Sunday, June 1, 2014

Summer Fun Bingo, Or, Resolutions For June

Sometime before the end of last semester, Ian asked me if I'd like to go to France with him in July.  He has family there and occasionally flies out to see them (and practice his French) for a few weeks.  I said yes, of course, even though I don't speak a word of French and I'd had half-formed summer plans already.  Pretty much nothing takes precedence over Europe.

I'm still not sure if we're going -- planning this has turned into an adventure for him -- but I operate under the assumption that I'll be out of the country for three weeks in July because if I don't I probably won't be able to go.  That means I can't go job-hunting (no one will give me three weeks off when I started working like two weeks ago), and I can't take a summer class (the last week or so overlaps when we're potentially leaving).  Essentially, it means I have to cram my entire summer into June, and hope I won't be here in July.  Enter the Summer Fun Bingo, Year Two.
Click to zoom
This is something we did last year.  I honestly don't remember if I did all 24 things or not, but I at least gave it a shot.  Last year there were categories, and really hard things as well as really easy things.  This year I just threw together a list of 24 things I want to get done, and think I can possibly accomplish in June.

So for this month I have either 1 resolution or 24, depending on how you look at it.  If you think of it as one, my resolution is Complete Summer Fun Bingo Card.  If you think of it as twenty-four, here's the rundown:

1) Watch a movie with Thomas
Thomas is the older of my two younger brothers.  He'll be a senior in high school next year, and I don't know where time has gone.  We have a few movies we've talked about watching together, so this will be an opportunity for us to hang out, eat some popcorn, and have fun.

2) Spin 1 mini-skein
I have a braid of Falkland wool (about 1.2oz/34g) that I've been spinning laceweight with my tiny Turkish spindle.  Mostly as an experiment in color play and as something to to that can fit in my purse.  I've spun two 3g skeins (~33yds/30m each), and I'd like to spin one more.  I'm not sure how I'm going to handle the colors on that one.

3) Write 10 drabbles
A drabble is a 100-word story based on a short (usually one-word) prompt.  A bunch of online friends and I like to write them as groups, taking turns picking prompts and sharing our work when we're done.  I've just finished my 50th, and I'd like to have taken time to write some by the end of summer (#49 and #50 were two of my ten).  Incidentally, I publish my drabbles here, if you're interested in reading them.

4) Finish Arrow
I started watching this show probably partway into season 2 because my aunt's boyfriend was watching it and I kept wandering in, and I love archery.  He suggested that I start from the beginning, and I hadn't gotten around to doing so until recently.  While recovering from my wisdom teeth extraction, I watched like 15 episodes in four days.  Out of 23 episodes, I have 4 left.  Totally doable.

5) Watch a movie with Matthew
Matthew is the younger of my two younger brothers.  He'll be a freshman in high school next year, and I don't know where time has gone.  (I know, I know.)  We watch the new animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle series together, and while I'm working on E's TARDIS shawl I've promised that I'll watch Doctor Who with him as well.  But I figured I'd offer to watch a movie, any movie, with him as well, because it's a different experience.  And because popcorn is delicious.

6) Complete TMNT toys
This is related to the above.  I've made Matthew a tiny Leo, but the other three turtles remain unmade.  I'm going to try to make 3 little shells, 12 little limbs, and 3 little masked bodies in the next month, to complete the team.

7) Post Flash Your Stash pics
Just after New Year's, I pulled out my entire stash, laid it out on a table, and sorted it back into my Stash Tower.  I never posted the pictures.  It is now June.  This will not take very long, so look for a Flash Your Stash 2014 post soon.

8) Knit Time Vortex Lace
The Time Vortex Lace is the first half of the TARDIS shawl, and all I think I'll be able to finish of it in the month.  It's like 400 rows (now granted those rows vary from 1 stitch to 52 stitches, but still).  I expect to watch a lot of Doctor Who to find out why I'm doing this, while I'm doing it.

9) Dye fiber for TdF
I'm actually participating in Tour de Fleece this year!  And fingers crossed, I'll be doing it in France.  I'm still playing around with color ideas and haven't decided on the fiber yet, but I'll be using one of my 1.2oz/34g braids from the Nerd Girl Yarns fiber sampler pack I bought a year ago.

10) Organize bookcase
Books are literally stacked on top of each other, scattered all over the room, and falling off the shelves.  I really need to tackle that thing.  And redistribute the fantasy books over more than one shelf.

