50 Things in 215 Days - Learning from Gardening Mistakes!

           After years of killing every plant that I have owned, I decided in January that this would be the year I would grow a successful garden. And boy have I tried! My original plans to try with a few plants I had seeds for expanded when Pete's Aunt Jill gave me a bunch of left over seeds she had - cilantro, zuchinni, lots of onions, tomatoes, and squash to name a few. I had little plants growing all over my house in dixie cups this spring - it must have looked like we were growing marijuana to our neighbors. But sadly very few of the poor innocent seedlings survived me forgetting to water them or planting them before they were strong enough to make it on their own. Not much success growing from seed, but I have somehow managed to plant tomatoes on accident under our apricot tree, and keep alive some tomato plants that someone donated to our churches "Leave or Take" box.

       But zuchhini must be hardy plants because they have not only survived but taken over! I planted 6 little zuchinni seedlings in the raised bed Pete built me, and they have grown over the onions and tomatoes, and are suffocating them! 

 Here you can see the tomatoes pushed over the edge of the box by the zuchinni - selfish plants!

    Here are some of the many, many zuchinnis we've harvested this summer. I need to learn how to freeze them because I am actually getting tired of eating them! Aren't they huge?

So from my gardening attempts this summer I have learned that I need to work on spacing my plants :). And I get to cross something off my list:

41. Plant spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, asain carrots, and butterleaf lettuce
42. Grow these things successfully :) (the tomatoes anyways!)
     

The wonderful thing about San Diego is that I get to try again with gardening this Fall. I think I will leave zuchinni out!

50 Things in 201 Days

Since finding out I have adrenal fatigue two months ago, I have been forcing myself to go at a tortoise pace. (I'm not supposed to spend more energy than I actually have - HA!). So I have not done much with this blog or with the things on my "50 Things" list. In fact, I have decided that I WILL finish this list, but I am giving myself two years instead of one. I am determined to complete these goals, but I don't think I will have enough energy for all of them in 2011. Especially the exercise goals - if I walked 60 miles a month right now, I would be in bed the rest of the time, and I would have to tell Pete, "Sorry babe, no dinner, I have to reach my exercise goal!" (On a rather strange note, I have actually lost 5 pounds NOT exercising much at all, and introducing meat, and I mean at almost every meal! Best diet plan I've ever been on - loving it!)

     But I have managed to cross another goal off of my list, for which I feel like singing:

30. Have trash men pick up old broken televisions and rotting bedframe

Not only did we get rid of the broken televisions (there were actually two- loooonnng story), we took them, as my friend Stephanie suggested, to a recycling center.  And Pete used a pick ax to save the wood from the bedframe, part of which he used to build my garden bed. So I one-upped my own list for once ;).

What are your goals? Keep after them - even if at a tortoise pace- you will accomplish them eventually if you don't give up!

50 Things on the Shelf (for Now)

I have not been blogging as much lately, but not because I've lost interest! You would think that being home I'd have more time to blog, but this summer the opposite has proved the case. The first reason is because I have been very busy helping Pete grade Greek - he is teaching an intensive class - two years in one summer! on top of working at Starbucks, teaching Karate, and teaching online. So he needs all the help I can give him, especially because the textbook has no answer key. I am creating the answer key for next time around! And I've thoroughly enjoyed myself - it is the perfect opportunity to refresh myself in the basics, and it has helped my reading in the Greek New Testament. For anyone who has been able to read Jesus' words in the original language, and realize things like "this subjunctive verb shows how willing He was to die for us" knows what an immense and incredible JOY this is! So blogging has gone on the back burner to give way to paradigms and parsing. (I am going to at least try to get back into the groove of writing "16th and Island", though, before I forget too many details!)
    The other reason for my blogging hiatus is I've recently been diagnosed with something called "Adrenal Fatigue". All this means is my adrenal glands don't produce enough of the right hormones, so I get tired very easily. One of the best ways to recover is to rest when you are tired, something I have never been good at. I've been forcing myself to develop this discipline, because I want to recover before we have kids so that I am not fainting while holding a newborn! This means that somethings just don't get done, and when the choice is between cooking dinner and hanging out with a friend, or cooking dinner and blogging, blogging is the first to go!  This also means that I may not accomplish every thing on my "50 Things" list this year - in fact, I am putting that on the shelf for now - (unless I get bored and need something to do, but that seems unlikely at the moment). I am ok with this, because at least I have a diagnosis, and my first priority is to figure out how to get better. I think that I find way too much value in my own productivity, and God is really teaching me to just rest in His unconditional love, and to trust in Him. He doesn't judge me for being too tired to organize the garage, or to bake bread from scratch, or to dust behind the sofa  - I am righteous in Christ, and He is working in me to form me into His image. 
        God willing, I will get back to crossing things off my "50 Things" list in a few weeks or months. But for now, I am translating some Greek and going to bed early.

