The Last of My 101 List - Accomplished

I am done with my 101 List as of my break, but still managed to accomplish some things, or had some accomplished just before then. Here is what I was able to strike off the list, and a new and different kind of list will be posted shortly.

16. Get an iPhone
 - done as of October

38. Sponser a child from our Church's African care points
 - done as of November

71. Go to Red River Ex for day of games & evening of concerts
– Due to the concert available at the Portage Ex we decided to forgo the Red River Ex for that one, and saw Paul Brandt & High Valley!

81. Work at reducing expenditures, learn to live with less in order to be able to work less

– reduced hydro costs: efficiency changes, new furnace and appliances

– smarter money management, putting money towards highest interest $ (both paying off and savings)

87. Replace appliances with energy efficient appliances as we can afford

- new stove delivered July 29/10 - new fridge delivered July 23/10

88. Get energy efficient furnace
– replaced with 95% efficiency furnace July 16/10

99. Purchase energy efficient vehicle
– bought 2009 Dodge Journey, and although we paid more than we originally planned, we are paying less than the Jeep, we were able to include an amazing warranty (to save more $$) and a set of winter tires (again, save money on gas and lengthen life of both sets of tires). fuel efficiency is at least equal to the Jeep, maybe slightly better.

Another 101 Update - Greening and Growing

Well, I seem to be updating my list in themes, the last one being food related, this one is going to be related to being green, both sustainably speaking and biologically speaking, since I likely won't have much to add to this area of my list until next year.

I must say, for my first time gardening and composting, pretty much allowing myself a 'test season', I think I did pretty good!

83. Grow my own food; vegetables, fruit, herbs (NTKOG)
First I should probably explain why I labelled this a NTKOG list item. It's not that I didn't love the idea of a vegetable garden, we grew up renting a house in Edmonton where the owner had corn, peas, carrots, potatoes, and raspberries growing behind the garage and I loved it! Not just the yummy fresh food but I just loved being in the garden, the smells, the fascination of growing food, etc. Then after moving to Steinbach I discovered my grandma's large garden that I also loved picking from, and getting the canned goods that came from it as well that were so delicious. Trouble is, with my first planting experience, with just some small house plants, I seemed to just keep killing them, I was pretty sure I had a black thumb! So I just resigned myself to never being able to keep plants alive. That is until I actually started desiring a simpler and greener life and figured, what they hey, I will try again. First of all, outdoor plants aren't a solo job, and I figured I'd test it out at least once.
So, with a yard that actually had some room for a garden, and some tips, courtesy of Google, on growing the few items I wanted to try, I started some seedlings inside this last April. It was recommended I should plant them outdoors May long, which I was going to do but we started getting really heavy rains all the way through to the first weekend in June, when I finally planted them outside, but even then, just a few days later we got another really heavy rain storm and strong winds.

These poor little tomato and cucumber seedlings I had grown so lovingly inside were about 3 inches high when I planted them outside June 2, but after that rain they disappeared and never returned! My potatoes planted this same weekend did last, in this pic they are on the left, underground.

Then July 1st we went to our first Farmer's Market in St. Norbert and tomato plants were only $1.39-2 each! So I bought 3 beefseak plants and 3 Manitoba tomato plants, here they are, a little wilted, at the top left and right of the pic, planted on July 4th. I also found oregano, the one with purple flowers near the middle, and my potatoes are at the very bottom of the picture.

I've always loved the idea of a herb garden as well, cutting little clippings to flavor each meal with the taste of fresh spices. I also found basil, chives, and parsley at the Farmer's Market, and planted that as well, they are in the front milk carton, so I could take it inside during bad weather. In the tall milk carton was a clove of garlic I also planted. That one didn't do so well, the dirt kept growing mould so I composted it after a few weeks.

Here's my flourishing, and blooming, garden the last week in July-ish.

Here's my first produce, a tomato and small potato, from the first week in August.

