Well, there we go! Finished ... sort of.
Since it's 11 p.m. and I'm in the middle of a week of opera rehearsals and performances, my brain definitely does not have room to sort through this whole project and figure out what I've done and what I haven't. I am hoping to update this weekly for a while to catch up on all the things I did.
I'm finding as I look back that I'm more surprised by the things I didn't accomplish as by the things I did! A few items that I thought would be a breeze turned out to be much more challenging than I expected. (Although I have to say I was never 100% convinced that I'd learn French.) I did a lot of very enjoyable things in the last two years plus of the project, though, and I'm looking forward to a retrospective when I have time to sit down and breathe again.
I guess on the good side, I'm up to my eyeballs in work at a job that I didn't have when I started the project, so I can't complain too much about that! :)
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Thursday, January 3, 2013
Day Nine Hundred and Thirty-Two
You know how I was going to paint the kitchen? Well, I sort of did.
I say "sort of" because I actually mean "hired painters did it." Also, I had imagined a warm, cheerful yellow and some crisp white trim, or maybe a red wall, or maybe blue, or possibly green! Instead, since the house needs to go on the market this spring, I followed my real estate agent's advice and had it professionally painted a nice, neutral (boring) color called "Parisian Taupe." You would be AMAZED at how many fancy-sounding colors there are for beige.
Well, anyway, it's painted. And since I'm probably not going to learn French or travel to a new state between now and my 1001st day, I'm gonna take what I can get!
(Hmmm. If I got the cheapest flight I can find in the next ten weeks, I can fly to Ketchikan, Alaska and be back the next day for $581. If I drive 12 hours a day, I could do it in four days and a little over two hundred bucks' worth of gas. I don't really want to sleep in my car and eat nothing but granola bars, so that would increase my cost just a smidge. I don't think I want to go to a new state THAT bad.)
I say "sort of" because I actually mean "hired painters did it." Also, I had imagined a warm, cheerful yellow and some crisp white trim, or maybe a red wall, or maybe blue, or possibly green! Instead, since the house needs to go on the market this spring, I followed my real estate agent's advice and had it professionally painted a nice, neutral (boring) color called "Parisian Taupe." You would be AMAZED at how many fancy-sounding colors there are for beige.
Well, anyway, it's painted. And since I'm probably not going to learn French or travel to a new state between now and my 1001st day, I'm gonna take what I can get!
(Hmmm. If I got the cheapest flight I can find in the next ten weeks, I can fly to Ketchikan, Alaska and be back the next day for $581. If I drive 12 hours a day, I could do it in four days and a little over two hundred bucks' worth of gas. I don't really want to sleep in my car and eat nothing but granola bars, so that would increase my cost just a smidge. I don't think I want to go to a new state THAT bad.)
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Day Nine Hundred and Thirty-One
You know how I was going to get the Wii fit and learn to use it? (Item #52) Well, I did that, and it turns out I STINK at it.
See the little Wii lady's chagrined face? She looks so disappointed and embarrassed, and now I feel crappy for making her feel bad. It's because I'm REALLY BAD at the ski jump, and when I get to the end and I've scored practically no points, it makes her look like this.
THIS chick, though, is a complete and total drama queen. Yes, OK, so I'm pretty rotten at the tennis one too. But does she really have to sink to her knees in despair?
Forget this, I'm going for a walk. (Well, not literally right this second, since it's coming up on 11 p.m. and it's pitch black and 30 degrees out there, but you know what I mean.)
See the little Wii lady's chagrined face? She looks so disappointed and embarrassed, and now I feel crappy for making her feel bad. It's because I'm REALLY BAD at the ski jump, and when I get to the end and I've scored practically no points, it makes her look like this.
THIS chick, though, is a complete and total drama queen. Yes, OK, so I'm pretty rotten at the tennis one too. But does she really have to sink to her knees in despair?
Forget this, I'm going for a walk. (Well, not literally right this second, since it's coming up on 11 p.m. and it's pitch black and 30 degrees out there, but you know what I mean.)
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Day Eight Hundred and Forty-Three
So, how far east do you have to go for it to count as eastern Oregon? I mean, if you go to the Wallowa Mountains or the John Day Fossil Beds or, y'know, Idaho, I guess you can say for sure you've been to eastern Oregon. But for my purposes, I am defining "eastern Oregon" as "anything east of the Cascades." I reserve the right to redefine this on my next 101 Things project if I decide I want to see the high desert (which is very likely).
