18

I have finally finished one of the Pulitzer Prize winning novels: Empire Falls. I loved this book! I grew up in New Hampshire, the granddaughter of mill workers. The area I grew up in had a lot of old mills, I know this place. I thought Russo did a bang up job evoking the sense of place, the beliefs and feelings of the people. I raced right through it and loved every word. Great book.

November Update

35. Replaced the DVD player--I had a gift certificate to amazon, so I just went for it. I had to buy a craptastic one because our tv is so old and crappy.
64. Make all my Christmas presents for Christmas 09--I'm working on it. I have five done, and am in for a big push this month. Must make something nearly every day. Full report on Stitch Bitch. (At left is the felted wool pomander I made for my grandmother, directions here.)
79. Date night. Last night the dude and I went out to homemade spaghetti at the local dive (they only do it Sunday and Tuesday). I turned to the dude and said, "I guess this is our date this month." He said we could go home and watch a movie, but the Steelers/Ravens game was important in my pool. (I overtook the leader last night!) Not big and fancy but out and adult-like.
98. Help parents clear out NH house for sale. We worked on it again over Thanksgiving. I think we're really getting there. In fact, they are leaving soon for their house in Florida. I think there will only be one more trip--when they close.

And a fail
71. Purge five things from every room in the house on (each) November 22, National Declutter Day--oops! missed the deadline, but I will try to correct it this week.

#1

On November 1, the dude and I used our free tickets to see Capitol Steps. Everyone kept raving about it; we were really looking forward to it.

At the start of the show, theater management had everyone looking under their seats for tickets again. The couple sitting next to us said they thought it was a bunch of hooey, that they weren't really giving away tickets. So of course I had to tell them we had won tickets to that show.

Let me tell you, it was really...average. I think we may have perceived it as being worse than it was because the woman sitting directly behind the dude laughed hysterically at every single sketch, every song, every lame ass joke. Had she never watched The Daily Show? Had she never been out of the house at all? It was very Jay Leno, middle of the road, silly and inoffensive. It certainly wasn't the cutting-edge political humor that we were, perhaps rather naively expecting. We left at intermission.

I also got Pioneer Woman's new cookbook. I've made the enchiladas and I know I'll be making more things from it.

In my last update I reported that I was committed to spending 30 minutes in the craft room...well that didn't go anywhere. And I've just been in NH working on #98 and I've thrown more crap into the craft room. Sigh. That room might be destined to be a never-ending problem.

I've been keeping up with writing to my grandmothers (thank you notes this time), having a happier outlook (#86) and talking to my mother (#100).

I'm hoping the upcoming holidays provide the little push I need to get more things done around the house. We'll see.

#22 More Cooking

Last night's dinner was Texican Beef Stew, one of my all time favorite crock pot recipes. To accompany it, I decided to make Ina Garten's buttermilk cheddar biscuits from Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics.

Oh my achin' God. Those were awesome. I know I am not southern, but I try to live my dietary life as though I were. That is, I have eaten a lot of biscuits in my time all across this great land of ours. These were the best I have ever had. Best right out of the oven, best cooled down later in the evening, best the next day for breakfast.

Oh, and on Sunday, the dude, Sissy, my cousin and her husband and I went to see David Sedaris at the Keswick Theatre. He was hilarious reading essays he was working on for his next book. We all really enjoyed it. The theater had a giveaway of tickets for Capitol Steps. We had to look under our seats to see if we won. Four of us look under our seats...nothing. So I say to the dude, look under your seat to see if you won. (He hadn't heard the announcement, which to his credit, was very low and mumbly.) So he looks at the floor under his seat. I said, "No. Feel the bottom of your seat for an envelope or something." And he says, "For an envelope...like this?" as he whips out an envelope. He won tickets! Since the show is November 1, that will make three months of cultural events. (And since we went to see Lorrie Moore read in September it's really four events in three months.)

Monthly Update

I don't know why I have been neglecting this poor little blog. Maybe because I have been neglecting this poor little list. I did manage, perhaps accidentally, to do a few items on the list.

1. #1: We went to the Greek Fair on the 16th. For dinner, the dude and I shared a wonderful lamb shank, spanakopita and tyropita. You almost never find the latter--just cheese. Just wonderful. We bought four to take to Sunday dinner because it's my sister's favorite. We got to see some young people dance traditional dances wearing traditional clothes. Later, when we ate dessert--baklava sundae--we were entertained by a Greek singer.
2. #18: I started Marilynne Robinson's Gilead. It's pretty slow going. Of course, I saw Lorrie Moore read last week, so I started reading her new book instead. Perhaps this is why I haven't read all of the Pulitzer winners...
3. #24: I took out Thoroughly Modern Milkshakes and made a "coffee cabinet" that's Rhode Island for a coffee frappe. That's New England for a coffee milkshake. I didn't make any other shakes because so many of them ended up having half a pint of ice cream per serving. Interferes with #83.
4. #64: I have finished three--my mother's mermaid cross-stitch, my sister's "sisters" cross-stitch, and my grandmother's "martini" cross-stitch. You can find those on my other blog.
5. #70. We've actually been going great guns on this project. The dude and I alphabetized all our books, dividing them into five categories--fiction, non-fiction, poetry, plays, and reference. Well, six if you count his shelf of chess theory books. I have entered all our fiction onto Library Thing (and all of the chess theory).
6. #72 Yesterday I put 30 minutes into organizing the craft room--you can hardly tell I was in there. But I'm committing to 30 minutes a day.
7. #98: I talked to my mother yesterday about various things she wants me to take from the house. I think I'm going to call this one done when they actually sell the place!