This is half my potato crop that I harvested last night! And I've picked 3 other tomatoes, and have about 7 more still growing. I'm very excited about my produce and can't wait to try more next year! I've learned a lot this year that should make it easier next year, especially with wanting to add more veggies, like carrots and cucumbers and peas!

20. 100 mile meal once a month

Well, considering the hours of Farmer's Markets are not all that convenient, and my test garden has only recently started mass producing the two whole veggie varieties I have, I haven't done this as much this summer as I had hoped. My hope when I made this list item was that that I would have more vegetables in my garden and then my produce would provide half of the 100 mile meal (potatoes, veggies, and spices) and then I'd just have to find local meat, and maybe a local made sauce or two. I hope to get one more visit into a local market and stock up a bunch of local food, and then freeze them to acheive some more 100 mile meals between now and next summer, but we'll see. I also found an actual store that proclaims all local produce, so we'll see what they have during the winter. Oh, and Fude, my new favorite Wpg restaurant uses all Manitoba grown/made food, so my birthday dinner there totally counts for my 100 mile meal in July, haha!
For now, my potato harvest will be a good chunk of our crock pot meal tonight, as well as some Canadian carrots, gotta start somewhere, right? :)

84. Start composting, get a kitchen compost caddy (NTKOG)

Honestly, 5 years ago I thought of myself as mostly a city girl, country living was a romantic notion for me, a fantasy that I just wasn't sure would ever happen. Especially not the down and dirty country living, like real homesteading, or the 'hippie' commune type living, the kind of worlds were composting seemed to belong. Then I became part of an environmental company, and made friends who made it seem a lot more feasible to have this lifestyle I idealized. Composting all of a sudden was an easy thing I could try, even currently being a 'city' girl.

So far, I haven't bought a compost caddy yet for the kitchen, but I have re-used some large containers and started building up some compostable scraps in the beginning of May for the compost hole I was going to dig in my back yard. I ended up digging my compost hole up when I was going to originally plant my garden, May long, and have been adding scraps to it ever since. Boy has it made for some really great soil to add to my garden!! It actually decomposes pretty quick and I've been able to move compost soil to my garden 3 times as of last night. I also added the last of scraps to my compost pile since I'm not sure if I'll be able to add to the pile again before it's too cold, and I don't want scraps stinking up my kitchen from now till next thaw.
And boy, my wormie friends are really loving my compost, I think when I first dug the hole I found about 4-5 worms, then the next time it was probably closer to 10, this time I couldn't stick my little spade in without pulling up 2 each time! Probably had 30-40 in there! Now to remove the annoying bush (#85) from my compost pile (actually it's a dirt bed for this bush, but I'd rather have the compost than the bush) so that I can actually have a big pile instead of a small 1 1/2 ft cubed hole. By next year I will have such good soil! How exciting for my future veggies!

89. Lawn care without pesticide/herbicide use

Part of my simpler and greener living was to treat my living things with simpler, greener and healthier solutions. I tried a vinegar, detergent, salt and water mixture I read up about but by the time I was able to spray it on our weeds (due to all that rain again) there were too many and they were too strong, for this mixture. I tried it twice but they just kept growing stronger than ever. To be fair, there were a lot more weeds than normal this year, and my neighbors who would rather spend their free time at the cabin didn't exactly stop theirs from spreading more to our yard. I don't think I caught them early enough either, so I will try again next year, having the mixture on hand and ready for the first sign of weeds to be trounced.
Same with pesticide for my garden. By the time I realized I had bugs I couldn't afford to take the time to make an organic pesticide. I'll be much better prepared next year and then I can better judge if it's something I'll be able to continue or need to modify again.

Overall, I'm very happy with my growing and greening in the few short months I've been working at it, and am already very excited for next spring summer, only 8 months to go...haha.

More One-Oh-One's Done

Here are some more scratches off my 101 to do list, all food related!

