Thursday, September 30, 2010

Pictures

Here are some pictures for those of you who are going crazy! I don't have many yet though!

Proof from the beginning:


8 weeks:


37 weeks:


7 centimeters:











Wednesday, September 29, 2010

You Forget

It's only been 17 months since Brianna was this age, and yet I've already forgotten so much.
  • All the wrinkly skin
  • Hair in random places (fortunately Bri is NOT still blessed with back hair)
  • the pitiful cries
  • the magnetism when your hours-old baby opens his eyes and stares dead at you
  • they prefer contact with you over their bassinet
  • they love to move
  • deadly claws for fingernails
  • surprising burps
  • the fact that I cried already just looking at him and realizing how blessed we are
  • even if you are starving or exhausted you want them to get straightened out before you
  • I'm not that bad at one-handed typing
  • I'm getting ready to read an awful lot of books or watch lots of TV during his mealtime
  • everything else in life just became a little less significant (except for prayer!)
  • still in shock that I'm not supposed to drive a car for 1-2 weeks...
  • mittens don't stay on hands that don't stay still
  • facial expressions
  • life slows down a little bit
  • big yawns
  • gummy mouth
We were cleared to come home tonight. I am just staying up until Hunter's next feeding - 20 minutes - and then I will sleep, and hopefully he will too. So excited about this little boy. I think we will keep him.

Labor Day

Well, I figure there's no time like the present for this blog post! It's just me, Stephen and Hunter here right now, and both of the boys are asleep, so I should take this opportunity to blog. :)

In case you aren't on Facebook and haven't heard the news, Hunter Grayson is here! No pictures yet because I didn't bring the hookup for my camera. When we get home I'll definitely put some up. He weighed 7 lbs, 8 oz at birth and was 20 inches long. Chunky boy! But I'm getting ahead of myself. I need to post this all so I don't forget.

Yesterday I had my 38-week doctor's appointment. I knew they would do an exam to see if I was dilated, and although I kept telling everyone I wasn't getting my hopes up, I was really hoping I'd be at least 2 centimeters. So when the doctor said I was a "good 5 centimeters" I looked at him and said, "Stop playing with me." He said, "No, I'm dead serious. I recommend that you just head on over to the hospital." At that point my jaw dropped. I didn't have my bag packed, I didn't clean up the house, I didn't have a plan for Brianna.... agh! I called Stephen and told him that I was going to pick up Brianna from mom and dad's, go home, pack my bag, wait for him to come home and then we could head over to the hospital, because my water hadn't broken and I wasn't having any contractions that I could feel.

I got to mom and dad's and said, "Uh, we need to talk!" Time for a spontaneous plan of action! I was still in shock so I didn't even know where to begin with making life as easy as possible for them and Brianna. But while we were discussing our options, the contractions started coming. I psyched myself out thinking about the 20 minute drive home, the time I'd spend packing a bag, and then the 25 minute drive to the hospital. I told mom I thought I should just go straight to the hospital. She gave me the keys to her truck, I ditched Brianna at their house, and called Stephen to tell him I'd meet him at the hospital.

I was checked into the hospital just before 4:00. Around 4:30 they decided to go on and break my water and I was having pretty consistent, although mild, contractions. At 5:00 I decided I was ready to start walking, but by 5:20 I had to stop because the contractions were coming so close together. I was checked and was 7 centimeters at that point. I also decided at this point that I wanted a shot of Nubain for the pain. I gave Hunter a pep talk at that point. Nubain lasts about 2 hours, so he either needed to come before 7:30 or long enough after that I could have another dose of medication before he made his appearance!

He wisely listened to his mother. At 6:45 I told the nurse I needed to use the bathroom. The doctor checked me and said, "Yeah, that's the baby pushing down, not you needing to use the bathroom!" They asked if I thought I could wait a few minutes to push because the shifts were about to change. I answered yes. Until about two minutes later. I told the nurse, "I'm pretty sure I can't wait any longer!"

I started pushing around 6:55 and Hunter Grayson was born at 7:01pm. I had double the nurses because of shift change! They were great, the doctor was great, Stephen was great, Hunter was great. We all made a great team!

