Thanks Mom!

So one day I was playing around on the computer and thought I'd look around a bit to see whatever became of Queen Bee TV.

Queen Bee (Here real name was Rebecca) was the host of a public access TV show I used to watch every Monday at 9:30pm, without fail.
Hubby worked a bijillion hours a week and I often found myself searching for interesting stuff on TV after The Girl went to bed (The Boy wasn't around yet). Queen Bee wore a bee costume and bee antennae. She had long blond hair and red lipstick. In the first episode I saw of hers, Queen Bee was eating mayonnaise from a jar and talking about apical dominance. Subsequent shows included Ms. Queen Bee explaining the thoughts and feelings of her unused cooking implements (pots, pans, spoons, etc.), how to make Blair Witch Project themed Christmas presents and the most disturbing, bathtub theater where she would make puppets out of paper bags and act out little plays using her bathtub as the stage and the shower curtain as the theater curtain. I truly loved her show. Then there was some bru-ha-ha at the local public access station and a lot of the shows I watched on that channel dwindled away. Along with Queen Bee TV there was Bevornia, voted Best Public Access TV Show Including Vikings, and a whole host of others I would watch here and there.

While searching for her, and only finding the picture I have posted above, I found this site. A big selection of super-cute bags from Portland.

Queen Bee Creations, the company is called. I super love most of the bags on this site.

This year for Christmas my mom asked me what I wanted. I sent her a link to my favorite bag on the site. In turn she sent me a gift certificate.

With the gift certificate from my mom, plus some other Christmas money I was given, I was able to purchase this bag. Made of recycled wool. I got the small size version of this bag and I'm glad I did because it's super big. I betcha I could fit 2 bottles of wine in it, along with my regular purse items. I can certainly fit my netbook inside, which will come in handy when I go back to school the end of this month.
I also got this hip pack.

It's only about 6 inches wide and 4 inches tall. Hubby hates it. He says it's the equivalent of wearing mom jeans. I think he's wrong. I think it'll come in handy when I go to the Fancy Food Show in 2 weeks. I hate carrying around a big purse at the food show.

So, Thanks Mom. I love my new bag(s). And Queen Bee, I miss you.

I'm not chicken

One of my gifts for Christmas this year was a box of Spicy Spices from Penzy's. 

Last night we decided to have a little taste test with the spices, or at least some of them.

See, the gift box came with 8 different spices, but we only used three on the chicken; Vindaloo, Hot Curry Powder and 4/S. We didn't use Northwest Fire, Galena BBQ Rub or Hot Chili Powder because when I put them away after I got them they were put on a different shelf than the others. I totally forgot about them. We also didn't use Chipotle because I don't like smokey flavored things, or the crushed red pepper. We use crushed red pepper in cooking all the time. We know what it tastes like. I added the crushed red pepper jar into the regular mix of condiments and spices. It'll get used soon enough.

We took some chicken drumsticks, gave each of them identifying slashes in their skin so we would know which is which. We also reserved a few drumsticks, cooking them with only salt, pepper and thyme, because I knew the kiddies would eat those if they hated the others.

Chicken, pre-roasting

The verdict -
The Girl thought the Vindaloo and the Curry were too spicy and made me eat them. She LOVED the 4/S flavor, giving it the very high compliment of "if I had school tomorrow I would ask for it to be in my lunch."
Hubby loved the 4/S as well. He didn't like the consistency of the Curry or Vindaloo spices, but the flavor was good. I attribute that to Chef's Error (mine) of adding too much spice. Perhaps it would have been yummier if cooked a different way, say put in some flour and deep fried?
I liked the Curry spice the best. A little squeeze of lime on the chicken made it even yummier.
The Boy, not having a good nap yesterday licked a few pieces of the Salt, Pepper and Thyme chicken, decided he didn't like it and had plain kiefer and cutie tangerines for dinner. Right after he finished he told me he wanted a cuddle and a song. I excused myself from the spicy chicken taste test, wrapped The Boy up in a blankie, and sang him his favorite Tom Waits' song, Little Trip to Heaven.

The next thing I knew, The Boy was asleep.
The Girl and Hubby put away dinner, I put The Boy to bed then followed suit shortly thereafter.

Grammarizing.

Dream I had this morning.
I was riding the shuttle that takes me from my office to EMB. When I got off the shuttle I was informed that I was no longer allowed to ride it anymore because I had corrected someone's grammar a little too loudly and offended the wrong person.
 