50 Things in 112 Days

       This last month of being, I may as well say it, a stay-at-home wife, has been quite the ride. It was an adjustment at first - I really, really miss my co-workers from my job at the preschool - among them are some very close friends. And I miss the kids, and just being around kids in general, a ton. I find myself talking to random kids in the grocery store trying to get my kid fix (note to self - find some friend's kids to hang out with before I scare some parent too badly).  And getting into a routine was challenging - for about a week or so, I sat and stared at the wall, thinking I had nothing to do while dishes and laundry piled up, and all the projects I was going to complete around the house and for Pete's teaching sat unfinished.
        BUT I have. not. had. a. single. virus. in. a. month.  And God has provided for Pete with more classes as well as a karate class at our church.  And I can't believe how God has blessed our marriage - we were pretty happy before, but we haven't hardly fought since I quit working, maybe just because there is less stress without me being constantly sick. Pete even built me raised bed for my garden, which I will post about next week. And not only have I not been lonely (except for certain people at my job!), we've been able to have more of a social life. And I am beginning to find my groove, and have slowly but surely been able to chip away at projects around the house and for Pete's classes. And I have had moments of pure bliss while soaking up sun rays while hanging laundry on the line, or watch dragon flies and butterflies while working in the garden, or seeing a loaf of bread rise successfully.
As far as things off my list, Pete did this one for me today:
32. Put in two sturdy clotheslines to replace the one which almost touches ground when full

I feel more blessed than I deserve.

50 Things in 55 Days

This week I did terrible at exercising - too many excuses - too tired, too much rain, etc! I am thinking my goal of 60 miles a month is something I need to build up to, so in March I am going to start with 30 miles, and build up from there! And I have neglected memorizing Genesis 1 like I challenged my Sunday Schoolers to do- there is always next week :).

But because of God's grace and a mistake I made $100 in our favor, I was able to cross something else off my list:
12. Pay off the car I wrecked a year and a half ago
I am so excited! We finished two months ahead of schedule! Everytime I paid that car payment, I remembered the horrible accident I got in that totalled the first car Pete and I ever bought, and my silliness for being so cheap to not haven gotten collision insurance! But now that is completely in the past, and we have no more car payments as some dear and generous friends gave us a car once we got back to San Diego. So on to saving money for a cash car for if the car we have now ever has to be replaced. (We are being so careful to nurse this car along for as long as possible). God has been so generous to provide for us - He even uses my clerical errors :).
    

50 Things in 49 Days

I didn't post last week about "50 Things" because I didn't want to write, for the third week in a row, "I'm sick so I am not getting much done". True, but not that interesting. I'm finally on the mend though - eating a 50% raw, 50% cooked vegan diet finally did the trick!  Today I actually was able to walk a full mile in between rain storms, which was exciting after weeks of being indoors. I felt like singing praises to God!

While being sick, I did manage through no effort of my own to lose five pounds, which is a big start on #27. Lose and KEEP off these last stubborn 35 pounds. God has graciously provided 30$ for buying clothes for homeless kids through my calligraphy business (#39. Raise at least $100 dollars for homeless children through blogging and calligraphy). Another huge answer to prayer was being well enough to pick 50 pounds of avocados, grapefruit, oranges, and tangerines for the homeless! Thanks again Heather and Jennifer!

