Finishing up on #16: The Office

The shelf with the items going back on it.

Every thing that went back to the closet had to be taken out, inspected, and put back in a sense of order.





Things to be organized and put back in the closet

What a project the office turned into. The before pictures show it as an overgrown closet, a catch all, and in general a room with no purpose or use.

After much sorting through papers, old documents, pictures, and many other items I managed to get things organized into files and boxes for the paperwork. Also all the "goodies" I have saved and memories are now all together and the ones I cherish are displayed to catch dust and remind me of certain times in my life. 

Now that I have finished the cleaning part of the journey I have a functioning office/craft room and am using it already to finish some of the other list items as well as some fun projects. 

When I had some friends over for lunch during spring break I made some jars to hold the flowers. An idea I got from The Ness Family Blog, Emily made some and has them pictured for Ellie's birthday. I thought they were so cute I stole the idea nd made some of my own! 

I also made my friend Kate a birthday message, something we got the idea from on a beach trip. 

Working on getting some pictures put into albums for my mom has also taken priority over many of the other list items. I am excited to get to see mom this weekend for my cousin's wedding! I will have some albums for her to look at and hopefully she will enjoy them! 

Cleaning up the outdoors!



Before: Front Porch view
Take note of the faded archway and leaves in the beds.



Before: Mail box and whole front yard
The gross mismatched mailbox and in this picture you can see the dying azalea bushes lining the house.



Before: side of garage
This picture is just sad!

So when I started this project I thought this one would be easy, and it could have been if I let it. Unfortunately I had to "do it right" (thanks Mike Holmes) so I have worked on tons of different projects related to this easy list item.
First I went to buy flowers a little early for spring, all they had was pansies. I know that pansies are more a winter flower and it was starting to get warm but I have had a few weeks with them and I really do smile when I see them. After all it is the flower of Tri Delta, specifically related to scientific name of the flower! I put them in the planters out on the porch and thought every time I put the dogs out how much better it looked. Then it started to bother me that the archway was fading and flaking and that the mailbox was black with a brown post. It inspired me to get some spray paint and just clean up the area a little.
The next adventure out was just the cleaning and scrubbing of the porch and sanding the arch before painting. Luckily Justin was in the basement when I was spraying the porch with water and scrubbing it becuase the caulk seal between the porch and house was leaking water into the basement. Add another part to this project.
So off to the store to purchase goods: paint and caulk.

I had to wait a few days for a non-windy day to paint and needed to take care of it ASAP. I know that the spring pollen is coming and I didn't want to have bright green pollen stuck in the wet paint. So I wiped dry and started painting. When I finished painting where I could reach I went looking for the ladder so I could paint the top of the arch. This also turned into a distraction from the completion of the list item. Our ladder will not fit on the small area of flat ground at the bottom of the stairs, and until I finished clearing out the planting beds I couldn't use the ladder. So now I have a half painted front archway and a frustrated attitude. The best idea I could come up with was just caulk the area and clear out the beds.

So that is what I did, and it took a whole tube of caulk to get the porch and front windows. I really need to get some more of that stuff and go over it again just to make sure that I got all of it. While I was caulking the windows I noticed the layers of dirt that had taken up residence on the slats in the window. GROSS. Add power wash house to the growing list of items that need to be completed before marking this item off the list.

Completing my days work I started raking out the beds. And of course it could not be that easy. Our neighbor, The Cahaba Snake Trap Man, came over and said something to the effect of be careful the snakes are out! GREAT! Thanks for the warning, actually really thanks. I went and changed shoes (which was important later) then back to work.
After the beds were absent the mountain of leaves I noticed how bad the bushes looked. One on each side of the porch is close to the end of life, or at least looks really dead. So after raking I decide to start digging up and put the dead one on the end and move one of the more full bushes to the middle. I got them moved and hopefully they will not die now that I dug them up during the growing season.
Here comes that part where the different shoes are important. The previous owners of the house had stationed HUGE rocks between each of the bushes. And they were great, except they block leaves and gunk in and keep the rake out. So, in order to make a larger flat area for the ladder, I plan to move these rocks near the porch and make a small rock garden. Moving the rocks I unfortunately dropped a rock on my toe. I kept on going with my project and it was not until after I took off the shoe I realized that my toenail was probably going to hurt for a while, and may fall off. I managed a long run with it a little swollen so hopefully it won't interfere with the ultimate goal!

