Monday, January 14, 2008

Number 100

Today is my blog's centennial!

Now that is out of the way, I will tell you about the marvelous date that Plantboy took me on Friday afternoon. Tickets to this were in my stocking on Christmas. He had even secured the babysitter like a month in advance. We went to lunch at a fabulous little Greek place and a used book shop before the show. This is not normally Plantboy's kind of thing, but I can hardly thing of a better way to spend 5 childless hours.

The show was really excellent; I especially loved the Riverdance, flamenco, Russian ballet and men's tap numbers. I was not crazy about the women's ballet numbers. The Riverdance girls had a quite a variety of body type, but none of them really had that long, lean, ballet-dancer look. The result was really athletic ballet dancing rather than the more graceful pointe dancing that I love so much. As wonderful as the music was, sometimes I felt like it was distracting to the tapping. The completely "a cappella" numbers were my favorite as the dancer's feet pounded in perfect, relentless unison in a way that vibrated the whole hall. So great.

The trade off was that he ended up working for a good chunk of the day on Saturday, but he did let me sleep in first.

Now, since everyone else has posted their New Year's Resolutions in this format, I think I should do the same. Maybe this is a way of keeping us honest with one another? I suppose we should check in on one another from time to time so this list isn't just revisited NEXT year when it is time to make more resolutions. So here goes:

1) Finish the Book of Mormon with my family this year and read the weekly lessons for the Book of Mormon. I'd also like to get some kind of book to go along with it--evidences, commentary, something. Any suggestions?

2) Submit my manuscript for publication to another publishing house; and a second, as needed. :)

3) Really put my heart and soul into my calling. We've had some very interesting discussions here about the purpose and the role of the Enrichment meeting. Church leaders have also had a lot of pertinent information to share also. I think I'm finally getting a good sense of the direction I want to go, and the counselor and I are totally on the same page. We are meeting tomorrow and I think it will be really positive.

4) Learn to do some basic sewing. I just procured a sewing machine yesterday. Although it is nearly 30 years old and missing a footplate, I called Sears today and they said they still make a pedal for it. I am the proud owner of this 80 pound behemoth and I'm now committed. Or I need to be.

5) Get back to work on my scrapbooks. I would like to have Pirate's finished by the end of the year. I only do kiddo scrapbooks up to age three. I would also like to get another two years done in my family scrapbook. Then I'll only be three years and one kid behind.

6) Read that whole stack of classics I bought at the used bookshop the other day. I will be brilliant by December. (Unless I keep following the campaign. In which case, my brain will be jello.)

7) With Plantboy, take our turn planning his family reunion. We are planning on heading to Bear Lake and already have a huge cabin reserved. If you have any marvelous suggestions for activities in that region, PLEASE let us know.

8) Work with Scallywag until he is reading more fluently.

9) Keep doing my morning paper route until we have cleared some debt and purchased a couple of furniture items that will make our home MUCH more comfortable. Oh, and we are paying off the student loan with this year's tax return! Yeah!

10) With Plantboy's help, put in what he calls a "salsa garden." He also wants to do some berries. Bring on the organic fertilizer, I can take it.

Phew! That is a bigger list than I expected, but my self-expectations seem to always exceed my grasp. . . but that is another story.

16 comments:

Kimberly Bluestocking said...

Good luck with the Enrichment meeting and enjoy the classics. I will envy your berry bushes.

Also, "capture the flag" might be a fun activity around the cabin. My family also enjoys doing white elephant exchanges and talent/untalent shows at our reunions.

Kimberly Bluestocking said...

Oh yeah - one other idea. Last reunion, my mom collected interesting facts from everyone beforehand, and put together a quiz (e.g. "Who has a salsa garden? Whose favorite word is "banana"? Who just signed a hefty contract for their first book?" :)

FoxyJ said...

Great resolutions--good luck:) It's better to have a lot of options of things to work on, as long as you realize up front that they are probably not all going to happen.

