I have wanted a Wii for a while, but kept putting it off. Then a few weeks ago Nintendo announced the big price drop. Shortly there afetr a co-worker sent out a link where Amazon had the Wii + Free Shipping + $25 Amazon Giftcard all for $199. Done Deal!

The system arrived a few weeks ago. I have been crazy busy, but managed to play a little Bowling and Tennis. I also order Wii Fit Plus with the gift card. I hoep to have that set up this week!

The house I bought had original 1941 single-pane windows. Casements that crank out. More than half didn't open and many panes of glass were cracked.



I knew my first major project was going to be replacing the windows ASAP. Last Friday the job was completed!



I replaced 22 windows, and now they all open (Finally windows open in my bendroom... YAY!)

See the total transformation here.

The new house had a wood burning fireplace (actually a requirement) :)

But then I had raccoons.... and did I really want to be messing with a fire?!??!?

My mother suggested Gas Logs as an option.... and its actually my housewarming/birthday/xmas present :D

installation was finally complete today!

I have been wanting one for years....the stars finally aligned this weekend. A coupon from Pier 1, my mother's SUV, and my sister to help carry :D

yay!

L L.A.M.B. Fragrance By Gwen Stefani ... available for purchase @ Sephora ;)

I have updated my list due to certain items not being relevant anymore, due to me moving to a new home.

My list - Complete Items

1
Pick a Project Management certificate program and enroll

2
Replace Kitchen countertops Replace Windows

3
Have corner fireplace installed Convert Fireplace to Gas
4
Go to Las Vegas


5
See Pearl Jam in a foreign country

6
Create a will

7
Go to the doctor and have a physical

8
See a financial planner

9
Buy a new refrigerator Buy a new Bathroom Cabinet

10
Clean out the clutter from my second bedroom

11
Buy a bed/futon for my second bedroom

12
Get my car retro-fitted with BlueTooth


13
Paint Master Bedroom Turn 3^rd bedroom into a closet

14
Buy a new mattress

15
Go to Chicago and see a taping of the Oprah show

16
Get my bike fixed!

17
Pay off my credit cards! (1/3)

18
Go vegetarian for a week

19
Go down 1 clothing size

20
No Starbucks for one week

21
Participate in a protest march

22
No fast food for one week

23
Put $5 in savings for each completed task, donate $10 for each task
not completed at the end of 1,001 days to the Orphan Foundation of America


24
Take my niece to the National Zoo

25
Go to Australia

26
Go to Hawaii

27
Go to Africa on Safari

28
Successfully grow a Hydrangea

29
Go skiing

30
Replace mirror in second bathroom Remove dead tree in front yard

31
Go to an amusement park

32
Visit a vineyard

33
Spend a few days in the outer banks

34
Go to Boston

35
Participate in a cookie exchange

36
No chips for 1 week (Potato or nacho)


37
Go to the Opera

38
Go to the Ballet

39
replace light fixtures in second bathroom Add a door to 2^nd bathroom

40
Buy a jewelry cabinet

41
Get the carpets steam cleaned Buy area rug for the Dining Room

42
Install Programmable thermostat

43
Install ceiling fan in sunroom Replace outside door on the rear addition

44
Appear on a reality show

45
Get rid of all clothes that I have not worn in over a year

46
Clean off old laptop and get rid of it

47
Sell old printer

48
Sell Baseball card collection

49
Go down 2 clothing sizes

50
Get a radical haircut (not same old boring part on the side)

51
Neatly paint my own toenails

52
Get eyebrows waxed and darkened

53
Go to dentist regularly

54
Refinance my condo into a 15 year mortgage Replace Garage Doors

55
Start drinking V8 regularly to up my weekly serving of vegetables (3
times a week for one month)

56
Move all stock to 1 brokerage

57
Apply to be a notary

58
Go on a cruise

59
Go Skydiving

60
Go rock-wall climbing

61
Go out for sushi (Not California Rolls)

62
Brush Madison every day for 1 week

63
Trim Madison's nails once a week for a month. (5/5)


64
Get rid of all clothes that have holes in them

65
Go out for Afternoon Tea

66
Buy Burberry earmuffs

67
Go to AAFB and cheer when GW leaves office

68
Get a new piercing (nose or eyebrow)

69
Tag all my photos on Flickr

70
Learn how to use my Tiptronic transmission

71
Make pasta from scratch

72
Go Whale watching

73
Swim with Dolphins

74
Figure out how to play Craps - and play

75
Get a Wii

76
Try a sudoku puzzle

77
Ride on a motorcycle

78
Visit an active volcano

79
Get an Ezpass gadget for my car


80
Pay the toll for the next 5 cars that follow me thru the tunnel(0/5) Replace Front door and basement
door

81
Take my mom to see a Broadway play

82
Find a new signature scent

83
Go to a Hockey game


84
See all 100 for AFI's top 100 movies (using 2007 list) - (28/100)

85
Secret -- If I do it I'll let you know what it was :-)

86
Make a new meal using cookbooks (or recipes from real simple) 4 times a month (5/128)


87
Donate Bone Marrow

88
Get the ceiling repainted in the kitchen/dining room

89
move to a more urban location

90
eat one salad a week (61/143)

