Impossible Things – Updated!

I owe credit to @canonicalbabble again for making me realize I should probably check back in on this little list. Here’s my updates of what I’ve done so far, what I’m working and what I need to work on.

Bold – Done!

Italic – Working on it

Blue – Uhh, oh yeah that was on my list wasn’t it…
101 Goals in 1001 Days:

My Body:
1. Use my Wii Fit daily – I used it for the first time in 340 days Tuesday, and haven’t used it since then…sigh
2. Take the dog for a walk on nice days – We are currently in freezing temps and snowy weather, if I’m realistic, I’m not walking the dog on a regular basis until Spring.
3. Eat more fruit/veggies – This has been going well for me so far, I’ve been eating more fruits/veggies and ordering more salads if/when we go out places. I’m happy with my progress here
4. Get at least 6 hours of sleep each night – This has also been going fairly well for me. There have only been a handful of days that haven’t yielded 6+hrs of sleep
5. Cook Healthier meals – Thanks to some wonderful online resources (Kitchen Parade and Liz Brooks at Easy Meals Examiner) and my new subscription to Cooking Light I’ve been able to make things at home that are much healthier than we used to eat.
6. Lose as much of the 70lbs I need to as I can – I’ve made no real effort here and I fully admit, if I had to grade myself, I’d get a big fat “F”. I’m only down about 3lbs from where I was when I originally wrote this. Time to step up!
7. Maintain what I lose – Since I’ve only lost 3lbs, it hasn’t been that difficult, but I will continue to maintain whatever I end up losing, somehow…
8. Fit into my dress from H.S. – See #’s 6 and 7 above, obviously this needs work.
9. Limit my pop intake to 2 per week – I did really well with this for a while and have let is slide again. Back to water!
10. Eat oatmeal for breakfast at least 3 times a week – Again this is something I was really good about for a month or so and totally fell off the wagon on.
11. Do more than 10 pushups – I still don’t know how many I can do, hang on a second….okay, I can do 5, so I’m half-way there!
12. Run a mile – When I used my Wii Fit the other day I ran, not even close to a mile, but it’s a start. Now I just have to keep practicing!
13. Go on 5 bike rides – Okay, so I won’t be pulling my bike out any time soon and I’ve completed zero of the five rides I wanted to. Guess that means I have a few rides ahead of me this summer!
14. Think before I eat – I have been doing a good job of this, mostly because of some health issues I’ve had recently, but it was a jump start in the right direction.
15. Walk through my town – Again, it’s winter and freezing cold, we’ll see if I make it this spring

My Mind:
1. Try to keep a positive attitude – 2 months and counting I’ve been  much more positive every day. And you know what, it feels good.
2. Laugh at least 1 time per day – I laugh a LOT more than I used to and probably more than once a day.
3. Breathe – #1 and #2 have been helping keep this one in check.
4. Set aside 15 minutes everyday for myself – When I get home (after taking care of the animals) I have time to myself every day, usually more than 15 minutes.
5. Watch no more than 2hrs of t.v in a day – We were bad for a while and now we’re doing much better. Just last night we played board/card games instead of watching t.v.
6. Take a class – I haven’t even researched anything about this. I really need to fix that.
7. Research going back to school – If I haven’t researched taking a single class yet, obviously I haven’t researched going to school.
8. Start writing poetry again – 1 poem written, but I really can’t force myself to do this one, it has to be when the mood strikes.
9. Do my Vision Board – Short of making this list I’ve made no progress on my “vision” of where I want to be.
10. Make a Vlog – I actually totally forgot this one was on my list all together….where’s my iSight?
11. Let my husband buy me/pick out an outfit – I won’t be buying new clothes any time soon (see financial stuff below), so this one’s going to have to wait I think.
12. Learn to take a compliment – I’ve become much more gracious when people pay me a compliment. Simply saying thank-you is much easier than assuming they are just being nice.
13. Believe every day that the impossible is possible if you put your mind to it – I still have to repeat this several times.
14. Take more pictures – My camera is currently full of pictures I’ve yet to upload, but I have made great strides in this.
15. Finish my art projects – I’ve still got a couple on my list, but I’ve also checked a few off!
16. Share more on my blog – Since I haven’t been very good about blogging at all, this is very lacking.
17. Kiss my husband goodnight – every night
18. Always say I love you when we part – This is something I’m already in the habit of doing, but I need to remind myself that even if we’re unhappy with one another, I will ALWAYS love him
19. Share some of my poetry – I need to dig those notebooks out and start sharing them with people