As you may recall if you've been following this blog for a while (thanks, all six of you!), the kids and I have done annual summer road trips a couple of weeks after school gets out. This is a great start to the summer, and it also helps with the "NOW how many days until Daddy gets back?" questions that inevitably start up on about the second day of their dad's annual two to three-week trip to Japan.
Our plan is simple: We pick a compass direction. Then we find somewhere we absolutely MUST go. We pick another more general thing we want to do, often involving swimsuits and a body of water. Then I open up Google Maps in one window and Wikipedia in the other. I look at the most reasonable route to the MUST-SEE place, and zoom in until all the itty-bitty towns start showing up. It's amazing what you can find once you get close enough to the map to discover that we do, in fact, have more cities than Salem, Portland and Eugene! Then I look up those little towns on Wikipedia (or their town website if they have one) and find out something cool to do that in that city.
As a result, we have not seen the sights in Portland or Eugene. We have not gone to the Newport Aquarium. We have not gone to the outlet malls in Lincoln City. However, we've walked across covered bridges, seen bits of the Oregon Trail, stood on windswept ridges in the snow (in June!), stood at one of the few places in the world where two rivers merge by running directly into each other in a straight line, and had some of the best hamburgers EVER in a restaurant in Oakland, OR (pop. 927).
In 2010, we went southwest - the Wildlife Safari, wandered out Highway 42 and took lots of pictures, and came back up the coast. In 2011 (yes, I know I'm a little late blogging about this), we went southeast, to Central Oregon which we are calling Eastern Oregon because of that whole thing with the Cascades.
See how this is a little blurry? That's because these woods, which have such interestingly different trees and undergrowth from what we're used to on the western side of the mountains, also have approximately five thousand mosquitoes per cubic meter of air, which we discovered as soon as we started taking pictures.
This prompted the immediate composition of our trip's anthem, "Welcome to Mosquito Land." It is to be sung many times in succession in high tiny mosquito voices. This may give you a sore throat if you do it for too many miles of highway. Music shamelessly stolen from the "Music Machine" record of my childhood, and lyrics are as follows:
Beautiful lake - such fun to photograph, and it would have been even MORE fun if my camera battery didn't die shortly after taking this!
We had our one really fancy meal here, at the lodge at Crater Lake. Buddy asked about seventeen times if we could do the hike down to the mountain (elevation difference = about 900 feet, in the snow, so NO) and swim in Crater Lake (an even bigger NO). After that, we took a leisurely drive up through Bend, enjoying the novel sensation of seeing all our familiar eastern horizon mountains from the other side, and at much closer range. We stayed near Detroit Lake for the last night of the trip, and I managed to squeeze a couple more shots' worth of battery life out of my camera:
We spent the morning at Detroit Lake, and then drove home in the afternoon. Long trip, fun trip, and next time I'll post about it a little less than a year after the fact!
As you may recall if you've been following this blog for a while (thanks, all six of you!), the kids and I have done annual summer road trips a couple of weeks after school gets out. This is a great start to the summer, and it also helps with the "NOW how many days until Daddy gets back?" questions that inevitably start up on about the second day of their dad's annual two to three-week trip to Japan.
Our plan is simple: We pick a compass direction. Then we find somewhere we absolutely MUST go. We pick another more general thing we want to do, often involving swimsuits and a body of water. Then I open up Google Maps in one window and Wikipedia in the other. I look at the most reasonable route to the MUST-SEE place, and zoom in until all the itty-bitty towns start showing up. It's amazing what you can find once you get close enough to the map to discover that we do, in fact, have more cities than Salem, Portland and Eugene! Then I look up those little towns on Wikipedia (or their town website if they have one) and find out something cool to do that in that city.
As a result, we have not seen the sights in Portland or Eugene. We have not gone to the Newport Aquarium. We have not gone to the outlet malls in Lincoln City. However, we've walked across covered bridges, seen bits of the Oregon Trail, stood on windswept ridges in the snow (in June!), stood at one of the few places in the world where two rivers merge by running directly into each other in a straight line, and had some of the best hamburgers EVER in a restaurant in Oakland, OR (pop. 927).
