101 in 1001 : 63 Coming in to land

I'm back from Dublin, none the worse for the weather (although it was blinkin' freezing there was no snow until I got back over here. The NW looked especially white as we flew back over it.)

Had a fab time being a tourist. The hotel was exceedingly posh - but about a mile outside the city centre which did my pedometer step count no end of good. (That is, until I discovered the local bus services...).

The economic recession has really hit home in Dublin. It's always been an expensive place but it's obvious now that people are struggling. Everywhere you look in the tourist areas there are people begging and hustling just to stay alive. Lots of homeless people, too. Instead of feeling guilty about it, it's prodded me into making a donation to the Salvation Army who do such a good job helping people whose only place is out on the streets. I've paid for a soup run - I hope it helps just a bit.

So - for an update on the listy thing:

4. Had a brief swim at the hotel (6 lengths, I said it was brief!) but I was really only there for the sauna :)

7. Step count is now 91,644/202,000

14. Done! I happened to get to Christchurch Cathedral just at the start of a service so I crept in and sat at the back.

24. £150 now in the terramundi!

25-28 and 44-45. Steady progress on all these. The budget is looking really good considering it's Christmas and considering I've just been to one of the most overpriced places in Europe! Mind you, I haven't had to buy any food as I'm only back here until lunchtime today when I go off to my parents for the rest of Christmas.

35. I can highly recommend Fan's Cantonese resturant, Dame Street Dublin. I had their "Early Bird" set special and it was delicious :)

63. Done!

77. Done!

96. So that's another three things complete.

Packing's done - off to Ireland!

It's always the way, huh? First day of the holidays and I was wide awake at 5am...I never do that when I'm at work!

All the packing's done and I'm off for a long weekend in Dublin. Looking forward to being a tourist and having my meals cooked for me. I'll get a couple of list items ticked off with this trip and probably start a few more.

Back on Wednesday, then off to my parents for Christmas.

Season's Greetings to you all - thank you for reading!

Red nosed reindeer!

It's only a week 'til I break up from work. A whole fortnight off!

This week has been steady - nothing major achieved but lots of things ticking nicely along.

Almost £150 rattling around in the terramundi pot - apparently it holds about £400 so a way to go yet. £2 coins seem to be rarer than hen's teeth at the moment...

I've sorted next year's budget spreadsheet out - made lots of alterations to the one I used this year to make it much more relevant to me. Is it sad to be looking forward to using it? ::nods...probably::

Looking forward to this time next week when I'll be drinking something stout-y in a pub in Dublin.

Happy Christmas folks!

Is it nearly Christmas yet?!

I get stupidly excited about Christmas :)

Unfortunately, this year I don't see much point in festooning the place in decorations as I won't be at home from the 19th onwards - I shall instead leave my curtains open in the evenings so I can appreciate the neighbours'! The people in the flat opposite mine have a small child and they seem to have bought an entire store's worth of lights. They look good from over here :)

All the presents are bought - except, you know how it is - you've bought one thing then you see something else that would actually be much better for the recipient and it's a battle between returning the first gift, giving that to someone else, or getting them both....! Anyway - MOST of the presents are bought.

List!

3. A few hours donated to my best mate who needed some help with furniture moving. She also had me taking her rubbish to the local tip AND cooking lunch for us. Good job I love her ;)

6. - Another item ticked off - I've got my pedometer and have started counting steps. I'm woefully short of the recommended 10,000 a day but hoping to work up to that.

57 - Catch 101 fish - despite nearly coming down with hypothermia on Friday, I managed eleven fish on board AlyKat out of Minehead. Go me!

Progress!

I've had quite a productive week list-wise :)

I volunteered an hour to help a mate - driving to meet her halfway and loaning her my sat nav (as well as teaching her how to use it!) in order for her to go over to Belfast and collect her daughter whose relationship had gone a bit sour. As it turns out, she didn't need to - but I may well be volunteering some more time to help move her house round to accommodate said daughter when she eventually does come home for good. (Mums are like that - always there when you really need them!).

