52 Week Challenge - week by week through 2013

[veggiechicken]

Week 48
The culmination of the bed dismantling and reassembly exercise I started weeks ago. I finally managed to gouge out all the snapped off plastic fittings using a selection of screwdrivers, hand drill, pliers and a meat tenderiser (don't ask!).
Next stage was to find replacement fittings on t'interweb- I'm amazed at the variations in size, number of prongs, suitability for wood (not metal) etc. Finally, I chose the best option and they were delivered Saturday. Of course, they're not exactly the same and I had to make a few "adjustments" but.........all slats are now in place and the bed will be usable again
(once I've had my weetabix and can move mattresses around)

[veggiechicken]

Challenges completed to end of November
-
Week 1 : Make a Grow Light box out of bits and pieces without spending any money
Week 2 : Plant a Tomcot Apricot tree and 12 Autumn Bliss raspberries
Week 3 : Clear the garage to make room for the car ahead of the snow
Week 4 : Make friends with celeriac!
Week 5 - Remove all F1 seeds from my stash (70 packets )
Week 6 - Go to a Seedy Saturday organised by Real Seeds and meet Marchogaeth
Week 7 - Plant a peach tree
Week 8 - Make yoghurt.
Week 9 - Stop running the tap while brushing my teeth.
Week 10 - Visit Raglan castle
Week 11 - Plant 2 hops on St Patrick's day
Week 12 - Start on the new fruit garden - planted rhubarb and blackcurrants
Week 13 - Plant 2 apple trees; announce the start of a massive redesign of the garden
Week 14 - Count and list my fruit trees - 36
Week 15 - Sow 13 Varieties of kale
Week 16 - Go to the RHS Show in Cardiff and meet some new Grapes
Week 17 - Make a raised bed from a pallet and some junk
Week 18 - Take a photo with my phone
Week 19 - Go to an Unusual Plants Fair
Week 20 - Make a Bean frame from a rotary clothes line.
Week 21 - Make another raised bed from a pallet.
Week 22 - Go on a Fungi Cultivation course and use an electric drill for the first time.
Week 23 - Learn about Herbal Myth, Magic and Medicine and make Incense
Week 24 - Get a Dog - adopted Lily, Dog No 3
Week 25 - Sort my drawers
Week 26 - Make nettle and comfrey liquid feeds!
Week 27 - Clear a space for a hammock
Week 28 - Fit a Bath lift chair for my 93 year old Mum (not a success )
Week 29 - Cook a meal in an Electric Wok
Week 30 - Accept the offer of a greenhouse and make arrangements for its removal.
Week 31 - Get rid of a Kiwi fruit vine and put a greenhouse in its place
Week 32 - Planning layout of GH
Week 33 - Help a Grape adopt a puppy from West Wales
Week 34 - Take a friend to a castle
Week 35 - Make a herb bed
Week 36 - Carry out a Home Check for a Dog Rescue Sanctuary
Week 37 - Work out how to receive Emails on mobile phone
Week 38 - Pickle beetroot
Week 39 - Go teetotal for the week
Week 40 - Uses for Green tomatoes - make chutney and cook Fried Green Tomatoes
Week 41 - Go to an Archaeology lecture about Stonehenge and meet old friends
Week 42 - Buy a new bed
Week 43 - Take some apples to an Apple day for identification
Week 44 - Record my name being mentioned on a radio programme
Week 45 - Take delivery of a new bed and rearrange furniture.
Week 46 - Overcome my suspicious nature with doorstep charity bags
Week 47 - Become a Moderator on the Vine
Week 48 - Reassemble a bed - follow on from Week 45

Phew..............

[veggiechicken]

Week 49 - 2nd- 8th December

Last month, Challengers - the end is nigh

[bearded bloke]

Breath new life into my 14 year old starter motor

[Hazel at the Hill]

Oh - end of Nov list ...

wk1 update blogs
wk2 sort out photos
wk3 sort out attic room
wk4 participate in a seed swap
wk5 visit a cathedral
wk6 complete a jigsaw
wk7 complete a quilt
wk8 buy a pair of glasses
wk9 make bath bombs
wk10 tidy fabric stash
wk11 paint the toolshed
wk12 go for a bra fitting
wk13 smarten up clothes/shoes
wk14 repair mini greenhouse
wk15 clean the windows
wk16 give credit where it is due
wk17 have a beauty treatment
wk18 swim in the sea
wk19 read a classic novel
wk20 make alterations to a garment
wk21 clean the car
wk22 - run in the great midlands fun run
wk23 - clear out the kitchen cupboards
wk24 - go round a maze
wk25 - celebrate the solstice
wk26 - de clutter the wardrobe.
wk27 - Join in with the Work Party
wk28 - Make a Scarecrow
wk29 - Make a batch of Jam
wk30 - Re-arrange the Wine Rack
wk31 - Clean out the Fridge
wk32 - Enter an Allotment Show
wk33 - Draw a Picture
wk34 - Get a Full Week's Sleep
wk35 - Re-chipping the Allotment Paths
wk36 - get serious about running
wk37 - Grow a plant for seed
wk38 - clean the oven
wk39 - look out from a vantage point
wk40 - go rockpooling
wk41 - eat something new
wk42 - catch a falling leaf
wk43 - make christmas decorations
wk44 - make sweets
wk45 - do some knitting
wk46 - visit a new town
wk47 - grow a new vegetable
wk48 - make sourdough bread

48 down, 4 to go!