20. Watch Roger Ebert's 102 Films to See Before You Die

I've always been a fan of Roger Ebert. Our taste in movies runs parallel, we look for similar qualities in good films and are willing to put up with similar things in crap films. So it only makes sense to see the movies he thinks are most important to the viewing public.

I have already seen some of them. I am not counting movies that I have seen parts of, and I've seen parts of lots of these.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Stanley Kubrick
2. The 400 Blows (1959) Francois Truffaut
3. 8 1/2 (1963) Federico Fellini
4. Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) Werner Herzog
5. Alien (1979) Ridley Scott
6. All About Eve (1950) Joseph L. Mankiewicz
7. Annie Hall (1977) Woody Allen
8. Apocalypse Now (1979) Francis Ford Coppola
9. Bambi (1942) Disney
10. The Battleship Potemkin (1925) Sergei Eisenstein
11. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) William Wyler
12. The Big Red One (1980) Samuel Fuller
13. The Bicycle Thief (1949) Vittorio De Sica
14. The Big Sleep (1946) Howard Hawks
15. Blade Runner (1982) Ridley Scott
16. Blowup (1966) Michelangelo Antonioni
17. Blue Velvet (1986) David Lynch
18. Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Arthur Penn
19. Breathless (1959 Jean-Luc Godard
20. Bringing Up Baby (1938) Howard Hawks
21. Carrie (1975) Brian DePalma
22. Casablanca (1942) Michael Curtiz
23. Un Chien Andalou (1928) Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali
24. Children of Paradise Marcel Carne
25. Chinatown (1974) Roman Polanski
26. Citizen Kane (1941) Orson Welles
27. A Clockwork Orange (1971) Stanley Kubrick
28. The Crying Game (1992) Neil Jordan
29. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Robert Wise
30. Days of Heaven (1978) Terence Malick
31. Dirty Harry (1971) Don Siegel
32. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) Luis Bunuel
33. Do the Right Thing (1989) Spike Lee
34. La Dolce Vita (1960) Federico Fellini
35. Double Indemnity (1944) Billy Wilder
36. Dr. Strangelove (1964) Stanley Kubrick
37. Duck Soup (1933) Leo McCarey
38. E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) Steven Spielberg
39. Easy Rider (1969) Dennis Hopper
40. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) Irvin Kershner
41. The Exorcist (1973) William Friedkin
42. Fargo (1995) Joel & Ethan Coen
43. Fight Club (1999) David Fincher
44. Frankenstein (1931) James Whale
45. The General (1927) Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman
46. The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II (1972, 1974) Francis Ford Coppola
47. Gone With the Wind (1939) Victor Fleming
48. GoodFellas (1990) Martin Scorsese
49. The Graduate (1967) Mike Nichols
50. Halloween (1978) John Carpenter
51. A Hard Day's Night (1964) Richard Lester
52. Intolerance (1916) D.W. Griffith
53. It's a Gift (1934) Norman Z. McLeod
54. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Frank Capra
55. Jaws (1975) Steven Spielberg
56. The Lady Eve (1941) Preston Sturges
57. Lawrence of Arabia (1962) David Lean
58. M (1931) Fritz Lang
59. Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior" (1981) George Miller
60. The Maltese Falcon (1941) John Huston
61. The Manchurian Candidate (1962) John Frankenheimer
62. Metropolis (1926) Fritz Lang
63. Modern Times (1936) Charles Chaplin
64. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam
65. Nashville (1975) Robert Altman
66. The Night of the Hunter (1955) Charles Laughton
67. Night of the Living Dead (1968) George Romero
68. North by Northwest (1959) Alfred Hitchcock
69. Nosferatu (1922) F.W. Murnau
70. On the Waterfront (1954) Elia Kazan
71. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) Sergio Leone
72. Out of the Past (1947) Jacques Tournier
73. Persona (1966) Ingmar Bergman
74. Pink Flamingos (1972) John Waters
75. Psycho (1960) Alfred Hitchcock
76. Pulp Fiction (1994) Quentin Tarantino
77. Rashomon (1950) Akira Kurosawa
78. Rear Window (1954) Alfred Hitchcock
79. Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Nicholas Ray
80. Red River (1948) Howard Hawks
81. Repulsion (1965) Roman Polanski
82. The Rules of the Game (1939) Jean Renoir
83. Scarface (1932) Howard Hawks
84. The Scarlet Empress (1934) Josef von Sternberg
85. Schindler's List (1993) Steven Spielberg
86. The Searchers (1956) John Ford
87. The Seven Samurai (1954) Akira Kurosawa
88. Singin' in the Rain (1952) Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly
89. Some Like It Hot (1959) Billy Wilder
90. A Star Is Born (1954) George Cukor
91. A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Elia Kazan
92. Sunset Boulevard (1950) Billy Wilder
93. Taxi Driver (1976) Martin Scorsese
94. The Third Man (1949) Carol Reed
95. Tokyo Story (1953) Yasujiro Ozu
96. Touch of Evil (1958) Orson Welles
97. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) John Huston
98. Trouble in Paradise (1932) Ernst Lubitsch
99. Vertigo (1958) Alfred Hitchcock
100. West Side Story (1961) Jerome Robbins/Robert Wise
101. The Wild Bunch (1969) Sam Peckinpah
102. The Wizard of Oz (1939) Victor Fleming

