Anna of 1001 Days

Overdue Update II

2011-02-02T16:10:00.002-05:00

Last year I set out to make all of my Christmas presents and ended up making 20 out of 24 which I declared a happy success. This year, that goal was not on the list, but it was on my mind. This year I got up to 22 out of 25 (my sister got engaged). Unfortunately, all that productivity left me with less time to focus on this project.

My attention has returned.

2. Try 12 new-to-me restaurants --I read about a Szechuan restaurant in Philly that hosted a monthly banquet of 20 courses for $25. We went--once for the banquet and once where we ate off the regular menu. Fabulous! I've got to take my dad here when he visits.
20. Watch Roger Ebert’s 102 Films to See before you die (list below) --the other day I got all my errands and chores finished early and decided to watch Duck Soup. You know what, there's a reason I haven't seen a lot of these movies! It was so tedious. Yes, yes, there's clever word play. But I'm much more a screwball than a slapstick kind of girl.
23. Trace my ancestry back to the old country (not Canada). I've been working on this slowly but surely. Here's the surprising thing--it looks like two of the three French Canadian branches on my family tree have been in Canada since the 1600s. I really didn't think I was going to have to go back so far! I'm down to one branch left--and it is replete with Josephs. During a certain period in Canada, French Catholics were all named Joseph and Mary (Marie), which wreaks havoc on the research!
71. Purge five things from every room in the house on (each) November 22, National Declutter Day (1/3) Sadly, I did not do this. I was reading Peter Walsh's book It's All Too Much and was gung-ho about decluttering and then I think it all got lost in holiday preparation. However, the dude and I have been discussing the state of our basement, and it looks like we will work on that soon. We are planning to participate in the neighborhood yard sale in late April, and this will give us an opportunity to purge.
77. Write a note to my grandmothers each month. I made Halloween cards, wrote birthday thank you notes in November (a little late), sent Christmas cards, and thank you notes in January. I've made them valentines too. So far, so good!
79. Go OUT on a date once a month with the dude. We have not been keeping up with this.
100. Talk to my mother on the phone—or in person—weekly. I've definitely spoken to her a time or two in the past months! :)
101. Post updates about this list once per month. When you fall down, you just have to keep getting up.

September Review

2010-10-07T09:45:00.005-04:00

The big news for this month is we have completed No. 96--pay off second mortgage! It's so exciting to think that even while I've been unemployed, we've been able to keep up with our obligations. I guess that's what comes from living within your means. (Well, if we did that truly, we wouldn't have had a second, but whatever.) So happy.

The other day our neighbor was on the roof helping us fix a leak and while he was up there, he completed No. 32-- take the antenna off the roof. Forever more I will remember the celebration of paying off the second mortgage as taking the antenna off the roof, after nearly five years(!) in this house.

I also completed No. 44--finish current WIP—Scared Silly. You can see it here, ~~as soon as I photograph it and blog it~~. As for the more regular undertakings:

22. Take a cookbook out of the library every other month and make dishes from each--nope.
77. Write a note to my grandmothers each month--sigh, I'm bad.
79. Go OUT on a date once a month with the dude--yup we went to see a play on September 18th.
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--I did start back up but fell off the wagon again just as quickly.
100. Talk to my mother on the phone—or in person—weekly--yes
101. Post updates about this list once per month--yes.

August Round-up

2010-09-02T17:38:00.004-04:00

At first I worried that I hadn't managed a thing this month. Even though the local art house was playing two of the Kurosawa films I needed to see, we managed to miss them both. I didn't write to my grandmothers, though I did see one of them in the flesh.

I am pleased to present #49: Finish current WIP—folk art thread keep

I've also made significant progress on #50: Finish current WIP—Tree of Life Window. I'm pretty sure that will be done this month.

Also, since Sissy is getting married next May, I've gone back to Weight Watchers. I won't bore you with the details, but we might see the ticker start to move. And we shall make progress on the five fruits and vegetables.

July Update

2010-07-31T16:01:00.003-04:00

20. Watch Roger Ebert’s 102 Films to See Before You Die
This month I saw two films on Ebert's list, The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Third Man. I have to step up the pace a little on this one--I have 19 months left and 63 left to see. I should be watching more than three a month, but not as many as four. Of course, I should also be reading two and a half Pulitzer winners a month, and right now I am in the middle of two (Gilead and March); which means I've still only read one.

2. Try 12 new-to-me restaurants
On Thursday, I met a friend for lunch in the city and we went to Bobby Flay's new restaurant, Bobby's Burger Palace. I had the Santa Fe burger with queso sauce, jalapenos, and corn chips. My friend had the Burger of the Month--arugula, basil ketchup, parmesan, and mozzarella. We split the sweet potato fries, which were outstanding. Next time, though, I am getting a plain cheeseburger because they make their own ketchup and other sauces, and I'd like to try some of those on an unadulterated burger. That brings me to seven. She and I also talked about going to the Han Dynasty special banquet, but they only do it once a month and the next time we can make it is October...

63. Make a piece of jewelry with the beads I bought two years ago in Oklahoma
I bought some beads to string with them, and I am working on the design.

77. Write a note to my grandmothers each month

I made little cards to send to my grandmothers--cute with flip flops and life preservers.

102 63 To See

2010-07-22T08:23:00.005-04:00

Last night the dude and I went on a date to see The Third Man. Carol Reed's film was another on Roger Ebert's list that I had never seen...even though we own it, and it is one of the dude's favorites. (And yes, we paid $20 to see a movie we own. Big screen, people, makes so much difference.)

I think I could whiz my way through Ebert's list if all the movies were shown on the big screen, but even more if they were all this good. I can't believe I've never seen this, labeled a noir classic, without some of the elements that make noir noir. Though there's long shadows and hopelessness a plenty. And let's face it, there weren't many meaner streets than Austria after the war.

I can't believe that the dude told me how important the zither music was--Ebert asks, "Has there ever been a film where the music more perfectly suited the action than in Carol Reed's The Third Man?" And not only did I forget that, I have to admit, I found the jangle of the zither annoying. Does that mean I don't get into film school?

20

2010-07-12T19:43:00.004-04:00

I've rearranged--or arranged--my days in order to get more stuff on this list done. In the afternoons, for a while anyway, I'll be spending time watching Roger Ebert's 102 Movies You Must See Before You Die*.

Today I watched Robert Wise's (1951) The Day the Earth Stood Still. About an hour into the movie, I thought to myself, "why is this on the list?" So I revisited the list, and here's what Ebert had to say about creating it, "These are the movies I just kind of figure everybody ought to have seen in order to have any sort of informed discussion about movies." That makes sense. These aren't great movies, but the kind of iconic movies that give us the sort of scenes that show up in genre films or don't, depending on what the director is aiming for. They're the kind of movies my students always hated because instead of seeing them as pioneering, they thought they were derivative. I love how backwards the young can see things.

I'm not much of a sci/fi person. But still I took away two things. Peace is good. (Give up the arms race!) (It was the Cold War.) And self-promotion at the expense of the entire world is bad. (No communism, but unfettered capitalism isn't all that great either, I guess.)

Helen: What about the rest of the world?
Tom, her fiance: I don't care about the rest of the world!
[Seeing her shocked expression]
Tom: You'll feel different when you read about me in the papers.
Helen: I feel different now.

* Or go to film school, either one.

84

2010-05-30T10:18:00.005-04:00

84. Pick fruit at a UPick farm
Last Saturday the dude and I went to Linvilla Orchards and picked strawberries. It was fun. We picked the perfect day--sunny but not too hot--and the perfect time of day so the fields weren't crowded at all. We couldn't believe it was so close-by. Who knew we lived in the country? 8^P

We picked 14 pounds of the fruit so the dude could make strawberry jam (old fashioned, no pectin!) and strawberry sorbet, which got gobbled up in an instant. We had three pounds left over. We put two pounds in the freezer and are snacking on the other pound. I think we will be back this summer for raspberries and peaches. Maybe more especially since the picking didn't take nearly as long as the jam making!

Overdue Update

2010-05-24T19:29:00.008-04:00

22. Take a cookbook out of the library every other month and make dishes from each
This month, I checked out Fresh Mexico. I made Chipotle Cream Shrimp for dinner last week. OMG! The shrimp was so delicious, we practically came to blows over who would eat the leftovers. Not really, but I could imagine it. Fortunately there was enough for two small servings the following day. I also made cucumbers and radishes as a side dish. Not much of a recipe, but it was very refreshing and a nice light side with the heavier main dish. I would definitely make this again. There are a few "small dishes" I would like to try as well.

23. Trace my ancestry back to the old country (not Canada)
It turns out that some branches of my family have been in Canada for yonks. I’m still working on confirming my connection to Isaac Bedard (paternal grandmother’s family) but it looks like my ancestors may have been among the first 3000 white settlers in New France (Canada). I am back to “the old country” in my mother’s paternal family. I found the ship her grandfather came over on. They self-identified as Poles from Vilni, (now Vilnius, Lithuania) but on the manifest they are listed as Russians from Vilna. One of the interesting things about family history is its relationship to world history and global politics. I am still trying to trace his wife. No one seems to know how to spell her last name.

Map of New France. Source: Charles Holme "Art in England During the Elizabethan and Stuart Periods, 1908. Map of “New France” (Canada). From the engraving by Benjamin Wright (circa 1608).

