All The Plans... Or How I'll Go Insane But At Least I'll Have Cake and Chocolate

You would think after 2 failures of doing this that I would be crazy to try again.  And yet here I am once again undertaking 101 Things in 1001 Days.  Because obviously I'm seriously twisted.

What can I say?  I love me a plan and a list.  So really how could I resist doing this again.

As before I've tweaked some of the goals, taken off some and added some new ones.  All the while trying to at least to be reasonably realistic while keeping it challenging.  Or challenging to me at least.

 

Maybe I should just eat all the cake now...

Start:    1 Dec 2023

Finish:  28 Aug 2026

 

1.     Buy a telescope and learn how to use it

2.     Buy only second hand for 1 year

3.     Complete the A-Z travel challenge 

4.     Complete 25 jigsaws

5.     Do an ancestry DNA test

6.     Do an online course

7.     Do a Duolingo course

8.     Do a no spend month 

9.     Do a paint by numbers project

10.   Do yoga once a week for 1 year

11.   Eat a plant based only diet for 1 month

12.   Experience a White Christmas

13.   Finish 1 of my ongoing stories

14.   Finish a first draft of a novel

15.   Get a greenhouse and use it

16.   Give or donate to a charity

17.   Go on a horse drawn carriage ride

18.   Go on a night time walk

19.   Go to a car boot sale

20.   Go to a Christmas Market

21.   Go to a Farmers Market

22.   Go fruit picking

23.   Go glamping

24.   Go on a picnic

25.   Go on a road trip

26.   Go to a lantern festival

27.   Go through a maze

28.   Grow 5 different kinds of sunflowers 

29.   Have a bubble bath

30.   Have a hot stone massage

31.   Have a facial

32.   Have a spa day

33.   Have afternoon tea at a hotel

34.   Identify 10 constellations

35.   Identify 100 things that make me happy

36.   Install a bee house in my garden

37.   Install or build a raised bed in my garden

38.   Knit a blanket 

39.   Knit a hat

40.   Knit a pair of socks

41.   Learn calligraphy

42.   Learn Gaelic

43.   Learn a new language

44.   Learn how to arrange flowers

45.   Learn how to crochet

46.   Learn how to knit on a knitting loom

47.   Learn how to make preserves

48.   Learn how to press flowers

49.   Learn origami

50.   Learn to play backgammon

51.   Make 5 different hot chocolate recipes

52.   Make 5 different soup recipes 

53.   Make a flower garden

54.   Mediate every day for a week

55.   Photograph the same tree every month for a year

56.   Plant a herb garden

57.   Plant a shrub

58.   Read 1 Jane Austen novel

59.   Read 25 graphic novels

60.   Read 25 children's novels

61.   See a light house

62.   See a meteor shower

63.   See a movie outdoors

64.   See a waterfall

65.   See the Aurora Australia

66.   See the cherry blossoms

67.   Sleep in a four post bed

68.   Sleep under the stars

69.   Stay overnight in a castle

70.   Stay overnight in a treehouse

71.   Stay overnight on a island

72.   Take a boat trip

73.   Take a photo every day for 365 days

74.   Take a photo for each letter of the alphabet

75.   Take a pilates class

76.   Take a selfie on the 1st day of every month for 1 year

77.   Take a Tai Chi class

78.   Take a train trip

79.   Take part in NaNoWriMo

80.   Toast marshmallows in a fire

81.   Visit 5 museums online and do an online tour for each one

82.   Visit an island

83.   Visit a botanical garden 

84.   Visit a butterfly garden

85.   Visit a garden

86.   Visit a lake

87.   Visit a lavender field 

88.   Visit Stewart Island

89.   Watch 5 foreign language movies or TV series

90.   Watch 10 documentaries

91.   Watch 10 movies from 10 different countries

92.   Watch 52 movies in 52 weeks

93.   Watch a fireworks display

94.   Watch a silent movie

95.   Watch the sunrise and the sunset in the same day

96.   Win a giveaway/competition

97.   Write a 1000 words every month for 1 year

98.   Write a book

99.   Write a story and post it on Inkitt

100. Write and post 50 blog posts each year for the next 3 years.

101. Write a To Do List every week for 1 year

Failure is Still My Middle Name... Or How I Went On My 101 Things in 1001 Days Project

 And so it goes again.  Another 101 things in 1001 days completed.  This time I completed 33 of my 101 tasks which is 3 more than last time.  So I guess that's progress, right?  

