{99 in 999} A Question, a Party, a Throwback, and a Wish List Item

#2. Watch every Best Picture Oscar winner...

Last weekend, Tom and I watched An American in Paris. We both love musicals, and this one was no exception. Gene Kelly was fabulous (as always), and you can't possibly go wrong with the music of George and Ira Gershwin. I do have a question, though: Why did so many musicals from that time have these incredibly long dance numbers that seem to have nothing to do with the rest of the story? I mean, I love watching dance as much as the next person (especially tap, which I've always kinda wanted to learn #confession), but come on. The one at the end of An American in Paris just went on forever. Oh well. I guess it was just one of those things.

#19. Have people over for a meal 10 times.

So, the first of 10 of these meals is officially in the books. But we didn't just have people over for a meal; we hosted a full-blown 4th of July party! There were 20+ people in our humble abode, which is the most we've had at one time since N's 1st birthday party. And wouldn't you know, I completely forgot to take pictures. The only photos I have are the ones Tom took to document the process of his first-ever attempt at smoking a pork shoulder for the big event. But I'll settle for those, because that pork was DELICIOUS, and there wasn't a scrap of it left by the end of the night!

#44. Collect all of the Baby-sitters Club books.

Look what came in the mail last week; it's the first book in the series! One book down...130 to go. And that's just the original series, which is all I'm collecting for now. (There's also the Super Specials, the Mysteries, the Little Sister series... Ah, maybe for the next 99 list.) Boy, is this a blast from the past, though. I loved reading BSC as a kid; they were such fun books for girls, and I've always wanted to collect them in hopes that one day I would have a daughter (or daughters) to read them with.

#97. Get a clothesline. (Done!)

This was also delivered last week. I've wanted a clothesline for months now. We use cloth diapers for baby E, and the covers can't go in the dryer after being washed, so I've been hanging them on a drying rack. I also like hanging the inserts outside whenever possible because they get to air out, and the sun helps get rid of stains, not to mention that we save energy by not having to use the dryer. The problem with the drying rack, however, is that there usually isn't enough room to hang all of the diaper covers, plus the inserts and the special bags we use for storing everything between washes. And if I happen to be washing cloth diapers on the same day that I'm doing other laundry, I'm pretty much out of luck if I wash something that needs to dry flat or line dry. But not anymore! Now I can fill up the drying rack and hang whatever's left on the clothesline. It's a small thing, I know, but it makes me very, very happy!