My sweet stay-at-homers, it’s time for the first update for my 2020 spring bucket list. And hasn’t this been some kind of crazy spring? I wrote my original 2020 spring bucket list post during a layover at the Houston airport as I was flying home from Kentucky. Had no way of predicting then how this first month of stay at home restrictions would look. But I created my list knowing life wouldn’t be ‘normal.’
2020 SPRING BUCKET LIST
Spring this year is unlike any other. With the spread of coronavirus across the country and the world, activities I would normally enjoy doing this time of year are off limits. Travel is strongly discouraged. Restaurants and bars, gyms, theaters and state parks in El Paso are closed. All of the restrictions have really impacted the kinds of activities I could try to do.
Here’s a look at the 20 activities on this season’s list
Just a reminder: Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After occasionally uses affiliate links. This means that if you click or make a purchase from a link provided I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.
Update 04.2020
And here’s how I have progressed on my list in this first month of the season.
GOOD FOR THE HEART
These are activities that strengthen relationships and warm my heart.
- Host Easter dinner – invite the kids to join us, set the dining room table with our good dishes, light some candles. Pending. We didn’t have an Easter dinner because families are not permitted to gather right now. Ham and turkey are still in the freezer waiting for the day when we can be reunited.
- Give each other couples massage – complete with candles, aromatherapy, soft lighting, soft music, oils, lotions, and a glass of wine. Pending.
- Listen to and finish our book together in the hot tub – also a wellness goal, just beginning When Christ and His Saints Slept: Plantagenets, Book 1 by Sharon K. Penman. Underway. We have listened to the book 3 times now from the hot tub with a fire in the little chiminea.
- Dress up for Easter – want to remember the reason for the season, and dress up for our Easter dinner at home. Pending. We have been listening to church services on the patio on Sunday mornings. But just couldn’t bring myself to dress up only to sit on the lawn chair in the backyard. Saving my Easter dress for our postponed family dinner.
GOOD FOR THE SOUL
A few things to warm me from the inside out. And finally some concrete progress!!
- Tiptoe through the poppies – with all of the unseasonable rain earlier in the year, our annual poppies were especially abundant. ✔️ I have shared the poppies in several posts, here and here. But just in case you’ve missed them, allow me to share again here.
- Pay it forward – lots of ways and reasons to treat someone this season. ✔️ Did donate a box of Victoria’s Secret bras to Bra Recyclers. But want to do some other kind acts. Just hard to do them from home!!
- Repot and revive mom’s Phalaenopsis orchid – brought it home in my carry-on bag from Kentucky. ✔️ It’s not dead yet, anyway!! Looked up repotting and reviving tips on Pinterest. Then put them into practice on mom’s orchid. Hope it will take off. One suggestion was to repot the plant in a container like this one, which should help counteract my tendency to over-water. Another suggestion mentioned creating a humidity tray to keep the blooms pretty. But this plant isn’t blooming. Yet.
- Spruce up the yard and plants – hoping to add a few more succulents to the yard in some colorful pots, and do something more attractive in the front yard. Underway. I have purchased a couple of new succulents but want to do more in the yard. Will share photos next update in May.
GOOD FOR THE BODY
Activities that get me moving.
- Take the first dip of the year in the pool – you all know the troubles we’ve had with our pool, right? Well, I have promised myself to try very hard to enjoy the pool this year. However, the water is too cold for that first dip yet. Pending.
- Hike and picnic at a park or Hueco Tanks – at Hueco Tanks, you can hike, rock climb, bird watch, study nature and history, picnic and stargaze. [source] Really looking forward to visiting again. Governor Abbott has opened state parks across Texas. But our mayor has not opened Hueco Tanks. So this is…Pending.
- Utilize exercise videos and/or compete in Wicked Wine Run – the Wicked Wine Run has been postponed until 09.2020. So I can going to change this activity to “run 3x a week” in preparation for the run in the fall. Underway.
- Take Cia on a nature scavenger hunt – created my scavenger hunt and shared with Brennyn & Cady, Lauren & Lucia, Dani from Family.Love.Inspiration & her children Zaeya, Logan and Nash. Here’s the scavenger hunt, if you would like to do it with a little one in your life. Will share all of our photos next update. Underway.
GOOD FOR THE MIND
Experiences that will hopefully require and build brain power.
- Paint spring rocks – have done this several times in the past, then set them out for others to find. Underway.
- Take a class or course – signed up for a mosaic class but received an email saying the class has been postponed. Pending.
