May 101 Update

I honestly thought I was going to get so much more done this month, as I was cruising in the first week!  But alas.  I was strong on the first week, and then did nothing.  Sigh.

20. Thoroughly clean/reorganize farm workshop

My oldest is really gung ho on this one.  So, this week we've spent 10 hours on this already... and have hardly made a dent in it tbh.  It's kind of difficult when you aren't the ones using the space.  And everything is so coated in dust that 'cleaning' is really just sweeping everything off because using water in any form turns it all to mud.  I think this will have to happen in segments.  Organize and sweep off everything, make a system that provides a day to spend each month to bring things 'back' to order so as to prevent the chaos that is there currently from happening again, and then slowly wash everything as we have time for it.  I don't know, right now, 10 hours in, it looks like this may take another 50+ hours with just the two of us.

23. Build cow fence

All the posts are in place in the main areas.  This is coming along nicely.  I wish it was done, though.  I really feel like we should be closer to done on this.

35. Use Cricut to make van decals (DONE May 3 2025)

I finally finished these and put them up on the van.  Looks so NICE.

36. Take part in pick up and walk (DONE May 3 2025)

First weekend of May is when this happens, and my oldest noticed that it was coming up and brought it to my attention, so we joined on in and helped with some other families to clean up in our town.  It felt so good knowing we did something to help our community, and I think it is a great opportunity to teach the kids the importance of cleaning up after yourself, and not throwing trash on the ground.

83. Learn Macramé (DONE May 2025)

I found another kit at the dollar store.  My first macramé keychain didn't turn out great until I really got the hang of how to do those knots well so that they form correctly each time.  Second one looks much better.  I quite like it!

April 101 in 1001 Update

 This month I became very focused on the heritage stuff online.  Been really just trying to get more than 3 things done this month as I need to attempt one per 5-6 days now instead of one every 10 days.  I'm pretty proud of myself for getting 7 completed!

33. Create a tangible family tree. More than having it in the family Bible.  DONE April 2025

I did this!  I printed our family trees in a fan shape, one page each for me and for my husband.  They are color coded according to where each ancestor was born.  Lots in Russia, Ukraine, Canada of course after they all came over here, and I even have one great great grandparent that was born at sea!

35. Use Cricut to make van decals

I have them cut and ready to apply, I just need to send the van through the car wash, then wash the window well and apply them.  The temperature is a little cold for application today...

36. Take part in pick up and walk

This one is happening this weekend.  It's my last chance to do it in this particular time period.  I'm trying to get my family on board, but I'll be honest that it's harder to get into when we aren't in a church that takes part.

49. Find a way to pay for a garage/expansion without a loan

Been saving up, but we are not doing the garage expansion as the expense is WAY too high, sadly (I cannot believe how much money it is supposed to cost!).  But, we are currently looking at redoing our kitchen.  Which is also very expensive.  Much more than I anticipated.

81. Learn about tanning hides. Perhaps try it when we have a cow butchered?

Been watching some videos on this.  I am actually not sure how much I want to try it.  I'm not marking this as done, because perhaps I will actually do this during summer as it is very interesting to me, but it does look to be quite a bit of work.  I could possibly do fine with it if I can use our power washer.  I'd have to ask the butcher if they can keep the hide aside on the farm, though.  

82. Learn to knit/crochet DONE April 2025

I found a cute little kit in the Dollar Tree for under $2.  It was for a cute lil bee.

So, I picked it up, watched some videos to figure out what on earth each of those stitches in the pattern meant (the diagrams were not so easy to follow), and after restarting 4 times, I figure I did pretty good!  I know I made a number of mistakes on this little guy, but I'm ok with that.  It was a learning experience, and now I want to try my hand at making a little chicken!

83. Learn Macramé

They have little macramé kits at the Dollar tree as well, but I think I want to try just using some of the string I already have.  The kits might be the next thing I try if I can't get into it on my own, though.  Even though it looks as though I have everything already.

