101 in 1001 update – April 2012

I haven’t done a “101 in 1001” update since late December 2011 but it doesn’t mean I haven’t worked on my list. I actually have several items to cross off, and it’s always a good feeling. But I’ve also taken a close look at my list and decided to change a few of my challenges. Some of them have not been that “challenging” and there are other things I’d really like to get done instead. So, here we go…

3) Grow food plants in the garden (Spring 2012) (1/1) – DONE
I’ve managed to grow a good amount of produce in my garden this past winter and spring, including more chard and some new leeks (I just made my first potato leek soup this week). I’ve grown green and read leaf lettuce.

Red leaf and green leaf lettuce in my garden

I’ve also grown a lot of sugar snap peas. If you don’t have a green thumb, peas are for you. As long as you provide them with something to attach to as they grow, you should get good results.

Sugar snap peas grow in my garden

My raspberry bushes used to be tiny but they’re now growing new shoots like crazy. I’m looking forward to a great crop this summer (we’ve actually eaten several raspberries in the past month).

12) Buy new tools to replace those missing from my tool box (1/1) – DONE
My husband recently sorted through his garage drawers and gave me back the tools he borrowed from me in the past. The good thing is, I probably won’t need to buy new tools now and I can cross this item off.

19) Clean out and organize the kids’ closets (1/1) – DONE
I still have a few bags of clothes to sell or give away but the baby clothes are gone and the bigger size clothes are sorted by size. No more cardboard boxes full of “stuff” either!

25) Create a kid’s art & craft box easy to access (1/1) – DONE
Technically, it’s not a box but a tower of storage bins we got at IKEA. It fits perfectly in our closet and kids can now get their art supplies on their own. And they do so, every day.

IKEA storage bins

38) Post once a day to my Every Day I See a Cow blog until December 31, 2011 (244/244) – DONE
Seeing cows every day was the easy part of this challenge. The hard part was blogging about it 365 days in a row. I still post three or four times a week if you want to see the wacky cows I stumble upon. I highlighted the Top 10 best cows of 2011 here.

45) Read 30 literature classics (1/30)
I recently read The Awakening by Kate Chopin. One down, 29 more to go!

52) Create an Excel spreadsheet for my business expenses and income for 2011 (1/1) – DONE
53) Track and document my business deductions and receipts for 2011 (1/1) – DONE
I didn’t start working on these two tasks until a month before the tax deadline but I managed to complete them and do our taxes by early April. Needless to say, I don’t want to wait until the last minute/month next year.

61) Have 10 family picnics (3/10)
I’ve had two more picnics with the boys these past few months. You’d think it’s a easy task but the main challenge is finding food the kids will eat besides chips. They’re not crazy about sandwiches and my youngest doesn’t eat raw veggies so it’s hard to provide a balanced, healthy meal. I’m open to your suggestions!

87) NEW – take a relaxing bath once a week (0/93)
Stef at Smile, kiddo suggested I take baths to relax so it’s now on my list. I can’t remember the last time I took a bath (in case you’re wondering, yes, I do take showers on a regular basis). I didn’t realize how much I miss it until she mentioned it.

88) NEW – Stop biting my nails (0/1) (it replaces Take my vitamins every day)
Call me nuts but Kristen at Motherese has challenged me inspired me to stop biting my nails, after sharing some tips that seem to work for a lifelong nailbiter like her. I chickened out when I originally created this list but I think it doesn’t hurt to try.

90) NEW – Write three things I’m grateful for every day for a month (0/30) (it replaces Drink Diet Coke only twice a week)
I’ve been doing really well when it comes to limiting my intake of Diet Coke. Last time I drank some (actually, it was more “a lot” of it), I didn’t feel good afterwards so I don’t think I’ll be drinking it often. Again, Stef at Smile, kiddo gave me the idea or writing down my daily gratitudes for a month. I’m not sure when I’ll be starting this but I’m excited about the experiment.

Finally, we have some newcomers since my last update so feel free to visit them. Welcome,everyone!

Believe Anyway
Fi’s Mutterings and Mumblings
Little Bits Of Waffle
Makes Me Wander
Smile, Kiddo
Sucettesoleil
Things ‘n’ Stuff
Vicrace Designs
Whyyjen

101 in 1001 challenge – December 2011 update

Can you believe 2012 is just around the corner? I have no idea where 2011 went but I’m glad this year almost over. I’ve found it very trying for our family in many ways and even though we overcame most hurdles, the journey was difficult, even painful at times.

