That list…

1. Complete my list of 101 things to do within 101 days of starting (September 21, 2013)

Well, my new 101 in 1001 list is done…I had given myself until September to do it because I thought we’d probably be moving sometime this summer and there might be things at the new place to add to the list, but I managed to fill up 101 things without leaving space for the new place…so, if there is stuff to be done (and there will be…when isn’t there stuff to be done when you move) it just won’t be part of the list!

So I’ve crossed off item number one on the list…only 100 more things left to do and some of them will be a huge challenge…

101 in 1001 part two, here I come…and yes, Andrea, I have included the spatzle!

1001 plus 1

Yesterday marked the end of my first attempt at doing 101 things in 1001 days. Which means today is the first day of my second attempt. It would seem that I didn’t quite get everything done and that the stuff I did get done, I didn’t quite get all blogged.

So, without further ado, here are the final results. Most of the ones I didn’t finish will make it onto my new list, which can be found along with the old list on the 101 in 1001 page.

Completed!!!!

Me
2. Enroll J in swimming lessons before she turns 3 - March 2011
3. Have a sisters' day without J - February 15, 2013
4. Stick to the crazy diet for at least a month - November 18, 2010
5. Sort out all of my clothes and take the ones I'm never going to wear again or that don't fit to charity (or toss if they're in bad shape) - Spring 2013
7. Pack away all of J's clothes and things that are too small or too young for her - December 2011
8. Go to bed no later than 10:00 pm every "school" night for a week - September 2012
9. Make a new friend - May 14, 2012
10. Really reconnect with an old friend - Spring 2011
11. Mail Christmas cards before December 24th - December 7, 2012
12. Get up every workday morning for a week without hitting the snooze button - April 2011
14. Complete a full crossword puzzle - February 16, 2013
15. Find missing address book - November 8, 2010
16. Update address book - December 2011

Family
17. Set J's room up with a kid sized table and chairs for reading, puzzles and colouring - April 21, 2011
18. Make J's Hallowe'en costume - October 31, 2012
19. Go on an 10 "adventures” they're here [10/10]
20. Take Alex to the pool - September 26, 2010
24. Take J to a farmer's market - October 2, 2011
25. Stick to our budget for Christmas gifts - January 20, 2011
26. Write 10 thank you cards with J - September 2, 2011
27. Build a snow man with J - December 19, 2012
28. Make snow angels with J - December 24, 2010
29. Have family pictures taken - August 13, 2011

Food
31. Make gingerbread with J at Christmas - December 22, 2010
32. Make dinner from the Jamie Oliver cookbook five times - completed January 21, 2012
34. Make cupcakes with the cupcake kit from Maggie October 30, 2010
36. Try 50 new recipes - They're blogged here and there's a list here [50+/50]
37. Try a new recipe for dinner every night for a week - July 12, 2011
38. Eat at ten new restaurants or coffee shops [11/10] - completed January 7, 2012
39. Grow herbs on the deck - July 2012

Home
40. Decide what we're going to put on the clutter collecting wall in the living room and buy it/have it made – Fall 2012
43. Fix the grout in the shower - June 2012
45. Sort out the basement storage and get rid of anything we haven't used for a year - April 15, 2012
46. Install more shelves in the laundry closet - Fall 2010
47. Buy a new fridge - March 11, 2011
48. Buy a new stove - March 11, 2011
49. Get area rugs for living room and dining room - December 16, 2011
50. Declutter 101 items to toss, give away, sell on craigslist or give to charity - they're all here [280/101]
51. Finish J's bathroom - wall art, towel rack etc. - December 9, 2011

Entertainment
52. Go to a movie as a family - August 2012
53. Visit at least two of the places in Alex's day trips book [2/2] - July 29, 2012 and May 4, 2013
54. Go to a movie with Alex - May 28, 2011
56. Ask five people to recommend one book and read that book. Even if it's not a book I think I'll enjoy. - September 2012 [5/5]
57. Get an iPod and load all of our CDs onto it - May 21, 2012
58. Sort out our books and give the ones we're not interested in or won't read again to charity - January 2011
59. Have three dinner parties[3/3] - February 2012
60. Host a baby shower - October 30, 2010
62. Host a Christmas party - November 27, 2010

Travel
66. Take J camping, preferably in a tent (not in a tent, maybe next time) - February 5, 2012
67. Take a holiday with Alex only - Summer 2012
68. Take a holiday with J only - February 5, 2012

Creative and writing
70. Knit a winter hat for J - November 2010
72. Post on this blog every day for one month March 31, 2011
75. Write at least twice a week for Get Fit Chicks for a month October 28, 2010
77. Get the postcard section of the blog up to date - June 2012
78. Send at least five postcards a month for three months using Postcrossing [3/3] - March, April and May 2011
80. Send a secret to PostSecret - Spring 2011
84. Write and mail (ON TIME) 12 birthday cards in a 12 month period – Spring 2013
85. Choose a month from the 26 things photography scavenger hunt archive and do the scavenger hunt – Spring 2013

Professional and Volunteering
88. Take a risk and take on a BIG challenge that is outside my comfort zone on the next project at work - Spring 2012
89. Take at least one course that will help me do my job better - May 22, 2012
90. Sponsor a family at Christmas - January 26, 2011
91. Find a new position within Guiding - October 2011
92. Clear my personal email inbox - home and work - November 8, 2011
93. Once clear, maintain clear status for a week - November 15, 2011
94. Once maintained for a week, maintain for at least another month - January 4, 2012

Fun and Random Stuff
98. Bake something yummy for someone special as a surprise - October 7, 2010
99. Surprise someone with a care package - April 2012
100. Put $5 in a special savings account for every item I cross off this list [70/101 saved] – June 11, 2013
101. If day 1001 comes and there are still items left, donate to a charity that is relevant to our lives at that time – June 11, 2013

Partly complete

Me
1. Fit back into pre-tumble down the stairs clothes
13. Weigh less on day 1001 than on day 1
*I definitely did number #13, but then I had a baby in April and I’m not quite back done there yet…

Family
21. Do an insurance inventory of the contents of our home
22. Get our 72 hour emergency kit properly stocked
Dear Shannon, these two are VERY IMPORTANT. Get them done. ASAP. Like, yesterday.

Food
33. Make dinner from the Best of Bridge cookbook five times – I managed 2/5, I think, it might be 3/5…but I’ll blog about it…one day

Home
41. Hire a painter to finish painting
42. Install a back splash in the kitchen
44. Clear J's closet of the boxes from the move

Entertainment
None
I either completed the things on this part of the list or didn’t even start…

Travel
None
I either completed the things on this part of the list or didn’t even start…

Creative and writing
71. Sew those secret Christmas presents for those specific people (yeah, yeah, I'll elaborate later) – I started them…
73. Blog about each one of the 101 things
76. Send a special thank you letter just because – I had a few people in mind and I ever finish the letters…
79. Make a list of 101 beautiful things in my life – this was harder than I expected and ended up being more personal than I thought…I got a good way through it but I don’t think I would have shared it
87. Write in my real live paper journal at least once a week for three months – I started this a few times and never made it through the three months

Professional and Volunteering
ALL COMPLETED!

