Tasks Eleven thru Nineteen Completed!

Wow!  I have been a total slacker on the blog this summer. I don't know what the problem is. 

Anyhoo, I was going over my 101 Things to Do in 1001 Days list.  I have accomplished several more tasks, all of which I did completely forgetting they were even on the list.  Here we go:

Buy something at a thrift store:  I bought this supercute sundress at the Goodwill back in May.  It's from American Eagle and still had the tags on it:  $48.  Gah.  I wouldn't pay $48 for it, but I would pay $5.  What I DID pay was $2.50 as it was half-price day.  What a deal!!  Sadly, I'm too fat to fit into it, but maybe it will serve as motivation.  More likely, it will hang in my closet and serve as a reminder of my lost youth.

Reconnect with an old friend:  My friend, Jana, hosted a ladies' night at her house.  It was especially great because she invited Chris, who I have not seen in several years.   Jana, Chris and I all worked at Wishard together 20 years ago.  We hung out in the hot tub and chatted until the wee hours of the morning.  Lots of fun.  I didn't have my camera, so you'll just have to take my word for it when I say we looked exactly like this:

Attend work related class or seminar:  Nothing exciting or humorous to report on this one, but I did a Fundamentals of Supervision class through IUPUI Human Resources.

Grow my own tomatoes:  I did a little experiment here.  I grew one plant in the Topsy Turvy fashion, only mine was the homemade version.  The other plant I stuck in a planter. The tomatoes in the planter did better, but I got quite a few off of each plant.  That was very exciting for me, and I'm doing more next year.  

New carpet in family room:  FINALLY.  Yee gads.  That carpet looked so bad I was embarrassed to even have the carpet guys see it.   Here's the new stuff:

Re-do my blog so IE users can see it:  I actually did this a long time ago.  For whatever reason, Internet Explorer was throwing a monkey wrench into people accessing the blog.   I don't know what the problem was, but just decided to make a new blog and imported the old posts.  So far, no complaints.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Buy a t-shirt from nataliedee.com:  I don't know how I found the Natalie Dee website, but she is flippin' hysterical.  She can also be vulgar, so if you're easily offended, don't go there.  I was going to buy myself a t-shirt, but ended up getting one for Robin and Lily as well.  Mine is What's Up, Pudding Cup?  Lily's is Anxiety Girl and Robin's is I'm Awesome.  If you know these girls, the shirts make perfect sense.  If you don't know them, the shirts should tell you everything.

Get home wireless mess figured out:  I still don't really know what was wrong with it, but I do know a 17-year-kid who is always hanging out at my house fixed it for me and finally earned his keep.  We now have wireless throughout the entire house, and not just one little corner of one room.  Big shout out to Farmer - YAY, FARMER!!  This even involved him being on the phone with the Linksys customer service help line for a realllly long time.  My hero. 

Play fantasy football:  I have no idea what I'm doing.  We're not playing for money so if I bomb, I guess that's okay.

 That's another $45 in the account which brings the grand total to $95.  Hot damn alakazam!

Okay, if I'm going to brag about my accomplishments, I need to confess to a couple of failures.

Doing a 5k was on the list, and I did sign up for one.  Unfortunately, the race was scheduled for the day after my birthday celebration.  Ever heard of Lemon Drop shots?  Let's just say I didn't feel so hot that morning, so I bailed on the race.  

Also, there was my grand plan to not shop at Walmart for an entire month.  HA!  I couldn't even go a week.  I did the grocery shopping at Kroger once, and it almost killed me. As much as I hate Walmart and its hillbilly clientele, it is definitely easier on ye olde chequebook.  Well...that, and  I have a little crush on one of the greeters:

Eighth, Ninth & Tenth Tasks Done!

I was all excited to host a bridal shower for my friend, Ashley, because it gave me a reason to accomplish task #40 on the list, buy cupcakes from The Flying Cupcake!  Oh, also because Ashley's a real sweetie and she and Ross are an adorable couple.   I told Ashley to pick what flavor she wanted, and she chose the Red Velvet Elvis cupcakes.  I've given up chocolate for Lent, but knowing that God doesn't want me to suffer too much, I bought a single Here Comes the Bride cuppie when I picked up my order:  almond cupcake with almond buttercream icing.  Their cupcakes are larger than what you make at home; two people could definitely share one...but, of course, I ate the whole thing and it was delicious....burp.  Fortunately, their location at 56th & Illinois is not particularly convenient for me.  It is worth the trip for a special occasion, but I don't need to be going there very often.  Oh, I should confess I brought a Red Velvet Elvis home from the shower and stuck it in the freezer to be consumed on Easter Sunday.