I've put the ones I need to see in the netflix cue.

Restaurants and other updates

This weekend was a bonanza of entertainment. On Friday night the dude and I went to his coworkers birthday party at Cuba Libre. Cuban food. It was pretty good. A lot more upscale than the Cuban we used to go to all the time in L.A. But not necessarily better. The tres leche cake was out of this world, though.

Then last night we went to Eulogy Belgian Tavern. They have an excellent selection of beers in bottles and on draught, and if when we go back, I'll have to try something other than the Saison Dupont. While I love me a bready beer, I think I might go with a dirty ho next time. Then we raced off to the movies to see In the Loop. Hilarious characters with an unfortunately depressing subject matter. We enjoyed it quite a bit. Gasp, does that sound like a ...date?

It seems like I am doing pretty well on the things that require eating, not so much on the rest of it...I'm sure I'll get into the swing!

# 83 Lose 50 Pounds

Since Stella arrived, I have been doing a lot of walking--3 or 4 walks of 30 to 40 minutes a day. (Except this week--this weekend, Stella hurt her paw and the vet said no walking. A puppy. The vet wants me to let a puppy store her energy. You know how they say a tired dog is a good dog? We are in hell.)

I've lost 13 pounds since the end of June.

I'm putting a ticker on the website.

#22 Cookbook Exploration

I took Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics out of the library. I had to; I actually have an aunt Ina. Not that I like my aunt or anything, it's just how many people do you know called Ina?

The other day, I made cold cucumber soup. Fortunately, it was one of the hottest days we've had this summer. The soup was even more refreshing. It was quite good and, Ina's right, the addition of the shrimp gives the soup the body that it usually lacks. I'd like to try a couple more recipes from this one, but it is overdue. Maybe I'll make some copies before I return it.

Oh, blogger! You're doing that cute rotate-the-picture thing!

July Review

I haven't been well so not much has gotten done. I have kept up with three ongoing items though.
77. Write a note to my grandmothers each month
86. Try to be more positive-- At the end of each day, take five minutes to write down in a journal every good thing I did or experienced that day.
100. Talk to my mother on the phone—or in person—weekly

For our anniversary on the 14th, the dude and I went to a new to us restaurant (#2). We had heard great things about the homemade spaghetti at this little pizza joint near us. They only serve it on Sundays and Tuesdays. So we popped over and tried it for ourselves. Oh, mama! Good stuff.

I did manage to get to the library for #22 Take a cookbook out of the library every other month and make two dishes from each
I checked out Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics. Unfortunately, because I have been sick, I haven't been cooking much. Now that I am on the mend, I'm looking for my dishes. I figure if I make them before it's time to take out the next book, I'm right on track.

Not a great month, but since it was more like two weeks, I'll take it.

Mid-month update

#19 Thank you Sporcle. I decided to start with Africa, and now I can regularly name the capitals of Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Chad, Comoros, Cameroon, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Morocco, Nigeria, Namibia, Republic of the Congo, South Africa, Senegal, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe. (Of course, I knew some of these starting out.) I get a bit confused by Uganda, Sudan, and Democratic Republic of the Congo. Still, I'm making progress.

#21 Bought the book. Now trying to decide which badges to earn. As it turns out, a number of the items on my list overlap with the book, and there are a bunch more I've already mastered. Still there's definitely five new ones. And the book will be useful to help me complete the other items on my list.

#23 I've joined ancestry.com and I've found an old book from when I started working on my family history as a teenager. As it turns out the idea of going back further than Canada (all the way to France) may be unreasonable. One branch was in Canada in the mid-1600s. How much do I need to know about these people? I also talked to one of my grandmothers, and during our conversation it became clear she'd like to know more about her mother's family. Unfortunately, her mother died in 1927 or so, when my grandmother was almost five. That's the line I have the least information about right now.

#68 I have stamped every stamp in one drawer of my stamp cabinet--about 40 stamps. If I do a drawer every now and again, I should finish before schedule.

#70 Yesterday, I cataloged one whole bookcase--a little under 200 books in librarything.