19. Cut out meat, carbs, sugar and caffeine from my diet for at least one week every 3 months
Lately I've been really fed up with my lack of discipline in the food area, making little allowances here and there and just knowing that's why I've creeped back up 5-9 lbs since my 29 lb drop Sept. 2008. I've been fluctuating between those 5-9 lbs for almost 2 years, and part of it's also been exercise but I just hasn't been as important to me as when I needed to lose 40-45 lbs. So much more was at stake then, I feel better about my body now, but deep down I know I should still lose 20 more lbs. So, I decided I'm going to recondition my body's idea of real hunger and self-restraint. I put myself on a meal-replacement diet this last whole week, Monday through to Friday, no meat, no carbs, and almost no sugar, but because I had caffeine I had to have sugar :) Don't worry, it's healthy, I've been getting my protein, fibre and vitamins through the shake I've been eating every meal for 5 days, adding plenty of fruit and dairy as well. And while calories were reduced, it's mostly because I wasn't snacking not because the shake lacked calories, I got more than the minimum per day (1200/day is said to be the lowest we should go before body thinks we're starving and slows metabolism). I created my shakes to get exactly the calories I wanted per day so snacking would have to be out of the question, and I could figure out if I was really hungry or not, and learned that half the time the growls go away when I know I'm not going to give into them. And I didn't lack any energy, probably had more, I slept fine and maybe even better, I felt good about myself that I CAN have self-restraint, and I lost a few pounds! This week has really re-fuelled my desire and motivation to lose that last 20 lbs (probably less lbs now ;) and I've already come up with a bunch of things I can do to boost my fat burning, keep a healthy but calorie limited diet, and exercise more. And I happened to accomplish most of my #19 for May-July!

23. Create another homemade soup recipe
It's been so rainy and therefore chilly (A/Cs are still running because technically it feels like it's in the 20s!) so I decided to try this goal before winter. Wanted a thick, creamy soup but obviously low in calories, for some reason a soup with white beans in it seemed like a good start and searched out http://www.recipezaar.com/ for some white bean soups. Decided I liked the sounds of some pretty interesting combinations, white beans with artichokes, white beans with cauliflower, white beans with potato's and cream....came up with my own combination of the ingredients (minus the potatoes, unnecessary fibre/starch/calories) including a low-fat way to make it creamy and it's pretty good! I'm still adjusting the spices a little to make it a tad more flavorful, but I'll post the recipe for my Creamy Veggie Chowder once I've got it down pat!

27. Try infusing flavours into vodka for cooking (NTKOG)
Thanks to a cool Smirnoff recipe book (freebie from hubby's work) I fell in love with the idea of adding vodka to my recipes. I've never been much of a fan of wasting money on booze just to cook with it, it's probably the most expensive ingredient out there!

I'm NTKOG who wastes good money on just one cooking ingredient, however, some of these recipes just were WAY too tempting not to try. Then it had a section in the back it had how to infuse flavors into vodka yourself so you don't have to buy a bottle of each flavor the recipes ask for, and I thought, brilliant! Now, that's my kind of do-it-yourself, cheaper version, I like getting into! So, I did, and I picked the flavors in most of the recipes I liked, vanilla, lemon, apple, basil, and garlic. You can see my next accomplished goal is part of the results :)

28. Try a new recipe at least once per month
Well, when hubby came home with the vodka recipe book, he already had one flagged for me to try, of course :) So dutiful wife that I am I tried a delicious pork roast with bacon, soaked in an apple vodka mix and then baked in a basil vodka mustard gravy, with a side of mashed apple sweet potato's, made with apple vodka and apples.

Then I used the leftover sauce from the roast and used it on another recipe I found that was similar except it called for white wine instead of vodka, so I made basa fillets wrapped around asparagus and smoked Gouda wrapped in prosciutto, in this the same mustard gravy, yummy! Here's some pics, courtesy of the recipe books, of the 3 very tasty new recipes I tried in May.