26. Fix couch in guest room
When we started to put our Ikea couch together a month after bringing it home, we discovered that the bolt holes on the arm were misaligned. Unfortunately, we tried to force it and we ended up stripping one of the bolts. We cut it with a hacksaw and just left the arm of the couch leaning in position. Unfortunately, Stella would occasionally lean up against it with her full weight, knock over the arm, and tumble off the couch. Of course, the bolt that was left sticking out of the arm was an (expensive) accident waiting to happen. Adrienne’s visit gave me the impetus to ask our neighbor for his engineering help. Pete and I had talked a good game including the phrase “liquid nails” but Mark actually took a look at the arm and came up with a proper fix. He opened the arm and replaced the internal workings. It’s perfect. He was impressed with my liquid nails fix, however; usually, he thinks we’re two of the biggest dufuses on earth. He’s not far wrong.

42. Finish current WIP—Spots II
Done! I’m bringing this to the framing sale, so it should be hanging in our bedroom soon.

77. Write a note to my grandmothers each month
In January I wrote some thank you notes. In March, my maternal grandmother celebrated a birthday and I sent a note to both of them. For mother’s day, I sent a note to both of them again. So three for five. Not bad.

79. Go OUT on a date once a month with the dude
We have occasionally gone out but I haven’t been keeping track. Last month we went to see Date Night, which we both recommend. Then to make it a real date we went for a drink afterwards.

80. Meet three new blogging friends IRL (2/3)
Adrienne’s visit is going a long way here. I really enjoyed meeting Adrienne. She’s a delight.

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
Since our trip to England, when I lost track of the days, I have only written in this journal three times. I am going to start back on this tonight. Instead of keeping track by “day” (Day 203—of 1001, for example) I am going to mark the date. It will help me keep better track.

87. Take a Pilates class
Class finished last week. I wanted to continue, but for the next five weeks our class is being held at 6:00 instead of 7:20. Next fall, we’re going to reup. If I can, I’m going to schedule doing a Pilates DVD a few times a week over the summer. I really enjoyed it.

93. Create and practice my 3 minute elevator pitch for myself
I really really really need to make this a priority. I had an opportunity to sell myself to a head hunter that I met through my library volunteerism, but I was much more articulate talking about the dude’s job than my own capabilities! And this is a real gimme question on an interview. I need to take advantage. (Not thrilled with my answer at a recent interview.)

100. Talk to my mother on the phone—or in person—weekly
Is it very sad that I have to write this down in order to do it? Not if you knew my mother! Although I do have to say she has been much less critical since I lost my job. Coincidence? I think not.

101. Post updates about this list once per month
I have to avoid my avoidance when I am not actively working on the list. I have to be sure I revisit this just to keep myself on track.

18

2009-12-21T20:57:00.002-05:00

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

2009-11-30T19:05:00.004-05:00

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

2009-11-10T22:19:00.002-05:00

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

2009-10-07T10:27:00.007-04:00

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

2009-09-30T11:44:00.004-04:00

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: 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.
#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...
#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.
#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.
#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).
#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.
#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

2009-08-24T08:54:00.000-04:00

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.

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

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

Restaurants and other updates

2009-08-23T08:31:00.003-04:00

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

2009-08-19T11:15:00.000-04:00

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

2009-08-18T11:05:00.004-04:00

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

2009-07-31T14:28:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-17T13:29:00.003-04:00

#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

2009-06-07T13:26:00.002-04:00

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

2009-06-05T12:54:00.003-04:00

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

2009-06-02T14:08:00.004-04:00

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

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

Round One Over

2009-03-16T12:21:00.000-04:00

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

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
~~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.
~~See a Broadway play with the dude~~
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...
Visit Elfreth's Alley once in the summer and once in the winter--I managed to get there once in the summer.
~~Visit the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts~~
Visit the Rosenbach Museum
~~Visit the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Penn~~
Visit the Morris Arboretum
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.
~~Visit the Frick~~ and the Cloisters--we didn't get up to the cloisters but I know we'll be visiting again soon
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
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)
~~Read 16 works of fiction~~
~~Read 16 works of nonfiction~~
Read Bill Bryson's work that I haven't read before--I think I only have two left: Troublesome Words and A Short History
Attend three ethnic celebrations in Philadelphia--only did one
~~Subscribe to the Atlantic Monthly and the New Yorker. Read them.~~
~~Go to Camden Yard~~
Watch an Eagles game at Lincoln Field
~~Ride in a hot air balloon~~
~~Contribute additional $$ to retirement~~--short lived though it was
~~Consult a financial advisor~~
Write a will, including all the attendant documents
~~Find out how much a combine costs~~
Be less bossy—so the dude notices; this item will be complete when he says something about it, without prompting
~~Make two new friends~~
~~Meet up with blogging stitching friends~~
Host an open house each December--I managed to do it once.
Catalog books--I started it, now to finish
~~Write to my grandmothers monthly~~--I can tell they appreciate the effort I made
Host a dinner party--I'm going to set my sights lower: a cocktail party first
~~Go one week without tv--in season.~~ I think we learned a lesson about how we use TV to fill the silence
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!
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.
~~Finish 3 FUFOs as pillows~~--I can whip up a pillow with ease now. I even did one with welting!
~~Finish 2 FUFOs as flatfolds~~
Frame 10 FUFOs--I came really close. I think I did eight.
Send four needlework items to be professionally finished--I did one.
~~Take a sewing class~~
Take a finishing class--I didn't, but I do learn a new finishing technique every year at camp, does that count?
Go to the Main Line stitch n' bitch three times--I didn't because I'm a chicken
Go to EGA Meeting at least once--ditto
Finish 4 scrapbooks currently in progress: 1999, Alexa, Mackenzie, and the 1998 Poland trip--nope
Make albums of nephews--nope
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
~~Create cards for each relative's birthday, a couple for the lesser holidays, and some sympathy cards.~~--I had a nice stock of cards
Get tested for celiac
Have bunions removed--I got part way there.
Exercise three days/week for 3 months--I made it two months at a time but never the whole three
Stretch every day for one month--you would have thought this would be easier
Lose 50 pounds
~~Learn CPR~~
Pick fruit at a UPick farm
~~Update my cv quarterly~~
Join a professional organization and attend three meetings
~~Have lunch at least once with each co-worker (41); group lunches count~~
~~Have lunch with three people outside my department~~
~~Get the Bulletin on schedule~~
~~Understand my job well enough to set significant goals~~
~~Visit Slovenia~~
Visit Iceland
~~Visit England just before Christmas~~
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...
Visit the Biltmore Estate
~~Visit Newport, RI~~
~~Attend the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness~~
Visit Acadia National Park
Go to the Rockland Maine Lobster Festival
Visit Chesapeake Bay
Go whale watching
~~Go on a picnic~~
~~Install toe molding in bedroom~~
~~Repaint brown bathroom~~
Paint downstairs bathroom, including trim
~~Remove downstairs carpeting~~--all but one room!
~~Replace kitchen counter~~
~~Replace kitchen floor~~
~~Buy and install blinds and curtains in dining room~~
~~Install blind upstairs bath~~
Buy and install blinds in bedroom--bought, sitting in giant boxes still
~~Find curtains for living room~~
~~Paint living room to match curtains~~
~~Paint guest room~~, including trim--still have to do the trim
Fix couch in guest room
~~Buy chairs for dining room~~
Fix and hang curtains in guest room--still need to be shortened!
~~Buy frames for and hang maps in guest room~~
~~Buy shelving and hang in dining room~~
~~Rip up carpet in craft room~~
~~Paint craft room~~
~~Buy filing cabinet and file patterns in craft room~~
Create a household inventory--I bought a book to put it in.
Plant blueberry bushes
~~Buy a new front door~~
~~Plant something in the pot by the front door~~
~~Paint shutters or buy new ones~~
Take the antenna off the roof--the dude is afraid of heights...
Hang the decorative bowl in the bedroom--you know, it makes such cool patterns on the ceiling in the morning...maybe we shouldn't
~~Clear of the top of the dresser and keep it that way~~
Buy grill and patio furniture--and use it!

Things Undone: #49 Have bunions removed

2009-02-10T11:48:00.000-05:00

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

2009-02-09T14:09:00.006-05:00

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.

2009-02-09T11:42:00.000-05:00

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

2009-02-08T12:09:00.000-05:00

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

2009-02-05T12:00:00.000-05:00

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:

I have made friends in Iceland.
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

2009-02-04T11:56:00.001-05:00

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

2009-02-03T14:24:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-03T11:46:00.000-05:00

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

2009-02-02T22:24:00.000-05:00

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

2009-02-01T22:22:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-31T20:21:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-29T22:19:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-28T19:16:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-27T22:09:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-26T19:06:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-25T22:04:00.000-05:00

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.

#16 Thunderbolt Kid

2008-09-06T08:28:00.000-04:00

Bill Bryson was the Thunderbolt Kid, not a real comic book character, but it does show to some extent the influence of comic books on the boys of his generation, or in Iowa, or in fact just him. Even then, I think this book is much less about Bryson than it is about the culture in which he was immersed: 50s middle America. It's a lot like the Shakespeare book in that way.

