Things I'd like to get better at:
Gardening
Where I'm at currently: Maybe 2 out of 10. After 6 years in my current house, I've finally managed to keep some flowers alive in one of my front gardens. Goblin Blanket Flowers. Un-killable. I also have Irises whos leaves come back every year, but never a flower to be seen, and I have a second garden out front which is just overgrown with grass and weeds and the odd wildflower (which I oddly feel 'proud' of when I spot them, go figure). All backyard gardens have turned back into lawn or jungly corners. We also have a few plants inside, but we go in phases in terms of how good we are at keeping them alive.
Where I'd like to be: I would like to have 'pretty' front gardens - Figure out how to keep a flower garden looking nice in the "in-between" phases, keep on top of the weeding, Figure out what flowers are happy in which spots, etc. Ultimately, though, I would love to put some vegetable gardens in the back yard and manage to grow a variety of edible stuff. I'm not sure why, but eating food from one's own garden is incredibly sexy to me. I really can't explain. I just feel like it's next to enlightenment. In terms of the indoor plants, I think homes should be full of life, whether it's people, animals, or plants. Unfortunately, we have 3 cats who own the sunbeams and eat whatever green things they can get their teeth on. So this makes it tough for us to give our indoor plants the sun they desire. We're currently working on trying to find plants that do well with little to no direct sun. Also, brainstorming on mid-window shelves that could theoretically thwart the kitty-demons.
Sewing
Where I'm at currently: I can sew on buttons. I never took home ec. in school. I have been known to use a stapler to hem pants. I just got a REAL sewing machine as a wedding gift.
Where I'd like to be: I don't really know. This is actually relatively newly awakened in me. I'm going to take a few little lessons to learn how to use my sewing machine, and from there I intend to play, play, play. Ultimately I think it would be amazing to be able to sew some clothes. I've been drawing design ideas since I was about 8 years old. Perhaps Ziggy could be re-upholstered? New curtains? New curtains for every window in the house? Hell, I was even brainstorming the other night about fabric on ceilings. We shall see.
Cooking/Baking
Where I'm at currently: I enjoy cooking, and baking, but I don't really know my stuff. I recently made my first ever from-scratch layer cake (lemon birthday cake for Brian), and it looked like a lopsided pile of goo - but MAN did it taste good! I am amazed when I watch other people cook. It looks so simple. It IS so simple - but somehow I have trouble translating it when I try on my own. I can follow a recipe, and I can put stuff together in a dish. But I'd love to learn the theory behind it, so I can really understand and expand what I'm doing in the kitchen.
Where I'd like to be: I would like to be able to look at a fridge or a pantry full of ingredients, and be able to come up with dinner ideas off the top of my head. I'm really good at putting random stuff together and calling it dinner. Stir Fry? Check. Random cooked veggies? Check. Random veggies and pasta? Check. Random salad-o-stuff? Check. But ask me to make a specific sauce, or a specific flavor, I get lost. I'd love to take some classes - and have every intention of doing so in the next year or so. I've even considered culinary school as an artsy-but-practical option after I have kids.
Housekeeping
Where I'm at currently: I'd rather not say... I mean, we don't live in a dump, it's not infested or mouldy or dangerous. It's just not exactly neat and tidy. When people come to visit us, we go hard for a day and get it all nice and shiny clean. After that we have really good intentions of doing a little bit every day to KEEP it that clean. But after a week or so it starts to go back to what it was. Really, neither one of us is good at keeping right on top of housework. I have tried all sorts of systems and schedules... But I'll go hard one day, feel really good about it, and then when I go to tidy something up the following day, my brain does this whole "but I just did housework YESTERDAY!" and convinces me I deserve to skip it. And the longer that goes on, the harder it seems to fix it, etc, etc.
Where I'd like to be: I'd like it to be such a part of the routine, that it never seems like a HUGE daunting task that needs to be tackled. Anyone who knows me and knew my mother can see these pieces of her in me. She was CONSTANTLY stressed out about the messy/dirty house. She never got a system going, it was a constant fight growing up. She'd yell at me to clean my room, but her room was worse than mine! As an adult, my bedroom is actually pretty tidy. But that's besides the point. I know that for most people cleaning house IS a part of the daily routine, like eating or walking the dog or whatever else you do every day without question. I would really like to make my peace with housework before I have kids, because I don't want it to be a constant source of anger and fighting. It should be just a part of daily life.