I started the year by learning that my estranged father had passed away. The event brought back painful memories but also ignited some curiosity about someone I never knew. I see some good things coming out of it, eventually. Then I had to get another dental crown because an old filling was expanding and cracking my tooth. I had to put my 14-year-old cat to sleep with no slow warning that something was wrong with him. My back pain reached excruciating levels and lasted for months until I stumbled upon an Indian herb (Holy Basil) that seems to work wonders. My freelance business did better than I expected and I had the chance to define the types of projects I really want to work on in the future. My husband had to deal with some demons of his own and it made things difficult for all of us for a while. My youngest started preschool and was great at the transition, while my oldest started kindergarten and had a rough start. He now behaves well 95% of the time and as of this Christmas, he can mostly read on his own. He also had hernia surgery in the fall, which was super stressful for me. My garden was under constant attack for half the year and my crops weren’t as plentiful as expected. And of course, we all got sick with the nastiest stomach bug just before Christmas. As I said, I can’t wait to wish 2011 goodbye and welcome 2012.

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a 101 in 1001 challenge update and I thought, what better time than today, as my last post of the year? This update includes what I completed in October, November and December 2011, so there was quite a lot of time to catch up with, and unfortunately, I didn’t complete as many projects as expected. As I said, better luck in 2012!

Home & Organization
15) Install microwave oven over the stove or repair the current oven (1/1) - DONE
16) Get our gas stove burners fixed (1/1) - DONE
18) Sell or donate the baby toys and clothes in the closet and garage by end of summer 2011 (1/1) – DONE
32) Print memorable photos of my oldest child for the large photo collage frame I bought and put it on the staircase wall (1/1) - DONE
33) Print memorable photos of my youngest child for the large photo collage frame I bought and put it on the staircase wall (1/1) - DONE

I got so pumped up about getting 32) and 33) done that I bought more photo collage frames to document the first couple of years for each kid. I won’t add this new project to my 101 in 1001 list but I’m looking forward to taking care of it eventually.

Writing / Creating (I’ve nowadded Creating to this project list title)
34) Spend 3 hours a day on writing activities (paid or not) during the week, 2 hours a day on weekends (138/1001)
36) Post once a week to my Perfecting Motherhood blog (61/143)
38) Post once a day to my Every Day I See a Cow blog until December 31, 2011 (243/244)

I’ve decided to scrap item #39) (Post 2 to 4 times a month to my Buy Products From France website) . I’m not motivated to maintain this website and the revenue generation is not enough to motivate me further. So I’m rewriting this item with a new project. I’ve been wanting to sell my photographs and other art for a while and I’ve found a few websites I could try out. Putting it on this list will hopefully make me take action.

NEW – 39) Post photographs and other art for sale on Zazzle.com and a few other similar websites (0/1)

Reading
44) Read one book a week (44/143)
47) Read 5 to 7 new books with my kids every week (33/143)
48) Learn 3 to 5 new words every week and keep a log of them (20/143)

Career
I haven’t done any of these two items yet and 2011 is over. Can you see how screwed I am?
52) Create an Excel spreadsheet for my business expenses and income for 2011 (0/1)
53) Track and document my business deductions and receipts for 2011 (0/1)

Family & Leisure
I’ve done pretty well in this category and was able to make some numbers move up a bit.
54) Spend one-on-one quality time once a week with my oldest (26/143)
55) Spend one-on-one quality time once a week with my youngest (28/143)
57) Cook one large family dish every week (18/143)
58) Make/bake one family dessert every week (13/143)
59) Try 10 new recipes (3/10) (Halloween cookies)
60) Bake Christmas cookies and share with friends and family (1/3)
This is the first time I’ve done this. My chocolate chip cookies didn’t come out as planned but I still managed to put some goodies together and mail them to friends and family. At this time, this is quite an accomplishment for me.

62) Try 10 new restaurants (5/10)
72) Watch one new movie with my husband every other week (12/72)
74) Email or call my sister at least once a month (5/33)

Health & Personal Growth
There’s definitely room for improvement here in 2012…
87) Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night (105/1001)
88) Take my vitamins every day (165/1001)
89) Eat at least one good source of protein every day (156/1001)
90) Drink Diet Coke only twice a week (12/143)
91) Exercise (strenuously) at least 2 times a week (35/246)
92) Check my blood pressure twice a week (10/246)
93) Get 2 mammograms (1 a year) (1/2) – one down!
101) Develop 3 new friendships (0/3)
I almost want to mark 2/3 for this last item because I made friends with two great ladies in my town this year, but I’ll wait a little while longer before I go ahead and make it official.

I found out today from Sarsm that we got lots of new 101 in 1001 challengers (look in my left sidebar for the complete list (please give me a couple of days to add them). If you’d like to join us in this challenge, it’s not too late and the start of a new year is the perfect opportunity to take on new challenges. If you want to sign up, just visit Sarsm and let her know. We’d love to have you join us.