I enjoyed it because even though I'm much younger than he is, I grew up in a semi-rural area that grew much more suburban and "American mall" as I aged. So even though we started out having McDonald's, you still had to get your shoes from one of two stores in the nearby small city, and they knew us when we went in for new school shoes because they had fitted my grandmother and mother before us. Or knowing when Kessler Farm really was a farm and not a municipal soccer field before it became a K-Mart.

Still, we can't get too nostalgic about the old days. I shudder to think of the choices or lack thereof women had in semirural New Hampshire in the 50s, 60s, and even 70s. I'm not sure Bryson is as critical as he could be, either. But being critical isn't that funny, is it? (Of course, his mom worked.)

The Palace Under the Alps (1985)
~~The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America~~ (1989)
~~The Mother Tongue~~ (1990)
Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe (1991)
~~Made in America~~ (1994)
~~Notes from a Small Island~~ (1995)
~~A Walk in the Woods~~ (1998)
~~I’m a Stranger Here Myself~~ (1998)
~~In a Sunburned Country~~ (2000)
Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words (2002)
~~Bill Bryson’s African Diary~~ (2002)
A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003)
~~The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir~~ (2006)
~~Shakerspeare (Eminent Lives)~~ (2007)

#16 Bryson in Africa

2008-09-06T08:13:00.000-04:00

I'm behind here. I finished Bill Bryson's African Diary a week ago. It's a very short book--64 pages. At the invitation of CARE, Bryson visits some of their African project. All proceeds from the book go to the organization, and here I am taking it out of the library. It is not quite as laugh-a-minute as some of his other books, but how can we expect it to be so? There is a very funny bit on flying in bush planes. (I'm with him there--but I was in the first world making that flight.)

There's a photo in the book that confirms the need for an organization that the dude and I thought up: bringing soccer balls to poor kids the world over. Probably, there is already an organization doing this; maybe we should just give them money.

I've started both Palace Under the Alps and Neither Here nor There and they make for good companion reading since the former is a guidebook to interesting little-known and less-visited sites in Europe and the latter is his European travel journal. (Yes, I read guidebooks cover to cover, and I'll even read them if they are 25 years out of date.)

#16 Bryson

2008-08-29T13:49:00.000-04:00

This book came out after I created this list, but my library had it so I figured wtf, let's just read it. Right up front Bryson tells you we hardly know anything about Shakespeare. So, you figure, how'd he manage to write 200+ pages? It's a cutural study of the period, and a good one. It's in his usual snappy style, but if you've ever read an academic book about the period, you can skip this one. If you haven't, this is a good one!

Finis #34

2008-08-26T21:16:00.000-04:00

I finished the Toy Gatherer, one of my WIPS.

I've got a Bill Bryson book to report on, and another one nearly done. And four ordered through interlibrary loan. Thursday and Friday, I'm between jobs, so I'll have some time to update here.

#15 More Non Fiction, Still Scientific

2008-08-01T16:45:00.000-04:00

I'm writing an article about changes in medical education, a sort of "then and now" piece. It's why I was in the anatomy lab hallway today; all that formaldehyde got me feeling a little lightheaded. But on some level, I was prepared for it because I just finished Christine Montross's book, Body of Work: Meditations on Mortality from the Human Anatomy Lab, which I am reading for the article. Before Montross went to medical school, she was a poet and you can tell. She looks at anatomy class historically and culturally as well as opening the specifics of dissection of her group's particular body to the reader. She writes with compassion. She skillfully negotiates emotion, drama, comedy and does it all while examining the larger issues of medical ethics and training. I thought this book was remarkable and if you've got the stomach you should read it. You'll never look at your doctor quite the same way again.

Non-fiction: 15.5 (finish the damn flu book already!)

#38 More Framing

2008-07-30T11:39:00.000-04:00

I have had four more pieces framed. Two to go.

More Non-Fiction of the Science-y Kind

2008-07-29T11:26:00.000-04:00

Last week I finished reading An Obsession with Butterflies by Sharman Apt Russell. I have to tell you there is some science you simply shouldn't read while you're eating lunch! I learned way more about frass over food than I wanted to.

One chapter was incredibly touching, a sparely written timeline about the lives of two men who are obsessed with the butterflies of coastal California. This chapter is worth the whole book. Unfortunately, this is also the chapter where she used "glamorous southern California" and "El Segundo" in the same paragraph. People, there is nothing glamorous about the second city. There used to be a really good cross stitch shop there. Used to be.

In the end, I'm not obsessed with butterflies. But you should see me watch the bumblebees on our glossy abelia. Where's the book on bumblebees?

Right now I am reading Body of Work: Meditiations on Mortality from teh Human Anatomy Lab, which a bunch of first year medical students have been assigned. So far, lots of cutting people open, but not so many disturbed lunches...

Non-fiction: 14.5

#15 Revolving Door at the Library

2008-07-11T12:12:00.000-04:00

Longitude by Dava Sobel. I'm probably the last person on earth to read this book, but it was fascinating. The slim volume follows the intrigue--really!--involved with the race to solve measuring longitude at sea to win the huge prize offered by the British government. Easy to follow and a good read. A whole lot easier and more interesting than Galileo's Daughter, which I am forcing myself to read. It's like taking cough medicine. Without codiene. Except for the part where I keep falling asleep.

Non-fiction: 13.5

#15 Yet More Non-fiction

2008-07-03T19:37:00.000-04:00

Language Visible by David Sacks tells the story of how our letters came to be. The story of many of them is similar. Start with the Phoenicians, move to the Greeks, an ill-understood stop with the Etruscans, (or is that the other way around?) then the Romans, then Anglo-Saxons with some input from the French. The books is interesting and accessible (reviewers call it "lively" and "engaging") but there is quite a bit of overlap because of the way he chose to tell it--one letter at a time. Because letters are related in development or sound or use there's even more overlap. I think I remember reading that this was based on a column he wrote in a newspaper, and if so, that would explain some of it. The other problem is there are a lot of "sidebars" in the book. They are interesting and I'm glad I read them but they totally interrupted the flow of this fascinating look at letters.

I will be forever grateful for the reminder of the yogh. Along with thorn, yogh (I can reproduce neither symbol) was a letter I learned while studying Middle English (an undergraduate graduation requirement) but for the longest time I could only remember thorn. It drove me nuts. Now I know.

Non-fiction: 12.5

#14 Done

2008-06-25T11:07:00.000-04:00

I was going to write about the Amanda Pepper/Philadelphia mysteries that Nancy Pearl turned me on to. I finished Philadelphia Stakes the other day. But then I started adding up the number of novels I had read. I was on eight before I started rereading the Potter series, which would have brought me to 15 but somehow the numbers got out of whack. I listed the Friday Night Knitting Club as 14 and both Ella Minnow Pea and Gaudy Night as 15. They were 16, 17, and 18 respectively. So now I am on 19 and even the Harry Potter naysayers have to allow that I have more than met my goal.

# 38 Frame Up

2008-06-24T13:45:00.001-04:00

Here they are:

Trio of Hearts
Twisted Threads
Completed June 2004

You Are My Sunshine
La D Da
Completed June 30, 2006
Gift to the dude for our 5th anniversary

My Whole Heart
SamSarah Designs
Completed July 7, 2007
anniversary gift, 6th anniversary

In the Tall Flowers

Liberty Street Designs

Completed February 21, 2008

Six more to go! I'll be bringing the dude's anniversary present in on Saturday, and I think I may take a few more pieces in.

Reading

2008-06-22T08:00:00.000-04:00

Things at work are heading south fast. I met on Monday with the evil AVP (former boss's boss) to get a list of my new responsibilities and to find out that they're not even going to start the hiring process until after Labor Day, which means I've gone from being a team of three to a team of one (my junior colleague transfered to another part of the group). My good boss and I went over the list together, and she helped me come up with a figure for my new salary. So on Wednesday when the AVP sent me an e-mail listing those responsibilities, I wrote back thanking her and asking for a meeting to discuss salary. She wrote back basically telling me no; she's taken away some of my responsibilities in addition to giving me the new ones and that everyone's salaries will be reviewed once the consultant finishes their analysis of the group. (Those responsibilities that she took away account for about 4 hours a month. The ones she gave account for about 20 hours a week.) On Thursday I wrote back responding to her "argument" and again requesting a meeting. Nothing.

So when I saw The No Assholes Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't at the library yesterday, I had to check it out. Written by Stanford professor of management, Robert Sutton (PhD), the book defines "asshole" and explains the difference between the temporary and the certified asshole, explains the rule and how to implement and enforce it, knowing when you are the asshole and how to stop being one, and how to survive on "Asshole Avenue"--which is where I work.

It takes two things to be an asshole: 1) people who encounter the asshole almost always feel worse about themselves afterwards and 2) assholes focus their venom on the powerless. So, like the AVP who has actually stuck her tongue out at my junior colleague in meetings with people from different parts of the organization and saying repeatedly, "I know where you're going." Which isn't horrible in and of itself, but it is part of a larger pattern of behavior which includes far too many things to include here. Suffice to say she prides herself on micromanaging and demanding things and using the most condescending tone imaginable. She's a kiss-up, kick down kind of person who sides with everyone but her group. Oh, she's an asshole.

So anyway, the advice for dealing with the assholes is to run*. Which I had sort of figured out on my own. It took me a while to realize the AVP is part of a larger problem that starts at the top and wends its way through the entire organization, not just the group, not just our department. (As Sutton says, "Assholes breed like rabbits" because they hire their own kind.) So in the near future, there might be less money available to do some of the things on this list--though I will have more time to do them...