Fun and Random Stuff
None
I either completed the things on this part of the list or didn’t even start…

Not complete (and likely not even started….)

Me
6. Buy nothing for a week [exceptions: groceries, necessities, emergencies, services/bills]

Family
23. Make photos books for J's first two years

Food
30. Make pizzelle
35. Make dinner from the Good Housekeeping cookbook five times

Home
Nothing not started  - everything either completed or at least started

Entertainment
55. Watch all the nominees for Best Picture for one year (not necessarily the current year)
61. Host a board game night

Travel
63. Go to Seattle on the train
64. Have a mini-reunion with some of my HPA friends
65. Go to Portland
69. Spend at least one night away from both Alex and J

Creative and writing
74. Answer "50 questions that will free your mind"
81. Put wedding photos in an album
82. Put honeymoon photos in an album
83. Put UK2009 trip photos in an album
86. Do a photographic day in the life (one photo for every waking hour)

Professional and Volunteering
All completed!

Fun and Random Stuff
95. Leave an inspirational note inside a book for someone to find
96. Put change in someone's expired parking meter
97. Pay for a stranger's meal/coffee/purchase

Less than six months to go

Ack…my 101 in 1001 expires on June 11. That’s less than 6 months away and there are some big things happening in our lives between now and then.

I figured it was time for an update (mostly for me to figure out where I stand with this challenge). I have 42 things that are not crossed off…that’s a lot…but, some of them are in progress, so I just have to finish them and some are fairly simple to do, I just have to do them. I think I’ll get most of them done – two things are going to make a few of them tricky – being pregnant and possibly moving in the next 6 months, but I’ll do what I can.

On top of the 42 not quite complete items, I have 27 things to blog about or finish blogging about. That’s a lot of work ahead of me. So if I ever complain I have nothing to do or nothing to write about, someone should remind me about this list!

Is anyone else still doing their 101 list??

Things I have left to do:

1. Fit back into pre-tumble down the stairs clothes – not sure if this will happen considering I’m pregnant right now…but it might. Baby is due in April, but I doubt I’ll be back down there in six weeks.

3. Have a sisters' day without J

5. Sort out all of my clothes and take the ones I'm never going to wear again or that don't fit to charity (or toss if they're in bad shape) – this is definitely in progress, but it’s hard right now (see #1 – pregnant)

6. Buy nothing for a week [exceptions: emergencies, non-negotiable bills (ie heating, mortgage)]

10. Really reconnect with an old friend – I haven’t decided if this is in progress or done or neither

13. Weigh less on day 1001 than on day 1 – unlike #1, this will likely actually happen.

14. Complete a full crossword puzzle

19. Go on 10 "adventures" – this is partly done. It might be all done, but I haven’t blogged about it. I need to check.

21. Do an insurance inventory of the contents of our home

22. Get our 72 hour emergency kit properly stocked

23. Make photos books for J's first two years

30. Make pizzelle

33. Make dinner from the Best of Bridge cookbook five times [2/5]

35. Make dinner from the Good Housekeeping cookbook five times [2/5]

40. Decide what we're going to put on the clutter collecting wall in the living room and buy it/have it made – I’ve decided, but since we might be moving in the next few months, I might not buy it…it doesn’t make sense to have a fairly custom piece of furniture that won’t necessarily work in a new place

41. Hire a painter to finish painting – this has to get done if we’re going to move

42. Install a back splash in the kitchen – this has to get done if we’re going to move

44. Clear J's closet of the boxes from the move46. Install more shelves in the upstairs storage room

53. Visit at least two of the places in Alex's day trips book [1/2]

55. Watch all the nominees for Best Picture for one year (not necessarily the current year)

61. Host a board game night

63. Go to Seattle on the train – likely not going to happen…pregnant+no passport=no trips across the border

64. Have a mini-reunion with some of my HPA friends – likely not going to happen…pregnant+no passport=no trips across the border, so unless they come to see me…

65. Go to Portland – likely not going to happen…pregnant+no passport=no trips across the border

69. Spend at least one night away from both Alex and J – we’ll see…see pregnant reason above

71. Sew those secret Christmas presents for those specific people (yeah, yeah, I'll elaborate later)

73. Blog about each one of the 101 things – still in progress since I’m not done yet!

74. Answer "50 questions that will free your mind"

76. Send a special thank you letter just because

79. Make a list of 101 beautiful things in my life

81. Put wedding photos in an album

82. Put honeymoon photos in an album

83. Put UK2009 trip photos in an album

84. Write and mail (ON TIME) 12 birthday cards in a 12 month period [11/12]

85. Choose a month from the 26 things photography scavenger hunt archive and do the scavenger hunt

86. Do a photographic day in the life (one photo for every waking hour)

87. Write in my real live paper journal at least once a week for three months

95. Leave an inspirational note inside a book for someone to find

96. Put change in someone's expired parking meter

97. Pay for a stranger's meal/coffee/purchase

100. Put $5 in a special savings account for every item I cross off this list [59/101 saved]

101. If day 1001 comes and there are still items left, donate $20 per item to a charity that is relevant to our lives at that time

101.1 Have a new list of 101 things ready by day 1001 (containing anything that didn't get done this time!) – I’ve already started!

Things I need to blog about:

2. Enroll J in swimming lessons before she turns 3 – um yeah…this happened two years ago…

16. Update address book – umm…I did this over a year ago

17. Set J's room up with a kid sized table and chairs for reading, puzzles and colouring

24. Take J to a farmer's market

26. Write 10 thank you cards with J

32. Make dinner from the Jamie Oliver cookbook every night for a week five times

43. Fix the grout in the shower

45. Sort out the basement storage and get rid of anything we haven't used for a year

49. Get area rugs for living room and dining room

50. Declutter 101 items to toss, give away, sell on craigslist or give to charity - they're all here [280/101]

51. Finish J's bathroom - wall art, towel rack etc.

54. Go to a movie with Alex

56. Ask five people to recommend one book and read that book. Even if it's not a book I think I'll enjoy

57. Get an iPod and load all of our CDs onto it

58. Sort out our books and give the ones we're not interested in or won't read again to charity

59. Have three dinner parties [3/3]

67. Take a holiday with Alex only

77. Get the postcard section of the blog up to date

78. Send at least five postcards a month for three months using Postcrossing [3/3]

80. Send a secret to PostSecret

88. Take a risk and take on a BIG challenge that is outside my comfort zone on the next project at work

89. Take at least one course that will help me do my job better

91. Find a new position within Guiding

92. Clear my personal email inbox - home and work

93. Once clear, maintain clear status for a week

94. Once maintained for a week, maintain for at least another month

99. Surprise someone with a care package

Just the two of us

We are very fortunate that while my parents live a five hour drive from us, we get to see them a lot. My family has always been close and I'm so glad that J gets to have a good relationship with her grandparents even though we're not in the same city. We Skype with them regularly and once or twice a year J gets to go visit them *without* her parents. I'm not sure who is most excited about that, J, my mom and dad, or Alex and I. Sometime Alex and I get to do fun stuff while J is away and sometimes it's a time for us to catch up on work around our place.