We'll just not talk about the 68 fails... Although I did give some a go even if I didn't quite meet my target.  Hopefully I can do better with my next lot of 101 things...

 

Start:    1 Feb 2021

Finish:  30 Oct 2023 

 

 

1.     Buy 10 items that are second hand     Easily done thanks to all the jigsaws I brought,  though I did buy other items also.

 

2.     Buy a telescope and learn how to use it     I very nearly did this recently as Other Half found one online and was super keen to buy it.  Sadly we can't justify the cost at the moment.

 

3.     Buy only second hand clothes for 1 year 

4.     Do 5 things that are good for the environment     Again easy to do thanks to buying mostly second hand, planting a garden, etc.

 

5      Do an Ancestry DNA test     Like the telescope I can't justify the cost of getting one of these. Maybe one day when I win lotto...

6.     Do an online course

 

7.     Do facial exercises every day for 1 month     A weird one I know.  Hopefully they will keep the wrinkles at bay for a little longer

 

8.     Do yoga once a week for 1 year

 

9.     Drink water every day for 1 month

 

10.   Experience a White Christmas

 

11.   Finish a 1000+ piece jigsaw puzzle     I've actually finished about a dozen, so there's a new addiction right there.  As if I didn't need another thing to obsess over.

 

12.   Finish 1 of my ongoing stories

 

13.   Finish a cross stitch project

 

14.   Get a greenhouse and use it

 

15.   Give flowers to someone

 

16.   Give myself a manicure once a month for 1 year

 

17.   Give myself a pedicure once a month for 1 year

 

18.   Give or donate to a charity     SPCA, Hospice, Red Cross and Cancer Society

 

19.   Give someone a care package

 

20.   Go 1 month without eating chocolate     The sacrifices I make just to achieve a goal

 

21.   Go sugar free for 1 week     Is it sad that I'm amazed at how easy this was to do?  Because I feel like it is.

 

22.   Go on a horse drawn carriage ride

 

23.   Go to a car boot sale

 

24.   Go to a Christmas Market

 

25.   Go to a Farmers Market

 

26.   Go fruit picking

 

27.   Go glamping

 

28.   Go on a picnic

 

29.   Go to a lantern festival

 

30.   Grow a plant from a seed     I've grown quite a few things, though my growing rate is still very hit and miss.

 

31.   Grow a sunflower     I planted 10 seeds last summer and grew 3 so I'm counting it as a win.  I'm hoping to grow even more this year.

 

32.   Have breakfast in bed

 

33.   Have a meal by candlelight

 

34.   Have a spa day

 

35.   Have afternoon tea at a hotel

 

36.   Have fish ‘n’ chips by the beach     We were actually making this a fairly regular thing until the price of everything went up.

 

37.   Install a bee house

 

38.   Knit a cardigan     Knitted only to unpick and start again as I didn't quite like the look of it.

 

39.   Knit a hat

 

40.   Knit a pair of socks

 

41.   Learn a new language

 

42.   Learn how to knit on a knitting loom  I have in fact brought my looms... even if I haven't used them yet.  Story of my life right there.