This brings me to tasks nine and ten which I did completely forgetting they were on the list!  Imagine my surprise while re-reading that doggone list and found  #29: Enroll Ringo in an obedience class.  Coincidentally, today was our third session.  Five more to go, then we're done - thank God.  As much as I like dogs, I'm not a "dog person".  I don't have the patience for this.  To give you an example of how it's going, this is right after I gave him the stay command so I could take his picture:

They're probably making me and Ringo matching dunce caps as we speak.  Moving on...

I burned my last vacation day on Monday to take Lily shopping for a prom dress.  We headed up to this cute little boutique in Pendleton called Girlfriends.  Lily had seen a dress online that she absolutely had to have and that was one of the few stores that carried it.  As it turns out, she found another dress there that looked totally amazing on her and that's the one she got.  You'll have to wait until May to see THE dress, but here are a couple she tried on:

Because we got done there so early, we headed to Broad Ripple so Lily could check out the vintage shops.  One of them, Broad Ripple Vintage was pretty cool.  I think she bought a Beatles poster there.  

The other store, The Red Rose, was a bit of a disappointment.  Everything was crammed into this little-house-turned-store and it was overwhelming.  You couldn't even stand two people by each other there was so much stuff.  There may have been some pretty cool stuff in there, we just didn't want to have to work that hard to find it. We ate lunch at Greek's Pizzeria, which was another experience.  As soon as we ordered, I noticed the underside of my arm felt wet.  There was a puddle of some bleach-like substance on the table where I rested my arm.  You could immediately see a light spot appearing on the sleeve of my BRAND NEW sweater.  The "manager" told me they don't use any cleaners with bleach, so I offered to let him smell my wet arm, but he wasn't interested.  He allegedly tried to get the owner on the phone to resolve the problem, but the owner allegedly hadn't called back.  He gave me a $5 discount card for my next vist - WTF? - and told me he honestly didn't know what to do.  So far, nothing from the owner (who is a fool if he thinks I'm going to let this go).   The point of this rambling is to note that #31 on the list was Spend the Day with Lily in Broad Ripple.  Okay, it wasn't the whole day (and we never did find out where the hookah bar was), but it was long enough. Believe me.

Three completed tasks = $15.  Add that to the $35 I've already earned, and that makes $50 for TBD charity.

Seventh Task Accomplished

When I put "attend a high school basketball game" on the list, I was thinking more along the lines of the high school in the town we live.  They won the state championship for their division last year, but I never made it to a game, so I thought that might be a fun thing to do this season.   Because I'm senile, I forgot that the NPHS Class of 1981 attempts to have a little soiree every year at the Dragons' basketball homecoming.  It was the Fearless Foursome (me, Kathy, Karen and Kim - I may need to change my name to Kecky) in attendance, but we encountered some others who still live in the area and have kids at the high school.  The Dragons got their asses handed to them 71-44:  ouch!!  I still don't know who won Homecoming King and Queen because the speaker system in the gym was terrible.  I felt like I was in a Charlie Brown cartoon.  After, the game, we headed over to the Around the Corner Pub, the old post office that is now the one and only bar in town.  It was standing room only when we got there at 9 p.m.  You'd think there wasn't anything else to do in that town. Oh, wait - there isn't. We stood around and talked for awhile and listened to some karaoke.  Although Kathy did a lovely version of Killing Me Softly, the highlight of my evening was getting walked in on in the bathroom.  The lock was broken, but there were some ladies outside who knew I was in there and were allegedly standing guard.  Unfortunately, another patron had placed her coat in the bathroom supply closet and just barged past them to retrieve it.  It went like this:

door opens

Me:  "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!"

Woman with no Boundaries:  "It's okay, I just want to get my coat."

Me (in mid wipe):  "NOOOOOO!  It's not okay!"

Woman (who at least had the decency to enter backwards and not look at me):  "Really, it's okay."

Me (defeated and pulling up my pants):  "noooo..."

At least the ladies who were supposed to be guarding the door were shocked and apologetic when I came out.

Did I mention I think the couple who came out of the restroom before me had sex in there???

Thank God Homecoming is only once a year.