91
Fly in a helicopter

92
Attend a UMBC alumni event

93
Buy a new iPod


94
Buy a mini-season ticket plan for Nationals

95
No beer for 1 week

96
Organize all clipped magazine articles

97
Learn how to make a ringtone on my mac, and get it to my BlackBerry

98
Pass on old Pearl Jam live shows on cassette tape

99
If I list something on ebay and it doesn't sell, throw away (or donate
to charity)

100
Have a cable (or FIOS) outlet put into my kitchen Get a real cat door for the door that leads to rear addition

101
Go to a Professionals in the City event

My decision of 5 months ago (hardly seems real!) has finally produced the fruits :D

I am all moved in... and about half unpacked and 40 % organized. I've mowed the the lawn once, taken out the trash, and done a ton of cleaning....

Woo Hoo!! I love my house :D

Needless to say the 101 in 1001 list will be revised.... as certain items that related only to my condo are no longer relevant , so they'll be replaced with home projects for my new house :)

It has been a while since I had any update to any of the items on my 101 in 1001 list. But today I finally have one...

Flashback to 2 years ago... A friend and I planned to take part in a Cherry Blossom bike ride (viewing only ... not a race :P). So I dug my bike out of the storage closest, threw it in the backseat of my car... with the top down.. in early April and drove west on RT 50. It was cold.

Took the bike on Metro and arrived downtown... met up with tour guide... and set off, except when I pedaled, the wheel didn't turn :(

So my friend and I had to bail.

But when I started the great de-clutter prior to listing my condo for sale, I relegated my bike (and a few other things) to my parents house and then asked that it be taken to a bike doctor, which it was, they had it for a few weeks, and today it was returned in working condition (to my parents house.... I will have it in my possession once my move to a new house is done!)

This had to be done this weekend, due to my condo going on the market! Basically I was using my 2nd bedroom as a quasi office/storage room. I have my cable modem there, along with the router and printer. I have a TV and a chair, some bookshelves. All my packing supplies for stuff I sell on ebay is stored there ( along with bunches of stuff that I still need to list on ebay. I should have taken a before picture, from when it was really bad... but I didn't.



(Oh... I hope no one looks in my 2nd bedroom closet or the hallway closet.... they are packed to the gills... I even manged to get 2 dining room chairs in my hallway closet!!)

I am a huge Pearl Jam fan. Especially of their live music. Back when I was in college I started collecting many live shows (real bootlegs, to be sure... not the "Official Bootlegs" that the fan club now sells after every tour). I have a crate of Video bootlegs. I also had a large storage bin of cassette bootlegs....perhaps 20-30 shows - each show takes 2 tapes.

I knew I would never be able to sell them on ebay... Pearl Jam offical-dom would be all over my ass... threatening to boot me from the fan club... (so I'd lose my access to awesome concert seats).

I briefly thought of posting them on craigslist. but really who wants tapes anymore?

So last night... I dumped them all in a trash bag :-)

The photo above is the "before" photo. And that patch is no longer! I now have a uniformly white ceiling again.

So about 2 weeks ago I found 2 painters using my local community Yahoo! group. And I had them come out to give me an estimate. (I briefly talked about my ceiling at Thanksgiving and my brother-in-law indicated the job would be about $350-$400.)

Painter #1

He showed, on time. Then proceeded to walk around my condo, and count steps (I guess he was counting square footage). He asked if I still had paint left that matched the wall colors because he indicated since the ceiling was textured it wasn't that easy to do the "edging". I replied that I did. - Estimate - $603 (listing that he was charging me for labor, 3 gallons of paint, and drop cloths).


Painter #2

He showed, 30 minutes late. I pointed out the area I needed painted. He asked me if I already had the paint. I said no. He looked around, and said $350. I said I would make a final decision in a few days.

Then I went back to painter #1 and said that I thought he included the sunroom in the estimate and I didn't need that room done, and asked if he wanted to submit another estimate. He knocked $25 off.

Needles to say I went with painter #2.

He showed, 30 minutes late, with 2 helpers, and his own previously used drop cloths.
Ceiling looks great! No edging issues.

Even I can't believe I finished this one so soon.... but I did have some help with the Holidays :P

I usually go to Starbucks every weekday when I get off the Metro in SW DC, and on weekends if I am out somewhere that there is a Starbucks... like a mall.

