So During the Last Year...

I have been horrible at this.


2. Try 12 new-to-me restaurants
Distrito; Saigon Harbor; Percy Street Barbecue; Kaya's.


3. Find out about three interesting foods, seek them out, and try them.
Went to North Carolina to try their version of barbecue. Good stuff!


40. Sort scrapbook supplies and donate the things I don’t use, preferably to people who do therapeutic scrapbooking with MR kids
In the great craft room clean-up, I went through many, many crafting supplies (including the scrapbooks). The organizer I worked with took the supplies and donated them. When she came back, she told me that she had given them to an organization that worked with adults with intellectual disabilities. Serendipity!

50. Finish current WIP—Tree of Life Window
I finished! It is framed and waiting for my MIL to take it to my SIL for their new home!

70. Complete catalog of books
Done!


72. Organize craft room
DONE! I'm not sure that anything I've done has made me happier. My whole house feels cleaner! Now my craft room is a place I can work. I can find all sorts of things in there. It's remarkable.


75. Host three dinner parties 
I threw a fun little party for a friend's birthday last month: white chicken enchiladas, guacamole salad, and margarita cupcakes. Ole!


78. Host five game nights
Just before Christmas we had a couple of friends around for Apples to Apples. It was fun. 


79. Go OUT on a date once a month with the dude (13/33)
We went out to the National Acrobats of China, to the orchestra, and to see Aimee Mann. I'm sure we've gone a few other places, but I seem not to have kept track. 


95. Watch an Eagles game at Lincoln Field
We got a couple of free tickets to a preseason game. What fun! I love the Eagles' little touchdown song; it's so thoroughly dorky. "Fly, Eagles, Fly. On The Road To Victory/Fight Eagles Fight, Score A Touchdown 1-2-3/ Hit 'Em Low/ Hit 'Em High/ And Watch Our Eagles Fly/Fly Eagles Fly, On The Road To Victory/ E-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES!"


101. Post updates about this list once per month
Well, this hasn't gone so well!

Overdue Update II

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

November Update

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

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

#1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#22 More Cooking

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

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

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

Monthly Update

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Restaurants and other updates

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

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

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

# 83 Lose 50 Pounds

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

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

I'm putting a ticker on the website.

#22 Cookbook Exploration

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

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

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

July Review

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

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

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

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

Mid-month update

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

#98 Sissy and I are headed north this weekend.

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

#100 I'm two for two.