On Gift Giving and Receiving

My Philosophy on Gift Giving and Receiving
It's OK to re-use wrapping paper, bows, ribbons and gift bags - It's the responsible thing to do in this day and age; it saves a bit of money, it helps the planet by not using extra or unnecessary resources, and gosh darn it, some ribbons and bows are too pretty not to use again.
It's OK to make gifts for your loved ones, rather than buying something - it shows creativity, ingenuity, thoughtfulness. Imagine receiving a gift knowing that the person who made it for you was thinking of you the whole time the gift was being made. Gosh, that just makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.
It's OK to give cash or gift cards instead of a gift - sometimes one just doesn't know what to get someone. Maybe the recipient wants a very specialized item and rather than buying the wrong one, sometimes it's best to send a gift card for the store where the item is sold. When I was in the 2nd grade I got a bra from an aunt. I would much rather have gotten $5.
It's OK to re-gift - this one is a bit tricky. It is OK to re-gift but one must take care to not give the gift back to the person who gave it to you (duh), and one must take care not to re-gift an item to someone in front of the person who originally gave you the gift.  Gifts are supposed to make people feel good. Re-gifting is fine, if done with care.
It's OK to put the gift receipt in the box with the gift - sometimes you don't need an espresso machine from Williams Sonoma, but you really could use a new knife. The gift-giver should recognize this and gracefully accept that a new knife from Williams Sonoma is just as lovely as a new espresso machine. Your gift of an espresso machine gave the recipient the means to buy a new knife. Every time that person uses the knife you will be remembered with fondness.
It's OK to use a gift in a manner the giver hadn't thought of - for example, one year for Christmas I received a cutting board. I didn't need a cutting board, but I liked the design, so I used it as a flat surface on top of my microwave so I could have a nice place to put my condiments that I use frequently. I've had it now for about 10 years. I still use it, and when I see it I think of the people who gave it to me.
It's OK to get some benefit out of the gift you give - for example, I have to buy a specific dollar amount of scrip every year for The Girl's school. It's OK to buy Starbucks gift cards and use those as gifts, and get credit for scrip. Another example is credit card points. I admit it, I bought some of the gifts I gave with my AMEX points. The gifts I gave were exactly the same things I would have gotten from a store, I just used alternate means of paying for them. Let's face it. Everyone who has ever given someone stuff from Bath and Body Works has taken advantage of their buy one, get one policy, am I right?
It's OK to have a gift sent directly from the website from which it is bought - Sometimes going to the store, picking out a gift, taking it home and wrapping it, then sending it out takes more time than a lot of us have, plus it costs a bit more money to pay for shipping to your house then shipping to the recipient. Sure, sometimes the wrapping isn't as exciting or pretty, but everyone loves getting packages in the mail so the 'ding dong' of the doorbell sort of makes up for the fact that it doesn't have a pretty red bow.

With All that Said, There are Some Things to Remember
Know when to stop recycling - If the paper is torn, if the paper has creases so formed that it won't fold any other way, if there is tape on the paper from past holidays that you can't remove, it's time to get rid of the paper. It's done its job. It's time to recycle it. If the gift bag has tears, if it has an old card attached to it with the "to/from" already filled out with the last recipient's information, tear it off or don't use the bag. Don't scratch it out. Don't use an Easter or Happy Birthday bag for Christmas, make sure the bag is holiday appropriate. If you're putting money or a gift card in an envelope, make sure the envelope is in good shape and don't use an envelope that has the return address for PG&E in the top left corner and try to cover it up with a Santa sticker. If you're giving a gift certificate that came from a book of certificates, make sure you take off all the perforated bits.
Don't know what to get someone? This is an easy one. If you spend even a little bit of time with the person to whom you're giving a gift, all you have to do is pay attention. It's easy to make simple leaps of logic that will usually work out. Someone works downtown probably makes frequent trips to Starbucks, in which case a SBUX card would be a welcome gift. Most women would love a gift certificate for a mani/pedi. A lot of conversations turn to food. Pay attention to where someone had a meal they liked and get them a gift card for that restaurant. It doesn't have to pay for the whole meal.If you know someone drives 60 miles each way to work every day, a gift card to Chevron will be very much appreciated. Pay attention to what you gave them last year. For three Christmasses in a row I received a new pie pan from the same person. They're nice pie pans but three years in a row?  Don't cherry pick stuff from the gift basket you got from a client at work, wrap the stuff in pieces of discarded tissue paper, throw it into a ripped gift bag and call it Christmas.

We all know that people re-gift and re-use. It's not a big deal. What is a big deal is how the gift is given. The care you put into the packaging shows how you feel about the person you're giving the gift to.  Most people are happy with thoughtful gifts.