She's leaving for vacation on Thursday. Would it make me an asshole to hand in my letter of resignation on Wednesday?

*If you can't, you're supposed to float downstream with your legs out in front of you. Which I don't get.

Non-fiction: 11.5

#15 On a Roll

2008-06-17T12:31:00.000-04:00

This is the book I took a hike to get. I've enjoyed reading Adrienne's blog and I have a keen interest in maternal ambivalence based on my dissertation. I picked it up on Thursday (6/5), and finished the next day, but it's taken me a while to write this all down.

I wish I had known Adrienne when she was pregnant. Not that I could have "saved" her, but I could have given her a big pile of books to read to let her know she's not alone. (Rozsika Parker's Mother Love/Mother Hate for one.) Because she had all that time for reading when she was in the bin.

Adrienne's book is smart and funny and incredibly self-aware about a time when it must have been hard to be smart or funny. My favorite line, on the birth of her daughter, "It’s like getting the best Christmas gift ever, but Santa decided to kick the crap out of you before you unwrapped it." I particularly liked her analysis of Marjorie Kempe but wish she had found a few more such examples in her history of ppd/pp psychosis. Her portraits of the places she's lived bring them to life, making them another character in the book. And that's not far wrong because, according to Adrienne, there is something about place that has contributed to the madness in her family line.

My work on this subject takes a different tack. Mothers who are violent or ambivalent are usually labeled mad or bad. And I looked at what was behind the impetus to label the problem an individual one. My argument was that if we made it the woman's problem then it wasn't society's problem, that is it's nothing to do with me if a woman can't handle being a mother. There is an incredible pressure put on women to be "perfect" mothers--despite what some reviewers think. (One suggested that Adrienne just put too much pressure on herself to be perfect, that that didn't really exist.) But that same society refuses to create the safety nets (state sponsored day care, anyone?) that would allow women to achieve this.

It's a good book about a horrible time in one woman's life (though she stands in for many more). It's not for everyone, certainly.

Non-fiction 10.5

#15 Sticking with it

2008-06-16T19:39:00.000-04:00

I have finished another work of non-fiction: Kentucky Moonshine by David W. Maurer. My dad sent this to us because there were a few things he wanted explained. Fortunately, I didn't have to read the book to figure it out.

I do have to tell you that this may be the second worst book I've ever read. Originally published in the 70s this is an incredibly dull work of academic well, it's supposed to be history but there is an utter lack of evidence. I suppose it is an early attempt at cultural studies but of the worst kind. The book is repetitive, lacks logical structure, and isn't well documented. But other than that...

Here's a favorite passage which gives you the flavor:

Transporters are paid from $1.00 to $2.00 per gallon according to the area, the risks involved, and other factors. Usually the owner of the still makes arrangements for the transportation and pays the driver, the cost being passed on to the purchaser. In some areas, the bootlegger hires and pay the transporter himself. These drivers spend as little time as possible around the still and do not openly associate with moonshiners. They are almost always unmarried but often temporarily live with one of the less conventional girls in their own or a neighboring community. Their prowess with women is well known and their tastes run to the flashier type of girl. Since they are paid by the gallon, any risks they take are usually their own, and they may do time if caught. A considerable number are killed or maimed in high-speed chases and most of them at one time or another have been involved in a serious accident. When they no longer drive the hot transport cars, they tend to degenerate into a kind of soft and slovenly indolence, existing as best they can on the empty memories of their younger days.

Ah, scholarship, you've come a long way.

My other favorite line comes from the section where he speculates about the decline of moonshine drinking among young men: "In addition, teenage girls play more and more of a part in the recreational pattern of young men...Because of the cultural factors and the liquor's taste, few girls drink moonshine whiskey with pleasure. However, beer is usually available even in dry territory and this lighter drink may be shared by boys and girls, resulting in a general upgrading of interpersonal relations."

Euphemism anyone? The first three chapters are given over to describing making moonshine in your pressure cooker, building a still, and running the still. The three longest chapters of my reading life. There is also a long prologue to the glossary that describes the reasons why moonshiners might develop their own argot. On the whole, a tedious treatment of a possibly interesting subject.

Non-fiction: 9.5

#15 Still More Non-fiction

2008-06-12T11:27:00.000-04:00

Stuffed: Adventures of a Restaurant Family is the memoir of Patricia Volk whose family owned Morgens in NYC. I suppose it's a happy family because in a lot of ways it was like mine (If all unhappy families are unhappy in their own ways, we must be happy ones, right?) except Volk's family made the papers in New York City more often than mine did in small town New Hampshire. Her family members: introduced pastrami to America, invented the multicolored retractable pen, won best legs in Atlantic City, and one was held hostage for seven hours by a burgular. I'm not going to hold my family up to such scrutiny.

Each chapteris named for a food Volk associates with the person or people featured int he chapter. So Uncle Bob is profiled in "Mallomars" (my uncle Bob would be in the "weed" chapter) and her sister is in "Scrambled Eggs" (my sister might be Circus Peanuts). Each family member's story--which is told with a great deal of kindness--has a moral tale, which, according to Telling True Stories, is desirable. Several people stand out in my mind. Aunt Lil has two embroidered pillows on her couch: "Hope for the best. Expect the worst." and "I've never forgotten a rotten thing that anyone's ever done to me." Wow. (There's more needlework too: her family's housekeeper is a quilter.) Aunt Ruthie (who survived being held hostage) is the master of the biting zinger, one of those offhanded little remarks that can cut to the quick. I had planned to read it at Sunday dinner because it's my grandmother all over. But last night I read it to my sister, and she wants to borrow the book. When I read a little bit of the criticism the mother makes, she wanted me to send the book to our mother. I have a feeling this, like Marley and Me, is going to be a book that makes the rounds in my family.

I skipped another book I've read because I want to think about it more before I write about it.

Non-fiction: 8.5

#15 More Non-fiction

2008-06-07T12:08:00.000-04:00

Telling True Stories: A Nonfiction Writers Guide
This is a compilation of five years of presentations from the Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism. I read it for work, but I think there were lessons even for blog writers. Blog writing is a form of memoir, which is, after all, narrative journalism. Somewhere I wrote this long essay about blogs-as-memoir and the difference between memoir and reportage (and thus between a truth and the truth, or, you know, as close as we can get).

For me this book was useful because there are a lot of things that I know about writing, but not so many that I know about reporting. Well, I know them but I don't always have ways of articulating them. And I certainly think that skill will come in handy when I am interviewing for jobs.

non-fiction: 7.5

#72 Go on a Picnic

2008-05-27T09:07:00.000-04:00

I think I was thinking of something a bit more romantic than having lunch al fresco at Haverford College, but all I wrote was "go on a picnic." So I have fulfilled that. Yesterday, the dude, his mother, and I ate egg salad, mozzarella and tomato salad, and roasted vegetables under the "Penn Teaty Elm." Allegedly, William Penn signed the Shackamaxon treaty in 1683 with the Lanape Indians under an elm. That elm died in a storm in 1810, but someone took a graft. That elm died from Dutch elm disease in 1977. However, self-seeded offspring from 1915 survive. And that's the one we ate under.* So, it's like the grandson. It's freakin huge.

Penn Treaty is in quotes because it is both the cultivar of the tree and gets the marks, but also beyond a painting, no record of the treaty remains. So, like, Penn was never probably under that elm tree and people went to a lot of trouble to maintain it.

* This tree is friggin' spectacular and this is the photo you choose?

#38 Frame 10 FUFOs

2008-05-25T08:19:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I dropped off four pieces at the Strawberry Sampler. They are having a sale 20% off all framing--including the mounting, which they usually exclude from sales. The pieces are My Whole Heart Loves You, You are My Sunshine, Trio of Hearts, and Tall Flowers. Photos when I pick them up in about a month.

#15 Read 16 Works of Non-fiction

2008-05-22T09:30:00.000-04:00

This book is a record of the traveling I would like to do. I would like to go somewhere and get into the culture. I suppose I did that to an extent when I taught English in Poland, but there was something extra safe about being able to call on friends and colleagues when my complete lack of Polish got in the way of me ordering food, about spending time in large groups at tourist destinations, about being carried into the emergency room but surrounded by people who spoke my language.

Erika Warmbrunn decided to run away with her bicycle to Russia and rode all the way to Vietnam. In time she learned to walk into Mongolian gers when she sought shelter, how to offer food to people in China, and how to properly address people in Vietnam. Erika's writing is very good, and she's able to express the human warmth that is generated by a bowl of soup, or sharing a bed, or washing one's feet in (finally) hot water. She is generous about all of the people she meets which makes the reader like her all the more.

I don't remember Erika specifically, though we seem to have been in Russian class together at Bryn Mawr. Her facility with languages and my utter lack thereof may be part of the reason; she was probably one of those people who just wished I would study more (I did!) or drop the class (what and work hard to become mediocre in yet another required language?) .

Erika claims that there is nothing she did that we all couldn't do. But I think there is. The dude, for example, really isn't much of a bike rider (he's ridden twice in nearly 40 years). With my crazy gut illness and falling down issues and chopping myself to pieces problem, I really couldn't have spent that much time in a country that still uses 1950s-style medicine. (I know this about Mongolia because I interviewed a doctor who does heart surgeries there.) Also, there's the complete lack of language facility--though I can say ferroviaria like a native Italian. Unfortunately, I can ask for the train station or a stamp in Rome but not understand the directions I get in return. And in the 15 or so years since she went and did this crazy thing there have been more white people traveling to the far corners of the earth. But she's also right; each of us can put one foot in front of the other and complete a journey of 5000 miles. We only need open our hearts.