P.S. - TBD Charity has $35.

Karen, Kathy, Kim and Chris

Kim and Mary

Chris and Danny

Sixth Task Done

I did this last weekend and forgot to write about it! Number 7 on the infamous list has been done.  I started a Christmas Club account. Technically, it's just a checking account because my bank is in the process of merging, and they aren't offering Christmas Club accounts right now.  I'm having money direct deposited each pay period, so I won't even notice it missing out of my paycheck. In November, I'll make a withdrawal and go Christmas shopping. Yippee!! Additionally, TBD charity now has $30.

Fifth Task Done

My stepson, Tom, has been out of the Navy and back home in Indiana for close to nine months. In that time, he's asked several times when I'm going to make his favorite dinner, Pork Chops Ole´. Poor Tom. He was gone for nine years, and a lot has changed. I went back to work. I'm no longer Suzy Homemaker whose life revolves around keeping the house clean and putting a homecooked meal on the table every night. So, feeling somewhat sorry for the little goof, I put fixing that dinner for him as #91 on the list. Of course, he doesn't read my blog and cares nothing about my list. He just wanted a free dinner. Robin ended up coming home for the long weekend and bringing Ashley and Stephanie with her, so we had a full house for dinner. I have to admit, it was fun hanging out with the youngsters. Tom stayed after dinner to watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with me; however, the absolute second the movie was over, he ditched me to go hang out with some chick. Uh, you're welcome.

Here's the recipe if you are interested: Pork Chops Ole´

TBD Charity now has $25.

Fourth Task Finito!

Number 65 on the list is done.   Several months ago, we noticed the seam on the back cushion of the loveseat was coming apart, and the cushion itself was actually separating from the frame.  It also feels like the spring or whatever support system is on the left side is shot, as that side feels a little saggy.   I can't really do anything about the sag, but at least I used my "killer" seamstress skills to close up the cushion and secure it.  Now, Arnold Ziffel, I mean - Ringo won't be able to sit up there and pull the stuffing out.  Ahhhh, I love living in Green Acres.  I believe this damage was caused by teenagers hurling themselves onto the loveseat as teenagers as wont to do, but certain people in this house got very defensive when I suggested that, threw a tantrum and hurled themselves onto the loveseat in protest.  Even though most people never would have noticed it, I feel much better getting that repaired.  Now, I can watch my "stories" with a clear conscience.

Oh, and TBD Charity now has a whopping $20.

Second Task Accomplished

Number Nine, Number Nine.  Mark that one off my list.

Day 3, and I've already accomplished two tasks.   When I made the list, we had just enjoyed the Broadway production of The Lion King at The Murat so including attendance at events like this was at the top of my mind.  No sooner did I make my list, I was offered two free tickets to see This Wonderful Life, a one-man adaptation of the holiday classic, It's a Wonderful Life, at Indiana Repertory Theatre.  I'm not obsessed with this movie as some people are, but I don't think you have to be to appreciate this show.  Lily's only seen bits and pieces of the movie, and she really enjoyed it.  Jerry Richardson did a great job acting out all the parts, and the simple stage and few props used are a wonderful complement to his performance.  

Additionally, I now have $10 in my TBD charity account.

First Task Accomplished

WOOOOOT!!!  

The first goal of my 101 Things to do in 1001 Days (#100) has been completed.  My friend, Karen, was so inspired by my list that she started one of her own!  Her list is interesting, and I would link you to it, but she posted it on Facebook, not a blog.  Sorry, you'll just have to take my word for how cool it is.  But here's a picture of Karen and her man, just because they're so cute, and he's involved in her #35 and #54!

That also means the first $5 goes into my TBD charity account.  

Good luck, Karen!

101 Things to do in 1001 Days

Instead of New Year's resolutions, I thought I would attempt 101 Things to do in 1001 Days.

Here's how it works:

The Mission: Complete 101 pre-set tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on my part).

Why 1001 Days? Many people have created lists in the past — frequently simple goals such as new year’s resolutions. The key to beating procrastination is to set a deadline that is realistic. 1001 Days (about 2.75 years) is a better period of time than a year, because it allows you several seasons to complete the tasks, which is better for organizing and timing some tasks such as overseas trips or outdoor activities.