Two of my goals, #26, Get a laproscopic surgery, and #13, Save for a laproscopic surgery, have changed! Pete talked to an old professor we had, Mrs. Suzch, who has made a remarkable recovery from MS at a "Center for Wellness" which specializes in treating people with "incurable" diseases through detoxification and diet. She said that every person who goes there with PCOS and endometriosis gets better. She recommended we try getting me treatment there before we go the expensive route of laproscopic surgery which costs thousands of dollars and which only stops endometriosis from returning 50% of the time. I feel like this is a direct answer to prayer, and am excited to see what they can do for my health. What I am praying for is that they can help me be healthy enough to be a good mother to my future children, whether they are adopted or biological.

This week I plan to work on:
# 8. Memorize Genesis 1 and John 1- I've made it to verse seven of Genesis 1 - won't finish at this rate! I want to get through at least day three next week :)
# 18. Walk at least 60 miles a month - Obviously, I can't do this in the week and a half left of February, but I plan on trying to get back into shape to walk three miles a day again so I can finally at least attempt this goal in March!

What are your plans/ goals for the week?

50 Things in 35 Days

This week I focused on calligraphy (34. Learn 3 new fonts) and I learned a new font which I really love - Spencerian! It is truly exciting to learn a new fonts or techniques - almost like learning a new language in which to express worship to God through art.
          I finally went to the doctor to see if he would give me antibiotics to get over what turned out to be bronchitis, and it turns out I have developed a reaction to Amoxicillan (tremors, insomnia, nauseau). I didn't realize for about three days that it was the medicine that was causing these symtpoms, but I am finally feeling better once I stopped taking them. Now I am going to try going on a "raw food fast", at least for a week, to see if this will beat the bronchitis! This helped me get over a bout of bronchitis last spring, so I am crossing my fingers :). I will beat bronchitis, I will beat bronchitis, I will beat bronchitis!

I think that God is trying to teach me to humbly rely on Him. The most frustrating thing about being sick for so long is that I had all these plans of ways to help homeless kids in San Diego, like organizing a "fruit gleaning" project so that we could donate it to the homeless school downtown. And I am sort of scared all the delicious oranges and grapefruits hanging on trees around my neighborhood will rot before I get better! I want so much to do something to help these kids who go through so much and are so neglected, and it has been discouraging to be physically unable to do anything for them. But God is teaching me that He is the one who does His work, not me, and that any work done for Him needs to be accomplished first on my knees. George Muller, who worked with orphans in England in the 19th century, was a great man of prayer - he sought God to provide for each and every of the needs of the children in His care. That is what I need to do - to pray:
1) For God to put it on believer's hearts in San Diego to help homeless children in this community,
2) For God to provide these children with a way to hear the gospel,
3) For God to provide them with the clothes they need, especially socks and underwear,
4) For God to provide them with more nutritious food, and
5) For God to provide them with better medical care than the shoddy care they receive right now.
I am excited to see what our amazing God will do for these children!

My plans for next week are to -
1) Pray, pray, Pray!!
2) Go on a "raw food fast"
3) Keep plugging away at writing "16th and Island" and working on Pete's powerpoints

What are your plans/ goals for the week?

50 Things in 21 Days

So far this year has not gone according to plan. This week I got over the flu, but I have developed a cold which has kept me from being able to really start exercising much (I did manage to eek out 4 miles though). So it is time to really step back and try to build my immune system (which is weakened by a condition I have). I am:

1) Drinking 10 glasses of water a day

2) Taking powder vitamin C and liquid echinacea (they are supposed to absord easier!)

3) Making sure to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night.
4) Drinking 1 oz of Noni Juice a day (it tastes nasty, but it is already helping in some other areas besides immunity, which I won't gross you out with :).
Hopefully, these steps will help me get and stay healthy! If not, I may have to do something drastic, like go on a week long juice fast. Yikes!

Reading the Bible and praying have been going well, which is helping me with my attitude about being sick - God's been giving me the grace to be much more thankful this week. God loves me unconditionally, all of our needs are met, I am married to the man of my dreams - what do I have to complain about!!