Non-fiction: 6.5

This is my 100th posts and I wish that meant I was closer to finishing 101 things than I am. Sigh.

#15 Read 16 Works of Non-fiction

2008-05-21T22:35:00.000-04:00

In Other Words: A Language Lover's Guide to the Most Intriguing Words Around the World by Christopher Moore translates some of the foreign words and idiomatic expressions that are reckoned to be "untranslatable."

Words I wish I could remember so that I could use them more:

esprit de l'escalier (French) witty remark or smart retort that you think of too late to say (in fact, on the stairs)
korinthenkacker (German) raisin pooper--someone taken up with life's trivial detail that they "crap raisins." (bureaucrat?) Interestingly in Dutch, a raisin pooper is someone who's cheap.

egyszer wolt budan kutyavasar (Hungarian) "There was a dog market in Buda only once" that is an opportunity you must take or you will regret it.
Nie dla wszystkich ckrzypce graja (Polish) the violin doesn't play for everybody. If you've ever heard someone try to learn violin, you should understand the essence of the idiom.
hankikanto (Finnish) in the book they say it resists translation into many languages because it is "a frozen crust on the surface of snow that is strong enough to walk on." I recognized it instantly, though I imagine some people who didn't grow up far enough north wouldn't.
denize girse kurutur (Turkish) "he gets dry if he enters the sea" someone who can't do anything right.
aware (Japanese) awareness and appreciation of the ephemeral beauty of the world. Part of the idiom mono-no-aware "enjoying the sadness of life." Moore writes "it's that bittersweet, vaguely poetic feeling you get ...looking out at the driving rain." Isn't it interesting that I felt this on Sunday but didn't have a word for it until Monday?

It's interesting to learn the sorts of philospohies that don't exist in other languages like compromise--or the nuances of relationships that do exist in other cultures. Just like me to read a dictionary. Wordork.

Non-ficion: 5.5

# 14 Read 16 Works of Fiction

2008-05-19T20:15:00.000-04:00

When I was dying of boredom, I got the dude to take me to the library, and this is one of the books I got. There's something I love about Peter Whimsy. Gaudy Night is one of my favorite mysteries of all time. Unnatural Death is more of a how-dunnit than a who-dunnit--kind of like Columbo. There is something a little jarring, though, about the 1920's lack of political correctness, or as the new book I am reading, In Other Words, would have it, onderbuikgevoelens (Dutch for socially unacceptable sentiments). Full report when I finish, probably on the bus ride home.

Recently--Mother's Day to be exact--I gave my niece a box of our old books. My contribution was the Nancy Drew novels I had loved as a child and my sister's was some Roald Dahl novels. Yesterday, Lala reported that she's read three Nancy Drew books. They're saying she takes after me. Of course, the books are short and she has way more free time than most of us, but she is only eight.

Fiction: 15

#14 Read 16 Works of Fiction

2008-05-13T14:48:00.000-04:00

Ella Minnow Pea

by Mark Dunn

Another in the series of books recommended by Nancy Pearl, Ella Minnow Pea is a "progressively lipogrammatic epistolary fable." On a fictional island nation off the coast of South Carolina, a government grows steadily more oppressive (linguistically at first) as letters fall from a statue dedicated to the developer of the pangram "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." The situation grows increasingly absurd until half the island is in exile. In the past few years I have found reading books about oppressive governments to cause me to feel increasing dis-ease. Especially when so many characters are willing to stand by and let the government do as it pleases. Interestingly, the Kirkus review calls this book "lighthearted" where LJ (in a starred review) compares it to "The Lottery" or "Fahrenheit 451" with "farce and comic relief" stirred in. I have to say I'm on the side of Library Journal. Other reviewers say it's a book for people who love words and wordplay, and I'll admit to you I needed to use the dictionary once while I was reading. It's surprising how obscure words come to the fore when you can't/don't write with the letters q, z, j, and d.

Fiction: 15

#39 Send Four Items to be Professionally Finished

2008-04-29T13:15:00.000-04:00

Two down. I can highly recommend Mona, finisher for The Silver Needle.

#33 No TV

2008-04-28T11:58:00.000-04:00

Well, we've done it! This morning I turned on the television to check the weather but only left it on for about 5 minutes. And thus ends an experiment. The only time I missed watching was when I realized this weekend was the NFL draft. I can't believe these two events coincided. I have watched the draft--both days--for years. One year I even recorded all the data, but that was when I had a former student who was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons.

We just fired up the magic box and reviewed the lists of draftees. It wasn't as good as watching but I got the information just the same. I think we may have relied on the computer too much as a substitute for the television, though. I drew the line and didn't watch any television on the computer. Maybe next time we'll have to ban the computer too. In the evenings anyway.

#33 Go without tv for one week--in season

2008-04-22T15:05:00.000-04:00

It's National Turn off Your TV Week. We didn't watch tv yesterday because the contractor came to give the estimate, so today on the El I asked the dude if he wanted to turn off the tv this week. "Can I record things?" he asked. I don't think there are official rules about never seeing this week's World Poker Tour or CSI so I told him he could set the DVR. I think I should switch off the power strip that powers the tv. That seems like an appropriately Earth-y Day thing to do today too.

Counter Balance

2008-04-22T12:00:00.000-04:00

We had a contractor come give us an estimate to replace the kitchen counters. My parents are buying that for us as a housewarming gift. We're so sad that it's two years in and we're finally getting around to it. We got a quote for replacing the backsplash at the same time but it sounds really.effing.high. I've got to call around, but the ball is rolling...

#15: Bonk

2008-04-18T11:03:00.000-04:00

I loved this book: I am interested in science; I think everything should be seen through the most humorous lens; and I, like most people, am a voyeur at heart. The other day at an office gathering I regaled someone for 15 minutes with stories from this book about penises. Because we're fascinated by sex. All of us. Even the ones who pretend otherwise. Of course, you don't want anyone telling you about their sex life, but read about Kinsey's proclivities and what he did with toothbrushes, sure. (When I was reading this at the lunch counter of a Korean restaurant, this guy next to me started talking to his friend next to him about this hook up he had had over the weekend and how much he regretted it. I so wanted to say, "this book says she really regrets hooking up with you too." Because really, what kind of guy does that? And he wasn't even that good looking. But I digress.)

I read it in two days. Which just goes to show, there is something really wrong with that influenza book that I cannot get through it. And I have done research on what this college I work for did during the epidemic of 1918. Philadelphia was pretty hard hit because their public health organization (and the local government then as now) was totally corrupt. You'd think that book wouldn't be such a yawn.

I have to go back to the library and get Stiff.

non-fiction: 4.5

Neglect

2008-04-15T21:12:00.000-04:00

I've been neglecting this little endeavor. I think it's because my time draws near, and I have no motivation.

Here's another wreath I made from silk forsythia, or, as I would have it fauxythia:

I watched Yankee Doodle Dandy which is on the AFI top 100 list that I am trying to complete. It was long, tedious, and predictable, but Cagney, godblesshim, was doing quite a job. Sometimes you could almost see his eyes pleading with the other actors to show a little more life. Unfortunately, he played a song and dance man but he could neither sing nor dance. I also started watching The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Sometimes I felt like I was out in the desert digging for treasure with them: bored, hot, tired. I'm not one who needs a snappy film. I love Chinatown. Do you know how slowly that movie goes? I enjoyed The Conversation. I don't need all kinds of action. But boy howdy, I've been disappointed in the AFI's 100 best that I've watched so far. (There were about 50 that I had seen before and quite enjoyed. Maybe I didn't see the others for a Very.Good.Reason.)

I still haven't finished The Great Influenza. I don't know what is wrong with that book. I really enjoy medical history; I work at a frickin' medical school. I think it's the organization. Anyway, I wish I could count it among my non-fiction finishes, but no such. I finally went and got something different to read: Bonk by Mary Roach. If sex doesn't interest me...oh yeah.

Taveling Woman

2008-03-18T15:34:00.001-04:00

#64: Visit Four of the Following States Overnight

2008-02-26T23:05:00.000-05:00

Our trip to eat barbecue in Kansas City was a success. We visited LC's, Gates, and Arthur Bryant's. Each had its attraction, pros and cons listed below.

LC's
Jacque assures us this is a neighborhood we shouldn't have visited, but we lived in South Central LA and I lived in Harlem so we're not scared! But we had heard the neighborhood was dodgy so we went for lunch. I had the burnt ends and an order of onion rings; the dude had short ends (ribs) and cole slaw. LC's turned out to produce our favorite sauce: more tomatoe-y and vinegar-y more hot than sweet than the others. The burnt ends were cut in large chunks and had a bit more fat on them than they should. The short ends were great--super tender--but toward the end they were a bit gristly. I could wax poetic about their onion rings. I know this wasn't the reason we went to Kansas City, but these are the second best onion rings I've ever eaten {the best are made by my uncle} LC's onion rings were not at all greasy and were deliciously salty. I was happy.