The thought and care taken is way more important than the gift itself. The thought and care surrounding the gift is what people will remember and cherish more than the gift itself.

Guest Blogging

I did my very first guest blogging ever. My friend Anika asked me to write a story about Santa.
 Here's what I sent her.
Hope you like it.
Be sure to check out her blogs here and here.

Hula knew?: The Kaona of my Hula Siblings.

In May of 2004, on the first night of hula class with Na Lei Hulu, Kumu said something that I think about often. I don't remember his exact words but he said, to a packed room that is now maybe a quarter of the size it was then, that if we stick it out, if we stay dancing with this group of people, we will become great friends with some of them, and the rest, although we may not be super close, we will feel a great connection to.
When one dances hula, one dances with the music, not to the music, and definitely not at the music. When we dance hula we will be, at least when class is in session, wearing our emotions on our sleeves. Doing this at least once a week for the last 6 years, one can't help but feel a connection to other people in the class. And it's true, there are some people in the class I have become great friends with, and I do feel a great connection with the rest of them.
Even with this connection I don't really know some of the people I dance with. I know their names. I know their pa'u. I know them by their skill. I may know if they are married or have kids. I may know where they live or what they do for a living. The fact remains, however, there are things about some of my hula siblings about which I know nothing, or at least not a whole lot.
Case in point, my hula sister Sue. I really like Sue. She's nice. She's fun to talk to. She's a beautiful dancer. I wish I knew her better. The other day I came across her website, and I have to say, I was totally blown away. You need to check out her site. She paints the most beautiful pictures of flowers, seeds, roots, shells, leaves, etc. They are so amazing and beautiful. My favorite is on this page. It's the one in the right hand column, third one down. You should check it out.

Our Nativity Set

picture stolen from loose-as-a-moose.co.uk

When Hubby and I moved into our home about 13 years ago it was right before Christmas. My mother-in-law gave us some ornaments for the tree and an old nativity set. We put it up every year. Every year it looks a bit more weathered and it gets a little bit more broken, but we love it. MIL sometimes offers to replace bits and pieces of it, but we always turn her down.
We love our three-legged sheep, some of whom have had their eyes rubbed off over time. We love our handless angel. We love that we have to prop up the baby Jesus in his little wooden bassinet on Joseph's knee. And mostly, we love that the sheppard is missing both hands, an arm and a leg. The leg isn't missing, however. Every year we tape it on, because for some reason super-glue won't "take". This year I found it at the bottom of our Christmas box and put it next to the sheppard. The Boy was playing with the set yesterday making the wisemen kiss, making the cow attack the donkey. I tried to get it on video but he stopped. Here's what he did do . . . .

My Favorite Christmas Song is "Dogs Barking Jingle Bells"

We got our Christmas Tree yesterday. Yay! I love bringing up The Christmas Box from downstairs and going through it, greeting all of our ornaments we haven't seen in a year, putting up our Nativity Scene, untangling the lights.

We usually go to Home Depot to get our tree because it's cheaper than going to a Christmas Tree lot. This year we went to "Gu's Christmas Tree Lot" on Moraga at Great Highway. They're a small tree lot in the Outer Sunset run by local surfers. Hubby's website wrote a little piece on them. A nice group of people selling trees and giving a portion of their earnings to the SFPCA.

The kids had fun running through the lot and picking out trees. The Girl's criteria for a good tree was that it had to be taller than her. The Boy's criteria was that it had to be shorter than him. We compromised and got the one I liked.

We took it home and decorated it.

We even strung popcorn this year. We had never done that before. It was fun.

#30 and #39 done!

This weekend I accomplished two things on my list.
#30 bake 2 parsnip cakes - one for me and one for Tina.
I know it seems I'm a little obsessed with this guy, but I really enjoy reading One Hungry Chef and trying out his recipes. A few months before my last birthday I found this recipe for a parsnip cake. It sounded interesting and the pictures on this guy's blog made the cake look really yummy. I don't have any trouble with the cooking recipes from this guy. Cooking isn't an exact science and it's a lot more forgiving if you mess up. If you mess up, what you're making will probably still taste yummy, just not exactly how the recipe dictates. With baking however, one mistake could cost you the whole dessert. I was a bit concerned about this recipe because it's written in metrics. To convert the recipe to American measurements I used the site Convert-Me. I think the site served me well because the cake was pretty good. I'm such a dork, though. The cake in the picture in Mr. Hungry Chef's blog is really little. I thought the recipe was for a small cake. I doubled the recipe to compensate. I ended up making two rounds, two dozen cupcakes and half a dozen mini loafs. And to top off my dorky-ness, I didn't have any cake pans I wanted to part with so I baked Tina's cake in a pie tin. The Boy, having just learned to open the utility ladder himself, helped himself to all the broken cupcakes that didn't come out of the pan in one piece. The rest of them went to the Santa Breakfast, Bake and Craft Sale at The Girl's school on Sunday morning. The cake itself was good. It wasn't "oh my gosh, this cake is so freakin' fantastic that to eat a bite of any other cake in the world would be to betray this piece of cake in front of me" good, but it was good. I had fun with the candied fennel. I'd never candied anything before - a big pile of candied fennel looks just like shark fin soup, btw.
I gave the cake to Tina yesterday.

