101 in 1001 - Third Time's the Charm?

Start date: 12-21-2010
End Date: 9-17-2013

Self Improvement:
001. Complete Living in Season’s New Year’s Dreams course (Blogfodder)
002. Complete Living in Season’s seasonal workbooks (Blogfodder)
003. Lose another 25/50 pounds
004. Work out on WiiFit at least 3x a week for 2 months/for 6 months/for 1 year.
005.Take dance lessons with my husband
006. Keep my home ‘drop in’ ready for 3 months/6 months/1 year
007. Have laser eye surgery done
008. Pay off CapOne card
009. Pay off Citi card
010. Enjoy 10 Manicures/Pedicures (0/10)
011. Enjoy 3 professional massages. (0/3)
012. Complete Year and a Day in Magick book (Blogfodder)
013. Decide if I want to do a teaching program and get my license, or continue with Masters and teach college.
014. Finish teaching program/take Praxis ii/get license OR complete masters program of choice
015. Keep a Daily Happiness Journal and use it at least 3x a week (Blogfodder)
016. Donate 100k grains of rice on FreeRice.com

Food and Drink:
017. Cook at least five recipes from each cook book I currently own, & blog about them

(Caveat: just the ones currently in the house. Most of them are packed up.)

018. Take a cooking class
019. Learn how to make 10 different cocktails
020. Make cookie boxes for family/friend gifts for 2011/2012
021. Create a personal cookbook/recipe file of my favorites (Blogfodder)

Creative:
022. Complete a jigsaw puzzle with my husband
023. Participate fully in the 52 in 52 knitting challenge (Blogfodder)
024. Participate fully in the Year of Stash Socks challenge (Blogfodder)
025. Take a quilting class
026. Go on the Believe in Yourself retreat
027. Complete a Journal Journey (Blogfodder)
028. Put together a wedding/Our Life scrapbook
029. Create a photo wall in my office with framed pictures of friends and family
030. Finish the afghan kit I have in the stash (Blogfodder)
031. Finish the beaded bag kit I have in stash (Blogfodder)
032. Finish the beaded scarf kit I have in stash (Blogfodder)

Photography:
033. Take a photograph to represent each month (0/33) (Blogfodder)
034. Upload photos to BlipFoto at least 3x/week for 1 month/6 months/1 year
035. Complete Project 365 (0/365)
036. Submit a photo to a photography competition (Blogfodder)
037. Take part in the 4am project
038. Take ten pictures of things that make me happy (0/10) (Blogfodder)
039. Take ten pictures of things that make me sad (0/10) (Blogfodder)
040. Make a coffee table book out of our travel photography
041. Photograph a landscape from the same location, capturing all four seasons (Blogfodder)
042. Participate in at least one 26 Things list (Blogfodder)

Reading/Writing:
043. Leave 12 notes in 12 different books for strangers to find (Blogfodder)
044. Answer the “50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind”
045. Read 10 novels off the Modern Library’s Top 100 list (Blogfodder)
046. Read 10 novels off the 1001 Books You Must Read before You Die list (Blogfodder)
047. Blog about each of my 101 things as they are completed
048. Send two postcards a month through PostCrossing
049. Participate in and finish NaBloPoMo
050. Read 1 book every month and blog about it
051. Write 1 poem every week for 6 months/1 year/18 months/2 years
052. Reach 500 blog posts in my personal journal/photo journal/knitting journal
053. Submit my writing to a publication every 3 months
054. Read the books I own but have never finished

Movies/TV/Music:
055. See 10 movies on the AFI Top 100 list (Blogfodder)
056. See 25 movies on the IMDB top 250 list (Blogfodder)
057. Compile a playlist of my 100 favorite songs 
058. Compile a list of my 100 favorite movies 

Places to Visit/Things to See:
059. Travel somewhere by train 
060. Take a cruise longer than 3 days 
061. Watch the sun rise and set in the same day.

