It’s been 1001 days since I started my 1001 Things list on the 11th of September 2023. A lot’s happened since then. I ended up completing 56 list items but I also count % for multipart items so ended up completing about 62.5% on my list. I’ve already posted about the things I didn’t do, but here’s all the things I did do. The ones I completed in the last 101 days are in italics.

• Reading and Writing
  • Join a theological library – Gives me access to expensive academic titles. Complete.
  • Read 120 books – Finished in May
  • 50 lists blog project – I did a 24 list project on my other blog and I really enjoyed that format. – Complete
  • Read five Miles Franklin Award Winners – Breath (2009), Chai time in the Cinnamon Gardens (2023), Too Much Lip (2019), Eucalyptus (1999), Dirt Music
  • Do NaBloPoMo – Complete
  • Update pages on my blog – Complete
  • Download and delete my old blog – I downloaded the backup of my blog, which came as a feed.atom file, then used Chat-GPT to convert it to markdown so I could import it into my Obsidian vault. It would have been a lot harder without Chat-GPT—I’m not that good with coding.

• Running and Fitness
  • Recover strength for 30 days in a row. Mobo board exercises for 30 days in a row – Complete
  • City to Surf – Complete
  • Parkruns (x10) – Balyang Sanctuary 13.1.2024, Albert Park 3.2.2024, Studley 16.3.2024, Torquay 30.3.2024, Echuca 30.11.2024, 29.04.25 Karkarook, 26.04.2025 Hampstead Heath, 03.05.25 Penrhyn, Milford Waterfront 10.5.2025, Noosa 19.7.2025.

• Home
  • Get artwork (bedroom and living) – complete
  • Get a storage unit for our bedroom – complete
  • Install awning over our table. Complete.
  • 2nd outdoor sitting area

• Sustainability
  • Get a bike. Complete.
  • Build or buy a wicking bed for veggies
  • Get ten things secondhand instead of new. – Complete. Puzzles (lots of puzzles), Tshirt, Copy of Catcher in the Rye in New York, jumper, two jars for pantry storage, another large jar for pantry storage, lots more jars, sewing machine, pastry brush, egg lifters.
  • Repair something instead of replacing it. Complete.
  • Start a worm farm. Complete.

• Neighbourhood
  • Finishing walking or running every street in Brighton, Elwood and Gardenvale. I finished on 5th March this year.
  • Try five new neighbourhood restaurants or cafes – Sons of Mary, La Provence, Bottarga, Vivace, Buongiorno

• Melbourne and Surrounds
  • Try 5 new restaurants – Complete: Park St Pasta, Indu, Albert Park Hotel, Smiths St Bistrot, Victoria by Farmers Daughters
  • Be a tourist in my home town (x2) complete – Hometown Tourist: Immigration Museum and Birrarung Willam Walk, Hometown Tourist #2: Rome Exhibition and Street Art

• Travel
  • Three Capes Track. Complete.
  • E’s Germany Trip. Complete.
  • Five-year travel wish list (for post-2024) – Complete
  • Short breaks (x5) – Noosa (May 2024), Gold Coast (July 2024), Sydney (August 2024), Pop and Pour (2024), Lorne (2025)
  • Travel for two of Hubby’s marathons. NewYork 2023, London 2025
• Memories and Photography (this section is very ambitious, LOL)
  • Go on an outing to photograph birds/wildlife (x2) – Skomer Island, In March atr Kangaroo Island I photographed Australian Sea Lions and then later in the day Koalas. Kangaroo Island Day 2.
  • Finish a 1s a day monthly video project – complete.
  • ABC photo project – Complete Neighbourhood A-Z

• Faith
  • Get a mainly music group up and running. Complete.
  • Try out some new rituals in my QT (x5) – Starting prayer, praying from Evelyn Underwood’s book of Prayer, silent contemplation. Recently I started using midday prayer with the lectio365 app and also doing an Examen
  • Read the bible in a year – complete

• Community
  • Invite our neighbours over. Complete.
  • Giveaway some produce from the garden. Complete.

