Milestone Slipped Up on Me......

I'm usually pretty obsessive about approaching milestones, particularly those associated with my cycling goals. I know you find it amazing that I could possibly be obsessive about anything. I've had a couple of them slip up on me lately, though.

I first missed my blogoversary on July 28. Three years I've been writing this thing, and I haven't run out of material yet. You are welcome to disagree with me, but be gentle.

Today I passed a cycling goal that was at first just a number, and then I realized it was more than that. I knew that the next time I rode more than 7 miles on my bike, I would pass 2000 miles for this year. I had Hubby take me and my bike to school this morning, not exactly sure what route I would take home from my new school. I knew in the back of my mind that it would be more than 7 miles, but I didn't PLAN it that way.

When I got home and uploaded my ride from the GPS into my computer (because I always do that immediately after a ride - obsessively), I realized that's farther than I have EVER ridden in a single year.

Ever.

I only have data back to 2006, when my goal for the year was 2000 miles and I reached 1997.7 miles. Really.

I'm certain, however, that prior to that year, I never rode that many miles in a year. And I have surpassed 2000 miles this year. In August.

You may wonder (or you may be yawning) why this wasn't one of my 50 Things to Do this year. I wanted to set a "stretch" goal, so I set my 2011 goal at 2500 miles. And I have almost 5 months left in which to ride the final 500 miles. I can do that with my eyes closed. Katydid prefers that I not do it with my eyes closed on the tandem, however.

Now you'll have to excuse me while I go put some ointment on my aching muscles. My ARM muscles. I think I strained something patting myself on the back.

#14 - Knit Something...........

When I put #14 on my list, I purposely worded it so that I would be obligated to finish something. I didn't want to take the wimpy way out and say I would "try to knit". It would have been too easy to give it a couple of shots, get frustrated (which I did - a lot) and then say, "Well at least I tried".

I first started on a scarf that the directions said was "easy" or "basic" or some other lie. It said for me to knit the knits and purl the purls, and they all looked the same. So I abandoned that project and decided to knit some place mats. Those were at least a little easier: knit, knit, knit, knit, use a different color, knit some more.

I even had a contest all picked out to give the beautiful place mats to one lucky (not to mention devoted) reader. Then I decided, since I wasn't having any fun, that it would be a single place mat. Then I abandoned the whole flippin' project.

I will still hold the contest at some point. It involves looking at a picture and seeing if you can determine what in the picture makes me have a Monk Moment every single morning.

Because I don't want to feel like I quit on #14, I am going to say I did indeed knit something. I knitted (knat?) a hot mess. I'd love to post a picture of it, but my laptop is, as the Sullen Teenager would say, "jacked up". I will post a picture as soon as I can get the sledgehammer out of the screen on the laptop.

You guys are so smart. Yesterday's post was indeed the 1000th one. How can one person have that much to say?

Milestone Blog.......

This blog entry is a milestone. Can anyone guess what it is?

I started blogging in July or August of 2008. My friend Neena mentioned in an email that she had a blog, and because it's always been my nature to abhor anyone having something I don't have, I thought it would be cool to blog too.

I never knew you could meet so many people through blogging, even folks you've never met in person. Like Maggie, Evil Pixie, DJan, Vodkamom, Julie, and Elena. I've enjoyed learning things about faraway places that I may never get to visit, like Alaska and Australia. I have felt the pain of folks I have never met but feel I have come to know, like Lilith and Lakeland Jo.

I have taken something that should be a hobby and turned it into an obsession, as only I can. In the past when things happened or I had a clever witty hilarious mundane thought, I would think to myself, "I can't wait to tell _______ this." Now my first thought is, "I can write about this in my blog!"

I have been silly, maudlin, depressed, sad, angry, frustrated, joyous, excited, giddy, and content in the confines of my little blog. I have written things that I was afraid might offend some people, and I've written things that I was afraid might bore some to death. I have written about children that aren't mine, and I have written about my own Sweet Girl, who has a blog of her own.

There are some things I will NEVER write about in this forum, but I would if people I know in real life didn't read here. I don't mind being judged by perfect strangers, but I don't want my few friends and family to change their opinions of me. Ha ha ha ha ha.

When I first started my blog, there were a couple of occasions when I went to bed and THEN remembered I hadn't done my blog. Most of those times I got up again to write SOMETHING, except for the times I was in the casino and just missed the midnight deadline. Nowadays I try to plan in advance, writing and scheduling a blog post ahead of time if I think I might by some wild stretch of the imagination be out after midnight.

Every now and then I worry that I'll run out of topics, but I can usually think of something to write about. It may be short and silly, or it may be a post about all the things I'm NOT going to write about. I feel an obligation to my readers to produce something every day. Is that weird? Sometimes I get a flood of ideas all at once, and I jot the list of topics down, satisfied that I will have enough blog fodder for a few days.

This milestone almost slipped up on me. Can you guess what it is? Leave your guess in the comments section, and I'll let you know tomorrow night what it was.

As always, thank you, thank you, thank you for being my readers and giving this little blog a purpose.