Welcome

This blog is an educational depository of all the things we, as an Oma and Opa, wish to teach our grandchildren. Life if full of wonderful things, we hope you find many of them here!

Your summer reading list: 70+ book picks from TED speakers and attendees

Ideas for my next 1001 list!

General Women’s Meeting 9.27.14

I loved attending the meeting at my local meetinghouse with my two girls. It was nice getting together before hand with the sisters in the ward for an ice cream social too. I really enjoy President Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk and his words on obedience and following all the commandments of God.

101 in 1001

So, I thought I’d try this idea out. I found it over at VioletSage. I really like the longer time frame for a list of goals and I am excited to get started!

The Mission

To complete the listed 101 tasks within 1001 days.

The Criteria

The Tasks on the list need to be SMART! Specific (it’s clear what I intend to do) Measurable (it’s clear that I’ve accomplished it) Applicable (since I’m making the list for myself, I would hope so!) Realistic (I could achieve these if I stretch myself) Time bound (the 1001 days)

Start Date

7/14/14

End Date

4/9/17

Family

1. Finish Family Game night with no tears or arguments.

2. Read the Book of Mormon together.

3. Can peaches and eat ice cream after.

4. Go camping for two nights in another state.

5. Have F.H.E. for 6 weeks in a row.

6. Go to a drive in movie. (5.22.15)

7. Go tubing in Helen.

8. Go on a hike to a waterfall we haven’t been to before.

9. Put our hands in wet cement somewhere on our property.

10. Find and read a novel to read together as a family.

Couple

11. Attend the temple 30 times as a couple. (9)

12. Go to a play at the Holly. 4/24/15

13. Go to a music performance in town (college or square)  3/20/15

14. Take a day off together while kids are in school.

15. Take a continuing education class together.

16. Attend a concert at a park (not in town).

17. Rent a canoe and paddle.

18. Eat at a Greek restaurant.  7/30/14

19. Eat at a Thai restaurant. 10/27/14

20. Go to a 3D movie.

Personal

21. Inspire someone else’s 101 in 1001. Let me know if I do! 🙂

22. Complete 3 values in personal progress.

23. Read the Book of Mormon 3 times. 7/13/15

24. Read the Old Testament.

25. Read the New Testament.

26. Read the Doctrine and Covenants.

27. Write a personal mission statement.  7/27/14

28. Read 50 books.

29. Take a pottery class.

30. Make and frame a watercolor painting.

Fitness

31. Hike Stone Mountain with the kids.

32. Swim a mile without stopping for more than 10 seconds at a turn.

33. Participate in a 5K

34. Practice yoga every day for 30 days.

35. Go 30 days without extra sugar.

36. Do the One Hundred Pushups routine.

Finances

37. Have a 3-month reserve of money.

38. Put $10 in savings for each goal completed.

39. Pay off all debts except the house.

Friends

40. Mail birthday cards to 10 friends.

41. Mail Christmas cards.

42. Participate in a book club for a year.

43. Host book club at my house.

44. Bring treats to work just because.

45. Host a holiday.

46. Host a cookie exchange.

47. Compile an address book. 6/12/15

48. Host a sweet 16 party. Feb 2016

Random Acts of Kindness

49. Stop at a child’s lemon-aid stand and buy a lot!

50. Put out 50 Operation Beautiful Notes.

51. Pay for the person behind me in a drive-thru.

52. Leave a 100% tip.  Fall 2015

53. Buy flowers for the librarians.

54. Bring cookies to the firehouse.

55. Unlock a dozen carts at Aldi. (8)

56. Send care packages to college students (or missionaries).

57. Send letters to soldiers.

Miscellaneous

58. Organize clothes by season and store them accordingly to rotate.

59. Fix wall behind the fridge. July 2016

60. Mini bathroom remodel in master bath. Halfway done July 2016

61. Buy an original piece of art. 8/2/14

62. Participate in the indexing challenge. 7/20/14

63. Set up master password and an account in a password keeper.

64. Go 48 continuous hours without using a computer or smart phone.

65. Make a webpage for R.S. lessons with links to talks and wisdom from sisters.

66. Volunteer in some way with Friends of the Library. Jan 2016

Emergency Prep

67. Go over emergency plan, fire drill with kids. Practice meeting place and out-of-state contact.

68. Inventory 72-hour kits. June 2016

69. Make an inventory of what we currently have in storage.  April 2016

70. Secure a Bank Deposit box.

71. Make a menu plan for 3 months.

72. Take the emergency backpacks camping for 2 nights without looking inside or bringing anything else.

73. Drain and refill water containers.