30. Find ways to eliminate buying any food with unnecessary preservatives and packaging
Mac and Cheese is one of my favorite foods, that KD yummy cheesiness! However, I do realize that cheese (and most everything) that comes in powder former is highly processed and has LOTS of preservatives, so I've been avoiding the KD. AND been trying to create a suitable substitute. I haven't come close to a clone, but I did get a pretty delish cheese sauce from mixing cheddar cheese soup with low-fat milk and low-fat mayo! Cheese from a can probably isn't a whole lot better, but I'm making improvements! I'm going to keep experimenting, but if you know any great homemade mac n' cheez recipeez feel free to share!

New 101 Things to do in 1001 days

So despite my first reaction, one of horror that I would NOT finish my previous 101 list, I've come to accept this is one 'To Do' list that doesn't HAVE to get done and so I with eager anticipation started working on another 101 list of items I am already working on for the upcoming almost 3 years.

Here is my new list:
Personal Pastimes
1. Step out of my comfort zone, and any time I get a case of ‘that’s not me’s’, attempt to try whatever it is anyway (NTKOG)2. Spend time on more non-paper creations; crocheting, jewellery, a piece of decor for the house
3. Dance in public, as if no one is watching, without being completely surrounded by a group (NTKOG)4. Have a girly girl day; shopping, spa pampering, makeover (hair, makeup), night out on the town dressed to the nines
5. Operation Self Esteem –random acts of building self-esteem, cross between operationbeautiful.com and www.operationnice.com
6. Scan family photos/negatives
7. Write twice weekly in my various journals/blogs, no less than one entry in each per month
8. Don’t care what other people think about my appearance, try out whatever I like, ie. cute hats, wigs, hair colour, tattoos, etc. (NTKOG)9. Finish 3 scrapbook pages per month, at least to completion of the 3 scrapbooks I’ve started
10. Make stockpile of Thank you cards and Birthday cards, maintain stock of 10 cards each
11. Create some personal and family Blurb books
12. Write 3 new poems per year
13. Read at least one fiction book every 3 months
14. Recycle old/used clothes into new clothes or purses (NTKOG)
15. Create stock of paper-crafty items to sell at workshops, open houses, shows, etc.
16. Get an Iphone!
Health, Food & Fitness
17. Establish a menu of 20 staple recipes to rotate through
18. Make bread from scratch (or at least with a bread maker) (NTKOG)
19. Cut out meat, carbs, sugar and caffeine from my diet for at least one week every 3 months
20. 100 mile meal once a month
21. Buy as many groceries as I can at a Farmer’s Market
22. Make pizza from scratch (NTKOG)23. Create another homemade soup recipe
24. Lose 20 more lbs and maintain that weight, with healthy meals and regular exercise
25. Make health of all body parts, inside and out, a priority
26. Try a Zumba class (please someone do this with me!) (NTKOG)27. Try infusing flavours into vodka for cooking (NTKOG)
28. Try a new recipe at least once per month
29. Create another recipe
30. Find ways to eliminate buying any food with unnecessary preservatives and packaging
31. Try canning food and preserves/jams (NTKOG)
32. Make my own wine (NTKOG)
Spiritual
33. Post scripture around me to remind me of important verses to me
34. Make a worship song lyrics daily calendar (like a devotional calendar)
35. Finish reading the whole Bible, again
36. Listen to Christian radio during work commute
37. Increase volunteering through Church
38. Sponsor children from our Church’s African Care Points
39. Take a course to find out my spiritual gifts
40. Regularly write down prayer requests, people who are on my heart to pray for
41. Start Bible Studies based on topics I struggle with or am invested in
Community & Relationships
42. Organize a day of scrapbooking for crafty girls I know
43. Spend time with friends or family members (outside large gatherings) at least every other month
44. Donate blood (NTKOG)
45. Become more involved with Church community
46. 2 dates with Sean per month, one intentionally for talking only (no media)
47. 1 evening per week where Sean and I pick something to do together, no phone, no computers 48. Plan out a special 10 year anniversary celebration together
49. Work at honouring Sean in my every day, but also have a special way to honour him at least once per month (instead of month of July for HH Challenge)
50. Babysit one or some of "the kids" (my neices/nephew(s)) at least once per year
51. Volunteer to help someone with something they can’t do for themselves at least twice per year
52. Volunteer vacation, volunteer work in a foreign country (NTKOG)53. Random acts of kindness/consideration, making people feel special/important
54. Stand up for myself and others more, not be afraid to have confrontations if it’s what’s right
Travel & Entertainment
55. Have a classic picnic – basket, wine, cheese, bread, fruit (NTKOG)56. Go to an opera/symphony/ballet performance (NTKOG)
57. Hang out at the art gallery for a few hours (NTKOG)
58. Go camping in a tent, under the stars, cooking food over a campfire (NTKOG)
59. Have a completely media-free day at least twice a month
60. Take a trip to at least one Canadian province never been to
61. Take a trip to Las Vegas
62. Drive in a convertible, a road trip or on a trip
63. Sing karaoke (NTKOG)
64. Host a dinner party - Martha Stewart style (NTKOG)
65. Take a driving vacation to Alberta
66. Attend concerts of performers to support those who are ‘getting their start’ or are ‘uplifting’
67. Stay at a cabin with Sean, like our first vacay, no t.v., fireplace, hot tub, horseback riding
68. Girls only road trip/shopping trip
69. Try a food ethnicity never had before; ie. Vietnamese or Korean
70. Go to at least one Folklorama pavilion
71. Go to the Red River Ex for a day of rides and evening of concerts/entertainment
72. Try one new restaurant per year
Learning & Working
73. Read through my camera manual and actually learn what everything does
74. Try learning guitar (NTKOG)75. Take 3 Accounting Webinars at work
76. Read at least one non-fiction book I want to learn from every 6 months
77. Take 1 Project Admin/Coordination related course at work
78. Take a creative class; pottery, jewellery making, photography
79. Learn Billing position at work
80. Depending on profit, determine whether to continue with Stampin’ Up! business after 2010 tax year
81. Work at reducing expenditures, learn to live with less in order to be able to work less
82. Update manual for my position at work
Home & Yard
83. Grow my own food; vegetables, fruit, herbs (NTKOG)84. Start composting, get a kitchen compost caddy (NTKOG)85. Pull out two trees in backyard to allow for garden and composting pile
86. Start using rain barrels
87. Replace appliances with energy efficient appliances as we can afford
88. Get energy efficient furnace
89. Lawn care without pesticide/herbicide use
90. Build a brick patio and new sidewalks
91. Buy a BBQ pit
92. Apply a Fly Lady tactic at least once per week
93. Get a dog
94. Re-arrange basement so it is usable for gatherings, parties or workshops
95. Finish organizing craft room
96. Add doors to dangerous rooms in basement, to keep children/animals out
97. Recycle/refinish furniture instead of buying new furniture
98. Recycle bed sham into bedroom curtains
99. Purchase vehicle at end of lease, stick with fuel efficient vehicle
100. Buy some power tools so we can build/refinish furniture
101. On day 1001 (January 26, 2013) post a new 101/1001 list