I've been researching retreat sites and I think I've found one I'd like to attend. It's basically a Buddhist place (although there's no emphasis on religion) and it's a week long silent retreat. With today's consumer emphasis a week of silence is equally attractive and terrifying.

I have ordered my pedometer so I can start counting steps. 10,000 a day is supposed to be healthy - I suspect I do less than half of that - so more walking is in order.

Note to self : Get back to the gym and start swimming again!

I've been forecasting next year's budget in order to work out what I can save for. I reckon I'll have reached the "Rainy Day Fund" target (6 month's wages) by next December, after which I want to save for a really special holiday for my 40th birthday (May 2011). I could do the Banff Rocky Mountaineer train journey (first class all the way!) for about £4,000 so that will be the next target.

(Looking back on that, I feel the need to add that I really do know how lucky I am to have a job that pays well and that I love. There are an awful lot of folks who struggle to make ends meet - I used to be one of them and I am eternally greatful to not be there anymore.)

All the regular tasks are ticking along nicely and I've updated the list over there ~~~~~~~~~~>

101 in 1001 - 12. Give someone flowers "just because"

Sunday lunch at the folks.

I did all Mum's Christmas wrapping (and co-incidentally, got an extraordinarily good exchange rate on some Euros for my Dublin trip) and got fed.

Bargain!

(Not a bad shot for the camera phone, either!)

Another couple of books read - lighter stuff this time. Adrian Mole and the Prostate Years and Unseen Academicals. Both very good, the second one surprisingly so as it was all about football which I hate :)

93. Write a letter praising a company's service - Done (if you count an email!) - I emailed the company who sorted my new TV aeriel last week. The chap that came round was very professional - he rang me to say he was stuck in traffic and when to expect him, he fitted the aeriel splitter, tidied up after himself and was gone inside an hour. Marvellous. Now I have a TV in the bedroom I may never get up again!

List updated over there ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

Same old, same old

Nowt's changed :)

Weekly tasks have been done.

I baked a new thing this week - from "Economy Gastronomy" - a chickpea loaf thing. It's gone in the freezer in slices, so a review is yet to come....

I bought a new TV - *so* not on the list but after tomorrow (when aerial man comes to see me) I will be able to lie in bed and watch DVDs. I may never move again....(apart from fishing trips)

So - a few things done this week.

I saw the sun rise at the seaside (see previous entry) and it was spectacular! Unfortunately, by the time the sun set it was pouring with rain, so I couldn't kill two items with one stone :) Only caught one fish, too -but it's more about the company, to be honest.

I've read another book "The White Queen" by Phillipa Gregory. I didn't enjoy it as much as her Tudor series - the language and style were very different and I found it harder to follow who was related to who - probably because I know so little about that era.

Financials ticking along nicely.

I've made a few alterations to the original list. After a while, you get to know what's achievable and what isn't - and it's my list so I'll change it if I like. Hehehe.

Thanks for all the messages and views on my Flickr account - keeps me motivated :)

101 in 1001 : 54. Sunrise in the Bristol Channel

I caught one solitary fish but with a sunrise like this and the mad boys for company it really didn't matter!

The rest of the set (and the mad boys) are here.

Excited, me?

We're off to Wales tomorrow to go fishing.

The skipper says there's been a few early winter cod about and lots of these big blonde rays.

Woo hoo....

Only 96 fish to go to hit my target :)

OK, so what have I done this week?

• Work was pretty busy – travelling takes up quite a lot of my time as my patch stretches from Aberdeen to Penzance. Luckily, I don’t have to go to either end of the country all that often, but still…!

• On payday I transferred the remaining cash to my savings accounts so I’m up to 24% of my target (6 month’s wages). That way, if the sky falls in I’ll be ok while I’m picking the pieces up J I’m lucky – I have a well paid job, but it’s really only in the last year or so I’ve had enough of a surplus to be able to save. And I spent most of last year’s on a new car when my old one went to the scrapyard in the sky. Hey ho – almost a quarter of the way on that one!