 

43.   Learn how to make compost

 

44.   Learn to crochet

 

45.   Learn to identify 10 constellations

 

46.   Learn to arrange flowers

 

47.   Learn to make gingerbread  As if I was ever going to cook something.  Maybe I should have said eat gingerbread which with me is much more realistic

 

48.   Learn to play backgammon

 

49.   Leave an inspirational note inside a book for someone to find

 

50.   Listen to 5 TED talks  I managed one and then completely forgot all about this goal until now.

 

51.   Listen to 10 songs or pieces of music you haven't heard before     Another easy one as I found I pick up quite a lot of music from TV shows.  Explains a lot really

 

52.   Lose 10 kilos  Lost 10 kilos only to put 8 back on.  So a win/lose goal really.  Hopefully I can do better next time

 

53.   Participate in "A photo an hour" and post on my blog   Achieved about 7 or 8 times.  I'm hoping to get back into doing this as I really enjoyed it.

 

54.   Plant a herb garden

 

55.   Plant a tree  Planted 3 fruit trees

 

56.   Plant some spring bulbs  Anemones which didn't do that well so I won't be doing that again. 

 

57.   Read 5 'classic' books  I pretty much stuck to kids books which made this so much easier

The Velveteen Rabbit

Rebecca of Sunnybrooke Farm 

Emily of New Moon

A Lantern in Her Hand

Pollyanna

58.   Read 25 graphic novels  I read 12.  So almost half way there

 

59.   Read a book a day for 1 year 

 

60.   Read 1 Agatha Christie novel   And Then There Were None... though technically it was a BBC audiobook but I'm still counting it

 

61.   Renovate 1 room in our house

 

62.   See a meteor shower

 

63.   See a movie outdoors

 

64.   See the Aurora Borealis

 

65.   See the cherry blossoms

 

66.   See the snow  Living at the bottom of the South Island made this one super easy

 

67.   Send 10 postcards     Did this through Postcrossing which was kind of fun.

 

68.   Send a message in a bottle

 

69.   Sleep under the stars

 

70.   Start an orchard in our garden     See plant a tree

 

71.   Stay overnight in a castle or historic house

 

72.   Stay overnight in a treehouse

 

73.   Take a boat trip

 

74.   Take a photo a day for 365 days

 

75.   Take a pilates class

 

76.   Take a Tai Chii class

 

77.   Take a train tip

 

78.   Take part in NaNoWriMo

 

79.   Try 5 beauty products/brands that I haven't used before

 

80.   Try 5 foods products/brands that I haven't had before

Kombucha

Pickled cucumber

Pickled cabbage

Oh My veg - plant protein product

Hart and Soul - plant protein product

 

81.   Try 5 new smoothie recipes

 

82.   Try a mail order subscription of some sort (Loot crate, Book crate etc.)

 

83.   Try a new kind of tea every month for 1 year

 

84.   Visit an island  Monkey Island.  It's a tidal island

 

85.   Visit a lake

 

86.   Visit a sunflower field  Bucket list goal achieved and it was so pretty.  I might just do that again one day.

 

87.   Visit 5 museums online and do an online tour for each one

 

88.   Visit 5 places/sites in New Zealand that I haven't been to before

Fortrose

Otautau

Colac Bay 

Monkey Island

Karitane

 

89.   Visit Stewart Island

 

90.   Walk for 30 minutes every day for 1 month  Managed 24 days - it rains a lot down here so this can be a hard one to do.

 

91.   Watch 5 foreign language TV series  Watched 2 - Borderliner (Norwegian) and 3 seasons of Trapped (Icelandic) which was so good.

 

92.   Watch 10 documentaries

 

93.   Watch 10 movies from 10 countries

 

94.   Watch 10 movies from before the year I was born 

That Hagen Girl 1947
The Thin Man 1934
Miss Annie Rooney 1942
The Voice of Turtle 1947
Foreign Correspondent 1940
Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House 1948
Janie 1944
Holiday Affair 1949
The Mating Game 1959
I love Merlin 1953

 

95.   Watch 52 movies in 52 weeks

 

96.   Wear each piece of clothing I own at least once in 1 year

 

97.   Win a giveaway/competition  I won a book.  On gardening no less.

 

98.   Write a book

 

99.   Write a story and post it on Inkiitt

 

100. Write and post 50 blog posts a year for 3 years in a row  Not even close

 

101. Write a "To Do List" every week for 1 year 

Book Talk: I've Been Reading

It feels like forever since I've done a book post.  Most probably because it has been.   But just because there's been a serious lack of bookie posts doesn't mean I haven't been reading.

