Volunteering

Recently I've had a couple of opportunities pop up to complete number 8 on my 30 Before 30 List.: Volunteer. 

Last Tuesday night, I attended a volunteer orientation for the Ohio Wildlife Center.  They are a non-profit wild animal rehabilitation and conservation center.  They treat and rehabilitate injured and orphaned wild animals.  They also provide non-lethal animal control and conservation and wildlife education.  I'm planning on training to work on the education side, to learn to handle the animal ambassadors and teaching and doing presentations with them.  The center has brought animals to my workplace several times, and I've wanted to get involved with them for a while now. 

I'm really excited to get to work with animals and help educate the public about our native species, but from what I've learned already, I need to remember a couple of things about the center.  First, these animals are wild animals, not pets.  They don't necessarily love you back like our domesticated animals.  Also, it is important to know exactly how to handle each one.  Especially when working with the raptors, they can hurt you pretty seriously if you're not careful.  It will definitely be an eye opening experience, but I'm looking forward to starting!

I also had the opportunity to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald house here in Columbus, across from Nationwide Children's Hospital.  A group of us from work went to bake goodies for the families.  Between the 8 of us that went, we bagged up over 250 packets of treats!  We had brownies, rice crispy treats, iced cut-out cookies, chocolate chip cookies, S'mores on a stick, and candy Buckeyes!  We had a really good time and got to take a tour of the facility.  It really is an amazing place. 

They are a non-profit organization, operated almost completely on donations.  The house provides a place to stay for the families of seriously ill children.  There are 70 rooms, similar to hotel rooms with private bathrooms, and 10 suites, with a bedroom and separate living space with a kitchen and washer and dryer.  Almost all of the work is done by volunteers, including all of the cleaning, laundry and food preparation.  Supplies are provided by donation, including laundry soap, paper towels, toilet paper, food, toys, clothing, cleaning supplies and anything else you can imagine to run a home or a hotel.  If you have a Ronald McDonald House near you, I encourage you to volunteer or donate supplies, they are always in need!

My 30 Before 30 List - The Wrap-Up

Well, technically since my 30th birthday was a little over a week ago, I'm calling this the wrap up, but I'm not calling it finished. For obvious reasons. They're still things I want to accomplish, soon, so maybe I'll stretch it out, and hopefully I can actually get 30 things on it!

1. Get my Mandarin fish tattoo - would love to get this, but still sort of undecided on the location of the tattoo, and it's expensive (and I'm a cheapskate).
2. Sew myself a wearable skirt - only laziness to blame for this if I'm being honest with myself, well, that and my irrational phobia of cutting into fabric.
3. Sell at least 1 of my photographs - I think I'm going to work through RedBubble for this, I'll have a link up soon to my portfolio.
4. Paint again (canvas, not walls) - just haven't felt inspired to pick up a paintbrush, the camera has been my biggest source of artistic expression lately.
5. Embroider a pillowcase - ooh, just got a fantastic book - Embroidery Companion: Classic Designs for Modern Living by Alicia Paulson of Posie Gets Cozy, I intend to work on this as the weather gets colder.
6. Preserve vegetables that I’ve grown in my garden - I actually did really well with this.  I froze several bags of green beans, at least 7 two-cup bags of shredded zucchini, some cherry tomatoes, red peppers and jalepenos.  I also ventured into pickling and pickled 3 jars of green cherry tomatoes. Which, by the way are excellent, here's the recipe I used.
7. Go to a stitch and bitch or knitting group - was too shy to do this yet.
8. Volunteer - I have recently talked to a person at the Ohio Wildlife Center to start volunteering with the wild animal rescue center there, and hopefully mentor with her and learn to handle the animals and teach.
9. Run a 5K - still want to do this, but nowhere near the fitness level I need to be.
10. Read at least 5 books on my bookshelves (preferably that I haven’t read before) - Getting there, but still have a little ways to go.  The intention was originally to read five books so that I can get rid of them, however, two of the books below are Kindle books. I'm still counting them as I'm glad to have actually been completing books. I still would like to get several more books out of my house though.