J was gone for five days this time and we decided to try to get some fun stuff and some work in. I had the week off and Alex was working the day shift, so we actually got to see a lot of each other.

Five nights without J meant all kinds of things:

4 afternoon naps
1 piece of furniture given away on craigslist
5 nights where I stayed up past my bedtime
1,473,204,283 pieces of random paper and other junk removed from our home
38 cups of coffee too many
1 shower almost fixed
62 times an hour I thought of and missed J
nothing painted because instead we sorted out the balcony and did other boring cleaning chores
15 - 84 times a day I checked on J because she was playing too quietly or sleeping too quietly but really she just wasn't here
5 mornings where I got to sleep in a little
1 kitchen back splash picked out (but not yet installed)
2 trips to the post office
1 trip to the library
4 walks
1 night of Shakespeare
1 dinner date with Alex
1 lunch date with Alex
1 dinner date with Fifers

I think we did pretty well! But I'm oh so glad to have my little J back. I missed her so much!

Banned Books

While I was writing a post for The Great Book Challenge, I was trying to find the title of a book I read when I was about 11 or 12 - I picked it up at the library from a display of "banned books". It was about a young boy who's older brother was part of the resistance movement in World War II. Except the boy and his brother were resisting the Allied forces, not the Axis powers. They maybe lived in the Netherlands or possibly in Scandinavia, but I can't remember and of course, I can't find the book. My mom read it too and then asked if I had any questions about - I remember it being a difficult book because there was discussion of suicide and war and people disappearing in the night, but my biggest question was why would anyone ban a book? Followed by a question along the lines of "War is stupid, no matter what side you're on. Is it bad that I felt bad for the family in the book (I think the kid's name started with A) even though they were on the "other" side?" [My mom's answers: Because people are scared and no, it's not bad to feel empathy for people on the "other" side of a war. It's still a war and it's still horrible no matter which side you're on]

If you happen to know what book I'm vaguely referring to, please tell me.

Anyway. In the course of my internet searching I did find this great list of the top 110 banned books - with instructions to bold books you've read, colour books you'd like to read and italicize books you've read part of.Except there are only 109 books on this list because #58 disappeared.

And we all know I like lists.

So here it goes. It looks like I've read 15, read part of 4, which leaves 89 that I've never picked up. And that reminds me that even though I have a degree in English, I have read pathetically few of the books that most people consider the "classics" and I'm not really sure how I managed to get my degree without reading them...oh well...something to work on I guess! I didn't colour any because I recognized most of the titles and there are some I definitely want to read and some that I feel like I should read...and so then pretty much all of the 89 that are left would be coloured...

1. The Bible
2. Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
4. The Koran
5. Arabian Nights
6. Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
7. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
8. Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
9. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
10. Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
11. The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
12. Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
13. Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
14. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
15. Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
16. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
17. Dracula by Bram Stoker
18. Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin
19. Tom Jones by Henry Fielding
20. Essays by Michel de Montaigne
21. Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
22. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
23. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
24. Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
25. Ulysses by James Joyce
26. Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio
27. Animal Farm by George Orwell
28. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
29. Candide by Voltaire
30. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
31. Analects by Confucius
32. Dubliners by James Joyce
33. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
34. Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
35. Red and the Black by Stendhal
36. Das Capital by Karl Marx
37. Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire
38. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
39. Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D. H. Lawrence
40. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
41. Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
42. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
43. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
44. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
45. Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx
46. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
47. The Diary of Samuel Pepys by Samuel Pepys
48. Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
49. Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
50. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
51. Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
52. Critique of Pure Reason by Immanuel Kant
53. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
54. Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus
55. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
56. Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X
57. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
58. Essay Concerning Human Understanding by John Locke
59. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
60. Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe
61. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
62. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
63. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
64. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
65. Confessions by Jean Jacques Rousseau
66. Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais
67. Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
68. The Talmud
69. Social Contract by Jean Jacques Rousseau
70. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
71. Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence
72. American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
73. Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
74. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
75. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
76. The Red Pony by John Steinbeck
77. Popol Vuh
78. Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith
79. Satyricon by Petronius
80. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
81. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
82. Black Boy by Richard Wright
83. Spirit of the Laws by Charles de Secondat Baron de Montesquieu
84. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
85. Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
86. Metaphysics by Aristotle
87. Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
88. Institutes of the Christian Religion by Jean Calvin
89. Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
90. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
91. Sanctuary by William Faulkner
92. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
93. Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
94. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
95. Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
96. General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud
97. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
98. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Alexander Brown
99. Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
100. Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines
101. Emile Jean by Jacques Rousseau
102. Nana by Emile Zola
103. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
104. Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
105. Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
106. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
107. The Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
108. Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark
109. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

The half-way point: 101 in 1001

Time for a 101 in 1001 update...I figured I'd write this post back at day 501, also known as January 28, 2012, but somehow that didn't happen.

Today is day 513. Not too far off.

At this point I've managed to complete 41 of my 101 things and there are 22 (I think) in progress. Which is pretty good I think. Some of the in progress items are big and some are almost complete, so I think I might be on track to get to 101. It might be close though. Thankfully I have over a year, so even some of the tough ones should be within reach.

I am a bit surprised that I have made over 50 new recipes already - some have made it into regular rotation and some will never be consumed at our house again. It was choosing recipes and I am still trying new stuff all the time - I may or may not blog about them, we'll see.

Our home is more home-like than it was 513 days ago. I've crossed off a few things and have made a lot of progress on others. There is a pretty good chance we'll be moving before all of the 1001 days have passed, so some of those goals might have to change. Like, if we do sell before we get a back splash installed in the kitchen, that goal will have to change. I can't imagine the new owners will want me to randomly show up and put tile up in their kitchen so I can cross something off a list on my blog. But you never know...

I'm enjoying this challenge immensely! It was a great way to motivate myself to do some of those things I've been putting off for a while and pushing myself a little harder...

Not sure if any of you are still out there, but if you are and you're doing a 101 in 1001 list, how is your list going?

Oh hello 2012, yes I am a bit behind the times...

