101 in 1001 progress update #5

This morning the Illinois/Wisconsin stateline was hit with some pretty strong storms and our house was one of the unfortunate 600,000+ that had its power knocked out at 715am! It's about 130am the next day and as of 1130pm it still wasn't back on and was 81 degrees in the house! My parent's house has power though so we're spending the night there, hoping ours comes back on tomorrow at some point!

Anyways, here's an update on my 101 in 1001 list!

#4 - Watch at least 2 Netflix DVDs and 2 Instant Queue movies a month (11/66, 11/66)
Yeah... slacked a bit on this one. In June we watched "The Green Hornet" on DVD and I gotta admit, it was better than I was expecting (which honestly wasn't much). While it wasn't great, it was fun and amusing. I'd give it a 3 out of 5 stars. So far for June we've watched "I Am Number 4" on DVD - it was alright, although I would have enjoyed it much better if it didn't have all the dumb teenage romance drama in it. I enjoyed the kid that played #4, the gal that played #6, and Timothy Olyphant as #4's guardian. It was an enjoyable movie and I'd recommend it. Also, I wasn't surprised that the team of Gould and Millar who worked together on Smallville for years were involved, as had that teenage superhero feel to it. I could see a sequel happening for this one too. As far as Instant Watch goes... no movies in June and so far for July I've watched "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" - I recently finished the 1st 2 books and decided to start watching the Swedish films before the American remake comes out this Christmas. I gotta say though, actress Noomi Rapace IS Lisabeth Salander. I don't mind the casting of Daniel Craig as Blomkist in the American version, but I really wish they would use Noomi again as she's got the part down pat!


18 - Read at least 15 (non-children) fiction books (5/15)
I've read 2 so far for June and July! In June I finally finished "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and promptly started "The Girl Who Played With Fire" which I finished in July. I swear, Steig Larrson had a pattern to his books - make the 1st 200 or so pages of the book have just enough intrique to keep you interested (because they are a bit boring, making you wonder where is the story going already!?) and then something major happens in the last half of part 2 or between pages 200-300 that makes you glued to the book, wanting to read what happens next, making it so you don't want to put it down! That happened with both books! While book #2 seemed to move a bit faster than book 1, I was still wondering the whole time "where is this going? what's the point?" during the 1st 200 or so pages. And then something major happens and I breezed through the rest of the book in a matter of days! I really want to read the 3rd, however it's not currently available in trade paperback (only in large print paperback) and the Kindle version costs more than the hardcover version at Walmart so I guess I'll just wait...

22 - Find a part-time job that works me at least twice a week
Well, I guess I have this now! We've had several key people quit at work recently due to moving away and apparently I've "proved" myself too since as of this week, aside from management I have the 2nd most hours at work, working at least 2-3 shifts a week with a handful of on-call shifts, half of which I get called in for. The paychecks have been nice, but it's been a bit hard shifting from working 1-2 days a week to working 4-5! I'm used to hanging out with Jay most of the week and it's been a bit strange not doing that!

29 - Have a date with hubby at least once a month (4/33)
30 - Take an overnight with hubby once a year (1/3)
These go together for June & July, as hubby and I attended a wedding up in the Twin Cities from June 30-July 2 (my childhood best friend's wedding) and we left Jay with my parents to get some mommy and daddy time! It was nice getting away and not having to worry about squeezing in feedings, etc into the schedule but it was a bit strange being without him too!

51 - Host a PartyLite party once a year (1/3)
I did this in June! While not quite as many people came as I had hoped, I did get some "book orders" and got a nice bit of hostess credit. I stocked up on my tealights and took advantage of some nice hostess offers too! Definitely worth it!

53 - Visit in person with a friend once a month (6/33)
I've seen several people in June, so that counts!

60 - Go to church at least once a month (3/33)
We had Jay's baby dedication on Father's Day Sunday and we went once again in June too.

88 - Get a pedicure 3 times a year (2/9)
For Mother's Day, hubby got me a Groupon for a mani-pedi which I redeemed days before we went to the wedding in the Twin Cities - it was nice! The finger nails didn't last longer than a week, but the toenails still look good!

98 - Go on vacation somewhere once a year (1/3)
We went to the Twin Cities this year! While it was a mini-vacation, it was still a vacation for us and is about as much of one as we'll get this year, with Jay being so little. I'm sure we'll go somewhere more exciting for longer next year. Aside from the wedding, we stopped in Mall of America for a bit, ate some CiCi's Pizza (which the nearest one is nearly an hour from us so despite seeing all the commercials on TV, we've never had it!) and we drove past the Metrodome - the home of the Minnesota Vikings! Near the end of last season, the roof collapsed due to all the snow that had built up on top of it - it still looked like it was under construction!