And the rest of the parsnip cake, plus some rockin' gingerbread The Girl made went to the bakesale.

I did one other thing on my list this weekend.
#39 - buy a blood pressure monitor
not too exciting, just nice to cross something off the list

On Thanksgiving: some of us don't eat beef, some of us don't eat pork, but we all eat turkey!

Does anyone equate Thanksgiving with Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indians anymore? In my opinion, not really. Sure, we all know the Thanksgiving story, but that's not really why we gather on the 3rd Thursday of every November.

Thanksgiving has evolved into something different. It's turned into a day to be thankful for what you have, spend the day with your family and watch football. We eat a lot, drink a lot and generally have a good time. Every family has their own special traditions but, everyone across the country is pretty much doing the same thing.

I like Thanksgiving because it doesn't matter your religion, class, personal beliefs, sexual orientation, your heritage or any of the many other differences we might have; as Americans we have this day in common, and the cool part is, you don't have to be American to partake in it. Everyone is invited to celebrate, you just have to show up.

I got an email today from someone. I'm sure a few of my readers got the same email. I like what he said:
"...I wish to greet you all here, and to wish you and your families and your special people the happiest of times this Thanksgiving. I, like many of our friends never grew up with the Thanksgiving spirit as it was so uniquely American. Over all these years it has become for me a very special occasion as it embodies the true goodness and generosity of the human spirit, uncomplicated by religion, politics, or the other divisive aspects of society. It is a time for the human touch, and it is a very good thing. So, with that in mind, I want to wish you all a most special and reflective Thanksgiving. It would be trite in the extreme to suggest that you look around you and appreciate what you have and revel in it. Life doesn't work like that. We all have problems and issues to deal with. Less trite, perhaps, would be to suggest that you enjoy this great holiday with your precious loved ones and look forward to the next one. That's what we are doing, and that's for sure. "

So put on your eating pants and your baggy shirt with the empire waist and grab a fork. It's turkey time.

Cross off #60 and #89

I accomplished #60 from my list yesterday and #89 today.

#89 - Go through the drafts of blog posts I've made and either post them or delete them.Go through the drafts of blog posts I've made and either post them or delete them. 
I culled a bunch of started but go-nowhere posts, and finished one that's been haunting me since September. There are no longer any unfinished posts on my blog. Yay.


#60 Get rid of yucky chipped dishes and replace
For my birthday 6 weeks ago I got a gift card from Bed Bath and Beyond. Last week one of The Girl's friends had dinner at our house. As I was setting the table I noticed we didn't have enough of the same kind of dishes for everyone to have the same kind of dish. My family's talent for not breaking dishes in our old porcelain sink is not well cultivated. The dishes I bought when we moved into our house almost 13 years ago have been broken, chipped, cracked. We needed some new everyday dishes. A friend of mine got wind of me going to BBB yesterday and said she had some coupons I could use. Boy did she. She handed me a stack of coupons that was seriously, at least 50 coupons deep. She told me that even though BBB has expiration dates on their coupons they'll still honor them and you can use as many coupons as you have items. With my gift card and the coupons,  I bought $68 dollars worth of dishes and spent only . . . . .(wait for it) . . . . .$5.41. Sweet.

Color Tiles

Quite some time ago I came across a blog called MerMag. The author posted about a project she made for one of her kids. I LOVED the idea.

I sent the post to my dad, made him read it and then instructed him to go to home depot to buy the supplies listed exactly as Ms. MerMag had described. Having the kind of dad I have (a good one), he bought the required wood and cut squares for me according to Ms. MerMag's  instructions.

For my son's birthday, my dad sent me about 100 freshly cut tiles from home depot. I bought some red, blue and yellow paint, took painters tape and made beautiful straight lines on the diagonal of the squares and got to painting.

It took me almost a year to finish (partly because life is busy and partly because I'm lazy), but I'm finished.

So here they are. Don't look too closely or compare them to Ms. MerMag's, because her squares are painted way better.

