October 2011 Goals (PLUS! Exciting dinner party pictures!)
Um, holy crap you guys! I totally forgot to post my goals on 10/1/11! In my defense, 9/30/11 was a really long day, and I spent most of Saturday recovering. With baklava. As you do.
ANYWAYS – let’s talk about the plan for October! And look back on September!
September Goals
- Can tomatoes…salsa, marinara, ketchup, whatever – just can it! – half SUCCESS! I canned lots of marinara and salsa, but there are still so many tomatoes left. There is work to be done this weekend, people.
- PICKLES! My cucumbers, once again, sucked, so I will be hitting up a farmer’s market and buying as many cukes as I can carry for dill pickles and bread & butter pickles. I’ve already done beet pickles & pickled asparagus this year. – FAIL! I actually completely forgot about this. I should probably make some pickles, but only if I have time. I’ve been busy.
- Finish the bathroom before my in-laws arrive! It would be awesome to have a second usable bathroom as well as a usable guest room by the time they get here. – 3/4 SUCCESS! The toilet & the sink were all hooked up. The floors were done! It is good. We still have to finish tiling the tub/shower area, add in the built-in shelves, and paint, but it’s getting there! And, the important bits are usable. Oooh – and! the bathroom is now street legal! The inspector came Friday morning & passed us! YAY!
- Fancy dinner party. It is on my life list, and I am excited to host a few friends for my first fancy dinner party. I have invitations to go out this weekend. I am finalizing the menu. I wish I could invite everyone I know, but unfortunately, I don’t have enough room for that many people! – SUCCESS! My fancy dinner party was Friday night, and it was so much fun. We did a Greek menu, and most of my plates even matched. The food was good, and I think a good time was had by all.
Mother-effing pirate festival. Every year, I say I’m going to go, and every year, I don’t. I can walk there! The only year I actually did go was 2007 – and it was the day after the architect had surgery. He insisted he wanted to go, so we drove. And parked about 1/2 mile away (and 1/2 mile away from our house). We got there, walked around a bit, and then he felt crappy, so I went and fetched the car & picked him up at the gate. Not the best time, really. The next year it rained. I don’t remember my excuse for 2009, but last year, I just flat out forgot. Not this time, bitches! I am going to the pirate festival, and you can’t stop me! YARGHHHHHHHHHHH!(Ummm, I just went to the site to get the link, and it’s MOVED! I can no longer walk there! WTF, Pirate Festival?! Is this because I never attend? WHYYYYY??????) (AND, it’s Labor Day weekend! When I will be laboring! I do not want to drive to St. Helens for my piratey goodness!) (Also, I really wish the interrobang was a symbol on my keyboard.) – I hate you stupid Pirate Festival that isn’t down the street from my house anymore. BOOO!- Since I just maybe deleted my goal #5, I decided I should probably add a real goal #5. Okay, then….this is harder than I thought. I was so set on the pirate festival. Oooh – I know! I will fall-clean and organize my kitchen! I was thinking I was going to anyways, due to the how-to guide posted by Cat, but now I have to! (And I really, really need to…the house cleaner is good at making my house look clean, but she hasn’t looked in the fridge or taken the initiative to organize my pantry & cupboards…I have a LOT of kitchen gadgets, and should probably determine which are necessary and which can go.) – ha ha ha ha ha ha! FAIL! ha ha ha.
- Oh, wait! I just thought of another! I need to plan the next 12 months of the gardening enterprise and get some fall crops in the ground! – half SUCCESS! I have a lot of the initial plans done, and if there’s a break in the weather this weekend, I will pull out the remainder of the summer crops, get the garlic & onions in the ground, and plant some fall/winter greens.
September Training Goals
So – keep up with the exercise & training, and also CORE! – SUCCESS! All things considered, anyways. 😉
October 2011 Goals
- Finish the bathroom by 10/29/11. We can do it! All supplies are purchased! I can paint like a mad woman! And make sandwiches for the architect while he tiles. (I am not allowed to tile due to my propensity to say, “eh, fuck it! That’s good enough!”) I am excellent construction support staff.
- Get the rain garden outlined, dug, and partially planted.
- Finish summer garden/start fall garden.
- Remove all extraneous computer crap from the house. Like the printer that doesn’t work. And the CRT monitor that weighs 375 lbs. And the 50 (approximate count) PCs (both laptop & desktop) that are just sitting around doing nothing. NOTHING! Except gathering dust.
- Finish my very last class of my Master’s program with an “A” before starting the final project phase.
- Throw the ass-kicking-est 2nd Annual Halloween bash ever! YAY for Halloween! We will have a howling good time!
October Training Goals
I have them! My gym membership expires this month, and I will not be renewing it. So, I want to spend more time outdoors. Running, jumping, biking, hiking, etc. I have been slacking on yoga lately, too, and need to make that a regular practice again.
And, because I had such a great time at the fancy dinner party, here are some photos! Although, not of the food, really. Which makes me sad. I should’ve at least taken a picture of the baklava!
My place settings don’t all match, but there is, at least, a theme.
One place setting; you can’t see the black salad plate underneath, but it’s there! Also, check out my fancy silver (plated) flatware! Ooooh!
The hors d’oeuvres table: falafel, various hummuses, a bunch of goat and sheep cheeses, some awesome olives, and a quince spread (so good on cheese); with pita, of course!
The architect in all his finery – isn’t he handsome? (That suit was last year’s xmas present from yours truly…)
Zach & Jen – we have such good looking friends!
Sarah & Michael – enjoying a pre-dinner lemon drop.
The Ambitious One & Mr. Pi (apparently they don’t get real names); with Lola in the background!
Dinner – salad course at this point! Pre-salad was the avgolemono soup (so good), and post Greek salad, was the main course(s): moussaka, spanakopita, and dolmas with an avgolemono sauce.
Post dinner wine and dessert: baklava (that 9×13 pan of baklava apparently has a street value of about $60) and more cheese! Please note our exciting ceiling art installation! It’s a commentary on the modern conveniences of life that are often ignored in polite society. Or possibly, it’s where we had to cut into the ceiling to move the plumbing for the upstairs bathroom.
ANYWAYS! Dinner party done! And another item checked off my life list! YAY!
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