Of course – I’ll wait and do the official Before/After photos when those minor tasks are completed – but for now: The current home of NikkiZ and future home of AndyZ. Pay Special Attention To The Curtains. I made them myself and crossed my first item off of my list of 101 things in 1001 days.

NikkiZ’s half of the room

AndyZ’s half of the room

THE CURTAINS. Amen.

But – essentially? DONE! I’m not going to cross it off my list until the finished product is hanging in NikkiZ’s room, but I do want to show you two pictures. This first one if of my line from yesterday.

You can’t really see the stitch, but you’ll have to trust me. It’s there!

Those are the almost-done curtains behind the machine on the sewing box.

I’m awesome, right? I can’t wait to show you all the finished product. But for now, let me tell you the story of how completely unimpressed my husband was. See – the first panel was so hard – that’s all I wanted to do. It was wide enough for the window, so that’s all that should matter, right? When he came home I showed him that one panel and was all, “Look! I made curtains!” His response was, “Um. You only made one? How do they look out the window?” And other such demanding statements. My husband, not happy until the curtains are actually functional. Geez. So, I woke up this morning and made another one. And it looks pretty good and I’m glad I did it.

He’d better be impressed now, or he’ll have one raging hormonal pregnant woman to deal with.

BUT – if you’ll recall – one of my goals in the next 1001 days is to sew something with my sewing machine. I dug it out this morning and after pouring over the user manual it only took me about an hour to get thread around the bobbin. (Bobbin! I used the word bobbin!) Then it took me another hour to get the thread from the bobbin back up where it was supposed to go. And then…THEN…guess what I did? I stitched a line! I have some scrap fabric from my last failed attempts years ago that I’ve been practicing on. And I did it! I sewed a line! It’s not quite straight, but still! A line!

I took a picture but then I decided I was too excited to tell you all about it to bother with uploading a picture. So, you’ll have to take my word for it. I can’t cross the item off my list yet, but I’m so much closer than I was yesterday! I’m so proud! Yay Me!

(Yes. I know. I need to get out more.)

Start Date: March 4, 2008
Finish Date: November 30, 2010

Health/Food
1. Go vegan for a whole week
2. Make my own jelly/preserves OR can something
3. Do 50 push ups (boy style FULL pushups, not on my knees) in a row
4. Run another half-marathon
5. Eat only raw foods for an entire day
6. Get a full physical
7. Get back to my wedding day weight
8. Bake something from scratch
9. Do 200 sit ups/crunches in a row
10. Go on a hike that is longer than 10 miles

Giving to Others
11. Do the Komen 3 Day Breast Cancer Walk
12. Give a restaurant gift certificate to a Mom needing a break from cooking
13. Donate blood
14. Make a $100 donation to a local charity
15. Participate in a large protest OR a large support event August 2008
16. Finally give all of the clothes in garbage bags in the garage to charity April 2008
17. Give someone a “just because” gift
18. Write a letter to a grandparent
19. Volunteer for something for each child’s school/class
20. Spend one day being a “servant” to each family member as a Pamper Day

Writing/Blogging
21. Post at least 3 book reviews
22. Write a short piece of fiction
23. Write a recipe entry like SuperStah PDub
24. Write a letter to each family member telling them why I love them
25. Submit a piece to a printed publication
26. Publish an entry on my blog every day for 3 months in a row
27. Handwrite a blog entry and scan it to the blog
28. Post an entry titled “Dear Body”
29. Make sure all pictures show up on my blog from pre-Wordpress
30. Attend a local blogger meet-up OR a blogging conference

Local To Huntsville/Northern Alabama
31. Attend a performance at the Flying Monkey
32. Take LilZ to a Concert
33. Attend a play/musical at Grissom
34. Go to a bluegrass festival
35. Attend a comedy show
36. Attend a non-mandatory lecture or seminar
37. See an exhibit at the art museum
38. Camp one night at Monte Sano
39. Hike the Walls of Jericho
40. Go to a wine tasting

Travel and Vacation
41. Travel out of the United States
42. Take another quite beach vacation (hopefully to Alligator Point) with the whole family
43. Go tent camping with the kids May 2008
44. Ride a real roller coaster
45. Visit the family in Nashville
46. Go for a hike in the Smokies on one of the trails from my childhood
47. Visit Betsy
48. Go to the Jack Daniels Distillery
49. Stay in the Opryland Hotel one night
50. Visit Washington DC