Gates
I ordered the burnt ends and potato salad; the dude had mutton and cole slaw (they were out of short ends). We also bought, but could not eat {until later}, a individual size sweet potatoe pie. The big surprise here was the sides came with a generous sprinkle of rub on them. YUM! We didn't buy the rub, but I may have to order some so I can throw it on side dishes this summer. Or every day when I eat. The burnt ends were chopped up very fine and were served (hooray!) on a bun not the nasty ubiquitous white bread. The grease soaked into the bread. I loved it. It was like Texas toast without the cheese. The dude thought this was overchopped, but I'm not a fan of chewing meat {it's true} so the closer I get to having someone regurgitate chewed food into my mouth, the better. No not really, but I did like the chop. The dude loved the flavor of the mutton but he really had to work at the bones to get past the fat. Is that how mutton is supposed to be? Probably not, but he dug it because the meat was tender and falling off the bone, of course. Gates had our second favorite sauce: thicker and spicier than LC's, really good. It was our first favorite price because we won $5 when our receipt came up with a red star on it.

We were pleased with the pie when we ate it the next day. Nice, crumbly pie crust but sturdy enough for the sweet potato mash. Not as good as Aunt Kizzy's {"so light it can float like a feather"} but it was quite tasty.

Arthur Bryant's
We finally got a clue and only ordered one thing and no sides. We split the burnt ends. This had the best chop size--not too fine, but the sauce was too sweet, very tasty but not to our tastes. The burnt ends were very good. Served, again, on white bread, which the dude ate. I steadfastedly refused. We bought this on the way to the airport, so we didn't actually eat it right away. I'm not sure this made that much difference. The meat was a good quality.

Other things we did besides eat:
Truman Library and Museum
The dude's a fan of presidential libraries--well of the Kennedy library--so we decided to visit this one. Obviously we're both too young to remember this period in American history, so this was quite educational. Many exhibits featured excerpts oral histories from various people. Most interesting, Truman left office with a 30% approval rating. History has shown that his policies and actions have become more popular--like when they had a boatload of presidents and vice-presidents from both parties quoting him in their speeches. I'm pretty sure we won't see similar changes in 40 years at the George W. Bush library (which will house, what? coloring books?).

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
A relatively new museum, this place is really about racism in American culture. A terrifically interesting narrative. Because there's so little space, there's more text crammed in each square foot than there probably should be, but I really learned a lot here.

Jazz Museum
How do you make a museum about sound? I think they did a pretty good job engaging us as listeners. There's probably a bit too much focus on the big names of jazz, but they did cover a wide variety of styles, instruments, and time periods. There was also a section that let you listen to particular sounds--rhythm, percussion, etc. Though the dude was disappointed that their reed section didn't include any clarinet (he plays). Too bad we didn't have an opportunity to go to the Blue Room.

Letters

2008-02-26T09:54:00.000-05:00

Dear Kansas City,

Why the Wonder Bread? You use quality beef to make your barbecue. Your sauce is on the spicy side, which I enjoy—brought home four bottles, even. Yet you insist on using the crappiest bread you can find. I have this thing about bread dating back from when I was a child. I’m only picky about two things: no fat or gristle on my meat and no bread that deteriorates on contact with the slightest bit of liquid. It’s a little sad how much bread was wasted this past weekend. And I blame you.
###

Dear Mother Nature,

While I greatly appreciate that you held off with the snow until we were actually out of Chicago, couldn’t you have done a little better with Dallas? I know it doesn’t seem like it should matter since we flew MCI-> MDW -> PHL, but those winds in Dallas threw everything off and we spent 10 hours in transit, mostly in airports just sitting.
###

Dear Midway Baggage Handlers,

When they cancel a flight, say 440, and put all the passengers from 440 onto the same new flight, you should take the bags that you have stacked up to put on 440 and bring them to the new plane. You had over an hour; I really think you should have been able to handle this one.
###

Note to Self:
When checking bags, make a note of three things that are packed in each bag. That way when the lost baggage clerk in Philadelphia asks for three items in the bag, you can think of at least one thing that’s not birth control.
###

It was a fun trip. Full report later!

#50 Exercise three days/week for 3 months

2008-02-20T17:05:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to decide whether I should make this public to keep myself on track or if I should wait until I've been a little successful, then announce how great I am. I am going for the former.

One prong of Weight Watchers' four pronged approach to weight loss is exercise, and that's what we talked about at last week's meeting. One of the recommended methods to keep yourself on track is to use a visual reminder. The leader, who is nice but rather unimaginative, suggested putting a photo of your fat self on the refrigerator. Honey, if that worked I never would have gone this far down the wrong road. My mother's had fat photos of herself on the fridge my whole life. But it did start me thinking: two of the skinniest people I know keep a calendar on their refrigerator and every day they write in what they did for exercise that day. I noticed in cramped hand there was "2 hours basketball" (his) and "45 minutes yoga" (hers); "45 minute run" and "60 minute aerobics video." I couldn't stand there staring at it all day committing it to memory, but you get the idea. I thought this was a much better visual reminder than a fat ass photo, so I told the story and ended with my own flourish, "And these are skinny people! They don't even need to be doing this!" To which the leader responded, "Maybe they do."

Oh.

Then it occurred to me that the her of the couple started out in that relationship with what my father likes to call a two axe handle ass. Maybe she did.

So I've been dutifully keeping track since Saturday. So far the calendar reads: "30 minute walk," "30 minute elliptical trainer," "55 minute yoga," and "35 minute aerobic video." My goal is to go the whole month, every day. I know I said three days a week, but maybe if I overshoot, I'll actually end up doing three days. I'll worry about the three months when I've gotten through the first. One day at a time, as Bill W. likes to say.

You've probably noticed that ticker hasn't moved since October. Something must be done.

#14: Read 16 Works of Fiction

2008-02-11T21:52:00.000-05:00

The Friday Night Knitting Club
Kate Jacobs

I won this book in the Craft Magazine/baseball thingamajig. Yesterday, I picked it up when I was in the craft room sewing. I read about 60 pages, and was totally hooked. It's a nice cozy little book about people who hang around in a yarn shop. It's about women's lives and how they form friendships. It's a lot more warm than Whitney Otto's How to Make an American Quilt but less academic? literary? Something really sad happens, but I'm not going to tell you because you should read it.

The dude saw me put the book down and asked how many pages. 345. "I couldn't have read that book today if I had stayed home from work." But I didn't read it all today. And it was just a little cozy book with the big sad thing. But it made me all warm and fuzzy anyway.

Fiction: 14

KCMO

2008-01-29T09:15:00.001-05:00

The dude and I are heading out of town in a couple of weeks to continue our journey to taste the great variety of barbecue in the U.S. Our next stop is Kansas City, Missouri. According to the research we have done, we are in for brisket and burnt ends with sauce that is thick and spicy and sweet. Burnt ends--I love burnt food so I am really excited to try this!

We began our BBQ quest on our cross-country drive in 2005. It all started in Memphis where I ate my first rib. (I'm picky about the meat I eat, and I thought I wouldn't like them.) We plan on visiting N.C. and possibly re-visiting Texas as well for this journey. Of course, it will be a lifelong adventure, but these are the four states we're starting with.

This visit will mark the second stop on #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." (These are all the U.S. states I haven't yet visited; I've shopped in Delaware, flown through Minnesota, and driven through Arkansas, but I don't think that counts.)

Taking Stock for the New Year

2008-01-04T15:12:00.000-05:00

Completed: 33
Begun: 20
Remaining: 48

Time: 433 days

So in 2/3 of the time I had, I managed to do 1/3 of the things I had hoped to do. That sounds like me.

#80 Install blind upstairs bath

2008-01-03T18:00:00.000-05:00

That is a new blind in the newly painted bathroom. It replaces the craptastic burgundy metal miniblind that came with the house. So, yeah, two years later and we just fixed that. (Let's not talk about the toe-molding in the bedroom.)

#29 Host Open House each December

2007-12-28T13:26:00.000-05:00

I added this item to the list because I thought it would force me to finally invite people to the house. (We still haven't had a house warming!) Last December, I had to pass, since I was still hobbling about on crutches; sometimes life just gets in the way. This year, I had my family and some outlaws over—fourteen in all. We enjoyed appetizers, bigos, pierogis, and cheesecake, and because it was the fourth day in row we were with all the relatives, plenty of alcohol. After dinner, we played a chaotic game of What Were You Thinking? The game is fun for small and large groups, and very easy. All you have to do is think alike! Then everyone had had enough, and I was left with tons of washing up. But it was fun, and I haven't yet tired of the complements on my cooking and decorating.

I started with a recipe for the bigos, but in an uncharacteristic move, I improvised it on my very first go.

2 lbs sauerkraut
1/2 lb bacon
1/2 lb veal
1/2 lb pork
1/2 lb ham
1 kielbasa--don't know which kind, but next time we're doing it with "hunter's kielbasa"
small head of cabbage
3 onions
1 lb mushrooms
butter
dry mushrooms
2 c boiling water
2 bay leaves
1 T caraway seed
1 beer, I used Sam Light since it was the only lager in the fridge (and I wasn't using the Skullsplitter)
3 tomatoes

Bring the sauerkraut (with juice) to a boil. Meanwhile, fry bacon. Throw the bacon in the pot with the sauerkraut once it is browned. In the bacon fat, brown the meats. Add to the pot. Slice the cabbage and add it to the stew. Chop the onions and brown in the butter. Slice the mushrooms and cook with the onions. Throw the cooked onions and mushrooms in the pot. Put a handful of dry mushrooms in the boiling water. Once they are reconstituted, chop the mushrooms. Add the mushrooms and their (strained) liquid to the pot. If the liquid level seems low, add a beer. Add bay leaves and caraway. Chop and add three tomatoes (you can used canned).