So far he has been really laidback. Leila drove down from GA to stay with Brianna and they came by this morning. Bri said, "Baby? Baby?" and patted him. She smiled at him, kissed his hand, and gave him the teddy bear from the hospital. We'll see how she reacts when they are at home together!! It's been really nice just to sit with him today cuddling. Anyone who knows Brianna knows she does NOT sit still for long, certainly not to cuddle. I definitely do miss that even though she is so much fun now.

We're ready to go home but have to stay until he's 24 hours old so hopefully we will make it out of here this evening! Praise God for an easy delivery! I was really sore on my thighs where I held them while I was pushing but now that soreness has gone away and I truly feel about 98% normal. Hopefully we will ease into a pattern at home successfully. We are all very excited about this new little boy. :)

And now we're ready for my nephew Evan to make an appearance :)

Monday, September 27, 2010

Reaction

I read another blog called Stuff Christians Like, which is usually a humorous take on things church-related, such as how to tell if an American Idol contestant is a Christian. But he wrote a great post about church scandals and I wanted to share it with you. If you want to read the actual post, it's here. If you just want the highlights...

Here are the ways we Christians can react to scandals.

1. Remember it’s better to seed conversations for ideas than it is to chum the waters for sharks. Your words can change the way conversations go. Talk about things in a negative way, and sharks will come to join in the bloodfest. Be compassionate, and that kind of conversation will bloom. Try to create ideas with your words, don't chum the waters.

2. Attack the issue, not the individual. It's fine to attack the issues that come out during a scandal. Not okay to attack the person accused. When you fight an issue, you create a space for real change to occur. When you attack the person you add wounds to someone who is already beaten down by the consequences of their actions.

3. Don't gossip. When we get caught in lies we come up with crazy stories to explain our actions, i.e. Aaron telling Moses that he just tossed gold into a fire and a golden calf magically came out. So when we hear the crazy stories that people tell when they're first caught in a scandal it's tempting to gossip about them. Don't. The gossip will make the scandal and the hurt spread.

4. Live your life on purpose. People involved in a scandal never woke up and thought, "I think I'll wreck my life today!" Save the energy we use judging people who have fallen and invest that energy working on our own lives and faith.

5. Pray. We've got to pray for our leaders. We've got to pray for victims of scandals. If the allegations are true of a victim, they have been horribly abused in some way. If the allegations are false, their life is so miserable they'd attempt something like a fake scandal.

Anytime you have humans and power involved, you’ve got the potential to really mess things up. Scandals are going to happen. Incidences in the church are going to happen. I think this is great advice even if the issue that arises isn't technically a "scandal". We all need a reminder at times that we all sin. Unfortunately some sins are a bit more obvious than others or are made public. Just something to think about.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Old School

That title is literal. This post is about some "old school" stuff but it really is about old school stuff. Tracey is always putting up old pictures on Facebook (I went through that phase too when I got my new scanner!) and so when I came across my old English notebook in the attic today I wanted to post this story. This was 1992 so I was 11 years old at the time. Please note I am not changing any grammatical or spelling errors. Also, I really liked to italicize. The prompt? Write a story persuading your parents to let you be the first student on the moon....

I wrote this as a play.

Setting: Running very fast home from school.

Amanda: (running in) Mom! Guess what?
Mom: (sighing) What now?
Amanda: You know all those... lies about me going to the moon?
Mom: Oh yeah. Now I bet you're really going to the moon! Ha!
Amanda: How did you guess?
Mom: Yeah, right!
Amanda: But, but, but... it's TRUE!
Mom: Ken, can you call the doctor?
Dad: Yes, dear!
Amanda: But, but...
Mom: Now go on to bed. Get a good nap. I'm sure the doctor will be here in a few minutes.
Amanda: Mooooooooom!
(Later)
Dad: Dear, what is the matter with her?
Mom: (sighing) Oh, she thinks she's going to the moon.
Dad: What is wrong with that? We'd get rid of her wouldn't we?
Mom: (slapping dad) How can you say that?
Dad: How can you slap that hard? Ow!
Mom: Oh, sorry.
Dad: Yeah, right!

Well, it ended Amanda got to go because, "But Mom, everyone's going!" So she went, and came back, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Except Jennifer.

Jennifer: Mom! This is the first line I've had in the play!
Mom: That's your problem dear.

