10 Months Later...

It has been almost a year since I have written anything. I worked on my list throughout the year though. Unfortunately I didn't finish the Nanowrimo...but that's ok, because I have a story idea that I have been working on for a couple of months. I'm excited about it and it has kept my interest since April, which is a good sign. I have this November and next to finish out the challenge...Come on November!
I also made all my Christmas presents last year! Yay! Perhaps some of them were cheating...I had canned some jams in the summer and used those. BUT...I also made some yummy-delicious-I-can't-wait-till-I-can-make-it-again-this-year cranberry ketchup! The cherry chutney was good as well. My favorite present was a stuffed elephant for my niece. I found an old wool sweater at the thrift store and thought I could do something fun with it. I think I succeeded...


My other two favorite gifts were the two bomber hats I made my niece and nephew.

I am already starting to think of things to make this year. I took a sewing class and feel a little more comfortable reading patterns. I am going to attempt to make some gifts that will put my sewing class to use. Unfortunately, there will be no jams this year as my garden did horribly.
However, I can still make cranberry ketchup...and that's all that really matters.

Writing & Not Much More

Well, November has commenced, so had Nanowrimo. I have written 3 pages. I'm behind by 9. But I'm doing it! I broke through the first barrier of actually getting words on paper. I can do it! Also, I will be participating in Kauffman's FastTrac program. My business plan will be completed by the end of this year! Now, all I need is money to buy/rent land and buy equipment, etc. etc. etc. Sigh. It'll happen. I'm not worried. I'm burned out on AFI movies. I need crappy, horrible, comedy movies. We watched Paul Bart: Mall Cop. It was a good break from all the old movies I've been watching. Ok, I wouldn't say it was "good", but it was what my brain needed at the time. Oh! Yes, I can cross off one more. #92: Make bedroom a tranquil sanctuary. Well, for me it is as close as it's going to get to "tranquil" and "sanctuary". Last week we painted it and put up crown molding & new baseboards. We rearranged the furniture AND removed the TV from the bedroom. It's been a lot easier getting to sleep since then. So I'm going to say "Check!"

Argh! I'm so bad at this!

Good thing I'm only letting down 3 followers. And I believe they've stopped reading by now. I have been able to cross one more off my list, #89: Learn how to save seed. Thanks to my awesome job working on a farm I've definitely learned how to save seeds. And more importantly, which seeds are worth saving or rather which are more efficient & cost effective to buy. What I've been focusing on, mainly because I'm too exhausted when I get home, is knocking off the AFI list. I highly recommend watching most of the movies I've seen. Especially the noirs. It's my new favorite genre! Unfortunately, it took me 4 tries with Chinatown, 2 with Some Like It Hot and 2 with City Lights to watch them all the way through. I kept falling asleep. Not that they were bad movies. They were all pretty good! I just could not fight exhaustion. I'm looking forward to watching more of the older movies on the list. I have also signed up for nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month). I was hoping my friend would be my writing buddy but due to the fact she's an awesome person and cares about others she does not have the time this year. I think I'll let it slide. There's always two more tries! There's a meeting on Sunday for the KC region, I think I'm going to go. I have no idea what I'm going to write about. Well, I believe that's it for now. Until later. Probably much later with the rate I'm going!

41. Have a garage sale. Check. Just closed shop on the first day of our 3-day garage sale. Almost nonstop traffic between 6:45am - 3:45pm. Sold A LOT. And of course hardly any of the junk that was outside that had to be moved back in. We got lucky, too. They had been forecasting storms for today during the week. We were blessed with beautiful sunny, 80-degree weather. Hopefully that'll continue.

I promised pictures of the chair I bought at a garage sale. I finally reupholstered it. It looks great. The fabric that was on the seat was this hideous mauve quilted fabric. Totally didn't go with the deco-ish style. While taking that crappy excuse for fabric off the seat I noticed the original fabric was still attached. And the colors and texture were an EXACT match to the fabric I picked out!!!! The pattern was different, but man, the resemblance was eery. I must have accurate taste. Below are pictures of 1) the chair and 2) an attempted close-up of the fabric.