So much reading which means so many good books.

Nothing beats the soothing colour of green for a book except maybe pink.  Which is totally my happy place colour.  Still green covers aside, all 3 of these books were so good and totally fascinating.  From walking in the rain, to eating croissants in every town you visit to hunting for a 1000 species of wild plants.  There was just so much that was interesting, making these hard to put down.

Thrillers of course are always on the list even ones with a sci-fi bent.  Which in a way made them even better.

 

Twisty turny reads that keep you up reading way by midnight.  Or they do if you are anything like me.  Who needs sleep after all.

And I must forget my lovely warm fuzzies chick-lit.  So many reads so many yellow covers.  And so many reads about quirky women trying to figure out life and love and whether to have that extra piece of cake.

 

If they are at all like me then the answer is always yes.

The Viewing Files: All The Blondes And Some Music Too

I know. Yet another movie post.  What can I say except that I've got a lot of posts to catch up on.  But don't worry there will be some future posts on a few different things.

In the meantime join me as we get lost in a world of blondes, music and... skating?  Well it was the 1940s where anything goes.  Especially when it came to musicals.

My Lucky Star

Starring: A former Olympic skater

Original release: 1938

Synopsis:  It's all about the skating and clothes

 

Other than some lovely ice skating this is really bad thanks to Richard Greene's wooden and pompous acting and a pretty silly story.

 

Thank God her other films got better.

Sun Valley Serenade

Starring: The Swedish skater and The Swoony Man and Glenn Miller

Original release: 1941

Synopsis:  He's a pianist who sponsors a refugee.

 

I like this way more than I should. Sonja Henie plays a bit of an odd duck but weirdly it works in her favour. The music is great, the story cute as anything and there's snow. So much to love.

Iceland

Starring: Sonja and John... again

Original release: 1942

Synopsis:  A marine in Iceland

 

Sonja Henie and John Payne were always so cute together but wow Hollywood had weird ideas about what Iceland and Icelandic people are like.

Two Girls on Broadway

Starring: Lana Turner

Original release: 1940

Synopsis:  The title pretty much tells you all you need to know

 

Who knew that Lana could dance. Or be so warm and likeable.

These Glamour Girls

Starring: Lana Turner

Original release: 1939

Synopsis:  A working class girl and a bunch of snobs

 

Lana Turner is just delightful in this. I'm seriously loving her earlier roles. Hard to believe this is the same woman who becomes a cool, aloof, platinum blonde later on.

Ladies of the Chorus

Starring: Marilyn Monroe

Original release: 1938

Synopsis:  Mother and daughter chorus girls

 

There's just something about a young Marilyn is just so warm and smiley and joyful that you can't help liking her and this movie.

Romance on the High Sea

Starring: Doris Day

Original release: 1948

Synopsis:  Shipboard hijinks with music

 

Doris Day in pastels and singing and being all sass is everything we need.

My Dream Is Yours

Starring: Doris

Original release: 1949

Synopsis:  When radio had live singers singing

 

Eve Arden walking around smoking cigarettes and looking glamorous while her room mate Doris slowly falls in love with her should have been this whole movie. And totally what happened in my head.

The Viewing Films: Shimmer and Shake and a Ton of Fruit

There's just something so joyful about watching these old musicals.  There's colour and snap and pretty dresses galore and the women never have a bad hair day.

 

Can I just sign and swoon and wallow now...

 

Down Argentine Way

Starring: Million dollar legs and The Fruit Lady

Original release: 1940

Synopsis:  The Argentine musical you didn't know you needed

Can we all have as much fun as Betty has when dancing.

