Summer 2024 Bucket List and Goals

Well, friends, it has been a blue moon since I last wrote a bucket list post.  In fact, it has been exactly a year.  I published this bucket list for summer 2023 and some seasonal goals and then pretty much quit blogging for a year, give or take a few scattered posts.  In reviewing that list and those goals, I could pretty much just copy and paste and use the same lists for this year.  But I won’t do that!!  That would be the easy way out!!

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Summer 2024 Goals

 

Several years ago, I realized making seasonal goals works better for me than New Year’s resolutions that I lose track of before the second week of the new year.  I try to get my goals scribbled onto my goal blackboard that sits front and center on the floor of my bedroom.  It puts my goals out where I see them as I begin my day.  Going to get that done as soon as I publish this post.  And when I share them here with you, I am not only accountable to myself but to you, as well.

You might remember that I divide my goals into 2 categories.  Things that are external I categorize under House.  Goals specifically affecting me, my body, my personality I categorize under Home.  And here’s a key to my the emojis I use for determining my status on each one.

Key to my Progress:

• ⏱️ = work on goal underway
• ✔️ = goal met
• ❌ = goal not met

So, with all that housekeeping out of the way, here are my summer 2024 goals.

House

• figure out what to do to the yard on the west side of the house:  this area features 3 trees, a peach, oleander, and Texas ash, so it is shadier than any other part of our yard.  But as a result, the sun-loving Bermuda grass we have elsewhere, doesn’t grow well here.  Last fall, we put down ‘blankets’ of grass seed and it came up pretty well once the temperatures dropped some.  We have tried clover seed here, too, and it came up but has now died because ‘someone’ sprayed it with weed killer.  Lauren’s whole backyard is clover and looks so green and lush.  Ours never looked that good, though.  We (I) are contemplating putting in a walk from the pool deck around to the side of the house past the pool equipment and out to the gate that leads to the front yard.  PC mentioned filling in most of the area with gravel which would work for me, if it was in the shape of a walk!!  Stay tuned.
• hang the TV on the back porch:  we have had an electrician come out to evaluate and prepare an estimate for this project but we haven’t received his estimate yet.  The TV we want to mount is one that was in our bedroom until we bought a new one for the den, moved the old den TV to our room, and the master bedroom TV onto the floor in PC’s study where it has been sitting for close to a year.  I want to do this for PC’s July retirement present.
• *maybe put in a walkway: the grass on the westside of the house is very sparse.  We have tried growing different types of grass and clover but with little luck. Thinking if we put a walk between the pool in the backyard, across the yard on the west side of the house and to the gate that leads to the front yard that will solve the problem.  I am thinking something like this.

• touch up baseboards:  a summer 2023 goal.  When we had the carpeting removed on the stairs, in the hall and my loft the fall of 2022, the baseboards were removed and then reattached.  They look pretty banged up.  Would like to freshen them up with a coat of paint and maybe do the rest of the baseboards, too.  Thinking the first method demonstrated in this video looks easy enough.

• touch up wall paint inside the house and paint the pullouts on the front porch:  this is another goal carried over from last summer.  Still hasn’t happened!!  For a 16-year-old house, our walls are in very good shape but there are knicks here and there that could be touched up.  Also, I have moved art around on the walls, leaving behind nail holes.  Would like to get some touch up paint as close to our wall color as possible and fix those spots.  We had cracks repaired on the stucco pullouts on our patio, balcony and front porch when the work was being done on the pool last year  but not all of the pullouts were painted the right color.  We have the paint for that, just need to use it.  Going to use the method below to try to match our wall paint as closely as possible.

• update our comforter in our room:  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.  Want to refresh our room by finally getting these pieces in place.

Home

• stick to Weight Watchers throughout the summer:  we have a beach trip planned for late July, read more here.  Of course, that means spending most of a week in a bathing suit in front of my family and all of South Padre Island.  Yikes.  ‘Nuff said.  Started this (again) today.
• faithfully use Revitalash and Retinol and Musely all summer:  good grief, I have been using the same tube of RoC Retinol Correxion, deep wrinkle, anti-aging night cream since 2020!!  No wonder I am not seeing drastic results!!  Just started using it again when I discovered it as I cleaned the drawers in our bathroom.  Using a Musely dark spot treatment and it has made a significant difference toward lightning my sunspots and damage.  Brennyn got me started with this and I need to finish using the bottles I have.  And finally, Revitalash.  Brennyn gave me this for my birthday.  And it has made a great difference in the length of my pretty pitiful eyelashes.  Need to keep it up.
• beach pedicure:  meant to get a pedi before my brother’s wedding but I just hate spending money on that.  I have purchased some Sally Hansen gel polish but maybe I will splurge and afford myself just one pedi this summer.

Bucket Lists

 

I have said it before and will probably say it again, these bucket lists really encourage us to enjoy new experiences.  New places and activities.  If you haven’t tried making one, I would suggest you give it a go.  I don’t think of these activities as things to do before I die.  Instead, they are things to do to help me live my best life.

And look what I found!!  A place where you can create your bucket list online and find support from other bucket list makers AKA buckaroos.  And folks who accompany or support buckaroos in fulfilling the items on their lists are apparently called buckers.  Check out Bucket List, here.  Thinking I will create an account and add this list there.  If you do the same, we can cheer each other on!!

Look at the top 5 bucket list ideas as reported on Bucket List.

 

How many of these 5 activities would make your list?  How many have you already checked off?

Summer 2024 Bucket List

 

Isn’t that a cute bucket list my Lucia created one of the last days of school?  Had to share it with you. Have to confess…some of these activities are almost underway in that tickets have been purchased, arrangements made.  But that’s okay, right?  Just good planning!!  As a reminder, I use the same key to indicate my progress on each activity.

Key to my Progress:

• ⏱️ = work on goal underway
• ✔️ = goal met
• ❌ = goal not met

In ABC Order

 

We had so many question marks in our lives this time last summer when I attempted to create a bucket list but never gave it a second thought after.  I had forgotten but in reading that post, was reminded that I had just begun taking something for anxiety.  Thankful that I am no longer taking it.  I still have anxious moments in every day but nothing like before.  I was reminded of having to go off my anti-depressant/OCD meds cold turkey this past fall when they were no longer available.  Oh, that was such a difficult month.  So grateful to be ‘stable’ on a replacement medication now.