Yeah, it's June...

I've been  busy on the Mountain.  Frankly, life in general has had me scrambling to keep up.  I prefer that metaphor to the one where I'm in the wagon, careening downwards and screaming the whole way.  Which I also feel like right now.  I'm going to recap where we are in the List for this year, and you may understand why.

1. Do the upgrades that I have purchased for the house.  I have the paint for the side door and front shutters, the paint for the trim on the living room window and spindles, and the paint for the front door.  I need to use it.  As well, I have a new light for the patio.  I need to get it up in the spring.  We're moving!  Suddenly, all these things took on a new urgency.  In addition to the painting listed above, We hired a painter who also painted the front railing and the surround on the garage door.  It looks so fresh here.  Wish that We could continue to enjoy.  Sigh.
2. Move.  I spent part of the summer lap swimming, and loved it.  I want to start swimming at the municipal pool again.  I've bought a new, smaller pair of jeans.  I would love to shrink out of them.  I've stopped drinking pop, but it will take more than that and I know it.  Stress makes me eat.  And eat out.  A lot.  We're working on the whole clean out the freezer before moving, and that means eating at home.  Hopefully, all will go well.  It's not moving, but I find eating mindfully what I prepare is a great help.
3. Cook at home more - like, 5 nights per week consistently.  I started taking pictures and posting them to Facebook last year.  My new project is a blog of what I make.  I'm hoping I update there more than I update here.  Sigh.  Have you seen Things I Make for Dinner ?  It's great...when I have time to update.  I have a bunch of pictures on my camera.  Hopefully, this weekend.  I love the accountability of it all. 
4.  Repaint the upstairs bathroom.  I haven't told J this yet, but I want to repaint the bathroom.  We currently have a double towel bar that is pulling out of the wall.  He wants it replaced, and I agree.  I need to decide what I want to put up instead, and then do it.  I am much enamoured of stripes right now.  In greens, blues, and chocolate browns.  Then all the towels I have will still work.  If we don't go away for March Break, perhaps then.  Not Happening.  We're moving.
5. Complete the 1000 Gifts in 2012.  Have you ever read Ann Voskamp?  I can never decide how I feel about her...hers is a style of writing that I do not enjoy.  But I've taken up the challenge of 1000 gifts to bring joy this year.  My calendar is printed, and I've started.  It's coming.  Sometimes the prompts are weird.
6. Use the library.  J is in the market for an ereader.  I can't decide if that's something I really want.  But I do have a library card that I don't use enough.  I think about purchasing cookbooks, and then I think, "Why don't I get this from the library?"  I think of a movie that I want to see that's been out for a while, and I realize that I could borrow it from the library.  I want my card to smoke in 2012.  Or, at least obey the laws of thermodynamics and warm a cup of tea.  We've taken to borrowing movies.  I like that.  We're just not always good about watching them before they need to go back.
7.  Organize.  Erg.  I'm moving into larger categories and away from specifics.  Organize means deal with the boxes on the floor of the living room.  Deal with the black hole that is my office.  Keep working on picking up what needs to be picked up.  But the boxes are the priority.  It's slowly getting there.  It's amazing what wanting to sell a house will do to you.  The living room has furniture!  The boxes are gone!  J and I spent a weekend going through things we hadn't touched in 3 years.  This is a sign, apparently, that we're supposed to move more often.  Ugh.
8. Entertain more.  This may be the only thing on the list that involves J directly.  J and I both want to see our friends more, and to spend time with them.  We'd like them at our house.  We've talked about having people in once a month.  That helps with my organization thing too.  We were averaging a family a month.  Then we started getting the house ready.  We've had no one in since.  But we do have plans for next Sunday night to sit on the patio and grill.
9. Get a handle on our finances, and our legal stuff.  J and I have been making some strides towards this recently, some of which I'll share later.  The big thing is we have no will.  If I die, J loses the house seeing as the title is in my name and the estate would sell it.  This is something that just makes sense.  Our finances are in a better place.  Really.  Someday, I may even share.  Moving back from whence we came should help too.  Prices are lower there.  We still have no will.  Argh.
10. Apply for a new position at work.  The hiring pool will be opening soon.  I would like to move up, even though it scares me to death.  If not, I think I need to spend some time with a career counsellor talking about what I want to be when I grow up.  Check.  I have my own building next year as principal.  New position found, totally scared of what's to come.

