Time's (more than) Up- How About that List?

 
Remember the list of things I wanted to do this year? Even with the extension I gave myself my success rate is pretty low. I'm reporting just to be honest, certainly not to make myself look good. Frowny face here.

I pretty much know what I need to be doing to reach at least some of my life goals, but I'm doing a really poor job of acting on it.

For illustration I offer two childhood pictures that pretty much define the problem.

Here I am digging a hole. Yes, to China. Inspired by a Donald Duck comic book where Huey, Duey and Louie were digging such a hole. Yes, I would dig whenever the mood struck me. In ten years I got it about 5 feet deep and six feet across. In my defense, I will state that this was in New York gray clay, not Michigan sand. (I was quite shocked when I moved to Michigan and discovered that mere mortals COULD actually dig holes.)



Here I am fishing in a creek with no fish. Why? Because I had new rubber boots and a fishing pole. The presence of obtainable osteichthyes was irrelevant to me. I thought that with boots and a pole they would appear and beg to be caught.



You will notice that I look pretty happy in both instances. I was and am a process person. I care more about gardening than having a beautiful garden. I like to knit, etc, but care less about finishing projects. And on and on.

Yes, I know I was a kid. No, I'm not just being down on myself. I know my faults as well as anyone. You can draw your own conclusions as to whether I have improved on these childish methods of choosing activities. I will also draw mine.

Anyway, here's the report.

54 in 300, report on day 427
Number	Category	Item	Final
1	WRITING	begin working on North Country Quest again	got briefly inspired, then got boggged down in reality again - still about 5 chapters done
2	WRITING	edit Kiss of the Butterfly, submit for publication	nothing
3	WRITING	100 NC History pages	just the planning in Nov
4	WRITING	blog about 8 wild foods	none
5	WRITING	finish Dead Mule Swamp Druggist	16 chapters added
9	WRITING	do 10 book promotion things	9 ish- I lost count
7	WRITING	writing schedule day 50 times (this refers to a particular disciplined schedule)	9
8	WRITING	5 entries in Off the Sanctuary Wall	none
9	WRITING	pursue a contract I can't name yet	didn't happen- but I tried
10	WRITING	talk to 5 bookstores about carrying mysteries	none
11	HOUSE	fix kitchen drawer	DONE
12	HOUSE	cut down 5 autumn olive trees	DONE
13	HOUSE	clean refrigerator twice	DONE
14	HOUSE	replace kitchen faucet	nothing
15	HOUSE	get lawnmower fixed	DONE- you heard about most of this. I get extra points
16	HOUSE	clean terrace	DONE
17	HOUSE	kitchen light electric box	DONE
18	HOUSE	replace faucet by washing machine	nothing
19	HOUSE	put away model railroad stuff	none
20	HOUSE	spend 10 hours sorting books	3 total- only managed to make a bigger mess
21	FITNESS	increase to 30 pushups	gave up
22	FITNESS	increase to 100 jumping jacks	gave up
23	FITNESS	increase to 2 min planking	gave up
24	FITNESS	walk, bike, ski or snowshoe 200 times	no clue- over 100
25	HIKING	NCT Hike 100 Challenge for 2016	DONE
26	HIKING	visit 5 new MI counties to explore trails	none
27	HIKING	hike 100 more miles of the Buckeye Trail	DONE, 230+ actually
28	HIKING	clear my trail better	DONE
29	PERSONAL	Savings Goal	DONE
30	PERSONAL	Financial Goal #2	nothing
31	PERSONAL	lose 10 pounds	lost 8!
32	PERSONAL	play music 50 times	20 ish
33	PERSONAL	other #1 (200 times)	40 ish
34	PERSONAL	other #2 (12 times)	2
35	MISC	make 21 quarts juice	14 total
36	MISC	try 10 new wild foods	none
37	MISC	some genealogy stuff	very little- found John's obit, tried to locate Ricky
38	MISC	100 more pix on Shark Shots	lost track, maybe 20
39	MISC	2 photo cards documented	got most hike pictures listed
40	MISC	give 10 gifts from my kitchen	5 ish
41	MISC	eat at Brenda's Burgers	DONE
42	MISC	eat at Country Critters	closed, but now open under new management
43	MISC	take my trailer on 2 trips	one
44	MISC	finish monkey booties	DONE
45	MISC	get two programs NCT and Kitchen Sink	none
46	MISC	get rid of 100 things	??? 20 ish
47	MISC	read or listen to 100 books	lost track, but way over 100. Most not very meaningful
48	MISC	move NCC from Josh's garage	nothing
49	MISC	short bios of 5 relatives	none
50	MISC	sort my fabric	nothing
51	MISC	do something inside my trailer	removed some things I don't want. Finished curtains. Have design plans for rebuilding. Visited Scamp and learned a lot
52	MISC	add 50 things to family heritage list	15 ish
53	MISC	some VCR tapes to DVD	none
54	MISC	some cassette tapes to CD	none

