What I Accomplished (and Otherwise) in 2021

My 45 biggest accomplishments, highlights, and milestones (some better than others) of 2021:

 1. Resolved issues with my mother's accounts and/or financial activity at Kinecta, Morgan Stanley and Premier Pacific.

2.  Got the yearly chore of washing windows and screens taken care of.

3.  Sold/swapped several dozen books, CDs, records, and DVDs for other media and/or cash.

4.  Watched 133 movies.

5.  Read ten novels, including the Lord of the Rings cycle.

6.  Got dryer's vent cleaned and its problem with a slipping pulley repaired.

7. Sold two of my mother's kachinas to relatives.

8.  Donated two artworks to Women's Shelter Long Beach.

9.  Had an estate sale, made more than $900, which included selling a substantial coin collection, and a battered old folding screen that I'd recently spent several days repairing.

10.  Had the loose-brick driveway replaced with an asphalt one.

11.  Got exterior of the house repainted.

12.  Got front bedroom and guest bedroom repainted, and new hardware (handles, pulls) installed on the closet doors.

13. Got several loads of haz-mat out of the garage and to a recycler.

14.  Got vaccinated for COVID (two shots, two days in April and May).

15.  Post COVID vaccination, caught up on dental and hairstyling appointments.

16.  Car's battery had to be replaced.

17. I had a new backyard fence installed, and replaced the one by the side of my garage, too.

18.  Got a new refrigerator.

19.  Said good-bye to my poor sweet tomcat Benny, who said his final meow and left us.

20.  Got my father's two bamboo table lamps restored and they now light my living room.

21. Got an eye exam and a back-up pair of reading glasses.

22.  Got a mammogram, tested normal/negative.

23.  One sprinkler head in front yard was repaired (just in time for another head to break).

24.  Dishwasher broke down but got repaired.

25.  Got several pictures framed and hung.

26.  Got routine maintenance on two vacuums (the indoor one and the wet-dry outdoor one).

27.  Got bedding laundered (a necessary chore for an allergy sufferer) three times (seasonally).

28.  Sold Toby jugs, Danish modern barstools, and folding kitchen stepstool.

29. Wrote and published twelve "Life After Mother" columns.

30.  Wrote and published "Abortion-ban Horse is Out of Constitution's Barn" editorial.

31.  Wrote and published six "My Recycled Life" columns.

32.  Posted more than twelve blogs.

33.  Donated two bags of food, one to Long Beach Rescue Mission and one to Mary's Kitchen.

34.  Had several pieces of broken jewelry repaired, gave several other pieces to an artist-friend to repurpose.

35.  Sold more than 100 lb. of scrap metal.

36.  Learned how to properly tend my backyard avocados, bought a special picking tool to harvest them, and shared the bounty with several neighbors and Mary's Kitchen.

37.  For the antique Danish porcelain clock I inherited from my father, I had a repairman replace the old non-working clockwork with a modern digital clock.

38.  Mailed more than 61 lb. of cassette tapes and VHS tapes to Green Disk for recycling, sorted through about 100 more cassette tapes and roughly as many VHS tapes in the family collection to separate what tapes to keep from the next shipment of tapes to be recycled. Also replaced a defective combo CD/tape player and radio from Best Buy with one that works.

39.  Had new wallpaper (actually, a fresh roll of the same pattern) installed in the master bath.

40.  Got new home and auto insurance.

41. Mailed dozens of postcards to GOTV in support of Gov. Newsom during the recall in August and voted, too!

42.  Found an upholstery shop that would recover my mother's old backrest (the type that's sometimes called a nursing pillow) for a reasonable price.

43.  Got a new lining for my black leather jacket.

44.  Got vintage leather 1970's short-shorts ("hot pants") repaired so they can be sold on consignment, on eBay or whenever there's another estate sale.

45.  Made considerable progress with updating and organizing family files, scrapbooking, photo collections, and my mother's stamp collection.