Moon Over Miami

Starring: Betty G... again

Original release: 1941

Synopsis:  How to Marry a Millionaire 1940s style

 

Betty, her sister and aunt were great, the clothes lovely and story cute but the male leads seriously let this movie down. If only they'd cast someone better and more suitable in both those roles...

Week-end in Havana

Starring: The Other Blonde, a Swoony Guy and the Fruit Lady

Original release: 1941

Synopsis:  Why is it that all these movies are set in South America?

 

I was sold as soon as John Payne started wearing glasses. As for the rest of the film it's light froth.

Footlight Serenade

Starring: Betty and Swoony Guy

Original release: 1942

Synopsis:  A love triangle musical... 

 

Well if anyone can pull of a boxing musical Betty G can. It's a bit odd in places but Betty and John were the cutest couple (they so should have done a lot more movies together) and the dancing fun.

 

If only it had been in colour.

Springtime in the Rockies

Starring: Yes it's Betty and John... again

Original release: 1942

Synopsis: Dancing your way to love

 

More fun froth with Betty G looking particularly lovely

Hello Frisco, Hello

Starring: Yeah you know who

Original release: 1943

Synopsis:  Turn of the century singing and dancing

 

John Payne wearing glasses is swoony but John Payne with slicked back hair and a moustache is bad boy swoony. I'm not sure which I like more.

Coney Island

Starring: That legs lady

Original release: 1943

Synopsis:  There's singing and dancing... the rest of the story doesn't really matter

 

Betty G was just lovely, but the men were the worse.

Sweet Rosie O'Grady

Starring: Blonde getting blonder

Original release: 1943

Synopsis:  Pretty much the same as all the movies above

 

The fact that I've never had a bath wearing red lipstick and my hair looking like I've just stepped out of salon explains exactly what I've been doing wrong all these years.

The Dolly Sisters

Starring: 2 blondes for the price of 1

Original release: 1945

Synopsis:  More blondes singing

Can I just spend my days wandering around the house in a silky dressing robe with fluffy trim, yes and please.

 

As for the rest of the movie it's a little bit too serious in places for a musical. I like mine fun, light and fluffy. A bit like those robes that Betty and June wore. And yes I am obsessed.

The Shocking Miss Pilgrim

Starring: On her own again

Original release: 1947

Synopsis:  It's a musical what more do you need to know

 

Only Betty G could make a suffragette musical.

Wasbash Avenue

Starring: I give up...

Original release: 1950

Synopsis:  You know the drill

 

Betty, Betty, Betty... can you teach me how to shimmy like your sister Kate?

 

Betty G is lovely as always, the men not so much.

The Viewing Files - Smoking Guns and Dames

I have a serious soft spot for film noir.  Those gritty black and white movies of the 40s and 50s where men are men and women are dames and everyone smokes cigarettes.  There's also a lot of bad guys... and some bad women too.

It's so my kind of vibe, dark, stylish and seductive.

Now pass me the whiskey.

 

Marked Woman

Starring: Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart

Original release: 1937

Synopsis:  A 'dame' takes on the gangsters

 

Who knew that Bette could do the wide eyed dewey innocent look so well.

 

Not as good as some of her others but still entertaining and yay for gal pals who stand by each other.

High Sierra

Starring: Bogart again

Original release:1941

Synopsis:  A gangster does one more job

 

A bad guy with a soft heart, a good girl who can't be bad, and a dog we all want to adopt.

 

Gangster melodrama 1940s style.

All Through the Night

Starring: Bogie... yet again

Original release:1942

Synopsis:  A gambler takes on the Nazi's...

 

A cheesecake loving gambler takes on some bad guys and it's a weird but still entertaining mixture of part thriller, part comedy.

 

Only Bogart could make eating cheesecake seem like a life and death thing.

Across the Pacific

Starring: You know who... well he did make a lot of movies

Original release:1942

Synopsis:  Passengers on board on boat up to no good

 

I'm here for Mary and Humphrey being all cute and flirty with a side of World War II intrigue.