101 in 1001 challenge – October 2011 update

Can you believe it’s October 26 and I’m doing my “101 in 1001″ update for what happened in September just today? What can I say, September has been a crazy, crazy month for me. My son’s kindergarten teacher quit after the first week of school. No, I’m not making this up, sometimes s*%t happens. Her replacement came in the class with no (and by that, I mean ZERO) teaching experience and left the class in chaos every day. No spot was available in another class so we decided to pull him out of a great opportunity to learn in a French immersion program and bring him back to our local school. During the transition period, he had hernia surgery. As common as it is, I worried about it. A lot. Before, during and after. I also picked up one more recurring client and a couple of projects, trying to squeeze work in between everything going on. The transition to the new school didn’t go well and I couldn’t wait for September to end, with October bringing better news. I want to tell you what happened in October but I need to save it for my next “101 in 1001″ update. Hint: it’s not much better…

So here are the very few things I’ve managed to do in September. Sometimes, life takes a priority and you just have to deal with it. It would be nice to get a break once in a while, but I just have the feeling I’m not due for this yet.

Homegrown raspberries

2) Grow food plants in the garden (Summer / Fall 2011) (1/1) – DONE
I declared war on very rude squirrels who never gave my melons a chance to grow as they munched onthe fresh seedlings and melon flowers (morons!), but I still managed to grow a few other things, including raspberries and zucchini. I’ve planted new seeds for a winter crop, so let’s see what happens to them. Fingers crossed - my bad streak has to end at some point, right?.

64) Shop at a farmer’s market (1/1) – DONE
We visited a local farmer’s market where I managed to find some delicious green beans and plums. By the way, I’d have green beans out of my garden if the bugs and squirrels didn’t munch on them so much… We also bought home the most fragrant strawberries of the whole summer. Definitely something to do on a more regular basis, especially in the summer.

99) Take a class to learn something new (1/1) – DONE
This summer I took a class on writing children’s books. Although I want to focus on picture books for early readers, I learned a lot from this class and even got an idea for a chapter book. I don’t have time to entertain it further right now, but it will be a fun project down the road. Right, when I have time…

And please don’t ask me about the Health side of my 101 challenges. The summary is: I’m not eating great, I drink too much caffeine and I’m not sleeping even close to seven hours a night. I’m exhausted. Enough said.

So there’s a lot ot make up for October and only 5 days left in the month. I’m sorry this isn’t a very inspiring story for people who may consider joining us but it’s still a great thing to accomplish as a person. I just remember there is a reason for allocating 1001 days to do everything.I know when things settle down (even for a few minutes), I’ll take a look at my list again. It’s only a matter of time.

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101 in 1001 challenge – August 2011 update

I have a lot of exciting news to report on my 101 in 1001 challenge. This past month has been very productive, especially on the home front. I’ve tackled several tasks I’d been procrastinating on for a long time, some of them for almost two years! I’m SO glad I’ve gotten them done and I love the results.

If you’re interested in joining this challenge (you know who you are!), stop by Sarsm’s Blog for all the details. I just heard we got two new challengers on board! I promise you, you’ll get our support if you sign up:

• Manchester Meanders (NEW)
• Kiwidutch (NEW) -
• Sarsm’s Blog
• The Laughing Housewife
• A matter of choice
• Heroblues
• Mamamash
• a gator in dc
• Corkscrew boo-hoo

Here are some great things I’ve accomplished in the past 30 days:

9) Decorate our living room’s bare walls (1/1) – DONE
We have a high ceiling in our living room, which sounds fancy but if you don’t decorate it, you end up with a giant bare wall… I finally found a gigantic, beautiful frame to cover part of the wall (thank you so much, IKEA!). I even managed to put it all together and hang it on the wall all by myself! The best thing about it, it still leaves enough room to display the kids’ artwork on the wall.

 

10) Decorate our bedroom’s bare walls (0/1) – DONE
I had the frames all ready to go, but they had been sitting on top of some furniture since we moved in this house almost two years ago. All of my impressionist art is now on the wall and I love to look at my Monets and Renoirs (reproductions) every day!

11) Make my office an organized, well-decorated, comfortable place of inspiration (1/1) – DONE
My home office has been unwelcoming since the beginning, with no real desk to sit at and concentrate. Thanks to Office Depot, I found a sturdy, professional, yet very affordable desk ($99!) while I work on my computer or do art. I even managed to hang some frames on the walls. I love, love, love my new office and now work at my desk every day.

17) Sell the baby crib by end of spring 2011 (0/1) – DONE
I managed to sell the crib but not the mattress, so I may have to just donate it. We just bought bunk beds for the boys, so when they get delivered I’ll have another crib/toddler bed to sell. The boys’ new room will look great. Finally getting to making your house into a home is a wonderful feeling. Better late than never!

