18 for 2018 April review

1 New blog followed per week – 4/4 (yearly total 17/17)

I found a tatting blog! Lots of handy tips there for one of my many new hobbies.

 

2 New stitches/techniques learned per month – 2/2 (8/8)

This month I drafted a post (but haven’t got round to posting it) about increasing stitches in Tunisian crochet, and I’ve also started to learn some tatting.

 

3 Instagram posts per week – 15/12 (68/50)

This was definitely much easier when I had a challenge to follow. April went by so quickly I went a whole week without posting anything because it felt like just a couple of days. I caught up though after looking back over my posts and realising that I hardly ever remember to post my finished items; a few FO posts and I was back on track.

 

4 Exercise sessions per week – 16/16 (55/66)

The archery centre ran an extra session on bank holiday Monday, and that absolutely counted as a workout. 90 minutes of non-stop firing and retrieving arrows is TOUGH!

I also discovered there’s a canal about 10 minutes away from work, so on the rare days it’s not raining I’ve been going there in my breaks for a walk down the towpath. It somehow makes the work day more enjoyable.

 

5 Blog posts written per week – 16/20 (79/82)

Even though I wrote a couple of posts for my other blog as well as this one, I still fell a wee bit behind. Not too badly though.

 

6 Patterns written up – 1.5/6 (1.5/6)

I finally whacked out the pattern for my mini octos. Yes it’s the simplest pattern ever, but I worked it out for myself so I’m proud of it.

 

7 Rooms in my flat sorted – 2.5/7 (2.5/7)

I had a sort through my bookcase, but that’s not really a whole room is it?

 

8 Minutes of writing per day

I’m getting better at this!

 

9 pm bed time – 2/30 (48/120)

Oh dear…

 

10% of wages saved – 10/10

Done

 

12 Hand-written letters – 5/12

Yes, I’ve written to the same friend twice. Still counts.

 

13 New recipes tried – 6/13

The yellow sticker box actually helped me out this month, as I bought a few things and then looked up how to use them when I got home.

First up was avocado pesto pasta. I’m happy about this one because all I’ve ever done with avocado before is use it on toast in place of butter – tasty, but not really a recipe! The one downside to this is that avocado blackens even when it’s whizzed up in pesto. I took some leftovers to work the next day and it looked utterly disgusting, although it still tasted just as good.

Next up was sausagemeat pasta (or rice, if you can’t find the pasta. Ahem).

This was a happy accident, as I didn’t read the label properly and thought I was buying sausages. Somewhat disappointed when I got home and realised my mistake, but it worked out in the end because this stuff is GORGEOUS.

14 Meet ups with friends – 10/14

My birthday helped a lot with this goal. I’ve been out for meals, gone to a bouncy castle theme park, and met various friends in various coffee shops.

Me, exhausted after an hour of bouncy castle-ing

 

I also went to my cousin’s hen party and worked my way through the most enormous stand of cakes. Good times.

 

15 Birthdays on time – 8/15

Despite Easter messing with the post, my sister’s parcel arrived in time for her birthday, hooray!

It was my cousin’s birthday the following week, and her custom kindle cover arrived in plenty of time. Can we take a moment to be impressed that it fits perfectly, when I never actually saw the kindle and just worked off measurements my cousin sent me?

 

16 Christmas cards made – 1/16

I’ve actually made one! Although I forgot take a photo. Maybe I’ll update when I get home tonight.

 

17 Birthday cards made – 5/17

I am really proud of the owl card I made for my cousin.

My camera couldn’t really pick it up, but the moon behind them is gold card. The black owl really stands out against the moon and the white stands out against the purple background. I just love it.

And this was my sister’s card

Can you tell I got a Big Shot for Christmas?

 

18 Items decluttered – 4/18

I emptied the shelving rack in my bathroom, got rid of things I was clearly never going to use again, and organised everything else so it’s all in a logical order. Very satisfying.

The bookcase also received a thorough sorting out, as I was having to double-shelve some books and I hate not being able to see what I’ve got. Some have been returned to their original owners, some have been sold to Ziffit, and the rest went off to the charity shop.

 

I’ve really slipped in some areas (looking at you, 9pm bed time), but then in others I’ve done much better than expected. The 14 meet ups with friends seemed a bit ridiculous when I chose it, a kind of ‘stretch goal’, but we’re not even halfway through the year and I’m almost there.

Maybe the real goal is just to write down when I meet my friends so it stays in my mind and I don’t see myself as such an unsociable hermit.

Food for thought, anyway.

Hannah

xXx