101 things in 1001 days
Thursday, January 1, 2009 - Thursday, September 29, 2011
As of January 1st, this is still a work in progress, as is life.
Travel
1. latvia for 3 months in 2009
2. get residence permit for latvia - also gives me travel rights throughout europe
3. hopefully, latvia for 1-2 years after residence permit obtained
4. buy a used scooter in europe and use it as supplemental to travel by train, bus, foot
5. cycle in Province April 2009
6. get wet in the Mediterranean May 2009
7. travel to Canada's Maritime provinces
8. Banff and Baker Creek every August
Using Latvia as a home base:
9. travel Sweden
10. travel Germany
11. travel France
12. travel Netherlands
13. travel Denmark
14. travel Portugal
15. travel Spain
16. travel Finland
17. travel Baltics
18. travel UK
19. visit St. Petersburg by train from Riga with my favorite cousin
20. visit Moscow by train with my sister-in-law
21. improve my French (The TEST: I can get lost and get back on my own)
22. improve my Latvian (The TEST: my sister-in-law is not afraid to turn me loose on my own)
23. learn enough Spanish to get by (i.e., restaurants, hotels, cabs, buses, trains, shops)
Health/Fitness
24. quit smoking for 30 consecutive days January 2009
25. get the bridge for my teeth before they all fall out
26. schedule annual dental check
27. learn to swim
28. get off the osteo meds by the end of 2009 through diet, weights, yoga
29. schedule bone scan end of 2010
30. 30 consecutive days of the YMCA in January (1/30)
31. 6 x week at the Y in February and March
32. 5 x week home workouts and yoga overseas in April, May, June
33. fit back into my favorite skirts
Personal
34. have one caffeine free day every week
35. get a professional haircut 2x year
36. get a professional manicure/pedicure 2x year
37. buy fresh undies on my birthday
38. daily affirmations (e.g., Louise Hay)
39. edit/reorganize my Favorites on the computer
40. buy another external drive to store photos
41. digitize all my negatives
42. take responsibility for my state (emotional, physical, etc.):
- don't be unhappy for someone else's sake (you know the thing: "What are you so happy about? Don't you know the world/your mother/your father/blah blah blah....." "How can you be happy when I'm blah blah blah....." - be happy for my own sake
43. Groom - there is no universal prohibition against looking your best - just make sure it falls into the safe range at http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
Creative
44. finish 2 sweaters in progress now
45. finish 2 quilts (tops are pieced - need stuffing and backing, and lots and lots of tiny stitching)
46. build a playhouse for/with my niece in 2010 (she'll be five then)
47. photograph and blog Hamilton, Ontario before I leave - it's so much prettier than anyone knows - one of Ontario's better kept secrets
48. photograph and blog the Latvian experience when I get there - also so much prettier than anyone knows
49. summer 2009 hook up with a creative writing group
50. finish one short story for publication
51. try and get it published
52. On return to Canada: Guttenberg Project - get as much pre-communist Latvian fiction on there as I possibly can - lifetime project
53. on return to Canada: collect as much pre-communist Latvian fiction as I can via Latvian centres, ads in papers,etc.
54. knit with/for a charity group, e.g. hats/sweaters for premies, orphans, etc.
55. learn to sketch
Friends/Family
56. get my mother's house sold by end of March 2009
57. move my mother to latvia April 1, 2009
58. get that family tree done before all the ancient ones die - 2009
59. get all of my chums on skype so we can talk face-to-face from anywhere in the world
60. spend all my Xmas's with my daughter, no matter where we are
61. mail real paper birthday cards
62. every year, make one new friend under the age of 30 - stay in touch via skype & email
Karma
63. sponsor a child through Foster Parents Plan
64. pray for peace every day, even though i'm an atheist (if there is a god, she hears all our prayers) (1/365)
65. stay friends with my ex's - it's not their fault they're not who I thought they were, or that I am what I am (measure: Ex 1 - monthly updates, emails; Ex 2 - ongoing Skype, visits)
66. 3x week Gratitude Journal (1/52)
67. instead of bombarding my daughter with haphazard emails, put createive thought into 2x weekly "letters" with pictures (does not apply when I need her immediate response to something I'm doing for her)
Finances
68. figure out how i'm going to finance my daughter's graduate degree
69. create a budget for the year on Quicken
70. track all income/expenses in Quicken
71. summer 2009 - consultation with financial and estate planners
72. keep an eye on the stocks so I can sell a useful one when I'm ready to buy a modest home in Canada
73. convert equity stocks to income funds as the stock market makes it profitable
74. Income Goal: $30-32K Cdn annual
75. Learn how to read a financial statement
Home
76. finish building the house in Latvia
77. landscape the property - a garden, paths - fruit, fresh veg, flowers-, greenhouse, a field of alfalfa instead of lawn
78. live one year overseas as much as possible off what the garden provides
79. learn to bake bread as per the Mother Earth News article: "Five Minutes a Day for Fresh-Baked Bread" By Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François
80. try growing and processing my own/daughter's stevia supply
81. find a modest home in Canada, with a big garden
make a plan for an "urban homstead"
82. build, sew, paint, scrounge/rehabilitate, make, as much of my own furnishings as possible - in any country
83. have nothing in my home that is not useful or beautiful (William Morris, (1834 – 1896), designer, writer, here misquoted)
MOVE later when finished:
84. Personal: learn to use my camera
85. Home: sell chairs & bed & bedside tables
86. Personal: wear all of my clothes, give away the pieces that don't work for me
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