101 in 1001, day one

So after some thought, and some lists, and some ideas, I think I finally have my list together. The list is in no particular order. Today is May 27th, ( or was when I started this post and started the 101. Been trying to finish my list, as I wanted to put it all up at once, so hence why it's not May any more) and 1,001 days from now, will be Friday February 21, 2014. Crazy. Seems so far away. But if anything has taught me in these past 17 (18) months, time flies!

1. learn to take better pictures
2. buy next camera, DSLR, and learn how to use it properly
3. learn to quilt
4. sew window treatments for house
5. pay off credit card
6. use more coupons
7. become CPR certified
8. watch a sunrise
9. watch a sunset
10. learn to make great homemade pizza crust
11. cook through an entire cookbook
12. eat less red meat
13. open an Etsy account
14. do a Mom-Mom sale, selling Felt Pantry items
15. keep a cleaner house
16. procrastinate less
17. build something out of wood, possibly a play kitchen
18. wear more skirts and dresses
19. make and sew some skirts and dresses
20. learn to sew from a pattern
21. make Audra some sewn clothes
22. a) buy some new clothes b) getting rid of the old, faded and stretched out ones that don't fit
23. organize the laundry room
24. make homemade soap
25. make homemade lipbalm
26. thrift more
27. get oil changes regularly and on time
28. throw out less, reuse and recycle more
29. learn to can sauce
30. drink more water
31. make more photobooks
32. scrapbook for Audra's pictures
33. make a proper will
34. learn to make a proper piecrust
35. take daily vitamins
36. figure out a clothesline system in backyard
37. paint the florida room
38. get family trees and genelogy history together and in order
39. write in my journal at least once a week
40. make a tshirt quilt
41. watch IMBD's top 250 movies list
42. make my own ice cream
43. learn how to crochet, and be able to read the patterns
44. take a picture everyday for a month
45. learn to use chopsticks properly
46. make a list of 101 quotes that inspire me
47. read the Narnia series
48. donate hair to locks of love
49. finish Wreck My Journal
50. translate all Babcia's recipes to english
51. go a month without pop
52. go to an auction or estate sale
53. go vegetarian for one week
54. sign up for Postcrossing and send some postcards
55. knit 10 projects, real items, not just dishcloths
56. organize desk/craft space
57. go on a road trip
58. take a family vacation
59. do a detox
60. stop using plastic bags, bring my own everywhere
61. get new eyeglasses
62. make all my own christmas and birthday cards
63. make a lot more homemade gifts
64. put $5 away for every goal completed
65. buy rechargeable batteries for everything
66. floss every day!!!
67. start some great, lastly family traditions
68. do some cross-stitching
69. buy a new mattress
70. spend no money for a week
71. get a new tattoo
72. have a great garage sale
73. A-Z photography project, start it!
74. bring lunch to work for a whole month
75. don't eat out for an entire month
76. join a book club
77. family outing to the drive in, including Audra
78. teach Gwen to actually walk properly
79. go on more walks as a family
80. bake bread more often instead of buying it
81. do some volunteer work
82. carve our names in a tree out back
83. take pictures of everything for insurance
84. read 101 books
85. get my hands on a Smash book
86. make a 5 year running calendar
87. grow and keep a healthy spider plant
88. teach Audra the alphabet and counting
89. start a family planner, get everything in order
90. make a book page wreath with an old book
91. make my own labels for clothes and projects
92. turn a composition book into a gorgeous journal
93. make my own cloth napkins and just use those
94. make my own all purpose cleaner
95. make Audra a felt board, and pieces to go with
96. stock up Audra's play food
97. learn to run, and maybe actually like it
98. make a custom recipe book
99. clear away any clutter, get rid of it
100. print my list and hang it on the fridge
101. do some pickling and canning of fruits and veggies

And somehow, once I got going to finish this post, I suddenly ended up with more then 101. So I will call these bonuses. If I get them done, great. Maybe I'll substitute them for other items on my list. lol.
(102.do some geocaching
103. make a great wish at 11:11, Nov 11th, 2011
104. use my wii fit more
105. take a class to learn something
106. take a class for fun
107. buy some designer fabric and make something nice with it
108. burn pictures to cd, organizing as I burn
109. take pictures of Audra's artwork and crafts, make a collage out of them)

A Crafty Day

It's mid way through vacation week, and there had been much cleaning and purging happening around the house. The car was loaded with donations yesterday. Felt good to get rid of stuff.
So having done all the tedious items off the list, it was time to sew!

Audra,who grows daily it seems, has a huge pile of clothes that needed some attention. We are in the middle of switching seasons, but she still has lots of pj's that fit. I saw someone had "altered" their child's pj's, and removed feet and shorten sleeves-genius. So I hacked away and added some bias tape to keep the seams in tact. And they turned out not too bad. Winter/spring pj's will get us into summer now. Yay.
I also did some altering of pants, and voila! shorts. All these pants that are starting to be flood waiters, and not be wearable come fall, will serve well as shorts.

