101 in 1001 Update

Instead of doing separate posts for my progress on my 101 in 1001, I decided to keep the boring stuff stuck together, so if you didn't really care it'd be easier to skip over this way. :)

#4-11
Cheeseburger on the grill with all the fixings  - YUM! (A little secret, I didn't make it, but I watched other people and I did set the table & help cut the tomatoes. So it counts.)

Take G to Children's Museum - We had a wonderful time, and I could probably had made an entire post about this...but my heart stills hurts over accidentally deleting all the pictures from my memory card. The pictures from the children's museum were the ONLY ones not backed up on my computer yet.

Get Rid of Unnecessary Things - Well having 2 1/2 months notice to move, certainly helped put our butts in gear for this one. And of course we had the yard sale, so it's always nice to make a couple dollars on the process too. (Though a yard sale is a lot of work!!) The process is not yet over, but we're about 2/3 done, and it's safe to say that it'll get done this weekend or next. This is one that's a big relief to say it's almost completed.

Donate Items to Some  Place Other than Salvation Army - After our yard sale, all the remaining contents were packed up and <strikethrough>sent to the local rotary for their rummage sale</strikethrough> are waiting to be delivered to the rotary for their rummage sale.

Go on a date night with Tyson - Harry Potter 7 Part 2 - Need I say more?

Take G Swimming for the 1st Time - This was back on July 4th weekend. You can see the pictures here.
She actually swam in a lake and a pool, each for the 1st time, within 48 hours of each other. She is definitely a water baby. Loved it. You could tell she wanted to go on her own, hopefully she learns to swim early.

Eat Some Place New - Three places new,actually, and none that I'll be returning to. (One from the outside it looked like a casual, small town dinner. On the inside it was huge fancy portions and more $$ than we anticipated. Another is a local restaurant I drive by on a weekly basis, and I've always been curious. The food was good, but the prices a little extreme - an extra $1.25 for fries, on top of a 8 dollar burger! And the third place....gave me a belly ache.)

Write a letter to some place that did good - Too often people comment on places, or contact a company when something is bad, or has gone wrong. I have been trying hard to see the good in people, places & things. When writing my 101 list, I figured this would be a good exercise to concentrate on the good. (And I actually was encouraged further from reading Penny Pinchin' Mom - who has her Apple a Day posts.) I sent an email to Plum Organics because I love, love, love their food pouches for G.  Unfortunately, I never even received a reply email that they received my praising email. That was a bit of a disappointment, and actually lowered my opinion of them. I'm not going to lie, getting something in the mail (even a coupon) from them would have been great, but I didn't expect it. But to not even get a "Thanks for being a great customer and sharing your thoughts" email was a bit of a bummer.

3 Down, 98 to Go!

Wow, I'm really making some head way on this list.
Of course, I seem to be hitting some of the easiest stuff first. But progress is progress. :)

G's Hair in Pigtails!!!

Seeing that for months this little girl was called "him" or "he" by strangers, even when wearing pink and covered with a pink flowery blanket - this is a very big moment for her Mama!!

2 Down 99 To Go!

Now it's a little sad that I actually had to write "Go 2 Days Without Checking Facebook" on my 101 list. But I guess it had to be done. I know I spend too much time on the computer & internet - and that's at work where I have no choice. My work is on a computer AND the internet.

It was just silly that I would then get home from work and spend another 15-30 minutes on FACEBOOK, not to mention any other website I may then visit.
Yes it's nice to see what my friends & family are up to, play a game or 2 and man it sure is easy to manage a family get together...but it was distracting my from my time with G, or my housework, or my husband or my 10,000 half-finished projects. It just wasn't worth my valuable evening time.

So I went 2 days without checking it - trust me it took a little effort to not just plop down at the computer while dinner was finishing up on the stove. But after the 2 days, I found I liked having that extra time. Not being "tuned in" with the computer and focusing on what's important.

It's forced me to create a new goal to not check it at all during the week. Not even sit down at the computer during the week. It's that likely, no, but 3 or 4 nights out of 5 isn't bad. And I really don't feel like I'm missing much. The glory of Facebook, everything will be there on the weekend when I have a few spare minutes to sit down.

1 Down, 100 to Go!

I get to cross off my first 101 in 1001!! I went somewhere in NY I’ve never been.

A few weeks ago Tyson, G & I went hiking at a state park not too far from us.

Originally I had not intended for this trip to count towards my 101. When I jotted down going somewhere new in the state, I meant a part of the state I’d never really been (Long Island or the Catskills being at the top of the list). But this state park ended up being a beautiful hike.

There were pretty incredible bluffs carved out by Lake Ontario.

We were able to play on a stone beach – the water was clear & blue, the sky was beautiful & bright and the sound of the waves was so peaceful. It reminded us very much of our trip to Acadia National Park.  

We even spotted 2 bald eagles, and I was able to shoot a picture of one of them. (Not the best shot though, I did not have my zoom lens with me.)