Health Issues
Where I'm at currently: I'm doing okay. I've been to see my endocrinologist (thyroid specialist) a few times now, and feel like she's working with me, rather than what my GP did, which was "take your pills and suck it up". I mean, there's still that, of course, but to illustrate the difference: I had my blood tested in June. The results were sent to both doctors. My specialist's office called me and said, "Your level came back a little high, so we're going to put you on a lower dosage, and you should get your blood tested again in a month". My GP's office called the following day and said "Your level came back a little high - keep doing what you're doing, and get your blood tested again in 3 months". On other health-related topics, my LEEP (the removal of a chunk of my cervix) went fine, and I have a follow-up colposcopy at the end of September. If that comes back fine, then this whole cervix scare is over, and I can go back to my regular pap tests etc, feeling 80-90% sure that I'll never have 'scary cells' on my cervix again.
Where I'd like to be: I wish my body would sort itself out already, so we can start trying to have babies. I've been waiting to be a mom my entire life. I am finally so close to the point where I can start actively moving towards that - but it still seems so far out of reach! I have to wait for this cervix stuff to be dealt with, so I can have a nice big "healthy" checkmark there... But then I need to go off my birth control pills a few months before we actually start 'trying', because when I go off those pills, it'll affect my thyroid level, and we'll need to be sure that's solid before I get pregnant. I think the current planned timeframe is to actually start 'trying' next spring. But it still seems so far away. I'll be 30 by then. Which I'm not freaking out about, but there's the little voice in the back of my brain saying "it's all downhill from here, shoulda done it when you were younger!"
Health / Fitness:
Where I'm at currently: I ran a 5K race last weekend. That made me feel really proud. I had intended it to be the only one, I would then cross "running" off my list. But it was so much fun, I want to do it again! So I've now embarked on a new running program, and am considering signing up for another 5K in November.
Where I'd like to be: Really I just want to figure out a pattern of life that includes physical fitness in a way that it doesn't feel like a chore. I know it's possible. I did it yeeeeears ago with yoga. I would like to lose about 20 pounds and keep it off - but the 'number' is not really that important. I just want to be as healthy as I can be. This also ties into the fertility thing. In trying to be as prepared as possible when the time comes, I've been doing TONS of reading on the subject - and the loud-and-clear message I'm getting is that pre-pregnancy, the best thing I can do is be as healthy as possible. Which has really always been my goal - with admittedly mixed results.
Creativity
Where I'm at currently: I have not been paying attention to this lately. I've been almost completely ignoring Flickr for months at a time, for the past year or so. I've still been taking some pictures, but they sit in the dark in a file somewhere - why am I no longer showing my work? I did some painting a couple weeks ago on a whim. Came up with what would amount to doodles, really. I've been coming up with some interesting ideas in various art forms, but nothing is actually being acted on.
Where I'd like to be: I just want art to remain an important part of my world. Through whatever medium, it doesn't matter. Maybe my new sewing machine will expand my art in a new direction. I'm not sure. A year ago I was feeling a huge thirst for art - painting, writing, etc. But currently I feel a very different force - Can you tell what it is, just looking at this list?
Travel
Where I'm at currently: We haven't done much of it this year. In fact, we've only had our one little two week trip to BC to get married. Part of this is due to Brian having less time off at his new company than his old one. Part of it is due to money being much tighter due to wedding stuff.
Where I'd like to be: I've missed the little adventures this year. I know sometimes real life comes in and says "No, you have to stay at work and deal with the daily grind a little longer". And I can deal with that. I know we've been doing WAY more travelling over the past 5 years than most people get to do. I know when we have kids, the trips will get shorter, and stay closer to home. But I'd like to keep them going. It's important to us to be able to escape real life once in a while. We are currently planning a Honeymoon 2.0 next spring in the Mediterranean. We're even looking at (small) cruise ships. Found one that goes from Turkey to Italy, with several stops in each, plus Croatia and Greece in the middle. It's pretty high up the list at the moment, but we're still weighing options.
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I'm feeling a very strong pull towards nesting. I feel like I want to stay home and work on these things. I want to make our home a more wonderful place. I want to work on learning all these little things that I just can't work on when I'm away from it.
Being that it's still August, we are out and about and have stuff going on all the time. Very little time to just be home, in our space. I crave that time, but I also know it will herald the coming of winter - so I'm not wishing for it too loudly.
If anyone has any helpful bits of advice in any of these categories, please do share! Even websites or classes or whatever - I'm open to suggestions!
Apologies if this post is looong and disjointed... Although I guess most of them tend to be. Tah for now.