I got a good chunk of Audra's dress sewn as well. It's from an actual pattern, and have been making it in my sewing class. Got to a point where I'm stuck so I guess I have to wait til Friday to finish. Have the teacher actually help me with it. This is why I am taking the class, can't read a pattern. lol

And lastly, made myself a little ring. I love fabric flowers and just couldn't resist. Just don't look too closely at the painted nails, or lack there of nailpolish on some nails! lol

Pintrest Love

I have a new obsession. And the first step is admitting it right?
Since getting my laptop and being able to bookmark, I have been filling up space with projects, ideas, new crafts, pictures, and just overall awesome things. Well, .... along came.....

It is this site that allows you to "pin" all those great ideas, pictures and bookmarks to one place. And as someone who has lost her hard drive, it being on the web means you will never lose it!
You can make all these different folders to house different ideas, and items, and it's a whole community of people sharing. So far, it's an invite only kinda site, or you can sign up and about a week later you can get the link with the invitation. Mildly pretentious, but so worth it!!!!!
If anyone is wanting to join, let me know and I am sure I can hook you too!!!!

101 in 1001

So 101 things, on a list , to be done in 1,001 days.
I really like this idea. There are many different ways of doing these lists. I have seen the 30 before you're 30, 40 before 40.
I have seen a few of these lists now, and really liked the Sunshine and Chaucer blog and her idea of getting many people together and doing it.
The Pros-setting a timeline and a deadline, encouragement to actually accomplish those tasks and goals.
The Cons-actually having to start by making a list of those 101 items! And to actually start working on them! Ek!

While on vacation, I think I am going to get my list together and type it all out and get organized. That would probably be the 1st or 2nd item, stay on top of organizing and reduce some of the chaos in my life. Is that possible with a 17 month old? lol

17 months

17 months old, where has the time gone?
My little monkey is definitely not so little anymore. She is a crazy little drunken disaster most of the time. She falls, seems to bounce right off the floor and is back on her feet before you know it!
She loves her books, her dolls, and lately "Daisy". She says daisy for all the night garden people. It's hilarious. She is just go-go-go, all the time!
Her best friend is definitely Gwen, who is so tolerant and puts up with much hair pulling and jumping on. She lets Audra take the toys and throw them, and both chase after them, neither really aware of how a game of fetch should go! Audra flops down on Gwen's bed and belly, and the poor dog just takes it. She is so gentle and we are forever grateful that this beast of a dog is so good with her. Now if we could only get Gwen to stop crashing into Audra and knocking her over, it would be great!
My little dear who peels off expensive wallpaper, and we have had to switch the crib around. Who keeps growing and amazing her momma of what kind of clothes she can fit into now. I still think everything will be too big! When she started out so small, she has definitely grown into her own. The attic is filling up with boxes and totes of clothes that are far too small now. The baby fat is slowly disappearing, as she fills out, and grows.
She has such a little personality. You know when she doesn't like something, and can be very stubborn. Hmm.. wonder who she gets that from? Maybe both mom and dad! She always wakes up happy and even though it's not always appreciated at 630am, there's nothing like hearing someone shouting "da-da, ma-ma!" into the monitor!
The hugs are priceless, the slobbery kisses, so worth it, and even though some days are challenging, they are SO worth. Love you little monkey, more then you know!!!!!

Wagon Riding

Into town we go, rolling along in the wagon. Audra being miss independent now, will not go in her stroller, but will happily sit in the wagon for hours on end. So we tested out the new wagon and she loved it. It`s big enough for her, her diaper bag, library books, shoppers bag! Yay for wagons.

Mothers Day Crafting

For three great ladies, we decided to make some crafty kinda gifts.

Jamie, of course, helped out where he could. He seems to get all the jobs I really don`t enjoy, or all the tedious, nit-picky ones that I may not always have the patience for. (thanks hon!)

We made three trees with flowers. If you can`t tell, the tree trunk is made of Audra`s hands. The whole tree and flowers are made with felt, and we mounted them on plain white canvas. I saw a similar idea, and thought it would be perfect for Audra`s little hands. They aren`t so little any more!


I made another fabric plant. I really like how these turn out. The different fabric and material look kinda funky together. And all the leaves are on green wire, so you can pose them in different ways.

And lastly I made some mug rugs. I like the material that I used for them. Like the colours together, and my corners are looking much better

First Tea Party

This has to be the most adorable thing ever. I got Audra a little tea set. It counts and has various shapes for the little snacks. She has been dragging around that Pooh bear recently, and he made it into the highchair with her. I guess she decided that they were going to have tea.
This looks staged but I had nothing to do with it. I was making her lunch and looked over and that is what I saw. I couldn't get to the camera fast enough!