• All the financial items are ticking along nicely – I actually update things way more than twice a week but this just makes sure I do keep an eye on things.

• Baking – I found a recipe for raspberry flapjacks and made some. NOT a rip roaring success. I’ve never been any good at flapjack. Won’t be making those again.

• New comedy DVDs – series 15/16 of Last of the Summer Wine arrived last week and has been keeping me entertained. The vast majority of my DVDs are comedy – I think I own about five feature films. I find horror films too scary (I’m such a wuss!) and thrillers too boring. I like my DVDs in half hour bursts that make me laugh J

• I still haven’t finished the spreadsheet for organising this – maybe I don’t need one and I should change that item for something else? I also still haven’t sent off my passport renewal. Procrastination rules!

• Looking forward to going to Dublin for five days before Christmas (can I say that word now it’s November?!) and then to my parents for Christmas itself. That should mean two weeks off work and no need to go shopping for food in the supermarket mayhem. Result J

58. Catch 101 fish

I belong to a local sea fishing club (yes, I know that's odd living in the middle of the UK, don't start!) and we go out once a month.

On Friday we went to Weymouth to fish with one of our favourite skippers, Chris Caines on his boat Tiger Lily. Apart from the 4am start (!) it was a lovely day, weather held out and the sea got progressively calmer after a choppy start.

We'd decided to stay overnight on this trip so an excellent evening in a local pub was had. The B+B was a little *limited*... though I love these lads dearly, being the only girl in the club has its advantages (not having to share rooms with any of them is a big plus!). I was put in what the landlady optimistically described as a standard room. Yeah. Given another six square feet of space it would have been a standard wardrobe. What there was of it was comfortable though. And I'd had enough beer not to care :)

So - that's progress on another list item. I caught five fish. 96 to go :)

That's Pete in the photo above - not having one of his better days!

One month down - only 32 to go...

It's been a very quiet week list-wise.

Work is pretty frantic at the moment. I'm having to do my day job and also a seconded post that has been dormant for a while but is now getting quite lively again. I suppose it's better than being bored!

I've updated the list - it's over there ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>

Flat smells lovely, there's a chicken roasting in the oven :)

Three weeks in...

Quick update on the neverending list (or does it just seem that way...?)

25. Up to £120 in the terramundi now

26-8. All up to date (6/286)

31. Get a wok - have asked for a really good one for Christmas :)

35. Lay the dining table and eat at it once a week - (3/143)

37 & 8. New recipe - already blogged (1/50 and 1/33)

43. Packed lunch in the office (5/5)

45. Spam blasting (3/143)

47. Cross stitch for someone else - Done! It's a Christmas present though, so the photo will have to wait.

64. I've booked a long weekend in Dublin for just before Christmas. Guiness here I come :)

85. See previous blog - done!

96 - 8. Updated

101 in 1001 - 85. Photograph a race, march or parade

The EDF Energy World Half marathon was held this morning in Birmingham. Apart form having to get up at silly o'clock to get down to it, it was jolly good fun. Watching, obviously, not taking part. I was standing at the 3 mile and 5 kilometre points and there were already some very tired looking people going past. Not these two, though! Jenna and Bob were all smiles.

You can see the rest of the set (and more silly costumes) here.

101 in 1001 - 37. & 38. Cook a new recipe

Chicken and celery stir fry :

Chicken breast
1 onion, chopped into smallish chunks
4 stalks of celery, chopped on the diagonal to give lozenge shaped chunks
beansprouts
3 spring onions, chopped

chicken stock
soy sauce
five spice powder
cornflour, slaked in water

I grilled the chicken seperately, 'cause I like it crispy :)

Cook the onion and celery in oil until softened but not browned.

Add the stock, soy and five spice.

Add the beansprouts and spring onion.

