February – wow. First, I was leveled by grief over the deaths of my uncle and grandma. Then, supply chain issues made Girl Scout cookie season extra special (and I was the cookie chair!) And then, I ran the book fair – which was AWESOME, but needless to say, February was a blur of chaos and feelings.

March was better on the grief front, but still busy. So here I am, mid-April, checking in on my Twenty-two in ’22 Projects.

1. Knit Christmas Stockings: Still haven’t started or thought about picking a pattern – but, I have started sewing more and strongly suspect I’ll whip up stockings on my sewing machine instead.

2. Catch Up On Family Photo Albums: Still yet to finish one.

3. Set the Kids Up With Their Own Bedrooms: This mission was accomplished in January. I could never have tackled it in February.

4. Paint the Kitchen Cupboards: Excuse me while I laugh hysterically. Though seriously, I think this will eventually happen – but first, I want to paint our living room.

5. “Finish” Decluttering: I RECLAIMED THE GARAGE. This. is. huge. The garage looked like it had been ravaged by a tornado. Just this morning, I hauled a trunk load of office and craft supplies to Remainders, Pasadena’s arts and crafts thrift store.

6. Deep Clean the House: I want to finish decluttering first.

7. Publish My First Novel: My editor finished her review of my draft and sent me a note with suggestions at the end of February and my novel is in excellent shape. Revisions are well under way. After I finish revisions on my end, I’ll hire a cover designer. Not sure how long that process will take but my first novel should be published by Labor Day.

8. Write the Rough Draft of My Second Room Mom Novel: I am not going to do this until the first is fully revised, but the way revisions are going, I expect I’ll get this done over the summer.

9. Go Boogie Boarding Five Times: This one’s for summer.

10. Get a Ping-pong Table: Now that the garage is decluttered, I can actually do this!

11. Read 100 Books for Myself: According to Goodreads, I’m two books behind schedule. I’m flying to Michigan on Thursday for my uncle’s belated funeral, and suspect I’ll be on track by the time I get home.

12. Cook with Mushrooms – try twelve new recipes: I don’t know why I have a mental block against cooking with mushrooms, but I do. In March, I got through the block and sautéed mushrooms for dinner using a Mark Bittman recipe in How To Cook Everything. It was simple and delicious. Then I tried a recipe for a sausage and mushroom pasta dish from Milk Street’s Tuesday Nights (my favorite cookbook) so I’m on track.

13. Use My Button Maker: This happened! It was so fun! I have lots of schemes and dreams for my buttons.

14. Get A New Enamel Pin Every Month: I have being doing and loving this. So far, I have collected Golden Girls (January,), Forget-Me-Nots (February), a sloth (March) and sewing machine (April).

15. Learn How To Play The Super Mario Bros. Theme On The Piano: I got the sheet music and played it once. Not going to beat myself up.

16. Create Another Graphics Heavy Book: Maybe during the summer? I hate to force a project, so I’ll see what my muse wants me to do.

17. Learn A Tap Dance Routine To Footloose: I actually tapped a bit in March but instead of Footloose, I was learning a fun routine to a Bruno Mars song. (Damned if I can remember which…)

18. Decorate With Pompoms: First, I want to finish decluttering.

19. Go To Hogwarts At Universal With Pippa: Not yet, but my sister and I keep talking about it. I think May is our month.

20. Study Carl Jung: Ooh, forgot about this one completely, but I should bring the book with me to Michigan.

21. Put Family Photos in Seasonal Frames: Yeah, I need to finish decluttering before I can tackle this.

22. Get A Posh Trash Can For Our Kitchen: Still haven’t done this because I’m cheap about these things and inflation is so bonkers and seriously, how can I think about an expensive trash can when the plastic one works and gas prices are insane??

I probably won’t finish all these projects, but my momentum is going strong and that’s the whole point. Onward!

p.s. Way too lazy to proofread this so apologize for spelling and grammatical errors.