those goals!
Yay ME, huh? Proud of myself. Anxious to see how we all fare this new year!
I don’t mind cleaning at all, I love it when everything is organised and clean again! And I love a peek into your life! Have a great New Years Eve!
We are kindred spirits. I love having everything neat and well organized, too!! Healthy, happy 2025, sweet friend.
Hi, Leslie! You’ve accomplished so many of your goals, you’re giving me hope for 2025!! I tried making beer bread during the COVID days and it was the WORST THING I’VE EVER TASTED!! But it provided the best laugh of lockdown. That being said, I do make a delicious Cranberry Orange Walnut Loaf and Banana Nut Bread. I’ve decided that those are going to be “my thing.” LOL
I also need to add deep clean the house to my Bingo card because my place could really use it. Does it count if I hire someone to do it?
Absolutely counts if you get someone to come in and clean. You work so hard. You deserve that! Once we get it all cleaned up to my satisfaction around here, I want to hire someone to come in once a year and do it all for me again. Ha! But it had been about 18 months or more since I had done a deep clean. Didn’t want to inflict that on anyone!!
I used to make beer bread in college in the dorm. Not sure it tasted too good but I ate everything that didn’t eat me my sophomre year of school – beer bread included. Your cranberry orange walnut loaf sounds divine. I need that recipe. My mom made something similar and tasting it again would be a treat.
Happy, healthy, productive 2025 to you and yours. We are doing a goals/bucket list get together on 01.06. If you want to put together a list, come play with us!
You sure like your bucket list/goals! Good for you. I purchased a bread machine for myself for Christmas and we have just been loving it. It is so easy to bake bread and I love that I can control the ingredients that go into it. After trying sourdough multiple times, I realized I just don’t like it that much.