Entertainment:
1. Read 12 books – Only 2 done, but I think now that the Holidays are over I can start up in full swing again!

• Mommywood
• Five Love Languages

2. Get a Library Card – This will aid me in the above
3. Go on 3 camping trips – Three down!! And we have another one planned for this summer!
4. Go to Cedar Point – Hubby and I went for our 1 year Anniversary this year – I want to go again!
5. Meet 1 of my “Twitter Friends” in real life – If Ms. @JellieBraden makes her way to IL this will be done at the end of the month!
6. Create my own website for my blog/photos – Obviously the site is up and working, now to just get those pictures linked.
7. Maintain my site – New banner is up, new pages created and blog post (which I need to do more frequently).
8. Watch 1 new movie a month – I started out strong and then fell flat – time to start again!

• Shop Girl
• He’s Just Not That Into You
• Lars and the Real Girl
• You’ve Got Mail

9. Take a road trip – We road tripped to Cedar Point – yay for getting two things done with one trip!
10. Take a vacation with my Brother/Sister(to be) – With a Graduate Program in the works currently, this one will probably have to wait until 2011, but I’m okay with that!
11. Host 3 game nights – One down, two to go!
12. Spend time with my ‘girlfriends” at least every other month – I see some more than others, but I think this is also going pretty well
13. Start saving for a trip to Seattle – nothing saved for a vacation.
14. Spend a long weekend in Michigan – See #13. Maybe we’ll get there….
15. Plan a trip to Canada – My Hubby found a job listing for Vancouver, but that’s the closest we’ve come to making it across the border
16. Get our Passports – I don’t have one and who knows when we’ll decide to fly off somewhere out of the country, lol
17. Visit the Art Museum in Chicago – I’ve lived in the suburbs my entire life and have NEVER been – what is wrong with me?
18. Visit the Shedd Aquarium – On our Anniversary weekend we finished our trip w/a visit to the Shedd!
19. See a play – not sure which one, but it’s something I enjoy doing
20. See a Cubs game – it’s an expensive thing to do and a long day, but there’s nothing like a day at Wrigley Field, especially when they win!
21. See a football game – Not only did I get to go to an NFL football game, I got to see a game I never thought I would. Bears vs. Packers (GO PACK GO)
22. Attend our local town festival – we were camping last year when it happened, I would still like to get there.

Family:
1. Visit my grandpa/aunt in FL at least once – I don’t see them often at all and I need to make an effort to. My grandma passed away and it had been years since I had seen her.
2. Visit my grandparents in IL at least 4 times – We’ve seen them once since I posted this in July….unacceptable!
3. Visit grammy at least 3 times – 2 times so far, but with recent events, I think we may need to bump this up a bit anyway
4. Visit Bob and Pam at least 3 times – 1 time so far, and we’ve seen them more than that, but I still think making a drive to Galena shouldn’t be a problem, tho being invited first would be nice.
5. Visit Mom and Bob at least 3 times – we’ve seen them quite a few times, but there’s no need to call this one done, they’re my hubby’s parents after all.
6. Start our family – I’m calling this in progress because we’ve had many discussions about it, have a tentative “start trying” time and are discussing options regarding birth/raising our future children
7. Take more pictures together – As goofy and by hubby thinks I am for wanting to squish ourselves together for picture when we go somewhere, I appreciate that he is playing along….so far.
8. Spend at least 1 night/day with Doug & Heather a month – it actually feels almost too long if we only see them once a month.
9. Spend time with Chris at least once a month – Now that B works with him and he’s gaming with us, this happens regularly.