Not That Kind of Girl

"I'm afraid I'm not cut out for all that," I said."Well, who cut you out?" she said. "Cut yourself out again."- Elizabeth McMracken, The Giant's House

I've slowly been challenging my perceptions about myself. For example, I've never enjoyed physical activity other than walking, leisure bike rides and swimming. When I realized exercise was the only path to necessary weight loss I had to make peace with it and was just prepared to suffer. I thought I was not the/that kind of girl (NTKOG) who would actually use a gym membership for more than a month or two, was most definitely NTKOG who would do weights, or NTKOG who would like running and sweating. Turns out I was wrong! I actually loved being that kind of girl! And if I hadn't decided to try something despite my pre-conceived notion of being NTKOG I would never have lost 25 lbs!
When I realized how wrong I was I had a paradigm shift, sometimes I think 'I wouldn't like that', or 'I don't feel comfortable doing that', and now I second guess that first instinct and ask myself why? Or, I think 'I would love to do that but _____ (fill in the blank)'. It's not just that I've thought I'm NTKOG because of preferences but I've made assumptions that I'm NTKOG because I don't have what it takes, for whatever reason. Now, I'm not the creator of "NTKOG", I actually stumbled on a blog of THE NTKOG and although her list of NTKOG moments may not even nearly all be the same as mine, I have been thoroughly inspired! I'm now determined I'm NTKOG who determines she's NTKOG before she even tries it! And that is now the number one item on my new 101 list of things to do in the next 1001 days!