In 2010, we went southwest - the Wildlife Safari, wandered out Highway 42 and took lots of pictures, and came back up the coast. In 2011 (yes, I know I'm a little late blogging about this), we went southeast, to Central Oregon which we are calling Eastern Oregon because of that whole thing with the Cascades.
WOW that is a lot of sky.
It was fun watching the landscape change as we drove south.
We thoroughly enjoyed the historic main street in Oakland, Oregon.
Boo gets her feet wet in the Little River, just south of its very splashy confluence with the North Umpqua River.
Hey, there's a hike to a waterfall! It's not that far! Wanna go?
Hey Mom! I bet I can climb this!
I try to say "yes" a lot on these trips, and I reserve a little money so I can say "yes" when the pocketbook would normally say "no." So when we saw a sign for horse rides into the woods in the foothills of the Cascades, I surprised the socks off of Boo by agreeing to do it. It was a WONDERFUL ride through a beautiful and interesting forest, and I'm so glad we did!
Here, have a mountain!
Have another one!
(Those two shots were taken at the same park, and I pretty much just took one, turned around, and took the other. AMAZING views.)
See how this is a little blurry? That's because these woods, which have such interestingly different trees and undergrowth from what we're used to on the western side of the mountains, also have approximately five thousand mosquitoes per cubic meter of air, which we discovered as soon as we started taking pictures.
This prompted the immediate composition of our trip's anthem, "Welcome to Mosquito Land." It is to be sung many times in succession in high tiny mosquito voices. This may give you a sore throat if you do it for too many miles of highway. Music shamelessly stolen from the "Music Machine" record of my childhood, and lyrics are as follows:
Welcome to Mosquito Land!
Welcome to Mosquito Land!
Welcome to Mosquito Land,
Where we will suck your blood! YUM!
Our big destination - Crater Lake! With SNOW!
We had our one really fancy meal here, at the lodge at Crater Lake. Buddy asked about seventeen times if we could do the hike down to the mountain (elevation difference = about 900 feet, in the snow, so NO) and swim in Crater Lake (an even bigger NO). After that, we took a leisurely drive up through Bend, enjoying the novel sensation of seeing all our familiar eastern horizon mountains from the other side, and at much closer range. We stayed near Detroit Lake for the last night of the trip, and I managed to squeeze a couple more shots' worth of battery life out of my camera:
We spent the morning at Detroit Lake, and then drove home in the afternoon. Long trip, fun trip, and next time I'll post about it a little less than a year after the fact!
Monday, August 20, 2012
Day Seven Hundred and Seventy-Eight
Well, guess what - I didn't learn French! I did, however, go to a Shakespeare play, which takes care of Item #31.
Unfortunately, taking pictures (with or without flash) was strictly forbidden during the play. They didn't actually come out and SAY that they would send one of Henry V's guards out into the audience to confiscate your camera and then pound it into smithereens with their heavy boots, but that was the general spirit of it, so I just took this one shot before it got too dark.
One of my favorite aspects of this performance was the casting of Howie Seago as the Duke of Exeter. Mr. Seago is deaf, and he and the directors and cast did a fabulous job of making the unexpected (a deaf Shakespearean actor? how?) not only possible, but profoundly effective. Seago's cues (the lines immediately preceding his) were signed to him by an ASL interpreter, who was in costume as a soldier and present on stage throughout the show. When the other characters were speaking directly to Exeter, they signed to him as well as spoke. Seago signed his own lines, which were voiced by his interpreter or picked up by other characters - this was surprisingly understandable, once you realized that he was indeed "speaking" even though the words were coming in another actor's voice.
One of Exeter's longest lines is an extended castigation of a traitor, and this was captured with an extremely funny twist on the system they had been using up to that point. Exeter began his rant, and his interpreter began to speak. He paused mid-line, gestured firmly for the interpreter not to speak, and then continued his line entirely in ASL with no interpretation. The thing is, between his excellent use of body language, the terrified traitor's body language, and the rather dramatic gestures of the signs for threats of bodily harm (particularly the bit where he threatened the traitor with beheading), words were entirely unnecessary.
Unfortunately, taking pictures (with or without flash) was strictly forbidden during the play. They didn't actually come out and SAY that they would send one of Henry V's guards out into the audience to confiscate your camera and then pound it into smithereens with their heavy boots, but that was the general spirit of it, so I just took this one shot before it got too dark.
