They have come and gone. When they say time flies, they aren’t kidding. Though I didn’t make it very far through the list, I learned a lot. I am going to go through the list this week (20 a day, with 21 on Friday). Give a wee rundown of what worked, what didn’t, and I will ponder whether I will do it again.
Before I dive in, a couple of notes. First, I wrote the list when we lived in the condo. I changed all of the items that were left on the list for the condo when we moved. I mean, it’s tough to remodel a bathroom when you no longer own the house. If you want a refresher on the whole list, check it out here.
So, here’s the first twenty!
1 Go to Donnie Dirk’s Zombie den. & 2 Go to Psycho Suzy’s Done!
I actually ticked these off in the same night. They are owned by the same people, but have totally different atmospheres. I’d heard a lot of good things about Suzy’s, and a zombie themed bar just seemed too perfect! From when I wrote this, to now, Suzy’s has moved. I’ve been to both locations, and while the old one was better it’s just not my scene. Too scenestery, too pretentious. They like a very specific type of clientele. Clientele with ink of a certain style, with certain placement, dressed in a certain type of hipster garb. I don’t want to “fit in.” Especially when the fitting in involves a bunch of pseudo rebellion against the norm just to do so. All of that would bug me less, if the food were top notch. It’s fine…just not amazing. It doesn’t have to be, since the place is packed on weekends like you wouldn’t believe. The service is also less than desirable. I thought it was just me, but then I found out they tell their servers they are allowed to be rude. Not in an amusing way, just to be rude. DD’s on the other hand, is super fun. Small, cozy, super rad decor that walks a fine line between Vegas casino and vampire den. The male staff dress like Shaun of Shaun of the Dead and the ladies are glam cocktail waitresses. While the drinks at Suzy’s are all juice based and syrupy sweet, the drinks at DD’s are actual cocktails. Wide variety and tasty to boot. There is no kitchen, but you can use the bat phone to order in from Suzy’s. I prefer to go when I am just planning on drinks, but if you’re not you can get some eats. To check them as done, we went to an event at DD’s, and figured if we were gonna have Suzy’s food either way, we may as well head on over. On the bright side, I found a place that I enjoy revisiting!
3 Purchase a Liberty of London dress.
Not done. I thought this one would be easy-peasy. Boy, was I wrong! Liberty is a fantastic London brand (in case you couldn’t guess from the name). I’d wanted a dress from them for a while. I even had my eye on one! Then, the Red Devil (alternate name for a major retailer that is on my blacklist) used them as one of their “name brands for less” lines. Liberty prints splashed on cheap fabric and housewares for the masses. Not at regular Liberty prices, but still way overpriced for what you got. No big deal. I’m a grown up! I can get the real thing! Except they stopped making the luxe (but in my price range) cocktail dress I had my eye on. It would have been fine. I could have picked another luxe (but in my price range) cocktail dress. However, the market was saturated with the crap from the Red Devil. That was all I could find. One day, I will find another luxe (but in my price range) dress, as opposed to the crap or luxe (but not in my price range) dresses.
4 Do the 100 push-ups challenge.
Not done. Originally, this was to join the 12x club at my gym. But, we canceled our membership to save dollars, and then the gym closed all together. So, I subbed this. However a neck injury made it such that push ups were not an option. Once they were, the 25 pounds I gained made said push ups much more difficult. I started and stopped a few times, but I need to start smaller for now.
5 Re-paint mats and hang artwork in bedroom (4 pieces total)
Done! I actually cut new mats all together. I wanted something more colorful, but black was what I could get. I put the mats in, and now I want to re-paint the frames! However, they are up, along with our other artwork. This one was not so bad!
6 Decide what will live on kitchen counters and above cabinets, purge the rest
In progress. I figured out what I want. The problem is, some things need replacing…like my canisters. I also have some stacks of things to purge still. I keep purging, yet those stacks stay the same size. I think they are haunted.
7 Hang art in living room
Done! Speaking of haunted…we have a poltergeist. I got the art up in the living room, and it looked great! It’s a carefully arranged collage. Many of the pieces are vintage prints. Some are new that are in the same vein, and there are a few gifted pieces. The largest piece is a print from IKEA. It is French, like much of the other pieces, and the colors fit really well. Someone else seems to have a different idea. The large piece slowly started to tilt. I would straighten it, it would tilt. Then it slowly started to drift such that it was lower than it was supposed to be. I took it down, re-wired it, re-hung, and applied some adhesive to the corners of the frame to keep it in place. The picture started to pull away from the wall. I took it down, and the backing was completely misshapen such that it could not sit against the wall. I took it apart, and tried putting weights on the backing to flatten it out. Every time I took the weights off, it popped back into misshappenness. (Yeah, it’s a word. I made it. And what?) After dampening and drying it a bunch, I got it mostly flat and rehung. It still is going off kilter, but I am working on getting a different piece that maybe the poltergeist will leave alone.
8 Hang artwork and shelf in hallway
Done!On a roll! I can hang art and shelves like a machine, yo! Maybe the next one hundred one things will be all hanging art?
9 Pay off all debt
In progress. This one was a lot to bit off given the time frame, and our finances at the beginning. However, we made lots of progress! We are down to G’s student loans (ouch-am I ever glad I paid cash for school!) and a vet bill. The vet bill was added just under the wire of this deadline. It is interest free, at least. Also, the hubs may or may not have gotten this one without me. My rule now is that if we want something, we pay cash. Clothes, food, house, car. Cash. We did buy a car with cash, so that’s a start. We won’t be in the market for a new place for a while, so we have lots of time to save up for that one. Of course, we also have to pay those silly student loans. Which one will win?
