As we come to the close of 2014, here's where I'm at in my list so far:
2. Pay off credit card debt ~ still working on this, but it won’t be done before the end of the year. But I feel ok about where we are and will continue to work toward a debt free status.
3. Go Roller Skating
4. Go bowling
8. Be Intentional ~ I’ve actually done really good with this one this year as well. I’ve made it a regular habit, and while there are occasionally days that I get busy really early and may skip or just do something short, I do stop and have some quiet time more days than not and am steadily re-reading my bible.
9. Eat Healthy ~ soooo….I’m gonna say this is a matter of perspective. In some ways I have been eating healthier in that I eat at home more often and am eating out way less. But….the things I cook tend to be more on the “home-cooking” end and are not necessarily low-fat, healthy options all the time.
12. Pie of the Month Club ~ Totally crushing this. I’ve made and tried a new dinner pie and dessert pie every month this year. We got so into this, we even had extra pie! For October we had Spaghetti Pie and Coconut Cream Pie. In November we had Tuscan Pot Pie, Apple Cranberry Walnut Pie and I even made an extra Pecan Pie for Jerry for Thanksgiving because he’s been asking for one all year. The only reason I hadn’t made him earlier is because in the past that was kind of my “go-to” pie and I wanted to try some different things. Maybe this task is why I totally failed at #10! Kinda shot myself in the foot on that one I guess. LOL
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| Spaghetti Pie |
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| Coconut Cream Pie |
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| Tuscan Pot Pie |
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| Apple Cranberry Walnut Pie |
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| Classic Pecan Pie |
Killer Honeymoon and Killer Physique by G. A. McKevette. These are in the Savannah Reid series and I had gotten a bit behind. I think I may have actually skipped one since the last one I’d read but that’s ok it was easy enough to catch up. I like this series, it’s a humorous murder mystery which has kind of become my go to genre lately.
SacrificeFly by Tim O’Mara. I picked this up because it had a baseball themed title. It is a mystery, but doesn’t really have anything to do with baseball, except the kid who is in trouble plays baseball at school. Don’t want to give away the storyline, but it was a decent read. I’d give it 3 stars.
ThePerfect Husband by Lisa Gardner. This book is kind of a crime drama I guess. It’s a pretty good story and well written, I was able to connect with the characters and it had a happy ending. =)
WhiskeySour by J. A. Konrath. This is the first book in the Jack Daniels series. I saw this on GoodReads and was really interested in reading it but had trouble finding it. Come to find out it was actually published in 2005. My library didn’t have it, I couldn’t even get an eReader copy of it. My library’s eReader content is LAME! Anyway, I checked all the 2nd hand book stores in my area and spent like 3 months looking for it. I finally came across it at a Half Price Books in Austin! It’s in the Crime / Mystery genre with some pretty funny scenes and one liners. I liked it a lot and immediately went ahead an bought the next 2 in the series (Bloody Mary and Rusty Nail) on Amazon as an eBook and had to borrow my daughter’s iPad to read them. I finished all 3 in about a week.
NYPDRed by James Patterson. I’ve always liked Patterson and this one did not disappoint. Again it’s another 1st of the series thing that I had been trying to keep an eye out for. I also got this one at that Half Price store in Austin and loved it. Can’t wait to track down book 2!
17. Escape for a Weekend Away ~ The hubs and I finally got to go away for a long weekend and went down to Lake Travis. We stayed in a villa on the lake and it was actually a really nice view. It would have been way more beautiful if the lake hadn’t been about 30’ low but we had a great time. We tooled around Austin and tried some new places, did a few things, took time for some bubble baths and just took the time to relax! We didn’t have a lot of exciting activities planned, but we filled our days and spent quality time together and it was AMAZING! I’ve been looking for reasons to run away just about every weekend since! LOL
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| Road Trip! |
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| Dinner @ Baby A's |
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| State Capital |
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| Maria's |
18. Start scrapbooking again ~ So I “kind of” did this. I got the pictures printed to actually do a scrapbook page…and that’s about as far as I got on that one. But I did put together something as Christmas gifts. Can’t give too much details yet in case any of those recipients read this.
24. Declutter my office ~ I thought I already marked this off? It’s not even an office anymore, it’s a spare room / craft room and the desk and computer have now been moved into the game room.