I moved some other plants in and got rid of the rotten wooden barriers from the grass, all in an effort to make clearning out the area easier in the future.
In the process the side yard has been slightly overlooked, but I have managed to get the dead stuff picked up and out of the area.

After pictures to come, After I get the paint done on the archway!

Lent update

All in all a week in the Lent is going pretty well. I guess it is easy to say since my study group didn't meet Sunday (the pastor was on vacation) and I have only had 2 days of organic only food. However, I would like to expand on my reasoning and how the experience has been so far.
As I mentioned in an earlier post the inspiration for eating organic was a book, Everyday Justice, that outlined the global impact of our daily decisions. Many of the things that the book mentioned were things I try to do already. One chapter talked about the impact of coffee prices on the farmers who produce coffee. Rarely does a person in line at Starbucks think about the farmer who grew their coffee and the impact just a few more cents per pound would do for their life, and how minimal that impact would be on our pocketbook. When I lived in England I became aware of Fair Trade products (shout out to Pax Lodge, Happy 20th!) because we sold fair trade goods in the little "coffee corner". The idea was really fascinating and I even brought home some brochures to show people I know who care about global impact of decisions.
Another of the topics is waste. We all hear recycle or reuse items to reduce your waste, but one thing I learned in the waste chapter totally caught me off guard. CAUTION: this is about diapers and the dirtiness contained in them. So me not being a parent I have never read the side of a diaper package. I know that many parents have also not read the side of packages so learning that disposable diapers are supposed to be cleaned out of waste before being thrown away was a novel thought to me. Throwing away a diaper with mess in it is filling a landfill with human waste, and that is a really disgusting thought. The author equates it to throwing the chamber pot out the window, except now we bury the parts that splat. Landfills are not designed to contain human waste, and the bacteria can seep into water supplies. GROSS.
Anyway each chapter talks about the impact of different daily things and one of them specifically talks about organically grown foods. Part of the focus of the book is trying to be more like Jesus in the way we treat people and the earth. Tomatoes are not something that grow year round so the tomatoes we get on tacos and hamburgers year round have an impact on the earth and should cost us more that ones grown in season. Heirloom tomatoes are now a novelty, and a delicious novelty at that, but that is what tomatoes are supposed to taste like. Having food that is genetically modified, sprayed with pesticides so it can grow in an extended growing season, with chemical fertilizers to produce larger fruits, and taken care of by a migrant worker who is paid next to nothing is not my idea of delicious on top of a taco.
I know that I live in a very politically charged part of the country when it comes to saying migrant farmers should be treated justly, I know that there are arguments saying that the people who come to the United States illegally do not deserve fail wages or jobs at all. BUT this is where introspection is important. The message sent to the companies who own the farms is we (consumers) demand cheap tomatoes year round. In order to meet that demand someone  must be exploited wage wise, and human rights wise. IF we (consumers) began to demand organic products and showed that we are willing to pay that little bit extra for those products maybe, someday the worker will be paid fairly for his service in producing our food.
This brings me to the struggle I am having with this specific Lenten promise. I am doing what I can to increase my purchase power on the side of justice. Spending one day a week (for one week) being so cautious about what I eat had only made me glaringly aware of how little I know concerning the origin of the food I eat. The sign at the grocery store is required to say the country of origin for "fresh" products, but that does not tell me much about who is producing the food.
We often see calls for donations to countries where people live on $-X amount of money a day need our help to feed their children, but what if we all just paid a fair price for the food we eat? Would the number of people needing our help to provide food for their children go down if we paid as much for food at the grocery store as we would if it were grown and sold at a local farmers market? The difference is not to great, pennies per pound, compared to what we already pay and many times the difference can be found in the flavor of the food.
Enough explaining, my struggle mostly has focused on the things that I have not noticed before and not mentioned in the book. Dog food and dog waste both concern me and require more attention on my part. Also all the cleaning I do, what is the impact of those products and the impact of all the water used. Already we use a bucket to catch water when it rains, but I am going to look at some kind of water catch system to use on outdoor flowers and for cleaning reasons. Oh the many ways we can become more just and better stewards of the earth we inhabit it does not only revolve around driving less and recycling!

