Update

One minor update.

Number # 67. Drink ONLY 1 soda (or less) a day for 10 days completed. I've been sick the last few days which has made this easier than it normally is. 10 days doesn't sound like very long but for someone who drinks 6 or more cans of soda a day... 10 days is really, really difficult.

20/101 completed

Whew.

Further Changes

Ever since I started knitting last month I've renewed my passion and love for crafts. So I've changed a few goals that I really could care less about to match my new desires.

Changed number 31: Finish stitching my "Weekend A Paris" to "Design my own cross-stitch pattern)

And changed number 83. Write and mail myself a letter to "particpate in a craft swap" (probably through crafster.org

Two small changes but I think it'll make a large difference in how I'm beginning to look at this list. :)

Last Post of the Day...

I'm having some trouble with #47. Pay off credit card balances. To help me with this, I've developed a system. I'm crossing my fingers that it works.

Currently I hve five envelopes... eventually they'll be jars.
1. Crafts
2. Household
3. Pets
4. Wardrobe & Accessories
5. Sewing Machine

Okay, okay, maybe having five is too many but oh well.

Every paycheck I get to put $20-$60 (starting with the 20s now and eventually moving up in amounts until my credit cards are paid off) into ANY of these five envelopes that I choose... depending on what my obcession for the week is. If I just put the money in a regular savings envelope/jar I might spend all the money on crafts and none on pets, etc.

THIS way... I'll have funding for the things that I want and won't be using my credit cards now. I should be able to pay off the bulk of it (like 95% of it with my tax refund but I have yet to do my taxes... hopefully next weekend). I removed my credit cards from my wallet and put them away with my passport and my dorminat cards from Michigan.

This'll help me save up for the things that I want (I love crafts, I want a pet but have no money, I'd love to upgrade my wardrobe, etc.) My obcessions vary from week to week and where I want to spend my money varies from week to week. So if one week I'm desperate to own a sewing machine that money will go there, etc.

I think the majority of it will go into crafts, sewing machine, and wardrobe for the next couple of weeks. The sewing machine being number 1 probably... but these things are so darn expensive.

Well we'll see how it goes... I'm off to apply for a second job followed by summer jobs.

Still Working on it...

I SHOULD be lesson planning today but screw it all... I'm finishing up some of my almost done projects for my 101 project.

90. Organize my recipe book - - COMPLETE! I have a SLEW of photographs of my cookbook. I am SUPER excited that this is done. Now that all my old recipes are organized I can start adding new ones!

I had over 20 photos to share... but decided I had to limit it to my favorites! :(

This is the cover. Its just held into a nice black binder, as I want my cookbook to be flexable and easy to add to and change. It says "There's No Place Like Home."


I DO have a table of contents but its not the prettiest page... so I'm not posting it. ;p. I used tab dividers I created to divide it up into the different sections that I need.

And SOME of the pages:
























This thing is HUGE! I'll probably need to break it up into a few smaller binders at some point... but that's another project.

Completed: 19/101

Photos as Promised

Pecan Walnut Salad AND the dressing:


Closeup of the Salad:

YUM! YUM! YUM!

My Shawl (laid out nicely):


I tried to take a picture of me when I was wearing it:


And finally... the fringe in action! (Shockingly the fringe was the hardest part!)

Another One Down!

54. File all unfiled paperwork at home (and keep up with it!)

Filed ALL unfiled paperwork AND cleaned up the area around the desk to help me keep up with filing paperwork away right away. I created a nice in/out system, using regular black baskets (from the dollar store).

Whew! I've been working like crazy today.

18/101 Complete!

Two more down!

62. Clean out closet and dresser

Made my second purge this morning. My wardrobe is now half of what it was. SQUEE! Nice cleaned out areas.

and...

94. Eat at an IHOP

This morning Chris brought me to an IHOP down the street for breakfast. It was good... but Dad's pancakes are stll better.

17/101 COMPLETE!

DVDs are Organized!

57. Organize my DVD collection is now COMPLETE! Halfway through this project I was regretting it. I have my DVDs in those CD cases. 280+ DVDs to pull out, put back in, and organize alphabetically. HOLY COW!

But... its complete and I am glad that it is done.

15/101 COMPLETE!

Several in progress... If I keep this up I just MIGHT finish my "smaller" goals (ie. finish TV series, crafts, etc) before the end of the year. Financials and etc will take longer of course.