25. Follow a budget ~ I’ve been setting a budget all year, and am spending way less, but I don’t know if I’ve been faithfully following (or staying within) every line item every month. I’d say not too bad, so I’m going to call this done. Again, it’s another habit and I’ll try to do better next year.
29. Finish my Christmas Shopping by Thanksgiving ~ well….another fail. I did at least start before Thanksgiving and I dragged Jerry out for Black Friday shopping and hit the Cyber Monday thing….but I did at least TRY to stay on some type of budget so I had to spread it out. Today is 12/6 and I am SOOOOO CLOSSSEEEE. I think I actually only have like 4-5 gifts left to buy and I already know what they are going to be. Payday is next weekend…
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| Getting close... |
30. Watch a sunrise with someone special ~ I was up for sunrise with my someone special many times, but we didn’t always have a great view of the sun. One time we ended up watching a storm roll in, but knew the sun had come up because the sky was lighter behind the storm clouds. We watched the sky lighten together several times but were on the west facing side of the building, or had a big building or tree in the way. So while I we didn’t get a beautiful, unobstructed, romantic view I had pictured when I put this on my list, I’m still totally counting this as done because every morning with my someone special is a beautiful gift. <3 p="">
31. Go stargazing ~ We did do this on several occasions. The first night we drove around for an hour looking for a good spot on the outskirts and by the time we found it, clouds had rolled in. :-/ Another time we got a full blown thunderstorm, and times after that everytime we did, there were just too many lights around and we just couldn’t fully see the magnificent sky we enjoyed last summer, but we did this and will do it again. That night last summer is still one of my favorite dates EVER!!
36. Blog Regularly ~ ok so while I don’t have a regular, weekly schedule or anything, I think I’ve kept up to date pretty well. And in addition to my 2014 updates I’ve even posted extra some extra entries for the shoe blog and shared some recipes. You’re welcome.
42. Go to an Air Show ~ We went to the Alliance Air Show in October. It was super cool. We checked out some old war planes and the best part was seeing the Thunderbirds perform! They are SUPER hard to snap a picture of though! LOL
43. Try a new restaurant (19/12) ~ Here I was thinking I would try a new place once a month. But now that I have this on my list I’ve actually been trying to go someplace different everytime we decide to go out! LOL It doesn’t always work out, we still go to the same places sometimes, but we’ve at least expanded our experiences a lot this year and will continue to do so. Since the last update:
Rosters Roadhouse - Red Neck, White Trash, Blue Collar! This is a dive place with a good burger. It was voted in the Denton Top 10. The thing to try is the "Big Ass Double Grilled Cheeseburger". It's a double patty cheeseburger sandwiched between two grilled cheese sandwiches. We went on a Sunday afternoon and although the food was good, the service was quite lacking that day.
Rohmer’s - This is a little family owned joint in Muenster. We went with Austin & Sue to find a good German place. This was it. A little out of the way, and kind of a hole in the wall, but good service and good food.
Pollo Tropical - They opened a new place in Denton that is out of Miami and is mainly chicken mixed with tropical flavors. Since it's new, every time we tried to go it was packed. We finally got a chance to go when we could get in the door and find a seat late on a Saturday afternoon while we were running errands. The food was ok, but the service was awful! They completely lost our order and we waited for an hour for our food....at a "fast food joint"! Don't bother.
Baby Acapulco - This is a Mexican place down in the Austin area. I'd actually eaten here before, but Jerry hadn't. We went during our trip. The food is good, plus they have a great margarita menu and they make 'em strong!
Maria’s Taco Express - Austin's Taco Queen. This is a hole in the wall joint in Austin and we went because a good friend of ours recommended it. It was pretty good and apparently is pretty popular with he locals. Loved the sign! LOL
Schmidt’s BBQ - Another place we tried while in Austin. We wanted to some BBQ, and ended up taking this back to the room and having our own private dinner party. Good BBQ, the ribs were so tender the meat just fell off of them. YUM!44. Shoe Challenge ~ Still working my way through every shoe in my closet. Not sure if I'll finish this one by the end of the year or not. Check back for the latest pair here soon.
So that's where I'm at for the moment. It's harder to post lately because my husband is a gamer and I have to fight for computer time! LOL I'll update again soon. Thanks for reading!
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