[bearded bloke]

Breedin eck VC that list is nearly a years worth of typing for me

[scarey55]

Teehee, loving number 47 VC

[Sheneval]

Challenges completed till end of November

Week 1 - Toasted my new Allotment on site on New Years Day
Week 2 - Limed 2 beds on my Allotment
Week 3 - Fitted a tap to my Allotment water butt
Week 4 - Taught my friend to research his Family History
Week 5 - Created a book from the Prestwick Burgh Records, covering the period from 1470 through till the late 1700s.
Week 6 - Bought seed potatoes for the first time ever - a total of 60 consisting of Rooster, King Edward and some Pink Fir Apple.
Week 7 - Started chitting potatoes.
Week 8 - Made a new allotment sign out of a bit of old tree trunk .
Week 9 - Built the first of a number of wire mesh cages to keep off the rabbits, squirrels and any other nuisances
Week 10 - Sowed Sweet Pea and Leek seeds indoors.
Week 11 – Tidied Garage to allow access to freezer.
Week 12 - Joined work party maintaining allotment site common ground
Week 13 - Made a Fire and burned all scrap and waste wooden material on allotment common ground.
Week 14 - Prepared bed for potatoes and planted same.
Week 15 - Cleared the 4 Family History cupboards in the library reading room to allow a new carpet to be fitted.
Week 16 – Won chess game which enabled us to win the match.
Week 17 – Helped on my daughter's plot and sowed peas, beetroot and carrots on my own.
Week 18 – Planted Onion sets, sowed some more pea seeds and netted cabbage plants.
Week 19 – Erected walk in greenhouse and helped layout daughter’s plot with paths, beds and sitting/storage area, also 4 Blackcurrant bushes planted.
Week 20 - Built a cage for brassicas.
Week 21- Erected protection pens for various vegetables planted on my daughter's plot.
Week 22 – Had a go at using the Allotment Site's Strimmer.
Week 23 – Covered brassica on all sides and across top with debris netting.
Week 24 – Finished off all my summer bedding and basket/tub planting.
Week 25 - Updated Family History Website.
Week 26 – Sorted through all my Hunter ancestry papers to enable me to respond to query from an Australian Historian.
Week 27 – Carried out Monthly Inspection of all Allotments - my first time carrying out this task
Week 28 – Lifted overwintering onions
Week 29 – Sampled blue potatoes from my Wolverhampton/Birmingham friend’s plot.
Week 30 – Week 30 challenge - replaced plastic cloche covers with debris netting.
Week 31 – 1st week’s Boating Holiday on the Norfolk Broads
Week 32 – 2nd week’s Boating Holiday on the Norfolk Broads
Week 33 – Entered veg in Allotment show for the first time - I got 2 x 2nds & 2x 3rds.
Week 34 – Catching up on work on allotments and garden
Week 35 - Printed replacement publication books and burned new CD's following very good sales at the Motherwell History Fair.
Week 36 - Got enough barrow loads of manure from free supply to cover the potato beds on my own and daughter's plots.
Week 37 - Completed the clearance of weeds and dug over 3 beds on my plot 18A.
Week 38 - Collected seaweed to cover the bare earth on the cleared beds on my plot to suppress the weed growth from now to next spring
Week 39 - Started copying volume 5 of Walter Clearie's transcriptions from the Ayrshire News.
Week 40 – Planted 100 red, 50 white onions, 20 shallots and garlic.
Week 41 – Attended meeting at St Nicholas Gulf club where I outlined the errors in the Tom Morris book to the Archivists, (plus a few other members).
Week 42 - Cleared the quarter plot I borrowed from another plot holder last year.
Week 43 - Monday: - went to allotment for winter tidy on Monday and went to Library for production of publications on Tuesday
Week 44 - Wrote a review of the book 'Tom Morris of St Andrews - The Colossus of Golf' based on my findings from a Family History viewpoint for inclusion in the next FHS Journal
Week 45 – Made up and ran a Powerpoint presentation of photographs, to accompany a talk about Troon in the 1940s to schoolchildren at the Library on Tues & Wed 5th & 6th Nov.
Week 46 – Sorted through 12 plastic and metal containers containing my family/local history papers
Week 47 – Visited Carnegie Library to view records held there and completed a report on the visit for the FHS Journal
Week 48 - Cleaned the Bathroom and painted woodwork

[Tripmeup]

As I am now Treasurer, this week's task is to try and get my head around the football clubs finances..

