Time for my quarterly update on mymy yearly goals! I’m pretty much rocking it.
1. Cook every recipe in the Sally’s Baking Addiction cookbook: 52%
I started this one strong, and I have only 35 more to go!
These gingersnaps were pretty great:
Mom’s Ginger Snaps
But so were these blondies:
So yum
It’s hard to pick a favorite
2. Finish all my 2014 Goals: 56%
I already feel better about this.
2a.) Read all of T-Z of Brewer’s: 29%
I finished T, which was fairly long, and U, which was fairly short. W is the longest section left.
2b.) Make one pie a month 7 pies: 29%
I’ve made two pies this year! One was a traditional apple pie for Pi Day (with apples from the farmer’s market, so a little nicer than normal), the other was a carrot pie!
Carrot pie?!?
It was kind of a weird experience, but ended up tasting pretty good. Carrots have a natural sweetness to them, and if you think about it, it’s no weirder than sweet potato pie.
2c.) Make a new cocktail mocktail once a month: 25%
During the ice storm in January, I tried to recreate me favorite cold-weather cocktail, the hot toddy. The recipe used rooibos chai tea, apple juice, and lemon juice:
And ginger!
The key ingredient turned out to be cayenne pepper for a kick. It was no hot toddy, but it was okay.
Again, it helped that it was an ice storm
Then in February I made a much more successful crock pot hot chocolate!
But March let me down again with a weird celery/cucumber/pineapple/lime smoothie. The recipe came from a magazine.
Still not as bad as the time Rob made me drink strawberry-pickle juice
It wasn’t awful, but it was too weird to finish.
2d.) Get everything (then currently) on my To-Read List off it: 100%
Since I’d done some work on this in the intervening time, I only had two books left, and I read both in January!
How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran was funny and real, mixing stories from the author’s life with feminist analysis.
The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb seemed like a cool premise: family secrets, potentially haunted house etc, but was really sloppily written.
2e.) Update my blog once a week 7 times: 100%
My book wrap up posts really helped me knock this one out:
1. 2015 Goals wrap up
2. 2015 Books: The Good
3. 2015 Books: The Bad
4. 2015 Books: The Ugly
5. 2015 Books: The Pretty
6. 2016 Goals
7. Princess Celestia and the Summer of Royal Waves review
3. Finish all my Craftsy Classes: 40%
I finished Tunisian Crochet! I also finished 40 Techniques Every Sewer Should Know. Three more to go!
4. Complete a temperature scarf: 22%
I decided to average the high and low temp for the day to determine what color I should work with, using this chart I made:
The average hasn’t been less than 20 degrees, so I haven’t had to figure that out yet
Here’s what it looks like so far:
Data visualization!
5. Read at least one book a month someone else recommended to me: 25%
In January I read:
Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente
It was recommended to me by someone in my penpal club. It’s kind of like urban fantasy but with Russian folklore, set during the Russian revolution. So like communist house elves, basically. It was pretty good. Narratively kind of weird, but pretty good.
In February:
Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
This was recommended to me by a coworker. It’s historical fiction about a girl who rides one of the orphan trains from New York City to Minnesota. It switches perspectives between her growing up and the present day old-her cleaning out her attic with a troubled teen assistant. It was a quick read, but I liked it.
In March:
The Wake by Paul Kingsnorth
I assume this book was recommended to me by my friend Roque since he mailed it to me. The star of the book is definitely the pseudo-olde-englishe language Kingsnorth developed to better reflect the setting: England 1066. The protagonist, a Saxon whose entire village is destroyed by Norman invaders, is unlikeable, and the plot spends a lot of time meandering, although it seems well-researched (not that I’m a great judge). The language just makes it really hard to get through, at least for me. I felt like I was back in high school.
Total: 38%
Not bad for March!
Steven’s Goals
Steven doesn’t keep spreadsheets like me, so I had to verbally interview him about how his goals are going.
1. Cook one vegetarian meal every week
“Failed. Totally forgot about it.”
2. Learn a new violin piece every month
“2/3 right now. It’s too late for March.”
3. Finish all Craftsy classes
“Pretty much done no work on this. I made popcorn once.”
4. Make at least one case or bag out of leather.
“Actually just bought another Craftsy class to help me out with that.”
So, not that this is a competition, but clearly I am winning
Previously: 2016 Goals