74. Add a smoke detector outside bedroom door.

75. Put a working flashlight in each room.

76. Complete Important Document file.

Landscape/Gardening

77. Have trees in woods cut down.  Spring 2015

78. Finish the guide fence by driveway.

79. Add more pavement for parking.

80. Create 2 new flower beds. (1)

81. Create 3 new vegetable beds.

82. Plant 6 fruit trees.

Sewing

83. Make Moe a dress. June ’15

84. Make curtain for front window. 8/1/14

85. Make Manny’s jersey quilt.

86. Finish blanket for hubby.

87. Have an empty “To Fix” pile for at least a day.

Teaching

88. Make another Dream Team 4/7/15

89. Teach in a public school for 10 years. 5/20/16

90. Have 75 products listed on TpT.

91. Host a PLC meeting at least 10 times. (1)

Memories

90. Finish a 365 photo challenge.

91. Make a book with the 365 photos.

92. Get Jack’s Album up to date.

93. Make Jack’s 5th grade book.

94. Get Moe’s Album up to date.

95. Get Manny’s album up to date.

96. Get Family album up to date.

97. Have professional pictures taken.

98. Write a blog entry twice a week for 6 weeks straight.

Travel

99. Visit Washington D.C. with the family.

100. Visit New England with the family.

101. Go to a new GA site with the family.

100. Drive through the New England states in the fall.

101. Visit Family in Washington state. April and June 2015

New Orleans

While I was in New Orleans this week for a conference, I had a chance to walk around the French Quarter. I loved the balconies; I took more pictures of balconies than anything else! On my flight home, I got a window seat and enjoyed the clouds.

 

Summer Bucket List

With three kids attending 6 camps, and myself attending 3 conferences, we’re booked for the summer. I do want to do some things together so here are 30 things for our family to do this summer:

1. Camping
2. BBQ
3. Craft projects
4. Library programs
5. Reading
6. Swimming
7. Board games with family
8. Road trip
9. Hiking
10. Making treats
11. Movies in the park
12. Movie theatre
13. Tubing in Helen
14. Farmers Market
15. Peach ice cream in Ellijay
16. Build a Garden
17. Horseback Riding
18. Picnic
19. County Fair
20. Drive in Movie
21. Make crepes
22. Catch fireflies
23. Atlanta Zoo
24. Olympic plaza
25. Water balloon fight
26. Lemonaid stand
27. Bowling
28. Spa Day
29. Sewing project
30. Photo a Day

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, NY

Visiting Graveyards on vacations – that’s what we do. We turned off the highway into Sleepy Hollow for a photo opportunity. We figured we’d find a sign that we could take a picture in front of, since we have a child who is a fan of the show. We found something much better. Sleepy Hollow has a bunch of famous people buried in the cemetery and it was a beautiful drive visiting them all.

They have lovely maps with markers of where to find the grave sites. We visited Samuel Gompers, Andrew Carnegie, William Rockefeller, Walter Chrysler, Elizabeth Arden, Harry and Leona Helmsley and Washington Irving. We also saw the monuments to the Civil War and the Revolutionary War – they had grave stones over 200 years old in that part of the cemetery. The stones on many were worn so flat you could no longer read the names. We stopped by the Bronze lade sculpture at the Thomas mausoleum and walked on the redone Headless Horseman Bridge. Finally, we stopped at the Old Dutch Church.

Our quick side trip to take a photo turned into an hour plus visit and history lesson as we looked up each individual to talk with the children about why they were notable enough to have their grave sites marked for visitors.

Shenandoah Heritage Market

These fish were outside the entrance to the Shenandoah Heritage Market we stopped at on the way up to NYC for the holidays. We stopped after seeing a flyer at at rest area. The market was awesome.  I want to go back with a trailer and purchase about a dozen pieces of furniture — beautiful craftsmanship. We did find that the kettle corn sold at the shed in front was the best kettle corn we’ve ever had – YUM! We stopped again on the way home, sadly they weren’t open yet, so we missed the kettle corn. If we are ever traveling on I81 again, we are stopping and buying a bunch.

Pinterest Success – Giant poster

So many things on Pinterest have caught my eye. I am trying some of them and will post if they are a success or a failure. This giant poster looked easy and super cool. I count it as a success. I took the picture at the Atlanta zoo. An office store made the engineer print for $5. The gal working at the print counter said she makes 2-3 a week for pinterest creators.

Giant poster of Manny, Moe and Jack.