mid year update

we are just about half way through the year already. time for an update on my list for 2013
this has gone by fast violin recital done, summer come. fine with me, we have been experiencing a lot and i do try to live life fully in the yet and now. sometimes this is working out fine and other times i loose sight and have to refocus. that's life and i take it as it comes, doing my best to juggle the schedules of the six people in our family.
for right now, i'm without sewing machine, the good helper is at "the doctor's office", i'm missing her and hope to have her back in no time and all fixed up.
the following a list update, it's encouraging to see how much on my list i have already accomplished and i also added a few more lines to it. #24-29


1. keep thea's joy on learning to play the violin alive and foster it (official lessons start in february)
- lessons started and yes she is the one calling for practice time at home

2. sew a couple more jersey skirts and some other sewing projects or knitting i guess would count too, one project a month....
- so far no jersey skirts, but one for me and another one for naomi and a dress for little j and a pair of pants for me is on it's way

3. get a good pair of house shoes for myself (any suggestions?)
- i got a pair of mary janes' in cotton candy

4. learn more about gregorian chanting here
- together with my mother i attended a one day course, wonderful and very interesting. i'm certain i will find my way to a day of gregorian chanting once more

5. keep regular evening prayers
- work in progress

6. practice to not mother our oldest son too much
- awareness and trying hard

7. finish the started bed quilt for my friend
- i'm working on it, the top is cut and half way sewn together, the fabric for the back picked but no idea of how to do it

8. grow a straw bale garden
- it is growing and i'm fighting slugs, right now there are a few lettuce plants and beet and two brussel sprouts

9. plant more berry bushes around the house
- there are a few more raspberrie plants, i got them from my brother in law and they seem to do well

10. finish the golden shawl
11. try out how to make a pavlova dessert
12. read through the psalter's again and again
13. work with the different lenses on my rlx
- mostly using the 1.2-16, which joel put together for me
- i don't like the tele, so i leave that one to joel

14. take some vacation time in the mountains with friends, to hike and enjoy
- there is a one week summer vacation planned with my parents, above grindelwald in a "maiensaess"
- and something in the works for a week in the south in october

15. clean all the windows of the house (inside and out)
- i cleaned all the living room windows, naomi cleaned the windows of her room, one of my house mates cleaned all the kitchen windows, there are a few more to be cleaned

16. paint the living room and put a new floor down
- all done and we even got a new piano!

17. read half a dozen books
- dietrich bonhoeffer, pastor, martyr, prophet, spy
- von der dunkelheit zum licht

18. do an other summer project like the granny square sampler one
- i have not found any yet, anyone have a hint

19. work on some paper collages and mixed media
20. go out for a nice dinner, only with joel
- it will not just be dinner, but a week in irland in july

21. go and see the special exhibit on giacometti at the kunsthaus zurich
- missed this one

22. try one dozen new dinner recipes (more with less $)
- frittata with potatoes, leeks and eggs

23. being intentional about "being thankful" in my day to day routine as well as the extraordinaire moment
24. knitting a "spitzen hemdchen"
25. do something against human trafficking, what ever it might be
26. get thea started with her english language curriculum
27. invest some money in micro loans, as i'm so wealthy and privileged to live in a first world country
28. not missing the remaining voting days, june 9th, then there is an other one in august and november...
29. at any time there should be flowers on the kitchen table