Just an update

30. Start a blog (about the list that this task is on)

29. Visit the Rocket Center in Hunstville

28. Substitute every day possible, including half days.

27. Plant flowers and clean up front porch area

26. Enjoy the rain, remind yourself that you love spring! (not only because it is the season of your birth)

25. Choose a Lenten offering and really consider the meaning of Lent.

24. Update my facebook status more often

23. Re-format my resume and send to Mr. Hulin. Make this a weekly email!

22. Make a summer decision about work

21. Figure out a budget to get through the summer

20. Visit with family at Melissa's wedding, take lots of pictures

19. Run a new trail or park

18. Complete a puzzle

17. Wish an old friend Happy Birthday

16. Clean the "office"

15. Remind myself why I am doing these things.

14. Get the sewing machine out of the basement

13. Write letters to my friends letting them know how important they are to me.

12. Spend the better part of a day cyber stalking all things Royal Wedding and prepare DVR

11. Call Scott and Jeff just to chat

10. Have a really hard conversation

9. Start riding for Free Wheel

8. Start graduation cards

7. Clear out and organize basement closet

6. Donate unwanted clothes/shoes

5. Enjoy Easter and celebrate the life I am living

4. Write rec letters for Tri Delta girls

3. Keep applying for positions with foundations that support my values

2. Reflect on accomplishments in my first 30 years

1. FINISH THE ROCK N ROLL HALF MARATHON

Jackpot!

I tried to come up with things for my list that would challenge me in many aspects of my life. One part of my life that I have always struggled with is keeping my clothes put away. I just despise putting clothes away, it is not so much the act of folding or hanging when things come out of the dryer as it is that next crucial step. As you can imagine unpacking is one of my least favorite things to do. And because of this intense avoidance attitude cleaning "my room" has led to the slobby space below. 

View from the hall



Total disarray



There is a desk and chair under that mountain, and yes there in the floor is the bag I took to Oklahoma: both 2 weeks ago and at CHRISTMAS. Time to unpack for sure!

Looking at the pictures it would be easy for one of those really organized people to say how do you find anything? Or cringe in disgust but there really is a system. Kind of like those people who have crazy messy desks but can still locate everything I have a place for clean clothes, dirty clothes, ironed things, clothes on hangers but not hung, and even folded clean clothes. The pile on the floor is mostly from bags that never got unpacked, and are organized by which bag (and therefore which location I intended to wear item) so easily accessible. I have no excuse for the desk, it has just piled up things that I cannot put away due to the closet door being blocked, I did locate my teaching certificate and diploma in there neatly laid flat still.

So decision time has arrived, I had to come up with a solution. I need this room to function as an office and a craft space plus we still need it if we have guests spend the night. Plus The BF has a chest of drawers in here full of those clothes that are rarely worn (mostly winter stuff and ski clothes) Very multi-purpose space!
Right now all the room can do is hold the piles I throw into it and under the bed and stuffed in the closet are boxes that never got unpacked when I moved. Determined to unpack and unclutter this room I began with the underbed boxes. And that was working great and then lightbulb! We have a nice raised air mattress that we could use for guests and a huge basement to store this bed in. That would mean these boxes could not return re-packed with the same stuff I have not seen in 3 years, garage sale much?

Totally cleaning out the bags, purses, and wallets to donate from under the bed... what do I see?
Cleaning up never paid so well.

After finding $100 bill in a wallet I was reinvigorated! I think the only one in the house upset about that was Cricket and try to follow this logic: The windows in this room only have blinds on them but the blinds are pretty see through. Cricket loved laying on the bed and barking at anything that moved down the circle.

Obviously this pic was taken right before or right after company, look I was even washing the sheets!
It also makes me laugh b/c the only time she lays like that is when she is totally exhausted, oh the joys of going on a good run!

 I think she has serious anxiety about a robbery of a house with their driveway on the circle, problematically she has not figured out yet that the neighbors are not robbers and she does not have to bark at them every time they come and go to their own houses. And don't even think about turning around in the circle after dark, she sees headlights and panic sets in!

Back to the cleaning process, and my is it a process! Next step is the massive amount of paperwork in this room. Old bills, old receipts, junk mail, clipped and not used coupons, the list could go on forever. I spent about 3 hours going through all of it, organizing what needed to be kept and labeling the different piles. There was a FULL trash bag of junk to be recycled after this step.