Bring it to a boil and simmer for a couple of hours. The stew is purportedly better after a day or so. Boil it every day. I made the stew on Sunday and the dude boiled it on Monday. We didn't get to it on Tuesday, but heated it up (to boiling) well in advance of the party on Wednesday. Everyone raved.

Notes: The original recipe called for 1/2 c red wine instead of beer. It also suggested a chopped apple to sweeten it (it's a little tart from the sauerkraut). It called for 1/2 lb game (rabbit, venison) which is a little difficult to procure at the last minute. (But my father had both moose and venison in the freezer, if I'd only known!) And it said you could throw in any other cooked meats you might have. Which is why I decided I could play fast and loose with the recipe.

#36 Finish 3 FUFOs as pillows

2007-12-28T13:23:00.000-05:00

I have finished my third pillow—I still only have two photos of these, though. I’m feeling very confident in my pillow making skills these days. Everyone raved about Sissy's pillow. She was just happy that it was a finished gift! (Which is a sad comment on my gift-giving history.) I should definitely work on finishing more of my stitched pieces.

#74 Repaint brown bathroom

2007-12-27T13:44:00.001-05:00

I finished four coats, just in time for Christmas and the visit from the relatives. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to put up the blind, but soon. Very soon. I’d show you a photo, but it’s a picture of a bathroom painted white. With pink and burgundy tile (which is why we wanted it to be brown. But with no bathroom fan, there was no way that paint wasn’t bubbling.)

#63 Visit England just before Christmas

2007-12-27T13:40:00.000-05:00

I can’t believe we forgot to bring the camera. With any luck, my inlaws will send some photos of us soon.

It was a whirlwind tour! We spent two nights on the floor of a front room in Surrey before being transferred to Wimbledon for two nights on the lumpy fold-out couch in the front room. And then two nights in a proper bed in Durham (with “Cathedral views”—in America, we wouldn’t lie; it would be “Cathedral peeks.”) I fell in love over and over again with my nephews. My SIL has two boys nine months and three years. My BIL has two boys six and four and a half. Am I allowed to have favorites? Because I’d have to say the four-and-a half year old is it. But they all have their unique charms, and I do hope we will get to visit them more often. The happiest part was that we were able to share Christmas with them all. Usually, our parcels arrive in February or April. I reported on the trip here.

#40 Take a sewing class

2007-12-27T13:21:00.000-05:00

Sweet, sad, neglected little blog. I haven’t been writing but I have been crossing items off my list.

My sewing class came to an end just before I left for England. Of course, then the Christmas hubbub was upon me. I did finish two projects and begin a third. I made these placemats. (photo to come) My goal is to make matching napkins—I bought plenty of fabric. The napkins will match the little yellow corners.

I also made this bag for my aunt. I’m pretty sure she likes it.

I started the Amy Butler overnight case, and I’ve decided to sign up for the class again so I can finish it with help from a more experienced person. This class has already born fruit: see number 36 above (to be added soon).

#8 Visit the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at Penn

2007-10-29T13:15:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the FIL's visit, I have achieved No. 8, a visit to the Penn Museum. We only had time for a short visit, because my FIL had to see my husband's office (you know, four plain white walls, a window, basement office). We focused on the people of the Americas, since it's difficult to find stuff like that in Europe. There is an impressive amount of Tlingit materials--because a Tlingit man worked for the museum and collected widely in the area--or stole from his people, but isn't that the problem with anthropology and archaeology and much museum collecting in general? There was an impressive display concerning looting in Iraq, speaking of. I look forward to going back.

Also, I decided that I couldn't be a Hopi woman because I could never make piiki, a bread which is made by spreading a thin batter onto a hot stone with the hand. The bare hand. I can hardly use the oven without burning myself, and no one's telling me to touch anything in there!

Unfortunately, we didn't do anything else from the list. We did spend a few hours on Sunday learning about the battle of Gettysburg. If you ever find yourself there, you must do the rent-a-guide thing. The Park Services has a group of certified guides who will ride around in your car (or drive it!) with you and explain the battle. I so did not care about Gettysburg. (In fact when one of the tourism mongers (fake certified "Town Guides") asked what I was interested in seeing, I said, "Nothing!" This led the dude to be all pissy with me, until I said, "I want to do this because your father wants to do this." There aren't too many comebacks to that.) Anyway, this guide was so interested in it--but in a learny kind of way, not a reenactment dork kind of way--that I really tried to picture 12,000 Confederates coming up over a ridge. I'm pretty sure my FIL knows the exact movements of troops at 3:00 on the second day (they give you that kind of detail) but I am perfectly happy knowing that Gettysburg is Gettysburg because of the 11 roads that converge at that point, that and it was the beginning of the end of the war. That's all I need to know. I think we're going to go back with my dad. I'm sure he'd love it.

#53 Learn CPR

2007-10-05T12:24:00.000-04:00

I have been certified to resuscitate adults, children, and infants. I can help choking victims. But don't be faking unconsciousness, because first I shake you then I rub my knuckles on your chest. Go ahead, try it on yourself. It hurts. So no faking.

But I would like everyone who has a child under the age of one to stay away from me until my certification runs out in a year. Because I was totally freaked by practicing on the infant dummy. I don't want any babies choking near me because I do not want to rap the baby on the back; I do not want to make the "baby sandwich" (a way of flipping the baby from the back to the front); I do not want to compress your baby's chest. No, no, no.

Non-fiction

2007-10-04T14:14:00.000-04:00

I am still dragging myself through that flu book. It's not that I don't like history or thinking, but it is just taking me so long to read it. I'm about 2/3 of the way through.

I did manage to read Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair in about a minute and a half. It was enjoyable like Laurie's website is.

I wanted to share with you Laurie's list for having better relationships, because I think everyone can learn from it.

Have more sex. Hire a cleaning service so you spend less time being resentful. Go out on dates at least once a week. Always be kind, even when you want to be mean. Listen more, talk less. Don't drink too much wine at a party and accuse him of ...anything. Wear sexier stuff to bed. Have your own life. Have your own goals, interests, and activities. Don't give up being whole. Don't pick someone who'd need you to be less than you are. Choose well. Don't criticize his driving.

I'm working on a few of these. The mean thing. The criticizing the driving thing. I think we need to work on the housekeeper thing too.

Nonfiction: 3.5

#17 Attend three ethnic celebrations in Philadelphia

2007-09-10T09:56:00.000-04:00

The dude and I went to "America's Czestochowa" for the 42nd Polish-American fair. We got there in time for lunch so we split an order of pierogi (potato and cheese), a golubki (even though the dude thinks he doesn't like cabbage), plackis (or as we call them latkes--my great-grandmother spoke Polish and Yiddish, though she was Catholic), and a steamed kielbasa sandwich on rye. The dude also tried a Żywiec. And a woman randomly handed him some kind of apple and pear cider which he enjoyed as well. (Because when Polish old ladies hand you a cup, you drink.) Later we found someone with a great pot of bigos, but we were too full to get it (even though it was only $2). Seeing the steaming concoction convinced the dude that we have to make it for our Christmas dinner--we're hosting the relatives on December 26.

At one of the little stands, the dude fell sway to cwikla, beetroot and horseradish relish, which they served to him on a small disc of smoked kielbasa. Of course, he bought a huge jar--the price difference between normal size and huge was only $1. That kind of thing sways him. This will be our appetizer for 12/26.

We wandered through the craft stands. Mostly standard crap fair fare. There were a couple of amber peddlers, and the dude bought me a beautiful pendant for my birthday. (No photos until October.)

Good clean fun!

#91 Paint Craft Room

2007-09-03T18:31:00.000-04:00

It's Labor Day, so we labored. The craft room is painted. Ceiling, trim, and walls. Right now, it looks like a big white box, so no photos; you'll just have to take my word for it. You will be able to tell in the photos when the room is complete. Stay tuned.

#21 Ride in a Hot Air Balloon

2007-09-02T21:00:00.000-04:00

Thank you all for being so kind as to not mention the um, ballooning disaster in Canada before my flight. In fact, through my own negligence, and my family's protectiveness, I didn't hear about the accident until I showed up for my flight on Saturday evening. Four of us were oblivious which meant four more of us were either idiots or extraordinarily brave--or like me, they just figured what are the chances? (Or like one woman, you can just get totally loaded before you go up in the balloon. Interestingly, she was fulfilling her "life's ambition." It seems to me that your life's ambition shouldn't be something you have to get smashed to do, but that's just me.)

Our pilot reassured us that in 25 years of ballooning, he's never had an accident. I went back to my family--my cousin's husband didn't ride but the whole famn damily came to see me off--and asked who knew about it: they all did. I overheard my cousin explaining to Lala:
"The balloon caught fire."
"Well, some people died but some people were only injured."
"Some people jumped out."
So I double checked before we took off: "If it catches fire, jump or no?"

