AB
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ACCOMPLISHMENTSCATEGORY
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Tried many new recipes.Around the House
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Successfully made "Garbage Plate" hot sauce. Around the House
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Mastered the art of fermentation—red onions, hard boiled eggs, sauerkraut (Peruvian Sauerkraut, Indian Sauerkraut, kimchi), garlic cloves in honey, and sourdough starters (regular flour, rye flour, and spelt flour).Around the House
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Mastered baking 3 kinds of Cheesecake, a Chocolate Cake, a Carrot Cake, and a Red Velvet cake.Around the House
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Made some really tasty recipes.Around the House
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Made fresh butter.Around the House
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Made bagels and tortillas, and got my Hungarian goulash recipe the way I want it.Around the House
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Made a kickass ratatouille (and I burn toast, so BIG cooking accomplishment right there).Around the House
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Made a chocolate French silk pie which was way harder than I thought it would be, but oh so wonderful.Around the House
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Learned to bake bomber sourdough with rye and oats and bulgar wheat.Around the House
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Learned how to make brownies. (doesn't everyone already know how to do that?)Around the House
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Embarked on many elaborate cooking adventures, including making tempeh from scratch for the first time.Around the House
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Cooked dinner each night.Around the House
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Became a way more confident baker, especially with yeast, and made homemade goat cheese and pickles.Around the House
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Baked something new every Saturday, which has been extremely therapeutic for me. My kiddos love my Dutch oven artisan bread!Around the House
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Baked more types of bread and soups, Indian food, Used InstaPot to make yogurt, Frermented saurkraut, Made Neapolitan pizza in an outdoor propane ovenAround the House
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Baked a ton of very new to me cookies, good meals, and other goodies .Around the House
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Baked a lot of bread and still doing so every 2 weeks… and I gained weight from the bread!Around the House
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Ate at least three batches of homemade frozen cookie dough (over many months, not like all at once or anything).Around the House
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Got 3 replacement Espresso machines—two worked poorly and were returned. The latest is a Pod machine and it’s working fine so far.Around the House
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Bought the biggest Bialetti espresso maker possible. Around the House
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Went through all old school related paperwork, and recycled about 90% of it.Around the House
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Revamped my entire wardrobe. I still had clothes in my closet from my 20's...it had to go!Around the House
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Finally organized that junk drawer.Around the House
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Every paper in my house has been touched in the last year. I went through all the boxes in the attic and all my many boxes of teaching stuff. At one point, I had my recycling roller completely filled with discarded papers--so very satisfying to think of that volume of stuff out of the house.Around the House
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Did a lot of downsizing - of clothes and books especially - and took them to places where they can be used, and took plastics and documents to Eco Park recycling center.Around the House
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Cleaned out every drawer, closet, and cupboard I could think of, then donated as much stuff as I could convince my family that we didn't need.Around the House
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Killed dozens of black widow spiders with homemade peppermint spray.Around the House
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Updated the kitchen and bathroom.Around the House
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Ripped up carpet, scraped off wallpaper, painted, put up bookshelves (all with help), hung things (including curtains), backsplash, etc.Around the House
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Renovated my upstairs. Around the House
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Removed caulk gunk from the edges of my built-in dining room hutch (those you see in period homes) and baseboards, and re-caulked.Around the House
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Rearranged my living room, swapped the dining room with the living room, rearranged the living room again.Around the House
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Rearranged every room in the apartment so all 4 of us as a family could fit all day long into our dwelling.Around the House
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Painted the dining room (from outdated gold to soft gray) and living room (from darkish ecru to soft gray).Around the House
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Painted the basement, a shelf, a dresser, and a desk turquoiseAround the House
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Painted the bar in our basement.Around the House
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Painted my fireplace.Around the House
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Painted my bedroom after 5+ years of living with a shiny brick red accent wall and three shiny dark grey walls.Around the House
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Kept up with the laundry and dishes. Took a couple showers a week.Around the House
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Installed new curtain hooks, light switch wall plates, and new ceiling fans (after 6+ years of procrastinating!).Around the House
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Fixed and added more/better lighting to the basement, garage and attic.Around the House
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Finally put art on my walls! (And then I bought more art and put that up too!)Around the House
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Finally had new granite countertops installed to replace the 20-year-old laminate ones that came with the house when we bought it 6 years ago.Around the House
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Designed our new kitchen with my partner.Around the House
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Designed a new kitchen for my condo.Around the House
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Cleaned out drains, replanted some indoor plants, put out recycling every Wednesday, and fed the birds outside.Around the House
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Built shelves for my daughter's room with my new, YEARS-wanted, miter saw! My favorite accomplishment!Around the House
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Built a bathroom vanity, and an acoustic box/display stand for my parents' antique Christmas tree stand.Around the House
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Bought paint for upstairs bathroom the first weekend of quarantine in Mar. 2020 and finally painted it in Apr. 2021!Around the House
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Got a house!Around the House