Misc.:
1. Finish at least 2 more scrapbooks – Rocky, Leela, Bachelorette Party and Honeymoon – ALL DONE! I still have a lot to do though.
2. Get my paper filing organized – I went on a shredding binge a while back and cleaned out a bunch of it, though it still needs some work
3. Continue to go through my closet/house and donate what we are not using – I’ve got a trunk full of stuff on its way to GoodWill
4. Try 10 new foods -3 of 10 so far.
5. Use the fresh herbs I’m growing – Planted them, grew them and ate them! And I’ll be doing it again this year
6. Get Brian to try 3 new foods – 2 of 3 so far, that’s BIG progress for him!
7. Own a kitten/cat – I love my little Leela girl!
8. Go on at least 1 date a month with my husband – we’ve started date night in every week and we’ve been pretty darn consistent with it. I think it’s helped us stay more connected as a couple too.
9. Try a new recipe a month – I’m making great strides in this since we are having more home-cooked meals!

• Brand new Chili recipe 8/25/09 (and it was good!)
• Chocolate Chip Muffins
• Macaroni and Cheese
• Chicken Cider Stew
• Cheeseburger Casserole
• French Bread
• Ham and Cheese Tarts
• Fudge
• Pulled Pork
• Pot Roast

House
1. Paint the remainder of the rooms in the house – two rooms left that I *need* to paint and the loft/stairway that isn’t a huge deal. I’ve got colors picked out for everything, so it’ll just be buying the paint and applying it!

2. Install blinds on the remaining windows – 2 rooms done  so far
3. Complete a “built-in” desk in the office for 2 – This is on hold until my pickier hubby and I can decide what we really want and have a budget for it.
4. Install our own fence – I think we’ve agreed to wait until we have little ones running around to worry about this, if it gets done sooner great, if not, oh well.
5. Get paver brick patio installed – that’s the plan for this spring!
6. Grow veggies and eat them – I ended up with tomatoes this year and I ate them!
7. Purchase a flat screen t.v. – We’ve agreed that until our old t.v. bites the dust we don’t need this, so again, if it happens great, if not, oh well.
8. Visit a farmer’s market – visited the local one with my awesome sister-in-law (to be). Can’t wait to go again this year.

9. Create a chore routine – it’s created, but we haven’t really stuck to it. Time to work on that.

10. Plant flowers in my flower beds – All of the beds have plants/flowers in them. We’ll see if they come up in the spring!

11. Meet my neighbors – took them cookies when they moved in!
12. Hang icicle lights on the gutters – my Hubby was nice enough to humor me this year and got them all put up for me.
13. Convince Hubby that an outdoor fireplace IS a good idea and then make it happen
14. Get a new patio furniture set – I think a paint job on our old set is about all the progress we’ll be making toward a new one this year

Finances:
1. Have enough money in the savings account to “live” for 6 months – currently working on this
2. Have enough money to take a vacation – no vacation until #1 is completed.
3. Start our child’s college fund – see #1
4. Payoff all of our credit card debt – We started to tackle this and then let it slide, time to get serious!
6. Start a retirement fund – We are both currently participating in our employers retirement plans
7. Payoff Brian’s car – we’re making progress monthly, though I’m not sure it’ll be done by the time this is supposed to be.
8. Payoff My car – See #8
9. Set a monthly budget for groceries/entertainment/clothes and STICK TO IT –  Currently failing at this!
10. Cut coupons and USE them – this is something I did and then stopped and am starting again
11. Sell the rest of my “collectables” on either ebay or craigslist – I have one item left that I’d really like to get rid of
12. Find a way to either increase our income or decrease some of our spending – we are re-evaluating this all the time it’s a constant work in progress
13. Research ways to work from home once we start our family – At this point working from home won’t be an option for me, but I’ve always got my eyes open.

There’s a lot more blue on this list than I wanted to see, but the only thing that’s going to change it is to start being more serious about it.

My end date for this project is April 11, 2012. The website if you want to check it out is DayZeroProject.