Well, I was going to do a 2012 resolutions goals post, but I didn't get around to it. And then I thought, meh, why can't I do it now, 11 days into 2012? I normally don't make resolutions because I figure if I want to set a goal or make a change, I may as well start now...I don't have to wait until January 1, because sometimes that's a long wait (e.g. 355 days from now if I thought up something brilliant today)

So what will 2012 hold for me? I have no idea. But I hope I can take it in stride. In the past, the way 2011 ended would have had me living life as a raging insomniac with an upset stomach. But this time it didn't and I'd like to see that continue this year. Nothing was particularly horrible. Mostly it was stuff that I couldn't change and that would sort itself out on its own and until that happened, I just had to live with it one way or another.

That sounds cryptic.

It isn't meant to be.

Let's see. I can't really give a good example, but here's something that happened before with my job that is similar but different to my job situation in December. Let's pretend that's what's happening now.

There are things happening in a number of departments, some closely associated with mine, some not remotely associated with mine, that likely will impact the nature of my job and quite possibly my job description in the next 3-6 months. I can't do anything to change those things and the result of a change in one department can easily cause something in another department to do a 180. So, in the next 3-6 months, my job will

(a) stay the same
(b) have a huge change in job description and no change in salary
(c) have a huge change in job description and a change in salary
(d) stay the same but I'll be in a different department
(e) disappear

In a perfect world the best outcome would be (c), followed by (a), but at this point I can't do anything other than prepare for the worst possible outcome and then put it out of my mind. Because otherwise I'll go crazy.

So I've done that. I updated my resume (which I probably should every 6 months anyway) and I go to work every day like I usually do. And I'm okay with that. A few years ago, I'd be all stressed out over it and it would be making me miserable.

I also said no to bunch of Christmas stuff. I decided we didn't need to have cookies. Because I didn't have time for them. I love doing the Christmas baking and most of the time find it quite enjoyable, but when it becomes a rush to beat the clock and I end up staying up too late, well, it sucks. So I didn't bake this year. And do you know what? Christmas was awesome! I didn't even notice the missing baking and if anyone else noticed, they didn't say anything.

So what are my goals for 2012?

1. Exercise a minimum of twice a week with Georgia
2. Go to yoga regularly (once a week at work) and try to do yoga at least 4 days a week
3. Stick to our weekly menu plan - I can't believe how much bigger our grocery bill is when we don't stick to it - not necessarily because of eating out either
4. Sort out the storage issue
5. Get moving on our plan to move (this is not an imminent move - it's a good 6 months away, but we figure it could take up to 24 months...)
6. Hone my cribbage skills in preparation for SACO 2012
7. Finish up the list of tasks from 52 weeks of organizing

Some of those are big goals - like #5 - that have multiple little steps on the route to accomplishment. Some are smaller - like #1 - #3 - and I just have to make time to do them regularly.

So 2012, here I come...I'm going to do my best to not fret about things that are out of my control and do my best to stay focused on small steps to reach bigger goals.

Slow down...

I seem to have slowed down...completely...

I will be back eventually (and I'm fine. Really. No more scary headaches. The all-clear is still an all-clear)

Maybe I'll be back this weekend...maybe not...like I said when I popped in to say hello at the beginning of the month, I have a list...It's grown a little bit. I also have a list for this weekend - it's long. It might allow for some blogging time. It should allow me to cross at least one more thing off the 101 in 1001 list...I sure like lists.

Okay. Since it's Friday and I also have a list at work, I should get back to crossing things off that list so that I can have fun crossing things off the other two lists this weekend...

Happy Friday!

My love-hate relationship with the book of face

Dear Facebook,

I know I curse you almost daily and I wonder why you change as often as you do, but I should probably take a moment or ten to thank you periodically.

Without you, I wouldn't know who just checked in at the grocery store. Maybe one day I'll work up the nerve to ask that person to bring me a loaf of bread.

Without you, I wouldn't know who just got dumped by whom before the dumpee finds out. Wait, do I really want to know that?

Without you, I wouldn't have the opportunity to see seventy-four almost identical shots of a friend of mine and a friend of theirs, posing in front of something.

Without you, I might forget my sisters' birthdays, my wedding anniversary and my name. If I used my real name.

Without you, the hits on my blog would be slightly higher and my real mail box would be happier more days of the year.

Without you, I would have more hours in my week because that two second log on to see if something was happening that turns into two hours of mindless clicking? Yeah, that wouldn't happen.

But in all fairness, I do have some things to sincerely thank you for.

Without you, I wouldn't have a clue how to track down a few very important people in my life who regularly move and never let their friends or family know (before Facebook, I think they thought we could find them telepathically?)

Without you, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to reconnect with a few very good friends from long ago who I had lost touch with somewhere along the way. It's so good to have them back in my life and even though most of them are far away, it's nice to know they're there...

Without you, I would have gone crazy in my first 18 months as a mommy. But when things went sideways, I could post it on Facebook (and annoy the crap out of half of my friends...sorry) and I'd have eighteen suggestions, reassurances or answers in about six minutes.

Without you, our family reunion would have been over in 24 hours. But it started two months ago and it's still going.

Without you, I'd never hear from some very important people in my life who apparently never learned to dial long distance or to use the post office. I'm okay with that. Because they're awesome at Facebooking.

Without you, I'd have a hard time keeping up with my friends from my days living in other countries. I wrote lots of letters when I lived in the village in the Alps. Because the village had maybe 1500 people and I only spoke English and you can't really ski in the dark. So I wrote lots of letters. But now I have things to do. Other than write letters.

Without you, I'd never get to see my cousin's pictures from the family reunion because he lives in another town or my dear friend's amazing pictures of her trip because she lives in another country or my other friend's beautiful children because they live in far away now.

So, while you annoy me and I threaten to get rid of you, regularly, I really do appreciate you.

Thank you for keeping me connected...

The waiting game

Really, there are a million things I should be doing right now. Sleeping is at the top of that list and blogging isn't even on the list...but, well, I seem to be blogging, not sleeping.

Tomorrow is my first appointment with the neurologist. Maybe I'll get some answers. Maybe I won't. We'll see.

So instead of sleeping I've been baking. Blueberry banana bread, blueberry muffins and yummy cinnamon swirl bread. It was supposed to be for tomorrow, but I had to sample it, you know?

I also roasted some garlic and when it's a decent hour tomorrow I'll make a quick batch of hummus. We're picnicking tomorrow, so it's picnic food time...

And instead of doing laundry (our laundry baskets threw up all over our room) I unhooked the washer and dryer in anticipation of the arrival of the new machines. I also crammed our dirty laundry into black garbage bags so that I can do some serious laundry over the weekend. It's been two weeks since I've done laundry and I'm starting to notice it...

Anyway, it thought I'd share a few things that I've learned over the past few weeks. I don't have any answers yet, but I've learned a few things for sure!

Stuff I've learned about me:

• When I'm feeling stress (which I apparently am tonight) I head to the kitchen. Like I did tonight. Who bakes that much on a warmish summer night? When there are a million other things to do? When they should be resting up for the big appointment the next day? Me apparently.
• That I might have to take medication for the rest of my life. And if I do, I'm never going to taste a grapefruit again. Guess what I've been craving for the last two weeks...

