100 Day Challenge

Back With More

2009-02-01T06:21:00.000-08:00

I couldn't post the remaining photos of the in progress home repairs the other day so I'm going to post those now.

First up we have the downstairs breezeway/hallway and part of the transition into the laundry room. As you can see b the gaps there's still some work left to do but the bulk of the job is complete and it looks so good. Now, we move on up to the upstairs and our new entryway.

It's coming together really nicely I think. I can't wait to see the finished project after the new carpet is installed.

P.S. Sorry about the difference in the shots. But Blogger absolutely hates me. Refuses to allow me to upload more than one photo so I had to improvise.

And So It Continues

2009-01-30T05:57:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I checked in on my personal 100 Day Challenge progress. Part of that is because I've been busy making progress and part of that is avoidance. Hey, at least I'm honest.

Well, we're down to 75 days. We have 25 days under our belts, and it's time to see how we're doing!

Ready? Or not, here we go!

The house is coming along very nicely. I've taken some photos of the "in progress" mess. So let's take a look shall we?

First there was the painting.We've done a lot of painting. Or rather my hubby has done a lot of painting. We still have some more painting to go, too. I have to admit though, the colors are so awesome. Not to mention they go so nicely with these fabulous lamps we got for a steal! I love the lamps.
The new light fixtures have been going in all over the house as well. Those are coming along very nicely, too. I've posted one shot of the new fixture that went into our living room on my Project 365 blog. You can see it here also.

The next big item being tackled at the moment is tile. We started downstairs in our laundry room and small breezeway/hallway before moving upstairs to the soon to be new and improved entryway.

Here's the start of the entryway.
I'll post some "now" photos of tomorrow. It seems Blogger has decided not to allow me to upload any more photos at the moment. Bummer.

But as you can see, we are clearly making some progress. The carpet comes next week. So we have to finish painting and the tile before then. It can be done. It has to be done.

So I'll check back in with those photos and then I'll give you an update on all the other goings on for the 100 days challenge. Clocks a ticking!

90 Days Remaining

2009-01-15T04:42:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been over a week since I last posted. I'm off to a bad start it would seem. But am I really? I have been making progress.

We've worked on the house some more. Got more painting done. Carpet has been ordered. First Tile order should be coming in this weekend. See? Moving right along.

I've also been calling child care places and getting some info. And I think we've narrowed down our search. However, no decision has been made yet. However, I will say this... The price of day care? I-YEA-YIA! It is a little more than I expected for the area we're looking. But my poor dh. He wasn't expecting anything as pricey. Very eye opening for sure.

So was my maternity leave I think. But I've researched this and not only marked it all down, I've color coded the weeks so that dh knows exactly what weeks fall into what catagory. Who knew that taking maternity leave was going to be such a challenge to figure out. Certainly not I. And I'm still not finished. I still have forms to print out and fill out and have the doctor fill out. But I do think I finally understand how the leave and different forms of pay work. It took some digging, but whew, it's done.

A new item has popped it's head up and put itself on my radar screen. Food. As in meals for us to eat when we come home with the little bambino. I'm not going to feel like cooking, and I can see us getting tired of quick fix meals the dh can throw together. So now I'm on the look out for meals I can prepare ahead of time and freeze.

I've also started knitting the baby blanket. It's moving right along. I have to say, so far I'm really impressed with it. The yarn is super soft and I'm far enough along you can start to see the design coming together. Very cool indeed. Not to mention it's knitting up a lot faster than I thought it would at first. It's been really fun to knit so far. In fact, I can't wait to get home and knit more on it.

On the writing front, still not too much progress here. I have to get with it though. My goal in this 100 day challenge is to have three stories subbed. And my strrreeeettttccchh goal is four subs.

I have 90 days remaining to make this all happen. I have got to get with it.

I can do this.

First Check-In: Out of the Starting Gate

2009-01-07T05:37:00.000-08:00

Well, I decided Wednesdays and Sundays would be good check in days for me on my challenge. So here I am. Checking in and holding myself accountable.

I posted on my regular blog a whole list of To Do's and Goals. And I know in all honestly I could and will post about the progress of these items on my other blog. The reason for this blog is just to help keep me focused. As the days move forward I can get bogged down in the ins and out and I just want to keep moving.

As it turns out, I've been moving in the right direction these past few days! I've actually started working on marking a few items off that To Do list again and even advanced on my Goals.

To Do List items:

Started calling Child Care providers. They've all be very friendly. Moving right along.
We have registered but actually did this before I posed the challenge.
The upstairs (with the exception of the bathrooms) is fully painted (C$ did this not me).
And the carpet guy has measured for carpet. Hopefully we'll hear soon on the estimate.

Now part of my To Do list items runs into my list of Goals. So I'll just group them all together for the sake of the blog.

Writing - Not too much. But I have done some editing and I'm hopeful that I'll be submitting a story soon.

Knitting - I've actually done a good bit of this. I finished a sock and am now working on it's mate. I also got the merino wool I ordered for the baby blanket I plan to knit. Moving right along!

And I signed up for Project 365. I mentioned this on my blog the other day, but thought I'd go ahead and post again here. The project premise is you take one photo a day that represents that day of your life. This will be a great way to learn more about photography and to chronicle my upcoming year. I can't wait to look back over my year in pictures. This is going to be such an exciting and life altering year. Once the year is complete I plan to take all the photos and make a scrapbook.

You can follow along my photo journey at 365 Days of Tess. I've also dedicated one of my Flickr accounts to this as well. I've already started uploading photos. Since I started late I only have two days posted. Even though they say you can go back and post those days missed, I decided against. I'd just start where I started and go forward from there.

So anyone else out there want to share?

Anyone?

Hello?

100 Day Challenge - Day One

2009-01-05T04:41:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned on my website, I'm starting a 100 Day Challenge for myself. I have 100 days before little Miss Thing arrives on April 15th and I have a lot to do between now and then. Some of it is baby related, some of it is not. Regardless, I need that push to keep me moving forward and accomplish as many of my To Do's as I possibly can.

Which is where the blog comes into play. Since I challenged myself, I decided I'd also challenge others to do the same.

It doesn't matter what you want to accomplish as long it's something on your list of To Do's, Goals, Resolutions, whatever. Join in and get that jump start right along with me!

This here blog serves as our accountablity to each other. I'll be checking in a minimum of twice a week. As for you guys check in when you can but try to report in at least once a week to hold yourself accountable.

Now, let's all pull out those lists and get started!!