101 Things in 1001 Days

I've decided to go through my tags and see what Things I haven't posted about yet and introduce them. Just in case I, y'know, never get around to doing them, at least I've mentioned them.

5. Make a will: This is something everyone should do, I suppose. I mean, obviously if I die everything will go to my husband, but what if we both die at the same time? It's less important since we don't have children and thus don't have to appoint guardians, but it's still a good thing to have handy.

12. Landscape the front yard: We have a hideous and more or less dying bush in our yard that's been encroaching on the sidewalk since we moved in. I want to get rid of it and replace it with something else, or even just replant it about a foot to the right. The thing is, if we do anything to change the appearance of the outside of our house, we have to get permission first. So I don't want to mess with it until I'm completely ready to get to work.

13. Get a safe deposit box: We have a fire-proof safe, but it'd be nice to have somewhere we can stash things that almost definitely cannot be stolen, even if somebody breaks into our house.

16. Fix dent in my car: Sometime in the summer of 2009, I think it was, I was attempting to pull into a too-narrow parking space and kinda nicked a cement pole on my way in, leaving a nice dent in my bumper. Since it's not metal there's no worry about rust, but it looks kinda stupid and my husband makes fun of me for it. Of course, no regular car repair shops do body work, and it's not covered by insurance, so I have to go out of my way to get it fixed. Bleh.

18. Install hardwood flooring in livingroom: Like many places built en masse, we have lovely cream-colored shag carpet in the entire house, save the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room. It's still in decent shape, but after twenty years it's starting to wear and it's hard to keep clean. I'm thinking we'll just rip up the carpet and put down wood-looking Pergo, as some of our friends have done. We just haven't gotten to it yet.

19. Refinish front steps: The surface of our cement steps looks all pocked and cracked. I expect it just needs to be repainted/sealed, but this will have to wait until warmer/dryer weather.

27. Read all the Death Note manga/novels: I love Death Note. I loved the anime and both live-action films, and I've loved the five or so volumes of manga I've read. I just keep meaning to finish it and I keep forgetting about it, because we keep the comics on a separate shelf in an entirely different room from the rest of the books. I'm thinking maybe once I catch up on my current batch of books for review (which is only my current one and the next one, amazingly enough), maybe I'll buckle down and plow through Death Note. I'll have to reread from the beginning, but that's all right.

29. Read at least 1 of my NaNovels beginning to end: I've won NaNoWriMo three times, the last in 2006, and have yet to go back and look at any of them. Seems kinda silly to put all those hours into writing something and then promptly act like it doesn't exist. Maybe there's something salvagable within all the drivel.

33. Answer 10 mailart calls: I used to do a bunch of mailart - that is, homemade postcards sent to various places around the world based on whatever theme was required. For example: green cat in Switzerland. It's something I really enjoyed and should get back into.

38. Draw at the zoo: I love drawing animals from photographs, and I'd like to try drawing them from life. Unfortunately, living in the DC Metro area means the National Zoo, which is generally either packed with tourists or too cold to bother with. Maybe I should try the Reston Zoo, though it's hard to deal with a $12 admission fee to a place that I know will be so inferior to the free-admission National Zoo. Dang it, Smithsonian, you've spoiled me for everywhere else now!

39. Take a painting class: I don't know how to paint, and I'd like to learn. I dunno if I'd prefer watercolor, oil, or acrylic, but either way I'd like to try. When will I get around to taking such a class? No clue.

60. Try out letterboxing (make a stamp and find one letterbox): I learned about letterboxing through both Geocaching and mailart channels. I love stamps, and the idea of collecting homemade ones - and having a personalized one of my own! - really intrigues me.

62. Visit Luray Caverns: I've been to Front Royal, but it was winter and so I didn't get a chance to visit the caverns. I hear they're terribly touristy but I want to see for myself.

63. Visit the Holocaust Museum: This is something you have to be in the proper mood for. And, like everything in DC, requires a huge chunk of time and planning to arrange.

64. Visit the International Spy Museum: I've heard this isn't worth the admission fee, but spies are nifty and I'd really like to visit more of the museums in the area.

65. Visit Colonial Williamsburg: I went here with my family once in the summer of 1994, and I loved it. My husband and I have been talking about visiting almost since we met. I wonder if we'll ever actually get to it.

66. Visit Montpelier and/or Ash Lawn: I lived in Charlottesville for two years and visited Monticello many times. I never stopped by Ash Lawn, though it was fairly close. Montpelier is just over by Culpeper, so it'll probably become a destination for a random snarfari at some point. The reason I said and/or is because I mostly just want to visit them because they're so close and hopefully interesting, not because I have any special interest in Madison or Monroe.

73. Complete 1 experiment in Lonely Planet Guide to Experimental Travel: I liked this book. I could probably work one of these experiments into a snarfari, but I have yet to pull out the book and figure out what I want to do.

84. Host a board game night: I like hosting parties but I never do, and I think this would be a lot of fun. I'd include video games too, of course. I'll have to work this out with ye olde husbande to get something rolling though.

91. Learn how to tie a tie: I have no idea why I would want to do this. My husband doesn't wear ties, and even if he did, he already knows how to tie them. And I even had a book that explained how to tie one, but I didn't bother actually trying it. The sad part is this is something that would probably take ten minutes to complete but I just haven't gotten around to it because I don't care enough. Figures.

96. Go to a drive-in movie: This is going to be a total pain in my butt, I can tell. There aren't any within 50 miles of my home, and most of the ones I've looked up seem pretty strict about who may and may not attend. Ah, but there is one fairly close to my parents' house, which I hope to visit this summer. Maybe I can get a group of friends together for it. They'd be totally into that.

Okay, I think that's all of them. I mean, I didn't talk about donating a buck to charity for each failed Thing, but I think that's fairly self-explanatory.