Joan on the Road...of Life

I did think about resolutions, projects and travel! And I started on a project that will keep me busy for months or until I get bored :) I got out the 35mm slides and started scanning again. I really did not do a lot of them last year. I guess life got in the way. But this last week I got another 200 scanned. I've been living in 1978 taking a trip with three teens to Crater Lake, then Mt. Ranier. It gets exciting and I get anxious to see what the next box will bring.

We have a Nikon CoolscanV that does a nice job but it takes 2-3 minutes per slide! There's not much else to do while a slide is scanning except maybe read magazine articles...something that I can put down and start easily. So I have my scanning station set up and work in progress.

I can consider travel routes while scanning so I've been doing that. But there is a slight fly in the ointment. Jim's vision problem is recurring so he needs to see the eye doc every 4-6 weeks for awhile. That keeps us tethered to either SoCal or Illinois. Lucky he has two great docs who know each other. So with that in mind AND the price of gas we'll see how much travel we can do.

My friend, Lynn, sent an email with 40 Tips for a Powerful New Year. You can Download file. I think 40 is a lot of tips to remember :) But I can review it monthly and see how I'm doing. I guess this appeals to me because it makes a lot of sense and because I try to live these ideas. Now Jim would say "There is no try, there is only do or do not." I forget where that quote comes from. Anyway, I think I'll pick a couple of tips every now and then and really focus on them.

Another project is to do more cooking and less fast food/ eating out. I made some delicious Minestrone Soup this week...enough for three meals! It was supposed to be in the crockpot but I did stove top and it only took a couple of hours. Minestrone is great because you can throw in your fave veggies with a box of broth, simmer and eat. I did saute the onions, celery and carrots first which I think added to the flavor. Also, I like to add white cannellini beans instead of pasta and used Emeril's Italian seasoning. Yum!

Today Granddaughter Hilly is coming for brunch and we're having "egg in a toast hole" with bacon and papaya and lime. She's a very busy working college girl so we're happy to have her for a little while. Son Jim and Elaine are coming later today and we'll be going out to celebrate his birthday. If he's 45 then I must be....Yikes!