Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Out damn spot...

As you can see, my blog has a new look - no more spots. I have been wanting to update my template for a very long time and finally took the plunge. At the moment what I have is a bare bones template, but I'm planning to maybe add some color and certainly to do something about the header. At the moment, I'm just happy to finally have full use of labels!

If something looks funny or doesn't seem to be working right - please let me know. So far the switch has been relatively painless, which leaves me thinking that disaster will strike soon.

update: question - do you all see the little tools link below each page element in the sidebar? I thought they would go away when I signed out from Blogger, but they didn't.

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

101 Things in 1001 Days

This idea has been around for a while, but when I saw another mention of it on the Pink of Perfection along with the thought that we should put some fun into our resolutions, I was sold. I've got a good start on a list, but I'm not quite up to 101 things. I hope this isn't too much information, but my list is mostly about making and cooking, so it seems appropriate to put it here. Most importantly, posting it will (I think) help make it so - if I just made a list and didn't tell anyone about it, I could just as easily throw away the list and not tell anyone.

So here it is so far. With my cooking "things", I want to push myself to try techniques or foods I've been avoiding (though I haven't worked up the courage to put mushrooms on the list). With books I hope to make a dent in the unread piles in my house and similarly with sewing and knitting, I'd like to make some headway in the stash I've accumulated over the years and finish projects started long ago. That fuzzy beige sweater you see listed below? I started it 28 years ago - yikes! I'm not fooling myself that every single thing is really going to happen, but if even half of it does I'll be thrilled! I have 23 more "things" to add to the list - any suggestions?
  1. Try tempering chocolate
  2. Try canning dried beans (I’m getting a pressure canner)
  3. Start building a pantry for the winter by canning some summer produce
  4. Cook with artichokes
  5. Cook with avocados
  6. Cook with tempeh
  7. Cook with seitan
  8. Make puff pastry from scratch
  9. Find a tofu recipe I really like
  10. Weave napkins for myself
  11. Weave a simple blanket with doubleweave
  12. Weave a project using 8/2 cotton from stash
  13. Weave another project using 8/2 cotton from stash (I have LOTS of 8/2 cotton)
  14. Weave and sew a project using 20/2 cotton from stash
  15. Try rep weave (sampling)
  16. Try summer and winter (sampling)
  17. Weave a gift for someone
  18. Get up to speed with Fiberworks PCW (which I’ve had for years now) and design/document all of the projects above with it
  19. Read Breathless in Bombay (and review for LibraryThing)
  20. Read Sitting Practice (and review for LibraryThing)
  21. Read Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant
  22. Read The Omnivore’s Dilemma
  23. Read The Amateur Marriage
  24. Read Iris Origo: Marchesa of Val d’Orcia
  25. Read Happiness Sold Separately
  26. Read The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse
  27. Read The Blind Assassin
  28. Read The Known World
  29. Read The Poisonwood Bible
  30. Read The God of Small Things
  31. Read Drowning Ruth
  32. Read The Pilot's Wife
  33. Read Back When We Were Grownups
  34. Read Animal Vegetable Miracle - finished 1/30/2008
  35. Finish Catelynn’s stocking - finished 1/18/2008
  36. Finish fuzzy beige sweater
  37. Make another felted critter (maybe an original design this time?)
  38. Make Sock Monkey hat for Cassidy
  39. Make Flower Power hat for Catelynn
  40. Knit socks for myself
  41. Make a sweater using yarn from stash
  42. Make a felted purse or tote
  43. Make Christmas stockings for Waldo and Kitty (no angora Santa beards though!!)
  44. Knit at least one item to donate to charity from my stash
  45. Make a sock monkey for Catelynn
  46. Make a Cathy original - now that I’ve made a Christina original :)
  47. Try creating a pants pattern from my favorite (and best-fitting) pants
  48. Sew some more with Christina
  49. Sew a garment with fabric from my stash
  50. Sew a little gifty thing with fabric from my stash
  51. Make a miniature teddy bear
  52. Switch to new Blogger template - done 1/22/2008
  53. Customize template with my own header, etc. - done 2/3/2008
  54. Launch State by State (will check off once Maryland is done)
  55. Post belated review of The Breakaway Cook
  56. Post belated review of Educating Peter
  57. Post belated review of Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant
  58. Post about three “last chance cookbooks”
  59. Purchase floor lamp for study
  60. Clean and organize the basement
  61. Get dryer vented to outside
  62. Paint inside
  63. Finish bedroom curtains
  64. Window treatment for study
  65. Clean up and plant herb garden
  66. Make a list and get that nice handyman to come back
  67. Set up TreasuryDirect account - done 1/6/2008
  68. Switch payroll purchase of savings bonds to TD account - done 1/21/2008
  69. Convert paper savings bonds to TD account
  70. Form 2803 (too boring to explain)
  71. Wisdom teeth on left side extracted in 2008
  72. Start exercising again (twice a week for at least 8 weeks in a row)
  73. Get my yarn stash inventoried on Ravelry
  74. Get my hooks and needles inventoried on Ravelry
  75. Reduce my average water consumption in 2008 by 5 gallons per day
  76. Reduce my average electricity consumption in 2008 by 2 KWH per day
  77. Switch all regular-sized incandescent light bulbs (except for my reading light) over to compact fluorescent bulbs - finished 2/4/2008
  78. Try needle tatting (thank you Santos!)
  79. Get my genealogy stuff organized
  80. Take and post to flickr 10 photos I’m proud of
  81. 101 things for the next 1001 days (which will start 9/29/2010)