Stuff I've learning about my "condition" (I'm not sure what to call it - it's not an illness or a disease or an injury, so I'm going with condition):

• My family doctor is very optimistic everything will be pretty well normal.
• My doctor warned me to be prepared for the possibility that they won't have any answers for me for a while or possibly ever. And that is such a frustrating possibility for me. I'd like to know how to prevent further episodes of the "condition"
• That regardless of the test results, I'm still probably going to have to take daily medication forever (see above) and that isn't making me very happy right now...

Stuff I've learned about my community:

• It's a lot bigger than I thought it was. This shouldn't really surprised me since they same thing happened when I injured my back - thanks guys....your visits, phone calls, emails, texts, blog comments and Facebook notes have all made the past two weeks so much more bearable.

Stuff I've learned about J:

• Toddlers are infinity more adaptable than I ever gave little miss credit for. She spent every evening last week sitting quietly on my bed playing or reading so that I could rest. Occasionally she'd pause and rub my temple and tell me "It will be okay Mommy." That alone is enough to make me feel better. She enjoyed this week and its usual trips to the park after dinner a lot more than last week!

Stuff I've learned about the hospital:

• It's unnerving to be the youngest patient at the heart clinic by a good twenty years. And that woman, the one who was about 20 years older than me? She appeared to be accompanying her mother to the clinic.
• The hospital is huge. It's very important to know which building and floor you're going to or you'll get hopelessly lost.
• Some areas of the hospital smell better than others.
• The hospital I've been frequenting is a teaching hospital. That means telling the same story two or three times before actually seeing the doctor. Or having the same ultrasound two or three times. But it's all good. At this point I'm still rational and patient enough to realize this is how doctors are made...
• Parking at the hospital coasts a small fortune. The best place to park is on the lowest or second lowest level. Because no one wants to park so "far" away. So there are lots of spaces - and lots that don't have concrete posts next to them.
• Always carry a book. And a binder. The book is because you'll always have to do some waiting. Even when your appointment is on time. The binder is for all the information you need to tell each and every doctor, specialist, technician and nurse you see and to add the new information to when they give it to you. Because you will forget. Before you stand up from your chair and leave the room. I promise.

Stuff I've learned about my job:

• It's important to know your company policies for sick leave and doctors' appointments (if there is one).
• It's important to figure out if your best bet is sick leave, sick days, appointment leave or vacation. I've done a combination of sick days, vacation and appointment leave but somewhere else I might have done it differently.
• I highly recommend talking to your supervisor, their supervisor and your HR rep (if you have one) as soon as possible, giving them as many details as you possibly can (if you're comfortable sharing). They will be more willing to help you out if they know what's going on.
• If you don't know your rights surrounding sick leave, find out. Quick. I know my rights having done this twice before and I happen to have an employer with good policies, so I'm not worried...I have also done this before with the same company, so the process was a lot easier this time around. And I'm not on sick leave right now so that helps.
• It's just a job. That I like. And want to keep. But there are things that are more important in my life than my job. I didn't actually learn that this week, it was just reinforced in the most forceful way possible!

Now I'm off to bed so I can rock my appointment tomorrow and try to convince the doctors I don't need that daily medication....

Friend Makin' Mondays on Tuesday....

Somehow I missed last week's Friend Makin' Monday and the one before that was about Fourth of July plans and because I was working because I'm Canadian, I didn't do it...so here I am a day late.

If you would like to participate too, answer the questions below and then head over to Kenlie's blog and leave your link in the comments.

1) What do you like most about yourself? I'm optimistic (although there are days when I wish I was a little less so...)

2) List three characteristics that you like to have in your friends. Supportive, loyal, kind

3) How often do you brush your teeth? Three times a day...at least...

4) If you could travel anywhere today, where would you go? London. Because I miss it. And it's my fault I miss it. Check out the book blog later tonight and you'll see why....

5) Have you ever met anyone from the blog world in person? YUP! AndreaClaire!

6) What is the last show you watched on TV? Um, well, I had a mini-TV-athon when we got home last night - Rookie Blue, Property Brothers and Love It Or List It (oh, I am SOOOOOOOOO Canadian)

7) What kind of perfume/cologne do you wear? Eau de Shannon

8) How long ago did you complete your last workout? 2 hours and 46 minutes ago

9) What will you eat for dinner tonight? The menu says chicken fingers, but I'm not sure...J and I have to go to the grocery store on the way home so we might mix up the week's plan a bit....

10) Share something fun that you did over the weekend. Alex and I had TWO (well maybe THREE) dates...we went shopping and got a ton of fall clothes for J for next to nothing, we went for dessert on Saturday night and my parents put J to bed and we went to see Super 8 on Sunday night and my parents did bed time duty AGAIN...

A look back...

Back in 2006 I filled this out...and because I have nothing better to do tonight (like the dishes or sleep...ahem) I thought I'd see what my answers are now like (sisters, I know you drop by occasionally...you both answered the questions in 2006 too...) Green ones stayed the same, blue ones are new answers.

1. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR KITCHEN PLATES? plain white

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING RIGHT NOW? The Disappeared

3. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? red stuff

4. FAVORITE BOARD GAME? trivial pursuit

5. FAVORITE MAGAZINE? Real Simple

6. FAVORITE SMELL? J after a bath

7. LEAST FAVORITE SMELL? the asbestos building I work in

8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? really? morning already? please let it be Saturday

9. FAVORITE COLOUR? I like blues and purples and pinks

10. LEAST FAVORITE COLOUR? yucky orange (there is nice orange too)

11. HOW MANY RINGS BEFORE YOU ANSWER THE PHONE? no more than four, because that's when the answering machine picks up. no one ever calls me anyway!

12. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME? There's going to be more than one?

13. WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IN LIFE? living

14. Uh...there is still no 14?

15. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? vanilla

16. DO YOU LIKE TO DRIVE FAST? sometimes

17. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? I have a teddy who sits on my bed during the day, but usually sleeps on the floor at night

18. STORMS - COOL OR SCARY? very cool

19. WHAT TYPE WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? Alex's Honda Civic

20. IF YOU COULD MEET ONE PERSON DEAD OR ALIVE WHO WOULD IT BE? my grandma

21. FAVORITE ALCOHOLIC DRINK? what is alcohol? I think it makes me sleepy

22. WHAT IS YOUR SIGN AND YOUR BIRTHDAY? cancer - July 3 - odd that this is the same...

23. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI? yup

24. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB WHAT WOULD IT BE? I have that job - I'm J's mommy!

25. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY COLOUR HAIR, WHAT WOULD IT BE? I like my brown hair even though it's got golden highlights right now (yellow according to J!)

26. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN LOVE? mmmhmmm

27. IS THE GLASS HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY? half full

28. FAVORITE MOVIE? love actually

29. TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS? yup...I was forced to take grade nine typing and as much as I loathed it, typing has probably done me more good than the table I could have made in woodwork.

30. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED? under the bed storage boxes filled with towels and sheets

31. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER? 13

32. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH? hockey

33. WHAT IS YOUR SINGLE BIGGEST FEAR? something happening to Alex or J

34. FAVORITE TV SHOWS? I have too many...Bones, Rookie Blue, Criminal Minds, NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, Law & Order (the original and SVU)...

35. KETCHUP OR MUSTARD? ick..neither

36. HAMBURGERS OR HOTDOGS? burgers! but sometimes hot dogs are the right thing to eat (usually those times involve a campfire and burnt marshmallows too)

37. FAVORITE SOFT DRINK? San Pellegrino - limonata

38. THE BEST PLACES YOU HAVE EVER BEEN? home, London, Italia, Copenhagen

39. WHAT SCREEN SAVER IS ON YOUR COMPUTER RIGHT NOW? ummm...the screen goes blank after a few minutes of being ignored

40. BURGER KING OR MACDONALD'S? neither

Okay, now I'm going to do what I should have done an hour ago...I'm going to bed...good night!

Week 24: Finish what you started

Like maybe this post?

I started this on Friday and here it is Tuesday and I'm just finishing it...the story of my life!

So, this week Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie said she’d be hard on us. She shared a story of The Bearded Iris who is having trouble finishing her projects and asked “Can you relate?” That's the question.



The tips? Finish what you started. Break things down into manageable chunks. Reevaluate and, if necessary, rewrite the list of 52 projects.

Can I relate?

Oh yes, I certainly can and I do.

And then I took out my list. Which I’ve now revised because, really, some of the things on the list were just too big and I’d start doing them and not feel like I'd finished everything. Some of those things I've started many times, almost finished many times and then never got around to actually finishing and had to start all over again.

I realized as I redid the list, some of the things were getting done but the reason they weren't being crossed of was because the project was too big. You'll see the shelves in our bedroom are all listed one by one. That's because it takes 5-10 minutes to do a shelf and I have a toddler. Sometimes I can do three or four shelves at a time and sometimes I'm lucky to get through one. But part of the reward (for me) is crossing something off, so I gave each shelf its own line. (There will be a post on those shelves soon because I'm almost done!) There are more than 52 things on my list right now, but that's okay. Because I still think they're entirely doable!

I also really need to take note of Laura's tip to have a box for things that belong elsewhere and to put them back at the end. I did that this weekend and it really made a difference in how much time I took to do stuff! YAY! With summer here (I hope) I don't want to spend too much time organizing my house...I want to go outside and play with J!

So my little goal for myself is to try to finish one thing on my list during the week and one on the weekend. I know it's summer and that might not always work, but I'll try...and if by some amazing chance I complete more than one, then I'll do my happy dance!

Oh, and if I need any motivation, all I have to do is look at my house. It fell to ruins during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I was really, really busy with the very important task of cheering on the Canucks. Last week when the time came to restore some order to our abode, the spots that I've already organized (like this one) took mere minutes to tidy. I want my whole house to be like that!

Five YEARS

Hey! Guys? Anyone out there?

Five years ago today, right now, for the first time, I hit publish post and scribbles, scratches and scrawls was born.

FIVE YEARS with a blog? ME? I wasn't going to have a blog. Umm, yeah, I have three and contribute to a fourth. Right. Not going to have a blog.

So not possible. But it is. And it's real.

Lots has changed since then.

• In 2006 I lived in the Blue House. Now I live in the Lyons' Den. And in between we lived in the ghetto Pink Palace.
• In 2006 I rented. Now I have a mortgage.
• In 2006 I had a boyfriend. Now that boyfriend is my husband.
• In 2006 I lived with a roommate. Now I live a husband and a kid.
• In 2006 I took the bus to work every morning. Now I drive.
• In 2006 I had worked for my "new" boss for just over a year. In 2011 I have worked for my "new" boss for just under a year.
• In 2006 I had insomnia a lot. Now I don't have insomnia at all but I wish I had more hours to sleep.
• In 2006 I think I had about four readers. Now I have more than that. And I think that three of the four original readers are still reading. The fourth one I'm not so sure about, but my bloggy-sense tells me she's gone (and I'm okay with that).
• In 2006 I regularly lamented that Punk lived in another city. Now she lives eight blocks from me.
• In 2006 my blog had polka dots on it. Now it has birds.
• In 2006 Heddy left me my very first comment. She started a new blog last month and I got to leave her very first comment.
• In 2006 my book club was still running strong. Now my book club is virtual.
• In 2006 my now mother-in-law was in a tooth and nail fight with Cancer. Now she's been cancer free for four years.
• In 2006 I complained a lot about a Blackberry a certain person I worked with possessed. Now I have my own Blackberry.

Lots has changed, but some things haven't changed a bit.

• Alex is still here.
• I still love to read.
• My paper obsession hasn't stopped. In fact, it has probably grown a bit.
  
• The most important things in my life are people: my family and friends.
• I missed Pax Lodge. I still miss Pax Lodge.
  
• I still blather on and on and on about all kinds of things.

So, thanks for reading and thanks Heddy for pushing me to start...I thought it would fizzle, but there seems to be no end in sight!

Functional Fridge

So, this isn't on my list of things to do in 52 weeks, but it needed to be done and replacing our appliances was the motivation I needed. We'll see how long it looks like this. We went from a standard fridge/freezer combination to a freezer on the bottom model.

So this is what it looked like before - see my lovely FridgeSmart containers from Tupperware. Melynda suggested I buy them. They arrived just before Christmas and I've already saved over a hundred dollars because of them...and they cost me less than $100.



Notice there is no light...I didn't replace it when it died last MAY because I thought it would motivate us to go shopping for new appliances. We waited so long, that it turned out to our advantage. We were only going to replace the fridge and stove, but we managed to save enough to replace the dishwasher too. I'm so happy with our purchases! Anyway, back to the fridge.

Now it looks like this (and can I say, I'm so glad our fridge was going to the scrap yard and I didn't have to clean it before it left):


The FridgeSmart containers fit so well and I love that I don't have to kneel on the floor to get in the crisper drawers. We even have a designated lunch shelf (under the cheese/meat drawer). It doesn't happen often, but occasionally when a hungry person comes home from the night shift, lunch for the next day is mistakenly eaten. So the rule: if it's on that shelf (second from the top on the right) it's not to be touched. And if it's elsewhere, it's game unless it has a do not eat label.

Leftovers live on the top right and they are game for middle of the night eating.

This is the old fridge. The door drove me nuts. The bar for the second shelf was a bit too low and most things just fell over.


