Sixteen Things I Accomplished in 2022

When I look back at all the issues and crises and distractions that came my way in 2022, I sometimes wonder how I got anything accomplished at all. But I did! And looking back and recounting how my days went by in 2022 provides me with some indication of what direction(s) to take in 2023:

1.  Got third bedroom painted.

2.  Got side gate replaced.

3.  Got the chest of drawers that I've had since childhood repaired and repainted, even though I painted it with a matte finish and I'm already beginning to think it should have a glossy finish.

4.  All the pictures and other artwork that have been cluttering up the rooms of the house, making the place resemble the storeroom in a museum, have found places for display, if only until another re-arrangement of a room. I don't have anything stacked against walls or just left laying around anymore.

5.  Got my mother's antique dolls, that were literally in pieces, put back together and prettied up and on display, and cleaned up several vintage stuffed toys and put them on display, too.

6. Read thirty books and watched more than 100 movies.

7.  Got new flooring installed in the kitchen and laundry room.

8.  Wrote and pub. twelve "Life After Mother" columns as well as several "My Recycled Life" columns and a few editorial features.

9. Probate is over! I now have my own house along with a substantial stock portfolio.

10.  One thing that has been on my "to do" list for years has been:  get spare prescription sunglasses, and I finally did!

11. Another thing that's been on my "to do" list for years has been:  attend Los Angeles Times Festival of Books and that I finally did.

12.  Sold essentially an entire crate full of sports memorabilia, along with bag after bag of books, and a few DVDs, too.

13.  I submitted a "viewer playlist" to KTLA and it got played.

14.  I rented a chainsaw and sawed up some old falling-apart wooden patio furniture, then called the city's bulk-collection service to come haul it away, the kind of nagging project that's been on my "to do" list since 2019.

15.  Put on a garage sale that unburdened me of roughly twenty items and earned me roughly a week's worth of pocket change. The things sold proved to be key to a sort of "slide puzzle" approach to organizing the art, crafts, knickknacks, and collectibles that make my house more like a museum. Once certain things went out the door thanks to the sale, what to do with certain other things came into focus, and then what to do with certain other things followed.

16.  Kept up with my social media sites, let's see if I can name them all:  Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Alignable, clippings.me, blogger.com, Tumblr, Nextdoor, Letterboxd, Goodreads, Discogs, Deviant Art. I think I can shorten the list by deleting the clippings.me site.