My boy isn't too into making geometric shapes but he likes when I arrange the tiles to create a road that he can drive his little toy cars down. He also likes to stack the tiles and knock them down but his favorite thing to do is throw them across the room or at the cat.



My Dad and My Son in My Sister's Garage taken July 2009.



Conversation with a Salty Bartender

This afternoon I had to go to the restaurant on the bottom floor of my building and pay for a cheese platter for some thing-thing being held at my office today.

As it's 4pm, the restaurant was not yet open for dinner. Only the bar was open.

This is the interaction I had with a salty bartender and a drunk patron.

Salty Bartender: Can I help you young lady?
Me: Hi, I need to pay for a catering order that was delivered to my office earlier today.
Salty Bartender goes to the register to look for my ticket and comes back.
Salty Bartender: That'll be $40 bananas.

picture stolen from squidoo.com/bananaphone

Me: Sorry sir, I don't have any bananas, will you take clams?
Salty Bartender chuckles, winks at me and takes my credit card.
Drunk Patron: Hey, I didn't know they sold banans here.

picture stolen from trianglembc.com

Creepy Dream



picture stolen from everyjoe.com

 This morning I woke up with a bit of a tickle in my throat. I couldn't stop coughing.

Hubby and I set our own alarms. Mine was about to go off in a minute or so; his had yet to chime, beep or bakawk! I decided to make my way to the couch and finish my morning hitting-snooze-for-the-next-20-minutes routine.
I don't remember my dream during the last "snooze session" but as my alarm rang for the last time I woke up and said aloud "Stop being so creepy, Jim Carrey."
I wonder what that was all about.

Jelly Cobblestones

This morning Hubby and I took the Kiddies to Ocean Beach.

It was a really beautiful morning, but that was not the reason for our 9am stroll.
According to the Ocean Beach Bulletin, massive amounts of (probably) moon jellies had washed ashore. We had to see it. It was pretty cool. The largest jellies were about a foot in diameter. At some spots, the concentration was so rich the beach looked like it had been paved with jelly cobblestones.

"I'm in a hole!"

The Boy has taken a liking to crawling into my bed and then wiggling all the way down to the foot and yelling "I'm in a hole." Last week he did just that but instead of yelling his new favorite refrain he fell asleep. Hubby and The Girl spent a good 15 minutes looking for him one afternoon only to find him in his hole snoring away.
This new fascination with blankets, along with The Girl teaching him about cocoons and butterflies, has turned into a new game. He likes to be wrapped up in a burrito cocoon.  Hearing him giggle from inside is too cute.

And yes, I made this blanket. A few years ago I started to crochet a blanket using up all the yarn I had left over from other projects. Turns out I didn't have enough yarn to complete the blanket so I went out and bought some yarn to finish it. Funny part (except for Hubby who didn't think it was funny) I had as much yarn left over this project as I did to start with. Comfy blanket, though.

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-happy birthday!

Picture stolen from winebuzz.hk

 Conversation this morning -
Coworker H - Andrea Andrea, it's Coworker N's birthday today. We have to do something for her.
Me - OK
Coworker H - We can go to (the restaurant in our building's complex) and get a cake and have some bubbles.
Me - OK

We feel bad that we forgot her birthday. I especially feel like a jerk-face because just over a month ago she remembered mine and took me out to lunch.

Coworker H goes to the restaurant, grabs a yummy cake, throws some bubbles in the fridge. She then sends out an email to a few people on our team and floor letting them know that we'll be having a mini celebration at 3pm.

At 3pm, Coworker K tells Coworker N to come into the bar (yes my office has a bar) because someone brought in some puppies that she just had to see. Right on cue she runs into the bar where 10 of us break into a lovely version of Happy Birthday and present her with yummy cake and sparkling wine.

While we're having cake and enjoying some bubbles, she tells us that our source for finding out when her birthday is incorrect and her birthday isn't until next week. We all felt stupid but enjoyed the cake and bubbly anyway.

Coworker N appreciated the thought, ate her cake and enjoyed her little mini party, even though we lied to her about the puppies.

Hahahahaha.

At least we got to have a nice little 1/2 hour of not working, and drinking bubbles, and maybe we'll get to do it again next week when her real birthday rolls around.

101 Things in 1001 Days!

I've been thinking about and working on my list this past weekend. I admit, around list item number 57 I got a little stuck and turned to our friend the google search to find other people who have taken the 101 things in 1001 days challenge, and took a peek at their lists. There were a lot of similarities in everyone's list; lose weight, get in shape, save money, visit far off lands, etc. 