1. Step out of my comfort zone and any time I get a case of the 'that's not me's' I at least ATTEMPT to try it anyway


The rest of my list is coming soon, along with my used-to-be-NTKOG highlighted for your benefit. I hope to blog about each of those experiences because there is a story behind most of them and the experience is likely to be very interesting!

2007-2010 101 in 1001 List Update

Well, yesterday was the last day of 1001 since I laid out my list of 101 (and then 110) items I wanted to accomplish. Here are the final results:
Out of 110 to dos ~ 72 Completed ~16 In Progress/Almost Completed ~ 22 No Can Dos/Didn’t Do – 6 of which because we moved houses

House & Home1. Finish curtains for living room on MIL's sewing machine - just bought new ones to stay with house, 2008
2. Buy new curtains for dining room - bought new ones, 2008
3. Find a better shoe shelf, to keep shoes off the floor – built in shoe rack at new house, 2008
4. Replace old light fixtures with same as ones already replaced - done by BIL!, 2008
5. Buy new couch and love seat, something smaller and cat hair resistant – bought new love seat, recliner and couch, chocolate brown microsuede, 2008
6. Buy a new coffee table with drawers and cubby holes to hide junk in – found a storage ottoman, can be a seat, foot stool, or the lid flips into a tray, and there is storage inside, 2008
7. Have or share a garage sale - block garage sale May 10/08
8. Continue working on growing grass in back yard - grass has fully grown in, 2008
9. Re-do sidewalk to garage - didn't get done at old house, planning for new house
10. Add step for garage entrance - didn't get done because of moving
11. Replace bedroom doors with doors with vents - didn't get done because of moving
12. Back up and reformat computer – done, new laptop 2009
13. Have Dutch Elm Diseased trees removed - all removed 2008
14. Childproof the house for babysitting – done, 2008, new house and furniture much more kid friendly, managed two occasions of babysitting with no incidents in 2009
15. - door blocking mudroom (with cat door) - didn't get done because of moving
16. - reorganize shelves close to the ground - done, 2008
17. Rebuild mudroom, with drywall and linoleum, and depending on money, a more energy efficient furnace and water tank (if we don't move first : ) - settled for replacing flooring because we're going to sell and move, BIL laid down plywood and we laid peel and stick tiles, 2008
18. Match siding on house to garage (if we don't move first) - done, been painted to match garage, 2008
19. Make a timeline for moving into a bigger house, if not actually move - house sold as of June 25th, 2008 and new house bought as of June 26th, 2008, moved in as of August 16th, 2008
20. Replace locks for the house/fix the front & back screen doors - didn’t end up needing to replace them, just fixed them, 2008
21. Replace broken drawers/cupboards in counter - BIL finished fixing, 2008
22. Make one BBQ usable - didn’t get done, decided we'll put in a BBQ pit with backyard improvements at new house
23. Clean off the deck and patio set, and protect from fall/winter weather – done and kept up every year since 2007
Organization
24. Scan negatives, as well as family members negatives – bought scanner but didn’t get started25. Go through clothes and make a pile to give to charity – done several times since 2007
26. Finish going through still packed items for 'keep' and 'garage sale' piles – done, had garage sale May 2008
27. Organize craft supplies so I can find what I am looking for – added back to list in new house, about 75% done craft room28. De-clutter shelves in living room, less décor, better storage – done, new house 2008
29. Burn back up DVDs of computer in more organized fashion – backed up on flash drives, 2009