Much Ado about 2012

So I felt that the new list deserved its own post.  I've decided to not cut and paste last year's list in to "help" me along...it's a fresh start.  Despite the fact that I just read last year's list and made my comments.  Without further ado, here's 2012's To Do:

1. Do the upgrades that I have purchased for the house.  I have the paint for the side door and front shutters, the paint for the trim on the living room window and spindles, and the paint for the front door.  I need to use it.  As well, I have a new light for the patio.  I need to get it up in the spring.
2. Move.  I spent part of the summer lap swimming, and loved it.  I want to start swimming at the municipal pool again.  I've bought a new, smaller pair of jeans.  I would love to shrink out of them.  I've stopped drinking pop, but it will take more than that and I know it.
3. Cook at home more - like, 5 nights per week consistently.  I started taking pictures and posting them to Facebook last year.  My new project is a blog of what I make.  I'm hoping I update there more than I update here.  Sigh.
4.  Repaint the upstairs bathroom.  I haven't told J this yet, but I want to repaint the bathroom.  We currently have a double towel bar that is pulling out of the wall.  He wants it replaced, and I agree.  I need to decide what I want to put up instead, and then do it.  I am much enamoured of stripes right now.  In greens, blues, and chocolate browns.  Then all the towels I have will still work.  If we don't go away for March Break, perhaps then.
5. Complete the 1000 Gifts in 2012.  Have you ever read Ann Voskamp?  I can never decide how I feel about her...hers is a style of writing that I do not enjoy.  But I've taken up the challenge of 1000 gifts to bring joy this year.  My calendar is printed, and I've started.
6. Use the library.  J is in the market for an ereader.  I can't decide if that's something I really want.  But I do have a library card that I don't use enough.  I think about purchasing cookbooks, and then I think, "Why don't I get this from the library?"  I think of a movie that I want to see that's been out for a while, and I realize that I could borrow it from the library.  I want my card to smoke in 2012.  Or, at least obey the laws of thermodynamics and warm a cup of tea.
7.  Organize.  Erg.  I'm moving into larger categories and away from specifics.  Organize means deal with the boxes on the floor of the living room.  Deal with the black hole that is my office.  Keep working on picking up what needs to be picked up.  But the boxes are the priority.  It's slowly getting there.
8. Entertain more.  This may be the only thing on the list that involves J directly.  J and I both want to see our friends more, and to spend time with them.  We'd like them at our house.  We've talked about having people in once a month.  That helps with my organization thing too.
9. Get a handle on our finances, and our legal stuff.  J and I have been making some strides towards this recently, some of which I'll share later.  The big thing is we have no will.  If I die, J loses the house seeing as the title is in my name and the estate would sell it.  This is something that just makes sense.
10. Apply for a new position at work.  The hiring pool will be opening soon.  I would like to move up, even though it scares me to death.  If not, I think I need to spend some time with a career counsellor talking about what I want to be when I grow up.

So there it is.  Only 10 this year, but I feel they're ambitious.  Doable, but ambitious.  Here's to the year ahead!!

Recapping the Past Year

Wow.  The year is gone.  I'd like to say that I've done lots, but I haven't.  I am nothing, if not the immoveable mass.  Let's review the 15 for 2011 and how we did, shall we?

1. Hang the garden hose mount on the side of the house and break down the large cardboard box it came in that is currently on my living room floor and has been there since April with the cordless drill that has been charging since late May.  Ha!!  Shout out to my friend Scott, who made this happen with J one day.  The long metal things that were to go into the wall were the wrong size when you did what the directions said mean that it's allllllll good that Scott and J did this.  I would have drilled the holes and cried.  A lot.   
2. Work on scrapbooking my wedding. It's been 3 years, people.  I may never do this.  You know how people talk about never seeing Star Wars, or reading Anna Karenina?  Perhaps this is how I should view my wedding - the epic I never finished.
3. Decide what to do about the laundry sink and the current plumbing problems that it has (we cannot turn the hot water tap, there are no shutoffs, the tub itself isn't particularly sturdy).  Hooray!  There are shut off valves and new taps, thanks to a faulty trap.  The plumber came, and an hour later we had a working laundry sink!  I get to replace this one!!!
4. Repaint the side door off the garage, as well as the front door shutters, and the trim around the new window as well as the wood trim and spindles at the front door and the top of the stairs.  The paints are all on the living room floor, at the moment.  I painted the shutters this summer.  They look fabulous.  I'm hoping we don't go away for Victoria Day, and that the weather is nice. 
5. Replace the light fixture on the patio.  We bought a light this week.  That's part of the Victoria Day list.  Must convince J to stay home.
6. Research how much that front window is going to cost to replace, and then decide if it should be done before the energy reassessment is done on the house.  Oh - and get them to quote on shutters and a new storm door.  The front window has been replaced.  And the storm door.  I've decided to repaint the shutters.  I'm hoping to go nowhere for Victoria Day, and paint then.  The shutters and the garage door.  And the front door.  I've decided that it needs another coat of paint.  Notice how I wanted to stay home last year, and we didn't??  Yeah...In January, I have high hopes.
7. Learn to operate the sewing machine from my mother in law, or get rid of it.  I've researched buying the manual online.  Has anyone ever done this?  The machine is about 55 years old, but it's a Kenmore - and was top of the line in its day.  I want it for curtains and cushions and so on.
8. Deal with the boxes on the living room floor.  I'm getting there.  I read about an article about throwing out 50 things at a time.  That sounds doable.  There are more than 50 things on my living room floor.
9. Buy a great carpet for the living room.  And great curtains.  Must. Deal.  With.  Boxes.
10. Practice the guitar.  Ongoing.  Still love guitar, playing Radiohead right now.
11. Freecycle more. Candles, gift bags, etc, etc.  I also have an Ikea floating shelf to dispose of on Kijiji. I still have these.  Go figure.
12. Cook at home 5 days a week, and try some of the recipes that seem to be stacking up everywhere. I should not spend time on allrecipes.com.  More on my new project.  They dovetail nicely.
13. Research and plan for getting a dog.  This is one that J and I have been rolling around with for a couple of months.  We're thinking summer.  This is currently on hold.
14. Go swimming, or do something. I have been looking at the Summer Activity guide and have come to the conclusion that I should be doing something. Swimming has always appealed, and it's not that much.  Work started, and I quit moving.  It's very sad.
15. Read. I went back to work, and quit reading.  My mother gave me a 2 book series for Christmas, and my father gave me The Wealthy Barber Revisited.  I'm hoping to read them before June. 