One common thread I found bugged me, however. Some people listed items as private.
For example:
...
7. Eat  a Moons Over My Hammy at Denny's once a week for the duration of this project
8. Ride a unicorn through a wall of fire then spend the rest of the day eating ice cream out of a Brian Wilson's orange baseball shoes.
9. (private)
10. make full sized log cabin out of spaghetti and nutella
...



(Picture stolen from website called fishstripes.com)


Why list (private) things on a public blog? I'm all for making a list of things one has to do, but why even list something that you want to keep private if you're gonna blog about it? Why not just keep a private list of 10 things to yourself and not tell anyone about it. Why say "I have a list of 101 things I'm going to do and not tell anyone about it and my blog posts will look like this:
Dear Blog - today I did Item #9. Or did I? I don't want the blog-reading world to know because it's private." If you don't want anyone to know about it, don't even mention it. Either commit to writing about worms and all, or don't even mention it.

Ok folks, here's my list. Today is Tuesday, November 2, 2010. One thousand and one days from today will be Tuesday, July 30, 2013. Let's see how many list items I can accomplish.

Listed in no particular order of importance .....
1 - Put change in someone's expired parking meter
2 - List 100 things that make me happy
3 - Leave an inspirational note in a library book for some stranger to find
4 - Learn how to shoot a gun
5 - Go to a museum I've never visited before - Week of May 13
6 - Get to my goal weight
7 - Don't watch TV for a week - OK, don't remember the date, but I did it
8 - Bring my lunch to work every day for a month - a few months ago
9 - Take one picture every day for a month
10 - Do 50 consecutive push-ups
11 - Paint my bathroom
12 - Eat at Les Halles in New York
13 - Brew beer
14 - Make a new pa'u out of some old dresses I'm never going to wear again because they're either outdated or I'll never fit into them ever again or they're just plain ugly but the fabric is kinda cool
15 - Lose at least 40 pounds before my upcoming huaka'i in May 2011 - didn't happen
16 - Have a yard sale
17 - Paint the living room
18 - Paint the kitchen
19 - Go to a fireworks show on the 4th of July
20 - Be able to do the splits
21 - Take the two hundred squats challenge (twohundredsquats.com)
22 - Give up Facebook for one week - week of May 13
23 - Take the fam to Long Beach for a few days
24 - Learn to make paper cranes
25 - Get a literary tattoo
26 - Eat 5 things I've never tried before  (#1 Parsnip cake on 12/4)
27 - Teach my son how to hela (no, that's not a typo. I didn't mean to write "teach my son to hula." hela is a movement in hula)
28 - Complete the Hawaiian CDs from Kumu Kaliko
29 - Complete the Hawaiian Language text book I bought
30 - Make 2 parsnip cakes as featured on onehungrychef.com; one for me and one for Tina. 12/5/10
31 - Do the dishes every night after dinner for a month
32 - Go to at least 3 Giants games
33 - Do at least 1 unassisted pull-up
34 - Treat The Girl on a day of totally indulgence - fancy lunch, mani/pedi, movie, etc.
35 - Do the "Couch to 5K in 9 weeks" - done in February 2011
36 - Sell the records I don't care about and find a good home to those I do
37 - Post at least once a month on my other blog for the duration of this project.
38 - Get rid of or repurpose all of the clothes I haven't worn in at least 2 years (except my wedding dress, of course)
39 - Buy a blood pressure monitor 12/4/10
40 - Keep a blood pressure diary until I make my goal weight - not gonna do this
41 - Find a new job w/in my company. It's not that I don't like the people I work for, it's just that I think it's time to do some wing spreading. - sorta did this
42 - Master Ia o e ka la, kahiko version. I missed a few classes when we were learning this one. I always cringe when we have to do this one. Of course Kumu makes us do it when I'm close to the front. OK, I don't think he does it on purpose. I think it just happens that way. Still, I don't know this hula very well and it bugs me that I can't get parts of it right. (right 'uwehe, right 'uwehe, left 'uwehe, right 'uwehe)
43 - Master that simple hula move that for some reason I can't do. There's one that totally trips me up and I don't know why because it's super easy. it's right kawelu facing left followed by left kawelu facing right. I got my kawelu down. why does this variation mess me up? We've been doing it since we learned Mamala, which was even before our first ho'ike. Sheesh. Get with the program, Andrea.
44 - Be able to recite Ke Au Hawai'i without the crutch of my fellow haumana chanting with me. I got this. Why can't I do it alone?
45 - Obtain my WSET Level 3, Advanced certificate
46 - Have a dinner party
47 - Participate in Climb California again and climb all 52 flights of stairs for the American Lung Association - did March 26, 2011