#77 Wrote to one grandmother for her birthday and called the other on the phone. Since the latter is going blind, this may be a better option.

#86 Yesterday was the two week mark and I have 14 entries in my journal. I had a hard time with last night's. But some days I could go on and on.

#93 Need to get going on this since I have an interview next week!

#98 Sissy and I are headed north this weekend.

#99 In that genealogy book, I also found a clean copy of the family cookbook. Unfortunately, I entered this onto a computer about 5 computers ago. We no longer use those cute little floppies. I figured I'd have to reenter it, but I had been using my other copy...not so clean. I have also researched book-making options.

#100 I'm two for two.

#2 New Restaurants

Last night the dude and I went out with another couple to Bistro Juliana in Fishtown. It was a small neighborhood BYOB and quite good. I started with the red and yellow beet salad which I really enjoyed. The dude had the grilled octopus started which was the best of all. Wallace had a starter special that I forget, and Gromit* had the calamari. The squid was good.

Gromit and the dude had orecchiette with shrimp for the entree; they both liked it thought they were disappointed that they didn't look more like ears. Wallace had the linguine special, which I can't remember, but I do remember that Gromit said she liked hers better. I had the ravioli special with shrimp and scallops in a vodka cream sauce. Wallace almost had that but Gromit reminded him that he didn't like ravioli or vodka cream sauce. Go ahead and laugh. Earlier, when the waiter was telling us the specials, I had to remind the dude he doesn't like gnocchi. (Gromit also orders gnocchi but doesn't like it.) I think they all want to like these dishes they keep ordering, but are always disappointed. Apparently I am the only person who orders food I like. That may go a long way in explaining why it takes me a million years to figure out what I want.

I didn't have dessert but the dude had the tiramisu, and Wallace had the chocolate mousse cake. Thumbs up all around.

I know I pretend to be misanthropic but I really enjoyed last night's dinner. I think we're going to do it again, but they want to try a restaurant we've already been to. No problem, I have two and a half years...

The dude hoped this counted for No. 79 but I told him it didn't. If Mr. Obama can make time for his Mrs. so can the dude.

*Not her real name.

65. Finish my purple felted bag

In an effort to do better than I did last time, I have started a notebook to help keep me focused. Okay, maybe I went over the top, but I needed to use up the purple scraps.

Just about each item on the list has its own page with ideas for getting the item done. So right now, #2 "try 12 new-to-me restaurants" has 12 lines numbered followed by a list of ideas including Everyday Good House (because you have to love that name), Kaffa Crossing, Bindi, Distrito, and Dim Sum Garden. To help complete #4 "attend a pow wow," I have researched events that take place in the northeast, so now I know that Schemitzun takes place in Connecticut the third week of August; the Baltimore Indian 35th Annual will be held in Timonium, MD July 17-19; and the 29th Annual Roasting Ears of Corn will take place mid-August in Allentown, PA. I know that I will have to postpone trips to the Isabella Stewart Gardner (#12) and Atwater Kent (#9) because some or all of their galleries are closed this summer. I know when the other museums are open, how much they cost, and which days free tours are offered. I have a list of CDs and books that are available at the public library to help me with my French (#17). I know I have to read 2 Pulitzer Prize (#18) winners a month (just about) to keep to the schedule, and I have the five we own resting on my nightstand. I've put Roger Ebert's 102 films (#20) on the Netflix list. I have a schedule of things I need to do this fall so we can landscape next spring (#30). I know that I need to finish an in-progress cross stitch project (#40-51) every 100 days; I know that these days are September 10, 2009; December 19, 2009; March 29, 2010; July 7, 2010; October 15, 2010; January 23, 2011; May 3, 2011; August 11, 2011; November 19, 2011; and the final day of this 1001. I know that I can attend an EGA meeting in July (#53) and relearn punchneedle (#69). I know the schedules at local U Pick farms (#84) near us and learned the exciting news that Linvilla is planting Seascape strawberries, my favorite. I know when the International Dragon Boat Festival is in Philadelphia and when the local women's boat practices (#88). I found stretching exercises to help me do a split (#90), and I've scheduled a time with my sister to help my mom clean out the attic (#98). I even talked to my mother on the phone yesterday (#100).

And that's not all.

I went to the basement, found my purple bag, and put the last stitches in. It's been through a couple of washes. Here it is drying. This has only taken me four years--three and a half to do the kitchener stitches (all six of them) and felt it. Looking on the bright side (#86), it's done. And it's fabulous!