So last Wednesday I was off... and since my car was in the shop... I didn't go shopping. Thursday was a Holiday aka recover from New Years Eve. Friday... I got to my Starbucks and they were closed (until 8am - and I never went back).... Saturday and Sunday I didn't go to the mall because my car was still in the shop. Monday and Tuesday... I walked right past the Starbucks... though I think did cast a wistful glance inside :P

6:45am Tomorrow I will be at Starbucks with bells on for my Triple Venti Skim Latte !!!

(Aside - one of the guys I ride the train with asked me this morning... If I had gotten my Starbucks yesterday (we get off at the same metro stop so he usually sees me go in). After I said that I hadn't, he asked me if I was cutting back due to the economy..... I told him no....just something I was doing for myself, and once I got through today, I would be back tomorrow.)

Yesterday was my flex day so I used it wisely to finally go pick op my Notary Commission.

First up entered the address for the court house in my navigation system (I had been there once before for jury duty... many years ago).. and interesting thing too... after living in Odenton for over 6.5 years.. I learned a new way to get to RT 32.

Anyway it was a quick drive to Annapolis... then I got to look for parking. Luckily my navigation system lists Ps on the map where a Parking facility is. Except I have a weird habit of not being able to commit to a parking garage. It's very odd. I drive up, and I know where I should turn but I just can't do it! I usually end up driving around and around... (except if it's somewhere I have been before .. then I stick to the garage like glue.) So I was meandering through downtown Annapolis... and come to City Dock aka Main Street. I turn and start going up the street and notice that there are red bags over all of the meters! FREE PARKING (2 Hour) for the holidays!!!! Yay...except I am really bad at parallel parking... especially if there is moving traffic...but I got lucky! 2 spaces in a row.. so I could do the pull in manuever and then straighten out by backing up and then pull forward again!

So it's off to the courthouse. I signed in... raised my right hand and took the oath of office :D

Now I just need to order my stamp and I will the be officially open for business!

Just heard that Oprah is coming to to DC (for the Inauguration of course!) and plans to tape some shows around it :D

Seeing a taping of the Oprah show is on my list of 101 things in 1001 days!

I am going to try for tickets, but if anyone can help me out in case I miss out on the tickets, I would be forever grateful :D

Saturday night a friend and I went to a Pros in the City event. We attended a 4 minute mini-dating event. It was held at Cafe Soleil in DC (last call at 10pm- crazy!).

Basically the premise is this.... An even number of guys and gals sit at tables and the guys rotate every 4 minutes. So you meet every member of the opposite sex there, and make small talk (or whatever you want to talk about).

So if you know me you know I hate making small talk with people I don't know (actually I am pretty uncomfortable talking to people I don't know in general.... it takes me a while to "warm up" - this is why Potluck Bitch trying to force me into some "friendship" is really not going the way PB wants it to go :P) ... so this was definitely out of my comfort zone!

Going in ... I had no real expectations except hoping that I wasn't stuck sitting at a table staring at someone! Luckily that didn't happen :D There were some characters there, but no one that I felt a connection with....

One guy brought out a mini-hungry-hungry hippo game... for those people where he felt the convo was dragging :P Probably because when he asked me what I did, after I responded he told me he was IT Porject manager, and proceeded to ask me about a software design concept (test driven development).

Me: Never heard of it

Hippo Guy: Yeah... that's the question I use to see if someone is lying to me about what they do.

Me: Thinking to myself... OMG did this guy just call me a liar??!? :P

Other than that the evening went fine :)

Afterwards my friend and I got a drink from the bar (we were parched! with all that talking... I wish they had water at each station) and mingled. Shortly after 10pm (aka Last Call) we left and went to another bar/club with a few participants...and hung out for a while...actually a long while... I didn't get home until almost 3am :P

I am glad I did it...and may even do it again! (or another event... like Rock Climbing!!)

I adopted Madison about 5 years ago and she is not de-clawed. When I first got her... I could not even imagine trimming her nails myself. I could barely hold a paw! So every few months I would take her to PetSmart to get her nails trimmed. But it got to be a hassle, because getting Madison in her carrier is no fun ( I get to shut us in a bathroom!) then listen to her cry the entire way, over, during, and back.

A few years ago ( since I became able to hold a paw!) I tried trimming myself... it definitely took a while, and I still don't get them as short as PetSmart (or the Vet!) but its getting done. When I made my list I added "Trimming Madison's nails once a week" because I knew it needed to be done more that I was doing it. Once a week is overkill. I think I should aim for once a month :)

I applied about 4 weeks ago to be a Notary, I got a letter in the mail today from my State Senator telling me that I should get a notice to pick up my commission within the next week.

Yay me!