There you have it. I probably would have done as much without the list...

	See Trail Work Day
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Who Makes This Stuff Up?

 
Have you seen the meme on Facebook that claims there is a difference in taste, number of seeds and gender between peppers with three lobes and four lobes? I knew it was nonsense, but I've been looking for one with three lobes at the store to demonstrate.



Here are the insides.



See any big difference in the number of seeds? Nope. Is there any difference in taste? Nope. Do peppers even have genders? Nope. Pepper flowers are perfect, which means they have both male and female parts, and the fruits are all identical.

In other stupid news, this was on the label of the turkey I fixed this year.



"For... premium presentation, cook stuffing and turkey separately."

Hard to have a "stuffing" presentation if it's not stuffed in the turkey, eh? As far as safety... do people not cook their turkeys long enough to get the stuffing hot? If so, the turkey would still be pretty raw. That seems real appealing. Right.

I don't think there's much wrong with my turkey presentations. (This is Thanksgiving 2013)



I'm off to work for the night in just a bit.

	See Turkey and Toys
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Thinking Inside the Box

 
Sometimes the difficulties of life, or a stressful shift at work, leave you looking for a small, warm, safe place to hunker down for a while and hide from the problems that surround you.

We know just such a place.



Of course, we did have to finish the shift with the TOTALLY OBNOXIOUS inserts. But we eventually got it done.

	See Why This Job is Good for Me
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Waffle Day!

 

I guess I post pictures every time we make waffles. But they are a special treat and when we do them, we make a big deal about it.

We were going to do them on Christmas, but we were still in a food coma from Friday and Saturday. Pretty much ditto for yesterday. We just nibbled and didn't want to fill our stomachs. But the waffles turn came today.

My Mom's recipe, of course. Perfect.





We managed to eat two each, and will warm the rest up tomorrow.

	See Waffle Birthday
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Christmas Tree- Small but Beautiful

 
This year, we had the smallest Christmas tree ever (except for a live one in a pot once). Omer's thing has always been to have a huge tree. In the old house we were able to have an 18 foot tree at the end of the living room. Those were an annual production of wrestling and wiring it into place, followed by a tree-trimming party and over 300 ornaments.

He'd still like to have as big a tree as possible, although the ceiling now limits us to 12 feet. That said, this year he got one very cheaply at about 7 feet. Works for me.

I have to say that it was very strange, though. It came bundled, so we leveled the cut on the bottom and I single-handedly carried it to the stand and plopped it in place!


Sure looked like it might be a dogbone again, even after untying and spreading.


But look what happened! Omer is great with getting the lights on just right.


I think it's one of our nicest ever.

We went to see Rogue One today. Classic Star Wars fun, and a good addition to the episodes.

In other news, Omer said the storm last night woke him up and was almost frightening. "What storm? I asked. Guess I slept well! It has remained really windy all day with major snow melting. But we are supposed to get more before the end of the week.

Tomorrow it's back to work.

	See The Dogbone Tree
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Quite a Pile of Loot

 
Nice quiet Christmas. Steve called this morning and chatted for a while.

Josh came by and brought the big fruit basket on the left.

Loretta sent the CD (Christmas music by her local Fine Arts Association), T-shirt and book (Adventurous Women- lots of good stories there).



See the stick in the back? That was my gift from the party at work. Patty drew my name and gave me this hiking stick. It has quite a story.