Another One Bites the Dust

Yay! I get to cross off #70:No pop for a week!!!! It was a struggle, but once I got past the shakes and headaches it was smooth sailing. I didn't even have pop today. I was tempted but I wanted to see how long I can keep it going. Although I have consumed quite a bit of Kool-Aid lately... I have also decided to change #75: Learn to play the banjo. Do you know how hard it is to find a friggin banjo? And then someone to teach banjo? So I decided I should learn the guitar. I already have two, one acoustic and one electric. That'll save me at least $200 on buying an instrument. And there's a lot more people who can teach the guitar. I'm thinking on my next 1001 list I can add the banjo...or accordion. I really think the accordion is under estimated. Decisions, decisions. *sigh* Other than that, I'm slacking. Except for the returning of library books on time. I need to get crackin'!

Massacre of the Bunnies, Part II...This Time, It's Personal

It happened again. This past Sunday. Only this time it was Zoey. I guess a rabbit made its nest in one of my overgrown raised beds in the garden. In the carrots. (I always thought that was a myth.) Yep. My baby's a killer. Poor Sarah tried to get one but she's not as quick as Miss Zoey. She probably would've just played with it anyways. Zoey was swift with the kill, so they didn't have to suffer too much. She ate half of one. We were going to take the dogs for a walk, and like the dumbass I am I picked up Zoey and left Sarah near the bunnies. "Chomp. Chomp." She had a full one gone in two bites!!!! The half bunny was gone a second later. At least I didn't have to clean it up. It kind of freaked out Eric more than I thought it would. At least I know Zoey's instincts are in tact. There was another close call Tuesday. I guess one took refuge in my cucumber patch. All dogs were near it when Zoey flushed it out. Fortunately for the fluffball my dogs were the three stooges incarnate and kept running into each other. I swear I heard one of them go, "Nyit, nyit, nyit...soitenly." I finally purchased some fabric for the chair I bought at a garage sale. JoAnn's had their home/upholstery fabric on sale 60% off! It was a hard decision to make. I think I have a textile addiction. Yarn, fabric. It'd be like a gambler going into a casino. But I'm taking it one day at a time. Oh, and I have hardly any money. That helps keep me from spending any. But I couldn't pass up a sale that good. And I only bought what I needed. Yay, me! As for my list...I don't think I've accomplished anything else. I'm doing really well on my library book returns. Again, helps that I have no money to buy books. Hopefully next time I'll have something to cross off!!

Something Corny To Tell You

I GREW CORN!!!!! My neighbor said it wasn't going to happen. That the raccoons were going to get it. But I did it! It's not your average run-of-the-mill sweet corn. It's a dwarf heirloom variety...and blue. I haven't eaten any yet, and frankly I don't care if it's good or not. I GREW CORN! Now I just need to learn how to save the seed and then I can cross one more thing off my list. Also exciting (well, for me at least)...my tomatoes are starting to ripen!! I have over 30 plants. I'm hoping I have enough to do some canning and get a couple jars of sauce for the winter. I've been canning a lot of what I get from the farm. So far we have done 3 Qts of Strawberry Lemonade concentrate, 8 Strawberry Jams, 8 Strawberry/Raspberry Jams, 6 Dilly beans and today I'm planning on some pickles. I believe I might also pickle my carrots. For some reason my crisper doesn't like to do it's job. I've got limp carrots after a couple days. Not cool. In regards to items on my list...I am continuing to work in my artist's journal. I actually have a project I'm working on for someone! Yay! I don't expect any compensation since it's for fundraising but at least I'll have something to add to my portfolio. Also, I've been brainstorming on ideas for short stories and what I'm going to write in November for nanowrimo (http://www.nanowrimo.org/). I figure if I don't accomplish that this year I'll still have two more Novembers. I've also brought home some photo albums of my grandma's to scan in. I'm going to try to make books for my cousins and uncles. It's a big undertaking and it might take me the rest of my 1001 days to do it. She took A LOT of photos! I started asking her about her past when I started the 101 things project back in February. Unfortunately in a few short months she has gone from bad to the worst...she can no longer speak or do anything on her own. I don't know how much verbal history will be in this book, but it will be packed with photos. I am hoping my great aunts will be able to give me some stories of my grandma and her family growing up. It just goes to prove that life is short and time slips between our fingers. Growing up I always asked her about her life. Now I wish I would've written it down.