• Experience
  • Go to an outdoor movie – Wicked 17.1.2026
  • Go to some live music. Blues Music tour in New York
  • Internet free days (x15) – 30.9.2024, 25.12.2024, 7.1.2024, 1.3.2024, 2.3.2024, 20.7.2024, 7.10.2024, 8.10.2024, 15.10.2024, 25.12.2024, 13.9.2025, 25.12.2026, 21.3.2026, 22.3.2026, 23.3.2026 (Complete)
  • See the Northern or Southern Lights – once again will require nature’s cooperation. YES! And we saw them a second time at Kangaroo Island.
  • Swim at a beach/river/lake (x15) – we are out of the El Nina weather pattern and expecting a hotter summer here so I expect I’ll have more swimming opportunities over the next couple of years. – Summer 2023/24 – Pt Lonsdale x3, Elwood x3. Spring/Summer 2024/5 – Elwood x4, Dendy Beach, Point Lonsdale Back Beach, Lorne x2, Brighton Pier
  • Make some playlists to listen to at home and listen to them (x4) – Running playlist, Christmas Playlist. And I made a playlist for games night and a worship list of songs that I’ve either done for church or am thinking of adding to our repertoire.
  • Internet free days (x15) – I did three more while we were on Kangaroo Island which makes this complete (+20%)

• Food
  • Make pasta. Bologna Pasta Class.
  • Make roti bread – I did this down at my parents place over the Labour Day weekend. We were making roti Kotta and while we usually buy the roti bread for it, I decided I had time to make it. I used this recipe and it it was fine, but not flaky like the bought one. It was good to give it a try, but I’ll be keeping on buying it. It is not like making pita bread or my homemade flour wraps, which blow the bought version out of the water.
  • Bottling or preserving (x10) – I made Silvan Berry Jam, Sweet Chilli Sauce, Green Cherry Tomato and Lemongrass Pickles, Marion Berry Jam, Green Tomato Relish, Sweet Chilli Sauce 2025, Peaches, Pickled Cucumber Slices, and recently Spiced Tomato Jam

• Family and Friends
  • Big gatherings (x4) – Small group+ dinner (September 2024) (25%), Early Christmas 2025, Post-Carmen’s Brunch, E and K’s Engagement Party
  • Small gatherings (x10). Complete S – October 2024, Small Group end of year dinner – December 2024, S – Feb 2024, Post Carmens Brunch – Feb 2024, School friends over – May 2024, K’s family – May 2024, small group end-of-year BBQ (10.12.2024), P for dinner (11.12.2024), Building Christmas drinks (17.12.2024), P and the girls for dinner (June 2025)
  • Games night
  • Celebration dinner for each family birthday (including a special celebration for E’s 21st). S 2023 – Chin Chin, E and I 2023 – Indu, H 2024 – Vaporetto, G 2024 – Entrecote, S’s birthday at Mya Tiger, E’s 21st, My birthday at Tulum, H 2024 The European, G 2024 – Bay 81, E+K – Mya Tiger, Me – Bounty of the Sun (92%)
  • Organise an activity with friends – we organised two welcome back dinners for friends that had completed marathon majors.
  • Family 2000-piece puzzles (x5). Complete.
  • Update our wills and POA’s – the kids are adults now, so no guardian is needed and the checks and balances we put on need a rethink – completed 16.9.2024
  • Have my school friends over. Done 3.5.2024.

• For later (three things I picked partway through the challenge)
  • Camino de Santiago – we’ve booked this for October. Complete.
  • Make a new list – done and I’ll be sharing it tomorrow

There were also some things that I made progress on in these last 101 days but didn’t quite complete:

• Home
  • Clear out the boxes in our wardrobe – did one in April (+50%)

• Neighbourhood
  • Learn about our local First Nations peoples, neighbourhood history and environment Read/visit/watch 5 resources in each of these areas – Birrarung Willam Walk (First Nations), read Kulin Tales (First Nations), read Local Birds of Bayside (Environment), read The Journey Cycles of the Boonwurrung: Stories with Boonwurrung Language (History and First Nations), visited Bunjilaka Cultural Center (First Nations), read Best of Brighton Trivia (History) (+33.3%)

• Melbourne and Surrounds
  • Visit a gallery or exhibition (x5) – I visited the Immigration Museum and Rome at the Melbourne Museum. (+40%)

• Community
  • Pickup Rubbish (x5) – I picked up a coffee cup someone had left on our fence, and some bubble wrap off the nature strip 4/3/2026 and a bright yellow deflated ball out of the lake sanctuary 17/4/2026 (+40%)

• Food
  • Finish cooking all the recipes in Tenderheart Cookbook – I cooked 8 more recipes

• Photography
  • Sorted out all S’s memorabilia, boxed it up and gave it to her. I’ve sorted through all the kids stuff now, and each of the kids took home one 12 cm high A3 box. (+6.7%)