Scenes from a Football Game

(In the car, tons of lightning and wind outside.  My mother has managed to get the Sweet Marie bars out of the cooler by dragging the lawn chairs into the back seat and leaning into the cooler)

Mom:  We need to get these out.  I think I have an emery board.  It's cardboard though.  I'm not sure I'll be able to get more than one or two before it will be ruined.

 I am so glad I remembered that there were some settings of plastic silverware in the bag of football paraphernalia. 

Let's Go Blue

Direct quote from me to my mom yesterday at the game:

"Well, when the tornado comes, we should be safe in this concrete vault."

Yep.  Welcome to the Big House, mom.

Fancy! (aka I Clean Up Good)

I say often that Cat Deeley's hairstylist (or stylist in general) should live in my closet.  I warn any hairstylist that I go to that my hair will never look as nice as it did when I leave their chair because I don't style it.  Heck, I don't even blow dry it in the middle of winter.  Most of them laugh me off.  The few who take me seriously and give me a great cut that looks awesome after I do nothing are worth every cent I pay them.  Seriously.  I blame my mother for this. 
As a child, my mother had my hair cut short.  Really short.  I was mistaken for a boy short.  It wasn't ego boosting, and I'm not posting pictures.  And while that haircut made the most sense for a mother with short hair who had no idea what to do with her daughter's hair, it meant that I never learned what to do with hair other than wash it and comb it.
In high school, I won a perm in a draw, and I started to grow my hair, much to my mother's chagrin.  I believe that my hair may have been the biggest rebellion of my high school career.  Like every other girl in my high school, I had a spiral perm for years until I looked at my yearbook and discovered I had the same haircut as 90% of the female population.  At which point I went back to straight hair, had it bobbed, and never looked back.  While it has been all lengths from my ears to my shoulders, I have had the same hairstyle for the past 20 years.  It works with my hair, it's easy to maintain, and it's wash and go.
Which when you come right down to it, isn't a bad thing.  I buy shampoo and conditioner and steal J's hairspray on the off chance I need it.  I've experimented wildly with colour, which really is a hobby in and of itself, but so long as I can pull my hair into a ponytail with a black covered elastic, we're good to go.
But I admire people with fancy hair.  People who can braid it, and put it up and make themselves look good.  The height of my skill is really twisting it and holding it in place with a big clip.  If I'm looking for fancy, I'd rather buy a great hat.
Hat wearing is a lost art.  Not basball caps, but proper high tea or Sunday service hats.  I was born in the wrong time.  I have many.  Both winter and summer.  With feathers, and ribbons and even earflaps.  I have never been so happy to have a good, solemn hat as I was at my great aunt's funeral on the 22nd of December when I whipped out the earflaps under the brim of my hat.  This summer I decided that I wasn't buying a new dress for wedding (How thrifty!), but I would buy a new hat (How extravagant!).  I spent as much as I would have on a new dress.
I started searching for a facinator, which led to Etsy, which led to a local girl who specializes in wedding accoutrements.  She donates part of the proceeds to a project in Ghana, and she does fantastic work.  I custom ordered a facinator from here.  If you're looking, I highly recommend Corrinne!  Check out her stuff at Buds and Blooms.  I'm now in love with her headbands.  Sigh.
The thing with a great facinator is you need equally great hair, which we've already determined that I can't do myself.  So, I found someone I think I'm happy with, and I'm now ready to unveil Sarah's fabtastic wedding hair, also known as I wish I had talent to do this:

This is me, after the ceremony.  Unfortunately, Mr. Blue shirt behind me means you can't really see the teal feathers.  Please excuse the sexy tan line.  I got rid of it the Monday after, after looking at this picture.  Sigh.

