Deanne Schildroth dot com

It is already January 12 as I write this. I feel like the year is already moving so quickly! I’m still in my stay-in-my-PJs-all-sunday-and-read mode.

Maybe that is just the name of the game this winter. A friend who is more knowledgeable than me in the ways of tarot (I try, but I can only retain so much knowledge), advised me that the card for this year is The Hermit (IX).

When we cancelled our regular weekly get together again this week, because of the cold and snow, she remarked that we’re just living up to The Year Of The Hermit. And that sounds better than it being The Year Of Me Never Wanting To Leave The House And Just Stay Cozy Under The Blanket With Two Or Three Books And A Couple Cats And A Warm Beverage And…

You get the idea. Call it Hygge. Call it Slow Living. Call it Embracing The Season. I like all these better than what my inner critic is calling it: Laziness.

Anyhow. What I need to work on today, from the comfort of my couch, under a blanket and two cats, is my 2025 Über List. Are you familiar with the list?

I came across it a few years ago when Danielle Henderson mentioned it either in her Instagram, or maybe on her podcast “I Saw What You Did”. I was intrigued, so I got to Googling. In a world where the Google algorhithm serves up less than reliable results, and there’s a wildly popular ride share company called Uber, this required some strong Google-Fu. (do people still say that? Sorry for being a cringe X-ennial)

I don’t know if Nikol Lohr of ThriftyKnitter.com came up with the concept, but all the online references point to her. There are so few references online, in fact, that it’s pretty much left open to interpretation. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. I love that. How freeing.

Basically what you do is write out a list of 100 things you want to do in a year. The entries range from lofty (hike the Bertha trail into Montana from Waterton Lake, AB), mundane (read 20 books this year), to things you were already going to do anyway (plant a pumpkin patch). The idea is to make it mostly do-able, while also understanding that you’re probably not going to get to everything.

Lohr also adds extra items on to match the year. So since we’re in 2025, she would have a list of 125. That seems excessive to me. Especially for someone who has been Überlisting for only a couple years, to middling results.

What I’ve been doing is adding one line on for each year I’ve been participating. Since this is my third year doing the Überlist, I’ll be aiming for 103.

Once I get it mostly set up, I’ll report back with a selection of things I’m working on and what my over-all set up looks like.