before and after

New List

Start: June 2, 2009
End: February 28, 2012

1. Go to one cultural event per month for three months (0/3)
2. Try 12 new-to-me restaurants
3. Find out about three interesting foods, seek them out and try them
4. Attend a pow wow
5. Take nieces to NYC at Christmas time for a play and to see the store windows
6. Visit Elfreth's Alley in the winter
7. Visit the Rosenbach Museum
8. Visit the Morris Arboretum
9. Visit the Atwater Kent
10. Visit the Cloisters (NYC)
11. Visit Fallingwater
12. Go to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
13. Visit Iceland
14. Visit three of the following states overnight: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota or Wisconsin (0/3)
15. Visit the Biltmore Estate
16. Go to Paris for 10th anniversary (07-14-11)
17. Study French so I'll be more fluent when we go to Paris
18. Read the Pulitzer Prize Winners for Fiction that I've never read (0/53)
19. Learn all the capitals of the 192 UN recognized countries, that includes you, Honduras
20. Watch Roger Ebert's 102 Films to See Before You Die that I have never seen (0/64)
21. Earn Five Merit Badges from "You Can Do It!" (0/5)
22. Take a cookbook out of the library every other month and make two dishes from each (0/16)
23. Trace my ancestry back to the old country (not Canada)
24. Paint downstairs bathroom, including trim
25. Install blinds in bedroom
26. Fix couch in guest room
27. Hem curtains in guest room
28. Create a household inventory
29. Cut down the black cherry tree in the back yard, grind stump
30. Landscape backyard
31. Create raised vegetable gardens in the backyard
32. Take antenna off roof
33. Organize the basement
34. Convert all videos we own to DVD; get rid of VCR
35. Fix or replace DVD player
36. Build a Habitat for Humanity House
37. Volunteer walking shelter dogs
38. Go on a volunteering vacation
39. Volunteer with Philadelphia Cares four times annually (0/12)
40. Sort scrapbook supplies and donate the things I don't use preferably to an organization that does therapeutic scrapbooking with MR kids
41. Finish current WIP--Elizabethan Rose
42. Finish current WIP--Spots II
    
43. Finish current WIP--Treasured Tulips
    
44. Finish current WIP--Scared Silly
    
45. Finish current WIP--Watercolor Geraniums
    
46. Finish current WIP--Majestic Rooster
    
47. Finish current WIP--Knot Garden
    
48. Finish current WIP--Apple Sampler
    
49. Finish current WIP--Folk Art Thread Keep
    
50. Finish current WIP--Tree of Life Window
51. Finish 5 FUFOs as wall hangings
52. Send four needlework items to be professionally finished
53. Go to EGA meeting at least once
54. Finish scrapbooks currently in progress: 1999
55. Finish scrapbooks currently in progress:niece 1
    
56. Finish scrapbooks currently in progress:niece 2
    
57. Finish scrapbooks currently in progress:1998 Poland trip
58. Make album of nephews 1 and 2
59. Make album of nephews 3 and 4
60. Make a happiness album, an 8x8 album of things that make me happy
61. Make short digital videos of the girls
62. Finish my pinwheel charm quilt top
63. Make a piece of jewelry with the beads I bought two years ago in OK
64. Make all my Christmas presents for Christmas '09 (0/24)
65. Finish my purple felted bad
66. Make the Amy Butler Overnight Case
67. Finish felted wool blanket
68. Use every stamp Sissy and I have
69. (Re)learn punchneedle and complete three projects
70. Complete catalog of books
71. Purge five things from every room in the house on (each) November 22, National Declutter Day (0/3)
72. Organize craft room
73. Host an open house
74. Host three cocktail parties (0/3)
75. Host three dinner parties (0/3)
76. Go to pub quiz five tiems (0/5)
77. Write a note to my grandmothers monthly (0/33)
78. Host five game nights (0/5)
79. Go out on a date once a month with the dude (0/33)
80. Meet three blogging friends--ones I haven't met before--IRL
81. Exercise three days a week for three months (0/36)
82. Stretch every day for one month (0/31)
83. Lose 50 pounds
84. Pick fruit at a UPick farm
85. Eat five fruits and veggies every day for three months (0/90)
86. Try to be more positive--at the end of each day, take five minutes to write down in a journal every good thing I did or experienced that day
87. Take a Pilates class
88. Learn to row a Dragon Boat
89. Get a message, annually (0/3)
90. Become flexible enough to do splits again
91. Write a will, including all the attendant documents
92. Write and send off a book proposal
93. Create and practice my 3 minute elevator pitch for myself
94. Write and send a fan letter
95. watch an Eagles game at Lincoln Field
96. Pay off second mortgage
97. Put things from NH attic on ebay
98. Help parents clear out NH house; take my things out of their house and find places for them in my house (or give them away)
99. Finish the family cookbook
100. Talk to my mother--on the phone or in person--weekly (0/143)
101. Post updates about this list at least once per month
     

Round One Over

My 1001 days have expired. I did 51--haha! more than half--and partially completed 15 more. That's 2/3rds which is a lot farther than I thought I was going to get last time I calculated. I think I'm going to do this again. I'll be working on my new list for a little while. Thanks for reading!

Begin Date: June 16, 2006
End Date: Thursday, March 12, 2009

1. Go to one cultural event per month for three months--I didn't do this in three months, which is what I had planned, but I did do some things
   
2. Find my local library and get a library card (and get a Philadelphia library card) I never did manage to get a Philadelphia card. Now I don't work in Philadelphia any more.
   
