Friday, November 23, 2018

Fall Joy List 2018 - Update

Back in September, on the first day of Fall, I made myself a Fall Joy List - 12 joyful things to do.  It was not to be a To Do list, but activities that would bring me joy.  Of course, Fall doesn't end with Thanksgiving; it goes on til December 20, but, it seems like it is the unofficial start of Winter, as people prepare for Christmas as soon as Thanksgiving is over.  So, I thought I'll do an update of my Fall Joy List, today.

Fall Joy List 2018:

1. Celebrate my official retirement (in October) - not quite sure how, though!  I didn't go anything special, just enjoyed staying up till the wee hours of the mornings and sleeping in the next day, because I didn't have to get up early to go to work! 

2. Spend more time sewing - I combined this with item #12, below, and sewed some holiday gifts!

3. Bake a cake - DONE!  Baked a couple of cakes, actually, a yellow bundt cake (back in September) and a peach dump cake (for the October prayer gathering).  I will be baking another dump cake to take to the November prayer gathering, this weekend, too.

Yellow Bundt Cake
4. Bake a pie - Didn't do; I think the dump cake did double duty as it seemed more like a crumble than a cake.  Plus, I baked those individual raspberry pastries.

Raspberry Pastries

5. Decorate for fall/Halloween/Thanksgiving - Didn't decorate as it felt more like work than fun when it was time to decorate!

6. Celebrate my birthday (might wait until daughter comes home for Thanksgiving) - DONE!  My daughter and I went out to lunch by ourselves, one day, with my cousin and her daughter, another day, and went for a massage; plus, daughter took me shopping and bought me some clothes as her birthday gift to me!

7. Bake pumpkin bread with daughter when she comes home - This weekend.

8. Host the October prayer gathering - DONE!  There was a certain amount of work involved, but, it was a joyful occasion. 

9. Celebrate Thanksgiving - DONE!  Celebrated twice over, since we attended two Thanksgiving meals with friends and family!

10. Do some gardening - DONE!  I planted some chrysanthemums and had a leaky sprinkler valve replaced.

Newly planted chrysanthemums


11. Knit - DONE!  I have been knitting red hats for newborns for the American Heart Association.  Will be mailing the completed hats to them at the end of the year.

12. Make holiday gifts - DID SOME, in combination with item #2, above.

All in all, not too shabby!  I didn't do some items for one reason or another, but, on the whole, did some activities that brought me joy.  I will continue to do do a couple more items from the Fall list at least until the end of this week (bake the pumpkin bread, another dump cake, etc.).  I am also considering doing a Winter Joy List, as well.

Did you have a list of joyful things to do this fall?  If so, were you able to do some of them?  Will you be making a Winter Joy List?

18 comments:

  1. Very nice list! Happy Thanksgiving! I like how you said you didn't decorate because it felt more like work...lol...so true! plus taking down is the part I don't' like! Andrea

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    1. Thank you, Andrea. I used to love decorating for the season, but increasingly, I feel like I can't be bothered! I love to see other people's decorated homes, but the effort involved in doing up my own home seems too much!

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  2. I love the flowers! They look very cheerful:)

    We had a lovely Thanksgiving, as well. I did not do a thing today, except make some soup, and eat that and leftovers. I just sat around and even took a nap. I should be up and running like usual tomorrow--I'm getting a little antsy, but promised myself a true day off today, so honored my own decision:)


    It looks like you did truly celebrate your birthday. That's awesome! I'm glad you had a good time.

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    1. Thank you, Becky. I'm glad you had a lovely Thanksgiving and you took the day off to rest, today. I, too, had a nap, today! :D

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  3. You've done really well, Bless and managed to achieve most of what is on your list. I'm looking forward to seeing a photograph of your pumpkin bread. X

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    1. Thank you, Jules. I'm glad I was able to fit in some fun activities among all the cleaning type things on my regular to do lists! :)

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  4. A purposeful life like you are trying to live will bring you joy no matter what you put on your list. An example for all of us to follow.

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    1. Thank you, Live and Learn. That's a lovely thing to say! :)

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  5. You did really well, Bless.
    I like the idea of making a joy list. I might do one, because I will have more time for joyful things during my winter break. 😀

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    1. Thank you, Nil. It's good to take some time out of our busy schedules to do some fun things. I hope you'll consider a winter joy list. :)

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  6. I love that you do things for a purpose that bless others and also give you joy.

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  7. I did not write a Joy list, but I can almost guarantee that these days I don't do anything unless it gives me joy, even if only the joy of accomplishment. Some things don't get done until the eleventh hour but I will do it because it gives me joy. I am thinking of my decorating for Fall/Halloween. I didn't do that until just hours before the kids arrived, but I know they love to see decorations up and I love to see their excitement. Of course, the decorations all came down early the next morning.

    I "complain" about making all those Christmas cards, but I wouldn't do it unless I LOVED it. It would be so much easier to just buy cards, or give nothing at all. But that would not be fun. I wish I had more money to gift others for their birthday or Christmas, but I don't; hence, I craft things to give and I enjoy working on them.

    I liked your Joy list and recognized the days when you did something that I remembered was on that list. Well done on the baking aspect, and I think you celebrated your retirement in a most meaningful way. Ha.

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    1. You have the right attitude, Susan. "Don't do anything unless it gives you joy!" Those are wise words. I need to remember them. I still do a lot of things because I feel I should, or ought to do, out of a sense of duty or obligation, because I've been trained to do so, etc.

      It's actually rather sad to think that I need to make a specific list of joyful things to do and take time out to do them, rather than as a matter of course! There's a lot to ponder!

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  8. Hi Bless, that sounds like a whole lot of nice things to do. One question - what is a dump cake? I'm sure I'll like it as I love peaches.

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    1. Thank you. :) A dump cake is made by dumping the ingredients - a couple of cans of fruit pie filling and a box of cake mix - into a baking pan and topping it with butter and baking it! I made an apple dump cake, today, and I will post the photos I took, so you can see.

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  9. Well that sounds easy enough! It looks very nice

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    1. It's a very easy dessert, Eloise. The cutting and dotting with butter is the only time consuming task!

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