Academics/Work
30. Finish on the job training – done, 2007
31. Take at least one Golder U course per year - 2- 07/08, 2 - 08/09, 0-09/10, avg 1.33 per year
32. Re-organize office library – done, 2009
33. Organize server room – done, 2008
34. Create a birthday list and start birthday celebrations - done
35. Create a better manual for my job responsibilities – finished for new admin hire, 2008
36. Aim to use less than 5 days of sick time per year - 07/08 =6.5/5 days, 08/09 = 4/5, 09/10 = 5/5
Travel/Entertainment
37. Renew passports - renewed in April for Sean's trip to Vegas and our trip to Nashville, 2009
38. Driving vacation through Saskatchewan & Alberta, Edmonton, Calgary,and Rockies – will get as far as Prince Albert, Sask. in August 2010
39. Attend a Big & Rich concert – on January 21st, 2008
40. Attend as many Paul Brandt concerts as we can – on November 19th, 2007
41. A long weekend with Sean in a major US city - went to Nashville for more than long weekend, June 5-11th, 200942. A long weekend with Sean at a cabin –didn’t get done
43. Go to a State or Province we've both never been before – went to Nashville 2009
44. Go horseback riding with Sean –didn’t get done
45. Girls only road trip/shopping trip–didn’t get done
46. Collect DVDs of favorite movies and t.v. shows –PVR instead, records shows to watch at our leisure instead of favourite shows becoming a leash, my ultimate goal, I'm technically done, 2008
47. Eat at Confusion Corner Grill, on the building top patio, April 2010
48. Eat at Café Inferno – ate there for my birthday, July 2008
49. Eat at the Tavern, on the building top patio–didn’t get done
50. Have a BBQ in our back yard with at least 2 other people over – don’t have useable BBQ
Family/Friends
51. Plan an amazing 5 year anniversary date! – had a wonderful 24 hours at the Inn at the Forks, in the Riverstone room, fireplace, waterfall, jacuzzi, bathroom as big as our bedroom!
52. A romantic stay somewhere in the mountains with a hot spring – didn’t get done
53. Once a month, not including date night, do something as a couple that will allow us to carry on a long conversation – did this all but a few months in 2008.
54. Continue dedicating each July to the Honoring Husband Challenge – did my third July of this challenge and it still is continuing to teach me more about being a great wife. 3/3 July's done.55. Go out for a one-on-one coffee/dinner/hangout with at least 6 family members each year – 15/16, so close!56. Organize a day of scrapbooking for the females in the Braun family – didn’t get done
57. Have a WOG friends get together - have hung out with 2 old WOG friend couples seperately, planning a get together with 3rd couple in May 2010
58. Have an ECC friends get together – only got to hang out with one friend December 2009
59. Go out for a coffee/dinner with at least one friend each month – 25/32
60. Babysit my neices or nephew - babysat Landon once overnight February 2009, and Brooklynn and Landon together overnight May 2009
61. Organize a 'paper crafting' club that will meet every other month - have a Stampin' Up! Card club in Steinbach meeting every other month
62. Become a mom (even though this one is a little out of my control) – went through so many Dr.s, kinds of tests, diet changes, health improvements, with no results.

Spiritual63. Join a small group/Bible study – attended a Connecting Course at Church, didn’t get matched with a small group yet, Jan/Feb 2010
64. Copy sermon notes from Church into my notebook - done
65. Make entries in a prayer journal at least once a week, including a weekly list of people to pray for – a sermon on prayer has changed my perspective on this and I am still journaling but without time constraints.66. Post scripture around me to remind me of important verses to me – still making a list of important scripture, not done yet
67. Make a song book (just lyrics) of my favorite worship songs – still compiling lyrics
68. Read the whole Bible – 20/66 books, currently reading 5 books, started new reading plan, on track to finish by end of 2010