Passage to Marseille

Starring: I'm not even going to bother saying his name

Original release:1944

Synopsis:  The French Resistance

 

I kept waiting for something to happen.... and it didn't. Plays out like a documentary trying to be a movie or maybe it's a movie pretending to be a documentary.

The Dark Corner

Starring: Lucille Ball... and no I'm not joking

Original release:1946

Synopsis:  A Private Eye and his secretary flirt and take on the bad guys

 

About as film noir as you can get with a detective, his dame and a mystery to solve.

 

Not perfect but still pretty watchable with a decent cast.

Dead Reckoning

Starring: Mr B is back again

Original release: 1947

Synopsis:  Murder and mayhem

 

"Her whole body had gone soft as custard when I slugged her with it."

 

Lol, this whole movie is like some kind of cheap, trashy pulp novel of the worse kind which weirdly makes it gloriously bad, especially the voice over narration dialogue which adds a whole other level of cringe worthy badness.

 

Entertaining. But probably not in the way it was intended to be.

Framed

Starring: Glenn Ford

Original release:1947

Synopsis:  A truck driver and a very bad girl

 

70 minutes of Glenn Ford smoking and drinking while blondie manipulates everyone around her and it's all pretty exciting until it descends into 10 minutes of over the top melodrama and one of the lamest endings ever.

Dark Passage

Starring: Bogie and Bacall

Original release: 1947

Synopsis:  A man convicted of murder goes on the run

 

The whole first person viewpoint was totally weird and even more so when they kept flipping back and forth between first person and the generalised viewpoint, making this a hard one to watch.

 

If it had been filmed differently I'd probably would have loved this.

 

Sigh...

Cry Danger

Starring: Dick Powell

Original release: 1951

Synopsis:  An ex con tries to help his friend

 

The kind of movie where 2 men live in a trailer park and sleep in bunk beds while smoking and drinking their way through life, women and crime solving.

 

Better than it has any right to be.

November Plans... All The Gardening

I know.  I know.  I am a terrible person.  Four months and no posts.  But I'm back and ready to get stuck with regular writing and posting.

 

So for the first post in awhile it's all the plans.  Most importantly - gardening plans.

 

Would you believe I even drew up a plan that's how organised I am.  Of course whether I end up carrying out the plans remains to be seen.  But hey at least I have plans.  Lots and lots of plans.

The plan for the garden this season is to plant all the things.  Lots and lots of things.  Partly because I've got the space, partly because the price of things keeps going up (something we can all relate too) and partly because it's good for the planet and good for us.

 

Last season my growing was a bit hit and miss.  Mostly due to the up and down weather we had which sadly meant that plants did not cope well.  Still on the plus I did manage to try my hand at growing some new things with some success.  So it was all misery at least.

 

Carrots did well and this time they were lovely and straight and not all weirdly shaped like the previous year due to me learning to plant them in nice burial aka carrot mounds.

 

Corn also did well... at least until the wind came along and snap them all in half which pretty much ruined my lovely tall crop that was doing so well.  Sob.

 

Radishes were a dud for some weird reason with nothing growing.  Unlike the previous year where I grew heaps.  I'm putting it down to the bad weather and crossing fingers that this year things will be back to normal.

 

Tomatoes did well... really really well.  So much so that I ended up giving away bags and bags to various friends and neighbours.

 

Cucumber, pumpkin, lettuces, beans and peas did okay.  And my sunflowers were amazing despite only three of them popping up

This year I'm planting a lot more.

I'm doubling the corn and the pumpkin.  Because yum.  And as well as the usual carrots, lettuces, radishes and tomato's I'm also trying my hand at growing silverbeet, celery, climbing beans, brussel sprouts, beetroot, watermelon and even more sunflowers.

Now it's all about the planting, growing seedlings, more planting and a lot of crossing fingers that it all goes well.

 

Wish me luck... and lots of veg and sunflowers.