3. See a Broadway play with the dude
4. Take nieces to New York City--I think Sissy and I are going to do this in the next couple of years. You know, before the elder one won't do things with us anymore...
5. Visit Elfreth's Alley once in the summer and once in the winter--I managed to get there once in the summer.
6. Visit the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
7. Visit the Rosenbach Museum
8. Visit the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Penn
9. Visit the Morris Arboretum
10. Visit the Athenaeum--you know, I think I meant the Atwater Kent, but I didn't get there either, and I should have. I mean, I've been out of work for a month! Nothing but time on my hands.
11. Visit the Frick and the Cloisters--we didn't get up to the cloisters but I know we'll be visiting again soon
12. Go to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum--I still want to do this, but it's so hard to make plans when we're in New England; there's usually too much family stuff going on
13. Watch the 49 films on AFI's Top 100 films that I have not already seen--perhaps the problem is that there was a reason I haven't seen them (like no real interest)
14. Read 16 works of fiction
15. Read 16 works of nonfiction
16. Read Bill Bryson's work that I haven't read before--I think I only have two left: Troublesome Words and A Short History
17. Attend three ethnic celebrations in Philadelphia--only did one
18. Subscribe to the Atlantic Monthly and the New Yorker. Read them.
19. Go to Camden Yard
20. Watch an Eagles game at Lincoln Field
21. Ride in a hot air balloon
22. Contribute additional $$ to retirement--short lived though it was
23. Consult a financial advisor
24. Write a will, including all the attendant documents
25. Find out how much a combine costs
26. Be less bossy—so the dude notices; this item will be complete when he says something about it, without prompting
27. Make two new friends
28. Meet up with blogging stitching friends
29. Host an open house each December--I managed to do it once.
30. Catalog books--I started it, now to finish
31. Write to my grandmothers monthly--I can tell they appreciate the effort I made
    
32. Host a dinner party--I'm going to set my sights lower: a cocktail party first
33. Go one week without tv--in season. I think we learned a lesson about how we use TV to fill the silence
34. Finish current WIPS, including Elizabethan Rose, Toy Gatherer, Hardanger Napkins, Alpine Garden, Treasured Tulips, St. Basil's Cathedral, Watercolor Geraniums, majestic rooster, Dolly Mama's Freebie, Enchanted Alphabet, Anna's Bird.--I did finish some of these. Next time they each get their own number!
35. Finish 6 FUFOs as wall hangings--I did one, but I have a new relationship with my sewing machine, so I think the others should be a snap.
    
36. Finish 3 FUFOs as pillows--I can whip up a pillow with ease now. I even did one with welting!
37. Finish 2 FUFOs as flatfolds
38. Frame 10 FUFOs--I came really close. I think I did eight.
39. Send four needlework items to be professionally finished--I did one.
40. Take a sewing class
41. Take a finishing class--I didn't, but I do learn a new finishing technique every year at camp, does that count?
42. Go to the Main Line stitch n' bitch three times--I didn't because I'm a chicken
43. Go to EGA Meeting at least once--ditto
44. Finish 4 scrapbooks currently in progress: 1999, Alexa, Mackenzie, and the 1998 Poland trip--nope
45. Make albums of nephews--nope
46. make 8 more wreaths so I can change the front door wreath every month. Don't spend more than $75 on this project.--I have several wreaths for the door, but there are still a few I need to make
47. Create cards for each relative's birthday, a couple for the lesser holidays, and some sympathy cards.--I had a nice stock of cards
48. Get tested for celiac
49. Have bunions removed--I got part way there.
50. Exercise three days/week for 3 months--I made it two months at a time but never the whole three
51. Stretch every day for one month--you would have thought this would be easier
52. Lose 50 pounds
53. Learn CPR
54. Pick fruit at a UPick farm
55. Update my cv quarterly
56. Join a professional organization and attend three meetings
57. Have lunch at least once with each co-worker (41); group lunches count
58. Have lunch with three people outside my department
59. Get the Bulletin on schedule
60. Understand my job well enough to set significant goals
61. Visit Slovenia
62. Visit Iceland
63. Visit England just before Christmas
64. Visit four of the following states overnight: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, or Wisconsin--two out of four. I thought the dude was going to finish his library degree (WI) sooner...
65. Visit the Biltmore Estate
66. Visit Newport, RI
67. Attend the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness
68. Visit Acadia National Park
69. Go to the Rockland Maine Lobster Festival
70. Visit Chesapeake Bay
71. Go whale watching
72. Go on a picnic
73. Install toe molding in bedroom
74. Repaint brown bathroom
75. Paint downstairs bathroom, including trim
76. Remove downstairs carpeting--all but one room!
77. Replace kitchen counter
78. Replace kitchen floor
79. Buy and install blinds and curtains in dining room
80. Install blind upstairs bath
81. Buy and install blinds in bedroom--bought, sitting in giant boxes still
82. Find curtains for living room
83. Paint living room to match curtains
84. Paint guest room, including trim--still have to do the trim
85. Fix couch in guest room
86. Buy chairs for dining room
87. Fix and hang curtains in guest room--still need to be shortened!
88. Buy frames for and hang maps in guest room
89. Buy shelving and hang in dining room
90. Rip up carpet in craft room
91. Paint craft room
92. Buy filing cabinet and file patterns in craft room
93. Create a household inventory--I bought a book to put it in.
    