I knew I could count this as being somewhere I’d never been, when Tyson was looking over the pictures and said “If you didn’t tell anyone, they’d never know this place was actually in Upstate New York”. I know I sure didn't...and I LIVE HERE.

Even though I've checked this off my "list", there are still plenty more adventures to be had in NY.

Day One of 1001

This week has been one of those weeks where my creative juices are flowing - yet I don't have much follow through. I have started a couple projects, but these are some ongoing things and will take a little bit more time & effort before they're finished. But I hope to finish them soon, so I can share them here. My first attempts at having an organized life & household.

Along those same lines, I've wanted to do 52 things in 52 weeks for many years. But it seems like such a short period of time to me. One year. I've also heard of 101 in 1001 days. Now THAT's more like it. Almost 3 years. I am a fan of commitment. Nothing says commitment like 94 days shy of 3 years.

It sounded like a good idea. Until I sat down to make my list. Let me tell you, that's not as easy as I thought. I had my vibe going and was getting excited over all the ideas I was coming up with. Both small & large. Random & Life Changing. And then I counted and I was only at 25. Oy vie. It took me a little bit, but I came up with 101 things. I decided to divide the list into 4 sections "To Make", "To Go", "To Do For Me" and "To Do With & For Others".

I'm going to share my list, so you can help hold me accountable. I have no idea if I'll even come close to completing all 101 tasks, but this could be fun.

My 101 things as follows:

To Make	To Go	To Do For Me	To do with & for others
Homemade Bread	Take an all day hike	Buy a label maker and become obsessed with using it	Move G to “big” bed
Sew Something	Go on a picnic	Have a meal with multiple courses	Potty train G
Cheesecake	Disney Vacation	Detail my jeep	Go on a date night w/Tyson
Homemade cleaning products	Sit on the beach w/yummy drink	Work part-time	Break G of the pacifier
“Real” meal over a campfire	Visit someplace new for weekend getaway	Start taking photography seriously	Play in the mud with G
Homemade tomato sauce	Camp at a national park	Get a dog	Become preggo with #2
Cheeseburgers on the grill with all the fixings	Go somewhere I’ve never been in NY	Try cloth pads	Take G to a playgroup
Homemade pretzels	Some kind of sporting event	Get mani/pedi	Have Wally cousins photo taken
Paisley curtains for G’s Room	Take G to Children’s Museum	Buy an entire outfit @ consignment shop for $20 or less	Have Ice cream for dinner
Beef Burgundy	Visit a zoo we’ve never been to	Have an HP movie marathon	Buy a house
Chocolate Trifle	On a road trip	Go 2 days without checking FB	Put G’s hair in pigtails
Guacamole	Ikea	Read a book chosen @ random, one I would not normally choose	Family portrait w/Tyson in uniform
Felt Play Food for G	Kayak in the Adirondacks	Relax w/a glass of wine for no specific occasion	Get a night off from the nightly routine
Military Frame Project	Cabella’s Store in PA	Catch up with printing pictures for photo albums	Get a promotion or change of responsibilities at work
Black & White photo wall	Go to NYC for another weekend	Donate items to someplace other than salvation army	Have Tyson make bed frame so we’re not sleeping on the floor
Recycled Frame wall organizer/chalk board	Try a new restaurant	Donate $ to National Parks	Run 5k w/Tyson & G
Salmon Cakes	Cooperstown	Get rid of unnecessary things	Take G Swimming for 1st time
Xmas Ornaments for family	See Fireworks w/G	Write a Xmas Letter	Buy *real* sneakers for G
Xmas Card Album	Meet up with a friend I haven’t seen in a long time	Send letter to a company that did something RIGHT
Card keepsake for G	Take G to baby gym or something similar	Read the entire bible
Bulk cook freezer meals	Camp somewhere in western ny	Drink more water
Peppermint Bark	Go to MS for Tyson’s tech school	Find a dentist I actually don’t mind going to
Soy candles	Washington County Fair w/ G	Pay off Jeep
Something from a recycled sweater	Take G to Disney Store and let her pick something out	Grow a plant & keep it alive
Will for Tyson & I		Compost (for real this time)
Health Proxy		Break something with a sledgehammer
		Trace at least 4 family trees to 1776
		Learn how to use make-up
		Organize negatives & photos
		Have more than 1 person follow my blog
		Make enough money doing photography to buy a new lens
		Take a day off from work for no reason and don’t feel guilty for it
		Have a massage

I'm happy to report that the list for Me is the longest. Sometimes I need a little reminder to focus on myself. (Like most moms do!)
You can tell I was getting a little punchy when I jotted down "Break something with a sledgehammer".
And yes...the get pregnant with #2 is listed under the "to do with or for someone else" category.

If I counted my days right, this 1001 days should end 2/14/2014 - which is kind of cool. The world is only predicted to end twice between now and then. I hope for the sake of this list, it doesn't. If we make it through tomorrow, we've got one of those dates out of the way. (Tell me I will not be the only person to do a happy dance while sticking my tongue out as we all celebrate the beginning of 2013?? This is getting old. But I guess that's another rant for another time. Sorry. I like tangents.)