Thicken the sauce with the cornflour 'til it's smooth and glossy.

Serve over rice.

Two weeks in

This week saw our team away day (see previous post) with a day out on a canal boat at Skipton. With the travelling time, it turned into a 14 hour day (argh!) but it was really good fun. OK, so I can't steer boats (I'm better at fishing off the back of them...) but we had a great time and learned some interesting things about each other.

So - that's one thing ticked off and completed.

59. Take a trip on a canal boat

Other stuff updated :

23. Rainy Day fund - after pay day I'm now up to 20% of my target

25. £2 coins - up to £110

26-8. I'm checking and updating more than twice a week, but it keeps me in line

43. Packed lunches - only been in the office twice since this started, but have taken lunch both days

45 - 6. Spam cleared and system defragged

47. Cross stitch really coming on - there are six panels and I've almost finished the third one. Dying to post pictures, but it will have to wait until it's finished

53. Read "Mary Tudor, The First Queen" - really interesting portrait of her. It seemed to be very well researched and debunked many of the "Bloody Mary" theories.

96 - 8. Pictures and blog done :)

Thanks to everyone who's reading this and leaving comments - makes me feel accountable to you all. Eep!

101 in 1001 - 59. Take a trip on a canal boat

Done!

(I am not a natural skipper. The whole "steer left to go right" thing just does not compute...the increasingly frantic handsignals coming from the front, pointy bit convinced me to stick to operating the swing bridges)

101 in 1001 - 30. Bake something once a month

Team away day tomorrow. We're off to play on a canal boat!

Ahem. We're off to explore our team structure, learn about our colleagues, problem solve and brainstorm.

Apparently I'm not allowed on board unless I (in the words of a colleague) "bring buns!"

101 in 1001 - 53. Read some (new to me) books

That'll give me something to do this week, then....

13. Unplugged! (1/33)

Well...don't you get so much stuff done when you're not distracted by the TV and the computer?!

I watched "The Tudors" on Friday night (phwoor @ gorgeous men in doublet and hose...shame about the lack of historical accuracy but who cares?!) and then went to bed. Woke up yesterday morning and stopped myself putting the radio on. My unplugged day had begun.

I managed to :

Clean the wooden floors
Do all the washing
Go to the library - four more books to read
Go shopping - I did speak to a couple of people here, well you can't seem *too* rude, can you? :)
Cook dinner
Read one of the library books - "So Me" Graham Norton's autobiography which was really good. Laugh out loud funny in a lot of places.

I held out until 7pm then I plugged back into the world again. So, 21 out of 24 hours isn't bad for a first time and I'm counting it as a success. It's my list, so I can :)

It's been a long, hard tiring week. Could have done with about 12 extra hours a day...

However, some progress has been made and it's the weekend!

11. Posted the first "Saw this and thought of you" present - see previous post.

25. Collect £2 coins - another £6 added, total now £106 in my new terramundi pot.

26/27/28. All on track (4/286)

35. Lay the dining table - I've found that now I have cleared it of junk and put a cloth on it I'm actually using it a lot more.

47. Cross stitch project for someone else - coming along nicely. Hope to have it finished before Christmas.

53. Read some new books (2/50) - Ok, an odd choice, perhaps for the first of my new books but this week I've polished off (ha!) "Executioner Pierrepoint", the autobiography of the UK's last Official Executioner. Not the easiest writing style, but it was a fascinating book.

In the same vein (and also in the same Amazon order) came "The Executioner's Bible" the story of all the UK's 20th century executioners. Sometimes reading more like a long list of crimes and resulting punishments it was nevertheless an interesting counterpoint. There were a few incidents that happened quite differently than in Pierrepoint's book, depending on who you believe.

