Lots of Different Things

For the next few months I’m going to try to focus my blog on stitching, Luke, and not a lot of personal stuff. Most of you who know me know by now that I filed for divorce. That’s all I’m going to say about it here for now; I’m going to try to keep as much of it out of my blog as possible. I imagine I’ll do any venting, crying, etc over the phone so if I have your phone number, well, you’ve been warned. ;)

I have made a blog for my 101 things in 1001 days though I still haven’t linked to it yet. I am going to be the PTA chair in charge of student support/community concerns so that takes care of item 89. 3 down, 98 to go…

Lately I’ve had the urge to stitch small things. Since I went through something of a slump recently I decided that whatever gets me stitching is fine right now. I am trying to focus on Noah’s Sub and finally finish it this year but I’ve been rotating in small pieces also. The other night I started Just Nan’s “Once in a Blue Moon” class kit. I haven’t worked on it much but it’s pretty small so it shouldn’t take long. Luke is always so excited when I pull out Noah’s Sub, though, so I’ve been trying to work on it as much as I can tolerate.

At back to school night I signed up to help in Luke’s classroom for a half hour each Monday. They break the class into three groups and rotate through “centers” Monday through Wednesday. I have the “art center” on Mondays. I am really enjoying my time in the classroom and it sure does make me look forward to Mondays, which is a new thing to me.

I discovered another bit of evidence that I truly do live in the midst of retirement communities. I am acutely aware of this anytime I’m out driving or at the grocery store, of course. I recently discovered, though, that the Longs down the street from my house has magnifiers on cords throughout the OTC medication aisles. I actually think it’s a good idea it was just amusing when I first noticed it.

Luke has decided to be a pirate for Halloween this year. So has his friend, Aidan. We trick-or-treated with them last year and it looks like that’s the plan again for this year.

Well that’s all I’ve got for today. My blogging may be spotty again for awhile but I’ll try to post as much as I can.

Stitchy Post

I finished something over the weekend, Gypsy Hearts by Shepherd's Bush, so I took a picture.



I also took a couple work-in-progress pictures...

Alpine Seasons by Chatelaine:



And Noah's Sub:



I spent all day Saturday doing Luke-related stuff...soccer in the morning, fair at his school, and two birthday parties in the afternoon. Sunday I went to church and cleaned the house, including Luke's room. Nothing too exciting.

It of course doesn't escape my notice that today is September 11th. I suppose it would be impossible to miss that detail today if you listen to the radio, turn on the tv, check the news online, or whatever. I remember the day well because it was already a bad day before I knew about the attacks. Jay and I had been fighting the night before so he slept on the couch. I usually listened to the radio in the car on the way to work but I was really angry and listened to a tape of angry girl music so I had no idea. At work I heard what happened and they sent everyone home for the day. I spent the day at home with Jay and Luke, who was about 8 months old at the time. I remember being glued to the tv, not really understanding what was going on. It was the first time I'd ever seen continuous coverage like that without commercials.

It's strange to look back over the last five years and see the things that are different whether due to the terrorist attacks or due to time passing and life in general. I was such a different person five years ago. Jay and I weren't married at the time and I was still painfully aware of how things looked, having Luke outside of wedlock and all. I wished so much for my life to be different from how it was. I wanted stability and I wanted to be loved and cherished. I guess I thought if we got married then that’s how things would be.

I have spent much of the past five years finding myself and determining what it is I truly want out of life. I am no longer sad and insecure and I am over the concern I had with how things look to other people. I’ve had beliefs shaken and I’ve been humbled by my experiences. Sometimes I think God allows us to put ourselves into painful, complicated situations because the growth that occurs is necessary. I’ve certainly grown over the past five years. I hope I have learned from my experiences and that I can take negative things that happen and turn them into positive things.

Well I have a lot more on my mind than that, but that’s all I’ll be writing today. Today is a day to remember what is important in life and focus on ways people can be brought together and differences overcome. Though really I suppose those things are important every day, whether the day is the anniversary of a terrible tragedy or just another regular day.

101 Things in 1001 Days

I finally did it; I came up with a 101 things in 1001 days list. Everyone else did this ages ago and I never jumped on the bandwagon. Today is September 8th so 1001 days from now is June 5th, 2009. I’ll add a nifty counter at some point (and I’ll update my blog template at some point too…hmm, maybe I should have put that on the list!).

Personal

1. Reach goal weight of 125lbs
2. Get hair trimmed and highlighted
3. Run a mile in 10 minutes or less
4. Complete Rivendell to Lothlorien walk
5. Give blood

Financial/Legal

6. Create a will
7. Pay off student loan
8. Pay off AAA Visa
9. Pay off Chase Mastercard
10. Increase my 401K contribution to 10%

House
11. Clean and organize hall closet
12. Clean out refrigerator
13. Organize and clean out shoes
14. Tackle Luke’s disastrous room and closet
15. Clean and organize garage
16. Clean and organize walk-in closet, non-clothing stuff
17. Organize hanging clothes in walk-in closet
18. Organize and clean out bathroom cabinets
19. Organize kitchen cabinets
20. Clean off top of the dryer and keep it that way
21. Clean off top of dresser
22. Get actual bedroom furniture
23. Organize movies/entertainment unit
24. Clean up the outside patio

Books/Movies

25. Re-read “Heart of Darkness”
26. Re-read “Tess of the d’Urbervilles”
27. Read a trashy romance novel
28. Watch all three LOTR Extended Edition Movies back-to-back
29. Watch all of “Band of Brothers”
30. Watch the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” on video
31. Watch “The Birds”