Things to Buy:
062. A traditional Anniversary gift for my husband on our 10th, 11th and 12th Anniversaries
063. An iPad

Other:
064. Drink beer (wine, mixed drink) at noon on Tuesday in a bar that faces a giant car wash
065. Leave 20 Operation Beautiful notes somewhere (Blogfodder)
066. Repaint our kitchen cabinets white
067. Repaint our bedroom
068. Paint bathrooms
069. Encourage someone to write their own 101 in 1001 list
070. Have my wedding rings resized
071. Frame and hang our diplomas when we get them in January/February
072. Decrease my stash by 1 tote/2 totes/3 totes
073. Have my holiday gift list finished by September 1st 2011/2012/2013
074. Have all purchasable gifts wrapped by December 1st 2011/2012
075. Frame the print we bought in Asheville last year, and my poster, and hang them somewhere
076. Clean out my closet every six months and donate old clothing to Goodwill/Tender Mercy

Resolutions

Well, a lot of mine work into my 101 in 1001 list, but I can post a few that I’d like to do -this- year and not by August 2013.

1. Continue losing weight and exercising
• I started this weight-loss journey at about 220lbs. At last check on WiiFit I was 194, which is up about 15 pounds from my lowest point. I've been off the wagon for almost 3 months, so it's time to get back on. I'd like to see 150lbs by the end of the year.
2. Get the kitchen cabinets repainted
• Hubby and I have been slowly trying to make the house more 'us'. We did a lot of improvements over the last year, repainting and stuff, and there's more to get done, but repainting the cabinets we know we can do without much fuss. 
3. Knit and Spin from stash (as much as possible)
• I have a sizeable (at least 7 large totes chock-full!) yarn stash and I want to use it up, because it's all yarn I love. My spinning stash is notably smaller, but it's still loved, and I want to use it too.
4. Get a handle on christmas gifts early
• Part of this is going to be knitting/crocheting/sewing quick-and-easy gifts throughout the year. Also, making a 'What I'm Giving' list early .. like, by springtime .. will help.
5. Continue decluttering the house
• We've done good at this too, but there's still work to do. We're slight packrats .. not on the same level as hoarders, but we still have too much stuff. Starting with clearing out more clothes, and going through the back attic, I want to donate/trash a few bags of stuff by Spring.
6. Date night with hubby at least twice a month
• We don't do enough together, and when we have gotten out here in the last little bit, it's been amazing fun. I'd like to take dance lessons when we can afford it, but until then, dinner out, or a movie, or -something- fun and just us twice a month will be good.
7. Find a job to help pay down debt
• I've been trying to find something, but the job market is, as it is almost everywhere, pretty awful. Sending out applications every day, and if I get no bites signing on with a staffing agency will get me to this goal much faster.
8. Find a graduate program and get accepted
• This is assuming I still want to teach college. That is the current thought, but I'm still deciding if I might not want to teach younger students. Either way, I need to get into the appropriate program, whether it be graduate school or a teacher education program, or at least get moving on getting into it.
9. Participate fully in 52 in 52 - 2011
•  52 projects completed in 52 weeks. Shouldn't be difficult, right? Except with my attention span, projects tend to languish. I have a Wrapigan sitting in a back that refuses to be finished, and a knitted owl toy that is only half done. I am going to try to use this challenge as a way to get some simple gifts made though.
10. Participate fully in Year of Stash Socks 2011 
• I have less hope for this, but I'm going to try at the very least. I have a lot of sock yarn, and love wearing hand-knitted socks. They're warm and toasty. So we'll see!
11. Write more often (poetry/short stories/essays/anything)
• I love writing. Creative writing. I haven't been able to do much at all lately, and I miss it. I've subscribed to several prompt blogs and such, so we'll see if I can do this a little more regularly this year.

Ceiling Fans Purchased: 2
Injuries: 1, so far. (Hurt my thumb on a search for the screw driver.)
Ceiling Fans Installed: 0

Today was Worldwide Knit In Public day, and I did celebrate, in my way. I knitted in public when we went to IHOP this afternoon. We had too many things going on for me to go to the event in Charlotte, sadly.

We had to go to the furniture store Jason's mom works at and order the new desk I'm getting for my room, and then after IHOP we went to Home Depot and picked out two ceiling fans, one for my office and one for the guest bedroom brandon claims as his room. Jason said that his dad insists that we can repair the ceiling fan upstairs pretty easily, so we're not going to replace it. Yet.