I saw Henry V, part of the 2012 Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon. I had seen the Kenneth Branagh movie a couple of times, and that helped as far as having a general idea of the plot. The costumes and sets were an interesting mix of World War I and period costuming, with a couple of amazing backdrops (black and white with an abstract feel) inspired by photographs of the Viet Nam war.
One of my favorite aspects of this performance was the casting of Howie Seago as the Duke of Exeter. Mr. Seago is deaf, and he and the directors and cast did a fabulous job of making the unexpected (a deaf Shakespearean actor? how?) not only possible, but profoundly effective. Seago's cues (the lines immediately preceding his) were signed to him by an ASL interpreter, who was in costume as a soldier and present on stage throughout the show. When the other characters were speaking directly to Exeter, they signed to him as well as spoke. Seago signed his own lines, which were voiced by his interpreter or picked up by other characters - this was surprisingly understandable, once you realized that he was indeed "speaking" even though the words were coming in another actor's voice.
One of Exeter's longest lines is an extended castigation of a traitor, and this was captured with an extremely funny twist on the system they had been using up to that point. Exeter began his rant, and his interpreter began to speak. He paused mid-line, gestured firmly for the interpreter not to speak, and then continued his line entirely in ASL with no interpretation. The thing is, between his excellent use of body language, the terrified traitor's body language, and the rather dramatic gestures of the signs for threats of bodily harm (particularly the bit where he threatened the traitor with beheading), words were entirely unnecessary.
I hadn't been to Ashland to see a Shakespeare play since a class trip in college, and I'm sorry I waited so many years to do it again! I'll definitely plan on doing this again soon. There's just nothing quite like Shakespeare performed live!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Day Seven Hundred and Thirty-Seven
I haven't updated Item #80 for a while (the Windows, Doors, and Sometimes Also Stairs project), although I've continued to take them. These are from almost exactly a year ago, when I went up to Washington State for my 20th high school reunion. I went a day or two early and spent a delightful day wandering around the Tacoma waterfront with a childhood friend, who is thankfully possessed of the sort of artistic bent that made him completely fine with detours across bramble-infested fields to get pictures of broken walls.
Some of these aren't windows and doors as such, but I just liked how they turned out so I'm posting them here so you can enjoy them too.
Some of these aren't windows and doors as such, but I just liked how they turned out so I'm posting them here so you can enjoy them too.
Looking straight up at the windows set into the ceiling of the historic building where my friend was working at the time (piecing together a whale skeleton, as it happens)
Doorway of an abandoned building on the waterfront
Window of the same building - it makes me wonder what the view outside looked like when the window was clean and new!
Ivy covering a wall of an abandoned warehouse on the docks - Tacoma, WA
close-up of ivy, same wall
stairs coming down from pedestrian walkway from the revitalized downtown area to the waterfront
Windows of an apartment building on the waterfront - not many residents yet, but they're hopeful!
windows and shadows of awnings, Tacoma waterfront
East 21st St. Bridge, Tacoma, WA, as seen through an installation at the Glass Museum
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Day Seven Hundred and Thirty-Three
Item #39 is done! I set up the kids' college funds a while back and just recently got them up to $1000 apiece. With college tuition the way it is now, that might cover a class or two, but at least it's a start!
I know there are more sophisticated ways to block out private information, but stars are more fun. I have no idea why it turned itself sideways, either - maybe the stars confused it?
***
Also, my red hair from last month faded after about a week, so I tried again. We'll see how well it lasts this time.
I know there are more sophisticated ways to block out private information, but stars are more fun. I have no idea why it turned itself sideways, either - maybe the stars confused it?
***
Also, my red hair from last month faded after about a week, so I tried again. We'll see how well it lasts this time.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Day Seven Hundred and Eleven
This week marks the completion of a few items, but I'll write about them separately so you don't have to read a zillion-word essay on What I Did This Summer (So Far).
First: Ta-daaa! Item #2 is done!
First: Ta-daaa! Item #2 is done!
I did indeed save up for a camera, and I researched them too. The thing is, the more I researched the more I realized that I don't have a) the time or b) the sort of brain to actually USE all the features on one of those super-duper fancy-dancy cameras that look so neat in the customer reviews. So I kind of gave up on the research, and put the money in my savings account. And then I, uh, sort of lost my old camera. (Insert very sad and embarrassed face here.)
