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28 Items

This morning when I had the TV on, I saw a banner that said “28 Weeks til Election Day”.  How can that be?  Didn’t it seem like just yesterday we were bombarded with all the politics of the last presidential election?  And, after we  have the election of November, 2012, it won’t be any time at all til time for the election of 2016.  Time truly flies.

That got me to thinking . . with time going by so quickly, what are some things I really want to get done so I made myself a spreadsheet of 28 things I want to get done before the election of 2016.  There’s no rhyme or reason or order as to my list but one thing for sure . . I want to get a whole lot of things done during the rest of my life and I don’t want to look back some day and say “I wish I’d done that” or “I wish I’d done more”.  If I don’t get everything done, that’s ok . . at least I tried.  I know I’ll get more done than I would have gotten done without this list.

Of course, this isn’t an exclusive list and I may add to it so that I have more than 28 items by the time 2016 rolls around but here’s what I’ve come up with:

  1. Lose 28 Pounds (and keep it off)
  2. Knit 28 Pairs of Socks for Me
  3. Knit 28 Pairs of Socks for Gifts
  4. Try 28 New Sock Patterns
  5. Donate 28 Articles of Clothing
  6. Donate 28 Books We No Longer Need
  7. Donate 28 Quilts
  8. Share 28 Quilt Patterns
  9. Use a Net of 280 Yards of Fabric for per year
  10. Plant 28 Trees
  11. Send Chad 28 Surprises – Little things he isn’t expecting but will appreciate.
  12. Put up 28 Bird Houses/Bird Feeders
  13. Read 28 Fiction Books
  14. Read 28 Non-Fiction Books
  15. Share 28 Good Recipes
  16. Grow 28 Herbs or Veggies I’ve Never Grown Before
  17. Create 28 Tutorials on the Blog
  18. Watch 28 Movies with Vince – He loves watching movies and I detest it.
  19. Make 28 Aprons – I love aprons and never make them, though I do have some patterns.
  20. Do 28 Random Acts of Kindness
  21. Make 28 Donations to Causes I Care About
  22. Make 28 Knitted Items Other Than Socks
  23. Write 28 Letters or Emails Commending Someone
  24. Go to the Car Wash 28 Times – Vince is always complaining about how dirty the cars get.  It never rains here and that’s how my cars always got washed before moving here.
  25. Completely Use 28 Bath & Body Works Items in This House – I buy so much of that stuff and hardly lever use it  . . just keep buying more and more.
  26. Cook 28 Foods We’ve Never Tried – We’re pretty brave when it comes to trying new foods but I’m sure we can find 28 items to try.
  27. Drink 28 Bottles of Wine – This could mean simply emptying 28 bottles of wine.  We have so much wine and we so rarely drink it.  I much prefer Dr. Pepper.  Someone has to use this wine though!
  28. Finish Off 28 Cones of Thread Before Buying Any More Thread – Pretty self-explanatory . . I’m a thread junkie too!

Anyone else keep a similar list?  Want to join me with a “28 Things” list?

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Neat idea!!! On that wine, cook with it!!!!!!!!!! makes everything taste so good. Saying is if the wine isn’t fit to drink don’t put it in food.
    Hugs!!!

  4. Hmmmm. This sounds like a great project to join. I try to work at least an hour a day on projects I don’t like to do. Right now this is mostly sorting, getting rid of and organizing what was my parents area of the house. They are both in the nursing home and will not be coming back home. I found their very first income taxes filled as a couple and they have been married since 1946. So this gives you an idea of the task ahead. I will be making a list soon.

    • You made me think . . I should have added “Purge 28 files.” to my list. Maybe I’ll do that too.

  5. Hmm…between now and 2016? That seems like such a long way away. What do I want to do before then…I’ll have to think about it, thanks for bringing it up!

    • 2016 will be here before we know it! I’ll keep doing things in the meantime that I always do but this is just a little extra push.

  6. You are so right about time flying. . . .my niece is graduation high school next month & I can remember being afraid to hold her as a baby — I have no idea where those 18 years went!

    I may just have to “sit right down & write myself a letter” with my own list.

  7. You can send me the Bath and Body Works items, especially if any of them are Warm Vanilla Sugar. 😉 Also, I’ll help Kelly with the wine.

  8. I see Kelly already offered the help I was going to offer! A couple of years ago we were at family in Iowa in New Year’s Eve and everyone was telling their resolutions — lose weight, work out more, the same ol’ stuff. I said, “I’d like to drink better alcohol.” Of course my husband acted quite embarrased… but I may be only one who kept my resolution!

  9. Cindy’s resolution about alcohol made me laugh!
    This is a great idea and I’m relieved that we have until 2016 — at first I thought they needed to be done by election time this year!

  10. Great idea, Judy. I already know what quilts I’ll make before I die–all going to family. And I have an on-going list of books to read. However, you are younger than I am, I’m not saying how much so I think my list will have to be 14 instead of 28. Thanks for the idea.