Sadly, I did not get my etsy shop up as I planned! Being a procrastinating perfectionist, such a big task seems almost overwhelming! I did manage to get a good profile picture (which I still need to upload) and take photos of new calligraphy pieces I gave as Christmas presents. Next week, I am determined to get it up and running, and to achieve that, I have the mini-goal of working on it at least half an hour a day. I can do anything, no matter how daunting, for half an hour!

What do you do boost your immune system in the cold/flu season? How do break large tasks into smaller, more achievable ones?

50 Things in 14 days

"Harvey called in sick. He decided to blog at home today."

This week I came down with another, even worse, virus than last week - the stomach flu!  At first, I kept bursting into tears, not because of  the room-spinning dizziness or the draining fatigue or the roller-coaster nausea, but because of my forced hiatus from achieving this year's goals! Then as I was reading James, I came across these verses:

4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town ¹⁷  and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” 4:14 You ¹⁸  do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? ¹⁹  For you are a puff of smoke ²⁰  that appears for a short time and then vanishes. 4:15 You ought to say instead, ²¹  “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.” 4:16 But as it is, ²²  you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

God has been teaching me for years that my value is not in how much I accomplish, but in Him alone - I guess this lesson is one I am still learning. My life will not end if I only end up accomplishing "48 Things" or "39 Things" or even, gasp! "25 Things" off my list this year :). What matters is if God's will is accomplished in my life. 

I was somehow able to:

 44. Finish hand-mending pair of jeans I've been working on for three months! 

Next week, God willing, I will:

- keep reading God's Word and praying, resume exercising, and

33. Start a shop on etsy.

What are your goals, God-willing, for the next week? month? year?

50 Things in 7 Days

This week has been remarkably productive, considering Pete and I have been battling a stealthy peek-a-boo virus since Christmas! Seeing written down all that I wanted to get done this year I realized I needed to get organized and did a "New Year's cleaning" of our entire one-bedroom flat.

From the list I completed:
6. Make a real prayer list and don't lose it! :)   Well, haven't lost it yet :)
29. Put shelves into bedroom for organizing clothes   See "Frugal Tip from the Green Housewife"

As far as long-term goals go:

Spiritual - Bible reading is going well - I've enjoyed reading I and II Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews. Hebrews is so captivating, talking about our Great High Priest and the New Country we are looking forward to by faith.  But I have been realizing how anemic my prayer life is! Some days it has been a struggle to focus for 10 minutes on talking to the God of the universe. I need to focus on worshipping God for who He is - if I truly saw Him as being everywhere, holy, all-powerful, all-loving, at all-times, prayer would be a delight, not something I just tried to cross off my list.

Health - Obviously I couldn't exercise much this week, although I managed to eek out 6 miles. Had a few bites of hamburger and one cheese stick (forgot about the no dairy goal momentarily!), but turned down delicious chocolate brownies and birthday cake at the church potluck :).  Focusing on these goals will help me get more done this year!

Writing - So far, so good. Realizing that I am not good at descriptions of places, so my self-imposed deadline of posting "16th and Island" once a week is forcing me to not procrastinate.

Next Week I am focusing on beginning to:
8. Memorize Genesis 1 and John 1
33. Start a shop on etsy

What are your New Year's Resolutions? Goals for this week?

Why 50 Things in 365 Days?

A few friends have balked at the length of my New Year's Resolution list. So I will explain my reasoning behind "50 Things in 365 Days". It is not because I am a gluten for punishment, or because I have unrealistic expectations, or because I enjoy making lists. It is not because I want to brag about everything I will do this year just to not do any of those things. It is not because I didn't know what to post about on New Years.

Here are a few of my reasons:
1. I want to grow spiritually more this year than last year. Our pastor, excuse me, "teaching elder" :), challenged us the last two Sundays to really focus on the basic spiritual disciplines this year: Bible reading, prayer, witnessing, and scripture memorization - so that next New Year's we can look back and see that have grown closer to our Savior, instead of more spiritually stagnant.