I'm going to spend a couple of hours in the library tomorrow and I'm expecting another couple of books from Amazon soon. Tudor history this time, so just as likely to contain details of executions. Hmm...maybe I need to get out more? :)

I might also use tomorrow as the first of my "umplugged" days. I'm thinking of revising the exact detail of it slightly, as I know that I'm incapable of going 24 minutes without talking to myself, let alone 24 hours! I think it's living alone...you have to talk to yourself otherwise how can you have a decent argument?! So, the unplugged days will, I think, just be sans electronic gadgets - no TV, radio, DS, computer etc.

98. Update blog once a week - tick!

11. Saw these and thought of you! (1/10)

Hoomins adore kittehs.

Iz gud job, rly.

Kittehs can't opn cat fud tins...

Kthnxbai!

101 in 1001 - 25. Collect £2 coins

101 in 1001 - 25 Collect £2 coins, originally uploaded by Cellach.

The new terramundi pot for my £2 coin collection

Week One - Update

I spent the weekend with a couple of friends and they both got quite excited about "The List". One of them has gone away having written her own! (The other one's decided against it - she's having a baby and frankly will have quite enough to do in a few months time...)

So. What have I done this week?

1. Create blog - done

2. Create a collection on Flickr - done

3. Make a spreadsheet to track these tasks - started

11. Give 10 "Saw this and thought of you" gifts - bought the first, need to post it. I won't put the picture up on Flickr until it's been received, lest I tip the recipient off in advance!

23, Rainy Day fund - I've decided to continue with the saving I'd already started (14.8%)

25. £2 coins - I've bought a new terramundi pot to keep them in (£100)

26/27/28. Financial updates done twice this week (2/286)

35. Lay the dinner table for a meal once a week (1/143)

47. Finish a cross stitch project for someone else - again I won't be posting a picture of this until it's handed over.

48. Finish "Max"

50. Finish the Samurai

96. Blog about each completed item (2/101)

97. Take a photo for each completed item (2/101)

98. Update blog once a week (1/43)

Not bad for the first few days :) Just need to keep the momentum up and remember to take the camera *everywhere*.