85. Find/add more info onto the Family Search website (photos, certificates, sources). (15/15) DONE April 2025

I was able to put in a number of obituary sources, some photos from my grandmother's information, as well as a few more pieces of information from "find a grave".

86. Enter at least 5 stories/memories into the Family Search website (5/5) DONE April 2025

I entered a number of stories I found in Preservings magazines from the 90s, and entered 2 more of my own as well.  

87. Find family war stories DONE April 2025 (but as always, to be continued)

Last week I was super focused on finding information for Family Search for some reason.  I think it might have to do with finding out that my great great uncle Corny served in the war on my mother's side.  I didn't get to see the story itself, however.  Grandma said that her uncle had a book about it but refused to talk about it, and they had found the book and were able to give it back to his family.  Apparently, another family member of hers told some stories about the depression and the war to my aunt who was a hairdresser.  Little tidbits here and there.  So interesting!  I find it sad that so much of that history in those stories that would have been told is being lost.  I didn't get to enter anything into my direct family line, but I saw a number of stories in Preservings magazine and entered many of those into the proper places.  The most interesting was of a Janzen (nicknamed Hans) that lived in Germany at the time of the world wars, and he apparently was an ace pilot under the Red Baron!  Came from a Mennonite background, but that definetly isn't common for the Mennonites of the time, as they were supposed to be Anabaptists and took a very peaceful stance.  I did find out that my husband's grandparent was a CO like my grandfather, and it looks like they served in the same area (well, the second area my grandfather was relocated to after having some very serious issues with his lungs in Jasper) according to the registration of CO's in our province!

97. Make homemade crackers  DONE April 2025

Today I decided to attempt some cheese crackers that I found on this blog (click here for the recipe).  

They tasted pretty good (the few I did get before the kids ate the rest.  One batch was not enough, that's certain!).

100. Take a tour of my local area… bring camera (here) DONE April 2025

My husband and I walked along the old town site area in our city and took pictures of the many plaques along the way, including some of the older churches and an old well/pump.  Maybe I'll post some of the pictures eventually, but only if there's some interest.

56 done, 45 left to go.  I'm pretty pleased with myself this month!  Caught up a little on the '1 every 10 days' aspect of things, although I am about 740 days in, and should be done 74 at that rate.

March 101 in 1001 update - Baby Pictures

So, I wanted to do another update post on my 101 list.  I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to finish this at all!  So many things I'd need to do this summer to get it done as I did practically nothing last summer.  Ah well.  

45. Join a church

We're just waiting to become members.  We've gone to the classes, sent in our paperwork and our testimonies, and my husband had a meeting with the pastor.

55. Get back to pre-pregnancy weight

I'm where I was before getting pregnant with my littlest one now!  10 more pounds to get back to where I was before I got married, but I feel that is likely unrealistic, and set my goal a few pounds above that.  I'm using the 'lose it' app to track my food again and started exercising with my oldest daughter for her Phys Ed.

58. Take a self defense class?  DONE (March 2025)

My oldest and I are doing a weekly Jiu Jitsu class in town!  It's interesting.  I'm not very good at it, but that's ok.  Honestly, I did not expect to actually do this one at all!  A friend of mine told me about it late February when we were chatting at the mall, and after mentioning it to my oldest, she was the one to push us to start going 2 weeks later as we were busy that following weekend.  If she wouldn't have pushed, I don't think I'd have gone, to be honest.  Sad, I know.  But now we've gone 3 weeks!  I think it is fantastic!

67. Make baby picture wood slices for each child for our ‘tree’, with a wedding photo of us  DONE (March 2025)

I decided against the wedding photo because I like the heart image of us.  I may print a wedding picture to fit into there eventually, but I'm just super happy to have each of my kids on this tree now!  I only had the 5 for a really long time because I only had five frames!  And to think, my brother made this for me when I was pregnant with my third!