THE END


My notes on this story from the teacher were: Very well written, Very creative ideas, and Neat! Also, let me just point out the fact that at this stage in life Jennifer was spelling her name "Jenifer" (I'll let her discuss that if she feels so led) and I spelled it that way in the story. I got a red mark through each instance I spelled her name "incorrectly". Isn't that funny??

Thursday, September 23, 2010

This happens all day long around here, but she always stops when I get out the camera! So you get a whole six seconds of fun here. :)


Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Book Review: How to Reach Your Full Potential for God

How to Reach Your Full Potential for God by Charles Stanley was an incredibly insightful book that I am keeping on my bookshelf to read again and again. In this book, Stanley hits on so many points that are keeping us from being our best spiritually. The main points are how to be healthy in our bodies, relationships and schedules, and how that will help boost our spiritual and mental health. There were many points that made me stop and think about my life and what may be holding me back from reaching my full potential for God. Two of the things that hit most close to home for me were having a healthy body and having a balanced schedule. I believe having a healthy body physically is separated many times from our thoughts in relation to God, and after reading this book I realize how vital it is to be physically healthy. Having a balanced schedule is something I always struggle with, but after reading this book I have more ideas of how to balance my schedule to really make the best of my time.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. Stanley writes in a way that is very easy for anyone to understand his points and he is very straightforward in what he believes.

Disclosure: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. All opinions expressed are my own.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Catching Up

Now's the time I have to remember everything that happened this week and catch up on all of it! Hah. That's not gonna happen! But I will try to remember the highlights.

Monday morning was Brianna's first day at Mom's Morning Out. It runs for ten weeks so will give me a short break from her for a few hours on Mondays which I thought would particularly come in handy after Hunter gets here. At this MMO, each mom is asked to volunteer one morning. I asked the woman in charge if I could volunteer the first day so that I can get it out of the way and not have to worry about scheduling a day after Hunter's born that really doesn't work for me. She was really excited - said that no one ever wants to work the first day. It turned out to be a dream for me because only six kids showed up (I think there will normally be ten there). The time actually went by really quickly. Bri seemed to adapt really quickly, playing by herself and throwing herself at Kathryn (the woman in charge) every time she brought out Froot Loops or Goldfish. That poor woman has no clue what she's dealing with. Bri can eat a package of Goldfish in two days if we let her have them every time she wants them. No joke. Anyway, she got her first experience on an indoor slide which was the most exciting thing. She just climbed right up the little rock wall and slid right down, although sometimes she did pause to do a little dance at the top if music was playing. I seriously think she could have done that all day long. She was a little slower than the other kids - she's the youngest except for one other - so a few times she did get shoved to the side so another child could slide. One little girl was pretty aggressive with the other children, so Brianna did spend some time in tears, but I'm sure as the weeks go on it will get better. And some things happen between kids, and I really believe they just don't understand that what they're doing is something the other kid won't like. If that sentence makes sense. For example, Brianna would walk in the play house, leaving the door open behind her, and another little boy would come over and slam the door. That kept upsetting her for some reason. So we just tried to watch to make sure he didn't keep slamming it, we tried to explain that it's okay to leave the door open!! He didn't understand why he couldn't close it and Bri didn't understand why he wouldn't leave it open. That's the problem with kids this age... they don't understand enough English!! Joking!

My 36-week doctor's appointment was Wednesday and it was very uneventful as usual, except they were running late already and it was only 9:00am. That led me to believe the rest of their day was not going to get any better. Now I will go to the doctor every week until Hunter comes. With Brianna, I was checked for progression at 37 weeks, but the doctor I saw Wednesday told me they wouldn't check me until 38 weeks because of the risk of infection. Who knows? I see a different doctor every time so I guess it will just depend on who I see.

Last night Jenn, Matt and Claire begged us to let Bri stay over while we had a date night. Actually, they wanted her to spend the night but I was afraid Bri would be a drama queen and keep Claire up all night. Turns out I shouldn't have worried about that - Claire was in bed around 7:00 they said! We went to Olive Garden and then Harris Teeter to do a Super Doubles trip. I know, Stephen is such a great husband! Anyway, they said she was great, so hopefully that is true. Anywhere that has toys and books is pretty much paradise for her. Plus Claire has this awesome ball pit so it doesn't get much cooler than that. Thank you Kirbys for allowing us a few quiet hours!