69) Make birthday cakes from scratch for every family birthday, including mine (2/15)
Here’s the Spider-Man cake I made for my son’s 5th birthday. This is the first time I’ve ever decorated a cake, so I think it turned out pretty well for a novice like me.

I’ve made some more progress in my daily and weekly challenges and you can see my full up-to-date 101 challenge list. Again, feel free to join us in this challenge – I’m very glad I did. The more, the merrier!

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“101 in 1001″ challenge – July 2011 update

Even though I wanted to accomplish some of my Home & Organization tasks this past month and I didn’t, I managed to get a number of other tasks done. Going on vacation actually helped with my list, go figure!

1) Grow food plants in the garden (Spring 2011) (1/1) – DONE
We’ve been eating cherry tomatoes almost every day and that darn squirrel is kind enough to share them with us! I’ve also picked some baby chard (absolutely delicious!) and I’ve spotted some zucchini growing too. My melon plants have been very, very slow but I’m seeing some growth now - fingers crossed. Wouldn’t it be great to eat cantaloupes right out of the garden?

Cherry tomatoes growing in the garden

28) Unsubscribe from emails I never read (1/1) – DONE
I may still get some random emails I don’t want, but I’ve unsubcribed from many mailing lists, probably reducing my incoming email by half. 

39) Post 2 to 4 times a month to my Buy Products From France website (1/72)
I may have to scratch off this task and kill my website. Long story short, California just passed a law making me an “employee” (a tax nexus) of companies who pay me online commissions for sales referrals. Apparently the state thought they’d force vendors to collect the online sales taxes they haven’t until now. The real consequence is, vendors are cancelling their affiliates so they won’t have to collect sales taxes. And affiliates are left without income, which they won’t pay income tax on. California will lose a lot of tax revenue but the legislative bureaucrats don’t get it. Amazon was the first company to terminate my affiliate contract and since most of the product referrals on my sites are through Amazon, several hundreds dollars of monthly income are now gone! I don’t see the point of maintaining a website I built for profit if I can’t make money off it. Looks like I just have to find a more significant task, or another website. I love how my state managed to crush my small business and that of 10,000 other people…

As I said earlier, going on vacation helped me cross a number of things off my list:
68) Take two family vacations (1/2) – one down, one to go!

I also found more time to cook and try new recipes:
57) Cook one large family dish every week (7/143)
58) Make/bake one family dessert every week (6/143)
59) Try 10 new recipes (2/10)

When we didn’t cook, we tried new restaurants, so it helped this task:
62) Try 10 new restaurants (4/10)

We took refreshing walks on forest trails. Gosh, I miss it already.
78) Walk in a forest (1/1) – DONE. I want to do it again!

We even found some free time to watch a few movies:
72) Watch one new movie with my husband every other week (6/72)

73) Watch 50 of IMDB’s Top 250 movies (http://www.imdb.com/chart/top) I haven’t seen yet (1/50) (Monsters, Inc.)
I’ve seen a lot of movies on the IMDB list, all of them before I started my 101 in 1001 challenge. The first movie I’ve watched since then is Monsters, Inc. Yes, I shamefully admit I’d never seen it before, even though it’s absolutely hilarious and super sweet. Damn, those Pixar people are good. My only request to them? Stop making movies that make me cry.

69) Make birthday cakes from scratch for every family birthday, including mine (1/15)
I just made my own birthday cake and it has to be the most delicious chocolate cake I’ve ever eaten! You just can’t get anything this good out of a box or at the store. What do you think?

My birthday cake

75) Pet a dolphin (1/1) – DONE
I was lucky enough to pet a dolphin during a recent visit to SeaWorld with my youngest. This woman showed us that if you keep on pouring water into the dolphin’s mouth, the dolphin will make weird, happy noises and let you pet it. Try it the next time you go, it works! I so wanted to take a photo of the whole thing but was afraid I’d drop my camera in the water, Queen of Klutz me.

81) Visit a botanical garden (1/1) – DONE
We took the kids to the San Diego Botanic Garden this past weekend. I can’t even remember the last time we went there so it was great to go back, especially since they’ve created a brand new children’s garden. The kids had a blast so we’ll have to go back.

90) Drink Diet Coke only twice a week (2/143)
I’ve been struggling with this task. I put it there because I really want to limit my soda consumption. I’ve realized it doesn’t matter when I drink Diet Coke but rather how often. I’ve also tried to replace the soda with ice tea and this seems to do the trick.

If you’re interested in joining this challenge, stop by Sarsm’s Blog for all the details. There are eight of us on board now (we just got two new recruits!), so you’ll get our support if you sign up:

• Sarsm’s Blog
• The Laughing Housewife
• A matter of choice
• Heroblues
• Mamamash
• a gator in dc
• Corkscrew boo-hoo