Such determination in getting it right to Pooh bear`s mouth. So adorable! It`s always so amazing to see what she had picked up on and what she remembers. She is such a sponge. It`s awesome!

Henny Penny, part one

This is Henny Penny. She is a pattern from Anna Maria Horner`s Homemade Beginnings. (a great book that I waited forever for, as the library had to order it)
The velcro under her wings are to attach little chicks to. I am still sewing those. They are a hand sewing kinda thing and I am being lazy when it comes to hand sewing. Eventually I will post part two when the chicks are done. And I am sure I will add a picture or two of my little chick playing with them!

Bucket fun

This a game we like to play, someone will play it all day.
She doesn`t need the toys inside, for in the bucket, she likes to hide!




She is such a little monkey!

A Royal Morning

5 am came mighty early the other morning, but pretty teacups, rhubarb scones and creamy eggs with bacon and mushrooms, helped keep us going. Lisa and I, sans girlies, got up and watched the royal wedding event. Lots of tradition and ugly hats made the morning. A beautiful wedding dress, handsome groom, all the makings of a good royal wedding.
Glad I got up to watch it.

First Major Bump

The first major bump and crash for the little monkey. She went crashing into the table and caught her eye. Big scrape and now a pretty colourful bruise, but the bonus was, it`s didn`t turn into a black eye. The poor girl. I am sure the bruise would have been less bad if someone had let me put ice on it, but she was having none of that.



After some major tears and lots of hugs, she was all ready for dinner, and some Special Agent Oso. 0-s0. 0-so. Or so the chant goes from the monkey.

Colouring

I love that Audra enjoys colouring, and pulling out the crayons, and actually getting some markings on the page! So sweet. No preference on which hand, she uses both to colour!


And, as usual, Gwen is supervising from her chair. Although I think she is sleeping! Enjoying the peace and quiet til Audra is freed from her chair!

Easter

Easter dinner up in Barrie, visiting and enjoying the usual Chinese bunny fare.

Easter Morning, Jamie and Audra. Jamie had the egg hunt all to himself, Audra really wasn't all that interested. She saw the presents the bunny left for her, and that was it. She got this cute bunny hat, but there is no chance she's wearing it. So we thought why not put it on Gwen? She is so tolerate, and she won't rip it off like some people we know. She wasn't impressed, but looked too cute!


Audra got this cute little dress, it's a bit big, but so adorable! If you can see the little doll, her first cabbage patch doll actually, she is wearing a dress made of the same material! Too sweet. Gotta love little girls, and their dolls!

Easter Eggs

We of course painted eggs, an Easter tradition for Jamie and I. We have a few cartons of eggs now from all our previous years. My basket for decoration, had to be smaller this year, and there was really no safe spot for it. Miss Audra and the eggs are not a good combination.


Can you spot the little hand reaching for the eggs?

I have some very special eggs in there, made by Babcia, and I would hate for anything to happen to them. I will have to take a picture of each of them. Some are on their last legs, and it's kinda sad.

Jamie used a kit, to have pynska looking eggs. He blew them out, dyed them, and then instead of putting them in boiling water to have the wrapper stick, he used his heat gun. Love that he is so resourceful!

I created some tye-dyed eggs, kinda funky. A little darker then I was hoping for, but the idea is kinda neat.
I also made these marbled eggs. Hard boiled the eggs, cracked the shells, but before taking off the shell, I let them sit in dye over night. Loved the effect. They turned out really well. I then took them and made funky deviled eggs.

April Posting, or lack there of

Guess I'm a little behind in posting. Been a long couple of weeks.

Audra brought home a lovely cold, which she proceeded to pass on to Jamie and I. Not fun. We have been battling this cold out, and think we are finally winning. (although there now has been a trip to emerg!) Hopefully we are on the mend and no more spring colds sneak into this house. With Audra in daycare, always a possibility unfortunately.

There is no stopping that child now. She is a walking machine and nothing is safe anymore. She will do her best to get into everything, make a mess, pull everything out, and run away before you can recruit her to help clean up. She hasn't quite figured out the once we pull everything out, we need to put it back concept. Oh well. She's so fun, and definitely worth it.

Easter was a weekend of running around and lots of travelling and visiting. Didn't take too many pictures but will post the few I did take. Took a few days to recover from all the opening at the store, then travelling. It was good that Jamie was off, there would have been no way I was driving us around! lol.

We have some vacation coming up, Jamie is going to do some hunting, then just relax. I know there is outside work to be done (yuck!) and definitely some organizing, purging and cleaning to be done inside, which I am looking forward to surprisingly. Plan out the garden, post some items on kijiji, the list just keeps on going.

Towel Time

Jamie wraps up Audra after a tub, and she looks like a little person running around with her towel! She would much prefer to run around naked I'm sure.