First of all, the wood came from the slopes of Mt. St. Helens post eruption. How cool is that? Then, Patty's husband Steve did the carving and painting to decorate it with Native American symbols.

Trust me, this will be for decoration, not hiking with!



Finally, a pretty amazing gift from Omer. The complete set of Perry Mason TV show episodes. I've watched 6 of them today! (265 to go). So well done! The series began in 1957, and although dated, clearly are quality acting and production.

	See Fun, Gifts, Blessings-2014
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Merry Christmas 2016

 

As the Eve winds down and we approach a day that is pretty crazy for many, I'll just wish you a merry and peaceful Christmas.

	See Christmas Eve- Two Styles
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Turkey and Toys

 
Christmas party at work was all the departments combined (not just the mailroom people), so we had food, food and more food. I got a picture of the finished turkey before it left my house, but it was too crazy to get pictures of the "presentation." The meal was timed to be good for the front office people, which meant that it was primarily served when we had to get the inserts in the papers and get them out the door. That's not really a complaint, it's just the way it is, and there wasn't time for pictures.



The food was awesome... turkey, ham, lots of side dishes and plenty of cookies and sweets.

After the daily paper was out the door, and before we did the "shopper," we had our department gift exchange. The people who are employed right now all work well together, and we like each other. This makes for really fun times.

For example, Beth is opening her gift which is a handmade cook book of family recipes from Michelle.



Tonight's shift will be short, but I'm already beat since I got up at 3am to do that turkey, so I'm sparing you more pictures.

	See Christmas Party at Work- 2015
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Caution- Cooking Ahead

 
Although I do a fair number of cooking posts, it's because they are sort of events. Those who know me well know that my mantra is "I've already fulfilled my lifetime quota of cooking."

That said, I can be coerced into the activity given one or more of the following:

1. I prefer my own cooking to processed foods, and most restaurant foods, so I must cook if I want to eat some things.

2. Someone is going to eat it that really appreciates it.

3. Some or all of the key ingredients were free.

So, about a month ago, our Josh walked in the door carrying a not insignificant frozen turkey. He won it! All 19 pounds of it. He doesn't even like turkey.

There's no way I'm doing that for two of us. However, there is a party at work tomorrow. Solution. Except this means I have to cook. Bragging shamelessly, I will say that my turkeys (my Mom's actually) are significantly good.

This has to be ready to eat at noon tomorrow. That means it has to go in the oven at 4 am. Hmmm. Doing the stuffing this evening.

Cooking sausage...



Chopping vegetables...



Omer made the cranberry relish.



Most to share. Some to keep back for us.



Apparently it's been 3 years since I did one of Mom's turkeys. I suppose it's time. Link to previous one below.

	See Thanksgiving 2013
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All Jammed Up for the Holidays?

 
Worked all day today.

This is what we deal with from time to time. It takes about 5 seconds for this to happen. Amazing, eh?



Nevertheless, the day went pretty well. Don't let the jam-ups get you down.

Even in a dirty, noisy, industrial environment we know how to find some Christmas spirit. When life gives you pallets, make Christmas trees.





In one more week I will have been working at the newspaper for four years. I also find that pretty amazing.

I was hoping to bring you a bit of video from the praise concert, and it could happen yet, but there are some pesky technical difficulties messing up my plans.

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Gold For the Angels

 
On the way to handbell practice I swung through the park at the beach. The lighthouse at sunset is always a favorite view. The 30 mph winds guaranteed some action from the water. I couldn't stay long enough to wait for a really big wave or better color, but this isn't bad. Even caught a bird to the left of the light.



Here's the other song the bell choir played on Sunday morning, Christmas Angels Medley. We've played at enough venues this year that it really feels like all the practice is worth something. We'll play again on Christmas eve.

	See Ludington Beach in January
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Dashing Through the Snow

 
No perfect unbroken snow at my house! The side yard was a thoroughfare. At least five (rein?)deer made their way across in the early hours.


Seems like an appropriate picture to go with Jingle Bells, as sung by the West Shore Choir, yesterday.

	See A Day Filled with Music
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