And then my brother-in-law gave my sister one of those cameras (and she DOES have the kind of brain and photographer's eye that can really get some use out of a fancy camera), and she gave me her old one! (Insert very surprised, grateful and happy face here!) So now I have this lovely little Canon PowerShot A560 with a nice close-up feature, user-friendly zoom, user-friendly focus, video capability, easy-to-manage exposure tweaking (I'm sure there's a technical name for that), and - do you see a trend here? "Easy" and "user-friendly" seem to be important features in any camera I use, and this one has those aplenty.
Also, it's just a little too big to fit into the back pocket of my jeans, which means it does not have the opportunity to fall OUT of (or possibly get stolen out of) the back pocket of my jeans.
So, thank you, best sister - I am grateful indeed for a camera that lets me take pictures like this ...
... and this ...
... and this.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Day Six Hundred and Ninety-Two
Item #24 is done! I took the kids to the Space Needle over spring break, and since I didn't have a camera with me, I just have the one we got taken in the little photo booth at the Space Needle. (Thanks, Mom!)
If this was a real picture, we would be levitating about 550 feet over Seattle's Queen Anne District, but hey - we were there! For real!
Buddy was fascinated with the interactive feature that showed a 24-hour minute-by-minute panoramic view from the Space Needle. You could turn the little dial and see what the view was like at any time of the day - I think he'd have stayed there and turned it through all 24 hours if I hadn't moved him along so other people could play with it! :)
Boo had a great time taking her own pictures from the top of the Space Needle, and had a long-held wish fulfilled while we were there. She has flown on planes and been to airports, including the little local airport a few miles from our home, but somehow has never managed to see a plane actually LAND. Much to her delight, we all got to watch a little yellow pontoon plane land right on Lake Union!
For me, the most exciting thing was having my parents show me the hospital where I was born, in easy view of the Space Needle. I knew I'd been born in Seattle, but it was fun to see that it was so close to a universally recognized landmark!
If this was a real picture, we would be levitating about 550 feet over Seattle's Queen Anne District, but hey - we were there! For real!
Buddy was fascinated with the interactive feature that showed a 24-hour minute-by-minute panoramic view from the Space Needle. You could turn the little dial and see what the view was like at any time of the day - I think he'd have stayed there and turned it through all 24 hours if I hadn't moved him along so other people could play with it! :)
Boo had a great time taking her own pictures from the top of the Space Needle, and had a long-held wish fulfilled while we were there. She has flown on planes and been to airports, including the little local airport a few miles from our home, but somehow has never managed to see a plane actually LAND. Much to her delight, we all got to watch a little yellow pontoon plane land right on Lake Union!
For me, the most exciting thing was having my parents show me the hospital where I was born, in easy view of the Space Needle. I knew I'd been born in Seattle, but it was fun to see that it was so close to a universally recognized landmark!
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Day Six Hundred and Eighty-Six
Yes, I realize it has been more than one day since my last post on Day 685, and no, I have not spent the last 288 days in a stasis bubble outside of the space-time continuum. (Although that would be a really awesome excuse for missing work.) Instead, the blog has been on an accidental hiatus due to three things that were most decidedly NOT on my 101 Things list:
1. Get divorced. (November 2011)
2. Lose camera. (Sometime after Christmas 2011 and before spring break 2012)
3. Get marvelous new temporary job as interim staff accompanist at local university, which devours all available time for most of the 2011/12 school year.
The divorce and the job have both upended many aspects of my life, my personal relationships, my expectations of myself, and (needless to say) my finances and schedule. One thing I have learned over and over revolves around the concept of grace: Grace towards others who don't behave in the way I would have hoped, grace from others toward me when I didn't behave as they hoped, and grace towards myself as a broken-but-healing human being.
And in that spirit of grace, I am giving myself an extension! I decided to take those 288 skipped days and add them to the end of my project time frame. The 1001 days originally ended on June 16, 2012. With the extra 288 days added to the end, it is now scheduled to end on March 31, 2013. (3/31/13 - that's kind of neat!)
I've done a few items on the list that I didn't have a camera to photograph, so I'll write about those in the next few days. I also have a few items that I took pictures of and never posted, and I'll see about getting those up as well. I have a possibility out there of a hand-me-down camera from someone who just got a new one, so hopefully I'll have this up and running soon.
You'd probably still better not hold your breath for me to learn French.
1. Get divorced. (November 2011)
2. Lose camera. (Sometime after Christmas 2011 and before spring break 2012)
3. Get marvelous new temporary job as interim staff accompanist at local university, which devours all available time for most of the 2011/12 school year.