Trying New Things
51. Learn at least 50 (new) ASL signs
52. Wear a skirt/dress every day for a week
53. Build something that requires using the table saw
54. Start a compost pile
55. Sew something with a sewing machine March 2008
56. Take a dance or aerobics class
57. Swim in a lake and/or ocean past where I can touch
58. Get a makeup lesson/makeover
59. Refinish a piece of furniture
60. Wear fingernail polish for a whole week

Home/Family Life
61. Finally frame the dozens of family pictures we’ve had made since NikkiZ June 2008
62. Paint our bedroom and master bath
63. Compile emergency supplies for home
64. Get new faucets for the bathrooms
65. Scan all of our old photos
66. Spend 24 hours alone with my husband
67. Wash the blinds/curtains
68. Redo the photo hall walls June 2008
69. Get real patio furniture June 2008
70. Learn how to cook 10 different meals.

Arts, Crafts, and Photography
71. Obtain a piece of original art for my home
72. Make a scrapbook (It can be a small one)
73. Attend one of those pottery classes/days with the kids
74. Support a craftsperson—buy something handmade (either in person or online) August 2008
75. See an author read from his or her work
76. Switch out pictures in both easel frames in the house
77. Document a “day in my life” with photos
78. Make a necklace Sept. 2008
79. Paint something on a canvas
80. Do a photo essay of some of my most sentimental possessions

Monthly Challenges
81. One month without diet coke
82. Work out 3 times a week for 1 month
83. One month without TV
84. Record total amount of money spent on food for a month
85. One month without sweets/desserts
86. Photograph my outfits everyday for a month
87. Go a whole month without eating out
88. Get a sketch book and fill a page every day for a month
89. Play a game with one of the kids every night for a month
90. One month without coffee

Miscellaneous
91. Buy a pair of high heels and wear them three different times
92. Vote in a presidential election
93. Vote in a local election
94. Subscribe to a scientific magazine
95. Plant something from seed
96. Attend a Book Club/ Readers Group
97. Read at least 5 non-fictions
98. Attend mass
99. Chaperone some event for LilZ’s school
100. Read a National Geographic issue cover to cover

Last but not least
101. Make a new list of 101 Things by the time my 1001 days are done

The other day she had a post that said she had been at this for fourteen months so far. And I thought to myself, “Damn. It sure is taking me awhile to get started.” I decided to finally get off my ass and try to make my own list already. It was finally time. Or maybe I just realized that, as my life gets more and more hectic, I have to just start making time for things.

I was too overwhelmed to start my own list from scratch – so I started with Zandria’s exact list copied into an excel spreadsheet. (Do you think she would have noticed if I had just kept it that way?) I knew there were a lot of items on her list that I wanted to keep on my own. So, I just started by deleting the ones that wouldn’t work for me. I first removed with the ones that were not much of a challenge (I start conversations with random strangers every time I’m in line at Target) and then removed the ones that didn’t really fit my life. As I started doing those two things…the ideas started flooding through my head and before I knew it I had my own list.

I went into this trying to keep two motivating factors in mind: (1) Strive to become a better version of myself and (2) Branch out of my comfort zone a little bit. I decided to make groups of 10 – each with a different focus. I did this to keep myself from doing 50 things in one vein. I wanted a well-rounded list. I made one group of monthly challenges so I’d have some months that I could focus on one task for the entire month. Some of the items will be done in a few minutes, others might take several months. I ended up deleting and reorganizing and rephrasing several times over before I finally thought, “Okay. I’m done.” I think there are still a handful of items from Zandria’s list – but surprisingly it’s mostly mine now.

I feel like making this list was as much of an exercise in introspection as it will be to complete the list. I really thought a lot about what little things I’d like to force myself to do and try in my life. I’m hoping some of these items sponsor big changes in my life, but even if they don’t? The list will still be done. I’m very excited to have this in the background of my life. It gives me a bit of focus in what feels like has become quite an unfocused existence.

I hope when I’m 14 months in, I’ll have as much crossed off as Zandria did.

I decided to publish the list as a separate entry so I can go back to cross things off (like Zandria does) when I complete an item and hopefully link to the entry I mention it on. If you are motivated to do a similar list, I would love to see your final edition. Especially now that I have my own so I can’t steal from you as blatantly as I did Zandria.