The list

1. Create a blog for this list – otherwise, who’d know?!
2. Create a new collection on Flickr.com to house the photos
3. Make a spreadsheet of these tasks with tracking capabilities
4. Volunteer 101 hours of my time (to family, friends, or charities) (0/101)
5. Swim 1001 lengths of the pool at the gym (0/1001)
6. Get a comfortable pair of earplugs for my MP3 player
7. Get a pedometer
8. Walk 101 miles (counted on a pedometer, that’s approximately 202,000 steps!) (0/202,000)
9. Send a secret to Postsecret.com
10. Leave 10 “secrets” in books for other people to find (0/10)
11. Give 10 “I saw this and thought of you” cards or presents (0/10)
12. Give someone flowers “just because” (0/5)
13. Have an “unplugged day” (no speaking, radio, TV, MP3, computer for 24 hours) once a month (0/33)
14. Learn to meditate
15. Attend an organised act of worship
16. Attend an organised retreat
17. Give something up for Lent (0/3)
18. Read the Bible
19. Read the Qur’an (Both this and the Talmud would take far longer than 1001 days to fully comprehend, so I’m just aiming for a basic understanding!)
20. Visit a mosque
21. Read the Talmud (Both this and the Qur’an would take far longer than 1001 days to fully comprehend, so I’m just aiming for a basic understanding!)
22. Visit a synagogue
23. Rainy Day fund – save 6 months net wages (14.8%)
24. When the Rainy Day fund’s complete – save for a camper van!
25. Collect every £2 coin I get in change (£100)
26. Check online banking twice a week (1/286)
27. Update budget spreadsheet twice a week (1/286)
28. Log on to MoneySavingExpert.com twice a week for motivation (1/286)
29. File all bills and paperwork once a month (0/33)
30. Bake something once a month (0/33)
31. Get a new wok
32. Get a set of good crockery
33. Get a set of good cutlery
34. Free/Recycle the old crockery and cutlery
35. Lay the dining table and eat at it once a week (0/143)
36. Eat out in 10 new restaurants (0/10)
37. Collect recipes I’d like to try and stick them in my Dodo Cookbook (0/50)
38. Cook one of the new recipes every month (0/33)
39. Go on a picnic
40. Grow three types of herb on the kitchen windowsill (0/3)
41. Grow a chilli plant on the kitchen windowsill
42. Shine the sink every evening for a month (0/30)
43. Take a packed lunch to work every day I’m in the office
44. Make a bento
45. Clear the spam out of my inbox once a week (0/143)
46. Defrag the computer once a week (0/143)
47. Finish a cross stitch project for someone else
48. Finish “Max in the Adirondacks” cross stitch
49. Get Max framed
50. Finish the samurai cross stitch
51. Get the samurai framed
52. Complete an Advanced Excel course
53. Read some new (to me) books (0/50)
54. Watch the sun rise at the seaside
55. Watch the sun set at the seaside
56. Watch the clouds for an hour
57. Do ten of the walks in “100 Walks in Warwickshire and West Midlands” (0/10)
58. Catch 101 fish (0/101)
59. Take a trip on a canal boat
60. See the Blackpool Illuminations
61. Ride a roller coaster
62. Visit an English Heritage / National Trust property (0/20)
63. Go back to Scotland for a holiday
64. Go back to southern Ireland for a holiday
65. Buy a camper van
66. Reschedule that month long road trip that got cancelled
67. Road trip!
68. Go to a museum
69. Go to an exhibition
70. Go to the theatre
71. Go to a concert
72. Go to the ballet
73. Go to a stand up comedy event
74. Visit a war memorial
75. Go to the (horse) races
76. Go to an auction
77. Go to a craft fair
78. Go on a weekend city break
79. Renew my passport
80. Holiday on another continent
81. Take a “classic” Rail tour abroad (Banff, Trans-Siberian etc.)
82. Complete a “10 things you may not have known about me” set on Flickr.com (0/10)
83. Take photos of 26 things around Birmingham beginning with A – Z and post them in a set on Flickr.com (0/26)
84. Take photos of items that show the numbers 1 – 101 and post them in a set on Flickr.com (0/101)
85. Document a race, march or parade in photos on Flickr.com
86. Complete a “Seven Deadly Sins” set on Flickr.com
87. Get one of my photos printed onto canvas and hang it in the flat
88. Get a set of Moo.com postcards made from my own photos and send them to people (0/20)
89. Design and make my own T shirt
90. Learn to make a friendship bracelet
91. Obtain some new comedy DVDs (0/10)
92. Obtain some audio books for MP3 player (0/5)
93. Write a letter to a company praising their service
94. Make and release a “message in a bottle”
95. Get a book signed by its author
96. Blog about each completed item (1/101)
97. Take a photo that represents each item on the list and post the pictures on Flickr.com (0/101)
98. Update blog once a week (0/143)
99. Publish a Blurb.com book about this list
100. Donate £101 to charity
101. Crack open a bottle of really good champagne and celebrate!

So why am I putting myself through this?

You might well ask...

A while back I completed "Project 365" which involved taking a photograph every day for a year and posting it to a group on Flickr.

It was an incredibly interesting year. I learned that;

- it's blinkin' hard to take a good picture every day
- it's very easy to run out of subjects (every object in my flat has been snapped!)
- you learn a lot about your personal style in doing something like this

The results of that year's trials and tantrums are here.

Whilst browsing another of my favourite sites I found a group of people taking part in "101 things in 1001 days". Had a look round one of the main sites and got kind of hooked into the idea.
It's a sort of Anti-New Year's Resolution list. For a start, I've got almost three years to complete these things. Unlike Project 365 I don't have to do something every day - but if I leave it all 'til then end life's going to get a little complicated!

So, I wrote a list of 101 things I'd like to achieve. In itself, that wasn't easy. 60 or 70 things? Reasonably easy to identify. The last ten were killers....

But I've done it. I have a list!