These slightly fuzzy ones were taken by my slightly tipsy, visually impaired husband after the party.  They're not the best.  He's learning to use my camera.  However, the facinator and my hair colour from January (I KNOW) are both looking good here.  One More.  I'm posting for posterity, or for when I think I've never had good hair.

Yep.  We should all have hairdressers in our closets, and dress up more often.

One Month Down...

So summer has been happening.  You'd think from the lack of time that I spend here I would be out in the real world, but sadly that is not the case.  Summer has been lovely, though. 

We spent a few days at the beginning of July visiting J's dad, and going to Cleveland for a couple of ballgames.  We also visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which I highly recommend.  We weren't sure what to expect, especially with taking my parents, but the 4 of us had a good time.  J's equally a iffy in museums:  he can't read the captions on things and get bored quick.  He found lots to do too.  A great afternoon for the lot of us.

I didn't put together a Summer 15.  I'm soldiering on with the 15 for 2011.  There may be a little editing as we go.  Let's see, shall we?

1. Hang the garden hose mount on the side of the house and break down the large cardboard box it came in that is currently on my living room floor and has been there since April with the cordless drill that has been charging since late May.  I'm not sure this one will ever happen.  The box moved to my family room floor when I hosted a wedding shower in the living room in June.  I have a friend who's promised to help, but our schedules haven't meshed.  Le sigh.
2. Work on scrapbooking my wedding. It's been 3 years, people.  I've picked up a new project, and this has fallen off the radar.  More on the project when I'm ready.  It's not going as fast as I'd like.
3. Decide what to do about the laundry sink and the current plumbing problems that it has (we cannot turn the hot water tap, there are no shutoffs, the tub itself isn't particularly sturdy).  Hooray!  There are shut off valves and new taps, thanks to a faulty trap.  The plumber came, and an hour later we had a working laundry sink!  I get to replace this one!!!
4. Repaint the side door off the garage, as well as the front door shutters, and the trim around the new window as well as the wood trim and spindles at the front door and the top of the stairs.  I have the paint!  We bought it yesterday!  I'm not going to get it done before the small group BBQ, but it will happen!!!
5. Replace the light fixture on the patio.
6. Research how much that front window is going to cost to replace, and then decide if it should be done before the energy reassessment is done on the house.  Oh - and get them to quote on shutters and a new storm door.  The front window has been replaced.  And the storm door.  I've decided to repaint the shutters.  I'm hoping to go nowhere for Victoria Day, and paint then.  The shutters and the garage door.  And the front door.  I've decided that it needs another coat of paint.
7. Learn to operate the sewing machine from my mother in law, or get rid of it.  I've researched buying the manual online.  Has anyone ever done this?  The machine is about 55 years old, but it's a Kenmore - and was top of the line in its day.  I want it for curtains and cushions and so on.
8. Deal with the boxes on the living room floor.  For the wedding shower, I compacted everything yet again and we're down to a neat little line along the wall.  I would really like this done before I go back to work.
9. Buy a great carpet for the living room.  And great curtains.  Must. Deal.  With.  Boxes.
10. Practice the guitar.  Ongoing.  We've been on a U2 kick recently, with One and Sunday Bloody Sunday.  I heart guitar. 
11. Freecycle more. Candles, gift bags, etc, etc.  I also have an Ikea floating shelf to dispose of on Kijiji. 
12. Cook at home 5 days a week, and try some of the recipes that seem to be stacking up everywhere. I should not spend time on allrecipes.com.  The crazy pictures on Facebook continue.  I sat down at the dining room table at the beginning of the summer, and made a big list of things to make.  I'm getting through the list.  We're having fun with our BBQ, have started having people in more regularly, and are eating at home most of the time.  Going out is so easy...and so expensive!
13. Research and plan for getting a dog.  This is one that J and I have been rolling around with for a couple of months.  We're thinking summer.  This is currently on hold.
14. Go swimming, or do something. I have been looking at the Summer Activity guide and have come to the conclusion that I should be doing something. Swimming has always appealed, and it's not that much.  I've started lap swimming at the municipal pools in town!  I love the outdoor one!!  I'd like to start some sort of accountability around this too.  Yoga is on hold until the fall...everything is in summer mode.  But both the Doctor and the Osteo are happy about the swimming.
15. Read. I've been reading more.  We did a series at church about our relationship with technology, and I've been working my way through the reading list.  It's be fascinating to read about the online personality, and what is happening to our brains.  Right now, I'm in the middle of The Help.  It's so good!

It's coming, isn't it?  I need to post more regularly, and clean my house, but I look at the list and the number of ongoing projects, and I think that things are doable.  They have to be.  Or the list will never roll over, and that would be so wrong.