10 Things This Summer

I made a list of ten things I want to do this summer; reasonable things that are within my control, although perhaps somewhat ambitious.  Should I shoot for 10%?  Nah, I'm shooting for all ten.  At the very least, maybe 7 or 8.  Of course, besides these I'm still working on my garden - though putting that in the list would be cheating.  We all know that's a success, right?  We've eaten herbs out of it so yeah, that's already success.  And I'm working on my "113 in 2013" photo list, which I probably haven't posted about.  Will I get all 113?  I'm working on it, but it can't be done by the end of summer.  Here's my latest find, #52 cobweb.  (I'm not going in order.)

Anyway, back to my 10 Things This Summer list:

1.  Knit a Christmas gift. 

This might seem like an easy task for me.  It would be, it's just that so many other projects seem so much more urgent.  But that's exactly the opposite of what I want - urgency.  I want to savor the knitting and know there's no rush, and that I have time to do it right, should there be reason to take out any mistakes.  And yes, I do have a project in mind.  No, I can't tell you about it, it's a Christmas present, for goodness sake!

2.  Make some macarons.

The french ones, not the coconut ones.  Why?  I don't know.  Somewhere I saw them, and I just love their little pastel colors and fancy fillings.  If I had almond flour in my pantry, I would be making them tomorrow.  But I don't.  

3.  Paint my basement.

Or even part of the basement.  Because now's the time to enjoy the cool basement, when it's hot outside.  When it's cold outside, no one wants to be in the basement.  And it would be so nice to draw or read down there if it weren't all dark brown paneling.  So now's the time. 

4.  Make shirts with my kids. 

I have a looooong list of project instructions, of all kinds of things I'd like to try and see how I like it, and I just don't make the time.  Everything from sewing a pincushion to building furniture.  And on that list are a couple different t-shirt embellishing projects, and I know my creative kids would love that.  I'd like to say that my list of ten things is to try ten things off that list, but for now, I think a shirt will do. 

5.  Finish a book.

Can't remember the last time I read more than one book in four months.

6.  Knit myself something fabulous in qiviut.

Working for Windy Valley yarns for the past couple of years, I have built up a little bit of a lovely yarn stash with qiviut, and I go to these knitting conventions and have nothing to show for it.  So maybe next time...  

7.  Explore something new in Colorado.

The boys and I are doing a little bit of reading about Colorado, and there are many places we could go without much effort, time or money.  

8.  Hike up to the Hanging Lake.

I dread this because I'm more of the sit-and-weed, sit-and-read, stand-and-stir, sit-and-knit sort of person, but I know it would be so worth it.  I've been there before, without a great camera.  I should definitely do it with a great camera.  

9.  Take some beautiful portraits of my kids.
Apparently I haven't done that in three years, and they are the most gorgeous boys you ever saw.  There definitely should be more pictures of them.  And some of them should be up on my wall.  

10.  Make a quilt for the Cutest Baby in the World.
My sister told me when she was pregnant that she was really looking forward to the quilt I'd make for her baby.  I made a quilt for each of my kids, and each of my brother's kids, and actually, each of my brother-in-law's kids.  But I don't really do quilting so much anymore, so the CBW is going on two years without a quilt.  Time to remedy that... hopefully.

Well, what are you going to do this summer??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, funny story for you.  The Bruise is bemoaning the chicken stir-fry that I'm making for dinner, and wishing we'd have something besides all this chicken.  "What do you mean?" I ask.  "Like last night's dinner," he says.  Last night's dinner was pork chops on the grill, so I'm a little confused.  I point this out, that it was pork chops.  He looks at me with that, Exactly! sort of face.  So I ask what he would like instead of all this chicken.  He says,  "Chicken enchiladas.  You know, because they don't taste like chicken."  Go figure.