Happy V-Day!

Changed number67. to: Drink ONLY 1 soda (or less) a day for 10 days. Before it said Drink ONLY 1 soda a day for 10 days. It was supposed to be a lead up to the Drink no Soda for a Week straight so far today I've had only Ice Tea to drink so I consider that an accomplishment... so we'll see. Its still early yet and I have a headache from no caffeine...

Friday - due to a rush to return Season 4 :( - I've finished 96. Finish watching Star Trek Enterprise.

14/101 COMPLETE

OH! And I cooked another new recipe... Pecan Pear Salad... pictures to follow.

Use the Control Journal

Now that I HAVE a control journal... I need to USE it. This one will not be crossed off until I have done every routine in the journal for 120 STRAIGHT days... no breaking routines. For me, it'll probably take this long for me to consider the habits in it "established". The whole point is to establish the routines in it, which are:

1. Eat Breakfast every morning (0/120)
2. Brush my teeth every morning after breakfast (0/120)
3. Take my vitamins (0/120)
4. Take my fiber (0/120)
5. Wash my face every morning (0/120)
6. Use teeth whitener - twice a day (0/240)
7. Write for 15 minutes a day, EVERYDAY (0/120)
8. Daily Spanish Practice, everyday (0/120)
9. Workout 30 minutes, 4 times a week (0/18)
10. Cleaned all my zones weekly (0/18)
11. Planned all meals (0/18)
12. Wash my face before bed (0/120)
13. Take a shower every evening BEFORE bed (0/120)
14. Have all my items packed BEFORE morning (0/120)

Most of these are routines that I do daily as it is but have no set schedule (ie, sometimes I shower in the evening, sometimes in the morning) but without a set schedule my days are too choatic. I'm hoping this way things'll work out better for me.

Anytime I miss ONE of these, I have to reset the counter for ALL of them, back to zero. It needs to be 120 days (or 18 weeks, based on goal) consectutive days. It's the only way I'll make my goals.

I am currently working on an incentive plan, which I'll post later.

2009 Scrapbook list

Here's a few of the things I need to remember when working on my 2009 scrapbook (ie. Things to scrapbook)

1. New Years Eve
2. Martin Luther King "Eve" Celebration

Control Journal

59. Create a control journal

COMPLETED! I'll admit this was in progress since late last year but I finally got it finished! It houses my daily routines, weekly zones to clean, menus to fill out, budgets, wish lists, reading lists, basically my whole life.

13/101 COMPLETE!

Other photos:

63. Organize spoon collection
COMPLETE

37. Bake 10 new recipes (1/10)

First recipe backed: Cashew Chicken. I should be able to knock three more out this weekend as I'm cooking QUITE the meal for Chris for Valentine's Day.

Other Accomplishments: My knitted hat! Here's a bunch of photos from various angles.

Here we go again!

In the Other Accomplishments category I have FINALLY hung up all my wall decorations on the walls of my new apartment.

AND I completed 63. Organize spoon collection. When I hung it up on the wall I organized the spoos the way I wanted them to be. Sounds like a simple goal but it hasn't been done in all of 23 years so I consider this a HUGE accomplishment.

Photos to follow.


Completed: 12/101
In Progress: 18/101

Round and Round we go

Added another day of arriving at work after 7:15. Today was unintentional but all the same... I did it.

Also, I added another "Other accomplishment" to my list. Last night I knitted a green hat on my new circle loom (pictures to follow).

SWEET!

2008 Highlights Scrapbook

Some items may not have lists to follow but others do have lists but rather smaller tasks that are necessary to complete it.

2008 Highlights Scrapbook:

Pages/Sections to Create

1. 2008 Entry Page
2. The Move Out West
3. The New Apartment
4. Halloween
5. The Coyotes v. Red Wings Game
6. Christmas

Breaking Down the Steps

Some items may not have lists to follow but others do have lists but rather smaller tasks that are necessary to complete it.

Chiacgo Scrapbook:
1.

List of Possible Jobs

Completed: #84 Make a list of possible jobs for the summer of 2009. I decided on going with retail, Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and Joann's being my first three choices to work. I have yet to send in applications, I want to wait until March or April since I can't start until Mid to end May, what with me still teaching 6th grade and all. hehe.