The divorce and the job have both upended many aspects of my life, my personal relationships, my expectations of myself, and (needless to say) my finances and schedule. One thing I have learned over and over revolves around the concept of grace: Grace towards others who don't behave in the way I would have hoped, grace from others toward me when I didn't behave as they hoped, and grace towards myself as a broken-but-healing human being.
And in that spirit of grace, I am giving myself an extension! I decided to take those 288 skipped days and add them to the end of my project time frame. The 1001 days originally ended on June 16, 2012. With the extra 288 days added to the end, it is now scheduled to end on March 31, 2013. (3/31/13 - that's kind of neat!)
I've done a few items on the list that I didn't have a camera to photograph, so I'll write about those in the next few days. I also have a few items that I took pictures of and never posted, and I'll see about getting those up as well. I have a possibility out there of a hand-me-down camera from someone who just got a new one, so hopefully I'll have this up and running soon.
You'd probably still better not hold your breath for me to learn French.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Day Six Hundred and Eighty-Five
And that's Item #8 in the bag! Well, in the tummies, if I'm going to be entirely accurate.
Last Christmas my mom gave my sister and me the two-volume hardcover anniversary edition of Julia Child's "The Art of French Cooking", which was responsible for this bit of deliciousness. The Christmas before that, though, she gave us both another lovely cookbook called "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day." She was making her own bread out of dough stored in a plastic crock in her refrigerator, and it looked easy and tasted delicious.
So, naturally, I forgot about it for an entire year.
Then last year at New Year's, my sister made focaccia bread from the same recipe book, and it turned out she'd been making fabulous bread of all sorts ever since she got the book. I got inspired - I can do this! I did a little research on wheat flour and bought a big plastic container and earmarked a few interesting recipes. I was ready to go!
And forgot about it for another four months.
Finally, though, I got myself pulled together and made this focaccia bread, topped with olive oil, rosemary, and coarse kosher salt. It was beyond delicious, and I have no idea why I promptly put the recipe book back in the cupboard and forgot to ever make it again. Hmmm ... come to think of it, I've got a little time this afternoon ...
Last Christmas my mom gave my sister and me the two-volume hardcover anniversary edition of Julia Child's "The Art of French Cooking", which was responsible for this bit of deliciousness. The Christmas before that, though, she gave us both another lovely cookbook called "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day." She was making her own bread out of dough stored in a plastic crock in her refrigerator, and it looked easy and tasted delicious.
So, naturally, I forgot about it for an entire year.
Then last year at New Year's, my sister made focaccia bread from the same recipe book, and it turned out she'd been making fabulous bread of all sorts ever since she got the book. I got inspired - I can do this! I did a little research on wheat flour and bought a big plastic container and earmarked a few interesting recipes. I was ready to go!
And forgot about it for another four months.
Finally, though, I got myself pulled together and made this focaccia bread, topped with olive oil, rosemary, and coarse kosher salt. It was beyond delicious, and I have no idea why I promptly put the recipe book back in the cupboard and forgot to ever make it again. Hmmm ... come to think of it, I've got a little time this afternoon ...
Day Six Hundred and Eighty-Four
Dude, seriously? 684 days? That's a long time!
Cool.
I wasn't sure how many of these I'd already posted, so I just grabbed everything that was in my "finished to give away" basket and took a picture. Looking back through the blog, it looks like you've seen the green scarf, the brown scarf, and the stripy hat, but the blue hat and the baby booties are new. Since taking this picture, I've also made two slightly goofy-looking hats with floppy brims which you will probably NOT see modeled, unless I end up in an appropriately goofy mood some time between now and when I mail them off to the "chemo caps" organization I found online.
This brings the total up to 12/20 - I should be able to make 8 more things in a little less than a year, I think!
Cool.
I wasn't sure how many of these I'd already posted, so I just grabbed everything that was in my "finished to give away" basket and took a picture. Looking back through the blog, it looks like you've seen the green scarf, the brown scarf, and the stripy hat, but the blue hat and the baby booties are new. Since taking this picture, I've also made two slightly goofy-looking hats with floppy brims which you will probably NOT see modeled, unless I end up in an appropriately goofy mood some time between now and when I mail them off to the "chemo caps" organization I found online.
