52 in 2010 Quarterly Update

Well, my second quarter post did not happen, but that has given me the chance to look like I'm accomplishing more. I've resigned myself to the fact that I won't get everything on my list done, but the list has been so helpful in motivating me to get things done.

July threw a wrench in my baking plans, but I've mentally made a new list of my priority items that I want to make, so stayed tuned for more updates. Before leaving for England, I was able to harvest many of my tomatoes and canned a few quarts of tomato sauce. I'm very interested in learning more about canning, so I'm excited for next year's garden. Here is the latest treat to come out of my kitchen.


I'm quite surprised by the progress on one of my items...I pretty much wrote the "Read 5 books" thinking that I would not even come close to accomplishing this. As much as I want to read, I get frustrated at how slow I am...my reading comprehension has always been bad and I find myself rereading paragraphs over and over because I get distracted somewhere in the middle and don't really read the words. However, in England I started reading a book that I purchased on a whim over a year ago. I really got into it and finished reading it while waiting for my flight home. The first day I was home I rushed to the bookstore to buy more books by the author.

The first three books I read are by Kate Jacobs. I found The Friday Night Knitting Club while perusing the books at Costco over a year ago and threw it in my suitcase just in case I was bored while Steve was playing on his laptop in the evenings. I didn't start reading until the last 3 days in London, but once I started, I couldn't stop. The characters developed quickly and I was very attached. There was definitely a twist in the plot that I was NOT expecting and I must have looked like a nut case in the London airport (don't want to explain why, it might give something away). The second book, Knit Too, picks up with the characters five years later and continues the stories of the women of the Friday Night Knitting Club.


The third book, Comfort Food, is a completely different book with new characters, but I just had to read it since it had something to do with food. I enjoyed this one as well, maybe not as much as the other two since it seems a little forced, but that didn't determine me from flying through it.


The fourth book I read was Eat, Pray, Love. By now, most people have at least heard of the movie. I have yet to see the movie but I did enjoy the book very much. It was very interesting learning about her experiences with religions I'm not familiar with and it was eye-opening and intriguing and definitely made me think. I've heard mixed reviews about the movie, but I'm very curious how they adapted the book for mainstream America, so I'm hoping to see it as soon as possible.

Since Steve returned from England, we've been working on the house quite a bit. We got the broken window fixed and have made serious progress in decorating my craft room. Steve and I spent one weekend making some floating shelves and I'm trying to decide paint colors for them now. Last weekend, we took the opportunity to prime the shelves and I spray-painted some paper storage that was black and just wouldn't work in the new room. I'm going with a yellow and blue scheme and we have purchased the paint, but of course now I'm having second thoughts as I'm concerned how we will coordinate the rest of the basement. I'm hoping to have pictures of the progress soon, as I think I'm going to take a leap and start painting this weekend.

So, that's a pretty good summary of the last couple of months. I did sign up for a second craft fair in October, so I better finish this craft room soon, as I have a lot of Christmas cards to make. I realize that this is a craft blog and I haven't been crafting very much, but I'm hoping that I can start to produce a few items this weekend.

So, on to the list.

A key to understand my progress:

Strike through = completed
Blue = partially completed
Italics = in progress
Normal = not started
Red = didn't complete

For me
1. Make a list of 52 desserts to make and blog about in 2010. Attempt to bake/blog once a week. (8/52)

Mint Chocolate Truffle Tart Grand Marnier Souffle Beignets Citrus Chiffon Pie Crepes Caramels Strawberry Tart with Orange Cream Butter Pecan Ice Cream Olive Oil Gelato with Balsamic Strawberries Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Sugar Plum Candies Cheesecake with Stout Sauce Pecan Pumpkin Butter Triffle Raspberry Rose Vanilla Cream Cake Choux with Grand Marnier Mousseline Marshmallows Raspberry Mousse Tartelettes

