75. Volunteer 40 hours at a local animal shelter with DH Revisited

Oh.My.Cats.

Volunteering for animals feels really good, but it's a really difficult thing to do without adding to your own family of furbabies.

We are currently considering adopting two boxers. Olivia stole my heart the moment I saw her. She is nine-years-old and she has a lung tumor, so the thought of her spending the rest of her life in the shelter breaks my heart. And Giles stole Howie's heart. He's a big handsome boy, and I bet he'll eat a lot of chicken wings.

We'll see. We're still not sure we're crazy enough to take in any more dogs.

Oh, and did I mention that the shelter has about 500 kitties who need homes? Well, they do. And they are all starved for affection. I was in kitty heaven.

48. Get a book club going for at least one full round IN PROGRESS

We have reading, people!

Our book club has met twice already, once to discuss our plans and choose some books, and once to actually discuss a book. We meet at my house every time because I'm centrally located, and I love it. What better way to spend a Friday night than eating a meal and discussing books with very interesting people?

We've already read This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Tropper. Hilarious. Reads like a movie script, but funny enough that it's not annoying.

Next up: Hospital at War by Jonathan Friedenberg. Looks very interesting, can't wait to read it.

The most surprising thing about this book club? I'm reading *more* now that I have a book I must read each month.

And because I'm a nerd, I'm amused by this--I used an evite for the first meeting, this is what I put in for the response options. Extra credit if you can tell me the title of each work from which these first lines hail:
Who's there? (guest list)
It was love at first sight. (yes)
All this happened, more or less. (maybe)
I am an invisible man. (no)

Anyone?

75. Volunteer 40 hours at a local animal shelter with DH IN PROGRESS 11/09

Once upon a time a newlywed couple adopted a dog. They thought they were saving her life. It turns out that she was one of the best things that ever happened to them.

Now they want to help other families meet their own pups, so they volunteer with the shelter where they found their little girl.

The only problem with volunteering is that it is nearly impossible to come home without a heartache over the fact that you cannot adopt all of the dogs that need homes.

I'll be volunteering far more than 40 hours with the shelter, but once I hit 40, I'll cross this one off my list.

8. Get MA in English, focus: Composition IN PROGRESS

Just spoke with some peeps at a local university. I have two options as a potential MA student:
1) Full-time. Apply for an assistantship, which I will get, thankyouverymuch. The assistantship comes with TAing one three hour class, two full semesters worth of tuition paid for, and a monthly stipend. One school year total, and I earn the degree.
2) Part-time. Pay my own way. Two school years total, and I earn the degree.

SO, if I get a full-time position teaching community college for the fall, I'll go for option #2. If I don't, it's back to being full-time student, baby!

7. Learn to knit

Image from Maribel Made, sock monkey designer extraordinaire.

I'm working on it.

I bought a little starter kit called "I Taught Myself to Knit!" and it makes everything look really easy. It took me about 45 minutes of standing in front of the massive amounts of yarn rolls to figure out a) what all the little symbols meant, and b) which skeins I could use with the needles that came with my little starter kit.

And then I brought it all home. And the knitting ensued.
I'm really good at casting on. Knitting? Not so much. I'm not horrible, but I really have to do some serious work to get the tension right.

My inspiration for learning to knit is twofold. One, I've always wanted to learn to knit. And two, I'm making sock monkeys for all the kids in our family for Chanukah, and the moment I saw these amazing sock monkeys wearing hoodies on Maribel Made, I decided I had to learn to do them, myself. And Bob's your uncle.

29. Hire a photographer to edit wedding photos and create a beautiful album out of the pictures we have ☹

Well, we've accomplished a modified version of this goal.

The hubby and I met with a photographer to take some pro shots of the two of us with our beautiful pup, Bailee. We met her way out in the middle of nowhere at a very cool classic car museum and posed with an old Pontiac.

I haven't gotten the pictures back yet, but she did send me a teaser shot. I think it's pretty cool.