As we sat in Olive Garden next to a little girl in her high chair screaming her head off:
Stephen: That's not MY kid!
Me: For once.
(pause)
Me: Actually, that probably is your kid right now, we just can't hear her.
Stephen: Then that's not MY problem!

Alright, let me get some of these pictures off my camera.

Bri's latest thing - she wants to put everyone's shoes on, or if she already has shoes on she will put them on you. Or over her shoes. She can also put her own shoes on correctly about 20% of the time, so that's fun to watch!


Don't call Social Services, she WANTED to sweep!! Who am I to stop her??







One night we were all sitting around snacking on popcorn. While we ate, Stephen was reading a book to Bri and doing animal noises. When he got to the deer, I teased him by saying, "And what does a deer say, daddy??" I should have known better. He just got up, went to his hunting gear, and brought back a deer call. Needless to say Brianna spent much of the rest of the night blowing on this thing!! I had to post both videos because they're both cute in different ways. Of course I am her mom so I think that!






One of my baby shower gifts for Hunter was a blanket. But when Brianna saw it, she grabbed it up! Then she just wanted to cuddle. She loved that blanket!


Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Life

There's so much I haven't blogged about lately... and I know I can't remember everything, so I'll just go with what I know!

The main thing is that on September 3, not only did my brilliant sister celebrate a birthday, but Stephen and I also celebrated five years of marriage. I know five years is just a drop in the bucket but we have had a blast these past five years! I can't wait to see what the future holds for us because every year gets better!!

This is a picture of Stephen and me in high school when we first started dating. I know, you are jealous of my tie-dye shirt and our hemp necklaces.


And this is at our wedding... smooching away!!


For our anniversary, Leila, Corky and Jennifer drove up to keep Brianna so Stephen and I could go on a retreat. It was sort of tough picking a location two hours away to visit (at this point in pregnancy I could only go roughly two hours from the hospital) but we ended up deciding on Lake Norman which is very close to Charlotte, Concord, etc. Lots to do around there. They came in Friday evening and we left Saturday morning, as soon as I could drag Stephen away from Brianna. That's not even a joke.

We got there around lunchtime and ate at a great local pizzeria, Taste of Brooklyn. After lunch we drove around town just to see if there were any places we wanted to stop at (not a thrift store in sight!!) but we finally just headed over to the hotel to see if we could check in early. We could, and by the time we made it up to the room and unpacked some of our things, to be honest, we were pretty tired! We decided to take a 30-minute nap, which turned into 1 1/2 hours. Oops. So much for 10-minute snoozing. We then trekked down to the business center so we could start Googling the places we wanted to visit. There were several places we wanted to go and we knew we'd only have time for one on this trip. After looking up about six different places we wanted to visit, we realized everything was closing at 5:00 because of it being Saturday. At this point it was already almost 4:30, so....

We decided at that point to hit a local nature preserve since they don't shut the gates until sunset. One that sounded really nice was Ribbonwalk and it was only 20 minutes or so away. So, we set off to find this park. The first clue that something was up is that our directions started taking us through this neighborhood. I mean, just houses and subdivisions. But there were other signs. The sign for the park wasn't very clearly marked. No other cars were there except one truck backed far into the woods. (I could hear Dueling Banjos almost.) No updated brochures, trail maps, trail markings, etc. But we decided to venture out and see what this park had to hold. We started down one trail, choosing it because it was furthest from the suspicious truck and the only one that wasn't overgrown. It quickly led us to a pond which was so nasty I honestly expected to see dead fish floating at the top. We turned down another trail that had poison ivy clearly marked with signs (thank goodness for that, at least) but the further we walked the more uneasy we felt. Finally Stephen said, "I really don't even want to leave the car unattended here!" Everything was overgrown and I'm not sure exactly how long this park had been out of commission, but I was ready to throw in the towel as well. I was so disappointed because I felt like everything we had an idea to do was falling apart!!