Your date also sounds like a lot of fun. We haven't done a real date for a while.

Last year I read "By the Hand of Mormon" which is about the history and significance of the Book of Mormon. I liked it a lot. It goes well with this year's emphasis on Joseph Smith too.

Courtney said...

Congrats on no. 100 and congrats to Plantboy on some really great Christmas planning.

Good luck to you on your resolutions--yes I think the key to keeping them may just be to post them in a very public way and then to have others continue to ask how it is going.

emandtrev said...

I loved your comment on my blog. I laughed out loud and completely agree! :)

Desmama said...

STM, only you would have like 10 resolutions and fully intend to keep all of them. Me? I'm aiming for like four. Better said, I'm hoping for like four.

I'll e-mail you with some ideas for activities in the B.L. area. My folks have a cabin up there near Bloomington. Oh, hey, you know who's from there is AmyJane--she'd have some ideas, I'm sure.

Christy said...

Your date sounded really fun... I love it when they do stuff like that.

I like your resolutions. I am planning a family reunion for our family and it is really depressing me.

Caitlin said...

I am Enrichment Leader too. It is a love/not-so-much-love kind of thing for me. I have such big ideas and things I want for the women, but sometimes I can't get anyone to even call me back. Frustrating.

Sunnie said...

riverdance- that was probably a fun present. especially all that time minus kids. and great on all the resolutions. maybe i should make some.

Caitlin said...

Thanks so much! I spent the better part of the morning crying over some of the posts. I am not crazy, just a bit of an emotional wreck. There is a difference right? I commented on her blog looking for some wisdom that can only be offered by one who has walked the path that I am just beginning. Thanks again.

BTW- If you have any great Enrichment ideas/activities, feel free to share!

Science Teacher Mommy said...

Thanks for your many and varied comments!

For reunion, we had thought of capture the flag or German Spotlight Tag (I think this is a made up name Plantboy's family gave for tag with flashlights)if there is enough cover to do it. I will contact AmyJane and get some ideas from her. We are there over a Sunday so we will probably do an actual fireside too. KimBlue, I really love the survey idea. We could give one to everybody as they arrive and the first one (no matter how long it takes) who gets it back to me gets some kind of prize--maybe a mini-golf family pass or something . . .

FoxyJ--I heard of that book and thought it sounded great. I think I will see if somebody has it used on Amazon.

For the March b-day party we are thinking of doing a "Raiders of the Lost Arts" night with a BRIEF lesson on history/purpose of RS; we will do several classes and the women teaching them will dress in pioneer garb and we'll do bread, butter, candles, soap, and put on a quilt or two to tie. Refreshments will be homemade bread and jam or butter.

In the spring we want to do a gardening night. Plantboy would teach a class on temple square style gardening (those new comers here, he was a groundskeeper at a temple for five years), another person would do a class on keeping vegetables healthy in this climate and third class would be about home canning.

In the Fall we want to have a Souper Service Saturday instead of the traditional crafty thing that has been done in the past and poorly attended. We are thinking we'll put the sisters in groups for the morning and send them off to serve various places, meet back at the church for a soup lunch and share service experiences/testimony.

Kimberly Bluestocking said...

Cool enrichment ideas, especially the "Raiders" one. :)

Anonymous said...

Hello! I'm trying the same thing... read the Book of Mormon according to the Sunday School schedule. I'm loving it so far. I've decided that I'm just going to read the Book of Mormon once this year... kinda slow it down and pay more attention, if you know what I mean. So, I too have been looking for an additional commentary type thing to supplement my studies. I've been working from the Institute manuel, which is pretty great. I've also been using "Doctrinal Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Volume I" by McConkie & Millet. It's been pretty informative so far. It does a verse-by-verse thing that adds a lot.

Thanks for sharing your resolutions!

ME

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Ashlee said...

Sounds like a fantastic date! Have you ever thought about self-pulishing your book?