Chipping Away

I spent some time yesterday doing a few housekeeping things to the blog; moving the endless Archives and Links lists to their own page up above, categorizing more posts, moving all of my own knitting patterns to a single page, that sort of thing.

While I was in the neighborhood, I decided to stop by my 100-things list and check in.  Some of the things, I’ve slacked off on, simply because I forgot.  Reading the Top 100 Books and seeing the Top 100 Movies, for instance – we’ve purchased a lot of bargain-bin cheesy ’90s movies recently, most of which are decidedly not on the list, but it seems like somewhat of a trend.  So I’ll print out the list and put it in my purse, so that I’m a bit less aimless and more culturally advanced the next time I find myself in the movies-for-sale area.

Likewise with the books, I’ve bought several recently and might actually read them this time.  Slowly, crammed in around a billion other distractions, but I want to read them, which is a step up from my prior state of apathy.  But I show up at the bookstore and wander aimlessly, so I’ll print out that list and put it in my purse (gonna be a busy pocket, there, because I already carry a wine list!).  We’ll see.

Just this past week, I stumbled upon a babysitter; she’s been here before and I like her, but I thought she’d graduated and moved away.  Turns out, no, she’s a senior this year, so we may be able to get a couple of months out of her before she escapes.  And I’ll be smarter this time, and get some recommendations from her, before she disappears.

We now use cloth napkins – homemade, no less – at every meal, and a roll of paper towels has suddenly gone from a weeklong investment to a several-month commitment.  Not to mention that I had a good reason to drag out and use my sewing machine; I’m no seamstress and have no current aspirations to be – my only serious interest is in quilting, and this house is just not big enough for that kind of project – but I love my sewing machine and it makes me happy to use it on simple, non-intimidating projects.

I’ve lost about 10 pounds since September – actually a bit more, I think, but I’ll wait a bit longer before checking.  Whatever the number is, I’m at a point where I won’t be horrified to consider this my “pre-pregnancy weight.”  The knitting donations have been plugging along, with a bunch just sent to Hats for Alex, a blanket on the needles for Project Linus, and an idea brewing to start my own winter-items-drive for the state psychiatric hospital.  More on that later.

So, it’s happening.  I’m not sure that having the list has actually motivated me to do anything I wouldn’t have otherwise done, but it’s fun to keep a tangible record of my goals and progress.  Now if I can only get Willem to finish his list…