- Work online jigsaw puzzles – my sister reminded me of this activity. I love working jigsaw puzzles. Started a real one and PC mentioned he might even help with it. Underway.
- Organize crafts and craft supplies – my craft space is so small and I have so many different hobbies and projects. I started to organize them and felt overwhelmed. Kind of…Underway. Will get back in there and give it another try.
JUST PLAIN GOOD
Activities just for fun.
- Decorate for spring and Easter – ✔️ Finally, something I have done with gusto! Here are a few photos and will share some more in the next update.
- Find a copycat recipe for a favorite restaurant dish and make it at home – I don’t have a recipe or even a restaurant in mind, so this could involve some thought. Pending.
- Make a coconut cream pie or German chocolate cake just because I like them – for my birthday, I baked myself a German chocolate cake. But forgot to take pics!! For an upcoming recipe swap and blog hop, I am going to try my hand at this coconut pie like my Bubby used to make. Underway.
- Host a game night or investigate Pictionary Air – this might be impossible or very unlikely until things return to some semblance of normal. Pending.
By my count, that’s 4 activities completed, 8 underway to some degree, which leaves 8 activities pending. I have my work cut out for me. Hope you will come back again on 05.21.2020 (and before!) to check out my progress next update.
YOUR TURN
How are you filling your stay at home hours these days, girls? Are restrictions beginning to loosen up where you live? Are stores, bars, restaurants, shopping centers, beauty salons still closed in your community? Will schools be out of session where you live until the coming school year? Would love to hear from you about life in your community and the activities with which you are filling your time. Please leave a comment or link up your bucket list post below.
Thanks for stopping by, sweet friends. Every Monday, I think to myself that I am finally going to get really productive with the start of the new week. But I get lost in the news and the stock market reports and stuff with my mom and Paul’s parents and my kids and the kitties… Maybe, maybe, though, this will be the week!!
Stay well.
Hugs and kisses,
I think you have some very valid reasons for a lot of these being ‘pending’ – let’s hope you can cross a few off in the next month or so. Our restrictions are in place for at least another 3 weeks 🙁
I like the idea of the scavenger hunt, I may have to copy that one to send to Leo. We have a daily challenge at the moment, we both have to find three things that start with the same letter and we then send photos of our finds. We’re doing it alphabetically and today we are up to O. After ‘orange’ I think I’m going to struggle!
I think you were so clever on your scavenger hunt idea. “O” is going to be tough unless you have an ostrich I don’t know about. Or a pet owl?
If Leo does our nature scavenger hunt, please let me know. Would love to share a photo or two of him finding things in my bucket list update
next month.
All of our restrictions have been extended until the end of May and they’ve actually added a few new ones into the mix just this week. They haven’t announced that schools will be closed until the end of the year yet but we’re all pretty skeptical that they’ll bother opening up for just 3 weeks or so in June.
Hmm, what new restrictions are you seeing? Just checked to see if they are imposing any new ones here but didn’t find anything. Our community is so
family-oriented. We are beginning to see the increased number of cases because of the family get togethers over Easter.
I love that you plan to have your Easter dinner once you can. Great idea to put it on hold till then. I also love the scavenger hunt you made. It would be a great way to entertain kids on daily walks.
If you guys happen to do the scavenger hunt, please let me know. I would love to include pictures of you all seeking out the different things when I update my spring bucket list in May.
So much is pending right now! Most summer events have been cancelled here in British Columbia. Our Public Health Officer doubts whether restaurants will open in the summer.
Schools may arrange some in-person contact with students who are at-risk. Some families are unable to support learning of special needs students. I’m going to have to exercise more because I’m cooking a lot. I’m reading Hilary Mantel’s latest book. My reading has slowed down. Every morning, I visit my travel photos to see where I was on this date in different years. I post it on Instagram and I feel thankful for so many retirement opportunities. I wonder what we’ll be doing a month from now.
Summer events have been pretty much canceled here, too. Hard to think of something we can look forward to with all of these restrictions remaining in place. I guess the big thing is just hanging on and looking forward to a return to life as we knew it. How bittersweet to visit your travel photos to see where you were in past years. My Facebook page reminds me that this time of year I was with my granddaughter, or my sister or my mom, in years past. I miss them all.
Great idea about Easter Dinner. I hadn’t thought of that. Thank you for the inspiration!
Thank you. Easter dinner will be just as good in October, I hope!!
