The final resolution list - at the closing of the year

Between Dad's surgery and the holidays in general, I'm going to declare this list as done as its going to get. And y'know what? I haven't done too badly.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
- ran con programming, Farpoint
- ran Prepare For Fair II
- ran successful masquerade, Shore Leave
- redecorated bathroom
- repierced ears
- became regular book reviewer, ReviewingTheEvidence.com
- reduced To Be Read book stack by slightly over half
- decluttered top floor and main floor
- Learned how to:
- - make my cat crazy with a bowed psaltry
- - pick out the tune "Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee" w/out music on a zither (plucked psaltry)
- - make cold process soap
- - harvest rose hips (even if they don't seem to ripen properly in this climate)

The list of things deferred to next year is much shorter and only two things are all that "major" - the missionary project work didn't get as far along as I'd hoped and the cookbook project remains undone. The crafts are negotiable.

When I clean up the last of the library stuff and rearrange the books this weekend, I'll have a sense of accomplishment that I really needed.

( The actual list. )

"Will that be cash, credit, or your firstborn child?"

Taking my car to be tuned up is much like taking myself for general medical checks - unless there's something obviously wrong I Don't Want To Know. Unfortunately, something *did* go wrong with the car - did I tell y'all about the blowout on my way home from Pennsylvania? Anyone who says cell phones have no point should have to sit by the side of the highway being honked at, I'm glad I could call for help - and now Mr. Tire says that between the tires and the sluggish starting and the odd noises I've been hearing and all the other stuff, it's going to take $1,500 to fix.

Stops to mutter shawan_7's mantra: "It's not when the cost of the repairs equals the blue book value that you dump the car. It's when the cost of the repairs equals new car payments."

Well, that answers the question about the fake ring on ebay. (No.) And the real ring being resized and fitted with a gem. (No.) And a whole bunch of other indulgences I was going to indulge in - (No. No. No. and Oh Please, I Can't Believe You Were Thinking Of That Anyway)

Except the extended Return of the King. I'm so buying that.

Science Strikes Back

Perhaps you've heard of the textbook inserts? There's a lawsuit in Cobb County, GA about stickers stating evolution "is a theory, not a fact." Similar stickers have shown up all through the Bible Belt states. Well, Swarthmore College's Natural Science Dept has a few textbook inserts of its own. The very first one is the sticker that they're objecting to. The ones after that get incrementally sillier...

There's a link to a Cafe Press shirt with them all on it, and blanket permission to make individuals into T-shirts for yourself. Oh, so tempting!