We also got a nice set of grilling tools, since we do an awful lot of grilling now, and living in the south as we do, that grill can get an awful lot of use. And we decided on the patio set we'd really like. Of course, it's $900 and teak. But I called my mom, and instead of getting a Wii (sad!) she's gonna send us a check to put towards our patio set. So that's really nice. And it accomplishes what she wants, which is to get us something we really want that we wouldn't buy for ourselves.

Busy Busy Busy!

Well, about a week and a half ago we -finally- got the approval to do the landscaping work outside our house - I told Jason I was gonna frame it. So the last two weekends have been busy busy working on planting and installing border stones and spreading mulch and running to Home Depot and Lowes to pick up plants and mulch and potting soil.

But I finally have flowerbeds! I have a ton of stuff planted in them too. Iceflower is planted in my little cauldron, and I have a blue false indigo, and a hibiscus, and petunias in a beautiful yellow hue, and impatiens (that I think I burned watering them too early) and some volunteered pansies .. the last time I planted pansies was like 8 months ago .. and several plants of gerbera daisies, and another kind of daisy, and verbena, and a balloon flower, and something called Angelina in white and purple, and something that looks like a miniature petunia in a vibrant red. I also have my clematis, and the mums I planted two halloweens ago, and a calla lily that didn't bloom last year but I'm hopeful, and a purple petunia in a hanging basket. It's an explosion of color in my front yard now!!

Well, it will be soon as everything starts to bloom. It's getting there.

In other exciting news, I'm getting a new computer -and- a laptop! I'm sooo excited! I've wanted to get myself a laptop for .. well, years now. And in part because I want to be able to talk to James but be social with my husband and watch tv in there with him, and with a laptop I can sit in the livingroom, and still have access to the internet. Wheee! *flailing kermit arms* And the desktop is much needed. Mine is dying, slowly. I will likely be spending next weekend transferring everything from the old computer to the new one .. which will be a trick, since my CD burner doesn't seem to work. I think maybe I should at least make all my music MP3's, to facilitate that endeavor. I can also use Brandon's computer since I have that flash drive with 2GB space on it. That's just .. time consuming.

It's exciting, getting a new computer. It means I get to start fresh. Sure, I'm going to have to spend some time cleaning off the garbage that gets put on systems nowadays, and I'm going to have to get used to Windows Vista. Oh, and installing WoW on a new machine, that'll be exciting. Gotta make sure I knew where everything is.

Woo! The excitement! I have to spend the next week or so cleaning, so I can get ready for my new computer!

To Do List:

• Post about how I learned to knit (For Two Sharp Sticks)
  
• Post about -where- all my knitting lives. (For Crossroad Knits)
• Post a Project Spectrum update
• Post a Stashalong update
  
• Work on quizzes for work
• Finish and post English essay
• Finish laundry - including bringing it upstairs!
• Finish Spanish assignments and quiz
• Take State Government exam
• Take Psychology test 4
• Work on Psychology - Dream Interpretations assignment
  

I'm currently highly annoyed at my internet connection. It's slow and draggy .. kinda how I feel today .. but it's been like this for a day or two. I think probably Brandon's computer affects this, with all that he downloads, but I'm not entirely positive. I could just shut his computer down to test it .. but usually resetting the cable modem and router works so I just leave it be.

I need to spend today working on schoolwork .. but I have to be interrupted by 3 hours of work. Which is just stupid. Because there's just not enough for me to do there right now. Yesterday I had -nothing- to do. They had farmed DVD's so well I couldn't even do that. I don't expect it to be any different today, since I know there's no POG's changing out this week. Everything at my store is in limbo right now, which makes it really hard to actually -do- anything. Rawr.

To Do List:

• Post about how I learned to knit (for Two Sharp Sticks' contest)
• Work on quizzes for work
• Finish Spanish quiz
• Finish Psychology learning objectives
• Work on English essay
• Finish laundry - including bringing it upstairs!
• Post Fiber Femmes meme.
  

Rice Pudding Recipe

3 cups cooked rice
3 cups milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine rice, milk, sugar and butter. Cook over medium heat until thickened, about 30 minutes, stirring often. Add vanilla.
2. Pour into serving dish. Serve hot or cold.

Makes 6 servings.

Recipe provided courtesy of the USA Rice Federation.