I almost made a blister on my thumb

My Mighty List has been lurking over there on the sidebar for more than a year now. Until this weekend, I’d only managed to cross off one item. And that was “make cream soda.” Which required just north of zero effort, and I still didn’t do it until Rockford said, “Let’s do this!”

Anyway, the list had been sitting over there for a long time, and nothing had been getting crossed off, and I finally realized that no one was going to do this stuff for me. Jimmy Carter wasn’t going to call me, that short story wasn’t going to write itself, and to be perfectly honest? I’ve gained 10 pounds rather than losing 30 over the last year. Yikes. If I wanted to get any of this list stuff done, I decided, I’d need to take some initiative.

Habitat buildSo a month or so ago, I signed up to work on a Habitat house. On Saturday, 10 other women and I framed walls and put them in place. We finished two sides of a house, and it was awesome. This particular house is our area’s Women Build project for this year. As the name suggests, it’s built entirely by women. I’m so glad that I finally did it, even though I am still crazy sore. I’ll definitely do it again.

I’ve also been taking peeks at other people’s Mighty Lists, and they’re inspired me to take on a couple more items. Amber at The Amber Show suggested that someone add “Bust out of a paper wall” to their list, and I thought, “That looks like fun!” So I’m adding it. Now I just have to figure out how to make a giant paper wall.

The other one, I’ve been considering since I first saw it on Karen’s list. She’s committed to taking 1,000 portraits, which I think is a really lovely idea. But it also sounds like something that would, at some point, require talking to strangers. Which, well, I don’t love so much. But I’m pretty sure that the one of the major points of the Mighty List is Stretching Your Limits and Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone and all that. So I’m going to go for it. I started on Saturday evening, by taking pictures of some dogs. Which in my project totally counts.

A rather vague menu plan

menubuttonI spent most of Saturday working to cross an item of my Mighty List (more on that here), so Rockford* took charge of planning the menu and going to the grocery this week. He generally makes a very rough plan, and this week was no exception. Here’s his plan:

  • Tacos one night.
  • Fajitas, maybe.
  • Macaroni and cheese
  • Tortellini
  • Some kind of stir-fry
  • We’re having friends over for a birthday dinner on Wednesday, and the birthday girl requested something along the lines of a stroganoff or goulash. That will probably replace the fajitas.

    *Best husband ever.

    He immediately rejected ‘The Nice Marmots’

    Have I ever told you about my sister-in-law’s bowling skillz? Well let me tell you: She has ’em. She bowled for Michigan State’s bowling team. I believe she’s bowled very, very close to a 300. Her dad has ten 300s and is Bowling Ballin their local bowling hall of fame. Her family gave my brother a bowling ball and bowling shoes for Christmas one of the first years he and Carrie were together.

    So it’s not terribly surprising that my brother and sister-in-law are in a bowling league. What is surprising is that they don’t already have a totally awesome name for their team. A quick Googling tells us that the world of bowling team names is rife with puns. Which means, of course, that I was thrilled when my brother asked me to help him come up with a new team name and a T-shirt design for his bowling team.

    Sadly, he didn’t know what I was talking about when I suggested “The Nice Marmots,” and there are already a few great T-shirts with the “Little Lebowski Urban Achievers” theme. But here’s what I came up with:

    Bowling shirts

    A. The Bowlers.
    Simple, elegant and would require the wearing of a hat to every match.

    B. Catan: Anchors and Crankers.
    These kids loved “Settlers of Catan.” The game has a bunch of “Catan: This and That” variations, so I looked up some bowling terms and added them. So that’s what that’s all about.

    C. Strike-o-saurus! This one makes me laugh. It’s currently my desktop.

    My brother can’t decide which one he likes best, so I’m bringing it to you, Internet. Please find the poll over in the sidebar and vote!