Health/Fitness/etc.
69. Find and implement ways to reduce allergies (and therefore snoring) – have noticed an improvement, don't have anything to attribute it to
70. Follow 1200 calories per day meal plan (snacks incl) until I lose 30 lbs - re-adjusted to range of 1100-1700 calories, but trying not to exceed 1450 calories per day. Have lost 25 lbs
71. 30-60 minutes of walking & orbitrek each 3 times a week until I lose 40 lbs - working out 90-150 min. per week72. 30-60 minute bike ride once a week until I lose 30 lbs - part of above exercise plan
73. After reaching goal weight, maintain weight with 5 hrs weekly exercise and healthy meals – didn’t reach goal weight74. Drink 8 cups of water a day – been doing really well at this, averaged 1.5 litres a day
75. No more than 250 ml of a sugary drink per week (pop, Starbucks, slurpees) – on track
76. Start taking vitamins again – daily multi-vitamin, plus Omega 3-6-9 and vitamin C too
77. Get into the WPG Sleep Clinic – 2-5 year waiting list so will be talked to the specialist (#69) instead.
78. Start regular massage therapy – bookings are a regular
Purchases to make79. My second tattoo – done February 13, 2010
80. New cell phones and new cell phone plan - Sean gets a free phone through work now, I got a new Razr phone through new provider, 2007
81. Manicure & pedicure - got both 2008, pedicure again in 2009
82. Get fitted properly for a bra and then purchase some in correct size - I know my proper size now and have well fitted bras, 2008
83. At least 2 new casual-dressy tops for each season - did a mini-shopping trip because all clothes way too big, 2008 and 2009
84. At least 2 new casual-dressy bottoms for each season - did a mini-shopping trip because all clothes way too big, 2008 and 2009
85. Buy a new two piece swimsuit - got a new suit because the other one was falling off me, couldn't go swimming like that, 2009
86. Cheap/small digital camera for events I can't bring the big camera too – bought 200887. New video camera - using one on second camera, does decent videos for now
88. Upgrade computer to be able to upload and edit videos – have ability on new laptop, haven’t tried out software yet89. Stampin Spot ink pads from Stampin Up! – done thanks to my turn to host
90. At least 10 stamp sets from Stampin Up! - thanks to it being my turn to host, I now have more than 10!

Hobbies/Crafts91. Finish wedding album by our 5th year anniversary – 7/19 pages, didn't finish
92. Make a scrapbook for Brooklynn & Avery's first years - journaling my memories of them, didn’t start scrapbooks
93. Finish the Braun Family Wedding Album I started – didn’t make progress
94. Finish one digital design kit/month – decided to quit making these
95. Make at least 100 cards for at least 10 different occasions, to have ready on hand for each year's events – created 79/100 but didn’t make for 10 different occasions
96. Take different photos to test out camera capabilities in different modes – didn’t make progress
97. Read about one book/month – read 18/32, just a little over half
98. Finish the poems I have started but left incomplete – done, 2009
99. Make at least two journal entries per week, on blog or on paper - 284/284, done December 2009
100. Finish the memories book mom asked me to make her – turned this into a blog, which is much easier and adds to my journal entries each week!101. On day 1001 post a new 101/1001 list – won’t be posting exactly on day 1001…new list to come soon though

Added
102. Have the house reinsulated - didn't get done because of moving
103. Buy plastic garbage bin to alleviate cat in garbage worries – we bought one for the new house, 2008
104. Try ethnic foods I haven’t tried before; Japanese, Caribbean, French – tried all three, Japanese at Shogun, French at Inferno's Bistro, and Caribbean at the Forks.
105. Make guest room into craft room also – done at old house, new house has both craft and guest room, 2008
106. Get a computer armoire to hide computer in dining room – done, 2007
107. Buy new Tupperware, especially collapsible kind to save room in kitchen cupboards – done, 2008-2010
108. Buy kitchen organizing tools (racks, dividers, etc.) – done, 2008
109. Buy a smaller oven – didn't get done because of moving
110. Buy a portable island cupboard to replace microwave cart (for more counter space) - cancelled, had BIL build a pantry instead for more storage, and microwave cart would give more counter space we wanted, 2008.