Goal setting tips

• Be decisive. Know exactly what you want, why you want it, and how you plan to achieve it.
• Stay Focused. Any goal requires sustained focus from beginning to end. Constantly evaluate your progress.
• Welcome Failure. Frequently, very little is learned from a venture that did not experience failure in some form. Failure presents the opportunity to learn and makes the success more worthy.
• Write down your goals. It clarifies your thinking and reinforces your commitment.
• Keep your goals in sight. Review them frequently, and ensure that they are always at the forefront of your thinking.

The official timeline for my 101 is 1/1/09 through 9/29/11. If you'd like to try this, it doesn't have to be a New Year's start; that just worked out for me. You can start any date you like, or set it up to end on a momentous date, i.e. a milestone birthday or anniversary.

ADDENDUM:  You're supposed to strike through the goals you've accomplished once that happens.  Because I am challenged in this area, I will change the text color to red once a goal is completed.  For goals that are ongoing, such as church attendance and poop patrol, once they have been successfully done for two months, I will change that text color to blue.  Make sense?

Here are my 101 in no particular order:

1. re-learn crochet
2. lose 30 pounds
3. maintain said weight loss for remainder of 1001 days
4. blow the dust off my exercise ball and band set and start using them
5. attempt waterskiing
6. attend church at least twice a month
7. start a Christmas Club account
8. finish Lily’s scrapbook
9. attend a production at IRT
10. attend a production at Beef ‘n Boards
11. attend a production at The Murat
12. find a long term volunteer opportunity to become passionate about
13. learn to dive
14. get all pictures on computer copied to CDs
15. re-do Robin’s bedroom
16. re-do main bath
17. re-do master bath
18. new kitchen counters
19. install organizer in bedroom closet
20. visit Indiana State Museum
21. visit Indianapolis Museum of Art
22. get family pictures from Mom copied
23. learn to use some sort of photoshop-type software
24. get some sort of sun damage treatment done on my face
25. use sunscreen
26. take an out-of-state weekend trip by myself
27. climb Mount Baldy
28. do front yard poop patrol at least once a week
29. enroll Ringo in obedience class
30. get Lola’s teeth cleaned
31. spend a day with Lily in Broad Ripple
32. balance checkbook every week
33. clean out the attic
34. spend a day at the spa
35. visit a winery
36. go to a high school basketball game
37. buy some good bras
38. figure out my iPod
39. visit the Eli Lilly Home
40. buy a cupcake from The Flying Cupcake
41. go to England
42. buy something at a thrift store
43. call Dad once a week
44. visit Crown Hill Cemetery
45. go duckpin bowling
46. go camping
47. go to an apple orchard or U-pick produce farm
48. go to an IMAX movie
49. ride the carousel at the Children’s Museum
50. birdwatch
51. go to a farmers’ market
52. use the firepit on the deck
53. reconnect with an old friend
54. plant a tree
55. go hiking in a state park I haven’t been to in at least a year
56. go boating somewhere other than Lieber or Glenn Flint
57. attend work-related seminar or class
58. try sushi
59. buy a wig
60. clean carpets quarterly
61. do something with Grandma’s quilt pieces
62. actually go someplace to watch 4th of July fireworks
63. buy a basket for my bike
64. have a fire in the fireplace
65. repair loveseat cushion
66. say the Rosary at church
67. go on a carriage ride downtown
68. participate in a 5k
69. make pasta from scratch
70. have a Christmas open house
71. grow my own tomatoes
72. wear glasses for a week
73. whiten my teeth
74. record every penny I spend for one week
75. make ice cream
76. donate blood every 56 days or so
77. buy more sheets
78. new carpet in family room
79. write a thank you letter for product or services
80. host a ladies’ night at Creative Escape
81. visit the Metropolitan Community Church
82. find a signature perfume
83. re-do my blog so IE users can view
84. make 70s cheesy music CD for Farmer
85. attend an away Colts game
86. buy a t-shirt from nataliedee.com
87. make homemade doughnuts
88. attend a Switzerland County First Friday
    
89. sign up for a water aerobics class
90. refrain from shopping at Walmart for one month
91. invite Tom over for pork chops olé
92. complete a 500-piece (at least) jigsaw puzzle
93. play bingo at the Legion
94. finish cross stitch project given to me by Betty
95. make caramels - successfully
96. get home wireless mess figured out
97. play Fantasy Football
98. go vegetarian for one week
99. complete my Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfeld DVD collections
100. for every completed goal, $5 goes into a fund for a TBD charity
101. inspire at least one other person to start a 101 list