Listen to Yourself Churn

3. Exercise 3 times a week for a month. [3/12]

We bought a WiiFit last week, and since then I’ve been using it at least a little every day.  No results yet, but I do have a little more energy.  So that’s good.

6. Go one month without drinking soda. [5/30]

The only reason I haven’t caved is because I haven’t had access to a soda yet this month.  heh.  I keep forgetting, ask my husband to bring me home from work, and then remember just as I’m about to take a sip.  So I’m sure I’ll break at some point this month.

65. Study French.

We bought Rosetta Stone, and I’ve been working with it a little.  A very little.  So I’m going to mark this one in progress.

It sort of feels like I’m going to have all of these damn goals in italics, and never get to cross any of them off.  Bleh.

Hubs had to go to the beach for work, and The Girl and I tagged along on the company dime. Sometimes it’s nice working for your family’s business. I managed to cross a couple of things off my list, which is nice.

19. Go on a vacation without any family besides husband and daughter.

Hubs says this one doesn’t count, since he had to work while we were there, but I say it does. We went to the beach twice, to a state park, ate ice cream on the board walk, swam in the hotel pool, shopped at an outlet mall, and ate at a fancy restaurant. That says vacation to me!

21. Swim in the ocean.

Self-explanatory. It was nice to see The Girl like the ocean so much. She really loved it, even though the seas were kind of rough.

82. Eat real sushi from a restaurant at least 3 times. [1/3]

The fancy restaurant was a Japanese place. I had something called a Key West roll, which was salmon, white fish, and tempura asparagus with a sweet-ish soy sauce. Yum.

92. Go to estate sales at least twice a month. (2/64)

We took care of two of these on Saturday. I’ve decided that going to two sales on the same day counts as two. We didn’t buy anything, but had lots of fun looking!

53. Read to C. for 15 minutes a day for 30 consecutive days. [27/30]

I’m on day 27 of this, and I didn’t even have to work hard at it. C. has started not going to sleep at all unless we read. So I’m actually probably averaging 30-45 minutes a day, since we have to read before nap time and before bed time.

55. Go on a date with J at least once a month. [1/34]

This Friday we’re going to a party. C.’s coming too, but there’ll be other kids her age as well, and in an environment where she doesn’t have to be chaperoned very much. So it’s sort of a date. There’ll be alcohol involved, which means by my rule book, it’s a date.

83. Go to the new-ish Indian buffet in town .

Completed!

My SIL and niece were in town this weekend and we went there for lunch. It was very, very yummy. Although nobody’s ever going to be able to talk me into trying those “pickles” again. My mouth is still on fire.

86. Plant a fruit or vegetable every summer that I’ve never heard of. [1/3]

I’ve decided that varieties count, simply because there aren’t a lot of vegetables I’ve never heard of anymore that will actually grow in this climate.

So I planted a variety of watermelon that has white flesh. We’ll see if I get any melons. (heh heh) Right now I have tons and tons of flowers, but no fruit. Also in the never heard of variety are white icicle radishes, and four or five different peppers. Including Charleston Belle, which I think is such a super cute name. I can’t wait to eat homegrown peppers.

#30: Read 50 books I’ve never read before. [2/50]

I lifted my ban on reading fiction novels this past weekend. DH had to work both Saturday and Sunday, and I thought, well, f-it. So I read two books purely for fun and enjoyment. I specifically chose books I knew I could finish during one nap time or in one evening.
The Lost Duke of Wyndham by Julia Quinn

Normally, I love JQ, but this was not one of her better ones. Romancing Mr. Bridgerton is still by far my favorite, and I can’t see her topping it any time soon, since her last two novels have been pretty ho-hum. Normally I love all the witty banter, the light-heartedness, the hint of a mystery threaded through the main plot. That was all missing from this book. eh. She’s still one of my favorite writers in this genre, and it was a good read, just not up to her own standards.

At one point in the novel, JQ had one of the characters use the word “truthiness”. Of course, this is a Regency novel, and therefore before Stephen Colbert popularized the word, so the other character in the scene had to point out that truthiness was not a word. Then the original character said something like, “Well, if it’s not, it should be.” While on the one hand, I did get a small chuckle out of that word being in there, it also completely brought me out of the story and back into reality. So I really think it should’ve been left out.

The Devil Who Tamed Her by Johanna Lindsey

This book is a great example of why I think I could write a best-selling romance novel. It was horrible, poorly edited, with lots of jumping from one thing to the next. There was very little character development, and what little there was mainly existed in the form of, “Oh there’s something wrong with you. Let me fix it. We’ll have sex. All better! The end.” Of course, the problem was all with the female, while the male was pretty much perfection from the start. Um, yeah.

So, I haven’t been able to cross anything off my list yet, but I’m working on several on-going items.

Read the rest of this entry »

Okay, I think I got a little carried away with starting the 101 project. I’ve been thinking about the fact that I crossed something off my list already. Since I’m doing this with several other people, I don’t think it’s fair that I get to cross something off so far in advance of the kick-off date. So I’m going to replace “#41: Gather information about acquiring Swiss citizenship.” with “Make three loans to kiva.org”.

There, now I don’t feel guilty about jumping the gun.  

#41: Gather information about acquiring Swiss citizenship.

My mother’s family is predominately German-Swiss.  They all have crazy German last names, and in many cases, crazy German first names, too.  Her family was uncommonly close, so I know lots about them, and have always felt a connection to them, even if I’d only met my grandmother’s generation.

Mom used to tell us that there was an old Swiss law that provides for citizenship if you can document your ancestry back to a natural-born citizen of Switzerland.  I always thought it’d be cool to have a Swiss passport, as long as I didn’t have to give up my own US citizenship.  (Okay, some days I feel like maybe I’d like to give up the US citizenship, but not often, and never expressed aloud because I detest people who are forever saying, “I hate this place!  I’m moving to Canada!”)  I’d done zero research on the subject, though.  So when I put this item on the list, I knew there was a good chance I wouldn’t be able to complete it.  Which is why I didn’t say, “acquire Swiss citizenship”, but rather “Gather information about”.

So, today I browsed around a bit, looking for information.  Turns out Mom had been misled, or maybe misunderstood something, because this law?  Totally not true.  I am not eligible for Swiss citizenship.  Sad, but at least I don’t have to worry about it anymore.

One thing crossed off the list.  Now to put $5 in savings!

#29:  Watch 30 of the 100 movies on AFI’s Top 100 Movies of All Time.

Um. So I figured I’d keep track of how I’m doing on this list. I watched Dr. Strangelove tonight, which is #26 on the AFI list. Does that count, even if it isn’t June 1st yet? Whatever, I’m counting it. I never really liked rules that much anyway.

The movie was a lot better than I expected. I was thinking it was going to be another Clockwork Orange type movie, which still gives me nightmares sometimes. But it actually was a black humor kind of movie, and I sort of enjoyed it. At the end, I was reminded yet again about how I just don’t get the whole nuclear annihilation thing. What’s the freaking point? Why again did we hate Russia and why did they hate us? I mean, besides the whole communist/democracy (which is really a republic!) thing. Was there more to it than that? I feel like I must’ve slept through that part of US History class, because differing political ideals doesn’t seem like a very good reason to destroy the whole world. Sometimes I wonder if I’m just missing a very large, obvious point. I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, though, because all those bombs we built basically funded my childhood, and my college tuition.

But anyway, 1 movie down, 29 to go. Then I can check one item off my 101 list!