The new fridge is awesome...it even has room for the juice and milk in the door.


Our freezer drove me nuts because I felt like whenever I needed something, it was in the very back and I had to unload the fridge completely.


Stuff in the door often fell on the floor when the freezer was opened. UGH!


But the new freezer is awesome...lots of space and with two sets of drawers that pull out there's room for everything AND if it's at the back of the drawer it's still accessible.


And, as always, there was stuff to get rid of.


All of this had expired:

• Two bottles of Little Creek Dressing (different flavours), each with about 1/2 inch of dressing left
• Two bottles of Kraft dressing, one with 1/2 inch left and one full one (UGH)
• Two bottles of lime juice, each with about 1/4 cup of juice
• Slivered almonds
• Coconut
• Maraschino cherries - these have been in here for ages. Like I think maybe I moved from the Hobbit Hole with them. I moved over five years ago!
• About 1/4 cup of dried out dried cranberries. I'm not even sure why they were even in the fridge
• Thai red curry paste - it was solid. Not paste-y, solid.
• And the best thing ever...Dijon mustard that had changed colour and expired in 2004. WHAT? That's how often I eat mustard, obviously

So my goals for my new fridge are to keep the finger prints off as much as possible (but I'm only allowed to clean it once a day - max) and keep the inside organized. Which is much easier when I plan my meals.

My three lives of Guiding

Guiding has been a part of my life since I was seven years old. [That's a long time. We'll just leave it at that.] My Guiding involvement has had three distinct lives: The Girl Years, The Nomadic Era, and Now That I'm Really An Adult.

All three of those lives have smushed themselves together and made me who I am today. There were other things that definitely influenced me, like say, my parents and family and teachers. But Guiding has been a huge and positive influence on my life always.

So as promised I will be writing a bit about Guiding - look for posts titled (what else?!) The Girl Years, The Nomadic Era, and Now That I'm Really An Adult over the next few days.

I've also gone and created a quick little glossary of terms and/or links...because, well, I have heard from more than one reader who doesn't know what Guiding is.

Girl Guides of Canada
World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS)
House Assistant (HA) - House Assistant was the title given to volunteers at Pax Lodge when I was there. I believe they're called Resident Volunteers now. When I was there we worked in the kitchen, made beds and cleaned, worked in the office and the shop, and worked with the Programme Manager to deliver programs - games nights, house tours, evening programs for guests, tours etc
World Thinking Day (also known as Thinking Day and WTD)
Sparks
Brownies
Guides
Pathfinders
Rangers
Guider - Adult who leads of the above branches of Guiding
Commissioner - Woman (or women) in charge of a District, Division, Area, Province or in Canada's case, country

I want one...

Oh my goodness...look at the amazing Le Creuset kettle. I soooooooooooo want one. {This, by the way, is one of the blogs I discovered through Kath's blog roll}

And because I feel like I have nothing to say, I'm stealing the little list of questions too...

1. Describe yourself in 5 words

mommy, wife, sister, daughter, friend

2. What is the first thing you do upon awakening?

Hit the snooze button.

3. What is your normal daily routine?

Hit snooze a few times
Turn the stove on
Shower
Get dressed
Wake J
Turn the stove off
Convince J that we're not going anywhere until she has something to eat
Eat
Pack lunches into lunch bags (and maybe tidy the kitchen in there is time)
Help J get dressed
Brush our teeth
Drop J at daycare. DO NOT leave without reading a story and touching her hand through the window.
Breathe. It's now 8:20 (if we're lucky)
Work. Eat lunch. {Tuesday and Friday go to yoga} Work some more.
Pick J up from daycare
Stop at the grocery store. Hope the fun green truck grocery cart is available.
Go home.
Make dinner unless it's Alex's night...entertain J at the same time
Have dinner
Say goodbye to Alex
Read stories, play with play dough, cut paper into shreds, colour, start dishes
Bathe J
More stories followed by songs followed by good nights followed by a toddler singing, not sleeping
Finish/do dishes
Get lunches and dinner ready for morning
Get oatmeal ready for morning (this is why my day starts with turning the stove on)
Blog, knit, read, watch TV, do a little yoga
Sleep. It should be 10:00. But it's more likely 11:30. Which is why the first thing I'll do in the morning is hit the snooze button.

4. What are your hobbies?

Knitting, reading, blogging, playing with J

5. What do you to for relaxation?

yoga, read, write, go for a walk

6. What do you do for enjoyment?

see above plus hang out with J and Alex and my friends and family

7. Do you have a look or style?

tired mommy

8. Do you wear any identifiable jewellery?

Wedding and engagement ring

9. Which newspaper do you read?

The Globe and Mail, sometimes the Vancouver Sun

10. What's your favourite book?

I can tell you my least favourite (today). I don't know what it's called, but it's about a brother and sister fighting in the back seat of the car. It's actually pretty funny, but J has no frame of reference for sibling fights and the book distresses her. But she's obsessed. I hid it when she went to bed last night but she had to see it before breakfast. It's all she talked about.

11. Who's your favourite singer or band?

good question. I'll get back to you.

12. Whats your preference of exercise?

Walking, yoga

13. Where do you live?

Vancouver

14. Do you prefer the town or the country?

depends

15. Do you like your neighbours?

The ones I know...

16. What’s your favourite food?

strawberries

17. Whats your favourite drink?

Water followed by tea and coffee

18. What is your favourite treat?

Dad's cinnamon buns

19. Where do you like to go on holiday?

London, Kelowna, or somewhere we've never been

20. Do you enjoy roughing it or do you prefer your creature comforts?

If roughing it means camping, definitely! But I have a great appreciation for well-appointed hotel rooms too!

21. What place would you most like to visit?

Right now? LONDON!

22. What is your biggest fear?

Something happening to J

23. What's your biggest talent?

Somehow keeping our lives balanced

24. Whats your biggest weakness?

J when she says "Mommy, I just need a hug."

25. What annoys you the most?

Not getting to spend as much times as I'd like with Alex and J

26. Do you have any dreams or ambitions?

Dream: A house (it doesn't have to be big, just ours) with a yard and a place for a garden

27. What is your most treasured possession? (family not included)

photos and my "books" from Pax Lodge

28. Do you see wealth as a mark of success, or just as a means to an end?

not necessarily

29. Do you have a good luck charm?

no

30. Whats the best advice you have ever received

tomorrow's a new day

31. What would you do on the "perfect" day?

A picnic or bbq at a nice beach with family and friends

Stephen Harper's Book Club

Or Yann Martel's book club.

Or, because I can't resist a challenge, something new for me to do in my "spare" time.

So, when I saw the link to this, I was a bit skeptical, because really, what would Stephen Harper read? And what would he have to say about what he read?

I shouldn't have worried myself.

Stephen Harper's book club's book were chosen by Yann Martel (of Life of Pi fame).