[Sheneval]

VC - I have still to finish the work in the Bathroom so this week's challenge will be to finish the job by replacing the sealant round the bath and sink, freshening up the grouting on the tiles, fitting a new bath panel, doing a small tiling job and fitting a new floor covering.

[Hazel at the Hill]

Week 49 - Make a Christmas Wreath

I've never been one for flower arranging and the like. The issue here being that I really can't tell much of a difference in the end result of someone spending hours putting flowers into a vase, and someone taking a bunch of flowers, and putting it into a vase - if you see what I mean.

Also, although I love have flowers in the house, I don't grow them particularly at the plot, and resent spending the money. And I don't feel good about the carbon footprint too.

But the artificial wreath that I hang on the front door year in, year does look a bit boring, and so this year - with a hedge of conifers at my disposal - I've tried to come up with something with a bit of a personal touch.

I took some cuttings...



Looked in the decorations trunk...



.....and came up with a spray of green with red ribbon and mini-baubles.



The shape looks rather like a Christmas tree, and I am undecided whether to give it a trim to make it more rounded in shape.



So apart from a bit of minor tinkering, that's my week 49 Challenge done!

[Feral007]

Need to get the farm gate Tinsellated this week. If the kids will do that, then I could put up the chicken wire to make the food forest a little larger and maybe keep the chooks out, instead of in. That would be good.

[julesapple]

Right!!! Ready for this?

1. Get the DD & fiancé moved house.
2. Sort DD's leftover junk in attic.
3. List said junk on ebay.
4. Finish jumper started waaay back last year.
5. Get new website started (total fail)
6. Make vintage style dresses
7. Resize all long time cut out garments and make up.
8. Make cream cheese.
9. Make laundry detergent liquid
10. Make cream of celery soup from scratch(must do this again this week!)
11. Make celeriac gratin.
12. Re-wallpaper the hall & landings.
13. Read Malcolm Kendrick's Great Cholesterol Con (actually a funny read!)
14. Start Dutch lessons
15. Stove top and ovens deep cleaned
16. Made cream of celery soup, finally!
17. Start posh frock for holiday concert.
18. Make chocolate bars for Easter
19. Painted a 'Street' for gas fitter training.
20. Tidied workroom - mammoth task.
21. Clean & polish huge bedroom mirrors.
22. Made a skirt from scratch - even the pattern.
23. More ebay listings!
24. Start sewing for holidays
25. Update cat photos and take new ones.
26. Get outside and bin all the rubbish stored in the alleyway!!
27. Start growbags for salad crops & radishes
28. Made laundry detergent powder instead of liquid.
29. Tidied the pond and installed new pump.
30. Finish making skirts.
31. Learned to sew bound buttonholes - very posh!

There's a sizeable gap in my diary here, because the BH was in hospital after a fall, and then we went to Holland.

32. Sort out the chook garden, and make new exciting things for them to explore.
33. Getting a suntan for the first time in thirty years! yay!
34. Make the cushion promised to the Secret Girlfriend for her birthday back in April!
35. Ten days shopsitting, lots of cushions made to demonstrate shop fabrics.
36. Finish mapping the bathroom. Love vintage maps.
37. Made Tomato & Mint Chutney.
38. Sort out the extraordinary amount of junk in bedroom and bin/charity shop/recycle it all.
39. Midnight picnic at The Spot.
40. Sort out digital photos and put onto discs/hard drive
41. Clean out the undersink cupboard - bleurgh....
42. Decide what pumpkins to make for Halloween
43. Start on the low-carbing again, chubby!
44. Tried out home made surface cleaner (vinegar & lemon) - Fail, place reeks like the chipper.
45. Get sorted for Halloween
46. Get chooks ready for winter, de-mite house, take preventative measures for scaly legs.
47. Massively prune rose & creeper above livingroom window.
48. Start Chr****as shopping
49. Sort out study.
50. Take study junk to tip, and shedloads of blue & white china to charity shop.
51. Ditto boxes of Chr****as decs
52. Bleach the window frames - yuck!
53. Make a fox scarf.
54. Ok, now try a raccoon scarf
55. Catch up on commissions.

I have done all of my challenges, some were successes, others a total failure. Most were not done in the order in which I wrote them down as real life gets in the way.....but I did enjoy the journey!

Still to do;

Finish that bl**dy table dawdler....
Get ready for Christmas
Survive same
Ignore MS - you're still the same person!

I know I fell off the wagon but I did write it all in my diary. I have become a journal keeper quite by accident and have decided to keep it up. It might be important to me in the years to come.

[veggiechicken]

Well done Jules. So that's what you were doing in the middle of the night
Really impressive when you read all that you've achieved in one long list

[Hazel at the Hill]

Brilliant, Jules - wish I could use 'like' button more than once!!