• Completed books: 


• 1.Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kinsgsolver
• 2. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• 3.The Princess Bride -William Goldman (in progress)
• 4. Winter's Bone-Daniel Woodrell

11. Invest some money for retirement (auto 401K with work does not count) - opened a Roth IRA on ShareBuilder, but haven't moved any money there yet.
12. Yarn Diet-knit down my stash - success! sort of, I haven't brought any new yarn into the house, but, I didn't do a whole lot of knitting this summer. For some reason, during the summer, I don't knit as much, I think there's just too much else going on outside. But, I did finish a couple of projects, and only started one, and it was with stash yarn.
13. Bake and frost a layer cake from scratch - talked about this and have pictures here.

14. Sell or give away 50 things that I currently own - success with this as well! Got rid of quite a few articles of clothing, shoes, makeup, books. Just as importantly, I didn't add much to replace them.
15. Paint the hutch in the dining room - no, but I got it cleaned out fairly well. I'm still up in the air as to what I want to do with it. I kind of want to get rid of it/sell it, because it takes up quite a bit of space, but, it also has a lot of storage, so, I'm torn.
16. Get into an exercise routine - I feel pretty good about this one, and am proud of the fact that I have been working out 3-4 times a week for the last three months. I really enjoy it now too!


All in all, I'm not completely satisfied with my progress, but I want to keep at it. Wish me luck! Anybody else have a list? Leave me a link in the comments, I'd love to see it!

**Disclaimer-the Amazon links are affiliate links, just FYI.**

Garden Post

We've been so fortunate again this year with our garden.  I admit that I don't have much to do with its success.  I have very little technical knowledge when it comes to gardening, yet we still manage to get a surplus of produce and enjoy ourselves.  The only real work we put into it is using the compost I build up over the year, pulling weeds (not often enough!) and harvesting.

This year, we expanded our garden by doubling its size and adding zucchini and cucumber to the mix.  We also have green beans, onions, red bell peppers, jalapenos, cherry tomatoes and Early Girl tomatoes, and sugar snap peas.  Earlier, we had leaf lettuce, spinach and broccoli, but that's passed now. 

Here is one of our first big harvests from July 5th:

We've since pulled off dozens of cherry tomatoes, a couple of regular sized tomatoes, another couple handfuls of green beans, several jalapenos, a few onions and a zucchini that probably weighs 5-6 pounds!

I've got another batch of Chocolate Zucchini Bread in the oven now, and several batches of shredded zucchini in the freezer with more still coming.  Green beans are our favorites and we've eaten a few and I've frozen four bags, moving right along with my 30 Before 30 #6!

We both just really enjoy digging in the garden, and getting to eat the stuff that comes out of it makes it even more worthwhile.

Requisite Update On My 30 By 30 List

Basically, not much to update:

1. Get my Mandarin fish tattoo - no progress, think I found a good place, but still need to schedule and scrounge up the money, it'll probably get pushed till after my birthday trip.*

2. Sew myself a wearable skirt - have the fabric, have the book, haven't touched the sewing machine...

3. Sell at least 1 of my photographs - working on a plan for an Etsy shop.

4. Paint again (canvas, not walls) - nope, nada

5. Embroider a pillowcase - have some of the materials...

6. Preserve vegetables that I’ve grown in my garden - ooh, worked on this last night!  Froze 4 bags of green beans from the garden.  I have plans to shred some zucchini to freeze and to cook down some of the zillion cherry tomatoes to freeze as well

7. Go to a stitch and bitch or knitting group - not yet

8. Volunteer - have some websites to look at, I would like to do something with animals if possible

9. Run a 5K - this is going to probably be taken off the list.  I just haven't been running.  Running outside makes my legs hurt, and I don't have room in my house for a treadmill or want to spend the money for a gym membership.  Maybe for the 40th birthday...

10. Read at least 5 books on my bookshelves (preferably that I haven’t read before) - I'm still plugging away at 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on my Kindle. I want to get that done before I start something else, but it is SLOW going!

