The Plaid Pladd

Woo! I can already tell 2014 is going to be amazing. I’m not taking on as much as I did last year, and hopefully I’ll be even more successful!

1. Read all of Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

There are lots of editions, but this is the one I have

Last year I read a book about a guy reading all of the Encyclopedia Britannica, and the year before that I read one about a guy who read all of the OED in one year. That’s probably where this idea came from. Although, of course, I wish I could contain all of the reference books I own inside my brain, it’s not particularly feasible or practical, especially in an age when I have a smart phone with me at all times. Brewer’s is the only reference book that I can see myself actually enjoying reading for its own sake, mostly because it’s a little whimsical and idiosyncratic, and completely full up of folklore, which I am endlessly entertained by. I hope you are too, because I plan to do blogposts for each letter I finish, hopefully with interesting things I’ve come across. And (let’s be honest) probably with some complaints.

2. Make a pie once a month

Last year’s cookbook project was a good experience, but I didn’t want to do it again. The cookbook I tried that most intrigued me was probably the one I have about different kinds of pies. They all look delicious! But I usually just end up making the same old strawberry/blackberry combo because I’m lazy. This year I’m going to branch out and try new pies! I asked Steven if one pie a month is too many pies, and he didn’t even let me finish the sentence before saying “NO NO NOT EVER.”

And so it was

3. Make a new cocktail once a month

I got the idea for this one, because right now the top of our bookcases looks like this:

Steven loves the idea of making fancy drinks, at least

This one is blatantly for Steven. I mean, nothing’s stopping me from making cocktails, but he’s the one who enjoys it. I’m not saying the pie and cocktails have to happen on the same day either. Maybe one month we’ll switch and I’ll make a cocktail and he’ll make a pie.

4. Get everything currently on my “to-read” list off of it

I’m not doing anything ridic like 200 books in a year again. That kind of reading goal was a little too stressful, and meant I didn’t pick out longer books on purpose, like a third grader with a book report. However, I have noticed that my goodreads To Read shelf has had some books on it for coming up on 4 years now, and that’s ridic. I need to either read them, or decide not to. So the 96 books on it as of right now (12/17/13–HELLO FROM 2 WEEKS AGO IS IT NICE IN THE FUTURE I BET IT’S NICE) will no longer be on my To Read list by the end of 2014. I’m not saying I’ll read them all, and I’ll also read other things in 2014 too, but this housekeeping will be good.

5. Make dwarf helms for Steven and I to wear to the midnight showing of The Hobbit 3: Yes, There’s a Third One or whatever it’s called

It’s actually called “There And Back Again”, but I like my title better

I saw this awesome pattern too late to make it for this year’s midnight showing, so I figure if I start now I’ll be ready in time for next December!

6. Update my blog at least once a week

You may or may not have noticed that over the past two months or so I’ve been trying to get back to my ancient Tuesday/Friday update schedule. You probably haven’t noticed, since almost everyone stopped reading my blog after I disappeared for like 6 months (hello Brian and my mom!). It’s okay, and it’s not like I’m expecting to magically regain my old readership just because I’ve started to update about nothing again. But this is something I have to do–FOR ME. But I’m also pragmatic, and not sure how long this Tuesday/Friday thing can really work out, which is why my goal is just once a week. It’ll probably be more often (I hope), especially since a lot of these goals will require at least monthly updates. Basically prepare for a lot of pictures of pie and a whole post about, like, everything cool that starts with the letter B. I’m pretty excited to get started!!