10 Toilet train cats
In progress. The cats don’t seem to be on board with my deadlines. We had a setback when my beloved Crushers passed, and we had to start over. They seem to be down with number one, but not so much the number two. I hear that is common with toilet training, both human and feline. Still making progress, though. I long for the day when we are litter free, for so many reasons.
11 Get rid of storage units (outside of apartment bldg)
Done! This was something else before we moved. So, I changed it to something move related. We moved from a two bedroom, two bath condo with a garage, to a one bedroom, one bath apartment with a parking space. Downsized, to say the least. It wound up taking us longer to pare down than our closing date, so we rented a storage unit. Not unreasonably priced, but not cheap. So, I wanted motivation to get rid of the unit. We did it, though there are still some things chilling at our apartment as we get rid of them. Saving us some dollars, at least. It felt good to let this one go!
12 Perform in a burlesque show.
Done! Here’s the deal, I am a natural born performer. Anywhere, anytime, I am down. Even my grandfather (a devout Catholic, conservative, women should be at home caring for their family type) would oft say, “I hate to say it, but she belongs on the stage.” I love all the elements of burlesque. It’s not stripping! It’s comedy, it’s sexy, it’s storytelling…it’s all the things I love! I took a couple of rounds of classes, one of which culminated in a performance. Totally fun. I want to have my own act, but I need some more finances to do so. I am building up an arsenal as we speak, including getting my health back together. It’s gonna be amazing!
13 Get to my goal weight (and stay there!)
So close, yet so far. I got really close. However, the previously mentioned neck injury set me back. I have a plan, and I will get there!
14 Finish porch redo (redo pavers and paint)
Done! At the old condo. The porch consisted of poorly laid pavers that sunk into sort of a giant paver pothole. The ceiling was poop brown. None of this was cool. I removed all the pavers, laid new gravel, tamped, sanded, and relaid the pavers. Nice and level. Based on the careful education from my father, I chose a nice aqua blue to paint the ceiling. It brightened the space, and made it much more inviting.
15 Clean out the garage.
Done! Yikes. This one was bad news. A combination of G’s folks moving and leaving a lot behind for us, and a garage sale that left us with a couple of things…it made it easy to keep adding to the “storage” in our garage. However, when you move, they ask that everything be gone. So, we had no choice but to empty the garage. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but due to our crazy neighbors’ questionable landscaping the garage flooded. However, we did it. Garage emptied, even if we didn’t get to enjoy it.
16 Read all the books on our bookshelf that I haven’t read.
In progress. I’m on the Fs. Some of these are books I bought, but didn’t read. Some are books of G’s I hadn’t read. I read the Dark Tower series for G straight away (even though I really had to push to get through). Then I went to the thickest books, so that if I wanted to get rid of it, it frees up a lot of space. I am chipping away, but man do we have a lot of books! I will get it to the point where all our books live on two bookcases, with ten percent of the shelf space free. That means no stacks, no creative shelving. Believe it or not, I’ve made progress! I just really under-estimated the time it would take.
17 Watch all the films on our DVD shelf I haven’t watched.
In progress. See above. We fell victim to very many Best Buy single digit price sales. “It’s cheaper than renting!” However, when you own it, there is no rush to watch. We’ve started, and many have been able to go right back out the door. (Amazon, Ebay, BB, thank you!) There are still a lot. Movies take time, and they keep making more. Both this and the books, I don’t know that I would have started were it not for this list. These are great examples of the motivation of the list. They are also great examples of how I need to pick and choose. Too many time-consuming items, means they all get started and not finished. Prioritize!
18 Sell all the crap we don’t need on Craigslist/Ebay.
In progress. It’s a combination of the fact it takes time to sell, and that we keep adding to the crap we don’t need. We aren’t purchasing anything, rather realizing there are fewer things we actually need of what we have. We’ve made considerable progress, though! However, like I mentioned with my kitchen item, the piles of things to go seem to stay the same, no matter how many things we send away.
19 Make all of the things I have patterns and matching fabric for & 20 Take care of my alteration and repair pile.
In progress. I am a sucker for fabric, for sewing. I could easily go into a fabric store and buy everything I find pretty. Same thing with patterns. There is a sale, and I want to make all the things! So, I made a rule. No buying without an exit strategy. Fabric needs to have a determined project. Patterns must have fabric and a time line. That has made for the list of things to stop growing, at least! However, I’ve already purchased a lot of fabric and a lot of patterns. I’m chipping away, but there’s a long road ahead. As for the alterations and repairs? I seem to incur damage faster than I can repair. Vintage pieces have linings that disintegrate or seams that fail. Things are too big, or too small. A quick go through the sewing machine will fix it right up! Or some patience with a needle and thread! I’ve even finished some! I put buttons on a favorite blouse that was unwearable as it was because the designer didn’t match buttons to button holes and it always came undone. (Scandalous!) I fixed the seams on a vintage dress that always wanted to come apart! Things went from the pile to my closet. Yet, there is still a lot of pile. One of these weekends, I will chain myself to the sewing machine and get through these two. Like some others, I under-estimated the size of the project in relation to all the other projects and the time frame. At least I had impetus to get it started!
So, 20% through. Nine finished, eight in progress, two undone. 9-8-2 in sport record terms. Not amazing, but not so bad. Come by tomorrow for more! See how the rest of the list went, why, and what I learned!