11. Invest some money for retirement (auto 401K with work does not count)

12. Yarn Diet-knit down my stash - I'm actually doing really well on this one!  I haven't bought any yarn, and I've been finishing projects!  I also want to make a few dishcloths to get rid of some of that cotton yarn that's just sitting there.

13. Bake and frost a layer cake from scratch - done!

14. Sell or give away 50 things that I currently own - 34 down, 16 to go

15. Paint the hutch in the dining room - this I've been planning to do for years, but now I'm wondering if I want to even keep it.  It's soooo big for our tiny little house, but we need the storage...

*Have I mentioned my birthday trip? 

Anyway, not too exciting, but I'm going to crack down on it, I'm down to less than 3 months!

Mother's Day Cake and Changes

As you can see, the blog has a new header and a new background color.  What do you think?  I'm going to try and change the header on a more regular basis, now that I'm starting to get Picasa figured out!  I'm also probably going to be investing in Photoshop Elements soon.  IPhoto does a pretty good job with my photo post production, but I'd really like to have PSE.  (Actually, I'd really like to have full Photoshop, but I'm not ready for that splurge!)

Also, number 13 checked off the 30 Before 30 list!  

This is the amazing Strawberry Shortcake Cake from the Pioneer Woman.  This was the dessert I chose to take to my MIL for Mother's Day.  I have to say that it wasn't hard to make and split, but icing it was a little tricky.  Okay, so I cheated a little bit, and Jeff helped.  He helped me split and ice it, but, I'm still counting it, because it broke the ice!  I won't be afraid to attempt a layer cake again!

Or I Could Just Buy Bigger Pants

To follow up my lovefest of a post last week, I'm going to complain a little.  Because I've decided that it's my blog and I can whine if I want to!  So there. 

So I woke up this morning intending to wear my khaki cords to work, since they're comfy and it's cold outside*.  When I put them on, I discovered I don't need a belt to keep them up.  At first I was happy, because I hate wearing belts, then I realized what this actually meant.  That I'm gaining weight again.  Not cool.  The weight gain wouldn't bother me if it didn't mean that my pants don't fit me and that I look pregnant in most of my shirts.  It's just not worth looking pregnant when you NEVER HAVE BEEN.

What this means is that I need to exercise, and probably eat better, or at least less.  Which is what this blog started out to be last year; motivation to get in shape and maybe lose a pound or 10.  Therein lies the problem, I don't like to work out.  It is just too much work.  And I'm lazy.  But I like to eat stuff with lots of sugar and grease. Oh! And carbs.  Wonderful, delicious carbs.  Hmm, remind me why I need to work out again?

I do know that if I start working out, I'll feel better and have more energy.  Plus that 5K isn't going to run itself!

*cold being colder than yesterday-it's in the 50's whereas yesterday was in the 60's

Stop Procrastinating!

First off, update on my 30 (ok, 15) before 30 list:
1. Get my Mandarin fish tattoo-looking for an artist that does great color work, I need to start asking around for referrals
2. Sew myself a wearable skirt-have the fabric, have the book, just need to get sewing!
3. Sell at least 1 of my photographs-still working on how to go about doing that.  I just sent some pictures to Cord Camera to be printed.  Once I get them framed, I'll go to the little gift shop in town to see if she would sell them on consignment.  Or submit them to stock photo sites.  Still need more research on it.
4. Paint again (canvas, not walls)-again, have the materials, just need to do it!
5. Embroider a pillowcase-need a pillowcase to embroider!
6. Preserve vegetables that I’ve grown in my garden-only have a few things planted, it's still just too cold here in Ohio, this will be later this summer.
7. Go to a stitch and bitch or knitting group-haven't even looked, I know there are some here in Columbus, just need to go.
8. Volunteer-I need to call my connection for the Columbus Zoo and SECORE.
9. Run a 5K-yeah, I'm just lazy, need to start running, but I don't wanna!
10. Read at least 5 books on my bookshelves (preferably that I haven’t read before)-well, I'm still trying to get through 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on my Kindle, but it's SLOOOOW going!
11. Invest some money for retirement (auto 401K with work does not count)-opened a Traditional IRA account.  Need to move money into it and change my investments on my rollover IRA so I can actually make more than $7 a year!  Yes, that's all I made last year on about $1500.  Depressing.
12. Yarn Diet-Knit down my stash-doing really well with this one!  I haven't bought any yarn and have been knitting on my Spring is Here socks with yarn I got for my birthday.  I also have plans to make some washcloths with all the cotton I have stashed.
13. Bake and frost a layer cake from scratch-nothing, but I've been doing more baking lately...
14. Sell or give away 50 things that I currently own-went through closets yesterday and have 34 items that I am donating!  This total may actually increase! (of course, I don't want to jinx myself!)
15. Paint the hutch in the dining room-have kinda, sorta started to go through and purge the hutch, instead of having a junk drawer, we have a junk hutch.  So, it needs to be cleaned out.

