2009 Done List

Like many people I tend to set myself goals (rather than make resolutions) and then check back to see how I'm doing or -- at the end of the year -- did. As usual, I managed a few and completely failed on some others. For example, those green socks are still on the needles. If Margaret doesn't understand the pattern, I've got no chance; I'll have to take a completely different tack, I think. (Anyone know a really simple pattern -- one that can be explained via the internet??)

More useful than knocking myself over the head for what I didn't do, however, I find it far more satisfying to look at what did get done. This is the Done List for 2009.

Running club: Attended monthly committee meetings, edited quarterly newsletter, chaired and reported on meetings of race sub-committee, met with traffic management company, helped work the drinks station at Newcastle marathon, ran a 10K & a half-marathon, October - December planned training routes in Newcastle for 2 nights a week. Trained for 5,892 minutes either leading Raquel or alone.


Sewing group: Attended weekly except for vacations and holidays, learned knitting on 4 needles, made a sewing box with Ruby, made birthday cards for 6 of the sewing ladies, plus 2 others, took cakes and cornbread to share as well as contributing to potluck Christmas lunch.

Made Christmas gifts: 4 boxes (I'll show you these soon), 11 spice cakes, 4 hangers, and a squillion chocolate chip, vanilla crisp, peanut butter and chocolate crinkle cookies, which Bill is still eating. So am I, so they may go in the bin soon.

Family & Friends: Wrote monthly letters with pictures to Mona and Belmont, and a couple of similar to John, (the only 2 of Mom's first cousins I know, neither of whom do email). Spent a month of Thursdays at the genealogy library in Sunderland transcribing German Catholic church records from Latin. Currently have 1,040 people on Ancestry.com family tree. Visited living family in Scotland, US and Australia as well as Bill's children in Manchester and Middlewich. Ate steak, beans and used a pressure cooker to commemorate various family members. Wrote 974 emails, each to one or more people. Met friends for lunch 3 or 4 times over the year, including Vivien, Kerry, Hazel and Tanja. Had 20 people over for Thanksgiving.

House and Garden: Replaced shower (Bill, of course, did the actual work after I gave up on finding someone to do the job), replaced the garage door, got new brickwork and lawn, and painted the bathroom. We grew, with varying levels of success, bean sprouts, beets, blackberries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, chard, dwarf beans, garlic, lavender, leeks, lettuces, mangetout, peppers, raspberries, runner beans, shallots, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes, parsley, nasturtiums, tulips and marigolds. We ate at home most of the time, averaging £99.03/month on groceries. However, we also enjoyed meals out at the Gate of India, Blue Coyote, Sabatini’s, Sky Apple, Sambuca, TyneMet College, café at sewing group, pot luck at sewing group, the Milkhope Centre, Blake's and Al Basha and at a really disgusting pub in Washington.

Books: For fun, I re-read all my Dick Francis books, discovered at least 3 new authors I can recommend (Sue Grafton, Elizabeth Peters and Kerry Greenwood, the first two thanks to Vivien; the latter in looking for something to suggest to her). Collected all the Harry Potter books, read Threads and Runner's World magazines. More serious reading included Ascent of Money, Social History of England, Ben Franklin’s Autobiography and 21 mostly non-fiction books from the library.

Travel: UK, US, EU, AU (Only bought 6 magazines while travelling!!)

Writing / Blogging / Internet Sales: Published 251 blog posts. Gained new readers/followers. Added Adsense, Etsy and Amazon affiliate stores to blog. Sold 21 unwanted books via Amazon.


Photography: I counted 7,241 pictures in 2009 folders, either snapped or scanned. Thank goodness for digital technology! Guess I'll be paying money to Picasa one day soon if I'm going to show you more.

Serious, responsible (hard) things: Wrote a will (using a lawyer, even). Filled out tax forms for US, UK, Oklahoma & Utah, had the recommended screening exams for breast and cervical cancer.

I guess I miss writing my unit's annual report, huh?