18 – Completed!

Number 18 on my list was to “attempt a new recipe in a cookbook,” which the hubs and I did this past weekend.

We invited my sister and brother-in-law over for some spaetzle (the new recipe) and stroganoff.  We had some easy frozen broccoli with the meal, and a dessert of chocolate pudding pie with graham cracker crust.

The Sunset Pasta Cook Book was a gift this past Christmas from my mother-in-law.  She made the spaetzle for our Christmas Eve dinner.  We didn’t want to give up cabinet space to a dedicated spaetzle maker, so we set out to find alternatives that would serve an additional purpose in our kitchen.  We attemped this with a pasta strainer that fit on the top of a pot and with a crazy grater from the Asian market.  Both worked sufficiently well that we have stopped our search for spaetzle maker alternatives.

Although our original plan had been to attempt two new recipes, our meat planning fell through, so we substituted stroganoff from our trusty red plaid cookbook, which we’ve made before.  It was still a pretty yummy combination, and definitely felt like a treat.  Especially with the super easy pie for dessert.

Another goal completed!  Thank goodness, because the end of the 1001 is fast approaching.  242 days left — this is getting a bit daunting.

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#57 – Recent buys

I recently bought a few items for my new wardrobe.  First up, these shoes:

Aren’t they pretty?  I had looked at these a couple of months ago and decided that I didn’t need them, even though I did rather love them.

But when the hubs an I went back this week, they were 50% off!  Now, I have been trying to stop buying things on sale that I wouldn’t have paid full price for.  But I was contemplating buying these for full price, so I don’t think they count against me.

I ended up buying them, in part, because I also recently bought this dress and these necklaces from H&M.

I think that this is going to make a lovely outfit with black tights for the next ballet we’ve subscribed to, which will be in Feb.  Here’s a closer shot of the two necklaces:

You can see the true color of the dress here as well.  The black necklaces are mainly the same shiny bead, but one had silver in between the black beads, and one has more black.

Once I get this all steamed or ironed out, I think it will look lovely.  And the dress is even machine washable!  Now that’s my kind of addition to my adult wardrobe.

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#49 – Remote Storage

I have still been working on finding places for everything that we own.  We have yet another big pile of things we’re saying goodbye to and soon will be taking to goodwill — most of which are clothes that no longer comply with my new look from #57.  (More on that later.)  I’ve also gone through a year’s worth of Martha Stewart Living magazines, and marked the few items which I want to keep.  I’ll cut those out, and then they’ll be recycled.

But I digress.  We headed out to my sister’s new favorite store, Homegoods, the other day, and found this:

What a lovely little suitcase!  It seemed quirky and charming, and we bought it wih this purpose in mind:

We’re using it to contain our remote clutter.  We have remotes for the TV, stero, DVD playing X-Box, VCR, Netflix-playing Roku box.  At Christmas, we added a Wii to our collection (woohoo), so now we’ve also got two wii remotes and two nunchuck attachments.

Not that we aren’t ever going to have the remotes scattered around the living room, but now they at least have a place to go when we clean.

Last night, we also purchased a lovely little switch box so that all these things that need to plug into the TV can do so and be hidden in the back.  Which is pretty much finding a place for our cord clutter.  Everything is all hooked up and nicely labelled.

We also recently bought china storage cases so that we could fit more into our buffet.  So a few additions that I received at Christmas now have a home.  Things are moving along nicely!

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#15 – Completed!

While I was enjoying some vacation time from my work last week, the hubs and I headed out for an afternoon adventure at the Richmond Science Museum.  We had a lovely time wandering through the exhibits and people watching.  (There was more than one moment there that made me want to give him a no-baby high five.)

My favorite part was this awesome table that showed the movement of elementary particles.  I read the sign that explained it, but for the life of me can’t remember.  I guess you’ll just have to go see for yourself!

We even hit up the science shop and bought some space ice cream, for which I have a disproportionate fondness.  Seriously, I love that stuff.  The hubs had never tasted it (!!) and there was a mint chocolate chip option (!!!).  I was sold.  We enjoyed it at soon as we got home.

But before that, we had to play with the world.  Here’s the hubs, working pretty hard to move the replica of good ol’ Earth:

While I opted for the smaller (to scale in size and distance to the Earth) Moon:

Wow, that’s some hair, isn’t it?  Go ahead.  Click the photo to see it larger.  It’s so big it deserves it.

Let me tell you, the water that allows you to move the kugels (that’s what these things are called: I looked it up) around was COLD.

So, a successful completion of #15 on this list as well as crossing something off our “to see before we move” list, which exists only in my head.

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Oh my.

We have left the Aughts.   And I am facing the end of the 1001 this year.  In fact, I have only 267 days left to get my remaining goals under control.  While that thought still strikes appropriate fear into my mind (and my schedule), I am excited to see what I can accomplish.  I don’t think that I’ll finish all 101, but I am still hoping to come very close.

So, no additional new year’s resolutions for me.  I am feeling energized about my list again, which is always good.  At least for today.  I’m starting to jot down ideas for another 101, starting in 2011.  (Why is it that 2010 seems perfectly acceptable, but 2011 sounds crazy far away?)

So, here’s to the remaining 49 goals I’ll be working on.  Yikes.

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