We decided to just hit the mall and stop in places on the way that we thought would be interesting, if we saw anything. I was still disappointed because who wants to spend their vacation at the mall? But there really wasn't anything else open late. Fortunately for us, we made one bad decision on which direction we were supposed to go to get to the mall! We stopped to get gas and it turned out we were supposed to be going the opposite direction. After we turned around we saw a sign for another nature preserve. I hesitated to go in because of our last experience but Stephen insisted. This was Reedy something nature preserve. Well, as soon as we drove in we could see this was what a nature preserve is supposed to be like!! It had about 8 or 10 different parking lots all leading to different trails, picnic areas, playgrounds, basketball courts, etc! It even had a huge museum (which of course was closed) with exhibits, nature sessions, and lots of other things. They had this great playground built under the trees and had this as the entrance:


The more we walked closer to the trails the more excited I got. "THIS is what a park is supposed to look like!", I exclaimed to Stephen. The parking lot we parked in went to these two trails:


which in turn forked off to lots of other trails. We first went to the Dragonfly Pond:



which was just under a mile, and then turned around and did the Umbrella Tree Trail. After one mile we turned around and headed back to the parking lot because we didn't know how much further it was and my stomach was telling me to chill out on the hiking! There was a lot of uphill climbing and the Braxton Hicks were just a-comin'! But it was so worth it to be out there. It was under 80 degrees, breeze, shaded, we could take our time, it was just beautiful. It made me so excited to get Brianna and Hunter out to Morrow Mountain to do some hiking and picnicking! Isn't it funny how when you have kids you spend half your time trying to stop them from growing up and the other half wishing they'd grow up so you can do more things with them??

By this time it was getting dark so we decided to head over to the mall and get a cookie and a pretzel (a tradition!). When we got there the AMC theater was right next to the mall so Stephen persuaded me to check out the movies that were playing and the times. You gotta understand - we hadn't been to the movies in about four years. Not only is it a joke how expensive they are, but then you gotta possibly deal with the kid sitting beside you, or the guy next to you answering his cell phone, people walking around, commentating on the movie... But Stephen looked like a little kid as we were looking up to see what was playing. Then he locked on The Expendables. The action movie of all action movies. As he checked the clock he frowned and said, "I guess we're not going to get to see anything after all." It was right at 7:30 and all the movies were starting either right then or three hours later. He looked so disappointed I convinced him we could see it - after all, they show tons of previews before movies so it wouldn't actually have started yet. He was so excited! But then we both practically gagged when we realized movie tickets were $10!!! TEN DOLLARS!?!? Is it that expensive everywhere? Holy cow! Of course we had to get a snack, so we got a "deal" which was bottomless popcorn and a bottomless drink... of course who can eat more than one of each?? That was another $12!!! Good grief. I tried to stay calm since this was a vacation and I knew Stephen was about to bust. After the movie he went on and on and on about how great the movie was, how loud it was (yes, that was one of the things I didn't like!), how BIG the screen was, etc etc. So I'm glad we went.

It was only 9:30 or so when we got out so we both assumed we could still go to the mall and walk around a bit. Wrong. Did you know most malls close at 9:00... even on Fridays? This just shows how often we get out of the house. So our options were pretty limited at this point. We decided just to grab something light to eat and head back to the hotel. After all, we had a whirlpool in our room, books, wireless Internet, and yes I brought coupons to clip.

The complimentary breakfast in the morning was delicious. If you ever have the opportunity to stay at a Country Inn & Suites, DO IT!! I am addicted to this chain of hotels. The breakfast was a huge variety of hot and cold foods - waffles, fixings for omelets, hashbrowns, eggs, bacon, cereal, yogurt, fresh fruit, granola bars, bagles, biscuits and gravy.... I can't even remember everything! I always eat way too much at a complimentary breakfast. As it should be! After breakfast I could tell Stephen was itching to get home, mainly because he told me he was ready to go home. We went back to the room and packed all of our things and we were home around lunchtime.

All in all it was nice being away. I definitely didn't miss Brianna as much as Stephen did (what?? I am just being honest!!) but nothing was really open on the weekend and there were no thrift stores to be had, so there wasn't much for us to do. I did love the park though!! And the hotel! I could have stayed another night but Stephen said he doesn't get to spend enough time with us as it is and he wanted to get home. I understand that. We are irresistible.

It has taken me almost twelve hours to write this post so I'm going to end it here and write more later about everything else I was going to write about!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Brianna's Hearty Laugh

Brianna has a very hearty, adult laugh at times. She does it randomly but she will keep doing it as long as you keep doing it back or until she gets distracted by something else. So excuse the loud laughter from me on these videos (I am so loud!) but she tickles me. One of the videos shows another favorite thing of hers to do - walk backwards! I do wish these videos were longer so you could get the full effect but they'll have to do.





