Knocking things off the list!

My list of 101 things is slowly being completed....although it's much slower than I anticipated, so I really should get cracking.  To date I've completed 17 out of 101, and have 6 on the go.  Here's a few details on the one's I haven't previously mentioned:

#7. Donate Blood - 17/07/2009.  This was something I've always wanted to do but never been able.  Well finally my doctor gave me the all clear and I was free to donate.  I registered with the blood bank just after the Black Saturday Fires, but the influx of people wanting to donate must have been quite overwhelming for them as they didn't contact me until July to book an appointment! It was a little daunting to start with (I'm not great with needles...but if I don't look, I can usually cope) but I'm really glad I donated.  To think that my small donation of healthy blood helped to save a life was kinda cool.  I'm even going back next week to donate again!

#17. Visit the South Melbourne Markets - 18/07/2009.  What a great morning!! Matt and I went to the Markets for breakfast on the morning we departed for our Tasmanian holiday.  It's strange to think that such a great place was so close to me all this time and I never visited out of sheer laziness. I've been back a few times since July and plan to make regular trips there in 2010 for all my fresh food needs - I LOVED THIS PLACE!

#20. Attend the Melbourne Internaitonal Comedy Festival - 17/04/2009.  Again - what was I thinking not going to this any sooner!! Matt & I went and saw ManFace, a WA act. They were 2 young guys who were quite hilarious, and I'll be looking out for them in the 2010 festival - great show!!

#21. Start a herb garden - 05/09/2009.  Now this has been a bit of an eye opener.  I've always been very anti-gardening.  I hate it. Can't stand the whole thing.  Don't get me wrong I love being in gardens and can certainly appreciate the effort and beauty of a well maintained garden, but I have absolutely no intention of doing the maintenance and effort required for such a thing.... until now.  I decided if I was going to grow some herbs I was going to do it from scratch. So off to Bunnings I trapsed, and I walked out of there with my own propegation kit and seeds ready to start my little garden.  To my surprise it really wasn't all that horribly hard, and within a few short weeks I had some parsely, chives, corriander, mint & basil all sprouting and waiting to be transplanted into a bigger home.  Once I planted them into bigger pots, they grew like wildfire!! And I'm very proud to say I've used most of the herbs in my own cooking.  It's quite a satisfying feeling eating something you've grown from scratch and enjoying it. So much so that Matt & I have now planted our own tomatoes, garlic, strawberries and corn.  Holy Moly... I think I'm a changed woman!

#29. Invite freinds over for a home cooked meal - 11/07/09.  Now this was a fun night! Matt & I invited our very good friends, Chris & Lenore, over for dinner back in July and made a very tastey lamb roast.  With good food and wine & great company it was always a recipe for an awesome night - which it was!

#46. Buy a bookshelf for my room - 06/12/2009.  This has to be the bargain of my life time! I managed to win an eBay auction and got a beautiful bookshelf made of solid timber for a whole $61.00!!! It looked quite OK in the pictures, but you never can tell until you see these things in person.  But for once, I was pleasantly surprised at just how great this bookshelf was! It's made a massive difference to my room - the clutter has seemed to just disappear!

#91. Read a self help  book on careers and money - Barefoot Investor by Scott Pape.  Now this was something I should have read a long time ago! A great book that has certainly helped me get back on track with my savings and investment goals - A must read for anyone who wants to stay on top of their finances!

#95. Subscribe to Women's Health magazine - 28/10/2009.  I've always bought this magazine off the shelf and really enjoy reading it, but finally I don't have to think about when the next issue is coming out - it just magically arrives in my letterbox - YAY!

#90. For one week watch no TV - 06/12/2009-14/12/2009.  This was much easier than I anticipated.  It turns out I don't watch as much TV as I first thought, AND I was extremely productive in getting odd jobs completed around the house.  I'll definitley being doing this again.

A Dad Update.

My last entry was quite some time ago, and a lot has happened in relation to my Dad since then! So this entry is an update on what's been happening in my little strange but true world.

Well my Dad has had a few ups and downs. He was accepted to go on a trial drug to hopefully fight the tumors that just keep growing and growing. However, in the process the surgeon's managed to screw everything up quite royally while doing a biopsy on his liver, which landed him in hospital for 2 weeks. He lost about 20kg's in 2 weeks as he couldn't eat anything for about 4 days, and after the surgery his insides were so swollen he just couldn't manage to eat much at all. Thankfully he's at home now and on the mend. His weight is slowly increasing, thank goodness!! When I first went to visit him in hospital i could tell he'd lost a bit of weight but it wasn't until about a week into his stay that i realised just how much it was. He was trying to sit up in bed, using the over the bed pull up handle, and I swear I saw my Grandpa in the bed, not my Dad. He was the spitting image of his own father who was sick for about the last 10 years of his life. I almost fell over with shock!! Slowly but surely he's been getting better though, and has since started on the trial drug. So fingers crossed we'll get some good news about the new drug working some time soon!

For fathers day this year, I bought my Dad a gift voucher to brew his own beer at the Barleycorn Brewers. Because of his unexpected hospital stay we had to postpone our brewing for a short while, but on the 21st November we headed off to the Barleycorn Brewers ready to brew our own beer! It was a really fun morning. Dad had a great time learning about the different processes and adding all the ingredients to make our own Pale Ale. Dad asked his brother Phil to come along with us, and Matt came too. We even got to taste some of the other beers that they have to offer from the beer bank! This satuday the 12th December, we'll be heading back there to bottle our own little brew. I've designed some labels for the brew (all approved by Dad of course) and can't wait to taste our beer and knock back a few with Dad!