I did a lot of my 101 Things list but I missed a lot too. Note that I don’t get too disappointed not checking everything off my list—I figure I did more than I would have if I hadn’t had the list. I also learnt a few things about myself and about making this type of list. I’ve kept these learnings in mind when putting together my next 1001 Things list.

• Reading and Writing
  • Move my notes to ROAM – I have a heap of notebooks and journals that I’d like to mine for anything that’s still useful. This will be a big job, and I’m likely to get distracted going through the journals, so we’ll see how it goes
    • I did not start on this. Actually, I made a plan. I also recently moved to Obsidian for my notes and organisation. This will be a kind of rollover goal on my next list but into Obsidian and only a limited number.
  • Get something published – I have one particular essay in mind that just needs a bit of work to get ready.
    • LOL no! I considered getting to work on this a few times but have decided not to push ahead. The time I might have spent on this, I spent on actual ministry at church and preparing for a couple of teaching series I did.
  • Journal for 30 days in a row
    • I’ve realised that I really, really dislike 30-day challenges. I did journal off and on and certainly for more than 30 days.

• Running and Fitness
  • Run a marathon
    • I started training for one and then got a stress fracture in my foot. That and my nuts hormones derailed this and several other physical goals. I’m rolling this one over and am in training now.
  • Sub 1:50 half-marathon – this is very much a stretch goal
    • LOL. Very, very stretchy. That horse has left the stable.
  • Foam roll for 30 days in a row
    • See above regarding 30-day challenges. I just checked and I completed one of the four 30-day challenges I set myself.
  • Run a sub 25min 5km again – it’s been a few years, but I think it’s doable.
    • For my next list I’m switching to age grade percentage targets.
  • Run 2500km in a year
    • I think it will surprise no one that I did not meet this goal. I’m going to be downgrading it on my next list to 2000km which will still be my maximum kilometres run in a year but only by about 200km

• Home
  • Clear out the boxes in our wardrobe – done 1 in April 2026 (+50%)
    • It would probably have been so easy for me to finish this but no. I am rolling this over. It’s getting ridiculous now.
  • Set up the home automation with our photos on the display – the photos on there are beautiful, but how much better to have family photos catch my eye while I’m cooking.
    • Nope. I got rid of it because I didn’t want it listening to us.
  • Clean out and organise the study – some of these organising tasks are co-dependent, wardrobe, study and hall cupboard all have some overlap.
    • My desk in the study is worse than when this challenge started but the rest of the study is a bit better because we have more storage since E moved out. I’m going to roll this over.
  • Clean out and organise the hall cupboard
    • Rolling this over too. I have no excuses for you.
  • Fix our automatic computer backup – this has not worked since we moved. I do have cloud backups of my photos and most important documents but it would be good to be able to recover everything easily.
    • I have not done this. G wants to have a cloud based one so I need to work out what I want to do.

• Sustainability
  • Do a waste audit and then reduce waste by 25%. Waste audit done.
    • I did a week’s audit and then realised that our rubbish production from week to week is highly variable anyway. Shelving this.
  • Make weed tea
    • I decided I didn’t want to do this. Too messy.

• Neighbourhood
  • Write 10 blog posts about something I learned/saw while walking every street. In progress 40% complete.
    • I have a couple more posts planned that I just didn’t get around to. I will probably finish them at some stage but not 10.
  • Learn about our local First Nations peoples, neighbourhood history and environment Read/visit/watch 5 resources in each of these areas.
    • I was one short in both history and the environment. I’m pretty happy with that
  • Go to five neighbourhood talks, festivals or activities.
    • I went to four and I had planned to go to the local art gallery which is showing local artists at the moment but ran out of time.
  • Go to Elwood Farmers Market
    • Nope. While I like the idea of this, we usually run at the Tan with running club on Saturday mornings.

• Melbourne and Surrounds
  • Visit a gallery or exhibition (x5)
    • I went to four, and they were really good. Just couldn’t squeeze in a final visit.
  • See the Fairy Penguins in St Kilda
    • The pier where they nest was being redeveloped for a lot of the time and when it finally opened they had this ridiculous free ticketing system where they released tickets 6 months in advance. They have since changed to weekly releases so I plan to roll this over to the next list.
  • Local Hiking (x6)
    • I’m disappointed in this. We only did one local hike. I think we need to be in Melbourne more. I’m adding it to my new list, but maybe just four this time and be a bit more committed.

• Travel
  • Visit four Victorian National Parks
    • We went to three.
  • Israel
    • We paid our deposit to the college for our accommodation on October 6th 2023, which was freakish timing. This didn’t happen for obvious reasons.
  • Family holiday
    • This got too hard to schedule, but we are encouraging the kids to keep July/August 2028 free.

• Memories and Photography (this section is very ambitious, LOL) – NO KIDDING!!
  • Finish the kids’ books and hand over all their stuff. In progress. Handed over all the kids stuff, finished E and S’s primary books. (33%)
    • I’m going to roll the rest of this over to my next list, but as multiple list items this time. My preoccupation with this very large endeavour meant that I didn’t even look at the next four items. I think I’m still going to be way too ambitious in this area in my next list. What can I say?
  • Major trip books (x5)
  • Put together trip videos (x4)
  • Finish year books (x4)
  • Make a magazine
  • Everyday object series (x3)
    • I did two and have no plans for another
  • Colour project
    • Nope

• Faith
  • Go on a retreat
    • I got as far as looking up some options and tentatively putting them on my calendar, but they didn’t work out. I’ll roll this over.
  • Try examen for 30 days in a row
    • Another 30-day challenge I did not complete. I did try Examen, though, and will keep doing it in some form, just not daily at the moment.

• Community
  • Donate blood
    • I registered with the blood bank, but then I got routine blood tests done earlier this year, which had some abnormalities, so I didn’t want to do this before I get my follow-up tests done. I’m going to roll this over.
  • Volunteer with a local community group (x2)
    • My ministry volunteer roles crowded this out, especially being unexpectedly thrust into leading the music team. My volunteering bucket is full and this will not be on my next list.
  • Pick up rubbish (x5)
    • I picked up rubbish four times

• Experience
  • Do something fun outdoors that is outside my norm
    • I think when I put this on the list, I was considering stand-up paddleboarding? I did nothing that I can count for this.
  • See a platypus in the wild – this one will require nature’s cooperation
    • Nature did not cooperate and I wasn’t really able to put myself in a favourble position to make it happen. I’m going to roll this over.
  • Go to a live show (x4)
    • I went to three live shows and really enjoyed them. We looked at going to something during the Melbourne Comedy Festival but couldn’t make it happen.

• Food
  • Finish cooking all the recipes in Tenderheart Cookbook.
    • I think I’m about 40% done with this. There are a lot of recipes! I’m going to keep going with this but probably not put it on my next list.
  • Make a reverse pantry list – I lost interest in doing this, and the two below.
  • Put together a set of go-to recipes for entertaining and taking places
  • List of my go-to breakfasts, lunches and snacks. In progress. (25%)

• Family and Friends
  • Organise an activity with family (x4)
    • We had a games night, and I also organised the weekend to The Grampians with my sisters and their husbands. Scheduling around E’s touring for family activities is difficult.

• For later (three things I picked partway through the challenge)
  • Finish my online French course
    • I didn’t make any progress on this, but I’m still going to roll it over.