Here’s how I did on my summer bucket list.

It’s September now, which means that we’re starting school.

And that means summer is officially over at our house.

(I’m not gonna cry, I’m not gonna cry…)

There are delightful things about fall too, I know, but there’s nothing quite like the relaxed schedule of summer.

Moving along (sniff, sniff)….

Here’s how I did on my list this year.

1. Declutter my house.

A big fat YASSSSSS to this one.   I put this on my list every summer, but I don’t know that I ever have quite gotten the whole house done.

But this year, I did!

In just the last two weeks, I did my laundry room (such a task), my under-the-stairs-closet, and my kitchen.

(I’ll show you some pictures of my decluttered spaces in another post.)

The encouraging thing is, I’ve decluttered my kitchen every year for the past few years, and this year, it was a quick job because there wasn’t much to get rid of.

This gives me hope that my summer of ruthless decluttering is gonna pay off big time.

2. Make a Travelwee photo book.

Yup. Shoo-Bop’s California adventures are all documented in a photo book. Woohoo!

(Shoo-Bop is a travelwee that Lisey made, and he went with Mr. FG and Joshua to California this past spring.)

3. Paint Sonia and Zoe’s room.

Yup, yup.   Big job, but it’s all done.   See copious amounts of before and after photos here.

(Summer usually brings painting projects for me. Last summer I painted Joshua’s room and his craigslist bed, and the summer before, I did Lisey’s room plus my kitchen cabinets.)

4. Teach my kids to cook meals.

I did pretty well with this in June and July and then fell off the wagon in August.

(Coincidence that this falling off happened during the painting project?   Probably not.)

I think this is something I should keep working on during the school year.

5. Say yes to swimming/water play twice a week.

Yes, indeedy.   I think we probably averaged more than twice a week overall.

6. Eat outside.

We did do this some, but I imagine we might actually do it more once the weather cools off a bit.

7. Grab small moments to do fun things.

I think I made some progress here.   For instance, yesterday I said yes to two quick 30-45 minute trips to the pool. Yay me!

8. Initiate/say yes to playdates/sleepovers.

Yep!

9. Clean out our shed.

Yup!   So glad I did this.

This was, um, BEFORE the cleanout.

10. Finish odds and ends left from the wood floor project.

I’m crossing this off since we decided that we’re gonna try to outsource it.   Because some projects are worth paying money for.   😉

11. Landscape the front borders.

Yep. They’re landscaped AND mulched. Woohoo!

12. Go to the beach once.

Yes! The kids and I took a trip to the ocean with my sister and one of my brothers.

13. Plan for the next school year.

Done!

14. Keep the library basket full.

Yep! There was a full basket all summer long.

15. Teach my girls how to use the sewing machine.

Nope.

(Please note: Sonia and Lisey have asked how to use the sewing machine. Joshua and Zoe have not, but I’d teach them if they were interested. So, this isn’t a sexist item on my bucket list as many of you have worried, but rather an item based off of my children’s desires.)

16. Redo chore lists.

Yep! A new round of chores have been assigned.   It’s a little complicated, figuring all this out so that the important things all get covered.   I feel like there should be an algorithm or something.

(I hang their chore lists on their walls.)

17. Go see a cheap movie once a month.

Yes! We’ve been to two $1 Regal movies and also two cheap theater movies.

18. Write to my grandpa once a month.

I sent him a third letter at the end of August, so, yup, crossing this one off.

_____________________

I got a lot of things done this summer! And I also did manage to make time for quite a few fun activities too.   Sooo, even though I’m sad summer is drawing to a close, I don’t feel like I wasted it, so that helps.

A little bit.

Since having a publicly-posted to-do list seems to light a fire under me, I’m thinking about maybe doing a monthly goal list post during the school year.   I won’t be able to accomplish such big things as I do in the summer, but I could put smaller productive/fun things on the list.

Whaddya think?   I’m pretty sure that would be helpful for me, but would it be interesting for you too?