Hobby Lobby
http://www.hobbylobby.com/

Michaels
http://www.michaels.com/

Joann Fabrics
http://www.joann.com/

Wal-Mart
http://www.walmart.com/

Target
http://www.target.com/

Best Buy
http://www.bestbuy.com/

Barnes and Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

Borders
http://www.borders.com/

Kohl’s
http://www.kohls.com/

JC Penny
http://www.jcpenney.com/

The Dollar Tree
http://www.dollartree.com/

Manpower
http://www.us.manpower.com/uscom/index.jsp

Complete: 11/101. SWEET!

Update

Just a small note. I'm on a knitting frenzy. Still not done with my poncho but yesterday at Hobby Lobby I picked up a kit of circle looms and am currently knitting a hat. I'm straying WAY off track with my list but I can't help it. Loom knitting is easier than knitting with regular needles and much, much faster. At Michael's last night I also picked up a kit of long looms and hope to learn how to do knitting on those later.

Progress...

I'm still chugging away about my "arrive at work after 7:15am". I'm loving this goal and that I'm meeting it. If I keep it up I'll be done with this goal mid-March. Yippie! Hopefully I'll keep up the habit.

Went to bed before 10:30 last night... so another day chalked up on that one.

Got a list of 1-10 in French. I'm going to practice these until I have them down then move to Czech.

Finish Season 7 of Homicide Life on the Street. I didn't like the way the series ended. Man Bayliss! Really!? The library doesn't have the movie on DVD (and I'm not sure Netflix does either... I haven't checked).

This weekend I want to finish Season 3 of Star Trek: Enterprise. Then I only have 1 season left to go and this goal is Com-plete!

The library is currently holding Season 1 of the org. Star Trek for me... I'm waiting until Saturday to pick it up along with returning other items checked out... mostly DVDs.

My cookbook is chugging along nicely... It's almost organized. The hardest part is not putting new recipes in there while I'm currently organizing the ones I have already!

Counting To Ten

Changed #86 from "watch Mom graduate from LSSU" to "Be able to count to ten in ten other languages" (not including English!). As previously mentioned, my mom is no longer walking in graduation. With my students (I teach 6th grade) I always count to ten and then the students hold up their whiteboards. I spent 5 months in Germany and learned to count to 10 while I was there (from Kate's mom!) The kids love counting to ten in a language they don't know (the majority of them know both English and Spanish), so this is also a career focus goal becuase my students enjoy it so much.

Here's the languages I know so far:
1. Spanish
2. German
3. French
4. Czech
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Spanish 1-10
1. uno
2. dos
3. tress
4. cuatro
5. cinco
6. seis
7. siete
8. ocho
9. nueve
10. diez
Known this since I was a kid, probably in thanks to Seasame Street

German 1-10
1. eins
2. zwei
3. drei
4. feer
5. foonf
6. zecks
7. zeeben
8. ahkt
9. Noyn
10. Tsayn
Learned in the fall of 2007 while I was in Germany. Kate intially taught me how and her mom worked with my on pronunciation.

French 1-10
1. un
2. deux
3. trois
4. quatre
5. cinq
6. six
7. sept
8. huit
9. neuf
10. dix
Got the list on Feburary 5, 2009, am currently practicing and looking to teach my students (provides great practice for me too!).

Czech 1-10
1. Jedna (Yeh-Dnah)
2. Dva (Dvah)
3. Tri (Tri)
4. Pet (Piet)
6. Sest (Shest)
7. Sedm (Seh-dum)
8. Osm (Os-um)
9. Devet (Deh-viet)
10. Deset (Deh-set)

Other Accomplishments

I've decided not to minimize the other accomplishments I've made during this 2.75 year project. So this post is going to be used to keep track of all the accomplishments that go +101.

102. Chris moved in (January)
103. Put together 9 cube organizer (January)
104. Move into a new apartment with Chris (02-01-09)
105. Designed a new 5-point reward/disipline system (02-02-09)
106. Implemented the new system in my classroom (02-04-09)
107. Learned to knit using circle looms (02-09-09)
108. Knitted a hat on a circle loom (02-10-09)
109. Hung up pictures on the wall in my new apartment (02-11-09)
110. Knitted a gray shrawl (02-15-09)
111. Knitted a fun fur tube scarf with pom poms (02-25-09)