Closet next! and guess what? More paperwork. Luckily this stuff was organized before entrance so it was easy to go through. The shelves and floor were cleared out and wiped down (am I smelling like PineSol yet? Cricket does not like that smell and has abandoned me totally. Feeling a little lonely and abandoned, I have been in this room for hours now with only the occasional trip to the bathroom I decide it is time to retire for the day.

Like I said earlier I have been subbing more this week, so I had to abandon my project for a few days but with Spring Break coming up don't worry there will be some awesome after pics soon.

Spring Break calling

So I have been subbing this week more than last week, and it is a mixed bag. It is the week before Spring Break so the classes are busy, but the kids have lots of questions I cannot answer (can I do make up work is a common one). Other than their grades, which are due the day after break, the only thing students are capable of thinking about: SPRING BREAK!

In honor of this week, and my sincere desire to go somewhere (anywhere) I have a littel quiz below. Each picture has a number and clue to its location. See how many you can get right!

Number One: This one should be a more obvious one, but if you live in the South this is where many people go for break!



Number 2: Wills and Harry spent some time here while growing up.



Number 3: Come on, the sign says it all!



Number 4: I spent a week here after my senior year in high school and spent 6 month here after my senior year in college.



Number 5: A Route 66 landmark, I try to picnic here at least once a year.



Number 6: The land of my birth, I remember my mom picking this slide when she was on the park committee.



Number 7: If it were not so cold here in winter I build a house and live in this spot, this highest spot in?

Number 7 continued: First I would have to get rid of the tires Hey Machinery stores here and a few other details. It was really windy the day we were there, and again it is the highest spot in the county!





Number 8: I travelled here last March and it was unseasonably warm. I was still cold.



Busy Busy Bee!

Well so far I have completed a few more of my tasks, and have started some more. This weekend (including today) have really given me opportunities to work on myself and my list.

28. Substitute every day possible, including half days. 

March really worried me as far as getting days of work. Not only is it a long month, meaning more time between pay checks, but spring break falls right in the middle. I know that one of the benefits of teaching is the holiday time off but for a substitute, who only gets paid on days you show up, these days loom with a big $0 on the calendar. So last Friday I took a half day. With the grad exam I figured if I had any luck it was going to be a half day, so totally happy with my Friday. I subbed for a teacher I had never heard of, but he did have a few students I know from last year and this year. I always love seeing students who I taught last year and catching up with them. 

This week is a little better and I have some jobs set up for after spring break, just stay positive about all the days that come available. 

27. Plant flowers and clean up front porch area

This project began when we were in Huntsville. Our first stop was to Hobby Lobby. Little known fact about The BF, never had he been to Hobby Lobby before I forced him last year. He had decided girly fabric stores did not fit his idea of a good store. Last year, while looking for baseball card holders I talked him into trying it out. Now every time we are near one he mentions how he could just go in a browse to see what is there. I like this attitude toward Hobby Lobby, but I much prefer the idea of checking out the ad and seeing what is 1/2 that week then making a be line straight toward it. Well last week we had half off collage frames, so we headed toward framing. There The BF was able to find, out of 2 rows of frames, a baseball card holder frame. We talked about it and determined that to hold all of this Auburn cards it would take 20 frames. The best part is right there in the aisle he told me the exact number of baseball, football, basketball, and "other sports" he has in his collection. We decided to get one and put his most valuable hall of famers in it, and see if we could replicate the idea somehow for the other 19 necessary. 

Then we walked over toward the rugs. I wanted to see if there were any door mats that looked nice, and we decided on one that we both liked and it will be a part of my front porch makeover. 

Now if you have been to my house you know that the front porch is not much to brag about as far as size, but it definitely could use a scrub down and spruce up. Pics to come later of the finished product!

26. Enjoy the rain, remind yourself that you love spring! (not only because it is the season of your birth)

So this one may come a surprise to those of you who live in Birmingham but as a part of this list I decided to run Saturday outside. I needed to get in 4 miles for my training plan, and since running inside is not an option I had to go for it. I choose the park in front of Spain Park High, and I choose the hour that least likely would bring rain. Off I drove, under the not very clear but not raining sky. I pulled in the parking lot with the first sprinkles. Sitting in my car I had 2 options: Should I turn around and drive back home? I had just driven 8.9 miles and gas prices are going up, up, up. Or should I get out, stretch, and remind myself that I love rain because it brings me spring? Well I got out, looked around, and headed for the shelter. Under the shelter I looked around and luckily I saw a man running. If he can do it so can I. I walked around a little, stretched, and headed off. I was so happy I did, running in the warm-ish rain made me so thankful. I started getting a little tired after 3.2 miles and reminded myself you have just run 3 miles in the rain just finish it up. What a joy!