What an ambitious list, Leslie, and I think you’ve made some pretty good progress all things considered. I love the poppy pictures. Just beautiful. I am working from home, so don’t have as much free time as you might think; although I have made more time for working on my jigsaw puzzle. After two years, I think I might actually finish it! Our governor is talking about possibly easing restrictions starting in May; however, our mayor seems to be more strict, so it could be awhile before businesses in the city start opening. I am eager to get back to some semblance of normal, but also want to be cautious. Happy spring!
Yay for completing your puzzle. I get one out, put it up, get it out, put it up. Hope I am at least burning calories when I do that!!
Our governor seems more anxious to get things open than our mayor. They are in two different political parties so I hope that isn’t playing
into their decisions. Our cases continue to rise, so we aren’t ready here to just go hog wild, for sure.
This spring was so chaotic I didn’t make a bucket list so I love seeing how you are doing on yours. So much is on hold right now because of the pandemic but I know things will get back to normal soon so you can check them all off! The scavenger hunt is such a fun idea!
Jill – Doused in Pink
I didn’t do a bucket list update this month because I really haven’t crossed anything off. LOL They’re all things I can do in quarantine too, so I need to work on that. I think you’re doing well with yours though, especially since so many are contingent on things opening up and people being allowed to get together. Everything in Kentucky is still pretty much shut down, as is Ohio (though they are under a stay at home order, and KY is not).
-Lauren
My dad’s favorite was German Chocolate cake too and I love anything with coconut! You are such a creative thinker and you leave no stone unturned. Really, you think of it all. I don’t know how you do it! You motivate and inspire me!
xo,
Kellyann
You are the best!! You always lift me with your kind comments. I think I remember that your dad loved German chocolate cake. I knew I felt a connection to that bonny lad.
Schools were canceled in Kansas when all of the social distancing first started. We are surviving here.
I ordered some books for an exchange at a local bookstore. I just call them before I get there and they set them out and I go and grab them off a table.
I’m going to review my Spring List and do an update!
Great way to get new books without endangering your health. I had pledged to use the public library more – this from a retired librarian – and then COVID closed them down. I have 3 books checked out that I keep renewing. Hope I can keep track of them until the library reopens.
I love German and Austrian chocolate cake. I have not been able to do any baking as I can’t get flour. My daughter made cornflake cakes for Easter. Restrictions have not been lifted here yet.
Isn’t it crazy how quickly life changed? When you created your bucket list for this spring, you had no idea what life was going to be like.
I like the idea of a couples massage. I may have to suggest that to the hubs. Of course, we don’t have a hot tub to soak in before the massage, but still…:)
I think this weekend may be THE weekend for the couples massage. We are both sore from our new workout routines and stressed from LIFE/COVID!!
Lockdown has certainly been cramping our style a little hasn’t it? I feel pretty okay about most of it, but Easter was a direct hit and knocked me down for a day or so – no church, no kids, no grandgirls, no outings….. Just another Ground Hog Day or two. I’m SO looking forward to things easing up a bit (esp when there are no new cases here at all) and longing to see my kids and grandies again! Video chats are nice but not the same as the real thing.
Thanks for linking up with us at MLSTL and I’ve shared on my SM 😊
I completely agree…thank goodness for video chats but they don’t compare to kisses and hugs and arms around our necks!!
Easter was hard for me, too. Really thought I would be able to work around Covid and enjoy the day but it just wasn’t
the same without family.
I love your poppies, your decorations and I love that you are staying positive despite all the things in the ‘pending’ file. Take care dear Leslie. #mlstl
Thank you for the visit, my friend!! Hope you are able to visit with all of your beautiful grands via Facetime. Sure missing my babies!!
It’s hard to get things done with so many things postponed or cancelled. I think you are well on your way! I love your Easter decor!
Thank you darling friend. Are your babies climbing the walls yet?
Hi Cuz! what an uplifting and bright post – just like you! I love your photo in the sidebar by the way you look so young and vibrant! I have a spa bath and now that the bathroom has been renovated and the weather is becoming cooler I think I will indulge in some baths with candles, soft music and relaxation. I’ve missed joining in on your linkups as my course has taken over my life to some degree but once it is finished (end of May), I’m hoping to revisit the linkups that you and Natalie provide. Thanks for sharing at #MLSTL and take care. xx
You say the sweetest things. Looking forward to having you join us again for WW.
Hi Leslie, you’ve done really well with the restrictions most of us are living under. I didn’t have the desire to dress up for Easter either, so just did the usual. Like you, the pretty outfit will come out when I can be with my family again. Loved the pictures of the poppies! Take care and stay well. #MLSTL
Thank you, Candi, for the visit and sweet comment. I am anxious to recelebrate Easter and a new beginning once the world returns to normal.