This brings the total up to 12/20 - I should be able to make 8 more things in a little less than a year, I think!
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Day Six Hundred and Seventy-Eight
See, I told you I was going to get caught up!
Here are a few more for the Windows & Doors (and occasionally Stairs) project.
Here are a few more for the Windows & Doors (and occasionally Stairs) project.
Stairs leading from High Street down to Pringle Park - from a trip with the kids to downtown Salem.
Stairs near City Hall, Salem, OR.
Stairs leading from the Frank Manor House (now part of the Lewis & Clark College campus) down to the reflecting pool.
Gated doorway to a second-floor apartment in downtown Salem, OR.
Looking through facing windows in the dovecote at Lewis & Clark College.
Side view of the Frank Manor House at Lewis & Clark.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Day Six Hundred and Seventy-Seven
Whoops ... looks like I missed Day 600 too.
But I'm still here! I haven't forgotten about it! And if you're reading this (all three of you), then you haven't forgotten about it either.
I've done a few more things on the list since I last posted, and I'll catch up on those in the next few weeks. Here's one from back in March - not for St. Patrick's Day or anything, but because I had a lovely conversation with my grandparents and came home with a new recipe. The actual intent had been to fill in a few gaps on my grandmother's family tree, but Grandpa sat down and told me a few stories as well. He learned this recipe from his mother, whose parents had immigrated to Canada from Ireland before she was born.
Grandpa's Irish Stew
about 1 lb. stew beef (cubed lean steak or roast)
"a little bit of grease"
1 medium onion
1 lb. of carrots
salt, pepper, and powdered garlic
2 potatoes
1/4 to 1/3 c. flour, depending on how thick you like your stew
Braise beef in grease of your choice on low heat for at least one hour. Don't overcook, but braise until tender, which might take up to half a day. If you start the meat in a large pot, this is a one-dish recipe.
Chop carrots into 1" pieces, and dice onion finely.
Add carrots and onions to cooked meat, and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.
1 hour before soup is to be served, cube potatoes and add to pot. Add some water so that the potatoes can cook - Grandpa didn't say how much, just "add water as you go." Bring to a boil, and let it simmer for about an hour. Mix 1/4 to 1/3 c. flour with enough water to make a thin paste. Stir it into the stew. When it boils and thickens, it is ready to serve.
I served it with my favorite homemade buttered biscuits (which of course have no calories at all) and a glass of cold milk. I think the only way it could have felt more like childhood is if my sister was kicking me under the table!
But I'm still here! I haven't forgotten about it! And if you're reading this (all three of you), then you haven't forgotten about it either.
I've done a few more things on the list since I last posted, and I'll catch up on those in the next few weeks. Here's one from back in March - not for St. Patrick's Day or anything, but because I had a lovely conversation with my grandparents and came home with a new recipe. The actual intent had been to fill in a few gaps on my grandmother's family tree, but Grandpa sat down and told me a few stories as well. He learned this recipe from his mother, whose parents had immigrated to Canada from Ireland before she was born.
Grandpa's Irish Stew
about 1 lb. stew beef (cubed lean steak or roast)
"a little bit of grease"
1 medium onion
1 lb. of carrots
salt, pepper, and powdered garlic
2 potatoes
1/4 to 1/3 c. flour, depending on how thick you like your stew
Braise beef in grease of your choice on low heat for at least one hour. Don't overcook, but braise until tender, which might take up to half a day. If you start the meat in a large pot, this is a one-dish recipe.
Chop carrots into 1" pieces, and dice onion finely.
Add carrots and onions to cooked meat, and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.
1 hour before soup is to be served, cube potatoes and add to pot. Add some water so that the potatoes can cook - Grandpa didn't say how much, just "add water as you go." Bring to a boil, and let it simmer for about an hour. Mix 1/4 to 1/3 c. flour with enough water to make a thin paste. Stir it into the stew. When it boils and thickens, it is ready to serve.
I served it with my favorite homemade buttered biscuits (which of course have no calories at all) and a glass of cold milk. I think the only way it could have felt more like childhood is if my sister was kicking me under the table!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Day Five Hundred and Fifty-One
Whoops ... looks like I missed Day 500! I didn't forget about the blog, but I did get a little stalled out. Several of the items left on the list are quite large, or expensive, or not-bloody-likely (e.g., learn French). I have gotten a few more done in the last two months, though, and here is one of them for your entertainment. Item #73 (get all the paperwork off of the office floor) is finished!