94. Plant blueberry bushes
95. Buy a new front door
96. Plant something in the pot by the front door
97. Paint shutters or buy new ones
98. Take the antenna off the roof--the dude is afraid of heights...
99. Hang the decorative bowl in the bedroom--you know, it makes such cool patterns on the ceiling in the morning...maybe we shouldn't
100. Clear of the top of the dresser and keep it that way
101. Buy grill and patio furniture--and use it!

Things Undone: #49 Have bunions removed

I did have my left foot done. I was having a lot of pain in that foot--including pain that was waking me up in the middle of the night, you know, when your bare foot isn't being used at all--and it made sense to get it done.

And it really fucking hurt. Pain like I have never experienced. And I cut off the tip of my finger and went without pain killers for three days. I know pain.

The doctor and I have talked a lot about my right foot. The bunions are actually bigger on that foot, but hurt less. We're going to wait until the pain starts waking me up in the middle of the night like the left foot did.

So even though I didn't have all the bunions removed, which is what I thought I meant by this item, I think I succeeded.

New York

When I lost my job, the biggest disappointment to me was that the dude and I weren't going to be able to go to New York to see Speed the Plow like we had been planning. Then I got an e-mail from Travel Zoo with special offers on Broadway shows. I thought there's no way Speed the Plow is going to be one of these shows. But it was. We could go for half the price we had been talking about. Then I found a Westin Hotel for under $200. Then we started talking about doing it again. The play closes at the end of February, and next weekend is my niece's birthday and the weekend after that is my sister's 40th. So we had to go this weekend and I'm glad we did.

Speed the Plow was full of snappy Mamet dialogue. This is the play that Jeremy Piven walked away from due to mercury poisoning which prompted Mamet to quip, "He is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer." So we saw it with William H. Macy, who was quite good. Frankly, Raul Esparza stole the show. Good character, well-played. We're still talking about nuances of the script and the performances and about Hollywood in general (we did live there for 14 years!)

On Sunday, we walked up to the Frick, so that I could complete another thing on my list. I lived in NYC for two years, but there was a lot that I didn't see or do. Mostly lack of funds. I was living on youth and air in those days. Although Frick didn't collect a lot of American art, the Whistlers are my favorites of what I saw. And it was some house.

We didn't get up to the Cloisters. Mostly because we had vowed to walk for exercise and there was no way I was walking to the Bronx. Also, I didn't want to monopolize the whole trip! It was wonderful and I look forward to being employed so that we can do this again. I have the feeling we'll do it much more often now that we see how easy it all is.

This trip also confirmed that I want to do #4 on the list, take my nieces to New York. The dude is much less thrilled with the prospect since I'd like to take them to Lion King and the American Girl cafe. Sissy and I talked about it when I was taking her to the airport this morning. She's game. Yet another reason to find gainful employment!

The Dude
Chess and Checkers House, Central Park

Things Undone: #5 Visit Elfreth's Alley once in the winter.

Although I did drag the dude to Elfreth's Alley one summer, I only had two opportunities to visit in the winter. One year we were in London. This year, I couldn't get anyone interested in going with me. I'm sure it will be lovely when I finally do get to see this historic area in its holiday finery. But I can wait.

Things Undone: #71 Go whale watching

This is sort of stupid of me, but when I wrote this I thought I had never been on a whale watch. Technically, I haven't. I have never gone out on a boat with the express intention of finding whales.

On our honeymoon, we did go out on a boat to see the Tracy Arm glacier. On the way back to Juneau, we stopped to watch a baby whale splashing about. I'd show you a photo, but I took 11 pictures of whale splash. It's just not that easy to photograph a baby whale at play. Eventually I gave up on the photos and just enjoyed the fact that I was in a small boat with about 15 other people watching a baby whale in Alaska with my new husband. It was pretty awesome.

Then we all went into the cabin to continue our journey. And the mother breached.

That whale must have been 3-4 times the size of our boat. And there she was popping out of the water a few yards away.

You'd think I wouldn't forget something like this. But you'd be wrong. I thought I hadn't been on a whale watch.

So, if the opportunity presents itself to go watch whales, I'll do it. But I don't think I need to put this one on the next list.

Photo courtesy Nalfanion, Wikicommons

Things Undone: #62 Visit Iceland

When I put this on the list, I knew we didn't really have the funds to take all the trips I scheduled. It was more of an attempt to put this one out there into the universe "help get me to Iceland."

Here's what happened:

1. I have made friends in Iceland.
2. Iceland has become much more affordable. Much more. Let me just say to my friends in Iceland that I am sorry for whatever part sending my desire into the universe played in this fiasco.

