Friday, November 9, 2012

Oh What A Difference A Year And A Half Can Make



I was just going back through some old blog posts. I have some ideas that I'd like to do and during my search for certain posts I stumbled across some interesting stuff. The following post is one I wrote on February 22, 2011. I had a list of all these crafty things I wanted to do. Since that time I have gone to Ketchikan for seven months, changed jobs, finished my bachelor's degree, and changed jobs again. I'm a totally different person than I was a year and a half ago! Let's recap what I wanted to do...


1. Learn how to make soap. (I can take a soap-making class at Mr. Green Beans. Just need $35 and time!)
*I took a soap-making class on March 6, 2011. That progressed into having an Etsy shop, selling some soap, and now discontinuing some soaps that haven't proven to be popular enough into me wanting to keep them! Get seven different soaps for only $5 here! 

2. Learn how to make candles (soy or beeswax).

*Still haven't done this yet. Kinda over it.

3. Learn how to can.

*Still interested in this, but need to figure out how to get lots of fruits & veggies for cheap (u-pick farms?) before this financially makes sense. I also want a dehydrator so I can do that, too!

4. Obtain a stainless steel pot so I can make continue cheese, beer, etc. and not have to borrow other people's pots. (They're on CraigsList all the time, for around $40. Just need extra moolah to spend on my own pot!)

*I did get my own pot!

5. Sometimes I want to roast my own coffee beans, but then I remember I work for a coffee shop and will always have awesome coffee. ;o) But it would be neat!

*I now do roast my own coffee beans. Learn how easy it is at either "Roasting Coffee Beans in a Popcorn Popper" or "Roasting Coffee Beans in a Frying Pan."

6. Get a sourdough starter and work on making bread - DONE(ish). I have a sourdough starter, but I haven't had time to figure out what to do with it yet.

*I have that same sourdough starter and still haven't figured out what to do with it yet. I don't think I eat enough carbs to make this worthwhile. I think I like the idea of it more than actually makes sense for me.

7. Buy a used kayak and explore the rivers.

*I now own the Baranof! I just haven't had a chance to use her yet. :o(

8. Learn to make yogurt (and maybe butter, although we really don't use butter hardly at all. Still, it would be neat.) - Since initially thinking about this, Kim has told me of a yogurt maker she has and makes yogurt with! Must acquire!

*Kinda over this. I still don't eat that much yogurt, although I theoretically want to?

9. Eventually making enough beer from recipes that I feel comfortable making up my own recipes and knowing what would taste good together.

*I made beer and I think I'm going to leave the beer-making to other people.

10. Get seeds to sprout and actually eat the sprouts.

*Totally did that and they are delicious! I should do this again sometime!

11. Grow mushrooms with a mushroom kit. ($20 at the Urban Farm Store.)

*Over this. I like mushrooms but I don't need to spend $20 to grow them myself.

12. Get back into photography. I have a Diana, a Holga, and an Argoflex and I haven't had much time to play around with them. Sad! 


13. I did join the Nature Printing Society, as mentioned previously, but now I just need to get out there, get some specimens, and print!

*While I really enjoyed this, I don't love it enough to keep doing it on my own.

14. Work on making more cheese.

*No more cheese. Cheese was a pain in the butt. I will let other people make cheese.

15. Start taking Russian and/or Spanish classes again. I used to know quite a bit of each language, enough to get me around Russia for two weeks, but it's pretty much lost now, except for random words. I want to speak Ruskey y Espanol again! 
*I am currently taking Spanish again and, while I REALLY like the teacher, her method of teaching is not conducive to my learning and remembering Spanish. Half of the class is older adults that seem like they really should not be in a "fast paced Spanish class for those who have taken Spanish before" class because they are really holding a good part of the class back. Also, we really don't converse with each other or do hardly any "thinking for ourself and how to answer questions ourself" exercises and I learn from actually DOING things. Because we aren't doing that, I'm not really learning. If I end up taking Spanish again it will (sadly) be from a different teacher.

It's interesting to me to see what I both accomplished and did not accomplish. I am now maybe less "I WANT TO DO EVERYTHING DIY!!!!" or now maybe I've whittled it down into more feasible things. I do think it was nice to have some sort of idea written down as to what I wanted to do. I will have to think about new things I want to do and blog about that sometime!
Posted by Brittany at 10:23 AM
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5 comments:

  1. AcornNovember 11, 2012 at 11:56 AM

    How fun to go back and revisit your goals..I love this! You sure accomplished a ton in a year! And p.s. your DIY spirit is super helpful...saves MY "DIY someday" spirit a bunch of money...keep keeping us updated on your adventures! ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BrittanyNovember 12, 2012 at 7:37 AM

      Ha ha! I will, I promise! It's just to funny to remember how important to me some of this stuff was and now it's just NOT. Like, if you can't do all these things that you've been wanting to learn to do and it's been a year or something, unless you have a DARN GOOD reason for it, it's okay to give up! At least, this is something I am maybe working on? :o) I have been working on mustering up the "okay"ness of saying no.

      I have this film camera that I thought that I REALLY WANTED that I won on eBay last year. I've now had the camera for a year and a half. It's a pretty awesome camera, according to the internet, but I don't know how to use it and it is missing a viewfinder. Granted, you don't need the viewfinder to make it happen, but why couldn't I figure out in the past year of being back in Portland in the presence of my (film!) photographer friends how to make it work for me?

      Lots of thinking on this. My brain says that I will be able to use it as soon as I re-learn how to do manual film photography stuff, which I WILL be doing for sure, but I already have a camera to do that with. Do I need this specialty camera? I am thinking I should sell it and get my money back. Sigh.

      Delete
  2. Stina GNovember 21, 2012 at 3:27 PM

    Heehee. This post made me laugh, i hope that's ok. I think it's partly cause i understand :)
    I am gonna make all this stuff myself and it will be awesome! Ok actually it takes forever and gives me a headache and there are experts out there who do this, maybe i'll let them keep at it. Haha.
    <3

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stina GNovember 21, 2012 at 3:28 PM

    Heehee. This post made me laugh, i hope that's ok. I think it's partly cause i understand :)
    I am gonna make all this stuff myself and it will be awesome! Ok actually it takes forever and gives me a headache and there are experts out there who do this, maybe i'll let them keep at it. Haha.
    <3

    ReplyDelete
  4. Stina GNovember 21, 2012 at 3:28 PM

    Heehee. This post made me laugh, i hope that's ok. I think it's partly cause i understand :)
    I am gonna make all this stuff myself and it will be awesome! Ok actually it takes forever and gives me a headache and there are experts out there who do this, maybe i'll let them keep at it. Haha.
    <3

    ReplyDelete

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