Now, please understand that I could have taken the easy route through the truck-sized loophole I left for myself. I could have gotten it off the floor by putting it willy-nilly into a cardboard box and carefully balancing the box on top of a bookshelf. (I am guessing that my mother is probably remembering similar incidents in my childhood, in which a room was magically "cleaned" in five minutes, but the closet door was bulging suspiciously.) I could have "gotten it off the floor" by buying a new file cabinet and putting things into folders with helpfully ambiguous labels like "Financial Stuff - before 2000" - "Financial Stuff - after 2000" - "Insurance Papers" - "Receipts" - "Medical" - "Important Documents" - "To Be Filed" - "Miscellaneous" - "?????"
I could have done that, but for once I decided to actually buckle down and do it right, in a more permanent way. I am a little embarrassed to post this, but here is a picture of the rather dire corner that prompted me to put this item on the list in the first place:
Yes, it really looked that bad. Every day. All the time. And I just walked around it because it made me tired to even THINK about dealing with it. Not one of my finer moments.
In the process of repainting this room, a lot of the stuff in that corner got moved around, the papers were separated from the toys, and some of it was given to Goodwill. (There were candle holders under there! Who knew?!) There were still a LOT of papers, though, and I took a deep breath and decided, in for a penny, in for a pound, and grabbed the overflowing box that had 16 years' worth of tax returns in it - every receipt, every utility bill from the years when I had a home office, every pay stub, ALL of it. It was all organized, but much of it was no longer necessary. So I put this excellent article by Liz Weston of MSN Money up on my computer screen for reference, turned on season two of "Monk" on Netflix Instant Viewing in the main window, made a pot of good strong tea, and set to work:
It wasn't pretty for a while. But I did it. All of my paperwork, both business and personal (old cards and letters, recital programs, etc.) now fits into the file drawer in my desk and the two-drawer filing cabinet next to it. Everything else was recycled or shredded and will be hauled away tomorrow. I put it all in a big bag, pictured below with a soda can next to it for scale. (Also, you can see the new paint! What do you think?)
So if you ever wondered what 15 years of paperwork looks like, now you know:
Now, please understand that I could have taken the easy route through the truck-sized loophole I left for myself. I could have gotten it off the floor by putting it willy-nilly into a cardboard box and carefully balancing the box on top of a bookshelf. (I am guessing that my mother is probably remembering similar incidents in my childhood, in which a room was magically "cleaned" in five minutes, but the closet door was bulging suspiciously.) I could have "gotten it off the floor" by buying a new file cabinet and putting things into folders with helpfully ambiguous labels like "Financial Stuff - before 2000" - "Financial Stuff - after 2000" - "Insurance Papers" - "Receipts" - "Medical" - "Important Documents" - "To Be Filed" - "Miscellaneous" - "?????"
I could have done that, but for once I decided to actually buckle down and do it right, in a more permanent way. I am a little embarrassed to post this, but here is a picture of the rather dire corner that prompted me to put this item on the list in the first place:
Yes, it really looked that bad. Every day. All the time. And I just walked around it because it made me tired to even THINK about dealing with it. Not one of my finer moments.
In the process of repainting this room, a lot of the stuff in that corner got moved around, the papers were separated from the toys, and some of it was given to Goodwill. (There were candle holders under there! Who knew?!) There were still a LOT of papers, though, and I took a deep breath and decided, in for a penny, in for a pound, and grabbed the overflowing box that had 16 years' worth of tax returns in it - every receipt, every utility bill from the years when I had a home office, every pay stub, ALL of it. It was all organized, but much of it was no longer necessary. So I put this excellent article by Liz Weston of MSN Money up on my computer screen for reference, turned on season two of "Monk" on Netflix Instant Viewing in the main window, made a pot of good strong tea, and set to work:
It wasn't pretty for a while. But I did it. All of my paperwork, both business and personal (old cards and letters, recital programs, etc.) now fits into the file drawer in my desk and the two-drawer filing cabinet next to it. Everything else was recycled or shredded and will be hauled away tomorrow. I put it all in a big bag, pictured below with a soda can next to it for scale. (Also, you can see the new paint! What do you think?)
So if you ever wondered what 15 years of paperwork looks like, now you know:
It looks like a cross between Jabba the Hutt and a coconut macaroon!
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