11) Make "surprise"
The reason this square reads like this is because the card is on the fridge and Matthew can see it.  He participated in the Ravellenic Games in February and knit an entire Doctor Who scarf in 17 days.  I'm insanely proud of him.  We took progress pictures every day, and he has 17 Post-it notes with the percentage he had complete that day, and I'm going to assemble those things and the medals (Junior Ravellenics, Scarf Super-G, and Nordic Colorwork Combined) into a photo album.  I'm going to do it while he's away at camp, so he won't notice when I take down the Post-its.  Sneaky!

12) Finish Monuments Men
Thomas is taking an Art History lecture series from another homeschooling mother, and I've been driving him because I enjoy sitting in on the lectures.  The woman who's doing it loaned me her copy of The Monuments Men after we went to see it in theatres, and I haven't finished it yet.  I need to return it on the 5th so she can take it to California (and also because she loaned it to me in February!).  It's a quick read and I'm sure I can do it.

0) Have It Be Summer
Free space!  But funnier than "Free"

13) Watch Olympics
We still have Olympics on our DVR.  I'm the only one who hasn't watched any yet.  Another thing to do while crafting.

14) Play Forbidden Desert
This is a game we've had since October.  We haven't touched it yet.  We love the game to which this is the companion, Forbidden Island, so I have no doubt we will love this one.  We just have to, erm, play it.

15) Finish baby blanket
That would be the blanket occupying the hook I need for Ian's blanket.  I have 7 rows left plus the small border, so it shouldn't be too hard to finish it this week.

16) 10 pages of kiddie fun book
I'm a sucker, and a five-year-old.  I have a huge box of crayons and I like to color with them.  So when I graduated, my mother gave me this Crayola Fun Time book meant for three-year-olds, which is 144 coloring, counting, connect-the-dots, draw something from this squiggle, spelling games, spot-the-difference, and other entertaining silliness.  I haven't used it yet, and I should.

17) Watch 1 GC lecture series
The Great Courses lecture series are the best things ever.  They're just video sets, but they make me way smarter than I would be otherwise.  From a 48-hour set on astronomy (which I watched as junior-year science), to a 6-hour set on Judaism, to a 18-hour set on Victorian England, there is practically nothing you can't learn.  They're expensive, but libraries have them and we have a few sets of our own.  I'm going to pick one, and learn something.

18) Bake cookies!
Because who needs an excuse?  I just need a good recipe I haven't tried yet.  We have a cookbook of cookies meant for kids.  I might continue to channel my inner kiddo and pick one of those.

19) Complete sprite bodies
I still owe my aunt three elemental sprites.  They're insanely complicated, but adorable.  I have to give Water some limbs and hair, finish Air's head as well as give her limbs and hair, and give Earth a face, limbs, and hair as well as finish her head.  I'm not sure all the hair will get done; it's a long and arduous process involving latch-hooking individual strands, but I'll give it a shot.  I honestly can't wait until these girls are done.  I kind of want to play with them.

20) Finish OUaTiW with Mom
Mom and I have been watching Once Upon a Time, but we're 16 episodes behind and the show is getting slow and not very interesting, so we took a break to watch the spin-off, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.  In a nutshell, it's about Alice, a genie, the Knave of Hearts (who turns out to be... British?  He says "bloody hell" a lot, and sometimes I'm able to call it before he says it), Jafar (from Aladdin) and one of Cinderella's stepsisters (I think) who has the most adorable accent mostly when she's talking to the Knave.  It's very fun.  We have two episodes left of the season, and the show has been canceled so they're wrapping up the story and that'll be the end of that.  I'm excited.

21) Attempt Allen SRP
The Summer Reading Program for the city next door, where we spend most of our time and all of our library fines.  The adult program is stupid this year, consisting of "read one book", but if you read four you get into a drawing for a Kindle, so that's what I'm attempting.  I already have one book, the latest Mary Russell Holmes mystery, and I'm not allowed to start it until the 7th so it counts for the program.  I'm impatient.

22) Re-henna my hair
I haven't dyed my hair in months and the roots look terrible.  Several inches of dirty grey/blonde.  It's definitely time to be a ginger again.  My aunt and I will probably do this next time I go to her house for a movie night.

23) Knit the rest of the dishcloths
I need to knit a few more simple garter-stitch dishcloths so I have seven.  At the moment my four or so are having to stretch out over a few extra days until I do laundry again, and that is not optimal.  This should not take very long.

24) Spend time with Grandma
I added this mostly so I have another person to put in a corner, and partially because I was already planning to do it.  I'll be spending a few days with her, helping her make thank-you cards for all the people who have done things for her in the past few months, and just hanging out.  Possibly we might make granola, if the idea doesn't make her cry.  We'll see.

So 24 things in 30 days means 4 every 5 days, which sounds doable.  What one thing shall I do today?

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