Memories

My Mom has been really good about checking off items from her Day Zero list. Actually, she has three lists going right now. One of her newer items is to create a memory jar. Over the year, you can write down different experiences. On New Year's Eve you read over all of your memories from the year. I like this idea because you can be reminded of things that happened that you may not have taken photos of, or blogged about, or updated your Facebook status for. It turns out I had four Yankee Candles that were burned completely and I had been trying to think of things to do with them. Mom and I used two of them to collect our memories for 2012.

Here's a picture I took with my phone, followed by a regular picture so you can see it a bit better:

Oh, and a handy hint: to get the remaining wax out of your jar, place the jar in your freezer for 10 minutes or so. The wax shrinks up a bit and is easily removed from the bottom of your jar. I used kitchen scissors to break up the wax a bit more so it could fall right out of the jar.

Hopefully we can keep up with this so we have plenty of memories to read on New Year's Eve!

Where a Kid Can Be a Kid

On Monday the girls and I visited with Nonna, Auntie Laura, Uncle Nick, and Bridget. As we were hanging out we decided on a spontaneous trip to Chuck E Cheese-a first for the three girls (and an item on that "To Do" list I started many months ago).

We all had a really great time, though it was a LOT of work (even though the adults out-numbered the kids 4 to 1). It seemed like Sarah and Abigail wanted to go in opposite directions a lot of the time.

The girls enjoyed riding the mini carousel and helping Mommy play ski ball. Abigail also enjoyed crawling through tubes near the ceiling that led to a fun slide. Sarah seemed pretty excited to run all over the place.

We all had a great time! It'll be even more fun once Bridget is older (though, I think we'll need reinforcements with a third little girl running around ;-)

Special thanks to my sister for the pictures!

Unfinished Business

My DayZero Project countdown is well underway. I have 983 days left to complete the 80 tasks I have on my list (I still plan to come up with 101 total tasks).

I have a few tasks that are "In Progress". Also, a number of my tasks start with the word "Finish". I start a lot of projects I'm excited about but either take forever to finish them, or I don't finish them at all. This is one of the reasons I'm looking forward to plugging along with this project. I actually want to finish things I've started in the past, and finish tasks I'm starting during this project.

So, here's a little progress report:

Finish my Mom's Grandmother cross-stitch pattern
Every Christmas my immediate family draws names for a gift exchange. The idea though, is to make that person a gift rather than buy a gift. Last Christmas I drew my Mom's name. I had the ambitious task of doing a cross-stitch pattern I found on E-Bay to display the names and birth dates of my Mom's grandchildren. I spent a lot of time on the pattern, but failed to finish it in time. My goal now is to finish the pattern by this Christmas. It's coming along:

Memorize Romans
My Church, GENESIS, is going through a sermon series on Romans. Our Pastor challenged us to memorize the entire letter ("book") which consists of 16 chapters. I know this is a big undertaking, but I believe it is possible if I practice every day and attempt to add a few new verses each week. I tend to practice at the breakfast table with Abigail and Sarah. When I successfully add a new verse I get a little excited and shout "Yes!". Well, Abigail has now gotten into the habit of reciting her own "verse", which goes a little like this "Christ the Lord and the Gentiles...Yes!" So far I have 12 verses under my belt out of 433, so I'm 2.8% complete. I think this task will take the full 1,001 days ;-)

Read 5 classic "banned" books
My Mom and I decided to do this task together and read the same books that have been banned or challenged. I finished Animal Farm by George Orwell and am currently reading The Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger.

I still have a long way to go on my list, but I am planning on finishing what I have started!

Day Zero

Today I started my own DayZero list. DayZero is a 1,001 day project where you establish 101 goals/tasks to complete and track. I was inspired to do this because my cousin started her own list. This seems like a great way to establish attainable goals, keep track of them, and motivate myself to complete them.

So far I've only come up with 74 items. Some goals involve my health (losing weight, avoiding snacks after a certain time). Other goals deal with finances/organization (saving 3-6 months of expenses, cleaning out my closet). I also have goals that deal with my spiritual well-being (journaling, memorizing a book of the Bible). And of course, this list wouldn't be my list without a few random and fun goals (building a gingerbread house, learning a magic trick).

I encourage you to check out my list and check out this blog to see how I progress.