Well, doesn't look so great, but hey, I still have 5 months to go, I just need to hold myself accountable, hopefully this blog will help!  I'm just a terrible procrastinator, I sometimes need a kick in the behind!

Speaking of procrastinating... what's for dinner?!

Doing, Knitting, Sewing, Winning

Well, I'm still working on my 30 Before 30 List.  I'm going to add it as a page in the sidebar by my bucket list (there on the left) when I get it done.  But here's what I have so far:

1. Get my Mandarin fish tattoo
2. Sew myself a wearable skirt
3. Sell at least 1 of my photographs
4. Paint again (canvas, not walls)
5. Embroider a pillowcase
6. Preserve vegetables that I’ve grown in my garden
7. Go to a stitch and bitch or knitting group
8. Volunteer
9. Run a 5K
10. Read at least 5 books on my bookshelves (preferably that I haven’t read before)
11. Invest some money for retirement (auto 401K with work does not count)
12. Yarn Diet-Knit down my stash
13. Bake and frost a layer cake from scratch
14. Sell or give away 50 things that I currently own
15. Paint the hutch in the dining room

So, I'm halfway there!  Any suggestions?  Unfortunately, they can't be travel related, cause I only have 6 months, and we're planning a trip abroad for my birthday, so we won't have the time or money to go anywhere before then!

I also owe the blog my pics and process for that bag I made for my friend Dani's birthday so, here goes:

I used the one hour bag tutorial from RicRac as a jump off point.
I only changed a couple of things.  I didn't use anything for a closure, because I didn't have any snaps or ribbon.  I also sewed the strap on when I sewed the lining and the outer bag fabric together.  And that's it!  It took me longer than an hour, probably closer to 3, but, I'm still slow at cutting and sewing, and I'm really happy with how it turned out!  And so was Dani!  And that's all that matters.

I cast on a new sock project the other night.  Per my list above, I am on a yarn diet!  I need to knit down my stash, and I have accumulated a TON of sock yarn and cotton yarn for washcloths.  So, for the next six months, I need to concentrate on getting that knitted up.  Then, for my birthday, I can buy myself some Malabrigo!  Have I mentioned lately how much I love Malabrigo?  Cause I do, a lot!  Come to think about it, that's what I bought myself for my birthday last year! Oh well, it's totally worth it!

Oh yeah, I won a free yard of fabric from Sew Mama Sew's Free Fabric Friday!  I'm so excited!  I never win anything!  I've got to hurry up and pick something out, but it's so hard, there are so many cute fabrics on the site!

30 Before 30?

So, today, March 24th is the 6 month mark before I turn 30 in September.  After reading this post on the Sew Liberated blog, I've been thinking about a 30 Things to Do Before I Turn 30 list.  However, I'm not sure I can come up with 30 things that are doable in the next 6 months!  I have a Bucket List of things to do before I die, (just popped it up there at the top of the page-and here), but things to get done in the next 6 months is definitely harder.  Hmmm, gonna have to think about that a little more.