Thursday, September 2, 2010

Picture Update

When Daddy gets home from work, he doesn't waste any time getting kisses from Bri!!


One of Bri's favorite toys...



When she's in shock or amazed she will gasp and cover her mouth like this:


Thanks to Grandpa's introduction of hand puppets she sticks her hand in everything now! Fortunately you can make almost anything a hand puppet!!



Fashion statement. Yes she put on Stephen's belt all by herself.


Sometimes one paci just isn't enough.




Wednesday, September 1, 2010

August Goals

As listed here, I created goals for August that I wanted to accomplish. Let's see how I did...
  • $100 grocery budget - CHECK!
  • 6 new recipes - CHECK!
  • 5 books read and out of the house - CHECK!
  • $10 sold on eBay - CHECK!
  • organize 500 coupons - CHECK!
  • make X amount of money - CHECK!
  • organize sock drawer - CHECK!
Yay! I reached every goal this month!

The sock drawer was out of control. I had random things in there, tons of single socks, and lots of socks I never wear because they're uncomfortable. It was time to declutter!!


So here's the gist of what was in my drawer:
  • 49 - pairs of socks kept
  • 6 - singles of socks tossed
  • 10 - pairs of socks sold at the yard sale
  • other miscellaneous items of interest - a pocketknife, 5 candles, swimming goggles, UFC tickets, an Ipod case, one tampon, a key (to what, I don't know), 7 CDs, earrings, a carabiner, candle holders, and an Atkins diet sample pack
Don't ask me how all these stuff made it in my sock drawer of all places, but now the drawer is Socks Only!!

Here are my goals for the month of September (mostly the same as every other month):
  • $100 grocery budget
  • 4 new recipes (not sure how much I may feel like cooking towards the end of the month)
  • 5 books read and gone from the house
  • $10 worth of items sold on eBay
  • make X amount of money to go towards our savings
  • organize 500 coupons
  • clean out my underwear drawer
  • hang all of Hunter's NB to 3 month clothes
  • box up all of Brianna's clothes from NB to 6 month (and any 6-9 she has outgrown)
  • box up both kids' clothes that are way too old for them (2T, 3T, etc.)
I think that'll be enough for one month's time. We'll see how it goes! Anyone else doing some goal-setting this month??

101 in 1001 - Complete!(ish)

Well, since August 31, 2010 has come and gone that means my 101 in 1001 journey is officially over. It's so weird to think that I started doing these things in December of 2007. I had no clue where I would be by this time; I think 2010 sounded so far off I never thought the 3 years would be up!