I am super proud of this!  I really wanted to do the photo transfer on the wood, but after attempting it and having it turn out terrible, I looked up a bunch more websites and saw that it likely wasn't a good fit for what I was doing and printed out the photos on glossy photo paper instead, cutting them to the perfect size and gluing in place.  I put the child's name and year of birth on the backs of the slices.  I initially was going to put that info on the photo but I like the idea of making people guess who is who.  I guess having the images in chronological order would make that too easy, though, haha.

84. Learn how to fix/clean keyboards/electronics  (DONE - March 2025)

I've taken apart a couple of keyboards now to clean them.  One I couldn't actually take apart completely, but the other I did!  It had water damage, so I couldn't fix it because the water removed some of the chip.  It was interesting to see how it functioned, and I did attempt to use the 'button press' pad to fix a broken button on a game controller.  Unfortunately, because it was not the correct part, it didn't last, but I figure I did pretty good as the controller worked again for a while!  Fun fact, my son put together his own computer, so now I figure I can ask his help on some of these things, haha.

So 49 are done with 52 left to go.  Ugh.  Way over half done the time but not even half done the list!  Ah well.   

Anybody else doing a 101 in 1001 list?

Another 101 update

 It has been many months since I've come on here!  My goodness!  After having my baby, it has been very difficult to keep up with everything.  Especially since the homeschool year started yet again.  I have sadly not really done much at all, especially not 3 per month.  I don't know if I've even completed 3!  But I will do my best to update this, and see if I can get back on track again.

23. Build cow fence

We did rip out most of the old fence last summer.  Not yet built the new one.  We've mapped out where we want to have it, and this summer, with baby being a year old, I can see us finding an easier time working on it together.

24. Work out a budget/farm plan for the year

My oldest daughter was doing chemistry this year, and recently asked if we could call it done (she covered most everything I remember covering in grade 11 and 12 chemistry and was starting university level in this course we had).  We are moving on to animal husbandry, and part of that is looking over the old farm plan I made in 2007 and making a new one!  

28. Decorate farm for Christmas

Sadly, I didn't do that this year.  I was so excited to!  We got a puppy in fall, you see, and he has been ripping up everything I put outside.  I do not need to see my decorations on the farm ripped to shreds, so we will have to plan what to make and start on it early for next year.  Hopefully he will not be interested in ripping up my wreaths anymore (RIP fall wreath of 2024).

38. Bring a meal to a family (DONE)

There were many babies born in church this year, and in addition to bringing a meal to a family that lived nearby, I was able to get on the meal train in December (our church family is lovely and that stuff fills up within hours of posting).  

45. Join a church

We have put in all the paperwork and gone to the classes, so this is definitely in the works.  We just haven't officially become members yet.

61. Put up shelves for laundry room/table area

Oh, I need to take pictures!  I cut my boards and have shelves for my laundry baskets.  Not everything in that area is complete, but it looks so nice!  I feel like I should mark this as done, as the actual shelves are up, just the table and hidey area I wish to build yet is not.

64. Build/rework bed for Z (DONE November 2024)

I did it!  Built this shortly after his birthday!  I am not sure what took me so long, it really only took a few hours of my time.

73. Teach my daughters to sew an item of clothing  (DONE December 2024)

My oldest sewed a shrug shirt with hood for her younger sister for Christmas this year.  She even learned to sew a zipper pouch to match.  It is very cute!  

86. Enter at least 5 stories/memories into the Family Search website (2/5)

I added a big one just this week.  My 3 greats grandfather Wiens diary of the journey to Canada.  They hit an ice burg!  

94. Hatch our own chickens (here and here and here)

I am officially getting rid of this one, and calling it a fail.  I was unable to hatch chicks from our birds after so very many tries.  And now they aren't laying much at all.  I think we will buy chicks again this year.  

So, that is everything for now.  Sadly not even half through yet!  I need to get cracking!