Armed with this important information, I had one of the top 10 experiences of my life. It was smooth sailing over the trees--sometimes through them, and no, the basket doesn't swing when you hit a tree--where the wind took us. It was beautiful and peaceful. I can't wait to go again.

My pilot does European tours. I'm thinking the next flight should be to the Alps in January for the Chateau d'Oex Balloon Festival. Let's see if I can convince the dude.

My photos (l-r): the balloon ready for inflating; looking up; balloon packaged for another day. Top: self-portrait.

#58 Lunch eaten

2007-08-31T22:36:00.000-04:00

...and steps taken toward #27. I had the turkey sandwich with coleslaw and Russian dressing on rye. He had the portabello burger. We talked shop, home dec, and weird uncomfortable things just to, you know, show how cool we were with weird uncomfortable things...

#58 Eating More Lunch

2007-08-29T17:16:00.000-04:00

So today, Mr Graphics showed me a photo of his kitchen--and it looked exactly like mine. Well okay, we painted the same color, and I have black and white floor tile and he has black and white counter tile. It's like we were separated at birth. Anyway, we're going to lunch on Friday. I'll be 2/3 of the way there. I have to say the two lunches I have had with people outside my department have been the easy ones--people I work with regularly and get along with and can see myself being friends with. I have no idea how I am getting a third...the president will invite me to lunch? Or...does the time I went with my boss to Marathon with an assistant dean to talk about the publication we do for his college count? I totally forgot about that.

Here's a question about the intraoffice lunches (#57), do I have to go out with them? Can we sit around the lunchroom together? I mean, so long as we're eating and talking, does that count? You never know what little nuances there are to these list items until you start doing them. At any rate, if it's the latter--the lunchroom conversation counts--then I have to add NS, JH, and HB (they're thick as thieves and move as a unit) and KB. That KB lunch was funny. JH (a different one) said that KB wanted to raise goats and marry a farmer, and I turned her on to Farmer's Only. She thinks I may be responsible for her future happiness. Well, good, she deserves it.

(And that means I am down to 14 with one person leaving at the end of next month...I should try to do more to have lunch with her before she goes.)

#57 Eating Lunch

2007-08-17T14:38:00.000-04:00

I forgot that when I went to Newport I actually fulfilled a second goal--I had lunch with two of my coworkers with whom I had not eaten before. One--the senior vp--I wasn't sure how I was going to get lunch with him. Much easier than I thought it was going to be...The other one, well, I wasn't sure how I was going to get through a lunch with her. But I did.

Just what does a billionaire serve for lunch? They eat just like the hoi polloi: wings, cheeseburgers, hot dogs (she had a hot dog), potato chips, a pickle dish, salads, cottage cheese (?). Dove bars and store bought cookies for dessert. Went all out, she did.

The countdown continues, 18 left: BC, BE, CM, DM, HB, JH, JR, KW, KB, LM, MG, MK, NS, PH, PM, SS, SS, TM.

21, 20, 19, 18...

2007-08-15T16:35:00.000-04:00

The countdown begins! I have booked my flight on the balloon. I know, you've been wondering when I was going to do this for almost two years! (The dude did get this trip for me for my 39th birthday.) D-day is September 1, weather permitting. I'll be taking my flight with my cousin's husband--the dude is not so keen on the heights. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

#40 Take a sewing class AND #53 Learn CPR

2007-08-14T10:28:00.000-04:00

The Haverford Adult School catalog came a few days ago. I signed up for beading boot camp and an applique class. I am going to work on my sewing skills, people. Whoot!

They are also offering Red Cross Certification in CPR.

Two birds, one catalogue.

#15 Read 16 works of non-fiction

2007-08-13T16:10:00.000-04:00

For a person who studied contemporary American women's fiction, I know a lot about the Victorian period, especially the New Poor Laws--that's what the dude wrote his dissertation on, and good spouses make good editors. Or something like that. Actually, we would offer polite criticism like "these two sentences should be two paragraphs." And the critiqued would yell, "It's perfectly fine the way it is; you don't know anything." Following a generous period of sulking, the critiqued would take the editor's advice. It was like clockwork. But I digress. I just meant to say, I know a little about the historical and cultural period in which our tale is set.

This book offers a fairly interesting sketch of a subject that is near and dear to my heart, the functioning of medical colleges. I know that the orphaned dead would end up in the medical schools of Philadelphia (from Skeleton Stories); I'd really love to do more research on how the place where I work dealt with the procurement of subjects.

Ultimately, I thought this book lacked organization. Sometimes it felt like the author had no clear direction. Lots of backtracking. Lots of interruptions for whole chapters that were meant to provide context, but it wasn't woven together terribly well...or maybe non-fiction isn't meant to be read in half hour spurts on the bus.

It was fine but I never felt like I opened up the book to find out what happened next...and it was a tale of a lurid court case. I really should have wanted to find out, but the court sections were dense and had the Newgate stink about them.

Non-fiction: 2

#66 Visit Newport, RI

2007-08-07T09:34:00.001-04:00

I left my house at 6:00 am to fly up to Providence to interview the donor, and boy, what a trip.

Our hostess showed us her private home, offering us a picnic, and brought us to visit "The Farm".

By the time we got to town, we only had an hour or so before we were scheduled to head to the airport. We did walk a bit down Thames and Bellevue, but we didn't have enough time to tour any homes. But then again, I mentioned the tour of the private home, right?

As usual, Philadelphia airport SUCKS, and ATC had to delay our flight two and a half hours. Apparently they can schedule flights, they just can't stick to the schedule. Even our pilots were perplexed because there was no weather in Phillie. It's just the crappiest major city in America.

#90 Rip up carpet in craft room

2007-08-05T20:14:00.000-04:00

I thought we weren't going to finish today. I was still packing up the room (and sorting, lots of sorting) at lunchtime. I suppose the experience of taking up the carpet in the bedroom--and figuring out how to deal with the disintegrated rubber mat--paid dividends today. Armed with our dustpans (yes, the secret to taking up rubber mat that has stuck to the hardwood), we made quick work of the carpeting.

This floor is in the best condition of all the hardwood we've revealed so far. It's very exciting.

#97 Paint the shutters

2007-07-23T13:17:00.000-04:00

Done. Man, I was smokin' this weekend!

Before:

After:

In Bed by 2:00

2007-07-22T09:28:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, despite the release of the new Harry Potter, the dude and I went to Philadelphia to play tourist in our adopted hometown. We headed off to Rick's for cheesesteaks; it was supposed to be a farewell, but there has been a reprieve.

We headed over to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the first art museum in the country. They currently have The Gross Clinic, and I have now seen it twice as often as I ever saw it when it was hanging just two blocks from my office... We said we were going to start there and work our way to the door of the old building, but we got totally distracted by the wallpaper in a room filled with black lights. Virgil Marti's psychedelic "Morris-esque" wallpaper was too intriguing. Even the women who asked about the Gross Clinic, clearly having only come to see that and the special exhibit Warp Trance (um, hey, we're part of the art), got sidetracked by that room. Although the whole gallery smelled faintly of urine, (the dude assures me it was age and possibly mildew) the building itself (Furness) and the collection were incredibly interesting. We popped over to the contemporary wing--why does viewing contemporary art always make me feel like I'm going shopping?--for a bit. On our way out, we were accosted by a docent who brought us into the sculpture wing and gave us a little tour.

We then walked over to DiBruno Brothers to spend the dude's birthday gift certificate. We ended up with a cheddar, an aged gouda, and a washed rind cheese--the stinkiest ever. Our fridge currently stinks of old socks mixed with poo. Yum! The stinky cheese is Drunk Monk, just in case that description was too much for you to resist.

We arrived home at 4:00 to find my copy of Deathly Hallows sticking out of the mailbox. When I only had just over 150 pages to read at 11:30, I determined to stay up and finish. And I did.

But I only read it so quickly because I read it before. Must be. Pblllllllllllllllllllllllt. Unlike the New York Times, I'm not talking.

#14 Half-blood Prince

2007-07-18T22:09:00.000-04:00

Done. I had forgotten a lot of this one. Now, I am ready for Saturday.

I really wasn't sure I was going to manage this, but I have read the whole series in 23 days.

#52 Lose 50 pounds

2007-07-17T17:37:00.000-04:00

I have been going to Weight Watchers, though I don't talk about it much. Last Saturday, I lost three pounds (I had gained the week before, so some of that was "fake" weight loss). That brought my total to over ten pounds. In celebration, I made a ticker. I know I can stick with this, but we'll see if I remember to update the ticker. I weigh on Saturdays.

#19 Go to Camden Yards

2007-07-16T16:36:00.001-04:00

Here is the photographic evidence of my recent visit to Camden Yards. Thanks to brave astronaut, who knows my list better than I do and is perhaps more dedicated to it, I have attended a baseball game in Baltimore (and had a delightful anniversary dinner. Thanks again, brave astronaut and best pal!). The Orioles won in extra innings--the home team has won every game I have attended this season. I should rent myself out.

As we were driving down to Baltimore, I was telling the dude that we should take a vacation to visit ballparks one year. We first thought we could have some significant fun in two weeks driving around the midwest. Then we decided fuck two weeks, when we retire, we are going to go to every park in one summer. It will be the summer of baseball.

#14 870 Pages Down

2007-07-09T21:15:00.000-04:00

...652 to go. Finished Order of the Phoenix tonight. Maybe I'll go stitch a little as a reward.