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Bought my first house (I've never lived in an owned house before).Around the House
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Bought a house with my partner!Around the House
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Learned to really enjoy brewing/drinking a cup of loose leaf tea most mornings (thanks to Happy Earth Tea!).Around the House
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Listened to the song "Good Day, Sunshine" 36 times within a 2 week span. Around the House
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My partner and I bought a basketball hoop. We both played basketball in high school and started playing again recently, which has been a really great way for us to connect and be competitive.Connections to Friends & Family
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Had multiple picnics with friends on my own front lawn.Connections to Friends & Family
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Survived a ZOOM reunion with my boarding school classmates, most of whom I hadn't seen in 24 years. Connections to Friends & Family
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Walked the dog more often.Connections to Friends & Family
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Got 2 kittens from a farmer in Buffalo to join our family. "Ziggy Stardust" and "Mando Calrissian." My children have been asking for 2 years. I love them even though I've only had dogs growing up all my life. I have never really been around cats.Connections to Friends & Family
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Brought my cat outside in a harness - She hated it!Connections to Friends & Family
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Adopted two puppies.Connections to Friends & Family
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Adopted two of the most affectionate cats. They bring me immense joy.Connections to Friends & Family
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Administered medications twice a day to our 2 dogs and cat. Saint Francis seems to find our home a suitable place to live for animals who need on-going medications.Connections to Friends & Family
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Talk to more/spent more time with my siblings.Connections to Friends & Family
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Spoke to my mother on the phone every day.Connections to Friends & Family
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Reconnected with a few special friends from my past that I didn't know I missed, and needed!!!Connections to Friends & Family
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Overcame my distaste for video and phone calls.Connections to Friends & Family
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Learned to enjoy video chats with friends (in the past I always refused to FaceTime).Connections to Friends & Family
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Kept some (but not all) houseplants alive.Connections to Friends & Family
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Had weekly Zoom dinner dates with my mom.Connections to Friends & Family
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Got to spend SO much time with my dear husband and laughed a lot, got annoyed some, practiced sharing gratitude often.Connections to Friends & Family
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Embraced my time with my dear Dad and our precious dog Blossom, my time with close friends, and the aroma of our Toasted Southern Pecan coffee, in the mornings!Connections to Friends & Family
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Discovered that plants in my home are a necessity yet have never been able to keep any alive, so that's another goal I'm reaching for.Connections to Friends & Family
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Didn't strangle my husband. Haha...just kidding. He has been a superstar partner and nothing makes you appreciate that more than being around each other 24/7 through the weirdest and hardest year of life ever. Connections to Friends & Family
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Brought an orchid back from the brink of death.Connections to Friends & Family
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Watched my nephew(s) get older and smarter from afar without ever crying because I couldn't just go visit. Connections to Friends & Family
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Did a lot of cross stitch, Ukrainian eggs, photography, baking & cooking, and I built a DIY mini bookstore.Creative Endeavours
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Used the dancing sloth emoji in text messages -- frequently. Creative Endeavours
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Played the trumpet poorly.Creative Endeavours
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Had a guitar restrung and tuned so I could learn to play... but haven't opened the case since.Creative Endeavours
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Watched lots of British shows on Netflix.Creative Endeavours
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Watched a 12 part documentary about women filmakers and told my family it was a "class" and not to bother me when I was watching. I learned a hell of a lot, too.Creative Endeavours
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Used up 36+ tubes of glitter paint, a dozen pieces of chalk, 6+ watercolor sets, and a thing of fingerpaints. Creative Endeavours
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Used a lot of fabric scraps to make: An alphabet for H, a baby quilt for little M, an advent calendar for my parents, a blanket for C, a pair of pants mended for my husband's birthday, a hat for dad, a dress for myself, and lots of other small things for family and friends.Creative Endeavours
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Took several free online classes through the public library system including a drawing class! (the illustration is a freehand copy of Frida Kahlo's "Still Life With Parrot")Creative Endeavours
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Stopped: Trying to finish books I don't like.Creative Endeavours
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Started re-learning French again on a language learning app.Creative Endeavours
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Started doing jigsaw puzzles for the first time, which proved to be excellent physical therapy for my arm, which was recovering from elbow surgery. I completed dozens of puzzles, working my way up to more challenging ones, including four 2000-piece puzzles.Creative Endeavours
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Rewatched Arrested Development.Creative Endeavours
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Read SO many books that had been sitting on the shelves for years, waiting to be read.Creative Endeavours
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Read books on the Kindle.  Love it.Creative Endeavours
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Read at least 15 fantastic books/memoirs.Creative Endeavours
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Read a lot more than I used to.  Last year, I read 22 books. This year, I’ve read 13 books so far (as of May 2021).  I’m on book #14 right now.Creative Endeavours
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Read a few books.Creative Endeavours
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Read 60 books in 2020, 27 so far (as of May 2021).Creative Endeavours
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Read 60 books in 2020 (about 20 more than in a normal year), and reviewed most of them on the blog I started in Jan. 2020 at NewYorkTate.com.Creative Endeavours
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Read 50 books.Creative Endeavours
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Read 25 books already this year (thanks, grad school)!Creative Endeavours