    • hohoho I am also older and 14 sounds better than 28. I guess we shouldn’t tell her that the older you get the faster it goes!!! We can just keep that our little secret???It is, however a good idea 🙂

  12. I know that you don’t know me, but I’d gladly help you drink some of that wine. What can I say; I’m just a helpful kind of person.
    Linda In Southern Illinois

  14. I’ll count you successful if you get even a quarter of all those things done. It’s good to have things to do, but that list might be a bit of over-kill. 🙂

    • Oh, Linda! You know better than that! In 4-1/2 years I can do twice as much as I have listed. Just have to put my mind to it and not get side-tracked.

  15. I”m glad Emma reiterated the 2016 part! I thought you meant this election! Lordy, girl, I was going to stand by with an oxygen mask if you managed to get all that done!

    I could have a list ninety miles long, but I’m just going to put one thing on my list …. Finish 28 UFOs! I’m positive I could find that many around here!

  16. Great idea, Judy. All you have to do is break it down to 7 per year. Sounds much more manageable, although I have no doubt in my mind that you can complete these goals!

  18. Love it – and of course I LOVE to make lists like this – and then not follow them – 28 and more times of not following them! However with everyone to keep us honest – it SHOULD work!!!! As Debbie pointed out – it is only 7 per year!

    Some of these items (on my blog page) I – uhm – “borrowed” the idea from Judy – others I didn’t. Some are short term and will probably be changed. Others are long term! Link below may or may not work.

    http://momslifeupsidedown.blogspot.com/b/post-preview?token=TbGV6DYBAAA.lgWIfCewXeilUt02Tpss2w.WYtATrNCt2CDO3pIAiHEHQ&postId=1434998729915485065&type=POST

  19. What a great idea Judy! I’ll have to think on this one. Limiting myself to 28 of anything seems insurmountable these days, but certainly worthy of the effort.

    I imagine you’ll have lots of volunteers to help you with #27. Please add me to that list.

    ROFL!

      • Just tell us when and we’ll be there!!! We could even bring more, if you want.!! 🙂

  20. I love your thinking!! You are awesome!!!I am going to make a spreadsheet too!!
    I am not like u though! U need 28 minutes to think of your list.. And 28 seconds to write it! I will need 28 days to think of what I really want to do..and another 28 hrs to put the spreadsheet together!!

    • Oh, no . . it took me way longer than 28 minutes. I think I need to add “Watch chickens for 28 minutes of each hour of each day!” They’re so funny!

      I thought about my list while working in the garden, while doing laundry, while spending quality time with the cows . . it took a lot of time to come up with such a good list! 🙂

      But if you want to make a list . . take your time. Just get it done.

  21. I could come up with 28 things but to do them 28 times is another thing. If I decide to accept your challenge, it will be to do 28 different things. Sounds like a Bucket List to me and I have an unwritten one. Maybe I should put it down on paper(spreadsheet).

  22. Hmmmm…what a unique list. I do see some I’d like to include if I make a list OH…and if you need volunteers to receive your knitted sock gifts, I’d love a pair. Non-knitter that I am (and loving hand-knitted socks), I’d very happily be part of that item on your list. LOL I know I need to lose 28 lbs…that’s for sure….and I could easily find 28 items I no longer wear that are perfectly good and can be given away, so…I guess that’s a start, right?

  23. How ironic. There were 28 comments when I went to make this comment. I’ll take all cast off’s of Bath and Body. I absolutely love it and never buy it for myself. As for the wine, bring it on! And I think you should have listed “have dinner with the Rice’s 28 times”. It’s been almost a year since we had dinner for the first time together.

  24. I do #13, and 14 every month
    I read everyday/nite
    yesterday I read over 600 pages, the day before 477 in one book
    today I am on a murder mystery and started it this morning and have read 150 pages. I keep a list of each book I read and how many pages for years. Then I donate said books to the library. I dontae each quilt I make already. I dont do knit socks, but would like a pair-lol
    have 2 bird feeders , and that is enough for here. I like to do random things as surprises, and walk off before they know it was me-lol

  26. Burn 28 candles… just as you are saying you need to use your BBW items, I get a box of 6 three wick candles from them. That’s adding to my boxes and bags of other candles. Maybe I should burn 280 candles…

  27. I can write a list of 28 without problems as soon as I can find my paper and a pen and oh yes the desk! Can’t write without the desk. I am still in the process of slowly unloading my “stuff” since the move. Its hard with working midnights but I am getting her done. The problem is when I clear a space “someone” adds more boxes !!! Oh yes I can write the list but with my ADD it might take a little longer to clear it 🙂

  33. an impressive list but the tracking of things accomplished is going to be a bear

  35. Judy, wonderful idea!!! I’m going to “steal” some of your ideas, then add some of my own. I’ve not been good at making longer term goals, but this sounds like fun and, hopefully, will keep me focused. Thanks!
    Also, I want to tell you that following your move to the country and your absolute joy brightens my day – everyday!!!

  36. Judy — I love your list! How creative and what a great idea .. I look forward to making my own list and following you in ticking off items on your’s! You get so much done in a day it is amazing!!

  37. I love this! With the new job, I’m more into “find 28 things I can do while couch potato-ing it on the couch!” LOL.

    I’ll try to think of some stuff. I’ve already added the “lose 28 pounds” thing to my list. I’ve lost 4 since starting my job a month ago… 😉

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