48 - Double the team size of Team Aloha for Climb California - didn't do this, membership stayed flat
49 - Beat my time from 2 years ago when I did Climb California. Last year I was recovering from pneumonia and took longer than the year before. - old record still stands
50 - Complete "The Two Hundred Situps" Challenge
51 - Make French Onion Soup from scratch
52 - Send a "just because" care package to a friend
53 - Clean out the cabinet above the kitchen sink
54 - Turn the hall closet into a linen closet.
55 - Sell unwanted CDs on ebay or get rid of in some way
56 - Complete the parent hours for The Girl's school for the 2011-12 school year before Christmas 2011
57 - Complete the parent hours for The Girl's school for the 2012-13 school year before Christmas 2012
58 - Stock and organize first aid kit in the other hall closet - 12/2010
59 - Get rid of yucky torn towels and replace
60 - Get rid of yucky chipped dishes and replace - 11/20/10
61 - Miss no more Hula classes "because I don't feel like going tonight". I have to have a real reason to miss it like my kids are sick or my legs are broken.
62 - Host Mahjong at my house - 01/09/2011
63 - Ride a mechanical bull
64 - Ride a zipline
65 - Read 50 books
66 - Go to chuch at least once a month for the duration of this project (Christmas and Easter don't count)
67 - Eat at that cash-only Chinese-Muslim restaurant around the block from me that Hubby and I always say "we should eat there, I here it's good" whenever we pass it.
68 - Learn the names of the animals I like a the zoo. (So far - the Churro Sheep is named Wakoda, he's the son of Jerome, one of the Polar Bears is Ulu, the Tapir is Goober, the baby Gorilla is Hasani)
69 - Clean out at least one plastic bin a month - there are about 10 plastic bins in our garage filled with, who knows what it's filled with; stuff to shred, stuff to recycle, stuff to throw away. If it's been in the plastic bin for this long and I don't know what it is, I doubt I need it.
70 - Plan (and do) something super fun and fantastic for my 15th anniversary with Hubby (July 17, 2012)
71 - Get my taxes done by the close of March in 2011, 2012 and 2013. It sucks always waiting until the last minute
72 - Not watch TV more than I watch TV (OK, so this one isn't really measurable but I guess a good indicator if I'm doing this one is whether or not I'm getting other stuff done that I need to do)
73 - Go to Yosemite
74 - Be able to cast doubt on a person's belief that the sasquatch isn't real through the presentation of scientific evidence
75 - Save my change in a jar for the duration of this project
76 - Get rid of 1/3 of what I own - throw it away, recycle it, repurpose it, sell it, etc. I own a lotta crap I don't need, don't know I have, don't care about.
77 - Stop calling people litter-bugs when I see them litter because one day I'm gonna call the wrong person a litter-bug and I'm gonna get my ass kicked.
78 - Participate in the St. Stupid's Day Parade at least 1 time
79 - Ride boats around stow lake - prolly not gonna happen. it's closed now, right?
80 - Go to Angel Island
81 - Make up my own hula to a whole song
82 - Go to a crab dinner at The Girl's school (choice would be Feb 2011, Feb 2012 or Feb 2013)
83 - Put $5 in my change jar once a week for the duration of this project
84 - Meet Whole_Tost of The Toasted Blog
85 - Climb the stairs by my work at least twice a week for the duration of this project (except when its raining or I'm am out of the office)
86 - Have lunch with Bonnie
87 - Approach Sister P about creating a list to the neighbors of St. G regarding parking, events and such
88 - Write a blog post about the tattoo on my arm
89 - Go through the drafts of blog posts I've made and either post them or delete them. - 11/21/10
90 - Spend a day saying hello to strangers who pass me on the street.
91 - Eat at Norton's Vault - can't do this one anymore because NV is closed.
92 - Submit an entry to all of the projects listed on AcoLab, (even the ones I missed the last few months) for the duration of this project
93 - Start playing my 'ukulele again
94 - Teach The Boy to sing 'Puamana'
95 - Make decorations for the front window with my kids for every major holiday starting with Thanksgiving 2010 - OK so I haven't been doing this but The Girl has been commemorating the holidays with sidewalk chalk. That counts.
96 - Clean out the other hall closet and make a space for my crafty stuff, including the sewing machine
97 - Participate in Bay to Breakers at least once (chances are May 2011, May 2012, May 2013)
98 - Take a picture of myself once a month for the duration of this project (similar to but different from different than #9)
99 - Take The Girl to a Waterpark and have tons and tons and tons of fun
100 - Take The Girl to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - July 3, 2011
101 - Keep my toenails painted and pretty at all times.