Here are the items I completed in 1001 days:
1. Buy a Wii February 12, 2008
2. Buy a dining room set June 10, 2008
3. Buy lamps for the living room December 15, 2007
4. Buy the movie Love Actually April 27, 2008
5. Buy a really cheap and "fauxbulous" silver ring to match my silver jewelry instead of wearing my gold wedding ring July 4, 2008
6. Buy one lottery ticket December 28, 2007
7. Buy/get some sort of exercise machine December 15, 2007
8. Buy a pair of close-toed shoes for work December 31, 2007
9. Go to at least 2 concerts June 14, 2008
10. Go to any hockey game, even if it has to be the Fire Antz February 23, 2008
11. Go the the First Friday event in Southern Pines December 7, 2007
13. Visit Boone again January 3-5, 2008
14. Go to another Monster Truck rally January 26, 2008
16. Find a drive-in movie theater and go to it. November 15, 2008
18. Go back to Pennsylvania July 2, 2008
19. Go to a SunEvent at Sunrise Theater July 10, 2008
21. Find something to do here that I miss from Boone and always forget we have (poetry reading, lectures, play, art show, live entertainment while eating, karaoke) March 2009
23. Read the Dark Tower series August 9, 2010
24. finish my crossword book, word search book, and Sudoko book that I’ve had for YEARS now July 19, 2008
25. watch all 10 seasons of Friends April 25, 2008
26. Finish reading my Bible for the 2nd time August 30, 2010
27. read 3 banned books (3/3) February 3, 2008
28. Watch the Lord of the Rings series and actually give it a chance May 31, 2010
29. Watch 5 movies of Ebert's Must See list. January 8, 2008
30. Finish all the books that are in two paper bags in our closet. January 31, 2009
31. Host a movie marathon. March 14, 2009
32. watch 100 movies on my Must See list March 28, 2009
35. Make yeast rolls that are fluffy and edible
36. Organize my pots and pans in the kitchen January 28, 2008
37. Finally make crème brulee May 15, 2009
38. cook 50 new recipes (50/50) March 12, 2009
39. make homemade spaghetti sauce May 30, 2010
45. make a pocketbook January 8, 2008
47. Mail a secret to PostSecret June 19, 2008
50. Start talking about children August 17, 2008
52. See Rachel January 4, 2008
53. Spend a weekend with Nenah and Papa June 5, 2009
54. Spend a Saturday at a local vineyard September 6, 2009
55. Get rid of all songs on my iPod that I don’t use or even realize they are on there until my youth group members are looking through and going, “What is THAT!?” August 11, 2008)
56. Make a final decision on if I will ever get a tattoo or not.
57. Say no to something I would normally say yes to but feel burdened. May 10, 2008
58. Find a part time job May 20, 2008
60. Win a contest (I realize this is totally luck, but surely…) December 28, 2007 (lottery tickets!)
61. Beat Guitar Hero (on easy, medium, and hard!) December 27, 2007
63. DON’T be last place in the March Madness pool. March 2008
64. get my bike back into riding condition January 9, 2008
66. Do something with friends or family at least twice a month (preferably game nights!)
67. Get waxed with Jenn, for no reason whatsoever December 22, 2007
68. get up to level 42 on FreeRice January 21, 2008
69. become CPR certified March 1, 2008
71. really understand the 2008 election and vote November 4, 2008
72. get a library card January 23, 2008
73. Take my old cell phones to be donated December 7, 2007
74. Make a final decision on if I want to get my Masters or not.
March 1, 2008
75. Invite one family from our neighborhood to church January 2009
78. Memorize 20 different scriptures (20/20) June 4, 2008
79. Learn enough hymns on the piano that I could play at church
80. Dye hair – MYSELF – do not pay anyone to do it! August 15, 2008
81. Savings account up to X amount March 13, 2009
82. Have my eyes examined February 29, 2008
85. Go through all my stuff at mom and dad’s
87. try to say “yes” instead of “yeah”
88. sing with Stephen at church May 25, 2008
89. get some sort of indoor pet June 20, 2010
90. go one full day without looking in the mirror May 24, 2008
91. cancel my Verizon account January 28, 2008
92. sell all yard sale stuff March 2009
93. figure out how to look 25 instead of 16
94. finish all the herbal tea I have – don’t buy ANYMORE except Echinacea and throat coat June 20, 2008
95. Bring my violin and clarinet to my house
99. watch a meteor shower November 15, 2008
100. complete at least 70 things on this list
101. Donate a dollar to charity for each unfinished task at the end of the 1001 days.