Yann Martel pledged to send Stephen Harper one new book every two weeks for the duration of his term as Prime Minister of Canada. With each book, Yann Martel included a letter.

Last week Yann Martel announced he had sent the last book, even though Stephen Harper is still Prime Minister.

The list of books he sent to the Prime Minister is intriguing. I went through it and I'm curious and excited - yes, I'm a dork. I've read 9.5 of the books lists (.5 because #61 is two books and I have only read one...Where the Wild Things Are. It's actually on the table at home. J picked it out at the library on the weekend). So, in addition to my other book challenge, I'm going to try to read through this list. 100 books sent every two weeks is 200 weeks - just a couple of months shy of four years. I can do this...it just might take a while! And books from this challenge will count for the other challenge (providing they meet the criteria!) I love that the list isn't just fiction or non-fiction, it's not just about current issues, and it's not just Canadian works.

Oh, and I sort of feel sorry for the Prime Minister's Executive Correspondence Officer. How many boring letters like the response letters to you think (s)he has to write every day.

What do you think of the idea of a Prime Minister's book club? How many of the books have you read?

Books I have already read - but I'll likely reread them. It's been a while since I read most of them:

2. Animal Farm
13. To Kill A Mockingbird
14. Le Petit Prince
15. Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit
31. Their Eyes Were Watching God
33. Persepolis
37. A Modest Proposal
51. Julius Caesar
61. Where the Wild Things Are
79. Charlotte's Web

Oh and I couldn't decide where to post this - it fits with both blogs, so it's posted twice. Sorry if you got it twice...

Farewell 2010

Well, I had thought I'd do this on New Years Eve, but, well, J had other ideas...I wanted to go to bed early, but J was up until 10:30...

Then I thought, oh, I'll do it on New Years Day. Ha. J was up at 5:00. I know people who arrived home later than that...J went to bed and got up before they had even finished partying.

UGH.

So, here's my recap of 2010. On January 3rd.

Oh, and somehow this is my 1000th post...yeah, 1000th post...how the heck did that happen?

2010 was a crazy year for us and while overall it was great, I must say I'm happy to see it gone.

Let's see...it started with the crazy diet and it ended with a new crazy diet...
We were rudely awakened to the frailty of human life and how lucky we are to have our loved ones (and just in case we didn't get the message the first time, we were reminded again in the fall).

I started acupuncture to sort out some leftover issues from having J.

The Olympics and Paralympic games came to Vancouver and we had a blast! We even got to catch up with a friend of mine from my Our Chalet days. Alex got to work a shift with fairly normal hours and we all loved it. Apparently the excitement of the Gold Medal hockey game was too much for me and I disappeared from blogland for the month of March.

March was also the start of bi-weekly yoga for me and I discovered how much I love it.

The end of March marked a huge change in my work life as my department closed for good and I was transferred to a brand spanking new department. It was a big change, a new experience, and brought many challenges, but nine months in, while I miss my coworkers from my old department, I am enjoying my new position, department, and coworkers.

We got to summer and looked forward to J entering UBC...daycare that is...

J grew from a little baby into a little girl who entertains us on a daily basis with all kinds of antics. We left her with my parents for a week at Easter, spur of the moment, and again in August when we took a little vacation.

I started two new challenges this year - a book challenge and a 101 in 1001 challenge. And I made a new imaginary blog friend!

We started using the kitchen book to organize our lives and maximize the time we get to spend as a family...life with a daddy on crazy, ever-shifting shift work can be trying for all involved.

The weather turned very cold and we even got a big dump of snow. I started knitting again. We began celebrating Christmas early with the Santa Claus parade and ended with a lovely little Christmas vacation in k-town.

So yeah, a very productive and relatively happy year...I'm happy to see 2011 though. I'm hoping it might be a bit smoother going than 2010 was.

As for resolutions, well I don't make them. I set goals throughout the year. Right now I'm working on sticking to the GAPS diet and crossing things off the list of 101 in 1001 days...We're also working on sorting out the STUFF in our lives...getting rid of four bags of books today was just the beginning!

Happy 2011 to my blog readers...hope yours is wonderfully amazing and happy!

Ringing in the new

Soon I will be tucked away snug in my bed...but before I do that, I thought I'd try to recap 2010...

And I have lots stored up in my brain, so there might be regular posting in January...

Once again I tried to do this without looking at my previous answers (from 2007, 2008, and 2009)

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
started tweeting

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't make New Year's resolutions

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
I know a few people who had babies, some I know better than others!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thank goodness

5. What countries did you visit?
We stayed home

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
Maybe a little more time to read, more organization at home so there's more time to play and knit and write...but we're pretty fortunate and we don't really lack much. Maybe time with Alex because of his silly hours.

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
February 14 - 28 (28th in particular) - Olympics
March 23 - the day it went nuts (officially) at work

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Not going crazy during the last ten days or so of March

9. What was your biggest failure?
good question...no answer

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
no

11. What was the best thing you bought?
a tie between a new bed and ten visits to the acupuncturist

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Vancouverites and Canadians from coast to coast to coast during the Olympics.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
no one close to me

14. Where did most of your money go?
mortgage and daycare

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
winning the lottery...oh wait, no, that was just a dream

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
BINGO

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
 a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?
happier, thinner, richer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
sleep, spent time with Alex and J

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
feeling stressed about work/situations out of my control

20. How did you spend Christmas?
In Kelowna for ten days, celebrating with family and friends

21. Did you fall in love in 2010?
nope...I was already in love!

22. What was your favorite TV program?
I would like it if the TV went away - that said, I try not to miss Criminal Minds...it's my new obsession

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
no

24. What was the best book you read?
The Book of Negroes

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Yeah, I didn't make any...there just wasn't time

26. What did you want and get?
a new bed

27. What did you want and not get?
the whole apartment painted...but we got it started, so we're on our way!

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
I think I might have only gone to one movie this year and it was Thomas the Tank Engine...And I don't think we rented anything...Maybe the original Death at a Funeral that I finally saw when I was home this summer?

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Went to a wine tasting with friends and out for dinner with Alex. 33

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
nothing

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?
ugh...I'm working on it

32. What kept you sane?
J and Alex and daycare

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
none

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
can't think of one

35. Who did you miss?
a bunch of people who don't live in Vancouver

36. Who was the best new person you met?
I didn't meet a lot of new people this year - the daycare ladies, my new boss (who I knew but didn't know...does that make sense?), Lisa, AndreaClaire

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010
If you can't do anything about it, it's not worth the worry. It will work out somehow in the end

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I don't know any songs...see #25 above

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is my year. I feel very blessed and very lucky to have such wonderful people in my life.

Wishing you a safe and memorable New Year's Even 2010 all the very best in 2011! I hope it's a year of love, laughter, adventure, great friends, super memories, delicious, good health, and many other great things for all of you (and us too!)