25. Choose a Lenten offering and really consider the meaning of Lent. 

So after considering this for a while this year I will be attending the afternoon Lent Studies group at Cahaba Heights UMC. I am looking forward to becoming more involved here in a local church and this seems like a study I really could benefit from attending. 

I also read a book lately called Everyday Justice. As a result of this book I am trying to make changes to be more just to people in the world. One day a week I will eat only organic foods to increase my just treatment of workers who produce the food I eat. The book outlined the impact that fertilizers have on local water systems in countries with no laws regulating these chemicals. Coming from a very agricultural area of the country I understand the reality of fertilizers and other herbicides for the livelyhood of small farmers but once a week I can dedicate myself to the just treatment of others and the planet.

24. Update my facebook status more often

I am working on this... stay tuned to the facebook to keep up.

16. Clean the "office"

This project began today, I took the bed downstairs and started really cleaning. Pics will follow when I finish and explain the whole process!

6. Donate unwanted clothes/shoes

I have a better idea: Who is up for a clothing exchange in April? I did some serious closet cleaning, and have some more to complete... I will host this year!

In addition to my list I also baked cookies on Saturday and made icing to decorate them. I plan on using this idea of cookies on a stick and putting them in little planters stuck in with candies (reeses pieces and almost joy pieces) for Easter. This was the dry run for the big party!

I guess that is the total update for my weekend. Not much has been completed but much has been started!

Number 29 (and a little extra)

Well after living in Alabama for nearly 3 years I have finally made it to Huntsville! I know it is only 1.5 hours away and I have never been there. Actually my mom let me know that I have actually been there in utero so probably about 30 years ago actually. I have also never been to Mobile, but that trip comes after the birthday and courtesy of my California Cousin Liz! I can't wait to hang out with her, and how appropriate we will be going to the Hang Out Festival! Anyway back to yesterday, The BF had a job interview yesterday morning and since I did not have a job we decided to make a day of his drive north.
On the way up The BF went over his presentation, and practiced his answers to interview questions while I drove. Usually I drive my little car so when I drive his big SUV it takes me a minute to get used to the whole thing, but yesterday it was especially windy. I had a moment when I thought if I had to drive with 2 hands on the wheel all the time I would never be able to drive as far as I do alone. For a while I really appreciated all the driving The BF does when we go places, particularly to OK. Back to reality, he likes to drive and I let him!
When we got there The BF went to his interview and I had come prepared to run! I thought I would go over to the UAH campus and run for a while or something, we were on University Dr after all. Instead I ran as far as the sidewalk took me in one direction and turned back and ran as far as I could the other way plus a little side street. It was fun, new town and new atmosphere. When I came back The BF had moved his car to the next parking lot and was running down the interview with a friend. Perfect, I stretched and we wandered around Huntsville a little. More on what we did in another blog, it is related to #27 so not to long to wait!

Anyway the good stuff. After The BF got settled we drove over to the Rocket Center! Hurrah! OK I have to be honest here. If I had, had a 13by13 blog Space Camp would have been my number 1. Or maybe it would have been 9by9 who knows. I think it lasted about a year but those commercials made Space Camp look SO FUN! So I didn't really even want to go into the museum I just needed to be able to say I was there (got the t-shirt, but not really).
We walked up along the main walk and followed all the planets telling their size, atmosphere, temperature, that kind of stuff. EARTH IS SMALL! or maybe JUPITER AND SATURN ARE BIG!

We took some pics of the Blackbird spy plane.

And Saturn V the replica anyway. This is the tallest space ship (or whatever it is) ever.

