42 goals for being 42

When I turned 42 I decided I wanted to set 42 goals and I began a list which unfortunately only made it to number ten!
Here are the ten things I have come up with so far - and there are only ten months remaining in the year. D'OH!
So I am up to 19 goals. I have completed 3 of them. Not bad - only 39 left to complete in the next ten months.


1. Get a tattoo - I GOT ONE! I January I got another tattoo. I am happy with it, but of course I want more. Dang I love tattoos.

This is from my family crest and it means "I have fought and conquered".
2. Finish a cross stitch character for mom's nativity.
3. Make a quilt.
4. Take the boys to the ocean.
5. Do a craft from Pinterest that I am interested in.
6. GRADUATE with my master's degree.
7. Blog at least 52 times in the next year. Since January I have blogged three times on this blog and twice on twomomsread. I have to look specifically and see how many times I have blogged since I set the goal for myself.
8. Read at least 52 books in the next year. So far I have read 7 books and I have blogged about two of them on my other blog (twomomsread)
9. Start to Zentangle.
10. Take a photo every single day.

Here are some more goals I have added, (but I am also up for ideas if anyone has any..)
11. Try 10 new recipes out on the family to see if they like them.
12. Make myself a cross stitch tree decoration. I have completed TWO but I am working on a project that has seven cross stitches which I would like to complete. But even if I don't complete all seven - I have finished this goal!
13. Fix up the small room upstairs for me for a craft room.
14. Take a puppy training class.
15. Write a handwritten letter to five people that I love, telling them why I love them.
16. Get a family photo taken and hang it on a wall in our house.
17. Ride bikes with my family.
18. Send 1 items of art (or a letter) from Max and CJ to both their Grannies. Actually PUT IT IN THE MAIL WITH A STAMP AND AN ADDRESS!
19. Write a personal mission statement. DONE! You can read it right here on this blog!

C is for cookie

The boys like nothing better than being creative. Sometimes this creativity involves a hammer and sometimes it involves markers and the walls of the house (unfortunately). Since Max is learning to speel we are finding evidence of his spelling mastery all over. He thinks I have supernatural powers that enable me to know where he has been and hwat he has been doing. I hate to disappoint him and tell him it is his own name in marker that leads me to my deductions.
This weekend they were all about making cookies.
I pulled out a recipe book and managed to find a recipe that we had all of the ingredients for and so we made cookies. It was a lot of fun and even Rescue puppy got involved.

After  I was all done with the dough Max took it and played "bakery" by himself. He set up the cook book and his own little kitchen. Surprisingly clean up was not so bad  - I had cookies to bribe him with!

hot days

Other people, in other places on hot days do things like swim, play in sprinklers, drink iced tea or lemonade, or sit and swing in the shade.
When it is hot where we live, the boys decide it is a perfect time to paint their toy boxes (translation: paint one another).As the obliging parents we are, the toy boxes get dragged outside and the painting begins.
We start with Maxies because he chose the color green. This WAS meant to be the paint for his bedroom, but I have a feeling once we are done with the toy box there will not be enough paint left for the bedroom renovation. When I say "we" I mean the boys. Momma Shel and I are not invited to this painting party as anything other than observers.

 
 

Max doesn't know how he "accidentally" painted CJ's head. 

Oh, did I not mention we paint naked? It IS hot don't cha know?

technically a day off

Today it is Saturday and technically it is a day off for me from my projects but I still managed to get some stuff done today. I needed to get to the dump to get rid of some stuff in the truck but before we left Shel and I managed to get the air conditioner into the kitchen window.
We have a small window a/c unit which we have had for MANY years and which came with us from Utah when we moved. As we were putting it into the window Shel reminded me how we had a conversation when we were loading the U-Haul as to whether we needed an air conditioner in Canada! We decided to bring it and we are sure happy that we did!
Max and I went to the dump and then to the library. When we were leaving the library and heading to pick up the mail we noticed that it was the car show in town. We spent an hour checking out some of the cool cars and I took some fun photos which I will upload when I am using a computer I can upload photos from!
When we got home I mowed the lawn while Shel cooked supper (on the BBQ - YAY!) and then we hung out for a bit before putting the boys to bed. They are LOVING the sand and I need to build something around the pile to contain it as the pile comes down. I was feeling pretty warm and asked Shel to check the temperature. It was 30 degrees today, which makes me feel really good because if it had only been 20 degrees I would have been sad to be feeling so warm! LOL
It turns out we put the a/c into the window on the perfect day.
I told the neighbour that I would be over today to get some manure, but it was pretty warm and I was tuckered from mowing. There's still a lot of yard to be done, but a dent was made at least.

projects day five

I think I made up today for all the things I didn't get done yesterday. Shel and I had a meeting in town to go over concurrent plans for the boys. We HOPE that this is the last time we will be meeting to do these - the adoptions should be complete next month. (But we have been told that before so we are not holding our breath.)

We stopped by the vision center and picked up new glasses for Shel. We ordered two pairs and one pair had arrived. Just after we got home the plumber called to say he could come out and install the dishwasher if we were home so of course we jumped at the chance to get that done today. (Another project completed by someone else!)

While the plumber was here I figured it was a good time to start working on some projects for today. I couldn't face two days without accomplishing something on my time off!

1. I brought the new dishwasher in and unloaded it to get it ready for the plumber.
2. I had a burn pile for the garbage.
3. I raked up all the small twigs from the trees cut yesterday and burned them.
4. I brought the window A/C unit out of the Quonset ready for the kitchen.
5. I put the shell from tinkey winkey into the Quonset.
6. I took the old dishwasher out to the pile ready to take to the dump.

YAY! It feels good to be getting so much done. It just feels like the list of things to "get done" grows exponentially.

The boys are now in bed, the PVR is programmed for soccer tomorrow, and the dishwasher is almost ready to be unloaded! I am ready to grab a book and head to bed.

projects day four

Technically today is the day I am supposed to get my fourth project done. It is now ten pm and I haven't done anything today ! I watched three soccer games, watched the Lakers win the playoffs and watched a movie. I watched my neighbour cut down two trees in our yard for us (they were dead trees and I was worried they were going to fall) and he also rototilled a garden spot for us again... we have been working on it for a while. So I don't know - does it count when your neighbour does projects?

day three of projects already

How did it get to be day three already? These days are flying by and there is so much I want to accomplish.


1. Sorted the shoes at the back door. I swear those things multiply - unfortunately nothing in my size, just the boys!

2. Took a box of clothing to the donation bin.

3. Voted... There has been this big thing at work about getting rid of the union and joining the staff association that exists on another campus. Tensions have been high and I am glad it has come down to a vote that will be over today.

4. Took the mat into the frame store and ordered two (Should be in next week).

5. Replaced the camera Hugo ate.

6. Chose a spot for the sand delivery :)

time off.. and what to do with it

I have ten days off from work. What I really should be doing is holing up somewhere and working on my thesis. In actuality I will be sanding time at home doing mini projects which I will keep you all up to date on here, and hanging with the family. I imagine that we will be barbecuing lots and I HOPE that for at least a few of the days we will be getting out of dodge and doing something "fun". It is the world cup though you know.... so we will likely be staying close enough to civilization that I can keep track of what is happening in the soccer world.
What i have decide to do is complete ten projects on my time off. One project at least for each of the work days I have off. That gives me the weekends off to do whatever I want to! We'll see how it goes. I'm being inspired by my mom, she is the project queen of the world and gets ridiculous amounts of things done.... I'll see if I can live up to her standard of accomplishment.