Fun/Travel

32. Take Luke camping again
33. Visit England and Scotland
34. Hike the Mist Trail in Yosemite
35. Backpack the PCT/JMT loop from Agnew Meadow to Reds Meadow
36. Go backpacking with my uncle Mike in Washington state
37. Go hiking in Redwoods National Park
38. Attend a Padres game at the new ballpark
39. Take Luke ice skating
40. Go to Six Flags Magic Mountain and ride all the new coasters
41. Go to Yellowstone National Park
42. Go to Glacier National Park
43. Hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and stay at Phantom Ranch
44. Go river rafting
45. Take Luke to ride on a train
46. Take Luke to the Monterey Bay Aquarium
47. Attend a “girls only” camping trip with my aunts, cousin, etc
48. Take Luke to the Aerospace Museum in Balboa Park
49. Walk the trails at the Wild Animal Park
50. Go skiing in the Salt Lake City, UT area
51. Visit at least one stitching friend who lives in a different state
52. Take Luke to Disneyland again
53. Take Luke to Medieval Times
54. Go bungee jumping
55. Visit the Palomar Observatory
56. Visit my friend Alison who lives in Houston

Stitching

57. Reorganize and catalog cross stitch stash
58. Finish stitching “Noah’s Sub”
59. Finish “Alpine Seasons” for my aunt Susan
60. Finish Nativity set for old couple at church
61. Start the Mar Bek “Nativity”
62. Start “Medieval Town Mandala”
63. Start Brightneedle’s “Dollhouse”
64. Pick a L&L piece to stitch first and start it…Firefly Fairies?
65. Make a stitching page online and keep it current
66. Start and finish “Grape Threadkeeper Kit” with finishing kit
67. Start Dracolair’s “The Phoenix”
68. Start a Silver Lining flower
69. Start a Marty Bell design
70. Start and finish a big Shepherd’s Bush band sampler
71. Finish “Nova”
72. Make an advent calendar
73. Finish “Mini Mystery I”
74. Attending a stitch-in Saturday at Stitcher’s Treasures
75. Finish “Gypsy Hearts”
76. Finish “Guardian”
77. Print out and organize all of my Chatelaine projects in separate folders

Other crafts/hobbies

78. Learn the entire Rhapsody in Blue on the piano
79. Make prints from my backpacking trip and put into a scrapbook
80. Make a scrapbook of roadtrip to Canada with Maya
81. Make a scrapbook of Hawaii trip with Maya
82. Finish Paris scrapbook
83. Learn how to knit
84. Knit a pair of socks
85. Finish crocheting an afghan for church charity group
86. Finish “63 Squares” afghan

Misc

87. Work through my Calculus book
88. Get prints made of digital pics for my mom
89. Become involved in the PTA at Luke’s school
90. Learn Spanish
91. Take my mom to a spa day
92. Get a new (or newer) car
93. Attend my 10 year high school reunion
94. Hang artwork or something in my office to make it more personal
95. Clean out my purse
96. Bake a pie from scratch
97. Buy a multimeter for use at home
98. Try a new cookie recipe
99. Update my address book
100. Try a new food item
101. Make a new 101 things list

Two Quick Things

Today I learned two things: 1. It can take a very long time to tune a piano when the piano tuner brings along an apprentice and 2. It is really hard to come up with a "101 things in 1001 days" list. I am stuck at 83 things. If I can think of another 18 then I'll be posting a list at some point. Hopefully before I accomplish anything on the list because then I'll have to come up with even more things. And that's all I've got for today.

Friday Update

I’m happy to say that I have power again (yay!) but my kitchen is considerably worse than it was last week since I haven’t been cooking and we had to move the fridge. The fridge is back in place now and I plan to spend at least some of the three day weekend cleaning the kitchen and the hall closet. Having a friend see the embarrassment that is my hall closet was enough to motivate me on that one (our breaker panel is hiding in there).

My best friend, Maya, was down for the day yesterday. I took off at lunch and we spent a lavish afternoon together getting lunch, massages, manicures, pedicures, and blended drinks at Starbucks. It was my first “real” massage and wow. Definitely planning to do *that* again in the future. Spending the day with Maya was exactly what I needed and we have got to do that more in the future. She really needed the time away herself; she is a stay at home mom and, while she loves her son dearly, she said that she really needed the time away.

While Maya was down she showed me what I think is one of the funniest things ever. Go to this site and watch the video on the left hand side with the treadmills: “Here it Goes Again”. I also like the one where they’re dancing in the backyard. I think they may be my new favorite band!

I haven’t done much stitching this week. I have spent a fair bit of time dealing with the lack of electricity and then choir started last night. I missed choir so much during the summer; I am thrilled that it has started back up again. I am no longer the youngest member of the choir, though; one of my friends from bell choir has joined and she’s a couple years younger than I am. It was so great to be back singing with everyone; I can’t wait for the Christmas music to start.

So that’s how things are with me. Luke is settling into kindergarten pretty well and he’s enjoying soccer. All but one of the kids on his team go to kindergarten at his school and it is so different from last season since he’s more comfortable with them. He still played last year but there is definitely a different dynamic.

I’m looking forward to the three day weekend. I’m taking Luke to Legoland tomorrow, most likely; I hope it isn’t super crowded. Sunday I’ll be taking him to a co-worker’s pig roast (their annual tradition for the day before Labor Day) and I have no plans yet for Monday. I’d like to go for a “real” hike or at least a long walk and get a bunch of stuff done around the house. That’s about it!