I don't remember which shuttle this is, but it is not stored indoors like the shuttle Discovery will be. (As well as the other 2 shuttles NASA is about to retire)

We walked around until I had satisfied my Space Camp desire. Well honestly like I mentioned earlier it was really windy and I only brought shorts so I didn't last long outside.
The BF drove us home so I didn't have to deal with the wind again but we did have an interesting stop.
I was so hungry and demanded lunch, after all it was almost 2:30 and I had not eaten since 7:00 and run during the interview. We are driving through the great big middle of no places to eat (typical) and then a sign for DQ. Not my favorite but they have chicken fingers and I am hungry and getting grumpy. We pull off and who knew Stuckey's still existed? Neither of us did! So I got my lunch but better than that I got to look around at all the crap they have in Stuckey's. Magnet in the shape of all 50 states (check), shot glasses of all shapes and varieties including many with confederate flags (check), autographed Alabama jerseys hanging from the ceiling (check), but most importantly the pecan log roll!
On my way to dance class on Saturday mornings when I was little we passed a Stuckey's, but more importantly we passed signs proclaiming the delicousness that is the pecan log roll. As a kid my mom used bribes to get me to clean (when I get to #16 this will make much more sense) and at some point the bribe involved a pecan log roll. I don't remember what it was I had to do to get that P.L.R. but when I did I was planning on eating it like a candy bar. Mom tried to warn me that the intention for the P.L.R.. was to enjoy it slowly. So she cut a little piece to show me, and enjoyed it like a commercial actor would facial movements and mmm-ing included. I took my piece and bit right it. I don't know if I spit it out or out of pride and humiliation ate the whole thing but I can tell you I would not ever again clean my room for a Stuckey's Pecan Log Roll! 

Hope you have a great weekend! Let's see what I can accomplish from The List.
PS I know I said these would be short, but no one ever liked a story without all the gory details!

The List

So to begin this blog I guess I should introduce the idea of my 30 by 30.
A friend of mine recently mentioned training for, and running a half marathon. Now this is something I have been wanting to do for a while and just never had the follow through to get it done. When she told me the date of the proposed half I have to admit the first thing I though of is the Royal Wedding. I mean who wouldn't think about how cute Prince Harry will be supporting his balding brother while he marries Kate? Then I remembered that is my birthday weekend! (Duh, Wills and Kate wanted me to have a fab birthday celebration!) And to make things even more special this is my golden birthday year (Hooray)  I have been waiting for my golden birthday since my friends started talking about them in 3rd grade.  

DOOM why did I never realize this birthday means I am turning 30? 
So I was sold on the idea of running the half marathon on my 30th birthday. When I am running I often get bored and want to stop so my tactic is to think of something and get lost in that thought. Well since I had my birthday on my mind it just came to me: I will make a list of 30 things to do by the time I turn 30. The final thing will be the half marathon and I can always think back to these things as my golden birthday celebration. Hopefully they will also distract me from the looming new decade and any stress that my life may bring. 

So I will do my best to make the list short. I will explain all of them in individual posts as I complete the task... so here goes. 

30. Start a blog (about the list that this task is on)

29. Visit the Rocket Center in Hunstville

28. Substitute every day possible, including half days.

27. Plant flowers and clean up front porch area

26. Enjoy the rain, remind yourself that you love spring! (not only because it is the season of your birth)

25. Choose a Lenten offering and really consider the meaning of Lent.

24. Update my facebook status more often

23. Re-format my resume and send to Mr. Hulin. Make this a weekly email!

22. Make a summer decision about work

21. Figure out a budget to get through the summer

20. Visit with family at Melissa's wedding, take lots of pictures

19. Run a new trail or park

18. Complete a puzzle

17. Wish an old friend Happy Birthday

16. Clean the "office"

15. Remind myself why I am doing these things.

14. Get the sewing machine out of the basement

13. Write letters to my friends letting them know how important they are to me.

12. Spend the better part of a day cyber stalking all things Royal Wedding and prepare DVR

11. Call Scott and Jeff just to chat

10. Have a really hard conversation

9. Start riding for Free Wheel

8. Start graduation cards

7. Clear out and organize basement closet

6. Donate unwanted clothes/shoes

5. Enjoy Easter and celebrate the life I am living

4. Write rec letters for Tri Delta girls

3. Keep applying for positions with foundations that support my values

2. Reflect on accomplishments in my first 30 years

1. FINISH THE ROCK N ROLL HALF MARATHON


I did my best to put these in a sort of order that will be easiest to complete them in and hopefully I will have all of them complete by 30 April 2011. Strike that, I will have all of them complete (and some of them may be ongoing) And lucky me I already have one marked off! I started a blog. (hooray me)