2. I am ADD and need concrete deadlines and accountability to accomplish anything! Any of you seen "Julie and Julia"? Well, I am ADD like Julie Powell - Pete, that is why I have never been good  at housework.

3. I will never have this much time to accomplish the things I want to accomplish again.  After  a string of nightmare nanny and cleaning jobs, with some health issues in the mix, Pete asked me (actually almost insisted) at the end of 2009 that we try to live mostly off of his income, and I work only part-time to pay off debt and save. Well, I had my doubts that such a scheme would work, but by the end of 2010 we had less debt, our marriage was a lot stronger, and we were able to do more ministry together. 
          But instead of getting done the gardening, writing, calligraphy-ing, sewing, general homemaking, exercising, and ministry that I finally had the time to do, I wasted a lot of time looking at other people's blogs envying their fulfilling lives. Not this year! While waiting for God to bring us the child(ren) He has for us, either through adoption or through natural childbirth, I better get busy, because once He does bless us that way, I won't have any more free time!

4. I've been shaken up recently to live intentionally.   (You can read why in the posts titled "16th and Island"). 

5. I want to encourage my friends to meet their goals.  If ADD me can do it, so can you! Each Saturday, I will give an update of how I am doing on my goals - hopefully this will give me some accountability to achieve a few of them! Feel free to post about how you are doing on your New Year's Resolutions/ goals as well. Let's encourage each other this year to see what we can accomplish, for the glory of God and the good of others!

Stay tuned tomorrow for "50 Things in 7 Days"

50 Things in 365 days

With God's grace, in 2011 I resolve to:

Writing Goals
1. Blog six days a week
2. Finish writing short story "16th and Island"
3. Try to get "16th and Island" published

Spiritual Goals
4. Read the Bible everyday
5 Pray 10 Minutes everyday (at least)
6. Make a real prayer list and don't lose it! :)
7. Spend one day a month in serious prayer
8. Memorize Genesis 1 and John 1

Financial Goals
9. Continue budgeting at the beginning of each month
10. Continue balancing checkbook each week while praising God for online banking :)
11. Save at least 25$ more a month
12. Pay off the car I wrecked a year and a half ago
13. Save for a laproscopic surery
14. Pay down at least $1000 extra on smallest student loan
15. Give ___ $ more a month

Health Goals
16. Remember to take pills everyday :)
17. Exercise 6 days a week
18. Walk at least 60 miles a month
19. Do weight training 3 times a week
20. Eat salad 4 times a week
21. Eat NO SUGAR all year
22. Eat NO WHEAT all year
23. Eat no dairy all year
24. Eat no red meat all year
25. Get tested for wheat allergy
26. Get laproscopic surgery
27. Lose and KEEP off these last stubborn 35 pounds!

Cleaning/ Organizing Goals
28. Dust really well once a week
29. Put shelves into bedroom for organizing clothes
30. Have trash men pick up old broken television and molding bedframe
31. Buy new iron and ironing board for FASTER ironing!
32. Put in two sturdy clotheslines to replace the one which almost touches ground when full :

Calligraphy Goals
33. Start a shop on etsy
34. Learn 3 new fonts

Ministry Goals
35. Find an easy to understand history of Old Testament for Wanda
36. Edit Pete's New Testament Survey notes in time for them to be published by fall
37. Add graphics and pictures to all of Pete's New Testament Survey Power Points by end of year
38. Summarize main points of "Basic Greek Grammer" by Mounce for Pete's summer Greek class
39. Raise at least $100 dollars for homeless children through blogging and calligraphy

Gardening Goals
40. Plant Morning Glories in window boxes and keep them alive
41. Plant spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, asain carrots, and butterleaf lettuce
42. Grow these things successfully :)
43. Make another row of compost trench

Sewing
44. Finish hand-mending pair of jeans I've been working on for three months!
45. Buy a sewing machine
46. Take a class on how to use sewing machine
47. Complete one simple project

Cooking Goals
48. Bake 1 loaf of gluten-free bread (this will be the year!)
49. Learn 3 new Thai dishes
50. Organize recipes!!!!





What are your New Years Resolutions?