Now I'm off to put reminders on my phone for the things that have deadlines. Phew.

A New List - coming soon.

It's time to create a new list. I enjoyed having the old list of 50.5 things in 505 days. I didn't do everything on the list. Some of the things I didn't do because after putting them to print I realized that they were stupid, or I was just too lazy to do it. Some of the things on my list were a lot of fun and I would totally do them again.
Here's my old list.
The items in bold type are the things I did. Some of the items you can find in other parts of my blog and some I didn't bother writing about. The notes in italics are my notes written today.

1. Learn how to French Braid with Little Miss as my teacher - i should have done this one but didn't.
2. Participate in Bay to Breakers 2010 - this one cost too much money to sign up. I could have just blended in with the crowd and walked the course but I wanted it to be all official-like
3. At least one meal a day will comprise  only raw food for one month during the week, not on weekends - this one was stupid. I did it but it was stupid. I was hungry all the time and I didn't see any benefit to it.
4. I will climb the coit tower stairs every day for 3 weeks, excluding weekends.
5. I will walk from the office to the Muni instead of taking the shuttle every day for one month
6. Clean out the cabinet above the kitchen sink
7. not cut my hair until at least October 25, 2009
8. practice hula for at least 1/2 hour every day until October 23, 2009
9. put all of my change into a jar until the end of this project
10. finish the blanket I'm making for my mom
11. crochet a blanket for Rose and Darin's baby - I actually did finish this but I thought the blanket was ugly so I never gave it to them.
12.participate in the 2010 climb california, in SF for sure, but maybe another city - I did this, I even had pneumonia the whole week before, but I still did it. It took me about 15 minutes longer than the year before but I did it.
13. Take little mister camping
14. update my progress on this project at least once a week on this blog - this was  a stupid one
15. Give hubby control of the remote, without complaint, for an entire week
16. Give up TV for a week.
17. Read "The other Bolyn girl" or whatever that book is called. - this was a stupid one. I tried but couldn't get into the book.
18. Make a decent Portuguese Bread
19. paint the bathroom
20. tame my CDs and make sure every CD is in its correct case
21. Have a garage sale
22. Try dolmas again. I hate them but I recognize that people's taste buds change. Maybe mine will and I'll like dolmas one day. I would really like to like them.
23. Take the kiddies to Monterey Aquarium
24. Visit Long Beach
25. Call or email all my friends or family on their birthdays. see my comment for #29. It took a while to get the PPD in check. In my head some days my friends were jerk holes and didn't deserve for me to tell them happy birthday. they didn't want to hear from me anyways. Totally stupid, I know, but so is struggling with post partum depression.
26. Make a Cherry Pie
27. Make ravioli with my family
28. Read my bible before I go to bed every night for a month.
29. Compliment someone every day. - I was really grumpy for a lot of 2009. Stupid PPD. anyhow, some days I was lucky to even smile
30. learn how to style my hair 40's style
31. go to the alameda antique market the first sunday of the month at least twice
32. sell a case of melemacs
33. paint the living room
34. paint the hallway
35. ride one of those bikes with 4 seats down JFK on a Sunday in SF.
36. go to the rosicrucian museum
37. visit yosemite (I've never been there, can you believe it?)
38. walk the barbary coast trail
39. finish that quilt I was making when the kitty ate 1/2 a spool of thread and had to have surgery, bad kitty.
40. march in the st. stupid's day parade on April 1, 2010
41. lay flowers on emperor norton's grave
42. go to church 5 sundays in a row
43. take little miss to at least one festa
44. put $1 in the change jar every time I bite or pick my nails so bad they bleed.
45. eat at geneva pizza and exorcise the GP demon that's been plaguing my dreams whenever I have a bad day at work
46. let my hair grow out long enough so I can see what my natural hair color is
47. learn an eddie money song on my ukulele
48. Take little miss to Knott's Berry Farm
49. Ride the Giant Dipper with Little Miss
50. Have a dinner party.
51. go to Angel Island.

Anyhow, I need to create a new list. I'm going to be a bit more ambitious this time around. I'm going the full monty and creating 101 things in 1001 days. Hopefully I'll be more successful. I'm not going to start out thinking I'll finish the list. Why set myself up for failure? This is my list to help me create goals, both fun and noteworthy, and to push myself to do them. It's all about the journey and the sense of accomplishment, right?
Stay tuned for the full list.

Hula For The Cure

Last weekend some of my Hula Brothers and Sisters and I danced at the SGK Run in San Francisco. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun. Here's a video that Hubby took.