Apple Cider Pound Cake Peach Creme Caramel Lemon Crumb Cake Tea Glazed Biscuit Cookies Lemon Cream Cookies Lemon Pistachio Shortbread Rice Pudding Poached Pears Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes French Silk Pie Macaroons Chai Bread Plum tart Madelines Vanilla Zabaglione Peanut Chocolate Tart Chocolate Souffle Gooey Butter Cake

Bananas Foster Cakes Lemon Basil Lemon Tartlettes Strawberry Thyme Shortbread Citrus & White Tea Jelly Pistachio & Vanilla Bean Cheesecakes Yogurt & Brown Sugar Cake Pate de Fruit Rhubarb Cheese Bars Roasted Apples & Vanilla Bean Souffle Pomegranate White Tea & Honey Ginger Yogurt Verrines Cinnamon Caramel Mousse Roasted Glazed Peaches Vanilla Brown Butter & Almond Cake w/custard filling Panna cotta Pot de creme Spiced Plum Compote w/Plum Pit Cream Bread Pudding

2. Organize and maintain tags in Google Reader and Delicious.
3. Plant a garden.
4. Make and can tomato sauce (hopefully with tomatoes from my garden) .
5. Lose 20 pounds. - I'm actually about half way there. England was very good to my waist line as we did a lot of walking and I've managed to keep all of it off. I'm hoping as the weather cools a bit more, I'll be more motivated to go for walks with Steve.
6. Walk 2 times per week. (1/52)
7. Lift weights 1 time per week.
8. Start an etsy shop.
9. Sign up for at least one craft fair.
10. Participate in a Photography Project365. (0/365)
11. Get a new hair style/cut.
12. Rent 10 movies you've wanted to see.
13. Complete name changing process - Steve and I decided to refinance so this is helping me get in gear. This is helping me change the name on the deed which I was way to lazy to do before.
14. Get new passport with new last name.
15. Make and start using reusable shopping bags everywhere, not just grocery shopping.
16. Read 5 books. (4/5)
The Friday Night Knitting Club (Kate Jacobs),
Knit Too (Kate Jacobs),
Comfort Food (Kate Jacobs),
Eat, Pray, Love (Elizabeth Gilbert)
17. Take a crocheting/knitting class.
18. Make Ireland scrapbook.
19. Finish decorating my craft room. - This is what I've been doing a lot of since Steve returned from England. I've picked the new paint colors and Steve and I have been spending our weekends building some floating shelves. Labor Day weekend was very productive and we'll be slowly working on painting over the next week or two because of needing to phase all my craft supplies.

For Steve and me
20. Complete Tshirt quilt for Steve.
21. Go to 5 new non-chain restaurants.
22. Go see 5 movies in the theater.
Valentine's Day
23. Go camping.
24. Go to a Capitals hockey game.
25. Go to a DC United soccer game.
26. Take a long weekend vacation.
27. Take a picture of Steve and myself (and the kitties) once a month.
28. Save 3 months of expenses.
29. Schedule a financial planning consultation.

For the house
30. Clean out front hall closet.
31. Sew couch covers.
32. Make picture collage for stairwell.
33. Buy/make new curtains for living room.
34. Purchase and hang new blinds for the dinning room.
35. Purchase/make new curtains for dining room and kitchen.
36. Design/build/assemble closet organization system for master bedroom.
37. Repaint master bathroom.
38. Paint/decorate guest bedroom.
39. Repaint and change hardware on front door.
40. Hang Christmas lights.
41. Schedule and set up a yard sale.
42. Get broken window fixed.
43. Install new thermostat.
44. Fix leak in front door.
45. Purchase nut for yellow vacuum.
46. Purchase case for and organize misc screws, nuts, etc.
47. Set up coupon organization system.

For others
48. Complete Tshirt quilt for Lauren.
49. Host a holiday party.
50. Host a cookout/dinner party.
51. Send random cards to 5 people.
52. Send a birthday card to everyone on my birthday calender.