So even though things look a lot better for me getting there, there have been some setbacks, like the riots in Iceland. If you read my other blog, you may know that we don't travel to coutries with riots. Not on purpose. (I was in Paris during an anti-American demonstration. Hey, look at me! American tourist in Bermuda shorts and knee socks*!)

This one will find its way onto the next list.

*It was the 80s. I was in high school. It was cute, really!

Things Undone: #54 Pick fruit at a UPick Farm

Here's the thing about Southeastern Pennsylvania: summers are really unbearable. Horrible humidity and high heat. I don't understand why people go outside for three months out of the year.

The problem with the UPick is that you pick in the summer, with the high heat and humidity. It's a little hard to get motivated. We did participate in a CSA last year, which is like UPick without you picking, but still, doesn't count.

Since my 1001 days end in March, which is planting season, I will have failed to pick my own fruit. Still I think we should do it because the dude makes amazing fruit preserves. This will make it onto the next list.

#15 Read 16 works of non-fiction

Woot! I have read my 16th work of non-fiction.

I organize a little book group for my alumnae organization. Since we're so close to the college, we get professors to assign us fun little books and lead our discussions. It's like being back in school without the effort. This time around we read Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age. Because everyone loves a pirate. The book had it's flaws--perhaps too much focus on the parts of history that fit his argument and he stretches it a little when he talks about women and Africans as pirates. Nevertheless, I was interested in his assertion that pirates were sort of socialist revolutionaries. And we got to talk about Somalia a little which makes me feel like I know something about things.

Things Undone: #48 Get tested for celiac

For a while I was having a lot of trouble when I ate wheat. Big bad trouble. But I talked to my gastroenterologist who specializes in autoimmune diseases about this and he just didn't feel like this was my problem. I don't believe in unnecessary testing, so I didn't force the issue.

Things Undone: #20 Watch an Eagles game at Lincoln Field

This month, I am going to talk about some of the things that won't get done and why. I'm not sorry about many of them. While I love a list, I am not much of a stickler for achieving my goals.

We thought about it. I even went online to price the tickets. They wanted over $200 for cheap seats. I decided, list or no list, that I didn't need to see the Eagles that badly.

Then the dude got invited: 45 yard line, hospitality tent, Dawkin's record for most games played for the Eagles. I was a little bitter.

But next time I make a list, I'm checking on the prices!

#77 Replace kitchen counter

Replacing the counters was a housewarming gift from my parents. Yeah, we've been in the house for three years. Last Thanksgiving, we finally applied ourselves and organized a day off to be home for the installers. Special thanks to Sissy for being there for the creation of the template. It's Zodiac, a composite stone, never needs sealing in Galaxy Black. We love it!

Of course, then we realized what we needed was a backsplash. Fortunately, it's a lot easier to organize our contractor; he knows where we hide the key.

Now we realize how much we need new cabinets. Let this be a lesson to you, never fix up your house...

#37 Finish 2 FUFOs as flatfolds

This segment, the place where I listed the finishing of the stitched pieces, was really meant to motivate me to have some more of my stitching displayed in the house. It's a bit of a shame that I spend so much of my time and money on this hobby with, literally, nothing to show for it. (Well, I do have my sanity, and I'm pretty sure that's a direct result of all the stitching.)

Anyway, I've finished more than two of these. These were the most recent pieces.

#73 Install toe molding in bed room

You know, we've had the toe molding for ages. We even started putting it in. But we knew our limitations...

When the contractor came to do the kitchen door and the backsplash, we put this on his list of things to do (as well as the craft room). We're no dummies. Now it's done!

I think this one will morph into "paint all trim" in the next list.

#57 and #58 lunch

Obviously, I left my last job, so it became more difficult to have lunch with those people! But since I have been at my new job, I have had lunch with all the members of my team and three other people in the "front office." I have also had a group lunch with four other people outside the department. I have done a better job of lunching with coworkers in the last five months than I did in the previous two and a half years!

Part of the goal of this project was to "get out there more." I feel like I have succeeded here.

#38 Frame 10 FUFOs

One of my goals last year was to have this piece hanging on my wall this Christmas. As you can see, I have succeeded--and this framing job is #9.

Nearly there...I bet I can reach my goal by March.

#22 Contribute additional $$ to retirement

When I started this job back in September, and I found out that I didn't have to wait in order to have the company contribute to my 403b, I started putting the maximum--not the maximum that they would match, but the whole maximum--into my account. So for the past five months, I've contributed additional money to my retirement. It's probably worth less than if I put it into a savings account, at this point, but the goal is to make contributing a habit.

In all my future jobs I will contribute the max. I haven't missed it yet.

Neglect

I have certainly neglected this blog of late. I have managed to do a thing or two, but I'm starting to realize I am a long way from completing this list in the next two months. Of course, if I'm out of a job at the end of the week, I may have a lot of time on my hands to get to some of these items.

At any rate, over the next few days, I'll go some housekeeping and report on some of the things I've done in the last three months.