As for the ones I did not complete??
  • 12. Go to See You At The Pole with my youth group members - for some reason, the first year I offered this, none of the kids had ever even heard of SYATP and when they found out they had to be at school an hour early, well, forget it. The next year our church had started a school of their own and the majority of our youth group started going there, so I knew this one would not be accomplished.
  • 15. Go back to Las Vegas - after I got pregnant with Brianna, I kind of figured this one wasn't going to happen. Plus, Stephen said if you don't drink or gamble Las Vegas just isn't as much fun. I did remind him that both the other times we've been there we were under 21 so couldn't do either... but I loved the shows and city anyway! We do want to go back someday to see a few groups that perform out there. Just don't know when it will happen.
  • 17. Go to the Georgia Aquarium - we could have easily done this but when it first opened it was so doggone crowded! Now it's just doggone expensive. We'll probably put this off until we have at least one child old enough to enjoy it with us.
  • 20. Go to a comedy club, or see a stand-up comedian live - I really thought I'd get to do this one, especially after finding out that a couple of lady friends - Tracey and Cheryl - both do a Christian comedy/inspirational act! Every time they were in town I was out of town though! We have a few comedy clubs within driving distance but the acts were always rated R and we just couldn't see paying to see someone we probably wouldn't even think was funny.
  • 22. Visit another country (not in North America) - Oh yeah, I knew this was a long shot. Especially, again, after getting pregnant.
  • 33. Cook a ham - This is something I'd still like to do but Stephen is really picky about the way he likes his ham. I didn't want to waste the money on something so huge if he wouldn't help me eat it.
  • 34. Eat out at the Melting Pot - I made this a goal and then I saw the prices at Melting Pot. Enough said.
  • 40. find one cheesecake recipe I love; get rid of ALL OTHERS!! - There are way too many cheesecake recipes available. This was a silly goal.
  • 41. Make back-ups of all my pictures that are online - Well, I have done this, technically, but as I keep adding pictures online that means I will always have some that don't have back-ups! Maybe I should have counted this one, I don't know.
  • 42. Finish our photo collage - We decided shortly after making this goal not to do this anymore.
  • 43. Make more jewelry - Never had the time.
  • 44. sell one of my “Todd” pictures - Renee kindly offered to buy one of these, and I had someone else entertain the thought of buying one but it just never happened. I wasn't as pushy as I could have been probably.
  • 46. sell at least one crafty thing I make - In order to complete this goal I would have actually had to make something crafty. Never got around to it.
  • 48. Donate plasma - Turns out that I probably shouldn't donate plasma. I can barely donate blood.
  • 49. Get in the habit of working out - This just never happened. I am determined to get in the habit of working out after Hunter is born though!!
  • 51. Be responsible for one person getting saved - I realized quickly that this was also a silly goal. It is much more appropriate to live your life as a testimony, planting "seeds" in other people, even if you never know if you are the one who leads them to salvation. A weakness of mine is always wanting to see end results, but sometimes you just have to keep plugging away and we will find out those results in heaven!
  • 59. Get a passport - I really didn't need one and they're quite expensive so I'm putting this on hold.
  • 62. Beat Dance Dance - Turns out Dance Dance (a video game) doesn't have an option to be beaten...
  • 65. Bike somewhere I would normally drive to - Turns out Moore County is much less biker-friendly than I imagined!! The places I could have biked to didn't have anywhere to lock the bike up, and everywhere else was along the highway. Not cool, MoCo.
  • 70. Quit hitting the snooze button - Turns out that the days I actually use an alarm (once every couple of months), I actually like hitting the snooze button. I love that extra five minutes.
  • 76. Improve my golf game - Not sure if this happened or not. We were gung-ho about golf at the time and didn't really play in the next two "seasons". I have nothing to compare to.
  • 77. Quit complaining - I think I have at least cut down on my complaining, but I really was hoping to not complain AT ALL. Wouldn't that be nice???
  • 83. Do something with Habitat for Humanity - Stephen says I should cross this one off but I feel like I can't. By the time I finally got involved with them I was too far along in pregnancy to do too much outside labor in the heat of summer or be cooped up in a room painting or putting in installation. I got our youth group involved in volunteering but I never actually did any work, so I didn't cross it off.
  • 84. Walk the dogs at Moore Humane Society - After I had Bri, I was scared to do this because I didn't know how many dogs they would give me to walk and if I could walk her in the stroller at the same time. I should have called but I never did.
  • 86. play bocce ball in our back yard - We talked about this A LOT - our neighborhood actually had a bocce ball tournament a few weeks ago but we were out of town - just never got around to it. I'd still like to do this.
  • 96. don’t raise my voice - I wish I could cross this one off! I HATE it when I raise my voice to someone. It makes me feel rude and out of control. I must say I can only think of two or three times I have done it... I was pregnant both times - does that count for anything??
  • 97. beat my time riding the mechanical bull (9 seconds) - The chances I had to ride the mechanical bull were lost because I was pregnant.
  • 98. learn sign language again - This is a nice idea but until I have a lot of motivation I'm never going to be fluent in sign language. We do motions and some sign language with Bri but not enough to cross this off the list.
I completed 73 things, which means I am donating $28 to a charity of choice. I had in mind World Vision when I started but we already donate to them every month so I think I might donate to Air 1, one of our favorite radio stations.

And unlike some people, I am kind of sad this is over. :) I will most likely do another list when I have time to sit down and think about what I want to put on it for sure.